Surgery Day Almost Here

Well the big day is almost here, Gwen goes in for her surgery on Monday Dec 17. She will have to start her prep tomorrow. We both are looking forward to having this behind us and we can get back to normal again. We still have not made a lot of travel plans because we are not sure at this point how long it will take for her to recover or be able to travel. We will be going somewhere South for a few months as soon as we can. We will keep everyone updated on here and both of our Facebook pages.

Gwen did get her wish to see some snow this winter, it was just a dusting and did not last but a day but a little snow is better than no snow I guess. Myself I would rather have 75 degrees and sun shine. We are making out good here at Janes Island State Park, having no problem with the cold weather. Got most of the work that we wanted to get done on the motor home. The only thing we still need to do is the battery upgrade, hoping to finish that up by spring.

 Still making a few signs when I have time, this is one of the lastest one we did for a friend. We are still learning as we go. It seems that everyone wants this sign this is the 4th one I have made.

We are still Camp Hosting here at Janes Island State Park . Will be here until Gwen is able to travel, until then there are some project that need to be done hoping to stay busy while Gwen is in recovery so that the time will go by faster.

Gwen's Surgery

We now have date for Gwen's Surgery. It will be December 17.  So looks like she just got her wish this year to see snow, but I hope not. Not sure as to how long she will take for recovery. They have said at lease 6 to 8 week. Guess we will start rethinking our travel plans after the surgery. But for the time being I still have a few more thing to finish with our motor home. 

Fall Update

For the most part it has been a uneventful summer. Although our travel plans for the winter months will change alot due to the fact we still do not have a surgery date for Gwen . They have told us that her recovery time will be 6 to 8 weeks at best. Guess we will have to wait and see but as of now we could not be heading out until Dec. sometime. We should know more next week sometime. Not looking forward to spending the winter in the cold. 

I still have a few thing to do to the motor home. Installing new converter and batteries, new hot water heater element, Exstend A Stay for the propane just to name a few. Solar will ne added at some point.  Looking forward to doing a litte dry camping out West. 

Finally got around to making us a new camping sign ( my new hobby ). 

I have a couple more to make now for some others that saw it and wanted one 

We will update as soon as we have a surgery date and where we might end up .

Summer Winding Down

Summer is going by fast does seem like it is the end of August already. We have not posted a lot this summer due to our poor internet connection. Hope we have fixed that problem for now. Time will tell.

We are still waiting for a surgery date for Gwen, they have cancelled it 3 times now. Hopefully we will know something the first of next week so we can finish up our travel plan for this coming winter. They have told her that it will be a 2 month recovery. Hoping we can still be on the road the first week of November. We have a few things that we would like to due to the Motor Home before we leave.

As always I have been looling for a hobby a do on my spare time and now I think I have found one. I tried making a wood sign a few days ago and it did not turn to bad. Used a small trim router and a fine detail router bit.


Turned out better than I had hoped. There are a few little mistakes in it but you have to look close. Hope to work on anouther one soon. 

We are working on getting things ready in the camp ground for this Labor Day weekend along with the other camp host here at Janes Island. Going the be a busy weekend as the camp ground is completely booked. Now time for a nap.

Finished up at Assateague Island National SeaShore

On Friday June 30th we finished up our stay at Assateague Island National SeaShore. We where camping hosting there for the month of June. Again this year we had a great time. The weather was a little rainy and windy for the first week are so but after that we had great weather and lots of sun. For those of you that have never been to Assateague Island there is a State and National Park. The State Park does have one loop ( Loop H ) that does have electric hook-ups but have to book them almost a year in advance because they go fast. The National Park does not offer any hook-ups but we feel the sites are a little bigger and offer a little more privacy.The National Park also has beach access to the bay side of the Island with a picnic area, park store and kayak and canoe rentals.

This was the view from our site and just over the dunes is the Atlantic Ocean. It was good sleeping at night with the sound of the waves crashing on the beach and the ocean breeze blowing off the water. The ponies use this area to feed and just hang out a lot of the time so we got to see them a lot.

