Ok, so, our Florida visit consists of several parts.  We have a few weeks at Orlando Thousand Trails, then a couple weeks at our Orlando timeshare (with a side trip to Tampa), then a weekend in Fort Pierce, back to Orlando Thousand Trails, and then up to Live Oak for the Fulltime Families Rally.  So, we’ll start with the first 3 weeks at Orlando Thousand Trails.

We arrived at Orlando Thousand trails, in Clermont, FL, on December 2, and picked out a spot in the office.  It was a fabulous spot, C-21.  If you can choose it, you’ll be pleased.  Close to everything, and a big “yard” right out front.

The first “thing” up, was to let Molly know that on December 3, she and Diane would be heading up to New York to get their trip that Hurricane Sandy prevented back in November.  I dropped them off at the airport Monday, and they returned late Friday.  They had a GREAT time.  I’ll get Diane to create her own post on that trip, someday.

While they were away, I got to explore a bit of the RV park, get some pieces parts to repair a few odds and ends, and generally hang out.  The weather was AWESOME.  I spent a couple of my lunch hours and post-work time in the hammock.  After the couple of months in the cold fall weather of the east coast, it was quite nice to have 72 degree days, with a light breeze.

After their week away, the girls came back.  The next week, I flew up to Rochester, NY, to provide some training for a customer.  The next week, Megan arrived for a couple weeks of college time Christmas Vacation.  Once Megan arrived, the girls were off to explore, and to hit a couple of the theme parks.  They were able to spend a couple days at Universal Studios and see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and a special night at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

On December 22, we moved into the Orlando timeshare.  We were putting the RV in storage, so all the fridge and freezer stuff had to come with us, as well as most of the other food, and lot’s of cloths, and stuff, and presents, and more stuff, and… The move out and back in was crazy.  But, after a failed attempt to store the RV in Orlando, we were able to get it over to Diane’s Uncle’s shop in Fort Pierce, and it was there for them to work on when they had time.

Orlando Thousand Trails…

We setup some Christmas decorations, and rented a golf cart for a week.

My close up pictures did not turn out well, but there were plenty of these birds (Sand Hill Crane’s I believe) walking about.  Some tortoises as well.

I heard a loud “whooshing” sound early one morning, and found there were a few hot-air balloons flying over.

I saw this little guy wandering in the middle of the road while I was out for a bike ride.  Picked him up, and put him in one of the nests that was nearby.  Hopefully it was the right one.

We also had a great time re-visiting with the Pickett’s that we’d first met in California, and then saw again in Indiana.  We also got to meet several other families, and Molly was not lacking for people to hang out with here.

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On our way from Cumming to Orlando, we made a weekend stop in Newnan, GA, to visit with some other Fulltime Family friends.  The Garrisons, originally from Newnan, have come off the road so we got to see them.  We also got to see the McClosky’s, who we first met in Menifee, CA.  And, we finally met the Lundy’s!  We’d been following their blog for some time before we went on the road, and Margie was very helpful with input on Internet options, as well as with getting our Thousand Trails membership.

The Pine Lakes RV Park (New name.  Formerly Pine Acres Mobile Home Park) was challenging to work with and get a reservation.  I actually made all our reservations and site choice through the McClosky’s.  It was mildly funny.  The park its self was fine.  Good power, water, sewer hookups, and a level site.  There’s a train nearby, but there’s always a train nearby the RV Parks it seems.

We had a GREAT time visiting with our old friends, and meeting the Lundy’s.  I was also able to get the antennae for TV reception fixed, repair a loose panel on the side of the RV, and replace a hose that had gone bad.

On Sunday, we headed out early, and made our way to Orlando, FL.

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So we left North Carolina, and headed through South Carolina, and over to Cumming, GA.  Work had requested me and a few others to head into the office for a couple days of meetings, and I needed to prepare some equipment that I would be shipping up to Rochester, NY, so I could train a customer up there.

We stayed at the Twin Lakes RV Park in Cumming, again.  This time, we made reservations, and got a spot that did not put our bedroom right next to the road, and the bottom of the hill, that everyone drove up at 5 am with their diesel trucks.  Had a nice, pleasant, and quiet stay as a result.

Molly came into the office and helped me out with getting some of the equipment prepared for the training.  She had a good time, and my co-workers enjoyed (I believe) the unusual visit in the office.

The President of my company has a few kids, and one of them is active with a horse rescue facility.  We got some information and were able to arrange for Molly to hang out there with his daughter and care for some of the horses.  Molly had a great time, and even got to ride one or two of the animals.

