Baby It's Cold Outside

Raleigh received about an inch of snow last night and then lots of rain and ice.  This is not the type of weather we were expecting on our full time journey.  In fact, we hoped to avoid snow this winter. altogether  However, it looks like many areas of the U.S. (even Florida) are experiencing some unexpected weather.  

We had planned to take a road trip today but decided to postpone it.  Another great benefit of retirement-you can be a lot more flexible.  The project for today has now become sending out our Christmas cards.  I'll give you a sneak peak of our picture below.  We had fun posing for it yesterday when the weather was a lot warmer. 

We spent yesterday morning taking the RV to a local propane dealer for a fill up before more bad weather arrived.  That is an event since the motorcoach has to be driven to the dealer for a fill up.  The huge tank is inside one of the storage areas underneath.  Our little trailer, in the past  was much easier  You only had to take the  small tank.  Our neighbor at the campground spends a lot of time in cold weather and has purchased a large tank that he takes back and forth.  However, our goal is not to be in cold weather very much. 

In the afternoon we shopped and shopped at the mall and I think most of our presents are purchased  Now all we have to do is wrap them and send them on their way.  That is a great feeling. 

We hope you are enjoying the holidays and staying warm.

This greeting card personalized with Smilebox

Turkey in a Trash Can and Other Tales of Fun

This weekend our Good Sam's camping club (Freedom Travelers) came out to our campground for the weekend.  It was our last camp out for the season.  It was a very special occasion and an opportunity  for us to say good bye to all our friends.  We have been a part of this club for about five years and have made many friends.  One of the highlights of this November camp out is to serve Turkey in a Trash Can.  It's definitely a crowd pleaser and lots of fun.  Detailed below are the step by step directions.  Be adventurous and try one this holiday season. 

Turkey In a Trash Can

You will need the following:

• 20 pound turkey (should not be a self basting turkey ..like Butterball)
• 20 pounds of charcoal
• New metal trash can
• Bundt pan
• Foil
• Charcoal chimney
• Thick work gloves
• Small shovel
• Large metal or wood stake. (You will want a long enough stake to suspend the turkey. The turkey should not touch the ground or the top of the can)
• Timer
• Camera
• Lawn chairs
• Beverages

Pre-burn the inside of your trash can before using. It might be helpful to do this prior to the event. This is done to remove the galvanized paint from the inside of the can. Wash it out completely. We keep this trash can and use it each year.

Wash turkey and remove giblets. Salt and pepper to taste. Pre-start some charcoal in a charcoal chimney (or you can pre-start some on a large square of foil)

Place foil on the ground to extend past the trash can. Put Bundt pan in the middle (this is used to collect juices from the turkey). Put stake through the hole in the Bundt pan and drive into the ground. Cover the stake with foil.

Suspend bird on stake. It is quite a sight!

Place can over the bird and put some of the "hot" charcoal on the top and around the sides of trash can. Pour the rest of the charcoal on top and around the sides.

When the charcoal appears to be going well, start your timer. Relax in your lawn chairs and enjoy your beverage for exactly 1 1/2 hours. Do not peek or lift the can off. Beware...the can gets very, very hot!

After 1 1/2 hours remove the charcoal and carefully remove the trash can (use the thick work gloves)

Enjoy! The turkey will be very dark brown and crispy. Inside it will be moist and delicious. Our turkey got a little burnt at the top.  It was due to the stake being too high.  It still tasted so delicious, but better measurement would be recommended.

We had a great pitch in dinner with all our friends.  Over 35 people were able to attend. We have some great cooks in our club. Everything was so delicious!

We are very thankful for all our friends. This special occasion was a great time to celebrate this friendship and count our many blessings.

 

Saying good bye to everyone was difficult.  We plan to return to Indiana in about two years.  In the meantime we hope everyone keeps in touch, or better yet comes to visit with us.  I put together another scrapbook (Smilebox) for our club.  Click on the play button below. 

This free scrapbooking design made with Smilebox

Summer Fun and Canoeing

Last weekend we went on our last camp out with our Good Sam's Club - Freedom Travelers.  We sure had a great time with all our friends. We have been camping with most of these members for many years. At first we had a pop up and then "upgraded"  to our travel trailer and recently  to our motor home.  They have been excited about us going on our full time adventure and have offered lots of advice and encouragement.  

This camp out was held at our favorite local campground-White River (see previous postings for more information). Most of the sites are along the White River and several of our camping friends also love to canoe. John and I love to canoe and have struggled with how to best continue to do this on the road.

Our RV-Dreams friend Howard and Linda offered a great solution.  There is an inflatable kayak called the Sea Eagle that will work out just great.  They demonstrated it @ the Kerrville RV-Dreams Rally.  We purchased one a few weeks ago and wanted to try it out here on it's maiden voyage.  

