Wednesday, March 17, 2010

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY


Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, 'Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey!'

Miraculously, a parking place appeared.

Paddy looked up again and said, 'Never mind, I found one.'

Smiley Faces


Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and asks the first man he meets, 'Do you want to go to heaven?'

The man said, 'I do, Father..'

The priest said, 'Then stand over there against the wall.'

Then the priest asked the second man, 'Do you want to go to heaven?'

'Certainly, Father,' the man replied.

'Then stand over there against the wall,' said the priest.

Then Father Murphy walked up to O'Toole and asked, 'Do you want to go to heaven?'

O'Toole said, 'No, I don't Father.'

The priest said, 'I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?'

O'Toole said, 'Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now.'

Smiley Faces


Paddy was in New York .

He was patiently waiting and watching the traffic cop on a busy street crossing. The cop stopped the flow of traffic and shouted, 'Okay, pedestrians.' Then he'd allow the traffic to pass.

He'd done this several times, and Paddy still stood on the sidewalk.

After the cop had shouted, 'Pedestrians!' for the tenth time, Paddy went over to him and said, 'Is it not about time ye let the Catholics across?'

Smiley Faces

Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend, Finney.

'Did you see the paper?' asked Gallagher. 'They say I died!!'

'Yes, I saw it!' replied Finney. 'Where are ye callin' from?'
Smiley Faces


An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut .. The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car.

He says, 'Sir, have you been drinking?'

'Just water,' says the priest.

The trooper says, 'Then why do I smell wine?'

The priest looks at the bottle and says, 'Good Lord! He's done it again!'

Smiley Faces

Walking into the bar, Mike said to Charlie the bartender, 'Pour me a stiff one - just had another fight with the little woman.'

'Oh yeah?' said Charlie, 'And how did this one end?'

'When it was over,' Mike replied, 'She came to me on her hands and knees.'

'Really,' said Charles, 'Now that's a switch! What did she say?'

She said, 'Come out from under the bed, you little chicken.'

Smiley FacesSmiley FacesSmiley Faces


David staggered home very late after another evening with his drinking buddy, Paddy. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife, Kathleen.

He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the stairs leading to their upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom step. As he caught himself by grabbing the banister, his body swung around and he landed heavily on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each back pocket broke and made the landing especially painful.

Managing not to yell, David sprung up, pulled down his pants, and looked in the hall mirror to see that his butt cheeks were cut and bleeding. He managed to quietly find a full box of Band-Aids and began putting a Band-Aid as best he could on each place he saw blood..

He then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box and shuffled and stumbled his way to bed.

In the morning, David woke up with searing pain in both his head and butt and Kathleen staring at him from across the room.

She said, 'You were drunk again last night weren't you?'

David said, 'Why you say such a mean thing?'

'Well,' Kathleen said, 'it could be the open front door, it could be the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, it could be the drops of blood trailing through the house, it could be your bloodshot eyes, but mostly ...... it's all those Band-Aids stuck on the hall mirror.

Smiley FacesSmiley FacesSmiley FacesSmiley FacesSmiley Faces



Until next time God bless us all.............

Sunday, March 14, 2010

STILL ALIVE AND KICKING


Yes I am still alive and kicking. Although it seems that my job has kidnapped me and taken over all aspects of my life!! I aim to take my life back and put the job back into the proper level of importance it belongs (low). The job is only a means to an end for me. I need another good year in order to reach some financial goals and then it is time to gather what I need for the next phase of my life (a fulltiming RV!)

Cheryl and I finally got to take another break, it was our anniversary. We had made reservations to spend a few days at Hickory Creek COE campground to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We arrived on Saturday morning (6 March) and after setting up the "not so long trailer"; I began to check out the RVs around us. I noticed a Carri-lite fifth wheel just across the way that looked familiar. I told Cheryl I thought that might be Joe (speedy) and his better half. I called Joe to find out his location, lo and behold he was my neighbor. It was kind of funny, he asked me where I was and I told him to look out his bay windowSmiley Faces.

We got to spend some time with our friends, which we enjoyed very much. It seems we have a lot in common, including relationships with our kids and grandkids! It would seem that all RVers have a lot in common. Anyway the conversations were good, the company was great and we hope to do it again soon.

