ON THE ROAD FINALLY!!

The day has arrived, we officially left Oscoda Friday afternoon after living in our motorhome in our dear friends backyard for 2 months! Had a fantastic time, had family and friends come up and see us while we were there! My best friend of 36 years came up and spent 3 glorious all girls days with Annette and I,  stayed in the house with them while Craig stayed in the motorhome, not sure if he was being kind or didn't want to be around 3 silly old gals acting 16 again! We all got our hair cut, colored, hi-lited by Peggy, even Craig got in on that, then we rented movies and watched all girl flicks, we talked and shared memories until we laughed and cried into the wee hours of the night, not to mention over eating and even had a few Pina Colatas!  Thanks to Annette, Barry and Richard for allowing us to park our big rig there and enjoy the sunrises, beach and most of all..the great hospitality they showed us! We cried and hugged when we left knowing we wouldn't see each other until next year!
                        We pulled into Bay City State Park late Friday afternoon and was surprised to see the campground packed, I asked the ranger why it was so busy this time of year and she told me it was Halloween weekend where kids got to decorate pumpkins and cookies, play games and go trick or treating, just about every campsite was decorated for Halloween, there was a prize for the best decorated site, they had us right in front of the playgrounds, which we would normally avoid, but with the grandkids coming Sat. it would be perfect.  We sure picked a great weekend to be here since our kids and the grandkids will be here to see us off before we head for Texas Wed.! Thank Goodness I have Halloween costumes I sell on e-bay, the kids all got to dress up and go trick or treating, we bought 240 pieces of candy for Craig to pass out while I walked around with the grandkids and he ran out about 15 minutes before it was over! Had a weinie roast and then hugged and kissed them good-bye, I did good and didn't let them see me cry until they left, that was hard especially with the little 3 year old knowing he wouldn't understand where Papa and Nana are!  It was an emotional day but rewarding, we both collapsed in bed by 10:00!
                                    Tomorrow we are taking the motorhome in to have some last minute minor repairs made, drop off and pick up some things in the garage, get some laundry done, mail some sold ebay items off at the post office, etc. then Tues. Craig has a doctor appointment at the vet's hospital and I have some business with my doctor, and Wed. I have my mammogram at 1:15, don't want to miss that, gas up both vehicles, pick up the mail for the last time and check on everything one last time,  then we are going to try to see the kids, grandkids and family one more time before we leave.  Phewwww!  Hoping to be out of Michigan by evening when we rest for the night!
                                           So wish us luck as we start our vagabond lifestyle and pray we have God as our co-pilot and have all good luck, until the next time, Good Night and God Bless!
                       

GOT A DATE WHEN WE ARE HEADING FOR TEXAS!!

Well, we finally have a lift off date when we head for Texas!!! Sept. 28th Wed. morning! I have a mammogram that afternoon, then we are off on our adventure!  Many people have called with concerns about the fires in Texas, we have been watching the news and the fires are at least 4-5 hrs. 350 miles north of where we will be, we are hoping it will be under control by the time we get there, if not we will have to drive thru the area, if they are still going on then we will have to deviate around it! But if it isn't under control by then, well, then Texas will be in serious condition!!!  Praying for those poor people in the fire area!  We have realized that we have packed too much and will be dropping a lot off at the house, plus there is a few things we thought we didn't need and do, so will be exchanging things out! Glad we decided to live in our Dolphin for a month and a half before we headed for Texas, learned a lot!  I have spent a lot of time with friends and family, got our finances figured out and got kind of an idea what we will have left over after bills, believe we will be ok! Hoping fuel prices will drop back down after the holidays, I see they went crazy over the Labor Day weekend!!  I have been buying a lot of things to sell on e-bay, clutters up the motorhome a bit, but it is all necessary, I plan on using e-bay as part of our income, so Craig is biting his tongue and not complaining too much!  Well, that is all for now, will try to post something every week or so until we are on the road, then hopefully daily!  Thanks everyone who is following my blog, I will try to keep it interesting! 

GRANDKIDS, GRANDKIDS, AND MORE GRANDKIDS!

I haven't been on here in a while because we have been spending a lot of time with our grandkids, don't want them to forget us while we are gone, lol! We are exalted but loving every moment with them! Also been spending a lot of time with family, had my brothers and sister-in-law here too, lots of friends also! My best bud Peggy, will be coming up after Labor Day and spending a few days with me too, going to be an all girls couple of days, no men allowed, lol, will have to ground Craig to the motorhome with Lenny! I believe he would rather be there then in here with us girls while we watch girl flicks!
                We feel so blessed to have such awesome friends to allow us to have family and friends up here and let them stay in this beautiful log cabin as they entertain them, cook for them and put up with all that goes with it! We can't say enough about Annette, Barry and their son Richard, calling them friends is an understatement!  I think they are going to sleep for a week after we leave, lol!
                       We will be leaving in less then a month, hard to believe that departure for Texas is so close, never thought it would get here!  But has the cold days and nights move in I know it will be time to move on to warmer weather! I love fall and all the colors, we will be traveling during the most beautiful time of year! 
                              Well, grandkids are up and moving around so until next time, see ya!

