Beautiful Arizona- our winter destination

November 25, 2017 suzy 12 Comments

We finally made it back to Arizona! I have to say that since we have been on the road, Arizona is one of our favorite places. And it never fails to impress.

Since becoming full time rv’ers, we have found that many full timers establish a winter destination and return there every year. About half the RV parks in the US close down for the winter, leaving only those in the western and southern states available. We got into this whole thing to travel and really don’t want to be tied down to one place and so far have spent our winters in Florida and Arizona.

Continue reading Beautiful Arizona- our winter destination →

Places to Go

Foodie Tour of Hyannis

November 1, 2017 suzy 3 Comments

I know it has been a while since posting and just wanted you all to know that we are still enjoying the RV lifestyle! Our jobs in Cape Cod were pretty strenuous. Working 40 hours per week at a very physical job, keeping my websites up and Etsy shop full, took a toll on me. Something had to go to the wayside.

We have completed our job in Cape Cod and are now on the road headed to our winter destination in Apache Junction, AZ. You can see where we are by clicking here.

So…I wanted to take time to create a few final posts of the Cape Cod area. We actually were able to take a few days off here and there and enjoy the area. And because we were both on diets, it seems that food was on our minds.

We took advantage of the Hungry in Hyannis Tour to not only see a bit of the town of Hyannis, but enjoy some of the great food they had to offer.

Continue reading Foodie Tour of Hyannis →

Places to Go

Boston Pizza and Beer Tour!

August 23, 2017 suzy 6 Comments

Well, we’ve been in the Boston Cape Cod area for about a month now. Life has been busy and with a full time job at the campground, we are still managing to get out once a week to see the area. The beaches are incredibly crowded this time of year and we will have to wait until September to truly check them out.

In the meantime, we decided to get a first hand look at the City of Boston with a fun Boston Pizza and Beer Tour. Because I simply can’t think of too many things better than pizza and beer. What a great way to check out Boston!

According to the locals, the best way to get around Boston is by subway. The rail system through the city is quite extensive and is a great way to avoid traffic, honking cars and irate drivers.

Continue reading Boston Pizza and Beer Tour! →

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Places to Go

Iowa 80- The Worlds Largest Truck Stop and more!

July 29, 2017 suzy 6 Comments

We spent the past few weeks on an unscheduled trip to Forest City, Iowa and the manufacturing facility of Winnebego. While Iowa was cool and all, we were excited to be back on the road in a fully working coach again.

After contacting our new employer at the KOA in Boston/Cape Cod, and given the go-ahead, we were on the road again heading to our end of summer job in New England.

But we had to make one final stop before we left the state of Iowa. You see, on the eastern edge of Iowa, not far from the Mississippi River, is the World’s Largest Truckstop! We had seen it featured on several travel shows and we certainly couldn’t drive right by it without checking it out!

The Iowa 80 Truckstop, established in 1964, features eight restaurants, a convenience store, gift store, Super Truck Showroom, barber shop, chiropractor, dentist, movie theater, workout room, laundry facilities, gas islands, diesel fuel center, truck service center, Truckomat truck wash, Dogomat pet wash, CAT Scale, 24- private showers, trucking museum and more!

Yep. It’s a small city in one truck stop!

The truck stop itself is set on 220 acres, which is four times larger than the average truck stop. They receive nearly 5,000 visitors daily in the main building, have parking for 900 trucks, and 150 fuel pumps.

And the store is simply Disney Land for truckers and those that love the industry! You name it, they had it.

Need a back massage? They have a Chiropractor for that! Tooth hurts? There is a Dentist on call! Doggies dirty? Step up to the Dog-O-Mat!

Need a cup that is bigger than your head? They totally have your back!

Don’t miss the chance to check out the Iowa80 Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa. It is well worth the time. Craziness!

In Indiana and Pennsylvania, we traveled through quite a bit of Amish Country. This gentleman in the photo above was driving into work. He apparently worked at the KOA that we were staying at in Mercer/Grove City Pennsylvania!

We are huge fans of Amish cooking. It’s pretty amazing. So, of course we stocked up. Those packages of noodles? Well they were made in Middlebury, Indiana. There were several noodle factories, run by the Amish, right nearby!

Soon, our trip took us to our final destination!

This will be our spot for the next several months at the Boston/Cape Cod KOA. We will be here until just past Columbus Day weekend, as work campers.

