22 days to go

We have come to the conclusion that surgery here will not happen, it'll take a month just to get to a surgeon much less to surgery and then the recovery time will put us past the closing date here. Last weekend was a work one for us so Dave got the paperwork for his leave and will be sending it in in the next day or two, with the vacation time he has left looks like we'll be leaving here on 9/23. We have plotted a slow course to IL by way of state campgrounds the whole way, most only have electric, since we'll be moving every couple of days that won't matter, we have reservations at Lake Shelbyville for a week, it is a COE park with full hookups. Reservations are needed for about 10 or so sites, only 3 were left and since I wanted to be guaranteed a spot and it would be over Columbus Day weekend we went ahead and made reservations.  We'll probably take a walk in spot when we get there when we arrive on a Tuesday, but since this is a family visit I didn't want to take any chances.15 days and 1400 miles, the  Finger Lakes, Lake Erie, some Ohio state parks, an Indiana state park then arriving in IL on 10/8 where we'll spend a week. After that we have our longest travel day up to WI to camp with our friends, then on to CO, AZ and Corpus Christi by 12/16 (5400 miles) for a 6 week stay.

Lately our days are either filled with work (Dave) or getting ready to leave. Last weekend was a very slow one here-probably the slowest since Memorial Day, with all the kids going back to school I think folks were focused on other things. This weekend though is going to be crazy, all but one site is filled and we've kept that one site empty on purpose, you never know what might happen. Friday we are going to a dinner with the seasonals, since some are leaving this weekend we all wanted to get together one last time. Saturday we have our friends from Huntington, I'm sure by the time they leave my sides will be hurting from laughing-always happens when we get together. We gave the task of coming up with headstone names, for the Halloween celebration here, to our friend Les. He had us laughing away with the names he has come up with, quite a  list and it will be hard to choose from them. After the weekend we'll start going through and getting stuff ready to travel :) sure looking forward to hitting the road.

I'll be glad to get away, then the buying will slow down, trying to get everything the last few months that we didn't have already has been a bit expensive but necessary. We gave up satellite radio so getting the i-pod and i-phone set up to play in the trucks, figuring out the best way to communicate while in separate vehicles has been a challenge.  I've set up the Ridgeline with a Jabra Cruiser 2 so I have hands free for my I-phone and access to our music files.  Dave doesn't know it yet but I've gotten him a Jabra Talk to use in the GMC along with the i-pod he'll have access to our music also.  I think trying to hold walkie talkies and drive would be crazy, now to just get Dave on the same page. This lifestyle change is requiring us learning tech stuff we never thought we'd use, I remember some of our other cars coming bluetooth ready and never using it. Once I get used to the bluetooth I'm sure I'll kick myself for never having used it before.

Thursday we had another micro burst rainstorm settle over the campground for a good half hour, rivers were running down the road, with in minutes lots of  sediment and rocks had settled over the storm drains, Soon thereafter the rain left and the sun came out and campers started coming in.  We had  Shelli and George and some of their kids come in for an overnight stay, they are a full time family so after dinner we took a walk around and spent some time talking with them. They are in the area for a family reunion so were heading off to boondock at the reunion site on Friday morning, their home base is Mesa AZ so we have made plans to try and catch up for a longer visit when we are in Phoneix. They don't blog but do have a website where the right about some of the places they've visited.

Friday the parade of campers started, some of us sat around and watched our quiet empty campground get filled up with weekend warriors. Of course there are the returning campers we've gotten to know so we had to take a walk and visit with them. We have been working with Lori and Mat and their dog Abigael, last time they were here Abigael wasn't quiet ready to be Dave's best friend, if he wasn't looking she would finally take a treat from him then run back to her mom. Last night she heard us coming up the road, her tail was wagging just as fast as it could and as soon as Dave got there she was ready for a treat and a pet from him, that just made his weekend.

Our personal cards came in the mail this week so at our goodbye seasonal dinner Friday night I handed them out to all of our neighbors, hopefully they'll let us know their out there if they check out the blog. We had a great dinner of  fresh corn on the cob, pasta salad, fresh cucumbers from the garden, smoked chicken and strawberry shortcake.It has been fun getting to know all of them and look forward to spending the summer with them again next year.

                    Earl if you're going to stick your tongue out when I take a picture it will get posted. Where was the camera though when Brent was eating the dog biscuit.                                                                                                                       

Once again the weather man has played a trick on us, our beautiful weekend has turned into a cloudy and at times rainy weekend, reminiscent of Memorial Day, thankfully though no snow. Our friends Les and Deb came out early Saturday for a great visit. Unfortunately our friend Mike got called into work as he and Carol were on their way here. Mike works for the hospital as one of the top guys in the maintenance department and will lots of times be on call. Seems some pipes decided to burst and he was needed, we really did miss seeing them but they were also bringing the Switchback Roasted Red. Dave hopes to save a few bottles of it to share with our son David when we make it to AZ for Thanksgiving, think we just need to hide them and forget about them for awhile. While we were sad they couldn't make it we enjoyed our time with Les and Deb very much, we've know them since 1995 and have so many shared memories. Les is retiring soon, they will be putting their house up for sale next year, when it sells they will decide what they want to do and where they want to go. It shall be interesting to see where they are when we get back next year. After a dinner of smoked beef and pork ribs, mac salad, baked beans and the never ending supply we seem to have of corn on the cob, we decided to enjoy a game of spades. Over the years we have played numerous games the girls vs the boys, we always sit at the same place since Dave loves to mess with Deb's head as she goes just before him. Well last night he couldn't mess with her too much, the cards went in our favor and for that night we played well, Deb and I do have a habit of underbidding. 

Thank you to all who take the time to read my ramblings, I know it's our journal of our time here but soon it we will be out and touring places we've not seen before. Most nights when as I go to sleep it's hard to believe that we are about to head off on this great adventure, some one asked me what I was feeling these days. There is the thought can we really pull this off and the what if (fill in the blank) happens but then there is the flip side, if we can pull this off how much richer our lives will be and so what if (fill in the blank) happens we'll deal with it. So the butterflies abound as I go to sleep at night and we look forward to the next chapter. 

22 days to go!!!!! :)

And Dave knows about the bluetooth,

Until next time...