Michigan,Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York

Boy it seems like just yesterday that I was typing away here!!!!

We left Bay City Michigan and headed for Battle Creek to see how corn flakes are made.Well Kelloggs closed down the factory tours last year. You"d think they would have called to let us know,but NO.. No Corn flakes no snap,crackle and pop, no raisin bran.!!!

We headed East to Ypsilanti Michigan ( near Dearborn Mi). The Ford museum and Greenfield village were well worth the change in plans. It takes at least a day to see each one of them. Time well spent. So much to see , I know we missed a lot. But we were people on a mission. Vera wanted to make a basket at Longaberger. That was in Dresdin Ohio. I know enough not to get between a woman and her basket. So we moved on. It cost more to make your own basket, than to have them make it. (Just kidding).

Our next stop was in Beaver and Monaca Pennsylvania. Stormy and Darlene (Great and long time friends from the keys) were our host and hostess. And host they did. They showed us every nook and cranny of the area. The area is filled with their history. Great fun finding out about all of it. We also visited with Bill and Kathy (again friends from the Keys). It seems anyone offering a free meal is an old friend.

We traveled accross southern New York. The southern teir is full of old Amish farms and farm stands with amish food.

My family was from Niagra Falls. I still have seven cousins there. I haven't seen them in fifty years. I thought after that long I might be welcome ( if they didn't really remember me). Some very last minute arrangements and we had a reunion with five of them ( Gail, Marlene, Patty,Joannie and Danny Robert ). My brother, Dick and his wife, Anne

jumped in their motor home and came up from Roslyn,(just outside Philadelphia) We had a great time. We are planning to have a reunion with everyone next summer.

Next we set our sights on Rochester Ny, the home of Anthony( our nephew on vera's side) and his wife, Kim. Again we went sight seeing with the private tour guides. They took us everywhere. We saw the Eastman museum ( from Kodak fame)and the high falls in the middle of Rochester. We invited them to our motor home for a Labor day picnic. Of course we had them brings the corn and watermellon which we brought to them. They also introduced us to Red hots and White hots. About the only thing we supplied was the shade. All in all a really good time.

Enough is enough for today

pictures

goats on restaurant's roof Rod's horses & wagon Our motorhome at Al & Karen's

Cheese glorious cheese

Our next state was Wisconsin. We actually have friends in Wisconsin. We spent a few days with Rod Anding. We meet him in Florida, and became friends. He made the mistake of inviting us to visit when we got near there. He has a farm with horses and cows. We went on a wagon ride, with his draft horses. He took us all around Spring Green, and showed us all the family's homes and farms. Next we and Rod went to Lodi Wi. This is the summer lake home of his sister and brother in law, Karen and Al. They also are good friends we meet in Florida. We spent several days in their drive way. We went boating on Lake Wisconsin, and met the rest of the family. Then Al and Karen joined us, in their motor home.We of course were in our motor home. ( Try to follow this) We all went north to Baileys Harbor Wi. Where we had to visit some other friends from Florida. We also went to a fish boil, which is a special dinner in northern Wi. We felt sorry for the local residents (just north of Green Bay), for they had just lost a national hero,Brett Favre!!! Go Jets!!!
We all left there after a few great days. Al and Karen headed south, and we headed north to the upper penisula of Michigan. It was interesting but rather desolate. We were happy to find out that they don't really eat people there. That's what we were told. We did find out that the people there are called Yuppers. They have a delicious food called Pasties ( a meat pie in a shell like a calzone). Moving further East we stopped at St Ignace. From there we went by Ferry(not fairy) to Mackinac island. A very interesting place. They have no cars on the island. They have the safest road in America. No cars no accidents. On Mackinac all the deliveries come by ferry and they are delivered by horse and wagon. This was a real experience for us. We took the carriage tour and learned all about the island.
We headed south ,across the Mackinac bridge. We heard it can be real windy on the bridge, but we had a good day. Our next destination was Bay City Michigan. We have two nieces living in Bay City. Annette , and her husband Al, and their two daughters , Casey and Paige were all great hosts. Then Annette's sister, Debbie came over to see us too. She took us on a tour of the area,and showed us all the points of interest. We hadn't seen any of them in several years, so that made it extra special. Debbie will be moving to New Jersey in September. She'll beat us there.
Enough for tonight.

