September 12 finds us on I-40 traveling from Knoxville to Nashville. Our summer-fall travels are ending and we will be at home before evening.



From Schenectady, NY and a wonderful 4days with our Florida winter park friend, Elsa and her doggies Katie and Barney, we began to fall south for real. Our second two day stop was in Winchester, VA at Candy Hill Campground. We first stopped here in 1981 on our way home from CT and a month for Roxie to learn Slingerland Multisensory training to teach dyslexic children.

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The remainder of our trip was spent visiting family. We spend Labor Day at Americamps Campground, Richmond,VA….almost in the middle of frantic I-95. We visited with Jim and Carolyn Marston one morning.



We had a lot of time with our sis/law Sharon in her one year old townhome. It gave us a good feeling to see her in such a comfortable home. Her son Chris and family visited us on Sunday. Our great nieces have just graduated from home school. Susie and Chris have very mature daughters.   See slideshow of Richmond Marstons.


From Richmond we dropped into East TN to visit with Charles’s cousins Katherine McNeil, husband Paul, and Ruth Morgan. Paul Mc Neil and Ruth’s son Bill completed the family get together. One afternoon and evening will provide us with many memories. Old Brick is the1804 home where Ruth now lives. Gun powder for the War of 1812 was made there and floated to New Orleans.



Katherine and Paul McNeil built “new brick” on the property ten years ago.Both homes have total back sides of windows that let us feast our eyes on the beautiful Douglas Lake that swallowed up the French Broad River when TVA built the dam years ago.The ancestral home was our home for one month in 1964 while we waited possession of our home in Dandridge¸TN. Charles had taken his first teaching job. Our son was born in October.  See slideshow: Old Brick, Noe's, Dandridge, TN

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While in Dandridge we also visited with Jane and Danny Noe. Jane’s folks were instrumental in getting a band director to Dandridge. Jane was in that first band. Her parent’s are now gone and we want the connection to remain. Janie and Danny live in the family home with a much loved view of Douglas Lake.  See slideshow: Old Brick, Noe's, Dandridge.


A friend in Nashvile peeked our interest in Charles’s ancestry in Dandridge. Here he found Blackburns, Rankins and her relatives, Inmans.

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As we roll we have one last fuel fill up before landing at home. We will reclaim the yard; retrieve the house plants from a special neighbor, and dust the cobwebs away after a two month vacation from them. In just a month we will be off to Chattanooga, TN and a week of Maestros at a fun week of Music Camp.

When we return in late October we will encourage fall in our trees. Eventually those leaves will give in and float down.. Charles will mulch them in time for us to arrive in Florida for the winter.

It is always fun to have you along. We love to hear from you.

Our travels continue after getting our kayak wet in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Our next long term stay was in Colchester, VT about 10 miles out of Burlington, VT. To get here we stopped one night at Chateaguay, NY which is about 2 miles out of Canada. We got to experience prehistoric living where there was no cell connection for our phones or the aircard that permits Internet access! The satellite would not work and about half of the few TV stations were speaking French. Exactly none of us was comprehending.


We spent a week in Colchester, VT at Lone Pines Campsites. Here we put down roots, shopped for food and got hair care. Charles got a cut and Roxie got a long overdue perm. We floated on Lake Champlain and biked the wonderful bike paths. From your seat or your feet you see so much. (See slideshow, side bar Burlington, VT.)

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We traveled a grand 7 miles on Aug. 14- to Aug.23 to Essex Junction, VT for a FMCA northeast rally. FMCA   The draw was another Frustrated Maestro event to practice, and perform for those 500+coaches attending.


The she of the family got to attend two seminars presented by www.geeksontour . It was grand to have more information on Picasa 3 and Google Earth Maps from these knowledgeable teachers. We loved afternoon walks and visiting with 3 greyhounds. Greyhound owners have a tight bond. (See side show, side bar, Maestros perform..Essex Junction, VT)

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The trombone went back to rest in the closet and we made our way towards Concord, NH and brother Robin and family. The motor home gulped H2O along with a diesel fill up and we bucked our way to Littleton, NH. A call to the Cummins trouble help line and a live being helped identify the source. Crazy Horse campground managers recommended A Notch Above garage just 3 miles away. Here filters were changed and an additive added. Living on the road is just easy.



While in Concord, NH we had time to visit family and enjoy Mile Away Campground returning for our 6th visit since 1995.

