Wish I had something exciting to report, but the last couple of days have been pretty mundane. I'm actually excited about our "repair" trip to Elkhart. It will get me out of the house and back into our fifth wheel and that's a good thing. Today will be spent getting things together to take with us. The furballs need a trim and a bath---that always wipes me out. They are both fairly good about it, but it is just such a process. Of course, then there is the laundry to do.

I did have a nice conversation with my son yesterday. He received his Purdue schedule and is so excited to start school in the fall. His only concern is figuring out a part time job, but I told him he needs to focus on school first. I told him I felt confident that something would turn up job wise. That is one thing about Indiana--we are so conservative here---the ups and downs of the national economy are not felt as severely as other parts of the country. Right now, at least, there are still jobs available and homes are still selling. It does help to have all those Purdue students right next door!

As I stated in an earlier post, I will be documenting our repair work. We are going to leave our satellite internet system home, but I have always been able to tap into the repair shops wifi in the past. Hopefully, it is still available.

Today was somewhat interesting. We decided we needed to purchase a "canopy" for me and the dogs to sit under during the repairs on our fifth wheel. The place where the work will be done has absolutely no place for me and the pups to get away from the summer sun. Well, we finally found one at Wal Mart. It is 10x10 and reasonably stable. Then I found that for an extra $30.00 we could purchase a screen to attach to it. I really like that idea--you remember I do not like the bugs! Not only will it protect me from all things "pesky", but the dogs will not have to be on leash the entire time. All together, I think we will spend around $120.00. It is fairly compact, so it should fit nicely in the basement of our fiver. I think we will find it very handy to have around. We will do a trial run before heading to Elkhart with it and I'll snap some photos and include the brand name in a later post. Next, we were off to the hardware store. Hubby needed something for the air compressor, but of course it was no where to be found. Just so the trip was not a total loss, we headed over to Culver's for lunch. If you have never had a "butterburger" you don't know what you are missing. They just melt in your mouth! Leaving Culver's, we got caught in a downpour on our way back to the van . We were just soaked and headed home. Once home and dry we decided to do a little research on some rv parks in Arizona. We are thinking of heading that direction sometime after Thanksgiving. I found one I liked in Yuma, Cocopah Rv Park. Hubby found one that we will definitely have to check out. It is called Good Life Rv Park and it is located in Mesa. It also looked very nice. We are opened to suggestions---please feel free to leave them in the comments section and we will check them out. Last year we "wintered" in Bushnell Florida. We found we really didn't like sitting in one place for so long. I think we have got to get our heads out of that "snowbird" philosophy. We are seriously considering just heading west without any agenda or reservations. That way we can explore as we please, staying a little or longer as the mood strikes us. After all, that is what this lifestyle is supposed to be about. We are just so used to "planning" everything that we are a little scared at the prospect of just heading down the road.

Thanks for the comments and the questions and keep um coming. I love hearing from all of you! Several have inquired about our repairs on our Americana. I'm happy to report that we will be taking our unit to Elkhart next Monday. I plan on "blogging" all! Stay tuned for more on that. Today's mail held our check for the items we sent to auction a few weeks back. I was not expecting much and I was not disappointed. The good news is it's gone and it won't be coming back. I know many of you have gone through this process or are soon to be going through it. I get questions all the time of "how I let go" of all that stuff! Well, I guess you have to be ready. I took a good look at all my stuff and realized that it was just STUFF! Some of it I could not even tell you why I kept or had to have in the first place. To me, it has been a rather "freeing" experience. As to the photos and sentimental items (like my son's first shoes), my mother has graciously offered to store them for me. But, I have been careful there too and I have kept those items down to a minimum. When my son arrives home, we will go through some of those "treasures" and see what he is interested in keeping and what we can let go. I'll admit it can all be a little overwhelming at times. That is why after liquidating my business last year I was just "to tired" to start on the house. We saved it for this spring. I now wish that I had not---I was on a roll last year and I should have just kept right on rolling, but that's life. Just take it one day at a time and sooner or later you get through it! I do know one thing. We made the right decision to full time. I love my little home on wheels and I can't wait to get back on the road again!

