Getting Ready To Get Set ...

Here we are on the downside of Christmas and working on starting a new decade. We had a fun last week having Brian, Nicky, Alyssa, and Emily visiting from New Jersey and spending some fun times with them and the Maine Evringhams. We ate too much, laughed a lot, and just generally enjoyed the holiday. It’s always fun seeing our three great kids and all the grandkids enjoying each other’s company. We were fortunate having Bailey make it home for a few days but we missed having Kyla around. She had to suffer by visiting the beaches of Hawaii.

Peggy and I have started getting the house back in post Christmas condition. The tree and all its trimmings are back in the attic and the remaining decorations will be working their way there in the next few days. 

So now it’s time to shift focus to getting Winne and us ready for travel. The weather has been fairly decent these past few days so I took advantage and removed Winne from storage and brought her home for pre-trip preparations and loading. Fortunately she awoke from her summer/fall nap with no complaints.

Peggy has a couple of appointments to take care of over the next week before our planned leave date on Tuesday January 7th ... leaving us with 8 days and a-wake-up to complete all the things on our pre-trip to-do list.

The plan for this trip is mostly standard ... we leave and head south towards the Gulf of Mexico as quickly as reasonable ... we rest up ... and then we continue our adventure. This year we intend to turn west after resting up in Alabama and follow I-10 generally to Arizona. As is usual for us ... the trip home is unplanned except for the return date of around April 1st.

This will be our first trip towing our Chevy Colorado ... so that will be different. We are also going to try a slightly different initial travel routine this time. The last several years we have endured a really long first day of travel - about 500 miles to central Pennsylvania and about the nearest open RV Park along our route. This time we are going to break that initial trek into two travel days by staying overnight about half way ... at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. This will require us to “dry camp” for one night using our on-board resources for water, heat, and electricity. We have stayed overnight there several times in the past with no issues ... it will just be a bunch colder this time. No worries ... we’ll have plenty of heat using our generator for electric heat in addition to our propane heat.

So that’s the plan ... stay tuned to see how it all works out!

Getting Ready For Santa

Mid- December already! My how time flies. It seems like we just finished Thanksgiving Dinner ... well I suppose we did since it hasn’t been that long since I had the last of the turkey in a sandwich. We had a fun Thanksgiving with all the Maine Gang over for Food, Family, and Football. 

The Maine Gang also got together for a fun night of “G” League Professional Basketball last week when we all headed to Portland to watch the Maine Red Claws take on the Delaware Blue Coats. Sounds a bit revolutionary now doesn’t it? The Red Claws are owned by the Boston Celtics and is sort of their “development” team ... so we got to see some of their young talent that sometimes play with the Big Team. Even the young ones (Taylor, Sophie, and Aiden) seemed to enjoy themselves — although it was waay past bedtime!

I did get my motorcycle pieces and my Chevelle hood over to Glen the Paint Man a few weeks ago and then he performed his magic. We managed to reinstall the hood on the Chevelle where it will sit in storage until spring ... and I went ahead and re-installed the motorcycle pieces as well. The “Big Bear” is all dressed up in her new paint awaiting re-emergence from hibernation in the spring!!

With Peggy doing most of the work ... we managed to get our Christmas tree up and the other Christmas decorations in the traditional spots. We are now ready for whatever Santa has in mind. One of our big presents this year will be a visit from the New Jersey Gang who will be joining us later this week for a few days of visiting. It’s always great to see them and catching up with all that’s going on in their lives.

We may actually have some snow on the ground while they are here. We had a few inches of snow until the big rain event a couple of days ago and now it is all gone! But no worries ... I see that more is on the way over the next week or so ... I’m fairly certain we will have a white Christmas.

So ... we have a busy several days ahead of us getting ready for our visitors and last minute Christmas preparations ... then a busy week of visiting ... then a busy week of trip preparations and then ... we are hitting the road once again ... destination somewhere warmer!

22 and-a-wake-up!

Climate Refugees

Once we made it passed Halloween it seems November has pretty much flown by. I managed to complete the season leaf picking up process without breaking or buying any new additional equipment, I completed installing the new engine in the “old” yard tractor and it is running great again ... and has plenty of oil, and I even got both tractors in their storage spots for the winter.

