Time to move on. . .

We are leaving the New Lisbon Family Campground tomorrow morning. We had moved here from the state park because here we have full hookups, so we can run all the water we want and do laundry, etc.

We have completed all our blood tests and doctor appointments, etc. It's good to have that behind us and a green light to take off once again. We have kept our doctors here in central Indiana because they have been our doctors for years and it's as easy to be here twice a year as anywhere else.

The camp here has had several transient campers coming in every evening. Tonight is the most we have seen. . . I think about six others besides us. There are a lot of seasonal campers here, but the overnighters have their own area and all the sites are long pull throughs. We have full hookups, 30 Amp and it is is easy in and out.

But it is now time to move on. When we started this venture ten days ago, the weather had just turned cool, then cold, now wet and rainy. It actually warmed up today and we were able to shed our jackets for the latter part of the day. We have just finished our evening walk. It was good we got finished when we did because now it is pouring down rain again.

Tomorrow we leave and head a few miles east to spend time with friends Tab and Deanna. They are the friends with whom we are going to Alaska next summer, so we will have another planning meeting. It's great fun. When we leave there, we are headed to Florida to check in on our son Brandon and wife Megan. We are anxious to see them.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Fall appointments. . .

We arrived at Glowood Camp south of Lapel on Tuesday afternoon. Terry had two cardiology appointments on Wednesday in Indianapolis. Fortunately they were uneventful and went very well. Nothing has really changed with his heart, and that is good, so he is good to go for another six months.

We left there Thursday morning and stopped at the Hoosier Downs Casino in Anderson for a brief respite. I had fun playing, but didn't win anything. Terry, on the other hand, had a hot machine and played for quite some time. He won about $100. We were there a little over an hour and when his machine went cold we left. We had lunch in the motorhome in the parking lot, then drove US36 over to Summit Lake State Park north of New Castle. We are here for three nights and are supposed to have the Parkview Picnic tomorrow afternoon. Former colleagues who worked at Parkview Junior High try to meet every year about this time and visit over a pot-luck dinner. It is always great fun and I have to say we have never had bad weather. Until this year. Tonight we are having heavy thunderstorms and considerable lightning. The camp was pretty empty today except for our rig and Dave and Mark's, but tonight the weekenders came in droves. Lots of trailers in the 28' range. Nice looking units, but varying degrees of skill on the part of the drivers. It is dark and pouring down rain and many had trouble parking their rigs in the weather. It looks like the camp is pretty full now. I wonder if they will all stay the weekend or if they will be pulling out tomorrow. It is supposed to be colder tomorrow, only a high of 60, but a smaller chance of rain. It might make for a miserable picnic, but we will just have to wait and see and hope the predicted winds don't materialize.

I did have a treat today. Mark left for work this morning and Dave had to take a friend to the doctor in Indianapolis. Dave let me keep Baxter for the morning. Baxter is a 4 year old black Scottish Terrier who is all spunk. We went for three walks and played in the motorhome. What fun. He even slept some, but as you can see, it is still hard to get a good picture of a black Scottie. Dave was going to take Dylan, his older dog, with him, but decided to leave him here because he was so sleepy. So I did go check on him a couple times. I let him out once; but the second time, he woke up but didn't want to move, so I left him inside. I enjoyed taking care of the dogs.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Elvis has left the building. . .

OR. . . we have left the area! We spent the last couple days closing up the storage condo and checking out last minute things for the apartments, paid the fall taxes (OUCH!) and said goodbye to our managers and Terry's uncle. We headed south and at Claypool, pulled off the road at my sister's woods. She came out to get me and I went back to Mom and Dad's to say goodbye.

We continued on and at Wabash stopped at a grocery store to get a few things. We were trying to decide what to have for supper. We don't eat out much and our camp for the night is out in the country, so we were trying to think of what to have. When our refrigerator went out, I was able to save all the meat, but some had thawed too much to refreeze, so I finished thawing it, cooked it and froze it back. Among the meat was a couple pounds of ground beef and a pound of ground venison. I mixed those two and made up three meatloaves. I partially cooked them, then cooled and froze them. Talk about a perfect meal after getting off the road for the day. It was already to finish thawing and cooking and we each had a baked potato to go with it. It was perfect!

Tomorrow we see both of Terry's cardiologists and then on Thursday morning we head toward New Castle for our yearly round of physicals, etc. Always glad to get that behind us.

Once that is over, we head to Camp PullTab for some more Alaska trip planning before heading to Florida to see Brandon and Megan.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Time Out!

