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Blogs

Gramps temporary blog
 

A Can of Worms?

I have made it a point to avoid most controversial subjects here. That hasn't stopped me from posting one or two provocative things, I guess. This entry may cause a bit of conversation, but here goes. FMCA's membership is down. The magazine is so much smaller than it used to be due to a lack of advertisers. The RV industry is still living on the edge of an economic non recovery. Times are not very good at the moment. The price of gas is not going in the direction most of us would like and loa
DerrickL

DerrickL

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"Gramps" Blog
 

The Last Couple of Weeks

It feels good to be writing again. The last couple of weeks have been very busy for me. ….I know, some people don’t have the time to read about my life; they have one of their own. That is what one person told me in the form of a reply after I posted a blog entry. I had to ask myself, why did they read it then? Well this week has been phone system training classes and meetings of all sorts. Last week Diane and I spent three really great days at our home away from home at the Deer Creek Motorco
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

I'm Still Alive!

I was reading a recent editorial article in which the writer had Googled himself and found that he was dead! So, perhaps I should add to my blog lest I end up with the same fate. After all, if you don't stay active in the "net" world I guess someone could conclude that you are deceased. Why else would you not BLOG? For the last five months we've been living in our new mobile home (yes, some people don't know the difference between a mobile home and a motor home). Ironically, a mobile home isn't
tbutler

tbutler

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"Gramps" Blog
 

Remember Rule Number Four?

In order to christen the new blog format, I feel it is necessary to post a few more of my truisms. These truisms fall under my Rules for Owning a Motor Coach: Part 4. Owning a Motor Coach is a Never-ending Learning Experience. I have learned that a clear sewer connection is a good thing to have … that way, you will see the juice box the grand kids dumped in the toilet as it makes its final journey. My wife still will not let me stop at South of the Border and buy anything. My wife will n
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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"Gramps" Blog
 

40 Years

Diane and I have discovered that living in a motor coach simplifies our life. We don't find the small space to be confining. Quite the opposite, it is liberating. Our motor coach frees us from thinking about so many things. She and I normally operate in two different worlds. Diane's world concerns the house, the two men, the cat and the dog that live in it with her. My world revolves around my business, my computers, and my online friends. Most of the time we are in two different parts of the ho
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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"Gramps" Blog
 

Depreciation

This subject pops up every now and then in the Internet forums where I hang about on a regular basis. It may be a post titled "Is your Class A a Money pit?" or "A motor home costs a whole lot more than you think it does!" The people who post these kinds of entries may or may not really have a problem with what a coach or any other large RV may cost. They might just be bored. It's Sunday night and the DW is watching "Desperate Housewives", so there is nothing better for them to do than post some
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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"Gramps" Blog
 

Off to Florida!

The Night Before. It will be a day later than we planned but we are going to St Augustine for New Year's eve. We will do our best to make up the time that we lost. We lost it due to ten inches of snow or maybe it was twelve? It will be a long day on the road tomorrow. Hopefully we will pull into North Beach Campground late Wednesday instead of early in the day. Jeri, Tom and Dilly will arrive sometime Thursday Morning. I think that due to the snow eating the start of our trip, I will add an
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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"Gramps" Blog
 

The Candle

In late November of 1990 I received my December issue of Reader's Digest. I read all the humorous parts of the magazine, and one cover story and then promptly stuck it on a shelf with all the other issues that I still had in my possession. Soon it was Christmas. At that time all of my three children were young. Christine was fourteen, Jeri was eleven, and Joel was five. It was a tough time for us. I was unemployed. I had been without work for almost two years. The country was in an economi
-Gramps-

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Life After Full-Time RVing!

As we were driving from Texas to Missouri last weekend it occurred to me that we were in the car making a road trip. Well, I knew that! But this was the second long-distance road trip we've made in the six months since we moved into a stick house. We chose to make this trip by car because of the driving distance and the possibility of encountering some real winter weather. Somehow, driving the four wheel drive Trailblazer seemed a better choice than taking the motor home. We'll leave Missouri n
tbutler

tbutler

1
"Gramps" Blog
 

Parties, Christmas, Then Head South

Two weekends ago Diane, Teddy and I took the coach for a cold, wet weekend to Beth Page campground in Urbana, Virginia. From Portsmouth it is about a ninety minute drive up I-64 to State Highway 17. It would be a lot quicker if not for slow drivers and lots of stop lights. I didn't mind so much because we were not in a big hurry. We left around two in the afternoon on Friday and the nights festivities would not start until five. The purpose of this trip was to rally up with our fellow Colonial
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Jack & Peg's Great Adventure
 

Happy Holidays from Buescher State Park!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to All! We left Goliad State Park almost three weeks ago and left with mixed emotions. Goliad SP became like home to us and the wonderful park staff became like family and we will really miss them all. Goliad SP is a MUST SEE, and yes, they are big-rig friendly with pull-thru FHU (50-amp) sites and the nicest staff you’ll ever meet. We will be returning to the park next fall, if all goes well. The park is just an AWESOME place, we loved it! As I said, we
Jackhal49

Jackhal49

3
"Gramps" Blog
 

Who Is Rescuing Who?

