Saturday, March 29, 2014

I think I have posted a picture of our truck and trailer at the top of the blog.  I haven't attempted to do much in the way of dressing up the blog, so I'm starting to investigate what I can do.

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We all managed to survive Olga's departure, but it isn't easy.  Natasha and Olga are very close and Olga has taken care of Maria since shortly after she was born.  Maria has also had to adjust to daycare, but she seems to be doing okay there.  She's certainly tired when she gets home.

Olga's dog, Sonia, did not go back to Russia with her and is missing her.  I could hardly get her outside at all Thursday.  If she goes out now, she looks for Olga first.  She's spending most of her time curled up in Obi's little chair.

I took all three of the dogs for a walk yesterday, which was a bit much.  So this morning, when Sonia actually showed an inclination to go with Obi, Salami and me, Steve came along to help out.  Obi seems to be slowing down.  It's a sad day when I can walk faster than the dog!  But he is 10 now, so it's to be expected.

But the neighborhood is looking like spring.  Several houses have annuals out.  And at least half the trees in this neighborhood are live oaks, which look like deciduous trees but don't lose their leaves.  At least not all at once.  I think they actually lose them all year long, so you have to keep raking.  But it gives the illusion that spring is really here to see trees in full leaf.

Olga and Natasha planted some miniature roses around the pool before she left.

Olga also planted some hanging planters and started tomato plants that are growing in the kitchen window.

Olga made it back to Kolomna just fine.  She has skyped several times today, but has missed Natasha.  Natasha and Mike are out looking at cars to replace Mike's car.  This time Olga said she was going to bed, hopefully to sleep.  

Steve thinks he needs my help mounting a TV on the wall, so I'll call it quits for now.

Deb

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

I think spring has arrived in Dallas.  It's 9 pm and 61 degrees.  The next two days are supposed to be in the 80's.  Maybe it's time to head north.  The trees are starting to have green buds and some of the neighbors have planted frost resistant annuals like pansies.  

It's been a busy time here.  Mike's brother, John and his wife, Enza, flew in on Saturday for Maria's baptism on Sunday.  The baptism took place Sunday afternoon.

It was a lovely day.  The weather was perfect.  We had dinner before hand at a lovely Mexican restaurant near Natasha's and then drove over to the church.  Maria was fairly well behaved, enjoying a bit of play time with the lady sitting behind her.

Monday morning Maria went off to day care for the first time.  It was a bit traumatic for all involved. Mike picked her up around noon.  Enza said she fell asleep while eating a cookie!  I think she was tired.  But Olga was glad to have her home for the afternoon.

Steve and I had taken off in the morning on Monday to visit Ikea.  Ikea is a Scandinavian home furnishing store unlike anything else.  It's one of the few stores outside of home improvement stores that Steve enjoys shopping in.  We had several things we wanted for the trailer and were hoping to get them at Ikea.

The rear of the trailer had two recliners in front of the big picture window.

Our vision of living in the trailer was a desk across the back.  We left one of the recliners in West Lafayette and substituted an Ikea chair we already had.  Neither of us ever sat in the recliner, so we convinced Natasha to take it for the game room upstairs.  I found two folding tables that would fit across the back to use as a desk as we figured out how we wanted to live in the trailer.  We then moved the dining table to the middle of the desk area so we have a T shaped work area.  That has worked well for us, so we were looking for materials to make the setup permanent.

4 or 5 hours later, we had two counter tops that will be used for the work area, table legs, two desk chairs (the ones we are using have permanent homes in West Lafayette) and a multitude of other pieces and parts.  We will be getting rid of the table and chairs that came with the trailer.  (Anyone need a nice oak table and 4 chairs?)  Natasha has already spoken for the extra recliner, which we will deliver the next time we head from West Lafayette to Dallas.

We're working on the list of things Natasha would like to have done.  The furnace company came in Tuesday and will be putting in a new furnace tomorrow.  Steve got the last of the baby gates that we bought in December installed.  

Tomorrow will be a tough day.  Olga leaves for Russia and won't be back for a year.  She's been an integral part of this family for the last year and it will be a big adjustment for all.  I guess I should be planning what to cook for dinner tomorrow.  Olga usually does the cooking, but that is something I can take on for the rest of our time here.

