Did I hear Ice Cream?????

Well, yet another first for us in our new lifestyle. Sunday evening Ice Cream Social is a standard event at all SKP Parks and my darling bride just found out. Does ecstasy ring a bell????

Boy am I a good guy today. We had ice cream and some good conversation with the other SKP's and are really getting comfortable here. We'll be here till November 2nd.

Hot damn, a full week of decent temperatures, sunshine (or at least NO RAIN) and good company with our new "family"in Escapees.

We are looking for a few different things I need to work on IDK, so today we went to a few different stores and while we were there, Connie noticed this:

If you click on the picture you'll see some comfortable pigeons. I've seen them on roofs and buildings before, but.........

And no, I didn't find the stuff we went out for. :-(

Nothing else special really done today, but we have gone out for walks a couple of times yesterday and today. That may not seem like much, but being able to go for a walk is one of the things I haven't been able to do for the last 6 months. That's HUGE !!!!!! :-)

What's that yellow thing in the sky???

Holy mackerel, I can't believe I actually saw sunshine all day. Let's see 27 minus 9 = 18 hmmm.

18 days of being under rain clouds can make RV life a little close, and tensions can rise. Now that we have sun again, I can actually feel the difference in our moods. I like this sunny days stuff. ;-)

The management came to IDK about 9:30 and asked if we were ready to move into our site. Needless to say, we got moved pretty quickly. I had to hook up the dolly for the move, but didn't need to unhook it to get into our pull-through site. All hooked up in about 30 minutes and settled for the stay. Sweet!!

Well, I decided to try to re-organize the basement bays so we can access things we're gonna need a little easier. We have it all in containers (at least most of it) but I don't want to remove 4 0r 5 containers to get to the one I want.

OK, I pulled everything out of the basement and re-packed the containers we have (eventually we'll need more/different) and then loaded the basement again with all the "once in a while" stuff in the middle of the coach. We'll see how it works, but for now I'm happy with a couple of things.

1- I got us a little more organized so life will be a little easier.

2- I was able to actually DO something outside and still breathe pretty good. :-)

While I was working on the basement John Hodge (another SKP) stopped his walk and chatted for a bit about the basement slide-outs he built for his rig and offered to show them to me any time. We'll be stopping at his place sometime in the next couple of days.

Our First Escapee's RV Park

Raccoon Valley RV Park in Heiskell,TN (just north of Knoxville) is our very first
Escapee's park and so far, at least, we're very glad we decided to join this organization.

Coming from an Industry that was a tight knit group (Chimney Sweeps) it's very nice to see another organization that has a "family" feel to it.


The park isn't real big, but it's a nice layout and the people are outstanding. We are planning to stay here for a week while we wait to get Addy from Matt.

When I called earlier in the week, I was told that we might need to dry camp for a night before they could put us in a spot for the week, and sure enough that's what happened. When I asked if I could run my generator in the dry camp area (for my oxygen concentrator) they at first said no, but then immediately went to the Park manager.

Together they figured out a spot where I could get electric for the night so I didn't have to go somewhere else. Needless to say I was impressed.

In order to get into the dry camp spot, I had to disconnect the car and dolly and then back the rig into position. I gotta tell ya, that dolly is a little tough to move around by hand, cuz ya have to hold the tongue up in the air and pull almost 500-lbs around. The tongue is light, but....

Another first! I actually backed it into position on the first try. Ya gotta love a back-up camera, and a few years of practice using side mirrors with a van and trailer doesn't hurt.

Ok, time for some rest.

The last day in Nashville

Frank had told us that Lexi would be back with the girls sometime Wednesday and if they weren't too tired, they would all come over to the park today.

Since we're leaving tomorrow, it'll be our last chance with the kids and Connie's really looking forward to seeing them again before we go. I'm expecting them sometime early afternoon, but we'll see.

And here they are, Eian (the driver) Ella (the papoose) Madison (big sister) and Lexi (Mom)

Eian is actually pretty good with that car. He can back it without running into anything, and loves to take his little sister for a ride.