Monday, June 23 2008

Not much to report today. I had a doctor's appointment in the am. Nothing major just a check on a small spot on my leg. Turned out to be scar tissue most probably from a bite by those pesky noseems down in Florida. When we were parked next to the water at my Uncle's Marina, they just about ate me alive. I think Florida is one place we have probably ruled out as a permanent home. Too many bugs!! I'm looking forward to trying out Arizona this winter to see how it compares. After my doctor's appointment, hubby and I had a nice lunch at Arni's our favorite pizza place. Next, it was over to Purdue University in West Lafayette. My son, Sam, will be attending there in the fall. He is presently unable to be on campus, so I was elected to go over and sign him up for some classes. It was kinda funny actually. I had made a 2:30 appointment with Sam's counselor. He came out to the waiting room, called my name, and looked down right puzzled as I stood before him. Maybe it was all my gray hair, not your average college student. Anyway, once he got past all that we sat down and figured out Sam's courses for the fall semester. It is so exciting, almost like I'm going back to school. Anyway, hope he is happy with my choices. Well, that was all the excitement for today. The weather here has sure been wonderful. It was so cold and rainy when we arrived home in April. It is currently in the low 70's with low humidity and lots of sunshine----just beautiful. Unfortunately, the heat and the humidity will be back----probably by tomorrow..........

Wow, sorry it has been so long since the last post. We just now have internet. The last park we were at was in Chatham, IL. There is a picture of our camp site at left. It was a very nice park called the Double J Campground.
Unfortunately, they did not have free wifi and we didn't feel like setting up the satellite for one night. We finally arrived back in Indiana on Thursday evening, June 19th. We parked the fiver up at the river lot, packed up a few things and headed to the stick house. We plan on getting the house on the market in the very near future, but right now we have a few rooms to paint and some improvements to finish up. So, we will be staying at the house for the next few weeks to get it ready for sale. Friday, we headed back up to the river and the fiver. Hubby wanted to wash the bugs off and I needed to clean on the inside. I never feel like doing much cleaning when we are in travel mode, so it was good to run the sweeper and such. I also rounded up a few more items to take back to the house. Saturday, we went over to see my folks and help them move some furniture. They are having carpet laid on Monday. Sunday we visited with my son. He is doing well and is looking forward to attending Purdue University this fall. That is pretty much it. As you can see, we have been busy since we arrived here. Tomorrow, hubby will call Americana to make our appointment for our repairs. We have quite a list, mostly small stuff. The big item is our leaf springs and possibly our axle. It will be interesting to see how all is handled and I'll be sure and post as it unfolds. One last issue. As I stated we just got online a little while ago. We have a tripod satellite system. We have no problem setting the thing up and getting it pointed, but sometimes it takes forever to pass the cross pol test. Don't ask me to explain that, it is just part of the procedure you must go through when you set up. Of late, it seems to take forever to get the test to even run let alone pass. After 3 days of trying unsuccessfully, we finally decided to try another satellite coordinate and this time managed to "pass" the test. After passing, you must re align to your assigned satellite. We did and FINALLY we are up and running. I wish there was a better option for us and our internet service. We did our homework and felt that the tripod system was the way we needed to go. Once it is up and running I have no complaints, but I just wish it were a little easier to set up. I guess it is all part of the rv "learning curve"!!

June 17, 2008

We said our goodbyes to the remaining rv rally folks and gave all a BIG HUG. Sure hate to see it come to an end. We pulled out around 9am and planned to travel about 200 miles today.

We arrived at Pin Oaks Creek Campground
around 2pm. You can see the two furballs posing for me in their rally scarves just after we set up. This is a very nice park with a nice pond that you can walk around and explore. Cosmo wanted to go wading, but I was not up for the clean up. We are only staying the one night and the spot was level enough that we didn't even have to unhitch! Only one complaint, they charge for their wifi. That is the first time we ran into that, so needless to say we didn't use the wifi. I decided to try something new for dinner tonight. We had an aluminum bag for cooking on the grill. So I filled it with pork chops, sliced potatoes and carrots. Threw in some seasonings and one hour

later we had an excellent dinner with easy clean up. Next time, I will cook it on a lower flame--we did get a few burnt edges on some of the potatoes. None the less, it sure tasted good! Tomorrow we plan on another short trip. I really like only going 200 to 300 miles in a day---makes for a much more relaxed driving experience. Billy seems to drive at a little slower pace and we don't feel so pressured when we make our pit stops to eat and exercise the pups.

