Editor's note: This trip was over a year ago. As mentioned in a blog published earlier this year (2015), I felt out of sorts after losing our cat on a trip to WV and thought I took pictures and got started on writing, just didn't have the heart in it. Finally, feeling a bit better, I decided I needed to catch up and get some of these out. We really do enjoy our camping trips with Dave and Bonnie and wished we all lived closer and could do these more often. Our trip in August (2014) took us to VA and we had hoped to see good friends Dave and Bonnie Lodge. Alas, they were off on a motorcycle trip to The Tail of the Dragon in NC. It's a fascinating ride on twisting mountain roads ... read more

Although we did not take the RV, and we were only gone a day, I wanted to post this and let folks know about some of the fantastic places right here in Alabama. What makes it even more interesting is that this trip (well, not THIS trip, but the locations) was mentioned in an article on places to go in Alabama on line: http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2014/06/9_stunning_spots_that_make_you.html#incart_river_default On my Facebook page, I mentioned that due to repairs to our RV and other costs, we might not do as much traveling, but I posted this link and said there were 9 great vacation trips available to us within a short distance. We have been to several of them, but the Muscle Shoals area was new. The trip we took was sponsored by RSVP--Retired Senior Volunteer Program out of Guntersville. The ... read more

The winter has passed and it was time to get the RV on the road and start exploring, visiting, and enjoying. We winterized the RV last fall upon our return from our long western trip and though we had gone out and run the generator monthly, we needed to stock the shelves, clean the inside, and make sure all was working well. Opps, it wasn't all working well. We wanted to take the RV to Florida in mid February to visit the kids and grandkids, but the generator wouldn't start. Our trusty mechanic tried to fix it but couldn't so we took it to an Onan Service facility near Huntsville. And just like going to the dentist when you have a toothache, then get there and it doesn't hurt, we pulled in, the mechanic looked at ... read more

We're moving...again. Yep, but this is a "smaller" move. As we mentioned previously, we have been having some issues with our RV. Possible cracked head gasket and linkage in the automatic transmission were key issues in our decision to stop at the Lazydays RV center in Tucson, AZ. We checked and they would do a complete inspection and let us know everything that was wrong and an estimate of what it would take to fix it. We knew some things we wanted fixed other than the two big ones mentioned--electric issue with fan and lights in bedroom, refrigerator not operating on propane, possible leaky seal in sewer, and on and on. Lazydays sold us the RV in Florida in 2004 and so we trusted them to give us good advice. After we got in to the ... read more

There is a family story I want to share. When Josh was little, and we would put him to bed, we'd kiss and say, "I Love You." He replied, "Too Wow." We think it meant 'me too'. It became a pet phrase. When Kim came along, she picked it up from her brother and used it. Then we went to Washington, DC, on a trip (Kim was about 15 months old and just starting to talk) and as we walked through the city, she would look up from her stroller and smile and say "Too wow". Then we turned a corner, saw the Washington Monument and Kim looked and said excitedly, "BIG wow!" We laughed and that has become a family catch phrase for anything really impressive...Big Wow. You can see where this is going.... We ... read more