June 13, 2007 another week has passed since I last wrote so I better get caught up again. Last Wednesday night we started the Salsa Dancing lessons, it was OK but the teacher is not very good. You could hardly hear her, she would show you a few steps then turn the music up louder, so then it was even harder to hear her. I thought for sure Dave was going to walk out, but he stayed. At one point she had you go in the middle of the room with 1 or 2 other couples and show everyone else all the steps she had been teaching, well there was NO WAY Dave was going in front of everyone, there was no way I was going to push him because then he would for sure quit the class. I really can't say for sure but my bet is tonight will probably be our last class if the teacher is as bad as she was last week.
Friday was Kim's pinning for nursing and she was allowed to have 3 people up front with her so it was Danny doing the pinning and Dave and I were there too. Well, Danny couldn't get the pin to cooperate so we were standing there and standing there with everyone waiting. I told Danny you don't have all day lets get moving. It ended up some other people took longer then us so we didn't feel so bad. Kim was number 2 and I think there was like 40 more after her, so it was quite awhile of sitting and watching nurses getting pinned. They also had other awards they were handing out too. It was just my luck the couple next to me, their daughter was #3 and every time they mentioned her name this lady would moan, I thought she was having all kinds of orgasms next to me, needless to say Danny and I kept laughing thru the whole thing. Danny's parents came up for the pinning, which was really nice of them to do, they had just planned to stay at Kim's until Sunday then they were taking off for Lemoore to go gambling. (now we know why Danny likes gambling) David Jr. came up too for the pinning and took pictures of the whole thing then afterwards we all went out to dinner.
Saturday was Kim's graduation, which was really long too, and of course when she walked up to get her diploma Dave and I starting crying, boy we are going to be big babies at the wedding, I can see it now. After the graduation Kim and Danny brought Danny's parents by our RV so they could see all the improvements we had done. Then we all went back to Kim's to BBQ chicken and visit, we took Valley over Kim's with us and she seemed to get around just fine with Chelsea and Toby.
Sunday Kim and I drove down to Simi so the girl Kim hired to do every one's make-up could put make-up on me so she would know what my skin was like and what would look good on me. Needless to say, there is not enough make-up in the world to ever make me look good. After that we went to the jewelers to look at some rings for Danny and ended up having to have one made because Danny is so darn picky, that's going to take about 4 weeks to do too. After that we headed back home because Valley was locked up in the coach because Dave and Danny had driven to Fresno to go to an RV Show. On the way back from Fresno they were stopping in Lemoore to go gambling with Danny's parents.
Yesterday, Tuesday, Dave and I drove down to Thousand Oaks to meet with our Financial Advisor. We wanted to make sure that we were OK on our finances with Dave quitting work in July, and he said we were good to go I don't know how but I'll believe him. After that we made doctor appointments, then at 2pm we went to watch Riley, David's step daughter, in a talent contest. She was singing, and she did a real good job too, we were lucky because she was the 1st one up so when she was done we could leave. We had to get back to Bakersfield and were trying to beat the traffic.
That's it, I'm all caught up again.

June 6, 2007 I just got done posting more pictures, mainly the ones from that wild life safari thing I went to in Oregon. I talked about how close the animals got to my car now you can see for yourselves.
June 2nd was Kim's bridal shower which was really nice, so many people showed up and most I haven't seen for a year. Tracy and Aimee did such a great job, I swear it was the best bridal shower I have ever been to. Thank you, you two, for doing all that you did for Kim, thank you to Tracy's mom, Yasmin, too.
June 2nd was also my Uncle Bob's 79th birthday, Happy belated birthday.
Sunday, June 3rd, Kim and I managed to get all the gifts, and boy she sure got a lot of really nice things too, we got them all put away in the spare bedroom closet. Danny's rule is nothing can be used until after they get back from their honeymoon, that way everything is new and unused when they start out together as husband and wife. (too bad neither of them are new and unused, ha ha)
That's all the exciting news I have for now except on Thursday evening Brad and Diane are stopping by with their motor home to stay for one night. Brad and Diane are our friends from Simi and Brad is the one who taught Dave how to scuba dive.
Tonight we start our Salsa Dancing lessons with Kim and Danny, should be really funny with my two left feet.

Friday early evening, June 1, 2007. June already, where has the year gone? It's been officially a year since we moved into the motor home, I've thought about the Simi house once and missed it but it didn't last long. All and all the time has flown by, I don't mind keeping this up for a while longer. Who knows, we might even make Dave's 5 year plan, but I'm not ready to hold my breath yet, but right now if we just keep moving I think I could go longer then 5 years. Maybe I'm afraid of stopping, if I do I would probably have to find a job and my only prospects would be a Wal-Mart greeter because at the end of this year I'm going to be 50 and who the hell wants to hire someone 50?

Anyway, I'll try and recap the week, since I last wrote, which I believe was Sunday.

Monday, May 28th, was Dave's "60th" birthday. Happy belated birthday to him, I was there so this is only a belated birthday wish for the blog. Anyway, I got him an ipod for his music to listen to when he starts walking with me, hint hint. He is going to retire again at the end of July so he has no excuse,( no, I can't go walking because I have morning meetings, won't work anymore). We went over to Kim and Danny's at 8 am so Dave and Danny could work on putting up the gate in the backyard so PG&E could get in the back yard and read the meter without the dogs attacking them. We have gotten warning notices from PG&E so this had to be done, bummer Dave had to work on it on his b/day. Monday night we all went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse so he could have his Prime rib dinner.

Tuesday, I went to JC Penney's, while Dave was working, looking for the "Mother of the Bride" dress. I had an idea of what Kim would like me to wear because we looked at some the Saturday before when we went to get the Flower Girls dresses. Well any way, I ended up purchasing "3" dresses at Penney's and told them when I paid for them that I would be bringing back at least 2 if not 3, it all depended on what my daughter liked, and they said No Problem.

On Wednesday early evening I went to the gym with Kim and I think she was trying to kill me, but it didn't work, we went to a kind of work out class. You do a lot of stretching, lunging with weights and abs, and if I must say I believe I kept up with the class. Even as fat as I am I did better then some of the girls that are 1/2 my age, they kept quitting and I didn't. Kim gave me a bad time because I was sweating so much but at least I kept up, she even said that to Danny and Dave, she didn't sweat at all but mom did. See if I go with her again.

When we got back from the workout, Kim and Danny fixed dinner then I went in and tried on my dresses for them to judge. Well needless to say the "Mother of the Bride" dress is picked out. Now that Dave has his tux measurements done and I have my dress picked out it is really starting to feel real to me.

Thursday Dave and I returned the dresses I wasn't going to keep and got some bridal gifts for the bridal shower on Saturday.

May 27, 2007, Sunday night. Kim and Danny left a little bit ago they came over for dinner and then some card games, god knows how Danny likes to gamble. (he lost most of the games, luckily it was just for fun no money involved)
Let me recap the last couple days, Thursday, when I last wrote, Kim had come over for dinner, Danny worked late, he works late Tuesday and Thursdays. Kim asked if we could switch cars so we could take her car in on Friday for an oil change, the Honda dealership is right down the street from us, and they have a jiffy service that does that stuff real fast. Well, like idiots, we agreed, when we went to drop it off it was not only due for an oil change but also almost due for filters, rotate tires, ect ect, she told us it was only going to cost 25.00 it ended up costing 295.00. She's not a stupid girl, she waits until we come into town then wham!! Just kidding she said she will pay us back, I sure hope so. Danny doesn't realize what a high maintance girl he is marrying, I wish him luck. (just kidding, or at least until the wedding ring is on her finger, Danny)
Friday night we went to a wine tasting event here in Bakersfield, which was real nice. So many different wines to try and cold and hot appitizers to go with it. It was a nice event to go too, I was surprised that Kim and Danny even drink wine, afterward we went to dinner then they drove us back to our coach. Saturday we all drove down to Northridge to get the men's tux measurements and get the flower girls fitted for their dresses. We ended up having to order the flower girl's dresses because they didn't have the right colors in, which was no big deal. So now the tux's are done, the flower girls, maids of honor and brides maid, so now it's the Mother of the Bride and Groom's Mother's dresses we have to work on. I haven't gotten anything yet and either has Kathy, Danny's mom. NO PROB, WE HAVE PLENTY OF TIME.
I think that's it for now, will write later.

May 24, 2007 Thursday and we are here in Bakersfield, arrived last night, a day early. We will be staying at this new RV Park here, just opened a month ago, called "Bakersfield R.V. Resort". No live ins here, yet, they said they won't let people live here long term, will see, they all seem to say that when they 1st open. After a while they seem to give in because then they have a guaranteed income every month. Anyway, it's a real nice and clean park, has a pool, spa, small playground, laundry room, which I don't need anymore, and it even has "The Crest Bar and Grill" which we went to last night with Kim and Danny.
Last Tuesday we had gone wine tasting at some wineries in San Benito, after Dave finished his morning meetings, and of course we bought some. Wednesday morning I asked Dave if he wanted to go into Hollister and look for a graduation present for Kim and he came back with, why don't we leave now for Bakersfield so that's why we got here a day early. I guess we were too close to Bakersfield for him and Daddy wanted to see he baby girl, ha ha. Either that or he didn't want to go shopping for a present for her, who knows.
That's it for now, just wanted to give a short update. Since we are now in Bakersfield, until July 1st, I'm sure my updates will become shorter and shorter, I mean how much can I say about Bakersfield. P.S. Valley still hanging in there, walking better and better each day.

