2011 Spring Rally Day 5

Sevierville, TN.
45 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 68 deg. sunny, SW wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

It cleared up nicely yesterday but the wind wouldn't stop blowing and blowing, and, it never did get very warm. It was nice enough that many of the RVers here for the Rally enjoyed the "Rig Walk-through" though.

About 5:30 Jim and Linda headed over to the Banquet Hall for the "Catered Dinner". Both of them said that the chicken and ribs were very good as were the green beans, new potatoes, rolls and cake for desert.

After dinner the "70's Theme Party" started and of course Howard and Linda were completely "into it".

Yes, that's Howard with the long black hair and that's Linda on the right. :-)

Another highlight of the evening was the presentation of a "Hug Jug" to Howard and Linda. It was a large jug in the shape of a bear, filled with envelopes full of donations to help Howard and Linda  to be able to continue the RV Dreams web site and their great work to help folks learn all about the full-timing lifestyle.

Jim and Linda didn't stay too long after the 70's party started. They really aren't into that kind of music too much. Plus, at the dinner, they learned that there had been severe weather in the Raleigh NC area with tornadoes and damage. They were concerned because Mike and his family live just west of there in Apex.

So. . . . . as soon as they got back here, Jim called Mike and found out that the storms had missed them and all was well. :-) They had, however, gone down into the basement when the tornado warnings were issued for the area. Mike said that they had very heavy rain along with some strong winds but no damage.

Today is the last day of the Rally. This morning at 8:00 there is a "Farewell Breakfast" over at the Banquet Hall and after that there will be h & h, (hugs and handshakes), as many of the RV dreamers will be leaving and heading home or to other destinations across the country. Again, there were many friendships made or rekindled here at the Rally and it will be hard to say good-bye. ;-(   Hopefully they'll meet up again somewhere down the road and pick up the friendship just where they left off.

Jim, Linda and I want to wish everyone a safe trip and are looking forward to meeting up with you again sometime.

Did you know that The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States? The park was named for the smoke-like bluish haze that often envelops these fabled mountains.

A Change In The Weather, Day 2 Of The Rally, and The Lake

Longs, SC.
63 deg. cloudy, W. wind @ 6 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 69 deg. partly cloudy, NW wind @ 10 to 15 mph.

It was another beautiful day here in Longs yesterday, although it was pretty breezy. We've been having high temps in the upper 70's to close to 90 deg. every day since we've been here, but a cold front came through last night and brought some rain, and now it looks like for the rest of the time we will be here, that the temps will be closer to the normal with the range being between the upper 60's and mid 70's.

Not bad, but could get cool for any activities that are not during the warmest part of the day.

Jim took his bike and went over to the banquet hall to go to a couple of seminars yesterday morning. He won't be going to all the seminars because some of them don't cover the way we full-time, or are of no interest to him or Linda. After he got back, he worked on his bike because the shifter was not working properly. Well, it turned out that it just needed a little lubrication, and a minor adjustment to get everything working properly again.

After he got that fixed, he took the bike for a ride around the lake here at the Resort. It's a pretty big lake and there is a bike/walking path that goes all the way around it. Come to find out, the path is just 1 mile long. Jim stopped and took a few photos and this first one was taken from across the lake looking back at the CG.

Along the way, there are a few benches and even a couple of picnic tables like this so you to take a rest or have a nice lunch. The buildings you see are the office and banquet hall, and you can also see the sandy beach right at the lake's edge behind the office.

The photo above is one of some fog hanging over the lake that Jim took the other morning. It was taken from my site and I just though it looked kind of neat, so I though I'd share it with you.  

Last night, they had a chili cook-off over at the banquet hall and a whole bunch of the folks brought their favorite chili to be judged and then shared by all the people. (There were about 15 different kinds). Jim's not a big fan of chili, but he found a couple of different ones that weren't too spicy, and said that he enjoyed the meal.

