Dec 29 Monday

Our month visit with Bob and Nancy ended today. They left this morning heading toward AZ with stops at various points in between. We drove over with Lady to say our goodbyes first thing. They were on their way a little after 9. We had a good month's visit and we'll met up with them again in the spring at the Everest rally in Tennessee.
We went to the Riverside Cafe with them yesterday for the boat ride. The first "sailing" at 3 was booked so we went on the 4:00 departure. It was interesting to see how close Mexico is and how open the border is. On the Mexico side was parks, public and private, and on the Texas side there were RV parks (what else, it's South Texas). The ride was an hour long and we went as far as the dam and then headed back. We drove into town afterwards and had supper at Tony Romo's. It was time for some ribs (and Shrimp for Nancy). Their ribs are very good. Still no Famous Dave's but still very good.
I headed up to the office after they left and did my thing there for a couple of hours. It was cool and cloudy again today so Reid watched movies and I read and napped. We need some down time from our hectic week last week. Tomorrow it's to Sam's club for med's and groc shopping, oh what fun.

Saturday Dec 27

My guys left today..The word kid doesnt really fit anymore does it. Danny is 26 and Stephanie is 23. We had a super good week and this morning we had to be up at 3:45am to head over to the airport. We were probally a little early but that's ok we didn't want any line delays. Danny is back in his home town now and Steph is in Atlanta she has about an hours drive to get home.
It was windy this morning but now it's very calm and 88 degrees. Phyliss, Larry, Jim and Linda did you see that it's 88 degrees. Reid started watching movies cause it was so windy but we were ready for a nap by 11. I, of course, took one but I don't believe Reid did. He'll be asleep early tonight want he.
We have plans to go to the river tomorrow for a boat ride with Nancy and Bob and then out for ribs. We've put in a call to some other friends to see if they'd like to go too but haven't heard back yet from them. Bob and Nancy are leaving on Monday so we want see them again till May.
I hope they've had fun. It's been a cool month for them but still warmer than MI right.
that's it for now

Merry Christmas

It was the best Christmas ever!! I don't worry about being political correct cause I know the reason we celebrate Christmas so I don't care if anyones offended....
I've had a great few days..You know me with birthdays I don't just celebrate one day so why should Christmas be any different. On Tues morning our daughter arrived in town and we got to spend the day together. Danny was due in at 10:30 so we just visited till it was time to go get him. About 4pm we got a call from Danny that his flight out of Nashville was delayed and then we worried for the next 5 hrs that he'd might miss his connecting flight out of Houston and he made it by just minutes. He was only about 35 minutes late getting here and we were waiting at the airport for him to arrive. So now my Christmas fun has begun. Christmas Eve I cooked most of the day while Reid and Danny golfed..(what's up with that) anyway I'd decided I was fixing a Christmas dinner with turkey and all the trimmings and I did. (back to that in a minute). Wed night we had a dinner invite with some friends of ours and we had a wonderful meal of mexican dishes..The best mexican food I've had in South Texas. On Christmas day the weather was in the 70's and partly sunny it was just beautiful. As I'm sitting around with my kids having the best Christmas ever....and I finally realized having them here for Christmas wasn't our gift to them, having them fly in for 3 days was Reid's gift to me. I just couldn't be happier. Today was busy, I now know I can fit a 13 lb turkey in my rv oven (the down side is Reid also knows this so there will probally be more turkey meals in our future) I hadn't fixed a holiday meal in about 5 yrs so I was hoping it would all turn out and it did, the turkey was beautifully brown and tasty. We also had Bob and Nancy over, They are leaving on Monday so we got in one more meal together. Tomorrow is another golf day for the guys and Stephanie and I are going to try braving shopping. We'll see how that goes. The kids will fly out on Sat morning so that will be sad but we'll see then again in the spring.
We know that Jim and Linda are heading down soon and so are Larry and Phyllis, take it easy getting here and we can't wait to see you guys.
Hope everyones Christmas was the best ever love you guys.

Saturday Dec 20

What a week this was. First of all, what I thought was my allergies turned out to be a cold. I was miserable for over a week. Just your usually coughing, stuffy head, sneezing, watery eyes, and yes, I lost my voice for a couple of days. Reid smiled a lot for those days.
The weather outside didn't help. I don't believe the sun came out for 4 days, could have been longer I was inside and in bed for most of it. I just felt too bad to do much.
We were able to close on the deal for the new lot. In case I didn't mention it, We invested in another lot here in our park. A finished double lot complete with a RV cover and Casita went up for sale behind our orginal site and we decided to buy it. We closed on it on Wed but didn't get moved on to it till late Friday. The guy who sold it was having trouble getting his rv to run to get it moved. (He already had another lot on the other side of us that he decided to develop so we basically changed sides of the road with him.) Anyway we're on it and getting everything orginazied.
My most exciting news is both our kids are getting to visit for Christmas. Yeah.. We've know for weeks that Danny was flying in on Tues to spend a few days but Stephanie only last week got leave approved so she's also flying in Tues to stay till Sat. I can't wait. We'll have so much fun..I know Danny's wanting to golf with his Dad, Steph and I will find something to keep us entertained. I'm doing all our favorites for Christmas dinner and I'll baby them as much as they will let me...everyone take care...