We went to see the Butterfly Palace. This place is too cool. First you are treated to a 3D movie about a butterfly and preying mantis. Then you go into the "rainforest" where the butterflies fly all around you. You can take photos and stay as long as you like. I got several really good shots including one of a small bird. After the butterflies you can walk through a forest mirror maze. We both got a kick out of trying to find our way out of the maze! Again another attraction I would highly recommend. After our sight seeing we had a very good lunch at Landry's. They specialize in seafood and I had their broiled sampler platter. There was shrimp, tilapia, scallops, and more. UMMMMM Goode!


We also went to the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum. It was wonderful. It was great to see all the great costumes, guns, photos, and more. If you liked Roy and Dale, I would definitely recommend this attraction.
All in all, another good day in Branson. Tomorrow is a travel day---internet permitting I will let you know where we park for the night on our journey back to Lafayette.

One last photo. This is a photo of me and "the twins". That is John and Jim. We were lucky enough to spend an evening chatting with them both. Very nice and very intelligent gentlemen. They also have a great sense of humor. We will miss them!

Finally, here are some pictures of our Hillbilly Party. That is Howard and Linda accepting a small plaque with words of appreciation on it from the RV-Dreams family.
These guys are part of the group that entertained us the evening. The little guy on the left was a real HOOT! We also had a Hillbilly contest that night.
Several folks put on their best hillbilly look for the evening. The other "big event" that happened that evening was the drawing for the raffle. It was a 50/50 raffle. Half went to keeping the rv-dreams web site up and running and the other half went to the winning ticket. Bill and I NEVER win anything--it is just not "in the cards" for us. We did talk about what we would do IF we did win, but we never thought it would happen. We had decided we would donate our portion back to Howard and Linda. They do so much for all of us. Well, I'm sure you know where this is going----Our name was drawn as the winners. I think we were both in shock. It took a few minutes for us to realize we had won. I walked up to accept the money $500 big ones and then promptly returned the money back to Linda and Howard. They were very touched by our gift. It was the right thing to do. Several folks came up and told us how great it was that we had chosen to give back, but we also found a lot of other folks who were going to do the same thing if they had won. We were truly blessed that evening. Some folks may not understand, but all of us RV-Dreamers--we know---because we know Howard and Linda. As I said, It was the right thing to do!

I promise, I'll get some pictures posted and share a few great stories with you. These last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. We are up early and go to bed late. Loving every minute of the seminars and the people we have met. This is such a fabulous group of folks, those of you that could not attend this "first ever" RV Dreams Rally really missed out. We are off this am for the farewell breakfast. It is going to be hard to say goodbye. Some of us, including Bill and I, are staying for a couple of more days to take in some of the sites here at Branson. That should also give me time to upload some pics and share more about this wonderful event.

Sorry, no pictures as of yet. We have been having lots-o-fun! Yesterday we had an rv open house. We had lots of great folks come through and they were all so very nice and complimentary. What a neat group of folks, I'm so glad we can be a part of this all. After dinner, we had an rv fashion show. Folks dressed up in their favorite garb for washing windows, taking out the dog,----you get the idea. It was really funny! Well, wish you all could be here. We are off this am to a seminar on rv weight.

Oh my, I can't believe how long it has been since I posted on this blog. I guess a big part of that is that I felt I had nothing of interest to blog about.......Well, that changes today! We arrived at Branson, MO for the RV-Dreams Rally. We have already met several of our RV-Dreams friends and I can tell it is gonna be a great rally. Tomorrow is the official "check in" day and I can't wait to meet the rest of the gang! I promise to post all of the fun with as many pictures as I can manage! Till then............