SweetLifeRVing Denny's Comment Archive

December 12, 2009

We had 2 weeks to get from Portland, Oregon to Palm Beach, Florida.

Having to take a southern route to avoid winter storms in Colorado. We headed to California. Going 3 days longer to drive the route then heading east.

In Sacramento, California we had a left rear inside tire go flat. It was on a Sunday, Thanksgiving weekend and cost double. The good thing was we were in a campground.

In Amarillo, Texas we had a winter blast come in with 17 degrees and 0 wind chill factor and our air lines freeze to our brakes and shocks on our motor home. Spending a day in the shop, causing us now another day delay. While we were there in the shop our ice maker valve broke and I discovered it after 2 gallons of water pumped on our new carpet. The good thing is I got it before the 90 gallons in our tank pumped in.

The next morning the Air lines still had moisture and we had to return to the shop and a ice storm passed over. That is a 1/4 inch of ice on our bike spokes

The car had to be taken off the motor home for them to put it back in the shop and I had to break the ice off the tow bar with a rubber mallet. The good thing is we did not get on the road and was held up, because the Ice storm caused 4 semi's to flip off the highway and we were going that direction and may of been another one.

Then we got to Ocala, Florida and pulled into a campground spot for the night. At 8:30PM a Fifth Wheel RV pulled into a spot in front of us and failed to negotiate his swing of his trailer and collided into our motor home. Causing our driver mirror to be ripped off, windshield wiper to be bent, and the mask on the front to be ripped. Yes that is our mirror embedded on the side of his trailer. Next morning we were in Home Depot getting bolts to remount the ripped off mirror.

Well our Bad Luck turned into Good Luck, because we finally made it to Palm Beach campground on the last day of the two weeks on time to our final destination, and although they were over booked and was canceling people. Our spot was still available and we started enjoying warm weather

August 1, 2009

It is still amazing in our travels on how many people who live in the States that we visit never take the time to see the many wonders in their State to see. I can understand not affording to travel but when you see that it is only hours away from them and they never took time to visit it, is very hard to believe. I guess it's too easy to put on the Discovery Channel on TV and see things, then to take time to behold the real beauty in front of them.

I can see how the children are not learning the history as much, since they never visited it.

We are here in Portland a little too long. Thank goodness we had a couple of vacations and a 6 week break of a small job in Macon, Georgia. The economy has slowed down and the availability of jobs. We are more in likely going to stay in Portland until December to finish the year. Then we go back to Florida for Christmas and wait out the next location. We are not looking to return to Portland if we can avoid it for awhile. We did not buy a motorhome to sit and have been anxious to move on.

At least Dale's co-workers and hospital she has been working at has been extremely wonderful. Making it pleasant to be here for the year.

Well we are close to ending the 2008 year and spending our time in Oregon for the winter. Not much snow only rain and ice to worry about where we are located. The fall colors of the leaves have been spectacular and lasted for several weeks making it even more enjoyable.
Election time is coming near and I like most have been tired of the mud slinging. Hope everyone favorite candidates wins. Especially mine LOL.
We are going to try and extend another 3 months here to avoid leaving during the worst weather with a RV in January. The extended time will take us to April. Then if Dale's family goes on the Panama Cruise in April it will be perfect timing.
October was a very expensive month for us. The Investments took a tumble like everyone else. Still not hurting us from continuing on. The Motorhome had to have major Engine work costing $6,500 with warranty paying only $2,500. Our Portable Garmin GPS off and on switch stop working, DVD/ VHS player in the motorhome totally went blank, Bike Rack was returned and had to get a stronger one, Dales Palm organizer had to go in for warranty repair, and the Jeep passenger window started rattling. So you can see that only November will get better.
Looking forward to seeing a lot of things in Oregon and between the raindrops and cold trying to ride our bikes on the many bike paths in Oregon. This is where we originally purchased them.
I hope everyone is doing great. Talk to you all Later!

We had the best time of an Alaska Cruise. The best way to see Alaska! While your sleeping the ship is going to the next location. It would normally take you 10 days round trip minimum to get to Fairbanks and back from Seattle. We flew in and got a rental car and they do not even allow you to take it on the gravel roads that connect towns. Because the semi's travel fast and splash up gravel and pelt your car. I am glad I did not take the RV up and drive so long between towns. Some places did not even have roads to it like Juneau the Capital of Alaska.

Vancouver was a great city to end the trip in.

We have another week before Dale's contract ends and we are taking off 3 weeks for vacation. We enjoyed a fireworks show at the mall last weekend.
Otherwise we been enduring the heat in Texas and seeing little sites because of the heat. So sorry for the lack of photos.

The latest thing we enjoyed was a kayak tour down one of the rivers. We so far did white water rafting, canoeing and now kayaking. It was a blast and easier then we thought it was going to be. Six miles and 5 hours was a little hard, but still do-able with little experience or out of shape.

We are in Northern Texas, and will be here till August. We miss the great bike trails in Denver already, because Texas is not bike friendly.
Hope to see a couple of places in the area to take more photos. The Botanical Gardens was great to see during spring time. The weather is going to be hot, but we have a campground with 50 amp service and electric included. So both Air conditioners can run to keep us cool. So far the people have been friendly, but as drivers they are very aggressive. That is Big City driving habits. We are use to small town. We do not miss the Rat Race that everyone is in a hurry. Too much stress.
Otherwise the time we have been here is over a week and not much to talk about. Hope everyone is doing good and check back soon to see more photos.

Well we are back in the snow area for the winter time, Nice thing about Colorado is the sun shines one day at temperature of the 50's and then snows the next with temperatures in the 30's. So if you get bored with the weather, just wait a day.

We must be getting use to the cold, because we went bicycling in the high 40's and enjoyed the miles of bike trails they have in the area. It's a dry cold at least it does not go through you like the damp cold on the east coast.

We are considering on taking our vacation after the job or in November. We are going to celebrate our 25th Anniversary and my 50th birthday. Yes I'm getting old, but still feel young :~).

We visited a cute town Estes Park in the North East side of the Rockies and checked out the little shops. A neat shop was 30 Below Leather where everything is $30 dollars or less. The quality of the items were nice. They have a website at www.30belowleather.com

Otherwise, after the trip to Florida and then to Colorado, I am getting things caught up, including stuff ready for tax time. Lately we have had several friends in for surgery and recovering. A lot of them have a long way to get recovered and our prayers and thoughts are with them. I hope everyone we know has a better year in 2008.

I know, I know, shame on me not getting the website up to date. It's been busy. We are in Western, Kentucky area and here until December 15th. Then off to Florida for the holidays to see family for Christmas.

We took off for three weeks and used two of them to visit our mothers in Florida. It was a very nice time to take personal time with each of our mothers alone. Looking forward to doing that again in the future.

We left from Washington State and headed towards Kentucky. Along the way we stopped in Bouise, Idaho and St. Charles, Missouri to enjoy rails to trails with our new bicycles. While in Bouise, Idaho we had the Motorhome in the shop to get the turbo remounted on the exhaust manifold. The Exhaust manifold was changed in Washington while we were in the area, but the turbo was not tight enought and leaked while enroute to Idaho. It works good now and thank goodness Cummins Service stand behinds their service.

Well I got the RV and Jeep up to maintenance speed. It's been an expensive couple of months with new bikes and vehicle maintenance. But we saved up and had it prepared for.

The recumbent bikes (trikes) have been really a lot of fun and Dale and I can get exercise by riding them. Since we do no sport for exercise. We already have over 200 miles on them for only a month. The fun has been we have a great bike trail that goes 10 miles one way behind our campground. We also have been able to bicycle up to the park by Dale's Hospital she works at and enjoy a free concert on Thursday nights.

So that is why there are little photo's of July other then a couple biking photo's.

Our time here is coming to and end and we will be soon leaving. Destination is unknown as yet.

I hope everyone is doing well and keep in touch.

We have been having some pretty nice weather in Washington State to get out and see things. Hope the good weather holds out, because we ordered some new recumbent tadpole bicycles for us, and we should have them in two-three weeks. Have to order the long frames for us tall people.

Getting some routine maintenance done on the car and motor-home. Making it and expensive couple months, between new bikes and new tires for the motorhome. Oh-well, we only get new tires every 5-6 years for the motorhome. Break it down and it cost $50 a month to put a way for tires, for next time. Sounds like a lot, but some people are going to pay that to get the new I-Phones Service from Apple Inc. Others pay for Satellite TV, when 90% of the time campgrounds have cable TV included. In fact we get free 4 movie channels of EnCore with this campground. Others pay a monthly Internet service too each month. Most of the campgrounds offer a WiFi service cheaply or free. In this case we get it free.

So as you can see you can make RV living expensive or inexpensive. It's all who wants the more toys or got to have it now attitude.

People ask about waste of energy like fuel. I been thinking, and if you look at how little the Recreational Vehicle uses in services compared to the now modern household. You will find how the modern house has at least two cars, bigger then need space to Air Condition, heat or light. Swimming pools to even fountains. From landscaping needs to Internet, Cable, and Telephone needs. Where we can open our two little main rooms and have cross ventilation. Our electric bill was $36 dollars last month. How much was yours? It's something to think about and compare.

We are finally able to get out and see things. The weather for the last three weeks have been pretty bad. It has snowed three times and it's been record lows for the area.

There is a lot to see and we need to catch up on the sights. The small town we are located in has 4 campgrounds where we have been to bigger cities like the last location and there are none for miles. It makes you wonder sometimes.

There are a lot of deer around. I have seen more then 10 deer in a half a mile. Makes me a little jumpy when I just got the Jeep fixed from hitting one in Kentucky.

Otherwise, it's been a location of extremely friendly people, quaint little stores, and beautiful views.

We are close to the end of Dale's job. Dale had a great time with her Co-Worker. Sometimes you feel you can be good friends if you settled down, but we do not want to settle down yet and its time to see new things. I got to say Kentucky surprised me on the beauty, the local residents, and weather.

Kentucky's beauty is colorful in the fall, many acres of ranches of green grass, and small towns and atmosphere make it worth the visit. The residents of Kentucky are most helpful, pleasant, and have a northern-southern accent that is a little bit hard to understand. So when I give them the Pennsylvania Accent, that really confuses the issue. It feels like small town in the big cities with shops and people you talk too, but the friendly attitude stops dead when they get behind the wheel of a car. The weather has been more rainy then I like, but its winter time and it beats snow. So the cold fronts are more rain then snow.

We bought ourselves a GPS and have been using it locally while we are out. It helps finding places to eat and short cuts when traffic is backed up. The best thing about it is when we start new in a town and we need to find out the closest Groceries, Post Office, and shops in the area. I can see with a permanent home location it would be useless, because you eventually know all the areas. It works for us with our ever changing location. It will be helpful with the Motor Home in getting over in time for an exit. Since it tells you what side the exit is on. It also gives repair shops, or hospitals along our travel from State to State in case of Emergencies.

We are off to Atlanta on Saturday (December 16th) to see Family for the Holidays and then off to the next location for Dale's Job after the New Year.

Hope everyone is doing good and still keep in touch.

We are enjoying the Balloon Festival for the next 9 days. At first I was think what a pain with traffic getting to the Fair grounds, but the free shuttle bus took us across and pass the traffic with its own lane. The Mass Ascension of Balloons was spectacular and looking forward to tomorrows events all day. With Special Shape Balloons, Challenge Events, Glow at night, and Fireworks. We have a schedule balloon ride (if weather permits), on the day after the events.

Other then that everything went well on our travel from Maine to here.

The Motor home left rear tail light bulb needed changing one night. The other problem was more serious, when going up a hill we heard a poof and saw white smoke out the tail pipe while loosing engine power. I looked down at the gauges and noticed the Turbo gauge for the engine, was reading zero. I pulled over in the emergency lane and turned off the engine. Going back to the engine compartment inside, I noticed the Turbo hose was popped off the one side, with a Expansion clamp broken off. I got a sewage hose clamp out of my tool box that was the same size and put it back on. It worked great and held until I pulled into a Truck center to get another Expansion Clamp. What could of been a tow truck, service center on a Saturday, $90 per hour, and missed weekend of events.

I saved with a little know how on fixing things. The clamp was only $12.80.
September 09, 2006

We are getting closer to the end of Dale's contract with only two more weeks to go. The job has been very nice and the fellow workers she has have made her feel welcome. Getting the RV ready for the trip and have to take the Jeep in for oil changing and tire rotation. The weather has still been a lot more rainy then usual. We have also had cold evenings. The good news to this is we are seeing the leaves change colors and this next weekend September 16th we are going for a drive towards the mountains and see the leaves even better. By the time we pull out of here on September 23, we will have quite a show of colors traveling through New Hampshire in to the mountains to see the Cog Railroad 3 hour train ride into the mountains.
Everything is good here, and enjoying the North East Summer.

We are in Maine for the summer and although it has rained a lot, it still has pretty nice weather to have the windows open and enjoy the evenings. The temperature dips down to the high 50's during the night.

We finish up here around September 23 and take off a month to travel over to the Balloon Festival in New Mexico. We first our going to stop and see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse in South Dakota. Dale has not had the oppurtunity to see it yet. After October 16th the Balloon Festival will be ended. We will depart New Mexico after our balloon ride in the morning.

