Midnight train to Georgia

Got your attention, didn't I? Yeah, I know we weren't on a train, it wasn't midnight but we are here in Georgia!





Arrived at Lake Allatoona, Acworth, Georgia on September 30th. (went on MDA cruise last week but I'll save that for another post!) For our first "jobs" on the road, we have volunteered to be hosts of a day use area and boat ramp at a Army Corps of Engineers lake. We are sharing the job with another host couple, Charles and Sis. Two better people we couldn't have asked for, they've been helpful, friendly and happy to share tips as they have been doing this on and off for many years.





Our first day of work was October 1st. In preparation for this, the ranger, Linda came by and spent a few minutes explaining the ins and outs of locking and unlocking the three gates! What responsibilities we have now.....I'm not sure we can handle this. Basically, 8 AM we open the Galts Ferry Day Use Area gate and lock the overnight boat ramp gate. Then we check to see if all the vehicles pulling trailers have the appropriate credentials displayed on their rear view mirrors. If not, we have an envelope which we leave for them to place $3 in for the use of the ramp. They are on their honor and thats as involved as we get. We walk the area that is set aside for day use only and make sure there are no pets or alcohol being consmed. (I'm not sure that Bob is the one to patrol for alcohol but so far so good) We make three rounds of the park during the day and reverse the procedure with the gates at 6PM. THAT IS IT! We "work" four days on and four days off and can do whatever we want at the campsite between rounds. For this exhausting work, we are given our site for free including all utilities.





Now I need to tell you about our campsite. It is much nicer than I dared to hope. First, there are only the two host sites here so we have alot of privacy and woods around us. The site is paved and has a HUGE cement patio with a corner fire pit, large picnic table, built in grill and a shed to store anything we don't want to put back in the rig or leave outside. The host that was here during the summer season left us some potted geraniums and a garden of begonias at the entrance to our Shangri La! The lake can be seen from here but only in patches until the leaves are off the trees. I will post photos as soon as I figure out how to do that!





Our first four days went quickly just as these next days have and tomorrow its back to "work" again. We have been visited by one of my sisters, Beth and her husband Ron who live within 30 minutes from here. Bob's brother Richard and Marion visited last Thursday and spent the night. That is another advantage-people can visit while we "work" and can even make the rounds with us if they are so inclined. But people, in case you're thinking of coming to see us, remember - Bob is the only one that wears the Volunteer Host hat!



The people that use this park are from all parts of the globe. We've met a man from Nigeria, a woman from Brazil and someone from Harrison, Arkansas. We let everyone in! We've been trying to get our exercize in while working so sometimes we take our bicycles on our rounds. I'm getting pretty good at riding our 7 speed foldable bikes and soon will be able to get it out of first gear.



Some of the every day housekeeping chores keep me busy. I allow 30 minutes for dusting and vacuuming about twice a week, clean the kitchen thoroughly in about 15 minutes and try to keep up with the bathroom on a daily basis.



The televison issue has been somewhat of an Achilles Heel for Bob. We purchased a VuCube before we left Arkansas. This is an extremely lightweight plastic cube the size of a book box. Inside is the antenna which is used to pick up satellite transmission (or reception, I don't know). This cube is a newer version of those little gray dishes you see all over campgrounds. You have the option of mounting to your roof but if there are trees at your site they could block the southern sky and voila' - NO TV. So we opted to get the one that you set up on the ground.



Now, in order to get service you must also subscribe to Dish TV or DirecTV. We have the latter.

Bob spent the better part of last Thursday attempting to set all of this up. I must say, he was diligent and remained calm and collected. I only saw him boot the Cube across the street only once. No, all kidding aside, he got it working and it was wonderful. The only issue that we have now is the unintentional movement of the Cube when the grass sways or the leaves sideswipe it! It is sooooo lightweight that any little thing that repositions the Cube messes with our reception. Bob has had to reprogram (sorry to use that word with Bob) the Cube twice today. Now that he knows what the problem is he has said he has several solutions, none being to kick it across the street again. But the solutions must wait for another day. Bob finally agreed to go to "Doctor in a box" today. (actually a physician's assistant at Walgreens, there are no Walmart clinics) He's had a cold for 4 weeks which has led to bronchitis. We got some meds for him and he should be good to go in 3-4 days. But his Cube solutions will have to wait..........

