A Brief Pause For Some Technical Difficulties

Sanibel, Florida (86 degrees, blue skies, puffy clouds)

I experienced some “technical difficulties” this winter which limited my ability to blog.  Unfortunately, I suddenly needed to have a partial knee replacement due to an injury. It all started in the middle of Mohave Desert and after a few attempts at finding medical care we decided to head back to Florida to an Orthopedic doctor John had seen before. I had surgery on December 1^st and it went well.  However, it’s not a surgery for sissies and sitting with your knee bent at a computer desk is out of the question for quite awhile. 

               

We did return to J. N. Ding Darling NWR refuge and spent the winter season volunteering.  I wasn't able to volunteer initially but once my physical therapy was completed returned to working in the administrative office and John worked in the maintenance department. I also gave an Alligator/Crocodile interpretive program every Wednesday. 

Special guest at one of my programs

John using the mower out on the refuge

Once again it’s been really great to be here and the support of the other resident volunteers and some Sanibel friends during my recovery was phenomenal.  We are both so appreciative for the support and oftentimes delicious meals  I’m also nominating John for sainthood.  He took such good care of me especially through the rough patches.

Caloosa Bird Club on the Green Cay Trip

It’s great to be back birding occasionally with the Caloosa Bird Club and enjoying the beach again.  Absence certainly made our hearts grow fonder.  We've even been able to take the kayaks out a couple of times with friends. 

Hunting for fossils on the Peace River Paddle Trip

Jen enjoying the paddle trip in her new kayak

Bowman's Beach paddle trip

Patsy and Bob on the Tarpon Bay paddle trip

Alison and Arin

We always enjoy visits from our family and friends.  John's sister, Martha, was able to visit for a few weeks and my niece and her girl friend visited over spring break.  Some RV Dreamer friends that we met in Wyoming also visited for a few days too.  It has been especially wonderful having Jen (John's daughter) close by.  She moved to St. Petersburg just as we were heading out to Wyoming last spring.  

Me, Jimmy, Martha, Jen, Louie, and John

Karen and Al and their beautiful dogs

John, Martha, and Jimmy

Some of our fine feathered friends!

Great Horned Owlets

Limpkin

Tri-color having a bad hair day

Great Egret

Beautiful White Pelicans on the Wildlife Drive

Osprey looking fierce

White Ibis is full breeding plumage

John turned 60 years old in November.  I had planned a surprise celebration get away with Jen to Key West. However,  it had to be postponed until February due to my surgery.  It was a great time and we stayed in a beautiful inn near the downtown.  A high speed ferry transported us from Ft. Myers to Key West and back.  What fun!

Ferry

A mother and her new arrival 

Jen on ferry ride

Sunset Mallory Square

In addition, we celebrated in November our fourth year as full timers.  From late April until September we spent an awesome season in the Tetons and Yellowstone working for Grand Teton Association. Here is a map of our travels. In total we traveled 6,634 in the motorhome and countless miles in the Jeep exploring the area. We stayed in only 26 campgrounds this year due to extended stays in Grand Teton National Park and J.N. Ding Darling NWR.

 

This summer we are planning an exciting trip to  Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island Canada which will last almost five months.  Six other couples are joining us plus some non RVing family and friends for at least some of the time. It’s taken a lot of planning but everyone is very excited.  Be sure to check back. Icebergs, birding, kayaking, and hiking are just some of the fun activities planned…and of course lots of fresh seafood.  Yum!

We have one week left at the refuge and then we will be on the road again.  Check back soon.  I promise to post more frequently.  Happy Trails!

Rosetta Spoonbills 

Holiday Celebration,Farewell to the Post Office, and New State of Residency

(Indy, Rochester, Sioux Falls) We have had a very busy, fun filled week and there hasn't been much time to record all the details. I'll try to catch you up on all the fun.



Wednesday morning the Post Office organized a great retirement party for John.  There was a nice pitch in lunch and a presentation of an achievement award to John from the Post Master.  He received a wide variety of gift cards from the carriers.  I was invited to attend. and found it very interesting watching the carriers case the mail and get ready for the day.  We had a great time and really appreciated the party. 



Evan



In the evening I attended my nephew, Evan's, first basketball game of the season.  They played Culver Military Academy and won their first game. 

Rochester Zebra Cheerleaders



Rochester Zebra's Basketball Team 2010



Evan is a senior this year at Rochester High School and enjoys basketball. He won't get to play much this season but it does not keep him from being a part of the team.

 
 
 
 
 

Thanksgiving was a great celebration spent at my brother and wife's lovely home. Lots of family including Jackie's Mom and her three sisters were able to come.  It was fun to see all the cousins having a good time together.  There was so much great food, and we had a fun time. Here is everyone preparing for the great feast.

