October 12, 2016. Last writing was September 20, so I am being very lax in writing. Let’s see, Sept 20 is when we left Fisherman’s Retreat in the Redlands area of California. This campground was OK; pretty big with three lakes for members to fish in. They have a huge dog park, which used to be a baseball field converted into a dog park – all grass. It was wonderful.
September 20-25 we were at Pio Pico in Jamul, California, which is east of San Diego. Jim wanted to stop here so I could see the Pacific Ocean. We visited a monument and La Jolla beach where we were able to walk on the beach and get our toes wet. Hooray – I finally got to see the Pacific Ocean.
We also met up with Rich Nageotte, who we knew back in Kent days in the 1970’s. We met him for lunch one day and then he came over one afternoon and visited with us. It was nice seeing him; I barely knew him back then because I think he was better friends with Jack, Kathie, and John. The campground we stayed in was a Thousand Trails and good to their reputation, was huge and out in the boonies. The border patrol spent lots of time around the park, driving down the back road and up into the mountains. I walked the dogs down the back road, up into the mountains as well. Found discarded clothes here and there, which I imagine belonged to Mexicans at one time.
From California we made our way east, stopping in Yuma, Arizona for two days then to Casa Grande, Arizona, an Escapees Co-op campground for five days. The southern part of Arizona is just plain desert. There is land with scrub on it that goes for miles all over the place. Right outside the campground there was land like this where I was able to walk the dogs.
We visited a real neat museum while here called the Dwarf Car Museum. The guy actually builds cars at 5/8 scale that run. It takes him between one and five years to build one car. They are really neat.
We also took a tour of a cotton farm and listened to the owner tell about life growing cotton. That was pretty interesting.
October 2-6, 2016 we were in Benson, Arizona at Valley Vista RV Resort. This was a Coast to Coast resort. There was a dirt road behind the campground where there was a cemetery and dirt roads behind that where I let the dogs loose to run. While here we went to Saguaro National Park one day and then Tombstone another. Tombstone was a neat town, very dog friendly. We did not do much there except walk around because they charged for everything, from the carriage rides to the gun fight at O.K. Corral.
October 6-10, 2016 took us to Deming, New Mexico. Not much to see around Deming, but we did get in one museum trip and a day trip to the state park and rock museum. We stayed at El Lobo RV Ranch, which is supposed to be a 55 and older, but there were younger people there. Mostly full time people living there and not that many to boot. Quiet with nice people. There was open range all around us so it was fenced in and a gate we had to open and close when we went in and out. I took the dogs out the gate down a gravel road to run and get their exercise.
Well, I’m about caught up now. We arrived at Mountain Meadows RV Park in Tularosa, New Mexico on Oct. 10 and will be here until the 17th. Tularosa is a few miles north of Alamogordo. There is a ton of stuff to see in the area, so we decided to stay a week.
October 11 we went shopping and then in the afternoon went to visit the Pistachio Tree Farm to see the world’s largest pistachio and learn about the origins of pistachios and how they are grown.
Today we went to White Sand Dunes National Monument. What a vast amount of white sand. There were lots of families – adults and children – who bring slides and saucers to slide down the dunes. Dogs are even allowed to walk anywhere we did. We took off our shoes and walked on the dunes barefoot – the sand was cool and felt wonderful.
The dogs seemed to enjoy themselves as well, but I think they kept looking for water. They are worn out now taking a nap under the table. This park is OK – a PA out of town and surrounded by vacant land. It’s a nice friendly park.
October 22, 2016. We are now making our way back to Glen Rose. We stopped for one night in Dexter, NM just south of Roswell. It was a PA park so it was only $15 a night, but the flies were horrendous. That was because there was a feed mill just across the highway. There was no place to walk the dogs or let them loose and there were a lot of sand spurs all over the place. Glad we were only staying one night. Next to us that night three men from New Zealand were camped, so Jim went over and introduced himself and made three new friends. Nice chaps – it’s always a pleasure to meet people from other countries.
