O H I O

Our time in Ohio was AWESOME, as always. WE stayed very busy between driving back and forth from our campground to Skye's house, running Colin to school,taking the kids to tumbling class, going to lunch (Skye's and My, favorite thing to do), telling stories and playing bad guys with Colin. Colin has such an imagination! The first thing Colin wants to do when we get in the car is tell stories. They can't just be any story they have to be about super hero's. If you try to tell a story that doesn't involve a super hero Colin will stop you and say "Noooooo, about a super hero". I can hear his sweet little voice as I type this. ~sigh~ Your super hero has to fly, jump tall buildings, save a princess or fight bad guys, OH and it has to start with "Once upon a time". It is so much fun to watch his expressions and see him listen so intently. And when he tells HIS stories they are great! He gets all the super hero elements in, flying, jumping, saving, it's amazing. AND of course Rylee has to tell her stories too. Colin doesn't like them because Rylee's stories involve "Once upon a time,(pause, pause, pause) then....... THE END!! So cute!!!

The kids came out and spent the night with us in the motor home one night. We had so much fun. We played at the play ground, threw rocks in the river and started on a hay ride. Rylee didn't like that! The tractor that was pulling the hay wagon was very loud and we were right behind it. So as soon as we stopped to pick up some other riders Rylee and I got off. Chip and Colin stayed on and had a blast.

On another occasion Skye brought the kids out to the campground and we had a "cook out", that is what they call a Bar-B-Que in the mid-west. We had so much fun. We skipped rocks, played baseball and ate hot dogs.

With Jason's schedule of working 7pm to 7am we didn't get to see him very much. But we did and the times we did were great. Skye is very blessed to have such a devoted husband. Jason is not afraid of work that's for sure. He has really put in his time and it has paid off. He was starting his "dream" job in the ER just before we left. That is what he has wanted since staring nursing school. His next stop will be a Physicians assistant or Nurse Practitioner. We are very proud of him!

I could go on and on but I think I will add some pictures and be done. The pictures are so much more fun anyway.

Working Minnesota

Once we left the Everglades we started preparing for our newest adventure “working”. By the time we reached Minnesota we were ready to hit the road runnin’. Little did we know we would soon be coming to a screeching halt of realization..

That we didn’t know what the heck we were doing?

Chip planned our route so that the first week or so we had no advertisers so all we had to do was try to sell them on advertising and do the inspection. Because we started so early in May most of the campgrounds had just opened so we found ourselves faced with the daunting task of distinguishing between what was and what was to be…. NOT easy!

But we managed to keep almost everyone happy with ratings. The people of Minnesota have been very friendly. That so far has been the best part of this job. Meeting the campground owners. AS of today we have finished our territory from east to west below Minneapolis. And we have been in the Minneapolis area a couple days. One nice thing about being here is the parks are closer together. Last week we drove over 100 miles one way to get to a park. So it will be nice to be within 20 of several parks.

With Memorial Day weekend here we are just hanging out. This weekend marks the beginning of the "season" here in Minnesota. So the parks are hopefully very busy.

The terrain here in Minnesota is different than we imagined. We pictured a lot of trees and lakes. What we have seen down here in the So. East is farm land. LOTS of farm land. The crops have not been planted yet so the fields are being tilled and prepared. It is so pretty to see an old farm house with silo’s, a huge red barn and trees in the middle of a black rich looking dirt field. It makes the farm house stand out. In the fields also are ribbons of the greenest grass you have ever seen. These must be natural water ways there so they leave them alone. It really is pretty. We are amazed at how green the grasses are here. Some of the yards look like the best greens of a golf course. And it doesn’t appear they even try except to mow. I would bet there isn’t a household in this area that does not have a riding mower.



(This is just an OLD farm house we thought was cool!)


Our highlight so far has been the sighting of a Pheasant. We were on a gravel road heading to a campground when Chip spotted something in the grass. We stopped just in time to see it run/fly through the grass away from us. After our inspection of the campground we were leaving and saw a second one. THIS time we got a couple pictures. They are such a beautiful bird. I can’t imagine shooting one. But Pheasant hunting is big around here.



This picture was taken from our site in a campground on a day where the sun actually shone. When the sun is out it is very hot and humid. In fact the day before this was taken we were wearing jackets. On this day we were running our AC... Then the next day we were wearing sweatshirts again! Its no wonder they have tornado's around here.



At one of the parks we visited they escort you to your site riding a Segway. We got to know them in the couple days we were there and the last morning before we left they let us try it out! It was fun. I would not mind having one of those!





We are approximately 1/2 way through Minnesota and we are doing better every day! Not breaking any sales records but having fun! After all THAT is why we are doing it, to have FUN..... I have to admit the days are longer than I imagined (everyone was not kidding when they told us the paperwork is unbelievable), the weather isn't what we hoped for but the people have exceeded our expectations!