The kayak, air pump, and paddles conveniently all fit in this bag. This bag could easily fit in one of our bins underneath the coach or in our Jeep.  It sure will be a lot easier to take along than the canoe.  

There is an included  foot pump that will blow it up very quickly.  We used it along with an electric pump that we also owned.

Here it is being  inflated.  It did not take very long to do.  We had practiced this procedure a few days earlier at the campground. 

Ready, set, go!

We were a little nervous at first because this is a kayak and maneuvers differently than  our canoe.  It is much more responsive but also feels more unstable.  It also took us awhile to coordinate the paddling.  I'm not sure we have completely figures all that out yet.  :) But, we managed to stay dry and had a great time. 

Our friends Jerry and Marcia went along with us in our canoe.  They like our canoe so much that they decided to buy it from us.  This is a picture of a trip the next day with Marcia  as my partner. 

Here is a little video that my friend Carol made of us.  We are approaching the boat launch at the campsite.  There was a very good current for this time of year.  If you listen very closely near the end you can hear all the cicadas!. 

I also put together a scrapbook of our camp out.  We will miss camping with them each month but hope our paths will cross often in the future.  Some of the members are talking about coming out to meet us next summer in Colorado.  

Personalize a photo album

Our New Home!!

Check out our soon to be new home!  We are so excited! It was love at first sight We have been researching and looking at motorhomes and fifth wheels for a long time.  Here are some of the reasons why we choise this one.  It was important to us that the motor home be: Used and well maintained  (this motorhome has been meticulosly maintained and stored in garage when not being used) A diesel pusher (highly recommended when traveling fulltime) Rated for fulltime usage by RV Consumer Group (Newmar's are rated for this type of usage) At a price where we could  pay cash and not have any debt (we were able to do this with the sale of our home.  No loan was needed) From a manufacturer that was still in business (Newmar has survived) Cabintry that was light in color (beautiful light oak Amish cabintry throughout) Handle well on the road according to RV Comsumer Group (4.5 stars for this year, make and model) Built to allow for good cargo carrying capacity (has 3000 pounds available) This motorhome has many extras that we were hoping to find such as satellite, solar panels, washer/dryer combo, and a computer desk. The biggest bonus was all the extras the owner has included.  They will no longer be motorhoming and therefore included all the extras needed such water hoses, floor mats,bug shield for the tow car, hitch (two) system.  They were very prepared and have extra light bulbs, belts, touch up paint etc.  This is help us keep our start up costs very low.  We feel very blessed and so happy that Chuck and Karen sold this motorhome to us.  We appreicate and value how well they have taken care of it. Life is Good!

The Greenbrier Hotel and Chef Jen

We visited Jen in August while she was working this summer as a pastry chef for the Greenbrier Hotel and Sporting Club. It is a spectacular five star hotel and was a great expereience for her.

RV-Dreams Rally October 7-12, 2009

We were excited to attend this full-timing RV seminar presented by Howard and Linda Payne . We have been following their blog @ RV-Dreams. com for almost a year. They organized an excellent rally in Kerrville Texas @ the Buchhorn RV Park. Over the next four days they presented nine excellent seminars that included the following topics

• Full-Timing Preparation
  
• What does it cost to full-time
  
• No right way to be a fulltimer
  
• Packing your RV for full-timing
• Buying an RV-Pro's, Con's and Must Have's
  
• Working on the Road
• Solar and Boondocking
• Emotional aspects of full-timing
• Choosing camp grounds and RV parks

Our instructors-Linda and Howard Payne have been fulltiming in a 5th Wheel for 4 years.
It was a great opportunity to meet others who are already fulltiming. Many of them opened up their RV's for tours. There were were many fun activities and some delicious pitch in dinners.



We were very excited to meet Randy and Pam Warner. We have been following their blog and have enjoyed reading about their journeys. The started fulltiming in a Tiffin Allegro Bus about 5 months ago and have an excellent blog called the Roadrunner.
They have found their "purpose" by volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and the Nomads.
They really inspired us and answered so many of our questions.


Buckhorn RV Park was a great location and the facilities for the classes were excellent.



Our friend, Carol Miller (cowboy hat), invited us to stay with her in beautiful Monaco motorhome. This allowed to stay in the campground and near all the activities. We really appreciated her hospitality. Mella and Jim have recently purchased a Excel 5th wheel and will be full-timing soon. They will be spending the winter in New Hampshire in their new rig (brrr)
The conference ended with a Rascal Flatts song "My Wish". The words of the song were so appropriate.

"I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow, and each road leads you where you want to go, and if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose, I hope ou choose the one the means the most to you. "

Make a Smilebox scrapbook