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Our next destination was a return visit to visit Alan and Evy Dean in Durham,CT. We met Deans in 1981 when we camped a month at Little City Campground in Higganum, CT. Roxie was there to travel to Cheshire, CT for her first Slingerland Training to teach dyslexic students. The family was there to play. Roxie thought her “play” was the best.



The friendship with Deans has connections through RVing and we have visited each other many times. Deans have many interests. Evy is known for her baking and we left with a tasty treat. She also knits. Alan sews, quilts, and is almost finished restoring a’64 Mustang. It should be mentioned that he built their house in1981! Oh yes, we left with their garden tomatoes. (See slideshow, Deans in Durham, CT)

Following the CT visit we arrived in Schenectady, NY and had a grand visit with FL friend Elsa Sakacs and doggies Katie and Barney. Our stay was on the Mohawk River at Aarowhead Marina and RV Campground. Our drives to visit were through downtown Schenectady. We had time to cook, work on computer issues, visit Lock 7 on the Erie Canal on theMohawk and walk to the golf course. At the course we saw the beautiful garden area in memory of Elsa’s husband who left us there years ago. Oh yes….Elsa took Roxie to the only two story Walmart located in Albany. Level one was in the basement and escalators and elevators took us to a huge grocery store. Elsa and Charles enjoyed an afternoon of organ trombone duets while Roxie called Fauberts in Ontario.

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We are falling south today, September 2, 2009. We will spend Labor Day weekend with Marston family in the Richmond, VA area. On Tuesday, we will continue our decent to TN for a stop in Dandridge near Knoxville. This will give us time with Marston connection cousins and friends in the town we began our life in as a family with a baby boy!



We will be back to let you know of this leg of the trip which will land us at home in mid September.

We rolled out of the driveway at home on July 8, 2009. We plan to glide back in mid September. In between we are scheduled into OH, NY, VT, NH, RI, CT, VA and TN.

Our travels always have goals of FMCA conventions and rallies. FMCA is Family Motor Coach Association of which we have been members since 1988. www.fmca.com We have rolled from Brunswick, Maine to Los Angeles, Redmond, Oregon and Brooksville,FL to attend these motor coach extravaganzas. That should be enough justification for our travels the 12 years we have been retired and upholding the economy.

July 8, 2009 we spent one night at the KY Horse Park Campground. What an amazing industry we learned about on our bike and foot trips around.

July 9 and 10 we parked at the home of Bruce and Pat Everhart, just outside of Springfield, OH. Their log cabin, tucked in the woods, was a wonderful decompression time. Everharts drove us around their lifelong home town. What a treat to hear of Pat’s much respected doctor father and see where Bruce and Pat had lived and worked.

A year ago Charles became a Frustrated Maestro (you understand!) with FMCA.
These vocalists and instrumentalist roll the country, meet for pre-rallies to rehearse and caravan into the FMCA conventions as Volunteers to perform. Dressed in red and white these Maestros regularly perform 3 mornings for Morning Coffee and Donuts.

So…this year’s start of our trip was to Bowling Green, OH at the University. Approximately 2725 coaches also arrived. Of this number only 50 are Maestros. Charles had much performing with the band and a Dixieland jazz group. Prior to this July 17-23 week we met in a campground at Van Buren, OH for the start of rehearsals.

While at the convention Roxie attended many computer seminars present by www.geeksontour.com Go check this out. At this FMCA convention she got to assist with their Computer Boot Camp for three, two hour evenings.

We always conduct much business in the Vendor exhibits clarifying RV needs and wants and making purchases.

It must be said that the Bowling Green State U campus is large and impressive offering many courses of study. Lambuth College, Jackson, TN was Roxie’s home growing up. Thus college campuses are happily greeted. Bowling Green State U is flat with an abundance of sidewalks for our bicycling to seminars, rehearsals and exhibits. These made excellent exercise and stroll walks.

August 24 we rolled toward Erie, PA and a campground facing frantic Lake Erie. It provided a fantastic view and was void of air card for going online!!! Cell service was not much better. A treat of this stop was to visit with George and Pat Younkin. Younkins winter with us at Holiday Travel Resort in Leesburg, FL. George became president of our active Computer Club last year. We enjoyed a Sunday afternoon in their beautiful Lake City, PA home. Pat is recovering from a hip replacement. We did float in a slightly calm bay of Lake Erie at Presque Isle State park. Following this we biked four miles on the bike path at Presque Isle. This weekend day put many folks on that path to attend a large celebration with kayak floats, craft fair, reenactment, sand sculptures and archery.
At our campground in Lake Erie we were treated to a sunset over the lake.

