Blog Posts

Heading West to Yellowstone

8/21/2017

Once we met up with our friends Bruce and Sue, it was time to begin our trek west towards Yellowstone. Our first stop along the way took us to Mitchell, South Dakota to visit the famous Corn Palace. The "palace" is decorated annually with ears of corn and can be quite beautiful. The palace was decorated with a musical theme this year and we were able to watch as some of the workers added some fresh hay to the structure around some of the murals made of ears of corn in various colors. We toured inside and learned about the history of the palace that goes back to 1892. The girls also had a chance to do some shopping which of course they thoroughly enjoyed. After the palace we enjoyed a nice lunch before heading over to the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. This is a registered historic landmark that consists of a very nice museum as well as an ongoing excavation that has gone on for over 20 years now. A dome was built around the spot where the excavation is taking place so that it can be worked on year round. This spot was once populated by members of the Mandan tribe over 1000 years ago.

Following Mitchell, we parted ways with Bruce & Sue for a few days as they headed to Rapid City and we enjoyed the area around the Badlands. On our way to the Badlands, Claudia insisted we stop at what I thought would be just another tourist trap we had seen advertised on multiple billboards along the road. 1880 Town did allow us to stretch our legs as we walked down the main street that contained more than 30 original buildings furnished with thousands of unique relics from the 1880 era. It also contained a great museum containing many of the props used in the movie “Dancing with Wolves”. It turned out to be a very nice attraction and Stella was allowed to accompany us as we walked around.

We began our return visit to the Badlands by hiking an area that we missed the last time we were here. It was in the eastern edge of the Badlands that we only saw as we were driving out. In addition to some beautiful scenery we also stopped and visited the Prairie Homestead, a site that was originally established as a homestead of 160 acres back in 1909. It included the original sodbuster home, a cave or food cellar, a chicken house and a barn. It was amazing to see how people struggled to survive back then in an area of the country that was extremely isolated. We also took a day to visit Wall Drug, a tourist area since 1931 that featured all sorts of shops and dining options where we enjoyed a great breakfast. Then it was back to the Badlands where we enjoyed more views and hiked a few of our favorite trails.

Our next stop took us to Spearfish, South Dakota where we were reunited with Bruce and Sue for a four night stay. On our first day the four of us took a ride and explored Spearfish Canyon and some of the local waterfalls. It was a beautiful area and we enjoyed several short hikes. We also drove out to and visited the area used in the final winter scene of the movie Dances with Wolves. It was a nice area but hard to envision it as the area for that scene with so much new growth. Our next day took the four of us on a drive through the Black Hills and down to Hill City. After a beautiful drive we spent our time there with the girls browsing the shops until they got hungry and then we had lunch at the Bumpin Buffalo Bar & Grill, a great old place with lots of charm including a bar built around 1890. On our final day in Spearfish, Claudia and I headed off to visit Devils Tower. The weather was a bit iffy but we decided we just didn’t want to miss it again since we missed it in 2014 when we were returning from Alaska. We arrived and hiked around the tower even though there was a steady rain the entire time. The tower was magnificent as we expected and we didn’t mind getting wet. Really wet. We took our time hiking around the tower until about the half way point when a bolt of lightning followed immediately but an extremely loud clap of thunder brought some life into our legs and we finished the hike quite quickly. It’s all just part of the adventure. And in case you’re wondering, no we weren’t the only fools out there. The place was packed.

The next four weeks take us to the Yellowstone National Park area. There we’ll be enjoying Cody, Yellowstone and Jackson Hole before heading south. And yes, the fun continues!!

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Time with Friends and Other Stops along the Way

8/7/2017

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Following our visit to the Upper Peninsula, we took a short two hour drive down to Mukwonago, Wisconsin for a two night stay at the Country View Campground. The day of our arrival was our thirteenth wedding anniversary and to celebrate, we met up with some good friends of ours, Jon & Donna from Texas. We met at the Route 20 Outhouse, a great local restaurant in Sturtevant, Wisconsin where we spent several hours enjoying good brew, a great meal and wonderful company. On the following day we enjoyed the afternoon at the home of my old friend Joe at his home in Lannon, Wisconsin. Joe and I were in the same Navy unit from 1971 till 1975. This was only the second time we’ve been together in the past 40 plus years and we had a lot of fun talking old times and sharing old pictures. While there we enjoyed a great meal of steaks that he prepared for us on the grill.

Our next stop took us to Starved Rock State Park in Oglesby, Illinois where we stayed for two nights. This was the first park we had been to in quite some time that only offered electricity. No water or sewer was available there but with our motor home, we certainly could do without either one for a two night stay. We enjoyed our one full day at Starved Rock State Park where the three of us hiked throughout the park and learned a lot of interesting things about the area that once contained one of the oldest Native American settlements in Illinois, going back thousands of years. The settlement is long gone of course but the area has been turned into a beautiful park with miles of wooded trails and some very nice boardwalks.

We spent the next few days enjoying the Amana Colonies in Iowa. The Amana Colonies are a group of seven villages that were established over 150 years ago as a communal society of Germans that wanted to practice their own version of the Lutheran religion. It is a very interesting area full of great history and consisting of many of the original farms and structures. We began our visit by taking a tour that turned out to be one of the most interesting tours we’ve been on. We then enjoyed dining at a restaurant in one of the original buildings that used to be one of the communal kitchens followed by some shopping in many of the old shops within the quaint and beautiful villages.

