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.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Since the 1st of March, we have just been enjoying the opportunity to relax at home.  I looked back at the calendar, and didn’t see anything special.  Our good friends, Larry & Carolyn, spent the past week packing things in their shed, motorhome and car so they could lock up the motorhome and head back to North Tonawanda, NY (near Buffalo) and  a chance to eliminate Larry’s “carpal tunnel” problems.  Of course with Larry and Carolyn leaving we had to have Sunday’s several times this week (we had given up Manhattan’s except on Sunday to reduce our caloric intake).  I pulled everything out of the bottom of the motorhome so I could vacuum again before washing the house.

On Wednesday, the 7th, we barbecued Alaskan Halibut for 7.  It was another delicious dinner with friends.

Then on Friday 9th, 11 of us went to Coyote Roja in Bushnell, FL for wonderful Mexican dinners with great company.  It was our farewell dinner to Larry & Carolyn.

A couple of months ago, Marilyn was contacted by her college roommate, Sandy Johns Andrews.  Sandy was also Marilyn’s Matron of Honor at our wedding in 1967.  She told Marilyn that she was going to be visiting some friends in Holliday, FL (near Tampa), and wondered if we might get together.  So, the 5 of us met in Port Charlotte at “Catches Restaurant”.  All of us had Basa fish sandwiches for lunch.  They were delicious.  We enjoyed meeting Sandy’s friends.  Marilyn and Sandy enjoyed catching up on each others lives.  The last time we met up with Sandy was in 1997 (we think), and our only contact in between has been Christmas cards.

After lunch, we returned to Sumter Oaks RV Park in time for their ice cream social at 4:00pm.  Right after the social, we were entertained with a “Fractured Fairy Tale”.  It was directed by Dick Stott.  We had Evelyn Monat and Gordon Dembsey narrating.Doug Hill provided signs to prompt audience participation, and Jean Pertick helped when an actor or actress forgot lines.

The King’s 5 daughters were turned into chickens by the witch (our 6th chicken), and our prince has to determine which chicken is the witch before he can claim one of the daughters as his bride. Here are the chickens trying to eat candy corn through their “paper hat” beaks.

Our king meets with the prince and explains the deal.

Then the prince dresses as a beautiful young blond to try to get the witch to identify herself.  But an Ogre grabs the beautiful young blond prince only to be fought off by a nearsighted knight.

However, the prince found a broom, and the witch couldn’t resist flying off, so the 5 chickens were restored to beautiful daughters, and the King gave the prince his choice.  Then everyone took there bows. 

As we walked back to our house, we noticed this SUV with an orange kayak (they belong to Frank Cebula and Joan Dwight.

Monday–Thursday, 2/27 to 3/1/2012

We were asked to host a “Low Country Boil” Monday afternoon.  Since we did not have to do the cooking, of course we agreed.  Bennett brought his cooker over early in the afternoon, and we sat around watching the pot boil.

It did rain, so some of the cooking was under umbrellas.

It did stop raining long enough for us to eat, and what a delicious plate of food.

We ate so much, the serving dishes were emptied.

Then after we ate, we had to sit around and discuss world problems.

On Wednesday, we returned to Busch Gardens to see one of my favorite groups, The Ventures.  I had several of their albums when albums were on vinyl. 

Nokie Edwards on the left, and Don Wilson on the right are the only remaining original members of the band.

After the concert, we took a group picture, and had lunch.

Then it was time to take some more animal pictures.  There were lions being fed, African storks being fed, some Mearcats, and a Hyena.

Today (Thursday), we had another Escapees lunch at the Golden Corral in Clermont, FL.  It was another good turnout.  The picture below was taken with an app called PhotoSynth.  You start it with a screen tap, and as you move the phone around, the app takes additional shots which it stitches into a panorama.