AT LAST!!!! A TENTATIVE NEW DEPARTURE DATE:)))))))))

Kelly's daughter Sarah phoned from Vancouver today saying she will be flying with the twins to Toronto late this Friday afternoon.  Kelly’s youngest daughter Rebecca will be flying along as well and helping Sarah with her two energized non stop little Rag-a-Muffins.   From the Airport they will then travel to Cambridge where Kelly's other daughter and Sarah’s twin sister Sabra lives.  Kelly’s two sons Ben and Jason live in Cambridge as well.  Kelly plans to head over there Saturday and spend a couple days with the Munch Bunch.  I call them the Munch Bunch because 3 of Kelly kids once shared a house on Munch Avenue in Cambridge.  That's where our little Motormouse used to live before coming to Bayfield for Summer Holidays about 8 years ago.......and the little Mouse is still here:))

 
I STILL HAVE A FEW FROGS LEFT IN OUR PINE NEEDLE LADEN POND TO CATCH AND TRANSPORT TO THE BIGGER POND ACROSS THE ROAD
Sooooooooo, it is now looking like we just might have the big wheels rolling, at the very earliest, on Saturday November 5th or at the latest, Saturday November 12th.  Kelly would prefer to leave later in the week after the 12th but I don't like the idea of having to do either a Chicago or Indianapolis morning rush hour on a week day, depending on the route we take.  But, at least this long log jam of indecision has finally been broken and travel plans are once again moving forward.  It has been nearly a month since finding out and having to accept the fact we would not be out of here on our original target date of October 15th.  These past 3 to 4 weeks of not knowing when we were ever going to be able to leave have been totally gruelling.   Probably wouldn't mean much to most folks but when one is afflicted with this 'Hitch-Itch Traveling Fever' as bad as I am, it is absolutely grinding to just sit around every day waiting, waiting, waiting!!

I'm wondering if anyone is having problems accessing our Bayfield Bunch blog site.  Received an email a couple weeks ago from a reader saying he could not get onto our site.  Tuesday, a neighbour phoned from Florida saying she could not get the Bayfield Bunch site to load and today I just had another email from reader Lakeport AL saying he could not upload our site either.  If there is a problem, I have no idea what it could be or where to even start looking for a solution:((
 
ALWAYS NICE TO SEE BLUE JAYS AT OUR FEEDER 
Hard to find a person more devoted to the love, care and preservation of animals than Debra over at FIND AN OUTLET.   Having just lost one of her beloved pack members, Jessa in September she has just rescued her newest member, Jada.  Much of Debra's life center's around helping mistreated and poorly cared for animals in her area and my hat is off to her and anyone like her willing to take the time and make the sacrifices to help those poor unfortunate animals that are so inhumanely treated by so many humans.  Debra has repeatedly put her own safety in jeopardy in order to retrieve neglected animals from bad situations.
 
Nice feeling inside to know we will soon be on the road.  I will now re-haul out my Road Atlas’s and begin checking internet weather reports for all points west over the next couple weeks.  So great to be back in the trip planning mode again……..10-4:))

                                                                     HEY, WHO’S DAT SLEEPING ON DAD’S CHAIR >>>
GROANER’S CORNER:((  Two Irish guys are fishing. The first guy reels in his line and sees that he's snagged an old bottle. As he's taking it off the hook, a genie pops out and promises to grant him one wish. "Turn the lake into beer," he says. The genie goes "Poof!" and the lake turns into beer. He says to the other guy, "So what do you think?" The other guy says, "You jerk. Now we've got to pee in the boat."
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-Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
-Until one has loved an Animal, their  soul remains un-awakened.
BAYFIELD BUNCH PHOTO ALBUMS https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295
The only thing better than right now  will someday be the memories of
right  now...AL.

