George & Sandy's Great Adventure

Many Miles, Alligators, Great Blue Herons and A New Legal Residence -- Oh My!

2011-11-01T17:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy past few weeks. We left Maine on October 7 for a 1200 mile drive to Jacksonville, FL to meet up with Steve and Kathy Burnett, to turn over ownership of Moose to this Florida couple. We stayed in JAX for a few days to pack our possessions and then transfer them from Moose into a 17' U-Haul truck. I purposely rented a bigger truck than we really needed because I did not want to stack stuff real high, and risk having boxes tumble going around a corner. It was a smart choice and made the transfer of boxes very easy. On Friday the 14th we left Jacksonville and drove about 150 miles to Inverness, unloaded the truck, returned the truck and then drove another couple hundred miles before turning in for the night. Instead of sleeping in a motorhome we slept at a Country Inn and Suites. Very nice. We arrived in Illinois on Sunday, Oct. 16 and stayed with family. We visited friends and then spent two nights in Chicago at my daughter's house to get to better know Luke, our 9 month old grandson.

Luke and his Dad, Brad share fun times

The following Monday we left Chicago at about 5:30 a.m. to get a jump on rush hour and to begin the final 1200 mile leg of our travels. Leaving early was another good decision, but driving in Chicago at any hour is a wild experience. The speed limit on the Dan Ryan was 55 but we were being passed by projectiles moving at 75 to 80 mph. By Wednesday noon we arrived at our rental home in Inverness and unpacked the car. And by Friday evening we were 99% unpacked and kind of settled in.

O.K. O.K. What about alligators?

Our rental home is on a connected series of canals and we wondered if there were any gators. Today we spotted a baby alligator about two feel long drifting in the water and looking for a meal. I'll get photos next time.

But I did get a photo of the Great Blue Heron that hangs around the dock and back yard. He and his mate are building a nest across the channel. That should be interesting to watch.

For the past few days we have been busy becoming official Florida residents. We needed to get a Florida driver's license, but to do that you need to have an auto insurance policy with your Florida address. So we got car insurance today with Progressive (Flo is happy) and learned that rates in Florida are higher than in Illinois. Next we had to go to the County Tax Collector's office to get plates for the car and our driver's licenses.

We should have known that dark clouds were on the horizon in having to go to a tax collector's office for plates and licenses. We walked out $550 lighter. Yikes!!!!! But on the brighter side, there is no sales tax on food and the annual license plate renewal is about 45% lower than in Illinois.

Here are a couple of photos of our home for the next six months.

Sometime early next year we will begin looking for a home to buy in Florida and a small travel trailer in which to begin anew our RV travels before high heat and humidity envelop Florida. Florida will make a great place to winter while we plan our travels for each upcoming year.

Meanwhile it feels really strange to have so much living space and to not worry about what is going to break next.

Stay tuned.

A fork in the road

2011-10-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

It was a great summer up in Maine. The work was a bit more strenuous than I had anticipated, but it helped me to lose 13 pounds -- not too shabby. Or should I say, not to flabby.

Anyway we are spending the next six months in Inverness, FL without our motorhome, having sold it today to a great couple from Jacksonville, FL. The amazing part of this sale is that I met the buyer on an RV forum in 2008 and we kinda stayed in touch with each other.

While we are in Florida we will be looking at buying a small home, a travel trailer and a pick-up truck (yah hoo!) to pull the trailer. Then we'll be back to travelling during those months when it doesn't snow.

It's been a great experience.

I might blog occasionally, so stay tuned.

Summer vacation

2011-08-18T17:51:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a break from blogging. See you again in the autumn.

A 50-Mile Walk in Maine

2011-07-28T16:44:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week we met Cassandra Curley, who is well into her challenge to walk all 50 states in 50 weeks. She stayed two nights here at Wild Duck as she did her 50 miles in Maine. We spent a little bit of time with her on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Maine is her 29th state and she plans to complete the contiguous 48 and Alaska before the snow flies.

Cassie is a bundle of energy, walking 16 to 17 miles per day at a rate of 3 miles per hour. To plot her daily route she uses (you guessed it) app for her iPhone. Cassie has a web site at www.cassandracurley.com

It was fun to meet her and we wish her well.

A couple of weeks ago on our way to Cape Elizabeth we drove past this charming cottage clad in river rock. On the way home we stopped and I got a few good photos. The person who did the stone work was a real artisan.

Stay tuned.

Whale watching off the coast of Boothbay Harbor , Maine

2011-07-16T11:27:00.001-07:00

We took a leisurely drive north on U.S. Highway 1 to Boothbay Harbor yesterday morning and noted a few places along the way that we will want to go back and see. Included were a great place for breakfast six miles away from the campground, the headquarters of L L Bean and the main store for DeLorme Maps. I’ll report on those in the upcoming weeks.
Maine is a really beautiful state. The license plates carry the slogan: A National Treasure. Agreed. Our drive certainly lived up to the slogan.
We got to Boothbay Harbor with about 90 minutes to spare and decided to poke around a little bit before having lunch. Before I knew it, I spotted a whale.

Just east of this whale is a local eatery called McSeagulls. Expensive, but I had the absolute best fish and chips of my life. The fish of choice up here for fish ‘n chips is haddock. Very light tasting with a nice texture.
This was our table and our view.

Boothbay Harbor has lots of neat Victorian-era homes and B and Bs and plenty of places to drop a few bucks if you are so inclined. The greater municipal area is made up of five communities with a combined population of 30,000. In the winter the head count drops to around 3,000.
We boarded our ship (no photo, just a typical sight-seeing boat) at 1:30 and got some good views of the harbor and surrounding islands. When we win Mega or Power Ball, it would be tempting to buy one of these homes on the water.

This is an area where a lot of lobster fishing takes place as evidenced by the many floating platforms containing lobster traps.

This is Burnt Harbor Light.
The tour boat cruised at about 20 knots for close to 75 minutes and we heard a lot about whales from the on-board tour guide, but we were beginning to think we might have to invoke the “rain check” guarantee if no whales where sighted.
The ocean had a slight chop to it which made spotting the water spout of a whale that much more difficult. But finally, someone spotted a whale. In the picture below I have identified a water spout from a finback whale. Look just to the left of the wording.

The next two photos will show more of the giant finback whale as he or she performed for us.

The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), also called the finback whale,razorback, or common rorqual, is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. It is the second longest whale and the sixth largest living animal after the blue whale, bowhead whale, and right whales,^[3]growing to nearly 27 meters (88 ft) long.^[3] The American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale "the greyhound of the sea" because of its great speed when chased and slender build.^[4]

On the way home we stopped in Wicasset at Red’s Eats, a famous little shack of a place known for its lobster rolls. Sandy had a “lobsta” roll for lunch so we opted to split a shrimp basket. It was not worth the bother.
But all in all we had a great day and saw four whales.
Stay tuned.

A great place to take a walk and a surprise visit

2011-07-06T17:16:00.001-07:00

Leading the life of a retired RVer seems to enhance one’s ability to put on weight. So whenever we can we try to find a good place to walk. The surrounding neighborhood is very pleasant with some friendly dogs we get to pet, but the sidewalks and streets are hard surfaces and not kind to feet, knees or hips.

We much prefer hiking/walking trails that are maintained as these are often built from sand, dirt or crushed stone. There is a segment here of the Eastern Trail Alliance.

One segment of the trail is just over 1.5 miles in length and gives me and Sandy a perfect one hour walk. We get there often.

Tonight as I was grilling our dinner I took a walk around the coach. I do this frequently and look for anything that is out of the ordinary. While I didn't find anything, which is good, I met a blog reader. Or more accurately, I met the husband of a blog reader.

Bob and Trish Goodstein are at Wild Duck until Friday. Sim, their Golden Retriever and Augie, the rescue dog with Yorkie and ??? parents are alongside their new Scamp travel trailer. They are thinking about going full-time in four years -- so I told them about rv-dreams.com. This is a website that helped Sandy and me find answers to a lot of questions back in 2006 through 2009.

Friday we are thinking about a day trip on Amtrak to Boston.

Stay tuned.

Saying goodbye to Trixie

2011-07-03T09:01:00.001-07:00

As pet owners know, there comes the day when it is time to say goodbye. Our oldest PBGV (Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen) Trixie was declining rapidly the past week or so and we always said we would not let her suffer. So this morning we had to say goodbye.

Here she is at Christmas in 2007

With her nemesis, Norton

And here are Norton (left) and Trixie ready for another adventure on the road.

Both will be loved and missed and not forgotten.

Old Port Portland, Eating with the Locals and RVing 101

2011-07-01T19:02:00.001-07:00

July1 - From Scarborough, Maine
A couple of tent campers here at Wild Duck Campground mentioned that the “Old Port” section of Portland was really neat. We decided to go take a look today.
Portland is less than 10 miles from Wild Duck so it was an easy trip. It’s an old city having its first permanent settlers in 1633 and many old buildings dating to the 1700 and 1800s. Some neat looking places, lots of cobblestone streets , pretty much something for everyone. And it is considered a foodies paradise.

Going up and down the hills gave us an appetite. We spotted a place with a line out the door named Portland Lobster Company and thought about going there. However, having done a LOT of business traveling, I‘ve had some great luck with stopping people on the street and asking where they like to dine. I saw two lades taking a shortcut between buildings and asked if they were residents and where they like to have lunch?

As luck would have it we just happened to be in front of J’s Oyster. It’s where locals go and the ladies told us the the lobster rolls were outstanding. They were right and the clam chowder was also superb.
The restaurant is situated at the end of a channel. The boat in back of me on the left is called Barrister. And the owners law firm is on the dock’s edge. Not bad.

On the map that we see lots of tourists reading I spotted a place called Gorgeous Gelato. We’ll we just had to go there.

It was delicious.
When we got back home I had to do a few routine tasks that included changing the under-the-sink Everpure water filter that gives us great water for drinking and making coffee. I also put in a new whole “house” water filter that traps any sediment and a variety of things you don’t want in your water.

Then there was the successful conclusion to having the Honda tested to meet the Illinois EPA standards without driving the CR-V more than a thousand miles to get the testing done. Lucky for us, Illinois and Maine have reciprocity for automobile emissions testing. Several weeks ago I took our car to the Honda dealer in Portland where for $24.95 I was given a two page print out that we faxed to Illinois and viola! we could then complete the renewal process. That and $99 got us the little yellow sticker for the corner of our plates. The sticker arrived today. We were only one day late in getting it applied. Whew!
Also from the campground is this picture of momma duck and her nine babies. They make me smile every time I see them.

Stay tuned.

Father’s Day on the Coast of Maine

2011-06-19T14:44:00.001-07:00

Today is one of those days that used to occur about three times a year when we lived in Chicago and, invariably, two of those days we were at work. It is sunny and about 75F with light winds from the east. A perfect day to take a drive in the country. We headed south toward Cape Elizabeth and the famous Portland Head Lighthouse.

