Grumpy!

BAVARIA, GERMANY

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RV LIFE:

Huh? I'm in Bavaria, Germany? Yes, in my mind I am. In Arkansas, it is only 9am, and not socially proper to be drinking, but in Germany it's 4pm and that's the perfect time for "Happy Hour". Since I've just had a double shot of Rumple Minze, it's 4pm in my mind.Yes, I'm grumpy, depressed, blah! 

This freezing weather is getting to me. 

Cabin fever, mice invading the RV for warmth, Devin going nuts trying to get to the mice. 

Devin looking for mice behind my sewing machine

What damage will they do? Have to crate Devin at night because he keeps us up scratching the walls and our new floors trying to get to the mice.

Yes, I'm grumpy.

Devin has cabin fever too! He's too much too handle on our walks now, even with his no pull (yea, right) harness. Back to the prong collar for a bit.

I want to go out!!!

Yes, I'm grumpy.

It's not only cold outside, but grey also. Looking out at the Mississippi is just depressing with the all grey, dank, cloud covered scene.

Yes, I'm grumpy.

Nothing to do in this area. Been to Graceland already.

Yes, I'm grumpy.

Can't quite get warm enough in the RV unless I'm in the bedroom.

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GRACELAND: Memphis, TN

Our rating 3 out of 5

We are right across the river from Graceland. We "have" to visit it. We'll never make a special trip just for that. So we drive over to the Graceland Tourist Trap entrance, well try. We had to wait for red lights on the main highway and also wait for the tour shuttle buses.  That was enough to let Scott know that it would be ok if we didn't go. I hate being ripped off by tourist stuff. Scott was the voice of reason? and said we're here, we might as well go in. So onward we went with our $4.00 off coupon for the $37.00 Platinum tour. The Platinum tour included Graceland, the Lisa Marie airplane and the car museum.

I always had this image in my mind of the entrance of Graceland being a huge high, difficult to climb over gateway.

In today's world, the rich seem to have to over do it with their huge McMansions, huge master baths, their SS appliances, immaculately landscaped yards, etc. So Elvis being so famous, I pictured these 15-20 foot high towering gates. Nope. They are about 8' high. Nice personal touch with the musical notes, but it could fit into almost anyone's piece of property.

Included in the tour were mp3 type players with the tour guide info recorded on it, which were well thought out. You pressed a key pad to coincide with what part of the tour you are at. Much better than a live tour guide with everybody trying to crowd in to see & hear at once. I was able to wait for the crowd to move on and then view and hear the tour at my own pace. Of course you return them at the end of the tour.

By today's standards, Graceland is a joke. There are a lot of rooms, but they are fairly small. Funny to see how a celebrity lived then compared to now. But he was still a country boy at heart, so Graceland was a big deal compared to what he came from.

He liked TV. He saw the President watching 3 TV's at once,
so he wanted to do the same.

Jungle room. Not a big room at all. Very cozy though.
I like it.

Billiards room

This room's walls & ceilings are covered with fabric. Very cool look. But again, not a big room. Barely large enough for your cue sticks to swing.

His performance suits

This was the most interesting part. Seeing clothing items that he actually wore. Other celebrities and want to be celebrities clothing were displayed also.

Dean Martin's Suit

He certainly did have a lot of gold records! Since visiting Graceland, I've been listening to some Elvis. I think he really was a great singer. He had that "it" factor. I remember watching Elvis on TV at his Hawaii concert. We had 3 generations of women watching and loving it. My Nana, my Mom and me.

We also visited the car museum which was interesting. But I personally do not understand the need to have a car collection. And lastly, we toured the Lisa Marie Convair 880.

Lisa Marie Jet Media Room

Lisa Marie Jet Bathroom

Overall, if you are a big Elvis fan, it's worth going. But really, if I had skipped Graceland, that would have been fine.  I was disappointed to not see any fans yelling that they felt him here, or maybe an Elvis sighting or flinging themselves on his grave wailing.

