Trailer parked and ready to go, again

While we were gone I paid the neighbor, Wes, to use his ample skills as a tree cutter to clear a spot for our new trailer next to the house.

There had to be some tree and bush trimming, but by doing so I gained about 10-feet more next to the garage, which allows me to park the trailer completely on the concrete parking pad next to the garage.

The neighbor did a nice job and I deftly backed the trailer into its new spot. See photo attached. If you look close you can see some of the work done on the tree.

Our Michigan home looks like Kentucky

Right now, our Lapeer, Michigan home looks more like some of the back roads Kentucky places we saw a couple weeks ago.

With a crazy male Robin going nuts attacking our windows after he sees his own reflection, we had to resort to pinning up an old sheet over the window to discourage the behavior.

When the bird moved to the next large window we purchased a $14 plastic owl to sit in front of the window, which seems to have done the trick. No attacks in almost three days.

When the rains came early this week we discovered our brand new roof (December) has a serious leak over our bedroom. The roofer is coming out (soon, we hope) to fix the problem, but in the meantime I have a 20-foot by 30-foot blue tarp weighted down on the roof to keep more water from flowing into the room.
So with the old sheet over one window and a big blue tarp on the roof, we pretty much look like the old shanties we saw on our trip.

We believe what happens in Kentucky, should stay in Kentucky. I've enclosed a few photos to let you see what we look like right now.

Trip one in the books, time to plan for trip 2 and 3

OK, so where to next?

I've begun planning a couple trips. A short one for the summer to a nearby State Park and a big one for next winter.

The short trip will involve about an hour drive to Lake Huron and a nice lake side park we heard about there.

The big trip will be a 5-6 week affair that will take us south through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona (Grand Canyon), California (visit our sons and granddaughter, cousin and friends) and then home.

As I get the big route more defined I'll post it and would appreciate any tips, good RV parks or other information that anyone may have about the route.

This will be Joan's first trip to New Mexico and Arizona. I've been to both several times, but truly love the desert southwest.

As Steve McQueen once said: "I'd rather wake up in the middle of nowhere, than any city on earth."

Getting home is not half the fun

Back in the day when my father was a general aviation pilot he mainly flew out of San Carlos Airport in San Carlos, California. The airport had a north-south runway with an almost constant east-west cross wind.

Most of the landings he/we made at that airport involved "crabbing" into the wind, which is basically flying sideways into the wind until just before landing when you straighten out and put the plane down.

My Dad used to say he might have trouble completing a landing if he didn't have a cross wind. Now I get his point.

On all three days I pulled our new trailer we were on a north south road (I-75) with a brisk to fierce cross wind (25-35 mph). I'm not going to know how to pull the trailer if we're not bucking a stiff cross wind. It did make for some anxious moments, but I guess it is good experience.

In Ohio, I stopped for gas and found myself in a gas station way too small for a rig as large as mine. There were more anxious moments as I blocked the driveway waiting for the guy in front of me to finish gassing up. Didn't make many friends there.

After pulling out of the station I used a large lot to turn around in and later noticed a sign that said: "No RV or truck turnaround." Sorry.

We've learned that truck stops are the best place to gas up when we have the trailer attached.

Because the refrigerator runs on propane while we are pulling it, before we pull up to the pumps we have to go back into the trailer and turn off the refrigerator so there isn't an open flame next to the gas pump.

The pulling, because of the wind, was somewhat more difficult than I anticipated, but the comfort and convenience of pulling our own bedroom was well worth the effort.

Once home, we had to deal with heavy traffic on our street as I backed the trailer into the driveway. After a couple false starts (due to traffic) I was able to safely pull the trailer into its new spot next to the garage.

I'll post some statistics later on the miles and locations covered on this trip. Happy Easter everyone!

Here are the totals:

Miles on the trailer: 918
Miles on the Tahoe: 1,298
Campsites visited: 2 (Oh KY Campground in Berea and Elkhorn Campground in Frankfort, KY)
Memories: Priceless

Home safe!

We are home safe. It was pretty windy all the way home which kind of nagged on my nerves, but we are here safe and sound. I'll write more later.

