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Mad Dogs and Medicare
 

Prepare For Landing!

PREPARE FOR LANDING! Hard or soft? Sooner or later? Where? When Cor and I opted for a life on the open road; we envisioned roaming the US at a leisurely pace, pausing long enough to savor the essence of north woods, prairie mountain, mesa, and bayou. Arrival at new campgrounds was exhilarating: so much to learn about the area. There were chutes in Ontario, fossils in Wisconsin. The first sight of the Rockies’ ridgeline at sunset was breathtaking. We had loved meandering by boat; so why not by
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

F M C A Bowling Green - Thursday, July 23, 2009

Today is the final day of the FMCA 2009 International Convention in Bowling Green, Ohio. We woke this morning to dripping rain. Not heavy but definitely wet. I left the bicycle at home today as our first meeting was at the stadium - or so we thought. Since it was raining they moved the general meeting of FMCA to an indoor location. Makes sense but no one told us. Worse, we didn't find a notice posted anywhere near the stadium so after exploring a bit around the stadium to ensure that the m
tbutler

tbutler

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

F M C A Bowling Green - Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Well, it had to happen. We had a rainy day. Now this wasn't the frog strangling rain you might expect with an FMCA Convention. This was a slobbery drizzly day. In fact I rode my bicycle to and from the activities I attended today and did not get wet on any ride. I picked up a few rain drops but never really got wet. Louise walked to her activities. To be honest, there weren't many bicycles in the bike racks early this morning. My first session was Tires 101 by Roger Marble. Roger is an
tbutler

tbutler

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

F M C A Bowling Green - Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The flags and gizmos are flying high today. The parking area takes on a festive look with numerous coaches flying flags or wind toys of various kinds. There is a stiff breeze right now and they are in their glory. We just heard a clap of thunder from a storm that has been building over Toledo. We might have some rain tonight. Meanwhile, I am relaxing in my easy chair, dinner is a few minutes away. I have the Trailer Life Campground Guide on the floor next to me. I have been appointed to f
tbutler

tbutler

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

F M C A Bowling Green - Monday, July 20, 2009

It is hard to describe the wonder of watching close to 3000 motor homes assemble in one place in a matter of two days or so. Think of the dynamics of it, a city of 6000+ people (official estimate) and 1000+ dogs (my estimate) and who knows how many cats, suddenly assemble in one place. For the most part we are self sufficient. Sure, some of us have an electric supply but we could do without it. It really is quite an amazing event simply to watch the parking lots fill with motor homes and fin
tbutler

tbutler

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Enjoying The Monaco Pre-rally In Springfield, Ohio - A Sign Of The Times.

The Monaco International Pre-Rally for the FMCA Bowling Green Convention got underway on Monday, July 13. We had about 165 coaches on the grounds and one dealer, Paul Evert's RV Country from Fresno, CA, who had about 12 coaches for sale. Some sales were made but mostly people were looking. Louise picked out one she likes, I would go for another but not until we win the lottery! Mike looked up the blue book value of our motor home and it was an eye opener. We knew the value would get there e
tbutler

tbutler

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Off the Grid

Our destination park for the visit with my brother was Levi Jackson State Park just south of London, Ky. The signage is excellent. The trees on the road into the park need trimming badly. We will leave the park via an alternate route. Kentucky Highway 229 is much more motorhome friendly than the entrance off US 25 that is given in the directions in the campground directory. We arrived without reservations. We could have made them several days in advance, but when the awning repair was finished
tbutler

tbutler

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Kentucky Roads

Out of Foristell, Missouri, headed to London, Kentucky, we had fine weather, plenty warm, and lots of clouds. Traffic moved well, lots of road repair. Looking for Wayne77590 but no connection. He left Kentucky heading up I-64 for Missouri. We had corresponded via messages on FMCA Community but just couldn't make a meeting work for us. Our departure was delayed by an awning repair. We got away from the repair shop about 2:00 p.m. It turns out Wayne was pulling into an RV park in Villa Ridge, Miss
tbutler

tbutler

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Doug, Trudy, and Dale's Adventure
 