Maine was a lot nicer then expected. We can drive 1 1/2 hours to the mountains, ocean, and get our share of lobsters and fish. Something you miss when you lived in Florida and are working in the mid west. where the only thing close to fish is frozen or fried.

Hope to find a job in the southeast or southwest for 2 months to be off for Christmas holiday in Atlanta, Georgia. Dale's family will be getting together for that time.

We caught the Ferry on over to Prince Edward Island. The next day we traveled over to the East Coast of Prince Edward Island. It was not as easy to see the coast, because the road was inland more then Nova Scotia. Most of that trip was a waste of time. We added a total of two weeks more on our trip to allow shorter driving times and weather conditions. The trip has been interesting and still happy we traveled at this time with looking at the way their real season is. The campgrounds have not been full and we are using a lot of Passport Membership for 50% off our campground sites. Since it is not season we get more membership usage without prior reservations.

We are here one more day in Prince Edward Island and leave on Sunday May 28th to head slowly over to Toronto. We will arrive in Toronto around June 2nd or 3rd.

We went through Customs in Canada with no problems. Must have that honest look about us. We stopped in New Brunswick and went to the town of HopeWell Rock to see the Bay of Fundy tides change and walk on the ocean floor. We are now in Nova Scotia and plan on being in Canada for another 15 to 20 days slowly going through Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Then off to Toronto to see Dale's best friend Bridgett. We will probably be entering back into the United States on the first week of June. Raining today, but suppose to clear by noon tomorrow. Rained most of the time in Acadia National Park in Maine. Actually almost got the RV stuck in the mud trying to get out. It was a pain to unhook the towed car again, but it saved getting a tow truck. Otherwise the weather we can not complain about with it mostly being beautiful and just the right temperatures. Sometimes getting as high as 80 degrees F. and low as 50 degrees F. Everything is going good and the Canadians have been extremely pleasurable, helpful and even understanding my Western Pennsylvania language that I had for over 25 years (slaughtering the English language) even in Florida (i.e. Youn'se (You-all in the south), Posta (Suppose too), GaEat (Did you eat) :~).

Franklin Roosevelt Home, Library and grounds was very interesting. I got the book of the Great Deception, about FDR hiding his polio all the years. I was not good at History or Geography in school, but our travels has given me a lot what I learned over the years. This traveling in the USA and Europe is a must for the young too. I have seen how history was made, and locations that made history.

We stopped in Somerset, PA and seen my Aunt for a day. She joined us to the Frank Lloyd Wright homes in the Ohiopyle town. The homes Falling Water and Kentuck Knob was totally different in style. One was a party and summer home and the other Kentuck Home was a full time home.

We pulledout and next stop was Murphy, NC. to see the 2 acres of property that Dale's mother owned. We stopped and found the property with the help of the previous land owner. The town is growing and we had lunch at Doyles restuarant and it was very nice.

We stopped in Callaway Gardens and observed the Birds of Prey Show, Buterfly Atrium, and Chapel. After Lunch we left for WoodStock, GA and stopped to see Dale's sister and her husband. We stayed in Victoria Campground (Army Core of Engineers). The park was stunning with a lake view. Dale's sister had made reservations to the new Aquarium in Atlanta.

We pulled out an hour late at 10AM and traveled from North Florida into mid- west Georgia and headed towards Callaway Gardens. Friday morning we will get up and go to the park and walk in the gardens for a morning stroll.

We stopped at Magnolia Plantation Tourist Center in Valdosta, Georgia and bought some Vidalia Onions for our Chili for lunch and Hot Dogs for dinner.

We stopped at Lake Pine Campground and stayed for the night. The campgrounds in the South have chapels in them and this one was very nice.

We missed a turn to go towards Callaway Gardens and stay at the State Park. So we stopped an hour later then we wanted, at 5PM.

We made it on our first day of the road and had and uneventful wonderful leisure ride up towards Suwannee Valley Campground in White Springs, Florida. On the way we stopped and took a stroll on some small shops in Silver Springs and Dale was enjoying a look in the consignment shops. While Mom Phillips and I was sitting out in front on a bench. Tried to get a cup of coffee at the local diner. Seen a one inch amount of coffee in the pot, and thought it was a good time to exit without buying.

We then met Denny's retired co-worker Herb and his wife Susan at Denny's Restaurant that was recently remodeled and had an outstanding waitress with great food. Herb ordered the Moon over my Hammy sandwich that made Dale order the same.

We then pulled back on the road after showing our motor home to Herb & Susan. We drove another 2.5 hours and pulled into Suwannee Campground around 3:30pm. We wanted to stay at the Spirit of the Suwannee campground, but they required a $75.00 per person entrance to the campground for the week tickets to the Jam Festival. We were only staying one night and it had open microphone with an Elvis impersonator. So we skipped that opportunity.

We enjoyed a night of cocktails and Chili and Salad for dinner. While we watched a camper pull in at 7:30PM and forget to lower his fifth wheel lifts in the front while pulling forward after disengaging the hitch. The fifth wheel trailer fell down on top of the pickup and dented the side rails. One reason we stop early so we are not so tired and make mistakes like that.

Dale and Denny walked down to the trail of the Suwannee River and seen the river as it was pretty low.

We are going to take off a month and travel up the East Coast of the United States and into Nova Scotia. Dale's mother is joining us on our travel adventure.

January 26, 2006

We are in Central Florida for Dale's next job. The weather has been stunning and the location could not be any better. We are 2 hours between Dale's Mom and my Mother. This gives a chance to catch up on seeing them both. Although Dale has been working a lot of call and overtime, this may hinder her time with her mom.

We are still deciding what we are going to do for the time we take off after Dale's work. We may go over to Great Britian instead of Africa or China. Dale's mom wanted to go over there while she is still in good health to travel like that.

Otherwise, I have been slowly catching up after getting settled on a lot of things. One is TAX items! I hate this time of year on getting those items together.

Okay, who is praying for all this snow!!!!!! We are suppose to get 4-6 inches in the valley here in Montana. I was hoping it would really hold out until we left on December 10th.

But it didn't and it's still coming down. We are on our last week and half and hope it stops to get out of here. We are winter capable in our RV with the knowledge of spending other winters all over the USA. Although I would not like to spend it here in January and February where it sometimes can get in the real low (-) degrees in a RV. The snow doesn't bother me as much as the ice and other drivers that wait to the last minute to stop.
Otherwise we look forward to seeing everyone in Florida and on our travels to Florida! All take care and talk to you later.

Hi Everyone,
I am finally caught up on the website and printing out our photo album for our personal viewing. Montana is getting colder and the high today is 47. The low this morning was 19. So far the snow has not accumulated as of yet at our elevation, but it keeps trying. The RV has been holding up and we have only 22 days of work left for Dale to complete this assignment, but who's counting. I know Dale is ready to get back to warm climate and seafood. I got to say that Montana has been a friendly, sightseeing State. We said that so far Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Montana would be our visit stays if we retire in a RV.

We got to see a lot in Montana. We are going down toward the southeast on Thanksgiving to see a couple of museums down there. The only location we didn't cover yet in Montana is the North East section. Oh well you can not see it all.

I hope everyone is doing fine and hope to see family and friends back in Florida when we return on Dec. 17 2005, - January 3, 2006.

Who forgot to pay for the extension of fall time? The leaves are pretty nice, but changing quickly and winter is coming to temperatures of what we expect in the south. Although it is not their real winter temperatures (i.e. -40 degrees), I hope we leave dodge before those temperatures appear. The campground is slowly thinning out and the crazy ones (i.e. US!), are getting things done to protect ourselves from the cold. I bought a skirt for around the bottom of the RV. It was easy to install and will help keep the wind from blowing under the RV. Although I would not use it for all winter long up here in Montana for the cold. The winds pick up speed for no reason during the day with gust up to 35 miles per hour. Others are planning on staying longer and are building insulation boarding around the bottom. We leave on December 10, to head back to Florida for Christmas time. So hopefully it stays reasonable until then. No snow so far at our level of 4,500 feet. The Snow has been forming in the mountains around us at 5,500 feet and above. But I had to scrape the ice off twice so far on the car when I take Dale to work.

Hope everyone well and keep in touch!

Wow, is there a lot to see here in Montana! Trying to cram it all in before Labor day when they start shutting things down because the winter conditions start getting colder.

We are in Western Montana for the Summer - Fall duration. Getting the Internet hooked up and settled in we will display more of the photo's to get the website caught up.

Worked on a couple projects in the motorhome. Built a shoe rack in the bedroom closet. A book shelf along the wall in the living room for our photo albums and a wine bottle holder in a wasted space area under a folding table by the recliner. I used real oak wood to match the rest of the wood and it looks like it was made for it.
Clicking on the photos below will enlarge and take you to the tip section:

Getting concerned where to put our photo albums. Costing a lot of money to print them it worried me if they got damaged. We had them on the floor in a case. They were getting dusty and if we had a water pipe break they would of been destroyed. But now with pre-cut pieces of oak from Home depot, I built a simple book case and anchored it along the wall. It's thin enough to have the recliner in front of it still.

We stored wine under the couch. Dale came up with this great idea to build shelves under the the folding table for the wine. Since it was wasted space otherwise.

I took simple 1 by 2 oak strips and cut them and anchored them into the cabinet. I wanted to still allow to be able and fold close the table if we need to. So I left a space between the front trim for the leg of the table to fall between it when it closes. We anchor the bottles even though they would probably stay with small bungee cords.

Setting goals, planning chores, and activities help make things go much easier. It seems that I have more time to get projects done then I did before.

The campground we are home based at now is very nice. The managers, having 50 amp and a quiet place makes it a pleasant stay. We have been having the windows open lately. The weather here is a lot nicer then the west coast of California. It was too foggy and not much sun this time of year. They say Seattle, Washington is the same. It's no wonder some get depressed from that time of weather.

Well we are going on a National Park boat tour today, so I got to go. Talk to you all later!

We are slowly getting settled from our 3 month Europe trip and Dale is back to work. The motorhome did okay while we were gone. Thanks to our neighbors on keeping a eye out on it. The trip was very nice, just a little to long for me though. It helped seeing my friend Conya in France and having her around for several days. Then after she left, we headed up into Portugal, and all the movies on TV were subtitled with there language and in English. It was nice to have what I call normality in my life for a while without feeling out of place. I think it wasn't so bad when we were in Italy for a month. I got use to the way of doing things to get along. The hardest part was when we went into Southern France for 4 days and then into Southern Spain and Portugal. We would get off the train and realize we were now having to switch languages to order things. Then we went back into mid Spain and into Central and Northern France. The languages starded to run together. To end up in Paris, and have 12 days, it gave me a chance to get familiar.

The exchange rate got better after we left. Between the exchange rate and the ATM withdrawal fees it was expensive even out of season. But to be able to pay cash for everything and not have any credit cards bills waiting is a relief. I would not even go to Europe in season. The prices for rooms double and the crowds were large enough from the British tourist.

We encountered a few obstacles on the trip. In Palermo, on a local bus we were pick pocketed, but they didn't get anything but used hankerchiefs and about 40 Euro's Dale had in her pocket. In Nice, France a person tampered with a ATM prior to us using it and I lost my card in it. The thief apparently used a way to get it back and drawed out 500 dollars on it. But Bank of America, placed it back into the account. Took a little work, but it was done. The commercials say its just a phone call! Thats a laugh, try several calls and filling out a report! While you are in a foreign country with different time zones.

All in all, Dale did a terrific job on putting the trip together. I got to see places I dreamed about going to in my life time (i.e. Rome, Venice, Paris etc....) and realized that they were a tip of the iceburg on what I really loved visiting (i.e. Orvietto, Tarifa, Arles, Carcassone and several other Fort or Castle towns). The Rail pass we used was a breeze and I would never try to drive in the towns we visited. It was a pleasure to not drive for 3 months and have no cell phone to answer. We purchased phone cards to call back home and they were cheap. It would cost 5-7 euros for 200 minutes of talk time from a hotel room phone. If you called from a pay phone it cut the minutes in half, so we waited until we got to our room to call home.

Other then that, we hope everyone the best and hope to see you on our travels back here in the USA.

Well we finally are giving up travel and selling everything to buy a house. It's been fun, but we want to settle down in Alaska. "APRIL FOOLS", we wouldn't even consider stopping in our travels.

Hope everyone is doing good! Got to make it short and sweet. Just wishing a happy April to everyone!

We went up to Lake Havasu to see long time friends. They use to live in Palm Beach, Florida and now live Las Vegas. They took us up to see the small town of Oatman on Route 66. It was interesting to see the mules that roam free in the town.

I used the software Microsoft Street & Trips to figure out our trip for Lake Havasu. With the software, I entered in the miles per gallon for our motor home and the locations. Estimating a cost of $30.00 per night for a campground. I figured out that it would cost us $210.00 for the trip if we take our motor home. If we took our Jeep and stayed at a hotel. It would cost us estimated $70.00 per night and $55.00 in fuel. Costing us a total of $265.00. So we took the motor home and stayed in a State Park. This is one example of how you can see what it will cost by the use of software.

We haven't seen as much as we like in Arizona, but we hope to get back another time to visit. It's a great State where just driving a small amount of time can give you a different view of scenery, land, and climate.

