Never Ready

Today was the day we knew was coming, but weren’t ready for.

Today, we got the call.

Paul’s mother is dying.

Not the kind of call you want to get any day, but especially not on Paul's birthday.

There are more questions than there are answers at this point, but the bottom line is this. Tomorrow, we’re leaving our peaceful spot in the rolling hills of southwest Pennsylvania for a two-day, 900-mile, bee-line trip across I-70. We’ll be in Kansas City as soon as we can. We’re thinking we’ll make our first-ever stop at a Walmart tomorrow night. Somewhere near Indianapolis, we think. If anyone has any recommendations, we’re all ears.

It might be awhile before we post again. More when we can.

Just Sittin'

Who comes to Niagara Falls and waits three days before seeing 'em?

That would be us!

Our first two days here were rainy, which was perfect. We were ready for a couple of days of just sittin', so we were happy. We had a bunch of stuff to catch up on. (There are a bunch of new posts on Bullwinkle's Travels. Check 'em out!) Plus, there were people we were eager to meet.

Back when fulltiming for us was just an idea, we searched far and wide for folks who were already out there doing it. One of the couples that was doing it like we wanted to was Gary and Vicki. Early one Saturday morning in Oakland, I plopped on a sofa with a quilt, a cup of coffee and my laptop. I clicked on their trip journal, We're Wingin' It, and started at the beginning. I followed their preparations in 2006 to their launch in 2007 and their adventures through 2008. I devoured the entire journal, some two years at the time, in one day. I was inspired!

We've followed Gary and Vicki regularly since, and for the last several months we've been trying to track them down. We just missed them at Red Rock, and had hopes of visiting them in Yellowstone but the weather didn't cooperate. A couple of weeks ago we read that they were heading to Niagara Falls. Turns out we'd all be in the same area for a morning! Gary and Vicki offered to stop by our park on their way out of town Monday for a quick hello over brunch. That would definitely work!

We've mentioned it here several times, about how we meet bloggers for the first time and feel like we've known them forever. Our Monday morning meeting was no exception. When we saw "Phae" pull into our park, we could just feel it: Friends had arrived. Meeting these two good people we'd only read about was such a treat. They are as warm and delightful as we had imagined. We dashed across the street and enjoyed a Greek breakfast of interesting, and tasty, food and extra helpings of great conversation and laughter. The time passed quickly, of course, and before long it was time to get these new friends back on the road. We look forward to seeing them again and thank them so much for making time to stop, especially on a travel day. Godspeed!

We saw the sun, at last, yesterday. But, a trip to the falls was not to be. We are shopping for health insurance. It's a pain in the neck. And, that's all I have to say about that.

But, today is a new day. The sun is shining and we are done just sittin'. Besides, we're leaving tomorrow. So, today is the day. We're going to head to the falls just as soon as I finish this post.

So, bye for now!

Simple Pleasures

Sometimes it's the simple stuff that makes life easier. Really simple stuff.

Case in point. In the last month or so we've made four really simple changes in our household: A dimmer switch, a trash can, a towel rack and a spice rack. And, as a result, life in our rolling home is a whole lot easier.

Let me explain.

We love to eat dinner at home. We always have. For years we've enjoyed preparing some culinary delights together and sharing a glass (or a bottle) of wine over dinner by candlelight. There are nights at Chez Paul and Mary that can beat any big city restaurant. Lots of times we even have dinner with a view. No extra charge. We love it!

The problem is, or was, finding just the right lighting for a romantic dinner in our rolling home. We'd light a candle and then fiddle with the lights all around our house. We have two lights right above our table, but we'd never use them. They're just too, too bright. We'd keep them off and find just the right combo of other house lights that would somehow cast the right glow. Truth is, most of the time, we were eating practically in the dark.

Before we pulled into Forest City, we had an idea. Our bedroom features a dimmer switch to our ceiling lights. Somewhere in South Dakota it dawned on us that it would be great to have just such a switch for our two mongo lights above our dining table. So, in Forest City we asked if they could change our dining table light switch out for a dimmer. And, they said yes.

Such a simple thing, we know. But, we gotta tell ya, dinners are so much more enjoyable with that little dimmer. We turn it on, dial it down and forget about it. It feels so much more like home.