Next stop… Florida!

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After Virginia, and the Indian Reservation visit, we headed down to Forest Lake, a Thousand Trails Preserve in Advance, North Carolina.  This was our location to stay over the Thanksgiving Day Holiday.

Because of the stop at the Indian Reservation, this was one of those rare times that we arrived to our stop after dark.  And, this one was hilly, with trees everywhere.  Fun.  Also, there was no one at the gate or office.  Just a box that had our info, car/RV tags, and a map.  Oh goody.

It took about a half hour, but we finally settled on a 50 Amp site that was easy to get into, close to the buildings, and had good clear view for satellite.  We thought we’d have to pay an extra $3 per day for that site, but it’s only during the summer.

This preserve is pretty cool.  There’s a big lake, and camping on both sides.  They have a large number of cabins, an adult lodge, and a family lodge.  Also, a pool at each lodge.  Everything but the adult lodge and laundry were closed for the season though, so not much else for us to do here at the preserve.  We did finally see some staff, and everyone we saw were very nice and helpful.

After all the travel, the lack of any friends/family around and such, everyone was getting, well, grouchy.  Just lot’s of grouchy ladies in the camper.  Not good, for anyone.  So, I told them to get ready, that we were going out for a surprise evening.  The big surprise was bowling.  It had been a long time since we’d gone, and it was just different and fun enough to get rid of the grouchies.  Hard to see, but Diane won… both games!

So, for Thanksgiving, the plan was to hit up a local Cracker Barrel restaurant  and then go see the movie, Lincoln, to continue with the Lincoln theme of the trip.  We found a Cracker Barrel near a movie theater, and headed over around 1 pm.  Well, everyone else seemed to have the same idea, and the wait was going to be around an hour.  So, we headed next door to the not crowded Ruby Tuesday’s.  No turkey on the menu, but we got some decent food, and had time to head over to the movie and deal with the lines there too.  The movie was awesome.  No, nothing major or new to the story, but the way it is told is fantastic.

Back at the preserve, Molly and I were able to use the shuffle board courts and scoot the puck around a bit, as they’d left the equipment out.  Diane and Molly were also able to get in a round of mini-golf because we carried a couple putters and golf balls with us in the RV.  And, there is an old tobacco barn on the property that we got to check out while there.

And, anyone that is a fan of Hunger Games, that finds themselves in North Carolina, is going to try and seek out one or more of the movie shoot locations.  Diane read up on some of the old abandoned buildings that were used for some scenes, and we weren’t sure what we’d find or be able to do while there.  To our surprise, we were able to park, get out, and spend plenty of time walking around and taking pictures.

On one other holiday weekend trip, we went to tour the Latta Plantation in Huntersville, NC. It was another historic site with re-enactments, and we had a good time learning the history.

Oh, and he’s not smiling on purpose, cause it used to take so long to take pictures in his day, and such.

We headed out of North Carolina on Sunday, and headed to Georgia.  We’d hoped to go over and stay at a place in Myrtle Beach for a few days before heading to Florida, but, work had requested me and a few others to come in for some meetings, so we hoped over to Cumming/Alpharetta, GA.

After D.C., we headed for Gloucester, VA, to stay at the Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay Preserve.  Our visit here was just a little over a week, and the location is close to Richmond (the state Capital) and Colonial Williamsburg, as well as the Jamestown Colony site.

Our first weekend there, we headed over to Williamsburg.  Now, we’ve been to a few different places that provide an interactive “back in time” type setup for their location, and they recreate life back in the 1800’s.  In Indiana, we have been to Conner Prairie a couple times, and there was a “one weekend only” recreation near Terre Haute that Molly got to participate in during our last visit.  So, the idea of paying theme park prices for one of these, was not on the top of our To-Do list.  Also, you can tour the grounds, shop in all the shops, and eat in all the restaurants, for free.  That’s what we did.  We did have a great late lunch.  Best “Bangers and Mash” I’ve ever had.  Love the simple meat and potatoes stuff.  We walked around, but we were feeling a bit overloaded on even more history, so we only spent a couple hours, and headed out.

There was a Yankee Candle Company store there however, and so we had to stop, I’m told.  One item we picked up was some wax hands, where Molly was the model for the hands.  Hopefully these survive our journey!

