TRAVELING ONCE AGAIN....

We are finally on the road again and traveling (although for just a short time). After returning from a great time at Hickory Creek COE with wonderful friends, we both returned to work and the usual mundane routine. My routine was not quite so mundane as it is end of fiscal year close out and all my service contracts had to be renewed for the coming fiscal year!! Well enough about work, Presently I am back on a vacation, visiting with my favorite sister-in-law in South Carolina

From Sue

Back in the day when Cheryl and I were dating; I was only allowed to take Cheryl out if Sue was allowed to go along. At first I thought, bummer, but pretty soon I began to realize how lucky I was to be going out with two pretty girls instead of one! We were so young that it seemed we all "grew up" together and even when I was allowed to date Cheryl without Sue she usually tagged along anyway. We were like "the three musketeers" or is that the "three mouseketeers"?

From Sue

Hey guys the one on the right is single (not the one on the left).


Now let me introduce you to another pretty girl in my life, this is my great niece, with special interest on "great", Kenzie:

From MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA

From MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA

From MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA

Needless to say she had a great time and so did her mom, Jodie (also my niece of course).

From MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA

We had a great time and I will post more later, but now it is time to go have more fun. Until next time God bless us all.............

THE REST OF THE STORY

Seven days of work can make one weak. I could not resist being poetic

This is Sunday morning and I am home, back into the routine and mundane and as you can see I have not been making time to post once again. We had a yard sale yesterday, no one bought the house, but we got rid of more "stuff".

I sure miss being at Hickory Creek and I anguish about it everytime I read my friend's blogs about the great time they are having! :) I really am happy they are having a great time, but you guys save some great times for when we can join you.

We are back here working, but getting ready to go too. I am not going to write about it since it is so depressing! Instead let me continue the story of our adventures at Hickory Creek COE. I left off with us having dinner with Mike and Leslie at Chili’s on Wednesday evening. We had a great time and some pretty good food. We had met Mike and Leslie at the RV Dreams Rally back in June 08, so it had been over a year since seeing them. We picked up right where we left off, joking, talking and enjoying ourselves just as if it were just yesterday since we had last met!! It is great to have friends such as these two.

The next morning, after finding out the RV show opened at 10am, we picked up Mike and Leslie to head out, after some iced coffee from McDonalds something Leslie introduced to Cheryl for the first time (thanks Les! ). We found the show with no problem, except for the fact it was misting rain, but we were able to tour some units on the inside right away. These were mostly motorhomes and we just could not find a floor plan that we felt would meet our needs. The weather cleared a bit and we toured some on the outside also, however the humidity was getting the best of us so we ambered back inside after a short while.

From Hickory Creek

From Hickory Creek

From Hickory Creek

From Hickory Creek

From Hickory Creek

From Hickory Creek

From Hickory Creek

From Hickory Creek

Notice I am the only one wore out by all the climbing into all the rigs!!



All in all I will have to say I was a bit disappointed in the show this year. We were told that a lot of last year’s vendors did not show up this year. It was evident in the number of units on display. About the only thing that peaked our interest was the Mobile Suites and they also had some nice Montanas. I am going to get a good look at an Excel and then try to decide. I believe we are swinging toward the fifth wheel as our RV home instead of a motorhome.

When we left the show, we were getting a little on the hungry side, so we commence to look for lunch. We ended up have soups and salads at Olive Garden which hit the spot on a rainy and dreary day. We left Olive Garden and decided to head to camping world, where we knew we could unload some of our excess money (less weight to haul back home ). I only bought some tire covers for my new tires on the not so long trailer, they were 2 for the price of one. After that it was on the Walmart, we wanted the total fulltimers experience, so Walmart was mandatory!

Once we arrived back at the campground, lo and behold Rollie and Gina had arrived . We stopped by briefly to visit and later made plans to get together later.

once again I must leave the story unfinished. I have to get ready for church. I will continue later, until then God bless us all..........

AT LAST, CAMPING AGAIN!

It has really been too long since we were camping in the "not so long trailer", but finally here at Hickory Creek COE north of Dallas Texas.

