Roll the Dice!

We left Red Bay, Alabama, on Wednesday and spent two very hot, humid days in Tupelo. So hot, in fact, that we didn't do any sightseeing while there. We did go Wednesday evening and visit with cousin Shirley and Aunt Teen. It was good to see them and touch base with them again.

On Thursday, we met Uncle Bob at his favorite Chinese restaurant in Tupelo, about a mile from our campground. I have to say that it was about the best, if not THE best, Chinese restaurant we have been too. There were so many good things, I didn't even get to sample them all. . . and I never eat the salads or the dessert. So you know there had to be a lot on the buffet.

We left there on Friday and drove a couple hours (more thanks to Delorme) and arrived in Tunica. . . well actually north of Tunica at the Hollywood Casino. We haven't been in there yet. Being a weekend, I couldn't believe how packed the parking lots were, so we decided we would wait until after the weekend to venture in. Last evening we drove down to Mhoon Landing
which is where the original casinos for the area were located. We thought from our reading that there was still a boat docked there and that there was an effort being made to refurbish it into the casino it once was. We did find the remains of one of the four casinos, but no boat.

Today we drove to the outlet stores and walked a little, then drove to downtown Tunica and walked as well. There is nothing in the way of shopping in downtown Tunica. They have attempted to make a very quaint little town square, but there is very little there except one small grocery and a dollar store.

We came back to the camp and have been visiting with fellow campers. As we were sitting out, our "twin" coach came by so Terry had to run down there and compare notes.

Tomorrow we will be watching the Nascar race, then Monday will be scheduling my acunpuncture treatments.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Getting Phaeton Place ready to roll again!

Well, we got up early again this morning, but just because we wanted to give Phaeton Place a much needed bath. No point in doing it earlier. We were in and out of paint bays, down the crushed limestone lot, in and out of the repair bays where things were getting sanded, etc. She was filthy. So we started about 7:30 because it got up to 99 degrees today and we wanted to be done by then. It was still hot, but we didn't care how wet we got. Norris came along (Norris is the service coordinator, I guess, for lack of a better word) and asked if we were having a wet t-shirt contest. I supposed since he had to inquire, it means I've lost my touch. Hah.

Afterwards, I gave Neal a bath. His gait seems to be getting worse and he is falling down a lot. There is no grass here, he is on pavement, so he gets pretty dirty. He is mad at me now, but about to get over it. Treats seem to help.

We were waiting on two things, and Terry ended up tracking those down and so after lunch, we went in and settled our bill. The only items we had to pay for were the two awnings we added. We added a long one in the living room. It is under the main patio awning, but there are many times when we cannot put the patio awning out, so we had one installed so we could shield that side of the coach from the sun. The other awning was over the bathroom window. That window is textured, but we still get a lot of heat from it when the sun beats on that side of the coach. They work nicely.

We did some visiting with people we have met over the last week. People come and go and everyone gets excited over someone else leaving. We went to see Marsha and Rod in the campground office. They are just super people and do their best to make sure everyone's stay at the campground is pleasant.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Tupelo for the night, then on to Memphis.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Just "chillin" (literally) in Red Bay

Well, they took the coach back in at 7 a.m. and we began the wait. They had 3 guys working on the air conditioner. They changed out the roof unit, still didn't work. . . changed out in the inside ceiling part, still didn't work. . . so finally they changed the climate controller on the wall. Seems to work just fine now. . . so what does that mean? Perhaps just the wall thing-y was bad??????? Dunno. . . but I know we got an entire brand new air conditioner out of the deal. I am the only one awake now as Terry and da boyz are all sleeping in the coolness. In fact, I had to leave earlier to go out and get warmed up. Terry wants to make sure it is working good.

They checked out a few more things and put the power awning back in place. . . which didn't work then either. We had a good rainstorm go through here about 7:30 last evening. Don't know if it ruined the exposed wiring or what, but they had to replace the control boxes for the awning. We have 2 little things we are waiting on now. A new door that was damaged by the slide and an access panel cover where they went through the cupboard to get to the thermostat controller. Then we are done. Yayaya.

Then we are headed to Memphis so I can do my impression of a human pincushion.

Till next time. . .

Dale

I can poach an egg on my forehead.

The service techhies were at our coach at 6:15 a.m. and we were ready for them. They checked out our air conditioner and said it was a bad board. Said when we got done at the paint shop today, we should bring it over and they would install it. But there was a possibility that someone would go down to the body shop and do it there.

Got the coach back from the body shop at 2:15 and found out the guy had been there and worked on the air conditioner, but nothing he tried worked and now the compressor wouldn't even work, which had been working. When Terry got the coach back to the shop at 2:30, they told him it was too late to order an air conditioner and it was closing time anyway. (They close at 3 p.m.) I'm wondering when the guy worked on it at 1:00 and knew it needed to be replaced why he didn't order one then? GRRRRRRR. It's only 95 degrees out today.

Well, we reluctantly brought the coach back to our site. Attemped to cool the entire coach with the rear air, but that only made the entire coach 88 degrees, which is too hot. Closed off the back, so we at least had one cool room and opened the front up. Since it is Friday, we are looking at a very hot weekend.

Later we were in the campground office and talking with the hosts there. They do seem to have some clout. I was inquiring about the lounge, which closes at 4 every day and is not open on the weekends. I thought perhaps if our coach got too hot, we could hang out there. She graciously said we were welcome in the camp office and could bring the dogs with their small x-pen. Even though dogs aren't normally allowed there, she said this is an emergency and we don't want them to roast. Later we were back at the coach, sweltering, and Wade, the service manager came by. Marcia, the camp hostess, had tried to call him and he didn't answer his phone. She said she hadn't seen him leave, so she sent her husband over to see him and told him about our problem. He came to the coach and talked with us. He was very apologetic and said he wished he had known about it earlier. . . he would have had someone replace it after hours. He asked what would help us the most. . . I think he would have called someone in or they would get us a motel room. I said the coach was fine to sleep in as the back air conditioner cooled it just fine in the bedroom. Marcia asked him if they could let us use the lounge and he said most definitely. Said we could use the satellite tv there, the coffee maker. . . anything to be comfortable. So tonight we ordered pizza and went over to the lounge and ate it. Took the dogs and they plopped down on the cool floor and went sound asleep. Since we were the only ones there, we kicked off our shoes and stretched out on the sofas. Ahhhhhh. Life is good again. It is cooler in the evenings, so we are home now getting ready for bed. The bedroom is a cool 72 degrees and we are going to put the boyz in the bathroom as it is cool as well.

So, we will get by for these 2 days, then Monday the air conditioner gets replaced and we are in business again. In fact, we could be completely done Monday, but we will stay a few more days just to check everything out.

Till next time. . .

Dale

One step forward, two steps back

When the coach was done yesterday, we weren't sure when they were going to get us into the paint bay. They had to remove our awning since it was mounted incorrectly and put in a piece called a high-rise that was missing. Then it has to be painted before the awning can be remounted. As the events of the evening unfolded, we were kind of hoping they would put us off a day.

At 9 p.m. the front air conditioner just conked out. It's been working flawlessly for six months and just quit. We were assured that in 90 degree heat, that is considered an emergency and it would be tended to first thing in the morning. Not too bad because the evenings have been cooling off to the point that we don't use the air conditioners. The rear one still works and if need be at night, we will move the dogs into the bathroom and close off the front part of the coach and we will stay nice and cool.

At 10 p.m. our dear little Neal had a gran mal seizure. It is a terrible thing to witness, but Neal actually does not suffer aside from occasionally biting his lip. The problem is that for the next 3 hours, he is walking/falling/stumbling around and must be let out occasionally as he needs to relieve himself. So I volunteered to stay up even though I was really tired. I had to take him out twice. Then he just started barking at me in the coach. Same thing outside. I think he had the munchies, but I scolded him and he finally plopped down at 1:15 a.m. The only good thing is that I have now given him honey twice to replenish his sugar and the last two times, he has ended with just the one seizure. Remarkable because ALWAYS before we were looking at 12-13 cluster seizures in a period of 24 hours. Aside from being kind of "out of it," he has done well today.

Then at 6:30 this morning Terry talked to service and they said they would try to do the air conditioner first thing. Well, at 7 a.m., they came and told us to get to Red Bay to the body shop. It is harder to get into the body shop, so we opted to go there. They gave us our coach back at 4:30, but it has to go in tomorrow to finish. But when we explained the problem, they said get the air conditioner checked on first, then come to the shop for the finish. So hopefully, we will have our air conditioner back working for the weekend.

There is a nice lounge here and we can take the dogs, so we don't have to suffer in the heat, but it is nicer to be in our own house. The works is progressing nicely, though, and we are very happy with the people and the effort they make to keep us satisfied.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Sightseeing around Alabama and Mississippi

Yesterday the coach went in at 7 a.m. so we took off and headed toward Florence, Alabama. On the way we stopped at the Coon Dog Cemetery and paid tribute to the more than 100 beloved dogs who are buried there. There is no doubt their masters cared a great deal for them and laid them to rest in the only cemetery of its kind in the world.


