BOOM!!!!

We decided to go to the Fort today, officially known as the Castillo de San Marcos. We had been there years ago, but had passed it up on our last trip here and had not really planned to go this time, but the lure was too great. It is a greatly preserved fort from the period. . . it was built in the 1600's and gives a glimpse of what life was like for the soldiers whose job was to protect the city of St. Augustine.

We were in luck because they were firing the canon today, so I got some pictures and a movie of the actual firing. The video is way too big to upload, but suffice to say, it was pretty neat to watch. What is incredible is that the cannon could fire accurately for one-and-a-half miles! One of the other canon has a range of three miles. Wow! The canon firing is a ceremony which depicts the actual procedures used by the Spanish to keep the soldiers in readiness for any potential conflicts.

We continued our walk around the top of the fort, from which the canon that were spaced around the walls would fire down upon the invaders. The fort has the distinction of never having been taken by an opposing army. It was surrendered by treaty a couple times, but it was ably defended by its design and the soldiers who defended it.

The ground level included the parade grounds and various rooms, including troops quarters, an artillery room, chapel, powder magazine, and a latrine. The tour is self-guided and there are numerous displays which tell the story of the fort. It was an interesting lesson in history and a greatly preserved piece of our history. It is well worth a stop if you are in this area.

We were parked on the waterfront, so walking to/from our car allowed us to enjoy the breeze off the ocean and to look for dolphins. We didn't see any today, but we did see several yesterday while we were on the tour tram.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the old section of St. Augustine. Parts of it remind me of Key West. We did different streets today and got to see the Spanish military hospital. We also did a bit of shopping, stopping in and browsing; but true to form, we didn't buy a thing except lunch! Hah. We just have no room to put anything new. I took a picture of "Treasury Street." This is the narrowest street in town. It is an actual street and was purposely made narrow. The bank was located down this street and they wanted to make it difficult for bank robbers to make a quick get-a-way.

When we left there, we drove up to where the "Old Jail" is located. Since we had visited the jail the other night on the "Ghosts and Graveyards" tour, we went into the St. Augustine museum instead. This was a very small museum, but we were pleasantly surprised at the displays and the exhibits. We had almost passed on this, but now are glad we took the time to go through it. It was a brief look into life in Florida during an earlier time.

Tomorrow is moving day. We are headed down to Ormond Beach.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Ghosts and Graveyards

We have been to St. Augustine, Florida, a couple times and never get tired of the city. It has quaint elements that are very fun to explore. We bought trolley tickets which are good for three days and allow you to hop on/off at any of 22 stops along the way. It is a great way to get from point A to point B, but I do have some warnings. The ride is extremely rough and bumpy, even in the forward car. We both had headaches and backaches yesterday and didn't really attribute it to anything. But after the ride today, we discovered that the rough ride may very well be the culprit. At times you almost get whiplike movements of your head and we now believe the ride is to blame. Even though our tickets are still good tomorrow, we are going to be looking for a place to park instead. Now we took the trolley system. Ripley's has a similar system pulled by "trains." They actually have wooden benches and it's possible those wouldn't give as bad a ride and the molden fiberglas benches we were on. You might keep that in mind. We stayed on the entire trip the first time because the driver narrates the trip around the city and gives you plenty of history and suggestions of things to explore. While most tell about the same things, we have found that different drivers do add little tidbits here and there. And one driver we had yesterday afternoon was a real comic! He was very funny and enjoyable to listen to as he delivered the history lesson.

We hopped off at one of the early stops and then visited many of the hundreds of shops located in historic buildings and tried to imagine what life was like back in the 1600's.

We finally walked back to a trolley stop and boarded for the trip back to the car. Once there, we headed back to the park. We wanted to rest up for our "Ghosts and Graveyards" tour in the evening.

Our Ghosts and Graveyards tour was to start at 8:20 p.m. It was already dark by that time which added to the "spookiness" of the tour. Our tour was narrated by a British guy who was dressed in period costume and delivered a history of hauntings in St. Augustine while plying us with "cheesey" jokes. It was a great time. We visited the two main cemeteries in town. The Hugenot Cemetery has many people buried who were victims of a yellow fever plague. There are several mass graves in there, so no real way to tell how many people are buried in this old, old cemetery. The second cemetery is believe to be on the site of an ancient Indian village and regular hauntings are said to occur here. A little boy, they say, is often seen swinging from the tree branches. He was 5 years old when he died.

