So, we left Medina Lake, and headed towards Carlsbad.  We had a planned detour based on a recommendation from some good friends.  They’d told us about the Monahan’s Sand Hills State Park. Since we didn’t plan on going to White Sands, this was going to give us a bit of a taste of the sand dunes.  It turned out to be a great stop.  Based on the timing, and our future plans for snow, we went ahead and purchased one of the saucer sleds they have.  Molly had a blast going down some of the sandy slopes.  Not much fun going up, but I agree with her on that part.

We then got back on the road, and headed to Carlsbad.  We had a reservation for the Carlsbad KOA, which is about 30 miles or so north of the main town area.  But, IT finally happened to us.  This particular IT, is a tire blow out.  Fortunately, it was one of the rear dually tires, on the outside.  Unfortunately, CoachNet picked the wrong intersection of Derrick and 285.  Seems there is one WAY north of where we were, and they chose that one, even though I said I was almost in Carlsbad.  That mistake cost me 7 hours of sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tire repair guy, when there was a shop, literally, 5 miles away.  Anyway, enough about that.  We got it fixed up, and headed to the KOA.  Diane and Molly had some time on the side of the road, and had also gone ahead to the KOA to let them know we’d be late, and get our check-in stuff.

We’d planned to spend our one full day in Carlsbad by going to the Caverns in the morning, then up to Roswell for the afternoon.  Since we’d gotten into the park so late, we opted to sleep in a bit, and just go to the Caverns.  Diane was in the bat cave spirit with her hat, and we were all impressed with the size and beauty of the Caverns.

The people at the Carlsbad KOA were fantastic.  They have a restaurant there, and even deliver to your RV after you order!  We were grateful for their understanding the first night, and overall hospitality.

Next stop, Tucson, AZ.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 David Gardner

After all the fun of New Years, a trip to Clearwater, and visiting cousins from Florida AND Indiana, it was time to move back to the RV, and to visit the cousins in their hometown of Fort Pierce, FL.

We had moved the RV to Fort Pierce so that some work could get done at Diane’s Uncle Ed’s shop.  They did a great job in getting it aligned, oil changes for engine and generator, some new suspension pieces for a level ride, a re-extended tailpipe, brake inspection and adjustment, and some new front tires.

If you find yourself in the Fort Pierce area, and need to have some mechanical work done on your RV, I would HIGHLY recommend you give Ed and the crew a call.  Yes, Diane is related to most of the employee’s, but, they do great work, and they are awesome people.  It’s Hickman’s Brake and Alignment Service.  They do all kinds of mechanical work.  Before the economic downturn, they did a lot of large vehicles, but now, more cars and RV’s, and the occasional big truck.  http://www.hickmansbrakealignment.com/

We stayed at a local RV park, called Road Runner Travel Resort.  They were very nice to deal with, and the park was really nice.  The residents were also very friendly and helpful.  This was even AFTER I took out one of their site marking poles, and crushed the top of a sewer inlet.  I discovered that it’s not a good idea for me to try and drive/park the RV while sick.  I’d started coming down with a fever and the flu earlier that day.  Made for a rough time parking. We still have the scars on the back of the RV, as the pole left several white stripes, and pulled off a plastic part that is now held on by tape.

While we were there, the family had a BIG birthday party for Ed and Gail’s new granddaughter, as well as for Ed.  I sat this one out, so as not to spread the flu, but Diane and Molly had a great time.

Molly and Rhiannon with Annabelle, the birthday girl.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 David Gardner

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.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 David Gardner

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.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 David Gardner

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.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 David Gardner

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.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 David Gardner

On the way from Georgia to Clinton, IN, we wanted to check out some of the historical Abraham Lincoln sites in southern Indiana.  After a bit of a search, we found an RV park in Santa Claus Indiana, called Lake Rudolph.  They were open for the weekend, and even had some Halloween events happening.

The park itself is pretty nice.  We’d hoped to be able to rent a golf cart, but got there too late for that.  It was also a fun challenge to disconnect the car on a hill, then back into our site going backwards uphill, and in the dark.  Made it though!

Santa Claus is a town with a bit of a Christmas theme.  Shocking huh?  We headed over to the village to see the Christmas store, and pick up some groceries.  Santa was actually there!  I guess since the town is named after him, he’s got a bit of an obligation to be there.  Well, he honed in on the one kid in the store that hasn’t sat on his lap since her first Christmas.  I was shocked to be able to get this picture…

We had a nice time at the carnival they had at the RV park, and Molly and Diane got in the first trick-or-treating for the year.  I was also able to get ahold of my brother Lewis, and we had him over for dinner Saturday evening.  It was great for him to meet Diane and Molly, and for us to catch up.  He’s a bit of a recluse, so who knows when we’ll see him again.

On Sunday, we packed up, and headed over to the Lincoln Boyhood Home National Monument.  I remember being there when I was a kid, on one of our summer vacation trips to Indiana State Parks. It was a drizzly day, but we had a nice viewing of the movie narrated by Leonard Nemoy, which provided a good overview of the park, and some Lincoln history.  After a quick tour of the main building and its exhibits, we headed out on the trail to see the site of the home, the working farm, and the trail of Lincoln historical markers.  In this shot of Molly, she is next to one of the rocks from Gettysburg where Lincoln stood to deliver his famous speech.

We wrapped up our visit to the boyhood home, and headed north to Clinton, for a stay at Horseshoe Lakes.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 David Gardner

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.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 David Gardner