Florida

The past 2 weeks have been a blur. Some notable things have passed, the least of which was my 63rd birthday, August 22nd. We were in a rental car heading for Jacksonville, Florida for my 6 month prostate cancer check up. No cake, no candles, and that's ok. We did celebrate with a late dinner at a Bob Evans in Paducah KY...and a totally unecessary strawberry shortcake. We really like Bob Evans--it's kind of like home cooking (I had their pot roast, Ellen had their fantastic chicken pot pie).

The check up went fine--my PSA has continued to drop, now it is at .6, down from a high of 4.3 and a 1.0 at the 3 month mark. I've gained some pounds (thanks Bob Evans), but my blood pressure, which had been kind of high, was much much better. So good news is great to get. The Proton Institute seemed so different from when we left in February. Missing of course were all the folks we got to know during my treatments. Our nurse and doctor were there, but past that, only a few staff were recognized. One of my favorite techs, Kim from Yulee FL, came up and talked with us for several minutes. That was nice.

We are now in a beautiful condo/timeshare on Daytona Beach. We decided to make the trip a little more worthwhile with a mini vacation. Very very nice to spend a couple of days on the beach!

National Eagle Center

Well, this is not the latest adventure for us, but I am trying to catch up!  

We were RVing at Treasure Island Casino, and having daughter Erin's family staying at the Casino Hotel.  We all drove down the Mississippi River to Wabasha, the home of the National Eagle Center.  What a great place to visit!

Harriet and her handler

There were plenty of exhibits and hands on activities for the kids, free binoculars and sighting telescopes, an observation deck, and eagles!  They have 5 'reclaimed' birds that through accident or whatever are unable to fly.  We saw a great program where the docent explained about the birds of prey, while handling Harriet a beautiful golden eagle.  Harriet was then fed...a few mice, chunks of fish...yum.  It was awesome to see how Harriet used her talons to hold and rip apart the food.

The center is located here because the confluence of the Chippewa and Mississippi Rivers cause turbulent waters that prevents the river from freezing in the winter...so there are lots and lots of eagles that gather here at that time, but not any to see this summer day.

It was a great afternoon, seeing these regal birds, the river and the scenery.  We drove back to Red Wing on the Wisconsin side, having a picnic at Pepin's City Park.

Everybody but Ellen on the observation deck

Our Anniversary

Wow, two posts in one day!!!!!!

I realized after I posted earlier that this day marks our 2nd anniversary of full timing!  Two full years of living in less than 400 square feet.  Two full years of going where we want to (mostly) and when we want to (mostly).  There have been some places we HAD to go (Jacksonville for cancer treatment, and some service centers to get things fixed)...and that goes hand in hand with not really choosing WHEN we went.

But all in all, it has been an awesome journey, allowing us to see so many historic and interesting and beautiful places. This is an amazing way to see the U.S., and we are so fortunate to have been able to do so. I hope to continue this blog to share some of the places we travel to.

We also have met so many neat people from all over America and Canada, keeping in touch with a lot of them, and making plans to reconnect with them down the road.  

We also have been able to keep in touch with our Iowa friends, as we swing through Iowa and Minnesota to visit our 3 daughters' families, although the toughest thing is not seeing the grandchildren as much as we'd like. 

One of the more interesting developments has been the necessity of yours truly to learn about this house on wheels and how to keep things working.  I am also working on how to (try and) fix them when things break or malfunction.  I am not yet a qualified RV Technician, but I sure am more savvy than I used to be.  There is tons yet to learn.

Hopefully we can continue this lifestyle for quite some time.  We have survived horrendous fuel prices, some very nasty weather, inability to get satellite tv, some problems caused by operator error (that's me)....... but my greatest achievement was tolerating the neighbor's dog barking all day while they were gone.

Wish us Luck

We are flirting with disaster.  We're staying at a casino RV park for well over a week.  We are just north of Red Wing Minnesota, at Treasure island Resort and Casino (and rv park...they don't have that on the big sign).

So far so good.  I am down $40 and Ellen is UP $40!  I was doing pretty ok until I had a fling at the Texas Hold'em table.  I had too many teasing hands...just had to stay in and see the flop...then I just HAD to see the turn...then I was committed to see the river.  I just hope her luck continues.  We are definitely not high stakes gamblers as you can tell.

This area is beautiful, with lots of bluffs and hills, and of course, the Mississippi River.  The casino is pretty big, and just what you would expect a casino to be.  Erin's family is going to come up Monday for a few days, and that will be great.

I had quite a long spell with no blog entries, so starting next time I hope to post some pictures and info from the past months.

Here's Ellen when we were in Nashville, with the King and then at the Grand Ol Opry.