Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

February ends BeaUtifully

Boy I got well just in time for this
GREAT end of February weather.

Here's what I love about Virginia
No time to post more, have to get back outside!

Hope it's this wonderful where you are!



Under the.......

Well I've been under the weather since early Tuesday AM.

I haven't been sick with anything....nope....nothing....nada for over 4 years. 
Not even a cold

That is until I went to my nephew's daughter's first birthday party on Saturday
which changed all that. 
Apparently I was not the only one brought down by the StOMach FLU.

Spent 24 hours from about 1am Tuesday morning on the floor in the bathroom
if you know what I mean. 
The worst was over in about 15 VERY LONG hours
but for 4 more days this is what I've been doing. 

That is until yesterday when I finally came out from under the covers
to see if life was still going on.  

Eating almost nothing for 4 days is definitely n0t
a weight loss program I would recommend.
 
But I have to thank all my  wonderful friends who kept
calling, emailing and bringing me food
to make sure I was and stayed alive. 
Even when I could hardly answer the phone
and couldn't possibly answer the door.  

My refrigerator now boasts gallons of Gatorade,
tons of white rice, applesauce and crackers. 
Wanna drop by for dinner?

Be careful out there.  This stomach virus is a vicious one
and you DEFINITELY
don't want it.

Well then, How about food?

I’m hoping to get caught up 
on posting about all the
good things that ARE happening
while the frustration over Winnona's tires
and the house furnace continues.
Actually just attempting to keep my mind
off of how TRYING it all is

 I was surprised that not one person
had a comment about line dancing. 
Y'all don't know
what yur missin'.

But maybe you're more interested in
food so here's a tale of
my Wednesday good food date.

Once a month
on the 3rd Wednesday,
my friend Helen and I go down to the bottom of the hill
to the Savour Restaurant for lunch.

See the Savour?
See Helen Point...point Helen point...


We walked down this past Wednesday
on a gorgeous day
and once again each had one of the dozen or so items
on their lunch menu.


 
We figure we’ve almost worked our way
through the entire menu
and have had some things multiple times
because they are SO good.

This week Helen chose the Lamb Pie.
which we thought was a new entrée
Either that or we both have memory fatigue.
 
I’m not much for lamb so
I had this delicious chicken salad
 

Savour is a lovely place.
Is the fire great, even though it
was in the 60's outside amazingly.
.

 
We love going there and chatting about what’s up with each of us. 
Or in my case whining about the problem of
getting GOOD HELP. 
We talk about my travels to be and
questionable progress on getting there,
the new house she’s building out in the country,
the affairs of her labs Paxton and Piatt,
her fall trip to Ireland
and everything else under the sun.

It's a once a month gig that I really look
forward to.  We were especially lucky
that the weather on Wednesday was fabulous
and walking back I took a shot of the 
beautiful shape of this sycamore tree.
One thing I DO like about winter is
that you can see the beautiful bones and
shapes of the trees.

 

Fun Times

Thought I’d put up some things I do in the evenings
after I’m sick and tired
of sorting and boxing.  

So here are some good friends and the fun
I’ll miss
when I’m back on the road.
(count down is 40 days)

On Mondays,
(even on Valentine's Day)
I’ve been
line dancing
with my friend Pam
(of 4 dogs in the bed fame).

Olivia is our fearless big hearted leader.




Sometimes we aren’t quite in step.


Although Pam’s got the hand action and my camera couldn’t keep up

 

And sometimes we are just turning
our backs on the whole thing.


But I love it and the country music we dance to.

Check out one of the pairs of cowboy boots I wear.
And NO those boots aren’t getting tossed or donated
These are travelin’ boots.
 

Anybody else love to line dance
or own cowboy boots??
Be sure to let me know so we can plan to meet up
and do some HIGH STEPPIN!!

PS.
Out of time now
so my Wednesday and Thursday fun
will have to wait until next time. 
Ya’ll come back now.  Ya’ heah??

LOVE her the MOST

We decided to head over to Richmond to what I had come to think of as the best of the 5 RV shows in Virginia.   Notice I said
 had come to think…………

The show is about an hour away and
we decided to make
a splurge day of it
so first we stopped at the
Tip Top
A GREAT Diner


and had a fabulous
eggs, bacon, home fries and biscuits breakfast. 
YUMMMMMM!!!!! 
 

Then we made a quick stop at Subway
to pick up one of their $5 footlongs
to split for lunch
knowing from experience
about RV Show food.
I have a TERRIBLE time
trying to decide what sandwich, which bread
and then what to put on it.
Don’t you think that's just
TOO MANY CHOICES!!
Actually I wish there were fewer choices in life PERIOD.
Don't get me started on the CEREAL AISLE.

But despite the choices, we made it to the show.
 
I had hoped to find a few particular things
at the vendor booths but it took less than
15 minutes to walk by them all.
Few seemed to be selling RV equipment.
Mostly what we saw were sales for
Virginia campgrounds
and things that didn’t seem to be
AT ALL RV RELATED
……..like the horrible ZCoil shoes
and some sort of cookware.

I almost literally ran into the Geico Gecko.
Didn't think to get his autograph....
 
We have Geico insurance
And they have been just splendid for years
and through several uses of their claims service
including the recent Winnona BOO BOO..
(yes this is definitely an endorsement and no I don't get a cut)

Of course this iS Virginia
so there had to be
BLUE GRASS MUSIC. 
AND bare feet.

We went inside lots of the RVS….
this picture is for Gin & Syl………
the 2011 Winnebago Tour
an exception to most of what I saw
in that it had an attractive interior
which appeared to be well made.
Just TOO BIG for me.
Although notice that one would be owner with hand on brow
is SWOONING!!
 

