Shame On Us

Can’t believe it has been since June 22 since we last posted. Everything is fine with us. We are just enjoying life. Rather than bore you with all we have been doing, I will just recap some neat things that we have done.

On July 5 we headed to the Dahlonega/Dawsonville, Georgia area for our friends Bill and Carol Hicks’ 50^th wedding anniversary.  They wanted Jeff to play the music for the party. They live in Dahlonega down a one lane gravel road. Their house sits on 7 acres. Due to the heavy rain in the area for about three weeks, we got stuck twice with our truck in their mud trying to get the equipment set up next to the dance floor they “prepared.”

 

Bill & Carol Hicks

 

Muddy Dance Floor

 

 

 

However, they had 4 x 4 trucks and they pulled us out each time. We eventually parked a half a mile away at the top of the hill in a church parking lot after we had set up and returned after resting and changing clothes at the hotel in Dawsonville. They had a Polaris 4x4 vehicle with a small trailer attached to it loaded with bales of hay for people to sit on to bring  all of their 120 plus guests down to their place. They have a pond and a stream in which they swim and even pan for gold  occasionally. The celebration was a great one and there was NO rain until they got us in our truck with our gear at the end of the party and we started to drive off. Lightning and heavy rain followed us all the way to the hotel that night. Bill and Carol’s theme was a “Redneck” Anniversary celebration. It was a big hit along with fantastic food and lots of dancers.

 

Dancers

Big Daddy DJ

Despite getting bit four times by yellow jackets and getting stuck in the mud, we had a great time! We played for 5 and ½ hours. Even Kozmo enjoyed the hotel stay, but not the lightning.

Jeff celebrated his 61^st birthday on July 22. We went to Peking Gourmet Restaurant in Clayton to celebrate. We had a great Chinese meal.  It is difficult to find Chinese here in the mountains and we are searching for something similar to Mr. Wang’s, our favorite, that is in Homosassa, Florida.

Jeff has DJ’ed two street dances here at River Vista RV Resort since June 22. One was the July 4 celebration which was well attended. The other one was Labor Day in which the entire campground was packed. On both occasions the weather was cooperative. He also played for Lindsay and Scott’s wedding reception on August 24 which was held at Black Rock Mountain State Park Mellinger Building. About 100 people attended the affair which was very nice. The only problem we had was Jeff’s one speaker blew and went dead during the dinner music time. Luckily there was a speaker system that the park had and we adapted one of their speakers  to our system. No one but us knew the difference as we were set up in the loft. Kozmo was even with us. You know she practically goes everywhere with us. And no, she didn’t dance with anybody. J

View from Loft

Bride & Groom Arrive

We managed to head to Florida for three nights for doctors’ appointments. I had mine on August 19 in Crystal River and Jeff had his in Valrico the next day. Again, we both need to lose weight, but all blood tests etc were good for both of us. So, we have started eating more fruits instead of sweets. We dreaded going to Florida. We cannot stand the weather in the summertime there. When we got to Crystal River and opened the truck door to get out, our glasses steamed up. The humidity down there is unbearable. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Lecanto and really enjoyed it. It really is only about 4 miles from Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park where we winter. When we had Jeff’s appointment, we stayed at our Valrico house. We started before we left Florida to get rid of stuff in the Valrico house because we want to sell the house, sooner than later. While there we managed to get 11 garbage bags out on garbage day. That was great considering we were only there Monday night to 7 am Wednesday morning. Our goal is to conquer the house contents and hopefully have a “Contents Sale” while in Florida this winter and put it up for sale. We have decided to build a cabin on the lot in Dillard, Georgia eventually, after we sell the house. We'll stay in the rv when we are in Florida in the winters. The quicker we work on being able to, and selling the house, the more building the cabin will become a reality.

We've had some visits from friends. My great friend, Linda, and her husband Bill stayed overnight at a hotel here in Dillard on their way to outside of Washington D.C. for a month. We had a great time with them. Another couple, Al and Karen, who are regular bloggers and rvers, came over for the day to visit. We went to La Cabana, a local Mexican restaurant, for lunch. Their blog is RVing With Karen and Al. They bought an rv site in Blairsville, Georgia, recently. We had a nice conversation and visit with them. We have regularly enjoyed our visits with our good friends Cheryl, Steve and their dog McGee, who also spend summer and fall  here in the park. They winter at The Great Outdoors in Titusville, Florida. We have new neighbors here in Falls View (River Vista), Jen and Jenks, who bought the site next to us and have already started building a coach house on their property. They have two neat dogs named China and Pepper Ann who are Kozmo’s age. We have also been spending time with Mary, another Falls View neighbor, who was recently widowed, and Bonnie and Ray, who are from Jacksonville and also own a site in River Vista. Our friends Sharon and Ed from Ft. Myers were up here for a couple of weeks and it was so great seeing them again, along with their dog Mattie. We have a great time with all of the people that we have met here and hope to continue that until we have to leave in late October.

