First Out of Town Trip is In the Books

Sunday morning the skies were cloudy but no rain,  The sun was trying to break though the clouds and we were getting things ready to pull out.  But first we had to have a good breakfast.  The Griddler was put to work again, this time making French Toast.  Yummy

French Toast, bacon and fresh fruit.

Paul enjoying his breakfast.

Then it was time to shower, dress, and get things ready to head out and hit the road.

We are getting faster at the closing up process and hooking back up process.  ( I still swear I need chalk or paint to mark wheel locations for a quicker set up.  ha!  Or a camera would work too.

The trip home was uneventful, even filling up with gas was easy.  Backing into the storage lot is always a bugger but I think we have a new plan for that.  

Until next time,

love ya,

And We Are Off on Our First Adventure!

Well we are almost to the end of our first adventure in our camper. We had a few hiccups at the beginning but we are learning. Let me recap for you.  I left school at noon (thank you sub Michael for arriving early), turned in my grades as I left the building and hurried home. Paul and I loaded up the truck, I did get quite a few "what is this for" questions and some things were left behind. We stopped for lunch at our favorite spot and then anxiously hurried to the camper. All looked well except the control panel door was open. We assume the wind did that. Paul backed up the truck and we proceeded to lower the jacks but no power. After a few seconds we realized the battery was DEAD! As a door nail. Paul called Oddie, he suggested we jump it off from truck.  After a seemingly long time we had power. Now to start all over again. Finally we are hooked up and rolling. Paul calls Oddie and we plead our case of a bad battery. He agrees and we stop by CC. These folks have been so nice to work with, they changed the battery and we are off again. We change our route and soon we are nearing the destination.  We needed gas but a very inconsiderate woman talking on her phone blocked our entry.  Note to self I will get out and "nicely " her to move next time.  In our making the short  turn we pull the emergency brake cord. But Paul figured it out, reconnected the cord and we are off again with low fuel. We found the KOA, checked in, signed up for membership and parked. This time it all went smoothly setting up and leveling the camper.

By now it was later than we planned and I hated to ask Paul to grill so we went into Starkville, gassed up the truck with a record amount of gas and searched for a place to eat. Our first choice was Little Dooey's , nope not on a Friday night. Second choice was Cappe's. Yum great steaks.

 A quick stop at Walmart for starter logs and we are settled in.  Paul built a fire, in what must have been gale force winds. In actuality it was too windy. We soon relaxed and turned in for the night.

Next morning, I used the oven in the camper for the first time and baked cinnamon rolls.
After getting cleaned up, we headed into town and did a little shopping and walking down memory lane.
Lunch time found us at Little Dooey's, we still had to wait but not as bad as Friday night

I got the pulled pork sandwich and Paul got ribs. It was sooooo good, even the owner, Barry Wood stopped by the table and talked with us for a while.  

You can see from our empty plates we enjoyed our meal.  We drove around some more and then back to the camper for a nice nap.  The rain kept coming on and off and neither one of us were fond of the idea of sitting in the rain.  I prepared dinner inside and we ate and listened to the game.  When it seemed MSU had the game under control we watched a movie and then checked the score one more time before turning in for the night.

GET READY, GET SET, GO

I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now.  When I feel overwhelmed I make a to do list or plan
So I am working on my plan, see how many check marks there are.  I did have to cross one thing off the list.
1. teach today✔
2. prepare for sub for Friday afternoon✔
3. go to Pilates class today (great stress reliever)✔
4. grocery shop for weekend and tonight's supper✔
5. pack my stuff, cut Paul's hair, get all the things together to put in truck Friday✔
6. bath and wash hair, dry hair, go to bed✔
7. get up and ready for school✔
8.  leave school at noon.
9. load up truck
10.  get camper and head out

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

Here is my Camping Menu

.
I found this download at stuffed suitcase.com and printed lots of copies to use when camping.  It really helps when you need to know what pans and equipment to take with you, plus the food.
I used this list when I did my grocery shopping, only one thing I would add for next time, would be to categorize the food types to make it easier to go down the list.