Dec 13 Sat

This month is moving fast. I'm staying busy with projects here at the park plus my walking and biking. Reid is golfing on the days that the wind isn't too high. We had a luncheon at the rec center last Sat. It was fun. It was for the ladies in the park and about 50 were there. That night we grilled out with friends. There was 6 of us and we had burgers, hot dogs and all the sides.
Sunday we went to the flea market and then tried a new place to eat called the Crazy Buffet for lunch..it was good. On Tues we had our first park craft fair..There were lots of booths but I didn't get to shop for working at one of the booths..but I still had fun. We've tried a couple of new places to eat this month. One is Mama's Pizzeria and it was great. Reid has been looking for a good pizza place and now we've found it. We also tried Palenque. Not sure how to say that but it was mexican and I thought the best flavor of mexican food we've found here. Reid wasn't crazy about what he ordered but he did say he'd try it again and order something different. We like trying new places but we still have our old favorites, We went to Eric's today for Shrimp and fries..
We're in the process of buying another lot...yes..another one. we'll be renting out our lot and living on the other one. It's got a covered top for the rv and a "texas room" for cooking and tv watching. We'll be moving over to it this week. Today we went shopping for stuff for the new place. Christmas came early for me.
Next week is another busy week. I have a couple of days to volunteer at the rec center and then I'm doing some Christmas shopping one day. As of right now I believe we'll be in the new place after Wednesday so I'll get my tree up and decorated. I don't go overboard but I do have some Christmas stuff to set out. That's my week...

where did Nov go

Wow, another month is just about gone. It seems like this month went by really fast. Usually I'm ready to get on the road after about three weeks but we've been content here and we've been here for 7 1/2 weeks now. The weather has been beautiful. Our highs for Nov have been averaging high 70's to low 80's and sun most of the time.
Nancy and Bob made it safely into town on Wed and they are staying near us (about 3/10s of a mile away.) They will be visiting for a month before heading on down the road.
We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to dinner with Nancy and Bob..The main dish was less than we expected but the rest of the food was good.
We don't have any plans made yet for next week but I'm sure we'll find something to do.

It's me again

I posted last week but there was a glitch or something and my site went down for a few days and when it came back up my post was gone so since I don't remember what I said those words of wisdom are lost. I will have to try again now..The last few weeks have gotten busy here. We're busy with golf (Reid) and I'm volunteering at the rec center a couple times a week.
We tried a new restaurant this week Tony Romo's. Ribs, they were most excellent..We're big fans of Famous Dave's for ribs but since the closest one is in El Paso and that's a 2 day or longer drive we had to find a place closer. I'm not saying they beat FD's but they were very good and we'll go back for our rib fix.
What's up with the weather down here. The high yesterday was 49. That may not be offical but that's what our reading was here. It was also windy making it feel cold. today was better, high 60's and sunny but we'd really like 70's wouldn't we.
We have friends arriving on Wed. We'll be do Thanksgiving at Luby's. That will be fun. You have to be ready for a nice time out and not be in any hurry cause it will be crowded.
I guess that's it so lets see if this will save and show up

What's going on in Mission

The park's winter activities started this week so I guess winter texans season has begun. The Grill opened up on Monday so we checked it out on Tues. It offers burgers and hot dogs and I had a BLT. Then Wed was shrimp basket special at Eric's so we had to go, it was on special.
On Thurs we went down to the Rec Center for the monthly business meeting. We wanted to find out what's been going on since we left. We hadn't missed anything... Friday was the pancake breakfast. We decided to go but it's a little too early in the morning for me to do it too often. I volunteered to work in the rec office two hours on Wednesday so that will give me something to fill my week besides my walking and bike riding. The park is having 3 craft shows for this winter so I'll probally work them too. So you can see it's getting busy around here. Most of our neighbors are here except for Linda and Jim..(your plant is still blooming)
Wilma and George are close and Nancy and Bob are not far behind them so maybe I'll have some interesting story to tell about them soon.

A new month

We spent a quiet halloween with no trick or treaters. We took Lady around the park in the golf cart and that was the highlight of our night. We hung around the park most of the week with a trip to the vet on Tues. (another ear infection) and then a trip to get groceries and out for lunch on Thurs. We tried another Mexican place and it was ok but we still haven't found the perfect one yet but we'll keep trying. We are seeing an increase in traffic in the area and our park is about 2/3 full now. Several rigs have come in just over the weekend. I noticed some activities posted at the rec center so events are starting up.
Reid is doing the cooking tonight. Our weather has been great mid 80's for highs and mid 60's for lows. That's about it for this post. I'll try to do something fun next week so I can tell you guys about it.

What's new around here

Hey everyone..When I got up this morning it was breezy and chilly in the mid 60's.. maybe chilly is a strong word. I bet my friends in MI and WI would like to discuss chilly with me. We've been taking the golf cart out every evening since we arrived with Lady and she's come to expect her ride with the wind in her ears. We've seen a lot more arrive just in the past week. Roy and Mildred arrived yesterday. They are neighbors a couple sites down from us. We drove by Jim and Linda's site the other day and about the same time we said "their plant is blooming" so Reid got the camera and took a picture to send to them. They hadn't landscaped when we left back in March but it's done now and looks really nice. Karen and Larry sold their RV so it looks different with it gone, they are through traveling and got themselves a park model. They are right next door to us and said they are building a "party area" for cook out and get togethers, being right next door is going to be fun..
We went to Eric's for lunch one day and had the shrimp and fries basket..it's always good. Then on the way home we found out that Granny's Cafe had open back up so we went there later in the week. Good as usually..Reid had been wanting a burger.
The awning has been started and the rest of the materials arrives today so we've been told we should have the awning completed by tomorrow. That was Reid's main reason for wanting to get here so early. (that and golf) did I say that out loud. BTW he's golfing right now with Lou, another neighbor. I know that George and Wilma are headed this way, and Bob & Nancy, Larry & Phyllis and Jim & Linda will be arriving throught out the next couple of months but my biggest thrill is Danny is coming down for Christmas. yeah...Don't know yet about Stephanie, Uncle Sam probally want give her time off but we'll see.

