Monday, April 30, 2012

Since I last wrote, SKP ACRE ended, but the last days were busy.  We had computer classes put on by myself, and Cindy Devonshire.

Then at the 4:00 social, we had checks for contributions to CARE given to Mark Nemeth to take back to Livingston.  ($2,000+ from chapter 29, $145 from the Solo’s, and a $1,000 from the SKP ACRE committee.

Of course there were more door prizes like the Sewee Pig that holds a sewer hose in place.

We even took a picture of all of the attendees wearing their yellow event shirts.

We had a committee meeting to plan for next year, entertainment and dancing.

Dave Pye, the Chapter 16 president even joined the band to play his wash board.

And of course the bonfire was enjoyed by all.

SKP ACRE is over when Pete Petersen hauls his coffee pot back to his rig.

After leaving SKP ACRE, we drove to Ashboro, NC for 3 nights to vegetate and get caught up on paper work such as rally reports.  Then we moved to to Clayton, NC to visit friends Tim & Ronni Oeltjenbruns.  We parked in their front yard.  Saturday, I tried to replace a switch that had a light in it to indicate that it was on, got the wrong one, and blew a fuse.  After replacing the fuse, we found that the refrigerator would not work.  The fault code indicated that the High Temperature Switch was open.  This is the little box that Norcold has been replacing in all of its 1200 series refrigerators.  We put all of our frozen stuff in our friends’ freezer, and this morning (Monday) started trying to get it fixed.  We finally went to Camping World in Garner, NC.  They did not have any in stock, but had some on order – not due for a week.  Then we called Norcold, and with the help of the Camping World service writer, they are going to ship one tomorrow that will be here on Wednesday.  Of course that means that we will probably be late for our reservations in the Poconos.  Oh well, we will get there.  Then, while all of this was going on, Marilyn developed a headache, and her blood pressure was elevated, so we took her to a local emergency room.  The doctor ordered a couple of pills for pain, an additional blood pressure pill plus, a urine sample, and he ordered a cat scan of her head.  Diagnosis was a sinus infection, and a bladder infection resulting in the elevated blood pressure.  This evening, she is feeling better.

Type at you later.

Tuesday, 2012-04-17

Today was the first actual day of SKP ACRE, and it turned out great from the 1st timers meeting to registration to the first catered dinner.

Victor Schrubb won the first door prize – Sewee!

We also had a very good “Shack Snack” turnout.

Type at you later.

Monday, 2012-04-16

Good day here at the SKP ACRE rally.  Morning found us stuffing bags with handouts.

The parking committee was waiting for someone to park.

As you can see in the following pictures, they did have to work.

The social hour had really grown at 4pm.

Sometimes having to make announcements puts one in a very lonely position.

These final two pictures show a typical SOLO guy surrounded by young ladies, and an unusual SOLO guy surrounded by other “guys”.

Type at you later.

Sunday, 2012-04-15

On Thursday, Freightliner Custom Chassis in Gaffney, SC serviced the motorhome.  Turned out to be less than we expected, so we were happy.  On Friday, the 13th, we left Gaffney, and drove to The Campground at Tom Johnson’s in Marion, SC for the SKP ACRE rally.  After parking the rig, we got together with Bryan & Jan Rose to find our how we could help.  

We had our normal social hour in front of the rigs.

Then we all went out to eat at Countryside BBQ.  They are our caterers, and put on delicious meals.  Mine was ribs, and Marilyn;s was a salad – delicious.

Saturday, we shopped at Wal-Mart.  More rigs arrived and we had a larger happy hour.  Since Betty Bear was going to cook “Bear Biscuits and Sausage Gravy”, Molly just had to model her “BearAss” apron.

Sunday, the 15th, Marilyn and I went out to breakfast with Bryan & Jane.  We ate at the Moose Café, and I will definitely return for other meals.  After breakfast, we made our stops at Staples and Sam’s Club for supplies.  By Happy Hour, we had 50 rigs parked, and this is before the rally starts. During social (happy) hour, Molly displayed the SKP ACRE Snack Shack for our snack tables.

And of course, I took a series of pictures around the pavilion to show the number of people that attended our happy hour.

Type at you later.

Wednesday, 2012-04-11

After having spent a lazy evening Monday night, we got busy Tuesday morning trying  to create a schedule for the Escapees’ Chapter 16 fall rally to be held in Mountain View RV Resort.  We found several sightseeing opportunities and potential restaurants for dine-outs by talking to the campground managers and by stopping at the Visitor Center / Chamber of Commerce.  We chose Steve’s Steak House for the dine-out, and will picnic at Brasstown Bald (the highest peak in GA) and tour a model railroad museum.

About 2pm we drove towards Murphy, NC to visit Tom and Ann Willson.  (I worked with Tom for many years in the IRS).  We talked of old times and what has happened since we retired.  Then we went to a nice restaurant in Murphy called ShoeBooties.  They have an interesting way of doing dinners for two for $24.95.  You chose one of two appetizers (we chose the Vietnamese Spring Rolls, and Tom & Ann chose the Bruschetta – both being good); then you chose from 4 entree's (Tom & Ann chose the Chicken over linguini, while Marilyn and I chose the pork chops – again both were delicious);  finally we were able to chose one dessert from two choices – we each chose the wonderful Chocolate Crème Brulee.  What a great afternoon we had visiting and eating out with Tom and Ann.

