A new Adventure begins!!

Thursday 1 March 2018

We bought another Moho the 19th of February, and are anxious to get back to camping.

But first a short summary of the last 22 months since April 2016.  We went on a few short camping trips throughout the summer/fall of 2016.  A trip to Knoeble's,  two trips to Ives Run and maybe a trip to Little Mexico campground.  We left Christmas Day to head to Florida nobody on the road we buzzed down I95 to camp ground in Ashland Va.  The rest of the trip was a traffic nightmare.  We will never travel south between Christmas a New Years.  We finally arrived at Paradise Oaks 30 Dec 2016.  We set up camp and attended the new year's celebration at the campground.

Then 2017 started.  By far the worst year of our life.  Some good times first part of the year.  We left Bushnell headed up to Cedar Key for a few days,  up to Ho-Hum campground in Carrabelle, on to Maxwell AFB to visit with Brittney and crew.  Next a county park in Gadsden, AL, then on to the SKP Acre rally in Sevierville TN, and lastly to the Freightliner service center  in Gaffney SC.

We arrived at Ives Run campground 15 May and making arrangements to go to the farm turn on water, heat etc. before unloading the camper.

The morning of May 16 2017 news came of the passing of our daughter Shawna K. at 45 years of age.

The rest of summer was mostly a blur that we fumbled our way through.  The check engine light came on in the Moho.  Cost $7,000 and it still wasn't fixed,  another $1,000 it ran but still needed another $5,000 or more in engine work and tires.  So we sold it, and that was the end of our RV'ing days.  The year moved along sluggishly for us pain, sadness, and despair. It finally came to an end.

2018 began the same way 2017 ended.  We rented a cabin for a month on Lake Panasoffkee.  The trip was terrible.  We had to stay in hotels on the way down and back.  They were expensive, dirty, extra charges for Rudy and just plain nasty.  The cottage was no better, we checked in and Diane spent the
first day cleaning.  We stayed 26 days and left.  It was good to visit our friends at the campground, Len and Gabe.   We went to the Florida National Cemetery to visit Shawna several times, a lot of tears.  We returned 11 Feb to the farm turned everything back on and settled in.

We decided we would wait a year or so and save some money before looking for a new motor home.
And the rest is history.  Signed the paper work on the 19th of February.  You all know how that goes....a deal you just can't walk away from.

2017 Fleetwood Bounder.  It was a left '17 and they wanted to get rid of it, so now it's ours.

Back at the Farm

Nice site in Dillsburg!!

Friday 15 April    We finally made it back to Dillsburg.  Another great day for traveling, sunny and 70 or so.  We should have had a easy day of travel but just as I was coming down the mountain at Caledonia State Park on route 30 the dash board display lights up.  Check engine,  service engine,  and check control display lights all came on.  I quick call to Diane before she is out of radio range and we start looking for a place to pull over.  We pulled into a empty lot added some engine oil and coolant and the lights went out and we were back on the road.   We parked and set everything by 3:30, and it was a good thing Diane called ahead for a site because the place was full.  I was not feeling well so dinner on the grill and a early night.

Saturday and Sunday     Two days of just crazy busy, truck inspection, lunch with Bev, dinner with Lynne and Rick, shopping for Pennsylvania food(sweet bologna, chips, scrapple), a quick visit with Mel and family and poof it was Monday morning.

Monday 18 April    A travel day to the farm.  I headed out around 10 for the trip north and Diane stayed to take Aunt Lida a card and chocolates for her birthday.  An uneventful ride for me, except for pulling into the driveway.  Just as I passed the mail box there were two trees lying across the drive.  So I parked and was just about done when the neighbor Don Gillman came over with a chain

Nice Welcome Home!!

saw to help.  It was cleaned up in no time and I parked around 1:30.  I plugged in the Moho and went  went to work turning on the water system, heat, and just opening up and airing out the place. Fortunately every came right on, there was a little problem lighting the water heater.....I had to read the instructions.  Diane had a much longer day visiting Aunt Lida, then stopping to shop several places for supplies we needed.   She arrived around 4:30 we set up the camper and crashed.

