December 2008

Dec 28th what a great day we had. After our morning exercise Jon went to pick up his Aunt Minerva in Sebring. Debbie and Harvey and their spouses came down from Orlando and we just had a great time. We were together for over 5 hours and we did a lot reminiscing from both sides of our families. Talked about some of our escapades that we did as kids and our growing up years. We fixed some burgers and hot dogs along with snacks and desserts, as we talked and picked at food all day long. Diets went out the window as this is Christmas week. After taking Aunt Minerva home we attended a dance here at the resort. Just another good day to be had.


Dec. 25th MERRY CHRISTMAS we had a great day as we went up to Orlando in the early morning to be with Jon’s sister and her family, along with Jon’s brother and sister-in-law who came down from PA for two weeks. We had a great time together and totally enjoyed the day. We all laughed and laughed as we told stories about our antics and growing up years on the farm in PA. We viewed a video that was made for “Tiny” by the funeral home. If you remember that Tiny passed away just before Thanksgiving and it was Jon’s brother who was at his side for his last 100 days. They both needed this vacation and they are enjoying it. Their one daughter was so worried about them as it was the first time for them to fly. We all had a great time as this was probably the first time the three of the family got together for Christmas. We also learned that Jon’s niece that lives down here showed up at her parents’ house unexpected in PA. Her husband was dressed as Santa and her daughter was in a big box and when Jon’s sister answered the door she didn’t know Santa, but her granddaughter jumped out of the box, how great is that for a Christmas story. One we are sure will not be forgotten for many years.

The following was read at Tiny's funeral to the Ensminger family from Tiny.

To my Dearest family,
Some things I’d like to say but first of all, to let you know, that I arrived okay. I’m writing this from heaven. Here I dwell with God above. Here, there are no more tears of sadness: here is just eternal love
Please do not be unhappy just because I’m out of sight. Remember that I’m with you every morning, noon and night. That day I had to leave you when my life on earth was through, God picked me up and hugged me and He said, “I welcome you”
It’s good to have you back again: you were missed while you were gone. As for your dearest family, they’ll be here later on. I need you here badly; you’re part of my plan. There’s so much that we have to do, to help our mortal man.
God gave me a list of things that he wished for me to do. And foremost on the list, was to watch and care for you. And when you lie in bed at night, the day’s chores put to flight. God and I are closest to you…in the middle of the night.
When you think of my life on earth, and all those loving years because you are only human, they are bound to bring you tears. But do not be afraid to cry; it does relieve the pain. Remember there would be no flowers, unless there was some rain.
I wish that I could tell you all that God has planned. But if I were to tell you, you wouldn’t understand. But one thing is for certain, through my life on earth is o’er. I’m closer to you now, than I ever was before.
There are many rocky roads ahead of you and many hills to climb. But together we can do it by taking one day at a time. It was always my philosophy and I’d like it for you too…that as you give unto the world, the world will give to you.
If you can help somebody who’s in sorrow and pain, then you can say to God at night…”My day was not in vain”. And now I am contented... that my life has been worthwhile, knowing as I passed along the way, I made somebody smile.
So if you meet somebody who is sad and feeling low, just lend a hand to pick him up, as on your way you go. When you’re walking down the street, and you’ve got me on your mind; I’m walking in your footsteps only half a step behind.
And when it’s time for you to go…from that body to be free, remember you’re not going…you’re coming here to me.

Ruth Ann Mahaffey (author)

Dec. 20th what a great day is turned out to be. First we went to our church and helped pack boxes for Angel Food Ministries. Today was pick-up day and along with about 200 other helpers we got the job done without any trouble. This is the first time that we got a box ourselves and it will sure help the monthly food budget, as what we got for $30.00 will feed us for over a week. On the way back to our site we stopped at Craig & Ginny’s to show them what was all in the box, as they are interested in getting one next month. When they saw the contents it was a sell and we think they will be getting one next month, this is a great program and we a thankful that we can help. We just rested in the afternoon and got ready for our Gourmet meal that we signed up for at the resort. We have in the resort a surgeon that retired 14 years ago and about 6 years ago he attended culinary school to follow a passion he had for years to be a chef. In the past week he interviewed for help, and we were in the running but were not picked, and he added 6 more to his staff. The meal was a 5 course Italian cuisine meal that lasted over two hours, and to say a meal is wrong as it was a fantastic event, not only a meal but socializing with fellow residents here at the resort. We got to meet more people here and are finding out every day how much of a family that this place is becoming. It was a great day; and we know we will have to get to know the exercise room even better.

Dec. 19th what a great day, the weather was just perfect and along with Craig & Ginny (co-workampers at S-N-F from last winter) we went to the Bok Tower Sanctuary. We had such a wonderful day and it seems that each time we go it gets better, at this time of the year they have Pinewood all decorated for Christmas and every room is like going into a Christmas Shoppe. Pinewood when it was built was on an adjacent property and was built by Mr. Buck who at that time owned Bethlehem Steel Corp; for his winter house, the craftsmanship in the build was fantastic. Since that time and two owners later it has been added to the Bok Tower Sanctuary. Just the laid back serenity peacefulness of the area is great. We spent over 4 ½ hours at the tower and gardens and probably didn’t really want to leave. It is built on the highest land mass in FL and the tower itself goes up 205 feet and houses 60 bronze bells that are played over the course of the day, and at this time of the year it is Christmas music. If you ever get to central FL and have a day to spend and relax this place is great therapy and enjoyment. We could go on and on about this place, but we will return here again.

Dec. 17th we went to our golf lessons in the morning as this will be our last one till January. We than got ready to go to Downtown Disney as we were to meet up with some friends that we hadn’t seen it quite a while. We meet up with Bill & Kathy at Raglan Irish Pub and had a great time with them, and enjoyed a great meal and drinks. We made plans to get together again in the near future.

Dec. 12th Jon went out golfing as yesterday after three holes the skies opened up and it rained for most of the day. The course told the group to return today and start over again, and we thought it was a nice gesture on their part. In the afternoon we went to a meeting to help an in house chef to prepare a dinner once or twice a month. It was more of an interview for the jobs that are available, if one of us is picked the other one will have the opportunity to go to all of the meals for the rest of the season. After the meeting we went to a local opening of a Winn-Dixie, We had enough food to feed us as they were handing out samples, along with wine and cheese, and deserts we had a great time. They also had a jazz ensemble playing in the store and it was a festive time. Just another great day in FL.

Dec. 10th we had our golf lessons this morning, it is a three hour lesson and we have learned so much by taking them. The best part of this that it is free till the end of the year and starting the New Year it will be $3.00 per person per week. The same couple that gives the lessons also sets up all of the weekly outings for the resort at several golf courses. We both play golf on Tuesdays and have lessons on Wednesday and usually Jon plays on Thursdays as well. In the afternoon our good friends Mike & Kathy came over and visited with us and Craig & Ginny. Mike & Kathy worked with us last winter in Sarasota and returned back for another year of work. They just got to FL from MI and were happy to be here as all of the cold weather came early in the north. We did have a great time visiting with them and we are hoping to get back together with them along with Ron & Pat.

Dec. 7th after going to church and returning back to the resort Johanna contacted us. They are also workampers and at the present time are eroute to a job in Key Largo. They are at a nearby town for a few days and we like to get together with other workampers. Craig and Ginny went along with us and we went to visit in the afternoon. Israel, Johanna, Craig and Ginny will be working at the same location next summer, Craig & Ginny have worked at this place for several years and it was good to meet new coworkers. We will be about 175 miles from where they will be next summer and maybe we can meet up with them. We all went out to get something to eat at a Chinese restaurant.

Dec. 3rd we had our weekly golf lessons that go from 9am till noon, we still can’t get over the information that we are gaining. Kathleen had lessons before and Jon never did, but this is such a great help to both of us. After we got back to the resort we decided to take a walk and welcome Ginny back from her trip to Mass., and she told us of her journeys as this was the first time she ever flew, it was a good time. After that we were walking around and started to talk with another couple we met here, Dennis & Pat and we found out that they were also going to the performing arts center at the local college for tonight’s performance of “The Three Red-neck Tenors” and they said that they drive tonight. What a great performance that the red-neck tenors put on, it was a two and one/half hour show and there was a red-neck story behind it. We are lucky to be this close to the center as they have a lot of shows lined up for the winter season.

November 2008

Nov. 30th we went to church this morning, the church that we are attending has 4 services on the weekend and those are Saturday evening and on Sunday an 8:30, 10:00 and 11:30. We had chosen to attend the 8:30 service and as we did we also found out that this is the more traditional service and as we prefer the older hymns this is good for us. After church we stopped for breakfast (which we seldom do) and then went shopping at Wal-mart for food, to our surprise here was a weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas and we got a front row parking spot. In the afternoon we went to visit Jon’s aunt that lives in Sebring, they are in the middle of a house restoration and it is coming along great and when finished will be just the way that they want it. What a great visit we had as Jon has not had a lot on contact with Minerva for years, we just learned so much about her. We did meet up with her in Washington back in June and she gave us a copy of her poems, we now found out she is on her second novel, and continues to write. She is not published but we still would like to read her work. She showed us a list of all of the books she read from 7th grade in school and at one time she had over 3000 books. Since Aug. she has read a dozen books, this along with her painting, which we saw some of her work, keeps her quite busy. We parted and she sent about 6 books with us to read and we know we will get together again soon.

