Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A long Hard Day Today!

Not much to blog about this evening. But its been a long hard day after an almost sleepless night. I have no idea why I'm not sleeping good lately, and its a good thing I don't have to rise early in the morning. It has come to my attention that there is another major storm brewing..Just what we all need.
Rick and I helped a friend finish up her move today, her son arrived with the uhaul then Rick and I cleaned her apartment from top to bottom, waited for the Landlord to come and inspect-then jetted off to help another friend. So it was a running day.
I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading before bed...
take care~just wanted to say hello and we are thinking of you all :)

Home is where you park it!!
Elaine
Rick tucker and lilly too

Monday, August 29, 2011

Part 6- What is Meant to Be will Be!!!

I hope everyone was safe and sound during Storm Irene. I have been keeping an eye on you all. She was one wicked witch who must have had jet fuel in that broom of hers. We were without power way down here on the east coast of Canada from middle of the night last night until 4pm today.  Not that we were affected much as we have the generator in the MH just outside the front door and a portable generator on the deck just outside the back door.  So we had TV internet coffee and lights all day...what more could we ask for during a storm. The winds were extreme today.
Going into the new camping season of 08 with the Sundance was causing me great distress and aggravation. I was to the point I didn't even want to load it up. I was tired of fighting with the dealer via telephone and in person. Thankfully Rick ignored my mood and loaded it for camping.
In early July 08 when we visited Darrell he felt so bad that there wasn't anyone at the dealership he could talk to-to help us out. We were not the first to approach him. He stated he had something we would love and that they would be willing to take our fiver on trade, fix it themselves and sell it. See the dealer we purchased from had exclusive rights on Heartland products. No other local dealer could sell that line. But they were permitted to take them on trade only but not from mfgr. So of course they wanted to sit a heartland on their lot and I'm sure they hoped that the other local dealer would see it there.
So Miss Daisy enters the scene..and I was in love with her. 2006 Sun Voyager by Gulf Stream-workhorse chassis-8L V8 allison trans-30ft

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They offered us a fantastic trade value for the fiver but I was still so upset over the fifth wheel; we wanted to take some time to think about it. We called them back a few days later, and they sadly told us she was sold.  But also informed us that they had a couple of Winnies coming in soon and would let us know when they arrived. We regretted not putting down a deposit, and told ourselves that is wasn't meant to be.
A couple of weeks later was a wedding anniversary milestone for us, and after the big surprise party we hopped in the truck and fiver and hit the road for the US and some R&R. But we had had a taste of another motorhome in our mouths after seeing the SunVoyager. We stopped at a dealer in Maine asking to see a unit that caught our eye on the front of their lot. We were the only lookers there at the time and the salesman stated-"Do you have any money? You don't look like you do and I only talk to people who have money"...honestly that was his exact words. We immediately left after I stated 'never judge a book by the cover buddy'. Actually I thought we looked pretty decent that day. As soon as we left there I opened the cell and called Darrell asking if the Winnies were in yet. He stated no but the sun voyager was there with our name on it. The other purchaser's financing fell through. So she WAS meant to be ours. We told him we would be home in a few days and would be in to purchase.
Upon our return home, I called the fiver dealer and laid it out in lavender to them. I was on my way and they better have our mirrored doors, slide fascia boards, cushion flooring and carpets ready for pick up as well as all the other warranty parts we required. I had stated that Rick was going to do all the repairs himself. And yes they had it all ready for us. We loaded it all into our stix and bricks living room. The next day Darrell delivered Miss Daisy to us, right into our driveway, and we moved rigs. We then cleaned the fiver from top to bottom-inside and out-loaded all the parts into it and delivered it to Darrell at Pine Acres. They were impressed that we had all the required stock for the repairs as they had previously agreed to do the repairs at their shop and were willing to provide the items to repair. So everyone was happy. And we thought we had the forever machine. Pine Acres was always there for us to answer any questions or concerns we may have had.
We were back in a motorhome!!! yeah!!! We lost our loving aging parent in January of 2010, after a long healthy life of 94 years. I think that is when Rick started thinking of retirement once again, but he didn't think it aloud until around November of last year. He originally retired in 1998 after 32 years with the local telco company, but due to his mom being with us we didn't feel we could just take off, so we started the business almost 14 yrs ago just to add to the retirement fund-we were here anyway right? Our kids were great to stay here on weekends and let us get away for jaunts. And the next thing I knew he was talking "diesel pusher" selling the house and business-going full time...my head was spinning. It was the talk morning noon and night. After much discussion we compromised and decided we would keep the house, renovate the offices into an apartment for ourselves and rent out the house. Rick strapped on the tool belt in January and we finished up the renos in July and the new tenants moved into the house on August 1.
We toured the local dealers here but nothing took our eye or met our wish list.
Rick had been in touch  back and forth with Larry Vanstone of Sicard RV's in Ontario (www.sicardrv.com) -he is a blogger (www.amazingvanstones.com) that Rick has been following and built a blogger friendship with, and what a wonderful guy he is.  We flew up in early June looked at some preferred MH's and settled on Ossumer...and you all know the rest of the story. Rick has his diesel pusher, Miss Daisy is finally in a new home..and once again everyone is Happy Happy!! Sicards and Larry treated us like royalty. So if you are ever in the area and in the market look them up. They are a fairly large fully functional dealership covering all aspects of repair and maintenance.
Ok if your still reading I apologize for rambling. That would be the Cape Bretoner in me I guess. This now concludes the series..and aren't you all glad !!!! Will there be a 'next rig'? ..I truly don't think so ..Ossumer meets all our needs and still has low mileage (30,000). But never say never right?
Just as a footnote I think I am getting quite used to using Mars Edit..although I do love live writer but it is not available for the mac.
What does Rick do while I am on my mac? He relaxes with Tucker Boy...!!
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Have a super evening folks, a great week...and remember
HOME IS WHERE YOU PARK IT







