Living Our Dream

Goshen, IN

After leaving Caesar Creek State Park, our next destination was the Escapees 50th Escapade in Goshen, IN. For those who aren't familiar with the Escapees RV Club, they are a group of mostly full-time RVers headquartered in Livingston, TX. The club provides a variety of invaluable services for RVers including mail forwarding and support of RVer's rights. They own several campgrounds across the country that provide low-cost camping, and they sponsor a number of co-ops where members can have an RV lot if they decide they want to stay put for all or part of the year.

The Escapees call their rallies Escapades. This is the third Escapade we have attended since we first became Escapees members when we started full-timing in 2006. The Escapades have plenty of opportunities for fellowship and fun, they have informative seminars that cover technical and lifestyle topics, and there is a market where vendors sell the latest "must-have" RV gadgets and accessories.

We left Caesar Creek on Wednesday and drove about 4 hours northwest to Auburn, IN, where we stayed at Fireside Resort. Fireside has 55 sites that consist of mostly full-hookup RV sites plus a few tent sites. The roads and the RV pads are gravel, and there is grass between the fairly-widely spaced sites. We had a 30-amp site (only 10 of the RV sites have 50 amps), but it was cool enough we didn't need to run the air conditioner. There is free Wi-Fi. The photo below shows our site at Fireside Resort.

 

The next photo shows a view down the road toward our site.

Fireside Resort is conveniently located right at an exit off I-69, but that means there is a lot of traffic noise day and night. Our site was only a couple hundred yards from the roadway, which can be seen in the above photo just beyond the end of the campground road.

From Auburn, it was a drive of only an hour and a half to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen where the Escapade was being held. The Elkhart County Fairgrounds has several hundred full hookup campsites, and they can accommodate hundreds of additional rigs with hookups of water and electric only by running temporary, above-ground lines through their expansive parking areas. We registered for the Escapade early enough to get one of the full hookup sites. They have free Wi-Fi, but you may not be able to get it if you're in some of the outlying areas.

As with most rallies at fairgrounds, parking is tight, and the sites are mostly on grass. Electrical boxes and faucets are shared; but since you have something in common with your neighbors and there is a lot of camaraderie, the closeness doesn't seem objectionable. The photo below shows our site at the Escapade.

 

And the next photo shows the view of only a fraction of the 800 rigs at the Escapade.

 

Camping at the fairgrounds is open to the public when there isn't a rally or special event going on. There is a section toward the front of the fairgrounds that has full-hookup sites, gravel pads with a little wider spacing between the sites, and utility pedestals that are not shared.

Camping at the fairgrounds would have been nice and quiet, even with a large rally going on, if it wasn't for the train tracks which run along the entire length at the back. Fortunately, the closest crossing is pretty far down the tracks, so you can only hear the train horns when things really quiet down at night. But our site was only a couple of hundred yards from the tracks, and the locomotives really roar and the cars really rumble as they pass by, which they do with great frequency.

We opted to arrive at the Escapade two days early so we could get settled before the event started. Our friends Marylin and Alan were also attending the Escapade, and we were planning to hook up with them. We tried to arrive about the same time hoping to be parked close to each other; but we got a little bit of a late start, and we got delayed further by road construction. However, as we followed the directions of the Escapade parking crew and drove toward our site, we saw Marylin waving from in front of their rig. We ended up just down the road from their site.

After we got set up, we meandered down to their motor home and chatted for a while. We ended up sharing dinner, and we played Wii afterward. We did a little sightseeing in the area with Marylin and Alan and on our own. We'll cover those excursions in upcoming posts.

A total of about 800 rigs pulled in over the period of three days. There was an orientation meeting on Sunday followed by opening ceremonies. In the next photo, the attendees are being welcomed by Cathie Carr, who with her husband Bud, were directors of the Escapade. Cathie, who is the daughter of the founders, Kay and Joe Peterson, is also the president of the Escapees RV Club.

 

One of the things we look forward to at RV shows and rallies is the vendor area. The Escapade had several dozen vendors of RV-related merchandise set up in an indoor-outdoor market area.

 During the course of the Escapade, Paul made several rounds of the vendor area, and we made a couple of rounds together. We ended up with several new gadgets that we are hoping will make our lives easier. We bought a new squeegee and a new collapsible, oblong bucket that is wide enough to fit the squeegee. We also got new step covers that not only look good, but they will also get our shoes cleaner on our way into the rig. The covers are held on with Velcro, and can be easily be removed to hose them off.

One of the main reasons we like to go to Escapades is to attend seminars. There were a variety of topics covering RV repair and maintenance, crafts and hobbies, various travel destinations, and computers. The photo below shows the seminar we attended on cleaning your RV. This is where we learned about the collapsible bucket.

At one of the afternoon sessions, Joe and Kay Peterson told funny stories about some of the adventures they had when they were traveling. The Petersons started full-timing back in 1970, they formed the Escapees RV Club in 1978, and the club held the first Escapade in 1979. After their story-telling session, the Petersons greeted members and posed for photos.

We ran into Marylin and Alan numerous times at various seminars, as well as at the end of each day at "happy hour," which consisted of announcements, a silly skit of some sort and the awarding of daily door prizes.

Putting on an event of this magnitude is no easy task, but the Escapees have it down to a science. We thought everything ran very smoothly. To give you an idea of how much is work is involved in a large rally, the Escapees have their own semi to haul in equipment and supplies from Livingston.

It was a busy week at the Escapade, but we still found time for some sightseeing and a couple of meals out before and during the rally. Look for our next couple of posts, and we'll tell you all about it.

 

 

San Antonio, TX, Part I: Lulu's Bakery and SAS Shoes

From Dickinson, TX, we drove to San Antonio, TX, where we had reservations at Admirality RV Resort. We made reservations because Admiralty RV is located near the entrance to Sea World, and we were arriving on a Saturday. Although the campground emptied out on Monday, it was pretty filled when we got there, so it was a good thing we made reservations.

Admiralty RV has full hookups with 30/50 amp electric plus cable, free Wi-Fi and an Escapees or Good Sam discount. The roads, pads and patios are paved, but the sites are fairly narrow.  Most of the sites are pull-throughs with back-ins around the perimeter. The pull-throughs have grass between the sites in the front and gravel in back for extra parking. In spite of being near a limited-access highway and across from the entrance to Sea World, the campground is fairly quiet. The photo below shows our site at Admiralty RV.

The view looking down the road is shown in the next photo.

Margery has a former co-worker who moved to San Antonio recently, so we arranged to meet TR and his wife, Carol, at Lulu's Bakery in San Antonio later the afternoon we arrived.

Lulu's was featured on the Travel Channel program Man v. Food. Lulu's claim to fame is a 3 pound cinnamon roll. When the ladies in the campground office found out we were going to Lulu's, they asked us to bring back a cinnamon roll for them. Look at the size of that thing!

In addition to the cinnamon rolls, Lulu's also has a regular sit-down diner with a menu of burgers, fried chicken and their other claim to fame - chicken fried steak. TR was really disciplined and had a grilled chicken salad, Carol had a burger, and we both had chicken fried steaks.

The steaks are available in three sizes, the smallest of which is 12 ounces, and with traditional white gravy, dark gravy, or queso (cheese) sauce. The chicken fried steaks were good, but our cholesterol levels can't stand that kind of eating very often.

We had a good time chatting with TR and Carol and catching up with old times. The cinamon rolls are supposed to be excellent, but we never did get to try one because we couln't justify buying something that big for just the two of us. Too bad they don't make them in smaller sizes. Afterward, we headed back to the motor home for some TV and relaxation for the evening.

We goofed off on Sunday and watched the NASCAR race from Talledega. On Monday, we drove toward San Antonio for some sightseeing.

We got an early start because we wanted to stop at SAS Shoes. Margery started wearing SAS Shoes for comfort back before her knee surgery, and still wears them almost exclusively even now. She wanted to check out a new style in their on-site store, so we thought we might as well include the tour while we were there even though we did the tour when we were in San Antonio back in 2007.

The shoe store has a rustic style to it with several old cars on display outside.

When we went in to sign up for the tour, we found out there were no tours because of the customer appreciation sale that was going on in the store. The good news was the sale provided $15 off the price of any pair of shoes in the store.

SAS was started in 1976 in San Antonio (that's where the name comes from - San Antonio Shoes) by two men who were concerned at how shoe manufacturing was moving overseas. The partners decided to manufacture high quality, comfortable, hand-made shoes right here in the United States.

The shoe store at the factory has every style SAS makes in every size.

While Margery tried on shoes, Paul looked around the at some of the old cars on display inside the store. There was a restored Ford...

...and Paul really liked the old Buick convertible.

Then it was Paul's turn. SAS only has a few styles for men, but they recently started making running and walking shoes. Paul always has trouble finding shoes that fit properly and don't hurt his feet, but as soon as he put on their new walking shoe he was sold. His old pair was getting pretty bad, so he ended up with a new pair of shoes, too. We came for a free factory tour and went home with three pairs of new shoes. Cha-ching...but we did save $45 with the sale!

From SAS, we headed off to downtown San Antonio for some sightseeing. We'll tell you what we did in our next post.

On the Road Again

First of all, we would like to thank all our friends and readers who expressed their condolences about the loss of our sweet dog, Molly. She was such a good traveler, and we'll miss her.

After delaying our departure from Bushnell, we finally hit the road on Thursday. We made an overnight stop at Pine Lake RV, a Passport America campground near Fountain, FL, in the panhandle. In other years after leaving Bushnell, we stayed at Chattahoochee RV located on the Apalachicola River. Chattahoochee is closer to half-way to our destination in Summerdale, AL; but last year, the river was flooded and some of the sites at the campground had recently been underwater. With more rain this year, we thought we would just drive a little farther and try a new campground that wasn't located near a river. The next photo shows our site at Pine Lake RV.

Pine Lake RV is located about 16 miles from the interstate, but there is still some highway noise from four-lane U. S. Highway 231 that passes by the campground on the way to Panama City. There is a railroad track a few hundred feet on the other side of the highway. Fortunately, there were very few trains because the rumble of the few that did pass was very loud. Fortunately, there is no crossing near the campground so there were only a few, distant toots of the train horns.

The roads through the campground are paved, but the pavement is quite narrow. The sites are a combination of grass and sand, and most are extra-long pull-throughs. The site width isn't too bad for a private campground. Pine Lake has full hook-ups with free Wi-Fi. Some sites have 30 amp electric and some have 50 amp. As you can see from the above photo, there are a few trees, but the office was very accommodating in allowing us to move to another site to get satellite reception. In the first site they gave us we could get internet, but not TV. They are on two different satellites, and a tree branch was blocking the TV signal.

In the morning we hit the road at 8:30, which is a little earlier than usual. We pulled into Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL, shortly after noon. It was a good thing we got an early start because we got the last available site. A lot of Escepees spend the winter in Summerdale; and although some had moved on, others (like us) were stopping on our way north from Florida.

Rainbow Plantation is one of our favorite Escapees RV parks. The roads are paved, and the sites are a combination of grass and sand. There are full hook-ups and free Wi-Fi. Fifty-amp electric is available for an extra charge. Sites are nice and wide, and the campground is quiet.

One of the things we like about the Summerdale area is there are lots of things to do and see. Even though our visit to Summerdale was shortened because we extended our stay in Bushnell, we still wanted to see the azaleas blooming at Bellingrath Gardens over in Mobile. Bellingrath is famous for the over 250,000 azaleas that normally bloom around the middle two weeks of March. Unfortunately, when we checked the Bellingrath web site, we found out the unusually cold weather this winter had delayed the blooming by about two weeks. This delay was confirmed by observing the azaleas in people's yards in the area. Only about a third of the blossoms on most of the plants open, and it looked like the azaleas still had at least a week to 10 days to go before they even neared their peak. Therefore, we decided to save seeing azaleas for another time.

One of the other things we like about the Summerdale area is the close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico which means there is a lot of delicious seafood available. Last fall when we were in the area we discovered Shrimp Basket restaurants. Shrimp Basket is a chain of about a dozen restaurants with one in nearby Foley. Paul was hungry for fried shrimp, and the Shrimp Basket has all-you-can-eat shrimp baskets on Wednesdays and Sundays, so we headed down to Foley on Sunday.

 

After spending the weekend at Rainbow Plantation, we hit the road again on Monday. We were heading to Branson, MO, for the wedding of Heather, who is our daughter Lora's best friend and former roommate. We were friends with Heather's parents from our former church back in Pittsburgh, and we were pleased to have been invited to participate in the festivities.

With extending our stay back in Bushnell, our recent travels were a bit less leisurely than normal. We usually plan to travel no more than four hours a day, but this time, we would be traveling 5+ hours a day for a couple of days in a row. Our next overnight stop was at Movietown RV Park in Canton, MS, a little north of Jackson.

Movietown RV is a nice RV park. It has gravel roads and pads with full hookups and 50/30 amp electric. Sites are mostly pull-throughs and are fairly wide with grass between. Even though the campground is conveniently located near the interstate, there is surprisingly little traffic noise - and there are NO trains!

Apparently, the name of the RV park comes from the fact that quite a few movies have been filmed in the Canton area. Canton even has a movie office and a couple of movie museums. Maybe we'll go back some day for a longer visit, especially now that we know a good place to stay.

From Canton, we drove north to Little Rock, AR, in another 5+ hour travel day. We stayed at Maumelle Park north of the city last fall when we met up with our friends Marilyn and Alan. Since that time, Alan took a voluntary layoff when he found out the company he worked for was planning a cut-back, they sold their house, and they are now full-timers.

Maumelle Park is a Corps of Engineers campground located along the Arkansas River. The campground has paved roads and pads and gravel patios. There are water and electric hookups (30 amp) only. As with most COE campgrounds, sites are very generously spaced. The photo below shows our site at Maumelle Park.

We didn't make reservations because we were uncertain about our arrival date and because we thought the campground would be empty in the middle of the week in March. Boy, were we surprised when we arrived and found the campground was almost full! It looked like a lot of families were spending the week at the campground, so we're guessing we hit spring break for the Arkansas schools. There were also some college kids on spring break, and we're pleased to report the group tenting on the site next to us were very well behaved. The next photo is a view down the road from our site and gives you an idea of how crowded it was.