We are headed for Ohio Amish Country on September 22 for 4 to 5 days. We have not visited that area before and heard it was even nicer than Lancaster, PA area which we visited several years ago. We won’t take the fifth wheel this time. We are going to be staying in a suite at a pet friendly Ramada Inn in Strasburg, Ohio, and are really looking forward to it.  We have lots of literature to guide us while we are there. If we like this area we will possibly go back with our rig next time.

That has you basically all caught up with our lives for the past 10 weeks . Hope everyone is enjoying their summers and the start of football season. ‘Til next time….

Hillbilly Boldts including Kozmo

 



Finally, A new post from the Boldts

We can’t believe it has been almost two months since we last blogged. Shame on us! Yes, we are having a great time in Dillard, Georgia. Here is a recap of the last two months.

Jeff did the first street dance at River Vista during Memorial Day weekend. It was a success! He had about 6 children who crowded him as he was playing tunes. I call them his “Big Daddy’s Fan Club”. They were requesting songs and even asked him for his autograph. There was lots of dancing, singing while dancing, and a good time to be had by all. Even though the campground wasn’t 100% full but it sure did seem like it.

I celebrated my birthday on June 4 and turned a young 58 years old.

 

It was celebrated very quietly because I don’t like to be the center of attention for birthdays. Jeff took me out to eat at Mama G’s, an Italian restaurant, in Clayton, Georgia.

Jeff had a ziti casserole and I had eggplant parmesan.

Jeff’s was very good while mine was a bit soggy since it was put over spaghetti. It had been crisp to start out with but by not putting it on the side, it didn’t last long as being crisp. Plus, they didn’t give you much of it for $12.95. There was no salad or other side item. They did have garlic rolls, which seemed stale and lacked garlic taste. Afterwards we headed to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. I like their oreo blizzard and I added peanut butter sauce to it to make it really good. My parents called and my mother sang Happy Birthday to me. My close friend Linda Forrest called and we spoke almost two hours. So, all in all it was a nice day.

We have been searching furniture stores for a loveseat recliner or a loveseat to replace the uncomfortable loveseat that is in the rig now. I found a Lazy Boy loveseat recliner that would be great for the space but it isn’t as comfortable to just sit straight up on. The recliner part is fantastic. The color wasn’t that great but you can order what you want. So, I will keep on looking until I find what I want. I have ruled out leather because it just isn’t comfortable for me.

We did buy two Adirondack chairs from Goats on the Roof, which is located in Clayton. They were having a 50% off sale. These chairs have been aged since they have been sitting outside but they are very comfortable. After bringing them home and cleaning them up, we put them on the deck to dry out completely. We are going to stain them and possible put cushions on the seats. See below for one of the chairs. They swivel AND glide and were a great buy!

I finally took my two boxes of recipes that I had collected through the years and perused it. I scanned the recipes I wanted to keep and cropped them, then saved them to the computer. I have about 600 recipes that I saved. Now who in their right mind would keep so many recipes? I wonder how many of them I will actually use. LOL I am already working on my next “project,” which is cleaning out the file cabinet we have in the rig. I am also going to scan papers and cut up the papers we don’t need. I started that project today and am done with A and B files. At this rate, it might take me two weeks to get it all done.

Jeff is still working his part-time job for River Vista by doing FACEBOOK updates for the resort. Go to FACEBOOK, type “River Vista RV Resort”, and then LIKE it after it comes up, if you haven't already done so. He does a great job with pictures and information. Must keep that guy busy!!!! Speaking of River Vista, Managers Bob and Karen have been busy with projects around the park (Bob) and planning a new 5-day rally in September (Karen) that will be sponsored by Tom Johnson Camping Center from North Carolina. They will bring units to River Vista, there will be seminars, something like 7 meals included in the rally package, and, of course, will have a Big Daddy DJ Dance one of the nights. Karen is still finalizing all the details. Once she does I’ll post info on the River Vista FACEBOOK site and on this blog. Maybe some of our rving friends will come to River Vista for the rally. After all, it is a great time of the year up here in the mountains.

 

I am keeping busy with our flowers/herbs/vegetables. I saw that two tomatoes are now coming on the bushes and the rosemary, basil, and parsley are coming in very nicely. I already picked some basil and parsley and used them in recipes such as my Pizza Casserole and tomatoes and onions in vinaigrette sauce. I am going to put the basil and goat cheese on a baguette along with olive oil and garlic and toast them. We have had that before and it was really tasty. After the season is over, or whenever the weather starts to get cool, I will take the herbs and separately put them in a food processor and drizzle oil in it to make a paste. When that is done, I will freeze them in ice cube trays and then after freezing, place them in freezer containers in the freezer for later use. They say it should last two years. But, it won’t last that long since I will be using it. Take a look at the pictures below to see how well my “green thumb” is helping these things survive. I say that now but I hope the rabbits don’t get into anything.

Our friends Nancy and Danny from Tampa were staying in River Vista for 5 nights before they headed on their summer trip. It is always so great to see them! They have three dogs that are getting up there in years but they are still cute chihuahuas! We went out with them to eat at the Dillard House late Monday afternoon.

