Donna and Jake's Blog

2009 – 2010 RV Trip……

DP — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:25:32 +0000

My New Blog for this year’s snowbird trip can be found at
http://www.snowbirdtrip.com

Hope to see you there!

We made it home……

DP — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:57:53 +0000

April 5, 2009 – 10:18pm

Well, we left Florida on Thursday morning and spent three nights on the road dry camping on our way home. Thursday night we stayed over night at a rest area on the highway. With trucks coming in and out and idling all night long, I really didn’t get a decent night sleep that night. Friday night was great because by coincidence we were trying to find a Walmart to stay at and found the Charles Town Casino & Race Track in West Virginia! And what a casino it was. They have an over flow lot for RVers to stay over night in. When we got there, there were three campers parked there and by morning light there was eight campers there that stayed over night. That casino was off the highway, like, 18 miles off the highway but definitely worth it. I’m talking to you RVers out there Hint Hint. Great place to stay and the casino was huge. (I lost twenty bucks there)

Talk about losing money…….Saturday night we stayed over night at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. I never do good at Mohegan Sun with their slot machines. They have a convenient over flow lot for RVers and they have security driving around there all night long. Both of the casinos I’ve mentioned do have a shuttle from your RV to the casino.

We rolled into New Hampshire at 9am this morning (Sunday). Parked the Montana without incident at my cousin’s house and unloaded 1/2 the accumulated stuff in it. I never thought I collected so much over 4 months. I’ve got a Kokopelli wind chime from Hoover Dam, a Kokopelli jacket from Mexico, t-shirts from casinos, wall pictures from Mexico, a Mickey “teddy bear” from Disney World, a slot machine cash out ticket worth a penny from a Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans, two books and neat SnagIt software from my WordCamp Conference in Las Vegas, a deck of cards from Laughlin Nevada, a baseball cap and pen from Charles Town Casino & Race Track, a new camera from Las Vegas, a new Blackberry cell phone from McAllen Texas, alot of casino player’s cards, and don’t get me started on how many pictures I’ve taken!

Of all the places I’ve traveled to, I would have to say that San Antonio is still my number one favorite place to see. My second would be….well let’s just list them out from number one to number five. Number 1) San Antonio, 2)Las Vegas, 3)Kissimmee, 4)Mexico, and 5)Yuma (Arizona).

I heard alot of people say that they were worried about us being so close to the Mexico border with all the killing and kidnapping going on these day in that area. As I look back, I never feel threatened or afraid to go in and out of Mexico as long as you go with other people that have experience in crossing in and out of Mexico (my aunt and uncle) and talk to patrol officers. We did talk to patrol officers in the area and they were more than happy to direct us to a very safe border entrance into Mexico. We did enter Pregreso Mexico and everything was fine with alot of other snowbirds shopping and visiting in that part of Mexico. This part of Mexico welcomes us because we are supporting them and their families with our purchases.

Other than that, this trip went off without a hitch and ended beautifully. No accidents, no close calls, no one got sick, no one got injured, everything was great. We logged 11,500 miles. I would love to hop right back in that RV and take off again going to new places, meeting new people, and seeing new sights…..it really is a world by itself…..it really is.

Now………

What do I say, what do I say???? Never wanted to think it would come to this, but unfortunately, like a snowbird season, this RV blog must end. I don’t want to ponder too long on my thoughts so I’ll just write what comes to mind. First off, without a doubt, I’m so happy that I took the time to log my journey. I did exactly 115 blog entries in the last four and a half months. It was definitely time consuming but I don’t want to deter any traveler from not keeping a blog active. It’s definitely worth it! Normally a blog is updated two, maybe three times a week. I just went wild with mine!

It made me laugh when my parents called someone back home and started to tell them about something that had happened on our trip or where we’ve been and the person that they were talking to would nicely cut them off and say, “Yeah, I know all that already because we read it in the blog.” That sure made me laugh. I’ve had a lot of requests of people that want a copy of this whole blog, so I’m not sure how I will accommodate them, it’ll be a project I will work on in the next few weeks.

This week we have alot to do. Alot of catching up. I haven’t even done my taxes yet, I need to renew my passport (yep, it’s been 10 years) and Jake needs to take care of some of his annual shots with his doctor (okay, vet) later this month. OH, before you ask….Jake was great the whole trip. A great traveling companion and we never had a problem or issue with him. We made him as comfortable as possible and it paid off with him being a good little traveling trooper!

I had alot of visitors to my blog over the last few months. At this time, it’s at a total of 5,590 hits. Thanks for following along. I had two people that let me know today that they followed my trip and welcomed me home via email. I didn’t even know who they were.

