We arrived in Cumming, GA on September 4th in the evening.  Diane had called ahead and reserved a site for us.  Good thing too, as it had a lot more campers there then last year in November/December.  So much so that our site was one with the back end of the RV sitting right next to a road.  Also, as luck would have it, most of the residents were working on a local construction site, and all had nice loud diesel trucks that they drove down that road every morning between 5 and 6.  It was awesome.  Diane is prepped for the normal loud noise (me snoring) and slept right through them.  I was lucky enough to get the early wake up. :/

I spent most of the weekdays working in the office, but did stay at the RV for one of those to work on a setup for me to conduct some training from the road.  Diane and Molly had several excursions planned, including an overnight at the local Marriott where they have a special American Girl doll package.  They had a great time there, and Francie (the cat) only meowed at me for 8 of the hours they were gone.

We also were able to have a dinner with Toby, Monica, and Christopher at Mellow Mushroom Pizza.  Monica’s parents were there as well, and it was a great time with some great food.  It was nice to meet Monica’s parents, and to see the cousin and family again.

On Sunday, the “Jeep and Ammo” club at work had an organized outing.  Molly and I got all the details and joined them at a state run outdoor shooting range.  Most of my coworkers have guns of one form or another, and there were other coworkers there shooting for the first time.  Molly was a bit nervous at first, but worked her way to firing a .22 rifle, and enjoyed it.  She ended up firing about 5 clips worth of ammo as we rotated through all those that wanted to shoot.  Once the range closed, she was looking forward to the next one.

During the last week there, we had the chance to meet up with the Garrison family that we first met back in February in Quartzsite, AZ.  We then spent a few weeks with them (and other families) at Pio Pico, then Wilderness Lakes, and even in Las Vegas.  They’ve been off the road for a few months now, and it was great to catch up with them and see how their doing.  Their two girls and Molly had a good time getting to hang out again and catch up.  We all had a great meal at Papasita’s too!

Diane and Molly headed into Atlanta during the last few days to see the Martin Luther King home and exhibits, as well as some other Atlanta attractions.  Since they are doing pretty well at posting, I’ll let them give the details on their visits.

On Friday, Diane and I got up early, got everything prepped, and headed over to the parking lot at the office.  The girls hung out in the RV till after lunch, and we all headed on up the road to Santa Claus, IN. More on that in the next post.

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We left Jellystone this morning, but not till around 10:30 local time.  With a nearly full tank of gas, we rolled for about 300 miles, all the way into Georgia in one swoop.  It was a monster run.  I think that’s the longest non-stop run so far.  There was a couple small spots with some HEAVY rain.  Came nearly to a stop due to there being a couple inches of water on the road.  But, for the most part, it was simply normal driving.

So, we called the Twin Lakes RV Park in Cumming, Georgia, on our way.  Lucky we did, as they were going to close the office soon, and, only had a couple spots left.  When we were here last November, it MIGHT have been 25% full.  I guess the warmer weather of September is what has people here.

Anyway, I’ll get three days in the office this week, and five days next week.  The original plan was for two days in the office this week, then two weeks on the road doing some shows, but the show portion has been cancelled, and so we adjusted a bit.  The calendar on the main page has our schedule as it stands now.  I believe the Ohio piece will be changed, as there’s some other work travel I have to do.

Diane and Molly have an American Girl Doll event planned for Saturday at the local Marriott, and we hope to be able to visit with some family, friends, and maybe another (not currently active) fulltime family we met earlier this year in California.  Fingers crossed and hoping we get all of that in before heading up to Indiana.

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Got a late start today.  I slept in a bit, but, I knew we had 2 days, and 12 hours worth of driving, so not too big of a deal.

We were about 30 miles from Meridian, MS at 4pm, and I pulled off at a Rest Area to look for a place to pull in for the evening.  I had noticed clouds building ahead of us, but it seemed to be a long way off.  As I looked at my phone, I noticed a weather alert had come in, and this one was a tornado watch that was going till 11.  A closer look and the center of the alert was 7 miles away.  I spent some time reviewing other weather info, and found that we were heading into a huge area of tornado watches, and we’d been planning on spending the night right in the middle.

