"We Sold Our House"

We closed the sale of our house on October 5, 2001 and now we're able to go "full time" and begin to do things we've wanted to do for a long time.

Now that we're homeless we moved to the FAMCAMP at Maxwell AFB. Jerry arranged to have necessary knee surgery and has done very well with it. I had needed hand surgery and it came out great. We spent 6 full months at Maxwell getting over surgery and trying to make plans as to when and where we'd go on our first "full time" trip.

When you're retired and are now a full timer you realize you don't have a schedule you have to follow and don't have to cut short your plans to get back to work. We decided we'd like to leave about 8:30 or 9:00 AM and stop and park about 3:30 or 4:00 PM. Those things we are going to see have been for millions of years and it's sure no one is going to remove them tomorrow. Therefore why drive long hard hours to get to them and when you finally get there you're so tired all you want to do is sleep. Also it is possible we won't get back that way again so let's find a good camp ground to be able to see everything before we move on.

Our friends, Jim and Torchie" came over from a trip through Georgia and spent a week with us at the FAMCAMP. She made a trip to the commissary and boy did she really stock up.

We left and followed them on the "red roads" through the Alabama country side on the way to the Smokies. We had a real good trip and the roads were surprisingly good. Jim doesn't believe in traveling the Interstate roads if at all possible. He says you can see more of the country by traveling the "red roads". I've used some of them and I agree with him that by and large they are better than the Interstate and you don't have to worry about large trucks and construction. We met a friend Steve at a Flying J Truck Stop in GA and had breakfast with them. We then traveled with them to the Smokeys.

We arrived in the Smokeys for our OLC campout and we had about 40 rigs there. This is one event we really look forward to because it's like going to a "family reunion". You have a chance to see friends you haven't seen in a year or so and in some cases meet new friends.

Mackinaw Island

When we arrived at Mackinaw Island it was cold and rainy. Oh well what do you expect for mid September?


We had about 30 rigs at the camp out and had a real good time. It was good to see old friends again after a year or more. Each night we had a big bond fire and it was good to sit around it and tell tales about what we've been doing since we last met. One of our friends had recently retired from 30 years with General Motors and all during that time had to wear a suit and tie. Each time we saw him he was in "shorts". When I ask why he wore shorts in such cold weather he said he had one pair of regular trousers, they were his "puttin away pants."





We took a tour of Mackinaw Island by boat and the island is real quaint. The only vehicles allowed are a fire truck and an ambulance. Everything else is horse and wagons. During the winter the populations drops to about 50 people. I ask one of the year round residents how they got food in the winter and he said they use a "snow mobile".

We drove over the world's longest span bridge and it's a little over five miles. When the wind gets over 20 miles per hour they close everything except the middle lane and even then trucks and RVs are prevented to drive until all the cars are off the bridge.

We also took a trip to Sault St. Marie to see the locks there. All lake shipping is controlled by
these locks. In the winter time they are closed but then again in the winter the lake is completely frozen over.

After about a week in cold and rainy Michigan it was time to head back home. We were really excited during our trip back home that we were finally going to get our house sold.

Enroute to Michigan Upper Peninsular

We started our trip to the Upper Peninsular of Michigan the latter part of August. We stopped in Glasgow to visit with Jerry's aunt. It was real nice to see her again and she looked like she has not changed a bit.

From there we went to Indiana and stopped over Labor Day to see John and Sheryl. We had a wonderful time visiting and sight seeing with them. John showed us a pit where the granite used in building the Empire State Building was taken. We had a real good time with them and also discussed our plans for a trip out west in 2002.

From there we went to Elkhart, IN. and were there during the tragedy of "9-11". We toured the area and saw a lot of Amish towns and homes. We also toured a lot of the RV manufacturing plants. Elkhart is the largest area for manufacture of RVs. We went to a large flea market in Shipshewana and it's BIG. We ate some Buffalo chili that was out of this world.

We'd like to go back to the area again cause there are probably a lot of things we didn't get to see and do. If we do go back we'll try to find a better camp ground. The sites were dirt and had some "ruts" in them and it was hard to level the coach. The streets were not too bad but when you pulled into the site that was another story.

We left Elkhart heading to Michigan about mid September. While driving we received a call from our Realtor asking if we could get to a fax machine cause she had a CONTRACT for us. YEA, YEA, this is the first contract or any other offer we'd had in over two years. We pulled into the first rest stop in Michigan and I went inside and asked the man where I could find a fax machine. He ask what I wanted a fax for and I told him about the contract. He gave me the fax number for the rest stop and said have it sent here. I called the Realtor and gave her the number and in about 30 minutes we had the contract in hand. We reviewed and signed it and went back in to have it faxed back to the Realtor. When I ask how much I owed he said nothing glad to be of help.

