Where does the time go?

 It is hard to think about ten days passing by so fast, but then again it seams like we have been here forever. The days are passing us by but we are enjoying every moment of the days and nights. The weather is about as close to perfect as anyone could expect, highs around 85, and lows about 76.

 Our first couple days here we spent at the "rock pile", which is part of the RV park but it is the older section. The sites are a lot closer together and you are on a gravel site, there is four rows with the first row having a fantastic view of the water.

 Monday of last week they opened up "Trumbo" a dry camping area on the coast guard base. Trumbo is a lot closer to down town KW and many folks just go there and dry camp all winter. They avoid the "rotation" and can sit in one spot the entire time they are here. With the opening of Trumbo several spaces came open at the "back" part of the CG which is where we are now.

 The "back" is newest area of the CG, the sites are amazing, plenty of room, and your on a concrete pad large enough for the RV and a patio. There are twenty sites here with full hook ups and maybe a couple hundred sites for dry camping when all the full hook up sites are filled. There are maybe 100 FH sites in all, and they fill up in Dec and everyone (except the camp hosts) start a rotation. You get two weeks in FHs and then you rotate into dry camping until your number comes up, sometimes its a couple of days, and then in Jan or Feb it could be three weeks until your number comes up and you go back into FHs.

 Between the "back" and the "rock pile" there is Hollywood, another section of the RV park. Hollywood was built sometime between the rock pile and the back sections. The sites are larger than the rock pile but smaller than the back, and once the rotations start you have no idea of where you will get a site after you dry camping, but it will be full hook ups.

 Since we have been here Jenelle has visited for a few days. The airlines she was working for lost several contracts so they laid off a bunch of the employees, but they are a small part of another larger airlines and it still has flights all over the US. Part of her severance package was free flights for three months, and since she has no job she has been flying everywhere. Key West is one of the places she was able to fly to so it didn't cost her anything to fly in and spend a few days.

 Fantasy Fest is going full swing right now and the people on Duval street are amazing. Jenelle was able to see some of the "painted" bodies before she left, and every day there are more painted bodies with less clothes. They do have some amazing painters here and they can paint you to where everyone thinks you have clothes on, and you really have to look close to see that its just paint. I'll do a blog (with picture) after Fantasy Fest is over and I have rested up some.

 Marcia has a couple of her closest friends coming down to spend a few days with us, they will have fun and I will be able to rest some while they take Marcia down town to watch all the "crazies". So until the next time I will just keep watching the calender to see how fast the days are passing by.....

Key West Bound

 Two years ago we arrived in Key west in late Oct. just in time for the 7-10 day festivities they call Fantasy Fest. We had such a good time watching all the people we decided we would go back. Last year we went west (and froze) for the winter so no KW in late Oct. but this year we will be there.

 We left Escapase headed to KW but we had plenty of time to get there. We stopped off in St Louis and spent a night at the casino, then on to Cumberland Gap to visit friends and family one last time this year. From KY we stopped off in northern GA to visit friends, (even though some of them took off the day we arrived) and to wait out a front that brought plenty of rain.

 North Ga Led us to Southern Ga where we visited a cousin we hadn't seen in 11 years. After a couple days in Vidalia GA we continued on to Ft Stewart GA where we got to see our son Jonathan a couple times before he is deployed back to the sandbox. (Afghanistan) We could have spent more time there, but the three days we were there he was busy, and we wanted to get on into FL.

 The etch-a-sketch showed us stopping off in Kings Bay to check out the submarine base. I hear the fam-camp there is one of the best, but the etch-a-sketch got shaken up and we wound up in Mims Fl. Once in Mims we had to check out the Atlantic ocean,

While most of the US was hit by a cold front we enjoyed the FL warmth.

We were surprised when we found out Ron and Elaine has bought a lot in Titusville, it gave us a chance to spend an evening with them.

 

Tomorrow we will pack up and leave this PassPort America Park ( Seasons in the Sun) and head deeper south. Just before entering the Keys we will stop at a casino to spend the night. It is a little over 200 miles from here to Miami, and another 120+ to KW so we will make it a two day trip. If we are lucky at the casino we may make it a there day trip... I guess that is why we have all our plans on the etch-a-sketch...

FL Bound

 OK everyone that knows me knows that I do NOT do cold, and we got a small taste of cold while at the Escapade in Sedalia MO, it got down to 41 degrees one morning. So the only solution was to head south!!!!

 As it turned out the cold only lasted a couple days, and then the warmth came right back so the trip south could wait a few more days. With the warmth back we left Sedalia after the Escapade was over and headed east. The "etch-a-sketch" showed us at the outer banks of NC, but the bumpy roads changed that really quick, or maybe it was the distance the outer banks took us out of path to Key West.

