Quincy, CA. June 2014

We have arrived! We are now in Quincy, California at Pioneer RV Park. It's a very nice and well maintained park and has 62 full hook up sites. The owners were happy to see us since we were a few days late due to some delays at home. They knew we were running a little behind but were worried about us arriving  all the way from Michigan.

The office is also the owners home. It's nice having the owners on site. There hasn't been any problems but if there were, we know where to find them.

We work three consecutive days a week for three hours a day (8:30-11:30). We clean the grounds/sites daily and the laundry room and club house once a week. The biggest thing with the grounds is the campground is full of pine trees and the squirrels LOVE the green cones. By the time they are done stripping them, the ground is a mess.We only work in the morning because the owners don't want us working when it is hot, which is most afternoons. As an added bonus we get ice cream at the end of our shift....can't beat that!

We have a nice site. It's very large and has some really tall pine trees. We have plenty of room for us and the dogs. There's another couple here who work the other three days each week and no one works on Sunday. In July we swap days and then back every month so no one gets stuck on the same days forever.

Our first real taste of Quincy was a car show at the fair grounds which is right behind the park. There were some really nice rides there and we even saw some that we used to own like a "56" Ford and a "55" Chevy. There was even a Jeep that was all decked out with grenades and a machine gun. I'm just wondering if the gun is an option I can get for ours.

Quincy is a small town. How small you ask? Well let me tell you,  the closest Walt-mart is 70 miles away. We go to Reno Nevada to shop. Of course there are plenty of casinos there to help make the trip bearable. We've been out and about like we like to do. We are in the Sierra Nevada mountains at about 3500 feet so there is a lot of great scenery to see.

Ruby, the newest member of our family, found out that she loves the water. We could tell by the way that she was pawing at it that she had never been near a river or stream before. It was so fun to watch her explore this new thing that she found. That is the great things about dogs; they are always full of surprises and are always good for a laugh.

This is a shot of Mount Lassen.  It is a plugged dome volcano that last erupted in 1917 (we hope it stays that way). It is in Lassen Volcanic National Park and we plan on making this one of our day trips. The pine cones to the right are just a few that we have picked up. the little one in the middle is about the size of the ones we picked up in the campground on Tybee Island. The ones here in the park are not this big but they can be found all over here and we have found some even larger.

Yes, I've found some off-road trails and we've done some exploring. We've been on a few since we have been here and the best part is the owners of the park have given me some national forest maps showing all of the trails in this area. All I can say to that is "hang on Holly here we go".

Holly's sister Debbie drove down from Seattle to visit right after we arrived here. It is a 12 hour drive unless you make a wrong turn (and she did) then it turns into about 14 hours. It was really nice to see her again (she even brought a rhubarb pie, yum). We saw here some when we were on the Olympic Peninsula (she made great pies then too). We had a great visit and traveled around and did some sight seeing and even made a trip into Reno. She was here for a week and said she had a nice vacation. I don't think she has taken a vacation in years so we were happy to give her a chance to get away for a little while.

We took a ride down the Feather River Valley and came across this tunnel. We thought it was really cool to find this since we worked at Elephant Butte State Park. Just had to take a picture and send it to the rangers at the park.

California is now into 3 years of drought. As you can see by this picture the water is way down and most of these boats are houseboats. They are anchored. out in the lake because it is so shallow close to shore.

We found a train museum just down the road in Portola. You should know us by now, if there is a lighthouse or train museum around we will find it. No lighthouse yet but we are still looking. This is an old rail inspectors car. Boy those guys had it made back then. Four cylinders, convertible and no suspension.  Oh yeah, the good old days. Well, that's it for now. Can't wait to tell you about the High Sierra Music Festival. Be sure and stop back next month.  You won't want to miss this!

Home May 2014

I know, here it is June and I'm late with our blog again. Well I have a good excuse (at least I  think so). Last month you saw a picture of our new motor home. Well, it is not all fun and games. First we had to take everything out of the other one and we filled up half of the garage. That was the easy part. Then we had to sort through it and put back what we decided we needed into the new one. That only took forever and we are still trying to figure out where we put most of it. I think some stuff is just lost forever. I know it is in there somewhere...just not sure where.

Here are a couple of inside pictures.  It's still only 40 feet long but it is a bath and a half, it has a full size residential refrigerator and a dish washer, a stacked washer and dryer and four TV's (why four TV's I have no idea). It has a lot of storage underneath and it is a diesel pusher, which means the engine is in the back. It has air ride suspension and gets around eight mpg. I know that doesn't sound like much but the other one only got around 5 1/2 mpg. Remember, we are driving a house around.

Our granddaughter Mikayla, who is working at being a famous actress, was in the school play again this year. This year it was "Suessical" and she was one of the Wickershams (the best I might add). Very entertaining and the kids really worked hard at it as always.