Nov. 27th “HAPPY THANKSGIVING” what a wonderful day, as we arose this morning and took our walk around the resort we could smell all of the aromas of the day. As they were fixing many turkeys for the feast, they out sourced the cooking to a lot of homes and it was an aroma all around the park. We walked in the club house and they were fixing the stuffing there and that was great. As we got back Kathleen prepared a dish for the food line and that made a wonderful smell in the MH. When we did go to the dinner that fed over 200 people, we noticed that there was enough food for probably 350 people. We had invited Craig to sit with us and we supplied the wine (which seemed to be the choice of drink), Craig’s wife Ginny is still up north in Mass. With her sister who just had an operation and will be away for a few days yet. As most of you are aware we full-timers spend holidays on the road and we enjoy the road family we have and the people around us. It is always nice to spend time with your biological family but that is not always the case, so being around extended family is great. After the meal it was either one or two things; take a nap or go out and do some exercise to work off the meal, we took a nap.

Nov. 26th today was a very sad day, we lost a close family friend who was as close to the family as any can get. He was Jon’s brother’s best friend from high school. John (Tiny) Leffler played Santa for the family as our family was growing. He was always fun to be around and he made those around him laugh, that was if you were in the local police force and he was driving his El Camino and were chasing after him. Even if the local police had fits over him, they all came to be his friend. Tiny was much too young to pass on and will be sadly missed by all. He made his peace with the Lord and when our time comes we will see him again.

Nov. 22nd we went to our church to do some volunteer work, as we packed boxes of food for Angel Food Ministries. This is a great bargain as you can get enough food to feed a family of four for a week for $30.00. It was a lot of work as the church packed nearly 1500 boxes and we each did a part towards it. It the afternoon Jon’s aunt Minerva called and we set up a date to meet, she stays in Sebring in the winter which is much better then Washington. After that we just had a relaxing day.

Nov. 19th in the morning we went to the free golf clinic that is held every Wednesday at the resort. The clinic was held at River Green GC and it was so much more than we expected. It lasted for three hours and had a lot of group and personal instruction. As the one instructor put it you are here to work on your golf swing, not the results. As we know once the swing is better defined the results will get better. We had a 1 o’clock appointment to have an oil change; it turned out to be a good experience. As well as changing the oil and filter they also checked lights, wipers, tire tread depth and air pressure and all of this for $15.00. In the evening we went to card bingo again and even though we didn’t win we were close several times and we had a good time.

Nov. 17th in the morning we went to the club house, as on every Monday they have coffee and donuts with a weekly meeting. It is set up to pass on information and to get ideas to help make the resort more enjoyable. A lot of the residents are on different committees to help make the resort run better. Monday is our bowling day and it is just whoever wants to bowl goes to the local alley together and bowl. It is a good time and we get to meet a lot of new friends. Kathleen went to a nutrition class in the afternoon. The instructor, Jayne, gives nutrition tips and information. Each week the group will meet and prepare a meal together, to be divided and taken home to enjoy.

Nov. 15th this morning the resort had a sausage gravy & biscuit breakfast and we had an enjoyable time, not only with the meal but with our fellow residents. Kathleen than put a crock pot meal together that we will enjoy later. Jon’s sister and niece came down from Orlando and the four of us played 18 holes of golf, what a great time as the weather was great and the company was the best. This was the first time that we played on this course, it is a fairly long course and we could not believe the layout as there is sometimes up to a 1/4 mile between holes. After we were finished we came back and have a nice visit and a good meal from the crock pot. We plan on getting together a lot more while we are here. After the last two days we retired early for the night as our bodies are not what they used to be.

Nov 14th after breakfast we wanted to find out more about our departed mouse, and now for the rest of the story. Since catching and disposing of the critter we were concerned that when we got him, a whole wedge of Decon poison was gone, but no further evidence of his family so we went to the basement and removed all of our storage containers and naturally in last container we found his nest. All of the poison was there along with some Cheerios and spaghetti were there, we knew that he was into these food products and we had thrown them out last week. We now feel better knowing he was alone. In the afternoon we picked up Craig & Ginny and went over to Titusville to view the Shuttle launch and it was a two hour drive, we found a spot at a city park that was on the water edge and from a distance we could see the launch pad. It fired right on time and was a beautiful sight, it was near full moon and as the shuttle rose it went past the moon what a great show. Upon leaving it was a four hour journey back and it took three hours just to get to Orlando (50 miles) as the traffic was stop and go all the way.

Nov 12th in the morning we did a few small jobs around the camper, also Kathleen went to her daily aquacise workout in the pool. We then went across the street to River Greens to play a round of golf. We had called and it was a shotgun start and we were paired up with another couple, what a great way to meet new friends. We found out that this couple also camped at Adelaide Shores in the site next to ours a few years ago, they asked us to say “Hello” to some of our neighbors. After diner Kathleen suggested that we go to bingo and Jon sort of drug his feet on it. Well wouldn’t you know the big winner on the night was Jon as he won 1 game and then split another bingo and on the last bingo of the night, which cost double to play split the coverall. At a quarter a game and about sixty people not to bad.

Nov.9th we found a church that we will be attending while here in FL. We had a nice time there and met some new friends. After that we came back to the resort and took it easy, later we had Craig & Ginny over for dinner which was some of the chili. We had a good visit and then the four of us went to the club house for the Sunday night movie which this week was “The Bucket List” . We had seen it before but we just had to see it again as we really enjoyed it.

Nov. 8th was another great day as we awoke and Jon started to fix a large pot of Chili in the crock pot. We than did some more cleaning and went to the club house to check on upcoming activities. Jon finished up his online class for a part time job. After that we biked over to Craig & Ginny’s (we worked with them last winter and they were as dissatisfied there as we were, plus we were looking for different places this winter and they found this place first and informed us and we are glad that it worked out) for a short visit. We had other guests in the afternoon that we first met online at workamper.com, and then at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Ohio. Larry & Sharon are going to be camp hosts in the Everglades this winter; we did take a walk to the lake and sat down to eat some good chili. After a great visit we then went to the Dance at the club house and had a great time, as well the entertainment was great.

Nov. 5th we got the mouse and it does make us feel better, it was only one but we still have the poison and traps set for any more that might be aboard. This is our first full day here and the park is great. Still haven’t seen the sun but we know that it will show up sooner or later. We did go out to Wal-mart which is only 2 miles away, which after this summer is an adjustment that we have to get used to. As a matter of fact being in the middle of all of the commerce here is an adjustment from the summer in Montana.

Nov. 4th we finished our trip to Avon Park and got in the afternoon and set up. Still didn’t get the mouse but we know he is here. Craig and Ginny came over to our site and we visited for a while, we worked with them last winter and they found this park as we were both looking to go to a new park for the winter. We are glad that we will be together again, and hope to have a great time here. The drive was a good drive all of the way even though we have yet to see sunshine, the last we saw the sun was on Saturday.

Nov. 3rd a long day of travel and we don’t like to travel this far but because Jon made an error in setting up our cable connection we have to be on site in Florida by Wednesday morning. We traveled about 600 miles and spotted at a Wal-mart that is right aside of the interstate. We shopped in the store to get supplies to fight the mouse. We set out poison and several traps.

Nov. 2nd it was just a great day as we enjoyed the friendship at Camp Fox, as Linda’s mother and brother were there. Also their neighbor was at the fire which we had going all day. We will have to make a good load of wash as the smoke from the fire is in our clothing; it does smell good but will probably turn to wood when we have a load of wash. We bid farewell to Fox & Linda in the evening as they had to go to work early and we were leaving early as well. We did find out when we got back to the motor home that we had an extra passenger, the trail of a mouse was spotted and we knew we had a job on our hands.

Nov. 1st after a great breakfast we went to the “Punkin Chunkin” and just had a great day. The event was saying that there would be about 70,000 people and because of the great weather we think there was more than that. The air cannons were great and while watching them Kathleen got a phone call from her brother saying that he was there and we found him about 50 ft. away, it was a surprise that he was there and it was not planned on his part but he had to come to the area to fix a leak in his Delaware home. As we were watching the catapults’ a few of them literally fell apart as they were getting ready to make their launch. We did see a world record with one of them. We came back and started a fire. After dinner we stayed at the fire as some of Fox and Linda’s friends came and we had, as always a great time.

October 2008

Oct, 31st we had an early breakfast with Jeff and Shirley and while there we saw several other people that we hadn’t seem in a while and we said hello and good-by to them. After Kathleen had her appointment for a medical test, we got ready to leave. We discovered that our awning wasn’t working and we decided to wait till we got to Florida to repair it. We topped off with propane and also filled up the fuel tank to start the journey. We then drove the 3½ hours to Camp Fox or as we call it “Our Delaware Home”. We had a great time visiting with a usual gathering, we know that in three weeks it will be very full here for the annual Christma Tree lighting, we did this last year and had a great time and we hate to miss it this year. We are hoping that we can do it another year.

