Just Whistlin' Dixie....

Friday we had great weather and decided another motorcycle ride was in order. The #2doods had lots of fun playing with Storm so they were ready to nap. We opted to head off in the opposite direction from our last ride and aimed for a little town named "Waverly" in honor of our youngest granddaughter.

Well, we found it. At least part of it, we never did find a downtown area. We even took photos to prove it! LOL!





From there we continued north and then back west before heading south into downtown Folkston. One thing we have come to love are the people here. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly. Part of that is the traditional Southern charm. Another part is a town that survives on a goodly amount of tourism. But mostly, it's just the people. We have made several friends here as we deal with dog boarding, grooming, getting a PO Box and picking up a gazillion packages from Amazon, getting my hair cut and even at the local McDonald's where I had a wonderful chat with the franchise owner and the store manager.

One shop had been recommended to us by the wonderful owner of Wild Rose Pet Care where the #2doods go for day care and doggy camp when we're traveling. I had friended the owner on Facebook but we hadn't had a chance to visit yet. Since they have Bluebell ice cream, today was the day! It was time for Whistlin' Dixie....













The store is FULL of wonderful items perfect for gifts, souvenirs and daily enjoyment. I was so tempted by many things but I was good, limiting my temptation to the ice cream. We signed the guest book and really enjoyed chatting with Dixie and her daughter Millie. They make quite the team. Everyone recommends the lunches there and we just might have to ignore our diet and splurge once more!

Ciao for now!

A little motorcycle ride to St George, GA.

We haven't done as much motorcycle riding as we would like, partially due to other things on the schedule but mostly due to weather. We knew when we opted to winter here in south Georgia that the weather would be cooler than what we had been used to during our past winters in Clermont, FL.

That is good and bad. It's good for the #2doods since they can overheat easily. It's bad when it's too cold for us to ride. Yes, we admit it. We have both become weather wimps. If it's much below 60 with no chance to warm up, we aren't riding.

We did have one spectacular day in February when we managed to get in several hours of riding and we headed off to see what was in St. George, GA. All we were looking for was a nice ride and it was that. Almost no traffic but a lot of trees. Turns out forestry is probably the biggest industry in this part of Georgia. Who knew?

We stopped for lunch at K & C's Oak Tree Cafe after fueling up the motorcycle. Quaint little restaurant with good food. I almost forgot to take a photo. The food was good and very plentiful, the onion rings were excellent - our big splurge.

















We soon headed home, not wanting to leave the #2doods for too long in their crates.

Ciao for now!

It’s all up in the air....

...airplane, that is! Stu had a special day, up in the air.

Shortly after arriving at Jennys Ridge RV Park, Donna met one of our neighbors at the dog play area (AKA The Playpen). Jeremiah had just rescued a 7 month old German Shepard and needless to say the Doods were ecstatic. Jeremiah is career Navy and close to retirement, finishing his career here in Georgia while his family is back in Colorado. We thank him and his family for their service. When a member of the family is in the service the whole family is, so we thank them as well.

I met Jeremiah after returning from my retirees reunion and struck up a friendship. Chatting with him while the dogs wore each other out, I found out he has his private pilots license as well as owns his own plane. He invited me up for a flight which I quickly accepted. Donna was invited but she did not want to tempt the motion sickness gods and opted out, having been up in a small plane previously. I suggested he pick the day when the weather was agreeable and come get me.

March the we headed to Herlong Recreational Airport, about an hour away from the campground. I followed Jeremiah as he had other chores to do after the flight. Upon arrival we entered the field through the owners gate and approached his red Piper Cherokee. Jeremiah completed his preflight checks and gave me a thorough safety briefing. We taxied over to the fuel area, filled up and made our way to the runway via the taxiway. Upon clearance, we were up in no time.



At the lower altitudes the plane bounced, eventually calming down as we climbed higher and smoothing out nicely when getting to about 2500 feet.



Jeremiah established a heading that took us over the campground. He explained the controls and what each one did, demonstrating the changes in attitude the plane made. Apparently that was my lesson as he "handed" the controls to me for a while. I was thrilled and even made a few course corrections as me made our way over the campground. FUN!



Our planned route went over the campground, east to the coast, over the Navy Base (but not the Sub Base, frowned on by folks we just hear about), south, and then back to the airfield. We went over a lot of the Jacksonville area. Sure looks different from above. I was able to identify a few landmarks but not many, way out of my element up there.

















I even took a short video of our trip...


All good flights should include a good landing as well as a good take-off. Happy to say this was a good flight. Jeremiah landed in a strong cross wind and the Piper Cherokee "crabbed" to the ground. Jeremiah is a skillful pilot as I felt secure the entire time. Oh, and here is the route we took...via the air, regardless of what the photo says.



I must say, this day was fun. If I were a younger man with a lot of disposable resources I would love to learn to fly. Alas, it's another one of those expensive hobbies I can't afford. I already have a few too many of those already.

Ciao for now!

Views & Doods

Stu will be home today, happy me! I can completely rest my knee all day tomorrow and see how it does. All the walking with the #2doods has kept it irritated with some pain and swelling. Tomorrow it will be elevated as much and often as I can.

I have snapped a couple of sunset and yes, even a couple early shots on our walks. Enjoy...










As to the #2doods, they're never bored, even in the RV. Here is a video to prove it. Oh, Cooper is the one in the lead, leaping down the stairs and Murphy is the one that waits for him to turn around in the garage space and come tearing back through.


No, they're not always good as this photo shows....at least it has lasted more than a couple of months!


And a couple more...indoors and out.

Murphy's favorite way to sit in the RV...


We rang the bell, are you taking us out or not?


Checking out the area...


Cooper decides there's nothing exciting in his view and relaxes his guard...


Murphy isn't so sure...



Ciao for now!

January Potpourri...

Yes, it's been a while since we blogged and figured it was time for an update. The first week of January, we changed RV parks. We have a nice, long, graveled site. No matter there aren't trees since the weather is cool here during the winter.

The park we are in now has a dog run and boy, do the #2doods ever love that! Take a peek...

In fact they have adjusted wonderfully to the RV lifestyle although we are still working on "ignoring" other dogs when out walking. LOL! Here are a few pics.

Waiting for the okay to lick the peanut butter spoon...


Ringing the bell and waiting to go out...


Freshly groomed...


Showing good walking manners...

We are still adjusting to cooking in the rig, sticking to our low carb WOE (way of eating). We forgot we have this Liddle Griddle. Now it gets used for bacon, sausage, and eggs as well as banana pancakes.

On my author blog, I posted about setting up our RV office using the dining room table. We have been using the campground WiFi but unless we changed sites to move closer to the router, we found we use our phone's hotspot more often than not. When I was in the laundry house, the WiFi was strong and fast, so we researched a solution. Over the years we have talked off and on about this but the only recommended solution was in the $500-600 range.

Well, things seem to have improved with newer technology and we ordered this Alfa WiFi Camp Pro 2 long range Wi-Fi repeater kit with free shipping from Rokland for $140. We figured it was worth a try. It arrived quickly and using a Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter for our MacBooks, Stu had it set up quickly. We wanted to see how well it worked before mounting the antenna outside.

Guess what? We ended up with fast speeds with the antenna inside, hanging from the lights over our dining table! Seriously! So that is where it sits and we are thrilled!!

Next up, our latest cruise...

Ciao for now!