Christmas comes to the SKP Resort

Above, our coach with Jill's chili pepper lights. They are ubiquitous in New Mexico, but are rare in these parts. Jill bought these in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1990. 

Avon Park Fly-in

Last week, Jill saw something on a bulletin-board at restaurant here in Wauchula announcing a “Fly-in” breakfast today. The “Fly-in” breakfast is an old aviation tradition – it’s nothing more than an excuse for airplane owners to fly somewhere Sunday morning, have breakfast with friends, trade airplane stories, and then fly home. Jill thought it might be a good excuse to get Glenn up early on a Sunday morning and take her out to breakfast.  So by 8:30 we were in the car for the 15 mile drive to the Avon Park Airport. 

It was sponsored by the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association and the local Civil Air Patrol squadron. 

 

Among the more interesting planes:

Flight Design CTSW, a German-built light-sport aircraft. This one was built in 2007 and has a U.S. Marines emblem on its tail – it’s owned and flown by a former Marine fighter pilot from the Vietnam War era.

Lightning, a kit-built plane, licensed as “experimental.” Built in 2008.

ERCO Ercoupe 415-D. Built in 1946 in College Park, Maryland. Glenn’s father worked for ERCO in College Park in the early 1950’s. 

Another kit-built “experimental.” This one is a Van's Aircraft RV-6, built in 1999. 

The star of the show: a brand new Paradise P-1. The parts are made in Brazil,  and shipped to the USA. Then, it is assembled in Sebring, Florida. It is certified by the FAA as a USA-made light-sport aircraft. This one is a company-owned demonstrator. 

Wauchula, Florida

Wednesday morning we left Sarasota for the short drive east to Wauchula, Florida, the "Cucumber Capital of the World," though we have seen much more citrus.

We are staying at the Florida SKP Resort. The resort is part of a national organization, Escapees RV Club, of which we are members. We are able to rent a space from an owner who is not currently using it at a most reasonable rate. Everyone here has been very friendly, much more so than at many of commercial RV parks at which we have stayed.  

The grounds are very nicely landscaped and we have watched a group of owners working to improve the park. They didn't like that the power cord to the Christmas lights at the entrance were laying on the ground and went to much effort to bury them. 

We may stay here for a little while.

On the beach

On Tuesday we went to Siesta Beach, on Siesta Key, just west of Sarasota, Florida. Siesta Beach is number 3 on 'Dr. Beaches" "America's Best Beaches" list for 2008. It is a beautiful beach, but the day we were there it was only 60° and the wind was blowing strongly..

The wind was blowing was so strong that even the birds had not been flying. Here they had just been spooked and took to the air.

Pancakes

On Monday we had breakfast at the Country Pancake House and Restaurant. Jill ordered pancakes. The menu said "Pancakes on this page can be ordered as: 4 medium or 2 oversized pancakes." She certainly didn't want any "oversized pancakes" so she ordered the mediums. Good thing!

At the market

On Saturday we visited the Fruitville Grove Market, very close to the RV park. The fruits and vegetables were fresh, and Amish baked goods, pasta, cheeses, jams, and pretzels were featured. Jill even made some new friends!

Thanksgiving 2008

University Park, Florida

Our coach visits Devonshire

This morning we drove the coach to Devonshire to pickup Glenn's mother. Now off to Sarasota for a family Thanksgiving at Glenn's Uncle Ed's and Aunt Sharon's house.

Devonshire, Palm Beach Gardens

On Friday, we drove the short distance from Port St. Lucie to Palm Beach Gardens. We parked the coach, and then spent the next 24-hours getting it “Mom-ready.”

We then drove to Devonshire to get Glenn’s mother to bring her back to see the coach for the first time.

We were serendipitously intercepted by Devonshire’s photographer-extraordinaire, Chester Mann, who took this picture. 

Port St. Lucie, Florida

On Tuesday, we left White Springs and drove the 300 miles or so to the St. Lucie West Motorcoach Resort. It is one of the nicest RV resorts in the country — first class in every respect. Class A motorhomes only, no campers or trailers here. We are overlooking one of several small lakes and the10th hole of the golf course. 

Glenn got to ride his BikeE AT XL at sunset.

White Springs, Florida

We left Dothan and headed to White Springs, Florida. We've spent six days here, continuing to organize and arrange things in the coach as we have gotten more experience with actually travelling in it. We are staying at a beautiful little RV park here. The owners have put a lot of work into landscaping and the grounds are very nice.

Dothan, Alabama

We had a great time visiting with Glenn's brother Bob and his wife Kendall and their son Jeff in Dothan. (David was off at the University of Alabama.) We were in town during the National Peanut Festival. "Approximately half of the peanuts grown in the United States are grown within a 100-mile radius of Dothan, Alabama." Here are Bob and Jill on the Midway.

