Six Questions of the Week....Health

Okay, while we are busy at Disney, thought I'd toss a few more questions of the week. Be patient when you post comments...it will take a bit before I can get online and approve them (keeps the spammers down). So here we go!

1. Do you think you are in better, worse or the same health compared to when you started RVing?
2. Do you go back to the same place every year for your workups/checkups?
3. Nasty question....weight up, down or essentially the same since you started RVing?
4. Do you think you get enough exercise on a regular basis?
5. Do you eat out more than once or twice a week?
6. How have your cooking/eating habits changed since you went RVing?

Here are our answers:

1. Stu says he's a little worse thanks to his knees. I think I'm in slightly better (other than weight) because I am taking two less prescriptions.
2. We go back to Stu's home area here in Maryland every fall for our checkups.
3. Stu's weight is down, mine is up. (What's up with that? LOL)
4. Nope but we're working on it. We were better last winter when we were walking every day. Once we get back from Disney we'll be tackling the bicycles (better for Stu's knee till he gets it repaired). We'll also be opening and I'll be using the Wii Just Dance.
5. Unfortunately, yes. Again, we were down to 1-2 times a week last winter. Now we're up to a lot more. Got to get back down to the 1-2 mark.
6. Our biggest change has been throwing out all processed foods. We use only whole grain cereal, breads, crackers and pasta. We use only frozen or fresh vegetables and we eat a lot of fresh fruit. 

So hope this little survey doesn't offend anyone...remember, you don't have to answer at all!

Here's to many more healthy years for ALL of us!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Check!

Phone calls made - CHECK.
Clean sheets - CHECK.
Laundry done - CHECK.
Doctor appointment done - CHECK.
Bloodwork done - CHECK.
MRI for Stu done - CHECK.
Multiple errands run - CHECK.
Saddlebags installed on my motorcycle - CHECK.
New seats put on both bicycles - CHECK.
Stuff put away where it belongs - CHECK.

Tickets and other paperwork printed for Disney - CHECK.
Visit with puppies, two hours of puppy kisses - CHECK.
Dinner with family and friends x 3 - CHECK, CHECK, CHECK.

I leave Sunday morning to fly to Atlanta to see my daughter and grandkids. On Monday Stu and granddaughter Olivia will fly from Baltimore to Orlando and I will fly with my grandson Joshua will fly from Atlanta to Orlando. Then the fun begins....

Stu has worked out all our daily itineraries, meals, parks, etc so all we have to do is survive the five days. LOL! We will be using Disney's Photo Pass for some of the pictures but I will try to capture some others as well. I don't expect to be posting much till we are back home. Stu will arrive home on Saturday but I will spend a couple of days in Atlanta visiting my daughter so won't be home until Tuesday.

So bear with us....we will be back!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Building up our gear list....

We're starting to build our list of items we need to take with us for our Route 66 ride. Besides the normal motorcycle gear & daily clothes/toiletry items, this is the start of the list.

• Kelty Grand Mesa 6 Tent (traveling with dog, need the room)
• Kelty Grand Mesa footprint
• 2 Kelty camp pillows
• 2 sleeping bags
• Queen air mattress
• 2 GCI Outdoor Express Chairs
• 1 Folding Aluminum Side Table
• 1 Roll-top Table
• Coleman 2-Burner Fold 'N Go InstaStart Stove
• Texsport Nesting pots/pan set
• Fozzils Flat Dinnerware for 2
• Melitta coffee 1 cup maker
• Assorted cooking utensils
• Cooler
• LED and solar lights
• Various items for the pup

I'm sure I will be adding to the list but this is our start. Got any must haves that we've missed or that you recommend?

We still have to see how all this will fit in/on the cargo trailer and bikes. Should be interesting. We recently got two Harley-Davidson tourpack luggage racks to mount on the top of BRAT.

They will be mounted with the upper edges to the front and back of BRAT. Should work well...we hope. LOL!

Oh, Sadie (our new pup) will ride in the back seat of the trike so our luggage will all go into either the trike's trunk or in/on BRAT. We're assuming that all our motorcycle gear will fit in the trunk and my saddlebags, freeing up the inside of BRAT for camping gear and a large bag of clothes.

We will be doing several packing tests before we head out in May. I expect we'll be taking less clothes than we (me) think we need. Hee-hee! So any and all thoughts, suggestions...feel free.

Ride safe,
Stu and Donna

Settled in for a few weeks...