Tuesday and Wednesday   Another two days of crazy.  Into the post office in Westfield, the USDA Office in Wellsboro for soil test bags, one office has the paper work then drive to the other end of town for the kits.  The animals must of missed us they all came out to say hi,  three bears in the pond,  several different groups of deer including 5 buck walked around, a bunch of turkeys one of which Rudy thought he had to chase away and finally a porcupine.   Fired up the push mower....need a rider

A lot of yard at 22" a pass

sooooon.  A bit of cleaning, list making, organizing and trying to decide just what we need to move into the house.    And poof it was Thursday morning.

Thursday 21 April   We are off for a wine trail tasting event in Watkins Glenn with Lynne and Rick.  It was a short trip even for us 60 miles.  We arrived at our site and there was a big truck parked in it, a worker told us to move to the next site which we did.  I went to hook up the sewer a the sewage is almost coming out of their pipe.  So flag down another worker who gets the owner and they come back 20 minutes later and tell us some one forgot to turn on the sewage lift pumps.  A disaster avoided.  Lynne and Rick arrived around 7:00 pm  burgers on the grill, some good wine with good friends and the day was over.

A glass of wine as we
close the last Winery
of the day!!

Friday and Saturday    We were off each morning starting with breakfast and then off to the Finger Lakes Wine Trail.  Each winery was very different, some big, some small,  some very cordial some not so much, white wines and red wines.  Best of all though, was Lynne's excitement as we entered each winery and what new taste she may meet today.  Saturday night we had grilled chicken on salad for dinner and then sat by the fire and relaxed.

Sunday 24 April   It is all over and we are heading home.  The Shirks left first around 9:00 and we pulled out at noon.  We got back at 1:30.  And now the reality of just how much stuff  we have to do is setting in.

Monday 25 July    We are hard at it today.  We went to Westfield and of course first we had lunch then across the street and bought a mattress and bed frame, then up to Woodhull NY to look at a mower, a stop at the grocery store then off to home.  The house is still empty and we are surprised at how slowly we progress.  With so much to do, it's deciding what we do first that's the problem. 

A stressed out,
Brad, Diane and Rudy!!

Almost Home!!

Sunday 10 April     We were on our normal schedule we left the Shaw AFB campground around 10:15 for a 180 mile trip to Mt Airy NC.  Today was a really nice day the wind quit blowing so hard, sunny and temp's in low 70's.  We arrived around 2:30, set up camp and just enjoyed the afternoon.  Burgers on the grill and called it a day.

Monday 11 April    We could not decide what to make for breakfast so we went out to 'Sue's Diner' it was OK, don't need to go back.  Back to the camper for a shower and off to the big antique mall in Dobson.  Stopped for a coffee at Sheetz, stopped at ATM, stopped for lunch and never did find the antique store, so we went to a winery instead,  Yea.  Shelton estate winery a very nice place, we took the tour and were the only ones, so we had the guide to ourselves, back to the tasting room, where she gave us about 5 extra tastes...good wine and a purchase was made.  Back home walked Rudy and made sausages(chicken and kale) on the grill.  Just about time to eat and a little stray dog(girl) shows up to entertain Rudy.  They ran, chased, and rolled around for quite a while but eventually we had to take Rudy in.

Campsite at
Mayberry CG

Tuesday 12 April   Today we had breakfast at home, shower and headed into Elkin to the big antique mall.  We first had to stop for lunch(The Pharmacy Diner) just like it sounds an old drug store turned into a diner we had soup and sandwiches which were good.  Then off to the big antique mall.  We stopped at several small shops and found lots we liked but no purchases.  Diane saw a sign for the antique mall, I turned and we ended up in a train yard.  We stopped for coffee and decided to head back and on the way to the interstate we found the antique mall, OH YEA. We walked around for at least a hour bought two cups and saucers and then headed home.  Back home Rudy was so happy to see us he runs out the door looks all around and comes right back.  We guess he was looking for his girlfriend but she stood him up.  Dinner on the grill and the day is over.



Beautiful view!!
 

Wednesday 13 April   Another nice day for travel.. We left around 10 am for an arduous drive of 189 mile drive up  I81 to Walnut Hills KOA in Staunton VA.   We arrived at 2:30 filled up with water which took forever very low water pressure.  We finally were on our site by 3:30,  put the slides out, and were just setting up chairs when the KOA worker comes by to tell us the water is now on. Several long walks around the campground, some run time in the dog park and more long walks around the campground waiting for Rudy to do his business but that was a no go.  This is his second day of not going after eating "something" rotting by the dumpster several days ago.  Anyway,  we had steaks on the grill and sat by the fire until bed time.