From Hickory Creek

From Hickory Creek

We started prepping for the trip on Monday. We took the trailer out of storage and moved into the famcamp on Barksdale AFB. We then began to load the "not so long trailer" and we even spent the night there (although only about 20 minutes from the sticks and bricks). I worked Monday and Tuesday, but Cheryl was off so she shopped the commissary Tuesday and loaded the fridge. I did have to take some time off to go get new tires the trailer, since I discovered I had one with a bald spot on the inside of the tire!! :( .... Wow, I thought I was keeping a close watch on them! Anyway about $400. later we have no tire worries (so far). :)

Wednesdays trip was only about 4 hours, but very tiring since it was all driven in the rain. Dealing with I35 through Dallas was not very relaxing either! Overall though the trip was uneventful and we enjoyed it regardless of the negatives :) We arrived at Hickory Creek COE and was pleasantly surprised with the park. After coming off the hustle and bustle of I35 and being in the thick of busy-ness, crowdness and mid-city bustle; it was as if we had instantly arrived in the country with wildlife, beauty and surprisingly quiet! It is like an oasis surrounded by big city life.

After setting up, we found Mike and Leslie Kennedy's site. Mike and Leslie are fulltimers and fellow RV Dreamers. Although we had not seen them in over a year, it was no time at all and it was as if we had never parted company! We sit and talk so much that we loose track of time! We finally determined that cooking dinner was not in the cards, so we decided to go out to eat (not a rare decision in our case) and ended up eating at Chili's. It was a great time all around and a great ending to a long day.

Well that takes us up to Wednesday and it is now Saturday. I have been so busy having fun I have not had time to write. It is ironic that it is usually working that keeps me too busy to write! I took this time to write, but now it is time to go have more fun, so I will write about Thursday and Friday later (that is when more RV Dreams family arrived). Until then may God Bless us all .................

RARE DAY TODAY!

Ok, I know I said I would try to not take so long to post, so much for that effort! This is a rare day, I am off from work and even more rare I was wondering what to do next!! I signed on the dusty ole computer to read some blogs and the realization hit me, I have a blog too! Thanks Penny for the reminder .

I actually called in this morning, I am not feeling "up to speed" (no pun intended Speedy). I have plenty of sick leave so why not? Needless to say I have been doing hardly anything besides working lately and it is beginning to take its toll on my energy levels. Gee I am still a young man I am not supposed to "run out of gas" so quickly!!

In my last post I told of our rescueing "Boid", a wayward Cockatiel that found the sanctuary of our home. Boid has had a hard time adjusting to her new environment and at most times seems a little unfriendly. I do hold her some, she bites me but with little force, seeming to just tell me she doesn't like being held! Cheryl doesn't even try to hold her, especially since Boid caused her much pain in the rescueing of Boid!! Boid does keep us entertained sometimes with her whistling and mimicking, however after discussing what we will do with her during our travels I think we may be looking for a good home for Boid :(

We will be heading to Hickory Creek COE campground on the 16th of September and while we are there (only about 3 days) we will be attending the RV Show in Dallas. We will also be able to visit with Joe and Sherri, Rollie and Gina, possibly Mike and Leslie and hopefully more (the more the better!). We will be in site 44 if anyone wants to visit, just knock first so you won't catch me in my boxers!

We are getting very close to meeting our financial goals and we are ready to start some serious looking for the RV setup for our fulltime lifestyle. I believe we could buy within this next year, depending on if we decide to sell the house or not. Sometimes it seems like a "no-brainer" then traditional thinking intervenes and we doubt our decisions once again!

Well I guess I had better get ready to go meet Cheryl for lunch. She is working today, bless her heart. I will post again! Until then God Bless you all....

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

Well, as for the title of this post, that is my story and I am sticking to it! Cheryl and I have been working, painting, visiting with family, rescuing Cockatiels, more working and more painting. We have not been out in the rv in so long, I think I may have forgotten everything I ever knew about rving.. .. We did stay in the rv for two nights, sitting in our driveway, while we painted our bedroom. Cheryl said it was just not the same for some reason?

The last time I posted (ages ago) we had family visiting from Kentucky. We had a great time visiting with them and they left after a long weekend with us. They were headed to San Francisco with a lot of interesting stops in between. It would be great if they would blog about their travels, but they are too busy having fun! Anyway after spending some time with them on their motorhome, Cheryl made the comment. “I could live in this!”. Wow, I thought we were set on a Mobile Suites or an Excel (thanks Rollie), but now the better half is thinking about motorhomes! I hope it becomes clear to us soon, I think we may be buying within the next year!
Well I don’t have a lot of time, things are getting crazy here at work. Global Strike Command is setting up headquarters at Barksdale and a lot of the contracts needed for required services in preparation are on my desk for action. Wow, life is interesting to put it nicely!

