As I wrote in yesterday’s blog, there is a rally of old GM motorhomes going on here at Elkhart Campground. I love these neat old coaches, and yesterday I poked my nose out into the cold to take a couple of photos of some of them.

Our friends Dan and Terri Greg travel in a neat old GM motorhome, and are here for the rally. We first met them in Arizona a year or two ago, and I have been following their Travel Blog ever since. We haven’t had time to get down and say hello yet, but Dan said they’d try to catch up with us today.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I just don’t understand it. My driver’s license says I’m 57 now, so how come I still feel like a 20 year old kid? Okay, a 20 year old kid with a lot of creaks and groans in the morning, but still a kid.

My dad used to say that it was a shame that youth is wasted on the young, and I never understood that. I do now. I’d love to have the energy and optimism I did when I was 20, but only with if I could keep what little wisdom I may have picked up along the way.

Still, I wouldn’t want to go back and re-live all of the drama of youth. I’m at a very comfortable time in my life, I’ve never been more content in my work or my personal life, and I look forward to getting out of bed every morning. Life is good.

Miss Terry is having a hard time finding any cookbooks that will give her some ideas of how to use the microwave/convection oven in our Winnebago motorhome. Terry is a great cook, but she’s a traditionalist, and has always been very happy with her gas oven in our bus conversion. She sure has created a lot of delicious meals and treats with it.

The Winnebago has just a gas cooktop and a GE Profile microwave/convection. The few cookbooks she has found have recipes, but not much in the way of techniques or instructions on how to transition from a gas oven to a convection model.

Yesterday she made me a birthday cake in the convection oven, her first attempt to use it. I thought it was delicious, but she wasn’t satisfied. Just to reassure her, I went back for a second big piece of cake, and I may have another for breakfast. Oh, the things I do for that woman!

Thanks to everyone who sent me Happy Birthday e-mails or posted greetings on Facebook. You all make me feel very special. 

Thought For The Day – Dieting is a way of starving to death so you can live longer.

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I’m going to change my name to Nanook of the North, because I’m beginning to feel like an Eskimo. It looks like winter has already set in here in northern Indiana, and we’re freezing! There is a small rally of old GM motorhomes here at Elkhart Campground, and I keep thinking that those folks are even worse at planning than I am. We have to be here to get the new issue out, but those fools chose to be here this time of year!

I know that there are folks who enjoy cold weather, but I’m not one of them. I lived in cold country too many years to have any attraction to it. A lifetime ago when I was a young soldier, we held war games in some Godforsaken place like Iceland or Greenland, to prepare us for combat if the Soviets ever invaded.

I suggested that we give the frozen place to the Commies and regroup in Key West to look out for the Cubans, who might use the diversion to launch a sneak attack on our rear. As it turns out, the strategists really didn’t want my input, but time has proven me right. Russia isn’t a threat anymore, but Cuba is still there, just waiting for us to look the other way, and they’ll be swarming ashore and heading for the bars on Duval Street. Wait a minute, they already do that…! I’m not Nanook of the North, I’m a soothsayer!

That’s better anyway. I don’t have room for a sled dog team in our Winnebago, and that whole Eskimo nose rubbing instead of kissing thing just doesn’t work for me. What’s sexy about two red, runny noses bumping into each other anyway?

One problem with cold weather RVing is condensation. Cooking, showering, even running a propane furnace, all put a lot of water vapor in the air, and we have noticed that the outside wall at the back of our bedroom closet, as well as our windshield, are collecting condensation. We open the bathroom roof vent and turn on the exhaust fan when we shower to allow the steam to get out, but it’s still an issue we need to keep an eye on.

Years ago, when Terry was being treated for cancer, we were stuck in Traverse City, Michigan into the winter. No matter what we did, our Pace Arrow Vision, the Motorhome from Hell, was wet inside. It was so bad that Terry had a package of rolls of paper towels stored between the front passenger seat and the dashboard, and they were saturated. Our Ultimate Advantage is a lot better insulated than that Fleetwood lemon, but we still have to deal with condensation.

Of course, the best remedy is to get out of the cold and into someplace warmer. It’s something I’m really looking forward to. I think we’re in for a long, cold winter in much of the country, and I want to get as far away from it as I can and still be on dry land.

Bad Nick is no fool. He spent his time inside where it was nice and warm,  working on a post for the Bad Nick Blog titled The Higher Education Scam.

Thought For The Day – In insurance policies, the big print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

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