Oct. 30th it was a day of saying good-byes, all day we were saying good bye to friends and family and it was a hard day all around. Upon saying good bye to Tiny we left with the deep feeling that this would be the last time we see him here on earth, we do wish the best for him and hope we see him in the spring. We saw Jon’s mom, Kathleen’s brother and a few of his sons, also Kathleen’s son and daughter-in-law and her granddaughter.

Oct. 26th we went to church and bid farewell to a lot of our friends there. In the afternoon we went to Kathleen’s son’s home and had supper with them and we enjoyed the visit. It was also a sad time as to say good bye to friends and family.

Oct. 25th we went to a pancake and sausage breakfast that was put on by the local Lions Club, it was very good and we also did a lot of socializing with a lot of people we hadn’t seen in quite a while. After that we went visiting to our friend that has cancer, he had several visitors and we all had an enjoyable time. We will get to see him one more time before we leave. After that we started to go to Red Run CG but on the way we stopped at an Amish store along the way and loaded up on our supplies. We got to the CG in the afternoon and did a lot of visiting before Jon helped out with the Haunted House; it was a slow night as the weather was terrible and we finished up quite early. Once again we had a great day. We want to thank all the campers at the Campground making us feel at home.

Oct. 22nd got an early start as Jon had a Dr.’s appointment and while he was there Kathleen ran some errands of her own. After going out for breakfast we went to a bike shop and got some parts for our bikes. Later in the afternoon Kathleen took her granddaughter to visit with some of her old work friends, just another cool day in PA. We are now looking forward to moving on to warmer weather.

Oct 20th Jon had a early blood test and after that went to visit with his mother, at the same time his one cousin was there and they all had a good time just making small talk. In the afternoon we went out and hit some golf balls at the local driving range. Just sort of a lazy do not much of anything day. As we can feel the temps getting lower we are looking forward to going South in the near future.

Oct. 19th we went to church this morning and had a great time visiting with some of our friends there, also we had Kathleen’s granddaughter along and she meet a lot of new friends. Later in afternoon Kathleen’s granddaughter was picked up by her parents and they were recuperating from yesterday’s football game at Penn State. We than went to visit a very sick friend prior to us going to Kathleen’s brother house for dinner, we had a great time just finding out news on the local front as he is a the small town barber.

Oct. 18th as we had Kathleen’s granddaughter we slept in for the morning and were late getting up and moving. In the afternoon Kathleen and her granddaughter did a lot of the Halloween activities here at the CG. Jon in the afternoon went to Red Run CG and helped with the haunted house that was built. Also while there he went to a birthday party that was held for one of the campers there. The haunted house was very good again and some of the costumes were just fantastic, as always all involved in the haunted house were up to the task and made it a great time. Both of us will be going next week.

Oct. 17th we left early this morning as Kathleen had a Dr.’s appointment and prior to that we did some shopping at an Amish store. We tend to find a lot of good deals at these stores and we also but a lot of bulk items there as well. While Kathleen was at the Doctors, Jon went to shop at Wal-mart. Than the both of us did a little shopping of two chairs. We would like to replace the chairs in the dining room of the MH, and we have been looking for a while and we might even be looking while we are in FL. In the afternoon Jon went down to Red Run CG to help with the haunted house and just meeting up with old friend and some of the weekend campers he hasn’t seem in a while. Kathleen got her granddaughter today and she will have her for the weekend as Kathleen’s son and daughter-in-law have season tickets for Penn State and are going up to State College and camp for the weekend, they are all excited as Penn State plays Michigan and hope to break their losing record against them. In the afternoon Kathleen along with her friend and granddaughter went to a RV Resort and did some swimming in the indoor pool. It was a long day for the both of us , but it was another great day.

Oct, 16th another great day in PA, Jon and his brother-in-law went and played a round of golf at Tree Top GC. Had some good holes but overall not as well as I would of liked. Just started to make some changes in the swing and hand position, can see where it will make a big improvement as I get on to it. As for now it is a little different but I can already see a difference in distance. In the evening Jon went to the local VA and picked up a CPAC machine to help him to sleep better at night. The problem has been a lot better in the last 1 ½ years than it was prior to that time, it is not a good thing to stop breathing while you sleep.

Oct. 15th we had and morning meeting with our financial advisors this morning and even though the market is way down we are not as bad off as we thought, we even decided to do a little more buying. In the afternoon we took Kathleen’s granddaughter on her first Geocaching adventure, she enjoyed walking in the woods and finding the treasures, we think that we got her hooked. Jon sure would like to take two other little girls Geocaching, but we doubt that will happen. In the evening we went to the Elton John concert at the Giant center. The concert was a big disappointment, way too loud and couldn’t even hear EJ as he sang. We had our seats changed and it helped somewhat, but we left early, wishing we had stayed home and watched the Presidential debates instead. We had attended two other concerts in the last two years and they were quite enjoyable as it was not nearly overbearing loud.

Oct. 14th the dreaded day at the dentist. It was our semi-annual day for our checkups and all went well as they gave a good report and to return in the spring. After that we went and bought some upgrades for the computer, Jon then installed them and it made quite a difference. In the evening we had to prepare supper for our bed ridden friend, it was a labor of love that we could do this for him and Jon’s brother who is staying with him. We had a nice visit and tried to keep his spirits up at this time, he will have many hard days in front of him.

Oct. 13th Jon went down to help set up a haunted house for Red Run Campground and had a good time working there and enjoying all of the friendship. Kathleen was babysitting her granddaughter and in the evening we got together with some of our friends and went to Sight & Sound. It was Jon’s first time there and he enjoyed it a lot. It is such a great theater that is set up for shows that include animals. They sure do make a fantastic stage play with it and if anyone can make the show it is worthwhile.

Oct. 12th we took Jon’s mother to church and had a great time there. Because of scandals in the church in the not to recent past, attendance is way down and a lot of people are waiting to see what happens at the church. We enjoyed the church and the people that were there are real friendly and we just had a good time. In the afternoon we went to Kathleen’s sons home and spend a while looking at photo’s of their trip to Disney World, they just got back on Friday and made up a photo album on Saturday, Kathleen’s granddaughter did have a fantastic time as she did all of the Princess things and got a lot of autographs. After that we went to visit another friend from the campground and just caught up on a lot of information from the local area. We showed our pictures from the summer and they were received with great admiration.

Oct 11th another great day as we went to the campground that Jon used to own, it was great to renew old friendships with the campers. We got there in the afternoon and stayed though the evening and into the dance that they had. It was just a great time to be had.

Oct 9th took Jon’s mom to the pain clinic and she got a shot to block her hip pain. It helped right away as she could go up steps a lot better. We than took about a 1 ½ hour drive to meet with some more friends. They own a business in the mountains and it is such a beautiful area, as some of the leaves are changing. We took some information from another friend of both of ours. We were given a tour of the property and just had a great time together. In the future we will see if our plans would permit us to stay there. On the return trip we visited with a very good friend in the hospital. At the present time all we can do is be there for him, as the medical staff can not do any more for him. He is remembered in all of our prayers.

Oct. 8th this past Sunday Kathleen had to prepare for a medical test that is scheduled for Monday. She did very well and after the test was told that all is well and she was good for another ten years. Jon was driving his mother around on Monday morning to Dr. appointments that she had. Tuesday we were back cleaning up the MH , that is still from Montana and we also changed the Generator oil and filter, and changed the spark plugs in the car. While changing the spark plugs Jon dropped a plug down in the front of the car and had to remove the front of the car to retrieve it. It’s not hard to remove and only takes about 10 minutes, we are glad that it is that simple. Tuesday evening we met with some good friends for supper and we had such a great time catching up on the events of both of our journeys. We spent over two hours together and we had picked a restaurant that wasn’t all that full. On Wednesday Kathleen had another Dr. appointment for some tests, following that we took Jon’s mother to another Dr. visit. We are glad that Jon’s mother has a lot of medical visits while we are at home as we came take some of the burden off of Jon’s sister and she can spend more of her time baby sitting her grand sons. After we took Mom back home we had a tee time for a round of golf with another good friend and is was an enjoyable afternoon. Finished up with supper with our friends and it was just a great day. So far since we have been here Jon has played golf at least once a week.

Oct. 4th we went out for breakfast this morning after that Kathleen went to visit with her friends and Jon went to a midget football game. He had a good time and got some pictures of his granddaughters. After that we came home and just had a nice afternoon together. Finished staining our bench that was given to us by Glenn & Chris when we left Montana. It is a great little bench that is 4 ft. wide and comes completely apart for travel and can be stored in the back of our Vue. After the hectic month we had last month it sort of feels strange just to relax and do maintenance on the MH. We have been walking around the campground and making new friends and renewing old friends and just generally having a good time.

September 2008

Sept. 30th can’t believe that it has been a week since our last entry. We are falling into a daily routine as Kathleen babysits and Jon does some repairs and fix ups. During the last several days Kathleen had a bad head cold and as the weather was bad, a lot of rain we just sort of stayed in and relaxed for several days. Also on Thursday we visited an old family friend as he is now recovering from an operation and at the present time he started cancer treatments. We also continued to make the upgrades on the MH that we hope to help with the living style. Yesterday the weather broke and it turned out to be a nice day, Jon went out and played a round of golf with some friends. They had two threesomes that played 18 holes finishing up near dark.