The RV Park itself was right on one of the waterways that lead to the Chesapeake Bay, and the Fall Colors were in full form while we were there.  It was “off-season” of sorts, and so they didn’t have any activities, and the pool, store, etc., were closed.  Still, nice place, pretty, and quiet.  Oh, and we saw an RV there that we know we’ve seen at a couple places in CA.  The park here was recovering from some flooding they experienced during Sandy, but it was drying out nicely.  Only one section of the campground was impacted, and it was an area with mostly long term sites.  Oh, and they got fresh pavement for the main roads just before we left.  You can see it in the photo on the right below.

Also while here, Diane and Molly headed over to Richmond to add another State Capitol to their passport booklet.  Diane was very impressed with this one, and thought it was pretty cool.  They even used this location for some of the filming of the movie “Lincoln” that is out right now.  They also visited the Confederate “White House”, which is located in Richmond as well.

And, our last visit in Virginia came on the day we headed out of town.  We had communicated with my sister, who’s been doing some genealogy research in the last couple years.  We had known that my Grandmother (Granny, Dad’s Mom) was part Native American.  However, Granny never wanted to really talk about the past, especially things related to her childhood and relatives.  She passed away a few years ago, but Chellie (my sister) was able to find out that our Native American ancestors were from the Pamunkey tribe.  She also knew that they had a reservation in Virginia, and it was pretty close to where we were.  We had hoped to visit earlier, but as it turned out, we could only visit on the day we were leaving.

It was quite a journey to get out there, and driving in the RV was extra fun.  Diane followed in the car, and it was a bit easier being separated.  The museum is small, but nice, and they have a gift shop with locally made jewelry and other items, as well as books about their history.

We had a nice visit, and then hit the road for North Carolina.

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We had looked at a few different options for places to stay near Washington DC.  All of them involved the use of public transportation, as that was just going to be easier for some of the places we wanted to visit.  In the end, we decided to go ahead and stay at the Cherry Hill RV park, which is one that comes up while searching, and is the closest to DC.  It seems to be expensive, but given that you can jump on the public transportation right at the park entrance, you’re actually doing pretty good.  No parking fees, and the staff will gladly help you figure out how to get where you’re going.  I must say, this is probably the absolute best RV park that we’ve stayed at so far.  The sites are all super clean and level, there are many there, and the services are phenomenal   There’s a restaurant  huge laundry, pool, big activities center, and the largest onsite store we’ve seen.  All of these things have hours that will work for any schedule, even though we were there in the off-season period.

On the first full day there, Diane and Molly headed up to Gettysburg, PA, to visit one of the planned sites for our cancelled PA stop.  They had a great time, and extended some of the Lincoln history theme that has been in most of our stops.

On the next day, election day, we had a scheduled tour for the White House.  We got up early, and headed into the city, to the Ronald Reagan building.  It’s an International Trade building, and has public parking that is near the White House and other area sites.  Our early start helped us avoid traffic, and we had time to grab some coffee and pastries, then headed over towards the White House.  We weren’t sure exactly what to expect, and we were glad to see that we could just head on into the security maze, even though we were early.

The tour basically took us through a few of the common areas of the White House, and provided access to a few rooms with historical furniture and paintings on the main floor, and then we were able to go through everywhere up on the State Floor, which is just above the main floor.  It was pretty cool to see the actual rooms, furnishings, and paintings that have been there for decades.  No pictures inside, but we got a couple shots outside once we were done.

We then went over to check out the White House Visitor Center.  Well, the main building is under renovation, so we got to tour the temp building up on jacks.  It was closer to the White House, and still had a great video that showed a lot of the history and features of the White House.

Next on the agenda, was to tour the “Mall”, and see the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial.  The Washington Monument is closed, and likely will be for a long time.  It was damaged pretty good during an earthquake a while back, and has not yet been repaired.

Heading down the way, we got to see the World War II memorial, and see all the fountains.  We also walked along the reflecting pool, and made our way to the Lincoln Memorial.  We spent some time here, and tried the photo trick with a $5 bill.

From the Lincoln Memorial, we headed over to see the Einstein Statue.  I had visited this on a previous trip to D.C. Back in the early 90’s.  I remember it being hidden by tree’s at that point, but it has a bit more prominent role, and is highly visible now. (Or, my memory is out of whack)

Next up, a LONG walk back the other way.  We headed over to a couple of the Smithsonian buildings, had lunch, and checked out a few of the more interesting items that we had on our list of “must see”.  Some were there, some not, but it was nice to see all of the items they’ve collected over the years.  Free admittance is pretty nice too.

