travelingtheusa

[travelingtheusa]

TEXAS

2024 Apr 16 (Tue) – We went into town and had lunch at Opas Smoked Meats.  Joe & Diane met us there.  It was a kind of deli that also made sandwiches.  Paul and I both had chicken salad.  The bread was dry and crumbly but the salad was good.  Everyone wanted to walk the town but I was feeling woozy and went home to nap.  Every few months, I get that.  I think it’s the medication.

      At 5 p.m. we went over to Bill & Rhonda’s RV to join the remaining group of Cajuns (several have left) for a grilling.  We brought over chicken to grill.  Others brought steaks or burgers.  It was a very pleasant evening.  The sunset was beautiful with a bright red sky.

2024 Apr 15 (Mon) – We went to WalMart to pick up a few things.  My pedi-shaver and Paul’s shaver both quit on us.  We also got Sheba a new scratching post and a mat for underneath the cat box.  Still couldn’t find drawer slides.  *sigh*

      We did the laundry today.  For a resort, the machines were cheap!  Just $1.50 for washers and $1.00 for dryers.  It made me wish I had more laundry to do.  😊

      The President of SMART and his wife, Richard & Mary, drove in from San Antonio to join the group for potluck tonight.  We went over to visit with him at John & Kathy’s RV.  At 4 p.m. we went into the community hall for happy hour.  At 5:30 p.m. all the food was cooked and we shared a potluck meal.  Past President Willie and his wife Joyce also came in to visit.  It was quite enjoyable.

2024 Apr 14 (Sun) – We drove to Luckenbach this morning with Joe & Diane.  It is a modern day ghost town.  Three people live in the town but they have wooden buildings with shops, a large dance hall, and a stage for musicians.  The schedule is for music all weekend and there was a band setting up while we were there.  We got lunch at the one food truck in town.  It was far more reasonable than the food truck we ate at yesterday!  We wandered around the town, reading information plaques and memorial signs for those who started the town.  It was established in 1850 and closed in 1971.  Individuals have come along and made the town a tourist stop.  The lady who owned the hat store was from upstate New York and we enjoyed conversing with her about the poor state of affairs back home.  We then wandered through the general store and picked up a Christmas ornament.

      Our next stop was at Meierstone Winery.  John & Kathy know the owner and arranged for a tasting for a group of 12 of us.  I didn’t like any of the wine.  Paul bought 2 bottles.

      After our return to the campground and a quick nap, we went to happy hour.  Paul brought over the beanbag baseball game and we had a rousing competition.  It was fun.

      Sheba is doing better.  She, at least, is looking to eat again.  That was a pretty bad flare up she had.

2024 Apr 13 (Sat) – We ran into town to pick up a few things from WalMart.  Paul is still searching for 12” drawer slides.   It’s still the only size missing in all the stores we look in.  We stopped at the Auslander Restaurant for lunch.  It as a quaint German restaurant.  There were cuckoo clocks on the wall and the stuffed heads of elk and moose around the room.  Paintings were hanging to depict the German countryside.

      After happy hour, Joe & Diane and we went over to a parking lot next to the campground where there are six food trucks parked.  We got burgers.  It was quite expensive!  There was a band getting ready to play some music.

2024 Apr 12 (Fri) – We packed up and left Elm Mott (Waco) at 9:30 a.m.  With Joe & Diane in tow, we headed out to Fredericksburg.  Johnny & Linda dropped in on our group about half way here.  We pulled off into a WalMart parking lot to make sandwiches, then continued to Fredericksburg RV Park.  We were here back in 2017.  It’s still a very nice campground.  And the laundry is cheap, too!  $150 for washers and $1 for dryers.  They have a community room that the Cajuns will use for our 5-day stay here.  We all enjoyed happy hour at 4 p.m.  The group had a potluck for dinner at 5 p.m.

2024 Apr 11 (Thu) – We had a delightful tour of the Waco Mammoth National Monument this morning.  I thought we had seen it before but it was totally unfamiliar to both of us.  Two boys found a bone while exploring a creek bed.  They brought it to a nearby museum.  It turned out to be the leg bone of a Columbian mammoth.  Excavation found 15 mammoths at the site.  It was a nursery herd that was at a watering hole when a flash flood trapped them in the mud (or so they hypothesize).  Since, they have discovered more bones and are still digging out more remains.

      The dig site was covered by a large building.  We walked in the door and were on a suspended walkway that looked down on the dig site.  There were several bones marked with signs identifying where remains were found as well as implements spread around the place telling what they are used for.  It was an interesting stop.

      After the monument, Johnny & Linda and Joe & Diane and we went to lunch at Ninfa’s Mexican restaurant.  The food was very good.  We then ran some errands – stopped at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Ace Hardware looking for drawer slides to repair the desk drawers.  There seems to be a shortage of 12” drawer slides.  There are many other sizes in stock, but no 12”.  Wonder what’s going on.  We also stopped at H.E.B. to pick up potatoes for potato salad for a potluck and the gas station to fuel up for tomorrow’s move.

      When we got back, we had happy hour where the group played card bingo.  It was a good night for the Thomases!  I won a game and Paul won 2 games.  All in all, we won $20.  Then we went to Johnny & Linda’s new rig for dinner.  She made chicken and rice; I made a salad.  They traded their Class A for a Class C rig.  It is much smaller than their previous rig and they are adjusting to it.  We are still adjusting.  Both of us keep going to the wrong cabinet for the garbage.  Just got used to where things were before.

2024 Apr 10 (Wed) – It was raining lightly this morning.  We packed up and with Joe & Diane in tow, we pulled out at 9:35 a.m.  The rain picked up over the ride and it poured buckets during some parts of the trip.  We traveled Route 31 to Elm Mott, just outside of Waco.  There was a section of road that so bad.  We hit many bumps.  When we got to the campground and opened the slide on the RV, we had damage.  The drawers on the desk had opened and caught the side of the slide.  Two drawers were damaged beyond repair and the trim piece around the slideout was pulled out.  We also found another leak in the RV.  *sigh*  I am suffering buyer’s remorse.  There are several things about this RV that I am not happy with.

     After set up, we did the laundry.  At 5 p.m. we went over to the community room where almost everyone else joined us for happy hour.  There were some very tasty snacks.  When we got back, I worked on sending out a newsletter about the upcoming National Muster in September while Paul went out to Home Depot to buy material to repair the drawers.  They did not have everything we needed but there was a liquor store next door.  Paul was able to replenish our alcohol supply, so all was not lost.

2024 Apr 9 (Tue) – It rained all morning and didn’t clear up until almost 2 p.m.  Because of the rain, no one really did any activities together.  At 4 p.m. we climbed into Joe & Diane’s car and drove down to Easley’s Steakhouse where about 12 of us had dinner.  There definitely seems to be a very strong schism in the Cajuns chapter.  Doug, who was supposed to be coordinating activities, hasn’t done any planning and has shared no information.  There is a lot of grumbling about the lack of communication. 

       After dinner, Joe, Diane and we went to the town square to explore.  We parked and walked around the block.  Like many small towns we have been in, Canton’s court house is located in the middle of the square.  Stores and shops surround the court house on all 4 sides.  We had to cross the road at each corner to go to the next area.  Most of the stores were closed.

       Afterward, we came home and prepared for tomorrow's move.

2024 Apr 8 (Mon) – Today was the Solar Eclipse.  We worried about the weather – forecasts were for thunderstorms and hail starting around the time of the eclipse.  Although there were scattered clouds, we were still able to gather together and watch the eclipse.  Totality took place at 1:44 p.m.  It got pretty dark for a few minutes.  Automatic sensors turned on outside lights.  Bo grilled up some hamburgers and Diane made chili.  The rain started after 7 p.m. tonight.  Paul discovered that the window next to the desk is where the leak in our side cabinet is coming from.  He’ll take a look at it tomorrow.

2024 Apr 7 (Sun) – We worked around the rig, continuing to plan our Michigan caravan next year.  Paul and I went food shopping to pick up snacks for happy hour.   Happy hour was at 4:30 p.m.  We went to dinner with Joe & Diane, Johnny & Linda, and Hank and Brender.  We ate at Val’s Italian Restaurant.  There has been a band playing in the field across from the parking lot for 2 nights.  We sit in the rig and listen to them playing.

2024 Apr 6 (Sat) – We left the Shreveport Elks Lodge at 10:30 a.m.  The drive was just 2 hours.  We stopped for lunch at a rest hour about half an hour away from Canton.  When we came out of the rig, we discovered we were hemmed in by 2 semi-trailers.  We started to back up when they both pulled out.  That was a pain in the butt!

      When we got to First Monday Trade Days Campground, we had to call to the camp host, Frank.  He arrived in his little golf cart and led us to our site.  We are basically located in a huge open dirt lot with rows of hookups.  Every site is a pull thru.  It is good to see many of our friends here: John & Kathy from our Appalachian Caravan this past October, Johnny & Linda (who we just left in Chatham, LA), Joe & Diane, Bo & Karen from Mississippi, and Hank and “Brender” (Brenda with an accent) from south Texas.  There was happy hour at 4:30 as we all caught up with one another on what we’ve been up to.  Four of us have new rigs so it was fun touring everyone’s camper to ooh and aah over them.   

[travelingtheusa]

LOUISIANA

2024 Apr 5 (Fri) – We went into the lodge at 5:30 p.m. for fried catfish dinner.  It was OK.  The pieces of catfish looked weird and were dipped in cornmeal.  They seem to prefer cornmeal to flour in their fried food down here in the south.  They had a band playing on the stage and the place was packed.  This Elks Lodge is doing very well, although the bartender told us they had 2,000 members at one time.  Not so many now.  Just like all other lodges.

2024 Apr 4 (Thu) – We packed up and left the Leggetts at 11 a.m.  It was less than 2 hours to the Shreveport Elks Lodge.  There were six parking spaces designated as RV sites.  Ha ha ha.  This must have been done before RVs had slideouts.  It was extremely tight.

      This has to be the biggest Elks Lodge we have ever been to.  There is a huge swimming pool with two slides and a kiddie pool.  They have a train caboose converted to a bar.  There is a large pond in the back with lots of woods and grassy area.  Inside the lodge, they have a very large party room adjacent to the large bar/lounge area.  Yet, we only paid $25 a night.  That’s what I’m talking about!

2024 Apr 3 (Wed) – We stayed around the camper all day.  I worked with Linda to sew a few things.  Paul helped Johnny around the place to include a good, long ride on a mower.  He got his fix!  We watched the sunset from the boathouse and shared our fellowship for the last night.  Tomorrow, we move.

2024 Apr 2 (Tue) – We worked around the camper today.  I have been sending emails out to campgrounds and venues in Michigan and Wisconsin for our caravan next year.  It is a little disheartening.  There are areas that are so popular that there are no sites available.  The EAA airshow is especially hard to get near.  I hope we can pull this caravan off.

      In the meantime, Johnny’s Louisiana caravan has been approved and is posted on the SMART website.  Paul is working on building the route and getting pictures to post on our video promoting the caravan.

2024 Apr 1 (Mon) – Paul and Johnny rode to Monroe to pick up Johnny’s new truck.  It turned out not to be the color they promised (charcoal grey) but he took the truck any way.  Depending on how the light hits it, it can look grey or brown.  In the meantime, Linda and I went into Ruston and I shopped for capris and shorts.

2024 Mar 31 (Sun – Easter) – We wanted to go to church but the Methodist Church in Chatham closed permanently.  We weren’t sure about Jonesboro either.  So we had our own service.  We went out to the boathouse where Linda sang hymns and I read from the bible.  It was very nice.  Then we had a delightful meal of baked ham, sweet potatoes, collard greens, broccoli and brownies.

2024 Mar 30 (Sat) – We went out for lunch today at Johnny’s Pizza House.  As New York pizza aficionados, I was leery but it was OK.  It was like some other places where we have been.  They have several kinds of pizzas on the buffet.  Included are dessert pizzas with sweet toppings rather than cheese and meats.

2024 Mar 29 (Fri) – Linda and I went into West Monroe to buy her a dress for an upcoming retirement ceremony for their son.  They live really far from everything.  It was an hour just to get to a mall.  I like their property right on the lake with lots of trees and few neighbors, but I don’t think I would like being so far away from civilization.

      Tonight, we went to a nearby marina on the lake where they had karaoke night.  Several people were lined up to sing.  They were all pretty good.  The burgers were tasty.

2024 Mar 26-28 (Tue-Thu) – We’ve been busy catching up with each other.  Linda is recovering from a broken foot and has taken up a walking routine as part of her therapy.  We have been walking together.

2024 Mar 25 (Mon) – We packed up and left Breaux Bridge at 9:30 a.m.  It was raining along the route.  It really came down when we arrived at Johnny & Linda’s, where we will be parked in their back yard for 10 days.  We sat in the truck for about 15 minutes waiting for the storm to blow over.  When it lightened up (it never stopped raining), I got out and talked Paul into the back yard.  We were almost in place when the truck got stuck in the mud.  We stopped right there and ran the lines out.

      Johnny & Linda were thrilled to see us.  Linda had leftover chicken spaghetti.  Their grandchildren were over yesterday and she had made a large casserole for them.  We enjoyed the meal very much.  We spent the evening talking about our two caravans set for next year.  Johnny is working on a 32 day caravan around Louisiana and we are working on the 48 day caravan through Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

2024 Mar 24 (Sun) – We went out to get fuel for tomorrow’s move.  Also stopped at Super1Foods to pick up some groceries.

2024 Mar 23 (Sat) – I am back from my trip to New York.  It was a quick, whirlwind trip.  My sister picked me up at the airport and I stayed with her for 2 nights.  We went out to dinner to Matsulin on Friday.  Sue went with me to the VA on Thursday where I got a new set of hearing aids.  The right ear does not fit very well.  The audiologist tried sanding the piece down but it just doesn’t fit well.  I will have to bring it back for adjustment the next time I go to New York.  That night, we went to play in Quogue to see a play by the Hampton Theater Company, Strictly Murder.  It was a nice local theater production.  Sue brought me back to the airport on Friday.  I was back in Louisiana at 6:30 p.m.

      This morning, we packed up and left Slidell at 10:35 a.m.  The drive a little over 3 hours.  We are staying at Poche’s Fish Camp.  We have been here a few times before.  It is very nice with 4 lakes for folks to fish in.  Campsites are lined up around the perimeter of the biggest lake.  We stopped at their market on the way in to get cracklins and some lunch.

2024 Mar 19 (Tue) – We drove to the post office to send off postcards to our grandsons.  Lunch was back at the Southside Café.  We hadn’t intended to eat there but a few wrong turns brought us back there.  The food wasn’t bad.  Afterward, we stopped at Home Depot so Paul could get some parts, etc. for projects around the rig.  I will be flying back to NY tomorrow.  It’s a quick trip for 3 days – fly out on Wednesday, go to the VA on Thursday, fly back on Friday.  Move to the next campground on Saturday.  It will be a fast few days.  I will be staying with my sister, Susan.

2024 Mar 18 (Mon) – We went out for lunch to Southside Café.  It is apparently owned by a former Marine.  There were tons of military paraphernalia around the café.  We enjoyed our meal.  Everything is soaked around the campground.  We didn’t go out much today.

2024 Mar 17 (Sun – St Paddy’s Day) – We pulled up stakes and left Eglin AFB at 9:30 a.m.  It took us a bit longer to close up than it did with the Vilano.  This rig seems to require a bit more work.  Anyway, we left and drove over 3 ½ hours to our next stop.  It rained most of the way, sometimes quite heavily.  We stopped for a quick bite to eat at a rest area about 20 miles from our destination.

      We arrived at the Elks Lodge in Slidell around 1 p.m.  This is where our high adventure began.  As I said, it had been raining heavily.  The campground had laid down gravel in their parking area.  Their six campsites all back up to a pond, with another one on the opposite side next to a pavilion.  When Paul tried to back up into the campsite, the truck got stuck in the mud.  He tried rocking the rig back and forth but he only dug the tires in deeper.  We wound up dropping the legs on the trailer and raising it so that we got the weight off the truck.  Then Paul dug around the tires and tired laying down boards.  The camp host, Lee, also tried to help.  None of that worked.  By the way, we were doing all this in a light rain.  We were all covered with mud and soaked through.

      Finally, exhausted and spent, Lee brought over a tractor.  We disconnected the RV and Lee pulled the truck out.  Then Paul brought the truck back under the RV at a 90° angle.  He then dragged the RV sideways.  It came along and we were out!  We then chose a different site to back into.  We were finally set up around 3:30 p.m.  After set up, we went to WalMart to get groceries and more specifically, food for Sheba, since she was down to one can.  We stopped at Copeland’s for their red beans and rice.  Delicious, just as we remembered.

       We slept well.

[travelingtheusa]

FLORIDA

2024 March 16 (Sat) – We went out for lunch to Cracker Barrel.  Otherwise, we stayed around the campground most of the day.  Got ready to tomorrow’s move.

2024 March 15 (Fri) – We went to El Patron for a Mexican lunch.  It was very good.  Afterward, we went to the National Naval Aviation Museum.  What a fantastic museum!  They have changed it from 10 years ago.  You used to walk into the foyer with 5 full-size Navy Blue Angels jets overhead in formation.  The going joke was always, Why are they so far apart? When they are just inches from each other.  That entrance is different now.  The entrance is still jaw dropping but not focused on the Blue Angels any more.  We walked around the building filled with all kinds of planes, gliders, and hot air balloons.  They also cover the space program with capsules the astronauts returned home in.

      A ferocious thunderstorm passed through tonight.  One particular boom was so loud that the RV shook and the night sky lit up lit a bomb had gone off.  Scared the heck out of Sheba and me.