I’ve had two other people ask me what was different about this RV trip then my previous RV trips. What a good question! I hate to say that it was exactly the same trip (which in a way it was), but the only biggest thing about this trip is that I logged it all down for future reference. The route we took on this trip was the same as our previous trip and I guess it’s safe to say that on the next trip I will plan ahead a little more to see more things off the beaten path. There is alot to see out there….we’ve been to factories that make dates (yummy), horse drawn carriage tour of Jackson Square in New Orleans, enjoyed the grand opening of two casinos, picked our own oranges, and saw the picking and assembly process of where our food comes from (and I mean fields of it).

It was great! But, now down to business and enjoying the summer in New Hampshire! To my home town friends – I’m back to bug you all! To my RVing friends – I’ll catch up with you…..down the road.

Universal City Walk

DP — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:52:54 +0000

April 1, 2009 – 9:19pm

Hi There! Well, I must say that since we left Northwood, NH on November 26th, we now have 9,957 miles sitting on the pick up truck as I write this! Our last snowbird trip was 13,500 miles, will be make it to that once again??? We will see!

Okay, today I spent a large portion of my day lazing around the RV. Is that a word?? Lazing. It’s my new word! And this evening we went to Universal City Walk over at Universal Studios. Here’s the City Walk website if you want to check it out! And yes, I got pictures!

Anyone that knows me – knows I’m a huge Kasey Kahne fan……

There’s the NASCAR Bar & Grill……

Margaritaville is across the water and I think I see Jimmy Buffett’s plane……..

I’m at Jimmy Buffett’s airport…….

The Margaritaville store and if you know me – you know I’m a Margaritaville Girl!!!!

Well, that’s what we did today. Have a great night. We are leaving Kissimmee tomorrow, so stay tuned on where we are off to next!

Disney World Day

DP — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:47:59 +0000

March 31, 2009 – 8:01pm

Well, I had my Disney Day and it was great. I got alot of pictures so give it a few extra seconds to download so you can see all my pictures! I went on alot of rides. There wasn’t a whole lot of people there today. I went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom – Yep, all in one day!

Splash Mountain. I didn’t go on this one…..

From Magic Kingdom to Epcot! Here we go……

Okay! Left Epcot and now to Animal Kingdom……

I went on a wild animal safari…….sooo much fun!

After the safari I found the Mickey Parade going on inside Animal Kingdom…..

I had a great day. I got a ton of pictures! I hope everyone had a great day too. Talk tomorrow (I’m a bit tired of all the running around). Have a great night!

Downtown Disney

DP — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:58:46 +0000

March 30, 2009 – 10:34pm

Well, today I did not go to Disney, but tonight we all did go to Downtown Disney and walked around their boardwalk looking at the stores and outside entertainment. But, don’t you worry. Tomorrow I’ll be going to Disney all day from when it opens to when it closes. Today we slept a little late and hung around the RV Park relaxing. At Downtown Disney tonight I got some pictures!

We followed a Disney bus to Downtown Disney…..

Once inside Downtown Disney – there are alot of restaurants……

OH, they were testing this new ride out with the hot air balloon, but there’s no fire to make the hot air so I’m not too sure what’s helping this balloon rise into the air…….

A closer look at the new balloon ride…..

There’s the sign – Coming Soon!

The outside entertainment is great in Downtown Disney – beautiful music…..

We are going to pass through Pleasure Island which is usually dead until around 9pm. But they do have some shops in Pleasure Island such as Harley Davidson…….

Ohhhhh, time for a snack……

We continue walking around looking around. The music playing around Pleasure Island is coming from here…..

Mickey ice cream is pretty darn good……

Ohhh, Lego land……

Just browsing through stores and seeing some neat stuff…..

Well, that’s what we did tonight. It was fun and we ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe here at Downtown Disney. So it was a nice and peaceful day today. Tomorrow I’m all ready to take on Mickey Ville all day with my camera. I’m going to have sooooo much fun. I’m going to find Mickey and run around and do everything I can in one day. One girl, one day, four Disney parks. Let’s the Marathon begin! Have a great day – I’ll be back with great pictures

Family In Groveland

DP — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:02:54 +0000

March 29, 2009 – 9:50pm

Sunday is family time. We have family 40 miles north from where we are staying in Groveland (we are staying in Kissimmee). My uncle and aunt stays in Groveland for the winter and spends their summers up in Freedom, NH. We slept late this morning and around noon we headed north on 27 to spend time with them.