It was also suggested during this visit that I should consider resuming my blog. I had all but given up on writing due to a lack of time and the fact that all I ever had to write about was working long hours. I am going to try to make time every week toand write about where we are in our quest to become fulltimers. I may only be writing to one reader that hasn't given up on me, but I will endeavor to write anyway. It is hard because I am the shy type Smiley Faces.

Until next time God bless us all.............

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

TRAVELING ONCE AGAIN....


We are finally on the road again and traveling (although for just a short time). After returning from a great time at Hickory Creek COE with wonderful friends, we both returned to work Smiley Faces and the usual mundane routine. My routine was not quite so mundane as it is end of fiscal year close out and all my service contracts had to be renewed for the coming fiscal year!! Well enough about work, Presently I am back on a vacation, visiting with my favorite sister-in-law in South Carolina Smiley Faces

From Sue

Back in the day when Cheryl and I were dating; I was only allowed to take Cheryl out if Sue was allowed to go along. At first I thought, bummer, but pretty soon I began to realize how lucky I was to be going out with two pretty girls instead of one! We were so young that it seemed we all "grew up" together and even when I was allowed to date Cheryl without Sue she usually tagged along anyway. We were like "the three musketeers" or is that the "three mouseketeers"?

From Sue

Hey guys the one on the right is single (not the one on the left).Smiley Faces


Now let me introduce you to another pretty girl in my life, this is my great niece, with special interest on "great", Kenzie:

From MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA


From MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA


From MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA


Needless to say she had a great time and so did her mom, Jodie (also my niece of course).

From MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA


We had a great time and I will post more later, but now it is time to go have more fun. Until next time God bless us all.............

Sunday, September 27, 2009

THE REST OF THE STORY

Seven days of work can make one weak. I could not resist being poetic Smiley Faces

This is Sunday morning and I am home, back into the routine and mundane and as you can see I have not been making time to post once again. We had a yard sale yesterday, no one bought the house, but we got rid of more "stuff". Smiley Faces

I sure miss being at Hickory Creek and I anguish about it everytime I read my friend's blogs about the great time they are having! :) I really am happy they are having a great time, but you guys save some great times for when we can join you.Smiley Faces

We are back here working, but getting ready to go too. I am not going to write about it since it is so depressing! Instead let me continue the story of our adventures at Hickory Creek COE. I left off with us having dinner with Mike and Leslie at Chili’s on Wednesday evening. We had a great time and some pretty good food. We had met Mike and Leslie at the RV Dreams Rally back in June 08, so it had been over a year since seeing them. We picked up right where we left off, joking, talking and enjoying ourselves just as if it were just yesterday since we had last met!! It is great to have friends such as these two.Smiley Faces

The next morning, after finding out the RV show opened at 10am, we picked up Mike and Leslie to head out, after some iced coffee from McDonalds something Leslie introduced to Cheryl for the first time (thanks Les! Smiley Faces ). We found the show with no problem, except for the fact it was misting rain, but we were able to tour some units on the inside right away. These were mostly motorhomes and we just could not find a floor plan that we felt would meet our needs. The weather cleared a bit and we toured some on the outside also, however the humidity was getting the best of us so we ambered back inside after a short while.


From Hickory Creek


From Hickory Creek


From Hickory Creek


From Hickory Creek


From Hickory Creek


From Hickory Creek


From Hickory Creek


From Hickory Creek

Notice I am the only one wore out by all the climbing into all the rigs!! Smiley Faces



All in all I will have to say I was a bit disappointed in the show this year. We were told that a lot of last year’s vendors did not show up this year. It was evident in the number of units on display. About the only thing that peaked our interest was the Mobile Suites and they also had some nice Montanas. I am going to get a good look at an Excel and then try to decide. I believe we are swinging toward the fifth wheel as our RV home instead of a motorhome.

