My Opinion..

 Pic of the day:

 (The twins got into my closet)

From The edge of the St. Joseph River,Michigan:

Driving along one morning with the 4 year old twins belonging to Jack Jr & Cindy in the back seat. Stephen and Joshua are two unique guys, alike but different, both very intelligent. Sherry and I were talking not knowing they were paying attention.  I commented on something and from the back seat one of them said, “Grandpa, in my opinion, they should fix that!”  I cannot  remember what I said. But I turned a little and asked, “In your opinion?”

“Yes grandpa, everyone has an opinion!” 

Every member of our family has heard that story. Today that still reverberates in my head. This morning, I thought about that AGAIN.

I look at the world around me, and that fact becomes clear to me. YES I HAVE OPINIONS, but how do they effect the world? NOT ONE STINKING BIT!  It may affect my personal life; may even affect my family a little, but over all in the scope of things Mr. Putin will remain in charge of Russia.  China and other countries will still supply you and I with much of our daily requirements.

My opinions go against much of the world’s ideas today. MY OPINION: we have two men running for the office of President in this Great Country; IMO both are too old to handle the requirements of that office, ***BUT my opinion will NOT change that.

My opinion of cats has always been dismissive. BUT, but I have fell in like with feral cats. LOL  For some reason I have learned they can, and do, forage or beg for themselves in my absence.  And upon my return are just as accepting or ignoring as always.

Cars? All my early life I thought GM was the best there was, because of my Dad. That opinion changed over the years. I have had excellent cars, Rambler, Plymouth, Ford, Chevy, VW, Metro and Honda.

One of our Metros, loved these little things.

I have strong opinions in many areas, and it is hard to understand why some have opinions opposite of mine; because of course I think I am right, just as you do, or you and I would change.

BUT FOR TODAY, as I think, the only ones my opinions actually effect, is ME!  They may bother others, but probably will not change them, NOR WILL IT CHANGE THE WORLD I LIVE IN. Today I see how small I am in the perspective of the world. Not even as big as a grain of sand.

Later today and for sure by tomorrow, I will forget THAT and think my opinion matters to Mr. Putin or the governor of Alaska.  LOL  Smile, we are all important to someone despite our OPINIONS.  The Lord even smiles methinks, when he views MY opinions.

 

Nite Shipslog

PS:  OPINION: Banana Pudding is delicious; Butter Pecan is the BEST ice cream.

In my opinion this entry is too long, but I ain’t going back and cutting as I usually do. ;-)

***I believe an 80 year old can manage a small business, where his decisions effect him & his family, but not this great country!

Allergies?

Allergies?

Pic of the day:

From The banks of the St. Joseph River:

Sherry and I are making an assumption that what I am fighting is allergies.  Since that is foreign to me I am not sure.  All my life I have heard of allergies and thought it was simply a lot of sneezing, if I now have discovered Allergies, I KNOW I have been wrong. I haven’t hurt, just been so aggravated by a runny nose and sneezing that I have had to just lie on my back to stop the leaking!

I found some allergy meds in the medicine cabinet and have been taking a pill every 4 hours and now I do have some relief.  I am hoping and praying that it is only a one time thing.  Maybe Michigan? since I have never been here in the spring. LOL

Anyway I now know how to sympathize with someone who does suffer from allergies.  Some lessons are better not learned..

Y’all be good.

We have a couple more crazy people in our family that travel. There is a nephew Ricky in Saudi Arabia who is married to a sweet lady in Kenya and Cousin Dewey in Thailand; Dewey has found an Elephant.  Which one will return to the USA?  Just askin'!

We will remember Cousin Dewey fondly!  Hang on CUZ!

 Nite Shipslog

PS:  

Thank you all for being here…  Smile life is better (on the road)…. It is still good to be ALIVE, ISN’T IT? Just Sniffle and sneezer LOL

 

 

No entertainment last Saturday, but thinking of Shirley

 Pic of the day:

 My Sister Shirley the only person in our family to graduate from High School.

She hand-made a complete Christmon Display They were displayed in a couple churches in Charlotte

 

From The banks of the St. Joe River:

At one time our Saturday entertainment on the road was to visit yard sales in the area we were staying in. In New Hampshire I bought a pair of antique glasses (pense-nez) with the original optometrist on the old case for 50 cents.

