Kentucky, Williamsburg - Thursday, July 31, 2014 - Just Passing Through

We left Markleville this morning and traveled through lots of good looking corn and bean fields on the way out of Indiana.

 

 

This makes it official, we are on our way again.

I like this stretch of I-75 going south through Kentucky.

We’ve stopped for the evening at the Williamsburg, KY Wal-Mart.  We got out and walked around but since we don’t have any services here, we’ll probably just go to bed early and try to get an early start tomorrow.  We traveled 299 miles today and will no doubt stop just outside of Atlanta, GA tomorrow before proceeding on to Savanah.

We did enjoy some more of our corn on the cob with pulled pork sandwiches tonight – can’t get any more summertime than that.

Indiana, Markleville - Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - Indiana Visit

I got my yearly osteoporosis medication today.  Since it is an IV infusion I go to the Erskine Building to the same suite where they do chemotherapy.  The staff there was wonderful, very caring and concerned about your comfort.  I read a book for half an hour and then I was done. 

We left the hospital and went to the grocery to do our monthly stock up.  We borrowed daughter Amanda’s car today – couldn’t have gotten all of that on the motorcycle.  Takes quite a while to get that many groceries put away and all the produce washed before putting it in the fridge.  I’m always glad later on that all the produce is ready to use, but this one day it’s a hassle.

After we returned Amanda’s car we took off on the motorcycle to visit our friends Greg and Dinah to pick up some sweet corn and say goodbye until next year.  The corn looked so good we had to have some for supper, it was amazing, thanks for sharing!!

Although our trip home to Indiana had a sad note in my Dad’s passing, the majority of our time here was so very enjoyable.  It’s always good to spend time with family and friends.

We are so appreciative of the use of vehicles from friends Mike and Susan, daughters Desira and Amanda and for the rides from our friend Dinah.  They all took good care of us when the weather just wouldn’t permit our being able to travel on the motorcycle.  When we are here at home where our plans have to mesh with other people’s plans and scheduled doctor appointments, taking our motorcycle just doesn’t work out sometimes, we don’t have the option to wait until the next day when the weather is better.

Have to say a special thank you to daughter Amanda and son-in-law Mike for letting us park in their second driveway for the last two weeks while we got all of the maintenance done on the coach.

Indiana, Markleville - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - Maintenance Completed

I think we are almost ready to head out of Indiana.  Greg finished up cleaning the outside of the coach and I got the carpets cleaned inside.  There isn’t a lot of carpet but it’s hard to get to.

 

 

We have a compact carpet cleaner that we leave in the storage unit and it does a good job.  But, if you have some stains this stuff does a wonderful job.  Our entrance steps have light colored carpeting on the vertical services and I notice that we evidently scuff our heels on it creating a stain over a period of time.  We also had an oily stain under the recliner where a bearing was going out.  Both stains came right out.  We purchased this at a hardware store in Florida, but I imagine they carry it in other places also.

Tonight was our last night working at the gun club.  We’ll miss working with daughter Desira and son-in-law Dan.  It’s been a good visit with them and we’ll miss them greatly until we get back next year.

Greg’s last dental appointment was today.  I was supposed to get my osteoporosis medication today, but the communication between the doctor and the hospital got messed up so I have to go back tomorrow.

 

We’ll be pulling out early Thursday morning headed to Savanah, Georgia and then on to Washington, D.C.  Our visits here have been so good, we’ve been able to spend some quality time with our kids here in Indiana.  That was one of the reasons we decided to purchase the RV.  The kids are spread out from Washington, D.C. to Kansas and this was the best way for us to spend quality time with all of them.  So far it seems to be working out like we planned.  Of course, grandma ends up crying each time we leave one of them.  I enjoy them all so much.

Indiana, Markleville - Friday, July 25, 2014 - Maintenance

Yesterday Greg went out early to get started on the maintenance he planned to do on the coach.  He needed to raise it up some in order to get under it, he hit the button to raise it and nothing happened.  So, for the next couple of hours he was on the phone with service people trying to figure out what was wrong.  The levelers wouldn’t work, the slideouts wouldn’t move and the generator wouldn’t come out.  Whatever it was that wasn’t working controlled everything that moved out from the coach.  Greg knew where the mechanism was that operated everything and ran several tests before he called the service people.  They gave him several options to try but everything was leaning toward needing a new motor in the pump that performs all of these functions.  Greg located a plug he could remove and manually move the pump mechanisms, after that it worked just like it was supposed to.  We are still considering buying a new motor in case this doesn’t hold up for the long run.