Dale is flying back to Florida to see her mother next week while she is off for four days.

Our website has been getting view at least 100 times a month. We have 15 people on our list to be automatically notified when we update the website. Since we did not have any updates during February, it would be easier for the ones that keep checking in to be automatically notifed. You can do this by clicking on the following link ~~>EmailmeRving@CS.Com.
We do not sell or spam email your email address. We only notify you when we update the website and this is only done no more then once a week sometimes even less. Some weeks or months we don't update our photo area, because of being on the move, or on vacation without our computer. We don't mind if you don't add your name to our automated list, we just hope you keep coming back to view our website. For example from April to July we will be off the air and our website will be on hold. So please come back to visit in July to see all our photos we will have to show you.

It was fun writing to you all. Keep in touch, we may meet in our travels.

Hi everyone from Southern Arizona, sorry for the delay on not getting our website updated. Our computer took a dive. Thank goodness for extended warranties.

We changed a couple of things on our website. Found that we don't update those areas as much.

It's been pretty nice here. Except for the rainy days. I will take that over the cold in Pennsylvania. The temperature has been in the 70's during the day and 50's at night.

Its getting closer to time we take off for Vacation. Hope to get my new camera down on working it. The photos are still not as clear as I like them.

Well, got to go and study. Take care!

You all keeping up with your New Years Resolution?

We are enjoying the southern part of Arizona, with the weather for the winter. Although it has been raining for a little bit. It still beats the last winter in Pennsylvania. The area is amazing. I never seen a city have sidewalks that are used a lot. It was hard at first not to pull forward over a driveway without looking at the sidewalk area for bikes and pedestrians. I read it was one of the reasons that todays society is heavy, because more and more towns and communities are not building sidewalks. The people here walk to work and ride bikes more then I have seen in our 4 1/2 years of travel.

We plan to start seeing more soon, so stay tune to our website. Just getting settled. We are also going to Europe back packing in the next few months. We won't be having the photo's up right away, but will soon.

Happy Birthday to me!

We are in Chicago and here for a week with Dale's family for Thanksgiving. Looking forward to eating lots of Tommy Turkey this week.

On our travels from Idaho, we got to meet Scott and Mindy (friends that I met on the internet) for dinner at Red Lobster. Scott and Mindy it was fun and looking forward to beating Scott again on billards over the internet :~).

We then stopped in Kearney, Nebraska and checked out the Great Platte River Road Museum that I seen on my way to Idaho to meet Dale. Didn't want to go and see until Dale could join me.

We then stopped at the St. Louis Arch and took time to see it. It was worth the stop.

The final stop along the way, was Jim & Sherry (neighbors that we had in Pennsylvania this year) in Bloomington, Illinois. We had lunch with them at Cracker Barrel. Thanks for meeting us Jim & Sherry!.

The time to leave Idaho has come close now! We are pulling out on Monday, November 15, 2004. Dale had a chance to extend, but we decided to move on and see another State of this beautiful Country!

It has been an incredible week for me. Monday, I got my blood test results for my Cholesterol, and Tryglicerides and it came back all below normal. I have been fighting my tryglicerides for several years. They have been ranging from 327 to 365 levels. The normal level is below 200. My cholesterol has been normal all the time, but not my tryglicerides. For a first time in Tennessee, a doctor during a physical told me it was my carbohydrates intake. He suggested Sugar Busters diet! I was baffled, because every other doctor I seen over the last 4 years always wanted to get me on cholesterol medicine. I started the diet, or as we call it "a way of eating" in July of this year. I lost 23 pounds, and my tryglicerides dropped from 327 to 186. This was exciting, because I did not have to take any medicine to do this. The next exciting event this week, is that I always wanted to achieve a A+ Certification on computer repairs for the last 5 years. I finally got off my but and started studying from last January and took the Hardware portion of the two part test and passed with flying colors. The next test is Operating System and I plan to take it prior to March of next year, before we go to Europe backpacking for three months.

What a great, fantastic, outstanding, and did I mention Incredible week!

I hope everyone enjoys life, and goes for their goals. Because there is no reason to not do so!

We have seen a lot of things here in Southern Idaho. Its another 5 weeks before we leave here and head over to Chicago for Thanksgiving at Dale's Sister place. All of her family is flying in to meet there. I am slowly getting the RV repaired on the recalled brakes and other minor things. We have really moved the RV this job. Our regular campground is 25 minutes away and when Dale's on call for the evening or weekend, we pull over to a city park next door to the hospital, or the hospital parking lot itself. It makes a lot less time to respond in the middle of the night when she gets called out. A 2AM in the morning, 50 minutes of round trip driving gets to be old. Especially when its maybe multiple times during the night you have to respond. I take her back and forth for the call. That's another way I earn my way. I would rather her be safe, then to worry about her walking in a dark parking lot or driving by herself. I seen to many weirdo's out at night when I worked the road as a Trooper.

Otherwise, Dale and I love the area. It's has so much to see and do. The one thing that amaze us is the local residents that do not see the events and things in their own area. They live here for all their life and fail to only get involved in the regular routine of things.

We just got back from Trailing of the Sheep and it was a fun weekend. We took the motorhome up to the Ketchum area and boone dock (No utilities) in a Ski Resort lot that they let visitors use when the resort is not open. It's so nice to have a quiet generator and tanks to do this type of travel. It saved us traveling 4 hours round trip for each day of the weekend to see the events. It also saved getting a hotel. Nothing like using your own stuff while you travel. For the people that want to think about getting a RV and travel " Its a lousy way of Life!". For those that already have a RV, lets keep this great secret quiet. There is already to many RV's on the road. I was hoping the steep fuel prices would make them get rid of them, but it hasn't made a dent yet.

Well I got to get to bed and start a new day tomorrow! Take care and be safe.

Hi everyone, We are heading to Idaho for a 13 week contract starting this Sunday, August 8. Then we will take time off 2 weeks after the contract to see Dale's sister (Michelle) and her husband (Orin) in Chicago, Illinois for Thanksgiving week. Just as long as the contract goes for the 13 weeks. So far this new company that Dale has been working for has been outstanding! They are a truly professional in helping her get work and keeping up on things.

Dale has to fly out before me, so it will be a bummer traveling by myself across the United States. It will take me 5 to 6 days. I will get to meet Glen, Karen, Garth & Jamie at Beacon RV Park in St. Joseph, Missouri during my travel over there. I have been hearing from them off and on during the last four years. One thing I like about our traveling is being to able to see past acquaintances we met along the way.

Over last weekend we got to see Sean, Cathy and their children that we knew in Palm Beach, Florida. Sean was a former State Trooper, and is now a Palm Beach Deputy. We went after breakfast to Cades Cove in the Smoky's. We saw several deer and one black bear up in the tree that caused a traffic jam on the one lane road.

I added a new sign our Guest book at the bottom of the main photo page. So click and let us know about you!

Well we are back in Tennessee until July 16th to the end of July. We went to see the Ripley's Aquarium that was still being built last time we were here. It was incredible to walk under the tunnel of water for the aquarium. If you ever have a chance to experience at a aquarium near you, then do so. It hard to explain the feeling that you can reach out and touch the sharks or turtles as they swim over top of you. A lot of the aquariums are designing something like it all over the United States.

We were up in the eastern part of State of New York for a two week job. and now came to Tennessee. We pretty much seen a lot of Tennessee over the four years, so we don't want to stay long. Dale likes the job here, so that has been good.

Had to get the radiator changed out in the motor home. Two years and five months is premature on it leaking. Thank goodness for extended warranties. The radiator was $1,200 and the labor was $1,000. We have a $200 deductible with our extended warranty. So hopefully that is all we have to put out. Wait to see what the warranty company says. Holiday Rambler assisted in shipping the radiator overnight for free since it was out of warranty. I guess they agreed it was premature in failing.

Other then that the motor home did good through the Pennsylvania winter. Well got to go, so keep in touch!

It's been an exciting stay on the eastern side of Pennsylvania. Other then the yucky weather, the sights to see were great. We were also able to see some of Dale's relatives and close friends. The area, campground and people we met were all nice. Soon we will be leaving to go to another location. May 14th, Dale finishes up this job and we move on. Dale is going to fly down to Florida and get her yearly checkup with her doctors in Palm Beach between May 17th-21st. I will start heading to the next job or start heading to Florida to meet her. This way if she needs to go to the west coast for the next job, I can start heading that way to cut down travel time.

We just enjoyed Letchworth State Park in Upper New York State this last weekend. It was fun to see friends that we haven't seen in five years and go to a State Park. Look forward to going out again once a month to State Parks on weekends and camping over night. Since the winter was harsh and the State Park campgrounds were not open around us for camping it was hard to go out with the motorhome.

Hope everyone is doing good and hope to hear from you!

I cannot believe that I forgot to mention our great lost, last November! We had to put Shadow our Dalmatian down, because of his health and demeanor he was starting to display when trying to be helped. It was a wonderful 13 years and many great memories. He was there to see our new life and adventures. I always knew he loved marking every tree in all the States we passed through. It was a tough decision, but for our safety and others we were concerned for. He will be truly missed. Just a little memory of the crazy things he would do!

Enjoying camp fires with us and watching others walk by. He was a great dog in NOT barking like a lot of others we have seen.

When he would get hurt we would have to put a cone around his head so he would not chew at the spot. What a riot to see him in this big cone. Bad part was having him in the motorhome with it on.

Shadow refused to leave Dale if she was in the living room area. Thinking he had to protect her. Trouble is he had a hard time staying awake too. This was a classic moment, watching him put his head on the stool to fall asleep while standing up.

Shadow would be all cozy by the heater vent and crashed out. Towards the last couple of years we got him a bed warmer. He really enjoyed it.

Shadow started to get spinal degeneration, arthritis, Vision problems, Hearing lost, & rear hip failure. Towards the last couple of years he was going down hill slowly. Some days good and some bad. We knew the time was getting nearer and we prepared ourselves for it. He was truly a best friend and gave his whole heart to try and please you.

There is so much to do in Eastern Pa. that we hope to get to see it all in time. We have been going to Philadelphia, New York City and a lot of other nearby sites to see. At first it was a small fear to go to New York City, but after going we found it was not at all bad. We park at Port Authority Bus and Subway Terminal and walk from there to all the sites. It cost us 20 dollars for all day. It may seem high to you, but it can run up 12 dollars an hour at other parking areas.

We finished up visiting NY City while having lunch with some of Dale's cousins. It was nice to see them after several years. We look forward now to being able to see more of Dale's relatives in Philadelphia. Then if extend another month, we hope to meet Dale's friend Bridget from Toronto, Canada in the Finger Lakes area of New York. That area will be so great during spring time.

I finished up with the first Computer class and studying the second part on my own. I also just became certified as an volunteer instructor for AARP Driving course. This will help keep my instructor techniques up that I learned while I worked for the Florida Highway Patrol. Can you believe it has been four years this October that I left the Patrol. Time flies when your having fun.

Dale and I are aiming for April 1, 2006 to take a year off and see the world. We decided that if we wait to retire to do this, we may not be able too, because of health or if family's health becomes a concern. Hopefully we can buckle down and save up for this great trip we hope to do like Italy, Greece, Europe, Australia and so on.

Other then that their is so much to do, but we hate to stay any longer to see Eastern, PA. Like I said, "We didn't buy a motorhome to just sit".

Well it has been a cold winter for us. Since we been in Pennsylvania, it has been holding up to being the coldest winter in 10 years. Normal temperatures are suppose to be in the high 40's during the day and mid 20's a night. Well it has been 10 to 20 degrees lower then usual for the past month.

I have started to get involved into studying for A+ Certification (Computer Repair) by taking a course at a technical school in the area. I am also trying to get involved in teaching driving schools nationwide for AARP. Both will fill up a couple days during the week. Since Shadow our dog is not around anymore, a lot of responsibility has been taken away.

Other then studying, We haven't done too much then visit Philadelphia. We went to the Art museum twice and seen the Liberty Bell and other sites. We hope to get back there two more times to see the annual flower show and other historical adventures.

Even though we are in a snow area. We plan only to enjoy a little snow tubing. We are not much into Skiing. Afraid that one of us will break something and put us out of commission for awhile. Can't afford that now. We are trying to get back into the swing of things since Dale was out of work for awhile. Hopefully the new company she joined will supply more work on a regular bases. Will see after this job. So far they have been terrific!

I hope everyone has had a great New Year so far. Your Valentine wishes came true and your health be wonderful. Talk too you all later!

Well the Holiday chores are done. The Family and Friends are home safe and it's time to kick up the feet and take a breather. I didn't know how much work it was to visit family during the holidays, until the last 4 weeks.

We were suppose to be on the road already for a new job, but Dale pulled her back. It stopped hurting yesterday, but she is still going to the doctor on Monday to see if it is okay.

It was nice seeing family and friends over the last three. Hope everyone had a happy holiday.

Well, it has been a short stay this time. Arrived in Virginia mid October and now will be heading out around the end of November. Don't know where yet, but hope its in a semi warm climate. The trip across the United States was interesting and I was able to visit, In-Laws, Aunts and Uncles. The fall leaves in Pennsylvania were spectacular to see. Wished we had more time in Virginia to see the area, but next time we will hopefully be longer here. Other then that Dale updated her comments. I updated the photo's and tip area.

