Sherry & Charley - Retired, Fulltiming & Lovin It!

I Have Graduated!!

2012-02-11T12:48:00.001-05:00

I graduated from my 23 day pulmonary rehab program yesterday. Received a diploma and everything!! I must say I am very proud of myself because I never thought I would be able to do this and be totally successful.

Starting Monday I will begin the graduate program at Duke’s fitness center and will be doing this until at least March 7 or 8. Could be longer depending on what they tell us during my appointments on March 7.

Charley and I will be able to exercise together starting Monday for all but the floor exercise. That will still be an organized session. I will be on my own for the others (weights, bike and walking).

We are planning a nice, relaxing weekend. The hardest thing we are planning to do is cook.

We hope that you all have a wonderful weekend too. Thanks for stopping by!

20 Days Down - 3 to go

2012-02-05T13:29:00.001-05:00

Completed 5 full days of rehab on Friday. Did very well on improving all of my statistics on walking, the bike and weights. The therapists all complimented me this week on my progress. Made me feel good (just like all those nice comments from you bloggers out there)!!

I think that I only have 3 more days to get through in order to complete my 23 day requirement. Then I will move on to a graduate program to see how much more I can improve. Charley and I should be able to work out together some during the graduate program.

We have been trying to get caught up on a few things this weekend that we have been slack about lately. Pretty successful so far in getting some of those behind us. Otherwise just relaxing ad resting up for another week of activity.

The weather today here in Chapel Hill is dreary, cold and rainy. So a nice day to stay inside anyway!!

Everybody stay safe out there!! Will update again in a few days.

Finished Another Week!!

2012-01-28T16:00:00.001-05:00

Completed my rehab for this week yesterday. I only did 4 days this week due to not feeling well on Thursday and having to leave soon after I got started. But I got back on track yesterday. Everything continues to go well. I continue to improve every day!! Weights and biking limits continue to be raised by the therapists and for the first time since I started I was able to complete the 20 minute walk without any breaks to rest!!

We are planning a nice, quiet, two days this weekend. Completed the few chores we needed to do this morning and nothing else but cooking is planned.

BTW – the fur babies did get their bath last weekend and they smell so much sweeter!! A couple of pictures are enclosed. Notice in the second picture that they are about to slide off the back of the sofa!!

Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!!

Chewing Away!!

Snoozing Away

Another Week of Rehab

2012-01-20T16:29:00.001-05:00

Just completed my rehab for this week. It was only 4 days since Monday was a holiday for the fitness center. Everything continues to go well. I am improving my capabilities every day it seems (or I am being pushed into it by the center and my hubby)…. sometimes I need a little push!!

We had a really good time at Stacey and Lee’s last weekend (our daughter and son-in-law). Jason and Duffie (son and daughter-in-law) and our three grandchildren, Jed, Morgan and Kaydee, all came to spend the day on Sunday along with Charley’s Dad who will be 95 next month!! We got all caught up on all the latest news from everyone. We also had some really good food prepared by our son-in-law.

We are planning a nice, relatively quiet, two days this weekend. It is supposed to be cold with the possibility of some rain. We are going to do some home cooking, starting with a pot of pinto beans for tomorrow night with all the trimmings that we like!! Good food for cold weather!! We also need to do some heavy cleaning in the 5er. Yes, we have not been paying attention like we should. Both fur babies will also be getting a bath and nail trim. They are little stinkers right now!!

Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!!

This Weekend

2012-01-14T05:40:00.001-05:00

We have a three day weekend and will be going to my daughter's home in Chapin, SC for the weekend. Our son and grandkids will be joining us tomorrow. We will also get to see Charley's Dad. He is in Chapin at Charley's brother's for a visit and will be joining us tomorrow. Great family time in store!!

Will be back on Monday to get ready to start rehab again on Tuesday! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Another Week has Flown By!!

2012-01-13T20:25:00.001-05:00

Well, I just completed my second week (4 days) of pulmonary rehab. It is going very well in my humble opinion (doing better than I ever thought I would this soon). This is a long weekend due to Martin Luther King day on Monday and I can use the rest BUT…. I have to keep up the walking or it will be just like starting over on Tuesday! And I don’t want that!!

I have also increased my weight from 83 to 87 pounds so that is going well also. We met with one of the Duke nutritionists this week and got some additional help with the types of foods I should be focusing on and how often I should be eating and snacking. Maybe this will help the weight increase even more rapidly.

I must say that even though I still get very short of breath I am already feeling a lot better. I can also tell that my body is getting stronger. I am hopeful that this improvement will continue.

And Charley joined the fitness center and he did his first workout today. He thinks he is going to be sore by tomorrow!! This will help him occupy the time he has to spend waiting on me to complete my rehab and lectures and it will help his health also!!

And, last but not least, thank you to all the folks who have sent such nice comments and notes of encouragement. You will never know how much we both appreciate this and how much it helps to motivate me to work hard!! Thank you so much!!!!

Rest for Two Days

2012-01-08T14:00:00.001-05:00

Well, I finished my first three days of rehab on Friday and boy was I tired at the end of that day!! Needless to say, Charley and I have both been resting as much as possible yesterday and today even though we had to relocate our 5er yesterday. That did not take too long. We had to get into a more permanent site since we are here for a while.

I hope that I have rested enough t get me prepared for 5 straight days of rehab this week! And I hope that I continue to do well. The therapists at the fitness center keep telling me I am but I am not sure if that is just to motivate me or if they really mean it!!

By the way, I have not reported on Cheyenne and Sadie since we got here and that is my fault entirely!! They both love it here in this campground. They cannot stop begging to go outside for walks so that they can see all the squirrels and deer that are in the park. Especially the squirrels!!!

We just got a new camera recently that will allow us to exchange lenses and take better shots from long distances. It is a Canon just like our other two and we cannot wait to try it out.

Charley took me into Carrboro yesterday to find a new pair of shoes for my rehab. The ones I had were too heavy and were designed more for hiking than walking. The new ones should help me out at least a little. Charley also got a couple of pair of exercise shorts (since he left most of his summer wear in SC). He is waiting for a call from the fitness center about joining so that he can exercise too.

Will report around mid-week on how things are going!! Thanks for visiting!!

Duke’s Fitness Center

2012-01-04T19:43:00.001-05:00

I love this place. These folks, all of those associated with Duke Medical Center, are just great people to work with and they really seem to care about all of the patients.

We met with the folks at the Fitness Center yesterday, went back through all the particulars for while I am there and what my options will be for after these 23 sessions. Yes, this round is 23 sessions and they started today. I could have started yesterday but decided to wait.

We had to do stretches, walk on the indoor track, ride the stationary bike and work on the weight machines. I also attended a lecture today and there will be others during the days that my 23 sessions occur. I managed to complete everything that they had planned for me and did it successfully!! I was so proud (and to be honest – very surprised!!).

I will be going to rehab daily until my 23 sessions are completed. They will start at 12:30 and end at 3:30. Lectures will also take place in the 11:30 – 12:30 or 3:30 – 4:30 slot. Charley will also be going to a few lectures that are scheduled for the caregivers during the same timeframes.

So everything has gotten off to a good start. I suspect I will be very sore in the coming days but I will work that out!! Wish me luck!!

Spring Hill RV Park in Chapel Hill, NC

2011-12-30T18:29:00.001-05:00

We have arrived in Chapel Hill and are parked and set up at the Spring Hill RV Park. We were beginning to think that we might be delayed but Brown’s finished what they could do by noon today so we made it!

As you heard two days ago we had a leak in our gray tank that had to be repaired and Brown’s actually replaced the galley tank and not the gray tank. Well, as it turns out that tank also had a leak so it would have had to be replaced anyway – so I guess that is a good thing. They did get the new valve in and installed that yesterday afternoon. Then they found that the new galley tank was not installed properly and was leaking. The tech finally determined that the sink drain line had to be lowered so that the pipe would fit into the tank. This is why there was a leak!! (Half-a$$ed job in our opinion). Not to mention the fact that Charley asked if they checked for leaks the first time around and was told yes, there were no leaks.

We still have to go back to get the second replacement for our gray tank installed (our original problem). So after all of that we are back to where we began, with our gray tank still leaking. We can survive with this problem by leaving the valve open so that water is not stored in the tank.

Needless to say, after we get our gray tank replaced and all is working well, more than likely we will never see Brown’s RV again!!

Note – I have my first appointment at the Duke fitness center on Tuesday and will let everyone know how that goes and what our plans will be for now. I believe we will enjoy our stay here more this time because our two fur babies are with us. We had to leave them with our daughter last time.

Happy New Year to all!! And safe travels!

Well, Guess What??

2011-12-28T17:30:00.001-05:00

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! We did but boy are we ever having a bad time right now!!

It is a rather long story but here goes…..

We are currently sitting in the lot of Brown’s RV, where we purchased our 5er. We had a leak in our gray tank that had to be repaired which we attempted to take care of before Christmas. We found that the leak in the gray tank had not been repaired after all. And the galley tank drain line had been cut in two. Charley asked why that line was cut and, as it turns out, they replaced the galley tank and not the gray tank!!! So all the water that was used in the kitchen sink went straight onto the ground!!

We never said a word about anything being wrong with the galley tank! The valve for the galley tank is now leaking and has to be replaced. A replacement is being overnighted so that it can be installed tomorrow.

This afternoon, since they already had our gray tank replacement, they installed that one. After checking on it, since the underbelly had been left off so it could dry out, Charley found that it was leaking!! He quickly went back to the service department and told them that they needed to check it. The tech found a hole in the “NEW” tank and another leak around the valve that could easily be fixed. However, now another tank has to be ordered – so another trip back to Brown’s RV will be necessary when we can get here from NC.

Let’s hope that the valve has no problems when it gets here!!

So we will be staying here probably through tomorrow night and leaving for NC Friday morning as planned. Brown’s has been told that we have to leave Friday for NC.

Charley keeps calling it an adventure!! I am here to tell you that this is NO adventure!!

All I want is for our 5er to be all well again!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-24T20:13:00.001-05:00

Hurray!! We have our 5er back and all is well. We have moved back in and are so glad to be home!!

Hope everyone out there in blog land has a wonderful Christmas wherever you are!! And, as always, be safe!!

5er Still in Shop

2011-12-19T08:22:00.001-05:00

Well, we are still living with our son and his family. When Charley called to check on the 5er last week he discovered that Keystone had sent the wrong gray tank for our replacement. So, they had to ship the correct one and it MAY be in by tomorrow!! Needless to say we are not very happy right now. This has messed up everything we had planned for this week and new arrangements had to be made for almost everything. Not to mention that we are having to continue to impose on our son and daughter-in-law!!

Not only are there Christmas preparations still needed, but I also have a colonoscopy scheduled for Thursday that has to be done for Duke. I would be a much happier person in my own home!!

But, as Charley says, it is an adventure! However, this is not the type of adventure that I can cope with as well!! We will survive and we will get over our frustration eventually…. Keystone may have just lost a customer when we decide to purchase the next time…..

This is about all there is for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!! God Bless you all!!

We Heard from Duke!!