He got the oil and all of the filters changed and everything lubed like it is supposed to be.

Today he got up on the roof and cleaned it.  Then he had to clean the windows since all the soap and gunk ran down the sides of the coach.  We have sixteen windows in this thing so just washing them was quite a chore.  He’s made me feel like I’ve been lazy.

When son-in-law Michael got home this evening he had some parts that were needed to fix the go cart which has been out of commission for a few day.

Grandson Kyle couldn’t wait to get out on the “track” that has been made in the back yard.

 

They were having trouble getting it started.  Then they checked the gas tank, it was dry.

I wish I had audio to go with this picture, he was talking himself through all of the turns and bumps, and it was pretty funny.

Indiana, Markleville - Wednesday, July 23, 2014 - Getting Ready to Leave Indiana

On Monday we were in Columbus for another dental appointment for Greg, we think he will have only one more.  Since it was a beautiful morning we decided to leave early and drop in at my former employer to visit with people who were a very big part of my life for 15 years.  It was nice to see them all again, but I’m still glad I’m retired.

Tuesday night found us at the Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club helping with the trap shoot again.  Son-in-law Dan and daughter Desira have put a lot of work into a new trap office.

 

This is what it looked like before.

Next Tuesday will be our last day at the gun club until next July when we’ll be back through Indiana.  We’ll miss the “Shoot for the Cure” that Desira has been organizing annually for several years now.  That is quite an event and we are very proud of her for all the work she does on this.  If you are a trap shooter and are free on September 13 and 14, stop by the Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club for a great weekend of shooting that supports a very good cause.

Today we had an appointment to try to find out why our “check engine” light came on every once in a while.  Luckily, this time it didn’t amount to much.  I don’t understand exactly, but it has to do with a sensor that was probably getting a misread because the computer needs an update.  It all made sense to Greg and I trust him when he said it was minor.  We’ll need to get into a certified Cummins shop to get the computer updated.

We have moved from Timberline Valley RV Resort to daughter Amanda’s house in Markleville, IN.  Greg needs to change the oil and service the coach before we head back out on the road and they frown upon you doing that at an RV park.  We have 50 amp service here so we’ll be in good shape until he gets the maintenance done.  Greg was outside for an awfully long time this afternoon considering it was misting rain.  I found out that he was tinkering around in son-in-law Mike’s garage.  He found something to do with the go-cart and the lawn mower and hard telling what else.  I think he enjoyed spending time in a garage again – not something you can do in an RV.

We spent some time this afternoon planning our route out to Washington, D.C.  More on that later.

Indiana, Anderson - Sunday, July 20, 2014 - Timberline Valley RV Resort

I tried to publish this post last night, but was having trouble getting on the campground Wi-Fi and our hotspot.

On Saturday we celebrated July birthdays, granddaughter Mackenzie and great niece Avery.  Avery is the little blonde head – I was never quick enough to get a picture of anything but the back of her head.

 

 Although the weather was a little cool the grandkids seemed to have a good time in the pool at their great grandparent’s house.  Then it was time to come inside and warm up.

 

This morning we headed to Indianapolis for the last meeting we will have until next year with our friends from Indiana Rolling Thunder Chapter One.  It’s encouraging to see that the membership of this chapter is growing.  We’ll miss these guys, they do a lot to promote awareness of POW/MIA issues.  We are proud to be a part of this organization.  If you would like more information on what they do, check out www.indianarollingthunder.com.

This afternoon we went to the Madison County Fairgrounds in Alexandria to see the results of the judging of grandkids Mackenzie and Kyle’s 4-H projects.  Pretty proud of both of them.  Kyle got blue ribbons and honor mention on his cookies and Lego project.  Mackenzie got a blue ribbon and honor mention on her bread.  Her child development project got a championship ribbon and is going to the state fair.

 

 

 

We stopped by the Farm Bureau milk shake booth before we left.  Our friend Mike was working there – he said he was “quality control”.  He must have been doing a good job, the shakes were great.