2024 March 14 (Thu) – We went back to SMART HQ this morning.  More talk.  More review of files.  Discussion of issues and upcoming caravans.  We left at noon and stopped at The Fishing Hole for lunch.  The name kind of gives an image of a small shack on the bayou but it turned out to be a very nice restaurant with a New Orleans flair.  Paul enjoyed a jambalaya and I had shrimp and bacon on cheese grits (the house specialty).  It actually turned out to taste pretty good.

2024 March 13 (Wed) - We packed up today and Eglin AFB after 28 days in place.  It took a bit to get all the preparations in place as we are still getting used to the new rig.  We left at 11:00 and drove to a nearby parking lot where Paul guided me while I tried backing the RV up.  I did fine driving straight and turning but that backing up is hard!  Paul makes it look so easy.  Guess a career of driving heavy machinery has paid off for him.

      We arrived at Pensacola RV Park at 1:30 pm.  This is a very nice campground.  The sites are roomy with lots of grass and just the right amount of trees in place.  Our site is gravel and there are full hookups along with WiFi and cable TV.

      Once we were set up, we drove 16 miles to SMART HQ.  There is a small building on the lot of Melissa’s home.  Melissa is the Executive Manager for SMART.  She and her assistant, Phyllis, live together in the house.  The SMART HQ used to be Melissa’s photo studio.  Paul and I went through files and talked with the staff about SMART issues. 

      Stopped at the Bonefish Grill on the way back home and ordered the Bang Bang Shrimp.  That is so good.  We also indulged in margaritas and bread.  Obviously, we wound up taking half our meal home.  We were stuffed!

2024 March 12 (Tue) – We spent the day working on our caravan plans.  Got the basic route done with a list of activities to check out.  At lunch time, we drove to the base dining facility for lunch.  They advertised Yankee pot roast for today’s lunch and I wanted some of it.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to the dining facility, it was all gone.  A black bean burger did not taste good after hungering for the pot roast.  We went back and continued working on the caravan plans. I made reservations to fly back to New York on the 20th. I spent $1,000 to go back and get my free hearing aids from the VA. How crazy is that? My sister, Susan, will pick me up, take me to the Northport Medical Center, and drop me off at the airport so I will have no car rental. I will also stay with her and her husband so there will be no hotel costs. Too bad I couldn't pick up one of those cheap flights Southwest is always advertising.

2024 March 11 (Mon) – We went to the base dining facility today.  I had a turkey, bacon and avocado wrap with sweet potato fries and Paul had smoked turkey with a baked potato with a mushroom vegetable sauce.  We shared a potato soup and both had a drink.  The entire meal came to less than $19.  How come we didn’t find this place sooner?

      We then drove to the commissary and did some shopping.  Also stopped at the package store to pick up some bourbon.  We returned the key to our mailbox in the UPS store.  It was smart to get that box.  We saved a lot of money with all the packages we had delivered.

2024 March 10 (Sun) – We stayed in all day working on our next caravan.  It is a lot of work to put these things together.

2024 March 9 (Sat) – We drove to Fort Walton Beach and Destin this afternoon after spending the morning working on our next caravan – Planes, Trains, Automobiles & Ships.  There is so much to see in Michigan that we are having a hard time shaving down the choices.  We’ll get there.

      The National Seashore of Fort Walton Beach and Destin reminded us very much of Fire Island back home.  Lots of water and sand.  The ocean on one side and the bay on the other.  We stopped at a café called Crackings for lunch.  Everything was excellent.  The day was overcast.  It rained hard most of the night.

2024 March 8 (Fri) – Well, I am back from New York.  It was a longer trip as I had several doctors to see. I had left extra time hoping to get new hearing aids from the V.A. but they scheduled me for March 15.  I have been trying to change it to March 20.  I plan to fly back on the 19th, go to the VA on the 20th, and fly back to Florida on the 21st.

      The trip home was very productive.  I saw the oncologist, cardiologist, dentist, ophthalmologist, and chiropractor.  All tests came back green across the board.  I am fine.  Almost.  The ophthalmologist said my lower lid is pulling away and my upper lid needs a lift again.  He referred me to an eye surgeon for evaluation.  I will go back in June and get it done.

       While I was away, Paul did wonders with the RV.  He built a beautiful desk that looks like it came with the trailer.  He also found places to store everything.  It will take a while to determine where everything is and a little longer to get used to new set up.  I keep going to the wrong cabinet for the trash. 

      We drove to Pensacola yesterday to participate in a muster with the SMART White Sands Panhandlers Chapter.  We knew more people than I thought we would and enjoyed meeting new folks.

BREAK – BREAK

2024 Feb 15 (Thu) – We worked around the camper today.  Paul ordered several things online to work on while I am gone.  He will be making a desk for this new camper.  At noon, we ran out to get some things done.  First stop was at the UPS store on base.  We stopped there yesterday and opened a mail box for the month we will be here.  Today, we went back to get some paperwork notarized.  Then we shopped in the PX and the commissary.  Next, we went off base to the post office to mail off the paperwork for our new plates and registration.  Of course, there was a stop for lunch.  We ate at Sonny’s BBQ.  “If it isn’t smoking out back, it’s not Sonny’s upfront.”  Everything was delicious.  We even took leftovers home for dinner. 

      I spent the night packing for my trip back to New York tomorrow.  I will be gone for 2-1/2 weeks.  I had to buy another suitcase because I am bringing winter clothes with me.  It snowed yesterday and more snow is predicted in 2 days.  I hope it won’t be too miserable while I am there.  Kenny is sick and Miranda asked me to stay with my sister.  Susan lives in the Hamptons and that would add an extra hour’s drive to wherever I want to go.  I decided to stay in a motel for the duration.  Ugh.  The cost!

2024 Feb 14 (Wed – Valentine’s Day) – We took off from Eastpoint at 10 a.m. and headed out to Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) in Valparaiso.  We went through a time change from EST to CST.  We stopped at a gas station for lunch.  It was quite nice.  I never saw so much fishing equipment for sale in a gas station before.  There must be some really popular fishing spots around there.  We tried to drag our feet because check in time wasn’t until 3 p.m. but we arrived a little after 2 p.m.  Since I had already spoken with the office and gotten our site number, we went straight there.  It was open so we pulled in and set up.  The campground is little dated with lots of trees around the area.  We are parked under pine trees and some kind of tree with small nuts.  Hope they don’t fall on our rig.

      Hudson’s birthday is tomorrow.  We sent him a pair of basketball shoes for his birthday.  He had a play-off game tonight and wore them there.  He said the game would be devoted to us.  They won. 

2024 Feb 13 (Tue) – We left Williston at 9:45 a.m.  We never got to see my niece.  I called her yesterday and she said we would get together later that evening.  Unfortunately, a rainstorm blew in and she got busy taking care of the animals on her farm.  She never called back.

       We arrived at Coastline RV Resort in Eastpoint at 1 p.m.  We ran out to get fuel and grab lunch at the Red Pirate.  We are only here for one night.  It is a beautiful campground.  The sites are roomy with a large, lovely brick patio.  There is a pool right behind our campsite with one person braving the cold.

2024 Feb 12 (Mon) – We packed up, then ran to the post office to send off Valentine’s cards to our grandsons.  When we got back, we said good-bye to Margaret & Rich, hooked up, and took off.  It was about 50 minutes to the Williston Crossings RV Resort.  It is a very nice, gated resort.  They have a pool and hot tub, laundry, games, activity room, and camp store.  Our campsite is full hookup on a concrete pad.  The staff were very nice and one of them was even named Melody.

      Once we were set up, we went into town to get some spring bars for the refrigerator.  For some reason, we did not have any in the fridge and when I opened the door, I got plastered with saucy chicken.  We are still learning and adjusting to our new space.

2024 Feb 11 (Sun) – There were the last minute runs out to WalMart and Lowe’s.  Paul was going to make steps for me to get up into the bed.  Our new 10” mattress arrived and once on the base, now comes up past my waist.  I need help getting into the bed.  He discovered a plastic step ladder with two steps.  We bought that and returned the wood he bought.  Then he spent the day working under the RV, plugging holes and spraying a bed liner.  I worked on trying to get the taxes done before my trip to New York.  Margaret made hamburgers for dinner then we watched the first half of the Super Bowl with them before returning home.

2024 Feb 10 (Sat) – I went to the hairdresser today.  I wanted to touch up the lowlights and get my hair cut.  The hairdresser put too much color in and the cut is funky.  She called it a pixie cut but it looks like anything but a pixie cut.  As usual, I will wait for it to grow out and hope to find another hairdresser who can do my hair the way I want.  *sigh*

       Rich grilled the steaks tonight.  I made baked potatoes and Margaret cooked up some corn.

2024 Feb 9 (Fri) – We continued work around the RV today.  At noon, we ran out to Winn Dixie to pick up some steaks for dinner tomorrow.  And, as always, a stop at Lowe’s was in order.  We have been there almost every day as we pick up and return items.  Margaret & Rich took us out to dinner at Olive Garden tonight. 

2024 Feb 8 (Thu) – We stayed in all day, working around the RV.  Paul is really doing so much.

2024 Feb 7 (Wed) – There’s been a pretty steady stream of Amazon packages arriving.  We are expecting our new mattress on Thursday.  We will be taking the king size bed out and replacing it with a queen size mattress.   We spent the day working around the RV.  Paul got the safe installed behind the fireplace.  I am still trying to get our RV registered in South Dakota.  The guy that I worked with has left the company and a new person is on board.  I made an appointment to meet Tuesday by phone.  I also have to find a notary public.  Our mail forwarding service at Escapees sent a note asking for us to verify that SMART is not a business.  Paul also has to sign his revised will.  I will meet with the lawyer when I go back to New York later this month to sign my will. Margaret made stuffed chicken and rice for dinner tonight.

2024 Feb 6 (Tue) – We went to WalMart early so we could get an oil change for the truck.  While that went on, we had breakfast at Dunkin Donuts then roamed the aisles for a bit before the truck was done.  Then we drove to Home Depot but didn’t find anything so we left bare handed (wow!).  Margaret mentioned another store where she buys things cheap so we drove there.  Ollies didn’t have much of what we wanted but they do have nice area rugs.  When we need another rug (our new one arrived in the mail yesterday), we’ll have to shop there.

       Margaret made dinner again.  We enjoyed left-overs.

2024 Feb 5 (Mon) – The modifications continue.  We ran out to WalMart – returned items that didn’t work out and bought new stuff.  At 5:00 p.m. Margaret & Rich had a birthday dinner for friends (one couple and a single guy).  The two men were celebrating birthdays.  Margaret made a seafood meal – shrimp, crab cakes and fish.  As usual, all the food was good and plentiful.

2024 Feb 4 (Sun) – Paul ran out to Lowe’s to get paint.  He is adding two shelves to the pantry and wanted to paint them the same color as what is in there.  I worked on SMART National Muster items, including a comprehensive schedule that lists all times, topics and presenters.  We took Margaret & Rich out for dinner to Los Magueyes (a Mexican restaurant).  The food and margaritas were good.

2024 Feb 3 (Sat) – We went shopping again at both WalMart and Lowe’s.  In addition, we got on the computers and ordered some stuff online.  It’s cost us over $1,000 to date to equip and adjust this new RV.  Margaret made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  She seems to be enjoying our company and fussing over us at dinnertime.

2024 Feb 2 (Fri) – We worked tirelessly all day long, getting things rearranged and built.  Matt & Melissa came over to Margaret & Rich’s tonight for dinner.  Paul and Margaret used to work with Matt back in NY Traffic Signal days.  Margaret made Marry Me Chicken.  It was very tasty.

2024 Feb 1 (Thu) – We woke, made a list of things to get, and went shopping at Lowe’s and WalMart.  Half way through Lowe’s, I lost the list somewhere so we didn’t get to buy everything we needed.  But we came home and got a good deal done, although very little unpacking.  Paul discovered that the cardboard file boxes fit nicely in the closet.  We will be going through and packing up anything we don’t use on a regular basis.

      Margaret made hamburgers for dinner.  Then we watched TV while our clothes were in the washer and dryer.

2024 Jan 31 (Wed) – We got up and tried to get some semblance of order, enough to be able to close the slides and drive off.  We left the RV dealer parking lot at 11 a.m.  and arrived at our friend’s home, Margaret & Rich (Paul and Margaret worked together at Traffic).  They had a nice covered area for their RV which they were kind enough to move out and let us use.

      We visited for a bit, then went out to tackle the problem of finding a place for everything.  We moved from a 40’ rig into a 38’ rig.  We also lost a lost lot of cabinet space.  By the afternoon, we were walking around taking measurements.  Tomorrow, we will go to Lowe’s and pick up wire racks and storage boxes to add room.

      Margaret cooked meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.  It was good!  Afterward, we watched TV for awhile, then came back and crashed.

2024 Jan 30 (Tue) – We drove to Optimum RV for our 9 a.m. inspection and walk through of the new rig (after stopping for breakfast at the Hometown Restaurant).  We waited almost an hour and a half before the tech came to get us.  We walked around the RV, letting him show us the different functions and instructing him when he didn’t know something or had it wrong.  The water pump didn’t work and a slide on the bureau was loose.  Other than that, all seemed to be in order.  When we were done inspecting the rig, the tech brought us back to the office to see someone in finance.  That was another hour wait.  At noon, I asked the receptionist if we should go to lunch, seeing as how it was lunch time and the finance officer was probably going to lunch, too.  She told us he would be right out.  Half an hour later, a young man came out and told us he needed the title to the Vilano and a copy of my driver’s license.  I gave him my license but we had to walk back to the rig to get the title.

      In the meantime, our RV was parked out front where we checked in.  Another tech had asked to take a quick look inside so we dropped the trailer and popped the slides.  He walked through, admiring the RV and telling us it was a nice rig.  We agreed.  We had to search a bit among all the packed up bags and boxes but we finally found the title and brought it back in.  We then waited another 20 minutes before a second finance guy came out to complete the paperwork.  We signed over the title, signed a bunch of papers, and were congratulated.  It was now after 2 p.m.

      We went back to the rig and made a quick lunch.  Then we commenced to moving everything from the Vilano to the Ahara.  At 6 p.m., we took a run down the road to get dinner at Wendy’s.  There was another couple who was also transferring stuff from their travel trailer to a new fifth wheel.  We picked up dinner for them.  Seeing as how it was dark and we had a mess inside, we decided to spend the night in the parking lot.  The place is a disaster and the cat is freaking out.  I’m getting too old for this!

2024 Jan 29 (Mon) – We got up early and went into the Magic Kingdom to have breakfast at the Crystal Palace.  It was a character breakfast and we got our picture taken with Winnie the Pooh.  Afterward, we walked over to Tomorrowland to go on the Circle of Progress but it was closed.  We walked through the stores looking for a bumper sticker and a Mickey Mouse sticker to put on the camper but they don’t make them any more.  Bummer.

      We packed up and left Fort Wilderness at 11 a.m.  It was almost two hours to the Wild Frontier RV Resort in Ocala.  We spent the night packing up as much as we could.  I was exhausted by the time we finally went to bed.  Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.  We stayed here close to the RV dealer so we could arrive and get the day started early.  Hope all goes well.

2024 Jan 28 (Sun) – We visited the last of the 4 parks today – the Animal Kingdom.  This is the least visited park of them all.  We started out with breakfast at the Rainforest Café.  The meal was good but as with all Disney restaurants, the meal was more than twice the cost of a meal outside the park.  We walked around a lot.  Got to take a river ride in the Avatar setting, saw the It’s Tough to be a Bug show, and watched a show with birds.  It was very warm this morning and early afternoon, then a cool breeze blew in.  Paul says a cold front is coming in.  We rode to the Wilderness Lodge for lunch and ate at the Roaring Fork.  It was good.  Then we caught the boat to the campground, took the bus back to the parking lot, then got in the truck and drove back to the campground.  It was a long day.

On a good note, Paul seems to be over his virus and I never caught it. Whew!

2024 Jan 27 (Sat) – Today was a trip to Hollywood Studios.  This was the most crowded park yet.  The new Star Wars attraction is the big, new attraction.  There were people everywhere!  We had breakfast at Hollywood & Vine to the tune of $130 (ouch!) and got to go on one ride after a 70 minute wait.  We got annoyed and left.

2024 Jan 26 (Fri) – We went to EPCOT today.  We left a little later since we wanted to stay for the fireworks.  We got there about 4 p.m. and strolled along the walkway.  We waited over an hour for Soaring Over California.  Also walked through a few areas before getting to the World Showcase.  We had dinner at the Biergarten Restaurant.  It was a buffet with German fare.  Everything was good and there was a show with 4 performers.  They played various instruments included the bells, the French horn and those long Swiss horns.  The fireworks show was fantastic.

2024 Jan 25 (Thu) – Paul popped up at 11 a.m. and said, “Let’s go to the park.”  I immediately agreed and we caught the boat to the Magic Kingdom.  The park was crowded but we managed to get on a few rides – Runaway Train (45 minute wait), Haunted Mansion (55 minute wait), Pirates of the Caribbean (35 minute wait), and the Hall of Presidents.   We came back home to feed Sheba and have dinner, then returned to the park to watch the 8 p.m. fireworks show. 

2024 Jan 24 (Wed) – We stayed in again today.  Paul seems worse but he says he’s a little better.  Hope he gets better soon so we can take advantage of at least some of the park.  My throat does not hurt any more.  Guess it cured itself.

2024 Jan 23 (Tue) – We stayed in all day.  Paul in blowing his nose and running a low grade fever.  I have him taking Ivermectin, Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, Quercetin, and Zinc.  It only lasted him 2 days and with very mild symptoms last time he had it.  Hopefully, it won’t be any worse this time.

      At 4:30 p.m. we drove into town to pick up a few groceries.  Then we went to Pioneer Hall in the campground and had a light dinner.  I started getting a scratchy throat. 

