Still waiting for the sun......

Sunday was not a sun day....rainy and cold. Went to the local Baptist Church. The preacher is retired from another larger church, and really has a good manner about him, good sense of humor. Makes you want to listen to him. We'll probably go back a couple of times before we leave here on Feb. 18th. A lot of the attendees are vacationers, and the locals seem to welcome everyone.

We went to dinner with Carrol and Frank at "Spanky's, a restaurant just across the bridge in Brunswick. It's right on the water, so I decided that I should have the seafood platter. It was pretty good, but I don't think I would get it fried again. Said Goodbye to them, they're getting an early start this morning, heading back to Wytheville Virginia. They were here for a month.

Today is Monday, and we have a lot to do. First thing, go to the grocery, probably good ol' Walmart. Then I have to make some calls about the toliet and electrical problems that we seem to be having. If it gets warmer, we may even get in a hike or a bicycle ride.

Rainy, lousy weather......

We're catching he tailend of the Northerner that hit farthr north...the temp has been in the 40's, but still kind of raw. Started raining early this afternoon, supposed to continue thru the night.

We found out that we could extend our stay here for another two weeks for a total of $45.00, and that is what we did. Had to move our site, but the new one has 50 amps which,hopefully, will solve the electrical problems we had.

After the move this morning, we went down to the historical district to an antique show....lots of high end antique junque....Shelby tried on a antique diamond ring at one of the booths....only $25,000.00.

We've been doing a lot of reading (what else can you do when you're rain bound?). CG has cable, but only six channels. Our DirecTV doesn't work because of the trees.

We're getting ready to go back "downtown" to a Brunswick Stew dinner that benefits some charity....only $6.00 person for the stew and cornbread. I sure hope they don't use the original recipe which called for squirrel and rabbit (and God only knows what else). Will let you know!!!

Sunshine forecast for tomorrow!!!

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Finally got back online........

Left my cell phone/internet cable at home ( I thought), but linda couldn't find it. so.....ended up having to order another one from California, got it today. Tried to get online off and on all day, just couldn't get enough bars from the cell tower (wherever it is). Now it is evening, and everything is working fine even though there are only two bars on the phone....something there I don't understand!

We left home about 9:30 am last Wednesday, thinking that he beltway traffic would be thinned out....wrong! Didn't even get into Virginia before the snow started, and crazy things started to happen. Got off I95 on Route 66 and took the back way down to Fredericksburg. One lane of 95 was opened by the truck traffic, but the crazies were driving full speed in the left lane, and sliding off the road. We sat for about 1-1/2 hours in a traffic jam just outside Richmond where 25 trucks and cars were piled up. Finally made it to Emporia Virginia and spent the night. First time were ever stayed in a snowed-in CG and 16 degrees.

Next day we drove thru to Savannah Georgia and slept in a KOA CG. We couldn't check in at Jekyll Island until 12:00, so we took our time driving the 70 miles. Beautiful day there, but news said it would turn cold, and it did.....22 degrees that night. Caroll and Frank Stewart are staying at Villa by the Sea (about 1/4 mile from us), so we've spent quite a bit of time with them...eating out mostly. They've been here a couple of times before, so gave us a good tour.

Our fancy-smanzcy electric toliet gave out again...second time. It's a good thing that we like the thing, or I wouldn't bother with it...turn it into a flower planter. At least we can still manually flush it..last time couldn't even do that. Now got to find a Thetford service center to inspect it....one here in Brunswick is now a empty building. Next nearest is down near Ocala Florida.

We may stay here in Jekyll Island for a month. There is plenty to do here, good bicycling, hiking, and the weather ain't bad.

Willie and Shelby at his pad in Palm Springs, March 2002. We were there for a week, and enjoyed ourselves immensely... 

Trying to beat the snow........

We spent most of yesterday at the office trying to resolve some problems that never seem to get resolved. Kinda hard to tell the people "you'd better get cracking", then announce, "guess what", we're leaving for Florida". But the quest for warmer weather overrides any guilt.

I had a dental appointment at 11:00a.m., but cancelled it yesterday. The weather forecast is for heavy snow later today, so we're up early and will try to get out of here, around the Washington Beltway and onto I-95 as soon as we can. May be a big mistake to take the Beltway (one auto accident and you lose hours, twiddlin' the thumbs). I feel lucky!

This is ridiculous.....

Up at 5:00 a.m., look at the digital thermometer, and it says 60 degrees. That can't be right, says I, look again closely (glasses this time), and it's 6.0 degrees! No way, I think...., go outside to get the newspaper, and sure enough, It's 6.0 degrees!!!! Is there any better reason to get out of town? Please, please don't let it snow!!!

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

We ran across this underground house in Big Bend Park in March 2002. It seems that a Mexican family of 12 lived here for some 20 years. They grew cotton on nearby land, irrigated with water from the Rio Grande river. This was during the late 1800's/early 1900's. At that time, the inhabltants on both sides of the river came and went across the border at will.

3 days and counting.......

We did get a little cleaning done today, both the house and the MH. Tomorrow we have a meeting at the office, not a pleasant one, actually. Need to get that behind us.