We thank you all for your input to our website. It has helped us along the way to make changes and it also motivated us to keep it going.

I highly recommend checking out the tip area and seeing the affordable Tire monitoring device we installed. It was well worth the investment on giving us peace of mind and saving us trouble in the future.

Well, I got to go quickly today. So keep writing and talk to you all during our travels.

Well we finished a job during the Labor Day weekend and found no work right away, because of the holiday. So we took a nice drive up the coast of California to get away from the heat. We continued up to Seattle, Washington so we can see Dale's brother while we are on the West Coast. We arrived safely and got to see him before he flew out for a week on a job. Right now we are waiting to see in which direction we need to travel for Dale's next job. It's been a nice break from it all and taking today to catch up on the internet and other chores before we need to move.

The contract ended early, because the hospital hired a full time person. This happens once in awhile, but not too often. Sometimes the whole department of Ultrasound is temporary travelers. The area has been nice to try restaurants. It is still very hot. The locals say it has been unusually humid this year. It's because we are visiting, or the locals have been out in the desert too long :~).

Jobs have been coming mostly on the east coast and we end here on the 29th of August. Don't look forward to having to drive across the United States again, but we will have 9 days to do it. So we are thinking of seeing the wind farm tour over here on Saturday morning. Then we should start to leave on Sunday. According to the Street & Trips computer software it will take us 6 full days of traveling to get to the East location at 65 M.P.H. driving 9 to 5 PM with one hour break for lunch.

The RV has been doing good. Except for the ice maker. It's under warranty, but need to wait to get the next location so they can order parts in time. We had the rear brakes done under a recall. While they were doing that I had wheel balancers put on. Looking forward to seeing how smooth the ride will be with the wheel balancers.

Well got to go and update a couple of things on the computer. Talk to you all later.

Well, we made it finally on the West Coast and have a lot to see. The weather in the desert has hit a high of 115 with a slight humidity that took it to a real feel temperature of 120. We are suppose to get some relief of temperature by today dropping down to 109. We just try to convince ourselfs it's mostly a dry heat (heh-heh). Other then that the motorhome has been staying cool inside and looks like it can handle it.

Dale's contract is ending early. So we are going to be leaving around the end of August instead of September. This happens when they find a person they want to hire. So it shorten the time we have to see things, but it will be interesting on where we will go next. Dale has enjoyed the fellow workers here. They strive to all help each other out and take their work load. Dale's boss at the hospital doesn't make you do anything that she would not do herself. This is something a lot of supervisors lack when they get promoted. Dale will miss the hospital, fellow workers, and her boss. They all seem so pleasent when I talked to them on the phone.

Two weeks from now we are going to head to Imperial Beach by San Diego. They are having a US competition in Sand Sculptures on the beach. Next week we will probally check out the Cable tram that goes up the side of the mountain west of Palm Springs.

This week I am going to get the brakes checked on the RV and wheel balancers put on the wheels. Balance Masters make these mercury rings that fit behind the wheels to balance the tires all the time. They improve your tire life and take any vibration in the wheels away. I had them on my gasoline motorhome and enjoyed the smooth ride. The right rear tire had a vibration until I installed them.

There is a lot more to tell you, but time to get on to other things. I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July like we did. Check out the photo's for July 4th weekend in Cedar Mountain. So take care and you all keep in touch!

Well we made it safely to Palm Springs, Southern California. The only problem we had is the valve extension on the left rear tire was getting cut by the hubcap for the wheel. We luckly arrived in the RV park when it happen. Another 30 minutes and we would of had a flat tire along the interstate. I replaced the extension and solved the razor edge on the hubcap by putting a plastic trim around it. I heard it was possible, but I didn't think it would cut throug the Stainless steel braid cover on the extensions. Oh well like the past, everyone of the vehicles I have owned got us there safely or to a area we were safe in. Some one is looking out for us on our travels. Knowing our past Farthers, I can believe they have something to do with it.

It gets windy here in the Desert. Blowing the sand around once in awhile. I know why they call the Car Duster I bought, a "California Duster". But otherwise it's great weather. We sit outside in the early morning and late evening. The temperature drops from the 100's to the high 60's at night. Making it feel cooler and enjoyable.

Dale planned a lot of things to go see while we are here. The area has every restuarant you can imagine. We could go out 3 times a day and still not hit every restuarant in the area. Also some from the past, like Marie Calendar's and Black Angus. The shops are unique too, with specializing in certain items. This is where the RV life style can save you money. There is no where to put it, if you buy it.

Today I am getting caught up on some paperwork. It builds up while you travel and needs to be eventually done. Well I got to go and get things done, so take care and keep in touch.

Well it's getting closer to moving again in another 1 1/2 weeks. Destination unknown as of yet and hope to find out soon. We hope to be on the West Coast for awhile. It seems like every time we try it doesn't work out. Oh well as long as it's a different place. It like waiting for Christmas morning wondering where we go next.

Monroe has been nice. It's a small town that had it's ups and downs. With Delta airlines pulling out and State Farm closing part of its building. But new places are still being built. Like a Bed, Bath & Beyond down the street and De Angelo's Pizzeria just opening. They have great pizza. I get the pepperoni, red peppers, fresh basil and fresh Garlic pizza create your own ingredients. A lot of people ask us why we chose Monroe, It chose us and it was a nice stay.

After 2 1/2 years of doing this, I think the only frustrating thing I ran across is finding Dentist. The Dental insurance only pays for 1 to 2 general checkup visits every year. If you need a cleaning or tooth work the new Dentist in every State requires to see you before any work is done. So the schedule is 2 to 3 weeks wait for the general visit and another 2-3 weeks for a cleaning. By the time you get done you are moving on. And then paying for another General Dentist visit. I understand why they need to see a client before they do work, but it could be easier. In Wisconsin they did the general visit the first 1/2 hour and the cleaning the second half hour. Regular doctors also see you and treat the problem in the same visit. So why can't they all do this.

Other then that I would not trade this life style for the world. We usually get ready to leave after the second month, so settling down does not appeal to us. So it looks like we will be on the road for a long time.

Dale had six days off, so we went to New Orleans for the time. We were in luck and caught the French Quarters Heritage Feast. It was neat to see Bourbon Street on Saturday night. It was very unusual to say the least. We caught some beads and didn't even have to flash ourselves. Although I think the one guy winked at me. We took the downtown walking tour the next day and had French Doughnuts and coffee. The next day we then checked out the Garden District (The Ritzy side of town). The following day we seen Mardi Gras World and seen how they made floats for the Mardi Gras. The last day before we left was the D-Day museum and it was a eye opener for what we are going through today and why with this war. We took the motorhome down and it handled good with no problems. So we made it safe back.

Other then that we are doing well. We hope to make it to Vicksburg on Monday and see the museum they have there. Then the following weekend we see Yanni in Concert.

The one neighbor we have lives a comfortable life. He has a small trailer and van all paid for and no bills except the campground each month. He works enough construction to go off to Florida to see his kid. He then comes back and works another couple of weeks, and does it again. No worries or stress on that guy. If we all would live that life we would all live long.

We are finally settled again in a new location and this time it's Monroe, Louisiana. Dale and I have been enjoying Ireland and getting a couple of things we needed to get done after we came back. Louisiana is separated into five parts Sportsman Paradise (North, LA), Crossroads (Central, LA), Cajun Country (South, LA), Plantation Country (South Central, LA), and Greater New Orleans (Southeast, LA). We are in Sportsman Paradise and have a lot of nature reserves in the area. Which we like and works out for us. Population 53,000 and growing. Still a small town with only 6 exits on I-20. Monroe is also governed by two and there is Monroe and West Monroe divided by the Ouachita River (Wash-chi-ta). Don't ask me how they get a "W" out of a "O", but they do. Everyone has been friendly here and it look dreary and dirty at first, but it also has been raining more then usual ever since December. When we arrived we had to change RV sites because the hydraulic jacks were even sinking in the extremely wet ground. Now the sun has been shining for the last 5 days and things are drying up. The Japanese Magnolia trees and other spring flowers are starting to bloom and winter seems to be leaving.

I got to say Ireland was extremely pleasant and we lucked out and only had two rainy days while we were there. After stopping at some of the sites to see where there was limited parking, I could only imagine how hard it is to visit during season. I heard March-April is better to go and visit, before the season starts. It is also more expensive as you get closer to summer there. The first day was hard. We flew all day and night. Leaving from 10:00 that morning from Wilmington, NC. to Atlanta, GA. We then went to New York and had a four hour lay over for Ireland flight. The flight to Ireland was 6-7 hours and we arrived in Ireland at 7:30 AM there (US Eastern time 2:30 AM). So we stayed up and checked a couple of castles in the area before we checked in our first B&B. Boy did we sleep that night, but it help us get into the cycle of time there. The car was wild getting use to shifting with your left hand (Thank goodness I'm a lefty), driver side was on the right and driving on the left side of the road. The hardest part I had was coming up to the first intersection out of the airport. Ireland's intersections are mostly roundabout's. It was information overload! Staying on the left side of the road, shifting, and yielding from your right and then they are also 2 lane roundabouts. I made it all 9 days with no incidents. We got the extra insurance just in case because they say the locals are the worst in driving, because the tourist drive with caution on the skinny roads. The gas prices are outrageous with it coming out to be $3.20 a gallon (converting from liters), so we should not complain about our fuel prices. The cars are small and in the smaller engines. So you found hardly anything larger then 2 liters in engine size. My Jeep, Liberty would be a gas guzzler at 3.7 liters or a Ford, Mustang 4.0 would really be visiting the gas pumps soon. No wonder they say the USA is large on needing and using oil.

Politics were interesting in Ireland. With the demonstration of 10,000 people in Dublin, Ireland about anti-war in Iraq . We only seen violence breakout on TV in New York in the United States. Ireland majority also like President Clinton instead of President Bush, Jr. They said President Clinton visited there and golfed and Bush hasn't come over there yet. Now we know where the tax paying money goes! We were kind of concern on flying out of Shannon Airport in Ireland towards the end. Because it's a stop over for the military of Britain. And we were wondering if any tie ups of demonstrations were going to be held there. We made it safe and sound and now back in the USA.

So now to get settled and start adventuring out to things. I hope to get the website up to par on a lot of things, so be patient and keep coming to visit. It will get better, I promise!

Dale's family gathered up in Williamsburg for Christmas and we got to see the east coast of Virginia. It was interesting on seeing the largest living museum with no gates. Only security was the staff of the town walking and living in town.

The weather was raining on one day during the time. But other then that is was a pleasure. Dale and I had a chance to see what we missed during the later part of the week. We wanted to prevent having to go back. After all there is a lot to see in the USA other then visiting the same place twice.

Dale and I are talking about taking some time off at the end of her contract and flying to Ireland for 10 days. We already obtained our passports and reserving the airfare and B&B's to stay at. We hope to stay at a castle for a night to experience it. No haunted ones, hopefully for Dale's sake.

Other then that we had to get a new laptop computer, because lightning striked the other one and it was not the same after it was repaired. It ran really slow. So I decided to get a last year model new one the is still 3 times faster then my old one. It goes to show how computers change over three years. The last year model will do what I need it to do and saved me 1000 dollars in not getting the fastest one on the market today. So all in all I got one that cost $899. It sure beats the $2,500, I priced through Dell. Sorry Dude, I am not buying a DELL!!!!

I hope everyone is doing good. It has been nice to receive email from others who stumbled onto our website. We also noticed that we are averaging 100 people a month viewing our site. Don't worry I won't connect ads to our site :~).

Well I got to go, so keep in touch and talk to you all later.

Since my Father died, I have been trying to help get my mother settled with things she needed to do to get done. I then went back down to Florida to get my mother away from all of it and ask her to join us for the first holiday after his death. It was nice to have her up for the two weeks and be together for Thanksgiving. We cheated by having a local grocery store prepare the meal. It made it a lot easier since we only had one convection oven for our motor home. The meal was good and we had left overs for four times after that. We were going to go out, but wanting leftovers over ruled.

It is getting cold up here and some nights it dips into the 20's. The winter package on our motorhome helps save LP usage. I have met a couple of fellow RV'ers in the campground. We also have another Ultrasound traveler and nurse traveler in the same campground with us. The other day Dale, my mother, and I put up Christmas lights for the motor home. "Its starting to look a lot like Christmas" or is it "feel".

We are going to be here in Wilmington until beginning of Feb 2003. After that we are going to go West if possible. We have been in the area for 9 months now and can't wait to see other states.

Well Dale, just got back from work and I need to go. We are going to go out tonight for dinner. All take care and Happy Holidays!!!!

I never thought tragedy could be so much upon both of our families as it has been in the last two years. Dale lost her father to a tragic car accident in October 2000 and I lost my father in September 2002. During that time we also lost another part of Dale's family and it was Uncle Jack Kermath. I hope that God is done taking anyone of our families for along time. Heaven must of been short on Great Men.

Right now I am down helping my mother get things in order. Dale and I drove straight through the night to reach my mothers side from North Carolina to South Florida. It was a gruelling 13 hour drive, and the time lapse to get to her was endless.