In the darkness of our kitchen cabinets sits our trash can. Until recently it was the same trash can we've had since we bought our first motor home. And, for two years it's been too small. Way too small. And, of course, we knew it. Once we moved into the new moose we took measurements and went in search of a bigger, more manageable trash can. And, for some reason, every waste receptacle we looked at was way too big. While shopping in West Yellowstone with our friend Juanita awhile back, she found the perfect trash can for their rolling home. And, I lusted after it. I wasn't sure it would fit, so I didn't buy one. But, weeks later, Paul and I found ourselves in the Dollar General in Forest City, Iowa (Our first Dollar General ever!) and spotted the same trash can. We took measurements and it looked like it would work. With great delight we plunked down our four dollars to the general and took our new trash can home. It works like a charm.

Yes, folks, there's nothing like opening that cabinet door and seeing that great big trash can. We love it!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that while we were in Forest City we attended a seminar about RV storage at GNR. That seminar inspired us and really got us thinking. One of the things we realized was how screwy our kitchen towel rack was. Our towel rack sits on our range. It looks nice and is very low profile. So, we put our towels on it. Over the last year we've realized how truly screwy that is. If we want to get in either of the top two mammoth huge drawers under our range we need to flip up the towels, hope they stay up and then open the drawer.

Not good.

So, we started looking for a tasteful towel rack to hang on one of our lower cabinet doors. By being out of the way of the two top drawers, it would make this primo kitchen storage real estate much more accessible. While in Hartland, we made a stop at Bed Bath and Beyond and found a perfect towel rack. Within minutes of arriving at home we had it and the two kitchen towels hanging in a new spot.

And, all was right with the world.

Yes, folks, we're talking simple!

No kidding. It's really made life easier and better. Not only are the towels in a more handy location, but suddenly we have access to these two huge drawers in the kitchen that we didn't really know we had. It's like finding a hidden treasure. Sorta.

With the towels out of the way and ready access to two new kitchen drawers, we decided the top drawer would be used for kitchen utensils, which had been spread amongst three drawers, and spices. Our spices were in sad shape. Depending on which savory addition you wanted to add to a dish, you might have to check in three or four different places. Yes, it was a bit nutty.

So, while we were at BBBY we picked up a nifty spice rack that goes in a drawer. And, voila! It fits perfectly in that top drawer. Now, all of the sudden, we have every spice in easy reach. Our candlelight dinners are so much more tasty!

Driving a big piece of machinery from place to place can get to be a bit complicated. But, sometimes, as we've discovered, it's the simplest things that can make a rolling house a home.

A Day Ahead

We have such luck with short travel days, we decided to go long today. So long, in fact, that we arrived at tomorrow's destination today!

Our plans were to travel just short of 300 miles to Erie, PA and overnight there. With about 120 miles to go to Niagara Falls, tomorrow would be a very manageable travel day. We got going early this morning, and everything was going our way. The weather was decent. No wind, for a change. We had rain chasing us down the interstate, so that was part of our incentive to keep moving. Saturday traffic around Detroit, Toledo and Cleveland was a breeze. The Ohio Turnpike was down right dreamy.

We got to Erie at 2:15. And, that was way too early to stop! We called our park in Niagara Falls and asked if we could come in a day early. They said, "Come on down!" So, we kept driving. We flew through a little slice of Pennsylvania, and the New York Thruway was a piece of cake. (Well, except that pesky compartment door opened just before the toll booth. This time the attendant beat it into submission!) We pulled into our cozy park just after 4:00.

With that, we're a day ahead. Yeah!

Today's Epiphany

We're here in Hartland, MI visiting with friends and taking a moment to take care of business.

It's been awhile.

We've been on the move and out of touch for quite some time. This is the first place we've found ourselves with 3G and within a mile of a Walmart. We like it!

We spent a good part of today re-entering civilization. We visited the bank and a few favorite stores for some must haves. And, with 3G at our site we both spent a good hour or three this morning taking care of our online business. It was all good.

Like I said. It's been awhile.

This little experience has us thinking. Actually, we had a bit of an epiphany. We've known for a long time that there's a balance we need to strike between sitting still and moving. But, today's epiphany shed more light on that subject. You see, we finally realize that when we're moving in "vacation mode" it's really hard to manage our life. And, when we sit still to manage our life we need the basics: cell service, 3G and a Walmart nearby to survive.