Home, Sweet Home ... Days 37 and 38 of 38 Day Adventure

... and the adventure comes to an end July 5, day 37: A drive day from Las Cruses, N.M., to Tucson, Ariz. Nothing exciting along the way. July 6, day 38: A drive day from Tucson to our home in Cathedral City, Calif., 380 miles on I-10. So ends a great 38-day adventure. We drove 6,822 miles and traveled through 14 states. We had set a trip "on the road" budget of $7,600, or $200 per day, for food, fuel and park fees. However, we actually spent $6,900. The savings was in fuel ... we had budget
DougC

DougC

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Doug, Trudy, and Dale's Adventure
 

The Roadrunner Café in Ft Stockton.... Days 34, 35, 36, of a 38 day Adventure

...and the adventure continues, Thursday, July 2, day 34, Thursday is a drive day from San Antonio TX to Fort Stockton TX. We arrived at The Fort Stockton RV Park, in Fort Stockton in the mid-afternoon. It's located right off of I-10. The park met our needs and I need to mention The Roadrunner Café at the RV Park... we thought we were sitting in a house with home cooking! The menu is limited but very good. Everything was homemade, like fried catfish and biscuits and gravy... we had dinne
DougC

DougC

1
Mad Dogs and Medicare
 

Medical Help in Motion

1. Make a list of all prescriptions, including dosage and have it laminated (Staples) to fit in your wallet. 3. List an emergency contact in your cell phone under “ICE†stands for “in case of emergency†-- speedy help if you are in an accident. 3. Go Digital and carry your memory stick with you. 4. If you will need regular monitoring tests (protime, PSA, sugar, etc.) have your doctor give you plenty of prescriptions to carry with you. 5. Same goes for prescription refills -- or use
Minnie's Milepost
 

Minnie's Song

It sits there in the driveway and sings to me, my Minnie motorhome does. When it's at home in the driveway, the song is not all that sweet, however. It has a nagging quality, and words are something like, "When are you leaving this town, and relaxing, and fishing...?" It is very difficult to own a motorhome when you are working full-time, but I am doing the best I can. Difficult because if I am not having to hear the "When are you leaving?" song, I am busy with another tune, like "Make Digita
Peggy

Peggy

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Doug, Trudy, and Dale's Adventure
 

The Lone Star State, day 31, 32, 33.... of 36 day Adventure

... and the adventure contineus... as mentioned before, Sunday June 28 was a driving day from New Orleans to Austin TX. We arrived at the Austin Lone Star Carefree RV Park about 8 pm... we set up the RV and then turned in for the night, Monday, June 29, day 31, We got ready to go into the downtown entertainment area of Austin... however the temperature and humidity were very high... so we knew that walking around outside in the downtown area would be difficult... so we drove around a numb
DougC

DougC

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Birthdays with Grandchildren add Some Spice to Life

We are still in Missouri which is unheard of since we began living full time in our motor home. The weather has made us wonder if we need our heads examined. We keep telling ourselves this is why we haven't done this before. We were going to be here later than usual this year and we have two grandchildren with June birthdays we haven't celebrated with them for a while so, why not make the best of it? Kaitlyn is six years old this year. For her birthday she chose to go to the Magic House (
tbutler

tbutler

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Doug, Trudy, and Dale's Adventure
 

In the Big Easy, days 27, 28, 29, 30 of the 36 day Adventure

...You may notice that the adventure has now been extended a few more days... until Saturday July 4... we just couldn't make the desired stops and maintain the schedule... Thursday, June 25, day 27, today is a driving day and we left Defuniak FL and arrived at Ponchartrain RV Park, on the edge of New Orleans. We caught the RV park's 6:45 pm shuttle to the French Quarter and the driver let us off at Pat O'Brien's Restaurant, a popular place for music, food and a large patio with water fo
DougC

