We are finally headed to warmer weather. Woo Hoo!!! Hopefully, this will be the LAST winter that we spend in Illinois. Last year we left in January after a sleet and ice storm. Today the roads were clean, but it was windy and cold and it snowed last night. Loading the motorcycle in the truck, cleaning ice off one of the slide toppers and hitching up the truck to the motorhome in cold weather is just not any fun.
We will be in Wauchula, Florida on January 1st. Plan to stay at Little Charlie Creek RV Park for 2 months. Then travel a little further south before heading up the east coast to eventually spend some time with Jennifer and Gene just outside of Boston.
We spent part of October, November and December at our daughter's in Monticello, IL. Dan was helping get the cattle barn finished. I spent a lot of time with Erin and her horse, Mercedes; and cheering Erin on at two horse shows. Will post some pictures in the next few days of Mercedes and Erin's show pictures. Mercedes is a grey quarter horse, but Erin rides saddlebreds to show.
It's been a long day and we plan to be on the road early tomorrow, so I better hit the sack. Now that we are traveling again, I'll keep up with this blog. I'm thinking of posting about 3 times a week. I think that should be more manageable.
More later......
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Musings on Our Lifestyle and Back in Illinois
We arrived back in Rochester on Friday, Oct. 16. It is really interesting to see how some things have stayed the same and others have changed after having been gone for several months. There was extensive road work being down on East Lake Drive, the main road we take to get to Springfield, when we left in June. Most of the time the road was one lane during the road work. It was heavily traveled, thus the need to widen it; but it seemed like it was taking forever to finish the work. The work is all completed, with turn lanes, a traffic signal, new grass on either side and one of the smoothest surfaces we've ever seen. And a hike and bike trail. I hope the people who use it every day appreciate all the work that went into it.
Our neighborhood looks about the same. The house looks just like it did when we left (in need of getting the remodeling done). Our neighbor has kept the yard mowed and checked inside occasionally. After getting the motorhome parked and hooked up (we have 50amp and water on one end of the house and access to a sewer drain in the basement to dump the tanks via our macerator pump, we talked a little about our emotions and feelings of coming back to this house. We concluded that we really don't have any feeling one way or another, except the need to get this remodeling done so we can turn the key over to the realtor!! We raised our family in this house. Dan built the house the spring of 1978 after Sarah was born, and all our children graduated from the Rochester Schools. We have LOTS of memories of kids over to visit, birthday parties with grandparents included, Easter egg hunts in the back yard, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners around our big Amish built dining room table (with card tables added as a daughter-in-law and sons-in-law were added, and then grandchildren). Other memories of each child learning to drive, working at the local grocery store, library and restaurant and then leaving for college or the military, or just to "find themselves". At one time both parents and two children were all in college at the same time. Dan built a house for my parents just one block away so they could be closer to us as they were becoming less independent.
But time marches on and children establish their own homes in 5 different states, our parents do not live forever and our own needs and wants change. I'm not sure our needs and wants change as much as our sense that we now have the freedom and abilities to pursue some of our dreams which may have been put on the back burner. We neither one have a sense of "coming home" to this house.
We so enjoyed our three months in Seattle. Dash Point State Park is actually located on Puget Sound in Federal Way, just south of Seattle; about 25 miles from Gretchen's house. We were maintenance volunteers at the park. Our campsite certainly didn't have the "it" factor as we were parked across from the office and maintenance buildings. But we did have a nice big grassy yard and met and worked with a fabulous group of park rangers and park staff. And we were able to set our own hours independent of the campground hosts, so we could come and go as we pleased. This was especially helpful as Gretchen needed quite a bit of help after Edie was born. Our previous visits to Seattle with the motorhome we had parked in Gretchen and Rodney's back yard in West Seattle, and that was beginning to feel like "home." I'm sure if we volunteer at Dash Point again, we'll feel right at home.
Here are some pictures of our site at Dash Point.
This is the entrance sign on the beach side of the park. Our site was about 400 ft to the right of this sign.
The entrance booth to the beach and day use area looking toward out campsite. This was my work station on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons as I passed out trail maps, answered questions, gave directions, and reminded visitors of the donation box. Dash Point SP is supported by the state, but all donations are used for improvements and projects at the park that are not covered in the regular budget. The 400 acre park is located within the city of Federal Way, and is heavily used by the local neighborhood families.
Our motorhome is visible in the background. You can see, I didn't have far to walk to work, and Dan just walked across the street to the maintenance area where he repaired and revamped all the old wooden picnic tables. He recycled the usable wood and bolts and used other recycled wood that was leftover from other projects.
Just relaxing. Notice Grandpa and Lucy's legs. The office is in the background just across the street from our campsite.
Our neighborhood looks about the same. The house looks just like it did when we left (in need of getting the remodeling done). Our neighbor has kept the yard mowed and checked inside occasionally. After getting the motorhome parked and hooked up (we have 50amp and water on one end of the house and access to a sewer drain in the basement to dump the tanks via our macerator pump, we talked a little about our emotions and feelings of coming back to this house. We concluded that we really don't have any feeling one way or another, except the need to get this remodeling done so we can turn the key over to the realtor!! We raised our family in this house. Dan built the house the spring of 1978 after Sarah was born, and all our children graduated from the Rochester Schools. We have LOTS of memories of kids over to visit, birthday parties with grandparents included, Easter egg hunts in the back yard, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners around our big Amish built dining room table (with card tables added as a daughter-in-law and sons-in-law were added, and then grandchildren). Other memories of each child learning to drive, working at the local grocery store, library and restaurant and then leaving for college or the military, or just to "find themselves". At one time both parents and two children were all in college at the same time. Dan built a house for my parents just one block away so they could be closer to us as they were becoming less independent.
But time marches on and children establish their own homes in 5 different states, our parents do not live forever and our own needs and wants change. I'm not sure our needs and wants change as much as our sense that we now have the freedom and abilities to pursue some of our dreams which may have been put on the back burner. We neither one have a sense of "coming home" to this house.
We so enjoyed our three months in Seattle. Dash Point State Park is actually located on Puget Sound in Federal Way, just south of Seattle; about 25 miles from Gretchen's house. We were maintenance volunteers at the park. Our campsite certainly didn't have the "it" factor as we were parked across from the office and maintenance buildings. But we did have a nice big grassy yard and met and worked with a fabulous group of park rangers and park staff. And we were able to set our own hours independent of the campground hosts, so we could come and go as we pleased. This was especially helpful as Gretchen needed quite a bit of help after Edie was born. Our previous visits to Seattle with the motorhome we had parked in Gretchen and Rodney's back yard in West Seattle, and that was beginning to feel like "home." I'm sure if we volunteer at Dash Point again, we'll feel right at home.
Here are some pictures of our site at Dash Point.
This is the entrance sign on the beach side of the park. Our site was about 400 ft to the right of this sign.
The entrance booth to the beach and day use area looking toward out campsite. This was my work station on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons as I passed out trail maps, answered questions, gave directions, and reminded visitors of the donation box. Dash Point SP is supported by the state, but all donations are used for improvements and projects at the park that are not covered in the regular budget. The 400 acre park is located within the city of Federal Way, and is heavily used by the local neighborhood families.
Our motorhome is visible in the background. You can see, I didn't have far to walk to work, and Dan just walked across the street to the maintenance area where he repaired and revamped all the old wooden picnic tables. He recycled the usable wood and bolts and used other recycled wood that was leftover from other projects.
Lucy and Grandpa blowing bubbles in our
yard next to the motorhome.
Just relaxing. Notice Grandpa and Lucy's legs. The office is in the background just across the street from our campsite.
This is Edie and her mom. Edie was asleep in the motorhome when the other pictures were taken.As I said before, we felt right at home at Dash Point and look forward to returning in the future. And we get to see spend more time with our granddaughters and their mom and dad also.
We left Seatle and headed toward Colorado to visit our grandsons in Carbondale, CO. How about this scene as we approach Redstone Campground in the White River National Forest just 13 miles south of Carbondale? That's Mt Sopris. It never fails to invoke a sense of awe in me. Mt. Sopris is on the northern edge of the Elk Range and its twin summits are 12, 935 ft tall. It sits at the confluence of the Crystal River and Roaring Fork River, both noted for their trout fishing. The Crystal River flows right by Redstone Campground.
