So many of you are asking us...........what are you doing that is taking so much time? And actually , we are asking ourselves the same questions.
So, here is what we did on Monday of this week..........
We started the day with our coffee, 2 cups, and reading the newspaper. We are always a day behind since we purchase the USA Today in the afternoon and read it the following day.
Barb walked to the shower house to shower and I worked on a few projects that had to be completed here in the motorhome. Had to clean the filter for the a/c............that required removing the filter cover, washing the filter and the waiting for it to dry. While doing that , I defrosted the refrigerator freezer. That involves placing hot water in the freezer and waiting until it melts the built up ice on the walls. Had to make hot water in the coffee maker to melt all of the ice build up we had. These two tasks took about an hour. Not hard work, but it does take time.
Then I did my shower/sponge bath here in the rig.
Okay, by now it is 11:00 am and we drove to Illinois to visit with my sister for a bit. We drove an hour to get there, had a short visit, drove an hour back to St. Louis.
I had a dentist appointment at 2:30 and we made it back just in time. Barb waited in the parking lot and made some phone calls.
Appointment last an hour and then we drove back to the Babler. Arrived about 4:30. We had an hour to relax.........I read my motorhome magazines and Barb played poker on the internet.
Had to leave by 5:30 to meet a friend from high school for dinner. We had a great visit and caught up on our lives and families. She is a really wonderful person. We talked until almost 8:00.
Arrived back home by 8:30, watched the news that had been taped from earlier in the day, made the coffee for the next day and were ready for bed by 10:00 pm.
We had a great day, but it was busy. We feel very fortunate and blessed that we are both healthy and happy and can enjoy whatever we are doing. We wish all of you health, happiness and peace in your lives. And hope the future brings goodness to you.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
September 20-?: St. Louis, Part 4
We are in Babler now. It was about a 45 minute drive from the Casino Queen to Babler and all went smoothly until we arrived. We made the reservation online several months ago and realized when we arrived here that we had selected the worst , unlevel site in the entire park. Our auto leveling system is great; you just press a button and all the jacks come down and level the coach. However, they will only extend a specific length, which is equivalent to one bubble from level. Welllllllllllll, this site was more than one bubble off, both from front to back and side to side. We had to drive up on boards stacked 3 high under the front tires. Everything looked good so I started the auto level. I was inside and Barb outside watching. The next thing I knew, Barb was banging on the door , yelling, "STOP"! It turns out that the levelers were going down on the concrete barrier at the back of the rv site. Whew, no broken leveler pads.
So we had to move the coach. We brought all of the levelers back up, drove off the boards, moved forward, drove the front tires back on the 3 boards and punched the levelers again. When the green light showed we were level, we thought we were finished. But noooooo, one of the rear tires was off the ground. So, we put the levelers back up, drove off the boards on the front tires, put another board under the back tire, drove up onto 3 boards under each of the front tires and one board under the rear tire, punched the auto level, and waited. Green light! Check all tires...........after one hour, finally all was level.
But we had one minor complication. In order for the front to be level , the front of our coach was so high that our steps did not even help to get inside. So now we are using a small step stool and the extra step to get in the coach. Quite a challenge but part of the fun of rv'ing. We do love it!
The sites here are lovely. Trees and grass all around us. We have always liked Babler State Park.
We will probably be here for about a week. Our original reservation was for two weeks but we want to be in Sedona, AZ by the middle of October. Our leaving time is flexible. We had hoped to leave by Sept. 25 but still have too many things left to do.
Hopefully we will be finished with returns. Yes, we have taken a few days out to go shopping. We purchased shoes for me, Barb and Elsie. And new containers and organizers for the motorhome. And other stuff. So we have returns to do and then go back to the condo and clean it for the next visit.
We also have some socializing planned. Of course , we will spend time with Elsie. Tomorrow my cousins and Aunt Edna are coming for brunch. We also have some plans with friends.
I think we will be leaving no later than Friday, 9/28. And then we head to Sedona with stops in El Reno, OK and Albuquerque/Santa Fe.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
So we had to move the coach. We brought all of the levelers back up, drove off the boards, moved forward, drove the front tires back on the 3 boards and punched the levelers again. When the green light showed we were level, we thought we were finished. But noooooo, one of the rear tires was off the ground. So, we put the levelers back up, drove off the boards on the front tires, put another board under the back tire, drove up onto 3 boards under each of the front tires and one board under the rear tire, punched the auto level, and waited. Green light! Check all tires...........after one hour, finally all was level.
But we had one minor complication. In order for the front to be level , the front of our coach was so high that our steps did not even help to get inside. So now we are using a small step stool and the extra step to get in the coach. Quite a challenge but part of the fun of rv'ing. We do love it!
The sites here are lovely. Trees and grass all around us. We have always liked Babler State Park.