A Quick catch up

We actually did leave Portland Or. We followed the Columbia River gorge eastward, into Idaho. Then we crossed Idaho and stopped at West Yellowstone Montana. From there we took day trips into Yellowstone. It is beautiful . It was much better than the last time we saw it ( 19 years ago, the year after the big fire. Everything was black THEN ). From there we headed south into The Grand Tetons. Even more beautiful than Yellowstone. We spent a couple of days at Gros Vantre campground, so we could spend some time in Jackson Hole Wy. We saw the arches made of Elk horns. We also ate Elk and Buffalo in the million dollar cowboy bar. Not bad ,actually good.We headed south from there just to clip the corner of Utah. We changed directions and headed East hitting Colorado and then into Nebraska . Nebraska has beautiful FLAT land, and plenty of corn. You can't get enough of FLAT land. Pretty farms with neat out barns and silos. We turned north from Nebraska through South Dakota into North Dakota. We had to see Mount Rushmore. Nothing beats faces on a mountain.We also went to Custer state park. One of the best state parks we have seen .There were wild buffalo, and wild mules that stuck their heads right in the car window, looking for food. On the move again, through Fargo ND, and into Minnesota. They do talk funny there. Of course, we don't have an accent. Down to Iowa for more Flat land and more corn.
I'm breaking off here because we spent more time in Wisconsin. I promise to be back very very shortly.

Some real green & Big Mountains

We left California and entered Oregon. What a complete change. Every thing was green. Nothing was burning. And there was no smoke. Oregon is a pretty state. Myrtle Creek, a campground on route 5 was so nice, one of our favorites,so far. But we only stayed one night, because we wanted to get to the Oregon coast.

Our first stop on the coast was between Port Orford and Bandon.We were there for Vera's birthday. We went to "The boat works" a restaurant in the old town section of Bandon. It was a nice restaurant overlooking the Bandon lighthouse. We had a good time.

Our second stop was for two days at Turtle Rock RV Park, in Gold Beach. At the mouth of the Rogue river the section was famous for gold and agates. Of course we only found agates. We took Jerry's Rogue river boat trip. It was a 32 mile trip up the Rogue River in a jet boat. We had lunch at Cougar Lane. We saw a lot of beautiful eagles, and ospreys. An enjoyable trip is an understatement. Oh yes I forgot to say Cougar Lane is in Agnes Oregon. They didn't have a road there until 1964.

After Gold Beach we moved north up the coast to South Beach. We stayed there for a week. We were there for the fourth of July. We enjoyed the aquarium ,the beaches and the antique shops. On the beach we saw hundreds of star fish, some of them were purple. Never saw purple star fish before.

Next we spent a week in Portland. That's where we hooked up with Chris and Toby. They are some of our best friends from the Keys. They actually live in Lancaster Pa. They're almost next door neighbors to us. We had dinner on the eighth with Chris and Toby their daughter, Tellina, and her friend,Adrian. We had a great time. Toby had a great buzz. We toured the Columbia River gorge Crown Point, Mulnomah Falls. A fantastic and gorgeous day. The next day we went to the Rose garden and we tried to go to the Japanese garden.(It was closed for the day). We went to China town and VOODOO Donuts. What a different place.

The next day Chris and Toby got a call letting them know that his mother had just passed away. We took them to the airport. They got a flight that afternoon. We miss exploring with them.

Yesterday we went to the Saturday market. It is a flee and art market,under a bridge in Portland. Today we finally made it to the Japanese gardens(beautiful). Then we went the zoo,on a little train from the garden. Great garden, poor zoo. We couldn't find the animals.

Moving North from San Diego

We started north from San Diego,through Los Angeles and all that traffic. Our next stop was Santa Barbara ,Ca. Rancho Oso Campground. What the list of campgrounds doesn't list is what the roads to the campgrounds are like. This one even had Vera nervous. One lane, not one each direction, but only one lane on the side of a mountain. They had mirrors set at the turns so you could see oncoming traffic around the bend. Not that I could do anything about if someone was coming the other way.You can't back up when you are towing a car. The campground was nice. I needed a couple of days to get up the nerve to drive out. Really it was nice and had two pools and a hot tub.