The funeral was beautiful and my father wishes were fully filled. All I can say is I would not want to be in the Lord's shoes right now, with my father speaking his mind. My father was the kind of man who could write on the paper all of his expressions. If he loved you, you would know it. If he was mad at you, you would feel guilty about it. He would take the time to write poems that would be cherished by the receiver. One time he wrote a poem to my sister when she started to date as a teenager. Just recently he wrote a poem to my mother in May. The poem to my mother was read at the memorial service. At the memorial service, I dedicated a poem to him.

Dad,
I want to thank you for the lessons you taught me during your lifetime.

A Yeager was not a quitter, so you must finish what you start, was your motto.

Telling you the reason we brought you along, because you could not last three days without mom.

Having seen the compassion and love you showed as a husband, gave me guidelines to follow as a man.

You have parted to quickly for us all, to ask you what more can I do to stand tall.

You will be remembered and in our hearts, because in our life you played a big part!

We are now in Supply / Shallotte, North Carolina. We wanted to stay on the East Coast for Dale's family is meeting in Williamsburg, Va. for Xmas. This way it only takes 6 hours to drive and we can return in one day for the picking up the motorhome and going to the next job.

We splurged and bought ourselves a new vehicle. Now we look like yuppies driving our SUV. But at least we will use our SUV to four wheel when we go to a area that allows you. When we where in Utah sightseeing we found a couple of places that we could of 4x4. We noticed that Jeep was the easiest thing to tow on the ground. Also the price, 60 month at 0%, and 7 year drive train warranty did not hurt. Instead of pulling money out of our investments to pay for a vehicle. We can earn interest more then having to pay for the vehicle. Also the last two cars we owned was 7 to 11 years old. So the 5 year payments don't bother us. We now have a vehicle to suit our life style and look forward to keeping it as long as we can get parts for it.

It looks like we are not doing much by photo's we have put on our website. The truth is we have been getting settled down by the new RV, SUV and paperwork. We hope to start getting out a little more after the year. Right now we have been in the general area (ie. Florence SC, Wilmington NC, and Shallotte NC,) for the last 9 months. And since they are all within 2 hours away from each other, we mostly seen everything within the 3 hours of travel. So this will let us save up our energy a little and go exploring after the new year. Also our laptop computer took a hit from a lighting storm and it was still under warranty. The modem, processor, memory and speakers went out. The sending it back and fourth to the repair center in Texas has slowed a couple of weeks in getting caught up. We still have to send it back again. I am glad we got a extended warranty. Over the last 3 years the computer has been sent 6 to 7 times. My suggestion is to only get it through the manufacturer like I did and not the store you purchased it at. A lot of the time the store is not in the State you are in. Compaq sends me a box and return shipping over night and turns it around in three to four days. Not bad for the amount I paid for the warranty from compaq.

Other then that, please have patients in checking our website. It will all pick up again after the new year. Once we get out of the area we have been in for the last 9 months we will be uploading more things we see. Until then enjoy our few visited sites over the next few months.

I am going to change the good jokes category to questions asked. We have been having a lot of responses to our website in questions and if we list them then it will help others.

I went up to Ohio & Pennsylvania with my parents. I did not know when I would get up there again. It was a trip that tested us the whole way, but we got through it. It was on thing after another from the rental car to the hotel rooms. But we got to see everyone and do what we wanted to do.

I know why I like RV travels a lot more because of our own sheets and towels. I at least know who's dirt it is :~). Dale originally wanted to do her work traveling for one year using hotel's . But now I am glad we did not. People say you still have to pack up a RV. But you still have to get a house ready before you leave. The good thing is we don't have to wonder if we forgot to pack anything, because we have all our clothing, cosmetics, and etc. with us.

Everyone is doing good and we are soon leaving to our next location. So far we are looking into New Mexico, but that can change before this job is over. It all depends on what job fills the paperwork out the quickest. It will be a good try out for the Diesel motorhome. Looking forward to the west mountains to see if it climbs as good as they say it will. I at least know I won't have to hear the high revving of the gasoline engine up in the front. It's now quiet to talk to Dale or listen to the radio. Also I heard and will hope to find out that you can set the cruise control and it will climb the hills at around 55 mph. The gasoline only climb the steep hills at 28mph and with a 4200 rpm. The diesel goes as high as 2700 rpm. You can see what fuel savings you have just with that.

Well I got to go and get ready to do errands, because a lot of things have to be done before we leave.

We are slowing down from the long hours Dale is putting in on the three days she works. We decided to take it easy for awhile and catch up on R&R, instead of taking off a lot on our Days off. Maybe we are getting old :~).

Other then that the four days off together is great if it wasn't feeling exhausted by Sunday night. I have to cram all the things I do in three days and cleaning up after cooking dinner at 9PM is rough. If we didn't have to get up at 5AM it makes a long day.

The other day I heard Myrtle Beach (2 hours south of us) had a temperature of 95 and a heat index of 136. I thought it was a typo, but the local weatherman said it and pointed it out.

We are settled in Wilmington finally and catching up on things. So sorry for not having our website updated.

So far Wilmington has been really nice with Dale working three 12 hour shifts that sometimes turn out longer then 12 hours. But we enjoy the four days off together. She has off Monday through Thursday and the places to see are not as crowded as on the weekends. Even though the three days are long it still limits time getting things done before we go out again.

I can see why people come to Wilmington and the Outer Banks to live. The activities, restaurants, and things to do are many. The breeze is great off the ocean and the humidity and heat is not as bad as in South Florida.

We checked out the ferries and outer banks and enjoyed it very much. We are looking forward to trying to get back there to see more things. The nice thing about the Outer Banks was it was not over built like the keys in Florida.

It is hard to believe we are already in four weeks of the thirteen week job. Time flies when you are having fun.

I took a tutor class for the literacy council here in Wilmington. Figured I can maybe help out in teaching if they need me. It turns out they need me to assist them in straightening up their computers from the many users they have in the training area. I also offered to assist at a computer repair shop when their volunteer leaves. Both of these programs will help me while I study to get my A+ Certification to repair computers. Hope by next year to take the test. Right now I am just starting. Even though I put together and repair several computers, the certification is required to work in repair centers and get paid for it :~).

Other then that Life is Good and we are really enjoying out time together we have every day.

Talk to you all later, so keep in touch!

Well it looks like no jobs are coming up soon, so we are staying til 24th of May in Florence.

We got a chance to see both parents before we leave in case we go out West for awhile. The hardest thing about the travel is not seeing our parents as much as we use to. But now we see other realatives a lot more then we did. Also we have seen a lot more of the Country then we would of staying in Florida.

We had a tire go out on the car as we were going to Tybee Island. We could not even tell. The towbar stayed straight and there was not tire left on the wheel except a 2 inch rubber around the wheel rim. The car, wheel and motorhome was okay. So I changed the wheel and drove it to the next Goodyear to have it changed out. We got all the tires changed out even though the others still look good. We must of ran over something. The Deisel motorhome pulled the car like there was no trouble. Next location we go to and have time to order it, I will order a tire deflation warning device for the Motorhome and car. The way we go out a lot it will warn me for any other problems that may happen on the tires.

The new motorhome has been good to us with only a few small things to fix. It has been a lot better then the Gasoline, Rexhall, Roseair we had. I swear that motorhome hated me. It was constantly getting in the shop for things off and on. Towards the last six months we got all the bugs out of it and it was good to us. Well it got us back to Florida to get our new one. So it was watching over us on the trips we made for the 1 1/2 years with it.

So far everything else has been going wonderful and looking forward to getting onto another State.

I got to go now, so hope to hear from you all again. Also thanks to all the new Emails we received from new RV'ers who found our website interesting. May your future travels be as fantastic and safe also.

We have one more month in Florence and a few weekends to do things. We went up last weekend to see Dale's cousins in North Carolina. We hope to go to Wilmington, NC. to see the battleship either this weekend or next. Dale is on call the last weekend of this month. The weekend before we leave May 3-5 we are going to Savhanna, Georgia to see our parents before we move on. We try to see them as much as we can, in case we go out west for awhile.

Other then that we are still have a incredible lifestyle with this RVing. The new people you see and talk to, the places to see, experiencing a different city in their living and lifestyles has made it feel we are almost always on vacation. Some people need the stable lifestyle (picket fence) and some love living the freedom. It is hard to believe that this September we will have been 2 full years on the road. Time flies when your having fun :~).

This is the second time we have been able to experience spring to the max. If you have never experience a spring in South Carolina, then do your self a favor and check it out. Between the Azalea's, Dogwood's, and Barlett Pair trees. It is truly a must see. The pollen gets a little strong with making your vehicles have a coat of yellow on them in one day, but the flowers out weigh the sneezing.

This lifestyle saves not doing the yard work, limiting your pack ratting, no big house to clean, and if your neighbors ever become someone you don't want to live by you move. You can not only move in the same campground, you can make a point of it by firing up the diesel engine and pulling you rig across to the lot to another site in the middle of the night. I never had to yet, but there is always the option if you need to.

I have been seeing a whole new breed of Rv'ers on the road since Sept 11 with people buying and traveling by RV instead of flying. I think it will be only a temporary thing because they will realize that traveling takes a lot longer in a RV because you need to drive slower. Also the expense of storing it while your not using it can be costly. The upkeep and depreciation can deplete your savings if you have a home on top of it. The price of a good motorhome to handle this type of travel is the same as a average house payment. Then the campground fee's on top of that makes a very expensive lifestyle. Getting back to seeing the new Rv'ers, I have seen them traveling late at night and pulling into the campgrounds at 9 PM. The spouse and kids are tired and argumentive and the trying to find a spot and hook up makes it very difficult. Also they disturb the other Rv'ers. I use to see this only for a family emergency, but it's getting very common now. Also I noticed the other day in a Flying J's truck stop and rest stops how many RV'ers are spending the night there. With theie lawn chairs out and walking around in the parking lot like its a campground. The surprising thing it includes the 150,000 dollar Rv's and higher. They pay the big bucks, but are too cheap to pay for a night stay in a campground. The problem with this is security, safeness from getting hit by other vehicles in the parking lot, and taking the parking away from others who are traveling through and want to eat in the restaurant or stop for a restroom break. The Rv'ers are stopping at PM to get a spot early and so the lot fills up. State Troopers are having to wave through travelers in the rest stops because of no spots to park.

I hope they will straighten up these bad habits and realize that speeding and driving long hours will only lead to accidents.

I got to go now, but will look forward to writing again. Will let you all know where we may be going next.

Hi everyone, we have been getting settled down in Florence and finding our way around. The State Park we were going to was Santee, but we decided since it was out of season we would check out Huntington Beach State Park. It was very nice and the beach was a short walk away.

We are going to get away this weekend and see Santee State Park. We drove by it the other day and it was great view of the lake from the campsites. Looking forward to walking the trails there. The drive is about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Dale is going to take the Mercury Sable we tow behind to work and I am going to leave around lunch time Friday to get down there and set up. She will drive down after work and we then can hook up the car and come back on Sunday together. Do we have this figured out or what. You would think we were full timers ;~).

The cruise control cable went out in the Sable, so I went and got it fixed yesterday. The car is a 1996, but it's in good condition for a run around for errands since Dale gets a rental car with the job. We are looking into a 4x4 a year plus from now to enjoy the back roads out west when this car goes out. But the way I keep it, it will go for along time. The cable cost 145 dollars and it is still cheaper then a car payment. I am not looking forward to starting that all over.

I was watching Clint Eastwood movie weekend and still laugh on how cops will stand behind or across from each other and fire weapons. Only in the movies. Also Dirty Harry has time to tell a robber that has a gun pointed in him that "We are not going to let you leave" "Smith, Wesson and Me". He pulls the gun out and shoots the robber. Like I said only in the movies!

George that works with my Dad, said a great thing awhile back. " Why does the cow on Gateway Commercials have a male voice?" It does make you wonder.

Other then that it has been very nice and smooth sailing with our new motorhome and we hope it is for all who we know too.

Talk to you all later, bye!

Well we are in Florence, South Carolina until May 10th. We are going to go to Sanatee State Park this weekend with the motorhome to get away from the city. We need to take the motorhome out for a run to keep up on it's monthly operating. Hope the park is as nice as it sounds with 2400 acres of forest, hiking trails, and bike trails.

Other than that, I am keeping busy with tax time coming up and getting that ready. Also getting established in a new town for places to get things, (i.e. groceries, pet doctor, pharmacy, post office, etc.) It takes about two to three weeks to get comfortable on where things are located. The one good thing is that it never gets boring seeing the same thing for too long.

The campground we are in is very nice. The office hours are a little getting use to 8-10am and 3-7pm. It makes sense on the hours for campers coming in and out, but it still is different to get use to it when you are staying here.

I have been hearing a lot from all of you. Especially not giving everyone a call within the last two months. We have been on the move with a new motorhome, and waiting for Dale's next assignment. Along our travels we have met Tom, Betty, Rex and Peggy. I also have met a lot of permanent's in the campground too. I have been keeping on schedule and staying up with meal planning, chores, and paper work. So I can take this time to type you all a memo.

While it was a very crazy trip back to Florida. We started to have freezing problems with the RV while traveling back in the snow in Colorado. The mountains made it tough too. We barely made it out, and almost got snowed in. The slide out rooms started to freeze open, so we had to avoid opening them.