I copied this information about the lighthouse from the web:
The city of Portland took its name from the headland where the lighthouse now stands, but Portland Head is now actually within the present boundaries of the town of Cape Elizabeth. Portland, which was known as Falmouth until 1786, was America’s sixth busiest port by the 1790s. There were no lighthouses on the coast of Maine when 74 merchants petitioned the Massachusetts government (Maine was part of Massachusetts at the time) in 1784 for a light at Portland Head, on the northeast coast of Cape Elizabeth, to mark the entrance to Portland Harbor. The deaths of two people in a 1787 shipwreck at Bangs (now Cushing) Island, near Portland Head, led to the appropriation of $750 for a lighthouse, and construction began.
The project was delayed by insufficient funds, and construction didn't progress until 1790 when Congress appropriated an additional $1,500, after the nation's lighthouses had been ceded to the federal government.
The stone lighthouse was built by local masons Jonathan Bryant and John Nichols. The original plan was for a 58-foot tower, but when it was realized that the light would be blocked from the south it was decided to make the tower 72 feet in height instead. Bryant resigned over the change, and Nichols finished the lighthouse in January 1791.
President George Washington approved the appointment of Capt. Joseph Greenleaf, a veteran of the American Revolution, as first keeper. The light went into service on January 10, 1791, with whale oil lamps showing a fixed white light. At first, Greenleaf received no salary as keeper; his payment was the right to fish and farm and to live in the keeper’s house. As early as November 1791, Greenleaf wrote that he couldn’t afford to remain keeper without financial compensation. In a June 1792 letter, he complained of many hardships. During the previous winter, he wrote, the ice on the lantern glass was often so thick that he had to melt it off. In 1793, Greenleaf was granted an annual salary of $160.
(Thank you http://www.lighthouse.cc/portlandhead/history.html)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (remember him from high school English) was fond of the lighthouse as you can see in the above photo.

But even with the lighthouse there were still shipwrecks.

Here is another view of the lighthouse for which it is claimed to be the most photographed lighthouse in the world.

The famous rock-ribbed coast of Maine.
After our trip to Cape Elizabeth we decided to visit The Lobster Shack, which was highly recommended to us. We even found a parking place less than a block from the ocean front eatery, but a line out the door of about 50 people made us decide to come back on a week day.

Were gonna end the day with a visit to a local ice cream emporium for something special.
Stay tuned.

Wild Duck Campground in Scarborough, Maine

2011-06-03T13:05:00.001-07:00

We made the last leg of our journey from Florida to Maine yesterday. We pulled out of Croton Point Park in Westchester County, NY around 7:30 and some six hours and four states later we were in Scarborough, Maine. We only traveled about 315 miles yet we were in five states: New York>Connecticut>Massachusetts>New Hampshire>Maine.
Surprisingly the roads were not too crowded for being in the northeast/New England corner of the country. Below is our new home for the next four months. In exchange for a free site and electricity, we will be work camping here until October 10. Each of us will work four days a week for three or four hours. Sandy will work in the office and I will help with maintenance. Then we are off for the same three days.

Wild Duck Campground is Located in the middle of the Maine Audubon’s Scarborough Marsh. Wildlife includes waterfowls, egrets, herons, ibises, raptors, muskrat, mink, otter, deer and moose. The marsh is the state's largest salt water marsh and can be explored by foot, kayak or canoe.

The campground is adults only and, as you might expect very tranquil. There are only 70 sites which includes an area for tent camping.

The grounds are immaculate and well tended. And when the wind blows in the tall pines the sound reminds me of ocean waves rolling onto the beach.

Flowers add color.

This view of the marsh is what we see out of our front window.

And because “wild duck” is part of the camp’s name, it is good to see that Mother Nature is seeing that there is a new supply of duck to swim in the pond.

Stay tuned.

A few days in New York

2011-05-31T13:36:00.001-07:00

May 31, 2011 from Croton Point Park at Croton-on-Hudson, NY
We’ve spent a few days in the Empire State so that we could go see our first grandson, Oscar, who is now nine months old.

We got to see him at Christmas and how he has changed in five months. He is a happy and active child with lots of charm.
Oscar is the first-born child for our son, Jamison and daughter-in-law, Jane. They live in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Harlem, NY and commute daily into Manhattan where Jamison is an associate editor at Grove/Atlantic, Inc. http://www.groveatlantic.com/ and Jane is on the staff of the American Museum of Natural History http://www.amnh.org/ .
These two young adults stay slim with a lot of walking, including the 64 steps up to their apartment. Speaking of walking, both days that we were in New York we took long walks around the neighborhood and were amazed at the amount of parks, community gardens and well-tended kiddie playgrounds and athletic fields we saw. We even went past a permanent carousel in the park.

The carousel is located in Riverbank State Park alongside of the Hudson River.
We also strolled past this work-in-progress on the complete rehabilitation of the only known residence of Alexander Hamilton -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton The site is officially named Hamilton Grange National Memorial, Manhattan Sites, NY, NY.

The park we are in is about 50 miles north of Manhattan. To get into the city we drove 2 miles to the Metra North train station at Croton-on-Hudson where we could park all day for a reasonable price and got half-prices senior tickets for a very fast and very comfortable commuter rail line trip into the city. We caught an express train both days so each one way commute was about 35 minutes. From the train station it was a $12 or $13 cab ride to the kids apartment.
How many of you remember a scene like this from your working days:

We sure don’t miss those trains.
Today we drove 30 miles north to Monroe, NY to stock up on groceries at Walmart and to check out a possible “escape route” from the area. Because this is mountainous country with many winding roads we wanted to check out this route. As it turns out, it will work for us. Bonus: our Illinois Tollway I-Pass works on the EZ-Pass system in the northeast and New England states. Sure beats fumbling for the wallet.
We got this view of the Hudson River which flows right past our park.

And here is a picture of where we are parked.

Thursday we head for Maine.
Stay tuned.

Monticello and Michie Tavern

2011-05-25T03:06:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, May 24 --from Charlottesville, VA
We arrived in the rolling hills of north central Virginia yesterday afternoon and it is truly beautiful countryside.

Today we went to see Monticello. It is not to be missed. As you all know the land was Jefferson’s boyhood home and as an adult he built a remarkable home on the top of a low mountain that today -– some two hundred and forty-some odd years later -- stands as a shrine to our third president.
We took one of the paid guided tours. You simply could not get an appreciation for all of the history there without a tour. As a matter of fact, you can’t see the inside of Monticello without a ticket. And that is good because no tax funds are used to restore or maintain the nearly 3,000 acres of the plantation’s gardens and buildings.

An abundance of flowers on the path to the visitors center.
The entire estate is one of the most impressive historical sites we have seen in our two years of travel. The visitors center complex is so tastefully done and not at all commercial. No junk in the gift shops, no cigarette butts, no trash anywhere -- just beautiful grounds and buildings that are exemplary in every respect.
Rather than recite a bunch of historical data I’ll let the pictures and brief captions show you what we saw.

Monticello from the west lawn.

Thomas Jefferson designed the University of Virginia and from his north terrace he could see the construction of The Rotunda at the University of Virginia which he designed to be the architectural and academic heart of his community of scholars, or what he termed the "academical village."

Another view of the house. There are hundreds of magnificent old trees on the property and not one of them dates back to the time of Jefferson.

Archeological research is constantly being done on the estate. Here a group of volunteer scholars search for remnants of the original pathways around the grounds.

Vegetable gardens occupy a stretch of terraced land 1000 feet long by 80 feet wide. Even today as was done more than 200 years ago, fresh vegetables are used in food preparation for guests. Only now the fed guests are visitors who pay to dine in the café at the visitors center.
Along the north and south sides of his home but below grade so as not to detract from the visual beauty of the home, Jefferson designed a series of rooms that he termed “dependencies.” These rooms housed stables, the kitchen, smoke house, wine storage, beer and cider brewing and more.

Wine cellar

This dumbwaiter in the wine cellar is directly below the dining room.

The wrought iron back of the 2.5 inch thick door to the wine cellar. Theft was a common occurrence on the plantation and keys to food and beverage storage were closely guarded.

I could not get a photo showing the entire kitchen as it was constantly filled with visitors. But in the section at the lower left-hand edge of the photo is a row of 7 or 8 charcoal fires in grated cast-iron openings that could be regulated more precisely than a roaring fireplace. French cuisine was regularly served to the Jeffersons and guests.

The privy.

A fresh air vent for the privy located at least 500 feet from the house.

This cistern-like structure was used to hold ice cut from a nearby river. As soon as ice reached a thickness of one inch, slabs were cut and stored inside this cylindrical structure. Among the many uses of ice at Monticello was the making of ice cream.

Our 3rd president is buried in a location of his choice on the grounds of Monticello. The grave is maintained by the Jefferson family and to this day family members may be buried there. Of all his many notable achievements Jefferson chose just these three to be engraved on his tombstone: “Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”

Following our visit to Monticello we drove to nearby Michie Tavern (circa 1784) where we had one of the best meals in ages. Then we took a short walk on the tavern grounds and visited this charming old log cabin made of original growth Chestnut that had only recently been moved to the tavern and now houses a gift shop (nothing from China).

It was a busy day. Tomorrow we head north to Harrisburg PA.
Stay tuned.

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Tybee Island, GA

2011-05-21T19:58:00.001-07:00

We spent most of the last two days getting to and from Tybee Island and enjoying some of what it has to offer.
We went there Friday to check it out and as we were getting ready to pay our lunch bill our waiter asked us if we were going to take part in the World's Largest Water Fight that would shut down the main street from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

Our waiter was a young man and I thought he might be exaggerating a bit when he said that thousands of people all armed with squirt guns would take part. But at 1:30 (4 and 1/2 hours before the fun begins) people were already setting up. We saw a pick up truck parked on the main drag on which the owner had lined the cargo bed with heavy plastic and filled the bed with water.

This guy is carrying a huge water supply. (Photo above and below courtesy of Kate Stratman)

Here an unsuspecting dry pedestrian is about to get very wet.
We returned to Tybee to meet up with Kate and Rocky Stratman. Kate has been a friend of Sandy’s for close to 40 years. After dinner we drove our friends back to their hotel and all of the dust and pollen on our car was blasted away by “friendly fire”.
Saturday morning returning from our walk I came across this Corn Snake. Non-venomous and very pretty. Look carefully in the center of the photo. At the time I took the photo I thought the snake might be poisonous so I did not want to get too close.

The park trail we walked Friday morning took us deep in the woods where we came across what remains of this moonshine still. No samples.

We went back to Tybee Island this afternoon to take a tour of Fort Pulaski and then to have an early dinner with Kate and Rocky.

Rocky and Kate on the boardwalk.

We got lucky on our visit to Fort Pulaski as they were firing cannons today. The park rangers warned and instructed us to fully cover our ears as the sound of the cannon going off would be really loud. It was.

This cannon was the latest technology during the Civil War. The inside of the barrel has a spiral groove which causes the shell to rotate thereby increasing accuracy. This 30 pound shell contained gunpowder and could travel more than two miles.
The fort has a great 20 minute educational film in the Visitors Center that was well worth the time.
We learned that the fort took 30 years to build and about 30 minutes of Union Civil War cannon technology to breach the seven foot thick walls.