We will probably be here for about a week. Our original reservation was for two weeks but we want to be in Sedona, AZ by the middle of October. Our leaving time is flexible. We had hoped to leave by Sept. 25 but still have too many things left to do.
Hopefully we will be finished with returns. Yes, we have taken a few days out to go shopping. We purchased shoes for me, Barb and Elsie. And new containers and organizers for the motorhome. And other stuff. So we have returns to do and then go back to the condo and clean it for the next visit.
We also have some socializing planned. Of course , we will spend time with Elsie. Tomorrow my cousins and Aunt Edna are coming for brunch. We also have some plans with friends.
I think we will be leaving no later than Friday, 9/28. And then we head to Sedona with stops in El Reno, OK and Albuquerque/Santa Fe.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
September 5-20: St. Louis, Part 3
Our two weeks at the Casino Queen RV Park we busy, busy, busy. The park is a quick 15 minute drive to the condo and we went there every day in the morning, worked on going through all of our clothes in the closets to see what to give away. It took us days since, of couse, had to try on all of the clothes. Then we worked on the book cases to see what books...recipe books, picture books, novels........ and what VCR movies, that we did not want to keep. Everything went.
We then started on going through our albums. We spent one afternoon dismantling one album. It was one of our trips to Custer. We pulled out about 25 pictures of buffalo and antelopes that we did not need and kept the rest. We also kept some of the postcards and small blurbs that we attached to the pictures. When we were finished, we looked at each other and realized we had dismantled our entire trip and there was no way to reproduce it the way it was in the album. So the next day, we put the pictures, blurbs, and postcards back in the album. We did leave out many of the buffalo pictures. I probably have 200+ buffalo pictures from all of our other trips.
So after these busy two weeks, we returned to Babler.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
We then started on going through our albums. We spent one afternoon dismantling one album. It was one of our trips to Custer. We pulled out about 25 pictures of buffalo and antelopes that we did not need and kept the rest. We also kept some of the postcards and small blurbs that we attached to the pictures. When we were finished, we looked at each other and realized we had dismantled our entire trip and there was no way to reproduce it the way it was in the album. So the next day, we put the pictures, blurbs, and postcards back in the album. We did leave out many of the buffalo pictures. I probably have 200+ buffalo pictures from all of our other trips.
So after these busy two weeks, we returned to Babler.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
August 21-September 5: St. Louis, Part 2
Our stay in Robertsville was eventful and productive. 
As you can see by the picture, the campsites were very dense with trees and shrubs. Our biggest challenge was to back into the site since the road was narrow with a drop off on both sides of the campsite and on the other side of the road. We had to do a lot of manuevering to get into the site but we did it! When we accomplish feats like this, we just think we are so great. So we congratulated ourselves many times.
As you can see by the picture, the campsites were very dense with trees and shrubs. Our biggest challenge was to back into the site since the road was narrow with a drop off on both sides of the campsite and on the other side of the road. We had to do a lot of manuevering to get into the site but we did it! When we accomplish feats like this, we just think we are so great. So we congratulated ourselves many times. We moved to Babler State Park after two weeks at Robertsville. This put us close to Barb's mom which gave us an opportunity to spend time with her. We took her out to dinner several times to one of her favorite restuarants, the Country Buffet. She really does love their fried chicken. In addition, Barb would go visit her during the days while I stayed at the motorhome and worked on projects. In fact, one day I washed the entire motorhome............WOW!!!
We also spent much of this time going to doctors for our regular yearly checkups. Not fun but definitely necessary. We both received positive evaluations on all visits. Thankfully we are very healthy.
In addition, we had out of town company. First my brother from New York came to visit for 4 days. We were very busy with him going through family photos and possessions. We shipped much of the crystal and serving platters that I had from my parents to Larry. And we reviewed all of the albums from my parents youth and our youth and decided what to do with them. It is hard to believe but it took us two days to do all of this. But we felt like we had really accomplished alot. We also took time to visit with cousins who had us over for dinner. It was a great evening. Larry is fun to visit with and we were really glad to see him.
The day Larry left, Barb's cousins flew in to visit. We dropped Larry off at the airport in the morning and then picked Sue and Deb up in the afternoon. They stayed at one of the rental houses that is located at the retirement center where Elsie lives. We had dinner with Elsie at her dining room one evening and then brought her to the house for dinner the next evening.
One of our outings with them was to go to wine country. 
We tasted all of the wines and then purchased a bottle to share on the deck. As we overlooked the Missouri River valley, we sipped the wine, laughed and talked and had a great afternoon.
We tasted all of the wines and then purchased a bottle to share on the deck. As we overlooked the Missouri River valley, we sipped the wine, laughed and talked and had a great afternoon.During one of the afternoons we went to the St. Louis Air Show. This is a annual event that 
always occurs over the Labor Day weekend. And the location of the air show was close to Babler. We had never been to an airshow and it was a very exciting experience.
always occurs over the Labor Day weekend. And the location of the air show was close to Babler. We had never been to an airshow and it was a very exciting experience.
