HERE WE GO
10/21/05
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Well I have finally figured out how to edit and update my blog. It won't be real pretty for a while but as I become more familiar with it I may add some bells and whistles.
We are staying in Selma, North Carolina and waiting for the hurricane to make up it's mind. The plan is to continue on towards Florida Monday going as far as Georgia. Time will tell.
We have been here two days and have eaten at Cracker Barrel twice. This is our first time with C.B. and it's great. Went to a tabbaco museum today and also Ava Gardner's museum. Went to a Smithfield Ham place here too. This campsite is near Smithfield. Went to the local golf course to hit a bucket of balls but they said I needed a shirt with a collar on it. Hotsey Totsey!!!! Will get dressed up tomorrow and take some pictures to put on this Blog.
10/22/05 Saturday
We ate at Ruby Tuesdays this morning then Laurie got her hair cut. We then went to the Old Grist Mill. The owner Ray gave us a 2 hour tour. They actually have 3 old stone grinders that were water powered, now use electricity, that produce 250 lb of meal each an hour. Next we went to JR'S Mall. They allow smoking in the stores here..Tabacco is loved in N.Carolina!!
We then ate at Bob Evans restaraunt and went to the Carolina Pottery store. This store is the size of Costco and full of all kinds of stuff..Holiday decorations, glass and carpet stuffetc. We are going back tomorrow as Laurie has several items picked out and we only did about a quarter of the store.
10/23/05 Sunday
Batted balls at the Golf course today. Or hit the balls as Laurie says. We wore the correct clothes!! Went to the Pottery store again and Laurie bought some stuff. Good thing Ralph is big. Then we ate at Bob Evans again...Cracker Barrel had 1/2 hour wait. Took Ralph to the truck wash yesterday. $23.50. They were having a 1/2 price sale. Gonna rain tomorrow, of course, cause it's a travel day. We are headed to Point South, South Carolina tomorrow. That's just north of Georgia. Will stay there until we see what Wilma is going to do. We can make it to Orlando in one day from there. Erica left Calif yesterday so she will probably be in Orlando tomorrow the way she drives!!! Gets it from her mother....
10/24/05 Monday
Came down I95 today to Point South, S.C. Staying at a KOA. Rained just enough to dirty up Ralph and Alice. I95 thru north and south Carolina is the best level road we've been on the whole trip and the most heavily policed. Saw at least 12 people getting tickets.
Will head to Florida tomorrow.
10/26/05 Wed
OK!!! We're starting to get comments on the blog. Mike,Chuckie and JoElaine have cracked the code.
Chuckie....Maw says only she can issue get out of jail free cards for her. Good luck!!!
Looks like the snow is starting early everywhere. We were going to take I 40 across but might drop down to I 10 if it starts snowing.
We are in Sanford, FL. 4 miles from Erica's apartment. Very nice apartment across the street from her new job. Lots of good stores all around.
Got Laurie a new laptop last night...tired of hearing "all I ever get is the old handme downs" of course that's true.
Gotta go shopping now, Laurie is having withdrawal fits.
Arch
10/31/05 Monday
Came 424 miles today from Orlando to Atlanta, GA. We Helped Erica get all set up in her new apartment...New 42" LCD TV, Couch and love seat, coffee table and end table, big dining room table w/4 chairs and a new computer desk, chair and LCD monitor. Erica is in the shopping center of the world!!! More name brand stores and restraunts than we've seen anywhere! Very rich area...Rolls Royces on down. She started her job today so she is busy I'm sure. When she manages to get her phone (another story) she will come to the blogger and fill us in.
I haven't updated due to being busy and could only get online via my cellphone in Florida. We have a wireless connection here. Somewhat faster.
We will spend tomorrow with Laurie's Aunt Julie and her husband Dave. They live on campus at the University of Georgie. The day after that we will tour Atlanta...Carter's presidental center and a few other things, maybe CNN etc. We may take a Greyline tour. The one in D.C. was great!
Talked to Betsy and Joey a few days ago while Erica and Laurie were shopping me to death. They are both doing fine...Betsy's kitten is better after the Vet corrected his work. Joey is zooming around just fine, legs working great.
We will head towards Wynne Arkansas to see Jimmy and Susie Thursday and stay there for several days. Uncle Jim had a wisdom tooth pulled and it broke off so they had to dig around. He's not feeling too good. If it wasn't for bad luck he wouldn't have any luck. Says his face is all swollen up. I don't know how you would tell that but...
Looking forward to Judy and Louise coming to Calif in Feb. to work at the AT&T.
Nanna tell Blake the AT&T is Monday Feb 6 thru Sunday Feb 12. He can contact me about when he wants to work, etc. Why don't you get them on here? We need more people writing comments in here so I don't have to work as much.
I really am trying to post some pictures. Just takes a little time. This traveling is hard work. We seldom have a day to do just nothing. Well, I don't. Laurie on the other hand HHMMMMM
We are still planning on being home by Thanksgiving. We will be in Texas for about a week to see two presidential museums.