Our Harleys Went Home!!

We are back in Bella Vista, safe and sound. Our trip to Milwaukee for the Harley 105th Anniversary celebration was stupendous!

We took 12 days to do 1,850 miles and we made the most of them. We left home early so we could stop and spend some time with our dear friends Doc and Dorothy in Vinton, Iowa. They took us to Cedar Rapids to see the devastation caused by the flooding on June 13th. Its hard to imagine 1,300 city blocks under water but that's what happened. Doc's sister has a home there and of course it is uninhabitable. Many families displaced and facing hardships that you don't consider unless this happens to you.

Our visit with them was lovely and went too fast. But they did get to teach us how to play cribbage! We are slow learners and we may have it licked by the time we see them again!! Anyone want to play cribbage with us?

On to Milwaukee and the VIP Reception at the new Harley Davidson Museum. (we are considered VIPs by virtue of our fundraising efforts for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn) It was great seeing so many people we had met over the years at the national telethon. It was a reunion of sorts for us and one we really enjoyed! And the honor of being able to visit the museum was way cooool. It is a fantastic collection of Harley's and motorcycling memorabilia and displayed in innovative ways. We were able to tour the archives and refurbishment areas which are off limits to the general public! If you have the chance to go, we highly recommend it.

The next day Harley Owner's Group (HOG) was celebrating their 25th Anniversary with a huge shindig at Miller Stadium. It was a lot of fun but disappointing as far as the facilities went. I think the crowd was more than expected and made for long lines for food and drink. An hour to stand in line for nachos is about 50 minutes too much! I was particularly excited about seeing Sugarland perform that evening. Luckily, we were invited to enter the MDA VIP area where we could see the jumbo tron.

Staying downtown was great as we could take shuttles, buses and cabs to the different venues for the Harley celebration and not worry about parking or safety issues. (meaning, we could drink!).

The highlight of the 105th for both of us had to be the Parade! We were at the front with other MDA fundraisers, right behind the Harley execs. Following us were the rest of the 7,500 motorcycles made up of Harley employees, Hog Chapter reps, and participants chosen by lottery. This was quite a humbling experience. Milwaukeeians (?) were lining the 7 mile parade route on both sides of the street waving and holding signs "Welcome Harley Riders", giving us thumbs up. I think they were as excited to be there as we were to be in the parade. Bob and I got to ride next to each other and at some point in the procession I noticed the crowd cheering a little louder on Bob's side of the street. Bob was egging them on (I know you are not surprised) by shouting "HELLO MILWAUKEE" and then cupping his ear and waiting for them to respond! Well, they just ate that up! The parade route took us 45 minutes to complete at about 10 miles an hour (a lot of clutching). And the last bikes rolled in about 4 hours after we did!

That evening Bruce Springsteen performed at Veteran's Park. We arrived there at 6 PM which we thought was early enough since the concert didn't start till 8:30 PM. Wrong! We were at the back of the lawn area and had purchased Harley ground sheets. They are plastic squares of sheeting with the 105th logo for the purpose of spreading on the ground. We planned on napping while waiting for Bruce as we had gotten up that morning at 3:45 AM for parade staging. Well, have you ever tried to sleep while thousands of partyers are surrounding you? Actually, many of them looked more exhausted than we were but we couldn't doze. We lasted through Bruce's 4th song and then headed for a cab. At our age, or I should say Bob's age, you really have to pick and choose what is important to you 'cuz you can't do it all. :) I heard the next day that Bruce played for 3 1/2 hours and was quite the entertainer!