 Our first night after the Escapade was spent at a casino near St Louis. Marcia loves her casinos and she had some "birthday" money burning holes in her pockets. It didn't take long for the casino to take that $$ from her, but we had a good time, a place to park the rig for a night and an awesome buffet for $7.77.

 The next day we headed for Middlesboro KY. A couple things we wanted to take care of and another chance to see the kids and friends made Middlesboro a pretty good choice. Leaving St Louis we had rain, just enough to mess up the rig and the poor jeep caught all the spray and was covered with a fine filth you didn't want to see or touch.

 We took the southern route dropping down into KY as soon as we could just so we could see something we had never seen before. (that part of KY) Dropping down slowed the trip down but then we are in no hurry anyway. We stopped at the "Outback Steakhouse" in Bowling Green KY for supper with the intentions of trying to make Somerset before we stopped for the night, but someone bumped the etch-a-sketch while we were enjoying a nice 6 oz steak, or it could have been the steak and full bellies that changed the plans. We stayed around the corner of the steakhouse in a Sam's parking lot.

 The next day we made it to CGNHP campground. When we stopped for fuel in Middlesboro we were greeted by Corey, Miss Jaelynn, and Beth so Beth and Miss Jaelynn rode with us in the rv from Middlesboro to the park in VA. We had a nice time visiting for the few days we were there and hated to leave but I know the frosty mornings will be there anytime now and I really don't want to see frost unless it is on a mug of root beer.

 Saturday morning I had the rig almost ready to roll when Marcia, Beth and Corey finished their morning hike. Just a few things Marcia had to put away and good-byes said and we were off again. Raccoon Valley RV Park was our destination, Escapee parks are about the only parks that allow you to wash your rig there and ours was a mess after the rain in St Louis. We got set up before noon and Jenelle came by to see us for a few min. She had just returned from a trip to Vegas and we had her spare keys to get into her house. She had spent the night in an airport somewhere between Knoxville and Vegas.

 Marcia and I was feeling pretty good because we started washing the jeep somewhere around 2 pm and by 4:30 we had washed and dried the jeep and the entire motorhome. I didn't think it could be done in one day let alone 2 and 1/2 hours. But we now had a clean and shining jeep and motorhome, and with the new wheels it was looking really good.

 After we finished off some left-overs for supper I walked over to the clubhouse only to find it locked up. What is up with the clubhouse being locked at 6 pm on a Saturday???? I started walking around the park when I saw Fran and Sharon, what I surprise. Then Grace that we knew from FL was there too. It was good seeing them all and we talked about how bad the current manager at the park is doing.

 The locked clubhouse was part of the reason we chose to leave Sunday am, although the manager assured us he would leave it open later for a while since the park was almost full. But we really wanted beat the rain that was forecast. It was head to Ga to wait out the rain or wait there in Knoxville. Ga is further south so I wanted to go.

 We arrived in Lyerly GA just in time to crash Bea and Bennett, and Wanda and Wallace's family reunion. I have always wanted to just walk up to a group having a reunion and invite myself to eat, so that is pretty much what we did. Thanks to Wanda and Bea and their great family we just parked the rv and joined in as if we had known everyone all our life.

 Bea and Bennett have put three rv sites with FULL HOOK UPS on their property and had invited us to come and stay anytime so we are taking them up on their offer. They had to leave Sunday afternoon to return to RedBay AL to have repairs done on their motorhome, so that left us here with the Dub U's Wanda and Wallace. They are four people that we have met since we started living in a house on wheels that is such an honor to know and call friends.

 Today it rained almost all day but tomorrow should be just cloudy skies so we will say good-bye to Lyerly and head south. We want to visit a cousin in southern GA before we see our son Jonathan at Ft Stewart. He is due to deploy to the sandbox next month and we want to see him before he leaves, so we must roll the wheels and pass on fun times here in Lyerly with the Dub-U's....... Thanks B & B, and W & W............

What a Week

WOW, I am really happy this week is OVER.  Not that we didn't have a lot of fun, but we have been BUSY. Many of our Rving friends are here, and it is always good seeing them.

 We arrived here at the Sedalia Fair grounds on the 12th, and the first person we saw was Bennett. He was on the parking crew and directed us to the gate where we had to enter the fair grounds. Then we see Fran, Sharon, and several others waiting to direct us to our site for the next several days.

 When we parked the rig we were next to Keith and Donna, Wanda and Wallace, Bob and Molly, and Bea and Bennett were parked in the row in front of us. Ron and Linda pulled in an hour or so later and parked right next to us. After a short visit we headed over to a meeting with the Escapade directors, ( Bob and Molly), and they wasted no time in putting us to work. Marcia made a run to Wal-Mart, Staples, and Lowe's while I got things set up.