2011-12-14T17:51:00.001-05:00

We heard from Duke today. I have been approved for a double lung transplant based on certain conditions being met:

1. Must gain weight (and this is the #1 priority)

2. Must complete pulmonary rehab successfully

There are a couple of other, more minor things also.

Charley and I discussed where we felt I should do the rehab and we agreed that Duke’s facility would be the best. So, we have canceled our Rock Crusher Canyon reservation in Florida for Jan-Mar and have postponed our plans to go to Disney in April. We will be leaving for Chapel Hill on 12/30 and will be staying at the Spring Hill RV Park indefinitely. My rehab begins on Jan 3. After the above two things are successfully completed I will be subject to more testing at Duke before I actually make the list. Nothing as grueling as this past week though (I hope!!).

So even though many of you have already wished me well (and I thank you so much for that), please keep me in your prayers that all of this will be successful!!

Back in SC

2011-12-12T15:10:00.001-05:00

We arrived back at our son’s house at around 2:00 this afternoon. Dropped the 5er off at Brown’s RV to have some work done. We should have her back by Wednesday or Thursday.

Charley and I rested over the weekend and are almost back to normal for us. We will not be doing much for the next few days without our home so maybe we can get some more rest!!

Thank you to all who posted comments regarding my evaluation at Duke. There are so many wonderful people in this world and you all belong in this category!!

Our Week at Duke Medical Center

2011-12-10T12:03:00.001-05:00

Well, we finished our evaluation at Duke yesterday afternoon. It was five full days of medical tests and consultations that took its toll on our energy!! We were too tired to do anything but grab a bite to eat and crash every day.

We now will be waiting to hear the official word on my status by the end of next week. Based on what we heard this week, I will have to gain some weight and go through some pulmonary rehab before I make the list. We will be working on gaining some weight starting now until we get the official word on next steps for a lung transplant.

Duke is very thorough in their testing. I have never had a physical anything like what they put me through! It is good to know that they did not find anything else wrong that we know of right now.

We did meet a couple of transplant patients who have been through the surgery and are doing well. One lady we met was 13 days past her actual transplant and she looked wonderful and was so happy. Her story was very encouraging and she could not say enough about how it is all worth it and to do whatever it takes to get to the point of transplant. It sounded like she was in about the same shape that I am in when she first started the process.

So we will do what we can to put some weight on my skinny bones while we wait for the word. Will keep you posted on our progress.

We will be staying here in Chapel Hill until Monday morning and then will be heading back to our son’s place in Blythewood, SC. We have to drop the 5er off for some work on our way. She will be there for a couple of days getting her gray tank replaced and being checked for other possible leaks.

Safe travels everyone!!

Clemson Tigers Win!!!

2011-12-04T09:32:00.001-05:00

Our Clemson Tigers won the ACC Championship last night!! We are so proud of them. Cannot wait to see the Orange Bowl!! And, amazingly enough, Charley and I actually stayed awake for the entire game!!

This afternoon we are planning to drive over to Duke and get our bearings for the week ahead. We will be going to 2-3 different facilities and need to make sure we understand where they are since our week starts at 7:30AM tomorrow morning! Planning to find a nice place for dinner while we are out.

More to come later. Be safe everyone!

Chapel Hill NC

2011-12-02T15:49:00.001-05:00

We have arrived safely near Chapel Hill, NC and are checked in and set up at the Spring Hill RV Park. This is a very nice, wooded park with gravel sites that are very level. We will be here at least until the morning of December 12 when all of the testing has been completed. Not sure what might happen during next week but we will see.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. Your kind thoughts and encouragement means a lot to me and Charley. We are very hopeful that Duke will approve me to move forward in their transplant program and that I may some day get back to a more normal life!! Keep me in your prayers!!

The Next 10 Days

2011-12-01T11:48:00.001-05:00

For those of you who don’t know this, I (Sherry) have COPD. It has gotten progressively worse over the last year or so. My pulmonary doctor asked during my October checkup if I would be interested in being evaluated by Duke Medical Center for a lung transplant. Of course my answer was yes. Anything that could possibly improve my health would be welcome!!

It did not take long for the initial paperwork to be done but took a few days to get everything processed for insurance purposes. After that was completed we immediately received a call from Duke to schedule this for December 5-9. This will involve 5 days of testing before we will know if I am approved to go forward and get on the list for a transplant. We do not know much more than this at this point in time but we hope to learn a lot more while we are there.

We will be leaving for Durham, NC in the morning and will be staying at the Spring Hill RV Park in Chapel Hill, about 15 miles from Duke. I am hoping it will not snow!! Extra stress is not welcome!!

Safe travels everyone!!

Bad Weekend

2011-11-28T20:47:00.001-05:00

Well, most of you probably already know that our Clemson Tigers failed to show up on Saturday night. They lost to the SC Gamecocks 34-13. We cannot figure out what has happened. Oh well, we just hope that they will win their game against Virginia Tech this weekend for the ACC title. Virginia Tech has been playing very well so it will not be easy if we do win. We beat them earlier this year but things have changed an awful lot!! We will have to wait and see…..

Hope everyone out there had a great weekend. Have fun and travel safe!!

* Thanks to all of our followers who commented on the picture of the fur babies looking out our window. We got a big kick out of them!!

A Special Picture of the Fur Babies!!

2011-11-26T13:13:00.001-05:00

We had some unexpected visitors this morning. Our daughter, son-in-law and their two dachshunds, Dixie and Molly, came by to drop off some things. While they were here we got a great picture of them with our two looking out the window.

From the left – Molly, Cheyenne, Sadie, Dixie

Be safe out there!!

Hello from SC

2011-11-25T21:21:00.001-05:00

Well, I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We should all be thankful for what we have including our family, friends and our freedom!!

We had a wonderful time with our daughter’s in-laws yesterday, and enjoyed the great food that was prepared for us all!! It was so nice of their family to include us.

We are now looking forward to the big football game tomorrow night between our great Clemson Tigers and the University of SC Gamecocks. Of course you all know who we will be pulling for…. goes without saying!

And no, we did not participate in Black Friday shopping today so I have no stories to tell about that! 99% of our Christmas shopping is complete and was done on-line!! Love it!

Be safe out there and have a great weekend!!

The Tigers Lose :(

2011-11-20T12:53:00.001-05:00

Well, our Clemson Tigers decided not to show up to play NC State yesterday. They lost by a huge 37-13. This was quite a disappointment and should not have happened, even with Sammy Watkins out for the game. Oh well, the state rivalry against University of SC is this Saturday and we had better win this one!!

Hope everyone is doing well out there!! The soup and chili both turned out great. And the temps are back up in the 70’s now!!

It’s Cold in SC

2011-11-18T16:20:00.001-05:00

Well, it seems that winter has arrived here in SC!! Brrrr….. It was 28 last night and only reached 51 for a high today. It is supposed to warm up a little the first of next week.

We are getting ready to spend another weekend on football and auto racing. Our Clemson Tigers play NC State and our hope is that they will get another one in the win column. We will certainly be pulling for them.

While the game is on we are planning to cook a large pot of homemade vegetable beef soup and a smaller pot of hot dog chili in our son’s kitchen. We will eat some of it tomorrow, of course, and the rest will go into the freezer for some of those cold days!!

Hope everyone is either in a warm place for the winter or bundled up and staying warm!!

Safe travels!! Go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Tigers!!

Clemson Tigers Win ACC Division Title!!

2011-11-14T11:39:00.001-05:00

Our Clemson Tigers won a nail biter Saturday by 3 points, with a field goal at the very end of the game. But, a win is a win!! And they clinched the ACC Division Title too.

As you can tell it was another football and NASCAR weekend!!

Charley’s Dad has been with us since Wednesday of last week and has returned home today. Yesterday we all got together at our son Jason’s house for lunch, compliments of our daughter-in-law, Duffie. This was for Charley’s birthday and our grandson Jed’s birthday, who will be 12 tomorrow. As you can see, I haven’t had much time to worry about posting the last few days!! We didn’t even think to get the camera out either (shame on us!!).

Everyone is doing well on our end. Hope everyone out there is staying healthy and enjoying the fall weather, wherever you might be.

Safe travels!!

Back at Home Base

2011-11-07T20:12:00.001-05:00

We made it safely to our son’s front yard today and will be planning to be here through Thanksgiving and Christmas. After that we will be headed to Florida for the remainder of the winter. It was great to see our grandchildren after being away for a few weeks!!

I will be posting less frequently during this time but will do updates 2-3 times each week just to stay in touch.

We did make our stop at Brown’s RV and they took pictures of our gray tank that is to be replaced due to a leak. The company for our extended warranty has to approve the replacement before it can be ordered. So the 5er will have to go back to their service department when the part has come in. Charley feels better now that we have the ball rolling on this.

Safe travels everyone!!

Packing Up

2011-11-06T17:07:00.001-05:00

Today we have been packing up in preparation for our departure early tomorrow morning. We are leaving early to take the 5er by Brown’s RV. We need to get a leak in our gray tank checked out to see what needs to be done to repair it. We are not sure if the tank will have to be replaced or if it can be fixed. We will let you know…..

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Ocean Lakes the past 10 days. We enjoyed seeing our friends from Georgetown and all the great seafood!!

As a matter of fact, Charley almost convinced me to stay a few more days but we decided that we should get on back to see all our kids. We also are planning to get Charley’s Dad and let him stay with us for a few days. It is also about time to get started on Christmas shopping (especially since I do most of that on-line).

And we did not do any pictures on this trip. Amazing isn’t it?? We have so many pictures of Myrtle Beach we just took a break this time.

Safe travels to all!!

Update from Myrtle Beach

2011-11-03T16:20:00.001-04:00

Well, I have been a little lazy and haven’t posted for a few days but it has been rather quiet.

We spent a quiet day here at the campground on Monday, taking care of only a few small cleanup chores that needed to be done.

Tuesday was Charley’s birthday so he got the day off from chores. After he took his nap we went shopping for a new pair of boat shoes at the Bass Pro Shop for his birthday and I wound up spending more on me than him!! But that is usually the way it goes, right guys?

Then we went out to dinner at a seafood buffet (Crabby Mike’s) and it was so good!! We both ate too much then came back and became zombies for the rest of the evening.

Yesterday we did laundry and washed the 5er during the day. We were invited to dinner last night at the home of one of our friends (and Charley’s former boss), Jim and “Bear” Ross who live in Georgetown. We had some great food and even better company!! Our two fur babies went with us and were parked in the yard during our visit. Jim and Bear have chickens and cats. The chickens were a new experience for our two little ones. They did not know how to act when the rooster called out cockle-doodle-do!! The cats went into hiding…. We plan another visit when we are back on the coast of SC.

Safe travels to everyone out there!!

Tigers Lose!!

2011-10-30T17:25:00.001-04:00

Tigers lose to Georgia Tech 31-17….

We are sad, yes. But a record of 8-1 is still a great season!! And we should end the season with at least 10 wins, if not 11….

And the amazing thing is that Charley and I managed to stay up for the entire game!!

