Our Adventures Continue...

I'm just messing around with a video for my friends Gail & Kevin Bushbaker. I am going to try to put up this video for them to see about our old neighborhood and houses. we are still in Georgia dodging the tornados. Leaving here in a week heading for a 'shuttle launce' and then home by way of Twinsburg, OH

We are in Americus, Georgia at Habitat for Humanity Headquarters, working on getting the 'on-line registration' program up and running. We will leave here in a week and travel to Florida to see a shuttle launch, one of the last. Then pick up some RV batteries and start for home.

Met Mike and Sophia on Hilton Head Island. What a beautiful island, what a great time we had. Thanks Sophia. April 4th , 2010.

Now that Sir Tim may be watching I'd better get you folks up to date. Tony & I are in Alice, Texas on a Habitat build for another week. It has been so good, what a community of fine folks supporting Habitat for Humanity's main directive good affordable housing for those in need.  This is the house we finished and these are the homeowners at the dedication party. We travel on to Americus for a month of bonding with Habitat folks, a couple days on Hilton Head with son Mike and Sophia, then a quick visit to family in Florida, watching one of the last Canaveral Launches and home to Michigan for the summer. Since I have this new volunteer job I have no time to do pictures and videos and all that but I love you and want you to know I will try to do better in the future. Stay tuned, pictures are coming...

I am posting this from my 'Habitat' computer so I don't have any pictures to show you, but check the date. It is Christmas Eve and we are in Mobile, Alabama sitting in the RV at Chicasabogue Park and its raining and 55 degrees and our RV is all decorated for Christmas thanks to my wonderful husband and I am missing my son Mike. For the past 35 years we have opened our presents on Christmas morning, the three of us. And for the past 40 years we have sung in the Choir for midnight mass at our church. This year we decided to come south before our pipes froze. Our wonderful kid lives in Chicago and has someone and a family to be with at Christmas so we thought it would be okay if we headed south early. Well it is sort of okay, warmer....but I miss my kid...Only at this season do I miss my house all decorated, big tree, big kitchen, big parties. Come January 1st I'll come to my senses and be loving being on the road, but for today, for right now, I miss Mike. The Gan...

The Brunswick Build was great, a wonderful team and a great Team Leading, but now we are onto our next adventure in Mobile...

  These are some of the folks at Global Village that we worked with. What a great job they are doing.

    We have decided that we want to continue this lifestyle so we are opting for a new engine. In the Smokeys we were having some 'over the hills' problems until the 'STOP ENGINE' light came on, then we knew we were in trouble. We were towed to Knoxville where we spent a week and $17,000 to get Bessie up and running again.

  I love these folks, Bill DeSalvio our Materials Show Coordinator, Judy Haywood, Show coordinator par excellance and Darlene Reiss the BOSS of this outfit. We will be friends for a lifetime.

  Look at them they are so proud they just finished a half Marathon raising money for PAWS in Chicago.

View Larger Map Bessie is all propaned up, new tires and raring to go. We are heading for our 2010 adventure, Americus, Mobile and Alice Texas with lots of stops on the way and after the builds. We RV Care-a-vanners have to hit the road and head south, that's what is called 'winterizing'.

  We had a great bunch of RV Care-a-vanners here in Marquette, Michigan.

We have been home since mid August and it has been great. Mel & Jackie are such great neighbors and relatives and friends. We have done so much and I have not taken many pictures to post here, when I get a free minute I will try to add some pictures. Since April I am still running the RV Care-a-vanner Program from the RV and so far loving it. Just so you know it takes my whole week and lots of nights to keep up, I'm hoping soon that it will even out and I won't be so busy. I think I can manage this until 2011 or 12 but then its going and maybe sooner. Tony is good, keeping up his medical process to make sure the cancer he had taken out is still out. He is going to bike next summer with Fuller Center again. Their trip will be from Niagra Falls New York through Washington, DC to New Orleans, boy what a trip. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to go or stay home and eat pumpkin pie for 2 weeks. Stay tuned...