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BROWSING THE WWW://

Product review:

YTD Video Downloader  This is a free (for basic) program that lets you save videos from YouTube and some other sites. I've used this many times. There are so many craft instructions on YouTube. I've been able to download and save forever onto my own computer. Very easy to use. They don't bother you with junk mail. I highly recommend the program.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS:

Now that we have no carpeting in our RV, we have to adjust to a whole other way of cleaning the floor. We gave away our nice Orek vacuum to Four Paws Campground, since we really have no need for the rotating brush that is essential when you have carpet and pets.

With our fiberglass flooring, we can feel every little grain of sand/dirt. Not too much of a problem for me, since I rarely go barefoot. I either have shoes, socks or slippers on. Scott tends to walk around bare assed, oops, I meant barefooted, so he feels it all. 

The dogs really bring in a lot of dirt. We humans can scrape our shoes on the outdoor rug, or take them off before entering, but the dogs have all that hair on their paws to collect all that outside dirt and bring it in. 

Our little Orek hand rechargeable vacuum has not been holding a charge. Plus, I don't think I want to crawl on my hands & knees vacuuming the whole RV.

So for $20. we purchased

BISSELL Featherweight Stick Vacuum, 3106Q

The online reviews were good. I like that it was only $20. 

Bagless

Convertible, meaning it changes from a full length handle & floor nozzle vacuum to a short hand held "dustbuster" type. 

It also has a crevice device for the tight corners and cracks.

So far, we think it does a great job, is easy to use and easy to empty. Well worth the $20.

To finish off our cleaning we also purchased

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O Cedar Pro Mist Wet/Dry Mop

I used something similar while workamping at Four Paws Kingdom.

This is a dust mop. It has a spray bottle attached to the handle and I just squeeze a lever at the top of the handle and it spritzes water or whatever solution you choose ahead of the mop on the floor. Just enough to help pick up the remaining dirt and wipe away the dirt marks.

I like this particular Wet/Dry mop because the head comes with one washable cloth, a semi-washable cloth, and has pinch holes which allows me to use my own cloths, or swiffer type cloths also.

I'm happy with this product also.

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We are so fortunate.

FOUR PAWS KINGDOM
Rutherfordton, NC 28139
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I know, I know, I haven't been posting very much. My motto is "no news is good news". How often do you hear positive comments as to negative. It seems so much easier to complain and voice that opinion than to voice our praise.
I am willing to learn from other's mistakes. Yes, I'm talking about you David from Flip Flop Vector blog.
Would you like me to explain, blog followers?
David & Teri had a fairly serious mishap a few weeks ago. You can follow what happened and the outcome at their blog FLIP FLOP VECTOR.
Two days after their mishap, Teri mentioned to David..."you remember last night commenting you didn't have much to blog about right now". Careful what you ask for. So with that being said, I WILL NOT COMPLAIN about nothing to write about. There's always something to post about. My post may not interest everyone, but it will interest some.
Scott & I have been very fortunate to not have any serious accidents with our rig, truck or health. We have had items to be repaired as we go along, but that is to be expected.
We are very fortunate to live in the USA.
We are fortunate that there are men and women willing to risk their lives to protect our freedom. Thank you so, so much to our Veterans and current military. It's a sad state that we do need to defend our country, but thank you for your commitment.
I saw this on facebook...
"Men who wear helmets and defend freedom should be paid more then men who wear helmets and defend a football!"
We are fortunate that we escaped NJ and didn't have to deal with the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy.
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HURRICANE SANDY:
Speaking of Sandy, I'd like to give a shout out to Tide, for setting up their washing stations in multiple areas hit by Sandy. They call this good deed, LOADS OF HOPE . We as the outsiders looking in only see the big picture. Homes destroyed, lives lost, no electric, no water.  There are shelters open to house many folks, others are staying in their homes and bundling up to keep warm. But there are the "little things", that may seem minor to us, but are a big deal when you're going through it.  I never thought about people having to do their laundry. Not only because of lack of utilities, but also from being soaked from Sandy also.
I just heard of another group that are helping the animals caught in the middle because of Sandy.  With homes being destroyed, families may not be able to take their dogs to people shelters, or if they are staying with friends or temporarily renting. SANDY DOG NANNIES OF VT has been established. Volunteers will take care of your pets in their home until you can get yourself established again. That is one less responsibility to have to worry about.
I haven't heard from any friends back in NJ, but peeked on their Facebook pages. Most without power for over a week. Some moved in with friends.
My Sister-in-law and her husband own or manage Rehoboth Bay Marina in Dewey, DE.
This is after Sandy.