Sunday, August 28, 2011

Will Irene get to us? Part 4 and 5

Well this weekend we left Friday afternoon and arrived at our camp within an hour of driving. The skies were blue, not a hint of a storm brewing. We have RV (three way) hookups at our camp so we always take the RV. Rick's cousin also has a perm park model on our land so we mostly use the camp for overflow company-and as our 'community centre/happy hour/meals etc '...with 100 acres -there is always lots of mowing to do-but we all pitch in and get it done. The only time we personally sleep in the camp is during the winter months-we have Rick's grandparents kitchen wood cook stove in there-and a hand pump for the winter months. Which we definitely do not plan to be doing that this winter.
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We also have the original barn on the property-this is where we store our 4-wheelers etc. it is right across the road from the camp
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Here is Ossumer getting used to his resting place !
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There was much debate between the hubby and I yesterday as to wether we should head home or stay till today. The weather was beautiful but the weather reports were a bit fearful. We don't mind the rain but we sure do not like the wind. So we chanced it and stayed and returned early this morning-and I'm so glad we did-last night after supper in the camp porch we looked up into the field and there stood the most beautiful buck that we have ever seen-I whistled him in and he came closer-he was a 4pt and in beautiful shape-I always love seeing one of god's most beautiful creations-of course the camera was in the coach-upon our return home this morning, we battened down the hatches here at the stix and bricks so come on Irene we are ready for you.
We hope and pray you are all safe and sound wherever you may be. I have been thinking about all our blog RV friends this weekend and praying for your safety.
Part 4/5
After 3 years of enjoyment and travel out in "Miss Patty Pace" in early May 2006 we thought we consider 'upgrade' discussion. It was either keep Patty until she was ready for the bone yard-or trade her up while she still had some value in her. So we started shopping. Having an aging parent with us-(Ricks mom) we could not travel far for any extended length of time. We at the time had a 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500 HD 6 L engine. So we hit the RV show that February to have a lookie look. We had discussed another MH but thought well thats quite a bit of cash to park in the driveway so we were looking at 5th wheels, considering we already had the truck to tow with. We saw quite a few at the RV show, but didn't get serious to purchase until around May-(yes in fever season). We presented at a local dealer and discussed trading the MH for a fiver. They made us an offer we couldn't refuse-and on May 16/06 we took possession of a 2007 Heartland Sundance 2800 RLS-with 2 slides; she was a pretty thing. Lots of underbelly storage etc. We liked it but I don't think we were in love with it. We had some new machine warranty issues which our salesman made sure were taken care of over the course of that summer.
The Sundance Kid
Butch Kid

























