Here we sit on Halloween Day! Trick or Treat!!

We had such a wonderful weekend with Rollie and Gina and all their family……. What a wonderful bunch of people.

Saturday, Rollie took me over to Bass Pro just a couple miles away because he knows I like to check out the guns wherever I go.  Then we went to Camping World which was a few more miles away…  all the time he was showing me the area.  This is where he grew up.  It sure is growing and businesses are springing up all over the place and closing in on their beautiful home.  While we were doing that Ms. Pat was with Gina shopping at some of the close by stores. The day sure went by way too fast…


Rollie is a very important businessman now days and he had to leave Sunday afternoon and head back towards Houston where he works. Here he waves so-long and says to tell all his friends “Hello”! I sure enjoyed spending some time with him again, just like old times.

Here he is cooking up some of his famous Cajun type foods that are so good.  That's Ashley, their son Thomas's wife, coming out the door.



Rollie and Gina love to cook and I love to let them!!  


I’m not one that believes in showing pictures of Food, but Boy, he makes some delicious stuff.  That’s Rollie's famous "Jambalaya" on the left and Gina's Shrimp and Corn soup on the right. 


Sunday afternoon about 4:00 it was time for Rollie to head on back towards Houston and be ready for work Monday morning. The gals took him a short distance to his plane ride.


A couple hours later he sent me this view from the Airplane………… taken with his iPhone.


Just as he was leaving we got a few last minute pictures…




So long Rollie and Gina, it was so great seeing you all. Can’t wait until we meet again…  Love you both so much!

Sunday morning we were up and out on the road around 8am as Gina gave us our last hugs for a while and bid us goodbye.  Hmmm, there is that tear coming to my eye again!   We had a very enjoyable trip West as we headed for Motorhomes Of Texas in Nacogdoches for some minor service work.  We stopped for lunch right at the Texas-Louisiana Border and Ms. Pat made us a sandwich.   The weather was perfect as we continued on to our destination. 

After 301 miles we pulled into Motorhomes of Texas driveway about 3pm, gave Keith the Service Manager a quick call and told him we had arrived. Almost immediately, Keith and Kyle came out and took over. They took the motorhome and parked it on their lot in the lineup. They sure treat us great here.  They were full up to the brim but managed to squeeze us in. Here we are parked in their lot. It may look like we are at the end of the line, but we are at the head of the line! Next one’s up!!

Since it was nearing closing time and after we discussed what all we wanted done, Keith and Mike, the Shop Foreman, told us they would get us in first thing in the morning. That’s fine with us.  We had good 50 amp power and were ready for a good nights rest. They told us if we needed anything just let them know.

At exactly 8:00 AM Tuesday morning we were parked in Bay # 4. with 3 different technicians working on our motorhome. Now that’s service! It's unbelievable what great service they give us here.  David, the Owner of the MOT, came out, shook our hands and said “welcome back”. When we bought this Foretravel from them, David told us we were part of the MOT family. I can truthfully say, they treat us like family.  If you're looking for a Motorhome, look no further. If you buy it here, you won’t be sorry!! Just tell Mel, our personal salesman and faithful Blog reader, we sent ya! 


They service all makes and models here at MOT and I wasn’t too surprised to see this Prevost parked in the parking lot getting some work done on it. I would say its an “eye catcher” wouldn’t you? Maybe a sore eye.....  How would you like to travel around the country in this monstrosity?   Ya, me neither!!  I never did get to meet the owner of it as I guess he just dropped it off and is probably off trying a lawsuit somewhere! Stay out here on the road long enough and you’ll see about everything.

They also had several big Newells here, some for service and some for sale. Take a look at their website.  Many of you know about the Newell Motorhomes. They are about the finest you can get. They have a 2003 46' er for sale at a mere $300.000.00!  A real nice, newer one that was here for service and finishing up just as we arrived belonged to race car driver Elliott Sadler……a big name in the NASCAR world. They also have 2 Allegro busses and a couple Country Coaches along with others for sale...... They take trades and do consignments too.
 
We had a motor go out on one of our MCD electric shades and they had to order one shipped overnight from Dallas. That is all that held us over last night...hopefully it will get here this morning (early) and they will get it installed so we can get on our way WEST!  I know I may be dreaming to expect it to work out that well, cause usually it doesn’t. But a guy can dream, can’t he?? Ms. Pat and I are getting ever so anxious to be at home in North Ranch, Arizona.  Wish us luck!! Tomorrow I want to be near Albuquerque……or maybe Tucumcari.