 Later it was a happy hour with so many there I won't even start to try to name names. Everyone started eating the foods that many brought to share, milk shakes were made and served along with some margartias and wines, and some home brew even made it to Sedalia. The ONLY negative was the flies!!! There are tons of flies here at the fairgrounds.

The next couple of days we spent getting things ready for the 52nd Escapade. I was doing very little myself, but just watching everyone else running around made me so tired. Marcia was going shopping several times a day, and it was good spending someone Else's money, but she wasn't buying the things she really wanted.

Then the cold front hit us and I was feeling it, but I was still able to watch everyone else running around doing their thing. The Escapade started and everyone was having fun even though we were all ready for some rest. 576 rv's gathered to make this a great Escapade. Tuesday evening we had BINGO and I was the caller. I think it is more fun calling bingo than it is playing, and I thing everyone playing was having a good time. Several ask me later why I wasn't calling their numbers, but I can only call the ones that come out of the basket.

 Wednesday was a pretty easy day, the weather had warmed up some and we didn't have much to do so we did get a little rest before the rush Thursday. Thursday started of with us getting things ready for the chili cook off. Marcia was making chili with a Hawaiian theme. She had a lot of people helping her and Keith and Donna were truly life savers with their help. Marcia won third place, and the winner told everyone she cheated and the runner up cheated too, but it was all in fun and all the $$ raised went to C A R E.

 We had just enough time to eat before we had tonight's bingo. We got to the bingo room just in time to fin out they had already packed up the sound system. After a few phone calls I did get the use of the fairgrounds system, but the battery in the mike died on the third number I called on the first game. The crowd was very good and kept the noise down so I could call without a sound system. Not something I would ever want to do again, but it worked out for tonight.

 Today was also Marcia's birthday, so she worked hard on her birthday and didn't get a cake. I did take her out for ice cream after bingo was over, and she knows I'll make it up to her somewhere down the road. and I did buy her a dozen roses last week because I knew we would be very busy this week.

Happy Birthday Marcia, you are my bestest friend.

We will hang out here until Monday with lots of the gang, and then we will head SOUTH. We have about a month to get to Key West so we will be smelling the roses along the way...............

Gypsy Journal Rally is over

 We had a good time at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Celina Ohio last week. As always Nick and Terry put on a good rally. We are disappointed that this was their last rally, but we understand that they are too stressed out by all that is involved to continue having them.

 On Monday Marcia signed us up for a massage, Jean Damon has magical fingers when it comes to the massages that she gives. For one hour she worked those magical hands on me, and then she did the same for Marcia after she finished with me. Marcia enjoyed it so much she bought a bottle of Jean's massage oil. Now maybe Marcia will use the oil on me????

 We got to spend time with friends we have met over the past 5+ year, and met new friends that I'm sure we will cross paths with in the future. We learned a few things too, Marcia and I attended a class on cell phones and I not ashamed to say our smat phones are smartter than we are. But because of the class we both know a little more about using the,

 Friday was the last day so I endulged in the free donuts that were offered daily. (thanks Nick and Terry) and then is was saying "see you down the road" to many friends that were headed in different directions. Friday night it was dinner with 12 other couples honoring Nick and Terry, just one way we were able to thank them for putting on the rallies.

 Saturday we left Celina and headed west, the Kountry Star was riding really well with the new wheels and tires, and having all the fluids changed. We "wally-docked" Saturday night somewhere in IL It turned out to be a bad choice because there was a lot of truckers using the same wal-mart, and the trucks had frozen foods so the reefers ran off and on all night.

 Sunday we tried to find a city/county park we found on a new app we have for the smart phones. The directions we followed from the app took us to the wrong side of the lake, and was 1.5 miles from the CG. We had to unhook the jeep to drive around and find the CG, and we decided we didn't want to take the MH over the rough roads, and the narrow bridge to get to the CG.

 We are now at a Corp of Eng park on Mark Twain Lake outside of Hannibal MO. $12 a night for full hook ups sitting on a blacktop pad. The only draw back is the cell service is crappy, I don't think Verizon has any service here and we are using another service's towers, but this will only be a day or two until we head to Sedalia for the escapade.

so until then...................

Gypsy Journal Rally

We are currently at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Celina Ohio.

We spent 7 days at Phoenix Commercial Paint Inc getting their screw ups repaired. Last year they repaired the boo-boo I caused on the front end of the MH, and after 200 mile their repair needed repaired. Some of it needed re-done before we left but we wanted out of there so we had decided to live with it, until the part they repaired on the front cap came apart, then we knew we would have to return.

A lot has changed at Phoenix Paints, the owners split up, I guess he took off and went to FL leaving her the business and kids. With the economy the way it is she can't keep good help, she has one Mexican that comes in to work for her, but he has a regular day job so it is hit or miss if he shows up. She has several others that come in to work but as she says they just want a paycheck and have no pride in their work.

