We had to make some changes.

 Cullman,  AL  

We are continuing on our hosting of Boondockers, but with some minor changes.

We have been happy to welcome our RVing friends to park on our sites when traveling this area.  Many RVers we've met on the road have stopped by.   In each case, we have remained friends.  Also RVing friends from PA and NJ that we knew before we moved here have stopped and visited and used our sites.  We built those sites for that reason.   We wanted to host friends and family.    We would never expect, accept nor want them to pay for a site.   We would consider that an insult to our friendship.    We just want to see them and keep in touch.

Continuing on from my last posting meet the most recent guests.   These are folks who found us on the Boondockers Welcome website.

This is Dave.   He traveled from Ohio where we works at a campground in the summer to Florida where he works at one in the winter.   He travels with his sweet Border Collie mix, Holly.  

Next is Mary and Conrad, heading south from Indiana.   This is the couple that responded just 2 hours after I joined Boondockers Welcome as a host.    Wish we had more time to spend with them.

Now this was really fun.  Chad and Sarah have 4 active boys that they are home schooling on the road.  The boys and Biscuit had lots of fun.  By the time they left, Sarah was looking online for a Beagle.

Meet Susan and Joe.   They just came from Leonard's area of Louisiana doing mission work through Billy Grahams mission and Samaritans Purse.

Joe and Quinn have recently started their Full Time adventure.

We truly liked each of our guests.   But we find we must make changes.       We've hosted Boondockers Welcome members ten times.     On our profile I state donations welcome.   I explain the RV sites are on same account as the shop.  That account is charged at a higher commercial rate than the house.   We are also on metered water.   Hence donations.   We are not doing this to make money.   

 Each older couple worked until retirement. Now are living their dream.  Some younger people choose to live their dream now, often working online.   Most guests gave us a donation.  Very much appreciated.   Two couples stayed four nights and  choose not to donate anything using full hook ups.  That is their right to do.   We understand.  We were not demanding a donation.

But after checking the KW usage on house and RV sites, and the RV sites using twice as much as the house in those instances we had to come to a difficult decision and change from donations gratefully accepted to a small per night charge.   Hated to do this. 

We still look forward to hosting.   But not going broke.

Until next time.

Sickness, Sadness and Sweet Visits

Cullman,   AL

So much has happened in the short time since my last post.    

When we learned the severity of Leonard's sister Lydia's condition, he needed to go to Louisiana for a final visit.     He flew down on a Monday and back Friday night two weeks ago.    Considering his health he did quite well. 

He and his brother Jerry had the visit with Lydia (Monkey) then afterward enjoyed each others company over lunch.

As expected Lydia's time was short.   She passed just days later.   Her funeral in Louisiana is today.  Leonard is so thankful he had that time with her.    

Last Sunday afternoon he started to feel ill.   Slept all night.   On Monday I could see he was running a temperature.   He was cold but had no other symptoms of Covid.   No headaches, body aches, shortness of breath, did not lose sense of smell or taste.   But he was extremely fatigued.   He slept most of the day.  We called his doctor who would set up a Covid test.     His temp once got as high as 105. 

He was called to come to the testing site on Tuesday.   Still running high temps, but not as high.  He was less fatigued.  He stayed awake and read most of the day.   Temps were fluctuating.

On Wednesday we decided to call UAB and talk to his cardiologist office down there.   They said if his temp rose high again to bring him to their emergency room.   And if his COVID test was positive, bring him to their emergency room.

On Thursday he no longer had much elevation of temperature.  Again, no chills, no severe fatigue.  Again, he read most of the day.   Then the doctor called..... no COVID,

Yesterday, Friday, he felt so much better he cooked a pot of gumbo.   That is the Cajun medicine I've learned.     Today he feels fine.  We are grateful for everyone's concern and prayers.  We could feel it.  

He felt so good yesterday he had to feed his fish.    It is now a battle ducks VS catfish for the food.  We  see a lot of perch in the pond.

