Happy New years 2011

Hi there everyone,

Well, are into a new year again. We have had a wonderful holiday season. The best way to cap it off was a trip to Ashland Oregon for New Years Weekend. I was off the day of New Years eve. Carol had to work a Half day however. So, I took her to work then returned to the Motor home to pick up Roxy, Lily and Tyson. Then I returned to Carols work at 12:00 and picked her up and we headed up to Oregon.

We got to Karen and Mikes early in the evening of New Years eve. Mikes brother Chuck and his wife Terry joined us at Karen and Mikes for New Years eve. We played games for a while that evening, but un-fortunately, we didn't make it to mid night to see in the new year. None the less we had a wonderful evening.

On New Years day, we had a wonderful New years brunch at Chuck and Terry's home. The remainder of Saturday was fairly low key. Mike and I worked on modifying Carol's Christmas gift from Mike and Karen which was a set of curio boxes for storing her ceramic boxer collection. He also showed off the Fleur de leaf stained glass work that he did for Chuck and Terry's son Scott. We also got a chance to check out the mural that was completed on Mike and Karen's motor home.

We headed home Sunday morning. It allowed Karen, Mike, Chuck and Terry to start to recover after the holidays. You see, we weren't their only visitors over the holidays. They had Chuck and Terry's son Scott as well as Mike and Karens son Marq visit during Christmas. Additionally, they were visited by Mike and Chuck's brother Steve and his family as they returned from visiting Lena's family in north eastern Oregon. On our way home, we got to check out Mt Shasta which was covered with quite a bit of snow this year. The drive home was beautiful.

Once again, the holiday season has been a wonderful one. Carol and I are really enjoying our new motor home. Carol is becoming quite the professional at using the Convection oven in the motor home. She has prepared a beef roast, a turkey breast, scones as well as short cake.

Life living full time in an RV is good! Happy camping! Eric and Carol

My Review of Kodak EasyShare C182 Digital Camera, Blue

Originally submitted at Staples

Share your world big and bright with the KODAK EASYSHARE C182 Digital Camera. It gives you a gorgeous 3 in. display and 12 MP so you can see your life in amazing detail—all at a great price. And with easy-to-use features like Smart Capture, taking extrao dinary pictures is as easy as pushing a butt...

Kodak EasyShare C182 Digital Camera, Blue

Great camera for the price

By Carpetking from Plymouth, California on 1/2/2011

 

4out of 5

Pros: Good Image Stabilization, Good Image Quality, Nice Body Color, Long Battery life, Fast/accurate auto-focus, Large Clear LCD, Easy To Use, Small / Compact

Cons: Limited Zoom, No speaker

Best Uses: Wildlife photos, Landscape/Scenery, Sports/Action, Travel, Weddings/Events, Video, Indoors/Low Light, Family Photos

Describe Yourself: Photo Enthusiast

Was this a gift?: Yes

We use this camera all of the time for various situations. It works well in low light where the subject is close to the camera. We are very happy with how this camera works in all modes. The only draw back is that when you record a video, and then play it back, there is no speaker to listen to the audio with.

(legalese)

Christmas 2010

We had another wonderful Christmas holiday weekend, though it was too short, as always. The special bonus to Carol and I was the fact that Katie made the Trek up from Sacramento two days in a row to spend time with the family.

On Friday I was off work for the day and Carol got off work at 2:00 PM. Carol and Katie got to the motor home at around 3:00 PM and we headed up to Bill and Sandies in Pioneer to join Brandee, Kevin, Marge and Daniel in a Christmas eve celebration with Sandy and Bill. Sandy had prepared a wonderful spread of Turnkey and pork roast and many other goodies to enjoy. Katie took a while after dinner to go visit with her dad Bryan and his parents. Though we miss Katie when she leaves, we are always glad that she gets to spend some time with her grandmother and grandfather.

After Katies return to Sandy and Bill's we opened presents and then enjoyed some pie for desert. The problem with the holidays for Carol and I is the fact that it is tough to keep the weight off when we are surrounded by all of this tasty food. We also have a few well meaning people in our lives that are sabotagers of our diet by giving us gifts like Chocolate covered Candies and such that will do nothing but add to our waist lines. But, it's the holidays, so I guess we should be expected to cheat a little bit.

On Christmas day, Carol and I woke up stocking stuffers. Those were gift enough for us, but we had more to open once Katie and Russ arrived. After breakfast, Carol and I started getting Christmas dinner ready. I had baked pies in the convection oven on Friday, so we then cooked a turkey breast and a beef roast in the convection oven through-out the day. Katie and Russ arrived around 2:00 and we opened presents. We always enjoy our gatherings with Katie and Russ, regardless of what we are doing. The high-light of the gift opening was Carol's new purse that she got from Katie and Russ and the new Jacket that Katie got from her mom and I.

Around 4:00 Sandy and Bill arrived for dinner. There was nice chit chat going on while we finished getting dinner ready for the 6 of us. Once again, we set up the banquet table in the mo-ho and sat down to a wonderful feast. Thanks to Carol's expert cooking using the Convection oven and Bill's expert carving, the Turkey and the roast came out perfect.

Our next big event is going up to Oregon for New years eve in a week. Tune in for that update later. Happy camping! - Eric and Carol -

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