Hello Florida

Our trip was totally uneventful, which is just the way we like it.  Except for our trusty, can’t travel without it….. GPS.  Panama City came up as 230 miles  or so, but when I put in Tyndall AFB it added on 50 miles.  No matter how we looked at the maps it just did not seem possible.  Well, come to find out it wanted us to go 24 miles beyond our destination and make a U turn!  This is our newer one, put the info into the old one and it was right on the bottom.  The problem is that screen is so much smaller and have come to enjoy the larger screen. 

The fall colors were wonderful on the trip down, and most of the road were good.  we have put our jacks down at Tyndall AFB famcamp.  A very nice park, large spaces, literally a jungle between sites.  Large club house, breakfast Saturday, pot luck Tuesday night.  Both Kevin ad Chuck are hacking and coughing so they are not much fun.  Plus we noticed a squealing noise of sort coming from a wheel on our truck that we have to have checked out.  We did take a ride along the coast towards the east, Saturday, and some of the beaches were nice, but the little towns were not ready for tourists. 

Arlene and I did find a great area to take a stroll in the water, and it was warm, hardly any one there.  We found a market selling fish and shrimp, and bought some rock shrimp, which we had never seen before.  Word of advice, don’t buy.  The shells are very hard, which makes it a real pain to shell and clean, and the taste was nothing like shrimp.  Have a feeling the locals do not eat these little rascals.

Today did a whole lot of nothing, the humidity has climbed today, rain is in the forecast.  The guys have a t-time in the morning, not sure if that will be a go.  We are planning on staying here till the 5th of November, and then we will move a bit more west. 

Looks like a great “3 hour cruise” boat.  Life is good.

Defeated Creek, Tennessee

We have thoroughly enjoyed the time we have spent in this beautiful setting. The campground is set around the lake, with the outer rim having FHU’s. Being as I was late to come to the party in making reservations, and it being fall break for school, we could only get 4 days. But once here we managed to come by one of the non-reservable sites and extend our stay. The rate is one of the lowest that we have paid over our years RVing, 9 dollars a night, FHU’s, with the Golden Age discount.

Lisa & her sweet husband Tony.

They have out done themselves seeing that we have a good time. And they certainly have succeeded. Thank you Lisa for getting this set up. Think that we will have to make it a yearly “gathering”.

As usual our get togethers have consisted of “have ya et yet?”, and what’s the menu for tomorrow?

We have taken a few outside trips, Olive Garden, Golden Dragon, and yesterday called for a trip to the original Cracker Barrel. Some of our trips consisted of just the girls, and Lisa was our chauffeur, driving her van, with I Love My Seniors. We did not realize that she was not referring to her students, but to us! LOL

Some unusual scenery along the way one day. Kudzu, a plant brought in to fight erosion, and it has done one heck of a job of that. It covers everything, looks like something from outer space or Disneyland. But no erosion!

Usually our nights are spent gazing in the campfire, enjoying the company.

It has truly been a great relaxing retreat. Not that the life we are living is in any way stressful, but we will be leaving here feeling like we have had a full 10 day massage.

In a few days we will all be heading in different directions, we are dropping down to the Florida panhandle, no place special in mind, just checking it out.

In closing would like to take a moment to honor Bruce and Margie, who will be missed, tho we never met, still felt we knew them. So sad, reminds us that every day is precious.

Hanging Loose

Touring Churchill Downs was the goal of the day.

Tuesday, 10/05/10

Coming out of the gate.

Whooo..their horses have no legs!

The famous twin spirals.

A retired race horse.  The little horse is fully grown, he is there for company, we were told,  horses do not like to be alone.  They said it does necessarily have to be a horse for company, a chicken, duck any animal will do.  Wish the horses were racing, guess we will have to plan it better next time.

Wednesday   We got left behind at “Grandma’s”, as we watched Mac & Netters and Kevin & Arlene pull out.  There was no tourist outing that we wanted to engage in, so we went shopping.  Hit Sam’s, Best Buy, Wal-mart and then looked for a movie.  But there was nothing showing in our time frame, so just came home.  Fixed dinner and watched Survivor.  The next day washed and polished on the rig, did some laundry.  Later in the afternoon Darrell and Judy pulled in next to us.  After they were set-up we went in search of dinner, found a great Mexican restaurant with even greater margaritas.  Enjoyed getting to spend some time with them, and hope we will cross trails again soon.  Mentioned Zappo’s sale, so a trip there was in order.  I found a cute pair of comfy sandals, but decided that I did not need them and Judy decided she did.  So Glad. Would have hated the thought that they were left for a stranger.  Darrell & Judy were off bright and early the next morning.