  When I signed us up for BoondockersWelcome.com,   I had no idea how many people would want to stay at our sites.  I am shocked at the response.   Here are the last few.

From October 27 to October 30 in their Motorhome.   Hans and Theresa on way to Florida to get new Motorhome.

 From October 31 to November 4 Rick and Nancy

From November 4 to just getting ready leave now meet Carrie and Matt and Rusty

The night of November 4  were Fred and Renee.   They are from South Africa.  They came here, bought a car and RV and are traveling the country.   Here they are set up and having their cocktail hour.

In about an hour we expect another guest.   A man traveling alone.   Later this afternoon a family arrives, young parents and their SEVEN children.     All these will be just here for the one night.

On Monday another couple for a few days.   Then on Friday 13th two more couples for 4 nights.  This will be fun.   Both men are retired Marine.    They are not traveling together.   A cool coincidence.

So far no bookings until mid December.  Yet.

Until next time.

New Windows and Big Fish

 Cullman,  AL

As many of you know, we bought this house sight unseen when we were camping near Hershey, PA in November 2016.     After our bid was accepted we headed right to Alabama to see what we had just committed to.  We pulled in the yard and both of us said  THIS IS IT.     While meeting with the realtor we walked around and took pictures.  

From day one I have hated the front two windows.  They were plain picture windows.  Could not be opened and we enjoy fresh air flowing through the house when weather permits.   Plus they were ugly.  Every other window in the house were double pane with grids in them.

The seller had said she was changing out some windows.   The one for my office was backordered and put it after we moved in.    It has a screen and the window itself has the grids and can flip open to be cleaned.    Every window in the house was that way.... except these two in the living  room.

Fast forward a couple of years from when we bought the house.   I was looking at the pictures I took that day and saw this!!!

Grids in the windows.    She had them changed out and replaced with something cheaper.  

So, we finally had enough this fall.   Wanted to open windows.   So ...  a trip to Lowes.  And today the same men who put the other windows here before we bought the property were back today.

About an hour after they arrived we have this.

New windows with grids, screens and can be opened from either top or bottom and flip open for cleaning.   I am a happy lady.

Looks better from inside too.

I took down the wooden blinds that were on these windows and also in the dining room.  Sold them on Cullman Yard Sale site on Facebook.    I've ordered custom shades.  It will take about a month before we have them.     I think this will be another improvement.

Early Spring of 2019 we stocked our pond with 50 small catfish.   Haven't thought much about it since. We assumed with some heavy rains they probably washed into the outlet that goes to the creek and then floated wherever.

Last week our RV guest went to the pond and tossed bits of bread.   Are we shocked.   Do we have Catfish!!!!!  

And today Leonard said he saw some perch.    We bought a 50 lb. bag of  pond catfish food.   As soon as that food hits the water, fish are jumping.  Problem is the ducks go after it too.

I took Leonard to the airport earlier today.  He is flying down to Lake Charles.   One of his sisters is very ill.  If you pray send a prayer up for Lydia.   (Family calls her Monkey, seems when she was little she was quite the climber)   He returns on Friday.

Update on our Boondockers Welcome.   We have guests arriving Friday the 31st and stay until the 4th.  Another comes for one night only, the 7th.  Then another reservation on the 8th until the 11th.  Then another on the 13th til the 17th.     So from October 30th til November 18 we have just 3 nights we are not hosting.  So far.

Until next time.

Some we are glad about, some not so much

 Cullman,   AL

Not so happy about

As I've said many times, we have enjoyed the solitude our property affords us.   No neighbors in sight from our house or porch.   That is still the case.   However, from our driveway now.

This was moved in last week in what was an open field.   We are not thrilled.

Our property is on the other side of that tree line.  The trees will stay there for sure.  In the top picture I had cleared out some brush so we would have a view of the creek that runs between the properties.  No more clearing.    