So today we drove over to Niles Michigan hoping for yard sales and a dollar store. We saw no yard-sales but did locate a Dollar General. Sherry gets most of her cards there. She is one for remembering family Birthdays and ensuring we send get-well and cards of condolence.  We quit sending flowers for the sick and the deceased long ago. I believe most families can make better use of the money for the many expenses occurred at a death.

Not everyone thinks of the funeral costs until it is facing them head on.  THAT EVENT is an eye opener to someone who has never been THE ONE responsible for picking a plot, casket, service and funeral director.

Truthfully Cremation has taken over for many because of the expense.

My sister Shirley did upset us some at her death.  For years she pounded me to write my obit and burial plans to assist the family left behind. She had handled several in her hubby’s family that had NOT prepared for death one bit.  WELL wouldn’t you know, She left a sealed envelope for me. WOW!  Do not advertise my death. NO OBIT, NO service, NO funeral home. Cremate me and spread my remains on Jim’s grave and remember me,

She even had the place for cremation specified; I could always count on a surprise from my big sister.

I do remember her, she taught me a lot. She was a crafter and creator. She left some nick-knacks that remain in our home.

Boy oh boy, I went from yard sales to DEATH on this one….  Y’all try to be good, especially you Myra!

Nite Shipslog

PS:  

Thank you all for being here…  Smile life is better (on the road)…. It is still good to be ALIVE, ISN’T IT? 

But, after returning to the RV and writing this entry, I starting feeling bad. I have spent the last two days in bed, I am hoping I am on the mend,,,,,,

Thinking

 Pic of the day:

 At the Grand Canyon with Collette and Sonny.  Sherry's Sister and Sonny,  my Best friend in my old age, )

We walked down a little ways into the canyon.

Looking down at thisd amazing BIG HOLE in the earth. That peak we are looking down on is nearly a mile high from the base.

(Colette always said, "We would not have gone anywhere if not for Sherry & jack)

 

From Michigan, on the banks of the St. Joe River:

I hear many times, “You two have a great way of life.”  We do, BUT, so do you.  We all try to enjoy life; we won’t be here all that long.  I remember 60 year old people said, ‘you will be surprised how fast your life will go.’  They were right.  We have outlived so many people, and I think every human looks back at life and think, it was too fast.

I have enjoyed most jobs especially carpentry. My first house still stands (LOL). I drove every nail, mixed every batch of mortar, laid every block and dug every shovel full of dirt. I installed special electrical outlets under most windows for window A/C’s.

I enjoy working and maintaining the RVs we have had, BUT in cases like this, it is out of my pay grade. I know little about ‘hydraulics’ and cannot wrap my mind around this system, but I know I can make it worse. At least now, we can move the slide-outs in and out with me under the coach working two solenoids by hand.

I fix somethings and do not know how I did it. (I smile when I think of that). I mentioned that to grandson Josh once, he is a Microsoft+ qualified software man.  He works for a company that maintains software. He laughed and said, “Grandpa I do that at times in Software, fix things and do not know exactly how I did it.”  I smiled inside and out.

Everyone has a story, a unique one, every human is SPECIAL in their own way. (Is that a song?)

I have NEVER known anyone who was born into money. Most folks at some time have had it tough financially and pulled thru.

I have tried to imagine me in the Great Depression. My momma and daddy had some great adventures to tell about AFTER it was over. Daddy talked about having to back his A model up a hill so the gas would feed to the engine. He stuffed blown out tires with rags to keep going. Mama would laugh about adding more water to the gravy.

Life is good, everyone hits BUMPS in their road; we hit a big one a couple years back in the family, but I am finally about to learn how to handle it. ;-)

YES V, faith with prayers gets us thru. THANKS TO ALL of YOU and many more!

Nite Shipslog

PS:  

Thank you all for being here…  Smile life is better (on the road)…. It is still good to be above the worms….. (and snakes)

 

Moscow & Alaska

 Pic of the day:

 Dick and Kat's RV crossing the YUKON river toward Alaska, we shot this picture from in Dawson City waiting our turn to cross.

