Disc Golf Anyone?

Every once in awhile, I mention that we went and played Frisbee golf--or the politically correct term would be "disc" golf to those who are fans of the sport. (Sparky is a BIG fan! Almost as much as Eldy is a Notre Dame fan!) That might be a little exaggeration...I learned how to play about fifteen years ago. There are several disc golf courses in the South Bend area. Rum Village was my favorite, so I played often when I lived there, at least a couple times a week for awhile. There's a course at George Wilson Park in Mishawaka, IN, and a couple more at the state parks in the area. It's great exercise--walking 9 or 18 holes on a disc golf course, up and down little hills, or in one case last year, a mountain(!) in our travels....The disc golf course is not as big as a regular golf course, but it has all the "trappings" of a regular golf course--trees, piles of leaves in the fall, (good luck finding your disc that has fallen in the leaf "trap"!) and occasionally a water hazard of some sort. We played one course in Florida at St. Pete's Beach, at the Maximo County Park disc golf course, and there, the PALM trees were the "traps" !

Each hole has a "par"--how many shots it should take you to get to the hole....and the rules and scoring are very similar to golf. Sparky and Eldo don't keep a written score when they play, they just walk the course and keep track of who took the lesser number of throws to get to the chain link basket. Eldo has gotten better rapidly with each time they play, so the playing field has gotten pretty even!

The discs look like regular frisbees but they are specifically designed and weighted for the sport. If you know you have a tendency to throw or "hook" to the left, they make discs to compensate for that. If you slice to the right, there's a disc for that. There are a range of weights for each type of disc, as some people prefer a heavier "driver" disc--that's your main, straightaway throwing disc. The "putters" are heavier and designed for a closer throwing or putting range. You throw at a chain link basket, and the vertical chains "trap" the disc as it hits the basket. Sometimes, the disc will appear to pass right through the chains and bounce out of the basket! I HATE when that happens! The number of yards to the basket varies and determines the par for the throw....It's usually about a hundred yards to the basket or under.

There are disc courses all over the country, and we have seen LOTS in our travels. There is a website called Disc Golf Reviews and it tells you about each course and rates them as to difficulty. Here's a link to the official disc golf organization....http://www.pdga.com   Here's another one to find out where to play...  http://www.dgcoursereview.com/   It's inexpensive, a nice way to socialize with friends for a morning or afternoon, and you are helping yourself to stay healthy!

Haven't got the hang of the iphone camera yet!

Speaking of socializing with friends, we had a surprise visit from Barb and Mike Kavas, friends of Eldy's-- over 45 years they have known each other! They spend the summers in Elkhart, IN and winter in Florida. It was great to see them, and after chatting away for awhile, we decided to go eat at Texas Roadhouse during the early bird dinner special. Dinners are 7.99 for a small steak/chicken/ or another choice, potato, salad and the sweetest dinner rolls. Eldy and Mike traded stories about being teenagers and Mike's '52 Plymouth, painted pink with a black racing stripe. Pink was the only leftover paint available at the time. Mike's brakes were so bad in that car that he when he got home from school, he coasted into the driveway and stopped by grabbing the branches of the bushes sticking out! (It's a good thing he drove the back roads to school.) Ah-h-h-h, the things we are glad we didn't remember when we were younger! I didn't know Mike back then, but he's got such a twinkle in his eye, I bet he was very, very ornery as a teenager! AND, having hung out with Eldy, I KNOW he was ornery! (No surprises there! E. says proudly.) Mike's wife Barb is a little on the ornery side because Mike and Barb have been married over 40 years...It was a really great way to end the day.......Tomorrow is a busy day, we're going to SCHOOL! (Be sure you tell 'em it's NOT driving school, says E.) Nope! Not driving school.....