On our way back we stopped at Lazy Days RV and checked out the Diesel Motorhomes. We fell in love with a 2002 Holiday Rambler, Ambassador, 36' Diesel. It had dual pane windows with a winter kit to heat the holding tanks. So we traded in our 2002 gas motorhome and got a new one. Russ O'Conner Jr. was a very good help at Lazy Days and showed us around. Then Lazy Days Center got us ready, and in our new one in two days.

By the time we got back to Palm Beach and only had a very limited time to see my parents, Dale's aunt, eight doctor appointments (yearly checkups) and two vehicle repair appointments. During that time we squeezed in a morning to see a couple of friends/fellow workers.

I apologize for not getting to see alot of fellow Troopers in Orlando, Ocala, Tallahassee, Ft Pierce, and West Palm Beach. You know who you are, because we talk via phone and internet. I wish we could of had more time to see you all. Forgive me for not calling, but I will have you in my thoughts.

Other then that the new motorhome is doing good and we are standing by in Atlanta, Ga. till we go to our next location.

Thanks alot for all keeping in touch. And hope to talk to you all soon when we get settled.

Dale and I went snow mobiling today on the last weekend before we leave. It was something I always wanted to do if we got close to snow. So we took a tour on snow mobiles and seen some beautiful land.

This week I am going to get the motor home ready for the journey home to Florida for the holidays. We will be leaving on Friday, December 21 from Delta. We then will be rolling into Palm Beach around Dec 28th or 29th if all goes well.

Other then that, time has been passing quickly since this was only a five week job. The small town of Delta has been very nice and the weather has been very reasonable for northern weather. Since Delta is in a valley the snow has only been a drizzle and stays no longer than a day on the ground. We had to drive up into the mountains to go snow mobiling. It is very neat to see the snow peaks around us.

Well we did not get to Florida or the warm states, because there was no jobs offered during the time we needed. We drove from LaCrosse, Wisconsin to Memphis, Tennessee. We then found about a job in Delta, Colorado and detoured over there for the 5 weeks before Christmas. We will be done there by December 21. But it will take us 7-8 days of travel time to get to Florida for the holidays. We may miss Christmas, but we will still get to see our parents. Dale and I agreed life is too short to not take the time to visit our family. We decided to move away from them and we need to take the time to get back to them. If we ever get to far away that it doesn't pay to drive back we will park the RV and fly back for the two weeks.

We have been seeing a little bit of things locally. We hope to get to the Grand Arches in Utah if weather permits this weekend. If not, we will watch the snow flakes fall out our windows. The RV Park we are in have managers that will go out of their way to assist you and make you feel at home. On Thanksgiving, the managers had twenty people that were staying in the park (including us) over for dinner. Everyone bought a side dish and Wayne & Diane (Managers) cooked the turkey and pork. It was very nice to get together and we even had enough for seconds and thirds.

One night I had a hard time sleeping and was awake up to 3 AM. I heard about the meteor shower that night and went out to see it. Dale even got up to see it when I saw the first one go by. They said it would be another 30 years before it happen again. The sky was clear and the long streaks of white shot by as we looked up. It was cold and we enjoyed getting back into the heated mattress bed afterwards.

Well, Dale was not able to get a job in the location of Florida or Georiga that she wanted. So she is staying another 2 weeks in La Crosse until November 2, 2001. We will try again over the next two weeks for the Florida or Georiga area. After January we should be pretty flexible with any where USA.

I have been getting the Motor home ready from maintenace and cleaning. I just got done waxing it the other day. That in it self gives your arms a work out. It will be good now for another 3 months. I think next time I will do a section at a time. I feel the old age creeping up on me when I do a project like that.

Other then that everything has been doing good and the fall leaves have been very colorful here in Wisconsin. The State, people, and businesses have been very much a pleasure. If you can stand the cold winters, I would recommend living here. I have been getting adapted to the cold and Dale is slowly getting there.

We met a lot of very nice fellow campers as they have come and go. Finding out their reasons for travel. One of the couples we met travel all over with their RV to follow a Jazz group they know and heard. Another is working for target in remodeling and construction of new ones and was here for several months. Unlike in the past neighbor hoods we have live in a regular house. This life style does make others open up to talking too.

Dale only has four more weeks with her job. She enjoys working here and La Crosse has been a pleasure to be staying at.

We had Dale's sister (Michelle) and her husband (Orin) come up to visit from Chicago. We went hiking and sightseeing on Saturday. Then enjoyed a nice leasurely dinner at our motorhome. We then had fun playing a game all together and listened to the rain outside. Michelle and Orin, then went off to their hotel and returned on Sunday morning for breakfast together. We were going to go for another walk, but it kept raining. We decided to go window shopping at the local mall and see them off from there. I got to say this is a nice life style to be able to see family all over the USA.

I hope everyone else has been doing good. It was tragic on what happen September 11, 2001. It truly effects everyone in a lot of ways. We went to the airport in La Crosse to switch Dale's rental car and the airport was very quiet and erie. The rental car companies, gift shops, resturants and many other businesses are really being effected by it. They had large construction equipment parked in front of the airport to shield any attempts of bomb blast if tried. You had to walk a long distance to the rental car from the terminal to get a car. Even for a small city of 51,000 they were prepared for the worst. I hope the economy can handle this shock.

I have been getting a lot of emails from you and I want to apologize for not getting back as soon as possible. We do not have a phone connection and I am trying to retrieve my email once a week from the RV Park office when I update the website. So please forgive me. I hope next place will have the option available to get a phone line installed.

Otherwise, take care and be safe.

We had a very nice weekend celebrating Dale's birthday gift of a Bed & Breakfast retreat. I have to admit it was as much my pleasure too. It was a very costly weekend for both Bed & Breakfast, Dog boarding, and the Renaissance festival. We decided to make it birthday presant for both of us. I was as much pampered, as was Dale for the weekend. Both Bed & Breakfast was the type for a special event (ie: Honeymoon, and Anniversary). Well we went to them for our weekend and I got to say it felt like we were on our honeymoon. This is a great idea for the future to enjoy our anniversary. Check out the photo's of the B & B's in the September 2001 photo's.

So far we have 5 1/2 weeks to go before we move to another location. The next job will be only 6 weeks and it will go quickly. Then it's off to Florida for Christmas vacation. Dale's overtime of being on call will help supplement the three weeks we are taking off for Christmas.

I will be offically one year, not as a trooper October 5, 2001. A Lieutenant and I were talking, prior to my leaving and he said it takes two years to get in the mode as a police officer and it takes the same to get out of it. I have to agree, because I still check out vehicles beside me while I am driving.

It has been raining off and on and cold fronts have been passing through. Right now it is mid 60's during the day and mid 40's at night. The weather is suppose to get warmer. I have been getting use to the cold weather and still go out with shorts and a t-shirt in the morning to let the dog out. Getting thick blood. But, I do not want to go through Wisconsin's winter month's. I take off my hat to the one's who live here permanetly. I guess we will be snowbirds in our travels and stay as far south as we can for the winter month's.

Well I got to go and get things done. So take care and be safe!

The RV park we are at is getting full, because of Labor day weekend. We are not doing much this weekend, because Dale is on call the whole weekend. I hope she will get little call but I think it's a full moon.

We are getting a couple of new people checking into our web site since I have it crossed link with other Internet search engines and web sites. We are averaging a 100+ contacts a month. This is exciting to know that the site has been worth while to maintain.

We have the windows open tonight and enjoying the cross breeze ventilation we have in this motorhome, during the days and nights. Right now the temperature is mid 70's during the day and mid 50's at night. I heard south Florida is hot, hot ,hot. I don't miss that!

Dale and I had a nice weekend with going to the corn festival and on the first rails to trails bike trail in Kendall, Wisconsin. So far we have been having a great time in La Crosse. The State of Wisconsin is a beautiful State, but I seen one personalized license plate say BURRRRRR and I heard the winters are cold. We are being told that in October it may get cold up here and maybe even snow, so we will have to rough it till Dale finishes up the 20th. Plenty of LP gas will be used for the furnace if that happens. Then hopefully we get back down south.

We have a lot to see ahead of us. So check back on our photo gallery after every weekend. The only time we won't be doing anything is when Dale is on call. Then it's rest time.

I heard some bad news yesterday, that My Uncle in Ohio had a heart attack. He is doing okay and going for angoplastic surgery today (I guess thats how you spell it). Hope to see him on a speedy recovery.

Other then that, I haven't heard any other bad news from anyone else, and they say no news is good news.

So take care and talk to you all later.

Today I did a few chores and got the motorhome ready to take it out for a repair on the generator. We were not able to get the parts in time when we were in Missouri and had them sent up here. Now I need to schedule a repair up here with a shop.

Dale and I have been going at it for a year and we said we would evaluate it after that. It looks like we are both very happy with this life style and going to continue on. The only hard part is finding doctors and repair places that you feel good with. So far we have been getting good ones, so I guess it is not going to be a problem.

Wisconsin has been great and the people up here are very friendly and helpful. So far this state would be a great state to live in, except for the winter time, I heard it can be very cold here. This month they are having a heat advisory that is not normal. It is in the high 90's with high humidity, but the bad part is a lot of homes up here have no air conditioners. That leaves a lot of people staying with a friend with A/C until it passes. It is normally in the low 80's during the day and low 60's at night. I am looking forward to having the windows open in September and October. Right now it's not pleasant enough to even sit outside on the patio. The view we have is a inlet from the Mississippi River, and the campground is great too.

Check out the photo's of the House on the Rock. It was very interesting to see, and we enjoyed the automated musical instruments through out the place.

Dale and I would like to hear how it is going with you and your family too. Some of you let us know, but others just read and leave. So e-mail us, even if you found us on the web, because we got this website to keep in touch with past, new, and future friends. It's fun to hear about your life too!

Well I got to go, so take care, and keep in touch!

Well we are on the way up to La Crosse, Wisconsin and decided to stop along the way. Going to arrive there on Saturday and then get settled for Dale to work on Monday.

We stopped in Baraboo and enjoyed a restaurant. We then went to see a State park that had a lot written about it in the Wisconsin Visitor guide.

So far we have seen a beautiful part of Wisconsin and feel that it's going to be great state to see. The weather is cool and we can leave the windows open to enjoy the outside.

The humidity was too much in Missouri, and was a lot worse then Florida, if you can believe that. There is no ocean breeze.

Well I got to go, and we will keep in touch as much as we can.

Dale & I are getting close to leaving for another State. It looks like it may be Wisconsin. We will be there from July 30th to October 20th, 2001. It should be a little cooler than it's been here, notice I said should. The heat index here has been in the 100's with humidity. Wisconsin in suppose to be in the mid 70's during the day and 50's at night.

The bad news is the RV park does not have a phone activation at the site. Only a modem line at the office. I will be limited on updating the website a little, but I will try to find away to do it. I heard Mail Box Etc helps out.

Getting things done, cleaning the carpet, generator repair, oil change, and all my other chores. The last week is getting things together and canceling the phone, local video memberships and getting the mail collected.

We will try to give you updates as much as we can, but we will be on the road from July 21st to July 29th. So don't look for any updates and email response next week.

Take care and be safe!

Dale and I are slowing down in site seeing, because I need to get a couple of things done to the motorhome for the next trip. It was due for a oil change, and the generator has a small drip of oil coming out onto the catch pan. The oil change was over in Cameron, Missouri. Unfortunately you can't get the oil changed just anywhere when you have a large motorhome. Ford supplies a toll free number for Motorhome's to call and they will find the closest Ford truck center to accommodate the size motorhome you have. It cost me $49.00 dollars to get it changed.

The generator is still under warranty, and I want to get it fixed in case we travel through the mountains or desert to run our A/C's. It helps the engine from not getting hot in the summer time if you use the generator to run the roof A/C's instead of the dash A/C. We also need it when we stop to eat, for the dog to have A/C.

So far we have Ohio or Utah as options to go to. This can change as July 20th gets closer.

I installed the power solutions dual power adapter yesterday, and it makes a world of difference. The A/C was off for one hour while I made the final connections around 3PM. The West sun beats down on the side of our motorhome during the afternoon, because we are on a side aisles. Normally it would take 3 hours to catch back up to the temperature, but with both A/C's running it only took 30 minutes. Today the autoformer watt increaser will come, and it will help in situations like we had last weekend at Wallace State Park. The electric was too low for the
A/C 's to run properly. I hope to try it out at West Bend State Park this coming weekend when I get the generator repaired.

Well I got to go, and make breakfast. Take care and talk to you all later.

It's getting closer to leaving for another location. It will probably be closer to the 15th before we know where we are going to next. This coming weekend we are going over to a State Park and go hiking and enjoy nature. On Monday I have a oil change scheduled in the area of the town we are going to be in for the motorhome. Getting it ready for the next trip.

We had a great weekend last, with enjoying a bunch of free concerts and fireworks on Saturday to visiting a museum on Sunday. After that we were invited by Glen and his wife Karen to go on a boat ride up the Missouri River. We could not refuse such a great invitation. The boat ride was great on the 26 foot Bayliner and we stopped on a sand bar and had snacked on food we bought along with us. Then we stopped on the way back to enjoy music at a restaurant along the water. After that we went on back to where our cars were parked and saw the sunset along the way. I want to thank Glen & Karen for a very nice evening.