Getting settled in

After arriving last Monday and being super tired I was ready to get set up and rest. We want to get an awning build over the shed to provide some shade and cover from wind and rain so Reid worked on finding someone to do that. We didn't have a lot of rain here last winter but lot of wind. They did have a very wet spring and summer this year which we could tell as we drove down cause this area was a lot greener than it was last winter. There's a few that live here full time and we've seen a couple RV's come in this week so people are slowly starting to arrive. We have new neighbors on our left. They moved in a couple of weeks after we left in the spring. They will be living here full time. They are going to be developing the lot to right soon so Lou should be all set up by Thanksgiving. Right now he's lives behind us but once his new place is ready he'll be selling the site behind us. My hope is that with the two buildings on our left and right some of the wind will be blocked this year that we suffered through last year.
We wanted to go to Granny's for lunch one day and it was closed...now we don't know if it was closed for good or the summer or what. They are doing major road construction in front of the cafe so she might have closed for that reason. We're still trying to find out if it will reopen. Another favorite of ours is Luby's and we were very disappointed. They had changed out the menu so our favorite wasn't on it and the veggies weren't up to standards..So we decided we have to try some new restaurants and stop going to the same old ones all the time. On Saturday night when the threat of rain called off our cookout we decided to go to Joe's Crab Shack..We've started our restaurant experiment, it's a new place for us and we love seafood so it was an easy choice and it was very good. Not quiet as good as our most favorite Red Lobster but still good and we'd go again. It's more causal that RL but still had the choices we wanted. What will we try next, who knows.

walmart and sam's clubs

We find a Sam's club at the exit we took and they are just closing for the night. Reid goes in to talk to the manager and she says it's ok to stay here but the walmart in that county doesn't allow it. so we stopped at the right place. The parking lot is fairly empty and no one else is boondocking there but she said it's safe and there's a night shift stocking in the store and it's well lit and trucker's will sometimes pull in for the night. so we get a spot near the side road with a little grass for Lady and we're all set. We have the room for our slides and we run the generator for a while to cool us off. About 9:30 Reid heads off to bed, with out the air on I know it's not going to be comfortable in bed but theres a nice breeze so Reid takes the bed and I take the sofa and we have the windows up. I didn't figure I'd sleep anyway cause I don't like boondocking so I figured I'd just sit there on the sofa till morning. I did fall asleep around 10, I guess I was more tired that I thought..About 11 I heard a truck pull in and park a row over from us, It was a walmart truck so I felt right at home. About 2am there's this pounding on our door and I jump up, Lady's barking, Reid's getting up and the pounding continues and it was this man drunk I believe, he's wanting money for "crystal" ( you figure it out) and then some story about running out of gas at the pump and needing money for gas to get to his son's surgery... we tell him to go away and leave and he did leave and went to the truck and knocked on his door. I'm watching from the window with the cell phone in my hand ready to call 911. He finally leaves the truck and then gets in a waiting car with someone else driving and they pull out of the parking lot...(thought he was out of gas) Any way at this point we're not going back to sleep and we're not sure he want be back so at about 2:30 we're putting slides in and heading out of town...we don't like driving at night but we did it. I just didn't feel safe staying. We got fuel about 4 and we heading through Houston about 4:15 guess what, not a bad time to travel through the city. We arrived on our site about 11:30 and we were glad to be here. Sam club parking lots are out..maybe a walmart if the store is open and there's other RV around...we'll see.

on a mission

We'll after a few days of non stop visiting in TN we were heading toward west TN for a few days but after a couple of days we decide to head on to Mission...Reid was ready to quit driving for a while and get there. As we're leaving I told Reid instead of doing the drive in 3 days lets get it over with and do it in two...He said ok. But let me explain my thinking. I thought it was going to be 3 four hrs days...so lets just don it in 2 six hrs days...I was wrong...it was going to be 3 six hrs days so trying to get there in two days was going to make it a long 8 hrs drive both days...now we've done that before but I don't really like to do that anymore..but the decision was made. So I knew it's going to be a while before we stop again and when Reid drives I help him out by sleeping. that way I'm not telling him to get over, slow down, speed up, watch that car, etc so I take a nap and when I wake up he tells me that it's going to be just as easy to head on down to I-10 and go that way..Ok that's fine with me. I ask him were are we stopping for the night cause I was ready to stop but we'd stayed in Vinton, La before and it's about half way so we are going there. It's a couple of hrs away. When we finally get there it's about 5 I guess and we're more than ready to stop. We pull in and they are full...so we head out again...we pass couple of other RV parks and the rigs are jammed in there also. Now we're getting worried. we see a sign for the Flying J and we don't like using them and we never have but we'll check them out and we see another sign for a RV park so we stop in. The Lady running it said she's booked too and everything in that area (about 100 miles from Houston) has been booked up since IKE..now we know we're in trouble. The Flying J didn't have any spots for RV so we got the map out for walmarts...and that's another story. read on

Back in Tennessee Sept 28

We're back where we started from. We arrived in TN today. We'll be here a few days before heading farther south. The trip down was good except for heavy fog when we started out this morning but it cleared out about an hour into our trip. The traffic was heavy for a Sunday but we're seeing that trend more and more. Truckers were out in force. Our daughter, Stephanie had a three day break so she met us here from South Georgia. She stopped for gas in Northern Georgia and found that the town she was in was having a gas shortaged..she was able to get gas but the lines we're really long and it took about 45 miles to get gas and get back on the road.
We are limited on resources here. But it will do for a few days. Our home town doesn't have rv parks.
I did notice on the drive that the trees haven't started to change yet. It's beautiful once that phase begins.
I've got my week planned visiting family and friends. Everyone take care.. Blog more later.

