Departed Winter Home: Leesburg, FL

We arrived at our winter home, Holiday Travel Resort, Leesburg, FL on November 28, 2012.  Four months flew by and we left on March 28, 2013!
Christmas 2012 followed in a month.

Holiday Travel Resort

In between we “went to work” for the three organizations we help manage and enjoy doing…..Volley Ball, Computer, and the new park band.  Very little grass grows under our feet.  Besides…FL is so dry that many yards are just sand.  Volley Ball diehards were on the courts as early at October 31.  Charles manages this season, monitors and adjust teams daily, arranges for the Fun Day, Challenge Tournament, Tournament and closing social-dinner. Volley Ball Blog

Charles started a small wind-brass group last year.  Two trumpets and his trombone entertained once.  This year a clarinet was added and they group played for a private Mardi Gras party, the Craft Fair, closing for the two night park variety show and for the softball fun day.  Check out the new blog and see how the band is growing.  Strike Up The Band at HTR   

Roxie continued her activities with the Computer TEAM of 4 men whose abilities are unquestionable.  She just keeps things organized, helps monitor the bank of 3 public computers, plans the weekly classes and helps run the Monday morning Help Sessions open to all.  She enjoyed teaching some classes. She maintains the blogs for all of these organizations.   Computer Club       We left the first week of February to drive to Brooksville, FL (Tampa) for Charles to just play with the Frustrated Maestros.  He was not ask to direct this  year but did direct upon request.  He will direct this group in 2014. All Things Frustrated Maestros

Our pet family is just fine. PeeDee, THE CAT since 2005 is still in command.  Both Daisy and Heidi had simultaneous and unrelated foot sores and visited our Leesburg vet.  Both are now fine but wore socks and Therapaw boots for a while.  Lucky Beagle had a good year wearing her constant muzzle outside.  Many times we answered that she was not a bitter but a BIG EATER!  She was not sick once from scarfing up something inedible !  Heidi and Daisy took us on Therapy Visits as arranged by our Leesburg Paws Therapy Dog  Chapter.



Our long afternoon walks always included Katie and her mom Elsa.

New York is a long way to travel to visit them.  We will continue our visits in December 2013 when we arrive in Florida.

 

We are camped at a corp park in Modoc, SC for a few days.  After a regular service visit to Gaffney, SC and Freightliner we will head to east TN to visit Marston cousins and their families late this week.   

 

After this we will land in Franklin..likely before April 10.  It has been a long time since we have stroked Lulu our resident kitty who lives comfortably in Charles’s shop with heat or AC, lights, radio and her own kitty door.  Her “dad” is in and out to feed her and check on our place.

Season's Greetings 2012

Season’s Greetings to Each of you.

As we slow a bit and reflect

we know that our friendship with  you

has been part of the foundation in our lives. 

Thank you for your contact with us.

Best wishes for happy holidays.

Charles and Roxie

We are now set up and settled in at our winter home in Leesburg, FL. 

Holiday Travel Resort

We are busy again with managing the computer and volley ball seasons.

 

We arrived Nov. 28 two days earlier than planned.  We did spend almost 5 weeks at our TN home.  Charles spent lots of hours in the yard mulching those leaves until our 10 year old mulcher said that’s enough.  Mowing and blowing became the way to finally clean up the yard.  We will resurrect the mulcher when we arrive back in TN in the spring.

Thanksgiving was enjoyed at our home with our son and family.  His church smokes turkeys and they brought one for our meal.  Roxie added the rest of the meal.  They spent the night with us giving us more time to visit and hike the land in our neighborhood along the now quiet Harpeth River.

Charles played in his 24^th Tuba Christmas in Winter Park, FL on December 15.

 

Our hearts are as heavy as yours over the tragic school shootings in CT this week.  The impact on everyone is immense.  Our education professions connect us even more.   Our United Methodist minister son spoke these words to his congregation last Sunday.  May they also bring you comfort.   “I told the kids and congregation God was not absent but very present and very sad. I stood on my belief that God does not create bad or use bad to judge us. My proof is God sent the Son to show us how to love when the world is so bad.”

Finally Fall in TN!

We arrived home on August 31, 2012 and stayed for three weeks.

The to do lists claimed our attention.

During the three weeks we enjoyed a visit from our family.  It was fun to see how two of the grandboys had grown.  Our oldest grandboy was working at McDonalds and did not make this trip.