Thanks for stopping by as our venture gets closer and closer to its destination.   If the Good Lord is willin', I will be coming to you from our front room at home Sunday.  See you then.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Moving on West.......Stopping along the way.

While we were stopped at Ms. Pat’s sisters place in Panama City, they wanted to see our Motorhome. Their daughters, Susan and Cindy, were there also, so we all went out to take the tour.  Here is Sabra and Tom sitting on our sofa and their #2 daughter, Cindy, is sitting in the passenger seat up front with her granddaughter, Hadley.


Sue, Sabra and Tom's oldest daughter, sat at the table and Hadley was watching herself in all the mirrors.


Ms. Megabyte, not being the social kitty, took off for the bedroom and hid under the pillows…….. She is afraid of “little people”.


Later that evening at Dinner, Josh, Ms. Pat’s grandson (Gus’s son) was able to come and spend a couple hours with us.  He lives and works in Panama City so this gave us a chance to see him before we head West.  Josh has a Black Belt in Karate and teaches classes in the area, also.   He is on the left and Sabra (Pat’s oldest sister) is in the middle, then Ms. Pat. We sure enjoyed the visit with them all. 


We departed Tom and Sabra’s place in Panama City early Thursday morning and headed on down I-10 about 275 miles to Slidell, Louisiana where we stopped to see Ms. Pat’s oldest Son Gus (Josh's Dad).   Gus is a contractor and he took off work a couple hours early so he could visit with us.  He stopped and picked up some fresh Oysters and Shrimp for our last Seafood feast.  We won’t be seeing any real good, fresh Seafood for a while, so we cherished the opportunity…..Man, was it good!!


Marc, one of Ms Pats grandsons, is there working for Gus and showed us this picture of the Gator Gar he caught a couple days ago.  Marc is Ms. Pat’s daughter, Terri’s, youngest son.  I know this gets a little confusing. I can figure out who is who because I have been in the family for 26 years!   Now that’s a FISH....it takes a while to get one of these in the boat.  It was sure good to see Gus and Marc…


When we got ready to leave Slidell Friday morning and travel the remaining 75 miles on to Rollie and Gina’s in Denham Springs, we were fogged in. Since Rollie was flying in from Houston that day, we called him to let him know we were fogged in and would be late.  He informed us that he was also socked in at Houston and couldn't fly out until the fog lifted.

We were able to get on the road for our short trip about 10:00am and were soon parked in Rollie and Gina’s yard. Rollie arrived a few hours later. We finally got to meet their daughter Ashley.  What an honor! We had heard so much about her and were so anxious to meet her.  Ashley is a Doctor and is just finishing up some intern work here in Baton Rouge.  I can see why Rollie and Gina are so proud of her.  What a joy she is along with her 6 month old daughter, Jolee. She and Rollie are pictured above.

We also got to meet their Daughter-in-Law and her name is Ashley, also.  She is their son Thomas’s wife and they have a beautiful little girl named Abigail. Abigail is a little over a year old and is full of energy. Ashley is here waiting for Thomas to complete his tour of duty in the Marine Corps in a couple months.  These kids are all so wonderful and what beautiful babies they have.  So beautiful that I made a complete album of them and their beautiful Moms. To see all these lovely girls and a few other pictures, just click on the photo below and it will take you to my Web Album.

Rollie and Gina visit Oct 2012

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

We continue to enjoy our visit with “our kid’s” until Monday morning when we will have to depart and continue our trip on home. We have been gone from our place in Custer, SD for one month and traveled 2400 miles so far and have at least 1600 more to go………

Come on back Wednesday and check how far we have made it by then.  Thanks for stopping by.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

A Sad Departure But a Happy "Early" Birthday!!

Since Monday was our last day at JRoger and Susan's before we headed towards home, Ms. Pat's daughters decided to come out and celebrate her Birthday early.

They both came out and spent most of the day with us and spent some time with their Mom.  They brought her a nice card and some beautiful flowers, plus lots of love!  We are so blessed to have these girls...although they are Ms. Pat's daughters, they are my daughters too and I love them very much. They sure made their Mother happy....but sad to be leaving.

I knew it was going to be hard to leave JRoger's place, but it was even harder than I thought it would be.  It seems as you get older and have lost friends and family, it gets harder and harder to leave them. I guess I am getting sentimental in my old age. I never did like goodbyes.  Hello's are much more fun. 

