Saturday, March 9, 2024

SOLD!! The Pinnacle Has New Owners!

It didn't take as long as we thought it would. Our 40 foot Pinnacle was sold last week to a couple that is interested in traveling more and in more style and room than what they had.

We were so grateful to Allegiant RV Repair Service in Middlebury, IN, who not only repaired our RV after the accident, but did such an amazing job that it looked brand new when finished! The owner, Tony, is a wonderful and ethical person to work with. RV repairs are top notch. Service is top notch. If you EVER need repairs in the Elkhart area, we HIGHLY recommend Allegiant RV Repairs and Sales. On a whim, we asked him if they ever do consignments, and they do! We cleaned it and got it ready for sale, they posted it online in a number of places, put it out front on their lot which gets a lot of local transporter traffic, handled all inquiries and paperwork and  at the first break of warm weather in late February, we had a buyer. Not only did the first people who looked at it decided to buy it, but the same day, another couple was ready to sign a check to purchase it if the first sale didn't go through. We were blessed in that we bought it just before the pandemic hit in 2000, and sold it in the middle of current pricing where RV prices are just now starting to come down. We came out a little bit ahead and we are thrilled and relieved.

When we bought it in 2020

It's bittersweet to not have the rig any more, but it was time for us. It's going to be even more bittersweet going back through our blogs and photos as we reminisce. What a time we had! What amazing experiences and beautiful scenery we got to see! Sparky is really glad she was diligent about recording all our travels and adventures. It was quite the life!

Eldy is going to be 76, Sparky is going to be 74 this summer. We hope to travel again some day in a much smaller rig, but we shall see. Eldy is going to have hip surgery in a couple of weeks, Sparky is subbing a lot for now....

Sparky is busy crafting on non-subbing days, which aren't very many! Here are some things she has made in the past month or so....She's really into making zippered pouches, totes and rope bowls right now. Next month, it will probably be something else. If you ever want to see how A.D.D and random Sparky is in her craft endeavors, check out her Etsy shop here: JeanBeanGifts

Our next "adventure" is Eldy's hip replacement surgery on March 19th. If anybody has any advice of any kind about recuperating, please let us know! And thank you in advance....

Bye for now.....   Sparky and Eldo

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Hitch Itch?

When we were first traveling in our class A motorhome years ago, (a 40 ft.Tiffin Phaeton) we would pack up and move every few days or a week and head out to our next destination. We were so eager to travel and see the country, and campgrounds were so reasonable and available, we could do lots of spur of the moment traveling. So we did! We loved it. If we didn't like the area where we were, we'd say, "Let's head out tomorrow and plan along the way." There was lots of flexibility in our planning and spur of the moment decisions while driving down the road. Call a campground while driving and see if they had room? No problem, and they usually did. Don't like the particular campground? Pack up and leave and head out for a different one the next day. Sometimes we'd pull into a campground and it was so bad we pulled right back out and kept going!  A motorhome was a LOT easier to pack up and go in those days than a travel trailer or fifth wheel which we last had so that made it easy to change our minds.

Full time RVers, which is what we were, would nickname that urge to get back out on the road and head out, getting the "hitch itch". Eldo used to love to sing that first line of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" song because we had the hitch itch quite often. But-after three years of busy traveling, we loved Florida's west coast so much we settled down and bought a house in Bradenton and lived there for seven years. Eldy loved his golf, Sparky loved her subbing.

Fast forward to our second interval traveling full time-- We got the hitch itch after living in crowded Bradenton/Sarasota, with all it's humidity, hurricane threats and jumble of constant newcomers heading to Florida to the land of sunshine and beaches. Eldy got the hitch itch really badly after seven years, and Sparky was right there with him. He said, "What do you think about heading out on the road again?" Sparky said, "SURE!" This time in a 40 ft. fifth wheel with a big honkin' dually, which is all we could find at the time of Covid and once again off we went as full timers. 

BUT- campground prices and availability had become much more of a logistics challenge, so we'd have to stay longer, at least a week to three weeks, juggling our special thousand Trails membership requirements, and campground availability. It had to become a much more regularly scheduled journey with regular stops as we traveled this past three years. That part, we didn't like as much. BUT--if you have the funds and can do it, you can still have "hitch itch", not be tied to specific campgrounds, move around more and travel farther, but you will still have to plan ahead. Many more people are still RVing after Covid, and campgrounds are not keeping up with enough spots and updated amenities nor are there enough campgrounds to meet the demand, so there are many more people competing for spots.