Our other granddaughter Chloe had senior prom. When she is all dressed up she doesn't look half bad. Now if she would just learn to be nice to the boys she could have a boyfriend, but she says they are too much work.

We also got a new dog. Meet Ruby, she is a rescue dog (cairn terrier) and is very sweet. She has a couple of possession issues but seems to be getting better . She loves to travel and loves going on walks and meeting new people and dogs. She is single and likes to sit by the water and watch the waves come on shore and take naps. Oops...sorry, for a minute I thought this was the "dating game".

We were able to go to the famous Jenison Memorial Day parade. Our grandson Jason had a great time...here he is watching the fire trucks

Our granddaughter Chloe is now a graduate of Hudsonville  High School. It turned out to be a lot of work but she did it and we are so proud of her.

Here she is getting her diploma. The picture is a little fuzzy but she didn't slow down too long for fear of them changing their minds and taking it back.

Here are the three sister; Mikayla, Chloe and Brianna. Four more years and it will be Mikayla's turn.

The graduate and her very proud Grandparents. That's me on the left.

Well, after all of that we got loaded up and headed west. Across this great country of ours we traveled, stopping in Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. In Wyoming we went to the old Territorial Prison. We took a little tour and saw their version of a RV. Not quite as comfy as ours but it made  it to it's destination most of the time.

Our stop in Utah was at Rockport State Park. We had a beautiful site over looking the lake and it was very relaxing. Our last stop was in Winnemucea, Nevada. Not real fancy but we did go to a casino and had a nice prime rib dinner and I managed to win a couple of bucks. We're now in Quincy, California getting settled in for the summer. Looks like it might be interesting. Stop back next month and see.

Florida Vacation 2014

After we left Tybee Island we decided we needed a vacation. I know you're asking "VACATION?". That's right, you have to remember we do work... not a lot, but it's nice to not have to get up and go to work. We tried a little off road but as you can see, Holly said turn right and I turned left. OK that's not ours; we took a little trip to Florida and went to Busch Gardens with our friends Jack and Lynn who live in North Fort Meyers. We had a great time just spending the day walking around and going to some of the shows. Jack went on most of the roller coasters and we cheered him on! Go Jack!

It turns out Sea World bought Busch Gardens so no Clydesdales and no beer samples. Oh well, we still had a good time.

I still don't know how this picture got in the middle of Busch Gardens. I think Brutus put it here. This is his friend from the campground where we stayed.  They ran across each other during one of his morning walks.

Here is Holly and Lynn sitting outside of the tiger exhibit. As you can see, it was a beautiful sunny day.  After  a nice day at the park with great friends and a train ride we said goodbye to the flamingos and headed back to the campground.

Thank you Jack and Lynn for showing us such a good time. We loved spending time with you.

Before heading to Key Largo, we were also able to have dinner with our niece Catie who also lives in the Fort Myers area. We haven't seen her in years so we loved spending that time with her. 

After a short drive south we ended up at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo. After a relaxing evening we met up with our Michigan friends, Dave and Beth at Islamorada in the Keys. They go there every spring and we were lucky to be there at the same time they were. We particularly enjoyed visiting the Tiki bars on the beach, having a few drinks and watching the sun set. After enjoying our vacation it was time to head back to Michigan to see family and friends.

After getting  home we decided to go look at motor homes. As you can tell, this beauty sitting in the driveway is not our Suncruiser. We are now the proud owners of a Fleetwood Discovery diesel pusher. We spent the last week moving every thing out of the old one into the garage and then back into the new one. We think we have most of it back in and put away. Now we just have to remember where it all is.

Well, that's about all there is to tell for now. See you all next month.

Tybee Island March 2014

March has marched in and marched out of Tybee Island. The weather was trying to warm up but it was a struggle. One day it would be sunny and 75 and the next it would be overcast, rainy and 45. It was a busy month. Two of the couples that were working departed early and that left us a little short handed for the big weekends in Tybee and Savannah.

The first big weekend was "MARDI GRAS". Tybee had a big parade with floats and golf carts and the beach chair twirlers. As you can tell by the crowd (that's our friends Larry, Jacki, Tiaga and Mary with Holly) we had to fight for a spot on the curb. From start to finish it took 15 minutes. Now that is my kind of parade.

We all got beads from the parade participants but as you can tell Tiaga received more then anyone else. I just can't believe they thought she was cuter then me!  The park was full but no one got out of hand and everyone had a great time.

The next big weekend was St. Patrick's Day. They say that Savannah has one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the country but I guess that is when it isn't raining for two days straight. It was still a big parade. This one was 2 1/2 hours and I heard that a lot of the bands and groups didn't show up because of the rain. It had been pouring the day before and all night then slowed down to a drizzle for the parade. Families had screen rooms and shelters set up with stoves and heaters and made breakfast right along the parade route.