A day of rest and Daniel Boone's grave, maybe

The weather turned wet today so we altered our plans a little and just did a little sightseeing.

One of the sights we saw was Daniel Boone's gravesite in the Frankfort Cemetery. The gravesite has an historical marker indicating that both Daniel Boone and his wife, Rebecca, are buried on the hill overlooking the Kentucky capitol.

But then one has to ask: Who is buried in the Daniel Boone grave in Defiance, Missouri.

There is no dispute that Daniel Boone died in Missouri and was initially buried there. But the folks here in Kentucky will tell you (at least their signs will) that both Daniel and Rebecca were dug up from the Missouri grave 25 years after Daniel's death and moved back to Frankfort.

The folks in Missouri will tell you that the joke is on Frankfort and that they actually dug up the wrong body and the question of who is buried in Boone's tomb is a mystery.

While at the Frankfort Cemetery I saw another monument to Presley O'Bannon and recognized the name from a ship that was also in our task force during my time in Vietnam. So I snapped a photo and you can read that information here.

You can read the controversy here. The rest of the day was spent driving around the countryside and enjoying the scenery, even through the rain. We also spent some time in study, it is Good Friday after all.

Tomorrow is going home day. So soon the vacation ends. Joan and I wish all of you a blessed Easter.

"And they're off" to the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, Kentucky

Today was all about horses again. This time we visited Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville. It was less than an hour drive from where we are staying in Frankfort and the weather was spectacular.

We also learned today that our OnStar system is not as perfect as we thought. We arrived in good order, but the trip home was, well, difficult. We’ll get to that later.

We arrived at the Kentucky Derby Museum about 12:30 p.m., which turned out to be darned near perfect timing as we basically walked into the 360-degree movie presentation of “The Greatest Race.”

Immediately after the movie, about 1:30 p.m. there was a walking tour of the Kentucky Derby paddock area, the grandstands and along the famous track. After that we had two hours to tour the museum and take in the many exhibits there.

I passed on getting on the jockey scale to see if I could “make the weight” for a race as I was afraid of being thrown out of the museum for breaking it. There were films of every Derby race in the modern era and many other interesting tidbits and facts about raising and racing horses.

About 2:30 p.m. we had a case of the “hungrys” so we went to the Museum café where we had a great Chef’s Salad and Joan sampled a “Mint Julep” in a commemorative glass for $10. Seemed a little pricy, but we were assured the cost is the same on Derby day.

Also got a "look" at the new Barbaro exhibit that will be unveiled in a couple weeks in time for the Kentucky Derby. Barbaro, if you recall, is the horse that broke its leg a couple weeks after winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby. The horse is (or will be) buried under the monument, which at this time is still under wraps (photo).

Other photos included here are photos of the famous twin spires, a photo of Joan by the model of last year's winner - Big Brown - and painting a preparations at the Winner's Circle for the 2009 race.

The museum, movie and tour were well worth the $11 admission price (senior discount) and well worth the time.

So at 4:30 p.m. we dialed up OnStar and asked them to give us a route home. When we came to one of the spots where we were supposed to turn, traffic was so heavy we could not change lanes to get to the turnoff and so we re-dialed OnStar for an alternative route.

We were told the computer would not provide one, but the OnStar representative tried to talk us through a new route, but every time he would give us new directions we had already passed the turn he was suggesting.

Having been through this area five times during my trips to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, I told the OnStar guy, “thanks, but no thanks,” and decided to wing it on my own. I used my Navy sense of directions to find an alternate route back to I-64 and we arrived back at the trailer about 6:05 p.m.

We took a leisurely walk around the RV park and admired all the beautiful rigs to see how the other half lives on the road. We’ve learned a lot on this first trip and hopefully we will apply that to our longer adventures in the future.

The bathrooms and showers at this facility are far superior to our first camp and one of the things we have learned is that the web site pictures of a RV park can be a little deceptive. Except for the costs of sightseeing and gas, by eating in for breakfast and dinner our costs are not much more than at home.