The little one the right was just born in April and was seen a lot in the Main North Beach Parking lot sometimes causing a lot of traffic jams. Do not try to touch are pet the ponies they are wild and can kick and bite and you could get a large fine for doing so. When we where there they have 82 ponies on the Island so with a little luck you can see them if you are here for a day trip.

Doing our stay we had to replace the fridge in the motor home the old one stopped cooling. After doing so shopping for a new RV type fridge and thinking about it we installed a residential house type fridge. We found one at the local home Depot the fit in the opening perfect with no cutting or mods to the cabinets. That was the best move we have made so for the new fridge is 2 cubic feet bigger than the old one and gets a lot colder then the RV Fridge. If you are having problem with your RV fridge than this is the way to go. 

Now we are back in Janes Island State Park in Crisfield Md. where we will be Camp Hosting until we leave to head South for the winter months. We have been hosting here for the past 8 years doing the summer months and love it. And the beat part we are Camp Hosting with our friends and our family is only about 45 minutes away.  Now I am ready to eat some crabs cakes, steamed crabs and fish, the the best part of being in this area is the sea food.

Time to Move Again

Well it is that time again, in 3 more days we will be headed back to Assateague Island National Park again for the month of June. We are looking forward to spending the month at the beach and meeting up with some of the friends that we have made in the past.

Your time here at Janes Island State Park has been great as usual, we love spending our summer months here close to our friends and family. Janes Island is a great place to be a Camp Host, we have a lot of fun and sometimes we even get so work done like the new fire pits that we built for the full service cabins .

We have a good time working on theses and they are a big improvement over the ones that where there before. Hopefully everyone will enjoy them.

There was a new addition to the family a few weeks ago. We now have a new killer attack dog name Bella. Gwen pulled a fast one on me, I did not know we where getting a new puppy until she got it home. Our dog Jaz and Bella are getting along great and play good together. Jaz is teaching her how to beg for food and take up my side of the bed in the mornings. Will be fun to see what Bella thinks of the sand at the beach.

Back at Janes Island State Park

We are back at our summer location for a few months at Janes Island State Parks. The weather has been cold and windy the whole time that we have been back hoping that it will warm up soon. Everything is going good and we getting used to being back in a Motor Home again. We traded our 5th wheel and truck while we where in Florida for the winter. We have a few little things that we want to do to it and a few mods to make it more dry camping friendly. We are looking for to being able to see our friends and family over then summer months.

We have had a lot of people stop by the camp site in our travels and asking about how to get into Camp Hosting. Some of the web sites that we use to find Camp Host openings are Coleen's Workers on Wheels, Working Couples, Volunteer.gov, Workamping Jobs are just a few that we use and check often. We try to sign up 6 months to a years in advance because some of the opening fill up fast. In some cases there is a emailing list that you can join to receive opening as they are posted. Camp Hosting can be a lot of fun if you do your home work. We always look at the campgrounds web site to learn more about them and in most cases look at the area on Google Maps and Street View to get and better ideal about the area and check to see where the nearest shopping is. Also good ideal to call and ask about phone and internet service ( or the lack of ) we have ran into this several time where there was little to no phone and internet service. You can not depend on campground wifi because alot of time there is little or no signal at the sites and if a lot of campers are on and streaming videos it can get slow. Most of the time we use our Hot Spot and Our phone as a hot spot, this way in most cases we can use the internet. And if your phone is capable turn on WiFi Calling. 

After signing up we have found that it is best to always call ahead and ask about sites size, hook-ups and the amount of hours and work required. We also call about 1 to 2 months before arriving to see if anything has changed and let them know what time we will be arriving. Once we are on sites and setup we try to get to touch we the person in charge and find out the work schedule , get any tools needed and lwt them know that we are ready to start work. We have found that in most cases they will give you a few days to settle in and get to know the area. There is a lot more that we could talk about but for now hope this helps.