Or is it Whom? Never mind. I can't remember the exact quote, but at the end of the movie Seabiscuit, there is a line something like this: We may have saved a banged up life, but the truth is we found each other and he saved us. The truth is we may have saved each other. The words printed above are most likely very misquoted, but still, that line describes what has been going on around my house for the last three weeks. Diane and I took a simple trip in the coach, found a dog who has been mov
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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Julie and Frank's Continuing Travels
 

Port Isabel Texas

We departed Las Cruces NM and moved over two days to Kerrville Texas, a nice little town in the heart of the hill country. We have been in this area before and enjoy revisiting the area and its attractions. The town of Fredericksburg is about 30 miles north of Kerrville and is a great place to visit each time we return. Fredericksburg was founded by German immigrants in the mid 1800’s and retains some of the culture of the founding fathers. While in Kerrville we also visit a local meat mar
Frankturman

Frankturman

1
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Putting Her to Bed

It's been a shocking month and a half since I've written about our motor home and the experiences it brings us. There are many excuses: busy lives, family challenges, etc. Most of all, there has been little activity involving the motor home. We parked the motor home in the driveway next to our new mobile home at Sandpipers on October 13. I buttoned her down with window sun screens, and tire covers. Then we began to unload our gear from the closets and cabinets. This was new territory for us. For
tbutler

tbutler

2
"Gramps" Blog
 

Skipping Thanksgiving

Skipping Thanksgiving. (A running blog entry) Wednesday: Diane and myself are skipping the traditional Thanksgiving this year. We are presently sitting in site 41 at the Anvil Campground in Williamsburg, Virginia. Skipping the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, along with all the work that involves, didn't sit too well with some family members. I say too bad! Diane and I need some time to ourselves. Time with less stress, less responsibility. We need a time to heal from the lo
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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revlou's Blog
 

Kids on the road

After 13,000 miles, 38 states and nearly 5 months of travel, we have one wish: To find families who do the same thing as we are doing. There is a great shortage of kids in motor homes that travel with their families on around-the-country trips. The "Class A" motor home parks sometimes cater to kids (at least somewhat) but even the local chapters of FMCA do not have kids. If anyone knows of a local chapter specifically for families with kids, we'd like to know. Even if you search the blogs f
revlouharper@gmail.com

revlouharper@gmail.com

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Jack & Peg's Great Adventure
 

Almost Time to Leave Goliad

We have been volunteering at Goliad State Park in Goliad, Texas, since 1 October and we are still loving it! Full-timing and volunteering is such a great way to spend retirement. It gives us something interesting and constructive to do during retirement and still have plenty of time off to enjoy the area. I highly recommend volunteering at state and federal parks for full-timers. We have learned so much about the local history of the area in our volunteer positions as part of the interpretive s
Jackhal49

Jackhal49

3
Julie and Frank's Continuing Travels
 

Las Cruces

We moved north out of Gallup N.M., to the town of Farmington to attend the Rocky Mountain FMCA Area Rally. This was a nice event held at the Fairgrounds, where we had electrical and water hookups. The rally was relatively small, only about 330 coaches, but was well-run. We had a great time and met a lot of wonderful people. While we were at the rally we discovered that our refrigerator was going bad again. We departed Farmington on Sunday for Albuquerque with the plan of having the annual serv
Frankturman

Frankturman

0
"Gramps" Blog
 

Better than Chocolate

It is very quiet around the house. There is no tapping of little doggie nails on the hardwood floor. No tinkling of a metal dog tag against the side of the food bowl. There is no cheerful crunch of the doggie eating his breakfast. Life continues to go on. Diane will laugh at a joke, e-mailed to her from one of our friends, when it arrives in her mailbox. She will cry when a sympathy card, snail mailed by one of our friends, shows up in the standard mailbox. She also cries after taking a phone c
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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"Gramps" Blog
 

At Rest.

Nickolas is gone to the place where good dogs go. His life on this earth ended just the way he wanted it to end. In memory of him I reprise these words: The Human Whisperer Nickolas, the family pupster here! I asked Dad if he would let me post again. Last time, I hijacked his blog and posted on the sly. This time he said okay. I wanted to leave him and Mom a note. They may need what I write here one day. I am almost 85 years old now, in relative terms, and so I can say that chances are
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

2
"Gramps" Blog
 

Still Fighting

This is a very strange thing to report, but Nickolas is back at the small animal hospital at NC State School of Medicine. It has been a long and very weird night. It seems that the pain pill I gave our dog, a dose big enough to knock out a full grown man, didn't do much to our dog but allow him a couple hours of very deep sleep. Diane who had been keeping vigil beside him, out on the deck the whole time wating for him to finally slip away, came to the door to speak to me. I was looking out the
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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"Gramps" Blog
 

Good-bye, Our Litttle Friend

As I write this our precious Nickolas is fading from this world. I gave him the pill that will allow his suffering to end. It is the hardest thing I have ever done, but I had to do it. He has been sick for five days now. He could not hold down any water or food. This thing came on so suddenly. We rushed him to the vet where they could not find the cause. It would take blood work, more needles more pain and maybe even more surgery to even begin to find out what is wrong. . It was impossible to
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

A Motor Home Rally Becomes a Life Experience

I am still trying to put recent events in perspective. We attended a rally in Prattville, Alabama, recently. The rally was sponsored by Monaco RV, a subsidiary of Navistar. The focus of the rally was the Navistar/Monaco LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Tournament at Capitol Hill in Prattville. We arrived on Wednesday, the 6th of October and set up "camp" with our friends Bill and Laura. Over 100 motor homes were parked at the entrance to the golf course during the event. Thursday mor
tbutler

tbutler

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