Charlottesville

On Monday we made our first trip into Charlottesville.  We needed to run a few errands.  We took a different route than one we drove into the campground. 

The road to Route 29 looks like this:

We thought we had figured out where the stores were that we wanted.  Wrong!  We must have drove up and down a certain section of 29 several times before we finally stopped and looked it up on my phone.  Duh!  We were just a few miles away.  I can say though that we made it by the speed gun at least 3 times.  I think the sheriff decided to move just so he wouldn't have to see us go by again.  Ha Ha!

We stopped at Wild Birds Unlimited to pick up some seed cylinders and Lowe's for a geranium and some small rock for our flag bucket.  I dumped out the bucket before leaving Springfield.  Looked like spiders and small insects were in the rocks.  Didn't want to take a chance.

Here's a pic of the flag bucket and geranium.

The bird feeding station looks great.

Just heard from Ashley.  They have decided that we will work 4 hours a day Saturday through Wednesday from 11 - 3 or noon - 4pm.  We decided that Sharon will work on Saturday and Monday and I will work on Sunday and Tuesday.  We'll switch off every other Wednesday.  So far it doesn't look like it will be too tough of work.  We will be in the office selling store items, taking reservations and registering guests as they arrive.  The weekend of May 15 is UVA graduation weekend and we are full in the campground.

The campground is small so for my next post I'll try and provide some pics of the campground.  May be posting a little more since won't be working quite as much. 

Life is good!

On The Road Again

I thought I would start writing again.  Hopefully, a little more often.   We are having some internet issues in this remote location so trying different things at different times to stay connected.  Emails and texts are going well.  Phone calls - we think we have it figured out but then . . . .

The KOA wifi works fairly well so we'll give this a try.

It was very hard leaving Springfield.  We have made some very good friends there.  We realized that we had been there for more than 3 1/2 years.  We started full-timing 6 years ago.  More than 1/2 of this time has been spent there. 

We left late morning on Thursday, April 16.  We were hoping to get an earlier start but the weather didn't cooperate very well.  There was rain several days for the week before we left and usually on our days off.    We did get all of the maintenance work done on the camper and quite a bit cleaned out inside as well as storage.  We still have a lot of stuff.

We arrived in Adel, IA later that day without mishap.  On Friday, we delivered the marble table to my sister, Marcia and did a little shopping.  Also ate at the Machine Shed.  We tried to get some more of the Vidalia onion mustard relish but the orchard was sold out.  Boo Hoo!!  This is our favorite on brats.   Saturday night we spent celebrating with my sister Pam for her 40th wedding anniversary at the Chicago Speakeasy.  All of her kids and grandkids as well as my siblings attended the dinner.  We had a great time.  Sunday the family got together at Marcia's for a BBQ.  We celebrated Steve's birthday (Marcia's husband), Michelle's engagement and Matt finishing school and getting his plumber license.  The rain held off until later that afternoon. 

We stayed over an extra day.  Saturday night, the truck sent us a message stating it needed a fuel filter change.  So, we called Monday morning and got it changed.  Fueled up and got ready to head out on Tuesday. 

Tuesday night we stayed on the east side of Peoria at a campground in Carlock, Illinois.  Travel still going well.  The next night we were near Dayton, Ohio at the KOA in Brookville, Ohio.  KOA gave us travel vouchers to stay free at KOAs so we tried to route them on this trip.  Thursday night found us in Milton, WV at a KOA there.  To say the least we were getting nervous.  The trip is going real well up to this point.  We knew the next day we would be driving through the mountains.

I talked to my brother-in-law, John, about towing through these mountains.  He was a truck driver that drove this route several times.  It gave us some really good pointers.  It went well but it was very tiring.  I think the scariest time was the 7% downhill grade that seemed to go on for miles and miles.  There was also a sign along the highway that said the truck run away lane was closed.   We figured that would just be our luck.  But we did handle the braking going down hill well.  The brakes didn't burn up nor did the truck overheat so we figured we did well for our first trip.

We arrived at the Charlottesville KOA Friday afternoon.  We didn't have to back-in to the site.  They built 3 new sites and made them pull through also satellite works at this site.  There's trees all around us but an open sky right where we are parked.  Do you think we're spoiled before we even start working. 