Not much going on other than football and NASCAR this weekend here at the beach. Temps are very cool for this time of the year, low of 33 this morning! Not as bad as what the northeastern part of our country got though!!

Hope everyone is staying warm and being safe in their travels!!

Myrtle Beach

2011-10-26T17:04:00.001-04:00

We left Crooked Creek early this morning (7:00am) and arrived at Ocean Lakes Campground in Surf Side Beach at 1:00. Got all set up and then crashed!! We were both very tired from all the family activities and the travel. We really enjoyed seeing everyone and were glad we could leave my Mom and Charley’s Dad knowing that they were in pretty good shape.

We will be taking it pretty easy while we are here, visiting with some old friends, eating fresh seafood, giving the 5er a bath, giving the fur babies a bath, chilling, and eating more seafood!!

Stay tuned!!

Clemson Wins Again

2011-10-22T17:40:00.001-04:00

How about those Tigers?? They won over the NC Tarheels 59-38 and are now 8-0!! Woo Hoo!!

Can’t resist bragging a little because we certainly were not expecting this from the team this year. We knew they would have a good season but never dreamed it would be this good!!

We went to my Mom’s this morning and visited with her for a few hours. She is doing pretty good considering the health issues she has. It was so good to see her!!

Charley’s Dad came out to the campground and spent the afternoon with us to watch the game. We are grilling burgers before we take him back home. We have also seen one of my sisters and nieces/nephews, grand nieces/nephews since we got here. So good to see them all!!

More later!! Safe travels to all!

Visiting Family

2011-10-21T18:38:00.001-04:00

We travelled to Crooked Creek RV Park in West Union, SC today after a little bit of trouble getting out of our son’s yard. It had been raining for several days and we park the 5er at the bottom of a slight hill facing nothing but lawn. We started slipping and sliding because we did not have enough room to pick up speed in order make it. Our son came home from work and used his wheel drive Chevy truck to pull us out. He will certainly pick on us about that for a while!!

We arrived at Crooked Creek RV Park at about 2:00PM and had everything set up by about 3:30. Took a little longer because we had some family visit while we were doing this. We were so glad to see them all!!

We will be checking on my Mom and Charley’s Dad tomorrow morning and will be watching the Clemson football game against the NC Tarheels at noon. Then more visits with family. Planning to bring Charley’s 94 year old Dad out to the campground to watch the game with us.

We will be busy visiting while we are here so there may not be any updates until we get to the beach. However, if Clemson wins their 8th game of this season tomorrow I may have to update the blog and brag a little!!

Safe travels!!

Another Update from SC

2011-10-18T14:58:00.001-04:00

We have made some spur of the moment plans. We will be travelling to Crooked Creek Campground in Seneca, SC on Thursday and will be there for a few days to visit my Mom, Charley’s Dad and other family. On Wednesday, 10/26, we will travel to Myrtle Beach and will be at Ocean Lakes campground for about 10 days. This is what Charley wanted for his birthday that is coming up soon. So the travel bug has bitten us again!!

We do not understand why we cannot get our two fur babies to adapt to the full timing life style!! We have tried and tried and tried….. Maybe we can work on that at the beach!!

Safe travels to all!!

Clemson Wins!!

2011-10-16T15:26:00.001-04:00

Well it was another football Saturday for us yesterday!! We enjoyed all of the games we watched but especially one. Our Clemson Tigers won again over Maryland 56 to 45!! Now 7-0!! Wow!! Hope the trend continues!!

Today has been another peaceful, quiet Sunday. We did a few clean up chores this morning, including bathing the two fur babies, but little else will be accomplished until it is time to prepare dinner.

If you have not visited Rick Doyle’s blog today you need to check it out at http://rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.com/. He has posted a wonderful tribute to Margie and Bruce who were killed in a tragic accident one year ago.

Not much else to report today!

Safe travels to all!

Update from SC

2011-10-13T12:49:00.001-04:00

Not much happening right now other than catching up on various doctor appointments, scheduling eye doctor visits for next week for both of us, and continuing to catch up on all that has been happening to our “kids”. “Kids” is the fun part!!

We are taking care of some fix-it projects on the 5er, one at a time. Spacing them out so that there is time left for r&r too!!

Also planning to give the fur babies, truck, and 5er a good bath as soon as the rain stops and it dries up a bit.

We hope that all of our blogger friends are having a great time wherever they are!

Safe travels.

Clemson over BC 36 to 14!!

2011-10-09T14:07:00.001-04:00

Our Clemson Tigers won their 6th straight football game yesterday. Now 6-0 and ranked 8th but may move up even more this week. The year has really turned out to be much more than was expected. Go Tigers!!

Charley, our son Jason, our daughter Stacey and our oldest grandchild Jed went to the game yesterday and had a great time. It was Homecoming as you will see in the pictures attached.

We are continuing to visit with our children and grandchildren since we returned to SC and will be visiting more family over the next couple of months as well. We also have some clean up and fix-it chores to take care of including, but not limited to, a bath for the 5er and truck.

Safe travels everyone!!

Homecoming decorations!!

Tillman Hall

Inside Death Valley, just before kick-off

My four monkeys!! Love them all!!

Can you tell that the predominant Clemson color is orange??

Always an Adventure

2011-10-06T09:29:00.001-04:00

We are back in SC!! We left Sevierville yesterday about 9:00 and arrived here in Blythewood, SC at about 2:15.

Got the 5er situated in it’s spot in our son’s yard but the power from his house is not working. This is the adventure!! We have an electrician coming today to check things out for us but in the meantime we are staying with our son.

Our blog updates may be less frequent until we head for Florida the end of December.

Safe travels to all!!

About Time!!

2011-10-04T07:39:00.001-04:00

Well, it’s about time I did a blog update!! Did not realize that 9/30 was my last one…..

We enjoyed the Gypsy Journal Rally immensely. Nick Russell knows how to organize an informative yet fun time for everyone. We hope to visit another one in the future. This is what the Mercer County Fairgrounds looked like after most of the rally folks had left.

We stayed the weekend and watched our football games and the race. Go Clemson Tigers!! Keep up the great work!! Enjoyed the peaceful time. Had dinner at the Dockside Grill and it was pretty good.

Yesterday we got a 7:30AM start on our trip to Sevierville, Tennessee. We both failed to check to see how many miles this was going to be!! Turned out to be about an 8 hour travel day. Something we said we would never do again!! Oh well, lesson learned. We arrived about 3:30 and were set up in less than an hour. Needless to say we were both beat. Got pizza and turned in early!!

Here are a couple of pictures from our drive here.

Leaves beginning to turn

Beautiful farm in Ohio

Dayton Ohio Skyline

We will be here at the Riverside RV Park in Sevierville until tomorrow morning and then off to SC. We have about a 4-5 hour travel day tomorrow. Still a little long but we will be able to rest up after we get there. Looking forward to seeing the family, especially our grandkids!!

Safe travels to all!!

More Rain!!

2011-09-30T07:30:00.001-04:00

Well, it poured rain last night while we were out to dinner at China Wok. We actually had to wait for a bit for it to slow down when we were ready to leave. We made it back to the Fairgrounds somewhat soggy, but not too bad. And we really enjoyed China Wok. Nick and Greg were right about it being good!!

Charley went to the door prize drawing after we got back from dinner. I stayed in where it was dry. Didn’t win anything, again!!

Last of the Door Prizes and Nick’s Farewell

A lot of the rally attendees will be leaving today if they can get out. Charley is planning to observe and help anyone who gets stuck, if he is needed!

We decided to stay here at the fairgrounds until Monday morning so that we can catch our football games and the race. We will then leave for SC. Planning to spend two nights in Sevierville, TN and then finish the trip to SC on Wednesday. Kids and grandkids here we come!!

Safe travels to all!!

Day 3 Evening Festivities–Gypsy Journal Rally

2011-09-29T10:17:00.001-04:00

Well, after another very rainy, dreary day here in Celina it was nice to get out and join the rally crowd for an evening of pizza and then some fun! You will see from the pictures and videos that everyone had a great time, even those who participated in the beauty contest!!

Nick and his New Look

The Beauty Queens

The Winner

One Video of the Winner

Greg and Jan White – 44th Anniversary – Congratulations!!

For a look at all of our pictures from the evening, please click on the link below:

Beauty Contest at Gypsy Journal Rally

Day Two of Gypsy Journal Rally

2011-09-28T16:20:00.001-04:00

This is a continuation of our update from yesterday. It was raining pretty heavily at the time we were to go to the door prize/evening entertainment so Charley went alone. He took a few pictures of Nick and the evening’s festivities.

The Crowd and Nick Giving Away Door Prizes

Nick Trying on his Orange Cone Bra

McKinney Washtub Two

First Day of Rally

2011-09-27T14:24:00.001-04:00

Charley had to go to the rally sessions alone yesterday. I was down with another migraine. Not sure what is going on here. Haven’t had any of these for a very long time and now all of a sudden they are coming more frequently than ever. Will have to talk to doctor when I go for checkup in October.

There was the welcome, introductions of vendors, one session which Charley did not go to, and door prizes, so I did not miss much. Charley enjoyed himself and continues to run into people he knows through blogs!!

Today Charley and I went to one of the Geeks on Tour sessions on Picasa. We continue to learn more and more about this application and we fully intend to use it more and more. Geeks on Tour certainly knows a lot about it. We have joined their membership and have access to all of their tutorials, on all the subjects they cover for full timers.

Charley is at one of Nick’s sessions right now and then we will be going back for door prizes and the evening entertainment later today.

More later!!

And the Rally Begins

2011-09-26T07:49:00.001-04:00

The Gypsy Journal Rally begins this afternoon at 3:00. People will still be arriving and getting registered up until that time I would imagine.

We are really looking forward to seeing how Nick runs his rally and attending a number of the sessions being offered. We are also looking forward to the entertainment planned for the week.

Will post an update after today’s activities.

Just Waiting

2011-09-24T13:11:00.001-04:00

We are not doing much because it is raining today and a little cool. Just planning to stay in, watch lots of football and wait patiently for the Gypsy Journal festivities to begin! We expect to see a lot of folks arriving today for early bird check-in.

We tried Facetime with our daughter last night, me using my iPhone4 and she was using her iPad2. This works great and will definitely be replacing SKYPE for us! The quality of the video and sound was 110% better.

We are planning to use Hangouts in Google+ after the kids get Google+ installed. The quality of that one beats SKYPE by leaps and bounds as well.

More later!!

Afternoon Update

2011-09-22T14:14:00.001-04:00

When my husband, better known as Charley, decided to "finally" do what I told him to, we were able to get our tri-pod dish to work for our HD channels. And, yes, he knows that I have put this out there for all of you.

Moral of the story - Sometimes "he" is not always right!! I have to admit that most of the time he is right. I have fun with it when he isn't!!

Later!!

Mercer County Fairgrounds–Gypsy Journal Rally

2011-09-22T07:36:00.001-04:00

We left Elkhart, IN yesterday around 10:00 and arrived here in Celina, OH at about 1:30. Had a little bit of trouble getting our rig into the site we were given but Charley managed it.

