Maybe I should trade in my land yacht for this little beauty.  More storage and can go places the Monaco won't go.  May have to rename her but I'll ask Sharon what she thinks of the idea.

The new Sharon K ???

Maybe livin' the dream is over?

Phil

Whew! We made it one more year

Butterballs on the run

We're all still livin' the dream

Phil

Up, up and away!

10:02 am Saturday morning.  Look due east and watch the show.

NASA lit the fuse on another big rocket (Atlas V) taking a new and bigger rover vehicle (named Curiosity) to the planet Mars.  They say they're looking for signs of life on the old Red planet but I think once they get there (next summer) most of those little green people will already be on vacation.

This shot was taken from our back yard some 75 miles away from Cape Canaveral.  I've seen a number of these launches but each one is still as exciting as the last.  Still a kid at heart, I guess.

'Curiosity' off to get curious

Still livin' the dream but keeping my feet on the ground.

Phil

Living it up

Not soon after getting settled in camp, Sharon's sister Gay and our grandchildren Allison and Austin flew down to spend a week with us.  We had rented a condo near Orlando to save the hour or better drive each way from camp to Disney and Universal Studios.

Summers Bay Resorts (http://www.summerbayresort.com/orlando.htm) turned out to be quite a nice place.  Spacious rooms, several pools and best of all ... close to the Orlando attractions.

Our condo

I really got off easy by returning to camp to work on a major photo project leaving the heavy entertaining to Sharon.  I returned at the end of week to enjoy the festivities.

But just one little anecdote on the trip to the airport to pick everyone up ... I had not paid a lot of attention to how much fuel I had in the tank so I dropped Sharon off at the airport to meet our visitors and headed out to buy gas.  Driving and driving, I finally found a Shell station some 10 miles away.  A nice clean station near a big mall.  I really needed the gas so I pulled into the first place I could find.  I got ready to pump only to noticed what the price was.  Regular gas was just shy of $6.00/gallon!  No wonder I was the only one at the gas pumps.  The locals wouldn't be anywhere near this rip-off joint so I pumped just a couple of gallons and headed back to the airport ... slightly miffed.  No very miffed!

OMG gas prices

Sharon carried the most of the entertaining load this week dashing from place to place and roller coaster to roller coaster with our guests.  I don't know how she keeps going but she is really amazing.  Being young at heart helps.  As the week progressed I did noticed all of them were running a little low on steam and hanging out at the pool became the attraction of choice.

And so this past week went.  If you're coming to the Orlando area to see all the great attractions, don't forget to have very deep pockets or a good line of credit ...  or both.  Now not all things are expensive but those do take a little effort to discover.  All in all whatever the cost it was really good to have family come done and spend some time with us.  We hope they all had a good time ... we sure did.

Here's a few more images of the condo ...

Pool at our condo

Master bedroom

Living room and kitchen

Patio view

So in addition to all the great fun, my Grand daughter Allison celebrated her 17th birthday with us. My Grandson Austin is growing like a weed (he was noticeably taller each morning) and my Sister-in-law Gay is still a kid at heart.  All great individuals but when in a group ... crazy rules.  But Sharon and I really enjoyed their visit.

So once again ... we're still livin' the dream ... now in warm and sunny Florida.

Phil

A quick update ... almost

Roughing at our winter camp

We've finally landed at our winter destination at Florida Grande RV Resort near Webster Florida.  We were here last year and enjoyed the stay so we're back again.

Just to back up a bit ... we left Adairsville and motored on a few hours to Manchester TN.  Not to abandon my 'late to start ... early to quit' driving style, we managed to get maybe 200 miles under my belt before seeking out the KOA in Manchester.  Another repeat stop for us and it too was well kept park.  We didn't unhook with plans of getting on the road early the next morning.  As you might guess that didn't materialize as we managed to get back on the road about 10:00am.

Now here comes the ugly part ... I24 south of Manchester is no place for the meek.  The roads are in perfect shape ... the scenery is spectacular ... but the hills and truck traffic is not so good.  If I had not 400hp pushing me going up the mountains and a reliable Jake Brake slowing me on the decent, my fingers would still be permanently bonded to the steering wheel.  I'm trying to maintain a 60-65mph speed but the 18 wheelers roared by me like my wife rushing for the 'blue-light' special at K Mart.  Up and down and around the mountains we went ... I think if I were driving a car it would have been a more pleasant route but a little to tense for my liking in a motor home.

Though the trip to the next over-night was short, the stop at the Forsyth KOA was again very enjoyable.  We'd planned to revisit a restaurant (Prime Palate) was nixed as we were there for dinner but on that day they were only serving breakfast and lunch.  So we consulted my new Garmin GPS unit for new eating places and found a steak house that sounded good.  We found the place but learned that it had gone out of business some 11 months ago.  So much for the map upgrade.

Sharon mentioned that there was a movie she'd seen (Fried Green Tomatoes) was shot near Forsyth so we again consulted the GPS unit and drove off to the east about 10 miles to the small village of Juliette.

Inviting sign

About half way there we came over a hill and looming on the horizon was 2 very tall smoke stacks and 4 huge cooling towers.  I first thought it was a nuclear generating plant but Sharon did a little Google checking and discovered that it was the largest coal fired power generating plant in the US.  If time would have permitted I sure would have liked to take a closer look and taken some photos.  It was an imposing facility.  Anyway on to Juliette ... we pulled into the made-for-the-movie street discovering that both sides of the street were small old-time shops (all closed) each built at maybe 2/3 scale.  Sort of like an over-grown doll house look.