 

Afterwards we left for South Dakota. We are establishing our residency in this state.  It has great tax advantages and is a very full time friendly state. 

Our mail service for about six months has been with Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls. After a two day drive we arrived. The staff were very helpful and showed us around the facility.


 

 

 

It was very cold and a winter storm was hustling it way into the area.

 

We did not linger very long, so after obtaining all our required documents (drivers license and voters registration cards) we headed back to Indiana.

We have some last minute details to take care of and then we will soon be "on the road".  We are hoping to leave for North Carolina and visit our daughter on Friday.  Our plan's are coming together!

Free At Last - Living Our Dream

NEWS FLASH!  John officially retired from the Post Office on Friday!  It  was a very exciting and much anticipated day.  He surprised all the letter carriers by coming into work in a tropical shirt and carrying a margarita glass.  Don't get too excited, it only had Hawaiian Punch in it.  He received lots of good wishes.  I'll write more of the details for this week soon. 

John's last day at the Post Office

We are leaving for Sioux Fall South Dakota to establish our residency.  We plan on obtaining our drivers license and voters registration.  More details to follow. 

Woo Hoo! I'm officially retired!!

Wow!  I'm now officially retired.  Although this has been a well planned and thought out event it does seem somewhat surreal.  I left with a little lump in my throat as I walked out of the office with my box of belongings.  As I drove home the reality started to wash over me and my smile got bigger and bigger as I approached our motorhome. 

I will miss my co-workers and have enjoyed my job very much. They have been very supportive and encouraging.  They asked lots of questions and took a great interest in our retirement plans as they approached.   



Compliance, Privacy, & Internal Audit Staff



Me, Beth, Jackie, Marti, Angie, Tom, & Gerard

When we first seriously considered this option about five year ago, it seemed so far away.  At times we wondered if it would become a reality.   Earlier in the week I received the nicest email from a former co-worker.  She said she admired how we have made our dream a reality.  Pretty cool! 

John has 29 more days to go before his retirement is official.  In the meantime, our friends and family have planned several "going away" parties for us.  This will certainly be a lot of fun and help make the time go by quickly. 

My sister in law sent this to me today on how to know when it's time to retire....she finds the funniest things!



Shopping Spree

A great benefit of a rally (except for your bank account) are the vendors who set up booths selling everything a RVer needs or desires.  Most of these items cannot be found at Camping World or local RV dealers.  We had made a list of items we wanted to check out while we were there.  Here are a few of our purchases

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  Magne Shades- these are windshield shades  attach by the use of magnets.  They help keep the coach cool and block out the sun rays that can fade your carpet and drapes. It is  very easy to put up and a ladder is not required.  Click on the link that demonstrates how easy they are to put up.  We also purchased shade covers for all our tires to protect from UV rays and hopefully extend their length of service,  We will post pictures later after they arrive.  They are made in North Carolina

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  Relax-r-recliner-It is a swivel wall hugging recliner manufactured by Lambright in the little town of Topeka.  The factory is right in the middle of Amish country and a lovely drive.  Our recliner is broken and this will fit in our "living room" much better.  We will pick this up in a few weeks.

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  RV cleaning products-I attended a great class on how to clean your RV from top to bottom.  I purchased a long swivel pole  easily clean the RV without using a ladder.  There are different micro fiber pads you use.  We also purchased a product called The Solution  cleans and protects your RV between waxes.  It is an amazing water-less product.

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  RV Professor Videos-Terry Cooper was a presenter at the Rally. He is one of the instructor for Workamper University.  We purchased four videos demonstrating how to maintain your AC, refrigerator, furnace,  and water heater.  John said his class was very informative and he found his instructions very easy to follow. 

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  Travel Guides- Mike and Teri Church-after attending their travelogues we purchased several of their guides.  I really like the way the books are laid out and they are designed for RVers.   

It was fun checking out all the vendor booths.  There was a lot of variety and not very much duplication.

Retirement Training

We have spend the past few days at the Escapade Rally attending a wide variety of classes.  Some of them have been a group of classes called a Boot Camp.  It is described as a way to   build your skills and enhance your knowledge by teaching you what you need to know about RV operation, safety, and maintenance. RVers’ Boot Camp touches on all aspects of RVing from hitch-up tips and techniques to RV systems, driving skills, weight and tire safety, fire and life safety, and more.  

We have benefited from all of classes.  In the past,  we have attended rally's that discussed the full time lifestyle such as the RV-Dreams Rally, Life on Wheels, and FMCA International Rally.  We also spent a great deal of time investigating all the different type of RV's  Now it was time to find out more about maintaining and caring for our home on wheels.  We split up some of the time to obtain as much knowledge as possible. There were four sessions each day with a wide variety of choices. 