27 years Sept 25

27 years later and we're living in an RV. who would have thought. Yes that's right. We've been married 27 years today. Where did the time go..I'll tell you where it went..having jobs we didn't like, raising kids (great kids) that we love, running to this meeting and that game and the next thing you know they've moved out and what is there to do now...sell your house and start living. The first 26 was great and this past year we've had the time of our lives. If I could tell any of you anything it would be: sell your house (it's sticks and stones) pack your stuff into storage and go..you want be sorry..
We're still in IN. George and Wilma are a few miles south of us (I think it's south) so we met up with them yesterday and had a blast with them. We always do. We don't know when we'll seen the again (but we will). If they are in Mission by the end of the Nov we've got plans to do Thanksgiving dinner with them. No major plans for the next couple of days we'll be heading into TN on Sunday

Indian Lake RV park Sept 21

Another state another membership park. I must say that I'm changing my opinion of the membership parks. We went to a couple of them that we didn't like at all. I was disappointed in the layout and the upkeep wasn't good but the last two have been very nice and well kept..This one is pretty full considering it's late Sept but we found a good site with afternoon shade and we can get all of the stuff we want, such as: internet, cell phone service, sat tv, air conditioning, "just a few of my favorite things".
We enjoyed our two weeks in Ohio and the weather (except for Sunday's storm) was great. I like seeing places we haven't visited before.
We've never been to this area so I'm sure we'll be checking it out. We hope to be seeing friends this week too.
We will be hanging around this area for a week and then heading on South..

Erie Island RV Resort Sept 16

We arrived here on Sunday and it was a short 9 mile drive from the state park. Yes, a 9 mile day, are we learning how it's done or what. This is a membership park and we wanted to check it out..I can say it's been one of the nicest we've seen. It's quiet but the summer season is winding down so most of the people have left already. When we arrived it was sunny and hot, mid 80's and we didn't expect to see the rest of Ike but we got him..about 4:30 it started to rain and the wind started to blow and it was rough for a few hours with the wind. The rain finally stopped between 9 and 10. Monday was cloudy and cool only in the 60's. The rest of the week is suspose to be 70's for the highs so that's wonderful. Reid played golf today and I've got a big pot of beef stew slow cooking for supper later. We will make a Walmart run tomorrow and I have a feeling there will be more golf played this week. We'll be here till Sunday. take care everyone.

Happy Birthday to me Sept 9th

Yes I sang to myself all day on my birthday. My mother in law called first thing to get my day started. She always sings happy birthday to me so I look forward to it. We didn't really have anything special planned but we had to go to Walmart and when we left Reid took off heading the opposite direction from the park..He'd found the closest Red Lobster (15 miles away) and was headed there for my birthday lunch.. Red Lobster is my favorite. So yes I had a fun day. I didn't want cake but I had blackberry cobbler and ice cream for tonight. Then while we were sitting around the camp fire Jean and Tim came over with birthday cupcakes...yeah... I got a phone call from my kids and Nancy too... I've gotten several emails too..I just love my birthday...and yes I celebrate it for several days...Tomorrow we've made plans to take the ferry over to Kelley Island with Jean and Tim and hang out over there for the day.

East Harbor State Park Sept 7

Me again..I'm doing good with this blog stuff.. It was rainy and cloudy when we got ready to leave Mi this morning. We had most of our pack up stuff done so all we had to do was say our goodbyes. We had to leave Bob and Nancy there but we'll see them again in Dec. Cheryl and Danny came out to see us off too and we'll see them again next summer.
The drive was good and the traffic was lite..I made myself stay awake cause we'd never been this way before and I didn't want to miss anything. The rain cleared out about an hour into the drive. The rest of the day has been sunny, breezy and cool. We arrived at the park about 12:30 and from what I've seen it looks very nice. I haven't seen much of the state park yet only the RV park. I plan to get out on my bike soon and see some more of it. We arrived about 12:30 and our friends John and Jan were already here. They arrived about 12:00.
Tim and Jean arrived about 3pm. We don't have any plans yet for the week but we've been told there's plenty to see and do in this area. We're about 60 miles from Canada.
I'm going bike riding so chat later.

Preparing to leaving MI Sept 6

I know you are really surprised that it's only the 6th and I've posted this many times already. I said I was trying to post more often and so far I'm sticking to it. Happy Birthday Sam. (my great nephew)
Our time in Michigan is just about up. We are leaving in the morning and heading to Ohio. We're going to East Harbor State Park for a few days. We've never been so we hope it's a great area. I know it's on Lake Erie so that should be pretty. We will be meeting up with John and Jan and Tim and Jean. They are all from that area and they will be there for part of the week. They are fellow Everest owners.
Today we decided to do breakfast at Leo's Coney..Coney's are popular in this area..I didn't even know what they were till I spend time in Michigan...They're hotdogs usually with chili in case you're wondering. Some restaurant will actually have their own version of it such as a Flint Coney or a Detroit Coney...but I haven't tried them I don't like chili on my hotdog...cheese yes, tomotoes yes (not at the same time) ...but chili no..
Leo's also has a full menu with great breakfasts. So Bob and Nancy picked us up about 10:00 and we all had our farewell breakfast. After that I had to make a trip to the Kroger's and then I needed to wash the bedspread so I headed over to the laundry to get that done. Reid spend the day getting outside stuff stored and packed and now he's watching golf and I'm watching football. Tonight it will be baseball so that makes for a great day.