Volunteer.gov

Back to Maryland

Finished up our stay at Camp Mack RV Resort in Lake Wales Florida on Wednesday and pulled out to head back to Maryland due to Gwen having to have surgery.  I will keep everyone posted on how she makes out. We had a great time and as always made some new friends to keep in touch with. When we left Camp Mack it was 85 degrees and when we arrived in Maryland it is in the 40's with 50 mph winds.

The first night back we made a stop at the Wal-Mart in Onley Virginia for the night and the winds where starting to pick up. Then we got a calll that told us the campground we where going to was closed due to the high winds and bad weather.  So Today we pulled out  to   have the coach battery looked at .  On the way there the winds where so high that it took off our slide out awning and almost took the Motor Home  off the road it was blowing so hard that it put us in the other lane, there was nothing I could do but to hold on. Do not want to ever do that again.

Looking forward to getting back to Jane's Island State Park and seeing all our friends  and getting some amazing Sea Food. But for now guess we have one or two days in the Wal-Mart parking lot until the weather clears up. Nothing else to do but eat ice cream  and watch TV .  Could be worse.

Winter in Florida

Our winter in South Central Florida has been a warm and sometimes hot for what we are used to but for the most part we have enjoyed it. We sre looking forward to having some cooler weather when we head back North. Looking forward to seeing all our friends and family.

As some of you might already know we are back in a motor home again.  It happened fast and we had not planned on making the move, it just kinda happen  after we had started looking for something different.  The rest is a long and funny story that we post at later date but for now we have the motorhome and car to pull behind it..

We where able to unpack the 5th wheel and put everything in one of the maintenance bays and then park the motorhome  at the door and start packing the motor home.  It was a two day process and took some careful planning to find a spot for everything in the motorhome.  It seemed like the 5th wheel had a little more cabinet space. But we managed to find a spot for everything. .

Winter at Camp Mack Florida.

The weather here at Camp Mack has been really nice so far this winter.  We are having a great time taking boat rides out on the Lakes and hanging out with friends. 

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and we have not one but two dinners to attend so by the end of the day I am sure I will be ready far a long nap. Gwen is cooking again on Saturday so we will be doing it all over again. Not sure what it is this year but we are missing our kids and grand kids this year, guess it is because we have not been home for the Holidays in a lot time.

I still have not been able to get on a Air Boat ride but I still have plenty of time and we have been a little busy doing other things.

The weekends here at Camp Mack can be busy at time with the fishing tournaments going on and all the boaters coming out far a day on the Lake.

Month One At Camp Mack

Month 1 has gone by fast here at Camp Mack in Lake Wales Fl. We did finally get our camper back after Camper World had it for 3 weeks doing repairs from a major tire blow out. Seems like they got everything fixed.

We are spending a lot of time down by the water watch the boats and alligators. The Air Boats look like a blast and hope to go on one before we leave.

We have a nice site with brick paver and nice and level.  Just would to have a little more shade.  There a lot of work camper in our loop so we are have a good time.

November and December it will get busy here with all the snow birds coming in for the winter and there will be a lot going on at the docks

Camp Mack, Lake Wales Fl.

We have been here at Camp Mack for almost a week and we are having a good time. We are still in the motel and waiting for our camper to be repaired at Campers World. They said it would be done to a week so we will see. Lot of damage from tire blow out.

On Saturday there was a fishing tournament  and then a band played from 4:00 to 7:00. Everyone had a good time sitting  by the docks and listen to the band and watching the air boats go by. We come drown to the docks every night and talk with the other work campers and guess and enjoy the fire pit.

There is a lot to do and see here with with all the air boats coming and going ,  the food trailer , pontoon boats and airboat rides and sitting on the docks and watching the Gators swimming  by.

Phone service is poor in the campground and wifi is not much better. The is a few spots that we can manage to make a call or send a text.  Will post to here and Facebook whenever possible.

Yet Another Break Down

Today started off good and everything was going great until we crossed in Georgia on I95 when we had a tire blow out. Theses tires are only two years old and already had two them blow. To make matters worst it also took out the wiring harness that was running to that side on the frame and also some how pushed the side out about 3 inches now it will come in but not all the way and will not go back out all the time and makes funny noise. So here we set in a camp ground until tomorrow so we can call around and find out who can work on it and make all the repairs. 

