A year since our last vacation

Well, it has been a year since our last vacation and I can remember a year ago, thinking as we traveled through the great north west that I was sad because I was sure we were going to have to put Roxy, our Austrailian shepperd down. She has a tumor that is growing in her belly. She has bad lungs and congestive heart failure, so putting her under to try to address the tumor is not an option. We really thought we were going to have to find a veterinarian along the way to put her to sleep. A year later, she is still going strong. And, quite frankly, we think she is doing a little better. We know the tumor is still there, and growing. Carol Palpates for it on occasion and has seen an increase over time with it, but, Roxy seems to be tuffing it out, and for the most part, happy with each day of life.

Also, a year later, we find that diesel prices are atleast a dollar less than they were a year ago. As a result, we find that we are still able go out with our RV on occasion. The current price of diesel $2.99 a gallon. Last year at this time if I remember, we were looking at about $4.19 a gallon.

We will be taking a week off to go to Acton, in the Antalope Valley of Southern California to Join a Samboree of a bunch of folks. We're looking forward to this trip 'cause we will get to also get to see the Manzanar National Historical park. But, before that happens, we will be joining the entire Waite family for what is going to start being an Annual Family reunion at the Lodi Tower Park KOA. Today, we went and checked out the facilities and finalized our reservations. We also joined in helping Carols brother Peter in celebrating his 61st birthday.

Next weekend, we join up with an Escapee's club at the Jackson Rancheria RV park. Tune in next weekend for an update.

Happy Camping! - Eric-

More time in the Felton/Santa Cruz area

September 5th, 2009

During the last couple days of our trip to the Felton and Santa Cruz area, we got to spend so much time having lots of fun. We went for a great trip on the Roaring Camp Rail road. It was an hour long trip with a old fashioned train robbery thrown in for good measure. The train ride took us through an area use to be heavily logged so many long years ago. This is a beautiful redwood forest Carol and I had a great time during the hour long trip.

After our trip on the train, we went to Capitola and check the town out. They had a begonia festival going on a great band out by the sand and some absolutely fabulous weather. We have had such a wonderful time on this trip. And as always, the pooches have been so well behaved during this trip. Despite the fact we have had so much fun, we still have one more date ahead of us.

Happy camping! - Eric -

The celebration continues!!!

We had a wonderful 10th anniversary dinner at a restaurant by the name of Shadowbrook in Scotts Valley, just outside of Felton. This is a great restaurant that has a couple of ways to gain access to the restaurant. You can either use a stair way, or a trolley car. It is a very romantic location. It is a multi-floor establishment where you enter on the top floor, near the bar, and then my find your dining location on one of three floors below the top level. There is even one part of the establishment where you can fine a tree rising up through the building.

The food was exceptional; Carol had a Fillet Minion and I had prime rib. Dinner was topped off with a pair of chocolate truffles and come chocolate cake. We even remembered to bring our stemware from our wedding so that we could have a toast to our 10 wonderful years of marriage.

Here is to my wonderful wife Carol. Thank you so much for being mine and for spending your life with me. I am so thankful for every day of it.

All my love always! Love - Eric-

The start of the Celebration...

Well, we have left for our annual anniversary trip This year, we are traveling to Capitola California. It is out by the California Coast. We left as soon as I got home from work on Thursday night. We made it as far as KMart shopping center just outside of Felton, which is the city of our actual camping destination. We arrived at Kamp K-Mart after the store had closed so, we cruised around the parking lot to see if we could find an out of the way spot. As luck would have it, back behind the stores, we found a motor home already parked. It was a very nice couple who have been on the road for the last 25 months, seeing all of the stuff we would eventually like see our selves. The rig they were driving was our dream rig. It was 38 feet with four slide outs. They were very nice 'Normal' folks just like us! :-)

On Friday morning, we went and had breakfast at a restaurant called Grumpy's which was in the K-mart shopping center. It was a two person operation, a cook and a waitress. They were a well oiled machine. The good was great and the service was timely! After breakfast, we then went and bought some things at the K-Mart and Dollar tree so that we were supporting the establishments that provided the fine over-nite parking. Also next to the back parking lot was a dog park. It gave us a chance to get Lilly out for a run. There was one dog there that was very aggressive and kept attacking Lilly. As a result, we didn't stay there very long. Though the guy and his dog left, Lilly just wasn't in the mood to do 'Wild dog', so we called that visit short. After the dog park, we went across the street to the local Safeway store. The parking lot was pretty packed with activity, which is good to see, especially considering the recession these days. Because there were so many cars, it was hard to find enough spots together to park the truck and trailer. As you can see though, I found a spot. To borrow a saying from the US navy, and modify it a little bit, 'If you can park an RV here, you can park it any where.