We still got the hitch itch, but now we were forced to plan WA-A-A-A-Y ahead, weeks out in advance where we were going, where we were going to stay, and how to use our Thousand Trails membership to the max. That created a similar travel plan each year, due to budget constraints of traveling to the same areas at about the same time each year. For three years, we followed a similar path--the northeast in the summer, fall in the midwest, winters in the southwest, then back to spring in the midwest. Even though we were in a somewhat predictable travel pattern, we still would find interesting things to do and branch out with short day trips looking for unique activities at each location. If you have been following our blog, you would see some repetition but also some great new things we did each year. Once we decided to come off the road, due to our accident and ages, we settled down in our hometown area of Elkhart.

Do we miss traveling in the RV? Yes, we do...BUT--there are lots of wonderful things going on in our area, and we can still travel and do little trips when we get the "hitch itch". 

Just recently, Sparky went to a "Fire and Ice Festival" in downtown Goshen, IN, the next town over from where we currently live. It was a small festival, but supposedly, there were to be over 30 ice sculptures, each made from a 300 pound block of ice, an ice throne you could sit on for photo ops, an ice sleigh as well, and fire dancers. Because Eldy is having hip troubles, he chose to have Sparky go check it out as there would be a bit of walking all around downtown.

Some of the ice sculptures were very cool! (ouch! Sorry about that one!) 





This guy was working on a frog eating a pretzel in front of Jojo's Pretzel Shop. He said he'd been coming to this festival and carving for years. 

Sparky got to sit on the ice throne for a brief moment--any longer and she would have froze her tushie off!



Entering Clementine's
Over Sparky's Christmas break (she is working at substitute teaching pretty steadily again) we took a couple of little trips to see family on both sides, and then we decided, on the spur of the moment, (yay!) to head up to South Haven, Michigan, one of our old stomping grounds years ago when we had our class A motorhome. It's a beautiful little lake town with a nice harbor, a lighthouse and a great summer or winter destination. There are lots of cool little shops downtown. There's also a beautiful RV park there, where we had stayed years ago, called South Haven Sunny Brook.  We did not drive by there, but we decided to visit Clementine's, a beautiful restaurant in an old bank building downtown South Haven.  There are two locations, one here in South Haven, the other Clementine's Too in St. Joseph, MI. The old restored bank building made into a restaurant at the South Haven location is AMAZING! Even more so with the holiday lights and decorations. Here's what you see when you enter the lobby:


Here's the bar area:


The food is delicious and the menu extensive...We love their onion ring towers--two sizes to choose from. We recommend the smaller one, it's plenty big enough for two people, but our eyes were bigger than our stomachs so we had to have the tall tower. That's a lotta onion rings! Then Sparky had to have fried zucchini, with a ranch/dill sauce.

After a wonderful meal, Sparky had to walk the pier to see the small lighthouse there. During the winter, photographers have captured amazing shots of the winter weather--huge ice slab buildups with huge waves crashing over the pier, but today, it was a calm day very little wind, so Sparky walked out to the end of the pier where the lighthouse is, and walked back. (Eldo has a bad hip so he is being careful, it was an icy, slippery walk!) And, it was COLD and a wet chilly day! We're still trying to get used to that after living in Florida for seven years. Those midwest winters were a distant memory for us, but they have returned to the forefront with a vengeance! We are living it as we write...
After the pier walk, we headed back to the car and spotted an outdoor skating rink--how fun! Sparky would try that, especially since now, a lot of rinks have plastic grown up sized "sleds" that you can push around in front of you so you won't fall down. Sparky would definitely need one of those, her balance is terrible as a 73 year old.


(Yep, and I wouldn't let her out on the rink unless she had one, firmly says E.) There was also a cool fire pit right by the rink, for warming yourself. This reminded Sparky of skating on her elementary school football field that was flooded each year in the wintertime, and where she lost her two new permanent front teeth in a fall in second grade while skating backwards. (It was so traumatic, she still talks about it 66 years later laughs Eldo.)