Until next time,
Love ya

It Takes A Lot of Planning to Take a Camping Trip

So we are planning our first "big" RV trip this weekend.  I really love north Mississippi AKA Starkville, it is close to my hometown, it is where we met and where we lived the first 9 months of our married life.  I am just drawn to Starkville.  So I asked around and found out there is a KOA campground in Starkville.  The online pictures look great.  I got things narrowed down to the final choices.  We have reservations for a pull through site, with cable, WiFi and concrete pad for two nights.  ✔  State is playing Tennessee this weekend.✔  The camper is ready to go.✔  The forecast calls for rain ☹. Like bad rain, with hail and wind. But who knows between now and then things can and often do change.  Keep your fingers crossed for us. Checked today and actually bad weather is going to be in Vicksburg and less severe in Starkville.  Yay.

Antique Camping Sign, rev

Before our very first night in the camper, Paul was digging in his closet, I quickly guessed what he was searching for, his family's Mississippi shaped camping sign.  I found it and cleaned it up some and added a new name and 3 stars.  One for Hattiesburg, one for Columbus and one for Vicksburg.







Now on to the fun stuff like planning the meals.  So we will arrive Friday afternoon.  SHHHH don't tell the boss. 
That means we need food for Friday night supper, Saturday morning breakfast, possible Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner and Sunday morning breakfast.  I;m thinking shish kabobs, burgers,?? I know we will want to eat at Little Dooey's at least once.  ha!
I also found a way to carry several spices with us without taking a gazillion bottles.

Spice container

Can you guess what this is normally used to hold?  It's a pill holder,albeit a rather large pill holder.  I made labels of my seven most used spices and then filled them with the spices.  If I need more I'll get another pill holder.  Clever huh? I shook it hard to see if anything would pop open or fall out and so far so good.
 Meals are almost planned, I'll need to shop Thursday evening and have everything packed to load up Friday.





Until next time,

RV Life is the One For Me

So last fall we made our first venture onto a RV lot.  The first dealer we visited was a very high pressure, smooth talking place.  Neither one of us felt comfortable and almost gave up.  But we didn't.  It did help us to narrow down the size we wanted and some of the things we felt were "must haves".
We knew we wanted a king bed, a decent size living area and a normal shower shape (not one of those round ones).  So in late February we decided to check out another lot.  This one was totally opposite of the first dealer, Low pressure, laid back, you call us etc.  We felt much better, and Paul had spoken with them before the visit so he had narrowed down the choices considerably.  We really had two to choose from, and they were almost identical.  Choice #1 was the biggest and fanciest, king bed, normal bath, good living area. Choice #2 was almost the same with a few differences. The differences were 1. refrigerator size (residential vs large rv fridge.), 2. recliner styles (theater recliners i.e. cup holders vs rocking, swivel recliners) 3. Leather color.  Well, I fell in love with the rocking recliners and the grey leather.  So I looked in the refrigerators and the size wasn't' that big of a deal.  BUT I didn't want to feel like we had not seen everything on the market so on Monday, we made one more trip to Hattiesburg to check out the RV's there.  Within moments of arriving on the lot I knew I wanted the RV with the grey leather.

Here are some pictures.

From the couch looking at the kitchen side.

From the couch looking at the dining side

The Bedroom







 
 The floor plan, we got the king bed with rocking recliners.

 Every other RV paled in comparison.  Paul talked to the salesman and worked out a deal and we were in business. Well, except for the hitch, it seems that Nissan had changed some things and hadn't made a new hitch yet.  REALLY? so back to the drawing board and they found a hitch that worked.  It finally arrived on Tuesday of last week and was installed on Wednesday and we were to come pick it up on Thursday.
After an hour long walk through where we were shown all the buttons and procedures

Paul learning about the battery and cables.