Next night was south of Lubbock, Texas. Quiet park with a small dog park; no rec center or amenities, but it did have cable. Took the dogs walking on a road around the campground.
Arrived at Roaring Springs Wednesday afternoon. Thought this was going to be more of a resort as it’s a C-C but turns out to be more of a sporting place. There is no sewer, only W/E. Big golf course and lots of 4-wheeling trails. The clubhouse is a drive with only a TV and nothing else. We camped up on top of the mesa so we could get WiFi. Could not get any TV stations though so listened to the radio a lot and watched a few movies at night. It is very quiet and peaceful up here and very beautiful. We were able to let the dogs loose as we were the only ones here until Friday night when a father and his son set up camp. I think the dogs are happy to be able to be loose and not on a lead all the time. The mesa is pretty big so I take them running down to the end and back and then walk on some of the 4-wheeler trails.
Took a trip to Caprock Canyon which is near Roaring Springs. It's a beautiful canyon with its own heard of Buffalo. In fact, they are indigenous to this park.
Have decided we need to look for a workamper job for next summer. I am forced to go on Medicare this year which will take over $140 out of my SS every month. Then next year when Jim goes on Medicare it will be the same, and adding both of those up, it’s over $280 a month. More than I want to spend on health care and more than SS will cover, along with our other expense.
November 4, 2016. Been here at Tres Rios for two weeks now and getting some of the work done that I wanted. While looking for a workamper job for next summer, received an email from a gift shop called Cradleboard in West Yellowstone who said they would like for us to join their team. So, we have accepted the position and plan on heading there in the spring.
We sold the Jeep. A father bought it for his daughter, who wanted a Jeep, white and one that was reasonably priced. She wanted a Wrangler, but that is way too expensive, so we lucked out with them buying our Jeep.
Now we are still having to deal with the Foretravel. Had one couple come out to look at it and spent a couple of hours with them going over it. They do not make rash decisions, and we are hoping they will come back next week and say yes to buying it. If not, we are going to put it into consignment, because I think we are both tired of hassling with it.
I have decided not to purchase a supplemental policy regarding Medicare. I can deal with the deductibles and will save money by not buying the supplement. Don’t know about Part D though, since I don’t take any drugs, I am not real happy about buying something I don’t need – and being forced to purchase it.
November 18, 2016. During our last week at Tres Rios Lavon Greathouse came to stay there for two weeks. We had decided to put our Foretravel on consignment at I-35 RV Center in Denton, Texas. They do a lot of consignments and put ours on the many rv sites they advertise with. Lavon helped us drive the Foretravel up to the consignment place, which was 1-1/2 hours away from us, up north of Fort Worth.
November 30, 2016. Spent Thanksgiving week in Houston at Advanced RV Park in Pearland. Jacklyn & Joe flew in Wednesday morning to spend the weekend with us, then flew out Sunday morning. Josh & Karen had a few of their friends over as well, so we had quite a crowd and lots of food. They bought me a cheesecake for my birthday and Jacklyn decorated it with cooked apples smothered in cinnamon. It was quite good but gave me an upset stomach as I am not used to eating that much cheesecake at one time.
I have been eating mostly Paleo for the last couple of months, and dropped about 10 lbs. and a lot of fat in my legs and stomach. Also have been doing the slim fit board with weights.
We are at Abita Springs RV Resort for 6 days and then will be heading to Styx River next week. It rained this morning and the weather changed with a front coming through and it got chillier. Hoping the sun stays out for a while and stays dry. While in Alabama, we went to see a few odd things I found through Roadside America. We drove to south Alabama to see Bamahenge, which was a recreation of Stonehenge but made with styrofoam.
December 30, 2016. From Abita Springs we made our way to Styx River, another OCP resort. We spent about 5 days there before heading east again. We made it to Grayton Beach State Park in Santa Rosa Beach on December 11 and stayed there for two days. From there we headed to Rustic Sands RV Park in Mexico Beach for another couple of days. Rustic Sands is a very laid back park catering to full timers and people coming down for the summer. They had a band the first night we were there, and we met a few of the residents. This is a park we could definitely come back to visit.