We arrived in Stevensville, MD early afternoon on Saturday. We got the rig settled in and the bikes unloaded. Our stepdaughter has some new neighbors since we were here last fall. Across the street one new neighbor was having a birthday party for their daughter. They came over to meet us and take a peek at our rig.

Next door was a HUGE biker party....real bikers...a motorcycle club. Although the music was loud and the crowed a little noisy, we just ran our air conditioner. A few obviously planned to spend the night...we saw tents being erected in the back yard. Not sure how that worked out since the rain moved in and stayed all night long and most of Sunday. LOL!

Sunday and Monday were chore days for us. We got caught up on a bunch of little chores as well as tackling some more major ones. I cleaned out a box of clothes to send to my daughter in Colorado. Stu repaired my paperplate holder that I bought on eBay and got it mounted, freeing up some counter space. He also hung the coffee filter dispenser, freeing up even more. Heck, I might find the stovetop if this keeps up. We splurged with a Domino's pizza...YUMMY!!

Today while Stu worked on my motorcycle, changing out the location of the directionals in order to mount my new saddlebags, I worked on cleaning out some unused kitchen items.

Since today was my birthday, we headed out on Big Red for a movie. Our first stop was at Annapolis Harley-Davidson to pick up some red lenses for my rear directionals. In addition to moving my lights, we added Kuryakin's 3-way Run-Turn-Brake controller to make my bike more visible. Now when I hit the brakes, all three rear lights will flash 5 times before turning solid. We also picked up the service manual for the SuperLow.

For the movie I picked Resident Evil: Afterlife. It wasn't quite what I expected from the movie trailers but I still enjoyed it (better than Zombieland). We then stopped at Costco for some fruit and veggies on the way home. Last stop of the night was at the Double T Diner in Annapolis for some pie & ice cream. For a change I got cherry and Stu got blueberry. Both were very good but the portions were HUGE and neither of us got eat it all. LOL!

Tomorrow we are having lunch with our good friends, Larry & Judi. Still waiting to hear if we are having dinner with Stu's girls or if it will be Wednesday night. Either way, it will be great to see the girls and the grandbabies again. Today we got our hugs from Stu's twin grandgirls. They are 16 and gorgeous...they all grow up too fast!

Wednesday is our first of several doctor appointments plus I get my mammogram done in the afternoon. We'll hopefully get a little direction on Stu's knee and we're hoping he can get a shot of cortisone to help him survive our trip to Disney next week. Keeping our fingers crossed...

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Six Questions of the Week....Phones

Since the last Six Questions went so well, I thought I'd do another one but this time all the questions are on one topic. Phones!

1. Are you a one, two or more cell phone family?
2. Who is your carrier and are you happy with them?
3. What is/are your phone/s?
4. Do you use the phone mostly for phone calls? Texting? Email? Apps?
5. If you use it for applications, what is the one app you use the most?
6. What do you like/dislike the most about your phone?

Here are our (my) answers:

1. We are a two cell phone family (although we have two non-in-service iPhones). We've talked about going to one to save money but I just don't see it happening. LOL!
2. We just switched from AT&T to Verizon. Our first year together I had Verizon and Stu had AT&T. Then I switched to AT&T so I could get an iPhone (which I loved until recently).
3. Stu has an LG Ally and I have a Palm Pre Plus. So far we both like them but we've had them less than a week.
4. I guess that we use our phone 85% for the apps,10% for texting and 5% for phone calls.
5. I'd have to say Facebook is number one but a close second are travel related apps like Accuweather, Fandango for movies and iGasUp to find the cheapest fuel.
6. I can't speak for Stu on this one but for me I love the size and feel of my new Palm Pre Plus. I can slip it in a pocket much more easily than my old iPhone. On the least side it would have to be the lack of applications (hoping that will improve now that HP has bought Palm) followed a few little quirks that I'm trying to resolve (showing music album covers in my photo albums and not with the music...LOL!).

Looking forward to everyone's answers!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Rolling down the road...

Just so no one worries, Stu got the fittings for the brake line and things are usable again. We hit the movies (a thank you to Stu for all his hard work - two movies in one week!) and slept at the same Wally World in Triadelphia, WV.

Yesterday we hit the road and ran into no problems (phew!!!), other than a sleepy passenger (that would be ME)...LOL! We stopped around 4pm at a Wally World in Frederick, MD with less than 100 miles to go. No reason to push on through Friday rush hour traffic. We'll take our time on a Saturday morning.