Everything is great except we cannot get our HD channels on our DirecTV satellite that we have installed on our rig. Talked to DirecTV and the trees here are our problem. We can pick up standard channels just fine but the dish is having trouble getting to the satellite that sends the HD channels. Charley is planning to set up our portable, tripod dish today after he picks up some additional wire. We will find a way!! Must have our DirecTV to survive!! Especially since football season is underway and Clemson/Florida State is going to be on!!

We were pretty bushed after working on the satellite for what seemed like hours but we got some rest last night and are ready to go today!!

Safe travels everyone!

Notre Dame and More Amish Country

2011-09-19T17:54:00.001-04:00

We drove to South Bend to see the Notre Dame campus today. We did this for our son-in-law who is a big Notre Dame fan. He has not had the opportunity to visit their campus before and we thought he might enjoy some pictures until he can.

The campus is beautiful as our pictures will show.

We then traveled to Shipshewana and had lunch at the Blue Gate Restaurant, another yummy Amish restaurant. We ate family style and Charley got his money’s worth!! I did okay myself. We both brought our desserts home with us.

On our return to Elkhart we traveled through more Amish country and saw more beautiful farms along the way. We never realized how pretty this part of the country was.

Charley is planning to visit the Keystone factory tomorrow afternoon. The rest of our time will be spent preparing to depart on Wednesday morning for Celina, Ohio and the Gypsy Journal Rally.

Notre Dame Campus

The Golden Dome

Amish Country near Shipshewana

Safe travels to everyone!!

Football Weekend

2011-09-18T20:32:00.001-04:00

Well, you guessed it, we spent the entire weekend watching football!! How about them Clemson Tigers!! They beat Auburn, the national champion from last year. That alone made the weekend a great one!!

But, as I said, we spent a quiet weekend here at the campground doing pretty much NOTHING other than cooking our meals. Those types of weekends are pretty nice from time to time though, don’t you think?

We are planning to visit South Bend tomorrow (Monday) and see what the Notre Dame campus looks like. Our son-in-law is a big Notre Dame fan so we thought we would get some pictures for him. I imagine that it is a beautiful campus but we will see….

We are also planning to get our 5er all cleaned up and ready to travel again on Wednesday morning. Will be working on that tomorrow and Tuesday.

Safe travels everyone!!

Heritage Trail

2011-09-16T12:31:00.001-04:00

We drove the Heritage Trail yesterday and it was a beautiful drive. We saw a lot of Amish communities, the Amish people as well as regular farms along this trail. It is obvious that the farmers and the Amish people take a lot of pride in their homes and land from the neatness and beautiful landscaping in the entire area.

We had lunch at the Das Dutchman Essenhaus Restaurant and visited the bakery there also. Picked up two half pies (German Chocolate and Egg Custard), a fresh baked load of bread and some dill bread (looking forward to trying this one out!). The food at the restaurant was wonderful!!!

There were several shops around the restaurant with lots of interesting items. I especially enjoyed seeing the quilts for sale. We saw one that was over $1200. It was beautiful but it didn’t come home with us!! We also visited Yoder’s Meat & Cheese Company and picked up some steaks and ground beef. We had used all that we brought with us from home on this trip and needed to restock. That freezer we have in our basement is wonderful!!

We took lots of pictures along the Heritage Trail but you will notice that there are not any of the Amish people. They do not believe in being photographed so we honored that. We did get pictures of their horse drawn wagons and some of their horses. You will notice that there are some very large horses and these are used to work in the fields. They look a lot like the Budweiser Clydesdales. The smaller, more slender horses are used to pull their wagons. One of the unique things that we noticed was that a lot (not all) of these horses were bridled even when just in a pasture. Must have something to do with the fact that they are work horses.

We passed through several towns / communities along this trail and I will try to get the names matched to our pictures below.

I also have included a couple of pictures of the Elkhart Campground. We really like this campground due to the large, level sites and the general location. It is convenient to a lot of shopping and restaurants in Elkhart.

Downtown Bristol

Bonneyville Mill Park – This is Indiana’s oldest continuously operating gristmill. They just recently had the Bonneyville Mill Celebration which is like an old country fair.

Middlebury

Das Dutchman Essenhaus Restaurant and Bakery

The Covered Bridge

Some of the beautiful flowers in Middlebury

Shipshewana to Goshen

The Hitching Posts

The Horses

One of the Farms

We also drove through Nappanee and Wakarusa, two other small towns along the trail and then returned to Elkhart.

Elkhart Campground

I included a lot of our pictures here but, just in case you are interested, here is a link to all of our pictures from the day..

The Heritage Trail and Elkhart Campground

Migraines (yuk!)

2011-09-14T19:59:00.001-04:00

Well, I spent yesterday fighting with a migraine headache all day and into the night. This will explain why you did not see a blog update for the day.

Today was spent recovering (for me). Charley did a couple of chores around the 5er and went to the Monaco factory tour this afternoon. He was very disappointed because nobody was working and it did not seem that they were doing anything!! He was expecting a lot more. He plans to visit at least one more manufacturer and we will see if the results are the same. Maybe this was just a bad day at Monaco.

Tomorrow we are driving the Heritage Trail and hope to see a lot of the Amish and Mennonite communities and shops/restaurants. We plan to take lots of pictures and will share tomorrow.

As always, safe travels to everyone.

Elkhart, Indiana

2011-09-12T22:25:00.000-04:00

We left Utica, Illinois at 9:15 Central this morning and arrived in Elkhart, Indiana at about 2:30 Eastern. Got all set up at Elkhart Campground and then relaxed for a while. This is a very nice campground with very large, level sites. We have a huge front yard that the fur babies love (we are the end of the row of sites so we got the biggest one!!).

Went out to eat at a drive in burger place called the Simonton Lake Drive-In. The burgers and cole slaw were quite good but the fries could have been better.

Will start seeing the sights around this area in the next day or two and will post pictures.

Stay tuned.

Tenth Anniversary - Never Forget

2011-09-11T08:34:00.000-04:00

Today we will be spending time remembering 9/11 and all of the heroes who lost their lives that day. We are not planning much more than that.

Sad day!!

Utica, IL

2011-09-09T17:39:00.000-04:00

We left Rochester, MN at 8:00 this morning and arrived in Utica, IL at about 3:00. This was a long travel day but we are glad that we did it due to the rest of our plans leading up to the Gypsy Journal Rally. We are pooped and will be resting here over the weekend and watching football!! The satellite works perfectly so we have our DirecTV!!

Will post more later. Safe travels everyone.

Rochester, MN

2011-09-08T20:50:00.001-04:00

We left Mitchell, SD at about 8:30AM this morning and arrived in Rochester, MN at about 2:30PM. We were set up and resting before 3:30. This is just an overnight stop. We are at the Autumn Woods RV Park. It is very nice with large, level sites and no blockage of the satellite!!

We plan to travel to Utica, IL tomorrow and stay the weekend. We will then depart for Elkhart, IN on Monday morning where we will be staying for 1-2 weeks. This is in Amish country and we are looking forward to seeing a lot while we are there. After that we will be leaving for Celina, OH and the Gypsy Journal Rally.

I have attached the few pictures we took at the Corn Palace yesterday along with a couple of shots from our drive here. The Corn Palace was already closed when we went by so we were not able to go inside. Minnesota, or at least the left and right of I90, is farm country. Lots and lots of corn fields and some soy beans. I imagine that is what we will see in the rest of Minnesota when we leave tomorrow.

The Corn Palace (nothing has changed since July)

Farm Country in Minnesota on I90

Mitchell, SD

2011-09-06T22:35:00.001-04:00

We left Wall, SD at 8:30 AM Mountain time and arrived in Mitchell, SD at 1:30PM Central time. Took less than an hour to get all set up for a 2 night stay here at R&R Campground. This is a very nice park with level sites and lots of trees. Our satellite dish is blocked (first time this has happened) so we are using the park's cable and it is okay. We do love our DirecTV though!!

Planning to drive by the Corn Palace tomorrow to see if anything has changed, take a few pictures, and then go out to dinner. Otherwise just planning a few small clean up chores before we head out for parts unknown on Thursday morning. We have to sit down and get an idea of where we would like to stop.....

Safe travels everyone!!

Wall, SD

2011-09-05T19:35:00.000-04:00

We left Gillette, WY at around 10:00 this morning and arrived at the Sleepy Hollow Campground in Wall, SD at about 1:30. Got all set up for our overnight here in less than thirty minutes.

Gave the fur babies some exercise, relaxed a bit and then Charley walked up to Wall Drug just to see if anything had changed since we were last here..... guess what? It hasn't changed a bit!! :) The main thing he went for was to get a blackberry milkshake!!

We will be leaving Wall at around 9:00 in the morning headed for Mitchell, SD where we will stay two nights. We plan to go by the Corn Palace while we are there to see if it has changed. Since they were just finishing up the outside when we were there in July I doubt that anything will be different.

Attached are a few pictures we hope you will enjoy. First ones we have taken lately!

Grain elevators directly behind our campground

Wall Drug

Safe travels everyone!!

Post Escapade

2011-09-03T18:21:00.001-04:00

Well, the Escapade is over and it was lots of fun. We also learned some things in the sessions we attended.

We did not make it to the evening entertainment on Thursday. Charley's initiation into the Elk's club lasted until almost 9:00 so we missed it.. :(

Charley did learn a lot more about the Elk's than he knew before joining. They are an admirable organization that helps a lot of people in need. You should all check into it. Mike McFall, whom we met in Custer, SD, also joined. He and Charley enjoyed spending some time together during the initiation.

We are still in Gillette at the CAM-PLEX until Monday morning and then we will be headed for Wall, SD for an overnight stop, then on to Mitchell, SD for two days. After that we will be playing it by ear and stopping when we need to, and for as long as we need to, until we get over near Celina, OH. There will be many stops along the way!!

We went out to dinner at Las Margaritas last night with Sheila and Doug Sage, two of the many new friends that we made this week. It was a very enjoyable evening and the food (and drink) was really good! We hope to run into them again down the road!!

Safe travels to your next destination everyone!

Last Full Day of Escapade

2011-09-01T12:58:00.000-04:00

Well, the Escapade is almost over :(..... We have continued to enjoy the activities since our last update. And we also visited the Too Crazy Ladies shop and got my license plate for my power chair. It has my name (Sherry) on it with four tiger paws!! Love it!!

We will be going to the Beyond Basics Picasa class today and the evening activities tonight we hope. Charley is being sworn in as an Elk Club member this evening and we hope it will be over in time.

Debbie and Duane Rowe are coming to Escapade just for today and we will be getting together with them to say hello again and then goodbye as we go our separate ways down the road. We certainly hope that we will meet up with them again real soon.

Having Fun!!

2011-08-29T10:04:00.001-04:00

We are into the Escapade routine and enjoying it very much. Charley went to a CCW class yesterday for three hours so that he can get a Florida concealed weapons license. We also went to the opening ceremonies and daily announcements/door prizes. I am sad to say that we have not won anything yet.... :(

Got up to rain this morning which we are enjoying!! We have seen very little rain since we have been on the road this time and we missed it!!