We traveled on northward and visited the quaint little town of Tuscumbia, which happens to be the birthplace of Helen Keller.
There were several points of interest in the town and we took some pictures, but since we had the dogs with us, we weren't able to get out and walk around. We have decided, however, that we may revisit this area when we can leave the boyz in the coach and do some sightseeing. We also drove through Muscle Shoals, drove across the Tennessee River and visited Florence, Alabama, which is another very interesting town. We visited a campground in Florence, just below the bridge and let the dogs out to wander along the river a bit. Driving around we found an Indian Mound which dates from something like 1000 B.C. and I climb up the 72 steps to the top and took a few pictures. It has been left intact, but there are streets and industrial operations all around it, so it is fenced in for protection. It's great that they are able to continue to preserve this window into the past.

We drove on "home" from there and picked up Phaeton Place and set her back at our campsite. Tiffin really has a decent system for their repair facility and they recognize that full-timers must have their coach back to sleep in every night.

This morning, we again rose early and the coach went in at 7 a.m. Today they replaced my kitchen laminate flooring. . . not the entire floor, but a big chunk of it which was scratched by the movement of the slide. It looks beautiful and you cannot tell where they replaced the floor.

We once again left and this time drove up to Pickwick Lake where we took some pictures and investigated another campground along the river. These campgrounds are in the $15 range for water/electric and pretty much use the honor system.
They are decent enough and we think we may be back. We continued on to Shiloh Military Park where we took the driving tour which was 9 miles long. It is a very impressive park with a lot of monuments and placards. We weren't able to read everything, but the narrative helps you visualize the battles which took place here.

We then drove on to Corinth, Mississippi. We have been coming to Mississippi for several years and have been through Corinth, but never stopped. It is an interesting town with many old houses which are quite impressive. And, of course, many Civil War battles were fought here as well. The railroad going through Corinth was a major supply line for the south and very important in the war effort. There is an arena and grounds on the west side of town and they have RV hookups there for $10. We checked it out and spoke with the lone camper there. It is basically a parking lot, but spacious and adequate if you want to explore the area. Other campgrounds in the area are further out of town and not well suited to big rigs. An added plus is that the arena hosts some big name entertainment and you can camp there and attend the shows. So we will be watching their website for activities.

We got back today and our coach was already on our site. The floor was done. They may get it into the paint bay tomorrow for the awning repair. Not sure, so tomorrow we will be hanging around. Whenever it has to go from one bay to another, you have to move it, which is okay. They have a nice lounge and the dogs are welcome in there.

Tonight our one air conditioner has stopped working. Have no idea the problem, as it has never failed. But I guess this is the best place for it to stop working, so we will add that to the list. Won't be leaving until that is remedied.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Service with a Smile :-)

Today at noon we got the knock on our door. The service coordinator said, Bay 11, ASAP, so we scrambled around, got things put away, the dogs loaded in the car, and away we went to Bay 11.

They went over our list with us and then said they would be taking care of some of the little things and getting parts ordered. We got it back around 3 p.m., which is the closing time for the service area and got set back up on our site. It has really cooled off this evening and we sat out for a couple hours with the dogs.

While they were working on the coach, we spent the time in the customer lounge. It is large and spacious and you can take your dogs in there. We did and true to form, Bailey guarded the door, barking at everybody who came in. The coach was in for just a couple hours today, but tomorrow it will be in all day, starting at 7 a.m. They are either going to do the awning or the floor, part of which must be replaced because the slide has gouged it. Those repairs will be long days, so we are probably going to go somewhere for the day. Thought we would take the dogs over to the Coon Dog Cemetery so they can pay their respects to dogs who actually had to work for a living. Hah.

Things are going smoothly with the repairs. We are getting a couple new awnings over windows so if are sitting in sun and it is too windy to put out the big awning, we can shade the interior.

The new Phaetons like ours have a problem with the driver's window leaking. Tiffin has tried several new kinds of seals and nothing has worked. The last time we were here, Terry asked the service manager for some door drip cap. He cut it to length, then painted it and attached it on the window with double-stick tape. You cannot even see it because it blends in and it works perfectly. He has shown it to several people including the service people who had asked if we wanted the new seals. We did have them put on the new seals, but Terry noticed the service manager was looking at our coach later. Then today, our neighbor brought his Phaeton out and he had the same drip cap on his. The service guys told him they could put it on as an additional precaution to prevent the leak. Hah! Wish Terry had put a patent on that. Looks like they are going to fix all of them like that.

Well, we will be turning in early as we have to have the coach in at 7 a.m., so till next time. . .

Dale

Allegro Campground, Red Bay, AL, Part Duex

We left Piney Grove a day earlier than we planned. When we came over here last week, they said they always fill up on Sunday, then thin out again on Wednesday. In 95 degree heat with high humidity, that was more than we wanted to chance. I called the campground this morning and they had 20 open spots, so we broke camp and headed this way. It's only about 27 miles, so when we arrived, we had our pick of the spots.

It was a good move. They still have some spots left tonight, but we got one close to the building (for wi-fi) and with full hookups we can shower at our leisure and do the laundry. Ah, yes, life is good. But most importantly, we were able to watch the Nascar race today which was the only thing on Terry's agenda.

We anticipate the coach will go in on Tuesday as had been planned, so things will be quiet for us tomorrow. We met several couples today and had one couple in tonight who has just ordered a coach like ours.

We also met Abby, a black Scottie just down the road who just loved to have me fuss over her. What a sweetie.

Once the coach goes in for work, we will be spending our days driving around with the dogs trying to kill time while the work is being done. We can go to the customer lounge also, which does allow pets. They are quite accommodating here.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Piney Grove Campground, Bay Springs Lake, Mississippi

(Posted Sunday due to no connectivity at the lake)

We arrived here at Bay Springs Lake on Wednesday afternoon. We already had our spot reserved, so we sailed through the gate and right to our site. We picked the same site we had last year. There are some sites here that would be difficult for a 40'er, but this is not one of them. We also have ample room for the toad. The site is right on an end of a loop and is quite spacious with no one right on top of us.

Yesterday we took the boyz and drove over to Red Bay, Alabama, about 30 miles away. We wanted to make certain we had our spot in line for the coach work we want done. One of the biggies is a remount of the power awning. It does not work correctly and was mounted differently in an apparent experiment, but it will have to be removed and that will entail some possible body work on the coach. We have some other minor items, but we are here till it all gets done, so we are not worried time wise.

After that we drove to Fulton as I had not remembered what it looked like. While there we visited another COE park which is where James and Mary Francis (relatives) stay when they are here for the reunion. It is farther away than Piney Grove, but it is a very nice park. Not as many sites for big rigs, but it is extremely quiet and very few if any children running around. Piney Grove is more family oriented and it is noisy, but that doesn't bother us that much. If it weren't for the dogs, we would camp down at the Whitten Park. The problem is being farther away and being able to plan our "away" time from the coach so that we can get back and let the dogs out when necessary. Next week while we are at Red Bay, we will have them with us every day. They are quite comfortable, however, in the Sport Trac. More spacious than the Tracker and the air conditioning does a much better job of cooling the back seat. Yesterday they just rested and occasionally looked out.

We also stopped at Wally World so I could pick up ingredients for the reunion pot luck. I am taking salads. . . my famous pickles, i.e., cucumbers in sour cream and 5-cup salad, although it will be the 10-cup version for a larger crowd.

My crowns are functioning perfectly which is a relief after 9 months of pain when I chew. I am still so cautious when I eat but that is okay because it results in slower eating which usually means I eat less. Less is good for me. My back is killing me, however. I just cannot seem to get around some lifting of Neal on/off his ramp. He tries so hard and never complains. He just needs help. He is such a sweetheart. So is Bailey and fortuntely he doesn't have the mobility problems Neal does.

We took the Natchez Trace for about 100 miles on our way down here. We take it whenever we are close enough to it. It is such a beautiful drive. We saw deer and wild turkey and stopped at a picnic area to have our lunch. If you've never taken the Trace, you should put it on your list. It is 50 mph but with very little traffic and no towns, it may actually be quicker than other routes. And no big trucks to contend with either.

We are about to venture out on our walk, so I must go.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Hanging Out in Clarksville, Tennessee

We left Goshen yesterday after having gotten my new crowns on my teeth. So far they seem to be doing well. I have no pain anymore and that is saying a lot after the winter I had.

We stayed last night at the New Vision RV Park south of Terre Haute (about 45 miles) and north of Vincinnes on highway 41. I don't always plug the rv parks, but this was a very nice park with long pull throughs and full hookups. We would have liked a little wider roads, but they were certainly navigable with our 40'-er plus toad. There was a large pond with fishing and the park was well landscaped. It is right there on 41, so easy access on/off the highway. They take ALL the memberships you have including Passport America, Happy Camper, FMCA, Escapees, etc. He wants business. He's only been open since 2001, but he really wants you to have a nice stay. He is open year round and lives right there. He also sells propane, so we topped off before we left. And he has the cutest, friendliest little black/tan miniature dachshund named Josie who greets everyone who comes in the door.

