Blogs from Orange Park, Florida, United States, North America

After a dreary, scary winter, spring finally came to Alabama and brought our good friends from the north, Carol and Ned Gatzke. They were STILL digging out from snow in Wisconsin so were glad to find leaves, buds and warm weather in northern AL. They arrived on Thursday night and we had a wonderful 3 days visiting and seeing sights before heading to Florida together. While in AL, we "tried" to see the Space and Rocket Center but didn't know that the Friday we went, was Space Camp graduation PLUS half the schools not on spring break were attending. There was a 40 minute wait just to get tickets. Instead we toured old town Huntsville and finally came home. On Monday morning, we all left and headed south to Troy, AL to spend the night at ... read more

Florida in August is not a destination taken lightly. We have been in spring, winter and fall. Last time we went in summer was for our son's wedding in 2005. But now our son was asking us to come since his wife had a two week business trip to the west coast and coping with two young boys looked overwhelming. We readily agreed and started preparing. First item was to transport Trish's motorscooter down to him. Trish's knee is getting funky and she finally decided driving the motorscooter was not safe nor fun any longer. We took the scooter to our mechanic and he tuned it up and made sure it was safe and sound. Next we had to get a trailer to transport it. We looked at U-Haul but it was going to be over ... read more

WOW! A new grandson, Alexander Franklin, born October 31. And we're going to see him just a week later. You bet we were excited. But first, we had to vote on that Tuesday morning before driving to Florida to meet him. We got to the polling place prior to 0700 and there was a short line. In our little town, we still use paper ballots and feed them into a reader. We got our paper, marked our choices, and voted. Then back in the RV and off to try a new route (hopefully faster and smoother) to FL. We headed toward Atlanta on good state roads, and picked up I-20 west of the city and headed to the beltway. Oh oh. Sign boards warned of an accident. Our maps and GPS showed no relief, so we ... read more

Every spring we look forward to the first outing in the RV, a “shakedown” cruise to make sure we have the larder properly stocked, the water (and sewer) actually work, we have hot water when we need it, and nothing leaks or squeaks. In VA, we have headed out with Dave and Bonnie Lodge (and then started adding friends like Trish Moore and Bob and Judi Katz) to a nearby state park, usually in late March.We had to get the RV from the storage facility, bring it to the house, and spend time cleaning, checking, loading, etc. Well, now in Alabama, we have the RV right at the house so all the loading was smoother. We didn’t have to hustle, wondering if the Home Owners Association would get their panties in a twist or neighbors would ... read more

We are on the way to see Sophia and her family -- We are SOOO excited and can't wait to get to Beijing. Austin can't wait to see his sister and visit the Water Cube where Michael Phelps swam :) I can't wait to get the flight over with, I don't do well sitting in a airplane for 4 hours much less 14. But I know it is going to be AMAZING and once in a lifetime adventure. Will post pictures as we go.. Monica, Danny, Austin, Gran and Papa... read more