One of our favorite campsites at Redstone Campground. And since it is a National Forest Campground we're able to use our Federal Senior Discount Pass and cut the fee by 1/2. There is a $5/day charge for electricity which is not discounted.
We really do feel like we've come home when we pull into Redstone.
And here are Isaac and Elijah
So, even though we no longer live in a "sticks & brick", and we hope to be rid of it very soon; we make each place we stay our home. Some are more special than others, but we feel very comfortable in our home on wheels. We have everything we need with us and have found that we just don't have the "wants" that we used to. Our biggest "want" is that our kids didn't live so far apart (diesel fuel isn't inexpensive), but I can't think of a better way to see this wonderful country, meet new people every day, and spend as much time as we want in various parts of the country.
More about what we're doing this fall in a later post.
Till the next time..........
Friday, July 03, 2009
Just a Short Note
Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are doing great. We are getting acquainted at Dash Point State Park (located on Puget Sound)just south of Seattle. We'll be volunteering here until the end of September before heading off to the RV-Dreams rally in Kerrville, TX. www.rv-dreams.com
We've actually had a very good spring - still don't have the house ready to sell - but in this market that's probably just as well since we're not interested in taking a loss on it at this time. Our neighbors are doing a wonderful job taking care of the house and we really don't have many expenses with it.
We left Rochester on June 2 and arrived here on Tuesday, June 23. I'll post more this weekend with pictures of our grandsons in Colorado and granddaughters here in Seattle.
More later.......
We've actually had a very good spring - still don't have the house ready to sell - but in this market that's probably just as well since we're not interested in taking a loss on it at this time. Our neighbors are doing a wonderful job taking care of the house and we really don't have many expenses with it.
We left Rochester on June 2 and arrived here on Tuesday, June 23. I'll post more this weekend with pictures of our grandsons in Colorado and granddaughters here in Seattle.
More later.......
Friday, January 23, 2009
Almost Ready to Go South! YEAH!!!
Plans are to leave Sunday for warmer weather.
We spent Thursday in Rochester doing some maintanence on the motorhome, and getting haircuts. We took some of the stuff we've accumulated here at the Beever's back to the motorhome. Still have to take our clothes and a few personal items on Sunday morning. Didn't realize how much stuff we had brought into the house until I started gathering it all up.
Dan had a loading ramp installed in the bed of the pickup truck to load the motorcycle, but was having some issues with the battery and getting it to work correctly. So he went back today and the good guys at Trailer Masters were able to get things in proper working order and even threw in some free parts. Dan has always had a lot of confidence in their work and they sure came through again. And the local propane dealer came to the motorhome and filled the propane tank. We'll fill the water tank about 1/2 full Sunday morning, just so we have some water on board. Don't want to run the risk of freezing before we get out of Illinois.
Plan to stop at Walmart or Sam's Club at Clarksville, TN (near Fort Campbell) Sunday night, then try to get to southern Georgia on Monday. I'm looking forward to staying about a week in one place, just to unwind and get the motorhome all cleaned up on the inside. It was washed when Dan had the oil changed a couple of weeks ago, but the inside is really a mess. What with being on the farm and the wind, the inside is really dusty and then we moved it back to Rochester. Even if it had been here at the Beever's, it's been to cold and messy to leave the slides out to clean.
Dan's brothers are headed to Florida, so we'll meet up with them sometime in the next few weeks. And we'll be going to the Daytona 500!!! YEAH, first Nascar race this year.
I'm sure there'll be some tears when we leave here, but it's time to get back on the road and resume this lifestyle. Changing backyards, open sky, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, meeting new people, visiting new places and just enjoying each new day.
See you down the road
We spent Thursday in Rochester doing some maintanence on the motorhome, and getting haircuts. We took some of the stuff we've accumulated here at the Beever's back to the motorhome. Still have to take our clothes and a few personal items on Sunday morning. Didn't realize how much stuff we had brought into the house until I started gathering it all up.
Dan had a loading ramp installed in the bed of the pickup truck to load the motorcycle, but was having some issues with the battery and getting it to work correctly. So he went back today and the good guys at Trailer Masters were able to get things in proper working order and even threw in some free parts. Dan has always had a lot of confidence in their work and they sure came through again. And the local propane dealer came to the motorhome and filled the propane tank. We'll fill the water tank about 1/2 full Sunday morning, just so we have some water on board. Don't want to run the risk of freezing before we get out of Illinois.
Plan to stop at Walmart or Sam's Club at Clarksville, TN (near Fort Campbell) Sunday night, then try to get to southern Georgia on Monday. I'm looking forward to staying about a week in one place, just to unwind and get the motorhome all cleaned up on the inside. It was washed when Dan had the oil changed a couple of weeks ago, but the inside is really a mess. What with being on the farm and the wind, the inside is really dusty and then we moved it back to Rochester. Even if it had been here at the Beever's, it's been to cold and messy to leave the slides out to clean.
Dan's brothers are headed to Florida, so we'll meet up with them sometime in the next few weeks. And we'll be going to the Daytona 500!!! YEAH, first Nascar race this year.
I'm sure there'll be some tears when we leave here, but it's time to get back on the road and resume this lifestyle. Changing backyards, open sky, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, meeting new people, visiting new places and just enjoying each new day.
See you down the road
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in Utah and Colorful Colorado
We left Idaho on Sep 10 and stayed overnight at Yuba State Park at Scipio, Utah on our way to Colorado. We decided at the last minute to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and planned to stay at Dead Horse Point State Park which is located right between the two national parks. Their campground was full so the ranger directed us to Horsethief Campground just outside the state park on BLM land. This park is in the high desert and was just fabulous. No water, we already had a full tank because the state park doesn't have water; but 30 amp electric. Here is a picture of our site at Horsethief CG.
And with being so far from any town, and no artificial lighting in the park, I was able to get some great sunset pictures from our site.
We spent one day exploring Canyonlands National Park from the "Island in the Sky" mesa at the north side and another at Arches NP. Both parks really require a lot more time, but we had tentatively told the kids we would arrive on Saturday.
Here are slideshows from both parks. The first two are from Arches NP and the last is Canyonlands. Place your mouse over the bottom of the picture to bring up the toolbar.
We did do some "off the main road" driving and walked several short trails. We will for sure be going back to spend more time at these two beautiful parks and will probably stay again at the BLM campground.
On Saturday morning we left the high desert of southeastern Utah and headed for Colorful Colorado and its tall mountains, mountain rivers and tall pine trees.
We arrived at Redstone Campground in the White River National Forest about 3:00 pm after a really easy drive. The campground is about 15 miles south of Carbondale, CO where Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac live. Tim is our oldest child and if you've been following our blog you know we were here in June/July to help them get moved into their new house. They moved from flat, hot, high humidity McKinney, Texas to mountains, rivers, fly fishing, low humidity Colorado. And they seem to have settled in real well.
Dan's brother, Larry and his wife Phyllis, arrived on Sunday and parked right across from us at Redstone.
Don't you just love that scenery?
Redstone is a National Forest Campground (managed by Thousand Trails), so our Golden Age Passport allows for 1/2 price camping. Regular price is $25 + $5 for electric. We pay $12.50 + $5 for electric. We use 2 small electric heaters at night rather than use the propane furnace. There is one non-hookup loop and 2 loops with electric and water. No dump station so we have to be sure we have empty waste tanks when we come in. They do have showers with solar heated water, so at this time of the year it is wise to take evening showers because the water really cools off overnight. :)
Tim and Karen were especially glad to have us visit again since Karen's boss had called her back to Memphis for 2 days. Karen works from home for Hilton. He wouldn't tell her the reason she needed to come back, but did say "it is all good." Dan took her to the Aspen airport Tuesday morning R 7:30 and she'll return Friday morning. Soooo, we are all waiting to hear from her tonight. Elijah started in a new preschool on Tuesday, so Grandpa and Grandma are spending the days with Isaac at home. Elijah's school is in El Jelbel, about 20 minutes from their house, and on the way to Basalt where Tim works. Elijah really likes his new school. He was missing going to school and having a routine to his days.