Further north we stopped at Morgan Hill Campground. We were back to the center of the state. We had a winery at the entrance of the campground. We had a little tour and bought a bottle. We saw the first of many forest fires. There was a lot of smoke coming over the mountain. We got a chance to wash our jeep. Five thousand miles can get a car and motor home pretty dirty.
Finally, we made it to San Francisco. We stayed in Redwood city, about 20 miles south of downtown San Francisco. We have a niece who lives in Burlingame,a suburb of San Francisco. She was out of town for the first few days we were there. We went to China town and found a fortune cookie factory we visited 19 years ago. The next day we toured fisherman's wharf area. We got pictures of Vera with Forrest Gump (look alike) outside Bubba Gump Restaurant. It was cold there. They make a fortune selling jackets to tourists. We saw and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. We toured some old ships and ferries(In San Francisco we have to clarify, this is a kind of boat). When Trish,Vera's niece, got home she drove us to Muir Wood where the giant red woods are. They are awesome. We were guided by Trish all through the city. We went down the most crooked street, and the cable cars.
Lake Minden, just north of Sacramento was our next stop. The center of California was real hot. 100 degrees, or more. We tried kayaking again on the lake there. The smoke was getting a lot closer.
Further up the road we stayed at Redding Ca. We needed to visit one of Vera's nephews,Andrew. Vera hasn't seen him since 1977. I never meet him before. He has a restaurant,bar in Fall River Mills. Population 600 and surrounded with miles of trees. Oh by the way once again, or should I say still with the forest fires. They closed the highway, because the fire jumped the road.( A thirty six mile detour). We finally got back to the Bear Mountain RV Resort where we left the motor home while visiting Andrew.
There were eighty forest fires between central California and the coast ,where we were headed. Change of plans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fast Forward

I need to fast forward in order to bring this up to date. I'll just skim over some of the places we went. From Carlsbad we went to Albuquerque New Mexico. Our friend, Sister Dolores, lives there. She showed us all the points of interest in Albuquerque, and Santa Fe. We went to "Old Town" in Albuquerque and Loretto Convent in Santa Fe We saw the magic spiral staircase there. All in all we had a great time visiting with her.
From there we headed into Arizona. we toured the petrified forest and the painted desert. Great time and a place for Vera to buy turquoise necklace and earrings.
Moving west we stopped in Winslow Az. Like in the song "Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, such a sad sight to see". We saw the giant crater created by a meteorite, millions of years ago. A big hole in the ground.
We headed west to Williams Az. The campground there had a combination deal. We stayed at the campground and took a steam locomotive to The Grand Canyon. About a hundred miles round trip. We had a chance to meet real nice people and relax during the trip. The Grand Canyon isn't really high. It's really low. Which makes it really high!!! But impressive and beautiful.
From Arizona we traveled to Las Vegas Nevada. We spent a couple of days there. We strolled the strip, and saw the sights. We lost about forty dollars. I guess that's not too bad,(Not as good as winning forty, but not bad).
We entered California, and stopped near Calico Ca. There is a ghost town there. It was a Silver rush town back in 18 hundred something. Really interesting.
Our next stop in California was Oceanside ( Paradise by the sea campground) The water was cold and the sand was black. But that wasn't the reason for our stop there. Vera's sister,Jean lives near there. We surprised her at her house. Had lunch at the Elephant Bar, Jean's favorite place for lunch.
Enough for today.