Well, as predictable as my family is (or maybe I just know them too well smile), dinner was ready. My uncle and aunt has their neighborhood friends over and all together there was 9 of us there (10 counting Jake, yep, he went too!). We all had a nice dinner and a pleasant visit (that’s predictable too!). It’s always great to see them!

My aunt was having trouble with her laptop, so I fixed everything on that computer that she was having trouble with and made some shortcuts for her to make her internet experience a bit easier. We spent all day there talking and relaxing and just got back home to the RV at 9:30pm!

I’m suppose to go to Mickey World tomorrow but decided to wait another day. Tomorrow we are going Flea Market hopping and I don’t want to miss out on that! I love flea markets. Tuesday will hopefully be a Disney day for me. The only reason why I say “hopefully” is because hopefully the weather will work out for me and not rain like it has been lately. Two nights of rain and thunder. Poor Jake snuck up close to me in my bed because he was so scared of the loud thunder last night. Poor little guy.

So I’ll keep this blog posting to the point (for once ) and go enjoy my night reading my book that I bought a Publix while grocery shopping yesterday! Have a great day! I’ll be back tomorrow!!!

PS: Don’t forget to vote on my new poll questions on the right hand side of my blog. Got two votes so far!!! 2 people loves cruises and 2 people loves international land! Vote and let me know which dream vacation is perfect for you!

We made it to Florida

DP — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 20:24:56 +0000

March 28, 2009 – 10:00am

Hello! Wow, it’s been a journey! I have had terrible internet service at Hollywood Casino RV Park. I had terrible internet service at Pensacola (we were staying at a friend’s house, in their driveway), and we now have finally made it to Kissimmee, Florida with great internet service! I want to back up a little bit and tell you what you’ve missed out on the last few days!

When we were at the Hollywood Casino my mom cashed out on one of the slot machines (it’s wasn’t alot of money so don’t get too excited) and her ticket got stuck in the slot machine so a slot host. I guess that’s what they call them who came over to help her get her ticket out of the slot machine and we were talking to her for a little while while she tinkered with the slot machine getting my mom’s ticket out from the jam…..

The conversation we had with her turned to Las Vegas and she told us that she’s never been Vegas but she’s seen alot of deals for flights to go out there and she wants to go (I would say she was about 38 or 40 in age). So I asked her why doesn’t she go. She said that she’s scared to go. She used that word “scared”. She told me that she thinks Las Vegas is just like New York City and it’s not safe and people get mugged, robbed, and killed there all the time. There’s a reason I’m telling you this so stay with me for a second here. I just want to say that if anyone reading this is “scared” to go to Las Vegas, tell me! Please please tell me! Because I only need a 1/4 of an excuse for a reason to go back to Vegas and I’ll be more than happy to go to Vegas with you if you are “scared” and show you the sights and lights and realistically, how safe this awesome destination really is! Don’t get me on the topic of why I love Vegas, because I just won’t shut up (can you tell I miss Vegas already!)…..so we are moving on in subject and don’t be “scared” of Vegas!

Next up! We visited our friends Linda and Bob in Pensacola for a few days and we really enjoyed the visit! We all went out to dinner together and the next day we went to the new casino called “Wind Creek Casino and Resort” in Atmore, Alabama! Cool casino and definitely paying. I won $344 dollars there. Don’t ask me how because I can’t believe I was playing the slot machine at 5 dollars a time! That’s not like me at all, but it was paying!!!

And it rained, and rained, and rained alot in Pensacola. There was some kind of tropical storm on our tail along I-10 and the rain cloud was right above our head the whole ride across I-10.

On the way down from Pensacola to Kissimmee, we knew it was a long ride and thought it would be nice to stay at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa over night. Well, I called ahead to the Hard Rock Casino while on Highway 19 South and was transferred to security to discuss RV parking options in their parking lot so we can visit their casino. The security man on the phone with me said that the only way to park an RV over night in their parking lot is if we rented a hotel room at their casino. I paused for a couple of seconds to try to find the common sense in this policy. So I said to him, “Well, why would I want to do that when we have an RV and want to visit the casino?” He said, “Well, that’s true.” So I said to him, “What’s our other option if we want to visit your casino and we have an RV and don’t need to rent a hotel room.” He said and I quote, “Park your RV down at the Flying J truck stop and take a taxi 4 miles to our casino.” Do you hear me Hard Rock Casino????? We can not park our RV in your parking lot so we can spend our money in your casino!! People have money in their pockets, money keeps your casino alive, try accommodate your customers, I swear at the end, you will win.