We normally look for a campground with pull-through sites when we make a one-night stop, but we liked Maumelle so much, it was worth unhooking the toad. Not only that, but Marilyn and Alan took us to Larry's Pizza when we were there last fall. Larry's is a chain of about a dozen restaurants around the Little Rock area, and, fortunately, there is one right down the road from Maumelle Park. They have a lunch buffet every day, but they only have the dinner buffet on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Luckily for us, we were there on Tuesday, so we had another good reason to unhook the car. The next photo shows Margery loading up at Larry's. Yum!

Here Paul is toasting Alan and Marilyn for introducing us to Larry's.

The next morning, we headed out for an unprecedented third straight travel day. The distance was a little shorter, and we were only on the road for about 3 1/2 hours instead of the 5+ hours we had been doing. We pulled into Escapees Turkey Creek Campground near Branson, MO, a little after noon.

In contrast to Maumelle Park, the campground in Branson was nearly empty. Late spring, summer and fall are the most popular times for Turkey Creek Campground, and we were a little early. But that was OK because some of the sites are also a little small, so we had plenty of elbow room with the campground almost empty.

Turkey Creek has gravel roads and pads, full hook-ups (there is an extra charge for 50 amp electric), free Wi-Fi and cable. Although the temperature was in the 60s when we arrived, we opted to pay extra for a 50 amp site because the weather forecast was calling for rain and falling temperatures so we thought 50 amp would make it easier to do laundry and use the electric heater at the same time. The photo below shows our site at Turkey creek.

We'll be spending a week in Branson, so we'll have time to relax a little between the wedding festivities. We're also looking forward to seeing Lora and J. Michael. We might even come up with some other activities or possibly a good restaurant, so stay tuned.

 

Zolfo Springs, FL

Last year we stopped at the Escapees SKP Resort co-op in Zolfo Springs, FL, on our way to our winter stop in Bushnell. We liked the SKP Resort so well we did the same thing again this year. In fact, we liked the Resort so well, we put our name on the waiting list for a co-op site. That's not to say we are planning to quit full-timing any time soon because the waiting list is so long, it will take an estimated 8 to 10 years to get a site. Even then, if and when we do get a site, we are likely to only use it 5 or 6 months out of the year and travel the rest of the time.

If we change our minds about staying on the waiting list at the SKP Resort, we will get our deposit back, and the only thing we will loose is a $25 administration fee and the interest on our deposit, which is negligible in today's economy. We don't know what the future holds, but putting our name on the waiting list seemed like a good way to open up what may prove to be a good option.

The Escapees RV Club has campgrounds, co-ops, and co-ops with campgrounds at various locations across the country. The SKP Resort is a co-op only, but members can put their sites into the rental pool during times when they are not using their sites.

The Resort is nicely laid out with widely-spaced sites and attractive landscaping, and most of the sites have paved pads and patios. There are full hookups and free Wi-Fi. The photo below shows this year's site at the Resort in Zolfo Springs.

And the next photo shows a view looking on down the street from our site.

 

We arrived in Zolfo Springs a few days before Thanksgiving. When we visited last year, we found the co-op members to be very friendly and welcoming, so we though it would be an excellent place to spend the holiday. We signed up for Thanksgiving dinner when we registered for our site. After we got settled, Margery stopped to see the lady who was organizing food for our table to see what we could bring.

The food at the Thanksgiving dinner was delish, and, as usual, there was plenty. We met a lot of new people and had a good time visiting. The next photo shows Margery before dinner talking with some of the new people we met.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, our daughter Lora was having a bridal shower back in Pittsburgh for her best friend and former roommate Heather. Heather moved to the Springfield, MO, area a couple of years ago (we visited with her parents when we were in Branson earlier this year). Since Heather (left) was going to be back in the Pittsburgh area over Thanksgiving, they thought it would be a good time for the shower.

Margery has been helping Lora plan the shower by designing invitations, helping figure out logistics, etc., so she also wanted to be part of the shower. A few months ago, she found a reasonably-priced fare on Air-Tran so she made reservations to fly from Tampa to Pittsburgh on the Friday after Thanksgiving in time for the shower on Saturday.

The airport in Tampa was about an hour and a half from Zolfo Springs, but traffic was light because most people had the day off on Friday. We got there in plenty of time for a leisurely check in.

Lora picked Margery up at the airport in Pittsburgh, and they had a good time visiting. Lora is very organized, and she had everything under control for the shower on Saturday.

The refreshments for the shower were an afternoon tea. The ladies had a good time at the shower with plenty of delicious food and lots of laughs and good conversation while helping to stock Heather's kitchen with gifts from Pampered Chef. Here's Heather appreciating the tablescape.

Heather's other former roommate, Amanda, flew up from Florida, too, for the shower. Here is the bride-to-be with two of her three attendants.

Here are the best friends with their moms.

   

Margery's return flight to Tampa was at 7:00 AM on Monday. Poor Lora had to get up extra early to get Margery to the airport. The Monday after Thanksgiving is traditionally a busy travel day, and this year was no exception. Security at the Pittsburgh airport was backed up, and Margery had to hurry a little to make the flight because it actually departed a few minutes early.

Meanwhile, Paul had a little more traffic going around Tampa on Monday to pick Margery up at the airport because more people had returned to work, but he got to the airport in time for the early arrival of Margery's flight.

We were planning a little sightseeing while in Zolfo Springs, but the weather didn't cooperate. After Margery's return from Pittsburgh, we had several cool, cloudy days and several days of rain. We kept putting off our sightseeing waiting for sunnier weather, but it never came so we'll have an excuse to come back next year. Our next destination is our winter stop at Blueberry Hill RV Resort in Bushnell, FL.

 

Mobile, AL Part I: USS Alabama

We left the Corinth Recreation Area, drove east a few miles, then headed south on I-65. After about a three-hour drive, we pulled off south of Montgomery in Hope Hull, AL, for a one-night stop at Montgomery South RV Park. Montgomery South is a fairly new campground with full hookups, 50-amp electric, and cable TV. The roads and pads are gravel, there is sparse grass between most of the sites, and the site width isn't bad for a private campground. All the sites are pull-throughs, so we didn't have to unhook the toad.

The campground is conveniently located right off the interstate, but that means there is a fair amount of traffic noise. There is also a railroad track right on the other side of the interstate, so we could hear train whistles as well. Fortunately, it was warm when we were there, so we just ran the air conditioner all night which helped cover up the noise outside.

The next morning, we continued south to Summerdale, AL, to Rainbow Plantation RV Park where we stayed after we left Florida this past spring. Rainbow Plantation is owned by the Escapees RV Club and has a campground, co-op sites, and deeded lots. The campground has full hookups, and about half the sites have 30-amp electric and half have 50-amp. The roads are paved, and the sites are mostly grass with a few bare, sandy spots under the live oak trees and where the RVs park. The sites are fairly widely spaced, and the campground is nice and quiet.

Although the campground is in a quiet area, Summerdale is near Mobile, AL, and the campground is convenient to shopping, restaurants (the area is known for seafood), and lots of things to do and see. It was sunny the day we arrived; but for most of the week afterward, it was hot and humid with clouds and showers almost every day. We didn't do any sightseeing, but we did run some errands, and we ate out a couple of times.

One of the restaurants we tried was the Shrimp Basket. The Shrimp Basket is a local chain of a half dozen or so restaurants with one in nearby Foley, AL.

The Foley location has all-you-can-eat fried shrimp on Sundays and Wednesdays. We went on Wednesday, and we both had the shrimp. The meal, which was excellent (probably the best fried shrimp we've ever had), and included hush puppies, slaw, and a choice of fries, potato salad, or boiled new potatoes. Everything was yummy, and the price was only $9.99. We got there early, so it wasn't very crowded when we took the picture below of Margery about to dig in; but it was filling up fast by the time we left.

 

The hot, humid weather eventually gave way (after a night of thunderstorms) to cooler, clear air. The temperatures dropped from highs in the mid 80s to the mid 60s with lows in the low 40s. Brrrrr! But the lack of the threat of rain was a little more conducive to sightseeing, so we headed across Mobile Bay to Battleship Memorial Park to see the USS Alabama. The USS Alabama is a battleship that served in WWII in both the Pacific and the Atlantic theaters.

The Alabama was built in Norfolk, VA, and was commissioned in 1942. She was decommissioned in 1947 and assigned to reserve duty. In 1962, the Alabama was retired, after which she was taken to Mobile Bay and opened as a museum ship in 1965.

The USS Alabama is 680 feet long, a little over 108 feet wide, and has a draft of about 34 feet. Her fully loaded weight is 42,500 tons (that's 85 million pounds).

 

As we boarded, we saw a few of the twenty 5-inch guns. These guns could fire a 5-inch diameter projectile distances of up to 10 miles.

We were able climb up into the conning tower (the tall structure in the center of the ship) to get a good view of the BIG guns. There are nine 16-inch guns - three facing aft, and six facing forward. These guns are capable of firing a 16-inch diameter projectile weighing 2,700 pounds distances of up to 21 miles!

The lower part of the gun turrets that lie below decks are called barbettes. The Alabama is one of the only ships where visitors can enter the barbettes of the 16-inch gun turrets to see how the shells were loaded and fired. In the next photo, Paul is standing beside a number of disarmed 16-inch shells. You can see part of the circular track where the barbette, which is to the left, rotates.

The USS Alabama carried a crew of 2,500 during war time. We saw how closely together the men lived and worked. The officers had things a little better than the crew sleeping only two or three to a room, but the rooms were still very small. The next photo shows a typical office. Four sailors would have worked in this small space. There is also a bunk (called a rack) in the background, so it looks like at least one of the men would have also slept in this room.

The Alabama would have been out to sea for months at a time, so there were facilities on board to tend to the crew's needs. We saw the mess halls, galleys, sick bay, doctor's offices, and dentist offices. They also had a soda fountain where the crew could enjoy special treats like ice cream, a store where the sailors could buy necessities like razor blades, and a barber shop.

The ship is powered by two oil-fired boilers driving two steam turbines that produced a total of 130,000 hp. The turbines, one of which is shown in the next photo, drive the ship's four propellers to move the ship at speeds of up to 28 knots (32 mph). We could only imagine the noise the sailors endured while serving on these battleships...and we won't go into the smell of 2500 bodies in close quarters, but a locker room comes to mind. :-)

 

Battleship Memorial Park also has a number of other military exhibits including the submarine the USS Drum. The Drum was commissioned in 1941 and saw action in the Pacific during WWII. She was donated to Battleship Memorial Park and opened as a museum ship in 1969. The USS Drum is almost 312 feet long.

Inside the hull of the Drum, the space was even tighter than in the Alabama. The next photo shows the forward torpedo room.

 

There are also a number of planes on display at the park. Some of the larger ones are outside; and some, like the F-16 in the photo below, are housed in a 36,000 square foot indoor pavilion.

 

In addition to ships and planes, the park also has a collection of other military equipment such as tanks, armored vehicles, and guns. The large gun in the foreground is a 155mm artillery piece, and that's an M60 tank right behind it toward the left. Many U. S. allies around the world are still using newer versions of the M60 tank, which was first introduced in late 1960.

 

There is a lot to see at Battleship Memorial Park. We spent several hours there, and we could have easily stayed longer to view the displays in more detail. But, although the sun was out the day we were there, it was quite cool and breezy...no, it was windy...there by beside Mobile Bay, and we were getting tired from all the stairs we climbed. We were also getting hungry, so we headed back to the motor home to put our feet up and to have a snack.

Although we are definitely in relaxation mode, there is still a little sightseeing we want to do in the Mobile area, so look for our next post.

Branson, MO Part I: Branson Landing

After leaving the Omaha area, we drove south on I-29 through Kansas City, MO. Then we headed east a short distance on I-70 before turning south again on U. S. Route 65. It was a long drive of over 5 hours to Sedalia, MO, where we stopped for one night at Countryside Senior and Adult RV Park.

Countryside RV has mostly back-ins, but they have about half a dozen pull-throughs they reserve for those staying only one night. The campground is all gravel and they have full hookups with 30/50-amp electric plus cable. There is a little traffic noise from U. S. Route 65 that passes the campground; but unlike an interstate, traffic dwindles to almost nothing at night. The sites are a little close, but the campground wasn't anywhere near full. It was a great place for a one or two-night stop. The photo below shows our site at Countryside Senior RV.

 

From Sedalia, we had about a three-hour drive to Hollister, MO, which is just south of Branson. Hollister is the location of Escapees Turkey Creek RV Village where we planned to spend a couple of weeks to chill out and to let our budget recover a bit. Turkey Creek, like other Escapees campgrounds, has low daily and weekly rates for Escapees members. We spent the entire spring and summer in tourist areas where most of the campgrounds were pretty expensive. 

Turkey Creek has gravel roads and pads, paved patios, and grass between the sites. There are full hookups with 50-amp electric available at some sites, and they also have free Wi-Fi and cable. Some of the sites and roads are a little tight, especially in the area of the park where our site was located. The photo below shows our site at Turkey Creek.

There is a little daytime traffic noise from Business Route 65 that passes the campground. We could also hear occasional trains rumbling by on the other side of Turkey Creek, but we seldom heard their horns even though there is a crossing nearby in Hollister.

We arrived in Branson a few days before Labor Day weekend. We were just in time to catch up with some friends from back in Pittsburgh who retired to Branson two years ago. We got to visit with them before they took off on a nine-day motorcycle trip to Gatlinburg, TN.

We stayed at Turkey Creek and visited Branson our first year of full-timing. Branson, of course, is known for its family-oriented entertainment and shows. We found out the period after Labor Day is a slow time for Branson. Some of the shows close down or go on a reduced schedule for a while until some of the bus tours start later in October. That was fine with us because traffic was also greatly reduced after the Labor Day weekend.

Speaking of traffic...when we were the area three years ago, any time we wanted to travel in or around Branson, we had to drive right through town which is generally bumper to bumper most any time of the day. There was also road construction that made reaching SR 65 to by-pass downtown an even bigger nightmare. However, with that construction completed, it has become very easy to reach northern Branson (the new Super Walmart to be more specific) by zipping up the limited access, 4-lane road...and by golly there's a Kohl's, Target, Home Depot, and Michael's up there, too!

