Fall Landscaping

The first week we were home, Jerry cleaned the weeds from the over run flower beds. All the flowers died out over the summer. With no one to water them for 5 months it is hard to expect them to surive. But the shrubs look great, they took the heat and lack of rain quite well.  Of course we don't have a lot of shrubs around our place. Out in the front there are a couple of palm bushes which have actual grown. one knockout rose by the side of the front steps, one very large arborvitae on the south side, a holly and a chinese fringe bush on the north side, two azalea at the edge of the yard which  blooms in early spring.
We will be adding shrubs.
Now the work begins:

Jerry tide up the palm branches so he could  remove the stones from the flower bed. Then he replace the black plastic that was under the stones and reset the boarder stones.









He washed the stones and returned them to the bed.
The lower branches of the palms still need to be trimmed back, as does the knock out rose..











                                                               
We need to add more stone.  Maybe a statue or fountain in the front flower bed. That would fill in the space nicely. We are trying to keep it simple.











The arborvitae on the south side of the house has done well over summer. It actual has grown to large for the spot. It is half up the window. We will be moving it later this season.                                  

                               So as you see we added a couple smaller arborvitae along that side. one to either side of the large one..                                                                      As soon as they are established we will transplant the large one, moving it out into the yard.






We need more shrubs, but this work will have to wait. As does the north side of the house and the space by the wheel chair ramp. This gives us something to so over winter.
The advantage of no snow.

Fall slowly comes to Starke Florida.

Now the trees haven't yet turned here at our winter home in the Starke KOA. And the weather is still very warm but the campground has closed the pool for the winter. That is always a sign that fall is here and winter is just around the corner. Many of the snow bird RV'ers have arrived and soon the park will be filled. Our monthly activities will soon start, with pool/billards, bingo, golf, cards, Saturday breakfasts, tours. holiday meals and cookie ex-changes.

As a surprise our friends, Sid and Jerry Bass decorated our park model's front porch. They filled our pots with bright flowers and little scare crows. The colors makes me fell a little more like fall in Wisconsin.

But nothing can compare to the maple tree at our former home in Silver Cliff Wisconsin. The leaves would turn a bright yellow and would last a full week or more.                                                   

Now our little maple here at our home in Starke which turns deep red in fall, and last for only a few days even that has not happened as of yet.

  So,

to brighten things up we have added some fall decorations to the inside of our little house. We put vines of maple leaves running along the tops of windows and cabinets. And a pumpkin that waits for halloween sit on a stand near the door. Although we only have a few little children here in the park, we pass out candy for trick or treat. So it is nice to decorate.  

Memorys Live On

A tribute to my oldest sister Jean who passed away early this morning.

Over the years she has been an inspiration to us all. Lived through hard times and came through with a smile.

Her baked beans became one dish most requested at all the family gatherings. And no matter how well we follow her recipe it will never quite be the same with out her loving touch.

She was the first of the family to own a motor home. A Winnebago to be exact,  she traveled from coast to coast much like we do today.

She knew her time was near but instead of being sad. She was there to comfort all who will miss her.

And.
We will all greatly miss her. She walks with God now.

Good Bye Jean, my sister, my friend, they say you had a good long life but no matter what is said there is never enough time. I will miss you.

Back in Florida

We made it back on Saturday and finally have time to write.

Nancy cleaned the rig is inside. While Jerry washed and waxed the outside. There were so many love bug stuck to the front, tt took him a few washes to get them all. All this was done before moving the rig to the storage lot.

Jerry spent the next few days weeding around the house.  we assembled our wine rack that we brought back with us this time. But there still are a few things to unpack. Not that we are slow but there are a lot of extras to put away this time.

Now we have sometime to relax. Spent the last few day visiting with our Florida friends.
Had Sid and Jerry Bass over for cards.

Just relaxing and enjoy the warmth.

Trip back to Florida 2011

Our trip home:
September 21st. our first day.
Having said our good byes to Norm Gil the owner of Rainbows End campground in Reedsville and filling our LP for the last time, we head out by 9:45 AM. First gas fill was 9 miles down the road in Branch Wisconsin at the Cenex.  Gas price at the time for regular was $3.69.
So, Windy after only another 4 miles, we had to tape the bedroom window shut. The wind was so strong it stucked the bedroom window open.

Jerry fights the Wind

Jerry said he could do with out the cross wind.
We are riding a bit heavy this trip with all the extras remove from the old fifth wheel. We are not over weight just heavier than usual.
Still making good time even with the construction south of Milwaukee. Our I-Pass helps also, not having to stop at each toll in Illinois.

By 4:30 eastern time we pulled into the Caboose Lake campground. Our site was a nice level pull thru across the road from the lake. The lake sites remained empty so we had a great view of the lake.
We have stayed here before. The girl in the office said we would only get one TV channel. But that was not the case. Our HD TV's  pulled in 7 channels. But our channel of choice was 18.1 which is CBS so we were able to watch all the new season tv shows.

The next morning we filled her up before heading south on I-65 again. The wind is much less than yesterday but still we had a cross wind. By 3:40 PM we had to change a tire on the tow dolly. The tires on the dolly were new, but the force of the wind cause the tire to wear the tread down to the cord. Of course we don't have a jack for the dolly so we had to back the car off the dolly then Jerry proceeds to change the tire. He lifted the dolly by hand and I push a jack stand under the frame. Now this was bad enough but he forget to loosen the lugs first, so we end doing this more than once.
Haven't made much headway after changing the tire. The traffic in and around Nashville was pretty heavey a few accidents and some construction in areas , stop and start and at times came to a complete stand still for a few minutes.
At 5:30 PM we pulled into Texas T campground. An always and easy set up with nice pull thru sites. We watched TV over the air even thought the campground offers free cable TV.  The pictue was so good we didn't need to use the cable. We just relaxed for the night.

