Maggie May

Maggie May
Maggie May

Sunday, November 28, 2010

A Quiet Weekend at Pointes West Resort

Most of our Thanksgiving travelers have left for home leaving only six of us diehards in the RV park.  It really is peaceful and relaxing here, although a bit cold.  We use our little portable electric heater at night and the "whole" house propane heater only cut on once or twice last night.  We spent our Saturday watching football and enjoying South Florida and Ga's wins.  Enjoyed an awesome seafood buffet at Angie's Steak and Seafood at Pollard's Corner.  We will definitely be returning for that treat, and the price was reasonable to boot.

Today we made a trip into the small town of Lincolnton to buy some of Bell's good meats.  Growing up in Athens Mom always bought her meats at Bell's on the east side of Athens.  Lincolnton is a cute little OLD town and we made a note to ourselves to attend the Xmas parade and festivities next Saturday.  We returned to our camper and I cranked up the Easy Bake Oven for the first time in our motorhome to make some chocolate chip and fresh blueberry scones.  Bummers that I didn't have the XXX sugar that I thought was here, but I sprinkled raw brown sugar on them and they were perfect.  Hope to freeze up a few so Billy can have warm scones for breakfast.   I was very interested to try out the scone recipe because of all the fresh raspberries, blueberries and huckleberries that we found out west.  It is the perfect recipe to use when we find more wild berries next year.  For now I have to wrap up this blog and finish dinner of fried chicken, Chinese rice, fresh green beans, and sliced tomatoes.  Life is Good Today!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving at Pointes West Army Resort near Appling, GA

I have again been horrible at keeping up with the blog this week.  At the beginning of the week our new digital camera turned up missing, and I went into a blue funk!  We do not have a good history with digital cameras and I was prepared to start purchasing throw a ways!  After two days of pouting Caroline finally found the camera under the cushions of her hungry sofa that swallows whole anything that comes near.  I am happy again.  I told Billy today that our motor home is beginning to feel like home to me.  I have been surprised that this life change was an adjustment for me.  Of course, it doesn't help matters that we are in an area where our cell phone service is intermittent at best.  Brandon went to South GA to hunt with Lori's family over Thanksgiving  and Caroline has been off work all week so we have had a chance to visit with her often.  Phil spent the night with us in the motor home and was quite content.  We threw lots of rocks into the lake and took a few hikes. Since he only has dirt and grass at home to ride his bicycle on he was thrilled that we brought his bike with us to ride around the base.

We were lucky to be invited to the Paradise Thanksgiving celebration at Kim and Mack's house 25 miles away in Washington, GA.  They live in one of the old houses there and everything was beautiful and delicious as always.  Kim had her home decorated for Christmas beautifully and the good southern cooking was beyond compare!  Billy and I are fortunate that our children married into families that are much like our own.  Attached are photos we took at Kim's house last night.

Billy figured out how to put some bleach through our fresh water tank to freshen it up and keep it clean.  We are still getting rid of "stuff" in an attempt to lighten our load.  Everything in our new motor home is working as it should so we consider ourselves fortunate.  Especially after remembering the water leaks that we battled in our travel trailer.

We are tickled that Sue, Billy's Mom, is moving right along on learning how to operate the internet.  I believe that she is beginning to enjoy herself as she explores what it can do for her.  Life is Good Today.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Walk On The Hiking Trail Through the Woods