Branson is named for Ruben Branson, who opened a general store and post office in the area in 1892. The city was officially incorporated in 1912 when the Powersite Dam across the White River was completed downstream of Branson in nearby Forsythe, MO. The dam formed Lake Taneycomo, which is named for the county in which it is located - Taney County, MO. Lake Taneycomo is long and narrow and is really more like a widened section of the river than a lake.

After the holiday weekend, we stopped at Branson Landing, which is located on the waterfront along Lake Taneycomo. Branson Landing was opened in 2006 and is a retail shopping area that is anchored by Bass Pro Shop on one end and Belk's at the other end with numerous smaller shops in between. There is something for everyone.

The landing is also the departure point for cruises of Lake Taneycomo on either the 100-foot luxury yacht the Landing Princess...

 

...or the paddleboat replica the Lake Queen.

 

The other big attraction at Branson Landing is the $7.5 million fountain that features hourly shows of water, fire, and lights (at night) that dance and pulse in time to music.

 

The next photo is another view from the upper terrace overlooking the fountain.

The terraces are planted with colorful annuals and provide an attractive view from the restaurants, condos, and hotel surrounding the central square of Branson Landing.

As we said, Branson is known for its family-oriented shows. In 1959, the Baldknobbers Jamboree opened their show in Branson. In the same year, the theme park Silver Dollar City opened, followed by the outdoor drama "Shepherd of the Hills." At that time, most people went to Branson to fish, and the shows gave them something to do in the evenings. By the 1960s, there were several more shows, and a number of them began to relocate along Highway 76, which came to be known as "The Strip." The growth in the number of shows in Branson that transformed it into a major tourist attraction took place in the 1980s. Incidentally, the Baldknobbers are still performing, the "Shepherd of the Hills" drama is still being presented, and Silver Dollar City theme park is bigger than ever with over 1 million visitors a year.

Branson has some very good shows, so we decided we wanted to see at least one while we were there. We'll tell you about it in our next post.

Three Years and Counting

July 10, 2009 marks the 3^rd anniversary of our full-time RVing lifestyle. We had initially made a two-year commitment to full-timing, and so it is natural that we would re-evaluate our lifestyle on succeeding anniversaries.

Being retired and having more discretionary time doesn’t make life go any slower. In fact, for us it seems to be going faster. We heard recently that life is like a roll of toilet paper…the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!

Probably most notable for us is how comfortable we have become with our nomadic life. Getting mail, scheduling maintenance on the vehicles, getting prescriptions refilled, paying bills, getting hair cuts, finding a chiropractor or veterinarian…all of these things we take in our stride. Sure, we have unexpected things happen, but we try to take those in stride, too. Our gratitude for this incredible opportunity continues to abound, and we continue to be amazed at the beauty and diversity of this country and its people.

 After 1½ years of traveling with new knees, Margery feels like she just started full-timing and isn’t ready yet to consider landing someplace.  There are still places we both want to re-visit, particularly in Texas, New Mexico, and southern Utah; and we haven’t yet made it to Michigan, Wisconsin, and New England.

Paul recently mentioned his desire to garden again and occasionally entertains thoughts of settling down at some point. That probably won’t be until at least the five-year mark, and then it’s likely it would only be for part of the year.

 “Settling down” for us would likely be having a place somewhere in the south for part of the year (late fall and winter) and traveling the rest of the time. And, of course, that still presents the problems of being an absentee resident of a permanent residence. However, with the tanking of our economy and its uncertainty in the future, we’re not sure that we would have enough resources to maintain both a permanent residence and the motor home.

Our other option would be to extend our stays in our RV in one location up to 5 or 6 months at a time and travel the rest of the year. This will probably be our transition avenue since it would provide the best of both worlds.

We stayed at the Escapees Resort Co-op in Wauchula, FL, for a week last December, and we liked it. You are permitted to do landscaping with approval, and that might satisfy Paul’s desire to garden again. The photo below shows our site last December at Wauchula.

With an eye on the future, we did put a deposit down to put ourselves on the waiting list for a lot in the Escapees Resort Co-op. This could be an ideal situation. The cost to buy into the co-op is fairly reasonable and so are annual dues; and what makes this option so appealing is that if and when we choose to leave the co-op, we will get our initial investment back in full. Since there is a waiting list, there is little risk of not being able to find someone who wants our spot when we're ready to give it up. The waiting list is quite long; and it could take 8 to 10 years to get to the top of the list, so we'll have plenty of time to decide if this option will work for us. The other good thing is if we change our mind before our name comes up, we get our deposit back in full.

We could also just extend our stay a little longer at Blueberry Hill in Bushnell, FL, where we have been spending three or four months the past two winters and where we will spend this coming winter. Paul wouldn't be able to garden, but there is no long-term commitment. We like the location because it is very convenient to a lot of things in central Florida. The next photo shows our site last winter in Bushnell.

Unfortunately, it’s hard on a motor home to remain stationary for extended periods of time. The engine and running gear should be exercised periodically. When we first started researching this lifestyle, we thought we would trade the motor home for a fifth wheel when we started slowing down. A fifth wheel would be a better semi-stationary unit, but the economy is not good for selling or trading RVs.

So you can see we’ve been evaluating what our options might be. However, for the foreseeable future, we will be continuing and enjoying our full-timing lifestyle. As we said, there are still some locations where we want to return, and there are some places we haven't even been yet. We also have our favorite places where we would like to spend extended periods of time, i.e. the Mobile area in Alabama and the Dayton area and Amish country in Ohio to name just a few.

After slowing down our second year, we have consciously set a fairly ambitious travel schedule for ourselves this summer. That is partly due to Margery's feeling we are starting over with her new knees, but it is mostly due to the fact we are traveling such a long distance all the way to the California coast and to the Pacific Northwest; and we want to see as much on this trip as possible.

There were record high fuel prices in 2008. We withstood that pretty well, but we feel the prices are more reasonable now only because of the poor economy and are destined to rise again. In fact, fuel prices have already increased considerably from their lows of several months ago.

Because of more reasonable short-term fuel prices and uncertainty about the future of the economy, we decided since we were going all the way to the west coast, we better see as much as we can now because we don't know when or if we will ever get that far west again.

We are definitely in “vacation mode,”  having already traveled over 4,000 miles since we left Florida in the middle of April. We recently arrived in Washington State, and we still have to tour Washington and to travel back east by fall. We’re having a wonderful time, but have to admit we’re looking forward to slowing down on our return to the east.

Our average nightly camping costs are increasing, partly because we are staying in the same place for shorter periods, but mostly because we are staying in expensive tourist areas. California was quite expensive. It was there we stayed at a campground that charged $70 a night, which the highest we have ever spent. We are also staying at more full-hookup campgrounds and fewer state parks and Corps of Engineers campgrounds. Because we are out sightseeing almost every day, we find it much more convenient to have full hookups. For one thing, that enables us to do laundry at the motor home in the evening instead of having to find and then sit around a laundromat.

It seems that most full-time or extended-time RVers usually have a “theme” to their time on the road, i.e. following the Lewis & Clark Trail, visiting all the state capitols, or visiting Civil War battlefields.  We have developed our own set of interests which include natural wonders such as those found in our national parks. Even though neither one of us could stand history back in high school, we now both find it fascinating. History really comes to life if you can experience the historic places first hand. We also like gardens, waterfalls, and factory tours. We recently began visiting a number of restaurants featured on the Food Network program Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. That's fun, but hard on the waistline.

So as we embark on our fourth year on the road, we find we are pleased with the decisions we have made that have brought us to this point. Downsizing continues to be a liberating lifestyle and a sound economic principle in these uncertain times. We look forward to revisiting some favorite areas and exploring new ones. 

Grand Canyon to Yosemite

We left the Grand Canyon and drove south to Williams, AZ, then turned west on I-40. We scheduled our usual four-hour drive, which took us to Desert View RV Resort in Needles, CA. Desert View is a very nice campground. They have regular and long back-in sites as well as regular and long pull-throughs. We only stayed one night so we got a long pull-through so we wouldn't have to unhook the toad. The photo below shows our site at Desert View RV.

The landscaping at Desert View is beautiful. The row of palm trees along the front of the campground has lights on them at night. The photo below is the flower of an exotic-looking shrub that was growing on several of the corner sites.

The entrance driveway is lined with large, white oleander and the sites have pink oleander between them for added privacy. The next photo is a close-up of one of the oleander flowers at our site. The delicate flowers and the waxy, green foliage look great.

 

Desert View is a winter snowbird campground, although winters aren't as warm as some of the more popular snowbird roosts. It is close to Lake Havasu and Parker, AZ, and Laughlin, NV, which are also snowbird locations.

There is plenty of gravel on the roads and the sites, and the gravel is fresh and clean. There are paved patios. Desert view has full hook-ups and Wi-fi. We were glad they also had 50 amp electric because it was 104 degrees when we arrived.

We left Needles the next morning and continued on I-40 to a campground called A Country RV Park in Bakersfield, CA. A Country RV has full hook-ups including cable and Wi-fi. The next photo shows our site.

We were again happy to have 50 amp electric even though it was only 100 degrees in Bakersfield. The site spacing isn't bad for a private campground. Most sites are pull-throughs, but there are some back-ins around the perimeter. The wide internal roads are paved. Some sites are also paved, but some are fine gravel. We had a paved site. Some sites, like ours, had gravel between, and some sites had grass.

Again, having a pull-through meant we didn't have to unhook because we left the next morning for the Escapees Park of the Sierras in Coursegold, CA, about 30 miles from the south entrance to Yosemite National Park. We normally don't travel two days in a row, but we wanted to get to Yosemite so we would have time to get most of our sightseeing in before the busy Memorial Day weekend.

We followed California Route 99 for almost 100 miles from Bakersfield to Fresno. For almost the entire distance, the center median was planted with pink, red, and white oleander. It helped make for a pleasant drive.

One reason oleander is planted along highways is that it is very drought tolerant. The other reason is deer will not eat it because it is highly toxic.

We arrived at Park of the Sierras, an Escapees co-op park, around lunch time. In the Escapees co-op parks, co-op members who are not using their site can put it into the rental pool for use by other Escapees members who are visiting the area. The photo below shows our site at Park of the Sierras.

We knew Park of the Sierras had a lot of trees and that getting satellite reception would be a challenge. They showed us the two available sites they thought might give us the best chance, and we picked the one that had the fewest trees.

The location here in California was a lot farther south and west than we are used to, and Paul mis-judged where the satellite would be. When we tried to get our dish to lock onto a signal, Paul realized there was one tall tree on the site next to us that was in the way. However, after repositioning the motor home several times, we finally ended up with good satellite reception.

Park of the Sierras is very quiet. It has full hook-ups plus cable. Wi-fi is available at the office, but they are in the process of making it available throughout the park. The sites are gravel, and most have paved patios. Many of the co-op members have done extensive landscaping.

 

One plant we saw a lot of was a small shrub with gray-green leaves and smooth, reddish-brown bark. They were all around our site, all over the campground, and we later saw them all over Yosemite. Paul did some research and found out they are called manzanita, which means "little apple" in Spanish. The photo below shows a manzanita shrub.

 

Paul particularly liked the smooth, red bark shown in the closeup below.

 

There are about 60 species of manzanita ranging from low-growing varieties to a variety that grows up to 20 feet tall. The shrubs grow in western North America all the way from southern Canada to northern Mexico. The berries, which are shown in the photo below, can be soaked in water to make a tea, or they can be dried and ground into a coarse meal.

 

The Escapees park in Coarsegold has one of the most unique layouts we have seen in a campground. It is built on a hillside, and the roads twist and turn up, down, and around the hills. It reminded us of the roads and residential neighborhoods in our old hometown of Pittsburgh. The photo below shows a typical park road. The terrain looks flat in the photo, but it was uphill.

 

Our plan while in Coarsegold was to visit Yosemite National Park, which is located about 30 miles up the road. We investigated staying in the national park, but Yosemite has no hook-ups in any of their 13 campgrounds. They say they have numerous sites for RVs up to 35 feet, but there are only 12 sites in two campgrounds suitable for RVs up to 40 feet long (our motor home is 37 feet). Part of the problem is site length and part of the problem is having enough room to swing to back in.

On top of all that, reservations can be made up to five months in advance and most reservable sites for April through September are gone within minutes of when they first become available. Therefore, we decided to stay at the Escapees park and make the rather long drive each of the several days we would be going into the national park. We'll tell you all about our visits to Yosemite in the next few posts.

Mobile, AL Part I: Shrimp and More

After spending four full months in Florida (with the exception of taking three trips to Pittsburgh with a duration of about ten days each), we headed north and west to begin our summer travel adventure. Our primary destination this year will be Yosemite National Park in California, but we will make a number of other stops on the way there. Afterward, we plan to visit northern California, Oregon, and Washington before heading back east for fall and winter.

After we left Bushnell, we made an overnight stop at Chattahoochee RV Resort in Chattahoochee, FL. We stayed at this campground, which is located right along the Apalachicola River, our first year of full-timing. The campground is located just downstream of a dam that forms Lake Seminole. The city of Chattahoochee operates the campground and honors a 50% Passport America discount for stays of up to three days. There is also a picnic and boat launch area adjacent to the campground.

The use of the word "resort" in the name may be a little too hopeful, but it is still a fairly nice campground - especially at a Passport America price of about $8 a night. The photo below shows our site at Chattahoochee RV Resort.

 

If you go to this campground, make sure you use a pressure regulator because their water pressure is very high. Without a regulator, the pressure pegged our 100 psi gauge.

The main road in the campground is paved, but the rest of the roads are gravel. Some sites are gravel, but the ones down over the hill near the river are grass. The sites are all back-ins; but the last time we were there, they let us park down over the hill and just pull across several unoccupied sites so we wouldn't have to unhook the toad for a one-night stop. This year, since they again weren't very filled, we did the same thing except we were at the far end of the upper section of the campground. The sites near the river were still a bit soggy because they had been underwater until a few days prior.

Northern Florida and Georgia have had quite a bit of rain lately. There have been a series of heavy storms passing through for the past few weeks. A storm gave Chattahoochee over four inches of rain the day before we arrived. After we got set up, we walked down to the boat launch and picnic area where we could see the water was still pretty high.

From Chattahoochee, it was on to Rainbow Plantation, the Escapees RV Park in Summerdale, AL, near Mobile. Rainbow Plantation has a transient camping area, leased/co-op sites, and deeded lots. The photo below shows our site in the camping area.