 

It was the first time for them. We brought back four to go boxes and had a great time! During the Father’s Day weekend, the staff at River Vista donated a Brinkman Charcoal Smoker to be given away at the bingo game Saturday night. We had 6 tickets and Nancy and Danny had 16 tickets. When they were visiting us they told us that they already owned a smoker in Florida. After I said I really wanted to win that smoker, Danny said he didn’t know why they got so many tickets since he doesn’t win anything anyway. I told him since he said that he will now win. And they did! Nancy and Danny were so nice about it that they told us they were going to “store” the smoker with us and we could use it!!! So, now we have a smoker that we need to learn how to use before Nancy and Danny visit River Vista again so we can have some good smoked pork!!!

 

Thank you Nancy and Danny for giving us this new experience! While they were here the weather on a couple of days was a little wet. Nancy being a Turner Classic Movie fan, loaned us four DVD’s to play. The one we watched yesterday was “Call Northside 777” starring one of my favorite actors, Jimmy Stewart. It was black and white and just fantastic! The next one I want to see is “Laura” with Vincent Price. I love the old movies too but just haven’t been watching a lot of TV lately. The best time to watch is rainy days though.

Our friends, Steve and Cheryl, finally arrived in Dillard about two weeks ago. They have a fantastic dog named McGee whom Kozmo likes. We hope to go to dinner with them after they settle in more. They own a site down in the River Vista section of the resort.

Speaking about food again… yes, we usually eat out every other day or so. We still like Annettes’ Café in Dillard which has home cooking done to almost perfection. We tried out a new place called Joes’ Café in Clayton last Saturday. It is attached to an indoor flea market and has a quaint atmosphere. They have a very nice salad bar and daily specials. We will go back there again even if Annettes’ has them beat. A place we want to try again next Monday is called Cajun Connection which is located in Franklin, NC. On Mondays they have all you can eat shrimp. Last year we ate there and their shrimp and fried oysters were very good.

Kozmo is still enjoying her walks and being with other puppies. She got a treat a few weeks ago when we went to Waynesville and got her pet food at the PetSmart. She didn’t like going in there and we think she thought that she was going to be left there. Maybe it brings back memories of her days in foster care before we gave her a “forever” home. We won’t bring her in there again. She will just sit in the truck with Jeff and wait for her treats when I return.

Well, the busy July 4^th weekend will be upon us her at River Vista in about 2 weeks. There are activities planned for about a 9 day period, including the two weekends and the 5 day week that includes the 4^th. Jeff will DJ a street dance with his “groupies” J, the night of the 4^th. Then, we will leave for Dahlonega for 2 nights as he is going to DJ a 50^th anniversary celebration for our “snowbird” friends from Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park, Bill and Carol. That should be a blast. The theme is a “hillbilly wedding.” Jeff will play mostly all “oldies” for this gig.

Hopefully, we will write on a more regular schedule. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something good for this blog.

‘Til next time …..

 

Rain, Rain, Go Away

 

What do you do on rainy days? Go crazy? Read? Clean? Play on the computer? Sleep?

I want to know what you do because it is driving me somewhat crazy to hear the rain and hard winds all day long. Now weather forecasters say it will stay with us until Sunday evening even into Monday. I used to love the rain but being in an RV scares me because with the high winds. I guess I should be happy that the rig isn’t moving much and there is no rain coming in. But, I feel awfully sad when I have to take Kozmo outside in it. I took her out this morning at 9:30 and it was just starting to spit at us. We only stayed out for 15 minutes and not our usual 30 or more minutes. Kozmo was ready to come in. I didn’t have an umbrella with me so I took my hoodie and put it over my head and was fine. Kozmo just loves to get toweled off when she comes in. She makes it a small game for her, which is really cute. The next time she went out was at 5 pm and we needed an umbrella. The winds were strong and the rain not as heavy, but enough to make you cold and want to go in really quickly. Below are a few pictures of the weather in a calm moment. The first two are our view (non-view today) of the mountains. The third is the drainage ditch behind us that runs along Kelly Creek Road. The last one is a shot up the street from our site.

 

 

 

 

So, what did we do when it rained today? I was on the computer, read magazines, cleaned the bathroom, and cooked a great dinner of pizza burgers with scalloped potatoes. Jeff was on the computer, took a nap, and ate the great dinner. Kozmo…… she just slept most of the time and then got some “lovin’ time” from Mommy and Daddy. What a life she leads.

I ordered two books for my Kindle. One was the newest Nick Russell book called Big Lake Blizzard  and the other is a free mystery book called Long Time Coming by Edie Claire. Last month I had ordered four free mystery books that were all first in their series. The first one was called Deadly Gamble (A Charlie Parker series) by Connie Shelton. The second one was Never Buried (Leigh Koslow series) by Edie Claire. The third one was Cutthroat Business (A Savannah Martin series) by Jenna Bennett. The last one was Trouble in Mudbug ( Ghost In-Law Mystery/Romance series) by Jana De Leon. All were excellent reads for me. I like the Kindle more and more even though I have about 18 books in my cabinet that need my attention. I found that you can do a search on Amazon for free mystery books and it has been very rewarding so far.  Plus the good part is they are free. So, since it is raining I will go to bed earlier and read the hard cover book that I started a couple of nights ago called Deadly Summer Days by Carolyn Hart which is another mystery series and enjoyable to read.

