Ironic that I didn’t want to spend the day with people Manny hadn’t seen for 40 years and now I can’t get enough of Steve and Joyce! I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere. Perhaps a reminder to be open and to live in the moment! If I could only remember that some of the best times in my life were the unplanned ones. Read more
The Chicago Blues
Kingston Mines Blues Club
A trip to Chicago wouldn’t be complete for us without going to a real Blues Club. When I was searching for campgrounds that were still opened at this time of year, I called the Illinois Beach State Park and spoke to Peter. Lucky for us, as Peter turned out to be a musician who knew the Chicago music scene intimately. Growing up in Detroit, he had even jammed with Eric Clapton and the Cream. When we arrived at the park, Peter had left a package for us containing two CDs, a list of several clubs with descriptions of the venues and type of clientele, as well as the train schedule to Chicago from the local Zion station. What a guy! Read more
Categories: America, Blues, Entertainment, Friends
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The Windy City
The Windy City
Our next stop on the memory highway was Chicago, a city known to Manny as the home of his college girlfriend and first serious love, Brenda Brisch. Although we wouldn’t be visiting Brenda because she presently works and lives on the Cote d’Azur in France, Manuel announced that he wanted to look up Steve Miller, Brenda’s boyfriend in high school, a guy he met and knew for one weekend at a party forty years ago and hasn’t heard from since. Now, I consider myself adventurous —hell, I wouldn’t be on this journey if I wasn’t— but with limited time in Chicago, I thought “do I really want to try to find this guy who today could be somebody with whom I have absolutely nothing in common?” Read more
Categories: America, Architecture
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A trip down memory lane
Recollections of places, events and people from the past are often clouded by years of reminiscing and yearning for the good old days, especially when the good old days were the sixties and seventies, when memories were cast in a haze of pot smoke.
Manuel went to the University of Wisconsin when it was the hotbed of liberalism, Vietnam War protests, sexual freedom and great marijuana. Read more
Categories: America, History
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Wherever the wind takes us
When Manny and I declared that we wanted to go where the wind blew us, we thought we were using a metaphor. But shortly after leaving the factory, we headed into some of the worst weather the Midwest had seen in decades.
Driving through North Dakota, Minnesota and on to Wisconsin was a challenge. Pelting rains and gale force winds tested our little home on wheels, but I’m happy to report that she held the road proudly, like a sports car —unlike other vehicles we passed.
Blown away
My attitude is quickly changing about where to sleep on the road. Before leaving our home in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, I scoured the internet looking for campgrounds, preferably state parks, that were still open this late in the year. Read more
Categories: America
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The Mennonite experience
The sole purpose of this trip was to take possession of our brand new Freedom II Serenity motor home. We hadn’t expected the trip to Manitoba to have a tourist side to it. Located about 20 miles from the US/Canadian Border, Winkler, Manitoba isn’t generally known as a major travel destination, especially one with a South of the Border flavor!
Del Rios Restaurant
Imagine our surprise when we had lunch the first day at Del Rios, a restaurant boasting Mexican, Canadian and Mennonite cuisine. I was delighted with my beef tacos and Manny savored his ranchero steak platter and fresh corn tortillas —in Manitoba, Canada! Read more
Categories: Canada
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A visit to the factory
We had a choice on how to take delivery of our new home on wheels. Most people have their motor home shipped by truck from the factory in Winkler, Manitoba to the dealership where it was purchased, and take delivery and “hands-on” training from the dealer. In our case, our dealership was Battlefield RV Sales in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Don Klassen of LTV & Lin Kern of Battlefield RV
The other option is to pick up your RV at the factory. Manny and I rarely do things the “normal way.” We wanted the whole factory experience: to see where the motor home was built, how it was made, and to meet all the people who made it possible. Not to mention that we wanted to have a few optional things done, like an extra table for the rear living room area, a hinged rear bench to provide access to the trunk from inside the coach, and a privacy curtain to separate the coach from the cab. Read more
Categories: Canada, Plugs
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The Border
As I write, it is Friday night, October 22, and I am sitting propped up in one of the two sleeping options in our brand new Freedom II Serenity motorhome. Two months ago, it seemed that this day would never arrive, and frankly, it still has a dreamlike quality to it.
Bloggin' Roz
The first leg of this journey started very early last Wednesday morning, October 20, when we flew to Grand Forks North Dakota, where we were met by Don Klassen, our salesman from Leisure Travel Vans, the manufacturer of our new home on wheels, and his lovely wife Rosie. Read more
Categories: America, Canada, Logistics
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Our journey begins
I am no stranger to the RV lifestyle. Although my parents didn’t have a lot of money, they didn’t let that dampen their spirit of adventure. For years our family vacations were spent going somewhere in one recreational vehicle or another. Starting with a slip-in truck camper, then graduating to a classy Airstream “silver bullet” travel trailer, some of my best childhood memories are the times we spent together traveling the eastern seaboard whenever my brother and I were on vacation from school. My mom and dad would close their little glass business, put a “gone fishing” sign in the window, pack Mel and me into whatever RV we had at the time, and take off. Read more
Categories: History
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RV financed yet?
As you can imagine, purchasing our Serenity II dream home wasn’t like walking into a car dealership and arranging financing for a new automobile. It’s more in the category of buying a small vacation cottage. But we weren’t worried. We banked at Citibank, where we had a “Gold Customer” rating through our relationship with Citibank and Smith Barney, the brokerage arm of Citigroup. Plus we own our home outright, don’t have any large debt, and we pay our credit cards off every month. The ideal customers —or so we thought.
Categories: America, RV Financing
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