May 21, 2007 Monday afternoon and we are here in a Thousand Trails RV Park in Paicines Calif., which is right outside of San Benito. We got here yesterday early evening and this place is really big and dangerous. Dangerous because of all the ground squirrels, they are everywhere, needless to say if we let Valley out of the coach to lay outside she has to be chained up. Which last night after we got set up we sat outside and talked to a lady that works here, thank goodness for that chain for Valley, she would have been gone. These squirrels run all around you, Valley thought she had died and gone to heaven, she could easily blow out all her legs. Another thing you have to watch for is the Bobcats, and a mountain lion has been spotted so that's the one thing you really have to watch out for. The Bobcats, we were told, won't attack any humans but it's a different story for the mountain lion.
When I went walking this morning I saw a couple deers, lots of rabbits then I turned the corner and there was a Bobcat. The Bobcat just got down low and watched me walk by, it was a little scary. Later, after one of Dave's business calls, I got him to walk around and check out the place and we came to where the Bobcat was and there it was again. Dave was really surprised to see it he had said to me, right before that, the Bobcats only come out in the early morning and evenings but there it was. Bobcats are about 3x's the size of a regular cat, pretty neat to see up close and personal. Maybe I'll leave Valley outside the coach tonight then maybe I'll get to see a mountain lion, just kidding. That's about it for now.

Sunday May 20, 2007 we spent the night at Mountain Gate RV Park in Redding Calif.
Dave's flight didn't get into Eugene until 3:15a.m. so I never did go to bed because I was afraid I wouldn't wake up on time. I just kept dozing on and off in the living room with Valley. Although I was suppose to leave the coach at 2:15am but dozed off until 2:30am so was late picking him up. Dave slept a little bit on the way back to Sutherlin then a little bit more when we got back to the coach. When we got back to the coach it was almost 5a.m. so there was no way I was going to be able to sleep and since Dave had to drive he needed some sleep, actually he needed a lot of sleep but didn't get it. It was a really tuff drive to Redding, because we were both really tired, after Dave dozed for a second while driving he then decided to pull over at rest stops and walk around just about every time we saw one. Way too many hills to climb and steep down grades for me to be driving, so I just kept telling him to keep his eyes open.
This RV Park we are at is where we stayed last year when we went to the car races and they had a boat race too on the track, we had posted pictures about it. Anyway this time I didn't even look to see if they had car racing, there was no way we were going anywhere last night. Dave even fell asleep I believe at 6:30 pm and went to bed at 7:30pm and didn't get up until 5am this morning, boy that's a lot of sleep. We hit the road again this morning and are headed for Hollister Calif. where we will stay until Thursday, then on to Bakersfield.

Friday early evening May 18, 2007 let's see I haven't written since Tuesday it's time to get caught up again. Tuesday I did get my nails done and then just hung out at the rig. Wednesday when I was leaving for the dealership I couldn't turn the ignition on and when I pulled my key out, the knob on the ignition fell off. I was able then to start the car and go to the dealership where I sat for 4 1/2 hours. The "service engine soon" light was because of a leaking purge solinoid, which could wait to be fixed for when we got back to Bakersfield. The ignition switch was a damaged lock cylinder, and cover which the tech told me something had been done to the ignition area and was broken off. To fix it we need to have the whole ignition area we placed, which could wait for Bakersfield. So the only thing that was done was an oil change and the filters changed. When I told Dave about the ignition he said the locksmith that Marty got had broken the ignition, I had forgotten about the keys Marty had made. When I went to Marty's for breakfast, this morning after Valley's vet appointment, I asked Marty about the locksmith. He said he remembered the locksmith mentioning that he needed some glue, but didn't really think about what he needed glue for, that locksmith broke it and knew it but didn't say anything. Dave said we can't prove it so will see if we get it fixed in Bakersfield. Anyway, so my Wednesday was sitting at the dealership, Thursday I went to the Wildlife Safari in Winston Oregon. That was really neat, I have to say I got a little scared too. You actually drive thru the areas where the wild animals are, and in one area the Wildebeest or American Bison, can't remember which one, were right there in the road and wouldn't let you by. I was the only car there at first then others showed up after me, wait till you see the pictures I took, boy I hope they come out. I even got some pictures of the medical team working on a cheetah, don't know what was wrong but a lot of park ranger trucks were rushing to the area. While driving thru the wild animal park you are suppose to keep your windows closed and don't even think about getting out of your cars. It was fun. Valley had her last Oregon vet visit and she is doing OK for it only being 3 weeks, I got her xrays and medical records to take back with us. Dave called and his flights have been changed and now he doesn't get into Eugene until 2 a.m. Saturday, boy it's going to be a long night. I told him to call me from Vegas, to wake me up, and hopefully I'll make it to Eugene by 2am, will see.
Rob called today and Valley's new vest/sling finally showed up in Blaine Washington and since we are leaving tomorrow I asked him to send it to Bakersfield. That's it for now, will write more on Saturday or Sunday.

May 15, 2007 it's don't purchase gas today, per all the emails going around. I don't need any so I guess I'll participate. I'm still here in Sutherlin, last Sunday, Mother's Day, I drove Dave to the Eugene Airport so he could go to Virginia for the week, work meetings. He flies back in this Friday at 10:30 pm.
Before I go on I want to wish Brad Johnson, our friend and Dave's diving instructor, Happy Birthday. Last Saturday was Joann Fry's birthday, Happy Birthday to you too.
Sunday when I got back to the coach Valley and I got all caught up on the shows I had been recording. That was it, very exciting, all though in the late afternoon the sun did come out so Valley and I got to lay out a little bit.
Yesterday, Monday, we hung out again and the weather was in the 80's, that was really nice. The park here really started to fill up, so it was fun seeing all the coaches and trailers come in. While I was walking this morning I saw the sign for the Oregon Rogue River club, so that's why this place filled up yesterday. This morning also I drove into Roseburg to the GM Dealership, the "Service Engine Soon" light is lit on my car, the techs were gone to training school so I made an appointment for tomorrow morning. This afternoon I get my nails done and it's suppose to be another nice day so I get to lay out again. Not much news, sorry, will write later more.

May 12, 2007 we arrived at Hi-Way Haven RV Park in Sutherlin Oregon yesterday afternoon. We did drive thru Junction City and pick up our table then thru Eugene and picked up our new rugs. Everything looks great and today we drove into Roseburg and picked up a lamp, for Dave's desk, and a throw for the chair, we are really getting into this decorating stuff. Last night we had dinner at Marty's and it was unbelievable, the crab cakes and the fish tacos were Fabulous.
At 4:30, yesterday, Valley had her vet appointment, the vet took off the bandage and her poor foot was just raw on top. The bandage had gotten wet and started shreding on the bottom so Dave duck taped it, well that shouldn't have been done. It just kept all the moisture in there and just rubbed her foot raw, the vet said it's like a real bad diaper rash. She was shaking so much and in so much pain, I just couldn't take it. I wanted to put her down but Dave wasn't going for it so I walked out. She was nawing at her foot and if you stopped her she would just kick the wall because of the pain, I just couldn't stand watching it. The vet came back in and gave her another shot to calm her down then Dave brought her out to the car so I could sit with her in the back. Dave went back in and got more pain pills, antibiotics, and a spray to put on her foot if she starts digging at it. We then had to go get upsom salt to soak her foot in, boy was that fun to do when we got back to the coach. Then I filled her up with all the pills plus added 3 benadryl, then sprayed her foot and about 1/2 hour later she was sleeping. We put the cone on her and locked her in the bathroom and headed out for Marty's.
Today, like I said earlier, we went to Roseburg and shopped, then went to Oakland Oregon because they had a car show going on, great looking old old cars and trucks.
Valley's foot does look better today and she isn't licking it, but the walking isn't very good. When she had the bandage on at least she would walk on it, now she mostly limps, she doesn't want to put that foot really down yet. I'm sure it is still sore plus she doesn't have the protection of the bandage anymore, I'm still towel walking her, or I should say vest walking her and I have to do that for the next 4 weeks, at least. Dave ordered the correct back leg vest for Valley and had it delivered to Harrisburg but it didn't show up in time so we did a forwarding to Blaine, Washington. Then it didn't show up there either before we left so hopefully Kelli, Rosie or Robert can pick it up for us next week and get it to me before we leave Oregon. I should could use the correct vest, this one chokes her at times. Anyway, either way I believe this will be Valley's last trip in the coach, maybe I'll take Chelsey from Kim and she can have Valley back.
That's it for now.

