A BRAND NEW BIRD CAM FOR AL:))

VIEW FROM ATOP OUR MOTOR HOME THIS MORNING (CANON SX210IS)

It is always a positive and encouraging sign when I see Kelly carrying things out to the Motor Home.   Kind of puts that official, 'yes we're going,’ stamp of approval on the trip.

Short drive in the Jeep this morning and Motorcycle this afternoon.  A fair number of bikes on the road today so I managed to get myself in a half dozen big HOWDY DOODY waves.  Three trips around the forest trail with the Pheebs today too.

Thank you ‘Dakota Blue’ for climbing aboard our Blog Follower’s list.  Hopefully things will get a little more interesting around here when we hit the road in 3 weeks.

<<< NEW BIRD CAM  (NIKON D90)

I was the surprised recipient of a brand new large format Bird Cam this afternoon.  And, it came all the way up from the States.  In fact, it came from Cracker Barrel.  Kelly was working today at DEER PARK LODGE when Ron and Jan Krauter dropped in on their way to Goderich with something for AL.  Ron is the personable fellow who owns FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE where we traded in our truck and fifth wheel for a Motor Home back in the Spring of 07.  Ron knew of my interest in photography and must have seen a couple of my bird photos so when he spied this Bird Cam at a Cracker Barrel awhile back, he picked it up.  A big thanks Ron and yep, I’ll have that Bird Cam in action right quick.  And, for anyone in our area thinking of buying a Motor Home, be sure to give Ron a call.  We’re sure glad we did.  By the way, that Bird Cam is actually a rather cleverly constructed…………….birdhouse

It was the title, '10 Things I Wished I Had Known Before Fulltime RVing' that caught my attention this morning.  I like the RVing lifestyle of  WHEELING IT.  We can sure identify with their way of doing things.  I like the content of their blog and writing style.  Informative and helpful to other RV'ers.  And, they understand and appreciate the peacefulness of nature in their RV travels.

  

COME ON PHEEBS, YOU HAVE TO SHARE THE NEW TOY WITH THE MOTORMOUSE TOO (CANON A720IS)

GROANER’S CORNER:  And did you know that by the time you find greener pastures, you probably won't be able to climb over the fence anyway.

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-Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

-Until one has loved an Animal, their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR PICASA PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL

BIG GUSTING WINDS MESS UP MY VARATHANE PROJECT!!

Our early morning gentle breeze blew itself up into 50 & 60 mph wind gusts by early afternoon & our tall pine trees were whipping around like blades of grass.  That is always a concern when you live in a pine forest.  Pines are not strong trees so we have to keep an eye out on windy days. 

I had no sooner put a second coat of Varathane on my oak board earlier today when a big wind gust blew up a batch of driveway dust & dirt peppering it right into my freshly Varathane coated board.  Our new computer shelf will now have a slightly textured look!!

KELLY'S LOADING UP THE RIG

Yesterday & this morning again Kelly was on the phone with the HWH leveler folks over in Moscow, Iowa.  They suggested we take the floor plate off where the joy stick controls are located & check out a few things.  Kelly got the plate off but we were unsuccessful in determining anything.  Double checked the fuse again & it looks fine....just no power to the box!!  Ron, from FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE won’t be home until Thursday so we’ll see if he has any suggestions for us.  Ever since we've had that coach I have noticed what I consider to be design flaw.  The emergency brake release handle is way too close to the emergency brake pedal & when you lift your foot to press down on the emergency brake your boot catches the brake release handle & bends it right down because you think your foot is on the brake pedal.  I have probably made that mistake half a dozen times so far & maybe something has gone amiss there.  The emergency brake has to be on to operate the levelers.  Anyway, we’ll wait to see if Ron has any suggestions for us.

The rest of the day was spent transplanting some Hostas, raking leaves & just general puttering with things in & around the rig.  We are going through our check lists now but it will be next week before we really get active checking things off.  Somebody wondered when we will be rolling out & it will be a week from Saturday on November 6th. (weather permitting)  We like to leave on a Saturday because that gets us north of Indianapolis for an overnight stay at a Wal-Mart near Angola.   By doing this we can get the only large city of our trip behind us first thing on a quiet Sunday morning. 

