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Full-time RV travels in the United States and Canada
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Aug. 1-15, 2006 Can you believe this heat? It is so hot that I am not taking my morning walks. It never cools down, even during the night. We are used to hot weather in the summer, but this is unreal. St. Clair County is right across the river from us. We are supposed to cool off a bit later this week. A storm came along at dinner time. We didn't see it coming across the river. We had heard a few rumbles of thunder, but thought that it was just a heat storm. It was actually a little storm cell. I had checked Weatherbug, but there was no alerts. We had some real strong wind gust, thunder, lightning and real heavy rain. It didn't last long. I later looked at doppler on Weatherbug and spotted the cell, but there never was an alert. Weird. Today is another super hot day. My boss called. I am not scheduled to work until Tuesday, Aug. 8th downstairs, but he wants me to work tomorrow. I was supposed to be working upstairs for Henny tomorrow and he cleared it with her. Not much of a problem, as he is her employer also. I will work for her on Friday, as scheduled also, and if she needs me for another day, then I will just go in, when I am not working downstairs. I don't have many more days to work this year. If I have it added up right, should be 20 more. I can handle that. There is lots of room in the campground right now. Even some of the seasonals have retreated to their stick homes for the central air conditioning. We are fine. Our coach is well insulated and we have sun screens on the windshield, which really blocks the sun and heat. We have awnings over our small windows also, which is another sun blocker. Everything helps. The leaves are turning over on the trees again. That
usually means it is going to storm. If it does, maybe we will get a
bit of cooler air. The staff at this park and all the other people that
have to work outside in this heat would really appreciate cooler weather, I am
sure, as long as it isn't snow. There are some people who are probably
looking forward to the snow. Just in case you have forgot what it looks
like, I will let you see what we woke up to, one morning in April, 2005 Now do you feel a bit cooler? I do!
It is definitely the hazy, lazy days of August. Aug. 3 - There were terrible thunderstorms, to the north of us. The tornado debate is on also. Was it or wasn't it? It sure has all the characteristics of one? I will leave the was or was not to the professionals. We had a good night. All the bad storms went around us, and this evening the temperature is way down. Quite refreshing. Some people have put their blue jeans on, for their evening stroll around the park. Several units have come into the park for our Canadian Civic long weekend. Do you know that this is the busiest weekend of the whole summer vacation and possibly for the whole year? I worked all day today and am caught up with the accounts again. I even started on tomorrows account, so I guess that I am not too rusty. Tomorrow I go upstairs to work on installing some software and maybe some accounting. Wish me luck. I just looked out our window and it is the first time I have ever seen real dark clouds rushing from north to south. It is usually the other way around. I don't know how fast they are going, but it would be a race to St. Clair Lake which was faster, the freighters or the clouds. We hope that it is cooler this weekend so that we can get back outside to enjoy nature. Saturday Aug. 5, 2006 We received a call this afternoon. We are going to have company. Marg and Gord are coming over. They are going to stay tonight, then the four of us will go and see our cousins Pat and Charlie on Sunday, in Auburn, MI. They arrived mid afternoon. We had a nice chat, then we had a bbq for dinner. Marg had brought a salad and a dozen devilled eggs. We enjoyed them along with the salads and hamburgers we had. Our neighbors for the summer, Ralph and Gloria were on their evening walk and stopped for a chat. We all swapped stories, then Ralph and Gloria took a short cut through no man's land (the space in between the utility post for the lots that back onto each other). Ralph was back within minutes inviting us to their campfire. We took our chairs and wandered over, also through no man's land. With the park being completely full it saved us a walk around the road to their site. Marg and Gord really enjoyed the campfire. It is something that they don't have the chance to experience very often, because they live in an apartment. We returned to the coach after dark. Marg and Gord had not had the opportunity to see our photos of Arizona and Texas yet, so I showed them some of the best. It doesn't take long to become overloaded with the scenery, and we wanted to leave early in the morning, so we called it a night. Sunday morning Marg and Gord were up and gone for there shower before we were really awake. I made a quick breakfast-Doug and Gord had eggs and chopped sirlion steak (we had cooked them the steak the night before, just had to re-heat today) and Marg and I had oatmeal. I am on an oatmeal kick right now and Marg likes having oatmeal every morning. We finished breakfast and coffee and were on our way to Michigan by 7:30 a.m. We crossed the border right around 8 a.m. into Port Huron, Michigan. Doug and I had found a short cut to Pat's last time we were coming back from Pat and Charlies house. We took I69 to SR15 north to SR57 west to 75 north. We save 30 minutes driving time by going this route and there is very little traffic on these roads. We drive slower, see nicer scenery and still save 30 minutes of driving. Can't get better then that. Sometimes everyone gets so stuck on getting there (no matter where "there" is) that we miss all the good stuff in-between. We like staying on the interstates when we are driving the coach and pulling the car, but today we were in the car and could pick any route that we wanted too. This was the route that we wanted to take today. I was driving and we didn't need anyone to watch the map. I knew the route well by now. Doug, Marg and Gord all enjoyed looking at everything, as we sped along to Pat and Charlies house. We arrived before 11 a.m. We had a real nice visit. Marg and Gord were happy to see Pat and Charlie again and visa versa. Soon it was time to leave. Pat and Charlie's daughter had bought a house since we were there last time, so we followed Pat and Charlie to Wendy's new home. We didn't stay long, but did get to see Wendy and her