Very happy about

Last Blog I reported we had just joined Boondockers Welcome as hosts as Lisa and Richard pictured on that blog had told us about.   Only a few hours later I received a reservation.  And two more since.  It's been less than a week since we joined and have had 3 responses.

Our first guest just spent two nights at one of our site.  But first ..... Mark and Deb

 We met Mark and Deb when we were volunteering with NOMADS.   We worked with them at the OWL Center in north Louisiana.  Since then they became full timer RVs and still do frequent NOMADS projects.   This past weekend they were traveling between Memphis and a project in Georgia.  How glad we are that we were on the way.   They arrived around 1 on Friday so it gave us a full afternoon and evening to visit.  

Their rig parked at The East Estate  (had to have a location name for Boondockers Welcome and that's as good as any)

With goodbyes and waves Mark and Deb pulled out Saturday morning.   The site was not empty for long.   About one that afternoon in pulled our first Boondocker guests, Bonnie and Earl.  They retired from Connecticut.

We can only hope every one of our guests will be as gracious and nice as Bonnie and Earl.  They were scheduled to stay just one night but we all decided that wasn't long enough.   They attended church with us yesterday, then did some touring while we cleaned and organized Len's shop with the help of son Lennie and DIL Lois.

When Bonnie and Earl returned from touring the area, they came loaded with pie and cake.  Another couple of hours visiting.    They pulled out about 9 this morning headed to Memphis to see the King and eventually Yuma.    

Their rig:

For our schedule ahead we have guests coming on October 31 to November 4 and others from November 9 to 11.    So far so good.    It gives Len and me something to look forward to and new people to meet and socialize with, all without leaving our home.

Until next time.

Who's your Daddy and We Welcome Boondockers

 Cullman,   AL

Finally some cooler weather and a bit of changing leaves.   Not at all like I am used to seeing in the northeast.      

What I find here in north Alabama there are two seasons.   Summer and Winter.  There are so few days when we are able to open the windows and enjoy the outside air blowing through.    It is either HOT and we need the A/C or COLD and we need the heater.  But we want to take advantage when we can.

Our windows in the living area are solid windows.  The front door has a screen in the upper area and I will put that down and allow a breeze in when the weather permits.   The big window in the dining room is also a solid pane.  There are two smaller windows on each side that open.  Opening those windows and the front door screen gives us very little cross ventilation.    Also the all windows in the house have slats that give the impression of separators except the front windows.    I never noticed they had those slats when we looked at the house.    Some time between our first viewing the house and we moved in the windows were changed out.   They just don't look as nice.

We are in the process of changing out the windows.   New ones will be installed in the living area in two weeks.     I will post before and after pics at a later blog.

As I've written before we had a family of ducklings hatch back in July.   There were four babies but the hawk got three.  All in one night.    We assumed our male Pekin and female Muscovy duck cross-bred.  We expected the babies to be white with black markings as such a crossbreed would be.

As the duck grew it became evident he/she would not be black and white.  Then I realized.  We have Mallards that visit the pond.   Yup...... our newest duck looks like a female Mallard - Muscovy mix.

Here is Mama, baby and Step-Daddy.     Daddy left for more opportunities or at least until breeding season returns.

When we were full-time RVers I joined several Internet RV sites.   One of them was RVillage.  It is where RVers converse, meet and get info.   This site notifies me when someone is parked nearby.  Some times I respond by welcoming them to the area.   I did just that earlier in the week.

Lisa and Richard were camped at Hidden Cove Resort, a campground 26 miles from home and one where we had spent many a delightful time.    A short time later they responded to my welcome.   A few days later we met at Clarkson Covered Bridge about 7 miles from our house.

Lisa and Richard

We then invited them to the house for a longer visit.  What a delightful couple.  After seeing our RV sites they told us about Boondockers Welcome.   This is where Rvers can go to find convenient places on private property to spend a night or a few.  