Ever since we started our life on the road, we've pretty much thought of it all the same. Whether we were parked or moving really didn't matter. It's our life and we deal with it. But, today's epiphany has helped us see something very important. When we're sitting in one spot for awhile with all the technology we need, that's as close as we get to life like it was in our sticks and bricks. When we're parked it's easy to take care of things like mail, shopping and all the business of life. When we're on the move that all becomes a bit more difficult. But, we didn't really think about it that way. Until now.

When we're on the move, like we are now, we're pretty much in "vacation mode". We're concentrating on where we're going, who we're meeting and what there is to see. And, we're discovering that at times like this we're giving precious little thought to things like bills, appointments, to-dos or life. Know what we mean?

So, today's epiphany got me thinking. The time we're sitting still is perfect for taking care of household business. When we're moving, not so much. So, we need to do two things. First, we need to schedule at least a month a quarter when we're sitting in one spot with smokin' hot wifi and 3G. That's all we need to take care of business. And, when we get ready to hit the road and be on the move for one, two, three, or six weeks, we need to take care of business before we leave. Because, the cold hard truth is who knows what kind of wifi or cell service we'll have once we hit the road. If we take care of everything before we start moving, we'll cover all of those things that can easily fall through the cracks.

When you're moving every couple of days it can be hard to remember what bills need to be paid when. Research for future trip planning falls to the wayside as you concentrate on all of the wonderful sights to see here and now. By taking care of business while we're sitting still, we have high hopes that we can enjoy these times like this when we're on the move, without worrying about what bill needs to be paid when.

We're looking at the calendar and eagerly planning for those one month blocks every so often when we can concentrate on taking care of business.

It'll make the rest of our travels so much more fun!

The Curse

Short travel days are cursed. This one, anyway.

We had a whopping 80 miles to travel today, from the middle of nowhere to just south of the Mackinac Bridge. We were so looking forward to taking our time, enjoying the drive and arriving at our destination by noon.

We can dream, can't we?

To arrive by noon we needed to leave between 10 and 11 this morning. And, we were ready to do that, basically. But, we had to dump. And, we forgot. Today is Sunday.

Sunday morning at a dump station at a campground with no hookups is some kind of parade. We've watched them plenty of times, and been a float in a parade a time or two. But, like I said, we forgot. So, when we were ready to go this morning we didn't go far. We got in line.

We met some nice people while in line to dump. A lovely family of four has about two weeks left of their year on the road. So, they saved exploring the Upper Peninsula of their home state for last. What an adventure for their two school-age children! They heard our story and were admittedly jealous of our fulltime lifestyle. We just can't imagine being two weeks away from having to go back to life in a sticks and bricks...and work.

With our waste tanks emptied we finally hit the road. But, we didn't go far. Just a few miles down the road our tow setup gave us a warning. Something was up. We pulled over and sussed it out. The left light on the back of the Jeep wasn't cooperating. We struggled with this, that and the other thing in the humidity. Finally, we had contact. We think we might have a pigtail that's about to bite the dust, but who knows. All we know is it was quiet the rest of the trip. Thank God!

As we brushed the northern coast of Lake Michigan the winds were whipping. Anytime you see high surf on a lake, that's windy! Paul did a great job of keeping the moose on the straight and narrow, but it was basically a white knuckle day.

We looked forward to our exit to the Mackinac Bridge, which turned out to be a parking lot. With flashbacks to many a Sunday night return to the Bay Area, we steadied ourselved to deal with the stop and go. (It's been awhile!) With just a couple of cars between us and the toll gate, a passenger in the lane to our left got Paul's attention.

"Sir, your compartment door is open," the helpful passenger warned.

"Thank you" was his reply. "Shit!" was mine.

One of the 20 or so things we had checked out in Forest City was the fit to our bay doors. Supposedly they checked them all out. Interestingly enough, this one, which has never given us a bit of trouble, has been a bit of a pain since we left Forest City. Once we passed through the toll gate, we pulled over and I beat the damn door into submission.

With our doors secure, for the time being, we made our way across the windy span. We took our spot in the truck lane and Paul braced the moose against the steady crosswind. As we passed the mammoth uprights, they blocked the wind momentarily and nearly sent us into the side. We took maybe three or four collective breaths during that wild four-mile ride.

Minutes later, we were safely parked and setup in our tidy pull-thru at the Mackinaw City KOA. We'd only been on the road a couple of hours, but it felt like several days. Between waiting in line, messing with our tow setup and bay doors and fighting fierce winds, we were pretty much toast. Paul pulled the bikes off the back and we rode into town.