family again and to see their new home. We hope that they are very happy with it. They have wanted a home of their own for a long time, and we are happy that they are now home owners instead of tenants. After we said our goodbyes to everyone we went to the Northwest store again. Gord had never been there before, so Marg was looking forward to showing Gord around. We wanted to look for some rain spouts for our coach. Half an hour later, Gord had a new fishing pole, reel, line and some hooks, Doug had some waterspouts and we were back on the road from Pinconning to Bay City. Next stop Ponderosa Steak House and lunch. We had the seniors lunch buffet, everyone ate more then we should have. It was good. We always have a good meal at this Ponderosa. Now we have a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive and all I want to do is have an afternoon nap. Can't do that because I am still the designated driver. We came close to taking the same route home. I-75 south to SR57 east. Then we went south on Irish Road. This brought us to the entrance to our favorite park in our membership system-Lakeshore. We decided to take Gord and Marg for a tour of the park. We were amazed at how much work the park has done since we were here in the spring. They have paved the main roads, put in several chalets, are working on constructing hundreds of new sites. This park is awesome. It is very well taken care of and the owner's of the park keeps upgrading it. What a jewel. We were back on Irish Road and connecting up to I-69 east within a half hour of entering the park. We didn't have time to stay longer today. We wanted to, though. Less then an hour later we were at the Port Huron/Sarnia border crossing. We paid our toll, crossed the Bluewater Bridge and were at Canadian Customs. We declared the waterspouts, the fishing gear and the baked apple pie that Pat had given us. The customs officer asked how long we had been over, then said we could be on our way. We took Front Street to London Road, Vidal and then the Bluewater Parkway. We enjoyed a drive along the river back to our campground. The park is still packed with people and their weekend cabins on wheels. We came on down to our site, pulled in, opened the trunk to remove the fishing gear and apple pie, looked up and our nephew his wife and adoptive mother were all here in the van. What a nice surprise. They had packed a picnic lunch and came to the river for the day. We were very happy to see them. They parked the van and then we all had a good chat, while enjoying everyone's company. I should have taken some pictures, but I was quite tired by this point (drove around 500 miles today), so I didn't get the camera out. Should have though. It was getting well on in the afternoon, so they decided it was time to get home. They had about a 45 minute drive home. Soon after Marg and Gord began loading their van with the bicycle I had given Gord and their luggage, pillows etc. Just before dark they also left to go back to town. They told us several time how much they had enjoyed the mini vacation and trip to Michigan. We had enjoyed their company and the day trip to visit our cousins also. August 7th is our anniversary for being full-timers and land homeless. Today we have been fulltime RV'ers for two years. The sale of our stick house closed two years ago today. We are looking forward to many more anniversaries on the road. I have been working for months on this website and still have several months of travel adventures to add. I am going to publish it today anyway, because this is our second anniversary. I will add the rest of the journals and photos and other info, as soon as possible. I work this Tuesday through Friday again, then I won't be working at a normal job again until September, part-time. We hope that you enjoy our adventures as much as we do. This site will be growing in leaps and bounds over the next month or so. August 8th: Today is another work day. It is a one hour drive to work, 8 hours of work and one hour back. Makes for a long day when I am not used to it this. I am enjoying being back in the office, but I don't think that I would enjoy having a full time job again. It is to much like work. I wanted to get this web published for our second anniversary. I am sure I have some broken links. I have tested them several times, but I keep missing some. I hope that if you read this and have come across a broken link, that you will let me know at info@cruising-in-our-rv.com. I really would appreciate it. My husband's eyes are not the greatest for reading, plus he doesn't like my computer, so I can't talk him into proof reading for me. I keep working on him though, hoping that he will. I won't hold my breath though. He will do a lot of stuff for me, but I don't think this will ever be one of them. lol. August 9th: Another work day finished. Looks like I will be working a few more days then expected. I am working Monday, Tuesday and Friday next week and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the week after. This is really cutting into my play time. Oh well! I will have all winter to play and some extra mad money to pay for my play. I have lots of photos to add, just have to find the time to add them. I am also trying to figure out how to add a link to my site from my Kodak gallery. If anyone knows how to do it I would really appreciate you letting me know. Starting August 16th, I am going to start putting the latest post at the top of the page. I am working on making this site as user friendly as possible. My tea is getting cold, so I guess it is time to post this for today. August 10th The month is flying by. The mornings are much cooler this week. Tonight feels like fall. Less then a month to September. Less then two months and we will be back on the road, with lots of new stuff to see. The most exciting thing I saw today is a big off-shore racing boat tearing up and back down the St. Clair river. He was moving so fast that there is no way I could get a picture of him. That is something I would like to try. Don't thing that I will ever have the opportunity to do it though. I am on the work day count-down again. I don't think that a full-time job is in my near future. It is to much like work and not enough play. Makes me realize how happy we are as full-timers. Doug is working on maintenance stuff on the coach while I work. He took the sun screens off of the windshield so that he could clean & wax the front of the coach. We don't want bugs sticking to it, they seem to grind right into the gelcoat. We experienced that last summer on our trip to Saskatchewan.
