April 16, 2022
Today is a very busy day. The plan for the day is for Grandpa to go to Lachlan’s karate practice. Grandma will do laundry and then we have a combined birthday party. On April 22, Georgeann will turn 13 and on May 31 Lachlan will turn 9. These kids are growing up way too fast. Lachlan’s practice was really interesting. It was a large class with all levels. The class met at a gym at a local country club. The class started with warmups and stretching. Then the class broke into various levels and worked on movements and codas. Lachlan was pulled to the side and tested. He earned 4 stripes toward his next belt testing. He is doing very well in karate.
Brian, Lachlan’s Dad, dropped me off at the laundromat. I helped Nancy with the laundry and then we went to Blinkley’s for the birthday party. Great food. Great conversation. Great time. The weather was beautiful. Just a fabulous day!
After the birthday party, the family came to the campground. They wanted to see our RV and the grands wanted to see Bree and Ashes. The twins were very disappointed that Ashes would not come out. He hid behind the theater seating so they could see him but not pet him. He’s not real social.
April 15, 2022
Good Friday. Today Grandma went to swimming lessons with Carissa. The twins, Emmeline and Elia, are taking swim lessons. While Grandma was out I decided to attempt RV repairs. The water leak was out of the question as we had no water. But I could look into the drawer and the handle. I also knew the cap on the galley grey tank was missing one ear so it needed to be replaced. I looked up rv parts stores and found one on the west side of Indy. I chose this one for two reasons. The first is that the store looked awesome. It was a local Mom and Pop. The second reason is that it was on the west side. It was conveniently located just 10 minutes away from one of my favorite drive in restaurants. Mug N Bun. They make their own root beer. I remember taking Carissa and Phillip there some 40 years ago. Still an awesome place. When I think of Indianapolis food, I think of a breaded tenderloin sandwich. So I had one. Extremely good! Also had fries and a large root beer float. Great lunch!
I got back to the RV and started my repairs. I found the issue with my drawer and quickly fixed it. Put the drawer back in and it works great. The cap was an easy fix also. As for the handle, I found a replacement screw. I bought some blue thread lock (an old Harley trick) and used it on all three handles so hopefully they will all stay on now.
April 14, 2022
Travel day! Yea!! Boo!! While packing up, I pulled out a drawer to stow some items. The drawer would not close. So to get underway, I removed the drawer and would fix it later. While wrapping up the exterior, I noticed another water leak. I noticed water on the floor of our basement. We didn’t have freezing weather. But while I was wrapping up the water line, I noticed the water pressure was around 80 psi. I thought I had recalibrated the pressure regulator but apparently I was mistaken. GRRRR!! This is not the first water leak either. So now I have to troubleshoot. Then as we were at the dump station, the grey water tank handle to open the valve came off in my hand. I had to dig out the tools to find pliers so we could empty the tank. We emptied our tanks and moved on to Indianapolis. It is the current home of our daughter and her family. Four of our six grandchildren. Of course this is only temporary as they are planning on moving to Colorado. They’re currently renting an Air BNB this week so to clean, stage, take photos, and have an open house. They’ll move back in sometime Sunday.
When we arrived at the Indianapolis State Fair Grounds we were told that the water had not been turned on yet. So the only water we had was the 15 gallons or so that we had been carrying in our fresh water tank. We hooked up our electric and gathered clean clothes. We took a shower at our daughter’s place. You always feel better after a shower.