Blogger's Dilemma

Well,  just a little one...nothing to speak of really, it's just the decision whether to publish a blog or not when you have very little to say! Like today, there's just not much to report today and most people will find this boring. (Ah, there she goes, it just took a little sputtering and once those fingers get a fluttering on the keyboard the words start flowing). Eldy has such faith...sigh! Well, can't let him down....The weather was gorgeous,  the leaves are changing color, it's my favorite time of year except the weather is getting hotter! It's supposed to be in the eighties by Friday. Ugh! Get those temperatures back down! I went for a bike ride, Eldy went for blood work, we went chair and mattress window shopping again, just price checking. There sure are a lot of places you can look for furniture and RV supplies being that this is still the RV capital of the US. We checked out RV Surplus, Lazy Boy dealers and Elkhart Bedding which makes RV mattresses right here in town. Definitely some possibilities here for future purchase!

After we got back from window shopping, Eldy put the South Dakota plates on the car so I am a REAL bonafide South Dakota resident. Try explaining that to someone sometime who doesn't understand the RV way of life! "Oh, you live in South Dakota? You don't? Hunh?"

Elkhart Campground

Other than that, we frittered the day away.....In putting the plates on the car, Eldy decided his tool assortment sucks--He gave most of it away when he closed out his house, sold it at garage sales, or the tools are so ancient they are not useable or useful enough...(UH-OH! This is Sparky talking in parentheses for a change. I think this means Eldy is going to be rebuilding his tool stash just like I've been building yarn stash....) Hm-m-m-m, we might be even on costs on that one, so I'm not going to say a word!  Not sure what's happening tomorrow, but it might be another boring day! Photos are of the beautiful day today at the Elkhart Campground where we are staying....There are some BIG beautiful old trees in the campground...spacious sites, plenty of room, we love it here! It's close to some wonderful restaurants-Chubby Trout, the 523 Restaurant in downtown Elkhart, pizza, a great grocery store-Martin's, good pizza (Jojo's) , and lots lots more....Just no really good places to ride a bike on this side of town...But I'm still looking on that one.

We'll see what tomorrow brings......Bye!

Wanna Go to Shipshewanna?

Eldy asked  me today...Of course, I said "YEAH!" Shipshewanna is home to great stores, restaurants, finely crafted Amish furniture, pretzels, buggy rides, quilting supplies, the famous flea market which was just about kaput for the month of October, and lots of Amish and Mennonites......We walked around the flea market for a short while today, it was really empty! The vendors that were there were all in buildings..the usual purses, junky household stuff, no crafts. (THAT'S a good thing! says a relieved E.)

We went looking for possible chairs to replace a couch in the motorhome...We're just dreamin' at the moment. We had heard great things about Lambright's Chairs, a company that caters to RVers in Shipshewanna. We had fun looking at chairs--Eldy LOVES a rocker and we found one we both liked that was a rocker/glider. Price? Not affordable at the moment. BUT---great quality, custom built to your specifications...lifetime warranty on the frame...right size and right comfort level. They will take out the couch in the motorhome and donate it to a needy family, I really liked that idea! We were assisted by a young man who was very professional and helpful. He said we could have our custom chair within THREE days! Great service for traveling RVers. However, Eldy wanted to do a little more research. That's where he excels. This is a big purchase and SERIOUS business! Sparky might want to buy the first thing she sees, but that's not how Eldo operates. Which is a good thing!

He's thinkin'!

On to the next chair place---Mastercraft. We stopped at the Mastercraft warehouse and proceeded to be ignored completely by two ladies who were working the front desk. We had to go seek them out every single time we had a question, which happened four or five times. We needed help with fabrics, we need help with measurements, we needed help with available stock. They might have just been secretarial staff, we're not sure, but we felt completely frustrated with our experience there. They apparently had very little interest in assisting anybody who walked in there, and they didn't offer to get anybody to help us or anyone else who came in! Very poor business management in our opinion!

We didn't make any decisions today...we're going to mull it over, always a good thing. It's a good thing Eldy is conservative...it balances out Sparky's impulsive side!