Yesterday was another mostly lazy day although I did hop out of bed early and went to the laundromat to do two loads of laundry.  With that out of the way Maggie and I went on a long walk through the campground and even hiked the Bertram Trail through the woods.  It was a beautiful Fall day and the leaves are still a beautiful Fall color here.  Naturally as I hiked I was on the lookout for evergreens to decorate our motorhome for Christmas.  Wouldn't I love to find a big patch of creeping cedar.  That is my favorite medium to work with at Christmas.  After our hike and a quick shower I curled up with my book and Maggie crawled under her blankie for a nap.  Billy was in town looking for a new truck.  Oh how I wish this move had been better planned out before we left.  He found a smaller truck and a dealer that will actually trade trucks and pay us in the trade.  In the long run it's probably a good idea to cut our losses now and lighten the load on this motorhome.  Keeping it short again today since we are preparing to leave for Caroline's.  Yippee!  We get to see those two grandsons.  Hopefully we will be able to bring Phil and his bicycle back here to spend the night with us.  Caroline will be putting up her Christmas decorations today so I think this will be fun.  I divided my Christmas decorations between Brandon and Caroline so it will be interesting to see how she uses my old decorations.  Many of the Christmas decorations were handmade by Mom for the grandkid's first Christmas tree.  As I close I looked out the window at a bright yellow maple tree proudly changing it's colors.  Out the other window are a flock of mallards swimming on the very foggy lake this morning.  Life is surely good today!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

West Pointe Army Resort near Appling, GA

We left Ebenezer Park in Rock Hill, SC on Tuesday after my dental appointment and drove to Piedmont, SC to visit with Tom and Aunt Peggy again.  Oh wow!  We got to play with Lily, Cameron and Kevin and had a wonderful time.  We enjoyed a Mexican dinner at the restaurant next door and spent the night in their front yard.  On Wednesday we drove the two hours to West Point Army Resort on Clark Hill Lake in GA.  We drove to Brandon's house last night to pick up a package that we had mailed there and visited with him a while.  We have enjoyed a day to ourselves today, and I think I have finally caught up on my rest and feel like the motor home is "home" now.  Might have something to do with cooking breakfast and dinner and breaking in the kitchen.  It is killing us to be this close to Caroline and not being able to see her.  She is about 40 minutes away and we will see her this weekend.  The RV park here is nice and very wooded.  Maggie enjoys her long walks to check her pee mail!  Closing for now and I will post some photos tomorrow!  Still learning this new laptop.  Life is Good Today.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Ebenezer RV Park - Rock Hill, SC

So much has happened in so little time.  We cleaned our way out of our home in FL last Wednesday and hopefully left it in good condition for our tenant and good friend to move into on Dec. 1st.  We spent the night in Dothan, AL with Billy's mom and did all that we could to get her acquainted with my laptop that we were taking to her.  (I am still trying to learn my new laptop.)  We left Dothan after lunch on Thursday and headed north toward SC.  As luck would have it we reached Atlanta at 5:00 pm during rush hour traffic, but we drove the motor home straight through town on I-85 with little trouble.  We decided to drive on to Piedmont, SC to spend the night with Aunt Peggy and Uncle Tom.  They didn't know how to tell us to drive the motor home into their lot to park it without backing up, so we spent the night in the Save A Lot parking lot.  I believe we added another chapter to "You Might Be A Redneck If" as Billy's cousins stopped by the parking lot that evening and the next morning early to say HELLO!  We did get to steal a few kisses from cute little Lily before packing up and driving to Ebenezer Park in Rock Hill, SC  on Friday morning.  My brother, Mike and his wife Mary Ann stopped by for a visit and a tour of our new motor home after we got set up.


Saturday morning we drove to Cherryville, NC to attend Uncle Jim's funeral services.  Under taxing and stressful conditions it was still a treat to see Brandon, Caroline and their families.  I also got to see cousins and family that I never get to see enough of.  (Oops.  Ended that sentence in a preposition!)  The military honors were fitting for a great American hero to be laid to rest, but it pained me to lay flowers on the graves of my Mom and Dad!


On Sunday after Billy and I made the required trip to Wally World we enjoyed a homemade Lasagne dinner at my brother's house.  Yum!  I think that it is the best meal we have had all month as Billy and I are still trying to rest up from the work of moving our STUFF out of our house.  Today, it is cloudy and it looks like it may rain.  We are lazing around and totally enjoying having nothing  important to do.  As luck would have it I had a filling fall out of my tooth while we were in Dothan so I have a dental appointment here in Rock Hill tomorrow morning early.  After that appointment we plan to break camp and spend the night at Aunt Peggy's and Uncle Tom's before heading to the Ft. Gordon campground for the holidays.  "Life is Good Today" as we adjust to our new lifestyle!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Almost Out of Here!

