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........

No, We Aren't Traveling Yet

I didn't realize how long ago I posted, so thought I should bring this blog up-to-date.

We returned home from the race on April 29th. Had a wonderful time in Alabama even though our drivers didn't do well at the racetrack.

We've been busy continuing to work on the house. Sarah and Chad were back this past weekend so Sarah could check out the alterations on her wedding dress. It looked great, except for the hooks for the bustle, soooooo, those are being changed; and I'll pick it up on Saturday. She wanted to take it with her, but we'll be taking it to Ohio.

Sarah did load up their car with some more stuff, so our inventory keeps dwindling. And we hauled more stuff to Stephanie this week. We hope to get the living room furniture off to Goodwill this week along with another trunk load of stuff. Then just have the kitchen cabinets and some other miscellaneous to deal with. I've downsized the kitchen once already, so shouldn't take long to finish it.

We plan to start living in the motorhome this weekend. :) Sure am getting tired of not knowing where things are. Of course, it will take awhile to remember where we've put things in the motorhome, since I keep rearranging the cabinets.

And Dan has sold some more equipment, so things are progressing.

Not sure when I'll post again. My laptop is in the shop, but I should have it back in a day or two. I'm posting from the Rochester Library today.

Can't wait to start this fulltiming.

Waiting for Raceday

We arrived here at Lakeside Landing RV park on Wednesday afternoon. The park was almost empty that day, but has slowly been filling up as more race fans arrive. There are still quite a few empty sites, and we've wondered if fuel prices will keep some people away.

One guy from Montana, who usually pulls a 5th wheel RV with a diesel truck, arrived in his car with his tent and air mattress. He has been coming to Talladega for nearly 20 years. NASCAR race fans are really loyal. :)

It's been nice to renew friendships with our neighbors who we only see once a year. And everyone seems to remember Kasey. They all comment about how well behaved he is. I think he's the only dog in the whole park who doesn't bark when someone walks by.

Will be going to the track today to watch practice.

More later.....

Talladega, Here We Come

One of our favorite times of the year is almost here - The Nascar race at Talladega Superspeedway at Talladega, Alabama. We love to watch Nascar races, but being at the track is pretty exciting. Our seats are up high in the 38th row and at the start/finish line. We can see around the whole track. Talladega is a 2.66 mile track and a lot can happen in that 2.66 miles.

We'll take in qualifying and practice and watch the Nationwide (formerly Busch race) on Saturday and Cup race on Sunday. And it looks like the weather may cooperate with temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's. Don't forget the sunscreen!!!

We camp about 20 miles from the track at Pell City, AL. Can't quite take ALL the activity in the campgrounds around the track; however, there is one "family" campground where consumption of alcohol is prohibited outside your RV and quiet hours are enforced. BUT, the camping fee is pretty steep. Of course, with the price of fuel now and driving back and forth to the track, most likely would break even. Oh well, we like Lakeside Landing in Pell City, and have stayed at the same site for the last 4 years and have the same neighbors every year.

We're leaving Saturday and plan to stop at Rickwood Caverns State Park on the way. That's where we rescued the puppy in January. Will probably check with the animal shelter about the family that adopted the puppy and see how he is doing. Also will explore the cave at the park.

Will post pictures from the race.

More later......