We also went to the evening entertainment last night and it was great!! Jimmy Travis, comedian and singer/songwriter performed. He was hilarious and we enjoyed it very much.

We are not planning a lot of activities today... Charley was on the go from daylight to after dark yesterday and he is pretty much wiped out right now so we are going to take it pretty easy today. And we pretty much ignored the fur babies yesterday too and they need some attention as well....

Charley is going to one class this afternoon, and we have a first time attendees social at 4:30 that we are planning to attend. And, of course, we will be going to see Gordy Pratt tonight after the evening announcements and door prize drawings.

So far this is a very active rally with lots going on. Should be a fun week!!

Escapades!!

2011-08-26T12:41:00.002-04:00

We have arrived in Gillette, WY and parked at the CAM-PLEX where the Escapades are being held. It only took us about 2 1/2 hours to get here from Custer this morning. We are all set up now and ready to go!! The only down side that I see so far is that the hook-ups are 30 amp. That is going to be a pain, but we will survive!!

Neither of us slept much at all last night so I am guessing the rest of today will be very quiet with one or two naps inserted where appropriate.....

More later.

Laundry Day

2011-08-24T20:01:00.002-04:00

Well, today was mainly our day to get our laundry all caught up before preparing to leave for Gillette on Friday morning. And we basically chilled for the remainder of the day. Planning a light dinner and might watch a movie later. Yesterday Charley washed the cottonwood sap off the top of the 5er. That is some sticky stuff!!

Tomorrow will be a busy day! We have two fur babies to bathe and give pedicures, some straightening up to do in preparation for travel, packing of everything that we will not need prior to leaving and a little bit more laundry (sheets and blankets). We have already planned dinner out at a little place in Custer that we have not tried so cooking will not be an issue....

Hope to have lots to blog about once the Escapades Rally gets underway on Sunday!

Safe travels and hope to see many of you at the rally!!

Update from Custer, SD

2011-08-22T20:14:00.001-04:00

We spent Saturday and Sunday mostly resting from our three days of travel with the exception of preparing food and doing a little bit of cleanup. For some reason the fur babies also seemed to be worn out from the travel days. But we got revived!!

We did go into Rapid City today to do some shopping at Walmart and Lowes. We also had to pick up some medical supplies for me (oxygen). It was a nice day and we enjoyed seeing the black hills, Hill City, the 1880 train that we rode on when last here, and the Red Ass Winery, among other things that we saw on our way there and back.

Planning a light dinner tonight and not sure what the next couple of days might bring....

Safe travels everyone!!

Back in Custer, SD

2011-08-19T17:07:00.001-04:00

Hurray!! We made it safely to Custer, SD this afternoon. We left Sheridan, WY at 9:00 this morning and arrived at Broken Arrow campground at 1:30. Charley had us all set up by 2:30 so we have begun to chill!!

Boy, are we pooped!! Three travel days in a row is too much!! I continue to learn that our fellow full timers are very smart. They tell you to travel 200 miles, stay two nights and stop by 2:00PM. I second that!!

We will be resting for the next couple of days but will report in if anything exciting happens.

Safe travels to all!!

Sheridan, WY

2011-08-18T18:24:00.000-04:00

We have arrived safely in Sheridan, WY and have parked again at Peter D's RV Park for an overnight stay. We left at about 9:00 this morning and arrived at 2:45.

Planning to go out for a nice dinner tonight and will be heading for Custer in the morning.

Bozeman, MT

2011-08-17T20:06:00.003-04:00

We arrived safely in Bozeman, MT for our overnight stay. We are at the Sunshine RV Park just outside of Bozeman, a small park that is okay for an overnighter.

We are pooped!! Getting ready to fix a light dinner and chill for the rest of the evening. Will be heading to Sheridan, WY for one more over-nighter and then on to Custer on Friday.

Last Day in Kalispell

2011-08-16T19:32:00.001-04:00

Well, today is our last full day in Kalispell. We will be departing in the morning and will be making two overnight stops to get back to Custer, SD on August 19. We will be staying at the Broken Arrow campground in Custer again until time to travel over to Gillette, WY for the Escapades Rally on 8/26 (early check-in).

We have thoroughly enjoyed our two week stay here and may return again one day. The weather has been gorgeous although a little more rain might have been nice....

Probably will not be updating our blog until after we get back to Custer.

Safe travels to all.

More Clean Up

2011-08-15T12:37:00.004-04:00

Well, today is another beautiful day in Kalispell, Montana!! Charley is out right now giving our truck another much needed bath to remove the cottonwood tree sap!! Tomorrow the 5er gets her bath.

We are planning on just hanging around here today and just enjoying the weather. It is currently 69 and not expected to get above 75. Woo Hoo!!

Today is my Mom's 83rd birthday!! Talked to her this morning and she asked me why I didn't sing Happy Birthday!!

Safe travels to everyone!!

Clean up days

2011-08-12T18:20:00.003-04:00

Yesterday and today we spent time just taking care of a few clean up chores and got caught up on laundry and gave the fur babies a bath. We also got some R and R in!!

We do not have anything major planned over the next few days other than giving the 5er and truck a much needed bath before we leave Kalispell. In Cody, and also here, we are sitting under a cottonwood tree and they leak sap like crazy so we don't want to wash them too early or they will just need it again.

We have talked to the grandkids a couple of times this week. Everyone is doing well. Our grandson, Jed, starts 6th grade next week. This is middle school in SC and he is going into a brand new middle school near his home. The teaching method that this school will be using involves the iPad. He has received an iPad2 for his use only. All school work will be done on the iPad. No textbooks, no pens or pencils, no paper.... ?? Not sure about this. Will have to wait and see how it goes.

Also talked to our daughter yesterday. She and her hubby are also doing well. They had a nice, relaxing trip to the beach last weekend. Got some much needed rest.

Safe travels to everyone!!

Glacier National Park

2011-08-10T11:15:00.001-04:00

We finally made it to Glacier National Park yesterday. We drove the Going to the Sun Road which is a 50 mile road in the center of the park.

It was a long day but the park is a beautiful place and it was worth it. We left at about 8:30 and got back at about 3:45. We are so glad that we made the decision to travel here to see all this gorgeous scenery. We were at 6800 feet elevation at one point during the trip! Boy, were our ears popping! There are two huge lakes on this road, one at each end. Their names are Lake McDonald and Saint Mary Lake. They are very long, somewhat narrow, and are right next to the road. Absolutely beautiful, both of them.

There was quite a bit of road work in places that caused some delays but nothing really major. And there were some pretty narrow spots on this road that made me a little nervous when meeting other vehicles. But it didn't seem to bother Charley. He kept asking me if I wanted to drive!! Guess what my answer was......

We packed a picnic lunch and stopped at one of the scenic turnouts for lunch. We really enjoyed this and it gave us a break from the road for a little while.

And the mountains, waterfalls and glaciers! They were everywhere! I cannot say it enough - this was a gorgeous place!!

After we got back, we relaxed for a little while, gave the fur babies some exercise and then went to Famous Dave's BBQ for dinner.

A wonderful day!!

Below are a few pictures that we wanted to share.

Click on the link below to see all of our pictures of the Park.

Glacier National Park

Busy Day

2011-08-08T22:13:00.001-04:00

Well, we did not make it to Glacier National Park again today but we are definitely going tomorrow. Today we took care of a few more errands, put the cover back on the underbelly of the 5er from investigation of our leak and prepared some food for a picnic lunch we are taking with us tomorrow, and a few other odds and ends.

We did get out for a long walk with the fur babies this afternoon. And we remembered to take the camera with us for pictures of the river we are camped on, along with a few pictures of the campground. This is a beautiful place and it is very quiet even though there are a lot of kids in the park. This seems to be a popular vacation spot for families.

So, get prepared for what we hope will be great pictures of Glacier tomorrow. It is supposed to be mostly sunny with the high in the 80's. Should be a perfect day for sightseeing.

Pictures of the river that runs by one side of Spruce Park on the River RV Park

Pictures of the RV Park

And one added bonus - our fur babies!!

Finally!!

2011-08-06T22:55:00.002-04:00

I have to admit that I have been lazy the last few days!! I will do a better job of keeping our blog updated, I promise!!

We have not done very much since my last update. Charley has been a little "under the weather" so we have been staying pretty close to home except for a little shopping. We did finally get out today for a short sightseeing trip to Whitefish and Big Mountain, MT. Whitefish is a nice little town, geared mostly to the tourist trade. Big Mountain is a very large ski resort with lots and lots of slopes and lots and lots of lodges and eateries. We got some pretty good shots of a lot of the scenery. Beautiful lakes surround these two areas and they are within 20 miles of Kalispell. A very short and enjoyable trip.

And we did finally get the remote service technician here yesterday to look at our gray tank leak. He indicated then that he didn't think it was anything serious and came back today to see if he could fix it. It took a long time but he and Charley could not find a leak anywhere. The technician recommended that we to take the 5er in to a Keystone dealer and get them to fix it, which is what we will do.

We are planning to go to Glacier National Park the first of the week. Cannot wait to share some of what I hope will be some awesome pictures!!

The drive to Whitefish

Big Mountain

Kalispell, Montana

2011-08-02T20:38:00.000-04:00

We left Rocker, MT at 8:30 this morning and arrived in Kalispell at the Spruce Park on the River RV park at about 1:00. The temperature was 48 when we got up this morning!! Had to have a little bit of heat!! It's wonderful....

We are all set up and Charley has started checking on a place to get our gray tank leak and awning fixed. We have a call in to a remote guy that we hope can help us out. That way we will not have to pack up and take it in to a service center. The one Montana RV service center that we checked with did not have time available for the next two weeks while we are here. Busy place!!

This park is nice and has all kind of space for our two fur babies to enjoy. Lots of running room, lots of grass and lots of shade. The roads are all paved so I will be able to get my power chair out to help walk the fur babies!!

We will be checking in the next day or two to see what our sightseeing schedule will be for Glacier National Park. We are both really looking forward to seeing it all. We will probably get out tomorrow and ride around Kalispell to get our bearings and get an idea of what they have to offer. We are also planning to check into the tour buses for Glacier to see what that is all about.

We do know that Kalispell looks to be a fairly large town with many restaurants to choose from. They have a Walmart too so my medications will be taken care of!!

Well, that is enough rambling. I am including a few pictures from our trip between Cody/ Rocker and Rocker/Kalispell. Just a little bit of scenery but you will notice that Rocker to Kalispell is the better of the two trips.

Cody to Rocker

Rocker to Kalispell

Rocker, MT

2011-08-01T18:25:00.001-04:00

We are in Rocker, MT at the 2 Bar Lazy H RV Park. This is a very small, no frills park that is located very close to I90. Great for an overnight stay.

We left Cody at about 8:30 this morning and arrived in Rocker at 2:45. There was some construction that we ran into on our way but not anything that caused any great delays.

We are set up and now resting. Planning a very quick and simple dinner and more resting!!

Will update more tomorrow.

