Planning the next Phase (Atlanta, GA)

 

The plan was to go down the Natchez Trace Parkway.  The Natchez Trace is a National Park Parkway that extends from just south of Nashville, Tennessee through Alabama and ends up at Natchez, Mississippi, similar to the Skyline drive that stretches from the Shenandoah NP to the Smokey Mountains NP.

Well, change of plans (we stirred the jello pot!).   At the last New Horizons Rally we became Rally Masters for the next rally in the Spring of 2016.  So, we have to scout out places to hold the next rally.  We are concentrating on the East Coast.  We are going to check out River Plantation RV Resort in Sevierville, TN, for a possible site for the rally.  The resort is on the west side of the Smokey Mountains with lots of things to see and do.  We will spend 4 days at the resort and then on to the Natchez Trace Parkway.  I know it is hard work, but someone has to do it. 

 

We are now in Atlanta taking it easy.  We spent Rosh Hashanah with Cheryl and Harris and the family.  Then we surprised Ann’s sister and brother-in-law, Francie and Rick, who came to Atlanta from their home in Florida, for their grandson, Ethan’s, birthday.  

Life is “hard work” on the Roan Road….

 

 

All Caught UP (Atlanta, GA)

 

We left Marquette, MI and headed south over the Mackinaw Bridge.  We stayed in Grand Rapids, MI for a couple of days and down to Elkhart, IN.  After two weeks stay in Elkhart getting things done on the camper.  We headed to the Amana Colonies in Iowa.  You can read the history of the Amana Colonies here.

Since we are on the Rally Committee we arrived early to help set up.  There were 3 other couples on the committee who arrived early.  We did some shopping at Costco and Walmart with Judy and Bob.  Judy, I will not mention how long it took to do ALL of the shopping.

Before the main Rally started several of us celebrated Ann’s birthday.

Surprise !!!!

At the start of the rally after the BBQ, we had another birthday cake.  It was a special birthday with great friends.

 

At the Amana Colonies we took a guided tour which included Tom Metz’s house, the local tin smith.  His shop was in the basement and the first floor was set up as it was in the 1920s.

We then toured the different colonies.

That’s a Amana Radar Range.  The Amana Colonies is where Amana Appliances started.

This is proof that “Life IS good on the Roan Road….”

Still Catching UP (Atlanta, GA)

 

First, Happy, Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife Ann.  Soon I will be as young as you are now.

Summery,  We left the UP of Michigan and headed to Elkhart, Indiana to have some work done on the camper.  We stayed in Elkhart for two weeks.  During the two weeks we went to Big Foot, to have the  hydraulic levelers checked.   No charge.  Then to Mor/ryde to have the suspension and alignment checked.  They found two of the springs were bad.   Also the springs that were installed were not stiff enough and they suggested replacing all six with stiffer springs.   No charge for that, but the two Tee shirts we received cost $1545.  The rest of the time we just hung around with friends Lynn and Ed.  We then headed for the Amana Colonies in Iowa for the New Horizon Owners Group (NHOG) rally. 

I guess we are still covering the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan from the last blog.  After staying at Ste. Ignace at the foot of the Mackinaw bridge, we headed north to Sault Ste. Marie and the Soo Locks.

We stayed at a campsite right on the river, Aune-Osborn Campground, where we could sit and watch the ships going into and out of the locks.  We visited the viewing platform at the Locks.   I took some timelapes pictures of a ship going through the lock.

Timelapse of Soo Locks

While staying at Sault Ste. Marie we took a side trip to Tahquamenon Falls. 

 

We then headed west to stay at Marquette.  We stayed at a nice town park and used it as our base.  From there we went to Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.  In the morning we drove up the coast of the park.  In the afternoon we took a boat ride along the shore for a completely different view of the park.

Driving Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.

Boat tour of Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.

The next day we headed back up the coast to the Au Sable Light House.

That afternoon we took a glass bottom boat tour of ship wrecks in the area.  Pictures do not show much, but the tour was very interesting.

Main cargo hatch

Bow of the ship

Almost caught up. 

BTW, Evelyn turned 4 months old on Ann’s Birthday!  Also, Happy Birthday to Jonathan, Scherrie and Ethan.

Also, we hope that Caroline & Andrew and Maryann & Santi celebrated their anniversaries in style!

We want to wish all of our family and friends a Happy and Healthy New Year,

Life is Great on the Roan Road…

More Catch-UP (Amana, IA)

 

We are now in The Amana Colonies in Iowa.  We are here for a New Horizons Rally.

While in Detroit we went to the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art).  Now Ann’s second favorite museum.  The politicians of Detroit tried to make the DIA sell its art to settle the debt they ran up.  Thankfully they failed.

Below is the famous Diego Rivera painting commissioned by Ford.

But first I need to catch up on our trip up the Michigan west coast along Lake Michigan.  Our first stop was Manistee, Michigan.  We used this point to go up and down the coast about 50 miles in each direction.  We visited light houses and small towns.

Further up the coast is Sleeping Bear Dunes NP.

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Going up the state we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and onto the Upper Peninsula.

Just over the bridge we stayed in Ste. Ignace.  The Tiki RV Park.

From Ste. Ignace we took the ferry to Mackinac Island.   

On the ferry ride to the island we took a diversion and passed under the Mackinaw Bridge.