We got some wonderful zucchini bread from the Blue Gate after devouring the zucchini bread that Eldy's daughter brought us the other day. And then, we picked up some pretzels so Sparky can have her sour cream and onion freshly made sweet pretzels from Jojo's! Wahoo!  It's pretzel time! (Awwww, geez, and I have to fast for my bloodwork tomorrow---you're making me hungry!) Whoops! Forgot! I'll just freeze 'em and save them for another day....Sparky stopped at Yoder's Department store--a fabulous quilting store and newly remodeled. I could have spent a LONG time wandering around but Eldo was waiting in the car, which helped me get out of there with minimal damage to my craft budget TODAY..... :-)

Yoder's Department Store, fabric department

See you tomorrow or the next day...absolutely nothing going on tomorrow......(Sparky will think of something! Stay tuned....)

Angola, IN Visit

To the dentist.....Everything ok...to the lawyer to get a copy of my tenant/renter agreement for my house--rats!--closed for lunch, and the right person not available to get me my paperwork, over to my former neighbor's to catch up on neighborhood news and say hello--she babysits BEAUCOUP kids and it's always fun to go see them--lots of babies and toddlers to get a baby fix...The kids peppered me with questions because my first name is the same as their babysitter's. One little boy is the son of the people renting my house, so he says to me, "I know your REAL name, it's Jeannie Sparks!" like he knew a BIG secret. I said, "Yep, that's right!" He proceeded to call out my full name every couple of minutes until I left, much to the amusement of the other little guys and girls sitting at the table eating lunch...
          "Hi, Jeannie Sparks! I live in your house, Jeannie Sparks!"
          "I know you do!"
          "Bye, Jeannie Sparks!"
This gal is a fantastic babysitter. They've outfitted their main living quarters to be totally baby/toddler friendly and inviting for children. Huge play areas, tons of toys, books, and games, and lots of active play equipment. I don't know how many she takes care of on a daily basis, because it varies from day to day, but it's a lot! I could never do that, even though I love little kids, the energy level just isn't there any more.....

In having conversation with my neighbors, I discovered they'd like to buy some of my stuff in storage, so off to the storage shed to try and find stuff....ugh! Dark black plastic bags hiding everything we couldn't fit into storage containers...Found the TV, but not the cords and the remote. Then I find the remote in a bag WITH the instructions, but no cord. Took half the stuff out of the storage shed, discovered lots of stuff I didn't remember I had, tried to find some long sleeve shirts for Eldy, no luck--and finally found the cord. Story of my life--a little disorganized....(A LITTLE?????)   Hush!  You know how hectic it gets when you have to be finished moving out of your house and the people are ready to come in? Shove whatever you can and whatever is left in plastic garbage bags and schlep it over to the storage unit. We'll  check it out later! One year later, and here I am. Can't find anything in there!  Back to the neighbor's house and set up the TV to see if it works....Yay! Success! She's going to buy it! Visit a little more then off for a hike......

Before I left town, I wanted to revisit one of my favorite places in Fremont, IN right next to Angola IN, I-69 and the 80/90 Toll Road....Ropchan Nature Preserve....a beautiful woods with acreage set aside by Acres, a conservation/land trust group in this area that protects nature and land acquisitions for future generations and nature lovers---There are at least three different hikes of varying lengths at the preserve. I used to walk this preserve about three times a week when I lived there, usually a 2 1/2 mile hike and that's what I did today......I ALWAYS see deer in there or at least signs they have passed through recently..

Today, I just saw one and he scampered away before I could catch him on the camera......The preserve changes from meadow to forests, there are little streams and bridges to cross, and almost every year the Boy Scouts perform Eagle Scout projects there such as walkway improvements. It's a beautiful place and a wonderful place to hike.

Saw some interesting mushrooms......When you're retired, little things like this start capturing your attention....You can't say I need to get a hobby, I have lots! (Yup, this woman has more hobbies than most people I know all put together! says E.)

Time to head back to Elkhart to see what Eldy's been up today on his own.....No special plans for tomorrow yet...We'll see what Eldy has in mind...Stay tuned!

How Much Can a Honda CRV Hold?

