Katie's 21st Birthday - Las Vegas

Though our first trip out in the new motorhome took place in September to the family reunion, was the first 'trip', in the new rig, it didn't really qualify as a 'Shake down' Cruise. The second trip was to a Camping World in Rocklin. That took the CR-V for a test drag. But the trip to Las Vegas for Katie's 21st birthday was a true Shake down cruise. We left Sacramento at 4:00 PM on the 9th of December from Carol's work. We went as far as a Wal Mart in North West Bakersfield. We then continued on to Las Vegas Friday morning to stay at the KOA at the Circus Circus hotel and hook up with Katie and Russ who flew into Las Vegas Friday morning from Sacramento.

Friday we went to the Monte Carlo and enjoyed the Dinner Buffet. After dinner we took Katie and Russ to the Jaberwakee show. This was a very busy show that went for 2 hours but seemed like we were there only 30 to 45 minutes.

Saturday, we spent most of the day just walking around the Strip. We had lunch at the Harley Davidson that was on the strip. We then had a wonderful dinner at a place Nove which was at the top of the Palms Hotel. This was where we took Katie for her Birthday dinner. The dinner and service were wonderful.

Sunday, Katie and Russ pretty much explored the Casinos that were interesting to them while Carol and I laid low for the day. Carol and I did take some time checking out the Circus, Circus Casino. This was the first time Carol and I had ever checked out this iconic Casino and it's indoor, on going, circus acts.

When Katie and Russ were done exploring on Sunday, they joined us at the Motorhome for left overs from the night before. After dinner, we took Katie and Russ back to their hotel and said our good byes for a wonderful birthday weekend celebration.

Carol and I headed home first thing Monday morning. We covered the 550 miles from Las Vegas to Plymouth in 11 hours, which included a lunch stop and a later Starbucks stop. :-) Driving this new beast is a real pleasure. We found that we got about 8.3 miles per gallon on this trip and the drivers seat is very comfortable. Though I was tired, when we got home, I was not exhausted by any stretch of the imagination.

We don't know when our next trip will be, but we will be ready to go when ever that is.

Regardless, what we do know is that Carol and I are both very proud of the wonderful young lady that Katie has become. We are also very proud of the young man she is sharing her life with in Russell Gallette.

Happy camping! - Eric and Carol -

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Hi there,

Well, we are officially entering the holidays and they are as busy as always. Our family Thanksgiving this year consisted of many wonderful gatherings. Though we couldn't participate in all of them, we did manage to see almost everyone that we could have hoped too.

Our weekend started with Karen and Mike traveling down from Ashland Oregon to join us for Thanksgiving.

One Thanksgiving gathering this weekend was on Thursday afternoon at Brandee and Kevins. We were not able to attend that event, but it was attended by Kevins mom and daughter as well as Calvin and Joyce, and Sandy and Bill. The other afternoon Thanksgiving gathering was at our new motorhome with Mike and Karen. We were also joined by Katie and Mike and Karens son Marquis who lives in San Francisco. We had a wonderful dinner for the 6 of us in the motorhome, though we could have very easily sat 8 at the table.

Carol and I spent Friday hanging out with Karen and Mike. We went to the Black Chasam Caverns which are located in Pine Grove. This was a very interesting place to visit. It is like many caves in that it has StalageTites and Stalagemites. But unlike 90 percent of the caverns in the world, it has Helagtites which are formations that travel horizontially.

Saturday, Miek and Karen headed back to Ashland Oregon and we joined many of the family at Bill and Loretta's home in Pioneer. The gathering at Bill and Loretta's was a wonderful evening with 12 of us in attendance. Sandy and Bill, Bill, Loretta and Brandon of course, Carol and myself, Brandee, Kevin and Danielle as well as Calvin and Joyce. There were 12 of us that had a very nice visit.

Unfortunately, we all have to go back to work on Monday, but this was a most wonderful Thanksgiving that we all got enjoy.

Happy Camping and Happy Holidays! Eric and Carol!

Brandee's B-day and a 5K

Well, as always, we don't let much dust collect on our selves. We always seem to be really busy virtually every day of our lives. And, with our new Motorhome, our lives are no different. Of course, life always has other events that come along the way as well. None the less, we enjoy all of these activities that we enter into. Last weekend, on Saturday, we had a 5K that we participated in with a number of folks from our weight loss class. The 5k was a benefit for the underprivileged youth of Elk Grove. We had to be in Elk Grove at 7:30 am, so for a Saturday, we had to rise and shine mighty early in the morning. The morning started out with a beautiful sunrise. Our fall this year has been filled with some really spectacular Sunrises and Sunsets.

After we got home from the 5k on Saturday, I got busy working on installing the tow bar on the front of the Honda. This project required that I remove the old bumper internals and replace it with one that has the tow bar receivers welded too it. Once I finished that, and wired the tail lights of the Honda to a receptacle on the front, and now our little black car is all ready to be towed as part of great trip to Las Vegas for Katie's birthday in early December.

