Looking Back

Hi all,
First off I want to thank everyone for the get better wishes, it seems to be working as I feel better every day. A return trip to the doctor was positive I can start weaning off oxygen and get exercise.
 So as I was recouping Wendy and I spent some time reflecting on where we have been and what we have done since beginning our fulltime RV lifestyle. (Lots of pictures, click on them to see them bigger)

We are now into year five, which that alone is hard to believe. Seems we had planned so many years before we did it and then never thought the day would get here, and now you know the saying time flies when you're having fun.
 So here we go with a short recap. We have traveled through 26 of the states, while a decent number, we know we have a whole lot more to explore.
 Our work camping has helped allow us to do this but does settle us down for three to four months at a time. Also our love of returning to the Black Hills of South Dakota four summers has been great but we know it is time to move on.

 We spent two great winters volunteering at Roper Lake State Park in Safford Arizona. We loved exploring the area, with Chiricahua National Monument a favorite.

Roper Lake SP

Chiricahua

 We also volunteered one winter at Suwannee River State Park. A nice place and was close by our daughter Amanda's new location in Live Oak, Fla.

Suwannee River

 We have never had a bucket list but do say if there is one thing we always make a point seeing are our national parks and monuments. These are definitely things we try to hit upon when in a given area and Wendy collects stamps for her national park passport.
 So how have we done there? Not taking the time to sit and count each I will give a short list of our favorites.
 In Utah, Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, and Capitol Reef are all places that rate high. Arizona has Organ Pipe, Saguaro, Grand Canyon, Chircahua, Fort Bowie, and Monument Valley.

Monument Valley

Grand Canyon

Bryce

Organ Pipe

We have not spent a great deal of time in Texas but Big Bend National Park was special, also The Alamo and Lyndon B. Johnson Historical Park were worthy. We only touched slightly into California but Death Valley was amazing. Nevada holds Lake Mead National Rec. Area that we spent time checking out this past spring. In New Mexico we toured the famous Carlsbad Cavern and believe all other caves may not quite match up and also White Sands National Monument was breath taking.

White Sands

Death Valley

Big Bend

 Again, I am not close to naming all and we could have lists with refuges, fish hatcheries, and forts. We also could make a page list of state parks, another thing we check out frequently.
 Now while great being able to travel and see new things the best part of this lifestyle is meeting some of the greatest people along the way. We have met people from so many states and always enjoy the interactions that work camping presents. We have made many friends for life in some of our jobs. We have also met other bloggers whom we have made good friends with.

  Abbeville in Louisiana, specifically Betty's RV and the people we have met there stand as one of our favorite stops. The food, music, and people are just like no where else.

Group of new friends from Betty's

 Also a big part of this lifestyle is still remaining a part of our families and friends lives that we had before. We have returned back to our Wisconsin area each year for a couple months to spend time with them. That time is most cherished and we always can't wait to get back to be with our kids and grandsons.

Our grandsons

Our kids- Mandy, Nate and Colleen

So on we go well in our fifth year with no regrets and looking forward to continue with new adventures and new friends. We are truly blessed to have been able to do this.
 We appreciate you all for following along and feel free to comment in anytime.
                Thanks again, Ray and Wendy

Bad News / Goood News

Hi all,
Dang, dang, and dang. Thought I was doing pretty good even started needing oxygen only at night,and then around new years something hit me again.
 Monday morning I ended back at hospital with  severe breathing difficulties. So now I will get treated for pneumonia. With my COPD condition they have a difficult time diagnosing pneumonia.
It was slower healing this time and we finally started to get better towards Thursday. I was released the following Sunday.
 I dang well take my time to recoup this time, although I didn't think I was pushing it last time.
I thank God I have Wendy and Amanda and Pat here to help us get through this.
 Further out I will be seeing specialist in Jacksonville for more pulmonary care.
So life goes on at the farm, a couple more baby goats making 6 since just before Christmas. Man, they are a blast to watch when little at the bouncing around they do. We got some interesting colors in a couple to. Rose a black goat who had 3 births in the past gave birth to tawny colored baby, her previous were black like her. Another tan colored goat gave birth to a chocolate and white goat, man that's a pretty goat.

Shaggy

Raylee

Tippy and momma Daisy

 Kinda weird liking these goats, I worked on a dairy farm and Wendy was raised on a farm but we never had anything to do with goats.


Holly and Jolly born on Christmas

Tinkerbell



 Pat and Amanda took control of our lean to project and finished it off. Pat and I had gotten pretty far before I started to get sick. The lean to was to give the Alpaca cover in rain or shade from the sun. Great success we see the alpaca staying there most nights.

nice using the neighbors tractor- beam was 4x8x24feet

 Got more great news as our son Nate and grandson Alex will be flying down for a couple days at the end of the month. That along with our other daughter Colleen and her hubby and 2 younger grandkids flying down for a Disney vacation in February, looking forward to that. So I better get my health in check so we can have fun.
 Wendy continues to do some basket work and help around the house. She also helped Amanda repaint and decorate a bathroom, and all while running to see me. Yeah, I owe big time.
Thanks all for the well health wishes, very much appreciated.