April 13, 2022
Today was a very busy day. Our first stop on our Bucket List Tour (BLT) is the Kentucky Horse Park. Conveniently located next door to where we are camping. The weather was overcast but the temperature was comfortable. The Horse Park covers several acres. It is a walking tour and at various times throughout the day there are events that occur. Because of the time, we decided to start at the top of the hill and work our way back to the museum. The first stop was the Hall of Champions. This stable houses champion horses that been retired. The horses we saw were either pacer or trotter champions. We saw Mr. Muscleman, Won the West, and Western Dreamer. Beautiful animals. Great show. Additionally there are many champion horses buried on the grounds surrounding the stable. As we were leaving the stable Nancy was able to feed Mr. Muscleman a mint. PICTURES
We had lots of time to before the next event so we went to the Big Barn. In the Big Barn, the draft horses are kept as well as the trolley and multiple other carriages. We were lucky to be able to see a baby Clydesdale also. The foal was only 4 weeks old. Really cool. PICTURES
The next event was the Parade of Breeds. We had enough time before the official show to walk through the paddock and see and read about the various breeds that were there. I think the neatest breeds we saw were the American Miniature Horse and the Lipizan PICTURES
After the show we continued to roam the grounds. Lots of beautiful areas to see in addition to the animals. We walked through the Kids Barn and Nancy decided to try her hand as a jockey. Then we wandered over to the Police Barn. The officers were wonderful and very knowledgeable. The majority of the horses there were mixed breeds with some type of draft horse. The draft horse is very muscular so is great for police work, especially moving crowds of people. We then moved on to the Trolley Ride. Jake and Connor, Belgians, teamed up to pull a trolley full of people for a 10 minute tour of the grounds. Loved it! We made our way through the museum. One of the pictures, the fox hiding, is actually a jump used in a competition held at the Park. It was one of three very distinct jumps. PICTURES
I saved the best for last. My favorite was the statue and story of Staff Sergeant Reckless, a Marine. I’ll let you read the story. It is on the plaque in one of the photos. True hero!! PICTURES
We ended the day at the Red State BBQ. I had the 3 meat platter(smoked wings, pulled pork, and brisket) with baked beans and coleslaw on the side. Nancy had the pulled pork platter with corn pudding and beer cheese grits. The pulled pork was good but the wings and the brisket stole the show for me. Nancy said the corn pudding was excellent and the grits were too spicy for her to eat. I know it seems we are eating out a lot but currently in our kitchen is an antique hall coat rack (family heirloom) that we are transporting to our daughter in Indianapolis and a box full of boxes for when she moves this spring/summer to Colorado. PICTURES
April 12, 2022
Happy 47th Anniversary Nancy!! Not only is our Bucket List Tour commencing, but we are celebrating 47 years of marriage. Our first destination is the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. We made it to Wytheville, VA and I decided to fuel up for the very hilly West Virginia. We also decided it was time to east some lunch. We fueled at a T/A Truck Stop and pulled to the back of the big rig parking. We backed into a spot, got out and stretched our legs, took Bree for a walk, used our own bathroom, and finally opened up our outdoor kitchen and made some ham and cheese sandwiches. After lunch we got back on the road and pulled into the Kentucky Horse Park Campground around 5:30pm. After we got set up, we were too tired to cook so we sought out a local restaurant. We found the Thoroughbred Restaurant. I tried a local beer and it was delicious. The food was okay. The owner was very friendly. It is a well established restaurant with what I am thinking regular customers. The tourist stuff starts tomorrow.
April 11, 2022
The time has finally arrived. Tomorrow we will start our western adventure. Or as I like to say, our Bucket List Tour. Over the last 4 weeks, many things have developed. We had discussed renting out our cottage to traveling nurses while we are away. Well, our first tenant, arrived April 3, 2022. So we decided to move into the RV early. We spent last week moving, downsizing, purging, etc. We had several items on our list to prepare for our trip. The final item was to build a rack for my truck to store propane, diesel fuel, and gasoline. The propane and gasoline can run our generators. The diesel is to help stretch our fuel mileage if needed. We completed that just before dinner. We also decided that we needed to shoot a little before we left. Phillip took us to the back yard and we fired a few rounds with the 20 gauge shotgun and a few rounds with our M & P 9mm EZ. Felt great to shoot. Phillip and Michelle made dinner for us and we had one last family meal before our trip. It was really difficult to leave home but this is something we talked about for years. It was finally coming to fruition.
February 22, 2022
Today is our tour of Georgetown. One of the first things we did was to wander the back roads of Pawleys Island. SW was in search of a grave that as a youth, they would visit and tell ghost stories. Low and behold he found it on the very first attempt. The grave is located at the All Saints Church. The area has changed some since SW was last there but he found it. After we parked we crossed the street and entered the cemetery. The story goes that Alice’s grave is a simple marker. We scattered and based on SW’s clues we searched for about 15 minutes. In the distance I noticed 2 females and a male standing and talking. There was also a camera on a tripod. Not wanting to be obtrusive, I wandered in a different direction. A few minutes later SW had spoken with the people and said he had found the grave.
The people were a local historian and a couple that owned a paranormal business. They were investigating Alice. We spoke for about 15 minutes and found that the couple were really interested in the back story of the history of the paranormal more so than the actual “ghost”. The couple own Shady Lane Paranormal. They have their own YouTube channel. It is a very interesting story. If you are interested, Google it. Lots of information available.