After the meal, they had "RV show-and-tell". Some of the folks brought some neat things that they have found useful for camping or RVing and others brought some funny stuff to show. I'm not sure, but I think I heard some laughing and clapping all the way over here at my site, so I think everyone really had a good time. ;-)

Today, Jim will probably go to a few more seminars and then tonight is the Pot-luck dinner, where everyone brings some food to share.

It should be another fun day! :-)

Did you know that the largest Gingko farm in the world is near Sumter, SC?

An Apology, Saving Money and A Movie

Orange City, FL.
43 deg. clear, N. wind @ 6 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 72 deg. partly cloudy, E. winds @ 5 to 10 mph.

Yesterday morning Jim got on the computer and looked up the Perkins Restaurant web site. http://www.perkinsrestaurants.com/ Once connected to the site, he found a section that said "contact us". After clicking on it, a box came up where you could leave a comment, so he wrote about what had happened Sunday evening at the Orange City location. It asked him to pick a store from the drop-down list and then type in his contact information.

Well, to his surprise, in less than 2 hours after leaving his complaint on the Web site, the phone rang, and it was the manager, Chris, from the Orange City Perkins Restaurant! The first thing he did was apologize and then he asked Jim to tell him what had happened. After listening to Jim and asking a few questions, he again apologized and told him that what had happened was completely unacceptable, and he promised Jim he would take care of it, so it wouldn't happen again. Then he then went on to say that if Jim and Linda would consider coming back to the restaurant, he would be happy to buy them dinner.

Now, this quick response and the way it was handled was completely unexpected. After the conversation with Chris, and the apology from him, it seems like Perkins really wants to please their customers. Chris seemed to be really sincere when he apologized and seemed truly concerned that the incident had happened in the first place.

So, I think Jim and Linda will give the Perkins restaurant in Orange City another chance. It seems like they are really committed to insuring that their customers have a good dinning experience.

On another note....... The electrical cable that Jim uses to hook up CLT's lights to me when I am towing him, is getting old. It's a coiled cord and the outside insulation is cracking, exposing the wires inside. Well, Jim checked out the Camping World catalog to see about getting a new one, and found out that the only way he could get one was to buy it as a kit with all the connectors, including the plug on CLT and on me. The price for this kit? $94.99 with Jim's discount!!!! Well, Jim thought that was really high, so yesterday afternoon, he took CLT and headed over to the Deland Truck Center, which is only about 5 miles from here and picked up a some new 6 conductor wire for $1.25 a foot!!!

Now, it's not the coiled kind, and there are no connectors on the wire so Jim will have to change them, but for $86.24, Jim will be more than happy to spend a few hours sitting under my awning doing that!

What did Linda do yesterday, you ask? Well, about 1:00 Laura came by and picked her up and they went to see that new Sherlock Holmes movie that just came out. When she came back she said it was a fun movie, but it didn't really follow the books much.

I think she and Laura had a good time. :-)

For dinner, Linda heated up some leftovers for Jim and some soup for herself. Then, it was TV again until bedtime.

Did you know that eating for good luck is a popular tradition at the beginning of the New Year? Try 12 grapes at midnight (Spain), donuts (Holland), and black-eyed peas (American South)

Linda Goes To The Movies and Jim Goes Shopping

Orange City, FL.
60 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 81 deg. partly cloudy with a 20% chance of a shower this afternoon.

Well, plans change and the groceries didn't get bought yesterday. Why not, you ask? Well, just as Jim and Linda were getting ready to go to the grocery store, Ashley called and asked Linda if she wanted to go see a movie. You see, Laura didn't have to go to work yesterday, so she and Ashley decided to go see that new movie about vampires or werewolves or something, and thought Linda might like to go. After a little discussion, Jim said that he'd go get the essential groceries and told Linda she should go ahead and go if she wanted to.

So.... Linda went to the movie with Laura and Ashley, and Jim went to the store and picked up bread and milk.

While he was out and about, he also went to the UPS store and sent Denny and Bev those patio lights that he had picked up for them way back in Myrtle Beach. Then he went to a Sears store to look at air compressors.