One last day until we have matters wrapped up here, and we plan to be on the road tomorrow.  Lots of "loose ends" to be put away in the motor home and a thorough cleaning of our sticks and bricks house and the motor home are on the schedule today.  Woke up this morning to a bright and beautiful day of sunshine and the birds singing.  What a wonderful day!  Billy has spent the last two days tying up loose ends and had a satellite installer come by last night to get his tv's the way he wants them.  Then he ran into town to Best Buy to pick up my new laptop so that we can deliver my old laptop to Billy's mom tomorrow.  We plan to spend a little time helping her set it up and then we are heading north in the direction of Ebenezer RV Park in Rock Hill, SC so that can attend Uncle Jim's funeral service with my brother, Mike.  "Life is Good Today" and I must rush to get the work done.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Three More Days Until.....

....we finally make our major life change.  I am painfully aware that it has been a long time since I have posted but Billy and I are working like mad to clean our "stuff" out of this house so that we can get on the road again!!!!!  Billy is actually to the point of making lists but my list is still too long to put into writing.  Our plans are to depart here early Wednesday morning.  The car is in Tampa waiting to be sold and we were fortunate in selling a refrigerator, freezer, my piano and a few other items.  Strange to be down to a one car family again, but I think our generation is spoiled and we still expect to have it "all" even in this bad economy.  It is a good feeling to simplify.  We vacillate between cleaning out the house and preparing the motor home for departure, but what I am really trying to say is that we are running in circles.   Sam and Kevin came this weekend and took a truckload and trailer load out to North Georgia.  That last deposit left us with a house that almost looks unlived in and almost ready to be turned over to our renter.  Yippee!  Yesterday I defrosted and cleaned three refrigerators/freezers.  Today I plan to clean and defrost the refrigerator in the motor home as well as put the last minute items in the motor home.  After today we may have no choice but to move into the motor home because all of our "stuff" is tucked away there!  Billy picked up the camper shell for the truck last week, and he has the truck packed.  Sure wish that my sewing machine was not a computer and it could be stored in the truck with Billy's golf clubs, because I am sitting here composing this blog and procrastinating putting the last minute items into the motor home.  Where oh where will I put that sewing machine??????   

I am saddened to report that my Uncle Jim Stroupe passed away early Friday morning.  He was run over by a city bus in Asheville, NC recently and was still hospitalized at the Rehab center when he passed away.  Seems a shame that a vibrant and beloved man who served in World War II, Korean War, and two tours in Vietnam died of trauma that he received in his homeland.  Uncle Jim was a real American hero who once served as Command Sergeant Major.  It is meaningful to me that he passed so close to our Veteran's Day celebrations.  The services are tentatively planned for around noon next Saturday in Cherryville at the Mount Zion Cemetery.  Thankfully, we will be able to attend.  Uncle Jim and my daddy were always very close and Uncle Jim meant the world to me when I was growing up.

Time to wrap this up and start putting the finishing touches on the transfer of property from our sticks and bricks house to our home on wheels.  Life is Good Today.

Monday, November 1, 2010

In Tampa Visiting with Jackson and family!!!!




Drove both vehicles and towed the boat to Tampa on Friday.  Wow, we are tired from the cleaning and packing.  Have to say that we enjoyed the GA/FL football game, but GA slipped up and let the Gators win again.  I think we are jinxed!  Jackson is absolutely perfect in every way, and tons of entertainment.  He made a precious pumpkin on Halloween even if he did only last through four houses.  The whole ordeal made him sleepy.  The Andreau family joined us for Halloween fun and a good time was had by all.  Billy and I are not looking forward to returning home to finish up the packing, but we are excited to be just a week or two away from beginning our new life on the road.  "Life is Good Today!"