That little ride turned out to be the best part of this "short" travel day.

The Pasty

One of the things we love about fulltiming is the chance to taste local and regional cuisine. If it’s recommended by a local, or one of our fellow fulltimers who has passed this way before us, we’ll try it. We’re like “Mikey”. We’ll eat anything!

Laurie and Odel included a recommendation in a recent comment about Brown’s Fish House up the road in Paradise. We stopped there yesterday and enjoyed one kickass whitefish sandwich and some mighty tasty fish and chips. What a treat to enjoy such tasty faire in a place that otherwise we would have passed by. Thanks, guys!

When we crossed the border from Wisconsin into the Upper Peninsula a week or so ago we almost immediately began to see signs for the pasty. Karen, a blogging buddy we unfortunately weren’t able to hook up with while we were in her woodsy part of the world, recommended we stop at The Pasty Oven while we were in Iron Mountain. Some friends we camped with there had pasties served for lunch a couple of days during their Habitat build. Their reactions were mixed. When we stopped by the Iron Mountain Mine for a very interesting and informative tour, we learned about the pasty. This handy meal was served to hard-working miners back in the day. (It’s pronounced PASTy, as in “blast from the past".) With meat, potatoes and other veggies of choice wrapped up in a sturdy crust, this was the perfect easy-to-eat, rib-sticking meal.

We spotted The Pasty Oven while we were in Iron Mountain, but we never managed to stop. When we dropped by the local Wal-Mart the afternoon before we left town, we spotted pasties from the The Pasty Oven in the freezer case. We’ve noticed that Wal-Mart can often be the best spot to pick up local goodies. We picked up two of the frozen rocks of dough and planned to enjoy them down the road.

We decided today was pasty day. After all, our days in the UP are dwindling. And, it seems only fair to enjoy this uniquely Yooper treat while we’re in the UP. We pulled the two frozen bricks out of the freezer and fired up our convection oven. Voltage is poor in this park we’re never coming back to. So, we crossed our fingers that we could get the oven heated up long enough to make dinner and keep our surge protector from tripping. Somehow, we managed. We tossed a salad and put some baby carrots on the plate to improve the otherwise very bland presentation.

Our friend Len warned us about what it takes to enjoy a pasty. He piles his with gravy, ketchup, mustard and cheese. We didn’t have any gravy on board, and didn’t take the extra step to grate some cheese. So, we served the bricks with ketchup and mustard and plenty of pepper (They already have gobs of salt!) and hoped for the best. Our nearly purist baptism to the pasty was surprisingly tasty. Hearty and filing, we can see where this would be a handy lunch for a hungry miner.

Will we be stocking up on these treats before we cross the Mackinaw Bridge south to the Lower Peninsula?

Eh, no.

Downtime

Even in this amazing, wonderful lifestyle, everybody needs a little downtime. We’re soaking up all we can get right here a few miles north of Newberry, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Truth is, we’ve been busy! It’s all “good busy”, of course. We’ve been blessed with lots of play dates with friends and family and beautiful sights to see. And, we love it all!! That said, our calendar has been full since...let’s see...May 1st! No wonder we’re tired!

We were a bit apprehensive about this campground. Our first choice for a chill out spot, right on the shore of Lake Superior, was booked. So were all of the surrounding parks. Seems this is the week everyone from the Lower P heads to the UP for a last blast of Summer. When this campground -- a bit farther from the sights we want to see up here -- had an opening, I grabbed it. Then, I read the reviews. (Yes, that is a bit like closing the barn door after the horse has already run away!) Laurie and Odel gave it a “neutral”. The recent reviews on rvparkreviews.com were mixed, but had a consistent theme: The place has a reputation for having some funky rules. We lowered our expectations and hit the road to Newberry.

Turns out, the place does have some weird rules. But, it’s quiet and peaceful. Well, at least we thought so. This morning, as we were enjoying some serious downtime, there was a knock at our door. Paul went to the door and was greeted by three little neighbor kids. They wanted to tell us one of our cats was looking at them. (Don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but apparently it’s knock-worthy.) They were also looking for somebody to ride bikes with them. Paul gave them a “maybe later” and came back in. Fifteen minutes passed. Apparently, that’s “later” to a kid. They knocked again.