We arrived at the River Grove RV park in Felton shortly after leaving Safeway. It wasn't rated very high by some that reviewed it on RV park reviews, but we find it very acceptable. Yes, they are dirt spots, but they have Cable TV, Power, Sewer and most importantly, WIFI! ;-)

Well, that is my update for today. Tune in tomorrow to see picture from our anniversary dinner tonight as we celebrate our 10th anniversary. :-)

Happy camping! - Eric and Carol Anderson

Ten wonderful years of Marriage...

This coming Friday, the 4th of September, Carol and I will be celebrating our tenth year of marriage. As we sit and think about it, initially, it seems like time has just flown by. However, when we start to take inventory of all we have done over the last 10 years, we really have enjoyed a lot of different things.

This time last year, Carol and I were on a two week vacation trip to the Pacific north west. This year, we aren't able to take a two week trip as we would have liked, but we will be enjoying a long 4 day weekend to the Capitola area.

Carol and I met 11 years ago, and have enjoyed really 11 years together, not just the 10 that we have been married. I have been so lucky to have been married to Carol. I was single for so long, I was really starting to doubt that I would ever find the woman of my dreams. But, I just needed to be a little patient. Carol has shown me so much love and caring over the 11 years we have been together. I was also lucky that Carol brought along with her to the relationship, her wonderful daughter Katie. I'm a very lucky guy to have such a wonderful family.

For us the computer dating thing worked, and for those who might feel 'Hopeless', all I can say is 'give it some time'. It is meant to be, you'll find that person, that special someone, just as I did.

Thank you Honey, I love you so much. Thank you for being mine. Please be mine forever. And yes, I do love you more than you love me. Love - Eric -

Their on the road again...

Hi there everyone,

Well my wonderful sister Karen and her great husband Mike are on the road again. They are on a four month trip circumnavigating the 48 contiguous United States in their Safari motor home. If you get a chance, please check out their blog at http://www.ouramericansafari.blogspot.com.

We are so jealous and wish that we could be joining them right now. They do have a lot of real-estate they are planning to cover in those four months. They have been on the road just over a week and already reached Glacier Park in Canada. We look forward to checking out their blog on a regular basis and traveling vicariously through the entries.

We are doing great. Katie and Russ are getting settled in the home that they are now renting. As we have been downsizing out of the storage unit, we have been giving them more and more furniture. They sure are getting set up nicely.

My work is going fine. The implementation of Telesphere 6.0 wrapped up early this year. Now, i am working on modules that will be part of the new Telesphere that we just installed to help us manage our Cable TV business.

All of the doggies are doing fine. Believe it or not, Roxy is still with us. We just enjoy every day that we have with her. Tyson and Lilly are doing great. Tyson hurt his neck a few months ago, and though he will never the same, he gets around pretty well, all things considered. We put these little booties on his hind legs to keep him from rubbing the tops of his hind feet raw because of dragging them.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Happy Camping! - Eric and Carol Anderson -

A cherrished snow globe and Katie and Russ's new pad

There is a snow globe that was made in the 1930's that belonged to Carols grandmother. The snow globe went from her grandmother to her mom and then ended up with us. It is a cherished family heirloom. Through all of the environmental changes that this snow globe has been through, the water had gotten really murky. A repair had been attempted some time ago, and though successful, it left the base damaged and after a while, the water got murky again. Carol read a story about a gentleman, Dick Heibel, who repaired snow globes such as these. He is 72 and lives in Michigan. I gave Dick a call and explained our dilemma. He told me that based on our description it had a bear in the snow globe. We weren't sure what the object was, but through the murky water, a bear was a possibility. He also explained he had seen many of these and that they were made in the 1930's. He told me that there was 60% chance he could fix the globe. Well, it wasn't really enjoyable the way it was, so we decided to send it off in hopes he could repair it. In a couple weeks, we had the globe returned to us and it was beautiful. As you can see in a couple pictures, you can get an idea of what the globe started out and ended up after the repair.

Karen and Mike started their latest adventure. They are traveling the US for more than 90 days in their 1994 Safari motorhome. We are so jealous. Please check out their blog at http://www.ouramericansafari.blogspot.com/

We are in the process of continuing to empty out the storage unit this weekend. We took our old King size select comfort mattress up to Sandy and Bills this morning and they are taking it for a test drive. Hopefully, they enjoy it as much as we have over the years. We also took another load of stuff down to Katie and Russ at their new place in Sacramento. They are now renting a place from Katie's, dad's partner, Kevin. It's a cute little place. The kids are so excited 'cause now they have a lawn and garden. We've really helped to set them up with all sorts of stuff for their place. Their first place was a one bedroom apartment, now they are in a three bedroom house. We set them up with lots of additional furniture and appliances.

We are so happy for them being in their new digs. Though a lot of setup still needs to be done in the house, you might get an idea about the house and the decorative gardening around it.

Well, I gotta head off to bed. I gotta go to work tomorrow morning while we do a server move during the one day of the week that the office is closed.

Happy camping! - Eric -