We also stayed at Rainbow Plantation our first year of full-timing; but it was fairly cool because it was the end of December so we didn't stay long and we didn't do any sightseeing. Summerdale is located on the eastern side of Mobile Bay, and the city of Mobile is located on the western side of the bay.

One of the things Mobile Bay is known for is seafood. We did a little research online and decided on a restaurant not too far from Summerdale called Big Daddy's Grill, which is located on the Fish River. Big Daddy's is shown in the photo below.

Big Daddy's has live entertainment on weekends, but it bills itself as a family restaurant. The entertainment usually runs from 3 or 4 in the afternoon until 7 or 8 in the evening instead of late into the night. They even have a couple of piles of sand for the kids to play in. There is indoor seating, outdoor seating in the pavilion shown above where there is a huge fireplace for cool evenings, and outdoor seating behind the restaurant overlooking a small marina. Although is was a weekday when we were there and there was no activity to watch at the marina, we chose a picnic table overlooking the water.

 

Margery had a catfish strip basket and Paul had a fried shrimp basket with local shrimp. Both were excellent. The baskets come with hush puppies, slaw, and a choice of fries or onion rings.

Another thing that showed up in our research for seafood was the fact that the Annual Shrimp Cook-off would be held in Mobile the Saturday we were in town. The cook-off is a fund raiser for an organization called Volunteer Mobile, which seeks to promote volunteerism to solve community problems such as disaster relief.

The admission price to the cook-off is a little steep at $15 per person; but it is for a good cause, and it entitles you to all the shrimp you can eat at no additional charge. Advance purchase discount tickets are available at some of the area banks, but the branches on the Summerdale side of the bay didn't have the tickets because they said they were too far from downtown Mobile.

The Organized Seafood Association of Alabama provides all the shrimp for the cook-off at no cost. The contestants, which are made up of professionals such as area restaurants and amateur teams such as civic groups, submit their dishes for judging. The winners in both the professional and amateur categories receive bragging rights. The teams also serve samples of their dishes to the public.

The event is held in Bienville Square, which is a pleasant, shady park that covers one square block in the downtown area of Mobile.

 

The cook-off runs from 11:00 AM until 2:00 PM. We arrived around 11:30, and some of the booths already have fairly long lines. We developed a system where one of us would stand in one of the longer lines line while the other would walk to one of the nearby, shorter lines and bring two samples back to where the other was waiting. The photo below shows Margery enjoying one of our favorite dishes of the entire cook-off - shrimp in an Alfredo-style cheese sauce. We liked that one so well, Margery went back three times and Paul went back four times.

 

The shrimp cook-off had live entertainment that included a band that sounded pretty good. Miss Seafood, the event queen, and several pre-teen members of her court also sang. They were quite talented.

 

We had fried shrimp, peel-and-eat-shrimp with old bay seasoning, shrimp with pine nuts, shrimp with rice, barbecued shrimp, grilled shrimp wrapped in prosciutto, oriental shrimp, and our favorite shrimp in cheese sauce. By about 12:30, most of the lines were getting quite long, but that was OK with us because we were getting pretty full. We had another sample or two and left a little after 1:00.

Since it was still early in the day and since we were already downtown, we decided to drive several blocks to the Mobile Carnival Museum. Carnival is another name for Mardi Gras. The Mobile Carnival Museum is shown in the photo below.

When someone mentions Mardi Gras, we always think of New Orleans. The celebration in New Orleans is more well known than the one in Mobile because New Orleans publicizes theirs more. Carnival in Mobile bills itself as being more family oriented which may also help account for the greater notoriety of the celebration held in New Orleans.

Mobile claims to have the oldest Mardi Gras or Carnival celebration in what would eventually become the United States dating back to 1703. Mardi Gras literally means "fat Tuesday" in French. It is a celebration prior to Lent when supplies of fat and other foods that the pious would traditionally forgo during Lent are used up. Parades and masquerading typically associated with Mardi Gras and Carnival can be traced back to medieval Italy.

Carnival in Mobile is centered around mystic societies (called krewes in New Orleans and other locations) that sponsor parades, balls, and other activities for members, guests, and the public. The mystic societies are private organizations that grew out of the social and business structure that cotton brought to the city. There are approximately 55 active social societies today. Membership in a society is by invitation only.

The king and queen of Carnival are selected almost a year in advance. The selection is made based on social standing, connections, and money. The king and queen don't necessarily need to be residents of Mobile, but they must have a connection to the city. For example, one past queen was a New York opera star, but her mother was a resident of Mobile.

The debutantes of the season serve as Ladies of the Court. Each lady selects her escort. The societies kick off the season in Mobile with a formal debutante ball held Thanksgiving weekend.

The societies also select their own kings and queens who wear elaborate costumes that include ornate trains to some of the events. The Carnival Museum has many of these beautiful costumes and trains on display, some of which are shown in the photo below.



The photo below shows the trains and costumes of the 2008 Mobile Carnival Association king and queen.



The next photo shows the costumes of the 2008 Mobile Mardi Gras Association (formerly the Colored Carnival Association) king and queen.



The gown and train shown in the photo below are from 1936. Although this train is very elegant, you can see how much more elaborate the trains have become today.

 

Children's page costumes are shown in the next photo. The job of the pages is to look cute and stay out of mischief.

The importance of the king and queen having financial resources can't be overstated. All of the dresses, robes, crowns, scepters, and men's costumes are paid for by the families. Each train is designed to include symbols which are meaningful to the wearer. The embellishments are all hand-sewn and the costumes take many months to complete.

The museum also has portions of a couple of parade floats on display. The floats are made from paper mache. The photo below shows us pretending to ride on a float and to throw Mardi Gras beads.



The next photo shows a decoration from another float on display in the museum gift shop.



And finally, here we are posing as King Felix III and Queen Margery. All Carnival kings in Mobile are traditionally named Felix, and since the current Carnival Association is the third embodiment of the ruling organization, the king is called Felix III. The queen gets to use her own name. We can't seem to pass up those tourist cutouts and statues that you stick your faces through for photos.



It was a fun and interesting day, but there is more to see in Mobile. Look for our next post in a few days.

St. Petersburg, FL

After our short stay in Bonita Springs, we moved about 100 miles north to the Escapees co-op park called The Florida SKP Resort in Wauchula, FL, west of Sebring in the south central part of Florida. Actually, the Resort is located in Zolfo Springs, but the mailing address is Wauchula.

The Escapees RV Club has numerous camping facilities across the country. Some are campgrounds only, and some are co-ops. Co-ops are described on the  Escapees Website. Descriptions of the other types of parks are available by clicking on the appropriate name in the sidebar on the site. 

The photo below shows our site at the SKP Resort.

 

The Florida SKP Resort is a co-op rather than a campground, meaning co-op members buy a share of the co-op and pay an annual maintenance fee in order to be able to use a site. If you decide you no longer want to be a member of the co-op, you get your buy-in fee back plus the cost of any approved improvements you have made to the site. There is a long waiting list to buy into the co-op, so there is little danger of not being able to recover your costs.

Some co-op members choose to put park models on their sites and some use their sites for their RVs. Those who use their sites for RVs can choose to put their sites into the rental pool during times when they are not using their sites themselves. Those of us Escapees members who are not co-op members can then use the rental sites.

There are a limited number of rental sites and the number drops when more co-op members arrive for the winter (January and February are the busiest months). We intentionally went before the seasonal rush, and there were quite a few open sites.

Site sizes at the Resort are very generous and the landscaping is nicely done. There are a lot of palm trees along the campground roads and most of the individual sites have also had shrubs and flowers added. The Resort has full hookups, free Wi-Fi, paved roads, and most rental sites have paved pads and patios.

While we were staying at the Resort, we went to St. Petersburg, which is about an hour to the west, to visit Sunken Gardens. Sunken Gardens is another one of those places Paul visited with his family when he was a kid.

Sunken Gardens is over 100 years old. It was started by in 1903 by plumber and avid gardener George Turner, Sr. The gardens are built in a 10 to 15 foot deep sink hole, hence the name "sunken." George planted quite a few citrus trees, papayas, and other exotic plants around his home. In the '20s he opened a nursery and began selling fruits, vegetables, and plants. His nursery customers paid a nickel to tour the gardens. In 1935, George fenced the garden and began a charging 25-cent admission fee. In the '50s through the '70s, Sunken Gardens became a popular tourist attraction.

To get to Sunken Gardens, we had to drive over Sunshine Skyway, which crosses Tampa Bay. At 5.5 miles long, the bridge is the world's longest bridge with a cable-stayed main span. The main span of the bridge is shown in the photo below.

The yellow suspension cables and their shadows create interesting patterns.

 

The original two-lane bridge that was part of the Sunshine Skyway was opened in 1954. This was the bridge Paul and his family crossed when they were here in the late '50s. A second bridge that ran parallel to the first was added in 1969 to make the road four lanes wide. The span that was added in 1969 was destroyed in 1980 when a freighter struck a bridge pier. The bridge, a Greyhound bus, and several cars fell 150 feet into the bay. The replacement twin spans that exist today were opened in 1987.

When we arrived at Sunken Gardens, Paul was surprised at how much the area had grown up from what he remembered from when he was a kid. Although it's not right downtown, the garden is in the city. The photo below shows a portion of the well-landscaped parking lot looking toward the entrance building.

The next photo shows the small waterfall and colorful foliage that greeted us as we entered the garden.

Sunken Gardens covers about four acres; but with the way the paths wind around, it feels like it is much larger. The mature, dense foliage does a good job of hiding other paths that may only be a few yards away from the path you are on. For the next photo, the shade from the mature trees was so dense we had to use a flash so you could see our faces. You can also see how thick the growth is behind us.

Throughout the gardens, there are many beautiful, exotic flowers blooming like the one below.

Another flowering shrub that caught our eye was this double hibiscus.

There were also several cages of exotic birds including a couple of different types of parrots and a laughing kookaburra. The laughing kookaburra is a bird from the kingfisher family whose call sounds similar to human laughter. The call of the kookaburra is familiar to most of us because it has found its way into many so many soundtracks that it has come to typify a jungle sound. The kookaburra wasn't calling when we were there, but one of the parrots was. It really did add to the jungle atmosphere.

There was a larger cage with several brightly-colored macaws, which are a type of parrot from Mexico, Central, and South America. Two of the macaws were preening each other. It looked like the one on the left was saying, "Down a bit, a little lower...now over to the left...that's it...ahhhh."

 

Sunken Gardens also has several Chilean flamingos. Most of them were resting with their heads tucked behind their wings, but the one in the photo below was preening itself. We had never seen a bird kneeling this way.

Although poinsettias make most of us think of Christmas and cold weather, they are actually indigenous to Mexico and are tropical in nature. Sunken Gardens had these beautiful poinsettias displayed in the shape of a Christmas tree.

As we finished our tour of Sunken Gardens, we couldn't pass up a tourist photo.

From Sunken Gardens, we drove back across Sunshine Skyway to return to the motor home. During the rest of our stay, we made a Wal-Mart stop or two, did some laundry, and did a little motor home maintenance.

From here, we go to Blueberry Hill RV Resort. Blueberry Hill is in Bushnell, FL, and it is the same place we stayed for several months last winter.

The Escapees rally in Gillette officially ended on July 3rd; but as the organization's gift to its members, the Escapees provided free camping for the night of the 4th and all the Escapees were invited to the Gillette/Campbell County 4th of July Celebration billed as the biggest in northeastern Wyoming. The festivities kicked off with a pancake "feed" at the fire hall at 6:00 AM followed by a parade in downtown Gillette at 9:00. We passed on the breakfast since it was a little early and Paul is trying to watch his carbs anyway. However, we wanted to make it to the parade since we worked on the Escapees' float.

There's nothing like the 4th of July in small-town America. Everything seems so much more sincere and heart-felt. We got to the parade about 8:30 in plenty of time to get a shady parking space only a block away from the parade route and to get a front-row spot near the start of the parade. As we sat waiting for the parade to begin, someone was walking down the street handing out flags, and not little 3" X 5" flags on a stick either. The photo below shows Margery holding our new flag.

The parade got started right on time. Although there was only one band and it looked a little rag-tag and not quite in step, they sounded pretty decent.

The Escapees' float was fairly close to the beginning of the parade. The float represents the Escapees' logo, which is a house on a little red wagon. Kay and Joe Peterson, founders of the Escapees, rode on the back of the float and a couple dozen Escapees walked along behind. We found out later, the Escapees' float won second prize.

Surprisingly, there were only a few equestrian groups in the parade. One group included this patriotic horse with red stripes, blue stars, and red and blue hooves.

 

There was also this very special little fellow riding his power chair with a stick horse on the front.

And, of course, there was the inevitable equestrian follow-up crew.

The parade had a number of custom, classic, and antique cars...

...and several motorcycle groups (It seemed the motorcycles outnumbered the horses!) including this guy with the Uncle Sam hat on a Harley.

The parade lasted over two hours. It seemed almost every business, club, and civic group in town took part. We overheard someone say since this year is an election year, the parade was much longer than usual because every politician had a wagon, float, truck, or car in the parade with his or her name on it.

We were impressed that the city didn't waste any time getting started on the cleanup. This street sweeper was close enough to the end of the parade that we almost mistook it for another float, especially with the flags mounted on it.

 

After the parade, there was a picnic at the Campbell County Bicentennial Park and we where amazed they provided free hot dogs, potato chips and soft drinks. The photo below shows the early part of the crowd in line for hot dogs being prepared in the blue and white striped tent. People kept arriving and getting in line, but there were plenty of volunteers preparing and serving and the line moved quickly so the wait was never more than just a few minutes.

Margery is enjoying her hot dog.

After we finished our hot dogs, we wandered over to the mud volleyball pits. There were numerous teams awaiting their turn to play at one of the three nets. It was just good, clean fun. Well, maybe it wasn't so clean after all.

There were also kids' games, kids' sidewalk chalk drawing, and strong man and woman contests going on. Then after a while, they started the fire hose water fights. We were used to seeing firefighters doing the water fights, trying to force a beer keg suspended from on a cable over to the opponent's end of the cable with their fire hoses. But here, they let the kids man the hoses and the target was a lighter-weight soccer ball. We're guessing they reduced the water pressure a little, but as you can see, the water still has a good bit of force. The kids loved having an excuse to get wet on a hot day, and the mud volleyball players found a good way to get (somewhat) clean.