MAY 11, 2007 got on the road around noon yesterday and stopped at 5 pm at Jantzen Beach RV Park in Portland Oregon. We stayed at this park last year and I think in just about the same space. Last year when we were here we drove into Portland because they were having an Italian festival going on with different kinds of food and wines. The weather is in the 70's which is just perfect, I don't know how we are going to handle the hot weather again once we get back to Bakersfield, it's been so long since we have had to be in the 100 degree stuff, I know Valley isn't going to be able to handle it. If it gets to 75 degrees she pants like crazy, oh well, will find out soon.
We head out of here and go to Junction City and pick up the new table we ordered from Davis Cabinets then stop in Eugene and pick up the new rugs we ordered. After that we head to Sutherlin to camp out for the week. Valley has a doctor appointment at 4:30 then after that Dave and I will go to Marty's for dinner. It's Mexican night, with fish tacos and crab cakes, should be great.
Black eye is almost all cleared up now, yea.

May 10, 2007 Still here in Birch Bay or at least until noon today then we head back to Oregon. Don't know yet if we will stop in Portland or Salem to spend the night then Friday we will end up in Sutherlin where I will stay for the week while Dave is in Virginia. Last night we went over to Bob and Rosie's for dinner, which we were late too because we had issues with Valley. It was a great dinner, thank you Rosie and Bob.
Yesterday Dave and I decided to go driving around and check out the beach area, in between his business calls, so we put Valley in the bathroom where she stays while we are out. I swear the leg that is injured and wrapped she tried to lick it off. She has enough skin problems anyway, so her skin is sensitive, but she licked it raw. So before we could go to Bob and Rosie's we had to get out her head cone to put on her and it took awhile to figure out how to put it together. So she was not only locked up in the bathroom with a wrapped up leg now she had to have the cone on, so she was really screwed. Friday afternoon she has another doctor appointment so we will see then how her leg is really doing, and hopefully the vet will take the wrap off.
That's about it for now.

Tuesday May 8, 2007 boy, haven't written now for over a week, I better get caught up.
We left Marty's on Tuesday to go pick up the coach from the tile store, they hadn't finished yet so we had to stick around. Marty and Dayna met us there to switch cars then at 7 pm we went back to Camp Monaco to spend the night. Wednesday Monaco installed our new camera and bathroom door but the motor for the door awning wasn't going to be in for another month so they said it was OK to get a dealer in Bakersfield to install the new motor when the new motor comes out in a month. Thursday morning we had to go back to the tile store because they still had some work to do, then over to the cabinet shop because they needed to do some touch up work then finally got headed for Washington at 1 pm. The new tile and carpet look great. New pictures are posted now on the website.
Before I forget, Valley is doing good still has the leg all wrapped up, but what a chore to get her in and out of the coach. I have to carry her out of the coach and carry her back in, boy is that work, all 67 pounds of her. Other then that she just lays on the couch all day but when Dave and I leave we lock her up in the bathroom so she can't walk around.
Thursday night we stopped at Rochester Washington to spend the night, and of course the first thing we did, after hooking up, was do our 1st load of laundry in the new washer/dryer. We looked pretty stupid standing there in the bedroom watching the washer for about 1/2 hour, Valley was watching from the couch in the living room. It worked really well and it only takes like 3 1/2 hours for the washing and drying. We have been doing a load everyday since.
We got to Birch Bay Washington late on Friday and talked to Rob about getting together on Sunday. Then after we got everything hooked up Dave decided to clean the windows and put the shades on since we were going to be here for a little while. I carried Valley outside and she layed down so I could help Dave put the window shades on. Well, as he was putting the big window shade on he asked me to get the windshield wiper out of the way. It was stuck behind the shade so as I was pulling, Dave moved the shade and the wiper came flying at me and hit me in the face. It hit me across the nose and left eye, I actually thought it broke my nose. Within seconds I had the biggest mouse under my eye and Dave said I better put ice on it, which I did, but on Saturday morning did I have a shiner. The picture is posted. Saturday we did house cleaning, and boy did it need it. There was so much dust from all the work being done and dirt from everyone trotting in and out of the coach from Monaco people, carpet/tile people and cabinet people. We did some running around and every store we went into I kept my dark glasses on so no one could see my eye, then came back and just relaxed finally in our new surroundings, and of course did more laundry.
Sunday we went out to dinner with Rosie, Bob, Rob, Kelli, Alex and Kelli's niece(sorry don't remember her name) We had a good Mexican meal and we talked for a long time, just catching up on stuff. After dinner Bob and Rosie came by the motorhome to check out the new updates we had done. I didn't know it but Bob and Rosie really want a motorhome, especially Rosie I think.
Monday we went to the car dealership and got another electric clicker to open the car for Dave then shopping for decorating the coach. Monday night we went to Kelli and Rob's for dinner, which was very nice of them, everyone was there except Kelli's niece and we talked for hours.
That's about it, I think, I'm finally caught up.

Got a call from Marty and the locksmith was able to make a key for the car, they even made another one for Dayna. Marty thinks he flushed the 1st set of keys down the toilet, all though, he said the toilet could barely flush a turd down so how in the hell could it flush keys down?
So next week we will have to go to a GM Dealer and get another automatic unlock gadget and the only other key that was lost (flushed) was the key to our truck in Bakersfield. We will have to get Kim or Danny to get another copy made before we return to California.
Hopefully by the end of next week we can go to Birmingham Washington for a week then I think I'll stay at a camp ground here in Sutherlin when Dave goes to Virginia, it was nice and safe and closer to Marty and the vet for Valley.
That's it for now again.

Sunday April 29, 2007 Haven't written for a week so I've got some catching up to do.
Monday morning we drove the coach over to Davis Cabinets and they got started on the work they needed to do. We drove back over, in the car, to Camp Monaco and hung out in the lounge where Dave could hook up his computer and work. Around noon we were suppose to go back over and check out the coach and see if they had any questions, but before we left Lee had told me to watch out for Brian's butt crack, and that when they had their coach worked on Vicki had gotten sick of seeing that thing. (Brian is the main guy that was doing the woodwork on our coach) Anyway, when we got back Brian was just going into the coach to install the new sliding drawers when I walked in behind Dave, OMG there must have been a good 3 inches of butt crack, too funny. I stayed outside after that, when possible, when we got back to Camp Monaco I had a good laugh with Lee and Vicki. We picked up the coach Monday night, and Davis Cabinets had 80% of the work done already, but we did need to bring it back on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. Monday night, the gang, Stan, Ginger, Lee, Vicki, Dave and I went out to dinner at P.F. Changs for dinner and it was great.
Tuesday, we got the coach back that night and all the work was done with Davis and it looks great, now all I need is the washer/dryer combo and that work will be done.
Wednesday we just hung out at Camp Monaco and Dave worked on hooking up the computer system again.
Thursday morning we drove the coach over to the tile/carpet place, they were going to begin gutting it and removing the old carpet and some of the tile. Around noon we drove up to Marty's to move in with him and Dayna for a week. It ends up that Friday night Dayna and Marty were driving to Washington to be assistants to scuba diving students so really we will be house sitting for them. Late Thursday afternoon one of Valley's trips, by herself, outside looking for the cats, she came hopping back into the house on 3 legs, she was holding her right back leg up in the air. Oh no I thought not torn ligaments again, I hope, so we waited until the morning and took her to Marty's vet because she was still holding her leg up. Sure enough torn ligaments but this time in her right leg, it was like 5 or 6 years ago when Chelsea jumped on Valley and tore the ligaments in her left knee. Valley is almost 11 yrs old so we told the vet NO SURGERY, so she ended up wrapping up the leg and for the next 6 weeks I have to towel walk her. The vet is going to try a series of shots once a week to try and help the leg heal itself, will see. Yesterday, after Marty had called me and told me he had lost my car keys, Dayna and him had taken my car to Washington, Dave drove down to Junction City to the coach to see if we had the serial number for the keys for the locksmith. No such luck on finding it but on the way back Dave stopped at Pet Smart and picked up a vest for Valley to put on with handles on top so I can walk her around. Boy, that vest is much easier to hold on too then using a towel. Anyway, this morning we went to Marty's for breakfast and as of this posting I haven't heard from Marty so don't know yet if he got a key made. He had told me the locksmith said he could do it without the serial number so I guess I'll find out later. As soon as Dave shows me how to post pictures to my blog, I'll post pictures of Valley with her leg all wrapped up. That's about it for now, all we are doing is hanging around Marty's doing laundry, cleaning his house, watering his plants and garden, and making sure Valley stays still.

