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| From Darrell's Chair |
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| "From Darrell's Chair" Archives |
| This page will be used to share my thoughts
with you as I sit in my chair and contemplate the daily events that take place during our fulltiming journey.
Hopefully
you will enjoy the entries, learn a thing or two, and have some
chuckles along the way as Judy and I continue "Wandering America". |
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Thursday, March 11, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Yesterday was one of the best rainy days that we have ever seen. According to the blond weather girl it was supposed to rain all day, however, the sun came out and the temperatures rose and it stayed thatta way all day without a drop of rain falling from the sky. It was one of the best days we've seen in a long, long time. It did rain last night and is clearing this morning; the weather for the next several days looks great, finally!!! Keep it coming!!! Judy had her small group meeting yesterday afternoon while I stayed home and started preparing dinner. We had invited Ray and Pat over for dinner and an evening of cards so we decided to serve pesto chicken, broccoli, and seasoned baked potatoes with wine followed by tin roof ice cream with Oreo cookie sticks. Was it yummy or was it yummy?? It was a great evening and the gals won three out of five games of Euchre - it just wasn't in the cards for the guys. We will miss Ray and Pat after they take off on Sunday (we'll be spending about a month with them at their home in Michigan this coming fall as they have an RV hookup in their yard). March is the month that things begin winding down at Rainbow Plantation. Mike and Gerri left then Mike and Peggy departed now Ray and Pat leave on Sunday and Glen and Sylvia will head out on Tuesday with Don and Gloria taking off by the end of the month. However, the socializing will continue as we have Randy and Terry, Dick and Pat, Norm and Linda, Ron and Ruth, as well as our neighbors on East Traveler Street. With the weather warming up we'll be ready to start sitting around the campfire chatting, laughing and sipping wine. There are still some day trips that we would like to take around the area so we'll manage to keep ourselves busy, however, with all this departure going on around us the hitch itch is beginning to flare up just a little. Here's my recipe for pesto chicken. Slow cook one chicken breast per person in Zesty Italian Salad Dressing in either a covered frying pan on low heat or in a Crockpot (best). Once the chicken is nice and tender sprinkle each breast (top and bottom) with Italian seasoning, place in a covered frying pan with just enough Extra Vigin Olive Oil to keep them from sticking, spoon some pesto sauce on top of each breast, let them simmer on low heat until the sauce is warm. Then add the shredded cheese, I use an Italian five cheese mix. For the seasoned baked potatoes; quarter the potatoes, place them in a baking dish and brush on EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), sprinkle on some Montreal Chicken seasoning, and bake at 350 to 400 degrees until done. For the broccoli (or any veggies) we use frozen and steam them rather than boiling them which keeps in the nutrients and flavor. Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama I awoke at 2:09 AM Tuesday morning and couldn't get myself back to sleep. I came out into the livingroom and crawled into my recliner which often puts me right back to sleep but, this time it didn't work. So, I turned on the 'puter and surfed the World Wide Web for awhile mainly reading various blogs. After about an hour of that I went back to bed with still no luck. I got up, got dressed, and went for a walk - it was a little after four in the morning. The temperature was cool but mild and the fresh air felt good. I have always enjoyed walking at night; just not that late at night. It's amazing how many people are actually up at that hour of the morning. I saw several RVs with the lights burning and the television flickering. When I returned home from my little jaunt around the park, my bride was up and wondering how far off the deep end I had gone. I had tried to be quiet but no matter how quiet I am nor how deep of sleep she is in, if the door opens she hears it. No bugler could enter our house without her hearing them. So I put my jammies back on, covered up in my recliner, and dozed for a little while. A little while, that is, until Katie decided to chase Alex with him doing a flying run maneuver right across the top of me. That startled me awake and I was up for the rest of the early morning. After Judy went off to her basket weaving endeavor I managed to sleep a little more as well as do some housework. Judy came home for a couple of hours before heading out for another basket weaving session in the afternoon. I never got out of my PJ's until around 1:30 yesterday afternoon. We attended the 4:00 Social Hour and then came home for dinner and to watch the news. Then I went back to the clubhouse for movie night; last night they were showing National Treasure (a great movie with Nicolas Cage). When I returned home around 9 o'clock, my bride had counted all