Merry Christmas - 2014

 

Backstory: Some of our long time friends and family will remember that we would prepare a newsletter each year at Christmas time and send that out to let everybody know what had happened with our family during the year.  As the kids got older and moved out on their own the newsletters went by the wayside.  We then would send out some Christmas cards to friends and family but….(not so much).  In 2011 we began our “Life on the Road” and have had the blessing to see many of our friends and family as we travel around the country.  With our nomadic lifestyle Christmas cards fell by the wayside, but we would recognize those of you that tracked us down and sent us a card.  This year I thought I would resurrect my old Newsletter by way of my blog.  I will then place a notification on Facebook so my friends, and other family members, can pass it on so that it will get a wide audience to cover our friends and family.  Social media, the only way to go.  And no postage!

 

Life on the Road:

 

We started the year as we end the year, in Anaheim, California.  We find this a nice place to spend the winter (weather wise) and it allows us to spend some time with my parents who live nearby.

This past year we really took an unusual route as we decided to buy a new trailer which meant changing our travel plans and heading to Chicago to pick it up.  For the year we covered 23 individual states, many of those twice.  Our main destinations were the Midwest and the South before we headed back to the west coast.  We attended three weddings (Las Vegas, Palm Springs and Kansas City).  Let’s start from the beginning to give you some highlights.

We left Anaheim in January to meet up with my Aunt and Uncle in Quartzite, Arizona.  We did this to get the Quartzite experience (see my blog entry on this post).  We had a great time with my Aunt, uncle and cousin while we were in Quartzite.  The actual Quartzite experience was OK but nothing we will be rushing back to enjoy.

Me, my aunt and cousin playing Monopoly.  I think I lost!

From Quartzite we moved to Las Vegas to attend the wedding of the daughter of our friends the Sherwood’s.  This was a black tie event so we really dressed up nice.

Looking good!!

While in Las Vegas we had some issues with our trailer and had some discussions with our dealer in Chicago.  This led to a discussion about a new 2015 model that had everything we wanted.  We were able to put the deal together over the phone and email.  We agreed on a delivery date of March 3rd, which meant we had to get to the Chicago area in about three weeks, DURING THE WINTER!  We skirted some storms and made it into the Chicago area just before a snowstorm hit.  We picked up our new trailer and then quickly got out of town to find warmer weather.

We headed south and then did a loop through the southern states before heading back to our dealer in Chicago (when it was warmer) to get some warranty work done.  The highlight of this southern loop was meeting up with my niece and her family in Crystal Beach, Texas.  They have an RV so it made for a very nice weekend, except for the weather (a little cold).

Leaving Texas we headed up to Knoxville for a month long stop to attend the high school graduation of my grandniece at which point one of the air conditioners in our trailer failed.  Fortunately we had an appointment set up with our dealer in Chicago to handle some other issues, so this was added to the list.  We made it back to Chicago where everything was repaired.  We then headed north to Wisconsin to meet up with our wine group friends.  We had a fun filled weekend with all our friends with a special thanks to our hosts the Coleman’s. 

Quick summary, so you don’t get to bored – we then went to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and worked our way to Knoxville, Tennessee to spend the summer and do our annual visits with our doctors.  A highlight of this part of the year was celebrating our daughter’s Kelly 30th birthday.  We surprised her by showing up at her party in Knoxville then the following week her and our daughter Kim came to spend the weekend with us in Asheville where we did a craft brewery tour and a tour of the Biltmore estate.

Enjoying sunset at the Grove Hotel in Asheville.

Another highlight of this part of the trip was a week long stop in Pinehurst, North Carolina to visit with Fran’s former boss and some office mates who came in for the 4th of July weekend.  We had a great weekend.

The group

From Knoxville it was now two weddings in two weeks.  First up was Fran’s nephew, and our Godson, Casey.  This was in the Kansas City area. 

We then had two weeks to make it to Palm Springs for the wedding of Fran’s niece, Amanda.  We made it but not without issues, three tire blowouts in three days.  As of this newsletter we are still waiting to get the repairs done from the tire damage. 