When we left the show, we were getting a little on the hungry side, so we commence to look for lunch. Smiley Faces We ended up have soups and salads at Olive Garden which hit the spot on a rainy and dreary day. We left Olive Garden and decided to head to camping world, where we knew we could unload some of our excess money (less weight to haul back home Smiley Faces ). I only bought some tire covers for my new tires on the not so long trailer, they were 2 for the price of one. After that it was on the Walmart, we wanted the total fulltimers experience, so Walmart was mandatory!

Once we arrived back at the campground, lo and behold Rollie and Gina had arrived Smiley Faces . We stopped by briefly to visit and later made plans to get together later.

once again I must leave the story unfinished. I have to get ready for church. I will continue later, until then God bless us all..........

Thursday, September 17, 2009

AT LAST, CAMPING AGAIN!

It has really been too long since we were camping in the "not so long trailer", but finally here at Hickory Creek COE north of Dallas Texas.

From Hickory Creek


From Hickory Creek


We started prepping for the trip on Monday. We took the trailer out of storage and moved into the famcamp on Barksdale AFB. We then began to load the "not so long trailer" and we even spent the night there (although only about 20 minutes from the sticks and bricks). I worked Monday and Tuesday, but Cheryl was off so she shopped the commissary Tuesday and loaded the fridge. I did have to take some time off to go get new tires the trailer, since I discovered I had one with a bald spot on the inside of the tire!! :( .... Wow, I thought I was keeping a close watch on them! Anyway about $400. later we have no tire worries (so far). :)

Wednesdays trip was only about 4 hours, but very tiring since it was all driven in the rain. Dealing with I35 through Dallas was not very relaxing either! Overall though the trip was uneventful and we enjoyed it regardless of the negatives :) We arrived at Hickory Creek COE and was pleasantly surprised with the park. After coming off the hustle and bustle of I35 and being in the thick of busy-ness, crowdness and mid-city bustle; it was as if we had instantly arrived in the country with wildlife, beauty and surprisingly quiet! It is like an oasis surrounded by big city life.

After setting up, we found Mike and Leslie Kennedy's site. Mike and Leslie are fulltimers and fellow RV Dreamers. Although we had not seen them in over a year, it was no time at all and it was as if we had never parted company! We sit and talk so much that we loose track of time! We finally determined that cooking dinner was not in the cards, so we decided to go out to eat (not a rare decision in our case) and ended up eating at Chili's. It was a great time all around and a great ending to a long day.

Well that takes us up to Wednesday and it is now Saturday. I have been so busy having fun I have not had time to write. It is ironic that it is usually working that keeps me too busy to write! I took this time to write, but now it is time to go have more fun, so I will write about Thursday and Friday later (that is when more RV Dreams family arrived). Until then may God Bless us all .................

Thursday, September 3, 2009

RARE DAY TODAY!

Ok, I know I said I would try to not take so long to post, so much for that effort! This is a rare day, I am off from work and even more rare I was wondering what to do next!! I signed on the dusty ole computer to read some blogs and the realization hit me, I have a blog too! Thanks Penny for the reminder Smiley Faces.

I actually called in this morning, I am not feeling "up to speed" (no pun intended Speedy). I have plenty of sick leave so why not? Needless to say I have been doing hardly anything besides working lately and it is beginning to take its toll on my energy levels. Gee I am still a young man I am not supposed to "run out of gas" so quickly!!

In my last post I told of our rescueing "Boid", a wayward Cockatiel that found the sanctuary of our home. Boid has had a hard time adjusting to her new environment and at most times seems a little unfriendly. I do hold her some, she bites me but with little force, seeming to just tell me she doesn't like being held! Cheryl doesn't even try to hold her, especially since Boid caused her much pain in the rescueing of Boid!! Smiley Faces Boid does keep us entertained sometimes with her whistling and mimicking, however after discussing what we will do with her during our travels I think we may be looking for a good home for Boid :(

We will be heading to Hickory Creek COE campground on the 16th of September and while we are there (only about 3 days) we will be attending the RV Show in Dallas. We will also be able to visit with Joe and Sherri, Rollie and Gina, possibly Mike and Leslie and hopefully more (the more the better!). We will be in site 44 if anyone wants to visit, just knock first so you won't catch me in my boxers! Smiley Faces

We are getting very close to meeting our financial goals and we are ready to start some serious looking for the RV setup for our fulltime lifestyle. I believe we could buy within this next year, depending on if we decide to sell the house or not. Sometimes it seems like a "no-brainer" then traditional thinking intervenes and we doubt our decisions once again!