We traveled over to Anastasia Island then and to the grounds of the lighthouse. The St. Augustine Light is said to be the most haunted lighthouse in the country. We actually could see people up in there, but the narrator told us that there was a group of para-normal adventurers, a.k.a. ghost hunters, who where there to try and conjure up and document ghostly apparitions. The light has been featured in several television shows about ghostly activity and was also featured in a National Geographic show about the same. We did not go up into the light, but we could look and observe from the playgound where children once again are said to haunt. There was a lightkeeper whose three daughters were killed in a tragic accident and their spirits are said to be heard in the playground. A lighthouse keeper himself plummeted to his death from the top of the lighthouse and he also is said to haunt the light. Very interesting stories, but we did not observe anything last night.

The last stop on our Ghosts and Graveyards tour was at the Old Jail. The jail was built by Henry Flagler and was supposed to resemble a hotel. It was dark and spooky there, though. I really didn't see many lights and they kept it very dimly lit. We got to see inside cells and we got to hear the "tales" of the eight criminals where were kept there and hanged at the gallows out back. One of the condemned was our "jail docent" who appeared after some commotion out in the hall. We were all in one of the main cell blocks and after the banging, etc., this inmate appeared and told us the stories of the eight men who were executed here. He was a very good actor and was very quick witted. He played his role well and told us about life in the cell blocks when the jail was actually in use and included information about the ghosts that are said to haunt the jail.

The tour was about an hour and fifteen minutes. It was packed full of information and if you come to visit, you may want to take in a ghost tour. There are several from which to choose and there is also a "Halloween Bash" tour which looks like it would be fun.

We were back in town for a while this afternoon, but this being a weekend, it was very crowded. The trolleys were also crowded and running very slow because of all the traffic. We decided to postpone our tour of the fort. We may do that tomorrow.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Moving right along. . .

We left the Neuse River Nature Center in Kinston, North Carolina, early yesterday morning. We had gotten a good night's sleep, but woke early. Terry had been watching the weather and we knew rain was coming in early in the morning and since we got up early we decided to get ready to move and try to beat the rain. Mission accomplished and we were on our way by 7:30 a.m. which is very early for us.

We had decided that instead of sightseeing our way through Georgia, we would just head to Florida and do our sightseeing there. We planned to spend some time in St. Augustine. While we have been there before, it is a neat and historic town, so we knew we would have plenty to occupy our time. We have an appointment next week with DataStorm of Florida to repair our internet satellite system, so we wanted to be closer to that area.

We stopped around 1:30 in the afternoon at a Comfort Inn which has an RV park out back. We had read the reviews and while there is a train track right behind the campground, it didn't appear to be a problem for the many reviewers. We had a leisurely afternoon and I got a couple loads of laundry done. A couple trains came through, but with the air conditioning fans running, we hardly noticed them and decided they wouldn't pose a problem for us.

I was sound asleep when suddenly at about 2:30 a.m. a train whistle blasted the quiet of the night. It was the loudest train whistle I have ever heard and it was amplified by the fact that it was only about 50 feet from our motorhome. Why in the world would a train engineer sound a whistle at night in that area that didn't require one all day or into the evening? We decided he did it just to blast us out of a peaceful sleep. I was soooooo rattled. I not only could not get back to sleep but the adrenalin rush basically had my eyes wide open for the next couple hours. Finally at 5 a.m. we decided to get out of bed and get ready to roll. So this morning we left at 7 a.m. It was still dark, which is something I can't even remember doing in recent history.

We knew where we planned to stay and we drove into Indian Forest Campground just south of St. Augustine. We were here several years ago when Hurricane Wilma came through. We had to sit here till Brevard County got the all clear and we were able to get into our campground there.

We took a drive out to the beaches and walked out onto the fishing pier. The water really looked inviting. There were a few surfers out. We went into town tonight and picked up some literature so we could plan what we are going to do for the next several days. Hopefully we will be able to start with a good night's sleep tonight!

Till next time. . .

Dale

The reason we are full-time RVers. . .

PICTURES ADDED!!!!!!!!

Note: Our DataStorm, our internet satellite dish, has not been working for several months. Because of that, I don't have a fast enough connection to upload many pictures. I have them ready to go, so check back later. We have an appointment with Datastorm of Florida on October 18 to get it repaired. This will be the fourth different technician we have had work on it. He seems to be considerably more professional than the last guy we had. He assures me he is the only tech we will ever need, so check back after October 18 and I will try to have pictures up.