Following Amana we headed to Altoona, Iowa for a four night stay at Adventureland Campground. This campground is part of an amusement park where we were greeted by our close friends Randy and Sue who were waiting for us. Their dog Herk was also there to greet the three of us and the dogs were as excited as we were. We spend our winters together in Texas and were excited to learn that they had taken the next three days off and would be able to spend some time with us. The first day had some gorgeous weather so we decided to spend it at the amusement park. We were thrilled when we learned that Randy & Sue’s daughter, husband and grandson were joining us. The four of us have shared so many stories about our families. When you do that, and you finally meet them you feel like you already know them and this was definitely the case. Randy & Sue surprised us by reserving a cabana in the water park right along the lazy river for the day. This meant that we had a place to relax out of the sun when we weren’t out on the rides and could go in and out of the lazy river directly from the cabana. We spent most of the day in the waterpark, riding some water slides of course but mainly just relaxing and floating along the lazy river. Iowa allows beverages, including beer to be served at the waterpark and can be taken with you as you float along the river. Do you see where I’m going with this? Yes, I spent a good part of the day just floating on a tube on this bright sunny day with a cold beer in hand with some wonderful people. It was a very good day for sure. Once we did leave the waterpark we rode a few of the amusement rides. The highlight of my day turned out to be a ride on The Monster. Randy had been looking forward to this ride so there was no way I could chicken out. Believe me, I thought about it. 133 feet straight up on your back, then a vertical drop MORE than straight down followed by a half dozen or so loops and corkscrews. I actually enjoyed the ride quite a bit but it sure was an adrenaline rush. For the next couple of days we received a personal tour of the Des Moines area, dined at a couple of great restaurants, enjoyed a visit with another friend of ours and were treated to a fabulous steak dinner at Randy and Sue’s.

Our next stop took us only 16 miles away to Prairie Flower Campground in Polk City, Iowa where we spent the next three nights. This was a beautiful recreation area with plenty of hiking as well as some dog friendly beach areas for Stella to go swimming. We started our first morning off by having breakfast with Randy, Sue and three more of our friends from Texas. Then it was time to do some hiking. We ended our hike at one of the dog friendly beaches where Stella was able to run around and swim off leash. Claudia started the next day off by taking a walk back to the beach with Stella so she could have another swim while I took care of some computer housekeeping. Next it was time for some grooming for Stella so Claudia took her out for a bath and we gave her a pedicure. We wanted her all nice and clean for our reunion with several of our Texas friends at our next stop. That night we were surprised and thrilled to be joined by Bruce and Sue, our two friends from Texas who will be traveling with us for the next 10 weeks. They arrived in their new motor home and camped in the site next to us. We enjoyed a nice dinner together and were able to catch up on each other’s adventures since leaving Texas.

The following morning we hit the road and headed north to our next stop where we met up with many of our Texas friends whose company we enjoyed for the next week as we visited Avatan, a beautiful camping resort in East Bethel, Minnesota. Two of our friends, Dick & Frankie are caretakers at the resort and when word got out that a few of us were planning to visit, others wanted to join us so we enjoyed the company of over 20 friends we normally only see in Texas. It was such a wonderful time. Dick & Frankie kicked off our visit by hosting a spaghetti dinner where we all had a chance to enjoy each other’s company. In addition to lots of pool time including some great water volleyball, we carried on the tradition of happy hours each afternoon at various campsites throughout the week. I was also able to get in some tennis as we headed out a couple of times to play at the local high school. We had one rainy day while we were there so we took the opportunity to drive into Minneapolis to visit the Mall of America. It’s a mall like no other we’ve ever seen with an amusement park filling the atrium and an aquarium with glass windows along the walls. We were happy we got the chance to see it. We headed out for dinner on two separate occasions, first at Moonshine Whiskey’s where about 20 of us enjoyed some great grub at the pub and then again at the local Golf Club on our final night with many of our close friends as we said our farewells. We also got the chance to meet lots of new friends who are regulars that spend their summers at the resort. I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be back some day, maybe for more than a week.

The past few weeks have been so much fun as we’ve visited with and enjoyed the company of so many friends, both old and new. We really are very lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

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Our First Trip to the Upper Peninsula

7/16/2017

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After seven wonderful weeks with family we began the next phase of our summer tour by heading due west across Massachusetts and into New York. Our first stop was at Juniper Woods, a nice quiet campground nestled in the woods of Catskill, New York. While we were there we reconnected with some old friends from Connecticut. We enjoyed a lot of pool time while we were there as well as plenty of social time with both old and new friends.

After a brief stop at Letchworth State Park in Mt. Morris, New York where we spent a day hiking to view some beautiful waterfalls and gorges, we headed off to Ontario, Canada by way of the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, New York. We had a nice drive through Ontario and spent the night in London, Ontario at a very rustic but lovely campground. We continued our trip across Ontario and made it back into the US at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan where we made our way north to the Upper Peninsula.

We spent the next couple of nights at a campground in Houghton Lake, Michigan. While there we decided to pass on any beach time we were hoping for and focus on resolving a couple of issues we had been having with the RV. We decided to do this in Houghton Beach due in part to the fact that there was a Camping World very close. The main issue had been a faulty set of tail lights on the car while it was being towed. We thought we had fixed it a few days earlier when we replaced the plug on the tow cable but the problem only got worse. We were able to pick up a new cable along with a new connector for the car which I was able to rewire and connect successfully. Lo and behold, problem resolved. The second problem we had encountered was water coming into the RV through the front passenger window of the RV. We had a tough time locating the area of the leak but hoped we had located it and repaired it by caulking the area.