Henry Ford Museum Sept 3

Today we headed over to the Henry Ford Museum. We knew we wanted to check this out and since we're leaving on Sunday we decided to go today. The four of us headed out about 9:30. The four being Bob, Nancy, Reid and I. It's located in Dearborn, MI., about an hours drive from our home park in Hartland, MI. The tour was very nice, plenty of items to see and something for everyone. There was a large car display from different decades. The Kennedy car was there also the chair that Lincoln was shot in. Trains, Airplanes, A display of auto camping in the early years. furniture through the ages, a display of old machinery, steam engines and lots more. You could definately spend a couple of days just going through everything. We only went to the museum today but there's a factory tour and a village tour where you can witness how life was way back when. On the way home we stopped for a late lunch, early supper at Famous Daves. Yeah...It started to rain before we got home and it's still raining...three hours later....but there's a cool front coming and we're ready. It's been so hot here this week..when we left Dearborn it was about high 80's and here it was low 70's and still dropping.
On Sunday we're heading to East Harbor state park in Ohio for a week. We're meeting John and Jan there. More friends that we've met in our Everest Club. They are from Ohio so they are going to met us for a few days.

Labor Day

Happy September. Where has the year gone. I'm going to try to post often this month. We'll be doing a lot of moving over the next 6-8 weeks.
I've been watching the hurricane on the coast this weekend. We're going to be taking the Trace down to the coast when we head south so I hope all the bridges hold up ok.
We're getting ready for our cookout. We have two couples coming over. Danny and Cheryl and Howard and Georgia. Bob and Nancy were coming but their son, Jason is visiting with his crew so they are cooking out with them. We're just doing simple stuff like burgers and hotdogs, potato salad and baked beans.
The park is emptying out and I must say I'm glad..There has been so much traffic in the park this weekend. I want to go bike riding but I'm giving the roadways to the cars, trucks and rv's for now. The park has been overflowing with autos, rv's and tents all weekend. This weekend was busier that the 4th of July weekend.
Now I must vent a bit...I might have venting on this topic before but I just don't get it.
When the weather is cool and there's a chill in the night air the only thing to do is have a campfire BUT I don't understand the need for a fire in the middle of the day when the temp's are bumping 90 degrees. I understand a fire for cooking and or warmth but watching people build a fire and letting it burn all day while they sit inside their rv's with the air running doesn't make sense to me. As an example, I was outside yesterday morning walking Lady about 9am and saw the man from the rv behind us building a fire in his fire pit. I thought he was getting it ready for last night. He spent most of the day inside but he'd come outside to add more wood to it through out the day. He wasn't the only one, there were so many fires going this weekend that the park was smoky most of the time...What's up with a fire during the hottest part of the summer.
I guess I'll go now and let anyone reading this ponder over this post till the next one.

Labor day weekend Aug 30

We're still in Hartland, Mi. We'll be leaving this area on Sunday Sept 7th. The park is very crowded this weekend for the holiday. But it will clear out late Monday. Schools start back on Tues so this park will not be as crowded has it has been. We're planning to grill our burgers and hotdogs on Monday with Bob and Nancy, Danny and Cheryl and Howard and Georgia. Nancy and Bob's son, Jason, is out here this weekend too with his crew of 6 so they might be coming to the cookout too. I'm not sure of their plans.
We've had an easy relaxing week after last week of rallying. Reid did some golfing and I've been busy walking and riding my bike daily. I did get around to printing out my photos and getting them put in albums. Once I got started I realizes my pictures from last Nov wasn't in books yet so I had plenty to catch up on. But I spent a day getting that organized and caught up. Now I need to get my camera ready and get more photos taken. I have a new book to start.
I've heard from both of my kids this week and that's always great. Danny turned 26 this week. When did he got so old.
As you can see not a lot going on but every week can't be jammed pack fun.

Hartland, MI

We left Goshen about 11 on Sunday and headed back to Hartland, MI to our membership park. We will be here for the next two weeks before starting our trip back south for the fall and winter.
We've had a very cool day of the high only getting to 70 with a nice breeze blowing. On Saturday in Goshen it was in the 90's so this is a nice break from that heat. We've enjoyed it here in MI this summer but we are ready to get moving. Don't know of our plans for the next two weeks but I'll try to keep it interesting. I didn't do much today except my walk and bike ride. (I try to get in at least a mile of each in the mornings..) that's all for now. chat later

2nd annual Everest rally

On Aug 17th we did Lobo proud and took the "short drive" of about 20 miles over to Goshen to the Elkhart fair grounds for the Everest rally. The rally didn't actually begin till Wed. but several of us arrived on Sunday and started all the fun. Most of this group had met before so it was a time of renewing friendships and finding out how every one has been spending their summer.
On Sunday we got set up and watched the Everest begin to show up and set up. Several of us decided to find a restaurant for supper so we could keep visiting and catching up. We went out to supper with about 7 others and then sat around the rig talking till late. (can't do fires there so we tried to do a circle anyway)
The next several days was spent sight seeing and checking out the area. Some went to the flea market and others went to see the local sites. On Wed night we had a cookout meet and greet. Did I mention there is not a shortage of food at our rallys.
On Thurs the Everest manufactures treated the group to a tour of Norte Dame and the South Bend Chocolate factory, The trip was started with a chartered bus ride to the campus and lunch at the Legends restaurant then a walking tour of campus. After those tours were over we headed back to the fairgrounds for another cookout sponcered by Keystone (Everest manfu.) that was another big meal of grilled steak or chicken with all the sides. yum again.
On Friday and Sat most people did there own thing with a few of us going to Das Essenhaus (second trip for us) on Friday night, it was Marge's birthday so we sang to her as her pie was brought over with a candle in it. Saturday was closing ceremonies (an olympic reference) where we "you guessed it" had another great meal. This was a pot luck and the food was the best.
The sadest part was everyone saying goodbye on Sunday morning when we all headed our own way..but we know that we'll see each other again soon, some this fall in Texas and others next May at the TN rally. We don't really say good bye we say "see ya down the road"