On the way back from Louisville I spotted another one of those “Owl” restaurants, but Joan is convinced that the restaurant name – Hooters – has nothing to do with the bird.

Earlier this evening we heard a couple of competing woodpeckers in a tree near our trailer, but never actually got a glimpse of them.

Tomorrow there may be a casino in our travels and a stop at Daniel Boone’s “alleged” Kentucky grave. I’ll explain more tomorrow.

Sadly, the vacation comes to an end Saturday when it’s time to head home. We’re coming home a day early for a couple reasons. First and foremost we want to be with our church family for Easter Sunday service, but we also believe the traffic will be a little lighter on Saturday, which will be less hectic on the driver – me.

So far ever time we’ve moved the trailer the wind has been blowing at gale force, which has not helped in making the driving pleasant.

You can now leave comments

Due to my own error, I made it very difficult to leave comments on the blog. I have fixed the filter and you may now leave your comments anonymously. You will still have to fill out the little box with the funny letters to keep me from being spammed.

A couple of you said you tried to leave comments and I'm sorry I had the filter set too aggressively.

From Berea to Frankfort: 90 minutes, no anxiety and two small bandages

So today was moving day. That is moving from Berea to Frankfort, Kentucky and a chance to practice our breaking camp and setting up camp skills again.

We stayed at Elkhorn Campground.

Today went much better than our departure from Lapeer. No chain saws, no need for Greg to come take a look at the hitch and far less anxiety in both the set up and driving. I did however manage to rip open my left pinkie finger, bleeding profusely and a few bad words snuck out.

Next I cut my left index finger knuckle – more bleeding – and then I twisted my left middle finger so that it is an ugly shade of purple, but all digits still work and the wounds inflicted were all my fault. Can’t blame Joan, can’t blame the trailer, can’t even blame the weather. It was beautiful today.

We left the “Oh KY Campground” at 11:50 a.m. and made the 90-minute drive with no problems.

We arrived at our new campground and found our space quickly and were on line by 2:30 p.m. It’s a beautiful tree-lined park and we are very happy to be settled here for a few days. Again, the people here in Kentucky could not be more helpful.

There was one small glitch. I have a 25-foot water hose on board, but the distance from the trailer’s water spigot to the park spigot was 27-feet. So I had to make a quick trip to Sear’s to buy a 10-foot hose extension, but that was pretty minor.

We had a quick salami, cheese and cracker lunch and decided instead of sitting around the trailer, we’d do a little Frankfort exploring. Last night I found the Salato Wildlife Center in Frankfort and it looked like an interesting place to visit.

The center had a black bear, two Kentucky bobcats (one is the official mascot of the University of Kentucky), deer, elk, bison, snakes, fish, snapping turtles and my favorite, snakes, and lots of great exhibits. We also got a nice walk in during the warm weather, so it was a terrific afternoon.
Back at the trailer at 5:30 p.m. to watch the news on cable television (yeah, we’re roughing it) and later plan to watch a Netflix movie we brought with us. I told Joan we could continue the day’s wildlife theme by having dinner at that Owl Restaurant, I think it’s called Hooter’s, but she said no.

So it’s leftovers tonight, but tomorrow it’s either some Frankfort sightseeing or Louisville sightseeing, we haven’t decided yet.

A little about Berea College

Last night at dinner we talked with our waiter, Thad, who is a recent graduate from Berea College.

We asked him if what we heard about free tuition was true. It was. The 900 students who attend Berea College pay no tuition, just room and board. In exchange for their education they are required to work 10-13 hours a week at an on campus job.

Most of his classes had 7-8 students in them and when he graduated he had no financial debt.

Berea College, Thad said, has the third largest endowment, one behind Harvard and Yale, in the country.

Thad is doing his student teaching now and will be looking for a job as a special education teacher next year. Sounds like a great deal.

Now it's time to button up the trailer and head north to Frankfort.

Small towns and small worlds and a lot about Daniel Boone and the Civil War

Today was all about Daniel Boone. Well, almost all about Daniel Boone.