Our current plans are to leave on Monday, March 31.  I have a dental appointment on April 8, so we plan to be back in West Lafayette by then.  But we are going to take our time and see a few things on the way home.  We're trying to figure out what those are now.

That's all for now.

Deb

Thursday, March 20, 2014

The cold weather gave way to a summer day.  Tuesday, the high was 82.  It was a nice birthday present!

That will certainly be the high this week, although we may have another day or two in the 70's.

Steve and I looked at a couple of county campgrounds nearby for future reference.  Both were on the same lake, Lewisville Lake.  One was nice and shady and a number of spots had lake views, but the roads were terrible.  As Steve said, the speed bumps were superfluous.  Many of the spots would be too short, but they seemed to have enough long ones.  The second campground had 4 spots total, I think.  And maybe 3 trees.

No clear winner here, but either would do in a pinch.

The Mavericks had a game last night (which they lost by one point).  It still makes me smile to watch Olga and Natasha yelling at the team as they watch.  My two Russians are pretty Americanized.

Maria keeps growing and accomplishing new things.  Here she is eating a banana with very little help.

How do you tire out 3 grandparents?  Have them walk Maria.

Which these days means walk back and forth with her while she walks.  She seems to love to walk, but isn't quite steady enough yet to do it when she's not hanging on to something.

I finally got some sewing done and finished a project today.  It's just a sleeveless top, but it felt good to get something done.  I've started on another project I brought along.  We'll see how far I get.

That's all our news for now.

Deb

Monday, March 17, 2014

My last post said it was a pleasant experience to walk Obi.  That changed as cold weather moved in.  I know it's not as cold as almost everywhere else, but walking in the low 40's requires more than two layers of sweatshirts.

One purchase I made for our New Zealand trip a few years ago was a 3 season jacket.  It has a outer layer that functions as a jacket and a zip out liner that can be worn alone keeping you warm down to freezing.  For below freezing, you wear both layers.  It has gotten a lot of use on this trip, in all variations.  But the forecast for Dallas was fairly warm, so it's in the trailer.  I brought a hoodie and a fleece jacket.  So for the past two days, I've borrowed coats to walk Obi.

But at least we didn't get snow.  Apparently, DC got 6 inches and it barely made the national news.  What a winter!  It's warmer today and the high here tomorrow is currently predicted to be 79 - at least on my iPhone.

Mike has a marathon of games at home the next two weeks.   Having home games means we'll see a bit more of him, although not a lot, as they prepare for the games.  The NBA has a grueling schedule.  We're watching them play the Celtics right now.  I think they played Oklahoma last night.  I'm at the kitchen table and Olga and Natasha are on the couch cheering on the Mavericks.  Olga knows all of the names of the players and follows all the games, as does Natasha.  Occasionally we get a glimpse of Mike on the sidelines, but he's not always on the court.  Most of his work is done before the game and during training sessions.

Mike's university, Suffolk University, did a nice article on him in their alumni magazine.  For those of you Steve didn't send the link to, here it is:

http://www.suffolk.edu/magazine/152.php#.Uyes9Hm4mlI

This is the first time I've added a link, so I hope it works.

Tomorrow Steve comes back from Indiana, so I get to drive the big truck in Dallas traffic to pick him up at the airport.  The Dallas traffic bothers me more than the big truck.  I'm really fairly comfortable driving the truck.  We had originally thought we'd go with a smaller truck, but the one ton diesel does pull the trailer nicely.  We're glad we took the advice of all our farmer friends to go with the big truck.

Although we have seen bigger.  We spotted this one as we pulled into Disney's Fort Wilderness.  It actually had "Private Vehicle" printed on the side.

I'm sure it does a nice job of pulling the trailer!

Deb

Friday, March 14, 2014

We made it to Dallas yesterday and got moved into Natasha's.  We'll be here for two weeks or so and since she doesn't have a drive way long enough for us to park in, we've stored the trailer.

That means we had to empty the refrigerator.  Not fun.  But it's done and now Natasha's refrigerator is crowded.  But at least it's warm enough here that we didn't have to winterize the trailer.