 

Because I am generally a blogger who wears his thoughts & feelings on his sleeve, those same thoughts often end up right here in my posts.  Sometimes it’s humor, sometimes an opinion or two, sometimes a bit of anger, a bit of sadness, a bit of melancholy & sometimes a bit of silly frivolity.  Yesterday was one of those gloomy days so I went along with the mood of the day & expressed my feelings about some traveling concerns, likes, dislikes, what if’s & some why not’s.  Just some honest off the cuff feelings, but of course that was seen by one reader as, ‘feeling sorry for myself.’   Some days, no matter what a person writes about, their efforts are just going to be misinterpreted by someone & that’s just the way it is.  And, if you blog a little closer to the edge of things like I & a few others sometimes do, misunderstandings, accusations & criticisms are going to happen.   Sometimes we just have to step back & think things through either before publishing a post or comment or after reading a post or comment.  Sometimes thoughts are understood & sometimes they are not.  I have been at both ends of this 'thoughts' process & none of us are immune from the mistakes factor.  

AFTER THE RAIN

Thursday will be a working day for me & I am looking forward to that.  Nice to have somewhere to go, something to do & a nice rural environment to do it all in.   Hopefully I can make enough money tomorrow to buy myself an extra jar of peanut butter to take south with us.  Hard to find good natural peanut butter when we are traveling.  I can eat the more commercial stuff with all the fillers in it if I have to but I much prefer, ‘real peanut butter.’

DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT IT'S IN OUR FLOWERBED

A fellow RV friend we know wrote a fine tribute to the their beloved dog Molly who passed away a few days ago.  We first met fellow Canadians, Mike, Maureen & Molly (MnMnM) in Cannonville Utah back in November of 2008 & we remember Molly well.  A TRIBUTE TO MOLLY

GROANER’S CORNER:((   A man is stopped by the police at midnight and asked where he’s going.  “I’m on the way to listen to a lecture about the effects of alcohol and drug abuse on the human body.”  The policeman asks, “Really? And who’s going to give a lecture at this time of night?”  “My wife”, comes the reply.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

FIRST JEEP HILL CLIMB & FIRST DRIVE WITH THE RIG & WRANGLER (Jeep Wrangler that is)

FIRST TEST RUN WITH THE JEEP HOOKED ON TODAY

70F at 8 a.m. at this time of year is rather unusual for our area but it was nice to have the warmer air except of course for the accompanying humidity.  Not as bad as the summer time but still a bit on the energy draining side.

IT'S THE SANDY SHORE THAT MAKES THIS BLUE/GREEN WATER A BROWN COLOR

Spent an hour at Deer Park Lodge this morning doing nasty battle with a couple dozen huge out of control wild grapevine plants that have grown 20 & 30 feet into the air completely covering dozens of cedar trees.  The trees are on a steep slope with a lot of underbrush & needless to say, by the time I got home I was ready for a much needed power nap in my recliner.

   

DEER PARK'S WEBCAM THAT GIVES YOU THIS BEACH VIEW...DPL BEACH CAM (Remember it must be during daylight hours here in southwestern Ontario, Canada)

Deer Park Lodge sits atop a cliff overlooking Lake Huron.  It's probably close to a hundred foot drop to the wide sandy beach below with a fairly steep incline.  Four wheel drive vehicles are able to traverse the slope so I figured it would be good experience for the Jeep & I to take a couple runs up & down the hill & get to know each other better.  All went well as I familiarized myself with things like 4 wheel drive high & 4 wheel drive low.  Managed to figure out my gears & transfer case shiftings alright & the sure footed little Mountain Goat Jeep took me up & down that hill with no problem at all.  At one point I contemplated driving out onto the soft sandy beach but figured I had better not push my luck until I have more experience under my belt & feel comfortable with the Jeep's workings & the Jeep feels more comfortable with the driver's workings:))

 

ALRIGHTY ALREADY, IT'S TIME TO LEARN A LITTLE HILL CLIMBING 101

MADE IT DOWN TO THE BEACH

  

OK, WHATEVER GOES DOWN MUST COME UP

YA, YA, I KNOW IT'S JUST A BABY HILL, BUT WE ALL GOTTA START SOMEWHERE:))   

Ron from FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE phoned about noon saying our Motor Home was done so Kelly & I headed off for Grand Bend to pick it up.  Ron had some good & bad news for us.  New solenoid switch works fine but the rear passenger side leveler will not retract under it's own steam.  We had that same problem 2 years ago when it stuck down at Oliver Lee State Park in Alamogordo New Mexico.  Had to dig a hole under the leveler & use a jack to jack it back up.  Ron recommends we stop at the HWH Hydraulic Leveler Company factory on our way south this year & let them have a look at the problem so that is what we plan to do.  Ron had made phone calls to HWH to troubleshoot the problem & it was determined it should go to the factory. 