This is a build site in Marquette, Michigan we had 5 houses to work on and 15 people worked our butts off... This is our great team!

Well here i am again with my excuse of not having time to take pictures and update you on all that we have been doing. We just got back from Marquette, Michigan in the UP in time to go to a fund-raiser for the Optomotrists Assocn for our friends Thom Armstead and Frank Rashid, to help the blind. We were in the UP with our Habitat for Humanity Build for two weeks, met some great people and renewed friendships with others. Gained a couple of pounds but I'm working them off. We will be staying here until the first of December when we leave for Georgia and Americus the home of Habitat. We will also be building with Mobile AL build coordinator Mary and Dave Vandeveld in January. We plan on building in Alice, Texas in February. We have done so much this year it is impossible to tell you everything. Tony so far is cancer free after his operation in Georgia this summer. I am coordinating the RV Care-a-vanner program for US/Canada and that is taking all my time for now. Hope it gets ea...

Sorry again for leaving you so long...I have been really busy and so much is happening and no time to tell you about it. Visited son Mike in Chicago for his Music Hall of Fame run for PAWS, I have pictures but of course MY computer is just recovering from a 'hard drive wipe' so nothing is loaded on it that is very helpful for picture taking. Mike is joining up with girlfriend Sophia Panos for a half marathon in Las Vegas in December to fight Crohns disease, catch up with her on www.sophiapanos.blogspot.com . They are trying to raise $6,100 together and I am sure they will do it. Tony has had his scans and so far no news is good news. I am 'working' every day for Habitat and it is quite fulfilling but also quite busy. I have signed up about 15 NEW Care-a-vanners a month so far and that is so good. 1,500 RVers out there building houses for folks that are in need, and all with a smile and happy heart while they work. We have our build in Marquette, Michigan in the Up...

Okay Peter is this one better? Some things never change Ryan...Here is Tony AGAIN with a broken spoke Thank goodness he is not doing the whole ride He might have outdone himself with 6. Have a great time gang, wish I had a group shot of you...

On the 24th we traveled from Indianapolis to Chicago. Do you know how scary it is driving a 40' rig with a car attached through 'rush hour' in Chicago? Boy it really takes a big man to do that, oh, I forgot, I'm a little women. We made it to the Sams Club where we usually park. Son Mike came and we went to a fast foods rib place and had great ribs. Great talking to Mike, I got my hugs and I am content until I see him in 3 weeks. Of course I always lean on him to rebirth my computer once a year and yes, he did it one more time. My computer, he and I bought 5 years ago at Best Buy and it is a great machine but I download so much stuff that after a while it gets too bogged down with junk. Any way not to bore you, we will be heading toward home through non-rush hour traffic and maybe take 2 days to get to Mel's. I will be really happy to be home for a while.

We are in Knoxville because Bessie got sick in the Smokies and we had to be towed to the nearest Cummins dealer for repair. Come to find out it is the ENGINE. Yee gads!!!! They took out the oil filter and it was full of metal debris. A rebuilt engine is on order and it should be in today. If we are lucky we will be on the road by Monday. The poor little thing was sitting out behind the RV yesterday looking so forlorn, feels sick that it let us down. We are sort of feeling sick that it let us down also$$$$$$$$$$$, but what is is what is. So we are hole up at a Super 8 with wifi, king size bed, cable, pool, free continental breakfast and somebody makes the bed and cleans the room every day...I can handle that. Tony, however is not a happy camper, they promise free wifi but they do not deliver that to your room, you have to go to the lobby. It seems the wifi system is down but they are working on it. So its no TIVO and its no wifi, he's a bear!!!!!!!!!! A new engine will have a warran...

Tony and I have some sorrow at leaving Americus, Georgia and Habitat for Humanity Internationals Global Village. We stayed so long they became our second family. They were happy to support us so that the RV Care-A-Vanner Program can survive. We worked at Habitat for 2 months plus and got to know lots of folks there and our great Care-a-Vanners.