Sept 23  Getting late start this morning. Had to stopped at thre different gas stations before finding one that had air.  Jerry fills the tires at Tennessian Truck Stop.

 It rained over night, very cloudy today. Should make for a cooler days ride. There is rain in the forecast but maybe we will drive pass the storm.

 Nancy points out that fall is in the air the shoemack is turning burnt red and all the under brush is starting to die down.  Every so often a few trees show a burst of color, but most arestill green.
The view out the front window is awesome But the camera we brought this time was not quick enough to get the scene before it was gone.

Nancy is starting to miss the fall colors of upper Wisconsin.


Now we are entering Alabama and it is starting to drizzles a little. Maybe we will not miss the storm after all.

We are going to try a different travel park tonight. It 5:20 and we have arrived at the Ozark Travel Park in Alabama.
We checked in and the women from the office lead us to our site.
 It is very nice level pull thru site with a cement drive and patio. On the patio is a nice clean picnic table and a bench for sitting.

There is a nice grassy area between each camp site.



 The bath, shower house and laudromat was a short walk from our site. I found them to emaculate. There was also a nice in ground pool. But as we only were spending the night we didn't use the pool.

There was a pond with water fountain and a water wheel. A play ground was just over the foot bridge. All in all a nice camp ground.













It was a very nice camp ground we will come here again.

It was a nice stay very quiet night.

It is 8 AM a sunny morning. Much warmer than yesterday. We are getting ready to leave Ozark Travel park. this will be the last day of our journey.
It has really gotten warm in the rig.  Sure can tell we are getting close to home. The Florida temperatures have been calling us the the last week that we were in Wisconsin.
It is late afternoon now. We are pulling into the the Starke KOA, that we call home.  Now the unpack will begin.

End to Summer

We are still at our summer camp site in a smaller campground called Rainbows End.  Which is just out side of Reedsville Wisconsin.     Sadly, Our summer stay here is almost over. Now that the weather is cooling, it is sure feels more like fall everyday. We always head back to our winter home late September.

But it sure seems like the summer just flew by this year. We spent time with family, friends, our children and grandchildren. 

Jerry helpped out at the campground building picnic tables and he also mowed down the big field.

And as we down sized this season, Nancy and her two daughters Lynn and Laurie had a rummage sale to get rid of all the extra items.

Fred and Rita, our good friends and card buddies have left Rainbows End for good this year. They sold their rig and bought a condo a few miles away. We plan on staying in touch, but we will miss our weekly card parties. 

Trip to Upper Wisconsin Part Two

It is Friday, the start of the second part of our trip and it is going to be a beautiful day, no rain in sight, just light puffy clouds but otherwise blue skies. 

By 10:30, everyone is pack up and ready to travel to our next campground in Chippewa Falls. It is only about 100 miles down the road. Our two rig caravan heads out. We arrived at O'Neal Creek Campground by one in the afternoon.

O'Neal Creek is quite a large campground. Our site numbers were in the four hundreds. The sites are pull thru, long but very narrow with only water and electric. Now, getting onto the road that lead to our site was a bit tricky, the turns are very tight. So we were instructed to make loops, first we looped around the playground, then we across the main entrance road, then had to take the far loop through the dump station and then again we had across the main entrance road, then a slight left then right and we were finally on the road to our camp sites.

 Jerry relaxes at O'Neal Creek campground
while we waited for Jim and Mary to get their directv dish aligned. Soon we will be heading out to Autumn Harvest Winery. While at the winery we tasted their wines.
Many are made with apple.

A few bottles of wine and a peck of apples later  and we were on the road again with just enough time left this afternoon that we could take the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewery tour. 

Upon arriving at the brewery we each received four tickets for free 5oz beer samples.  Jerry got to try a lot more samples as Nancy doesn't drink beer. While we waited for our tour to start  Mary and Nancy checked out the souvenirs. Then they went to join Jim and Jerry who were relaxing by the fireplace, sipping their first sample of beer.

 Finally it was time for our tour. Our guide gathered our group at the rear door and lead us out of the building. We crossed the river by way of a walking bridge. On the other side of the river stood the brewery and warehouse buildings. Some were the original.  The tour was very interesting. After the tour, it was back to the tasting area where Jerry, Jim and Mary sampled more beers. Nancy wandered through the store again looking for a key chain to purchase as a souvenir.

Then back to the camp ground to relax for the night.

Saturday morning after breakfast we headed over to the town of Eau Claire, where the Paul Bunyan Logging Camp and Museum are located. Inside the museum are artifacts and also displays of the myth of Paul Bunyan and Babe his blue ox.

Out the back of the museum is the entrance to the logging camp its self.
This large statue stands proudly along the path leading to the first logging camp build. We wandered through the building. Each of us wondering what it would be like to live in a log camp. Jerry imagined being the blacksmith in those times.
It sure seemed like a very hard life.

The building are filled with many artifacts from logging camps around the area. Some dated as far back as 1800.

A Truck Show
Jerry spotted a truck show on the way to the logging museum it is right in Eau Claire.

  We stopped to look at the trucks before going for lunch.
The show had quite a few Semi tractors with trailers and other large trucks. All with great paint jobs like the one on the truck in the picture.
After the truck show we stopped at a nice Italian restaurant for lunch.
Relaxing back at the campground. 
We enjoyed a late supper of grilled chicken then played a game stick rummy with Jim and Mary before turning in for the night.
Tomorrow we head back to Rainbows End our summer campground