Smuggler's Cove and Riverfront Campground

There are several Smuggler's Coves around the country. We are at one just west of Warsaw, Kentucky, across the river from Florence, Indiana. We came over here because we wanted to relax for a couple days right on the river. The views are awesome and even though it is expensive, the camp is well kept and comfortable.

When Terry was looking for a camp down this way, he was looking at all the conventional internet sites and didn't find anything. So he got on Google maps and zeroed in on the area. He found what looked like a campground with just four or five spots. He used the street view and found a sign at the entrance with a phone number on it. So he called. He was referred to a person who owned the property. It turns out it isn't a big camp. The man has a few sites he rents to power plant workers for the season and he didn't have any available for us. But when Terry told him his name, he asked if he was the Terry Pace who used to live in Mooreland. WOW! He said, "Yes I am." And the guy said he wanted to know what had happened to us. He was from Mooreland, living out on US36 with his parents. Now he moved down here and bought property, but still maintains a business in Sulphur Springs, Indiana. He said he knew we had left the area but never knew where we went. So Terry filled him in on what we had been doing. Talk about strange. He gave Terry some suggestions on where we might stay across the river and a couple places to avoid.

So Terry followed up on Smuggler's Cove which is a marina, hotel, restaurant and campground. He called on the way down today and got us a site for 2 nights. We arrived and wiggled our way into our site. It was a bit tricky because there really wasn't enough room to pull a 40' motorhome in, but we managed to make it. It will be easier to get out, but it was a chore today.

Once set up, we drove over to the marina to check in. We talked to the lady a bit. . . she was very nice. Terry browsed through some boats for sale on their bulletin board. We started telling the lady about how our boat sank two years ago. She was very interested and asked a lot of questions, etc. We were there talking about half a hour or so and she asked if we had ever heard of "Just Add Water" boats in Indianapolis. I said, "Well, yes. That is where we bought our two boats, including the one that sank." She asked if we had ever met Tim Meyer. I said that he is the only one who ever sold us a boat. Turns out he sold his interest in the Indy business and bought this Smuggler's Cove Marina. LOL I think we need to either a) go the the casino, or b) buy a lottery ticket. Turns out Tim's wife had just walked in, so we had a nice chat with her. They live there full time now on a house boat and she took us over and gave us the tour of their houseboat. . . very nice. Tim had gone to run an errand, so we hope to see him tomorrow. What a story! We dug out the pictures of our poor sunken boat and will show him then. He will be disappointed, I'm sure. It was a nice boat.
 
We took a drive later and made a small grocery run. We followed a road out to Sparta and found the Kentucky Speedway! Wow. Looks like a really nice track.

We sat out this evening and watched the boats, barges and seaplanes on the river. There was a nice breeze and there were no mosquitoes, which was nice.  We are across the river from the Belle Terra casino, which I'm sure we will hit tomorrow.

Life is good.

Till next time. . .

Dale

On the road again. . . and again. . .

We left northern Indiana yesterday and drove down to our old stomping grounds. The objective was a doctor's appointment for me. Seems I've not been able to shake the ailment I have. Actually I am over the flu but maintain a pinched nerve problem in my neck affecting my arm and continue with the cough I was treated for a month ago. General consensus is that it is allergies and I am getting two weeks of steroids to help what ails me. Unfortunately, I am having issues with arthritis as well, and it doesn't seem to be the everyday garden variety. . . no, it has to be psoriatic arthritis which is akin to the rheumatoid arthritis stuff. I will probably be establishing myself with a rheumatologist later this summer and go over my options. . . none of which I want, but I have to have some kind of backup plan. The doctor today prescribed steroids which should take care of everything bothering me at the moment. I hope to feel back up to par before long.

So it is hot now in Indiana. A week ago we were still freezing, now we are sweltering. Go figure. We are in the camp at New Lisbon and with 30 Amp, we can only run one A/C at a time, but we are staying cool. We are moving on toward Mississippi to the family reunion next week, but we are taking our time getting there. Looks like we are spending a couple nights camped on the Ohio river which should be fun.