Butch and the Sundance Kid
To be totally honest...we found it small :(..and if you had company -because of the rear living room and rear entry, you couldn't get out of the rig in the morning if they were still sleeping without crawling over top of them. We were having warranty issues with the living room chairs the springs were forever letting go. The dealer was forever changing the chairs but they were not lasting. We thought ok we did this wrong! We bought to suit the truck and should have done things vice versa so lets get serious. On April 4/07 We returned to the dealer traded that fiver for another one a 2007 Sundance by Heartland 3200 ES-mid kitchen entrance with 3 slides-and traded the truck for a 2006 chevy silverado diesel 2500 HD. Now we're cooking.
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Big Butch and the Big Sundance Kid
Again we had new owner warranty issues-various things not working etc-a cut in the flooring in the livingroom, and problems with the kitchen floor, leaks on the underside of the slide during travel..things you expect for sure. But big problem was our wonderful sales rep had changed to another dealer and couldn't help us push for the repairs. It seemed to be one thing after another-and everything was a fight with the dealer. They told us to use it for the summer and come fall they would take it to their other shop 1hr from here and do all the repairs before winter. They picked it up from us in mid Oct. and I continued to call weekly as they said they would have it done in 2 weeks. There was always one excuse after another-waiting for parts etc. In November we drove up there to the shop. Here was our fiver sitting on the side of the highway parking lot, not winterized, and not fixed. They promised the repairs would be completed within a week. To make a long story short in late December we threatened legal action if the Rv was not returned to us immediately with the repairs completed. The new kitchen floor was all bumpy (Rick figures when they removed the cushion floor to replace it they didn't even bother to sweep the debris). And nothing else was fixed. And the kitchen floor was still a mess. We had them deliver it to Ricks's cousin's home as it was closer than our home. We didn't want it sitting up there in their lot with the slides out all winter.
Come next season we knew it was going to be a fight again. They avoided us at all costs. I do have to tell you~the heartland sundance was a beautiful fiver-it was minor factory problems, to be expected with a brand new rig- it was the dealer that was such a turn off. They played the avoidance game with us constantly. If we wanted cutup floors and scratches and dents-defective mirror doors- as well as buckled fascia boards and slide leaks-we would have purchased a handyman special-not a brand new rig. And when you sit and think about the situation, we were hesitant to park a motor home in the driveway but if you added up the cost of the truck and fiver there wouldn't have been much difference. And I missed the drive in- drop the jacks from inside, make a lunch, use the washroom travelling down the road features. This seemed to be a lot of work, hooking and unhooking-but we made our decision so we were willing to live with it.
After pleading for repairs (and yes we got to the fight stage)..to no avail -we finally tracked down our salesman Darrell at another dealer and approached him to see if there was any advice he could provide us on how to deal with this local dealer we purchased from -where he used to work. Apparently this was happening to numerous folks-and they were all seeking him out for advice. We had purchased this fiver in April 07 and it was now July 08 :(...is there a light at the end of this long frustrating tunnel? Stay tuned ..there possibly could be.
But most of all stay safe...till next time
Home is where you park it
Elaine
Rick Tucker and Lilly too













Friday, August 26, 2011

A motorhome weekend

I just wanted to let you all know we are heading out for the weekend and will not have internet :( thats hard to take for sure. I will have parts 4 & 5 ready to post on Sunday...have a super weekend everyone-I'm sure I will have some blog reading to catch up on when I get back. Everyone in the eye of that storm I pray you stay safe and weather the weather without any damage.

Just to mention that MarsEdit thingy seems to be working for me on my mac :)

Here is something I've wanted to share with you all and kept forgetting to put on my blog..all cities should have this signage...

Direc

Be safe and enjoy your weekend!!!

home is where you park it

Elaine

Rick Tucker and lilly too!

 

Thursday, August 25, 2011

How Did you Start RVing Part 3

Well today has been a lazy day. We sure didn't do much. I thought I would hop back on the mac and see if I could figure out the MarsEdit program. I gave up on it last night changed to Rick's PC and finished in live writer. As much as I love my macbook pro I wish apple would bring out a live writer for mac. I am technically challenged but I did find live writer fairly easy to work with. So lets try MarsEdit  and see how far we get today.
There was nothing we did not love about our little Class C empress. We were totally hooked on RVing after touring everywhere and meeting new people. I was convinced we would keep it forever and be eternal rvers. We were definitely hooked. I literally cried the first fall we had to prep it for storage~how would I ever last until spring.
In late June 2003, our son had left an 'auto trader' magazine on our table one night, and the next morning I was thumbing through it while enjoying my early morning coffee. I came upon an add for a 1989 30 ft Fleetwood Pace Arrow Class A motor home-under price it stated-"looking to trade for a class C or smaller motor home"..hum that definitely peaked my interest. The exterior and interior pictures showed it to be very clean and well maintained. But in my mind I was thinking why would someone want to go smaller??? I should never drink coffee in the early morning alone-it can lead to a busy day of decisions.
We called and spoke with the owner-his wife had had been sick and was now almost blind-they still wanted to travel but wanted something smaller. We discussed each others RVs and we hopped in ours and drove the 2 hours to meet with them. They loved ours and we loved theirs. We worked a deal and we all decided to trade. They would deliver it to our home on Saturday and do the exchange. We rushed back to Riverview, unloaded belongings into our living room area cleaned "lady empress" from top to bottom and waited for the next day to arrive.
Ppines74
Meet "Miss Patty Pace" - 454 cubic inch P30 Chevy Chassis-July 5, 2003