July 27 we rolled into Cuba, NY in the foothills of the beautiful Allegany Mountains. Our stop was to visit with Keith and Stella Wood. These folks winter with us in FL. While we have known this couple a while we have become better acquainted in the late spring of 09 when Woody bought a computer! These spring chickens at ages 82 are delightful. Woody and I even video Skype. And, what fun to do this as we roll. Stella treated us to a wonderful healthy meal. We enjoyed a walk around the property and Charles was treated to a four wheeler ride into some of Woody’s 300 timber acres. Our stop to visit was wonderful.

July 29 and 30 we were in Watkins Glen, NY. Attracting us there is the Watkins Glen Gorge and Seneca Lake, one of the NY Finger Lakes. The race track is there but this is not an interest of ours. We could only reserve 2 nights because of a festival on the banks of Seneca across from Clute Campground. So, this year we gave up climbing the gorge which we did three years ago. We did float the lake and enjoyed the water’s eye view of the marina with the many docked sailing boats. We biked and walked to downtown. The rainy weather and our greyhounds in their bright red rain coats and our beagle in her canary yellow rain coat were much enjoyed by folks on the street.

Our reserved time in Watkins Glen expired and we pulled in the rooms, attached our tow Honda and headed for Fair Haven, NY and Lake Ontario. Our site, with a Lake Ontario view was much enjoyed. We floated in the bay and added another body of water to our kayak float list. This is the first campground that we have ever paid for our three dogs…..at a whopping $3 per dog per day! Stop calculating. That added $18 to our bill.

On August 2 we are headed to Burlington, VT for four days prior to our last Maestro event nine miles away at Essex Junction, VT. This is a FMCA area rally that will only attract 600 coaches. Maestros will rehearse and perform for a week.

At the conclusion of this rally the trombone will be packed in the closet and we will travel on. We will be certain to come back and get you!

As I blog this evening in March I reflect on what we have done since the last blog update! We spent the rest of October and November at home. In October we waited for leaves to fall as we gazed at their greenness and we spent November collecting them with our shredder for mulch in the gardens. Of course, when we land at home we do the “many mile check-ups” with our array of doctors. For old folks we find we are ticking quite well!

By December 4, 2008, we had arrived on our site at Holiday Travel Resort in Leesburg, FL. We barely have time to settle onto the site before we are swamped with the responsibilities we have collected over the past 5 years. This year completes 6 years of returning to Leesburg, FL and Holiday Travel Resort.

Charles manages the active volley ball program. Let us direct you to www.htrvolleyball.blogspot.com for more information. In the middle of the season they play 4 teams each morning. V ball is played seven days a week. The one day 2009 tournament has just passed with great enthusiasm. It took a lot or organization for Charles and he thrived doing it. V ball will had a yearly party March 9.

Roxie continues to be a part of the Computer Club. Look at www.htrcomputerclub.blogspot.com . She is secretary and helps maintain the bank of computers for pubic use open twenty-four hours a day. Weekly help sessions are attended well as many folks come to assist folks.

By the way----Roxie created the two blogs mentioned previously.

We continue to oversee the dog park that we were a part of planning in 2005. Check it out at http://www.htrdogpark.blogspot.com/.

Last summer Charles officially became a Frustrated Maestro with FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association.) These folks are retirees who have much musical experience and play for the conventions and rallies. In this blog see July 27, 2009 for our trip to St. Paul, MN to spend a week with the Maestros.
Charles has several more times to play with the Maestros before returning to FL next December. We will be in Bowling Green, Ohio for FMCA convention in mid July. This will be followed by several rallies. Each time the Maestros assemble ahead of time at an RV park for intense rehearsals. It is just great to find a trombone to the lips once again!
Oh yes, he did play again in Merry Tuba Christmas in The Villages, FL in December.


We spend four months here at www.holidaytravelresort.com in Leesburg, FL.

Mid April we have an appointment in Gaffney, SC at Freightliner. Following this we will land at our brick and mortar home in Franklin, TN. However…itchy wheels will have us on the road just after July begins.