Sunday, April 22, 2007 Lee and Vicki left this morning to go visit with a few of Vicki's relatives and Dave and I took off for Elkton to have breakfast at Marty's. Boy, it sure seems like that drive to Elkton from Harrisburg gets longer and longer. We did stop on the way and drove thru a campground where Valley and I will probably be staying at when Dave flies to Norfolk Virginia for a week. There are two campgrounds at the same exit, one to the left and one to the right. The only problem is the one to the left is $43.00 a night and the other one is $24.00, so can you guess where we are staying, it's a no brainer, I'm cheap. If it doesn't work out for Valley and I we can always go stay with Marty and Dayna, or at least that's what he told me.
I'm just hoping now that we get the coach all done so we can do a quick run up to Washington to see Rob, Kelli, Alex, Rosie and Bob. I was hoping to stay in Washington while Dave was in Virginia but to change his flight out of Eugene was going to cost us $500 and there is no way we are going to pay that. When we got back this afternoon we started cleaning out the file cabinet, that Dave had put in for his work, and the closet so Davis Cabinets can start their work tomorrow. We threw away so much stuff, shoes we haven't worn for a year and misc. stuff we haven't touched in a year. (we should have had a garage sale, one of the Monaco campers said to me) Anyway, that's about it for now, will update more later.

Thursday, April 19, 2007 we are still here at "Camp Monaco". Today we got to keep the coach no work could be done until the parts show up and hopefully that will be tomorrow. The new bathroom door won't be here for 2 more weeks but the stuff for our back-up camera and new motor for our door sliding should be in tomorrow. Stan, Ginger and Katie left this morning for Seattle, Ginger has a sister there and since their coach is stuck in the paint shop they figured they might as well drive to Seattle and visit with her sister and stay for the weekend. Monaco put them up in a motel but because of the dog they have to stay in a smoking room, which they said smells really bad so they plan on coming back on Monday and I think that's when they get their coach back. All of us up until then have just been hanging out, driving into Eugene, going out to lunch and dinner or just hanging out in each others coaches. Oh by the way, last Sunday we went to Marty's for dinner then the show across the street at the winery. This guy use to open for Jewel, and Dave and I saw him last September when we were staying at the camp ground in Elkton. We left after the 1st half last September and we left after the 1st half on Sunday too. Stan, Ginger, Lee and Vicki said he was pretty good but they didn't want to stay for the 2nd half either. For one thing we had an 1 1/2 hour drive back to "Camp Monaco" plus I don't think they could take another hour of him either. Marty had left too because he said it was the same old stuff he has always done but when I talked to him the next day he said we should have stayed because the 2Ned half was all new and really good. I don't know if I can believe that, Marty has a weird sense of humor. (still love you bro) Sunday, Lee and Vicki are going to go visit some of Vicki's aunts, it's about 100 miles away so they might be back late of even spend the night. Dave, Valley and I will either hang out or go visit Marty. Don't want to bug Marty too much because when we have the carpet and tile replaced we want to stay at his place and that will be for about 4 or 5 nights and he might get sick of seeing us.
Monday the cabinet, and desk work is suppose to get started, the other day we went and ordered the washer/dryer combo. The wood work should take about 3 days, then on Thursday we take the coach to the carpet/tile place where they will start to gut the RV and replace with the new stuff, I believe they need it for about 5 days. It will look really beautiful when the work is done, thank goodness we had Vicki with us to help pick out the tile and carpet, we all know I have no taste for that stuff. Don't get me wrong, I think our coach is really nice as it is but having carpet just really sucks, with us living in it full time there is just no way to keep it clean.
I just can't seem to teach Dave and Valley to wipe their feet before coming into the place, then spilling the wine doesn't help either. (Dave with his hands and Valley with her tail, ha ha) We ended up picking a little darker tile for the entry way and up to the kitchen tile(which will stay the same as it is) the new carpet will be on the slide and bedroom. We did add a border between the 2 different tiles to break up the rooms, so to speak. We will have the living room, (one type of tile) the dining room, (carpeted) kitchen the original tile when we purchased the coach. We will post pictures when it's all done. All the work being done, plus the new washer/dryer will run us about 12k and that's a lot cheaper then buying that new coach, which would have cost us 100k. I just hate spending money with Kim's graduation and wedding coming up, but we do live in this thing and we have to have it fit our needs, plus who wants to leave any money for the kids, let them earn their own. ( Sorry, love you kids) Better cut off for now, see you on the next blog.

April 14, 2007 we are here in Harrisburg Oregon at the Monaco Facility, as everyone who has a Monaco product calls it, "Camp Monaco". Stan and Ginger plus their dog, Katie, will be arriving here in a couple hours. We met all these folks, Lee, Vicki, Stan and Ginger last year when we were all here at Camp Monaco last August/Sept. time frame and have just kept contact with each other. We all still needed warranty work done so when one of us scheduled it the others decided to go at the same time so we could meet up again. Stan and Ginger are just arriving because they had other commitments when we joined Lee and Vicki in Susanville. Stan and Ginger live in Camarillo, and Vicki grew up in Simi Valley, what a small world.
Enough of the recap, we are here and tomorrow night we will all drive up to Marty's, again, and have dinner then go to the Winery across the street for a show they are putting on. Monday we will get together with the repair people and start the warranty work. Don't have any idea how long we will be here, Stan and Ginger are getting a new paint job besides what ever else so they will be here the longest, I believe. Vicki and Lee have minor stuff and need to be back to Susanville the beginning of May. Us, we have the somewhat minor warranty work but then afterwards we are having the carpet taken out and everything replaced with either tile or wood, new desk for Dave then the cabinet being fixed for a washer and dryer. (I'm sure I've mentioned all of this before in one of the other blogs, but, oh well) Dave also has to go back to D.C. again the 2nd week of May so I have No idea where he is going to leave Valley and I. I know for sure we will be back in Bakersfield by the beginning of June because of Kim's graduation.
That's enough for now, you can tell when nothing is going on because I just keep writing and writing.

April 14, 2007 we are still here in Winchester Bay until about 11 a.m. then we hit the road for Harrisburg Oregon to Camp Monaco. I left off with Dave flying out on Tuesday, Tuesday night Lee, Vicki and I went out to dinner at Griff's, which is a seafood restaurant right across the bay from us. Wednesday it rained just about all day, we just hung around the coaches all day, Lee fixed breakfast for all of us then for lunch we went to Griff's again, love that place. For dinner we just had crackers, salami, turkey, crackers and cheese, Dave got back to the coach about midnight. On Thursday morning Dave and I did some running around, post office, bank, grocery store while Vicki was having her hair done. For lunch we went to Griff's, again, Dave hadn't gotten to go, then we drove to Coos Bay and just did some site seeing. For dinner we did shrimp and scallops, some of Marty's bread, rice and squash, great dinner.
Friday we left at 9 a.m. and headed for Newport, Oregon to go to the aquarium there, what a really nice place, and a hell of a drive to get there. We didn't get back to the coaches until 5 pm, our poor dogs were stuck in the coaches all day. When we got back we walked them around a little bit, fed them dinner then headed for Elkton Oregon to have a Mexican Dinner at Marty's, which was great and way too much to eat. We then got back to the coaches at 9:30 pm and it started raining, Valley doesn't like getting wet so she just ran out real fast did her thing and ran back into the coach.

April 10, 2007 Winchester Bay, Oregon
I left off on the last blog that we were going to Vicki's Dads house for Easter dinner, which we did had a great dinner and fun conversations. What a really nice family she has, I mainly stayed in the kitchen talking to Vicki's sister and Step mom.
We got going on Monday morning about 9 am and stopped in Grants Pass, Oregon at Rogue Valley Overniters. Dave and I got going this morning at 6 am because we needed to get to Winchester Bay RV Resort to get set-up before Dave had to drive to Eugene to catch his flight to D.C. I don't know how to set-up the rig yet for camping plus I sure as hell wasn't going to drive these Oregon winding roads. We were really a head of time so we did stop in Elkton and see my brother, Marty. His restaurant wasn't open but he came down with his computer so Dave could help him a little and visit before we got back on the road again. While there, of course, we got some pastries from him and some wheat sour dough bread, yum. Winchester Bay RV Resort is great, Lee got us reservations facing the harbor, the sun is out and I've already gone bike riding and walking Valley around. Lee and Vicki arrived around 2pm, they saw a herd of Elk (around 60 of them) and stopped to watch them in the field. We heard the weather has been really bad here and today was the first nice day they have had in the last couple weeks, let's hope it stays that way, but this is Oregon. Dave just called, and his flight was just getting really to take off, he flies back into Eugene late tomorrow night and should spend the night there and drive back Thursday morning. That's about it for now.

April 8, 2007 HAPPY EASTER.
Yesterday we went driving around with Lee and Vicki, we drove around one of the lakes here and saw the devastation the resent fires have done, what a shame. We then stopped at the new rest area here and had a picnic lunch and looked over another lake that is really a mud hole. After that we drove back in town and they dropped me off so I could get my nails done. Dave came in later, while I was still there, and had a pedicure. That night we went out for a real nice dinner and just had a great relaxing day.
Today we went out for breakfast then Vicki went on to church. Lee and Dave started getting the coaches ready for hitting the road tomorrow morning. I got all my laundry done and cleaned the inside of the coach. Tonight we will be going to Vicki's Dad's for Easter Dinner then tomorrow we head out for Oregon. That's about it, it was really a nice relaxing couple days of rest for Dave, Valley and I. Susanville is a nice small town, great for visiting but couldn't stay here for more then 2 weeks I think for me, anyway.