Christmas on the Farm

Hi all,
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a joyous new year soon.
We had a great Christmas but things didn't look to promising for a bit. Seems I picked up a respiratory infection again( yeah it was just last year at this time to), anyway we went to get checked out and ended up getting admitted. As I have a form of COPD things like that can be trouble.
We opted to go to the small clinic/hospital in Live Oak. In two days it worsened and I ended up getting transferred to Lake City where they have a pulmonologist on staff. What a good move that turned out to be, like going from the motel 6 to the Ritz.
 They had two different Drs. monitoring my care pretty tight, but with seeing two sometimes I felt like I was getting two stories. The early doctor seeing me at 6 am would say I was pretty bad and probably be here a while. Then the other guy would come in during the evening and tell me I was sounding better.

fun, fun

 So with Christmas fast approaching Friday afternoon I was able to get released. Not clear out of the woods though I would need oxygen at home for a bit, and with insurance companies already on break they had to pull some strings hard to get this setup. Praise God they got it done, I was able to get back home and be with loved ones for the holiday. A lot of things go through ones mind at times like this and surely puts Christmas in a different perspective.
 Enough of that on with the fun stuff, weather here for Christmas was a sunny 80 degrees, for sure the warmest we have ever experienced.

Took a ride and found a few local displays.

 Our tradition is a big ol Christmas brunch and ham dinner later in the day. Since we went fulltime a skype call to the kids in Wisconsin is now a tradition to.

 So Wendy and I are on deck skyping away when Amanda steps out, seems she had a feeling about one of her goats and sure enough she comes running and screaming babies!!! How awesome a set of twins, a baby girl and boy( Holly and Jolly).

Phoebe, Holly, n Jolly

 That excitement having made our day we got back to skyping and got to see our grandsons decipher their Christmas present. Colleen had been giving them letters throughout the morning waiting for them to unscramble the word Disney World. Cool a February vacation that we get to join along on.
 Not quite done with our excitement yet. On Monday, we noticed another of the goats segregated from the herd and acting a bit strange, sure enough Pat heard some goat scream in the barn and off we run getting to witness our first baby goat being brought into this world. Wow, we were a bit nervous as this goat a couple years ago had had a still born that required pulling from the womb, but she did okay and Tinkerbell (girl) is happy and a pretty silver like her momma.


Blanche and Tinker Bell

 Amanda and Pats plans for the goats are to maintain a herd of 20 or so, breed and sell off boy goats(she has 3 boys separated for studs). She has a male fainter goat and babies from him sell nicely. At this time not getting into the milking thing.

 So feeling better every day I need to get back at my projects here before my rent goes up.
 Again a Happy New Years to Y'all thanks for following along this year.

Yeahmon

Hi all,
We're back! We had a great time on our Jamaican vacation and though we did have wifi at the hotel I made the decision to be internet free for the week.
 We made the trip with daughter Amanda and hubby Pat, also along was Pats mom Gale and grandson Alex with gf Emily.

Gale, Amanda, Pat, Wendy, Alex and Emily

 We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Montego Bay, it is pretty big place with seven different buildings. 
 One really nice thing there was a small island with chairs setup for sunning or napping in the shade and you could snorkel right around the island.

 Nightly entertainment provided some neat local dance and drum groups performing. Some of the singing or local bands not quite as entertaining, but overall we enjoyed most of it.
 Food was plentiful offering an all day buffet and four different dinner restaurants, one offered Jamaican fare, one Italian, one Japanese and seafood at the other. They also featured a jerk hut, a hamburger grill, and a ice cream and hot dog hut. Along with five bars sprinkled about we never had to go far to satisfy any craving.

 Amanda and Pat had been to Jamaica a few years earlier so one good part of this was Amanda had met a local tour guide and she was able to set up a couple day excursions with him.
 We quickly learned this was the best way to travel as the vehicles driver is on the right and they travel on the left side of the road, just imagine coming into a roundabout.
 Lindsey was our tour guide and he quickly made us all feel welcome. Although a born Jamaican he has spent time working on Disney cruise ships and some other time in Florida. He was very informative on Jamaican history and culture. He also had good knowledge of the plant life and kept spewing interesting facts along the way.

lots of fruit stands

jack fruit

 Our first excursion was a place called The Blue Hole just outside the port city of Ocho Rios about a hour and a half drive away. Most of the drive was along the coast just heading inland after Ocho Rios. Things then quickly turned quite interesting,  we rounded a turn in the road and there stood  Brownie Man selling- well you know, special brownies. Sorry, he came upon us so fast we didn't get a pic. We got a little culture shock learning that marijuana is not much of a crime here, people are allowed two ounces for personal use and can have 3 plants at home.

 At the Blue Hole a guide led you up stream hiking and as you made the return trip you were able to leap into the deep pools created by the falls. We then stopped at Scotchies a favorite local jerk restaurant.

 Our other excursion was a packed day, we headed across the island our first stop was YS Falls, another beautiful mountain stream with cool waterfalls.

 Next we made a pontoon boat ride on the Black River traversing through a mangrove. There we saw crocodile, egrets, and herons along the scenic route.

 Not near done yet we were treated to a fresh lobster lunch at a beachfront bar. From there we caught a small narrow fishing boat for a ride out to the famous Pelican Bar. The bar is made on stilts about 3/4 mile out from shore. It is on a large sand bar and we were able to snorkel around or just stand in the warm water and drink.

 Traveling around the island is an adventure itself, road are narrow and repairs are almost non existent. When you get to populated areas it gets even more fun with pedestrians blindly crossing almost daring you to hit them.

 Our last day we made a change of plans having Lindsay give us a small tour of Montego Bay and a few city sites. He took us to the oldest church in Jamaica that has been holding services 220 years. Amazing fact of that they have had only 22 priests in that time.

 We then took a small tour of a beautiful old resort Rose Hill. It is built high on a hill overlooking the city and Montego Bay.