Last Day in Cody

2011-07-31T23:20:00.003-04:00

This was our last full day in Cody for this trip and we have really enjoyed it!

We started preparing for our departure in the morning by getting most of the outside tasks completed. We will be leaving early tomorrow for Rocker, MT (near Butte) to stay overnight, and then on to Kalispell on Tuesday. Glacier National Park here we come!!

We relaxed this afternoon and then went out for dinner and a show tonight.

We went to The Cody Cattle Company and had chicken, brisket, baked beans, slaw, corn bread, caesar salad and a brownie. We had lemonade to drink. It was pretty good food.

The show was better than the food. Everywhere West is the group of three who sang and played multiple instruments and they were great. We even bought a CD of the songs they played tonight.

Everywhere West (the 2 on the right are father & son)

This is a short video - hope quality is okay

Buffalo Bill Museum

2011-07-30T14:28:00.001-04:00

Charley went to the Buffalo Bill Museum this morning for his second visit. We were there last year. I decided to stay home and keep watch over Sadie. She is supposed to be kept a little quiet for a few days and that is not easy with a puppy!! And she is feeling her oats today.

I failed to include something in my update yesterday. Cheyenne was acting strange while Sadie was at the vet. We thought she must have been feeling bad or something but after Sadie returned we realized that she was missing her little buddy!! She perked right up and was fine! Amazing how smart these little guys can be.

The rest of today will be R&R to get prepared to start packing up tomorrow for the next leg of our trip.

Hope you enjoy the museum pictures!

Click on the link below to see all of the museum pictures.

Buffalo Bill Museum

Cody Nite Rodeo on Thursday & Fix-it Friday

2011-07-29T17:00:00.015-04:00

We went to the Cody Nite Rodeo last night and it was fun. This rodeo seems to be more of a "learning" rodeo than a professional one. We saw bareback riding, team roping, saddle bronc riding and barrel racing. There were also some young girls who did some trick riding. And the clown told a lot of jokes to entertain us between events. All in all it was a fun evening. And the nachos drowned in cheese were good!! They also had a VERY LARGE bull tied up in back of the stands that you could get your picture made with for $10. Needless to say we did not do this..... He was a whopper though....

Today, Charley took Sadie in to the vet for her fix-it job and then delivered our truck to the Ford dealership for his fix-it job. Our truck is back safe and sound and believe it or not, the bill was LESS than they estimated. We also just picked up Sadie from the vet and she is a little groggy but seems to be fine. Our challenge is going to be trying to keep her somewhat quiet for the next few days per the vet's instructions..... Here are pictures of Cheyenne and Sadie today. Both are fine, just a few days of healing yet to go.

Tomorrow we are going to the Buffalo Bill Museum if all goes well.

Hope you enjoy the rodeo pictures.

Click on the link below to see all of our rodeo pictures.

Cody Nite Rodeo

Cheyenne is better

2011-07-27T22:26:00.002-04:00

The medicines that the vet gave us yesterday for Cheyenne are clearing up her allergic reaction to whatever it was?? We cannot imagine what it was unless it is some type of fungus in the grass due to the heavy watering they do in this campground. It is pretty soggy every morning (they water at night). But, thankfully, it is beginning to clear up. Thank you so much to those who expressed their concern about her well-being. She appreciates it.... :-) and so do we!!

Today, since we did not want to leave Cheyenne alone until after we knew for sure she was going to be okay, we took a ride out to the Wild Mustang range on Whistle Creek Road. This is between Cody and Greybull and it is an open range that is dedicated to the wild mustangs. We saw some mustangs but had to look at them through binoculars so good pictures were not possible. They do not allow you to get close to them. We do have a couple of long shots included below. Since I have loved horses since I was a little girl, the trip was well worth it to me.

We also saw a pronghorn antelope standing in the middle of the road and we weren't sure if he was ever going to move out of our way. He just stood there staring at us for the longest time. But it did give us a chance to get some good pictures of him. Beautiful animal!

Unfortunately we did not see any black tailed prairie dogs that the brochure said lived on this same range. Seeing them would have been special. Maybe another time.

We got to talk to the grandchildren (and their Mom and Dad) tonight on Skype. That was special because it has been several days since we last talked. And we grandparents will suffer from withdrawal symptoms if we do not get to see and talk to them frequently. I just wish that Skype was a little more reliable than it is. The purchased version probably is better (we use the free one). But we get it done, even though sometimes we have to hang up and start over.

The rest of our day was spent just relaxing at the campground, except for a quick grocery run before dinner.

If all goes well, we are planning to go the rodeo tomorrow night. That should be fun!!

More later.

The long, long shots of a couple of wild mustangs (sorry they are a little fuzzy)

The pronghorn antelope

During our drive, we saw a little of this

And a LOT of this!!

Plans do Change!!

2011-07-26T19:38:00.005-04:00

Well, plans are made to be changed I guess. Yesterday we had planned to stay around the campground and basically do mostly nothing. And that is what we did. However, we noticed that Cheyenne's eyes (actually the eyelids) had started swelling. This had us very concerned because she has never had this happen before. I put some cold cloths on her eyes to try to help the swelling.

Her eyes were still swollen this morning, but about the same as last night, so Charley took the truck in for an oil change as planned. Then he called me and indicated that we had a leak in the truck and he was going to have them determine what was wrong. So he was there a little longer than planned.

About 8:30AM, I called the vet here in Cody to make an appointment to take Cheyenne in to get her checked out but the swelling suddenly worsened and spread to the top of her nose, and it had large bumps in it. Well, needless to say this caused me to panic! So as soon as Charley got back to the campground he was loading up Cheyenne to take her in to get her checked immediately. And I have to hand out a BIG THANK YOU to the Lifetime Small Animal Clinic for taking her right in to see what we needed to do. The vet indicated that it is probably an allergic reaction to something she may have been digging at our campsite. So she got a shot with antibiotics, for possible infection, and it also had something in it for the swelling. Plus two types of tablets she is to begin taking tomorrow. Plus a solution to dab on the swollen areas. Plus some special shampoo to bathe her in. We are also to do a vinegar/water solution to pour over her after a bath that she will be getting tomorrow. And the vet asked us to call in the morning to let them know how she is. So we are watching her closely to make sure she doesn't scratch at it because it is obvious that it is itching. Sadie has not had a problem, thank goodness.

Now, back to the leak in the truck. After doing a coolant pressure test, they found two problems. One, there is a small leak in one of the radiator hoses and, two, the big issue, is that the water pump is also leaking. So, after Charley came home from the vet and he was able to update me on the status of the truck, we decided that we need to get both fixed now. Especially since we are headed to northern Montana to go to Glacier National Park. We do not want to get stranded in an area that has fewer places who could take care of us. The dealership here has the parts in stock and is going to take care of it for us Friday morning.

As you may remember, Sadie also goes in on Friday for her "fix it" surgery. So with two vet bills and the repairs/oil change for the truck, Charley says we are going to have to float a loan or get a job!!

Well, that is all of the excitement we can stand at once!! Hopefully the rest of today will be uneventful. We will make no further plans for sightseeing until after we see how Cheyenne is tomorrow.

A picture of our swollen Cheyenne

She is being a real trooper through all of this. She keeps trying to play with Sadie, but she is getting frustrated with her a little. And, of course, Sadie doesn't understand.....

Sunday in Cody

2011-07-24T23:42:00.001-04:00

We drove around Cody today just to check things out and decide what we wanted to see and do while we are here this week. We drove out to the Buffalo Bill Dam and took a few pictures of the surrounding scenery and tunnels.

We also drove past the Buffalo Bill Museum which we are definitely planning to visit again - we were there last year and decided that we wanted to come back and spend more time there. Planning to go on Tuesday.

We also checked out one of the visitor guides and there are rodeos every weeknight at 8:00PM. We are definitely planning to do this!!

We also saw where there are wild horses in a nearby area that we need to check into further to see if it is a must see. I (Sherry) love horses so we will probably do this as well.

Looks as if it may be a busy week here. We take Sadie to the Vet on Friday for her "fix" job (spaying). We have not told her yet - .....

We also got together with Greg and Jan White (fellow bloggers who are here at the same campground with us). Their blog is Our RV Adventures, which Charley has been keeping up with for quite a while. It was great to meet them and share some of our adventures and theirs. We hope to be able to get together with them once again before we all depart Cody.

Greg and Jan White

Cody Wyoming Scenery

Our Drive to Cody, Wyoming

2011-07-22T23:24:00.008-04:00

Well, silly us!! We thought all of Wyoming looked the same but, boy, were we wrong!! Our drive to Cody took us over the Bighorn Mountains and the scenery was gorgeous. After a short drive on I90, we passed through farm and ranch country with green pastures and fields. Then we started up the mountain. The climb had to have been 8-10% grade all the way to the top with no relief!! After starting up the mountain our speed dropped to 25MPH and stayed there until we got to the top. The climb had to have been 8-10 miles long with switchbacks up the side of the mountain. We went up to around 8900 feet altitude so our truck had to work very hard to get to the top, but she made it!! She got a rest when we started back down..... We also saw snow still on the mountain tops.

We did see one interesting thing during the drive that did not have anything to do with the Wyoming scenery. We saw our first "back pack" for a car!! An SUV had a back pack style luggage carrier strapped onto the luggage rack and hanging down over the rear window. And it was loaded (full).

The top of the mountain was several miles of open meadow/pasture land (free range) where we saw a very large flock of sheep and several cows just meandering across the road.

On the way down the mountain, we stopped at Shell Falls for some pictures. Shell Creek has carved a path through the rocky terrain and it now looks like a small canyon surrounds it. It is amazing to see so many different types of scenery in such a short drive. Our pictures will help explain.

The rest of the drive was just barren and desolate countryside (and it was a little boring).

We arrived at Absaroka Bay RV Park at 1:00PM. This is a fairly nice park with paved interior roads and pull through sites. And they have free WiFi (which is always nice). After setting up, we chill-axed for the rest of the day.

Climbing up the mountain

Snow in July

Beautiful scenery

Shell Falls

More Shell Falls

No idea what this rock is ??

The barren countryside

They own the road!!

Please click on the picture below to see all of our photos from today.

July 22, 2011

Packing up and heading out!!

2011-07-21T22:38:00.000-04:00

We spent some of yesterday preparing the 5er for our departure this morning. Otherwise we took it pretty easy. Charley did go to the Woodcarving Museum in Custer and found it to be very interesting.

This morning we finished up preparing for travel and headed out of Custer at about 9:00AM. It will take us 2 days to get to Cody so we have stopped at Peter D's RV Park in Sheridan, WY for tonight. We stayed here for a couple of nights last year. It is a very small park, not fancy, but very convenient to I90.

We only have about 150 miles to travel tomorrow so will not be in a rush to get started in the morning. Maybe we can have an extra cup of coffee and a leisurely shower before we leave!!

Here are some pictures from the Woodcarving Museum and a couple of the Wyoming countryside.

Some very talented folks did these!!

Wyoming is pretty in its own way, amazing how the terrain changed when we crossed the state line!!