Cool mural near the rink
South Haven is a cool town....we really enjoyed our visit today. We love doing little day trips and venturing out once again. With the day coming to a close, we head back to Elkhart, our home for now and for awhile. Have you ever had the "hitch itch"? For us, hitch itch just looks a little different these days.....


Tuesday, December 26, 2023

A Trip to the Motor City

Holidays are wonderful times to get together with families, especially if you don't have to fly! Sparky's sister lives near Detroit, so off we went for a quick trip to the Detroit area close to Christmas. It's about a 3.5 hour drive from Elkhart, and we needed to put a few highway miles on our baby Bronco to "break in" the engine. Guess that's still a thing--vary your driving speeds the first thousand miles. We definitely have been doing that!

We went to Belle Isle Island, a 982 acre island park that is 2.5 miles long, in Detroit, developed in the late 19th century. Belle Isle, also known as the "Jewel of Detroit", is the main island with several surrounding islets. You can walk or bike all around the island which would be 5.4 miles. One third of the island is a natural wooded area. Of course, it's surrounded by water, with 7 miles of shoreline. There are three lakes on the island, and 230 acres of forested wetlands. You can rent kayaks there, picnic, fish, swim and visit all the wonderful resources. There's an aquarium there, which is ranked among the top ten aquariums in the country by visitors, a gorgeous memorial fountain, a beautiful conservatory that is under renovation, a nature center, and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, which we visited today. That's the Edmund Fitzgerald anchor Eldy is standing in front of outside the museum.
Eldy in front of the Edmund Anchor

The museum was very cool. The museum is all about the steamships that have traversed the Detroit River from the early days and the boating history associated with the Detroit River.

When first entering the museum walkway coming in, you see the Miss Pepsi hydroplane racing boat. It's about 36 feet long and about 9 feet wide, and ran on 230 gallons of jet fuel. It was built in the late forties and retired from a successful racing career in 1952 because no one could challenge it. It was the fastest hydroplane on the Detroit River during its time. No wonder, as Detroit's expertise in engines and motors was legendary.

The Gothic Room

As you continue on into the museum, the most beautiful oak carved entry room awaits. This is part of the Gothic Room, a smoking room from the City of Detroit III steamship. The steamship was a side wheel steamer, one of the largest sidewheel steamers on the Great Lakes and at the time it was built and launched, the largest in the world. The Gothic room had intricate English oak carvings and was located on the top deck of the ship. There was plush leather upholstery, leaded glass windows, and a pipe organ for entertainment. The ship also had a winery on board, a palm tree court, and salons. These luxury steamers were the forerunners of today's cruise ships. The ship ran between Detroit and Cleveland, or Detroit and Buffalo. Nothing but the finest china, crystal, and accommodations for passengers who wanted a luxurious cruise during the early 1900's.

The museum had a pilot house where you could try your hand at navigating a freighter past buoys to dock it. That sounded like fun! The video said Sparky crashed into a buoy, but she swears she never hit anything! (That's what she said about the dent in the truck, says Eldy.) There were many more wonderful exhibits. Sparky loved the freighter horn area, where you could push a button, and hear all the different signals that a freighter uses while navigating the river. Love the sound of those horns!
The museum was small and easily walkable, but interesting and informative. There was a sizable section devoted to microplastics and how damaging they are to people and the environment. Even beer has microplastics in them, sad to say.

While in the Detroit area, we visited the Motor City Brewing Works, a brewery and grill. It had the most fantastic pizza and salad, and Eldy loved his tavern brewed Witt beer that he had. The salad had fresh mozzarella on it. Yum!
We also drove around downtown Detroit a little bit. We viewed the Brush Park district where opulent old homes at the turn of the century are being renovated and restored to their former glory. This area used to be called the "Little Paris of the Midwest" in its heyday. We didn't get any photos, because it was such a dreary day. But here is one from the internet of one of the more famous ones--the Ransom Gillis house, which has been restored.
Our brief Michigan holiday was over too soon...then it was back to Indiana to share Christmas Eve with Eldy's son and his family.  Here are the Three Musketeers-- (Sparky's brother-in-law, sister, and Eldy) at the brewery:


Back in Indiana.....Eldy's son's family...

