CAR MAINTENANCE & HISTORICAL SITE 

Dropped the car off to fix the air pump on the heater and A/C unit. Since we are still in Ohio, I took it to the dealer where I bought it. To my surprise, the car is still insured. I guess I'm still under the max mileage. I thought that I would be over by now, driving to South Carolina (2 times), DC and numerous 100 mile round trips to see my parents. I just had to pay the deductible and the rest was covered. 

We got hungry waiting and remember seeing a McDonald's a few blocks away, so we walk to eat lunch. On our way we had to cross over a round-a-bout. In the middle of the loop stands a historical site, The Old Town Hall. Since they could not demolish the building they built the road around the site. I must have drove around the loop at least five time in the last two years and never notice it before. I guess, when I step out of my normal I see thing in a different view. This is one of the main reasons I'm looking forward to my new lifestyle, to see and enjoy the United States at a slow and steady pace then in a lighting speed with horse glasses on.  

    

LAST COUPLE OF DAYS

22 September 2012 (Saturday)

Woke up at Midnight to rain falling on the RV. When I woke up my wife wished me a happy birthday. That's right for the last sixteen years I have been 25. The rain was so loud I had to use a trick I used when I was stationed on the USS Kitty Hawk (aircraft carrier), I put ear plugs in my ears and fell asleep like a baby.

                  My Parents treated me and my wife to a birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  

This is weekend one of two for trick or treat at the campground. We got five bags of candy and was looking forward to handing them out to the kids as they passed our RV. However, Mother Nature had her hand in not letting that happen... at least for this weekend. I hope she is kinder next weekend or the wife and I will have to eat the five bags of candy.

The owners of the campground have gone all out in celebrating Halloween. As soon as you enter the parking lot all the way to my site there is something with Halloween theme.

   

There is also a Haunted House (tent). Hope to walk through on weekend two of Halloween. 

23 September 2012 (Sunday)

NFL week 3 picks with Vegas odds... my first week under .500 with the worst week so far this season. Some of the teams I picked won the game, but did cover the spread. Lot of upsets by the underdogs too. Week 3 I went 5-10-1. My season total record is  22-24-2. I have to do some better research for my week 4 picks. 

24 September 2012 (Monday)

The rain has stopped and trying to get better internet I went outside the RV and have not lots connection (as often as I did inside the RV). When I want to post to this blog or even surf the net for places to visit next I go outside, but I have to wear a jacket to keep somewhat warm.

The last couple of nights I would wake up with no blanket on, because the wife took them all. I'm taking this as a sign to move South and towards warmer weather.  We have decided to move our departure day ahead by 11 days and leave on the morning of 3 October 2012. That means we have a week to get the car and RV checked and one last push to get everything in order before hitting the road.   

We still have some firewood and likely to have one last BIG campfire on Wednesday or Thursday (if weather permits).    

SECOND BLOG IN ONE DAY.... WHAT!

After working all week in getting the RV ready to hit the road in a few weeks, I took the afternoon off to go fishing. I started with fishing lures, with no luck. I went to the campground store and night crawlers just arrived so I got a dozen. I had better luck, but if we had to rely on my fishing to survive .... lets just say good think there is a Giant Eagle grocery store close by.

                                                        This is what I saw in the Lake.

This is what I caught!

                                                   A baby Bluegill. Better luck next time!

There was a little girl (I would say around 10 years old) beside me catching one fish after another using raw hot-dogs. I had to pack up my fishing pole and call it a day.

You can tell it's the start of the weekend. Around 2:00pm - 5:00pm the seasonal campers started to arrive. It was so quite with just us in our area all week. All I hear now are kids screaming, dogs barking and owners cutting their grass. That's a good thing, I can hang out with my fellow campers. Besides, in a few days everyone will be going back to their homes and we will have the campground and Mother Nature to ourselves once more.

                                                  

   

CAMPFIRE AND GENERATOR UPDATE

Last night we stayed warm by the campfire and made our version of the double stuff Oreo.