I can't begin to say enough about Ron Krauter.  We liked him from the day we met him 4 years ago when we bought the Motor Home.  Ron is one of those guys who goes waaaaaay out of his way in customer satisfaction.  He replaced the leveler solenoid switch, (at cost) changed the oil & filter in the generator & re-installed an electrical plug we had carelessly pulled out.   Those were the original things we needed done to the coach.  But Ron did much more than that because it's just his nature.  He greased our sliding step plus all levelers, power washed the whole coach plus the moldy underside of the TV antennae which I had missed.  He also threw in a couple sliding step mats & armoraled all the tires.  Painted the tailpipes plus the generator tail pipe & gave the generator a cleaning.  Also added a clamp to the generator muffler.  Checked the underside of the coach plus gave us reams of advice on tires, brakes, recalls, etc.  Not to mention all the phone calls he made for us.  And I know I have missed things.  Like I said.....just can't say enough good about this guy.  But, then to top it all off........Ron gave us a 'HUGE' break on the bill.  In this world of rip-offs, over pricing, scams, corruption & greed, what a treat it is to meet a rare individual not only with personality plus but a true sense of fairness, common decency & a guy who treats you like his best friend.  Thanks big guy, very much appreciated by the Bayfield Bunch:))

SUMMER AT DEER PARK LODGE'S BEACH IS OVER FOR ANOTHER SEASON

First thing I did when I got home with the rig was to hitch up the Jeep.  I had read the Jeep's manual a few days ago on towing procedure's & wrote myself out a checklist.  Having a 4 wheel drive vehicle with transfer case was not something I was familiar with so I had to get everything right including the position of the ignition key for traveling.  The hitch-up went well & all the lights checked out but I did not move the Motor Home with the car on back.  No sireeeee!!  I know myself better than to assume everything was hooked up correctly.  After supper Kelly climbed into the Jeep with instructions to keep hands & feet off everything.  Her job was to just sit there & listen for anything unusual or if the Jeep jerked or lunged she was to hit the horn immediately.  I climbed into the rig, opened my side window, turned on the rear view camera, pulled it into gear & slowly inched the Motor Home forward. 

No panicked horn blowing so I eased it up to 5 MPH & still no horn blowing.  Was it possible I got every thing right?  Nawwwww!!  10 MPH & a corner!!  Around the right hand turn we went & all was still quiet behind the Motor Home.  Stop sign & another right turn put us onto the paved road outside our Park.  20-30-40 MPH & still no horn honking...... or screaming!!  A couple miles from the Park I pulled over & slipped back to the Jeep to see a beaming smiley face sitting prettily behind the steering wheel.  Our test drive was a big success & the Jeep towed like a charm.  Kelly said it was a bit unnerving being that close behind a moving vehicle without jamming on the brakes.  A few minutes later we were back home & I unhitched the Jeep.  Another RV mission successfully checked off our list:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  GAMES FOR WHEN WE ARE OLDER

1. Sag, you're It.
2. Hide and go pee.
3. 20 questions shouted into your good ear.
4. Kick the bucket
5. Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over.
6. Musical recliners.
7. Simon says something incoherent.
8. Pin the Toupee on the bald guy.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

TOOK THE MOTOR HOME TO GRAND BEND & LATER JEEPED OURSELVES TO MITCHELL

STORM TOSSED WATERS LASH BAYFIELD'S BEACH

Bit of an earlier start to the morning & I really had my fingers crossed it wasn’t going to rain.  Had to have the Motor Home in Grand Bend & after I just spent time cleaning it I didn’t want to have to take it out on wet dirty roads.  The weather held together as Kelly & I pulled into Ron’s FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE driveway shortly after 9.  Ron was his usual friendly energizer bunny self & you wouldn’t have known he had just flown to Florida & back yesterday arriving home late last night.  Flew into the Tampa airport, rented a car & went to have a look at a potential Motor Home purchase.  Didn’t like what he saw so it was back to the Airport & back home again.  All in a day's work for Ron.

