Back from Ohio

Well, I made it. I'm back! It was a very fun trip and a long journey home, but I am back in Arizona. I really missed Dennis and the boys. It's good to be home.

I left Arizona at 11pm Thursday and flew to Atlanta, then Dayton. I got there about 45 minutes late. My sister, brother in law and brother picked me up for the airport and we headed north towards Toledo. We stopped in BG to get some Myles Pizza and had lunch at my other sister's house with my 3rd sister, nieces and nephew. Yummy! It was then time to get food ready for the gathering at George's house. We had a very nice cookout there with lots of food and wine. I was up until about 1am Ohio time (that's nearly 36 hours since I got up at 5am AZ time on Wednesday).

Friday it was lunch with some of Kate's former co-workers, then a road trip to Williams County to our parents' house. We had a nice dinner/party with my mom's family Friday night, complete with lots of good food and wine. Seeing a pattern here?

Saturday was wedding day. The ceremony was at 2 followed by the reception starting at 5. We had all made reservations at the hotel where the reception was held, so we went there (after a pit stop at Sonic) to get checked in. Even though we had 2 designated drivers, it was still easier to just stay there. It was a great time, and I now have a new favorite song (Crazy b*tch by Buck Cherry). It's not for the faint of heart!

Sunday morning, we all went for breakfast at the Four Seasons diner across from the hotel in Montpelier. It was yummy!! We all then went to mom's house to hang out for a few hours until it was time to head to our destinations. Kate, Brian, Aaron and I headed to Cincinnati about 4 after Lyn, RJ and Lylah headed to Toledo about 3:30. We stopped in Dayton to have dinner at Fricker's, then went to Graeters for ice cream. We got back to Kate & Brian's about 9:30. After getting settled in and ready for my 3am wake up call, I finally went to bed at 11pm.

At 12:55 am, my phone rang. It was AirTran calling to tell me my 5:50am flight from Dayton to Atlanta was cancelled and they had put me on a 2:38pm flight that got to Phoenix at 10:05 pm (12 hours late!!). After I regained my composer (at least I didn't get hung up on) I investigated my travel insurance that I had the foresight to purchase when I bought my ticket. Turns out I could get some reimbursed for at least part of the cost of another plane ticket on a different airline. After much research, I decided to fly on US Airways out of Columbus which got me to Phoenix at 9am (90 minutes earlier than AirTran would have got me there). Aaron picked me up at 4:30, and we headed to Columbus. It was a good flight and arrived early. I made it to work by about 9:30.

I went to my orthopedic surgeon for the follow up after getting my MRI films before leaving Wednesday. The diagnosis: torn meniscus (aka cartilage). I have arthroscopy scheduled for 8/19 to have it fixed. I had the same surgery on the other knee 4 1/2 years ago, so I know what to expect. It's not pleasant but it's also not the worst thing in the world. I just want to get rid of the pain.

I got a good 7 1/2 hours sleep yesterday and now I feel as good as new! I just got back from CostCo and dinner is in the microwave. I'll blog more later this week with an update on the motor home. I hope everyone has a great week!!

Picture: Uncle Bill, Aunt Marie, Aunt Pat, Grandma, Dad, Aunt Sue, Aunt Karen. This is my dad's siblings along with my Grandma. How fun!

New article posted

I've posted my latest article on Examiner.com. It's about our friends Jon and Gladys (real people, fake names) and their journey from home to motor home. Check it out!

http://www.examiner.com/x-16754-Phoenix-RV-Lifestyle-Examiner

Please subscribe to e-mail to receive updates. Thanks for your support!!

Sunday - the end of the week or the beginning?

I guess it depends on your point of view. For me, it's kind of both. I'm excited about this week because I get to go to Ohio to see friends and family. I haven't seen most of them since November. I'm really looking forward to it!

