Sunday I was back up again at 5:30 am. What's going on? I guess I can't sleep when it's dead quiet. Tim and Lynda were parked next to us and I tried talking them into getting up around 4:30 and making some "train" noises or at least doing a little barking so I could sleep in. They said "no thanks".
We had another pitch in breakfast and then the rain started. We decided since we couldn't ride the bikes then we could at least do some shopping. Grumpy offered to drive us to some of the local flea markets so Rudee and I along with Steve and Trish headed out with him. We stopped at 2 large ones and browsed through all the tents while the rain continued.
No bargains were found and we all pitched in to buy Grumpy's lunch as a thank you for using his diesel fuel. We went to a mexican restaurant on the east edge of Nashville. The place was crowded and we soon found out why. The food and service were both very good.
The rain stopped while we were eating lunch but the skies stayed grey and it looked like the rain would start again. We drove back to the campground and hung around for a couple of hours. The skies finally showed some sign of clearing so Rudee and I led Suters and Picketts
in search of a geocache.
We enjoy this hobby and have been doing it off and on for over 3 years. Geocaching is a high tech treasure hunt using a GPS as your guide. People place the caches all over and then post their location coordinates on http://www.geocaching.com/about/ You have to become a member to get the coordinates but the good thing is it's free to join. All you have to do is enter the coordinates into your GPS and follow it to the cache.
The one we were looking for was near a cemetery. We parked the bikes and walked thru the cemetery into a wooded area behind. Following the GPS we located the container under the base of a tree. The caches typically contain at least a log for you to sign that you found it and some of the larger ones have items to trade. You might get a key chain and leave a marble (or whatever else you brought to trade). This is a great way to explore a new area and is a lot of fun.
We made it back to the camper right about time for supper and I got Duped. There were Happy Birthday banners hung up and the rest of the crew was busy cooking and setting up for a party ............... for Me!!
Tuesday September 8th is my 50'th birthday. I guess I'm both an old fart and a young pup depending on ones perspective. I guess I'll settle for feeling like the young pup and looking like the old fart :-).
They cooked up steaks and the ladies brought out all kinds of salads and side dishes. We had a feast! Cake and ice cream followed the meal and they even brought out presents and sang to me. Thanks guys, it was fun and I appreciate it more than you'll know.
Monday we all hopped on our bikes and went to Brownie's Cafe for breakfast and then Dale and Teresa Pickett led us on a great ride through the hills of Brown County In. We had fun and it ended way too soon but we had to pack up and head home.
We made it back and were all set up again in our usual spot at the KOA by 4pm. Rudee and I were tired but both agreed that the week ends, even the 3 day holiday week ends, pass by way too fast. We are meeting Rudee's parents and Amanda, Ryan and the kids at the New Ross Steakhouse Tuesday evening for my birthday dinner. I'm looking forward to it and I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
holiday week end
Bean Blossom Indiana and the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Campground was our destination for the long week end. We were able to get hooked on, packed up and pulled out of the KOA by 4pm Friday. I didn't want to drive through or around Indianapolis during rush hour so I pointed south on SR 231 and we were off.
The trip to the campground was on all 2 lane roads but we made good time. We arrived at the campground at 6pm and Niles and Deb Robinson pulled in right behind us. The campground has more of a fairgrounds type of feel to it. The sites do have water and electric but no sewer hook ups. We were led to our sites by one of the work campers when we ran into a problem. The sites are very close together, as in way too close together!! Luck was with us though and the work camper called back to the office and they said we had the whole back row of sites to ourselves and could spread out as much as we wanted. I moved the rig down a few sites and we all had plenty of room.
Saturday morning I woke up at 5:30 and just could not get back to sleep. There was no noise at all to bother your sleeping so I don't know what happened but I did have plenty of time to enjoy my coffee :-). Breakfast was a pitch in affair and was very good. We all loaded up on the bikes and headed into Nashville Indiana to visit the shoppes. The whole business district comprises of arts and crafts shoppes, candy stores, knick knack shoppes and some restaurants. Rudee picked up some socks for the grand daughters and other than that we just looked around and enjoyed the stroll.
We took a short ride and went to the Farmhouse Cafe and Herb Shoppe for a quick lunch. Unfortunately quick was not in the restaurants vocabulary. We all had cold sandwiches or salads and Rudee and I shared a fruit plate and it still took an hour for our food to arrive. The meal was good, just slow.
Back at the campers we all vegged out. Lynda Mockler (Tim Ranney's main squeeze) grilled up some hot, hot, hot wings and Rudee made up a batch of homemade seafood chowder and that was supper. UMMMMMM Good. We enjoyed a campfire and the park had a nice fireworks display after the sun went down.
The weatherman says it may rain tomorrow (Sunday) but we are hoping to get in a ride or two. Keep you fingers crossed. I'll keep you posted.
The trip to the campground was on all 2 lane roads but we made good time. We arrived at the campground at 6pm and Niles and Deb Robinson pulled in right behind us. The campground has more of a fairgrounds type of feel to it. The sites do have water and electric but no sewer hook ups. We were led to our sites by one of the work campers when we ran into a problem. The sites are very close together, as in way too close together!! Luck was with us though and the work camper called back to the office and they said we had the whole back row of sites to ourselves and could spread out as much as we wanted. I moved the rig down a few sites and we all had plenty of room.
Saturday morning I woke up at 5:30 and just could not get back to sleep. There was no noise at all to bother your sleeping so I don't know what happened but I did have plenty of time to enjoy my coffee :-). Breakfast was a pitch in affair and was very good. We all loaded up on the bikes and headed into Nashville Indiana to visit the shoppes. The whole business district comprises of arts and crafts shoppes, candy stores, knick knack shoppes and some restaurants. Rudee picked up some socks for the grand daughters and other than that we just looked around and enjoyed the stroll.