About Sgt Preston of the Yukon the program did become a TV series in the 1950s but our TV had so much snow and interference it could not be seen. LOL (We had a used TV that has seen its best days. )

THIS, From Michigan, on the banks of the St. Joe River NOT the YUKON):

Puzzled about the name Moscow? I figured some immigrants from Russia has settled there, but this is what I found out:

Town officials had tried to name their city after Luis de Moscoso, a Spanish conquistador, but they decided to shorten the name to M-O-S-C-O. When they submitted an application to create a post office, it came back with the extra letter.

There is an interesting place in the Yukon at Watson Lake. It is called the ‘Sign Forest’. IT was started in 1942 by a homesick soldier who posted the name of his hometown with and arrow pointing south. Other soldiers follow suit.

Dick & Kat pointing to our little sign, I used an old NC license plate with our names on it.

One count is 80,000 signs and ours is one of them. LOL Most folks who travel the Alcan Highway the first-time plan to leave their sign there.

Another interesting place was the Hot Springs. Sherry and I tried them, nice. BUT then when we started to leave one of the jacks on the RV would not retract.  After trying everything I knew, I beat the sucker back up, ruining it. That is when I read about HWH and Moscow Iowa in the RV documents.

WE completed the remaining Alaskan trip without using that jack. I checked the books (No internet back then) and found the HWH people were in Moscow. We stopped by on our way back, and they were SUPER and fixed us right up. They fed us two restaurant meals, two nights parking and replaced the jack for $125.

Speaking of Hot Springs.  We have enjoyed Hot Springs in NC, Texas and in British Columbia.  They still amaze me.

But Moscow? Yes, we are giving one more shot at getting the problem fixed. It is only 250+ miles more. We will head there on or before May 20th for an appointment.

 

Nite Shipslog

PS:  

Thank you all for being here…  Smile life is better (on the road)…. It is still good to be above the worms….. (and snakes)

Vacation timel

 Pic of the day:

 This is part of my dream vacation trip.  I have always wanted to drive to Alaska and fly to Ireland. Ireland is still on the list for me.  Sherry's dream trip was Hawaii (we did go there later) but traveling thru the YUKON to get to Alaska was a BIG treat. Did you ever hear of Sgt. Preston and his dog, Yukon King? 

The radio program Sgt Preston and Yukon King

Then we entered Alaska from Dawson City on the Top of the World Highway!

BUT this is From Michigan, on the banks of the St. Joe River:

Yeah I know, we are always on vacation, above was the one to Alaska; but we call that normal life for us.  But now for a couple weeks we will relax.

We e-mailed the HWH Corp in Moscow, Iowa with our situation and problems.  WE were given the hope that they could do the work within the $$ guidelines we listed.  We have an appointment on the 22^nd of this month.  That gives us two weeks here in Buchanan, since the stay will not cost us anymore, the rest of the time should be stress free.

So that is what we will do, stick around, walk, read and play dominoes. If we had enough sense to operate this TV we could probably watch movies if we liked.  As far as I can remember I can’t remember if we have watched a movie on TV. LOL

Since my major hearing loss, our TV on maybe 1 or 2 hours a year.  Then it is usually some major event, a couple times it was for tragic events concerning the space shuttles.

BUT, BUT, I sure keep my nose in this computer enough time to make up for all the TV I miss.  Sherry is the same with the phones and tablet.

We enjoy each other's company, so when we are not being pushed for Dr. appts or RV repairs is a big break.

Ref to Mail.  Yes we do pay extra for our mail service. Our address is their office, where we have a Personal mail box a PMB.  WE can pick up our mail in person or call and have it sent to any address in the world, BUT WE DO HAVE To PAY THE POSTAGE from the mailroom to wherever we are.  YES it does get expensive.  We do ask them to separate the ‘junk mail.’

(Our mail was sent to Alaska a couple times, one Post office was in a lady's living room)

WE are getting a lot of rain here in Michigan. I am not sure if that is normal for here or not. Since we are only 10 degrees south of London, where a lot of RAIN is normal, LOL

Nite Shipslog

PS:  

Thank you all for being here…  Smile life is better (on the road)…. It is still good to be above the worms….. (and snakes)

Mail, on the road

 

Pic of the day:

 WE would be in trouble if this was today's mail service.

From Michigan, on the banks of the St. Joe River:

Tentatively we have plans to head South when our mail arrives.  Up until a couple years ago we lived in our motor home, it was HOME.  Our plaque inside said: “Home is where we park it.” We are still residents of Florida and spend half our time in that state and other around the country but mostly in North Carolina.