Worked on the generator some more today. Still could not get it to turnover. I'm no expert on RV's by far, but the way it sounds the generator is not getting the power it needs to turn on. I think it might be a battery issue. I made an appointment for next week to take it in to get looked at and fixed before we hit the road in the coming weeks.

I could have gotten upset by these little things, but in the long run I accept that this as part of the learning process and that all good things come with a price.  RV's are complex and occasionally things will happen. I can only take the bad things in stride and enjoy the good things.

                                         COUNTRY ACRES CAMPGROUND
                                                            Ravenna, Ohio

                                           http://countryacrescamping.com/

This is our first campsite, so I have nothing to compare it to except for personal preference.   

We choice this campsite, because it was close to our apartment. We knew that we would have to drive back and forth to move everything we wanted to take with us. We wanted to take small steps in the transformation of our new lifestyle and not jump into it and find ourselves overwhelmed from day one. 

We got lucky, they had two seasonal site left. We took the bigger site with grass over a smaller one with only gravel rocks. The site has water and electric, but no sewer. With a small fee we have it pumped once a week by the campground. If we need to we can pump into our tote tanks and dump it. The overall fee for single use once a week for five moths was more than the fee to have someone else do it for us, so we went with the lesser cost. 

                   The main office is also a small store, DVD rental and a one-for-one book exchange.

The entrance is secure with a key-card gate. There is a $10.00 fee, but when you checkout you will get refunded. This is done to replace any key-cards that visitors might take with them when they leave. Also, when you first enter the road split in three different ways with lots of one way roads. After entering a few times it pretty easy.

Activities: During the week, there is none scheduled. Friday and Saturday, there is lots to do. Friday nights are movie night. This is a family campground so the movies are rated G-PG and are newer releases. Saturday is full of activities to do. There is arts and craft, kids BINGO followed by Adult BINGO, hayride the goes around the park and tops off the night with entertainment either live band, talent show, karaoke, or special event like Christmas in July or Halloween in September.  

                  The is a gym, basketball court, pool, jump pillow and a water balloon launcher.   

For dog lovers there is a dog park. There is a large lake for fishing. However, there is a catch and release policy and NO night fishing allowed.

If you are young or old, with children or not and like a small town quite campsite this place is for you.

Last night the campsite lost power, so our movie night (Hunger Games) was put on hold. However, we had game night instead. We played double solitaire under lantern light. The game is played the same way as regular solitaire, but any player can play on the aces. When no one can make another play, count the cards places on the aces. The person with the most cards played wins. My wife won the best of seven 4-3-1. The first time I have ever lost on game night. I will redeem myself next week.

When we lost power, it was the best time to try and use the generator. It would not turn over. I did not have to turn the generator in the last five months in the campground. At least I found out it's not working now, then find out when I'm on the road or even when we're boondocking. I will starting working on it today.

Woke up this morning with the temperature at 55 degrees. During the day its to get in the 80's. I will have to pull the blankets out for tonight.

Either today or tomorrow, I will post about the campsite we have been at for the last five months. I will walk around and take some pictures.

HELLO

Hello Everyone,

I've never posted a blog before so this is new for me. I hope to get better as time goes along. My wife is posting her blog in Japanese, so I thought I would try and do the same in English.

We lived and traveled in Japan and Hawaii while I served in the US Navy for twenty years. However, everywhere we went was by air or car where we spend most of our funds on hotel rooms and eating out. One day while driving back from South Carolina on spring break we saw RV, camper, 5 wheeler one after another and started talking about if we should invest in one too.

We bought our 2004 Fleetwood Jamboree 31W in April 2012 and tried it out on weekends. Soon we found our self's spending more time at the campsite then our apartment. We decided that when our lease expired in September that we would become full time RVers. We will remain in Ohio until mid October when the campsite we are at closes then, we'll hit the road and start our adventures.

Below are some pictures of our rig inside and out.