Brad, Diane and Rudy

Nice site at
Walnut Hills KOA

Back on the Road, moving North very slow!!!

Monday 4 April   Well we are finally on the road again.  We left Bushnell this morning at 9:30 for a 227 mile drive to Lake Harmony Ga.  We finally arrived around 3:30 or 4pm.  Six plus hours to drive 227 miles.  How did we do that you ask, first of all we drove separately and stopped a lot,  first to get

Nice site at Lake Harmony

the Blue tooth working on my phone 20 miles down the road then lunch, gas, bathroom break, shut refrigerator door and latch it and poof we made it in just six hours.  But it was a nice day warm and sunny.  Definitely no fun driving is separate vehicles.

Tuesday 5 April     After studying the weather report for up north we decided to stay here another day.  We made breakfast on the grill, mail off our local taxes, went in town for lunch and then stopped at Fort King George one of the earliest forts built in America.   Turns out we were there 3 years ago.  Oh well, a short drive around town then back home took Rudy for nice walk and

He's hard to see, but a dolphin
in the Blackbeard's Creek, I
don't think he should be there.

just had a snack for dinner, we were still full from lunch. 

Wednesday 6 April    We were up and moving early again today we were on the road for a 225 mile drive to the Shaw AFB recreation area of Wateree.  And once again we progressed at a slow pace.  First stop a rest area, fuel, Denny's for lunch, stopped to shut window left open and last rest area and still made it by 4:30.  Dinner on the grill and a long hard review of the weather up in PA.  Are you kidding us snow and freezing weather we are staying south for another week or so.

Thursday 7 April     Had to put jeans on this morning to walk Rudy temp's down in the 40's. I walked Rudy down to the office and paid for a few more days.   A quick breakfast, a load of laundry and we spent the rest of the day finding a place in Missouri and making reservations for summer vacation with the kids.  All of the computer work left our eyes blurry, burning and sore.  I couple glasses of wine and we could see just fine.  Burgers on the

Nice big site at Wateree

grill and called it a day.

Friday 8 April    Cold again this morning but it warms up fairly fast but still wore jeans all day.  I guess the shorts might as well go in the laundry.  We did breakfast on the grill and headed into down town Camden SC.  It was quite interesting, a revolutionary battle was fought here, we visited a number of antique stores, had lunch at The Old Armory(not bad) and stopped for groceries before heading back. Walk for Rudy and again just snacks for dinner, lunch was late and very large.

All the big turtles left, but this
tiny thing posed for me.

Saturday 9 April   Cold again this morning, but the thermal warmed up the Moho very nicely.  Breakfast on the grill this morning, right after Brad got back from town to get bread, yes we forgot it yesterday.  A slow start to the day but we finally headed out, north on route 97, first to check out our ride out of here and second to see what was in that direction.  First place we found was Great Falls, a very depressed, kind of sad little town.  We headed further up the road, in search of Wine and found the town of Lancaster, very large place with lots of stores and shopping.  We really didn't do much shopping as the wind was pretty fierce, so we got our wine and headed home, following the GPS down some pretty narrow windy roads....but we made it.  A stroll around the CG with Rudy, snacks and left overs for dinner and now just finishing up the blog.  Tomorrow we will be on the road again for another leg of the very slow drive back to PA. 

Smallest Hydrant
we have ever seen!!

Thanks,
Brad, Diane and Rudy

Nice Cabins along the
water edge.
 

 

Last week in Florida

Easter Sunday March 27   Happy Easter to everyone.   It was hot and humid again today but sunny.  We went over to Shawna's for Easter and not your typical Easter meal.  Len made a Mexican Easter meal which was two pans of Mexican specialties one with red chili and one with green chili both were very good.  We visited quite a while Ash and Gabe were both home and we spent most of the

Shawna feeding Chris P.
his Easter Dinner

afternoon there.   We returned home to get Rudy around 4:30 visited a little with everyone at happy hour.  We skipped dinner altogether still full from lunch.

