friends – The Wandering RVer

Captured On A Pirate Ship

Well, now we’ve done it. The pirates have locked us below deck while they go ashore, no doubt for a healthy ration of rum. Mike, Dawn, Steve and I only have one option, we have to figure out how to get topside and sail out of the harbor before the pirates return. The clock is ticking. We only have an hour to figure where the keys to freedom can be found. If the pirates return, they will surely make us walk the plank.

Why don’t we call for help you ask? They confiscated our phones! As we look around we are overwhelmed about where to even start…

We each pick a part of the room to search, nervous laughter escapes from us as we struggle to find the clues…failure is not an option. Then we could hear it, a soft voice whispering a clue…”I’ve heard pirates like to hide things under the stairs?” We followed the clues, deciphered the ciphers and solved the mind-bending puzzles only to get stuck on the very last lock. We could hear the pirates coming across the bay in their rowboat. Singing, “Yo, ho ho and a bottle of rum. Arrrrgggh” With only moments to spare, that faint whisper said “Follow the clue exactly, hurry” In our race against the clock, we had been overlooking one step on the lock. With literally seconds to spare, we burst through the door and made our way to freedom.

Well, how did we get into such a pickle to begin with? We had booked an adventure with Northern Michigan Escape Rooms, LLC in Grayling, MI. None of us had ever experienced an escape room first hand but we had all heard stories of how much fun it could be.

The Forrester family opened their escape adventure rooms in 2016. On the night we were there, it was Stan’s wife, Mary Jo who was the faint whisperer of clues and encouragement. She never gave us any direct answers, but her hints would spark an idea. Without her helpful prodding the pirates would have made us into shark stew for sure.

Mary Jo showed us the other escape rooms they offer. They have a speakeasy…

And a very cool room for two , submarine. A perfect date night adventure…

Mary Jo even showed us the newest room in progress, Hetephere’s Tomb. (Since completed) We were amazed at how resourceful the Forrester family is, nearly everything was either repurposed, recycled or homemade, but the results were incredible.

It was a fantastic way to spend an hour with friends. When we arrived, our attitude was, “What the hell, we’ll try it”, by the time we finished our attitude was “Wow! I’d do that again!”

Have you ever done an escape room? Did you enjoy it?

Up next…

A visit to Elk Park

A Cave, A Quarry and A New Friend

While we enjoyed our week at Shady Valley, cell service was non-existent and wi-fi was iffy at best. We used one of our days there to scout out a new park. We decided on Carter Caves State Resort Park. There wasn’t any availability until the following Sunday so we booked a Sunday to Friday stay and finished out our week at Shady Valley.

In the mean time, we had a bit of maintenance to do on Waldo. One day we stopped at a local parts store. I waited in the Jeep while Steve did his shopping. A guy pulls up next to me in a home made street legal dune buggy, gets out looks at our license plate and asks if we “drove that thing all the way from Florida?” I laughed and said “No, we tow it behind our motorhome, we live in it full-time.” We were still chatting when Steve came out. The guy stuck out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Eddie, my wife calls me Gabby.” Steve and I nodded our understanding and hung out in the parking lot for another half hour BS-ing. It was a completely comfortable conversation by some like minded adventurers. We told him we were going to be moving to Carter Caves at the end of the week. He informed us that is his “stomping grounds”, he drives through nearly every night (since he doesn’t live far away). We left him with an invitation to stop by if he sees the Jeep.

Sunday rolled around and we made our move, wondering if we would see him again. Sure enough, on Monday, Eddie stopped by. He was driving a different buggy this time…

He turned down my offer of a beer, proclaiming it was against the beer rules. You ALWAYS bring your own beer. Only if you run out, is it ok to drink someone else’s. We sat around, each drinking our own beer and talking until late in the evening. He was a fountain of information about the area and gave us lots of ideas on places to visit.

One of the days we were there, we toured Cascade Cave. It was a really cool series of caves, with lots of bats getting settled in for their winter hibernation. Unfortunately, none of my cute bat pictures came out, so you’ll have to settle for cave pictures…

The last part of the cave we visited was a 30′ waterfall..

