Sharp's Travels

It was a busy day here in Florida at Grandpa and Grandma’s. We got the U-haul unloaded and the golf cart ready to use. Cheri spent most of the day unpacking tubs and cleaning all the cabinets. I got the TV set up and the other one put in the bedroom. At noon we took the U-haul back, stopped at the post office to get their mail resumed here in Florida. Then it was back to work in the trailer. It rained all afternoon and into the evening. We were tired from working all day so went out for supper. Found a new Italian place, had pizza and was very good. Stopped at Home Depot to check on a new kitchen range and a new storage shed. It was a long day and headed to bed at 10:00 pm.

Cheri and I were on the road by 10:00 am. We arrived here in Zephyrhills, Florida at 6:00 pm. It was an uneventful trip, everything went without any problems. The first thing we did was stop at Wal-Mart and picked up some groceries before we went over to Grandpa and Grandma’s trailer. When we got to the trailer and everything looked great, even the flowers were in bloom. After we got the trailer opened up we unloaded the car. Tomorrow we will unload the U-haul trailer. We were both tired and in bed by 10:00 pm

Will it’s 12:01 am and I am still driving. At 10:00 am we finally arrived in Atlanta at Darren and Jodi’s. When Darren and Jodi and her parents got home from church we had a cook out. I finally took a two hour nap at 2:30 pm (34 hours without sleep). I didn’t have any trouble going to sleep. We ended up going to bed at 10:00 pm.

We were up at 4:00 am and over to Grandpa and Grandma’s by 5:30 am to start setting out things for the auction. We didn’t get done with that until 9:00 am and the auction started at 9:30 am. After we got done with that Cheri and I went back to the campground to close up the 5th wheel. The auction didn’t get over until 3:00 pm. Grandpa and Grandma left with Kari and Jason right after the auction. Kari and Jason took them back to their place and will get them to the airport on 8-2-07 for their fight to Florida. Cheri and I left with the van and a u-haul trailer, headed for Florida at 4:00 pm. We drove and drove, it is now 12:00 midnight and we are still driving.

It rained all night, not a hard rain, just a nice soaking rain. Cheri and I didn’t get our morning walk in as we had to go to Prairie du Chien to pick up the U-haul trailer. We got back to Grandpa and Grandma’s around 10:45 am. It took Cheri and me until 1:30 pm to get most everything loaded. I still have to load the telephones and computer. We are going to bed early tonight as we have to be over at Grandpa and Grandma’s at 5:30 am tomorrow to get things set out for the auction. Sure hope it doesn’t rain.

Today was a busy day. I received the call from U-haul for the trailer and is ready for pick up tomorrow. I was supposed to get it in Fennimore that is 11 miles from here, but when they called they said I had to go to Prairie du Chien to get it which is 27 miles from here. I am not happy about that. We spent the whole day at Grandpa and Grandma’s helping the auction people get things ready for the auction. We loaded three wagons with stuff and probably have enough to fill two more wagons. It was 4:30 pm before we got done. At 5:00 pm Burl and Dorothy had us over for supper. It was nice that Cheri and Grandma didn’t have to cook. We got home at 8:30 and went right to bed, I had to take some drugs as my back was hurting bad.

It was a hot and very humid day with a high temp of 87 degrees. Cheri gave me a hair cut this morning after we walked. Another large 5th wheel came in. I went out and had a nice talk with them. They had a motorcycle carrier on their 5th wheel. So I took an interest in how it was made and picked up some ideas on how to build ours. They are also full timers. We stayed inside most of the day with the air conditioner, reading and watching TV.

It was another lazy day. After lunch we went over to Grandpa and Grandma’s. Grandma has everything done that she can do before the auction. Grandpa told us that the people that are doing the auction are coming on Thursday morning to sort things out and get them ready for the auction. So that will be a busy day for us. Cheri did make a call to our credit card company to get our address corrected. This is the third time we have made this call over the last four months trying to get our PMB put on the address. They finally told us it couldn’t be done. So Cheri told them that we wanted to cancel the card. Funny thing, they figured out a way to make the change. Cheri had to talk to three different people to get it done. Now we have to wait until the next statement to see if it really got done.