Needles Highway at Custer State Park

2011-07-19T22:43:00.012-04:00

We went back to Custer State Park today to finish our tour on the Needles Highway. This is a beautiful drive with so many rock formations, mountains, lakes and tunnels. This is the highway that has one tunnel that is only 8 feet 4 inches wide. And our truck is 8 feet 2 inches wide with the side mirrors folded in. One guy was standing there watching us. I believe that he thought we were not going to make it……but we did!! This is an absolutely fantastic drive and it does not take very long at all, as long as you don’t stop to hike on the many trails that are available.

On our way back we stopped by to meet Mike and Pat McFall. We are followers on their blog. We also purchased our Pressure Pro system from them. They live just down the road from Broken Arrow Campground. Very nice folks. We are going to try to get together for another visit when we return to Broken Arrow in late August.

Tomorrow we will be getting the 5er prepped to leave on Thursday morning so will probably be spending most of the day at the campground. It will take us 2 days to get to Cody, with an overnight stop in Sheridan, WY at Peter D’s RV Park.

Here are a few favorite pictures from today with a link to all of them if you are interested.

Looks like it is about to fall, doesn't it?

Gorgeous scenery everywhere


The 8 ft 4 in tunnel!!

Beautiful Sylvan Lake

Longhorn Cattle

Click on "Needles Highway" below to see all of our “many” pictures from today. We had two cameras going!!

Needles Highway

Quiet Day at Broken Arrow Campground

2011-07-18T18:12:00.002-04:00

We stayed at the campground today and took care of a couple of fix-it jobs that needed to be done in addition to doing laundry and finishing a few cleaning chores. Nothing big.
We went to the chuck wagon dinner at the campground tonight. They had a cowboy singing and playing his guitar, accompanied by a guy playing the fiddle. The food was good and the entertainment was too. A few pictures are attached.
Please note that I have also loaded current pictures of our fur babies on the blog (right hand side). Sadie is growing like a weed!!
That is all for today. Stay tuned!!

Custer State Park

2011-07-17T18:59:00.005-04:00

We completed the chores that we had planned for yesterday. The fur babies sure do smell lots better!!

Charley started a campfire last night after dinner and we sampled one of our Red Ass wines. It sure was good!!

Today we started our tour of Custer State Park. We drove the Wildlife Loop and Iron Mountain Road. Saw prairie dogs, burros, pronghorn, and buffalo on the Wildlife Loop. Saw beautiful scenery on both of these, in addition to seeing Mount Rushmore again.

Cheyenne and Sadie enjoyed the burros. We fed them apples and carrots so they got up close and personal!!

We will be going back to drive the Needles Highway another day before we leave for Cody on Thursday. Not sure if that will be tomorrow or Tuesday.

I have a few pictures included along with a link to see them all. Hope you enjoy them!!

Up close and personal…..

The little prairie dogs – my favorite!!

Mount Rushmore from Iron Mountain Road – yes, that is Mount Rushmore that you see through the tunnel!!

This is the pretty little town of Keystone

Click on the link below to see all of our pictures from today’s tour.

Custer State Park

An Update from Custer

2011-07-16T10:41:00.004-04:00

We went into Rapid City as planned on Thursday and got all of our errands taken care of. Stopped on the way back at the Red Ass Winery. Did the wine tasting routine and picked out three that we liked. And, yes, we came home with three bottles of wine!! Planning to open the first bottle tonight in front of a campfire!!

Went on the 1880 Train ride yesterday and it was fun. Train only traveled 10 MPH and it went from Hill City to Keystone and back. Saw a lot of the mountain scenery like wild flowers, trees and deer and a lot of the mountain homes that you cannot see from a road.

Also, have to mention that our daughter had a birthday yesterday. She hit her first milestone – 30!! Happy Birthday again Stacey!!

One other major accomplishment was completed yesterday. We finished our itinerary for the remainder of July and August. Will be going from here to Cody, staying there for a few days and then up to Glacier National Park where we will be for two weeks. This gets us out of the hubbub surrounding the motorcycle rally in Sturgis. Then we will make our way back to Custer, returning to the Broken Arrow campground until time to head for Gillette and the Escapades Rally. All reservations are in place so we can now sleep more soundly.

Planning to take care of some chores around the campground today, cleaning up the 5er, bathing the two fur babies, and napping!!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Beautiful drive to Rapid City!!

Updated picture of the Crazy Horse monument

The sign explains these two!!

The 1880 Train in Hill City

Click on the Picture Below to see more pictures from the train ride.

1880 Train Ride

Rainy and Foggy in Custer

2011-07-13T21:44:00.001-04:00

It has been rainy and foggy since we arrived in Custer so no real sight seeing yet. Gotta be able to see the sights and take pictures!!

We did get the windshield replaced in the truck today after waiting most of the day for them to arrive! After it was finished we did take a short ride to the Jewel Cave National Monument mostly to get me out of the camper for a little while. We did not go in to see the monument because it was too close to dinner time and we were hungry!! The drive there was beautiful, with lots of winding mountain roads that Charley enjoyed driving on. We did not take pictures so none to share today.

Tomorrow we are going into Rapid City (as we had planned to do today) to pick up prescriptions and other things at Wal-Mart. We are also going to the commissary at Fort Ellsworth to pick up a couple of things. Also need to check out the laundromat in Custer. The one here at Broken Arrow is too expensive!!

Friday we have tickets to ride the 1880’s train. We do hope that it is not foggy that day!! Then after that we will spend a day or two at Custer State Park.

Stay tuned!!

We have arrived in Custer, SD

2011-07-11T18:06:00.001-04:00

We left Sturgis at around 9:30 this morning, headed for Custer. We arrived at 11:30. We have to move the 5er after today to another campsite due to reservations here at the Broken Arrow Campground so we have just left everything hooked to the truck until we move tomorrow.

It is very cool (weather) here right now due to thunderstorms that are moving through the area. In the high 60’s and we have the windows raised to get some fresh air. It is so nice!! So sorry that all of our family and a lot of our friends are sweltering back in SC. We would have you all over if we could!! It actually has not gotten above 72 today.

We will not be able to start any of our touring until probably Thursday. We have to change campsites tomorrow and make a grocery run and these will take about half the day. Then Wednesday the Safelite people are coming to put our new windshield in the truck. Told us they would be here between 8 and 12. So we should probably rule Wednesday out too unless we can find something very close that we can do. We will be checking on that.

We are also going to try to get by to meet Mike and Pat McFall. They live just down the road from where we are.

Stay tuned. We should have some great pictures from the Custer State Park, the 1880 Train ride, and maybe the Wild Horse Sanctuary (although the entry fee may be a little steep for us). Charley also wants to visit the Red Ass Winery near Hill City where they make rhubarb wine. And I am sure that we will do just some driving around and looking at the scenery since it is so gorgeous.

Update from Sturgis

2011-07-09T22:38:00.008-04:00

We went on a short tour of Deadwood and Lead South Dakota on Thursday. We had been there before but wanted to see it again. We also drove through Bare Butte State Park but there isn’t much that we found that was interesting other than a couple of scenic pictures and, of course, the buffalo with babies.

We took Friday off and hung around the campground and joined the campground owner for dinner (steak night). While on the subject of the campground, the owner is a very nice gentleman who just purchased the campground in February. We sort of got to know him pretty well because we had a situation with the windshield on our truck. When we got in the truck on Thursday for our day trip the windshield was cracked. It was not cracked when we arrived on Wednesday and the truck was not driven until Thursday. The campground was being mowed on Wednesday afternoon. We reported this to the office/owner and explained what we thought happened. He contacted his insurance company and we will be reimbursed for the repairs. He indicated that he wanted to “make it right”. We could not have asked for this to be handled any more nicely than it was. If anyone is planning to visit the Sturgis area you should consider the Rush No More RV Park as a camping option. We recommend it!!

Today, we went to see Debbie, Duane, Bo and Laska (finally got to meet Bo and Laska). We took Cheyenne and Sadie too since they had not met Sadie. Had a very nice visit at their campsite, watched the dogs at play, managed to keep up with all four of them and then headed to a Mexican restaurant for lunch (very good). Did not make note of the name of the restaurant. Went back to their campsite to pick up our fur babies, after Duane and Debbie kindly invited them to stay in their camper, and then headed for home. We were planning to visit the Historical Fish Hatchery while we were there today but decided to try to get together again before we leave the area and visit it then. Duane and Debbie are great people and just loads of fun to talk to. We have been full timing about the same length of time so we have lots of stories to tell each other and I don’t think they have all been told yet!!

We are planning to stay at the campground tomorrow and do a little cleaning up inside the 5er (much needed) before we head for Custer on Monday.

Stay tuned, there will be lots of pictures when we go back to Custer State Park for our third visit. We love that place!! It is beautiful and has so much to offer.

Downtown Deadwood

Blooming Cactus

Bare Butte

Buffalo at Bare Butte State Park

Our site at Rush No More RV Park

Bo with Sadie

Laska

Debbie and Duane

Sturgis, SD

2011-07-06T21:47:00.001-04:00

One note on Chef Louie’s last night. It was delicious!! Just like last year!

We left the campground in Mitchell at 7:00AM Central this morning and arrived in Sturgis before noon Mountain time. We are at the Rush No More campground about 7 miles from Sturgis. It is very quiet and peaceful here. We had planned to stay here two weeks but we changed our minds today and will just be staying until Monday morning. We then plan to move to Custer, to the Broken Arrow campground where we stayed last year.

Our two fur babies, Cheyenne and Sadie, seem to be the hit of this campground!! They are getting everyone’s attention already. We love it.

We have set up everything, for the most part anyway, and will finish up the little things tomorrow.

Not sure yet what our touring plans are. We also need to get in touch with Debbie and Duane Rowe to see when we can get together with them while we are here in Sturgis.

More later!

Our Last Day in Mitchell SD

2011-07-05T18:51:00.004-04:00

We relaxed most of the day today after going to visit the Corn Palace and having breakfast while we were out. Pictures are included of this fascinating place.

We are going out to Chef Louie’s for a steak for dinner and then coming back to get some things prepped for our departure tomorrow. We ate here the last time we were in Mitchell and it was excellent! Hope the same will be true today.

You can see that they were working on one section of the palace today

The theme for this year is American Pride – it is over the front entrance

Another of the murals on the outside

All inside shots

And this was taken in the gift shop!!!

We have arrived in South Dakota!!

2011-07-02T20:31:00.001-04:00

After three fairly heavy travel days we arrived in Mitchell, SD at around 3:30, after departing at 7:00AM. We traveled from Nashville to Villa Ridge, MO on Thursday, then on to St Joseph, MO on Friday and then to Mitchell today. Boy, Charley is beat after all that driving. I offered to help with the driving but I don’t think he is confident that I can handle it with the 5er behind us. And he may be right!!

We intend to take it easy tomorrow before we begin checking out Mitchell again. We will definitely be returning to the Corn Palace to see what the theme is this year. That is really a very interesting place and we are anxious to see it again. There is a steak restaurant, Chef Louie’s, that we intend to revisit. We had a great meal there last year. Then just more sightseeing around Mitchell and relaxing for a couple of days before we move on to Sturgis, where we will be staying for two weeks.