WHY?

As I laid in bed last night I thought to myself, why would anyone not want to do what we are doing, I know it was a big risk we took, but I would rather take the risk and fail then to not even try and wonder forever it we could have done it!  I know we have sitting in the backyard of friends right now, but in a month we will be heading for Texas, then the challenges begin! But I like this trial run, this way we have a month to realize what we really need or don't need, if there is any problems with the Dolphin we are close enough to the repair shop!  What we have learned so far is I will have to transfer my prescriptions to a Rite Aid for now because there is no Walgreen here, we can't run the air conditioner and the toaster at the same time because it threw a breaker, can't buy everything I see at a rummage sale, just a few things that I can sell on e-bay, but did find an awesome new satin bedspread and skirt for our queen bed, prettier and nicer then the one I had and 2 awesome lighthouses, one is electic with a red beacon that goes around and around, sits on the dash and another one that runs by lamp oil, got them both $4!
                                  We also found out that it is less expensive to survive in this new life then we thought, we plan on giving our friends at least a $100 a month to use their electric, for allowing us t park here and use of their washer and dryer. We went to the grocery store and only thing we needed was a bag of ice and computer paper, no room to stock up on sale items!  I also know I need to get a few extention cords, have at least 20 at home, next trip home will pick some up, when we are done using something put it away, place clutters up fast if we don't, hang things up, keep dishes done up and put away! The view is awesome looking out this big windshield but by noon the sun heats the Dolphin up pretty fast, so we open them early so we can enjoy the sunrise then close them by 10:00, then reopen them by 5:00 pm, sure need the airconditioner or else this place heats up fast, need to rig up a little step to go with our electric step because it is still quite a reach, especially for Craig and his bad knees, got a little step there but need something more sturdy!
                                      Still as busy as when we were home, so many decisions to make, do we go to the beach today or take the canoe out or both, maybe I can squeeze a nap in today, let's take a walk down to the Dairy Queen, or just take a walk on the beach! Enjoyed having my son Richard and brother-in-law Al here for the weekend, our friends have a huge 5 bedroom log cabin, so room for everyone, Richard and the kids are comming up next weekend and the following weekend my son and daughter-in-law Matt and Courtney are comming up with the grandkids.  Then we are going to have a girls day in a couple weeks with my best bud Peggy and Annette, told Craig he will have to stay in the motorhome while us girls have some quality time together, he said "you don't have to tell me twice, the last place I want to be is sitting around with a bunch of cackling hens" lol!
                                     But one thing I have noticed is I am not on the computer or watching  tv as much, I am happily exhausted and in bed by 9 or 10, then I sleep like a baby, no feelings of  anxiety! We have found an unbelievable feeling of peace!  So, why won't everyone want to live like this, no feelings of guilt because the lawn needs cutting, flowers need weeding, no house payments or utility bills thanks to Susan our house sitter, haven't heard any sirens from police, ambulances or fire trucks, no train whistles twice a night or neighbors blaring their music all hours of the night. Oh, I know that there will be places where these things will still exist but we can just fire up the Dolphin and move if it bothers us, but for now we are enjoying the view of Lake Huron, hearing the birds sing us awake every morning and the feeling of peace! We realize this isn't everyones idea of retirement but it is ours and we are loving it and know this is the right thing and the right place, can't wait until we hit the road again and wake up to a different view everyday, and then when we get to Mission Bell resort in Texas, we start a whole new adventure as campground hosts, we will be meeting all new friends and finally get to meet face to face a few new friends I met on thru facebook!  Thank you Jesus for answering prayers and leading us down the right road of our dream, for filling that emptiness in my heart and giving us the courage to go thru with this new adventure!  Well, the beach is calling me so better get going, looks like we may be getting some rain! Even looking forward to that!

WE ARE ON THE ROAD!!!