OK, now I can hear you asking, "Why did he want to look at air compressors at Sears"? Well, the little air compressor that he had to pump up CLT's tires and his bike's tires died awhile back, (Jim had originally found it in a dumpster a couple of years ago, and got it working), so he needed something to replace it with. He had heard about this compressor that Sears sells that would also be suitable for pumping up my tires, so he decided that since he was out, he'd take a look at one. Well, he liked it, but they didn't have one in stock, so he ordered one.

It should be at the store this coming Wednesday.

It was about 4:30 by the time Linda got back here from the movie, so for dinner, she just heated up some pizza that was left-over from when they went to Cheapa Pizza the other day. Then after little naps, they watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Oh, Linda thought the movie was fun, but she said the best part of the afternoon was being with Laura and Ashley. :-)

Did you know that it was on this date in 1980 that 350 million people around the world tuned in on their TVs to find out "Who shot J.R." on the TV series, "Dallas"?

Yucky Day, Phone Calls, and "Curbitis"

Rantoul, IL
72 deg. partly cloudy, very humid, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 90 deg. partly sunny, 50% chance of showers and t-storms, SE winds @ 5 to 10 mph.

Kind of a yucky day yesterday, with high humidity and temps in the mid 80's. We had showers off and on all day, but nothing severe. Over night it rained pretty hard for awhile, but now it's clearing up. I don't expect that to last too long though, as they are forecasting more storms for later in the day.

Being that it was yucky, Jim and Linda didn't go anywhere or do anything special. There were a couple of bright spots in the day though, when both Mike and Laura called to wish Jim a happy father's day. :-) It was sure nice of them to take time out of their busy day and call.

It sure put a smile on Jim's face. :-)

I don't know, I may have talked about this before, but here at the Prairie Pines CG there is a condition some of the RVers get, and it's called "curbitis". You see, all of the streets in this park have curbs, and when you pull out of your site, you have to drive down off of the curb. Well, the curb heights range anywhere from about an inch to a maximum of 3 1/2 inches.

The "curbitis" starts when one RVer starts fretting about driving down off of the curb when he leaves. He starts to worry about what the drop-off could do to his RV's tires, or starts worrying about the possibility of his leveling jacks or some other part of the RV dragging as he exits.

Now, let me describe these curbs to you. First of all they are rounded, so there are no sharp edges to damage a tire. They are only a maximum of 3 1/2 inches tall, (with many of them much lower), so if your jacks or other parts of the RV are going to drag, you've got a problem you need to get checked out. All RVs should have more than 3 1/2 inches of road clearance. Heck, I've gone over speed bumps that are higher than that!!

Anyway, lets get back to our RVer with "curbitis". He starts worrying, goes over and talks to his neighbor, and pretty soon the "curbitis" has spread and everyone is looking for boards or other objects to lay next to the curb to try to lessen the drop. Of course unless the RVs jacks or other low part is within 4 or 6 inches of your tires, (the width of a board), the lowest part of the RV still comes down the same amount. But, that doesn't seem to matter, they still go around trying to find boards.

Oh well, it's fun to watch. Here's all these people running around moving boards from one site to another, people down on their hands and knees watching to see of something is going to drag as the RV pulls out, and even a few refusing to drive down off of the curb, and instead, trying to back out of their site to find a place where the curb is lower.

"Curbitis" is good entertainment! :-)

Did you know that the first man to distill bourbon whisky in the United States, (in 1789), was a Baptist preacher?

A Movie, Dinner, and A Party

Orange City, FL.
37 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 65 deg. partly cloudy, SE winds @ 5 to 10 mph.


The weather turned out to be pretty nice yesterday so Jim went out and hooked me up to the city water, put out sewer hoses and drained my tanks, and aired up CLT's tires.


While he was doing that, Laura called and wanted to know if Linda and Jim would like to go with her and Anna to see a movie. Well, Jim declined, but Linda said she would like to go, so about 1:00 Laura stopped by and picked Linda up. Laura and Linda also discussed the possibility of going out to dinner at Chili's after the movie. It was decided that when they got out of the movie, they would call Jim and then he would take CLT and meet them at the restaurant.