I took these photos with my Sony camera. It is a digital with a zoom that is comparable to 435mm that allowed me to zoom in close to these Blue Angel planes. In case you did not realize, these planes were flying at several hundred mph and I was able to track them with the camera and lock in on them without blur. I am so thrilled!!
After Deb and Sue left, we took several days to relax and visit Elsie. Our two week limit at Babler was over and so we had to move on to the Casino Queen in East St. Louis , IL.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
Monday, September 10, 2007
August 8-18: St. Louis, part 1
We left Custer August 1 and spent 9 days driving to St. Louis. We will stay here until the end of September, around the 25th.
Our time here has been very busy with projects downsizing at the small condo, visiting with Barb's mom, Elsie, visiting with out of town guests including Linda's brother, Larry, and Barb's cousins, Sue and Deb, and seeing friends from St. Louis. In addition, we have had to move RV sites every 2 weeks since the state parks have a two week limit. So let me see if I can summarize our time here.
August 8-11: We arrived in St. Louis and set up at the St. Charles , MO Rv park called Sundermeyers. It is very close to where Elsie lives. We do not stay there normally because the daily rate is about 2-3 times the rate of the state parks. But this time we decided to stay there for three days because Linda flew out of St. Louis to Las Vegas to celebrate her oldest daughter's, Susan, 40th birthday. Susan planned her birthday celebration to meet 4 of her girlfriends in Vegas and spend the weekend together. It was to be a girls only weekend. Linda flew in a day early and spent the day with Susan and Robyn. It was the first time that the three of them had been together in over three years. They had a great time visiting. While Linda was gone, Barb spent the 3 days with Elsie. Linda returned on the 11th and they moved to Robertsville State Park, about 45 minutes outside of St. Louis
August 12-18: This was project week. We actually packed out suitcases and moved into the condo for 4 days. While there, we started the downsizing project. Our plan is to sell the condo in about 2 years but want to have it almost empty now so that we will not have work to do when we are ready to sell. I did not realize how much stuff we still had; Barb had been telling me that we had a lot but I did not believe her. Now I know. It took us the four days to just work on the storage locker that is in the basement. It is a small room that we had filled from floor to ceiling. There was a portable closet with clothes and shelves lining all walls with tools, supplies, cords, boxes of pictures, files, etc. We took all of the clothes, tools, etc. to the Indepencence Center as a donation. And then we started on the files and old pictures from my childhood and Barb's. It took us those four days and more to finish with the storage locker. I shredded all the files that were before the year 2000 and hope that I will not need them! The plan with the pictures is to scan them to a DVD.
We felt very good about our accomplishments and will start on the condo itself later in the month.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
Our time here has been very busy with projects downsizing at the small condo, visiting with Barb's mom, Elsie, visiting with out of town guests including Linda's brother, Larry, and Barb's cousins, Sue and Deb, and seeing friends from St. Louis. In addition, we have had to move RV sites every 2 weeks since the state parks have a two week limit. So let me see if I can summarize our time here.
August 8-11: We arrived in St. Louis and set up at the St. Charles , MO Rv park called Sundermeyers. It is very close to where Elsie lives. We do not stay there normally because the daily rate is about 2-3 times the rate of the state parks. But this time we decided to stay there for three days because Linda flew out of St. Louis to Las Vegas to celebrate her oldest daughter's, Susan, 40th birthday. Susan planned her birthday celebration to meet 4 of her girlfriends in Vegas and spend the weekend together. It was to be a girls only weekend. Linda flew in a day early and spent the day with Susan and Robyn. It was the first time that the three of them had been together in over three years. They had a great time visiting. While Linda was gone, Barb spent the 3 days with Elsie. Linda returned on the 11th and they moved to Robertsville State Park, about 45 minutes outside of St. Louis
August 12-18: This was project week. We actually packed out suitcases and moved into the condo for 4 days. While there, we started the downsizing project. Our plan is to sell the condo in about 2 years but want to have it almost empty now so that we will not have work to do when we are ready to sell. I did not realize how much stuff we still had; Barb had been telling me that we had a lot but I did not believe her. Now I know. It took us the four days to just work on the storage locker that is in the basement. It is a small room that we had filled from floor to ceiling. There was a portable closet with clothes and shelves lining all walls with tools, supplies, cords, boxes of pictures, files, etc. We took all of the clothes, tools, etc. to the Indepencence Center as a donation. And then we started on the files and old pictures from my childhood and Barb's. It took us those four days and more to finish with the storage locker. I shredded all the files that were before the year 2000 and hope that I will not need them! The plan with the pictures is to scan them to a DVD.
We felt very good about our accomplishments and will start on the condo itself later in the month.
Love and hugs,
Linda and Barb
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