After leaving Mexico Beach we went to Panacea RV Park in Panacea for two nights. I don’t think I could spend much time in this park. The sites were really close together and where we parked, the sites were curb side together, so we faced our neighbor with not much of a yard and looking straight into their area. No privacy, which I did not like.
Making our way east again took us to Chiefland RV Park in Chiefland, Florida for one night. Our major destination before arriving in Rustin was the Orlando Thousand Trails in Clermont. We stayed there from Sunday, December 18 to Thursday, December 22. I really like Thousand Trails parks. We had a very private and shaded spot. I found their nature trail that went back into the woods where I was able to let the dogs loose. Not many people seemed to walk that stretch and it led to an open field next to the storage area.
We visited the Citrus Tower up in Clermont and took the elevator to the top. I took some pictures, which will eventually end up on my blog.
We stayed in Ruskin at River Oaks RV Resort from December 22 until December 30. This is the same place we stayed at last year when Jacklyn was going through chemo; and we stayed here from August until the beginning of November 2015. We had a great time – Josh & Karen, Ellie & Jason flew in on December 22, and spent a couple of days with her parents before coming down to Jacklyn’s for the rest of their time here. On Christmas Day Karen’s parents drove down to join us and Joe’s Mom came over as well. We took a boat ride in the morning to see the manatees near the power plant, and I got some great pictures. These will also get on my blog eventually.
On Monday, December 26 we went to Ana Maria Beach for a few hours. The weather was heavenly – 84 degrees. The water was too cold for me, but everyone else went in. Ellie & Jason had a blast playing in the sand and water. Jim stayed behind as Jack & Tam’ra and Bill & Julie were driving in to spend a few days with everyone. So, by the time we got back from the beach they were already at the house, and Jim was able to be there to let them in.
It was great being able to visit with everyone for a couple of days. On Tuesday the guys went fishing in the morning and then shooting in the afternoon, while all the women just sat around and enjoyed each other’s company.
Wednesday took our guests back home, and I can’t remember what else we did that day. On December 28 we drove to Weeki Watchee to meet up with Karen's Dad & Joann. We had a great day at the park.
Thursday we went over for lunch, and then Josh & Karen decided to take the kids to the park for an hour before they had to leave for the airport. All good plans don’t always come about, and they ended up changing today. Ellie was playing with a new friend, and she was jumping off a ledge next to the playground. She jumped twice OK, and then was told “one more jump”, which she missed – her foot slipped and she tumbled down the concrete ledge skinning her chin and doing a summersault at the bottom. Her mouth was bleeding and her chin started swelling right away. There were some people working for the County at the park and gave them a bag of ice for her chin.
Jacklyn took them to the emergency care place but there was a 3 hour wait, so we went to the Emergency Center at the local hospital. We dropped them off and went back to Jacklyn’s, where we watched Jason and Jacklyn went back to work. They were done there about 4:30ish. Ellie got some stitches in her chin, x-rays were fine, and she got a white angel teddy bear from them.
Needless to say, they changed their flight to Friday morning. We had already made plans to stay another day, and today, Friday, we will pack up and head over to Bill & Julie’s.
Jacklyn went to the doctor’s for her three month checkup. Got a great report and is now on an every 6 month regimen. She’s looking really good – her hair is growing in very curly and she is working out every day and still working. I think that will end in a few months – it’s just very stressful for her and she is talking about going back to horse massage, which is much less stressful.
December 31, 2016. Spending time with Bill & Julie in their back yard. We squeezed around the white fence and are now parked under the structure he built in the back yard. Over the next month I will be doing much needed work on the trailer – caulking, fixing the delamination underneath, new antenna, etc.
