Week Nine

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We have talked a lot about that “infamous” bay window that we spent so much time and effort to have installed. We thought that you would at least like to see a picture of it, if you haven’t had the personal privilege. You will see the outside view in the attached picture of our campsite at Fort Yargo State Park, Georgia. The inside view shows its location in our dinning area. You know of course, it folds in for travel.

This is week number nine of our “road adventure.” True, we have had our share of ups and downs, bumps and dings, but we are determined to turn over a new leaf. We will be striving to make this truly a Travel Log and not a “Trouble” Log. This week has gone by without bruises, except on the arms and legs perhaps. We seem to have a way of creating those colorful little spots on parts of our body. This week has been a breeze. No dire mishaps or problems to speak of.

We enjoyed our stay at the Countryside Resort Campground in Lebanon, for ten days. We were able to meet a lot of new people. There were so many Motor Homes coming and going that we sometimes wondered if we were camping in a bus depot. We were there for ten days and had some five different “motor home” neighbors on one side of us. It is surprising what strangers will tell you about their personal lives, but we wont tell. I suppose they figure that they will never see us again, so who are we going to tell? We were also glad to have visits from family. Carolyn’s nephew and family, Charles and Cecilia Baird with son Charlie, an aspiring NFL football player, age eight, paid us a welcomed visit, and we had a good time at dinner with our friends the Martins of Indiana. We were also pleased to see the Trotter cousins from time to time.

We are now, as you may have gathered, at Fort Yargo State Park. This is our third trip to this park. We think it is just super nice. But it may be a while before we get back again………I know you didn’t miss me, between the last sentence and this one, but I have been gone….to dinner. We had spaghetti with Carolyn’s homemade sauce, cheese biscuits made from scratch, tossed salad with fresh hand chopped ingredients and fresh brewed iced tea. Boy, this camping business is sure tough. We ate at our dinning table under the bay window, looking out on the forest without a camper to block our view. Carolyn said, “You know, I could live here….if they only had sewer!” That, and the fact that they only allow a two-week stay.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, we are going to be traveling a long way before returning to this area. In our nine weeks of full-timing we have logged 3,635 miles on the Fifth-Wheel already. We are keeping track of all our expense in an effort to see it this life style is more or less expensive than the conventional “house” life. At this point, because of all the major outlay for the expensive mishaps we have had, the jury is still out on that. However, I can tell you how our expenses divide out. Our expenses for two months are running like this, not counting those “deductibles” with which we all suffer to keep the insurance companies afloat :

Campground Fees 28.5%
Food 17.5% (53.3% of which was restaurants)
RV Supplies 17.5%
Diesel Fuel 15.3%
Misc. 12.9% (You know, those things everyone has to buy.)
Truck expenses 6%
Entertainment less than 1% (one movie and two newspapers)

For you accountants out there, as they say in public statistics; the total may not equal 100% due to rounding. We still don’t know what all these figures mean, but we will let you know when we find out. Chances are that we will not return to this area until next Spring or Summer.

Our immediate plans have us here at Fort Yargo for a week, then Tiffton, GA for three days on our way to Florida for two weeks. I know what you are thinking, who goes to Florida in August? Well, we do! There is a good reason, and we will let you know about that in due time. We’ll be talking to you again on the other side of next week.