April 7, 2007 1st let me start out with saying "Happy Birthday" to my brother, Marty.
We got to Susanville Calif. yesterday and are now staying at Mountain View RV Park, what a nice place. We are parked next to our friends Lee and Vicki and their dog Fleetwood. Yesterday they took us around town and showed us the sites, small town, they say the population is 17,500 but that number includes the 5,000 inmates at the prison. Lee BBQ'd chicken for dinner for all of us, they figured we were tired from all the driving we had been doing, and boy were they right. It was so nice to get up this morning have coffee relax then take Valley on a 6 mile walk. We will all leave here on Monday morning headed for Oregon, we plan on being in Winchester Bay Oregon on Tuesday mid morning and staying there until Saturday morning. After that we will be headed for Harrisburg Oregon to the Monaco plate so we all can have our coaches worked on, Stan and Ginger plan on meeting us there.
We are going to be leaving soon to do more site seeing so let me tell the slide story.
The other day when we parked one of the back slides would only come out a little bit then stop, Dave pulled it back in and tried it again. It would go a little bit then stop, so Dave then decided to help it slide all the way out. This is the slide at the foot of our bed, anyway, as he was pushing the button for the slide he used his other arm to help push out the slide. Next thing we heard this loud sound, the slide jerked and slide out. Dave stopped pushing the button and we ran outside to see what damage had been done. We couldn't see anything wrong with the outside of the slide so Dave came back in and started the slide again when I heard him say "Oh Shit". What had happened is one of the doors on the cabinet had opened up in the slide while we were driving, and you can't see it because it is in the slide. The slide was being stopped by the door, so when Dave helped by pushing it shattered the door and bent the hinges. Luckily we were able to get the busted door out of the way then we could open the slide back up. So it's a lesson to all, if the slide doesn't open check very carefully before you help force it open.

April 5, 2007 Let me start off with saying "Happy Birthday" to Dave's son Jeff. We have now landed in Sparks Nevada and are staying in the parking lot at the Nugget Casino. I did at least half of the driving today, it's getting easier and easier, still not up for trying to drive the busy city streets yet. I said in my last blog that I was going to tell you a story about our one slide but that's going to have to wait because since we are parked in the parking lot we have no hook-ups so we have to keep down on the power we use. So we will leave in the morning for Susanville and will be at a campsite there with full hook-up I'll have to wait and write more there.
Bye for now.

April 4, 2007 we are now in Ogden Utah staying at the Century RV Park, not a bad looking place, there are a lot of people that live here but at least the place is kept up. The bad thing is it is right next to the Freeway and the Freeway is all torn up with construction work so it was fun getting here. We will get headed out about 6 am tomorrow morning and try and beat some of the traffic, but I don't think that will happen.
We went out to dinner with my Uncle Renzo and his son and daughter-in-law to this great place called Timberline. I'm telling you all now, you must stop and eat at this place, it's not cheap but the amount they feed you is well worth the money. When I say the amount they feed you I'm just talking about the meat portion of your meal. My T-bone was an inch thick and covered just about the whole plate, Dave's prime rib was just about the biggest I've seen. Along with the meal you get bread, dinner salad and a choice of one item with the meat, chicken, ribs, or seafood you choose for dinner. n Valentine was in seventh heaven when she saw the T-bone bone they I gave her when we got back, she was outside the RV for half an hour chewing on it. Once she had it pretty clean I let her bring it in the RV and she chewed for another 1/2 hour.
Enough of that, will write tomorrow when we get to Reno. Plus, I have a story to tell about our one slide on our RV that wouldn't open.

Still April 3, and we just arrived in a KOA Kampground in Laramie, Wyoming. Dave did all the driving today, while he was doing his phone calls and emails. He has gotten really good at working on his computer while driving, I don't really care for it, I can do some of the driving, but I really believe he likes doing it. He likes to brag to the other guys about it, which I know this will piss him off that I said it, but oh well. After not feeling 100% yesterday and taking over the driving, my attitude now is I can drive it's no big deal. The only thing is when it comes to city driving I might have a heart attack or cause one hell of an accident but if it comes up, oh well.
With Dave's work meetings today we just found out that he has to go to Washington DC next week while we are at Winchester Bay Oregon with our friends from Susanville, Vicki and Lee. He just got done booking his flight information which is flying out of Eugene Oregon on the 10th at 5pm then flies back on the 11th from DC at 6pm and gets back to Eugene at 10pm, boy is he going to be tired.
Anyway, the drive thru Colorado was pretty, there is snow covered mountains to look at, when stopping for fuel the wind was really blowing and cold, needless to say, Valley didn't get a lot of time to walk around and do her thing. Tomorrow we head out for Ogden Utah and will see my Uncle Renzo and have dinner together hopefully, that's it for now.

April 3, 2007 what a rough night in Kansas. The wind really started blowing at 2am and didn't let up. All I kept thinking was tornado and at 4am when I heard a horn blowing I thought for sure it was a warning signal, but it was only a train whistle. We hit the road pretty soon and plan the next stop in Wyoming where we hope we don't hit snow, there is a cold front coming today. I did drive for 2 hours yesterday and I guess I'll drive some more today, don't like to but I can do it, just don't want Dave getting used to me driving all the time. (just kidding)
Will write later. By the way, isn't it a bummer that Donald Trump didn't get his head shaved?

April 2, 2007 sorry I haven't written for a while, but while in Branson we seemed to stay busy and I never got the chance to write my blog. Anyway, right now we are in Russell Kansas staying at Triple J Campground. Very small campground but we are only staying one night then on the road again tomorrow.
We got to Branson Missouri on March 30 and stayed at Plantation at Fall Creek Resort, what a great place, I highly recommend it. They have the campsite, apartments, time shares and so much more. In the morning they have a breakfast buffet for only $3.99 and a lunch buffet for $5.99. Saturday morning we did go to the breakfast buffet once and it was very nice. They have activities all day long, swimming pools indoors, games, golf ect. I really liked the place. Another place I highly recommend is Branson Missouri, what a great place to visit, but you need about a month to see everything. What a party, place all family orientated, entertainment during the day and night, and they must have 7 miniature golf courses in town. Check it out on their website. Saturday at 2pm we went to #1 hits of the 60's show, my nephew Spanky should have been on that stage, just a bunch of young and a little bit older singers singing all the #1 hits from the 60's. They sang over 100 songs in the 1hr and 45 min. they were on the stage. My nephew had a better singing voice then some of them. I shouldn't say that, this was only the 7th performance they had done together. Dave got to talk to one of the ladies there and she said they hire by the singing voices and worry about their dancing abilities later. My nephew can do both, sing and dance, he really should look into trying out his stage performance there.
Back to what we did, we did the afternoon show at 2 then at 8pm we went to the Shanghai Circus, good show but I'm telling you peoples bodies should not bend in those positions. On Sunday, April 1st, it was our 29th wedding anniversary, not a good day. I woke up at 2am freezing to death, I guess I got some kind of flu bug. I managed to go out to breakfast and got some oatmeal and toast down then went back to the coach and just was sleeping all day. Dave did a little running around, then about 4 I got up and got dressed and tried to act normal but wasn't feeling that great but better then what I had felt in the morning. We had show tickets to the Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater at 8pm and had planned on a nice dinner before hand so at 6 we left for Landry's Seafood House. We had a little appetizer, which we hardly touched before our salad was delivered, I had 2 small bites of my salad then I broke out into a sweat and told Dave I was going to faint, next thing I knew I was surrounded by people asking me if I knew my name, if I was alright, I was saying what the hell is going on? Dave told me I had a seizure and we were going to emergency. We went to the hospital were there 3 hours and it was the best I felt all day. The doctor said all my vitals were good, no fever, blood looked good except low on potassium, I think what had happened was my fever finally broke. We got back to the coach at 10:30 pm, with our Wendy's take out food, what a great anniversay.
Oh well enough for now, I think I'm all caught up.

March 29, 2007 we left Lebanon Tennessee this morning and at 4:45 pm we arrived in Duck Creek RV Park in Paducah Kentucky. We just heard we are going to be running into some nasty storms when we head out tomorrow for Branson Missouri.
I forgot to write in my last blog, but while we were at the Grand Ole Opry show one of the tour groups there, that was mentioned, was a group of High School kids on a music tour from "Mayfair High School" from Lakewood California. That was neat to hear.
When we left this morning we back tracked before coming to Kentucky because we went to the "George Dickel Distillery" in Cascade Hollow in Tullahoma Tennessee. It was an interesting tour in a Dry County. George Dickel said his whiskey is so smooth that's why he spelled it "George Dickel Tennessee Whisky" without the "e" keeping with the Scotch whisky tradition. We bought a bottle but haven't tried it yet.
Anyway, Branson tomorrow, will write later.