So, some calls, and a couple miles of backtracking, and we found a Jellystone Park that was outside the weather trouble area, and only $25 a night.  It would have been nice not to have used up the extra gas, but it’s worth it to have some feeling of safety for the evening.  I’ll be reviewing the weather for tomorrow, and hopefully we can make it the rest of the way to Cumming, GA.

The Jellystone Park has a big lake, and a nice big water park.  The girls tried to get over there and check it out, but we got in a tad too late.  Seems the staff is really anxious to get home now that everyone left earlier today from the long Labor Day weekend.

If you’re in the area, this is a pretty nice location.  It has the lake, water park, lot’s of nice clean sites with full hookups, lot’s of tree’s, a big store, and golf cart rentals.  Kinda wish we were staying here longer. 🙂

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Well, we’ve made it to the other side of Texas.  We got a really early start, made one quick stop at an In-N-Out, and then made it all the way to Tyler.  Fortunately, there was a nice and easy to get to Passport America park right off the 20, and it was just $16 for the night.  The Texas Rose RV Park made for a nice quite stop, even though it’s not to far off the highway.

Should make it through the rest of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and hopefully spend tomorrow night in Alabama.

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We made it quite a ways today, and should do about the same tomorrow if all goes well.  For our overnight, we’re staying at the Eagles Nest RV Park, in Van Horn, TX.  They have a 10% discount for most all the camping clubs, but no Passport America.  Still, full hookups for less than $30 is always nice, especially when it is right where you need it for a good nights sleep, is in great condition, and has such a friendly staff.

On our drive today, we ate lunch in the RV, and just made gas stops, except for when we saw the signs for “The Thing”.  We had watched a video over on the Gone with the Wynn’s site from their visit, so we had to check it out for ourselves.  Funny thing was that the girls ended up being more frightened by some large colorful grass hoppers we found than they were the thing.  I expected “The Thing” to be some kind of Big Foot or something, but it isn’t.  Not sure if it’s real or not, but wouldn’t be surprised either way.  It won’t be what your expecting though!  All the antiques and such that you see along the way is pretty cool.  It’s worth the $1 admission, and then you can head on in to the Dairy Queen for a treat.

Off to catch up on making adjustments to our plans.  I found out yesterday that part of my work trip has been cancelled, so we’ll adjust a couple things.  Likely we’ll get to Indiana a week earlier, which will be nice.

Couple of photo’s…

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Well, we got a fairly early start this morning, and headed on down the road by about 9 am.  My pre-planning for gas stops is working well, as are the distance targets.  Hopefully we get an earlier start tomorrow.

Today we made it to Tucson, AZ, and we’re staying back at the Valley of the Sun Mobile Home and RV Park.  Diane and I stayed here on our way to California last December, and I knew they had a Passport America Rate, as well as really new and clean hookups.  Given the temperatures out here in the desert, I really want a good electric setup.

The drive was HOT.  The front engine area AC works well, but it’s only going to keep the front two seats cooled off.  We ended up firing up the generator and the roof AC’s for most of the afternoon.  Should only be an extra gallon of gas per hour.  It’s quite a bit different than the trip last November.  The temps then were quite mild.

After we got the RV all setup and cooled off for Francie, we headed out to a Cracker Barrel just down the road and had a nice dinner.  It’s going to be a bit more remote for the next couple days, and we’ll be eating at the RV, so it was a nice treat before we push on.  Molly was happy, as she likes Cracker Barrel, and it was all the way back in November when she last ate at one.  I suspect she’ll get her fill over the next 5 months.

Off to bed so we can roll out early tomorrow.

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Well, it’s time to make a big change.  We’ve been here at our Southern California home base of Wilderness Lakes for almost 3 weeks now, but it’s time to move on.  We’ve got the rig nearly prepped, and we’ll be loading up on some supplies this afternoon.  Tomorrow morning, nice and early, we’ll be disconnecting the shore hookups, sucking in the slides, pulling up the leveling jacks, hooking up the car, and rolling on down the road.  Our plan is to take 4-5 days getting from SoCal to the Atlanta, Georgia area.  There’s some work to do, and some fun stuff planned for the girls.  Hopefully everyone has a good time.