We love our tiny spot tucked into the woods!

And finally we can add a little cash to our suffering checkbook!

Our new jobs are in housekeeping!

Dave has always done the laundry, so I used to pride myself in saying that I haven’t done laundry in 25 years. That is no longer something that I can say. LOL!

Stay tuned for lots of great photos and sights to see in the Boston Cape Cod area! We are so excited to finally make it here!

Places to Go

The SPAM Museum and summer fun!

July 12, 2017 suzy 5 Comments

Well, we’ve spent the last three weeks hanging out in Forest City, Iowa waiting for repairs to our coach. Arriving just before the July 4th holiday meant that we would have to wait with about 30 other coach owners for our turn and hope that somehow we would get in before all the employees left on holiday.

We watched our name move up on the waiting list, but unfortunately it did not move up fast enough. We were going to be living in the Winnebago parking lot for the holiday weekend. And maybe quite a bit longer…

So what to do?

Dave busied himself with repairs that he could do on his own. Someone’s big butt broke the bed. That person shall remain nameless.

With the parts department right across the parking lot, things were quite convenient.

I did a bunch of Face Timing with my little granddaughter…

And a bunch of wash…

And we both drove down to Clear Lake to catch the Fourth of July parade. It was a beautiful day for a parade and a perfect way to make the best of our current situation.

So I did a bit of research to see what else is in the area. I mean, you can’t go to Iowa without checking out the sites, right? And about an hour north, just past the Minnesota state line, was something that we definitely needed to see.

The SPAM Museum!

Yes, SPAM is the undisputed king of mystery meat. Made of pig parts and secret spices, cooked in its own cans right on the assembly line, SPAM is an American institution! And SPAM has its own museum right in Austin, Minnesota.

As you walk into the museum, you are met by a towering wall of SPAM, rising to the ceiling in the lobby. Very impressive for mystery meat.

SPAM is made by the Hormel company, whose headquarters is also in Austin. Spam was introduced by Hormel in 1937. At the time it was introduced, it was the only canned meat product on the market that needed no refrigeration. That made it quite popular during World War II as a staple for the soldiers.

In the museum, you can find displays of vintage cans. Did you know that Dinty Moore stew was created simply as a way to fill 500,000 empty cans?

A small theater, its doors shaped like the face of a grinning pig, screens a 15 minute SPAM video.

Or you can do what we did and read all the displays. Lots of great old photos and anything and everything you ever wanted to know about SPAM.

The SPAM museum also has another claim to fame: It’s apparently a great place to get married! On April 25th, 2017, Mark Benson (who legally changed his name to Mark “I Love SPAM” Benson) married Ann Mousley at the SPAM Museum. They traveled all the way from Liverpool, UK to live out their dream wedding.

And I thought I was a bit strange.

Of course, we had to stock up on many flavors of SPAM. We found them in the gift shop along with most any kind of SPAM souvenir that you could think of.

If you get a chance to get to Austin, Minnesota, be sure to check out the SPAM museum. Admission is totally free. And the SPAM, well it is worth the visit.

And finally the coach is repaired! We are a bunch of happy campers! We hit the road a few days ago, and are now heading to our job in Boston/Cape Cod.

Stay tuned for lots more! Who knows. Maybe they have weird food museums in New England too.

Places to Go

Winnebago Factory Tour- Forest City, Iowa

June 29, 2017 suzy 6 Comments

We arrived in Forest City, Iowa earlier this week. Yep, it was a thousand mile detour. But our coach is broken and we need it fixed, and we are smack in the middle of rv camping season. So, we are rolling with the punches.

Having never been to Iowa before, we were pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was. Fields and fields of corn and soybeans as far as you can see, dotted by pretty lakes here and there.

And in north central Iowa sits the birthplace of our coach. Forest City, Iowa is the home of Winnebago Industries.

We found customer service located on the perimeter of several football fields worth of buildings. We were put on a waiting list and directed to park our coach in one of the many electric sites that they offered across the street at their visitors center.

So now we are parked and waiting patiently for our turn along with about 40 other individuals and their Winnebago coaches.

What to do? Well, we will take the time to enjoy the area. We will more than likely be here through the holiday and we will make the best of it.

We will start with a tour of the factory! Yep, Winnebago offers free tours of the factory twice a day. A great chance to see how these things are actually put together.