Nothing going on today. We did our morning walk and I spent the rest of the morning washing the roof of the 5th wheel. Cheri did some cleaning. We pick up some boxes for Grandpa and Grandma for packing things to take to Florida. On our evening walk we made a stop at DQ for ice cream.

After church Burl, Dorothy, Grandpa, Grandma, Cheri, and I went out to a restaurant near Richland Center for dinner. The restaurant is called Peaches. They serve a buffet on Sundays and it was very good. After dinner we all went to Rick and Marsha Burkhamer farm to see their new milking parlor. They can now milk 130 cows in an hour and half, before it took them three hours to get them milked. We got home around 2:30 pm. We finally got some rain. It started around 10:00 pm. We didn’t get very much as it is so dry and need the rain badly for the crops.

Today was the Boscobel Annual Beach Party. Not sure how they came up with the name as there is no beaches in Boscobel. We watched the Duck Races on the creek that goes through town. They sell numbers that are on the bottom of the duck. It is quite the site to see 400 yellow plastic ducks floating down the stream. This evening we went to watch the old time tractor pull. Being raised on a farm, it was fun to see the old tractors pull that we use to use on the farm. We left for home around 10:30 pm and they still had more tractors to pull. It was an interesting day.

Today we moved our cargo trailer to Randolph. Jim and Pam Bylsma (Jodi’s dad and mother) were nice enough to let us park it at their place in the machine shed (thanks Jim & Pam). After Jim and I got it put away we sat down and had a nice visit with them. Later in the afternoon the four of us went to Beaver Dam and had Chinese. After dinner we said our goodbyes. Cheri and I made a stop at Menards; I had to get my shopping fix. We got back to Boscobel at 8:30 pm. We tried to watch some TV but couldn’t stay awake, so we went to bed.

Today we went to Cassville, about 40 miles from here, the location of Stonefield State Historic Site. It is located on land once part of Governor Nelson Dewey’s agricultural estate. It was developed in the 1860’s and encompassed 2,000 acres.

We got a personal tour of the governor’s estate room by room. Many of the furniture pieces were original to the house. It was interesting to see some of the old kitchen items too. Their version of a bread maker and crock pot!

Also located on site was a 1900’s farm house. Our guide took us through the house and explained all the furnishing and gave us the history of the house. It was all so interesting. It’s great to see all those old furnishings in such great condition.

There was also a 30-building recreation based on Wisconsin villages of that century that provided the farm families with access of goods, services and social services. The mercantile was neat as well as the doctor’s and lawyer’s offices. Their collection of artifacts to fill these building was superb!

The Agricultural Museum has an extensive collection of superb examples of 19th century agricultural machinery, including the 1896 McCormick Auto-mower, which is the oldest tractor in North America. The collection of all that old farm machinery was very interesting.

After we completed our tour we headed into Cassville to get some lunch. We stopped at a corner bar and had soup, pulled pork sandwiches and fries. When we got back into Boscobel we headed over to the folks to hook up our cargo trailer so we would have it ready to leave for Randolph in the morning.

For more information on Stonefield go to their web site at www.wisconsinhistory.org/stonefield

To see pictures click on photos and then on Stonefield.

It was a very humid day and it started early morning, it was hard to walk this morning because of it. We had a high of 82 degrees. Cheri and I stayed inside all day reading and watching TV. We make good use of the air conditioner.

After our morning walk, Cheri and I spent the rest of the morning doing paper work. After lunch we picked up Grandpa and Grandma and took them to Richland Center so they could do some banking and then a trip to Wal-Mart. Cheri and I also had several things to pick up there. We got back home around 3:30 pm. It got pretty warm today, around 85 degrees and stay warm for the evening, so we took our evening walk much later after the sun went down.