When we got up this morning we considered a side trip to Cumberland Falls, but with the snow falling as fast as the temperatures we decided we weren’t in the mood for a hike. So we played a little map roulette.

The wheel stopped on Winchester, Kentucky, a place neither of us had ever heard of before. I did a little Internet research and found that it was near Fort Boonesborough so we headed out for the short trip to Winchester.

Sometimes it pays to take a gamble. Winchester was great! It is a city with a 100-year-old downtown and a great old courthouse (not as great as the one we have in Lapeer, Michigan, but pretty darn close). Once in Winchester we just started asking folks questions and they suggested a trip to the Bluegrass Heritage Museum, so off we went.

What a great little hometown museum. The building itself was in a restored old home that once housed a doctor’s residence and later a small hospital for patients who didn’t want to make the “long” trek to Lexington. Our tour guide was well informed and taught me many things a Civil War and history buff should have known, but embarrassingly didn’t. Here are a few things I learned today:

1. Kentucky was once a county in Virginia.

2. Kentucky has more counties than any other state, except one in the United States.

3. When Kentucky became the 15th state the American flag was increased to 15 stripes, but was later chopped back to 13 when the powers that be decided a 20-stripe flag was too big. They have an original 15-stripe, 15-star flag to prove it at the museum.

4. Kentucky had representatives in both the Confederate government and the federal government due to it being a border state that never officially declared its secession.

5. Owners of slaves who escaped north to enlist in the Union army had to be compensated for their loss by the federal government due to the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to them.

6. One of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers Franklin Sousley was from a town near Winchester.

7. A World War II Marine, Harold G. Epperson, a Winchester native, won the Congressional Medal of Honor when he threw himself on a grenade to save his comrades, dying in the process. Later, a Navy destroyer – the USS Epperson – was named for him. Interestingly, my destroyer was part of a task force that included the Epperson during the Vietnam War.

8. Homer Ledford, a world famous dulcimer maker and player came from Winchester. Our docent made it clear that Homer, who had played in Ireland, Europe and Japan, was about the biggest celebrity to every come out of Winchester. Although we had never heard of him, it was obvious how proud they were of Homer.

9. Our docent further told us that if Gen. Sherman had not been so successful in Georgia in 1864 near the end of the Civil War that President Lincoln would not have been re-elected and the South could have won the war or negotiated peace terms beneficial to the south. He told us that with a tinge of sadness.

10. We learned that trace was another word for trail. We also learned the importance of "licks" as in Paint Lick, Blue Lick and any number of other "Licks" around here. The natural salt deposits drew wildlife, which drew hunters, which drew more people and eventually towns.

The museum had a telephone room with lots of old telephones, telephone switchboards and equipment that would make anyone of our age nostalgic. Actually Joan's parents still have and use one of the phones that is in the museum.

They had plenty of priceless Civil War artifacts, including original uniforms, swords, guns and handwritten journals by local men who served in the war. It was a wonderful stop that did not disappoint.

On the recommendation of our tour guide, we stopped and purchased a six pack of Ale 8-1, a local soft drink. We were also told to purchase only the 12 ounce bottles, because the smaller version was produced in another city and the taste is different. (Tasted like Vernor's).

Next we stopped by some earthen works that stood as a small Civil War post along the Kentucky River and then on to Boonesborough, a 1700s settlement and fort made famous by my childhood hero, Fess Parker, ‘er I mean Daniel Boone. Fess Parker also played another American hero, Davy Crockett, who were remarkably similar in appearance and legend with each other. Both equally fictionalized, however.

The fort was famous for a 1788 siege in which the Shawnee Indians accompanied by 12 French soldiers attempted to breach the fort at Boonesborough for 13 days. Four settlers and 37 Indians and French soldiers were killed in the siege. The Indians and French gave up and left.

The first tour guide we came across kind of took some of the romance out of the story by informing us that the current Fort Boonesborough was built in the 1970s from some scratchy drawings of what the original Fort Boonesborough looked like.


He also told us that the original site of the fort was a short distance away from where the new one was built for just we tourists.