OH, I have another issue I want to vent about. Oh, you’re gonna love this one too. When we were at the Hollywood Casino we checked in with cash. We don’t use credit cards too often, we try to use cash for most of our purchases and RV park stay overs. We were told that we have to pay for the 2 nights in advance with a 25 dollar deposit and we would get back the 25 dollar deposit at the end of our 2 night stay when we check out. I’m not too sure why the deposit is necessary and I’ve never experienced this check in policy before but we pay for everything up front in cash. The RV park check-in office lady also printed out our Hollywood casino players card and we were told that if we use our player’s card in the slot machines at the Hollywood Casino, our comp points that we accumulate would take off money from our reservation site fee. So we used our players card and I spent quite a bit of money there racking up points on my players card. When we checked out the lady behind the desk told us that because we paid cash for our reservation and not used a credit card we couldn’t use any comp points from our player’s card to save money off our RV site. I like to save money, who doesn’t, but what I don’t like is a poor excuse. Enough about that…I’m moving on……

My third issue I am having is that not too many people are participating in my polls and I don’t know why. I had this discussion with Linda back in Pensacola and when I brought up my “issue” with people not participating in my polls she just started laughing. I asked her if she participated in my polls and she said no. I said I don’t understand people like to read about my trip but not take the two extra seconds to click a choice on the question that is posted. I’m interested in my blog readers – SOOOOOO, here we go again! I thank you people who voted and I’m going to post the results here and I’m going to post another question for you all. Here are the results!

How dependent are you on an automobile GPS device?
5 votes (24%) said that they are completely lost without a GPS (well, actually 4 votes because 1 vote is from me)
6 votes (29%) said that they use it sometimes if they are going to someplace new
4 votes (19%) said they would take a map over a GPS any day!
6 votes (29%) said that it would be nice to have a GPS and they have added it to their birthday list!
SO, I love these polls, you can tell can’t ya! Okay, new poll is up and running and I want to hear from you. Don’t be shy and don’t be “scared” hee hee

The pick up truck turned 9,500 miles today since we left at the end of November. We are back in Kissimmee once again! We are leaving here on Thursday, but let’s not think about that right now. Let’s have some fun! We’ve got so much to see and so much to do here in Florida!

We checked into this RV park late last night and the security gate personnel made the phone call to a park host, Lou from Indiana, that met us at the check-in lodge and checked us in and showed us our site at 9 o’clock at night. I hate checking in this late at night, but we’ve all had enough of dry camping for a while. We are staying here until Thursday and we will be visiting the area and I will be doing my Mickey Marathon number 2 (Disney Marathon number 1 is here! Going to Disney for the whole day from the minute it opens to when they kick me out finishing up the day at Downtown Disney exactly like I did when we started this trip in November! Can’t wait to tell you all about it! Have a great day and I’ll be back soon now that I have great internet service!

Hollywood Casino RV Park

DP — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:25:47 +0000

March 23, 2009 – 9:43pm

Does this sound familiar to you? Hollywood Casino RV Park. We were here on December 10, 2008. Gosh, so so soooo long ago. The good ol’ days. Well, we are back. Again. Well, needless to say that I don’t have to take any pictures of this place. You can take a peek at my previous blog posting of this place via here. The place looks the same. The RV Park looks the same. The casino shuttle looks the same. And the casino looks the same. The only thing that is NOT the same is the price. HA – they raised the price of their RV Park sites on March 1st – they must of seen us coming.

On December 10, 2008, (including all taxes and a 10% discount from my Good Sam Club Membership) the total price was $25 dollars a night. When we checked in today, she found our previous reservation from December. So when she quoted us the new price of $28.87 a night including my Good Sam Club Membership, I asked why we couldn’t get the price we paid for when we stayed here three months ago. She said that the price went up. RV manufacturers are going out of business like dominoes, fuel costs finally went down, and they are raising their prices here??

Last night we were in Kinder Louisiana which is 270 miles away from here and we paid (including all taxes and discounts) $17 bucks. We should of stayed there. Gosh, I sound so cheap sometimes, ha ha ha! BUT I have an excuse! I am an apprentice of being retired and if I’m going to live on a fixed income someday, I’m going to try to hang on to every penny I can. I mean, I have other costs to worry about, diesel fuel here is $1.89 a gallon, I’ve got the buffet smell seeping throughout the 2nd floor of the casino trying to get $19 dollars out of me, and the darn casino alone has got 1/2 my saving account in their slot machines and this RV Park is going up 3 bucks!!!! I can’t afford that!!