The couple seem to be really nice.  We've talked some.  They're both 29 years old.  Ashley and Dane have 2 children:  Charlie - 2 yrs old and Edmond - 6 mos in May.  We're meeting with them on Tuesday to discuss working here.

So far so good and the scenery is gorgeous.  If this works, we'll start taking pictures and posting more.

July

It has definitely been an interesting month so far.  We have made some hard and interesting decisions lately.

This past week we have determined that we will not be participating in the Iowa State Fair.  This would have been our 15th year but with our several aches and pains we made the decision not to volunteer.  This was a very hard decision to make for us.  We love the fair.  We talked it over with Scott & Diane to be sure it was ok for us to stay the month of August.  It worked out well for them, also. 


We have been looking for a different position the last few weeks for the summer of 2015.  We submitted our resume to a few campgrounds and we were contacted by a couple.  It was kind of nice having people contact us to work for them.  We accepted a position in Charlottesville, VA at the KOA there.  We will start on May 1, 2015.  In case you're interested here's their web address:   http://koa.com/campgrounds/charlottesville/ .    They are a young couple that have had the campground for about 10 years.  I believe her parents had it earlier.  They are looking for a couple of people to work in the store and registration only and for 20 - 30 hours per week.  We've never been to this area before so we're excited.

That's our big news for the month. 

Yesterday, we were woken up around 7am.  One of the work camping people called us to tell us that there were several policeman with guns near our camper.  Then, we heard the bull horn calling to one of our campers to step outside, they wanted to talk.  Yes, I opened the blinds and took a picture.

 

 



 So I'm sitting here at the kitchen table sipping coffee and watching them.  The person wasn't home so they finally left.

Last week we made a quick run up to Madison, SD so I could renew my license.  Long drive but it definitely showed us that we're not up to much these days.  Sharon messed up her back and I messed up my knee a little more.  But with a little TLC, we'll back in a few weeks. 

My birthday is coming up on Thursday so Scott & Diane are taking us out to eat to a local steak house.  And, of course, their dog, Petey, will sing happy birthday to me.  I'll try and record it so that you all can enjoy at a later date. 

Until next time.

It's Still June

Wow.  Can't believe how HOT it has been the last few days.  And just a few months back we were wishing for sun and some warmer weather.

Remember those days when we used to shop til we dropped.  Well, we sort of missed those times so we decided that we haven't done much unnecessary shopping in awhile.  It was very hot out.  So, we spent the morning shopping online.  And we had fun.

Let's see first thing bought were different levelers for the camper.  Sharon saw them in an RV video so we went in search of them.   They're pretty cool.  Figure we will try them out for the first time when we go to DM in August.

Next we bought a book.  While buying the book, looked over the Kindle on Amazon.  Trying to decide between the Kindle and the iPad.   Not sure we actually need the iPad.  I know not sure we actually need either one but you know us.  :)

Did some grocery ordering for the store. 

Bought some battery operated grass shears with extension handle.  We like to keep the grass around our place down and prefer to do it ourselves.  Have had a few hoses cut by weed eaters used by the grounds crew.  And it's been hard on the back.  So found a German made pair with extension handle.  A little pricey but cuts the time to less than half and easy on the back.  Love it.

Oh, yeah, the mice.  Apparently they are gone.  Sharon caught (yes, I do mean Sharon - I'm not getting anywhere near those things) caught one adult and 4 young'uns.  Only one was inside our living area.  The others were in the storage area underneath.  As soon as it cools down a little, we'll empty out the storage area, clean it and repack everything.  Need to do this before heading north.

Last few days have been applying for jobs next summer.  So far we've heard back from Charlottesville, VA.  We received an email from Harrisonville, VA to see if we may be interested in going there.  Not sure we'd be a good fit - so still emailing.

Have been finalizing our volunteer work with the State Fair.  It's so nice to be able to do everything online.

Sandy needs to renew her drivers license this year.  So trying to get that figured out. 

Last weekend had a VW Rally here.  Haven't uploaded the pictures we took, so maybe the next post.

Until next time.

It's June

Wow, can't believe it's been since the end of August since I've written.   I could have written aobut the following:

1. The beautiful fall.
2. Christmas with the families
3. The coldest, snowiest winter ever in Springfield. 
4. Water pipes froze a few times.  Froze but did not break. 
5. Spring flowers

But here it is in June, so you'll just have to imagine all that I would have written.   I'll start fresh.
We are doing well.  A few more aches and pains.  Seems like the high pollen count with the humidity gets to us on some days but still overall - we are well.

