We added the counter a week ago today and it started with a zero. I am in awe with the count we have gotten in that week. We are at 979 and counting. I am amazed that so many people are looking at this blogg. And I am humbled too. Even counting the family, there are a lot of others that are coming to this website.

I try to add something everyday to keep the family updated. Today the update is we have very little to add. Shirley went to the laundry and walmart and I stayed home. There wont be any pics. We spent the afternoon outside and we played a game chinese checkers and watched the neighbors and those others drive by. Since this is the labour day weekend, we will comment later.

I also will see if I can get a bit better at spelling and grammer. But dont hold your breath on the grammer. It has been a long time since I had an english class and had to worry about grammer. This is about as good as it gets. Now maybe tomorrow will be more interesting.

Let me also add that gas was $3.09.9 at Murphy.

I have added more links and google adsense. Use the links to connect to additional bloggs and web pages I have found to be of interest to me and will be to you.

The google ads are a way for us to generate additional funds. By clicking on the ads, we will be making a few pennies with each click. There are now and will be informative ads, products that will benefit some and all these peoducts are for sale. I do want you to look at those ads and pick those of interest to you.

I do not want you to pick these ads to generate money for us. Let us be rewarded by your honesty in ad selection on a need or want basis.

Shirley has a thing for butterflies. Here is one on a flower as we took our morning walk today. Look real close and see if you can see it.






The race car I have been talking about. The car was a birthday gift from Shirley many years ago. I havent gotten it out much till we went and bought the rv. The car is really to large as it goes through a battery in about ten minutes. The car is about 24" lg. Since the batteries are not cheap, I only have one. They come from Radio Shack if I want to buy a second one.



The grass is tall enough to nearly hide the car. The guys that do the mowing will be by here one day and take care of the grass.

Give a dollar, five dollars or more to the relief for the victims of hurricane Katrina. You can send it to your local red cross or through Paypal. Yes, Paypal.

Use this Paypal connection to send your money now. Right now money in any form is urgently needed. Give as much as you can but give something. Its needed now and will be needed again in the near future.

Thanks for your time and a big thank you from the victims of our largest ever natural disaster this country has faced.

I have put this message on its own blog and linked it here for all my visitors to be able to find.

I went and played golf this am. There is a country club here in Benton. It is located on state 14 going northeast from town. The price for 18 holes is $9.00 with cart. You read it right, $9.00 with cart. The course is an average difficulity course with built up greens. Water does come into play on some holes. Sand traps are on most holes. All in all, its a nice course.

Now, the price of gas. In town, its $3.09 per gallon for super unleaded. Reguar unleaded is $3.19. Walmart is $2.99 as of noon today. Since we probably wont be going to town the rest of today, the price will not be good after noon today. Where is the price going to go?

The price of gas here is now $2.99.9. It's just amazing how fast prices can change as world and home events happen. And I was complaining about $2.60.9 just two days ago! We have our first tank for our trip to Texas. We will get one more for the 740 mile trip on 10/1.

The next step is where to stay for our Dr. and dentist appointments. Something close and cheap. By then gas should be $3.25. Sure is going to put a damper on our and lots of other rv's. I just hope we dont see the camp grounds raise prices because they got to much business. We had budgeted $2.50 for a 1000 mile month and $160 for camping. Our camping is down but our gas is up.

We went to Mt Vernon for lunch and to get some new golf shoes. It seems my nice Nike's didnt make it into the rv. These were cheaper and will last me several years. They are Footjoy shoes. White with the brown strip.

I'm going to leave up the comments and see if I get less "solicitation" type of "see my business".

And these two were at our South Sandusky campground this afternoon. It looks like a momma and a baby deer.

The camera we use is an Olympus C-740 digital with 3.2 mp and 30x zoom, 10x optical and 3x digital. And its still raining but slowing down. It seems that most of our weather is going northeast. We are getting more wind now and less rain. We may even get some sun if we're lucky. I really need to see what the weather report says tho.

But aren't the deer pretty! More of this as time goes by. We did see
these other creatures but we were not able to get pics or did not have the camera with us. But we are watching for them now with camera ready.

We saw these here and got their picture. The butterfly was at our door step and Shirley got out the camera. The shutter on our camera was not fast enough for it. The other pics were in the are of South Markum campground.

How about more of this!

Katrina arrived during the night. We are starting to get the outer bands of rain and wind. We expect it to rain all day and have some wind. Dont get to excited, it will be a glancing blow as she is going more east than north. Besides we are expecting her as a low. Our weatherbug says its 68 degrees and 10 mph winds from the northeast. The high is expected to be 80.

But life is good. We are gong to be in the rv all day. Hence we will be warm and dry. I have been up for 30 min and have a hot cup of coffee. My DW just got up and is getting dressed and doing her hair. Soon it will be time for breakfast. Tom cat is a bit nervous with the noise that the rain makes when it hits the roof. e runs to the passenger chair and hides underneath. Basically what he cant see cant hurt him.

In the years past the prior owners allowed water to come thur the side window and get the front curtain liner wet. The results are a spotted material. Sometime in the future we will have to fix them or replace them. I suggested dyeing them to match the coach exterior "darker" color. Other than not doing a thing, the only other option is to replace them.

We did chores today. Things like find a laundry and wash the clothes. With three daysof showers and the threat of two days of rain, lets empty the tanks and get water. And a good thing we did to as we were low on water. Not enough water to make two days. and with 5.8's of a tank of gas used, I better get gas. Not that we have any place to go , just get gas at this price as it has been going up.

Well, I'm back. clean clothes, two loads at $4.00 bucks total. The gas at Murphey was $2.53.9 when we passed there three days ago. Today it was $2.60.9 with the discount. Now the tank is full and we will find out the price when we gas up in a month.

I think you guessed that there is not any pics. The pics we did take where of the campground at south markum campground the end of sept. This is about 5 mies away. I like this place better but our group choce the other sight un seen and that is where we will go. Dont know if we will change. If you want to see the pics go to class.

Here is the pics of our campground at Rend Lake. We are in the South Sandusky area which is 11 miles from West City, Benton and I57. The nearest walmart is in West Ctiy and the laundry is in Benton. we have a long space for our 55 ft. The asphalt paving is about 10ft wide and by parking the rv on the drivers side, there is enough room to walk on the paving on the passanger side. keeps us off the mud.


Now dont apy any attention the person in the pic, me, as he is pointing the direction to our camp site. We do not have full hookups but only elec. There is a water faucet closeby for us to fll the coach if necessary.





This is a different view of the space and the next pic is a closer view of our space. We picked this space so we could get a signal on our dish. You are really looking to the west.






Since we took this pic, we moved the rv further back to get tothe conc pad for our porch. This can be seen in the pic on the left side.
The blue ste is to replace the broken rv step. I need to order or get the aluminum arm that makes the stepgo in and out. My part broke and we have not stopped long enough to find and get a part. I need to order a few others for the rv ref outside cover and inside shelf clips. Now is time. I will see if there is a place in Mt Vernon to get them. Mt Vernon is 18 miles away.

A view of the area behind the coach of the table, fire ring and lantern post.

There has been so much rain in the area that the ground is green. The tree trunks are green and its wet. It did rain last night and into this morning. Both of us were so tired from two not to quiet of nights that we slept all night. it sure did feel good.

Our rv Class of 2005 will be meeting here at South Markum campground which is near by. For pics of that area go to this blogg.
I have posted those pics of reserved spaces that were un occupied. For those occupied at thetime we were there, we will have to go back.