And here's papa with the whole clan. Can't ya tel Ella's thrilled to be here. ;-)


Connie took the whole family for a walk around the RV park so they could see the other rigs and get a feel for what we'll be doing. I stayed in the coach and read the forums and basically did what my Momma always told me. (stay outta the rain) :-)

They stayed for a few hours, but Lexi had to go to work, so they left relatively early.

Connie and I started getting things packed and loaded for our trip to Knoxville and then just kinda hung out for the rest of the day.

Nice lunch today

As much as we didn't want to go downtown again, we decided to go to Jayson's apartment and pick him up for lunch. Frank was busy today, so it gave us something to do.

We went to a busy place near where Jayson lives called Noshville. cute huh

It was a good lunch and Jayson was his usual self. We dropped Jay off and went back to the park to relax.

Yet another tough day on the road.

Oh yeah, lest I forget, it rained again today. This is really starting to suck.

Downtown Nashville still sucks.

Today we decided to go to the restaurant where Jayson works and have Frank come and meet us there.

It worked out well for everybody, cuz Jayson had to work, Frank had the day off and we only had to go to one place to see them. ;-)

We went to Camping World for a little bit to see if we could find some things we now want. Of course we couldn't find them there today. grrrrrr

Oh well, on to the restaurant. We had lunch and chatted with the boys for a little bit but couldn't stay at the restaurant for long, so we headed back to the park.

Yep, it rained yet again. Uh did I mention that Nashville's traffic really sucks? If I forgot to mention it, it does.

Connie did some laundry while I fixed the running light lens on the passenger side of the coach.

Then we just hung out for the rest of the night.

Nashville here we are.

We had a very low key day yesterday and spent about an hour wandering through a Camping World and had a nice lunch while we were out and about. Spent the rest of the day just hanging around the park.

We drove down from Clarksville today (about 3 hrs) and got settled in around 1pm. Did I mention that rain thing again? Well it just sprinkled a little yesterday, but it poured today on the ride down.

We're staying at Nashville Country RV Parkin Goodlettsville, TN for the next 4 days. It's not a big park, but it has nice facilities and the people running it are real nice. It's a Passport America park and our stay here for just 4 days will save us enough money to pay for our PA membership.

(Don't let the picture fool ya. It rained again and more is coming, I took this between showers.)

Wheee, we have some more room in the Motorhome basement.

Connie called both Frank & Jayson yesterday to make arrangements for getting together. We also had some more "stuff" to get rid of that we wanted them to have.
A bunch of games and stuff for Frank's kids and and our monster vacuum for Jayson.

Connie's going to miss that vacuum. :-(

The boys came over to the park and brought Eian with them. It seems that Lexi is still in California with Ella and Madison, so the boys are "batchin" it. ;-)

They did all the appropriate oohs and aahs about the coach but the clincher came from Eian when he told Grandma "you live in a bus" which he quickly followed up with wanting to go for a ride.

Needless to say, Grandpa didn't want to unhook power, water, sewer and satellite to take Eian for a ride, so Grandma told him next time. We'll see.

We went down a little of memory lane and then decided to go to the Mall by Opryland. Jayson and Frank decided to hit the game room and Grandma and I took Eian for a little walk around the mall and then joined the boys.

It was fun for a bit, but.......

We also had another first today. We stopped at a Bank of America ATM and made a deposit. Liking this online stuff.

Louisville almost

We were the laziest RV'ers at Wal-Mart last night and the last to get going this AM. But, ya know what? It doesn't matter, cuz we don't have a tight schedule. :-)

We're heading for Nashville but don't really want to get there until the first of the week. The park rates are lower during the week at Passport America parks and since we're members, it just makes sense to take our time and take advantage of the 50%discount for 4 nights.

