Evelyn Rules the Roost (Dubai, UAE)

 

 

We left South Bend, IN on time for the two hour trip to Atlanta arriving around 7:30 PM.   Two hours later we left Atlanta for the 13 hour trip to Dubai. The trip, long.  The food, lousy.   The plane, a new Boeing 777, packed.  But we made it!   Andrew had made arrangements with Marhaba, an agency that meets you at the gate.  Takes you through passport control on a special line, and helps you with your baggage.  It was worth it.   At passport control the lines for the common people were at least 50 deep.  We then met Andrew who was waiting for us. 

Dubai is a modern city.   The same as New York, Chicago or Paris.  Except for the street signs, which are in Arabic and English, you cannot tell that you are in the Middle East.  Everyone here speaks English. 

Evelyn and, of course, Caroline and Andrew live on Palm Jumeirah.  That’s the island that was created in the shape of a palm tree that juts out into the Arabian Gulf.

Scenes of Dubai.

 

             Before Evelyn                                      After Evelyn Arrived

 

And now for the star of the show. The one everyone has been waiting for.

Life is Great, anywhere we are, on the Roan Road….

And Away We Go (Elkhart, IN)

 

Tomorrow we bring in our coach and leave for Dubai. 

On our way from Chattanooga to Elkhart we passed by Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.  Since we can’t pass up stopping at a National Park and we haven’t stayed in Kentucky we decided to make a stop. 

The park has many cave tours.  We decided to take two tours.  The first is “The History Tour”.  and a second tour “ Domes and Dripstones Tour”  the next day.

The History Tour is 2 miles and 2 hours.  We talked it over and said, “we can handle that”.  Big mistake.  First we are not as young as we used to be.  Second it is dark, with uneven walk ways and squeezing through tight spots.  Not to mention all of the steps, mostly UP.  Add to that, Ann does not see well in the dark.   The Rangers on the tour were great.  Well informed and waited for everyone to catch up before explaining something new.   

Before the tour was over, Ann informed me she was done with cave tours and she was going to return her ticket for the next day, and if I wanted to go, she would wait for me.   Back at the Visitor Center, I checked out the tour.  It is a shorter tour, but much more strenuous, so I returned my ticket too.

We still did enjoy the tour.  But it will be our last Cave Tour.  Period.

Next day, on to Elkhart.

 

  Visitor Center

Cave opening

Cave Tour

This is the way it looks when you are in the Cave

These pictures were taken with a very high ISO (sensitivity) so it look very bright.

This is Graffiti  from before the Cave was taken over by the National Park Service.

Life is Great on the Roan Road…

Getting Out of Town (Elkhart, IN)

 

We are here in Elkhart Campground in the final stages of leaving the country.  We had some repairs done to the coach before we will bring it in to Mike’s Custom Painting to have a new look!   After we drop off the coach, we are leaving the truck at Mike’s and they will drive us to the South Bend Airport.  We then fly to Atlanta where we will get the plane to Dubai.  I will try to make some blog entries from Dubai.

After our stay in Kissimmee we spent two weeks at Cedar Key RV Resort.  We liked the RV park so much we made reservations to go back next winter.  For how long is still being debated.  Right  Ann?

Here is an overview of Cedar Key.

CEDAR KEY from Roy Brody on Vimeo.

We bought fresh clams from a local distributer that were harvested that day, and made Manhattan Clam Chowder.  We have not been able to find any anywhere.  So we made it ourselves.  It was the best!

 From Cedar Key, we left for Chattanooga to check out an RV park to see if it is suitable for a rally.  We are Rally Masters for the New Horizons Owners Group.  It turns out the RV park and Chattanooga are great places.  So in May of 2016 we are going back.

Chattanooga is a great town.  Lots to see and great restaurants.  We did not get to see everything we wanted because of some repairs.  We will be back next year for the New Horizons rally and we will spend some more time in Chattanooga.

Life is great on the Roan Road…

There is Another and Ann Found It !! (Chattanooga, TN)

 

After Ann overheard a mother asking her child if he wanted to go to the Carousel, it was a done deal.

So here are the results.

CHATTANOOGA CAROUCEL from Roy Brody on Vimeo.

More to follow on Chattanooga.

We are about to head north and back in time.  We are headed to Indiana.

Happy, Happy Birthday to Caroline.

Happy Birthday to Arlene and Carl

Live is Great on the Roan Road…

Happy, Happy (Chattanooga, TN)

 

We would like to say Happy Passover and Happy Easter to all of our family and friends.