We did receive a little snow/ice about a week ago but it all melted away this last week. It looks like we may make it through November with no shovelable snow ... but then again ... I may have just jinxed us!

So here we are ... starting the last week of November ... Thanksgiving week! We are having the family Thanksgiving Dinner and Football Watching get together here at the Maineiacs in Motion Summer Cottage this year. Nothing fancy planned ... roasted turkey, a smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, veggie platter, rolls, stuffing, cranberry sauce, olives, apple pie, pumpkin pie ... and probably more. I figure the leftovers will last us into December easily.

Since time has marched on ... we also find ourselves at day 44 and a-wake-up before we start up WTT and head south to become “Climate Refugees.” According to the media reporting I have been seeing, the term Climate Refugees will be getting a lot of play in the future ... and it dawned on me that it fits us Maineiacs pretty well. And besides ... the term “snowbird” is just old fashioned. Being a Climate Refugee is so much cooler. Now we can join the ranks of the victimized and seek justice! It feels so good to be “WOKE.”

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Learning Lessons

Some days things just don’t work according to MY plan. Actually, that might apply to most days ... but some days are worse than others.

So there I was on Friday - getting my day’s projects started early in the morning and “things” were pretty much going as planned. The morning project was to get the lawn tractor out and “mow” my leaves into the bagger attachment. The project started out pretty normal as I uncovered the tractor, started it up, backed it up several feet, engaged the mower blades, and then started to move forward. The process was going pretty normal for about 5 feet when I heard a loud bang followed by the engine stopping. “Hmmm” I said ... “that don’t sound right! I wonder if I ran over something.” Or something to that effect. Not seeing anything obviously wrong I tried to re-start the engine. The starter engaged like normal but the engine turned over really fast and way to easy. It was about here that I knew this was not good! It took me about 30 seconds of troubleshooting to figure out that the engine’s piston was no longer connected to it’s crankshaft and that the connecting rod had undergone a rapid energetic disassembly ... that’s ex-Nuclear Operator language for “it broke!”

With Peggy’s assistance I was able to push the tractor into the storage shed and I began a more detailed investigation. It took me about 30 minutes to remove the engine cowling, then the engine’s cylinder head, and then the piston. For you less than experienced mechanics out there ... if you can remove the piston of a standard internal combustion engine at this point of engine disassembly something is terribly wrong! Most of the connecting rod came out with the piston and lots of little pieces came out as well.

At this point I could view the connecting rod’s correct point of attachment on the crankshaft And it didn’t look in much better shape than the connecting rod. This was not going to be a quick fix. I also checked the engine oil level and determined quite quickly that I had found the root cause of the problem ... a significant lack of lubrication caused by inadequate oil quantity. Actually ... the root cause was inadequate checking of oil level by the operator! Apparently this engine had been burning its lubricating oil internally for some time ... and checking the oil back in June was not often enough!

After kicking myself for my negligence I settled back into recovery mode. How do I recover from this little problem? I could pick up the leaves the old fashion way, and I did with lots of help from my wonderful wife ... but I certainly didn’t want to continue that process for the rest of leaf season. I could remove and rebuild the engine ... but that could take several weeks and an unknown amount of money. I could buy a new engine ... but that would cost about 1/3 the cost of a whole new lawn tractor ... and again several weeks to obtain an engine and then install the new one. What path do I take?

As it turns out I took the most expensive and least logical path. I spent a few hours shopping and then purchased a new lawn tractor - complete with new bagging system since my existing system wouldn’t work on the new machine. But wait ... I wasn’t done yet!

Since the “old” tractor was still in very good condition except for the broken engine ... and since I couldn’t see just throwing it away ... I decided to fix it as well.

Yesterday morning I removed the failed engine and took it into the basement for disassembly and further evaluation - hoping that much of it could be saved. Unfortunately the crankshaft was found beyond repair which made rebuilding the old engine about as costly as buying a new one. A little time on Amazon.com later and a new replacement engine was on order with an estimated delivery date of one week. Isn’t technology wonderful? But this story gets even better.