So, our stop today is a small park in Clarksville, Indiana, just across the river from Louisville.
Add More Campground is the name of the place. The park has decent sites that are pretty level with full hook-ups available. We're just across the road from the laundry and shower building which is nice.

We're only here tonight and tomorrow and then we head for Nashville.

It's amazing to me how tiring it is to drive the Motorhome, but I'm tired from just 4.5 hours on the road.

I've come to the conclusion that it's the width of IDK that makes it so tiring, not the length. It's so wide that if you aren't really paying attention you will get out of your lane real quick.

It rides great and handles real well, it just requires more attention than a car does.

Since it's raining again, I guess I'll get some sleep. ;-)

Home sweet home - :-)

We got out of Tinsley Park in good time this morning and stopped for brunch at a I-Hop after driving for about an hour.

Arrived at Master Tech around noon to find out that they had to custom build a slide drawer for our coach batteries but all they had left to do was finish charging the batteries and re-install them.

Both good and bad news as far as I was concerned. having run my own business for a number of years, I knew that the word custom automatically multiplies prices by a bunch and I really didn't want to spend more, but...

We paid the bill, got the coach, loaded the dolly and car and headed for Goshen and got to the Goshen Wal-Mart in plenty of time to get permission from management (they almost laughed when I asked them, because of all the people that stay without asking).

It was very interesting seeing the old and the new in that parking lot. Ya see, the Amish community is huge in that part of Indiana and they buy a good deal of groceries and goodies at Wally World.

This is a shed built for the Amish buggies that's located in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Goshen.

They have a rear entrance into the parking lot so they don't have to cross the main highway.

I think it's really cool to see something like this.

Well, I guess it's time for bed. And boy is it nice to be Home again. :-)

Uh, did I mention yet another day of rain. (anyone counting?)

What are those black clouds?

Another day in the fast lane. Man is Iowa a long state west to east, it seems like forever. Oh well, at least the roads are good and the people were nice enough.

We're trying to hurry back toward Elkart so we can get the rig back tomorrow and head south.

Quick stop for lunch and driving in and out of rain all day has made it a kinda long one. We're trying to keep track of the weather with the radio, but I sure miss having the aircard with us.

Oh well, it's not all that bad, we just need to avoid funnel shaped things. hee hee

They've had tornado's in MS today, so we are keeping an eye on the storms rolling in.

We've decided we're close enough to Elkart now and have stopped in Tinley Park, just south of Chicago. Other than a pretty nasty thunderstorm while we were eating a great Italian dinner, we managed to miss any of the severe stuff.

Once again, we're taking it a little easy tomorrow and relaxing in the room tonight.

Oh yeah did I mention this friggin rain thing going on.

Complete Residents

Well, let me tell you about evening entertainment in Madison. I don't think there is any. ;-)

Just kidding, but Connie and I actually were looking forward to just hanging out for a day. We'd been doing so much hurry-up travel that we were both starting to get wore out.

We had a 4pm appointment with the lawyer, so we had plenty of time to kill today and drove around checking out the whole Madison area. We took the time to stop in at the local bakery on Main Street in Madison and it was excellent.

We did our thing with the lawyer and were on our way out of SD a little before 5pm.

We drove to Avoca,Iowa and stopped about 9pm for some well deserved rest.

Did I mention that it still has rained EVERY day since we left SC.

A Buffalo???

We got moving fairly early today because I wanted to be sure we got to Madison before Terri Lund closed for the day. Terri is our mail guru for Dakota International mail service in Madison.

Before we ever left South Carolina I had hooked us up with Dakota International and Terri had our mailing address finalized, and went to DMV to get registrations for IDK and IDC.

She hooked us up with an Insurance Company and also made arrangements for us to get together with a lawyer for new wills and living wills, when we got there to get our Driver's Licenses.

Well, we got to Terri's office about 3:15 and we introduced ourselves, got our mail and headed for DMV. (Just a note in case someone else wants to get a license in Madison, they only do that on Tuesdays at that facility. They bring the needed electronic equipment in once a week, and shut down at 3:45pm.)