2024 Jan 22 (Mon) – We packed up and left Brandon at 10:30 a.m.  We drove an hour and a half to Lake Buena Vista to stay for a week in Fort Wilderness in Disney World.  No other place looks like Fort Wilderness.  It is unique and inviting.  I love it.

      Paul started with a scratchy throat yesterday and is congested today.  This evening, I was on Facebook with the Vilano group.  One of the members there posted that she tested positive COVID.  We did a test on Paul and, sure enough, he is positive for COVID.  What bad timing!

2024 Jan 21 (Sun) – We packed up and left Tampa at 11:30 a.m.  We only had 9 miles to go back to the Elks Lodge for the night.  We got the same spot we had last week.

2024 Jan 20 (Sat) – We went to look at our RV again then walked around the show.  The crowds were very large.  Lots of people turned out to look over the displays.  Another couple in our group bought an RV.  We had a happy hour tonight and shared stories of our purchases.

2024 Jan 19 (Fri) – We stopped at our RV to look it over.  Unfortunately, the RV we bought was a show model and because this is a manufacturer’s show, they will continue to show the model for the entire show.  All we can hope for is that it doesn’t get abused during the show.

      We walked around the show.  Paul bought snap pads for the new rig.  There was a bingo game tonight.  We didn’t win anything.

2024 Jan 18 (Thu) – We walked around the show again today.  When we returned last night, we sent inquiries out over the internet to get some quotes on two different RV models we liked.  This morning, as we were getting ready to leave for the show, we got an email offering a quote on one of the models.  We took that quote to the RV dealer, showed the quote, and asked the salesperson to match it.  After a little bit of angst and some discussion among the staff, she agreed to match the offer.  That was quite a coup!  The MSRP was listed as $118,000.  The “special show price” was listed as $89,995.  The quote we got from the internet was $78,213.  That was almost what we paid for our Vilano back in 2017.  They gave us $30,000 for a trade-in.  We feel we got an excellent deal and signed the papers.  We purchased a 2024 East West Ahara.

      There was entertainment tonight.  A band played.  They were excellent.  When they called numbers for door prizes, we won two surge protectors – one for 30 amp and one for 50 amp.  We will donate the 30-amp protector to SMART at national.  It is worth about $250.

2024 Jan 17 (Wed) – The Tampa RV show opened today.  We walked all around the show.  My back was killing me by the end of the day.  Whew!  We stopped at a couple of designated dealer sites and got quotes on two rigs.  We returned to the RV and made a couple of calls to dealers, trying to find a better deal.  We will work it for the week we are here. The electric was hooked up when we got back.

      Our group had a potluck tonight.  It was cold and we sat around the circle with 5 propane fires burning.  The food was good.  The weather got cold today.  It’s projected to be cold again tomorrow.  Brrrr.  One of the ladies brought her little chihuahua to the potluck.  She was warning everyone not to touch it as it bites.  Not for nothing, but if your dog bites, you shouldn’t bring it to a group function.

2024 Jan 16 (Tue) – We woke at 5:30 a.m. to pack up and leave.  Taking down the RV in the dark is an adventure!  I used both a flashlight and the light from my cell phone.  After hooking up the trailer, Paul drove to the dump station where we dumped the black tank and filled the fresh water tank.  Then we hit the road and drove 9 miles to the Tampa Fairgrounds where the Super RV Show is taking place this week.  Hope we can find the kind of rig we want at a decent price.  They are SO expensive today!

      We are camped with the Vanleigh group on the grass along the back fence.  We have no water or sewer hookup.  We should get electric but are running the generator for now.  Some of the folks here remember us from the first group campout here back in 2020.  Paul and I set up the large tent.  Another one of the guys here put up his smaller, 10x10, tent.  The sky opened up this afternoon and it poured.  Everyone fit under the tent very nicely.

       At 5:30 p.m. we met Brenda & Rick at Ulele Beer Garden.  We first met them on the Utah caravan and have become fast friends.  We try to visit with them whenever we are down this way.

2024 Jan 15 (Mon – MLK Day) – We went to Bradenton this morning to visit with my cousins, Fred & Margie.  Their daughter and her husband, Carolyn & Bobby, were also there.  Two hours flew by.  Fred is not doing well (he will be 89 this year), but he is very alert and competent.  He said his sister, Pat, fell down and was in the hospital.  Although she did not break anything, she is bruised and sore.  Pat will be 92 this year. 

      After we got back to Brandon (almost an hour drive), we stopped at Tres Amigos for lunch.  The sky opened up just as we pulled up and the rain poured down.  We spent an hour inside enjoying our meal.  By the time we came out, the rain had stopped.  The weather is cooling off.  There is a cold front coming across the country.  Rain and ice is pelting the northern states.  Even the southern states have falling temps.

       When done with lunch, we went food shopping at Publix.  Groceries stocked, we are ready for tomorrow’s move to the fairgrounds. 

2024 Jan 14 (Sun) – We didn’t do much today.  Stayed in.  The weather was lousy.  We worked on caravan stuff.

2024 Jan 13 (Sat) – We walked down the street to a small grocery store down the road.  It was a lot like a Restaurant Depot.  We picked up a few frozen meats but couldn’t find the rest of what we wanted.  It was just as well, anyway, because we had to carry the groceries back down the road – about half a mile.

      We drove out to lunch at Tibby’s, which was a cajun style restaurant.  I had rice and beans and Paul had jambalaya.  We have both tasted better but it was all good.  We then stopped at Total Wines after lunch to pick up a bottle to put in the prize drawing pile. 

2024 Jan 12 (Fri) – We did our laundry this morning.  Drove down the road to a laundromat.  It seemed like it had pretty new machines.  We put the clothes in the washer and then went to the post office to mail off some insignias for SMART chapter members.  After we returned and put the clothes in the dryers, we walked to Office Depot to pick up a few items.

      There was a dinner at the Elks Lodge tonight.  They had pierogies, kielbasa, a stuffed cabbage, salad, fruit, and the most delicious rye bread.  Everything was very good.

2024 Jan 11 (Thu) – We went into Tampa to look for jeans for me.  The first store we stopped at did not have any short sizes.  The second store didn’t either, but Paul suggested I buy crops.  That worked.  I bought I pair of jeans at Macy’s and another at Lane Bryant.  Mission accomplished, we stopped at Bonefish Grill for bang bang shrimp and soup. 

2024 Jan 10 (Wed) – We packed up and left Moore Haven ACOE at 9:45 a.m.  We stopped at the dump station then took off for our 3-hour drive to Brandon.  We are staying at the Elks Lodge.  The camp host suggested a site that was kind of sandwiched between 2 and would have required a very long hose to the water spout.  We decided to take another site adjacent to the lodge building.  We have 50-amp electric and water hookup; no sewer.  We stayed here back in 2017.  The lodge was a very busy place back then but not so much today.  We went into the lodge at 4:30 p.m. to pay for our site.  There was one other couple in there.  It’s still a beautiful bar but attendance is not good.  The bartender confirmed that membership has dropped off, just as it has everywhere else in the U.S.

      After paying for our site and enjoying a drink, we drove into town to get dinner and shop.  Dinner was at Tasty Venues, a Real Italian Restaurant.  I had lasagna and Paul had spaghetti pie with 3 different types of meatball.  The lasagna was exquisite!  I have never tasted anything as good as that.  It was a large serving and I took most of it home.  Paul was unimpressed with his meal.

      We left the restaurant and went to Publix to pick up a few groceries.

2024 Jan 9 (Tue) – We met Allen & Carol, Buddy & Deborah, and Buddy’s daughter, Lynn, at LaBelle Brewing Company for dinner.  I ordered meatloaf and got a dish overflowing with food.  I think they wanted to get rid of the meatloaf because I got 2 very large slices along with green beans piled high on a plate too small for the meal.  The green beans were soft and mushy.  Yuck.  The mashed potatoes were delicious and the meatloaf was OK.  I took most of it home.

      The weather was pretty ratty all day.  A brisk wind blew most of the day and a rainstorm blew in tonight.  There was heat lightning in the clouds.  That always looks pretty cool.  The weather was pretty severe south of us and we were getting warning notices about the possibility of tornados.  Our son and daughter-in-law contacted us to make sure we were OK.

2024 Jan 8 (Mon) – We drove to Fort Meyers today.  I need a new pair of jeans but when I started trying on clothes, I was dismayed to find I was a larger size.  I got depressed and stopped shopping for any clothing.  We stopped at Books-A-Million where I picked up a couple of cook books. Then we went to Chicken Salad Chick and had chicken salad sandwiches.  We stopped at Publix on the way back to the campground.

2024 Jan 7 (Sun) – We stayed in today and worked on the next caravan we are planning for 2025:  Planes, Trains, Automobiles & Ships.  There is so much to see and do in Michigan.  We are having a hard time paring the choices down.  I guess that’s the hardest part of planning a caravan – choosing the right amount of activities yet leaving time to explore on their own.

2024 Jan 6 (Sat) – We went over to Allen’s tonight for a barbecue.  He smoked up some ribs.  They were delicious!  We stopped over Buddy & Deborah’s house to look it over.  They bought it in February just before taking off for an extended RV trip this summer.  They only just got back at Thanksgiving.  The layout of the house is odd and they have their work cut out for them.  But they seem to be happy next to Allen (Allen and Deborah are siblings).  Buddy showed Paul where to hook up the RV if we ever come visit and stay at their place.

2023 Jan 5 (Fri) – We drove into LaBelle to shop at WalMart.  Then we tried to find a place to buy firewood.  Ace Hardware, WalMart, Tractor Supply, and 7-11 were all out of wood.  Allen & Carol and his sister and husband, Deborah & Buddy, came over at 4 p.m.  We had hamburgers and hot dogs.  I made potato salad and chickpea salad.  Allen brought over some wood from his shop and we had a campfire.  It was an enjoyable evening.

2023 Jan 4 (Thu) – We packed up and left LaBelle at 11:30 a.m.  We only had an 11-mile drive to ACOE Ortona South Campground in Moore Haven.  We were here some years ago.  It is a very pleasant campground right on the Caloosahatchee River.  Our site has electric and water hookup.  We are on a concrete pad with a gravel patio with a covered picnic table.  There is a lock right next to the campground.  After set up, we walked over the lock to the other side and watched a boat come through the lock.

      We sent a note to Allen, telling him we arrived and were set up.  We agreed to have them come over for a BBQ tomorrow. 

2023 Jan 3 (Wed) – We went to Clewiston today to tour the Seminole Reservation Museum, Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki.  It was an hour’s drive from LaBelle.   When we arrived, we drove first to the Swamp Water Café for lunch.  The café was set in a visitors area with cages for animals.  Almost all the cages were empty.  There was a very nice arena with grass and a moat filled with clear, clean water surrounding it.  In front were 3 stands for an audience to watch an alligator wrestling show.  The waitress told Paul the café had just opened for 7 days a week on Monday.  The place had closed for the pandemic and has not reopened.  The petting zoo was also closed. 

      The entire village is very well kempt and you can see they put money back into the reservation from the casino.  There was a new development under construction.  A very nice campground was also on the reservation.  We went to the museum.  The walkway from the parking lot to the building was a decorative block.  Inside the museum, we found the Seminole Indians to be very different from the Indians out west.  There clothing was very colorful and the men wore turbans!  The natives were driven into the everglades during the Seminole Wars (three of them) and they are very proud that they never surrendered or signed any peace treaties.  In the back of the museum was a boardwalk that wound through the swamp for a mile.  There were many storyboards along the way that described the wildlife, reptiles, insects, flora and fauna of the area.  There was also a replica fishing camp and a replica village.

       When we got back to LaBelle, we drove to Allen & Carol’s home, visited a while, then drove to Amigos & Beer for dinner.  I had tortillas and Paul had a combo meal.  We had margaritas but they were not good.  Mine smelled like perfume and the taste was off.  We drank them any way. 

2023 Jan 2 (Tue) – We drove to Fort Meyers this afternoon.  We spent the morning researching RVs online and decided to go to dealers to look at rigs.  The first stop was at Camping World.  When the girl demanded to make a copy of Paul’s license, he refused and we left.  What kind of weird requirement is that?  She claimed it was for insurance purposes.

      Next stop was at La Mesa.  They did not have any towables on their lot.  We seem to remember stopping at La Mesa a year or so ago and they said they are only selling motor homes.

      Then we stopped at Blue Compass RV.  The salesman was very upbeat and eager to sell us an RV.  We looked at a rig we really liked but once we started comparing it to our current RV, we realized it was missing a lot of storage space.  There were not nearly enough cabinets to hold all our stuff.  The salesman asked us to contact him when we find a rig we want and he will try to get it for us.  We told him we are going to the Tampa RV Show and (to be expected) he told us the better deal is at the dealership.  We will see.

      We went for lunch at Skip One Seafoods, a cute local restaurant that had really good food.  Allen asked if we wanted to go to dinner tonight but since we were an hour away and still looking at RVs, we made a date for tomorrow instead.

      After we got back to the campground, we did the laundry.

2023 Jan 1 (Mon) – We packed up and left Naples at 11:15 a.m.  It was only 74 miles to LaBelle so we took it slow.  The drive was nice.  We are staying at Whisper Creek RV Resort.  We had such a hard time finding a campground in the area so we wound up making reservations at this resort.  It is costing us $125 a night.  Ouch!  At any rate, we wanted to visit with our friends, Allen and Carol.

      We drove over Allen’s house at 4:00 p.m.  He lives in a double gated community on a hill right on the river.  It is a very lovely home with a main waterway going past the back of his house.  We visited for an hour then went to dinner.  Allen’s son, Allen Jr., is visiting and joined us as well.  We were going to go to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas but they were closed so we wound up at the LaBelle Brewing Co.  I had a cobb salad and Paul had jambalaya.  The food and company were very good.

       After dinner, we drove back to their house.  Visited for a half hour, then left.

2023 Dec 31 (Sun – New Year’s Eve) – We drove into the historic district of Naples today.  Everything is built in Italian architectural style.  I guess their sister city is Naples, Italy.  It has a very European feel to the town.  There were so many expensive cars.  A Bentley convertible, many Bentleys, BMWs, Porches, Audis, etc.  We are in the land of the rich people.  We found a parking spot and walked down to the Naples Pier.  The sand was so soft and beautiful; finer than sugar.  There were people and cars clogging the streets and sidewalks.  We left and drove to the Texas Roadhouse for lunch.  We got fuel and returned to the campground.

      New Year’s Eve came and went while we slept away.  We went to bed at 10:30 p.m.  There were fireworks going off all night.  We were wakened at midnight when there was an influx of joyous noise.

2023 Dec 30 (Sat) – We went to breakfast at Hoots this morning.  It was a small café but bustling with business.  I had corned beef hash with eggs and Paul had some kind of Mexican dish.  Everything was very good.

      After breakfast, we went to WalMart for groceries.  The exterior was not like the average store.  Paul joked that because we are in a rich neighborhood, they didn’t want it to look like a WalMart so they made it quite fancy.  Inside was pretty much the same except that there were 37 self check-out lanes and only 2 cashier lanes, both of which were closed.  I found someone to come check us out.

2023 Dec 29 (Fri) – We packed up, stopped at the dump outside the gate, then proceeded on our way to Naples where we are staying at Marco Naples RV Resort.  This is another of the gargantuan commercial company RV parks.  We are here for 3 nights.  Naples is a very high end city with lots of manicured lawns and residential communities.  Our campsite is on a concrete pad fit between two mobile homes.  We have full hook-ups.  The resort has bocci ball, a pool, horseshoes, and 2 dog parks.  The mobile homes are tightly fit in with open spaces here and there for RVs that come and go (like us).

2023 Dec 28 (Thu) – We took down our Christmas tree and all the decorations, packed them away, and restored the rig to pre-holiday status.  It looks kind of empty now.  At 4 p.m. we drove to Marathon.  Traffic was heavy and we got there at 5:15 p.m.  We were planning to have dinner with Tim at the Cracked Conch.  However, Tim was worried we wouldn’t get our food in time to make Show Me The Money at the American Legion at 6 p.m. so we picked him up at the restaurant and drove on to the legion.  We all had hot dogs.  Carrie met us there.  We played cards for 2 hours.  Carrie was very lucky and won several games. Paul saw Tim and Carrie share an intimate kiss.  Guess they are more than just friends.  Good for him!

      At 8:30 p.m. we said our good-byes and headed back to get ready for tomorrow’s move.

2023 Dec 27 (Wed) – We drove to Key Largo to mail off a package we were returning.  I ordered (what I thought was) a heating pad, but when it arrived it was a huge sauna blanket.  Too big for RV living so I returned it.  Next door was Ferdinand The Bull Cuban restaurant.  We both had Cuban sandwiches.  I didn’t care for the bread but it was tasty.

      We met Carl & Shirley (SMART friends) and Tim at the Old Tavernier Restaurant for dinner.  We sat out on the patio.  The menu was interesting and everything was quite expensive.  I felt bad for Tim who wound up ordering the cheapest thing on the menu (lasagna) and still forked over a large share of the bill ($40).  We then all drove to the Elks Lodge where we played the Queen of Hearts.

2023 Dec 26 (Tue) – We did the laundry this morning.  Drove to a laundromat down the road that had bags and bags of laundry all over the place.  My impression is that they are the only laundry for miles around.  And they take in laundry for all the resorts and hotels in the area.  It was expensive, too.  The small washer cost $3.50 and the dryer was $0.25 for 5 minutes.  It was over $14 by the time we were done.

      A thick fog rolled in this afternoon.  Everyone claims it’s weird.  They never get fog.  It stayed all afternoon and into the night.  We drove to Marathon, got on Tim’s tiki boat, and rode to the Dockside Bar & Grill where we met Carrie.  After some food and drink, we drove to the American Legion where we played bar poker.

