Tuesday, November 18, 2003
We left Harrisonville yesterday morning about 7:30 A M. It was misty. We went north to go south but that is typical of Missouri and Arkansas. L
We had our first adventure as we were passing a semi. Our awning came out! It isn’t like we hadn’t been warned this could happen. We were successful in getting pulled over to the side of the road and getting it secured with bungee cords. And we think we got by without any appreciable damage.
Our destination was the home of Dwight and Madonna Louk on The Lake of the Ozarks. It is a beautiful spot. Their neighbor is a man with money who has provided 6-8 spots for RV’s with full hook ups at no cost to those who use them! Now there is a deal for ya! But like all deals you have to “Know Someone” and in this case we know the Louks.
Butch used to work with Dwight many years ago at the REC in Jefferson IA.

We had a lengthy visit yesterday including a delicious pot roast dinner prepared by Madonna.
One of the negatives to this spot is no Internet connection. But I knew this would happen on occasion and I did suspicion that this might be one of those places. When this happens I plan to write anyway and post it when I can. When we leave here we will be headed for Heber Springs Arkansas. Butch wants to take the scenic route. Many of you know how I feel about that and the rest of you can guess. But Butch is the one who is newly retired and I told him I would let him have his way until I got tired of it. ;-)

11/16/2003
We are off!! I am sitting in Gary’s driveway in Harrisonville MO connected to the Internet! It still blows me away how this works.
We stopped in Maryville to see Granddaughter Amanda. She took us back to her dorm room to see her latest projects. That girl is going to do so well with whatever she chooses to take on. It becomes more apparent every time I see her.
We went to look at Gary and Susan’s hole in the ground where their new house is being built. They have a woman builder. Now that is something you do not see every day! It will be a beautiful house and very practical.
Gary and Susan treated us to supper in celebration of our retirement. Then we went to see The Big Creek Country Show in Pleasant Hill MO. Local talent but at the same time very professional. The only difference between the big names and the people we saw last night is a little bit of luck and a whole bunch of marketing. We had a very good time but this old pair isn’t used to being up till midnight!

Angel is getting better every time we venture on the road. Once we arrive and we take her out on her leash she becomes more content to stay in the motorhome. She came face to face with her long lost son through a storm door. It was a hiss free occasion. She decided to come back to the motorhome soon after that.

11/14/2003 7:37:25 AM

The big day is finally here and Butch is excited. He has been on standby this past week and he had a call last night in Arispe IA. Arispe is an hour and a half from us.Today I will be going to Creston to pick up my newly released man after his retirement party.
So I had best get to it!

11/11/2003
Sitting in the RV with the furnace running. A sound I wish to remove from my life…or at least have it be an unusual sound. We need to fill the propane tank every week. Saturday we are heading south to Missouri. I am afraid it is quite chilly there as well so we do not plan to stay long.
We are busy taking care of last minute details. The water is shut off at Mom’s house. I still have gas and electric to call for both places.
Butch has the day off due to Veterans Day. Three more days of work for him and then we will be on the road. Listened to the song ‘Any Way The Wind Blows’ by Southern Pacific this morning. It seemed quite appropriate.

11/11/2003
Sitting in the RV with the furnace running. A sound I wish to remove from my life…or at least have it be an unusual sound. We need to fill the propane tank every week. Saturday we are heading south to Missouri. I am afraid it is quite chilly there as well so we do not plan to stay long.
We are busy taking care of last minute details. The water is shut off at Mom’s house. I still have gas and electric to call for both places.
Butch has the day off due to Veterans Day. Three more days of work for him and then we will be on the road. Listened to the song ‘Any Way The Wind Blows’ by Southern Pacific this morning. It seemed quite appropriate.

11/11/2003
Sitting in the RV with the furnace running. A sound I wish to remove from my life…or at least have it be an unusual sound. We need to fill the propane tank every week. Saturday we are heading south to Missouri. I am afraid it is quite chilly there as well so we do not plan to stay long.
We are busy taking care of last minute details. The water is shut off at Mom’s house. I still have gas and electric to call for both places.
Butch has the day off due to Veterans Day. Three more days of work for him and then we will be on the road. Listened to the song ‘Any Way The Wind Blows’ by Southern Pacific this morning. It seemed quite appropriate.

11/9/2003 8:19:36 AM
Just a few more days and we will be on the road. We are all a twitter. Night before last the temperature outside dipped to 15 degrees. Everything continued to work fine in our little home. We didn’t know it was going to get that cold or we would have been very worried. We never would have guessed that our water would not have frozen at that temperature.
Yesterday we winterized my mother’s house. Blew out the water pipes with an air compressor. Turned off the electricity and gas and made sure all was secure.

