The Big Game

Every so often this phenomenon rolls around; today it’s 10-10-10.  Okay, so what does that have to do with anything.  Absolutely nothing, but I just thought I would mention it.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, here we are at Sports side with another crucial game about to begin.  Today the Nationals take on the Raptors.  The Nationals are 10 and 0 and are looking to hold on to their perfect season.  Most sports commentators attribute this record to the National’s all American player Catia Patterson (pronounced Ka-tia).  There she is now, in all her splendor.”

“Catia Patterson is taking the field starting the game in the defensive position.  I tell ya, Ladies and Gentlemen, your in for an exciting game.  Just watching this girl play is a real treat.  You’ll not want to miss a minute of this game.”

“While we’re at it, we need to mention that her brother, Radek, is at the game today to cheer her on.  We should also mention that he’s an international hockey star.”

“And her little sister, Kalina, is here as well.  But we’re not sure about her future intentions; she seems more like the uninterested sports by stander.”

“Anyway, it’s back to the action.  Good defensive move Catia!” 

“Oh my goodness, the game is half over.  We can’t help but wonder what this star athlete has in store for us in the second half.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, they have suited her up to play the goalie position.  I’m telling ya, this girl can do it all.”

“There’s a lot of action in front of the net.  Catia is standing ready to pounce on the ball.”

“Nice save Catia!”

“Now she gets to kick the ball into the in field, good kick!  That should really set her team up in a good position.”

“There’s more action in front of the net as she readies herself once more.”

“Oh no, this time they slip it by her for a goal!!  She’s none to happy with herself because that was a rookie move.  It just goes to show you that if a star athlete can make that kind of an error, then any of us can.”

“Little sister Kalina wants to know if that’s really a score?”

“Well, it’s now the fourth quarter with the Nationals 2 and the Raptors 1.  Catia Patterson is going on offense for the last quarter.  That makes  a lot of sense, save your powerhouse for a great finish.”

“Catia lines up on the goal and she S C O O R R E E S!!!!  That should clinch it for the Nationals.

“Unbelieveable, Ladies and Gentlemen, this game is history and the Nationals hold on to a perfect record of 11 and 0.  You’ll have to tune in next week for the final game of the season.  Can the Nationals go all the way?  With a star player like Catia it’s hard to see it any other way.”

“Kalina wants to know, Is the game finally over now?”

“Brother Radek is already in his sports car and is waving bye to the crowd!”

“That’s all from Sports side!!  Be sure to have a nice day.”

De Munchkins, De Munchkins!!!

We arrived at Cedars of Lebanon State Park and were all set up by noontime (Central Time).  It has been Fall Break here in the southland which means families are flocking to the campground for one last weekend fling.  By early afternoon the campground was at full capacity with munchkins flowing freely hither and thither.  There are grand parents and parents and kids and grand kids tucked into every nook and cranny just enjoying what us fulltimers get to enjoy all year long.  It’s fun to watch them making memories while having some family time together in the great outdoors.

We journeyed over to Matt and Jackie’s to get some munchkin time for ourselves.  Radek has grown like a little weed, however, was not overly enthused about being handed off to strangers, even if they are grand parents.  Little Kalina picked up right where she left off last July by climbing into her grand parents laps and cuddling.  “Puppy, puppy!”  Catia has gotten to be a big girl and loves to have her grand parents attention; she’s a busy little girl.  It was wonderful to see them again. 

I don’t remember if we shared this with you or not, but Catia was looking at some of her baby pictures a while back and asked her dad, “Who are those people?”  Matt told her that it was Grandpa and Grandma to which Catia replied, “Oh, was that before they got old?”  Somehow I don’t remember getting old, but I guess that explains who the stranger is in the mirror.

Slow Down!  Play Zone Ahead!  Kids at play!!!

Today is sports and yard sale day, tune in tomorrow to see if we survive now that we’re old!!!!  Right Catia?  We’ll have to work on overcoming Radek’s fear of old people.

Heading South

It was a good travel day.  We made the trek from Holly, MI to Shepherdsville, KY without incident.  Something that I hadn’t realized before was how “hard” the coach rode on the Carlisle tires.  They took more air pressure resulting in a stiffer ride; therefore, things vibrated around a lot more inside the rig.  That must mean that our house was “shaken and not stirred”.

As we traveled along we watched the temperatures continue to warm up from 48* to 84* - nice.  We’ve changed into wimps and just love the warmer weather.  Anything from 75* to 85* suits us just fine (as long as the humidity doesn’t get out of hand).

Anyway, we ended up right next to Chuck and Kathy at Grandma’s RV Park – it’s so nice to bump into people you know while moving about the country.  We went out to dinner with them to the El Napal Mexican restaurant.  The food was good and the service was good, but the fellowship was the best part.  Oh yes, it’s not a good idea to drink a sixteen ounce margarita after a seven hour travel day – Yeehaaa!!!!!!!

