Like the song goes we are “On the Road Again”! We had a great stay in Maine with our Son and family and Nana had quite the time with the little grand daughter. We arrived there the last week of July and the time just seemed to fly by. I guess the saying is right “time flies when you are having fun”! We love Maine, however, after being in the dry Southwest it was hard to get use to all the rain and moisture, especially the humidity! It was really nice to see everything so green. It is too bad we could not send some of the rain we had to Texas where they really need it! We were so saddened to hear about the very bad Bastrop fire and to hear Bastrop State Park was burned so badly. Our hearts really go out to all the wonderful staff of Bastrop and Buescher State Parks that have lost their homes and all their possessions. The Loblolly Pine Forest of Bastrop County was such a gem and now most of it has been blackened. We spent five months at Buescher State Park as camp hosts and really loved it there. We led many hikes and bird walks through Bastrop State Park and will always have fond memories of the area and its wonderful and friendly people. Thank goodness there were only two casualties with such a huge fire that took over 1550 homes, though even two is two too many. Hopefully, Texas with get some very badly needed rain soon.

We are once again migrating with the birds; however, we are headed west first to visit Winnebago Industries in Forest City, Iowa. We are going to have a few items worked on like having the roof checked out to make sure it is completely sealed properly. I did tackle some of the job myself, but I’m not overly happy with the way the Dicor hardened on the roof around the vents. Any leaks on a motor home roof are not good so far no leaks and we want to keep it that way. After Forest City we head south to Texas again as we really love wintering there. Our first volunteer host position is at Goliad State Park at the mission. It was our first ever volunteer host position and we really had a great time there and really felt so welcome by the staff there. The first of the year we will be at Bentsen-Rio Valley State Park which is a major birding center. We are really excited to volunteer there and see lots of new bird species. Volunteering is a wonderful way to spend one’s retirement years, very rewarding.

It is nice to be on the road again and seeing new places. However, traveling on the nation’s highway really brings home how much the highways need to be repaired. The country's infra-structure really needs some serious work and hopefully something will be done to improve it all. I-84 from western NY through eastern PA was so bad we lost a hub cover to one of our dullies and several chrome lug nut covers, which did not make me a happy camper. Hopefully, we can get replacement parts at Winnebago. One item I did not replace this summer was our house batteries and unfortunately they are pretty much spent so that will be another item to replace when we are at Forest City, IA. I swear we have a picked up a few gremlins along the way, have to hunt those buggers down and get rid of them! LOL!

It is amazing how much we love the full-timing life style after living in a stick and brick home for so long. The coach has become our home and we are completely happy living in it and are so glad we have chosen this life style. We love seeing this wonderful and beautiful country of ours! The greatest asset this country has is its people! We just love meeting new people going across this country. Tomorrow will be another wonderful day of exploring and seeing new things, how very exciting!