 She also has NO PRIDE in her work, our hood on the MH had a few spots in it that didn't get sanded well enough last year and at certain angles you could see the old graphics. I didn't like that, but wish I had never said anything about it. She sanded that part down and re-painted the hood, the problem is, we picked up a few rock chips over the past year and she didn't want to fix them, so she "tried" to tape over the graphics that are on the hood now and re-paint only the one color.

 Now you don't see any of the old graphics from any angle, but you do see how bad they did when the tried to cover the graphics to re-paint the hood. Now it isn't at certain angles you see the mistakes, it is any time you look in the direction of the hood that you see the screw ups. Pato, ( the Mexican ) did a good job of repairing the busted fiberglass, and he was upset that the owner told him to leave the hood looking as bad as it does, so she is the one that has no pride in her work.

I confronted her about it, and all she would say was it would have cost extra to have the rock chips repaired. I told her we would be taking it to the Gypsy Journal Rally, and then to Escapade, and it would be her name on it. She just said her name was already mud...... She also said she would be going out of business and closing the doors, and I told her she needed to!

Enough of the ranting, we will be looking to get the front end repainted somewhere down the road.

We arrived here at the Mercer County Fairgrounds Saturday morning, avoiding most of the rain. We did get just enough rain to get the rig covered with that fine misty dirt from the spray of water from the road and tires.

 Nick Russell met us as we pulled into the fairgrounds and showed us where to park the rig. It had been almost two years since we had seen Nick and Miss Terry. Later we were able to go to the local Pizza Hut for Pizza with Nick, Terry, Greg and Jan. We know they all are super busy before and during the rally so we felt really grateful that we were able to spend an evening with them.

 There is 100 + or - rigs here for what will be their last rally for a while. They have decided to quit having rallies because they are too much work and too little pay, and too many headaches dealing with the fairgrounds. They decided to just take some time off and left it open to start having rallies again in the future.

So since this will be their last rally we feel blessed that we are here, and we will try to make it as fun as we can........................

Meeting up with Old Friends and meeting new friends

With our new wheels and tires on the Kountry Star we headed to Charollet Mi to have the rig serviced. It is an 06 and hasn't had the 5 year services done to it so I figured the makers was the best chioce to do the work.

 

 

While the guys at Spartan were servicing the rig we did some sight seeing. One of the interesting things we saw was this tree that had been carved into a motorcycle.

 

Spartan was able to complete the service in one day so that freed us up for a few days before we needed to be at Phoenix Commercial Paints to get some touch up work done on the rig. We knew John and Bridget were close by so we called the CG where they were to see if we could get in, and the owner of PJ's CG said yes and he would hold us a 50 amp site.

 

Wednesday am we left Spartan and headed the 35 miles to PJ's Campground. John was walking Fred, (their beagle) when we pulled in. The 50 amp site that the owner had reserved for us turned out to be too close to a tree for me so we selected a 30 amp site to park on for a few days. After we plugged the rig to the park electric we visited with John and Bridget a couple hours before we finished  setting up.

 

Later we met Mike and Leslie, and Bridget and Leslie served us some BBQ with all the fixins. After everyone had their fill of food it was time for some golf. Not the kind of golf you need clubs for, this is a card game named 9 hole golf. We had learned to play this down in Fl a couple years ago, and is a fun game with 6 or more people. We didn't get finished before it got dark and cold outside so we called it a night. After all I had driven that long hard 35 miles.

 

 

The following evening it was determined we would have Mexican night. All the gals prepared all the fixins for tacos and we feasted. Soft shelled tacos and hard shelled tacos, I coppied something from Taco Bell and made mine a hard shelled taco with a soft shell with a layer of re-fried beans covering the outside. John tried one and re-named it " A Joe Taco".

 

 

Everyone knows you can't have a real Mexican night without margaritas, so we broke out the MARGARATOR.

It was a fun filled night where we drank margaritas and played golf.

 

The next morning we had to leave our friends and meander across Michigan. We made it to Phoenix Commercial Paints, and Michael said they would start working on the rig Saturday morning. She said it was OK for us to spend the night in her parking lot so we would be ready for them to start at 7 am.

 

 Saturday when Michael showed up we were waiting. Soon I pulled the rig into her shop and Marcia and I went to find some breakfast. About 9 am I got a call from Michael saying we could pick up the rig because they weren't going to do much to it today. As it turned out she had tried to buff out one of the bad spots and found that it would need to be sanded and re-painted.

 

So we took the rig and went to Elkhart Campground where we got to visit with Nick and Terry a few minuets before they left. They are headed to Celina Ohio to prepare things for the Eastern Gypsy Journal Rally. We always have fun when we attend one of Nick and Terry's rallys so if Phoenix Paints can finish our rig we will be headed that way. Monday we will be camped at Phoenix Paints until they finish our rig, or I blow a gasket......