The RV world lost an icon yesterday, when Joe Peterson, co-founder of the Escapees RV Club, passed away. I have been privileged to meet Joe many times over the years at Escapades and other RV events, and he was always a cheerful, friendly, outgoing gentleman.

When Joe and his lovely wife Kay founded the Escapees, way back in 1978, they had no idea what they had started. Over the years they nurtured and guided their little organization until it grew into one of the largest, and in my opinion the very best, RV clubs around. The legacy Joe has left is something the rest of us will enjoy and benefit from for years to come.

This is a loss for all of us, but a double hit for the family; I’m told that Joe’s son-in-law, Bud Carr, also lost his father just a week or so ago. Please keep them in your prayers.  

We had visitors yesterday! Jim and Dee Walter, who are staying at an RV park a couple of miles up the road, stopped in to say hello. We had a good time talking about the RV lifestyle, sharing a joke or two, and comparing our favorite apps on our Droid smart phones.

After Jim and Dee left, Terry and I drove a mile or so south of the campground to Pioneer Park, a county park that includes a small museum, campground, and boat launch on the Peace River. Here are a couple of pictures, one upriver and one downriver. If we get a chance to paddle our kayaks while we’re here, I think we’ll use the launch at Pioneer Park, because the one at our campground is much steeper and looks like it would be harder to use.

We booked two weeks here at Peace River, and while the campground is okay, the town doesn’t have much to offer. Yesterday we had dinner at the Panda Chinese buffet, and it being a small town, we didn’t have high expectations. As it turned out, we were still disappointed! If we could change our stay and get back into the Orlando Thousand Trails, we’d leave and head back up that way. There’s a lot more to do and see in that area. We’d like to get some paddling in while we’re here, but the weather report for next week is looking pretty grim, so I don’t know if we’ll get to do that or not.   

I mentioned smart phone apps above,and if you have an iPhone or iPad, you might be interested in a brand new app that the nice folks at Technomadia just brought out, called Coverage?. This is a simple app that lets you see where you can expect to get 3G and roaming signals in the continental U.S. for AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile. Yes, you can go online to the different carriers’ websites and get the same info, but Coverage? allows you to do so offline, wherever you happen to be.

These are the same folks who put out the excellent State Lines app, which no RVer should be without. Check out Coverages?, I think you’ll find it useful. They also publish an e-book titled Answers to the Common Excuses not to Travel Full-Time that I have heard good things about. I need to order a copy and check it out.

One final thought on technical things before I close. I have been having  e-mail problems for quite a while now. Sometimes e-mails never get to me,  other times they show up, but disappear from the server before I can read them, or ones I have saved for future reference go missing. 

While we were in Fort Lauderdale last week, Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour, switched me over to G-mail, but since our websites are still hosted on Yahoo for the time being, our e-mail first goes through the Yahoo servers, and that is where we seem to have the problem. So if you e-mailed me and I didn’t get back to you, please try again. Also, I lost some e-mails from folks who asked us to stop by while we were in their area, and I had no way to re-contact them. My apologies.

Bad Nick has been busy posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled Armed Citizens Fighting Back. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Why be difficult, when with a little bit of effort you can be impossible?

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My annual checkup at the V.A. hospital here in Lexington, Kentucky was scheduled for 10 a.m. yesterday, but we arrived a half hour early, and within about 5 minutes I was in an exam room where a nurse took my vitals, and then she took me in to see my doctor.

He read over my file, we talked a little bit about some little problems I’ve been having, he entered an order for refills on a couple of prescriptions, and told me to have a nice winter. The next stop was the lab in the basement, where they drew blood, told me they were out of flu shots, and sent me on my way. We were back in the van and headed home by 10:30. They sure do work fast there!

It looks like I’ll be kicking around this old rock a few more years at least, and that’s good news, because there’s a lot I still have left to see and do.

I’m still not completely decided about switching to the Tucson V.A. hospital for my primary care, because the folks here in Lexington have taken very good care of me. It’s just not very convenient to get here at times.

I really wish Lexington had more than one RV park, because we really don’t care for Kentucky Horse Park. It’s always crowded, and at $28 a night for a back-in water and electric RV site, it’s certainly no bargain. There are other RV parks south of Lexington, down around Berea, but by the time you pay for gas to run back and forth, you don’t save any money. At least it’s a short drive from the Horse Park to the V.A. hospital.  

Back at the motorhome, I got the new digital issue uploaded and sent e-mails to our digital subscribers with a link to access it. For some reason, a couple of e-mails bounced back, so if you subscribe to the digital issue and didn’t get the e-mail, let me know and we’ll figure out what went wrong.

A few days ago I wrote about my first impressions of the new Droid Incredible phone, and somebody e-mailed to tell me that they had heard the battery life isn’t great. That’s true, compared to the Blackberry Storm I had before, the Droid’s battery goes down somewhat faster. Especially if you are using a lot of apps at once, such as the GPS, or the Bluetooth. I don’t use the Bluetooth at all, and I keep the GPS feature turned off if I’m not using it, and I can go about 24 hours between battery charges, unless I spend a lot of time talking on the telephone. When I got the phone, I also got the accessory 12 volt battery charger cord, and I have found it useful, especially when using the GPS in the van.