The tulips, daffodils and irises have all passed.  But the lilies and the hanging pots are doing well.

Memorial Weekend has passed.  There was a National Street Rodders show in Springfield.  We had several staying with us that weekend.  A couple of my favorites

This coming weekend is the local VW chapter rally.  They're going to have it here at the campground for the first time.  They're estimating around 300 cars/vans/etc.  One stopped by to see us earlier.

We've started receiving our state fair volunteer information.  Getting excited about heading up to Iowa in August.  This will probably be our last year for a few to volunteer.  It will be our 15th year. 

If it would stop raining we may get to enjoy the outdoors again.  Hopefully it won't be another 9 months before I write again. 

In the next one, I will hopefully be able to tell you that we do NOT have any more mice in the camper.  Such a story there.

Until the next time.  :) 

End of August

Still trying to catch up from this past summer before talking about Fall.  The last weekend in August we were fortunate to visit with both our families.  Sharon's brother, Kevin and nephew, Lyle participated in the Warrior Run (I think that's the name of it).  It was about 5 miles from the campground we were staying at.  We were going to go watch them but Kevin called and said there wasn't a good viewing area and the terrain was awful for walking.  So, we visited with Connie (Sharon' sister-in-law), Donna (Sharon's sister) and Arlyn (Sharon's brother-in-law) until they were done.  They took quick showers (at the campground) then we went out to eat.  Again, did I think about the camera, NO.  I'm getting very bad lately.

We ate at Jethros, which is a BBQ and Jambalaya restaurant.  Sharon was going to have gumbo but it had spicy sausage in it.  So, she'll just have to wait until we go back to Mississippi for true gumbo and crawdads.

On Sunday, I had a reunion with my siblings.  We met with Sharon's family on Saturday.  Sharon took her camera on Sunday so we did get a couple of pictures.

Some of Marcia's family in this picture.  Her son, Mike, husband, Steve, daughter, Michelle and son, Matt.

Two of Pam's daughters made it, Samantha and Mykie.  In this picture is Jeremy (Sam's husband), Sam, Jersey and Mykie.

 

 

 

Here's Pam with granddaughter, Raegan.

 

 

 

 



And here are my siblings, Marcia, Ron and Pam.  Also in the picture is Marcia's husband, Steve.  If they see this picture, I'm gonna get it.  Makes me wonder if they read these posts.  Ha Ha

The next two days, we took off.  Didn't do anything but lay around the camper, watch tv and read.  It was so much fun.  Later in the week, got new tires on the truck and camper.  Did laundry before the trip back and just got everything ready to head back to Springfield. 

The month of August flew by but we had a great time.

Last Day of the Fair

Thought I'd be done talking about the fair.  NOT!  The last day for us is a sweet/sad time.  We're glad we're to the last day - usually tired but so sorry the fair is over.

We get up early - yes - I'm up and out the door before 8am.  We have breakfast on the fairgrounds then we take in the things we haven't seen or want to revisit.  We have until 1pm when we go back to the volunteer office and start "tearing" down the info and getting ready for next year.

So, this morning we had breakfast at Cindy's Place.  It's kind of nice.  The girls come to the tables (only at breakfast) to see what we want.  Sharon had scrambled eggs/toast.  I had French toast and bacon.  Then we caught the tram up the hill.  Stopped in at Pioneer Hall to watch a fiddling group.  Then we started our walk downhill.  Took in part of the civil war reenactment.  At the time we got there, they were talking about the clothing of the time.

It's been awhile since we saw the chain saw carver so we watched him finish up some of the last pieces.  The auction would be that afternoon.

Then we received a request from Connie to see if we could pick up a duffel bag Kevin saw at the fair.  So that meant we needed to go into the Shoppers Mart.  Definitely not a waste of time.  Bought a couple of new pillows - we did need them.  Getting headaches, etc.  Didn't buy any knives this time.

Had dinner at the Pork Producers.  We both had coupons for a free dinner.  Really didn't want them to go to waste, now did we.

Now, it's off to work to finish out this year's fair.  Got home around 9pm.  The next few days would be finishing the scheduling for next year's fair.  Having dinner with Paula and Ernie at their new Event Barn - forgot to take the camera.  It's truly amazing.  August is almost over.