Family Time & Another Capitol Visit

We left Wisconsin on Monday, October 6th. This was the first time we’ve closed up the new fifth wheel and travelled any distance with it. Everything came together just fine, and Kevin said it tows beautifully.

Our first two nights on the road were in Iowa at George Wyth State Park in Waterloo. We’ve stopped in Iowa the last four Octobers to visit Kevin’s brother and his family. We had an enjoyable visit with everyone. Our nephew Robert works for the Kwik Star company and was promoted several months ago to manager of a brand new store. They are currently celebrating their grand opening, and he has been working MANY hours. We’re thinking the company must have lots of confidence in him to put him in charge of a store from the ground up. Great job, Bob! Here’s a picture of his new store.

 

We arrived Wednesday afternoon at Pine Grove RV Park in Greenwood, Nebraska. It’s an okay campground about 20 minutes from our son and daughter-in-law’s place in Lincoln. Korey stopped by Wednesday after work for a little while. There was a beautiful sunset Wednesday evening.

 

On Thursday we drove into Lincoln to tour the Nebraska State Capitol. What a beautiful building. It is definitely a different design from most capitols we’ve visited. It was built from 1922 to 1932 at a cost of $10 million and was completely paid for when it was finished. No debt, what a novel concept.

 

The statue on top is 19 feet high and weighs 9 tons, and is called the Sower. We thought it looked like a discus thrower, but he’s actually throwing seeds to represent Nebraska’s agricultural history and future.

The entire building has an art deco feel to me which makes sense as it was designed and built in the 1920s. The tower is 14 stories tall with a beautiful rotunda. There are many mosaics inside representing the history of Nebraska with an emphasis on nature, Native Americans, early settlers and spiritual life.

The capitol was built with chambers for the senate, legislature and supreme court. In the 1930s voters passed a law that required a one-house Legislature, the Unicameral. This means all the politicians meet in one room and work together to get things done. What a great idea.

Our excellent tour guide explained that they work 90 or 60 days each year at an annual salary of $12,000. The rest of the year they go back to their regular jobs. They also pass a budget every two years that is required to have a surplus at the end of each year. It seems to me that Nebraska has learned how to make government work more efficiently for the people.

We’ve also noticed that there are very few political ads on TV, and none of the negative ads we see in many other states. How refreshing!!

Last night Korey and Cathryn came over for dinner. It is so great to see both of them again. We have several outings planned with them this weekend. I’m sure it will be fun, and the time will fly by too quickly. I am grateful to be able to travel to where they live, and have the luxury of staying for a few days to visit.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Milestone

Yesterday we hit a small milestone. Our 2000 Pontiac Grand Am turned 200,000 miles. We bought it new in June of 2000. Kevin and I both drove it for a few years. Then, it went to our son Korey. He drove it for a few years until we became fulltimers. He then got our 2003 Pontiac Vibe with AWD which was better for him in Minnesota. We kept the Grand Am and have been using it in Wisconsin each summer as a second vehicle. In the winter we store it.

Kevin worked for Pontiac dealers his entire career. We have owned several of them, and have been very satisfied. This one has lasted the longest. None of the rest ever died; we just sold them to get something else. It makes me a little sad that Pontiacs are no longer being made.

We’ve been quite busy with lots of visitors the last two weeks. Last weekend the camping club we’ve belong to since 1981 camped at our park for the weekend. As usual, there was lots of drinking and eating going on, as well as great camaraderie. This week fulltime friends Bob and Susan from Texas spent three nights at our campground as they explored parts of southeastern Wisconsin. We were able to enjoy some happy hour time with them and have dinner at Culvers.

Tonight Kevin’s card group is coming to the park. They’ve been playing Sheepshead together for about fifteen years. A few of them are bringing their families and camping for the night. Our son Eric is part of the card group, so he will be coming as well and spending the night with us.  Busy, busy, busy!

I tend to wake up around 6 am. Kevin thinks I’m crazy, but my early morning paid off the other day. I witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen. The picture just doesn’t do it justice.

Last week I was sure surprised when I came out of Shopko and found this parked next to my car.

It’s a motorcycle pulling a coffin. The back of the coffin says Last Ryde, there is an arm hanging out the side, a very scary Chucky doll is on the back of the bike and there were all kinds of skulls on the entire thing. I guess they are ready for Halloween.

I finished another quilt that will be donated to Carol Joy Holling Camp’s quilt auction next summer. This is where our son Korey works, and I’m happy to help them out. I thought the cross theme was a good fit for a church camp. The quilt is the purple part. It’s on our bedspread which is the brown part. I should have taken the picture somewhere else.

