30 November 2012 - Staying Home

Nacho and KT are laying on the couch being little couch potatoes!!  We've been home a month with no trips and I'm missing the Airstream.  We had such great trips this year, even though we started late.

No trips planned, we are busy getting ready for Christmas.  At work, I'm in charge of the fund raisers for our department's participation in the Festival of Trees and coordinating the purchasing for the three children we have adopted.  Next week will be busy with baking for the Bake Sale on Thursday.   We had one two weeks ago and had a fantastic turnout.  A good portion of the department is away at EXPO, so I hope we have plenty of baked goods donated to sell.  The way its looking, I'm going to be doing a lot of baking the next few days.

Plans are going forward to purchase the lot we have found west of Ames, just over the county line into Boone County.   Hope to close in January.   That will put us really close to our children; an hour and half closer.  Maybe we'll get to see them more frequently than every couple months. 

Now the hard part, going room to room sorting, packing and taking to storage.  Then getting the house in shape to put on the market in the spring.   I think our holiday shutdown is going to be spent packing boxes, taking items to Goodwill or putting items in the garbage or recycle.  

Planning these chores is making the act of selling the house more of a reality.   Lots of work ahead of us!!!!  Lord willing, this time next year we will be living near Boone, IA. 

2013 should be a totally new experience for us.   Retirement is coming, hopefully, and the light is at the end of the tunnel.

 Unless Obama takes control of IRAs and 401Ks, then we'll being working forever!!!!!!!   I hope Republicans and Democrats together take a stand and vote no on his proposal.  I fear things won't go the way I hope though......because people just don't have their eyes open to what is really going on in Washington.  False promises, illusions and government in control of everything is the new order.   Lies are rampant.   It's getting scarier all the time.    I really fear for our children's generation because they aren't going to have the future possibilities that we did when we were their age.   Opportunities for them are so much less than they were 30 years ago.  Things have not gotten better. 

Well, we will trust in the Lord and whatever situation HE allows, we will handle it with His wisdom and guidance and peace.

I wish for all a very joyous and blessed Christmas season.  Our family has much to be thankful for and we praise and thank Him for the blessings.

We'll check in again soon.

Peace to you,
Candy

Heading Home

Nacho and KT are too busy chewing on bully sticks to do any dictating so I'll report. :)

We finished our seminars on Thursday night so Friday and Saturday were free days.  It was so nice to be staying in one place and not having anywhere to go.  We dinked around all morning doing little chores and having a leisurely breakfast.  Dave worked on getting some flies prepared on his lines so he could go out fishing. 

So he left and I did some updating on our Workkamper resume, read some RV forums and looked at lots for sale.  In other words worked a little and played a litte.  Nacho, KT and I took about 3 long walks around the campground and just enjoyed the beautiful fall weather; it was in the low 60's, so really not bad at all.  The colors are still showing so it was a beautiful fall walk.

Here are a few pictures from the campground:



Below are pictures from our little hike along a stream that flows into the Little Red River which is just below our campsite:

Above is our Airstream as seen from the path below.  KT says "is there any fish down there?"



Saturday, after another lazy morning, we loaded up and drove to Mountain View to check out the "Folk music" and "beans and cornbread cook-off".  Which ended up us just driving through, it was crazy packed with people for a town of a population of about 2100, I'm sure there must have been twice that in tourists and visitors.  We drove about 6 miles out of down to JoJo's Catfish Wharf for a great southern meal: sweet tea, hush puppies, green tomato relish, beans, fried catfish fillets and homemade fries.  It was great, they have chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert, but we were too full to try it.

We then drove up to Mountain Home to check it out and view the beautiful scenery along the way.  Wow, talk about windy roads!!!!  Colors were beautiful.  Here is a vew from the restaurant:

We also stopped and checked out another COE near Norfolk Dam.  It was really nice!!!  We would enjoy visiting there next time.  Then it was back to the Airstream.  Driving those windy roads, at about 35 miles per hour after dark was a nerve wacking experience. 

Now we are on the road, driving home, tonight, Sunday we are stopped at a private campground in Columbia, MO.  So on the road again, up Rt. 63 towards Cedar Falls.  What a great week we have had!!!

Hugs,
Candy





Rendevous Report

Good Morning everyone, Candy reporting.

We have just completed and become certified trained Workkamper Dreamers.  Meaning when we retire in 2013 we can submit our applications at thousands of jobs across the USA and have the support of Workkamper News which will confirm to potential employers that we are dedicated, committed, hardworking, sociable and enthusiastic Workkampers.  Hopefully, getting hired at our Dream locations as volunteers.  Oregon fish hatcheries, here we come!  :)

JFK campground is so nice!!!!!!  It has spacious sites, particularly in loop D, which is where we are located.  The other loops are nice, but our loop is the nicest.  We would definitely stay here again if we travel through the area.  Today, Friday is now a free day, but it has dropped from high 70's to low 50's.  Dave is going to do some fly fishing as the area is renown for trout.

It sure was nice sleeping in until 7:30 after getting up at 6 am the last three days.   Now we can have a more leisurely 3 days before we go back to our jobs.   :(     We will start driving back on Sunday.
We may drive up tomorrow to the "Beans and cornbread" festival at Mountain Home.  They have day long music, bazaars, cook-offs and quilt and craft displays.