Sept. 23rd we did some clean-up and repair on the motor home in the morning and then as Kathleen’s granddaughter came Jon left to play golf with Kathleen’s son at one of the local courses. In the evening we visited with Kathleen’s brother and viewed pictures and just had a great time, it was a long day and rest came very easy.

Sept. 22nd Jon went to do some shopping for items to do some work on the motor home and to install the equipment we bought at the Rally last week. He also had to do some banking and he stopped in for another visit with his mom. Kathleen started to babysit her granddaughter as she will be doing that while we are in the area, they have a great time together and this time we are parked next to the play ground. We went to the hotel in Grantville for supper and had a meal fit for royalty, just another good day in our lives.

Sept. 21st we attended church and had a good time seeing a lot of friends. We couldn’t spend a whole lot of time after church as we were invited to both of Kathleen’s son’s home in the afternoon. We had a great time visiting and catching up on the families, we ought to make a video on our travels and show it so that we don’t leave out any information. Later in the day we went to “Cabela’s” to get our chairs and to pick up a set of flannel sheets. It is a shame that Jon’s daughter won’t meet with him as he has tried to make contact and is rebuffed at all times.

Sept. 20th we finished our journey to PA and we got to the local CG at about 1:00 pm were we set up for our month stay. After setting up we went and visited Jon’s mom and had a good time. Upon leaving, Kathleen’s son called as they were returning from the Penn St. football game and they met us at the CG and we got pizza and had a nice visit, Kathleen got to see her almost 5 year old granddaughter. It was a very good day and we were glad to be back in our home area.

Sept. 19th we are leaving the Rally today and it is another great event that we leave with sadness as a lot of the friends we made we possibly wouldn’t see again, that is the way of fulltimers and RVer’s in general. We will keep up with some through their blogs. As we left we had our Motor Home weighed and were quite happy with the results, the front was balanced on both sides and the rear was 50 lbs. more on the driver’s side. One little problem was that the rear was just a little overweight, but so is America Ha-Ha. We drove across Ohio to Columbus and than got on Rt. 70 into West Virginia were we stopped at a new Cabela’s. A new exit was created for Cabela’s and they are still doing a lot of construction in the area. We are still looking for chairs and this being the 3rd Cabela’s we stopped at, the chairs we wanted were not in stock but they called the store in Hamburg and they have them and will put two away for us. We can pick them up next week. We than drove to the Wal-mart in Somerset, Pa. for the night, did a little shopping to pay for our site, He-He. We did remap our route as the little we were on the turnpike we felt we paid to much money, so we are taking another way which is about 35 miles longer and still save some $$.


Sept.18th after coffee & Donuts we took the first session off to get some things done around the Motor Home. Jon was working with Mac McCoy “The Fire Guy” on getting a fire extinguisher for the engine compartment, since the regular ones he sells would not fit. After a lot of ideas Mac came up with a salutation and it will work fine. At that time Kathleen was baking dessert for tonight as “Boogity” invited over for supper tonight. We attended classes the rest of the day and picked up a lot of information that will be useful in this life style. We than went to “The Boogity Express” for supper and had a nice visit, we will be working together next summer and it looks like it will be a lot of fun. We had the last of the door prizes tonight and everybody over the course of three days got a door prize plus more, with the ending of this event we returned to the motor home as it is the end of the rally. During the day we did wish Nick the best for the future and thanked him so much for the rally.


Sept. 17th we went to the coffee and donuts and as usual we meet some more great RVers there. After that we attended one class and than we did a local Geocaching, than went to the local Wal-Mart for a few items. Since we had got gift certificates for a small milk shake at Wendy’s we stopped there for lunch. When we returned we bought an Electrical Management System and set up our time to get weighed on Friday. We attended class in the afternoon and picked up some pointers and useful information. We than got ready for the pizza party that was held for the Rally which was followed by a show by “One More Time”. We sat in a group from “RV-Dreams” and had a nice evening, just a great day at the Rally. Have to say that since we have been here it has been so relaxing and our sleep has been very good.


Sept. 16th in the morning the day started with coffee and donuts and we another couple (Donna &Bob) who we found out that we had meet her best friend in Montana this past summer at the Workamper cookout at LoneHurst CG. We had a full day of classes and learned or passed on information. We looked at two items we feel that we are going to buy for the Motor Home and that being a Electrical Management System and a engine mounted fire extinguisher. It will make our home safer. In the evening we went to the door prize event and we won a free RV weighting gift certificate, we will get the coach weighted on Friday before we leave. Also we have been looking for several people from another web site and one couple that was setting across from us and won a prize was one of those couples and we went up to them afterwards and while talking to them the other couples came up as we all got together. We are planning to get together at the pizza party on Wednesday. The one couple did come over in the evening and we had a nice talk and wouldn’t you know they are parked right across the field right in front of us. Another great day at the Rally.

Sept. 15th we did some morning clean up and chores and met some more of the people here at the Rally. The activities started at 2:00 PM and we started with the Rally events and other than a break for supper we didn’t get back to the Motor home till 9:30 PM. It was a good day and for us it is a much needed down time.

Sept. 14th as we awoke to a new day we really liked the New Lisbon CG, it was very clean and all of the campers were very friendly. We did some more clean up and jus a relaxing morning. We left and stopped about a mile away for breakfast at the local truck stop and we than filled up with fuel. The fuel was advertized at $3.899 and we thought we were getting a good but, when we went in to pay for it they charged .239 cents for tax on top of that which we found out later that is the way Indiana does it. All we can say is that is the last time for fuel in Indiana. We arrived at the Gypsy Journal Rally a little before noon and got set up before Ike got here. We would say that we got maybe ¼ inch of rain but we had a lot of wind, every body at the rally came through without and major damage just a lot of downed limbs and branches. Till 7:00 PM it was all over and getting back to normal.

Sept. 13th upon leaving St. Louis and crossing the Mississippi River we felt good about this, also as it was the first time we saw the Gateway to the West Arch. We continued through Illinois and into Indiana about 25 miles from the Ohio border. It was a good day for a drive and we had no rain as we know Hurricane Ike is somewhere near us. After we stopped we started to clean up the motor home, we had a dust from the summer and it was a long over due for a clean. The weather was dry but very humid some thing we have not experienced over the summer.

Sept. 12th, we woke up to rain and we started out from Great Bend in the rain and we drove about 1 hour till we got to Rt. 70 that will be our main road for the rest of the journey. We drove in the rain for about six hours till we got east of it. We tried calling several Wal-Marts in the St. Louis area and none of them allow overnight parking. Coming into St. Louis we found a Campground and stayed for the night. We did go to Cabela’s looking for chairs, but with no luck. This Cabela’s is in a mall setting and is not even close to the one in PA. in size and items on display. We did stop at a nice Cabela’s in Utah and it was a very good store. After looking at the situation in St. Louis we can understand why there is no over night parking at the major stores, as there is no room and space is at a premium.

Sept. 11th, another full day of travel ahead of us as we figure about 425 miles. It was a really good weather day and the drive was good. We got to Great Bend, Kansas we found the local Wal-Mart and set in for the night. Soon after we stopped it started to rain.

Sept 10th, we arose early this morning as we are now heading east to get back to PA. We had to go into the park to fill up with fresh water, which as we drove up there was no one in line and we connected to fill. It took about 20 minutes to fill and the line grew as we were filling, upon finishing we left and went out the East side of the park and took a few Pictures along the way. We than headed across the northern part of Arizona towards Four Corners on Rt. 160 which is very picturesque. We stopped at Four Corners and did the picture thing and also had lunch, after that we followed Rt. 160 into Colorado and went up over Wolf Creek Pass which is near 11,000 feet high. The motor home did a fine job going up and than back down. We stopped for the night in Alamosa, CO at the local Wal-mart.

Sept. 9th we awoke and after breakfast we packed some packs with water and snacks. We took off for the Grand Canyon, there we got on a shuttle bus and went first to Yaki Point From there we boarded the bus and went to the Eastern end of the Rim Trail and walked the trail as far as we could to the west. It was a great day as there were a few clouds in the sky and the temps were in the low 70’s. We did get to see a rain storm that was in the canyon and on the North Rim, we never got a drop of rain from it. We than did some shopping and on the way home we did one Geocache. Getting back to the campsite we build a fire and roasted some hot dogs for supper. As we had no TV service we just relaxed and read some books.

Sept. 8th upon awaking we start to get the MH ready for travel, we stored everything and brought the slides in. We than met Jim & Peg for breakfast and had and enjoyable time and said our good by’s. We left Boulder City headed south out of Nevada into California and finally into Arizona. We went from a low elevation of about 1500 feet to almost 7000 feet in today’s journey. We checked into Ten-x CG near the Grand Canyon, a nice CG that has all paved roads and sites even though the sites are somewhat narrow it is still spacious. It is in the Kaibab National Forest and because we have the Senior Pass the cost is $5.00 per night. Since we had the Senior Pass a little over a year it has saved us Hundreds of dollars and the cost was only $10.00. After setting up and fixing something to eat (which was a take home box from the night before) we drove the 10 miles to see the Grand Canyon, since Jon saw if before he watched Kathleen’s expressions as it was her first time at the Canyon. We could go on about the beauty here but words cannot describe the area. We than went to the IMAX theater to watch the story about the Canyon. The high temp we saw today was 101.