We left there this morning and traveled south. We are now in the Clarksville Campground in Clarksville, Tennessee. This appears to be an old KOA, but one of the more nicely kept ones we have seen. They have some 100 foot sites, which we would liked to have had, but they have a Newmar rally in here this week, so we got another instead. Most of the sites here are pull throughs. They accept Good Sam.

We unhooked the toad earlier and went in search of a restaurant since I can now eat solid food. We also did a little shopping as I had left one of the dog leashes at the house. So we are all set again.

We leave here in the morning. Have about 200 miles to go to Bay Springs Lake and Piney Grove Campground in NE Mississippi. We will be there until Monday morning when we roll to Red Bay, Alabama. While in Mississippi, we are going to visit some of Terry's family and attend the family reunion on Saturday. It's always a good time whenever we go there.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom is 81 today. Doesn't she look great! Here is a picture of us today when we gathered to help her celebrate. In the picture are (l-r) my sister Nita, Mom, me, and Kellie. Kellie is my sister Nita's youngest daughter. She is an architect, married to an architect (Brian), daughter of an architect (brother-in-law Jim) and sister to an architect (my nephew Brad). Hahahaha. Her other sibling is a neo-natal nurse in Indianapolis, studying to become a midwife.

Their house is coming along. I have a picture of the back "Bambi window". . . so named because they can sit in the loft and watch out the back for Bambi.

I got to see Jake. Jake is the "only dog" now that Lucky has died. When Jake was rescued into the family, he was the fourth dog and now he is alone. There is no doubt that Jake is dealing with some issues of being alone. He does really seem depressed. He is certainly not his old self.
Kellie had her two dogs there, and Jake doesn't want to play or anything. They are giving him a lot of attention and he goes for walks everyday. Hopefully he will adjust and become content.

I am trying to get things ready to leave tomorrow, so

till next time. . .

Dale

We're back again in Indiana.

Arrived yesterday morning from Decatur, Michigan. I worked on sorting some boxes down in the basement. After storing that stuff down there for a year now, it's beginning to look more and more like trash and Good Will fodder. I imagine by next year, it will be a whole lot easier to sort through stuff, just as it is this year compared to last year. Hah.

The boyz are enjoying their deck and yard again, although we have the yard gate closed right now because the morning dew is on the lawn. They are a little peeved at me for that.

Terry bought a surge protector thingy for on the motorhome and wants to get it installed. He needs some #6 wire I think and couldn't find it at Menard's last night. I think he is going to go to an electrical supply house this morning. He's probably waiting for me to get dressed. That would be good because we have neighbors here and they like to come visit. Keeps you on your toes. . . :-) Yesterday Terry built a rack of sorts for the back of the Sport Trac. He made compartments where he can slide in specific bulky things we carry with us. . . like the dog ramp, the dogs' x-pens, the satellite dish, etc. It is better organized and accessible there.

Today we are going to go to Terry's cousin's graduation open house in the afternoon. Stephen also mows our yard when we aren't here, so we want to go and congratulate him. He is going to attend IUSB (Indiana University-South Bend) and probably continue to work.

I have a salad to make for tomorrow. We are going to the "woods" where my sister and husband are building their dream house.
It is south of Warsaw, Indiana. They are also setting a pad there for my parents' new mobile home.
The idea is that when Mom and Dad get to the point they cannot go to Texas anymore (they are 81), they will have a place close to family where they can live. It's a good deal for them and my sister will like having them close by. I will post a picture of the house later. I will be posting more pictures from Michigan, too, when I get my camera in here. Tomorrow is Mom's birthday, so we are having a cookout.

Monday, then, we are leaving for the Pace-Stevens-Taylor family reunion. It truly is an interesting one. Terry's grandparents were each married before and had . . . like 5 children each. They were both widowed at a young age and found and married each other and had 5 MORE children. So there are a LOT of relatives. It is fun to see and meet extended family like that.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Killing time. . .

We left Holland, Michigan, yesterday morning. The campground there was pretty much a pit. We were told when we checked in that the restrooms had just been "redone," but I'm not sure now what that meant. Since we didn't have full hookups and were staying a week, that was a concern, but we got along without using their facilities, with the help of the "blueboy." The pool was supposed to be open for the weekend, but strangely, it was not. And it was expensive as far as campgrounds go.

The bright spot was our neighbors. Four guys who were camping and fishing in Lake Michigan with the 24' fishing boat the one guy had. They caught lake salmon and brought some over for us one night. Boy was it good.

I did get to do some shopping and we visited Sagautuck, Douglas, and Grand Haven. We were going to take a tour of a Great Lakes cargo/ferry boat. It is the last one afloat on the Great Lakes.
It is moored in Douglas, Michigan, and tours are available; however, it was not due to open until Memorial Day and we were a day early. We were at Grand Haven on Memorial Day and it was very crowded. It was a very hot day and everyone was headed out to the state park beach. We walked that way, but didn't go all the way out. I did take pictures of the boats coming/going off the lake. Boy you see all sizes of boats, but there were some huge boats headed out onto Lake Michigan.
Yachts. We did some browsing in Grand Haven's shopping district. Very nice little town, much like Sagautuck.


My connection here is very slow, so I won't be able to post pictures, but once we get back to Goshen, I will do that. We are in a park in Decatur, Michigan, and will be here until Friday when we head back to Indiana. My crowns are to be ready on June 5, and I am ready for them. I cannot eat any solid food as the temporaries keep popping off and breaking.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Holland, Michigan

We came up to Holland, Michigan, to hang out for a week or so. Have done a little browsing around, but mostly just hanging out. Will probably take in a movie, either MI3 or The DaVinci Code.

Last evening we drove out to Lake Michigan and took a couple pictures.
Didn't stay for the sunset. It was a little cool out on the lake and we had an hour or so to wait, so decided to run down the dune instead.
Terry was a chicken and said he would take the pictures. . . hahahaha.


There has been some stormy weather up around here, but it has passed us by every time. We have gotten some wind. Every once in a while it sprinkles, but no big rain or anything.

Those of you keeping track of my dental problems. Both temporary crowns have come off now, numerous times. The cement the dentist gave me doesn't work. I haven't eaten solid food since I got them, preferring to drink instead. . . :-) No, just smoothies and instant breakfast. . . you know. Get the regular crowns on June 5. Hope they stay on better.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Heading Out.

Don't know where to yet, but plan to go somewhere. We are headed back to South Bend yet today. Terry needs bloodwork and I must get another tooth prepped for a crown and the temp he put on yesterday repaired, since it broke this morning. This is just not looking good.

Oh well. I promised a picture of Bailey and Neal's new pen, so when we are here on business, they have a place to play.

Here is a picture of the house. You cannot see Phaeton Place, but to see Phaeton Place parked in the drive is not a pretty site. . . trust me.


Till next time. . .

Dale

Back in Goshen!

Well, we got back to Goshen, Indiana, yesterday afternoon. Phaeton Place is pulled into the drive this time, until we get the leaky antenna fixed in Red Bay. There is enough slope that it will run off the back.

I have been doing lots of laundry and Terry is finishing his building of gates for the deck. Prior to this summer, the dogs could not go into the yard. Instead they were on the deck. So now, he removed the end pieces on the deck and we fenced in an area of yard so the boyz can go out and sniff the bunnies to their hearts' content. They love being outside in the grass, so they are quite happy.

The plan is to leave here Tuesday for a couple weeks in Michigan just looking around. Nothing definite yet. We have to be back the 5th for my crown, then we are off to the family reunion in Mississippi and a couple weeks in Red Bay, Alabama, getting stuff fixed on the coach. Then probably to Memphis for 2 weeks for what will hopefully be my final acupuncture treatments on my back for the year. They have really helped so far. I think when we go to Memphis this time, we may spend some time in Tunica. . . . heh heh.

I knew if we stayed here in Indiana for long, my allergies would start in and they did last night. So now I must raid the medicine cabinet and see what I have available.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Good Friends. . . Good times in St. Paris, Ohio

We left Summit Lake State Park in Indiana on Tuesday and arrived in St. Paris, Ohio, in the afternoon. There we were greeted by Tab and Deanna, who were about the first fulltimers we ever met.
They are still fulltiming, but remaining stationary for awhile. They have their 5-er in a large building, so it is safe from the elements. We had contemplated putting our coach in the building as well, but opted for outside on the grass. You know we have a handicapped dog, and we felt it would be too far for him to walk (and too far to carry him) to get to the grass outside to do his "duty." So we stayed outside.
We were very comfortable and Tab and Deanna are gracious hosts. We enjoyed dinner at Cracker Barrel the first night and then last night Tab grilled chicken for us and we added some other stuff and ate together.