Would you believe.....two sets of golf clubs, multiple tubs, one full crate of stuff, one full laundry basket, two sets of walking poles, one set of kayak paddles, three bags of clothing, one Brake Buddy, USPS mailing boxes, bubble wrap, two pairs of golf shoes, two coolers, one tote bag with 6 discs for frisbee golf, two bike helmets, one bathroom scale (I didn't know you had that! says a surprised E. You mean we can find out how much weight we've gained this year?) YOU can, I'm gonna conveniently forget we have it in the car! Actually, I think we've lost a little weight this year, or at least we're maintaining. Nobody has gone up a pants size--Yay! Let's keep going here, I'm on a roll......a portable file cabinet box, 2 jugs of distilled water, two tire covers for our previous motorhome (anybody want to buy two boxed sets of paired tire covers, ADCO size #1 (for 33"-35" tires) Ultra Tyre Guard polar white in color with the bungee ball securing system?) No? Guess we'll carry them along for awhile longer. Somebody with a gasser could probably use this size.

To continue,  three tote boxes full of yarn, a fanny pack, a backpack, a carryon piece of luggage, a tote box full of ball caps and other various styles of hats AND two portable camp chairs. Whew! I think that's it! I think the neighbors thought we were having a yard sale--but no, just cleaning out the cargo area. (Hm-m-m-m, I think I should have put a yard sale sign out while she was gone to the car wash place, says E.) Well, we need this stuff. It all stays in the back with the two rear seats folded up to the front ones. We're like a lot of full timers, we don't have room to take anybody with us in the car because of all this STUFF! You want to go somewhere with a full timer, you'll have to drive yourself there to meet them because they don't have any room in the car for you! (But WE'D make room for YOU, we'd just dump everything back at the site under the rig, says E.) Yep, that's right, we would!

What got me started was Eldy cleaning the outside of the car. He tried his new stuff, the Wash Wax All.  He got some free samples along with his kit he bought at the rally...He just sprayed it on with a damp micro fiber cloth, then wipe if off right away with a dry micro fiber cloth. That stuff was amazing! The car looks so beautiful on the outside, I thought it was time to do the inside. So I dumped everything in the yard, went and vacuumed the interior and then repacked the car when I got back. And this is the Honda all cleaned up.....She looks like new! And the finish is slick!

Thank you for the GREAT job on the car, sweetie! It sure beats rubbing the old wax on, letting it dry and then polishing it off by rubbing so hard with the cheesecloth that your arms ached for days afterward. This is how we did it when we were kids, waxing my dad's cars in the fifties and sixties. Only he had us put car cleaner on first, rubbing in overlapping circles to get the "oxidation" off the car, then rub the cleaner off, then repeat the whole process again with the Simoniz car wax. He would buy yards and yards of cheesecloth, then cut them up into polishing cloths. That whole carwash and wax thing--what a chore!

We had a great time at Eldy's son's house last night--We saw Eldy's kids-- Kristi and Brian and their spouses,  Ted and Lori.  Eldy's brother Gary and his wife Michelle came to see us, too. We saw the grandkids, played with the grandkids, watched a little football (Eldy watched a LOT of football with his brother, son and friends) and we ate a lot of great snacks that Lori fixed. The kids had a GREAT time with some neon toys. They decorated themselves and had a great time amusing themselves for more than an hour with these neon tubes that could be extended and connected and made into necklaces and bracelets. The boys were just as interested as Cate was. We've seen those at fairs and festivals--great idea, whoever thought of those things!  It kept the kids busy for a LONG time!


The fellas watched the game out in the garage with a heater going, while some of us gals braved the chilly setting as well. It didn't seem to bother the "baldies!"

Family inherited trait!

It was a great game and Eldy was happy-- Notre Dame WON!--Sparky says WHEW! We'll see you tomorrow....it's DENTIST DAY for Sparky, wish her luck for no fillings needing to be repaired, and no loose crowns! Sparky will see you tomorrow in Angola, IN.....Eldy is going to stay in Elkhart and work on the coach with his new wash system.

We're in Amish Country!