We left Blairsville this morning and headed for Gaffney, SC.  The drive took us across the top of GA on US 76 through Young Harris, Hiawassee, Clayton, and Clemson SC to I-85, and finally up to Gaffney, SC.Total miles for today = 175.

Tomorrow morning a few minutes after 8AM, the technician will come out for our motorhome to give it its all day service.

Monday, 2012-04-09

We left the Tifton WalMart on the 6th, and drove to Lake Pines RV Park in Columbus, GA.  After setting up, we went shopping at Sam’s Club, and then drove over to our son’s house, and he surprised us by getting off work early, getting home about 4pm.  For dinner, the three of us went to Olive Garden to use the Darden Gift Cards that we had received for Xmas -  good evening.

Saturday morning we went back to Doug’s.  I did some woodworking for motorhome cabinets.  Harley came by with Gauge and it was nice to see both of them again.  For dinner, Doug cooked the Elk Sausage dogs that we still had from our trip to Alaska.  They were good.

Easter Sunday dawned with our going back to Doug’s.  Harley and Gauge came by with one of Harley’s friends – Lindsay.  Then Amber showed up with her son, Harlan.  We all sat around enjoying the company.  Harley and Gauge left around 2pm, because she had to get back to Orlando for classes on Monday.

For Easter dinner, Marilyn roasted a leg of lamb – yummy.  After dinner, Doug’s friend Leila came over.  She is a delightful young lady, and we enjoyed the evening talking to her.  Wish she had felt better, and could have joined us earlier for dinner.

Then this morning, Monday, we headed to North Georgia.  We got a late start because our mail had not caught up with us, and we had to call our mail-forwarding service.  They had mistakenly sent it to Bushnell, FL instead of to Doug’s.  Then we called the Bushnell Post Office to have them return our mail to Crestview.  We will try again in Marian, NC.  We did get fuel at WalMart at $3.98 per gallon of diesel – probably the last we will see diesel under $4 for a long time.

We are parked at Mountain View RV Resort in Blairsville, GA until Wednesday morning.

Type at you later.

2012-04-05 On the Road Again

This morning we finished getting the motorhome ready to travel..  Took a picture of it sitting (moved forward to pull up the wood under the jacks) on our site for the since October 2011.  Note slides in, jacks up, and unplugged.

Then it was time for the SKP lunch in Clermont, FL.  We had a good turnout with 47 people having signed the sheet.  Note the picture was taken on my iPhone using an App called PhotoSync, which takes pictures as you move the phone in a circle, and then connects the pictures into one.

We then drove back to Sumter Oaks RV Park to get the motorhome.  With the car in tow, we were driving north by 1:45pm.  It was hot, and the PressurePro (which monitors the pressure in the motorhome and Jeep tires) alarm went off twice with high pressure in two of the tires.  The first was 122 pounds in the passenger outside dual, and the second was 120 in the driver’s side inside dual.  Since the tire max for the motorhome tires is 120 pounds, none were really excessive.

Just north of White Springs, FL it started to rain.  Of course this was in construction where the right lane was closed, and then they moved the cones into the center lane (where we were) so it was only half a lane.  Made it.  As we continued north, Georgia seemed to be living up to its song – A Rainy Night in Georgia.  Then, 20 miles south of Tifton, it stopped.  We are parked at WalMart, and it has started to rain again about 7:00pm.

Type at you later.

Counting down to April 5, 2012

It has been almost a month since I last wrote.  We are in the getting everything ready to start leaving Florida until next October.  On Thursday the 5th, we plan to go to the SKP lunch, return to Sumter Oaks RV Park, start the motorhome, and head towards Columbus GA for Easter.

During March, we had wonderful visits with friends and relatives.  On the 16th we went to  Ken & Alice Miller’s for dinner to celebrate Paul & Peg Gifford’s 1st anniversary.  On the 18th, we visited Pete & Mitzi Hull and went to Applebee’s for dinner.  Then, on Thursday, the 22nd, we went out for Mexican with Paul & Peg Gifford.  Friday, the 23rd, we had lunch at The Crazy Gator’s in Leesburg with Joe & Marianne Mellon, after our Dr. checkups.  Sunday, we met with Lon and Carolyn Van Ostran for lunch at Cracker Barrel.  Tuesday, the 27th, we went back to Leesburg to have blood drawn at a Quest Lab.  Then on Saturday, the 31st, we met with Mitzi and Pete again to go to the Florida Highland Games.  It rained, so we went to lunch for Mexican, and then returned to the motorhome for drinks.  We sure seem to have eaten out a lot during March, but we had wonderful visits with great friends.

Oh, and on Thursday the 29th, we had a wonderful baked spaghetti dinner in the Sumter Oaks clubhouse prepared by our wonderful managers. 

Yesterday and today, the 3rd and 4th, we have have been getting things packed so we can hit the road tomorrow.  We put the tripod satellite dish in the storage unit, stopped at Winn Dixie for last minute items, and bought gas for the Jeep at WalMart – $3.779 with the WM Discover card.

Our neighbors, Phil & Terri, left last week, so Marilyn has been watering their flowers.  I have been putting pictures of them on Facebook so they would not miss out on the blooms.  Here are the amaryllis and rose pictures I took today.