Well on this date Wed. 8/3/2011 at 2 pm we have hit the road, finally, packed the last of what we had to pack, hooked up the truck, loaded the dog, hugged Sue our house sitter, handed her the house keys and away we went!  I never looked back because I knew better, Craig looked at me and smiled, I smiled back and said "this is it, we are gone" then we high fived each other!  We were so busy getting the last minute details done and things packed that we forgot to eat, so our first stop was at Burger King, how exciting is that? We are so exalted but happy! Got to Oscoda around 5 pm and took us until 6 to get all set up, not too bad! Took our showers and eat mac and cheese, got my internet set up, then played with the satelite dish for about an hour but realized it was quite overcast, so we figured we'd work on it tomorrow!  We have so much to learn yet, but we have a month and a half up here to sort out things we don't need and get things we forgot, after all we are only 2 hours from home! I just realized I can hear the waves hitting the beach, we are only a couple blocks from Lake Huron, such a peaceful sound, I think I am going to sleep like a baby tonight!! Night all, a new day begins tomorrow!

CHANGE OF PLANS!

Well, change of plans, we planned on heading north Sunday around 3:00 PM, but something came up, so we wouldn't be able to leave until Tue. or Wed. But that's ok, we have been killing ourselves in this humidity and heat, we can slow down now that lift-off day has been moved up 2-3 days.  Yesterday we spent the whole day washing the motorhome, I even crawled up on the roof so I could reach places I couldn't on the ladder, because of the heat and our ages and Craig's disability(why I was on the roof and not him), we could only stand it out there for about 1/2 hr. at a time. Today I was out there first thing this morning and did all the window, you don't realize how huge the windshield is until you are up there washing it! Plan on doing the inside windows when we are on the road, Craig is going to wax the bottom part tomorrow!  Our Escapee club packet came so we can now put our stickers on, plus we bought a stick on USA map that we can put on the back of the motorhome, I love it, as we go thru each state we add that state's sticker to the it!
                             So excited as the time approaches, can't wait until we are on the road headed for Texas, heard that it is extremely hot there right now, so am glad we don't have to be there until the middle of October! 
                              My best bud Peggy cut my hair and hi-lited it so it will be easy to take care of while we are gone, really like it, hopefully one more cut before we leave Michigan! Also got all of Lenny's(our spoiled pup) shots updated, got his flea meds, heartworm meds, all of his special food, his license and oh yeah, can't forget his storm pills! Getting his is haircut around Aug. 10th and maybe one more time before we head out!
                                        Got the new plates for the motorhome, plus filled the tank,  it was .20 cents cheaper in the morning then by the time we got there in the afternoon, but we did get .20 off a gallon with our Kroger's card discount, so in the end we paid $3.69 a gallon, $199.00 to fill it, ugh! Topped  off the propane also, but that was only $10 since it was already half full!
                                                              The house is 99% empty and the motorhome is 99% full, unbelieveable how much we have packed in there and still have room to spare, found me some cool containers that fit great in the closets and under the table without cramping us or looking like clutter! We still have to put water in the holding tanks, but we don't want to fill them until we are ready to leave, don't want the water too old and warm, we don't actually fill it all the way because of the weight, just enough to get us thru until we get where we are going, then we fill it the rest of the way. 
                                                                Well, I guess that's it for now until the next step in our adventure! Thank you to all my followers and all that read my blog, I promise the postings will get more exciting as we finally head for Texas, plus we will be posting pictures of each and every exciting adventurous site we come across! 
                                                            

THANK GOODNESS FOR RV FRIENDS!!

Well, the count down begins, 6 days before we begin living in our motorhome, have had a hard Monday so far, first the lawnmower died, then the garden tub faucet has to be replaced, because of the type of tub it is we need a special kind of faucet, an expensive one, lol, of course, and also a special kind of tool that only a plumber has, so more money, then to top it all off, I noticed a big puddle under the motorhome, ugh, we just spent a fortune getting the transmission fixed, thank God for my son Matt, who works for the auto repair shop that did the repair, he stopped to check it out and said it's not a serious problem, just have to take it in to replace the gasket and it is still under warrantee! We were in such a state today, it was like "what else could go wrong", but I said a special prayer and things started to fall into place!  So we vacuumed and shampooed the carpet, dusted and polished the wood,packed a few more items, stored a few more, tossed more and gave some more away!  House is looking empty and the Dolphin is getting full, not to mention the garage, surprising how much room we have in there now, even after putting some of Sue's (house sitter) things in there! But the best thing today is my RV buddy Jerry from MissionBell resort in Texas where we will be going to campground host was able to help me link my blog to my facebook, after a couple of hours of having me try different things we were successful! He has the patience of an angel, I am so computer challenged!  Thank you so much Jerry, I owe you!  That is the kind of people that are out there living their dreams and willing to help us newbies!! So let's hope for a better day tomorrow! Until the next blog, have a great day!