Whelan's Wheels (go round and round, round and round): Yes

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Yes

We are still out here. We are in Indiana (northern).

I've been trying and trying to find the missing (misplaced) photos of the last of our Great Lakes tour. The missing part is the day we were returning from the Upper Peninsula with Larry, Sheila and Donni. We stopped at a great place called "Legs Inn" as well as seeing two "largest cherry pies" - both holders of Guinness Book of Records honors and 50 miles from one another!

Remember that I had fallen and destroyed an ankle on one leg and thought I'd broken a toe on the other (yeah I was quite a sight trying to walk (hobble) for several days - the ankle still isn't right but then again ..... oh never mind). Well the camera I was talking photos with as I was walking and falling is history so I had to revert back to the old one. I set the date wrong (DAH) on that one when I fired it up again so the most recent photos were lost in iphoto incorrect date land!

With all that said - here we are in northern Indiana - gorgeous, beautiful, northern Indiana AMISH country. I LOVE Amish country whether it be Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan or Indiana - for whatever reason I love it. I am so intrigued by it and hopefully will be going to Menno-Hof tomorrow for better insight into it all.

When we came to this area one of our plans was to search out some new (replacement) furniture - chairs and end table to replace my noisy and very uncomfortable chair and the sofa and replace a fairly useless coffee table with something more functional as well as a computer desk ... well that hasn't worked so well ~ mainly because the chair place had moved and we didn't realize it (and now are near ready to move on) the chairs at best take two days to make with in stock fabric - three weeks with to order fabric and the furniture builders are in CO for a couple months and we can't seem to locate what we're looking for among the many other furniture builders in the area!!! UGH frustration abounds lately - cold and frustration - I wonder if there is a connection.

We've been to several small (read under 2000 people) towns in the area - lovely cool, crisp fall days and rides in beautiful country - GREAT stuff this is.

We also went to the RV/motorhome Hall of Fame (seriously!) the other day (more of the photo events library snafu) and today we went to Wakarusa (pop -2000) to see their pumpkin tree as well as fall street decoration event - great small town America ... hopefully now that I've got all photos back in place I'll post a few from the last two weeks.

Tonight, just as I was researching flights to get myself to NC for a Connor fix Joshua called to inform me that a rare (very rare) opportunity awaits - Connor had consented to get on Skype with Grammie ~ thankfully Rick had just walked in the door so he and Connor got to do their beloved "Tigger Hop". I am trying to figure if I should go to NC next week from Louisville or perhaps when we are in the Jacksonville, FL area - I could sign Sir up the Dog Resort at the Jacksonville area and fly to Connorland while Rick and Chester "played" unencumbered by Master Arlo and Ms Tracey (probably the best of the options for all involved) for a few days before we head south to the Keys .... decisions decisions but one thing is for sure - I am overdue for a Connor Fix.........

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This is our story ~ and we're sticking to it.

Our attempt at a blog - quite scary isn't it?

We left MA in early October, 2007 after I (Tracey) retired September 5 as an executive assistant for a software developer and Rick retired from his job on October 1. We passed papers on our house September 28th and off we went. We traveled down the east coast to the Florida Keys ~ where we planned to spend three nights but 17 nights later had to leave our site because someone had reserved it a year prior! We then stayed in northern FL for another month and headed off to meet our Marine returning to the San Diego area after his second tour "over there". We spent several wonderful weeks realizing why grandparents get tired easily! After the San Diego area we headed to the "low desert" (certainly a new phrase for us) of CA and into western AZ .. and decided it was finally time to start the blog we'd talked about since August or so!!

So many wonderful things we saw along the way. And the people, oh the people. I have said so many times to Rick the best part of this journey has been the people. So, so many people with so many interesting stories. Think about it - think about the stories YOU have and multiply that by the many many people we must have met along the way ~ particularly a social person like Rick .. we met a rattlesnake milker in Sweetwater, TX, we met the camp hosts in the Keys who summer back in NH ~ talk about the best of both worlds! We met the female police Sgt. at the Sweetwater Elks whose son was also in Iraq at the same base as my son. We met people in Slidell, LA who survived Katrina and had a great attitude and a smile on their faces and were proud to share their local cuisine with us. We saw the Blue Angels, purely by chance, in El Centro, CA. Or the "campground" where within an hour of arriving our house had been hit three times by golf balls! Or the Elks lodge in Indio ~ the sweetest, bike riding, bartender ~ I just wanted to pack her up and bring her along on our adventure. Not to mention the aerial tram while we were there, the warplane museum for Rick who does NOT do aerial trams! The Salton Sea ~ WOW just WOW. We stayed in the lovely little town of Wilcox, AZ - there was just something about that town. How about Pensacola, FL where the Elks Lodge on the beach is now built high, very high, off the ground! Or what about Huntington Beach State Park in Murrels Inlet, SC - talk about beautiful. What a great place that was to spend our first Thanksgiving on the road with good friends - that was something to be thankful for, for sure. Our first Christmas and New Years in the Keys!! WOW. The love and support of a dear friend in FL while Rick had to fly back to Boston and we dealt with all that entailed with unexpected follow ups back in FL .. how fortunate were we through all of that. Not to mention having the new trailer outfitted in Myrtle Beach and staying at what a week or two a year is the Broken Spoke? Or the kind and soft spoken LA Police Detective who is on the gang unit? So many people, so many stories. And there is so much ahead. The people .. did I mention how wonderful the people have been - all different walks of life .. so many personalities, so many stories! I have said many times ~ I need to pinch myself every morning to be certain it REALLY is happening to US! We are so grateful.

Click here to see our pictures on picasa