March 28, 2007 well it rained just about all day today. It was a good day to do house cleaning and laundry right after I did my morning workout. Last night we went to the Grand Ole Opry, before the show we walked around the Opry Mill Mall, one of the biggest I think I have been in, then had dinner at Tony Roma's, haven't been to one of them for years. The Lebanon policeman that was at our coach today said that Opry Mill Mall use to be were the Opry amusement park was, so I guess that's why the area is so big. The reason the police where here is because to get the RV registration changed to Florida the vin. number needed to be verified by either a police officer or a Dealership if we weren't going to drive back to Florida. Dave called and they said they would come by and verify the number and sign the document for us. Anyway, back to the Grand Ole Opry, we walked thru the museum which was neat to see, then we went thru the Opry store and Tracy Lawrence was there signing his new CD. Before the show started at 7 pm Eddie Stubbs came out and explained that every show is live on the Radio so please do a lot of clapping and live commercials are being done too between singers. We didn't know any of the singers but the music was "OK" but it was very interesting to watch them do the live commercials and change the stage for the next singer or singing group coming up. It lasted 2 hours and we saw 8 different singing groups. The best thing about the whole thing is that Country Musician's biggest thrill is to sing at the Grand Ole Opry. Sorry but its hard to explain, as big as they get and tour all over the biggest thing to them is to appear at one spot, where things began. The music groups today, meaning rock and roll ect., they don't have 1 place that all the legends have crossed, which the Country Music has, which I/we think is really neat.
Enough of that, tomorrow we are headed out, 1 day ahead of time, and will stop in Kentucky, we want to get another marker on our placker. Will write later.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 didn't mention that we are staying at Timberline Campground Resort. When we went into Wal-Mart after we got here, it's another small town with a bunch of inbreds. I told Dave that some of these people really scare me, he said him too, then when we got back to the campsite I went walking around and found out a lot of these inbreds live right here. I would say that about 75 % of the people here, live here and their trailers have seen better days. Last night while we were sitting outside watching TV I just started laughing, and Dave asked what was so funny. I told him we left a 7 hundred thousand dollar house to come stay in places like this, what the hell were we thinking. We can see how sheltered we were and not really seeing what is out there in the U.S.A., it's been fun and interesting though, and we have met some nice people which we would have never met if we just stayed in Simi. These parks are a part of the Coast to Coast program we bought into and we stay without paying that's why we stick it out, we are cheap. Well you know how it goes, you get what you pay for.
Yesterday we went into Nashville, it's about 30 miles away, and walked around. We had lunch at Rippy's Smokin' Bar & Grill then went into Legends Corner and had a beer and listened to the guitar player. During lunch Dave made reservations to go to the Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday night, tonight. Now don't be jealous but we are going to be seeing Tracy Lawrence, The Crabb Family, Porter Wagoner, The Isaacs, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Jason Michael Carroll. Will write later and let you all know how it was. That's it for now.

March 26, 2006 First thing we want to wish Kimberly Diane Alton a BIG HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY, as she says "she is half way to 30" that's our college grad. ha ha
Just a quick update on us. After leaving Florida our next stop was at Camping World right outside of Atlanta Georgia. We got one of those sleep number beds, they didn't have anyone to install it so Dave and I did it ourselves in their parking lot. Then got on the road again for a little while then stopped off at a KOA in Casterville Georgia. Sunday morning after a good nights sleep, the new mattress is really nice, we had breakfast then got back on the road.
We arrived in Lebanon Tennessee in the early afternoon and now we are back to Central Time Zone. Oh for got to mention that while we were at the Camping World we also purchased a CB Radio so Dave tore out the dashboard on the RV and installed the CB radio. My handle might be "Dog Grandma" will see once we start playing with it.
The weather has been perfect so far but we heard a storm is coming our way, will see. Will try and see Nashville and the surrounding area in between Dave's work calls.

March 23, 2007 we are here in Lake City, Florida. The 1st thing we did when we got here, after hooking up, we went to DMV and got our Florida Driver Licenses, opened up a bank account here, and did the laundry. We are now residents of Florida because they don't have personal income tax, which will save us money on Dave's retirement. Now they do have other ways to get your money like if you owned property, but we don't so we are OK there. It's basically too expensive to keep Calif. as our main residents. Will see if this all works, I hated giving up my Calif. drivers license though. Anyway, like I said in the other blog, we had a good time at the rally, the last day we booked a Piggyback Train thru Copper Canyon Tour. It's 29 days long, we start off at Presidio Texas and end up in Nogales Arizona. It's not until next January 24, 2008 so the cruise that we had booked for December will definitely be cancelled. Other then that expensive reservation we really didn't buy too much. New sensor for our tanks, mat for outside the coach, went to some seminars, some stuff we knew other stuff was informative. Hated to say Goodbye to the new friends that we had met at the pre-rally they were really great people. Shirley and Fred, Joe and Lucinda, Bobby and Louise, Rosemarie and Bob, Fran and Bond, Janice and Dewayne, Linda and Joe (also from Calif) and the others. The last day too of the rally we saw two couples that we had met at the Monaco repair place in Oregon last August.
The Oak Ridge Boys concert was pretty good, I hadn't heard any songs that I had known, Dave was napping thru part of it so we left early. We did so much walking and riding our bikes the 6 days that we were there that we were really very tired. It was nice to get back to the coach early and relax since we were hitting the road at 6 a.m.
Tomorrow we head out for Lebanon Tennessee will write again from there.

Thursday March 22, 2007 today is the last day of the FMCA Rally and we have had a really good time. The final count on the fair grounds was 3,820 family coaches, 260 exhibitor live-in coaches, 556 display coaches and 194 demo units to drive. Don't know how many vendors stayed in motels but I know it was a lot. They did sell a aerial photo, which we purchased, of all the rigs parked, hopefully Dave can scan it and we can post the picture on our website. It's the last day, I'm really tired, I have walked so much that I'll write more later. We head out for Florida tomorrow morning, we have appointments at one of the DMV's for new driver licenses, and I'll explain that more on my next blog. Need dinner now before the Oak Ridge Boys concert, will write later.

Tuesday March 20, 2007 today the FMCA Rally really begins. The drive over here on Saturday morning was fun, having the police blocking the traffic getting on the freeway and off was neat. Our caravan was only 35 rigs, the Monaco one that came in right behind us was 150 rigs. Boy I wouldn't be a happy camper if I was on my way somewhere and had to wait until all those rigs went thru. They are so well organized here, that have everyone parked right away and leave enough room between rigs, it was really nice. There wasn't the turn out they were hoping for there are only 3,800 rigs. I went to the 1st timers seminar yesterday and they told us that Perry, the town we are in, has only 9,000 population, with all of us in our rigs plus the vendors that are here we total over 11,000, more then Perry's population. They said the mayor of Perry is really happy to have us here. They have 550 new rigs to view here and 175 rigs out in the demo driving area. They did have some seminars yesterday that we went to. We went to Knee-Hip-Ankle Health, boring, then we split up because the seminars went on at the same time, that's when I went to the 1st timers and Dave went to RVing to Alaska. At 3 pm they opened up the gates to where all the 550 rigs are, boy you should have seen all the people lined up to get in there, we waited until the crowd cleared the gates before we went over. Today all the vendors open up, so now the spending begins. Now we will see all the stuff we just can't live without.

Friday, March 16, 2007, today is the last day of the pre-rally. We have had a lot of fun meeting new people either at happy hour, ice cream socials, breakfast or dinner. One of the local RV Dealerships have had new models of Holiday Ramblers here on display for all of us, Dave and I were thinking about trading in our 2006 Endeaver for a 2007 Scepter 42 footer, want to wait and see all the different kinds of other models on display at the Perry Rally. Probably won't do it because we don't want to have house payments again, plus ours only has 11,000 miles on it, it's fun to think about though. This afternoon we played bean bag baseball and the team I was on won, I had never played that before it was fun.
It started raining here yesterday and this afternoon the spring on our awning for our slide broke. Dave had to drive down to the Monaco rally and find the awning company to come to where our rig is to fix it. The guy got here but doesn't have the stuff to fix it here so hopefully when we are at the Perry rally he can do the work there. He had to remove the awning so we can pull our slide in for the caravan tomorrow. We were told at the caravan meeting this morning that we will have a police escort to get us all on the freeway together then we have to leave about a 2 motorhome gap between each motorhome for on coming cars on the on ramps. I guess when we get to the other end we will get some other kind of escort to loop us all around the outside of town so we don't mess up the middle of town with the thousands of motorhomes showing up. Our time to go into the fairgrounds is 8:30 a.m., everyone has time slots and it goes on all day and night, it should be fun to see.
Tonight is the last happy hour and cowboy meal, and it's western wear contest. Dave and I went and got cowboy shirts, and hats. I also got a levi skort and western belt, we never did have any luck finding cheap cowboy boots. You know cowboy shit is expense, especially boots, so luckily we found cheap hats and clothes.
That's it for now, will write again once we are at the FMCA Rally.