Well I guess I had better get ready to go meet Cheryl for lunch. She is working today, bless her heart. I will post again! Until then God Bless you all....

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

Well, as for the title of this post, that is my story and I am sticking to it! Smiley Faces Cheryl and I have been working, painting, visiting with family, rescuing Cockatiels, more working and more painting. We have not been out in the rv in so long, I think I may have forgotten everything I ever knew about rving.. Smiley Faces .. We did stay in the rv for two nights, sitting in our driveway, while we painted our bedroom. Cheryl said it was just not the same for some reason?

The last time I posted (ages ago) we had family visiting from Kentucky. We had a great time visiting with them and they left after a long weekend with us. They were headed to San Francisco with a lot of interesting stops in between. It would be great if they would blog about their travels, but they are too busy having fun! Anyway after spending some time with them on their motorhome, Cheryl made the comment. “I could live in this!”. Wow, I thought we were set on a Mobile Suites or an Excel (thanks Rollie), but now the better half is thinking about motorhomes! I hope it becomes clear to us soon, I think we may be buying within the next year!
Well I don’t have a lot of time, things are getting crazy here at work. Global Strike Command is setting up headquarters at Barksdale and a lot of the contracts needed for required services in preparation are on my desk for action. Wow, life is interesting to put it nicely!

From 2WILDFLOWERS


From 2WILDFLOWERS


Before I go I really need to tell you about our Cockatiel we rescued. We spotted her (or him?) sitting on the side of pool, unsuccessfully trying to get a drink of water. I took her out a bowl of water and got close, but she would not let me touch her. We spent the better part of 2 hours trying to lure her to us. I had dug up a travel carrier we had for our puppy and was going to try to lure her into it. Cheryl was standing on the pool deck and suddenly the bird flew and landed on her shoulder! Cheryl without giving it much thought, reached very quickly to her shoulder and “grabbed” the Cockatiel. The scared to death Cockatiel, without giving it much thought, latched on to one of Cheryl’s fingers with a death grip!! She did manage to get the bird in the carrier before bleeding to death! It was not funny to either Cheryl or the Cockatiel, at that time, however I had a real good laugh after we determined both would live!Smiley Faces

From Boid


I had intended to save the bird, keep it in the carrier until the owner could be found. It has been a couple of weeks and after looking at the local vet offices, watching the newspapers and looking for posters, still no owner. I broke down and bought a cage, feeders, toys, etc. and started calling the cockatiel “Boid” (borrowed from Tioga George). Boid is over his initial trauma of “meeting” Cheryl, , wellll for the most part, she still will not sit on my finger, but at least she doesn’t take it off.. Smiley Faces ..



Anyway, looks like our guest, Boid, may be with us for a while. It is not bad, we keep discovering that she is entertaining. We were sitting watching TV one night, when out of the blue, Boid starts whistling the theme from the “Andy Griffith Show”. ! We have not had the show on lately, so she had to learn that from her former owners! She wolf whistles a lot, dances on the perch a lot, but no one can touch her as of yet. I do get her to use my finger as quick step on her way to the other side of her cage. She only threatens to bite me once in a while, but if I don’t back off, she doesn’t bite hard.. Smiley Faces ..

Well enough about Boid, although she is one of the few exciting things to happen in our lives lately. I will try to not be so long in posting, but remember, I am not free of those chains called work …. Yet!
Smiley Faces….. Till next time God Bless.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

RELATIVELY SPEAKING



From CAR MUSEUM


Alright a little excitement (for us anyway), Aunt Margaret and Uncle Donald are visiting from Corbin, Kentucky! We have not seen them since September. They are traveling across country in thier Winnebago Adventurer and we were on thier list of "must see" people, places and things :) .. Donald and Margaret Flowers are two extraordinary people who have lived fascinating and extradordinary lives. Both are former military, Uncle Donald is retired USAF and Aunt Margaret did not stay in to retire. Margaret is a registered nurse and retired from the state of Kentucky. They have raised thier children, three of them, and now they are traveling and enjoying life (sounds like they should be part of the RV-DREAMS family. :)




Saturday we decided to visit Jefferson, Texas and shop for antiques. It was a good time all round, but I thought the highlight of the trip was a visit to a car museum. Here are a few pictures I took (my favorite is the 57 chevy).