2023 Dec 25 (Mon – Christmas Day) – We picked a turkey breast up at Winn Dixie yesterday.  I cooked it this morning, then we brought the turkey and cranberry sauce to Tim’s.  Tim cooked a ham.  It rained and we sat around his boat for an hour.  During a lull in the rain, Paul and Tim went down to the store to pick up soda.  One of Tim’s neighbors came over and invited us to sit on his boat because he had a cover over the deck.  So we traipsed over there.  There were 9 of us in total and we enjoyed a Christmas meal with the food everyone brought.  It was a very pleasant day.

2023 Dec 24 (Sun) – Paul and I met Tim and Carrie for Christmas morning service at the Marathon Community Church.  They used to be part of the Methodist Church but they broke away.  Much of the service was very much like that of the Methodist Church. 

      After church, the four of us went to the Cracked Conch for brunch.  Three of us ordered corned beef hash, eggs and potatoes.  Paul ordered creamed chipped beef.  The waitress brought four orders of creamed chipped beef.  We sent 3 back; they left one because they were only going to throw them out any way.  Everything came on a separate dish – the eggs, the potatoes, the toast, the hash.  There were way too many dishes on the table.

      When we finished, we got on Tim’s tiki boat and rode to the Dockside Bar.  We sat on the patio and had cocktails.  At 3, we left and returned to the campground for a potluck meal at the Elks lodge.  At 5:30 p.m. we went into the lodge and enjoyed the assortment of foods people brought.  Again, there were way too many cheese and cracker dishes.  As we were leaving at 6:30, we ran into Carl & Shirley.  They were on previous caravans with us.  We plan to have dinner with them on Wednesday.  We said a quick hello then hurried out to attend the 7 p.m. candlelight service at the United Methodist Church down the road. 

2023 Dec 23 (Sat) – Paul and I went to Doc’s Diner for breakfast this morning.  Tim recommended it and it was quite good.  I had corned beef hash with eggs and grits; Paul had sausage and gravy.  We drove to Marathon and met Tim at the American Legion for a gingerbread house making contest.  Paul and Tim concentrated very hard on their project.  I made a gingerbread man.  The guys won the contest!  I think it was the campfire (complete with flames made out of licorice) and the chimney with fire that did the trick.  I was the only person to make a gingerbread man so I won it all.

      Afterward, there was a potluck dinner.  There were way too many cheese and cracker dishes but we were able to fill up.

2023 Dec 22 (Fri) – Everyone took off today.  Chris drove Susan to Miami for her flight back to New York, then returned to his new digs in Jacksonville.  Dennis & Denise decided to leave and head back to their condo in Myrtle Beach, S.C.  And Greg & Potsy left to go back home to Sarasota.  It’s just us and Tim again until we leave.

      We took the day to just kick back and relax.  Paul is reworking our route since our planned caravan has been cancelled.  I worked on various projects to include my new book.  At 5:30 p.m. we went into the lodge for dinner. 

2023 Dec 21 (Thu) – The weather was overcast and drizzly today.  The group had talked about bicycling over the bridge to Pigeon Key but cancelled out.  Paul and I did some shopping at Winn Dixie.  Chris and Susan walked across the 2 miles to Pigeon Key.  Dennis and Denise went shopping for sandals and tee-shirts.  At noon, Susan, Chris, Tim, Paul and I went to the American Legion for lunch.  Then we met Dennis and Denise at the Pigeon Key Train Depot.  Greg and Potsy arrived to meet us there as well and we all took the little trolley across the old railroad bridge turned walkway to Pigeon Key.  There we took a tour of the island where 400 workers used to live on the island while the rail line was being built.

      When we got back, some of us met at the Dockside Inn for drinks.  Then, they all ran back to their respective hotels to get their gifts.  We met at the Florida Keys Steak & Lobster House for a Christmas dinner.  We had a Santa swap (each person put a gift in and took one gift out).  It was fun.  We had a great time.  The last time all six of us were together was eleven years ago in May of 2012.

2023 Dec 20 (Wed) – Chris and Susan moved out of Skip Jacks this morning and went to the Hampton Inn.  Apparently, the place they gave them to stay is a condo that is being lived in.  When Chris pulled out the bed on the couch, there was sand and dirt, a screw driver, a half eaten dog bone, etc.  They were so grossed out!  Whoever lives there just threw their stuff in a closet and vacated.  

      We drove to Key West with Chris and Susan.  Parked in back of the Navy base for free and walked the town.  We saw the Butterfly Museum and had lunch at the Moon Dog Café.  Then we took Chris to see the USCGC Ingham.  It brought back memories for him (he’s retired from the Coast Guard). 

      When we got back at the foot of the 7-Mile bridge, we met Tim for dinner at the Sunset Grill.  Dennis & Denise had arrived and also met us at the restaurant for dinner. 

2023 Dec 19 (Tue) – Susan and Chris flew in today.  We met them at their hotel, Skip Jacks, and went to dinner at the Cracked Conch.  When done, they returned to their hotel and Tim and I went to the American Legion for their membership meeting.  I was somewhat surprised by the lack of officers.  The commander filled all roles – adjutant, vice commanders, treasurer – and ran the entire meeting by himself.  It took about a half hour.  When done, we filed out into the bar and played bar poker.  Paul had dropped Sue & Chris off at their hotel and came back to the post.  He won one game.

2023 Dec 18 (Mon) – We drove to Marathon to meet Tim.  It was an almost hour drive!  I don’t remember it being so far away.  We met Tim at the American Legion but they had run out of lunch food.  So we hopped in our vehicles and drove to the Cracked Conch for lunch.  It was a cute little beachy place.  Paul had fried scallops, Tim and I had cheeseburgers.

      After lunch, Tim took us out on his Tiki boat.  It was a very pleasant ride with a fairly strong wind blowing.  There was a touch of coolness in the wind but not bad.  I am always so amazed at all the people who live in their boats out on the water.  The city has 250 mooring points where a person can anchor to and live for just $350 a month.  There is a pump out service from the city and a facility where people can shower and do laundry.  It’s certainly a different way of life.  Tim keeps his boat tied to the dock because he wants to have electric service.  He says the state also has mooring points for hook ups as well.  There were certainly a load of boats out on the water with very few open points.

      When we got back, we drove back to the American Legion where we played bar bingo (it’s bingo at the bar instead of tables).  It is a very nice post.  The bingo caller was clearer a man trying to be female with shorts, a blouse with open shoulders, longish hair and painted nails.  S/he is called Victoria and has a slew of tattoos left over from his days in the military.  They played 12 games, each on a sheet of paper with 6 cards printed on it.  There were different games to play which kept things interesting.  All of us won a game and when all was said and done, Paul and I basically broke even. 

2023 Dec 17 (Sun) – It rained this morning, then cleared up.  We were able to pack up without rain pouring down on us.  Thank goodness!  We left Key West at 9:15 a.m. and drove up-Island for 2 hours until we arrived at the Elks Lodge in Tavernier a little after 11 a.m.  The gate was closed and I called the camp host to admit us.  We were shown to our spot - #5.  Paul pulled in, swung around, and backed the RV in like the pro he is.  We are along the fenceline with close access to the side entrance where the bathrooms are.  Since we have no sewer hookup, we need to be careful to limit our water usage.  We can usually last 10 days with no sewer.  We have to kick it up a little to make the 12 days we will be here.

      I called my brother, Tim, to say we were here.  He said Sundays are his “busy” days (as if you could be busy retired and living in the Keys) so we agreed to meet him tomorrow.

      The sky is blue and nearly cloudless.  There is evidence the storm passed through today.  In fact, everyone says this was a really unusual storm because it lasted so long and intensified as the week went on.  There are puddles and pooling everywhere.  At one point during our drive, we could see where the water came up and covered the roadway.  There are parts along the drive from Key West where the islands are very thin with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other side.

2023 Dec 16 (Sat) – The weather was miserable today.  It poured hard on and off between light rains.  The wind blew in very strong gusts, even knocking the Starlink satellite over. We didn’t want to go out, but we needed fuel for tomorrow’s move.  So, we got gas on base for $1 less than the station right outside the gate.  While out, we stopped at Kennedy Café for lunch.  It was a Greek restaurant and we both had gyros.  There was a 5 or 6 year old girl following the waitress around.  She brought my water when the waitress brought Paul’s tea, then gave me a menu.  Cute until she gets hurt.  She was hopping and bopping around the place with her little tutu and sparkly shoes. 

      There was a quick stop at the NEX to look for pirate booty (which we did not find), then back to the RV.  Travis called this morning.  Noah was also on the phone and asked us to get some pirate booty for them.  We will continue to look for it.  Wish we’d known the past week we’ve been here.  We walked past sooooo many gift shops.  We’ll still be in the Keys on Islamorada and we can search there.

2023 Dec 15 (Fri) – We went to the aquarium this morning.  It was a little misty with spotty rain.  The aquarium was something of a disappointment.  It was small and the outside tank was overcrowded with large fish.  There were 7 nurse sharks, groupers, tarpon, red drums, etc. all swimming around (the nurse sharks actually just lay around).  A staff member gave a demonstration and fed some of the different kinds of fish, including the sharks.

      After the aquarium, we walked into town and had lunch at Irish Kevin’s.  We thought it was an Irish restaurant but it turned out to be more of a bar that sold some food.  No shepherd’s pie.  We indulged and each had a margarita (since we started dieting about 2 weeks ago, we have given up alcohol).  I had a cheeseburger and Paul had some kind of fish.

      When we were back at the trailer, I got a call from the camp host at the Elks Lodge, where we are headed on Sunday.  She wanted to know when we were arriving today.  I told her we wouldn’t be in for 2 days.  There was some confusion about when we were scheduled to arrive.  I looked at the registration form I filled out on line and discovered I had signed off on an arrival date of December 15, not 17.  Oops!  I agreed to pay the 2 days since they held the space for us rather than renting it to someone else.  It’s incidents like this that make me worry about my mental capacity.  It doesn’t happen often but when it does, I ponder my brain.  It would be awful to contract Alzheimer’s or dementia.  We see a lot of folks in our travel group that suffer the disease.  It’s unsettling to know that you are in the age group that is susceptible to that.

2023 Dec 14 (Thu) – We drove into town this morning and mailed off 163 Christmas cards.  Whew!  Then we drove to the Little White House.  President Truman took his vacations here during his presidency and even after he left office.  He claimed he got more work done when he was down in the Keys as opposed to being in Washington, D.C.  The house was lovely.  Many presidents and dignitaries visited and/or stayed in the house.

      We then walked downtown to have lunch at Fogartys.  We sat out on the patio and watch chickens and pigeons flock around the area.  There are loads of chickens all around the area.  Reminds me of Hawaii.  We then drove to Fort Zachary Taylor.  It was an old fort built in 1845.  It was intended to protect the Straits of Florida, Key West Harbor, and the Gulf of Mexico.  The fort was used in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.  It was the longest serving U.S. coastal fortification, serving from 1861-1947.

      When we drove out of the park, we noticed the USCGC Ingham.  It was the largest Coast Guard ship I have ever seen.  We had to explore it.  We bought tickets and went onboard.  They offer cocktails by sunset on Fridays.  The history of the 76-year-old ship was very interesting. 

      By the time we finished our tour, it was raining pretty good.  We came back to the campground and did the laundry.

2023 Dec 13 (Wed) – The bicycle company dropped off the bikes this morning.  The bike fits although it feels like my knees come up a little high.  We put them under the overhang and will take them out when the weather clears up.  We told him to pick them up on Saturday.

      Then we drove into town and had lunch at the Cuban Coffee Queen.  It was a small café in an indoor mall.  We got our meal and sat in the aisle outside.  We toured the Audubon House.  My cousin, Denise, has worked there for many years and when I mentioned her name, we were ushered right in.  The house went through several owners.  Finally, it was renovated and renamed the Audubon House in honor of John Audubon who stayed in the house for a while.

      Next, we went to the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum.  Mel was born in Indiana and moved to California.  He became in the new sport, scuba diving.  He opened a dive shop and did snorkel and scuba until discovering shipwrecks.  He went on to wrecking (diving on shipwrecks) and moved his family to Florida.  He searched for 16 years until he discovered a Spanish galleon with a cargo valued at over half a billion dollars in 1985.  The ship had sunk in a storm off the Florida Keys.  It turns out there were many ships that sank during storms sailing from Cuba to Spain.  Mel made quite a living diving on the wrecks.

      After we got back to the campground, we finished up the Christmas cards for mailing.

2023 Dec 12 (Tue) – We drove over to the ITT office and got military tickets to a few attractions.  Paul also arranged to rent 2 bikes.  Unfortunately, they are NOT electric.  I hope I can manage it.  We’ll see when they deliver them tomorrow.

       We drove into town and had lunch at the Stoned Crab.  The waitress seemed to forget us.  I kept staring down the aisle looking for her.  Finally, the hostess noticed and went to get our waitress.  The meal was OK but nothing to write home about.

      We drove over to Office Max to get ink for the printer.  We also stopped at CVS to pick up a statin the doctor prescribed for me.  I put it aside while I mull over taking it.  Maybe I’ll put it in the drawer with the high pressure medicine.  When we came out of CVS, we noticed a hair cutting salon.  Paul needed a haircut badly.  It’s been too windy for me to do it outside, so we went in.  While in there, I had a hairdresser also trim my hair.  I asked her if she could fix a bad cut.  She looked at my hair and went, “Oy Vay!”  It looks much better now.  And the black lowlights have begun to fade and blend in better.  I like the way it looks now.

      When we got back to the campground, there was a note on our door from the camp host.  There is a weather report calling for high winds and local flooding caused by rain.  Wish we had known before we rented the bikes.

2023 Dec 11 (Mon) – We stayed in all day.  I began working on writing our Christmas and getting cards ready to assemble.  The weather was kind of crappy anyway.  At 5 p.m., we walked over to the Sunset Grill for dinner.  We had wine with it and wanted to watch the sun set but it was too cloudy.  Oh, well.  Another day.

2023 Dec 10 (Sun) – We drove around town to check out the sites.  We stopped at Winn Dixie for a few items and Paul picked himself up a bagel at a small shop near the grocery store.  I picked up a prescription at CVS.  It is a statin the doctor wants to start taking for cholesterol.  I am reluctant to do this and the bottle sits on the shelf for now. 

2023 Dec 9 (Sat) – We packed up and left Sunrise at 9 a.m.  It was a 4-hour drive to Key West.  We are camped at the Sigsbee Naval Air Station (NAS) campground.  The campsites are very tight and the campground is full.  We have been trying to get into this campground for a couple of years.  We wanted to stay here because so many folks talk about camping here.  Now that we have done it, I hope that’s the end of coming here.  We are mountain people, not beach people.

      There is a lounge right in the campground.  We walked over and sat on the deck with a glass of wine and watched the sun set.  The campground is right on the Gulf of Mexico and the front row of campsites faces the water.

2023 Dec 8 (Fri) – We packed up and drove to the dump site where we emptied our tanks.  Then we had to stop at the store to return a remote control they gave us in case we were out late and needed to open the gate upon our return.  We had to put $40 down in deposit and when I gave it back, they refunded the $40.  The clerk was different than the one from yesterday, so I told her I lost my membership card.  She said there was supposed to be a charge to get a new card but she just gave it to me.  We then drove to George’s body shop where I presented him with the card.  I filled it in with me as the member and George as my husband.  Hopefully, it will work for him.

      The drive was pleasant until we got into the Palm Beach/Miami/Ft Lauderdale area.  Then the traffic ground down and we crawled to our destination.  We are camped at Markham County Park in Sunrise, Florida.  We stayed here two years ago on the way down to the memorial for Tim’s son, Joey.  It is a huge park with loads of activities – shooting range, skeet range, BMX track, archery range, several dog parks, volley ball, etc.  Our campsite is in section B in a wagon wheel formation.  It is very nice, on grass, with full hookups.

      After set up, we drove to town (about a half mile away) to do a little shopping and get fuel.  We came back and drove around the park.  It is very impressive.

2023 Dec 7 (Thu) – We drove over to meet George at his place of work this morning – AutoHaus Body Shop.  He showed us around and introduced us to his new dog, a rottweiler.  Beautiful animal but he calls it dumb.  We went to lunch in George’s new Audi electric car.  Our meal was at Muddies, a small but very nice café.  Next door was a Rope Store. We had to go in and check it out.  They really sell ropes and all kinds of lines.

      After lunch, we went back to the shop.  Paul mentioned that there are spots on our truck that he can’t get out.  He asked George about it.  When he looked at the truck, he said the spots were caused by battery acid.  The only place that could have happened was when Paul had the truck in the shop back in Greenville, SC, while I was in NY.  The garage said the batteries were bad and sold us two new ones.  It looks like someone dropped a battery in front of the truck and acid splashed across the right front panel of the truck.  George took pictures and made up an estimate of cost to repair the damage.

      When we got home, Paul called the Ford dealer and told them about the damage.  The manager told Paul to send pictures.  I emailed the estimate and pictures.  We’ll see what happens.

At 5:30, we drove to Dolphin’s Waterfront Grill & Bar where we met George (Linda was at a Christmas party with her bible study group), Denise & Matthew.  Denise is George’s sister and Melody’s cousin.  Matthew is her new boyfriend.  They have been dating for six months and seemed very happy together.  We enjoyed a delightful meal while we reminisced about our growing years.

2023 Dec 6 (Wed) – We left Kings Bay, GA, at 10 a.m.  It was a long drive with two stops – one at the visitor center at the border and the second at one of the largest Buc-ee’s we have ever seen.  It had 120 gas pumps and 240 fill stations.  Inside was like a combination department store, country store, and gas station.  The place was so busy with traffic jams outside by cars looking for parking.  We wound up parking on the curb because there was no parking.  The “station” was packed with lots of energy going on.  There was a smoked meats sandwich counter and a fudge/candy station.  We shopped for a gift for family. 