I have been hearing about the Florida Highway Patrol through my co-workers and found they just changed the Director for FHP. Chris Knight is now the new Director, and I am happy to hear that for the Men & Woman of the Patrol. It was a good choice to lead them in the direction that will keep the Patrol a fine organization that it is.

I purchased a new item to install on my motorhome so I can run both Air conditioners while we are at a campground. Our unit is a 30 AMP unit and will allow you to run only one AC at a time while camping. This device by Power Solutions enables you to hook another 20 AMP plug through the generator hook up. This then allows both AC's to run while camping. I will let you all know how it does next week. I hope to install it today or Thursday sometime.

Well I got to get a couple things done and hope to hear from you all soon. So keep in touch!!!

Well we have four more weeks before we get off to AnyTown, USA and be on the move again. Both Dale and I are getting antsy and can't wait to move. I usually get that way after the second month, but this time Dale is feeling it also. I feel it is not the area as much, because we are seeing a lot of things still. It must be that we are located in the city of St Joseph and there is very little nature around us. After growing up always in the big cities, it's nice to be in the wilderness area. Next area we are going to try to find a park with more nature setting. The RV Park we are in now is great and very convenient to things including Dale's work, but we missed hiking and walking on the trails.

We got our new mattress in and its great. The comfort select air mattress may be expensive, but now we don't have to flip it, Dale can set her firmness different from my side. The weight to lift it and get under for storage is a lot lighter. Parts can be replaced if needed, and it has a 20 year warranty. So far it has been four days and we are truly satisfied. We don't have the aches and pains from not being comfortable at night.

Well I got to go and get ready to go out for dinner. It's the weekend and this cook is off duty (heh-heh). So we will go out and get something. Take care everyone and talk to you later!

I went back to Johnstown and returned from a great visit. Got a chance to see my birthplace, my parents and relatives again. The fly in was bumpy on the commuter, but not as bad as the fly back with a thunderstorm the regular jet passed through in the mid-west.

Dale and I went up to Amana, Iowa the following weekend and took the motorhome. It turned out to be great weather and a nice small German town that let you experience German cooking and baking. Splinterfest was happening and we got to see different types of crafts and items made out of wood.

Next weekend we are going to Nebraska and check out another festival. It's been nice in St. Joseph, but Dale and I are getting impatient to see where we go next. Maybe it will be a two or three month job depending on the location. We decided if it's a small town or a isolated area we will request only two months to work, then we will move on.

I had balance masters wheel balancers installed on the motorhome and it helped make it a smoother ride, even on the bumpy Missouri roads. The Mid-west needs to invest money on their roadway system instead of patching them. It tears the heck out of the vehicles.

We have been meeting more and more people, and our Email list keeps growing. In Amana we helped a gentleman who got a flat tire on his bike. Ed called his wife Nargie using our cell phone. Ed happened to bike across the USA and Cuba and other countries. He definitely is in shape. We don't make it a habit to stop and help other's, but Ed was in the out skirts of town and looked like he was in trouble with his bike.

The weather in Missouri has been strange. It's one day real cold in the 50's and then it turns 80's during the mid afternoon. Then it storms and gets cold again.

We thought by June we would not need to have our electric mattress warmer on, but we need it during the night.

We ordered one of those select comfort beds for our RV, because the regular beds that come in the RV's are not that great. My Dad has a great view on it. He said that people spend around twenty thousand dollars for a new car to be only twenty minutes a day in, and the same people won't spend one thousand dollars on a new mattress every four years that they spend eight hours sleeping on. I have to agree!

I am flying back to see my relatives and meet my parents in our old home town of Johnstown, PA. Look forward to seeing my relatives, because its been around four years.

I fixed the RV's refrigator the other day, because it was not working in gas mode while traveling. We usually turn the gas off at the tank anyways, but it's nice to have everything working properly. The problem was a ignitor switch. It cost $39 dollars for the part, and I saved at least $60 dollars in labor. It helps to be handy. Thanks to my father in teaching me alot of things to repair in the past. It will help me with the RV.

Our website has a counter on the pages to see how many people are visiting the website. I also linked it finally to all the search engines out there. So if you type RV, Motorhome travel, Rexhall, Full timer in the search we will be eventually listed on the search. This will take a few days to be in affect. It has been suprising on how many people have been finding our website with it not being linked. I have received many of Email from people all over the US asking how we like traveling in a RV to how we started this life style. I also have been contacted by several other police officers from other agencies. They have found a search on my FHP photo's that I had for the going away party.

Well I got to go, to ride on a bike trail here in St. Joseph, Missouri. They are supposed to have a trail here that cost a lot of money to build. It's been nice talking to you all and hope to see you eventually on the road.

It looks like we are getting into summer then a cold front comes through and causes the temperature to go to 60's during the day and 40's during the night this week. It's still great weather and better then Florida where they need the rain so desperately.

We have met a couple of people in the campground as they come and go. Harry, Pete and Trish. Pete and Trish met us at the Glore museum and happen to be out of the same RV park. We then later invited them up for coffee and pie to talk and work on a 500 piece puzzle Dale bought. It was great to be able to talk and share past experiences.

While we were at the Glore museum I learned that St. Joseph was the first fire station to use brass poles for the firemen to slide down. It was also the first to use a spiral staircase. The reason they had to use spiral staircases was because fires were not as common, and the horses would get bored and start to climb the regular stairs.

We have been seeing alot around town and Kansas City (which is only one hour away). The only problem I have been having is the birds making a mess on the roof and sides of the RV. I swear we are the only one getting attacked in the park. It must be the bright white color.

Other then that its been pretty good. We are still hearing from our friends, fellow RV'ers and past coworkers once in awhile and its nice to keep in touch.

I hope everything is going good for all and look forward from hearing from you again.

We are now in St Joseph, Missouri and we are here until July 20, 2001. It's a nice large town and we are in a campground where everything is centrally located. Dale's work is only 4 miles away and that does not happen too often. Usually there are no campgrounds in town or not as nice. It was pleasant to see a well kept up campground. We parked in a location in the campground where we get our afternoon/evening entertainment. To a Full-timer, that is watching other RV'ers come in late and getting set up (experienced and non-experienced). It sometimes enjoyable seeing the lost ways some people are, with flashbacks the way I used to be. Now I can pretty well get this motorhome fully unpacked or packed in 1 hour. Others claim better, ask Larry and Dishy in Palm Beach with a fifth wheel trailer, they claim 15 minutes. They never wanted to take my bet on having a race putting everything away and who will be the first to pull out. It always been a joke between us. Realistically it would take him 15 minutes to get his truck lined up to hook up :~). Even in this lifestyle we still yank each other chains.

We have been already around to a couple of points of interest. So far the Arabia Steamboat excavation was the most fascinating thing. A must see if you are in the area of Kansas City, MO. We are planning to go up to Iowa next weekend with the Motorhome for a tulip festival where everything is Dutch style dress and items. Hope it looks as interesting as the brochure shows.

The weather has been raining lately with temperatures in the 70's during the day and 60's at night. We have a stalled front hanging over us. Plenty of water around with no drought.

I hope everyone has been okay and happy to hear from you once in awhile. The weeks are still flying for me, with keeping busy on studying, housework, and other hobbies.

Well we are back from taxes and Uncle Sam was finally forgiving. We are almost finished with Dale's South Carolina Job and it looks like it's going to be St. Joseph, Missouri for the next location.

The rally turned out to be a mud bog at first with two days of raining, but it finally stopped and it finished with a good note. The attire at first was Walmart or Publix plastic grocery bags around your feet to walk around. Guess we will have to get boots for the future. Thanks to having plenty of bags to clean up after are dog we lasted with enough bags until the mud dried up.

It looks like we are on full mode of traveling with no breaks other then traveling between jobs. I am looking into what I can do two days of the week at our next location. It may be studying for A+ Certification for computer repair or working on a business web site. Or it may be a outside side job. Like to keep the mind still going after relaxing and getting rid of the stress over the years. Shredding all the arrest file when I left the patrol was the first step. Then getting back to normal sleep pattern. Finally having holidays off all the time. I have dropped weight pretty good. At first I was concerned on slowing down what it will do, but it turned out that I am no longer eating fast food and going out and doing things for a change ie: hiking. I have dropped from 235 to 218 lbs. Waist size went from a once 40 to a 36. I hope to get down to 210 and hold it. No longer do I have a belly on me. I may never see a six pack for abs, but I will enjoy looking at a trim waist line.

This fulltiming life style in a RV is what everyone told us it would be. The best kept secret. As one fulltimer said: You can normally walk down your street from your house and never get a hello from a neighbor or even stop to talk. In the RV travel life all will go out of their way to wave as they pass by in there cars, say hello as they walk by or stop and talk. Strangers will become friends because we all share a interest and will keep in touch with them still through E-mail. I have obtained more friend then I ever did, when I use to live in a house.

To Don, Doris, DC and the many others who we talked to asking them for their opinions, before we made a life style change. Thank you many times over for saying "If you can do it now, then do it!"

I hope everyone is doing well and look forward to hearing from you all occasionally. So keep in touch and hope to see you all on the road some day. Lt. Hingson said the first thing he's going to do when he retires is find me and pull up beside me at the campground. I look forward to that, and many more who promised the same.

Well time flies when you are having fun. We are going to be on the road in 4 days. The Dogwood Rv Park in Travelers Rest has been great. I suggest the park to anyone coming through to check it out. Tell Bart & Donna, I sent you.

It looks like we may be coming back to South Carolina from April 1 to the 15. Then we will be traveling on to another location from there on the 15th. We will probably find out around April 8 to the 15th on where we go next. The great part about having a motorhome is we don't have to worry about packing. Just put things away and throw it in gear.

I'm getting the motorhome ready this week. Cleaning it, checking the fluids, and air pressure in the tires and shocks. I also have to pull the simulator caps on the wheels and check the lug nuts on each wheel. It keeps you busy with all the other things you have to do to get ready.

I will take pictures of the rally and our travel and upload them whenever possible. We will be not having a modem available like now. Please hold back on writing to us for that very reason.

We are trying for the NE part of USA for our next job. To see the north while its starts to thaw out, and is warm enough to do so. I don't miss the humidity in Florida. It's amazing on how the aches and pains of my shoulder went away when I left Florida. It must be the dampness down there. I don't know how the people with arthritis stand it down there.

It's been great hearing from you all, and the new friends we meet along the way. Hope to see you again in our travels.

So take care and keep in touch!

We are going to try and go to Charleston this weekend and see the area. Charleston is suppose to have downtown fixed up like the old south and it's a must see.

It's getting close for us to leave and go to the motorhome rally in Perry Georgia. The motorhome rally is getting too big for me. We heard that its has over 4000+ motorhomes registered and that makes it about 8000 people who are going to attend. The traffic getting in and out is going to be no fun. It's going to be quite an experience, but I hope the fun is going to still be just as much. I have been enjoying the quiet parks and nature and this is going to make feel like I am back in the city.

It's tax season and all is going slowly getting the tax stuff together. I hope Uncle Sam is gentle this year to us and to you all. It's amazing where your money goes over the year. If you use quickens to keep track like we do then you know what I mean.

It's been fun talking to you all and keeping in touch. I had a lady run out of the laundromat the other day, because she thought I was one of those people who talk to myself. What she did not know is that I had a hands free ear piece coming from my cell phone. I guess the people up here are not use to people talking on cell phones yet. She called up the laundry manager and complained about it. It's a good thing I told the laundry manager, because she told her.

The people in South Carolina drive terrible. I thought Florida was bad, but these drivers top them. The other day, I was driving on a four lane road with a grass median separating the two lanes. They had the right lane merge to the left lane for construction. A woman 300 feet ahead of me missed her turn left and swerved into the grass median. She then threw her car into reverse and hit the gas to get out of the dirt. I saw the reverse lights and the rear tires spinning and swerved into the blocked off lane with traffic cones (Since there was nothing in the lane yet) to avoid her. Than her tires grabbed and she came veering out and would of hit the guy behind me if he didn't also swerve into the lane. I can not blame the drivers too much, because South Carolina has no turn lanes. On a 4 lane roadway at 55 mph, there is no place for drivers to decrease their speed off into a turn lane.

Well I guess this will be common as we go through the travels. I'll talk to you all later and keep in touch!

Well we have taken it slow and now need to get on the move! What I mean is we let the motorhome take a rest and haven't moved it for awhile. This weekend coming up we are going to get an early start on Saturday and go adventure out within 6 hour driving radius of where we are now. We will stay over night at a campground and come back on Sunday.

It keeps us in practice putting the motorhome together for moving. I see how many start sitting and collecting things. It's not going to be us, if I can help it. If you are a collector, don't buy a gas motorhome, buy a diesel one. It will give you another 1000 pounds of gross vehicle weight for collecting things. I remember talking to a couple in Palm Beach and the husband said he once weighed his gasoline motorhome and it was 2500 pounds over weight. That was 5 years ago and he gave up ever since. Dale and I have been in control of making sure we don't collect things.