We did take some pictures on the way here but none were very noteworthy so we will wait for the Corn Palace!! We did take some pictures of the flooding in Missouri and Iowa but hard to tell what you are seeing in a picture. This was something that we had not seen before. We actually had to detour off of I-29 two times due to flooding on the interstate. Made our day a little longer than planned today!!

Stay tuned!!

Day at the Campground

2011-06-28T21:22:00.001-04:00

We did not get to the distilleries as planned today. Charley woke up with a very bad headache so we just hung around the campground so that he could take care of that. He did, after feeling a little better, get the truck in for the needed fuel filter change. The technicians also took care of the recall notice that required a computer reset that is supposed to increase the horse power.

We will just have to catch the distilleries on a later trip through this area.

Tomorrow Sadie goes to a local vet recommended by the campground for her next round of shots. Then we will be working on getting prepped to hit the road again Thursday morning for our whirlwind trip to get us to South Dakota. Won’t be much sight seeing for the three days it will take us to get there.

Stay tuned!!

Touring Nashville

2011-06-27T19:19:00.006-04:00

We went to the Hermitage (home of President Andrew Jackson) today and looked around. We did not go on the walking tour because we had the fur babies with us and they could not go. It was way too hot to leave them in the truck.

We also ventured into downtown Nashville and experienced their one way streets while trying to see how much has changed since we were last here. The main street with all the shops, recording studios and eating establishments is pretty much the same (amazing to me!!). We also saw the Ryman Auditorium and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Again, these were not places where we could take Cheyenne and Sadie inside for a tour but that was okay. We were mainly interested in just seeing what had changed. Took as many pictures as we could get but some are not that good.

We are planning to go to the Jack Daniels Distillery and George Dickle Distillery tomorrow after Charley takes the truck in for a new fuel filter at the local Ford Dealership. Then Wednesday Sadie gets her next round of puppy shots and we will be packing up for our three day trip north to South Dakota (two overnight stops).

Stay tuned. Hope you like the pictures.

The Hermitage

Downtown Nashville – in the midst of the high rises

Country Music Hall of Fame Museum

Ryman Auditorium

Click on the picture below to see all of our photos from today.

Grand Ole Opry

2011-06-26T14:48:00.005-04:00

Wow, what a night!! We had a great time at the Grand Ole Opry. I felt like royalty the way they treated us (in my wheelchair). We had 4th row center seats and they were fantastic for taking pictures and seeing all of the activity taking place on stage. The Grand Ole Opry is the longest running live radio show in the world. This makes the experience so unique.

There were several of the older performers there last night, Jimmie Dickens, The Whites, Jim Ed Brown, Ray Pillow and Connie Smith. And also several new, up and coming groups that I am sure we will hear more about in the months and years to come. Three were especially good – Dailey & Vincent, Foster & Lloyd and Frankie Ballard. The show started at 7:00PM and was over at about 9:30.

I was amazed that Jimmie Dickens is still performing. He is 90 years old and he did some jokes (very funny I might add) and sang two songs. He can still carry a tune very well.
We did our tourist thing and visited the gift shop and purchased Opry coffee mugs and t-shirts. Gotta have those souvenirs!!

We are planning to relax today and then get out tomorrow and Tuesday for some day trips. Charley wants to visit the Jim Beam distillery and a couple of other distilleries in the area. We also want to tour Nashville and see how much has changed since we were last here.

Below are a few of the many pictures that we took at the Opry. Hope you enjoy them!!

The entrance to the Opry

The Minnie Pearl look-a-like that was greeting everyone at the entrance

Little Jimmie Dickens – yes, that is him (standing up) behind the podium – shows you how short he really is!!

Frankie Ballard

The Whites (part of them)

Charley – oops – he didn’t perform!!

Foster & Lloyd

Jim Ed Brown

Connie Smith

Dailey & Vincent (they were really great)

Click on the picture below to see all of our Opry pictures.

Jun 25, 2011

It’s Friday!!

2011-06-24T20:34:00.001-04:00

We took the day off yesterday and just lounged around the campground. Al and Jeanne Ross stopped by to visit. This is a couple that we just met in the campground in Pigeon Forge. It is so nice to meet new people and make new friends. We learned that they live near Crystal River Florida which is where we will be snow-birding January – March 2012. So we know that we will be seeing them again! Jeanne and I have something very much in common. We both have COPD so we shared stories about how this is affecting us and our daily routines.

Got up this morning and after having a couple of cups of coffee started packing up the 5er to head for Nashville. We left Pigeon Forge at 9:30AM and arrived in Nashville around 12:30 Central time.

We are staying at the Nashville Country RV Park in Goodlettsville, TN. This seems to be a very nice park and is not very far from all the excitement of the Nashville area. The campsites are nice with lots of grass and trees. Our satellite did not like these trees so we are using cable for the first time since we had the new dish installed up top. But the cable channel selections here are better than we usually see.

Charley and I just came in from walking the fur babies, Charley on foot and me in my Power Chair (good name for it don’t you think – POWER)…….

We took a few pictures on the drive here but none are worthy enough for posting.

We will be going out to dinner tomorrow night and going to the Grand Ole Opry!! Cannot wait! It has been quite a few years since we have been there and it was then still being held in the Ryman Auditorium. This one will be in Opryland. We have 4th row seats on the floor!! I am sure we will get some good pictures of this and we will share a few.

Later!!

The Smoky Mountains

2011-06-22T21:27:00.003-04:00

We have had a good time touring the Gatlinburg, Sevierville and Pigeon Forge areas the last couple of days. These are very much tourist attractions with loads of shops, hotels/motels, restaurants and amusement parks/activities.

We also drove the Cades Cove Loop today which was a nice, scenic 11 mile drive after we reached the loop. This area has a lot of history associated with it and many of the sites are historical homes, churches and other buildings from as long ago as the early 1800’s.

We have included several pictures and hope you enjoy them.

Downtown Gatlinburg

The Skylift that takes you to Ober Gatlinburg

An example of the architecture of Gatlinburg

The Rhododendron is in full bloom – beautiful!!

Wild turkey

All of these are historical buildings on the Cades Cove Loop

Nice, cool mountain stream – some were swimming in it!!

This is the closest we got to seeing Dolly or Dollywood

Really on the road again!!

2011-06-20T16:40:00.001-04:00

We can honestly say we are back on the road again!! We left Blythewood, SC at 8:00AM this morning and arrived in Pigeon Forge, TN at about 2:15PM. Took us about 30-45 minutes to get set up so that we could relax and give our two fur babies some exercise after their long nap during the ride here.

We are at Creekside RV Park in Pigeon Forge. Seems to be a nice park with lots of amenities. We will know more about that after we are here a little longer and have a chance to check it out. Cheyenne has already dragged Charley and Sadie through the first walk around the campground. They almost had to run to keep up. Cheyenne seems to be as glad as we are to be back into travelling. Sadie will get there eventually too. She (Sadie) was really funny this morning when we closed our home up while she watched. You could tell she was concerned!!

No pictures yet but I am sure we will have plenty starting tomorrow. Stay tuned!!

We are almost ready to go!! Update on the BBQ.

2011-06-19T21:27:00.002-04:00

We are almost packed and ready to go. All that is left is the final packing that has to be done at the last minute before closing up the 5er.

We will be heading out as early as possible tomorrow morning headed for Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We will be staying at Creekside RV Park for 4 nights, with plans to see the sights of Sevierville, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge in addition to getting some much needed rest! We are excited about getting back on the road again. This leg of our trip will take about 4 1/2 hours so we expect to arrive by early to mid-afternoon (depending on how many fur baby stops we have to make along the way). And people stops too I might add……

We had a wonderful time at the BBQ for Charley’s Dad Friday night and Saturday. Saw a lot of family that we had not seen in a while. Jason (our son) was in charge of cooking the BBQ and everyone raved about how good it was. He and his Dad and sister stayed up until around 2:00AM, took the meat off the fire and wrapped it for cooling and then they went for breakfast at the local Waffle House before going home for a few hours of sleep. Then back working on the meat at 11:00 Saturday morning getting it ready to eat. The BBQ was hosted by Charley’s brother Bob and his wife Betty at their home on Lake Murray. Our estimate is that about 70-80 people attended. Charley’s Dad (remember he is 94) seemed to have a really good time.

Below are some pictures that we hope you enjoy.

Charley says Hi

Getting set up to get started cooking

Our grandkids having fun in the lake

Preparing the Boston Butts

Cooking!!

Sadie with Molly (our daughter’s cream dapple dachshund)

Cheyenne with Duppy (our nephew’s Lab puppy)

Me with son-in-law Lee

Me and my super daughter Stacey

Our youngest grandchild Kaydee (4) watching Cheyenne enjoy the boat ride

The Dilworth Boys

Feeding our faces!!

Chef Jason and his wife

The chef and his family

Part of the crowd

The oldest to the youngest

Almost There!!

2011-06-15T08:14:00.001-04:00

We have our route mapped out and we are very close to being ready to hit the road!! We are going to the family BBQ that is being held on 6/18 for Charley’s 94 year old Dad for Father’s Day. Our son is in charge of cooking the BBQ. Should be a lot of fun.

We will be leaving SC on Monday, 6/20, with our first stop planned for Knoxville, TN. Then on to Nashville where we hope to go to the Grand Ole Opry. Then we are planning to go through Louisville, Kentucky and Kansas City, Missouri and then up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota (all places we have been before)!! We are hoping to find some cooler weather, can you tell?

We then plan to make our way across South Dakota and see some of the sites again that we have already visited and hopefully some new ones as well. We do plan a stop in Spearfish to visit our new friends, Duane and Debbie Rowe, as we make our way to Gillette, Wyoming for the Escapades Rally.

Everyone keep their fingers crossed for us to actually get going this time!!

Be back soon…..

A Quick Update

2011-06-10T11:38:00.001-04:00

We will be departing SC on June 20 for our next adventure. We have decided not to go to Utah and Colorado since we are getting such a late start and it will be way too hot now. So we will postpone that trip until maybe Spring of 2012?

We are now in the process of deciding where we will be going as we make our way to Gillette, WY for the Escapades Rally in late August. Will update the blog as soon as we finalize. May even make it back to South Dakota (we love it there!!).

So stay tuned….. We are going to get on our way this time!!

Our New Fur Baby!!

2011-05-31T17:27:00.003-04:00

Cheyenne now has a little sister, Sadie, who is also a dachshund. She is a dapple (color called black and blue) and she is 8 weeks old. We got her on Friday, from a lady who injured her back after getting the puppy and she could no longer care for her. We were so lucky that our daughter found out about her – she is a sweetheart!!

Sadie and Cheyenne are still getting acquainted but are getting along nicely. Cheyenne is very jealous right now but that will go away in time. We cannot wait to show her off to all of our full timing friends out there when we get back on the road again.

We should be working on getting everything ready to go next week and on the road soon!!

Woo-hoo!!

Playing with the toys!!

Playing with Cheyenne

Close-up!!

Snoozing…. zzzzzz….