Today was laundry day.  Tomorrow Steve flies back to Indiana for a meeting.  I'll hang out with Maria (and Olga, Natasha and Mike) for the next few days and see what I can accomplish on the Debbie do list.  Steve will be back on Tuesday.

The weather is mild enough that walking Obi is a pleasant experience, at least when I can stop him from sniffing every mailbox.  Mostly he's being good and trying to get along with Natasha's dogs.

Maria will be walking any day now.  She walks a lot pushing a doll stroller.  Some day soon she'll just let go and be on her way.

One of the things we need to work on is our route home.  We liked Beaver Dam so much we could head back there for a few days or go through Memphis and/or Paducah, KY.  Paducah is the home of the American Quilter's Society and their quilt museum.  

Our friend Diana emailed that the iris are coming up next to the garage at home, but that there is snow next to them.  Hopefully in two weeks that will be gone.

I do remember one Easter in Pittsburgh growing up when we got 18 inches of snow the night before Easter.  But I'm pretty sure Easter was in March that year.  Hopefully by April the threat of snow will be gone.

Wherever you are, keep warm and safe!

Deb

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

We had a quiet day here at Beaver Dam.  We decided to stay here for another day while a front with high winds blew through from Dallas.  Pulling the trailer isn't bad with the truck, but high winds would complicate things considerably.  

We took a walk with Obi, who for once seem to want to take a walk.  He typically doesn't like to let the trailer out of sight.

I find looking at water very soothing, so I did a lot of that.  The water was very blue, reflecting the cloudless sky.  Then I would see patches of gray, ruffled water.  Since there were no clouds, this must have been the wind.  You could watch the patch of rough, gray water move across the lake.

Tonight we're packing up for a 2 week stay with Natasha.  We'll store the trailer and stay with her.  So we have to pack up clothes and the refrigerator.  Steve will be heading back to Lafayette this weekend for a board meeting on Monday.  Lafayette also got the front we experienced, except they got it with 2 inches of snow.

Steve received a text from the sheriff's office that north and south traffic lights were hard to see as they were covered with snow.  And that a lot of lights had lost power.  My condolences to those in the Midwest.

The sun just set over the lake.  No clouds, so not a spectacular sunset, just a calming one.

I'll blog from Dallas.

Deb

Monday, March 10, 2014

What a glorious day!  We woke up to overcast skies and a glassy lake.  Everything was very peaceful.

Steve called the park we hoped to stay at Monday night, and she politely laughed at us.  Turns out it’s spring break.  At 8 am she only had two empty sites and they don’t take reservations, so chances are good they won’t have room for us.  Time to punt.

We were soon on our way on the Natchez Trace.  The clouds dissipated slowly over the morning as we headed south.   Steve asked what Tupelo meant.  I said “Elvis’s birthplace”  as mentions of Elvis are everywhere.  But actually it’s a type of tree.  There’s a National Battlefield at Tupelo commemorating the 1864 battle there.  We didn’t stop there, but did stop at the first place we could walk the old Trace.  The modern parkway parallels the old Trace, not all of which still exists.  It didn’t come under national protection until the 1930s.  By then parts of it had disappeared under roads, farms and towns.  But walking on part of the old Trace is walking on a millennia of history. 

This is a picture of the part of the old Trace that we walked.

As we proceeded south, the skies cleared and we had a bright, sunny day.

There are Indian burial grounds along the Trace dating back 2000 years. We passed the site of Hernando de Soto’s winter camp in 1540.  He was a Spanish explorer.  Sites of Indian villages dot the trace.  Civil War battles were fought near the Trace.  Andrew Jackson, John Audubon, Daniel Boone, Jefferson Davis and Ulysses S. Grant all walked the Trace.   Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark) died on the Trace and there is a monument to him on the northern section.

I can’t imagine spending a month walking north on the Trace to return home to the Midwest, especially through some swamps.  But thousands of people did.  It was a major thoroughfare until steamboats made it easier to go back up river by boat rather than walking or riding in the early 1800’s.  Although designated a post road (mail route), as cities such as Jackson, Mississippi, were established on nearby rivers and not on the Trace, the road fell out of use.