They had some people over for New Year’s Eve, but none of them stayed after midnight. Met some of their neighbors, which was very nice. We sat up and talked until after 11, then took our leave and went back to the trailer. The weather warmed up after the one day cold front came through.
Back to Daily Journal 2016
September 20-25 we were at Pio Pico in Jamul, California, which is east of San Diego. Jim wanted to stop here so I could see the Pacific Ocean. We visited a monument and La Jolla beach where we were able to walk on the beach and get our toes wet. Hooray – I finally got to see the Pacific Ocean.
We also met up with Rich Nageotte, who we knew back in Kent days in the 1970’s. We met him for lunch one day and then he came over one afternoon and visited with us. It was nice seeing him; I barely knew him back then because I think he was better friends with Jack, Kathie, and John. The campground we stayed in was a Thousand Trails and good to their reputation, was huge and out in the boonies. The border patrol spent lots of time around the park, driving down the back road and up into the mountains. I walked the dogs down the back road, up into the mountains as well. Found discarded clothes here and there, which I imagine belonged to Mexicans at one time.
From California we made our way east, stopping in Yuma, Arizona for two days then to Casa Grande, Arizona, an Escapees Co-op campground for five days. The southern part of Arizona is just plain desert. There is land with scrub on it that goes for miles all over the place. Right outside the campground there was land like this where I was able to walk the dogs.
We visited a real neat museum while here called the Dwarf Car Museum. The guy actually builds cars at 5/8 scale that run. It takes him between one and five years to build one car. They are really neat.
We also took a tour of a cotton farm and listened to the owner tell about life growing cotton. That was pretty interesting.
October 2-6, 2016 we were in Benson, Arizona at Valley Vista RV Resort. This was a Coast to Coast resort. There was a dirt road behind the campground where there was a cemetery and dirt roads behind that where I let the dogs loose to run. While here we went to Saguaro National Park one day and then Tombstone another. Tombstone was a neat town, very dog friendly. We did not do much there except walk around because they charged for everything, from the carriage rides to the gun fight at O.K. Corral.
October 6-10, 2016 took us to Deming, New Mexico. Not much to see around Deming, but we did get in one museum trip and a day trip to the state park and rock museum. We stayed at El Lobo RV Ranch, which is supposed to be a 55 and older, but there were younger people there. Mostly full time people living there and not that many to boot. Quiet with nice people. There was open range all around us so it was fenced in and a gate we had to open and close when we went in and out. I took the dogs out the gate down a gravel road to run and get their exercise.
Well, I’m about caught up now. We arrived at Mountain Meadows RV Park in Tularosa, New Mexico on Oct. 10 and will be here until the 17th. Tularosa is a few miles north of Alamogordo. There is a ton of stuff to see in the area, so we decided to stay a week.
October 11 we went shopping and then in the afternoon went to visit the Pistachio Tree Farm to see the world’s largest pistachio and learn about the origins of pistachios and how they are grown.
Today we went to White Sand Dunes National Monument. What a vast amount of white sand. There were lots of families – adults and children – who bring slides and saucers to slide down the dunes. Dogs are even allowed to walk anywhere we did. We took off our shoes and walked on the dunes barefoot – the sand was cool and felt wonderful.
The dogs seemed to enjoy themselves as well, but I think they kept looking for water. They are worn out now taking a nap under the table. This park is OK – a PA out of town and surrounded by vacant land. It’s a nice friendly park.
October 22, 2016. We are now making our way back to Glen Rose. We stopped for one night in Dexter, NM just south of Roswell. It was a PA park so it was only $15 a night, but the flies were horrendous. That was because there was a feed mill just across the highway. There was no place to walk the dogs or let them loose and there were a lot of sand spurs all over the place. Glad we were only staying one night. Next to us that night three men from New Zealand were camped, so Jim went over and introduced himself and made three new friends. Nice chaps – it’s always a pleasure to meet people from other countries.
Next night was south of Lubbock, Texas. Quiet park with a small dog park; no rec center or amenities, but it did have cable. Took the dogs walking on a road around the campground.
