NC To VA, A Detour, Construction and A Great Meal

Virginia Beach, VA.

61 deg. mostly cloudy, SW wind @ 3 mph.
Forecast = Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 81F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.

By 9:30 yesterday morning it had  warmed up nicely so Jim went out and dumped Nora's black and gray water tanks. They weren't anywhere near full, but because we were heading to Joe's house in Virginia Beach where there are no sewer hookups, they needed to be empty.

Again, because it was going to be a short travel day, we didn't leave until 10:45. We were planning on going back to US 64, take it East for just a short distance and then take US 17, North. Well, when we got to the ramp going onto 64, there was 1/2 of a new double-wide Mobile Home stranded about 1/2 way up the ramp, with traffic backed up to the road that we were on. ;-O

It didn't look like anything was going to get moving anytime soon, so Jim continued on down the road, made a u-turn at a crossover and headed back into Williamston on Business 17. Williamston is not a big city, so actually we breezed right through town and picked up 17 just North of the city.

The whole thing probably only cost us about 10 minutes more travel time. :-)

Now, if we still were traveling in a Class A Motorhome, we would have not been able to make that u-turn and it probably would have taken us much longer to get turned around. So, I guess there are advantages to having a smaller unit like a Travel Trailer.

Once on US 17 and heading in a Northerly direction, we followed it all the way up to Virginia Beach where we turned East on I-40. For about 3 miles before we came to I-40, we hit major construction on 17. They're in the process of building a new bridge and road over a waterway, (to eliminate a steel lift bridge), It looks like this construction will last a long time, so I'm guessing that it will last for a year or two.

Once through the construction and onto I-40, it took us around the SE side of the city and to I-264. Following 264 towards the beach brought us to Lynnhaven Parkway, ( about 3 miles from the beach),where we turned off of 264 and took local streets to Joe and Nancy's house.

It was 1:15 when we pulled up in front of their house. so even with the detour and the construction, it only took us 2 1/2 hours to travel the 124 miles over here.

Neither Joe or Nancy were home when we arrived, so Jim just backed Nora into the driveway and got her unhooked and set up. Joe, Nancy and Amber arrived home later and then after visiting for awhile,  everyone enjoyed a great short rib crock pot meal that Nancy had put together early in the day. Then because everyone was tired, Jim and Linda came back out here about 7:30 and watched TV until bedtime.

So, unless something unexpected happens, we'll be here for the next 9 or 10 days. We're hooked up to a 20 amp outlet, so by turning almost everything else electric off, we can run the AC if it's hot and use the little electric heater and the furnace if it's cold. (They're forecasting highs in the lower 50's and lows in the mid 30's for Saturday). :-(   There is a place where Jim can dump the gray water tank  but not the black water tank. By using the facilities inside of the house as much as possible, there shouldn't be a problem.

Did you know that in Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches, and to hear an owl's call meant that someone was about to die?

Hoo!! Hoo!! ;-)

Moncure To Williamston, NC and Pierce's RV Park

Williamston, NC.

47 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Sunny, High 83F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Because we didn't have a long way to go we didn't leave Moncure until about 10:55. Once back on US 1, we took it North up to Raleigh where we tuned East on I-40, followed it around the SE side of the city and then turned East on US 64. We then followed 64 all the way to Williamston, NC and to the Pierce's RV Park just West of the City on Garrett Road.

No one was in the office when we arrived, but there was a sign on the door that said to pick a site, so that's what we did.

It was 1:05 when we pulled into site 16A, so it took us just 2 hours and 10 minutes to travel  136 miles.

Pierce's RV park is a nice park to stay at if you're just traveling through the area. It's a small park, well maintained, but there's nothing fancy about it. All the sites are grass, there's no shade but I think all sites are full hook-up with 50 amp electric and the owners are supper nice people who actually remember you if you've been here a few times.

Like I said,  nothing fancy, but a good place to stop for only $22 per night with the Good Sam discount.

Today, we'll head to Virginia Beach and to Joe and Nancy's house. We'll be staying there for about 10 days before heading South for the winter. Hopefully the weather will hold somewhat and it won't get too cold before we get farther South. I'm starting to get a little concerned about that though, because already, they're forecasting a high of only 51 degrees with rain for this Saturday. :-(

Did you know that in North Carolina, it's illegal to use Elephants to plow cotton fields?