We were ready to pull it off the lot.  Oh my, we held our breath as we drove off the lot

The salesman gave us a free night at his campground in Vicksburg.
So that is where we headed.  Paul spent the afternoon hooking up the trailer, getting it level, etc.  I tackled the bedroom.  The mattress was a tad firm for out taste and I decided we needed a foam topper.  So I put that on the bed and let it air out while we ran out to eat lunch and run by our house to pick up the "rest of the stuff"
When we got back from our errands I trimmed the mattress (yes RV King is about 4-5 inches narrower than standard King) put the mattress pad on, then the sheets and made up the bed.
I put the towels in the bathroom, rug down and "stocked" the kitchen.  Next thing I knew it was after 7 and time to go eat supper. We watched TV for a little while and then called it a night.  I slept really well for the first time in a new place.  Friday morning, I made waffles and bacon for breakfast.  Noon was check out time so we headed out and made a Wal Mart stop (more camper stuff) and then to park the RV at it's temporary home.
Parking the RV at the lot was another adventure. Thank goodness for Mr. Wally and his assistance in backing this baby up.
We are already planning our next adventure.
Until the next time,
love ya,

The Big Adventure Day 7

My favorite day of our trip, Disneyland.  It's been 30+ years since our one and only trip to Disney World. I was so excited to see the original Disney.

I bought the tickets online before we left and ah um tried to buy the Photo Pass. That's another story but we will just say it all worked out. 

The tickets clearly state that the ticket does not guarantee admittance. Now if you know my hubby the thought of spending over $200. for a piece of worthless paper does not sit well. I wasn't happy about that thought either. It seems if the walk up traffic exceeds a certain number they suspend admittance to park ticket or not. So I assumed that is code for "get yer butt here early".  So we were up early , thank goodness we were sorta still on Central Time. And also thank goodness my hubby had learned how to travel the back roads  and avoid that gosh awful "freeway". We arrived at the parking lot a little after 8:00. We boarded the shuttle bus for a short ride to Disneyland.  Note take a picture of your parking area. It can be confusing late at night.

We arrived at the entrance, went through the bag search line and into the turn stiles.  I had the printed payment sheet but needed the payment email. Once again I turn on my southern charm and the sweetest girl just tapped my phone to bring up the correct screen, scanned the bar code and gave us paper tickets. Mama was right, "always be nice". 

First selfie picture of the day, I had read no selfie sticks were allowed in the park so I didn't bring mine. I'm not sure if that was true but I don't remember seeing any so maybe it was. 

We then headed to find the photographer and get the Photo Pass card. I am a firm believer in asking 

for help and the Disney staff was very helpful. These are the first pictures. Beware there are a lot of pictures. 

Main Street area. 

 

These were made by the Disney Photographer with my phone.

As I warned there are lots of pictures but I will just do a mass photo load at the end for the rest of the pictures. 

First stop was the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey, then on to Sleeping Beauty Castle  both were photo ops, first ride was Dumbo the flying elephant.  31 years ago at Disney World we rode Dumbo with Matt. Behind us was an "elderly" couple ( (hindsight I bet they were 55 ha!), they rode Dumbo just the two of them and had the biggest grin on their faces. We said if we ever came as "old folks" we would ride Dumbo. Next ride was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Another oldie but goodie. Then we had to Tomorrowland. First ride was a Star War Ride, oh my we should have rode this one separately, it was cramped and very uncomfortable. But fun!! Next up was Buzz Lightyear's Artic Blasters. Cute ride. Paul out scored me 30,000 to 3,000 points. Next was Space Mountain, although they have renamed it Hyper Space Mountain since Disney bought the Stars Wars rights. 

We had a great day and ended the day watching the parade

The Big Adventure Day 6

Sunday morning we slept a little later, which really helped us to recharge our travel tried bodies. 

 We headed out, grabbed a quick breakfast and maneuvered our way to Pacific Coast Highway or Highway 1. 

We headed south on PCH traveling from LA county to Orange County. The scenery was beautiful, but so many people and so many cars. No place to stop and park.  

We drove all the way down to Laguna Beach and then turned around. We drove down the Balboa Pennisula at Newport and would really have liked to stop and explore but once again our dilemma no parking. 

We finally turned around and headed north for a little ways. We  found a beach side state park and pulled in there. Our plan was if the water was "okay" we would change into our swimming suits. Okay ice cold water is not okay. 