On Sunday, we attended Brandee's 42nd birthday at her home with a number of her friends and family in attendance. Brandee has been very successful in building her clientele since she sold the Beauty Emporium and started to focus on her business as a Hair Stylist. We are so proud of her.

This weekend, we took the Motorhome and all of it's occupants to Camping World in Rocklin to get a recall take care of on the Refrigerator. This was also a great opportunity to try out towing the the Honda behind the rig. We are really thrilled with how well the Honda tows behind our Allegro Bus.

We are so in love with our Allegro Bus. It is a wonderful rig and we just couldn't be happier. We've had to deal with a few issues on it. We found a water leak on the right of the motorhome where the large awning attaches to the side of the rig. Also, when we were getting ready to test hooking up the Honda to the Allegro Bus, we found the motorhome would not start. So, we've had to put a couple new batteries in the Moho. There are four more batteries that need to be replaced, but they are not as critical and we can wait a while to replace these.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Take care and happy camping! - Eric and Carol -

Into November we go!!!

Hi there everyone,

Well, we have finished off another Halloween here at the Far Horizons 49er Trailer Village and are no worse for wear. In fact, we are a little lighter, but not because of Halloween. First off, we'll report on the Halloween. As we mentioned in an earlier post, we celebrate Halloween here at the RV park twice. Both weekends were equally successful. The park was sold out both weekends.

This time, we carved our pumpkins and added a tomb stone to our display. There was a group that set up a fun house and another one that had a kids treat area and an adult treat area where Wine was being served.

This next weekend we are going to start the weekend with a 5K walk followed by hopefully, installing the tow bar on the front of the CRV for towing it by the motor home. Then on Sunday, we will be helping Brandee celebrate her birthday.

Well, we guess that is it for our update this week. Take care and Happy Camping! Eric and Carol

Another month of busy activities

Well, Halloween is just around the corner and so you know what that means, another month is almost in the books. Sometimes I think we are adrenalin junkies and like being busy all of the time.

At the tail end of September, we bought our new digs, a 2003 Allegro bus motor home. Because the money didn't come through as quickly as we would have liked, we had to really hustle to get all of our stuff moved from the Fifth wheel to the motor home in time to move the motor home to the KOA in Lodi for the annual family reunion. One of the things that was missing from our new home was a computer desk. Well, instead of buying some pre-fabricated desk that I was going to have to modify the heck out of, I decided to build us one from scratch, and we are both very happy with how it came out. Staples also had a heck of a deal on office chairs. We found one that is very comfortable to work at and with it being half price, it was hard to pass up. Being that it is a dark brown, it matches the cabinets and the desk very well.

Less than a week after taking delivery of our new home, it was time to head to the Stockton/Lodi KOA at tower park. This was our third annual reunion at this park. The location works great because it is centrally located for all of the family members. Carol and Sandy once again organized some great games for everyone to participate in, and as usual, Kevin McCann was an outstanding master of ceremonies. My sister and Brother-in-law Karen and Mike were able to join in on the fun. They had their new addition to their family Guinness a Shepherd mix. Sadly, Bubba passed away when we went up to visit Karen and Mike while Kristin was in town in late September. Molly, Chuck and Terry's Beagle also made a special appearance. Most of all though, it was great to see all of the Waite siblings and so many of their kids attend the event. Saturday was a full day starting with games, having a horse shoe tournament followed by a pot-luck in the pavilion at the end of the day with awards and a slide show. No one went to the Emergency Room and the Cops didn't have to be called so all in all, it was a very successful family reunion.

It's closing in on Halloween and the Far Horizons 49er Trailer Village is bustling with activities. Starting with 2009, the owner of the RV park has opted to have two Halloween weekends. What this means is for two weekends in a row, the park is sold out and the vast majority of the RV sites are decorated with various decorations. Some really go all out. So even set up complete 'Haunted Houses'. Despite the fact that we had 1.5 inches of rain on Saturday night, the majority of the kids at the park made the rounds for their candy allotments. Even though the rigs on either side of ours didn't know that Halloween was such a popular event here, they both stepped up to the plate and participated in a big way.

Speaking of rain, we've had over 2.5 inches of rain here at the RV park in a 48 hour period. This was a fairly significant storm for this time of the year. We weren't really expecting it to be this wet a weekend, but for the most part we managed to stay dry. We did find however that our new rig has a leak in it. So, needless to say, Eric has another chore for around the house that he needs to take care of. I've tracked the problem down to the awning support up towards the front of the RV. So, when it dries out later this week, I'll get out my caulking gun and get things sealed up. We'll test the repair this next weekend, 'cause we are expecting more rain, for our second Halloween weekend.