One thing Jeff did today was to order a new heater/fireplace for the living room. Our one that we purchased two years ago died this morning. The blower stopped working so there is no more heat. The temperature high today was 51 and damp so we got out our Vornado heater and it is doing a great job. We could use our heat pump if we needed to but the Vornado works just as good. We rarely use the furnace because it eats up so much propane.

The weather can get you in the mood to buy on-line and that is not a good thing. Jeff’s clothes that he ordered came in today but we couldn’t get them from the mailbox. He checked on the status this morning and it was delivered. Yesterday my order of a pair of bike shorts and a blouse came in. The shorts are great but the blouse will have to be sent back. They put in a size two sizes smaller than what I ordered and put it in a plastic bag that had the correct size on it. So, back it goes. Hopefully they can get it right the next time.

We went to the new Wal-Mart in Franklin, NC on Thursday after eating breakfast at Annette’s Café in Dillard. The new Wal-Mart is just like the new ones in Homosassa and Lecanto, Florida. They are not super ones but smaller and I don’t care too much for them. The produce/meat section is so cold that I thought I was in the freezer section of an ice box! After Wal-Mart we went to Tractor Supply to get Kozmo some heart shaped treats that we can only buy there when up here. We also stopped at a Pet Supply place that sells dog food. Kozmo loves the new Simply Nourish brand that Pet Smart sells and we can’t find it anywhere other than PetSmart. This dog food looks like human food. I guess we will have to head to Seneca, SC, an hours drive away, next week and get her a month’s supply of it. They do not sell it on-line through PetSmart. We don’t know why they don’t. Even if they did it would cost $3.99 per can to ship it, which is crazy since it costs $2.29 a can.

That is all the news for now.

‘Til next time…..

Dillard, GA.....We're Back !

Watch out you people in Dillard, the Boldt’s have arrived!!!

We got to Dillard on Thursday, April 25 at 2:30 pm.  We had to start up the golf cart which had not been used since last November 6 and move it so that we could put the fifth wheel in the site. The golf cart started up perfectly after Jeff attached all of the cables to the batteries. We charged it up and it is perfect again. It took us one hour and 10 minutes to get the fifth wheel into our site. Go forward, go back, repeat 25 or more times until it was “perfectly” lined up with the electrical box area and not crooked.

 

I am no use to Jeff and he let me know that while we were talking on the walkie talkies and then the batteries died in them midway into our parking. He finally got it “just right.” Anyway, we then unhooked, leveled and were ready to enjoy the lifestyle of Dillard until after Halloween is over. We tried to do as much as possible on Friday in getting things organized, but even though the weather cooperated, we had to socialize too much and didn’t get much done. We managed to eat at one of our favorite restaurants on Friday called Mishima Express located in Clayton, GA. We then went to WalMart for some much needed items before heading back to the rig and doing some more organizing and settling in.

Kozmo is very happy to be back here. She loved running down by the stream and seeing her puppy friends.

 River Vista inherited a wooden 2-seater swing from one of the owners in Falls View and repainted it and placed it down by the stream. That is going to become one of my new favorite sitting areas. It is so pretty now down there. The swing faces the lower section of the campground and just 15 feet down the bank behind, is Mud Creek. The sound of the running water enhances the ambience.

 

 

 Jeff and I went to see the managers, Karen and Butch, in the office and spoke to Megan, an office worker. It was great seeing them and complementing them on the work that has been done while we were gone. It looks green in lots of places and with the rain starting on Saturday and going through the next four days or so, will make it look even prettier. Once the potential near freezing temperatures pass later next week, it’ll be time to plant the colorful annuals. Yes, the weather folks on tv from Atlanta say frost and near freezing temps are possible in the Georgia mountains late next week---that would be May. Crazy I know, but that is better than 90+ degree temps any day in my book.

We attended the HOA meeting on Saturday at 10am in the Mountain Village Center here at River Vista and saw some neighbors we hadn’t seen since November. It was nice seeing all of them again. Afterwards, we went to another one of our favorite restaurants called Annette’s Café, located in Dillard, all of 5 minutes from here. One of the waiters, Kenneth, is a great guy whom we missed a lot while we were gone. We exchanged emails a couple of times this past winter,  so it was so nice to see him in person again. . We both got fantastic lunches along with a great conversation with Kenneth. About 24 of the Falls View residents went to The Cupboard for lunch, but we had planned on eating at Annettes  since we missed it on Friday. Too bad the weather was not cooperating today. It has been raining off and on since 10pm last night. We are supposed to have 100% chance of rain and thunderstorms tomorrow. I guess you can say it will be a wash out with temperatures in the fifties during the day. 