After spending two months in Kissimmee and going to Disney World 8 more times, we spent two weeks at Cedar Key RV Resort in Cedar Key, FL.  We really liked Cedar Key RV Resort so much that we signed up to spend much of next winter there.

So far the month of March has turned out to very expensive.  First the automatic satellite dish stopped working.  Luckily, I purchased a manual dish for times that the automatic dish was blocked by trees.  I learned from years in the computer business, always have a backup.  Finding a qualified tech is very difficult, I had to take the dish off the roof and ship it back to Winegard, the manufacture, for repair.  When we received the unit back, it had to go back on the roof.  Ann and I just couldn’t lift is back up.  We had to call a mobile RV repair service to help get the antenna back on to the roof.  I then reinstalled the antenna. 

In the middle of all this Monday morning while making breakfast we heard a loud bang and lost all AC power.  After doing some trouble shooting, I narrowed it down to the Inverter/Charger.  I asked the Mobile RV tech to look at the problem,  but is was too complicated and high tech for him.  Thank God for Amazon Prime.  In two days and $2000 later the new Magnum 2800 watt inverter/charger showed up.  It took me a full day to remove the old unit, modify all of the wiring to fit the new unit and set it up.  I do not bend like I used to.  Working in the confined basement is not as easy as it used to be. 

But the automatic satellite dish is working and the power is flowing, so we are happy campers again.

Now time to explore Chattanooga.  That is for another blog. 

Tonight is the First Seder.  We are going to a Seder at a local Temple here in Chattanooga.

 

After we leave Chattanooga we are heading to Indiana to have the coach painted.  As many of you already know, while they are painting the coach we will be going to Dubai to visit Evelyn and also see Caroline and Andrew.

Life is still Great on the Roan Road.

A Season Pass to Disney (Kissimmee, FL)

 

Here is one statement I am glad I do not need to read.

“Alternate Side Parking rules are suspended today and tomorrow to facilitate snow removal. Parking meter regulations remain in effect.”

Being that we have season tickets to Disney World we have been making day trips. 

I must say Disney World is extremely well run and organized. From the time you park your car to the time you leave.  It is clean.  A lot of employees  carry around pickup sticks and are required to pick up any trash they may see. 

The admission fee is worth the money.  The problem I have is all of the restaurants are very expensive.   Manhattan prices would put them to shame.  There are shops and stands selling Disney Stuff everywhere.  And the Stuff is not cheap.  The place is designed to suck every last penny out of your pocket.  Well, enough of my rant.

The other night we had a great dinner at the “Ice Palace Restaurant”  and saw the Electric Light Parade,  the Castle lit up and the fireworks.  All were amazing!

Ann had a good time making new friends at the restaurant. 

 

Here is the Castle all lit up at night.

Next came the Electric Light Parade.  Unfortunately we were to far back in the crowd to get any good pictures.

This is the best I could get.

Laser Light Show projected onto the Castle.  Amazing.

Laser Light Show from Roy Brody on Vimeo.

Here is a clip of the Fireworks Show.

Fireworks from Roy Brody on Vimeo.

More to come, I promise.

Happy Birthday to Adam!

Life is good on the Roan Road…

Back in the Sunshine State (Kissimmee, FL)

 

First I would like to state “ Boy am I glad I am not in the Northeast now.”

Well. there is a lot to tell.  Here is the short version.  Put the rig in storage, rented a car, drove to NYC.  Saw all of the doctors, got a clean bill of health from them, visited family, and, of course, Evelyn.  Drove back down to sunny Florida.  Picked up the home and here we sit. 

Now for the long version, with pictures and videos.

After driving up to New York we spent most of the time at Bev’s house. On Dec. 25 Ann, Bev and I decided to meet Alyssa, Mike, Lucy and Emma at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

On Jan. 3, 2015 we celebrated Chanukah at Alyssa’s house in Connecticut.

For those of you that did not see these pictures on Facebook, here they are and more.

After our last doctor’s appointment and in a snow storm, we left NYC and headed down I-95 to warmer weather.  Just past Washington, DC,  we finally drove out of the snow.  After one overnight stop we reached Florida and picked up our home, drove it to the campground where we will be until March 8th.

We have been making good use of our season Disney passes. 

RIDING THE DISNEY CAROUSEL from Roy Brody on Vimeo.

And the Tea Cup Ride.

ANN ON THE TEA CUP RIDE from Roy Brody on Vimeo.

And finally “IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL”.

SMALL WORLD from Roy Brody on Vimeo.

We have been very busy since we came back, so stay tuned!

Life is Great on the Roan Road…