From our family to yours...may the coming New Year bless you with good health and good tidings....
     
                                     Sparky and Eldo

Thursday, December 7, 2023

SOLD! Time for a New Ride.....

After waiting and waiting for repairs to be done to our rig, we decided to sell our truck or trade it in and then sell our RV. We are not going to be RVing any longer for quite awhile, but when we do, it will be in a smaller rig IF we head back out on the road, or decide to be snowbirds. It's been tough driving around down in a big dually, finding big enough parking spaces, and finding decent diesel prices which are currently hovering around 3.99 here in northern Indiana. Oil changes on this behemoth are over 300.00 each time, in addition to extra expensive parts when they are needed, so we thought it was a good time to jump in on a trade. Car dealers are having to get many used cars from auctions, and are not getting very many trade in vehicles, so Eldy did his research, we did our due diligence on driving some different SUV's, and here is what we settled on:

We traded our truck in for a 2023 Bronco Sport, the Outer Banks trim model. Owners affectionately call it the "Baby Bronco."  It's got some great safety features, some awesome new technology in it, and the ride is amazingly smooth for a truck type/sport vehicle chassis. 

We have a built in phone charging pad. We have heated seats and steering wheel which is so nice for our aging bodies! We have a terrific sound system in it. We have adaptive cruise control which slows down the car if the car in front of you slows down.  Lane assist, lane centering, what's not to like? Especially if you have a tendency to wander a wee bit from side to side while driving. (Just like Sparky is starting to do on her own feet when walking! lol...) There are lots of safety features and interesting technologies that are going to take us a bit of time to figure out. The inside is steel blue and gray, a really pretty combination. We are going to put a hitch on it, so Sparky can transport her bike.

What about our RV, you might be wondering? We have put it up for sale. It's just too big for us now and with getting older, we need something smaller and easier to travel in and for shorter periods of time. The repair shop did an AMAZING job on the body work. It looks like a brand new rig!

Hopefully, down the road, we will look at a class C, which is a smaller recreational vehicle. With a class C, you don't have to tow a car behind unless you want to. We would take off for the worst of the winter months in the midwest, heading towards the south and west, and then return back to Indiana for the spring, summer and fall. We shall see.....

In the meantime, Sparky went to Houston for a quick trip over Thanksgiving, passing through O'Hare Airport on the way. Sparky loves airports, and they are getting more and more interesting with art work and architecture, to enjoy your temporary stay, IF you are not in a hurry to get somewhere! This C terminal at O'Hare is so cool!

There are also beautifully designed walkways with artwork. This one had a park bench shaped like a guitar along the side further back.


Eldy had Thanksgiving with his family, but didn't take any photos. Phooey! 

Back to Houston....Sparky's grandson is now almost as tall as Sparky, and he loves playing basketball. He's quite the reader, too, and when we last talked, he was recommending books for Sparky to read. (Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). We went to a fun arcade place and played a variety of fun games. Sparky's favorite was air hockey. She was ahead 4-1, then got slammed by her grandson and ended up losing. Guess he let her win the first few as he didn't want to shut her out completely right away, he said, haha.



It was 40 degrees in Houston that day!

The visit was over too soon, and it was back to school after the weekend.  Bye-bye Houston, TX for now....
Boots made for walking-Houston airport

And back to Indiana....Sparky has been super busy subbing and really loving it. She only will do grades K-4, but even kindergarten is getting tough. The kids really have a hard time sitting still at that age, and there isn't enough physical activity to help their little bodies settle down for awhile. It's much more academically oriented and quite a few are just not ready for that yet. Sparky sees a lot more emotional difficulties in the primary grades--kids are very stressed these days, and teaching is much more difficult than it used to be. Teachers are seeing a lot more emotional outbursts, anger issues, inability to focus issues, and many are quitting the field due to micromanagement of teaching practices. Teachers can't teach the way they'd like to teach any more. Tests, tests, more tests.....There's no room for creativity, no time in the day for it, but the really talented and gifted teachers manage to get a little imagination and wonder into the day despite that. 

