We made it!!

 We started our trip North bright and early on April 19th. We had most everything loaded up in the van and on the bike the night before. The only things we had left was a small suitcase and to load the cold food into the 12v/110v portable refrigerator freezer that rides in the van. We bought this several years ago to use as some extra freezer space back in our Motorhome days. The unit has two sections to allow it to work as a combo unit or you can just lower the temperature setting and use it as "all freezer" or raise the temp above 28 degrees or so and you got a nice size beer cooler! 😉

I also had a few breakers to shut off and I shut the water off as well. Once we had those few chores done we were off and running. Our plan was to avoid the interstates but still try to make as many miles as we could using the state roads. Our first leg took us along the west coast of Florida following US 19/98 which is a well maintained 4 lane divided highway that is, for Florida standards, lightly traveled. We have taken this part of the route many times with the RV and it is a very relaxing versus the heavily traveled race track they call I-75. We traveled North from Florida into Georgia before turning West into Alabama. I had researched some Motels to stop at on the way home and also considered camping in our little motorcycle camper. The cost of the motels were not that much more and we could ride a few more miles since we didn't have to stop early to get set up after we stopped for the night........plus it was HOT!.......lower 90's in Georgia and I needed some A/C for sure! The motel was clean but very, very outdated.......picture 1970's. The only other choices we had were to ride an additional 40 miles or backtrack 50 miles and I just didn't have anymore more left in me so we made the best of it......."Hey Dude, looks groovy to me" 😎

Our second day was overcast and cooler. We made it all the way to Lebanon, Tennessee and had a nice stay in a newer chain hotel. We were up early because this was our arrival in Indiana day and we were looking forward to seeing family and friends. The skies were again overcast but no rain and the temps decided to remind me why we live in Florida in the winter! I had all my heated gear on and running plus our Can Am has heated grips and heated seats so I was fairly comfortable as it barely got out of the 40's for this last leg of the trip. 

When we pulled into the campground we found our 5th wheel looking just like we had left it and started the process of opening it up and making it "home" again. Ask any RV owner that winterizes their rigs for the winter what they worry about the most when "un-winterizing" and it's always the same. Yep I had to hook up the water and then....gasp.....turn it on. 😟 I guess I did OK last fall because no water came pouring out the basement and all was working accordingly.....well almost all. Last year we found that the hot water inlet on our combo washer/dryer unit had apparently frozen and cracked (plastic). We just washed our clothes in cold water all summer and it worked just fine. This year the cold water valve cracked and was leaking when we tried to use it. This after I winterized, per the manufacturers directions both times. I'll do it differently from here on out. Anyhoo I ordered both parts and when they arrived we pulled the unit out and replaced both water inlet valve assemblies. $140 for parts and took us about 20 minutes total and we are back in the laundry business. 😁

Just as I was starting to feel good and pat myself on the back for being Rudee's "handyman extraordinaire" she woke me up at 5:30 am saying the refrigerator had no power and was beeping. There was some kind of a code on the screen so we googled that and found help from several RV sites where others had the same problem with our model. Seems that there is a fail safe sensor attached that will cut all power to the unit if it detects too much heat in the vent/flue of the unit. These models had a tendency to catch on fire in earlier models and this was their solution. I went outside and removed the outer access panel and sure enough that sensor box was flashing a red light. Rudee did some more research and several said water can cause it to activate as well and we had just had a "frog drowner" rain shower earlier, guess I slept through it but Rudee said it was bad for over an hour. She also found the "fix" to reset it. Seems like these "boxes" do not have a reset button and are sealed and NOT serviceable. Over the years though the service technicians have developed a reset procedure for instances just like this. What you have to do is put a magnet onto the outer box and it will move a ball bearing inside that is what "triggers" the shut down. The magnet will return the "switch" to normal operation and you are good as new. Well where in the heck do I keep my magnets at 5:30 in the morning??!! I was pretty sure the local hardware wouldn't consider my beer getting warm as enough of an emergency to open up early but never fear,,,,Rudee is here! She comes up with a magnet from one of those chip clip dohookies that you use to close up an open bag of potato chips. So I went outside put the magnet to the box and the ball bearing (or whatever it is in there) made a "clunk" and the flashing light was off when I plugged the fridge back in. I went inside and no more beeping, no more code and the fridge was back to normal. This time I patted Rudee on the back! She's a keeper for sure!

Our month of May has been filled with graduation events for our Grand Daughter Olivia who graduates this year. We have been to her last choir performance as well as watched her last walk through the halls as a student (insert a few tears here) and of course watching her presented with her diploma. We are so proud and look forward to her future. 

 

 

We are settling in nicely here at the campground. We have had several campfires and are enjoying our nightly golf cart trips around the park. We have started counting rabbits on our trips and have set a new record of 39 rabbits in one night. AHHHHH the retired life is nice! 😊

We have a couple of motorcycle adventures coming up in June and July so stayed tuned and, as always, I'll keep you posted.

Spring has Sprung almost time to migrate North

 As the title suggests we are slowly getting things ready to head back to Indiana. Rudee will drive our van while I ride the motorcycle. We plan to use a similar route as last year meaning no interstates if we can avoid them.  Our preparations include eating as much as we can from our refrigerator versus eating out. We do have a 12 volt/110 volt cooler/freezer that we can take some things with us but it is pretty small so only the necessities make the trip. We wont take a lot of clothes since we have some duplicates in Indiana but we always seem to include as least one big suit case of our favorites. Plus we always forget to make a list of what we have in the 5th wheel and what we need to bring so it might end up being two suit cases. LOL.