When Elmer and Barb delivered it to us the fridge was not in it. He explained that he dropped it off to the refrigeration place to have it rebuilt as it had not been working properly since the beginning of the season and he presented us with the paid in full receipt for the rebuild stating it would be ready by the first of the week. Rick took the unit over on Monday and they installed the rebuilt fridge. We turned it on, knew it would take some hours to cold up-but we noticed a couple of hours later it was running 'hot'...inside and outside. We called the technician and he came over. It was so hot he had to use gloves to take it out of the space. To make a long story short he took it back to the shop and rebuilt it again. Returned it to us a day later..a couple of hours later..same problem..Steve returned again to our home and took it back to the shop..needless to say we were anxious to get out camping so we loaded up some coolers and away we went to a cg an hr away and Steve promised he would deliver it there within the next day or two. Which he did~a couple of hours after he left "same problem"..Rick said ok enough of this..and up on the roof he went. Took off the vent cover and low and behold Elmer had duct taped the top of the vent to prevent anything from getting in over the winter. He had used white tape so when the technician had previously  looked up there he could see lots of light so figured nothing was plugged. I called Steve with our findings and he was very pleased to hear the problem was rectified. I apologized that he rebuilt this fridge 3x when tape removal would have done the trick. He was just happy the mystery was finally solved. I did call Elmer and tell him when he does this sort of thing he should leave himself a note in the fridge..he could have saved himself almost $700.00. We all had a great chuckle over it in time to come.
We all became fast friends and camped together, what great fun..although at times (usually after happy hour) we had to be on task to remember which rig we were sleeping in. Oh and by the way Barb made a full recovery and regained her vision.
We eventually purchased a dolly to travel the car with us..and travel we did! That winter of 2003 we stored here at home..and just before spring we totally renovated the unit with interior updates from front to back. Paint, paper, flooring and new upholstery. We made it ours. We were out every weekend from April - mid October-there were not too many we missed.
In February of 2006 we attended our first RV show..this is where things took a turn...was it a turn for the best or turn for the worst..stay tuned for Part 4 and 5 as from there it all went downhill on us...

Stay safe everyone!
Home is where you park it
Elaine
Rick Tucker and Lilly too




Wednesday, August 24, 2011

How Did you Start RVing?? Part 2

Thank you to everyone who read and commented on my blog last evening (constructed with live writer). Tonight I am back on the MacBook Pro using MarsEdit-giving it a try. I will confess I just downloaded the freebie copy so I'm winging it~didn't have a chance to even read up on it but I do see a "help' button up there so if that works I'm covered.


After the hardtop we sort of got out of the camping mode for a few years. The older kids no longer felt it was cool to camp with the family, and there was no way we were leaving them home alone to party on the weekends. So we sold the camper and figured if we were going to be stuck home all summer we may as well enjoy it and we installed a pool. And camping was a thing of the past for us :( 


Fast forward to that May morning in 2002. At the table, with the coffee, by myself, reading the classifieds. Knowing Rick enjoyed camping as much as I did, I also knew him well enough to think he may find it too much bother to get back into camping, now that the kids were all mostly grown. So I thought it was possibly time to use some reverse psychology ~ I bounded up over the stairs out of a clean blue sky and announced in my most excited voice..."get up - today we're going boat shopping".


Over coffee he patiently explained to me why we shouldn't buy a boat. I never wanted a boat-I swim like a rock and am petrified of water. But he also knows when I get something in my head I don't let it go. After a pot of coffee and much explanation about owning a boat-I then suggested we go RV shopping - and explained that I had seen one in the classifieds (private sale) spoke with the owners who said it was a beauty of a class C and in excellent shape-and it was only 2 hours from home lets go see it..and to probably shut me up-we showered dressed and away we went. I am practically bouncing in the seat like a five year old all the way to Rogersville NB to see this rig. 


I tend to see potential in everything, but Rick looks past the excitement. It was old old old (I forgot to ask the year)..motor  home-on a dodge chassis, and it truly was a junker. The guy should have paid us to take it away. Meantime I was still seeing 'potential'-Rick was seeing everything else. To be polite I insisted we at least test drive it. She shook rattled and rolled down the road. But to me she was a pretty tin box with the old plaid polyester upholstery. The motor and transmission was shot, it had no breaks and Rick said it steered like a truck wagon. He wasn't long pulling a u-turn and returning to the sellers house. We left telling them we would think it over and let them know. I was so disappointed. Someone had painted the bathroom sink silver, I thought it was pretty even if they did use a paintbrush. 


Upon our return to town we started hitting the dealer lots- there were quite a few Class C motor homes -and we toured all of them, that afternoon. But none were capturing me totally-or calling my name. I'm not sure when we settled on the Class C choice we didn't even look at A's.
We drove another 2 hours to the Saint John NB area to a dealer down there to see what they had on the lot. And there sat the love of my life. I knew the minute I saw it - it was meant to be ours. But I wasn't saying a word until Rick checked it all over and gave me permission to get excited. I stood trying to look totally unconcerned with bated breath.


We purchased it the same day!!!! We returned on May 18, 2002 to pick up our new rig. (ok that  mars edit ‘thingy’ didn’t last long I cut and pasted my blog and emailed it to Ricks laptop and I’m back on live writer as I type)
EMPRESS ON THE BEACH 1987 Empress by Triple E-460 Ford motor and chassis
It was the cutest little Class C ever and we had so much fun in this little motor home. It was 24’ long and you could sleep 6 if necessary. We were so very proud and we went everywhere in it. This picture is of “The Empress” sitting on a beach in Prince Edward Island.


