Stamp & Camp with Mary - Weekly Update July 9, 2019

June 3 Blue Mounds State Park WI

Went down to Lake Geneva to look at Symphony Bay a 55 + Active Community.  Well not for us.  They had about 7 folks living there now, they expect to be built out in 10 years.  But no Club House and not one in the works for over 2 years.  You can travel to Lake Geneva to a Club House there that they are going to start building in a year, to sit and watch the water. Not really an active community again,  I guess up in the Midwest Active Communities mean something totally different than Florida or Arizona.

So the trip was nice going over and back.  We stopped at a Walmart and it was fun to see new areas.  Got back to have left overs for dinner and try to get my work done.

June 4, Blue Mounds State Park WI

Well it rained today big thunder storm in the morning.  Don and I decided to start cleaning the trailer to try and get the cigarette smoke  out.  We sprayed the front with Vinegar and Water and wiped them down.  Also did some organization and re arranging some of the shelves. 

Meigan called to get some advise about Australia and health insurance, housing and Visa.  It is always nice to talk to her.  Then she was off to do some of her Salamander research.  Don and I continued our cleaning and it brightened up and we had sun for most of the afternoon.

June 5, Blue Mounds Sate Park.

Well more cleaning today.  WE took apart the couch and sprayed with our vinegar and water.  Cleaned everything under etc. Hopefully that will stop that horrible smoke smell.

Went into town for a few things and we drove around.

I have been trying to upload a video to You Tube of my catalog tour and after 32 hours it finally finished. 

Had to make a Sympathy card for a friend I am sorry I won’t be there for her family.

Just hanging out on a beautiful night.  In the high 70s today.  Head into Kayla’s for dinner tomorrow.  I can’t wait.

June 6, 2019  Blue Mounds State Park

Headed into town today for a few tings and we stopped at the Bakery downtown for lunch it was great I had a great pasty and Don said his sandwich was great.  We had to make some keys for the trailer and we just wanted to get out.  Walked around town and then headed back to the park.  Left early to see Kayla and use her internet.

It was fun to see Kayla went out for Thai and it was pretty good. Then went back to her apartment and spent some time there.  Headed back to the trailer.  I am so proud of Kayla she is such a great young lady and has grown up so much in the last few years.

June 7, 2019  Blue Mounds State Park and Madison KOA.

Move day but we don’t have to do this early. So we take our time it is only about 1 hour to our new KOA site. 

Get everything ready and packed and ready to go.  So moving out and what happens I get into the truck and the tire warning goes off.  Flat tire.  Yup to good to be true so the next thing we do is put some air in the tire and try and find a repair shop.  Head into Mt Horeb and Don said there was a shop just as you go into town I couldn’t find it.  So went out to a tire and auto shop other end of town.  SO busy I couldn’t even find a place to park so head for one I missed in town.  Found that one but he had 25 cars ahead and would not be able to get to me until Monday, he told me how to get to the coop at the end of town the one I missed first.  SO with directions that is was in the Best do it building I head back out there.  Have no idea where Don is as I haven’t seen him.  Get to the coop and ask if they could help they said sure went to the tire bay and before I could get out of the truck the tire was plugged and  I was back on the road.  Don texted me so we met up at the grocery store.  I tried to get his GPS to do the same route as mine but I don’t think it worked.  So he was going to follow me.  I turned on my map and took off the first turn came up and I realized that it had changed the course so I turned around  but Don had to take the highway.  I waited for him to come off the highway and then we were off again. It was only 53 miles what could go wrong, we already had a flat tire, a wrong turn.  Well a few miles down the road we hit a detour.  Yup the google maps tried to tell me which way to go take a u turn, turn left here etc.  So we keep following the detour and then another detour on the detour.  Then when we were suppose to go back to the original highway we had to turn the other way as that is where we caught up.  I didn’t know if Don knew so I tried to get in front of him and after we got to the campground Don said he didn’t see me get in front of him and he thought I got lost. After 1 ½ hours we made it to the KOA.  Best laid plans of mice and men.

This KOA is a nice KOA  typical KOA right next to each other, smell of sewer but clean bathrooms, full hook ups and pull through sites and very nice people. 

I had a Stampin’ Up! friend come and visit me this evening.  Lori Brausen, her and I was mentored each other for about a year.  Trying to ge tour business off the ground.  I met her in November in Orlando and it was great to have her visit and we talked for about 2 hours talking about ourselves and our business.  One of the best things about Stampin’ Up! is having these friends we make and have things in common with.  I really enjoyed this visit.

