Checking In

We arrived in New Orleans yesterday afternoon. Our trip has been good and we haven't had any trouble other than slowdowns on the freeway for various reasons.
We were out of the snow by the time we got to Louisville, Kentucky. Traveling on I-65 was good until we hit the mountains north of Nashville. They had an ice storm there and traffic was stopped in several places due to accidents. Slow going, but we made it through. We spent our second night south of Nashville on the Natchez Trace Parkway. We had a free campground with nice facilities although no showers. When we arrived at camp it was a balmy 36 degrees, but cooled down to about 28 overnight. We were warm in the camper with the heater going and our covers piled high on the bed.
We spent the third night in a state park south of Jackson, Mississippi. The weather by this time was 62 and sunny. We spent a much more comfortable night before driving to New Orleans on Sunday.

We met up with Bill and Barb Wright at Bayou Signette State Park, just outside the city. Temps here are in the seventies. We finally found warmth! We spent the evening in town walking on Bourbon Street and taking in the music, the ambiance and the party mood of the beginning of Mardi Gras.

We will spend the next few days exploring this area. They are preparing for a busy time here with the Super Bowl coming up on February 3, then Mardi Gras continuing until Ash Wednesday.

We're off to a great start!!

Today was the first day of our winter vacation. Let me tell you a little bit about it.
We spent yesterday dropping our cat off in Traverse City with Stan who was kind enough to offer to watch him for us so we don't have to lug him all over the country and share the trailer with him and his litter box. I was also wondering if he would ever get used to wearing a leash!
Then we went to visit with Nancy's folks in Leland and had a great dinner with them. Needless to say not much packing took place that day, although we did manage to get our taxes done and ready to submit and we filled out the form for mail forwarding.
(In all honesty, we did do quite a bit of packing and preparation on Monday and Tuesday).
After not getting much sleep last night worrying about the roads and all that we had to do, we got up this morning and started going through the motions of packing and getting ready to go. I first cleaned out the fireplace and built a fire pile ready to light for Laura and Sean when they get here in February. Nancy cleaned our bedroom and bathroom and got the bathroom stuff ready to go.Then, I poured a cup of coffee and took a couple of swallows. Nancy put sheets in the laundry to wash. Next, I put on my coveralls and snowblow(ed?) the driveway. I put out the mail and the notice to forward mail to Leland, then went back inside to have breakfast. After eating I pulled out the stepladder and swept snow off of the camper. When I tried to pull the tarp off I found that it was frozen to the top of the camper and wouldn't come loose. Luckily I have a hot water faucet in the garage so I hooked up the hose and tackled the tarp with hot water. After about fifteen minutes I had the thing loose and on the ground! Next was getting the bikes packed and tools and stuff packed in the truck.
Back indoors we got the last of the clothes packed and then when Nancy was done cleaning the house and refrigerator we started hauling the rest of our vacation goods out to the trailer. Nancy took up her position in the camper squirrelling things into any available nook or cranny, and I kept taking things from the house to challenge her skills. After I made  the tenth and last trip, (this included emptying the refrigerator and freezer), we were well on our way to being packed.
Here's a math problem for everyone; how many 25 cubic foot refrigerator freezers will fit into a four cubic foot camper refrigerator freezer? (No fair looking up the answer, just don't open the door too fast or you might get caught in an avalanche) !!
While Nancy finished loading the sardine can, I hooked up the camper to the truck and we were ready to roll. But first we had to go in and shut off power to the appliances and turn the water off and open all the faucets and flush toilets. We turned the heat down to 55 and put some antifreeze in all the toilets. Hopefully we can get through the winter without freezing up!.
Finally at about 1:30 we hit the road. I should say we hit the snow because that's all we saw for the first hour and a half of our trip. The roads were a mess and snow and ice was the rue of the day. I skidded through a couple of our turns and did manage to climb hills with the trusty four wheel drive. We didn't see any pavement until we hit M-115 south of Lake Ann about an hour and a half into our journey. We drove in slush and sandy slush for the next forty miles until we got to US 131 in Cadillac and finally found dry pavement.
We finally had smooth sailing all the way to Indianapolis, and we arrived at our hotel at 10:30! We had bowls of soup for dinner and sat and watched TV. We wondered why the late show with David Letterman came on so early. (Oh, I guess it is 11:30 AFTER ALL)!!