the sheep and tucked them snuggly into their beds so I decided to watch a little television. I turned on the television in the bedroom and crawled into beddie bye where I promptly fell off into Never, Never Land. I woke up just as Jay Leno was playing with some wild pussy katts (a tiger, a leopard, and a cougar), after which, I turned the television off and returned to sleep until Mr. Alex decided it was time for dad to be up at 6:15 this morning. Not an especially exciting day but a great way to spend a rainy day none the less. The rain is suppose to continue through out the day with some heavy "stuff" rolling in tonight. However, at ten minutes to eight, the skies are clear and the sun is shining. The temperatures are slowly climbing but not yet back to average temps for this time of year. Hopefully, as this storm passes, spring will begin rolling in here in Lower Alabama. Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Yesterday morning was spent cleaning the house and doing some reading. Our church is starting a series of sermons around Mark Batterson's book entitled "Primal" which is based on the "Great Commandment". "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30 The book is divided into five sections; first an introduction followed by sections outlining what it means to Love God with your heart, with your soul, with your mind, and with your strength. It is a very well written book that will certainly go a long way toward bringing us back to the basics of living a Christian life. If you remember right, we made a lot of new friends on the RV Care-A-Vanner build that we did in Bunnell. Well, yesterday Gord and Helen Grant from Ontario stopped by for a visit. We burnt some burgers on the grill and served them up with some potato salad and carrots along with chocolate pudding for dessert. We ate outside on the picnic table and sat out in our lawn chairs to visit and enjoy the warmer weather. It was fun to spend some time with them again and we especially enjoyed staying home to cook and eat with friends. This is more like what this "camping" lifestyle is all about. Being that the floors in the clubhouse were being redone, the four o'clock social was held outside around a huge fire. There were hot dawgs, beans, chili, and s'mores galore but, we didn't attend. We were full from our afternoon meal and it was starting to get chilly outside. Remember, we're wimps and we don't do cold (or even chilly). That's what they made inside for!!!! So we relocated our posteriors from the lawn chairs outside to the recliners inside and settled in for the evening where we chit chatted, played on our 'puters, and gawked a little at the television before retiring for the evening. I must say, I'm liking the slowed down pace - we've been on the go so much over the last month that it is nice to just take it slow and easy. That's it for another day in the life of the Wandering America vagabonds who aren't doing a lot of wandering at the moment. Be sure to take some time to relax and hug your katt, see ya tomorrow. Monday, March 8, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Besides attending church yesterday, and hearing an excellent sermon, we took Ron and Ruth to dinner at California Dreaming as a "thank you" for letting us use their car while our truck was being repaired. They introduced us to the California Dreaming Salad Entree' with the House Dressing. Whatta a yummy salad; we could only eat half of it and brought home a "dawggie box" for another meal. Along with the salad, I had a bowl of She Crab Chowder; it was good but I can make a more tasty chowdah, hands down!!! While we were there we bumped into fellow Plantation residents Jerry and Linda Christie. That's not unusual as Escapees love to eat out. The kitties are running out of food so we stopped by PetSmart to pick up some more. Alex and Katie eat only "premium" katt food (we've been getting Wellness Brand) which is very expensive. PetSmart doesn't carry Wellness Brand katt food so we got a bag of Nutro (which is what we used to feed them), however, as soon as they got done eating some both Katie and Alex got sick. I didn't do a good enough job reading the ingredients; Nutro includes wheat gluten in their formula which is nothing more than a filler. Our katts appear to be allergic to it so it will be back to PetSmart to return the Nutro and get a bag of Blue Buffalo katt food which contains no by-products or wheat and/or corn fillers. If our babies like Blue Buffalo it will be a good thing 'cause it is 50 cents per pound less expensive than the Wellness Brand and just as healthy. Last night was the Ice Cream Social at the clubhouse where we finished getting our daily dose of socialization before returning to home to watch some of the Oscar's which neither of us could really care less about but, there was nothing else on television worth watching (what's new). It wasn't long before we were watching the insides of our eye lids. So, thar ya have it, another day in the life of fun, food, and fellowship. Sunday, March 7, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama It's Sunday which means we're getting ready to go to church to worship. Not sure what the rest of the day will bring, we have no real plans. Yesterday was nice and we spent