After we watched the water fights, we headed back to the rig where we thought we might take a nap before the evening fireworks like so many of the other Escapees we talked to. Ten o'clock fireworks seemed to be past many retirees bedtime! :)

Well, there is no napping in Gillette, WY on the 4th of July. It seems consumer fireworks are legal in Gillette and the residents go all out with their own displays. In the housing plan across the road from the camping area, there were quite a few people setting off fireworks all day. They weren't just little bangs and pops either. There were many loud BOOMS. Because of the flat terrain, we could see for quite a distance and as dusk fell, we could see fireworks being set off everywhere we looked. Some of the aerial pieces were almost professional quality and were quite impressive. We found it totally incredible how much money people must have spent on their own fireworks.

We also had ring-side seats for the professional fireworks because they were set off from the Cam-Plex race track right near where we were camped. The fireworks were supposed to be coordinated with music broadcast on the radio, but we never did find the correct station. Even without the music, the display was very impressive and continued for a full 20 to 25 minutes.

Following the Escapade and the July 4th celebrations, we still had two days left before we were scheduled to move on so we took the opportunity to learn a little more about the area. On July 5, we went to the Campbell County Rockpile Museum in Gillette. The Rockpile has been a landmark in Gillette for many years. In fact, the first four settlers in Gillette centered their claims on this site. The Rockpile is a small rise in the earth capped by a mound of exposed rocks. As travelers approached, the Rockpile would let them know they had arrived in Gillette. This was especially true for those who arrived by rail since it was close to the railhead after the Burlington & Missouri railroad arrived in Gillette in 1891.

Ralph A. Kintz, who had purchased the land that included the Rockpile, donated it to the county in 1970. Kintz was instrumental in establishing the museum, which opened in 1974. The museum contains numerous collections, photos, and artifacts relating to the history of the area. In the photo below, Paul is checking out the collection of spurs and bits.

And Margery is looking at the general store display.

The wagon in the photo below is a sheepherder's wagon. Wagons like these were also used during cattle roundups and branding. In the 20th century, ranchers sometimes used the wagons as RVs to vacation in the Black Hills or Bighorn Mountains to enjoy the cooler air.

 

The Rockpile Museum also had two good videos on coal production. We learned that Wyoming produces 38% of our nation's coal, and most of it comes from right around Gillette. Wyoming coal, which is mostly surface mined today, is low sulfur coal and is in high demand. The Powder River Coal Company in Gillette, Wyoming, is the second largest coal producing company in the United States. It and owns and operates four surface mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. Together, the four mines control 2.5 billion tons of recoverable coal. The coal seams at the four mines range from 65 feet to over 100 feet thick. Although tours of the coal mines are open to visitors, we were disappointed we didn't have time to take advantage of this opportunity.

We did, however, take a short drive about 4 miles north of Gillette where the Foundation Coal Company has a mine with an overlook where you can see some of the operations. Foundation Coal is the fourth largest coal producer in the U. S. At the overlook, they had one of the huge tires used on the haul trucks. The tire is 13 feet in diameter and weighs 13,000 lb. Cost per tire is $36,000. And we thought motor home tires were expensive!

The trucks dump the coal into a crusher, which is at the far left of the photo below. From the crusher, conveyors take the coal to the top of huge silos. Trains pass through a tunnel under the silo where the coal is loaded into hopper cars.

Gillette has such an interesting history. This is another town we had to add to our list of places to return to someday. But for now, it's time to move on farther west.

Rallies are a popular and integral part of the RV lifestyle for many people. They can be local, regional, or national and are organized by a variety of groups, i.e. Family Motor Coach Association, Good Sam, Winnebago Itasca Travelers, Workhorse Chassis Owners, DataStorm Users Group, etc. The Escapees were founded by Joe and Kay Petersen on July 4, 1978. Joe and Kay were full-time RVers who traveled from job to job as Joe worked as an electrician.

The Escapees rallies are called Escapades. This year's rally was held in Gillette, WY, and with our plans to visit Yellowstone already in the works, the timing was perfect for us to attend the rally on our way to western Wyoming. Gillette is located on the Missouri Plain between the Black Hills to the east and the Bighorn Mountains to the west in the Powder River Basin. This area of Wyoming is known as the "Energy Capital of the World" because of all the coal that is mined there. We saw numerous coal trains snaking their way along, heading to metropolitan areas of the East and South. Gillette began as a railroad terminal in 1891, and today it is a commercial center for the agricultural and mining industries located here.

We made the easy 90 minute drive from Spearfish, SD, to Gillette and arrived at the Escapade before lunchtime. Check-in was very well organized, and we got unhooked and backed into our site with no problem. As you can see from the photo below, things are a little tight, but that's the way rallies are. You usually don't spend much time at your rig anyway, and having plenty in common with your neighbors you get to know them within a few minutes of getting set up.

The Escapade was held at the Gillette Cam-Plex Multi-Event Facilities. Cam-Plex is a joint venture between the city of Gillette and Campbell County. Cam-Plex is an outstanding facility that was completed in 1985. The "Hi ho Silver!" bronze statue is on the Cam-Plex grounds.

Cam-Plex sits on 1,100 acres and has over 600 full hookup RV sites and approximately 1,000 water and electric sites. There is also room for dry camping for 5,000 RVs. The photo below gives you an idea how vast the camping area is - and this is only part of the full hookup area.

Cam-Plex has meeting rooms, a race track, a riding arena, horse stalls, exhibit halls, and a theater. When first proposed, residents weren't sure who would want to use the facilities. However, now that it has been built, they have over 400 events a year; and they don't know how they got along without Cam-Plex. In fact, the soon-to-be-completed Wyoming Center will add 132,000 sq. ft. of additional exhibit space and meeting rooms and will also have an ice rink.

At this rally, which marked Escapees' 30th anniversary, there were over 1,000 rigs and well over 2,000 attendees. The attendance of the 25th anniversary Escapade was 1200-1300 rigs, so attendance was down a little probably due to the high fuel prices. The photo below of the opening ceremonies gives you an idea of the size of the crowd.

Rallies include seminars on technical issues; special interests, i.e. genealogy or geocaching; computers, i.e. Photoshop Elements, MS Word, or Turbo Tax; RV lifestyle issues, i.e. Banking Tips and Techniques, Emergency Roadside Assistance, and travel destinations as well as many craft classes. At this rally, we had a choice of 150 seminars, and we took advantage of them by attending 13 over three and one-half days. The photo below shows Margery (standing facing the camera toward the right side) looking for a seat prior to the start of one of the seminars we attended.

There are also BOF's (Birds of a Feather) whose purpose is to provide a point of contact around special interests, i.e., Christian fellowship, Habitat for Humanity, quilters, pet lovers, and many, many others. We attended a BOF social of SOWERS (Servants on Wheels Ever Ready, a works ministry made up of interdenominational, born again RVers who travel to various sites such as church camps and retreat centers to do maintenance and building. We wanted to learn more about this important ministry for possible future involvement.

There is also nightly entertainment, ice cream socials, and volunteer opportunities throughout the week. The market area had almost 100 vendors demonstrating and selling RV-related and other products. Entertainment included Chugwater Band (country/western), comedian Jimmy Travis (we were pleased to see comedians CAN be clean AND funny), and Ham-O-Rama (amateur talent by the Escapees themselves). The photo below shows one of the members dressed as a soldier doing a moving, patriotic recitation during the Ham-O-Rama.

Another one of the fun things was a cut-out of an old Airstream trailer where you could take photos. Can you imagine full-timing in one of those?

The Escapees organization relies heavily on volunteers. So many members give so much of their time making the organization itself and events like the Escapade run smoothly. For our small contribution, we volunteered to work on the float that the Escapees were building for the Gillette 4th of July parade. In the photo below, Marty (left) (not Margery) and Paul discuss how to best apply the decorative covering to the back of the float.

We had a good time at the Escapade and met many new people. We learned some new things about RVing in the seminars, and we enjoyed the entertainment. The Escapade lasted 5 days, and we kept ourselves quite busy the entire time. By closing ceremonies on July 3, we were ready for some rest; but there wouldn't be much time for that. The Escapees were invited to the Gillette 4th of July festivities that began with what they called a pancake "feed" at the fire hall at 6:00 AM the next morning. We decided 6:00 AM was a lttle early, but we wanted to make it to the parade at 9:00 AM because we had worked on the float. We were excited to be included in the celebration and, even though we were tired, we looked forward to participating.

We wish you all the richest of blessings in 2008.

We took time back in July to reflect on our first 12 months of full-timing and at the start of 2008 we again thought about our travels for the last calendar year. If we had retired when we originally planned, we would be just finishing our first six months on the road. It's amazing to think that with our early retirement, we have been traveling full-time for 18 months now. For us, we're glad the first year is over. Now don't get us wrong, it was a year of amazing adventures and incredible sights, but the comfort level in our nomadic lifestyle is much higher with one year under our belts. In 18 months, we logged 19,851 miles, stayed in 98 different locations and traveled through 24 states. Everything we read about this lifestyle encouraged us to take our time...it's a lifestyle not a vacation. But we couldn't help ourselves! It took us a year to slow down. We now make it our goal (for the most part) to spend a minimum of one week at each stop.

After spending our requisite one week minimum at Lake Louisa State Park to visit Disney, it was only about an hour drive to the northwest to our next stop in Bushnell, FL. Last year, we stayed in Florida only through Christmas because we wanted to go to Quartzsite, AZ for the big RV gathering in mid-January. We also wanted to check out other possible winter locations in Arizona and south Texas because we knew the west was less crowded than Florida and campground prices were generally lower.

After checking out the west, however, we decided we would spend most of the winter in Florida this year. Although we liked the southwest, we liked Florida better as a location where we would be spending several months at a time. Margery was the most reluctant about wintering in Florida but there are a number of things which have changed her mind. Here in central Florida, we're in a rural, agricultural area so it's not crowded and very pastoral. Because there are so many live oaks in this part of Florida, the trees are still green and the Spanish moss make it feel very "southern" along with the occasional palm trees. The pastures here are, for the most part still green, too. Being so far south, even on the shortest day of the year, it still stays light until almost 6 p.m. To top it all off, the local community is already signing up youngsters for baseball. Ya gotta love it!

After leaving Disney last year, we stayed at the Escapees Sumter Oaks Campground in Bushnell. Sumter Oaks is a nice enough campground and the camaraderie of fellow Escapees is always great, but Sumter Oaks is at least 60% shaded. As we have said before, we like sunny campgrounds not only for our satellite, but also for warmth in cooler months.

We drove by Blueberry Hill RV Resort many times last year (it's right next to Wal-Mart), and on the recommendation of fellow RVers we met in Mission, TX in March, we decided to investigate Blueberry Hill further. Well, we liked what we saw and the prices were roughly comparable to Sumter Oaks so we made reservations through February. Because we made reservations at a fairly late date, we unfortunately couldn't get one site that was available for the entire time. Therefore, we will need to change sites in the middle of January. On one hand, that's an inconvenience; but on the other hand, Paul is a little uncomfortable leaving the motor home sit for such a long time. Since we have to pack up to change sites anyway, we just may drive up the interstate an exit or two and exercise the drivetrain of the motor home and maybe stop by the local LP dealer and fill the propane tank if we need to.

Blueberry Hill is right off I-75. That makes it very convenient when we want to go anywhere, but there is some traffic noise from the interstate. However, the interstate is to our west and if there is a breeze from the east (which there is much of the time), the traffic noise is minimal. We are in the back section of Blueberry Hill, which has very wide, grassy sites. The front section of the park has paved, pull-through sites, but they are fairly close together. We heard the reason the rear sites are extra wide is because they were originally intended for park models. While there are a few annual renters with park models at Blueberry Hill, it looks like the idea never really took off and the majority of the sites have RVs on them. The photo below shows our current site at Blueberry Hill.

As expected for a snowbird campground, Blueberry Hill has plenty of planned activities for the winter months. We aren't big joiners, but we have participated in a few activities and we're trying to meet new people. We went to a Christmas carol sing-along and to a white elephant gift exchange. The gift exchange was a lot of fun. It was a good excuse get rid of a couple of things from the rig that were still in good condition, but that we never really used. As your number was called at the gift exchange, you could either choose to open a wrapped gift from the table or "steal" an already-opened gift from one of the other people who had gone before you. If someone "steals" your gift, you can take another turn and either open another wrapped gift or "steal" a gift from someone else. It was fun to see what items turned out to be popular. Some of the items changed hands at least a dozen times. Who knew so many people would want that ceramic cookie jar shaped like a cardinal or that rubber alligator with the bikini! Margery ended up with a wallet and Paul got involved in a series of wild exchanges and ended up with a can of cashews. Yum! :)

Margery also joined the morning water aerobics class. The pool is heated, so the class is held as long as the air temperature is 60 degrees or above by the 10:00 AM starting time. Those who have been around in previous years say it usually warms up quickly enough in the morning that the class only gets canceled infrequently. Water aerobics is a good way for Margery to get some exercise without putting unnecessary strain on her knees. It's also a good way to meet people and to find out some of the latest campground news. The photo below shows Margery in the pool.

Speaking of the weather, it has been fantastic! The normal highs are in the 70s with lows in the 50s. The weather pattern seems to be that a cold front comes through about every two or three weeks and the highs drop to the 50s and the lows drop to the upper 30s for about two days. Then the temperatures pop right back up to the 70s.

When the first cold front was predicted about a week after our arrival in Bushnell, Paul got to work on a little project we had been planning. We picked up some acrylic sheet at Lowe's, and Paul proceeded to cut it to fit the screen door. It is held in place with some little plastic turnbuttons. With the plastic in place, we can keep the door open on cool days and enjoy the extra light while keeping out the cold air. The plastic can be removed and stored behind the couch in warmer weather.

With the door open, we were able to watch these blue birds flit around outside the door.

When the second cold front came through, the weatherman predicted the low might drop to the lower 20s. The citrus growers and farmers really had to scramble to try to protect their crops. Fortunately, the temperature didn't go as low as expected and the farmers' hard work paid off so there was very little crop damage. Here's Paul outside our favorite roadside stand where we get fresh-squeezed orange juice. We stopped the day they were preparing for the predicted freeze.