Before we arrived in Dillard we were at Longs, SC, for the week. We described it in our last entry. Two of the days were fantastic weather wise, but the rest of the time we were fighting the strong winds and rains. We will definitely go back there someday and maybe get one of the sites with a hot tub.

 

After we left Willow Tree on Wednesday, April 24, we headed for Roebuck, SC, and stayed at a place called Pine Ridge Campground.  It is located in a residential area and the drive into it was scary. The roads were not in great shape and very steep and narrow. We really enjoyed talking to the new owners who are really going to make this place shine someday. They have plant baskets at each site, very clean roads, bathrooms and laundry areas. The bathroom was remodeled in 2012 and it was a joy to take a shower in there. I thought I was in a $200,000  house  because the shower was 5 x 5 feet and very nice! As a matter of fact the bathrooms don’t even look like they are ever used.  I usually don’t use the facilities but since we didn’t hook up to the sewer I thought I would see how Good Sam rated them a 10 Star.  I definitely could see why! Leaving the campground on Thursday morning was a scary thing because we had to go up the steep road to get out. I didn’t think we would make it, but we did. All I kept thinking was the fifth wheel will come lose and that will be that, but it didn’t happen.

How many of you use your GPS? We use the one in the truck and now Jeff has me use the recently purchased IPAD map app also while we are travelling.  It told us two different directions to go and we went the wrong way by getting off I-85 and travelling in downtown Greenville by taking I-385!!! Usually, the 3 digit interstate numbers are bypass routes. Well, NOT in Greenville, SC. It took us right downtown to 2 lane streets. At least now we can say we saw Greenville, or I should say, Jeff saw downtown Greenville while I was trying to find out where we were on the IPAD map app to tell him where to go. That was the second time in two days the GPS was wrong and the IPAD was correct. The other time there was a detour sign for trucks and we followed it but then there were no more detour signs telling us how to get back to route 76. We managed to go a half hour out of our way and traveled three times over the Pee Dee River. Go figure. We got some strange looks by locals as our one ton Dodge pick-up towed our 40 foot fifth wheel  on the two lane backcountry roads. Again, I had no idea where we were to begin with and Jeff was now asking me how to go. I must be directionally challenged. Give me the steering wheel and tell me where to go next time. I wanted to tell Jeff where to go several times but it wasn’t driving directions I assure you.   J

Enough for now.  Let us hear from you on your travels.

‘Til next time….

Left Florida, After 5 Months

We left Crystal River on Tuesday, April 16, after spending time at our Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park site since November 8^th. It was definitely time to go!!!! It was getting hot and humid and we didn’t want to tolerate that weather anymore. We do not have to, after all, our home is on wheels,  on the road we are.

We stopped at Coastal Georgia  RV Resort in Brunswick, GA, on Tuesday night. This is a great park for overnight or short term stays! The sites are very long and even though it doesn’t look wide, it really is livable. There are hedges on both sides to separate the sites, which make it very pretty. All the sites are concrete with full hook ups. They even had a Bark Park for Kozmo, which she went into but didn’t really like because she “told” me, Barbie, she doesn’t like fenced in areas. J She was a great rider in the truck. She slept about 90% of the time and got some “lovin” and food when we stopped at a rest stop in Georgia. The only problem with Coastal GA RV Resort were the no see-ums. When I took Kozmo out at 8 PM, the little bugs were in my hair which I had just washed before going out with her. They must have loved my shampoo and hair gel  I put on. A great stop for overnight though.

We did have a minor annoying problem on the road. Our truck is equipped with a towing brake package and the light came on the dashboard saying our trailer brakes were disconnected, and then 5 to 10 seconds later it would say it was now connected again. The annoying thing was the ping sound associated with the message every time it came on. The message came on quite frequently. We stopped to check out the plug and found a small opening on it where the cord was slightly separated from the head. Maybe some moisture got in there causing it to short periodically. Jeff put some tape on it but the next day we still have the problem. Annoying and frustrating YES!!! Although when braking, Jeff says he’s never felt we had NO brakes to the 5^th wheel. What are we going to do about it? I don’t know yet.

We got up at 6:30 Wednesday morning and left at 7:50 to head over to the Flying J, which was at the same exit for some diesel gas. The gas was $3.98 a gallon. We knew we would have a long drive on Wednesday to get to our destination at Longs, SC. We were on the road at 8:30 and stopped at 10:40 at a rest stop to eat some great sandwiches that I made and to walk Kozmo, who was sleepy again today. We left there and after several hours of driving  got a bit panicky when we hit the Conway area (within 15 miles of our destination), and didn’t know which way to go since the two GPS systems we were using were different. We actually went to the downtown Conway area, which was very tight, but we made it through there fine. We arrived at Willow Tree RV Resort at 2:45. This place is in the middle of nowhere but absolutely gorgeous! The sites are huge!!! There is a one mile paved pathway around a beautiful lake that we haven’t explored yet. The only disadvantage of this park is the weak wifi internet system. They have one but it is virtually useless at our site. Although the meters indicate a strong connection, once connected to the internet, which is difficult, it drops the connection frequently and is slow when refreshing pages.  We are using our Verizon card which is good but eats up the megabytes pretty fast. The other disadvantage is the lack of a cable system-they do not have one. But with our antenna, we are able to get 30 local stations, which is great. We tried to get on our satellite dish, but we weren’t successful. That is OK, we don’t need to watch TV. There are other things to do around here. Here are a few pictures of Willow Tree but they have many on their website. Look HERE.