June 8, 2019  Madison KOA.

Well suppose to be in early to Kayla for a tour of Epic  where Emily works.  Well I over slept but Emily had to go for an eye appointment so got in about 9:45 and went to pick up Don’s prescription and a few other things.  I got to use the internet and had a great time talking to Kayla.  We then went to Epic.  It is a company that helps Medical Facilities with software.  They have Different campuses with different themes.  Such as Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Chocolate Factory, Monsters, it was fun just walking around I would not mind working in a place like that.  
Here are just a few areas.

We then went to Bartaco for lunch a taco bar.  Was OK  just not my idea of a Mexican Lunch though they had a great Margarita.  Headed back to the apartment and I used their internet and we talked and Don and Kayla went looking for Pokemon.  Kayla was coming out to the trailer for hamburger.  So I drove with her to the campground.  I know she is a good driver but she runs right up to folks before she breaks. So I just closed my eyes and hung on. 

We had a nice dinner and sat around and talked for a few hours.  She has grown up so much.  We talked about budgets and how to save money and how much to use on desired per month.  WE just talked and talked.  I wish this was the lady when she was a teenager someone that could talk to you instead of yelling.  She has grown so much.  I love her so very much.

Stamp & Camp with Mary Weekly Update June 6, 2019

I started this last week but had no cell or internet.  I am at Kayla's today and hope to be able to get the pictures uploaded.

May 27, 2019  St Croix River Resort Midwest Outdoor Resorts, Hinkley MN

Happy Memorial Day I remember my Grandfather Trautner who served in World War 1 he loved Memorial Day and the parades and going to the cemetery.  We always seemed to have a family picnic either at Henes Park or at home. 

Rainy day today where did our sun go.  Well time to start the day.

Rain, rain go away come back when we are not here.  We moved campsites so we now have full hook ups when they close the showers again to finish them.  I am working mostly in my workspace creating some great cards and making some videos.

It is Memorial day and everyone seemed to leave early as we could change campsites by 2 PM  everyone was gone. 

We were going to have Brats but not in the rain.  Don made friend potatoes which was nice for a cold rainy day.

I tried to get some work done so went up to the club house for internet and uploaded my videos for the week.  When I got back to the campsite and we moved I tried to work more but with the Data throttled down it was hard so we played 500 Rummy and watched a little PBS Antiques Road Show. Just a laid back day.

 May 28, 2019  St Croix River Resort Midwest Outdoor Resorts, Hinkley MN

Got up and the sun was shining so it will be a nice day.  Headed to the clubhouse to get my newsletter out and Don went to do laundry.  Maybe a long walk this after noon or a nap.

It was a beautiful day all day.  I got my newsletter out and Don got the Laundry done.  We had a few conversations with Meigan about Australia mainly about insurance, when can she be out of her dorm etc. 

Don tried to put some disinfectant in our holding tank and after a few tries we got the right one. 

The lights went off and we scrambled to see what was wrong.  Don finally found the GFI reset.  He is so good at those things.

WE still hate the smell of cigarettes and at times it seems to get worse.  WE opened the Jack Knife couch and got a face full.  Have to find a way to get rid of it if possible or we may get another RV. 

Walked around the campground only about 5 campers still here though the long term trailers are still here. 

Finally had our Brats this evening and have a few for lunch tomorrow.  Rain again.  Well one day out of 4 not to bad  I guess.

May 29, 2019  St Croix River Resort Midwest Outdoor Resorts, Hinkley MN

Today was another beautiful day.  Sun out and I actually  got into shorts after dinner. 

Went for a drive around the area and looked at a few beautiful areas around some lakes.  There are a lot of lakes in this are.  Came home and started getting ready to leave tomorrow.  So a laid back day until Stampin’ Up! threw a sale at me at the last minute.  SO now I am working.

May 30, 2019  Moving day going to Blue Mounds State Park WI

Today was moving day.  Had a few drips of ran at each place but not bad. Was a long drive and the GPS took us through a lot of back roads which is not bad but before we got to the Blue Mounds State Park  I thought we were again in Bandera and on the long trek out to Holiday Villages and are we really going the right way, can we turn around if the road stops.  But we made it fine.

We were ready to leave the St Croix River Resort.

As we were leaving I noticed that most of the trees now were full of leaves.  When we were coming in they all had buds on and now they are bright green with new leaves.  It is great to see that and really notice it happening.

So we headed down the road to Blue Mounds State Park.  Not the smoothest check in not the fault of the Park, in fact Maria was very helpful.