But the parkway preserves what is left of the old Trace and encompasses a modern trail for most of it’s length.  The roadway itself is restricted to noncommercial traffic and has a 50 mile an hour speed limit, which cuts down on traffic.  It winds through forests, prairies and farmland.  It’s a relaxing drive.  We saw several deer and as we rode south, we saw more and more signs of spring.

At the park ranger’s suggestion, we stopped at Jeff Busby lookout.  It’s one of Mississippi’s highest points (603 feet) and has lovely views.  It also contains a campground, where we stopped and had lunch.  

We had the place to ourselves, so I checked on the other campgrounds on the Trace.  They don’t accept reservations and don’t have hookups, but are nice campgrounds.  We decided to try Rocky Springs campground, not far from I20, where we were planning on leaving the Trace anyway and heading west for Dallas.

Before we reached Rocky Springs, we stopped and did a hike through a swamp.  Obi, who didn't want to go near the lake yesterday, only shied away from the water once.  It was dark water and I'm not sure he knew what it was.

We reached Rocky Springs Campground in the late afternoon.  While not empty, we had our pick of campsites and settled in (in a pull through site) for the night.  This is the view from our rear window (after I cleaned it.)

Somehow I didn't imagine doing housework while traveling.  But it does have to be done.  Luckily, both of us try to keep it clean, so that helps.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

No Internet access last night, we were in a dead zone.  So last night's post is combined with tonight's.  Amazingly we don't hit too many dead zones, although we went through on as we were headed towards tonight's campground.

We are in a National Forest Service campground, Beaver Dam, in Louisiana.  Easy pull in site with water, electricity and a lake view.  All for $9.50, senior rate.  Here's the view from our rear window.

Mark Davis sent us email saying the weather was better and we could come home.  But I wouldn't have working conditions like this:

Being able to rest my eyes on a lake view makes keeping up the blog easy!

I need to go and check out places near Plano.  The place we stayed last time is full and we're still looking.  We may stay here another day while we look.

Take care!

Deb

Sunday, March 9, 2014

We finally found spring!

As we crossed into Alabama yesterday we actually saw flowering trees in bud!  Our first sign was last week in New Bern where we had a dandelion in Mom's yard.

We tried to leave New Bern on Tuesday, March 4, but as we were leaving their community, the guard at the gate was telling everyone that the bridge was closed due to accidents.  It had iced the night before and most schools had a two hour delay or were cancelled.  But it was supposed to be above freezing by 11 and for the next few days, so we thought we could make it.  But there is only one bridge over the Neuse River at that point and the detour would be a long way on country roads.

So we went back and spent another day with Mom and Dad.  Mom got to cuddle with both dogs some more.   Steve got more projects done on the trailer.

Wednesday we were on the road to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for an overnight stop.  Steve's nephew, Brian and his wife Katie moved to Winston last year, so we hoped to catch them for dinner.  To our surprise, Brian's parents and sister Becky were visiting, so we had dinner with almost the whole family.   Steve's niece Kelly was home in Michigan.

The drive through North Carolina was pleasant.  Most of the highways are lined with pine trees, which are somehow more calming than corn fields.  The coastal part of North Carolina is flat and as you head west, hills emerge and eventually the Appalachian Mountains.  Winston-Salem seems to be in the foothills.  

The campground in Winston-Salem was a county campground in a county park.  It seemed more like a small state park.  The campsites were full hookups (electricity, water and sewer) and paved.  There were trees throughout.  Walking, biking, and horseback trails wound through the park and there was a golf course with a nice club house.  Just an excellent facility.  Steve's family met us at the campground, as the park also has a dog park where Brian takes his dogs.  They wanted to see our trailer, so we gave them the grand tour.  We had a very nice dinner with them and then headed back to the campground.

Thursday found us up early and headed out to Johnson City, Tennessee.  Molly and Nick live there with their 3 kids and we hadn't been to see them since they moved from Indiana.  Steve found a campground about 20 minutes away from their house, so we headed there to park the trailer.

I knew we were in Appalachia, but I still expect my campgrounds to be flat.  Surprise!

