Life is Good!

Life is Good!

Traveling
We have a new granddaughter – Vivian Eileen!   She was born June 1st (a few weeks early) weighing in at 6lbs 8oz and 19 inches long.  Of course she is absolutely beautiful and so tiny.  We arrived in Cincinnati on June 6th and stayed  three weeks.  We cherished every minute we could spend with Vivian, Lauren and Zach.  The kids were so tired, of course, but showing their fabulous parenting skills.  We even got to babysit one night for a few hours while they went out for a little dinner, a break they needed as do all new parents.  What a precious buddle of joy this new grandbaby brought into our lives.  It was hard to leave this little beauty.  The kids have been sending pictures and she is growing…
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Back in Minnesota

Back in Minnesota

RVs, Traveling
We have been back in MN for over a month.  We are so lucky to spend time with Cate and Alex, our kids and friends.  We count our blessings every day. The insurance adjuster came to look at the hail damage on the truck and 5th wheel.  He does not like going on the roof of RVs so he did his checking  from a ladder.   He estimated the truck damage at $7000 with an estimated time to fix at 14 days and the 5th wheel at $15000 with also a 14 day fix.  At first he said the roof would need to be replaced and later called and said the rubber roof would just need to be pulled back, the work be done on the side rails and then re-glue…
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Louisiana – Texas- Oklahoma and Weather

Louisiana – Texas- Oklahoma and Weather

Traveling
Three weeks, three Corp of Engineer Campgrounds, three states, and three weather incidents have brought us to Oklahoma with a new hail damaged truck and a desire to get back to Minnesota.  March has been an interesting month. The first week in March we made a trip to Louisiana for a few days as Joe had been making an internet deal on a new 2015 Dodge Ram Dually.  I’ll take a step back and just say that Joe has been looking for a different truck for well over a year.  He had been worry about the brakes on the 2011 truck handling our Lifestyle and also the towing capacity on hills and in the wind.  I want us to be safe since travelling is our way of life so we…
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Texas – Fredericksburg – Hill Country

Texas – Fredericksburg – Hill Country

Traveling
LOVED Hill Country in Texas!  Texas is divided into seven regions; Panhandle Plains, Big Bend Country, Hill Country, South Texas Plains, Prairies and Lakes, Piney Woods, and Gulf Coast.  Hill Country is the final region we needed to check out and we loved it.  The rolling hills, a lot of trees, the weather was perfect and many unique towns. We made our base Fredericksburg, a touristy German town, as we checked out the area.  There were many RV parks in the area to pick from although most were booked full.  We found a new park, Quiet Creek that had just opened in August of 2015.  It was a large park with 150 RV sites sitting in an open area.  They planted many trees and are working on grass so maybe…
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Texas – Fort Stockton & Junction

Texas – Fort Stockton & Junction

Places to Eat, Traveling
We stayed at a private RV park in Fort Stockton that was ok.  They had a nice little restaurant on the grounds that Joe ate a good breakfast at one morning.  The restaurant was only open for breakfast and dinner and we thought that strange but after we were there a few days we saw why they did that.  They also had a very nice dog park that Lily loved and if you felt like it you could take a dip in their pool.  Tom, the ground maintenance guy became Joe’s best friend.  If Joe was outside, Tom was visiting.  Tom was 77 years old and he and his wife work-camped at the park.  We stayed five nights in this park.  Half of the park sites were full of workers…
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Texas – Colorado City, Balmorhea, and Terlingua/Big Bend

Texas – Colorado City, Balmorhea, and Terlingua/Big Bend

State Parks
We spent five nights in Lake Colorado City State Park in Colorado City, TX.  One or two campers would come in each night and leave in the morning.  Except for those few we were the only occupants of the park.  We thought on the weekend that a few more would come in but nothing happened.  The park really had nothing to offer except quietness and an occasional Roadrunner.  We did meet a very nice couple from Colorado City that came out to the park for a night.  We had a very nice visit and learned so much about the area from Craig.  Cathie and Craig were married in November and were new at the RV world.  Both were retired and hoping to travel a little in their Class C.  Craig…
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Texas – Mineral Wells

Texas – Mineral Wells

Traveling
We were excited to leave Oklahoma City and head to Texas our 2016 winter destination.  As always, we look first for a Corp of Engineer Park or a State Park and we like to check out parks we haven’t been in so our first pick was Lake Mineral Wells State Park in Mineral Wells, TX.Lake Mineral Wells SP had three very nice campgrounds; primitive, 30amp and 50amp.  All had nice spaced sites with plenty of live oak trees.   We picked a lovely site in the 50amp loop for the first week that overlooked the lake and was private.  Of course when we checked in on a Tuesday there was no one else in the park but the weekend brought many families.  Our site had a bad decline when you stepped…
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Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma

Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma

Traveling
After leaving Ohio we decided we had the states of Missouri and Kansas to fill in our United State map so why not stay a night or two in these states on our way to Oklahoma.  We made a rule 5 years ago when we started full-timing and putting our state stickers on the United States map that in order for a sticker to be placed we must stay at least one night in that state.  It cannot be just a drive through.  We now have just the northeast states left to fill in (plus Hawaii). Missouri was a two night stay in Higginsville in the rain and cold.  We had scheduled some warranty work on our Lifestyle in Chanute, Kansas on Dec 1st so Missouri was a quick stop. …
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Saying Good-Bye – Minnesota/Christmas 2015

Saying Good-Bye – Minnesota/Christmas 2015

Traveling
Our plans for Christmas this year was to park our RV in Oklahoma City, rent a car and drive the 800 miles to Minnesota for a January 1st Christmas celebration with all of our kids and grandkids.  We had scheduled to pick-up the rental on the 26th, leave OKC on the 27th and get to MN on the 28th.  Things changed and we had to move our scheduled leaving date up a few days. My 93 years old dad has been living in CA for the past 6 years near my sister so he could stay active and out of the cold MN winters.  He lived on his own in a condo in a senior community where he enjoyed dancing, walking, lawn bowling, and bocce ball.  He was very active…
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Illinois – Thanksgiving

Illinois – Thanksgiving

Traveling
Joe and I have spent the last two weeks in Benton, Illinois at Gun Creek Corp of Engineer campground.  We came from a crowded expensive park to this beautiful park sitting on Rend Lake for $8 a night.  We will hate to leave it tomorrow but the park is closing on Monday for the season and we need to keep moving south. We have shared the park with deer hunters, fishermen, and some families who just want the peace and quiet of this park.  Crappies have been biting and the hunters have been getting their deer.  We know this because the deer carcasses have been hanging in the trees (not a pretty picture).  We have shared our campsite with a pair of eagles and sometime their adolescent offspring.  They sit in…
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