We have met so many wonderful couples who are "Dreaming" also.  We hope to see them again on the road.
Now it is confirmed we aren't the only crazy people. :)

I'll get some of the promised campground pictures and get them posted.  For now, signing off to enjoy a cup of coffee and a book!

Candy

Heber Springs, AR

Hi All,
We have made it to Heber Springs, AR and are staying at the John F. Kennedy Campground run by the COE on the Little Red River and Greers Ferry Lake.  Mom will get some pictures of the campground and our site.  We will post them later today. 

The drive down yesterday was just a beautiful.  More hilly, twisting roads than the previous day, but the colors are still in full display and the scenery was very enjoyable.  It is evident that the bad economy has hit in some areas and conditions are looking run down.  Branson, though seem to be in full swing and still expanding.  

This is our site, looking out the door of the Airstream.  It's pretty nice!!!

Here we are resting after our long walk.  This is really neat place!!  Squirrels, raccoons, possums, and scents galore!!!  Whoopee!!

The picture above is the nice breakfast Mom is fixing Dad.  He's so lucky!!!  He's having fried polenta!!  Or in hillbilly language fried mush!!!  Mom says yuck, but Dad says yum!

Some of the views along the drive down!

Logging is an important industry in this area of the state.

The memorial in front of the courthouse in town. 

This was a nice view as we drove by the courthouse!

View of a distance mountain (not quite the same as the Rockies, but a mountain all the same) as we drove over the bridge from Greers Ferry towards Heber Springs.

Well, that's my report from Sunday, October 21.  

Kisses, Nacho

Little Red River, Here we come

Not the best picture of me, but here I am directing Mom as we travel south to Springfield, MO, which is our first stop on our way  to the Workkamper Seminar in Heber Springs, AR.  

It was a pleasant drive today as the route Dad chose wasn't bad at all.  The colors are still good in Missouri and so that made for pleasant viewing.  You can see a bit of the colors out the window above my head. 

After un-hooking in the campground in Springfield, Mom and Dad (and us) took a drive to the Bass Pro shop to eat at the restaurant on site.  It was a HUGE place.  Mom said they had a nice restaurant and she got some nice dishes on the buffet. She said the snapping turtle swimming around in the tank was giagantic!!! 

Anyway, bedtime after a nice long walk, so we can finish our drive tomorrow.  It should only take about 4 1/2 hours and then we can enjoy the river and the COE campground by the dam.  More tomorrow with some pictures!

Night!
Nacho

Checking in

Hi all, KT reporting here as Nacho is too busy chasing leaves and being a troublemaker.  :)
We have been gone every weekend since we returned from Vermont, but no pictures to share.

21- 23 September we went "home" as Mom calls it to visit family and wish Grandpa Isaacson a Happy Birthday!  He was 80 years old on the 24th.

28 -30 September we joined good friends Steve & Patsy camping at the COE in DeSoto, WI.  Went to some apple orchards in Gays Mills and brought home more than 1/2 bushel of apples!  We love apples!

5 -7 October we celebrated Aunt Chris' 50th birthday.  Really nice party hosted by Kevin, and Nicki and Andy. The fires sure felt good!  

14 October we went over to celebrate Dan's 31st birthday, a day late.  We were supposed to camp, but the weather wasn't so great so we cancelled the camping portion.  Mom said she got to spend a day at home and get a bit caught up.

We leave this weekend on our trip to Arkansas for fishing (for Dad) and learning about what is involved to be a "workkamper".  They will have seminars on RV cooking, maintenance, taxes, best states to live in as a retiree, driving an RV, and building a resume to transfer from a normal employee to a retired employee, working to pay for your site, but leaving lots of time to play!  ( Mom's idea).

We will report in later!

KT

How we travel

Just a quick post here from Mom;

So we have been asked how we travel and why we enjoy it. 

We love traveling across the great United States.  This country is beautiful and there is so much to see.  Flying may be quicker but the beauty of the land is not appreciated.  Also, we like having our own bed, bathroom and kitchen.   Bed bugs anyone?  Not me!!!  Traveling in our 25' Airstream Tradewind, which is a restored 1974 model, allows us the convenience of stopping where and when we want, taking our sweet pups, Nacho and KT with us and having the benefits of home right there with us 24/7. 

So here are some pictures as an explanation of our travels:

As we travel and we have to stop, this is where we are required to park. 

A couple of the campsites we used this year, none of which I would say have been our favorite, but were acceptable. 

This is how KT and Nacho travel in the truck, when they are tired of riding up front with us. 

This is how Nacho likes to travel sitting next to me, helping Dave navigate.  :)

Here he's telling me, "this is where we are staying tonight, Mom". 

Nacho begging Dad to let him sit up front, he's done taking a nap!

KT showing off the kennel in the trailer. She's saying, "enough already get me out of here."

Trying to convince Dad to share his Cheerios!

Well, we hope our friends and family will continue to follow our adventures as we continue to travel to new states and explore old favorites.  

What a blessing and privilege it is to travel.  We thank the Lord for our health, finances and many blessings he has bestowed upon us.  We especially appreciate our children being understanding of our love of travel and knowing during our future retirement we may be out of state for quite a while.   We hope we have passed on to them the enjoyment we have experienced seeing our great country.

Dave and Candy, and Aussies