I ran across a box of pictures that created a walk down memory lane. There were pictures of my aunts and uncles long since deceased. There was one of me where I looked like a candidate for an extreme makeover. Gawd it was ugly. I may be secure enough to scan it in and put it on the picture site. I am still having an internal debate over it.

This morning is considerably warmer, only 31 degrees when I arose and turned on
the computer. I probably should inform you all about my Internet connection. Unfortunately it is quite pricey; $80 a month for unlimited access. But on the other hand that is only the price of 2 rounds of golf if you get my drift. It consists of an aircard about the size of a credit card with a little antenna. It fits into the PCMCIA slot on my laptop. We have it through Verizon Wireless. I will be able to connect just about anywhere. It is great to be able to get rid of the tangle of wires we put up with before. I will be testing it as we go down the road to see what the connection is doing.

Today I plan to catch up on laundry so Butch can start the process of winterizing our home so I had best get to it.
Till next time….

Think about all the things in your home that might freeze, break and create a mess. Now think about gathering them all up. There is all the stuff under the kitchen sink and then the stuff in the medicine chest…and then the cooking things like vanilla. So now I have in my kitchen over 5 boxes of stuff I have to find a new home. I had that many boxes or more at Mom’s house as well. I pawned that stuff off on my sister. I plan to take my stuff to the senior center and “donate “ it. I sure hope it works!

11/3/2003
We had supper with Don and Jan Brahms last night. With all these great send offs I won’t have to cook for a spell.
The weather is rainy, cold and downright ugly. It could be worse if the temperature were a few degrees colder. I do not believe we are getting out of here any too soon.
I am forced to wear my heavy cold weather clothes. I’d rather be sweating in my shorts!

Butch needs to get his flu shot. I got mine at the senior center last week. So we will be going to Atlantic this afternoon. Butch had one more day of vacation to get in so today is it. Next week is also a 4 day week for him due to Veterans Day. Butch asked me if we were going to the senior center for lunch since we are eligible. My first day off and he wants me to go back! I said,”No”.

We have been quite busy the past few months getting ready for our big life change…and then a few things have happened. My mother passed away on October 2nd. She had been bedfast for over a year so her passing was something she had wanted for a long time. What that means for me is additional duties as executor of her estate. Things seem to be getting done. It will be a relief to get the things I need to do down to one household.

We are 12 days away from departure. It is getting colder every day. I was hoping for a warm fall but it seems that is not going to happen. I am having trouble staying warm! I think my mind has already traveled south.
From our cold backyard in Iowa we are heading for Missouri to stay in the vicinity of Harrisonville to visit with our Missouri kids, Gary and Susan. They are building a new house in Lees Summit so we will have to look over the site and give our opinion. Yeah, Right! If it is warm in Missouri we may stay a while, if not we will head to Arkansas.

My wrist surgery went off without a hitch. It took longer to heal than I anticipated but the end result is satisfactory. Yesterday I opened about 80 jars of home canned food at my mothers place…dumped it in the garden…but a few months before my wrist surgery that would not have been possible.
Butch is pumped about his retirement coming up on November 14th. Since we have been taking month long vacations in the past it will probably be some time before the reality of it hits him. Neither of us has feared change in our past so I think the future will be the same…no fear.
I retired on October 31st and the seniors at the center where I have been manager for the past 14 years gave me a fancy send off. They had some very nice things to say about me and gave me a lovely gift…cash! I plan to get something special with the money and then let them know about it. I will miss them but I know I left them in good hands.

Our house has not sold yet although we did have an interested looker yesterday. My mothers house will also be on the market but not till next spring. Too much chaos before take off and the weather is pushing us.
I keep promising to get better about my blog reports. I hope to make them daily now that I am retired so mark it in your favorites and check in now and then.
Till tomorrow!
Barb

I almost forgot..and really how could I! I am having surgery next Tuesday on my right wrist. That will slow me down for a bit. It is DeQuirveins (sp?) disease which is very much like carpal tunnel except it is my thumb instead of the back of the wrist. It is outpatient surgery so I should be back to normal in a whipstitch. And then in a few weeks I can golf, cross stitch, bike and numerous other things that have slowed me down in the past 18 months.

Blogger Report August 16th 2003
It has been awhile... Folks tend to think we are a bit weird because we are living in our motorhome located in our back yard. But this serves many purposes. At first many trips were made to the house for forgotten items such as eyebrow tweezers and a favorite spatula. There have also been trips made in the other direction with items that were placed in the motorhome but are never used and take up space that could best be used in a different way.
It is much like moving into any new home. There is always an adjustment concerning where you want items located.
We like it out here. I ran into a quote the other day that fits perfectly. "It is not the size of the house that matters but the love that abides within." There must be enough love because we both are happy with the space we are in.
I continue to pare down daily. It is amazing how little we really need to live quite comfortably.

