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Morning Cup Of Coffee And Weather

I kind of miss the halloween traditions. We moved to a suburban subdivision that has only 3 streets, each about 2000 feet in length --- I think there are just 4-6 houses that have kids, and most of those are older -- high school -- I'm more worried about soap and toilet paper than sugar.

Before we moved here, our 'hood had many young families and the president of the HOA (the only one who had any sense) used to organize an unofficial party --- she'd have hot dogs, cider, and such at her home to act as a final place where everyone would kind of hang out, and the kids would run around....lots of fun. We owned our kettle corn concession then --- needless to say, we played a part in the festivities :)

It was also how we earned "points" and kept the HOA from giving us TOO much grief for a couple of the rules which we were breaking routinely :D
 
dustinp said:
Good thing you don't live about 100 miles further north by Gile,WI, or you might just have to skip Halloween and go right to Christmas! Got 16 inches of snow today!!
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YIKES!!!!!!!

Here in Indiana it felt like it was winter. The reports said low 40's, but there were some who reported seeing snow in the air....I have my doubts.

But it does seem as if winter is arriving a little early this year. Uusally we don't turn on the furnace until late October, or even think about lighting the fireplace until Halloween. I think we're about 2 weeks ahead of schedule because last night I strongly contemplated it.
 
Looks fantastic.

Eery year I say I'm going to hang lights. Yet I never do. There's always some other pressing issue. For example cleaning the gutters. Maybe I'll try combining the task...once the leaves top their complete their annual suicide pact.

What I WANT to do is hide some LED strips under the eves --- with a little programming and an arduino, changing the colors specifically for the season is reasonably easy. Purple, Rose and White for Advent and Lent. Multi color for the Christmas Octave. Of course red/white/blue for independence day.

Could get fancy too with red/blue chasing color when the alarm has been tripped...

Still wouldn't look as good as these simple white globes :)
 
My lights really do look fantastic! Maybe a little too much. I ordered a dimmer so I can take them down a few notches. I had these same lights in Seattle and did the same think. My house is on a hill and can be seen from the road which is 300 to 500 yards Away. It really looks nice from there too although it’s too bright for a residence.
 
Tour 931 said:
I hung up lights on my house today. I did the garage about a week ago.
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  • Media owner Tour 931
  • Date added
These are party lights not Christmas and I will leave them on all year. I have then set dusk to Dawn.
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Since these are party lights, and you leave them on from dusk to dawn, do you worry about someone seeing them and stopping in at say 3-4am wanting to party??;)
 
dustinp said:
Since these are party lights, and you leave them on from dusk to dawn, do you worry about someone seeing them and stopping in at say 3-4am wanting to party??;)
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All my neighbors are in their 80’s and 90’s. My 97 year old neighbor called me about 5 pm and asked if I would give her a ride around at dusk to see my lights. I had her home by 6:30.
 
Tour 931 said:
All my neighbors are in their 80’s and 90’s. My 97 year old neighbor called me about 5 pm and asked if I would give her a ride around at dusk to see my lights. I had her home by 6:30.
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How sweet :D

I have a soft spot for the elderly. Unfortunately, our culture is so youth-focused and essentially ignores their needs completely.
 
Getting ready for the last planned campout of the year. After this, all of the parks are on a first come first served basis and on reduced to skeleton crew with typically only 1 shower house per campground being left open.

I'll surely go at least once or twice more in November, but the snow will get here, and that's when I put Serenity away. I just want to keep her out of the salt.

I'm torn on the campsite --- I have a reservation at a park, but the site is severely sub-optimal. Narrow, right next to a hiking trail, and a little muddy. I found a dispersed camping site which looks rather appealing -- I am thinking very seriously about canceling my reservation, borrowing a power bank from a friend (warm the heated mattress pad), and doing some boondocking -- especially since my battery experiment went well a couple of weeks ago.

I have to remember to take my leaf blower or a rake with me this weekend --- its horrible when you can't find your camp site :)
 
Sweeney said:
How sweet :D

I have a soft spot for the elderly. Unfortunately, our culture is so youth-focused and essentially ignores their needs completely.
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This December we are escaping Wisconsin in my Subaru and spending two weeks in Florida. Then in January we are heading to Texas in my Class A diesel pusher. I wanted to sell it but she convinced me to keep it and run away with her to get out of the Wisconsin cold.

She gets all giggly like a school girl telling her friends about seeing the country and her relatives. A lot of people get bitter when they get old but not my ‘mummy’. Think of her as Pollyanna and not aunt Polly. And me, I’m driving Miss Daisy.
 
Tour 931 said:
This December we are escaping Wisconsin in my Subaru and spending two weeks in Florida. Then in January we are heading to Texas in my Class A diesel pusher. I wanted to sell it but she convinced me to keep it and run away with her to get out of the Wisconsin cold.

She gets all giggly like a school girl telling her friends about seeing the country and her relatives. A lot of people get bitter when they get old but not my ‘mummy’. Think of her as Pollyanna and not aunt Polly. And me, I’m driving Miss Daisy.
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Nice movie referencing :) One of the games we use to play in the office was to slip quotes and lines from films into meetings and see who caught it. Some people would argue it was a waste of time, but that don't make no sense. It kept us amused.

