The Decision Is Made and Tomorrow's The Big Day

DeBary, FL.

67 deg. cloudy, WSW wind @ 16 mph.

Forecast = Today: Mostly sunny. Highs around 64°F. West northwest wind to 21 MPH, gusting to 29 MPH.
Tonight: Clear. Lows around 41°F. Wind chill around 34°F. West northwest wind 7 to 16 MPH, gusting to 23 MPH.

Jim and Linda have been busy trying to figure out what to take to the house and what to keep in me to transfer to their new (to them), Motorhome. They've probably taken more to the house than they should have, but until they actually get the Motorhome, they really won't know just how much will fit into the smaller cabinet space and storage compartments.

The other day, (I think it was Monday), Laura brought Anna to the house to see it. If you remember, Anna lives up in Jacksonville and was down here to visit.

Anyway, both Jim and Linda said that it seems like Anna really liked the house and she and Laura even helped Linda make some changes to the curtains in the Florida Room which runs across the front of the house.

Thanks Anna!!! : )

OK, it's time to announce who's going to take over this blog.

After much persuading, Blaine, (Jim and Linda's pet), has agreed to give it a try. He's really hesitant, but I've assured him that all of my followers have been very understanding when I made mistakes and that I was sure that you would be tolerant with him too.  

So,  ,  ,  ,  why Blaine??? Well to be honest, he probably knows more about Jim and Linda than most anyone else. He's been with them since before they went full-timing, he's traveled to all the places that they have gone during the last 12+ years, and he will be in the RV when they're traveling and in the house when they're not.

He could even ride along when Jim and Linda take CLT (Cute Little Truck), someplace! ; )

I don't know just yet how we'll make the transfer, but in the next couple days, he and I will get it figured out. I've helped him start a new main page, so there will be a new URL. There's no post on it yet, but I'm sure he'll post in the next few days. As soon as he gets the page set up and makes his first post, there will be a link to it here.

Tomorrow is the big day!!!! Jim and Linda will take me to the dealer in the morning and then, after the inspection of the new MH and the papers are signed, the new MH and myself will be taken to a CG in the area where Jim and Linda will transfer the rest of their belongings.

After that, Jim and Linda will bring the new MH back here to Highbanks and someone from the dealership will come an take me to the dealer's lot.

A little about my time with Jim and Linda.

I've had a great time, and it's been fun taking them to the places they wanted to go. I'm really sorry that I'm just too big to go to some of the parks that they want to go to though. Jim says that he really likes how I handle the Interstates, and both of them seemed to have really enjoyed my spacious interior, but they both like to get "off the beaten path" when they travel, and, as Jim found out, I'm really too large to do that comfortably. (At least for him).

I also understand that since they've decided to buy the house that I'm just too big for their needs. There's really no sense putting a 45' MH in storage for at leas 1/2 of the year and in fact, it would be very hard on me.

So, hopefully I'll find someone who wants to travel long distances and stay in larger RV parks. I'm sure I will. I'm really in pretty good shape for my age.

All in all, I've had a great time and have enjoyed writing this blog. I'll miss Jim and Linda, their family and all of their friends that I've met, but things change and I'm used to that. After all, I am a house that has wheels, and I never know where I'll be on any given day.

Who knows, buy this time next year, I could be on my way to Alaska!!! ; )

Did you know that today is "Oreo Cookie Day"?

Just one last thing.

I would like to thank all of you who have followed this blog. It has really meant a lot to know that so many of you were interested in my ramblings. Thank You!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!!!!

Please follow Blaine's Blog when he starts posting.

Searching and More Photos

DeBary, FL.

39 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly sunny. Highs around 70°F. North northeast wind to 6 MPH.


Happy Groundhog Day!!!

If you remember, a couple days ago, I talked about what might happen to this blog when Jim and Linda trade me for a smaller RV. Well, it's been suggested that CLT (Cute Little Truck), might be persuaded to take over the blog.

Well, as of right now, he says that he's not interested at all!!! And, he says that after being drug around behind an RV and breathing all of the exhaust fumes that we RVs give off, he probably wouldn't be able to write a blog post, even if he wanted to!!

So,  ,  ,  ,  the search continues! : (

Here's some more photos of the furniture that Jim and Linda have bought for the house.

The first one is of the table and chairs that they bought for the sewing/craft room. The table and chairs are metal but the table has a nice hardwood top and the chairs have some comfy upholstery on the seats. Linda won't need all 4 chairs, but I'm sure she'll find a good use for them. : ) 

This photo is of one of the dressers for the bedroom. It's made of hardwood and is in very good condition, except for some minor damage on the lower left. (Jim says that he thinks he should be able to touch it up so it doesn't show so much.)