March 14, 2007 we are still here in Macon Georgia at the Rally. So far we have had an enjoyable time. There are only about 58 coaches and really nothing of any seminars but we are having a good time. Dave is too in between his business phone calls. Monday we met with people that are parked in our area and at 5:30 it turned into Happy hour and munchies then a group of us went out to dinner to a place called "Pig in a Pit". Not that great of dinner but afterward we stopped at Dairy Queen for desert, it was fun. Tuesday was registration day and hang around watching all the coaches arriving, I took off to Wal-mart to have my nails done. Tuesday night at 5 the rally had Happy hour then they had hot dogs and all the fixins for dinner. Today was breakfast between 8 and 9 then a seminar on holding tanks, motor home insurance, and cleaning supplies for the motor homes. 1:30 was ice cream floats then game time, today was washer toss tournament. At 5 it was margarita party then they served a Cajun dinner. After dinner they had a 50/50 drawing and Dave won, $104.00. After that was bingo but we didn't stick around, we went back to the coach, took Valley walking around and visited with people.
We have met a lot of really nice people here and Valley is having fun meeting all of their dogs. These rallies are so much nicer then going in trailer parks, it seems to me that these people have decent animals, not the attack and barking dogs, just really friendly with all the other dogs. I could probably live the rest of my life in a motor home if we kept going to rallies.

March 12, 2007 We left Stone Mountain yesterday morning and are now parked in Shrine Park Macon, Georgia. This is the Holiday Rambler International 15th FMCA Pre-Rally, next Saturday we will leave here at 7:30 a.m. and caravan to Perry, Georgia where the FMCA rally begins, at that rally there are suppose to be 7,000 rigs. I guess at this pre-rally we are only suppose to have 60 or so rigs. 2 years ago when they had the pre-rally here I guess it rained a lot and a bunch of the rigs got stuck here in the park, so people are too afraid to come back here again. At that time I think they had a few hundred and even the tow trucks that showed up to pull the rigs out got stuck too. We are suppose to have rain here Thursday, so will see what happens. Monaco is having a pre-rally, and Dave said we probably should have gone to that, but too late now, who knows we may end up having a good time with fewer rigs and people.
Bye for now

March 9, 2007 as you know, if you read the other blog, we are in Stone Mountain Georgia and I had said we are here the wrong time of year and only 3 things are open now. Well, we did the 3 open attractions yesterday, in between Dave's business calls. All 3 things we did were fun/interesting meaning "Ride the Ducks" was kind of fun and informative, the Museum and Plantation tour were very interesting.
We have had great weather but it says the rain is coming, bummer.

March 7, 2007 haven't written for 5 days, boy time flies by fast, now I have catching up to do again. I mentioned before that we were in Montgomery Alabama, while there we drove into town and took a trolley ride around which showed the highlights of what is there that they are famous for. We didn't get into town until 4 so we couldn't get off the trolley and go see anything because it was too late. Normally what you do is pay your $1.00 and you can get on and off the trolley all day long. (yes that was one dollar) We went by the State Capitol, Rosa Parks Library and Museum, Hank Williams Museum, Alabama Dept. of Archives and History, Civil Rights Memorial ect. next time in town we will have to do the all day thing.
Saturday morning, March 3 we got headed for Stone Mountain, Georgia which is a beautiful place right outside of Atlanta. If you get a chance look up their website stonemountainpark.com/campground you should see all the stuff they have to do here, the only thing is come the right time of year. Of course we aren't and all but 3 things are closed until near the end of March and we will be long gone by then. Valley and I are doing a lot of walking and stocking squirrels. We arrived on Saturday and once all set-up we drove into Atlanta and went shopping at Costco. On Sunday we drove back into Atlanta and did a tour of the "World of Coca'Cola" what a waste of money on that one. Then we walked thru the "Underground" in Atlanta which is a bunch of shops right underneath the highway then under that is Kenny's Alley which is the entertainment district at night. We were there during the day, David Jr. said we should really go at night because it is really the happening place but knowing us I know we won't make it. After that we walked over and did a tour of CNN, now that was worth the money. Monday, we hung around drove into Stone Mountain, the city, and did laundry. Last night we drove into Atlanta and had dinner with Dave's second cousin, Randy and his family. We had a very nice dinner and it was a great visit, the only thing is while driving back home I hit a dog, we don't know how bad because it took off running. I was only driving 20 mph, we had just left their house and I hit the brakes so hopefully it wasn't hurt too bad. Damn people that don't train their dogs not to run once they get out of the house, that dog ran so fast in front of the car, I was just sick over it and still am. When we got back to the coach all I did was hold onto Valley and thanked god that I had taken the time to train her.
Enough bad news, today it is 71 degrees and beautiful, and now I'm all caught up on my blog, so see ya!

March 2, 2007, we are now in Montgomery Alabama, we got lucky and didn't get hit by the tornado, but we did get hit with severe thunder storms in Mississippi. We just pulled in all our awnings and pulled in our slides and stuck it out. It maybe lasted 35 min. then we had heavy winds after that. Whene it stopped I went walking around with Valley and the trailer park from hell, that we were staying in was mostly under water. We were on a cement slab so we were OK but the ones that weren't, lets just say I'm sure glad I wouldn't have to walk up to their trailers and try and get in or out of the door. They would have been up to their ankles in water, I took some pictures.
The tornado did hit one place in Alabama but not in Montgomery, and right now it's almost 3 in the afternoon and the sky is nice and blue, clouds are spread out and only covers the sun once in a while. The new camp ground we are at is "The Woods RV Park and Campground", it's rocks and gravel and patches of grass but mostly the grass area is under water because of yesterday. So much better then the last park though, not a lot of people that live here and do inbreeding. Very large area, a lot of open sites, right now, and it has a lake but not too nice of one, but that's OK because we are away from Martin Lake.
Tomorrow we are headed for Stone Mountain Georgia, we will be in Georgia for about 3 weeks I think, then will have to let you know where we go after that.
Bye for now.

I just went and looked at the pictures Dave posted in our website and noticed all the comments I had written on the pictures weren't carried over to the website. Just to let you know the last pictures of the trailers with all the trash around them is where we are at right now, I took the pictures while I was walking Valley around and holding the camera to my side so no one would see me take them. I must say right now the sky is booming very loudly and rain is really starting to come down, not a happy camper. I don't think I've ever heard thunder this loud before in my life.

March 1, 2007 part 3, and final chapter of the Katrina blog. Well, like I said earlier, we are here in Biloxi Mississippi and they had a lot of destruction here too. We drove to where the casinos are, which are right on the water, and that area has really been wiped out. Now in New Orleans what destroyed those areas where the levies, but in Biloxi it was the actual hurricane that destroyed it because it is right on the water
Anyway, the casinos, businesses, and houses were really destroyed here. The one good thing here though is everyone is working on rebuilding everything. Neighborhoods, businesses and the casinos are all under construction, they aren’t sitting around waiting for the government to rebuild. We got pictures posted on our website now, take a look see altonsystems.com
Right now we are under tornado watch, which isn’t making us too happy. I wanted out of this trailer park we are in because the people that live here I swear are all inbred, they really give me the creeps. Needless to say we are stuck here until tomorrow; they say the tornado should be gone by then. Just heard on the news that the tornado hit down in Alabama and that’s where we were headed, good thing we didn’t leave yet.
I’ll write later and let you know if we survive this.

February 28, 2007 now to continue my stories of Louisiana and the stories that Randy, Susie, Mark and Sue had told us. Of course sitting with them and since they live in Louisiana we talked about Katrina. We told them about while driving here there were still neighborhoods of FEMA trailers all over Louisiana, they said wait till you go into the out skirts of New Orleans, and they are still there too. When we did go into New Orleans, we had breakfast in the French Quarter which is just fine it’s the neighborhoods outside of the French Quarter that are still messed up. There the houses that were unlivable have trailers either in the front yard or side yard, but the people still haven’t done anything to fix their places up. It was a very poor area anyway, very low income, and these people just want to keep taking the handouts and not do anything to improve the area. It doesn’t help with the Louisiana Government, not just New Orleans Government being corrupt, that’s what Randy told us. So much money has been wasted here and still is. The trailers that FEMA has supplied have been trashed, the people were given a year to get there acts together and not rely on the government but that hasn’t helped to get them motivated, they were never motivated before why should they start now and their own government officials don’t help them but just pocket the money. FEMA wasted so much money at the beginning and it doesn’t help that the outside businesses that were hired by FEMA had taken advantage of FEMA too. It was so hectic here that FEMA kept throwing out money and had no controls of what was going on. People that had no damage at all and still applied for FEMA money where given it and some that needed it were turned down. The trailer park, Yellowstone where we were staying was taken over by FEMA for evacuees from New Orleans; they had put trailers all over the park and paid the park owners for all the spaces. They even had hired a company to come in and dump the trailer tanks of the waste, well after doing that NO EVACUEES ever occupied the trailers. The dumping company came in once or twice a week and pretended to dump the waste tanks and billed FEMA even though all the trailers were empty. The trailer park charged of course which they had a right to do because all of their spaces were taken up by the FEMA trailers. Supposedly in the outskirts of New Orleans, where the trailers still are and it has been over a year, FEMA went in to take the trailers out but of course the news media got wind of it and made the government sound like the bad guys for not doing more to help these people. So needless to say the trailers are staying and the people still don’t plan on doing anything to improve things. Just keep waiting for the handouts is what they plan on doing, poor me the government owes us, boy I sure get sick of hearing that. Some of the neighborhoods a little farther out have been working very hard to cleaning up their areas but it is a slow process but at least they are doing something.
This is a hard topic to write about, so much too say, it’s just easier to talk about and not write about.
This is a long blog so let me cut off now and start another one about Mississippi and the damage Katrina caused here.