We got to the DMV room at 3:30 and filled out the paperwork necessary, turned in our SC licenses, had our pictures taken, did our eye tests, and were out of there at 3:40pm. No kidding, it was that fast and we were now official South Dakota Residents. Way Cool.

Now, to meet our Madison mascot:


Yep, that is the first thing we saw when we came into Madison, SD. I haven't named it yet and didn't ask. hee hee

Terri by the way is absolutely awesome.

Well, we have to hang around for another whole day to get to the lawyers, so g'night.

A long way to SD

Up at a reasonable hour and heading toward Chicago, but my dang feet are cold. It seems the dash blower that has now been replaced twice is not working yet again. grrr.

Well, we stopped at another rest area and I started looking through my RV service information on the computer and came up with Mastertech RV in Elkart, In. Gave them a call and told them the situation and they said bring it in, soooooooooooooooo------

After a lot of thought and discussion Connie and I decided to leave the rig in IN so they could do what they needed while we took the car to SD. It actually worked out to about the same cost, cuz the mileage in the car cost a LOT less than the miles in IDK, we got to SD much faster, and back to IDK the same week.

Not a cheap fix because the battery slide for the coach batteries decided to die while we were there. hmmm

Well we unloaded R2 and all the clothes and stuff we figured we'd need, loaded it all into the car, said our goodbyes to the RV people and headed for SD. Connie doesn't mind riding in the car after dark, but we both aren't too fond of Chicago traffic and tolls.

Anyway, we got as far as Rockford,IL before we stopped for the night. All in all, a long day, but we covered a fair distance and were a little closer to our goal.

Oh yeah, did I mention that it has now rained every day since we got to PA on the 9th. grrrrr

Oops it got dark early!!

Onward and upward we go. We got our obligation in NY finished yesterday and it's starting to get colder, so I guess I'm turning into my Mother, and we're heading for SD today.

I filled our fuel before we got into NY, so we shouldn't need fuel until we get out of NY. Originally I planned to stay off of Toll roads, but avoiding the NY Thruway would cost a fortune in mileage and therefore fuel, so Thruway to Buffalo and into Ohio is our goal for the day.

We headed out about 10am or thereabouts and I knew it was 5 hours from Fultonville to the PA state line, so I figured we were in good shape to find a place once we were out of NY.

That's what I get for figuring. I didn't time things quite right, so we wound up driving through Cleveland at about 7 dark 30, and did I mention how much Connie likes our rig on the road after dark. I think she'll talk to me before we get to SD. ;-)

Anyway, we stayed overnight on the Ohio Turnpike at one of their rest areas. They actually have electric hook-ups and a dump station at several of their areas. If you're traveling that highway, it's a nice safe place to stay. We didn't need the hook-up, but nice to know.

Come on down!!

My sister showed her ability to hostess and have fun at the same time by letting a bunch of family and friends know when we were going to be at her house and tell them to come and visit during a fixed time on Saturday. It eliminated people dropping in for 4 days and gave us a comfortable time to see and chat with a group of people.

It was very nice to see some of our friends (that we haven't seen for a bit) and also to not run around trying to get to them all. Saved us a bunch of grief.

Now, that's not to say we didn't have ANY grief. Since Tom is a whiz with all things electrical/electronic, I had asked him to help me with a couple of things while we were there.

1- I had purchased a new 50-AMP plug for our heavy duty cable and asked him to replace the slightly damaged one. No problem.

2- I had tried to use a cigarette lighter style inverter to run my laptop on the way up and found out there was no power to the lighter. So, I asked Tom what could be done and after awhile, we decided to just put a new one in the dash area. No problem.

In case I didn't say it well, or loud enough, THANK YOU!!!!! Jean & Tom.

People started showing up right on time and all was well for a bit. All of a sudden, we had NO lights in the coach. I was Not a happy camper, and Tom was afraid he'd messed something up, so he started methodically checking all the power panels in the rig looking for tripped breakers or blown fuses.

