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......

New Friends

What a wonderful group of people at the RV-Dream's rally here in Branson. We arrived here Wednesday afternoon and have been pretty busy ever since with meeting new friends, attending seminars, eating, and just hanging out.

I'm still recuperating from last week and Sarah's wedding. What a wonderful time we had with all our children and grandchildren in Ohio for the wedding. And the wedding was really special. Sarah and Chad recited their own vows to each other and Sarah recited vows to Chad's boys, Clayton and Brice.

When the rally is over, I'll post some wedding pictures. Not sure why I've been so tired this week, but think it's probably related to finalizing our fulltiming, the wedding, and then moving right into the rally with no time in between to catch our breath. We'll be spending four days in southeastern Kansas next week, so should be able to recuperate then and get caught up on blog posts and pictures.

We are really enjoying having Erin with us. She has been bike riding with Grandpa, and is working toward being the all-time Phase 10 winner. :)

More later.......

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.....

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...............