Used that day to get my toes, nails and hair taken care of.  Good for another few weeks.  Met a couple with a Montana and we spent the rest of the afternoon telling tall tales and small lies.  Nice couple, they had been to the Montana rally a few years ago, but decided to miss this one. Being as they are not full time, vacations have to be put to good use.

And that brings me to today, Saturday, October 9th.  Chuck finally decided to play golf, I was getting a little worried that he had lost his interest in it.  Been over a month, and he was not twitching or anything.  Being as we live in this tin box 24/7 the alone time when we are apart is pretty darn precious!  Love him dearly, but some times well………….

Tomorrow we make the trek to Defeated Creek, Tennessee, can’t wait, everyone there is raving how beautiful it is.

Till next time, life is good.

Surprising Neighbors & Tours

We left the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds campground, around 10, after having a problem with the jacks.  Seems we got them way too low and they wouldn’t connect to raise them.  Chuck came up with the idea of getting one of the forklift drivers to lift the front end of the 5’er and then they were able to extend.  With that fixed we were on the road.  Talked to Barb & Bob, who are in North Carolina, getting their rig “road able”.  She recommended Grandma’s RV, so I called and got a reservation.  When we were pulling in , low and behold, there sat a Landmark with a golf cart, knew it was Mac & Netters right away, and Grandpa said go park where ever you want.  So we are next to them and yesterday Kevin and Arlene pulled in.

Saturday: We started off with a tour of the Jim Beam plant, which was very interesting. 

Old time “still” replica.

There is a lot more than 99 barrels in this building.  The black on the building is a chemical reaction that occurs because of the evaporation.  All the trees are covered with the black film.  People have to constantly fight to keep it off the cars and houses.  There are hundreds of these storage building through the country side.  Not gold in them there hills, it’s bourbon.

From the Jim Beam plant we told Tom-tom to take us to the Makers Mark plant.  Which turned into an adventure, as our road kept getting smaller and smaller, till we were on a one lane trail. But we did come across men harvesting tobacco, which I had not seen before.

   And just about when we were beginning to worry, we were there. 

Makers Mark is a much small distillery, and the tour was right into the production area.  We were disappointed that it being Saturday they were not dipping the bottles in the red wax that they are known for. 

   Of course we had the samples at the end of the tour, and being as none of us were to keen on straight bourbon, but the candy was great!  We made our way back, with written instructions that they passed out, seems we were not the only ones to have trouble getting there. 

Yesterday we laid around, knew that Kevin and Arlene would be here, so planned dinner for the six of us.  Threw everything in the crock pot, took a nap, powdered my nose with flour, (just so they would know that I’d been cooking all day) and we had a great meal.  Actually pulled out our new table to the center of the living room, added the leaf and sat 6 comfortably.  Love it! 

Today we took in the Slugger Bat Company.  It also was quite interesting, and the sample at the end of the tour was a little bat.

Of course there was the gift shop, so having a grandson who is a avid ball player, there were a few things we had to pick up.

Mac on his horse.

Ended the day with a 60 percent off sale at Zappos.  The warehouse is very close to here, but think the sale had been going on for a few days, only managed to find two pair!

Life is Good!

Time Goes Bye Bye

Still in Elkhart, few more days of the Montana rally to go. Last night was our Amish dinner at the Miller House. What a lovely home.

There were almost 180 so they did have to serve us in two areas. Our group of 60 were seated in the house, the rest were in the area normally used which is a large side building. Imagine having a room that would seat that 60 people comfortably. The food was w o n d e r f u l. Family style, all the food is passed once, then once again, thankfully the pies and homemade ice cream was only on trip. Otherwise do not think we would have gotten to the door. They also had bread, jams, cookbooks, and decorative pumkins, corn and a few other things for sale. They had the most wonderful raspberry rhubarb jam, but that was all gone, darn!

The following night was wine and cheese. Watch out Donna, we have a truckload for you.