As we drove towards Elkhart, yesterday, I started watching for the Amish buggies. Eldy was watching too..Because you share the road with a large Amish population once you get to Elkhart County and LaGrange Counties, you've really got to pay attention. Shipshewanna, Middlebury, Bristol...some of my favorite stomping grounds...Not only do you have to watch for buggies, but also wagons, and the Amish and Mennonites on bicycles. And here come the buggies...

Eldy said there was a terrible accident last week where two Amish wagons carrying children pulled out of a private drive in front of an SUV. Young Amish children or teens often drive a pony powered wagon around the farms and county roads. Two children were killed and four were injured. The car driver was not at fault and was not cited. You have to be extra vigilant driving in these counties. Many of the roads are really not very big for buggies AND cars or other large vehicles...You need to drive even SLOWER when there's a lot of Amish activity going on--Saturdays are a big shopping day for them.

Saturday in Shipshewanna

There was a HUGE fall craft fair going on in Shipshewanna as we passed through town.  Sparky really wanted to stop, and Eldy tried to accomodate, but we weren't able to find any parking for the MH and tow, so we continued on our way. We are going to come back through town after Cate's soccer game to visit some great places in Shipshewanna--The Blue Gate Restaurant and their bakery, the flea market, Yoder's Department Store, Lolly's Quilting shop and my personal favorite--Jojo's Pretzels.

It's off to see the grandkids' soccer games today...Eldy's oldest grandchild, Cate, plays a mean game of soccer. She's one of the youngest on her team, as the player levels range from grades 6-9, but she holds her own, that's for sure! Sparky used to coach her own girls' soccer teams, and she played adult soccer in her thirties, so she really enjoys watching the kids play. (It's all she can do to keep from yelling out instructions!) What can I say? Old teaching/coaching habits die hard! Cate did a great job today and her determination and grit showed!

Cate, red shirt,  in the middle, holding her own

On the way home from the soccer game, we stopped in Shipshewanna. Sparky went exploring with NO money-- (She forgot her purse, awww, that's too bad! says E.)  W-A-A-N-N-H!  But I saw some great stuff and some cute stores I hadn't known were there. One was a yarn shop with the coolest handspun fibers. (Uh-oh!) We also managed to stop at the pretzel place--Jojo's for a homemade pretzel, best in the midwest! My favorite is the sour cream and onion one....before we leave, I'm gonna buy a bunch and freeze 'em! And I scoped out the fabric and yarn shops. They have some GREAT ones in Shipshewanna!

Tonight we head over to Eldy's son's house for a FOOTBALL/WELCOME HOME party......Rah-rah! Go Notre Dame! Hope Notre Dame wins--Eldy is a RABID Notre Dame fan--that means when they play, he doesn't sit down and just watch if the game is exciting...He's up jumping around and hollerin', "GO "D"! C'MON, D!!" (For you ladies, that's "D" as in Defense)...If they lose, he's not fit to live with for about an hour.....Sparky is not the only pouter in the family! Even if you're not a Notre Dame fan, cross your fingers! Sparky thanks you!  See you tomorrow.....

So Long, Celina!

And Nick, and Terry, and our friends we met at the rally.....but we'll see some of you again soon. A bunch of us headed from Celina to Elkhart, IN today after the rally. Al Hesselbart, the RV historian for the museum, is here, along with some other rally goers. We battled big winds to get here today, but Eldo remained unflappable while he drove.  We really enjoyed Nick's Easter Gypsy Journal Rally. Great classes, a LOT of fun, and great door prizes. Here's me before the drawing, putting my mojo on the kayak in the hopes that I win it. (We won't publish the "AFTER" photo, it's not a pretty sight, explains E.)

Needless to say, Sparky didn't win the kayak---W-A-A-A-A-N-N-N-H-H! (She's whining and throwing a hissy fit, folks!) OK, that's it, I'm done, I'm over it. I didn't win the Kindle, either. W-A-A-A-A-N-N-H!  OK, I'm over that one, too. (Eldo adds, we DID win a free lunch to the excellent Chinese buffet in town, so quit yer whinin', woman!) Yes, dear!