We went over to Grandpa and Grandma’s to get our cargo trailer ready to move. It has been sitting blocked up with the tires off of it for the last two years. It is a 6’x6’x10’ enclosed trailer that holds all of our stored possessions. Since the house is sold we had to find another place to put the trailer. Jodi’s mother and dad were kind enough to let us put in their machine shed. So on Friday we are going to move it. I wanted to get it ready to go today because it is suppose to rain for the next three days. Grandma fixed a wonderful dinner for us. After dinner Cheri helped Grandma run some errands. I also checked on getting the motorcycle insurance changed to South Dakota. The company that we have it through here in Wisconsin doesn’t sell insurance in South Dakota. So I cancelled this policy and am now waiting for some quotes from South Dakota.

After church we were going to the restaurant for coffee, but when we got there the tables were all full with people waiting, so we gave it up and took Grandpa and Grandma home. When we got home we took a walk up town to the post office to mail some letters. This afternoon I watch the NACAR race and Cheri started pulling out places to see on our trip to Alaska next year. I told her it was to soon to be doing that. After the race we went to Casey’s to get a pizza.

A large group of teenagers and adults on bicycles came in late this after noon to spend the night. It was fun watching them set up their tents (not all had tents). They had a truck that followed them with their cooking supplies, tents and sleeping bags. They must have been strung out for quite a ways because it took sometime before they all arrived. Our day didn’t amount to anything; we did our morning and evening walk, some work around the 5th wheel and took it easy the rest of the day.

Hey it’s Friday the 13th, lucky or unlucky it’s still just another day around here. Cheri did cleaning and laundry. I greased the 5th wheel and what a job. I had to use a jack to jack up under the springs to get some of the grease fitting to take grease. Part of the problem was the grease gun I have. I had to keep priming it to get the air out so it would pump grease. I also took the dryer vent apart as one of the flappers on the door wouldn’t close. After I got it apart I could see the vent pipe had come unhooked from the dryer. It was a ridged pipe and I don’t think it was ever connected. I bought a piece of flexible pipe and now I think it will stay attached.

I was up early and walked over to Grandpa and Grandma’s to set out the clothes for pickup by the Easter Seals. After our morning walk we drove over to Grandpa and Grandma’s and took them for a ride around the country side to see where they use to live and where Grandma was born. It was a nice time for all of us riding around all the side roads. When we got back to Boscobel Grandma treaded us to a late Chinese dinner. When Cheri and I got home we both sat down in our chairs and ended up taking a nap. This afternoon we received an e-mail saying we are in for the June 27th 2008 Alaska RV caravan tour. Now we can start dreaming about that.

It was a beautiful day with a high of 74 degrees and no humidity. We took some more clothes over to Grandpa and Grandma’s today. Easter Seals will pick them up tomorrow. Cheri helped Grandma with some more picture albums and I mowed the lawn. We finished up putting our wills together, now all that is left is to get them signed and notarized. We managed to get both a morning and evening walks in. This afternoon we had quite the show here in the park watching a guy trying to park his motor home. First he came in the wrong way and almost got stuck in the sand. After a lot of back and forth he finally got out. Than he came in the south entrance and tried to back in, after 4 tries he drove out the north entrance and turned around and came back in. After 3 more tries he finally got it parked. I hope we never run into this guy on the road.

I think we were the only place in the state that didn’t get any rain. It is very dry here, looked like we were going to get some rain, but went around us again. Cheri and I work on our legal papers today (will, power of attorney, living will). Now we need to make a trip to South Dakota to get them signed. The rest of the day we just hung out around the 5th wheel. We did walk twice today.

It was another hot and humid day with a high of 86. After our morning walk we made a trip to the post office to get a certified check so we could send for our license plates on the truck and 5th wheel, they come due in September. Then we went and checked on a dumpster for Grandpa and Grandma. We think we will need one for what ever is left after the sale. They will pick it up the next day after the sale, that way we don’t have to worry about how to get rid of anything that is left and can leave has soon as the sale is over. Also the new owner takes procession of the house after the sale. We also went over to grandpa and Grandma’s to help pack up old clothes for Good Will. Grandma fixed lunch for us. Cheri also helped Grandma go through some of her picture albums. This evening we walked up town to go to a movie, it wasn’t the movie that I thought was on. So we skipped the movie and walked to the DQ for an ice cream treat.