AT MENTION OF THE WORD RV……’BLANK STARES’

TONIGHT’S PHOTOS ARE FROM A WALK IN THE FOREST LATE THIS AFTERNOON   (NIKON D40 WITH A 70-300mm LENS ON BOARD)
We have a steel roof on our place so whenever a hard rain hits us there is generally quite a clatter.  Our clatter for the day began at 4:43 a.m. this morning but that's OK, I was up anyway.  And, because this is October 24th and not December 24th I know that clatter on our rooftop was not the wee hooves of 9 tiny reindeer.  Remember, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid , Donder, Blitzen, and Rudolph.....Ohhhh that Rudolph:))

Ever notice sometimes during certain conversations you may get blank stares.  Sometimes happens when talking to a casual stranger, somebody you just met or maybe an old friend you haven't seen for awhile.  We here in RV Land tend to take our RV lifestyle for granted.  We are all quite familiar with every day words such as RV (Recreational Vehicle), Full Timing, Diesel Pusher, Toad, Fiver, Rig, Slides, Boon Docking, Black Tank, Snow Birding, Brake Buddy, Hitch Pin, Hitch Itch, etc.  These same words however can bring a completely blank stare when talking to someone who is not of, nor is aware of the RVing world.  As strange as that may seem to us, we still have to realize and accept the fact we are in the minority of understandable and socially acceptable lifestyles.  I'm sure all of us at one time or another have found themselves on the defensive end of a conversation trying to explain the RVing lifestyle concept to someone who just doesn't get it.  I have read blogs and talked to folks, who when putting their RV dream plans together told absolutely no one about their intentions.  No friends, no business associates and in some cases, not even family.  I'm sure there are Full Timers on the road who's casual friend's have no idea where they are or where they have disappeared to.  Might even be some family members left wondering too.
   
ROCKET DOG  ON THE MOVE
One of the quickest ways to attract criticism in our society is in daring to be different.  Society tends to set a normal style of life…….as for example, working 9 to 5, couple kids in school with a nice house on a nice street in a nice town.  And a nice car in the driveway of course.  Deviate too far from this and eyebrows begin to get nervous.  Whispers can be heard.  To the majority of the norm it is totally inconceivable that someone would sell their precious car and house along with all their worldly possessions to go live in a steel and fibreglass box on wheels.   No roots, no social club, no steadfast daily routines, no same-same friends, no seeing the Grands 3 times a week or eating at your favourite restaurant 4 times a month or being in that same church pew every Sunday morning year after year after year.   How is it possible to live without the daily normalcy of routine.  How can people exist without all their 'stuff' clustered around them.

I can't remember when it was I first became aware of and interested in the RV world but it was a very long time ago.  I have always had that wanderlust feeling right from early childhood but it was probably in my first days of tent camping that my mind began to formulate the understanding and feasibility of a different kind of realistic lifestyle.  The word 'Gypsy' still did not have a good reputation back when I was a kid so one had to be careful when expressing any kind of interest in living a life other than the accepted norm.  A kid sure didn't want to be associated with those wild Gypsies after all.     Luckily, along with a lot of other old wives tales and myths, the stigma attached to the word Gypsy has long ago gone the way of the Dinosaur.  Well, at least in my sometimes topsy turvey little world it has.   
How fortunate I consider myself to be since making the leap into the Nomadic lifestyle even if it is only half a year at a time.   Our first rig back in the late 90's was a 17' Class C Dodge Centurion and from the time we headed that little RV down the road until now we have never looked back.  Although not Full Timers we do manage to spend 5 or 6 months a year as Snow Birds traveling and living in our Motor Home in America's great Southwest.  Our alternating lifestyles have brought us a far greater understanding of not only our surroundings, but ourselves as well.  Personally, I much prefer our life on the road as opposed to our sitting at home life but that's just the way it has to be right now.  My mind spends time on this problem each and every day trying to figure out a reasonable solution and agreeable compromise on how to better tip the balance in favour of spending less time at home and more time on the open road enjoying all the benefits the RV lifestyle has to offer.  A lifestyle outside the box, a lifestyle outside society's 'norm' and a lifestyle like no other………….10-4:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( There was a man who had worked all of his life and had saved all of his money. He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything, and just before he died, he said to his wife, "Now listen, when I die, I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I wanna take my money to the afterlife."
So he got his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him.
Well, one day he died. He was stretched out in the casket, the wife was sitting there in black next to her closest friend. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said "Wait just a minute!" she had a shoe box with her, she came over with the box and placed it in the casket.
Then the undertakers locked the casket down and rolled it away.
Her friend said, "I hope you weren't crazy enough to put all that money in the casket."
She said, "Yes, I promised. I'm a good Christian, I can't lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him."
"You mean to tell me you put every cent of his money in the casket with him?"
"I sure did, " said the wife. "I got it all together, put it into my account and I wrote him a check."
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-Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
-Until one has loved an Animal, their  soul remains un-awakened.
BAYFIELD BUNCH PHOTO ALBUMS
The only thing better than right now  will someday be the memories of
right  now...AL.

