Wednesday, July 1, 2020

July 1 2020
The year is half over and Covid-19 is still rearing its ugly head in this country. More states are reporting increases as the summer progresses and social distancing/mask wearing is becoming less in the general public. Not good.
We just spent a long weekend at the cabin with Eric ,Heather, Wade, Aprill, Kevin, Payton and Kendall. Fun weekend! Lots fishing done, bean bag played along with a ton of cribbage playing done. Along with eating way too much food. Wade caught the biggest fish. TOM! Fish hook in toms back. So a trip to Spooner ER was needed to remove it. It was good to see everyone . Joel and Karen came up for an afternoon to see everyone. Mom of course couldn't come due to not being able to leave the nursing home without isolating for 2 weeks when she returned.
Garden is doing well. Last night we had red potatoes and peas from the garden for supper. YUM! Green bea ns are just starting to form and we have been eating lettuce and spinach with radishes for 3 weeks. Trying to do a bit more bike riding and I should be able to do it as I have been kicked out of donating plasma for 8 wks because I had two issues of not being able to return my RBCs after separating the plasma out. Oh well. Getting tired of it anyway.
toms been "caught"

no wonder. boat is little for 3 people

garden dinner

payton and wade 

cribbage. eric was the overall champion

hot games of bean bag on the deck. Heather said she wasn't good but she lied. she is!


Made strawberry/rhubarb jam. but it turned out more like a sauce. didn't set well.

brett and bode


Friday, June 19, 2020

June 19th 2020
 wow, 6 weeks since I updated.  things are going pretty well since being home. covid--19 is still affecting all of our lives. we got together with my mom once since being back but after the fact I found out we shouldn't have done that. Nursing home says no to even sitting outside with masks on to visit. so I do the grocery shopping  for mom and uncle jack and see her for a couple of moments a week. she is tired of the lockdown too. so glad she has other residents she can visit with. we have gotten together with joel and karen  and friends ed and pat a couple of times.  us ladies went kayaking a couple of times. we went down to kevins for Paytons 13th birthday. she has always been adorable but she is becoming a beautiful young lady.  I started donating plasma twice a week. they pay pretty good money for the donation. I have to drive into eau Claire to donate, but at least gas is cheaper this year. my garden is in and doing ok. seemed like it did better last year  so between the garden, donating plasma, cleaning the bathrooms here at the campground, mowing our yard and trying to get in a bike ride once in a while it seems like I am always busy. time to start figuring out our fall travel plans I guess.
garden is coming along

another birthday has come and gone. new wine cup from friends phil and jan. may come in handy!

pretty sunset at the campground one evening

brett and bode. my virginia boys

payton, kendall and I in a eagles nest. they are huge!

kevin cooking in the rain with his duck umbrella

i think payton liked her gift

sunny day at the park

our pine harbor site #22

brad and Mallory had a new family pic taken

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

May 5 2020.   bodes getting so big!

salute to the veterans and all the wars. very cool!

Even John Wayne is aware of COVID-19

John waynes birthplace

Clark Tower over looking Winterset Iowa. Very narrow twisty road to get up there. 

Cutler-Donahue Bridge. built  1870..winterset iowa. Covered bridges of Madison County


our spot at Winterset City park.

may 5th And we are "home"