School was out again for the Holiday, and we kept Chase again. He was disappointed that his cousin/bud never showed....Linda and Karen didn't communcate, and Mikey ended up going with Jessie and their father to a soccer game.

I tried to find the fuse for the MH radio and convenience outlet that haven't worked for awhile. Unfortunately, the fuse panel is outside next to the generator, right in the direction the wind was blowing......22 degreees again. That little project didn't last long. Hold that chore for warmer weather. Actually, the Panasonic radio is so small, and the controls so tiny, only a fool would try to find a station while driving. However, the radio also controls the cd deck, so can't listen to that either. We do have DirecTV though with the KVH on-the-move satellite dish, so we can listen to music on that.....no tv though, too distracting.

Old friends Willie and Hal overlooking the Rio Grande River, Big Bend National Park, March 2002. 

Four days and counting.......

Up early this morning, waiting for daylight, 22 degrees outside. Want to get the lighting problem in the MH out of the way, if possible. Was thinking about it last night, trying to be logical, and decided that it has to be a fuse or a circuit breaker somewhere. The wiring just does not develop problems, and short out, expecially in such a short period of time.

I decide the first thing is to do a survey of all the fuses, try to determine the responsibility of each one. Call Don J., maybe get his help. He comes over, and before we begin, decide to check all the fuses again with a meter, and, guess what.....number 8 fuse has blown again. Replace it, and all the lights come on. What a relief....we wait for awhile, checking the fuse to see if it's going to blow again, so far, so good. Must be a defective socket for one of the incadencent bulbs, will see if I can order a replacement from Tiffin.

The sun has been out, off and on all day, but the temperature doesn't increase by that much, plus the wind is blowing. We wait until around 3:30 to take our hike, and it's refreshing to be outside. Thirty five degrees seems to be the ideal temperature for hiking in the woods, none of the shedding jackets, then having to carry them.

Quiet day, and we still haven't gotten around to packing, the kids will be here tomorrow, and we're running out of time. Nothing new, happens every time.

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Old Friends Sharron and Don searching for the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition Mountains, AZ, February 2002. 

Karen, Lisa, Shelby, and Linda smiling because they are going shopping! 

Goodbye to cold weather.....

Thursday: went down to Lisa and Wayne's barn where MH is stored, plugged in the engine heater, then back couple of hours later, it started right up even though it had been sitting for awhile. Sure glad I put the trickle charger on the engine batteries...neat little device that attaches to the house batteries (who are charged by the inverter/charger), and it steals just enough juice to keep them charged.

Started to pull out of the barn and the lab granddogs Guy and Alice came down to visit, wanted a ride up the hill. Sure would be easy to steal these guys (if someone were so inclined).

Got home, decided to wash the mud off the MH, then got carried away with the power washer, washed the whole thing....before I finished, rain started...sure glad we live kind of isolated, would hate for neighbors to see me washing a vehicle in the rain.

Checked the mouse traps in the storage area, caught four, that's a record. Must be my adept smearing of peanut butter.......kind of exciting to have a trap line to run!

Well, didn't it rain, Lord, Lord, didn't it rain.......cleared later and we hiked in the park for about 45 minutes, hard getting back to it after not being able to for a couple of days. I'm the only hiker that we meet that carries a hiker stick with a hand carved figure at the top. I would like to wear Bavarian hiking shorts, maybe carry a Glockenspiel, that would be cool....we took a vote and, well,.......maybe in the next life.

Friday: School is closed (again) and we keep the grandkiddies all day. Challenging to keep them occupied....how do the teachers do it? May be the reason they take a few days off every week (it seems)?

Saturday: Shelby, Karen, Lisa, and Linda leave early to go to go shopping....leave Chase with me. Bribe him by taking him to Walmart to buy a toy, popcorn, sprite. Went by a recreation center in Westminister that has bumper cars, birthday party tying up all the cars, convince cashier to let Chase ride with them. We have kids again Monday and will take all of them back. Shouldn't be crowded.

O.K., it's Saturday night, and we still haven't started packing the MH to leave on Wednesday, and, to make it worse, I discover a lighting problem in the bathroom area, blown fuse, replace it, lights still don't work. I Swear Tiffin Motor Homes let Goober wire this thing and then draw the diagrams showing fuse assignments......nothing matches. Can't call them til Monday in Red Bay..but.....no,.....wait a minute Monday's a Holiday, they may be closed!......naaah, I don't think so.

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Gadabout Travels

Welcome to Harold and Shelby's Blog......

We've been looking for a way to record our travels, and to stay in touch with our family and friends on a day to day basis. We ran across Blogger, which is being used by Tioga and George in their travels (www.vagabonders-supreme.com), and it looked to be simple enough for our limited technological abilities (are we technologically challenged?). So, here we go, our very first post....this is a requirement (we are advised) in order to preview the site.

Right now we are going to try to post a picture or two, just to learn how to do it: Well, that's not quite what we expected....thought the pictures would be below this paragraph, not above! Now I'll have to read the directions.

Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits........ 

2000 AllegroBus "Wanderlust", home away from home 

Harold and Shelby at home 2004