Our son, Kevin, wanted to explore the lots where three houses stood during his young days on this street.  These houses were in the federal flood buyout and the land can have no structure on it ever.  One lot is next door to us.

 

On September 27 we left for Pennsylvania for 3 weeks of Maestro activities and returned home on October 19.  This time we are here for six weeks before leaving for our winter home in Leesburg, FL.   

Gettysburg and York, PA were our destinations for the first two weeks in October.  Charles directed the Frustrated Maestros during a week of Music Camp in Gettysburg October 2-6, 2012.

The group then caravanned to York, PA for FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association’s) area rally….Greater Eastern Area Rally.  During the morning coffee hour we saluted Music of the Civil War in songs with a slide show presentation that Roxie made.

Click on this link to see the Greater Eastern Area Rally that Charles directed. All Things Frustrated Masestro



We returned home through East TN and stopped and visited with Charles’s cousins and some family members in Dandridge.  Camping was on the beautiful Douglas Lake at the Headwater Campground.  Here we enjoyed the beautiful water with the Smokey Mountains in the background and excellent walking places.  At this location we are just 2 miles from relatives.

Another 8 miles put us in Dandridge, TN to visit a good friend who was in our first high school band!  Janie and Danny live on Douglas Lake with a view of the Smokey Mountains, also.  Janie’s folks took us in as family in 1964 and loved pampering our infant son.  That was 48 years ago!

We are now in Franklin for approximately 6 weeks.  Neighbors won’t know what to do with us.  Of course, we now have 3 vacant lots owned by the city as a result of the federal buyout of flood properties.  The lot  next door to us has taken a bit of adjustment seeing the empty space.  Still one last house is slated for demolition within weeks.  The flood was in May 2010.  We continue our therapy dog visits here and are half through 10 visits for October and November.  We will jump into Therapy Dog visits in Florida.

 



Lulu our resident neighbor’scat is always happy to see us when we arrive home.  She gets lots of kitty hugs and kisses.  When we are away Lulu is cared for by her owner across the street.  She has a kitty window, heat or AC, lights and a radio. 



Keep going down for more pics.        We “enjoyed-braved” and rainy cold night at the Brentwood High School football game October 26, 2012.  Our mission was to watch the band and the son of a former student,  David Caldwell.   

Nov. 30 we will land in our winter home at Holiday Travel Resort in Leesburg FL for 4 months.  Here we will dive into our activities of volley ball and computer.  Charles manages the v ball season.  Roxie works with a super team of 3 men running the computers for the park, teaching, and helping with the weekly help sessions.  We look forward to being back in our Florida neighborhood of 9 years with neighbors that we enjoy. Holiday Travel Resort  to check out our winter home.

Ending Two Months Away

August 19, 2012  we headed towards Indianapolis, IN with two stops in between.  We spent the night of August 19, 2012 at Walmart in Ashland, IN.  This beautiful, well lit Walmart accepts overight RVers. Good idea as Roxie left them a generous tip in groceries purchased.
 

August  20 and 21 we parked at Deer Ridge campground in Richmond, IN.  This rv park provided a stopping point to be with our friends Cynthia and Nathan Colter for two days.  We never left and indulged ourselves in lots of walking and talking.



August. 23 the four of us caravanned to Indianapolis, IN for the 87th International Family Motor Coaching Association convention.  More than 2000 coaches arrived from across the USA.

   



Charles and Cynthia were a part of the band and chorus.  Directing was done by Lynn Gilmore.  Charles did organize a combo group to play light rock.

The Indiana State Fairgrounds is huge and our full hookup sites were a long way from the hub of the Fairgrounds. We biked to and fro and trams picked up those needing to get around. The fairgrounds buildings are most interesting with architecture of many styles.  We were there for 10 days.  At this convention we had time to attend a few seminars and we chose Joint and Posture Stability, Coronary Heart Disease, Living with Arthritis and Blogging.  Charles also got a handout for Strength Training.  Roxie helped Geeks on Tour with their Picasa Workshop.

See all the Frustrated Maestro Activity in Indianapolis at www.frustratedmaestros.blogspot.com   Roxie is the webmistress for this blog which covers Maestros all over the USA.   August 30 we fell south, 330 miles, to our home in Franklin, TN.  We had left July 6, 2012.  The house next door is no more and the cleared land gave us an adjustment to seeing the large space.  We are now accustomed to the long view we have across this lot into the green fields below.           