Sept. 7th met Jim & Peg and we went for breakfast and then we did the tour of the Hoover Dam. As I was here before and this was Kathleen’s first time we were both amazed at the structure and the hardy men that built it. We spent quite a bit of time there and just enjoyed seeing the construction of the new bridge that is being built over it. The bridge is named to honor two of our country’s hero’s, one being Mike O’Callaghan a past governor of Nevada who lost his leg in Korea, and the second one for Pat Tillman from Arizona who lost his life in Afghanistan, Pat was not the first choice as John McCain was the first choice as he refused saying he is not here for personal gain but to serve others. He not only talk’s the talk but he walk’s the walk, he’s got our vote as he is for real. After that we introduced Geocaching to Jim and Peg as we went looking for 5 caches and found three, one of those we didn’t even go looking for. We think that they got the fever. After that we did some shopping in Henderson and had Supper. We returned to the MH and visited for a short while. It was a great day and was great to be with some of out distant relatives. High temp today was 111.

Sept 6th after a very good nights sleep we got an early start, after about an hour on the road we stopped for fuel ($3.91/gal) and at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We were surprised at how empty it was as this is Saturday morning and only about 1/5 of the parking lot was full and most of that was for the store sidewalk sale. But than again it is in Utah and we know it is a very fugal state. We continued on towards Las Vegas and to the Canyon Trail RV Park in Boulder City. After setting up we met with Jon’s cousin and his wife and had a great time together. We ventured into Vegas and went to Fremont Street to watch the overhead light show. Prior to the show we ate at Tony Roma’s and had a very good meal. While waiting to be seated Jon put $2.00 in a slot machine and Kathleen invested $1.00 in a machine, Gambling urge satisfied even though either of us hit anything, Priceless. After the meal we walked the four block area and watched several of the street shows. Probably what got our attention the most was the spray painting artist, as their work was great. After watching two overhead light shows we returned back to the CG. High temp for the day was 108.

Sept. 5th we left Moab area and headed towards Capital Reef NP and all we can say what a gorgeous drive. When we got to Hanksville we headed west on Rt. 24 to Capital Reef NP and the scenery was WOW, don’t know of any words to describe it, also we did see some Coyote alone the way. When we got into the Park we stopped at the orchard, as we are in the harvest time of the year, and picked peaches and apples. You could pick all that you wanted for $1.00 per pound, and we picked 20 pounds worth, now it is time for Kathleen to make different items with them. After that we took Rt. 12 towards Bryce Canyon, maybe it was a mistake or good luck as we got to elevations as high as 9600 feet with some 14% hills. Not the best route for a 40 ft. motor home pulling a car as it was a pull going up and as we started down we encountered some cattle on the road. We thought we had enough fuel for the day but with the hills we encountered we had to stop. As we were taking on fuel the lady at the station was somewhat in awl that we came over the mountain and than told us about the next part of the journey. More mountains and at one part for about 300 yards the road was 20 feet wide with no guard rails and several hundred foot drop off on either side all this going down hill. At this point the view was out of this world as well as the rest of the way to Bryce Canyon. At Bryce Canyon we parked the motor home and took the shuttle to Bryce Point, from there we walked 1 ½ miles to Inspiration Point, the views along the way were awesome. We than headed to Rt. 15 to find a Wal-mart to stop for the night as we were totally wiped out. We do have to say that what we saw in the last two days is more than we could ever expect to see in that time period.



Sept. 4th we first went to Canyon Lands NP and explored the area, as we didn’t want to take the car on the dirt roads we only stayed with the paved roads, also we didn’t take any hikes of over one mile as we had a time issue. Such a wonderful area and with so many different sights. At around noon we returned to the Motor home and had a snack and than went to Arches NP and did the sightseeing trip as well. It is hard to believe that there is this much beauty in this area, we knew that the Wall arch fell down about a month ago, but there a so many more and the weather is making new ones all of the time. We are so glad that we have the Senior Pass for the National Park system as it would be costing us a fortune in fees. We than went into Moab to do some window shopping and a little refreshment, tomorrow we leave this area and travel across Utah.


Sept 3rd We left Bingham City, Utah and traveled south 290 miles to the Moab, Utah area. The drive was uneventful other than all of the new scenery that we encountered. It was so nice having cell phone service and also having that service in the campground, as we did not have that luxury during the summer. We made several calls throughout the day to family and friends, just to catch up on the news. Hopefully we don’t use up all of our minutes, LOL. We set up the Motor home on BLM land at the Horse Thief Campground. Just a beautiful site as we are on top of a bluff and it is like we could be in an RV commercial. We set up the Direct Tv dish so that we could watch Sarah Palin, the new VP make her speech at the RNC this evening. After that we ventured into Moab to fill up with gas and to get some information in the area. We did find out that the campsite is 1700 feet higher than the town of Moab.

Sept. 2nd this was our last day of work at Wilderness Edge. We worked till 1:00 pm and got ready to leave. We left at 2:30 and started our trip south, as we were going out of the canyon we took notice that the tops of the higher peaks were getting snow covered. When we got there in May the snow was on the mountains and melted by July, now after 6 to 7 weeks the snow is returning and it is like a new rebirth/season for the mountains. We traveled about 5 hours and stopped in Bingham City, Utah at the friendly Wally world. We went to Sonic to eat and the Dollar Tree store and then we hit Wally’s and spend a lot of time in the store. Kathleen went one way and Jon went his way each to get items on their list we than met and did our general food shopping as we had our shelves bare upon leaving the retreat. It is such a gorgeous view in the parking lot as we are right up against the Bear River Mountain Range.

Sept. 1st while we have one more day of work at this was a little different in that we got about 1/2 inch of snow this morning, we kept kidding them that if we knew it would snow we should of left yesterday. It was a cold blustery day and the fall season is setting in. In the evening the owners took us out to a very nice Inn for a fare well diner. There were worries as we went to the Slide Inn which is along the Madison River. The day before the gates of Hebgen Lake dam were compromised and the river is very high. They even had an alert in Ennis which is about 50 miles away the day before in the event of flooding. The dam itself is ok but some of the 75+ year old wooden gates failed. It was a fun time and at the same time it turned sad as we said some good-bys to Glenn & Chris who have been wonderful managers, that is the hard part about workamping in the good-bys that come after a short work period. Glenn & Chris be well and have a great and long journey through life.

August 2008

Aug. 29th it is our last day off and we took advantage of it by packing and getting ready to start or eastward journey. We took a boat out for several hours on Cliff Lake and just took in all of the beauty of the area. Probably the last time we get to see it. While on the lake we got mooned, in that a pontoon boat with about 12 people on board was fishing on the lake and a young girl went to the rear of the boat and sat on a 5 gallon bucket to do her business. We were probably about 75 yards away and it didn’t seem to faze them. Some time your see more wild life than you want to.

Aug. 26th clean up began as we know that it was a success by the amount of garbage that was generated. LOL. Even though it was a great event we were surprised at how respectful was, in that everybody chipped it to help us out. We still had to get to clean up 4 units as they were rented out for Sunday. We even surpassed that as we worked a little ahead. We wish the bride and groom a long and happy life together

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Aug. 22nd & 23rd we are getting ready for a large wedding that is taking place here. The wedding party had the entire place booked for Friday & Saturday nights. There was a bachelor party pt. #1 Thursday night at the lake and the party goers spent the night at the lake in tents and as they awoke on Friday morning it was 28 degrees. Didn’t seem to faze them and it continued on through Friday night, not at the lake but at the retreat and they stayed in the cabins that night. Again on Saturday morning the temp was 28 degrees. Picture taking lasted for over an hour and they used a lot of the rustic buildings for a back drop. The wedding was beautiful as a large tent was erected and aside of that the ceremony was in the round, such a picturesque event.

Aug. 20th we have the day off but with no plans except to work on the Motor Home. Just a lot of little things that need to be taken care of. We did mention earlier that we wanted to do three things while here in Aug., the 3rd think was to rent an ATV but after going up to Sawtell this past Saturday we decided against it as it is so dusty and dry here it is not worth the time. We saw a lot of people driving the ATV’s that were all bundled up to protect against the dirt we felt we would pass. In the evening we decided that we wanted to go to see the IMAX movie Lewis & Clark, since we saw Yellowstone the other day and saw the trailers for this movie we were not disappointed.

Aug. 18th we went into Ennis just to relax and we did play some golf, as this might be the last time we get to play here. Probably was close to 90 degrees and we are glad we weren’t out in the heat of the day. After that we stopped for a snack and did a walk around town to do some window shopping. We than went to do some grocery shopping and got gas. Upon leaving Ennis as we looked south about 40 miles away we could see a lot of smoke from the fire that is burning in Idaho. As we were about 20 miles from Wilderness Edge we could start to smell the smoke, and as we were about 6 miles from Earthquake Lake we could not see the mountains that surround it, because of the smoke. We are hoping that it doesn’t burn north into Montana or we will have an early leave.