Meet Isaac and Elijah
We haven't been spending much time in the campground, but are looking forward to having the kids come out on Saturday for a weiner roast and s'mores. The boys should really enjoy that, especially since there are lots of chipmunks in the campground and they may get to see some deer. I bet their dad does some fishing in the Crystal River which flows right past the campground. :)
I think that just about gets this blog up to date again. As I've said before, we are really enjoying this lifestyle. Not sure where we'll end up after leaving here. Will check out the maps and see what tweaks our curiosity.
More later........
And with being so far from any town, and no artificial lighting in the park, I was able to get some great sunset pictures from our site.
We spent one day exploring Canyonlands National Park from the "Island in the Sky" mesa at the north side and another at Arches NP. Both parks really require a lot more time, but we had tentatively told the kids we would arrive on Saturday.
Here are slideshows from both parks. The first two are from Arches NP and the last is Canyonlands. Place your mouse over the bottom of the picture to bring up the toolbar.
We did do some "off the main road" driving and walked several short trails. We will for sure be going back to spend more time at these two beautiful parks and will probably stay again at the BLM campground.
On Saturday morning we left the high desert of southeastern Utah and headed for Colorful Colorado and its tall mountains, mountain rivers and tall pine trees.
We arrived at Redstone Campground in the White River National Forest about 3:00 pm after a really easy drive. The campground is about 15 miles south of Carbondale, CO where Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac live. Tim is our oldest child and if you've been following our blog you know we were here in June/July to help them get moved into their new house. They moved from flat, hot, high humidity McKinney, Texas to mountains, rivers, fly fishing, low humidity Colorado. And they seem to have settled in real well.
Dan's brother, Larry and his wife Phyllis, arrived on Sunday and parked right across from us at Redstone.
Don't you just love that scenery?
Redstone is a National Forest Campground (managed by Thousand Trails), so our Golden Age Passport allows for 1/2 price camping. Regular price is $25 + $5 for electric. We pay $12.50 + $5 for electric. We use 2 small electric heaters at night rather than use the propane furnace. There is one non-hookup loop and 2 loops with electric and water. No dump station so we have to be sure we have empty waste tanks when we come in. They do have showers with solar heated water, so at this time of the year it is wise to take evening showers because the water really cools off overnight. :)
Tim and Karen were especially glad to have us visit again since Karen's boss had called her back to Memphis for 2 days. Karen works from home for Hilton. He wouldn't tell her the reason she needed to come back, but did say "it is all good." Dan took her to the Aspen airport Tuesday morning R 7:30 and she'll return Friday morning. Soooo, we are all waiting to hear from her tonight. Elijah started in a new preschool on Tuesday, so Grandpa and Grandma are spending the days with Isaac at home. Elijah's school is in El Jelbel, about 20 minutes from their house, and on the way to Basalt where Tim works. Elijah really likes his new school. He was missing going to school and having a routine to his days.
Meet Isaac and Elijah
We haven't been spending much time in the campground, but are looking forward to having the kids come out on Saturday for a weiner roast and s'mores. The boys should really enjoy that, especially since there are lots of chipmunks in the campground and they may get to see some deer. I bet their dad does some fishing in the Crystal River which flows right past the campground. :)
I think that just about gets this blog up to date again. As I've said before, we are really enjoying this lifestyle. Not sure where we'll end up after leaving here. Will check out the maps and see what tweaks our curiosity.
More later........
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Catching up and Sadness
I sincerely apologize to everyone who keeps checking the blog to see where we are and what we are doing. We are just fine. In excellent health and just enjoying the freedom of this great lifestyle. But,,,,,, you knew there was a "but"
When I last posted, Stephanie and Erin had left Seattle and Lucy and her parents were in Florida; and we were expecting to leave Seattle around the 27th or 28th of August. The O'Byrne's arrived back in Seattle on Sunday, August 24th (Gretchen's birthday) and we had decided that we would leave on Tuesday or Wednesday, staying just long enough with Lucy to reacquaint with her, but not so long as to get back in a routine. Leaving a 2-year-old can be difficult for all concerned.
So we were making sure the webcams worked and talking about leaving when we received a call from Dan's older brother on Monday, August 25th telling us that their nephew, Scott Brogdon, Dave's forty-one year old son, was missing. Dave is Dan's younger brother. Scott had talked with some family members about ending his life. When we learned on Monday that Scott's body had been found in the Illinois River, Dan decided to fly back to Illinois to be with his brother and family. We were able to get a flight leaving on Tuesday through St. Louis and into Springfield where our wonderful neighbors picked him up at 9:55pm.
Scott ended his life by walking into the Illinois River, probably on Saturday, when he last spoke to his family. He had a long history of problems with alcohol and apparently just was not able to cope with his life as he saw it. He leaves behind a 20 year old son from a previous marriage and a current wife and her children, plus his parents, a brother and two half-sisters, and aunts, uncles and cousins. He will certainly be missed. We continue to keep his family in our prayers.
Sooo, Dan returned to Seattle on Saturday, August 30th. I spent the time while he was gone just being with Gretchen and her family. We didn't do a lot, but just hung out together.
We left Seattle on Labor Day for the southeastern part of Washington and spent several days near Pasco, WA at Hood Park, a Corps of Engineer park, near the confluence of the Yakima, Snake and Columbia Rivers. This park is one of the most beautiful parks we've been in. Since southeastern Washington doesn't get much rain, irrigation is everywhere. So the parks are just beautiful. There is a lot of space between the sites at Hood River with many large trees. We did not have satellite TV, but I was able to get on the Internet with my aircard. But I just couldn't get up the energy to bring the blog up to date. We really just chilled out and enjoyed the scenery. Went for several drives and visited Sacajawea State Park where Lewis and Clark camped and otherwise just generally hung out.
We had been pretty busy since we left home on June 2nd with a wedding, an RV rally, visiting with family in Denver and Carbondale, Co, having Erin with us all summer and spending a month at Lucy's house, plus the sadness of Scott's passing.
We then spent the last few days at Three Islands Crossing State Park near Glenns Ferry, ID. This was the site of the last and one of the worst crossings of the Snake River for the pioneers heading to Oregon. Another beautiful park with lots of space between sites. I know, I sound like I don't like neighbors, but that's not true. We both enjoy visiting with fellow RVers and go out of our way to meet people, but we have lived in a subdivision for many years and really enjoy looking at the scenery and not the side of an RV parked next to us. So, we really like COE, national forests and state parks.
We're moving to Massacre Rock State Park, close to American Falls, ID tomorrow for a few days. Plan to visit the replica of Fort Hall at Pocatello, ID. Fort Hall was one of the last opportunities for the pioneers to restock supplies. And there are some scenic drives in the area. We have really enjoyed following parts of the Mormom Trail and Oregon Trail. And we've also crossed part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. And we are really enjoying our mode of transportation as compared to those early settlers. :)
I'll post some pictures of the contrast between the farm land and mountains in this area. This part of Idaho gets very little rain and relies entirely on irrigation from the Snake river. The main crops are sugar beets, potatoes, hay and straw. The green of the irrigated fields next to the dry, sagebrush, tan/brown mountains is quite a contrast. There are huge stacks of BIG bales of straw in the fields. And since the rainfall is so scarce, they are are not covered with tarps like they would be in Illinois.
We're making our way toward Carbondale, CO to visit with Elijah and Isaac and their parents again as we make our way back toward Illinois.
Really do like this slow pace and the freedom of this lifestyle.
More later.......
When I last posted, Stephanie and Erin had left Seattle and Lucy and her parents were in Florida; and we were expecting to leave Seattle around the 27th or 28th of August. The O'Byrne's arrived back in Seattle on Sunday, August 24th (Gretchen's birthday) and we had decided that we would leave on Tuesday or Wednesday, staying just long enough with Lucy to reacquaint with her, but not so long as to get back in a routine. Leaving a 2-year-old can be difficult for all concerned.
