Currently in Belton MO (Low 65 Partly Sunny and Warmer High 83)
Highlights of Bob's recent trip to Canada:
Species caught by all: Crappie, Northern, Perch, Rockfish, Sauger, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Belton MO (Low 45 Sunny and Pleasant High 77)
Bob began going to fish in Canada in 1982. His dad's friend had a cabin on Eagle Lake in Ontario that we were able to use for Bob's first trip fishing ever to Canada. Bob's wife at the time Pat joined friends Mark and Margaret and Bob's friend from college Mike (aka QB).
On the drive up we had to stop and take pictures at the only gas station every designed by Frank Lloyd Wright located in Cloquet Minnesota. Bob met Pat at Iowa State where she was an architecture student. After our marriage she transferred to KU in architecture engineering. Pat was really interested in this stop and took a lot of pictures. Here's one from the web (notice the cantilevered structure over the pumps):
Forty-three years later we have gotten a lot older and life has intervened such that we may not be taking any more trips. Bob has not been fishing in Canada since 2009, just before we began fulltiming in our RV and traveling the country. Bob was joined by his friends Mark, yes the Mark from 1982, and Gerry whose first trip was Bob's 2009 trip. He has been going with Mark since 2009, Bob's last trip before this and Gerry's first trip. We drove by the Frank Lloyd Wright's gas station and it is still standing completing the circle of trips that started in 1982.
We are staying at Bonny Bay Camp and we've got a great cabin in a great location overlooking the lake. The cabins are better built than most of the cabins Bob stayed at during his previous visits. The cabins have electricity, indoor plumbing, wifi, heck this one even has a microwave, albeit no TV. Here is a sunset that we saw from our cabin.
We will do a future blog with just fish pictures in the future and a Bonny Bay Camp review but here are a couple fishing pictures. First one is the biggest Northern Bob caught this trip.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Belton MO (Low 68 Mostly Sunny and Humid High 89)
While living full-time in our two RVs we kept track of our states visited travel progress with a travel map. Our rule was that we had to sleep at least one night in our RV. So here is our states visited travel map:
Since we have sold the RV we thought it would be a good idea to show a states visited map that includes additional states that we have traveled to prior to our RV adventure including our RV only states. The rule for this map is that we spent an overnight in the state or did some sightseeing. This includes visits together or separately. Here is that map:
States we haven't visited: Alaska, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia.
Bob has fished in Canada in two provinces, including a planned trip in 2025 to Lake Wabigoon in Ontario.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Belton MO (Low 70 Hazy Sun and Breezy High 91)
After we sold the RV and moved to Raymore Missouri we spent a few months getting organized. We thought we were going to be living in our 1 bedroom 1 bath for a long time.
But as the Yiddish Proverb states: "Man plans, God laughs". Life intervened when Jo's brother and sister-in-law started the process to move into a senior living center. We talked about it and felt that being in the same senior living center would benefit both us and Jo's brother and sister-in-law. Plus there was a significant move-in bonus that we took advantage of.
So after 5 months in Raymore we moved to Carnegie Village in Belton Missouri.
Beside the benefit of being in the same complex we also upgraded to a 2 bedroom 2 bath with more in-room storage. Plus we have a basement storage unit and can get a garage which we got after a couple months.
We get 2 meals/day and there are activities (card games, bus to shopping, entertainment, hair salon, etc.) that we can take advantage of. Both couples started out in Independent Living but this complex includes the options of upgrading to Assisted Living and Memory Care. If needed there is a separate Rehabilitation Facility.
Although this may have happened a little sooner that we might have thought it was something that was going to happen sometime.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Belton MO (Low 70 Humid High 87)
Catching up: We apologize for this blog being on an extended hiatus. We had a lot going which we will cover in this and future blog entries. This entry deals with selling our RV.
We purchased our Carriage Cameo in early September 2009.
In February 2015 we traded the Cameo for a Lifestyle RV.
After 15 years 55 days of RV ownership we sold the Lifestyle in late October 2024 and it was an adventure. We placed an ad on craigslist.org and put a sign in front of the RV in the campground. We got some interest initially but either the offer was way too low or the potential buyer wanted us to finance so they could pay monthly. Since we were moving from Texas to Missouri we decided against financing.
We did get some interest from RV dealers who wanted our RV on their lot. We had one of the first dealers come and look the RV over and he gave us what we considered a low ball offer. At this point it had been awhile and we thought we might have to take much less than we had thought. We had lowered the price on our ad and our sign out front. We then got a message from craigslist about a couple interested in our RV. They looked the RV over and ultimately decided to buy.
So after 15 years and 55 days of RV ownership we packed all that we could fit in our 2025 Hyundai Tucson and headed to Raymore Missouri.
Future of this blog: We "plan" on periodically blogging certainly more than we have in the past so stay tuned.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Belton MO (Low 70 Couple of Thunderstorms High 85)
It was heartbreaking to see all the loss of live and devastation of the recent flash floods in central Texas, especially the Kerrville/Ingram/Hunt area.
We spent most of 2018-2024 parked on what is now the Blue Oak RV Park right on the border of Kerrville and Ingram.
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During that time we had a number of flooding situations, a few that flooded the RV Park, but our location was one level above the river so we never had to move our RV although the lower level RVs had to be moved a few times. Here is the view out the back window with no water. The river is at the edge of the grass in the picture.
Here is the view out the back window after some flooding and the lower level RVs being moved.
We have discussed what we would have done if we were still waiting to sell the RV and were still there. On the one hand we might have been in the KC area anyhow as after selling the truck we got a place up north for summer visits to friends and family. If we were living there we're not sure what would have happened.
With the numerous flooding situations over the years, to be brutally honest, we had grown desensitized to the flood watches and warnings. There were warnings well in advance for this event and for every potential flooding event while we were there.
The park owner, Lorena, was interviewed by the area TV stations and said how she walked to the rivers edge at 01:30a.m. and it was calm as could be. Later on she got the dreaded phone call and they began knocking on doors. If there we would have been asleep and may have been able to get out of there with the cats but not much else.
Over the years we have attempted to only discuss RV living, traveling in an RV and sightseeing, and the food along the way avoiding political discussions. But this event really hit close to home and to see people's hatred for one side of the political spectrum, or one man, be revealed in their reaction to the flooding. Here are a couple of disgusting examples: saying Texas/Kerr County deserved this since they voted for Trump; that the summer camps deserved this since they were Christian; and many other disgusting takes.
They promoted out and out lies about the situation when these are the facts; on July 2nd Texas activated emergency response anticipating a flooding event; National Weather Service added personnel to the San Antonio area office to prepare for this event on July 3rd; also on July 3rd Flood Watch was issued and then extended; first Flash Flood Warning issued at 1:14a and extended at 2:37a, NWS posted on "X" at 3:06a that a “very dangerous flash flooding event is ongoing across south-central Kerr County into northwest Bandera County”. The City Manager then went for a jog about 3:30a along the river and it was not raining and the river was still within its banks. Shortly thereafter at 3:35a the flash flood warning was repeated with urgent language urging people to seek higher ground. At 4:03a the warning was upgraded to a flash flood emergency, indicating that flooding was already occurring. At 4:35a first reports of flash flooding began to come in from local officials.
Sometimes all the planning and warnings cannot prevent catastrophic events from happening, especially in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping. I'm disgusted that some felt they had to raise the discourse to vitriolic levels because of their hatred for one man, the opposing political party, or religious beliefs.
As Christians we will pray without ceasing for the victims, their families and also those that feel they have to exploit a tragedy exposing their hatred.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