SO WHAT THE HECK IS.....HITCH ITCH!!

THE HITCH AND THE ITCH......SIDE BY EACH!!

Since one of my blogs last week I've had a few questions about......Hitch Itch!! For non RV (recreational vehicle) folks the term Hitch-Itch may sound rather medically serious. Let me first tell you that it is not something you need a shot of penicillin for nor is it an actual physical itch. That itchy hitch thing is all in the mind. The hitch part refers to the trailer hitch mounted on the back of a vehicle for towing various types & sizes of camping trailers. Motorhomes are equiped with a hitch for towing a car or truck commonly referred to as a toad. (towed) The itch part of the hitch originates in the brain but does not affect all brains in the same way. In fact some brains are not affected by it at all but for those of us saddled with a severe case of the itch it is a gnawing kind of thing that just kind of eats away at you all the time. Basically speaking it is the desire to move from the location you are presently at to another location where you currently are not. And the more severe the itch, the greater is the desire to keep moving. DOWNEY WOODPECKER

I am almost envious of the people who do not have a problem with hitch itch. (key word there is, almost) They are the ones who leave home, drive to their destination & stay contentedly camped for weeks or months at a time without any desire to move anywhere else. I'm sure these folks experience a degree of hitch itch before leaving or returning home but it is not the kind of itch that pesters those of us with the full blown itch affliction.

I'm OK for about a week or maybe two but by the third week I'm chomping at the bit to see some major scenery changes. Whenever we reach a destination we set up camp & first explore the surrounding area on foot for a couple days & then branch out doing day trips to all points of interest within a reasonable driving distance by car. If we don't care for a particular area we may only stay one night & move out the next day. I don't mind having a rest day every 4 or 5 days but to sit around doing nothing for days on end seems like a total waste of valuable time to me. Nothing like a good old case of hitch itch to help break the repetition of boring mundane days.

FEMALE CARDINAL

Dug out our Colorado Atlas to-day & had me a look at our Mountain Directory guide. The mountain guide is a "must have" book for anyone RVing through the Rocky Mountains. All truck drivers have them. It warns about steep mountain grades, twists, turns, & tells you where the "run-a-way" roads are & in some cases even advises certain types of RV's not to travel the roads. Always good to know where the mountain tunnels are as well. Although the mountains can be scary to drive through they are absolutely beautiful to look at & be a part of. It is probably the mountains I most look forward to seeing each year as we head west & my eyes are generally straining to catch that first glimpse of them as we near the western portion of the long flat plains country. In the spring when we begin our journey home I always have a sense of sadness as I watch them slowly disappear in my side view mirrors. I always wonder if I will ever see them again. We have been traveling about 4 years now & already the mountains are like old faithful friends. They are always there. NUTHATCH

To-day was humid & I very nearly flipped on the A/C. Had I done that it would have only been the second time this whole summer. Kelly & I headed out before 8 & cruised through Bayfield looking for Stella again but to no avail. Her owners are home now & we met them on their bicycles out searching as well. It's looking more & more like she was abducted Friday night by someone in a black Dodge SUV.

Had a short mobility van run earlier this afternoon & then it was back home to try my luck at photographing a few more birds in the front yard. Even did a bit of watering in the flower beds. The bird's really seemed to enjoy the erractic rain showers........................

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH ALSO KNOWN AS A WILD CANARY

GROANER'S CORNER: I relish the fact that you've mustard the strength to ketchup to me.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.