There were also several hiking trails to explore. We took the 3 Bridges Trail as far as the first bridge which was impressive in size…

The person gives a bit of perspective on the size

One evening, Eddie stopped by and asked if we had found the quarry he had told us about. We admitted we had looked, but not found it. He offered to lead the way. He needed gas, so we followed him to the station where we both filled up. He said, “Hey, we aren’t far from my house, wanna stop in there first.” “Sure”, we said. I don’t really know what I was expecting, but his home is beautiful! Complete with a huge fishing pond his wife is working on. Eddie grabbed a bowl of dog food and tossed into the pond, the result was dozens of huge catfish vying for their share. About this time, his wife came from working on the other side of the pond and introductions were made. Her and I chatted while Eddie showed Steve the garage and his “buggy in progress”. Eddie checked the time and said we should get going if we want to see sunset at the quarry.

15 minutes later, we came to this…

Eddie offered to take our picture, he laughed when he handed me back my phone. He had taken several pictures, including…

He explained he always takes a bunch of pictures, especially before people are ready. Turns out the best picture of us WAS before we were ready…

Later, he proved again the best picture is probably the one before you are ready…

My expression leaves something to be desired, but it is clear we were laughing and having fun. I took a couple pictures of our rides by the pond…

And further up the trail…

Just before sunset, I got a picture of Eddie drinking “The Best Damn Beer I Ever Drank”

Steve and I called it a night while Eddie settled in for his evening at the quarry.

Thursday, I texted Eddie and invited him over for a campfire on our final night at the park. He said he was working on a souvenir and would be over later. When he arrived, I had a roaring fire going and we sat around talking about how much fun the last week had been. Eddie walked over to his buggy and came back with a surprise for us. Walking sticks he had made from locust tree limbs with our names and Kentucky 2020…

We were shocked. It was such a “from the heart” souvenir. We have crossed paths with so many people over the last 3 1/2 years, very few have made us feel so special.

Up next – A Kayak Trip to Grotto Falls

Getting Crafty

I’ve always enjoyed making things. Sometimes it’s functional …

A cover for the cockpit of my kayak to keep it dry and clean

A built in liquor cabinet in Waldo (I added straps to keep everything on the shelf)

Sometimes it’s because someone gave me a creative idea to run with. I have spent a good part of this year with Christmas on my mind. The owner of the tree lot we manage suggested we should make/sell “South Florida-esque” Christmas cards. We did some brainstorming and came up with a few ideas. I took it upon myself to design and paint them. Jeremy wanted to get a feel for public reaction so he did a Facebook poll with pictures of my paintings. The response was just what he hoped for – people loved them! These are the pictures he posted…

Once we figured out which ones were the most popular, he gave me the go ahead to order the cards and packaging. I’m pretty excited to see how sales go! BTW, the most popular were: Waiting For Christmas, Jingle Bell Croc, Santa Claws, Flocking Around the Tree and Christmas, Florida Style.

But most of the time I just make things for fun. Recently, I made myself a t-shirt. My “Sleep Around” t-shirt. Lots of people have asked me where I got it and I began to think maybe this would be a good small business. When I made my shirt, I printed the iron-on and handcut it with an X-Acto knife – very tedious! I knew there was a much better way and I finally decided (with a lot of coaxing from Steve) to buy a Cricut. Now instead of an hour or more, I can print/cut the iron-on in less than 15 minutes! I can take a picture someone sends me…

And turn it into a one of a kind shirt (or in this case 2 of a kind)…

Here’s more happy customers…

I decided t-shirts weren’t all I should try, so I made my first koozie…

Then, I thought what else can I make? Hmmm? How about lettering for Waldo?

But wait~There’s more! As I was looking through the pre-made projects, I came across a cute pop-up card…

I thought, “Gee that’s cute”, but, what if? And I designed these…

My thoughts are to try and sell them to RV dealers as Thank You cards (and in my online store).

As all of my RVing/crafting friends know, the biggest challenge of having a craft addiction is where to store all the supplies. Luckily, right now we are at my dad’s house in Florida waiting to head to Parkland to sell Christmas trees so I have a bit of time to figure out where to store everything.

I’d love to know what you think!