Arrived at Roaring Springs Wednesday afternoon. Thought this was going to be more of a resort as it’s a C-C but turns out to be more of a sporting place. There is no sewer, only W/E. Big golf course and lots of 4-wheeling trails. The clubhouse is a drive with only a TV and nothing else. We camped up on top of the mesa so we could get WiFi. Could not get any TV stations though so listened to the radio a lot and watched a few movies at night. It is very quiet and peaceful up here and very beautiful. We were able to let the dogs loose as we were the only ones here until Friday night when a father and his son set up camp. I think the dogs are happy to be able to be loose and not on a lead all the time. The mesa is pretty big so I take them running down to the end and back and then walk on some of the 4-wheeler trails.
Took a trip to Caprock Canyon which is near Roaring Springs. It's a beautiful canyon with its own heard of Buffalo. In fact, they are indigenous to this park.
Have decided we need to look for a workamper job for next summer. I am forced to go on Medicare this year which will take over $140 out of my SS every month. Then next year when Jim goes on Medicare it will be the same, and adding both of those up, it’s over $280 a month. More than I want to spend on health care and more than SS will cover, along with our other expense.
November 4, 2016. Been here at Tres Rios for two weeks now and getting some of the work done that I wanted. While looking for a workamper job for next summer, received an email from a gift shop called Cradleboard in West Yellowstone who said they would like for us to join their team. So, we have accepted the position and plan on heading there in the spring.
We sold the Jeep. A father bought it for his daughter, who wanted a Jeep, white and one that was reasonably priced. She wanted a Wrangler, but that is way too expensive, so we lucked out with them buying our Jeep.
Now we are still having to deal with the Foretravel. Had one couple come out to look at it and spent a couple of hours with them going over it. They do not make rash decisions, and we are hoping they will come back next week and say yes to buying it. If not, we are going to put it into consignment, because I think we are both tired of hassling with it.
I have decided not to purchase a supplemental policy regarding Medicare. I can deal with the deductibles and will save money by not buying the supplement. Don’t know about Part D though, since I don’t take any drugs, I am not real happy about buying something I don’t need – and being forced to purchase it.
November 18, 2016. During our last week at Tres Rios Lavon Greathouse came to stay there for two weeks. We had decided to put our Foretravel on consignment at I-35 RV Center in Denton, Texas. They do a lot of consignments and put ours on the many rv sites they advertise with. Lavon helped us drive the Foretravel up to the consignment place, which was 1-1/2 hours away from us, up north of Fort Worth.
November 30, 2016. Spent Thanksgiving week in Houston at Advanced RV Park in Pearland. Jacklyn & Joe flew in Wednesday morning to spend the weekend with us, then flew out Sunday morning. Josh & Karen had a few of their friends over as well, so we had quite a crowd and lots of food. They bought me a cheesecake for my birthday and Jacklyn decorated it with cooked apples smothered in cinnamon. It was quite good but gave me an upset stomach as I am not used to eating that much cheesecake at one time.
I have been eating mostly Paleo for the last couple of months, and dropped about 10 lbs. and a lot of fat in my legs and stomach. Also have been doing the slim fit board with weights.
We are at Abita Springs RV Resort for 6 days and then will be heading to Styx River next week. It rained this morning and the weather changed with a front coming through and it got chillier. Hoping the sun stays out for a while and stays dry. While in Alabama, we went to see a few odd things I found through Roadside America. We drove to south Alabama to see Bamahenge, which was a recreation of Stonehenge but made with styrofoam.
December 30, 2016. From Abita Springs we made our way to Styx River, another OCP resort. We spent about 5 days there before heading east again. We made it to Grayton Beach State Park in Santa Rosa Beach on December 11 and stayed there for two days. From there we headed to Rustic Sands RV Park in Mexico Beach for another couple of days. Rustic Sands is a very laid back park catering to full timers and people coming down for the summer. They had a band the first night we were there, and we met a few of the residents. This is a park we could definitely come back to visit.