Somebody on the Escapees Forum posted some info about out a new app for both Droids and iPhones called Allstays Camp and RV, which lists all kinds of great information, including WalMart and Sam’s Club stores with RV parking, Cracker Barrel restaurants, truck stops, highway rest areas, private and public campgrounds, Camping World stores, RV service facilities, and so much more that I can’t list everything here.

The app uses Google maps to locate things in your immediate area, with filters so that you only see the things you want to see. All you do is select a location, and it navigates you right to it! At $3.99, it’s a heck of an investment. I downloaded it to my Droid and have used it already. 

Isn’t technology a wonderful thing!

Thought For A Day – Every path has some puddles.

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The Flying J at at Catlettsburg, Kentucky had several dedicated RV parking sites, but we were the only RV there Saturday night, which is a first for us. Usually Flying Js fill up with RVs early and they stay overnight, taking advantage of the company’s RV friendly hospitality.

I don’t drink coffee because it might stunt my growth, and I’ll be short when I grow up. But Miss Terry needs a cup or three to get her going for the day, so while she was “putting on her face” yesterday morning, I walked into the truck stop store and got her a large cup. Coming back, I snapped a couple of pictures of our Winnebago in the RV parking area.

By the way, what is this whole “putting on my face” thing with ladies about anyway? What’s wrong with the face she wore when we went to bed last night, and that I woke up to this morning? It looked darned beautiful to me. How come it’s not good enough for the rest of the world?

We pulled out of the Flying J about 9:30 and had an easy run west on Interstate 64, passing some nice farmland along the way. There were some rolling hills, but nothing like what we had in Virginia and West Virginia the day before.

We arrived at the Kentucky Horse Park campground about noon and the place was a madhouse, as weekend campers were pulling out in a hurry to get home, and new folks were coming in. At the dump station, a fellow in a motorhome in front of us almost backed into us after he was finished. All he had to do was drive forward and out, and I have no idea why he put it in reverse instead. I laid on the horn, and he woke up and stopped less than six inches from the front of our Winnebago. His wife got out and apologized to Terry, and said “ I don’t know why that man does the things he does sometimes!” Uh, maybe because he’s an idiot?   

I also saw another jerk with a pickup and travel trailer pulling out of one of the camping loops way too fast, and he almost hit a kid on a bicycle. The boy fell off and yelled, and the guy gave him the finger and kept right on going. Another man jumped into his truck and took off after him, while the mother and I checked on the boy. He had a skinned up arm, and was scared, but it could have been a lot worse. What an idiot! I was glad to get backed into our RV site in one piece.

So what do you do if you’ve driven 560 miles in two days? If you’re us, you jump in your van and drive another 60 or 70 miles to visit a cemetery. My great grandparents are buried in Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, which is in the Covington metropolitan area, right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, and I wanted to find their graves.

The cemetery was huge, but we had the section and plot numbers, and managed to find it with just a little bit of searching. I don’t know much about my family history, but we learned that my great grandfather served in the U.S. Navy. Back at the motorhome, a search on Ancestry.com showed me that he also received a pension from the Navy. The time frame means he could have served during the Civil War, but it will take some more research to get the details of his service.

I also had the address where they lived, in the little Ohio River town of Ludlow, Kentucky, which was only a few miles away, so we drove over to check it out. We found the right street, but there was no house with the same number, though the houses and businesses in the neighborhood all date back to the time when my great grandparents lived there. It was pretty neat to drive around, looking at the old homes and businesses, and to think that that my great grandparents, who died before I was born, walked these same streets and saw these same buildings. Did they attend worship services at that church? Did they shop in the stores in this commercial block? Did they fish on the bank of the river where we stopped? It really gave me a connection to them.

By the time we got back to Lexington, we were famished. Last year when we were here, we discovered the Asian Royal Buffet in Georgetown, a couple of miles north of the Horse Park, and it was very good, so we stopped for dinner. As most readers know, we eat at a lot of Chinese buffets all over the country. If not the very best, this has to be in the very top two or three. The selection was huge and everything was hot and delicious. Our waitress was very efficient and attentive, and the total bill for two of us, with tea and a coke, was $23. We’ll go back every time we’re in the area.

Today I have my annual checkup at the VA hospital, and then we’ll pick up the envelopes from the mail service and start stuffing them with the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. Depending on how long that takes, and whatever follow up attention I need at the VA hospital, we hope to be out of here by the end of the week.

Thought For The Day -To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.

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Yesterday was another one of those marathon driving days that RVers are not supposed to do, but that we find ourselves doing quite often. We do this sometimes when we have to get from Point A to Point B, and don’t have time to stop and play along the way. It’s not our preferred mode of travel, but what can I say? I enjoy driving my motorhome.  If it’s a good day, and the Winnebago is running smooth, and we’re having a good time, why stop until we’re tired?