 

 

Watching over our site

 

We drove to Myrtle Beach area on Thursday to “scout” the area.  Before we headed to the beach area we desperately needed some diesel. We found some only 5 minutes away and the price was $3.81 a gallon. After we got to North Myrtle Beach area it really wasn’t crowded, which was great. We drove around just to get a feel of where things are. I definitely want to go to Broadway at the Beach, which has shops and restaurants. We saw a SAS factory outlet store which I would like to take a look at. We need some items at Camping World and WalMart so that will be another day. We drove along Ocean Boulevard and couldn’t believe how many public access areas there are to park your vehicle. Since we had Kozmo with us we were limited to not eating in a sit-down restaurant. So, we found a Chick Fil –A  that didn’t have an eat in area. They had picnic tables and chairs under umbrellas which were nice and two drive-thrus. I went up to the walk-up window and ordered our meal and then we ate it in the truck since the temperature was 74 degrees out with a nice breeze. Afterwards, we went to TCBY yogurt place, which we did not like. The flavors all  lacked flavor. My great friend Linda told me about a frozen yogurt place in which you pick your yogurt and then get toppings on it. We are going to try and find a place like that up here.

After getting back to the rig at 5pm we watched TV and got caught up on the internet. It started to rain at 5:30pm  and it wasn’t supposed to rain. It did that all night long in spurts. Today, Friday, it showered a bit but the wind is strong. We know the weather is supposed to get a bit ugly later on tonight so we won’t be doing any site seeing today. We are staying here for a week so we will have the time to see it all, hopefully with the weather cooperating. The temperatures are very pleasant, in the 70’s and when the rain leaves us on Saturday morning the highs will be in the 60’s. Did I say how nice the weather is???

Until next time….

April Fool's Day

No April Fool's Day jokes here!

 

I (Barbie) am not a good “fooler” so my April fools pranks are juvenile. I tried to pull one over on my friend Linda, but it didn’t work. She saw through me right away. I remember when I was a teacher, kids tried to fool me, but most did not succeed. I tried to fool them, and did not succeed either. So I think I will give up.haha

Easter around Rock Crusher was quiet. They had a meal up at the clubhouse but we didn’t go because it is always so crowded and loud. We heard it was an excellent one though. They served lasagna. We Boldts had country fried chicken (baked) with white gravy, garlic mashed potatoes and pea salad for our meal. It was very tasty!  I had previously washed down the utility trailer and stopped every so often to talk to our neighbors Judy and Roger, and some other people who came by. It, the utility trailer,  is very nice and clean except for the top of it. I used white vinegar and Dawn dishwashing detergent, equal amounts of it, and put it in a squirt bottle. The smell was beautiful and I will use that again on things that are white in nature. Jeff got the idea on Pinterest from a fellow RV’er, Nancy Puig. Thanks Nancy for the tip!

We went to pick up our new eyeglasses  this afternoon. Mine are fine so far. Jeff’s had to be returned because he noticed three small scratches on the right lens. They told him it would take two weeks to get it done. Well, that is unsatisfactory because we hope to be out of here by April 16^th. So, if they don’t come here in time, we will have to contact them and they will have to mail them to our Dillard address. So we are keeping our fingers crossed. Since Jeff was totally frustrated  by this, we decided to drink ourselves into a “frenzy” and went to Sonic for a root beer float. That always seems to calm us down J. Even Kozmo got into the action and had a bit of ice cream. It didn’t spoil her supper since she didn’t have that much.

As to Kozmo’s health… she is great! We think it was the cold weather and it caused her arthritis to act up. Last night we put her on the dining room table and clipped her head, neck, belly, tail area, face and some of her paws. She looks so cute! This is her “summer clip” but will have to do her again in two months when she gets a little “wild” again. She is truly a great dog when we clip her. Jeff clips and I attempt to hold her still. She gets many rests in the 35 minutes that we work on her. And of course, she gets rewarded with a piece of turkey bacon when we are finished.

Well dinner calls and we are having a simple dinner of tuna fish sandwiches with French fries. Monday night is a big night on television for us. We love Bones, The Following, Revolution, Hawaii Five -0, and Dancing with the Stars, so we will be DVRing some of the shows since they come on at the same time.

Until next time….

Doin' Just Fine

What can we say, but writing has not been a priority on our “to do” list for over a month. Shame on us. Thank you for sending e-mails asking if we are doing OK. Let us (Barbie will start) tell you of our experiences since the last time we wrote. This will be a long one....stay with us!