This is the matching dresser that goes with the above dresser. They're the same color but the lighting makes them look different.

This is the night stand that matches the dressers. The 2 lamps in the photos were also purchased at the same time.

And, this is another small cabinet that Linda really liked, so Jim purchased it for her. (Kind of unique) ; )

About the only furniture still left to buy is a bed and a TV. They'll be purchasing the bed sometime during the next month, but may not purchase a TV until they return this fall.

Not a whole lot else happening. Jim and Linda were only over at the house for a short time yesterday, and then in the evening, they went to a Perkins Restaurant for dinner.

Today, they need to get some groceries and pick up a few items at Walgreen's, but I don't know of anything else they're planning.

Oh, CLT says that he needs a drink of 87 octane really bad!!!!

Did you know that Punxsutawney Phil weighs about 20 pounds and is 22 inches long, while the average groundhog weighs 12-15 pounds and is 20 inches long?

A Problem?

DeBary, FL.

64 deg. partly cloudy, SE breeze @ 5 mph.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. Highs around 84°F. South wind 13 to 18 MPH, gusting to 25 MPH.


One of my faithful readers, Retired Rod , posted a comment on yesterday's blog. He said that he could see a problem coming concerning this blog. He pointed out that if I turn the blog over to the house when Jim and Linda trade me off for a smaller RV, the house won't have a clue of what's happening when Jim and Linda are traveling during the summer months. On the other hand, if I turn the blog over to the new smaller RV, it will be in storage during the winter months and will not have a clue as to what Jim and Linda are doing during that period of time.

Hmmmm!!!! Retired Rod is right!!!! This may be a big problem!!!!

I suppose that the house could do the blog for 1/2 of the year and the RV do the blog for the other 1/2, but that may get really confusing and may cause more problems during the back and forth transitions. Jim or Linda could take over the blog, but I don't think either one of them have any desire to take the time to post on a regular basis.

Or, the blog would just end when Jim and Linda trade me off. After all, they won't be full-timing any more.

Hmmmm!!!! What to do????

I guess I'll have to ponder on this to see if I can come up with something.

Not a whole lot happened yesterday. Jim and Linda went over to the house for awhile. Jim went to ACE Hardware and bought a few more painting supplies, some light bulbs and a new switch for one of the small lamps that they bought the other day. He also went to Lowe's and purchased a motion detector thing that he'll screw into a light socket on the shed so that there will be some light as he and Linda go out of the kitchen door at night.

The plan this morning is to meet Laura over at the house and get going on the painting. They're wanting to get the living room done so that they can get the furniture arranged.

Did you know that on this date in 1933 - "The Lone Ranger" was heard on radio for the first time? The program ran for 2,956 episodes and ended in 1955.

Veterans Day, Groceries, More Set-UP, Laura And Lindsey

DeBary, FL

 Sunday, 11-11-12

57 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind

Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 81F. Breezy. Winds from the NNW at 10 to 20 mph shifting to the South in the afternoon.


Please take a moment today to honor all the veterans, past and present. If it wasn't for them, our lives would be so much different.

Below you'll find a quick summary of what's been happening since I last posted. Jim and Linda are slowly settling down into normal day to day living, and I'm sure after we've been here even longer, there'll be less and less to write about.

I'm also sure some of what I'll be writing about in the next few months will be very boring, but they want me to keep posting as much as possible so that in the future, they can go back and see what happened while we were here.  

Today, we're looking forward to seeing Ashley and Anna. Anna is here in DeBary for a few days, (She works and lives over by Jacksonville), and yesterday, Laura told Linda that they want to stop by for a little while.

I'm really looking forward to their visit! : )
______________

Thursday, 11/8/12

About the only thing worth mentioning on Thursday was that as soon as Linda got up and had her breakfast, she and Jim took CLT and headed to the Winn Dixie Grocery store which is only about a mile from here. They were gone for quite awhile so I figured that they were buying a lot of groceries, and I was right, they brought back all kinds of groceries!!!!  : O

They did get them all stashed away inside of me though, so I guess it's OK. ; )
____________

Friday, 11/9/12

Friday, as soon as it warmed up, (it was 41 degrees at 7:00 AM), Jim went outside and got his bike out of the back of CLT. Then, he put out my awnings and tied the main awning down with the straps and bungee cords. When he was finished with that, he removed the tow bar off of the front of CLT and put it underneath me on some small boards, so it doesn't sit right on the ground.

