Let the summer begin!

Far be from me to rehash the past ... especially these past six or seven months. Months spent enduring a brutal Michigan winter ... learning that being a care-giver when it always looks so easy when someone else is doing it ... understanding that folding underwear and sheets really is a science ... finding out that the cost of a new furnace and a/c unit has escalated over the past few years ... discovering that remodeling our coach was far harder than I had anticipated; and a bit more expensive ... watching the first rains of Spring begin to wash out the foundation of my house ... and finally realizing that these little speed bumps in life are really no big deal. Time to start having fun and looking at the bright side of things. So much for not rehashing the past!

And the bright side is indeed very bright.  Sharon is recovering splendidly from hip surgery ... our kids and grand kids are all in good health and real treasures to the family ... our friends our still our friends and we may even added a few ... we've already cemented our winter plans (and does not include shoveling snow) ... our coach is like new inside and we're very pleased with the outcome ... we've finally returned to our summer residence in South Haven and in general ... life is good.

We arrived in camp about a month later than usual and were met by a lot of familiar faces.  Miki, Don and Nancy, Charlie and Judi, Ron and Tammy, Steve and Cheryl, Buck and Lonnie, Alex and Barb and finally the park owners, Hal and Mary Cousins.  This little group helped us quickly forget all the stuff in the first paragraph. We've already dined at The Hambone, The Taste, The Butler Hotel and Cousins ... just to let you know we hadn't forgot what life is like while roughing it in our RV.

The local fruit crops are doing well with strawberries, blueberries, and various apples and peaches all apparently surviving the wicked winter weather. Strawberries should be pickable' soon and the next fruit harvest will be blueberries, though probably not until July. South Haven is the proud new recipient of a new Meijers big box store.  It will certainly give WalMart a run for its money; which is fine with me.  The locally owned Village Market is still doing a great job and is still my favorite.  Before Memorial Day South Haven is just a sleepy little tourist town without many tourists.  But come Memorial Day, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, she awakes with the summer store fronts hawking the latest in summer wear,  the river-side bars are teaming with folks who just want to shake of the winter doldrums with a cold, frosty drink and the harbor and marinas teaming with boats of all shapes and sizes.  Oh! and did I mention that this years bikini styles at North Beach are briefer than last years?  Fluorescent pinks and yellows barely cover the little butts parading around the sandy beach.  Now if I could ever just find a parking spot down there to watch the parade? Unfortunately the spots are taken early and besides that ... my oatmeal with a side of prunes takes a while to digest so I can't leave the RV too early. But I do like parades. South Haven ... the jewel of the sunset coast.

And so another year on the road begins.  Please hang in there with us.  Maybe a little slower than previous years but rest assured we're... still livin' the dream.

Phil

Home again

Per our original plans we should have been enjoying the warm weather in Gulf Shores Alabama today but reality has set in and here we are ... in cold, blustery Michigan.  The coach is in the shop for a variety of ailments so for the first time in about six years we're going to tough it out in the north country.

We're supposed to be here at Gulf Shores State Park ... But Not!

However just before leaving the South Haven area I must pass along a little lesson that our friends Jerry and Bonna taught us just before camp closing.  Well they really didn't plan on teaching us anything but their misfortune is something all RV'ers can learn from.  Jerry hadn't gotten two miles down the road and his diesel overheated and his journey home halted.  As it turned out his engines serpentine belt gave way and without it he was soon parked roadside.  Finding an engine belt for your particular RV engine nearby turned out to be impossible, as I would suspect most would be, so just to be on the safe side, folks need to buy a set of spare belts (you may have more than one size) and store them away for that day you might really need one.  There's is no guarantee that you'll get back on the road soon as you might not find anyone to install it (if you can't) but at least you have one part of the problem solved.  Also ... if something else caused the belt to break in the first place (bad pulley for instance) you're still hosed but having a replacement belt on hand can't hurt. Now everybody give Jerry a round of applause!