Woof!!!

Dinner With Mike, Gina And Family and Heading Out Today

Moncure, NC.

37 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Sunshine. High near 75F. Winds light and variable.

Hasn't been much to write about. Every day Jim and Linda have taken Big RED and headed over to Mike and Gina's house. Then, yesterday, Mike and Dillon came out here to the park to see Nora and to visit for awhile.

It was a good visit and part of the time they were inside and the rest of the time they sat outside enjoying the great weather we've been having. Then, about 4:30 Jim and Linda took Big RED and headed to the Carrabba's Restaurant in Apex, where they met Mike, Gina, Brenna, Savanna and Dillon for dinner.

Jim and Linda said that the food was very good, but the best part was being there with Mike and his family. ;-)

But, everything must come to an end and after H and K, Jim and Linda headed back here, stopping at a gas station on the way, to get Big RED a nice big drink of that good old #2 diesel fuel, so he would be ready to go to work this morning.

Yep!! This morning, we'll be leaving and heading further East. The plan is to go as far as Williamston, NC today, and then go on to Virginia Beach tomorrow. Both days will be short travel days, but if we went the whole way in one day, (and we've done it before), it would be a fairly long day.

Both Linda and Jim are looking forward to seeing Joe and his family again. The plan is to stay in Virginia Beach about 10 days and then start heading down to Florida, getting there around the 18th or 20th of November.

Did you know that the first miniature golf course was built in Fayetteville, NC.?

Woof!!!

Visiting and A Linda Update

Moncure, NC.

42 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = High 68F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. 0% chance of rain.

Jim and Linda have been taking Big RED and heading over to Mike and Gina's house almost every day. Mike gets home from work a little after 5 most days, so they try to get there around 5:30. After eating a meal together, they visit until around 7:30 to 8:00, when Brenna, Savanna and Dillon start to get ready for bed.

During the day, Jim and Linda do "normal" stuff around here.

Yesterday, the kids were all busy with lessons of one kind or another, so Linda baked a small ham in Nora's oven, cooked some green beans and heated up some buttered french bread that was starting to get a little stale. It sure did smell good inside of Nora and evidently, it tasted real good too!! ;-)

Linda seems to be doing better all the time. She had some dizzy spells Tuesday, but the days she has them have been getting farther apart and fewer.  She still doesn't have a whole lot of energy, but that seems to be getting better also.

It's a slow recovery process.

Did you know that Krispy Kreme Doughnut was founded in Winston-Salem, NC?

Woof!!!

Dickens RV Park and A Visit With Mike, Gina And Family

Moncure, NC

38 deg clear, no wind.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. High 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

The  Dickens RV Park is really a nice park but it just doesn't have the features that Jim and Linda would prefer.

This is the sign you see from the road.

As you enter the park these are some of the sites that you see off to your left.

Straight ahead is the bath house/laundry to the right and the owners house to the left.

Off to the right you see the larger section of the campground sites.

As you can see, there's no grass or trees in the RV site areas.

There is grass between some of the rows of sites and some trees in those areas, but basically the whole park is just covered with large gravel.

But, Kent, the owner is very friendly and helpful and so is Marty, the manager. The park is within about 20 to 30 minutes from Mike and Gina's house, so for 10 or 12 days, it'll do nicely.

Speaking of Mike and Gina, Jim and Linda finally got to see them yesterday. You see, because the kids didn't have school on Thursday or Friday, Mike and Gina had made plans to go to Williamsburg, VA this past Thursday through Sunday before they knew when we were going to be here. Jim and Linda knew that and told them to call when they returned.

Well, yesterday afternoon, (about 3:00 or so), Mike called, said that they had just returned, and wanted to know if Jim and Linda could come over for a couple hours? Well, it didn't take Jim and Linda long to get ready and in just a little while, Big RED was taking them over there. ;-)

It sounds like they had a very nice visit, but because everyone still had a lot of unpacking to do and the kids had to get everything ready for school today, around 5:30, they left and headed back here to the park.