So we were making sure the webcams worked and talking about leaving when we received a call from Dan's older brother on Monday, August 25th telling us that their nephew, Scott Brogdon, Dave's forty-one year old son, was missing. Dave is Dan's younger brother. Scott had talked with some family members about ending his life. When we learned on Monday that Scott's body had been found in the Illinois River, Dan decided to fly back to Illinois to be with his brother and family. We were able to get a flight leaving on Tuesday through St. Louis and into Springfield where our wonderful neighbors picked him up at 9:55pm.
Scott ended his life by walking into the Illinois River, probably on Saturday, when he last spoke to his family. He had a long history of problems with alcohol and apparently just was not able to cope with his life as he saw it. He leaves behind a 20 year old son from a previous marriage and a current wife and her children, plus his parents, a brother and two half-sisters, and aunts, uncles and cousins. He will certainly be missed. We continue to keep his family in our prayers.
Sooo, Dan returned to Seattle on Saturday, August 30th. I spent the time while he was gone just being with Gretchen and her family. We didn't do a lot, but just hung out together.
We left Seattle on Labor Day for the southeastern part of Washington and spent several days near Pasco, WA at Hood Park, a Corps of Engineer park, near the confluence of the Yakima, Snake and Columbia Rivers. This park is one of the most beautiful parks we've been in. Since southeastern Washington doesn't get much rain, irrigation is everywhere. So the parks are just beautiful. There is a lot of space between the sites at Hood River with many large trees. We did not have satellite TV, but I was able to get on the Internet with my aircard. But I just couldn't get up the energy to bring the blog up to date. We really just chilled out and enjoyed the scenery. Went for several drives and visited Sacajawea State Park where Lewis and Clark camped and otherwise just generally hung out.
We had been pretty busy since we left home on June 2nd with a wedding, an RV rally, visiting with family in Denver and Carbondale, Co, having Erin with us all summer and spending a month at Lucy's house, plus the sadness of Scott's passing.
We then spent the last few days at Three Islands Crossing State Park near Glenns Ferry, ID. This was the site of the last and one of the worst crossings of the Snake River for the pioneers heading to Oregon. Another beautiful park with lots of space between sites. I know, I sound like I don't like neighbors, but that's not true. We both enjoy visiting with fellow RVers and go out of our way to meet people, but we have lived in a subdivision for many years and really enjoy looking at the scenery and not the side of an RV parked next to us. So, we really like COE, national forests and state parks.
We're moving to Massacre Rock State Park, close to American Falls, ID tomorrow for a few days. Plan to visit the replica of Fort Hall at Pocatello, ID. Fort Hall was one of the last opportunities for the pioneers to restock supplies. And there are some scenic drives in the area. We have really enjoyed following parts of the Mormom Trail and Oregon Trail. And we've also crossed part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. And we are really enjoying our mode of transportation as compared to those early settlers. :)
I'll post some pictures of the contrast between the farm land and mountains in this area. This part of Idaho gets very little rain and relies entirely on irrigation from the Snake river. The main crops are sugar beets, potatoes, hay and straw. The green of the irrigated fields next to the dry, sagebrush, tan/brown mountains is quite a contrast. There are huge stacks of BIG bales of straw in the fields. And since the rainfall is so scarce, they are are not covered with tarps like they would be in Illinois.
We're making our way toward Carbondale, CO to visit with Elijah and Isaac and their parents again as we make our way back toward Illinois.
Really do like this slow pace and the freedom of this lifestyle.
More later.......
Thursday, August 21, 2008
House Sitting, Dog Sitting and Just Hanging Out in Seattle
I realized it's been a over a week since I last posted. A lot has happened since then.
Currently, Dan and I are "home alone" with three dogs. Erin's mom came and took her home and Rodney, Gretchen and Lucy have gone to Florida for Rodney's brother's 40th birthday. So it's just us and Murphy, Jack and Kasey. Gretchen adopted Murphy not too long after she moved to Seattle. He is a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix and is about 10 years old. He had been abused and Gretchen spent a lot of time and effort to rehab him. Murphy and Lucy get along really well. She climbs all over him and loves to take him for walks. He is a big dog, but never pulls on the leash with Lucy and if she stops, he does too.
Not sure what breed Jack is, but Rodney adopted him shortly after starting college. Jack is about sixteen years old and is in failing health. He has a large growth on his side, is deaf and partially blind and has mobility issues. He has lost his peripheral vision and doesn't like being surprised from the side. But he has been trotting out to see me when I come into the back yard. Gretchen and Rodney have taught Lucy not to bother Jack and she really does leave him alone.
And of course, Kasey is in the middle of everything. He is four years old and would like to play, but the senior citizen dogs would rather just take it easy.
So we're caring for the dogs, sitting out in the yard (when it's not raining - it's rained quite a bit the past few days, but was sunny today), watching the Olympics, picking zucchini, playing with the dogs, watching the Olympics, ....... You get the picture.
So, what were we doing before everyone left? Stephanie arrived on Wednesday, August 13th. Erin was really glad to see her mom. They both left this Wednesday. Erin's first day of school as a sixth grader was today. We really enjoyed having her with us this summer. And we all enjoyed our time with Stephanie and Erin this past week. They stayed in the motorhome with us, and enjoyed having breakfast with Lucy every day and just hanging out with family. We did go to Pike's Market one day and Stephanie and Dan did a four-hour hike up Mount Si another day.
And Stephanie made a wonderful blackberry cobbler with blackberries picked from the blackberry patch just across the street. Blackberries grow wild all over Seattle and most people don't even pick them. You can see by the pictures just how difficult it is to pick them. And the big ones are always just out of reach. :)
But just see the results of all that hard work. And they picked enough to freeze some too.
As I mentioned earlier, the O'Byrne's are in Florida. They'll be back Sunday morning. We took them to the airport Tuesday evening and they flew nonstop from Seattle to Miami, arriving in Miami about 3:00am. Then Wednesday morning, at 6:15, we took Erin and her mom to the airport. And we will pick up some friends of Gretchen's on Friday morning when they return from vacation. (Gail took them to the airport on Monday last week). We could probably drive to the airport blindfolded. :)
Yesterday, Dan and I drove to Everett, north of Seattle, and visited the Boeing assembly plant. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but we did see the most recent plane in production, the 787, Dreamliner. Dan always enjoys visiting any airplane facility. He spent four years in the Air Force, but had nothing to do with planes.
And today we attended the fall RV show at Qwest Center in Seattle. It's always fun to check out the newest RV's and see the changes. We have no plans to trade our motorhome. We are very happy with it even though we do have some issues to be addressed this fall with the manufacturer. But our Mandalay came with a three year warranty and the manufacturer has honored that warranty as we've had some things fixed. And they allowed us to get most of the work done in Springfield, IL at a local RV dealer before we started fulltiming. However, we wanted to take it back to the manufacturer before the warranty expires in November for a couple of issues and some minor things which we've found since we began fulltiming in June. So we'll be in Elkhart, IN toward the end of October. We may have to leave the motorhome there for several days since some part of the work may not allow for us to stay in it while they work on it. If so, we may just stay in Monticello with the Beever's (Erin's family). Sure don't need to decide that now.
So, we are enjoying a little down time as we house sit and take care of the dogs. And we've started thinking about where to head to when we leave here next week. We know we'll be going east, but haven't settled on anything else. We've talked about stopping off in Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac for a few days. We sure do want to see those boys again.
We'll head east on I-90 about next Wednesday and see where we end up. It's sure great to have so many choices in this lifestyle, and to know that the only big decision we have to make is where we'll park for the night. There may be a few others, but I can't think of them right now.
More later.......
Currently, Dan and I are "home alone" with three dogs. Erin's mom came and took her home and Rodney, Gretchen and Lucy have gone to Florida for Rodney's brother's 40th birthday. So it's just us and Murphy, Jack and Kasey. Gretchen adopted Murphy not too long after she moved to Seattle. He is a German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix and is about 10 years old. He had been abused and Gretchen spent a lot of time and effort to rehab him. Murphy and Lucy get along really well. She climbs all over him and loves to take him for walks. He is a big dog, but never pulls on the leash with Lucy and if she stops, he does too.
Not sure what breed Jack is, but Rodney adopted him shortly after starting college. Jack is about sixteen years old and is in failing health. He has a large growth on his side, is deaf and partially blind and has mobility issues. He has lost his peripheral vision and doesn't like being surprised from the side. But he has been trotting out to see me when I come into the back yard. Gretchen and Rodney have taught Lucy not to bother Jack and she really does leave him alone.