How time fly’s, the finale was tonight! Glad that we came, it was very informative in the way Keystone treats their customers. There factory reps were in attendance the first few days ready to work out any of the problems that we were having with the rigs. And then it was off to the factory for repairs. We were having an issue with our front decal starting to peel and a front jack that when raised very high, blew fuses. While there they found some sort of problem in the front and are going to pull the cap in the morning to check and see if there is something that needs to be taken care of. And we are pleasantly surprised as ours has been out of warranty for well over a year now. So we are spending the last night of the rally, in the factory campground so we might be able to get a few extra minutes of sleep before we are kicked out. This morning we had to have it here by 7 AM! Have the laundry all loaded up and ready to go, everything will be clean for when we finally get these wheels a-rolling again.

This area sure is great to bring your RV to. There are so many places to get the parts and fixtures you might want or need. And the prices are right.

We plan just to head down to Indianapolis, Chuck has cousins there, so we will stop for a brief visit. After that we are still in the coin flipping mode……no plans, at least for a few days, we will be meeting friends in Tennessee around the 10th or sooner.

Update: Picked the trailer up at four and by the time we did the tire check and all the other duties it was 4:30, we could have stayed another night at the factory, but they start rolling in to work about 3:30AM, and it sounds like the Indy 500! So we decided on this campground just down the road a bit, but when we got there it was not a place we wanted to stay, so we went off in search better digs.

Past the largest complex of silos.

Past a beautiful covered bridge.

Spotted a few balloons. And finally arrived at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds. We have stayed here before and we know the routine. It is not anything special, but we do have FHU’s and security.

So that brings me up to date, which is great.

Life is Good.

On To Rally Three

The Escapees Rally came to an end, and slowly one by one our group of friends departed.  The finale day was a drawing for Caravan all paid trip, one that we will not be taking.  Finished up with a hot dog dinner and entertainment by the duo of Melissa and Larry, aka, One More Time.  Great show, and this was followed by a dance.  But most of our group decided we had to have one more game of “hand and foot”.  We had found a place to play…..the storm shelter, it is open 24 hours a day, has bathrooms and air conditioning, tables and chairs, what more could you ask for?

Barb, Rich, Bob & Mary

                              

Keith, Donna & Chuck

There were 5 tables of 4, ladies were the main winners, where as the next night we were down to 2 tables, men’s night.  And then we were a twosome, Chuck and I were the only ones staying for the final rally, we are the only Montana RV in the group.

We did not find anything that we could not live with out at the Escapees Rally, other than a few shirts.  Have a feeling the Montana one may prove to be different, as there are several factories reps, and they will be having the special-one-time-deals. LOL  Also we are going to be here during the once a year, Michiana Mennonite Relief sale.  They are taking over the entire fair grounds with the exception of where we are camped.  http://www.mennonitesale.org  Looking forward to sharing in the experience, they say that they will easily raise half million for the work they do worldwide. 

Yesterday we met Mac and Netters in Shipsawana for lunch and a little shopping.  Found the perfect hanging for the back of my counter as you enter the front door.  Hanging it took some ingenuity but it is finally up and looking good. 

We also decided to take the tour of Menno-Hof. http://mennohof.org   It was very informative of the beginnings, to the present beliefs of the Amish and Mennonite religions.  

We have moved once again, this time about 5 blocks, out of the main campground, to the FHU sites on the hill.  This rally has decided that it works best to have pre-assigned sites.  And did it according to when you signed up, being as we were one of the last few we are away from the main group.  That will teach us!  Mac has left his golf cart here, (they are in a motel waiting for their home to get finished with some warranty work) and we have the use of it, so getting around is no problem, and the main tent is not that far from us.

Last night when we were leaving the storm shelter, yes, we shared to secret place with some new friends, it was pouring rain.  All through the night we heard it off and on, but today the sun is out and the forecast is good.  Hearing from all our  friends, who have scattered, mostly south, about the hot weather they are encountering we are thankful for the pleasant temps we have been having.

And with that, life is good, and so on we go.

THE TRAIN OF LIFE !!!

