Lake Placid

Sorry I didn't post last night - we went out to dinner and then a friend of Melissa's came over with her little boy - so cute - he was dressed up as a baby giraffe. (He is only three.) Anyway, by the time they left everyone was ready for bed.

I'll try and get pictures of the house today and post on the blog tonight - today is a day of college football and just taking it easy. We did go out and eat breakfast this morning and then Melissa and Justin rode us around.

Yesterday on our way down to Melissa's we stopped at the state park where we will be working just to check in and see where our spot will be. It is a very pretty park - with lots of trees. That just means we won't be getting any satellite TV - two months of paying for something we can't get. I might call them and see if they have a vacation service - where you don't have to pay for the satellite if your on "vacation" - I mean, if we aren't going to be able to use it I don't really want to have to pay for it. Let me say right here that Dan is NOT happy with this service - we can NEVER pick up any channels - I don't know if we need a technician to come out and look at it, but with the new unit we got a new satellite but we may need a new receiver box. I don't know - It is really getting to be a bone of contention.

Well, I'm going to see if I can finish my book I've been reading - Deception Point by Dan Brown - pretty good thriller - sure wasn't who I thought it would be - but I'm not telling in case any of you want to read it. Then I'll watch some football. I'll try and post again tonight.

Talk with you later

insurance meeting in Lakeland

We arrived in Lakeland this afternoon and got the "house" all set up at Dana's - it took awhile for the house to cool down - it was 93 degrees outside when we got here - we aren't used to this kind of heat and neither are the pups. They were just lying around with their poor little tongues hanging out. Anyway, we finally got everything cooled off and they are fine now (and yes, Crystal I had plenty of fresh, cool water down for them.)

We had a quick bite with Dana, Mark and the girls (thank goodness for Little Ceasers Pizza) and then it was off to the insurance meeting at Lakeland High School. I don't know if we know anything more now then we did before we went but we have decided that we are going to go with the 3160/3161 plan and hope for the best. Dan gets so upset when you go to a meeting like this and they open it up for questions - people always want to ask a specific question that pertains to them instead of a general question - he wants them to wait and talk to the presenter privately - the whole audience doesn't need to know your entire medical history. Anyway, he did actually sit through the entire meeting until they started talking about the Medicare Advantage plan - which we don't qualify for and our doctors in Dowling Park don't accept. (A little heads up to those of you that are retired with PCSB - check with your doctor to make sure they will accept the Advantage plan - as I said ours won't - they accept BCBS but NOT the Advantage plan - just check with your doctor to make sure - I'm glad I did!).

Tomorrow we will head down to Melissa's new house in Lake Placid - we are going to leave the 5th wheel here at Dana's because the park where we are going to work is not ready for us to come in yet - they are paving the park and they wanted us to wait until Monday to come. Sooooo, we are going to leave the unit here in Lakeland - go spend a couple of days at Melissa's and then come back to Dana's on Sunday. We'll have lunch and cake and celebrate Ashley's birthday. It is hard for me to believe she is going to be six years old!!!! It seems like it was just yesterday that she was born - of course, we were living in the cabin in mountains of North Carolina at the time, but it just doesn't seem to be that long ago.

Monday we will go on down to Highland Hammock and get set up - we will probably go by the park while we are at Melissa's just to check it out and see where they will be putting us - we might even do that on our way down. I don't know what Dan has planned for us to do in the morning before we go down. Melissa won't be home from work until around 3:30 so we don't have to rush. We will need to pack a suitcase to take with us - which will seem a little strange. I haven't had to do that since I flew to Atlanta a month ago. I am excited to see their new house - maybe I'll post some pictures of it on the blog in the next couple of days.

Sorry I have not gotten pictures of the outside of the unit on the blog - I'll try and get those on in a couple of days also.

Well, it's getting a little late and I'm ready to go in and read a little before bed. Hope everyone is having a good week and .........................................

I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

Got the Call

I don't know where my brain was last night - it wasn't the "last night in Dowling Park" - tonight is the last night in Dowling Park. Boy, I guess I just wasn't thinking or if I was thinking I wasn't thinking correctly.

I don't remember if I told you that Carol, Neil, Dan and I went back into town last night and had dinner at the Crab Shack - boy was it good, but I ate wayyyyyyyy too much!!!! That's okay - I'll just have to watch what I eat for a few days - in fact I had a salad tonight with water and lemon for dinner (although I did cheat and have a couple of Dan's onion rings). I know that I talked about Dan going back over to Neil's house to help with the plumbing issue - they didn't get it fixed. Oh well - I think Neil got it fixed this morning before he left to go back to Gulf Hammock.

Dan and I went over to the storage room today and got all the fall decorations/dishes out and repacked the basement. We were able to get most of the boxes in the basement but we will have to put a couple in the 5th wheel (on the couch). When we get down to Sebring we will go through the boxes and see what we want to keep and use and what we will get rid of (Melissa - looks like you are going to be able to choose from a whole lot of things!).

I'm sure you are all wondering what I meant by the title of the blog tonight - "got the call" - well, we got the call from Alaska. You know that Dan has been on pins and needles all this month because we were suppose to hear from them in October. He even had me email them the first part of the week and see what was happening. Anyway, to make a long story short (Dan would say too late!) we heard from them today - and ....................................................................................

We WILL BE GOING TO ALASKA NEXT SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dan is so excited he can hardly stand it - he went over to Neil's and got the Alaska Atlas and has been going over it all evening. I'm sure the next six months will just drag by for him. At least it will give us some time to save some money to pay for the fuel to get there and back - you know it's a LONG way to Alaska from the east coast. I'm sure we will talk more about it in the coming months (you think????)

Well, we will leave here tomorrow and head for Lakeland - we are looking forward to seeing the kids. Since we won't be moving to the park this weekend like the original plan we will be able to spend a little more time with the kids before we have to start to work. We'll figure the schedule out later, but I know that we will be at Melissa's new house Friday night (so be prepared!).

I really don't have much else to report tonight - we have just about everything packed outside - Dan still needs to put up the chairs and grill - then we hook up and be on our way. We should be in Lakeland sometime in the early afternoon. We still plan on going to the insurance meeting tomorrow night. That should be fun ( NOT!) I'll keep you up to date on the schedule as we figure it out.

Talk to you tomorrow!!!

Our last night in Dowling Park

Today was a wash out - literally! It rained and rained and rained! Dan went over to Neil's today and helped him with a plumbing issue - they didn't get it fixed today - sooooo, he's back over there tonight seeing if he can help get it fixed. We'll see how it goes when he gets home.