Next stop, the National Archives building.  This one had the longest line of anything we’d visited.  This building houses and display’s some of the original copies of items like the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.  There are others as well, but I don’t remember all of them.  There was just SO MUCH history and stuff for my brain to consume!  It was a bit full.  After this, we headed home.

The next day, Diane and Molly went back into town for a tour of the Capital Building.  They took advantage of the bus system that picked up right at the RV park, and had a good time for Molly’s first public bus ride.

The girls had a decent time touring the Capital, but were really impressed with Ford’s Theater, and the home across the street.  They still have the bloody pillow from the bed where they laid Lincoln after he was shot.  Lot’s more history!

The Cherry Hill RV Park was AWESOME.  It is expensive compared to your average RV park, but, it’s not your average RV Park.  I would say it is likely one of the best we have stayed at, as far as having everything you could want.  Granted, our visit was during cold weather, so we didn’t get to be outside at the pool and such, but it was wonderful in every way.

We left town the day after the Capital visit, and headed to Virginia, and the next post.

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The drive from Indianapolis area to Washington D.C. is about 12 hours if going by car, and not stopping. Seeing as how we’re in an RV, pulling a car, and need gas once in a while, it was expected to be longer, and we planned on taking two days to get there.  This meant an overnight somewhere along the way.

I know some of our readers are fans of boondocking, but we’re not at this point.  We need to make some modifications to the electrical abilities of the RV, and then I might be ready to do this for some of our long haul overnights.

As such, and given the area we were traveling, and the time of year, finding an RV park that was open, and not priced too crazy, was challenging.  There were some other options that might have saved us $10-20, but they were usually farther from the Interstate, and had other difficulties.  Wolfies was easy. We got there early enough to be able to see, and found our spot easy to setup and get into.  It was also right next to the playground, so Molly took advantage of the situation and daylight, and played on the equipment.

If you find yourself in need of a nice place to stay in the Zanesville, Ohio area, give Wolfies a look.

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FYI – This post is partially for those interested in our planning changes, and for us so that we can remember for later on.

So, just to review the original plan.

• Get to Indiana and spend 3 weeks at Horseshoe Lakes.
• Move to Indianapolis so I could do a quick trip to Atlanta for a couple days.
• Move to Hershey, PA, and spend 3 weeks, with David traveling 2 weeks during this time.
• Move to hotel in Meadowlands, NJ, and spend 5 days.
• Then the schedule got loose again, where we’d move to DC for some number of days, then Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, then Florida by Dec. 2.

So, while we were at Horseshoe Lakes, we had some flies that invaded.  Lot’s of little gnat flies.  They really liked the bathroom.  I still have no idea where they were coming from.  I know about the famous RV “toilet flies”, but these weren’t coming from the toilet.  Covered the drains with clear cups, but still no flies.  There’s a BIG opening at the bottom of the sink, that goes to the water/waste/elec connection area, but they still kept coming even after closing that off.  I think some came through the vent and window screens, but there’s still some other place where they came in, and I’ve still not found it.

Anyway, the girls were none too happy about the situation.  Then, Diane saw on the Thousand Trails Facebook page, some posts regarding stink bugs.  Now, we’d heard about the possibility of this happening, so we’d purchased some bug spray that was supposed to take care of these and other bugs, and you just spray the outside of the RV.  Problem solved, I thought.  But, it seemed most of the posts on the matter were saying things like “nothing kills them”, “if they die, more come”, and “they find any small space and get in your RV”.  And, as you may recall from my earlier comment on our planned schedule, I was basically going to be getting the RV to Pennsylvania, getting the girls settled, then taking off for two weeks of work travel out west.

After several discussions, and checking on all kinds of options, we decided to extend our stay at Horseshoe Lakes for 3 weeks, and skip the stop in Indianapolis, and skip Pennsylvania.  There were some planned Halloween activities in Hershey, PA, so there was a little bit of disappointment at missing this.  Also, there were some plans to travel to Gettysburg while there, and extend the Lincoln History theme this trip has taken.  BUT…It also meant that Molly would get to hang out at Pumpkin Works for a few more days of helping with the horses, and Diane and Molly would get to be around for the Covered Bridge Festival.  They both enjoyed these, and Molly especially was fine, for the most part, with staying a bit longer.

So, I went off on my trip and we all carried on as best as possible.  There was one incident where I had to help Diane figure out how to use the bug sprayer thing we’d gotten for the stink bugs.  It seems that there were some distant cousins to the PA stink bugs that were hanging in Indiana.  One is an Asian lady bug of some sort, and the other is a small black beetle with some orange-ish markings.  Based on how this went, I think everyone was glad we’d not moved to the stink bug capital.