      We arrived at KARS (NASA’s recreation park and campground) on Merritt Island at 3 p.m.  This is the 4th time we have camped here.  We came because they give a second membership card to use the facility for a family member.  Because NASA has been revitalized and demand is back up, they stopped giving the additional membership card.  We gave those cards to George & Linda.  He will be disappointed to hear this.  We were assigned a sign right on the water front of the Banana River.  They have improved the campground a lot since we were last here.  They put in new electric stanchions and a second dump station.  The American Legion post is active with meetings 3 times a month.  We have never seen this post do anything in the past.

      At 5 p.m., we drove to George & Linda’s home.  We visited for a while then they drove us to a restaurant names in honor of Ernest Hemingway.  It was a unique place and the food was good.  We all celebrated with “traditional” margaritas.  We returned to their home then drove back to the campground at 9:30 p.m. 

      I was so tired, I went to bed.  Paul stayed up to watch a lift off from Kennedy Space Center.  The complex is directly across the river and offers spectacular views of rocket launches.  Although I had fallen asleep, I was awakened at 12:08 p.m. when the RV shook with the force of the list-off.       

[travelingtheusa]

GEORGIA

2023 Dec 5 (Tue) – We drove into historic downtown St. Mary’s today.  It is a small town right on the bay.  There was a national parks museum about the Cumberland Island National Seashore.  It was a small museum but informative museum.  We stopped for lunch at a café on the waterfront.

      After lunch, we drove back to back and did some shopping at the commissary.  Once all the groceries were put away, Paul worked on the front cap of the RV.  It has been separating.  He reattached one side, then the other side needed reinforcing.  Then the screws all fell off one side.  He worked on reattaching everything today.  We are trying to hold on until we can get to the RV show and buy a new rig.  Hold on, Clark!

2023 Dec 4 (Mon) – We departed Hardeeville a little after 10:30 a.m.  The drive was along a mostly two-lane highway with a short sprint on I-95.  We arrived in Kings Bay, GA, a little after 1 p.m.  We are staying at the Kings Bay submarine base.  The campground is lovely.  We are in a pull-thru site right on the lakefront.  Signs warn not to harass or feed the alligators.  We are here for 2 nights.

[travelingtheusa]

SOUTH CAROLINA

2023 Dec 3 (Sun) – We packed up and left Mrytle Beach at 10 a.m.  It was a pleasant drive to Lake Jasper RV Village in Hardeeville.  The campground is a resort with a pool and games and such.  It’s a shame we are only here for one night.  We paid almost $72 for a pass-through.

      After set up, we drove into town to get fuel, then went to dinner at Frankie Bones.  It was a very interesting restaurant.  Since Hardeeville is close to Hilton Head, this is an upscale neighborhood.  The restaurant was very classy, given their richer clientele.  I had a spaghetti squash primavera and Paul enjoyed a seafood dish with scallops, shrimp and crab.  Everything was delicious.

2023 Dec 2 (Sat) – We went to the movies today to see “Napoleon.”  It turned out to be very disappointing.  It was more of a love story than a war movie.  It was slow, plodding, and confusing.  We did not enjoy it.

      After the movie, we stopped at CVS to pick up the new prescription the doctor prescribed for high blood pressure for me.  I went on line to look at reviews and was dismayed to see so many people criticize amlodipine.  There wasn’t a single positive statement on the use of this medication.  I think I will work harder on losing weight and try to avoid taking this stuff.  We still couldn’t find a larger cuff for the BP machine so Paul ordered it online.  We will pick it up at my cousin’s in a few days when we are in Merritt Island.

      We also stopped at Hallmark so I could pick up a few Christmas cards.

2023 Dec 1 (Fri) – We packed up and left Florence at 11:25 am.  Since it was a short drive today, we dragged our feet in leaving.  Paul spent the morning washing the truck and rig.  The drive was an easy hour and a half.  We arrived at the Swamp Fox Campground in Myrtle Beach at a quarter after 1:00.  The campground is OK.  It’s an older place but kept up alright.  We have a concrete pad, fire ring and picnic table with full hookups.

       After lunch, we headed over to my brother, Dennis’, place.  He and his lady live in a condo in a retirement community.  It’s a nice place although it has a second floor with a long staircase.  He is 81 and she is in her late 70s.  He is very healthy for now (rides his bike to the gym and presses weight every day) but it become a problem if either one of them develops a hip problem.  Regardless, their place was lovely.  Denise was not there, having flown back to New York this morning.

      Dennis took us in his 2006 Mustang to look around town.  He took us to Broadway at the Beach, an area with rides like a Coney Island type place.  We walked around a bit then got back in the car and drove to the boardwalk.  It was lovely.  The boardwalk was wide and right on the ocean.  Reminded me of Atlantic City boardwalk and Jones Beach.  We walked the mile up and down the boardwalk, looking in a couple of stores and buying a Myrtle Beach souvenir.

      We left and decided to go to a favorite restaurant of Dennis’ – California Dreaming.  He couldn’t find the place (it was now dark), so we went to his place, said good-bye, hopped in our truck, and took off.  We tried to go to Bonefish Grill but the roadway was difficult to navigate and we couldn’t get to it.  As we were driving around, we discovered California Dreaming so we stopped there.  The place was huge!  Lots of mirrors add to the effect.  The meal was good and the waiter was attentive.

2023 Nov 30 (Thu) – We packed up and left Fountain Inn at 10 am.  It was a beautiful drive with the sun shining and light traffic.  We stopped after two hours at Love’s to have lunch, then continued on.  We arrived at the Swamp Fox Campground in Florence at 1:30 pm.  The campground is somewhat rundown and turning to seed.  There are many RVs that look very old and unkempt with stuff overrunning the area around them. 

      After set up, we drove into town to get fuel.  Florence is a pretty big town.  After fuel, we drove to CVS to look for a blood pressure cuff.  They did not have what we wanted so we went across the street to Walgreens but they didn’t have anything either.  We will have to order it on line.  I sent an email to the cardiologist, telling him to call my prescription into the CVS in Myrtle Beach.  We will be there for two days, visiting my brother, Dennis.

2023 Nov 29 (Wed) – We went over to Travis’ house at 3 pm.  Sam asked us to watch Lincoln while she went to pick up Noah and Hudson.  Turned out that Travis didn’t go to work today.  When everyone was home, we took them to Lil’ Rebel for dinner.  It was a café-type place with a large menu and good prices.  After dinner, we drove to the Kroc Center where Hudson and Sam played basketball, and Travis and we watched the other two boys swim.  At 7:30 pm, we bid good-bye to everyone.

2023 Nov 28 (Tue) – Paul and I went shopping today.  I bought new sneakers and a pair of earrings (I had lost my last pair on the airplane to NY).  We had breakfast at the Clock Drive-In.  It turned out not to be as nice as Paul imagined it would be.  We had lunch at the mall at Sarku, a restaurant we liked very much in NY.  It wasn’t quite the same here.  We stopped at Ingles and picked up a few things on the way home.

      The cardiologist called this morning to say my bloodwork was in.  My cholesterol is high and he wants me to start taking a statin.  In addition, I have been having mild headaches and running a little high in my blood pressure.  He suggested that I also take a medication for that.  I told him we would find a CVS and let him know where to call the prescription in to.

2023 Nov 27 (Mon) – We didn’t do much today.  Drove over to Travis’ for dinner.  Sam’s parents joined us.  Sharon made ziti and we brought Italian bread.  Travis & Sam were having a fight.  The kids were running around and screaming and fighting.  It was all overwhelming and we left almost immediately after dinner.  The atmosphere was very uncomfortable.

2023 Nov 26 (Sun) – The boys woke happy and ready to greet the day.  Paul made pancakes for everyone then we took a walk around the campground.  It is a plain facility with only a small office and smaller laundry building with 4 washers and 4 dryers.  Noah and I looked at all the RVs, commenting on what we liked and didn’t like about them.  Paul and Hudson threw a frisbee back and forth during the walk. 

      We met Travis and Hudson at 2nd & Charles, a huge bookstore with lots of other stuff.  Travis took Noah to a play and we watched Hudson and Lincoln.  When we were done in the bookstore, we took the two boys to Runway Park.  It was a playground right at the airport.  There was also a small mini golf course there.  We watched private jets take off and land as the boys played.

      When finished (it was cold), we went to the house and hung out until everyone else got home.  Travis made dinner then we left.

2023 Nov 25 (Sat) – It was another busy day.  We ran out of propane overnight and Paul ran out to get the tanks refilled this morning.  The temperatures have been hovering just above freezing.  It warms up to the low 50s during the day but nights are really cold.  I am looking forward to heading south.

      Noah had his bowling league this morning.  We joined them at the bowling alley.  Travis & Sam went food shopping while we watched the kids.  After playing pool, Hudson wanted to bowl.  So Paul and Hudson bowled 3 games and I watched Lincoln in the small arcade room.  Afterward, we went back to the house and helped Travis put up Christmas lights.

      At 4 pm, we climbed into the truck with Noah and Hudson, and Travis got into his truck with Lincoln and we drove to Easley for the Upstate Holiday Light Show.  Turned out it didn’t start until 6 pm, so we drove to Freddy’s Steakhouse and got dinner for everyone.  We got back on line at the show at 5:30 pm.  They opened promptly at 6 pm.  We drove the route through the light show.  They had a fantastic display that included the lights timed to music.  We drove around the route twice.  At the end of the drive was a small carnival and a petting zoo.  We bought tickets and the boys enjoyed some of the rides.  Then we wandered through the petting zoo.  The animals enjoyed the food we gave them.

      When the show was over, we brought the two boys back to the camper with us and they spent the night sleeping on the floor. 

2023 Nov 24 (Fri) – My trip to NY was nice but went by very fast.  Kenny’s grandmother passed away the Monday before I arrived home so I was able to attend the wake and funeral services.  I had to rearrange or cancel doctor’s appointments but I got it all done.  I was only able to see the cardiologist and the oncologist while home.  I will make up the next time I go home in February. All reports were fine.

      Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  We went over Travis’ house and shared a fabulous meal with his family as well as Sam’s parents, Sharon & Greg.  We gave a few gifts to the kids.  We will be bringing over the larger number of gifts for them to put under the tree.  Hudson gave everyone gifts.  They turned out to be books he got from school.  The library had a bunch of books they were giving away and he took many of them.  It was cute.

      After doing the laundry this morning, we went over Trap’s and took the kids to the Greenville Zoo (Sam had to work today).  It was small but nice.  They have a very nice playground that the kids enjoyed as well.  After the zoo, we drove to a park that had a mini golf course.  You just have to bring your own golf club and ball to play.  We went back to the house for a while then came home.  It was a very busy day.

2023 Nov 14 (Tue) – We dropped the truck off at Ford and got a loaner to use while it is in the shop.  We then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  It was not good.  This place has gone downhill in the last few years.  The biscuits were small and stale.  My scrambled eggs were not cooked all the way.  Our plates looked empty when they were brought out.  And the waitress seemed to be uninterested in serving anybody.  We had to call her over to refill our coffee cups and then again to bring the bill.  When we got back, we did the laundry.  I finished up SMART emails and work assignments. 

      Kenny’s grandmother passed away yesterday.  Miranda sent me information about the wake and funeral.  I had to rearrange doctor appointments but was able to clear most of my calendar.  I cancelled an eye exam and pushed the cardiologist to a later time.  I tried to cancel the dentist but there was no answer.  I’ll try again tomorrow.

      We drove to Travis’ house at 3.  Sam left us to watch Hudson and Lincoln while she ran to the school to pick up Noah.  Paul and Lincoln played together while Hudson and I played Scrutinize.  He is obsessed with the game and wants to play it constantly.  Sam cooked dinner and we played one more game of Scrutinize before leaving.  I had to pack for tomorrow’s trip to New York.

2023 Nov 13 (Mon) – We drove to Arden, NC, to meet Travis at his job with The Cliffs.  He drove us around the area, showing us the million dollar homes they are building in the development.  He says they own 8,000 acres over 7 mountains.  The homes were stunning and very large.  I guess that’s the new move now – BIG.  And there are lots of people with lots of money today.  Where do all these millionaires come from?

      After driving around to look at all the beautiful houses, we went to the Cliffs Bar & Restaurant for lunch.  Travis was a little worried they might have a dress code but we didn’t get turned away.  We sat out on the patio and enjoyed an excellent meal.

      We said goodbye then drove the hour and a half back to the campground.  Along the way, we stopped to get fuel and shop at Ingles.

2023 Nov 12 (Sun) – We met Travis and the boys at Texas Roadhouse for lunch (Sam was working).  After lunch, we went to a playground then the Kroc Center where Hudson had basketball practice.  Noah and Lincoln swam in the pool.  I watched the swimmers and Paul watched the ball player.

      When done, we drove to The Cliffs Chapel at Glassy Mountain.  It was a long drive up the mountain but the view was spectacular.  It was a lovely chapel with lots of glass to look out on the surrounding vista.  There was also a veterans memorial nearby.  It was a beautiful location.

       We drove down the mountain and picked up pizza for dinner.  We all enjoyed a meal together.  Then we returned to the campground.

2023 Nov 11 (Sat) – The campground had coffee and donuts for the veterans in the campground this morning.  That was very nice.

      We drove to the Wade Hampton Lanes this morning to see Noah play in a bowling tournament.  We also played a game.  It took us an hour and we only completed 9 frames.  Playing with little guys is so time consuming (Lincoln, age 4; and Hudson, age 8).  We also ran back and forth between our lane and Noah’s so we could watch him play.

      After bowling, we drove to the soccer field where Travis & Samantha were picking up a medal for Hudson.  His soccer team came in third this season.  We sat for a while so Hudson could kick the ball around with some friends, then went into the Kroc Community Center.  The center was built and donated by Ray Kroc and his wife.  Kroc owned McDonalds and was very philanthropic.  After he died, his wife, Joan, gave millions to the Salvation Army to build 26 Kroc centers round the country.  The center had a huge Olympic sized pool, a water slide, a children’s area, and a hot tub.  There was a room with exercise equipment and a spin class area. 

      The next stop was at the American Legion War Museum.  It was a small museum chocked full of memorabilia and artifacts from the various wars.  The boys were very interested in the displays and asked lots of questions.  A docent got hold of Sam and talked her ear off.

      We returned to the house where Sam prepared a delicious dinner for us all.  Then we played games until it was time to leave.  It was a very full day.

2023 Nov 10 (Fri) – Noah’s school was having activities in honor of veterans today. We drove to his school, Sevier Middle School, to arrive at 8:30 a.m.  I spoke to students in two classes; one was Noah’s 5th grade class and the other was a 7th grade class.  The 7th graders were a lot more vocal with questions than Noah’s class.  The all the veterans (of which there were many of us) walked down to the auditorium where we entered amidst thunderous applause.  All the students and faculty were standing and clapping for a good ten minutes while we filed in and took our seats.  The ceremony was phenomenal and very humbling.  Then we all walked down to the library where they had a luncheon set up for us.  It was quite a spread. 

      At 4:30 p.m. we picked up Chick-Fil-A (couldn’t find KFC) and went to Travis’ house for dinner.  The boys were glad to see us and we them.  After dinner, we played games and visited for a while.

2023 Nov 9 (Thu) – We packed up and left Greensboro, NC, at 9:00 a.m.  It was a four and a half hour drive to Fountain Inn, SC.  We are camped at Shibby RV Living.  It is a very basic campground.  Four rows of RVs line the campground with no trees.  We think it might have been a farm at one time. 

[travelingtheusa]

NORTH CAROLINA

2023 Nov 8 (Wed) – We packed up and left Richmond, VA, at 9:30 a.m.  It was an easy drive to Greensboro, NC, where we are staying at a KOA.  The cost is high but the campground is very nice.  We just stayed the one night on our way south.

[travelingtheusa]

VIRGINIA

2023 Nov 7 (Tue) – I went to the hairdresser today and got lowlights and a haircut.  It looks pretty good but I’ll have to get used to it.  I don’t think the cut is very good though.

      After the hairdresser, we went shopping at Kroger for groceries.  We also picked up a fried chicken meal for lunch but by the time we ate it, it was much closer to dinnertime. 

      Paul got propane at Tractor Supply while I was in the hairdresser and wandered around Lowe’s for a while.  When I came out of the hairdresser, we got fuel for tomorrow’s move.

2023 Nov 6 (Mon – Paul’s birthday) – We went to the Secret Sandwich Society in Richmond for lunch.  The menu was very eclectic as they had lots of unusual combinations in sandwiches.  They did have a full bar and we were able to celebrate with a margarita.  What else?

      After lunch, we drove to Maymont Estate.  When we arrived, we realized we had been there before in 2019.  The park and grounds were open but the buildings were closed.  There were several tents set up around the grounds.  They had some kind of event this weekend.  There was a sign saying they were all sold out.  As we walked the grounds, trucks began pulling up to take the tents down.  Too bad we missed whatever it was.

2023 Nov 5 (Sun) – We went to the riverwalk this morning.  It was short walk along the one side we walked on.  We read the story boards and learned that the canal was a dream of George Washington’s.  When built, it was over 500 miles long and connected to the Mississippi River.

      After the walk, we went to an Irish pub for lunch.  The Sine Irish Pub was in a historic building made of lots of dark wood and glass.  The food was good.

2023 Nov 4 (Sat) – We were going to go into Richmond today to the riverwalk but we saw on the news that there was an event going on for Alzheimer’s.  Because of the crowd, we didn’t go in.

