Wrapping up Winter 2017

February kicked off with attendance at our first Family Motor Coach Association rally in Lakeland, FL with 600 other "rigs".  Fair to say we were the youngest couple there by a few years at least, but we had a good time and it was both educational and entertaining. It was capped with a Super Bowl party on the last night with an amazing buffet of "bring a snack to share" that took up 40 feet of serving tables. Nobody left hungry!

We also enjoyed our last visit at Jonathan Dickinson (Jupiter) and Lake Louisa (Clermont) State Parks. Both are conveniently located near family and friends and we try to fill up our schedule with visits to see everyone. We took the opportunity to get a little maintenance done when we found ourselves on a nice flat paved parking space in Jupiter. One in particular involves me up on a ladder for hours at a time while I replace sealant along the roof edge -- hard to dig out old stuff -- easy to squeeze in new stuff. Being the caulk queen that I am, I finally convinced Jeffrey a year ago that I can do a better job than the $125/hr service technicians. Here is a picture of the heavens rewarding me for my efforts!

Max at the end of the rainbow

Date night on a lovely FL sunset cruise

As is our typical winter schedule, we moved Max up to near Gainesville at the beginning of March. It is getting harder and harder to get an RV spot in that area -- not that many RV parks and most are catering to RVers who spend 4-5 months in town, not just 5 weeks.  We are low man on the totem pole for sure. While there, we got to spend lots of time with Jeffrey's Dad and he fit us into his very busy schedule most days. Seriously, the guy rarely slows down! The three of us managed to get to Gator basketball, gymnastics, and softball home games and even the "spring" football debut and a regional track meet before it was time for us to drive north.

Track Meet

Gator Spring Football game

We did divert in the car for a week down to Orlando to see my parents (who love escaping the chilly NW this time of year). When they said they wanted to visit 5 theme parks in 5 days we actually thought they were joking! Thank goodness for "Fast Passes" and good tennis shoes -- we survived! Maybe visiting these parks during Spring Break wasn't the best plan, but we all had a good time and got to do most of the rides.

Jeffrey's favorite theme park picture

At the end of the week, they were supposed to peel off and visit friends who winter in SW Florida, but a big snowstorm in the US NE delayed their friends from arriving in time. Lucky for them, we "know a guy", so they joined Jeffrey's Dad in Gainesville for a few days.  It was very nice having all of our parents together with us -- something that hasn't happened since our wedding in 1988!

Parents and Offspring

As I write this, we are spending Easter in Gaffney, SC preparing to have our annual Max 8-gallon "oil change" tomorrow morning. Then on to Virgina for some history lessons!

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On the go go go!

On the go go go!

2016 went out with a bang -- or more accurately, the annual fireworks that we see from the campground at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound, Florida. We enjoy being in this park when the year changes as we not only have family nearby, but also several RV friends that swing through at the same time, giving us a chance to catch up on the past year's travel "happenings".  In this lifestyle, that is always a mix of "where have you traveled" and "what had to be fixed"!

Speaking of having to be fixed, the "bang" this year also included the sad demise of our RV refridgerator cooling unit. Lucky for us it didn't really "bang", but just quietly quit keeping things cold. We had to wait over the holidays for the new cooling unit to be shipped, but did okay living with a little dorm fridge we picked up at Target (and then promptly sold from our RV site for only $10 less).

As we can only stay in the Florida state parks for 2 weeks at a time, we crossed to the Florida west coast to stay at Myakka River State Park.  This is our second year here and, though it is a bit tight for our motorhome, it is a lovely place. Unlike Jonathan Dickinson, it has a lot of natural high growth and trees. The good part about this trip was seeing dear friends who live nearby.  We also had good enough weather to install our new window awning fabric ourselves. This park will definitely stay on the annual FL "swing". It is a good thing that Lazydays was only an hour away because we had to make day trips up there twice -- once to get the new cooling unit installed and AGAIN to have the toilet repaired. Jeffrey was not amused at all by the toilet as we had just replaced it but the new one had some sort of defect.

Max hiding in Myakka River State Park

Now for the BIG news! We were employed for a week! We were asked by the Escapees RV Club to help man their booth at the huge Tampa RV Supershow. They not only provided an RV spot for Max at the fairgrounds where the show was being held, but also gave us a daily stipend -- which we immediately spent on new LED lights we bought for Max along with other must-have items we couldn't pass up. We also had a chance to make new full-timer "Escapee" friends and, no surprise, learned some great tips from them! Jeffrey was happy to have LOTS of time to peruse the latest RV models, but thankfully didn't see anything he liked better than Max.