a lot of time outside. We took a stroll around the park, sat out in the back yard for a little while, and sat around a fire with our neighbors before coming inside to a nice BBQ'd pork dinner. I had cooked the pork in the crock pot which made it nice and tender. We had some fried potatoes seasoned with Montreal Chicken spices and a garden salad to go with the BBQ'd pork. Can you believe it? We ate at home by ourselves!! There's a novel idea for you. After dinner we just vegged out and watched some TV while playing on our 'puters. NCIS is my favorite television show and they replayed Tuesday's episode which we hadn't seen. At around 8:30 we moved to the bedroom where I continued to watch TV while Judy entered into Never, Never Land. Not a whole lot but, a nice relaxing day. The RV didn't get washed, however. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? Hope all y'all have a very nice day, we're "fixinto"!!! Saturday, March 6, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Alrighty then! The bath water tank dump valve has been replaced. It only took about an hour and a half with the biggest part of the job being the removal and reinstallation of the underbelly panels. One more job from the "job jar" behind me. Looks like another decent day so today I'll finish washing the rig then I can start the hand waxing next week. After that I will have a list of maintenance items to take care of as well as the cabinet projects to get started on. Yesterday morning, real early in the morning, we went over the say our "see ya laters" to Mike and Peggy. That meant that I had to put real clothes on much earlier than normal - I only do that for special people; otherwise, I just wave out the window as they pull out. Then we stopped by for a photo-op with Fillmore the wonder dawg; oh yes, we did say our farewells to Doug and JoAnn as well. After that we did a walk about the park for some exercise - what a good little boy am I!!!! We came home and Judy played with her new toy (which she hasn't written about yet) while I changed out the dump valve. We didn't even get in the truck all day, which, by the way, is running like a kitten, and that seemed nice after Thursday's marathon driving event. A nap found its way onto the schedule as did sitting out in our lawn chairs. We joined in with the neighbors around a "non-fire" social gathering; we've not done that for ages - it's just been too danged cold for us wimps. Last evening Doug and Ann Craw had invited us over for dinner - yep, not a day goes by without fun, food, and fellowship. Ann prepared a wonderful fish dinner with peas and a garden salad. There was cheese cake and coffee for dessert. We had a wonderful evening with them at their home sitting around the fireplace sipping wine and chatting. They fulltimed for many years so they had lots of stories to share with us; just another great couple in this extended family of ours. Well, Th-th, Th-th, Th-that's all folks!! See ya tomorrow!! Friday, March 5, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Our darned water hose was frozen again this morning; enough is enough already, it's March for goodness sake!!! The weather dudes keep saying we are going to see 70 degree temperatures but, every day it moves to the right another day. At this rate, by the time that 70* weather reaches us it will be July 4th. Al Gore had better not show his face or else he'll probably get stoned for being a heretic. Dang, I wish the warm weather would arrive. Let's see, yesterday I managed to spend almost 4 hours on the road. I had to go see the vampire at 8:30 and then go see the Saw Bones at 12:30 which meant two trips to the VA Clinic in Pensacola. Good news is that my blood work came back good; blood pressure was 125/81, glucose was 101, and cholesterol was 162 so I'm good to go for another year. Let me say this about that, if "Gummint" run health care was as good as the care I'm getting from the VA Clinic at Pensacola, Florida I would be all for it. Keep in mind that I have only utilized the VA Clinics for a year; the one in Pensacola and the one in Glenn Falls, New York but, both have been outstanding and I have received excellent care. Yesterday Fred Merrill, a retired photographer and fellow resident here at Rainbow Plantation, and Norm Payne, a retired fulltimer and fellow resident here at Rainbow Plantation, put on a photography class. Fred taught basic photography techniques while Norm covered the digital photography aspect. It was around a two hour presentation with about 40 people in attendance. I was only able to attend an hour due to my medical appointments but, from what I could tell, it was an excellent class. Sorry I couldn't have been present for the entire presentation. Today is a sad day, we are losing some more playmates. Mike and Peggy are leaving this morning heading to Betty's RV Park in Abbeville, Louisiana. Fellow East Traveler Street residents, J and Heidi and Larry and Cindy headed that way yesterday. Hopefully Mike and Peggy will meet up with them and have a wonderful experience at Betty's. In the mean time, we hate to see them leave; we've had a great month enjoying their company. Last night Peggy prepared us a great dinner with wild salmon, twice baked potatoes, and a garden salad followed by