Traveling through Texas

We left Austin,and headed to San Antonio. Once again a great "Care Free " campground. We found a special on the internet.$99 a week. So we stayed a week. We went to the river walk several times. We tryed different restaurants and different food. This time it was Mexican!! We took the boat tour of the river walk. We really did enjoy the river walk. Real pretty and lit up at night.
We visited the Alamo.Remember the Alamo??? It was interesting, but smaller than Disney made me believe.
Also we went to one of the many missions. They date back to the Spanish missionaries. It was very interesting.
We spent several hours in the pool and spa. Cool, clean and relaxing. A good week.
From San Antonio we traveled west to Fort Stockton Texas. It was just a one night stop. I don't remember ever seeing that much dust in air. One of the campers told me that since the first of January until the middle of May they only had 6 tenths of an inch of rain. Talk about dry and windy.
Moving north into New Mexico was a real improvement. Carlsbad Caverns are ENORMOUS!! The city of Carlsbad has a nice park on the Pecos river. We went there and tryed our Kayak, which we dragged around on the top of the jeep for several thousand miles. Then we took the park boat tour. It went up to the springs where the pecos river comes from.
The campground had an ice cream social and movie(Mad Money). We had to make our own ice cream. Ice, salt,cream, vanilla extract,and sugar. It was fun and tasted good. Another night they had a hot dog cook out. Free dinner and we got to meet some nice people.

Playing catch up

Boy do we have a lot of catching up to do. Our next to last night at Branson we were supposed to go to a dinner show followed by an outside show. The outside show was cancelled due to a tornado warning. When we got back to the campground the campground the sirens went of, telling us to take shelter. They had an underground shelter. It was scary and so many thoughts go through ones head. The tornado missed us and things turned fine. The same storm headed east and messed up our home in Jersey(lost some siding and roof shingles). But life goes on. Our last night at Branson we went to the Broadway show. It was excerpts from different shows.

Next we went to Weatherford Texas. Weatherford is outside of Fort Worth Texas.We visited Laurie and Lou there. We had lunch and dinner with them. They are our nephew and neice. Lou is pastor of a new church. It is an old church building that is being refurbished. It will be a lot of work, but it should be worth it.

While we were there we stayed at West end campground. What a campground!! The owner had six dogs that ran as a pack. Friendly during the day, but you didn't want to go out at night. There were chickens running all over and roosters crowing at three in the moring. While we were there we went to the Fort Worth zoo it was nice, but we had enough animals at the campground. Visiting the zoo brought back memories for Vera. There was a lot of school kids ther on field trips. Vera has been there and done that many times.

Our next stop was Austin Texas. To bad it was just onr night. It was a great campground. Care Free Campground of Austin. Care Free is a new chain of Campgrounds. We recomend them.

I don't like heights

The next day we traveled from Louisville Ky to Dexter Mo. It was a pleasant and uneventful trip. But.... The following day (Wednesday) we traveled west on Mo. route 60, heading across Missouri to Branson. Half way across 60 we hit a detour due to an accident ahead. The detour was forty miles long(just a little out of our way). There wasn't a quarter of a mile that was straight or level. I'm telling you every inch of it was up and down on a very narrow two lane road,with no shoulder. Did I mention this was all in the beginning of the Ozarks? We finally got through the detour. After turning south on Route 65 we realized that was nothing compared to the last thirty miles to Branson . The road goes straight up and down, followed by straight up and down. All of this was right on the edge of the mountains (thousands of feet down, well maybe...) When I say we finally got there I mean finally!! Branson has a lot of shows, and has a lot to keep you busy. The only problem is they built it on top of the mountains. When I ask people why, they just laugh.... I really don't like heights!!! I saw Vera laughing . I thought she was laughing at my being scared of heights. I found out she was laughing because she was nervous too.
We have already seen a 50's at the hop show and Andy Williams show at the Andy Williams theater, followed by a late night snack at the Andy Williams Grill. Are you beginning to see a trend here?
Tonight (Saturday May 10Th) we have reservations for The Shepherd of the Hills show . Before that we are going to the Son of the Pioneers dinner show.
Also this afternoon there is a TORNADO watch. Did I mention we're not real crazy about tornados?

We were late for everthing.