After that, we’ll head up to Indiana for a bit, then Pennsylvania, then NY/NJ, then Virginia, then ??? and eventually in Florida for parts of December and into January.  After that, not sure.  Florida, and then head back to California at some point in time, and by some path.  Hoping to fill in the US Map on the side of the rig where the stickers are missing.

I’ll be putting a new map up here on the front page that will track our progress, as well as creating a Tag for posts that are about this big trip, including this one.  I’ve also added the ability to use the new WordPress JetPack subscribing so you can follow via email.  FYI to the Mom’s and Dad’s of myself and Diane, you’re covered, and you should be getting the email’s, like you hopefully will for this post.

Ok, enough sitting.  Time to finish up the preps, and get some sleep.

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After leaving Sacramento, we headed to a Thousand Trails park in Morgan Hill, CA.  We left later in the day on Sunday, giving Molly and Diane time to participate in all the sessions they wanted to see at the conference.  It took a couple hours to get to Morgan Hill, and we got there just in time to get a spot and hooked up before it was totally dark.

Morgan hill is in a nice area, in that it’s not near any highways, railroad tracks, airport, or other noise generating equipment.  The sites all look pretty level, and there are lot’s of tree’s.  It has a huge pool, especially compared to the number of available sites in the park.  All the sites have water and electric, but none have sewer.  They do have a honey wagon service, but it could get old paying $25 every few days to dump the gray tank.  I would invest in one of those portable tanks if I planned on staying here longer than just a week.

Internet and cellular services worked fine.  I think we were right on the edge of Sprint coverage, and a booster might have helped.  The AT&T and Verizon phones worked just fine.  We got Satellite TV too, but that is a tough one here for the roof mounted dishes.  Not too many spots with the right clearing.  The spaces here can be kinda tight too.

We may be spoiled by our experiences with staff at Lake Conroe, Wilderness Lakes, Idyllwild, and even Pio Pico, in that they’ve all had some pretty friendly staff.  At Wilderness Lakes, you cannot drive, walk, or ride a bike, and not have one of the staff wave at you when they see you.  Even if they’re off scooting around on the golf carts, they’ll throw a wave and a smile at you.  Pretty much the same thing at Idyllwild.  But, at Morgan Hill, it was hard to even know who the staff were, let alone get a wave, or a smile.  Not sure if they’re more seasonal, and just getting worn down by what seems to be a constant state of being filled with campers, or what.  Nothing bad really, just not as friendly.  All in all, I got most of what I want in a site.  Respectful neighbors, electricity, level, some shade, water, and a generally calm atmosphere.  Oh, and good Internet for the worker type, and the YouTube watcher.

Enough about the park…

While there, we all went out to dinner one night with a colleague, his wife, and daughters (he has a new tiny one!)  We had a fantastic dinner at Maggiano’s in San Jose, CA.  The food was very good, and there was lot’s of it.  Both families walked away with a couple days worth of leftovers.  It was great to see Thao, and spend some non-work time with the families.

Another family outing was off to the Santa Cruz boardwalk.  This is like the runway of a larger county fair, with permanent rides, food vendors, and games.  We went on dollar hot dog and soda night, so dinner was cheap.  You buy tickets for the rides, and this night had some special ticket prices as well.  Molly had a great time on some of the rides by herself, a couple with Diane, and then one final “see if we can make him hurl” ride with Dad.  Ugh.  The ride home was on some twisty roads too.  It was all I could do to keep from letting loose of the cheap hot dog and soda.  I’m officially too old for such things now.  If you’re in the area, it’s a great spot to hang out.  There’s no fee to get in, so you have some hooligan’s hanging around that you need to keep an eye out for, but there’s lot’s of families there too, till it gets dark and cold.