Speaking of paring down...I am also doing that on a personal level as well. I have been on the Atkins diet since May 14th. I can count on one hand the number of times I have cheated. I find this way of eating very comfortable and I never plan to deviate from this plan. I have lost 19 pounds and I am still losing.;-)

Till next time...
Barb

We have the ball rolling to move into the RV. Our plan is to live in it while it is sitting in our backyard and then we will eventually get all the essentials into it. We have rolled out of here many times and said, "Oh No! I forgot....". Hopefully this plan will at least cut down on the number of items forgotten.
The retirement date is set for November 14th,2003. We plan to meander south out of here at that time. There will not be a big push to get anywhere in a hurry. That in itself will be an adjustment...not for me but most certainly for the ol' guy.

I am a bit lost with the changes made at Blogger so this is a bit of an experiment. You really should notify old people before doing such things so we have time to adjust!:-)

I tried these bars and they were a hit. I spent $2.78 for a 7 oz. jar of marshmallow creme to save three overripe bananas. Makes sense, Huh? Or perhaps I should say it doesn't make $cents. I will have to cut the recipe in half for the motorhome...or ask a neighbor with a full oven for a pan and the use of her oven for 30 minutes.

Marshmallow/Banana Bars

1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. baking soda, dissolved in 1 T. water 1 t. vanilla 1 1/3 c. mashed
bananas
1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow creme
Vanilla Icing (recipe below)

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg; beat
well. Stir in soda mixture and vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately
with bananas, beating well after each addition. Spread into a greased
15x11" jelly roll pan Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from
oven. Drop spoonfuls of marshmallow creme on bars. Let stand two
minutes. Spread gently over surface of cake. Cool; frost with vanilla
icing.

Icing
Combine 2 c. sifted confectioners sugar, 1 T. butter, 2 T. milk, 1 t.
vanilla and a few drops yellow food coloring. Blend until smooth.

Today we have threatening weather all day. Another indoor day. The positive thing about the rain is I do not have to water the plants and flowers I have planted.
Yesterday I received the portable printer to go with my laptop. I haven't had time to get it set up. I want to make sure it works and check it out for quality before I settle in with it permanently.
I went golfing last night. It was ladies night at Nishna Hills. It seemed to go okay. Not great...just okay.

My photos can be viewed at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/barbie1943

My puzzle gallery
http://www.jigzone.com/ms/g.php?ua=238596a72361
Here is a nifty way to waste some time today. Yesterday I got into taking some pictures of dandelions. I thought it would make an interesting puzzle. I almost had a close encounter with a garter snake. We were mutually startled and decided to part company.

Last night we did yard work and planted flowers. If we do that again it will either be for others or on a much smaller scale. I called the Good Sam Club mail forwarding service yesterday. It is very reasonable ($ 30 a quarter plus postage) and takes care of another issue of being on the road. I may ask my daughter-in-law Susan to do this for us depending how she feels about it. I have our mail whittled down to a minimum. We get very little. I have a couple of magazine subscriptions to run out but I do most things online eliminating the need for paper.

The retirement date has moved up a bit. December of 2003 will find us on the road. Our house is on the market. We are getting excited at the prospect. We have a bunch of work to do between now and then. Deciding what to sell, give away and keep and store is one of the biggest challenges we face this summer. Nearly everything I touch involves a decision. Simplifying ones life isn't easy!

Last winter we put the motorhome in a storage shed in the country. We will not do that again!...but then we won't have to. We had over $300 in damage from mice. The pesky little devils got into the walls and chewed up wiring.

While on our winter trip to Texas we ran out of the product we use to deodorize and sanitize the black water holding tank. We will have to stock up everytime we are near Leaches Camping Sales in Council Bluffs Iowa. The stuff they have is great. It has their own name on it and we were unable to find a suitable substitute and we were in an area of RV product heaven!

Question: What kind of RV unit should a person buy?
Our answer:
We have just been through the research and it seems the right choice is what
fits each individual. We ended up with a 32' Holiday Rambler Motorhome and
we are very happy with it. Our friends kept saying we should go with a 5th
wheel but they were all farmer types and already had their pick-ups. Buying
the 5th wheel and the pickup was more bucks than we wanted to invest at one
time. One fella said to us that it boils down to what you want to drive when
you get there.
Do your research and you'll end up happy with your decision.
We are 23 months away from full timing but we practice for a month every
winter. We can hardly wait to be full time full-timers!