Flamingo on a Stick

It seems like everyday we are doing things to get ready to bring the RV this direction. The weather is suppose to be beautiful this week and today we discussed getting it this weekend. I have Friday off so if the forecast continues to look good John will call the dealer to get it ready. He'd like to spend one night at the dealers to make sure everything is running correctly before we leave. I've emailed the people at Pleasant Creek to make sure that at least the electricity is on and when they think the water will be turned on. Since we will still have the apartment we can shower here and conserve water, but may have to have them fill the fresh water tank at the dealer. This spring weather is making it hard to hold off. Spending Easter in the rig would be a treat. We did go out and hike the campground and trails at Squaw Creek Park on Saturday. Of all the Parks in the area I think it may be our favorite - it has some great pull throughs, pull outs and back ins. The sites are fa...

One of the challenges of getting ready to go on the road is all the paper in our lives and that includes photos. I have spent the last year an a half scanning, scanning and scanning. The difficult part is deciding what to do with the originals. Most we just threw out but many of our family and friends received their share - now they have more paper in their lives -Oops! Then there are the videos that were taken with a Sony 8mm camera. Found a place to convert them to DVD. They were fun to watch and had a few surprises. One video in particular I am going to share with you because it is comical and timely with Easter coming up. What I discovered is that John use to get the video camera out when I wasn't around. This one and a couple others I just viewed for the first time this year. They are funny but I'm not sure I would have totally thought so at the time, just check out my sofa by the end of the video. Enjoy!

We had snow on the weekend but it quickly disappeared and it has been gorgeous ever since. Spring is definitely in the air and it is making us anxious to get the 5th wheel here and move in. Sunday afternoon we went out to Pleasant Creek state park near Palo IA. I've been checking rates and it looks like the state parks are particularly less until April 30th. So off we went to check out the park. We've been here many times and even tent camped here last summer but now we look with a much more critical eye. We check things like obstructions to the slides, slope and the ease of getting in and out, also whether they are reservable or non-reservable sites. We found several that we like, one pullout (photo below) that the patio side would look out over the lake, and several pull thrus we like. There we 3 RVs already in the park and it looks like the electric is up and running but I doubt that the water is turned on. This park will only have 30 amp electrical at most of the sites we l...

I took a long walk today at Morgan Creek Park. This is one of our favorites in our area and we hope to be there quite a bit this summer. The park besides a great campground has an arboretum with a walking trail through it and then lots of grass trails through a large area of prairie. If you have never experienced true native prairie it is something you should check out. We have a friend who converted part of his farm to native prairie and that is where most of my knowledge comes from. We walked through his prairie at the end of a summer and the grasses are so tall that if there wasn't a path I would have been lost. To think that the settlers had to travel through hundreds of miles of it is amazing. Part of maintaining prairie today is to have controlled burns every so many years (not sure how many). Today I got lucky and was able to watch them burn an area close the walking trail. It was interesting to watch them start the fires on the one side and then after it burned awhile they ...

Went out for a walk today, mid 50's and sunshine! Hard to believe, it has been a long cold winter. As I walked there, were kids playing basketball & riding bikes, people working on their yards, but me I'm just out for a walk. My life has certainly changed. Not long ago I would have been one of those working on their yards. I was thinking about whether or not I missed that. Guess what? the answer is no! I really thought maybe I would but at his time in my life I'm glad I don't have to take care of a house and yard. Now I can understand enjoying that, and remember when I did and I never want you to think that is a bad thing but for this time in my life it is not for me. We went to Dubuque where the 5th Wheel is in storage and spent the day organizing and checking on things we need. It became very evident that we still have lots of downsizing to do, but I'm ready for the challenge. I am looking forward to the time that I open the door and the yard is a park that s...

Life is getting busier here and you get to hear from me a little more, once we get in the RV I think you will hear more from John. Last weekend we headed to Minneapolis to watch another of our hockey sons play. Kevin plays for Minnesota Gophers and is in his junior year. His team was out of town the weekend we went up to Duluth and I was hoping to see him play then too but obviously that didn't work. So trying to find another weekend was a challenge. About a week ago I realized we had a weekend free and checking the schedule, the Gophers had home games. Graciously his parents said come on up even though they are in the middle of a major remodel on their house. One of the benefits of housing these fellas is getting to know their families. Tracey,Dan,Kevin's brother Ryan and even their dog Gordy are special to us. We truely enjoy our time with them. The hockey game was on Sunday at Mariucci arena. If you ever get the chance go see a game there, it is a beautiful rink and not a ba...

Well, I was looking at the blog and decided it needed a change so I played with things and this is what I came up with. Not a lot different but a slightly different look with some new things added. We are getting ready for the big transition to the RV. The weather has improved and we think spring may actually arrive in a month or so. The plan is to bring the RV to Cedar Rapids around the middle of April and then slowly move in, deciding what fits and what has to go - John is ready to throw almost everything out and I'm gathering steam to do the same. We have been in the condo for almost a year and it is unbelievable the stuff we have never used since the move and that it after getting rid of over half our stuff!! We need to line up a storage garage for the things that we need to store for Mitch and John is busy getting things we still need for the RV. This weekend we are taking a little trip to Minneapolis to watch one of our hockey sons, Kevin Wehrs, play hockey for the Minnesota ...