I got a message from UPS last night telling me that my order would be delivered tomorrow (Today!!). And it was ... from order to delivery in just about 24 hours ... and this purchase didn’t even qualify for Amazon “Prime.” 

So the good news / bad news is that I should have the “old” lawn tractor back in service with a new engine tomorrow (less than 1 week from failure). In retrospect ... I’d have been better off economically by just replacing the engine right from the start. But then I wouldn’t have this story to tell you, I wouldn’t have been reminded that it really does make good sense to check engine oil levels more frequently on these small engines, and I wouldn’t have been reminded that sometimes haste does lead to waste.

I know ... I’ll teach Peggy how to operate one of the tractors and we can have that job done in half the time!

And then I’ll learn a new lesson.

Musings From Maine - Fall 2019

Autumn is in full swing here in Maine. The leaves are falling daily, the trees are about half naked, and my lawn tractor has already been used as a leaf vacuum twice with one more workout scheduled for tomorrow.

Other signs include ... the Patriots are winning, the Celtics started their season yesterday, our Motorhome is back in storage, the Chevelle is in its storage spot as are two of my restored vintage motorcycles ... and Halloween is just around the corner.

We haven’t received a hard freeze yet but I suspect that time is not far off. I hope it holds off for a few more days until I get the outdoor hoses drained and put away!

Peggy and I had a fun get-a-way day on our Anniversary earlier this month. We took a leisurely 200 mile drive up the Maine coast to the small town of Machias, did a little sightseeing along the coast, had some great food at a couple of Maine’s iconic small coastal restaurants (Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro and Helen’s Restaurant in Machias) and then came home the next day using a more inland route on a nice sunny day with just about peak fall foliage to view. Even us retired folk need a get-a-way day now and again to just enjoy our surroundings ... and each other!

Along with accomplishing my annual fall chore of getting my vehicle fleet prepared for winter I also removed the hood from my 1965 Chevelle and the painted pieces from my 1966 Yamaha Big Bear so they can be provided to my “Paint Guy” for some beautification work over the next few months. Glen always does a great job so I’m looking forward to seeing how these parts come out! Glen already has the hood and the Yamaha parts will follow as soon as I complete some prep work.

So that’s all behind us ... what’s ahead? If its almost November then our priorities will shift to staying warm, watching kids and grandkids grow up, enjoying family over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and then planning and executing our escape from winters grip on the northeastern US.

The Winnebago has had her fluids and filters changed, she is fueled up, she has her new awnings installed, and her solar panel is keeping her batteries charged. So she sits ready to be loaded and pointed south. My Chevy Colorado has completed all its modifications necessary to be towed behind Winne and the test tow went well. All we need now is some cooperative weather during that first week of 2020!

I suspect most of you have been doing pretty much the same as us over these past many weeks ... living life and doing what you can to pursue happiness whenever and however you can. Hopefully you have spent very little time paying much attention to the childish behavior being displayed by our “leaders” in Washington, DC. I wonder if they understand that although we care what they actually accomplish while they represent us - we care little for the pettiness and vitriol they seem to require while they get done what little they do manage to complete. I probably spend too much of my time paying attention to what they are up to ... and I probably wont stop since I’m a bit stubborn ... but even I find myself needing to turn away and just ignore their noise. I know ... many of you out there have been more successful at “ignoring the noise“ than I for a long time. I just hope we all continue to hear and understand the message while ignoring the noise.

In the meantime ... we will do our best to enjoy what can be enjoyed as we finish off autumn and welcome winter when it comes ... and then follow the warmth of the sun as fast as we can!

75 and A-Wake-Up.

Here I Sit

Well ... here I sit ... early on this rainy morning ... waiting for the Freightliner of Maine boys to bring the Winnebago into their shop for its annual lube, filter and oil change. This is always a visit I dread. It takes as long as it takes ... no real schedule for these guys. And it costs way to much for what they do ... but alas ... here I sit.

WTT has sat in her storage spot for 4 or so months but she has awoken rather peacefully. So far all systems are working as we left them and the 40 mile drive down here to Westbrook was uneventful. Once we get this necessary preventative maintenance done ... and get the awning replaced next week ... it will be time to get her back in her storage spot for a few more months before we head south for the winter.