For those of you that shop at Amazon, I would ask a small favor. In the right column just under the header picture of the blog, you will see a small box with an Amazon search window. You can enter a search word or just click on the Go button. This will take you to the regular Amazon site where you can do your shopping at the same prices you would if you just logged onto their site. If you go to their site through my blog, I get a small credit for your purchases. It costs you nothing and gives me a little extra. This has nothing to do with whether we are working at Amazon or not, so the fact that we are not working there this year doesn’t matter.

Only ten days until we leave Wisconsin. We washed the fifth wheel yesterday to get it ready. Hopefully, all will go well. We picked it up in April, drove it 30 miles and have been here since. This will be our first road trip with the new unit. Keeping my fingers crossed it all works out!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Winter Arrived on Wednesday

I know there are people in blog land who complain when someone writes about the weather. Sometimes, when the weather is rather drastic, I want to write about it. This week is one of those times.

Wednesday morning was warm and humid. It was 75 degrees around 2 pm. By 4 pm the temperature had dropped over 20 degrees. The last two nights have been in the mid 40s. Yesterday we reached a high of 54 degrees. That was a new record low high for the day. Today is supposed to hit only 50 with rain off and on all day. Tonight is supposed to drop to 38 degrees. I guess winter has arrived. I seem to have missed fall. Hopefully, it will make a comeback.

The past few years I have picked hickory nuts in the park and sold them on eBay. Last year, I sold acorns and hickory nuts and cleared about $500. I was all set to pick nuts again this year, but they seem to have taken a year off. There were some trees that dropped a few acorns, but nothing like we usually have. The hickory nuts are pretty much nonexistent. I guess I won’t be suffering from a backache this fall from stopping down and picking up nuts.

Last week fellow fulltimers and our good friends, Janie and John, stayed at our park for six nights. They are headed to work at Amazon in Kentucky and stopped by to visit with us. That was so nice of them. Janie and I went to the farmer’s market in Beaver Dam on Saturday morning and found some goodies. She is an avid knitter, so we also stopped at a local yarn shop where she found some treasures. We enjoyed several happy hours, some delicious meals, and some campfires. But, mostly we just enjoyed their company!

Yesterday we heard a loud noise outside. At first, I thought it was someone driving into the park. I looked out the window and saw this boat at the boat launch. It looks like one of the airboats you see in swamps. We’ve never seen this type of boat on Beaver Dam Lake. As far as I know, there are no swamps around here. You can see how cold it was from the way the person is bundled up. Probably wasn’t the best day for boating.

September is shaping up to be quite busy for us. We have tentative plans for some more visitors to be coming to see us at the park, as well as taking care of our annual dental visit, and some last visits with family. Before we know it, October will be here, and we’ll be packing up to leave. Based on the turn in the weather, heading south will be a good thing!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Doing the Happy Dance

Yesterday I was reading the blog of Kevin and Ruth, and it was mentioned that Ruth was doing the happy dance because the busy time of the season was over and they could slow down a bit in their campground managing position.

I am also doing the happy dance for the same reason, but I have another reason to be happy as well. We have decided not to work at Amazon this year. We have been contemplating this decision for quite a while. There are several reasons we have decided not to do it.

The main reason is that Amazon is in a dispute with the campground directly across the street from the warehouse, and they are not paying for the campers to stay at that campground. Although the campground is not ideal, we really appreciated the fact that we could ride our bikes to work. It was just so convenient. They also have full hook-up 50 amp pull-through sites, free wi-fi and on-site laundry. That’s all we need.

The other campgrounds in town would not take reservations. Since we were not going to be arriving until late October, we were concerned there would not be an acceptable site for us. The buzz on the Amazon Facebook page was that the other campgrounds were already mostly full. We were very concerned we would end up driving 800 miles just to find there was not an acceptable site available.

Another reason was the mandatory overtime. Last year they made the overtime optional. Most people still worked the overtime, but we were happy to just work the 40 hours and call it a day. This year the mandatory overtime has already begun, so we would be working about 8 weeks of 50 hour shifts. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

We found a great deal at the Fortuna de Oro RV Resort in Yuma, Arizona for the fall. They are running a fall special of just $595 for the months of September through December. We’ve made a reservation. Although we won’t be arriving until October, that is still a great price, and it looks like a very nice place. So, happy dancing for me!

Our campground was full for the Labor Day weekend. We have four couples that have been our friends for years bring their campers and spend the weekend with us. Although we had rain two of the days, we still had a great time. We really enjoy having visitors.

On Sunday our son Eric and some friends of his came for a visit. More good times. Everyone was commenting on how tall the corn is in the fields surrounding the park. It’s like we have a wall surrounding us. Eric and Kevin posed with me so you can see just how tall it is. I’m 5’3” and it looks like it is at least as tall as two of me. That would make it over 10 feet tall. Wow.