Okay, of course, I am laughing to myself while I write this, but the fixed income statement is true, I’ve got to find ways stretch that potential social security dollar I’ve got coming my way in a few years. “A few years” – I laugh! Oh, and I laugh because when I finally do retire and collect my big whopping social security check. A social security check will be thing of the past.

Okay, let’s get serious here. We are parked here and set up for two nights and it might be more than that if the weather gets worse. We are suppose to have heavy rain storms moving in on us all this week. So we might be STUCK here for a week! Stuck here next to a casino! Don’t bother saving me Big Big Smile

Tomorrow we are going to take a day trip to Biloxi to check out those casinos and seeing what’s going on in town. I overheard someone in the casino tonight saying that the French Quarters in New Orleans is shut down, hmmmm, got to find out what’s up with that tomorrow. Other than that, it was a nice and easy day today. Thanks for checking in on me and have a great day!

After A Month – We Left Texas

DP — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:34:35 +0000

March 22, 2009 – 10:13pm

Well, we are still in the Central Time Zone but we are out of Texas! Tonight we sit in Kinder, Louisiana at a wonderful RV Park at the Coushatta Casino Resort. OH, let me back up a little. On Saturday we had a huge 50th wedding anniversary party for my aunt and uncle – can you believe it – married 50 years! We had a party with about 30 people at one of their friend’s RV site. There was alot of food and a live band! It was alot of fun. I was in charge of two cameras and a video camera so my work was cut out of me through the day, but I didn’t mind. My aunt called me tonight while we are parking in Louisiana and just told me that all the pictures and the video came out perfect!

So here we sit after traveling 570 miles today. We left this morning at around 7am and made it here at 5pm (that included two potty breaks for Jake). We got a great pull through RV spot with a picnic table here. There’s quite a few RV sites here, probably around, maybe 300 RV sites. OH, and most importantly, a free shuttle service to the Casino. You can see the casino from where we sit, but you’ve got to walk around a huge lake and through a parking lot, and, I don’t think so, I’ll wait for the shuttle that comes right up to our RV.

It has definitely been too long since we’ve been to a casino. NOooooo, I didn’t forget how to use a slot machine, but let me tell ya, when I walked in that casino…..the slot machine binging was music to my ears and I swear I could breath better when I walked in that door…..almost could smell all that Jackpot money. I did pretty decent tonight too. I walked in with $120 dollars and left after 4 hours with $150 dollars. I came out with more than I walked in with – WooHoo!!!! That’s what it’s all about!

So I don’t know if we are staying here for 1 night or 2 nights. Hey, it’s the life of an RVer. No place to be, no place to go, if you like the place you are at…..you sit and enjoy it! Have a great day!

Military Discount at a RV Park

DP — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:35:58 +0000

March 20, 2009 – 9:41pm

Happy Spring! I’ve been working with a friend of mine who runs a campground in California and he’s always sending me goodie links to pass on. I’ve got another good one from him today about his campground that deeply appreciates the military…..Sacred Rocks RV Park says:

Our hearts are filled with gratitude to all American service men and women who perform both heroic and routine daily actions on behalf of all Americans.

We are the land of the free, because of the brave!

All US active duty personnel who show us their military ID (Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy) will receive a 25% discount at Sacred Rocks Reserve on:*

RV camping
Tent camping
Day Pass: Solo Retreat, Guided Retreat

25% discount off regular price ($37.00) for RV camping = $27.75 with discount! Enjoy the comforts of an RV in our shaded Southern California campsites.

That’s great! You can read the campground blog and more information about this here:
http://www.sacredrocksreserve.com/rvpark/campsite/military.html

As for me…..another night of playing cards with the family last night. I love spending time with the family! So unfortunately I didn’t get around to blogging last night. Today we stayed home in the morning and ate lunch at the Martins Valley Golf Course Restaurant. Boy, am I going to miss that place (restaurant) when we leave on Sunday.

This afternoon we finished up plans to have a big family and friend reunion tomorrow. My aunt and uncle have been married for 50 years and tomorrow we are having a big outside (predicted temperature 84 degrees) for them. It’s not a surprise party as they do know about it.

OH, and tomorrow there is a craft fair at our recreational hall, so mom and I are heading over there tomorrow morning! Other than that, I’m just relaxing here in the RV. I did some reading this afternoon. Just typical fiction book, nothing to brag about. I don’t want to sound like there is not much to do around here, because there really is, we just aren’t running around alot. Just really hanging out with family and friends here.

So after the big party tomorrow, we will be re-adjusting stuff in the RV to be ready to hitch up Sunday and leave. We are off to new places, new people, and new adventures…..this RV trip isn’t done yet!