I did get started on making a few reservations for our 2020 winter trip yesterday. Making reservations  for RV Parks in the south for the winter months can get iffy this time of year but so far - so good. I was able to reserve a spot for us for a few days at one of our go-to parks in Lower Alabama ... the Escapees Club Rainbow Plantation ... in mid January for a few days. After resting up for a few days in the warmth (hopefully) we plan on heading west along I-10 to San Antonio for a few days ... and then on to Arizona where we plan on hanging out for several weeks before taking a leisurely trip back home. As is usual for us ... we hope to be back in Maine around the 1st of April.

Maine is turning rather fall-ish rather fast. The leaves are starting their annual color change and more and more are showing up in my yard. It won’t be long and I’ll be attaching the leaf catcher to the lawn tractor and starting the bi-weekly leaf bagging and hauling routine. My least favorite chore of the year ... even worse than snow shoveling/blowing! Well ... maybe it’s a tie.

I have been spending my time these last several weeks working on reupholstering seats for a 1966 Impala convertible. The Impala is undergoing a complete restoration at a local shop where my friend Glen is doing the body and paint work. I was recruited to accomplish the interior work since I have some experience doing this work and I am trading my labor for some body/paint work by Glen on my 1966 Yamaha Big Bear motorcycle and a repaint of the hood on my 1965 Chevelle. The Chevelle was painted by Glen about 25 years ago and has held up pretty well ... but the hood has developed a bubble in the paint from some rust that needs repair. The seats are just about done on the Impala and I’ll start getting the Yamaha parts and Chevelle hood ready in a few weeks.

Peggy and my 49th wedding anniversary is this Friday so we have decided to get out of the house and take in a little Maine fall scenery along their northern coast of Maine. We are heading up to Machias, Maine for the day and an overnight ... and will be returning on Saturday. Not a long trip ... but it will be nice to get away from the routine for a day. Forty-nine years —- whodathunkit? Well ... we did! Next year will be the big Five-Oh!! Since the 50th Anniversary is supposed to be a big deal ... and it is ... we are planning a Party! I’m not sure how “wild” the party will be since we left “wild” a long time ago ... but we are hoping to have a good time with family and friends. Details to follow ... but ya’ll may have to start saving Saturday October 3rd - 2020 as the date to be in Maine and join us!

And congratulations are in order for our daughter Stacy today as she starts her new position as President of Downeast Insurance! Good job kiddo!

So here I sit ... 2 hours later and they are just getting WTT pulled in to the service bay!

Bye Bye Summer

September is here, Labor Day has come and gone, the kids are back in school, and most of the Summer People have headed south. Regardless of what the calendar says ... summer is over and fall has arrived here in Maine. Those days of highs in the mid 80s, or even mid 70s are a memory for 2019. We are mostly seeing days in the low 70s with morning lows in the 50s and occasionally in the 40s. Ahh ... just the way I like it. Cool crisp mornings and comfortable afternoons and the leaves haven't started falling in earnest yet!

As I predicted in my last post -- August was a pretty busy month around here also. After finishing painting the smaller bedroom upstairs Peggy decided to move on to the large bedroom. More furniture and "stuff" moving, more spackling, more painting ... and more putting it all back together again. She has done a nice job and both rooms can be left alone, awaiting company, for the next several years!

As for me ... well I spent a lot of time completing the finishing touches on my Yamaha restoration project and was even able to take it up to the Owls Head Transportation Museum's Vintage Motorcycle fest last Saturday. I was too chicken to ride it that far so it made the trip on my trailer but I had a great time showing it off even in its "work in progress" condition. Had fun checking out all the other vintage iron also!

Summer 2019 has been ... nice. After being on-the-road most of last summer it was nice to just sit here in Maine and enjoy it. It was nice to see the kids and grandkids, it was nice to enjoy time with friends, it was even nice to get a few home projects completed that needed doing (but there are still plenty more where those came from!)

