October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween. Tonight we participated in the tradition of passing out goodies to trick or treaters. We remembered the fun we used to have with our neighbors when we were non-movable homeowners. Charlotte called Shelly and asked if we could join her and Albert for the evening. To our great delight, she said come on over. They are so much fun to be around. We talked, laughed, ate pizza and candy, then talked, laughed and ate more candy and even gave out treats to the kids. The time went by extremely fast. We can hardly wait till we get together with them again.

While we were having fun in Florida, our Granddaughter was undoubtedly having fun in Colorado. Abby's costume this year is a construction worker.

October 27, 2006

We are now back in Florida. The temperature is delightful. The days are in the upper seventies to low eighties and the nights are in the mid fifties. Our immediate plans are to settle in, relax a little then clean all the road dirt and grime off the car and Motorhome. We are at Ponderosa RV Park in Kissimmee. We plan to stay here for the winter. We will be making short trips to points of interest around the South a few times. But for most of the time we will be here in Kissimmee. We will probably spent time at Disney world looking up friends and playing. Mike will have some Saturdays off from the cruise line so we will spend time with him also. We plan to wax the Motorhome soon so that will keep us busy for a while. It is amazing how large a Motorhome looks when you have a small can of wax in your hand. We now have everything hooked up so now it is time for a little relaxing.

October 24, 2006

We have been in Huntsville, Alabama for the last three days. We stopped here to see Bud (Virgil) and Leelee (Linda) Greenway. Bud and Ray worked together at Sears. We hadn’t seen them for several years and had a terrific time catching up. Thanks to Bud, we stayed at the Space and Rocket RV Park. It's a quiet place with space for approximately thirty campers and within walking distance of the museum. We spent an afternoon at the museum learning about the United States’ entry into space. We also watched a movie about the landing on the Moon at the Imax Theatre.

On our last day, we went to Guntersville State Park to enjoy the mountain scenery and the fall colors. The temperature finally warmed up and it was a great day spent with great friends.

This was a great three days with special friends. We learned of Linda’s special talent for writing. She has written poems for friends and family and two children’s stories. She shared some of her poems with us. They are extremely well written and tell wonderful stories about people she knows. We also found out that Linda is still a great cook. She made us two fantastic dinners. We especially enjoyed her apricot fried pies. Virgil shared his computer expertise with Ray and Mike. Mike gets great pleasure in looking up the many places he has been on Google Earth. Hopefully, it won’t be as long until the next visit and we can share more with our great friends.

October 20, 2006

Charlotte’s family is retuning to normal after their loss. My Brother, Roger is out of the hospital. He is doing well but will be out of work for the next three months. Now it is time to head south toward warmer weather. We plan to spend the next six months in Florida visiting with friends and enjoying local tourist attractions.

Here are some additional pictures of things we did or saw while in Indiana.

Hanging with Bill in his shop.

The first snow of the season.

Friendly cats.

The Lightouse at Lake Michigan.

The Park named after Ray's Stepfather.

Ocober 16, 2006

We enjoyed another day on the farm. Bill, Mike and Ray cleared trash from soybeans. Last summer’s tornado knocked down several trees, large limbs, and lots of smaller limbs that had to be removed before harvest. The exercise was good for us and tractor driving was fun.

While the guys were in the field, Jeanette and Charlotte had a “Red Hat” day out for lunch. Jeanette is a member of the Red Hat Society. She invited Charlotte to join her for lunch at the Orr Mansion, built in 1875, with her group. On arrival, they enjoyed a self-guided tour. During lunch the current owner talked about the mansion’s history and the restoration process he has done to return this beautiful home to it’s previous elegance.

October 15, 2006

What a great day! We did a lot of things outside today and had tons of fun. Bill, Todd, Mike and Ray went to the model airfield a few miles away to watch Todd fly his model planes. Todd is Bill and Jeanette's son. It was a little cool this morning but it was still an exciting time.

After lunch, Bill and Jeanette’s daughter’s family, Tina, Bob, Ashley and Alyssa came to pick pumpkins. The largest one weighed seventy pounds. They picked roughly forty pumpkins of various sizes. They also rounded up a few guards.

After pumpkin picking, Todd and Mike decided to split some wood. They put the log splitter on the tractor and went to the woodpile. This tool makes quick work of a difficult job.

October 14, 2006

Here are a few thoughts from the last several days.

During this stop in Indiana, we’ve endured emotional highs and lows. We’ve experienced extreme loss of Charlotte’s Aunt and also great love and support by family and friends. We visited a few days with a niece of Charlotte’s Aunt from Georgia who came for the funeral. June is delightful and shared family history with everyone. We also spent some time in the Hospital with Ray’s brother, Roger. He was suffering from complications from knee surgery. One thing for sure, this stop has changed our lives forever.

The temperature has ranged from highs in the eighties to below freezing with cold winds and snow. With the cold weather and snow, our thoughts turned to the warmth of Florida and heading south soon.

Once again, we are parked in Charlotte’s brother’s yard. It looks a little different after the Tornado went through since our last visit. There are fewer trees and those left have been thinned out a little. The new roof and paint on the barn look good. With all the changes and recent events, it is nice to be with family.

Jeanette took us on a tour of the farm looking for Praying Mantis. Enjoying and caring for these little creatures is one of her many passions. She gathers nests in the fall, protecting them through the winter, to place around in favorite spots in the spring. This way she is assured she will have her friends around to watch in the summer. We did see a couple and found several nest of eggs. They are difficult to see as they blend in with the surroundings very well.

Stopping at Bill and Jeanette’s is always terrific. Here we get to enjoy Jeanette’s gourmet cooking and wonderful hospitality. Bill’s passion is collecting and restoring antiques and all kinds of toys. He always shares with us. This time he shared his go-cart. I’m not sure who had more fun. Looking at the pictures below, I can see three who had a great time. Charlotte said it is soooo much fun.

October 8, 2006

We arrived back in Indiana two days ago. Charlotte’s Aunt, that raised her, had a stroke and was in the hospital. She passed away this morning. She was ninety-four years young. The celebration of her life and funeral service will be on Wednesday. She was a beautiful lady and had a large family and many good friends. She will be very much missed by all.

October 2, 2006

Today we went downtown to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. It is very beautiful and a wonderful memorial to the lives lost during the tragedy here in 1995. The museum covers everything including media accounts, interviews with the survivors and rescuers, wreckage from the building and truck and lots of video and pictures. It was an extremely moving experience.

October 1, 2006

We will be staying in Oklahoma City for the next few days. Mike has a friend here he hasn’t seen for a few years and they will have time to catch up on everything. On the way, we saw a field with approximately two hundred wind turbines. We found out later, this is a new project with more turbine fields planned in the future. Interstate 40 is the worst road we have traveled so far. We were bounced, shaken and vibrated the entire time on this highway. Everyone in the campground was talking about the poor condition of this interstate. Many were looking at alternate ways to go east or west without using this road. Fortunately, we will be going north towards Wichita when we leave. As you can see below, we have very beautiful sunrises here.