Wandering America
October 2007 - Part I
| Horses, Horses, Horses While parked in the yard at Judy's sister's house we overlooked the Mott farm (Mott as in applesauce). Now this is a farm of thousands of acres which has horses that are more expensive than a motorhomes. I wanted to see some of these horses up close and personal, so I went over to the fence and made all sorts of noises until their curiosity got the better of them. Over they came and here are some of the pictures. Don't ask me what kind of horses these are because I don't know one horse from another - I guess I have no horse sense whatever.       MeCosta Pines Campground We always enjoy returning to MeCosta Pines and seeing our old "seasonal" friends - old as in longtime friends not old in age; however, some of them are getting up there :). It was great times getting together this weekend and sharing wine and food and stories, just like days of old. This time back we were treated to nice (actually beautiful) weather with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 80's, not snow like we had in April and last October. Now if you find yourself traveling on Route 131 between Grand Rapids and Big Rapids plan to drop in and visit with them, tell them that Darrell and Judy sent you and they will treat you like royalty. The Campground is located 1 mile east of exit 125 and has 50+ good sized level sites and is open from April 15th to October 15th each summer (later if you're a hunter). It is a pretty little campground with the Little Muskegon river running right around it and a nice area to just sit and enjoy the scenery as you listen to the river go trickling along its way. Biking and hiking are available on a Rails to Trails trail of which passes within a quarter of a mile of the campground and, of course, canoing can be done right out of your own back door. There may not be a lot going on in Morley but this is a great place to just relax a and unwind for a few days.      We stopped over at Grandma's RV Park in Shepherdsville, Kentucky (just south of Louisville) whenever making the trek between Michigan and Tennessee. This time, however, we stayed an extra day to meet up with some of our fulltiming friends. 
On Tuesday evening Howard and Linda Payne dropped by for a visit. We
have been planning this visit for about a month now and were both
excited about meeting each other for the first time. We have been
following their website since its inception back in 2005 and have kept in
contact with them via email. So it was nice to finally meet them face to face and
exchange handshakes and hugs. We had a great evening sharing a meal and, of course, chit chatting.
Wednesday morning we got together with Norm and Linda Payne (nope, no
relation to Howard and Linda Payne) at the KOA Kampground in
Clarksville, Indiana (just across the river from Louisville).
Norm has been going through some medical treatments in Louisville
so we took this opportunity to see them again. We went to lunch
with them and just had a great time visiting. Hopefully we will
see them again in November in Summerdale, Alabama.We visited with Howard and Linda again Wednesday afternoon at their RV in Fishersville, Kentucky (about 20 miles south east of Louisville). They are parked at a private site on a horse farm which has beautiful views. We visited awhile, went to feed the horses some peppermints, had dinner together, bought some bird feeders from them, and went home (great meal Linda, thanks). It was great to get to know them and we look forward to the day our paths cross again. You can follow both of the Paynes' travels on their websites, See Ya Down the Road and RV-Dreams. I guarantee that you'll enjoy reading both sites. Grandma Needed a Fix Grandma needed a grand-daughter fix; and so did Grandpa. Miss Catia, who resides with her parents in Tennessee, is going to be three years old in December and we just can't get enough of her - but that's what we said about our two grand-daughters in New Hampshire, isn't it? Well. grand parents just feel that way. Now you maybe thinking how could you go fulltime and leave your grand children behind. Well, the fact of the matter is that we are able to see more of them now than when we were living in a sticks and bricks house. Since our children are scattered across the land the fulltime lifestyle gives us the freedom to visit them more often. Rather than send Catia to day care, grandma and grandpa picked her up at her house and took her for the day. We had a nice liesurely breakfast, well as liesurely as one can with a two year old, and then brought her to grandma and grandpa's house where she pestered Alex and helped grandpa hang some bird feeders (we have bird feeders to entertain the katts). It was nice to see toys scattered all over the livingroom, to read books with words that I can understand, and go for walks with our grand-daughter across the meadow. If we had known that grand-kids were this much fun we would have started with them first (I know, that's been said before, but it is true).   A Day at the Nashville Zoo Matthew, Jackie, Catia, Grandma, and Grandpa went to the Nashville Zoo. It was a hot afternoon so a lot of the animals were just plain being lazy, can't blame them. If we had had any brains we should have done the same. I can only imagine the thoughts going through the animals heads - "Look at those idoits standing out there in the sun making those funny noises. What do they think? That I'm crazy enough to get up from my shady spot and wander about just so they can take a picture!" Anyway, we had a lot of fun sharing this experience with Catia. Keep in mind that a two year old's attention span is only about two minutes; therefore, she kept us moving. Even if you wanted to linger a little to watch the leopard she was ready to move on to the next exhibit. But that's the fun of it. We still spent over four hours at the zoo. Here are some of the pictures from the day.              |