JRoger and I hit it off from the first time we met on the internet at the time we were building our Volvo semi trucks to pull our 5th wheels. JRoger and I have so much in common and we can relate so well. He just seems to understand me and except me for what I am.  I so respect him and cherish his wisdom, advice and.....well, just about everything he does.  It's just fun to be with him.  He's taught me an awful lot and brought a lot of joy into my life.  You can see that I am missing him already. He and Susan have promised to do their best to come West and let us show them the Arizona desert.  We can hardly wait.


Getting to spend two full days at a Gun Show, sharing a table with JRoger, was a dream come true..... something I had wished for so many times before when I was attending other gun shows.  It was a big show.  You can see all the tables and I really had a ball.



This was JRogers table.  I got to relax and enjoy listening to him talks guns with his friends and the public as they stopped by.  In the picture above, the Gals stopped by and looked things over.  They rested a bit before they took off downtown Tallahassee to do some girl shopping at the real stores.  Ms. Pat got to meet her daughters and spend the afternoon shopping with them.

I must have asked JRoger a gazillion questions as I was looking over all the guns and “stuff”.   I enjoy his experience and more especially his patience.  I'm sure I ask him some awful stupid questions but he just grins and tells me how it is!

Tuesday morning was our departure day.  Before we left,  JRoger and I ran over and looked at some more guns a fellow had for sale. We managed to get everything loaded and hooked up.  We said the goodbyes and hugs and got on the road just as I felt a tear or two rolling down my cheek……    WOW, that was tough.

We were a couple miles down the road when suddenly JRoger and Susan came zooming around us and flagged us down.  Low and behold I had forgotten my cell phone. Left it in JRogers truck and also My Gun Price "Bible". WOW, I thought I had gotten everything but I’m so glad they caught us and gave them to me. Two pretty important items in my book!  I didn’t want to further prolong this sad departure, so I just waved thanks and continued on down the road.  Thanks so much for everything JRoger and Susan, God loves ya, and we sure do, too.  Can’t wait until next time..

We headed on West down I-10 and turned South towards Panama City, FL.   We were soon pulling into Ms. Pats sister and brother-in-law's apartment in a beautiful Assisted Living complex. Check out the pictures:  Mathison Retirement Center.  The building manager directed us to a big parking lot in the rear and got us all set up and told us that if we needed anything to just get a hold of him.  Wow, what a beautiful quiet spot.  Then we went inside and spent an enjoyable evening with Sabra and Tom.  They treated us to a real nice dinner in the beautiful dining room. 

We will spend today visiting and then proceed on West tomorrow. Next stop Slidell, LA to see Gus, Ms. Pat's oldest son.  I hear he is getting some more of that superb seafood all prepared for us…. Hot Dog!!


One last shot that appeared on JRogers Wildgame Camera at his hunting camp…….

The dancing bears!!   These guys are big!!  I would have liked to see them in person while I was sitting up in that tree house...but I wonder if this old heart could have stood it!!   This was taken at 6:59pm, that’s about the time we were there, but just a few days earlier.   This is the exact same spot that I shot the Hog!  WOW.... how exciting!!

We continue to thank our Father in Heaven along with all his Angels for the many continued blessings he provides us day after day!

Come on back Sunday.  If it goes as planned we will be at Rollie and Gina’s, near Baton Rouge.  You know how much we are looking forward to that!!

Travel Safe Everyone!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Last Days in Florida.. Oct 2012

We have had some kind of a wonderful time visiting Florida this year! Such wonderful hosts JRoger and Susan have been and how great it was to see all our friends and family, but our time is up and we must head for home. We are both kinda sad and glad at the same time. We will miss all these wonderful folks here in Florida but both of us are rather homesick for the beautiful Southwestern part of the USA and our home at North Ranch near Congress, AZ.

What a wonderful spot JRoger and Susan have carved out of the woods and made their home site here north of Monticello in Northern Florida. The good times we have had with them over the years, as we spent parked in their yard, are memories we will not ever forget as they linger in our minds forever.

  
The weather has been gorgeous for our stay and as you can see in this picture, Ms. Megabyte2 and I are thoroughly enjoying ourselves.   If any of you are wondering what to do with that big old Satellite Dish you have laying around, JRoger has the perfect solution. Isn’t this a wonderful gazebo he constructed of this old dish he found in his junk pile?  He sure gets lots of comments on it and I wanted you to see it.  The vines you see on the posts are grape vines.  He's hoping they will produce a good crop of grapes someday.