From 2WILDFLOWERS

From 2WILDFLOWERS

Before I go I really need to tell you about our Cockatiel we rescued. We spotted her (or him?) sitting on the side of pool, unsuccessfully trying to get a drink of water. I took her out a bowl of water and got close, but she would not let me touch her. We spent the better part of 2 hours trying to lure her to us. I had dug up a travel carrier we had for our puppy and was going to try to lure her into it. Cheryl was standing on the pool deck and suddenly the bird flew and landed on her shoulder! Cheryl without giving it much thought, reached very quickly to her shoulder and “grabbed” the Cockatiel. The scared to death Cockatiel, without giving it much thought, latched on to one of Cheryl’s fingers with a death grip!! She did manage to get the bird in the carrier before bleeding to death! It was not funny to either Cheryl or the Cockatiel, at that time, however I had a real good laugh after we determined both would live!

From Boid

I had intended to save the bird, keep it in the carrier until the owner could be found. It has been a couple of weeks and after looking at the local vet offices, watching the newspapers and looking for posters, still no owner. I broke down and bought a cage, feeders, toys, etc. and started calling the cockatiel “Boid” (borrowed from Tioga George). Boid is over his initial trauma of “meeting” Cheryl, , wellll for the most part, she still will not sit on my finger, but at least she doesn’t take it off.. ..



Anyway, looks like our guest, Boid, may be with us for a while. It is not bad, we keep discovering that she is entertaining. We were sitting watching TV one night, when out of the blue, Boid starts whistling the theme from the “Andy Griffith Show”. ! We have not had the show on lately, so she had to learn that from her former owners! She wolf whistles a lot, dances on the perch a lot, but no one can touch her as of yet. I do get her to use my finger as quick step on her way to the other side of her cage. She only threatens to bite me once in a while, but if I don’t back off, she doesn’t bite hard.. ..

Well enough about Boid, although she is one of the few exciting things to happen in our lives lately. I will try to not be so long in posting, but remember, I am not free of those chains called work …. Yet!
….. Till next time God Bless.

RELATIVELY SPEAKING

From CAR MUSEUM

Alright a little excitement (for us anyway), Aunt Margaret and Uncle Donald are visiting from Corbin, Kentucky! We have not seen them since September. They are traveling across country in thier Winnebago Adventurer and we were on thier list of "must see" people, places and things :) .. Donald and Margaret Flowers are two extraordinary people who have lived fascinating and extradordinary lives. Both are former military, Uncle Donald is retired USAF and Aunt Margaret did not stay in to retire. Margaret is a registered nurse and retired from the state of Kentucky. They have raised thier children, three of them, and now they are traveling and enjoying life (sounds like they should be part of the RV-DREAMS family. :)



Saturday we decided to visit Jefferson, Texas and shop for antiques. It was a good time all round, but I thought the highlight of the trip was a visit to a car museum. Here are a few pictures I took (my favorite is the 57 chevy).







We also stopped at a little cafe that specialized in "cornbread sandwiches". Everyone tried some cornbread sandwich and the conclusion was that they are good! The bowl of chicken and dumplings were good also :) .. It took an awful lot of will power to reign in my appetite, but moderation prevailed!

After returning to Shrevport, we visited with them to around 11pm and didn't get to bed until almost midnight. We are getting together a little later for a family cookout with all the kids and grandkids here to visit with them. I guess I better get off the computer, go take a nerve pill :) and get ready for the crowd to arrive! Until next time......... GBY

INDECISION

I spent 24 years in the military and in my mind indecision is a bad thing! Lately though I am having trouble making a decision. Which RV do I want to live in for a few years of my retirement life?

I thought we had decided on the Mobile Suites, but more information has come to light and I am again researching fifth wheels. I am currently trying to find out all that I can about Excel fifth wheels. All of you that own Excels please let me know how you like them, what you like about them and what you aren't that fond of about them. I need all the information and help I can get!

My brother in arms, Rollie Thurston decided on the Excel (he has no problem with indecision) He and his better half, Gina seem to be well satisfies with the choice. Check out there adventures at All Because Two People Fell In Love. Don't you just love the title?

If there are other choices out there that you would like to recommend, please let me know. At this point I am getting closer to that time to buy and still no firm decision.

Enough whining for today, till next time, God Bless You All.........