I'm so confused!

Santa Fe Skies RV Park

Santa Fe, NM 87508

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RV LIFE:

Weather & Altitude: I am so confused! Am I in NJ in January? It's been in the 40-50° range during the day and drops down to 30° overnight! I heard that it hit 80° in NJ! Huh???

Walking the dogs at 6:30 in the morning, I have to not only put on a scarf & hat, but gloves too! Is this the norm for New Mexico at this time of year? Is it because we are at 7000 ft. altitude? In spite of the cold, the lilac bushes around the campground are beginning to bloom.

I have taken a nap 2 days in a row.  I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the altitude? My body needs to expend more energy to get enough oxygen through my bloodstream? 

Both Scott & I have been having sinus headaches...Is that Spring or is that the altitude? 

Our noses are always dried up...Is that Spring or is that the altitude?

It's also been constantly windy here. Have I ever told you how much I hate the wind??? My hatred began when I used to do long distant bicycle riding for charity. I'd rather struggle up a mountain, than deal with the constant wind on flat terrain. 

Was I ever surprised when I was putting on my make up (a rare occurrence these days). I opened my squeeze bottle of liquid foundation and it started flowing out like lava out of a volcano!!!  I hadn't squeezed it yet. I thought maybe there was a hold somewhere! I frantically looked for the lid, but didn't get the bottle closed before foundation was all over the bathroom sink! I must have been squealing, because Scott came around and saw what happened.  I looked at him confused and he just matter of factly said that is what happens because of being in the high altitude. Then proceeded to tell me how water normally boils at 212°, but will probably boil at a lower temperature up here in Santa Fe.  Scott did test his suspicion. He boiled some water for pasta and couldn't resist dipping a thermometer in the water to see when it would boil. Sure enough, about 195° to boil. 

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PETS & ANIMALS:

Both Devin & Lyla are loving this RV park.  It didn't take long for Devin to find something to entertain himself with.

Devin's new tumbleweed toy

The park is almost over run with rabbits. So Devin grabs a scent and off we all go. No choice until I can get some control. We just have to go along with Devin's mission. Then when he actually sees a rabbit. He just stops, lifts his front leg and I suppose he's waiting for me to shoot it or something. I guess he would make a good hunting dog.

Now Lyla on the other hand has been a real pain in the behind! She has decided that this park is a buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. She's sniffing the ground also, but her goal is to find the little gourmet nuggets of bunny poop and eat them like M&M's!!! 

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SIGHTS:

For all the traveling we are doing, we really don't do much touristy type of activities. We mainly like to relax and enjoy the scenery.

We did visit the SANTA FE FARMER'S MARKET.  This is a must visit place. We had to pay $1.00 an hour for parking at the nearby parking lot. We stayed 2 hours.

We began by having a light breakfast at the Farmer's Market Cafe.

Scott had a breakfast burrito and said it was delicious.  I had an almond pastry, which was also delicious.

We both had coffee.  Mine was called "black lightning". A really good cup of coffee!

We were hoping since we were early in the season, that the market wouldn't be very crowded, but we were wrong. It was difficult to get to some vendor's tables because of the crowd. Have I ever mentioned, I hate crowds? Well I do. But I persevered, because the vendors were outstanding!!!

I'll try to list some of the types of items for sale:

Lots of greens, vegetables and herbs.

Goat cheese

Home made baked items.

Honey

Soaps

Raspberry Farm items

Organic beef, yak, rabbit

Lavender sachets, soaps, etc.

