September 30, Westland, MI

Today we celebrated Grampa Joe's (Carol's dad) 86th birthday. It was a nice celebration with four of his seven children and two of his grandchildren in attendance. We had to leave early because our grandson, Devin, had a football game. We were able to see the last half of the game. We got there just in time to see him run down an opponent after about a 50 yard gain and do a nice open field tackle on him, saving a touchdown. Of course I was not in a good position to take the pic of this tackle but did get this one where he is on the bottom of the pile after making a fine tackle.

September 29, 2007 Brighton and South Lyon, MI

Today was the first of the hectic Saturdays for us. We have not seen the grandkids in their activities in a while since we just got home from an eastern trip. This morning, Ryan was the soccer star. Here he has just kicked the ball and hopes to move it into scoring position. Brianna is shown, right rear, cheering at a football game. Tomorrow is Devin's football game and Tuesday is Jon's soccer game. That will be Senior Day and Jon is a senior this year. Where does time go?

September 27, 2007 Grand Blanc, MI

We subscribed to the Workamper.com site and paper today. We will use this to try to locate part time employment during our travels. We heard that this is a useful site and have discovered that, once enrolled, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. There are openings all over the country and most offer full hookup sites and a small wage. There are openings for full time, part time and seasonal jobs. We have also contacted Disney and, the next time we are in Florida, we or I will interview for openings in the Orlando area. We have heard great news about the perks of working for Disney. Long-timing is starting to mean so much more than we first believed would be. The jobs include so much more than we thought would be available to us. Prespective employers will look at this photo and wonder how this old coot can have such a beautiful wife and, thus, question the rest of the resume.

September 26, 2007 Grand Blanc and Howell, MI

Today we used one of the perks of coming home - we attended a high school soccer game that one of our grandsons played in. Brandon plays for the Howell Freshman team and scored the only goal that was scored by Howell on a penalty kick. As you can see, his sister, Meagon, was pleased too. His older brother, Jon, plays for the Varsity team and we will see him play next Tuesday. Saturday, their cousins, Devin, plays in a football game, Brianna cheerleads and cousin Ryan plays soccer. This is a very hectic, beautiful season for us - running around the county watching soccer, football and cheerleading. Sarah, Shane and Shelby are young but will be into something soon, we're sure. When they are, guess who will be there.

September 24, 2007 Grand Blanc, MI

The difference in being a Long-timer instead of a Full-timer in the RV is not any more exemplified than it is today. This day after the last day of a journey is always a very tired day. Today was no exception. It seems like all during the trip, the days pass just like any other day - just normally being tired or not. Not the day after the last trip home. These two days, the last day as explained yesterday and the day after, with its inherent tiredness, are absolutely the longest of the journey. it was nice taking a shower in a full sized shower stall with unlimited water; It was nice walking on a floor that did not move; BUT we are already making plans for the next journey.

September 23, 2007 Goshen, IN to Grand Blanc, MI

Today is the toughest day in a long RV journey. This is the day that we break camp for the last time and head home. This means an extra cleaning of the rig, flushing the waste tanks, packing clothing, food, etc and turning the refrigerator off. The frig is then made dry after arrival home and newspaper stuffed inside so that it does not start forming mold while in storage. We crossed from Indiana into Michigan south of Kalamazoo. Carol had taken the class yesterday related to towing the 5th wheel and, when we got to a rest area south of Lansing on I-69, she asked how far it was to the next rest area. When advised that it was 60 to 70 miles she said that she was ready to try driving the rig. She drove through moderately heavy Sunday afternoon traffic and through a one lane road repair zone. I checked her knuckles and they were not white. She did great. Now she is sure that she can handle Monty if and when she wants or needs to. That adds a lot of relief to me also, knowing that she can handle it well. When we left home last month, the grass was brown and the trees green. Today, the grass was green and the leaves in the trees are starting to change to red and gold - beautiful. We may take a color tour up north soon. We hoped to do it after the Goshen rally but, due to problems with Blue Cross, we had to come home and straighten them out. (Either straighten them out or continue without coverage) While at the rally we talked with people that have us conflicted as to what we will do this winter after the holidays - return to Florida or go to the San Antonio area. Whichever we choose, we will try again to go to Mt. Rushmore in the spring before returning home. If Florida, there is a chance to obtain part-time employment at Disney World. If we go to Texas, we may try the Disney World caper next year. The perks sound great - tremendous discounts to all Disney activities and many restaurants and hotels, etc and they can be used by family. This year will more than likely be a Texas year. There is always next year for the other. That or maybe Arizona. It gets interestinger and interestinger all the time.

September 22, 2007 Goshen, IN

Today was the last day of the rally, except for the breakfast tomorrow morning before we all leave. This morning, after waking up and gratefully discovering that there were no injuries in the early morning fire, Keystone held classes for the ladies, teaching them that they should have no fear or trepidation about driving and towing one of these big rigs. After some classroom information, they all were allowed to drive a pick-up towing a Montana. They drove in a parking lot with orange cones and on the street. They also backed it up. It seemed like all enjoyed the class and learned that they really can tow one of these rigs. I know that I feel much better knowing that Carol could and would drive towing Monty if she wished to or had to. Carol's instructor praised her driving and allowed her to drive alone when her lesson was finished to another portion of the parking lot for the next driver to take. I am so proud of her and she feels so full of confidence now. We then went of a tour of the Montana factory. The factory was closed today so Keystone had reps come in to lead small groups of MOC members on these tours. The quality is really good here. It is a very clean factory and they asked our opinions, both good and bad, throughout the tours and at the prototypes. This is our second factory tour. We also did this last year at the national fall rally. They asked our opinions about the present and prototype models and incorporated some of the suggestions into the reintroduction of the Big Sky model. These are just some of the reasons we are so comfortable with our Montana and why they have led the industry in sales for six straight years - they listen to us and actually incorporate some of what we say into the product. What a concept - "Listen to the customer!"