Happy 5th Anniversary To Us!

We have been on the road for five years!!!!  Can you believe it has been five years?

This map shows all of our travel from 2012 - Present

We left our home in Missouri on April 29, 2012.  When we left, we did not know if we would be doing this full-time.  Dad had just started a new job which was 100% travel and we all went along for the adventure.

We started out in our Hurricane. It was 36'  The motor home is level, the camera is not. 

Scout is ready for our Big Adventure.

I was excited and nervous as we left our home in Missouri.

After five months on the road, we decided we didn't want to go back to our regular life.  We went home with Mom while Dad went to St. Thomas.  We sold and gave away just about everything we had and we put our house up for sale.  Five weeks later, we were back on the road.  Our house sold while we were in Houston.  We sold it fully furnished and we never went back to it.  All the paperwork was done via email.  After we sold our house, we upgraded to a diesel motor home.

This motor home was 40'.

We really liked our diesel motor home but Dad wanted a new one.  He also wanted a king-sized bed and a second bath. In 2015, we purchased our current motor home.

It is 45'.

We have traveled coast to coast a few times. We went from Baltimore to San Jose and then back again.  We didn't enjoy those long trips.  Those trips took eight days with two days off for rest.  We found that three days in a row was our limit since we drove 10-12 hours days.  We did do four days in a row once and we were all cranky.

We have been asked what has been our favorite place.  That is really hard to answer.  We have found something that we liked about each place.  We had a terrible time finding a place to stay in the Seattle area and ended up staying at a fairground in Puyallup, WA for a few months.  It was basically just a field, but there were car shows and an orchard where we allowed to take as much as we wanted. We had a great time there.  We also stayed in a fairground in Pleasanton, CA.  It was very expensive.  $2,000 a month to live in a field  and we didn't know from week to week if we would be allowed to stay. They made us move sites every 21 days.  I liked it there because they gave me dog treats a few times a day.  Lancaster, PA was one of Mom's favorites.  She enjoyed living among the Amish.  Houston and Dallas were fun with all their great restaurants.  Mom, Scout and I spent the winter in Summerdale, AL.  It was a nice area, but we missed Dad who was in Baltimore. Mom still talks about going back there for alligator.  We also stayed in Memphis, Chicago, Baltimore, Kansas City, San Diego, Streetsboro, Ohio, Denver, Indiana, Vermont, Boston, New York and many places that were just a day or two.  I think our least favorite place was Fort Lauderdale.  We stayed at a place that was full of vacant homes because they were owned by Canadians that were home for the summer.  It was a little scary walking through the RV park because it looked like a deserted subdivision. There were a few people who were living there and when they walked down the street, we would jump. The people in the office spoke French, so there was a communication problem. Mom also didn't like that it took a good two full days to get out of Florida from there.

We attended two Escapee rallies as well as an Entegra rally. We have been to 13 out of the 15 Presidential Libraries.  We came close to number 14, but our plans changed at the last minute.    It really has been a big adventure.

Exciting Announcement

We are beginning a new adventure today. It is hard to believe that it happens to fall on our anniversary.  It was not planned that way.  We are headed to our next destination.  However, things will be a little different.  Dad has taken a permanent position.  We will no longer be traveling. 😩 We are sad about the not traveling part, but things have changed with Dad's job in the past two years and he has not been happy.  This new job is a good fit for us.  We will still be traveling on vacations and Dad has a lot of vacation time.

We will still be living in the motor home.  We plan on checking out different RV resorts, so we will probably be moving around until we find a place that we really like.  The place we are moving to has a lot of resorts and the rent is reasonable.  

Okay, so where are we going?  We are moving to the Houston area.  We will not be living in Houston itself, but in a suburb.  We wanted a place that has warm winters and Houston has that.  Galveston is just 30 miles away, so we have a beach.  It is not a pretty beach, but it is a beach. There are palm trees.  Mom loves palm trees.  We are excited and happy about this move. We have stayed in Houston three times and liked it.  Mom and I no longer have to worry about being on our own during the winter months.  We will all be together.  I hated when Dad was away from us in the winter. We can now make plans more than a month in advance.  This is a good thing for us even though it is a little bittersweet.  😊

Mom and I will still be posting here, so please come back to see what happens to us on our new adventure.