The Story of 126 Nights

I know I sort of interrupted the continuing story of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun when I posted Art Meets Humor.

So, to continue …Mike and Dawn were only going to stay for a week, but while the girls were out having fun, Mike was making a deal with Lost Falls Campground. They needed a video showcasing the park and, as luck would have it, Mike makes videos. In exchange for an additional two weeks of camping, Mike made this awesome video!

While Mike slaved away at the computer, Dawn and I continued having fun. One of our day trips took us to Praire Moon Sculpture Garden. As we walked among the sculptures we couldn’t help but notice some of them seemed out of place. What do bears and dinosaurs have to do with the other beautiful sculptures?

Ya, we didn’t get it either, but it was still a great day out.

Dawn and I took several more kayak trips…

And the time for them to leave came far too soon. With hugs and maybe a tear or two, we bid them “Safe travels until we meet again.”

Actually, we took this picture when they arrived. But our smiles tell the whole story!

That was in early July. So what does any of this have to do with 126 nights you ask? Well that is how long we were at Lost Falls.

When Steve and I weren’t working…

We took day trips to some really neat places. We visited one of the 4 corners of the world, the spot where the 45°N Latitude intersects with -90°W Longitude…

We spent time fishing (I caught my first small mouth bass!)

We worked some more…

I had just picked up every one of those sticks and removed them from the beach!

Reunion-2981 — We cleaned up after family reunions

We had lots of rain this summer. The lower part of the campground (next to the river) flooded 7 times. Perhaps that’s why I drank several of these…

Have you ever had a Bloody Mary with a cheese wedge in it? It was TASTY!

When the rain gave us a break, guests had fun on the river…

Steve and I finally managed to get out on the river together. He isn’t into kayaking as much as I am, but we had a great time…

Since we had been in Black River Falls since May, we were having to go farther and farther to find new adventures. One day, we drove 3 hours to get to Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. I was worth the drive! We got to see a bear…

And something worthy of inclusion at Atlas Obscura…

It was getting close to the end of our summer contract, but I had promised Barbara I would do some portraits of their Australian Shepherd, Reba…

And Emily’s pup Rosie…

Unfortunately, not every dog I had contact with this summer wanted to be my friend. And not every guest follows the rules about leashes. Resulting in this…

Labor Day came and went. With it our time at Lost Falls came to an end. The night before we left, Aaron and Shannon hosted a BBQ for this year’s workampers. Before we gorged ourselves on amazing smoked ribs, cheesy potato casserole and homemade ice cream, we posed for a picture…

It was a wonderful way to end our summer. I loved Wisconsin and Lost Falls Campground. With plenty of adventures and stories to share we said of goodbyes. After 126 nights, I decided…

Up next, the North Shore of Lake Superior!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

I was positively giddy, Dawn and Mike, from Random Bits of Trial and Error were due to arrive for a week of much needed socialization and relaxation. After accidentally meeting them in person on the road in Arizona last year (read my version here and Dawn’s version here) we have become lifelong friends, the kind you go out of your way to get to spend time with.

We have had the opportunity to get together several times over the last year and every time I have come away with memories I will always cherish. On our way back from Alaska last year, it worked out we could meet them for dinner in Texas and earlier this spring, we met up several times in our mutual “state of residence”, Florida. Dawn handmade me a card after our Florida adventures and it makes me smile every time I look at it!

But, this time, we would be in the same campground, parked next to each other for a week. I had been planning our adventures, oh the things we would do and see! Since Mike still works full-time, Dawn’s days are free and I planned to spend every minute I could with her. I had saved up some time off from my job at Lost Falls Campground and was able to take 4 days off in a row.