We were in Pennsylvania planning on heading to Gettysburg for a few days of sightseeing. My dear Aunt Dorothy, stricken with cancer, died while we were there. We had known her time was short, and we decided to change our plans so we could run back to Indiana for the calling and funeral.

We called ahead to the Charlottesvile KOA and were told they had room for us, so we could come in several days early. I still wanted to spend time with Jocelyn, Tom and Ronan, so by going in a few days early, we were able to spend as many days with them as planned and still make the drive back to Indiana. We left the motorhome there and last Thursday afternoon we left to go to Indiana. We drove till midnight, then stopped northwest of Columbus, Ohio, for the night. We drove into Goshen on Friday and were there for the afternoon visitation. Aunt Dorothy was 88 and she had elected herself not to do any more chemo, instead just asked to be kept comfortable as her weeks and days dwindled. It is always a solemn occasion when a loved one dies, but all were grateful her pain had ended and she is in a better place. The next day we buried her in the cemetery where most of my parents' relatives are and older sister as well. So my younger sister and I visited a few gravesites before we left. I was glad that Nita and I had some time together. We stayed at her house Friday night and had a chance to catch up on things. We all went back to the church after the funeral and had dinner. Terry and I bid my cousins farewell, then left at noon to drive back to Charlottesville.

We got about five miles out of town and had a tire go down on the truck. Fortunately we had put our pressure pro, a tire monitoring system, in the truck so we would know if we were having any tire issues. A quick check revealed a badly leaking valve stem. We got the jump start out and Terry inflated the tire. We had about 3.7 miles to go to Ligonier, where we thought we could find a tire shop or at least a place to change the tire. We had to stop 3 times along that route to inflate the tire, but we drove right to a tire shop and pulled in. They fixed the valve stem in about 20 minutes and we were on our way again. It was now 1 p.m., so I guess you could say we officially left then. We decided to drive until we were tired and couldn't drive any further, but we ended up driving into the campground at 12:35 a.m. Sunday morning. I slept much better in my own bed and am glad we drove it.

We spent another day with the kids. It was a lovely week with them. They came out to the camp the first night we were there and we got a good Ronan fix. We took a drive up into the mountains another day and saw some deer. We were hoping to see a bear or two, but we didn't. It was cold up on the mountain. We were in an area known as Big Meadow. Very lovely. It had been sunny and warm when we left C-ville, but as soon as we turned north to climb Skyline Drive, it became overcast and cool. But the mountains are pretty cool even when it's raining. At least I think so, and I got some good pictures. The leaves are starting to turn in the higher elevations, but down in C-ville it is still mostly green. We did manage to see a lot of color on the drive back to Indiana, especially in West Virginia and in Ohio. We couldn't see the color coming back because we were in the mountains when it was dark.

We took Ronan up to Carter Mountain one day. There is an orchard there and they also have vineyards. The views from up on top are spectacular and we always enjoy the scenery. It was a beautiful, sunny day when we were there and it was warm. They are having a beautiful fall season there. The last day, once we returned from our Indiana trip, we spent visiting an organic farm open house. Afterwards we went to the kids' place and had steak on the grill, broccoli and sweet potatoes. It was wonderful. We then said our goodbyes and went back to camp to retire early since we were leaving the next day.

On Monday we left the KOA and drove to Kinston, North Carolina. When we started full-timing six years ago, we met a couple, Mickey and Patti, who joined our group. Mickey died unexpectedly the following year and Patti returned to her hometown of Kinston and to the lovely home where she and Mickey had lived. It was a big adjustment for her and her little dog, Frosty, but she is doing well. We don't get through here very often, but we always enjoy a visit with Patti when we do.

Last night Patti and Frosty came by to chat when she got off work. Tonight she is picking us up after work and taking us out to dinner. Whoo hoo! I can't wait. We have a few sightseeing things to do before then, but I am looking forward to it.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Life in the S-L-O-W lane. . .