This corn was planted Memorial Day weekend. They sprayed some stuff on it as they were planting it. I’m wondering what type of steroid fertilizer they used.

This unusual looking cardinal was at the bird feeder last week. I’ve never seen such a mottled colored cardinal. Usually they are so red. I wonder if this one is molting. Sorry about the blurry picture.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Dog Days of Summer

The weather this summer has been quite nice. May and June were pretty wet, but since then it has been mostly dry and not very hot. This week the heat of summer caught up with us. We’ve had highs near 90 and dew points in the 70s. The next few days are predicted to be in the low 90s.

Our new fifth wheel has two air conditioners. Until this week, we’ve only needed to use one at a time. Our camp host site only has 30 amp service, so we weren’t sure if we’d be able to use both airs. By putting the hot water heater and refrigerator on propane, we are able to run both units during the worst of the heat for a few hours. We don’t want to do this much on 30 amps because we don’t want to stress our equipment, but it definitely helps during the worst of the heat.

I’ve been working on some new quilt projects. I can’t show you some of them until after Christmas, but here is one project I made for myself. It fits nicely on the ledge in front of the living area TV.

Several days ago we had a late afternoon rain shower. It wasn’t much, but we did enjoy a beautiful rainbow afterwards. I like how the rainbow looks over the corn field behind us.

Last weekend Kevin was sitting outside and this butterfly visited him for several minutes. It just sat on the grass with it’s wings spread wide. I went inside and got my camera and got a very nice close up. Not sure what kind it is, but it sure was pretty.

The campgrounds is nearly full this weekend. Next weekend is Labor Day, and we are almost fully booked. Several of our friends will be camping at the park for the weekend, so it should be a good time. And, the heat is predicted to be gone by then.

The summer sure is flying by. I can’t believe it will be September in a few days. In about six weeks, we’ll be hitting the road again.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Happy First Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of the marriage of our son Korey to Cathryn. Time sure flies. It doesn’t seem possible that a year has gone by. We wish them many, many more years of a happy marriage!

We have had the most beautiful weather the last few weeks. Highs every day near 80 with gentle summer breezes and cool nights. We could actually use some rain, but I’m not complaining.
I have a bird feeder at the back of our site. I sure enjoy sitting in my chair in the morning and watching the birds enjoy their breakfast. Here are a few of the more colorful visitors we’ve had.


Not much else to report. It’s been a quiet summer. I continue to spend one day a week at our son Eric’s house, painting his living room, kitchen and dining area. I should be done before we leave in early October.  I volunteered to do this for Eric, and he is very appreciative.
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Par for the Course

Okay, so I didn’t par the entire course, but I did par one hole; and that’s quite an accomplishment for me! Kevin and I went golfing on a beautiful Monday afternoon this week. I’m never going to be close to a pro, but I enjoy going out with Kevin.

I think for the first time my drive landed on the green on one of the par 3 holes on this course. I was still pretty far from the hole, but my second shot actually got very close. Then, a little tap on the ball and it was in the hole for a par. I’ll take that little victory on the golf course.

Yesterday I was back at Eric’s house doing some more painting. I really don’t mind helping him out, and the bonus is getting to spend some time with Eric after he gets home from work.

Things at the campground have been pretty quiet. We’ve been anywhere from half to near full the last few weekends. We did have an interesting family camp here for two nights last week. There were the two parents and then three kids around the ages of 10, 8 and 5. The interesting thing was that they arrived on bicycles. They had ridden their bikes from Wisconsin Dells which is about 60 miles away. The two older kids were on their own bikes, and the youngest rode on an attached bike to the dad.

I can’t imagine attempting that with kids. The dad told Kevin it was not going as they had planned due to some weather problems and all the hills they encountered. They had two small tents and it got pretty cool at night. After they left here, they were headed to Madison which is about 30 miles away and then back to the Dells. I sure hope they made it okay.

You may remember the picture I posted of a small quilt I donated to Korey’s camp’s quilt auction. It was about 40 inches by 20 inches and would be good for a table topper or wall hanging.

Korey informed me that it sold for $170. That just blew me away. I was hoping for maybe $50. The camp raised about $90,000 which was a bit less than the year before. The weather on auction day was extremely hot and humid, so lots of people didn’t stay around for all of the events. It was still a great fundraiser for a very worthy cause. I’m already planning my donation quilt for next year.

Not much else going on. We’re just living our day to day life and spending time with family and friends. It’s hard to believe August is just a few days away. In two months, we’ll be moving on again.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!