Despite all my planning, we found what worked best was to just hop in the Jeep and go. Dawn tells Mike, we are heading off in the “Cool Vehicle” today! With no particular destination in mind, I headed for Hwy 108, a twisty, windy road to the west of us. I’ve driven it many times and I love the scenery and curves. Near the town of West Salem is a set of buildings surrounded by a fence. The lawn is cared for, but they appear vacant. There are interesting shapes and I’m always drawn to it…

I’ve never seen a car or truck there, but these two appear in the window every time I drive by…

We decided to head down a road I hadn’t been on before and were gob-smacked when we found Mindoro Cut. When we crested the hill, on a blind corner, our next sight was this…

We stopped at a pull off and went to check it out. A commemorative plaque informed us we had just driven through Mindoro Cut, the second largest hand-hewn cut in America and the last one still being used…

As we walked along, we were in awe of the work required to build it. The limestone walls were filled with carvings…

I remarked to Dawn, I wonder if Andy and Chelsea are still together and her answer made me laugh. “It is easier to be immortalized in stone than it is to survive a relationship.”

Dawn and I both love plants and flowers, so we spent some time with bygone dandelions…

Dawn wrote an excellent post about our next find, an ages old barn, nestled in the weeds and tree threatening to overtake it. When I looked at the barn, I saw nature overtaking man made, but Dawn saw something else, she saw all the hard work of the American farmer, something most of us never pay any mind to…

Across the street were the remains of what might have been a chicken coop. While this shot may look like it was taken from the inside, it wasn’t…

We stopped at the tavern in North Bend for lunch and were introduced to fried cheese curds, oh my! My new favorite appetizer!! The day had gone by much to quickly and soon it was time to head back to the campground, but not without stopping on the side of the road to get a shot of someone’s creativity…

When we weren’t out driving around in the “cool vehicle”, there were shared dinners, boxes of Moscato and campfires. And days filled with Dawn’s newest favorite outdoor activity, kayaking!

I introduced Dawn to the sport when we were in Florida and she loved it. We made 3 trips down the Black River, each one a little different in terms of scenery and mileage, but what remained constant was the smile on her face…

It’s hard to explain the joy I got from watching her evolve from a shaky first-timer to a much more confident paddler. On one stretch of the river, we just floated along in comfortable silence, each taking in the beauty and serenity of the river in our own way. Later, she thanked me for being the type of friend where silence doesn’t have to be filled with constant chatter, I knew exactly what she meant!

As it turned out, Mike and Dawn were able to stay longer than a week, but that’s a story for another day.

Do you have a “Mike & Dawn” in your life? If not, I highly recommend finding them, they are priceless!

The Day Facebook Saved Our Lives

I try pretty hard to keep my posts in order, even if it means getting behind by weeks (sometimes months) where we actually are in real life. But, something happened recently that I think is too important to wait.

We’ve been meandering our way back to Florida. My last post was about Yellowstone NP and since then, we’ve visited Grand Teton NP, Capitol Reef NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Grand Staircase NM, Carlsbad Cavern NP and finally Guadalupe Mountains NP. This found us once again in Texas. Our plan was to catch up with some friends from our job last summer then head to NOLA to check out the WWII Museum before making our way to Crystal River, FL to visit with Daddy. We were unemployed at the moment, so taking our time was fine.

Just outside of Odessa, TX our plan, and Waldo, came to a screeching halt. We were broken down. Naturally, this happened on a Friday afternoon. With the weekend looming, no one had any interest in getting us on our way. One company Steve called said sure, they’d come look at Waldo, but “Be prepared to pay ALL the money.” Gee thanks, but no thanks.

What do you do when you are broken down in a strange place and no one seems to care? You reach out to whoever you can think of, anyone you think *might* know someone in the area. Last year, when we were working at Wind Point Park, we met Ben Miller, the promoter of Turkey Drag. I was hoping with all of his car club connections he might know someone who could help. I reached out to him via Facebook and then something incredible happened. Ben posted a “looking for recommendations” on our behalf on his page and within minutes, people started leaving suggestions, tagging friends and offering help. Someone sent Ben a screenshot of a contact on their phone. It was Jake from DropTine Auto in Midland, Texas.

Steve called Jake and explained our situation. Despite the fact DropTine is a very busy shop, Jake said we could bring Waldo there. When Steve explained he was a mechanic and could do some of the work himself, Jake said – “Great.” To make a long story short, not only did Jake allow Steve to do 99% of the work himself, but he let us stay in Waldo in the yard. It turns out the problem was related to what caused us to break down in Alaska, only this time, there wasn’t a “band-aid” fix. The gear which runs the hydraulic pump is located on the mainshaft of the compressor and it was toast! Steve called Caterpillar and they said sure, they could get a new one for $2200 in about 6 weeks. I just cried. “6 weeks, stuck in Midland? $2200 we can’t afford that!” Jake called the manufacturer of the compressor to see if there was a replacement available. The unit had been discontinued. WHAT? But, they offered to rebuild ours for $250 plus shipping. All we had to do was get it to them in North Carolina.

