About US

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This the story of our journey, Into Something Good, going Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and trying to Hold Onto Our Dreams. How we got on the way to becoming HALF time RVers! Our Ford 350 super duty diesel truck is our horses, we call it the Beast . Our 2008 34'7" 3 slide Cedar Creek Silverback fifth wheel is our Prairie Schooner Wagon,we call it the Bear. Just like the first RVers, the Pioneers of Yesteryear traveling around the country searching for a rich full filling life! Come along with us for the ride and read about our triumphs and mishaps along the way! About to be Part time RVers in a Cedar Creek Silverback 2008, 34'7", 3 slide 5th wheel, which is our Prairie Schooner Wagon, and a 2006 Ford 350 super duty 1 ton diesel truck is our horses, or oxen, only we have to feed it diesel instead of grass, and oats, which costs a lot more! Retired Air Force empty nesters off to see the good ole USA! Favorite Quote: "Life is a Blank Canvas, Made For Me to Add the Colors" Goal: I am trying to add as many colors as I can to my life!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Another Box Checked Off the List / Campground Comedy!

I can now check my MRI off the list! I am so glad that is over, talk about something that gives ya a headache!  Those ear plugs they give you don't work so well,  it was still very noisy! That is the first time I ever had one on my hand.  By the time it was done my whole arm was a mass of pins and needles.  I had to lay on my stomach on the table, with my hand above my head for over 45 minutes, and not move!  Right!  Ever notice when ya can't do something that is when you need to do it the most?  LOL!    Isn't it ironic  that your nose itches when ya can't itch it, or ya need to go somewhere when your car won't start, and you have no electric when everything ya need to do takes electric!  How many times have you tried to turn a light on by flipping the wall switch when there was no electric because of a storm?  I can't even imagine how many times I have done that!  lol !  So naturally my nose was itching like crazy during the MRI, is it just human nature that we try to do something when we can't ?  So, that was my big experience today, I just hope that they were able to find out what kind of arthritis I have so treatment can be started.  Guess how many times I have to do something so simple as make a note when I can't get my hand to grasp a pen?  Only about 3 dozen ha ha!  There we are right back to human nature, and in my case extreme stubbornness!  I insist on working at it until I do it, even if I am in worse  pain afterward, or I get frustrated because I can't make my fingers tighten up enough to hold the pen and throw it like a child.   I guess we never really outgrow tantrums!  I may have to buy some of those fat pencils like they use in Kindergarten, so I can grip it, I wonder if they make pens with fat barrels on them for griping?  Have any of you had to make changes in the way you do things in order to still Rv?  Ok, I think I've gotten all the mileage that I can get out of this subject so onward to the next!

I have been sitting here thinking about some of the funny things that have happened when we get ready for a trip and when we reach our destination.  Granted some of them weren't funny at the time, but we can laugh about them now!  I have only listed a couple of them, believe me the list  has become endless, and you may eventually hear about a lot of them! When we get ready to go for a trip, we both, (Mike and I) have a checklist that we go through before we pull in the slides and hitch up.  Mine are usually inside the fiver and Mike's are outside.  Then when we get there we go over  the other checklist to set up the fiver.  Heaven help us if we try to help the other one and do something on their list!  Some funny things have happened over the years when we tried to help each other.One time Mike decided to put the slides out before I had checked everything, oops some bottled water was sitting by the slide and it got crushed when the slide went out and tore the molding off the inside of the slide!  It had moved during travel and he didn't know to check that stuff.  Another time, I thought I'd help Mr Perfectionist with the chocks for the tires.  Only thing was I didn't realize he wasn't done trying to get the fiver as straight as he wanted it!  Oops, chocks don't bend very well, as a matter of fact they break when ya back over them!  He he!  Have you unknowingly put on a comedy show when setting up camp or breaking camp for your camping neighbors?  I know we have, and then how many of us take great delight in watching other people set up and break camp? You can see some pretty funny stuff!  Come on,ya know we all do it!  It's always better to watch than be watched, right?! 
Mike loves to sit outside on Sunday's and watch everyone break camp cos they have to go back home and get ready for work the next day!  He says, "That's one of the perks of being retired!"  He always has a cheery little wave for them when they pull out! 
We once actually set up camp in front of people, and when we were done, they came over and complimented us on how easy we made it look!  Now I did only say it happened ONCE!  Ha ha!
How many wives try to help Hubby guide the fiver into the campsite?  Believe me that can cause divorces!  We have tried the handheld walkie talkies (which only work if ya can chew gum and walk at the same time),and I always forget to push the button to talk! Then there are the hand signals, which don't always end up being very nice!  I'm sure ya know how yelling works out! (which only adds to the comedy show) and  now I usually try, and remember I did say  I try, to only say something if he is getting too close to something with the fiver.  He usually always does better if I just keep my mouth shut and let him do it!  When I do that he gets the fiver in the site on the first try, and when I try to help, it usually takes 2 or 3 tries.  Do ya see a pattern here?
I just know now with the 2 dogs we have, there is gonna be a lot of comedy going on !  We just got them in August, so they haven't been rving yet. I'm sure that means we're in for some more funny mishaps this year!  So stay tuned, we may be appearing at a campground near you with engagements throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall ! 