Our first trip out after purchase was to Rexton NB-for the weekend. Yes we forgot the blocking at home (to level and drive up on) so we were a bit off kilter that weekend but I can still remember the feeling of being owners of this dear little motorhome. Laying in the top bunk over the cab watching the sun come up early Saturday morning, and dreaming together of all the places we would visit. There was no need to tow a toad as we could unhook and go anywhere with it. It will remain in my heart as one of my most favorite rigs. Sadly we only kept it for a year- so stay tuned for part 3 tomorrow-to see what happened next!!!


Remember home is where you park it
be safe!!
Elaine
Rick Tucker and Lilly too

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

How did you Start RVing-Part 1????


Today I spent a great deal of time researching blogging programs and reading all the reviews for each result. I really wanted to try Live Writer so I gave myself a good talking to and here I am on Rick’s “PC” doing up a blog. Sadly, there is no live writer for my macbook pro.

So what would I blog about so I could try this out…and I came to the conclusion that I would give you all a small glimpse into our lives of RVing.

How did it all start? From having no RV and no time..to retired and almost fulltime!!! I was up early one morning in May of 2002~enjoying the peace and quiet of the still house..enjoying my coffee and reading the newspaper classifieds…why the classifieds I have no idea. I wasn’t in the market to purchase anything~guess I just wanted to see what folks sell in there. There were quite a few RVs…which brought back memories to me.
I need to take you back to 1982 ~we purchased a used new to us 1974 or 75 ‘starcraft’ hardtop camper. And I don’t mean ‘gently’ used. There was no sink, no electrical, no water setup -no fridge (it did have an icebox) and it had a two burner propane cook top, with bright yellow countertops. The curtains were gone but the sleeping area bunks were in good shape. Just what we needed!! …we had five kids and 2 Newfoundland dogs,and a mixed terrier of some sort, not two clues between us but  we had a 1976 dodge van with 2 front seats, and mega miles on it which would pull this camper for us. We were good to go…we had the basics right?


1974 Starcraft popup camper



We jetted off to the junkyard and picked up 2 more seats for the van (now we had four)..and Rick built a couch across the back doors of the van, and we found a zipped together mattress thingy at the KMart which worked great for this sofa/couch which I have to add was hinged and also flipped down into a double size bed. Made with chipboard with the 2” mattress thingy we were styling..we now had four seats (none matched) and a couch: to carry the 7 of us!!! (seatbelts were optional in those days) and just to set the scene for you, we had 3 boys and 2 girls the oldest was 12 and the youngest 4. The Newfoundland dogs were full grown.

Our first trip out was to be the long weekend in May …we were so excited…I had gotten busy and sewed blue and white gingham curtains for the van windows (it was blue) and bright orange curtains for the hardtop bed areas.

Rick had gotten busy too~he installed electrical for us..(it was a long durable extension cord through the side of the camper) we had a light! Chippy the little rescued terrier had also gotten busy and presented us with 6 puppies on Wednesday night. We didn’t even know she was pregnant. We may have realized it on Wednesday when she started acting strange.
On Thursday evening we loaded up the camper and van. We were saving the icebox and coolers till just before we left on Friday. We were booked into a CG about an hour away. We hardly slept Thursday night we were all so excited to be going camping in a real camper. We even had a 6” tv radio combo. I had lists and lists of things to check off..dishpan, dishes, linens, etc and we had 3 or 4 electric car heaters to take along. If you’ve never camped in May on the east coast of Canada after a long hard winter..trust me you don’t want to!

Friday finally came..and right after work we hitched up and we were on our way. The Clampets had nothing on us going down the road. We sang on our way to the campground and just couldn’t wait to arrive. Yes we had chippy and the puppies with us. Nothing was going to make us miss this planned weekend! We had arrived!!! We cranked up the camper, I made up the beds, the kids were running all over the campground..and the momma dog and babies were safe, sound and content in a toy box with wheels on it, I could wheel her and her family around the camper (all 3ft of floor space)
Somehow I managed to get everyone fed (yes I cooked a meal we didn’t have a bbq and I just had to try out that two burner cook top)..we enjoyed a glowing campfire and marshmallow roast then got everyone tucked in for the night. I had lots of sleeping bags, pillows and extra blankets with us. The boys slept in the van two on the homemade couch/bed and one on the floor, with the momma dog and babies and all the electric car heaters to keep the van warm for the babies.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early and it was a frosty one. I was starting to question our decisions..what were we thinking…it was freezing cold~I was trying to cook for my family of 7~while at the same time literally scraping the frost off of the tv screen so the little kids could watch cartoons from the bunk and stay out of my way. The older kids were arguing for a share of the extension cord to play vic20 at the booth area.
Just as I was thinking we were possibly ‘nuts’ the sun reached its peak and it warmed up a bit. We had survived our first night camping!! with five kids, three dogs, and 6 puppies. I’m not 100% sure we were ‘hooked’ after that first night…I likened it to ‘childbirth’- you know you did it - said you’d never do it again ~ but it didn’t seem so bad afterwards, so you kept doing it. Saturday was a great day, the night wasn’t as cold as Friday night...and Sunday we returned home, tired but happy to have experienced the big event.