We left there late this morning and traveled north through a storm or two. We had terrible cross winds driving and stopped in Van Wert at an abandoned Wal-Mart for lunch. Then we drove on to Archbold, Ohio, and are staying snug and secure at the Sauder Farm Campground. We will just be here overnight, then head to Goshen tomorrow. I am ready to head out west again. . . wish we could right now. I am so tired of cold and rain. We did go to the Sauder Barn Restaurant tonight and had a good meal, but not as good as Terry remembered it used to be.

Terry is snoozing on the one sofa and Bailey on the other. Neal is laying on his cushion in front of the catalytic heater, so life is grand. :-)

BTW, notice the new toad? We had it in storage all winter. When we left on our full-timing adventure last fall, we had a gasser motorhome and so we opted to keep towing our lightweight GEO Tracker. Now that we have the diesel, we got the Sport Trac out of storage and it seems to be working great so far. It is nice having more room in the toad and also having the truck bed.

Till next time. . .

Dale

RV. . . The Movie

Well, for two weeks we have had one of our kids with us and yesterday afternoon, Brandon left for the airport. Jocelyn had spent 10 days with us and we had a really good visit. Brandon came in Saturday, left to go to a friend's wedding, then returned to spend the night. Then yesterday morning we went to Muncie and he took me out to eat for Mother's Day. We went to my favoriate restaurant, Texas Roadhouse, for STEAK. Having had so much recent trouble with my teeth, I had given up eating most anything I had to chew. Now that my teeth are pretty much fixed, I greatly enjoyed the steak.

We returned to the motorhome and visited until around 4 p.m. at which time Brandon had to leave. He had a long evening ahead of him and didn't arrive home until 1:45 a.m. and had to go to work today, but he did make it safely.

After he left yesterday, things were too quiet and the rain just kept coming. Except for one brief respite, it continues even today. Everything is wet, so we spend all our time inside the coach.
I was getting a little weary of it and suggested to Terry that we take in the movie RV last night. We rarely go to the movies anymore and certainly not when we have to pay full price, but I wanted to do something that would be fun. So we trekked back to Muncie and took in the flick. It was funny. I know it's not getting good reviews, but RVers will find enough in it to laugh about to make it worthwhile. I do think if the producers had consulted actual RVers and fulltimers, they would have been able to produce an even better movie. I believe most in the audience were RVers because we found many things humorous the general public wouldn't understand.

This afternoon Bailey has his yearly exam, so we are here another day for that and then will start moving. Terry is in charge of destinations, but I think it will involve Tab and Deanna somehow. :-)

Till next time. . .

Dale

Rain, rain and more rain

Well, Terry has his work cut out for him. He's going to start building an ark. It has rained for 4 days, and rain is forecast for the next week. Bummer. At least is isn't a hard rain (at least right now) and it isn't freezing, although it is colder than we like.

We are at Summit Lake State Park near Mooreland, Indiana, where our former home is located. We are here because son Brandon flew in to Indy Thursday and is attending the wedding of a high school classmate. So we came down here with Phaeton Place so we could see him and provide him a "room" for the night. He has to share his room with the dogs, but hey. . . beggars can't be choosers. He really likes Phaeton Place and feels it is very comfortable for us.

We watched this park being built, from building the dam to acquiring the land. I remember thinking 20+ years ago that the campground would be nice once the trees were grown and the grass takes root. It is quite beautiful now and one section of it is quite adequate for big rigs. While we have a lot of rain, we aren't standing in it when we go out and we have been able to keep the awnings out as it isn't too windy, so the dogs don't have to get thoroughly soaked, although Neal always does.

This park was never accessible in recent years because it was so popular. . . one of the few campgrounds in the area and if you wanted a weekend spot, you had to be here by Tuesday. That is probably history, now, since Indiana changed their rates and this site (water, electric) is $28 on the weekend with a 2-night minimum. Indiana has really shot themselves in the foot. They probably don't realize it yet, but there are probably only a dozen campers in here this weekend. I realize it is raining, but I seriously doubt the people around here will pay that kind of money to camp. But it was the closest place for us and for Brandon and the location of the wedding, so we are enjoying the solitude.

The trees are in full foliage now and everything is very green. Just would like a little warmer weather. Oh, we did tow the Sport Trac for the first time. Towed it down here and it still works after that, so I guess we did it right! Terry spent most of the week getting it ready and it really is nice have a bit larger vehicle (from the Tracker) to ride around in. And the pickup bed is useful to carry more stuff too.

We made a doctor appointment for Bailey for Monday. He is due for his shots and didn't want to take off anywhere else until we got that done. I think we are going to hang around here and maybe Ohio until next weekend when we have to return to Elkhart for my crown work on my tooth.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Root canal is done!

Well, as of 7:30 am, I am the proud and somewhat poorer owner of a root canal. Never had one before, didn't want this one. But alas, the fates were against me. My appointment was at 7. I was early, as usual for me, and I was in the chair a bit before 7. After all the preliminaries and a promise from the good doctor that he would not hurt me, he started about 7:10. Was done at 7:30. The guy is good, what can I say. When he started he said, "Now you should not feel any pain whatsoever. . . if you feel anything, raise your hand." Three times I twinged and he added more anesthetic, but I have to say. . . it was much less an ordeal than I had imagined. He said the tissues were quite inflamed, adding to my discomfort. We knew there was infection and I am now on antibiotics for that. The biggest surprise was that it was not the tooth 3 dentists told me it was. The infection was between two teeth and I could only guess which was hurting. The other guys concurred, but this fellow said. . . "I don't think that's the one with the problem." But promised to find out. Tapping on them didn't disclose the problem tooth, but then he said, "I'm going to apply ice to each tooth and you tell me which hurts worse." The one we all thought was bad didn't react, but when he touch the other. . . well let's just said my actions spoke louder than words.

I now must have a crown placed on that tooth. I cannot believe what this all costs, but I am certainly glad I found this guy for the root canal. He is definitely an expert. I am now anxious for the discomfort (no real pain) to go away so I can chew. Since it is opposite where I had the extraction Tuesday, I am quite handicapped as to chewing and eating. So I am having soup and instant breakfast, etc. I am just so glad that after almost 7 months of pain from these problems that occurred after we started fulltiming that I am finally to the point where I should not have any more pain. The good doctor did tell me that when I have another similar problem anywhere in the country, he expects he will be seeing me to get it fixed. I gave him a thumbs up on that one.

In other news, son Brandon has arrived at Indianapolis airport, getting his rental care and staying with his best friend from high school tonight. We will see him Saturday. We are leaving tomorrow morning to go to Summit Lake State Park for 3 days to be close to him. Since I have a week before I have to have the crown prep done, we are going to slum around and not head back up here immediately.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Sleepy time gal

Well, I got my tooth out yesterday afternoon. The oral surgeon was very efficient. I planned on going to sleep for it. He was excited about us being full-timers and wants to do the same thing when he retires. He was asking me about Phaeton Place as he pressed the needle in my hand and the next thing I know the hygienist was helping me walk out to the car. I was awake and feeling pretty good. Stopped and got a frosty so I could take a pain pill. Came home, sat in the recliner and was out like a light. Got up later and fixed a bowl of soup, then sat back down and . . . you guessed it. . . out like a light. Woke up at 4 a.m. and took another pain pill and slept until 6 when the dogs got up and wanted out. Have been up ever since. Have some stitches, but nothing hurts. I hope the root canal tomorrow goes as well. They won't put me to sleep for it, but have promised it won't hurt. . . . yeh, yeh, I know, their lips were moving.

It keeps thundering and lightning here, but nothing else is happening, so don't know if it will rain or not.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Coach Care, Goshen

If you ever need work or routine maintenance on your rig while in northern Indiana, you won't find a better place than Coach Care. They are an authorized Cummins service center as well as Onan. They can do warranty work on the Allison, so that is what they did for us along with the generator.

They have six campsites out back, concrete pads, electric and nice grass and shade if you have to stay. They are really nice people. We took Phaeton Place in early for the 8:00 appoinment and got it back in the afternoon. The only glitch was that the serviceman threw the door lock on the door when he exited the coach, locking the door. We NEVER use the door lock, always opting for the deadbolt and all the keys for the doorlock were inside he coach. AAAAAaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! Had he just used the keys to lock it, he would have thrown the correct lock. So back in we went. The service guy was worried, one could tell, but another said. . . . I'll get Danny with his keys. Danny came out, never cracking a smile, not a bit of moisture on his brow. Andy said, "We need a series F key." Danny calmly singled out a little key and opened the door on the first try. Hah. I want you to know that now BOTH keyrings have the doorlock key on them along with the deadbolt.