So, that is what happened. About 4:30 they called, Jim went to the restaurant and they all had good food and great conversation. In fact, Lindsey and Ashley joined them too, so everyone was there.


As most of you probably know, the Super Bowl is being played today, and Jim and Linda are invited to Laura's for a Super Bowl Party. So, the plan is to go over there sometime before 4:00, have some dinner and then watch the game.


So, what am I going to be doing while the game is on, you ask? Well, I don't really know. The Voyager MH next to me seems pretty nice, so I'll see if I can strike up a conversation with him. He's from upstate New York, and just down here for the winter, so I don't know how much we'll have in common. We'll just have to see.

Did you know that Mike Ditka, Tom Flores, and Tony Dungy have all won a Super Bowl both as a player and a coach?

The Rally, Day 4

Branson, MO
64 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = High temp. 90 deg. partly cloudy, S winds @ 10 mph.

Jim was at the pavilion at 7:30 again yesterday morning for the coffee and doughnuts. This time though, he stayed afterwards for a couple of the seminars that were being presented. One was on keeping your RV in good condition and tips and tricks to make your travels more comfortable. It was given by a RV Certified Tech. The other seminar was given by Howard and Linda, and it was more of an open discussion about buying a full-time RV. Jim said both were good, and he was glad he went.

There really wasn't anything scheduled for the afternoon, but since Howard and Linda didn't get to do their hook-up demonstration the day before, (because of the rain), they decided to do that. Also, they had a guy with some scales come to the park and weigh some of the RVs. Of course you had to unhook everything, drive around to where he was set up with the scales, and then drive back to your site and hook everything back up again. Jim talked to the man who was doing the weighing, and he said that it was amazing how many RVs were way overloaded!

For dinner, the campground furnished a great meal for all the Rally attendees. They have this huge BBQ cooker, (it looks like a huge barrel, about 10 feet long, that has a fire at one end), and they cooked the meat on that thing all day. Well, I guess it was really good, because everyone that walked by in front or back of me was talking about it. Then after the dinner, they had a Hillbilly Party at the pavilion. Again, from what I could hear, is sounded like every one had a great time.

This morning, they are having breakfast for all the Rally people at the pavilion, and then it will be time to say good-bye to all the people Jim and Linda have met, and the RVs I have met, and start heading for Illinois.

Again, it will be hard to say good-bye to a lot of them because in just this short time, we have made some friendships that will possibly last for the rest of our lives.

Did you remember that today is Father's Day?

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there!!!

The Rally, Day 3

Branson, MO.
63 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 88 deg. partly cloudy, light winds out of the SE.

The day started out very early again with coffee and doughnuts down at the pavilion, followed by seminars on a variety of subjects. Jim went down and ate a doughnut and talked for a little while, but didn't stay for any of the seminars. You see, he had eaten some lasagna at the dinner, the night before, and sometimes the cheese in those dishes, just don't set too well with his stomach.

He should have known better.

Anyway, in the afternoon, Howard and Linda had scheduled a demonstration of how they hook and unhook their 5th wheel and the procedures they go though. (Weather permitting) Well he weather wasn't permitting, so instead, they got out their inflatable boats, brought them under the tent, and showed everyone how they were set up and taken down. From what I could see from here, it looked pretty interesting. About the time they had finished disassembling and deflating their boats, the rain really started coming down hard, and the skies really looked bad. We ended up having quite a bit of rain, but no strong winds or anything.

Now, here it is, 5:00 PM, raining hard, skies looking bad, and everyone is supposed to bring food to the Potluck dinner at the pavilion, that is scheduled to start at 6:00! Well, Mother Nature cooperated this time. About 5:30 the rain stopped and everyone made it to the dinner without getting wet.

From what Jim and Linda said, the dinner was a huge success, and all of the food was great. (Jim didn't eat anything with cheese in it this time). After dinner, there were some door prizes given out and Howard and Linda were given a little plaque as a "thank you" for putting this whole Rally together. Then it was time for Karaoke!