Once we are settled, Stu will order the upgraded shackles from Mor-Ryde and get what parts are needed to do a full brake repair. Toss in a week with two grandkids at Disney (Florida), multiple doctor and dentist appointments, our annual Red Helmet Ride, Stu's annual Guys Only Trip, catching up with all our family and friends...I think we are going to be REALLY busy! LOL!!

So, blog updates may be a couple of lines sent from my phone...but we will try to keep eveyone updated through out the month.

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Status update for September 2010

We're still in research mode but since we will be in TN this Oct/Nov, we do want to get at least a start on setting up a parking spot for our rig. That means at a minimum:

1. Getting our land surveyed
2. Getting some trees cut down and back on the sides of the current driveway
3. Getting the driveway leveled/scraped and gravel added
4. Getting electric installed

We can then park for two weeks without having to dump and get fresh water. The line to our septic tank will come after we get the final inspection done on it and the water will come once we get the line in from the road.

But one other thing we want to do this fall is add a storage shed. We had discussed getting a cargo box but they require a lot of site prep and can be pricey. Stu wanted to be sure it was something fairly secure so a little metal shed won't do.

Recently we found these folks...A AAffordable Remodel & Sheds in Cleveland, TN. They build on site, have a good warranty, no site prep needed and we like what we see and the prices. Hoping to visit them and maybe get a 12x16 shed built. That gives us a spot to park both bikes and still leaves room for some storage (we've been collecting pint glasses, growlers and diner mugs). We especially like the barn roof where we can have a shelf installed for additional storage.

So that's the latest update...we'll be posting more as things progress this fall.

Still rolling,
Stu and Donna

All jacked up....

No parts at the spring shop in Wheeling so we headed to a Tractor Supply. Stu found what he needed for a temporary fix. We headed back to Cabela's where Stu got the rig raised up and is now working on the fix. We are SO lucky that he's a good mechanic. Suspect we will stay at the same Wally World tonight. More later.


3PM Edit: Shackle is fixed for now, still working on brake issue. Stu's out looking for the fitting he needs. Moved from Cabela's to Wally World for the night. Definitely splurging with a movie when he's done. We'll make Maryland late Sat or early Sun.

Donna & Stu

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Another interesting day....

We spent one night at Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon, OH....nice park but definitely on the pricey side (thanks to being close to Kings Island Theme Park. We had a great dinner with my son and his wife at Quaker Steak & Lube in Milford, OH. Food was good, conversation was great and seeing family is the BEST!

After we parted we went across the street and picked up a movie...meant no rush hour traffic for us. We saw Dinner for Schmucks...funny and quirky if a bit predictable. Then we headed back to the campground and Stu loaded the bike so we could get an early start today.

We managed to get on the road before 10:30 (yes, 10:28 IS before 10:30) and headed up I-71 to I-70. One stop at Flying J for fuel and coffee, a couple of quick pit stops and then we saw a sign for Cabela's. Our Next Exit book told us that there was also a Super Wal-Mart at this exit. Definitely time for a stretch so we exited.

Spent maybe a 90 minutes in Cabela's...we both got new sneakers (yes, I'm showing my age but they will always be sneakers to me...LOL!). We checked out the camping gear and clothes. Nothing else exciting but loved the animal displays.


We walked across the huge parking lot and we both noticed that KaZy seemed to be heavily leaning to one side. Sure enough, after inspection Stu found out that a shackle on that side had broken, thrown a shock off (no idea where it is), put the frame leaning down on the brake line which in turn burned up our pad and went into the rotor.

A quick call to Mor-Ryde and we found out that we can get the new improved shackles sent to us very quickly. BUT we are outside Wheeling, WV and really don't want to drive the rig in this condition (another 400+ miles to go).

So he found a local shop that can install a generic (i.e. temporary) shackle tomorrow. He will order the ones from Mor-Ryde and while we are parked in MD for a month, he will install them and fix the brakes. We'll get the shop to inspect the whole situation tomorrow to be sure nothing worse has been done.

Never a dull moment!!!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Six Questions of the Week....