We left the Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails campground at Gloucester, Virginia a little after 9 a.m., headed west on State Route 33, crossed the York River, and got onto Interstate 64 about 25 miles outside of Richmond. Once on I-64, we pointed the nose of the coach west and just let her roll.

We had never been in this part of Virginia before, and as we climbed up into the mountains, we started to see some nice fall colors. Maybe not as dramatic as we’ve seen in northern Michigan, but pretty none the less.

We passed several very nice little farms along the way.

Looks like somebody needs a new roof on their barn.

Now that’s a steep bridge! I wonder what percent that is at? I sure wouldn’t want to come down it on an icy day!

And what’s a road trip without road construction?

Just before we crossed into West Virginia, we had five miles of 5%  downhill grade. We crossed the state line at 2 p.m., and Miss Terry got some pictures of the rocky hillsides alongside the highway.

West Virginia is pretty, but it’s not a place to do a lot of rubbernecking if you’re the driver. I don’t think there’s one mile of straight highway in the entire state. It’s either uphill or downhill, and you’re always winding around the side of a mountain. 

At one point, near the New River Gorge,  we had four miles of 7% downhill grade before we climbed back up the other side.

Interstate 64 joined the West Virginia Turnpike and followed it north to Charleston. Most of the way was winding roadway with a lot of potholes to keep us awake. Traffic in Charleston was light, and before we knew it we had passed the gold domed state capitol building and I-64 had turned back west again.

A little over an hour later, we crossed into Kentucky and pulled into the Flying J at Catlettsburg, a little after 5 p.m. We fueled up, and then pulled into one of their designated RV parking spaces.

We had not eaten all day and were famished, so we headed for the truck stop’s restaurant. Usually I’ll just order a burger at Flying J, but the buffet had a very good looking selection, so we both chose that instead. I’m not sure if it was because we were so hungry or what, but our dinner was outstanding. Much better than what we’ve come to expect for a truck stop buffet.

It was a long day, and I was ready to stop driving, so we spent the night at the Flying J, with 435 miles behind us. Yes, I know that’s a lot of miles for retired RVers. But we’re not retired, we’re still working folks who just happen to live the fulltime RV lifestyle as we run our business. We could had stopped sooner and had more miles to drive today, but as it is, we’re less than 120 miles from Kentucky Horse Park. So we can get in early today, get settled in, and then relax the rest of the day.

Thought For The Day – A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

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Yesterday was our last full day in Virginia, and like much of our time here, it started out gray and chilly. We drove into Gloucester Courthouse and picked up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal from the printer and got it loaded into the van. They did a pretty good job, and we’ll use them again when we’re back in this area.

Since it was my birthday, I decided we needed a treat. So we had lunch at Anna’s Pizza, a few blocks from the newspaper office. It was an above average pizza, and the price was very reasonable. Another one to put on our list of places we’d go back to again.

By the time we picked up the new issue, finished lunch, and drove back to the Thousand Trails campground, it was about 3 p.m., and the rain had stopped.

It has been almost two years since we’ve done any geocaching, and I really can’t tell you why we have gotten away from it, since we always enjoyed it so much. Yesterday I was looking at the Geocaching.com website, and noticed that there was a cache hidden right at the entrance of the Thousand Trails campground, so we decided to go find it.

It was an easy find, in fact it was mostly uncovered. The lid had not been secured properly, so there was water inside. I didn’t take any of the goodies inside the cache, I just signed the log book, poured out the water, and hid it for the next cacher to find.

Terry and I agree that we need to to get back into geocaching. It’s the perfect RV hobby, as I wrote in a story about geocaching for RVers. I’m too lazy to go for a walk, but if you tell me there’s a Tupperware container hidden in the woods someplace and stick a GPS in my hand, I’ll walk ten miles to find it.

After we found the geocache, we drove to Urbanna to drop off a bundle of sample papers at Bethpage Camping Resort. But along the way, we stopped to take a picture of this old abandoned house. There are places like this on the back roads, all over this area.

Bethpage is a huge place, and it was packed. They have hundreds of sites that will handle any size RV, and a fleet of rental golf carts that would put Hertz or Avis to shame. It’s not our kind of place, we prefer quieter surroundings, but I’m sure families love it.

Urbanna was settled in the late 1600s, so there is a lot of history there. At one time it as a major tobacco shipping port, but today tourism seems to be the big activity.

Driving back to the Thousand Trails, we stopped to take more pictures from the more recent past.

We have enjoyed our stay in this part of Virginia, even though the combination of bad weather and getting the new issue ready to print have not allowed us to do as much exploring as we would have liked to. We’ll definitely return some day.

Today we’re headed west toward Lexington, Kentucky. It’s about 560 miles from here to Kentucky Horse Park, so we’ll make it a two day trip. I’m not sure where we’ll spend the night, but there’s always something along the way. It may be an Elks or Moose lodge, an RV friendly WalMart or truck stop, or wherever we find ourselves when we’re tired of traveling for the day.

Bad Nick had a few things to say before we hit the road, so he posted a new Bad Nick Blog titled Bubba For President! Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Without geography, you’re nowhere.

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