We had a great time. Tomorrow we begin our slow journey north.

Stay tuned.

Georgia on My Mind

2011-05-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

From Skidaway Island State Park near Savannah, Georgia.

We finally got out of Ocala, FL but not without buying a few groceries for a dental surgeon and a general dentist. Sandy and I have appointments for follow-up visits and procedures that begin in November and won't end until March or April of 2012. We'll get these done in Ocala rather than elsewhere because we can't start the implant process until November. Besides, Florida is a lot warmer in winter than a lot of other states. And I guess that makes us real "snowbirds."

Skidaway State Park is a favorite of seasoned RVers and we can see why. The park is huge and the RV sites are spacious. There are beautiful walking trails, cool breezes and quiet nights.

We've done some neat things in the past few days. First we drove to the old part of Savannah (well I guess most of it is really old) to take a guided tour and walk around and see some of the squares for which Savannah is so well known and to look at the beautiful old homes.

The next day we drove to Beaufort, SC and again visited the historic residential section of the town. We walked around, had a nice lunch and more than once raved at the beauty of these antebellum homes.

This one is for sale. Below is a typical street in the historic district.

Today we drove to Hilton Head Island, SC to visit Joe Distelheim and his lovely wife, Dottie. Joe and I were journalism majors at Northern Illinois University. In my senior year (1962), Joe was sports editor and I was news editor. Joe later became editor-in-chief in his senior year (1964). It is notable that the student newspaper, The Northern Star, earned national acclaim while both of us were on the staff. Joe gets more of the credit than I do.

And here are the four of us: Sandy, me, Joe and Dottie.

After some sightseeing on the island, we visited one of Joe and Dottie's favorite walking paths and took these two photos.

Tomorrow we visit Tybee Island to catch up with more friends.

Stay tuned.

A new porch light and a surprise ending

2011-04-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

Last May the porch light over the entrance door went out. When I put in new fluorescent tubes they failed to light up. So that meant the ballast was burned out and I would have to replace the entire fixture. Replacing just the ballast was above my pay grade.

The new light worked great for about three months and then the bulbs burned out. Another 3 months later and the replacement bulbs burned out. Another three months later and the same thing happened. At $13.00 for two bulbs this was going to be a $52 a year expense, plus the hassle of getting out the ladder and opening the fixture to replace the bulbs.

So I decided to replace the fluorescent bulbs with energy efficient LED bulbs. I found a supplier of LEDs that claims their product will last 100,000 hours. Do the math -- at 4 hours a night that almost eight years. I hope it becomes a problem down the road (grin).

I had to remove the entire fixture from the side of the coach so that I could work on it more easily. Below is the part of the light that held the fluorescent tubes. The cordless mouse is for scale.

When I removed the plastic ends that held the tubes, there were gaps in the aluminum base that needed to be covered up so that I could affix the ends of the tubes. A Foretravel friend from Fredericksburg, TX made the same change to his light and he sent me a small ABS plastic strip that I used to cut small tabs. First I made templates to size so that I would only have to cut each strip once. Sandy’s cutting board was pressed into service.

At the end of each LED tube is a small end cap with a self adhesive tab that can be used to stick the light into place.

But just to be on the safe side they also enclosed some of the smallest screws I’ve ever worked with. I drilled a 1/16th inch hole in the end and put the screws in place.

Next I slipped three sections of clear vinyl tubing over the two sets of wires. I “stole” this idea from my Foretravel friend, Brad Bissonnet. The vinyl tubing helped contain all 4 wires in a neat row and protects the wires where they will touch the side of the fixture when it is totally assembled.

Then I went outside and prepared the two wires that supply 12 Volt power to the light fixture. At the end of each wire I crimped a butt splice that has a special end which shrinks water tight when exposed to a small open flame. I used an Aim-N-Flame gas grill lighter.

Wednesday morning I began the final installation by attaching the light fixture to the side of the motorhome. Once everything was in place I hooked up the wires and threw the switch and…………. nothing happened. I knew the wires were hot. Upon closer examination the hot wire had become separated from one of the splices I made yesterday. I hate it when that happens. Then the project went south. I determined that I would have to connect new and longer wire leads inside of the coach and push them through the dime-sized hole in the outer wall. But stupid me thought that the hole on the outside of the motorhome was in an exact straight line with the hole inside of the cabinet. So I pulled the one remaining length of old wire completely into the inside of the coach. Well, crap. It was not in a straight line. In fact the outside hole was five inches higher than the inside hole and there was only a 1/4 inch gap between the walls for me to fish new wires in place. But with a bit of ingenuity and Sandy’s great help we got it done.

Then all I had to do was connect the wires and put the sides and lens of the light into place. That went well.

This is what the fixture looked like after I connected the wires and secured them in place with ZIP ties, but I forgot to take this picture, so I borrowed the one from Brad Bissonnet, my Foretravel friend, who was so helpful.

And here is our renovated porch light ready for nightfall.

As I was putting my tools away things took a nasty turn to the south. As I was putting a bungee cord around my telescoping ladder, the cord came apart and flew up and hit me in the mouth. As I type this I am waiting for a 5:30 appointment with a dental surgeon to have one of my two front teeth extracted and a bone graft inserted into my upper jaw. So a $50 upgrade to the light fixture now has a $2500 to $3000 dental bill attached.
Hmmmm. As I remember I started this project to get away from an annual $52 cost for light bulbs. $3000 would buy a ton of light bulbs.
Stay tuned.

How many people live full-time in an RV?

2011-04-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

From time to time someone asks me this question and up until today, I didn’t have a good answer. But now I do. Well, sort of, anyway.
I went to the Escapees Forum where I asked the question and got some good estimates.

One member of the Escapees Organization reported that in 2008, USA TODAY said that 8 million U.S. households own at least one RV. Now that is interesting, but still doesn’t answer my question.
One of the more knowledgeable Escapee members is Kirk Wood. Kirk said:
“One major problem with any kind of accurate numbers is that RV owners do not agree on just what a full-timer is. Every time that question comes up there is a big fight over who is and who is not. There are even those who claim to be "part-time, full-timers!”

“I hear many talk of 1 million or more full-timers and have heard numbers that large now for most of the time that I have followed that, which is about 15 years now. The most documented report that I ever saw was from Texas A&M and about 7 or so years back. It estimated that there were no more than 250,000 people who owned an RV as their only home and had no permanent parking spot for it.. But do you have to move the RV to be a full-timer? That depends upon the rules! And in what they wrote (working from memory as I don't have the report now) that about 20% or so of those that they found were considered to be itinerant while most were retired. Even they agreed that it is difficult to track just how many people live in RVs because the population is so fluid and changes rapidly.”
Clay L chimed in to say that “In the 2000 census there was a category called "other non-standard housing" defined as boats, recreation vehicles and other such residences which have no permanent physical address. Based upon the 2000 census that number was estimated to be 260,000 people.
How many in that category are full time RVers is unknown. My best guess would be maybe 3/4 are. That would mean that there are about 200,000 of us.”
So there are probably one quarter of a million of us out here. I’ll go with than number from now on.

Stay tuned.

Ravine Gardens State Park in Palatka, FL

2011-04-05T17:16:00.001-07:00

North of Salt Creek is the sprawling town of Palatka where we discovered a neat gem of a park.

Ravine Gardens State Park consists of 59 acres of trees, trails, suspension bridges, creeks and quiet beauty. We got there in late March and missed the best time to see the azaleas in their prime, but it was still beautiful.

Standing 64 feet tall this obelisk was dedicated to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The park was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1933 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

We drove through the park and fully intended to get back for a leisurely walk, but never got around to doing that.

Admission is $4 to $5.

Stay tuned.

The saga of the water pump

2011-04-02T18:43:00.001-07:00

Our motorhome has -- as do most RVs -- a water pump. The main purpose of this pump is to allow us to have running water when we are not connected to “city water.”

Our motorhome also has a 2-gallon water/pressure tank that serves two main function:

It smooths out the flow of water. Without the pressure tank, whenever we would turn on a faucet (if not on city water), the water flow would speed up and slow down as the pump cycled. Nothing really harmful, just a little annoying. If you have well water, you have a larger version of this tank.
It keeps the pump from turning on every time we want to wash hands or just run a faucet briefly. Again. Nothing harmful about the pump turning on for a short period of time.

Recently, the rubber bladder that maintains the pressure inside the small tank ruptured.

Unfortunately, the tanks are very expensive. An exact replacement is about $200 plus shipping. But even if I replaced the tank, we would still have an 11-year-old noisy pump. So I thought that while I am in the water bay taking out the old tank, I might as well put in a new pump. Helping me make this decision is improved RV pump technology. Newer pumps (which operate at a variable speed) eliminate the “pulsing” action and the need for the small water/pressure tank.

So we decided to remove the old tank and install a new variable speed water pump. Sandy and I both read ForeForums, the internet-based forum for Foretravel owners, where we have learned a great deal and we try to contribute when we can. I learned that there are two major makers of water pumps for RVs. One is Shurflo, but they have a bad record with some owners on their third replacement of the same model. The other company AquaJet has a better record – so we went with AquaJet.

This is a view of the storage bay which holds the water pump and a lot of plumbing and electrical connections.

To get to the pump, I had to remove the panel and shelf. We have learned that Foretravel likes a sleek look and hides many components behind panels and/or in out of the way spaces. Because the wiring is only 12 volts it is not necessary to have wires neatly contained within conduit.

The blue tank is the pressure tank that failed.

It took me the better part of Friday and Saturday to successfully install the new pump. I also had to make two trips to Lowe's and each time I bought more stuff in case some issues popped up that I had not anticipated. I have a huge amount of stuff to return.

Tank and pump are gone.

At the end of the day on Friday we were not able to run any water inside the coach and the toilet had to be flushed by pouring water from a bucket. Real elegant. And I was beginning to doubt that I could get this done on my own.

This configuration of PEX tubing with lots of connections and a solenoid valve became problematic when one of the connections started to leak as I was removing it. I had to rent a special tool to re-crimp all of the small black bands seen on the blue segments of PEX. That step made the leak go away. If that had not worked I would have had to do a lot more work.

I got some encouragement and some good advice from other Foretravel owners and by 6:00p.m. today Sandy and I had it completed.

New pump in place. The loop of white hose is called a “quiet loop” and dissipates vibration from rushing water and adds to the quiet operation of the system.

Next we had to sanitize the entire water system and that required 128 ounces of bleach. To get the bleach into the main tank, we would open up the water filter canister and fill it with bleach and then open the valve that permits “city water” to enter the 110 gallon storage tank. We did this 6 times until all the bleach was added. We will let it sit for 24 hours, drain it and then refill with fresh.

While this was another exhausting project it is really worthwhile. We now have to make a conscious effort to hear the new pump. It is that quiet. There was no missing the noise from the older pump.

Stay tuned.