“Are you ready?” asked the urchin at the bottom of our steps. Paul explained that he was busy and couldn’t play right now. They offered to help him complete his chores. He thanked them for their offer to help, but turned them down and sent them off. Over the next hour they stopped by several times. Finally, Paul asked them not to knock on our door anymore. These insistent playmates have obviously not yet mastered the fine art of downtime.

We, on the other hand, are seriously working on it!

Wirelessless

During a brief moment while I was connected to the internet this morning I read the latest rumor about Verizon coming to IPhone.

Can’t happen soon enough.

We hate AT&T. I know, hate is a strong word. But, that pretty much sums up our feelings for our wireless provider. With AT&T, we are wirelessless much of the time.

AT&T’s 3G network is a joke. We last connected to it in Idaho Falls. For the last two months we’ve been thrilled to catch The Edge, the slower than snot network. No, it’s not fast. And, it might be better than nothing. The jury is still out on that.

When we’re on “the edge”, our IPhones will usually connect. Our AT&T air card, though, is a crap shoot. And, when the air card is out the two of us use our IPhones like the little computers they are, surfing as fast as our thumbs will allow.

Such was the case last month in Forest City. With 1200 Winnies on the grounds, the rally wifi was pushed beyond its limits. And, while at Camp Winnebago, Paul and I sat outside the front door to the service center sharing the company wifi with a woman nearby who launched a video stream that disconnected Paul...while he was paying bills. She, of course, was oblivious to the whole thing. Some people will never learn that public wifi is a shared resource. But, I digress.

Needless to say, we relied on the IPhones as our primary source of data during our stay in Winnie City. While the air card has a limit, the IPhones can suck up all the data we want. With the little menu bar at the top of the screen reading three or four bars, the AT&T logo and the E for edge, we were surfing on a slow boat to Wireless Land.

Toward the end of our stay, I received an email from AT&T informing me that I had used four times the allotted “off network” data usage in a month.

Say what?

Off network? No way! I see the AT&T logo and the E! And, what allotment? Our plan has unlimited data usage!

I placed a call to see what was up.

Turns out that AT&T customers are allowed something like 24mb of off-network data usage per month. Of course, AT&T customers have no way of knowing when they are off-network because AT&T displays its network logo on screen even when a customer is off network. This helps customers believe the crap that AT&T spews out about having a network that covers 98% of all Americans. Uh huh.

Now that I have crossed the unknown 24mb line, AT&T has changed my phone and it now shows when I’m off network. I’m here to tell you, in these parts, that’s most of the time!

Yep. I’ve had my hand slapped by AT&T. (Ouch!) If I do it again, they say they’ll “restrict” my account.

We’re counting down the days until our contract expires on the air card. That’ll be a quick and easy switch to Verizon. But, you see, we love our IPhones. With eight months to go before our contract expires on those, we’re hoping there’s something to these Verizon-IPhone rumors.

Until then, we’ll remain wirelessless.

General Direction

Have I mentioned this before? I love Google Maps! It turns trip planning into a game for me. I can easily spend hours routing us from one part of the country to the other. It's lots of fun.

Really!

Our travel plans for this fall have been a bit cryptic. We have a commitment here and another there, and a couple of things we'd like to do along the way. Then, of course, we have to be back in Forest City before we head to Kansas City for a month and then south to Texas. Our wifi was smokin' today, so I decided to take a stab at creating a framework for the next three months.

Framework is the operative word. This isn't a plan. I'm not married to it. We can change it in the blink of an eye and I'm AOK with that. It's a plan in the very loosest sense. Like I said, it's a game for me. And, yes, I am easily entertained.

I snapped this screen shot of our oh-so-tentative route, which will take us across the UP of Michigan with a planned stop at Mackinaw Island, where we once had hopes of honeymooning nearly 25 years ago but our new house construction got in the way. Then, we're hoping to meet up with Winnie friends in Michigan's "thumb" and fellow fulltimers somewhere north of Ann Arbor. We'll scoot into Ontario to make our way to Niagara Falls. Then, we're planning to roam around Pennsylvania for a few weeks and visit my sister, the only family member we've yet to see on our fulltiming journey. Our next date is at Camp Freightliner in Gaffney, SC, where we're looking forward to getting our first billion-quart oil change and radiator cleaning, then spending a couple of days really getting to know our chassis. Then, we'll finally head to the Smokey Mountains. Our plans to go there last fall were dashed when we detoured to buy a new coach. We'll join a gathering of RVing friends in the hills of Tennessee and then make a mad dash to Forest City.