We drove to Frankenmuth to see the large Christmas Store and have dinner at some of the famous German restaurants. We found a real nice quiet camp ground not too far from town. We stayed there about three or four days.

On our way to Mackinaw City we got a call from our Realtor saying she was setting up a closing date of October 5, 2001 and wanted us to be home by then. We assured her we would be there.

Smokey's and a New Baby

At our OLC camp out we had about 40 rigs from all over the country. We had a wonderful time seeing friends we hadn't seen in a year or so. Our beloved Judi was there and she had accumulated a huge amount of medical bill due to her fight with cancer. The group decided that any money raised from the auction would be given to her to help with medical bills. We raised about $1,600 and of course she didn't want at accept it. After a little discussion she finally agreed to accept it.

On Saturday, Jerry and Sheryl were at the flea marked "doing their thang". One of our friends ask Jerry if she'd seen the Chihuahua puppies. She said no and they took her to see them. There were two ladies holding this little dog and he was paying no attention to them. They put him down and left. Jerry picked him up and he began to "give her sugar". She called me saying "honey I've found this little dog and he's giving me sugar, can I please bring him home?" She knew I couldn't say no. When she got him home he weighed about one pound and was about the size of a rat. I picked him up and he "gave me sugar". Needless to say he'd found a good home. Since we bought him in the Smokeys and he was a smokey color, we named him "Smokey".

He was paper trained when we first got him. He was so small Jerry didn't want to leave him when we went to supper so she'd put him in a canvas bag and take him with her. When some of our friends learned she had him in the bag, they had to get him and hold him. You know he's got to be spoiled. He really has filled a void in our hearts. He'll never be able to fully replace Poncho, but then he has a different personality. There are a lot of things Poncho used to do that Smokey does. He has us wrapped around his little paw.

We came back home to take care of some business before our next trip. We did some work on the house so we could hopefuly get it sold. So far the Realtors haven't shown it all. There was a house on our street that was "Sold" after only three days on the market. I contacted the Realtor and changed to her. She recommended some things we need to do in order to get it sold. Reluctantly we agreed and got those things done and placed it in her hands.

Great North American Rally

In March 2001 we left to attend the Great North American RV Rally in Perry, GA. We met Jim and "Torchie" at a camp ground so we could get into the Rally area together. The weather was cool and cloudy. Guess what??, the next day it started raining and rained each day for a week and stopped the day we were to leave the Rally. It sure was a lot of fun walking in the "mud" and cold. There was a man parked down the hill from us and the next morning he started out of his RV and stopped cold. He was in a "lake". It had rained hard all night and he was flooded. They had to put some boards down so he could get out of his rig.

The entertainment was GREAT and well worth walking in the mud to see. The Oak Ridge Boys put on a show that was SUPER, they were the only act that got FIVE standing ovations and call backs. They responded too.

There were several RVers that wanted to leave early due to the rain and mud and they had to be "towed out". There was a man with a wrecker that was towing people out. He charged $75 to hook up and another $75 to tow you out. A lot of RVers complained about this and it turned out that he was working a "SCAM'. Sue Bray of Good Sam Club was notified and she said they had a contract with a towing company but their rigs had a 'Smiley Face" on them. She notified the Sheriff and he contacted the unofficial tow man and had him come to tow him out. When the man arrived he said if would be $75 to hook up and $75 to tow him out. The Sheriff gave him the money which had been "marked". When the man took the money the Sheriff arrested him. The man asked about bail and the Sheriff said that the Judge was at the Rally somewhere but he wouldn't be back in court till Monday and this was on a Wednesday. He told the man not to "fret" cause they served the best "fried Bologna" and he could have all he wanted.

With all the rain at the Rally we had some water leaks at our bedroom slide. We had to go to the Monaco booth to see if they could help. They did send a service tech down but there was not a lot he could to at the Rally. We borrowed a wet-dry vac and got it cleaned up.

We went back to Montgomery to wait for the trip to the Smokeys camp out. While there tragedy hit our home. Our beloved Poncho got killed. He had been outside playing and had come back inside. He wanted to go back outside again and Jerry let him out. About an hour later a neighbor came over and said our dog was dead. He had been attacked by a larger dog that was around a dog in heat. We were sure we'd never get over the loss. He was our baby and we'll miss him a lot.