Being Where I Am Retreat 19-20 March 2011

We (Peggy, Michaelle & Jaimie) left Waynesville about 2:15 and headed southwest toward Springdale Arkansas (just north of Fayetteville).I drove they rode :).......... Food was a main topic during the ride. I knew I was going to blow my diet all weekend. Well I started it off right -- we ate at Shogun for dinner Friday night. Only had a few bites of rice and Japanese noodles. Ate mostly steak, scallops and vegetables. Had a few bites of Jaimie's sushi. Everything was wonderful. Left there and headed to Target to walk dinner off a bit. We all ate too much.

Something didn't agree with Jaimie at dinner and she paid for it most of the night. I so hoped she would be ok in the morning. When we all woke up Jaimie was feeling good. We had breakfast (cheated with 1/4 of a waffle) then we all went back to the room. The hotel seemed brand new. There was a building across the street with a water wheel.

Everything that follows came out of my journal. Want to share my entire experience. We are off on an adventure to Wattle Hollow Retreat Center. A weekend of meditation, yoga and silence. There were 17 people attending. Joy to lead us through meditation and Mark to lead us through yoga. Mark owns Dripping Springs Farm near Berryville, Arkansas.

Check Up

So we the tire covers off, uncovered the hitch (had it covered all winter) made sure that everything was secured inside (took those little things down as Donna suggested unless I had them secured top and bottom -- still working on that). Backed up the truck and connected the hitch for the first time in 2011!!

Major Pod Mod

Well we did it!!

There were very few things I didn't like about the Pod after we bought it. One was the emergency window over the stove (seems kind of silly when there is a door less than 5 feet away and I wouldn't have to climb over a propane stove) and the booth dinette. I can't do a thing about the window or I would void most every warranty but the booth well...... I've talked to Jeff about taking half of it out. He wasn't so keen on the idea but last night there was a posting at http://www.keystonerv.org/forums about it! Only this time it looked like our Pod. I loved the chairs they put in. I knew that by doing this I would lose some premium storage space. Though I have to admit that whatever was stored under here wasn't used much because we had to get on the floor and go into the storage space. Also, we would lose sleeping for 2. That can be fixed with an air mattress on the floor. Decided on errands today to just look for chairs. Nothing at Wal-Mart. When we went into Lowe's we found a Vornado Heater (which from what I read is a wonderful space heater for the Pod). (Still no chairs) It was on clearance and we had a $20.00 credit. Plus a 10% discount. So we got that along with PVC elbows for a replacement flagpole.

 

Then we went to the PX Furniture Store and found the PERFECT chairs!!! They were on sale! We found what we thought were perfect chairs. We even thought the wood would match!

River of Life Farm (ROFL) Campground Recon

When I originally made reservations for this campground River of Life in Dora Missouri

the owner asked if we had four wheel drive. I asked why and he said well we have this hill. And if your vehicle can't make it then we will hook your trailer to our tractor and move it for you. Well we decided to go and have a  look. So this morning after a breakfast of pancakes we were off to see. The GPS said 118 miles due south. The SPOT was on for those with the link.
We did get a message from our friend Jeff to watch for overhead obstacles!!! Thanks Jeff!

Grand Tour of the Pod

Welcome to the Grand Tour of our Pod. It happens to be a 27RLS foot Keystone Cougar X Lite. We purchased this unit in March of 2010. No many modifications to it. We are still trying to make it ours!! Enjoy!!! 

Up off the ground for the winter. Cinder blocks under the stablilizers and wood under the tires. Tires are also covered.

This is our rain spout (we have four-one on each corner). It keeps water from going right down the side of the trailer and making those nasty black lines. Forgot them one time and they didn't fall off while going down the highway at 65 MPH.