Jewelry

Textiles

Pottery 

We ended up purchasing...

a YAK rib eye.

Raspberry jam from HEIDI'S RASPBERRY FARM

Hickory Almond Mustard

Oatmeal raspberry bars

Raspberry apple pie

Scones

Eggs from  KJ Farms. Yes, that egg on the bottom right is a pale green chicken egg. Read an interesting article about this farm and his eggs HERE.

Ciabatta rolls from CRUMPACKERS CAFE & BAKESHOP

Bacon

A new thimble for my cross stitch projects.

I'm sure I forgot a few items we purchased, but you get the idea of the variety & quality found here.

We loved this farmer's market so much, we have extended our stay in Santa Fe from 1 week to 11 days, so we can go to the  SANTA FE FARMER'S MARKET  again!

LONGS, SC 29568 (Near Myrtle Beach)

Location: WILLOW TREE RV RESORT, Longs, SC 29568 (Day 3)
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Get thee behind me satan aka NJ!!!!

I swear, NJ is following us...at least the weather! We arrived at beautiful WILLOW TREE RV RESORT on Wednesday, Nov. 2. And yes, THIS IS A RESORT! How Pine Cone RV "Resort" in NJ can call itself a resort is a sin. Pine Cone has a great swimming pool, & a couple of weathered tennis courts. That's as much of resort as there is there.  The roads are sandy dirt, you have to take your trash to the dumpster. Many of the sites don't have sewer. (The have a "honey pot" truck (as Scott calls it) that comes to your site to dump your tank.  Their electric absolutely sucks. They won't spend the $ to fix/upgrade.  30amp is fine for us, but we need it to WORK! Pine Cone should be called a campground, not an RV resort.  This is a very nice place to camp with a pop up or tent.  Fairly private sites with lots of trees around.

Nov. 2-Nov 16, 2011
WILLOW TREE RV RESORT  Longs, SC 29568
$28./day (group rate) Site #99
Our Rating 4.5 out of 5 Would revisit.
Cedar Creek RV Owners Club are having a Rally here. We met quite a few people at the 2011 Nat'l Rally earlier this year. Great group of people

Willow Tree is a joy (at least for an RV'r). All paved (clean) roads. No tracking sand continually into the RV. Beautiful lake with a 1 mile paved walk/bike/dog walk path around it. You can rent boats to use on the lake.  Large laundry room. Gym, banquet hall, huge store. Golf carts & bike to rent also.
Our evolution of camping:

Funny, how our tastes in "campgrounds" have changed.  

We started out motorcycle camping, with each of our bikes packed and bungeed high.  For our honeymoon, we slept in a 2 person tent, with a 1" foam roll up pad for comfort (not much comfort). We cooked on a single propane stove. We did not require electric. We rode in rain (Nor'easter in Oct), fog (on the Blue Ridge Pkwy) and sun.
We then graduated to a motorcycle pop-up camper. We did not use it much, but when we did, it was enjoyable. Our 800 Suzuki Intruder could pull it. When we would set up camp, this pop up would not only pop up, but also, fold out and out and out.  It opened high enough to stand up in and when open, the length was 14' long! We had a queen sized (off the floor) air mattress and were able to fit a table, chair and 2 dog crates in there! Ahhh, the dog crates...that was our motorcycle demise.
Once we started bringing the dogs camping with us, we decided to purchase a large tent. Many years camping  in a large tent.  Now that we were camping with a tent and a van, we packed it to the brim. We now required electric for our electric cooker and crock pot. We camped many years at Nickerson Family Campground in CT. They had a nice huge site near the creek that we had all to ourselves. Unfortunately, there was no grass, so it was very dirty. I tired of all the dirt and our tent camping subsided.
Retirement and 5th Wheel is not camping. This is our home and totally different attitude.  I was a clean, grassy or paved site. We still like trees but need to get satellite line of sky, and no branches in the way of roof or slide outs.  We may stay in the RV all day. So what? This is our home. We are not on vacation, we are not trying to cram the tourist attractions in.  We are finally relaxing and really enjoying life, free of a full time job (that was like a 32 yr prison sentence).