Both Jim and Linda said that it was really good to see everyone. They had a very nice visit and plans were made to go back over there this evening.

Did you know that North Carolina is the largest producer of sweet potatoes in the nation?

Woof!!!

A Great Visit and Forest City, NC To Moncure, NC

Moncure, NC.

47 deg. Mostly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Sunny. High 74F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.

We didn't leave Roland and Louise's house on Wednesday as planned because of the heavy rain storms that were moving through the area. Tuesday night, we had around 2 inches of rain and very gusty winds and if we would have left in the morning, we would have driven right back into them. :-(

So, we enjoyed another day of visiting and helping Roland and Louise get ready for their trip down to Florida for the winter. :-)

Oh, Jim took some photos of Roland and Louise's place. (You can click on the photos to enlarge them.)  Jim and other friends and family helped Roland build this house back in 2007 and just this year they've had a very nice addition added to the rear of the home, making it even more livable as a permanent residence for them some day.

Property viewed from out by the road.

The other side of the house. You can see "Big Herb" in his spot in the MH port.

The "boardwalk" leading to the rear of the house.

And finally, Roland and Louise in their newly enlarged home.

Jim and Linda have really enjoyed spending some time with Roland and Louise, and they're hoping that they can get together down in Florida a few times this winter.

Thanks for everything!!!!!

Yesterday morning after H and H, we left Roland and Louise's house near Forest City about 9:45 and took some secondary roads to US 64, where we turned NE and followed it up to I-40. Turning East on 40, brought us through  the Hickory, Statesville, Winston-Salem areas and to I-73, heading around the South side of Greensboro. 73 brought us to US 421 which took us SE to Sanford where we turned NE on US 1. US 1 then brought us up to Moncure and to the Dickens RV Park.

Over all, the roads were pretty decent. there were some rough areas, but they were fairly short. As expected, we had fairly heavy traffic around the larger cities, but it all moved along nicely, even through the few short construction areas we encountered.

When we pulled in, it was 1:50, so we had traveled 222 miles in 4 hours and 5 minutes. A fairly long travel day for us.

Jim and Linda have paid for 10 days here at the Dickens RV Park and Marty, (the CG manager) said that there wouldn't be a problem if we wanted to stay longer than that.

Did you know that the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is the oldest State University in the United States?

Woof!!!

Waynesville To Forest City, NC, Visiting and Storms On The Way

Forest City, NC.

69 deg. rain showers, SE wind @ 7 mph.
Forecast today = Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. High near 75F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Forecast tonight = Thunderstorms - some may contain locally heavy rain, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low 57F. SSW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.


Saturday morning, in between rain showers, Jim was able to get the utilities unhooked and get Nora hooked to the back of Big RED. Even with the rain delays, we were able pull out of the Creekwood  Farm RV park about 10 minutes before 10:00.

With the mountains mostly behind us, we made good time as we headed towards Ashville on I-40. Just before Ashville, we turned SE on I-29 and followed it down to Columbus where we turned East on US 74. 74 brought us over to Roland and Louise's house which is just a little NW of Forest City.

By the time we pulled into their driveway, it was 11:25 and we had traveled 89 miles in an hour and 35 minutes,

Roland and Louise are RVing friends that we met at an RV Park down on the panhandle of Florida way back in 2002 and have been very good friends ever since.

Other than a lot of visiting, there hasn't been much to post about the last few days. Yesterday afternoon, Jim and Linda took Big RED had went to a Food Lion Grocery store over in Rutherfordton to purchase some much needed groceries and then in the evening, everyone got into Roland and Louise's car and headed over to the Pizza Hut for dinner.

The plan was to leave here tomorrow morning and head over to the Apex, NC area to see Mike and his family, but there's a large storm that has been causing some severe weather west of us, heading this way that should be moving into this area this afternoon and possibly lasting into tomorrow. The problem is that even if it's out of this area by morning, it's moving into the Apex area from here and we'd be driving right back into it. :-(

So,  ,  ,  ,  , depending on what it looks like in the morning, we may or may not leave here until Thursday morning.

Did you know that the world’s first weather satellite, Tiros 1,was launched on April 1, 1960 and sent back thousands of images during its short life span of only 79 days?

