Visiting the Alabama Fall Semboree

We are at the Alabama Fall Samboree at C & C Campground at the Talladega Motor Speedway. We are meeting old friends and making new ones. The weather is great. A little rain but campers do not let a little rain get in the way of having a great time. We are expecting a good group here from Tennessee. We are looking foreard to the tours; Blue Creamery, Cheese Shop, Wine Shop and Racetrack. Come and join us!

Home again.....

We arrived home Sunday evening about 5PM. We arrived at Chip and Emily's to see the boys a little after 6PM. Grandma got to hold both boys. They are really growing.

We had a great time at the Kentucky Spring Samboree at Brandenburg. We had thirteen rigs from Tennessee rigs attending. Three of our ladies won awards for crafts entered in the craft show. Congratulation....Janice Smith, Rita Sands and Sheri Spradley.

We will be home for a while. I was to have should surgery 6/5 but that has been delayed while a blood issue is resolved. I will have to see a hematologist. More to come soon.

We are now in Kentucky.

Here we are at the KY Spring Samboree. We had a great time at the Indiana Spring Samboree in Lebanon last week. Many people do not realize the family relationship you build with all the Good Sam Club friends. We enjoyed the popcorn ever ynight after entertainment. The lemonade was wonderful. It was a little warm a couple of days. Not enough power for air conditioning in the rig.

We had a wonderful time and now are getting ready for more here in Brandenburg.

West Virginia Spring Samboree

We attended the West Virginia Spring Samboree in New Martinsville with our friends the Newberts. We had a wonderful time with a week filled with games, food, fun and great fellowship. As always, Samborees are loads of fun if you get in the middle of everything happening.

Thanks to Don and Kathy Wise and the West Virginia Good Sam Staff and Chapters for an enjoyable week. We made more life time friends.

We are now in St. Marys, Ohio for a day of down time. We will be heading for the Indiana Spring Samboree in Lebanon tomorrow. We will meet up with the Cowells and are looking forward to another great Samboree.

Its Samboree Time!

We had a fantastic time at the 2009 Tennessee "Country Music" Spring Samboree. Yes! it did rain. But, as true Good Sam Club members, we did not let that interfere with the fun, food and fellowship.

The games were great. The seminars were well attended with people asking for some of them to come back. Our vendors were happy with the attendance and seemed to to do well.

We raised $850 through the 50/50 raffle for the Ronald McDonald Houses of Tennessee. Of course, the winners took home the same amount. These funds go to the five houses in Tennessee to help our children and their families cope with an illness.

Our entertainment was the best. We must say a BIG thank you to the Chapters for the skits on Thursday evening. The Jeff Treece Band kept us laughing on Thursday evening. Then on Saturday evening the Jeffers took us on a memory tour through some of the Grand Old Opery days.

Our Sunday morning worship time was inspiring and uplifting. Bill Stewart's message reminded us of the role our mothers played in our lives. As always, Janie Powers touched our spirits with her violin music. Then our memorial service is always a wonderful time of remembering our lost friends/family.

2009 Tennessee "Country Western" Spring Samboree

We are at the James E. Ward Agricultural Center in Lebanon Tennessee for the 2009 Tennessee "Country Western" Spring Samboree. We arrived Saturday evening (May 2nd) about 7:15 PM. It has rained almost continuously since then. However, Good Sam members do not let a little rain dampen our spirits or enjoyment of being together. The Staff is here and we had a great meal tonight at Demo's and played cards afterwards.

We plan to leave here on Sunday May 10th and go to the West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky spring Samborees. We are looking forward to seeing many of our Good Sam Club friends and family.

We will post an update next week.

Mississiippi Spring Samboree

We just returned home from the Mississippi Spring Samboree in Greenville. This was the first Samboree for new directors Darrell and Rita Hugeuley. They did a great job. As always great fellowship, food and entertainment. There were the normal little road bumps but everyone seemed to over look them and continue to enjoy the Fun, food and fellowship.

Golden Circle Sams from Jackson caravaned down on Wednesday. Thanks Dianne and Chapter for your support. That is great because we came home with the traveling trophy for the fourth year in a row.

We have been going to MS samborees for a number of years. I believe our first was a Tupelo Fall in 1995. We attended with two other Bluff City Sams members, the Lebels and Farmers.

We really enjoy going to Samborees because it is almost like a family reunion. Getting together with old friends and making new one every time.