Indiana, Anderson - Friday, July 18, 2014 - Timberline Valley RV Resort

We were looking forward to a bike ride to Danville for a visit with my mom, brother and sister-in-law today.  It was a beautiful day for a ride, but it wasn’t meant to be.  We got all ready to go and the bike wouldn’t start, battery was dead.  When we came home yesterday one of the neighbors came up and was talking to us as soon as we pulled in and Greg hit the kill switch but forgot to turn off the ignition.  Earlier in the week we decided that we wouldn’t keep the battery charger with us any longer so we put it in storage.  We hadn’t needed it and thought we could get by with the trickle charger in the future.  We managed to borrow a battery charger from the campground and got the bike running later in the afternoon, but it was too late to head to Danville which is a couple of hours away.  We’ll get there this next week.

Since we ended up staying home, I was able to finish cleaning up the ceramic candleholders and made a couple of salads to take to the July birthday celebration tomorrow.  Granddaughter Mackenzie is our July birthday girl.  Hard to believe she will be in high school this year.

I think we have decided where we will be spending the winter and workamping – Mesa, Arizona.  We have received an e-mail confirming they are sending us a contract to review.  The resort is the Village at Val Vista, just over 800 sites, lots of amenities.  We would be working in food service for 24 hours a week as a couple or 12 hours for each of us.  We would get our site and utilities in exchange for our work.  This resort is part of the Cal-Am group.  If you are interested in seeing more about this resort, you can go to www.cal-am.com.

Indiana, Anderson - Thursday, July 17, 2014 - Timberline Valley RV Resort

This week we went through the totes we brought home from the storage unit, decided what to keep and what was going to goodwill.  On Wednesday we took all of the empty totes to daughter Desira, she has so many projects going on she is always needing totes so it worked out well for all of us.  Next year we’ll tackle a few more.

One of the things I found in the totes was a project I started 18 years ago – two Christmas candle holders.  I know it was 18 years ago because the receipts were still in the box.  The paint I bought for them is still good!  I need to get these ceramic pieces cleaned so they can be fired.  It may be this time next year when I’m able to pick them up and paint them, but after 18 years what’s a few months more.  I worked on one of them this afternoon and after I took the picture I noticed a few more areas I still need to clean up.

Last night we met Greg’s sisters, Susan and Linda and their husbands David and Rex, for supper at Sahm’s in Pendleton.  We had a great time catching up with them, their kids and grandkids.  Our time here is flying by and we haven’t worked in as much visitation time with family and friends as we would like, but we have enjoyed tremendously what time we have been able to spend with them.

I was at the doctor bright and early this morning for my checkup – all my numbers came out good.  The only thing I have left is getting my osteoporosis medication administered.  Greg is finished with everything but the dentist appointments.  He has another one on Monday.  All in all we are in pretty good shape, we just need to lose some weight L, we are getting ready to work on that.

This afternoon we said goodbye to a wonderful family friend, Rex Etchison.  While we were at the showing Greg and daughter Amanda met up with many old friends from when they lived in Frankton.  It’s always nice to see that they are remembered fondly by so many people.

When Amanda dropped us off at home we loaded up our two folding RV bicycles so she could take them to her house.  We’ll pick them back up again next week but we have an appointment next Wednesday to have the engine checked out on the coach and we can’t put them on the back of the coach where we had them because the engine wouldn’t be accessible.  We have the bicycles for sale, I’m not going to try riding again – I just beat myself up too bad trying to relearn to ride while we were in Florida.  You really can forget how to ride a bicycle.  I can’t believe my osteoporosis is too bad or I think I would have broken something when I was falling all over that bike J.

Indiana, Anderson - Sunday, July 13 2014 - Timberline Valley RV Resort

We headed to Camping World in Greenwood this morning.  When Greg was checking out the roof the other day he noticed a small crack on the side of the roof just above the gutter.  We do remember cracking a limb when we were navigating under some trees a few months ago so that crack may have been there a while L  We had to get something to patch the crack and a small piece for the ladder at Camping World.  We found the patch material but no parts for the ladder – they wanted to sell us a whole new ladder.  We are going to check into an RV salvage place in Montpelier tomorrow.