Us with fellow Escapees on the first day of the Tampa RV Show

As I write this post, we are back in Jonathan Dickinson State Park for just a week and then travel to Lakeland, Forida, for our first FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) rally. No doubt we'll have some interesting stories to tell from that!

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Back and forth we go!

When we arrive back in Austin, TX, in August we always feel as though we have LOTS of time until we leave mid-November -- so how come this visit always flies by so fast?  Guess that must mean we are having fun?

Before we left we managed to enjoy "swamp-hosting" 10 Gator football games and spearheading our Gator Club's fall scholarship fundraiser, knocking off bi-annual dentist and annual doctor visits, chasing around a white ball while pretending to play golf weekly, and catching up wth as many friends who would put up with us.

The Gator "bye" week in October is our chance to skip town for a short trip and this year we flew to the NW for a quick visit with my parents in Burlington, WA, before jumping aboard a 1-week cruise down the CA-CA (Canada and California) coastline.  We carried shorts with us but didn't actually use them much as the weather was cooler than we anticipated (duh... it was the NW).  The ports were lovely -- 2 ports in Canada (Vancouver and Nanimo) and 4 in the US (Astoria, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles).  Cousin Sally Cole even met us at the Seattle port and drove us out to see the impressive nearby Snoqualmie Falls which were really overflowing from recent rains.

Us at Snoqualmie Falls

We always save the last few weeks in Austin to do maintenance work on "Max" the motorhome -- the biggest items being a full body wash and wax.  This is no small feat, believe me, but we get better and faster at it every time we do it.  The only "ick factor" is having to be on his 13-foot tall roof for part of the washing, but using our new Little Giant ladder made the waxing process easier this time around.  We also tackled a little underbody rust-proofing and unfortunately discovered a collection of Brown Widow spider egg sacks and momma herself in our generator compartment (related to Black Widow).  Needless to say they didn't survive the vacuum.  So glad they never found their way into the "house" area.

Clean Max 

By mid-November we drive clean and shiny Max to Florida to spend the winter months.  After a brief stop in Pensacola to watch the Gators whoop up on LSU with the local Gator Club and Jeffrey's brother John and wife Susan, we carried on to spend Thanksgiving in Gainesville with Jeffrey's dad and brother Richard and wife Cathie.

We braved the post-holiday traffic to get Max to Lazydays in Seffner (near Tampa) for an appointment to fix a few items. Our extended warranty picked up most of them and "paid for itself" as of this trip :-)  We aren't huge fans of extended warranties, but I don't think we'd ever buy another motorhome without one.  Too many things can go wrong when you drive your house through an earthquake many days a year.  It was all pretty mundane stuff really -- toilet seal, side mirrors, slide seals, and chassis battery isolator replaced. We also got two of our ACs serviced -- just like you need to do in a house.  We only spend 2 nights sleeping in Max in the service bay and the rest in the attached campground (a novelty as they deliver a newspaper to us every morning). Jeffrey also got to feed his fetish and roam around through the motorhomes that were for sale.  He loves to look even though I insist I am totally happy with the one we have.

As I write this blog post, Max is in a storage place in Tampa as we flew out to Phoenix to spend 10 days exploring the area with my parents (who were thrilled to escape the very cold and snowy NW). While figuring out their highway system, we checked out Tortilla Flat, Butterfly Wonderland, nearby Wildlife World, the Capitol Museum, and even took a day trip to Sedona.  Jeffrey and I even connected with Wendy and Ken Zitterich, full-time RV friends who are wintering in Parker, AR - and my mom, Sheila, is connecting with a college friend she hasn't seen in many years!

The 3 Nelsons and 1 Martin at the viewpoint atop the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona

The best Sedona view in town -- from the local airport!

That said, I hope you are all "connecting" with family and friends as 2016 rushes to a close. Happy Holidays!

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Miles and Smiles :-)

The last few months have been packed with activities and "driving days" -- typical for us this time of year. Avoiding the big cities on the east, we dodged across Virginia to get on i81 and connect to i84 in Pennsylvania on our way to Newburgh, NY for an RV event. 