The penultimate day

2011-03-30T16:39:00.001-07:00

The day before we leave a campground we always do as much as we can to make departure day like, well -- a walk in the park.
And when rain is forecast for the day of departure there is even more incentive to get those tasks done when the skies are clear
So today we picked up our 6’ x 5’ patio mat that we place in front of the entrance. It had 3 months of sand and a lot of pollen stuck inside the weave so I blasted it with our new $3 garden hose nozzle. These little nozzles have been around for some time and I decided to buy one at Lowe’s. I thought it might come in handy for removing bugs that will get stuck to the front of the motorhome this spring and summer. Looks like I already found another use.

We also picked up our rope lights, and wiped them clean of sand before stowing them on reels made for electric extension cords.

Next we disconnected the water supply hose ad stored it on the built-in reel. Because our freshwater tank holds 102 gallons we have more than enough to last us until we reach our next park within Ocala.

Before we disconnected the sewer hose we flushed it out by emptying the gray water tank which holds up to 110 gallons of waste water from sinks and the shower. The “black water” tank holds 54 gallons of sewerage –- again more than enough capacity for at least five days of use.

So all that remains in the morning is to disconnect and store the electrical supply cord and do the same for our portable satellite receiver that we use when trees block the roof mounted dish.

Tomorrow we are driving only about 35 miles into Ocala to a privately owned RV park. It won’t be as scenic as the Ocala National Forest, but we need cell phone service and a good internet connection to plan the next few months of travel. And we will be closer to the stores we had to drive 30 miles to reach.

We'll miss seeing this guy who likes to sit in an ergonomically correct position for egrets

Finally, here is a photo of a butterfly that was collecting nectar from some flowering bushes near the motorhome.

Stay tuned.

Bob Hastings and his railcar

2011-03-24T11:08:00.001-07:00

I often meet some really interesting people in campgrounds. Bob Hastings easily meets that definition because he is an active railcar buff.

Bob and his Welch Terrier, Wellington, were glad to pose for a photo. In back of Bob is his auto carrier outfitted with an electric winch and square steel tubes that serve as rails to move his early 1980s railcar in and out of the trailer. “Orange Crush” is the nickname of Bob’s railcar and was originally built for the Canadian National Railroad.

Bob is an active member of the North American Railcar Owners Association (visit www.narcoa.org for more information). NARCOA has about 1000 active members who enjoy taking their railcars out for excursions on railroad lines. These excursions are usually on the tracks of short line railroads vs. such giant carriers as Union Pacific or CSX.

I asked Bob how he gets his railcar from inside his trailer onto a set of railroad tracks. He was more than happy to partially demonstrate how this is accomplished.

The easy way is to roll out his railcar so that it sits at a 90 degree angle to the tracks. Then he deploys this turntable to the ground and simply rotates his 1100-pound railcar until the wheels are above the tracks. He raises the turntable and the railcar wheels settle onto the rails.

Bob also has the option of manually lifting the railcar and muscling it sideway by using the built in handle bars seen in this photos. The handle bars slide under the car for storage and can also be pulled out the other side where leverage is better because the Onan 4 cycle 2 cylinder 20 HP gas-fueled engine is up front. This little engine can reach speeds of 45 MPH and gets about 30 MPG. but, Bob who is very safety conscious generally cruises in the 20 to 30 MPH range.

When I asked Bob what was it about owning a railcar that made it so much fun to do, he responded with: “It is the closest thing to being a railroad engineer without owning a locomotive.”

Bob’s seat is at right and the buddy chair is to the left. Note that Bob has tricked out his cab with a dual cup holder. He also has a CB radio for communications with excursion participants.

Here is a shot of Bob’s Canadian National railcar being winched out of the trailer.

And here is a rear view of Orange Crush.
Additional details:
Being a railcar owner takes some preparation. To belong to NAROA you need an association mentor and pass a written and a driving test. Orange Crush set Bob back about $2800 four years ago. They are in limited supply so their value increases over time.
Before Bob retired he was a production engineer for GE building jet engines, which explains his affinity for all things mechanical.
Bob lives in Cincinnati, Ohio
His two favorite excursions are on:
the West Virginia Central RR out of Elkins, WV up into the mountains where there are no roads and ends where they meet up with a steam locomotive, the Cass Mountain RR out of Cass, WV (and)
the Finger Lakes RR trip from Geneva, New York to western, NY
Generally about 30 members make up an excursion which has to be carefully arranged with the owner of the host railroad. All aboard!
Stay tuned.

A few odds and ends

2011-03-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

For the last week we enjoyed stopping and playing with a Springer Spaniel named Reesie (think peanut butter cup). She was smart and lovable. Her owners Don and Ruth Ann Brown were fun to be with and we enjoyed a couple of campfires and went to dinner one evening. We were sorry to see them move on.

On the subject of dogs. I came across this sign recently.

Yesterday we hiked a nearby trail and came across

this unique spongy-looking plant. From a distance it resembled clumps of snow.

We’ve seen this guy before.

Often in the evenings a small group of musicians gather in one of the campsites directly across from ours and do some picking. This group is really, really good. Tonight the instruments included bass, banjo and guitar.

And finally and under the heading of Old Guys Rule there is this clever marriage of a golf cart and a leaf blower that camp volunteers use to blow leaves and pine needles off the roads.

Stay tuned.

Serving burgers since 1932

2011-03-18T16:58:00.001-07:00

New acquaintances here at Salt Springs raved to us about Angels Drive In in nearby Palatka that serves great hamburgers, fries and onion rings. Angels Drive In has been in business for 79 years. We went there today for lunch. The burgers were terrific. Freshly ground beef and hand-formed patties. The fries have the skins on them, which we love and the onion rings were light and tasty.

The burger plate is $5.45 and soft drinks come with a free refill. No wonder they were busy.

The diner is in an actual railroad car.

Back at the campground here is a photo of a regional bird called the Limpkin.

Stay tuned.

Florida springs

2011-03-16T19:34:00.001-07:00

In central Florida we have noticed an abundance of fresh water springs. Today we drove to nearby Silver Glen Springs in Ocala National Forest. It is a day-use only area, so there is no overnight camping.

It is a small slice of paradise. The water is aquamarine in color and clear. The grounds are shaded by live oaks draped with moss.

And we got lucky, A manatee was in the spring. You can see the GPS buoy attached to the manatee when you enlarge wither photo. Manatees are well protected and tracked.

And this boat captain knew where the fish were biting.

Silver Glen Spring is connected to the larger St. Johns River.
Next we drove to Orange City and Blue Spring State Park where 104 million gallons of water flow daily from the spring into the St. Johns River.

There is a bit of history here dating back to 1774 when British Colonial botanist John Bartram paddled into Blue Spring in 1774. But for me the really interesting history was the house and river docks built by former California gold miner Louis Thursby who became a successful citrus farmer and merchant. Thursby arrived in 1856 when he bought Blue Springs and 300 acres for $400.
The scene below is of the Blue Springs Run…

….which connects with the St. Johns River.

A neat day.
Stay tuned.

Micanopy {mick ah no pee} FL, the town that time forgot

2011-03-14T16:43:00.001-07:00

We drove 40 miles to nearby Micanopy this morning and discovered an old small southern town that is full of charm, cats and antique shops.

Thirty eight buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Herlong Mansion, ca 1845, and now a bed & breakfast.

Alley ways and streets are tree-lined and shaded.

This 1930s truck has become part of the landscape.

The oldest house in town.

Signs that are as good as folk art.

Where we had lunch and petted the resident cat.

Another neat old mansion.

The town was inhabited by settlers in the 1830s and incorporated in 1889 with 600 inhabitants with schools, churches, hotels, stores, a grist mill and a cotton mill. Today the sleepy town has grown to a population of 650.

Hollywood has recognized its unique appeal, filming four major pictures here: Doc Holliday, Cross Creek, Miracle at Clemon’s Pond and The Yearling.

What a unique and charming town.

Stay tuned.

Pens and Flat Panel TVs

2011-03-05T05:23:00.001-08:00

There are several old timers here that enjoy small woodworking projects in the activities barn. I got to know a couple of the guys when they let me use their saws to cut a few pieces of wood for my TV installation, described later in this blog.

Roger Stranger (above) is from Saranac, Michigan and his mentor, Charlie, have become artisans by making beautiful hand-turned wooden ball point pens.

Here is one of Roger’s pens. He only charges $10 for a one-of-a-kind pen that is finished with two layers of wood-workers wax and a special hand-buffed sealer. My photo does not do justice to his art.

Here is a case of pens made by Charlie.

And here is Charlie (far right) at his favorite place.

The saga of our TV began two weeks ago Sunday when we were watching TV and it quit working. No sound. No picture. No smoke. Nada.
The next day I removed the front of the TV cabinet and removed the TV. I plugged it to see if I could get the blue screen, but nothing happened. So it was time to order a new unit. After doing some research we decided on a Samsung because some Foretravel owners have reported good success with them as opposed to Sony TVs which seem to be susceptible to road shock and vibration.
Our motorhome rides really smoothly, but TV sets are made to hang on a wall in a home, office or store where they do not get vibration from road travel or bouncing over railroad tracks and speed bumps.
Ordering the set from B&H Video in NYC was the easy part. No tax and free shipping was a bonus. I love that store. I found that a 26 inch flat panel TV would fit over the outside of the existing cabinet without interfering with adjacent cabinet doors.
Finding a way to hang a flat panel TV in place of the old TV that was in a cabinet was the challenge. I did not want to incur the cost of cabinet modifications and I certainly did not want to sit at a RV repair facility for two days and pay someone $120 an hour plus materials to do the work.

This is the cabinet that held the old TV.
The first wall mount bracket we ordered arrived the same day as the TV. The mounting hardware did not include the correct size of metric bolts so I made my first of 4 trips to Salt Creek Hardware.
While this is a small store, they carry a lot of stuff and their employees extremely helpful.

Here is the modified cabinet with the bracket in place.

We got the TV installed Wednesday. but it was not without some trial and error. Wednesday morning I drove to Best Buy in Ocala and bought the same mounting bracket that a Foretravel friend suggested. But as it turned out this one would not work with our set.
So I decided to call the company that made both of the brackets now sitting on the sofa to see if they had something that would work better for us. While talking with their rep, who by the way was the perfection of customer service, he suggested that if the lateral movement was a problem, then why not use a few Velcro tabs to keep it in place? Ding! Ding! Ding!
So with that in mind I worked with the first bracket. It took two complete “guess installations”, but the second time it was perfection – at least for us. And no lateral movement. We are happy campers. And it fits so snug that we do not need any Velcro after all.
I am working on a piece of wood to cover up the opening visible at the top of the new TV.
Two final items:
Because I do not post every day some of you probably get weary of checking to see if I have a new blog. If you send me your e-mail, I will put you on a list to which I send a notice each time I blog.
Also, if you have any specific questions to ask, you can also contact me at the email shown below:
george0139@hotmail.com

Stay tuned.

We are still alive and kicking

2011-02-25T14:49:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since I’ve done a post, so I thought it would be a good idea to bring you up to date.

Last week I was in Chicago visiting my daughter and son-in-law and their first born son, Luke.

Baby Luke, Brad and Jennifer make a nice family.