around Aug 3 thru 17

I can not believe it's been a month since I updated my blog. I'm sorry to those who do like to keep up. I will update you all on the fun we're been having and I'll try my best to update this more often.
We spent another week in Hartland before heading to our next stop. Reid and Bob played golf on Thurs while Nancy and I went to get our hair done. We left on Sunday and headed to Kalamazoo, MI we didn't like that park at all. Not only was it super crowded but we didn't have some of the hookups that we were going to need for a weeks stay. Also the site we were on was very unkept and right next to the playground where the kids decided to play a game of football using our rig as the ball stopper in case the ball was missed by a the person trying to catch it..That didn't last long cause when I heard it ball bump the side of the RV I stuck my head in the window to let them know I was watching. (there was an adult with those kids and he should have know better than to let them toss the football towards someones RV) we pulled out first thing on Monday morning and took a short drive to Shipshewana, IN to a very nice RV park. We were heading to Goshen the following week anyway. While in Shipshe (as the locals call it) we went to the flea market and to a favorite restaurant of ours in Middlebury, Das Essenhaus. yum. I don't fix a lot of fried chicken for Reid and this place serves their chicken broasted with all the sides so Reid loves it. It's served family style.
I'll stop there and continue on the next post about the 2nd annual Everest Rally.

Tues July 29

I want to get you guys caught up on our last couple of weeks but first I want to say that I love birthdays and I believe a day isn't long enough to celebrate, I like to celebrate for the week, so George, I hope you're celebrating all week long..
We left WW on the 13th and headed to Standish, MI There's a membership park there that we wanted to try out.. We want go back. We couldn't get a decent cell phone or internet signal. Reid still has to work, you know. Anyway we endured the week. We checked out a couple of restaurants. The North Forest Cafe was good. It was one of those local little places that everyone goes to. Then we tried the Pizza place across the street..The food was good but they put banana peppers on Reids pizza and he didn't care for that.. That was about it for that city.
The next week we went to Alpena, Mi. We met a couple in Mission that live there and wanted to stop in to visit with them. We had a great week, Phyllis and Larry showed us the hightlights of their town and we toured the lake on their boat. We grilled out at their place and checked out their favorite bar. We had a blast. We stayed at Campers Cove RV park and it was nice. We did have internet and cell phone but get this no TV no Sat TV...wow tough week. Lucky for me we were busy with friends and didn't miss the tv too much.
We headed back to WW on Sunday where we had a cookout with Nancy and Bob and Cheryl and Danny. Both of those couples had to leave for their week out so we'll be by ourselves the rest of this week but they'll be back next week.
Reid is golfing today and I've been chilling here blogging and reading.
Everyone have fun ok

July 7 Monday

July already..where has this year gone. We've had a fun week. The weather has been good and Reid even had a jacket on in July..we've had some rain but it's not been bad. The holiday weekend was fun and we just sat around the campground and enjoyed it. The park put on a fireworks show which was real good. It probally lasted 30 minutes or longer. Lady didn't have as much fun during it as we did.
We found this Mexican Restaurant on Thursday called Borders Cantina and it was real good. We've had problems finding what we consider good mexican food but we both liked this place.
Reid and Bob got in another day of golfing today before Bob and Nancy leave tomorrow. It's their out week but they aren't going far. This weekend there's a car show scheduled and we've talked about going..I believe we're doing breakfast with Bob and Nancy on Saturday before the car show. I think that's our plans. We're leaving on Sunday for a week at one of the ROD parks farther north before heading to Alpena for the week. We have friends there we met in Tx and we are planning on a visit with them.
I guess that's it for today. chat later

June 30 Monday

Summer is here and our schedule is going to calm down now. The last two months were hectic but I had fun. We spent lots of time with our family and I got to see the kids a lot over the last several weeks. Since I last wrote we spent about 4 days in Knoxville visiting Danny and Reid did some golfing. We left on Thurs to go to Spring Mill State Park in IN for a family reunion. We had over 50 family members there and had a fun weekend. We left Sunday and headed to our membership park in Michigan. Reid has been looking forward to getting here cause it's cooler and the humidity is low. He was not disappointed. When we arrived yesterday the temps were mid 70's and the low was in the 50's. Nancy and Bob are at this park for this week so we'll be hanging out with them alot. We did our grocery shopping today and Reid has a tee time for tomorrow with Bob. We grilled out with Nancy and Bob tonight and then a friend of their's brought over homemade cheese cake..it was terrific. Tomorrow is my day to get the rv set up. I need to get all the laundry caught up and my trinkets put out and just chill.
BTW...Stephanie had her followup today for her surgery and got her stitches removed. She will start physical therapy this week and will be on medical leave for at least another two weeks. She's tired of the crutches and is ready to walk again.
that's all for now