Woof!!!

A Few Photos As Promised

Waynesville, NC

61 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Scattered thunderstorms during the morning becoming more widespread this afternoon. High near 70F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

As promised, here's a couple photos of the Greenwood Farm RV Park.

The entrance sign you see as you travel down US 276

As you can see, the sites are pretty close together and at right angle to the road, making getting in with a larger RV very difficult.

Our site #84. There's a small gravel patio with a picnic table.

The creek running along the side of the park is very nice, but the back-in sites on the bank of the creek are quite a bit more expensive.

Jim and Linda didn't do a lot yesterday. Jim took BigRED and filled his tank with #2 diesel, Linda wasn't feeling real well and was having some minor dizzy spells so the only thing that they both did was to go out to eat at the Underwood's Family Restaurant. The restaurant wasn't anything special but the food was good, (Jim had the chicken and dumplings special and Linda had a burger), and the waitress was very nice and helpful.

There is a lot to see and do around the Waynesville area, but the sightseeing will have to wait for another time.

Today, we'll head to Forest City, NC to see Jim and Linda's very good friends, Roland and Louise. They have a place out in the country and in recent months have been adding a large addition on to the  house. They also have a place to park Nora with full hook-ups. :-)

It's less than 100 miles over there, so if the rain holds off, it should be a fairly easy trip.

Did you know that on this date in 1929 - JCPenney opened a store in Milford, DE, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states?

Woof!!!

Kentucky To North Carolina and Big RED's Performance In The Smoky Mountains

Waynesville, NC.

56 deg partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast = Mostly cloudy early with scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High around 75F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.


To get to the CG in North Carolina that Jim had made reservations at, would require us to travel over 200 miles yesterday, so we left Berea, KY about 9:50 and continued South on I-75. We had some construction, but nothing that delayed us much, so we made good time all the way down to Knoxville, TN. where we turned NE on the I-640 by-pass and took it around to the NE side of the city.

From there, we headed East on I-40 until it turned SE and took us into the Great Smoky Mountains. The road through the mountains was good and in spite of 50 mph speed limit for trucks, (that Jim maintained), and the 45 mph curves, we made good time, pulling into the Creekwood Farm RV Park  at 1:30, just 3 hours 40 minutes and 224 miles after we left Berea.

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A side note here.   This is the first time that Big RED has pulled Nora in the mountains. These mountains are no where near as big as the mountains out West, but Jim was quite impressed with Big RED's performance. He pulled Nora up almost all the grades in high gear, (in the "tow-haul mode" without needing to downshift), and because the transmission was in the "tow-haul mode" Jim only had to use the brakes sparingly down one steep downgrade.

Now, you need to know that Jim was not "pushing" Big RED to get to the top of the hill the fastest and didn't try to maintain a high speed going up the mountains.
------------------------

We've been to the Creekwood Farm RV Park before. It's a pretty nice park, located in a very scenic area. The folks running the park are supper nice and lead you to your site and help you get positioned. In the off season times, they give the Passport America discount but give a 10% GS discount all the time. (Jim didn't take any photos because right after getting Nora set up, it started raining, but he's planning on taking some today). The sites are kind of narrow, but the worst thing about this park is that all of the sites are at a right angle to the road, making it difficult for a large rig to make the turn into the pull-through sites or to back into one of the back-in sites.

If you go to the CG website and look at their map, you'll see what I mean.

We'll be staying here for 2 nights, so I'll post some photos of the park soon.

Did you know that Electric cars were introduced in 1896 and by the end of the century almost 50% of motorcars worldwide were electric? Yet, by 1905 80% of cars were petrol driven and by 1920 the electric car was, well, almost history.

Woof!!!

Walton To Berea KY and Visiting With Rick And His Family

Berea, KY.

46 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast =  Partly cloudy with isolated showers. Highs around 73°F. Light wind. Chance of precipitation 40 percent.


Because we had a short way to go and had a long time to get there, we didn't leave the Oak Creek Campground near Walton, KY until about 10 minutes before 11:00. Once back on I-75 we followed it South down to Lexington and Richmond to Berea, KY where we pulled into the Walnut Meadow CG and RV Park.