We kept this camper and van for 3 or 4 years, and went almost every weekend during the summer months. We even took a big vacation to Detroit Mi with the camper and kids for 2 whole weeks. The guys at Rick’s work had a betting pool that we couldn’t make it to Mi…but we did with only one flat tire, and pulled into my Aunt’s in Novi after 2 days on the road (now thats a whole other story)..She kept insisting we put the camper in her garage – while I kept insisting no no we were going to sleep in it or at least some of the kids were. It wasn’t until years later I came to the realization maybe she was a wee bit snooty and didn’t want her neighbours to see it…sitting on her beautifully landscaped lawn, beside her big kidney shaped in ground swimming pool.

Stay tuned for Part 2 ~
remember ~~ home is where you park it…
Elaine
Rick Tucker and Lilly too


Monday, August 22, 2011

Will I Ever Be a Decent Blogger?

I was pleasantly surprised today to open the blog area and see an update from Stephanie~Margie and Bruce's daughter~sad that they lost Annie, but nice to see an update from them. I have often wondered how they were doing.
Thursday:
This is the third time I've attempted this blog..:(....being so 'computer' challenged I truly need to find an easier way of doing this blogging. So I ask all you expert bloggers out there..what do you use? We are using 'blogger'...there seems to be so many glitches in this program...or in my thought process..maybe its the 'blogger' being me?? Anyway I'm  hoping I can get it done this time, they say the third time is the charm...so hoping I don't strike out...because I have 4 busy days to tell you all about...I truly need to find a program that allows me to put pictures side by side etc...maybe I need a course...all I know is its frustrating to have your blog  done pictures uploaded and then it all goes screwy.

Thursday I left bright and early to go help a senior friend pack to move. After the packing I had quite a bit of running around to do while in town...I left Rick home to greet and meet the telco technician who arrived as I was leaving to install and change our internet television and telephone system provider. One would think Rick of all people (who worked in the teleco industry for over 32 years) would know all the questions to ask~and ensure everything was glitch free before letting the techie leave. I arrived home later in the day, crashed for a few minutes, made supper and then we settled in to watch some TV...not gonna happen... After over 2 hours on the phone (that would be me) with tech support we realized we were not programmed correctly..once you live with time shifting its hard to go without it...anyway after much back and forth I also found out that we were not receiving the programming that was "pitched" to us when we decided to change providers, I was told "yes you have it for the first 30 days"...needless to say there was a lot of back and forth discussion...as I had previously spoken with three representatives on three separate occasions to ensure the pitch was the pitch. To make a long story short...we got what we were promised and not for only 30 days ~ it is until we decide to cancel !! We owned a customer service centre for the last 13 years...so you have to do some talking to get around me. I refuse to be scammed.

So Rick tells me the internet is faster (I truly don't see much difference but what do I know I'm challenged remember) I can't figure out the TV guide (thats what husbands are for and bless his heart he built a favourites for my channels for me now just has to teach me how to find the favourites area), and my caller display on the telephone is still working...so maybe we're good to go here?

Friday:
Friday was a busy day of babysitting for our daughter for the afternoon, then we were all meeting downtown at the MotoMoncton Motorcycle Festival where our son Don's band was the opening band for the music. The grands, Hannah and Caitlin were very excited... this was their first 'concert' and thought their Uncle Donnie was pretty famous. They made signs and Cait even made a shirt! They were quite the little groupies to say the least.
Hannah and Caitlin


Front of stage with their signs..they were definitely in awe

Song dedication to them :)


Todd, Tracey, Hannah and Caitlin
Don, Rick and myself

Darren, Don, Alan and Justin -

grands watching the tune up

Don and Darren on drums
Proud sister with brother

Father and son


Some nice rides and lots of people

All in all it was an exciting evening and a proud evening for our family...after the performance we walked the main street and checked out the nice rides...I think everyone was out in Moncton on Friday evening. Then it was home for us and to bed as the grands were arriving in the morning to go camping with us.

Saturday: (our wedding anniversary-good thing daughter brought us a card to remind us of the day-thats how busy we have been-I immediately jumped on facebook and posted a loving anniversary wish to Rick-whew got that covered)


The 'grands' were delivered to us at 10 am sharp~and they were dancing in the driveway while we finished loading up a few last minute things into the MH...and after our ritual hand holding travel prayer~we were on our way. This was their first 'ride' in ossumer~we were booked into a kid full, fun filled campground in sussex NB. Thankfully it was only an hour away! The chatterboxes were quite cute~kids never cease to amaze me! There was crafts, playgrounds, the pool~and kids everywhere~ never a dull moment. Saturday evening the cg hosted a pool party for the kids with coloured lights and (loud) music. Everywhere you looked there was also a dog. Talk about a noisy place but if your taking kids along thats where you need to be. Here are a few pics of their camping trip:
They swam for hours


Bonfire and marshmallow time
Caitlin and Lilly
Hannah and Tucker
Snuggle time with Nan

 

 

 

Sparkler Time

 
Bedtime was seamless~bless their hearts because Nannie and Poppa were pretty 'tuckered' out.  Poor poppa spent so much time pool side, seemed we no sooner got them dried off and they were back in the suits and back to the pool. They had so many 'firsts' this weekend...first 'concert'-first ride in ossumer-and first pool party!!