From that wedding we then arrived in Anaheim.  Here the big event was my stepfather’s 90th birthday party.  My mom threw a party for him at their condo complex and his two sisters from Rhode Island surprised him by flying in to attend the party.

My mom and stepfather dancing at the party.

Side trips:  We took two side trips this past year, without the RV.  The first was to Portland, Oregon to visit with our daughter Katie and her husband Tyler.  We had a great time seeing the city of Portland and spending time with both of them.

Yeah, she is special!

The next side trip was to Hawaii.  This was a family trip to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary and to finish our quest to visit all 50 states (Hawaii was the last).  We had a great 8 days visiting Honolulu and then Maui.

That was a whirlwind trip with us through the year but it brings you up to date.  As for our family, Tyler and Katie, and their dog Layla, are in Portland, OR doing great.  Our daughters Kim and Kelly, and their cats Elsie and Chase, live together in Knoxville, TN and are having a great time.

As for us we are in good health and have our travel plans for 2015 on the books.  This year we are going to Alaska.  First we will be hitting some western states that we have not visited with our RV then heading to Canada for the summer and up to Alaska in July through September.  We will be in Knoxville as fall begins and most likely spending the winter in Florida.  If everything goes as planned we will have visited all 49 states (Hawaii not included) with our RV since we started our “Life on the Road” in February of 2011.

Fran and I would wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Hopefully we will see “on the road”.

Tire Woes!

 

We have made it to California, but not without some issues along the way.  We are presently in the Palm Springs area and will be leaving for Anaheim tomorrow for our winter stop.  Let me get you caught up on the trip here.

We stopped outside Kansas City to attend the wedding of our nephew, which was a great event.  It gave Fran time to catch up with her sister and brother while we were there.  From Kansas City we then had two weeks to make it here, Palm Springs, for the wedding of our niece.  That is where the fun begins.

Our first stop was Tulsa and was without incident.  This was our first time to Tulsa so we drove Historic Route 66 through the town and had lunch at a famous stop, Ike’s Chili.  We stayed for two nights then headed west.  Our next stop was to be Sayre, Oklahoma. 

About 20 miles east of Sayre we heard a loud explosion from the trailer area and looked out the rear view mirrors to see a tire on the right side completely shredded with the trim on the slide flapping around.  I pulled over as quickly as I could and checked out the damage.  The blowout took out the trim along the bottom of the slide along with the trim around the wheel well.  It also ripped the wires from the motor of the leveling jack and damaged the pin that secures the jack.

Blowout #1

I was able to remove the trim piece and put the spare on.  We made it to the RV park in Sayre where I found a tire shop to replace the damaged tire so I would have a spare.

The next day we left Sayre and headed for Santa Rosa, New Mexico.  About 30 miles from Santa Rosa we heard another explosion.  This time it was a tire on the left side of the trailer.  This time it took out trim around the wheel well and ripped the wires from another jack motor.

Blowout #2

Fortunately I had a spare and was able to quickly replace the damaged tire.  We made it into Santa Rosa and I found a tire shop to replace the damaged tire as we were driving again the next day.

The next day we left Santa Rosa and headed to Gallup, New Mexico.  We got about half way and then BOOM!.  You guessed it, another blowout.  This time on the right side.  Fortunately this one did not do much damage.  As I was getting good at this, I was able to put the spare on and be back on the road in less than 30 minutes..

Blowout #3

Ok, so the three blowouts were all on the original tires that came with the trailer and had about 6000 miles.  That left one remaining tire that was original and the spare which had only a couple of hundred miles on it.  The tires are called Towmax, but we quickly learned via the internet that their nickname is BLOWMAX!,  As we still had over 100 miles to go I stopped at the first big town, which was Grants, New Mexico.  Fortunately they had a tire store that had 2 replacement tires.  I had them remove the other original tire and replace it with a new one, replace the blowout and move the original spare back to being a spare.  So, in 3 days and $750 later we had 4 new tires on the trailer that were not Towmax.