We found two of our Green Giant Arborvitae evergreens brown!  Dought had taken a severe toll on these trees planted in 2004.

We are spending these few weeks cutting grass and polishing off a long list of chores.  We leave September 27, 2012 for Gettysburg and York, PA for Charles to direct the Greater Eastern Area Maestro ensemble.  We will be home the third week of October.  You guess it…until the end of November when we return to our winter home in Leesburg, FL at Holiday Travel Resort. We always look forward to being among friends and neighbors, and indulging in computer and volley ball activities.   We left our home in Franklin, TN on July 6 and the grass was brown!!   

From 2012 B Summer

After LL Bean, Freeport, Maine...

On July 31 we bid farewell to LL Bean in Freeport, ME and began out trek west!

A night at Seven Maples Campground in Hancock, NH. aimed us to our destination near Albany, NY to visit our FL friend, Elsa Sakacs and prissy Katie in Colonie.  Both seemed glad to see us and we surely were delighted to be with them a few days.

From 2012 7 VT NY 

We also visited with HTR friends Perry and Lonnie Berkowitz who also live near Colonie, NY. Their Doxy Roxy and I held our semi annual meeting of the Roxie groupies.

Arrowhead campground, on the Mohawk River, put us within 12 miles of these friends.  The only downside was that our 50 amp power was unpredictable and too frequently low. This is our third visit to this park that twice flooded badly in August 2011.   It closed for that season.

We continued west stopping in Romulus, NY at Sampson State Park for 3 days.  Sampson had been a navy base during WWII with training possible on the expansive Senaca Lake.  Seneca is one of the Finger Lakes in NY.  During the Korean conflict it became an air force base.

This well inhabited park by New Yorkers was not level for a motor home.  We had to build up the front with blocks, levelers and our extra folding step.  The assent was too much for the Heidi and Daisy and Charles lifted them in and out for 3 days.  The walking was great and along the water, playground and marina.  However, the frequently white capping Seneca Lake discouraged us from unloading the kayak the entire time there.

Our trek west continued to Campbell, NY to another mom/pop campground, Camp Bell. This park is very active with locals who summer there.  The owner also provides space to various day camps and a Cub Scout Camp was completing their week.  Fun for us to watch. 

We then stopped in Cuba, NY at Maple Lane Campground which put us just ten plus miles from Keith and Stella Wood, HTR neighbors.  They no longer travel south for the winter so being with them was a must.  Woody is a Shriner and to our delight he was in a parade in his town of Portville, NY on Saturday.  Woody’s mischief popped out as he whizzed in formation with the Kart operators. 

From 2012 NY Woody Kart We spent the day with Stella and Woody enjoying Subways once back at their home.  Saturday evening Stella prepared a spaghetti dinner.  Sunday morning they came to us for brunch.  Sunday evening they took us to as favorite restaurant, Spragues which was also celebrating the town’s 175 years.

From Collages 

From Collages Reluctantly parting from the Wood’s we did a load of laundry and headed west to Tionesta, PA to a Corp of Engineer park…Tionesta.  It has 124 sites with full hookups, including 50 amps, and is below the earthen dam.  The park provides us much walking and biking on paved and flat roads.  It does not provide us consistent cell or data strength!

We are less than 10 minutes from the town of Tionesta where the Tionesta Indian Festival is in progress this week.  We can bike to the town.  One evening we enjoyed a demonstration of Indian dancing and culture explanations by a family dressed in traditional attire.  We have been back most of the six days while here.  Folks are very friendly and love patting the greys. The girls do not resist.

From Collages  We have decided against a float on the rushing Allegheny River!

The end of this trip is in sight.  We should land at home at the end of August after a stop in Indianapolis, IN for the international convention of Family Motor Coaching Association and performances by the Frustrated Maestros. Charles will enjoy playing his trombone.  Since our last blog entry our immediate neighbor’s house has gone down and many wonderful trees ripped from the earth.  After all, mowing the now city owned land becomes more important.  We fought hard for those trees.  A picture of the barren land is helping prepare us for this horrible first look.  At least, we never have to worry about the impending neighbors.  The FEMA controlled land can never have a structure on it.