Beatin feet!!

October 30th

The last few days in South Carolina started showing signs of colder weather, so our timing and schedule to head further South turned out to be a good thing.

Originally we had planned to stop in Georgia for 3 days and start our stay in Florida on Nov.1st.

As usual, after a little discussion, it was decided to just do an overnight and keep on movin. ;-)

We left on Oct. 29th and drove about 300 miles to Brunswick,GA. I wanted to fill the rig before we went into Florida, and there is a Flying J in Brunswick that's literally around the corner from Golden Isles RV Park, where we planned to stay. Golden Isles is another Passport America Park, and is really easy to get into and out of for an overnight.

Since we'd had full hook-ups in SC, we just hooked up power and I set up the dish for TV, and we didn't bother with water or sewer.

We only had about 200 miles to travel the next day, so I suggested that we stop and have lunch with Paul & Mike Beyer in Ocala. (about 2-1/2 hrs away)

They agreed to meet us at a Cracker Barrel in Ocala, so we didn't need to worry about finding parking for the rig. We had a nice lunch and spent about 20 extra minutes just chatting, before we did the balance of the drive to the SKP Park in Bushnell.

We arrived at Sumter Oaks around 3 o'clock and ran into 2 couples that we had worked with at the Escapade in Gillette,WY back in July. Ya gotta love this lifestyle. ;-)

Anyway, we registered and were able to get back into the same site we had last year, which let's us keep track of the mules and cattle that live next door. Kinda neat.

After we were registered, we were headed back to the rig and saw a bunch of anti-freeze dripping from our rig. :-(

A quick check revealed a leaking radiator hose that would need to be fixed before we traveled again, but was good enough for us to go get parked and set up for our stay, not good news, but could have been a lot worse.

We're in this park until at least the end of December, and maybe longer.

ttfn

Paul

Food n Friends n Food n Friends

The rest of October (through the 28th)

Well folks, sorry for not posting for awhile, but this full-time living really takes it's toll on time.

I'm not sure why (or how), but boy the days just fly by. :-)

Since we hadn't seen Gary and Audrey Hammond before we left last year, we decided to get hold of them. They asked us to go to their house for a visit. We spent most of an afternoon chatting and playing catch-up, and wound up staying there for dinner. It was nice seeing them again, and FREE food is pretty good too. hee hee

Our next visit was with Blume and Linda Morten at their house in Greenville. We caught them up on our travels and also had dinner with them. Again, great seeing these good friends.

While in SC, one of the things I tried to do was to help out Renee with some things going on with their business. We stayed about 15 minutes from their place, so I did make several trips to help her and find out that they are taking good care of my old customers. Made me feel good to know that.

We got together with Chris May and his girl Ginny. We'd met her before we left last year, so it was nice to see them together again. We did Olive Garden for dinner and after much conversation and a bunch of laughter we headed back to the rig.

We had a slight water leak around the sky-light over the shower, and I had asked John Meredith from Saver Systems if he could bring me some Flash-Seal when he came for the Guild meeting, so I re-sealed the entire area around the sky-light with one of the best sealants on the market.

Thank You John.

Another thing that had to be taken care of was a new set of tires for our car. We had about 54,000 miles on these, and the tread was getting a little thin, so better safe than sorry. We went back to Piedmont Tire, the same service we used when we lived in Piedmont. They treated us very well and gave us a decent price.

The last get together we had was at Ron & Renee's place. They decided to ask Chris and Blume and Linda to come for dinner so we could all be together one more time.

We were starting to get hitch-itch, and already knew where we were going, so when we finished that meal and went home, we were both in get ready to travel mode.

Connie spent the next day getting things organized and secured to travel, while I worked on our route and stops along the way.

Next stop Brunswick Georgia at another Passport America park for a one night stay, and then to Sumter Oaks SKP park in Bushnell Florida for a couple of months. Oh, did I mention that cold weather's coming? ;-)

ttfn

Paul

Pigs n Chimneys????

Sept 28 - Oct 5

Well, as mentioned in my last post,the primary reason we went to South Carolina was to get back to my doctor and make sure things were OK. Since I'm now weighing in at over 170lbs (for the first time in my life) I suspected that the doctor would be happy.

I wasn't in a real hurry to get to the doctor, as I knew we were going to be there a month, but Connie wanted to make sure we got it done soon, so I called to get an appointment on Monday, and was told they could get me in Wednesday at 8-AM.

We were almost an hour away from his office, so it meant we had to get up waaaaaaay earlier than we usually do, but at least it opened up the rest of the day for us. :-(

I won't bore you with the details about my doctor visit except to say he was thrilled, and made me promise to come back again next year, so it looks like South Carolina will be on our steady list of places to visit. Maybe we'll even try to do some tourist things next time. :)

We had all my prescriptions renewed and made arrangements to pick up all the paraphernalia for the Oxygen Concentrator and nebulizer with our supplier in Easley, so we won't need to have any of that stuff sent to us. (we change out that gear regularly)

The folks who bought my business from me (Ron & Renee Brigman) are very dear friends, and I told them we would be hanging around for a month, so we made a number of trips to their place in Laurens while we were at Magnolia.

The first full weekend we were at the park, they were having an event in Laurens called "Squealin On the Square". It's held in downtown Laurens, and they close off the whole area to traffic so people can set up booths and they have a Barbeque contest.

Connie and I got there a little early to see if we could help Renee set up the booth for their other Chimney Company in Laurens (Blue Sky Chimney Sweeps). They had a pretty nice booth set up, and once that was done, we just kinda wandered around the Square and checked out downtown Laurens.

In our wandering, we decided to get an Ice Cream cone and went searching for a place. What we found was very cool. There is a store in downtown Laurens that is an old fashioned Soda Fountain, and also a small movie theater.

We didn't go into the theater to check it out, and I've been kicking myself ever since. It will be on my list of things to do the next time we visit.

It was a nice day hanging around, but with all the pigs being cooked, the smoke was a little bit much, so we only stayed for about an hour or so and then headed back to the rig. More next time.

ttfn

Paul

Magnolia RV Park

When we finished with the Chimney Guild meeting, we moved up the road about 30 miles or so to Magnolia RV Park & Campground for our month in South Carolina. We found the park at both
Passport America and Camp Club USA, and then checked their monthly rates. (well worth the research)

Our plan has been to get back to SC to visit our friends for awhile, work with the people who bought my business a little bit, and also for me to get to my doctor for my annual promised visit.

While we were at Magnolia, I had noticed that the owners had literature about Workampers (RV'ers who do some work in exchange for a site) in the office, but I also knew they didn't have anybody working. After a couple of weeks at the park, I talked to them to see if they were considering using Workampers in the future.

They were definitely planning to do that in the future, as they had done exactly that for 3 years before they bought Magnolia, and realized the value to themselves as well as to the Workampers.

I'm glad we talked about it with them because they had a situation arise and asked us to help out for a few days. Not really workamping, but it did make us feel pretty good that they trusted us enough to ask.

This park is a great location for anyone traveling from the Ohio/Tennessee area going to the East Coast. It's just off I-26 about half way between Greenville and Columbia, SC.

Our site across from Office	Magnolia Office
Gary setting up decorations

When we were leaving, they both told us to stay in touch, and they were already thinking about ways we might be able to help them the next time we're in SC.

Very nice people who are working real hard to make the park a place people want to return to year after year. I know we will. ;-)

ttfn