This park has never had very good reviews, but in my opinion, the owners have made a very good effort to get the place looking better. We've been stopping by here since 2001 and continue to return every time we're in the area.

The area by the office has been cleaned up,

the grass has been mowed and weeds removed

and all in all, I think it's a pretty good place to stay for only $20 per night!!!

The folks who run the park are supper nice, lead you to your site and any time we've been here they're willing to help in any way they can.

It was 12:30 when we pulled up in front of the office so we had traveled 103  miles in about an hour and 40 minutes.

Around 3:00 or so, Linda called Rick and left a message on his voice mail, telling him that we're in the Campground and to give us a call when he got off work.  While waiting for Rick to call back, Jim took a nap fooled around with the computer and helped Linda clean up the inside of Nora a little.

A little after 5:00, Rick called and after finding out where we were in the park, came and visited. Then a little after 6:00, Jim, Linda and Rick took Rick's car and headed over to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant where they met up with Rick's son Corey, his wife and their 2 children.

Either they ate a lot of food or they talked a lot because they were gone for quite awhile. :-)  Eventually, Rick brought Jim and Linda back here to the CG. Then, after h and h, Rick headed home.

It sure was good to see Rick again. It had been over 2 years since Linda had seen him and all through this last year when Linda was fighting her cancer, Rick called often to offer his support.

Today we'll be heading to North Carolina where Jim has made a reservation at a RV park near Waynesville. The reason he made the advance reservation is that we're now getting into the "leaf peeper" season and there are lots of folks coming to the Smoky Mountain area to see the colors.

So, today will be a fairly long travel day. It's around 200 miles over there, we'll have to deal with the Knoxville traffic and then the Smoky Mountains before we get there.

Did you know that Bluegrass is not really blue--its green--but in the spring bluegrass produces bluish purple buds that when seen in large fields give a blue cast to the grass. Today Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State.

Woof!!!

Indiana To Kentucky and The Oak Creek Campground

Walton, KY.

45 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 69F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.


When Jim woke up about 6:00 EDT yesterday morning. it was raining and it sure didn't look good for preforming the outside tasks to get Nora ready to travel. Jim hadn't unhooked Big RED from Nora, but there was still the water, electric and cable TV cord to deal with. And of course, the stabilizer jacks and the front tongue jack had to be retracted.

So, Jim drank some coffee, watched some news and weather on TV, had something to eat, and then about 8:30 woke Linda up.

I guess Linda has a "magic touch" because almost as soon and she got up, the rain slacked off and in about 1/2 hour it stopped almost completely!!! ;-) Well, by 9:30 we were pulling out of the CG and were heading back to I-465 under partly sunny skies. 465 took us around the South side of Indy and over to I-74, heading SE towards Cincinnati.

We made good time on 74, with only a few small construction zones. Once we crossed into Ohio, we turned South on I-275 which took us down to the South side of the Cincinnati and to I-75. Heading South on 75 brought us down into Kentucky and to the Oak Creek Campground near Walton.

It was 11:50 when we pulled up in front of the office, so it took us 2 hours and 20 minutes to travel the 136 miles over here.

The Oak Creek CG is much more to our liking.

There's lots of trees and good paved or gravel roads throughout the CG.

There's a cute playground for the kids,

Open pull-through sites

Shady back-in sites like site #17, that we're in.

Some have a nice wooden decks with picnic tables, (with a friendly kitty included).

And, of course, there's Oak Creek. ;-)

We had some heavy rain most of the afternoon, but it and the storms that passed just to the south of us moved on by about 4:00. That gave Jim and Linda a chance to take Big RED for a nice drink of #2 diesel fuel and stop at a Waffle House Restaurant to have breakfast for dinner.

Today, we'll be heading down I-74 to Berea, KY. to see Rick, (another of Linda's cousins). Berea is only about an hour and a half South of here, so I don't expect we'll be leaving here very early. In fact, Jim and Linda thought about heading on down there yesterday, but the weather wasn't looking good and we're not pressed for time.

Did you know that the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant owned and operated by Colonel Sanders is located in Corbin, KY?