Let me tell you, there is some talent in this group! I could hear some of the singing, and some of those singers were really good!!

Just a little before 10:00 Jim and Linda came back here, watched the news and went to bed.

Another great day!

Did you remember that today is Flag Day?

Come on, get out those flags and show your patriotism for this great country that we live in!!

The Rally, Day 2

Branson, MO
67 deg. partly cloudy, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 83 deg. t-storms likely, 70% chance of rain, SW winds @ 10 mph.

Yesterday, in the morning, the early morning, Jim headed over to the pavilion for coffee and doughnuts, and a seminar that Howard and Linda gave on "Getting ready to Full-time". OK, I can hear you saying, "Why on earth would Jim want to go to a seminar on getting ready to full-time?" Well, as strange as it sounds, you can learn new things about full-timing from seminars like that. Jim also enjoys answering some of the questions that people have about our life-style, and how he and Linda got ready to go on the road. Even after 7 years, many of the issues are the same.

In the afternoon, some of the Rally goers, opened up their RVs to Rally attendees who wanted to see what the different kinds of RVs were like. While that was going on, Jim walked over to the big tent and visited with Howard and a few other people for awhile. Two of those people were Howard's parents who have driven here from Kentucky to join in on the fun. Jim says they are really nice and seem to be enjoying the Rally.

At 6:30, there was a catered Dinner and "RV Fashion Style Show" at the pavilion. Jim and Linda said that the food was great and so were the funny fashions that some of the RVs wore for the show. It must have been really funny because I could here the people laughing and clapping, way over here.

After the dinner and show, some of the people gathered under the tent. Jim and Linda decided to come back here instead. They ended up watching a little TV and going to bed early.

Today is Friday the 13th. Did you know that it is the only Friday the 13th that we will have in 2008?

Good Luck!!!

Movie and Shopping

Orange City, FL
68 deg. overcast, calm winds.
Forecast today = High temp. 83 deg. Partly sunny this morning, then becoming cloudy with a 40% chance of T-storms this afternoon. SE winds @ 5 to 10 MPH.

Yesterday afternoon, Laura stopped by and picked up Linda. They went down to Altamont and saw a movie called "The Other Boleyn Girl". Laura had been wanting to see it for quite some time, and it sounds like she and Linda really enjoyed themselves.

While they were gone, Jim took CLT and went shopping. First stop was Home Depot for a strainer screen for my kitchen sink drain. Jim's hoping that the fine screen will stop some of the blockage problem that I have with that drain. Then he went to Office Depot and picked up some SD memory cards, (they were on sale with $5 off), to use with the laptop computer and the electronic picture frame. After that, he made a quick stop at Arby's to pick up a couple of roast beef sandwiches for him and Linda to have for dinner, and the final stop was at Auto Zone to buy a infrared digital thermometer.

Ok, I know. You're asking, "What is a infrared digital thermometer, and what is it used for?" Well, an infrared thermometer reads surface temperatures instantly, and the digital part, means that it has a digital readout, and this one can read temperatures from -27 deg. to +428 deg. What is it used for? One thing that Jim is going to use it for is to measure my tire temperatures when we stop at a rest area after traveling down the road. You see, if one tire is hotter than the others, that means it is probably low on air and it is getting hot from flexing too much. It also can be used to instantly read my refrigerator's temperature, it can be used to check out AC or furnace temps., and can also be used to just check the temperature of items in a room, thus giving the room temp. You can also take the reading of the sidewalk temp., to see if it really is hot enough to fry and egg! :-)

By the time Linda got home, (about 4:00), Jim wasn't feeling too well. He said that his stomach felt upset. So when it was time to eat, Linda heated one of the Arby's sandwiches for her, and then about 8:00, after Jim felt better, she heated the other one up for him. I don't know why he didn't feel well, but he seems to be OK today.

Did you know that a group of frogs is called an army?

Roland and Louise, we're still praying for you.