The campground opens for the season on the 15th of April so our plan is to leave around the 14th depending on the weather. We need a 3 day window of decent riding weather (no snow or freezing rain) to make the 1,000 mile trip. I'm pretty well equipped with cold riding gear, full heated water proof suit and warm insulated gloves as well as face masks and water proof riding boots so if we do have some cooler temps I'm pretty comfortable. 

We have been getting in as many rides as we can the last few weeks. Our group down here ride to lunch every Wednesday and Saturday. We also have been meeting our buddies Tom and L.D. for a ride each Monday. We have known them for 30+ years and they are part of our Indiana riding group (and now our Florida group as well). They left yesterday to travel back to Indiana and we look forward to picking up our rides again when we get back North. Here are a few shots Rudee took on some of our rides. She is really starting to become quite a photographer from the back of a moving bike! :-)

  

For our Indiana family and friends ......we'll see ya soon. and of course, I'll keep ya'll posted!

Where's Waldo?? AKA: Where the heck have you guys been???

 Hi All, Phil and Rudee here and yes we are still kickin'! Let me tell you what we have been up to. We left South Dakota and traveled to Indiana visiting family and friends. Rudee read of a work camping job in Florida at an Escapees Park so we applied for that and was hired. We headed south and spent a GREAT winter living and working at Florida SKP Resort in Wauchula, Florida. We met some lifelong friends there and really enjoyed ourselves. 

During our time here we made some decisions on what we wanted our future to look like. In January of 2022 we notified our renter that we were intending to move into our home in Zephyrhills by October 1st. She has been a great renter and we wanted to give her plenty of notice to make accommodations. This was a really tough decision but we have always kept the place here for our own retirement some day. 

The RV Park offered us work for the summer so we could not only stay in the RV but could also work on the house on our days off......and boy did we work! New carpet, new drapes, painted every room including the ceilings. I even painted the cement floor in the lanai after removing the indoor/outdoor carpet. We had furniture delivered and even bought a golfcart, now we can look and act like true "snowbirds". 😂  

We left Florida and back to Indiana in August to rest and decompress for a couple of months. We have had our name on a waiting list for a "fulltime" seasonal site at a campground in Indiana but when October rolled around we parked the truck and RV in our daughters driveway, winterized it and headed back to Florida catching a ride with our buddies Steve and Trish who winter in Bradenton, Fl. We were really looking forward to our first winter as full fledged snowbirds and Florida residents.

We were settling into our house when we received word that we had a seasonal spot for 2023 (and beyond) if we wanted it. Heck Ya, things are falling into place! We did get acquainted with a motorcycle chapter here in the area and went on several rides with them. They welcomed us with open arms and we settled into life here pretty easily thanks to them. 

Our winter was over pretty quickly and since we had a vehicle back in Indiana we decided to just ride the bike back north and leave our mini van here for the summer. Oh ya, we also bought a used pop-up motorcycle camper to use on our many trips and tours we are hoping to have. With the camper in tow we headed North and, since we are retired, I decided that we would make an adventure out of it! We never once touched a wheel onto an interstate! We drove through Florida and into Alabama where we spent the night at a State Park the first night. The next morning we continued through Alabama just following the GPS through the back roads. We would ride for a few hours, stop at a park somewhere and have a quick lunch out of the cooler and then back on road again. This day Rudee spotted a small city park (or so we thought) with a gazebo and picnic tables. We turned into the parking area which was across the street from a REALLY LOUD factory but beggars can't be choosers. We unloaded our lunch and headed for the gazebo and that's when I read the sign in front of the factory. This place was a Blue Bell Ice Cream Creamery with a gift shop and ice cream parlor! Needless to say we had dessert after our lunch, what a treat! 

We stayed at a Tennessee State Park that night and woke up to a cold rain YUCK! The weather radar showed it clearing just a few miles (75 or so) north if us so we bundled up and headed out. The temperature was in the very low 40's and we think we saw 38* one time.😟 

The rain finally quit once we had bypassed Nashville and it slowly warmed up......a little. We decided to spend that night in a motel......well it was either that or put Rudee on a northbound Greyhound cause she was cold and ready for a warm bed and a real heater! I found us a nice motel in Evansville, Indiana that had a Texas Roadhouse right next door! Am I a great husband or what??? 

We arrived in Indiana the next day and moved the camper over to it's new home. We slowly got ourselves settled in to campground life. Steve and Trish have their rig parked there as well so we get to spend time with them and their family. Our daughter Amanda and her family live less than 20 miles away and our son and his family are only about a 6 hour drive in Pennsylvania. Life is good. 😎 

We spent our summer going to several motorcycle rallies including the national rally of our new organization, the Eagle Wings Motorcycle Association. Our old group folded back in July of 2022 just as we were reaching a time in our life to get back into the many rally's and rides. This group picked up where they left off and are growing more and more everyday. We attended the Tennessee District Rally, the Ohio District Rally, the National Rally in Knoxville, Tn. and the Alabama District Rally on our way back to Florida. 

This "winter" in the sunshine state has been a busy one so far for us. We ride with our Florida group Wednesdays and Saturdays as well as hooking up with good friends from Indiana Tom and L.D. Wetherald for several rides. The pictures below are of a ride we took just today to check out the Richloam General Store which is the oldest store in Florida and on the National Historic Registry. Really loved the store and yes, the pickle barrel was full of whole dill pickles you could purchase! Really cool place. Nobody lives in Richloam anymore and the store is the last remnant of the town. 

We are already starting to plan our trip back to Indiana. Our daughter and Son in law have purchased our truck so we will need to bring the van and the bike back with us. Since we don't have a trailer it looks like I'll just have to ride it alone while Rudee follows in the van. Hope it doesn't rain again because she will be ribbing me for sure!