In the meantime, I had been looking for winter work. I found a seasonal job in Fort Lauderdale selling Christmas trees. Would Waldo be repaired in time for us to get there? We had already been broken down for 15 days, now we had to ship the compressor to NC and hope for the best.

DropTine is a busy shop with several great employees, but Jake allowed Steve to help out in the shop when he wasn’t working on Waldo. That was awesome! It gave Steve something to do and helped make us feel like we weren’t just taking up space in his yard.

The rebuilt compressor showed back up on Monday the 5th…

with its shiny new gear. Isn’t that sexy?! It took until Tuesday afternoon to get everything back together. When the work was complete and we were ready to hit the road, we asked Jake for our bill. He said we didn’t owe him anything. He took into account the work Steve had done around the shop and called it even. I was floored. He also said if the shop was still busy in the spring, Steve could come back and work for him for a month or so before our next workamping job. It makes my heart happy to know there are still people in this world like him.

Happiness through the windshield…

We have since arrived at Daddy’s house and are leaving on the 14th to head to Fort Lauderdale. I’ll keep you posted on how selling Christmas trees goes and promise to eventually go back and write about the places we’ve been.

A heartfelt thank you to Ben, his friends and all the guys at DropTine Auto!

A Strange Twist of Fate – aka Unplanned Happiness

Our original plan when we left Texas was to head to the Grand Canyon. I hadn’t been making RV park reservations because we weren’t dead set on the dates we would arrive anywhere. This turned into a problem when I started looking for a place near the canyon. Everywhere was booked solid. Apparently there is a water crisis in the park and outlying parks are picking up the slack. I had resolved we would just drive on to Las Vegas and see the Grand Canyon on some future trip. This had left me a little cranky and it didn’t help that Waldo was overheating – again. As I sat in my seat, sulking a bit, and perhaps muttering a few profane words, Steve pulled off the highway and turned into the parking lot of the Petrified Forest National Park (PFNP for short). Hmmm, maybe we should find an RV park near here and explore. I called the Sunny Valley RV Resort and made reservations for 3 nights. The park was right off the highway and only about 20 miles from the PFNP. We were unhooking the Jeep and trying to get settled in when I noticed another rig pulling in. I didn’t really give it much thought, but suggested to Steve he move the Jeep out of the way because we were about to have neighbors. A few minutes later, I came out of Waldo to see if there was anything I could help with outside. This was the moment my entire day turned around!!!! I was watching the camp host escort the incoming rig to the site next to us. She was walking with the passenger as the RV followed behind. When they got near us, in a less than ladylike fashion, I hollered, “Holy S*#T, I know you!” Technically, I didn’t really “know” them, not personally, but I have followed their blog for quite a while. It was Dawn and Mike from Random Bits of Trial and Error! Luckily, they almost always include what Dawn calls “Our obligatory selfie to prove we were there” so I knew it was her. At nearly the same instant, we ran towards each other, like some corny romantic beach scene, threw our arms around each other and hugged. We’ve been conversing via blog comments and email for close to a year and it felt like meeting a long lost friend. But, just think about this, we only stopped at THAT park on a whim – no planning. I had no idea Mike and Dawn were heading back east. They had no idea we would be there. I can’t even begin to calculate the odds of us arriving within an hour of each other. There are dozens of parks either of us could have chosen, but we both ended up at Sunny Valley.

Steve and I went back into Waldo and had dinner. I just kept saying “How flipping cool is that!” “What are the odds?” I have personally met a few of the bloggers I follow, but it was always by design, not some strange twist of fate. After dinner, the four of us sat out by the picnic table and talked and laughed over a few glasses of wine (well Steve was drinking beer). It was the perfect ending to what had been such a crappy day. Actually, it wasn’t exactly a perfect ending because the wine went straight to my head (I’m going to blame it on the elevation about 5400 feet above sea level) and I fell off the picnic table. Doh! Thankfully, Dawn and Mike just laughed it off, but I was pretty embarrassed.