I went over and went through the Yankee Candles (I can't believe how many candles I have - I should be ashamed of myself). Anyway, I got all the fall candles and put them in the new unit - I love to burn candles in the fall and winter - there is just something about having a candle burning in the house when it is cold and wet outside. Anyway, I shouldn't have to buy any new candles for awhile.

I guess I haven't done a very good job describing the new unit - I just said that it was a little bigger than our old unit - so let me address that question. Actually this unit is four feet longer - it is 37 feet long and has four slides - two in the living area, one in the kitchen, and one in the bedroom. I can't explain how much more room these four slides have made (the other unit only had two slides - living room and bedroom). As far as what kind of difference this will make in our fuel mileage we aren't sure - the unit weighs about 2,500 pounds more (two extra slides make a difference), so it will probably affect it some. However, when we bought our truck we wanted to make sure that we would be able to pull any unit we might have - that's the reason we have a diesel F-350 dually - it will pull a mountain. We got around 9 to 10 miles to the gallon with the old unit so we aren't sure what we will get. Of course, we won't be doing a lot of traveling for the next 6 months - we will just be moving down to Sebring for two months, then back up here for two months, then to Unicoi State Park in North Georgia for two months. It will be May before we hit the road again - so, I'll let you know then.

Tomorrow we are finally going to get over to the storage unit and see what we can load into the truck and what few boxes we can get into the house for our trip down to Sebring. I want to go through all the decorations and figure out what I want to keep and what I want to give away - I'll do the same with the Christmas decorations later. We also have to decide if we are going to keep our storage unit up here in Dowling Park or move our stuff down to Lake Placid/Sebring. We'll make that decision in the next month or so as I paid for six months of storage before we left in June - so I don't really have to worry until the end of next month.

We will be leaving for Lakeland on Thursday morning - we'll spend the day there - we might even go to the meeting about the stupid insurance Thursday night - we are sooooo confused about this. When Dan and I went to the doctor this morning I asked if they accepted that Medicare Blue program - and, of course, they don't. So, we are back to ground zero. We will see what happens at the meeting Thursday night. Oh, BTW, Dan had a fantastic doctor's report - his LDL was down, his total cholesterol was down and his blood pressure was way down (121/76). He had even lost two pounds in four months (I lost four pounds in four months - YEAH!) Next doctor's visit in January for Dan and we're not sure when I will because of the insurance thing. Oh well, one more thing to try and figure out. Until then ..........

Talk to you tomorrow!

Monday in Dowling Park

Today was a day of getting things finished and starting some things that hopefully we will get finished tomorrow ----

Neil came in this morning and came over to see us - then Dan went over to his house and helped him with a toilet issue (don't ask me - I don't know). I stayed at home and got some things finished up here - like transferring the insurance from the old unit to the new one. Anyway, when Carol came in this afternoon we went into town for dinner - but the place we wanted to go was closed on Monday's - sooo we went to a Bar-B-Que place instead and will probably go back into town tomorrow night to eat at this place.

We also did some running around in town - went to WalGreens and picked up some pictures that I had ordered on line - now I can actually start doing some scrapbooking of our travels. Then we ran by Lowe's so Dan could pick up some parts to fix the toilet issues for Neil.

Now, since we can't get ESPN on our TV I'll watch Dancing with the Stars. So, I'm going to sign off for tonight.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Finally Pictures!!!!!

Okay - I finally took pictures of our new home. I hope you enjoy looking at the new place - we sure are enjoying living in it - most of these are self explanatory - this is looking toward the back from the front door ................................................


This is the desk, tv, and fireplace (yes, I said fireplace). This is like the one we had in our 'sticks and bricks' house here in Dowling Park. It does have a small electric heater built in with a fan - so when it is cold we can turn this on and help heat the living room area - when it isn't cold and we just want the look we can turn it on without the heater. Nice feature for us. (OH, look - you will see my computer on it's new stand!)




Another shot toward the back .............................





This is the kitchen area and what you see when you walk in the front door - see my double door refrigerator???? It's the greatest!!!!!!






Of course, this is the bedroom - yes, we still have a king size bed (that is mandatory with the pups sleeping with us) and yes, we have hung our picture that we had over the bed in the other 'house' over the bed. On the left of this picture is a closet that we didn't have in the other unit - nice, extra storage. This is where Dan keeps his "hang up" clothes. We still have the full closet across the front of the unit - that's where I keep my "hang up" clothes and the coats and sweaters.

This is another shot of the bedroom - the double doors in the pictures is another area that we didn't have in the other unit - it has shelves which is were Dan and I keep our jeans and t-shirts - we also have the linen and towels there. Oh - did you notice the nice flat screen tv over the dresser???? NICE!!!!

and here is the washer/dryer - one of the best features of the entire 'house'!



We also got together with our friends here in the Village today and had a nice lunch on the river.

Here is Joyce and Jewel getting things set up - it was really nice to have a nice ride with friends and getting caught up.

Well, we will look forward to hearing your thoughts on our new home - I can't wait to see what you guys think.

Talk to you tomorrow!!!

A Day of Shopping

I know, I know - I thought I would get the pictures taken today also - but, as it has a way of happening, things got in the way -

First, this morning Dan decided that he wanted to finish up the projects that he started yesterday as well as put the hole in the desk for all the computer wires (you know one of those things that has the plastic cover and you feed the wires through to the plug - they are on office desks - I don't know what they are called). Anyway, he decided that he needed to run back into town to pick up a few things to finish the shelves in the pantry. Well, before we left my friend Patty came over and wanted to know if I wanted to go to Wal Mart with her. Since there were some things that we wanted from Wal Mart we decided that I would go into town with Patty and Dan would go to Lowes and get the things that he needed. I made my list and Dan made his.

Patty and I went into town and we helped each other get the things on our individual lists - I must admit I did purchase a couple of things not on the list including a lap top stand that I am using right now - it is really pretty nice - I like the angle of the keyboard now and the bottom of the computer doesn't get hot. I also bought some make-up that wasn't on the list, but other than that I stuck to the list (and by the way, I got everything on MY list). Then Patty and I went to lunch (at Wendy's). It was nice to spend a little time with my "little sister". We just had a few good hours of getting caught up and just talking about "stuff".

When we got home we found Dan on the floor working on the desk. So, I spent the rest of the afternoon helping him work on the many different projects that he has going on. (BTW, Dan did NOT get everything on his list - he says he "forgot to look at the list" and blamed it on not having a pocket on his shirt!). Oh well!

The next thing I know it is time for dinner.