We will be heading to the Tennessee Spring Samboree in Lebanon in 2 weeks. Again, we are looking for one of our best. From there we will be going to West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky before returning home. We would love to have a number of our Tennessee Good Sam family join us on this caravan.

More from the road soon!

We had a GREAT State Committee Meeting.

We attended the 2009 Tennessee Spring State Committee Meeting in Lebanon at the James E. Ward Agricultural Center this past weekend. The weather was not all that great however we did not let it hamper our spirits and ability to have fun and fellowship.

As always the food was wonderful at Demos, Sunset and Pondorosa. They are always to delighted to see the Tennessee Good Sam groups come to town.

The President's meeting on Friday afternoon was informative and helpfully the new presidents picked up some good information.

The Committee meeting was well attended and everyone pitched in to get all the task assigned for the Spring Samboree. So, we can now begin planning and looking forward to a fantastic Samboree.

Til next time....

Grand sons arrive!!

Yesterday 2/20 was great day in our lives. Our first grand children were born. Jacob Daniel and Zachary David came into our lives. All of you that have experienced this exciting happening know that our lives are now changed. As we look forward to sharing our lives with this two wonderful little creations of God's love.

Jacob Daniel was born at 7:51 am CDT. Weighting in at 6 lbs. 8 ozs. 20 inches. Zachary David was born at 7:53 am CDT. Weighing in at 6 lbs. 12 ozs. 19 1/2 inches.

Both the boys and parents, Emily and Chip are doing great!

We still wait......

Emily goes back to the doctor at 1 pm Monday. If Jacob is still low on fluids she will go to the hospital. So, we wait.

Betty had out patient surgery on her right knee Friday morning. She is a gimp for a few weeks. She has been in her recliner since then except for bathroom breaks. Leg elevated with an ice pack on it to reduce swelling. The doctor repaired a torn meniscus (spelling?). She should be up and going as the soreness goes away.

More later..................

It won't be too long now for babies!

Just heard from our son Chip, Emily went for another check up today and it look like the date will be February 20th or sooner. They are doing fine. Both boys check out with a score of 8, which is the highest. She goes back to the doctor on Friday 2/6 for another check up.

Emily is ready for it to be over. She is bored with the bed/sofa rest. Finding it very hard to get comfortable.

More on Friday or sooner.

Back home until the babies arrive.

We are back home for now until the babies come. It looks like we will be grounded until the State Committee meeting the last weekend in March.

Emily had a doctor appointment this afternoon. Everything is looking good. She is going back tomorrow at 1 PM since they could not get a complete test on Jacob (twin A). Heart beat was good but he must have been asleep and they could not get the other test. So, she is still on bed rest.

We put the motor home back in storage and winterized is this afternoon. She is going to be lonely.

staying home for a while........

In Sunny Cool Florida.

We arrived in Brandon to visit with my sister and her family last Friday. It just happened to be the coldest week for a long time. We did not let that stop us! We also had a nice visit with the Burton's from Sandston, Va. They introduced us to the camping/RV life style in the early 70's.

Yesterday we headed for Winter Garden to spend a couple of days with my brother and his family. We had a nice visit with them in the afternoon. Barbara, his wife fixed some wonderful beef soup and grilled cheese for lunch. Um...it was good to have on a cool day. We met LaShaun, their daughter for at Beef O'bradys for sandwiches for supper. Their son, Brad came by with some friends from California just as we were leaving.

Today we are going back down to Plant City to meet our sister and her husband for supper.

We are anxiously awaiting a call from Chip, our son. Emily his wife is expecting twin boys soon. We will be heading home this weekend. Emily is on bed rest and we can help her during the day while Chip is working. She has a few last minute things to get ready for when the boys come home.

Another update soon...................

On the road again!

Yes, after a great Christmas and a bout with a bug for both of us. We are certainly ready to hit the road again. Tonight we are in Mr. D's RV Park in Ozark, AL. Tomorrow we will journey on to Brandon, FL to spent time with my sister and her family. We always look forward to the trip. We have made it for the last 4-5 years. After a few days at Brandon we will move on to Winter Garden to spend time with my brother and his family.

We are ready for Christmas.

Wow has this year flown by. Seems just yesterday we were celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year at our house. The kids will be over tonight for Christmas eve dinner. They will be back early on Christmas morning for breakfast and opening of gifts. We also have the great honor of spending the holidays again this year with Betty's brother, Bill from Raleigh. We always look forward to him coming to spend the holidays at our house.