Got word that our granddaughter Aenea is in the E.R. at UVA in Charlottesville. She is following in her big brother's footsteps by being allergic to eggs. So now she will be on strict avoidance for several years. At 7, Ronan still hasn't been re-introduced to them. Glad she is okay and seems to be taking the ER visit in stride.

We have friends heading to Alaska this summer and we are watching their blogs. Wish we were going again. It was a fun trip and we really enjoyed the trip up there with friends Tab and Deanna. We do talk about doing it again. . . never say never. . . .

Till next time. . .

Dale

Escapade and work!

I'm a little late with this post, but I have been sick so I guess that's a good excuse. LOL

Escapade started on Monday, May 12. We had the big motorhome in the shop and weren't sure we were going to get it back in time to take it over to the fairgrounds. As it happened, they finished it up on Friday evening and we picked it up at 9:30 p.m. Gotta love a truck company that's open until midnight. We brought it back to the house and loaded up some stuff that we had removed. The refrigerator was empty as we had the gas shut off while it was in the shop, so we had to restock that. 

On Sunday we all drove down to Nita's and from there on down to Wabash to the Honeywell Center where we had Mother's Day lunch. They always put on a nice buffet and we weren't disappointed. We had a nice visit again with all the family and then drove back to Nita's. We visited for awhile, then came on back to the house.

Monday morning the kids got up and packed up and hit the road back to Indy where they were catching their plane in the afternoon. I think Brynlee did very well on her first airplane rides. She slept through most of the flights which is good. They were concerned she would fuss and make things uncomfortable for people around them, but she did very well.

We moved on over to the fairgrounds once the kids left and picked up our registration packet for Escapade. This is a week long rally for the Escapees, people who enjoy the RV lifestyle. They usually do a good job and friends of ours are the directors again this year. The only hitch we had all week was the weather. Up until the rally, we had enjoyed very good weather; and then in true Escapade fashion, it started to rain. It rained the entire week and although it didn't dampen our spirits, it did dampen the infield where we were parked. Thank goodness we have "water shoes" which are perfect for such an occasion. We also took good advantage of the courtesy shuttles, not really having to walk anywhere during the week in the rain.

There were a few new seminars we haven't been to before and we learned something new at each of those. We didn't buy much this week, which is a real shocker. We usually have some new gadget we want, but not this time. The entertainment was excellent, although we didn't take in the Ham-O-Rama, which we have always found to be lacking. It's like a "follies" put on by members. All in all, it was a very good week and we enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing old friends. The fairgrounds gave those of us in the infield a free night's stay after Escapade so that we could stay put and move the next day, giving the track an extra day to dry out. We took advantage of that and drove out on Monday morning without any problems.

We are now over at the Elkhart Campground. This has been our home for the past week while we run over to the apartments every day to work on one that was vacated earlier in March. The carpet in this one was really soiled and we were sure we were going to have to replace it. But today Terry's Carpet Cleaning came in and worked their magic. When they got done, it looked as good as it did before this tenant moved in. We have spent the week working on the place, painting all the rooms and doing general cleaning, although more than what we normally have to do. Some people just live a lot dirtier than others do. We still have work to do there, but it will have to wait now until after our trip south to the Pace family reunion. I have the lower cabinets to clean, the refrigerator, the stove and mopping the bathroom and kitchen floors. Then I'm done. Terry has to rehang some closet doors and some other odds/ends to attend to.

On top of all that, I have been sick for several days. Don't really know what was wrong, but influenza is high on my list of suspects. I ended up going to a doctor here, but they couldn't find anything wrong, although they still ran some x-rays and bloodwork. I made an appointment in New Castle to see my regular doctor, so I am hoping he can follow up on the tests I had done. The bottom line is I am much better now and gaining my strength back. I still have the deep nasty cough, though, and would so like to be rid of it.

