Friday July 12, 2013

Good trip from Forest Lake Thousand Trails in North Carolina to our Resorts Of Distinction Rocky Fork Ranch Resort here in Ohio. This is a real secluded park in the hills of north central Ohio. The road in was not an easy drive and Linda has already ruled out a return visit to this park. I think it is a wonderful resort for outdoor activities like canoeing, horseback riding and activities  for the kids like an animal farm,  archery, basketball, golf and other activities like swimming and rifle range. The park offers chapel services on Sunday and breakfast  on Saturday and Sunday at very good prices. A very quiet and secluded park. I am certain we will not hear any interstate traffic or any train whistles. I drove around the park and where there are S/W/E service there is no satellite service. I can not even get the Satellite radio. I have an external DirecTV antenna that has over 100 foot of cable and there is still no way to find an opening in the forest to get Direct TV. That, along with getting here, are the only two negatives to the park. The staff are as nice and friendly as you could possibly ask for and the rv sites are beautiful.

It is very cool here and has not rained today. Last night in Ripley, WV it was 56 degrees and I expect it to be the same here tonight. We are way on top of a hill here and our neighbor told us it had rained for 18 days and they were flooded here. Being on a hill it doesn't seem possible. We will only be here for 5 days as we have to get on up to Minerva for the family reunion.

Below are a few pictures and maps of the park. I will take more pictures to have in my next blog. This is an eight hundred acre park.

our site T4

one of the lodges at the park

surrounded by trees 

pick out the sites

we are in the lower left Purple 

sorry but it is upside down

July 3rd

Wednesday July 3, 2013

Year is half over and moving fast. We are still at Forest Lake Thousand Trails in North Carolina. It has been a very wet week. Rain every night and wet all day long, with some heavy rain thrown in.

We went to the Farmers Market yesterday (in the rain) and got some excellent fruit and vegetables, especially the peaches and beans.

We have all our reservations at our Thousand Trails and Resorts of Distinction parks through the Good Sam Rally in Atlanta in Oct. This will be one of our shorter summer trips - under 5 thousand miles and all east of the Mississippi River. Except for the rain, the trip has been most excellent to date. Out roaming the countryside we have been really happy to see the crops looking so good. Remember last year when the crops were all stunted from the drought.

When I was BBQing some ribs I noticed a black snake skin in our camp. It was very new and was a big guy. We think it was about 5 foot. He must have been in the act of shedding his skin while I was getting the grill ready. The skin was very pliable and did not break when I placed it on the bench for the picture.

New snake skin at our lot

Snake skin on our bench

Our ribs - Linda said they were good

Sunday June 30,2013

Attended the Thousand Trails church service this morning. They had a Baptist preacher. He travels to Florida to Peace River Thousand Trails during the winter months. Had a sermon on Christ as our foundation. After the service Linda and I traveled into Lexington, NC to the Lowes and Walmart stores. I wonder why Walmart and Lowes are often side by side. We picked up a section of pvc to put up our flag tomorrow and some groceries. Linda wants to go the the farmer market Tues. close by when they open.

The car sure runs smooth with the new tires and the alignment of the system. Used some of the cheap gas we got in Ga. $3.03 a gallon and diesel was $3.61.  Would be nice if that is the most we pay for the entire trip. Sure is better than the $5.00 they were talking about a year ago.

Today is a cloudy and cool day. Have a flood warning here but no rain yet. It is 78 at 5:15 PM. Like I said, a really nice day.

Talked to both Waynes last evening. Maryanne is nearly over the shingles and back in Jacksonville while Wayne and Brenda are still in Cody, Wy. He is not sure of their travel plans from there, except that he plans to be on the road real soon.

The park here is nearly full. We watched two units leave this am and now there are two in their place. I expect it to remain this busy for the next week at least.  Lots of flags out for the Fourth and there will be a big parade and fireworks here. Always something to do at the Thousand Trails parks.

Best wishes to all for a happy Fourth and God Bless the USA.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

The last of June finds us at Advance, NC at the Thousand Trails Forest Lake Campground. It is a beautiful day here after a night of really hard rain. I guess Red Bay fixed our leak as we were as dry as toast this morning. The sun is shining and it is 70 degrees here at 9 in the morning. The park is really full as the 4th is upon us and families are out for a weekend filled with fun. We have a really nice lot here in the shade and still able to get the Direct TV signal. We didn't worry about that when we found this spot as we now have the RV Direct TV kit so we can put out that receiver anywhere within 100 feet of the RV. In any case we are all set up for the next 2 weeks in a nice location. It is about 12 miles from here to Walmart and Lowes. This is another park where they have real good Sunday services.

looking back at the deck

We have a really nice private picnic area.

As we are facing south, we have good shade in the afternoon sun. The private picnic area is great for sitting and reading too.

good shade

room between lots

Nestled in our site. Morning sun warms us but we are shaded from the afternoon sun. The way we are situated allows us to get the Direct TV (but barely).










The layout allowed for easy ingress and  safe egress. We are settled here for two more weeks.










Have had good reports from all those out travelling from Florida.

Otis and Linda

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Another wonderful day in the good old USA.