The following morning we made a relatively short drive north, over the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula. It was a beautiful two hour drive along a very quiet stretch of roadway adjacent to a lot of farmland. The area is referred to as the U.P. And the locals call themselves “Yoopers”. That afternoon we went into St. Ignace so Claudia could get her fix of shopping followed by a night out for dinner and some local brew. After dinner we headed back to the RV, picked up Stella and took her for a walk along the beach of Lake Huron where both the girls decided to take a swim. The next day we had a lot of wet weather so unfortunately we did not get to visit Mackinac Island as we had hoped. Walking around the island would have been tough on both of us but the ferry ride out to the island would have put Claudia out of commission for quite some time. This is when we also discovered that we had not fixed the window leak after all. I spent the day googling “leaking RV windows” and discovered that we might not have a leak after all. We learned that most RV windows have “weeps” built into them. Weeps are nothing more than drain holes that run along the bottom of the windows. With some help from a piece of wire, some pipe cleaners and a can of air we were able to locate and clear two clogs that turned out to be the cause of the water coming in. This was confirmed when we had a lot more rain throughout the day and overnight, some of it hard and we had absolutely no water come in. We were obviously thrilled and relieved about that.

Next it was on to Germfask, Michigan for a three night stay at Big Cedar Campground. We began our visit by taking a cruise out on Lake Superior over to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The trip started out quite cloudy and choppy but we returned in much calmer water and gorgeous sunshine. We saw some beautiful sandstone cliffs as well as waterfalls and caves large enough for a large boat. Following the cruise we stopped at a local café to enjoy the one meal every person visiting the U.P. must try. They are called Pasties (Pass-tees) and they have been a staple here since Cornish miners and loggers first arrived in Northern Michigan. They are basically a pastry filled with meat, potatoes, carrots, onions and rutabaga. We enjoyed them so much we returned and purchased a couple more frozen ones for a future meal. The next day we returned to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, this time with Stella and hiked many of the sites we had seen from the boat. We also enjoyed walking along the beach that Stella was welcome on as well. Claudia and Stella enjoyed swimming (well, more like wading) once again, this time in Lake Superior while I stayed busy taking pictures. Everyone said it was so cold but Claudia and Stella loved it. On the way back to our campground we decided to take a seven mile drive through the Seney National Wildlife Refuge which was located just a mile or so outside our gate. It was a lovely drive but we’ve never seen so many flies in one place which required us to keep our windows closed at all times.

On the following day we headed south and out of the Upper Peninsula. Along the way we were lucky enough to find a beautiful rest area that happened to be right on the shore of Lake Michigan. It had a sandy beach and lots of grass and picnic tables. Claudia and Stella once again couldn’t resist and they finalized this leg of our journey by enjoying a swim in their third Great Lake of the trip.

We scheduled this short trip to the Upper Peninsula as a way to briefly see the area as we began our trip west. We left it with full intentions of returning and spending an entire summer there, visiting not only the Upper Peninsula but also more of each one of the Great Lakes. We found the roads to be in great shape and there were lots of campgrounds to choose from. There were so many things we wanted to do that we just didn’t have time for this trip. We absolutely plan to return to this area as a summer destination in the not too distant future.

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Family Time 2017

6/29/2017

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From the moment we arrived at Camp Sawash, home of my sister, and our campsite for 44 days, we kept busy, mostly doing the important stuff like spending time with family. The day after we got settled in we started things off by completely surprising our grandson at his school. My daughter had arranged for us to be the “Mystery Readers” for his kindergarten class. None of the kids know who will show up to read to them on any given week. It could be any one of their parents. In this case it was Jon’s Grampy and Grammy and he had no idea we had even left Texas. Our arrival in his class and the expression on his face will be something we’ll never forget. We had chosen an alphabet book that describes things in Texas and all the kids took right to it and it was quite an interactive discussion. One kid now knows that we don’t all ride horses and yes, there are cars in Texas. What a great time we had.

The next few days were a whirlwind of visits including trips to see Claudia’s dad, all three of our kids and all 9 grandchildren. Then it was an overdue trip to the tire store to replace our car tires. The car may not be driven as much while we travel but the tires sure get a beating being pulled behind the motor home. On only our second weekend back, we enjoyed a BBQ right here at Camp Sawash with most of our kids and grandkids joining us as well as most members of my sister’s family. It was a great day and a great time. Traveling like we do, you can’t help but notice how much the kids grow up, both in size and maturity after a 9 month absence. They are all such great kids and we’re very proud of their parents.

During our stay we kept busy with many of the chores that needed to be done while we were here including a repair job on our water panel and annual maintenance to the RV. We also had some routine maintenance as well as a couple of unexpected problems completed on the car. Better here than on the road, I guess. Unfortunately, the ladder we’ve been waiting for was once again the wrong one. Now we have to wait until we return to Texas and try to find one and have it installed there.

We also took a trip out to Dennison Lake State Recreation Area in Winchendon, MA for a visit with our families where they spent the weekend camping. We were able to see some of our family that we hadn’t seen yet and had a great time visiting and enjoying a pot luck dinner with everyone.

On Father’s Day we celebrated here at Camp Sawash with all of our kids and grandkids as well as all of my sister’s kids and grandkids for a day of fun, food and laughter. We started the day off with a scavenger hunt in order to “reveal” to my daughter’s kids that they will be heading to Disney in six more days. Unbelievable excitement and so much fun to watch. We truly have a fantastic group of individuals in our family and it’s so much fun to sometimes just sit back and watch them. We love them all!

I was able to make two trips down to the cape to visit my mom while we were here and loved every minute with her. She is our website’s biggest fan and follows our updates on a daily basis. If it wasn’t for her, I’m not sure how often I’d be posting the updates. She loves to hear what we’re up to, where we are, and even what our camp sites look like. This web site has evolved based on many of my conversations with her.