Since then I have been working with our RV insurance company and with the dealer where we bought the trailer.  It looks like that Jayco is going to cover everything under warranty.  They will reimburse us for the tires we purchased and reimburse the dealer we are stopping at tomorrow for the cost to repair the damage.  Fortunately we are going to be in Anaheim for 3 months as I am sure it will take awhile to get replacement parts from the factory.

As our trailer is pretty heavy I have been doing some research on the tires and I think we will be moving to a more stronger tire to handle the heavy load. Hopefully I can find a dealer that sells them, or can order them, and possibly give me some money for the tires I already bought.

Meanwhile we made it to the Palm Springs area this weekend for the wedding where we had a great time. 

Life on the road!

50 States in 57 Years!

 

I have been a little slow in catching you all up on our Hawaii trip and where we are now, but time just flew by and I caught a cold that has me feeling miserable.  I am not well yet but I cannot put this off any longer, so let me get you caught up.

As you know we scheduled a family trip to Hawaii for the middle of September.  This was to celebrate Fran and I being married for 35 years and for both of us to complete our journey of seeing all 50 states in our lifetime.  For me that means it took close to 58 years to do and for Fran it took (not going there) years.  The interesting thing about this is that since we have been doing “Life on the Road” we will have actually completed the 50 state journey in just under 5 years based on our current plan for next year.  We have 5 states left to visit since we began our RV lifestyle and then Hawaii was just a couple of weeks ago. 

Back to Hawaii.  For those of you international travelers I do not know how you do it.  We had to fly 2 hours from Knoxville to Dallas, layover for 3 hours, then fly 8 1/2 hours into Honolulu.  Besides the flight time, Hawaii is 6 hours behind in time zone from Knoxville.  It was a killer for me.  I woke up everyday at 3:30am, but fortunately was able to stay up to a reasonable hour in the evenings.

Our first stop was Honolulu for 3 days.  We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village which is very large complex right on the ocean.  It was nice but obviously very pricey to eat and drink there.  The location made for a nice walk into the shopping district of Waikiki or along the beach towards Diamondhead.

Our arrival at the Honolulu airport

First afternoon and evening was for getting caught up with our daughter and son-in-law from Portland who had arrived a few hours earlier.  We walked on the beach and had a nice family dinner at the hotel. 

Sunday morning I ended up at the bar at 7:00am, because that is when NFL football starts, to have bloody mary’s.  I was eventually joined by the rest of the family as the drink specials were fantastic.  I became a hit with the bartender as all these women (my family) would show up and I would say put their drink on my tab.  Finally when everyone was there he said I was a lucky man and took a picture for us.

Sunday evening we went to a Luau at Paradise Cove.  It was a great evening that included activities, entertainment, food and drinks.  Plus they picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel. 

The ceremony to remove the pig that is cooking in the ground.

Sunset at the Luau.

Monday morning was our bus tour of Honolulu and to go to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.  Very moving to see the memorial and the names on the wall.  Great tour of the city through the Punchbowl Cemetery and a stop at the famous King Kammmmmmmmm….(sorry can’t spell it) statue.

Arizona Memorial on boat ride over.

The wall with the names of those that died.

Statue of the king.

Monday night we walked to the shopping district of Waikiki to have dinner at the Yard House.  Following that 4 of us went to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel to have a Mai Tai as our tour book said this is where it was created.  The bar is outside, right on the beach.  The Mai Tai was fantastic as it should be at $14!

Mai Tai complete with umbrella!

That pretty much ended our Honolulu portion of the trip as we left for Maui on Tuesday afternoon.  Here we had booked two condos on the ocean for all of us to spend 4 days relaxing and exploring the island.  The original booking called for a 1 bedroom condo and a 2 bedroom condo, both with garden view.  When we checked in they had not linked the two bookings and for whatever reason decided to upgrade us (without me making a scene!).  We ended up with a 2 bedroom, 2,000 square foot ocean view room and smaller 2 bedroom condo with an ocean view.  The large condo was amazing.  It had a wrap around deck that gave you ocean views on two sides in the living room.