Monday 28 March    Today we did taxes...........they are done...........happy hour.

Tuesday 29 March    A run around day.  We returned a part to the RV dealer, I got a haircut, had lunch at a new Chinese place it was ok, Walmart , and Fresh Market.  Now for those of you who never had to get a hair cut away from home you just don't what your missing.   I walk in the first thing that catches your eye are several Donald Trump signs(at a hair place) the second thing is an entire wall of Nascar stuff and last was a very large TV tuned to FOX News. The haircut was good turns out he is a local boy born and raised in Coleman Fl.  just a little opinionated and would just as soon us damn Yankees stay up north.  Back to camp walked Rudy around for potty and treats.  Happy hour with the gang, dinner and off to bed.

Found this at the RV parts shops.  Nice for towing???

Wednesday 30 March    Kind of a lazy day did the normal laundry and cleaning.  Walked around the campground trying to get and latest gossip on the expansion of the park.  The owner says it will all be done by Nov. nothing is started and he is already renting the sites.  A bunch of guys here are betting it won't be finished on time and many people will be without a site.  But, back to walking around the park with Rudy.  He has made many new friends(anyone with dog treats) and by now he know who has treats and who doesn't if the people are home at a treat house he will drag us over to the point we have to forcibly drag him away.  He is such an embarrassment sometimes.  Diane will sometimes avoid said treat units so we can cut his walk time in half.  If anyone will miss this place it will be Rudy some days he gets 8, 10 or even 12 treats in one day.

Thursday 31 March      Hot and muggy again today.  We have had the AC on for three or four days nonstop.   We are slowly getting ready for the trip north.  I washed the front of the Moho Diane cleaned,  made our reservation for next year and cooked a big pot of chili with ingredients from everyone,  deer burger and deer sausage from Roger and Donna,  two different kinds of beans from Jim and Annette,  several different kinds of tomatoes from us and Paul and Marlene seasons to taste by the head chef(Diane).  We had a short happy hour and then ate in Paul and Marlene's camper due to the weather being so hot and passing showers. It was just the four of us as Jim and Annette were out pick up a used but new to them Moho.

Friday 1 April     Jim and Annette did not arrive back until 10:30pm last night so this morning everyone was over to check out their rig.  Turns out it is exactly like ours just a year older.  Diane, Marlene and Annette did make it to Pokeno this afternoon despite  Annette being exhausted.  We all gathered for happy hour and agreed last night's chili was the best we ever had and that we (Diane) should enter it in the chili cook-off next year. But no one can remember what kind/brand or how much of what ingredients were used.  Next time we will keep track of the stuff.

Saturday 2 April     Rain most of the day and not much happening.  The happy/social hour group all went to Coyote Rojo's for one last dinner we had a good time but this means we will all be heading north soon.  Chris and Kalan leave tomorrow, then us on Monday,  Jim and Annette on Friday and Paul and Marlene(from Canada) will be here until the 22nd.

Sunday 3 April    Out last day in Florida so  sad.  We slowly packed  and did our last minute trips to the Post Office,  Credit union for cash, the grocery store and of course the wine store.  We started happy hour a little early and had a cook out of burgers and all the fixin's and such we all hung out until about 9pm said our goodbyes and headed back to the Moho.  

 

Thanks for the visit,

Diane, Brad and Rudy

Stormy times in Florida

Tuesday 22 March    A couple of nice days ahead so I started washing and waxing the Moho, Diane did several loads of laundry, cleaned the Moho and a trip for groceries. I must be getting older because I only had one half of the Moho waxed by the time happy hour started.  We had to cut happy hour short to have a quick dinner so the ladies could all head up for bingo and Diane won again but only 25 bucks this time.



Just a friendly warning!!

Wednesday 23 March      Almost a repeat of yesterday I finished washing and waxing the drivers side of the Moho while Diane did more laundry took the truck to the car wash and picked up chicken for dinner.  Once again we had to cut happy hour short so I had enough time to grill the chicken.