And of course, Kasey is in the middle of everything. He is four years old and would like to play, but the senior citizen dogs would rather just take it easy.
So we're caring for the dogs, sitting out in the yard (when it's not raining - it's rained quite a bit the past few days, but was sunny today), watching the Olympics, picking zucchini, playing with the dogs, watching the Olympics, ....... You get the picture.
So, what were we doing before everyone left? Stephanie arrived on Wednesday, August 13th. Erin was really glad to see her mom. They both left this Wednesday. Erin's first day of school as a sixth grader was today. We really enjoyed having her with us this summer. And we all enjoyed our time with Stephanie and Erin this past week. They stayed in the motorhome with us, and enjoyed having breakfast with Lucy every day and just hanging out with family. We did go to Pike's Market one day and Stephanie and Dan did a four-hour hike up Mount Si another day.
And Stephanie made a wonderful blackberry cobbler with blackberries picked from the blackberry patch just across the street. Blackberries grow wild all over Seattle and most people don't even pick them. You can see by the pictures just how difficult it is to pick them. And the big ones are always just out of reach. :)
But just see the results of all that hard work. And they picked enough to freeze some too.
As I mentioned earlier, the O'Byrne's are in Florida. They'll be back Sunday morning. We took them to the airport Tuesday evening and they flew nonstop from Seattle to Miami, arriving in Miami about 3:00am. Then Wednesday morning, at 6:15, we took Erin and her mom to the airport. And we will pick up some friends of Gretchen's on Friday morning when they return from vacation. (Gail took them to the airport on Monday last week). We could probably drive to the airport blindfolded. :)
Yesterday, Dan and I drove to Everett, north of Seattle, and visited the Boeing assembly plant. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but we did see the most recent plane in production, the 787, Dreamliner. Dan always enjoys visiting any airplane facility. He spent four years in the Air Force, but had nothing to do with planes.
And today we attended the fall RV show at Qwest Center in Seattle. It's always fun to check out the newest RV's and see the changes. We have no plans to trade our motorhome. We are very happy with it even though we do have some issues to be addressed this fall with the manufacturer. But our Mandalay came with a three year warranty and the manufacturer has honored that warranty as we've had some things fixed. And they allowed us to get most of the work done in Springfield, IL at a local RV dealer before we started fulltiming. However, we wanted to take it back to the manufacturer before the warranty expires in November for a couple of issues and some minor things which we've found since we began fulltiming in June. So we'll be in Elkhart, IN toward the end of October. We may have to leave the motorhome there for several days since some part of the work may not allow for us to stay in it while they work on it. If so, we may just stay in Monticello with the Beever's (Erin's family). Sure don't need to decide that now.
So, we are enjoying a little down time as we house sit and take care of the dogs. And we've started thinking about where to head to when we leave here next week. We know we'll be going east, but haven't settled on anything else. We've talked about stopping off in Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac for a few days. We sure do want to see those boys again.
We'll head east on I-90 about next Wednesday and see where we end up. It's sure great to have so many choices in this lifestyle, and to know that the only big decision we have to make is where we'll park for the night. There may be a few others, but I can't think of them right now.
More later.......
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Parked at Lucy's House, Playhouse, Birthday Party
Thought you might like to see our 40' motorhome parked behind Lucy's house (and the neighbor's house).
Dan drove down the alley and parallel parked between Gretchen & Rodney's blue garage and the neighbor's brother's small travel trailer. And there is a chain link/wooden fence on the other side of the motorhome. Several times he has commented, "I don't know how I did that."
Just another view of the narrow alley and the local "campground".
We are really enjoying being right in the kids back yard. Lucy and her mom have had breakfast with us and it is so nice to be able to go back and forth between houses. Makes it a lot easier to prepare meals and share food. We've enjoyed playing table games at our house after Lucy has gone to bed (with the baby monitor on); and it's nice to have our own space to retreat to without having to drive to a campground. Plus we get to sleep in our own bed every night. :) And it feels more like family time rather than just visiting. Erin has really enjoyed playing with Lucy and is earning some babysitting money.
Grandpa has been building Lucy's playhouse, so I've included some pictures. It now has a roof. The back wall is not on yet, and the door will probably be installed tomorrow or Saturday. Grandpa has been visiting the shipyard to see a fleet of ships that came in this week; and the Blue Angels are at the airport. So for those of you who may not know, Dan has a real interest in ships and airplanes, so he gets time off for some fun.
We celebrated Lucy's second birthday yesterday. The Adams family, Frank, Maggie, Bridget, Nick and Matthew came to supper along with Ella and her mom and dad, Pauline and Bill. More pictures of the birthday girl and her friends.
Notice the "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" on the side of the playhouse for Lucy's birthday party.
Terri, the neighbor who is sharing her backyard with a motorhome, gave us some bing cherries from her tree. Erin pitted them, with the cherry pitter, and Rodney showed Lucy how to put them on her fingers. Of course she now has to put her cherries on her fingers before eating them.
We are really enjoying this time in Seattle with our family.
More later......
Dan drove down the alley and parallel parked between Gretchen & Rodney's blue garage and the neighbor's brother's small travel trailer. And there is a chain link/wooden fence on the other side of the motorhome. Several times he has commented, "I don't know how I did that."
Just another view of the narrow alley and the local "campground".
We are really enjoying being right in the kids back yard. Lucy and her mom have had breakfast with us and it is so nice to be able to go back and forth between houses. Makes it a lot easier to prepare meals and share food. We've enjoyed playing table games at our house after Lucy has gone to bed (with the baby monitor on); and it's nice to have our own space to retreat to without having to drive to a campground. Plus we get to sleep in our own bed every night. :) And it feels more like family time rather than just visiting. Erin has really enjoyed playing with Lucy and is earning some babysitting money.
Grandpa has been building Lucy's playhouse, so I've included some pictures. It now has a roof. The back wall is not on yet, and the door will probably be installed tomorrow or Saturday. Grandpa has been visiting the shipyard to see a fleet of ships that came in this week; and the Blue Angels are at the airport. So for those of you who may not know, Dan has a real interest in ships and airplanes, so he gets time off for some fun.
We celebrated Lucy's second birthday yesterday. The Adams family, Frank, Maggie, Bridget, Nick and Matthew came to supper along with Ella and her mom and dad, Pauline and Bill. More pictures of the birthday girl and her friends.
Notice the "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" on the side of the playhouse for Lucy's birthday party.
Terri, the neighbor who is sharing her backyard with a motorhome, gave us some bing cherries from her tree. Erin pitted them, with the cherry pitter, and Rodney showed Lucy how to put them on her fingers. Of course she now has to put her cherries on her fingers before eating them.
We are really enjoying this time in Seattle with our family.
More later......
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Wading Pool, Airplanes and Chalk Drawing
If "Variety is the Spice of Life", then being in the company of a two-year-old provides lots of spice. Yesterday afternoon we walked to the neighborhood park about three blocks from Lucy's house. (I haven't forgotten that Lucy has parents, Rodney and Gretchen) - It's just easier to type "Lucy".
For those of you who may not know, Gretchen is our fourth child, and third daughter. She is married to Rodney and Lucy Marie is their daughter. Lucy's middle name is the same Gail's mother's middle name. Gretchen moved to Seattle in 1997, met Rodney and subsequently Lucy was added to our family.
Now, back to this post. Two dogs live at Lucy's house. Jack is sixteen years old and came to live with Rodney during Rodney's college years. Jack is getting very feeble, blind and deaf. He is living out his life as the senior member of a very loving family. Murphy was adopted by Gretchen when he was five months old, not too long after she moved to Seattle. He is a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix. Murphy didn't really interact with Lucy until she started crawling and walking; and now he certainly is her dog. She climbs on him, tries to ride him and just generally gets along well with him. And he is very tolerant of her. She leads Murphy down the sidewalk all by herself. As you can see from this picture, she is leading Murphy. He slowly trots along and she runs behind holding his leash. If she so much as tugs on his leash, he stops and waits for her to start again. They really do have a unique relationship.