Not quite as good of a joke as a friend used. He was employed in a TLA in the MIC. He would substitute mil-spec numbers on his screen presentations. The handouts were always correct, but the screen usually included ZZ-C-001597 Rev. A for probe covers. In all the years he did it no one ever caught him.

Texas and Florida sound good. I want to get back down to Florida --- I had HOPED to get there this summer. I'd like to experience the summer before we move to any warm climate place. Texas, Florida, and Arizona are all on my list of considerations. Of course Texas is unique in the fact that Amarillo is different climate than San Antonio.

Once my parents have gone to their eternal rewards, I don't see myself staying here in the midwest. I hate the big city that I live near with a passion, and that city is growing in my direction. The Sooner I can get out, the better. But for obvious reasons, I'm not especially in a hurry.

For your trip, hopefully, by then, energy prices improve :) Selling my class A was a tough decision. But was certainly made eaiser by my time spent at Loves. I have zero regrets, but I do miss the convenience of my own shower/bathroom and the ability to take my pets with me.
 
Sweeney said:
Nice movie referencing :) One of the games we use to play in the office was to slip quotes and lines from films into meetings and see who caught it. Some people would argue it was a waste of time, but that don't make no sense. It kept us amused.

Not quite as good of a joke as a friend used. He was employed in a TLA in the MIC. He would substitute mil-spec numbers on his screen presentations. The handouts were always correct, but the screen usually included ZZ-C-001597 Rev. A for probe covers. In all the years he did it no one ever caught him.

Texas and Florida sound good. I want to get back down to Florida --- I had HOPED to get there this summer. I'd like to experience the summer before we move to any warm climate place. Texas, Florida, and Arizona are all on my list of considerations. Of course Texas is unique in the fact that Amarillo is different climate than San Antonio.

Once my parents have gone to their eternal rewards, I don't see myself staying here in the midwest. I hate the big city that I live near with a passion, and that city is growing in my direction. The Sooner I can get out, the better. But for obvious reasons, I'm not especially in a hurry.

For your trip, hopefully, by then, energy prices improve :) Selling my class A was a tough decision. But was certainly made eaiser by my time spent at Loves. I have zero regrets, but I do miss the convenience of my own shower/bathroom and the ability to take my pets with me.
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When I sold my house in Seattle I needed a place to live and I didn’t know for how long so I bought the Class A. The Camp-Inn is more my style. I can pee anywhere and take a soldier’s shower or stop at a truck stop. My way of using the teardrop is more traveling than camping.

I understand about you wanting to leave a big city and why you are in no hurry.
 
I'm definitely not interested in the long-term stops --- I see some people who snowbird or will park the rig and sit for a month or months.

Right now, we'e still weekend warriors. Most trips are thursday night to Sunday morning, then back home.

If I were able to travel on an extended bass, I'd still stick to state/county parks. The resorts are not my thing and I hate KOA's. If I won the big lotto I'd still probably only spend a few days before I get the urge to see something new. I get bored easily plus I enjoy the dashboard view of the world...

IDEALLY I'd spend those 3-5 days then move. A sample trip from my childhood home to Florida might look something like this:

Elkhart ->
North of Indianpois ->
Southern indiana ->
Cave City ->
Just outside Nashville ->
Chatanooga (Racoon Mountain is a nice "resort")->
somehwere north atlanta (pass through late morning preferaby on a sunday) ->
south central GA (Macon (I just like Macon), Senoia (walking dead), Juliet GA (Fried green tomatoes) ->
Cardele ->
Live Oak FL ->
Ocala (got to stop in Micanopy -- "Doc Hollywood") ->
Lakeland (Lake Kissimee park is beautiful!)
​
That is still a heavy interstate route -- I'd probably follow it as a general route, but actually drive the state roads parallel -- Find the roads less traveled, and there are things to stop and check out.

Thats about 10-12 stops -- spend a couple of hours to a couple nights at each stop using the campground as a leaping off point to find a local museum or two, and enjoy some local flavors. The Louisville bourbon trail, Nashville Hot Chicken, and Georgia BBQ come tomind. Just not at the fried green tomatoe's place....the secret is in the sauce.

That's a good 2-3 weeks of travel with no day being more than a couple of hours driving. This would be what I would like to do

State parks are cheap, generally near smaller towns rather than big cities, and usually are more natural than the parking lots along the interstate could ever be -- although there are a few of those we've stayed that was nice. KOA in Macon, KOA in Yemassee come to mind.

The only real problem with that style of tavel is my pets --- the dog is fine, she likes the camper. It's the cats/kittens that are the hang-up. They do fine in a class A or C, but not so much in a teardrop.

What I especially like is that trip in a teardrop will have a fuel cost that is about 15-20% more than just driving the car by itself. Not much more than a "rounding error" The big rig is easily 3 times as much, and then there's the difficulty in fueling and just harder to park.

Yah, writing this, except for the feline-furry-friends - I'm definitely a tearjerker. Maybe pulling with a semi-converted van/truck would fix this...a "sprinter" for the living room, the teardrop for the bedroom and galley. I'm starting to think that would be the sweet spot.
 
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