Over the next few days, we each did our own thing during the day and spent evenings around their very cool propane firepit. Mike still works full time, so Dawn does quite a bit of exploring on her own. While we were there, she visited the ghost town of Two Guns. I can’t wait to read her post about it and see all of her pictures!

We had dinner together our final night. I brought stuffed shells and she made a huge salad, garlic bread and dessert. I was truly sad we were leaving. Looking back, I’m really bummed I didn’t take more pictures of us together! It was such an awesome experience meeting them in person! Thank you Dawn & Mike for being the best neighbors we ever had at Sunny Valley!

“Our obligatory selfie to prove we were there:”

If you enjoy reading about cool places and great people, check out Random Bits of Trial and Error

Have you ever accidentally met up with someone on the road? Did it turn out as well for you?

Up next my post about PFNP

A Year in Review

With 2017 and Peterborough in the review mirror, I realize just how much our life changed last year. When 2017 began, we were still living in a stick and brick home, we owned a business and we were still making our plan to hit the road. Then, something happened and it all changed. Accelerating our plan to move into Waldo full time a year ahead of schedule required quite a lot of work. First, had to decide what we wanted to keep and what needed to go, then we had to get rid of all our belongings that weren’t going with us…

We had to get the house ready to sell. Clean, paint, new flooring…

And, of course, the we had to wait for the weather to warm up…

Sometimes, you just have to take a break!

Then, there was all the work we needed to do to Waldo before we could leave. My favorite “upgrade” was our new curtains…

Curtain A — What do you do with family photos?

Curtain B — You turn them into iron-ons and make curtains!

We said goodbye to family and friends…

Finally, Florida bound…

By far, the biggest improvement we had to do was get a new roof. We decided Florida was where we should get that done. The benefit of being able to stay with my dad while the repair was done, made the decision an easy one…

Steve began to adjust to not going to work every day…

It was July before we truly ready to hit the road. We had a job waiting for us in Texas and it was time to go…

img_3891-1 — Our first meal living full time in Waldo.

And then, our new temporary home in Texas…

The next 5 months seemingly flew by, bringing us to December and the impending new year.

How things can change in 12 months! From this view…

To this view…

From using wood for winter heat…

To using wood for camp fires…

It’s been a year of major changes, all for the better. We’ve visited beautiful places and made some wonderful new friends. It means so much to me to have you along on our journey. Thank you.

May 2018 be your best year yet!

Goodbye Wind Point Park

When we first arrived at Wind Point Park, we had no idea what to expect. We had a basic idea of our job descriptions but we were stepping into unknown territory. Our initial commitment was 3 months. We said, “Beyond that, we’ll stay as long as it is mutually beneficial.” Time passed quickly. We made new friends. People who truly impacted our lives. To be quite honest, we also met some people we weren’t terribly fond of, but, let’s face it that happens everywhere. Our overall experience was a happy one.

And we got to see some really cool things…

Grand Saline-3946 — The Salt Palace in Grand Saline

Grapevine-3969 — The wine festival in Grapevine

Texas State Fair-3305 — The Texas State Fair

Grapeland Safari-3460-Edit-1 — The Grapeland Safari

Marcus Lindsey Band-4222 — A night with the Marcus Linsdsey Band

WPP Turkey Drag -3890 — Turkey Drag 2017

When we set out on this new adventure, it was never our intent to find a happy place and call it home (at least not yet). Each place we stay is meant to be a visit. There are far too many places to see to put down new roots.

We decided to leave on Dec. 19th, a little over 5 months after we arrived. The week before we left, was filled with evenings with our new friends. Dinner with Ivan and Josie…Dinner with Jerry and Janelle…Dinner with Scott and Reja…Dinner with Nancy…Hugs and well wishes from so many people…and our final campfire…

Before we left, we walked over to see Meda. She is a long term lease holder who moved in a few months ago. She had just gotten her smoker and we wanted to see it…