The road to get to the campground was one lane wide and warned that it was a two lane road.  It was gravel.  We turned uphill to get to registration.  Luckily, the owner and his wife led the way to our site and guided Steve to back in.  It helped that there was a road opposite our campsite!  But it was a nice campsite.  The view out the back was of the small stream that ran through the campground and the woods behind it.

Some of the campsites had small gazebos that sheltered the picnic table and one of those was actually over the stream.  I suspect the campground will be lovely when things green up.  There were daffodils next to our site that were trying to bloom!

After we got the trailer settled, we headed into Johnson City to see Molly's family.  We were so busy visiting that the only picture I took was of Molly's Purdue Tennessee license plate.

Steve asked her how she managed that and she said to ask Nick.  Of course we forgot to ask Nick.  They showed us around Eastern Tennessee's campus and found two restaurants that I could eat at (I had pizza for dinner!)  And we got to play with the kids.  Will's been practicing his guitar and has improved greatly since I last heard him.  Clara and I got to play dolls, but not for nearly long enough and I watched Fritz play Lego's while Molly and Steve picked up Will and Clara from school.  They have a very busy schedule, so we were delighted we got to spend time with them!

Saturday, Molly's family headed for Nashville where Nick was to give a paper and Steve and I headed towards Chattanooga, Tennessee.  (I managed to spell Chattanooga without the spell checker correcting me!)  Originally we were going to be headed home after visiting Molly, but it's still too cold!  So we're headed for Dallas.

We both love national parks, so we keep an eye out for national parks, preserves, forests, etc along our travels.  Tennessee is north of both Alabama and Georgia and Chattanooga is almost in all three states.  Just southwest of that is the Little River Canyon National Preserve.  Steve found a nice campground near there and we reached it in the early afternoon.  They had daffodils blooming!

 We still had enough time after getting set up to hit the park.  Lookout Mountain overlooks Chattanooga and runs southwest from there through Georgia and into Alabama for quite aways.  The Little River runs on top of Lookout Mountain.  At some point, it starts carving a canyon into Lookout Mountain.  This is the falls that start the canyon.

 Steve and Obi at the falls.  Obi didn't like the noise of the falls.

The canyon drops about 400 feet from the ridge.  The sides are steep.  There is a road that follows the canyon and all the trails are labeled arduous and steep.  Its a very unique landscape on top of a mountain.  Because the park preserves the canyon, specifically, it's fairly narrow and sometimes you can see fields and houses through the trees.  

Sunday we headed for Tupelo, Mississippi, birthplace of Elvis and the park headquarters for the Natchez Trace Parkway.  I didn't know a lot about the Natchez Trace, but had always been intrigued by it.  The Natchez Trace was the trail used to return to the Midwest after goods were floated down the Mississippi to Natchez or New Orleans in the 1700's.  It actually was a migratory trail for buffalo first and then used by Indians for centuries.  The Spanish even used it to explore the south in the 1500's.  In the 1700's it would have taken a week to float goods down the Ohio and Mississippi and four or 5 weeks to walk from Natchez to Nashville, TN, where they could use the Cumberland River to get to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Portions of the original trail still exist and most are within the Natchez Trace Parkway boundaries.  We'll be driving the parkway from Tupelo to Jackson, Mississippi on Monday.  Tonight we are staying at Trace State Park outside of Tupelo.  We have a site overlooking the lake.  Obi, however, wants nothing to do with that much water!  He plants all fours and won't go near it!

So, tomorrow we head south to Jackson, making stops along the trace.  I'm looking forward to it!

More later.

Deb

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Sorry for my long absence.  I caught a cold in Disney World and am just now getting over it.  We're at my parents in New Bern, NC.

We left Disney on Tuesday, February 18.  We headed for New Bern and wanted to be there by Friday, as Steve had a flight out of New Bern for Indiana on Saturday.  We drove across Orlando to pick up Obi at the kennel.  It turned out to be a great kennel.  They thought he was wonderful and while he was glad to see us,  he wasn't frantic as he usually is.  They had also him groomed, so he looked and smelled good.  He would still rather not travel, but has mastered both going up and down the trailer stairs and even once tried to jump into the truck, but it's just too high.