Phaeton Place is back in her appointed spot in the driveway, the interior is cleaned and ready to go. We leave Friday for 3 days in central Indiana to see Brandon. He is flying in for a friend's wedding and will stay with us Saturday night. After that we are no sure where we are headed as I have some dental work to finish up here the following week. I should be good to go then for awhile. Check back later in the day. I am going to try and post pictures.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Work, work, work

Boy I do hate stick houses. We are here temporarily while we get some things done. I am going through boxes down in the basement. These are things we threw (literally) into storage here and now as we have time and are here visiting family I need to go through as I can.

Jocelyn has been going through her stuff. The kids probably have as much stuff here as we do and I am hoping they can sift through it periodically and throw out what they no longer want. That has helped me because she and I can work together down there and visit, etc.

Terry reworked part of the deck the other day. Five years ago he slapped some boards up to keep the dogs on the deck so they would have a place to go outside here since the yard isn't fenced. Then he made an exit ramp off the deck on the one end and we bought some nice fence sections so they have a large grassy yard to go to. Yesterday was their first full day with it and I never got them inside. They wanted out for the entire day. I think they like it because the grassy part enables them to see across the yard and even into the yards of neighbors in the other subdivision. Our house is higher than those, so they get a good view. They are content just to watch what is happening in the neighborhood.

Yesterday Terry worked all day getting the Sport Trac set up to tow. He got the base plate on the front (with my help on some of the bolts in hard to reach places) and then wired the lights so they use the existing taillight lenses. I went out once, fired up the diesel Phaeton and tried the lights. Of course, they didn't work, so Terry decided he needed to go back to the drawing board. Upon closer inspection, he convinced himself they would work better if they had light bulbs in them, so that was fixed in short order. Hah.

Tomorrow Phaeton Place goes in early for its first service. They will do the generator and the transmission service. . . I think that is all that is needed at this point. Too early for an oil change, but they will check everything out and make sure nothing looks amiss. While in northern Indiana, we use Coach Care in Goshen (actually between Goshen and Elkhart). They have always given us superb service and they are really nice people to work with.

Today I hope to do a little straightening up in Phaeton Place and get it ready to move. We are leaving Thursday morning to go back to central Indiana. Son Brandon is flying in for a high school classmate's wedding, so we are going down so we can see him. Today we are also going over to niece Michelle and Rod's house. They have two little girls. Their youngest is two and was born with heart (surgery was done at just a few days old) and kidney problems. Kira, thanks to modern miracles of technology, now has no restrictions with regard to her heart at all and the one "below average" kidney continues to amaze everyone with gaining strength. You can read her story here: Kira Grace
Yesterday Michelle's sister, niece Staci, brought her two-year old Brianna by to visit. It was good to see the girls and visit. Staci and Jocelyn are just 6 weeks apart in age and they hadn't seen each other for several years.

This evening, then, sister-in-law Nancy and husband Tom are coming over. We haven't seen them in ages. Nancy was mom to Michelle and Staci after my sister died when the girls were very young. She holds a very special place in our hearts.

It's good to have good managers. Yesterday while Terry was working on the Sport Trac, our manager came by and said one of the tenants called with a minor problem. He stopped at the house here to pick up some parts and tools and was off for the duplex two doors down. Why they didn't call us, I don't know, but George likes being the "go to" guy and he had the toilet flush value problem fixed quickly and everyone was happy. We have such good tenants. They are wonderful people and we take care of problems very quickly. We want them to think of their place as their home and they do take pride in them and it shows.

Tuesday and Thursday I get my dental work done and at this point. . . I am looking forward to it. I have been having problems since October and tried to get something done in February, but just couldn't get in. Hopefully by the end of the week, I should be on the road to recovery, albeit probably sore. But the worst should be behind me hopefully.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Shipshewana. . . King of Fleamarkets

What can I say? If you like flea markets, you must put Shipshewana, Indiana, on your list of must-see places. Plan an entire day because the flea market is so large, once you are done, you will have to do some serious R&R. We went Wednesday. Took our daughter. It was the first week of the season and probably only half the vendors were set up. Even at that, it was a lot of ground to cover and plenty of vendors. We managed to spend a few $$ there.

We actually didn't cover the entire thing, because we also wanted to go to Yoder's meat market and then there was the general store. We also stopped at E & S which is an Amish grocery store. Jocelyn likes it because she can buy a lot of organic foods and bulk foods. Spices are extremely cheap there as well and in large containers. Then it was out to Yoder's popcorn farm where she purchased her month's allotment.

An enjoyable day in Amish country. Came by the draft horse farm on the way there and back and got to see the new colts. They are so cute. A lot of new horses in the country every year, but this particular farm raises only draft horses. As they get older, they separate them into pastures according to age, so you can see several sizes, ages of horses. A special treat.

Yesterday I finally got into see a dentist who seems intent on helping me with my tooth problems. I have always seen a dentist regularly, but when we left for full-timing last fall, my teeth seemed to start falling apart. I will have one extracted on Tuesday next week and another will get a root canal on Thursday. Once that tooth is finished, I will be good to go for awhile, I think. I have been give the choice of an implant or a bridge on the one being extracted. I don't want either one. Prices are so high for either one. I could buy a car for what they want to do either. Anyone reading this have any experience with a partial? The dentist says I will hate it and won't wear it, but he will make it if I want it. I would like input from readers who have had them. They are much cheaper.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Goshen, Indiana

Last week we headed down to central Indiana and Terry touched base with his doctors. He is doing really well and had a very good winter. They all concurred and since he is back in the area temporarily, they have decided to change some of his meds. We really hate to do this because he has adjusted so well to his meds, but they want to change the one to reduce any potential side effects, so we are giving it a try. So far, Terry is continuing to do well, although at times he gets a little tired.

We have been busy doing little things around the house here. The kitchen faucets were leaking and needed attention. That is done. The deck is getting some remodeling. . . . very simple. . . removing some boards, etc., to make a path for the dogs to get down to their newly fenced yard area. Terry has to build a ramp for Neal, our handicapped Scottie, so he can get up and down. Yesterday there was a bunny in their new yard who couldn't get out and I had to run out and open the door to release it. Bailey is still mad at me for that. He wanted to have a go at the bunny.

Jocelyn is here and she will at some point be driving back to Virginia, but we are enjoying her. She is going through some of the boxes in the basement and throwing a bunch of stuff away. Yay! I need to join her down there maybe tomorrow and start getting some stuff put away.

I really don't like being here. My motorhome is sitting in the drive and I don't like that. . . I want to be gone. But we are leaving in another week and heading south again. . . to see Brandon who is flying in for a wedding and then on to Memphis and my acupuncturist, then Mississippi for the family reunion.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Same ol' same ol'

Well, we weren't back in Indiana two minutes before the weather turned nasty. Had really nasty storms while we were hiding out in Remington, Indiana, at the Caboose Campground. I guess maybe it's a sign we aren't supposed to be here. . . ?? But we are here and in Goshen as of last Monday. We spent the week getting ready for the rally we host here. . . the RV Capital IV Rally to be exact. We hold it at the Elkhart Campground and we had about 25 rigs here. It was very nice, the weather held for us (no snow, thanks to our weather chairman who has redeemed himself since last year's snow fiasco during the rally). I gave the rig a good cleaning before we went over, plus I cleaned most of the house. . . what I had time for anyway. We went over Thursday morning and there were already some rigs there. We had taken a truck load of firewood over earlier in the week to save our spot. We had a steady stream of people coming in Thursday and Friday. It was great to see everyone again and we even met some new people. I was glad when one of the newbies told me that it was everything I had told her it would be. She was afraid she wouldn't feel comfortable meeting so many new people, but that's whats nice about RV'ers. They are just a friendly lot. Besides, she had a Corgi and I told her we all wanted to see her doggie.

We brought Phaeton Place back over to the house along with the car and truck and left early afternoon to go to the woods south of Warsaw where Mom and Dad had arrived the night before. They are camped down at my sister's woods. We visited with them and checked on the new house my sister and husband are building. It will be absolutely beautiful.

We are back to Goshen now and have mowed the yard again. We are trying to keep it mowed when we are here and then having it mowed while we are gone. We are leaving in the morning for central Indiana. Terry has doctor appointments and I have a dentist appointment, a hair appointment, etc. Daughter Jocelyn is flying in on Thursday to Indianapolis so we are picking her up there and bringing her up here to see family, etc.

This next week should prove uneventful. We are going to be here for a few weeks. Son Brandon is flying in the middle of May to Indy, so we will be seeing him then as well. In June we will be returning to Memphis to the acupuncturist and then on to Mississippi for the family reunion and Red Bay, Alabama, for some more coach work.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Back Home Again in Indiana!

We have arrived. Actually, we arrived yesterday. More later, but there is work to be done and I will get in trouble if I am caught on the computer. Just wanted everybody reading the blog to know we are here. RV Capital IV Rally is this coming weekend, so there is lots to do.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Beale Street

Today we decided to talk a tour of Beale Street in downtown Memphis. During the day, Beale Steet is quiet calm, as it is a real hot spot at night. Lots of bars, restaurants and little shops, not unlike some you would find in New Orleans, except it was a little cleaner and just about 3 blocks long. It was actually a nice time to visit the shops as it was uncrowded and not busy. I bought a metal art flamingo to put in front of the motorhome. I will take a picture and get it on line.