Since summer is now over it must be time to start on fall chores/projects. My priority project is to get the motorhome ready for winter and a winter trip. Winterizing is a fairly easy process and routine for us that live in the frozen north. Even though we tend to head south in the winter we will still experience plenty of  sub-freezing temps before we finally go. Fall is also when I tend to accomplish the routine chassis maintenance as well. Things like checking and adding water as necessary to the batteries, lubricating the chassis, changing the oil in the main engine and the generator engine, and changing the fuel filters. With this motorhome I usually let the Freightliner truck shop take care of the lube, oil, and filter change ... I hate spending money on labor that I could do myself ... but I hate crawling under that rig even more. I will take care of the generator maintenance and the batteries ... but I'll let Freightliner do the rest (and check their work with a fine tooth comb when they are done!).

I also have a couple of "corrective" maintenance items that need to be done. Item #1 is to replace the fabric on both outside awnings. The fabric on both awnings started to separate at a seam about two years ago (slightly over the warranty period of course) and I attempted to keep it from getting worse by using Gorilla Tape, The tape worked for a while but the problem kept getting worse so some sort of more permanent repair or replacement became a higher priority. Over several e-mails I was able to convince the awning manufacturer that they should provide me replacement fabric since the failure was a premature failure of their product ... and they ultimately agreed ... and I agreed to take on responsibility for installation of the fabric. I have had some experience replacing awning fabric on our previous Winne and its not a pleasant experience involving the need for several persons and tall ladders. Peggy and I were able to do it last time ... but we were 12 years younger ... so I think the local RV repair company is going to make some money on this job.

I also need to replace the fake leather upholstery on the passenger captains chair. This was another case where the upholstery started to wear out after the warranty period but long before you would think it should. This time it was Winnebago that came through with replacement material and I agreed to take on installation. I replaced the seat cover on the drivers side chair last year and it wasn't too difficult so I plan to complete the job on the passenger seat this fall.

Hopefully these replacements will complete the necessary "New RV Warranty Claims" that seem to occur with every new RV regardless of manufacturer. We went through the same process with our original Winne where we spent a couple of years getting the poor quality manufacturing issues fixed, then we were able to get several years of relatively trouble free use before things started to need repair/replacement from wearing out.

Such is the life of an RV'er! 

And this RV'er is ready to roll! It is way to early to start any countdown ... but we are planning a winter getaway beginning in early January and lasting until around April 1st. This year we are thinking of heading back to Arizona for our turn around destination. How we get there and where we hang out once there are yet to be determined ... and yes ... I know ... we are already behind schedule on figuring that out!

Until then ... time to find the long pants!

A Busy-Fun July

Apparently we were busy in July. I really did intend to get a blog post in during July ... but I failed!

The weather has been very summer-like all month with highs in the very high 70s to high 80s pretty much every day. Lately the humidity has been high as well making those high 80s days pretty uncomfortable in the afternoons. Thank goodness for air conditioning! My kids will laugh at that one since we never used or had an AC during their growing years ... they remind me nearly every time they visit and the AC is on!

We started off the month with a Birthday Bash for grandson Aiden as he turned 2 on the 4th of July. That kid is really growing now and Gramma and Papa have fun trying to keep up.

I have spent most of my time this month working on various projects. Most of the work was on my projects but some was helping Peggy with her project getting one of the bedrooms upstairs emptied, painted, and re-assembled in preparation for the New Jersey Evringhams visit later in the month. She did a great job and the work was completed on schedule and under budget (there was a budget?).

My early July project was to prepare the Colorado for towing. I completed installation of the supplemental braking system which applies the trucks brakes when I apply the motorhome brakes ... and then I moved on to installing the brackets that attach to the truck frame that are connected to the motorhome's towbar when we are traveling. Installing the brackets involves removing the front facia from the truck which is time consuming ... but not really that difficult ... except when it is super hot and humid outside ... that adds to the difficulty factor! With the front facia removed this was also the time for engineering and installing brackets for the breakaway switch and wiring connector that plugs in to the motorhome. It took me a two days to accomplish all this but I like the way it turned out. The brackets are easy to get to and you hardly notice they are there! 