It’s now time to begin a new adventure to new locations. It seems so long since we’ve been on one. For the last year our travel has been primarily between Texas and Massachusetts as we established our new winter home in Texas. But now it’s time to explore new places once again. We have such an exciting trip planned this year and to top it off, we’ll be seeing many of our friends, both old and new along the way. We are very much looking forward to the summer ahead. Keep your eyes on our web site to see what we’re up to and where we are. Everyone travel safe and we’ll see many of you this summer.

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Fourth Year on the Road

5/16/2017

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We began our fourth year on the road by heading back to Massachusetts to visit family. For several reasons, primarily weather, we decided to take a longer route than necessary from Texas to Massachusetts. We were as excited this time out as we were four years ago when we first hit the road.

We began by making overnight stops in Victoria, Texas and in Iowa, Louisiana before landing at the Boomtown Casino RV Park in Biloxi, Mississippi for a night. There we enjoyed a night out for some dinner and a little gambling. After dinner I decided to spend a few dollars gambling and lo and behold, I came out a winner once again by hitting for over $200 on my last machine of the night. I still don’t understand the luck I have in casinos but I’m not complaining.

The following day we headed out and took a beautiful drive along the Florida panhandle with the last 180 miles driven on mostly two lane divided roads through many of the beach towns along the gulf coast. It was slow but steady driving with lots of interesting things to see along the way. Our stop that night was in Carrabelle Beach, Florida where we stayed for 3 days. It’s a beautiful beach area with little to no activities close by but we enjoyed the quiet. We spent time at the beach on a beautiful warm sunny day, both with Stella and by ourselves. Stella loved swimming in the ocean since there were hardly any waves. We also took a drive out to nearby St. George Island where we enjoyed a great lunch and cocktails at the Blue Parrot, a cute café right on the beach. We followed that up with a trip down the road for an ice cream. After the ice cream we decided to climb up a historic lighthouse for some exercise. I think that was Claudia’s idea. The view from the top was definitely breathtaking.

Our next stop took us to a resort in White Springs, Florida for another three night stay for more rest and relaxation. This time it was in a beautiful wooded setting and a very nice swimming pool. After two gorgeous pool days in White Springs we once again headed out for more adventures.

Next it was on to the Oak Plantation Campground in Charleston, South Carolina. There was certainly a lot more to see and do than we were able to accomplish in this city that’s so rich with history. We did enjoy a trip out to Fort Sumter and we visited two separate plantations as well as taking a city bus tour. All were great visits except for the traffic. It’s been a while since we’ve sat in bumper to bumper traffic. I guess we didn’t realize how spoiled we’ve become.

Following Charleston we stopped in a small town named Mt. Airy, North Carolina, also known as Mayberry, for a two night stay. We had a very nice visit in the hometown of Andy Griffith and the town after which Mayberry was modeled. We saw the Sheriffs car cruising down the main street, enjoyed visits to many of the shops downtown, walked past Floyd’s barbershop and made visits to Wally’s Service Station and the Mayberry Courthouse. We ate at the Snappy Lunch, Andy’s favorite lunch stop. Last but not least we enjoyed a tour of the Andy Griffith Museum. It was a lot of fun just walking around and listening to everyone talk about the cast of the Andy Griffith Show as old friends.

Our final multi night stop was in Front Royal, Virginia. There we celebrated Claudia’s birthday with a nice dinner out. The next morning we took a ride down Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park looking for a nice hike. The day was picture perfect both for viewing the scenery and for a hike. After traveling about 30 miles along the Drive we decided on a hike up to Mary’s Rock. This was a 3.7 mile round trip hike with a 1,210 foot elevation gain so it was quite an ambitious hike for our first of the season but it was everything we hoped it would be. Very nice trails, lots of scenery and what a great view from the top. Stella enjoyed it too.

Our final night was spent in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania before driving the last leg of our 18 days on the road to Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Uxbridge is the home of my sister and our camping spot for the next six weeks. This is the fourth year we’ve spent more than a few weeks here at “Camp Sawash” and we’re excited to be back. Now it’s time to settle in, visit family and get some necessary errands taken care of. We may not own a home here anymore but it sure feels like being home to us.

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An Extended Stay in Texas

4/30/2017

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For the first time in 4 years we stayed in one spot for more than 5 months. This was due to the purchase of the mobile home last winter in southern Texas that will now be our winter quarters. We arrived in the heat of the summer on August 8th and didn’t see the temps drop below 100 degrees for 8 to 10 weeks. We arrived to see the container sitting in our driveway with all of our personal items that we have been keeping in storage for the previous 3 ½ years and we immediately began the work of unloading. We also made the decision that it was time for a golf cart that I then decided to cover in Patriots décor. I am after all known as “the” Pats fan around here. We also decided it was time to officially become Texas residents now that we’ll be spending 6 months of each year here. We did this by changing our legal address, getting Texas drivers licenses and registering our vehicles down here. No more Massachusetts taxes for us.

When the dust settled and we found new places for all our “stuff”, it was time to start with improvements. We replaced our broken dishwasher with a new one and replaced our counter top microwave with an over the range model. I turned our shed into quite the workshop and I added a few great additions to my tool collection. In addition to a new DVD case, we built a bar in the Texas Room. This was something we envisioned the first time we saw this room and it fit in very nicely. We christened our bar on my birthday in December and enjoyed the company of over 100 people here at our place. Our lot, our neighbor’s lot and the entire street in between was filled with golf carts, chairs and people. Everyone brought some food to share so we all enjoyed a great meal and plenty of spirits as well. It was definitely the largest party we ever held and everything went perfect.