Afterwards, we went in search of campgrounds on the southwest side, which happens to be the area where Graceland is located. We drove by Graceland several times. The lines were very long to get in. I would imagine it would be like that all the time. While I am a fan of Elvis' music, I really don't have any desire to visit Graceland and be one of hundreds on the grounds at any one time.

We didn't find any campgrounds suitable in the area. We wanted one southwest so when we come back in June for more acupuncture appointments, we would find a better place to stay. Tunica is looking better, actually. It would be more comfortable, just further away, but that may be what we do.

The acupuncture appointments are going well. My sciatica pain is almost gone. I'm not sure how many treatments I really need, but tomorrow will be my last one for awhile, as we have to get to northern Indiana for the RV Capital IV Rally. Acupuncture does not hurt. I am amazed that it works the way it does. I have been reading up on it and it is an amazing art. Terry's cousin and her husband who use acupuncture for back pain get relief for about a year, then go back in for another treatment. I would be extremely happy if that works for me. I had an epidural which lasted about 9 months. I am too young to keep pumping that much cortisone in my body every year.

We are leaving tomorrow around noon and will plan on driving a couple long days if we can to make it up to Goshen. Our rally there starts on Friday, but many of us are planning on being there a few days early to get everything in place and ready to go.

We have talked with another couple here in the park who also own a Phaeton. Dave and Dianne live on Pickwick Lake and have invited us to get in touch with them sometime when we are in the area. We may just do that, as we plan to visit family in northern Mississippi every year.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Needles and Pins

Well, yesterday morning was my first acupuncture session. I wasn't scared or anything. I had read a lot and knew exactly what to expect. Dr. Barry Song is a Korean practitioner using a very ancient method of acupuncture. He asked a lot of questions and I asked him if he thought he could help me. He said, "Oh, yes." I think he must have placed about 12 needles in my back and I really could not feel them, except for the last one, which just twinged a little. He said that was why he had placed that one last and it went to the nerve that is causing me all the problems. He put a heat lamp over my back then and that felt so good. The needles were left in place about 30 minutes. There is no pain with the needles. I didn't feel much different yesterday, but it is not uncommon not to feel better after the first treatment. In fact, from my reading, if you don't notice a lot of relief to begin with, it is a good sign that you will get much more relief later. I slept much better last night and I didn't have a lot of difficulty getting out of bed and walking this morning. I am still achey, but not as much as yesterday. So I am optimistic that I will get some relief. I go again tomorrow and Saturday.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Elvis has left the building. . . well Memphis.

We arrived in Memphis this afternoon. I have an appointment with an acupuncturist tomorrow, so we shall see how that goes. If you've been reading my blog, you may want to go back and see the pictures I have added. I have a much better connection tonight than I have had previously, so I was able to upload some.

We are in the RV park for the Agricenter in Memphis. It is on the east side. We had thought we might go down to Tunica to stay while I was seeing the specialist, but we decided that was about 30 miles away. We are only about 9 miles away here, so this will be much closer. The park here isn't very well appointed. . . the sites are not really kept up and they have us squeezed in between two units and we don't have much room, but it will be fine while we are here. There just isn't much on the outskirts of Memphis in the way of RV parks.

Till next time. . .

Dale

The Calm after the Storm

We are still in Red Bay, Alabama, at the Allegro Campground.
Last night was pretty scary. Lots of storms going through all around and over us. Tornado sightings, but fortunately, most were aloft. Sirens blaring their warning blasts are quite disconcerting when you are sitting in a motorhome. The designated shelter is not large enough to hold everyone from the campground and they would not allow pets, so we were all in our motorhomes. It is questionable whether the building is a safe haven anyway. I'd rather be underground when a storm comes through.

But we were spared and feel thankful that everyone here is still intact today. It quit raining sometime during the night and the ground is starting to dry out. People are out milling around. We can see some blue sky above with some white puffy clouds along with some darker rain-type clouds. You can guess that science wasn't my thing by my cloud descriptions. :-)

The dogs made it though just fine. Neal was a little nervous. Terry put him on the couch with him at one point and that seemed to satisfy him. We pulled in our slides when the storm started, but wind was not a big factor. We were worried about hail, but we didn't have any here. I hope we are always able to avoid storms, but I suppose that is not too realistic. There was no where to go to drive out of this one. It covered too large a swath.

We are getting ready to go visit some relatives. I am waiting for the pill I took to start working. My sciatica is making life miserable for me. I am going to have to try something for it. I am interesting in looking into accupuncture, so if anyone reading knows of a good practioner, please let me know.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Tiffin Service

We got a knock on the door at 11 a.m. this morning telling us to move our coach to Bay 8 as soon as possible. This is an Express Bay and generally limited to 3 hours. But since we got it there shortly after 11, they worked on it until closing at 3 p.m. We now have a new windshield, new blinds, a new control box for the electonic levelers (they weren't working quite right), and a couple other things I cannot recall. Terry asked the guy for a couple parts for things he could fix himself, and they gave them to him. And Monday before we got here, we had the bathtub crack fixed along with the front generator hatch panel which needed beefed up a bit. So it has been a productive trip even though they worked us in without an appointment.

We still have more to do, but will wait on that stuff until we come back in June for the Pace reunion, held just 30 miles from here. We are keeping our service number so we should be first on the list when we return.

We are staying through the weekend and plan on visiting some relatives tomorrow. Right now the county we are in is under a tornado watch. They have a community room in which we can meet for shelter from the storm but they told us we cannot take our pets. I don't know anyone who will plan to go if they have to leave their pets behind. We actually were supposed to get storms starting last night, but so far all we have had are some clouds and lots of wind. Nothing devastating yet, but will keep tuned to the weather channel.


Till next time. . .

Dale

Allegro Campground, Red Bay, AL

We only had to dry camp one day in Red Bay before a campsite became available. So now the waiting game begins. But a fellow came around today and said if we had something that could be fixed in the Express Bay, they could go ahead with it. So we went and talked with the service manager and they are taking the coach in tomorrow morning and replacing the windshield and my blinds that are broken. Then we will begin our trek north. We will be back here in June to get the other things on our list fixed. But we are getting to keep our service number we currently have which means we will be at the top of the list come June. We are learning their system and so we will be able to play the game from now on.


Before we leave the area, however, we are planning on stopping in to see Terry's cousin Lynn and her family and Aunt Teen. Aunt Teen's husband, Clyde just died a month or so ago and we want to go see them.

We are expecting some storms here tonight and tomorrow. Had thought perhaps we should leave, but probably wouldn't be able to drive out of it, so may as well stay put.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Boondocking, day 2

We arrived in Iuka, Mississippi, on Monday afternoon. We drove to Waterway Plastics, which is a Tiffin owned fiberglas company which made our tub/shower enclosure. It has a crack and it's been getting worse. In addition, the front panel on our generator was quite thin and Terry wanted it beefed up. They pulled us in to a slot on their loading dock and they began work immediately on the panel.
The gal who would fix the shower came in to look at it. It was close to closing time and she said she would be there at 7 a.m. Tuesday. We spent an uneventful night boondocking right there until 4:30 a.m. when a semi arrived to deliver steel. We weren't in his way and he eventually shut off his engine as he had to wait for the workers to arrive to offload.

Stephanie came at 7 a.m. and began the process of fixing the tub. The longest part was waiting for the stuff to cure. It wasn't a bad crack. . . did not go through all the layers, and now you cannot even tell where the crack was. She did an excellent job.

At noon we were on our way down here to Red Bay for what we thought was our appointment. Seems they don't have appointments. . . it's first come, first served and this is their busiest time with snowbirds coming back north. The service manager promised he would try and get us in to get the windshield and awning fixed. We will probably be back here in June after the Pace reunion to have some of the other stuff fixed. He said there would be little waiting at that point.

We are in their dry camping area awaiting a campsite which should be today. We have met a lot of other people . . . all Tiffin owners and we are a happy lot!

We are getting ready to ride the bikes into Red Bay and pick up our mail.

Till next time. . .

Dale

L(ower) A(labama) Rally, Dothin, Alabama

The LA Rally at the Peanut Festival grounds is history. We arrived Thursday. There ended up being more people attending than I thought were going to be. Mark and Patsie Beagle were our hosts and they did a great job. Had name tags for everyone and a bag of goodies. Dothan now has a Camping World, so we naturally had to make a run in there. Friday we did some sightseeing around Dothan. We have been through there many times, but never go to downtown. They have several murals painted on old buildings and they are truly beautiful. Each told a story from Dothan's past. I didn't have my camera with me so I didn't get any pictures. Sorry. The group also set up an agility course for the dogs, so Bailey got to try it out. He was unimpressed. :-)


Friday evening we sat around the campfire until Terry got chilly. We were about the only full timers. I think there was one other couple, but they are currently grounded a bit due to health. Saturday afternoon there was a gaudiest hat contest. Terry had helped me decorate my lampshade. . . and while I thought we made a good effort, we didn't even get honorable mention.
Saturday evening we had our potluck which was very good. People bring different things to potlucks, depending upon where they are from so every potluck is different.