Well, that is all for now. Happy camping! - Eric and Carol -

We have been busy again

Well, September is almost gone and once again, it has been a very busy month.

We started of September with a trip to the Olema Campground and RV resort. Olema is next to Point Reyes just north of San Francisco. We went there to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary. Once again we had a wonderful celebration with a visit to someplace new. We went to the Point Reyes light house, took the dogs to the beach and had a wonderfully romantic anniversary dinner at Spinikers in Sausolito.

The weekend after that, we made a quick trip up to Ashland Oregon to visit with my niece Kristin who came out to Oregon from her home in Connecticut. We had such a wonderful visit with her and my sister Karen and my brother-in-law Mike. We even got to see Mike play in his Summer band at an Oktoberfest celebration.

The weekend after that, we went to Arco Arena and we picked out our new home. A 2003 Alegro Bus motorhome. I can't remember the last time I was so excited. I've been looking forward for a long time to getting back to driving a vehicle like this. It takes me back to the old days of driving for the Blue Devils where I drove 40 foot buses and 65 foot tractor trailer rigs.

As they say life is good!! Well, I need to get back to packing, 'cause we are moving this weekend.

Take care and Happy camping! - Eric and Carol -

I've been a bad boy again...

Yes, I've been a bad boy, it's been over a month since I have updated the blog. You know we just get so busy some times and there are always other things we can do and I just don't get around to the blog. But really, there just isn't that much that is exciting to report some times. But now with both of us working, we are on the 'Go' a lot. Saturdays and Sundays are the only days for doing 'Fun' things and so life just flys by. But enough about that, I know what you want, you want an update!!!

Well the biggest news is probably the weight loss program. Well, it has been going really well for both Carol and I. We started the program back in April and we have both lost in excess of 50 pounds! I'm still off of my Blood pressure and Cholesterol meds. Carol is off her Blood pressure and Diabetes meds, but she is back on her Cholesterol meds. The reason for that is because her cholesterol appears to be hereditary, not diet related. :-( But that's ok, she reports that she feels so much better than she did 6 months ago and that is what is so important!!!

Carol also loves her job working for Cal-Fire. She is the secretary to 8 supervisors so there is always something to do. And, there is always a variety of things to do as well!!! She really enjoys everyone that she works with and the location of the office. Her commute is almost an hour, but there isn't much stop and go so she's fine with the drive.

As I got up this morning I heard the wind blowing and I thought to myself, "Oh Cool, lets go check on the weather station!". For Fathers day, Carol got me the coolest little weather station. It comes with an anemometer, Rain gauge and indoor and outdoor temperature sensors. It reports everything either to the TV or to the computer. The only drag is that it stops working all together if you turn off the computer. So, I just leave it un-connected from the computer and we change to our "Weather Channel" when ever we are interested in seeing the specifics on what is happening outside.

We recently went to camping world and found a great water filter for our RV. It is a Campco water filter. It is larger than the ones you get at Walmart. This one has a replaceable cartridge. The water that comes out of it is very clean and tastes great. We've stopped going and getting bottled water every week because of this new filter. We just love it!

We haven't been anywhere with the trailer for a while, but now that Carol has a job, we're hoping that we can afford to get out a little more often. We did take a day trip last weekend down to the town of Columbia which is south of us, but north of Yosemite. That was a cool day trip. It is a cool little town that was built in the Gold Rush days. Considering the down economy that we are in, it was great to see all of the Activity that was going on. Lots of people wandering the streets and checking out the stores. I had the first Ice Cream cone since April, it was very yummy, but I had gotten to a point where I didn't want any more ice cream before I was actually done with it. :-)

We also got together with Carols niece Brandee and her husband Kevin for breakfast last Sunday. With Carol having a job, she hasn't been able to get together with her sister Sandy and Brandee like she use to. Brandee sold her shop the 'Beauty Emporium' to a stylist that rented a space from Brandee and the business is doing quite well. Brandee is now a stylist with a station at the Beauty emporium and really doing a nice job of establishing a clientele. :-)

Carol's other niece, Shanon, has appeared in a magazine that focuses on dogs and dog training. Shannon and her daughter Kammy appear in many shots in the magazine and now, at least in the dog world, are quite famous! We are so proud of them! :-) The magazine picture included in the blog is of Kammy and her Pit bull. Carol and I both love Pit bulls by the way. At our local animal shelter where I walk dogs on sunday's we normally have over 50% of our population being Pit bulls or Pit Bull mixes. I'm happy to report that 98% of them are great dogs and very eager for me to visit them on any given Sunday.

Well, I guess that is about all for now. Next weekend will be Carol's and my 12th wedding anniversary. We are going away to Olema (north of San Francisco) for the labor day weekend. So, check the blog in a week or so for updates of our trip to Olema. Take care and Happy Camping! - Eric -