Now, I had it all planned what I was going to cook for dinner - but my man didn't have that in mind at all - he had decided that he wanted to go to O'Neal's in Madison - it was fish night and Dan wanted fried fish. So, instead of eating at home we went to Madison so Dan could have his fish - ($22.00 with tip). If you are ever in Madison, Florida and want to have good homemade food on a buffet, then O'Neal's is where you need to go - not a fancy place but good food.

We have spent the rest of tonight trying to figure out the new Polk County School Board insurance plan. Insurance is sooooooo confusing and they don't make it any easier with three different plans for me and a different plan for Dan (because he is on Medicare). I don't know which plan we are going to go with at this point - we think we know, but we have to make sure that the doctors we have here at Dowling Park accept that plan - plus our prescription plan will change. Why can't people just leave things as they are - we have to go to a different provider - not Walgreens anymore - but they do still have a mail order service - so that should still work okay.

I guess the point of all this rambling is - I still didn't get pictures taken of the new unit - and I don't know if I will get it done tomorrow. We need to go to the store room and decide what fall decorations we are going to take with us down to Sebring and then we are going out on the boat again and have a picnic lunch with Bud, Joyce, and Jewel. This should be a fun time - I don't know if Dan and Bud will try any fishing or not, but Dan will be happy just being on the water.

Then tomorrow afternoon is FOOTBALL. (BTW, we can't get ESPN on our TV - no satellite service here under the trees - so we can't get the Florida game - we're watching the Texas game). I'm not sure what games we will be able to get but I'm sure that we will be able to pick up something.

Well, I think I'll stop for tonight. We'll see what tomorrow holds for us in the afternoon.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Trip on the river

Okay - I thought that we would be sticking close to home today - guess that's what I get for thinking!

Actually we did stick pretty close to home this morning - Dan got the shelves put up in the pantry and over the washer/dryer - then I put all the stuff away - you know arrange the pantry the way I wanted it and put the baskets of cleaning stuff (both clothes and 'house') up over the washer/dryer. I also made the chicken and yellow rice (finally!!) and I balanced the checkbook and paid a couple of bills. I also worked on getting the 'black book' caught up.

We had gotten an email from the volunteer coordinator in Highland Hammock a few days ago and I filled out the paperwork she had sent and got that off in the mail too. We went to the post office and picked up the mail that had been held while Bud and Joyce were in Canada (Joyce is my "mail lady") and also went over to the Village Grocer and bought a beef roast that I will fix in the crock pot one day (Dan loves pot roast!) some bacon, and a sirloin steak that we will fix on the grill. Saw a friend at the grocery store and talked to her for a couple of minutes. We also went over to the local bank and closed out our old account - so we got a little cash out of it. It was a very busy morning! Oh! I also fixed some more chicken salad for sandwiches.

Then the day fell apart - Dan had borrowed some bolt cutters from Bud so he could cut the wire shelving that he used to put the 'extra' shelves in the pantry - and this afternoon he wanted me to go with him to return them. So, we set off in the golf cart (which we have borrowed from our friends Carol and Neil) to go to Joyce and Bud's house. We see them on the road in their golf cart - they were on the way to the pontoon boat because they had a boat trip this afternoon - and they asked us to go with them. Well, of course Dan wanted to go out on the boat - so we ran to their house to drop off the bolt cutters and then we headed for the boat dock for the pontoon ride. Well, about two hours later we are back at Bud and Joyce's house. We get back to the house around 5:45 and Bud and Joyce come for dinner at 6:00 (Yeah, for the chicken and yellow rice!!!!!) I also fixed a tossed salad and some yellow squash - we even had some Coconut cake for dessert (Joyce brought some of the pickles that Dan loves!). After dinner we sat and talked for a few minutes and then I cleaned up the kitchen.

We have had a pretty busy day today - and I don't know what tomorrow will hold. I know that I said that Carol and Neil were suppose to come up here this weekend, but things haven't worked out - so they are might be coming up sometime the first part of the week. We'll just have to wait and see how things out. Until then I'm sure that Dan will figure out something for us to do - he always does.

I really don't have much else to report - so I think I'll sign off for tonight - I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!!

Laundry

Today was laundry day - and we went into town and bought a few groceries and the stuff to put the shelves up.

Tomorrow we are sticking close to home and I will take more time to blog - I'm still exhausted and I'm going to bed.

Please stay with me - I will get back to writing about what is happening - promise.

Talk to you tomorrow (bigger post!)

Dowling Park

Good evening all - well, we finally made it to Dowling Park and have set up the 'house' for the next week. We have Doctor's appointments next week, and until then I am just going to take it easy - we have worked hard the last couple of days and I think we deserve a little rest.

Now, I say I'm going to rest - that doesn't mean I won't be doing cooking, cleaning and laundry - but that is just the regular stuff. I mean I won't be moving stuff from one 'house' to another. It will be nice to sit and look through the magazines that have accumulated at my friends house for 4 months and to decide what I want to use to decorate the new 'house' with.

Dan does have a little work to do in the next week or so - we want to install a shelf above the washer/dryer to keep the laundry stuff on as well as other cleaning supplies and we also want to put a couple of shelves in the pantry to double the storage space in the pantry for cans. We will work on that this week also (that way I will be able to empty the "pantry" that was in the basement. It will be nice to have everything right in the house with easy access and be able to actually tell what I have.

Since we did not get in today as early as I originally had hoped I did not get the pictures taken, but I will do them tomorrow and have them on the blog tomorrow night - I'll also answer the questions of why we chose a new 5th wheel instead of possibly a motor coach. I'll also balance the check book and pay a couple of bills tomorrow.

Looks like I will be busy after all - so I think I'll sign off for tonight. Thanks for staying with us and things should get more interesting in the next day or so.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Boned Tired!!!!

If I thought I was tired last night I had no idea what tired is. We have worked all day and we have just about gotten everything moved into the new unit and put away - All we have left to do is to move some of our clothes - empty under the bed and clean out the drawer under the couch. We plan on being able to leave here early tomorrow and get settled in Dowling Park by early afternoon. Then I am going to rest!

We haven't just moved stuff over - we have put things away - put down new shelf liners and just really straightened things up. We have found that we can do without some things and we will get rid of those - we do have a storage unit here.

I'm not going to stay on long tonight - I'm going to go take a shower and then climb in the bed and finish watching NCIS. You guys take it easy and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

TIRED!!!!!

This is going to be very short and sweet - Dan and I are BEAT!!!!! We didn't get the new unit over to the RV park until after 3:30 this afternoon and we have been going full steam every since. We even got up early this morning - neither one of us could sleep I guess - too excited.

Anyway, I haven't taken pictures yet - want to get everything settled - so I will get them done in the next couple of days.