Did I mention that there are 5 (count them FIVE) different panels in this thing. grrrrr

Anyway, long story short, for those of you going this far, there is a switch on ALL motorhomes designed for use in case of an emergency, that kills all the DC power. It's located beside the steps going into the coach, along with switches for a variety of other things.

You guessed it, somehow, that switch had been tripped and killed all the lights in the rig. Fortunately Tom found the problem after about 2 hours of messing with panels. Boy was I embarrassed about that one.

Anyway, soon after that I got to show a lot of people my hi performance electric scooter. It's a Schwinn that I picked up at Wal-Mart in Amsterdam, NY. The price was right and Connie and I had already decided it would be a good idea for me in campsites and parks.



Jean put out a nice spread of finger foods (aka: my favorite kind of food) and we had some good conversation and once again relaxed a little.

We sent everybody home by 5PM and had the rest of the night to get mentally prepped for the next few days.

Our goals at this point are to get our SD Driver licenses, visit some friends in Iowa, stop at the CSIA Tech Center in Indianapolis, go to Nashville to get rid of some more stuff with Connie's boys, Jayson & Frank, then on to Ohio to pick up Matt's dog while he goes to Thailand for his Master's thesis.

From there, we let our rig's name guide us. IDK ;-)

Our family visit

Yesterday (10/11/07) we went to Mayfield to visit Connie's family and pretty much just hung out with them for the day. Lots of conversation, and updating them on everything that has been going on with my health and the move into the Motorhome seemed to please them.

Mom made an awesome Spaghetti dinner that even kept Connie happy. hee hee

Other than that, just a low key nice day and back to Jean & Tom's kinda early.

Spent this morning doing drugs, visiting with my sister and getting ready to face relatives on my side of the fence.

Finally feeling real fall temps here. Woke up to 44F and hi was around 50 for the day. Turned the gas on for the furnace for the first time.

Visited my brother John for a little bit late this AM and Linda got home just before we had to leave to see my mother.

They're both concerned about my health and what might happen with us traveling. Guess I'm pleased that they are concerned, but, what would happen if I stayed in one place?

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm!!

Went from there to see my mother and drop off the coat rack from Chicken Ranch Texas. (another story)

Had a nice chat with her after I got the coat rack put together, and she gave Connie and I each $ for birthday & Christmas presents toward the purchase of an electric scooter for me and a folding bicycle for Connie.

Went from her house to Wally World in Amsterdam so I could get a Flu shot. Spent 2 hours waiting to get the damn shot, and then bought a Schwinn 500 Electric Scooter for me. Thank you Mom.

On the way back to the coach, stopped and saw Margie Hall. She looks good, Connie says too thin.

It was really nice to see her and chat for a bit.

Next stop Sorrenti's Pizza in Fonda to pick up pizza and salad for our dinner with Jean & Tom.

Then to the MH a bit before 7 pm so Jean and Tom could watch their Red Sox game and I could get some work done.

Installed two smoke alarms and a CO alarm as well.

Now checking mail and wrapping up the day. Breathing pretty well as long as I don't try to push it too hard or fast.

Time to pack it in.

Gotta look up!

Well, after the t'storms rumbled through, we woke up this AM to a small pond by our steps. I waited for a little bit before going out to unhook stuff, and fortunately the water soaked into the ground enough that I didn't need to get ankle deep.

Some folks pulled in beside us last night from Nashville and Connie spotted two dogs on their Motorhome dash, saw the folks outside and went to chat with them. I, on the other hand, spotted their basement door open with a slide and some really cool bins, so I went over to snoop.

Had a nice chat with them and they thought it was very cool that we were starting to full-time just a couple of days before. :-)

We wound up chatting with them just long enough to find out why we couldn't get a good solid signal with our air-card. (they had one and great reception) I didn't notice it when we pulled into our pull-through site the night before, but we had park power lines running right over the top of IDK and boy did they screw up reception. Another lesson learned.