It is May 9th. God ! have we been bad at keeping this blog up to date. We arrived in Natchez ( actually the campground was on the La. side of the Mississippi River. Well at least half was ON THE SIDE of the river, the other half was still under the river. But that really wasn't a problem. Natchez is a quaint town. We visited Grand Village, an indian museum and village. By the time we went to the Antebellum Homes tour they were closing. We just took a car tour of them. We found ourselves in the same situation when we finally reached the Frogmore cotton plantation.It is the only active cotton gin in the country that people can tour.But we were late again. After all the riding we took a walk through downtown Natchez. We bought some books in a neat little book store. It reminded both of us of "The Little shop around the corner" from the movie "Youv'e got mail". We had dinner at a place called Pig Out Inn. Good food, fast service, full bellies. After we got some nice pictures of the river and river boat.
We spent the next day driving up Natchez Trace ,one of the most comfortable drives I've ever enjoyed.
We stopped at Tupelo Mississippi. It's Elvis's birthplace. We saw his two room house( bedroom and kitchen). It might have been a three room house if you count the out house. It was interesting to see how the king of rock and roll grew up. We went to the hardware store where Elvis bought his first guitar. We fell in love with the town. We were told if you ask a southerner a question, you get a book. Wow is that true. Barbara, the owner of Antique alley, was so friendly. She was preforming in the town playhouse in Gypsy. Really great people...and therefore great town.
The following day we continued up the Natchez Trace Parkway to Nashville. We spent the next day touring the Opry Hotel. The atrium was enormous, boat ride inside, water falls inside, and beautiful plants inside. It is beautiful. That night we went to The Grand Old Opry. A great show. I think Vera is in love with Brad Paisley.
Our next stop we were bouncing between Kentucky and Indiana. One side of the river is central time and the other side is eastern. We had a good excuse for not knowing what time it was. We saw how they made The Louisville slugger baseball bat. We visited a munitions and armament museum. Then we toured a lumber making plant. We saw the process from tree to finished board. They make finish trim work at this plant.
Next we are headed for Branson Mo.

New Orleans etc...

The next night (Wednesday the 23 of April) we stayed at a real red neck campground. It was in Gulf Shores Alabama. Just by comparision we looked like high class. We finally fround someplace where we looked good, but we were only there for one night. Good thing ,I kept hearing dueling banjos. The next morning we headed out through Mississippi , to New Orleans La. The main highways are in terrible condition around New Orleans. We made reservations at a KOA campground in New Orleans.
The first day we toured Destrihan Plantation, an old sugar plantation.It was very interesting and stately. We talked to the girl that gave the tour. She told us things to do while in New Orleans.
For breakfast, the next day we went to the French Quarter. We had "Cafe au lait" and "Beignet"(pronounced" ben yea ") at the Cafe Dumond. Lunch was at the Gumbo Shop. I had to try something new, Jambalaya. It was pretty good.
We walked around the french quarter most of the day. We had to include Bourbon St. !!! It doesn't have much on Duval st in Key West. The Buildings were all adorned with rought iron railings.It was very interesting too.
We took a street car (not named desire) just so that we could say we took a street car in New Orleans. Guess what, no stella!! The street car was a rescue for our feet from all the walking we did.
Saturday was a perfect start of a day for the Jazz Fest. We did enjoy the Dixie land music in a tent. We had lunch from a variety of venders. Things were going good until it started to pour. If you were in a tent it wasn't bad. Billy Joel was to perform on an outside stage at 5:30. We were totaly drenched by 5:00 P.M. and just couldn't think about listening to Billy Joel in the pouring rain and mud. We headed back to the campground. Sunday evening we went out for pizza. We saw another couple eating Crawfish. I asked the waitress if we could try a few. She gave them to us for free. Monday morning we left New Orleans for Natchez Mississippi.

The New (Pimped) Ride

We left Lazy Days With our new motorhome. We headed for north Florida ( the pan handle ). It was about three hundred miles. What a comfortable ride in our new Damon Challenger, which is thirty seven feet long and has three slides. Pictures will follow as promised. We arrived in Mexico Beach which is located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Our stay at Mexico Beach was really a lot of fun. We met up with Toby and Chris, who are our great friends from Sunshine Key, at Rustic Sands camp ground. We enjoyed three days together. Florida Caverns ,Falling waters State park and Apalachicola were some of our excursions. We promised to return to Apalachicola because some of the more interesting shops had closed by the time we got there. We ate dinner at a great little restaurant named Tamara's. We moved on from Mexico Beach to Navarre, still in the Florida panhandle. We camped at Emerald Camp Ground. The camp ground was right on the beach. The sand was so soft and white!!! We sat and read on the beach and enjoyed every minute of it.
Today, Wednesday April 23rd., we left Navaree and ended up in Gulf Shores Alabama. On the way we stopped at The Naval Air Museum in Pensecola Fl. What an interesting guided tour of all the Naval aircraft. We looked for our nephew's name in the Cubi Cafe,but couldn't find it. There were so many names,of pilots. They covered every wall.
Tomorrow we'll drive to New Orleans. We plan to stay there for four days. There is just so much to see and experience. To be continued.......