I am going to cut my Blog short this morning as we are headed to the last day of the Tallahassee Gun Show.  One of my dreams was to be able to spend some time at a GUN SHOW with JRoger.  When ever I go to one, I always say "Man, I wish JRoger was here..."  So I feel very priviledged to be here while he is working this gun show.  We spent yesterday wheeling and dealing from his table and let me tell you I had a ball.  JRoger is definitely my expert when it comes to guns.  It was him that brought this hidden interest out in me and gave me something really exciting to do in my life at an age that I really needed something to keep my mind busy.

I leave you with a link to my Web Album and pictures of the Air Boat ride JRoger and Susan took us on in their air boat on the nearby Wacissa River.. We saw some beautiful Florida river sites and what a day it was...... Hope you enjoy the ride and the sites...

Just click on the picture below...

Now I gotta get outta here to another fun day with Guns!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!! Come on back Wednesday and I'll let you know where we are... God Bless you all...

Mike

 

A Successful Hog Hunt.....and a GREAT Seafood Family day!!

If at first you don’t succeed, you must try, try again!! Right?


My friend JRoger is a very experienced hunter. His enthusiasm had rubbed off on me and he knew I wanted to get a "Wild Hog" and he pulled out all the stops to see that I got one. He said evening would be a better time, so at 4pm, rather than Happy Hour, we headed for his tree Stand. By 5:30 we were back up in his double man Tree Stand watching the feeding area.

We had about 2 hours before it would be dark. It was again very pleasant sitting in the Tree Stand listening and watching as the day was beginning to come to an end. We didn’t hear or see a thing and I was beginning to think this was going to be another “dry Run”.

At 7pm the sun went down. We had about 30 minutes of daylight before dark. At 10 minutes after 7. JRoger was looking to our rear as I continued to watch the feeding area. Suddenly I saw, not one, but two Hogs appear.  Shhhh....I quietly poked JRoger and pointed at the Hogs.  WOW, the moment I was waiting for was here.  I slowly raised my rifle to my shoulder and took aim as I released the safety. I was amazed at how calm I was but yet I was so excited. I watched and waited a few seconds until I had the perfect shot and squeezed the trigger. BAM, The Wild Hog dropped in his tracks! WOW!   “Ya got him” JRoger said.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Yep I sure did.  It came off just as I had planned…..SUCCESSFUL!!  

My First Wild Hog !   How excited I was.  Early that same morning, JRoger had helped me "site in" my new AR 15, 223 and also adjust the trigger to make it smoother. It worked flawlessly. Thank you so much JRoger. I am not good at showing enthusiasm but inside I was bubbling over for sure!

Florida is so over run with these Feral Hogs and they are multiplying so fast that they are doing a lot of damage to the agriculture.  The Florida Wildlife Commission wants to cull them out and are glad to have you hunt them.


It was dark by the time we got the Hog loaded and began our long trip out of the hunting camp and really dark when we got home. But not too late for one more picture of JRoger and I after our successful Wild Hog Hunt. Who says I can’t stay up past bed time?

Our Seafood Family day turned out very Successful also. Click on the picture at the bottom of the Blog to view some pictures from it.

We are having a BLAST....the time of our lives in FLORIDA!!
 
It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

Stop on back Sunday and see more of our Good Times here in Florida as our time winds down and we prepare to head back home to North Ranch.

God Bless!!

Mike

Seafood Day, Florida 2012 This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..  

Hunting Wild Hogs in Florida- Oct 2012

My friend, JRoger, has a 1500 acre wilderness area leased for hunting, When he showed me this beautiful wilderness over by Wacissa, which is about 25 miles from his place, I told him that I would love to shoot a Florida feral "wild hog".  So the other morning way before daylight, he and I found ourselves way out in the middle of this area in the dark! Darker that DARK!!  Wow, I had forgotten how dark it can get down here in Florida....especially out in the "piney woods".   Rog has two tree stands and corn feeders strategically place at very appropriate places.  We parked way back so as not to disturb anything and walked to one of his tree stands….


As we sat in the total darkness waiting for the sun to come up, the strange sounds of the calm forest rung out. Wow, what a neat time of the day.  It was beautiful!!    Here is the view of of one of his feeders from the two person tree stand nearby. We were ready…


The sun was just coming up behind us……..  


Roger said “I think I hear them coming, are you ready”?   "Yes, I am ready", I told him. However, my heart was pounding so loud that I was sure the Hogs would hear it. 


I kept a dead eye on the feeder as I held on to the rail.  I sure didn’t want to get excited and fall out……It was quite a drop to the ground.


JRoger says “Well I’ll be, they went right on by.  I think they must be headed to the other feeder”  He had his favorite “lucky” hunting hat on and everything….