We stopped at an RV campground in Brunswick, GA.  It was just off I95, which suited us as we were hitting the road the next morning.  We used to wonder who would stay at an RV campground next to an interstate, but find them very convenient.  And our RV seems well enough insulated that I don't hear the traffic.  Steve, of course, hears relatively little after he takes out his hearing aids.  It was perfect for us.  We had a pull through site, which along with the new automatic jacks, made setup time minimal.

On the road the next day, we stopped at a truck stop for diesel.  Truck stops can be amazing places.  This one even had laundry facilities for the truckers and a 25 person TV lounge.  Food was provided by Denny's, Subway and the normal truck stop hot dogs and pizza.  Showers are fairly common at truck stops and this one had plenty.  Our normal routine at truck stops is first to figure out where they want us to go.  Sometimes RVs go where the semi's go, sometimes with the cars and occasionally they have their own pumps.  Once we've figured that out, Steve pulls in to fuel and I give Obi a potty break.  Then I head in for the restroom and anything we need.  Truck stops are a good place to pick up milk or OJ if we need it for morning.

Now, with a big blue pickup pulling a white trailer, Steve's usually not hard to find when I exit the truck stop, even if Steve's moved away from the pumps.  Blue pickups are somewhat rare.  But I came out one time and couldn't see him, so I called.  He was pulling around and would be out front in a minute.  I saw him and headed that way, only to realize it was the wrong kind of trailer.  So I stopped and looked around.  Oh, there he was.  Headed that way again, only to realize that wasn't him either.  There were three blue pickups pulling white fifth wheels at that truck stop at the same time.

We took I95 to I24 to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, outside of Charleston.  Steve's nieces, Jennifer and Meredith live there and we set up a time to have dinner with them.  We had a day in Charleston.  I was still babying my foot and nursing my cold, so Steve took a walking tour of downtown and went out to Fort Sumter.  There's lots of history in Charleston, so we hope to return to it.

Leaving Mount Pleasant, we headed north on US 17, which will take us straight into New Bern, NC.  It also took us right past a church in Wilmington, North Carolina, where a friend of ours is assistant pastor.  We met Mark for lunch.  Mark used to be the Lutheran campus minister at Purdue before he moved to North Carolina.  He and Steve have kept in touch and we always enjoy a visit.

US 17 travels through North Carolina pine forests and isn't a bad drive.  We managed to get to Mom and Dad's in time for dinner.  Dad had arranged for us to park in his neighbor's drive way, which is on the circle at the end of their street.  That gave us extra room to maneuver the trailer into the driveway.  Steve's getting better at backing the trailer, but it's still an effort.

After dinner, Steve started packing for his trip.  He found it odd to pack for a trip home.  He wanted to travel with only carryon, so no lotions or toothpaste.  He has clothes at home.  But he packed his duffel bag and his backpack and I took him to the airport in the morning.   He had a board meeting on Monday in Lafayette and was flying on Saturday in case he ran into bad weather.  Luckily he escaped bad flying weather, but wasn't quite ready to enjoy the low temperatures in Indiana.  I think he had every hour scheduled on Monday, but managed to find time to see friends on Sunday.  Thanks to Mark and Mary Kay Davis, he even got a home cooked meal on Sunday.

Meanwhile, I was at Mom and Dad's, trying to get rid of my cold and helping out as much as I could. There's always plenty to do.  Their dog, Missy, is only 5 pounds but she and Obi mostly get along.  Actually, they mostly ignore each other, until one tries to eat.  Then we have to separate them.  But they will share Mom's lap.

Steve came back on Tuesday and it wasn't hard to convince him that mid March might be too early to return to West Lafayette.  I think we'd have to winterize the trailer unless we ran the furnace in it.  So we're plotting a trip back to Dallas through the northern south.  We'll celebrate my birthday with Natasha's family and say goodbye to Olga.  She's returning to Russia March 27 (I think) and plans to be there for a year.  Hopefully we can get her back for the holidays next winter.

I think we'll be leaving here on Tuesday and heading west.

More later!

Deb