As I was wrapping up the last couple days of my work trip, we all started hearing about a hurricane in the Caribbean area, that was projected to head north.  Then, the predictions started showing it make a weird left turn, right into NJ/NY.  This is early in the week of October 22, there were several days before it should turn, and we decided to wait till the end of the week, and decide what to do.  We had book at Horseshoe Lakes till October 28, but had planned on heading to NJ the day before, spending the weekend traveling east.  I kinda thought the projections would change, and it would head north or east.

Well, as we got to the end of the week, and even up to our goodbye get together on the 27th, we were still thinking of moving to NJ, but just trying to figure out the best way to do it.  Should we board Francie, leave the RV at a relatives in OH/WV area, and just drive our car?  Should we take the RV as planned?  My first big concern, without investigating, was flooding.  It would have been catastrophic for us to take the RV there, and have it flood.  A quick Google search, and I found there was a history of flooding for that area, even with less severe storms.  The idea of going without the RV then made a bit of sense.  That is, until my Mom mentioned the power outage predictions she’d been hearing.  If that happened, I would rather have the RV with us, but there was still the flooding.  After several discussions, it became obvious to me that we’d not be able to safely and securely go, and that the girls were not willing to make that decision.  So, I got to make it, and be the potential bad guy if it all blew over.

So, the next thing to figure out, was out next step.  We had to leave Horseshoe Lakes, as they were closing, and we still wanted to go to DC, if possible, after the storm.  We also didn’t want to get into Pennsylvania, as there were heavy wind, rain, and snow predictions for that area, should the storm go as expected.

Luckily for us, my sister had put in the electrical outlet last year, and they were open to having us come over for the week, and to even participate in some trick-or-treating with them in the area.  So, on Sunday the 28th, we moved to my sister’s place, out in the woods, south of Indianapolis.

While there, Molly got to play in some big piles of leaves.  Seems that is something she’d yet to do, and had on her “I’ve never done _____” list.  We also went trick-or-freezing… I mean treating… with the cousin crew.  Lot’s of candy to be had, but it was COLD and a bit windy.  We decided a coffee cart could have made a killing that evening.  I believe the cold and wind were all part of the now super-storm Sandy.

Well, we watched the reports starting Wednesday morning, then Thursday, and into Friday, and most of us came to the conclusion that we’d made the right choice by not heading to NJ.  We also watched, and checked up on Washington DC, and the roads to get there, and found we were good for travel.  We made some reservations for an RV park that is really close to DC, and came with great recommendations, and headed out on the morning of November 3rd.

We also did some checking regarding the hotel we were supposed to stay with in NJ.  It turns out, the storm knocked out power right away, and they closed and evacuated the hotel.  Not sure what we’d have done at that point, as the storm had already caused most of its damage and flooding by that point.  Also, power didn’t come back for a whole week for them.

We’re happy to have been able to avoid the devastation, and our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to those that were unable to avoid it.  We’ve made a few donations for victims of the storm, and would encourage anyone reading this to do the same.  www.redcross.org.

Better posts coming!

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Ok, we found a TREASURE in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Now, I must say that we found them because of a tip from a fellow fulltime family that happened to travel through the area before.  I came across the blog for The Awesome Family via some other Fulltime Family link, or FB Page, and was checking it out.  They have a page for businesses they’ve come across and liked, and I saw a listing for a business in Terre Haute, IN there.  Now, it’s not often that I hear of see any mention of Terre Haute if I’m not in the area, so I was interested, and checked out the Caboodle Cupcake site and their Facebook page.

Based on watching the posts on Facebook, I got a good idea of how things worked.  They opened in the late morning, Tuesday through Saturday, and once all the cupcakes were gone, they’d close up, or at 5 if they did not sell out that day.  Also, two days a week, they’ll have some special Gluten Free flavors up for those that need their cupcakes with zero gluten.

So, we arrive in Clinton, and I start planning a visit.  Diane, Molly, and I stopped by and picked out a couple flavors to enjoy right there in the shop.  I can tell you I don’t remember what we got that trip.  We made 3 other trips, and I probably had 5 of their cupcakes over the whole 6 weeks stay.  They are SO GOOD!  We also got to talking to the owner/operators, Michael and Susan.  Come to find out, this is their retirement job, and they are working their way to getting an RV and hitting the road themselves!  We had some great conversations over the next few visits, and shared many a cupcake with friends and family during visits.