 

Jeff had his doctors’ appointment on Feb. 20 in Valrico and he is in great shape with all of his blood work. The usual, lose weight and exercise, are the same topics that our doctors tell us. While we were at our Valrico house we cleaned up some and got rid of more “stuff”. One of these days we will be ready to sell the “monster home” and feel free to go wherever we want to without having to worry about the home when we are away. We have only been to Valrico three times since we arrived in November for a total of 7 days. I am afraid we will have to spend more time there next season when we come back in order to accomplish the task of getting rid of all of the stuff. What joy that will be!

The biggest thing we did while in Valrico was to sell my 2010 GMC Terrain. We went to the dealership that we bought it from and then to CarMax. CarMax was more than fair, so we sold it to them. We actually got more for it than what we would have gotten on a trade in on another vehicle elsewhere. We are very happy we don’t have to worry about it or pay insurance on it anymore.

We have met some neat people while we have been in Rock Crusher this season. One couple, Debbie and Irv ( with their poodle Penny) are from NY state area and were here for a month. We went out to eat at Kim’s Café for breakfast with them and they enjoyed it even though the service was not up to par. They left for Ho Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, FL which we had told them about from our stays there, and then they went to Tybee Island in Georgia. We just heard from them two days ago and they are coming back to Rock Crusher to stay for two weeks because they say it is too cold to head back north. We can’t believe how many people have actually left for the north. We think they aren’t in their right minds since there is still snow up there and lots of cold weather, but maybe they like a taste of that weather. Easter is coming early this year and for some of them that is the excuse they are giving for leaving.

Our neighbors Roger and Judy who are from Massachusetts are really enjoying themselves. If you are ever in the Homosassa/Crystal River area you must see the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park  which has manatees and other animals to view. Roger and Judy have been volunteering over there and they always look so happy to share their days’ work with us.  It has been great meeting and talking with so many people. Someone asked me a few weeks ago how I remember people’s names. Well, I now have a notebook filled with names and cues to help me remember what they look like and if they have a pet. I tend to remember people who have pets rather than the people’s names.

We have taken some days trips to some great places. One day we went to Clermont, FL to see my great friends Linda and Bill Forrest.

Barbie and Linda

 

We met up with them at Sonny’s Barbeque and then went to Lake Louisa State Park, which is 7 miles south of highway 50 in Clermont on Highway 27. It is a huge park that has many lakes to fish or canoe on, a campground that is very nice, and a picnic area on the water that was hard to see because there was a bike race going on that weekend. The day was a great one with Linda and Bill. We only hope that Bill retires soon so that he can join us retirees and have some fun!

 

We headed for Leesburg, FL a week ago to visit Holiday Travel Resort which we had heard had great activities for a campground that is old. We couldn’t believe how big it is. They have 935 sites on 200 acres and the activities are things that we really could love to do. They have the usual shuffleboard, pool, rec houses, and lots of bathhouses. What caught our attention was the softball field, the tennis courts, and the huge dog park with a dog run on the perimeter of the park. They have a restaurant which serves daily lunches, some breakfasts, coffee and doughnuts, and some dinners for a fee. The campsites are intermingled between park models so it does seem like they are very close together. They also have a marina with boat docks and a restaurant with the canals leading into Lake Harris and Lake Denham. The park is very rustic but very clean and friendly. The older section has trees and the newer sections in the open. After touring that park we headed for Lake Griffin State Park which has the fifth largest oak tree in the US, but not much of anything else to actually want to stay and have a picnic. The 30 campsites were mostly short and tight. We then drove through Recreation Plantation which is the closest rv resort to The Villages. The Villages is quite the area...we'll save that for a future blog. Coming back to RCC we stopped a place called Chicken King, which we had heard about in the paper. It's been a favorite of the locals in Citrus County for years. We now see why. They have great fried chicken with nice sides. But we don’t eat fried chicken much at all so it was a “cholesterol filling treat” for us that we won’t need to get again until next season.

Jeff DJ’ed a dance at a place called Quail Roost RV Campground, which is in Crystal River north on Citrus Avenue. The owners/managers , Randy and Nancy, are great people who have a great campground with dedicated work campers who strive on cleanliness. Their clubhouse is a nice one for a campground that has 72 campsites. The owner Randy is a musician so he has six speakers with an organ and lots of power for us to use. We only used our computer with hookups into his speakers and it worked out great. Their clubhouse has a combination of carpet with a wooden parquet tile dance floor and the acoustics are excellent!

 

There was a couple who were celebrating their 60^th wedding anniversary and they just danced up a storm.

60th Anniversary Couple

 

There were many people who danced either in line dances, solos or with their significant others.  

Fun Group

 

 

Those folks were so friendly and hospitable to us. I wish Rock Crusher’s clubhouse was better acoustic wise. You cannot hear the person next to you talking when that place is crowded with people eating. What a shame the owners don’t put some acoustical tile in there. Oh well!

Speaking of Rock Crusher… there was an event there on March 15^th from 4pm to 8pm to benefit a food pantry in the county. There were six food trucks, a jazz group, Corvette car show, Dodge truck display, and RV’s from Alliance Coach to entertain people. They had beer and wine for a price. The place is huge!  It has three walls with the one side facing the food truck area where the amphitheater is located. It was a nice affair. This place could easily hold 500 people and be the place to be for concerts or dinners, if the park wanted to do that.