what's been happening

Don and Phyllis were on a cruise. One of their stops was Key West. So we met them and had lunch and strolled around Key West for the afternoon. Of course pictures were taken. As usual!!
By the way, Don and Phyllis are two of our best friends from home.
We have a lot of company and friends here . Dick and Anne my
brother and sister in law ,were here (in their new motor home ) for three weeks We TRYED fishing, kayaking, and snorkeling. The best I can say is "We didn't drown."
Our friends, Wayne and Sharon, Were here three or four days .Key West again, Vera's favorite place. Wayne and Sharon treated us to Little Palm Island for lunch. Little Palm Island is a very expensive and exclusive resort. The only way to get there is by boat,( Our's or their's) . We took their ferry. It was an experience we probably will never be able to do again. We will judge all other restaurants against this one.
The big surprise was when our son Keith told us he was coming to the keys. We've only been invited him for 8 years. He and his girlfriend ,Nikki landed March 12th in Fort Lauderdale. We picked them up there on Wednesday. Thursday we went fishing on "Happy Feet" (our boat). Now up till now we were catching some fish ,sometimes none. This day we caught a lot of fish. We came in with 16 fish in the cooler.We said Keith and Nikki were our lucky charms. Friday... you guessed it back to Key West to see the sights. Nikki and Keith had never been there before. We covered a lot of ground that day. Our day ended like Cinderella...at midnight. We were tired, but at least no one turned into a pumpkin. Saturday Keith came down with a case of food poisoning. He sure does know how to have a good time.
We're now resting up and waiting for Tara and Matt, (Our daughter and her husband). The next time you hear from us we will be in our new motor home.....Pictures to follow...

Super Bowl Sunday

Lou and Florence from Tuckerton are in the Keys for one month.We spent a sunny, hot day at the pool where they are renting a condo. It was a very nice day. We had a grilled lunch and a homemade mudslide to die for.Lou topped it witha cherry and whipped cream.We end up wearing it! After a refreshing shower, we ended up at Sparkey's for the Super bowl. GIANTS WON!!!
The week of Feb. 4th was great! Good fishing days. Chris, Lou and Ken enjoyed the day . What made it even better was the fact that Lou caught a Red Grouper ,a keeper YEA!!!!! We had a fish dinner that Vera made and we all ate up.Key West on a very hot day turned out to be wonderfully nice .We pigged out at Finnegans Wake, also took in a movie-----Fools ' Gold Had a very pleasant day with Rob and Sue.
Craft shows here are more than crafts.Artists, painters,and jewelry crafts are all displayed.
We are currently having thunder storms.We don't have to shovel that! Wind and rain is what we have to suffer through.Florida really needs rain so we can't complain .(BUT WE DO)

Fishing by the bridge

We've been out fishing (but not as much as we would like) . We always let having fun get in the way of doing the things we want to do!!!

pictures

we just wanted to show us having dinner at "The Island"and us in the pool. I was also trying to post pictures. They didn't come out perfect yet.

This is the life "The Keys disease"

Now that we are having fun , time sure is flying by. This is February alrady. The saya real good comedy. Toby,Chris,Rob,Sue, Ken and I enjoyed how 3 women plotted to kill their jerk husbands. Chris, Rob and Ken felt safe because they think they aren't jerks. Coffee and desert ( coconut ice cream covered with Kaluha ) topped off a great evening.
The next day we enjoyed a BBQ chicken dinner at the pool. It was a warm sunny day, with live music to listen to. ( Of course I needed to dance ) while dinning and swimming. This isn't a bad way to live!!!

Always complaining!!!

This is a special entrance for a physical education teacher in Little Egg Harbor (not mentioning any names). It seems that we need to make more regular entries,to stop some of the readers from complaining!!! If the shoe fits.