Glenn has already had his life accelerated by the Navy.

On Monday, we dropped in at the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan. It is a marvelous facility and Kendall gave us a deluxe tour.

Leaving Twin Lakes

We finally left Twin Lakes to head south. First stop was Mike's Trailer Hitches south of Atlanta to pick up the Honda. It had hitch and brake equipment installed.

Glenn and the crew at Mike's with the new tow bar attaching the Honda to the back of the coach. Not seen, because it is installed under the hood of the Honda, is the M&G Car Braking System. When the coach brakes are applied, the Honda brakes are applied at the same time. It is a really neat (and safe) system.

Now off to Dothan, Alabama to visit with Glenn's brother Bob and his familly.

Time to go?

This notice appeared taped to our door yesterday. It’s warning us about freezing water lines. “Lines must be wrapped by Tuesday, November 11, or you will be asked to vacate the premises.”

We think it’s really telling us that it is time to head south.  I hope we will be able to cooperate.

Jill sells her Echo!

My brother Bob recommended to Jill that she sell her 2000 Toyota Echo herself rather than trade it in on the Honda. He thought she would get much more money for it that way. I will admit that I was skeptical and doubted that it would be worth what I thought would be a major effort. 

So after multiple extensive phone conversations between Bob and Jill, she placed an ad in last weekend’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It also appeared, with photos (taken by Jill) including the one above, on the AJC.com website. 

She got four or five phone calls before a father and son showed up on Sunday afternoon, looked it over, drove it, and bought it on the spot at Jill’s asking price, $1,750 more than the Honda dealer offered in trade. We meet at the bank Monday morning and closed the deal. 

Everyone is happy: the new owner, his father, Jill and me. Thanks Bob!

Our first house guests!

Although others have seen our coach while it was in storage (most notably Glenn's sister Carol and her husband Alexander, Jill’s brother Bill, and Glenn's navy buddy Nick and his wife Trish), we had yet to entertain in it since we had started living in it fulltime. There were still boxes full of stuff in the front and in the bedroom. It was definitely not ready for guests. 

We finally got all the boxes emptied or stored. Jill broke out the new bed coverings and took the pretty pillows out of the closet. It looked great if we say so ourselves! 

On Saturday it was ready and Jill’s sister and her husband, Mary and Mark, came to visit us. We gave them the full tour. Mark is restoring a classic GMC Motorhome and it was fun showing him the inner workings of our coach. Jill then drove the four of us in the new Honda to Casa Nuova, a fine Italian restaurant in Alpharetta, only a few miles from here. 

A good time was had by all.

Our New Toad!

When you see a motorhome going down the highway, it is typically towing a car, referred to as a dinghy or a toad. ("towed" -get it?) Neither my old Lexus RX300 or Jill's Toyota Echo are particularly suited for use as a toad. So after much research, starting with the Motorhome Magazine Dinghy Guide, we decided that the Honda CRV was the best choice for us.

Jill did the shopping and after talking to or emailing every Honda dealer in the entire state of Georgia, she settled on Honda Carland North in Cartersville.

Here she is picking up the car from Sharon Robinson, the dealer's "Internet Manager." The car doesn't have every possible option. Just most of them! I hope to get to drive it or ride in it some day!

Home to Madison, South Dakota

At Life on Wheels, we attended a seminar on choosing a home base state. South Dakota was the top choice and we met a couple who recommended My Dakota Address in Madison as a forwarding agent. We used them to register our coach in South Dakota. But we had to appear in person to get drivers' licenses and to register to vote.

Originally, we had wanted to drive the coach to Madison. But with winter coming, and because October 20 was the last day to register to vote in the presidential election, we realized we had run out of time. So on Monday, October 13, we flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and drove the 50 miles to our adopted hometown.

Madison is a wonderful little town with a population of 6,540 (in the 2000 census) and a thriving main street. It is the home of Dakota State University, which was founded in 1881 as the first teachers' college in the Dakota Territory. Today it continues that proud tradition, and is also renowned for its leading edge computer/information systems degrees, and several other disciplines. There is a large ethanol plant east of Madison, and a huge grain elevator on the west side of town. The surrounding area is mostly agricultural.

There are many glacial lakes in the Madison area, providing great natural beauty and abundant recreational opportunities. Madison is located in the eastern prairie lands of South Dakota, with which you are already familiar if you have seen "Little House on the Prairie" or "Dances With Wolves." Mount Rushmore, and the stunning "Badlands," are located in the western half of the state, and we look forward to visiting those areas the next time we go home.

Dakota State University

110 East Center Street

Looking south on Egan Avenue, the main street.