When Nikki got up this morning she could hardly get her eyes open and her whole face was swelled up. On the way down here Friday night she got stun by a bee on her forehead. On Saturday she had a little bump and by Saturday night she had some swelling. She ended up going to the doctor when she got home; they gave her some antibiotics and something for infection. After Coz and Nikki left we took it easy and stayed inside out of the hot humid weather. The air conditioner ran all day. We had a high temp of 92 degrees.

After breakfast Coz, Nikki, Cheri, and I stopped at the Surplus Liquidators on the way over to Grandpa and Grandma’s. Then Grandma, Nikki and Cheri went shopping. After dinner we all played Cribbage. Once again the guys won. Late afternoon Coz, Nikki, Cheri and I headed for the casino in Marquette Iowa. We played the nickel slots I lost and Cheri won. After dinner we played some more and both Cheri and I lost. Coz and Nikki broke about even. Cheri and I came home with $2.50 more than we left with. So it was a lot of fun.

We were able to take our morning walk on the creek trail this morning. The city had to remove all the mud from the high water that we had on the 3rd. In some places the mud was over 3 inches deep. Cheri did three loads of laundry today. We have only a 30 amp service. So when Cheri runs the dryer we had to turn off the air conditioner. It got pretty warm in the trailer while the dryer was on. I washed and waxed the truck today. I took an afternoon walk up to Grandpa and Grandma’s to see if we had any mail. No mail today because of the 4th. Coz and Nikki got here around 8:15 pm. We played three games cribbage and Coz and I won all three, in fact we skunked them one game. Coz said we kicked ass!

After our morning walk we went over to Grandpa and Grandma’s to pick them up and take them to Richland Center. We were invited to Ken and Eileen’s for a cook out. Dean and Betty were also there. It was nice to see them and catch up on things. We left there about 4:30 pm and made a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up many things. It was about 6:00 pm when we got home.

A Happy Fire Cracker Day to all. We sure did get a lot of rain last night. When we went for our morning walk along the creek that goes through Boscobel, we found the sidewalk to be under water in a lot of places and lots of mud, so we walked the streets. We got more rain last night. It did wait until the Fire Works was over. We didn’t go to see the fire works or the parade. Cheri did a load of laundry and some more paper work. I spent the day building a 50 amp circuit tester. There is nothing on the market to test the 50 amp service that we hook up to in camp grounds. We have found some in older camp grounds that have been wired wrong.

After our morning walk I went to work on cleaning out the inside of the truck. That took me until noon. Cheri was doing laundry and cleaning in the 5th wheel. We spent the afternoon doing paper work. Late afternoon I took a long walk and dropped off some letters at the post office. Cheri didn’t want to walk with me, said it was to hot and humid out. The rain came this evening; it was a big storm with a lot thunder and lighting. It was bad enough that we lost satellite reception on the TV.

This was one of those days where we didn’t do much of anything. We did do our morning walk. Grandma came over this morning for a visit and before she left Marsha Burkhamer (my cousin) stopped in to see us. She offered a place to leave our 5th wheel while we are getting Grandpa and Grandma settled in Florida. A friend of ours sent us an e-mail about an Alaska RV caravan tour (thanks Bill). After doing some internet searching, we have decided to take the trip next year if they have an opening. I sent them an e-mail to find out if they have an opening for their June 27, 2008 tour. Late this afternoon we went to the grocery store.

After church Burl, Dorothy, Grandpa, Grandma, Cheri, and I went down to the restaurant for coffee and a visit. Since we didn’t get our morning walk in, we did it early afternoon. While we were walking we could see what we thought was a big kite flying, it would go up and down and keep moving away from us. We couldn’t understand how it was staying up as there was no wind. As we got closer it finally disappeared in the trees. When we got closer to the highway we could see a police car and a couple of other cars. Just before we got there the cars moved down the highway out of our site. When we got to the highway we could see the cars and a couple of guys carrying a two person done tent out of the woods. Now we know it was the tent that was flying and not a kite. The sun was very hot and we think the heat in the tent got so hot it acted like a hot air balloon, the hot air thermo keep it up in the air as the birds were also riding the thermo (no I wasn’t drinking). Late afternoon I watched the NACAR race and Cheri read and took a nap.