You know from reading my earlier posts that our dog, Neal, started having seizures Saturday just before our dinner, so I stayed close to the house after that. We didn't sit at the campfire because we felt he needed watching. Saturday morning coffee and donuts were furnished, so a good visit was had before we left.

Thanks to "twostepr" and wife for making it a great weekend!

Till next time. . .

Dale

My dog, Neal, part 2

Well, Neal had another and his last seizure (for now) at 7 a.m. Fell right into his food dish. When he was able to eat, it took forever. He wanted his food right then, and since his meds are in the food, I wanted him to eat it. He couldn't stand up, he dumped his water bowl and scattered food all over. I ended up picking most of it up and hand feeding him today. We've seen enough of them to note a pattern and that's why I say he is done for now. They are really nasty, but he seems to recover quicker. He is considerably weaker afterwards however. I had been giving him ice cream afterwards, but it's hard to keep it in our freezer. The ice cream helps to boost the blood sugar. The seizures are the equivalent energy-wise of running a marathon. A neighbor suggested honey since it is natural and said that is what her daughter gives her dog. So I tried that. Course Neal loved it and I had to clean his face, my hands, etc., when he was done. And that was just a teaspoon!

We are in for the night, stopping just south of Birmingham. Had wanted to get further, but decided to get some much needed rest and start out fresh tomorrow.

Thanks for all your kind words everyone, but I'm nobody special. I just love my dogs, same as you. :-)

Till next time. . .

Dale

My dog, Neal

Those of you who follow my blog know I travel with two Scottish Terriers. Bailey is black and Neal is my wheaten Scottie. Neal is handicapped with a condition known as cerebellar abiotrophy which presents itself a lot like Parkinson's. There is no pain associated with it, just gradual loss of voluntary muscle movement.

Neal also has the misfortune of being an epi-dog, one with seizures. It is 4 a.m. and I have been up since 1:45. He is clustering, having the first one at 5:00 p.m. as we were getting ready to go to the potluck. Then another at 10 p.m. and then this one at 2 a.m. This time, he manifested the post-ictal phases very prominently. . . lots of pacing, needing to go out, thirsty, etc. He has added a new one, and that is barking. Not exactly what I want to hear at 3 a.m. I have taken him out twice. He also seems to have the munchies and I think that is why he is barking. He wants fed. But that is not going to happen. I gave him a treat, and now. . . some 2 hours after it all started. . . he has finally laid down his weary head. . . and I for some reason seem wide awake.

With tomorrow a travel day, I know I will be wiped out. I made Terry stay in bed and told him he would be driving tomorrow. . . er. . . today. Oh yes, and on top of this, we had to turn our clocks up one hour, which actually gives me one less hour of sleep. But our travel days are no more than 200 miles and that is all that is planned for tomorrow, so I can make it through that.

Here's hoping Neal is done with the seizures for now. It's been over a month since his last and we had boosted his meds. Just no accounting for these blasted seizures, though.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Light my Fire!

As we were getting ready to leave Rainbow Plantation, a fellow blogger, Susan, stopped by to meet us. She and I have been following each other's blogs for several months and we are so glad she stopped to introduce herself. We got to meet her husband, Jack, as well.
Meeting up with fellow fulltimers you read about on the web is one of the perks of traveling like we do. Eventually we said our goodbyes and we were on our way. We headed out toward I-10 to make the lower Alabama RV.net rally in Dothan.

We crossed Escambia Bay around Pensacola around noon. This bridge was taken out during Hurricane Ivan, I think, and the last time we were here, parts were missing. We were on the side that got hit and they just had open grating down, so it was a little nerve racking.
From the bridge we could see smoke and knew they were having wildfires in Florida, but we just crossed the bridge by about a couple miles and they closed the interstate in front of us. It was I-10. We were about 1/4 mile from where the fire was working toward the interstate and we had a few anxious moments.
The cops were letting people turn around in the median, but in Florida they don't have any crossovers. I got out and was talking to some of the truck drivers and they recommended at our weight, we not try turning in the median. As luck would have it, we could see back behind us many trucks had made the turn, but one was now stuck. It was a car hauler. The one trucker was really nice. . . he was right beside us and he asked if we had to be anywhere. I said, "Nope, we are good to stay." He said that's what he was doing because he was too heavy to go through the median. Eventually all of the car and small truck traffic in front of us turned, but we stayed where we were. After about an hour, the smoke started to thin, and they started letting traffic go through. So we got through and we passed by the fire. It didn't look like a forest fire, but looked like a grass fire, although it had at one point leaped across the road and burned on the other side too.

We arrived in Dothan at the Peanut Festival Grounds and set up camp. Got to meet up with Mark and Patsie (2stepr) Not sure how he spells it. Our rally here starts tomorrow.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Stars Fell on Alabama!

We left Gary and Jo's yesterday morning and arrived at Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, Alabama, around 2 p.m. Set up camp and wandered into Foley, Alabama, to the outlet stores. Did a little shopping and found a pair of shoes.

This morning we headed west to Fairhope for Terry to get his blood work done. We had no trouble locating the LabCorp and he was the only one in there, so he was out very quickly. We drove around Fairhope which is a quaint little town. They have a downtown area and we saw NO stores boarded up out of business. There apparently is a push by Wal-Mart to open a store in Fairhope and people are divided as to whether it should be permitted. We saw "Welcome Wal-Mart" and "Say NO to Wal-Mart" signs all over.

We visited the outlet stores again and found more shoes for me and Terry and I both got some new jeans. . . retired attire. :-)

When we returned to the camp, we washed the motorhome. . . big, big job. Makes we wish we had a van-camper. Hah. We also washed the little car. Hosed down the awning mats and now everything is ready to go tomorrow. We are breaking camp around 9 a.m. tomorrow and heading for the Peanut Festival Grounds in Dothan, Alabama, to the Lower Alabama RV.net rally. Yay. Rally Time.

Till next time. . .

Dale

On the go with Gary and Jo!

We are in Zachary, Louisiana, at cousin Gary and wife Jo's. We arrived Saturday and set up camp in their back yard. They have 40 acres, I think he said. Since we were here last fall, Gary wired us a 50 amp plug. How's that for service? So plugging in is a breeze. Gary is a charter fishing captain who hasn't fished since Katrina wiped out the fishing camp, but things are slowing getting back to normal down in Leeville, about 20 miles from Grand Isle, Louisiana. Part of the state park at Grand Isle is open. . . there is no longer any beachfront camping and I think the bathhouses were destroyed. I believe a lot of people have left the island for good now, but they did have their own school system and Gary is not sure if the school is running yet or if the students have been relocated. I would like to go see it right now, but we are heading to a rally is Alabama next weekend, so we won't make it this year.

Yesterday we went to the park here in Zachary for a reenactment. We have been to a few in the past, but this one was different and it was quite large. We got to see some demonstrations and visited with a lot of the reenactors. They are really quite passionate about portraying history and most are very well versed about the role of the various companies in the battles.

Today Jo has to go to work :-( so we will probably hang out with Gary and get our mail. We will leave here tomorrow (if the mail comes today) and head toward the Alabama rally.

Till next time. . .

Dale

One-Armed Bandits

Yes, that's right. . . we are at another casino. . . heh, heh, heh. Left Beaumont yesterday and drove about 100 miles to Kinder, Louisiana. We are camped at the RV Resort at the Coushatta Indian Casino just north of town. The campgrounds affiliated with casinos are for the most part very nice. They are spacious, full hookups with all the amenities, nice facilities and usually a very good value. They hope, of course, that you will go spend all your money at the casino. But that doesn't happen with us.

We set up camp yesterday around noon and just hung around here, getting a walk in and letting the dogs out to get some air. The only problem has been the weather. WHERE IS THIS COLD COMING FROM? Ever since we left Victoria, the weather has turned cold. Had to have the furnaces on. Last night we put the boyz in the bathroom, so we only had to run one furnace. They don't mind. It's nice and cozy that way. It did rain yesterday too, which made it cold and wet, but we have seen so little rain, we weren't really upset about it.

Today dawned cold again, but not wet. Even the grass was dry when we got up. We had breakfast and took our time getting ready to go to the casino. We left just before lunch. We spent several hours there. We didn't win too much. In fact, we were in danger of losing our entire $20 we allot ourselves, so we decided to take in their buffet. After dinner, we hit some machines on the way out; and, as luck would have it, Terry had a hot machine. He won back $20, so it was about a break even day. I figure we had about 4 hours of free (or near free) entertainment. Not bad.