a dish of butter pecan ice cream. It was a great meal with fun conversation. Happy Trails guys, see ya next summer at the Maine Event. Doug, JoAnn, and Fillmore shove off today as well. It was certainly a busy day yesterday and we didn't get over to see them again. They are really great folks and we hope our trails cross again somewhere down the road. Doug has some upcoming medical appointments and we'll be keeping them in our prayers. Yep, it's gonna get real quiet around here, that's for sure. Just as soon as this dang weather warms up a bit I have a lot of outside work to get done. Before we know it, it will be "On The Road Again"!!! We're looking forward to it. Thursday, March 4, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Yesterday was a nice day but still a little chilly. Today is supposed to be a little warmer yet with that trend continuing through the weekend with 70 degree weather in the forecast - that would certainly be a welcomed change. While Miss Judy was out and about with her Bible Study group, I set out the lawn chairs and took Alex out for about 20 minutes. Around 3:00 Doug and JoAnn stopped by for a short visit and then Mike, Peggy, Judy, and I made our way over to the clubhouse for the Social Hour. Judy did get to work on some of her sewing yesterday morning while I goofed off. I did get in touch with Tallulah Gorge State Park and firm up our volunteer assignment there. We will go there right after Jackie's graduation in May and stay there until July 6th or 7th. Mike and Gerri talked with them as well and are waiting for some pictures of the entrance to determine if they can get their motorhome into the drive. There is a transition from the highway where some motorhomes have dragged the back end of the coach, however, that most likely was gas motorhomes with a long overhang behind the rear wheels. Mike and Gerri's Dutch Star should be able to navigate the transition. Last night it was another trip to Big Daddy's. Mike and Peggy are "fixinto" to haul assets and Mikee was hankering for another plate of Big Daddy's shrimp. So, after a little arm twisting (very little at that), a group of us headed to the west side of the Fish River for another succulent seafood dinner. Now I don't want all you folks out there who are following along to think that all we do is socialize and eat out but, pretty much all we do is socialize and eat out. There were eight in our party; Norm, Linda, Don, Gloria, Mike, Peggy, Judy, and I, however, there were almost two dozen Escapees (counting us) patronizing BD's last night - it's a popular place for us RVers. Judy and I finished the day by going over our 2010 travel plans so we have a general idea where we will be and when. This summer will be punctuated with family events so we will be spending half the summer in the south and the rest in the northeast and mid west. Someday we hope to make a trek westward; we'll just have to see what 2011 brings our way. Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Man!!!! I can't believe this weather. Just when we think spring may have sprung we get another blast of winter weather. Yesterday was just a plain cold raw damp day with heavy winds to blow it right through you. I'm beginning to feel like Charlie Brown does whenever he lets Lucy hold the football for him - maybe this time, just maybe, mother nature won't pull the football (spring weather) away when I'm about to kick it (put on my shorts). One can only hope that we will have a spring this year. We had the opportunity to visit with Doug, JoAnn, and Fillmore yesterday afternoon. Later Doug and JoAnn joined us at the clubhouse for dinner; what a great couple. They really enjoy the fulltime lifestyle and are looking forward to many more years of it. We had a wonderful time getting to know them and now we have two more great friends to add to our never ending list. Doug and JoAnn will be here at Rainbow Plantation a couple more days so we'll have at least one more opportunity to get together; after all, we need to get some pictures of Fillmore the RV-Dreams wonder dawg (and Doug and JoAnn as well). Last night we spent with Ray and Pat having a long over due chat and chew along with a couple games of Euchre; guys won both games. "We are the Champions, We are the Champions, No time for losers, Cause we are the champions - of the world!" We have been wanting to get together since we returned to Rainbow Plantation but Pat has had some real serious back pain. With some meds and a lot of physical therapy she has been able to overcome it. They will be leaving in a week and a half so we need to have another night together before then. We'll be "camping" in their yard in Michigan for about a month right after the Escapade in September. That's it for today - hope the sun shines on you and keep smiling; it makes people wonder what you've been up to!!! Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Today is rainy, wet, and cold - this weather is relentless. However, things will begin to warm up and be more spring like over the next several days. Have broken winter's back yet? Only time will tell but seventy degree temperatures are in the forecast for this coming weekend. Doug, JoAnn, and Fillmore arrived at the Plantation yesterday afternoon and will be here for several days. We missed them when they passed through in January so it will be great to finally meet them (especially Fillmore the wonder dawg). Our friends, Paul and Ruth, have a black standard poodle named Andy; we're curious to know if Andy and Fillmore would like to meet each other. Something tells me that they would both be rather aloof about getting to know one another. Poodles seem to have this sense of superiority when it comes to meeting other dawgs. Yesterday was grocery shopping day - whoopie, we now have some real live food in the house. We've been socializing and eating out so much that we have only needed the bare essentials on board but, things are beginning to slow down now that March is here. Our playmates are starting to slowly exit the Plantation so over the next few weeks our get togethers will become fewer and fewer. I, also, had to go get some propane yesterday - both tanks were empty thanks to all this cold weather we have been having. Last year we only went through two tanks during the months of January and February while we have gone through five tanks this year. Brrrrr!!! While I was out I stopped at Camping World. We needed a new cap to put on the end of the pipe at the dumping station. I, also, found some leveling wedges to use for leveling the coach from side to side as the sissor jack idea didn't work out as I had planned. Now that spring is here and just as soon as this inclement weather moves out, I can start the outside work of preparing the coach for travel. I still have the cabinets to rebuilt so I will have plenty to do over the next few weeks. Yep, it's time to get a wiggle on and get all these projects completed because the next six weeks will go flying by and hitch-itch is beginning to set in. Monday, March 1, 2010 - Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, Alabama Shees, I stood in bed until 7:00 this morning now I'll be late for the rest of the day. Nothing like starting behind the power curve before you even begin. Oh well, it is what it is!! Yesterday was the typical Sunday, we went to church and then came home to do our routine tasks, etc., etc.. Judy did play with her new toy for a while (she is just like a kid with a new toy - well, she IS a kid with a new toy). "It goes "zzzip" when it moves, "Bopp" when it stops, and "Brrr" when it stands still." I'm still trying to push her into her corner so that she can write and tell you all about her "Marvelous Toy". We did get to sit outside for a little while (took Alex out for a breath of fresh air) and watched the final competition of the Olympics - the hockey game between USA and Canada. Now that the Olympics is over I guess it's back to rape, murder, and unrealistic TV shows. Time to get out the books and read in the evenings. We finished the day by attending the Ice Cream Social where they had some surprise skits and music by the Chanielles. Another fun evening with friends and food. Tim, the manager from Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia, called us with an opening for a Camp Host but, we have already decided to go to Tallulah Gorge State Park. Cloudland Canyon is looking for someone to fill in for a month where as Tallulah Gorge will use us for about seven weeks. We were looking for something that would occupy us from May 10th to July 6th so Tallulah Gorge is our choice - besides we'll only work a couple of days a week (Saturday and Sunday) in the Visitor's Center greeting people and giving interpretive talks which is more to our liking. Supposedly we are going to hear from Skidaway State Park near Savannah as well, that would be a good location to spend a couple of months. We plan on spending at least a couple of months each year volunteering in order to continue traveling the way we want to. This way we won't tie up an entire season in one place, we'll have time to sightsee while we are in the area, and we'll conserve on our "Campground" budget all at the same time. Further, when we sit still like that for a while we don't spend as much money on other things like fuel and eating out plus it minimizes the towing wear and tear on the truck. The game plan is to replace the $4,500 in our emergency fund that we just spent repairing the truck as we know that there will be a time in the future when that money will be needed again. Georgia State Parks looks for a two month commitment, whereas Texas will only let you sign up for a month (they will give you an extension if both parties are agreeable to it after that). The Corp of Engineering parks want for a one, two, or three month commitments. Most volunteer assignments are looking for a two to three days a week which gives you the rest of the week to yourself, however, COE's and other National Parks may want up to four or five days so you have to be sure and ask some questions before signing on. With March now officially in place one can only hope for spring weather to be arriving. The weather forecasts for the next several days are certainly pointing in that direction. If it doesn't stop snowing up north we may have to shovel out our sites when we take Briana "camping" with us this coming August. All this talk about next summer's travels is starting to give me hitch-itch.
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