The tree is all decorated and the stockings are hung in preparation for a delightful Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is hoping everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. We enjoy a wonderful day at our son and daughter-in-laws home with her family and ours. It is always great to get together and share laughter, fun and food with those we hold dear.

We are still trying to finish up this house renovations. we are to the slowest part now. That of getting everything put back in it place and getting rid of things we no longer use. We should be finished sometime next week.

More later.................

Great weekend camping with Bluff City Sams

We had a great weekend camping with the Bluff City Sams at Wall Doxey State Park near Holly Springs, MS. Their November camp out is always highlighted with the Saturday evening Thanksgiving dinner. The men fixed breakfast Saturday morning.

Today we are back home and the guys are here installing the new floor in the sun room. Of course, it is going slower than we had hoped. They have the furniture sitting on the patio. Hope they get all finished before the rain arrives tonight.

We plan to be home now through the Holidays. Then off to Ventura California for the director's meeting January 5-9, 2009. Then back home and probably off to Florida to spend some time with my family before the babies come. The Florida Winter Samboree is in question at this point. We are hoping to be able to attend before the babies come.

See you all soon!

Finally in the house!!!!

Wow! Finally! Whoopee! We will sleep in our house tonight! We are still trying to get STUFF back in its place. There are a few little odds and ends that need to be taken care of. But we are back in it. At least for a couple of nights.

Then we are off on Thursday morning to join the Bluff City Sams Chapter for their November camp out. We are looking forward to sharing a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night served by the park staff.

Wall Doxey State Park is a really nice Mississippi Park. They have a lodge and many buildings that were built back during the depression by the CCC's.

More later...................

My My! this past month has flown by!

These past few weeks have flown by. We got the floors installed in the house. We will be getting the cabinets and counter tops in on the 29th and 29th. A new refrigerator and dish washer will be delivered the 30th. The we begin the miscellaneous repairs. The sun room floor, the legs on furniture and putting the house back together.

We left on 10/12 and went to Jackson Tennessee to do the Tennessee Fall Samboree. We had a great time with about 150 rigs in attendance. We had 120 registered when we arrived and boy did the drive ups start coming.

After the Tennessee Samboree we caravaned to the Mississippi Fall Samboree in Columbia. Of course, we ate at the Round Table twice. We had a great time visiting with old friends.

Today we arrived back at the Agri-Center International Campground in Memphis. We will be here until the end of the week. After the new appliances are delivered, we will move home and put the motor home in storage for a few days. Out next trip out will be to Wall Doxey State Park with the Bluff City Sams for their Thanksgiving camp out.

more later..............

Back home to ground zero.

We are back from a wonderful time at the Georgia and Alabama Fall Samborees. They were both great with some fantastic entertainment, vendors and hospitality.

It was an expensive trip. We stopped in Pell City, AL on Wednesday evening 9.10. When we tried to put our driver side slide in on Thursday morning it would not go. We called ERS and a couple of hours later the service man arrived and got it back in manually ($140). We were on our way but much later than planned. We called Charles Newton, Georgia State Director to let him know we were running late. He suggested that we call Bleakley RV at Unidillia. They had the slide motor and luckily a mobile RV repairman was there. He picked up the motor and was at our rig in Perry about 7:50 AM Friday morning. He installed the new motor (gear box was bad)($754.xx for motor). The labor and service call was $150. The good thing is that the slide works better than it has in some time.

Monday afternoon we received a call from the neighbor that picks up our mail and watches the house. Water was running out the front door. We called our son, Chip and he and a buddy went over ans cut the water off and got ServPro out to begin the cleanup. They pulled up all carpet but the front bedroom, about half the laminated tile in the sun room and vacuumed up about 500 gallons of water. It took until Saturday to get the humidity levels down to 40 percent with a number of fans and 2 dehumidifier running. They came back on Monday this week to clean up the scraps of carpet and padding that was around in every room. We have water damage to the kitchen and master bath cabinets. Several base boards were removed to get moisture from the walls.

The insurance adjuster came yesterday (Monday 9.22) and did his thing. We expect to hear from that tomorrow.

We are also working to get everything ready for the Tennessee Fall Samboree 10.16-19.

We are not stressed over the house. It is only stuff and could have been much worse.

More later as we go to TN and MS Fall Samborees.