Forty rigs containing 80 "Escapees" (the name of the RV club that organized the event) met at the local KOA for 3 days of sightseeing in New York City and the Hudson Valley area. We left the rigs in the campground and boarded tour buses to visit NYC's Liberty Island, Times Square, the Empire State Building, the 911 Memorial and Museum, and catch a Jersey Boys performance on Broadway. Even spread over 2 days, it was tough to squeeze all of this in.

Us with Lady Liberty

We spent a separate day visiting FDR's home, one of the Vanderbilt mansions, and West Point. The latter was especially interesting as both of us have relatives who graduated from this amazing institution -- and I even have a grandfather and great-grandfather (plus their devoted wives) buried in it's cemetery. Luckily the tour included a fascinating walk through the cemetery to see some of its many famous residents, giving Jeffrey and I a chance sneak away and locate the graves of my relatives so we could pay our respects.

After waving a temporary goodbye to new RV friends, we drove north to the Adirondaks to connect with friends and former Austin neighbors, Chris and Sheila Blaicher. It was wonderful to see their beautiful property and their adorable log cabin home. They spoiled us with their fabulous cooking and shared the wonders of the area they live in -- Lake Placid, Whiteface Mountain, Fort Ticonderoga, and on and on.  Lots to see in this area so we'll just have to come back!

Us with our friends Chris and Sheila Blaicher

The fabulous view from Mount Defiance looking at Fort Ticonderoga

Our next destination was in Essex Junction, Vermont, so Max braved his first ferry ride to cross Lake Champlain.  We then spent a week at our first "Escapade", the annual RV Rally for us "Escapees". Our weather was lovely and we really enjoyed the days of educational seminars, entertainment, happy hours, and visiting with other like-minded full- and part-time RVers. Though we have lived this lifestyle for over 4 years now, we continue to learn new things.  We also both enjoyed sightseeing in the area -- especially the Ben & Jerry's factory tour :-)

Max's first ferry ride

With summer travel time growing short, we opted to adjust our "return to Texas" plan and swing south through Gainesville, FL on the way. This gave us a chance to get another visit with Jeffrey's dad as well as pig out on the Olympic coverage (and Sonny's BBQ).  We also got to tag along on a tour of the University of Florida's new state-of-the art academic facility for its athletes. VERY impressive indeed.  If I were a parent sending my athlete kid off to college, I would certainly cast my vote for UF as they certainly are working hard to help these kids get an education and graduate.

The time finally came to bolt back across the gulf states to Texas and we had to swing a bit more north than usual because of all the Louisiana flooding. With food and fuel shortages as well as power outages and closed roads, we figured the last thing they needed was transient RVers poking our way through it all. This did give us a chance to see a few new towns, including Monroe, LA, where we greatly enjoyed the Chennault Aviation and Military museum, mostly dedicated to their town hero, General Claire Chennault.  His contribution to history is really interesting: www.chennaultmuseum.org

We made it back to Texas late August and were surprised the temperatures were staying under 100 degrees. Having gotten the Gator Club activities launched and other "while in Austin" projects kicked off, I'm finally finding time to post to this blog! For those of you who know about my Dad's recent health scare, I am happy to report he is finally out of the hospital and getting back to his very happy home life with his bride of over 40 years Sheila. The doctors are still telling him to take it easy and heal for awhile, but his recovery is really a miracle to them and us too.

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Everything is going according to plan...

You are no doubt wondering why I haven't posted an update in awhile. In our family we have a saying: "Everything is going according to plan. Plans are made to be changed. Everything has changed. Therefore everything is going according to plan".

That saying pretty much sums up our last 4+ months. You may already know that Jeffrey's dear mom, Evelyn, passed away in February. We were thankfully still in Florida and changed our plans to get to Gainesville for her final days and wonderful memorial service. Our annual regular March Gainesville visit was definitely missing her sweet presence.

While at our next stop in Jacksonville, we flew to VA and Arlington National Cemetery for the internment of my uncle, Charlie Lavery, who passed away last October. His country honored his service as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army with a beautiful and moving military ceremony. Though it was a very emotional day, it was special to share it with his beloved wife (my aunt Helen) and with my other aunts and uncles.