		Ferry to Mackinaw Island VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Mackinaw Island is still kept as close to the 19th century as possible.  Mackinac Island does not allow any cars on the island, so all transportation is horse drawn or bicycles, even the garbage collection.  The main street is quaint and interesting, if you can ignore all the fudge shops, restaurants and tee shirt shops. We decided to walk around the back streets instead of taking the horse drawn carriages.

More on our trip through the UP of Michigan to come.

Life is Super on the Roan Road…

On the Move in the UP (Sault Ste. Marie, MI)

 

We are now in officially in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan). We are inspecting the Soo Locks.  Just want to make sure the Army Corp of Engineers are doing a good job.

Below are the places we have been since the last blog.   They may not be in the right order, because I can’t remember all of the dates.  They all seem to run together after a while.

Detroit

Detroit has it’s problems but there are still quite a few things that are good.  Not the roads, they are the worst I have seen.  Museums, some parks and quite a few great rrestaurants.  We had a great visit with my cousin Robert and his friend Naomi.

Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village 

And, of course,  there were a couple of  Carousels.

  

The Henry Ford Museum

Beverly and Francie, I know it is the wrong color and it may be off by a year, but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this 1949 blue Kaiser sedan.  Our car was also a 4 door sedan, either 1949 or 1950.  Think Pink!!!!!!!!!!!

Next on to Grand Rapids, MI

And another Carousel in the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Ann–another Carousel

The Grand Rapids Public Museum has a large collections LEGO displays.

The Frederik Meijer Gardens.  This is a place you could spend days and not see everything.  We did a lot of walking.  These are just a few of the 575 pictures Ann and I took.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum

More on our stay in Michigan in the next blog post.

Life is Great on the Roan Road…

Catch Up (Milford, MI)

 

Today we are in Milford, Michigan right outside of Detroit.  Camp Dearborn in Milford is next to the GM proving grounds.  The big three still dominate this town.  More to pictures follow.

Now to Catch Up. 

As you know from the last blog, Ann went to Dubai to help take care of our new granddaughter.   Well,  five weeks later Ann came back.  The flight from Dubai to Washington DC and then on to JFK was about 18 hours.  With a stop over for a few hours and a visit with Heidi and Bev in New York.  Ann got back on a plane at JFK flew to Washington DC again and on to Kansas City, where her wonderful husband met her and brought her home.  It took Ann a few days to recover.

Evelyn is now 2 months old. And she is CUTE!!  Of course, I am not biased.

 

 

Finally, after a month at the factory,  all the work we wanted done was completed.  Our new couch is in.  The old one went out the door, but the new couch came in via the rear window.

Part of the right side wall had water damage.  The factory cut out the bad part of the outside wall and replaced it.  Then it had to be fiber glassed  over the seam, sanded and painted.  No easy task.  A crack in the upper sidewall was repaired.  We had the rugs in the living room and the bedroom replaced. 

After leaving the factory I moved to Platte City, MO, just north of Kansas City and 15 min from the airport.  I stayed there for a week and waited for Ann.   We stayed at the Basswood RV Resort until July 12th and  then headed to Shipshewana on our way to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from now on will be just called UP.

This past Friday we left Shipshewana, IN, the heart of the Indiana Amish country.  Our friends, Bob and Judy, were at the same campground.  We had a great time seeing the sights, dinner/theatre, etc., with Bob and Judy.

In Shipshewana, Elkhart and Goshen the business create Quilt Gardens.  Flowers in the form of Quilt patterns.

Happy Birthday to Heidi, Karen, Judy E, Seth, Jessica, Carol-Ann, Tommy, and Isaac

Life is Super on the Roan Road….

Notes From Ann (Dubai, UAE)

 

First, a note to Roy and Evan - Evelyn is the cutest!!!  Wait until you meet her in person - she will melt your hearts!

For those of you who don't know my whereabouts, I have been in Dubai for the past two and a half weeks.  After Evelyn was born,  Andrew and Caroline called and asked if I could come over to be an extra  pair of hands taking care of Evelyn.  So, what does any good grandmother do?  Quickly packs her bags,(leaves Grandpa Roy in Kansas, overseeing some work on our camper),  two days and several plane rides later, arrives in Dubai.

So, here I am.  My day is spent helping Caroline take care of Evelyn and the days have flown.

My hat goes off to Caroline and Andrew.  They are great parents.

Dubai is like any big city: lots of highways (with several lanes in each direction), tall buildings both commercial and residential; private homes; all the fast food restaurants you can thinks of; in the supermarket they have the same brands (i.e. Glad Bags) that are in the US.  Many major companies (Microsoft) have offices here.

Andrew and Caroline's apartment overlooks the Arabian Gulf.  Beautiful.  Watching the sunset over the gulf is awesome!  

Since it is summer here. it is VERY HOT!  The other day we all went to the consulate to apply for Evelyn's passport, it was a mere 109 degrees and humid!

I have been out a few times.  Twice to take Evelyn to the doctor (all is well), once to the MOE (Mall of the Emirates) which is just like any other mall-lots of stores that I knew, and no, I didn't buy anything.  Last week Andrew took me to dinner at the Atlantis Hotel - wow what a place!  Lots of stores (including Tiffany's) and an aquarium.  Dinner was delicious and we had a great time.  The rest of the time we spend in the air conditioned apartment.

Evelyn is a real cutie, growing everyday.

I will be back soon. 

Hugs to All

P.S. Happy Birthday to Lucy, Mikey, Beverly and Andrew.