We're having our coach's floor replaced due to the water damage we incurred last July.  Believe it or not it is still wet under the ceramic flooring so I suspect we will have to have the underlayment repaired as well.  In order to accomplish all this we decided to remove everything in the coach so the workers would have less items of ours to work around.  So when we got the coach home we began to empty it.  Six years on the road defied one of the great truths of the world.  Yes you can store 5lbs of stuff in to a 3lb bag. Maybe 6 pounds of stuff!  I had no idea we had accumulated so many 'treasures' and had managed to stuff them into every nook and cranny of the coach.  As bag after bag, box after box and hanger after hanger exited the coach, we quickly noticed how much more room we had in the coach.  Eureka!  Who needs slides now, I'm thinking!

But ... our once neat house now looks as if a bomb had gone off inside.  With all that 'stuff' inside our house now we haven't a clue where we're going to put it all.  We'll get the coach back in April so we've got a whole lot of excuses to dream up for the folks who decide to pay us a visit this winter.

So besides replacing the flooring, we're going to have the couch re-covered, a new refrigerator, new front drapes, new shades for the side windows and refinish the window valances.  Please use my PayPal account to forward any donations.

We're certainly not going to hibernate this winter but may still do a little traveling; this time via my trusty old Trail Blazer.  For instance in a few weeks we'll be visiting our friends Jim and Carol in Iowa and who knows ... maybe even a trip to Carolina's to visits family and friends.  Sharon will certainly steer me into a casino or two and a trip or two back to visit friends and family on the west side of the state will be in order as well.

Home again but still livin' the dream.

Phil

Ouch! Mother nature strikes RV park

We've been on generator power for the past 9 hours as a storm has hit the South Haven Michigan area leaving thousands of residents and tourists without electricity.  Our little RV community at Cousins RV park was certainly in the path as it appears that straight line winds toppled a number of trees and caused at least one injury last last night.

The most serious casualty of the storm was our friend Steve whose fifth wheel took a direct hit from an eighty foot tree that caved in the roof and injured him enough to be taken to the hospital with cuts and abrasions.  The fallen tree also extended over to his neighbor coach and also caused some damage, though superficial.  Other areas of the park were strewn with debris but thankfully no one else was injured and any damage is minor.

So there is lots of work to do around here and we all will need to pitch in so will close for now.

Thanks to my generator and WiFi air card I was able to get this short notice out.  Here are a few pictures.

So folks it wasn't pretty but for the most part we're all okay and still livin' the dream.

Phil

Bluebirds, moving pictures and good times

I hate to start out with an apology about not writing so ... maybe a joke would be more appropriate.

Did you hear the one about the priest, rabbi, and the Indian chief sitting in the New York bar?  Whoops ... maybe I'd better set this aside as well before I'm making apologies for something else!.

Anyway the summer has been zooming by.  Trips back and forth to our home to harvest the lawn ... see the kids ... back to South Haven for happy hour ... back and forth.  Maybe we should get a seasonal bus pass.

At the rear of our campsite is a long rail fence with a birdhouse affixed near the coach.  Since our arrival in early May I've watched it intently for some signs of a new inhabitant but apparently it didn't appeal to any of the local critters so I stopped paying attention to it.  Then about two weeks ago I thought I'd take a peek inside the birdhouse to see if there was any signs of life and as I raised the lid I was met, in full startled flight, something blue as it zoomed passed my nose.  Gathering my senses, and waiting for my heart to slow down, I backed away about 50 feet and within a few minutes the birdhouse resident returned.  It was a beautiful Bluebird.  A few days pass and I decide that this might be the perfect chance to get some up-close photographs of this colorful little creature so I got all my gear together and got it set up near the birdhouse.  With telephoto lens, high speed flash, radio controlled shutter release all is place, I set down about 20 feet away in my comfortable lawn chair and waited.  Ten minutes went by, twenty, then thirty.  I wondering where is the world did this guy go?
An hour rolls by and I finally see him (or her) as it zooms by my head and lands some 100 feet away in a nearby tree.  The light bulb in my head goes off.  I'm spooking the birds by sitting too close to the birdhouse. Since I'm not really a very experienced 'birder' I thought I better just pack it in and try another day.  So this is the best shot I got of that beautiful bluebird.