We took time out yesterday to gather with some family we hadn't seen in years. My cousins, Becky and Bob and their spouses along with my sister, brother-in-law and my parents all came to the house for a cookout. We had a great time. The last time we all saw each other was 11 years ago when Bob and Becky's Mom passed away. We all decided we needed to do this every year. Everyone lives close enough to do that and we are looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Bob and Kathy are leaving this morning for Natchez, Mississippi, via the Natchez Trace. Have a great trip. I'm sure you will enjoy the Trace and the sights along the way. Travel safely!

Becky brought albums of pictures. Her mom had kept family pictures from generations ago and has most of them marked with who was in them. I need to remember to do that when I go through old pix. We spent quite of bit of time going through those old photographs. She also brought several albums from our Aunt June who recently passed away. My sister took all of them home with her and is going to scan them in and send me copies. We decided since we both planned to do that, it made more sense for just one of us to do it and share. Since we are leaving here next week for our journey to points south, we decided it made more sense for her to do that.

Till next time. . .


Dale

The Interesting and the Unusual . . .

Yesterday we were in Shipshewana. Phaeton Place is there at the National RV Refrigeration service center getting a new cooling unit. If any of you RV'ers run into a problem with your RV refrigerator cooling unit, you might want to check them out. Just talking with Leon, the owner, will get you an education. He is very well versed on the gas absorption refrigerators and what is known as the "Amish cooling unit." He actually does not use that one but has his own design which he warranties for three years. One guy who was there getting a new (used) refrigerator had been told by a Norcold service center that his refer was toast and he needed to buy an entirely new refer. He pulled out the old one, destroying it in the process. Leon said it was fixable. . . he said they all are. He sold them a used one with a new cooling unit and installed it. Ours should be done later today. He pulls the fridge, changes out the cooling unit and reinstalls it. Complete testing, etc., for $950. AND, Good Same ESP works with him. He actually is a Norcold service center as well. He said our boiler ruptured, and ammonia was spilled out (you could see it) and the "high temp switch" which was added on one of the recalls, shut the system down. There was the potential for fire. On our way back to the condo, we saw an Amish field of large hay rolls. Terry wondered outloud how they get the huge hay rolls without the big tractors, etc. Hahahah. A little way down the road and this picture explains that! Here a horse team is pulling one of those hay rollers!

We have a beautiful rose bush on the east side of the house. Terry's mom had planted it years ago. I cut it down every year because it always looks so bad, but it has really bloomed well this year. The flowers are beautiful and they are so vividly red in color!

We recently were at Factory RV Surplus on the curve on Indiana 19 and found this fellow greeting everyone who came in. You don't see too many of them, so this was a treat.



 

A couple days later, Terry found this guy when he went to tend to the water hose. Walking sticks are even rarer!

MinnieMee is now in storage. We put her in last week and plan to leave her there until we return here in the spring and get ready for our Alaska trip. We got one final shot of her and Phaeton Place together over at the campground. We are getting things here at the apartments finalized and are about ready to hit the road. That will come on Tuesday and we are anxious to get back on the road!

Saturday, Mom and Dad, my sister and husband and two of my cousins, Bob and Becky (on my Dad's side) and their spouses are coming over for a cookout. We haven't all seen each other in about 10 years. Whoo hoo!

Till next time. . .

Dale

More Family Time!

Last week Jocelyn, Tom, Ronan, Aenea and Whiskey arrived for a week of family time. It was great to see them and even though they were here for almost a week, it seemed too short. They spent some time down at Mom and Dad's and visited with Aunt Nita as well. Ronan and cousin Kellie got in some one-on-one time and Ronan was glad for the attention! My parents got to see the great grandones which is always a thrill. We continue to be amazed at Aenea. . . starting life at 28 weeks and 2 lbs. 12 oz. but perfectly healthy now and a joy to be around. She is a very happy baby and loves everyone and any attention anyone wants to give her. And Whiskey, the poodle rescue, is a sweetie. He loves everyone as well and got to meet some of Neal's friends from the neighborhood.

We spent an afternoon up in Niles visiting Terry's Aunt Francis. We try to get up to see her a couple times a summer. Uncle Bill died a couple years ago and she is by herself now. She enjoyed seeing the baby and Ronan as well as Jocelyn and Tom. She doesn't see them often anymore since everyone lives so far away.

Tom and Ronan engaged in some goofy play while we were there. They spent some time outside talking with the horses in the field next door. Meanwhile, Aenea is content to lay and be entertained!

Till next time. . .

Dale