 

Thursday 24 March     A little change today.  We headed up to Ocala today to do some shopping.  We started with lunch at Zaxby's  which was ok, but we don't need to go back.  We hit JC Penny's for some towel and wash cloth sets then to Belk's to pick out  Hawaiian shirts for the campground luau this Saturday.  We made it back just as some strong storms moved into the area.  Happy hour was cancelled due to the storm.  We ate inside, did a little planning for our trip home and headed off to bed early.

Friday 25 March   Storms rolling in and out all morning.  There was a lot of wind and storms last night blowing our rug and yard stuff all over.  We did a little more planning and some cleaning then headed into town for lunch.  People talking at the restaurant about losing power for up 5 hours last night so I guess we were lucky.  Still stormy at happy hour time so we all headed to Jim and Annette's fifth wheel for cards.  We played "99" and it was a hoot.  Back to our camper grilled cheese for dinner and hopefully the storms will not keep us up tonight.

Saturday 36 March   A little nicer today but hot and 100 percent humidity.  Breakfast on the grill

cleaned up and off to the good-bye Luau at the rec building.  It was nice almost everyone had Hawaiian shirts or outfits on, there was a DJ not the best for sure but OK,  hot dog, burgers and the usual fixin's all for free.  A 'thank you' from the owners.  It was nice but again very warm.  We headed back about 1:30, sat inside for a few hours enjoying the air conditioning.  As happy hour approached we all gathered outside but were chased in again by storms.  This time we all ran to our campers and called it a night.  The rain let up enough for us to grill some sausages for dinner.


Brad, Diane and Rudy

 

Perry Rally 2016

Tuesday 3-15 we were moving a little slower than planned and didn't get on the road until about

Nice KOA site

10:30.  It was a hot day, but very enjoyable ride.  Marlene had given us a book about traveling Route 75, so reading all the attraction and history information made the trip go by pretty quick.  We made it to Tifton, GA about 3:30, got hooked up and took Rudy for a nice long walk.  We were at a KOA, not a bad place and being less that a mile off I 75, there was no road noise.  We had dinner and I did our final load of laundry for a week, while Brad started filling the water tank.  We are going to the FMCA Rally in Perry Ga where it will be 6 days of dry camping and a new experience for us (both dry camping and the Rally). 

Wednesday 3-16 was the last of long showers for a couple of days, cleaned up, packed up, filled the water tank until it came out the over flow pipe and on the road for the last 80 miles to the rally.  We 

What are we getting
ourselves into????

pull in about 11:30, along with a couple hundred other rigs (2,600 total at the rally), take our place in the holding area and wait our turn to be parked.  It seemed like forever, but we were parked by 12:30 and now it's just walking the dog and waiting for the electric to be hooked up, it's hot and the generator smoked when we turned it on, so back off with that, all the windows opened and hope the breeze doesn't let up.  We get electric, just before the 1st time attendees seminar was to start, but no AC yet, let the batteries charge, we put Rudy in his kennel and off we went to find the information area and where the seminars were.  We go to the seminar at 3:00, and the speaker was actually enjoyable, but we both thought they could have been a little better at explaining to us where everything was located....but by Sunday we had it figured out. Back home to save Rudy, AC on and burgers on the grill for dinner  Oh I almost forgot as we were getting parked there was a noise that sounded like an explosion, people were coming out of their rigs checking to see of a Moho or something blew up....but nothing, we'll have to wait and see.

Beautiful Fair Grounds !

Thursday 3-17 we studied the list of seminars and looked in the book to see which ones we might want to attend and of course I missed the first one I was interested in, but we ended up going to a few later in the day.  About 10:00 Brad was out walking Rudy when there was another big explosion, this one much louder than the day before, but as it ends up, the is an AFB not that far away and they were sonic booms from the jets, nice to know.  The displays don't open until Friday and the new Moho didn't open until 1:00 today, so off to my first seminar to make a bracelet, not much to do with RV'ing but a fun  way to meet people.  Brad headed off to one on upgrading your entertainment center, which ended up being a sales pitch for a vendor, so he left that, we met up, headed over to schedule the generator for maintenance, then headed out through the new Moho's.  Of course there was nothing that made us say, 'we need/want this one', so back to the Moho to rescue Rudy.  We were sitting outside talking when Brad ran into a RV Awning repair guy and asked him to stop over when he had a minute.  Our big awning was rolling in crooked, so the guy hopped on a ladder and showed Brad how to pull it back in position, hopefully not falling off the ladder while you do it. Then we showed him the window awning and he gave us the piece to fix that.....can't complain, nice to get some of these little things fixed.    Left overs for dinner, a glass or two for wine, then off to bed.