We left camp in New Lisbon at 10:25 a.m. on Wednesday. What a wild two weeks. We started at New Lisbon, flew to Florida and back in three days, then moved the motorhome to the state park for two nights, then moved back to the New Lisbon camp. Then we had hair appointments, bloodwork, doctor appointments, etc., in New Castle, then two doctor appointments in Indy. After my annual mammogram, we drove the car up to Goshen to see Mom and Dad one last time before they leave for the winter. We also closed up the storage condo there and then drove back to New Lisbon. We flew out the next day to Houston, more doctor appointments, then flew back on Tuesday this week, then headed out. Tired yet?

Once we left there, we don't plan to return till spring. We drove the first night to Cabela's in Wheeling, West Virginia. We actually planned on boonmooching there for one night. What did we think of the experience? Well, I didn't like the trucks using the parking lot, so we parked clear at one end, but the trucks continued to come in and roll around us. Finally more RV's showed up and more/less blocked that end, so the trucks had to stay on the other end. That is where the entrance/exit was anyway, so they had more room. It was nice and quiet and I felt safe, but we did not put out all our slides. It is difficult navigating in the bedroom with only one slide out, especially since we had a lot of extra stuff we are taking to Brandon's.

The next day we drove on to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and we are here visiting Amish country. We are parked in Flory's campground. It is kind of tight getting into some of the sites, but once in we are comfortable and I don't think it will be hard to get out.

We left early yesterday morning and took in some of the markets and shops. We do a lot of driving around in the countryside looking at landscapes. The farms appear to be much closer together here than in Ohio or Indiana in Amish country. A lot of farmers were in their fields cutting or raking hay. We saw many horse and mule teams hitched up and working. Here apparently the church leaders do not allow the use of bicycles because we haven't seen any. Instead we have seen scooters which use smaller bike tires, a T-shaped handlebar and a scooter footrest between the tires. Even the adults use these scooters. That is quite strict in my book if you cannot even use a bicycle. . . Terry said it must have to do with gears, etc. We visited the Wilbur Chocolate Company in Lititz. We were told not to miss it, but it was a disappointment. We bought a small bit of chocolate and didn't care for it. We also visited a pretzel company which started there. The pretzels are no longer made here though and they just have a small room where they sell a few products. But across the street from there was Linden Hall, which is the oldest boarding school for girls. Right on the corner of the grounds was a Moravian church which was founded by early settlers to the area.

We ate yesterday at the Shady Maple Smorgasboard near here. It was huge, there were hundreds of people there, but we were able to get food quickly. I didn't like the food as well as Essenhaus, but we still had a good meal. Terry tried the shoo-fly pie. He concluded as I did several years ago. . . not to his liking. It must be an acquired taste. I did sample his again because I had forgotten why I didn't like it. . . I still don't!

Today we went down to Strasburg, south of here. In the entire area, there are old houses which are so elegant and reminiscent of an earlier time in our country's history. The streets are narrow and it is hard to imagine what life was like for people 2-300 years ago. We visited a couple shops in town, then we went out to the Strasburg Railroad. We got there in time to see the sightseeing train leave the station. It looks to be very comfortable. You can book a seat in a dining car or other cars. The cars all looked to be nicely refurbished.

We walked across the road to the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum. What a treat! This is a very large building and inside are housed dozens of railroad engines and cars. They are displayed on "platforms" on tracks and there is a mockup station, baggage room, etc. Some of the cars/engines can be boarded for a closer look and they have docents who tell you about the car. I have never seen so many old engines before. There are different types, portraying the different eras of railroading. Outside in the rail yard are more train cars and engines in various states of restoration. They even have a "turntable" for moving cars onto the tracks that go into the building. They are in the process of enlarging the museum so there will be more indoor viewing area. There is also a second floor walkway where you can look down on the trains in the display area. If you are in this area, I highly recommend visiting this museum. There are also shops, of course. A museum shop for one, but also across the street at the Strasburg Railroad, there are shops where you can buy momentos.

We didn't take in the Choo Choo Barn, which is back toward Strasburg, but if you have small children, that would be a must see. Also the National Toy Train Museum would be a good stop. On that same road is the Red Caboose Motel where they have something like 15 railroad cabooses which are the "motel." You can spend a night in a caboose! There is also a miniature horse farm to the north of the motel where your kids can ride a minature horse. These are all good activities for the kids. I'm thinking my grandson Ronan would love it!

Tomorrow we head out to Gettysburg. It has started raining here and it is pouring. This area is totally saturated already from Hurricane Irene and they could use a break from all the rain. But we are probably going to have rain in Gettysburg as well.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Back from Houston!