As it stands, we'll cover nearly 4,000 miles in three months.

Yep. We'll be moving. But, we'll spend the next three months after these three in two spots. We'll slow down then. For now, we're excited to be on the move.

Back to our framework. Moments after I grabbed this screenshot, I visited the blog of fellow fulltimers Laurie and Odel, who are cruising through the UP. It sounds like they really enjoyed a particularly picturesque spot along the shores of Lake Superior. So, I've already adjusted our route.

See! It's not really a plan. It's a general direction! If it looks like we're headed your way, or a place where you'll be, please let us know. We look forward to meeting up.

Happy trails!

Correction

We took a closer look at our GVW and did the math one more time. Actually, we're 1,500 pounds under the maximum. (We thought 3,000 sounded like a lot!) Even when you cut the margin in half, it's still healthy. So, we're happy.

Actually, we're getting a bit lighter every day. We attended an "Organize Your RV" seminar in Forest City and we've been inspired ever since. Even though we've been living on the road for more than a year, we aren't exactly the most organized fulltimers out there. Our first moose was actually much more neat and tidy. Then, we moved into this big beast. We had so much more space we just spread everything out. And, so it remains.

We turned inspiration into action today. Instead of venturing out in Wisconsin Dells, we made a trip to Walmart and Home Depot. We picked up a couple of handy storage items and went to work on reorganizing our front cabinets and those in the back half of our newly re-roofed slide. Besides shuffling things from here to there, we purged a bunch. Paul just took out a hefty trash bag that he estimates lightened our load by 15 pounds.

So, make that 1,515 pounds to spare! More to come, soon.

Weighed

We're celebrating the end of a long, hot, humid, three-state day. A very late start to our 250-mile travel day made for a late arrival in the Wisconsin Dells area. After three weeks of near boondocking, we were looking forward to kicking back in a cozy spot with 50-amp full hookups, cable and smokin' hot wifi. When we checked in late this 90-degree-plus afternoon, our campground was suffering from a brown out. The full hookups were dark, so we opted for water and electric. There's no cable here and we're parked under a tree. With satellite out of the picture, we're settling for a handful of channels over the air that look pretty darn good with our new "jack" antenna. And, wifi is far from smokin, so we're relying on our barely connected air card.

It's good to be back in civilization, or close to it.

On our way out of Thompson late this morning, we took care of a nagging to do. We stopped by the local grain elevator and put our moose on the scales. The task took just a moment or two, but provided us with some critical information. Knowing how much our coach weighs will help us keep the tires properly inflated, maintain a balanced load and give us some welcome peace of mind. After the moose had passed over the scales we stepped inside to get the essential numbers and the good news.

We have 3,000 pounds to spare!

We weren't able to get readings for each wheel, but our load was properly distributed between the front and rear axle. We'll look for a chance to get a more detailed reading down the road. But, for now, we're pleased to know we're rolling down the road with one lean, mean moose.

Yee haw!

Leaving Forest City

FINALLY!

After nearly three weeks, we are outta here! We're heading back to see our friends in Thompson. But, this time, we're bringing our moose. Tomorrow, we'll be on our way to Wisconsin, God willing.

Of course, we'll be back in Forest City in October to finish the job.

We can't wait.

Back at Home

We are no longer homeless! Yippee!

The call came from Winnebago Friday morning. The moose would be good to go later that afternoon. Just about everything on our list was taken care of. The big exception is our ceiling panel that needs to be replaced. That will require another three to five night stay here in Forest City, without our coach, of course. Since that is a cosmetic procedure, we decided to make a return trip for that in late October. Hopefully, it will be much cooler!

Back at the factory that afternoon, we did a walk through with our service tech and admired his fine work. We have just a couple of things to take care of first thing Monday morning, so we decided to partake of a weekend of free camping here at Camp Winnebago. It took just a few minutes to back into our spot and unload the Jeep.

We were soooooo happy to be home again. After three nights away from our moose we were surprised how much we missed it. (And, by the way they acted, the cats did, too!) This little house on wheels has definitely become our home. No doubt about it. We settled in for a relaxing night of cocktails, steak dinner and mindless television. Way before the hour we usually call bedtime, we were sawing some serious z’s in the comfort of our own bed.

Yes, it’s good to be home again.