Woof!!!

Rantoul To Indy and Mike's Not Feeling Well

Indianapolis, IN.

52 deg. light rain, no wind.
Forecast = Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing for the afternoon. High 66F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.


After some early morning rain, the skies partially cleared and by the time Jim was ready to go out and start getting things ready, there was quite a bit of sun. :-)

Linda got up about 8:00 and after she finished breakfast, she and Jim started packing up in earnest. In fact, by 9:40, we were hooked up and pulling out of the campground. Actually we normally could have been ready earlier, but after sitting for 76 days, both of them had to get back in the "groove" again and get their system down again.

We took some county roads South to I-74 near St. Joseph, IL and then turned East on 74 and followed it over to Indy.  74 was in pretty good condition and we rolled right along until we got into Indiana where we had a few construction areas. The biggest one was about 35 miles West of Indy where they were resurfacing the right lane on a long stretch of road.

Once near Indy we turned South on I-465 and followed it South, around the SW part of the city. Once on the South side of Indy, we turned off on IN-37 and took it SW for about a mile and to the Lake Haven Retreat.

As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing special about this RV Park, but when you're in the Indianapolis area and you want to visit someone on the South side of the city, your choices are limited. It's an OK park but the sites are close together and you get quite a bit of road noise from Rt. 37. You get full hook-ups with cable TV and free Wi-Fi for the $30.54 fee, (and that's including the Good Sam Discount).

It was right at 12:00 CDT when we pulled into the park, so it only took us 2 hours and 20 minutes to travel the 137 miles over here.

If you remember from yesterday's post, I said that Linda's cousin, Mike was having some health problems. Well, he's not feeling well at all, so Linda and Jim didn't go over to his house. When Linda talked to Mike on the phone in the afternoon, he was still trying to get in to see a doctor. :-(

Hope your feeling better, Mike. We'll see you next time we're in the area!

Today, the plan is to head over to Cincinnati and then South into Kentucky. Linda has another cousin who lives down there.

Did you know that there are more than 4 billion cell phones in use? About 3 million cell phones are sold every day.

Woof!!!

A Wet, Cold, Windy, Nasty Day and Saying Good-Bye

Rantoul, IL.

50 deg. cloudy, light rain.
Forecast = Rain showers this morning with some sunshine during the afternoon hours. High 61F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.


As advertised, Saturday was a wet, cold, windy, nasty day with temperatures never getting out of the 50's and winds gusting over 30 mph. So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  Jim stayed inside most of the day, watching TV and fooling around with the computer. :-) The only thing that he did was to go out and turn over the patio mat, spray it down with the hose to get most of the dirt off of the bottom side and then stake it down on a grassy area so that it wouldn't blow away.

Early Sunday morning, even though it was only in the low 40's with about 20 mph winds, he went out, and hung the mat over the picnic table to dry out. Then, about 8:30 he went back out and folded it up and put it in the back of Big RED. It isn't real clean, but it'll get a good scrubbing when we get someplace where there's room and they'll allow cleaning it.

After finishing with the patio mat, he dumped the black and gray water tanks, flushed everything out and stored the sewer hose and supports and then stored the green water hose that he uses for that type of  job. After dinner, (a personal pizza and an Italian beef sandwich from Monical's Pizza), he went back out and put away the water hose and filter.

The only hookup left to deal with this the morning is the electric. :-)

Oh, and since they were going to Monical's to pick up dinner, he and Linda stopped by the gas station and topped off Big RED's fuel tank and dropped off a couple letters in the box at the Post Office.

About 5:30 or so, Jim and Linda walked over to the office to say good-bye to Paul and Louise and settle up for the site rent. They stayed and talked for quite awhile and then after H and H, (Hugs and Handshakes), they came back here and watched TV until bedtime.

This morning, if the weather co-operates at all, we'll be leaving here, probably around 10:00 or so. The plan is to head over to Indianapolis to see Linda's cousin, Mike and his wife Sandy. But, (and there's that "but" again), yesterday evening, Mike called and said that he wasn't feeling well and would more than likely go to see his doctor this morning. This is a recurring health problem and the last time he had these symptoms, he ended up in the hospital!!! :-(

So, we'll head over there and stay at a Campground in the area. If Mike is well enough, Jim and Linda will take Big RED and head over to his house. If he isn't, Jim and Linda will have to wait to see him and Sandy until the next time we're passing through the area. :-(

Bummer!!!!!!