With heavy hearts we left Florida and began our trek north. Our path to Raleigh wove us through Gaffney, SC, for Max's annual engine/generator service and a new set of tires ($ ouch). We also did a car-only side trip to Cashiers, NC, to see the beautiful mountain home of Susie and Johnny Wean, cousins of my mom. Once in Raleigh we reconnected with our family and friends in the area and even ventured into western NC in the car for a long weekend in a cabin near Asheville with college friend Mary and her husband (and Jeffrey's brother) David.

For those of you who have been there, it is no surprise that we spent an entire day at the Biltmore estate. We also managed to enjoy a few wineries, the release of a new beer at the Highland Brewing Company, and attending the special event "Fiber Day" at the local Folk Art Center. Nope, it wasn't about eating the right cereals! It is about using fiber materials in the making of clothing and art. Ever see a sheep sheared? We did! Oddly enough we were standing in a small crowd of onlookers that included (Academy, Tony, and Daytime Emmy Award winning) actress Frances McDermand. 

We were within a week of leaving Raleigh when we got an unexpected call from my 2nd-mom, Sheila. Dad was in the hospital and about to have emergency surgery for an ischemic intestine with only a 30% chance of survival. We were lucky to get flights out to Wash. St. early the next morning and were relieved to find him alive but unfortunately very very ill in ICU. Our original plan had been to be spending most of June with them on a cruise seeing the coast of Norway, so plans were changed to instead spend it with them in the fantastic Bellingham hospital that saved his life. 

As I write this post, he is still endearing himself to every nurse, doctor, and therapist that is caring for him, but he is a good healer and getting stronger every day so we hope he gets to go home soon. As a special bonus, Sheila was able to get her own surgery for Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus moved up in the schedule to happen while we were there.  She is already feeling stronger and better able to take care of herself and Dad.

We returned to Max in Raleigh a few days ago and miss seeing Dad and Sheila every day, but are very glad we were able to be with them and help however we could -- even if some days it was just keeping them company and sharing laughs over the newspaper comics.  Below is a picture that family friends, Bill and Laura, took of us in Bellingham.

Waterfront in Bellingham, WA -- Mount Baker in the background

I realize I haven't offered many pictures in this post, so I'll leave you with this... 

The only surprise that we found in Max after leaving him alone for 5 weeks was the critter pictured below hiding outside in the cover to our water softener. Hey, at least it wasn't INSIDE!

"Brown" Widow Spider (hanging upside down)

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Swimming into 2016

Our first 6 weeks in our "winter" state of Florida have flown by. After returning from our sailboat trip, we spent 10 days at an RV park in the Seminole Tribe lands south of Clewiston. This is the most remote park we've ever been at -- the grocery store was a 40-minute drive away! However, the other RVers at this park were wonderful and friendly, having almost daily 4pm "social hours". Basically, you just grab your chair and a drink and go hunting for whatever site it is at that day. 20-25 folks all show up within 10 minutes, gab for an hour, and go to their respective homes promptly at 5pm before the mosquitoes start swarming around. We also saw lots of alligators and water birds of all types. While we were away on our trip the park also had wild bear and panther sightings (sorry we missed those!).

We then began our annual "tour of Florida state parks" at one of our favorites, Jonathan Dickinson. It is well positioned to family and friends we have both north and south of its Hobe Sound location, plus we got to reconnect with two RV couples we had met previously and formed fast friendships -- keeping track of each other as we all move around during the year. It is fun catching up on "where have you been, where are you going, what have you seen, what have you fixed etc. etc"!

The Martins and the Marlins at the Kennel Club

From there we moved across the state to Myakka River State Park near Sarasota.  It was our first time here and is a cool park full of lots of trails, wildlife, and fun activities to do. This location was also near several close Gator friends, family in St. Petersburg, and the annual Tampa RV Supershow. We managed to fit it all in as well as washing our window awnings, replacing some RV roof antennae, and reorganizing our "basement" storage areas to fit a new ladder that we bought at the show. To Jeffrey's dismay, I want to do some annual RV roof edge maintenance myself instead of continuing to pay others. We didn't have a ladder that would safely get me 13 feet "up" -- but we do now! Not many girls can say their Valentine's Day present is a "Little Giant" ladder :-)  We'll get our first chance to use it next month when we try to replace our new slide topper awnings ourselves.