But I like the truth, so I’m glad he didn’t try to pass the fort or location off as original. The cabins at the fort included docents performing tasks from the 1700s: Candle-making, weaving, blacksmithing, soap making, carpentry, spinning, and a potter.

What I learned about Daniel Boone:

1. He didn’t actually wear a coon skin cap, but rather liked a wide-brimmed hat.

2. He was 40 when he arrived a Boonesborough, a fairly ‘mature’ man for that era to be taking on such a difficult task.

Even with the myth busting tour guide’s information it was still a pretty interesting stop.

On the way back to the RV park we stopped at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, which had a lot of interesting local and regional craft items. Not needing anything more to dust at home, we enjoyed looking around but left empty-handed.

For dinner we headed to the Boone Tavern & Hotel in Berea. Many people told us to make sure to eat there and boy were they right. A lot of folks warned us about the dress code (which seemed odd for a place with a picture of its namesake in a buckskin outfit on the wall) so we dressed up for dinner.

As it turned out we didn’t have to, as many folks were in there tourist garb and blue jeans. The food was terrific. Joan had the Shrimp and Scallops, asparagus and angel-hair pasta and I had Lamb chops with mashed potatoes.

My sister-in-law Barbara makes the best lamb chops I have eaten, but Boone Tavern did a pretty good job as well. Barbara’s lamb chops, which come with a large serving of love, win the day though.

Just after we were seated at Boone's Tavern, I heard a voice at a table near us say, “Well, look who’s here?”

Joan and I looked up and it was our friends Rose and Barry from Lapeer. They were taking a few days away from home too, but the odds of meeting someone from Lapeer, Michigan in a fancy restaurant in Berea Kentucky have to be pretty long.

It is truly a small world.

Tomorrow: Frankfort, Kentucky and a new RV Park.

Wet, but happy campers are we

Today’s adventures did not start with hand tools, so that was a good.

Up at 8 a.m. we found that the weather had turned very cold overnight and although we didn’t have any snow on the ground, we could see it falling.

The campground has very nice bathroom and shower facilities so to save water storage capacity and to save time in cleaning up our bathroom, we have been using the campground facilities.

Unfortunately for Joan, I apparently got the last hot water of the morning and she didn’t enjoy her cold shower.

I had my usual Cheerios breakfast and we were off on a sightseeing trip about 11 a.m.

We arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park about 11:40 a.m. and the rain had slowed, but we still had to deal with a cold drizzle.

Many of the best exhibits – the Hall of Champions and the Breeds Barn (photo) – are outdoors so we had to deal with a little weather, but still a very enjoyable tour.

The museum was a nice break from the weather and also very interesting. The museum follows the evolution of the horse from prehistoric days through its initial use by man for food and then service.

The Hall of Champions was really cool, as it houses some of the best horse champions in the world. Sadly, Alysheba, a Kentucky Derby winner, died just ten days ago and his stall was closed and lined with flowers. His freshly dug grave was outside, across from legendary horse, John Henry.

But we got an up close and personal look at Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, (photo) Western Dreamer, Cigar, and Kona Gold.

We paid our respects to the grave of Man O’ War and also a fairly new memorial to Secretariat. Our daughter, Elin, is not much of a horse lover, in fact she pretty much despises them, but her mother decided that even she would have enjoyed the Horse Park.

She might not have enjoyed the horse drawn tour (photo) we took in a driving rain that Joan, who had pulled her coat tightly around her face, said reminded her a little of the MSU vs. Florida International monsoon game in September at Spartan Stadium. The only difference was today’s rain was about 37 degrees.

There is a former copy editor, and Misty will know who I’m talking about, who deserves a big apology from me after all the kidding I did at the expense of her beloved Kentucky. This is a wonderful state, a beautiful state, and while the natives here speak a language I can barely understand, are incredibly friendly and nice.

From the Horse Park we followed OnStar directions to Talon Winery south of Lexington where Joan did her wine tasting and we left with a couple bottles of wine. The countryside was filled with horse farms with small, old homes with expansive new barns. In some cases the barns looked more hospitable than the houses.