Living on the road has some challenges, one is mail.  Mail is NOT as important as it once was because most of our bills are paid by bank allotments or withdrawals. But most of us still have important mail. So for years we have had a mail service. All of our mail goes there until we call for it.   At times there is a mix up like we have now.  Sherry always called for the mail to be delivered to an address where we plan to be. She called for our mail a week ahead of our departure date and it did not show up.  So we had to arrange to have it forwarded to General Delivery Buchanan Michigan.

I am smiling, Delivery date is now tomorrow 5/8/24: Now with the USPS tracking you can follow your mail. Follow this package”

Moving Through Network

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

GRAND RAPIDS MI DISTRIBUTION CENTER ANNEX 

May 7, 2024, 8:48 am

 

Departed USPS Regional Facility

CHICAGO IL LOGISTICS CENTER 

May 7, 2024, 3:51 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

CHICAGO IL LOGISTICS CENTER 

May 6, 2024, 1:56 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

DALLAS TX LOGISTICS CENTER 

May 5, 2024, 6:53 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

FORT WORTH TX DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

May 5, 2024, 7:56 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

DALLAS TX LOGISTICS CENTER 

May 5, 2024, 6:25 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

FORT WORTH TX DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

May 4, 2024, 3:17 am

In Transit to Next Facility

May 3, 2024

In Transit to Next Facility

May 3, 2024, 4:08 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility

CHARLOTTE NC DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

May 2, 2024, 10:46 pm

Departed Post Office

BELMONT, NC 28012 

May 2, 2024, 2:34 pm

USPS in possession of item

BELMONT, NC 28012 

May 2, 2024, 2:08 pm

I am surprised how long it stayed in Texas. LOL

UPDATE:  I just picked up the mail…..

Nite Shipslog

PS:  

Thank you all for being here…  Smile life is better (on the road)…. It is still good to be above the snakes….. (and worms)

 

Disappointed, BUT

 Pic of the day:

 My favorite cat, Stormy Daniels, She is in the news again (a lot)

For today From Elkhart, IN:

Of course we were there an hour early. They had two coaches ahead of us, but by our 9am apt, they had the coach inside the shop troubleshooting.  We went to breakfast. Okay, this was the highlight of the day. Andre at the shop, recommended Callahan’s Restaurant.  This place gets 5 stars for sure. I declare the waitress was close to our age, but got around like a kid.

I like an omelet. So I ordered a ham, pepper onion omelet with pancakes and coffee. I am the one who usually says ‘ditto’ for me, but this time Sherry copied me. The omelet was big, the pancakes at least 7” across. The coffee cups were kept full even with our waitress alone in a busy dining room. We asked for boxes to go because we only ate half of the meal, now we have tomorrow’s breakfast. You seldom get a surprise anymore with the bill.  The total for all was $21. Down home that would easily have been $30+.  Our waitress Ruth smiled at the tip, and she deserved it!

Okay the truth.  Our control panel, the brains of the system, has been monkeyed with.  Someone has butchered the circuit board with a soldering iron trying to do something. We talked to both repairmen who explained the situation.  This control panel is obsolete. It must be removed from the coach and put on the system that built it, before anything wrong in the system can be repaired. SOOOO There is only one place in the USA that can fix our problem and that is the manufacturer of the HWH jacks in Moscow, Iowa.

WE now face some big decisions.  Not many options but we have been throwing good money after bad now for a little while. This trip itself will approach $1000 plus a total of $300 to learn the truth.

I am not ready to quit RV’ing BUT I do not want to jump thru hoops to get a slideout in and out and park unlevel without jacks.

However, we did fill up the car at $3.28 a gallon today. ;-).

It would be nice if vehicles were still as simple as this '32 Ford Roadster.

We are 300 miles from Moscow. WE Do not want to go there at this time. We had hoped to go to Lancaster, PA but will wait until fall.  Now we will head back to NC for a few days then on down to Florida and see if someone wants to trade!  LOL  WE must stay here until our mail catches up with us….

Stay tuned…..

Nite Shipslog

PS:  

Thank you all for being here…  Smile life is better (on the road)…. It is still good to be above the snakes….. (and worms)