June 23, 2007

Thanks to Vera’s many connections and friends we were allowed to arrive at the Rally site two days early. This means we will miss driving in the congestion today and tomorrow when approximate 400 motor homes arrive. We are volunteering to help today. Vera and Charlotte will be assisting with check in of the motor homes. Richard and I will be helping with traffic control and set up of the vendor areas. We look forward to having a fun day.

Vera will be assisting with photography again this year. She loves interacting with people and is very good at taking pictures. You can go to www.bounder.org to see some of her last year’s pictures. This year’s pictures will be added later.

This is going to be a fun week. We are excited about seeing everything and meeting lots of new people.

June 21, 2007

Southern Illinois is beautiful this time of year. We stopped at Cedarbrook RV Park and Campground in Mulberry Grove. Those of you who have been following our adventures may remember we were in the same town last summer. There are two campgrounds in the area. Last summer we stayed at Timber Trails on the other side of I 70. It is nice to be traveling north into the cooler nights. This was the first night we could sleep with the windows open and the air conditioners off since we left Florida. I think one of the joys of being a full-timer is finding enjoyable weather.

During our daily talks with Richard and Vera, we discovered they are only about fifty miles away. We will join up with them tomorrow and head toward the Bounder Rally in Sedalia, Missouri.

June 19, 2007

Today started like any other day. Up at 5:30 this morning, eat a light breakfast and complete the final preparations for the road. Check and double check our list to make sure everything is ok and off we go at 8:00 A.M. We drove for a couple of hours when we remembered that we had changed time zones. Oops, Charlotte quickly changed the clocks back one hour. I guess we really did get an early start today.

We had lots of heavy rain and slow going through parts of Alabama especially Birmingham. It is extremely dry in the area so the rain was very welcomed by the locals. We also experienced our first highway delay because of an accident (not ours) in Nashville, Tennessee. I guess this can happen at anytime when you travel with lots of traffic in or around large cities. If you are thinking of getting a RV, remember that it takes lots of patience maneuvering in heavy or standing traffic. The good thing is the big trucks are very accommodating and most often the best friend of RVers.

Tomorrow Illinois.

June 18, 2007

We are now on the road again. What a great feeling to be traveling. We are in Alabama at Ozark Travel Park. We discovered this place last October. It is one of the cleanest, quietest and friendliest places we have been. We put it on our list of places to stop when in the area.

Before we left Kissimmee, we had the opportunity to see our great friends Albert, Shelly and Brittany. For those of you who don’t know, these wonderful people were our neighbors when we owned a non-movable home. We met at the Hershey’s Ice Cream Store in Kissimmee. That’s another great place to stop. After ice cream, they came to our place for a tour of our new home. We had a fantastic evening catching up and sharing our summer plans.

Leaving our home park is always such a bittersweet experience. It is exciting to start traveling again but sad to leave our good friends. This year was more difficult because our son, Mike, is now living in our Park. We had a few days to enjoy with him prior to leaving. The good part is that everyone should be there when we get back in October. We especially want to thank Derek and Joy for thinking of us. We certainly will take advantage of the Cracker Barrel Gift cards.

We talk with our trip partners, Richard and Vera, almost every day by phone. I think they are ready to get started also. We will meet them at the Bounder Rally in Missouri on Saturday. It certainly will be good to see them again. We have a fun filled summer a head of us.

June 11, 2007

Do you know how much fun it is to go RV shopping? If you are thinking a lot of fun then you are correct. Shopping is fun; buying on the other hand can be difficult. We just spend some time with Mike looking at Travel Trailers and Fifth Wheel RVs. He wants something that is comfortable to live in but also movable. He isn’t sure he will stay in Florida forever. We looked at many models and sizes at several dealers. He finally selected one at Lazy Days in Seffner, Florida where we bought our Motorhome. He is now the proud owner of a Challenger 5th wheel made by Keystone. It is 37 foot long and has 4 slide outs. It is beautiful. He is completing the final pre-delivery inspection now at the dealer. He will be staying at Ponderosa RV Park in Kissimmee where we stay. It will be nice to have him around again. Here are a couple of pictures we took at Lazy Days. That is our car and Mike’s truck in front of his new home.

By the way, the recliners are very comfotable. He has two of them.

Charlotte doesn't like to set in a recliner. I guess that was good for Mike and me.

This is our last week prior to leaving for the summer. We have just about completed all the packing and rearranging that needed to be done. Perhaps we will see you along the way as we travel this great country.