It is not the pretty white sand of our gulf beaches but it was nice.   There was a cute little beach side take out place and we tried the pulled pork tacos. I'd say kinda a South meets West flavor. Ha!

Really good food.  We drove a little farther north to Long Beach but the view was mostly industry so said "let's go home because tomorrow we get to see MICKEY AND MINNIE MOUSE!!!" 

Until next time.

Love ya Di 

The Big Adventure Day 5

On Saturday morning we headed to one of the few wineries in Southern California. San Antonio Winery is in the industrial area of downtown LA. 

We pulled in the almost empty parking lot, got out and went inside. Almost as soon as we entered a man welcomed us and soon he offered us a complimentary glass of wine. Stella Rosa Moscato Orange is my new favorite wine. It is very refreshing. We mentioned we wanted to talk a tour, but they didn't start for a few hours. So we just browsed around the store until he returned with a young man to give us a private tour. He was very nice and knowledgeable. We saw areas not usually shown to the public. Then we moved to the tasting room. We each picked 4 wines to sample. While we sampled the wine, Matt shared places we might like to visit. Eventually the first man returned who we now realized was the 4th generation owner.   He stopped and visited with us for a few minutes. He also suggested some places to visit. We asked if the wine could be shipped to Mississippi. That would be a big fat no!!

Underlined and bold letters. Ha! So we bought a bottle to drink while in California and some glasses and a corkscrew. 

We left and headed to Huntington Botanical  Gardens at the suggestion of the winery owner. This was an impressive places. Acres of gardens of all types. 

I could go on forever and I took way too many pictures. I'll share just a few. 

After miles of walking we headed out to see Old Pasadena. 

On our way we found several places from The Big Bang Theory. 

And yes it does have speed bumps. 

Where Penny and Bernadette once worked. 

I almost got run over trying to take this picture. Ha! This was from an episode about telling a lie. 

Next stop The Rose Bowl. 

I was hot and tired so I didn't even get out of the car!  We drove up to the LA Dodgers stadium  and almost wen to the game but the game was halfway over.  

Next stop hotel room to relax. Then out to eat dinner. 

Until next time. 

Love ya, 

Di

The Big Adventure Day 4

Instead of arriving later as we had hoped the train arrived almost an hour early. So at 4:00 ish we woke up, dressed and gathered our stuff and detrained. Yep that's s word. We worked our way through Union Station. We had an hour plus wait since the rental car office didn't open until 7:00. Paul grabbed a coffee and we settled in for our wait. The lobby  is beautiful with mahogany ceilings and gorgeous chandeliers. 

At seven we were first in line. Got the rental car and headed out. Well we had to stop and fill up the car with gas. $4.29 a gallon. $$ ouch. 

We headed to Hollywood Blvd to see the Walk of Fame stars. I am glad we arrived early before the crowds showed up. 

Here are just a couple of pictures. 

You could walk for days looking at all the stars.  I  sure there is a list but it was fun just discovering them as we walked. 

We found Graumann's  Chinese Theater and looked at the  hand and footprints. 

Next stop was The Le Brea tar pits (which really translates into the the tar tar pits).  Ha!

Interesting but Lordy it stinks. 

The museum explained the history of the tar pits. It's amazing all the fossils they have found excavating the area. 

Next stop The Hollywood Sign. 

The sky was kinda hazy from the recent fires so it's not super clear to see the sign. 

This picture was actually taken at Griiffith Observatory. And yes the cool wind felt great. 

Panoramic view of LA. 

By now it was a little after 3:00 and we could check into our hotel room. We were less than 25 miles but that journey would take us over an hour on the freeway!  Bumper to bumper going 25 to 35 mph. Geez you can keep the traffic. 

We checked into our room. I had been worried about the hotel. I seriously did a pick one from the list. It met my expectations, clean and safe. 

We rested a bit and then headed out for dinner. We found a local spot and had ribs. Good but nothing on Memphus BBQ. 

After a good shower we were settled in for the night. 

Until next time. 

Love y'all 

Di