Everyone keeps asking. What does Denny do all week? First of all enjoying a normal schedule in sleeping, eating, and being with Dale. After that, I keep busy by doing the things a normal working couple does after they get home from work and don't have time for each other. I do laundry and iron on Monday and Friday mornings. This takes until 11:00 AM after making Dale and I breakfast and her lunch to go. I then straighten up, make the bed, clean dishes, take the dog out, and plan for dinner when she gets home. After that I have 2 hours to my self everyday to sit on the patio, walk the trails, or study on things before she gets home. We then get to spend time together for dinner and do whatever afterwards ie: see a movie, go to mall, go walking, etc. etc. On Thursday I clean the motorhome and that is an all day affair. The reason is a little place can collect alot of dust, dirt, hair and smudges when two people and a dog live in a studio size apartment. Tuesdays, and Wednesdays I get things fixed i.e.: motorhome, car or appliances. If not I then do errands like get the dog checkups, post office, paperwork and several other thing too long to list. It may seem easy, but ask the lady of the house if it is. I gained respect for the non-working spouse that stays at home. They usually have kids also to attend too. I keep my self on a schedule so I get things done and feel I acomplished things.

Last week I washed and waxed the whole motorhome from 9:30AM to 4:00 PM. It wore my arms out and reminded me about my shoulder I had surgery on. A little lotion and advil helped. Today its raining and I can see the wax working. I have the cleanest motorhome on the block. Alot of the RV'ers don't take care of the outside when they start sitting and not moving. I guess they give up after doing it once.

Enjoying relaxing and getting caught up in paperwork. We decided to remove the recliner and replace it with a desk. The recliner was too small for a tall person like me, and was in the corner. We never used it, so we figured it would be better to put a desk in and have our computer set up all the time. It looks pretty good and fits perfect. I guess that's what they mean when each motorhome owner fixe it to their liking.

Started to go out sight seeing this weekend and started to add pictures to our web site. Decided to take the dog along and get him out with us. White Water Falls was in a National Park and had a 2 dollar parking charge to hike up to it. Its amazing on how people take the chance and don't pay on the honor system. The pleasure was seeing them get tickets from the park ranger when we came back. I guess its the cop still in me.

We still have been able to avoid snow. The weather has been in the 50's during the day and low 30's a night. It's a different cold with not dampness that Florida had when it got cold. Everyone around us in Family has gotten the cold or flu, but we have avoided that too.

This is truly a life style that is worth trying if you can. It takes two to do it though. Both have to like traveling and don't have the need to settle down. Both have to work as a team. This life style can either break you apart or get you even closer. I can see Dale and I have been getting closer. It was a chance after having our own ways. With both always working opposite shifts and maybe seeing each other only two days a week. We now get to be with each other everyday. Its a lot like being retired. Can the both handle being together so much? It's a question that couples ask themselves when the time comes. It looks like we can. Not only are we together all the time, but we went from a townhouse to a efficiency on wheels.

I sit back and think on how much Dale and I researched this before we did it. It may seem to our family and friends that it was all of a sudden. I guess we can keep it to ourselves a lot. First Dale started traveling to different hospitals in the county we lived in. Then we tried the one month a year traveling job with me taking a vacation. Then we down sized from a 3 bedroom house to a townhouse and got our finances in order. Next we started figuring out what we needed to earn to live a traveling lifestyle. We then looked into how soon we should do this lifestyle and when we would get our budget in order. We then did the smart thing and started to talk to couples who were retired and full time in a RV. I could feel we got their approval after talking to them, They could see we researched it, got along together, and both wanted to do it. With all this it took us over two years to do.

Well I got to go now and need to get back to doing my job. I want you all to know that I am getting great in cooking. I am not talking about grilling or microwave. I am talking about fruit stuffed pork chops and stuffed tenderloin. Be safe and keep in touch!

We are finally settled in Greenville, South Carolina. It's hard to keep going everyday and not stay a couple of days in one area to catch up.

Dale had a good idea to park the motorhome at her work site and drive around and check out the campsites in the area. It worked out great, because some of the campgrounds were not in a safe area, or plain in looking. It only took 5 hours driving our personal car around and we found the perfect spot. We are also going to be able to see, and experience the spring that everyone talks about with dogwood trees and azalea bushes.

Dale's staffing company have treated us well, and we plan on staying with them for the future. They had the hard work of keeping us in the Southeast so we can go to Perry, Georgia for the RV rally and to do taxes. Thanks to them for all the effort, it is much appreciated! We plan on going to anywhere, USA after April, so next job will be easier to find.

We have been on the go for the last 4 weeks, so therefore we have not been able to update our website. We finished Dale's work in Tennessee on December 15th and enjoyed meeting more friends. Tennessee is a great place to live. Just disconnect your horn in your car, because they do not use it up there.

We traveled back to Palm Beach and caught up on auto repairs, doctor appointments and seeing friends. I want to thank Sean & Cathy for going out of their way to see us. You can tell true friends. We also stayed in the same park we were at before and revisited Sam and Ilene, Larry & Dishy, and Helen the manager. It did not look like the same park with all the motorhomes and holiday decorations. The secret park was found by others and it was season. Thank you, Helen for a great stay and look forward to seeing you again.

The greatest part was seeing my Mother and Father for Christmas. We spent a couple of nights with them and also took mom for breakfast to Johnnie G's in Lake Worth Beach. On Saturday we spent with Dad and Mom (Dec 23) for Dad's birthday. We went down to Bobby Robinno's for ribs in Pompano then the whole way up to Stuart for his sugar free Ice cream. Christmas eve was our day to celebrate and exchange gifts.

On Christmas day we drove up to Daytona for Dale's side of the family, and got to enjoy seeing them all up to Dec 29th.

I wanted to see Pensacola and we decided to drive to the west coast and see it. Yes they do have beautiful beaches and much better then the east coast. It was cold, but it was still something to see.

We then drove up to North Carolina and checked out job sites in the area for Dale. We are on standby for two jobs at this time and will be finding out which one in a few days. Dale and I have enjoyed having the time off together and staying at State Parks on the drive. Mistletoe State Park in Appling, Georgia. Ask for site 48 and get a great sunset view.

Well I got to go, so take care and check out our photo gallery!

November 29, 2000

A lot of things have been happening in the last three weeks. On November 8th, Dale's father died in a car crash. We drove down to Daytona and joined the rest of the family for the funeral. Great memories were talked about for Dale's Dad, and we all will miss him greatly.

I want to thank all our friends and relatives for the letters, cards, and flowers that were sent to Dale's Mom for the funeral. It was obvious on how great of a man he was, for the turnout and correspondence we all received for the funeral. I know he treated me like one of his own son and always told me that I was his favorite son in law, until his others daughters got married, then I was his first favorite son in law. He loved all of his kids, in-laws, and included everyone he could in his life. The following letter is dedicated to him, from me:

Dad Phillips,
Thank you for making me feel at home while I was away from my home. It's a wonderful thing when both in-laws like each other and would do anything for the other's children. I know you would of been there for me if I needed the help. Thank you for raising your beautiful daughters and great son that I enjoy having as part of my family. Thank you for a special daughter that loves me, married me, and treasures life to include me in it. Like you, she takes the path of resistance and cherishes each and every moment. That is why we are living out our dream. I want you to know that I will take care of her, and will be there for your family when needed.

I will remember all the times we shared. Like the time we spent in the Bahamas's tightening the ropes on the sails of your boat in the middle of the night during the cold front. I slept in my clothes and jacket all night afterwards trying to get warm and you handled it like a Eskimo in a sauna.

This, and other great things will be remembered that you touched our lifes with. It will be tough over the holidays to have you not with us physically, but you will be there in our memories and thoughts. I will open one Christmas gift carefully, and save the paper for you.

We came back to Tennessee for another week and went to Georgia for Thanksgiving at Dale's sister's house (Sharon). She cooked a great meal and the left overs are still being enjoyed. We then went to Lake of Lanier (Night of Lights) which you can enjoy the pictures in our photo gallery. We all now have to go back to watching our weights, but Christmas will destroy that.

We had the phone disconnected for a couple of weeks from changing camp sites in the park. We found a better location that allows less flooding and mud. We will be here for another 3 weeks and then going back home to see family for the holidays. We are probably going to stay in the southeast area of the United States, so we can do taxes and go to a Good Sam rally in Perry, Georgia. Glen Campbell and other stars will be there. Also supposed to be 500+ motorhomes and campers there. It's our first rally and looking forward to going to it.

I got to go now and will try to update this before we leave. Keep in touch with us and enjoy life!!!

Finally getting organized with things. It seems like a vacation everyday because even when we go out locally, it's different. The malls, restaurants and towns are always changing. This will always be the way it is since we are changing locations every two to three months.

We signed up for the Good Sam's RV Rally in Perry, Georgia in mid March. It looks to be a lot of fun. I plan on getting there early because it looks like it will be 500 motorhomes at this rally. Hope to meet more friends.
The nights have been getting cold in the low 40's. With the help of a mattress warmer for our bed at night, the coach has been pretty comfortable otherwise. The cold air is a dry and with low winds making it feel comfortable.

It goes to show you how small the world is because the guy that lives next to us right now is from Lake Worth, Florida where we came from. The neighbors have been extremely pleasant and are more then willing to wave hello and strike up a conversation. Still haven't heard any horn blowing in Tennessee and its great. There is some strong Volunteer fans for the University of Tennessee showing their colors on vehicles, homes, businesses and it looks like you can work anywhere wearing a volunteer shirt instead of the uniform for that job.

Had Dale's co-workers join us last month on a outing to the Biltmore Estates and her Sister (Sharon) join us for a weekend in the Smoky's. As you can see we are not sitting around. Hope to take the motorhome out soon for a trip to west Tennessee.

Been using my new Digital camera a lot. It helps reduce developing cost and takes a much better picture for the website then scanned in photos. It obvious with the photo's shown from Cades cove and Biltmore Estates.

For Thanksgiving we are going to Dale's sister house for dinner in Georgia. Plan to stay at the campground she got for us before. McKinneys campground (Army core of Engineers). What a great campground and I give it a thumbs up to go out of your way to see. It's woodsy with great patio sites to enjoy and not one of those cold super parks that cut down trees to make more spaces.

Enjoying having all the holidays off this year. For fourteen years with FHP I had little holidays off with family and friends. Most of all I missed the time I lost with Dale and I am trying to catch up with it. It takes team work to do full time RVing, and Dale and I are a great team. If you can be married for 17 years, survive different shift hours during those years, and then decide to move to a 36' X 12' living space to be together more, then you know what I mean. Like Sam told me in Palm Beach before we left "You just can't get frustrated with things" and he's right!!!

To our fellow co-workers, fellow RV'ers along our travels, friends and family, you are in our thoughts, experiences, and future get together, so please be safe.

Well I got to go now and I hope you check back with us soon!

We had trouble getting a phone line installed and that was the delay on updating our web site and responding to email. Please go to home page and click on the notify me area, so we can notify you when the web site is updated.

The nights were getting cold for awhile there and we had to insulate our water hose to prevent freezing.

The trip up was good except for stolen route signs and low bridges. We went on the back roads to Tennessee and enjoyed the scenery. We had great campgrounds on the way up and suggest if you get a chance to see Amy's Campground in Tifton, Georgia it was very nice. The other campground on the way was in Woodstock, Georgia and was a army corps of engineers camp place. What a fantastic place with a lake and all. Thank you Sharon (sister-in-law), for finding that place while we were visiting you. Both campgrounds were about 17 dollars a night.

If you ever wonder if you can go through the mountains with a gasoline motorhome. You can! We took Route 129 from Georgia through North Carolina, into Tennessee. It was a very narrow roadway through the hills and was tricky driving. The lanes were 10 feet wide and I think I scared every vehicle when they spotted me coming at them. I was able to stay it in the lines and was pretty proud of it.

Only problems we had in repairs have been the hydraulics on the levelers left side not staying up. Thanks to warranty repair.

I want to say thanks to the Troopers for holding the surprise party for me at Red Lobster. It was great seeing you all again.

Someone here is hitting the road.
Whatever you do don't get towed.
The great news is you've got to be free.
But don't forget to drink Ice tea.

We are en-route to Knoxville, Tennessee starting Saturday. We will be traveling slowly up there seeing family on the way and arriving on October 7 for Dale to start work on October 10th. What will I do? Take it slowly until January 1 and get us organized while taking care of things. I can not wait to get on the way.

To Sam, Eileen, Larry, Dishy, Hellen, Micheal & Willie thanks for making our stay at the Palm Beach Travelers Park great.

Sam & Eileen, I can only say thanks over and over again. If first time Rv'ers had help like you it would always go smoothly. See you soon in December.

Larry & Dishy: You will never get to 15 minutes hook up if you try. I still want a challenge. Also I want to know if Sam's motorhome does run in October.

Helen: Great RV Park! Best kept secret in Palm Beach. Thanks for your assistance over the months and see you in December.

I want to say thanks for checking in and looking into what's happening.
We are leaving the State of Florida on September 30th and plan to try and stay around south eastern states until January so we can come back for Christmas. Destination unknown! Maybe Tennessee or Georiga. We will upload pictures and give input on what we experience along the way.

To my fellow workers/friends, I want to thank you for a great 14 years of sharing experiences and becoming good friends. My thoughts will be with you all and I wish you a great future and health. To your spouses they are the special ones who put up with the lifestyle a police officer lives. Everything from odd shifts, being called out for emergencies, a limited social life, and so on.