I've written a few articles this week. If you haven't already, please check out my Examiner web page. Please subscribe to e-mail and keep up to date on what I'm writing. I'm working on my next article now and hope to post it by Monday night. It's going to be a good one!! Here's the web site:

http://www.examiner.com/x-16754-Phoenix-RV-Lifestyle-Examiner

This was a nice weekend. Friday, we went down to Ron & Marilyn's for our final Friday night drinking at their kitchen table. I know this because they sold their table and chairs today. If only that table could talk!!! It was an enjoyable evening.

Saturday, we didn't have much to do around the house. We both did such a great job keeping the house picked up this week that we didn't have to spend all day cleaning! It was very nice! We contemplated going out to look for Jeeps (we want one to flat tow behind the motor home) but Jeremy and Brandon did all of the work for us! Well, Dennis did talk to our Salesperson at Power Dodge about a couple that she had, but we decided not to go look at them because they weren't what we are looking for. Saturday late afternoon, we headed out to Litchfield park to our friends Ron & Bob's house for a cookout. We had cocktails and appetizers with some pool time, then some fabulous burgers and brats. It was ice cream sundae bar for dessert. YUMMY! And the company and hospitality was even better than the very tasty food! We were home by 10, I was falling asleep on the way home. Fortunately I wasn't driving!

Today has been relaxing as well. We had coffee, then about 11:30, I decided to make pancakes after reading Facebook updates from a couple of friends who were making pancakes. I was inspired. They were very good! The rest of the day was spent feeding the laundry machine. I washed and dried and Dennis folded. I put everything away after the folding was done. We can start the week with clean clothes and towels. This afternoon, Marilyn called me to come get the knives from their motor home that she gave us. Taylor and her sweet adorable Chihuahua Terrier mix came while I was there. I think our boys would really like her!!

Tonight it was pizza and wings for dinner. I cleaned up the kitchen, got the coffee pot ready for morning, and watered the trees outside. I almost got in the pool but it got dark and it feels like a storm is rolling in. I'd hate to be zapped by lightning in the pool! We watched our 2 favorite shows this evening - True Blood and Hung. Both excellent shows on HBO. You can catch up on Hung as they are playing all 3 episodes this week. It's on at 10pm EDT on Sundays (7pm for those of us in AZ). This is Season 2 of True Blood, so you'd have to buy the first season on DVD to catch up!

I am going to the doctor tomorrow to have my knee checked out. It's the one I injured in 1987 while I was a Senior in High School. I've had a lot of pain recently and have put up with it long enough. My PCP referred me to the same ortho practice that did my surgery on my other knee in 2004. I hope it's easily fixable! Tuesday Bullseye comes back out to look at the motor home and do more troubleshooting on the jacks - and hopefully can order the part to fix it. We want to leave town 7/31 and leave the motor home up North for the rest of summer. Fingers crossed!

Wednesday I'm off to Ohio. Dennis gets to stay home and watch the doggies. And I might actually get some sleep! :-) I hope everyone has a great week and watch for my Examiner article Monday night or Tuesday. Take care!

New adventure

I'm excited to inform everyone that I've recently became a freelance writer for The Examiner as a Phoenix RV Lifestyle Examiner. I'll write 3-4 articles a week about my RV experiences, news, advice, etc. and post them to the web site. I'd be really grateful and honored if you would bookmark my site, visit often, and subscribe to my e-mail. This is a new opportunity for me to share my passion for RV'ing with others. Below is the URL. Thank you so much for your support!!!

http://www.examiner.com/x-16754-Phoenix-RV-Lifestyle-Examiner

It's been an interesting week already. Brother Boy spent Thursday at the vet. He woke up and started vomiting all over the place. Being the nervous mother that I am, I called the vet when I got to work and they were able to get him right in, so I went home to pick him up and take him in. Of course, Drama went along for the ride. They wanted to do some tests which would take a couple of hours, so I left him there and went home to work. About 12:30, they called to let me know he was ready to go home. I went to get him and after speaking to the doctor, the tests didn't turn up anything other than "he had a tummy ache". It was comforting to know there wasn't something serious wrong with him. Poor baby!

Thursday afternoon, I went to my doctor to get my left knee checked out. She referred me to an ortho and ordered x-rays. I immediately went to get the x-rays done, and on the way home, scheduled the ortho appointment for Thursday the 16th. More to come, I'm sure!