And, while I was in the Windy City, Sandy had a close friend spend 4 days with her in Salt Springs. Kate Stratman (on left) and Sandy are kayaking in Blue Springs, where there are lots of manatees and other wildlife.

And below is a photo of our son, Jamison, holding Oscar. Jamison, Jane and Oscar live in New York. We plan to visit them this summer.

The weather is definitely getting warmer here in central Florida with afternoon highs reaching the 80s on occasion. Warm temperatures have brought out the Red Bud and other flowering trees and shrubs.

While we were out walking yesterday we bumped into new friends Greg and Holly, who live in Wisconsin and are camp hosts and volunteers here at the park.

In addition to being a great couple these two are dedicated to their job. They go way above and beyond the few hours they are required to put in.

They have personally taken it upon themselves to clean up an overgrown and neglected area of the campground into a pleasant place to be.

This is the “after” photo of an area at least two acres in size that fronts along a canal. It has been transformed into a beautiful and inviting part of the campground. Greg and Holly have done this all on their own time. Sandy has been rewarding them with cookies and scones.

The other night while watching TV in the living room the picture suddenly disappeared. No warning. After several attempts to revive it, we determined that it was dead.

Replacing a TV in a motorhome is not a slam dunk. The old TV fit nicely inside of a custom cabinet. I could have found a small TV to fit inside, but it would have required more woodworking skills and tools than I have. So we decided the best approach is to hang a flat panel TV over the opening. The TV and the wall mount are on order and should both arrive on Monday. I hope to have it installed by Tuesday.

During today’s walk we came across this white egret who is a good buddy to local fisherman who toss him some of the fish that are too small to keep. We, sadly, did not have anything for him.

Originally, we had planned to leave from here on April 1, but Sandy is getting some dental work done that is going to take longer than anticipated.

Stay tuned.

Glad to be in Florida

2011-02-01T16:54:00.001-08:00

When we were living in northern, Illinois for so many years, the ability to be in Florida in winter was something that other people got to do. And those other people were usually "older." Life has swung full circle and now we are the "older people" staying in Florida while family and friends in Illinois endure a genuine blizzard with winds nearing 50mph, temperatures plummeting to near zero and snow accumulating to as much as 19 inches. Yikes!
For the past two weeks or so I've twice been replacing the one last part on our slide room mechanism that will get everything back in perfect working order. Yesterday I ordered what I hope is the real final part to solve the issues that keep cropping up. Here are a couple of photos of some of the stuff I've been working on. I get good advice from my Foretravel friends and I am not paying $110/hour to a tech who, frankly, can't do what I am doing any better than I am doing it. But his body doesn't hurt as much as mine does at the end of the day. I have to crawl into a storage bay and work on my back and reach overhead to do the work. Whine, whine.
Here are a couple of photos of the parts I am dealing with. I won’t get into details as I don’t want to put you to sleep.

Here is a photo of where we are parked in the Salt Springs Recreation Area.
From time to time while walking around the campground we can hear sounds coming from the many amateur musicians that play guitar, dulcimer, harmonica and banjo – and possibly other instruments.
Last night I went to The Barn, the activities building, to hear the “Salt Springs Pickers.” I really did not know what to expect. Some of it was really good and some was pretty bad. I liked the picking much more than the singing. Some of the tunes played are probably from the late 18th and early 19th centuries and included: The Bed By The Window; Too Old To Die, and a 20th Century song called Double Wide Trailer.

I have always loved banjo music and to hear a banjo/guitar combination with the complex blending of notes was really a treat.

I took the above picture with my little point and shoot pocket-size Canon camera. My favorite camera has developed a problem with the zoom feature so I sent it off to Canon today. Amazingly, the repair facility is in Elk Grove Village, IL where Mother Nature is busy creating all sorts of photo ops as I type.
Tomorrow I am going into Ocala to get tested for hearing aids. I think it is important to add some of the trappings of a senior citizen. Huh?
Stay tuned.

The Tale of Three Tails from Two Tails Ranch

2011-01-26T13:28:00.001-08:00

About 50 miles from Salt Creek Recreation Area is the Two Tails Ranch founded in 1984 to provide a safe place for elephants in need of either a permanent or temporary home.

Founder, chief cook and bottle washer Patricia Zerbini established Two Tails Ranch as both an elephant sanctuary and educational facility located near Williston, FL. Patricia’s family has been training, showing and caring for exotic animals for nine generations. Patricia herself has performed under the big top but much prefers her life as a mother of four sons and caretaker of as many as 40 elephants at one time. Her charges come from Ringling Bros. Circus as well as from zoos that need a place to send elephants while undergoing repairs or restorations.

While we were there we met the three resident Indian Elephants. First we were introduced to Bunny.

Bunny has a sweet tooth and loves peppermint candy. Here she is waiting for Patricia to give her a piece of Christmas candy cane.
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Patricia told us a funny story about Bunny. Seems as though Bunny took a liking to a small Matchbox car which Bunny hid in her barn and from time to time would put it into her mouth, then take it outside, retrieve it from her mouth and push it around on a flat surface.
Next we met Roxie.

Sandy opted to buy some carrots and feed Roxie and said it was really a neat experience. The money helps provide for food for the elephants who can consume up to 300 pounds of hay per day along with 30 to 40 pounds of fresh produce.
Last -- me met Luke, who is a superstar of the elephant world, because he has raised over $175,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Luke is nearly 12 feet tall and weighs close to 12,000 pounds. He has been at Two Tails for 23 of his 25 years. Luke’s fame comes from the fact that he is an accomplished painter. Proceeds from his paintings go to charity.

Here Luke is deciding on his next brush stroke as Patricia adds more paint to his brush.

A close up of this gentle giant.

Admission by appointment. Cost is $10.00.
twotailsranch.com

Stay tuned

Oldest city in the United States

2011-01-21T17:38:00.001-08:00

We drove to St. Augustine on Thursday with our friends Deb and Dale Wiegand, who spend winters in their Florida home near Punta Gorda.
There is a lot of history in St. Augustine and we barely scratched the surface. A history buff could spend a week here and not run out of things to see.

Photo from southerntravelnews.com by Barry Drawn
The National Park Service has conferred National Monument status to the ancient Castillo de San Marcos which is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. Construction on the fort was started in 1672. However, the city itself was established in 1565 and since that time has been continuously inhabited – making it the oldest city in the United States.

A working replica of the original gate.

One of the many mortars used to defend the fort. This one could lob a iron ball slightly over one mile.

These cannon (on right) could send a canon ball up to 2 miles, providing plenty of protection against ships in Matanzas Bay.

This is the Shot Furnace in which canon balls were heated until red hot and then carried inside the fort and up the stairs to be propelled at wooden ships where the damage they wrought was enhanced by starting fires.

Officer quarters. Others were even more Spartan.
The old fort is one of the main attractions in St. Augustine, but we may go back to see what me missed in the city.

For centuries St. Augustine was surrounded by a wall with gates that were locked from sunset to sunrise.

The oldest wood school house in the U.S.

Flagler College started as the ultra-modern Ponce de Leon Hotel built by Henry Flagler in 1882. {Flagler was an early railroad baron.} Today the building is a four-year liberal arts college. I took this photo from a trolley ride which I cannot recommend as a good way to take pictures.

Many of the older homes are on narrow streets and are behind brick or stone walls, giving the area a charming and unique feel.
Tomorrow we plan to do something really different. Stay tuned.

Laid back in Florida

2011-01-20T19:46:00.001-08:00

We are really into the laid back lifestyle of Florida. We get to sleep in, we get to take nice long walks and we have met some new and some old friends.
We even had an unwelcome guest.

This little lizard was sitting on a bathroom towel bar so I quickly escorted him outside. He probably liked the idea of living in a unique-to-him motorhome, but I carried him outside before he tried to sell me an insurance policy.
Speaking of unique, this unusual home-made RV is located in our campground. The owner did a nice job on the outside.

We had a first-time event in that we met one of my blog followers John and Ellie from New York. John does a fine job on his blog http://relaxedrush.blogspot.com/
We really wanted to spend some time with John and Ellie, but their short time in the camp overlapped with a visit from former Illinois neighbors. We hope our paths crossed again soon so that we can do more than have a couple of brief conversations in front of our motorhome. Safe travels on your trip home to see your daughter, Kelly, sworn into the the U.S. Navy, following in her father's footsteps.
Yesterday we drove into Ocala to meet Dale and Deb Wiegand, dear friends and former neighbors from the Shady Hill subdivision in Barrington, IL. We caught up with them at the Hampton Inn. After lunch, we spent the afternoon playing Michigan Rummy and Mexican Train and laughing a lot about old times in Illinois. For dinner we found a unique restaurant with excellent food and wine and a quirky waiter and an interesting owner/chef.

Dale and Debbie, spent the day with us in St. Augustine and then we had dinner at a little local restaurant near the Corp campground that was excellent.
My next blog will be about our visit to the oldest city in the United States: nearby St. Augustine.
Stay tuned.

Home in sunny Florida

2011-01-08T17:14:00.001-08:00

So far, so good here at Salt Springs Recreation Area 35 miles east of Ocala. We have been here just over one week and the weather feels good: not too hot and not too cold. It certainly is a beautiful campground built by the Army Corp of Engineers.

^{The sidewalk leads to the salt springs that flow at a rate of about 50 millions gallons of salt water daily at a constant 72 degrees. I love the moss draped live oaks.}
Like so many other federal campgrounds, Salt Springs is managed by a private contractor. American Land and Leisure does a fine job. The first day we were here we had an electrical problem and they came and fixed it within 10 minutes of our reporting it. Sandy and I might do a camp hosting stint with them sometime this year at one of they many camps in other states. We’ll look into that later.

Morning mists can’t hide the three grebes looking for food.

These three guys were also hoping for some food to come their way.

On the property is this mysterious-looking and neglected two-story residence. It seems to fit the image of old Florida.

Ferns are everywhere.

This artesian spring has supplied fresh water to residents for a couple hundred years. The Schedule 40 PVC pipe is a 20th Century improvement. The water is cool, clear and delicious. We re-filled all 8 of our gallon water jugs. We use this water for cooking and for making coffee and tea. We usually buy water from the machines in supermarket parking lots.

This section of walkway is part of the 45 minute walking trail around the camp.
Yesterday we drove into Ocala to have lunch with one of Sandy’s sister and her husband, Sharon and Chuck Dewey. They have a Montana fifth wheel and are at an RV park in town.

On the way back we saw a sign that advertising Eggs and Citrus. We drove down the longest, narrowest driveway ever and emerged into a genteel and lightly neglected farm yard with two big labs and orange, grapefruit and cumquat trees around. We bought about 10 pounds of juice oranges, two grapefruits and two Temple oranges, plus a dozen freshly laid eggs for $3.50. Wow!

This emu curiously followed us down the farmer’s driveway.

I’ll end with this early morning shot of the salt springs.
Stay tuned.

Back to life in the motorhome

2011-01-01T17:10:00.001-08:00

From the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers campground at Salt Springs Recreation Area in the heart of the Ocala National Forest, Florida

Sandy and I are glad to be back in our motorhome and back on the road.