We will be here till Saturday then we are going to travel to Zachary, Louisiana, and drop in on Terry's cousin, Gary and his wife Jo. We saw them in the fall and will stop for a night or two to say hello.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Leaving Victoria, Arriving Beaumont, Texas

While we were in Victoria we took time to do a little siteseeing. We drove down to Port Lavaca one afternoon. We got to see the ocean and we weren't disappointed. We drove out to Magnolia Beach and found several RVers boondocking on the beach. Most of them were Canadians. Boondocking on the beach really intrigues us, but we aren't quite sure about the salt spray on the coach. Don't want to purposely subject it to corrosive materials.

Yesterday we drove over to Goliad which was the site of a massacre of Texas Revolutionary militia under the command of Fannin by Santa Anna. We visited a mission and then the presidio, where the doomed prisoners were kept. The entire presidio has been reconstructed to appear as it was in the 1800's. It is quite impressive and the church is beautifully restored.

This morning we left Victoria at 9 a.m. We headed toward Houston and arrived there around 11. We chose to take the toll road around Houston which turned out to be a good choice. Total cost was $15.75, but the piece of mind with Terry driving was worth it. He doesn't normally drive the big cities, but he was at the wheel and decided to stick with it. The toll road was not heavily traveled and we got around Houston easier than Indy. We are in the Gulf Coast RV Resort at Beaumont, Texas. Tomorrow we head toward Kinder where we have reservations in the casino campground.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Victoria, Texas!

We enjoyed our stay in San Antonio. We met up Janice and Dean (luv2cruise) and the six of us had a great time there. Janice fixed red beans with rice and sausage one night. Patti and I added a salad and cake, so we really enjoyed a feast. One of the greatest things about full timing is the friends you make along the way. Mickey and Patti, Janice and Dean are good examples. We never knew them before, but now we share this great lifestyle and we meet up periodically and do things together.

One day I took Janice and Dean and Patti and drove the Mission Trail. This is the site along the San Antonio River at which these missions were built. It extends for several miles. There are five including the Alamo. They are located south of the city proper and are in various stages of restoration. All four of the churches are quite impressive and masses are held regularly.
You can also book them for baptisms and weddings, etc. The missions all were built as compounds with walls, quarters, granaries, etc. They are definitely worth a visit. They are not generally crowded. It is one of the most impressive and inspirational visits I have made to an "attraction" and it is free. It is not a tourist trap, but remnants of life long ago.

We left San Antonio this morning and arrived in Victoria, Texas, around noon.
We had planned on going to Corpus Christi, but our experience with spring breakers in San Antonio convinced us we didn't want to chance running into crowds out on the Gulf.We plan to be here until Monday when we should get our mail.

(Bailey takes time to smell the roses.)

San Antonio Rocks!

Yesterday afternoon we took Patti and Mickey to San Antonio to see the Alamo. Man, oh, man. Talk about a crowd. No parking anywhere, every lot was full. I guess spring break is in full swing. (Note to self. . . must plan better when it comes to the working man's vacation schedule.) There was a long line outside the Alamo, so decided to try to find something else to do. Another place on the list was the El Mercado. We were able to find a "reasonable" parking spot for that and walked a block. I have no idea what they were celebrating, but we saw at least 4 bands in the 1-2 block area and they were really rockin'. Wow. (See if you can find Terry in the picture. I am totally obscured.)
Really good Mexican music. . . and the food. . . wow, the food smelled so good. But we were raisin to raisin walking through the area. We did stop at most of the shops and did a lot of browsing. There were so many people.

When we left there, we drove toward the camp and found a barbecue place to eat at. It was very good and we enjoyed a good meal.

I didn't take my camera with me this time, but because I had been to the Mercado twice before and had pictures. But I should have. Patti was smarter than me, so maybe I can pilfer some pix off her blog.

Till next time. . .

Dale

San Antonio!

We arrived in San Antonio yesterday in the early afternoon. Janice and Dean (luv2cruise) were here waiting on us. We had reservations for a week at a campground and to say the proprietors had lied about ALL the amenities there would be an understatement. She said they had pull throughs, 50 amp hookups, big rig spots, etc. We tried 3 different spots before we finally settled on one and then could only put 2 of our 4 slides out. We can still negotiate in the coach, but I was NOT a happy camper. We all just paid for 1 night and morning could not come quickly enough. Before yesterday was gone, we had reservations at another park on the south side of town. We arrived here this morning at about 10:30 and got in our sites. Janice and Dean had to move once because of faulty electric, but we got settled in and are enjoying this place much more than the other.

The campground here had smoked BBQ ribs for dinner tonight, so we three couples got tickets and all went down there. It was very good and when we walked back, we all gathered outside Mickey and Patti's trailer and talked and planned the next couple days. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Alamo, then go down to the Riverwalk and maybe take a boat ride.

I am including a picture of our rig, Phaeton Place, that Patti took while we were on the road.


Till next time. . .

Dale

Remember the Alamo!

We spent 2 nights in Deming, New Mexico, after leaving Tucson. We met up there with friends Mickey and Patti and spent a few hours looking over a couple state parks near Deming. Saw some beautiful sites, hills, valleys, etc.

We left Deming and headed east on I-10 stopping for the night in Van Horn, Texas. There we decided to depart from the usual route across I-10 and take the scenic route down US 90 toward Del Rio. We left yesterday morning and embarked on a journey that at first didn't hold much in scenery, but as the miles went by, we started to see more hills. Even though the landscape was scrub, there were several species of animals we saw. We saw a bobcat walking alongside the road. As we approached, he turned and I got a good look at his face. We saw the usual hawks, but we also saw a lot of antelope. Then my favorite, the javelina. They are really cute when they get spooked because they try to run so fast on their short little straight legs and their hair looks like it stands straight up. Hah. We saw a couple of them. We stopped for the night in Sanderson, Texas, which really has not much claim to fame although the campground was adequate. A couple owns it and is building an adobe house on the grounds. The house was really interesting looking with a "dogtrot" separating the main house from the bedroom. They are building it much like a cabin, with wood plank floors, exposed ceilings, etc. The adobe block were 16 inches, serving as the outer and inner walls. Porches ran all the way around the house. It was really neat and they were very gracious to show us around.

Today, Tuesday, we left Sanderson, Texas, and arrived in Brackettville, Texas, around 1:00. We crossed the Pecos River
today which was a beautiful aqua color and then crossed over part of Lake Amistead, which borders the US and Mexico. The lake was beautiful.
It was nice to see water again. We are here for a couple days. Our goal is to see the Alamo Village. It is the Village and replica of the Alamo that John Wayne had built for his 1960 movie, The Alamo.
We are staying in a campground at Fort Clark, which is a decommissioned fort with a lot of buildings here still intact. They have in most cases been restored and used for other things, but when you drive through, you certainly get the feel of an old military fort here.


We see a lot of wild turkey in the camp. They wander through at will and we are told there are a lot of deer in the camp at night.


We are experiencing a lot of wind. We may decide to stay an extra day as we have no desire to be on the road with really strong winds. We shall see.

Till next time. . .

Dale

The Tucson Experience

Well, we have been there and gone. . . Tucson that is. We arrived Wednesday and set up camp at the Pima County Fairgrounds. Not a bad place to camp. Full hookups for $17. Everything else in town was in the $30+ range and since location wasn't real important to us, we managed quite well. The fairgrounds is on the far east side of town, so it made leaving there easy.

We only stayed there for 2 nights, so we didn't get to see much, but we went to the west side over the mountain and visited the Sonoran Desert Museum. It is part zoo, part museum. . . and a living desert museum.
They had some displays behind glass, like the reptiles and spiders, etc., which was fine with me. Although it would be highly possible to see those in the wild at this location as well. You take off hiking along a path and things are marked. It is very well laid out, easy to follow, and a good source of information about life for plants and critters in the desert. We ended our visit there with the hummingbird aviary, which is a walk through area. Once the school kids left (wow, what a screaming bunch) the hummingbirds ventured out from their hiding places and put on a fascinating display. One was nesting.

After leaving there, we drove next door to the parking lot of the Old Tucson studios. We didn't have time to take in the activities, but we did get to see a coyote. He was in the nearly empty parking lot just strolling around.
Imagine he might be used to handouts, although we didn't give him any. We just took some pictures. He didn't let the car get too close.

Friday morning we left Tucson and drove east on I-10. We arrived in Deming, New Mexico, around 1:30. We are parked right behind Mickey and Patti and got an invite for supper. Doesn't get any better than that! We had English Muffin pizzas and they were delicious. Thanks Mickey and Patti.

We got all set up at this Escapees park. It is a nice easy park to navigate and we frequently use it when we are passing through. There isn't a lot to do around here, at least, not that we have found in the immediate area. But we are here for a couple days to regroup before heading east. Our goal in the next week or so is to arrive in Corpus Christi and spend some time there. Patti needs to see water again and we are moseying over toward lower Alabama for the rally the end of the month.

Till next time. . .

Dale