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Is Starting A New Life In Houston

Where Is Our Next Destination? Clue #5

Clue #5

Joey,
el galgo que está listo para su próxima aventura 😀

Where Is Our Next Destination? Clue #4

Clue #4

As you can see from the photos, I am not happy with this clue.  I don't care if I am going to ________, I am not wearing this thing.

I don't want to be anywhere near it.

It stinks!

A treat is under it.

I will eat the treat, but I will not wear it.

Mr. Bill is not scared of it.

I don't care if Mr. Bill wore it.  I am not wearing it.

I hope money didn't come out of my treat fund for this stupid hat.

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Does Not Like Cowboy Hats

Where Is Our Next Destination? Clue #3

Clue #3

Not This:

This:

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Will Be Less Than 30 Miles From The Beach

Where Is Our Next Destination? Clue #2

Mom read an article this weekend and it said we needed this for our next destination.  😟

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Not Sure About This New Place

Where Is Our Next Destination? Clue #1

We thought it might be fun to give you clues of our next destination.

Clue #1 

While we have three AC units, Mom bought this to help us stay cool.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Wondering If Going Somewhere That Requires A Fan Plus Air Conditioning Is Wise

Almost 5 Years!

Five Years

Next Saturday is our 5th anniversary of hitting the road!  We are leaving this location next Saturday for our next destination.  Where are we going?  Come back next weekend to find out. We also have an exciting announcement to make on our anniversary.

Park News

The pool has finally been emptied and cleaned.  It was looking pretty nasty.  

That is not a cover.  That is what the pool looked like.  It had a thick goo on top. 

New Rugs and Decorations

Our new rugs arrived last weekend.  The folks really like how they look.

This was the before.  This was taken two years ago.  If they were still looking this good, we would have kept them.  They had three years of dirt and sand in them.  They no longer looked nice even after vacuuming.  Whenever we folded them up on travel days, there was a layer of sand under them. 

Here are the new rugs:

Mom added some plants to the kitchen.  She purchased them at Hobby Lobby.  Half off this week.

Food Photos

Since we are leaving the area, the folks have been eating at their favorite places.  These photos are from Pappasito's.

Needed Maintenance

A motor home that has been here for five years left on Sunday.  They were in a pull-thru site but since the trees had not been trimmed, they grew over the driveway.  The motor home had to be backed out instead of pulling through.  They did move a small Class C in this week for a night, but they even had trouble with the trees.  Will they trim them?  We may never know.

Instant Pot

Mom still uses her Instant Pot several times a week.  Her favorite thing this week was green, potatoes and bacon. It took four minutes.  Grandma used to make it over a campfire.  Mom said it tasted the same.

Park Happenings

We have been staying inside during the day because I don't like the heat.  We still hear gossip even without looking for it.  We were surprised to hear of a few affairs.  One woman left her husband for another woman.  We knew the women were together but didn't realize that she was married previously.

Our messy neighbor has decided to feed the feral cats.  There are several people who do this, but they do it away from the campers.  Our neighbor has decided to feed them in her driveway.  The cats have decided to open up our trash bags which we sit out in the morning.  Mom is not happy about that.

Piper, my bull terrier friend, has gotten a few fire ant bites.  She had them really bad last year.  Mom's bites are basically healed up.  It took about ten days.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Ready For New Adventures

Fire Ants

There are fire ants in the the dog park!  Mom stepped on their nest which wasn't very smart.  She got bit on both feet.  She told one of the workers about the nest and she said they come out when it rains.  She put something on them and they seem to be gone.  She told Mom how to treat the bites.  Mom did as she said, but then she looked it up on the Internet and what she told her to do was all wrong.  She is still dealing with the bites after five days.  She is glad that I didn't step on them.  Piper, another dog here, got bit on her face and feet last summer and her Mom said it took her a long time to get over them.  Piper is a Bull Terrier.  She has a big nose like me, but she is much shorter.  She weighs the same as me though.  Her Mom says she is a tank.