As some of you know, Sandy is also known as Cookie Queen. When we stayed with family in Illinois, she made close to 600 cookies. Here is a photo of my favorite cookie, called Chocolate Crowns. On top of the chocolate cookie she places a large dab of cherry fruit filling, puts a marshmallow on that, pops the cookie back into the oven to soften the marshmallow and then covers most of the cookie with her own custom-blend semi-sweet chocolate coating. They are to die for.

While we were in Illinois we got to see our new grandson: Oscar William Levenson-Stoltz. At this point in time he has no idea what wonderful baked goodies are in store for him from his Grandma Sandy.

We arrived here just after lunch on New year’s Eve. We have a campsite that is somewhat difficult to back into, and a number of campers stopped what they were doing to watch us squeeze our 40 foot beast into the diagonal site. But we did so with aplomb.

This Corp campground is quite different from any other we have been in in that it has quite a variety of activities. Last night we attended a New Year’s Eve party that included

some really great music from a small band that is in between cruise ship bookings. We didn’t stay long, but it was a pleasant start to our 3-month stay here.

The park is managed by a private contractor, and we have been very impressed by the pleasant/helpful attitude of all the camp hosts we have met so far. Today, New Year’s Day, I walked up to the office to report that we were having a problem with the power pedestal. It is about a 7-minute walk back from the office and when I returned to the motorhome the electrician had already started on the repair. That’s pretty incredible service anywhere. I’ll tell you more about the campground in the weeks to come.

Stay tuned.

Christmastime in Chicagoland

2010-12-20T15:27:00.001-08:00

I’ve been hearing some whining from readers who want to know what we are doing.

Sandy and I have been in the Chicago area since November 30 and we are trying to become accustomed to snow, freezing temps and sometimes below zero wind chill temps. Gee. Why did we ever leave the Midwest?

One evening with our oldest son, Scott and future daughter-in-law, Sandy, we built ginger bread houses. Scott is the tall guy in the center and Sandy is on the far right.

Yesterday we were in downtown Chicago with our daughter, Jennifer and her husband, Brad.

Before attending the annual Chicago Symphony Orchestra Christmas concert we spent some time in Daley Plaza visiting the annual Christkindlmarket featuring beer, brats and more food and handmade gifts including ornaments, candles, woodcarvings, cuckoo-clocks, European chocolates, beer steins, toys, glass blown items and toys from more than 50 vendors.

Jennifer and Brad are expecting their first child in mid-January and Sandy and I are nearly as excited as they are.

Here Sandy and I are wearing clothes that no sensible RVer should own. Did I tell you that we are looking forward to being in Florida next month?

In closing, here is a special greeting to our favorite employee at the local Dominick’s Super Market in Fox River Grove, IL: Merry Christmas to Patty and to all of you.

See you in 2011. Stay tuned.

Wrapping up our stay in Readyville, TN

2010-11-26T15:00:00.001-08:00

I love the way late afternoon sunsets accent the countryside in autumn. That light infuses everything with a warm glow -–sort of reminds me of a Thomas Kincaid painting. The white house in the distance has been there since 1820 and the gray horse barn to the right was built prior to the Civil War.

This is a tranquil area. We will only be here a few more days. I have been taking advantage of the time to do a few improvements to the motorhome. We have a wood floor in the galley that is roughly 3 feet wide x 10 feet long. It was beginning to show some wear. I knew if I waited too long that I would have to sand the entire floor down to bare wood, and I did not want to go through all of that mess in such a small space. And, to get from the living room to either the bathroom or the bedroom, we have to walk on the wood floor.   My options were limited.
I decided to do the work in the evening, finishing up just in time to go to bed. The living room carpet butts up against the wood floor on one side and that presented me with another challenge: how do I brush on polyurethane at the edge without getting some on the carpet? I knew I could use masking tape, but that would be tedious to get it on and tedious to get if off. I decided to by an El Cheapo mini blind at WalMart. Cost me $3.25 with tax. I used a few of the slats to separate the carpet from the wood . That way I could quickly brush on the poly without having to do a time-consuming job of keeping the end of the brush away from the carpet.

The other challenge was that I had to apply two coats and the second coat needed at least 4 hours to dry before we could walk on it.

So I set my alarm for 1:30, but woke at 12:30 and found the floor dry enough to lightly sand, remove the dust and roll and brush the final coat. I planned to finish up in the bathroom where the wood stops and the tile begins. I was back in bed by 1:15 and when Sandy awoke around 6:00 she found the floor dry enough to walk on. Hip, hip, hooray. But she had to carry chunky Trixie out of the bedroom so that her nails would not dig into the surface which had not cured enough for puppy toes.

My other coach improvement came about today when I was looking under the sofa for my winter coat. Our sofa is in that portion of the living room that slides out. When I took off the access panel under the sofa and looked in all I could find was daylight coming from the lower SW corner of the slide out room. Oh crap! I thought. This is not good. And it was not. But it was an easy fix. I was able to fill the gaps with the low expansion spray foam. Now we don’t have to worry about spiders, lady bugs and other insects sharing our living quarters. For my non-RV readers, the gap was not visible from the outside and could only be found by looking up into a small access panel outside and underneath the slide out room. It is very unlikely that mice could get in there because the painted sides of the motorhome are as smooth as glass.

The neighbors across the road have two gentle and sweet horses. Stormy is on the left and Kisses is to the right. We have become good buddies by feeding them pieces of apple.   Now when they see us approach they come running.

Our hosts Gary Omel and his friend Sandy Starlin are riding the John Deere Gator with Gary’s two dogs, K.C. and Jackson in the back.

Today Sandy and I pulled together most of the clothes we will take with us to Illinois. After 14 months of having everything at our fingertips, it was difficult to decide what to take with us. It is a 600 mile drive. We will spend one night in a motel and will not take anything inside but the clothes on our backs. We do not want to transport bedbugs across state lines. I believe that is a violation of the Simmons Act.

Tomorrow morning we are going back to the Readyville Grist Mill for breakfast. It will be a new venture for the mill owner. And come Monday morning, we are out of here at 5:00 a.m. as we head to frozen Northern Illinois.

I won't be blogging until we get into Florida around New Year's Eve. Hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas.

Tune in again in 2011

Opryland Hotel from a Different Perspective

2010-11-22T16:37:00.001-08:00

In my former life as a worker bee vs. my present life as a retiree I spent a lot of time traveling and living in hotels. I like to tell people that I have visited nearly every major city in the U.S. and now I am getting to see some of the places that I flew over.

One venue I was at fairly often is a modest hotel in Tennessee called Opryland Hotel. It is probably the only hotel in which I have ever found myself lost. It you have been to Opryland Hotel, you can commiserate with me.

Today Sandy and I and Gary Omel and Sandy Starlin took a day trip to Nashville just to see this spectacular destination. This time I could look at it through the eyes of a visitor rather than through the eyes of someone who was managing a portion of a very large meeting.

You might remember that parts of central Tennessee experienced severe flooding in May of this year. Opryland Hotel was flooded with up to 10 feet of water in parts of the property.

But after $285,000,000 in repairs and renovations, the hotel is even better than before the Cumberland River spilled over its banks.
The hotel has extensive indoor landscaping that rivals any green house or conservatory in the country. The plantings, trees, orchids, waterfalls and Christmas poinsettias make it a feast for the eyes. Here is some of what we saw.

Stay tuned

The Mill at Readyville, TN

2010-11-21T17:20:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we visited the grist mill in Readyville. It has been an important part of this unincorporated town since it was first built back in 1812. Readyville and the surrounding countryside is truly charming. It is small town, rural America – southern style.
People here still talk about the Civil War which is understandable because it was fought here. There are battlefields nearby. When the Union Army came through his area in 1864 the mill was burned. And in 1869-70 it was rebuilt.
About five years ago a young energetic man named Tomm Brady acquired the mill and has set about to restore as much of it as possible while his energy and resources last. Tomm has done a wonderful job. The main mill building was probably one more winter away from collapsing into the Stones River, but thanks to his dogged hard work he has turned it into a showpiece of early American agricultural commerce.

Tomm demonstrates a device used to fill flour sacks. Incredibly the adjustable platform and associated mechanism would fill a flour sack within ounce or two of 50 pounds.

These two hoppers extend to the second floor where the various flours were contained in large bins prior to being sacked.

The first two floors of the mill are filled with machinery and bins. Also prominent are square shaped tubes running between floor, these tubes carry grain from one process to another. Some of the tubes employ an auger to move grain. These augers were handmade. One such auger is shown below.

Other wood tubes transported grain via small tin cups hand-crafted and then riveted to a cloth belt A bin of spare belts is shown next.

This mill stone is no longer used because the water turbine that provided power to the mill has fallen into disrepair.
In 1918 the water turbine under the mill was connected to a dynamo to generate electricity and began supplying power for electric light bulbs to the town of Readyville even before the much larger nearby city of Murfreesboro, TN had electric lights.
Next weekend the mill will start a new chapter in its nearly 200 year history by opening a restaurant. We plan to be there for their first pancake breakfast.
Tomorrow we are headed for a day trip to Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

Stay tuned.

A Night in Clarksville, TN

2010-11-16T17:24:00.001-08:00

We left Lake Wappapello, MO this morning around 7:30 and headed toward Readyville, TN. A little after 9:00 we made a planned stop at the Secretary of State Driver’s Facility in Cairo, IL where Sandy and I took our Non-Commercial CDL exam. We both received our Class B license with flying colors. Oops. We both had to take the written test twice. But we both passed the driving test the first time. Trixie was literally put out. I had to put her in the Honda because the examiners will not ride in a vehicle with a dog in it -- except a service dog.
The Non-Commercial CDL license is required in Illinois if your RV weighs more than 26,001 pounds.
The scary part was having to back up without one of us spotting for the other, but we did fine.
We purposefully chose the Cairo, IL facility because it is a very small, rural area and it was on our way to Tennessee. [i]Side note: Cairo is a town on the low down. It is so sad to see a town fallen on hard times. Burned out and abandoned buildings abound. But the Secretary of State Drivers License facility staff was very friendly. Not like the cantankerous ones near Chicago.[/i]
I was reminded today just how much I don’t like cold or cold,wet weather. When we got to Clarksville, I had to change wiper blades on the motorhome in the rain and my fingers were like thumbs in five minutes.
We could not find a parking spot at WalMart so we followed the advice of good friend Gary Omel and parked at the nearby Sam's Club. The lot is huge, was wide open and we were able to position ourselves for an easy out in the morning.
Tomorrow we will arrive in Readyville where we will be for about 10 days.
Stay tuned.

Wappapello Lake in Southeast Missouri

2010-11-12T18:26:00.001-08:00

We are at the Army Corp of Engineers People’s Creek Recreation Area on Wappapello Lake in Wappapello,MO. Our campground is quite small with spaces for only 18 RVs. When we arrived yesterday the site we had reserved on line was too sloped, too tight and too darn difficult to attempt to back into. Fortunately, a really easy back-in site nearby had not been reserved. We were able to take it. Whew! For our RVing readers: $10 a night with 50 amp full hook ups.