June 21 Sat

hey all..
Well our time in South Ga is coming to an end. We are leaving tomorrow heading to MI with stops in Knoxville, TN (go Vols) to see Danny and then to IN for a family reunion and then to MI for the summer. Stephanie had her knee surgery on the 16 and after a rough couple of days (for her not me) she's feeling much better. She can't put any weight on the knee till her follow up apt on June 30 but she's getting around on the crutches just fine..
The heat and humidity here has been rough for Reid (and also the gnats) so he's ready to head north.
Steph and I tried a new restaurant before her surgery. It's called Fatz and it was really good. Steph has a friend who works there and he was our waiter so we kept him busy.. One of our favorite places is Longhorn. We went there a couple of times.. they have great steaks..That was where we took Dad for Fathers Day. We went last Saturday cause Stephanie had to work on Sunday.. There's not a lot to do here so that's all to report on the area.
We'll get to Knoxville tomorrow and take Danny out for supper then start making our way to IN for the family reunion that begins on Friday..There will be family members from several states at the reunion some we haven't seen in years. that's always fun. On Sunday, June 29 we head to MI to get together with friends Bob and Nancy. we'll actually see then off and on all summer.. Happy Travels everyone.

June 6

No excuses this time I'm just lazy. I spent the time in Tennessee seeing family so I didn't have time to blog..We drove to Ga on the 16th to see our kids. Stephanie arrived Friday night and Danny came in on Sat. We grilled out steaks with them on Sat night and then took in a Braves game with them on Sunday. (we won) We had a blast..It had been over a yr since the four of us had been together..I smiled all weekend. We stopped at Applebee's after the game and then Danny had to head back to East Tenn for work on Monday.. Steph stayed till Monday night before she had to get back. Reid and I decided to see another game (Go Braves) on Tues. (won again) We left Ga on Wed and headed to Chattanooga for a couple of days. We went to the Aquaruim and really thought it would have more ocean life than it did..We left and went back to TN for another week till the wedding. Our niece got married at the end of the month and she was a beautiful bride. We thought we had our trip planned and was to leave June 5 for Mobile and then on to Ga cause Steph is having knee surgery in a couple of weeks. But the night of the 4th one of our air conditioners went out. it's in the mid 90's in TN, AL and GA this week so we need our air..The trip to Mobile is out and we headed to Ga to a repair place. We didn't want to miss being here for Stephanie and her surgery so we found a place here to fix the AC and we will be here till the middle of June..
That catches us up for now. I'll try to blog better but you know if I'm not blogging I'm out having fun..

May 10

I'm so bad..I'm sorry I haven't posted..there's been various reasons I haven't posted and I'll get to that..I will update the past couple of months. We left Mission on March 23 and headed to San Antonio for a week. It rained most of the time we were there. We did try a couple of new restaurants while in town. San Antonio still holds the record for most favorites restauarants. The first one was called PoPo's and it's famous for it's plate collection. The decorative plates are hanging all over the walls and they have over 2100 in their collection. The food didn't disappoint. It was fantastic. On another day we met Bobbie at a fish and chip place but it's been over two months and I can't think of the name of it right now but it will come to me later.
Once our week was up we headed toward Tennessee. We droved toward more bad weather..In fact the weather was wet and dreary and cold for the next several days. We arrived at the state park in TN on Apr 7th..To our surprise, the powers that be had raised the rates from 17.00 a night to 25.00 we thought that was awful but we stayed cause we were waiting on a rally to begin later in the month. By this time we'd already met up with Bob and Nancy..they had been spending the winter in Fl and were now ready to start heading to MI.
Several of the people attending the rally arrived early so we talked and laughed for a full week with friends from all over the country. I'd have to say the highlight of the rally was the last night when the stand up comedian performed. (nuff said)
We left the state park and went to a membership park with Bob and Nancy for a week before each of us headed our own way. We got to the rv park near our home area on April 28. I've spent the last two weeks visiting friends and family. Last Sat we went to our favorite rib restaurant...Famous Daves...Hadn't had that since Nov so we really enjoyed that.
The weather has be ok..mild temps but plenty of rain. We're expecting more storms after midnight tonight.
During all this traveling and visiting we've done, my computer crashed...I'm rough on computers...so there was several days I didn't have a computer, it felt like months but Reid said it was a few days. so there's my reasons for not blogging in a while..
The rest of the month is going to be busy too, we have some appointments this week, then next weekend we're heading to Atlanta...to see my kids...they both have free weekends at the same time so we're meeting up with them on Sat and seeing a Braves game together on Sunday. I can't wait. It's been a long time since the four of us have been together. At the end of the month our niece is getting married and there's going to be lots of family in town for that so that will be fun.
that's it for now.

march 12

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post..I've tried several times but kept getting an error message..It was this site not me..ok enough said.
Wow! where has the time gone..We've been in Mission since Jan 9th and we'll be leaving on March 23.. We have enjoyed this past two months here and want to get more involved next season.. Once you except that the wind is going to be gusty some days you've won the battle..Most days I can handle it but some days.......The temps have been great and who can complain about 80 degrees in Feb and March.
Our lot improvements are done and it looks great.. The rocks are down and the trees planted and the shed is painted..with the exception of some trim that Reid's going to work on today I think.
Most of our friends have already moved on but we have plans to met up with some of them this summer. We met up with some that we've known for a couple of years and met some new friends that we'll get to see each winter.
We have park wide "coffee breaks" on Thurs for met and greets and we're going to a St Patrick's Day supper on the 17th.. That should be fun..I'm a people person you know.
I have been walking alot this winter and riding my bike some too. Reid decided a couple weeks ago to try golfing again. He seems to be enjoying it. He went yesterday.
I will try to post more often now that we'll be on the move for the next several months.