2023 Nov 3 (Fri) – It is still cold.  Again, Paul disconnected the water hose before going to bed.  He began work on our next caravan – Planes, Trains, Automobiles & Ships.  This is such fun!  I started research for my next book.  It’s funny.  It’s turning out that I am writing one book a year:  Golden Nuggets in 2022, Letters From the Dessert in 2023, and Let’s Go Caravaning in 2024.  I can’t think of what I would write about next in 2025.

      We went out to lunch at Skrimp Shack.  No, that’s not a misspelling.  I thought I was looking wrong but on closer inspection, it is spelled with a ‘k’ and not an ‘h’.  I had a shrimp taco and Paul enjoyed a shrimp po boy.  After lunch, we went to Kroger and picked up a few groceries then to NAPA to pick up some DEF for the truck.  Another light came on in the dashboard.  Paul had to pull out the manual to look it up.  It was particulate matter in the fuel filter and he had to run the engine to burn it off.  I think it's related to the recall Ford sent out on the EPA system for the truck.  I just hope the truck holds on until we can get to the shop in Greenville, SC, on November 14.

2023 Nov 2 (Thu) – A cold snap blew through last night and temperatures dropped to the low 30s.  We disconnected the water hose before going to bed. Good thing, too.  The thermometer read 32 degrees this morning when Paul got up.  We stayed in all day.  It was too cold to go anywhere.  Paul called a Ford dealer in Greenville to make an appointment to bring the truck in.  Not only do we have a recall on the EPA sensor, but the truck has been acting up.  We get a CHECK ENGINE light, a picture of a wrench, a warning signal for tire pressure, and in the last two or three days, the light in the back seat will not go out.  Paul had to disconnect it entirely.

2023 Nov 1 (Wed) - Paul took me out to dinner at Chicken & Bread.  It turned out to be a Latin American restaurant where Spanish was the primary language.  The place was full when we walked in but cleared out fairly quickly.  I joked that everyone in the place thought we were with immigration.  We got roast chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables.  Paul ordered a tamale as a side dish but it was not anything he was used to.  It was not wrapped in corn husk and the masa was undercooked.  Also, there were bones in the chicken in the tamale.  When he explained to the waitress that it wasn’t like any tamale he had every eaten, she patiently explained that the food in the restaurant was Guatemalan and other Latin venues.  We were impressed that she didn’t just blow us off but stayed to explain the difference from the traditional Mexican tamale.

      We went to PetCo afterward to pick up some digestive enzymes for Sheba.  Next door was an ABC store where we picked up some booze.  (The state operates all liquor stores in Virginia and they are named VA ABC – doesn’t even say it’s a liquor store.)  Next stop was at an RV dealer where Paul picked up a repair kit for the door.  He also got a cover for a connection that broke off after he installed it on the outside of the rig.

2023 Oct 31 (Tue) – We waved goodbye as rig after rig pulled out of the campground.  We were packed and ready to leave at 10:30 a.m.  The drive was about 120 miles to the DLA Supply Center Richmond Family RV Rec Area.  We were here in 2019.  The “campground” (if you want to call it that) only has six sites located around a circle.  All campsites are full.  We have 50 amp electric and water hookups.  We pulled out the paper plates in order to keep water usage low since we have no sewer connection. 

      At 5:30 p.m. we went out for dinner at the Half Way House.  It was an historical building that stood during the civil war.  The restaurant was in the basement and was dimly lit with lots of old wood.  It turned out the kitchen was in a separate log building next to the restaurant.  The meal was excellent; expensive, but excellent.

2023 Oct 30 (Mon) - We did some shopping at WalMart today.  I collected contributions from other members of the caravan to give a gift to the wagon masters and tail gunners.  We went to WalMart and picked up a bunch of gift certificates to restaurants.  We stopped at the Southern Kitchen for lunch.  It was good but, again, a long wait for our food.

      At 5:00 p.m. we went to the Speakeasy at Mimslyn Inn in Luray for our caravan farewell dinner.  It was in the basement of a large hotel.  It was our caravan and other people from the general public in the restaurant (they didn’t take any reservations; it was first-come, first-served).  After our meal, we presented the WM and TG with their gift certificates.  Then I gave a brief talk to the group as the 1st VP and incoming president of SMART, encouraging everyone to join in musters and help with recruiting and retention.

2023 Oct 29 (Sun) – We did laundry today.  I worked on paying bills.  Paul worked on repairs to the RV.  He got the parts he ordered from Amazon to make various repairs around the rig.

The group toured the Shenandoah Caverns today. It was pretty large. They divided us into two groups, each with a guide. There was another tour group going around at the same time we all were and it seemed pretty crowded at one point.

203 Oct 28 (Sat) – We toured Luray Caverns today.  What a phenomenal experience!  There were more stalagmites and stalactites than we have ever seen in any cave.  And the rooms were so large and roomy.  There was a lake that reflected the ceiling so perfectly that you couldn’t tell where the landforms ended and the reflection began.  The caves are set up on a self-guided tour with you following descriptions of key forms on a brochure you get when you register.  I guess COVID changed how they do tours.  This is the first cave that we’ve gone in that did not have a guide to make sure your did not touch anything or take any souvenirs.

      After the tour, we met Joe & Diane at the Watch & Warrant for lunch.  Ugh.  It was almost an hour to get our food and it wasn’t that good.  At 5 p.m. the group went to a nearby café for dinner.

2023 Oct 27 (Fri) – We packed up and moved from Waynesboro to Luray.  It was only 45 miles away.  We were in the last group to leave at 11:00 a.m.  The Luray RV Resort is very much a resort.  They have a motocross track, a track for bicyclists, pickle ball, a water park, corn hole, and lots more.  Our site is a generous size and all hookups work well.  There is lots of grass and some trees.  The caravan is located all together in one row.  There is another part of the park that appears to be brand new with no one in it.

2023 Oct 26 (Thu) – It was a very long day today.  We drove into Lexington, VA to tour the Virginia Military Institute.  It was a beautiful campus, built in the same style as West Point in NY.  The sprawling campus called for a lot of walking.  We toured the VMI Museum, looked in the chapel, and followed a guide around as we learned about life at the institute.

      When the tour was done, we had lunch in the dining hall.  It was a very large cafeteria with many choices.  The food was pretty good.  Then we walked over to the Jackson home and learned about Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.  His was a life filled with loss.  He was orphaned at age 7, his first wife died giving birth to their stillborn son, and he was shot and killed by one of his one men during the Civil War at the ripe old age of 39.  It is said that General Lee lost the war when General Jackson died. 

      We returned to the campground.  My dogs were barking!  That was a LOT of walking.  We had a travel meeting then a campfire.  We move tomorrow. 

2023 Oct 25 (Wed) – It was a free day.  We went into town and had lunch at Stella, Bella & Lucy’s.  This was a café named after their dogs.  Quaint and good food.  Afterward, we drove to the Silverback Distillery for a tasting.  Joe and another member of the caravan bought bottles of liquor.  We did not buy anything.  After happy hour, there was another campfire.  It was very pleasant.

2023 Oct 24 (Tue) – We rode into Staunton to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Museum & Library.  We had been here in 2021.  The tour was the same – 3 buildings: one was the home he was born in, one was a private home turned into a gift shop, and the third was the museum.  Afterward, we walked into town and had lunch at the Pampered Plate Café. It was a small place but the food was good.

      After we got back to the campground, we hopped in the truck and ran some errors.  We got fuel, propane, liquor, groceries, and postage stamps.  There was a delightful campfire tonight.

2023 Oct 23 (Mon) – The caravan left early this morning (8:00 a.m.) to drive an hour to Charlottesville to tour the Thomas Jefferson Highland.  It is the location of where Thomas Jefferson’s home was located.  The house was lovely but totally unexpected.  The rooms were small and plain.  We thought the home would be more opulent given that it is in the south and was owned by an ex-president. They broke us up into 2 groups and each had a guide.  We walked around the first floor of the home and then around the grounds.  I was extremely disappointed.  It feels like they missed an opportunity to tell us about Jefferson’s presidency.  It was all about the house.

      After the house tour, we drove to Michie Tavern for a delightful buffet lunch.  The setting was an old log cabin.  After we were seated with our food, waitstaff came around to give us refills on anything we wanted. 

      Next on the agenda was a tour of James Monroe’s Highland.  This was an even stranger tour as his home had burned down.  We took a tour of someone else’s house that was built on Monroe’s property.  Again, they missed the opportunity to talk about his presidency and what he accomplished. 

      We got back to the campground around 4:20 p.m.  It was a long day.

2023 Oct 22 (Sun) – We packed up and left at 11 a.m.  We were in the last group today.  This was the longest leg of the caravan – just under 200 miles.  It was like everything conspired to interfere on our trip.  There were 3 accidents, the last just as we got to the intersection when a large fire truck pulled up and blocked our way.  We pulled into the Luray RV Resort & Campground around 4:30 p.m.  As we were setting up, the call came out over the radio that happy hour was at 5:00 p.m.  Talk about not having a chance to catch your breath!

      We went to happy hour and happily found a campfire blazing away.  We joined the group around the circle until it started to get dark, then came home for dinner.

2023 Oct 21 (Sat) – A fierce wind blew up overnight.  It started around 2:45 a.m. and kept up for most of the day.  It let up around 4 p.m.

      We carpooled with Beth & Marlin into Mt. Airy, NC, to the Andy Griffith Museum.  A docent gave us a comprehensive talk about Andy Griffith’s career, then we all filed outside for a group photo by the Andy & Opie statue.  Then we walked around the corner from the playhouse to the museum.  Having been here before, I soon left because the place was packed – not only with our group but the general public.

      When we were all done, we walked downtown to Mi Casa for lunch.  After lunch, we walked to the historical Earl Theater.  There were a group of musicians playing hillbilly music.  They were on the air for a radio program. The radio program has been playing for years.  We listened for about 30 minutes, then left to go to Wally’s Service Station.  There, the caravan had arranged for 11 police squad cars to give us rides.  When Beth & Marlin and us got in the car, the driver took us on a half hour tour of Mt. Airy.  He was a delightful tour guide and regaled us with stories of the town and the characters from the Andy Griffith show.  We thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

      After return to the campground, I prepared cheese stuffed mini peppers for happy hour (we were supposed to have heavy hors d’oeuvres tonight but John cancelled that, thinking we would get back too late to prepare the food).  Some of the other folks prepared their hors d’oeuvres as well.  You can’t save the food, sometimes.  After happy hour, they held the travel meeting.  We are in the last group tomorrow, leaving at 11 a.m. for the 200 mile trip to Waynesboro.

      There was a campfire tonight.  That was delightful.

2023 Oct 20 (Fri) – We invited Allen & Carol to join us for lunch at the Creek Bottom Brewing Co.  We met Allen and his first wife, Judy, on the Canadian Maritimes caravan.  Judy passed away last year.  Allen and Carol met due to both of their spouses having dementia.  Her husband also passed away last year.  They got together and got married.  Now, they are traveling the U.S. making up for lost time.

      At 4:30 p.m., the group met back at the Creek Bottom Brewing Co for dinner.  The caravan covered $15 per person for a meal; the rest you covered on your own.  We stayed until 6:45 p.m. and left before the entertainment for the evening began to play.  Everyone said she was very good.

2023 Oct 19 (Thu) – We didn’t go anywhere today.  I spent the day on the TENS machine and heating pad.  At 5 pm, we had happy hour.  The caravan had a grill-out tonight.  Everyone brought their grills to the rec center and cooked either steaks or pork chops (according to what you ordered).  Everyone brought sides to go with their meat.  As usual, there was way too much food.

2023 Oct 18 (Wed) – We went to WalMart for groceries, then to the County Line Café for lunch.  My back has been steadily getting worse over the past few days and this afternoon, it hit is apex.  I could barely walk by the time we got back home.  I used the TENS machine, Biofreeze, and a heating pad.  When all that didn’t work, I took a couple of Tylenol.  Nothing seems to be helping.  I may have to seek medical attention.

2023 Oct 17 (Tue) – We rode with Joe & Diane into the town of Galax this morning.  We all gathered at the visitor’s center for a guided tour of the town.   She walked the group down to the School for the Arts.  We walked around the building admiring all the hand crafted items on display and for sale.  The curator gave us a talk about the school, its beginnings, its funding, and its purpose.  After half an hour, we walked down the block to the Hillbilly Barber Shop.  It used to be a barber shop in its day but now it is an antique music store.  The man who runs it – Tom Barr – used to perform in the day.  Now, he makes violins and entertains visitors to his small shop.  There were pictures all over the walls of folks who have played music.  Two of his friends came in and played for us.

         Afterward, we drove to the Blue Ridge Music Center.  There were two buildings connected by a portico.  One building contained a small museum about the start of American bluegrass music.  The other building was an auditorium.  In front, was a group of four people playing instruments. We sat for about a half hour, listening to them play, then went over to explore the museum.  The trees in the area are really starting to turn now.  The hillside was beautiful.

      At 5 p.m., we went down to happy hour.  At 6 pm, we returned to the camper.

2023 Oct 16 (Mon) – We packed up and left Bristol, TN at 10:30 a.m.  There were 3 of us in the group; us in the middle.  The ride was fairly easy and we arrived at the Cool Breeze Campground in Galax, VA at 1:30 p.m.  The wagon maser had a problem with his airbags and had to stay in the campground waiting for an RV tech to help.  The folks that came in as group one did a superb job of parking everybody.

      We went to happy hour at 5:00 p.m.  The campground has given us the clubhouse to use every day we are here.  It is a small room that says it can hold up to 30 people but 36 of us fit in there just fine. 

[travelingtheusa]

TENNESSEE

2023 Oct 14 (Sat – Melody’s Birthday) – We drove into Bristol this morning for a tour of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.  We were ushered into an auditorium, listened to a docent talk about the music industry, then watched a video.  Afterward, we wandered around the museum, looking at all the exhibits and reading the display boards.  At 12:30 p.m., we gathered in a small room and had lunch.  There were pulled pork, chicken nuggets (fresh, not frozen, and mmm-mmm good), beans, cole slaw, and banana pudding.

      After lunch, we gathered on the stairs for a group picture.  Then several of us walked across the street to look at a show in the park.  It was an artist’s festival and almost all the tents contained weird items for sale.  Beth & Marlin and us walked over to State Street and took pictures of the sign spread over the roadway.  Bristol is split down the middle, with half the town in Tennessee and half in Virginia.

      Joe & Diane went out to dinner with us.  We had Mexican with (what else?) margaritas.  It was fun.  When we returned, we joined the remains of happy hour around the dying fire.  It got cold and damp.

2023 Oct 13 (Fri) – We packed up and left Asheville, NC at 11 a.m.  We were tail gunners this time.  We lost the group almost immediately as we were the only one of the four to get caught at the traffic light.  It took us an hour to catch up with our group but a stop at a rest area allowed us all to be together again.  We arrived at Shadrock Campground in Bristol, TN around 12:30 p.m.  The campground is nice.  There are large trees around the area and the sites are spacious.  Unfortunately, the trees was walnut and we keep getting thunked on the roof with big nuts.  Sounds like a bomb going off.

      I spent the afternoon trying to arrange for a dinner at an American Legion post next year when we come through with the Whiskey & Water Caravan.  So far, no luck.  Email addresses are no good and phones don’t answer or allow for messages.  Very frustrating.

[travelingtheusa]

NORTH CAROLINA

2023 Oct 11 (Wed) – The bedroom slide needed fixing (again) so Paul spent the morning working on that.  We went out for lunch to the Moose Café.  The meatloaf was excellent.  Dropped a card off at the post office for Brenda & Rick.  They left the caravan a few days ago because Brenda’s sister, Marsha, was experiencing shortness of breath and due to visit the cardiologist.  She discovered she was suffering heart failure so they drove home to be with her.  They arrived to find Marsha in the hospital in good spirits.  The medication and treatments were doing her good.  The doctor said there was extensive damage and Marsha needed either a pace maker or catheterization.  During the procedure, her heart stopped.  They revived her but her heart was weak and she died later in the day.  At least Brenda got home in time to say goodbye.  I had the group sign a card and sent it off.  I also sent flowers to Linda.  Johnny & Linda were our tail gunners on the Alaska caravan.  Linda fell and broke her foot/ankle/leg.  It is a serious break and will take weeks to recover.

      We invited Gina & Tony to join us for dinner.  We went back to the Moose Café because our lunch had been so good.  This time, the meal was not as good.  Oh, well.  We spent the time together giving them advice on running a caravan.  They will be leading the Canadian Maritimes next year.  Hopefully, they learned some things from us.  We gave them our travel guide from our trip to the Maritimes in 2016, our Utah caravan in 2019, and the memory book for Canada.

2023 Oct 10 (Tue) – We carpooled to the Biltmore Estate this morning.  We were going to ride with Beth & Marlin but John asked us to be tail gunners for the group so we took our truck.  There was some confusion about where to park.  Once we got parked, we had to take a trolley to the house.  The crowds there were unbelievable.  We immediately were reminded of Disney World during spring vacation.  We all formed up in front of the house but held, waiting for Donna to get back from the parking lot (her husband had to be dropped off; he had a broken back and cannot walk) after dropping her husband off.  After about 30 minutes, we got pictures taken.  While waiting, John asked me to tell a joke.  I told 3.  Paul took the group shot and we all split up to tour the grounds.

      There was the house with 250 rooms and 43 bathrooms.  The fourth floor had 21 rooms for maids.  The size of this place was ridiculous.  George Vanderbilt built the “country estate” as a retreat for his friends and family to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  It sits on 8,000 acres (now a national historical landmark) and has the house, a gardens, a winery, a village with restaurants and shops, a trail ride for horses, and a special display called Italian Renaissance.

      We got on line for the house.  The line wound slowly through 3 floors and the basement.  Everyone was given a hand held device to use for a self-guided tour.  As you came to each room, there was a corresponding number posted that you entered in the audio device.  Then you could hear something about that room.  It took about 45 minutes to go through the whole house; and we never saw the 4th or 5th floors.