We had a wonderful dinner at the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant in Lexington and then arrived back at our trailer about 7 p.m. We are in for the night and awaiting the MSU vs. North Carolina National Championship basketball game. Go State!

Wheels down, we are up!

A brief thunderstorm blew through here last night, sirens went off and a stern voice came over a loud speaker to turn to a local television station for advice.

The winds picked up, but we were watching a DVD ("Invincible") and decided that we didn't hear any freight train noises, didn't have a basement anyway, and that we seemed pretty protected by a line of trees and a large hill to the west.

There was damage in Kentucky, but no where near us. But we did want to let you know that our wheels are still down and we are OK. Best of all, no snow, so far.

Off to the Kentucky Horse Park!

p.s. I plan to put up an online album so you can see more photos. (Joan's not happy that the only pictures I've chosen so far show her and not me. But he who controls the keyboard, controls the pictures, hee-hee). Just to be fair, I've put a photo up of me yesterday.

Berea, Kentucky, Day 2 starts with a wrench

So far this traveling is testing my abilities as a do-it-yourselfer.

As you will remember Day 1 started with a chain saw. Well, today started with a socket wrench.

After pulling in yesterday I had trouble separating the trailer hitch from the car. The ball was loose, but the crank on the trailer wouldn't lift the hitch off the ball. Because we were tired last night and I really wanted to watch the MSU basketball game I decided to put it off until today.

I thought maybe by waiting overnight, the ball might happily give up its hitch, but it didn't. Try as I might, it became obvious that the problem was with a stripped gear in the mechanism that raises the trailer hitch off the ball.

So I went to the RV park manager and he had a new one for sale for $40 and it was a simple matter of swapping out the bad mechanism for the new one, but it cost us an hour and we really didn't get up and out of bed until about 9 a.m.

With the vehicle now free from the trailer we were free to explore Berea. The town was pretty much closed. It's Sunday and only a few stores were open so we walked around the Berea College campus and took some photos. It's also dry, no wine for Joan. No problem for me as I don't drink.

We were able to make dinner reservations for another evening at the Boone Tavern and found a few shops open. We pretty much killed the afternoon on a leisurely walk through Berea.

Our plans to go to church in Lexington did not work so we had a little quiet time to ourselves back in our trailer. It was a disappointment to miss church on Palm Sunday.

Before we returned to the trailer we stopped at Wal Mart to do a little grocery shopping. So kind of a welcome, low key day. I've posted some photos of us in and around Berea today.

The people here are nice, although Joan was a little taken aback at being called "Sweetie" by a young waitress at the Main Street Cafe where we had lunch on College Square.

We moved up this little walking tour of Berea because the weather forecast for Monday and Tuesday looks, well, looks bad. Snow and cold temperatures are in the forecast so wanted to walk as much as we could today outside. High winds are predicted tonight so we're hoping that tomorrow morning we are still wheels down.

We hear the weather is equally bad in Michigan.

Everyone seems very concerned that "y'all are havin a good time." Whatever Kentucky is doing to promote tourism seems to be taken to heart by its residents.

Two photos: Joan by a painted hand in downtown Berea and Joan sitting on a bench with a Berea College Chapel steeple in the background.

Tomorrow: Kentucky Horse Park, Kentucky wineries, more Berea and whatever else turns our steering wheel.

A chain saw starts the great adventure to Kentucky, but we made it

The big getaway day started with a chain saw. Yes, a chain saw.

When I backed my trailer into the driveway last week I was very proud of how I tucked it into a corner of my driveway. That pride turned to frustration this morning when I confronted a large limb that threatened to rip the roof off my trailer.

No matter how hard I worked in backing up the trailer, I couldn’t find a way to maneuver it so that I wouldn’t hit the limb. So the solution was to fire up the ol’ chainsaw and remove the problem.

My wife had the hard job, catching the limb before it fell on the front of the trailer. Little Joan had to balance on the tongue of the trailer while I slowly cut through the limb so it would bend slowly down and not fall on her. It was quite a sight.