Living room on the right, master bedroom on the left.  It also had a full kitchen and a dining room that could sit 6 people.  This really made the trip enjoyable.  When I would get up each morning at 3:30am, I would open the sliding glass doors and just listen to the waves.

I will summarize some of the things we did on Maui and then throw in some pictures.  Four of us, with me driving, did the “Road to Hana”.  This is a 60 miles trip that involves driving on very narrow and winding road with many blind curves.  Most people take it to the National Park where the Seven Pools of Wonder are located and then turn back.  I chose to continue on and make it a loop of the other side of Maui, where for many miles the road was just gravel (don’t tell the rental car company), but then meets up with the main highway. 

We explored the town of Lahaina which has many shops and restaurants.  Here is where we tried a Shave Ice at Ulelani’s.  It was amazing.  It was much more than a snocone!!

Fran and Kim took a surf lesson and had a great time.  Fran, Kelly, Katie and Tyler did some snorkeling and other beach activities.

We had dinner at the Sheraton Maui outside at sunset to see the cliff divers and then some of us went on to the Pineapple Grill to have pineapple upside down cake.

Here are some pictures:

Kim surfing!

Sunset from our balcony

The banyan tree in Lahaina.  This is all one tree!

Tyler relaxing at the Maui airport.

  Black sand beach near Hana

Katie and Tyler

Kim and Kelly

What a great trip, except for air travel!  We got to spend it with our family which made it even more special.

Ok, so what is up next.  We are what I will call the wedding march.  We have two weddings to attend in October.  The first is in Kansas City and the second is 2 weeks later in Palm Springs, so we are ON THE ROAD!  The next month will be a familiar route we have taken many times with stops at many of the same places.  First up was a stop in Nashville to visit with our friends the Sherwood’s.  Presently we are in West Memphis, AR at our favorite RV park on the Mississippi River.  This weekend we head to Springfield, Missouri and then into the Kansas City area.

Route:  From Knoxville just put us on Interstate 40 until Arizona where we will cut through the state to Interstate 10 into Palm Springs.

Aloha!

Quick Catch Up

 

We are 5 weeks into our summer hiatus so I thought I would give you a quick update to let you know we are still around. 

We are still in Knoxville and will be until the 25th of September.  Here are some of the highlights of the past 5 weeks:

Knoxville Open golf tournament – This was our second time visiting this tournament, which is a stop on the Web.com tour.  My nephew is friends with the president of the title sponsor so we get access to the hospitality areas which is very nice on a hot afternoon.  We had a great time walking the course and watching the golfers. 

Meeting pro golfer – Three days before the start of the golf tournament a motorhome pulled into the space next to us.  That day the gentleman from the motorhome set up a golf net outside.  I thought it was a little strange as I had never seen anyone do that at an RV park in the past.  I saw him practicing and then leave with his clubs.  It was the next day, when I learned the tournament was in town, that I thought maybe our neighbor was a participant.  On Thursday, the first day of the tournament, I saw him outside and struck up a conversation.  I was correct!  His name is Jarrod Lyle and he is a PGA tour professional who is working on getting his golf game back on track after a fight with leukemia.  He travels to events in his motorhome so that he can bring his family with him (wife and young daughter) and be more comfortable during the tournament.  We had a great conversation over the next couple of days, as he did not make the cut to play on the weekend.  Never know who you will meet “On the Road”!

Special events – we celebrated our YOUNGEST daughters 27th birthday!!!! and our 35 wedding anniversary this past month.  We are actually going to properly celebrate our anniversary with a family trip to Hawaii on the 13th.

Knoxville Art Museum – we visited the art museum in town which was very nice.  For me it was just the right size!  It features works from Knoxville artists which is a nice touch.  For me, the neatest exhibit was a rendering of the Mona Lisa made out of spools of thread that looked like the real painting when viewed threw a magnified ball placed in front of the work.  Hard to explain but when you see it you sort of just stand there and say “how did the artist do that?”  Here is a picture of it I found on Google:

  It is hanging on the wall upside down.  It is about 4 feet wide by 8 feet tall with the spools on wire chain.  The glass ball is about 4 feet in front of the work and presents the image right side up in the ball.