So many bars so little time

In our park there are many activities to choose from. Ken and I go to conditioning class 3 days a week. The class is lead by an eighty year old woman (Merrilee). She is unbelievable. She puts me to shame. There is line dancing, computer classes, tennis, happy hour, and dinner dances with different themes. We went to a sock hop the other night.
Key West is 39 miles down the (only) road. Key West is "Key West". So many bars so little time!!!
There are a lot of things to do. But we sometimes actually sit and relax on what I like to call our patio. Outside our motor home,with chairs, table,lounges,and an awning ; this is the life. We call it "Keys Disease"

Got ready then got fishing

The boat was ready to put in the water, a clean boat and fishing gear all set. I predicted it right. I said after all that had happened the weather would turn for the worse. Now all the days we were cleaning and preparing Happy Feet II the weather was gorgeous for fishing. So yes you guessed it we had 3 days of wind and small craft warnings...... Oh well!
We finally got out on the water and had some great fishing days. We invited our friends, Toby and Chris. We caught dinner and then some.You have to know that fishing inthe keys is very interesting- all types of fish are available Yellow tail, mangrove snapper, hog fish, grouper,yellow jacks, porgies and many many more. There is always a catch 22. All these fish are there, but but each species has a size and quantity limits. Sometimes you end up with less than half amount actually caught. this is called throw backs and keepers.

Arriving in paradise !

January 6th ,Sunday morning.... We arrived in Sunshine Key about 10AM. We breathed a big sigh of relief. As the saying goes bad luck always comes in threes. So we thought we were out of the woods. We are here now. What else could go wrong???????? We didn't think about Murphy's law, "What can go wrong will go wrong". Well, to complete our settling in, we needed to get some things from our boat that has been stored here on land all summer.
As we opened the boat, we saw the results of unwanted visitors who made themselves at home in our boat. We think racoons made themselves comfortable, leaving evidence of recycling food they had eaten elsewhere. We can't begin to tell the mess and stench in the boat and cabin. As if that wern't enough they chewed the wires to the electronics. We wern't sure if they had vacated the premisses at this point. I was down on the ground just in case they were still there. Ken was very gingerly removing the items we wanted with a boat hook. We ended up throwing out just about everything. What a mess!!!!
Now to bring this up to date. We cleaned out the boat. Disinfected it. Febrezzed it. Then we fixed the wires. Everything seems to be running smoothly now.
Now that the boat is in the water and ready to go, the weather is cool and windy.

Moving South

We left Baltimore January 2nd late in the morning. We made it to Wilson North Carolina without any problems. Then a car pulled up next to us ,honked, flicked his Bic lighter and pointed to the back. We pulled over to find our jeep inundated in smoke. It was just about to burst into flames. The seal on the front differential had blown. All the gear oil was sprayed all over. The gears heated up and just about started the entire car on fire. A rebuilt differential and 4 new tires and we were back on the road. We made it to Dillon South Carolina, when the lights and battery went dead AGAIN! We spent the night at a truck stop. In the morning we spent another 4 hours while a mechanic checked out the motor home. It turned out it as a bad ground wire. We probably didn't need the new alernator in Baltimore. We finally got to Sunhine Key in the Florida Keys on the 6th of January. Five days for a one day trip.

The first leg of our trip

" Happy New Year"
After securing our home in Tuckerton, we were ready to hit the road in our house on wheels. Approximately 130 miles later the sun was going down and so were our head lights. The RV came to a halt. That is when we called tripple A. We became emergency members that very night.
Oh! We also ran outof propane which means we had no heat in our RV. It was below freezing and we froze too. Ken was my personal heater in bed. I always said ,"Life with Ken is an adventure.
It was an interesting stay on the Auto Barn ( the company that towed us in) lot. Since we couldn't use our jacks to level the camper, we were walking, eating and sleeping down hill and sideways. The tow truck driver said they didn't have much trouble with the crack addicts since they installed the security cameras. Needless to say we didn't sleep well that night (January 2nd)
The mechanics started rolling in around 7:30 Am. The manager squeezed us in ahead of all the previously scheduled work. We guessed he figured that if he was going to have New Jersey squatters living in his lot, he wanted to get rid of us as soon as possible.