Weather:
What a pleasure arriving here near Myrtle Beach, with temps in the high 60's. Cooled to high 40's the first night, then...NJ FOUND US! Damn! Double Damn! The clouds smirked at us overhead, the temp dropped to 50, then 40 and hit a low during the night of 38! It was raining all day yesterday and chilly. Today, has been a NJ bitter cold wind. I have no desire to set foot outside. But the pups gotta "go", so I layer myself up and put on my knitted by me "howl" (a cowl & hat combo), and try to not let our setters know how much I'm hating walking them in this weather.  They still need their play time and sniffing all the visitors' spots around.
PETS: Who knew? Part of our travels is learning about the wildlife, plant life, and pests that are foreign to us being from NJ.
Poor Lyla, laying comfortably on the grass, moves her leg near a dirt pile and FIRE ANTS! We had no idea. We thought they were just ants (like in NJ), so we just casually brushed some off of her. Well if you read the link about fire ants, they swarm and sting. Unfortunately Lyla paid the price for our ignorance.

**Update: It took about THREE WEEKS for this to clear up.  She was licking and pulling out her hair there. We had to keep a close watch on it to keep from becoming raw and/or infected. She's all better now.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Freehold, NJ 07728

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RV: While in NC, we did hit a low temp of 38° and did just fine.  Now we are 3/4 through our 10 days in NJ and we are experiencing the good ol' Noreaster.  Temp dropped to 33°, 50 mph winds expected and we had sleet this morning and now a dusting of SNOW!!!

Our furnace is working fine.  We just use it to get the RV up to 68° and then use two electric heaters that work pretty well.  

Our windows have condensation, but no dripping.  I'm comfortable and plan to cuddle up in the easy chair later with an afghan and knit and watch some TV.

Just finished a nice cup of white hot chocolate. Hubby is cooking chili. 

We sold our Ford Focus today, put our motorcycle in storage and up for consignment.  Ahhhh....things are starting to fall into place for now.

House should be up for sale next week. Hope the Cert. of Occupancy doesn't cause us too much trouble. But we'll deal when we have to.

Since taking the last bit of things out of the house and into storage or the RV, the RV is a mess. I planned on putting things in their place today, but with this lousy weather, the awning is not up and I can't get into the "basement" without getting freezing rain all over me.

RV PARK REVIEW:
Oct. 21-Nov. 1, 2011 (11 days)
PINE CONE RESORT  Freehold, NJ 07728 
$49./day
Our rating: 2.5 out of 5  Will avoid.
+Rustic atmosphere.
+Quiet campground even during busy Labor Day weekend when full.
+Pets allowed
+Wi-fi  +Verizon internet worked fine
-Sandy roads and dirt sites, so always tracking dirt into RV.
-Electric needs updating. We had to move from an older 30amp site to a newly renovated 50amp site. The 30amp site kept shutting off on us.
After being at real RV resorts, I have downgraded the this campground.
 -Too much dirt.

PETS: Although Lyla seemed to have enjoyed being an only dog, since Ryley's passing, we still prefer to have two dogs.  Lyla and Devin seem to be getting along well. Lyla will go into his crate when he gets to rowdy for her.

Two nights ago, we let Devin sleep in bed with us. He did fine. The next night, he chose to sleep in his own dog bed and did fine. In fact letting him sleep out of the crate, enables us to get an hour or two extra sleep in the morning!

LYLA                              DEVIN

Funny thing...I definitely consider the RV home now.  The weather is miserable, cold and wet.  We packed the dogs into the truck and when we got to the house, I proceeded to walk in the miserable freezing rain with the dogs, around the neighborhood, for them to "do their business". Well duh!!!! I forgot...the house has a fenced in backyard.  Why should the 3 of us get all wet & cold, when I can just let the 2 dogs run around the backyard, while I stay cozy in the house!