We have a lake view.

The only road out is really steep and takes a sharp turn at the bottom. It will be an exciting exit on Tuesday.

I liked the patterns in the water at sunset.

And I liked the sunset.
There is nothing around us. This is a boating, fishing and hunting area. But it is quiet and beautiful. Suits us just fine.

Stay tuned

The Montana Fire Log

2010-11-11T17:08:00.001-08:00

We were in Thompson Falls, MT for seven weeks this summer, and while we were there we noticed that the only supermarket in town was selling what was called a campfire in a log.
My cousin’s husband, Jerry McDonald (a nicer guy you’ll never meet, by the way), decided that spending between $9.95 for the small and up to $17.95 for the large fire log was just plain nuts. So he set out to make his own version. After all, if there is one resource in plentiful supply in Thompson Falls, it is timber – followed closely by resourcefulness.

Jerry starts with a pine log and drills a hole down the center for about six inches. Then he drills a horizontal hole from one side of the log go intersect with the hole drilled down the center.

Then Jerry would split a piece of kindling and prepare it for an application of pitch. Note that the deer scat remains in the photo as it lends a touch of authenticity. We were in the woods.

Pitch naturally collects at the base of pine trees or below a removed limb. Jerry harvests some with his hatchet.

The super sticky pitch gets applied to the splinter of kindling.

Then we fast forward more than two months to this evening in Missouri and Sandy now lights that piece of kindling and slides it into the horizontal opening.
An hour later the log is going strong.

More from Missouri soon. Stay tuned.

Alongside the Arkansas River

2010-11-10T16:36:00.001-08:00

We pulled out of Atlanta, TX this morning at 8:45 and headed toward Little Rock, AR. It was a beautiful day for a drive with smooth roads and nice scenery.

You can’t help but notice the hi-tech sun shield around our notebook. In its previous life it was the top to a box of copy paper from Office Depot.

We are in a truly beautiful Army Corp of Engineers campground. I have talked to three different campers here and each one says it is their favorite and they come here often. The campground is Maumelle AR/Murray Lock & Dam COE Park alongside of the Arkansas River. (Note: location added in response to a reader's request.)

We took a walk on this nice path through the camp ground.

This is the camp host’s site. I had to take a picture of the row of lights he made using small replicas of an RV illuminated from the back with a light bulb. My RV readers will enjoy this photo.

We never get tired of looking at rivers or lakes. This one is so serene.

There is not a lot of autumn foliage on display but it has been so long since we’ve seen any that this looks pretty good to us.

The other side of the river is so inviting. We need a kayak.

Here is our campground for today.

Stay tuned.

Some orthopedic work on Moose

2010-11-09T19:20:00.001-08:00

About a month ago when we were in Jackson Hole, WY I broke one of our cardinal rules. I attempted to back up the motorhome without my being able to see Sandy in the side view mirror. And in the process I broke something else – the left rear end cap of the motorhome. A very large birch tree was in the way. Ouch!

I won’t do that again. If I can’t see Sandy, I am not moving. Period.

I had to craft an extension to the exhaust pipe to make sure the superheated gases from the turbo exhaust vented outside of the end cap on the long journey back to Texas. Fortunately, we did not have to go much out of our way as we had to go through Texas on our way to Tennessee.

Thank goodness for insurance. It was five numbers BEFORE the decimal point. Most of the cost was due to the four different colors on the motorhome and the intricate design. Some of the damage ran through every color.We just finished a two week stay at Xtreme Paint & Graphics in Nacogdoches where Moose was stitched back together better than new. And then lots of paint and clear coat were added to the exterior.
Now we are on our way to Readyville, TN where we will spend some time with good friends Gary Omel and Sandy Starlin. While there we will do some minor maintenance and have fun.
More later. Stay tuned.

How to save $295.00

2010-10-27T09:18:00.001-07:00

The companies that make component parts and appliances that go into making an RV are notorious for over pricing replacement parts.
Here is a perfect example:
Recently the gasket on the refrigerator door came loose at the bottom of the door. I did a thorough search on line, and for our model of refrigerator/freezer the cost of a replacement gasket is $299.00 plus tax and shipping. Yes I did say two hundred and ninety-nine dollars. Outrageous! Especially so since it probably cost less than $15.00 to manufacture the gasket.
This was my solution:
I found a white vinyl weather stripping at Walmat for $5.00. Think of two thick-walled soda straws side by side. That's what I got.

I cut out the “bad” section, cleaned the area under the old gasket with alcohol, then I warmed up the vinyl door with a hair dryer and peeled the adhesive protective strip and pressed into place. Less than 10 minutes to do the job.

The $295.00 saved sure looks better in my pocket.

Stay tuned

Some wisdom, some good mpg and a significant repair for only $1.98

2010-10-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

We only had to drive 246 miles today and it took us 4.75 hours. The temptation was to sleep in and leave late, but from experience we have learned to leave a cushion in case something unexpected happens. And as we know, the unexpected often happens.

We arrived at a Super WalMart in Oklahoma City, OK just off of I-I40 around 12:30 noon. First thing I did was take Trixie for a comfort walk. As I was returning to the coach I thought that the "stone guard" or whatever it is called than hangs underneath the back of the coach looked unusual. I had never seen it leaning like that and as I got closer I could see that it became detached on one edge. Oh crap, I thought now what?

Apparently, it had been loose for quite a few miles today as the left edge had an area worn away of about 1.5 x 8 inches.

Long story short. $1.98 worth of parts from a nearby Home Depot (in same mall) and it was back in working order. So that is probably going to the the only significant repair I will ever do to the coach for under $2.00.

Today's trip was on mostly flat terrain and at times we were getting up to 9.4 mpg, but finished with 9 mpg. Not bad for a 450 HP Cummins engine.

Last item. About two weeks ago the rear AC unit stopped working. Magically it is now providing cool air.

Tomorrow we will stop at MCD RV Innovations in McKinney, TX to have two of our new shades repaired as they do not roll up the same way as when they were installed 11 months ago. As my good friend, George Hatfield says: “it is always something.”

Stay tuned.

On our way to Nacogdoches, TX

2010-10-19T18:11:00.001-07:00

We departed from Cochiti Lake, NM early this morning and headed east and north toward Amarillo, TX. We drove 304 miles in 5.5 hours and stopped for lunch en route at a picnic area along I-40 in Texas. We arrived in the WalMart Super Center parking lot here in Amarillo about 1:30 (actually 2:30 CDST). No problems. No wrong turns. No rain. Just a smooth easy drive. We are one of 14 campers, RVs or motorhomes here.

Tomorrow we will drive about 220 miles to Oklahoma City, OK and stop at another WalMart Super Center. We always buy groceries or other supplies at the store where we are parked, and Sandy and I have been known to round up carts and pick up trash. It’s the least we can do for having Sam Walton’s heirs let us stop overnight for free on their property.

Another plus for us with WalMart is that they will accept the used oil from my changing the oil in our diesel generator. So this afternoon I dropped of the nearly 5 quarts I was carrying in one of the storage bays.

Recently, we have begun using Google Maps to get a bird’s eye view of the destination parking area and the turns involved. It really helps us to know what we face ahead of time.

Trixie note. She is quite the good little traveler. Sandy puts her bed in back of the co-pilot chair and Trixie climbs in and snuggles down for a long nap.

This is just a quick update. I don’t want you to get bored.

Stay tuned.

When is a mystery really a money making enterprise?

2010-10-14T17:58:00.001-07:00

It was suggested to us that we visit the “mysterious staircase” in the Loretto Chapel in Sante Fe. Like good and gullible tourists we went to take a look. The staircase is beautiful and really is a masterpiece of woodworking. But is it a miracle or just a legend? We’ll let you decide. But it is a charming story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretto_Chapel
The museum gets about 250,000 visitors per year who each plunk down $3. Nice little business.
I took a few photos. No mystery in that.

After doing our part to help the local legend we walked around the old part of Santa Fe. It is a charming area of shops and restaurants.

Thanks for checking in.

Stay tuned

A trip into Santa Fe, NM

2010-10-12T18:47:00.001-07:00

We were getting low on some items and I needed to change the oil in generator so we drove the 25 miles into Santa Fe. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. Santa Fe is a neat city with unique southwestern architecture and a rare find called Sage Bakery. I Googled “bakery” and found this 56 year-old-bakery. Sandy had a cappuccino and I had a cup of plain coffee and we each had a pastry. Everything was wonderful. We took home a loaf of raisin-pecan bread that will go great with coffee for breakfast tomorrow.

While in Santa Fe we visited Walgreen's for our flu shot. According to CDC anyone over 6 months of age should get the flu shot this year. Did you get yours?

Here was tonight’s sunset.

Next Tuesday we begin a long south-easterly trip that will take us back to McKinney, TX to have a couple of quirky window blinds adjusted and then into Nacogdoches, TX for some fiberglass repairs and finally into Readyville, TN where we hope to remove the carpet in our living room and replace it with tile or laminate. Once we leave Readyville in late November, it will be by car to drive about 600 miles to Illinois to spend most of December with our children.

I will not be blogging as often, but stay tuned.

Cochiti Lake Campground, New Mexico

2010-10-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

We drove about 40 miles today from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta grounds to this U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Park. More about our new location in a moment.

We really enjoyed seeing all of the balloons and watching them take off and land. It was a worthwhile experience. But the location for camping was the worst we have ever experienced. For $30 a night we got to park on an sloping surface that consisted of ground up asphalt, dirt, rocks, sand and lots of prickly sand spurs. No water and no electric, but plenty of dust. I was glad to leave. Enough of that.

But there were some bonuses to being at the Balloon Fiesta. For one we got to see good friends Rudy and Carolyn Legget and their cute dog Abbie. Rudy is the person who convinced us to look at the Foretravel brand. We also met up with Roger and Linda Berke. Roger is one of the smartest Aqua-Hot techs and fixed our hot water/heat system back in March. We now consider Roger and Linda to be friends and they are fun to be with. The six of us went out to dinner one evening.

We also met up again with Mike and Bev Heine. We first met them at Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico last March. This was our 3rd time to see them.

Lexie (13 years old) Bev (could pass for a teenager) and Mike Heine. You can’t meet nicer people.

They were gracious and invited us to a dinner of delicious grilled Alaskan Halibut that Mike caught on their recent trip to Alaska.

Today as we prepared to leave Albuquerque we noticed that when the Honda was hooked up to the coach that one of the turn signals was not working. I called Rudy, who diagnosed a bad diode. I will get a replacement soon and teach myself how to put it into place. It is really great to have friends who know more about motorhomes than I do.

Cochiti Lake is our kind of place. It is very, very clean. The parking pads are well spaced with lots of room between. We are in a new portion of the camp ground and our streets are paved. We have a beautiful patio with covered table and we even have a very attractive post lamp. For those of you who have been to Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville, TX or Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone, this place is on a par with them. However, while we do have 50 amp service and water, we do not have a sewer connection, so we will have to drive a short distance to the dump every four or five days. Not a big deal. And we get all of this for $10 a night.