Monday morning we woke early and went to the Proton Center of MD Anderson for Terry's bloodwork. It was coupled with about 15 sheets of questionnaires asking him all kinds of questions about life after proton therapy. Although the therapy is not really new, it is becoming one of the most popular treatments for prostate cancer because of the relatively low incidence of side effects. So they gather data which helps them in treating new patients in the future.

We then went to breakfast and returned back to the house to crash before his 1 p.m. appointment with the doctor. Even though our quarters at Jim and Lillian's was very nice and comfortable, we have trouble sleeping in anything other than our own bed in the motorhome and we had not slept well the night before.

We left early to go to the doctor and when we got there, we were ushered in immediately! The nurses came in and asked a few questions and relayed the news of his latest PSA which was .8! Whoo Hoo!!!!!!! Down from 1.2 in June. It continues the downhill slide and will bottom out at some point. Then they start measuring any increases/decreases from that point in order to determine what is happening. But that news was as good as we had hoped for and the nurses were excited. Then the doctor came in. Dr. Pugh is 6'10" and claims he came to MD Anderson because they have 8' doors everywhere. Hah. He is a very nice man and we are glad we have him for a doctor. He was extremely excited about Terry's progress and said "You look great! You look like a million dollars!" He continued to compliment Terry on his weight loss and his physical appearance. He was very pleased. All is good with the cancer treatment and he believes that nothing more needs to be done. Terry will send in blood work at 9 months and then we have a follow-up appointment in March with the doctor.

We left there and went out to Lakeview RV Resort where we lived for 3 months last winter. We saw the managers, Chris and Jim, and touched base with them about returning the last of March for a followup. That may be a problem because the Houston Rodeo has changed its dates, but we should be able to find some place to stay then.

We went out to eat later and then crashed back at the house. We went to bed early again and once again did not sleep well, but not much would be required of us on Tuesday. We got up early again and went out for some breakfast. Then we headed back to the airport. Our flight was to leave at 12:18, but we got an earlier flight at 10:36. That meant we had more time to kill in Atlanta, but that was okay. Our flight into Dayton was on time and we got back to the motorhome at 8:30 p.m. We got unpacked, took showers, and finally got to sleep in our own bed!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Sizzling here today.

Terry here.

Those busy couple of weeks are coming to an end in what feels like a sauna.

We're in Houston, arrived yesterday about noon for my 6 month prostate cancer treatment followup at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Coming back to Houston seemed almost like coming home since we spent January-March this year exploring this great city, while I was getting treatment. My day starts with bloodwork at 8am and finishes at 1pm with an appointment with my radiation oncologist, with hopefully continued good results.

It's down right hot and steamy steamy while the Texas drought continues. The high for today is forecast @ 98 with 97% humidity with no rain in sight. Tomorrow at about noon, we will be getting out of the heat when we board the plane for our flight back to Dayton and the short drive to Phaeton Place. Wednesday morning we head east and will end up next week at Charlottesville, VA for a visit with Jocelyn, Tom and Ronan. We're due in Ormand Beach, FL October 18th for Datastorm repair, so we will be in full travel mode at last! But, it won't last long, starting October 21st we'll be in Melbourne, FL for Brandon and Megan's wedding!

Busy weeks ahead. . .

Last Monday we left Goshen and headed toward central Indiana for the start of two super busy weeks. We pulled into our usual camp when we are here in New Lisbon and quickly set up. We had our mail sent here, so we went to the post office just across the interstate and picked that up.

We settled in for a relaxing evening and made sure we had finalized our suitcase packing for the flight to Florida the next day. We got to bed early and were actually awake before our alarm clocks went off at 4 a.m.

Our flight was to leave Dayton for Orlando via Atlanta at 7:45. We made good time getting over there just after six and found a parking place and grabbed the shuttle to the terminal. We checked in and were asked if we would like to change our flight to a non-stop. Uh, yeah! It was about 6:30 a.m. at this time and the flight left at 7 a.m., so we quickly checked our bags and headed for the gate. Of course, it was the furthest most gate, but we did have enough time. Just as we got there, we were checked in and boarded the plane. We took off on time and got in to Orlando at 9 a.m. We grabbed our rental car and headed to the hotel. Our room wasn't ready, but we got checked in and called Brandon. It was about 11:30, so we met him for lunch. That was really special because we hadn't planned to even be there by that time.