Today's Friday and it's hot as hell here - literally! We'll be spending the weekend inside and in the pool. I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend. I'll write more later!

Independence Day 2009

What a great weekend! We left work around 3 on Thursday, grabbed the puppies and jumped in the motor home and car. Dennis drove the RV and the boys and I followed behind in the car. I was worried about towing the car on the sharp curves and mountain grades going up to Mingus Mountain. We encountered a few sprinkles on Fain Road, just outside of Prescott Valley. We got there around 5:45. There were a total of 6 RVs Thursday night. We stayed at the Playground area on Mingus Mountain, hosted by our friends Brandon & Jeremy. The weather was so gorgeous.

Friday we had a nice breakfast. Jeremy's mom Shane and her husband Steve came from Temecula to spend the weekend with us. Steve made bacon and pancakes, and hash browns and Ron & Bob made a nice egg casserole. It was an excellent breakfast! The rest of the day was spent hanging out, setting up the Easy Ups for our group dinners and preparing for our Friday night potluck. Barb & Karen arrived after taking the 'long' way to Mingus Mountain so there are 7 RVs there Friday night. After a nice wine and cheese happy hour hosted by Ron & Bob, we had a fantastic dinner - 2 kinds of pork, salad, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, veggies followed by apple crisp and ice cream. YUMMY!

Saturday we had a red white and blue breakfast, compliments of Jim & Greg. We had blueberry and strawberry pancakes with whipped cream and sausage. Yum! We then put together the smoker that we bought to smoke the meat that Brandon & Jeremy were making for dinner Saturday. Once that was done, Dennis and & went into Jerome with Melinda & Dorian. We wandered in and out of some of the shops there, then went to the Mile High Grill for lunch. It was fantastic! We got back to camp just in time for about 8 or 10 more sprinkles of rain. We played a little Wii bowling, then started happy hour about 4.

Saturday night's dinner was a fabulous smoked brisket, salad, corn on the cob, Parmesan bread followed by peach cobbler made on the dutch oven and homemade ice cream. NUMMY!! about 8:15, several of us headed to the campground down the road to get ready to watch the fireworks. We had 2 vehicles and 11 people going, so we had to make a couple of trips to get everyone there. We were able to see the Cottonwood fireworks from atop Mingus Mountain, which is about 7,700 feet (Cottonwood is about 3,200 feet). It was pretty cool! We also caught a glimpse of the fireworks from Flagstaff at the same time. We then shuttled everyone back to the Playground and enjoyed the fabulous fire that the 3 who stayed back had built and enjoyed.

This morning it was time to pack up to head home. We left the camp about 9. Dennis drive the motor home and was having trouble with large moths that had taken up residence in our motor home over the weekend. At one point going down the hill, he pulled over and started swatting them. In all, he encountered about 10-12 moths that somehow got into our motor home while up there. We stopped at Cordes Junction before getting on I-17 to use the dump station and put some gasoline in my car. I-17 was moving surprisingly well for Sunday of a summer holiday weekend. We got home about 11:30 and got everything unloaded. We then stopped at Safeway to fill up the motor home before taking it back to storage. After getting everything put away, we were back home by 1. We've been relaxing ever since.

The weekend was a dog weekend. We had 12 dogs at the camp. Everyone got along well. Our boys had a BLAST on Friday chasing a tennis ball with Haas and Diva. They got SOOOO dirty! We had to give them a bath Friday afternoon! They really enjoyed it! Jeremy and Brandon had their 3 dogs Daisy, Peggy and Joey. Jim & Greg had Haas and Diva. Shane & Steve brought Molly and Zeus. Melinda & Dorian brought Pat and Henry. And Ron & Bob brought Sedona. Karen and Barb left their dogs at home and enjoyed a weekend without them! But....our little lovers gave them some attention.

We hope everyone had a fantastic Independence Day weekend. We sure did. Happy Summer! I've attached a couple of pictures from the weekend. Have a great week!