Well I hope the rest of our vacation gets better as we go. Tomorrow we are hoping to be in slightly warmer weather as we will be camping. Tonight we are spending the 18 degree night at a Hampton Inn.

Safe travels to all!

BRRRRR.. Old Man Winter is Here!

We are getting our coldest weather of the season this week. Calling for a high of just 7 degrees on Tuesday. Just in time for our retreat to the warmer climes!

We had a good time this weekend with our friends from Houghton Lake who came for an overnight visit on Saturday. We took a ride to the Sleeping Bear park Headquarters and then to Leland to visit with the Goodfallows.

This week we are packing the trailer to get on our way to New Orleans. Barb Wright made reservations for us for Sunday night as the campgrounds are filling up fast in anticipation of Super Bowl Weekend on Sunday Feb 3. Thanks, Barb for watching out for us!!

Hope everyone is well and keeping warm.

Is This Like Florida?

Sugar white sand beaches and warm temperatures?? Wait a minute! That's not sugar white sand. It's SNOW!!

See what happens when your mind gets frozen and the sun doesn't shine!

Anyway, we went for a ride today to see some winter scenery, but before we got very far north of Traverse City it started snowing and then it started REALLY SNOWING!! Pretty soon it was a blizzard and then almost whiteout conditions. Needless to say we cut our sightseeing off and turned around. We went back to T.C. where it was a little less snowy and went in to the Grand Traverse Pie Company downtown and had lunch and a great piece of pie. That beat fighting the roads any day!!

Before we went home we took a hike on the trail out of Glen Arbor and enjoyed the winter landscape. Hope you do too.

A view across Sleeping Bear Bay towards Glen Haven and the Sand Dunes. Notice the sugar white sand on the beach!!

South Manitou Island

Toward Glen Arbor and Homestead Resort across the water.

 

 

The Heritage Trail in winter.

Another Monday Morning

We had a very nice weekend with the kids at Mt Pleasant's Soaring Eagle waterpark. The grandkids had a ball playing in all of the pools and waterslides. It's amazing how much they all love the water! This week we are beginnng to prep and pack for our road trip. We have a few things to get done before we leave and hope to get them done this week. We are looking forward to getting away to some warmer weather and exploring new states. Hope everyone is doing well.

Natalie smiling for Grampa. 

 

Why is Hannah always hamming it up??

 

Nolan enjoying Soaring Eagle Water Park

 

Jenny, Sean and Kara

 

Kate and her smile.

 

Sunday we were hiking in what was left of the snow.

 

A Quiet Weekend

We had a quiet weekend this week since our company called to cancel due to colds. We are also fighting off colds, although mine has gotten the better of me. We are trying to get healthy for the water park adventure in Mt. Pleasant next weekend.
We did some hiking yesterday at the Heritage trail between Glen Arbor and Glen Haven. There is a good base for cross country skiing, but we need some more snow to make grooming the trail possible.
There were a few people out giving it a try.
Later in the day we went downtown to Traverse City to the State Theatre to see "Lincoln" the movie. This was my first time in the theatre and I was really impressed at the size and elegance of the venue. The movie was beautifully done and the acting superb. Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones among others. Directed by Steven Spielberg. It was a perfect movie to see on the big screen!

Back to the Routine!

We spent the New Years Holidays in southern Michigan and want to thank Rick and Jan Bolling for hosting us for New Year's Eve. We have spent quite a few years ringing in the new year with them since we lived next door to one another on Waschull! We also got to spend a night with Laura and Sean and the kids and one night with the Bozins.
We got back to Wheeler Road on Thursday.
Now we are planning for our winter road trip and also preparing for a winter weekend at the Soaring Eagle Waterpark!
Winter is in full swing in Glen Arbor, with about eight inches of snow on the ground and lake effect snow coming steadily. We still see a little added traffic after the busy holiday week up here.
I haven't had time to take any new pictures since we got back, but the sun is shining and I need to get outside.

Hope everyone is well. Lots of colds and flu going around!