Since the boardwalk rides were not quite enough, Molly and Diane also headed out to San Jose to California’s Great America (http://www.cagreatamerica.com/)  We had gotten some great tickets from another Fulltime family that was not going to be able to use them.  They both had a great time, rode several rides, and spent nearly the whole day there at the park.  It sounds like it is similar to Knott’s Berry Farm that is in Southern California, and they do have some affiliation as well.  If you’re in the area, and it’s open, it would be some good fun for the kids.  Way cheaper than the Disney prices.

Our stay at Morgan Hill ends Sunday, August 12, and we’re booking it down to SoCal that day to stay back at our favorite, Wilderness Lakes in Menifee.  We’ve got some appointments lined up before we head east, plus moving Megan into an apartment, and a couple RV projects.  Sorry this post is so late, but I’ve been working on those projects, and time has gotten away.

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Well, we’re wrapping up a short stay here in Sacramento. Lot’s of lightning and thunder tonight, which is a bit different than what we see down in Southern California.

Diane and Molly have had a good time with at the Home-school Conference, and I’ve been able to get some work done, as well has a whole day and a couple evenings worth of work on websites and web hosting stuff. Lot’s of fun. Most of the effort was in getting our site moved to a new host, and then also setting up a new site for my sister’s office. Check out the work I’ve done at www.chelliegardner.com. This is the updated version that is currently at www.chellie-gardner.com. We’ve moved it from Joomla to WordPress.

Anyway, nothing major here. We’re at a KOA. The West Sacramento/Old Town KOA to be exact. It’s a pretty nice facility. A bit of an odd configuration for our site, and a couple others, where there are trees and/or hookups in odd places. I flipped a coin. Sewer hookup or awning, and went with the awning. Since the girls are gone all day, I’ve kept the dishes used to a minimum, and showered at the parks showers. We’re good to go, and will dump tomorrow on the way out.

There’s a couple RV parks that are IN Sacramento. This one is a pretty nice facility. Last year, we stayed at Cal Expo, which is just a big paved lot, with a bit too much slope for my tastes. The price is right there, but that’s about it. Diane is getting more involved with this Homeschool group, so I suspect we’ll be up here again next year.

Heading to Morgan Hill, CA next.

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We had some planned “whatever” time between our departure from Southern California, and our Sacramento destination. So, I had worked it out with one of our distributors to visit with them and a customer or two in Fresno. As a result, we picked Blackstone North RV Park as a place to stay for 3 nights in order to make the visit. Everything was set for Tuesday, so I thought. As it turned out, there was some confusion, and the distributor thought that the meeting was next week. Oh well. None of us had ever been to Fresno before, so now we can check that off the bucket list….

The one thing I can say about Fresno is that it is HOT. We thought that 95-99 was hot in Menifee, but it’s 101-105 here, and a bit more humid. AC runs for nearly 18 hours a day.

I was a able to work, and the Internet connectivity is fine. The RV park is fairly nice as well. The spaces are well cared for, hookups in great working order, and they are coming around a couple times a day to pick up trash and leaves. There’s a few “permanent” residents, but it seems most of the park is people traveling in the area to visit all the national parks and forests that are an hour or two east of here. The RV parks and campgrounds there are 2-3X the price, and often don’t have full hookups. It makes this a good place to connect your house, and then venture off to the wilderness.

We also took advantage of the extra time I ended up with yesterday, and got more information on the work schedule for September. If all goes as it appears, it looks like we’ll be heading out from California over Labor Day weekend, and just heading straight for the Atlanta area. I’ll do some work for a few days, then relocate Diane and Molly to a Thousand Trails park in South Carolina, and then I’m out on the road for work for about 10 days. After that, our plans are back on track, with a trip up to Indiana to visit family, then over to Pennsylvania and other areas to check out as we head to GA/FL for Nov-Feb.

But, today, we head to a KOA in Sacramento. Last year we stayed at the State Fair grounds, called Cal Expo. This year, some friends are joining us at the conference, and they only offer RV spots at Cal Expo. Our friends will be staying in a cabin at KOA with us for a few days. After that, Morgan Hill, CA.

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