Dan has to go down to Dowling Park tomorrow morning first thing for blood work - I will stay here and work. Hopefully we will get everything done tomorrow - if not we will stay here an extra day - the dealership told us to take as long as we needed.

When we do get everything moved we will move down to Dowling Park for the week - we both have doctors appointments next week (Wednesday) then we will head down to Lakeland on Thursday - then we will go on down to Highland Hammock State Park and get set up at our new assignment. Hard to believe that we will start to work next Sunday - oh well, we all have to work at some point in time and we have had about 6 weeks off.

Well, everyone, I hope that you are having a good week and I'll get pictures posted of the new unit soon - Until then - I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Georgia

It's been a while since I have blogged, but I have a really good excuse. We left New York on Wednesday. We made really good time and finally stopped in southern West Virginia at Wal Mart and boon docked for the night. Dan woke me up at 4:30 Thursday morning and we were on the road at 4:51 (when your boon docking you don't have to worry about making coffee!) Anyway, we set off and made it into the state park (Hard Labor Creek State Park) by the middle of the afternoon on Thursday.

So, you might ask, why has it been four days since I have blogged? Well, would you believe that there was absolutely NO cell phone or air card service at the park - who would believe that a state park just outside Atlanta would not have cell phone or air card service. Anyway, we did go into Loganville and saw Mom Thursday evening for a couple of hours - then we went to Wal Mart and stocked up on a few groceries. Friday we went back in to see Mom and had dinner with her then we spent about 3 hours showing her all the pictures from the trip on my computer (so no time to blog then either - we didn't leave her house until almost 10 and Dan was not in the mood to let me blog and be any later getting home!)

Last night we met Crystal and Kim at a restaurant in Livonia for dinner - it was closer to met out on Interstate 20 then it was to go all the way into Atlanta (we were about 60 miles from the connector in Atlanta). We had a nice dinner and a nice visit. I really wanted Dan to see the loft, but we just didn't have the time on this trip. We'll have to do that next time we are up near Atlanta. We'll have to make a trip into town when we are up at Unicoi in the spring. (Plus it will give the girls time to finish putting everything away and getting things settled.)

We left Hard Labor Creek this morning and got into the KOA in Lake Park this afternoon. Once again you might ask why we are staying at a KOA in Lake Park when Dowling Park is only about 45 minutes down the road? Well, it really is a simple answer - we bought a new unit and will take delivery on it tomorrow. Okay, I can hear some members of our family jaws hitting the floor. We bought another Montana 5th wheel - just a little longer and it has four slides instead of two. It will give us so much more room - plus I get a larger refrigerator (double door) and a larger pantry (practically a whole wall) and a WASHER AND DRYER in the unit (YAHOO!!!!) and Dan gets a large screen TV in the living room. Oh, I also get a desk area so I won't be sitting at the dining room table all the time when I'm on the computer. We are really excited about getting the new unit - and I am so proud of us that we hadn't told anyone until yesterday.

We will be spending tomorrow and Tuesday moving everything from this unit to the new one and then we will move down to Dowling Park on Tuesday afternoon. I'll take pictures of the new unit and post them on the blog tomorrow.

Well, I am going to sign off for tonight - we are glad to be back in Florida and look forward to seeing our other three daughters next week.

I'll explain more about why we chose to buy a new unit and why we decided to stay with a 5th wheel in the next couple of days.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Old Fort Niagara

Okay - I probably should have put this picture last since this is the line we were in coming back over the border from Canada. It probably took us about half an hour to get through customs - but we didn't complain. I mean - this is our line of defense so if we are a little inconvenienced that's not a big deal. I just thought you guys would like to see what we went through.

We did ride over and go to Niagara-on-the-Lake and rode through the town looking around - it really is a pretty little town - lots of beautiful flowers all around. We ate lunch at a nice little boutique hotel with a dining room. Was really good food, but VERY expensive - we split a sandwich that came with fries - Dan had water and I had a cup of coffee (which cost $3.25 for a single cup of coffee!!!!) and we spent $35.00. We didn't do anything else - we just got back in the car and headed back to the states. The group from Dowling Park was held up and didn't know when they would get to the town so we didn't meet up with them. We thought we would go back over and meet them for dinner tonight (they were going to a casino for dinner) but after the time it took to get through customs both ways we decided to stay at home - so I fixed dinner here (spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread). We'll see the group in Florida next week.

Before we went over to Canada we went to Old Fort Niagara -

this is the old light house at the fort - it really isn't that tall compared to some that we have on the Atlantic coast, but then I don't guess it had to be that tall.



This was taken inside the fort - they called the building that Dan is walking toward the "French Castle" - it was really pretty cool. I took quite a few pictures of the inside and I'll post this link at the end of the blog for tonight. If you look closely you will see a man in a red jacket - well, that's a man portraying a British soldier and he gave a demonstration of musket firing. Pretty neat.

We are all hooked up to the truck - Dan wants to get an early start in the morning - he is even going to set the alarm to make sure we get up. We'll grab a quick cup of coffee and hit the road - Dan wants to get as far south tomorrow as we can, so Thursday won't be such a hard ride. To tell the truth - it will be nice to get in some warmer weather - I don't think we packed the right clothes for this weather - the high today was only around 49 and the wind was blowing again - it was cold! I just brought my denim jacket and it just isn't made for this type of weather. Anyway - I'll be glad to get out of the cold and warm my toes again.

I really don't have that much else to report for today - tomorrow will be a day of riding in the truck - I'll try and take some pictures out the truck window - or when we stop for the pups to take a potty break. I have to say that this has been an interesting few months - I don't know what the next couple of months are going to hold for us - we have never been campground hosts and it will be an adventure I'm sure. I guess it is just going to be different - we will be "home" but we won't have a 'sticks and bricks' home. We'll just to wait and see how it goes - it will just be different, but it will be fine.

If I don't post tomorrow night it will because we are boondocking and just stopping to sleep - so don't worry - I'll get everyone caught up when we get to Georgia. You guys take care - oh! just wanted to let Dana and Cara know that I am still working on getting Dan's hair in a pony tail - I think it will look better.

Opps! I almost forgot to put the link in - here it is.

And here is a link to the pictures from Niagara.

You guys take care and I'll talk to you tomorrow (maybe!).

Niagara Falls

Hello all - well, today was our first day at THE falls - and it certainly lived up to what I was expecting - they are AWESOME!!!!! This is both the falls - the horseshoe falls on the Canadian side and the American falls - the picture was taken from the bridge walking over to the Canadian - will explain why we walked later.

This is the falls on the American side - it was also taken on the bridge going over to Canada.