Lucy loved playing with her cousin, Erin, in the wading pool.
Today we went to the King County Airport to see the display of planes celebrating the airport's 80th anniversary. Since grandpa has such an interest in airplanes, Gretchen thought he might really enjoy this. Here's a few pictures of the day.
Lucy following Grandpa up into a plane
Erin and Gretchen dressed in part of the Airport firefighter's gear. Hope we don't need them in a emergency.
Lucy and a firefighter in the cab of the fire truck
Grandpa at the controls of a small aircraft
Lucy in the same plane Grandpa had been in; listening to the chatter from the tower
The Chalk Corner in the children's area
Erin and Lucy drawing with chalk around Gretchen
Lucy wanted Grandpa to draw around her feet
Not much else to report for today. Nap for the toddler, played a new game with Erin, Rodney cooked steaks for supper, had S'mores for dessert. Gretchen, Rodney and Erin have gone to a park to see an outdoor movie, so Grandpa and Grandma are babysitting. Lucy is sleeping and Grandma is getting this post done. Sorry about the sizing of the pictures. Not sure what happened, but I uploaded some directly to the blog and some were copied from Web Albums. Please forgive the different sizes. I'll do better next time.
More later.....
For those of you who may not know, Gretchen is our fourth child, and third daughter. She is married to Rodney and Lucy Marie is their daughter. Lucy's middle name is the same Gail's mother's middle name. Gretchen moved to Seattle in 1997, met Rodney and subsequently Lucy was added to our family.
Now, back to this post. Two dogs live at Lucy's house. Jack is sixteen years old and came to live with Rodney during Rodney's college years. Jack is getting very feeble, blind and deaf. He is living out his life as the senior member of a very loving family. Murphy was adopted by Gretchen when he was five months old, not too long after she moved to Seattle. He is a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix. Murphy didn't really interact with Lucy until she started crawling and walking; and now he certainly is her dog. She climbs on him, tries to ride him and just generally gets along well with him. And he is very tolerant of her. She leads Murphy down the sidewalk all by herself. As you can see from this picture, she is leading Murphy. He slowly trots along and she runs behind holding his leash. If she so much as tugs on his leash, he stops and waits for her to start again. They really do have a unique relationship.
Lucy loved playing with her cousin, Erin, in the wading pool.
Today we went to the King County Airport to see the display of planes celebrating the airport's 80th anniversary. Since grandpa has such an interest in airplanes, Gretchen thought he might really enjoy this. Here's a few pictures of the day.
Lucy following Grandpa up into a plane
Erin and Gretchen dressed in part of the Airport firefighter's gear. Hope we don't need them in a emergency.
Lucy and a firefighter in the cab of the fire truck
Grandpa at the controls of a small aircraft
Lucy in the same plane Grandpa had been in; listening to the chatter from the tower
The Chalk Corner in the children's area
Erin and Lucy drawing with chalk around Gretchen
Lucy wanted Grandpa to draw around her feet
Not much else to report for today. Nap for the toddler, played a new game with Erin, Rodney cooked steaks for supper, had S'mores for dessert. Gretchen, Rodney and Erin have gone to a park to see an outdoor movie, so Grandpa and Grandma are babysitting. Lucy is sleeping and Grandma is getting this post done. Sorry about the sizing of the pictures. Not sure what happened, but I uploaded some directly to the blog and some were copied from Web Albums. Please forgive the different sizes. I'll do better next time.
More later.....
Saturday, July 26, 2008
We're in Seattle :-)
Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!! We arrived at Lucy's house (our soon-to-be 2-year-old granddaughter) about 1:30 this afternoon. So glad to be here. Grandpa drove down the alley behind their house and backed the motorhome into the space behind their backyard. I'll post some pictures tomorrow to give you a sense of the space he had to work with. Gretchen & Rodney's neighbor's brother has a small trailer parked next to us, so we have our own little campground.
Walked to the park about three blocks away with Lucy and Gretchen so Lucy could play in the wading pool.
Dan and Rodney are going to an air show at King airfield on Saturday. Nothing else planned for the weekend.
Just relaxing.
More later.........
Walked to the park about three blocks away with Lucy and Gretchen so Lucy could play in the wading pool.
Dan and Rodney are going to an air show at King airfield on Saturday. Nothing else planned for the weekend.
Just relaxing.
More later.........
Friday, July 04, 2008
We've Been Sooooo Busy
We arrived at Redstone Campground in the White River Nat'l Forest south of Carbondale, CO on Friday, June 27 about 4:00pm after leaving Denver. Had to unhitch the truck about an hour out of Denver because the motorhome was overheating. Thought this problem had been resolved last year, but since we hadn't driven on steep grades until now we hadn't had any more problems with overheating. Sooooo, when we take the motorhome back to Elkhart, IN in October that will need to be looked at again. Otherwise, it was a great trip from Denver.
We have no cell phone service at the campground so I haven't posted on the blog for quite awhile. I do have excellent aircard service in Carbondale so can only get on the internet when we're in town. But we've been busy helping Tim and Karen so I've not taken the time to post to the blog until now. I'll just post a few comments and links to pictures we've taken of the beautiful scenery around here. The pictures should speak for themselves.
Tim, Karen, the boys and the moving truck arrived at their new house about the same time. The truck was just about empty when we got to the house, so we helped get the beds put together and tried to organize a few things. Last weekend was spent opening boxes and putting things away with the help of an 18 month old and 3 1/2 year old. But we accomplished a lot and the house actually looks pretty homey.
We have taken some rides into the mountains and taken many pictures. We sure are glad we have a 4-wheel drive vehicle so we can drive over some of the roads we've driven on.
I'll post the links to our Picasa Web Albums so you can see where we've been. Erin has also taken a lot of pictures and I'll include her pictures in the links.
We'll probably be leaving Colorado on Tuesday or Wednesday and I'll try to stay a little more up to date with posting.
So, more later.......
We have no cell phone service at the campground so I haven't posted on the blog for quite awhile. I do have excellent aircard service in Carbondale so can only get on the internet when we're in town. But we've been busy helping Tim and Karen so I've not taken the time to post to the blog until now. I'll just post a few comments and links to pictures we've taken of the beautiful scenery around here. The pictures should speak for themselves.
Tim, Karen, the boys and the moving truck arrived at their new house about the same time. The truck was just about empty when we got to the house, so we helped get the beds put together and tried to organize a few things. Last weekend was spent opening boxes and putting things away with the help of an 18 month old and 3 1/2 year old. But we accomplished a lot and the house actually looks pretty homey.
We have taken some rides into the mountains and taken many pictures. We sure are glad we have a 4-wheel drive vehicle so we can drive over some of the roads we've driven on.
I'll post the links to our Picasa Web Albums so you can see where we've been. Erin has also taken a lot of pictures and I'll include her pictures in the links.
We'll probably be leaving Colorado on Tuesday or Wednesday and I'll try to stay a little more up to date with posting.
So, more later.......
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Long Time Away
Just a note to let everyone know we are still among the living. We left Branson on June 15th and stayed for 4 days at a Corps of Engineer campground at Fall River, KS. NO CELL PHONE OR INTERNET SERVICE!!!! So was unable to update the blog.
Very relaxing after getting ready to start fulltiming, Sarah's wedding and the RV-Dreams rally.
But will try to get something posted this week. We are now in Burdett, KS visiting friends. We have known Roger and Elaine since 1972 when Dan and Roger were studying at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
Plan to spend a few days with these good friends and then move on to Colorado to see Tim and Karen's new house and visit with grandchildren, Elijah and Isaac.
More later......
Very relaxing after getting ready to start fulltiming, Sarah's wedding and the RV-Dreams rally.
But will try to get something posted this week. We are now in Burdett, KS visiting friends. We have known Roger and Elaine since 1972 when Dan and Roger were studying at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
Plan to spend a few days with these good friends and then move on to Colorado to see Tim and Karen's new house and visit with grandchildren, Elijah and Isaac.
More later......
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Storms, Rain and more Rain; Finally Sunshine!!!!
