Back To Work

We went back to work last Sunday after being off for week. Now we are off today, Tuesday and tomorrow. Joel and Linda worked their last day on Sunday. There was not much going on but we all managed to stay busy, somehow.

Joel and Linda took off yesterday to head back home. He emailed me to let me know that they made it home safely. They have a busy schedule for the next few months and are expected back in Branson in mid November for a doctor's appointment. Unfortunately we think that we will miss them by a day or so because we will be leaving around that time.

Our work load is going to be heavy for this coming Labor Day weekend. At last count for the whole park there are 80+ arrivals and the lodge is filling up fast. We are to have help and I am sure that all will go well, tired but well. There will be many check outs but they all don't have to be done in one day. We can spread them out for a few days.

I forgot to mention in my last post that on our vacation we went to visit Silver Dollar City.  In case you don't know, this theme park is set back in the 1880's or so having people making things from that time period. The park was very clean and lots of shops. Bri got to ride a few rides and she loved them. My expectations were not met. I am not sure what I was expecting but when we left I felt disappointed. It is more of an outside mall of different craft stores and such. We did plan to go for two days but decided not to go the second. The most expensive thing we bought was lunch. I don't mean to bad mouth the place but just giving my opinion. I think everybody should experience the place once and form your own opinion.

Onto my other subject that I opened up in my last post. Sherry and I both feel that full timing in the RV was and still is the choice for us.

For us full timing was a choice we made many years ago when we retire. It just so happened that the decision was a little earlier, like 12 years. When I lost my job back in late of 2008 Sherry was kidding around and said "The heck with it let's just sell everything and go full timing." I looked at her and said that is a possibility. We talked more about it while I was still looking for work. We were out and about one day and saw this fifth wheel and decided to take a look. We looked at it and just kept looking at it. I think that's when we both knew that this is the path we were going to go down. I cashed in my 401k and we purchased our new home. Oh it also came with a Ford pick-up to tow it with.

Here is our home a 1997 NU-WA Snowbird, 31 foot.

I don't have much more to say now so until next time have a good one.

Vacation All but Over

Today is our last day of vacation. We are still trying to get of hold of Sherry's sister but not having any luck in doing so. We might try again today to see if she is home.

A couple of days ago we went to the Springfield Zoo. It was somewhat warm but we had a good time and Bri got to see many animals. She was very animate about seeing the hippos and that was the last animal she got to see. Afterwards we drove back to Branson to have dinner.

We went to a place called Mike's Steak House. Bri got her normal cheeseburger and mom and I got steaks, of course. The waitress was very attentive and gave Bri some crayons and coloring books. She told her that if she colored real nice and ate her dinner she would put her picture on the wall for her. Bri did a good job and now her picture is hanging on the wall.

Joel and Linda's time here is coming to an end. We think that they will be leaving this upcoming Monday. They have been the most friendliest people I think I have ever met. They are very helpful and very easy to talk to. We are going to miss them very much. Hopefully we will stay in contact with them and maybe get to meet up with them in our future travels. Good luck Joel and Linda and stay safe.

Now that just leaves Sherry and I to do the housekeeping. This upcoming Labor Day weekend shows over 66 plus guests coming in. We are not sure how many of them will be renting rooms but I am sure we will stay busy. We are suppose to have help if needed but we will wait and see.

Changing gears here, I have started to plot our course for our trip to Mesa, AZ this coming November. We are headed to Mesa to have Thanksgiving with my Mother. I wanted to make sure that we did not head into the mountains so I decided to head south in New Mexico, plus I hope that we will not get any snow or ice. I am sure that we won't but you never know what might happen.

We are looking to put the trailer in storage and stay with my mom while we are there. I am going to call my bother and see if his backyard is big enough and accessible from the street. Going this route we might be able to save a few pennies.

After Thanksgiving we will be heading back to Houston to spend the holidays with the rest of the family and catch up. We are also hoping to work another fireworks stand this year. We had alot of fun doing it and made a few bucks.

If you don't mind let me change gears again.

We have met people in the past and when we tell them that we are full timing RVer's we get answers like,"That sounds like fun", "I wish I could do that", or "That's what I want to do". My question is why not?

Now I know that in this economy this type of lifestyle may not be possible for everyone or is it. In our situation when I lost my job it was only natural for us to go down this path. I am very glad that we did. The stress factor alone did it for me. No more mortgage, electric and water bills and don't even have to mow the lawn. I just wonder why more people haven't chose this type of life style. Oh well maybe more on this subject later.

Until next time have a good one.

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Here it is the third week of August and the weather has finally cooled down some. This is great because we are on vacation for this week. We have some things that we will be doing and the weather couldn't be any better.

On Sunday we went to the "Butterfly Palace". It is a rain forest type place with a bunch of butterflies. Here are a few of them.