After Camping World we stopped at Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria which is just around the corner.  For some reason or another they have downsized to using the small café for serving their buffet and seating is greatly reduced.  The old buffet and dining room area is blocked off.  There was no indication that things were “under construction” so this might be permanent.  Although they indicated on their signs that this would be a more “intimate” dining experience, I didn’t find it the pleasant dining experience we have had there in the past, probably won’t go back.

This evening we were planning to help son-in-law Dan with a bachelor party at the gun club – I know I didn’t think it sounded like a good idea either until he explained that there was a “no drinking” policy at the gun club and it would be early enough in the evening that they would probably be sober.  As it turned out, the party cancelled so we stopped at daughter Amanda and son-in-law Mike’s house to check out the used go cart they bought for the kids.  Papaw Greg was a hero this evening, he got the go cart running.  Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me so some really good Kodak moments were lost as Papaw took it for a test run before letting the grandkids have it.  Kyle was so excited he made more noise yelling than the go cart did.  Looks like they will have something to keep them busy until school starts again in three weeks.

Indiana, Anderson - Saturday, July 12, 2014 - Timberline Valley RV Resort

On Thursday we joined 76 other bikes to escort the remains of USAF Airman 3/C Howard Martin from Indianapolis Airport to Elwood, IN as I mentioned in my last post. 

 

Before we left the airport we lined up for a flag presentation for the hearse to enter into the staging area.

 

The procession included several police and family cars in addition to the bikes, reports said it was about a mile long – pretty impressive.  It would have been nice to document the morning with more pictures, but it didn’t seem really appropriate.  The people of Elwood lined the streets waving flags to welcome Airman Martin home after 60 years.  He was preceded in death by his parents, but his six siblings were all at the service.  He will be laid to rest in a plot next to his parents, they had purchased the plot many years ago with the hope that he would someday return home.

Today I joined three great friends, Linda, Dinah and Beth for breakfast.  We always have an enjoyable time when we get together.  We went to high school together so we have quite a history.

This afternoon we went to the Indiana State Trap Shoot to see daughter Desira, son-in-law Dan, grandson Tyler and his girlfriend Rachel shoot.

Dan and Tyler talking strategy before the shooting.

Rachel and Desira being silly before the shooting.

Headed out to get serious.

None of them shot as good as they would have liked, but Dan and Desira ended up being the second place husband and wife team.  I really thought they all did well. 

Indiana, Anderson - Wednesday, July 9, 2014 - Timberline Valley RV Resort

The last couple of days I’ve been going through the contents of a few totes we brought back from the storage unit.  I’ve sorted through cookbooks, tax records and old sewing patterns among other things.  A lot of the patterns were embroidery patterns that have to be from the late 60’s or early 70’s.  A couple were even older than that.  They were ones my mom had given me, they were in their original envelopes.  There was no date, but the postage was only one cent.  I think I’ll take them back to her, now that she has a little free time she may want to do some embroidery.  I’ll have to ask daughter Desira if she remembers one in particular of Holly Hobby.  When she was about 3 or 4 she was crazy about Holly Hobby so I made her a long white skirt with a picture of Holly Hobby embroidered on the front. 

The shredder is going to be busy now getting rid of some really old tax records.  The cookbooks I don’t want to keep are going to daughter Desira to see if she wants any of them before they head out to a new home.  I haven’t decided what to do with the old patterns yet, I imagine someone collects them, but I don’t know who.

Today we made another trip to Columbus for Greg’s dental appointment – almost done.  After that we stopped by the Indiana State Trap Shoot just outside of Fortville to visit with daughter Desira for a while.  The weather was beautiful today for a motorcycle ride.

Tomorrow we have the honor of being part of an escort that will bring the remains of a Korean War soldier from the Indianapolis Airport to Elwood.  The Rolling Thunder Indiana group that we belong to has done this before but our travels haven’t allowed us to be a part of the escorts in the past.

USAF Airman 3/C Howard Eugene Martin died on November 22, 1952 near Anchorage, Alaska, following a tragic military airplane crash that killed a total of 52 servicemen.  There were no survivors and recovery was never possible.  His remains were recovered from Colony Glacier during the summers of 2012 and 2013 – 60 years after the accident following the melting of the glacier at the crash site.  He was officially positively identified on his 83^rd birthday, April 18, 2014.  His remains will be flown tomorrow from U.S. Military facilities in Hawaii to Indianapolis.