Feb 11

It was a busy week last week but only cause we made it busy. We headed to So Padre Island on Tues. We were invited to go with Larry and Phyllis. They had been before and knew a great place to eat. The restaurant was called Dirty Al's and it was terrific. We had a short wait but it was worth it. We drove around the island but the wind was high and sand blowing everywhere so we headed back toward Mission. We stopped at an rv park in Brownsville to visit with a couple that we'd met at Seven Oaks. We hung around about an hr but then had to get home. Lady was waiting for supper.
Wed and Thur we spent getting stuff we needed for our lot improvements. We had to get border brick and trees. the brick took some running around cause one store didn't seem to have enough but we found what we needed and we have those bricks in place waiting now on the rock. It was ordered today and should be here some time this week. The trees we're planted on Wed and they are doing good. I don't have a green thumb so if they died it wouldn't surprise me.
On Friday we went to Pepe's with Larry and Phyllis and Gary. We'd heard it's a must see and it was. I wouldn't recommend going if you're hungry and need a quick meal. (don't get me wrong the food was good but it took a long time to get it) If you have the afternoon free and want to hang out with friends and listen to music or dance..have a beer it's the place to go..you know me I don't drink but I do like listening to music and watching people dance. It was something fun to do. Saturday we decided to grill out so we called George and Wilma to see if they were free and they were so they came over. We grilled burgers and had potato salad and baked beans. We visited a while and they headed back to their park. The closer it gets to March all of us will be heading to other locations and we're looking forward to getting together later in the summer or again back here next winter.

Feb 4

Time sure flys doesn't it. Now to update you. We decided to buy a lot here in South Texas since we plan to spend the winters here. We'd been looking around and found one we really liked for the price. On Jan 29th we left 7 oaks and heading to the new place. I did enjoy our time at 7 oaks. The people was the friendiest I've ever seen and there was so much to do to stay busy. We spent last week getting set up and making decisions on the patio and landscaping etc. On Thurs we had girls day out. Four of us heading out to shop. we had a blast. After shopping we found a Chinese restaurant and the food was really good.
The weekend was busy, they usually are. Saturday we grilled out and Larry and Phyllis came over. We made plans to play cards on Sunday. We had breakfast plans with George and Wilma on Sunday morning. The four of us have figured out that Sundays are not good days to eat out, everyone in town eats out on Sundays. (Ha) This week we have a couple of things we're going to try to do but nothing definate yet. Right now the guys are pouring the concrete for the patio. We bought a shed for storage and that needs to be painted (where's Bob when I need him). I think we're going to paint it later this week. Well I guess that's my updates.

jan 24 Thur

Wow two post in the same week. I think that's a record. the weather has been less than perfect but we're dealing..even Reid. We know this want last and we'll just wait it out. Lady had her big day today..she went to the groomers. They did a great job for little money..we've paid more before and didn't as good of a cut. This Saturday is forcasted to be better and if it is we're going to the flea market. We know of a game that we want and they have it there. Also oranges. I got a bag of oranges there last time and they were the sweetest oranges I've had in a long time.
I guess right not that's our weekend plans..We'd love to cook out but it's hard to plan that with the wind changing around here all the time.
With all this cold and drizzle I haven't been walking as much as I like to. But that should change soon

Jan 20

I can't believe it's been 20 days since I've updated my life. We left Port A and went to Rockport
for a week. That was a nice quiet park set up like a state park with shady, green trees, and a lake and rumor had it a gator in the lake but I never saw it. We found some great restaurants there. one called the big fisherman was great..what we didn't notice was a lunch menu so we ordered off the reg one and we each got a seafood platter. Well these platter arrived with 8 pieces of fish each plus 6 or 7 shrimp, mounds of scallops with sides.. I brought home enough for another meal..it was good. We also found a diner that was very good and cheap. I treated that day the bill was about 11 dollars. Ha.
we left the 9th and headed south. We've been here for the past week and a half and we've gone from 80's and sunny to 40's and raining. Over all most days have been downers weather wise..if it's not raining then it's real windy. Reid isn't happy with the weather so far and I'm not sure how long we'll stay in this area. Our plans were to be in this area till mid mar but I don't believe we'll hang out that long unless the weather stays dry and calm
I've enjoyed this park..there's plenty to do as far as planned activities and the people are so friendly. I've been walking and biking and attending Sunday Services and we had a Ladies Luncheon last week that was fun.
This week is forcasted to be warmer but raining so we'll see what happens. I could be seeing I-10 heading east before I know it.

Jan 1, 2008 Happy New Years

Wow!! here we are in 2008. Seems like 07 just started. We spent New Yrs Eve at our place playing cards and having snacks with Wilma and George. They left by 10:15 and Reid was asleep by 10:30. I welcomed in the new yr surfing the internet.. I was looking for a restauant for lunch today. I did hear someone on the beach blowing the car horn so some people were still out and about at midnight.
We are leaving this park tomorrow. We will be going only a short distance away for the next week. Our friends are leaving too so we did lunch together today. We went to Castaways they have seafood and also burgers. It was fun and not crowded. then we came back here and chilled. Watched some football and the some more of 24.. ( I watched football then we watched 24) Reid doesn't want anyone thinking he'd watch football.
The weather changed again to cold and windy, but I believe it's going to get better after tomorrow. Of course anything under 70 is cold to me.