 Did you know that The first electronic mail, or “email”, was sent in 1972 by Ray Tomlinson? It was also his idea to use the @ sign to separate the name of the user from the name of the computer.

Woof!!!

Finished With Doctor Appointments and The Weather

Rantoul, IL.

38 deg. clear, Wind SSW 13 MPH Gusts 20 MPH.
Forecast = A mix of clouds and sun. Gusty winds diminishing during the afternoon. High 52F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph.

That cold front came through this area with a vengeance! The wind picked up, (25 to 30 mph), it rained very hard at times, (bringing us around 2" of rain), and the temperature dropped like a rock!!!

What a change, going from the mid 80's a few days ago to the upper 30's this morning!!! Brrrrr!!!!

Linda's last eye doctor appointment with the cataract surgery doctor went very well and she gave Linda the OK to head out. :-) She said that everything looked good and that she'd like to see Linda again when we return next summer.

While Linda and Jim were at the doctor's office, the weather front that would eventually bring these cold temps started moving though with heavy rain. In fact, it rained so hard that Big RED said that on his way back here, he had to slow way down so that Jim could see where they were going. Since then, it has been very windy with off and on rain.

So, as far as getting ready to travel, not much got done around here. Today, they're forecasting more windy conditions, so it looks like cleaning the awning before we leave is out. Jim also has a patio mat out that will definitely need some cleaning before it can be folded up and put into the back of Big RED, and there are sewer hose supports, sewer hoses and water hoses that will need to be cleaned and put away before we leave.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a pretty decent day though, so although Jim doesn't like waiting until the last day to get ready, some of the outside preparations to leave may have to wait till then.

Did you know that on this date in 1915 - The Dinosaur National Monument was established? The area covered part of Utah and Colorado.

Woof!!!

One Down And One To Go, Weather and Hitch Itch Has Set In

Rantoul, IL.

deg. clear, E wind @ 6 mph.
Forecast = Mostly sunny. Highs around 79°F. East southeast wind to 9 MPH.

Yesterday morning, Linda had to be down in Champaign at 8:50 to see Dr. Gandhi for another eye treatment where he injects medicine into the eye. Needless to say, she wasn't looking forward to the appointment, but if it will save the vision that she still has in that eye, I guess it's worth it.

Everything went well and Dr. Gandhi said that the eye looked better than it had on the 26th of September. :-) He also found the names of 3 Retina Specialist down in Florida, (fairly close to DeBary), that should be able to handle any further treatments that Linda may need. His recommendations were that when Linda gets down to Florida, she should contact one of the specialist and make an appointment. Dr. Gandhi also gave Linda copies  all the results from the eye scans and test that he preformed to give to the Dr. that she chose.

Dr. Gandhi also recommended that when Linda goes to her appointment with Dr. Anderson on Thursday, to get a summery of the cataract surgeries and other treatments that Dr. Anderson preformed and give that to the specialist in Florida also.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  one more appointment to go!!! The appointment with Dr. Anderson is at 1:00 tomorrow, and then Linda will be finished with Dr. appointments until sometime in late November or early December!!!! ;-)

Once Linda is finished with that last appointment, she and Jim can concentrate on getting everything packed up and ready to head out on the 6th.

The "Hitch Itch" around here is getting BAD!!!!

One of the big news items around here is the weather. Ever since around the 20th of September, it's been really nice here in central Illinois.  The highs have been in the upper 70's to low 80's and there has not been any rain. Well, that's about to change. The forecast is pretty good for today, but they're forecasting a cold front coming through on Thursday. With that front, will come rain and much colder temperatures. In fact the forecasted high  for Saturday is only 57 degrees with the low overnight of only 41 degrees!!!!!

Brrrrrrrr!!!!!!!! I think it's time to head SOUTH!!!!!

Did you know that in Rantoul, there is a 50% chance that there will be frost by the 12th of October?

Woof!!!