After dinner we stopped by a huge discount shoe factory store where Miss Judy was able to find a nice pair of sandals; I wasn’t as fortunate.  The one pair I found was too small for my feet; I have a good understanding, ya know!!  (little play on words)

We’ll head out early again this morning in hopes of capturing the “illusive” camp site at Cedars of Lebanon State Park before the weekend warriors begin rolling in.  There are only a half dozen sites that we fit into and we have a favorite site that we hope to snag.  Once we get around Bowling Green, KY we’ll change time so that should put us into the campground around 11:00 Central Time.  Hopefully the early bird will get the worm (or camp site in this case).

This afternoon we will get our long overdue grand kids fix.  We haven’t seen them little munchkins since early July and they have been greatly missed by Grandma and Grandpa so now it’s time to “head ‘em up and roll ‘em out”.  We’ll see ya tomorrow from Grandkidstown, TN. 

Kicking Back In Holly

“Early to bed, early to rise, and your girl goes out with other guys!!”  Oh well, it was early to bed anyway – for both of us, actually.  Then we were up waaaaay before the crack of dawn; somewhere between a quarter after dark and oh dark thirty.  We even had to kick the rooster in the pants to get him started this morning.

We spent the day yesterday hanging around with Shirley and Warren; Judy with Shirley and I with Warren.  They have just finished up a two month stint at the Renaissance Festival in Michigan where they have a booth so it’s now time for them to unwind a little.  However, Warren unwinds by doing some kind of a project in one of his shops – this time it was relocating a drill press from storage into his tractor garage.

That required cleaning out an area in the garage and relocating some shelving (and all the “stuff” on the shelving) before building a workbench in place to mount the drill press on.  We paced ourselves and took our time making it a nice little project.

Judy and Shirley ran a few errands, picked some apples, and did some baking.  Again, they paced themselves making it a pleasant day for them as well.  We’ve enjoyed our two days here, but now it’s time to start making tracks toward the grand kids.  But, before we head out, here’s a picture of our digs next to the tractor barn.

Judy likes Shirley’s Burning Bush so she snapped this picture as the sun was setting.

We were going to stop over at Big Bone Lick State Park tonight, but the name scared me so we are going to stay at Grandma’s RV Park instead.  Maybe granny will have a nice hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream waiting for us – don’t hold your breath!!  That will put the “lion’s share” of the trip to Tennessee behind us just leaving a three hour travel day for tomorrow.

It’s time to make the coffee so we’ll catch ya again tomorrow.  Take care and don’t work to hard.

Another “Eventful” Day

“A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.”  Well, we weren’t really on the way to the forum and, I guess, it wasn’t really a funny thing.  We were on our way to get new tires and guess what?  We had another flat tire!!!  This time it wasn’t a blowout so our Pressure Pro Tire Monitoring System had an opportunity to do its thing.  The alarm went off just before an exit which is two miles south of Alma, Michigan on route 127 so we were able to safely pull off the highway. 

This was another defective Carlisle tire with the radial belt separating and puncturing the side of the tire.  Happiness is pulling out of Discount Tire’s parking lot and seeing those damned Carlisle tires laying on the shop floor!!  Yep, we now have four brand spanking new Michelin XPS Ribs installed on the coach.  These are the top of the line (just ask my pocketbook) and if there’s any further blowouts (or tire issues) then there is nowhere else to go.  We’ll just have to park the rig and start hitchhiking, so here’s hoping that we’ve seen the end of it.

With the flat tire and the two plus hours we spent at Discount Tire (they were very busy), it only took us six and a half hours to make a two and a half hour trip.  We told Warren and Shirley that we weren’t ever coming back again since three out of four flats/blowouts have been on our way to their house.  Just kidding, we’re confident that the new Michelins will return us many more times in the future.

Other than that, Alex wants to know if Ray and Pat will adopt him.  He vocally protested our departure all the way.  He and Katie really liked the spot under the trees that we occupied over the past two and a half weeks.  When we told him that katts weren’t allowed inside their house he changed his mind, but still looks forward to our return next summer. 

Speaking of next year, we have some of our travel plans firmly set in soft putty.  We’ll travel out west with Norm and Linda in April, vacation in Maine with the New Hampshire Pattersons in July, volunteer at Prince William National Forest in Virginia during the month of August, and attend the Gypsy Journal Rally in September.  Now all we have left to figure out is when we’ll travel and visit in Michigan; it will have to be sometime in May and/or June.

Being that we are going to be in Maine and New Hampshire each year, we need to start a “bucket list” of things that we want to see and do along the way.  No more marathon driving events.  There are many things in New York and Pennsylvania that deserve a visit, so we should be able to slow down and smell the roses along the way.

Well, that’s it for today so we’ll see ya again tomorrow from Holly, Michigan.