RON KRAUTER.....FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE

Our hydraulic levelers on the coach haven’t worked for over a year now & it took Ron all of about 2 minutes to figure out the problem.  Solenoid switch!!  Apparently it’s a common thing & especially if the levelers are not used a lot.  He explained to me what happens inside the switch so in the future I will have to remember to frequently give those levelers an up & down run.  Also decided to have him service our Onan generator as well with an oil change & filter plus a main kitchen electrical receptacle was on the fritz.  Of course Kelly & I in our absentmindedness never thought to bring a second vehicle with us & Ron was going to need the coach for the day.  Rather than have Kelly & I sit around in his driveway all day playing lawn darts & mooching food he gave us his big red shiny truck to head on back to Bayfield.  Mighty nice of him but considering the lawn dart alternative, he knew what he had to do!!

RON'S BIG SHINY RED TRUCK 

Soon as we got home I fired up the Jeep & we headed off to Mitchell to visit my Uncle Harry.  Mitchell is about a half hour drive east of us.  Harry’s doing good & we took him outside for a spin in his new wheel chair.  It was a warm Autumn day with a lively breeze & I could tell he was so happy to be outside & feel the sun on his face & the wind blowing through his hair.  Well, not too much hair but what little there was blew about in the breeze.

 

We were home by 2 & Kelly was back on the job over at Deerpark.  Hauled the garden hose out & watered the flowers & shrubs I had moved yesterday.  As soon as we get the rig back home I hope we get a good soaking rain.  Our Park’s water here is so chlorinated I almost hate to water anything because I don’t figure it’s doing the plants much good anyways.  Luckily we have a big rain barrel so I scoop water from that for transplanting.

GRAND BEND'S BEACH

Someone sent in a website addy this morning for those sun screen visors we have in our Motor Home but do you think I can find those folks name now!!  I did save the addy which is QUICK SHADES 

         

YOU CAN EASILY SEE THE HUGE ADVANTAGE OF THESE SCREENS

The 5 Season's Park where we live near Bayfield is like no other.  Basically we live in a Pine Forest with lots of room between neighbors.  Almost like mini forests between lots.  This area was originally planted a long time ago with row upon row of pine trees.  Property ownerships changed & eventually a Park community was established here.  Those long ago planted trees are now at their maturity & many of them have to come down simply for property & safety sake.   We may return in the Spring to a slightly different looking Park.

WE HAVE MANY PINE TREES ON OUR STREET (so far)

Late note.......Solenoid switch won't be in for the Motor Home until Wednesday but all other work on the coach is done.  Kelly & I will leave here at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday morning for London Ontario with both the Santa Fe & Jeep to do the hitch switch.  Could be a long day & maybe I better take my hammer in case they need my expert help.............:))

I THINK RON, OUR PARK'S MAINTENANCE MAN HAD A BIT OF SLANT ON THIS MORNING

     

GROANER'S CORNER:((  If you look in the mirror & see a beer belly, bald head, big red nose, varicose veins & a complexion like leather.....look on the bright side.  At least your eyesight is OK:))

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

AN EMAIL & PHOTOS FROM A LOUISIANA RV COUPLE

A few blogs ago I posted about the mobility van I drive part time & included some pics of how the ramp system worked.  A couple days ago I received an email from an RV couple in southwest Louisiana who read that post.  I thought their email & pics would be of interest to other RV'ers & especially folks in similar situations.  I emailed Vickie & Ronnie back to ask permission to use their email & photos in an upcoming blog post.  This is that post & this is their email:))

Hi Al & Kelly.........I enjoy reading your blog and passing the link on to others.  It was interesting to see you describe how your work van lift works. So many people have no idea what it is like.  We, however have some experience in a similar lift we had installed in our Keystone Raptor Toy Hauler.  Ronnie has been in a wheelchair since 1988 as a result of a spinal cord injury. We live in SW Louisiana and travel when we can.  We just returned from a two week trip thru Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas.  Anyway, I thought you might like to see our rig setup. 