It was a great place but kind of pricey. Thank goodness we got a discount. Towards the end Bri and the butterflies didn't seem to get along to well so we left and went to get some lunch.

Yesterday we went to a place called the "Toy Museum". This place was great. Every type of toy that you probably played with was there. I think we were there about two hours. We saw a video about a famous author, Harold Bell Wright who wrote the book called "The Shepard of the Hills" which is about the surrounding area and Branson. I bought the book and actually plan on reading it.

We have been trying to get a hold of Sherry's sister but she has not returned our calls. We plan on going to visit with her but we have no idea how to get to her place. We are going to try again and maybe go see her today.

Well that's it for today so until next time have a good one.

Close But No Cigar

A couple of days ago our son Chris called and said that he was taking his wife Lauren to the hospital. Lauren is about 7 months pregnant. She was in a lot of pain and we were worried that they may have to take the baby. They did many tests and to find out she had a bad kidney and bladder infection. The baby is fine and they released her yesterday with medication and orders to take it easy. We made arrangements with Heidi just in case we had to take off for Houston. Now that won't be necessary.


Yesterday we went in search of Sherry's parents cemetery. I was there once before over 20 some years ago and didn't remember how to get there and Sherry was not quite sure of the way either. With a little investigation work we were able to find it with no problem.

She told me that her grandparents were also buried next to her mom and dad. The name of the cemetery is "Wrights Cemetery". Just wanted to put the name in there for arguments sake. We had a very nice drive home well to WalMart and finished the day grocery shopping.

We have to go back to work today and Joel and Linda are off today and tomorrow. The weather is still hot and humid but some relief is on the way by this weekend.

I don't have anymore so until next time have a good one.

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Well here we are the end of the first week in August and the temperatures are holding true for the last month of the summer. We are hitting around the upper 90's and the humidity is right there with it. They say (the weather people) it is suppose to break next week sometime and give us some relief. We'll see!!

The life working here does have its perks. Some of the shows here invite the local area businesses to come to their show for FREE. That's right for free. A couple of nights ago we went to a show called "The Legends in Concert". It is a bunch of performers who are impersonators of famous people. So we saw Little Richard, Brittney Spears, The Blues Brothers, Michael Jackson, a young Elvis and Alan Jackson. By far Alan Jackson , we think, was the best of all. The show was about 2.5 hours long so it made a very long night, but worth it. There is another free show this coming Wednesday but is to mature for Brianne, so we will fore go that show and wait for the next one. We have been told that we can get discounted tickets with our check stub so we will look into that some day.

The work load lately has been busy but no pressure of people renting any rooms or cabins. Tomorrow we have 4 cabins to clean and will start with them first thing. Should get them cleaned before lunch. By our best guess we think there will be about 5 or 6 rooms to clean and the lodge will be empty to the best of our knowledge. Now there is the possibility of some rooms getting rented tonight but we won't know until tomorrow. Joel and Linda have been a get help. They normally take care of the main campground motel and cabins. They only had one room to do today and then they came over to the lodge to help us. They did two rooms and two cabins and then they had to go back to the main campground to finish their laundry. Sherry and I quit cleaning rooms around 3:30 today to catch up on our own laundry. We are almost done with the laundry but there is still tomorrow.

Sherry and I will need to get back with Heidi to see if we can finish up the deal for next season. I am not worried but Roger and Heidi were out of town for their daughter's graduation this past weekend. I am sure we will all get together sometime this week.

Well that seems to be it for now so I need to get Bri to bed and until next time have a good one.

Wednesday August 4th, 2010

Today is our day off as well as tomorrow. We sure can use the rest, and we can sleep in. The whole family was up around 8:00 this morning. So much for sleeping in. We received a knock on the door earlier and it was Joel bringing is famous cinnamon rolls. We have been trying to tell him that he needs to sell them and make millions. Well maybe.

I left you all hanging on the last blog about our accident with the stove top well here are the pictures of our mistake.

Needless to say we got a replacement from Camp World but it is black instead of white. While in Springfield we went to a few second hand stores, had lunch and then went to visit with Sherry's niece for awhile. Nice visit and not too far away.

The work load here has finally calm down some. Yesterday was a easy day. We cleaned one room and had 3 or 4 refreshes. We did more laundry and got that caught up and stocked the storage closets.

Later in the afternoon we went over to the main park to talk to Heidi about coming back next year. We accepted the offer but had a few questions that she will have to talk to Robert, the owner about. Once this happens then we think we can finalize the deal. We talked about starting in mid March through October. We will be leaving here in mid November and head towards Mesa Arizona for Thanksgiving with my mother. We are looking forward to that get together.

Well I don't have much more than this so until next time have a good one.