Simply a big nada, nothing, nope, nary a winged whippoorwill to be had .  No birds ... just the bird box.
So with a little stealth ... me you say? ... and a little  luck ... maybe next time I'll catch a shot of that little critter.  Stay tuned.

This weekend in South Haven is the big film festival.  Film makers from all over are gathering here to show off their productions.  I think this is the first time the festival of film will be held here and they have already set aside four or five venues to show the films.  Who knows ... maybe someone famous may even come to town.

The following week is HarborFest.  One of the really big events of the season.  Art shows, musical events ... a mecca for tourist young and old.

There you have it.  Another episode on life on the trail with Phil and Sharon.  If you're still awake thanks for stopping by.

We're still livin' the dream and happy you've joined us.

A new summer season

I know ... I'm supposed to write a few words about what has been going on since we arrived in Michigan but as luck would have I have become even more lazy.  Actually we've been back and forth across the state getting both yards in order, fixing the car, fixing the coach.  Whew!  I'm just running out of steam writing about it.

It is good to be back ... seeing the kids and grand kids and re-discovering what's going on in their lives.
Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

Many of our RV friends have returned to our South Haven park with several more soon to arrive.  The park is in great shape and it's been fun hearing of all the winter adventures other travelers have enjoyed ... or in some cases not enjoyed.

One example is a fairly new class 'A' coach completely losing its brakes on a freeway in northern Florida.  Luckily no one was hurt but an expensive repair bill followed after a lengthy time at the repair shop.  Probably had to buy new underwear as well.  The good thing is that they can now laugh about it and makes for good fireside chat.

Personally our coach performed without a hiccup this trip ... but maybe more was wrong than I realized.  After piling up several thousand miles this past winter and now safely parked at our site for the summer, I was cleaning the wheels and tires and noticed this large bulge in the sidewall of the right front tire.  Now the thought of blowing out a front tire while piloting a 40,000 pound RV down the highway actually gives me cold shivers.  When the side wall failed, I haven't a clue.  Could have happened after hitting any one of the 937 potholes we encountered along the way (and that was just Michigan!).  Anyway it didn't blow and we're thankful for that.  I now get to save up the $820 bucks to have someone come over and replace it.  The tire company said it couldn't have been a failure on their product only something that I did.  Surprise ... Surprise.  Anyway I will wait till fall before getting it changed.  It does provide a good lesson for all drivers to remember to visually check your tires daily and don't forget to check the air pressure at least monthly as well.  My tires were only 4 years old and had about 20 thousand miles on them.  I'd planned on replacing them in about another 3 or 4 years anyway but certainly didn't expect this.

On another personal note ... my grandson Austin was chosen to represent his school in the placing of a commemorative wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington DC this coming Memorial Day.  We're all very proud of him and I am positive it will be an event he will forever remember.

The little town of South Haven is starting to hum and buzz with excitement as the summer tourist season is in full swing.  The South Beach parking area has been completed revamped and new playground equipment is in place for the little ones.  A welcomed change to that great beach spot.  The marinas are beginning to fill up with boats and with the exceptional warm weather, beach goers have started their tans already.  It's a good place to be.

There are several new restaurants in town but we just haven't had the time to check them out ... but we will.  Speaking of good places to eat ... my friend Jerry told me about a place called Goog's (www.googspubandgrub.com) on the South side of Holland (about 25 miles north of us).  He said if I wanted a great hamburg this was the place.  So in a couple of days we had to go to Holland to get Sharon a new vacuum for the coach so we thought we'd give it a try.  Wow ... did Jerry get that right!  Their fantastic regular burger is enough for two people.  It laps over the edge of the bun and was cooked exactly as I asked for it.  Sharon tried one as well ... hers with a tasty olive sauce.  But they did have a interesting surprise on the menu.  They have what they call a 'Fred Burger'.  A 1/2 pound burger with peanut butter and onion.  Their menu said you really need to try it before dismissing it;  though I'm not so sure I'm brave enough for that one.  But maybe next time.

So there you have it.  The latest news.  Just normal stuff but we're having fun doing it.

Still livin' the dream and enjoying each day.

Phil