Skyline Drive VA

Day two on the drive and we are having great weather and the leaves on the trees have stated to change already. The campground is full so we where lucky tp get a site for the week. We will be leaving next Friday. We have seen 3 bears already a mom and 2 baby cubs. Phone service on the mountain is spotty at best so will update as often as possible. For the next week it is just going to a lot of what we do best, eating and relaxing, and take lots of naps.

End of Summer

It is hard to believe that summer is coming to a end and that in a week we will be leaving Jane's Island State Park and headed to Skyline Drive VA.  We are looking forward to spending a week in the mountains before going to Florida for the winter.  We will miss going to Texas but will be able to get back there next winter.

I have just about got most of the little projects finished up that I wanted to get done. Have the new electric box wired up for the generator. Rewired bath room light for new LED . Lot better lighting then what we had before and now in the process of doing the rest of the light as soon as they get here. They where shipped out today. Will not take long once we receive then.

Summer Almost Over

Summer is almost over and our time here at Jane's Island State Park ( Camp Hosting ) is coming to a end. As always we have enjoyed our time here and will miss the staff and our good friends doing the winter months. Not a lot new to report on over the summer things have for the most part been the same. As with every summer we spend here at Jame's Island we have meet some good friends that we will be following their travels and maybe meeting up with doing the winter months. We have a few small projects to finish before we leave but should have them all done in the next few weeks.

We had a great Labor Day Weekend and had plenty of things to keep us busy. On Sat the kids had a great time at the Crab Derby that is held every weekend . The kids always have a great time and for some it is the first time they have ever been crabbing.

On Sunday we had a cook out with all our friends, Family and Jane's Island staff. We had a good time and best of all some amazing food. Glad we know some good cooks. For those who could not make it we are sorry because you missed out on some good eating.

We had planned on going back to Lake Corpus Christi in Texas but had to change our plans, more on the later. Looks like we will be headed to Skyline Drive VA. for about a week and then to Camp Mack in Lake Wales FL. for the winter months and then to Hamburg State Park Georgia. Having to stay on East Coast this year.  We are looking for to Hosting in Georgia it will be the first time we have spend more than a few days in the state. We have not set a departure date yet but we should have one set in a week or so. Can not wait to spend some time in the mountains of Skyline Drive VA. We will post any updates as soon as we have them.

Jane's Island State Park

We are back Camp Hosting at Jane's Island State Park in Crisfield Md. This is where we will be spending the biggest part of our summer. We enjoy hosting at this park and come back here every summer. The main reason is both our families live in the area about a hour away and we can be close by and see the grand kids from time to time. Plus they have some good seafood. We are hosting with our good friends Vince and Nancy that we meet about 5 years ago. It is nice having good friends around.

The park this time of year is usually close to being full and it keeps us busy. They try to have a lot of events for the kids on the weekends and we help out when ever we can. Most of the time we try to make the Crab Derby and Tie-Die, love watching the kids faces that is the best part of camping watching the kids having fun.

It will not be long before we start making our plans for the trip south for the winter.  This summer seems to be going by faster than normal, guess that is because we are having so much fun. We are already starting to make our travel plans for next year looking for new places and new things to do. We are always on the lookout for some place new to visit. 

Last Days at Assateague Island National SeaShore

I does not seem that we have been here a Assateague Island National SeaShore for a month now but in 3 short days we will be leaving. We have enjoyed our time Camp Hosting here. We had a great time working with the staff here they a great. The weather was great the entire month. Also spent some time with our good friends Mike and Cindy who we hosted with in the past and a Tim and Kelly was also here part of the month. The ponies where a lot of entertainment for us as they where in the camping loops almost every day. As usual we meet and made some good friends,  that is one one the best parts of camp hosting and full time RVing. These are just a few of the pictures taken while we where here on the Island.