RV Maintenance

A few weeks ago, we had a guy who works on RVs come out to change our oil, gas filter and oil in our generator. Our motor home takes a lot of oil.  How much did it cost?  $500 something.  We were thrilled because last year, we drove it to a place in Oklahoma and had to wait outside while they did all the work.  They charged us $85 more than what we paid this year.  It was nice to just sit inside while the work was being done.

Campground Happenings

I continue to watch the squirrels and they watch me.

The pool has not opened yet.  We took this photo last week.

We took this photo around 5 a.m.  We will take one in daylight the next time we go out.  Yes, it is really brown now.  

Big Mail Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow, we are getting our regular mail, plus a new blender, new living room and kitchen rugs and and some clothes for Mom. It is a good thing Mom will have the Jeep since there is no way the big rug will fit on the scooter.  BOL!   The blender is for me.  Mom makes me frosty treats and yesterday, my blender started smoking!  Dad said "Order that boy a new blender!"  Mom ordered it last night.  I can't be without my frosty treats.

Buddy

Buddy has traveled 1,000 miles.  It really doesn't seem like much considering all the places he has traveled.  He put the most miles on him in California.  Mom really enjoyed riding him through the Amish roads in Lancaster County.  There are some places that we have stayed that Mom couldn't ride him and that is why his mileage is so low.  When she can ride him, she does.  

Veil

Our greyhound friend, Veil, went to the Rainbow Bridge on Monday.  We shared a birthday. She was a year older than me.  It will be sad celebrating my birthday without her this year. She is now with her brother, Beckett who died on Valentine's Day in 2015.  She is greatly missed by her family and friends.

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Got A New Boot This Week

Excitement In The Hood Today

Eviction Number 1

It seems that we missed excitement that went on Monday and Tuesday, but we got to see some today. Apparently on Monday, a guy that we really didn't like was told he was being evicted.  We didn't like him because he was always drunk, played his music really loud and had huge bonfires in his fire pit.  We always felt sorry for the people that were parked next to him.  He was in the section for short-term people.  We never understood why. He should have been in our section, but we are glad he wasn't.  On Monday, the manager told him that his fire pit needed to be 20' away from his neighbor.  He argued about it and got in the manager's face and the manager evicted him.  I guess it wasn't immediate though.  The folks and I walked past his place on Monday night and he was yelling that he wanted the old man out and the lady behind him out, etc.  We didn't know at that point that he was evicted.  Dad said to Mom that he is not exempt from being evicted especially since he was in a FEMA trailer.  Those are not supposed to be allowed but there are a few here.  Yesterday, he was seen measuring the fire pits that are here to see if they were 20' away.  The fire pits are only supplied by the campground in the deluxe areas.  The other ones are just people who have brought them in for their own use, like his.  He then got drunk and decided he was going to start a huge bonfire.  He likes to burn 2x4 boards.  The police were called and he was taken away and was told he was not allowed back in the park.  His wife pleaded with management to let him in to get the trailer out because she knew it was not going to be easy to make it travel worthy.  They agreed and that is what we saw this morning.  He was cussing and yelling.  He said he was suing corporate and management.  We don't really know what he thinks he can sue about.  Our contract says we can be evicted at any time by management.  We finally saw him leave after three hours.  He left behind a lawnmower, smoker and just a lot of junk.  The park has been buzzing about him today.  I think everyone is happy to see him gone. Mom is really happy.  We feel sorry for his wife.

Eviction Number 2

We told you about the other FEMA trailer that we thought was going to be removed.  Well, it happened last night.  The mattress is gone too.

This kitty lost his shelter with the removal of the trailer  He is under there.

Rain

Sunday was a rainy day here.  We had 2".  Dad had to drive to Houston for a meeting.  He decided to wait to leave until the afternoon since it was stormy there.  He was only gone one night.  I didn't even realize he was on a trip.  I thought he was just working a night shift. 

Ducks enjoyed the rain.

Tree damage from storms last week.

Spring time!

Instant Pot Happenings

Mom made mashed potatoes, fettuccine carbonara and apple crisp recently.  Everything was good.

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Thinks This Place Could Be A Reality Show

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