Aug. 15th This turned out to be a bitter/sweet day, as in the morning I was attaching the bikes to the car the owner here, Janet stopped to tell me that RT & Donna had to leave as Donnas’ son had to have a heart operation. As we were talking she mentioned if we knew of any workampers in the area that might fill in for them along with some other ideas on how to replace them. I than found Kathleen who was already talking to Donna, as we wished them the best and we found out that they were leaving tomorrow. As it was our day off and we had the bikes loaded up we took off and on the way out of the retreat we meet Chris and were informed that she was going to put some food together for a farewell party that night, we told her when we were at the store we would call her to find out if she needed anything. We than went towards West Yellowstone but instead we went to Island Lake, ID to go to Sawtell Mountain. It is a drive of about 6 miles on dirt and near the top as you are going around corners looking across your hood you see nothing but sky as the road is narrow and the drop offs are long, also no guard rails. What a view from the top as we were over 9900 feet up. You could see over Yellowstone NP as well into the Tetons NP, we could probably see 75 miles in a lot of directions if not more. Coming down was no picnic either as it was probably worse than going up. We than went to see the Pages’ at Lonehurst CG and told them about the job opening at the retreat, they said that they would think about it. We than went into West Yellowstone and as the bikes were covered in about 1 inch of dirt we changed our plans and did a couple of Geocaches and than went to the IMAX theater. After that we did some shopping, at this point it was 5:30 and we headed back to the retreat. Getting home and unpacking we received an e-mail from the Pages and Leigh is going to take the job for a few weeks. It made Donna feel a lot better knowing that someone was taking her place, we than had a great Farewell Party with nine people attending. John (a very good guest and friend) Janet, and her husband John, Chris, Glenn, RT, Donna, Kathleen and Jon. The day was long but all in all it was a good day and we wish RT & Donna a safe and uneventful when they leave tomorrow.

Aug. 13th while this was a day off for us we took on a job to stain the cabin of the managers here at the retreat. They have a Cabin about 6 miles from the retreat, and as they put in a lot of hours here we decided that we could handle this job for them. We started out in the morning and as the sun came up it got rather warn, but as the day wore on a North wind set in and we could feel the chill in the air. Even though it is mid August we know that cold weather is around the corner. We did check our voice mail in the afternoon and received our messages. We had one positive message for a job next summer; we will talk more about it later if we decide to accept this position. We will say this now, it is in an area we would like to go to for a season. It was somewhat unusual for us to work on our day off, but a few extra bucks always helps.

Aug. 12th after work today we along with RT & Donna went to a workampers outing at Lonehurst Camp on the shores of Hebgen Lake. There were about 20 workampers at the event and everyone had a great time. As we all travel around the country it is nice to meet up with some of our peers. It was set up by the Page’s and they did a great job, and got a lot of pictures. Many of use would of stayed longer if it was not for the mosquito’s, after the wind died down they came out in force and drove everyone off. We look forward to seeing some at another time.

Aug. 9th as we had off today we decided to try a restaurant that was suggested to us for breakfast, this was not a very good choice as we had a long wait, the food was so-so and it was rather expensive. We than went to the visitors center at Earthquake Lake and had an enjoyable time there. This is about the earthquake that happened in 1959 and killed 28 campers that were camping in the area that night and how the side of the mountain came down to the other side of the canyon wall and created an unwanted lake. From there we went to Virginia City and took a steam engine ride to Nevada City and back, our return trip was delayed by about 15 minutes for an afternoon thunder storm. Returning to Virginia City we went to a ole time photo shop and got some pictures made as old western vigilantes, it was a lot of fun but I don’t think look the part. We than went back to Ennis, got a bite to eat and did some grocery shopping before heading back to Wilderness Edge. Not really a great weather day as in was rainy, damp, and cooler than it has been for a while.

Aug. 8th after work it was mail day for us so we decided to drive out the 4 miles of dirt road to the mail box. My original thought to ride the bikes but, as we got to the mail box it was raining very hard. On the way back, and not having a camera, we saw a Mountain Lion as it came out of the brush onto the road about 50 yards in front of us. At first it didn’t realize we were there and starte to walk down the road, when it sensed us he leaped back into the brush and hide behind a tree and watched us. As we pulled up even with him we sat there and we both were watching each other. We looked up towards the top of the canyon about 100 yards away was an Elk grazing on the side, and all of this with no camera.

Aug. 6th we were working today and as we said before that we are surrounded by BLM and grazing land. About 40 head of cattle got through an opening in the fence and got into pasture they were not supposed to be in. The managers called the ranch and we knew that it would be a while till they got there. We got on the golf carts and rounded them up and drove them back through the canyon into there own pasture. When we took this job didn’t think we would be herding cattle, it was great.

Aug. 3rd we started in the morning to tidy up the MH and repack some of our equipment, throwing out some old and making better use of space. After that we went Geocaching as there is a cache about 4 miles from where we are parked. We have use of rental boats here at the retreat and we took a boat on Cliff Lake the would get us closer to the Cache. After mooring the boat we hiked 1 ¾ miles to the cache. It is a beautiful area and the hike was awesome. We passed through a meadow that is only for animals in the wild as it was totally flat about 700 feet across and ¼ mile long with a creek flowing through it. We didn’t see and wildlife, but we did see a lot of signs of wildlife. After returning we took a ride around the entire lake which is several miles in length. It was another great day to be full timing.

Aug.1st we have three things that we want to do while in Montana and today we did two of them. First after getting ready and leaving the MH we drove two hours through the North West side of Yellowstone to the town of Gardiners. On the way we did stop to look at Mammoth Hot Springs and as we were driving around the parking lot loop we spotted a bear and as we watched we saw it get startled turn around run back 15 – 20 feet and jump 5 – 6 feet in a tree. It than looked around came out of the tree and in a fast trot continued on its way. Now I am thinking if the bear was that scared what should I be wary of? Back in Gardiners we first went to a dude ranch and did a two hour horse back ride. Now it has been many. many years since we were riding and our bones and muscles reminded us of our age. After that we went back to town and changed into swim wear as we did a two hour, eight mile white water rafting excursion. There were three rafts and 9 people on each raft. The guides were great and made the trip a lot of fun, the one raft had a squirt gun on board and they would get close to the other two rafts and wet them down. At a short rest on the side of the Yellowstone River, Jon snuck around the rafts and stole the squirt gun as we all hopped into our raft and took off. Can you imagine the oldest person in the whole group steeling the squirt gun diving into the river and swimming to the raft? This did set up quite a few water battles and the original raft got the squirt gun back, but Jon was a target the rest of the trip he loved it. After stopping in West Yellowstone for a few groceries and a bite to eat we returned home. On the way home we saw a lot of smoke coming over a mountain less than 20 miles as to where we are parked, we did find out latter that it is a managed fire.

July 2008

July 28th we went to Bozeman today and bought new tires for the car, yes we got Tiger Paws by Uniroyal. While we had the tires installed we walked to a local Café for breakfast, it didn’t look to good on the outside but inside was very nice and decorated in western favor the food was great also. We than did some Wally World shopping as it is 100 miles from where we are and we don’t get this chance to often. We didn’t have a plan for the day as we happened to see a movie theater and decided to see a movie. The one we picked was Mama Mia, it was a very enjoyable flick and we both had a good time. We than drove back to Ennis (50 miles) and played a quick 9 holes of Golf. Naturally we left the camera in the car, as Jon teed off of number two hole we saw a Buck, Doe and twin Fawn Antelope. Kathleen had to wait to tee off as they were less than 50 ft. in front of the ladies tee, it was an awesome sight. After the golf we did some more shopping for cold items at the grocery store. The drive home from Ennis (50 miles) was spectacular sight as the sun was setting and the sky was slightly overcast, at a few places the sun was bright on the mountains and made them look as they were covered in gold. Thank the Lord for his beauty.

July 27th the cowboys arrived for a round-up of the cattle. We are surrounded with grazing fields and BLM land, and a number of herds are in the area. We have corrals onsite and they are bringing in about 1000 head over the next two days. Tonight we had a late night Steak Fry, fresh steaks that if they are 18 ozs it is the runt piece, got to talk to several of the cowboys and thanked them for the work that they do, Putting meat on the table. We are members of PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals).

July 27th we watched as the cowboys brought in the cows and were amazed at how well the dogs worked the herd. On Monday when they finished they discovered that about 85 head were missing and they went back out to get them, it was well after 11:00 o’clock till they were finished. They were back in the Saddle early Tuesday morning, not a life that I would cherish, but being out in the open they are enjoying it to the max. It is such a shame that some big fat dude sitting in New York is making more money in selling the cattle than the cowboy is.