We ate lunch while watching a presentation
on the history of RVing in the US
David Woodworth had some GREAT slides of
RVs from his own collection. 
He has 27000 pieces of camping equipment
and hundreds of vintage RVs
that he keeps in a storehouse in California.
He rents model T's at his B&B the Tin Lizzie Inn
located just outside Yosemite National Park
and has taken his daughters
on RV trips in one pulling a vintage trailer.
A VERY interesting VERY talkative guy.

 
 

Anyone for a class A vintage 1918??
The driver's seat is looking out
the window, after, of course,
Pulling back the draperies!!
I think you can see his face in the first photo.
This one is parked and yes, that is the FRONT
and those are the HEADLIGHTS!


How about a 5th wheel??
 

Do you know how the 5th wheel got its name??

 
Because the hitch fit in the trunk
INSIDE the spare tire.
The 5th wheel!!

The slide show was a lot of fun
But so were the other folks at the show.
Not positive but it appears to be a Yorkie riding in style
 

What a look I got from Ms. Dogwood Winnie
What?  You don’t want your picture taken HON?
Lighten up, you'll be famous.
 

But in everything we saw from
Truck Campers to
Diesel Pushers,
I couldn’t find anything
I liked as well as Winnona. 
She just has all the things I want
 in my home on the road
including two fabulous pantry pull out shelves
which I couldn’t find in any other coach. 
The Fleetwoods had two
but the long narrow cabinets
didn’t pull out.  
ARE YOU KIDDING? 
How in the world
would you find the things in the very back?
Take everything out????
My arm won't even reach that far.

We went inside many 5th wheels
but the only one I really liked
had a floor plan similar to Howard & Linda’s.
Now do bear in mind that I was just looking at
what I’d want to live in,
NOT at any of the mechanics.

The dealers seem to have decided
that central Virginian’s are no longer
interested in coaches costing $300K and up
(wonder what was their first clue?)
and this was the first show I’ve been to
where there were NONE.

But even in the most expensive coaches on the floor
the inside seemed cheap
and plywood was far too evident.   
The wood was dark, the fabrics were dark
and thus the coaches were very dark  inside.  
What’s up with that?? 
I wasn’t the only one commenting about the darkness inside.
 (yes I WAS eavesdropping)
 

I was pleased to find that Winnebagos still had very solid
workmanship and design although none of them said
 “Trade Winnona in for me”.

I left the show thinking that I probably won’t go to any more shows unless I just “happen”
to be at Hershey or Tampa when they are scheduled.  

But it really is GRAND to go to a show
and compare everything to what you have and
come away being SO HAPPY
that your home is one you
love the most.

FoRWaRd and BaCK

Seems like ONE step forward
Two steps BACK

We’ve been trying to set up
 Doctor’s appointments
For Winnona to  take care of
her boo boo
 
and
get her some new shoes

First
we had to pick a doc for each of these

And that required phone calls
And more calls

To find out who has
the experience
And
the recommendations
And
the space
And
the time
And the…………………..

FINALLY
We find the hospital but they
Only have one bay large enough
For herself.

That’s OK we still have plenty
Of time.
SO
We wait.

They’ll call us when they
Finish with the big rig they are working on.
And we wait

They don’t call
We DO call them
And they’ve had delays
And we wait

And they DON’T call
And you get the picture.

SO
Three weeks later,
we call choice #2
and they can take us right away
Hooray

They are a bigger shop
with more bays
We’ve had some dealings with them before
So off she goes to the hospital


After talking with the doctor,


he confirmed
That her boo boo is going to be 
MUCH
more expensive to fix
than I could ever have imagined
for such a
small ding.

The doc says about a week to get it all
replaced,
repaired
and repainted.

Who would have thought something that small
would be such
a big deal. 

Be extra careful in those campgrounds
especially with the site posts is my advice.

The biggest problem seems to be in getting
The decals on an “older model”
(as in 2004) 
Ah for full body paint….
I think….
or would that be even MORE expensive??

Of course, the day, we take her in,
shop #1 finally calls and says,
how about tomorrow.  
Sorry bud, too little, too late.

OK then…
Boo Boo repair settled,

things are lookin’ up
But what about
new shoes??

Back to the phone,
Same story………here’s what we want
Can you do it?
When can you do it?
How much will it cost?
Does it include A, B, C???

First degree cauliflower ear is setting in
BUT

We found the place,
Hooray!
Good price, good experience
We’re all set,

BUT
They don’t have enough shoes her size in stock
some of her shoes have to be ordered.
Her feet are SO BIG and so MANY!

Although not THIS big thank goodness

 
That was last week,
Monday the shop shoeman called
and said
he couldn’t get the shoes
SIGH

Back to square #1.


MORE phone calls
Can YOU get them?  
Are you SURE?
When can you get them?
What is the ALL inclusive Price??

I sure do wish she could go to Gin and Syl’s Shoeman
ALAS
 making an appointment 200 miles away
seems a bit extreme
even to me.

BUT  determination
WILL WIN the prize
and
both our girls will be sporting their dancing shoes
when they meet in the Smokies
for the RV-Dreams Rally in April.

Or at least I HOPE Winnona will.

She was supposed to out of the hospital tomorrow
With her new  “front end”.
And go directly to shoe store #2
Some 30 miles away

BUT…..the doctor called
AND
Two decals are missing
Have to be ordered………

Then the  Tireman Called
Tires are in……….

“What’s the Date on these Tires”

“Ah……….week 40 2008”

WHAT?????
“I don’t think so”.

Back to the warehouse.
“HOW much longer to get the shoes??”
ANOTHER WEEK??


Patience IS a virtue…….Patience is a Virtue….Patience IS….

Wish her and us luck!!
AND
Let me know
if this saga is familiar to you,
Maybe it will make me feel better,
Misery loves company??????????????