We spent a quiet Christmas. In the morning, we opened the gifts that Lora and J. Michael had mailed to us. Here is Paul opening chocolate-covered orange rinds - one of "Candyman's" favorites.

Margery got a wine sampler from a winery Lora and J. Michael discovered in Gibsonia. The bottle is actually three smaller, uniquely-shaped bottles that nest together and look like a regular wine bottle.

In the afternoon, we went to the Christmas dinner put on by the campground. They served ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, with cupcakes for dessert. The price of the dinner was reasonable, there was plenty to eat, and the food was pretty good. We enjoyed meeting a couple from Nova Scotia and hearing about their cross-country adventures on a motorcycle last year before they put their house on the market and went full-time. We didn't realize that Canadians are limited to 182 days visiting the United State each year.

One of the great things about living in an RV is that it's such a small space, we don't need many Christmas decorations. It took us all of 4 minutes to take everything down and put it away. About half that time was spent getting the plastic bin out of and back into the outside storage compartment. The photo below shows Margery packing away our three or four decorations.

In the week between Christmas and New Years, the campground really filled up. On Christmas, probably over one third of the sites were still empty. A couple of days after Christmas, RVs started streaming in. By New Years eve, about 90% of the sites were filled. The campground expects the rest of the sites to fill up during January and, except for a few possible cancellations, they are booked solid for February.

Blueberry Hill sponsored a New Years Eve party that had a live band that was supposed to be quite exceptional, but we held on to our own New Years tradition. For at least the last 15 years or so we have rented a bunch of movies to watch at home. We have our own quiet little party with a few special snacks. We struggle to stay awake until midnight, watch the ball in Times Square drop, wish each other a happy New Year, then head off to bed. This year was no different.

Since the holidays, we have been riding our bikes around the campground fairly often. The campground roads are not only all paved, but they are wide and level, too. After our ride we sometimes stop by the game room for a couple of games of pool. There are four tables that are seldom used so we never have to wait. In the photo below, Margery is lining up a shot.

This is our longest stop in one location, and it is a welcomed change. It's also afforded us the opportunity to research and plot our 2008 travels with renewed enthusiasm...kind of like vacation but at a slower pace. :)

After leaving Salisbury, NC, we drove west and a little north to Sevierville (pronounced se-VERE-ville), TN. On the way, we could see the relatively flat terrain of the Piedmont change to become more mountainous as we approached the Smokies.

In Sevierville, we stayed at River Plantation RV Park, a Good Sam member. It's a very nice RV park with several hundred sites. The sites aren't too close together and are angled for good privacy. The pads and roads are gravel, but there are cement patios and grass between the sites. There are some trees; but, they were very accommodating in the office to give us one of the numerous sites where satellite reception isn't a problem. There is a little noise from a nearby quarry - machinery humming, trucks growling, and backup beepers beeping.

River Plantation also has a number of riverfront sites overlooking the Little Pigeon River, including several "signature" riverfront sites that are extra wide and are all concrete.

Sevierville is about a 10-minute drive from Pigeon Forge and about a 45-minute drive from Gatlinburg, TN. We visited the Smokies as a family back in 1989 when Lora was a sophomore in high school. It was our vacation stop on our way to research Asbury College in Wilmore, KY (where she ultimately attended). Back then, we stayed in a motel in nearby Townsend, outside the congested areas, but we visited Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Pigeon Forge has grown from a large tourist area into a huge tourist area. We remember only a few go-cart tracks, several miniature golf courses, some motels and restaurants, the Dixieland Stampede dinner show, and, of course, Dollywood. Now there have to be dozens of go-cart tracks and miniature golf courses, wall-to-wall motels and fast food, and dozens of shows (some with dinner, some without).

Gatlinburg hasn't changed too much. Being in the foothills of the Smokies, it really has nowhere to expand because of the terrain. The T-shirt shops are still there along with the downtown motels, fast food, gift shops and tattoo parlors. The hillside mini-golf (Hillbilly Golf) where we played when we were here in 1989 with our daughter, Lora, is still there. They have gotten rid of the on-street parking, so they now have 4 lanes of traffic instead of just two; but traffic really wasn't too bad in the middle of the week, especially since it was off-season.

One thing we remembered about the Gatlinburg area that we wanted to visit again this trip was the nearby artist community. The artist community is centered around Glade and Buckhorn Roads off U.S. 321 to the northeast of Gatlinburg. Although as full-timers we don't usually need anything, this time we were looking for a candy dish (for Candyman :)), and we thought one of the potters might have something. We did enjoy stopping at a number of shops (pottery and others), but didn't find a candy dish we liked. Ah well, since we don't buy much, it'll give us a good reason to "shop" in our future travels. We did happen upon one shop that had some interesting pottery demonstrations. Those are real leaves pressed into the soft clay of the pot shown in the photo below. Then they carve around the leaves and smooth the pot with a damp sponge. The leaves will burn away when the pot is fired leaving a textured impression.

The pottery also had a little stage set up with some nice entertainment of Appalachian-style folk music where the audience was invited to join along playing "instruments" like the washboard.

Along Buckhorn Road on the way to the artist community is a charming inn called, appropriately enough, Buckhorn Inn. We remembered the inn from when we were in the area in 1989 so we stopped and took a few photos. The photo below shows the entrance to the inn.

Here we are at a nearby overlook...

...enjoying the beautiful view.

Also along Buckhorn Road is a little restaurant called the Wild Plum Tea Room. They serve soups, salads, and sandwiches. We ate there in 1989, but since it was past lunchtime, we just stopped for photos this time.

The other area we wanted to visit again was Cades Cove. Cades Cove is in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and is a valley surrounded by mountains. Historians are unsure, but the name probably comes from either the name of a local chief's wife, Kate, or more likely from a little known Native American leader known as Chief Kade.

Cades Cove was once a thriving community of around 700. Over farming and the promise of more fertile land in the mid-west lead to the decline of the community. In the mid 1920s and the late 1930s, the National Park service began plans to form the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Inclusion of Cades Cove was not in the original plans, but was it was later added. The park was officially established in 1934 and the last resident left Cades Cove in 1937, although the congregation of the Primitive Baptist Church continued to meet until 1960 in their church in Cades Cove in defiance of the Park Service. Although the Park Service originally planned to allow the entire area to return to its natural forested state, they eventually decided to demolish only more modern buildings and keep the buildings that represented pioneer life in 19th century Appalachia. Today in Cades Cove there are several churches, cabins, barns, and a grist mill. The grist mill, which still operates, is shown in the photo below.

There is an 11-mile loop that takes you around the cove. There are numerous stops along the way where you can look out over the fields and where you can park to walk the many trails and explore the old churches, cabins, and outbuildings. The buildings are very picturesque in the natural surroundings today, but one can only imagine how hard life was. This is the Tipton Homestead, which is right along the loop road.

Also, along the loop road is the tiny Carter Shields cabin.

We stopped and hiked the 1-mile round trip to the Elijah Oliver cabin, which is shown in the photo below. The section to the right is the kitchen, perhaps one of the first 'split-level' houses in the U.S. :)

The cantilever barn is another structure seen in several places around Cades Cove and many other locations in eastern Tennessee. These barns have a cantilever or overhang, which was a second-story loft used to store hay. The overhang provided an area where they could park their wagons and be protected from the weather.

Wildlife abounds in the Smokies and especially in Cades Cove. Deer are frequently seen grazing in the fields and there are also black bear. Back when we visited in 1989, we found the best time to view wildlife was dusk. On several evenings we joined a long string of vehicles driving slowly around the loop. We always saw deer in the fields and raccoons and 'possum at the small streams and we did see one bear. Unfortunately on this trip, we were staying farther away so we only drove the loop during the day. We did see several deer, but couldn't get a good angle for any photos.

Despite our mid-week visit, we were surprised at the number of families with children who were visiting; and although the leaves on the trees were barely turning, the line of vehicles making the loop was continuous. We didn't even want to imagine what the traffic would be like on a summer day or a weekend at peak fall leaf season!

There are additional photos and information on Cades Cove in Photo Album 025: Smokies and Knoxville.

We had only made reservations in Sevierville for a relatively quick three-night stop. We could have used more time, but decided not to extend our stay since we had seen the two major things in the area we wanted to see. We were on our way to the Escapees Raccoon Valley Campground north of Knoxville, and we wanted to be in Raccoon Valley long enough to take advantage of their lower weekly rates for at least a couple of weeks. That would also give us a little time to relax, catch up on our grocery shopping, relax, let the campground budget recuperate, relax, groom the dog, relax...well, you get the picture.

Raccoon Valley was only about an hour drive from Sevierville, and we arrived around noon. We had heard that this particular Escapee park was rarely full so we were surprised to find the campground WAS full! Unknown to us, there was a bluegrass music festival going on all week at the nearby Museum of Appalachia. However, our experience during our almost three-week stay is that it was full almost every night we were there.

Escapees parks do not accept reservations, but they have a system of first in/first out. If you arrive and there are no sites available, you can stay in the dry camp area until a site opens up. Fortunately, enough people were leaving voluntarily after our one-night stay in dry camp that we had our choice of three 30 amp sites and one 50 amp site. We chose the 50 amp site, which costs a little extra, but which had a little more room than the 30 amp sites. The Escapees Raccoon Valley Campground is a former KOA so most of the sites are quite narrow and fairly short. Most of the 50 amp pull-throughs are longer and the back-ins are wider to provide enough parking space for your tow vehicle or toad, even with a fairly long RV.

The Museum of Appalachia was one exit north on I-75. In the early 1960s, John Rice Irwin traveled the back roads of Tennessee, Kentucky, and western Virginia and began to collect thousands of pioneer artifacts from colorful mountain folk, including his own ancestors. John's goal in establishing his museum was not to present cold, lifeless facts; but to capture the heart and soul of the hard-working mountain people. He does this through folk art, tools, music, buildings, and most importantly, through the stories of people who lived in this area.

We waited until the music festival was over to visit the museum to avoid the crowds. We were able to stroll leisurely through the many artifacts and buildings and get a real flavor for how the people lived.

Most of the tools are displayed in the display barn. These harness-making tools, however, are displayed in the actual harness/saddle shop originally belonging to Hobart and Larry Hagood. The shop, shown in the photo below, was originally located in Persia, TN.

Hobart Hagood became a rural mail carrier in the early 1900s. The rigors of his long, daily deliveries made it necessary for him to repair and replace his own leather harnesses. Soon he began to repair and make harnesses and saddles for his neighbors and became a master leather craftsman. Hobart made leather goods for the Amish in Pennsylvania, for the pleasure horses of Florida, and for the mining mules and ponies of Kentucky and Virginia. When Hobart passed away in 1961, his youngest son, Larry, who was also a rural mail carrier, took over the leather business. Larry retired in 1984 and sold the building and tools to John Rice Irwin in 1991.

Paul was struck by the creativity and tenacity of the people. Most of what they had, they made themselves. There were troughs used for curing and storing meat that were made from huge, hollowed-out logs. There were carvings of people, animals, and miniature tools that were very intricate. There was also a large collection of musical instruments. Some were factory-made, but many were made locally by hand. Some of these were crude, but many were surprisingly sophisticated. There were fiddles, guitars, banjos, mandolins, and dulcimers. In the photo below, you can see examples of some of the banjos. Notice the ham can banjo on the wall near the center of the photo and the hub cap banjo below it and to the left. There are rectangular and octagonal banjos at the upper left.

John Rice Irwin also has a collection of authentic log cabins, barns, and other out buildings on the grounds as well as a school and a chapel. The photo below shows the house that was built by Nathaniel Peters in the nearby village of Lutrell about 1840. His oldest daughter, Cordelia, was born here and raised her nine children in this house where she died at age 87.

The little shack in the photo below belonged to Tom Cassidy, who was a friend of John Rice Irwin. Tom died in 1989 and John acquired the cabin from Tom's last surviving brother, 88-year old Harve, and moved it to the museum grounds in 2007.

The photo below shows the interior of Tom Cassidy's one-room cabin. After over a year in the motor home with its 300 sq. ft. of living space, we weren't as appalled by the size of this cabin as we might have been were we still in our stick house.

Another interesting story is that of Harrison Mayes. Young Harrison Mayes was a coal miner when he was injured in a mining accident in 1918 near the Tennesee/Kentucky line and was not expected to live. Harrison asked the Lord to pull him through promising Him he would be a faithful servant the rest of his life. Harrison did survive and soon found preaching was not his calling. While continuing to work at the mines, one day Harrison had an inspiration to paint "Sin Not" on the side of his black hog. The old sow ran loose in the coal camp and when everyone quickly became aware of Harrison's message, he knew he had found his calling.

Harrison began painting similar messages on trees, rocks, barns, and coal cars bound for distant towns. When he became concerned about permanency, he hit on the idea of making concrete signs. Harrison Mayes never depended on donations, but he continued to work in the mines and even worked extra shifts so he could afford to make the signs and hire trucks and drivers (he never learned to drive) to deliver and erect the signs. He started in east Tennessee and eventually had signs in as many as 44 states and several foreign countries. Before modern highways and interstates were built, these signs were common sights along the roads of America.

In addition to cabins, a corn crib, barns, and numerous shops, mills, and other out buildings belonging to ordinary folks, the museum has the cabin that belonged to the family of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Again, we were fascinated to pick up a thread of history from an area we previously visited. We saw Samuel Clemens home in Hannibal, MO earlier this year, now we ran across the cabin that belonged to his parents when they lived in 'Possum Trot, TN. Samuel was born 5 months after his parents left Tennessee in 1835.

There are lots of additional interesting photos (especially the Ukuweewee Banjo) and information on the Museum of Appalachia in Photo Album 025: Smokies and Knoxville.

The little town of Rugby, TN lies a about an hour's drive northwest of Raccoon Valley where we were staying. Rugby is a restored Victorian village that was founded in 1880 by British author and social reformer, Thomas Hughes. Rugby was intended to be a Utopia of sorts, incorporating English culture and customs into a class-less American cooperative society.

In England, upper class families left the family estate and wealth to the first-born son. Siblings were given either a lump-sum amount from the estate or a trust was established on their behalf. In the 1870s, there was an economic recession in Britain and many of the younger sons exhausted their allotted funds and their trusts ran out of money. Hughes felt it would be beneficial for these young men to begin anew, working hard at agricultural pursuits in America.