February 27, 2007 Boy I'm getting lazy at writing my blog, at least I'm not as bad as my nephew, Spanky, he hasn't updated his blog in over a month.
We are now in Biloxi Mississippi staying at a trailer park called Martin Lake Resort. The park is small, the lake is nice looking but most of the people here live here. This is one of the real trailer trash parks, thank goodness we won't be here long. Let's see, we have been in a few different places since I last wrote so I have some catching up to do.
We left Lake Medina, Lake Hills Texas, on Friday the 23rd and headed for Houston Texas. We stopped in Houston at the Johnson Space Center and took the tour they offer to show you the space shuttle and command center. It was interesting to see and hear about what the astronauts go thru in their training. After that we got back on the road and stopped for the night at the Delta Downs Race Track & Casino in Venton, Louisiana. We parked right outside the race track, which we didn't know at the time that they would leave the bright lights on all night long. Dave and I went in the casino for dinner but what was interesting is that in Louisiana the casinos are blocked off so you have to go thru a security check and prove you are 21 yrs old to go into the gambling part. The Harris Casino in New Orleans has like 10 glass doors in front to enter by but all the handles have been taken off of them except for 2 which when you go in the security check is right there, very interesting. Anyway, we stayed one night at the casino then on Saturday morning we headed for Robert Louisiana for a couple days. We got to Jellystone Park, yes Jellystone, Yogi Bear's Camp-Resort, so needless to say this was a Family/Kids campground. I was hoping to get in the adult section but there wasn't any, oh well. They had lots of lakes, pools, ponds, basketball courts, baseball, horseshoes, volleyball, mini golf, pop hut, yogi's cafe, rec. center and The Yogi Dome. Very large and pretty nice RV park, they even had a section called the Condo Village, which is private property but it's all trailers. I'm talking about 5th wheel trailers with car ports over the top of them. I got some pictures, will post them later, but these people were real trailer trash too. We were only staying in Louisiana until Monday so we could go into New Orleans and see for ourselves the destruction that Katrina caused. Saturday after getting settled into Yogi's camp we met our next door neighbors then there went the rest of the day. Really nice folks and we ended up hanging with them and a couple of their friends until late at night. It was Randy, Suzi and Mark and Sue. I'm going to stop here now and post more tomorrow, it's getting late here and I have a lot more to say.

Monday February 19, 2007 Presidents Day. Still here in Lakehills Texas until this Friday then we will head for New Orleans. Last week, on Valentines Day, we drove into San Antonio to find the Wal-Mart and Costco and get a little shopping done. We thought we would be gone for maybe 2 hours but it ended up being about 5 to 6 hours. In Wal-Mart I ended up getting my nails done, eyes checked and ordered new glasses, Dave had a hair cut and we did grocery shopping. We then headed for PetSmart to return Valley's booties that didn't fit well, then over to Costco for more shopping. Texas is another state where you can't buy hard alcohol in regular stores only beer and wine. The Costco here has a separate alcohol store attached and what's crazy is they give away free samples of booze and wine what ever their specials are that day. We then stopped and had lunch at Macaroni Grill and on the way back to the coach we had to pull over because Dave had a business call. The call kept dropping out because of all the hills that we were driving thru, that's why we had to pull over.
Saturday we drove into San Antonio to see the Alamo and the River Walk, the 2 most popular places to see while your here in San Antonio. When we got to the Alamo we were just in time to get to hear the story of what had occurred back then, very interesting story. After that we walked over to River Walk and walked along the river then we took the Ride the "Rio" San Antonio boat tour. After that we drove around a little checking out the place then headed back to the coach we figured 8 hours of being locked in the coach was long enough for Valley.
Sunday is our breakfast out day so we drove into San Antonio and went to a Mexican Restaurant, which everywhere you turn that's all you see is Mexican Restaurants. Just about every other corner is a "Bill Miller" BBQ fried chicken, drive thru or sit down, haven't had enough guts yet to try that place and probably won't. We stopped and got a GPS System for my car for when we are driving around these crazy cities. Texas has freeways that chris cross all over the place and also frontage roads and turn arounds.
That's it for now, Happy Presidents Day!

Tuesday February 13, 2007 we are now in Lakehills, Texas. We are official “Trailer Trash” now, after leaving Gila Bend, AZ at 6:30 a.m. we finally stopped at Fort Stockton Texas at 8:00 p.m. and spent the night at our 1st Wal-Mart, with about 7 other campers. We did gain an hour so we didn’t really drive for 13 ½ hours just 12 ½. I know we aren’t supposed to do things like this but we were trying to cut down our driving time on Monday because of Dave’s work. I did do some driving maybe 1 ½ hours, if that, it wasn’t much but enough of a break for Dave, he said. The week we were in Gila Bend was almost in the 80 degree range every day, on Sunday, when we left, they were supposed to get rain. At least for a week I got to work on my tan, but now here in Lakehills, which is about 30 miles outside of San Antonio, the weather is suppose to be in the 40’s and 50’s, so there goes that tan. Before I forget I have to tell you driving across Hwy 10, once in Texas, we have never seen so many cars and trucks being pulled by other cars and trucks. Dave came up with, only ½ of the vehicles in Texas run because the other ½ are being pulled. (ha ha)
Anyway, we are at “Thousand Trails” Medina Lake Preserve very large park, 260 acres and we are parked close to the Lake. Big lake but not much water in it, I guess they are hurting here for rain and you can tell by how low the lake is. The park here is a deer sanctuary I think, the place is covered with deer and Valentine could care less. She looks at them and they really stare at her but she is more interested in looking for lizards and squirrels, I’ll get pictures and post on the website later. We haven’t been taking any pictures lately, so it’s about time we get started again, I should have started with the State Signs like New Mexico, Texas, but we drove by too fast oh well.
We will be here for 2 weeks, will write more later.

Thursday, February 8, 2007 still here in Gila Bend, the rally started today. Yesterday was registration all day long, Dave and I worked the check-in table from 3pm to 5pm with 2 other people but most had checked in by then so we only collected $200, the registration is only $10.00 a person, what a deal. Don't understand how they can hold a 3 day rally with so little money, a lot of volunteer's I guess, still they have free hot dog lunch one day, and each morning they have a free continental breakfast. They have over 200 that signed up for this rally, this park we are at is full so people are either at the Elk's lodge, down the street at the Shell Gas Station RV Park or they are dry camping in the back of this RV park we are at. I'd have to say they are more 5th wheels here then RV's but everyone has a satellite dish, plus some of the one's that are dry camping have lots of solar panels that lift up on the top of their rigs and that's how they get their power, needless to say they have all those panels because they do a lot of dry camping, that's not for me. The weather here is sunny and 80 degrees so I'm working on my tan again.
Bye for now.

Monday February 5, 2007 sorry I'm a little behind in posting this. We are in a new location now we got here late Saturday afternoon, so now we are in Gila Bend, Arizona. One thing I want to say before I go on is last Friday morning Valentine got into the shower in the motorhome and took a shower, not by her choice of course. She has a skin rash and the vet gave us some medicated shampo and rinse and said she has to be bathed twice a week and since it was way too cold outside while in Lakeside she got a bath in the motorhome. She did really well too, but now that we are here in Arizona todays weather was 80 degrees so tomorrow she can get bathed outside. Anyway, we are here in Gila Bend for a Mobile Satellite Internet Rally which doesn't start until Wednesday. Very small town, maybe 1900 people, if that, so needless to say they have nothing here. Sunday we drove into town to have breakfast but didn't find anything to stop at so we ended up driving into Goodyear Arizona and stopping at TGI Fridays and having lunch. Goodyear is about 45 miles away and that's the closes town if we really need anything I guess. Hopefully I stocked us up enough so we won't need to do any shopping until after we leave this place which will be next Sunday. The rally is from Wednesday thru Saturday and they have lots of stuff going on everyday. Dave even signed us up to be helpers for the rally, so he just told me tomorrow night we have to go to a meeting to be told what our duties will be. Yesterday was Super Bowl sunday so we sat outside and watched the game and commercials from the TV that Dave got hooked up underneath the motorhome. The screen is my old computer screen and it's all mounted now and we can sit outside from now on and watch TV, pretty neat. Today Dave had a lot of work stuff to do so Valley and I did a lot of walking and laying out in the sun, it was great, I even have a sunburn now yea!