Thursday, March 7, 2013

March Roars Into Ohio On The 6th!



Sorry I have been MIA for a few days.  Our Grand Daughters Autumn   and Tehya were here yesterday.  They had a snow day so they spent the day with us, and we were busy making memories. :)  The snow was very pretty as you can see from the pics I put on here.  It looked like a winter wonderland!  I have to say though, I hope that this is the last time that we get any more of the White stuff, that is measurable anyway.  Not only is it a pain in the butt, and dangerous for driving on, it is COLD!  It would be nice if it didn't have to be so cold when we have it! Why can't we get it only a few days before Christmas and then be done with the stuff?  Now that would work for me!  Of course I would like for it to be 75 degrees year round! Hehe!  Well, that is what I'd wish for if I had my way, but I'm sure ya'll know what they say about wishes!  Anyway, I hope that this means that Spring is going to be just around the corner.  Doesn't the saying go in like a lion and out like a lamb, and in like a lamb out like a lion?  Something like that or vice versa.
  


Now this is what I want to see  -------->

Spring is my favorite time of the year.  I am so excited for it to get here this year!  I think I have a serious super bad case of Spring Fever for some reason!  Lilacs are my favorite spring flower and probably one, if not my favorite flower all together.  They smell so good and, come in such pretty colors.
 I have a favorite quote, that I keep on my nightstand that says, " Life is a Blank Canvas Made For Me to Add the Colors", the author is unknown.  To me that is what spring is all about, a rebirth of the earth.  Going from drab colorless Winter to to Spring with all it's pretty colors. 

I found this quote in a magazine at a very low point in my life, and cut it out because it spoke to me.  I had just been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure at age 46!  My whole life changed then a complete 180 degrees, I was very sick and they thought I would need a heart transplant to live.  I ended up not needing one, because of meds, many wonderful Doctors, and wanting to get better.  Most important, I think God had more lessons to teach me, and had many colors he wanted me to add to my canvas!   I think finding that quote helped save my life back in 2001.  It sort of made me think that my life is just like that blank canvas now, I'm just existing, I'm not adding any colors!  I thought that even if I was sick I still needed, and wanted to add lots of colors to my canvas.  It made me want to get better, to live, and not give up so I could add more colors!  I am not saying that this quote was the only thing that helped, but I think that my will to live had a lot to do with that, and it made me realize that I wanted to live!  Would this quote mean the same to you, maybe not, but at the time it was what I needed to think about, and it struck a chord in me!  God does indeed work in mysterious ways, Thank You God!  I have come a long way since that time, and I think that I have added many colors along the way!  My life is what it is, not what it was, what it was didn't define me!   Do I miss my before life, yes, but I have the memories, and I am happy.  Is my life different, yes, but I also enjoy my life now, and Rving is just one of the ways I keep adding colors to my life. I feel like I was given a miracle, not too many people get to start over !  I am very Thankful and Blessed !  A rebirth just like Spring is with the seasons!