Here are a few of our favorite:  

• Driving that RV-presented by Dennis Hill (this is the company that gave John his driving lessons)  It was classroom instruction about basic techniques and method of driving different RV's and driving conditions.  It was fun and Dennis has a great sense of humor
• Basic RV Systems presented by Mark Nemeth-this was a well presented class (our favorite) that talked about all your RV systems.  He demonstrated some great gadgets to make your life a lot easier and safer.  
• Honey! Let's clean the RV, presented by a micro fiber company (Almost Heaven) that gave the best tips and tricks for cleaning your coach outside and inside-from top to bottom.   I loved this class and really appreciated all the recipes for natural cleansers.  
• Boondocking Panel Discussion-presented by several couples that have tried this type of camping (non hook ups).  It was very informative and they really seemed to enjoy this type of camping.

At another rally we also attended an excellent class on Fire Safety with Mike McCoy that even has some hands on with fire extinguishers.  In addition, we had already taken Weight and Tire Safety.  We would recommend these classes for all full tiners.  

In the evening we enjoyed a travelogue given by a couple who write RV travel books (Mike &Terri Church).  They gave an excellent presentation on campgrounds and itiineraiers for the South West and Pacific Northwest.  

The Red Cross offered a CPR certification coarse. For a nominal cost you could attend a five hour class ,  John had never taken this class before but found it to be very easy.  There were about 68 people in attendance.  Every couple of years the Red Cross changes some of their guidelines, so even if you have taken it before it is good to have a refresher.  They also demonstrated how to do the Heimlich Maneuver for someone that is chocking. In fact, at the Rally someone was saved by this life saving measure.  

We also checked out some the Birds of a Feather Chapters (BOF's)   They are Escapee chapters that bring together folks with a common interest.  There is everything from  baby boomer BOF's to any type of craft.  We will probably join the Boondocking chapter. 
 

One of our goals was to find out more about an organizations called NOMADS (Nomads on a mission of divine service).  They had a booth here that was staffed by many volunteers.  Their website states their purpose is to  do new construction, remodeling, and repairs for churches, children’s homes, camps, colleges, outreach missions and disaster recovery. Team members do maintenance, cleaning, organizing, painting, electrical, drywall, sewing, flooring. With God’s help, NOMADS pretty much do it all. 

Our friends Randy and Pam Warner, had recommended that we join.  They told us that it gave them a purpose and they had really enjoyed the projects that they had been involved. with this year. The projects on average last for three weeks and your RV site is provided by the faciilty you are working with at the time.  There are hundreds of projects to choose from and on average you work 6 hours a day and have Friday- Sunday off.  We wer very impressed with what the volunteers told us about their experiences and decided to join.  We hope to sign up for a project in Florida this winter.   

This has probably been my longest post.  We have had such a good time and there  was so much to do.  Thanks for stopping by and if you have any questions about the Rally or NOMADS send us an email. 

Pre Rally Sightseeing

It is understandable why this is such a great place for a RV focused rally.   There are factory tours of many of the RV manufacturers, numerous companies that make and sell RV furniture, and others that can renovate your RV.  We are very interested in taking our our carpet and installing some type of laminate or tile.  There are several companies that we are planning on checking out while we are here.  

Our day started off with this beautiful sunrise.

Today we went to Shipshewana for some sightseeing and shopping.  This Amish community has many cheese and craft shops to visit, plus some excellent restaurants.  We stopped at an excellent cheese shop and came out with some great snacks to share later.  John could be found tasting all the free samples with a big smile on his face.  

We saw many lovely Amish farms and horse and buggies.  These buggies were parked at a Menard's store right along side the motor homes that were boon-docking prior to the rally. 

We had an excellent lunch at the Blue Gate Restaurant and drove out to a furniture manufacturer to look at reclining chairs.  Unfortunately, it was closed but we saw this lovely Amish farm complete with telephone booth (for business use only) along the way.

We then drove to the RV MH Hall of Fame to visit an amazing collection of old and new RV's,  It is dedicated per their website tot he following-" preserving history and honoroing the pioneers and individulas who have made a significant contribution to the RV and manufacturing industry.  

Our friend Carol and John

There is an amazing collection of old and new RV's that are very well displayed.  Here are are a few pictures of our favorites.  We would highly recommend this museum. Cost is $6/per adult and  $4 senior discount. 

Tent camper

My favorite, spacious and full of light

KOA Kampers

 It was a great start to what John calls our "retirement training".