July 23rd & 24th At the spur of the moment, since we had two days off together we are going to do an overnight trip to Teton NP. On the way to Jackson we did some geocaching and one of the caches was above the Teton Pass, from here we could see quite a lot of the Jackson Hole area. On the way there we called half a dozen hotels to find a room, thanks to our DeLorme Street Atlas we had the names, addresses and Phone numbers of these places. Upon arriving in Jackson we checked into our room, even after having trouble with the key. We than drove to Teton NP and made a lot of stops at places of interest, also we got a lot of information on things to see. We returned to Jackson and went to the Million Dollar Bar and Steak House, what a great meal. After that we took a walk around Jackson and enjoyed the town. At about 11:30 PM we found out why this place had rooms. There is a Bar next door and after it closed everyone was in the parking lot to do whatever, talk or tussle. This kept Kathleen up and she was at the window making sure they would not destroy our car. Someone called the police and it broke up at about 1:15 AM, as usual Jon slept through it all. Upon rising on the 24th we went to Teton Village for breakfast, from there we went to Jenny Lake South and took the boat across the lake. We than hiked to Hidden Falls, it is one of the nicest falls we have seen also while there we saw a training class for rock climbing as they have a school near by. From there we hiked to Inspiration Point which is about 420 ft above the lake. The views are just fantastic from there, the lake in front of you and the Teton’s directly to your back. From there we hiked back around the South end of the lake to the parking lot, total of the hikes a little over 4 miles. We quickly changed and headed to Colter Bay as we were going to do a boat cruise, the day before we inquired and were told that this never sells out. When we got there after much waiting we were indeed informed that it was SOLD OUT, for the time we wanted to go and that other time were open. We than left and drove through the North end of the Teton’s into the South Entrance of Yellowstone. Having been to a lot of this area before we drove straight to West Yellowstone. We visited the Bear & Wolfe Discovery Center, we spent well over an hour there, but you could spend nearly a day there as we didn’t go to any of the movies. After this we ate and did some shopping before we returned to Wilderness Edge.

July 18th we went to Ennis today, we had cleaned out our closets and were taking the clothing to The Nearly New Shop. This is a volunteer shop and all of the proceeds go to the town. We made our phone calls from here as well, Ennis is 50 miles from Wilderness Edge and is the first place we can get Cell phone reception. We also got brakes for the car and Jon can get them on in another day or so. We finally go out to play some golf, first time since April back in PA, and the score showed that we are rusty. Went to the store and did some shopping and went back to camp.

July 13th we headed out to hike to the CD and we did hike for about 1 ¼ mile and didn’t come across it, we now realize that we didn’t go far enough. We also tried to drive to the area only to realize that this involved a long hike. After spending a lot of great time doing this we did some geocaching. We were a lot more successful at geocaching. We will have to spend more time at the CD in the future.

July 12th after work Glenn and Chris invited us to go along with RT and Donna and we went to the cliffs of Cliff Lake. We had a great ride out and such great views, and from the top of the cliffs we were awestruck with the scenery. We all had a great time and just enjoy being here.

July11th we left early before 7 am and drove through Yellowstone (where we saw some baby elk) and went to Cody, WY. Out of Yellowstone we entered Shoshone National Forest. What a gorgeous drive. We saw different rock and mountain formations that we didn’t knew existed. Naturally we did some geocaching and had a good day. We stopped at the “Buffalo” Bill Cody Dam and saw how it was built. We drove around Cody for a short time and then went north and took a scenic bypass. Such an understatement as scenic bypass for this highway. Neither one of us has any adjectives left to describe this part of WY. Also the Nez Piece Indians used this trail to run from the Army in the late 1870’s. We than stopped at Crooked Creek and had a good supper and did some shopping, it is a great little MT. cowboy town. We than entered Yellowstone through the Northeast gate driving through Lamar valley as there is a lot of animals in that area. We were looking for bear, moose or wolves and didn’t see any. When we got back home it was after 9 o’clock and we were tired and worn out.

July 9th we drove into Ennis (50 miles one way) and did some shopping and also stopped at the local Golf course. We didn’t play just got some information. We also revisited Virginia City again and just had a nice relaxing day, nothing special but a very good day.

July 5th had the day off and did a lot of cleaning on the MH as we unloaded it and swept out the compartments. This was a lot of dirt from the journey out. And of course when every thing was out of the MH and flash storm blew up and it started to rain pretty hard. We got it all away and we were soaked. So much for life on the road, it is a good life.

July 4th Went into Ennis today and had a wonderful day. At 10 o’clock in the morning the Annual 4th of July parade kicked off and it lasted 1 hour and was such a great small town parade. The town boasts 860 people and there were thousands of people there. After the parade we had a bar-b-que Buffalo burger lunch as the Lions Club had a fund raiser in one of the towns parks. We than drove out to the fairgrounds and bought reserve seats for he rodeo. We had great seats that were about 30 feet from the gates, all the action was in front of us. During the rodeo it was quite windy and it took a toll on the roping events, the wind was constant at about 25 MPH and had some heavier gusts even though the temps were in the low 90’s.

July 1st Today we visited the canyon and water part of Yellowstone NP. As usual we did several geocaches along the way. Discovered that most of Yellowstone is in a giant crater and that there are many, many craters within in it. Such an awesome place as all kinds of geological areas. Visited a lake that drains into two different rivers and that the two rivers go to two different oceans. Spend a lot of time at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and saw how the park got it’s name as the sides of the canyon are yellow in color. We did have a hard time today as we did some caching and we had picked some earth caches, these are like doing home work and it takes a lot of the fun out of it.

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June 2008

June 27th we drove to the Virginia City/ Nevada City area to do some sight seeing. What a beautiful drive and an area rich in history. Learned about the vigilantes, and the # 3-7-77 which to this day is worn on the shoulder patch of the MT State Police. Also learned aboutGeorge Ives and how his trial and hanging changed the face of justice in the area. As usual with geocaching we went to some of the out of the ordinary places. It was a nice day and at the end we had a bite to eat at the Wolfe’s Den.

June 24th We enjoyed the day a Yellowstone, we saw bear (black & grizzly), Wolfe, elk, goats and a host of other animals. We drove up to the Mammoth Hot Springs area and also to the Tower-Roosevelt area. There is so much beauty and such a diverse type of area. Again we did some geocaching and it took us to places we would not normally go to. It was a long day but we enjoyed it, on the way home we stopped to eat and get a few groceries.

June 21st Elmer and Phyllis returned and the stayed in a Rustic cabin near to where we are parked. We spent the evening together watching videos and playing cards. They are leaving early in the morning to drive back to the Jackson Hole area.

June 17th Elmer and Phyllis are leaving today and going to Glacier NP. We did a little geocaching and did a tour of Quake Lake area. After that we went to Boseman to do some shopping as the nearest Wal--Mart is there, which is still 100 miles one way. After doing all of our errands we stopped for supper in Ennis and till we got back it was 8:30 pm. We decided that before we make that trip again we will have to be desperate.

June 16th Along with Elmer & Phyllis we went to Yellowstone NP for the day. We mainly went to the geyser area and just saw so much and learned as much. Took a lot of pic’s and at the end of the journey we watched “Old Faithfull” erupt. We stopped for a great supper and when we returned we all were exhausted.

June 15th Elmer and Phyllis got her in the afternoon and the resort put them in Saddlehorn, which is about the best in the resort. When we finished up with work we spent the evening with them

June 10th We continued our trip back in we had Sun, Snow and rain. We did take a little detour to do some sightseeing and it was very pretty, and as we keep saying “awesome”. Did a little shopping to refill the shelves and had a bite to eat before getting back.

June 9th Leaving the Gilara’s we proceeded to return to Montana. We hit some rain, Snow and sunshine. We had a good travel day and did a little sight seeing where we crossed the Columbia River, we also marveled at the beauty of Eastern WA. We stopped for the night in St. Regis, MT.

June 8th After getting up, packing and getting breakfast we went to visit with two of my cousins, Jerry and Paul Gilara. They live next to each other in Black Diamond, WA. First about Jerry, (last I saw him was about 40 years ago) he is married and has five children. Him and his Wife, Mary came to WA. where he worked for Boeing for a short period of time. He than got a job at a small machine shop and he started to buy into that company, the company shut down because of labor problems. He being one and two other owners started a new company that makes control valves for high reach equipment. At the present time they employ over 220 people. He has just sold he share of the company and retired. On a personal note he owns a plane and has his commercial license, he also taught himself to speak and read Russian. Jerry took us on a plane ride. Aunt Minerva is living with Jerry and she stayed up the night before and made us a book of her Poems, Drawings and Needlework. Paul our most gracious host who put us up for the night is a occupational nurse and safety coordinator for a Genie plant. Several years ago he held the same position in a Kenworth plant, the same plant that Gray Ridgeway (Green River Killer) work at the same time. We had a great time with this visit.

June 7th We couldn’t believe how long we slept in the morning as we told Deb we would help with setting up the party, but we overslept and barely made it in time. We did have a good time and spend the afternoon there.

June 6th We got up and had breakfast with Donnie and then met up with Mel and Jarret and just sort of hung out. Sort of a lazy, rainy afternoon, and than we went to the Tacoma Dome for graduation services. The City of Tacoma needs to work out a lot of entrance and exit plane to move cars into the area. Probably over 5000 people to attend the graduation and they omly opened on door in the building. The graduation was great and we had a great time.

June 5th We got up and had breakfast and took off to see Mt. Rainer, we drove around the whole mountain and saw a lot of sights, but never did see the mountain as it was a rainy, snowy, overcast day and at a lot of the time we could not see 200 feet up. For dinner we met up with Mel and Jarret for dinner and enjoyed this time as they are very mature for there age, totally enjoyed the time together.