Wow, that certainly got DEEP!  Not what I intended to write at all!   I sort of got off track when I mentioned that quote.
Oh well, maybe someone out there needed to hear what happened to me, so healing could take place in them!  I am happy to tell you that my heart function  has improved and is only 10% away from being normal!  After taking so many medications, I only now take two of the medications that I started out taking when I got sick.

Like I said earlier, Spring is like that to me.  So COME ON SPRING!  :) I think I have written enough for today and need to get busy instead of sitting in this chair. So I'll  be seeing ya's right here next time...



            

Monday, March 4, 2013

Lazy Day Sunday/Busy Day Monday

Today was a lazy day for us with not too much going on!  After a trip to Wally World and Meijer's we came home and messed around mostly on our computers.  We did buy new cooling mats for our laptops, because our other ones gave up the ghost.  :)  Tomorrow will be busy with a Dr appointment and then a trip to Sam's.  

Speaking of Computers, what do you use, or how do you get on the internet when you are traveling?  For the last 4 years we have used MiFi from Verizon.  We have had very little trouble with it and it has been much cheaper than installing a system on the fiver.  Of course once we decide to go full time that may change, and we might look into a permanent system for the fiver.  When you are in a campground that has Wifi do you hook up to their Wifi or do you use your own?  One nice thing about having your own Wifi is that it is a secure network, and not a public one like most of the campgrounds have.  We use our MiFi most of the time unless we have a lot of pictures to download etc... cos we have a limited amount of data that we can download.  We have only went over our limit once, and we didn't like the outcome so now we are very careful!  The $ amount was not cheap lol!  For surfing the web and doing the blog it is fine, but then we don't have a lot of stuff that we do on the computer, or use it for a job.  I love to play hidden object games, but I usually have them on disc so I don't have to use the internet for them.  That way I can play when our Mifi won't connect.  Which has happened a few times when we were too far away from phone towers.  Also we spend lots of time outside and usually only get on the internet in the evening or if it is raining.  I don't know what would happen if I wanted to download books for my Kindle.  Since I just got it in January, I have only downloaded books at home.  So I'll have to see what happens this summer, or else download a bunch before we go somewhere.  I usually take some library books with me too when we're traveling, if we're not going to be out more than a month.  I do like my Kindle very much, it is great to use when the electric is out, because it has its own light.  I have a Kindle Paperwhite, because the only thing I use it for is to read books.  I couldn't see spending the extra money for one of the fancy ones that are almost like a computer, when I already have a laptop.  I don't buy  many books for it, because there are a lot of romance books and novels free on Amazon so that is usually what I read.  If it is a series I will buy one or two, but it can get expensive to buy them, if ya read as much as I do.  That is why I also take the library books, so it's the best of both worlds for me! I save most of my magazines throughout the year without reading them, and as soon as the cover is off the fiver they go inside.  The magazines that I get aren't date related so it doesn't matter when I read them. 

Today I had a Dr's appointment and xrays.  Then we went to Sam's.  I like going to Sam's and enjoy just browsing, and seeing new products.  One thing that makes me so mad about Sam's though, is they have something and ya try it and decide ya like it, and then you never see it again!   You  buy it for several months, and all of a sudden they don't have it anymore,it just disappears never to be seen again!!  Case in point, I used to buy the Honey Chipotle Salman, frozen.  It was so good, and I loved the flavor, kind of a sweet spicy flavor and it didn't have that fishy taste some  salmon has.  The spice to me was fairly mild, but then I like spices.  It certainly wasn't so hot that you couldn't eat it, and it was portioned just right.  I could put it in the  convection toaster oven frozen for 18 minutes on 375 degrees and it was perfect.  That is what I always had when Mike had pizza for dinner, cos I don't do pizza very well.  They have several kinds of seasoned salmon now, but I didn't want to take a chance on an off brand.  I sure do miss it!  I wish I could remember the brand of it, then I would look it up on the internet and see if I could order it myself.  By chance if any of you are at a Sam's somewhere, and see a box of Honey Chipotle Salmon for around $15 to $17.00, please send me the brand name of it, I would be so grateful if someone found it!  If ya do , please just leave me a comment!  I hope that one day I'll either remember or see it somewhere.  I figure I have about as good of a chance of one as the other!  :)  Well good friends, I wish you safe journeys as you are truckin' down the road, so until next time...