Today we went back into Greensboro, Ga to get new tires on the car and have the brakes checked and the wheels aligned. After nearly $700.00 we were done. The Greensboro Chevy dealership is a very nice and friendly place. I do believe they are honest and fair in all their dealings. The folks there told us about a good restaurant near the Publix Linda wanted to stop at so we went to the Bone Island Grill. It was a really nice restaurant with a good decor and wonderful service. Linda got shrimp and I got catfish. We shared so we know that they were both outstanding. We were very pleased we went there. I am sure that if we return to Greensboro, Ga we will again visit the folks at the chevy dealership and also the Bone Island Grill.

Tomorrow is our last day in Greensboro so I will probably wax the coach again. I did wax a lot of it on Monday and then it rained Monday night and undid all my hard work. I will say that when you are travelling all the time you sure spend a lot of time cleaning the coach and car.

With the heavy rain on Monday night we were  pleasantly surprised to get up Tuesday and not find any leaks. Guess all the work they did at Red Bay was done correctly.

Linda and I are both well and doing good as we enjoy our travels. It is also nice to keep track of our fellow travellers. We have finally seen Ron and Jan Nelson make it home to Calif. With their health I try to stay in touch with them daily as they travel. We had to have our friends Wayne and Brenda Casada visit them at the Rushmore memorial as Ron had "misplaced" his tow car. It ended up just being parked in a "different" parking lot. Wayne and Brenda are travelling with their grandson Nathaniel and will be out for a few weeks yet.  Wayne an Maryanne Bitner got through with all their issues at Red Bay and made it to their grandsons birthday party in Birmingham, Al. Terry and Jude Zarutskie are at "home' in Wisconsin and are settled in for the summer.  The Connors are safe and sound in Il. Have not heard from the other Challenger travellers and pray they are all enjoying their travels. For those staying in Florida, give us a shout.

Otis and Linda

June 23, 2013

We are now in the Summer season. We might ask "where did Winter and Spring go?"

Still in Greensboro, Ga until Thursday. We went down this morning to go to church and there was a note there that the preacher was sick. Linda and I were really looking forward to hearing this preacher again. He has a great message and he uses his own music during the service. Really a great experience to hear him.

Went into Greensboro yesterday to scope out the Chevy dealer as my car had a real bad vibration at 55 MPH and I also need a couple of tires. The break buddy did a number on me again. When I get to the Good Sam Rally in Atlanta, Ga I am going to get this solved. We also went to the Publix supermarket. This is Linda's favorite food store. She always looks for the BOGO's.

Weather here has been great. Sunny and cool mornings and evenings. It is 84 right now at 3 in the afternoon.

Been in touch with Wayne and Brenda Cassada who are in Wyoming with their grandson who they are travelling with this summer. The went from the FMCA 50th Anniversary Rally to the Yellowstone National Park.  Also talked to Ron and Jan Nelson and they are now safe in California for the summer. Norma and Paul Connors had a little accident with a truck driving into the rear of their car so they are slowed down until the car is repaired. We may meet up with them in August when we get tp MI.

Except for car repairs the trip has not been expensive. Fuel is under 3.80 per gallon for diesel and gas for the tow has been as low as 3.27.

Thats all for now.

Enjoy your summer.

June 18, 2013

Another wonderful day in this good old USA.

We are still in Red Bay, Al at the Tiffin Repair facilities. Lots of Tiffin's here. They have every kind of issue you can imagine. Electronics,  water leaks, awnings, repairs needed done from dogs chewing things they shouldn't, plumbing problems, windows fogging, jacks, and other assorted problems. Seems like the majority are here for three design problems: the wet bay flooring, drivers slideout flooring and the roof rails. Tiffin is covering all these problems under warrantee, with no consideration of age of coach. Takes a day to do the roof rails and the drivers slideout flooring. Only 3 hours for the wet bay replacement. We are all done except for the wet bay retrofit. Kind of boring getting these repairs done as you spend the vast majority of the time waiting for your number to be called and the bay you need to report in. We do have full hookups so all is not bad. Just nothing to do as you have to be present if your number comes up.

Looking ahead, we hope to leave here by Sat. so we can get to Greensboro, Ga and the ROD park we have reservations for a week.

Our travelling companion, Wayne and Marrianne Bittner is still with us. They are having their rails done today and then I do think they are leaving tomorrow. Marrianne has been really sick with the shingles. Spending most of her time in bed. We do hope that she gets over them soon.

On the home front, my granddaughter has completed all the paperwork for the insurance in regard to the lightning strike and expect the electrician out this week so she can submit the insurance claim. Think they want to replace the TV's and computers that were destroyed. So, whether you are on the road in an RV or in a stick house, things happen.

I told Linda that it would be asking for trouble to buy another RV after you get all the bugs out of the one you have now. I have not heard of anyone here having problems with their drive chain so I guess the Freightliner will go the million miles they say.

It is still raining and looks like it will continue for the next day or two.

Below are some pics of Tiffin redoing the wet bays in their coaches. The team that did ous have rebuilt over 600 coaches. All work and labor is at no cost to the customer. The age of the coach doesn't determine if Tiffin pays for the work.

cutting out the old wet bay

in process of removal

cutting out the new material

all old material removed