We stayed in Illinois an extra day because of the terrible thunderstorms. Had quite a scare Tuesday evening while returning to the Beever farm from a shopping trip in Champaign with my daughter and granddaughter. There are two options to get to their farm, both of which involve narrow gravel roads with low spots that flood. We did drive through some minor flooding on the road we took. About a mile from their house, in POURING rain, lightning struck in the field about 500 feet from the road. We saw flames as the lightning hit the ground. Even with all the water on the ground. It was quite a sight.
Needless to say, we sure were glad to get in the house. Dan and our grandsons were standing in the garage as we pulled up. We sure were happy to see them. :)
There was so much rain and standing water that Dan was a little concerned about the roads being soft due to all the rain, but we had no trouble with the motorhome when we left yesterday. Drove through about 6 inches of water in one place before we got on the blacktop road.
We are now parked at Sarah and Chad's out in the country (love the country) at Sugar Grove, OH. Sugar Grove is in the southeast part of Ohio with beautiful rolling hills and lots of timber. Deer walk across the backyard every morning. AND, the sun is shining.
All five of our children are here along with their families. They've come from Seattle, Texas, Illinois and Boston. Our six grandchildren range in ages from 19 down to 1 1/2. Plus there are two dogs and one cat to add to the mix. And Sarah and Chad will be celebrating their wedding on Saturday and adding two step-grandchildren to our family.
We celebrated Jennifer's 40th birthday last night with the usual hoopla from her 4 siblings. This tradition started when Tim turned 40 and has continued to grow with great gusto as each one has reached that milestone.
Lots happening this week. Not sure how much time I'll have to post this week, but will get some pictures up soon.
Thanks to all of you who commented about our blog. Looks like we'll be meeting several of you in Branson.
More later.....
Needless to say, we sure were glad to get in the house. Dan and our grandsons were standing in the garage as we pulled up. We sure were happy to see them. :)
There was so much rain and standing water that Dan was a little concerned about the roads being soft due to all the rain, but we had no trouble with the motorhome when we left yesterday. Drove through about 6 inches of water in one place before we got on the blacktop road.
We are now parked at Sarah and Chad's out in the country (love the country) at Sugar Grove, OH. Sugar Grove is in the southeast part of Ohio with beautiful rolling hills and lots of timber. Deer walk across the backyard every morning. AND, the sun is shining.
All five of our children are here along with their families. They've come from Seattle, Texas, Illinois and Boston. Our six grandchildren range in ages from 19 down to 1 1/2. Plus there are two dogs and one cat to add to the mix. And Sarah and Chad will be celebrating their wedding on Saturday and adding two step-grandchildren to our family.
We celebrated Jennifer's 40th birthday last night with the usual hoopla from her 4 siblings. This tradition started when Tim turned 40 and has continued to grow with great gusto as each one has reached that milestone.
Lots happening this week. Not sure how much time I'll have to post this week, but will get some pictures up soon.
Thanks to all of you who commented about our blog. Looks like we'll be meeting several of you in Branson.
More later.....
Monday, June 02, 2008
We ARE on Our Way !!!!!!!!!!!!
We left Rochester at 10:15 this morning on our first day of fulltime RVing. Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!!!
No, the house isn't sold, but it sure was nice to pull away from it. We built this house in 1977 and raised our family in it. Tim was a freshman in high school and Sarah was a baby. This is the house all our kids left from as they ventured out into the world. There are lots of memories in this house, but nothing to hold us to it any longer. As many of you have heard us say many times, "Our kids live in five different states from Washington to Massachusetts, including Illinois, Ohio and (soon to be) Colorado."
We are so looking forward to being able to spend time with each of them and their families as we travel, and take a grandchild with us once in awhile. Erin will be with us this summer.
So we begin our journey enjoying the freedom of traveling the open road, taking our home with us.
We still have some work to do on the house before putting it up for sale, and will get that done this fall.
Thanks to all of you who read our blog. Be sure to leave your comments.
More later...............
No, the house isn't sold, but it sure was nice to pull away from it. We built this house in 1977 and raised our family in it. Tim was a freshman in high school and Sarah was a baby. This is the house all our kids left from as they ventured out into the world. There are lots of memories in this house, but nothing to hold us to it any longer. As many of you have heard us say many times, "Our kids live in five different states from Washington to Massachusetts, including Illinois, Ohio and (soon to be) Colorado."
We are so looking forward to being able to spend time with each of them and their families as we travel, and take a grandchild with us once in awhile. Erin will be with us this summer.
So we begin our journey enjoying the freedom of traveling the open road, taking our home with us.
We still have some work to do on the house before putting it up for sale, and will get that done this fall.
Thanks to all of you who read our blog. Be sure to leave your comments.
More later...............
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Just About Ready to Go!!!!
Just eleven days until we pick up Erin and start our summer/fall adventure. WooHoo!!! We decided to stay in the house until sometime next week. Might as well use the house water and sewer instead of filling up the tanks in the motorhome. Plus, it's really been easier to organize in the MH. I've had just about everything out of the cabinets and closet and re-sorted, rearranged and labeled. Dan cleaned the basement storage areas and rearranged those also. Looks like we'll actually have some extra space even after he includes tools and a small air compressor.
He made some dividers for the cabinets so canned food and such will stay better organized while traveling. Just normal accelerating and braking can really mess up the cans. Our MH has such a smooth ride that very few things shift around during travel, but I hadn't found a way to keep the cans from sliding around. That rubberized shelf liner just gets wrinkled up. I do put the coffee pot in the sink and the toaster oven and 2 or 3 other items in a basket on the floor while traveling.
Dan sold the dump truck to the Village of Rochester last week, so the only work vehicles left are the Kioti tractor and the old 1983 Dodge Van (otherwise known as the Brogdon Bus). Gretchen drove the Brogdon Bus in high school and had several "adventures" with it; but I won't elaborate on those here.
Dan has purchased a bike rack for the back of the truck so the bikes won't have to lay in the bed of the truck. Three bikes will fit on it. Really nice!! And he began moving some of the tools into the front garage in preparation for a sale when we get back to Rochester in the fall. He had already sorted everything, but things were really crowded in the back garage and it wouldn't be very easy to display everything.
I just need to move food from the freezer and fridge and all the food will be in the MH. Sorting through the spice cabinet was quite interesting. I found 3 jars of chili powder and 3 cans of cocoa and numerous spices that I'm not sure how old they were. If I couldn't smell them when I opened them; they were history!! And I'm not sure why I even bought some of them. I bought some new spices and they now have a "date of purchase" marked on them.
We still need to go through a few clothes and decide what do to with them, but we are really close to being ready to leave. Monday I'll start calling to stop the paper, cable TV, trash pickup and all that stuff. A friend will be picking up our mail at the post office twice a month and sending it to us. We have switched everything to online bills and payments except for one insurance statement, so we don't have much mail. And our neighbor is going to mow our yard.
I didn't start out to write so much, but since this blog is also a diary of sorts, I guess I can write whatever I want to. :) We will be back in the fall to finish working on the house to put it on the market. Some might ask why we don't get that done now and then travel, but without going into detail; we have decided this is best for us.
So June 2 it's off to Ohio for Sarah and Chad's wedding, then to Branson, MO for the RV-Dreams rally; Burdett, KS to visit friends; Denver to visit Jean (Gail's sister) and Steve; Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac in their NEW home; and then on to Seattle for Lucy's birthday. And we'll be stopping along the way to enjoy this wonderful country and all the beautiful sites and scenery, and posting pictures.
AND, we're so happy to have Miss Erin traveling with us.
More later........
He made some dividers for the cabinets so canned food and such will stay better organized while traveling. Just normal accelerating and braking can really mess up the cans. Our MH has such a smooth ride that very few things shift around during travel, but I hadn't found a way to keep the cans from sliding around. That rubberized shelf liner just gets wrinkled up. I do put the coffee pot in the sink and the toaster oven and 2 or 3 other items in a basket on the floor while traveling.
Dan sold the dump truck to the Village of Rochester last week, so the only work vehicles left are the Kioti tractor and the old 1983 Dodge Van (otherwise known as the Brogdon Bus). Gretchen drove the Brogdon Bus in high school and had several "adventures" with it; but I won't elaborate on those here.