Once we settled in our friends slowly but surely started to arrive. It was fun greeting them as they arrived since we’ve previously arrived later than most people. It didn’t take long before the winter season was in full swing. In addition to our usual hectic schedule including Zumba, tennis, water volleyball, bowling and all the other regular events, Claudia kept busy helping to run the Zumba sessions and took on the dance manager role for a musical production that was being put together. I kept busy with the band, practicing at least 3 times a week and performing at least once a month. The resort was busier than ever this winter with lots of new faces.

We continued to enjoy happy hours just about every day and if there was inclement weather, we opened up our Texas Room in order to get together anyway. In addition to our normal happy hours we also occasionally had our “super” happy hours which usually included a theme and plenty of food. We had super happy hours consisting of the Hillbilly Crawl (lots of tables set up with all kinds of delicious liquors), a Funnel Cake Happy Hour, Grapefruit Squeezing (with plenty of liquor added for “tasting”), Margarita Day Happy Hour (some of the best margarita’s ever), Baked Potato and Onion Ring Happy Hours and a Mardi Gras Happy Hour which consisted of our own version of Bourbon Street (otherwise known as the 400 row) complete with jugglers, musicians, our own Preservation Hall and of course loads to eat and drink as always. Our French Canadian members also represented their very own “French Quarter”.

Our DJ dances occurred almost every Saturday with 2 new DJ’s in the park. Karaoke also increased to every other week. I enjoyed singing on a regular basis while Claudia continued to enjoy being a part of the audience. Our Bowling League played every Friday morning and our new team ended up in 2nd place this year. Thank goodness for handicaps.

I loved watching lots of football on our enormous new TV each weekend, usually with several friends joining me. It was a great year to be “the” Patriot’s fan around here. Super Bowl Sunday was an all-day event that started out in the pavilion with a pre super bowl party. Just before kickoff I continued the party at our place with over a dozen friends to watch what turned out to be the game of a lifetime.

We participated in our usual theatrical events as well this year. We were in a 70’s and 80’s Vaudeville type show that was a big hit. Claudia and I were part of a “little people” skit (I was the head and feet while Claudia was the hands) and I was part of 2 other skits including one that I can only describe in person and had the audience literally rolling on the floor laughing. Claudia was a success in her acting performance in one of our theatrical productions and she also did a wonderful job as the dance manager for a musical production of “The Delightful Dreamettes” that was fantastic.

As I mentioned earlier, I spent a lot of time with the band this year as we tried to improve for each performance. This year we were lucky to have a former lead singer from the 1960’s and 70’s group, the New Christy Minstrels staying at our resort for about 8 weeks. During several of our practice sessions he jumped right in and enjoyed playing along with us. Not only is he a great performer (we attended and enjoyed one of his local performances) but he’s also a really down to earth great guy. He gave a lot of his free time to us to improve our guitar playing and also to be better entertainers. He got on stage with us for one of our performances and the place went crazy as we finished our final set with hoots, hollers and loads of dancing. Of course, there may have been some alcohol involved. Our last performance of the year with the band was a great success. The crowd may have been smaller due to people leaving but the enthusiasm hit a new high. We introduced some new songs, mostly rock and roll from the 60’s and they were all huge hits. We’re looking forward to next year when we’ll be welcoming a new drummer as well as the return of our lead guitar and banjo player and our keyboardist. We’re so excited about the possibilities we have ahead. This place is going to rock!

We enjoyed our annual 10 days of Olympic Games again this year as well. Every year keeps getting better. Both Claudia and I received bunches of medals but more importantly had a lot of fun no matter what game we played. My favorite moment came when Claudia received one of the final medals of the games on the final night when she won the silver medal for the cupcakes she submitted for the cookie or cupcake bakeoff. All in all we had 114 athletes from 3 countries that played in 38 different events. The total of all the athletes playing in all the events came to 994.

As the season began to wind down we enjoyed a visit from some good friends from our camp in Connecticut. He just retired and she plans to soon. We’ll definitely be seeing them back here at Sandpipers next year and possibly for many more years to come.

Now it’s time to hit the road again. We have an exciting trip planned this year and we’re hoping you enjoy following along with us. We will keep you regularly updated in our “Current Events” section and will post photos and blog entries on a regular basis. Happy summer everyone!!

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Summer in Massachusetts, then return to Texas

9/4/2016

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We arrived in Massachusetts anxious for our niece’s wedding. We started things off with a haircut and a bit of shopping. I needed to get a new pair of pants since my dress pants shrunk while being stored in the RV for the past year. Then, the following day we arrived at my daughter’s house to see 3 of our grandkids again and to babysit while my daughter, who is my niece’s maid of honor, attended the wedding rehearsal and dinner. Jon, at almost 5 greeted us as expected, with lots of excitement and enthusiasm. It took 3 year old Grace about 5 minutes to warm up but then she wouldn’t leave our sides. Oh how we missed her hugs. When we last saw our youngest, Thomas, he was about 2 weeks old and now, at 8 months old, he’s such a sweet kid and he acted like we have been around every day. Finally the day of the wedding arrived. The wedding was awesome and my niece was beautiful. It was a brief ceremony followed by a full blown party. What else could you ask for? We were also able to see most of our family at the wedding which of course was great.

The following day we packed up the motor home and took the drive over to our second home, the home of my sister and her husband in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. We refer to this place as Camp Sawash. It includes water, electricity, a large yard and full access to their beautiful home and pool. This is the third year we have camped here for a lengthy period and we definitely realize how fortunate we are to have this option while we stay in the area to visit our family and friends. We were immediately kept busy with doctor appointments, dentist appointments and some RV maintenance. Then, one week after our arrival we surprised Claudia with a party to celebrate her 65th birthday. All of our kids and grandkids made it as well as just about everyone in my sister’s family. Claudia was totally surprised and we all had a great time. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed some pool time.