Sparky was in a second grade classroom last week and the kids were required to listen to a video all about the War of 1812, and expected to understand how it occurred, and what led up to it. The instructional vocabulary was way above their heads, and there were maybe two students who actually had somewhat of an idea about politics and the direction the country was headed at that time. That was the main focus of the reading program curriculum---history. Times most certainly have changed! In other schools there is a heavy emphasis on phonics, which Sparky has always advocated for, so everywhere she goes, she sees different aspects of education, and she finds that very interesting. Part of the allure of subbing, besides trying to make a difference with kids, is that Sparky loves the interaction with the kids and being called "Mrs. Sparkles" or "Mrs. Sprinkles" often. So she will keep subbing until the day she no longer can or somebody gently suggests, "Have you thought about volunteering at the local food bank?" Haha...

Blog posts may be coming fewer these days, but we will stay in touch. Thank you so much for following us along in our journey and if you are still interested in reading, we appreciate that even more as our lives keep changing and moving in a different direction. 

Bye for now.....Sparky and Eldo

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Life is One Long Ride, Enjoy the Journey



Sparky LOVES riding her bike, as anyone who follows our blog knows. This post is yet another tribute to one of the nicest bike trails in the US, the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail leading out of Goshen, IN to Shipshewanna, with some other trail spurs along the way. Even though it is not a Rails-to-Trails, it's a beautiful paved path most of the way. Because some day Sparky is going to be too old to ride, she wanted to make another post about riding the Pumpkinvine in late October so she can look back on these photos and reminisce about the different seasons on the trail....Here is what she saw on her 16 miles today from Goshen to Middlebury and back.

Less than two weeks ago, the trail was a canopy of mostly green leaves. Now, it's all shades of yellows, browns and oranges. The trees changed so fast!

Riding the trail, the carpet of leaves on the ground would change from a swath of yellow.....
To browns in another section, then oranges, and reds yet in another section of the trail, even a swath of green.....

The flaming sumac are predominate on the trail now. With many of the trees having shed their leaves, the sumac really stand out.


The farmers have harvested their corn but the soybeans are still standing....
There was a section of trail that had raindrops still glistening on the leaves, the patterns were cool! No matter how she tried, she couldn't capture the sparkle of the dew drops, when looking at them without the camera phone, they looked like rhinestones on the leaves. Through the lens, ordinary raindrops. Nature is so beautiful, especially on this trail. Even decaying leaves (at left) look cool.
Not only are there the usual fall colors, there was a small shrub or bush that was PINK!
If you're been following us, you might remember Rocky the Trail Snake? Someone with a little whimsy started a painted rock snake with a head and about three rocks way back in the early summer. They posted a sign about adding to him with a link to a FB group for him. "Rocky" has grown to a length of over 160 rocks by now and is about 26 feet along at the side of the trail off on the berm. He has been lovingly attended to by someone sweeping away the fall leaves so you can see how he's grown. Here is a section of the newest rocks. People are so clever with painting them!
Somebody added a really big rock with a Halloween theme painted on it, two ghouls with "return of the living" painted on it.

Soon Rocky will be hibernating but it has been fascinating to see his growth and the participation of the riders and walkers along the trail, as they added cool additions to his tail.

Another cool thing about the trail is they have regular events and others scheduled to use the trail. There is a running race this weekend, Sparky saw some runners on the trail today getting their mileage.

We are really enjoying fall's beauty... A big cold front is coming in soon...Highs in the FORTIES, lows in the twenties and thirties for the next two weeks. We are ready. Bought an ice scraper, Sparky bought her boots and we are stocking up on fall and winter clothing. That's something we really didn't need while we were traveling out on the road, following the sun and staying where it was warm most of the time.

Sparky will probably change her tune when the first icy sleet comes to Elkhart, IN, but she has lots of crafting projects ready to go for those bad weather days, and she is subbing a LOT, keeping very busy. Eldo is doing lots and lots of research about all kinds of things. 

The latest on the rig is it has been painted, but a part is still on hold! Probably another couple of weeks before we can pick it up. We are having it winterized and not traveling anywhere at this point in time, we are going to settle in for the season.

We know we won't have any travel stories for awhile, but occasionally, we will venture out of Elkhart and will keep you posted. Thanks for reading and staying with us, if you are!