Comedian Show.

Friday 3-18 I was up and out of the Moho by 7:30(with a lot of help from Brad) heading down to sign up for a seminar to make a pair of earrings and off to an 8:00 AM seminar on using Google maps for trip planning.  I got done with that then headed back to get Brad so we could walk around the exhibitor displays.  It was packed so we headed out to the Moho display, still not impressed with anything.  We had lunch at the little restaurant on the grounds, then a few more seminars and headed home to get Rudy.  I had dinner in the Crock Pot, so a quick dinner and clean up, back in the kennel for Rudy and we are off to the evening show.  They had a little bit of a ceremony with all the introductions of the FMCA officers and then  comedian, Lee Marvin Adam performed for about 45 min.  It was all clean comedy and very enjoyable.  A nice stroll back home, a walk for Rudy and off to bed, since we were both exhausted from all the walking and activities.

Saturday 3-19, we were a little smarter today and our first seminar wasn't until 9:45.  After that we went through the exhibitors again, to the restaurant for lunch, then I headed off to make my earrings

Historic Society and
their Fashion.

and then to the ladies tea.  The Ladies Tea was nice, they had the Historic Society of Perry come in and they did a Time Period Fashion Show 1800-1940 and told the history of who it belonged to, giving some of the history of the time and their sorted pasts, very humorous. Brad had headed back to the Moho and when the Tea was over, him and Rudy were waiting out side for me.  What a surprise, Rudy did very well with the crowds, so we walked him out through the new Moho's and I think Rudy found some he liked, but he couldn't convince Brad and I, so nothing new there.  Back home, left overs for dinner then off to the show, Country Unplugged with Mark Chesnutt, Lorrie Morgan and Joe Diffie.  They played for about an hour, then off to home, a walk for Rudy and off to bed. 

Country Unplugged.

 

Sunday 3-20, this is really the last day, so off to my last Seminar 'OK honey, tell me where to go', I think I picked this one because I liked the name of it.  I did learn a few things about all the different Apps and programs that are out there, so it was worth the trip.  After that we did our final walk through of the exhibits and the Moho....although this time we found one we liked, the Winnebago Journey 40R...where had it been hiding all this time.  After that we headed back to the Moho and decided we were done.  No more seminars to go to and we decided to skip the entertainment, kind of like a Jam sessions.  The Onan service tech showed up about 2:30 to service the generator, we were beginning to think it wouldn't get done.  We walked up to the onan tent to  pay the bill and as Brad was talking to one of the technicians finding out where we pay,  my phone rang, it was another tech calling to see if we could come pay our bill, and I could actually hear her talking in their trailer.  Turns out Brad was standing right beside her.   We had dinner in the crock pot, so we got Rudy and headed out through the grounds to check out all the areas we hadn't been to yet.  It was interesting checking out the various rigs, TT, 5th wheel's, small and huge Moho.  Some brand new and some really old, but most people were nice and we had an enjoyable time.  Now all we have to do is be lazy, it's already 5:30, and wait until tomorrow morning to head home. 


Old turned New.
1974 Winnebago with makeover.

Monday we got up and started moving.  Not too many pulled out ahead of us and we didn't get on the road until almost 9:00. It was pretty breezy so Brad had to drive the whole way, but we had plenty of stops, first one being about an hour down the road at 'Carroll's Sausage' store/restaurant.  We got sausage sandwiches for a late breakfast and spent about $30.00 on meats.....not too bad.  After that a stop at the Welcome center in FL, then off to the next rest area where we ate lunch.  Next stop, Sumterville, filled up with fuel, then the long 3 mile trip to the CG.  We were parked by 3:00, all in all, not a bad day.  We got there, set up and about an hour later we were saying good-bye to our neighbor 'TJ'.  He headed up to the pull-through sites so he could be hooked up and ready to pull out whenever he gets up on Tuesday, between 3:00 and 4:00 AM. After that happy hour with the neighbors, apple sausage on the grill and off to bed.....what a long day.

Brad, Diane and Rudy