After we left the cemetery we ventured on to our tour of Georgetown and SW’s youth. It was very interesting and gave us some insight into our friend. After riding for a while he took us to one of his favorite dining establishments. The Ball and Cue. The food was very good. Great service. After lunch we continued our tour and stopped in Historic Downtown Georgetown. We checked out the Rice Museum but opted not to go on the tour. As a side note, the area, Low Country, was the rice capital of the world.
We did go through the Georgetown County Museum. It was a very educational experience. It was fabulous. SW even had a chance to talk to some locals. It was a great day. On the way home we stopped at Pawleys Island Hammocks. They are very comfortable and seem like they would last for several years.
The rest of our week there we discovered new dining, at least to us, Lee’s Inlet Kitchen. And we shared a couple of our favorite places with our friends, Johnny D’s Waffle House and The Sea Captain’s House. Additionally we had a chance to catch up with our friends Chris and Jim, the campground hosts.
All and all a very nice week. Friday February 25, 2022 we packed up and headed home. We will restock, go to our appointments and get everything ready to depart on April 12th to continue our Bucket List Tour. See y’all in April.
February 21, 2022
We loaded up this morning, said bye to some new friends and departed Skidaway. Nancy decided she wanted to drive so she took the wheel and delivered us to Huntington Beach State Park again. We moved into Site 94, next to our friends Chris and Jim and across the street from our good friends SW and Sylvia Shoptaw. SW is from the area and was going to introduce to some new restaurants and give us a tour of his youth. The fun will begin tomorrow morning.
We discussed our plans over dinner. Since we had traveled and no one wanted to cook, we opted for Drunken Jack’s. Good food! It was basically a discussion of our restaurant agenda. We were going to take them to a couple of new ones they hadn’t been to and vice versa.
February 19, 2022
We may be finished working but with some free time we decided to check out Tybee Island. So off we go. We did what we normally do while exploring a new area. We just drove through the town. It seemed like a typical east coast beach town. We Googled the area and found the Tybee Island Light Station. We found it but were not feeling the need to walk up the several stories to see the top of the lighthouse. We did take some pictures.
Tybee Island Light Station Pictures
The next item on our agenda was to visit Fort Pulaski. It is a National Park so we got to use our Senior Park Pass again. We toured the small indoor museum. Very interesting and educational. We then walked outside to the actual fort and wandered around. It was very interesting to see the fort and learn of the history. Not just the Civil War history but also the history of area, Cockspur Island, before it became a Civil War stronghold for the South. It was very interesting to learn of the history of the restoration of the fort as it had fallen in disrepair. Great story.
February 17, 2022
This is our last day of work here at Skidaway. It has been good and sometimes a little challenging. We cleaned campsites and also one or two bathhouses. It wasn’t bad. One of the cool things about working outside, is the chance to see nature. While at Huntington Beach we saw an owl. Here we saw a woodpecker, owls, and even today we saw a deer. In addition to the nature, one of the best perks of working as a campground host is meeting and talking to people. That’s probably the best part of the job! Next week will be different for us. We are going back to Huntington Beach State Park but not to work but to visit with friends.
Skidaway Island State Park is a very gorgeous campground. It has turned into one of our favorites that we have been to. In addition to beautiful campsites with room and wooded, they have clean bathhouses, nice trails (so I’ve been told), a nice children’s playground, an outdoor gym, and so cool things in the nature center.
When cleaning campsites, you usually find ash, cigarette butts, a little trash, but not much. Here we found our winner. The fire pit contained egg shells, pineapple slice, coffee grounds and a few other goodies. That was the oddest clean up.
February 13, 2022
During our stay here at Skidaway Island State Park we had a chance to meet and work with 2 other couples. We decided that since we all were leaving in about a week, we needed to have a party. So Nancy and I hosted a cookout at our site. We provided cheeseburgers and hot dogs cooked over the campfire. Our friends, Betty and Ken and Terri and Mike, provided delicious side dishes. We ate, talked, had a few adult beverages and enjoyed the fellowship, conversation of each other all the while we sat around the campfire. Absolutely awesome evening.
February 10, 2022
Today was our day to explore the beautiful city of Savannah. We purchased tickets online to do a on/off tour of the city. We arrived at their office/stop at 9:00. We traded in our e-tickets for paper version. We also decided to get tickets to the Prohibition Museum. The tour is great. This is actually our 2nd time doing this tour. The first time was August 2017. Nancy was going through chemo and we took a few days of recovery to Hilton Head Marina RV Park. One of the things we did was to take a boat from Hilton Head Lighthouse up the Savannah River to Savannah. We got off the boat and did the tour and then on schedule we got back on the boat and back to Hilton Head. Great day.