May 5 2020
 And we are home after 8,884 miles and 7 months on the road. sept 28 2019 to april 28 2020. Saw many things along the way, and no damage to camper, truck or us. A first for us I think,..Got together with brads family twice and stopped at kevins after leaving Pine Harbor last fall.
 After leaving Fredricksburg TX we went to Bowie Tx with plans to stay 3 nights but after totally setting up we find out we cant get any tv stations in, no wi fi, and cable doesn't work. even tho these things we advertised as a plus. Note to self dont' go to Kozy Days..So we found another park Sunset Rv park,packed up and moved to  a passport America park for $17.50 #24. tv was ok, wi fi good and free laundry. . only stayed one night as there wasn't anything to do around there.
 We moved on to El Reno Ok. Stayed at El Reno Rv city park. Stay 5 nights. $20 a night. Beautiful campground right on the lake. FHU, good tv, had to use data for wifi.  Gas 94 cents a gallon for regular and 1.59 for diesel. cheapest around. Again due too the Covid-19 shut down, not much to do in the area but it was a pleasant stop.
 From there we went to  El Dorado Ks state park. stayed 4 nights but had to move the camper 3 times. First time was because the spot we were in was booked when we wanted to stay longer. so we moved to the next spot over. That night the people that had reserved were young and incredibly NOISY. They had their music blasting and the boom boom boom of their system vibrated right thru our camper. I nicely went over and asked them to turn it down some and they did....right up until I got back in our camper and then they turned it back up...ass holes...so we moved again the next morning across the park to another spot but before we left we CRANKED up our outside radio as loud as it would go to a nice religious station, made as much noise as we could, set off the car alarm and honked repeatedly as we left. It was 9am I hope they were sleeping. Never piss off an older woman with no sleep. the park host did report them I guess. I should mention that no one else was on that side of the campground but us and them so our noise did not disturb anyone else but them.
 After leaving there we went to Marysville. Stayed at their city park. Lovely. Price FREE, for up to 5 nights. Water and electric included. dump station on premises. No tv or wifi would come in so we went and bought movies at Walmart and watched them at night. This is the home of the last standing pony express station and home of the black squirrels. They had statues everywhere.  Stayed 3 nights.
  From there we went to Winterset Iowa. Could only stay one night due to the virus. Home of John Wayne and the covered  bridges of Madison County. Srayed the one night allowed at their city park. $22, #27. Lovely city park with walking trails. good tv, no wifi in our spot but I think we were in a low area.
  From there we were going to stay in MN somewhere but d/t the virus no campgrounds would let us in unless we were a seasonal camper. Thought ok southern wi.. nope...no one was open yet. so we ended up at the Walmart in Chippewa for the night. It was cold and rainy when we arrived and even tho Brett (campground owner) said we could come in early we opted to not set up in the rain.  so we came over the next afternoon and set up in the cool sunshine. Good to be home.
  Most of these towns would have been so fun to explore if anything had been open. We did what we could by exploring walking/driving  trails. or walking city streets. but  missed a lot.
  Now we are home and have gotten together with Joel/Karen, went and got my car at cindi's, saw mom and uncle jack at the Manor. Outside at their tables socially distanced of course. Ed/pat stopped over as did wanda and mark. Opening weekend at the campground was quiet as most seasonals didn't come up. they are going to wait until the virus slows down I guess.
Pony express station. Marysville Ks


beautiful buildings in town


relay pony express outpost. 

could shoot a canon down any street in any of the towns we stopped in. very sad for the small business owners

black squirrel statues everywhere in town


our free spot in town.

el dorado state park. first spot very lovely

sunrise over the lake

El Reno City Park. Beautiful campground

sunset over El Reno

lake view

our spot in el reno city park

walking trails



brett and bode are getting big

happy 46th to us!

Friday, April 10, 2020

April 10 2020
We arrived in Fredricksberg Tx on 4/7. cute town! due to COVID-19 pretty much everything is closed up. Darn, we want to come back to this town and explore further. We did go on a drive the other day. Willow City Loop. Such pretty scenery! Today we are going to check out Lady Bird Johnson county park. Hopefully it will be open. All the texas state parks are closed. We are at Hill Country rv park right in Fredricksberg. Lot #18. $180 for a week.  It is a mix of a few short termers and people that live here yr round. The drive from Brownsville to Fredericksberg was uneventful with minimal traffic. except san antonio. a little busy there but not to bad. 

Thursday, April 2, 2020

April 2 2020
On a sadder note. Our best Canadian friend John died on March 8th. So sad for all who knew him. We were able to attend the funeral thru facetime and so glad we could do it that way. John was one of a kind and he is going to be missed beyond belief. We have facetimed with laurie on a number of occasions. she is holding up but this is really hard for her. She is hoping to join us for a couple of months next winter. I really hope that holds true.
some campground springtime beauty

yep, we are all bored here. someone is cutting a tree down and the golf carts lined up to watch the days excitement!

Toilet paper is a hot commodity!

Bode is getting so big! 3 months now.

the line at the HEB at 8am! that's just to get in!

of course it has been exceptionally hot and humid this month. we actually ran the air conditioning for days in a row!

Beth trying to steal some of my toilet paper. cant trust anyone!

the only plus these days. Gas and diesel are getting cheap. todays prices are $1.60 regular gas and $2.11 diesel. 

3 weeks ago the shelves at Walmart. 

campground baby ducks are getting big!

swan loves the fountains and daily showers

one of our last days out and about. listening to music at Lauguna Bobs. good band. 


Wisconsin party. one of the last gatherings at the campground before things shut down.

well, we do get a pretty sunset.

Good bye John. you will be so missed. Walk them clouds with your buddy Marlon. I know he was happy to see you. 

we loved our social hours!