After about an hour and a half and we didn’t see any hogs, Rog says “I got an Idea.  I will walk you over and show you where the other tree stand is and you can stay there.  I’ll come back and get you in about an hour”. Sounds like a plan, so off we went and I got up in his other tree stand and watched for hogs at that feeder.


Here I sat, all by myself not really having any idea where I was for sure. But I was engrossed in this place. I sat quiet as a mouse watching and listening to all the strange sounds of the woods.  Man O Man, I wasn’t seeing any Hogs but I was enjoying the quietness and peaceful solitude of this beautiful place.    

It finally dawned on me to look at my watch and see if it was about time for Roger to come and pick me up.    WOW!!  I had been there an hour and a half!  What the heck??  Where is Roger? I was listening for the truck and didn’t hear a thing.  For one quick second I thought to myself, Oh. No, did I fall for a trick and I am left out here all alone as a joke??  Naw, good buddy Rog wouldn’t do that to me. 

Then I thought, OH, Shucks, I better turn my phone on!! I had been so engrossed in my hunting, that I forgot all about my phone.. Quickly turning it on I found that sure enough, there was a message from Roger. He told me his truck wouldn’t start,.....battery was dead! So he had called the Gals, Ms. Pat and Susan, to come out and give us a jump start.  Ah Ha, that's where Rog is, stranded.   I sat in the tree stand for a little longer and then decided I better get down and walk around as my legs were getting a little numb.   I started walking out towards the main road and just as I got there, Rog picked me up and the gals were right behind him.

So we didn’t get any Wild Hogs that morning.  We spent the rest of the afternoon getting Rog’s truck fixed and ready to go out again.

Today we are all headed over to Randy and Lisa’s (Ms. Pats daughter and SIL) place and have a big seafood feed……….Hip Hip Hurray..

We are having a ball in Florida and time is going way too fast!!

But it was definitely a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Come on back Wednesday and hear about more Florida fun!

God Bless you all..

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Friends and Family,,,that’s what it’s all about!!

We got all settled into JRoger and Susan’s wonderful place out in the country just North of Monticello, FL. JRoger had just built up this neat RV spot for us.


Here we are all set up and comfortable. It seems so GREEN here after our exceptionally dry summer in the Black Hills.  It will take us a few days to get used to this humidity…..


We have been busy doing a lot of different stuff....here I was helping JRoger try to drain the swamp. 


We always look forward to the kids coming out to see us.  This is Ms. Pat’s youngest son Scott and his wife Shelly. 


The next ones out to see us was Ms. Pat’s oldest daughter Lisa and her husband Randy. They came with guns ready to shoot.


Do you see the resemblance?  That’s Lisa on the right.

We have been doing a lot of shooting and JRoger has helped me sight in all my rifles, including the AR, and several of my pistols. Yesterday I loaded several hundred  .45 Cal ACP bullets with one of JRoger’s four reloading presses.


Here Ms. Pat practices with Lisa's small .38 revolver carry gun.


She then had the pleasure of shooting JRogers "BEAR" gun, his S&W 500.  It’s a Big Gun and it makes a BIG BANG!! We all had a ball shooting this cannon!!


Yesterday Terri, Ms. Pat’s middle daughter (far left) came out and spent the day with us. This is a wonderful Happy Hour gathering place. What an enjoyable spot to enjoy all this great fellowship! Ms. Megabyte2 has her chair in the circle and joins in the conversation but mostly just listens.  The weather has cooled off considerably (only 73* yesterday) so Ms. Pat cooked some of Gina's Taco soup for dinner.  Delicious!!


Here Ms Megabyte gets some sun rays as she rests from her long trip. This traveling really wears her out!

I know many of you are concerned about how Ms. Pat’s back is and I am happy to report that she is considerably better. We are fortunate to have a Granddaughter that works for the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic and she was able to get her Grandmother in on short notice. I took her in Monday right about lunch time and she was able to see one of the best Orthopedic Doctors in the area. He gave her a complete examination, then gave her a steroid shot in the "hurting spot".   They assured us it was not the tainted vaccine that has been causing the Meningitis problems.  She is still sore and slowly showing some improvement. We have another appointment in 10 days just in case she isn’t better. Hoping we can cancel that.   Please keep her in your prayers...back problems are no fun!

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

We have many more fun things planned.. Come on back Sunday and I’ll fill you in.

God Bless you all..

Mike

NOTE:  Thanks to Susan for a lot of these pictures.  She walks around with a camera in her hand.

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..