You can also check out the Winnebago Museum which is located in the upper level of the Visitors’ Center. The museum chronicles the Company’s 57-year history, as well as the design and construction of the Company’s motorhomes.

I loved this hand crocheted emblem on display there. It is the size of a large tablecloth.

Winnebago’s History

The company was founded by Forest City businessman John K. Hanson in February 1958. At the time, the town, located in Winnebago County, Iowa, was not doing well. Winnebago Industries soon became one of the biggest employers in Forest City.

Winnebago Factory Tour

The tour starts at the Winnebago Visitors’ Center with a 20-minute video that offers a preview of the manufacturing process. The film was very interesting and gave us an idea of some of the things we would see first hand on the tour.

We were then given safety vests, safety glasses and ear plugs for the tour. A small bus and tour guide would take us in. As for photos, we were told that none were allowed within the plant.

So.. I contacted Connie at Midwest Wanderer. Connie took the tour back in 2010 when photos were allowed. She has given me permission to post the photos below from her site.

Our first stop was the Stitchcraft facility that builds quality chairs, window valances, sofas and other innovative furniture pieces made specifically for Winnebago products.

One thing we noted early on was that the vast majority of the parts to our coach were manufactured here right in these buildings. Winnebago is definitely made in America.

In 1966 the first motor home rolled off the Winnebago Industries assembly lines. The brand name has since become synonymous with “motor home” and is often used for any RV even if it isn’t an actual Winnebago.

Here you see one of the assembly lines. They are installing flooring. the coaches are sitting on a conveyer belt which travels very slowly, giving the workers time to complete their particular jobs before the next coach arrives on the belt.

One fun thing to watch was how they filled the cushions and other “stuffed” items. This machine sucks all the air out of the foam until it is just a tiny piece of it’s former self. The cushion cover is then put over it, and the air is let back in.

We were able to do walk-in tours of three buildings: the Chassis Weld facility, where the raw chassis is prepared to become a home on wheels with the front cab and basement storage added; the Stitchcraft facility, and the main production building named Big Bertha.

Equivalent in size to eight football fields, Big Bertha features three production lines. From our birds eye view above on the catwalk, we could observe the final construction of many different style coaches.

If you get a chance to get to northern Iowa, be sure to check out the Winnebago Factory Tour. It is quite fascinating and left us very impressed with the basic quality of our product.

Oh, and you don’t have to own a motorhome to go on the tour!

We will be here in Iowa a bit until our slide is repaired. In the meantime, we are going to check out the place. There are lots to see and do here. Stay tuned…I hear they have a SPAM museum. I certainly can’t miss that.

Camping Life

Full Time RV Living- The Highs and Lows

June 23, 2017 suzy 5 Comments

Three days ago, we hit the road heading to our next destination, Boston/Cape Cod, MA. It was a rainy day in Atlanta and was going to prove to be a rainy trip to our first stop in Gaffney, SC. But we were headed out ahead of the tropical storm that would hit the gulf coast the next day.

Upon our arrival in South Carolina, we discovered that the full wall slide will not go out. Apparently the motor has broken (for the second time in two years). This means that our roughly 400 square foot motorhome is now about half that size.

Then I dropped an entire glass jar of pickles on the floor resulting in pickles and broken glass everywhere. The final straw? We forgot Ralph’s insulin in Atlanta.

We had to unhook the car (did I mention it is pouring rain?), go to Walmart for the insulin and then spend the evening trying to make my coach floor unsticky.

And to think we left this sweet thing to deal with faulty equipment, pickle juice and rainy Walmart runs.

This is our second issue with the slide mechanism on this coach. Winnebago is aware of the problem. Apparently the motor which operates the slide is too small for the weight of the full wall slide. They have solution. Which means a trip to Iowa to the Winnebago Industries facility.

So there you go. Plans are changed instantly. As full timers, we are getting used to the highs and lows of this lifestyle. With that in mind, I thought I’d put together a list of those highs and lows in order to put this past experience into perspective. I mean, at least we aren’t stranded on the side of the road, right? (Knock on wood).

Let’s Start with the Lows

Broken Finger

This little incident that happened at our first campground of residence in Bar Harbor, ME. Word to the wise, don’t wrap the leashes around your finger while walking the dogs. You see, an errant squirrel can cause quite a bit of havoc. One little 20 pound dog totally broke my finger.