Finally, I had to accomplish a couple of additional electrical modifications to the Colorado in preparation for towing. Modification number 1 was to install a battery disconnect feature so that the Colorado's battery could be disconnected with a simple push of a button (necessary to remove power from the electric operated steering when towing) and number 2 was to add an additional brake pedal operated switch to send a signal to the motorhome to let me know when the braking system has actuated. I know ... it sounds complicated ... and I suppose that it is ... but all these mods will make it much easier and faster to prepare the Colorado to be towed each time we must "hook up." This was my fifth time preparing a vehicle to be towed and I'm hopeful it will be my last!

With the Colorado project behind me I moved back to restoring my latest motorcycle project. I have been working on restoring the parts I started with and procuring the ones I was missing ... as well as the ones I found needed replacement for a multitude of reasons. While Brian and the Gang were here I decided to get the frame painting accomplished so I could start the reassembly ... including installation of the engine into the frame ... which was a whole lot easier with Brian helping!

These last few days I have completed most of the reassembly and the bike is ready to be moved out of the basement and into the outside world where I can complete the reassembly. That winch system I used to get the previous bike out will definitely come in handy for this move as well. This bike is "small" by many peoples standards but it still a relative porker when it comes to weight. 

I'm looking forward to hearing this one start up!

While Brian, Nicky, Alyssa, and Emily were here we had our almost traditional summer cookout and group Birthday Party covering my birthday (July 19th), Kaj's birthday (July 28th), Nicky's birthday (July 29th), Eric's birthday (August 4th), and Brian's birthday (August 9th). This years' get together was over at Kaj and Stacy's place and included lots of great food (lobster, pulled pork, green and potato salads ... and of course ... cake and ice cream. Add to that some slippin and slidin, a little croquet, some cornhole, and a walk downtown for a little Richmond Days activities and a great time was had by all!

Perhaps things will slow down a bit in August ... but I doubt it!

Summah!

Another month has gone by and the calendar tells me today is the first day of summer. After all the rain we have received in these last 6 or so weeks - I'm ready for some sun! But the grass is green, the trees are fully leafed, school is now done for the year and the summer people are flocking to Maine ... so it must be summer.

We have had a pretty successful month here at the Maineiacs In Motion Summer Cottage. Peggy and I have been contemplating getting a new car for some time now. We liked the 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid overall but we both didn't care for getting in and out of the low slung sedan. I don't understand why - but getting up from a low position seems to be getting harder these days. I wonder why? Anyway ... we both liked the Saturn Vue SUV we had previous to the Fusion so we started looking at similar vehicles. After pondering the pros and cons of the several we looked at we decided to purchase a new 2019 Chevrolet Equinox. It is very similar in size and handling to the Vue, has All Wheel Drive, a few of the new hi tech bells and whistles ... and is much easier to enter and exit! 

The particular model we decided on can not be towed behind our motorhome with all four wheels on the ground ... but the Chevy Colorado Pick Up we purchased last year can ... so that is one of my priority projects over the next few months ... installing all the modifications necessary to the Colorado to make it ready for towing. I have already completed the wiring necessary to the lighting system for brake, turn, and tail lights ... and most of the wiring necessary for the supplemental braking system (being transferred from the Fusion to the Equinox) ... but I still have to complete the braking system modifications and install the brackets and other connection points to attach the towbar and and electrical "umbilical cord." It's a good thing we have no near term travel plans!

I have also had a pretty successful last couple of weeks in thinning the antique motorcycle herd. Within the last week I have sold the 1966 Yamaha YL1 100cc "Twinjet" that I restored a couple of years ago and the 1967 Yamaha YCS1 180CC "Bonanza" that I restored last fall/winter. Both new owners seem to be really happy with their new purchases, I have more room to store other stuff, and I made a few bucks to put towards my ongoing restoration of my 1966 Yamaha Big Bear Scrambler! I love it when a plan comes together ... but I still would like to sell one more bike this summer to thin the herd a little more!

Since summer is now officially here I suppose its time to settle into summer mode which means:

Enjoy the nice weather when we get it,

Spend some time with the kids and grandkids,

and keep out of trouble while working on my various "projects."

Just think ... the leaves will start falling in only three more months and then it will be time to start thinking about where these Maineiacs will need to run and hide for the winter!

Until then ...