Some folks ride the train of life
Looking out the rear,
Watching miles of life roll by,
And marking every year.
They sit in sad remembrance,
Of wasted days gone by,
And curse their life for what it was,
And hang their head and cry.
But don't concern oneself with that,
I took a different vent,
Look forward to what life holds,
And not what has been spent.
So strap me to the engine,
As securely as I can be,
I want to be out in the front,
To see what I can see.
I want to feel the winds of change,
Blowing in my face
I want to see what life unfolds,
As I move from place to place.
I want to see what's coming up,
Not looking at the past,
Life's too short for yesterdays,
It moves along too fast.
So if the ride gets bumpy,
While you are looking back,
Go up front, and you may find,
Your life has jumped the track.
It's all right to remember,
That's part of history,
But up front's where it's happening,
There's so much mystery.
The enjoyment of living,
Is not where we have been,
It's looking ever forward,
To another year and ten.
It's searching all the byways,
Never should you refrain,
For if you want to live your life,
You've gotta drive the train.
All Aboard Everybody...

 

This just seemed to fit the RVing life.  Author unknown.

Rally Number Two

Leaving the campground in Elkhart can only be described as an unorganized fire drill.  But God looks after the feeble minded and we are all settled in an area at the Goshen Escapees rally. As I write this we are  into our second rally and it is by far the largest.  There are almost 800 rigs, which means there are a lot of people, yet it has been very well organized and there seems to be more than enough room in the seminars and the hall where the largest events take place also does the job.  And the weather is perfect. 

There is no “it” factor here, but we are having a great time.  Yesterday was the kick-off and there was a drawing for a cash prize of 2500.00.  Nope, we are not richer by that amount.  Tonight there were drawings for more door prizes, but none of those found there way into our RV either.  Have a few seminars that have peaked our interest over the next few days, and before we know it we will be waving good-by to everyone.

Lunch the other day took us to the South Side Diner, which has been paid a visit by Guy from Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins. We all had sandwiches and they were good, but the lemon pie was fabulous. 

 

We have been to Shipsawana several times,as there is a large flea market there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  We have also paid more than a few visits to the Rise N Roll bakery.  They have have the most amazing caramel cinnamon donuts, and there sandwiches are all on homemade bread!  Talk about good.  As I’m writing this I’m almost drooling as it is lunch time and there was no breakfast this morning. Our last rally is also here so we will only be moving to a full hook up site.  We are actually looking forward to that one, as it is a Montana owners get together, and it will be interesting to talk with other owners and learn from there trials and errors.

Jenny and Don’s reaction to being presented a wedding gift of a day tour of Amish country.  They had just come from the daily door prize drawings and had won a trip to Dollywood, which is not far from were they live, so it will make a nice week end get away. Congratulations.  

After our Montana rally we will be heading down the road, sort of like a lost moose as we have not made up our minds quite yet.  Scratch that, we are headed to ‘Lisa’s’ gathering at Defeated Creek COE, in Tennessee, but just for 4 days, it is pretty booked up.  Glad that we could get that as there will be a few friends that will be there that we have not seen for awhile. After that though the lost moose effect kicks in till Thanksgiving, which we are planning on spending at Betty’s. It will all work it self out, so will go with the flow.

Life is Good.

New Furniture

Wow, how could I forgot to post pictures of the new cabinet/table & chairs.  We are very happy with the unit.  The table is free standing, with a leaf that is accessible in the table, for easy storage. We also have 4 chairs, wish those were easy to store, but we will find a hole some where.  

Think we will remove the desk chair for one, it is a little large for the area.  Two-Bits, (our cat) is hugging her scratching pole, she has taken a liking to sleeping there, but it won’t last, she likes to move around.  She is very good about scratching only where she is allowed.  

Yesterday was a movie, Eat, Pray and Love.  I’d give it neither a thumbs  up or down.  Being as the gang had decided it was a free day, Chuck & I thought we would try Lunkers for lunch/dinner.  And we ran into 8 of our group there, so that was great, along with the food.  Last night was cards again, 3 tables of 4 and 1 of 6.  Think it was girls winning 2, and loosing 2.  Or maybe the guys “won” 2, naaa, girls lost 2.  Tonight we are cooking out, sure we will eat too much.

Till next time…..life is good.

Time Fly's or I’m Downright Lazy

Can not even guess where the time has gone since my last post, but the first of three rallies is about to begin.  Most all the people have arrived, and or group has grown daily.  We have been spending most of the days eating, shopping, socializing and just having a great time getting caught up on all the travels and adventures.

Didn’t get very far with that up-date!  One rally down, two to go.  It was a very good, well thought out and informative time.  And we got away with just a few purchases, which was great.  Of course our main entertainment has been eating lots and often.  The second night was a beauty contest, Hoosier Hotties.  Hope posting the pictures does not damage the computer.