      When finished touring the house, we drove to Antler Hill Village & Winery.  There was a long line winding around to get in for a free wine tasting.  We did not do that but did buy 2 wine glasses in the shop.  Then we went into the Village Social Restaurant for lunch.  They were not serving lunch today.  So we went next door to the Bistro, but they wouldn’t open until 4:30 p.m.  We found a small café next to the reception area for the hotel.  There was a small but eclectic menu. 

      After lunch, we stopped in the Christmas shop and bought an ornament.  It was interesting to learn that 1.5 million people visit the Biltmore Estate every year.  The estate is still family owned by the great grandchildren of Vanderbilt. They have certainly turned it into a business.

2023 Oct 9 (Mon – Columbus Day) – We were in group 4 this morning and did not leave until 12:30 p.m.  That is so unusual for us.  We were basically ready by 10 a.m. and just sat around waiting for our turn to leave.  The tail gunner came around with a route change but we decided to take the route we planned on yesterday.  The first 12 miles wound around mountain curves then straightened out and was a 4-lane highway.  Bear Creek RV Park in Asheville, NC, was less than 50 miles.

      There was a bit of a jam-up when we arrived at the campground.  RVs were lined up as they tried to back into their sites and/or unhook their tows.  We finally got backed into our campsite.  An hour later, we were carpooling to town for a trolley tour of Asheville.  There wasn’t a whole lot on the tour that I found interesting. 

      When we got back from the trolley tour, Diane (who rode with us), Joe & Diane, and Carl & Shirley decided to go for dinner.  The trolley driver suggested the Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar.  They had no room inside so we sat out on the patio at a picnic table.  The food was good; the margaritas not so much.  It was an 8/10 walk to the restaurant and only 6/10 of a mile back. Over the same route – how was that possible?

2023 Oct 8 (Sun) – We spent the morning working on various things.  At 3 pm, Joe & Dian came over and we discussed the Whiskey & Water caravan we will be running next year. 

       The caravan planned a happy hour and travel meeting at 5 followed by a chicken dinner with us bringing the sides.  I had to cook the potatoes, then bring them in a crockpot to sit for an hour.  As has been on this caravan, the travel meeting was confusing.  Then we had dinner.  After dinner, a storyteller came in and talked about the mountains and Cherokee history.  He was quite the character – white, overgrown hair and beard, with bad teeth, and wearing a medicine bag around his neck.  When he was done, the owner of the campground (a Cherokee) told us of his history, his service in the military, his subsequent treatment for PTSD, and his work on the campground.

2023 Oct 7 (Sat) – We drove to Taylors, SC today to visit with Travis and his family.  We met them at their house, then drove to a nearby park for a picnic.  Noah rode with us (we only had one seat available) while the rest of them stopped to pick up something for lunch.  When we got to the park, there were five bouncy houses with various tables set up around the end of the park.  There was some kind of fund raiser going on.  We bought wrist bands for two boys and Paul (there had to be an adult in the group).  Noah, as it turned out, was not really interested in the bounces and spent most of his time riding around the park on his bicycle.  After playing for a while, we drove to an ice cream parlor for ice creams all around.  Then we left and drove 2 hours back to the campground.  It was a nice visit.  Glad I happened to check the map and found they were within 100 miles of us.

2023 Oct 6 (Fri) – Paul & I drove to Fontana Dam this morning.  It is a beautiful dam at 430 ft tall.  The dam creates Fontana Lake/River.  We parked at the visitor center and walked half-way across the dam.  There is some kind of construction going on but we couldn’t tell for what.  Then we went into the visitor center and learned all about the dam.

      After the dam tour, we drove to the Tail of the Dragon.  This is a section of US126 that has 318 curves in an 11 miles stretch.  It was like riding a roller coaster with lots of turns and curves; some quite steep.  Luckily, I did not get sick.  At the beginning of the Dragon there is a motorcycle resort with a bar (of course), gift shops (always), and a café.  There were tons of motorcycles parked in the resort.  Buildings that had been built for the workers in 1940 have been turned into facilities for guests.  Loads of people were wondering around the place, which spanned the roadway.  People were crossing back and forth across the road.  We did, too.  Parked on one side and walked across to the other for lunch. 

      Following lunch, we extricated ourselves from the tiny parking lot full of cars and bikes, then drove the Dragon.  The tail actually started at a fence line between North Carolina and Tennessee.  The route was in Tennessee.  I never saw so many expensive race cars in all my born days.  There were Porsches, Thunderbirds, Mustangs, Firebirds, etc.  All the thrill seekers were out in full force, racing along the 11-mile stretch of road with its 318 curves.  There were photographers parked at several curves taking pictures of the cars and bikes as they rounded corners and sped to the next one.  We kept pulling over to the side to let them pass us on the 2-lane road.  We not only drove into the Dragon, we drove back again.  There was no other road to take back to the campground.

      We stopped at Ingles Supermarket on the way back to get some groceries.  Sheba was happy to see us.  It was dinner time.  We brought our chairs to happy hour but it started raining shortly thereafter so the socializing was cut short.

2023 Oct 5 (Thu) – Paul and I drove to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  His back is still hurting him.  He put on a back brace, which seems to make him feel a little better but he’s still sensitive to any movements that cause his back to spasm.  We stopped at the visitor center then walked down the riverwalk trail for about a half mile.  We looked over the river then turned back.  Climbing back into the truck, we drove further into the park.  There were people everywhere!  We drove to Clingman’s Dome but had to turn around because we couldn’t find anywhere to park.  Driving further into the park, we stopped at Smokemont campground to hike a trail there.  We got about a mile into the trail then turned back.  We wanted to see a waterfalls but the map didn’t say anything about a falls.  In addition, we forgot to bring a back pack with water. 

      At 5 p.m. we went out for happy hour.  At 5:30 p.m. the wagon master brought in salad and pizzas.  We went to the rec center and had a meal.  They put mushrooms on every pizza!  Even though I picked it off, the mushrooms still left a taste on the pizza.  Ugh!

2023 Oct 4 (Wed) – The group drove to Bryson City for a ride on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.  It was a steam engine pulling many, many cars along a 44 mile track for a 5-hour ride down the track and back.  We were supposed to have an open air car but wound up in a dining car seated at 2 and 4-person tables.  The meal was lack luster and the ride was a long boring and very slow ride down the track and back.  The countryside is covered with kudzu, an invasive species of vine.  We started out joking that it was a kudzu tour but it soon became apparent the vine covers acres and acres of countryside and blanketed trees along the tracks.

      Back in the 1920s, the railroad was looking for something to hold embankments back and stop erosion.  They had been using crushed vehicles piled on one another.  So they imported kudzu from Japan because it has very deep roots (up to 12 feet).  It’s hardiness proved to be a bad thing as the vine went on to cover everything in the area.  Trees, bushes, etc. were covered so thoroughly that the kudzu killed the flora and fauna near it.  So, 30 years later, they decided to bring in the Japanese beetle, a natural predator of kudzu.  Unfortunately, the beetle did not like the North Carolina kudzu version, but they did take to the southern white pine and have decimated the tree.  Now, they are looking at importing the natural predator of the Japanese beetle.  The docent on the train said we would have to come back in 15 to 20 years to see what new damage will be caused by this introduction.

      At happy hour tonight, we played a game of beanbag baseball.  The wagon master got really into the game, claiming people who overstepped the home plate when they threw the bag should be disqualified.  Then he wanted to name our team the Red Barons.  There was no enthusiasm for that.  When our team won, he insisted everyone get up and pose for pictures either forming a “W” for winner or “L” for loser.  It seemed very mean spirited. If we were playing for a championship or for prize money, that might spur us to be blood thirsty competitors. But the game was intended to be just for fun.

2023 Oct 3 (Tue) – We packed up and left Cleveland, GA at 9:30 a.m.  There were initially 2 rigs with us.  The third was staying at a nearby campground because they were too large to fit in this campground.  They caught up with us a little more than half-way here and we pulled into the Happy Holidays RV Campground in Cherokee around 11:45 a.m.  The campground is in the Cherokee Reservation.  Lots of businesses in town have names with Indian leavings – Broken Arrow, Golden Eagle, etc.

      When we arrived at the campground, the Wagon Master, John, met us at the entrance.  The campground staff led us to our campsite in their golf carts.  Unfortunately, they tried to park us in a site that we couldn’t get into.  There was a pole at the edge of the campsite that we couldn’t maneuver around.  After 15 minutes, they found another campsite for us.  Unfortunately, again, the site was not long enough to fit our rig and truck.  Paul had to park way down the other end of the campground.  We’ll have to get someone to give us a ride to go pick the truck up when we want to go somewhere.  Very unhappy.  ☹

      After we got set up, we took our wash to the laundromat in the campground.  When that was done, we brought it back to the camper and put the clothes away.  Paul has a pinched nerve in his back.  He bent over to look under the table yesterday and experienced instant pain.  So, we put him on a TENS machine this afternoon followed by Biofreeze and a heating pad.  We did not go to happy hour and our friends brought us back tacos for dinner.  Hope he’s feeling better tomorrow.

[travelingtheusa]

GEORGIA

2023 Oct 2 (Mon) – We drove into Helen for lunch at Paul’s Margarita Deck.  Parking was $20 but they took that off the bill.  The margaritas were excellent.  We sat at a long counter facing the river and watched a couple of guys float by on their tubes.  Yesterday, the river was full of tubers.  Guess the weekend fun is over.

      After lunch, we walked next door to the Georgia Mountain Coaster and rode the cart down the track.  The damn thing was fast!  I kept hoping it wasn’t the wrong thing to eat first.  But everything stayed down and it was actually fun.

      At 5 p.m. we went to a travel meeting.  Group 1 made heavy hors d’oeuvres.  The briefing on our activities at the next campground was very confusing.  I will make up a calendar that makes more sense to me.  We were assigned to group 2.  We will leave at 9:30 a.m. and were assigned to be the leaders of the group.  There will be 3 other rigs with us.

2023 Oct 1 (Sun) – We stayed in for the morning.  At 4 p.m., we rode with Brenda & Rick into town.  The road was so congested yesterday with all the tourists that we decided to leave an hour early.  Taking a back road, we arrived at the parking lot in 15 minutes.  Lol.  Now, we had 45 minutes to kill.  We walked up to main street and walked among the crowd.  Diane (who rode with us), ran into the hat store and bought herself a hat. 

      At 5 p.m. we met the group at the Festhall.  Veterans got in for free.  The caravan paid for the rest of the group.  The hall was huge.  There were long rows of tables and chairs.  Those of us who went (many did not go), sat at two tables.  There was a live band.  The music was great.  Several of us got up and danced.  The best dancing took place when the band took an hour break and the juke box played line dances.  Brenda has absolutely no sense of rhythm.  Watching her dance made me sure I would look good (or least, not worse) than her.  We didn’t care who looked good or moved well.  We just all laughed and moved.

2023 Sep 30 (Sat) – The group went to Unicoi State Park and hiked to the Anna Ruby Falls.  It was a moderately strenuous hike uphill but when we got to the top, there were two waterfalls next to each other.  They both come down and fill the Smith Creek.  There were so many people hiking the trail.

2023 Sep 29 (Fri) – The group went to breakfast this morning at the Country Cottage.  It was a cafeteria type set up where we got plates and went down the row, asking for food items from the steam table.  We carpooled with Bill & Patty.

      We came back and Paul continued working around the RV.  The front cap is trying to separate from the rest of the RV and Paul is working on keeping it attached until we can find a new RV.  I am really looking forward to buying a new rig this January.

      At 3 pm, we went to a first timers session that John & Kathy were having.  We have never done anything special for people who are going on a caravan for the first time and wanted to see if that is something we want to do on our future caravans.  I don’t think there was much that went on that we would want to make it something to do.

      At 4:30 pm, we drove into Helen for dinner at the Hofbrauhaus.  The town is cute; very German.  Helen was a gold mining town.  When the gold ran out, they became a logging town.  When all the timber was gone, the town was in deep trouble.  The founders got together to try and figure out how to keep the town alive.  They decided to create a German town.  There is absolutely no connection to Germany but they did a great job creating the environment.  All the buildings are decorated in European fashion with bric a brac and white lights.  It’s cute with lots of restaurants and souvenir stores.  Very touristy.

      After dinner, Paul and I walked the town.  We bought a Christmas ornament, a hair garland for me, and a hat for Paul.  We came across a restaurant that advertised Paul’s Margarita Deck.

2023 Sep 28 (Thu) – It was a mad dash from Iowa to Georgia but we have arrived safely with our small convoy of followers.  Lol.  We left Iowa with 2 rigs following us. The next campground, we picked up another one.  Then, we picked up 2 more at the following campground.  Each day was a move to a new campground over 5 days.   We rolled in with 6 rigs (us included).  One of the members of our party came down with COVID.  They also had a problem with the hookup for their tow vehicle so they traveled separately to get it fixed and stay isolated.

       We are camped at Yonah Mountain Campground in Cleveland, Georgia.  So many states use other state’s city names.  Some use state or country names for their cities.  It can get very confusing.  At any rate, this campground is hilly and campsites are uneven.  It is pretty with lots of trees sprawled over a hillside.  There are 21 RVs on the Autumn in the Appalachians caravan.  We are just participants, enjoying the ride with everyone else.  No leading.  I did volunteer to be the jokester – tell a joke at the beginning of every travel meeting.  Paul volunteered to be the photographer for the caravan. 

      We had an orientation meeting tonight.  We got our jackets (red with the emblem embroidered on the chest), a lovely bag (also embroidered with the emblem of the caravan), a swinger, a pin, and our travel book.  After introductions and overview, we had lasagna for dinner.  There are 6 couples on the caravan who have never been on a caravan before.  Rick & Brenda, Joe & Diane, and Dennis & Terry have been on caravans with us before.  The Wagon Masters (John & Kathy) and Tail Gunners (Tony & Gina) were at the National Muster this year.  This promises to be a fun caravan.

[travelingtheusa]

IOWA

2023 Sep 20 (Wed) – Wow!  We have been so deeply involved in all the planning and directing of the National Muster that we have barely had time to breath, much less write about our activities.

      We wound up having to reorder our items so that we could get them in time for the muster to start (it was frames for the photos people would be submitting for the photo contest).  That package came and I asked Escapees to send our package/mail to us.  It is expected to arrive here on Friday.  Hope there’s no delay because we leave here on Saturday.

      Lots of great things have been happening since our muster opened on Monday.  Classes, seminars, games, brown bag auction, etc.  Tomorrow, I am the guest speaker at the women’s luncheon.  I accepted the assignment as secretary/treasurer of the STAR Chapter.  The STAR Chapter is for folks who have recruited five or more members to SMART.  It meets once a year at the National Muster, just like the Nomads do.  We’ll see how long this assignment goes.

      The President of SMART, Gene, did not come to national.  The day he was supposed to leave for Iowa, he got chest pains and went to the hospital.  Turns out he has blockages and will be undergoing open heart surgery tomorrow.  Richard moved from 1st VP to acting president and I moved from 2nd VP to 1st VP.  We would have done that anyway at the end of the muster but we advanced earlier than expected.  The person who got elected to 2nd VP, David, was the president of SMART back in 2011.  He stepped forward to volunteer because no one else was volunteering.  It’s a sorry state of affairs.

2023 Sep 15 (Fri) – Our package from Walmart turned out to be delivered in Livingston, Texas, not Amana, Iowa!  I called Walmart to see where our package was and found it went to a bad address.  The agent I spoke with told me to wait 48 hours after delivery then file for a refund.  Even though we know it went to a bad address, we still have to wait.  Bummer!

2023 Sep 14 (Thu) – We took a tour of the Amana Colony today.  They call them colonies but they are actually one colony with seven villages.  We rode in a 12-passenger van with 8 other people, some from SMART and some not.  We stopped at various places along the tour and the tour guide explained about life in the early days and how the colony formed and changed.  Today, it is a corporation where it was a communal village when they first formed.  That’s a pretty big change.

      The tour ended at 12:30 p.m.  We hurried back to the campground to get a quick bite to eat then went to a meeting of the travel committee.  That went on for two and a half hours.  I’m not sure we solved much but we sure did talk a lot.

      We returned to our rig and did a little work.  Brenda & Rick, friends from other caravans, arrived and we went over to say hi.  I walked over to the Muster Master to talk about door prizes.  The director of the Visitor Bureau promised me (many months ago) that she would canvass local businesses for donations of door prizes.  When we stopped by to get the donations today, she said no one answered her letter.  What a let down!  I asked the muster master if he wanted us to go to merchants to ask for donations and he said to wait and see what everyone brings.  Folks bring a lot of donations with them.

      The SMART President will not be here.  It looks like he suffered a heart attack.  The 1st VP will be acting President and I will be acting 1st VP and the candidate for 2nd VP will step up for this national.  We all just move forward a little earlier than expected.  There have been 7 cancellations in the last 2 days.  We have less than 80 RVs coming now.  We really need to find a way to increase our membership.

2023 Sep 13 (Wed) – We packed up and left Waukee at 10 am.  We only had 118 miles to go today.  When we arrived at Amana RV Park, we checked in and were shown to our spot in an open field.  We have full hookups but our sites are back to back with someone else.  Since we are early and a lot of the sites were empty, we got to pull straight through the empty site into our site.

      A few people were already in the campground.  The SMART National Muster doesn’t officially start until September 18 but advance crews are already arriving.  We had a happy hour over by the rig with David & Jackie (Muster Master), Joe & Diane, Jon & Nancy (Travel Coordinator), and a few other folks.  And, of course, the executive manager and assistant for SMART are here as well – Melissa and Phyllis.