We started for home on Sunday. Bob said that if we rode hard for two days we could get home on Monday. I asked him why since we had no appointments until Wednesday. He responded "Oh, yea, I thought I had to be at work on Tuesday". So I think retirement hasn't totally sunk in yet. Subconsciously, I believe Bob thinks he's on an extended vacation! That should end soon.

We had 12 days of dry weather until we got 20 miles from home. Then the heavens dropped out and we were soaked. That's OK-we couldn't have asked for anything better during our trip. It was quite the motorcycling adventure and I was thrilled to make it on my Harley!

Well, here we are nearly two weeks into Bob's retirement! It is zooming by. There is alot of adjusting to do and we are working on that. Moving in to the RV and retirement so close together has made for some interesting days and nights, to say the least. Our biggest hurdle is remembering where we stowed certain items. We spend considerable time just looking for things especially now that we are getting ready to ride to Milwaukee.

Campground life is like any other little community. Most people are very friendly and happy to share their experiences full-timing in an RV. And everyone has their own take on how to decide where your state of residence should be! Ultimately, everyone has to decide what is best for their situation as there are alot of factors to consider. When we have made our decision I will report back.

One fun thing here at Blowing Springs is Happy Hour! At 4:30 every afternoon, we meet at the pavilion for fellowship and libations. So far, Bob has attended on a regular basis! I know you all are surprised at that.......

Our next big hurdle to clear will be weighing the rig before we get on the road to Georgia. Every RV has a maximum gross vehicle weight rating. To be safe you should pay attention to this! Since we have loaded our "stuff" in here, we have no idea what we weigh fully loaded with the Harleys, water, etc. We will be taking the rig to be weighed at a truck stop in a few weeks. In my mind, I have this picture of things being flung out the doors and windows when we discover we are too heavy! Hopefully, we won't need to do that. If we filled up all the storage that we have in here, we certainly would be over and that is hard not to do. Maybe we'll be way under and I can get some "stuff" out of storage but I doubt it.

I'll report on our trip to Milwaukee when we get back after Labor Day.

First Installment!

Well, here we are into my first post! I wanted to wait until I had some spectacular idea of what to write on my initial posting. I wanted to look back at this, my first blog and admire how well written and thought out it was. But I realized I could be waiting a long time and people are getting impatient as we've given our blog URL to anyone that would listen and even to some that wouldn't! Some people thought our first post should be on the day we pull out of Bella Vista heading to Georgia. Others thought we should start right away and report on what's happening with us now. So for those that are in the latter group, read on. Those in the former group, stop reading NOW! Come back on September 29th, the day we plan to pull out!



For those that may not know, and there aren't many of you, Bob has three more days to work! I am amazed how quickly this has come up. Of course, that's only my opinion. Bob would tell you that its taken forever to get here! He delayed the start of his retirement by many years, partially due to finances and partially due to his concern over me. As I am soooooo much younger than him, he wanted to make sure I would be taken care of in my later years since statistically he will be departing this world before me. And for that, I publicly want to acknowledge my gratitude and appreciation for his loving and caring ways and for being Bob!



Now with all that out of the way, I will proceed to fill you in on yesterday. I went skydiving!!!! I did a tandem jump Sunday afternoon at the Siloam Springs Airport drop zone. And it was a hundred times better than I ever imagined. My fear went away as soon as I boarded the plane and showed back up 15 minutes later when the instructor opened the door of this tiny, tiny plane. My first fleeting thought was wow, its way cooler up here. (temp on the ground was 103) Then I noticed how strong the wind was coming thru that open door. And my third thought was oh my, the sky is incredibly blue! My fear dissolved when I placed my right foot on the step I shared with my instructor Christian, AKA Swede. I was ready and actually impatient to get out of that plane.

We had 34 seconds of free fall with the videotographer Todd about two feet in front of me filming
from his helmet cam. And here is where words fail me. The complete and utter rush I experienced during those 34 seconds is something indescribable. There are no words I can come up with to do it justice. So suffice it to say, if anyone has the inclination to do this, I highly recommend it. It is not overrated.