Leonard and I decided it would be nice to join as hosts.   We love visitors.   So yesterday I completed the required information and we were then listed.   It was less than 4 hours  we got a response.  So in early November we will host a retired couple traveling from Indiana.  They will be staying two nights.

This coming Friday we will be hosting a couple that we worked with in north Louisiana when we were volunteering as NOMADS.   This is how we stay connected to NOMADS as we are unable to work any more.  Looking forward to re-connecting with Deb and Mark

Until next time.

Bought one, passed on the other.

 Cullman,   AL

Not a heck of a lot has been going on the past few weeks.     Still waiting for information on when Leonard is cleared for shoulder surgery.     Both arms are about useless.  Can do no lifting of them.

He needs me to help him put on his shirt and socks.   Also dry his back after bathing.   He is anxious to once again be able to bush hog and do other work around here including sanding down further the front steps and staining them.

I had been having difficulties with my Dell computer for the last several months.  Slow as molasses and would not take a charge.   Finally I decided I had enough.   So off to Office Depot.

I now have a Lenovo.   Easy to get used to as it has the same Windows 10 the Dell had.  Not a good picture but here she is.

It's great I have no issues with learning a new computer operating system but it's always something to quote Gilda Radnor.    This is the first blog entry since the layout has changed.  What was wrong with the old one?   I will get it figured out.

The Dell was just sitting here in my office and I wondered what to do with it.  Then daughter Amy was telling me they were having issues with hers.  (another one I got upset with and gave her a few years back).    Not only that both granddaughters are using hers as their school has not opened and they do their classes on line at home. (Abby has since been issued one from her school).  Amy also has to use a computer frequently from home.  She is a tax accessor in Baltimore county and does a lot of research from her home office.   Her husband is an archeologist and does some reports and research from home also.    Three people one computer.  

So I offered the Dell to her.   I took it to Office Depot who wiped it clean and put it back to factory settings.     I sent it to Maryland via FedEx.    Overnight cost was about $165.00.   "Ground" was $25.00.    You bet I chose ground.   I could not believe it but it arrived in just two days, last Sunday.  So glad I saved the $140.00.

Now for what we did not buy.    We had seen advertisements on TV for a gun store named Caliber down in Homewood, Al, right outside Birmingham.   Took a ride down yesterday.   Oh my gosh.   Cheapest gun we saw was $700.00.    Most were in the $4,000 to $7,000 range.    One was $250,000.   That's right.... A quarter of a million dollars.    There was even a Gatling gun sitting on wheels.   Didn't see a price of it.  

There was a clothing department.   I checked out one shirt.   $195.00.   Gloves $35.00.   WOW.

We left there and decided since we saved $250,000 by not buying that gun we could go to lunch.  Even better, our son Lennie had won a $25.00 gift card to the local Applebee's.   Since they don't go to Applebee's and we do, he gave it to his Dad.     So dinner cost us $6.51 plus tip.   

Bottom line is we saved a bundle yesterday:    A cheap lunch and not spending the $250,000.

Until next time.

Reflections of the RV life

Cullman,   AL


As I sit here reflecting on our 7 years on the road, I am wondering about folks like us that lived their dream of traveling the country in an RV and are now settled down to a house or apartment.    Many of those people we met starting in 2010 have settled down in the last couple of years.

Our story:     We purchased a used 1988 motorhome back in 2005.  We did this to see if we would really enjoy vacations "camping".   One of the first places we traveled to was  Charlottesville VA.   We met a delightful couple ( Ursula and Carl) who were work camping there and living in their fifth wheel trailer.   We had never heard of people who actually lived in an RV.  We were horrified and went away laughing and shaking our heads.      Their story got me thinking.  And researching.

I was told to follow a couple who had a "blog" called RV-Dreams.  I had no idea what a blog was at that time.   It was 2006, remember.    I was intrigued.

We decided if we were to camp more often we would buy a fifthwheel trailer.  Our first was a 2002 Cedar Creek that we bought used in 2007.    By 2009 we had decided that when we retired within the next year we would travel fulltime.    We sold our house and property to my daughter and husband.