Lake County Court House

We registered to vote at the Lake County Court House on Tuesday and were able to vote on Wednesday. Glenn joined the local VFW Post and Jill joined the VFW Auxiliary. We put some money in a local bank and got a lawyer to prepare South Dakota wills for us.

Everyone we met welcomed us and made us feel right at home. But our concerns about winter were not without cause – Tuesday night eastern South Dakota (“East River”) experienced the first hard freeze of the season.

Halloween is coming!

Lake County is mostly agricultural.



Less than five miles outside of town!

Moon over Lake Madison.

More pictures at Twin Lakes

It was only 86 degrees this evening -- that's much cooler than the 98 earlier in the week. So we decided to walk to the other side of the lake to take these pictures looking back at our spot.

Twin Lakes

We are now living in our coach. We are in a very pretty location, Twin Lakes RV Park, in Cumming, GA, 33 miles north of Midtown Atlanta. We are in a wooded site overlooking the lake, From my desk I can only see the lake and trees -- there is not another RV or building in sight. And somehow we managed to find a spot where the satellite dish works so we even have TV. This picture is a view of the lake taken only a few hundred feet from the coach.

The move from the condo into the coach was more stressful and chaotic than we could have imagined. We knew of people who had parked their RV next to their house and spent six months to a year preparing. We had two and half months and our coach was parked miles away.

Jill had been interviewing real estate agents late last year, but we had not listed the condo for sale when, on June 26th, she got an email from an agent asking if he could show the unit the following Saturday. We spent 48 hours making the place presentable -- we had previously emptied our storage locker into the living-room and there were boxes everywhere. 

On Monday the agent brought us a signed contract. Days listed = zero! But the deal was contingent on us being out by July 30th -- the buyers needed to be out of their apartment on July 31.

It took a U-Haul truck, multiple trips up and down Georgia 400, and several sleepless nights. The new owners had the keys to the condo and we still had stuff in the building's hallway. It was not a pretty sight.

There are now boxes everywhere in the coach and stuff in a storage locker near here. It will probably take us several months to finish organizing and stashing so that we can really "hit the road." We will definitely need a vacation!

In storage

We temporarily stored the coach at Weaver Boat and RV Storage in Cumming, Georgia, 43 miles north of Midtown Atlanta.

Now all we have to do is complete the sale of our business, sell our condominium, and sell, give away, store, or pack up everything we own!.

Our coach visits Midtown Atlanta

Since we had flown to Texas to pick up the coach, we were not towing a car (a "toad"). We needed to bring the coach into Atlanta so we could pick up a car. Glenn then drove the coach to its temporary storage location. Jill followed in the car to drive Glenn back home.

Here is our coach parked on 15th Street, near Peachtree Street, across from the Colony House Condominium in Midtown Atlanta. It was an amazing stroke of good luck to find a parking space for it on a busy Wednesday afternoon! The Christian Science Church, Reading Room and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America National Headquarters are seen in the background.

See this location in Google Maps here.

Tennessee

We left Bowling Green on Saturday and headed to Tennessee to visit friends and former neighbors, Ellen and Bruce Rakes, who entertained us royally in their new home in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. It was also fun entertaining them here at the Countryside Resort in Lebanon, Tennessee.

RV Life On Wheels

The RV Life on Wheels Conferences are held several times a year around the country. LoW is a "boot camp" for prospective and new RV owners. We had attended the conference in Tucson, Arizona in February as "Wannabees" before we bought our coach and we decided that we would take our new (to us) coach from Texas to the conference in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

We were introduced to the other attendees as the "Wannabees" who had just graduated to "Newbies."

LoW includes sessions ranging from RV maintenance, RV insurance, picking a home state, to how to do a blog, just like this one!

The Mississippi River

We left Mr. Olivers on Friday en route to the "Life on Wheels" Conference in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We spent Friday night in Texarkana Texas. On Saturday night, we stayed at the Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park in West Memphis, Arkansas. It is right on the banks of the river and we could watch the river boat and barge traffic going up and down the river right out the front window of our coach.

Mr Olivers RV & Equipment

A month later, we returned to Texas to pick up the coach from Mr. Olivers RV & Equipment.  Mr. Oliver is actually Paul Davis. He got his nickname in the '60's as a used "Oliver" tractor dealer. He bought used Oliver tractors in Iowa and resold them in Texas. As the area around Princeton Texas saw subdivisions and strip malls replace farms, he branched out into selling used coaches and motor homes.

Here he is in his office with his partner, Kathy Fitzgerald.

He still has a couple of Oliver tractors on his lot. For the history of the Oliver tractor, see the Wikipedia article here.

After staying in our coach on their lot for four days of training and inspections, we were ready to hit the road for the first time.