Afterwards we went back to the room, and crashed a bit, then met up with Megan and Brandon at his house. We got to see Jax, Brandon's dog, and he was his usual friendly self. Just a great dog. We went to Jason's deli for supper and enjoyed visiting with the kids. When we got back we visited for a bit then we drove back up to our hotel. The hotel, The Hampton, is the same one we will use during the rehearsal and wedding as it is close to the country club where the wedding will take place. So it was good to touch base with them. We were able to visit a few campgrounds in the area so that we would have information in the event wedding guests would like to use them. A few family members have RV's, so that might work out for them.

On Wednesday, we went with Megan to her wedding dress fitting. I was glad to go along and see her dress up close! I had only seen pictures of it. It is beautiful and she will be a beautiful bride. Terry sat out in the car and read his book as he was not as interested in the "girlie" stuff. Hah. Later we went back to the room and relaxed a bit. Terry was not feeling too well. He had his allergies start to bother him before we left Goshen and they were in high gear when we got to Florida. The warm weather didn't help, he just felt more miserable. We did get him some allergy tablets and orange juice and it did eventually work.

Wednesday afternoon, we went over to Brandon's a little early so I could wrap the gifts I had sent to his house. I got that done and visited with Diane, Megan's Mom, and the girls who had already arrived. They are a nice group of young ladies and many were excited to be there for the shower. The day after the shower they were leaving for a cruise. . .Megan's Bachelorette Cruise. So there was a lot of excitement in the air!

There was so much food to eat! Oh my gosh! There were two trays of sandwiches, taquitos, a watermelon whale, a shrimp bowl, a sushi BOAT, and a cake decorated to look like sushi. The common theme here. . . SUSHI. . . happens to be Megan's favorite food! None of us went hungry, for sure. We played some games and ate and later Megan unwrapped her gifts. Jax kept hoping there might be some dog bones for him, but there were none! Megan got lots of nice, useful gifts and they will be a big help to them both.

While I was busy with the shower, Brandon and Terry went out to dinner together and took a leisurely drive down the coast. They returned toward the end of the shower. We visited for a short time together because we weren't going to be able to see them again before we left. Brandon had to work and Megan was going on her cruise!

Our flight on Thursday didn't leave until 9 p.m. from Orlando. I had booked that flight because it was the only non-stop flight and I thought we might need the day to finish up last minute details. As it was, we had everything done and once we checked out of the hotel, we went in search of something to do. We first went to IKEA because we rarely get a chance to look there. Then we went to the outlet mall, then to the Florida Mall, etc. While there, we visited the M&M's store and had our pictures taken next to Kyle Bush's #18 car. We just tried to find things to do to pass the time. Even though we couldn't buy anything because our luggage was full, Terry managed to find an adjustable rib rack for the grill he has been looking for. And I found a top so I now have an outfit to wear to the rehearsal and dinner afterward! I had been searching for something and found it at Macy's. I am really happy that we have our clothes all bought and ready to go for the wedding.

We were debating whether or not to get to the airport. We were close, but didn't know what rush hour in Orlando was like. Just then, the "check engine" light on our rental car came on. It had been running badly since we picked it up. So we just headed the few miles down the road to the airport. We didn't want to take a chance on driving around more and perhaps getting stranded somewhere. And we had nothing to do, so we went to the airport. We checked in, went through security and settled down at the Outback Restaurant and ate a leisurely dinner. We were sitting right next to a large table of Australians who were having quite the time. How appropriate!

The flight back was smooth and it was neat to look out and see all the lights below. I always take the window seat and I enjoy watching the ground. Terry read a little, I listened to the IPod and we both tried to sleep, but didn't. We got back at 11:07 p.m. and made it back to the motorhome about 12:30 a.m. Needless to say, we slept in this morning!

Tomorrow we leave camp here and drive a few miles north to the state park where we are going to stay with friends Mark and Dave and enjoy the company of former colleagues at our annual Parkview Picnic. It should be fun. A little gathering of friends has turned into a yearly event and I look forward to it every year.

Next week we have our local doctor appointments. We will drive back up to Goshen next weekend to close things up, then we return here and fly to Houston for Terry's cancer check-up. Things will hopefully slow down a bit after that!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Get your motors runnin'. . . head out on the highway. . .