  Yes, my dear hubby

Opps

And the WINNER IS
   

Our children are probably looking into having us committed before we do harm to ourselves.

We also took in the RV Hall of Fame.  It was very interesting to see some of the first RV’s with all the comforts they afforded, which weren’t what we would consider as anything nowadays.

Mae West’s travel car

In the three city area are quilt gardens, done in flowers.  Quite pretty and very original.  There are maps with all the locations, plus the visitor center has a free cd giving all the information.

We have yet to do the entire drive,, but hopefully we will before we leave.

Wow, that about catches us up to the present, so can get back to watching some of the action.

 

Last night “hand & foot” out come, and I cringe to post this…..guys 2, girls zip.

All for now, life is good.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking ahead to “the move”.

Got a call the other day that our cabinet/table unit and chairs, will be ready Monday. So we will be leaving here and traveling 20 miles to the shop where it is built, and have it installed.  No way that it could be delivered, as Caryle is Amish, and his delivery service is very slow and limited.  Can’t wait, know that it will be great, his woodwork is marvelous.  We left our table and chairs in Colorado when we were there in June, and have been making due with a small picnic table ever since.  From there we will make the move to the Elkhart campgrounds in Elkhart. There are also Elkhart campgrounds in Goshen, hence my confusion on our arrival.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  As the time grows closer for Nicks rally to start it is great to visualize all our friends coming from so many locations heading this way.  Nicks rally is small compared to the Escapees one that takes place next month. They will have over 800 rigs!  Our friends, Bob & Molly are in training to be chief cat herders for the one next year.  Bless them, that will be one big job, but sure that they will do it justice.

Then just in case we aren’t rallied out, we signed up for the Montana one that follows a few days after.  Thankfully we have almost every “got to have rv dodad, must have, can’t hit the road without item”.  At least I hope so.  They are always coming up with something new, most of which are not quite a useful as advertised.

Fan Update….We were in Manards yesterday, and they had packages of blades, that were close to the right color, so we bought TWO packs.  Which means we now have 5 replacements!   That should last us till we come off the road, or the trailer falls apart, which ever comes first.  Our coming off the road will probably mean one of us fell apart, but that’s life.

Met Bob & Molly for dinner the other night,  they are in Goshen getting things ready along with the other folks who are in charge of putting on a major event.  And of course we had to finish the evening with a game of hand and foot.  Molly and I did manage a win, but will give the guys credit for making it a close but, well earned AND deserved triumphant WIN.  (Hope that stays warm, have a feeling I will be eating those words before too long.)

We are meeting up with a large group of early arrivals for happy hour and dinner tonight.  Honestly the rallies are not the main draws, it is the pre rally get togethers.  HEEEYAW, life is so good.

A Shopper I’m NOT

That is so right, so why for the past week, shopping has been my main activity?  Now they seemed to have more than a fair share of crafts fairs going on, plus today was a giant flea market at Shipsawana.  And I do like those.  This is a great market, and the prices are ever so good.  And they have it two days a week.  We got wore out early, the humidity was climbing fast and we decided that being as we are gong to be in the area for some time, the outdoor shopping could wait.  We went into Yoders, which is a meat, cheese and general Amish market.  The meat there is great, so stocked the freezer pretty good.  Then it was off to the Rise n Roll, only the best bakery/deli in the area.  We shared a sandwich, (which is more than enough)  on bread fresh out of the oven.  The best!  Sat with a couple who were here from Ireland on holiday, and had a great conversation.  They were totally amazed at the prices here, and they thought every thing was so inexpensive.  And their gas runs about 8 dollars a gallon.  Guess it depends on whose eyes we are looking out of.

A few flowers for sale, beautiful work, made of laser cut steel.

  The size of these blooms was amazing.

Chuck did get a golf fix the other day, and he had a great time, the course is just a few miles from us, but the best part is if you play before 9 it is only 20 dollars and that includes a cart.  It don’t get any better than that, and playing early in the morning is what we like, cooler. 

We had a few errands in Elkhart yesterday and met up with Kevin and Arlene for lunch.  Great deli.  Looks like they will finally get out of here, so they can get back here. 

Surprising that there seems like there are no bugs to speak of here, sitting out day or evening no problem.  Hope it lasts.

That is it for now, loving it.