While he was doing that, Linda was doing laundry and working on her Family Tree Program.

You've probably noticed that I haven't mentioned anything about Laura and Lindsey since we've been here. Well, until Monday, they didn't know that we would be arriving a week earlier than planned, and they had already planned a camping trip for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So, until Friday afternoon, they were on their camping trip, (with their pop-up trailer), at one of Florida's State Parks.

Friday afternoon, they called and said that they were on their way back home and wanted to know if it would be OK for them to come over around 5:00. They also said that they'd stop by and pick up a pizza for dinner on their way out here to the RV Park.

Well, of course Linda and Jim said that the plan sounded great and told them to come on out here as soon as they could.

So, around 5:00 they pulled up in front of me and then after h and h (hugs and handshakes), they all sat down, enjoyed a very good pizza and talked and talked until around 8:00.

It sure was good to see Laura and Lindsey again. It's been almost a year since we've seen them and a lot of things have happened since then.
_____________

Saturday 11-10-12

After airing his bicycle tires up, Jim took a ride around the park. He hasn't ridden it since we were in Rantoul in September, so he didn't go too far on the first day. He says that he's going to gradually increase the distance to get his legs back in shape again.

In the afternoon, Laura stopped by again. Didn't want anything, just stopped by to chat for awhile. I think she misses her mom.  ; )

For dinner, Jim cooked a couple pork chops on the grill and Linda cooked some cauliflower on my stove. 

A Quick Fact. : Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day; Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving.

Looking Forward

DeBary, FL.

50 deg, clear, no wind.

Forecast  = High temp. 78 deg. mostly sunny, SW wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

Happy New Year!!!!!!

It seems that almost all of the people who write the blogs that I follow are talking about what has happened this past year. Well, I'd like to be different and talk about what I'm looking forward to in this New Year.

Oh yeah, I could talk about sitting in an RV lot for almost 1/2 of the year and then being purchased by Jim and Linda, but if you want to hear about what I've been doing since being purchased, all you have to do is to go back in my posts on this blog and read about it.

Instead of looking back, I prefer to look ahead and think about what may be happening to me this year.

This should be a very exciting year for me. Jim has a trip pretty well planned out for a trip out to Oregon and then back to Illinois. So far, our travels have been rushed. We were in a hurry to come down here to Florida to get some repair work done on me. Then we rushed up to NC, VA, and back down here so that we could get to DeBary by Thanksgiving.

When we leave here in about 3 weeks, our travels should be much more relaxed. First, the plan is to go and see Jim and Linda's friends, Roland and Louise, in Frostproof, FL. After a short visit with them, we'll head to Thonotosassa, FL. to join up with the "Illinois Bunch" ( Deny and Bev, Dave and Dee Dee, and Gordy and Dorthy).

After spending a week with them, we'll start wandering towards the West Coast.

Along the way, the plan is to stop by and see some of Jim and Linda's friends who are staying at RV parks on or near our route, see some sights, and slowly work our way to California.

Jim has always wanted to go to Death Valley but one thing or another always gotten in the way, so on this trip we're planning on making that a major stop. After Death Valley and as the weather warms, we'll slowly wander our way up to Portland, (hopefully along the California/Oregon Coast), to see Jeff and Heather, (Jim's son and his lady), who Jim and Linda haven't seen since 2008.

Being that Jim and Linda so seldom get to see Jeff and Heather, we'll probably stay in Portland for at least 3 weeks before starting to wander back to the Mid-West, getting back there sometime in July.

Now, this whole trip is going to be a learning experience for me. You see, my previous owner was always in a hurry to get from point A to point B and we'd cover a lot of miles each day. From what I understand, Jim and Linda don't travel that way. Instead, they don't get on the road until about 10:00, only travel about 150 miles a day and then every few days, stay for a couple of nights if the CG/RV Park is nice.

A much slower pace than I'm used to.

I also can't ever remember being all the way to the West Coast, so that will be a new experience for me. So, I'm really looking forward to this year. : )  It should be fun and exciting and I hope you'll enjoy reading all about our wanderings.

Oh, another thing. There may be a big change in this blog. Right now, I'm experimenting with a different Blog Host and the jury is still out whether I switch or not. I would imagine that in a week or so I'll know what I'm going to do, and I'll make sure that you're the first to know.

A Point to Ponder : Have you ever thought what life would be like if your name was Anonymous? You'd get credit for everything nobody wanted credit for.