We planned our day so that we could eat lunch at Lady and Sons. That’s the Paula Deen restaurant. I have been looking forward to this for some time. Before lunch, we had time so we went through the Prohibition Museum. It was really neat. Very educational. We even paid for an authentic drink Speak Easy Drink at their Speak Easy which was at the end of the tour. Nancy had the Mary Pickford and I had the Chatham Artillery Punch. Quite tasty!
From the museum we walked the 3 or 4 blocks to dine at Lady and Sons. I was expecting so much. Maybe that’s why we were disappointed. The food was good but not exceptional. You do a family style dining. We chose 2 entrees with 4 sides. The price included all you can eat plus beverages and one dessert for each person. We took our desserts to go. For our entrees we chose fried chicken and chicken and dumplings. Our sides included candied yams, broccoli and cheese casserole, collard greens, and tomato and cucumber salad. Again, they were good but not outstanding.
After lunch we walked around the Market Center and then hopped on the trolley to go to River Street. We walked around River Street for about an hour. While Nancy was in a store I sat on a bench outside and watched a container ship sail up the river to the port. It was very close and very cool. We caught one of the last trolleys and went back to our truck. Another wonderful day in the books.
February 9, 2022
Today was the day we took a ride to Richmond Hill, GA to visit Fort McCallister. We visited the Fort and also toured the campground. The campground was okay but not one we would put at the top of our list. We really preferred Skidaway Island State Park. The Fort was really neat. We entered into the Visitors Center/Museum. We paid our admission, I believe it was only abut $8 per person. The first thing we did was to sit and watch a brief movie titled Exceptional Valor. It can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/L-2utZ-Iskw. After the movie we wondered around the indoor portion of the museum. It is not very large but very informative. Great history lesson. Then we spent a few hours walking around the Fort on a self-guided tour. It was a great day. As we had spent the afternoon at Fort McCallister and had no lunch, we decided to stop at Molly MacPherson’s Scottish Pub. Great meal!!
February 5, 2022
Had a wonderful evening. Betty and Ken made hog chops. These were huge, much bigger than pork chops. They use their own marinade and boy were they juicy and tender. To go along with the chops we had scalloped potatoes, pea salad, and rolls. Great meal. Afterwards we taught them how to play Five Crowns. In the middle of the game was time for coffee and dessert, a strawberry cream pie. Yum!! Great evening of good food and great fellowship.
February 4, 2022
Today turned out to be a very productive day. I first tackled the ceiling fan. I used my new ladder and climbed up to see what the issue was. It was missing a bolt out of one of the fan blades. I went to look at the bolt Nancy had found a couple of days ago. Viola! Using my new screwdrivers I reinstalled the bolt and tightened all the others. Problems solved. I need a drill to install the closet latches. More on that later. The next issue was to lube and adjust the compartment door locks and latches. Another job completed. Overall a good day.
Betty arrived at the campground today. Ken and Betty dropped by so we could meet Betty. We had a good conversation and they invited us to there place for dinner tomorrow night.
Nancy and I learned a new card game, Five Crowns, from Chris and Jim. We thought we would find the game and take with us tomorrow evening. Found it at a Wally World.
February 3,2022
First day on the job. We were up and ready to go a little after 8:00. First thing we did was go to the office in the provided golf cart to pick up our keys, radio, and list of campers leaving today so we can clean their sites. We also got a chance to meet several more of the park personnel. In addition to cleaning sites, here at Skidaway Island we also have to clean one or two bathhouses, depending on the day. We are paired up with Ken and Betty so we take Sites 1 thru 52 and they have sites 53 thru 87. They also have a bathhouse near their site and we will alternate cleaning the third one. Whoever only cleans one bathhouse will be responsible for the evening tags. We finished up around 13:30 hours. Thoroughly exhausted. Because of the necessity of repairs, we went to Lowe’s Home Improvements and I purchased a small ladder and a small screwdriver set. Tomorrow is our day off so it will be repair day.
We work Monday & Tuesday, then off Wednesday & Thursday, then work Friday through Sunday, and off Monday & Tuesday, work Wednesday & Thursday, then off the weekend Friday through Sunday. Not a bad schedule at all.