On Sunday we took the girls in MinnieMee (our Class B+ motorhome) and went to Lafayette. My great nephew, AJ, graduated from high school this week and we went to his celebration party. It was a nice time and we got to see family as well. It was good to see AJ and congratulate him on his successful completion of high school and on his admission to Butler's School of Pharmacy.

Tomorrow we head south. We are taking a leisurely drive down to Mississippi and when we return, we will be at another RV Rally at the fairgrounds, this one an FMCA rally. Love the rallies! Lots to look forward to!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Time with the kids!

On Wednesday, May 7, Brandon, Megan and the baby Brynlee arrived via plane in Indianapolis. They drove on up to Goshen, stopping on the way up to see Mom and Dad. They enjoyed seeing the baby, as they had not seen her yet and she is almost 10 months old.

They arrived in Goshen in the evening and we were ready for them. I had some new toys out and planned to spend as much time as I could with the baby. I knew I wouldn't see her again for awhile, so I want her to remember me when she goes back home.

We had a fun filled few days with them and the baby seemed to enjoy the dogs and vice versa. They were very tolerate of her and when she got just close enough, they would get up and move. Hah. On Saturday we had all the cousins in. Brandon got to see cousins he hadn't seen in years. Also there were aunts and uncles there he hadn't seen for awhile either. We invited George and Dorothy, our managers and Aaron, Brandon's friend from high school and also Dave and Jenna, friends from Purdue. It was quite the time, with about 30 people there. Fortunately the kids headed for the basement and played games down there. Occasionally a couple of the guys would go down there and torment them. I had bought food for the day and got most things already prepared and just set it out and let people eat. Fortunately they were hungry and I got rid of a bunch of the food I had bought. It was an easy food day for me and that meant I got to spend more time visiting with everyone. We started at 2 and the last ones left around 9 p.m. It was a great time and I'm so glad everyone could come. We had two babies. . . Bella, who is my niece Staci's 6 month old and Brynlee who is almost 10 months. They are second cousins and were really cute together and I have a picture of them with my Mom who would be great-grandma.

The next day which was Mother's Day we had dinner down at the Honeywell Center in Wabash. We have been joining Mom and Dad and my sister and family for several years. It was a special treat for me to have Brandon, Megan and Brynlee there. Thanks so much for coming kids and being a part of our celebration.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Busy time. . .

It's been a busy time for us the past month. After leaving the kids in Virginia, we headed to Indiana and our doctor appointments. We camped in our usual spot in New Lisbon and got everything done and the dogs even got to see their vet. We ate dinner with friends while we were in the area as well.

Once we left there, we headed to the Goshen/Elkhart area. We arrived the last week in April and we have been busy since.

We made arrangements for the big motorhome to go in to Hill's Truck Service for its 100,000 mile service. We wanted to get the valves adjusted, etc., and we also had to have some exhaust work done. There was a hole in part of the exhaust system and it was creating fumes in the back of the motorhome. They got the service done in one day, but then they had to order parts. Terry told them he would pay for overnight delivery and the parts came in the next day, except that the parts department had ordered the wrong parts. So the parts were reordered. . . some came in 2 days later and some came in 3 days later. So it was 9 p.m. on Saturday night when we picked Phaeton Place up. Unfortunately, something didn't get tightened down and there is a knocking in the back, but she is running well. So we have to take her back in to get that checked out.

In the meantime the little B+ had to go in because the new AGM Decca batteries we had put in last May (less than a year ago) are shot. They look as though someone stuck a straw in them and sucked them dry. The battery supplier ran several tests and could not come up with an answer or a cause so they determined we were at fault. I will never buy another battery from Mullet's in Goshen. The total cost of replacement was on us.

The little truck has been in the shop a couple times as well. Gaskets seemed to be failing on her and when one gets replaced, another goes. Hopefully when she goes in on Monday that will be the end of it for awhile.

We also had an apartment come up empty in March. We are starting on that on Monday, getting it ready to rent. Just needs a major cleanup and we are good to go.

Till next time. . .

Dale