Because of the English heritage, Rugby stands in stark contrast to the rough hewn log buildings found elsewhere in Appalachia. The photo below shows Kingstone Lisle, home of Rugby founder Thomas Hughes. Hughes' home was a little larger than most in Rugby, but it typical of the style.

This view below of the parlor of Hughes' home shows a grand piano, which is originally from Rugby and is similar to the one owned by Hughes.

The photo below shows Thomas Hughes' desk in Kingstone Lisle.

Rugby had a public library which opened in 1882 and which is shown in the photo below.

The library is virtually unchanged since it opened and its collection of 7,000 books is intact. It is the oldest public library with its original collection.

Christ Church Episcopal has been used continuously for worship since it first opened in 1887. Its early furnishings, light fixtures, and organ are still used during weekly services.

At its peak, Rugby had about 350 residents and over 70 buildings. It only flourished for about 10 years, and some say the decline began with the fire that destroyed its popular Tabard Inn in 1884. A number of other things contributed to the decline of Rugby including the fact that it was managed from far-away England and that Thomas Hughes probably initially paid too much for the land. By 1900, most of the original inhabitants had left, but Rugby was never abandoned. Several residents, some of them children of the original settlers, remained and struggled to keep Rugby's heritage alive.

In 1966, the non-profit organization of Historic Rugby was formed and began restoration and preservation of Rugby. Over 65,000 people visit Rugby each year. There is even a small, modern housing development adjacent to Historic Rugby that has newly-built Victorian-style homes.

We enjoyed lunch at the Harrow Road Cafe, named after the first Rugby Restaurant. Featured were English specialities such as shepherd's pie and Welsh Rarebit and the famous Harrow Road spoon rolls. Prices were moderate...sandwiches under $5 and lunch specials between $5 and 10. Homemade desserts sounded delicious, but alas we were full.

We had a very nice time in eastern Tennessee. We enjoyed the slower pace, watching the leaves turn, and learning more about the hard-working pioneer people who carved an existence out of what was then wilderness. There's more to see but the night temps are going to the mid-30's with morning frost. It's time to head outta here. :) We're not the only ones! One night in the 30s and 10 sites emptied out the next day! From here, we travel to Myrtle Beach for a week at the ocean and then SOUTH.

We left Tonopah, AZ, with temps in the 70's heading for southwest Texas hoping the weather forecast for highs in the upper 60's would hold. Our destination was Davis Mountain State Park, elevation 5-6,000 feet. Similar to our travels west earlier this year, we ran the gambit of weather. Going across the Sonoran Desert, we were captivated with the clouds and weather we could see in the distance.

As we climbed in altitude crossing New Mexico on I-10, we  encountered  lumpy "rain."

We waited out the weather at the Escapees' Dream Catcher Park in Demining, NM. This full-hook-up campground with pull-throughs is close to I-10 and is an easy in/out.

As we approached El Paso, TX, the Rio Grande River becomes the border between the United States and Mexico. This 1,885-mile river which begins in the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado  flows south through the middle of New Mexico and then southeast as the border between Texas and Mexico emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at Brownsville, TX.

It's not exceptionally wide as it passes between El Paso and Juarez, MX, and Mexico is easily seen from I-10. "So near and yet so far" came to mind as we thought about  the  many  people who risk so much to enter the US.

Across from where the above photo was snapped, we were struck by how dwarfed these El Paso houses looked by the mountains behind them.

Davis Mountain State Park was our homebase for four days while we explored the area. This full-hook-up campground is in the most extensive mountain range in Texas, and we were captivated by its rugged beauty.

While we were setting up, a herd of mule deer grazed freely and were not at all shy. Mule deer have larger ears than the white-tail deer found in Pennsylvania.  

Our drive to the top of one of the peaks in the park provided us with a stunning view of the area.

The state park is just 4 miles north of Fort Davis, a military post from 1854 - 1891. Abandoned during the Civil War by Union Forces, it was re-occupied and re-built in 1867 for the newly organized Ninth U.S. Cavalry. The standard of living in this 1867 re-built frontier outpost seemed to us to be rather sophisticated. These furnishings were ordered by Commanding Officer Benjamin Grierson's wife specifically for their move to this residence.

Leisure-time diversions included a band, a library, a chapel and a school. Because many officers had their wives and families with them, the women organized social events, i.e., balls, charades, and dinner parties.

Fort Davis is 30 miles north of the town of Marfa, home of the Marfa Lights. These orb lights have an unexplained history. Ten miles of the road to Marfa was dirt while it's being re-constructed, so we put an excursion to see the lights on our "to do" list in the future.

However, we did attend a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory which is part of the University of Texas at Austin. The night was clear (with temps in the low 30's) which enabled us to see an incredible array of stars. We viewed the sky through several telescopes but the most captivating and memorable for both of us was seeing Saturn complete with rings. It was an amazing experience. The observatory could be seen from a distance.

Not far from Ft. Davis is the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute where we toured the outdoor exhibits and botanical gardens. This is a great view of Mitre Peak which saw when we were on the Hummingbird-Butterfly Trail.

There was an excellent and educational mining exhibit. What a thrill to find this MSA Mine Spot mine lamp on display. As a manufacturing engineer for MSA, Paul oversaw the building of quite a few of the molds used to make this very lamp.

Leaving Davis Mountain SP, we continued south to Seminole Canyon State Park. Home to Native American rock art, The Fate Bell Shelter Tour is a rugged hike to the bottom of the canyon to see the pictographs first hand led by members of The Rock Art Foundation. The rock overhang in the distance is the Fate Bell Shelter. Although it's hard to tell from the photograph, the floor of the canyon at this point is at least 100' below the rim.

Unfortunately, because of the ruggedness of the trail and Margery's bad knees, we were unable to take the tour, but the state park headquarters had an outstanding interpretive center.

Wondering where the canyons that crisscross this area come from, we learned that hurricanes which hit the lower southwest edge of Texas can dump up to 20 inches of rain in this area helping carve out the canyons.

The area around Semiole Canyon is one of those diamonds in the rough. A short distance from Langtry, TX, we toured Judge Roy Bean's Saloon and home. Known as "The Hanging Judge," there's no evidence that he ever hanged anyone. One or two were taken to the gallows, but were allowed to escape.

This colorful character was self-named "the Law West of the Pecos." Only in the old west could a murderer known for dueling, gambling, and swindling by selling watered-down milk and stolen firewood be appointed a Justice of the Peace. Here is a sample of Judge Bean's "law."

Between Langtry and the state park, there were some great observation points. Here in the foreground you see the Pecos River. Right beyond the cliff at the end of the far bank it flows into the Rio Grande River.  The hills in the distance are in Mexico.

One of the benefits of keeping a loose travel schedule, is the freedom to change plans on a moment's notice. Seeing an advertisement for Alamo Village, "the most active and versatile outdoor movie set," we put it on our itinerary.

Located in Brackettville, it was built by John Wayne and ranch owner Happy Shahan in the late 50's for John Wayne's movie, Alamo. This working movie set includes no false fronts and everything needed for a western film, i.e. hotel, bank, sheriff's office and jail, undertaker's shop, blacksmith, and livery among many other buildings including, of course, a replica of the Alamo.

Today, the real Alamo in San Antonio consists only of the restored mission building. When defended by the famous freedom fighters, however, the Alamo was a sprawling mission-fortress covering nearly four acres of ground. John Wayne and Happy Shahan constructed two distinct areas: the Alamo mission complex and the western/Mexican town.

During our visit, we met the  "marshal," Rich Curilla, a fellow-Pennsylvanian and a '69 Penn State graduate in film production.

Rich was a wealth of information about the movies and stars who are part of the Alamo Village history. He had great stories to share about Jimmy Stewart, James Garner, John Schneider and Matt Damon; but his all-time favorite was Mary Stuart Masterson who stared with Drew Barrymore in Bad Girls filmed in 1993.

More than 200 major motion pictures, music videos, commercials, and documentaries have been filmed here including Lonesome Dove and James Michner's Texas. The next filming is scheduled for early May, and the Village will be open to tourists during filming. Marshal Curilla helps tourists find the best viewing locations without disrupting the filming.

Rich told us about some ambitious plans on the drawing board for Alamo Village, and we look forward to returning in the future.

Historic Fort Clark Springs was our "home" during our visit at Alamo Village. Fort Clark was established on the banks of Las Moras Creek by the U.S. Army in 1852 to protect a segment of the "lower road" from San Antonio to El Paso as well as frontier settlers from Indians and bandits. Virtually all cavalry units including the the 9th and 10th "Buffalo Soldiers" were  stationed here before it was decomissioned in 1946. General George Marshall, US Chief of Staff, and General George Patton, famous for his operations in North Africa, both during World War II, served here in the late 30's.

Today, Fort Clark is a gated resort and leisure-living community. Over 80 historic buildings, many still in use for their original intended purposes, are preserved in this unique community which includes an RV park with full-hook-ups and Texas-friendly residents.

Lake Casa Blanca International State Park is located in Laredo, TX; and it was our "holding" location until it was time to check-in to our March destination.

This was a busy, suburban park that saw a lot of activity during the week and on the weekend. The Mexicans are a fun-loving people who enjoy spending time together as a family.

Laredo was a charming city with a shopping district down by the Laredo International Bridge to Mexico that reminded us of "The Strip" in Pittsburgh...full of colorful, ethnic stores. We were struck by the architectural appeal of the area.

We had made reservations for the month of March in Bentsen Palm Village in Mission, TX, so our transient travels through southwest Texas came to an end all to quickly.  We didn't have time to visit Big Bend National Park but we've put it on our list for another time. However, we were looking forward to staying planted in one place for month, the longest we will have spent in one place since we went on the road last July.

Check out the Photo Album: 014: Journey to South Texas for pictures of the campgrounds we visited and more pictures of our adventures.

One of our final excursions before leaving Florida was a trip to Daytona to tour the International Speedway. Being NASCAR fans, it was a great opportunity to learn about the history of the sport and to actually experience the 31 degree bank! This picture of the Daytona race on the beach in the 1950s was remarkable for the undeveloped area to the right of the beach as seen in this picture!

Additional pictures of Daytona and other experiences are in Photo Album: 011: Heading West on I-10.

We enjoyed our month in Florida and now understand why so many snowbirds call it home during the winter. In addition to visiting with Pittsburgh friends, Pat and Wink Daniel, at their home in The Villages and also with Paul's aunt whom we hadn't seen since Paul's dad died, here are some of the reasons we liked Florida:

• There are so many live oaks, that it’s green all winter.
• Even when it gets dark early, you can still spend the evening with the door open.
• You can drive in and out of rain showers within 1 mile.
• The clouds are puffy, cumulus, and seem like you can touch them. They are rarely steel grey all over like Pittsburgh skies.
• You can hear birds chirping even in December.
• Flowers bloom in December…even wild flowers.

Our goal this winter is to explore Florida, south Texas, and Arizona for consideration for next winter. Much to Margery's surprise, Florida is worthy of serious consideration. : )

We try to maintain a four-hour travel day so we allowed 2 1/2 weeks to travel the 2,200-mile, 45-hour drive to Quartzsite. We left Bushnell, Florida on December 28 planning to get to Rainbow Plantation (another Escapee park) in Alabama for the new year's weekend. As we traveled north on I-75, the number of palm trees decreased  while we traveled through horse farm country. Watching the changing terrain  has been one of the most interesting things we have found about traveling west.

We were amazed by the number of pine forests in the panhandle of Florida.Our weekend in south  Alabama gave us the opportunity to see the less developed and more accessible beaches of Gulf Shoes and Orange. Even though it was gray and threatening rain, we drove down the peninsula and found large stretches of beach with no houses blocking beach access. There was also quite a bit of property for sale which made us wonder if some homes were destroyed during Hurricane Katrina.

Our travels across Louisiana and eastern Texas deserve another trip before forming an opinion. We drove through heavy rain which caused this small pond at our overnight stop to overflow its banks.

We spent the weekend in Livingston,TX, at the home base of Escapees. The highlight of our stay was attending a church where teenagers filled the whole front half of the church and took the initiative to stand during worship, to raise their hands in praise, and to be pro-active in moving out of the pews to greet adults during the fellowship portion of the service. It was also the first time we ever saw the minister's wife walk down the aisles shaking people's hands and welcoming them to the service for about 10 minutes before the service. The other thing we appreciated about the service was the opportunity for quiet, personal prayer...lasting more than 20 seconds.

At this juncture, we revised our travel schedule several times as the forecast for nighttime temperatures in the teens was predicted across the south. We had planned to stay in Pecos for three days, but we revised our plans to stay only two days so we could move out and get far enough west before the low temperatures hit.

The high point of our stay in Pecos was the West of the Pecos Museum  which is housed in a saloon built in 1896, by R. S. Johnson, a former Texas Ranger. The red sandstone building included the saloon on the first floor with bedrooms upstairs. In 1904, the three-story Orient Hotel was added and was in use until the mid-1950s.

There were over 50 rooms of exhibits: artifacts, history, and West Texas lore. Additional pictures in the photo album capture some of the notable and quirky displays.

Another fascinating thing we learned was the presence of the Permian Sea, a large underground saltwater sea located under the west Texas desert. Water from this sea is pumped to the surface and used to raise "the sweetest, cleanest, best-tasting shrimp." The Permian Sea Shrimp Store is definitely on our list to visit  when we pass through Texas another time.

Pecos is also known for its cantaloupe. Although the varieties grown in other areas are the same, climate, soil, and cultivation methods account for the distinctiveness of Pecos melons. Pecos cantaloupes first became popular and in wide demand when they were sold to the Texas and Pacific Railroad to serve in their dining cars.

As we traveled I-10 across west Texas, the landscape changed dramatically. The live oaks and other trees became smaller and were eventually replaced by mesquite and creosote bushes and prickly pear cactus. We passed miles and miles of this landscape never seeing a house or a person and rarely grazing cattle.

At the end of western Texas, entering New Mexico, the terrain began changing again. We were struck by these mountains rising above us.

When we are traveling on successive days, we usually stay at Passport America campgrounds along the interstate that provide pull-through sites. These are very convenient, but not too quiet., so we were delighted to find Caverns of Sonora. Located six miles from the interstate and situated in the heart of a ranch, there was an RV park in addition to the caverns. Unfortunately, I was not able to take the cavern tour. The sign in the office said there were 360 steps on the tour and 1 3/4 hours of walking. That's more than my knees can handle. However, the wildlife and quiet in the area was amazing!