We were smiling today as we passed two pretty worn out 'grands' back to their parents~now after blogging 3x I'm praying this one takes then its off to bed for this tired old nannie!! Hoping this new week that is upon us progresses at a slower pace than the last one. Where did we ever find the time to work and run a business??

Take care all and remember
Home is where you park it!!
 
Please feel free to 'blog' educate me~I'm seeking something fairly simple~type click insert and publish..is there such a thing out there that will work on my mac? ****see these paragraphs in the gold color text? Both Rick and I have tried everything to get them to match the text in this blog...it has to be some sort of carry over from the captions~ but it is a prime example of my frustration..oh well tomorrow will be a better day right???
Elaine
Rick Tucker and Lilly too
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Is this Not Tuesday???? Where do We live???

Is this not Tuesday??? Didn't we just get home yesterday??? Good gracious..no its Wednesday..or so I've been informed..We arrived home early Monday afternoon and we have been going straight out since then-non stop..and here it is 40 mins from Thursday.

We have been staining the deck, limbing trees, pulling weeds from flower beds, laundry, dusting, cleaning, cooking..getting haircuts, new debit cards, revolution for the fur kids, answering emails etc etc that and everything else that piles up while your gone for a couple of weeks. Poor Ossumer looks pretty lonesome...although I do make numerous daily trips out there to get something out of the closet in the bedroom, or something out of the fridge to cook for supper-or something out of the pantry...normally I have both places well stocked...I must be slipping this season. Could it be the retirement? I do the laundry and have sorting baskets...this goes into the closet this goes back into Ossumer...this goes into the stix and brick kitchen yadda yadda...

I am so anxious to get the winter south trip booked..but right now we don't dare..we finally got a call yesterday for Rick to see the surgeon..October 5th...sadly we cannot make any definite decisions until then :(....although we are considering booking anyway and cancelling if necessary...what to do what to do...there is so much to think about and so much to do...so I have decided...

I'm going to take a big deep breath and just get us through the next few days...tomorrow we are changing providers for home telephone, internet and tv...could be anywhere from 8am-5pm when they show up...so far up to today I've received 3 reminder calls pertaining to this installation...drives me nuts...Rick will handle that as I have to go at 8:30am and help a senior friend pack and get ready to move...Friday morning involves some appointments, loading Ossumer and Friday evening is the MotoMoncton Motorcycle show!! The main downtown street will be blocked off -lots of bikes, music etc. Our oldest son and his band are the opening act..so we must attend that..the two grands are pretty excited (7 yrs old) to be attending with their parents and us...to hear them tell it they are attending their first ever 'concert' and their uncle is famous...so cute...little do they know he is going to dedicate a song to them both...brown eyed girls...no doubt that will send them over the moon.

Saturday morning we are loading the two grands into Ossumer, yes with the other two fur kids and heading about an hour away to a kid filled fun campground until Sunday or Monday...they are so excited as this is their first trip out in the new motorhome. It should prove interesting to say the least. I will try remember to take the time to use the camera. Praying this past couple of days of nice weather holds up for us.

So I've only listed a few of our activities that we've accomplished so far this week...maybe this will help you understand why I'm not sure what day it is...take care all -stay safe...you are all remembered in our prayers...

home is where you park it
Elaine
Rick Tucker and Lilly too

I'm so so very excited I just had to edit this post..I have been daily watching Sicard Rv's...watching our sunvoyager by gulfstream sitting on that site so forelorne...wondering when she will get new owners...just now we saw a big SOLD sign on her listing...she was a wonderful classy motorhome and we loved her dearly...I hope the new owners love her as much as we did...and they certainly bought themselves a real Classy A motorhome...good luck in your new home Miss Daisy may you provide the love and enjoyment to your new owners that you've provided to us!!!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

A beautiful hot sunny Sunday!! We're off to the market




Yesterday, with heavy hearts, we left Sydney heading toward NB...planning a stop in Truro for the night and onto NB today..We ended up staying overnight in Debert the decided humm fairly nice park lets stay another night especially where the weather is so nice. So we are striving to push onto NB on Monday.

It was sad leaving the family...but we will be back again...all was well the drive was beautiful...
Windshield shot-
 

 A beautiful driving day!

How pretty is this...


