Leaving Ohio for Minnesota

Traveling
Bump on the head is gone and along with that the weeklong headache.   We stayed in Ohio for 2 ½ weeks.  When we left Ohio Zach and Lauren’s kitchen looked really nice.  They had a little work left but the cabinets were up and that is what we were there to help with.  The rest was up to them.  Since we left they have been sending pictures and have installed the dishwasher, stove, and microwave.  They just need the countertop and trim and it will be done.  It was a long process for them but I think they would agree it turned out beautiful.  They also learned some lessons on the way like you can’t always use the recommendation of a friend for a contractor, but that is another whole…
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How a Campground Becomes a Community

Traveling
Joe and I will soon be celebrating our second anniversary of retirement and our full-time RV lifestyle.  What a fabulous 2 years it has been.  We have seen so much beauty in our country and met so many wonderful and interesting people.  But just this last weekend we realized how a campground becomes our neighborhood or community and the wonderful people that surround us every day and we don’t even realize it. We are still in Winton Woods County Park campground in Cincinnati, OH and the 200 plus sites fill up every weekend with families and their dogs.  Joe and I kept Zach’s Great Dane with us as his house is torn apart with the kitchen remodel.  In the middle of the day on Saturday we decided to take Hope…
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Three State Parks Three States in Six Nights

Traveling
On our way from Wisconsin to Ohio we were lucky enough to stay in three nice state parks in three different states.  Our first and my favorite was at Two Rivers, WI on the shores of Lake Michigan, Point Beach State Forest. Each of these three state parks had biking trails so we did a lot of biking but Point Beach by far was the most challenging for Joe and I.  There were 6 miles of hard packed gravel trails going through thick forests winding up and down very hilly terrain.  This trail took us into the town of Two Rivers and if we would have followed a paved path along the shores of Lake Michigan for another 6 miles we could have ridden to the next town.  Joe and…
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Minnesota – April 18th to May 23rd, 2013

Traveling
We arrived back at Dakotah Meadows in Prior Lake, MN on April 18th just in time to take our granddaughter, Cate, for five nights while her parents had a bit of a vacation before the new baby arrives.  We hadn’t seen Cate since Christmas which made her taller and wiser.  I know I often say how Joe and I are so blessed and she is definitely one of our true blessings.  Life was filled with Cate for five days and did we have fun and slept very well every night.  One of the first days we had about 6 inches of snow (welcome back snow we called it).  We dressed all up in our warm clothes to make a snowman.  Joe and I haven’t made a snowman in years.  One…
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Ohio

Traveling
After having such a great family time at Easter with Joe’s family we headed a little south to Cincinnati to Winton Woods, a Hamilton County Park.  We have stayed at Winton Woods for the past 7 years when we visit our son Zach and his wife Lauren.  Great place to stay but as in all great things it seems to change over time.  Each time we go back, we normally stay twice a year for two weeks, we find things just a little bit disappointing.  The last two times we have found the campground not as well taken care of.  Mostly it seems that there is just more garbage lying on the grounds and in the fire pits.  On our site we had to pick out large pieces of broken…
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Travelling Towards Family

Traveling
As full-timers we cannot always be with family when we want.  We decided to fly back to MN at Christmas to be with our kids and new that it would be spring before we would see them again.  We talk to them regularly on the cell, facetime our granddaughter Cate almost every week, text message a lot but it just isn’t the same as seeing their faces in person or putting your arms around them.  I’m told by other full-timers who have been doing it for many more years than Joe and I that it gets easier.  I hope they are right or I’ll just be buying more airline tickets.  So travelling towards family is traveling home no matter where that is. We made our way to Charlotte, NC to…
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Short Visit Through South Carolina

Traveling
I do so love South Carolina!  This is our third visit to this state and I hope we have many more ahead of us.  Charleston was our first destination.  Our third visit to this city and we could easily come back again.  I jokingly asked Joe if we won the lottery if he would buy me a house in historic Charleston and as a true gentleman as Joe is he said “Of course!”  We both love the history in Charleston and the beauty of the historic district.  We spent two days exploring the city by touring bus, a ferry to take us to Fort Sumpter and just exploring the city for six hours on our own by walking the streets.  Charleston has done everything possible to make the streets safe…
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Nine Days in Georgia

Traveling
We know now we are definitely moving north.  The weather has changed and we need to run our furnace or the space heater every day.  Of course, we still don’t have the snow they have back in Minnesota so we can’t complain but it is just a little different from the 70’s and 80’s we enjoyed all winter in Florida.  As we drove along the Georgia coast we went through marsh lands, large live oak tree groves with Spanish moss hanging from the branches, and many islands.  Our first stop was in the Golden Isles, a group of five islands, St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Jekyll Island, Little St. Simons Island, and Brunswick.  We stayed at a nice private campground called Coastal Georgia RV Resort.  Nice place to stay and…
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Saying Good-bye to Florida

Traveling
I forgot to mention in our last entry about our breakfast with our old neighbors from Minnesota.  Clyde and Mary lived next to us in Jordan for many years.  When we sold our house they started talking about buying a 5th wheel and working out of state while living in it (they are a few years younger than us).  About three months after we left they had a 5th wheel in their driveway and have been working in North Dakota during the warmer months.  They still have their home in MN but live almost full-time in their 5th wheel.  They are spending the winter months in Texas but road their Harley to Florida for a week.  We caught up with them the last day before they headed back to Texas…
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The Beauty of Central Florida’s County Parks

The Beauty of Central Florida’s County Parks

Campgrounds, County Parks, Full-Time RVing
We are just wrapping up a five week stay in four of central Florida’s county parks.  Each one was different in size and beauty.  Each one was different in the people that were staying in them.  The first one was in Palm Beach County, John Prince Park, Lake Worth.  This was the largest of the four parks we stayed in.  It was 700 acres with 300 campsites and miles of paved biking & walking paths which we enjoyed daily that went around lakes and past huge oak trees full of birds.  The park was winter home to a couple of hundred snowbirds mostly French speaking Canadians.  We were put in the part of the park where people came and went.  First weekend we were there we were surrounded by families…
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