NASCAR Bristol race – Many of you know that I am a NASCAR fan and that my nephew and I use to have season tickets for the Bristol races.  For four years I would bring my trailer to Knoxville and meet up with my nephew and then go onto Bristol, Tennessee (about 90 miles north of Knoxville) where we would camp in the yard of a house near the Bristol track.  We stopped in 2010 because the track had been changed and the racing was not as interesting plus we were living on the road and it was a little more difficult to get back to the area during the race weekends.  So, during this trip I though it would be fun for my nephew and I to go to the mid-week truck race at the track.  It is a shorter night race and not very crowded so it is easier to get in and get out.  We parked our car at the house where we camped and caught up with the owners then went to the race.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we only got to see the opening race of modified cars and not the truck race, which was postponed to the next afternoon.  We still had great time seeing the track and how much the area has changed since we first visited it 20 years ago.

Boomsday – Here in Knoxville there is big celebration on Labor Day weekend called Boomsday.  The big event is the fireworks on the weekend.  As we did last year we went to view the fireworks with my nephew and his family on their boat.  It makes for a great viewing, from the water, and it is less crowded to get there and get out via boat.  This year the fireworks were cut a little short as a thunderstorm arrived just towards the end.  The storm was not much of an issue and we were able to safely drive the boat back to the marina. 

Next up is our Hawaii trip and then we leave to begin our trip to the west coast.

Blog Summer Hiatus

 

We are now at that point of the year where we stop in Knoxville for a couple of months which means the blog posts will take a break.  I really don’t want to give you reruns!

BUT, before I take a break with my blog let me get you caught up with our last two stops.  In my last blog I told you we had arrived at Helen, Georgia where we spent a week.  It is a nice little town in the mountains of North Georgia.  What they did about 40 years ago was reinvent themselves as an alpine town to attract tourists, which they have succeeded at.  The buildings in the main part of the small town are all done in the alpine/Bavarian style and the signs, foods and some shops have a German influence.  Besides walking the shops of the town it appears the big draw is tubing down the little river that runs through the town  For $3 to $5 you can take a 2 hour tube ride down a slow moving river (really a small stream).  We viewed this activity while having lunch overlooking the stream and I could see the potential problems for adults, the stream is very low and there are a lot of rocks.  We decided to take the trip the next day and I was right, it is difficult for a larger person.  I kept getting stuck and it was very difficult to try and get out of the tube!  In some places the stream does not move very fast and a traffic jam quickly ensues as there are many people on the river.  If the stream was a little deeper all over it would have been more enjoyable, for me.  Fran enjoyed it, except for my constant complaining!!!

Here are some pictures from the town.

They built this mini-waterfalls along the walkway going to the shops.

  You can make out a tuber in the stream, and can see the big rocks.

The RV park was quite interesting.  There are two parks just about next to each other.  One charges over $50 per night, which is way over priced for the area.  The other one, where we stayed charges $22 per night.  The both got about the same reviews except that the more expensive one had concrete slabs for their RV spaces.  The interesting thing about our RV park, in talking with the owner, is that it appears he does not really care about getting customers.  The park is dated and a little run down but the space we had was a huge pull through with trees but still allowed me to use our satellite dish.  After a weekly discount and camping club discount it worked out to $17 per night for full hook ups.  He does have about half the park occupied with permanent residents.  While we were there for the week he got 4 other campers like us. 

From Helen, Georgia we drove to Asheville, North Carolina staying just outside in Candler.  We are here for a week, leaving tomorrow (Tuesday).  The highlight was our two daughters, who live in Knoxville drove over the weekend to go sightseeing with us.  Our middle daughter, Kelly, turned 30 last week so this was somewhat of a birthday celebration.  She enjoys beer, as opposed to the rest of the family who enjoy wine, so since Asheville has a large number of craft breweries we figured it was a good place for her.  We took a van tour of 3 breweries on Saturday afternoon which was very fun.  They explain the brewing process and then let you taste (actually drink as much as you want while there!) 3 to 4 of their beers.  Following the tour we visited another brew pub that was next door to where we were dropped off.  From there we finished the day by having some wine, and beer, on the patio at the Grove Park Inn watching the sunset.