It was then time to deal with our storage unit which we’ve had since we hit the road full time 3 years ago. I was able to sell a couple of larger items on Craig’s List and we emptied out a lot of the stuff in preparation for a yard sale that Claudia planned. That yard sale turned out to be very successful and we were able to get rid of a lot of items that we just didn’t need anymore. What we didn’t sell went to Goodwill or was picked up from the front yard as “free stuff”. Best of all, we believed that everything remaining would fit nicely in the pod that we were having shipped to Texas in late July.

Next it was time to relax and just spend time with family and friends. We took a nice hike to a beautiful overlook just down the street from Camp Sawash. Stella loved running in the woods and it was nice to be out hiking again. We headed down to Cape Cod for a very nice 2 day visit with my mom. Next we began a series of 3 camping trips. We started things off with a 4 day weekend with my sister and her husband at a nice little campground in the Berkshire Mountains. Prospect Mountain Campground was a perfect place to put our feet up, relax by the pool and to enjoy some hiking in the woods. Our next trip took us back to Sun Ridge, the campground that was home to us for 10 summers. We visited over the 4th of July weekend and were thrilled to see so many of our very dear friends. Our final camping trip was to Saco River in New Hampshire. There we took over 4 sites as our family got together for a week of river rafting, swimming, campfires, community meals and best of all, time to enjoy each other’s company.

Our time in Massachusetts was coming to a close. We loaded up our pod as scheduled on July 27th and watched it get picked up and begin its trip to Texas. With the storage unit empty, all of our appointments and most of our final visits with family behind us, we completed final preparations for our 8 day trip to Texas. As much as we would have loved to meander our way down to Texas, the waiting pod required a more direct route. We headed out as planned and took an alternate route this year in order to avoid the mountains and all the bridges under construction along route 81, south of Scranton. Even though it was a bit longer, it turns out we made a good decision. We made the 8 day drive with very little traffic and very little construction. Mid-way back to Texas we took a day off from driving when we arrived in West Memphis, Arkansas. We stayed at a very nice campground with a beautiful campsite that sat about a hundred feet from the Mississippi River and the view from our front window was gorgeous. We had lots of grass around us so Stella had a great play area as well.

Finally, on August 8th we arrived at our winter home in Edinburg, Texas. The temperatures had increased each day as we headed south and have stayed near 100 degrees every day since we arrived in Edinburg. Once “home” we emptied the RV of most of our stuff so that we could go through everything. Now that we have a home base we’ll only need to pack essentials when we travel from this point forward. We also emptied the pod that was waiting here for us with all our stuff from Massachusetts. Emptying the pod turned out to be the easy job. Finding a home for everything proved to be more of a challenge but we’re having a lot of fun personalizing our new home. It already feels like our home now, not someone else’s. We had satellite TV, including the NFL Package installed so I’ve been able to watch the Pats pre-season games and more importantly will be able to watch every Pats game this season without having to run out to Buffalo Wild Wings. Now that we have the mobile we decided to purchase a golf cart for ourselves. We love walking and riding our bikes around here but when it comes time to carry our chairs and beverages to happy hour each night or a crock pot full of food over to the next potluck, the cart will be invaluable. Now it’s time to keep making improvements to our new home as we look forward to our friends returning. Some folks do stay all year and we’ve enjoyed their company as we play water volleyball and enjoy the occasional pot luck. It’s also time to get back to some serious guitar practicing so I’ll be ready when the rest of the Jam Band returns. That’s it for this blog entry. We hope our family and friends back in Massachusetts know how much we miss them. Everyone take care, stay healthy and happy!!

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Return to Massachusetts via the Natchez Trace

5/6/2016

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After 5 months in Texas we finally hit the road once again. We started off slow and only traveled about 4 to 5 hours a day for the first few days. We brought with us hundreds; more likely thousands of bugs that decided to attach themselves to our windshield and grill along the Texas highway so cleanup duty awaited us once we arrived at our campground each night.

Our first overnight stop was in Victoria, Texas. There we enjoyed a nice quiet happy hour with just the 3 of us relaxing on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Stella was totally exhausted and slept soundly with her head buried in the grass while we just enjoyed the quiet. With all the traveling we do, she still remains anxious and nervous whenever we’re traveling down the road. Our next overnight stops took us to Vinton, Louisiana followed by Vidalia, Louisiana. From our site in Vidalia we could look across the Mississippi River to the state of Mississippi. After a short hike along the bank of the river we headed into Natchez, Mississippi for some dinner and a bit of touring. We settled on a local grill down on the waterfront in an area called “Under the Hill” where there was a lot of history. This was the area where gamblers, drunks and ladies of the evening hung around back when the river boats were running 24 hours a day. The next morning we began our drive along the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444-mile drive through exceptional scenery and 10,000 years of North American history. It was used by Native Americans, settlers and outlaws, and it played an important role in American history. On that first day the parkway was as beautiful as described and so was the weather. We stopped at many scenic spots and learned a lot about the early history of one of the oldest land routes in America. In some sections we could actually see and walk on some of the original Trace.