 The Canso Causeway connects Cape Breton Island to mainland Nova Scotia..There is a bridge in the middle of the causeway. Entering the bridge from the causeway toward NB-:( leaving Cape Breton Island
 See this hut? thats at the top of the bridge (suspended) of the canso causeway. A worker sits in here ~and when the ships need to pass thru the worker swings the bridge around sideways so the ships can pass....

Shot of the causeway in the distance
Saint Annes look off
 Then things go somewhat 'hairy'....we encounter a 'detour' of approximately 45 minutes off the highway down a winding, twisty, broken pave, no shoulder~ back road. Traffic was heavy (altho I didn't capture the traffic I was too busy praying) This road does not look narrow but trust us it certainly is.


No shoulders




traffic was bumper to bumper at times
We met trailers, fivers, moto homes, tractor trailers...on this narrow country road

This could be tricky





We arrived Elm River Park in Debert NS around supper time..so the trip which should have taken 2.5-3 hours took us around 5. Nice park...but being a Saturday night it was full and busy..kids and dogs everywhere. Before even setting up we hauled out the dogs, the chairs and the happy hour liquids and kerplunked ourselves into the chairs to enjoy a cold one, enjoy the sunshine and ease the tensions of the detour drive.

I made big fat homemade hamburgers for supper-we took a few walks with the fur kids~grabbed a coffee and relaxed for the evening.

Have a great day all! 

Home is where you park it
Elaine, Rick Tucker and Lilly


Saturday, August 13, 2011

A fun filled Friday...on the Island of Cape Breton..

We were preparing to load up and head toward NB yesterday..but those plans got changed...we did move on but not toward home..we left the cg and came into sydney ....spent the night in my cousins driveway..she was a tight squeeze but we managed it...and wow you would think anyone and everyone in this town has never see a coach motorhome....there has been more cars stopping and staring...talk about tying up traffic....
We were definitely a traffic stopper
parked and setup
















We headed down to Cheryl's (my cousin's mom and my first cousin) as it was stated she was cooking supper for us all AGAIN!! this time it was cabbage rolls, garlic chicken, rice, breads and all the trimmings...We would not dare to weigh this motorhome today, especially if we are in it... because of all the good food thats been served to us this week..I'm sure we're over weight...now Rick knows where I learned my cooking traits, and why I'm also a 'large portion' server. At home hes forever saying we do not need a 'dutch oven' pot full of potatoes Elaine just for the two of us....I dont' know how to cook for just two people...so now I think he has an understanding as to why I don't.
Hot turkey dinner-with all the trimmings - just one of the many wonderful meals Cheryl cooked-

My cousin Janice and I
Cousin Cheryl-the great cook!!

Andy Lisa's hubby-Breanne and Jamie Lynn hiding her face thats a 15 yr old thing :)
Lisa-she is so much fun!! and so funny





While sitting out on her veranda after supper enjoying our drinks...we watched the sights of the neighbourhood...at the corner was a party of 20+ something year olds...they were all fairly inebriated and of course arguing amongst themselves.
One young lady was in pretty bad shape falling on the cement sidewalk and some guy took her down the neighbours dark driveway across the street. We immediately alerted the authorities...like come on she is someone's daughter...of course when the police arrived (two cars) he took off..and they were forever finding her in the dark backyard and getting her to her feet and into the car. At least we know she was safe for the night.

The police were pretty chatty with us all..and of course Cheryl delivered him some water, and pop to help him thru his long shift~I'm surprised she didn't land out there with a plate of cabbage rolls for him. As a joke I said to him...you should let me sit in the back of your car and get my picture taken.."I'm a tourist" home to visit..lol he said sure...talk about funny...yes we have pictures..but the wifi is too slow to load them up, so I will load up and catch up on all the missing pictures when the wifi is better...he even turned the lights on...now isn't that a story for my grandkids...I always said where theres no fools theres no fun...just seems I'm always the fool..haha...and just so you know it was my first ever experience in the back of a police car....oh well it gave everyone  a great laugh...
I guess theres one in every bunch!
cousin Breanne gorgeous girl


Life wasn't so funny earlier ...Lisa and I had gone to the bank and I wanted to use the instant teller...they are not like the ones at home and I don't know why...at home you don't get the withdrawn $$ until your transaction is complete..here you get it first...due to gabbing with Lisa, when it spit out the cash I took it and left...and you know what happened next...about 6pm I realized I didn't have my bank card..yup it was still in the machine...we did go back and some good honest soul must have removed it and took it inside to the teller because I hopped on line and checked the bank and the only withdrawal was the one I made. The transaction would have been at the stage of 'would you like to make another transaction' when I walked away from it...so they might drink and fight on Friday nite but they're still honest good down home folk. I called the bank and canceled my debit card and will pick up a new one the first of the week..meantime Rick has his we can use.

Its a hot sunny day here in CB ..of course because its a travel day for us..but better to travel in the sun versus the rain...not sure where we will end up tonight, but will update if possible...

Have a super Saturday everyone, and remember

Home is where you park it
Elaine (Rick Tucker and lilly too)