We did the 'Maid of the Mist' today - it was so cool - literally. Dan needed help getting his poncho tied and it was a good thing that I was able to tie it for him! We thought that we would just get some mist from the falls - I mean the name of the boats is Maid of the MIST - but boy was that the wrong assumption. I mean it was like you were in a hurricane rain storm - but we just stood there getting soaked and laughed our heads off - it was so neat. (But it is really a good thing that it was not as cold today as it was yesterday!)

This shows both the American side and the Canadian side - I can not tell you how impressed we are with the falls.

Maybe you can see why we really enjoyed this stop. (Today was MUCH better than yesterday!)

Now, the group from Dowling Park got here today - well, actually they are staying on the Canadian side. We thought we would just drive over and meet them for dinner - WRONG!!!!! Little did we know that this weekend was Canada's Thanksgiving and there was NO WAY you were going to drive over the border - cars were lined up for miles and miles - it didn't help any that the border guards on the Canadian side are on strike and only one or two of the lines were open. Anyway, we decided that we would walk across - which is what we did. It was much faster - we walked across the bridge (thus the first two pictures) and met the group for dinner. It only took us about 30 - 40 minutes to walk from the Niagara Falls parking lot, across the bridge, to the restaurant. It was after 8:30 by the time we left and this is the shot that I got on the way back to the American side ---------------------------------------------------------

Pretty awesome huh?????

We had a really good day today and we are going to go over to Niagara-On-The-Lake tomorrow - which is over on the Canadian side - we will also visit some of the forts from the War of 1812. Should be an interesting day - I'm looking forward to it.

I'm still having a problem with the internet here - not a good connection or something - so I have not been able to download all the pictures to the web so I can't share them tonight - but I will try and download them after we leave and start heading south again. We will have one night on the road before we get into Atlanta this weekend. If I can't do it on the road I'm sure I will be able to once we get into the State Park in Georgia.

I just wanted to say Welcome to the Blog to Bruce - Dan and I will be more than happy to give you as much information about this lifestyle as we can - if you would like to email us directly just let me know and I'll give you our email address. To the rest of you that are following along - it's good to know that you guys are there - it's keeps us going to see your comments.

Well, I'm going to sign off for tonight - I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Four Mile Creek Campground, New York

We are at Four Mile Creek Campground in New York - which is about 20 miles from Niagara Falls. It is COLD!!!!! It is also windy which makes the cold even worse!!!! I'm going to be looking for my long underwear that I think I brought (I hope I brought) before we go to the falls tomorrow.

This is a shot of Lake Ontario (which is in the background on the picture above). Dan says it looks like the ocean - you can't see the other side - which is what defines a lake to us. As you can see in this picture there were white caps on the water. It was a beautiful day - as you can see in the picture - blue sky and just a few clouds - but the picture doesn't show the temperature which was around 47 as the high today and the wind it was probably in the 30's. Cold!!!!

This is a picture of Toronto, Canada across the lake - it is about 30 miles away straight across the water pretty cool.

Now we did have a huge scare today - we went on that scenic route (which was not that scenic by the way) and we were bucking the head wind. Well, there were NO gas stations much less a place to get diesel fuel - we finally got to the campground with 6 miles to empty on the fuel gauge. I asked the girl at the check-in where the nearest place was to get diesel and she told us a place in town (about 10 miles ). Well, we start into town and the fuel gauge keeps going down and we get to 0 miles to empty and we are still 2 miles away from the gas station. Well, we keep our fingers crossed and say a few prayers to get to the station. We get to the station and guess what - it's CLOSED! Well, we go into a store next door to look in the phone book and see if there is someplace close - well the nearest place is like 10 miles away on an Indian Reservation. I go back out to the truck to get the Garmin to program the name of the station in and sitting beside our truck was our guardian angel - I told her our problem and she said she would lead us to a station where she knew there was diesel - the problem was it was about 10 miles away and we are already past empty - but she said she would lead us and if we ran out we could go to her house and get a diesel can and she would take us to buy fuel and back to the truck (Dan was worried because he said that IF we did run out he didn't know if he could get it started again - you are NOT suppose to run out of fuel in a diesel). Anyway, to make a long story short we did make it to the fuel station - but Dan and I were both on our last nerve. Let's just say that we will not let that happen again - maybe we need an spare fuel can with us. Anyway, I was not in a good mood the rest of the day.

Then to make a bad day worse - we get back to the 'house' I call Dish Network to get the local stations and guess what - we CAN'T GET THEM -seems like we have the wrong satellite arc on our dish - we have the western arc and we need the eastern arc now - I don't understand, and I was not a happy camper. The main people that handle the RV accounts do not work on the weekend - so we have to wait until tomorrow to call them - Dan is ready to just get rid of the whole system - he says that they have not fulfilled their end of the bargain so why should we. I'm sure this saga is not over yet. So, the reason we got the dish to begin with - to watch football - we have not seen football since we left Michigan. I am NOT happy, but I guess things could be worse.

I'll just have to concentrate on having a good time at the falls tomorrow and taking pictures and staying warm. Tuesday the group from Dowling Park is suppose to be on the Canada side and we will meet them at Niagara on the Lake and then we are headed south - I don't like this cold weather and I'm ready for a little bit of warmth.

Well, I don't have anything else to report - I guess I've been in a 'bitchey' mood tonight - I'll be better tomorrow. Hope you guys had a better weekend then we did - and that you have a good week. Crystal and Kim, we will be in Atlanta this coming weekend - can't wait to show Dan the loft!

Okay, guys, I'm going to sign off for tonight - I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Bath, New York

I know, I know - this isn't a very good picture BUT it was taken out the window of the truck as we were traveling down the road PLUS it was raining. I was really just trying to show how much color is on the mountains. It is really very pretty and we have really seen a change in the color in the last week. Much more color now.

Anyway, we got here to the park about 1:00 and came in and turned on the satellite - ahhhh, yes! TV!!!!! College football!!!! The only problem is we can't get the Gator game because it is on CBS and we can't get local channels here - we are too far away to pick up the stations in Buffalo - so we are watching the Texas - Colorado game - and it is turning into a good game.

I also got the laundry done (YAHOO!!!!!!) It is certainly a good feeling to know that all the laundry is done and put away - I know that for some that just isn't a big deal but I really don't like to have a lot of dirty laundry hanging over my head. I know, I'm just a little strange, but it could be worse (I guess!)

We will leave in the morning and take a scenic route up to the campground. We will go through Rochester and then drive along the lake - it is marked on the map as a scenic route. The people that are next door to us are from Buffalo and they said it is a really pretty drive. They also told Dan that we shouldn't have any problem on the road this time of the year (in other words, we shouldn't have any 'lake effect snow'. (Speaking of snow, according the The Weather Channel, it has been snowing in Island Park, Idaho every day - 1 to 3 inches - for the last week - I wish I knew what the accumulation is). It is suppose to be cool here all week - high in the 40's and maybe some rain on Tuesday. We'll just keep watching the weather.

