Flamingo on a Stick

F.W. Kent Park The week has flown by. There were 18 Excels here from the midwest and it was nice to meet lots of new folks. We joined the Iowa Excel club and hope to see some of these folks again. The only thing is I really don’t know how well we fit in. We enjoyed the people but sometimes we felt a bit on the outside. We were the only full timing couple there and as people talked to us, we could tell they really don’t get why we would want to do this. Most of them are winter snowbirds, the majority to Texas and a few to Arizona, most going back to the same park every year. It is funny how I can understand their need to keep a “home” but somehow they couldn’t understand us wanting our rig to be our home. John and I were talking about how now that we have been out here almost a year and a half, we certainly understand this lifestyle isn’t for everyone,but we hope that others would understand why we choose to live as we do. There is room for all of us out here. In some ways I think w...

Taken from their website - a great place for a great brew Moving Gabe and Melissa to their new home was a stark reminder of how much stuff we use to own and how glad we are that now all the stuff we own is in one 30ft fifth wheel and truck. We were going to rent a trailer but when we got there and looked at the size I knew if we did that, it would be multiple trips and it is a 4 hour drive one way. They had one of their larger trucks available if we could get it back by morning. Though it would cost significantly more we decided one trip sounded better, so off we went with a large U haul truck. We started at Melissa’s house and by the time we got her stuff into the truck we knew we had made the right choice, these kids have a lot of stuff, and most of it was at Gabe’s. Gabe has quite a few large pieces of furniture from our last house and the rental house he was in is old and getting those pieces out was a challenge. It took more than 6 hours, but the four of us got the truck packe...

Just a short post. This is the big week to move our son and his girlfriend Melissa to their new home. They closed on their home on Monday. We have all been busy getting them packed. Gabe took a lot of our furniture etc, when we sold our home so he has more stuff than the average 25 year old. We have a trailer rented, might take multiple trips but we will get the basics up there to get them started. Tomorrow we will see how many more trips it might take. Suppose to have isolated showers so can't put any furniture in the back of the truck (50% chance). Friday we need to take the 5th wheel to Dubuque to our dealer to have the slides adjusted and then we will be moving to Amana, Iowa for a rally with a 6 state group of Excel owners, We are looking forward to that. On Tuesday I will have to drive back to Cedar Rapids to give the final exam for my class. Hard to believe it is almost over but I am ready. It is definitely time to move on. We are working on those plans too, will share th...

Having grown up in Minnesota and Iowa, if there is one thing I know, we are never happy with the weather. It is either too hot, too cold, too rainy, to dry, too much sun, too overcast. You name it we can complain about it. The old joke is "if you don't like the weather just wait a minute". We get a little bit of everything. We have been back in Iowa since late April. Spring was cold and rainy and we all wondered if summer would ever get here, well it did, with a vengeance. The midwest is sweltering along with much of the country. The lush green lawns are now turning a little brown. So now we hear the common "is it hot enough for you?" I'm not sure exactly what that means, but yea it is plenty hot enough for me but it is summer and I can remember plenty of other summers when it got this hot. When the kids were little we lived in a house that only had a window air that would cool down our living room. We had plenty of shade protecting that house but if we g...

Local wildlife..................family of wild turkeys! The little ones make it across the road safely We all get it sometime and for me this summer has been hard to blog. We are doing plenty of things and staying busy but I think because it is such familiar surroundings I just can’t get up for writing the blog. The last week we were at Squaw Creek campground it was finally dry enough to take a hike. It has a lot of wet lands so this spring the trails were very wet and so no hikes. The trails here are beautiful so it was nice to get out. We also had a group of visitors, in the form of native wildlife close to our site. Thought I’d share a few photos from that.   the berries are ripening! We are getting all our doctor, dentist and eye appointments in, since we don’t know when we will get back this way. I am having a little trouble with the transition from far to near so gave in and got a pair of progressive lens glasses. I had lasix surgery done over 15 years ago to corre...

America the beautiful, Kolob Canyon UT Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th! I found this quote I thought I'd share. "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. " ~Erma Bombeck Happy Trails..............

St. Louis Cardinals new stadium from the Champions Club seating last weekend. It was another pretty busy week. On Monday I spent the whole day grading a project for my class. After reading 24 projects I was exhausted. Tuesday I gave the midterm and by Wednesday I wasn’t sure my students weren’t feeling too kindly towards me. The midterm has always been a rude awakening for the students, since it’s a lot of material to absorb in such a short time. I feel for them but every hygienist and dentist knows Oral Path is a tough class. So much material, so little time.  I worked on the clinic floor on Friday, I really love teaching clinic so it was nice to have a day on the floor. I do miss the interaction with students but I also love the life we’ve chosen and I know how short life (I’ll tell you about that a little later) is so I will be ready by summer’s end to move on.  Cedar Rapids Kernels Staduim & the Army Reserves Color Guard. It has been very hot here this week ju...