We took a short ride and went to the Farmhouse Cafe and Herb Shoppe for a quick lunch. Unfortunately quick was not in the restaurants vocabulary. We all had cold sandwiches or salads and Rudee and I shared a fruit plate and it still took an hour for our food to arrive. The meal was good, just slow.
Back at the campers we all vegged out. Lynda Mockler (Tim Ranney's main squeeze) grilled up some hot, hot, hot wings and Rudee made up a batch of homemade seafood chowder and that was supper. UMMMMMM Good. We enjoyed a campfire and the park had a nice fireworks display after the sun went down.
The weatherman says it may rain tomorrow (Sunday) but we are hoping to get in a ride or two. Keep you fingers crossed. I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Want to trade places?
I read and participate regularly in some of the RV internet forums. I also read several RVers blogs and enjoy sharing their experiences by proxy. Rudee sometimes thinks she is a "computer widow" and is not shy about letting me know when it's time to shut it off and turn my attention elsewhere :-).
I read a posting today on one of the forums from a fellow who has been volunteer work camping in a National Forest campground. This guy went on and on about how terrible his job was. There were 6 whole campsites in "his" campground. The hosts site did not have any hook ups (he knew this going in) and the problems he had to deal with were almost more than he could bear. I could hardly believe what I was reading. I guess this guy either had no clue of what he was getting into or just has no clue about life at all. His only real complaint was having to deal with the stupid questions people ask, things like "where can I park to take a hike?" and "can we change campsites when the one with the view opens up?". Such problems!!
I have very little sympathy for someone who is living my dream and then complains about it for no apparent reason. I'm not sure what he did to make a living before being able to fulltime but I think he needs a refresher course on the 9-5 grind. I would gladly change places with him. Spending the summer living in a National Forest and dealing with the "problems" and "annoyances" he had would be heaven compared to what I have to do now to make a living. I'm sure many of you would agree.
I have read postings of several who say they would never clean up restrooms as part of their work camping duties. I would gladly clean restrooms for the chance to travel and see this great country. I can only assume the ones who refuse to do such a "menial" job have the income to support their lifestyle without having to work.
I have been a regular reader of Howard Payne at http://www.rv-dreams.typepad.com/ They have been fulltiming for 3 years now and have been doing some work camping to help with the expenses. I don't always agree with Howard in the way he does things and have questioned his motives on several occasions. They have been in Northern California work camping this summer and I have to say that Howard has earned some additional respect from me. He has cleaned restrooms, pumped out holding tanks, dumped fish guts and a lot of other less pleasant jobs. He does not complain about his duties if fact he is the opposite and is grateful for the new experiences and the opportunity to be able to live the life of a fulltime Rver no matter what the "cost". Not bad for a guy who was once a successful real estate attorney whose favorite past time was golf at the country club.
BINGO was a big bust Monday night. We played but no big wins, or little ones either :-). Rudee has kept me running all week. We are getting ready to go for a 3 night campout with several of the goldwingers. I have everything put away on the outside that I can until it's time to hook on and she has been working on stowing our stuff inside. We will be hooking on and leaving as soon as I get off work Friday so we'll be loading the bike up tonight. We are looking forward to getting together and camping with our friends, we always have such a good time. I'll keep you posted.
I read a posting today on one of the forums from a fellow who has been volunteer work camping in a National Forest campground. This guy went on and on about how terrible his job was. There were 6 whole campsites in "his" campground. The hosts site did not have any hook ups (he knew this going in) and the problems he had to deal with were almost more than he could bear. I could hardly believe what I was reading. I guess this guy either had no clue of what he was getting into or just has no clue about life at all. His only real complaint was having to deal with the stupid questions people ask, things like "where can I park to take a hike?" and "can we change campsites when the one with the view opens up?". Such problems!!
I have very little sympathy for someone who is living my dream and then complains about it for no apparent reason. I'm not sure what he did to make a living before being able to fulltime but I think he needs a refresher course on the 9-5 grind. I would gladly change places with him. Spending the summer living in a National Forest and dealing with the "problems" and "annoyances" he had would be heaven compared to what I have to do now to make a living. I'm sure many of you would agree.
I have read postings of several who say they would never clean up restrooms as part of their work camping duties. I would gladly clean restrooms for the chance to travel and see this great country. I can only assume the ones who refuse to do such a "menial" job have the income to support their lifestyle without having to work.
I have been a regular reader of Howard Payne at http://www.rv-dreams.typepad.com/ They have been fulltiming for 3 years now and have been doing some work camping to help with the expenses. I don't always agree with Howard in the way he does things and have questioned his motives on several occasions. They have been in Northern California work camping this summer and I have to say that Howard has earned some additional respect from me. He has cleaned restrooms, pumped out holding tanks, dumped fish guts and a lot of other less pleasant jobs. He does not complain about his duties if fact he is the opposite and is grateful for the new experiences and the opportunity to be able to live the life of a fulltime Rver no matter what the "cost". Not bad for a guy who was once a successful real estate attorney whose favorite past time was golf at the country club.
BINGO was a big bust Monday night. We played but no big wins, or little ones either :-). Rudee has kept me running all week. We are getting ready to go for a 3 night campout with several of the goldwingers. I have everything put away on the outside that I can until it's time to hook on and she has been working on stowing our stuff inside. We will be hooking on and leaving as soon as I get off work Friday so we'll be loading the bike up tonight. We are looking forward to getting together and camping with our friends, we always have such a good time. I'll keep you posted.
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