Well, I don't have much else to report - I will keep you posted on the weather and I hope to have more pictures for you tomorrow (maybe I'll even have enough that I'll have to post a link - you think???) I hope you guys are having a good weekend and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Oh yeah, hello to Ruth Ann, Linda and Darrell - glad to hear from you and to know that you are following along on the blog - you too Chris. Hope you guys will stay with us!

Okay - talk to you tomorrow!

Last day in Pennsylvania

Today was our last day in Pennsylvania - we rode around a little this morning - this is a picture of the countryside - I know that you really can't see the fall colors but they are there. Actually, the mountain today reminded me a lot of the Smokey Mountain - all the clouds down in the valley.

It was damp and cold again today - I don't think we have had the small electric heater off in the 'house' all week. It rained again last night - so things never really warmed up - it has been sorta funny - we will have a nice day, then the next day will rain, then nice, then wind, then nice, then rain. Just been one of those kinds of weeks.



We did go for a walk today in the woods - this is my big guy walking ahead of me - it was really pretty down in the woods - as you can see there are plenty of ferns growing and the pups had lots of fun running around and chasing the chipmunks - yes, there are chipmunks here and they have been driving the dogs crazy - they just sit in the chair - or up on Dan's shoulder- and whine and whine to get out and chase the 'chippies' as Don's dad called them. Too funny!!!

I told you last night that Dan said he had a lot of firewood to burn today - well, I don't think he burned it all - he would start a fire and then it would start raining on him and he would come inside for a little while - then back out to burn some more. Anyway, I guess he will leave the firewood here - as we can not take it with us to the park in New York.

Tomorrow we will get up and get packed up to head for New York state - we are spending tomorrow at Bath, New York - about 2 or 3 hours up the road. Dan wants to get there in time to watch some football and I want to watch the games and get the laundry done. (I told you last night how excited I am about doing laundry - really, no kidding!) Anyway, then Sunday morning we will pack up and head for Buffalo New York - the state park we are staying in there is right on Lake Ontario. Which is pretty neat I think - I have never seen Lake Ontario - I have seen Lake Erie when I was a little kid (well, not that little - I was probably around 14 years old and we went up to visit my aunt and uncle - and we went to the World's Fair in Montreal Canada - they don't even have World's Fairs anymore - boy, that shows you how old I am!) Anyway, I have never been on this side of New York State and I am looking forward to seeing how different the fall colors are since we are heading north.

I am also excited about seeing our friends from Dowling Park at Niagara Falls - probably on Tuesday. I don't think they are suppose to get to Niagara until Monday afternoon - we might be able to see them then, but they are staying on the Canadian side and we are on the US side. I don't think we will have a problem, because, as I said earlier, we do have our passports with us. I don't know it will be just trying to work out our schedules because they are with a tour group and we are on our own, of course. Anyway, we'll see how things work out. I think the best thing will be to meet up at Niagara-on-the-Lake on Tuesday (so, Joyce and Jewel, if you are reading this see if that makes sense to you.) We'll touch base by phone the first of the week.

Well, I don't really have much else to report. I hope you guys have had a good week. We certainly haven't had many comments this week, but then we haven't done much to deserve commenting on. Oh well, next week will be better - I'll have more to report on and many more pictures. Okay, I'm going to sign off for tonight and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Nothing new

Well, today was another do nothing day - although the weather was nice - we did go into town and visit with Don's parents for a couple of hours. We did enjoy meeting them and talking with them - they are certainly very nice people.

After we left their home we went into Jersey Shore to the grocery store - yes, we had to go to the store again - Dan used all the eggs and bread - we sure do not seem to be doing a very good job of planning our trips to the grocery store. I think we are all set now and won't need to go back to the store tomorrow. Actually we are going to eat leftovers for supper tomorrow - we still have soup in the fridge as well as leftovers from last night and tonight - so tomorrow we clean the refrigerator.

We have changed our plans a little - at first we had planned on staying here through Saturday and then heading up to Buffalo and Niagara Falls Sunday, however; since we don't have television reception and we both want to watch the college games on Saturday we are going to go half way to Buffalo Saturday morning. Actually Dan says that it is only about four hours up to Buffalo from here - so if we drive about two hours we should be able to reach the campground that I made reservations at for Saturday evening - we will be in Bath, New York. I will actually be able to do laundry there (Yahoo!!!!) Who would have ever believed that I would get really excited about doing laundry - but when you don't have a washer/dryer in your unit and you haven't done laundry since before you went to Atlanta the idea of doing laundry on Saturday is VERY EXCITING!!!!!

Tomorrow we will get things packed up around here - Dan says he has lots of firewood to burn (you can't take firewood with you into parks anymore - they are afraid of bug infestation in the trees) I'll just work on the farm (for those of you that do Farmville you will understand).

Well, that's all I have to report tonight - I hope everyone had a good day and I'll talk to you tomorrow!!!

Cleaning Day

Well today was a bummer day - it was cold and windy (I mean really windy - gusts up to 30 miles per hour) - the high today was only 52 and with the wind - it was just nasty. Dan didn't even go out and build a fire - so you know the weather was rotten!!!

I spent most of the day cleaning house - I rearranged some stuff in the kitchen cabinets - everything gets turned over and messed up when we are on the road - bumpy roads play havoc on the organization. We even had to get out and find a place to throw away our garbage. Where we are staying doesn't have a garbage pickup place so we had to find a dumpster - luckily there is a state park just down the road (about 5 miles) and they had a dumpster. I'm not sure if we were suppose to use it - but it was better than littering - right???

I really don't have anything else to report - we didn't go out except to find a place for the garbage - hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow - it did rain hard last night and then the wind today - just not a good day for much of anything - The pups didn't even want to go outside. Oh well - tomorrow is another day.

Cara, thanks for the comment the other day - I just read it this morning - in answer to your question we are right off I-80 - so we are north and a little east of Greencastle. It is really pretty up here - every day it seems like the trees are getting more and more color (what the wind hasn't blown off today!). Dana - good luck with the hair color - I sure hope it doesn't turn out like the tree, but I have faith in Cori.

Dennis - those falling prices will get you every time - so watch out!

I'm done for today- take care and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Just riding around

Today was a good day to just ride around and look at the scenery. This is a picture of a field just down the road from where we are staying - it is really pretty - and very deserted. There is no one any where near us. Which in one way is really nice - the pups and can and chase chipmunks all they want.