We moved into the Cedar Creek at a small nearby year round RV park.   Then came winter.   The winds whipped through the rig.   We practically froze.   We needed something better insulated.

So, came our 2009 Montana.

We loved that Montana.   Warm, cozy, nothing ever broke.   Wish we realized what a gem we had.  We traveled the country.   We started our full time life on the road and volunteering as a Nomad.   NOMADSUMC.ORG

But time moved on.   In 2014 we were parked at our daughters house in NJ.  We were bored.  Let's go LOOK at RVs.   Not buying.  Definitely not buying.

Moving from Montana to 2014 Cedar Creek

There were definite improvements.   Self leveling jacks.   Much larger bedroom closet and a residential fridge with ice maker.   Luxury.    Now the cons:     It set an inch and half unlevel.   Tires were getting ate up.  We talked to the manufacturer.  They told us to move things around.   WHAT????  Perhaps all the cabinets, the stove, the fridge, the water heater, the entertainment unit??  Had they never been in an RV?  Didn't they design this one?   We ended up changing out the axles at a cost of over $5,000.

Two years later we decided to look again.  We thought we found the perfect unit.  We loved the floor plan.   So much room.

The living area provided privacy when we had guests by closing the doors.   The storage was unbelievable.   There was a TV in the living room, over the fridge in the kitchen and the bedroom.  There were sofa beds in living room and kitchen.  That island is on wheels so we moved it to an open wall by the door giving so much more kitchen space.

Trading in the Cedar Creek for the Open Range.

We were in heaven.   For a while.  Then heaven turned to hell.

On three occasions a spring hanger broke, the first time shredding two tires.

A crack appeared on the slide near the bedroom window.   It was taken to the shop 3 times and "repaired" only to crack again.

The refrigerator was to run off the inverter when not plugged into shore power.  Sometimes it did, often it did not.

Finally the last straw.   The floor rotten out from the dining area and progressed into the living room.

Highland Ridge came to an Alabama dealer and picked up to rig in November 2017 to perform the repairs.    We had to pick it up and inspect the rig.   Finally in March of 2018 when the weather broke we drove up to Indiana.    We were thrilled.   It looked beautiful.  They even fixed damage we had done to it when Leonard backed up into our carport.   The thrill was short lived.

We drove 200 miles and were in Indianapolis when a SPRING HANGER BROKE.   We called Highland Ridge.  They sent out mechanics the next day.  Yeah one had broke and we were told another one was about to break.     The hangers were fixed and we held our breath all the way to the dealer in Alabama and traded the beautiful Open Range for a travel trailer. 

We were no longer fulltimers having bought our home in December 2016.   We just wanted an RV for vacations and short trips.

Comfortable but no self leveling jacks, no counter space, no huge closets, no residential fridge.  But it was suitable for how we planned to use it.   It had a  nice bunk room which our granddaughters loved.   On one side were the bunks and the other side had a sofa which could be folded out and another bunk bed overhead that was folded up when not needed.  Also a TV.   And the unit had an outside kitchen with small fridge, microwave and two burner stove and good amount of storage.

We traveled a few times in it before it became evident that we could no longer RV and a better option would be to get a car.   We only had the F350 dually.  The addition of a small car would be nice.  No, we did not get rid of the truck.   We sold the trailer and got a Ford Escape. 

Our decision was really made for us.   Len has both heart and lung disease and two torn shoulders.  He can no longer easily set up and tear down the RV.   It was time.

Do we miss it?   Sometimes.   Are we sorry we spent our time on the road?  No way.   But our greatest regret is not keeping the Montana.   Looking back we could have changed out the RV fridge to a residential and had self leveling jacks installed.   And have a unit that we could depend on.  And lots more money in investments.    Can't look back, only forward.

Our RVing friends, what is your story?

Until next time.