June 4th We arose this morning and after eating a continental breakfast at the hotel we did a tour of the Boeing plant, it is amazing at the size of the buildings as it is the largest building in the world. We were stunned in that there was more computer work going on that physical work and at the fact that how components are out sourced. From there we did a Duck tour around Seattle and got to see a lot of sites and learned a lot of information. We were lucky on the tour that it stopped raining for a period of time. We than took a ferry to Bremmerton and got to our hotel room, after switching rooms because of a animal smell we meet up with Ron & Deb for dinner. It was a good day.

June 3rd We got up this morning and started for the Seattle area, we stopped to wash the car and we hadn’t gone five miles and were in road construction, after that as we continued we were directed to take a logging road for about 45 miles, so much for the wash job. It was a great drive with lots of scenery which we would of never seem on the interstate. At about 11:30 we stopped for breakfast in a small town (no not a Bob Evans) and had a delightful breakfast, from there we continued up over some high passes that went through some snow and finally got back on I-90 we continued through Eastern Washington and marveled at the rolling plains of the state, than through the Columbia Valley and into the mountains in Western Washington. We stopped at several exits before we found a motel to our liking.

June 2nd just what a fantastic day sight seeing as we saw goats, bears, deer in there habitat. The Road to the Sun is not opened yet and all of the sights we saw of God’s creation were wonderful. We are planning on coming back in September as we only got a small peek as to what this place has to offer. .

June 1st we left for Glacier National Park, we had a great drive and we are awed by all of the sights we see around every corner. We checked into a Motel 6 for two nights and went out and had a geat dinner.

May 2008

May 31st Jon’s birthday and he had the day off, Kathleen did work on that day. As it was John, the owner’s birthday on Thursday they had a large family gathering and all of the workampers were invited to the party. Jon was included in the birthday celebration just like family. It is a great feeling. We had to get packed for our trip to Washington for the graduation of Kathleen’s granddaughter.

May 28th, 29th, 30th, Spent time working, Jon mainly on the site up grading and Kathleen doing housekeeping. The 30th we went to West Yellowstone and meet up with Buffaloman and Bearlady.

May 27th after about a 225 mile trek we arrived at Wildeness Edge Retreat and meet just some great people. From the owner Janet, and to the managers Glenn & Chris, also fellow Workampers R.T. & Donna. We got set up for a couple days as we will have to move when we leave this weekend as the site are being up graded.

May 26th we left this morning and had a nice ride to Billings, Mt. where we parked at the local Wal-mart for the night. We did are final shopping there, and filled up our shelves to the top.

May 25th we went and toured around the town of Deadwood. It was great to see how the town survived over the course of 140 years. One thing that we like is that all of the revenue from gambling in the town goes to the preservation of the town, also that they do not allow any bets in access of $100.00. We came back and started to pack for our trip tomorrow, as we are heading in to Montana.

May 24th as the rain stopped and we had another great day we went to Wall Drug. Didn’t think a whole lot about all of the hype over it, we think that South of the Border is bigger. Although Wall Drug does sell better quality items. We also toured the petrified forest in the Black Hills, this is a great geographical site and we totally enjoyed it.

May 22nd and 23rd we did nothing as it was a hard rain in the area, receiving over 4 inches of rain. The area was in a drought and this was the most that they had at one time in years.

May 21st we drove and geocached the Spearfish Canyon. What a beautiful sight to see, and by geocaching we got to see even more of the area. We had supper with some fellow workamping friends the “Rvingmillers”. We had a great time and spend over two hours together and just talked about common topics that mean a lot to workampers.

May 20th we drove to the country’s first Memorial, Devil’s Tower, What an amazing site. There is not enough that I could say about the awesome beauty of it. We probably saw about 20 climbers on the tower, maybe 40 years ago I would of tried it. On the way home we stopped at the Vore Buffalo Jump where the Indians drove the buffalo into a pit and if the fall did not kill them they could finish the job with there bows. The bones of an estimated 20,000+ buffalo are there.

May 19th we mover about 60 miles to Rush no More CG and spent the day working around the MH. We also did a run to down town Sturgis, to do a little shopping. Spent the rest of the day relaxing around the MH.

May 18th we attended a local church in the morning, it was a very personal experience as being a small town they knew the regulars and the visitors. Made us feel right at home. In the afternoon we did some walking and a geocache. Later in the day we meet up with Travelingal from the WK forums at the local Perkins Restaurant and had an enjoyable three hour visit. It is so wonderful to meet up with other Workampers. We have casually met a lot of other Workampers on our journey.

May 17th in the morning we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial, what a great sight. We watched workers drill and set charges that would set off by Ann Currie from the Today Show on Monday. We also spent a lot of time just touring the facility. In the afternoon we drove the Needles Highway to Custer State Park, another beautiful drive and the Park is just awesome with all of the wild life and the natural setting.

May 16th we traveled to the Black Hills and to Crooked Creek CG as we tour the sights in the area, we monitored the transmission and all is well. In the afternoon we went into Rapid City to pick up our mail and meet the people that do our service, at the same time we registered to be able to vote and also get an absentee ballot. In the evening we went to Mt. Rushmore and did the tour of the place and stayed till the lighting of the faces, it was a wonderful sight and we can not believe all of the sights that we have seem over the past couple days.

May 15th after checking the fluid level in the transmission we saw it was very low and when we went into Mitchell to do some sightseeing we picked up fluid and other supplies. After adding 5 qts. Of fluid we than hooked up and started our journey to the Badlands, at a rest area we stopped and checked the fluid level again and saw that we needed another 4 qts. of fluid. We finished our leg of the journey with no more problems with the transmission. In the late afternoon we did a tour of the badlands and what an incredible area, more than we could ever expected to see. We stayed in the Badlands till night and watched as they transformed with the sunset.

May 14th leaving Amana Colonies we traveled through Iowa on our way to Spencer to pick up a Select-Air Comfort mattress. We took all secondary roads and totally enjoyed the country, we had planned on staying the night in Spencer. With out any reason to stay in Spencer we decided to move on and go to Mitchell, SD. On the way to SD we went into part of Minnesota for a while, on this leg of our journey we took the interstate system. We arrived at Family-e-Fun CG for the night, at that time we discovered that we were having a problem with the transmission in the MH.

May 13th As we left Springfield we met with Jerry and he took our mattress, we than headed across Illinois and into Iowa. Again we took secondary roads and just marveled at the beauty of our great country. We stopped for the night at Amana Colonies, after setting up we did some geocaching. We would like to come back to this place as there is so much to do and learn in the area. Just a nice place to be.

May 12th meet wit Jerry & Lois for a lunch of “Horseshoes” which are served in Springfield. Quite tasty and the one that we split was plenty. We than went to the Lincoln Museum and learned about the time of Abe Lincoln. Jerry than took us out to the Springfield Mile race track and it was very impressive. We ate a light supper and returned to there place to enjoy the evening. We made plans to meet Jerry the next morning to discard our mattress, other than that we bade farewell abd will see the in Florida next winter.

May 11th we left in the morning for a drive to Springfield to visit our friends Jerry & Lois. The drive was again on a lot of secondary roads and the scenery was wonderful. We met Jerry & Lois for a Sunday Soup and spent the evening there, it was a great time that was had by all.

May 10th we took two classes each in the morning and than attended the closing ceremony, we won a autograph book by Gaylord Maxwell. We than hooked up, eta a light lunch and headed out for Illinois where we spent the night in a great little community park in Carmi. We had a good day and a great drive as we took a lot of backroads.

May 9th another day of classes and again we each took 4 a piece. After attending the classes we are discovering that they are geared more towards a new camper. They are informative and focus on things that we know, but just make us reremember the issues. Would not suggest the class for fulltimers.

May 8th we took the MH to have it worked on and made it back by the first class. Each one of us attended 4 classes today and gathered a lot of information. We had to cut the last class short as we had to pick up the MH. We were well pleased with the work on the MH and to think that they only charge $65.00 per hour. Rained most all day but, after supper it stopped and we could put the hitch and bikes back on the MH.

May 7th we moved over to Western Kentucky University for Life On Wheels and got set up and than did some shopping in the afternoon. We did fine one Geocache in the parking lot. We also went to the opening ceremonies.

May 6th we drove around the area a while to just get our bearings, we tried to find Dwight Embry’s garage and couldn’t find in so we called them and were told it was on the other side of town. We did locate them and were impressed with the place. Kathleen took her driving course in the afternoon and did excellent. After that we just walked around and met some of the people.

May 5th we finished our journey. It was the first time that I drove out of the eastern time zone can’t believe it that I never did this before. We pulled into Bowling Green KOA and it seems to be a gathering place for a lot of the Life On Wheels people. The weather for driving both days was just great.

May 4th we started early and drove 450 miles which is much too many but we are pushed to get to Bowling Green. We got within 20 miles of the W Va. / Ky. Border till we stopped, that will leave us with about 300 miles to go.

May 3rd just totally enjoyed the day renewing friendships and for the evening meal we had the steak fry at Red Run.

May 2nd We did some last minute shopping to get supplies for our trip out west. Jon went to the old bus stop and met up with some friend’s there. Later in the day as campers came in we got to see a lot of friends.

May 1st we babysat Sammie for the last time this visit and packed up to go to Red Run for the weekend. We had a good trip down and we used our new toy, the DeLorme Street Atlas for the first time and it works great. When we got set up at Red Run we were visited by some of the neighbor’s and had a nice time.