In just a few days, we will be leaving northern Indiana. Hardly seems possible our time here as slumlords is drawing to a close. We have finished up with all of the landlording tasks and hopefully things will run smoothly through the winter months for our manager. The only thing he really has to do is collect rent. If it snows, he has to plow and if anyone has a problem, he has to call a repairman, but on a good day, he has little or nothing to do. We try to get all the routine maintenance items done in the summer while we are here so that there are no surprises other times of the year.

Monday was a special treat for us. We drove down to sister Nita and Jim's place and we went with them and another couple to the ZZ Top concert in Wabash, Indiana. The venue there is the Honeywell Center and they have a very nice theater, the Ford Theater, and they have some pretty big-name entertainment there. We have seen Herman's Hermits and now ZZ. ZZ was opened by a garbage band, as far as I am concerned. They played for 30 minutes. . . a long and greasy haired, baseball hatted trio with a strutting rooster for a lead singer. The only thing I did like was watching the lap-steel guitarist who was a pretty awesome musician.

ZZ came out and played for an hour. I was a little disappointed at that, but they did play another 15-minute encore, so that was better. They had their own stage props and at Wabash, it is much smaller than other venues they play, but they had a lot going on with lights, spots, videos, etc. It was a most enjoyable concert. "Old guys rule" was certainly the rule of the day!

Terry has finished our new valances and blinds in the motorhome. He did an awesome job. We replaced the cloth covered valences for solid oak finished to match the woodwork in the motorhome. Installed inside the valences are the roller shades. There are two at each window. One is cream colored and is a blackout shade for nighttime. No light can penetrate the blind. Then for daytime use is a screen which blocks out a significant portion of sunlight, but allows use to see out from the inside. People on the outside cannot see in unless we have lights on, then they might be able to see images. There are a couple manufacturers of these blinds, but we used United Shade in Elkhart. Their blinds were considerably cheaper in price than others we see in use in RV's today and they were about one-third the cost for a much better quality.

Monday we leave here and head down to central Indiana to a camp where we can leave Phaeton Place for a couple days. We are flying to Florida on Tuesday so I can attend a bridal shower on Wednesday for my "soon-to-be" daughter-in-law, Megan! Then on Thursday we fly back. We then move the motorhome to the state park where we will have our annual picnic of my former co-workers. After the picnic, we move back to the other camp where we stay when we have our local doctor appointments. Why all the moving? The state park doesn't have full hookups and we prefer those when we are getting ready for doctor appointments. And we don't feel comfortable leaving Phaeton Place in the state park while we are gone out of state. After a week of doctor appointments, we will probably drive the car back up north and check things out one last time at the apartments. Then we will return to the motorhome to pack our suitcases once again. This time we will fly to Houston for Terry's six-month cancer checkup. We fly out on Sunday, appointment Monday, fly back on Tuesday. As long as all goes well with the appointments, we are then headed out. . . first to Virginia to see Ronan and family, then onward to Florida. We will stop in Ormond Beach to get our Datastorm fixed, then on to Melbourne to spend time before the wedding of Megan and Brandon, our son, on 11/11/11! We will remain in Melbourne to take care of our grand-dog Jax while the kids are on their honeymoon, then we will start to make our way back to Texas for the winter.

A busy final two weeks in September awaits!

Till next time. . .

Dale

I can see the light.....

.....at the end of the tunnel! No, no not THAT tunnel.

Terry here, been busy finishing stuff up at the storage condo and the apartments as usual. Yesterday was paint some entry doors and trim, install some window well covers and work on cleaning up the shop from the summer's projects, this alone could take the rest of our time here!

We've got a lot of things to do, once we leave Elkhart/Goshen. On 9/12 we travel to central Indiana for Dr.'s appointments, Dale's teachers' "reunion" and some flights from Dayton, OH to Orlando (Megan's shower) and Houston (6 month cancer check at M.D Anderson for me). The last week of the month we plan to be on our way east and south for some family time.

Until then most of the things on our plate consist of; unpacking/sorting/repacking the motorhome, some visits/meals with friends/family and a little ZZ Top concert with Jim and Nita on Labor Day. That makes me wonder if we should take the earplugs from the Brickyard Nascar race? It's at a great venue, The Honeywell Center in Wabash, IN, which is a smallish community theatre, so when Billy and Dusty crank up the amps it could be a little loud. What is this, is my age showing?