One of the tasting rooms we visited.

On the patio at the Grove Park Inn

Sunset view from our table.

On Sunday we visited the Biltmore Estate which is a huge attraction for the town.  Not sure if it still is, but at one time it was the largest home in the United States.  It was built back in the early 1900’s by one the heirs to the Vanderbilt fortune.  It is an amazing tour to take of the house and the grounds, which also includes free wine tasting at their estate winery.

Prior to the arrival of our daughters, Fran and I took a trip to nearby Chimney Rock State Park, which was privately owned until just a few years ago.  It is a large granite formation that gives you a fantastic view of the area.  Fortunately they have installed an elevator to take you to the top, otherwise you have to climb something like 500 steps.

  Chimney Rock from the parking lot.

  This is a view of the top of Chimney Rock and you can see the view in the background.

Also on the grounds is a 444 foot waterfall that is a short hike away.

The next day we took a trolley tour of the town which gave us a great overview of the city. 

  Part of the tour takes you through the historic part of town where there are many restored homes.

  This is a picture of the original part of the Grove Park Inn.

We had a great week and enjoyed the visit with our daughters.

Route:  From Helen,, Georgia we took US 23 north to Interstate 40 east into Candler, North Carolina.  From Candler we took Interstate 40 west to US 321 into Lenoir City, Tennessee.

North Carolina, South Carolina and now Georgia

When I last wrote we were just arriving in Marston, North Carolina, which is near Pinehurst and where we were meeting up with Fran’s former boss and a couple of co-workers for the July 4th weekend.
We had a great time visiting with our friends and lounging around their pool.  The highlight of the weekend for me was playing one of the Pinehurst golf courses.  If you are a golf fan then you know that the U.S. Open men’s and women’s tournament was just held here on course number 2.  As my skills are not up to that level, and number 2 is closed for repairs, we played number 3.  This is a much shorter course and more in line with how I play.  I have not played in many months, and generally do not play 18 holes, so this was a challenge for me.  Although I did not shoot below 100, I did play the entire 18 holes on one ball, so I take that as a major accomplishment.  It was a beautiful day for golf and I had a great time.  Following golf we met up with the rest of our group for lunch on the patio of the Pinehurst clubhouse, which overlooks the 18th green of course number 2.
Here are some pictures of our visit with our friends:
  It is 5 o’clock somewhere!
Fran and her former co-workers
  The whole group.

While in the area we took a drive to Fayetteville, where Fort Bragg is located, to see the Airborne and Special Forces Museum.  We actually visited two museums as there is an 82nd Airborne museum on the base and a much nicer, and larger, Airborne museum in downtown Fayetteville.  While at the 82nd museum we ran into “Larry the Cable Guy” who was visiting.  Not sure what his visit was all about but he had a large entourage which included local TV news crews.
Here are pictures from the nicer Airborne museum in downtown Fayetteville:
Entrance area
  Vietnam helicopter exhibit.
This museum is free and the exhibits are just fantastic as they are life size visuals of equipment and events.


We had a great visit with our friends.  After Pinehurst we moved on to Roebuck, South Carolina, which is just outside of Spartanburg.  While here we caught up on our chores but did take a drive into nearby Greenville, South Carolina.  What a beautiful city.  It has a very nice restored Main Street that is tree lined with many shops and restaurants.  They also have a small historic district and a beautiful park, Falls Park, in the downtown area  We stopped to walk through the park and then have lunch at a French bistro that overlooks the falls.
The falls at Falls Park
They have a walking bridge, Liberty Bridge, in the park that is a curved suspension bridge.  Pretty cool!
Lunch at the bistro,
We have now moved to Helen, Georgia, which is in the mountains of north Georgia.  We will be here for a week.
Route: From Marston we picked up US 1 to US 74 to Interstate 485 to Interstate 85 into Roebuck, South Carolina.  From Roebuck we took Interstate 85 to highway 17 into Helen, Georgia.