DougC

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"Gramps" Blog
 

Rules for Owning a Motor Coach: Number 3

You know the old saying; it's the Journey not the Destination. There is a church two doors down from us. The church allows us to hook up our tow in their parking lot and we leave from there. It is quite convenient. When Diane and I have a trip it starts for us the moment we leave the church parking lot. Actually it starts the moment we start packing up the coach, no, it starts the moment we start thinking about THE TRIP. The trip, made up of two important parts, the route, and the destination
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Midwestern Heat to Test the Air Conditioners and Rain for the Awnings

The thermometer was within striking distance of 100 degrees for the last week here in Missouri. During the day the air conditioners ran almost continuously even with our sun screens on all our windows. Since we are full timers we had sun screens custom made for all our windows. Motor Coach Designs took the measurements over the phone and we had them installed at the Monaco International Rally before the FMCA Convention in Redmond, Oregon in 2004. We don't use them all the time but if the wea
tbutler

tbutler

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Doug, Trudy, and Dale's Adventure
 

Boiled, not Fried... Days 24, 25, 26 of 32 Day Adventure

... the adventure continues and we are having a lot of fun On June 22, day 24, we had a large fried lunch before leaving Charleston and drove to Savannah, about 2 hours away. We got in late and after setting up, we crashed for the night... June 23, day 25, we planned to spend a full day in Savannah and did just that. The Savannah Oaks RV Resort, is located about 15 or so miles from downtown Savannah. I've come to love the Garmin we have... I just plug in an address and "Jill" (the Garmi
DougC

DougC

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RelationshipDoc's Blog
 

A new member of the family

This past weekend, my wife and I went to a nearby Army Corps park to just relax and enjoy each other. It was our first trip in the motorhome since the family trip to Disney I previously wrote about. This trip was to be just the two of us - no pressure, no schedule, no stress. It all went wonderfully well - with one complication. Shortly after we set up, a cute little white kitty came into the site. I'm a sucker for animals and especially cats. Donna's a cat person, too, so that works well. In f
RelationshipDoc

RelationshipDoc

2
RelationshipDoc's Blog
 

Family Camping Update

Well, I am much later posting the update than I thought. The family camping trip went. And there were lots of lessons learned. First, we love our kids, but four adults in a 38-foot motorhome is more than a bit much. Everyone cooperated and there were amazingly few real problems. No drama, nothing that would be worthy of a soap opera. Just 4 adults trying to get ready in the morning, 4 different minds about what the "right" schedule for the day ought to be, four different pulls. Our two adult k
RelationshipDoc

RelationshipDoc

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Doug, Trudy, and Dale's Adventure
 

Eating Our Way Down the East Coast... Day 23, 24 of 32 day Adventure

It sure seems like I'm making a lot of blog entries... I found if we wait too long to make an entry, then it takes too long to write the blog. Anyway, moving along to days 23 and 24 of the adventure ... Sunday, June 21, day 23, a driving day from Williamsburg VA to Surf City NC. We mainly drove on US Highway 17 so we through a lot of small towns which we enjoyed seeing. We stayed at the Lanier RV Park in Surf City... a nice area and the park is right next to the water and staff was friendly. A
DougC

DougC

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Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

A Short Trip for the Ladies

After taking our grandsons on a 10-day tour of three states, their younger sisters deserved a trip of their own. We took the recommendation of my sister and took them to the Toy and Miniature Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The girls are 6 and 4, so the trip was a short one. This was for their sake and ours! Since we were traveling to Kansas City, I offered my mother, 85 years old, a ride to KC to visit my sister who lives in Liberty, Missouri. Mom said yes, then no, and finally yes, so she t
tbutler

tbutler

0
Doug, Trudy, and Dale's Adventure
 

Hot and Sweaty... Day 21, 22 of 32 Adventure

We are now at the American Heritage RV Park in Williamsburg VA... a nice big park just a few miles from historic Williamsburg VA... and the humidity is high! June 19, Friday, day 21, We arrived at the American Heritage RV Park in Williamsburg VA.... got in about 1 PM... got set-up, took Dale for a walk, and then headed off to a local place for lunch. Had a an excellent lunch at the "Hog Wild Smokehouse Restaurant", all of the fried or BBQ food you could want... of course, we had to start wi
DougC

DougC

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