Big Mike...Where were your Grandkids out here?
Little Mike...I didn't know Mitsubishi had a new truck. God I've been gone so long they are sneaking new cars into production!! I'm slipping. I am going to some of the car shows for sure this year...LA and San Jose are both having one.
Nicki, Emily and Emily...You're supposed to get on here and say Hi to Aunt Grammy. Ryan and Cody are excused.
Meatloaf???? Please explain...Grammy claims ignorance. Her pat answer.
Gotta go before Grammy reads this!!!!
Arch
11/1/05 Started out this morning to visit Laurie's Aunt. Got about 25 miles into the trip and the Suzuki decided to jam itself into 4 wheel drive and stay in 4 wheel drive. Not good. So after an hour of doing this and that it corrected itself and we headed back to the campground. We will get to visit Aunt Julie in April when they come to California. We did buy Laurie a new cellphone today as her's bit the dust. Fun day today! Her new phone has a camera in it. We are going to have Nikki instruct Grammy on camera usage. Where are the kids when you need them??!!
We are headed into Atlanta tomorrow to Jimmy Carter's Museum and then to CNN.
Found out the campground in Arkasaw by Uncle Jimmy has a driving range and we can rent a boat with a motor on it there also. Grammy is glad cause she's tired of oaring all the time. I'm glad too because we always go in circles when she oars. I don't know what would happen if Aunt Nanna was oaring. Could probably have a water skier behind us. Anyway.
How do you like those pictures???
Arch.....
11/2/05 Hah! It works. This is a front view of Eta's apartment. Hers' is the 2nd floor.
There are about 20 building like this in her complex.
This of course is Eta where she stood talking on her cell phone as Grammy and I unloaded the trailer. Her Mom didn't raise any dumb kids.
Ok, that's all the picutes for now. Took about 1/2 hour to get these loaded. Need to get to a faster internet place.
Went into Atlanta today to Carter's Presidential Musuem. It wasn't one of the better museums. Really enjoyed downtown Atlanta. It has some very beautiful buildings and is quite clean. Went by CNN but didn't take the tour. No parking places for openers.
Ate dinner at Cici's. It's a chain of pizza stores in the south. $4.99 all you can eat pizza/salad/dessert/drinks. Very good food for the price.
Tomorrow (Thursday) we are headed up interstate 75 to Nashville, TN. Will stay there a day and see the Grand Ole Opera and then head to Jim's.
Arch
11/3/05
Erica's kitchen. The doorway at the end is a little room for the washer and dryer. She will rent them from the apartment complex for now till she buys a house. That way she won't have to move them to the new place.
Talked to yesterday and the new job is going great. She will be on the internet soon when things slow down a little.
This is the view out of Erica's bedroom window. That lake is BIG and you can have a boat and fish in it. If alligators show up the apartment complex has somebody come and take them away. Those are boats on a rack there that belong to people who live there.
This is the new 42" LCD monitor. Notice I said monitor. Means if you want to watch TV you have to provide a tuner....VCR or set top box from cable company. No tuner built into the monitor. Oh did you want a tuner in the monitor? That $200 more. The good news is you can hook your computer to it. Makes for a very nice computer monitor!!!
This shot is taken from the front balcony. There is tons of parking so that's not a problem.
11/4/05 Went from Nashville, TN to Wynne, Ar today. We are staying in a very nice state campground with full hookups. Very unusual for a state campground. Our site is completely secluded. Had a lot of wind that blew Ralph around a little. I don't like driving in the wind very much.
Yesterday we went to the Grand ole Operey hotel and convention center in Nashville. They have 5 1/2 acres inside the hotel full of trees, plants, waterfalls and even a boat ride. spent 4 hours in there just wandering around. Would like to go there some time and get a room.
Joe and Carmen stayed there for 5 days during an airshow convention. There are still signs posted in the gardens saying: "If you see Carmen Johnson please take her to the lobby. Her husband is looking for her."
Had Pizza dinner with Jim, Susie, Josh (Sammy's new husband) Carrie and her husband J.R. in Wynne. Sammy was at work so we ate her share of the pizza.
11/5/05 Had a real nice BBQ at Jim and Suzy's. Jim did his ribs and pork loin. Everybody else brought "good fixens" .
11/7/05 Went from Wynne, AR to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma today on Interstate 40. About 400 miles. Good weather 80's and no wind until about 1 hour from Oaklahoma city. This campsite has free wireless and an indoor heated pool. Our cellphones have good signal here too so we will stay here at least two days. Besides there's a Camping World around the corner.
11/8/05 Just lost about 50 lines of the update to this blog when I went to post it. Lost on the internet. I just LOVE computers!!!!
Bill...We were in the Trumen Presidential Museum at the exact same time as Laurie's brothers family was there. We didn't know it until two days later where we met for a family reunion in Branson, Missouri...
We now have an XM radio in Ralph. So far we like the Oldies Country music the best.
