Happy New Year

I'm a week late wishing all of you Happy New Year but better late than never, right?

We have spent the whole week at Independence RV here in Orlando. We had a roof leak and the ceiling panels were failing because of the leak, so we brought the motorhome here to see if they could fix it. After talking with the factory and discovering it was a design flaw, our service tech designed a solution and it's working! It's nice to find a service center that is honest, willing to work with us and able to do the work. We have not found that before now. Since the work is in the front of the coach, the kitties spend the day in the bedroom and that's a lot better than having to cage them up and put them in the car. The back lot of the dealership isn't a great park, but we have electricity and water so we spend every night in our home.

We wanted to stay and see the shuttle lauch but they have pushed it back to the end of February so I think we will get back on the road. We'll go to Tampa next week for a huge RV show and then probably start heading west on I-10.  Stay in touch and I'll let you know where we are!

Christmas in Florida

It's been a very different December for us and I am finally ready to spend some time writing this note. We moved back to the Orlando area December 14th and will remain in the area for a while yet. Ken wants to see the shuttle launch scheduled for February 3rd. We'll explore more of Florida but we'll do it by car.

Christmas was good. I got all the decorations out once we got back to Orlando and made our home very festive. Kristin flew from England and spent 4 days with us so that made it extra-special. The weather turned very cold (for Florida) so Ken and I gave each other an electric blanket for Christmas!! Global warming!

On Christmas day, we met the family at a local hotel for their Christmas buffet. It was a wonderful meal, a great time of talking and laughing and just being with family. Ken's mom and brother drove from Largo (by Tampa) and Ken's niece and family came from Jacksonville so there were 12 of us all together. No fire broke out (thankfully) and it was just a great day to be together.

We look forward to continuing this journey in the New Year and hope all of you have a blessed year.

Ken & Mary Jo

December in Florida, Part 1

After our exciting Thanksgiving I thought life would be boring, but these two weeks have been anything but!! We were able to visit Epcot at a reduced rate and got fantastic seats for the Candle Light Processional! It was Christ-centered and the music was inspiring!

From Orlando, we drove over to Largo to see Ken's mom and brother and then down the west coast to the Everglades. The airboat ride was fun and some pelicans joined us! We saw manatees and an alligator and lots of birds. Florida weather is on the chilly side so we haven't been in the water but it's beautiful just the same.

We drove halfway down the Keys with the motor home and stopped in Marathon for 2 nights and drove to Key West in the car. Again, it was cold (low 60's) so we didn't do much other than drive around. Since Ken had his picture taken at the farthest northeastern point in the US, I decided he needed to take my picture at the southmost point!

From the Keys we drove up to Ft. Lauderdale and from there we toured the Miami/Miami Beach/Ft. Lauderdale area along the coast. It was a little warmer (low 70's) and we had fun at least walking on the sand and looking at the sights.

We're in the middle of Florida now and will explore Sarasota and St. Petersburg tomorrow. We will also visit a couple we met in Indiana last September who are spending the winter in Holmes Beach! We'll go back to Orlando on Tuesday and spend the holidays with Ken's family. Hopefully no fires this time! Kristin will come from England so that will make the holidays extra special!

May your holidays be the best yet!

Thanksgiving Day

We hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. Our day started out okay traveling to Jacksonville but it sure got exciting. As we were putting the final touches on our meal the kid upstairs came down and said his condo was on fire (he was home alone). Ken's niece called 911, I helped Ken's mom outside and everyone else started taking jewelry, clothes, shoes, computers and important papers out the door. About 20 fire trucks responded plus a tanker truck, an ambulance and a ladder truck.

The policemen were very nice and when they kept telling us to move, they offered to take Ken's mom in their car because she couldn't walk very well. And what shows up on the news that night, but pictures of us getting into the police car!!

They were able to confine the fire to the upstairs condo with hardly any damage to our family's condo! After 3 hours, the fireman allowed us to go back into the condo and retrieve our food and a friend allowed us to use her condo. So after all of that, we had dinner as a family and were very thankful!

This is definitely one of the holidays we will never forget!

R & R

We had 10 glorious days resting & relaxing at my brother's house. We parked the motor home in his driveway and had all the comforts of our home and also enjoyed their home! It was a perfect way to catch our breath! Thanks John & Janis for everything! While we were there, we celebrated our birthday (both of us on 11/12) by going to a dinner theatre! A good night of laughs. We were sad to leave but we're on our way south to see more family so that made it easier to leave.

 

From Thomson, GA (outside of Augusta) we went to Savannah, GA for the night. We viewed the city and even drove to Hilton Head, SC just because we could! It was a great afternoon exploring old Savannah and then seeing the development at Hilton Head. Two different worlds but so close together! I loved Savannah with its history and squares every few blocks. It was made even better by all the Spanish Moss!

Now we're in Jacksonville, FL and off to Orlando for two weeks. We will see my two nephews and their families while they are vacationing at DisneyWorld and then spend Thanksgiving with Ken's extended family. We're looking forward to seeing everyone.

We've been counting the states we've visited and we're up to #30! We hope you've enjoyed "traveling" with us!

We Continue Our Travels!

We finished the Blue Ridge Parkway by traveling to Grandfather Mountain and walking across the mile high bridge. We were amazed at the difference in the fall colors. Just 3 days after leaving the Parkway, there were no leaves or fall colors on the Parkway!!

On Tuesday, we went and toured Biltmore. What a beautiful home and they were decorating for Christmas as we toured the estate. Since we won't have a Christmas tree in the motor home, viewing 52 trees in Biltmore helped me fill that void (I don't think Ken cares)!

From Asheville, NC we drove to Chattanooga, TN and toured a Civil War battlefield, Lookout Mountain, Rock City, Ruby Falls and the Incline Railway! While we were there, it hailed and temperatures at night got down in the low 30's! Brrrrr!

Now we're in Atlanta in a campground on the backside of Stone Mountain. Ken lived in Smyrna in the late 50's so we're walking down memory lane again. Of course a lot has changed, but it's always nice to see old stomping grounds. From here we go to my brother's house and we'll be there for a week. We feel the need to just go some place and "sit".  See you again!

Blue Ridge Parkway

What a week. We left the Chesapeake Bay area after visiting Williamsburg and headed across Virginia, through Richmond and Lynchburg for the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a beautiful drive and you are literally on the ridge because at some points you can see down both sides of the road into two different valleys! The fall colors were at their peak and the sky was crisp blue! There are campgrounds on the Parkway so we camped two nights without having to leave the Parkway. The scenery was beautiful but there were some
downsides. There were no utilities in the park and we could only use the generator from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. It was cold both nights so we were very glad when 8 a.m. rolled around and we could turn on the heater. Cell service and internet service were non-existent up on the Ridge, so we felt very cut off from the world. It was quite an experience.

On the positive side, it was a great drive. It was also interesting to learn about life in the Appalachian area. We started the drive on Wednesday and left the mountains on Friday because the traffic increased on the Parkway and Ken didn't think we should continue in the motorhome. We found an RV park in Lenoir, NC and had a wonderful weekend. The park had lots of activities for Halloween weekend and there were 300+ kids in the park for trick-or-treat. It was so much fun to participate.

We're in Asheville, NC now and will head to Chattanooga on Thursday. See you next time.