We also stopped at a little cafe that specialized in "cornbread sandwiches". Everyone tried some cornbread sandwich and the conclusion was that they are good! The bowl of chicken and dumplings were good also :) .. It took an awful lot of will power to reign in my appetite, but moderation prevailed!


After returning to Shrevport, we visited with them to around 11pm and didn't get to bed until almost midnight. We are getting together a little later for a family cookout with all the kids and grandkids here to visit with them. I guess I better get off the computer, go take a nerve pill :) and get ready for the crowd to arrive! Until next time......... GBY









Sunday, June 7, 2009

INDECISION


I spent 24 years in the military and in my mind indecision is a bad thing! Lately though I am having trouble making a decision. Which RV do I want to live in for a few years of my retirement life?

I thought we had decided on the Mobile Suites, but more information has come to light and I am again researching fifth wheels. I am currently trying to find out all that I can about Excel fifth wheels. All of you that own Excels please let me know how you like them, what you like about them and what you aren't that fond of about them. I need all the information and help I can get!

My brother in arms, Rollie Thurston decided on the Excel (he has no problem with indecision) He and his better half, Gina seem to be well satisfies with the choice. Check out there adventures at All Because Two People Fell In Love. Don't you just love the title?

If there are other choices out there that you would like to recommend, please let me know. At this point I am getting closer to that time to buy and still no firm decision.

Enough whining for today, till next time, God Bless You All.........

Thursday, June 4, 2009

REFLECTIONS AND DAYDREAMS

I guess everything is back to “normal”, I am back at work, Cheryl is back to work and our little mini vacation is just a memory. :( … It was a great weekend that began because of a phone call to the DRV factory in Indiana. We have been wanting to look at some Mobile Suites fifth wheels to price and scope out the features, but could not find any in our local area. I decided to call the factory to see if I could locate the nearest dealer and spoke with the regional sales manager for this area. He informed me that the nation’s largest Mobile Suites dealer was Gauthier’s RV in Lafayette, Louisiana. I planned this past weekend trip and we after setting up at Poches’ Fish n Camp, we found Gauthier’s RV. Now I was told this was the nation’s largest Mobile Suites dealer, but he only had one Mobile Suites on the lot and it was sold! He informed that particular floor plan did not sit on the lot very long. He was kind enough to allow us to tour that one and we carefully proceeded to take a look. We loved the unit, it has all the features we are looking for and more. It even has a leveling system that they call the “level up system” that is hydraulic and levels the unit side to side. Cheryl and I both are thinking that we have found our fulltiming home, but wait a minute, there is a downside; the unit list for $120,000…….. !! There still may be hope though, the sales manager told us the unit we were looking at went for $85,000. How can that be? Either someone is very good at negotiations or our sales manager is using a little psychology in trying to sale us a unit!
After looking at the unit, inside and out, we sat for a little bit and talked with Rocky, the sales manager. He seemed like a nice guy and genuine. I told him I was a while away from buying and that I have get the proper sized truck first, then draw a few more paychecks, then I can talk serious about buying. He told me that was typical and that a lot of folks do it the same way. He said he could order ours from the factory, with our options and choices, then it would probably take a while to come in anyway. I think that Cheryl and I will be ready to buy sometime after October of 2010. :) ….. In the meantime I have to plan and look for a truck that will easily tow the 14,300lb (dry wt) fifth wheel (and look good doin it!) Any suggestions?


Once we had toured the Mobile Suites, we just settled down to some fishing and relaxing at Poches’. It turned out to be a fantastic weekend and I am hoping to return one weekend real soon to fish and relax. In the meantime we are working, preparing the house to sell and daydreaming about being on the road fulltime! ;)….. Till next time God Bless.