As we continued across  New Mexico and into Arizona, the changing landscape continued to enthrall us.

Driving through Phoenix on a Saturday proved to be a challenge as the road seemed inadequate for the amount of traffic. However, as we pulled into Saddle Mountain RV Park (a Passport America campground) in the setting sun, we were rewarded with the changing colors on the mountains surrounding the campground.

While staying at Saddle Mountain, we took a day trip to Wickenburg, AZ . This town deserves more than a couple of hours to explore so this trip we reconnoitered for a more in-depth visit in the future.  Located on the northern edge of the Sonoran Desert, we were captivated with the colors and textures of the vegetation and the beauty of the mountains. We'll sure to be back to visit the Hassayampa River Preserve, Desert Caballeros Western Museum, and Vulture Mine which is an abandoned gold mine. Wickenburg is also home to Rumuda Ranch offers biblically-based residential programs for women and girls suffering from eating disorders and related issues.

Although we've had two nights in the 20s, we did miss lows in the teens as we had hoped. Thursday we travel the 70 miles to begin our Quartzsite stay. This will include self-sufficient camping in the desert…meaning without any hookups. We will depend on our water tanks, generator, and batteries to provide us with electricity and heat. Conservation will be the word of the day. We look forward to sharing with you our Quartzsite experience.

 

Blessings of the Season!

This is our first Christmas on the road. Having sold everything, including all the decorations, we were pleased to find this nativity on the wall in the country of Mexico at Epcot's World Showcase, to put on our bulletin board.

We're looking forward to a simplified holiday where we are not exhausted with work, decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking and entertaining. To be sure, we'll miss the family in general and Lora and J. Michael in particular, but we're not missing the frenzy.

We wish for you some quiet moments to reflect on the greatest gift we could receive...a relationship with our Father through His Son Jesus, that we might enjoy abundant life in Him. May He who is worthy of all our praises bring peace, hope, and love to all your days.

Following our Savannah explorations, we headed for Disney World. Last time we visited was in 1979 when our daughter, Lora, was 6; and at that time there was only the Magic Kingdom. Because this time we were staying about 35 minutes from the park, we opted for 7-day tickets which we used over 9 days.

We had purchased "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007" by Bob Sehlinger while in Savannah. It was well worth the $20. In researching for our visit, we found that the addition of Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM, can make a vacation overwhelming.This book was an invaluable tool for strategizing to make the best use of our time and to see everything we wanted to see. It helped us answer the questions: Where can we get the best price for tickets? How to do Disney on a budget? What is the best way to navigate the WDW complex for parking and getting into the parks? What is Fastpass and what is the best way to use it? How can you beat the crowds during each park's busy days? ...and many more we wouldn't have even thought of.

The first week of December is supposed to be one of the "slowest" weeks of the year for visiting Disney. It still seemed very busy to us, and we couldn't believe the number of children who were out of school for a Disney vacation, but we never had to wait more than 10-15 minutes to get on any ride and never needed to use a Fastpass. We kept saying we couldn't even begin to imagine Disney in the middle of summer or during Christmas week.

One of the things we enjoyed the most was the Candlelight Processional in Epcot's World Showcase.

It is a retelling of the Christmas story narrated by different guest celebrities during the season. (Dancing with the Stars' Mario Lopez was the narrator the night we saw it.) A 400-voice choir, joined by a 50-piece live orchestra tell the story of Christmas in words and music. It was a moving performance. We were blessed to have been there.

Everything at WDW is well-done. We found only one or two exceptions to the pleasant, extremely helpful, and well-informed "cast" members. Everything is immaculate EVERYWHERE...including the corners in the bathrooms! They are ingenious in their ability to move large numbers of people and they make waiting entertaining by cast members engaging the crowd ...from skipping rope to playing the Hokey Pokey .

Some of the highlights of our visit were:

MGM - Extreme Stunt Show;

Fantasmic, a production that uses lasers,images projected on a shroud of mis, fireworks, lighting effects and music in stunning combinations.

Animal Kingdom - Safari, Festival of the Lion King and the Tree of Life.

and Epcot - Soarin';  Living with the Land; and Illuminations, the after-dark program of music, fireworks, erupting fountains, special lighting and laser technology.

We enjoyed taking the monorail to re-visit the Polynesian where we stayed in '79. We also wanted to see the The Grand Floridian Hotel first-hand. We had read that it was beautiful.

We concur.

The last day we went to the Magic Kingdom. As much as we enjoyed the other parks, the Magic Kingdom IS the essence of Disney World...and it is still for young and old. You can view more pictures of a Disney Christmas in Photo Album: 010: Disney in December.

Following our trip to Disney, we headed to the Escapee park, Sumter Oaks, in Bushnell where we plan to stay through Christmas. In addition to our Nativity, we have simple decorations which are working well. A quilted Christmas table runner, a wreath hanging on the outside of the motorhome, and some greenery around the bulletin board, and we're ready for the holidays.

The Saturday after we arrived, we were able to see the space launch of Discovery from the campground. Against the dark sky we were able to watch the Discovery rise above the horizon, drop the booster and, continue until it  looked like a bright star. We were amazed that we could still see it three-quarters across the state.

Next week we'll gather with other folks here at the campground for carols and hot chocolate around a campfire and there's dinner on Christmas in the rec room. Contrary to what I always believed about Christmas in Florida ("Seasons Greetings" on a card with pink flamingos and palm trees), Christmas decorations seem to be about the same as in the north... even the inevitable snowman!

On December 28, we'll leave Florida to head out to Arizona for Quartzsite. Held every January, Quartzsite is a small town of 2,000 people the rest of the year but swells to over 1,000,000 over the winter months. We'll be camping on the desert with upwards to 40,000 - 50,000 other RVs. We should have some tales to tell.

We'll post our adventures of our trip to Arizona on the weblog in mid-January. We wish you and yours a happy new year!

In mid-September, we attended a week-long Escapade sponsored by the Escapees RV Club. Over 1,400 diverse people descended on the Van Wert Fairgrounds in Ohio. It was interesting to see all manner of recreational vehicles from vans to motorhomes with many fifth wheels in between...they were as diverse as the people. We got a lot of good information at the seminars we attended. From Foto Fixin' to Veterinary Care; Honey, Let's Clean the RV to Don't Go Without Velcro. Handling Medical Emergencies, Geocaching, and How to Live in a Sardine Can were some of the other classes we took. With over 700 RVs parked in every nook and cranny, we were fortunate to be parked along one of the main thoroughfares close to everything. It was really helpful to have the scooter to tool around in....Paul's already trying to figure out how to hook up a seat to tow behind it so he can ride too! :)

Following the Escapade, Ohio's Grand Lake St. Marys State Park (a Passport America campground) was our home base for a week before meeting Lora and J. Michael for a fall weekend in the Amish country in Holmes County, OH. This 13,500-acre lake was the largest man-made lake in the world when it was completed in 1845 and has 60 miles of shoreline. It took 8 years for 1,700 workers using hand tools to make the reservoir for the Miami-Erie Canal. In the late 1890s oil was discovered and for a time the lake was dotted with oil derricks. Today, a pile of rocks near the center of the lake marks the spot of the last producing well.  A side note:  For those who have requested it, we were able to get a picture of the motorhome with the satellite deployed. It is in the Photo Album 007: Ohio to Pennsylvania.

We enjoyed biking, watching the sunsets,

and exploring the town of St. Marys. We found Memorial Park which included a replica of the Belle of St. Marys canal boat, a clock tower, and a covered bridge.

It was heartwarming to read about the building of the Memorial Covered Bridge dedicated in 1992. It seems that the citizens of St. Marys had traveled to a town in North Carolina following a hurricane to deliver much-needed donated hay. A continuing relationship was built between the two cities and the NC city donated the shingles for the Memorial Covered Bridge.

This 8-inch Rodman gun was made at Ft. Pitt, PA in 1864! There are additional pictures in this edition's photo album.

A week later we were on our way to Berlin, OH. We had a great fall weekend with Lora and J. Michael enjoying the beauty of God's creation and some of the fun people have with it. :)

Paul got some more great fall pictures in the photo album.

The first week of October found us in Pittsburgh being poked, squished, probed, adjusted, shot, etc. Molly even got her teeth cleaned! It feels really good to be all caught up on our medical appointments for the year. We also had nice visits with Paul's step-mom and my dad. Both are doing well. We are so blessed to have parents and a daughter who encourage us in our lifestyle. It could be best summed up in Dad's parting greeting, "Happy landings!"

We spent a few days in Gettysburg riding our bikes, visiting the Boyd's Bear Country, re-exploring the battle through a very well-done  Gettysburg Battlefield Diorama,  touring the Confederate side of the  battlefield, cruising around the fruit-laden apple orchards in the area AND getting Paul's Golden Age Passport which gives us 50% discount at all national parks, Corps of Engineers campgrounds, and Bureau of Land Management. Molly even made nice with some barnyard animals. :)

A bonus of our Gettysburg campsite at Artillery Ridge  (a Passport America campground) was that it was in the horse camp.  The camp was full with people who trailered in their horses for a weekend of riding the battlefields.  It sounded like the 35 Boy Scouts tent camping in the field behind us had a good time, too. :)

While biking on the Union side of the battlefield, we stopped to read some of the memorials. The men of the 1st Minnesota are most remembered for their actions on July 2 resulting in in the prevention of a serious breach in the Union line. The regiment was ordered to assault a much larger enemy force in an effort to buy time while other forces were brought up. Of the  262  soldiers, only 49  survived and to this day  the 82% casualty rate stands as the largest loss  by any surviving military unit in American  history.   

We've been blessed to be able to enjoy some beautiful fall weather before the wind and rains brought down the colorful leaves.

We're off to Lancaster before heading south to Williamsburg. Highs in the 40's means its time to move on. :)

We left Branson knowing that we would return. We belong to Escapees, an organization whose mission is to provide a total support network for RVers. About Escapees We stayed at their campground in Branson...full-service hook-ups for just $15/night and 7th night free. They are on the fringes of Branson, so we're close to all the action but it's relatively quiet.

We headed east to meet Lora and J. Michael for Labor Day at our favorite Ohio State Park, Caesar Creek between Dayton and Cincinnati.

We needed two places to stop on the way east. One of the joys of full-timing is being on your own schedule. We try to get settled in a spot by mid-week so that we don't compete with the weekend warriors.

Meramec State Park in Missouri was beautiful when we pulled in...sun-dappled sites and nearly empty. This is a popular park for tubing and canoing down the Meramec River. There are caverns nearby, too. Meramec State Park  However, rain can be a problem as the campground is located on a flood plain. In fact, the campground is inaccessible when the river floods. Because it's been so dry, that wasn't a problem during our visit, but there is not good drainage when it rains. The water even pooled on our cement pad.

For our second stop, we chose a city park in Paris, IL, rather than Lincoln Trail State Park also in Illinois. However, the on-line description of Lincoln Trail said that it had a heavily wooded shoreline along the lake. So, I ASSUMED that the campground would be heavily wooded as well. Since Paul says his underwear gets moldy if there are too many trees and not enough sun, we thought the city park would be a better choice.

Well, you just can't make assumptions. After traveling 10 miles off the interstate to Paris, we found the city park lovely, but the camp sites on a slope that made it impossible to level the motor home...so we headed back 10 miles to the interstate and then another 5 miles south to Lincoln Trail. WOW...this is what we found.

It's a beautifully  maintained park with great places to bike ride and hike. There's plenty of sunshine but shade too with a tree on each campsite.  Lincoln Trail State Park Open year round, we'll definitely find our way back here.

We had a great visit with Lora and J. Michael. We took in our two favorite flea markets and took a day trip to Metamora, IN, about 1 1/2 hours away.

Metamora is a quaint, 1838 canal town where you can actually ride in a horse-drawn canal boat on the Whitewater Canal.  It's a charming journey back in time  with a grist mill and the only wooden aqueduct in the United States. As with all canals, the railroads brought their demise. We've seen canal ruins in the past, but we really enjoyed seeing a working canal. There are additional pictures of this historic town in the Heading East Photo Album. Check out their website at Metamora, IN

Currently, Metamora is running a campaign to elect an honorary mayor. There are two requirements in order to run:

• The Candidate must be breathing.
• The Candidate must not have more than four legs.

The website states: "This Mayor campaign will be ran just like any other democratic election process: You buy your way in!"

This is a creative fund raiser to help build a state-of-the-art interpretive center to promote and preserve the canal era history. Here are some of the candidate posters around town.

For more information about the Honorary Mayoral race in Metamora, click on this link. Metamora Mayoral Race  They're having a lot of fun with it.

We're currently in Delaware State Park (a Passport America campground) north of Columbus. It's been a treat to stay put for 9 days...and as it turns out, we're the only ones in our loop of 10 sites. That's one of the unique things about this park...it is made up of 20 loops with about 10-15 sites per loop. Lots of hiking trails and the bike riding is great.   Delaware State Park

Today, we imbibed of the famous Fried Bologna Sandwiches at the G & R Tavern in Waldo, OH. Now, you might we wondering what's so special about fried bologna...which was our initial thought, too. However, we had heard so much about it starting with the CBS Morning News back in 2003 and from various sources since, we had it on our "Must Try" list for quite some time. Twelve thirty on a Thursday afternoon and the place is jumpin'. There were cars from Virginia and Michigan in addition to Ohio and, of course, our South Dakota Vue. The sandwich is huge, inexpensive, and dee-licious. The mile-high cream pies looked great...we just had to bring home two slices for tonight's dessert. For more information about Fried Bologna Sandwiches at G & R Tavern, click on this link. G & R Tavern, Waldo, OH

Next week, we'll be attending a week-long Escapees Fall Rally at the Van Wert County Fairgrounds here in Ohio, about 2 1/2 hours northwest of here. It's a week full of a variety of seminars, entertainment, and meetin' and greetin' other RVers. We're looking forward to it.

Our new lifestyle continues to be surreal in many ways. We still have to catch ourselves thinking we have to pack up to get back home and then realizing we don't. We were able to take advantage of an "early bird special" at a restaurant and having time to read, study, or do whatever is still a treat beyond imagination. We're so grateful for this opportunity.