Medical insurance is not what it used to be. We are currently on Obamacare and with the latest changes and the fact that we have next to no selection for healthcare, we are limited to seeing only doctors in our home of record- Atlanta, GA. That doesn’t help us much when we are dealing with a broken finger in Maine.

We ended up paying for this injury in full. On the bright side, I have to say that the folks at the hospital in Ellsworth are amazingly friendly.

Bad Employment Experiences

With any job you have to expect that you are not going to get along with everyone. There will be things you don’t particularly want to do. There will be days that you won’t want to go to work and days where everything seems to go wrong.

More often than not, those experiences are balanced by good experiences, people that you love to work with, great employers, and beautiful places to work.

We have been lucky in the fact that in the two years that we have been on the road, we have only experienced one place that made us regret our decision to work there. But I have to say that we learned a whole lot from that experience.

Pet Illness

Our dog Ralph has been through the ringer this past year. In early 2016, he was diagnosed with bladder stones and diabetes. He had surgery to remove the stones and then was put on insulin twice a day.

Learning to give him shots was pretty traumatic for both of us. And getting his diabetes under control was a whole other issue. It wasn’t long before he went blind.

After much thought, we opted for eye surgery to remove his cataracts. It took months of recovery and a huge dent in our wallet, but Ralph can now see again, and his diabetes is under control.

Click here for a look at the Highs from the past two years

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Camping Life

Taking a break in Georgia

June 6, 2017 suzy 5 Comments

It has been family time in Georgia for the past three months. I cannot believe that time has passed so quickly. When we showed up here at the end of March, there weren’t even leaves on the trees.

Now we are in mid summer. The coach has been parked in my daughter’s driveway snug as a bug, waiting for us to take on our next adventure. But I have to say that this adventure here has been exciting also!

I mean, just look at the nice backyard that we have gotten to enjoy this summer!

My daughter was concerned that we would have a bit of trouble getting used to living in a regular home for a few months. So, they prepared a nice little apartment in the basement of their home for us. We have been quite comfortable here.

We have the coach right nearby if we need anything, and are able to plug the refrigerator into an outside outlet. A perfect spot for a few months visit.

Of course, this post will be peppered with baby photos. The main reason for our visit was our new granddaughter, Esme. She was born on April 20.

Being grandparents has been a wonderful experience. Esme is good-natured (with the exception of the occasional evening tantrum), and such a beautiful little girl.

We will miss her so much when we hit the road again. Life changes sometimes make for even more life changes. We will roll with it and be visiting Georgia much more often than we have in the past couple of years.

The great thing about our lifestyle is that we are (for the most part), free to decide where and when we will be living.

So what have we been doing these past three months besides loving on that baby?

Well, of course we needed to check out some of our local favorite places to eat. I mean, you gotta eat, right? There is nothing better on a hot Georgia day than a raspberry chocolate chip shake from Steak ‘N Shake.

Click here for more!

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Places to Go

Bat Central: Carlsbad Caverns

May 25, 2017 suzy 6 Comments

We left Tucson in mid March and headed back to our hometown in Georgia for the birth of our granddaughter. On the way, we tried to take the time to visit some great places. Our last stop in New Mexico was Carlsbad Caverns.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located in southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave, Carlsbad Cavern, oh, and the bats.

Personally, I’m not a fan of caves. I have claustrophobia and the thought of being hundreds of feet below ground makes my teeth hurt.

But Dave wanted to see this particular cavern because he had heard so much about it. And we certainly couldn’t just drive right by without taking a look.

The entrance includes a large visitor center building that contains a cafeteria, interesting museum, gift shop, and two elevators that can take you down to the caverns below.

It is at this point that you have to make the big decision. Do you want to hike down into the cavern on your own, or take the easy way out and grab the elevator?

We chose to hike down. After all, how difficult could it be? The ranger said that it would take several hours to hike the four mile path down into the caverns. We would end up being 75 stories below ground.

At the entrance to the cave is a huge amphitheater, created for crowds to watch the evening show of up to 300,000 Mexican Free-tail bats as they emerge from the cave in a huge cloud of blackness.

Yes, seriously. There were bats.

The path zig-zags down into the darkness below. Ready for our new adventure, we started the hike. Carlsbad Cavern is the fifth largest cavern in North America and the twenty-eighth largest in the world. And as long as the bats minded their own businesses, we would be perfectly happy to take in the views!