      We got notice that some items we bought from Walmart had been delivered but when we went to the office, they didn’t have anything.  We’ll try again tomorrow.

2023 Sep 12 (Tue) – We drove into town to get fuel.  While there, we stopped at Dillards where I bought some undergarments.  We also stopped at a Hyvee Supermarket to get some groceries (we were out of cat food).  We stopped for lunch at Smoky Row, which actually turned out to be a café in a Hyvee gas station.  Very high end.  A little weird.

We toured the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates ---

      Jon & Nancy and Jim & Theda, all SMART members and former caravan participants with us (Jon & Nancy were tail gunners on our Utah caravan), showed up in the campground.  We had a delightful campfire and all shared stories about caravans and the difficulties in scheduling them.

2023 Sep 11 (Mon) – We went to see some sights only to find everything closed.  It is Monday.  Many places are closed Monday because they were open over the weekend.  Ugh.

      We got a notice from Staples that the books are done so we drove over there and picked them up.   They look very good.  Unfortunately, a piece I had deleted (I thought), is in the back of the book.  It is a recap of mechanical difficulties we encountered on our great Alaska adventures.  I will have to write a small note to soften the negativity of the paragraph.

      We saw a store we have never been in – Fleet Farm.  It is a huge warehouse type building and resembles Tractor Supply or WalMart on steroids.  We stopped and wandered through the store for over an hour.  They had everything!  Paul found oil and blades for his sawz all.  I got a pair of jeans and a blouse.  It was fun.

      We stopped at Tasty Taco for lunch.  It was tasty.  When we got back to the campground to find Dot had a relapse.  She thinks she might have a urinary infection.  I gave her a bottle of the Azithromycin we picked up in Algodones, Mexico.  Hope it helps.  Dave had cooked meatloaf so we got some of that for dinner.  It was good.

2023 Sep 10 (Sun) – We packed up and left Waco, NE, at 9:30 a.m.  The drive was easy, over expansive scenes of open plains.  As we crossed the Iowa border, the geography started to form rolling hills.  It started raining as we arrived at Timberline Campground in Waukee.  The campground is very nice. There is nice room between our sites on gravel surface with full hookups.  Each site has a picnic table and grassy area between each RV.  A large cell tower sites in the back of the campground along with lots of solar panels.  Naturally, the cell signal is very good here.

      We went food shopping at WalMart.  Also stopped at Menards to look for a protectorate 303 that Paul uses on the RV.  We had a quick bit to eat at Wendy’s.  Their menu sure has changed.  They used to offer a baked potato with chilli.  Now it’s basically burgers, chicken, and salads. 

[travelingtheusa]

NEBRASKA

2023 Sep 9 (Sat) – We packed up and left North Platte at 9:30 a.m.  The drive was over flat and expansive lands.  We are staying at the Double Nickel Campground in Waco, NE.  Who knew Nebraska had a Waco?  The campground is very nice.  It is gated and the clerk led us to our sites.  They have a pool, lots of games, trees and grass.

      After set up, Beth & Marlin and we drove to Milligan to see the Czech Brewfest.  It is their 3rd annual brewfest and featured Czech music, dance and food.  We had a meal at the Legion that consisted of pork, dumpling, sauerkraut, and green beans.  The pork was delicious.  The dumpling was awful.  The kraut was very vinegar-y.  We enjoyed the music and costumes.  A group of students from the school danced to various songs.  I love to see the children carrying on traditions.

      When we got back, Dot was not feeling well (still).  We set up the projector and screen and Paul played the Alaska slide show for us.  It was good. 

2023 Sep 8 (Fri) – Dot and I went to the hair dresser this morning to get our hair cut.  After we got back to the campground, we got the guys and drove to the Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center.  It overlooked the Baily Yard, a massive train depot that covers over 2,800 acres and reaches a total length of 8 miles.  It is the largest railroad classification yard in the world.  The yard processes 10,000 railroad cars every day.  More than 3,000 are sorted at the “hump.”  This is a raised mound where a train car is sent over and it rolls slowly down the hill to where it is sorted according to its final destination.  The yard has two sides – eastbound and westbound – with a total of 18 receiving and 16 departing tracks.  The main engineer sits in a booth and builds trains, sending them to the different tracks.  The train cars couple automatically when they connect, eliminating the need for any person to do that job.  There were hundreds of cars spread over the yard with a collection of engines in one corner that numbered well into 50.  It was a massive operation that was very interesting.  They also have a diesel repair shop in the yard.  The Baily Yard has been entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest railroad yard.

      Following our exploration of the railroad operation, we drove to Buffalo Bill’s Ranch.  William Cody was quite the showman.  He brought the wild west to audiences all over the world.  His ranch looked more like a mansion and was on an estate that spread over several acres.  His home is located on state park grounds.  The original property had 2 barns, an ice house, a cob barn, and many other buildings.  Most of the buildings burned down in a prairie fire in 1904 and were never rebuilt.  The house had 3 stories.  The back part was an add-on.  The Cody’s had 4 children; 2 died in childhood of scarlet fever.  There was also a herd of bison on the ranch but we didn’t get to see them. It is ironic that he made the buffalo a world wide concern when he got his name from killing buffalo for workers when they were constructing the railroad across the west.  Bill Cody killed more than 4,200 buffalo in an 8-month period and earned the nickname Buffalo Bill.

      We enjoyed lunch at Pals Brewing Company.  They had unbreaded cheese curds.  Basically, they put cheddar cheese curds under the broiler and semi-melted them.  They were tasty.  Then we had a cheeseburger quesadilla.  It had ground beef, cheese and pickles on it.  This came with a secret sauce that tasted a lot like pickles.  They must have used pickle juice in the making of it.

2023 Sep 7 (Thu) – We packed up and left Cheyenne, WY, at 9:30 a.m.  It was a little over 180 miles to North Platte, NE.  We are staying at the I-80 Lakeside Campground.  It is right off the interstate with a small lake for fishing and boating with a nearby river feeding the lake.  The campsites are all in a line in pull-thru sites.  We have full hookups.  The temperature is in high 80s/low 90s.  It is a blaring heat.

[travelingtheusa]

WYOMING

2023 Sep 6 (Wed) – We did laundry this morning.  UPS tried to deliver my medicine yesterday but the clerk refused to sign for it.  I went into the office looking for it to be re-delivered today and to make sure they knew to sign for it or call me to come up to sign. 

      After the laundry, we drove over to Camping World, right behind the campground.  The store was large and everything was spread out.  Unfortunately, they did not have what we wanted.  Then we drove to Blue Compass, a new RV dealer that has been growing over the last 4 years (we welcome any competition to Camping World).  They didn’t have what we wanted either, but we took time to look at a few fifth wheels.  We didn’t see anything we liked.

      After return, the campground, I reviewed the video Paul has put together for the caravan, putting in titles and comments where appropriate.  I walked over to the office at a little after 5 to get my medicine (the office called at 3:30 to say they got it).  The office was closed but when I knocked on the window, the clerk opened it and gave me my package.

       We had left-overs for dinner tonight.  Then I got online and shopped for a Starlink satellite dish.  Beth told me that she found Home Depot not only carries the product, but they give you a 10% military discount.  I ordered the satellite and after some fenagling with the delivery address, arranged to pick it up at the Home Depot store in Cedar Rapids.

2023 Sep 5 (Tue) – We packed up and left River’s Edge RV Park at 9:30 a.m.  We didn’t have that far to travel today – 180 miles.  We stopped once for a brief lunch.  I have been surprised by the interstate routes in this part of the county (I-80 and I-25).  They have no rest stops.  It has been hard to find places to stop.  We pulled off on an exit ramp to take a break.

      Arrived at Cheyenne RV Resort in Cheyenne at 1 p.m.  After we all checked in and got ourselves set up, we drove to Terry Bison Ranch.  It was a ranch owned by an individual who had much livestock.  As the property passed through hands, it went from 150,000 square acres to 47,000 square acres.  They own many different kinds of livestock – goats, sheep, horses, cows, ostrich, pigs, and bison.  They have a herd of bison.  We got in an old rickety vehicle fitted to a railroad track set up to look like a train, and rod out to the pasture where a herd of bison were grazing.  When we came to a stop, some of the bison ambled over (obviously, others were full from the last train full that rode by).  We bought a bag of bison biscuits when we bought out ticket.  As the bison came up to the train, we leaned over and fed the treats to the animals.  What fun!  I have never fed a bison before.  They have a long, purple tongue – much like a giraffe.  There was some jostling going on among the beasts but they all seemed to get a treat without too much fuss.

      After we got back to the station, we drove to T Joe’s Steakhouse for dinner (steakhouse two nights in a row!).  I had fried walleye.  I have never eaten that before.  It was light and flaky.  Very good.  Paul had rib eye (again), and everyone else had some version of steak.  Everything was delicious.

2023 Sep 4 (Mon – Labor Day – 52nd Anniversary!) – We arrived in Evansville, WY, around noon.  It was an easy 120 mile drive today.  The landscape is interesting – lots of plateaus, small mountain ranges, open plains, ranches, and plenty of spacious areas.  The wind picked up in the afternoon.  When we checked in at River’s Edge RV Park, it was overcast with warnings of rain and hail.  The wind was gusting hard.

      I tried to upload the memory book on Staples website.  I want to get it printed and pick it up in Amana, IA.  The only option offered is for delivery.  I tried to call the store but the clerk didn’t know much about the printing services.  I will have to either get a help call to someone or wait until Amana and go directly to the store.

      The six of us went out to dinner at the Fire Rock Steakhouse.  We all enjoyed our meal very much.

2023 Sep 3 (Sun) – We left Columbus, MT at 9:35 and headed out for 225 miles to Buffalo, WY.  Deer Park Campground is a very pleasant facility.  We have FHU with a heated pool (if we wanted).  We had a group meal while the sky grew dark and the wind picked up.  It threatened to rain but never did.  We walked over to a nearby field and tried to feed two horses carrots but they weren’t interested.  I finished the memory book for the caravan.  I will now try to get it printed.  Paul still works on the video.

[travelingtheusa]

MONTANA

2023 Sep 2 (Sat) – We packed up and left Coeur D’Alene for Columbus today.  It was about 5 hours through (again) some most beautiful scenery.  Beth made corned beef with smashed potatoes and carrots.  The meal was delicious and we enjoyed our comradery around the table then in our camp chairs.

2023 Sep 1 (Fri) – The Sands and us took off for Whitehall, about an hour’s drive away.  We had to pick up our weapons that we left with a gun smith before going into Alaska.  The young man was not there when we arrived, so we went into town to get lunch at the Pepper Tree Deli.  The main street was a broad avenue with 50s style buildings lining the road.  We bought sandwiches and took them across the street to eat them in a small park at a picnic bench.

      We returned to the home of the gun smith and he had arrived and was waiting for us.  Marlin bought a new sight for his pistol and my gun was cleaned.  The gun smith warned me about storing my shotgun zipped up in the carry bag.  Moisture builds up and causes the gun to rust.  He cleaned off the rust and suggested I put moisture bags in the holder to capture any moisture.

     When we got back to the campground, Dot served roast beef on sticky rice with succotash. 

2023 Aug 31 (Thu) – We packed up and left Coeur D’Alene, ID at 9:30 a.m.  The drive was pleasant over some beautiful scenery.  When we arrived in Deer Lodge at the Indian Creek Campground, we hooked up and shared a dinner meal.

[travelingtheusa]

IDAHO

2023 Aug 30 (Wed) – The weather was better today.  We went out to get fuel for tomorrow’s trip.  Dave & Dot went off to meet their son who is working in the area.  We had stew for dinner and Beth made corn bread.  Paul continues work on his video of the trip and I am working to finish up the memory book.

2023 Aug 29 (Tue) – We packed up and left Cashmere, WA, at 9 a.m. and headed out with our two rigs in tow (Sands & Fisher).  We arrived at Coeur D’Alene RV Resort for two nights.  It rained all day and none of us was inclined to go our anywhere.  It’s funny how you can tell the difference between full-time RVers and those who camp less than full time.  None of us went out tonight.  Being full-timers, we have a tendency to put bad weather off.  Those who camp occasionally will brave the elements because they know that’s the only time they have to go.

[travelingtheusa]

WASHINGTON

2023 Aug 28 (Mon) – We packed up and, with our two rigs in tow, headed out to Cashmere.  It was an easy drive.  I made shepherd’s pie for dinner. 

2023 Aug 24-27 (Thu-Sun) – This was the end of the North to Alaska 2023 Caravan. We stayed at Cliffside RV Park in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island NAS.  Our closing dinner was delightful with a cocktail hour and buffet dinner.  Everyone gave gifts, hugs, and kisses.  The next morning, we provided a continental breakfast for the group.  Paul even brought our toaster oven to the pavilion so folks could toast their bagels.  Everyone left and we stayed two more days to close down the caravan.  Johnny gave me the budget book and left a day earlier than us.

      Marlin & Beth Sands and Dave & Dot Fisher will follow us to the National Muster in Amana, Iowa.

[travelingtheusa]

CANADA - BRITISH COLUMBIA

The rest of the caravan went well. We got so busy, I didn't post anything for a while. We finished up in Whistler, British Columbia, then headed back into the United States on August 24th.

2023 Aug 17 (Thu) – At 7:30 a.m. we served breakfast to the group.  Johnny & Linda cooked sausage and scrambled eggs in their rig; Paul cooked pancakes on a griddle in the pavilion.  Everything was very good.

      At 10:30 a.m. we went to the ‘Ksan Historical Village next to the ‘Ksan Campground for a tour of their longhouses.  There are 7 buildings; we were shown 3.  One lodge was used for sleeping.  As many as 50 families slept in a lodge.  They had many children; our tour guide’s grandfather was from a family of 14 kids.  There was a fire in the center of the room used for warmth and cooking.

      The next building was their community lodge where they held rituals and group activities.  The last building was used to store the regalia of the chiefs.  We learned there are 5 clans and each clan belongs to a house.  They are a matriarchal society and the children follow the mother’s line.  Our tour guide is a native and of the village and knew a great deal about their history and customs.  She explained a great deal about all the artifacts arranged around the lodges as we listened to her tell us about their customs and beliefs.

       Paul and I drove into town to get fuel and stopped at Zelda’s Travel Mug Café.  Weird name.  Even weirder set up with no real kitchen.  They cooked on a stove and washed in a sink in a little area at the back of the tiny building.  Our meal was good.

      At 7 p.m. we had a travel meeting and prepared for a long move tomorrow.

2023 Aug 16 (Wed) – We packed up and drove 165 miles to Hazelton, a relatively simple drive over nice roads.  The campground is run by First Nation and adjacent to it is the ‘Ksan Historical Village.  There is one road that runs down the middle of the campsites with pull-thru sites on the right and left.  It was so easy to park everyone.

      During the drive, we stopped at a nearby street to look at some totem poles.  Some of the oldest collection of totem poles is in the Hazelton and New Hazelton area.

2023 Aug 15 (Tue) – We had a travel meeting at 7 p.m.  After that, several of us went to Fish Creek to see bears.  We did not see any, although other people said they did.  This time, there were gulls in the river.  The ranger said they look for the eggs to eat.  The poor salmon don’t have a chance – between the gulls eating their eggs and the bears eating the fish, it’s a wonder any survive.  Yet, there are thousands in the river all trying to get back to their birthplace to lay their eggs then die.  Nature can be strange sometimes.

      Stewart, British Columbia is right next to Hyder, Alaska.  You cross the border from BC to Alaska.  There is not border agent there.  Hyder is essentially a ghost town.  It boomed during gold rush days but is now virtually deserted.  A few hanger-oners live there and run a shop or two but the town is pretty empty.  The Fish Creek Observation Site and the Salmon Glacier viewpoint are in Hyder.  When you return to Stewart, BC, you have to go through the border crossing and there is a border agent there.  They check your passport, ask the customary questions, and pass you through.

2023 Aug 14 (Mon) – The clouds parted and the sun came out so we drove back up to see Salmon Glacier this morning.  A grader had worked the road last night and the first half of the road was so much better than yesterday.  When we got to the top, we found 3 trailers camped up there.  One was a small airstream.  Who would take their trailer on that road?

      The view of the glacier was phenomenal.  It looked like a river of ice flowing down between the mountains and turning to glow down to Bear River.  We saw a marmot hiding in the rocks.  Mosquitos were fierce!

      At 5 p.m. we had a potluck meal.  The pavilion had been promised to another caravan in the park so we set up tents.  Joe Padberg had a 10x12 and a 10x8 to go with our 10x20.  Things were a little wet with the rain but it all worked out.  The meal, as always, was delicious.

2023 Aug 13 (Sun) – We packed up and headed out to Bear River RV Park in Stewart.  It was a long drive – 242 miles.  It made for a long day.  We got everyone parked then headed out to see Salmon Glacier.  Unfortunately, it was foggy and overcast and we couldn’t see much once we got to the top.  The road up was pitted, rutted, washboard and just plain worn out.  It was a very rough ride on narrow, twisting dirt road.  No guardrails either so it was a bit scary.

      Half-way up the mountain, we came upon a mining operation.  It wasn’t there 8 years ago when we came here in 2015.  They had the whole side of the mountain reduced and large trucks were moving in and out of the area.  There was a heavy duty electric yard set up and a huge building nestled into the side of the mountain.

      When we came down the mountain, we stopped at Fish Creek to see if we could see any bears.  There is a large raised wooden walkway that stretches along the side of Fish Creek.  Thousands of salmon were in the creek, coming back from the sea to spawn.  Bears come into the area and feast on the salmon.  We saw no bears today.

2023 Aug 12 (Sat) – We packed up and left Watson Lake headed to Dease Lake.  It was 146 miles; not too bad. The roads are slowly improving as we move south.  We just stayed in Dease Lake for one night.