Since Ken’s wife Betty is still away, we had Ken come over for dinner. Our children took care of us very nicely. We had a great time talking and getting to know one another.
February 2, 2022
We met two of the other hosts. First was Terry. She was on duty today by herself. The fourth host has not arrived yet. Apparently having RV troubles. She is very pleasant and seems to be a hard worker. Then we met Ken, his wife Betty, was at work back home for a couple of days. He was also very nice. We did meet one of our supervisors, David, and it was decided that we were going to start work tomorrow. So Ken offered to show Nancy around the some of the ropes for what our responsibilities are going to be. Later that evening around 4:00 Ken back and I rode with him to the office to pick up the site tags for late arrivals. Had a good introduction.
January 31, 2022
We got up and moving around 8:30 Ideally we wanted to be packed and loaded and leaving Huntington Beach by 10 ish. Took us longer than we anticipated. 11:00 we were on the road. Uneventful trip. Took US 17 to Charleston, picked up I 526 around Charleston and then back on US 17. Just north of GA we hopped on I 95 and took it down to Exit 94 and then GA 204 to Skidaway State Park. I did have to hurriedly brake for a red light but did so from a slow speed. No problem. We arrived and checked in at the office. Everyone was busy so they showed us where to set up and said someone would be visiting us tomorrow.
Set up went as usual until I noticed that the bedroom slide on the driver’s side was not open all the way. I had Nancy pull them in and then back out again. I was at the back of the RV when I heard a loud thunk like something dropping onto the floor. She immediately stopped and I went into the bedroom to investigate. Did not like what I saw. Apparently the sudden stop pushed our hanging clothes off of the bar. Which in turn pushed my closet door open just about an inch. That was an inch too much. When the slide opened, it caught the closet handle, which then bent the handle and the slide facia bent outward. Which in turn popped off a piece of the trim. After a few choice words and some work, we got the slide out to where it should be. As soon as I can I am putting positive latches on the closet doors. Also sprung the hinges a little. And to top it all off, Nancy found a bolt when she opened the slides. Has happened before. We set it aside as the rear slide took precedence. Also the ceiling fan was not working. And the park had not replaced the 50 amp. outlet yet. So we were going to be running off of 30 amp service. Pictures are here.
January 30, 2022
We had temperatures into the 20s last night. No surprise we had no water this morning. This was the second time this month. By about 10:00 the sun was out and the temperatures were on the way up. We had water. Today was our last day of working here at Huntington Beach State Park. It was better than last year. Had a chance to see old friends and make new friends. Our work is completed. It has taken me all afternoon to catch up on this blog. But well worth it. Tomorrow we will leave for Skidaway State Park near Savannah, Georgia. However, we will be back to Huntington Beach on 2/21 to camp for 5 days with some friends. All play and no work for that week.
January 28, 2022
We’ve been watching the weather all week. Even here in SC they are calling for snow Friday night and ending by Saturday morning. Jane and George are from Dover, Delaware. Upon checking their weather they were expecting 6 to 10 inches of snow Friday and Saturday. They decided to pack up and head home. They had a couple of very important appointments on Monday or they would have stayed and waited out the storm here. It was very sad to say good bye to our friends but we wanted the best for them and leaving early was the best thing.
Meanwhile, we started getting ready to depart on Monday. Filled the truck with fuel, filled our propane tanks and loaded some items that we were not going to be used. I had put dinner in the crockpot for us and our friends but since they left early we came up with Plan B. We contacted Chris and Jim and went to their place with our dinner. Again after dinner enjoyed some beverages and a lot of fun playing cards and socializing.
Nancy and I decided that this month has gone by faster than last year. The big difference was twofold. First, our friends, Jane and George, started camping this year. We suggested they come down to visit us at Huntington Beach while we worked. Thankfully they came. We would alternate camp sites for dinner and spent a lot of time with them. Had a great time.
The next reason is that we met and really get along with the other Campground Hosts, Chris and Jim. One of the first questions I asked once I found out they were from Michigan was “do you know how to play Euchre?” The rest is history. They are very nice people and we get along fabulously. We also work well together. So nice to meet new friends. They introduced us to a new card game, Five Crowns. Lots of fun. An example of how nice they are was that they volunteered to come over to take Bree out while we were in Charleston. They came over and took Bree out not once but twice. They walked her around the park and all was good. That was really appreciated. Ashes on the other hand was not happy but that is Ashes.