Whistle Stop Cafe

Specialty of the house

The famous restaurant we wanted to eat  at (specializing in fried green tomatoes I guess) was closed as well so I took a few pictures and headed back to Forsyth.

We cruised around the city square and found a place called 'Grits Cafe' www.gritscafe.com.

Grits Cafe next to the Rose Theater

Normally I'm gastronomically about as far away from grits as I am the moon but it looked like the only game in town at the time so we ventured in.  Wow!  What's a place like this doing in this little burg?  Table cloths, nice wine list, original art on the walls and no paper towels in the restroom but white cotton towels all neatly rolled in a stack near the sinks!  Oh did I mention the food?  Yup, lots of grits offered but only as compliments to the main entrees.  Checkout their website and see the selection.  Oh, and one last little treat. Along with the bill came a little plate of special chocolate to finish off the meal.

A sweet little chocolate delight

So fellow snowbirds and other vagabonds of the road ... if you're passing through or stopping over in Forsyth Georgia area you can't go wrong at either the Prime Palate or the Grit Cafe.  You will not be disappointed.

Heading out at the crack of 10:00am the next morning we made to our next stop in Lake City Florida.  We've been there before and it was an easy in and easy out stop over.

So here we are on our last leg of the trip.  Another rough 3 hour day on the concrete canyons of northern Florida.  I like to rate the trips we take using the famous "Cone" formula.  This was a one cone trip.  That is  I only hit one orange cone and no orange barrels.  Not too bad for me considering it took me 6 days to go 1200 miles.  Nothing like smelling the roses along the way.

Thanks for tagging along and stay with us as we embark on another winter adventure.

Still livin' the dream.

Phil

Farewell friend

Corky Vogel  1936 - 2011
R.I.P.

On the road again

The wind rustled fallen leaves through the vacant sites.  It was very quite that last night we were at our summer camp.  We were the last to leave (again) the following morning.  Bittersweet.  The good times with friends and family but  now most all have left and we've said our goodbyes to family. Yes bittersweet.

We got around in the morning, hooked up the car and said farewell to Mary the camp owner, and headed south.

First stop was an old stop.  Been there before and found it works best for us.  Woods-n-Water Rv park near Columbus Indiana is close to the highway and roomy enough for our rig.  We met up with Sharon's sister Linda and husband John at Mark Pi's China Gate restaurant in Columbus for dinner.  Maybe not as good as previous meals there but not bad either.  Before dinner we took a little tour of downtown Columbus and finally could see what a wonderful array of architecture it has.  Bold, elegant, and whimsical ... all styles are embraced here.  A truly neat little city.  I also noticed a big Cummins engine plant there.  If I could have spent a weekday there I understand they have guided tours of the plants.  It would be neat to see how that big M11 400hp coach engine that pushes around us was built.  Maybe later.

Kind of slept in today and got a late start.  I know ... no surprise to some of our friends but once underway I quickly discovered that I had made a slight error in where our next stop would be.  Originally I had planned to bypass Louisville as the I64 bridge was closed routing all traffic to the I65 bridge.  Two to three hour backups were the norm so I cleverly thought I'd head further west and cross the Ohio river further downstream.  Well what I thought and what I plugged into my trip planning software were two different things.  When I left camp I turned on the laptop, brought up the trip plan and away we went.  Enjoying the scenery and motoring along the little female voice in the laptop kept belching out that famous word "recalculating" "recalculating".  After a half dozen "recalclating" I looked a little closer at the screen and discovered that I had called up the wrong trip map and we were headed directly for the 2-3 hours traffic jam in Lousiville.  We found a rest stop about 30 miles down the road and we pulled in to figure out what we could do.  It wasn't long before we realized we'd gone too far and were going to have to stick with the drive through Louisville.  Trip planning is not my strong suit.

Bracing for the sea of red brake lights, we approached the outskirts of town only to be pleasantly surprised that two of the four lanes were moving over the bridge at about 30mph ... so it all worked out. Except for the crummy roads we got through in good order.  It pays to traverse big cities on Sundays, I guess.  I don't care how long I've driven a motor home I still don't like heavy truck traffic around me.  They drive faster than I usually do and my knuckles return to their normal color only after my fingers have been pried from the death grip on the steering wheel.  Winds buffeting from both mother nature and my fellow road warriors always make for tense driving.  Maybe age has something to do with it. I'll be happy to get to Florida.

Anyway we made it to our next stop in Manchester Tennessee.  We stayed at this KOA last spring and if I can find my fishing rod those big catfish in the pond are in real trouble in the morning.

Tomorrow we're off to Adairsville Georgia.  We may stay there a couple of days to do a little shopping for a chair for the coach.  The old 'J" couch has served it purpose and now I need something a little more comfortable.  If we have the room, Sharon may get one as well.

Once we get settled in Florida by next week, and I get my Mac up and running, I can catch up some of the things we did at our last camp.  Pictures and everything. Stay tuned.

Thanks for hanging in there and waiting for me to get my writing mojo started again.

On the road again and still livin' the dream.

Phil