We leave you with a few recommendations:

1.Best Chinese buffet in the country--that's the consensus of opinion by most people who tried the China Wok Buffet in Celina, we agreed, we thought it was EXCELLENT!

2. Great restaurant with 50's cool decor--Lost in the Fifties in the nearby town of St. Mary's --we didn't try it but everybody liked it.

Not good, not good....and the chain broke on the first try to pull them out

3. Mercer County Fairgrounds in Celina is a great place to stay for a VERY reasonable rate. They accepted Passport America for Friday and Saturday at 10.00 a night as we were early birds coming into the rally. No problems with electric and we had 50 amp service. That 10.00 was for electric only. There are some full hookup sites available, but the rate would probably change. If it rains a lot and you get stuck, they have a tractor to pull you out. (I GUESS that's a good thing! says E.) This rig was REALLY stuck, but within minutes, he was out despite the difficulties. There were several rigs that got stuck in the fields, but the fairgrounds were ready, willing and able to get any and everybody out who got stuck. We had a TON of rain this past week. Eldy was a little nervous about when the jacks were about to go down as to how much sinking was going to occur. Luckily, we were on slighter higher ground and we just SLO-O-O-WLY  rolled out of our site to pavement which was a lot closer to us than many people who had other field sites.

4. Celina has a nice bike trail that you pick up near Grand Lake. It runs for about 4.5 miles between Celina and the next town, Coldwater, Ohio....It's an average trail starting at the beautiful Grand Lake in Celina, and ending up within a block of an ice cream shop in Coldwater!

5. Rallies are fun and informative! If you haven't been to a rally, go! Lots to learn, new friends to be made, and great products to check out and try.


6. Check out Harvest Host program--another alternative to Wally World (Walmart). You can stay for one night FREE in participating wineries and farms that belong to Harvest Host. You get to stay in a beautiful country setting and explore the guest host's vineyards, farms, and orchards, buy fresh food products, or possibly help with events should you so choose and are invited to, and maybe even get to extend your stay more than one night by assisting the host. People who have participated in the program say the learning experiences are fabulous, and so are the settings. You don't have to buy wine, but a small purchase is greatly appreciated. We have yet to try it, but after hearing of the latest upgrades to the website in searching for guest hosts and all the great amenities, we can tell that this is definitely something we need to check out more often. Visit the Harvest Hosts website at www.harvesthosts.com for more information and membership details. If you decide to sign up, would you please mention us where you heard about it? Thank you!   (Jeannie Sparks, referring member)

Eldy bought his wash system for the RV. This will be really nice because so many campgrounds are now saying that individuals cannot wash their coaches or tow vehicles. Eldy's wash system that he purchased is called Wash Wax All. It's a product that sprays on and wipes dry. It meets Boeing Aircraft cleaning specs and it's water based, alcohol and petroleum free, which is GREEN for the environment! He bought a complete kit that has the coolest brush head/extension pole with dual micro fiber mop heads on it, one dry side and one wet side, cleaners, sprays and cloths. He can clean the whole coach except for the very roof top without climbing a ladder--yay!   I'll do the roof sweetie....

We drove about three hours today from Celina, OH to Elkhart, IN. We'll be here the entire month of October at the Elkhart Campground. Monthly rate is 450.00 for a HUGE corner lot on a cement pad--nice after soggy, muddy grass.  We have 30 amp service (we could have had 50 but don't need it), and full hookup. It's pretty here, with the trees changing colors. We hope to publish the blog every day, but if things get to be very mundane and ordinary, which they probably will, Sparky might cut back on the blog to every other day or so. Most of our visit is going to be spending time with family, getting appointments taken care of, trying to sell a few things out of the storage shed, and just hanging out and saving money for our travels this winter. If you don't see the blog every day, we're here, we just didn't have anything too interesting to say! We hope you'll hang in there with us, we'll be back! (Sparky always says that, she'll probably post every day until she takes her trip to see her daughter in Washington, D.C. in a couple of weeks, explains E) I'm looking forward to that, I'll be in D.C. for five days--never have been there!  Well, we'll see you later!  Bye for now......