Meeting up with Full Time RVer friends

Many years ago, about 4 or 5 or 6???  I stumbled upon a website community called RV Dreams started by Linda and Howard Payne. It was chock full of great information about living in an RV, full time or part time, and how to go about setting up your rig, getting solar, good resources for insurance, operational expenses and ideas.

Well, on that page is a link to a little Java chat room.  So I clicked on and went into chat.  The first person I met was Dee Walters.  She made me feel welcome and asked a bunch of questions to find out what and where we were at in our RV ing life.  She introduced to me to each "regular" chatter as they logged into the room.  She was the "Hostess with the Mostest" of the chat room!

People were funny and helpful and informative.  It was like sitting around a campfire and people were pulling up with their lawn chairs to set a bit and chat.  Some came in, some went out.... but Dee stayed till the end (about 11 p.m.) and warmly invited me back.  That is how our friendship started!

She and her husband were downsizing and selling stuff and ready to move into a small apartment until their retirement dates.  As the years rolled by, Dee and Jim found the right fifth wheel, the right truck, the right gear and moved on into Full Time RV Living.  Yes, they were living their RV Dream!
We all felt the excitement they expressed in each chat discussion, each email, each photo shared.  They started travelling and retired from their jobs and shared adventures via the blog called http://tumbleweed-jimdee.blogspot.com/    We have shared family and friends and dreams and RV catastrophes.  And of course, all of these years, she has been the Hostess with the Mostest in the RV Dreams chat room.

In July 2011, they were travelling through Wisconsin~!   We made arrangements to meet up and have them "mooch dock" in our driveway.  That means "boodocking" in a friend's driveway instead of going to an RV park or campground.  It's a fun way to share time together and perhaps get some reparis, rig washing and relaxing in our peaceful countryside of Wisconsin.

The blog posts from their 2011 visit start on this link: Visit with Jim and Dee  and go on for five blog posts after that.  Just click on the link on the bottom of each page for the next blog in that series.

Since we had limited 5GB internet for a long time, I have not been able to spend much time in the chat room anymore, but I have keep current with blogs and emails and pics on facebook.  We just recently got unlimited internet access at our home with Frontier.net so I can start going back now!


As for Jim and Dee......   They just completed travelling to all 48 states in the US and were heading back through the midwest on their way to Illinois to visit their children and grandchildren.  We made arrangements to meet up with them on Saturday at the State Fair Park campgrounds in Milwaukee.  It's about a 90 mile drive for us, and we found them easily in their Carriage Cameo fifth wheel.  I forget how long it is, but it's a big one!

They happened to be parked next door to a Safari motorhome,

so Steve and Jim jawjacked with that guy for a while. 

Dee and I hugged and started chattering at 11 a.m.  

(We didn't stop again until it was time to go 6 hours later!) 

Dee hauled out crocheting and we gabbed fibers, patterns, and RVing stuff.  Ya know, places they been, things they modified on their rig, repairs and adventures.  This crochet pattern is called C to C.... Corner to Corner.  Neato!   She finished one afghan in colorful stripes, and is now working on a shawl with delicate yarns and showed me how the stitches go.  She found it on Pinterest and found how to's on Utube.

The guys, of course, had to solve all the World's Problems and chattered away about people, places and things.  We let them gab while we were busy doing our own gabbing! They had their fireplace going in their fifthwheel and it was comfy and cozy on this very cool snap of weather we have been having in Wisconsin. We felt so welcome in their travelling home. It was like we picked up where we left off 3 years ago during their last visit.  LOL

Noontime Hunger was eminent, 

and of course the favorite thing RVers like to do is to EAT! 

and blog about it...  hahahahhaha

here is their website:

http://doublebs.com/

Jim had already scoped out a good restaurant nearby called Double BB's BBQ.  Sounded good to us! 

We got the nice waiter to oblige and take our photo together.  How cute.  I see so many blogs of RVers who always have their pictures taken in restaurants as they meet and greet out on the road.

So bloggers... here is ours!

The food came and was delicious!  Jim had kielbasa sausages (a Polish Treat)  and both Steve and Dee had pulled pork sandwiches.  I opted for a half rack of ribs.... and took the rest home with me.  Of course, here is a Foodie Pic:

The bar/restaurant also had an open air patio section out back, so the doorway was wide open.  This pestering little wasp would not leave us alone!  Finally Jim trapped him in the empty sweet tea glass and gave him to the waiter-----   (the waiter kindly took the bee out back and let him free...awww)

We went back to their RV for an afternoon of chit chat and the guys watched some car racing on tv.  It was stereo surround sound effect because nearby at the Milwaukee Mile raceway had cars running and we could hear the sounds coming in the open windows!   Being race fans, Jim and Dee enjoyed being so close to a race track!

Also I snapped a pic of their satellite dish setup.  How ingenious to have it weighted down by a disk from weightlifting barbells.  So visit a thrift shop, rummage sale or used sale at a fitness center for a disk to keep yours weighted down too.  Easily portable and less messy than sand bags!

Too soon it was time for us to go.... Jim had tickets to go to the Milwaukee Brewer's baseball game right next door.  We had to head on back because our dogs were waiting patiently for us at home.  

Taking our photos of each other seemed like a good thing to do too...

We hugged and said our "See Ya Laters"  (never goodbyes)  and heading out of the campground. 

On our way home, we slipped into Trader Joes and stocked up on a couple cases of Two Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw wine) and an armful of jars of Cookie Butter.  If you haven't tried this, please give it a try.  It's VERY addicting and thanks to Al from http://thebayfieldbunch.com/ , I am now addicted too. 

We made it home, clear sailing, and the dogs were just fine.  But they missed us.  

Now it was time for US to pack up our motorhome... we are heading out camping on Sunday!!!!

We WERE supposed to camp Mon-Thur at High Cliff with RVing friends Karen and Herb Sweet.. but due to engine troubles on their Safari motorhome, they are not able to make their reservations.  Sigh.  Was looking forward to seeing them.  

Well, they cancelled their reservations at the park, and right in behind them logged our other RVing friends Mel and Paula!  They were able to reserve the same site that Karen and Herb released ... so we are still going camping and still going to have a Safari motorhome as a neighbor. 

So we loaded up last night... and now taking a run over to Waupaca for breakfast with Pa Pfundtner this morning.  When we get back, we are heading out RVing ourselves.  Should be fun!