Just to make sure I had hooked everything up correctly I had my friend Greg stop by and give it a double check. So out of the driveway we went and got about a block before I remembered that I had forgotten to plug in the trailer lights.

I have pulled trailers before, but never one quite this large, so when I took off it was with a little bit of nervousness. By the time I got to U.S. 23 in Flint, I was starting to feel comfortable with vehicle and trailer and some of the nervousness, but not all, went away.

We crossed into Ohio about 11 a.m. our first state line on this new adventure. The wind was pretty strong and that gave me a few anxious moments along with a construction zone near Cincinnati that narrowed the lanes enough to keep my concentration pretty intense.

My wife looked very concerned a couple of times and she said she was worried we were going to rip off our air conditioner on one of the many overpasses we were going under. When I pointed out to her that we were quite a bit shorter than most of the semis, she relaxed a little.

Because of the break in period for the truck, it is suggested that you not drive over 50 mph for the first 500 miles of towing so we got passed by everyone and their brother.

Once inside Kentucky the scenery became very beautiful and the weather warmed up considerably. At one point we passed by the Kentucky Horse Park something we are going back to see. We also spotted a couple of Kentucky wineries and Joan wants to go visit those. Wineries in Kentucky, who knew?

We arrived in Berea about 6 p.m. and pulled into our campsite and were set up by 6:30 p.m. and eating dinner by 7 p.m. That’s if you call eating hot dogs dinner. But it was our first meal in the trailer.

Everyone has been very friendly and the owner of the RV park was very helpful in getting us into our spot in a very crowded campground. Most of the folks are pulling out tomorrow heading further south, which isn’t a bad idea because it is supposed to snow here on Monday.

It took me a frantic few minutes to set up our television antenna so we could see the Michigan State game which we turned on at the 15 minute mark of the second period and the score was tied 46-46. We saw the exciting finish and that made the day just about perfect.

I would have posted this last night, but the park's Internet access requires a user name an password, which I couldn't get until the park office opened this morning. I'll put up some pictures tonight.

The trailer's packed and ready to go

After a lifetime of working my wife and I are ready to take a little time to smell the roses and sample the country. A friend will be housesitting for us here while we're gone.

Not a fleeting sample either. When you are working, vacations are welcome breaks from the stress and pressures of work.

As a newspaper reporter I often found it difficult or unnerving to take two weeks away from the office. News on your beat doesn't stop just because you are away so the time leading up to the break is doubly stressful as you try to anticipate events and make arrangments to have them covered

It was often easier and less stressful to take vacations in one week segments. That left touring rushed and sometimes lacking for the right amount of time. Just ask my wife and stepdaughter about the day we left Yellowstone Park, toured Mt. Rushmore and then traveled another five hours across South Dakota so we could get to the Mall of America in Minnesota the next day.

When I did take two weeks vacation, by the time I returned my desk was piled high with stories not done and things to do.

The wonderful glow of a long vacation fades quickly when the work is stacked up to your ears.

My wife Joan, was a high school teacher. While she had long breaks in the summer, so did everyone else. Tourist destinations were crowded and peak travel times meant prices were higher. Besides, her husband usually had to be back to work in a week.

But with my retirement in December 2007 and Joan's in June of 2009, things will change.

One thing that has already changed is the space on my driveway. On Friday, March 27, 2009, our 2008 Laredo 311RL travel trailer arrived home. The maiden voyage is scheduled to begin Saturday, April 4, 2009.

Our shakedown cruise has been planned for awhile, even before we bought the trailer. The first destination is Berea, Kentucky for four days and then Frankfort, Kentucky for three days.

We chose a one-day drive and two destinations to give us practice setting up and taking down our campsite.

We're not really roughing it, though. The trailer has a nice kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and even a television with cable hook-ups. The electric fireplace is a bit much, but it came with the trailer. Even with that we both plan on spending time in quiet reading. Time to read for fun was always a luxury, one we plan to take full advantage of now.

I'll still be blogging over on Free From Editors about newspapers, but you won't find that conversation here.

So if you feel the urge to travel with us, even vicariously through this blog, welcome aboard Grandma's Recess.