We went to our first campsite and realized that it was no electricity. And not very level.  So we walked around and found a few sites with Electricity staying over a week we really needed electricity. Then back up to the entrance station and working with Maria we got a site for 2 nights then back to our no electric site for 1 night then back to a different site for the rest of the stay.  Well when we moved into the site for 2 nights it is not the most level site.  We put our atomically levels down and it lifted everything up to the highest.  So we took it down and started over.  This time we did it manually and still it had the front wheels off the ground.  So we walked around the  campground and it is a beautiful campground but not very level in fact we found only about 3 sites that might be level.  They have a lot of tenters here.  The sites are beautiful and the area is nice.  The Shower bathrooms are beautiful and really clean.

We didn’t get to see Kayla as she had dancing.  I hope we can spend some time with her tomorrow.

May 31, 2019  Blue Mounds State Park WI

Beautiful morning this morning went for a walk around the campground and there are a few more folks than when we went for a walk last night well at least 2 more for a total of 7 we will see what we will have this evening. 

Tried the shower loved the shower room but could not find the hot water.  It was warm but not hot. But it was a nice and clean shower. 

Went to Mt Horeb to do some shopping after our morning walk and found a grocery store.  As we were going through Mt Horeb we realized that there was an Art Tour today and this weekend.  So we went back and started to walk around the cutest downtown we have seen in awhile. Trolls are a big thing here and we found out why.  It seems when the highway went around the town in the 1980s the town tried to find a way to get people to come into the town so they choose Trolls.  They are all over and everything is named trolls.  We ate the Grumpy Trolls.

 

We saw some great art work  the first place we went was a potter and he did some great work.  He told us about the Trolls and the Grumpy Troll for lunch.  Lunch was good though a little long to come.  We finished our walk around town and then headed back to the campground and we had a nap.

Around 3:10 we headed out to see Kayla.  Was not a bad drive except for the construction.  She was off work and home.  She has a nice apartment and in a nice area.  We had to go and pick up a UPS package we thought was for Don and it was not but for Kayla, well she would have gotten it sooner or later. 

She didn’t want to go out to eat so we made plans for tomorrow and headed out for some big shopping found a great grocery store that Kayla recommended – Woodmans.  It is huge.

So got back to the campground and it is filling up. We move tomorrow and Kayla will be here to go to the Art Tour.    I wished we got to spend more time with her tonight but we will have all day tomorrow.

June 1, 2019 Blued Mounds State Park WI

Today we had to change campsites to a no electric one.  We are on a down hill sloop and really didn’t try to level it was only going to be one night and I hate that it jiggles when it is of it’s wheels but we definitely roll forward.

Kayla was looking at fish tanks so we went into her place instead of her coming to the campsite and we going on the Art Tour.  It was a fun day.  Not just once but 3 times her and Emily went to the Petsmart store for fish related stuff. 

As we were driving in I noticed that the same fields I saw yesterday some today had little green shoots in them.  Some you could see the farmer still planting and tilling on.  But it was amazing what 1 warm sunny day could do.

After we did some fish tank things we went to a Chinese Dumpling Restaurant for  lunch.  Was that really good. It was nice as Kayla paid for it.  She really has grown up a lot lately.  Usually if we teased that she should buy she would have said she wasn’t hungry and would not order anything this time she said OK  I will.  So proud of that.

We got back to their apartment and they finished the fish tanks.  Then Patrick came home Emily’s boyfriend and the third roommate.  WE had a good time putting a puzzle together and it was so much fun.  We left after 6 so we could get home and BBQ pork chops but once we got back here decided not to. 

We hope all three will come out tomorrow and walk around the area and have Brats with us. 

June1.  Went to Church this morning to Immaculata Conception or St  Bernadette.  Was very small only 1 mass on Sunday about 100 folks there it was at 8:30 so surprised I saw a lot of kids and young folks.  Was a very friendly place.

We switch campsites again to an electric site.  They should hate us as we were going into one but wanted another so change again.  Maria was very helpful.

Kayla, her friends and roommates Emily and Patrick.  We took a ride around the park and then went into Mt Horeb and had a great time.  Kayla and Emily liked the Art Show and bought a few things.  We walked around and had a great time.

Headed back to the campground.  I did my live event and we got ready to have brats.  It was so fun to have a great conversation and dinner.  We had a fire and play Cards Against humanity.  Spent all day with 3 amazing young people today.  I was really glad to see how much Kayla has grown up and that she has some amazing friends.