Home Safely and Our New Baby

We left for home a few days earlier than planned and we arrived late Saturday afternoon on April 11th over Easter weekend. We stayed overnight at 4 places on the way: Brunswick, Georgia at a Flying J; Rocky Mountain, North Carolina at a KOA; Chester, Virginia at the Pocohantas State Park; and in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania (Mile 100) at a KOA. One thing about the Flying J's - you can be sure there will tons of truck noises all night long! One thing about the KOA's, it's like going to McDonald's - you know what you're going to get!

The best overnight of the trip home was our visit and dinner in Virginia with Jeanie and Coleman Grandstaff. They are Virginians at heart and our friends through Jimmy and Amanda, John's son and daughter-in-law. We had a great time with them - for the short time we had, we laughed a lot and got caught up since their visit last summer to the 1000 Islands. We also got to see Nika, Jimmy and Amanda's dog, who has been living with Jeanie and Coleman since Jimmy and Amanda moved to the Caribbean a few years ago.

Once we arrived home in Kingston, we began the process of unloading the RV, sorting things into the garage and gradually re-integrating everything into the house. I cleaned the bus from top to bottom, inside and out and took special care to ensure all the road dirt was removed - I might add this is a tough job! A rough summary of our travels (as per Map Quest) are:

a) Kingston thru TN to TX - 3500 km;
b) TX thru LA to FL - another 2700 km; and
c) FL to VA and home - another 2300 km.

So, the grand total in the Vectra on this trip was around 8500 km or 5,300 miles! and that doesn't account for any mileage in the Jeep, our tow vehicle!

Ou travels have been in a 1994 35' Winnebago Vectra with a 275 Cummins diesel motor on a Spartan chassis. For an older bus, it has been great to us over the past two years - very reliable. It took us to Martha's Vineyard, Prince Edward Island and Florida in the first year or so and from Texas to Florida on this last trip. So, last week, we treated her right and shined her up beautifully for her next set of adventures... and last Saturday, a week after arriving home, we drove her to our local RV Centre, gently parked her in the storage lot and patted her bumper good-bye.

We then boarded our new bus and drove her home! We replaced the Vectra with a 2005 42' Gulfstream Crescendo. It also has a Cummins diesel motor but this time a 400 Cummins on a Freightliner chassis. This bus has 4 slide-outs (2 in the general living area and 2 in the bedroom) - we had no slides on the Vectra. It promises to offer us a lot more room for extended travel. We are sooooooooo excited about it and we may even sleep in it in our driveway this weekend! We did that in the Vectra when we first got her - like 2 kids, eh?

Here is a pic of the new bus sitting beside our garage:


Johnnie and I look forward to many new and memorable adventures. We hope you'll continue to come along with us!

Now, it may be several weeks before I get back to the blog - don't forget to tune in once in awhile though. We do not plan to be "Asleep for the Summer" like we were last year. We will need to do a few short practice runs with the new bus in prep for our longer excursion this fall. Anyway, have a good couple of weeks and I should be back to you mid-May... m.

Six Bathing Beauties and our Cabana-Boy

We spent the last 3 weeks in Largo, Florida. Largo is in the middle of the tri-city triangle - Clearwater, Tampa and St. Petersburg. The weather was fab and the sand on the Gulf Coast is always like baby powder. On many days, we got ourselves positioned early in the afternoon at a place called Caddy's - a place on the Treasure Island beach that offers an absolutely excellent spot to pass the day. Their home-made margaritas are top-notch and the meals terrific. And, without question, spring break adds to the panoramic view! DE-lightful!

Similar to last year, we had a great time visiting with our friends Steve and Linda from Ottawa. They stay in a 'manufactured home' community not far from our RV park. We both had visitors here and there over the 3 weeks. Steve and Linda had 2 sets - Linda's sister and bro-in-law, followed by two cousins. John's daughter Bonnie came to stay with us for 10 days. Together, we enjoyed the weather, the shopping and the restaurants! The water temp was perfect - especially for those of us who come from Northern Ontario (no comparison to Lake Superior temps)!

Here are the 6 Bathing Beauties:

1. Carol, Milan and Linda (can it get any better?)

2. Michelle (nice pendant and necklace!)

3. Beva (great hat!)

4. Bonnie (out for an evening stroll)


And here's our Cabana-Boy:
1. Before:

2. and After:


We are heading home this week and hope to be back over the Easter weekend. Happy Egg Hunting and Bunny-hopping! We'll catch up once we get back to 1120... m.