Flint

"I can't believe that I am this old." "Where has the time gone?" It sounds like my bellyaching, but it's not. I know that seems hard to believe right? Those where actual statements from my wife, the ever perky Miss Lisa Marie.

"What's wrong my little porkchop? How can I cheer you up?" I ask comfortingly. "I know. Let's crash someones highschool reunion. Would that make you feel younger? Moorhead high is having their 40th class reunion. The class of 1978. We should go because the band "Flint" is playing!"

"Flintlock?" she says.

"No, FLINT. you know, "A spark of hot rock" FLINT. Turn up your hearing aid Gladys." I said. "They are playing from 8:30 to midnight down at Chumley's."

"8:30! That is so past my bedtime. See, I already have my bunny slippers on" she said.

Well we did get out and drive to Moorhead and go to Chumley's. In fact that made it the second time in one week that we stayed out past midnight. That normally doesn't happen to us anymore. What can I say,  "party animals". It was also Moorhead high's class of 1978's reunion. The reason we went is that my brother-in-law is the lead singer for the band Flint when he went to highschool in Moorhead in 1978.

As with everything, time ages us all. But we can fight back and stay young at heart.

They sounded great and everybody was having a fun time.

Lisa and Cindy.

They even brought out some groupies.

Sorry but the sound quality of my phone doesn't do them justice.

In 1978 I was in the eighth grade and Lisa said she was 11 so she was in the 5th grade. It was the mid eighties when I first met him and then his band was called The Phones and then later on they became Stickman then The Phones again. It was a regional band and they were really well liked and had a good following. They had several albums and you can find a few videos on youtube.

So it ended up being a fun evening because they don't get together that much and play anymore. It was worth staying up past our bedtimes. 

Year Four Wrap Up

Due to situations beyond our control, it seems that in year 4 we were off the road more than we were on the road. Due to some good and bad situations.

Last July found us back in Minnesota for our sons wedding. We were very happy for him and his new bride. They make a great couple. We worked July and August.

Roman and Heather.

In August we got the call that Lisa's father was in the hospital and he ended up passing away in September. So after his funeral we headed to Florida and moved into his house so that we could take care of his estate. We were there from October to February.

The Florida house.

February and March found us working for our friends who have the tram company. We worked a weekend at the Florida State Fair and also the Florida Strawberry Festival.

Driving the tram.

In March we started to head north to Minnesota. Much earlier than we would normally go north but we were expecting our first grandchild.

Lisa and Spiderbaby.

It was still below freezing when we got to Fergus Falls so we winterized our RV and moved into Lisa's mother's basement.

April in Minnesota.

We were there for a month and then when it warmed up we moved into her driveway. We have been busy most of the summer with our land project and that is coming along.

We finally moved out of the driveway and have had several small trips. Now we are just waiting for a couple of appointments to get finished up and then we will hit the road again. We are going to have a busy year coming up with lots of traveling. So look out for us on the road somewhere.

That is year 4 in a nutshell. Not as exciting as it usually is.

Camp Longfellow Phase 1 Complete

Phase 1- Getting an area cleared out and after 2 months, we can say that that has finally been accomplished. With a ton of hard work we got it done. Now we can move onto Phase 2. Road work and gravel. I will kind of give you a virtual tour of our plan.

This is where we plan to come in to our area. As you can see there are a lot of trees to get through.

Same view with the trees gone.

Looking back to the road.

So we plan to put gravel in this area for a road that will loop around to our campsite.

This picture is after taking a 90 degree turn and proceeding down the loop looking backwards. Straight ahead would be a parking area and to the left would be another parking area.

We may put a pedestal in there because that is where our electrical will feed out of. In the future we would like to remove more of that brush and widen that. But that will be another year down the road. Then we come up to the area we would like to put our camper on. We would probably put 2 sites there back to back in case anyone would happen to find us.

This little hill would be leveled and graveled to make our 2 sites.

Then this would be the exit and take you back out to the highway. In the future there will always be lots of clearing to do but this would be the minimum to get our rig in there to start utilizing the area. If you recall we rented a wood chipper to remove a ton of brush from before. Well we got another ton to chip and that is what we did.

The pictures don't show the actual size of the brush piles but they are huge. Kendra helped us again because this was just not a 2 person job.

This next picture shows our biggest pile of wood chips from our largest brush pile. It was about 6 feet tall and about 10 feet long.

I was able to push through the pain with my arthritis. Also because it has been very wet lately the mosquitos where out in force. They aren't bad in the open areas but if you get by the trees, they will carry you away. I think we donated at least a pint of blood that day.

So that is what our plan looks like for now. We have another month here before we start heading to New Mexico.

My jury duty is finally over. I was summoned twice and only served on one jury. I am glad that is over. I know it is your civic duty and all that, but they could really make it worth your while. I got paid $20.00 a day plus mileage. So after 2 days I ended up with just under $48.00.

Also I would like to add that I finally got a call back on a temp job that I applied for while we are here. I am working for the local Dodge dealer to deliver vehicles to new owners. There was a group of 7 of us to deliver trucks from West Central Minnesota to the ND DOT in Bismarck ND. I get paid next Friday for that so we will have to see how that goes.

I got to drive a 2018 Dodge 2500. Very nice truck. The only complaint that I would have about it is that it rode like a truck. I don't know if it was because it was brand new and the suspension was incredibly stiff or that they where running 90 psi in the tires. I think I felt every bug I ran over as if it was a speed bump.

We have a couple of small trips planned for the future so stay tuned. Same bat time, same bat channel.