We don't want this to happen again. The butterflies were hard enough to get off the grill, but the spots on the white area were even harder. We can still see where they were. The park is really quiet this week. Very few people here. In another couple of months it will just be a few abandoned trailers until their owners come back next summer. We are both looking forward to be moving again. It is a nice place for the summer, but by this time we are ready for a change of scenery. Aug. 11:- Another long day finished at the office. Now I have to get caught up on all the things I haven't had time to do all week. When did I ever have time to work and have a life before? T.G.I.F. Aug. 12th we were up early. I haven't been able to take my normal morning walk. Joan and I had agreed that we would meet at 7:30 a.m. and go for our morning walk. The first one in several days. We were back by 8:30. We had made arrangements to go down to our son Jody's place today. We were there around 10 a.m. We had a nice visit and came back into Chatham. We went to Wal*Mart for a few items. We were back at the river by 1:30 p.m. Our front furnace was making strange noises last winter. We put a new motor in it, at Benson, Arizona. It was still not right. We have been working on a solution every since. We bought a new fan cage for it, when we were in Kalamazoo, MI a couple of weeks ago. Doug replaced the fan cage one day this week, while I was at work. Now the furnace won't fire. Can't be anything very serious, but we decided to solve the problem before it gets cold. There is already a cool nip in the air at night. Neighbor Fred came along and said his brother-in-law might be able to help. He brought Rob back and between the three of them, they solved the problem. Doug had reversed the two wires on the sail switch which completes the circuit to open the propane valve. Another item has been marked off the "When I get around to it" list. Doug doesn't have a "Honey Do List", and has never had one. It is more of a case of I mention something to him that needs his attention and he mentally puts it on his "When I get around to it" list. Seems to work well for us. After the hard work was finished we went over and visited with Ralph and Gloria. We had a nice chat, came back and ate dinner. I wanted to get more work completed on this site, but I needed some time away from it. I am having problems with a couple of links. Usually if I just leave something, and come back to it the next day, I will be able to solve the problems. Tomorrow I will know if it works this time. Aug. 13th:- What a beautiful day. There was a real nip of fall in the air this morning, but warmed up nicely. Many people are taking advantage of the beautiful day. The Branton Park parking lot is full of vehicles, and people are enjoying the day park for various activities from fishing to boat watching. Doug washed the awning and windshield. Both were long past due. He also washed the car. Lots of energy today. His new doctor has put him on another medication to help control his diabetes. His numbers are way down and his energy level is way up. This makes both of us happy. I went back to work on my hyperlinks and was able to solve the problem-I hope 8), fingers and toes are crossed. I like solving problems, but this one was driving me to distraction - why couldn't I get it to work? It all came back to one "/" I don't know why, but every time I saved, even though the hyper link had the required "//" it would revert to "/" and broke the link. Amazing really. I am going to post this now to see if I have solved the problem. It worked, but meanwhile Doug and I went to Moe's Icecream in Sombra, for an icecream cone. That sure helped to soothe my jagged nerves, but didn't do a thing for my waste line. Sometime you have to just do what you have to do. LOL Where is my camera when I could use it? At home in the coach, darn! There was two huge freighters passing each other in the river. The river is shallow, so they have to make sure they both stay in the channel. It was close, but they passed safely and were each on their way in separate directions. One north, one south. There was also a sailboat going south and it disappeared into the shadow of the freighter heading north. We finished our cones and our close-up view of the river activities. It is always a busy river. It is well nick-named The Blue Water Highway. Sunday came to a beautiful close with a gorgeous red sunset. Aug. 14th Summer is nearly gone. It feels like it just started, but we are just weeks away from turning into snowbirds again. We have some reservations made and will be making the next one tonight. Today was another work day. It passed quickly with little of interest to mark its passing. Not many more days left to work. I might just make it. Doug didn't go into Chatham with me. He stayed and continued to work on the coach, making it shipshape for our southern cruise. Looks like it is going to be another beautiful sunset. There are enough clouds to make a nice one. Tomorrow is another day and the last day of posting in the opposite direction. Starting Wednesday the latest post will be at the top. I will be posting photos to this page when I have more time to do it. It was a beautiful sunset tonight, and I would like to share it with you. Awesome!
Aug. 15 One more day to work this week. It is strange how everything seems to turn around that (blank, blank, Blank) four letter word "work". Not many more of them this year. I have more photos to add for this part of the month, so will wait until tomorrow and do it right.
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I
don't think we will be doing much outside again. We will both stay in
where it is cool, and easier to breathe. Right now it is like trying to
breath through a wet, wool sock.