This is a creek that runs right beside the road on the way to Wal Mart - yes, we had to go back today - we forgot a couple of things yesterday - like butter and paper towels. We really didn't spend that much money today at the store and it did give us a reason to get out.

Don's (the man who owns the property we are staying on) parents came to see us this morning - we had a nice little visit. They were here about an hour I guess - it was a nice visit and we can sure see where Don gets his smile - from his mom. Anyway, it was a nice morning and it was really laid back also.

Now this next picture is one that I don't think you will see in a lot of places --------- if you look very carefully you will see what I mean---------------------------------

Do you have any idea what you are looking at ----- beside the parking lot of Wal Mart?????? No????? Well how about a hitching post for the Amish buggies to park at - yep, that is what it is. Pretty neat huh????

Well, I don't really have anything else to report - I played a little on Farmville today - and tomorrow I will clean the 'house'. We are going to have to find a place to throw our garbage away at sometime soon - oh, the trials and tribulations!

I hope you all are having a good week - can't believe I didn't get any comments last night - you guys awake???? Crystal - I know that you and Kim leave for New York tomorrow - I hope you have a grand time. See a Broadway play for me and tell Mandy hello for me also.

To everyone else - I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Day two in Pennsylvania

Hello everyone - I promised pictures of the place we were staying so here they are - this is the road into the property. As you can see, it's not that much of a road. Now you can understand why we were glad that Dave met us and showed us the way in.

Dan has had a fire going almost the entire time we have been here - it has been cold and damp all day - we have had the small electric heater on in the main part of the 5th wheel all day.

This is one of the trees that is showing it's color - not all the trees have turned yet, but it is only the first week in October. I have been somewhat surprised at the amount of color that is in the trees this early. Maybe tomorrow we will go out for a ride and I'll take some more pictures to show you.

This is behind the 5th wheel - as you can tell it is just a nice wooded area. It is really pretty - sorta park like, but because of all the trees we can't get any TV reception - which means NO FOOTBALL!!! And tonight is a big game - Minnesota vs the Packers. All I can do is hope that Brett does a good job and Aaron Rogers doesn't. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Oh - I did do the books today and we did HORRIBLE!!!!! Of course, buying the motorcycles didn't help any and we are on the road again - we have also discovered that when we are with family we eat out more which means we spend more money. Dan and I also bought some clothes - mine for the trip to Atlanta and Dan because he needed some new shirts - but they are all short sleeve knit shirts and I don't know when he will wear them. Anyway, we did not do well at all - so we need to get back on the budget this month even though we are on the road. Even without the purchase of the motorcycles we were off budget. Oh well, we will just have to do better this month.

Today, I have spent a lot of time on line playing "Farmville" on Face Book. If you haven't played it don't!!!!! It's very habit forming! I'll also need to check on my usage on the air card. I haven't look at it all day. I don't know how much air time I'm using. That may limit my time on Farmville.

Well, I don't have much else to report - hope you enjoy the pictures and continue to send comments. BTW - a belated Birthday wish to Carol J. Hope you had a good day.

On top of the mountain

Hello all - well, we made it to Don's property without a problem. We were only about 40 miles from the property and we called Dave - Don's friend that sorta oversees the property - and he met us and helped us to get settled. I don't know if we would have found it without his help. It is just down a little path - but the place is beautiful. Just out in the middle of the woods - but we have all the comforts of home (or just about) - electricity, water, and sewer. The only thing we don't have is TV - no reception because of the trees. Oh well, it just means I'll get caught up on my reading over the next few days.

I'm sorry, I did not take pictures again today - but I will tomorrow. After we got all set up we went into the Wal Mart Super Center about 20 miles away. Picked up a few things and then came home - I fixed a pot of homemade soup in the Crock Pot for dinner. It was a packet of soup that a friend down in Dowling Park had given us. It was a little spicy for me, but other than that it was pretty good.

Oh! I almost forgot - I opened a Face Book account this afternoon and I'm on Farmville now. If any of you out there want to be a "friend" please let me know - or if you want to be one of my "neighbors" on the farm let me know too. I'm just learning how all this works - Face Book and Farmville. Right now I have Strawberries, Eggplant and Wheat planted. I probably should have left some of my field's empty since I started so late in the day. Oh well, we'll see how it goes - but if anyone has any advice for me please let me know - I need all the help I can get.

I'm not sure what we are going to do tomorrow - Dan just likes to sit outside by his fire pit and look around - I'm not sure what he thinks about when he is sitting there - but he does enjoy it and that's fine. I want him to do whatever makes him happy.

Right now the plan is for us to be in Buffalo, New York next Monday and spend three days there - we'll get to see Niagara Falls and meet our friends from Dowling Park. Other than that I don't think we have any plans for around here. We are too far from Philadelphia to make a day trip down there and we are too far from New York to go there - sooooo, I guess we'll just hang around here and take it easy. Tomorrow I will balance the check book - pay the bills, and balance the "black book" to see how we did this month - with all the traveling and the purchase of the two motorcycles I am pretty sure we did not do well at all. But the truth is in the figures. I will let you know what the truth is tomorrow.

Well, I don't have anything else to report. Hope all is going well with all of you - Dana, we haven't heard from you in a while -let us know how things are - either on the blog or give us a call - we get worried when we don't hear from you. Crystal and Kim - I know you are getting ready for your trip to New York, but I hope you are getting things done in the loft also. Melissa, I'm sure you are still unpacking things in the new house - I'll be there in about a month. Carol and Betsy - I'm sure you guys are getting excited about your upcoming trip - hope you enjoy. Ruth Ann, aren't you on Face Book???? Let me know how to do things.

Okay guys - Hope to hear from you and until then - I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Pennsylvania

Hello all - this is going to be short and sweet. We drove all the way through Ohio today and are within 30 miles of our destination - but it got dark and we don't know exactly where we are going. Sooooo, we pulled into a KOA campground off the interstate and we will go on in tomorrow. We have not been able to get a hold of Dave yet - he is the caretaker for the place we are going to stay for the next week or so. Have I ever told you about this place???? Well, it belongs to Don, the guy we bought our 5th wheel from. He owns some land here in Pennsylvania and he set up about 5 camping spots - with electricity, water, the whole bit. Anyway, he invited us to come up and spend as much time as we want here. Originally we thought we would stay about three weeks but due to some other commitments we won't be able to do that. Anyway, we are looking forward to getting there tomorrow.

There is much more color on the trees here than there was in Indiana and the scenery is beautiful - since we drove all day and it's dark now I don't have any pictures to show you, but I will have some for you tomorrow.