Indiana, Anderson - Sunday, July 6, 2014 - Timberline Valley RV Resort

Well our plan to watch fireworks from the campground didn’t work out.  We could hear them all around, but couldn’t see a darn thing.  We spent the 4^th of July last year sitting on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. – hard to beat that.  We’ve heard of a prime watching spot for next year.

Yesterday we helped daughter Desira get ready to go to the Indiana State Trap Shoot.  She will have a booth there in addition to being the on-site EMT.  We folded 198 T-shirts for her.  We’ll be going up Saturday to see her and Dan shoot and then join them for the shooter’s dinner that night.  Hope the weather holds out for them.

I’ve been going through a couple of totes of cookbooks we brought back from the storage unit.  I’ve picked out a few to take with me on the road this year for a closer look, the rest are headed out to a new home.  I think I still have two more totes full of them in the storage unit to go through next year.

This afternoon we had a good visit with our great grandson, Braxton.  Here’s a picture of the little “living room wrecker”.  He’s too busy with his toys to have too much to do with us, but he did give me a kiss and a hug when we got ready to leave, made my day.

 

 

Thought I would pass along this tip for anyone having trouble with dry skin.  Don’t know if it is old age or the fact that I am outside more, but my usual body lotion just wasn’t helping my arms and legs anymore.  I had bought this conditioner for my hair and didn’t really like it so it was just sitting in the cabinet.  I thought the other day about all of the fancy oils it was supposed to have in it and decided I would give it a try on my skin.  It works great, it isn’t sticky or greasy.  Now in addition to the oils it has several things I can’t pronounce so if anyone knows of why I shouldn’t be doing this, let me know – otherwise I’ll be buying some more.

Indiana, Anderson - Friday, July 4, 2014 - Stream Cliff Herb Farm

Happy 4^th of July to Everyone!!

Happy Belated Birthday to granddaughter Mackenzie!

Grandma was too tired to write the blog yesterday so I missed wishing her a happy birthday on her special day, sorry Mackenzie.  She wanted to spend her birthday at the gun club shooting range, hope she had a good time.

On Wednesday I offered to help daughter Desira weed her flower beds.  She has such beautiful gardens but she is so busy it is hard to keep on top of them.  Since I don’t have any dirt to play in myself, I was more than glad to help.  Before we started fulltiming I always had flowers and vegetable gardens that kept me busy when the weather was warm.  I found out I am now an out of shape gardener, need to do this more often. 

 

 

 

On Thursday my friends Dinah and Linda and Dinah’s daughter Jenny had a “girl’s day out” at Stream Cliff Herb Farm in Commisky, IN.

 

 

Not only do they have beautiful herbs and flowers, there is a lot of history associated with this farm.  In 1863, during the Civil War, Morgan’s Raiders came to this site.

 

 

When we were there a plant sale was going on.  They still have lots to choose from although we took three wagonloads to the car before we left.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the tearoom.  We felt kind of sorry for the lone young man sitting back in the corner.  We saw him later toting out lots of flowers and plants for what appeared to be mom, sisters and grandmother.  They were lucky to have him with them.  Dinah and I have enjoyed a meal here with our husbands later in the day and there were other men here then.  It just happened that this young man was on his own today.

 

Our final stop was the Stream Cliff Farm Winery which is located in a former blacksmith shop on the farm.  We did a little taste testing and purchased a few to enjoy at home.  I chose their “Fancy Filly” sweet white wine.  It’s in the wine cooler now.

Greg and I spent this morning going through our storage unit.  We still have a 5x8 unit to house those “memories” you want to keep but don’t want to drag around with you all the time.  I did sort out a large box of cookbooks to get rid of.  Seems like I do most of my recipe searching online now and I’ve scanned most of my favorites from the past into files on my computer.  I do still like to have a few of my favorite books on the shelf to pick up and look through every once in a while.  We managed to whittle down some of what we have stored, it will probably take a couple more years before we are through sorting things out on our trips back to Indiana.

Not sure if we will venture out to see fireworks tonight or not.  We are grilling steaks to have with baked potatoes.  We may just kick back and watch TV after that.  We missed a couple of good fireworks shows last night in Anderson and Chesterfield, we’ll have to keep in mind next year that we need to search for displays happening on July 3.  We could hear them from the campground and they sounded like they were spectacular.