 

The first three photos were taken during the installation of the lift.  We didn't watch while they cut a huge hole in the side of our trailer.

             

Second two is Ronnie on the lift the first time. I know he's facing the wrong way, but he prefers to face the way he's headed.

 

Last pic is where we're enjoying our time, camping & fishing by a river.  We're proud of our ramp refitted Keystone Raptor and it get lots of stares when we pull into a campground.  Ronnie gets out of the truck on his seat lift and into his wheelchair, then people watch to see how he's gonna get up in that big trailer.  We just smile and wave!  The company that installed the lift in our 2009 Keystone Raptor Toy Hauler, got all the specs/blueprints from Keystone, because it is a Toy Hauler with a reinforced garage area in the back, & very little additional reinforcement was necessary. Before we had the lift installed we used an ATV winch mounted to the floor and would winch him in his chair up and down the back ramp door, it was sometimes very steep and dangerous when raining, now we have the perfect set up......

Last I read, MIKE & PAT were having themselves quite a time over there in Custer South Dakota with a troublesome water well dilemma.  Looked like some possible underground problems after arriving at their summer residence recently.  Well, Mike thought, we'll just use our 5th wheel water resources for the time being until we get the well situation straightened out.  "Oh Oh".......more trouble!!  Anybody got an extra few jugs of water to spare...............

Our friend Ron from FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE in Grand Bend Ontario has offered to put my motorcycle on his website if I decide for sure to sell it.  The hard words there are, 'decide for sure.'  The bike still had a lot of fine pine pollen on it from a couple weeks ago so if the bike is going to be sold I wanted to get it cleaned up.  Can't sell a bike with pine pollen all over it ya know!!  Slipped up to the Goderich car wash this morning & gave the bike a good washing & a coat of spray wax.  They have a clear water rinse there so no water or chemical spots are left on anything either.  When I backed it out of the bay all sparkling & shiny I thought to myself, "Geeeezzzzz, I can't sell this bike!!"  Drove over to Tim Horton's for a coffee & sat there for a bit thinking what I should do.  At this age & stage of the game if I sell the bike I'm not likely to ever have another one.  At least not as nice as this one.  It's a Honda Shadow Aero 1100 & it's a quality bike.  So, here I am sitting on the proverbial fence again.  What to do, what to do:((  I'm beginning to lean towards the idea of keeping the bike now in case we do not find a Jeep Wrangler.  Jeep decision first, motorcycle decision second.....ya, that's it.  Ok, that's my plan as of right now.  Well, until at least supper time anyway:))

DECISIONS, DECISIONS:((

Thanks to everyone for your concerns & comments about our little owl yesterday.  But, there may be a calming spiritual side to the story.  Our Colorado RV friend Rene from LIVE-WORK-DREAM left a comment on Kelly's Facebook this morning which read...."Ooooh, how sad. You guys are great for trying to save her. But you know what? We saw an owl today for the first time on our property. Maybe it was your owl's spirit being set free? Nice to imagine."

 GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

A man walked out to the street and caught a taxi just going by.   He got into the taxi, and the cabbie said, "Perfect timing.   You're just like "Brian!
Passenger:
"Who?"
Cabbie:
"Brian Sullivan.  He's a guy who did everything right all the time.  Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happen like that to Brian Sullivan, every single time."
Passenger:
"There are always a few clouds over everybody."
Cabbie:
"Not Brian Sullivan.   He was a terrific athlete.   He could have won the Grand Slam at tennis.   He could golf with the pros.   He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano.  He was an amazing guy."
Passenger:
"Sounds like he was something really special."
Cabbie:
"There's more.   He had a memory like a computer.   He remembered everybody's birthday.   He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with.   He could fix anything.   Not like me.   I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out.   But Brian Sullivan, he could do everything right."
Passenger:
"Wow. Some guy then."
Cabbie:
"He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams.   Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Brian, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good.   He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too.   He was the perfect man!   He never made a mistake.   No one could ever measure up to Brian Sullivan."
Passenger:
"An amazing fellow.   How did you meet him?"
Cabbie:
"Well, I never actually met Brian.   He died.   I'm married to his bloody widow!!!!"

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.