The KOA campground is wooded so we don't have a TV signal tonight - which means we will go to bed early tonight and maybe do some reading for a little while and then off to "nightie-night". I have already gotten the coffee ready for in the morning, so that's one chore I don't have to worry about. Tomorrow morning, before we go up to the campsite, we will look for a grocery store - The refrigerator is empty - we ate leftovers for dinner tonight (yeah for fried chicken from the Blue Gate Restaurant in Shipshewana!).

I don't have anything else to report so I will sign off for tonight - Talk to you tomorrow!!!

Another day in Shipshawana

I know - I said that we were going to leave Shipshewana this morning - but we decided to stay another day. We spent the day shopping (yes, we did a few things) and staying inside out of the weather. It was damp, cold, windy, and some rain. One of the main reasons we decided to stay another day was the weather - the wind was horrible. We decided that we did not want to buck the wind. So, since we were unable to do the shopping we wanted to do yesterday it gave us the perfect opportunity to stay.

The one thing that we did not expect when we came here was the quality of the food. We have eaten out several times (three times we've had dinner out at the Blue Gate) and we have not had a since bad item - from lunch sandwich and soup to dinner. Even dessert's are good. It is really a good thing that we are leaving tomorrow - at least we can get back on our somewhat diet.

We went to the Amish - Mennonite story today - which was very interesting. It explained some of the differences between the two and some of their core beliefs. It was set up in different rooms with movies explaining the two religions. I'm glad we went. In fact I did not realize that Shipshewana has both Amish and Mennonites living here. The Mennonite are much more "liberal" in their thinking - allowing their followers to drive cars and go to college to name just a couple of things. As I said, it was very enlightening.

I really don't have much to report tonight - we are leaving in the morning (I promise) and heading for Pennsylvania. I'm not sure if I will post tomorrow night or if I will wait until we get to Pennsylvania - it will depend on what time we stop and where we stay. BTW, the picture posted at the top was one that DAN took while I was in Atlanta - it is of a deer in the field behind the 5th wheel in Michigan at the Nazarene Campground - thought I would let you see how Dan takes pictures.

Take care and I hope that you have a great weekend!

Talk to you tomorrow (maybe!).

Shipshewana

Today was a good day out looking around and seeing the country - first we rode around town before we headed over to South Bend - the farms of the Amish are lovely - very well kept and you would be surprised the size of the farms - most are very large. However, there is NO electricity in the homes. They do have natural gas (probably used for cooking) and fireplaces. Beautiful horses that are very well taken care of. I was surprised that the Amish do not just live in the Shipshewana area but up in Goshen and Elkhart as well. I'm sure that we will see some more in the Pennsylvania area.

Then we traveled over to South Bend to the Notre Dame campus.

Of course, for those of you that don't know, this is "touchdown Jesus" on the campus of Notre Dame. I didn't know how this mural became know as "touchdown Jesus" before - but the story goes that the students started calling this mural, which is on the side of a library, "touchdown Jesus" because His arms are raised as a ref would raise his arms to signal a touchdown and it is visible from the stadium. It is really pretty cool in person - the picture really doesn't show it very well.

Of course, this is the practice field on campus - but the team was not practicing while we were there - people were setting up a whole lot of tents getting ready for the home game on Saturday.

This is the stadium.

And another shot of the stadium - can you tell that I am a football fan??? I wore my Notre Dame cap today and everywhere I went I heard "Like your cap". It was neat being able to wear my cap in an area where it would be appreciated - just as a side note, for those of you that may not know me, No I did not graduate from Notre Dame - I went to Florida Southern College for my undergrad degree and University of South Florida for my Master's degree.

Anyway, this is a beautiful campus. We did not see too much - as it is a pedestrian campus and Dan is not a walker per se (plus it was pretty cool weather wise). However, the parts of the campus we saw were lovely.

We also went to Goshen and Elkhart - Dan wanted to go to the Keystone factory - which we were finally able to find (after going to Elkhart TWICE). Anyway, we were able to go to the factory and talk to some people, which made Dan happy. BUT a trip that was only suppose to take about two hours took ALL day! So we were not able to do as much in Shipshewana as I wanted to.

I did not take pictures of the Amish themselves, as I have read that they do not like to have their picture taken, but I did take a couple of pictures of the buggies they drive.

This is by the Bulk food store that we went into - we actually bought a couple of things (like homemade wheat bread and wheat noodles). When we went out of the store Dan asked some ladies if we could look inside the buggy - which they were very polite and let us - they are all different -some fancier than others (just like cars are all different). The horses are absolutely beautiful and you can tell that they are very well taken care of. As you can see in this picture, one of the buggies even had a little cart behind it.

We went to the Blue Gate Restaurant again for dinner tonight - we even had the same waitress (who was a wonderful waitress). Last night we had fried chicken but tonight we had bar-b-que pork ribs with a baked potato and Amish baked beans. It was excellent. Dan also had a piece of Old Fashion Cream Pie - which is brown sugar, cream, vanilla - and it was very good also (I had a couple of bites). I brought home an apple dumpling which I will eat later. We did not do any real shopping - we did walk into a store and look around - didn't buy anything though. We did go to the bakery at the Blue Gate and bought a couple of nut rolls for breakfast in the morning and some white chocolate pretzels (I love white chocolate pretzels NOT yogurt covered pretzels). We also bought a book about the Amish - to answer a few of our own questions.

Tomorrow we will leave here and start going toward Pennsylvania - I guess we will probably get there on Saturday or Sunday - we are not going to be in a big hurry. It is raining tonight and pretty cool - I don't know what the weather is suppose to be tomorrow - we weren't here to hear the news, but I'm sure we'll be able to handle it.

I have really enjoyed our stay here in Shipshewana and I would enjoy coming back at some time and do a little more looking around - like in some of the quilt shops. The people that we have talked to have been very friendly, but we have found out that they (the Amish people) also speak Pennsylvania Dutch as well as English. From what we have read that helps them stay separated from the "outside" world. There are many conflicting ideas - such as them being so friendly but also staying separated from us on the outside - That they don't own vehicles but are allowed to ride in cars (our waitress comes to work in a van that the restaurant sends to pick the girls up because it would take her over an hour with a horse and buggy - plus that is not good for the horses to be on the road that long). Oh, I forgot - on the road the buggies have their own lane right beside the lanes that the cars use. And the sound that the horses make as they trot down the road is just unmistakable - it will be a sound that I will remember for a long time.

Well, I guess I will close for tonight - thanks for the recommendation to come here - I'm glad we did. If you have any questions, please let me know - thanks for the comments last night - it's good to hear from you - please keep them coming!

Until then - talk to you tomorrow!