Well, it stopped raining long enough that we had an uneventful trip to Fonda and I had the highlight of my day when we got to the intersection by my sister's house. I got to test my AIR HORNS. hee hee Boy do they work good.

Tom went to the trouble of setting up a 50Amp pedestal by his house for us to plug in to. Talk about nice.

Had an interesting time getting the MH parked in their circular driveway where I could reach the pedestal, but with a little guidance from Tom I got it in OK.

We had a good time showing off the rig and chatting with Tom & Jean (and Sugar the dog).

We had a pretty long day, so it was relatively early to bed and let's get this show on the road. ;-0

On our way

Well, after a pretty uneventful night at Cracker Barrel, we fired up IDK and headed north again. I checked maps and figured if we got into Pennsylvania we'd be doing pretty good.

With my medical regimen, it takes about an hour before I can do much of anything, but it's a good thing as long as I plan properly. It forces me to kick back, enjoy my coffee, and find out what we're gonna do for the day.

We had a very nice day for traveling, with sunshine, decent temps and great scenery coming up through Virginia, WV and MD. Around 2 PM we stopped at a rest area in VA to see if we could find an RV park for that night. We found a park (Western Village RV Park) in Carlisle,PA gave them a call and made arrangements to stay for the night. It was far enough to make the next day short enough, and short enough to get us parked before dark. (did I mention that I'm a fast learner)

We got into the park and I had the power and water hooked up when a nasty thunderstorm came rumbling through, so I didn't get a chance to hook up out Directv satellite dish. Didn't figure it was a really big deal, cuz we could always get online using our Verizon aircard and stay busy with the Internet or poker or something.

Dang it, why does our signal come on strong and then disappear. grrrrrr.

Guess I might as well get some sleep and get us to Jean and Tom's (my sister and brother in law) before dark again.

Life is gooooooooooooooooooood!!!!!!

Sounds kinda silly doesn't it.

Well, our new life is officially starting and I'm feeling kinda frisky.

Today, we finished loading the Motorhome, picked up our new tow dolly, got the coach weighed (gulp) went to closing, loaded the car and headed north.

I was very proud of Connie today (as always) cuz I really thought we would be overweight for our coach, moving from a 3 bedroom home, garage, and semi basement to our 38-ft MH with a CCC (cargo carrying capacity) 0f just over 2800 lbs.

Well, Connie got all of the stuff we want to keep in one place and I loaded the basement of the coach and headed over to pick up our new dolly at Discount Trailer in Piedmont,SC. Great people.

Went directly from there to the Pilot Struck Stop to get the rig weighed. I didn't have the car loaded, but came in almost 500 lbs under weight for the rig, and although I couldn't get individual wheel weights, the axle weights were balance very nicely. :-)

From there, I drove the rig up to Garden Ridge in Greenville where I had received permission to park the rig and dolly while we went to closing. Made it much easier for us after the closing.

We did the closing in almost record time. It was schedule for 4PM and it actually started at 4PM. I almost forgot I was in the South. ;-) The lawyer had a really good procedure for handling all the paperwork, and we were finished and on our way back to the Motorhome at 4:45 pm, now officially Full-timers.

Got the car loaded in about 15 minutes (after I figured out what I did when we practiced) and headed toward New York to drop off some heirloom things to family. (our first obligation in out full-time existence)

Originally we planned to just drive an hour or so and spend the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Spartanburg, but for a number of reasons (mostly adrenaline) I wasn't really tired and figured since we were gonna dry-camp anyway, I might as well drive until I started getting tired, pull in, park, level, and go to sleep.

OK, so I found out real quick that Connie isn't real keen on being on the road after dark in our (bigger than her Kia optima) Windsor. Did I mention she can have a nasty temper when she wants? hee hee.

We finally stopped about 9 pm in Jonesville,NC at a Cracker Barrel and spent the night after going in for a good dinner.