The Way Life Should Be

Well ... since it has been a month now since my last blog posting I'm feeling a little guilty and figured I better get caught up. I'm not really sure why. When I started this blog thing way back in 2005 prior to our first post-retirement west coast and back trip my idea was to have a way to keep family and friends up to date on our whereabouts and doings. A lot has changed since then. We started using Facebook back in about 2009 as a way to keep track of what was happening with our kids and grandkids ... back when the kids and grandkids were using Facebook and not all the other various "social media." Since then we seem to use Facebook as a way to keep family and friends up to date on our doings - and the kids/grandkids are off using all the other social media platforms while we oldsters hang out on Facebook. I reckon I'll keep making an entry here from time to time ... as the my mood and time available dictate. I figure the Blogger hosting people will discontinue the App at some time and that will help make my decision to discontinue "blogging." But until then ...

After waiting for the weekly Texas Severe Thunderstorm to move through our area ... we finally pulled up stakes and headed out of New Braunfels, TX on April 18th -- heading north on I-35. The original plan was to make it to someplace east of Dallas on I-30, but that plan changed as the weather was still pretty lousy up near Dallas and the wind was pretty strong as well. Having had enough for the day we pulled in for the night at North Crest RV Park in Waco, TX. The RV park was certainly nothing special but it was owned and operated by one of those "characters" you meet along the road in the RV lifestyle - RV Park Mark as he called himself is an ex-trucker, drummer, hippee from the 60s - full of stories and one interesting guy to talk to. And he does like to talk! He went out of his way to find us a spot for the night in a basically full RV Park ... so that was special as well.

We drove for the next several days with relatively nice weather stopping in Texarkana, TX, Forrest City, AR, and Nashville, TN on our way to Crossville, TN where we visited once again with friends Darrell and Judy Patterson before continuing our trek home.

The next leg of our trip home led us to Clarksboro, NJ and a visit with the NJ Evringhams. It was great seeing Brian, Nicky, Alyssa, and Emily as always. It also brought back memories of our busy lives back in the days we had teenagers -- on the go all the time! Actually, Alyssa was just finishing her 1st year in college at Stockton University and Emily was completing her Freshman year in High School. Exciting times!

We finished up our trip home after an overnight once again at the Mohegan Sun Casino. We took advantage of their free overnight parking, walked about the casino without gambling, but did partake of their very good buffet for dinner. Good food ... but it certainly was more expensive than the casino buffets out west in the Carson City and Reno areas!

We made it home on April 29th after 39 days on the road. Kind of a short trip for a Winter/Spring getaway ... but we were glad to be home -- as always. Along our way we stayed at 17 RV parks (some twice) and only 3 new places. I guess we tend to travel many of the same roads - and have our "favorite" places to stay. Some are favorites because we like the park/people ... some are favorites because they are located in convenient places. One thing I can say for sure ... they aren't getting any less expensive!

We unloaded most of the "stuff" from the motorhome but not everything since we had one more little excursion planned the following week ... this time to northern Vermont for a couple of days to watch grandson Bailey graduate from Norwich University. We had a busy/fun couple of days and it was a new experience watching kids graduate from America's oldest private military University. Many of those kids went on to accept Commissions in the armed forces the day after graduation but Bailey is moving on to life in the civilian world using his new Construction Management Degree (Summa Cum Laude by the way) ... congratulations to Bailey and family!

Our end of winter/spring trip added some 4,607 miles to WTT's odometer bringing her total up to 30,600 miles over the past 3 years. WTT continues to run well with only the occasional small issue to deal with here and there. She averaged around 9.5 miles per gallon of $3.00 (average) per gallon diesel fuel.

As is typical - we have been really busy these past few weeks getting everything back to "normal" around here. Getting WTT ready to be stored, getting all the antique motorcycles and car out of storage, putting away the winter stuff and getting out the summer stuff. Not to mention getting the latest restored motorcycle out of the basement and ready for its first test drive. Bye the way - that 1967 Yamaha YCS1 180 cc "Bonanza" runs great!

Now it's time to sell a few of those bikes and thin the herd!

I don't expect things to slow down much over the next few months. But then -- that's Maine in the summer ... "The Way Life Should Be!"

Deep In The Heart of Texas -- Again!