After leaving Mexico Beach we went to Panacea RV Park in Panacea for two nights. I don’t think I could spend much time in this park. The sites were really close together and where we parked, the sites were curb side together, so we faced our neighbor with not much of a yard and looking straight into their area. No privacy, which I did not like.
Making our way east again took us to Chiefland RV Park in Chiefland, Florida for one night. Our major destination before arriving in Rustin was the Orlando Thousand Trails in Clermont. We stayed there from Sunday, December 18 to Thursday, December 22. I really like Thousand Trails parks. We had a very private and shaded spot. I found their nature trail that went back into the woods where I was able to let the dogs loose. Not many people seemed to walk that stretch and it led to an open field next to the storage area.
We visited the Citrus Tower up in Clermont and took the elevator to the top. I took some pictures, which will eventually end up on my blog.
We stayed in Ruskin at River Oaks RV Resort from December 22 until December 30. This is the same place we stayed at last year when Jacklyn was going through chemo; and we stayed here from August until the beginning of November 2015. We had a great time – Josh & Karen, Ellie & Jason flew in on December 22, and spent a couple of days with her parents before coming down to Jacklyn’s for the rest of their time here. On Christmas Day Karen’s parents drove down to join us and Joe’s Mom came over as well. We took a boat ride in the morning to see the manatees near the power plant, and I got some great pictures. These will also get on my blog eventually.
On Monday, December 26 we went to Ana Maria Beach for a few hours. The weather was heavenly – 84 degrees. The water was too cold for me, but everyone else went in. Ellie & Jason had a blast playing in the sand and water. Jim stayed behind as Jack & Tam’ra and Bill & Julie were driving in to spend a few days with everyone. So, by the time we got back from the beach they were already at the house, and Jim was able to be there to let them in.
It was great being able to visit with everyone for a couple of days. On Tuesday the guys went fishing in the morning and then shooting in the afternoon, while all the women just sat around and enjoyed each other’s company.
Wednesday took our guests back home, and I can’t remember what else we did that day. On December 28 we drove to Weeki Watchee to meet up with Karen's Dad & Joann. We had a great day at the park.
Thursday we went over for lunch, and then Josh & Karen decided to take the kids to the park for an hour before they had to leave for the airport. All good plans don’t always come about, and they ended up changing today. Ellie was playing with a new friend, and she was jumping off a ledge next to the playground. She jumped twice OK, and then was told “one more jump”, which she missed – her foot slipped and she tumbled down the concrete ledge skinning her chin and doing a summersault at the bottom. Her mouth was bleeding and her chin started swelling right away. There were some people working for the County at the park and gave them a bag of ice for her chin.
Jacklyn took them to the emergency care place but there was a 3 hour wait, so we went to the Emergency Center at the local hospital. We dropped them off and went back to Jacklyn’s, where we watched Jason and Jacklyn went back to work. They were done there about 4:30ish. Ellie got some stitches in her chin, x-rays were fine, and she got a white angel teddy bear from them.
Needless to say, they changed their flight to Friday morning. We had already made plans to stay another day, and today, Friday, we will pack up and head over to Bill & Julie’s.
Jacklyn went to the doctor’s for her three month checkup. Got a great report and is now on an every 6 month regimen. She’s looking really good – her hair is growing in very curly and she is working out every day and still working. I think that will end in a few months – it’s just very stressful for her and she is talking about going back to horse massage, which is much less stressful.
December 31, 2016. Spending time with Bill & Julie in their back yard. We squeezed around the white fence and are now parked under the structure he built in the back yard. Over the next month I will be doing much needed work on the trailer – caulking, fixing the delamination underneath, new antenna, etc.
They had some people over for New Year’s Eve, but none of them stayed after midnight. Met some of their neighbors, which was very nice. We sat up and talked until after 11, then took our leave and went back to the trailer. The weather warmed up after the one day cold front came through.
Back to Daily Journal 2016