Our patio

View of campground

Tonight’s sunset

Stay tuned.

On the edge of “the box”

2010-10-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

There are hundreds if not a thousand RVs parked as far as the eye can see in all directions .

When we rolled into this immense parking area used for RV camping at Balloon Fiesta here in Albuquerque I was worried that we’d be shoe-horned into a spot between an RV with a noisy/smoky generator on one side and a bunch of small ankle-biting yapping dogs on the other.

We are “boon-docking”, meaning that we have no water, electric or sewer connections. We run our generator about 6 – 8 hours each day and we conserve water as much as possible. Whenever we shower we usually run through about 1.5 to 2 gallons of water before it become comfortable enough to shower. Here we capture that water in a bucket and use it to flush the toilet.

We really lucked out. We are parked right on the edge of an area referred to as “The Box” where some balloons will land. On one side there is a well-maintained motorhome about 15 feet away and on the other side there is a gap of at least 60 feet.
We had a prime location this morning to watch landings. It was really neat.

One of our favorite balloons is Jack in the Box. Here he is ready to land in The Box.

We noticed that some balloon chase crews have a humongous sheet of fabric they use to protect the balloon surfaces from sharp rocks and other stuff on the ground that might damage the balloon. Here you can see some of the crew getting this protective cloth into place.

Here is Jack’s home on wheels. I like ours much better.
And now for some more aerial beauties:

This mini balloon got stuck between our mirror and windshield.

This evening we are invited to Mike and Bev Heine’s “home” for a halibut dinner. Mike caught the halibut when they were in Alaska this summer. After that and at dusk some of the balloons will be illuminated from within by their propane burners. Could make for some unique photos.

Stay tuned.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 2010

2010-10-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

We are here in Albuquerque, NM for the largest balloon gathering in the world. The number of balloons launched this morning was approximately 350. More will go up tomorrow. In 2009 the total number of balloon entries was capped at 600 due to recent growth in the city and loss of landing zones.
It is something to see. There is a riot of bright colors and thrilling balloon ascents lasting at least two hours. A wave of balloons will launch and then new crews come in with their balloons and begin the process all over again of getting a mass of nylon inflated and sent aloft.
Historical headcounts show that on any given morning there have been as many as 100,000 spectators. It is a big event for this medium sized city. Prior to the start of the Balloon Fiesta in 1972 the largest number of hot air balloons assembled in one location in the world was 19 in England.
So here is just some of what we saw and only a few of the 120 photos I took today.

This one was called When Pigs Fly

Above are three different balloons stretched out in the initial stage of preparation.

After the nylon fabric is stretched in one long line a large fan powered by a gasoline engine is used to fill the balloon with air even before the burner is turned on to heat the air trapped in the balloon.

As the balloon nears the final stage of filling one or two strong individuals hold a line attached to the top to keep the balloon from rolling side to side.

Weather permitting, I’ll have more photos from Sunday’s events.
Stay tuned

A beautiful autumn day in the San Juan Mountains

2010-09-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Alpen RV Park here in Durango, CO yesterday. Another lovely campground that is well tended. The RV park sits at the foot of the San Juan Mountains.

Today we took a hike on a segment of the Colorado Trail. This trail was built and maintained by volunteers and stretches from Denver some 500 miles to Durango. We only covered a tiny slice of the trail.

It was a perfect day. Light breeze and sunlight, no bugs, flies or mosquitoes . Most of our 75 minute hike was alongside of Junction Creek. A babbling brook is a nice addition to any trail. At the end of our hike we drove about 2 miles into the San Juan Forest and had a picnic lunch in the forest. Beats a day at the office.

Tomorrow we will drive from here to Albuquerque, NM for the Balloon Festival where we will meet up to with friends Mike and Bev Heine and Lexie, their sweet Labrador Retriever.

Here is what we saw:

A collection of rock cairns often built in memory of someone special.


Part of the trail.

Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park

2010-09-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

From Moab, Utah

In the past few days we have visited Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse State Park. The outstanding features of both of these huge parks are the vast vistas and deep canyons. We had originally hoped to camp at Dead Horse, but it is a small park and was full when we got into town.

Here is some of what we saw.

The Colorado River

Our trail is the smooth area.

The water at top center is a potash processing area

Lizards, rabbits and chipmunks are prevalent

Mind-boggling stone formations

2010-09-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

From Moab, UT

The other day we went into Arches National Park. We were truly amazed at the variety of rock formations. Most are immense. Some remind me of a building constructed a couple of thousand years ago and now partially worn away by the elements. Others look like hooded figures in a religious rite.

There is an incredible display of Nature's handiwork and we barely scratched the surface of what there is to see.


Stay tuned

No more foggy windshields

2010-09-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

From Moab, UT

Last time we were in Nacogdoches, TX I walked through every Foretravel on the factory lot. You know how it is, you want to see what other models look like. Maybe pick up an idea or two.

I saw a coach that had two six-inch chrome fans attached to the underside of the front TV. Ding, ding, ding. I liked that. When we travel on chilly, rainy days we have had some fogging of the windshield. This is never good and our windshield defrosters just are not up to the task. So I said to myself: just how hard could this be?

With the input from the Foretravel ForeForums I found a pair of fans I liked on eBay and bought them. When we were in Montana, my cousin, Jerry McDonald and I located a 12 volt supply up near the TV (thanks to a good suggestion from Foretravel friend Gary Omel) that was not too difficult to access. So now I had two sets of wires hanging down from the TV cabinet.

A few days later I made an attempt to attached the fans underneath the TV. What an impossible job that was. With little clearance to use a screwdriver, little space to tuck extra wire and two wire nuts into the shallow base of the fans I could not get the fans attached.

After thinking about the “problem” for a day or two I reasoned that if I could get a disc of walnut to use as a mounting block that in the comfort of an outdoor picnic bench workshop I could attach the fans to disc and then run two screws up into the mounting disc to secure the whole assembly to the TV cabinet.

I turned to ForeForums to find some walnut discs. A Foretravel owner in Texas made two discs of walnut for me.

When we arrived in Moab, the discs were waiting for me at the post office.

The installation process was still not a piece of cake. Sandy is an excellent assistant (although there was some grumbling about having to work on a Saturday). To make the attachment of the discs of walnut to the TV easier, I made a paper template for use in drilling my two holes in which I would run the brass screws to attach the fan assemblies. Ding, ding, ding. It worked.

This project demonstrates to me just how an valuable it is to have the resources of other Foretravel owners.

Stay tuned

There is more to mountains than meets the eye

2010-09-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

From Manila, Utah--

When we left Illinois last September, among the many things we were looking forward to seeing were the mountains out west. We have discovered that when we drive up and into the mountains that we see a whole lot more than we anticipated.Today's trip into the Uinta Mountains was one of those days. Viewed from our KOA park in Manila, UT the mountains are not that much to look at, but take Utah Highway 44 up into the mountains and the scenery becomes quite dramatic. Within the Uinta Mountains is the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. It is remarkable for its many, many camping and hiking ares, fishing and boating, small lodges, private ranches, streams and stunning rock formations. We spent a good part of the day exploring a small part of this area.

We turned off the main highway into Sheep Creek Canyon Nature Trail and found ourselves on a small road with canyo walls on either side. The rock formations were beautiful to see.

Can you imagine the forces that created these rock formations?


Aspen trees on a ranch at over 8,000 feet

We saw a few turkeys

And a chipmunk enjoying a warm spot in the sun

We took a hiking trail down into this canyon and then along the beautiful Green River.

We had our picnic lunch looking at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. When the dam was completed in 1961 President Kennedy activated the turbines that produce electricity.

From a scenic overlook we spotted this canyon

It is supposed to rain tomorrow. We had planned to travel to Moab, but instead will stay here, play games, read and watch TV. Not a bad life.

Stay tuned.

From Jackson Hole, WY to Manila, UT

2010-09-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

What a great early autumn day we had for a 255 mile drive. Generally speaking we average about 50 miles in an hour. We never push the speed limit. Not only is that dangerous, but the old MPG rate suffers when we exceed 62 MPH -- so that is where we set our cruise control.

The driving was mountainous and hilly with a few plains scattered along the way. The roads out here are under used, and we often drove for 10 minutes or more without seeing another vehicle. We like that. Once we got set up in the little KOA park here in Manila, Utah we took a drive over to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area that stretches from northern Utah all the way up to central Wyoming.

We saw some majestic vistas and captured a few to share. I like the deep blues of the water against the red sandstone.

Do you think this is a stone cabin or a natural formation?


A few Aspens in golden splendor were on display

From about 7500 feet elevation.

Stay tuned

Turning in a southerly direction

2010-09-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

Moose cows enjoying a suburban front yard

Tomorrow we begin a leisurely pace that will take us back to Illinois in just eleven weeks. Hard to believe we have been gone well over one year. Monday morning we start our trip over the length of Wyoming and by the afternoon we will be in Manila, Utah.
Jackson, Wyoming is a beautiful location. The town is thriving. The summer season is just about over and the merchants are getting ready for the influx of skiers that will arrive as surely as will the snows. Saturday morning we visited the farmer's market that is alongside of the town square park. We found some great sweet corn, tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, fresh raspberries, lettuce and new potatoes. Delicious.


Each corner of the square is accessed through an arch made of elk antlers.


This little guy was all decked out in a hat to match his Mom's That's all for today. Stay tuned.

Grand Teton National Park

2010-09-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

So far we have been to Yosemite, Glacier, Yellowstone and now Grand Teton National Park. They are all beautiful and have unique qualities. So far, our favorite has been Glacier and we will go back there in 2012.

Consider this comment about our natural resources:

"Surely our people do not understand even yet the rich heritage that is theirs. There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, its groves of Giant Sequoias and Redwoods, The Canyon of the Colorado, The Canyon of The Yellowstone, The Three Tetons; and the representatives of the people should see to it that they are preserved for the people forever, with they majestic beauty unmarred." Theodore Roosevelt – 1904

Here is our look at Grand Teton National Park

A final thought:

"Those who have gone before us have set an example to us as stewards of these vast natural resources. We owe it to those yet unborn to continue to preserve and protect what can never be replaced" -- author unkown

Stay tuned

A day at home

2010-09-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

We are finding that after a few days of non-stop sightseeing that we like to take a day off and hang out around the motorhome. Today was one of those days.

I've been getting a little lax in my walking and exercise so I made it a point to get in a good 30-minute brisk walk this morning. Later I decided to wash Moose with Sandy's help and then I washed the Honda.

This park is unusual in that they allow guests to wash their vehicles. Many do not. This is definitely a higher end RV park. But it is not a resort. We generally do not stay at resorts because we don't use the swimming pool and many of the other amenities.

Yesterday we went into Yellowstone. It is a grand and glorious park and there is a ton of history. I learned that for a while the park was under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army and there was a large fort maintained in the park.

There are so many vast and beautiful vistas. Fortunately, the park roads have lots of turn outs where motorists can pull over to take photos. And, often as not, motorists are prone to stop anywhere wildlife is spotted. Here are some of yesterdays vistas.