We are headed for Amarillo, Texas Wed the 9th. About 250 miles on Interstate 40. They have about a dozen old Cadillacs buried !/2 down into the dirt there. Will post a picture. It's supposed to get down to 32 degrees there tomorrow. We're tired of the high 80's here. Will probably spend 2-3 days there. There is a golf course there so we will bat some balls.
Judy and Louise are coming out to visit in Feb and to work at the AT&T and see San Francisco. Hope the weather is good!!
We are planning to be home about the 19th of November or sooner. Depends on I don't know what. It's kinda nice to just wander around.
Happy birthday to Nikki!!! She's 12 Wed. OLE LADY!!!!! She's home with a cold today so I hope she's feeling better for her Birthday.
11/9/05 Got to Amarillo, Texas today. Very windy most of the way. Mike we will check out exit 204. Have been to the Crator, got that tee shirt. You say you froze your rear ends off?? Looks to me like you better go back and get another freeze job!!! LOL
We will be staying at the KOA Central in Albuquerque, New Mexico (I hate spelling these names.) tomorrow and Friday as a storm passes thru. We were going to stay here two days but the campground isn't as nice as portrayed in the Woodalls book so will move along.
JoElaine we are going to have pork and saurekraut, mashed potatoes and noodles. Then I'll clean the house. And do the laundry. Windows too!!!
We have added another animal to the group....Army the Armadillo. Did you know that only humans and Armadillos can get Leprosy? It's the State of Texas' offical mammal. We learn lots of things on our trips!
Chuckie...the tom tom navigator (we call her Gabby as she talks all the time ) is GREAT. We zoom all around in the car knowing she will get us back to the campground. It really works quite well. She will take you on shortcuts thru the woods on dirt roads if you let her as we found out in Pennsylvania!!!
11/10/05 Got to Albuquerque this afternoon (KOA Central kinda nice) about 3pm. Very little wind while driving, however we are starting to hit mountains again so Ralph has to work harder which means he drinks more. He really has a bad drinking habit. The temp was 70-80 degrees. Beat Laurie in a game of dominoes. Wasn't hard to do...like taking candy from a baby. Went for a walk and then had ham,string beans and potatoes we made in a small crock pot.
We will head for Flagstaff tomorrow (friday).
Mike, have fun in Pismo. How's the truck and fifth wheel doing? Looked any more at a place on Oregon???
11/11/05 Made it to Flagstaff Arizona today. Hit some rain and wind but it wasn't too bad. Went to the campground we had picked out of Woodalls Trip planner and guess what. Closed for the season!! Found another campground (KIt Carson Campground) just down Route 66 a 1/2 mile. The owner said it snowed here this morning. It's 37 here right now at 9:30 pm. We will stay here until Sunday or Monday and explore Flagstaff.
From here we will go to Lake Havasu, Arizona. Thats where the original London bridge is. The guy that built the city (Lake Havasu) actually bought the bridge, shipped it over here and reconstructed it. We went there 5 years ago in July on our Route 66 trip. It was 114 degrees that day so we stayed about an hour and left. It should be cooler this time I hope!!!
Back in Oklahoma city we saw about 500,000 birds migrating. I found a neat web site tonight that tells you everything you ever wanted to know about birds migrating. I'm trying to get the link into my blog but due to many technical reasons it's not happening..as usual.
here is the link: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/migratio/migratio.htm
again handwritten WWW.NPWRC.USGS.GOV/RESOURCE/OTHRDATA/MIGRATIO/MIGRATIO.HTM
Mike where is the training class located? A year or two ago we camped next to a couple who had a driver traing course for RV'S. Were you with us on that trip? See if they can train her to hookup and disconnect the trailer. That's where the hard part is. As soon as she's ready to drive let's take a trip to the 49er campground in Sonora. That will test her skills!!! For those of you not familiarc with that area it is a small two lane highway thru the foothills of the Sierra mountains. Very narrow at times and full of turns. The campground is "interesting" to try and park your rig. They do have a neat theatre with some nice plays there.
Chuckie I had a thought today (doesn't happen often). It would be neat to have a picture camera mounted on my dash with a remote control to click a picture quickly of what we see out the front of the coach. Example today going thru Albuquerque we went under some freeway overpasses that were very pretty. They color the concrete pinkish red and put Aztec designs in it. Another day we came around a bend and there lay a pickup truck and camper trailer upside down on the freeway. Or a sign in Arkansas for Toad Suck Park. Another sign in Idaho at a small gas station said "new toilets coming soon!" Things like this I would like to be able to just punch a button on a remote and click the picture. Wouldn't need a real fancy picture...just something to capture the moment.. Any thoughts???
11/12/05 Explored around Flagstaff Arizona today. Nice little town. Will head to Lake Havasu city, Arizona tomorrow (Sunday). It should be in the 80's. There are about 6 golf courses there. So we will probably bat some balls.
11/17/05 Got home yesterday (Wed 11/16) about 4pm. Now that I'm on a faster internet connection I will post some more pictures and info on the trip.
posted by Arch & Laurie @ 7:09 PM
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