Borrowed this idea from another blogger...thanks Cindy of Full Timing is like a Chinese Fire Drill

1. When traveling down the road do you leave your day/night shades up or down?
2. If you have pets, have you had any issues with campgrounds?
3. Do you carry a large outside trash can with you?
4. What do you miss most when you are traveling?
5. Are you a full-timer, wannabe full-timer, part-timer or vacationer only?
6. If you're a full-timer, do you have an exit strategy (from RVing)

And here are our answers:

1. We always keep the night shade down when traveling to keep the temperature inside as comfortable as possible.
2. We'll find out come October....LOL!
3. We've talked about getting a folding one but haven't found it necessary. Guess if someone gave us one we wouldn't refuse it. ;-)
4. I miss my office space...loved separating it out from the rest of my living area. Stu probably misses a real garage/work area. The garage suffices...IF the bikes are unloaded.
5. We are full-timers and loving it!
6. We have purchased property in middle TN where we will initially set up an RV lot (hopefully this fall & spring). Then a pole barn (maybe another 5 years) and eventually a small home (you don't need much after living in less than 300 sf).

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Rally Roundup...Moving Down the Road

Well the rally is over...what a great time we had. So many friends...both old and new. We bought too much, ate too much, slept too little, laughed too much (nah, can NEVER laugh too much) and just generally enjoyed ourselves.

Let's see if I can remember our purchases. Stu got the on-board Electrical Management System (EMS from Progressive Industries) installed, we got a replacement dish on our Winegard HDTV dish (thank you to Bill Adams from Internet Anywhere for all his work and help), I bought a great new purse from Debbie Davis (love, Love, LOVE it), and a few other odds & ends (a travel bowl set for the Sadie, an anti-gravity lounger for Stu and a couple of Gypsy Journal t-shirts.

Again, check out these blogs (I added a few since the last list) for their recent posts about the rally...LOTS of photos!

• Nick & Terry - Gypsy Journal (our rally hosts)
• Jim and Sandie - Where Are the Dixons
• Chris and Jim - Geeks on Tour
• Greg and Jan - Our RV Adventures
• Ellie and Jim - Justravelin
• Mac and Lynette - Retirement Adventures
• Keith and Donna - Green2GoRV
• Mark and Dortha - RVing with Poppa
• Joe and Marcia - Chasing the 70's
• Paul and Connie - A Breath of Fresh Road
• Jim and Dee - Tumbleweed

We stayed after the rally for a couple of days of downtime. We got a few chores done, did a little shopping, we went to see The American, and we continued to eat out too much (with friends and on our own...LOL!) We also stopped at Sam's Club where Stu found his perfect chair....Edith Ann has nothing on Stu, LOL!

Now we are moving eastward. We'll have several Wally World overnights and one campground night (outside Cincinnati where we will have dinner with my son and his wife). We should arrive in Maryland at Stu's step-daughters house sometime early Friday.

We'll be in Maryland at least through the first week in October (we always do the Red Helmet Ride the first Saturday in October). Much depends on getting Stu's knee looked at and what is recommended. After Maryland we'll move on to Jamestown, TN where we bought land last year. We hope to get a start on setting up a basic RV lot while there.

We'll winter in Florida, not sure where yet. February will be around Orlando since we are taking two older granddaughters to Universal Studios and Stu has his annual retired firefighter reunion there as well.

So that's the latest....hoping to get some good motorcycle riding in over the next few weeks. I need to get Gypsy well broken in and on her way to her 1k service.

So that's the roundup...

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu

Hey kids, this could be YOUR grandfather!!

We're still having fun here at the rally. Yesterday both Stu and I attended sessions as well as volunteered as room monitors at sessions. Today is much the same except we are currently getting our EMS (Electrical Management System) from Progressive Industries installed as well as having our HDTV issue looked at.

For whatever reason we can't get our HD channels properly. Winegard (the antenna) says it's DirecTV (the receiver) and vice versa. So Bill Adams from Internet Anywhere is helping us troubleshoot the issue.

Last night was the Hoosier Honey Beauty Contest. A couple of years ago when I attended the Gypsy Journal Rally in Casa Grande, AZ they had the Cactus Queen Beauty Contest. In addition both contest raised money for the Escapees CARE facility in Livingston, TX. Nick had tried to corrupt...errr, recruit Stu but he gracefully declined. Instead he got recruited for THIS...dancing with Dennis Hill of the RV Driving School. LOL!

So take a look...but warn your kids and grandkids before sharing...and don't be drinking or eating...you might spew something onto your keyboard! LOL! Thank you to Chris Guld, Geeks on Tour and bride of the winner, for posting this video. And thanks to our event host, Nick Russell, for posting these photos in his blog today.

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu