Windseeker Travel Log with Joe and Libby

Today, Libby went to visit the The Hershey Story Museum at nearby Hershey PA, a "museum for all-things Hershey, including exhibits of Milton S. Hershey and a chocolate lab for kids." I went to Harrisburg and purchased the EZ Pass transponders and then together we went on to visit my parents' graves at the nearby beautiful Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. My Dad was a doctor in the US Navy for 25 years and thus qualifies to be buried here. This was my first visit to the gravesite since the two funerals, the last one 11 years ago. Tender moments...

We have moved on to the Jonestown KOA Campground, east of Harrisburg, PA. We're only here for 2-3 nights. I am going to stop in the Pennsylvania Turnpike Office in Harrisburg Monday morning to pick up two EZ Passes for the coach and the car for use on toll roads in the east. The coach requires a commercial license because of its size and the Harrisburg office is the best place to get one of those. While we're here we will also visit my parents' graves at the nearby Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. Depending on weather, we'll head north in the next few days to the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York for some bicycling and kayaking.

Today is our last day here at the Hagerstown KOA... we're moving on to Harrisburg PA tomorrow. Rain is due in this afternoon so we got an early start and drove back to the same Hancock Park where we biked from yesterday... they have a boat launch and we put the Hobie Mirage Outfitter Pedal Kayak into the Potomac River and pedaled upstream several miles for about an hour and a half... very pretty and very solitary in this area. The current is fairly swift and in the shallow spots we had to pedal hard to make headway. After an hour and a half we turned around and more or less coasted with the current all the way back being careful to avoid the really shallow rocky spots. Great exercise and a very pleasant afternoon!

Today we drove the 45 minutes over to the quaint, historic community of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, where the states of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia meet. Today was a lesson in U.S. history... we strolled the picturesque streets, and visited a few exhibits and museums. The town was a key front in the Civil War, with many battles fought here. In 1944 most of the town became a park, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, administered by the National Park Service. The population of this quaint town was just 286 at the 2010 census.

Enroute to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, we drove thru Sharpsburg, MD, home to the Antietam National Battlefield, a National Park Service protected area along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Washington County. It commemorates the American Civil War Battle of Antietam that occurred on September 17, 1862, widely known as the bloodiest in American history. There's a nice visitor's center there with a museum, an excellent film presentation and memorial to honor the fallen soldiers.

Today we rode the Western Maryland Rail Trail. We're not hard core and I am towing Corey in his Doggyride cart.... but we did about 10 miles round trip and had a very pleasant ride. Since its creation in 1993, the beautiful wooded Western Maryland Rail Trail has been extended to 23 miles of flat, paved trail surface, starting 1/2 mile west of historic Fort Frederick State Park in Washington County, Maryland, all the way to Pearre, Maryland, near Sideling Hill Wildlife Management Area. As the paved trail meanders along the Potomac River, it is very scenic and very secluded in spots. We'll try another section of it on a different day.

This morning we took Corey for a walk in Hagerstown's beautiful downtown city park. This gorgeous city park spans some 50 acres and features several important museums like the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts visible behind Libby across the lake. With its pathway system, beautiful central lake, gorgeous trees and multiple cultural attractions, Hagerstown City Park has been voted the "most beautiful city park in America." We would have to agree. Portland, OR, where we are from, is a beautiful city but it has nothing to compare to this park. You can see a number of other photos of Hagerstown City Park on our gallery page.

We drove north from Luray, VA about an hour and a half and have made a one week stop in Williamsport, Maryland on our way to upstate New York. We're staying at a KOA Campground right on Conococheague Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River. You can see it thru the trees. This is the view from our front door! While here we will bike the celebrated 23 mile long Western Maryland Rail Trail (WMRT) as it winds along the Potomac River through scenic rolling farmland and woodlands along the border between Western Maryland and West Virginia. And plenty of kayaking options as well. We're off to have a celebratory Mother's Day dinner at Carmine's Italian Restaurant in Williamsport. [Footnote... their antipasto is to die for!]

Once again... an awesome moment to experience! "The Luray Singing Tower". Not only did we hear 45 minutes of heavenly bells, we then were given a private tour of how a carillon works by Jesse Ratcliffe, Carillonneur. Officially known as the Belle Brown Northcott Memorial, the tower was erected in 1937 opposite Luray Caverns in memory of Colonel T.C. Northcott's wife. At 117 feet in height, the Luray Singing Tower contains a carillon of 47 bells. The largest bell weighs 7,640 pounds and is six feet in diameter. The smallest weighs a mere 12 1/2 pounds. Recognized as one of the country's major carillons, The Singing Tower offers 45-minute recitals scheduled regularly throughout the spring, summer and fall.

We went back today to visit the Luray Car and Carriage Caravan Museum and the Luray Valley Museum, both owned and operated by the Graves Family which owns the Caverns and located on the same grounds. Our admission to the Caverns from yesterday included entrance to these two worthwhile museums. The Car and Carriage Museum contains an extensive and immaculate display of everything from the earliest covered wagons and horse drawn carriages to the early motorized carriages and early 20th century automobiles including early Mercedes, Ford, Stanley Steemer, Rolls Royce, Pearce Arrow and many others up thru 1925. A truly remarkable collection, especially for a small town museum.

No visit to this part of Virginia would be complete without a visit to the breathtaking Luray Caverns. The National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Interior designated Luray Caverns a Registered Natural Landmark. They offer guided tours all through the caverns with spectacular closeup views of the many stalactites, stalagmites, and other amazing formations like this reflecting pool called Lake of Dreams. The oldest formation in the caverns is said to be 7.5 million years old. Photos cannot do it justice... but here's an excellent video tour someone did which gives a little better idea of the scope of this special place.

Today we awoke to a sunny morning, so after attending to some details around the coach, we drove about ten miles to Massanutten Boat Launch which is just a few miles above the dam along the south fork of the Shenandoah River. The river is deeper in this section and not so swift... perfect for our Hobie Outfitter pedal kayak. We got in a couple peaceful hours of moving silently through the wooded area with the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains in the background until the afternoon thunderstorms came up. We managed to get the kayak out of the water and back on top of the car before the rain started in earnest.

Today we drove a section of the Skyline Drive (part of The Appalachian Trail) along the ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains and had many nice overlooks of the Shenandoah River Valley like the one at the right. Snapshots can never capture the grandeur of distant vistas like this... but it gives at least an idea. Here's a hauntingly beautiful rendition of the classic Oh Shenandoah by one of my favorite recording artists of years gone by, complete with slideshow of the river and valley.

Well... moving right along to Plan B. Our plans for Colonial Beach VA and sailing the Potomac fell apart. The campground was not to our liking and the Potomac River in this area is NOT fresh water like I thought... it is brackish. And while it might be good sailing... we do not do salt water. So we scrambled to find different options for the next month until we are due at Lake George in upstate NY. Libby found the Shenandoah River Valley in northern Virginia. There are a lot of great things to enjoy here including the Shenandoah Natl Park, Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge mountains, Luray & Skyline Caverns, Arrowhead Lake, and lots of Vineyards to explore, to name a few. We're here for 10 days - check out the awesome spot we're in and the view from our front door! Corey already loves it here... there are rabbits!

We spent a couple days driving around Lake Murray, South Carolina investigating various campground and marina options. At the right is Lake Murray Marina, a very nice marina option for us if we return in the fall or next spring. Lake Murray is a gorgeous lake with some excellent sailing potential... we look forward to staying here another time; we are already making plans for fall. For now, we decided to head north to get ahead of some incoming storms and expect to arrive at Colonial Beach VA tomorrow where we're going to try sailing the Potomac in the Chesapeake Bay region for the month of May.

Today we left the Savannah area after a marvelous 10 day visit (adding an unprecedented 25 new photos on the photo gallery), and we've headed on to Lake Murray, South Carolina, located on the west side of Columbia, the state capital. After a torrential thunderstorm yesterday to close out our Savannah visit, the weather cleared nicely for the 150 mile drive today, Sunday. We look forward to exploring the hundreds of miles of shoreline at Lake Murray with an eye toward a sailing stop there next spring, or possibly even in the fall of this year.

We made a second abortive attempt to go appreciate Hilton Head Island today. After our first visit in which about all we saw was shopping and more shopping plus golf course after golf course (we're not golfers) and tons of traffic, we strapped our bikes on the car and drove out to the west end to Sea Pines Plantation which we had heard was worthwhile bicycling. They would not let us into the paid entry gated community with a kayak on the car! We gave up, flipped Hilton Head off and thought we'd try Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. No go there either... no pets allowed and we had Corey along as we had planned to load him in his Doggyride for an afternoon cruise. Total bust of an afternoon. Well you win some, you lose some. Moving right along. We're off to Lake Murray SC on Sunday.

We made our last foray into Old Savannah today. This time we drove directly to the Bonaventure Cemetery. Developed on the site of Bonaventure Plantation, the peaceful setting rests on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River, east of Savannah. The site was purchased for a private cemetery in 1846 and became a public cemetery in 1907. This sets a new standard for a beautiful parklike setting for a cemetery. It literally takes your breath away... maybe not such a good thing, though, in a cemetery <G>.

We took a brief riverboat cruise through the port of Savannah aboard the Savannah River Queen, a historically accurate reproduction of the old river boats which operated on the Savannah River years ago. The captain explained some of the rich history of the port of Savannah, the 4th largest seaport in the country. Pictured at the right is the sister ship, the Georgia Queen, photographed from aboard the Savannah River Queen.

Getting around the city is great facilitated by the free DOT Shuttle Service, operated by the city from 6:50 am to 8:30 pm daily, every 20 minutes. In many cases you can relax on lovely park benches by the historic park/squares throughout the city until your free shuttle arrives to take you to more than a dozen stops around the city around the city. More cities should take this cue to alleviate downtown traffic and parking problems. For an even easier way to get around Savannah, I recommend that you visit Savannah... Crown Jewel of the American South, an extraordinary collection of photos of every aspect of this glorious city.

We signed up for a package of three historic homes tours in Old Savannah... The Owens-Thomas House built in 1816-19 in the English Regency style pictured at the right was one of the earliest homes in the country to have indoor plumbing. The Davenport House, a perfectly restored example of Federalist style architecture. And the Massie Common School built in 1855 on Calhoun Square which now houses the Massie Heritage Center, a wonderful museum which provides a nice perspective on the rich architectural heritage of Savannah. Pictures of each as well as many other pictures of Old Savannah are included on the photo gallery.

We arrived in Savannah a couple days ago. We're visiting the historic city and environs plus Hilton Head, South Carolina over the 10 days we're slated to be here. Today, we decided to take one of the ubiquitous Trolley Tours of Historic downtown Savannah. For one all day pass, as the guide tours you around the historic old city, you can get on and off on any of the 16 stops as often as you like. Savannah was divided into 24 squares in the original design back in the 1800's, we were particularly captivated by the largest of them, Forsyth Park, surrounded by an abundance of graceful old mansions. One of the beautiful old Victorians is pictured at the right and many more are pictured on our photo gallery.

We're hitting the road this morning on an auspicious day... it is my birthday. Another decade come and gone. Seems hard to comprehend. But I try to remember the wise words of Mark Twain, "Age is an issue of mind over matter... if you don't mind, it doesn't matter." LOL! On this trip I visited an old actor pal of mine in L.A., Mike Forest. Mike's birthday is tomorrow, one day after mine, but he will be 86. Seeing him and how active and healthy he is renewed my whole attitude on aging. I will hold him as a role model in the years to come. Here's to ya, Mike! As a birthday treat we expect to arrive in Savannah, GA tonight... it's a place I have always wanted to visit to soak up some of its legendary southern grace and charm.

Well, it looks like we missed the last of the top sailing days for a while anyhow. It is about this time of year when the weather patterns change in central Florida and afternoon thunderstorms become the norm. We had strong T-storms the last couple days since we returned from Venice and today promises to be no exception. The wind is generally weak all day and only squalls a bit during the T-storms making for very unpleasant sailing weather. So we have decided we'll conclude our month long stay at Wekiva Falls RV Park on schedule and head out April 15 or 16 as planned. We're going to head north for Savannah and spend a week looking around Savannah & Hilton Head before we continue north for a month at the Chesapeake.

The whole purpose of coming over to Venice Beach was to hang out with my brother and sister for a few days... it had been quite a few years since we were all three together. We sat at the beach tonite and watched the sunset, something of a ritual here. And by some happy coincidence the day was National Siblings Day. Serendipitous for sure. Tomorrow we'll head back to Lake Monroe.

After yet another day of wonderful sailing on Monday, with steady winds in the 12-14 range late afternoon, we piled the bikes on the car and dog in the back and headed over to Venice, Florida on the Gulf coast, just south of Sarasota. My brother Frank has a condo there and he and my nephew will meet my sister and husband Jim plus Libby and Corey and me there for the rest of the week. We'll do some bicycling, beachcombing and imbibe some spirits for our little family reunion. It's been a while since we were all together so it should be fun. We left the sailboat at Lake Monroe and the coach at Wekiva Falls and we'll stay at my sister's place in Venice for the week.

This morning we drove the 15 miles over to the quaint little town of Mount Dora situated on the picturesque shores of Lake Dora, a small Lake in the Harris Chain of Lakes, part of the Oklawaha River Basin in Central Florida. Lots of cute shops, art galleries, cafes and restaurants catering to the many tourists in town on a Sunday. We had a small lunch and a delicious dish of homemade gelato, walked down by the lake which had a nice stiff breeze blowing and imagined sailing on the glistening waters. But we were told the marina really has little or no capability for sailboats so we scrapped that idea and returned to the wonderful marina at Lake Monroe and sailed until sunset once again.

Another sensational sailing afternoon. Started off a little on the light side around 4 and then picked up steadily and we were gliding effortlessly across the water at 6 mph and more by 6 pm. Libby, Corey and I sailed until almost sunset, in perfect steady 10-11 mph breezes, once again the only boat on the entire lake. What a treat. As sunset approached I snapped this photo. Sometimes you get lucky and capture the moment perfectly in a photo. It helps to have the perfect model!

Another absolutely spectacular afternoon on Lake Monroe. This place is just awesome! Had steady 12-15 mph winds all afternoon from 2:00 on. Libby and I sailed from 3:30 - 6:30 in conditions that just could not be beat. The Anne Marie actually hit speeds of 7.5 mph on a beam reach. I think that is the fastest I have ever had her going and is certainly pretty close to hull speed. We were heeled over at about 20° much of the afternoon with consistent speeds in excess of 6.5 mph and often holding well above 7! It doesn't get any better than this. There were three sailboats out most of the afternoon until around 5:30 when the Weds night "Rum Races" started up, and there were 16 boats on the water racing as we headed in! Today made three excellent sailing days in row... Gotta love Lake Monroe in spring! Corey gives it 4 paws up!

After RV friends Herb and Diane Krieger made mincemeat out of me on the 20 mile bike ride, the next day I took them sailing on another perfect afternoon on Lake Monroe. Libby was on the west coast for the week but Herb's friend Larry who was an experienced sailor also came along. Herb and Diane were novices but enjoyed the afternoon immensely, and Herb was a very quick study at the helm. You can see the boat was on a pretty good heel! Maybe there'll be another Motorhome pilot dragging a sailboat along one of these days!

Went for a nice bike ride along the Seminole Wekiva Trail. The trailhead is just 4 miles from our RV park, and the route takes you thru some nice heavily wooded areas down to the beautifully landscaped northern part of Lake Mary and then beyond. I went with some serious bicyclist enthusiast friends and we went about 10 miles out and 10 back... a bit far for my poor tired butt. The best part was the first 3 miles to the Westin Hotel and back. I think I will stick to that the next time. Also had a really nice sailing session on Lake Monroe yesterday with my sister. Libby is at home on the west coast at the moment, and returns tomorrow.

Our first day of sailing on Lake Monroe here in central Florida can be summed up in one word, superb! We had a superb afternoon sail this afternoon. Monroe is a picturesque little lake surrounded mostly by green trees and a few condos or whatever as landmarks. The lake is small and shallow enough that you don't get any swell at all... just a light wind chop so the sailing is smooth as silk... and the wind was so darn steady. Like a tradewind or something - we had a steady 10-12 from like 4:30 - 5:30 then a little fresher 12-14 for an hour so and then backing off to the 10-12 range again til sunset. It really doesn't get any better than that. We were the ONLY boat out on the lake if you can believe that. Not a single sailboat or powerboat or anything. Amazing. This is a great place!

We rigged and launched our sailboat today at the lovely Monroe Harbour Marina, quite easily the nicest marina we have found in our travels and at a very reasonable price. The yellow arrow in the photo indicates our slip, a great, well-protected slip on the inside dock nearest the palm tree-lined promenade, where people are always walking, sitting on the benches and gazing and waving at all the boats. The concrete docks are in excellent shape and every boat on our dock is a sailboat. This is a sailing lake, home to the very active Lake Monroe Sailing Association. And Harbourmaster, John "Luke" Lucarell, is the nicest guy in the world. I can only hope every marina we visit in our travels compares favorably to this one.

We pulled in Sunday afternoon and got set up at Wekiva Falls Campground. This is a great park I scoped out when I visted my brother here in Florida a couple years ago. I checked out Lake Monroe which looked like a great place to moor the sailboat and found this RV Park just 10-15 minutes away. It is a quiet secluded park far off the beaten track where many people will come and stay for the season. Easy to see why. Large roomy level spaces with full hookups and friendly folks at excellent monthly rates. We'll be here for the next month, enjoying the lake and the area. As you can see we retrieved the sailboat from Catalina over near Tampa where we had it delivered in January. We're planning to launch her tomorrow at Lake Monroe. Can't wait. I haven't been sailing since last August - much too long

My sister Cecilia and her husband Jim have a home in Ormond Beach, Florida, a couple hours south of Jacksonville where we spent the night, so we stopped off next morning on our way down to Sanford for a quick visit and brunch before continuing on. That's my baby sister at the right. She gave me a gift she found at a swapmeet. Knowing me to be a lifelong bottle cap collector this little beer can guy with bottle top arms and legs was just a great gift.

We have finally finished up our stay in Red Bay, just shy of four weeks. While this may seem like a long time, it went by pretty quickly and we were able to literally get dozens of things attended to, many at no cost. Tiffin is the best company there is in this respect. And for this reason hundreds of Tiffin coaches show up here every week to have them serviced. Now on to the real reason for this trip... fun in the sun... sailing Florida for the spring. We'll be in Sanford Florida tomorrow and we'll pick up our Catalina Sailboat Monday which is waiting for us over near Tampa and prepare for some serious sailing fun here on Lake Monroe.

We returned from Graceland yesterday morning to see if and when we could get the coach in for the final item... paint touchup after the roof cap rail replacement. The paint shop foreman told me 'maybe Weds'. Sigh. So here we sit in a holding pattern again as we start our fourth week in Red Bay. We hope to be leaving here by end of the week. Meanwhile we are getting an excellent test of the watertight integrity of this coach. It is absolutely POURING outside. And looks like it will be all week (see the weather forecast at right). If *anyone* ever tells us it rains a lot in Oregon we are going to tell them to visit Alabama in the late winter or spring. Sheesh! Florida, where are you? Good thing we have our kayak with us... we may need it!

We're almost done in Red Bay, the foul weather has passed and it is the weekend so we decided to head up to Memphis for a couple days escape from the doldrums of another weekend in Red Bay. We'll return Monday to finish up before we head to Florida. I was a young teenager when Elvis hit the scene in 1957. So needless to say I was a big fan at the time. Elvis will always hold a special place in my heart so it was worth a 2.5 hour trip from Red Bay up to Memphis to see Graceland, Elvis' mansion. We drove up in the coach on Saturday and drove around Memphis. Today we'll tour Graceland. We are staying immediately next door at the Graceland RV Park & Campground. Lots more Memphis and Graceland photos on our gallery page

What might have been our final day in Red Bay as we expected our coach to finish up fixes and updates at the Tiffin Factory Service Center in Red Bay, Alabama, was wiped out by yet another winter storm. One of the most severe winters in the east and the deep south in decades, we awoke to the predicted hail storm. With a low overnight of 26 and a high of only 30 today, everything is covered with ice and is unlikely to melt much today. So the plant is closed and we are stuck in hibernation in the Tiffin Service Campground along with more than 100 other Tiffin motorhomes, hoping the plant will reopen tomorrow and we can begin wrapping up our extended stay here. With any luck we will wrap up beginning of next week and be on our way after some three weeks in Red Bay.

Visiting the Fame Recording Studio and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, and buying and watching the Film Documentary Muscle Shoals we became aware of the enormous number of popular recording artists who helped shape what is often referred to as the "Muscle Shoals Sound" including Alabama, Arthur Alexander, Duane Allman, Paul Anka, Amazing Rhythm Aces, Bobby Bare, Ronee Blakely, Soloman Burke, Clarence Carter, Eric Clapton, Roy Clark, Commodores, Arthur Conley, Joe Cocker, Canned Heat, J.J. Cale, Kim Carnes, Cher, King Curtis, Charlie Daniels, Mac Davis, The Drifters, Bob Dylan, Jose Feliciano, Aretha Franklin, Glenn Frey, Bobbie Gentry, Gatlin Brothers, Bobby Goldsboro, Bill Haley & the Comets, Willie Hightower, Levon Helm, Dr. Hook, The Impressions, J.J. Jackson, Etta James, George Jones, Tom Jones, Alicia Keys, Brenda Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lobo, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Herbie Mann, Delbert McClinton, Liza Minnelli, Wayne Newton, Willie Nelson, Oak Ridge Boys, Billy Ocean, Roy Orbison, Tony Orlando, Donny & Marie Osmond, Elvis Presley, John Prine, Johnny Paycheck, Carl Perkins, Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, Lou Rawls, Otis Redding, Del Reeves, Righteous Brothers, Lionel Ritchie, Tommy Roe, Linda Ronstadt, Rolling Stones, Charlie Ross, Leon Russell, Carlos Santana, Boz Scaggs, Bob Seger, Shenandoah, Paul Simon, Percy Sledge, Jim Stafford, Candi Staton, Cat Stephens, Staple Singers, The Supremes, Rod Stewart, Sawyer Brown, Simon & Garfunkle, Ray Stevens, Joe Tex, Travis Tritt, Ella Washington, Hank Williams, Jr., Andy Williams, Tammy Wynette, to name a few!

This morning at 6:30 am we drove the coach back into Tiffin Service Bay #36 this time for them to redo the cap rails, a Tiffin warranty item which will upgrade the coach substantially. Then Libby and I headed for the town of Muscle Shoals, about 45 minute drives from the Tiffin Plant. Muscle Shoals is a legendary place and you can read all about it on thousands of websites starting with Wikipedia... But suffice to say it is one of the birthplaces of music recording in the US, maybe second only to Nashville. Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, Roy Orbison, all recorded here... a longer list is above. We visited the FAME Recording Studio (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises). The photo at the right is me faking it at the same piano used by Jerry Lee Lewis. We also visited the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Too much to describe here. I have more photos and info on our gallery page.

This morning at 6:30 am we fired up, pulled in the slides, let the suspension air up and headed for Service Bay #1 (of 46) as instructed on Friday afternoon (photo at right). This is our 5th day of actual service during the two weeks since we arrived... pretty much the norm from what I understand from other Tiffin owners, considering the work week is M-F and you get assigned to various different bays depending on the work you need done. An excellent tech Steve was assigned to us. I showed him the few minor remaining issues and he set about making them right. We should wrap up in here today... then it only remains to replace the cap rails... a Tiffin warranty issue that they fix for all the pre 2012 rigs, and then a new windshield to replace our cracked one (insurance item). We hope to leave for Florida this week.

We met an older couple, Lou and Mary Jane Fritz, in the Tiffin campground also here for service who have been motorhoming for 37 years and still smiling... this is their 8th Class A Motorhome in that time and their 2nd or 3rd Tiffin. Interesting to gain that kind of perspective on our adventure. They joined us for supper on a cold rainy Friday nite and we went to the area's notorious Rattlesnake Saloon for burgers and brews. I was tempted to go for their legendary Gigantor, but Libby forbade me to try so I settled for a half pounder instead. In retrospect, probably a wise decision. Mother knows best!

We were out running around all morning... the forecast was for snow this afternoon and most locals were laughing it off... joking about ducking snowflakes, etc. Well about 1:00pm it started. By dark we had about 6" and it was still coming down hard. No idea what we will wake up to tomorrow! Not exactly what we went south for this winter. (TOTAL reached 8" - a new record for this part of Alabama for the month of February.) Well, it has been a rough winter all over the U.S.

With time to kill on a quiet day in Red Bay Alabama, we took Corey for a pilgrimage to the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, popularly known as the Coon Dog Cemetery. Everyone in this area says this is a must to visit. This might be an indication of how little legitimate entertainment there is in Colbert County, but it is of historic interest. Established in 1937 many raccoon hunting dogs are buried here, and other kinds of dogs are not allowed to be buried and 'contaminate' the coon dog cemetery. Each Labor Day, the Friends of the Coondog Cemetery host a celebration at the cemetery where entertainment includes music, dancing, food and a liar's contest. More photos of this historic spot on our gallery page

It's a stormy weekend in Red Bay. We are back in the Tiffin service campground waiting to pull back into the service bay on Monday to continue with the work we wanted done by Tiffin's factory techs. So the computer and our satellite TV are our preferred ways to pass the time indoors. That's my Kokopelli head rest cover and Kokopelli mug on the table beside me. Corey is in his favorite spot....my recliner... and is happy to sit here whether I am in the chair or not. If I am in the recliner without him, he will come over and bark to be lifted up so he can "get comfy". I have become quite adept at typing at a 45 degree angle so as not to disturb the dog. I always wanted a "lap dog" and I definitely got one with Corey. Lap dog, bed bug and couch potato... he wears the monikers proudly.

Tiffin Motorhomes have been manufactured in Red Bay Alabama for more than 40 years. They proudly offer free factory tours to customers and prospective customers alike. We are staying in the Tiffin campground awaiting our turn for service to take care of some minor items, so today we took the factory tour which they offer daily at 9:30 am. It takes about an hour and a half and is very interesting to see how these behemoths are built. In front of the Tour headquarters is a 1972 Tiffin Allegro Motorhome, one of the first ever built, complete with avocado green shag carpeting, genuine wood paneling and harvest gold appliances. You've come a long way baby! I've created a full page of photos with 15 shots of the factory at work, building the modern Allegro Bus, Red (Open Road), Breeze, Phaeton & Zephyr.

We arrived in Red Bay Sunday afternoon. We checked into the large campground which is a full hookup facility - all pull thru sites - adjacent to the service bays. We'll meet with the service people, get into the queue for service and get some factory level work done on our coach to bring it up fully to our specifications. We'll probably be here at least a couple weeks. We'll be put into a queue and then move from service bay to service bay to get varous types of work done. "The coach is pulled out at 3:30 each day and we pull back into your space in the campground to wait for our next service appointment." As you can see from the lineup of Tiffin coaches (right), there are lots of other folks doing the same thing. That's us at the right.

Heading north from Lake Charles, LA, we stopped overnight in Jackson, MS, the right length travel day at about 320 miles. Unfortunately we didn't have time to look around Jackson right now, but it's only 200 miles from Red Bay, so we can always come back down when we are having some work done on the coach. We took the scenic route from Jackson up to Red Bay though, along the highly touted Natchez Trace Parkway. It is the dead of winter, of course, and it will be much prettier in spring, but this gave us a feel for it and perhaps we can return and make the drive again in the spring.

This is a special Valentine's Day entry to my sweetheart on her birthday. Twenty-some years ago I had the good fortune to meet the love of life, Elizabeth Ann... or Libby. We became fast friends, then lovers, then lived together, then finally married in 2002. She is more than I deserve... sweet, kind and giving... bright, thoughtful and tireless, all in a cute and attractive package. Some people might call us soulmates, but it is more than that. I was looking for a woman with whom I could build a synergistic relationship... the ultimate teamwork which achieves a result greater than the simple sum of the two parts. And Libby was that woman. The love of a lifetime and the perfect partner in life. And the perfect RV Mate. Happy Birthentines day to my darling. Remember, Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

Heading on to Alabama. I had a brief bout of the stomach flu in San Marcos, so we delayed our departure a couple days. Finally getting under way today. We're going to spend our first night in Lake Charles, LA, and then continue on to Jackson MS on day two and probably arrive in Red Bay Alabama on 2/16. Red Bay is the home of Tiffin Motorhomes. We are going to have them assess making a few modifications before we head on to Florida. I'll be posting any worthwhile photos from our trip over the next few weeks, but this is not a sightseeing leg. Let's hope our luck has changed for the better on Friday the 13th! A major winter storm is due into the south by middle of next week so we're going to soldier on and try to get to Alabama before it hits.

Corey is the classic little boy always getting into things he shouldn't. We never had these problems with Gracie but Corey is a totally different case. You have to watch him like a hawk or he can quickly ingest something he shouldn't. Like the time he earned the nickname Captain Hook for swallowing a fishhook that could have killed him! This time, we are staying in a grove of pecan trees with a bejillion squirrels, and it turns out a dog eating moldy pecan remnants can cause severe gastro enteritis. Corey was vomiting all night so a visit to Banfield Pet Hospital, three prescriptions, and $350 later, we hope he is past the worst of it. It is a good thing he is as cute as a bug's ear. We're forced to delay another day!

From Las Cruces we drove through Ft. Stockton, TX where we spent the night at a Walmart, and then arrived this afternoon in San Marcos, Texas which we first discovered about 6 years ago. We bought several properties here and had planned to move here, but Motorhome travel kind of intervened and eventually took precedence. We still own one nice little brick house here in the waterfront community of Las Brisas - but at least for now we have it rented out to a nice family. We'll stay here a week, visit some friends and visit a few of our favorite haunts, especially Canyon Lake where we spent many happy hours sailing.

The weather was fine for our trip on to Las Cruces, a brief layover for us along I-10 on our way from Arizona to Central Texas. Set against the beautiful Organ Mountains National Monument, the picturesque "City of the Crosses" lies in the Mesilla Valley in central New Mexico and is the home of New Mexico State University. It represents a reasonable travel distance for us coming from Tucson, as it breaks up into three easy segments the trip to Central Texas (where we used to live). We pulled in just after 5 to see a beautiful sunset casting shadows on the Organ Mountains.

This weekend saw record breaking storms here in southwest Arizona, producing rainfall for the record books... more rain in two days than Tucson typically sees in a whole season. After we had some minor repairs completed Friday, we wisely decided to stay put and wait out the impending storms. Good choice as it turns out. Many roads were flooded and visibility was almost nil at times. Fortunately it all lifts tonite and the forecasts are clear to hit the road tomorrow, Sunday, when we will head for Las Cruces NM, our first leg of the trip on to San Marcos, Texas.

Today, Sunday, was a relaxing day. We visited the Tucson Botanical Gardens (right) this afternoon and saw a wide variety of native cactus and other plant species indigenous to the Sonoran desert. They also had a special rain forest butterfly exhibit with dozens of species of gorgeous butterflies imported from Costa Rica.

The weather here in Tucson is beautiful, so among other things, while we're here waiting on the new exhaust part, we'll visit Old Tucson, a holdover from the days of the Old West. We didn't get a chance to visit Old Tucson when we were here previously in 2013. Western movie fans that we are, this was a lot of fun. Here we are standing in front of the Grand Palace Hotel and Saloon. See the photo gallery page for many more photos from the visit to Old Tucson. I have also created a special Old Tucson Gallery page with more than 25 fun photos from this entertaining visit.

We have moved over to Tucson, Arizona, arriving at the Lazydays KOA RV Park on the 23rd. It's a very nice park. We enjoyed our stay here when we visited Tucson in 2013. Our forced layover in Tucson is only a small inconvenience as we love it here. See the Tucson section of our 2013 blog for 15 photos and details from our ten days here and visits to Biosphere2, Pima Air & Space Museum, Kartchner Caverns, Saguaro National Park (right), and the spectacular Sabino Canyon, which has its own special photo gallery.

We were going to continue on to Las Cruces, New Mexico tomorrow, but we heard a strange sound after we got off the freeway. Fortunately Tucson is home to Premier Motorcoach Service and Eric Olstrom runs as fine an RV service department as you will find anywhere. So decided to pay him a visit. Turns out we have a broken exhaust pipe. It is very fortunate I could hear this and we could find the problem easily. It could have cost us major problems out on the open road. Tiffin Factory is sending us out a replacement free of charge from Alabama, but it probably won't get here until Wednesday so we are forced to delay our travels and enjoy Tucson once again.

We backtracked 110 miles to Quartzsite AZ. We had decided not to attend the big RV show and planned to go up to Sedona, instead. However, our Aquahot heating system was giving us trouble. We had it serviced in Indio, but something was still not right, and Aquahot Expert John Carrillo had moved on to Quartzsite, servicing systems for RV show attendees. He graciously agreed to work us into his schedule and found a major issue with the diesel burner engine in the Aquahot system, which he was fortunately able to repair for us. We'll stick around tonite, staying at Blackrock RV Resort near Quartzsite. They have a shuttle in to the show so we'll spend the afternoon, browsing all the latest RV gear before we head on tomorrow to Tucson enroute to Texas.

Who says there is no sailing In Phoenix? Here I am sailing my Victoria model yacht on a lovely little man made lake in the Estrella community in Goodyear, on the west side of Phoenix. It is not far from the Destiny Phoenix RV Resort where we stayed for a week, visiting our RV friends Dennis and Myra who have a winter home here, and with other RV friends Bill and Ginny up in Scottsdale. Lovely setting for model yacht sailing and perfect January temperatures around 70 degrees.

We drove from Indio to Phoenix today, staying at the Destiny Phoenix RV Resort on the west side in a town called Goodyear as we visit with several sets of friends in the Phoenix area. Then we're planning to spend several days in Sedona, one of our favorite Arizona locations, and then stop in Tucson before we head on to Texas. Here we are crossing the border just east of Blythe, California, crossing into Arizona, "The Grand Canyon State " as the welcome sign proclaims.

We're here at the lovely Indian Waters RV Resort in Indio a couple hours east of Los Angeles near the world famous Palm Springs. We'll be here for 4 days visiting some friends and enjoying the desert sunshine before we head onward to Phoenix. This is a 5 star resort... one of the nicest we have ever stayed in... the amenities are endless. I will definitely be hanging out at the pool part of the time.

While we are enjoying warmer weather in Los Angeles, finally (high around 70 predicted for today), our Catalina 22, The Anne Marie, is on her way to Florida. We hired a professional driver and his tow vehicle to transport the boat to Florida for us so we could travel together in the coach and tow our car as we head across country. We have used Scott Thompson and his DrivePro services for a similar situation and I can highly recommend him for his professionalism and reliability. My boat will arrive in Florida this next week while we will be taking our time getting there, probably arriving around the first part of March.

Here we are heading south into California in the Windseeker Allegro Bus with the Suburban in tow, in a classic photo in front of Mt Shasta... the same classic photo which I have managed to get on a nice clear day when heading south with both Windseeker I by Mt Shasta - 2011 and Windseeker II - by Mt Shasta - 2013 as well. Tomorrow we'll make it down to near Bakersfield and Thursday we'll sail into Los Angeles, staying at Valencia Travel Village up near Magic Mountain.

Here's the Allegro Bus with the Suburban in tow just across the Oregon border in Northern California after descending from Siskiyou Summit. The weather was glorious... a bit chilly but nice and clear with dry roads making the trip through the Siskiyous effortless.

The Windseeker 2015 USA National Tour has officially begun. We concluded last year's Western US Tour in September and spent the fall at our new home in Vancouver WA to enjoy the beautiful fall colors in the Pacific Northwest. We spent the holidays with the family and have been watching the weather forecasts. With the weather looking pretty good, we have hit the road, heading south to warmer weather, and then on across country on our way to the east coast. First stop is Southern California, arriving at Valencia Travel Village up near Magic Mountain on January 1st. If you are going to be around the Big Orange in early January, and want to get together, send me an email and suggest a few time/day options so we can work in as many friends as possible to toast in the New Year together!