That afternoon we left the parkway for a stop in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There we spent a couple of hours planning our next few days on the road and then headed out for a few hours of fun at a casino and some dinner. The best news was that I won $250 on a $1 bet so we immediately left the casino and enjoyed a great seafood dinner, all on the casino's dollar. Best of all, we still had about a hundred bucks left over at the end of the night for good luck. It was a very nice night indeed. The following day we headed off to learn about and tour the Vicksburg National Battlefield. I’d have to say that other than Gettysburg, this historic site is now at the top of my list of most impressive Civil War battlefields. I especially enjoyed seeing the restored Ironclad Gunship USS Cairo that was raised from the Yazoo River in 1969. It’s the only ship of its kind in existence.

The next morning we returned to the Natchez Trace Parkway and continued our stops at many of the scenic and historic spots along the way. We enjoyed more views of the original Trace, a great stop with a walk through a Cypress Swamp and several other spots that held historic significance. Along the Trace we made overnight stops in Shannon, Mississippi, and in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Unfortunately, shortly after we arrived in Tuscumbia we noticed cloud formations in the sky that looked more like ocean waves than clouds. Then the campground owner stopped by with a warning of the weather to come. We started with some safety measures such as disconnecting the car in case we needed to leave in a hurry. Once the wind really started picking up we brought the slide outs in to protect the vinyl coverings and we brought the hydraulic jacks up to allow the RV to set completely on the ground. Then we sat back and watched the show. There was so much wind, rain, thunder and lightning but the scariest part was the threat of a tornado. We were lucky that we didn’t get one and we didn’t get any of the hail that came down in nearby towns either. We learned that the forecast for the next few days was pretty much going to be same over the entire area so we made the decision to get an early start the next morning and head straight to Nashville instead of completing the final 120 miles of the Trace. We’ll just have to return another time.

Our decision to move along quickly kept us ahead of the storms and allowed us to arrive at our campsite in Nashville safe and sound. Next began the remaining 1,103 mile trip to our campground in Bellingham, Massachusetts with stops in Max Meadows, Virginia; Falling Waters, West Virginia; and Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania along the way.

On Wednesday, May 4th we arrived in Bellingham, Massachusetts right on schedule. The 12 day trip home was actually very smooth and without any mishaps. In fact, although we dodged some rough weather from the day we left Texas, we didn’t have to use our windshield wipers until the last day. Shortly after we arrived in Bellingham, my sister showed up at our campsite to greet us and we then followed her back to her house for a home cooked meal. It was nice to be back “home”.

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Our Winter Home in Texas

4/22/2016

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Once we left Disney we began our 5 day trip to Texas. We paced ourselves by trying to keep our daily drives to less than 6 hours. We stopped in Chattahoochee Florida, Gulfport Mississippi, Vinton Louisiana and Victoria Texas before we arrived safe and sound at Sandpipers, our winter home in Edinburg, Texas. Our 1,300 mile trip from Florida to Texas was mostly uneventful even though we had to pass through Hurricane Patricia along the way. Since the hurricane was heading northeast and we were heading west we were lucky enough to time it perfectly so that the worst of the wind and rain occurred overnight. Once we arrived at Sandpipers we immediately began reuniting with many of our friends and set some tennis up for the next day. It was nice to just relax. The entire winter turned out to be the best yet as far as having some of the most beautiful weather. We couldn’t have received more than an inch of rain all winter and the sun was out most of the time with temps between 70 and 95 degrees. We joined in our normal activities. I played lots of tennis and water volleyball. Claudia started playing pickle ball again and became quite good at it. She also attended the Zumba! and water aerobics sessions when time permitted as well as the monthly book club meeting and ladies day out. On Wednesdays she hosted a Downton Abbey night where she showed an episode or 2 each night from her DVD collection. On top of that we still attended our pub nights (a social event at the pavilion with a full bar including some great homemade brew), grill nights (where we brought our own meat to grill and a side dish to share up to Flip Flopz, our dining area), karaoke (I sing, Claudia doesn’t), bowling on Friday’s where our team joins 11 other teams for league play at a local bowling alley and of course our daily happy hours to just hang out and enjoy cocktails together with our friends, sometimes as many as 20 or 30 of us at a time. We enjoyed a great Christmas and New Years with our friends and our motor home was decked out with Christmas decorations and our tree and stockings were out. All the while I continued to practice on my guitar, joined by my friend Jim on his ukulele. I ended up singing and playing as a member of the Jam Band this year that entertained our friends and neighbors on pub nights. I never thought I would, or could, but I had a blast doing it. Claudia was outstanding in the annual theater production this year; taking on a role with a lot more lines than I’d want to remember. She was also part of the Burlesque show as a dancer in a Jazz number. I played a couple of bit parts in the burlesque show as well and created a few laughs along with a couple of my pals. The audience never saw what was coming until we emerged behind a lounge singer wearing our G-strings, bow ties and dark sunglasses. The big news this winter was that we decided to purchase a fully furnished 3 bedroom mobile home here at Sandpipers so that we can enjoy the 5 months we spend down here in a much more spacious setting. Our mobile home includes an attached 16 x 35 foot enclosed Texas Room which will allow us plenty of room for entertaining. To top it off, the Texas Room comes complete with a 92 inch (yes, 92 inches!) TV. The Pats are going to look pretty good on that. As the winter began to wind down we enjoyed the Winter Olympic Games that they hold here each year. Claudia and I both won our share of medals. One of my highlights was the gold medal win in the men’s water volleyball tournament. My friends in Connecticut will never believe it but the fact is it all began with them. Claudia’s most surprising medal came with the shot put where she earned gold. Our proudest moment however came when we retained our crown as the gold medal winners of the Charmin Plunge for the second year in a row. In case you have no idea, Claudia was holding a plunger between her thighs (no hands of course) and was able to run up to me and stick the handle of that plunger into the roll of toilet paper that I held between my thighs and run with it to the finish line faster than any other couple. Yes, as I said, we’re both very proud. While the games were going on, we pretty much emptied the RV of most of our belongings and brought them over to the mobile home in anticipation of some service on the slide out that was going to be performed on the RV. We also looked at it as an opportunity to go through everything now that we have a place to store the stuff we don’t need when we travel. Once the Olympic Games concluded we made the 2 day, 950 mile round trip to drop off the RV at the RV Service Center near Fort Worth that was willing to fix our slide out issues. We had a great feeling about these guys from the beginning and it looks like we were right. Within 10 days we returned to pick up the RV and the slide out worked like new. With spring approaching, it was time to start thinking about returning to the road. Our first year took us on an 18,000 mile trip around and across the US including a 5,600 mile detour through Canada and into Alaska. Last year we took it much slower and really enjoyed some quality time at the National Parks in Arizona, Utah and Colorado. This summer will be different from our last couple of years however due to a couple of reasons. We return to the road tomorrow, April 23rd. We begin our trip back to Massachusetts in order to attend our niece's wedding. We’ll take it slow and easy however as we follow a route through Mississippi and Tennessee in order to travel the Natchez Trace. The Natchez Trace is a 444-mile drive through exceptional scenery and 10,000 years of North American history. Once we hit Nashville we’ll pick things up a bit and 4 days later will arrive in Massachusetts on May 4th. We’ll stay at a nearby campground until after the wedding at which time we’ll head to my sister’s home where we’ll settle in for about a 10 week stay. During that period we’ll spend lots of time visiting our family and friends and take a few local camping trips with them. As much as we love it here, we’re anxious to get back on the road and back to family.