If you’re ever in Terre Haute, make sure to head over to their shop at 7th and Davis, and give one of the cupcakes a try.  You too can share in the joy of a delicious cupcake!

For more info, take a look at http://www.caboodlecupcakes.com, and to see what flavors are up today or tomorrow, watch their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Caboodle-Cupcakes/174974438665

Michael and Susan are artists with media other than just the cupcakes.  You can see more of their artwork at the shop, or on the website.  Also, they strive to make a great product that you’ll enjoy, and to give back to the community every chance they get.  All in all, a great business, with a fantastic product, and awesome heart.  Hope they are still there whenever we get back to the area, or that they’ve turned over the business to someone just as awesome.

Oh, and the one that got away… Just saw it posted on Facebook, but we’re headed the other way…

Now, back to the diet. 🙂

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We planned to be at Horseshoe Lakes for three weeks, and then move on to Pennsylvania.  But, as the move day drew closer, we started hearing about some bugs and things being at the park we were heading to.  Also, I was going to be gone for 2 weeks of the time at that park, and Diane and Molly would need to deal with the bugs themselves.  We investigated what it would take, and then decided to just go ahead and stay at Horseshoe Lakes for an additional 3 weeks.  This meant paying for one week, where we should be out of the park, and then two more weeks of our normal Thousand Trails reservations.  For this post, we’ll cover some of the activities and scenes from the first three weeks.

First, I grew up (age 5 to 18) about a quarter mile from the RV park.  I had only been in the park twice before.  Once before it became Thousand Trails, and the second for my 10 year class reunion.  I was pretty excited at the idea to be able to ride bikes with Molly, up and down the streets that I spent so much time on.  I had a paper route for something like 5-7 years, and put some serious seat time delivering the paper 5 days a week.

Upon arrival, there were some differences here.  Most notable was that you don’t check in at the gate, but rather at the office, which is on a side road before you enter the gate.  Ok, no problem.  We got in, got a basic briefing of what all the site groups had to offer, and we headed out to pick a spot.  The biggest “issue” was the number of tree’s, and how low on the horizon the satellites are here in this part of the country.  We found one site, but couldn’t get the dish to latch on, so we moved a couple sites over, and got a lock.  Another interesting thing about this park, is the number of Seasonal Sites that are occupied.  With the price they charge, and the fact you could stay there from park open to close (April to end of October), there are several people in the program.  Some parents of one of my classmates have their camper there in a spot as well.  It made for a nice community, and likely the park would be a ghost town without them.  I also saw how they basically ran the facility.  Some of them officially, and others unofficially.  It wouldn’t be as nice a place without them.

Now, all the visiting and fun.

We had a visits from family of course, and also another Fulltime Family came to stay at the park.  We had met this other family (The Pickett’s) in California at Wilderness Lakes.  They have three younger kids, but they all enjoyed spending time with Molly whenever we’d go over for a campfire. It was great to catch up with John and Mary, and do some in-person smack talk for our Fantasy Football league.  John was starting one at the beginning of Football season, and I was able to join.  It was my first, and it has been a lot of fun.

During this first three weeks, we got to go over and see the great Pumpkin Works that we’d heard so much about over the years.  This is a pig farm turned Halloween extravaganza, near Paris, IL.  The farm is owned by my Aunt’s family.  They started Pumpkin Works 20 years ago, and it is even on the map!   My Aunt and Uncle have also started their own horse carriage company, offering carriage’s for weddings, parades, and such, and they also give horse wagon rides at Pumpkin Works.  So, we got to go see them as well as the great Pumpkin Works.

Not sure if it has been mentioned before, but Molly is a great fan of horses.  She’s had several lessons while we lived in Orange County, and she was very happy to be able to get a ride with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Cathy’s horses.  Even better, she got to DRIVE!  And even better than that, she went back and worked as “Uncle Jeff the Great” (a name he recommended) assistant on several days.  The J&C horses were only there on the weekends, but Molly spent as much time as possible working with them.

Also during this time, we got some Woopie Pie’s from the Amish, took lot’s of fall color photo’s, rode bikes in the old neighborhood, took care of my Mom’s “honey do list”, installed a new bike rack on the back of the RV, and got a “Stay-a-while” gas line kit so we can use portable tanks and attach them to the RV Propane system.  A very productive few weeks.  More on the next three weeks in a later post.

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