Dan has purchased a bike rack for the back of the truck so the bikes won't have to lay in the bed of the truck. Three bikes will fit on it. Really nice!! And he began moving some of the tools into the front garage in preparation for a sale when we get back to Rochester in the fall. He had already sorted everything, but things were really crowded in the back garage and it wouldn't be very easy to display everything.
I just need to move food from the freezer and fridge and all the food will be in the MH. Sorting through the spice cabinet was quite interesting. I found 3 jars of chili powder and 3 cans of cocoa and numerous spices that I'm not sure how old they were. If I couldn't smell them when I opened them; they were history!! And I'm not sure why I even bought some of them. I bought some new spices and they now have a "date of purchase" marked on them.
We still need to go through a few clothes and decide what do to with them, but we are really close to being ready to leave. Monday I'll start calling to stop the paper, cable TV, trash pickup and all that stuff. A friend will be picking up our mail at the post office twice a month and sending it to us. We have switched everything to online bills and payments except for one insurance statement, so we don't have much mail. And our neighbor is going to mow our yard.
I didn't start out to write so much, but since this blog is also a diary of sorts, I guess I can write whatever I want to. :) We will be back in the fall to finish working on the house to put it on the market. Some might ask why we don't get that done now and then travel, but without going into detail; we have decided this is best for us.
So June 2 it's off to Ohio for Sarah and Chad's wedding, then to Branson, MO for the RV-Dreams rally; Burdett, KS to visit friends; Denver to visit Jean (Gail's sister) and Steve; Carbondale, CO to visit Tim, Karen, Elijah and Isaac in their NEW home; and then on to Seattle for Lucy's birthday. And we'll be stopping along the way to enjoy this wonderful country and all the beautiful sites and scenery, and posting pictures.
AND, we're so happy to have Miss Erin traveling with us.
More later........
Monday, January 28, 2008
It's a VERY Small World - (Scottsmoor, FL)
On Sunday we talked with Sarah, our youngest daughter, and her fiance, Chad. They told us that while reading our blog Chad realized that his uncle, his mother's brother, lives in Titusville, just south of us. He last saw his uncle about 7 years ago when Chad's grandmother passed away. We said we would like to meet him, so Chad called him to sort of introduce us to him and see if he would like to meet us.
We met Butch this morning at Kim's Donut & Deli (Dan's favorite local coffee shop) and spent 3 hours visiting with him. We had planned to go on to the Kennedy Space Center after visiting with Butch, but after spending the whole morning talking, we decided to postpone the Space Center until tomorrow. Butch is retired from Lockheed where he worked as a machinist supporting the space program.
We met Butch this morning at Kim's Donut & Deli (Dan's favorite local coffee shop) and spent 3 hours visiting with him. We had planned to go on to the Kennedy Space Center after visiting with Butch, but after spending the whole morning talking, we decided to postpone the Space Center until tomorrow. Butch is retired from Lockheed where he worked as a machinist supporting the space program.
We'll probably see Butch one more time before we leave this area. I'm sure we'll enjoy that as much as we did this morning's visit.
As we were all chatting, a man came into the coffee shop and sat down across from us at the counter for coffee and a donut. He heard one of us mention Illinois and asked if we were from Illinois. Turns out, he worked as an ironworker in Springfield and Peoria in the 70's. He remembered the old Fleetwood restaurant on Dirksen Parkway and even mentioned Chatham and Buckhart. Didn't ask him how he knew where Buckhart was, but I suspect he may have frequented the tavern at Buckhart. Buckhart is a very small town, one tavern and a dozen houses, about 5 miles east of Rochester. His last name was Siddens AND his uncle lives about a mile from our house in Rochester. Such a small world.
Just think, we are about 1100 miles away from our sticks & brick home and we've met our soon-to-be son-in-law's uncle and someone else who's been to Buckhart, Illinois and his uncle lives in our neighborhood.
Better watch out for all these uncles.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
More Navy Stuff and the Newest Blue Angel (wannabee) and a Link Trainer
January 19, 2008
Getting ready to leave involves considerable discussion. The guy talking to Dan is Ivan Williams, a friend of Larry and Phyllis. He and his wife, Grace, are spending several months on Dauphin Island.
Kasey in his favorite spot in the motorhome, overseeing the "getting ready to go" process. "Are they ready yet?"
Entering Florida
Since we stopped to visit the Pensacola Naval Air Museum on our way to our next campsite, we arrived after dark at Pine Lake RV Park. We don't like to do this, since it seems to be a setup for parking and hookup problems, but all went well. This is a Passport America park, so our Full Hookup (FHU) rate is $15. All sites are pull through. We have plenty of room for the truck in front of the motorhome.
We have a lifetime membership with Passport America; so after paying $300 two years ago, no more annual fees. We stayed in several PA parks since then and have probably saved about half of the $300 so far. When we start fulltiming, we stay in even more PA parks. Many PA parks are off the beaten path, but that's OK with us as we plan to avoid Interstates as much as possible. We also really like Corps of Engineer parks and with our federal Golden Age Passport, COE fees are half price for us. And, some state parks offer senior citizen rates.
The National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola, Florida is huge. Admission is free, so that fits our budget. There is so much to see; we could have spent a whole day there.
The latest Blue Angel Pilot (wannabee). Notice there are no wings or engines and the rear of the plane is missing. I think we are pretty safe.
We did fly the F-14 Tomcat flight simulator. Since the F-14 has been retired, the museum uses the REAL F-14 flight simulators that the pilots trained on. Dan was the pilot and I was the munitions officer. This was just like sitting in a real F-14. Look out, Top Gun Tom Cruise.
Dan really did pretty well with 3 successful airstrip landings in a row. BUT, we never did land on the aircraft carrier. Guess he's not quite ready for the big leagues yet. But, I must clarify -- the control stick was not as responsive as it would have been when the pilots were learning because people have played with them a lot and they are pretty loose.
Link Trainer
I was especially interested to see this Link Trainer. My aunt, Hazel Rishel, was in the WAC (Women's Army Corps) during World War II. She was stationed in Japan, California, Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and other places that I've forgotten. My mother always said that Aunt Hazel was a "Link Trainer" and trained pilots to fly. I never knew for sure what that involved, so I'll share what I learned about that.
Aunt Hazel was not actually the Link Trainer, but must have been an instructor or operator teaching cadets to fly by instruments. The Link Trainer was used to teach the pilots to learn how to rely on their instruments. Most of the Link Trainer operators were females, part of the Women Accepted for Voluntary Service (Waves), in the case of naval aviation.
The seat in the Link Trainer is about 3 feet off the floor, but once the pilot was strapped in and the top closed, they felt like they were in a real plane. The trainer was designed by a former organ manufacturer, turned pilot, named Edwin C. Link. The trainer could simulate various conditions that might be encountered in real flight, including wind drift, turbulence and radio static. The trainer could also put the aircraft in various flight orientations, including spins that required the student to right his "airplane". Air nozzles even produced the sound effect of the slipstream.
The goal of the Link Trainer was to force the student pilot to rely on his instruments or follow the instructions given by the operator to get his plane back safely to base. The Link Trainer was very cost effective. In 1945 each hour of flight in a training aircraft cost $10; it cost only 4 cents for an hour in the Link Trainer. But most importantly, no cadet could lose his life in a Link Trainer if he made a mistake, or crash an airplane. HOWEVER, an army Air Forces cadet found himself lost and low on fuel during his simulation. Following standard procedure, he threw open the hood, and bailed out, breaking his ankle when he hit the floor 3 feet below. :)
The Link Trainers used at Pensacola Naval Air Station were placed in storage in 1950 in a rodent infested, leaky hangar. In 1990 they were recovered by the museum. They were dirty and many of the wooden components were rotten. But, when plugged into a wall outlet and connected to a vacuum cleaner to provide power to the bellows, they still worked, except for a couple of instruments.
I hope you enjoyed the story of the Link Trainer. Whenever my mother talked about her sister, she always said with a lot of pride, "Hazel was a Link Trainer during the war. She taught pilots to fly." I never asked her to explain to me what a Link Trainer was and I'm not sure she really understood what Aunt Hazel did.
So as we continue our travels maybe we'll come across something else that provides a link to our past and helps us understand it better.
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