We're home and it is SNOWING!

We finally pulled into our home park in Davison, MI Saturday and have moved most of our "stuff" from the 5th wheel to our condo that was accumulated over the months of living in our Montana in Florida and on the road. It has been snowing lightly the last couple of days! Sure thought that we had seen the last of that for a while. Oh, well, just goes to show who is really in charge! Hope to soon get more photos posted of the trip home. 'till then, wonder where we will go next!

Storms and engine problems keeping us parked and inside

Today we drove a short distance from South Carolina to Maggie Valley in The Smokey Mountains. As we neared Maggie Valley, we were forced off the road to sit and wait until a severe thunderstorm went over. We were on the right shoulder of I-40 along with many other semis, RVs and some cars. Visibility was maybe 30 feet because of the intensity of the rain and sleet (in 70 degree weather) and there were still some traveling past us. We are so grateful that we have no appointments or similar reasons/excuses that force us to travel on to get to the destination ASAP. Retirement has brought on a feeling of peace with hanging loose. When the weather let up some, we continued on to Pride RV Resort, where we will spend the next couple of nights. Tomorrow morning, I must take the truck to the Ford Dealership in Waynesville, a short hop from here. When climbing a steep (7% grade) mountain on I-26, we lost some compression and the orange wrench light, similar to Check Engine, came on. When we got to the next Rest Area, we turned it off and let it cool. All seemed well when we turned it on. The same thing happened yesterday, climbing steep in 91 degree weather. Gotta get this taken care of NOW! So, they are waiting for me tomorrow at 9:00AM. Got some photos from today's trip but will have to post them later.

We're part way home

We are parked at Magnolia RV park in Kinards, SC for the night. Tomorrow we head to Maggie Valley, NC in The Smokey Mountain for a couple of nights and then on through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and then probably arriving home Saturday. The weather has been in the 80s and low 90s and we see that we will start having cooler days and nights starting tomorrow in The Smokeys. We are ready for that!

Crystal River, on Gulf and Stumpknockers, In Dunnellen

The other day, Carol, Sunshine and I went to Crystal River, on the Gulf. It was a perfect day - sunshine, a breeze and the Gulf was quiet. Sunshine and I both wet our feet in the Gulf and smiled all the way home. Today, we went to Stumpknockers, a restaurant on the river west of Ocala. The whole area is beautiful. We wondered where the name Stumpknockers came from and it was explained on the back of the menu. At one time, I had to wrestle a gator to save my child bride (she doesn't look like it but she was terrified). I had the Walleye and fried Gator tail and discovered that I like this meat. It was fried just right and I brought a LARGE doggy bag home. Couldn't come close to eating it all but now know what fried Gator Tail tasted like. We leave in the morning and our first stop will be Townsend, GA, on the Atlantic. We have friends staying at a park there and are looking forward to seeing them. From there, into the Carolinas and The Great Smoky Mountains. We are looking to an arrival date in our home park in Davison of probably Saturday. Carol usually cooks Easter Dinner for the kids and Grandkids and we have an Easter Egg hunt for the younger ones. 

Glen Campbell's Final Tour

A while ago, Glen Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease. Because of this, he planned a final tour. Many younger people probably never heard of him but he is very well known to many of us "Older Folks." His tour brought him to The Silver Springs Nature Park in Silver Springs, FL and I was able to see his show. Upon entering the park, I was once again greeted by the "Official Greeters," two beautiful tropical parrots. The park was again full of people of all types enjoying the park and the concert. His voice shows evidence of 75 years of living and his repeated jokes show evidence of dementia, but it was a great show, bringing back memories of long ago! He was given a ton of love by a very large crowd of fans. He was joined on stage by two sons and a daughter. He performed a "dueling banjos" number with his daughter, which the above video is a part of. This park is a "must see" part of Florida for all. It even has a large water park for the kids but, on this day, it was "owned" by Glen Campbell.

Another Day at Silver Springs Park

The weather today was ideal, sunny and warm with low humidity. MOC friends, Jan and Paul Kelp stopped by our campground on their way north to spend a couple of days. We all went to Silver Springs Park and had a great day, topped off with an Ice Cream Social at our RV park clubhouse. While in the park, we took a couple of river/glass bottom boat rides and a trailer pulled by a jeep for a Safari Ride. We saw two gators professing their love for each other by entwining and holding their heads together. Can't get enough of seeing the beautiful Cypress trees along the Silver River. Saw a Needle Nose Gar through bottom of a Glass Bottom Boat ride over the actual Silver Spring, which puts out over 500,000,000 gallons of water a day. The monkeys were trying to figure out if it was worth it to jump in with us on our Safari Ride. These were Rhesus Monkeys. Weren't these the monkeys that were used to research Polio years ago? They 
were for sure used in the old Johnny Weismiller Tarzan movies that were filmed here? Tomorrow were are planning on returning to the Market of Marion to  a very large flea market and fruit and vegetable stand.