Cabin Fever ......Feb 12, 2011

I see the POD every day......... it sits in the driveway...... Looks so cold....... but still welcoming. I can't wait for it to get warm so I can go out and begin the season. It is supposed to be in the 60's this week. It has been what seems a very long and dark winter... The days are getting longer by the minute. We have some things to accomplish in the POD before our first trip.......... Maybe next weekend we will be able to get in and dust it off and begin. When we can get in there .... I plan on taking you on a grand tour. I talk about it here in my blog all the time. Well I talk about it all the time anywhere! Anyway, I thought I should put some interior pictures here.

We want to go camping............. we want to put our yak in the river and float!!! We want to get on our scooters and not freeze :)  I really want to wake up on a Sunday morning ..... go out and restart the fire and watch the world wake up!! I really don't mind a week or two of good cold weather to kill all the nasty little bugs............ but I don't understand why it has to be months long!!!!!

So we have spent the winter ............. whiling away the hours waiting to be able to confer with the flowers,
Consult with the snow.

Facebook.......... some say the worse time waster ever. What I do like about FB is that my kids (who all live away) can post pictures. I have found friends again that without FB I would never be in contact with. I have also found people who enjoy the same things that I do. It opens windows for you. Weather, zoo, kids, causes, games, stores, hobbies, brand names, pictures from all over. Oh, I have to mention opinions......... you get many opinions sometimes good, bad or indifferent! I check FB in the morning and then again at night. Who knows what I might miss or not :) ......... Birthdays are just there so you really can't forget them.

I am finding that like FB the blogs that I read are just as interesting.............. sometimes more as they are more detailed. I follow about 20 blogs and try to keep up as possible. I follow full timers, dutch oven cooking, rv lifestyle, friends and others. I don't always comment! For those of you that know me .............. you understand how hard that must be sometimes.

Since we purchased our RV I have also started following some forums.......... RVtalk.com, keystonerv.com & I do visit modmyrv.com . I have learned so very much from those about my own RV. Have no problem going in there and asking just about anything. People are very helpful!!!!

Til the time I have a thought..........................

Shirley Silva Feb 7th, 1932-Sep 15, 2006

MY MOMMY!!!
Happy Birthday!!

This status has been posting on FaceBook for awhile. Every time I see it.......it makes me want to reach out and touch my mother:

My Mom made me laugh...Wiped my tears...Hugged me tight...Watched me succeed...Saw me fall...Cheered me on...Kept me going strong....and drove me a little crazy at times...But moms are a promise from God that you will have a friend forever!..Put this on your status if you had or have a wonderful mom whom you love!

Blizzard of 2011

My Beautiful Snow Angel of 2011!!   

I thought God gave me a great canvas for a piece    of art. God thought again and wiped it out with wind less than 90 minutes later. But that was ok. I had pictures.

It's been in the news for days....... they have been telling us to prepare. Ice, snow and Artic air mass. The decision was made to close post Monday afternoon. I got home about 7:00 pm and it was so foggy. No rain, ice or snow. The pellety icey stuff started about 3 am. snow about 7 am. 



 

RV Show 2011

Our friends Leonard & Sondra gave us tickets to the St Louis RV show so on Saturday morning we headed out to St Louis. We got there just as they were opening. We really aren't in the market for a new RV just yet.......

But it never hurts to look. We did see a few that we liked ... some of the floor plans were great. Loved the "entertainment centers" this actually takes the big window out of the back but there were huge windows on the sides... put that on our list of likes. There was also one that had a full side super slide. Not sure we liked that.

Camping Neighbors

Camping Neighbors -- near and far. When I started this blog I searched for other RV'ing type blogs and found quite a few. I follow some of them. Some more than others. This week I decided to ask for a bit of help. I clicked on his Facebook because didn't know how else to contact. He has helped me to make my blog look nicer and get a facebook badge. Thanks to Motty for putting up with my questions.... It was almost like sitting around a campfire with the Neighbors!!

To the other blogs I follow............ Thank you for allowing me into your life through your blog. I will be trying to put the blogs I follow on mine :)

Tomorrow we are off to St Louis for the RV Show............ Yeah!!!! More Camping Neighbors!!!