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Back to Florida & Disney

10/22/2015

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We began our third year on the road with an overnight stay in Pine Grove, PA followed by a stop in Max Meadows, VA. Our next stop was supposed to be for a visit to Charleston, SC but after hearing about flooding in the area that was only going to get worse we made the decision to visit Charleston another time. We ended up in Hardeeville, SC for a 1 night stop before heading off to St. Augustine, Florida. We had some beautiful weather in St. Augustine and we were finally able to enjoy a visit to the Castillo de San Marcos. This is the old fort in St. Augustine that Claudia and I wanted to visit 2 years ago but couldn’t due to the government shutdown. After that we did a bit of shopping and had lunch on a patio at the Bull & Crown along one of the historic walking areas. We enjoyed some time at the beach the following day with Stella before heading back in time to watch a Pats game at Buffalo Wild Wings. They won of course. On the following day we headed off as planned to our first stop in Orlando. Once we arrived at the campground and as we were bringing out the long slide out, unfortunately we had a problem. The slide out came out but the 2 top cables (one on each side) had snapped. One was completely broken and the other was hanging by a few strands. We found a place that ordered new cables but couldn’t replace them or inspect the slide out until several days later when we were scheduled to be in Fort Wilderness. The question remaining was whether or not the slide out would come back in. In the meantime, all we could do was relax and try to have some fun so we headed off for some miniature golf and an all you can eat pizza buffet. While in Orlando Claudia and I took a stroll down to historic Church Street Station before taking a short walk to meet up with some friends of ours, James & Laurel. Once we met up we had a great time reminiscing while also enjoying drinks and dinner at the Harp & Celt Restaurant & Irish Pub. The following night, we treated ourselves to a dinner show called the Pirate’s Dinner Adventure. It was an awesome show with lots of entertaining music, singing and action in an arena complete with a full scale pirate ship. On the next day, it was time to try the slide out. It wasn’t easy but the slide out did come back in after some manual intervention. That meant we were able to make the short drive over to Fort Wilderness and settle in while we waited for my sister’s family. We headed over to Downtown Disney late that afternoon and met up with them there about 7. We called it an early night and then met up with them again the following day, this time at Magic Kingdom. There we enjoyed riding Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, It’s a Small World, Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. We had beautiful weather and really enjoyed just hanging out together. That night we headed off to their room at the Old Key West Resort to watch the Pats game and what a great game it was. It was wonderful to watch the Indy’s fans “deflate” when their own team made one of the dumbest NFL plays ever. On the following day, I spent my time at the RV with the RV Repair guys. We had to remove plenty of inside woodwork to get to the cables but the biggest obstacle seemed to be the realignment of the slide out up until a 3rd cable snapped. That meant that the crew would have to return in 2 days, this time with their Service Manager to assist. The next day we brought Stella over to a kennel for the day while we enjoyed a long day at Hollywood Studios. There we enjoyed plenty of rides and shows including Rock ‘in Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror & Star Tours. I headed back to the RV early to pick Stella up at the kennel while Claudia hung around with my sister Linda and some of her family for what she described as one of the best laser, water and light shows she’s ever seen. As planned, the RV service guys returned the following day and after several hours were able to repair all cables and realign the slide out. We still needed to drop the RV off at a certified Thor dealer for more extensive service at some point but we were hopeful these repairs would get us through till then. We ended our Disney trip with visits to Animal Kingdom and Epcot over the next couple of days before we began our road trip to Texas. Regardless of the slide out issues, we really had great time that whole week in Disney with my sister and her family. There were 11 of us in all including 2 kids, Gabby, the littlest at 1 year old and Olivia who is 8. They definitely helped make it magical.

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Our Travels

Heading West to Yellowstone

Time with Friends and Other Stops along the Way

Our First Trip to the Upper Peninsula

Family Time 2017

Fourth Year on the Road

An Extended Stay in Texas

Summer in Massachusetts, then return to Texas

Return to Massachusetts via the Natchez Trace

Our Winter Home in Texas

Back to Florida & Disney

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