As we descended into the cave, it was amazing to look up at the pathway that we had already traveled. The descent is steep, and honestly if you have bad knees, I wouldn’t recommend it.

It is a steady downward descent for 75 stories. Craziness.

This passageway continues into narrower tunnels where the first extensive collections of stalagmites and stalactites are found, including named features such as Devils Spring, Queen’s Chamber, Kings Palace and the Boneyard.

Note that I am now carrying my jacket. It is surprisingly humid in the caves. I believe it was around 90%. And warm.

The surroundings become steadily more scenic, with small side-caves filled with intricate rock forms.

We stopped often to take photos and small breaks from the walk down. Unlike many caverns that I have visited, Carlsbad was not brightly lit with different colors. They maintained the natural look with low lighting.

The lighting was just enough to enjoy the amazing scenery. Once reaching the bottom of the shaft, you enter the huge Big Room. It is here that you can further explore, visit an underground gift shop, and then make the next big decision.

Do you want to climb all the way back out or take the elevator up?

We chose the elevator. You can feel free to call me a wimp. LOL! As for the caverns themselves, I highly recommend a visit! Amazing rock formations, lots of history, and tons of bats! You can’t go wrong there!

Places to Go

A visit to White Sands National Monument

May 4, 2017 suzy 3 Comments

Well, lets backtrack a bit. I want to tell you a bit about the sites that we were able to visit on our way from Tucson to Atlanta. We took about three weeks to cross the country, which gave us time to do a few tourist things. Our first major stop was the little town of Alamogordo, NM and White Sands National Monument.

Crossing into New Mexico from Arizona, we were not sure what to expect. Arizona had been a big surprise. Where we had expected nothing but desert, we found mountains, forests and amazing things to see and do. New Mexico just might surprise us too!

White Sands National Monument is a unique experience. There’s really no other place like it on the planet. It’s the world’s largest gypsum dunefield, with miles and miles of stunning white landscape.

Surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides, the basin of white sand dunes is roughly 275 square miles.

Driving into the park, you follow a road that increasing becomes packed sand. With the constant movement of the dunes, this roadway needs to be plowed daily and driving along it, reminds me of a freshly plowed snow covered road.

Gypsum rarely occurs as sand because it is water-soluble. Normally, rain would dissolve the gypsum and carry it to the sea. Because this particular basin has no outlet to the sea, it traps dissolved gypsum from the surrounding mountains. As the water sinks into the ground, it leaves crystals of gypsum.

It is hard in photos to give perspective of the size of this place. In the photo above, Dave and I are standing on a dune looking down at our car below.

An interesting note: White Sands National Monument is surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range, a military testing area for the U.S. Army. Most of the dune field lies within that missile range. The world’s first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity test site in the missile range, just 65 miles north of White Sands National Monument in 1945.

Because the park lies completely within the White Sands Missile Range, both the park and U.S. Route 70 between Las Cruces, New Mexico and Alamogordo are subject to closure for safety reasons when tests are conducted on the missile range.

Miles and miles of white sand. But unlike actual quartz based sand crystals, gypsum does not get hot under the summer sun. In fact, the dunes are great for downhill sledding along with hiking. Just be sure that you follow the signs and bring plenty of water.

The desert can be a beautiful, yet deadly place.

High in the clouds: Cloudcroft, NM

Now lets take a look at where all that gypsum comes from! Just a short drive in the other direction from Alamogordo, high up in the mountain range is the town of Cloudcroft. Located at 8,600 feet above sea level, Cloudcroft is one the highest towns in the US.

Following the winding road to the top takes about 30 minutes, with lots of places to pull over and enjoy the vistas. In the photo above, you can see White Sands National Monument in the distance. The rock that Dave has his foot on is gypsum. Here is where White Sands begins.

Back in the early 1900’s, Cloudcroft was a major tourist destination. Due to the altitude, it was the perfect place to get away from the desert heat. A rail line was created to bring those tourist up from Alamogordo.

Climbing from the valley into the mountains required numerous trestles, switchbacks and grades as steep as 6.4 percent.

With the arrival of US Route 82 to Cloudcroft around 1945, traffic on the railroad line diminished. Southern Pacific discontinued passenger service in 1938, and freight service in 1947; abandonment of the line came soon after in 1948.

The only evidence of the railroad line today is the remains of the trestle over Mexican Canyon, as seen above.