 

 

 

 

Kozmo has been in her usual “puppy” mode which means she is hunting down squirrels and “harassing” or kissing other dogs when she goes out for walks. We were concerned with her the past two days because she was whimpering when she jumped on her bed or sofa. We thought her belly was upset but we now think it is her arthritis acting up because of the cold weather. She takes a glucosamine yogurt chew in the morning but we think the cold weather has really affected her. This morning the low was 37 but very breezy which makes it worse. So we gave her a baby aspirin this morning and she is so much better this afternoon. We kept her warm during the day wrapping her in a blanket which she truly loved.

It sure must be tough getting old for a dog, too. She is 10 years old this year but still loves to walk and do all the things those puppies younger than her do. So when she gets whimpering or yelps, we panic and I start to cry. We already decided that if she didn’t get better today ( day 2 of her problems) that we were going to take her to the vet. The last time I took her to the vet was in December for what I thought was a cold. The vet said she might have allergy problems but really couldn’t find anything wrong with her. So of course I felt stupid. But the next time I will take her to another vet. The vets in the Dillard area are very good and care so much for Kozmo when we have taken her there.

We took a ride to Ocala to see our friends who belong to the Roamin’ Rigs, an FMCA group that had their rally at Ocala Sun RV Resort at the end of February. We were so happy to see some of our “old” friends who were playing Bean Bag Baseball and having so much fun. Ocala Sun is the type of campground that is crowded but has nice amenities.

We got out eyes examined last week at Opti-Mart in Crystal River. Jeff’s eyes have not changed but he is going to get tri-focals to help him see that medium range when he is  on the computer. My eyes have changed and I have to take off my progressive glasses to read, so they are changing that and getting rid of the astigmatism factor which I don’t have. If everything goes as planned, we should have them by next week. I don’t know if you wear glasses, but I love trying them on and deciding what new weird frames to get. Plus, we found out our Humana will pay for lots of the costs, which we didn’t know we had until this year. The Humana plan essentially paid for 50% of the costs. Wearing contact lenses for 22 years was nice but since we retired we don’t go that route anymore. My complaint was that I had to put reading glasses on and I really couldn’t see the computer screen that well no matter what type of contact lenses they gave me in recent years. I also was apprehensive about wearing them after I had to have laser surgery for a torn retina in my right eye back in 2009.

Living in the 5^th wheel full time puts a strain on the day/night shades that are used everyday. The strings will wear over time and eventually break. The blinds then cannot be raised. We took down one of the shades when we were in Dillard last year and repaired it using fishing line. It lasted not a year. So we decided to replace the now 4 shades that have busted with horizontal blinds. We went to various places but decided to have them custom made vinyl blinds by Bali Blinds, through Lowe’s, and they were 15% off. We got the four blinds in a wheat color to match the valances, for less than $90. Of course we have to install them, but they are very nice and so much better to use.

 

We have installed one so far and will install the other three when we get to Dillard. It only took us 3 hours to install the one…haha… The way they install the day/night shades inside the valances is crazy. We have been very lucky with things not going wrong with the rig. We are very happy that we have a fifth wheel and not the motorhome anymore. Some of our friends ask us if we bring the fifth wheel with us when we head to Dillard. We say of course, this is our home. They can’t believe we would drive it on the road and not have problems. It is very easy to drive and a lot easier to drive than a motorhome. Jeff says it tracks very well. People think it takes longer to hook up and unhook, but that is not the case. We have more living space in our rig than nearly all motorhome people do. It is very comfortable to live in. The only thing we don’t have is a generator. Since we don’t boondock, we don’t need one. Staying at a truck stop is still an option since we have access to the bathroom and bedroom without the slides out. But we are in no hurry to get where we are going, so why worry about that?

I (Jeff) am having fun managing the River Vista RV Resort FACEBOOK page. The number of persons to “LIKE” the site is increasing as is the traffic on the site. I try to add a post every other day and sometimes each day. I post pictures/events about the park as well as RV topics in general. We currently have a promotion going on. We are closing in on our 500^th “LIKE”. For the 500^th “LIKE” AND the person who referred them to the site receive a certificate to 25% off site fees for up to 7 days at River Vista. So those of you reading this “LIKE” the River Vista RV Resort Facebook page and tell your friends. I’d appreciate it. I’d encourage you folks to follow the site especially during the “season” up there which is from May through Halloween.

Our stay here in Florida will end April 16^th. We are making plans to spend a week in Longs, SC and stay at Willow Tree RV Resort & Campground, which is just north of Myrtle Beach. We talked about going to  Savannah, but we are not in the “history” mood to go there. We still have lots to do before we go if the weather cooperates, we will get out of here on time. We are headed to Valrico for three days to “summer –ize” the house and visit our friends Linda and Bill. Are we looking forward to leaving? Not yet for Barbie because of the weather. Time will tell in the next few weeks how that feeling changes….

Until next time…