Well here we are ... staying put in New Braunfels, TX for one more day and waiting for the thunderstorm front to establish itself tonight and then move east. We had hoped to be heading northeast a couple of days ago but we decided to let the ugly sounding weather move on before we did. 

We had an uneventful trip from Lower Alabama, through Southern Mississippi and Louisiana to here in New Braunfels, TX - just north of San Antonio. It was "uneventful" but not exactly stress free. I-10 through Louisiana is still rough, construction zones seem to pop-up every few miles, and Houston is still a busy city to drive through. But through it all We and Winne The Two managed to make it through unscathed.

Speaking of WTT ... she is officially three years old now. We purchased her on April 11th 2016 in Tucson, Arizona, moved in over the next few days and took off towards Maine on April 14th. On this date in 2016 we found ourselves in West Texas - waiting for a line of thunderstorms to move further east - kinda deja vu all over again - don't ya think? Over the past 3 years we have driven WTT some 27,000 miles - From Sea to Shining Sea ... and back again.

We arrived here on Tuesday the 9th and immediately had a hankering for some Texas BBQ. Fortunately some of the best BBQ is just down the road from where we are staying and even more fortunately our BBQ eating buddies Rod and Debbie Kendall are also nearby - so we asked if they were available - they were - and so off to Cooper's Old Time Pit Barbeque we went. The food was great and the visit with Rod and Debbie was even better!

One of the main reasons we came to this area was to see our grand daughter Kyla graduate from her USN Hospitalman "A" school, join the Naval Hospital Corps, and then get on her way to her next duty assignment in Hawaii. Exciting times for a 20 year old ... or so I remember!

Our Daughter Stacy, SIL Kaj, Granddaughter Taylor, and Grandson Aiden arrived by plane into San Antonio on Wednesday the 10th - so we met up with them and made our way over to Joint Base Fort Sam Houston to see Kyla that evening. But not before making it over to the famous San Antonio River Walk and the Original Mexican Restaurant for some good Mexican food - and a margarita of course! We had a good visit with Kyla Wednesday evening.

Thursday was Kyla's graduation day and the school command put on a nice ceremony. HN Kyla Johansen even graduated on the Dean's List! 

After we were able to spring Kyla from the base we found our way over to Rudy's for some more great BBQ, made our way back to San Antonio for an afternoon boat ride on the San Antonio River, and then more visiting.

Miss Kyla was off on her way to Hawaii early on Friday morning and the rest of us did the obligatory trip to the Alamo and then walked over a few blocks to the River Walk and another great lunch. This time we visited the Rainforest Cafe for some fun jungle entertainment!

Saturday morning the previous line of thunderstorms moved through followed by clear skies and a fairly nice day. In fact - it was so nice that the Johansen's visited us up here in New Braunfels, played at the playground, went swimming in the pool, and the adults celebrated Happy Hour at the Maineiacs in Motion Tiki Bar on Wheels. With Happy Hour complete ... it was time to eat again ... and since they had never been to Cooper's ... well we just had to go again!

On Sunday the Johansen's enjoyed the San Antonio Zoo in the morning and we joined them in the afternoon. It seems Fiesta week was starting in San Antonio so we walked a few blocks from their hotel to the Market Square were the Fiesta activities were in full swing! Lots of people, lots of vendors, lots of latin music, lots of Mexican food ... and lots of fun being had by all! And yes -- we did find a nice Mexican Restaurant, La Margarita, for some more Mexican Food and margaritas.

The rest of the Johansens flew home on Monday after a waay busy week for us all. As for Mom and Dad? we had a sorta normal quiet day and did some grocery shopping. We even had all our meals here at the RV! Peggy thawed out some of those yummy Alabama Gulf Shrimp and made Tequila Lime Shrimp Flambe`. Well ... the Flambe` part wasn't part of the recipe - but it added to the experience!

Yesterday was supposed to be our leave to start the trip home day. After looking at the weather forecast along our intended travel path we decided to hang out here for a couple more days, ride out the beginning of the nasty weather here and then follow behind the storm heading east and steering clear of any severe weather.

So that's the plan for now - subject to change as always! You just never know when an opportunity for some fabulous food might present itself along the way!