Speaking of the RV show, this one is one of the biggest in the country with over 1000 RVs on display and several hundred vendors selling all types of supplies and services.  It is a great place to have our Blue Ox hitch serviced (what we tow the car with), purchase any RV supplies we need, and peek at the new RV models. We are happy to report that we haven't seen anything yet that tempts us away from Max.  We still find him a great fit for our traveling and living needs.

Two happy campers!

Like most of the country, we've had some unexpected nasty weather both on the west and east coast of this state, most notably tornadoes that thankfully missed us -- sweeping just north or south of us while we were in the Myakka park. As typical, these things happen in the middle of the night, forcing us to get up and dressed at 3am and prepped to run to the concrete-block bath house nearby.  Did you know that, even when in airplane mode, your cell phone will receive the severe weather alerts? Why was I in airplane mode?  Because the cell service was so bad in this park that my battery would burn down quickly overnight trying desperately to hold onto a too-distant cell tower :-/  Anyhow, we lived through the rainiest January on record in Florida! Hopefully February will be dryer!

Maren & Jeffrey

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Goodbye 2015!

What we thought would be a relaxing 3-month fall visit to our home base area near Austin, Texas, was made a little more exciting when I (Maren) had to have my gallbladder removed. Lucky for me it wasn't an emergency -- just started having odd mid-chest pressure after some meals while we were visiting my parents in the Seattle area late August.  Boy, I can see why people say gallstone issues can feel like a heart attack! Thankfully, I had plenty of time to have surgery and recover before we left town. Didn't even miss hosting one of our local Gator Club football game watching parties! (though I had a lot of help for a few weeks).

Surgery aside, we had some nice "positives" from our Texas visit too -- successful annual phyicals, dental checkups, and eye exams along with a wonderful first-time visit to Corpus Cristi to visit my college roommate and her husband (thanks Lisa and Zack!).  We also enjoyed catching up with local friends, watching Gator football with our club, and chasing a golf ball around a small 9-hole course we used to play weekly when we lived in Austin. Unfortunately our golf game hasn't improved much since then, but the fellas we play with are fun so the social part of the game is top notch :-)

Maren and roommate Lisa

We wrapped up our final few weeks with my great idea to wax the motorhome ourselves instead of hiring professionals. As I write this post a month later, I think Jeffrey's wrist is still sore from the experience :-(  But Max looks wonderful and it gave us a chance to check him out in great detail.  Too bad we discovered a few small hairline fiberglass cracks near his front cap running lights (that are 11 feet up in the air). We suspect the angle of the hot Texas sun just overheated the dark brown paint up there. Sigh. We put some repair tape over the cracks to reduce any chance of water getting in and need to think about where to get the repair done. Since it will involve laying down some new paint, we are thinking that we could give Max a lighter-colored "eyebrow" of some sort so it won't happen again (no joke!).

We left Texas mid-November and raced across the gulf states (something we are now very familiar with), getting to Florida in time to visit Jeffrey's brother John and wife Susan in Pensacola, my aunt Helen in Palm City, and Jeffrey's parents in Gainesville leading up to Thanksgiving. The race ended when we got Max settled in the Clewiston area south of Lake Okeechobee in time to get on a flight to St. Thomas where we met my parents for a 10-day chartered cruise.

Frangines, our boat

We scheduled this trip 18 months ago and were pinching ourselves that it was FINALLY here. We had picked a 55ft catamaran with a captain and a chef -- so all we had to do was relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the US and British Virgin Islands. The weather was lovely most of the time, the breezes were perfect (kept the mosquitos away), the daily sailing was fantastic, and we even had numerous chances to snorkel on the island reefs. Jeffrey and I even tried our skills at stand-up paddleboarding. Don't let anyone fool you... it is a real "core" workout and tough to learn even in calm waters. After the requisite number of struggle-up-wobble-wobble-fall-off attempts, we were both successful in paddling around a bit before crawling exhausted back on the boat. Not too bad for 50-something year olds! No resulting pulled muscles or stitches!

Jeffrey using the paddleboard (sorry, not gonna post one of Maren trying it!)

One of the beautiful sunsets we enjoyed

Sunset off the back of Frangines' stern and hammock

A rainbow behind someone else's boat

We sure hope your holidays are "wobble-free" and 2016 greets you with open arms (and hopefully no stitches or hangover).

Maren & Jeffrey

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