They still had a good showing with floats and bands from other states, some a far away as New York. The Budweiser Express team was there along with Ronald McDonald and the Coke polar bears.

The Crab Shack  (that's a restaurant on Tybee Island) had a float and they were still celebrating  Mardi Gras. The Coast Guard brought one of their boats in case someone need to be rescued from one of the many puddles along the route. I guess if the weather had been better and everyone had shown up it would have been four hours long.

My sister Pam and her husband Evans and son Josh came for a visit our last weekend on Tybee. We had a great time catching up as we haven't seen them in a long time. We went into Savannah and walked around at the farmers market and we also took them on a tour of Tybee Island (that took all of five minutes...remember it is a island). We spent most of the time just visiting and watching b-ball tournaments as Josh is on the basketball team in school. We hated to see them go so soon but they had a long drive and we had to get packed up to leave Monday morning.

Sunday morning they called us up to the office and had a little going away party for us. Kim made us a cake and we had a chance to say good bye to all of the other volunteers and park employees. It was a great seven months and we really liked being on Tybee. The weather wasn't always great but it was better then back home. Some days just seemed to drag and others flew by. Besides that, how many people can say "I worked and lived on a beautiful island". I guess we can cross that off the bucket list.

We have left the island and some new friends behind. Headed for Florida (everyone says not to come home yet) for a little "vacation". Then heading home to see family and friends. We will attend our granddaughter Chloe's graduation from Hudsonville and then we'll be heading to California.  I sure hope the snow is gone when we get back but if it isn't, I sure hope Krista and the girls have our parking spot shoveled. I'll let you know next month.

Tybee Island Febuary 2014

WARNING: For those of you who are suffering from cabin fever, these pictures may cause a niggling of Spring fever. Here it is February already and that means it is springtime in the south. We've been busy showing our friend Mary around Tybee Island and Savannah. We have spent time in Historic Savannah looking at some of the homes and going to the squares in the area. There's 15 total  squares and they are all beautiful and unique.

Along with being beautiful, the historic  homes are well kept. It's interesting to walk around and imagine about the history of them. Many of these homes look like single family homes and you have to wonder what the people who now live there do to afford such luxury.  We won't be around for it, but they have a tour of homes every year much like the Heritage Hill tour in Grand Rapids. We would love to get inside a few of them.

The facing on these steps are covered with ivy. How would you like to see that on the honey do list? "Trim the steps". A lot of the houses also have the wrought iron fencing around them, many of it original and hand made. 

We drove to South Carolina to the Boone Hall Plantation with Mary, Jacki and Larry. It has some of the original buildings still standing. The plantation house is not the original but was built by later owners. We saw a picture of the original house and it wasn't as near as fancy, but the tour guide said our perception of these plantation houses come from the movies. We were supposed to keep in mind that the owners of these plantations were farmers and didn't have the opulence we associate with plantations.

This is Jacki, who talked about life on the plantation and gave us some Gullah history.  There is still Gullah cultures around South Carolina and we hope to go into one of the Gullah communities before we leave this area.

Here are some of the slave quarters that are still standing on Boone Hall Plantation. These homes were occupied by the slaves who worked in the house or who had some special skill such as blacksmiths or carpenters. The field hands lived in wood houses closer to the fields.

These pictures were taken next to a branch of a Live Oak tree on the grounds of the plantation. The live oak trees are huge and if the branches grow close to the ground, you might think they were  a log laying there, but they are alive and well. Many of the live oaks here and in the Savannah area are very old; many over a hundred years. That's Holly, Jacki and Mary on the left and of course, Holly and me in the picture above.

This is a fountain in Forsythe Park, one of the squares in Savannah. We had gone there to walk around and found this beautiful fountain and a farmers' market. The picture below was taken at Clary's Cafe where we dined outside for lunch. (I did start with a warning).  For those who have read "Midnight in the Garden Of Good and Evil" you will remember Clary's Cafe as the place where Luther Diggers always had breakfast (or not) while plotting how to poison the water supply of Savannah. It is a popular place for the locals and the food was good!

I said last month that I would tell everyone about our next job. We have accepted a position in Northern California in Quincy.  It's at Pioneer RV Park which has 62 sites.  We will be working three days a week and three to four hours per day. I know it's a rough job but someone needs to do it.  Quincy is an old gold mining area so maybe we can pan for gold on our off days and make our fortune. We will be there from June 1st to the end of October. Well, that's all for now; one more month and we'll be done here. We plan on being home the middle of April so PLEASE GET RID OF THE SNOW. Thank you and we'll see you all next time.