So we made appointments with Dr. Malpani.  We went to see him on Monday and got to spend about half an hour sitting in a waiting room full of other former Dr. Dimas patients filling out new-patient forms.  But the wait wasn't too long, surprisingly.  And the new doc is pretty nice.  He gave us refills on all our prescriptions, and did an x-ray of Richard's chest.  He said the x-ray looked good.  And he's got Richard scheduled for a sleep apnea test next week.  It would be good if Richard could sleep better, he wakes up two or three times in the night.

And Richard has new glasses.  They look very good on him and seem to be fitting him ok.

We will be heading south the first of November.  In the meantime, we get to visit with everyone here. :-)  Shane is so cute and smart.  He already knows all the letters and numbers!  We were in a restaurant with license plates on the wall, and he entertained us by reading them to us.

mj

In case you didn't know, ever since around 1990, during the Halloween season, Universal Studios closes its doors (along with Islands of Adventure) around 5:30 - 6pm and clears out all the people. Universal then sets up the scare zones and haunted houses and opens the doors again for people who bought Halloween Horror Nights tickets (yes, it's a separate ticket). There are as many as 8 haunted houses that are setup in various parts of the park as well as what are called scare zones. In these scare zones are park employees who dress up in scary costumes and follow around patrons trying to creep them out or scare them. Like the haunted houses, each scare zone has a different theme, usually based around what haunted house is near it. Halloween Horror Nights usually has an overall theme each year, too. Last year, with Freddy, Jason and Leatherface it was called the Carnival of Carnage. The year before that they did a "best of" theme with all the best haunted houses and scare zones from the years prior.  This year, the overall theme was Bloody Mary; which included famous myths, legends and fairy tales.  Bloody Mary is the spririt that would appear to you in a mirror if you said her name 3 times.  She's in the picture below on the right.

It's a pretty cool theme if you ask me and I was very excited to see what Universal did with it.  So, after work on Friday, the wife and I took off for Orlando and our scary Halloween adventure.

We went straight to the park and walked in around 9:15 or 9:30pm.  The first thing I noticed was that the majority of the lights in the park are off.  They also had mist machines working overtime to cloak the areas in fog.  This made it extremely difficult to know where in the park you are.  I've been to Universal Studios several times and know where everything is, but with the lights off and the mist and scare zones setup, I got confused very quickly, which also added to the fun and atmosphere.

Here's a map of the park for Halloween Horror Nights including locations for the haunted houses and scare zones.  You can click it to see a larger version on my Flickr page.

All of the black boxes denote the haunted houses. The yellow areas denote "scare zones".  After coming into the park we immediately went right and walked through the Asylum in Wonderland scare zone and The SkoolHouse scare zone.  The zones were very elaborate.  Creepy versions of Alice, Little Miss Muffet, Queen of Hearts and others were all walking around and scaring people.  There was even a giant mushroom setup with a smoking "caterpillar" on top talking to people.  Very awesome.  The first haunted houses we came upon were Scary Tales:  Once Upon a Nightmare and The Hallow.

Now, before I talk about the haunted houses, I just want to say one thing about Express Passes...they are awesome and you want to buy them.  Since we got such a cheap deal on the main admission tickets, I splurged for them.  The Express Pass lets you bypass the standard lines and queue up in a "VIP" line.  There are only a certain amount of these passes handed out each day, so you have to buy them early.  And since there's only a certain amount, you are GUARANTEED smaller lines.  Walking past the other patrons without Express Passes is almost embarrassing once you see how short your lines are.  Also, they are very expensive.  Like, surprisingly expensive.  While walking through the Express line I had several people in the regular line yell, "There go the high rollers".  But, honestly, they are worth every penny.  I was skeptical at first, but after all was said and done, it was worth it.  We were able to swing through 7 of the 8 haunted houses as well as two or three of the regular rides, something that would have been impossible without the pass because the lines for the haunted houses were LOOOOOOOOOOONG.  Like at least an hour, easy.  With the express pass, I don't think we waited longer than 15 minutes, and that was the longest.  Most of them we walked right into the haunted house.  So if you go, get the express pass, it's a bitter pill to swallow at first, but when you are done you'll be glad you did.

Now that all that is done, let's take a look at the haunted houses for this year and what I thought about them (in no particular order).

Scary Tales:  Once Upon a Nightmare This was the one I was most looking forward to. A haunted house featuring macabre versions of popular fairy tales? Yes, please. However, since this was the first house of the evening and it takes me a bit to warm up to the haunted house experience, it was probably my second least favorite. I wish we could have done it a second time, after all the others, but the park closed on us before we could get back. Steph got pretty scared, she said that she wasn't doing anymore houses after this one, but she wound up doing all 7 with me. She even ended up enjoying them by the end. However, this particular house was only okay to me.

Body Collectors: Collections of the Past This one may be tied as my favorite. This house's theme was based on a gruesome group of people known as "The Collectors". All through history they have used plagues and disasters to cover up their hideously gory activities. Room after room of these ghastly "Collectors" torturing and slaughtering innocent people was terrifying. The Collectors themselves look a lot like "The Gentlemen" from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "Hush". Very well done and detailed house design. The Collectors would also appear in the streets outside this haunted house for the scare zone "Streets of Blood". They were super creepy.

Dead Exposure This is tied with Body Collectors as my favorite house. I really expected nothing out of this house but its design and execution were so cool and clever that I have to give it props. The entire house and its rooms were bathed in strobe lighting and everything was painted with black and neon paint so it was unbelievably difficult to see and you were disoriented throughout. Literally, things and people would pop in front of you and scare the crap out of you and then be gone again. I screamed several times. I really had trouble getting through this one. Very, very good house design.

Reflections of Fear This was the main haunted house. It was based around the character Bloody Mary. The legend that goes along with Bloody Mary says that she was Dr Mary Agana. She was trying to get over her fear of death by killing people and watching them die. So the entire house was designed as different rooms in a mental institution/hospital which made for a very creepy atmosphere. Several times you could see "Mary" sitting on a gurney shaking and mumbling to herself then she'd bound up off the gurney and charge you like some devil-rhino from Hell. It really did scare me a few times. But, on the whole, it was disappointing, probably because I was looking forward to the main haunted house. I still really like the set design of the mental hospital, though.

Interstellar Terror I was also unsure about this one. It seemed out of place, but it was a cool idea. The first manned spacecraft to leave the solar system has returned to Earth, with an unexpected visitor. I guess you could say it was loosely based on the movie Alien or Aliens. The spaceship based rooms were cool, but really the whole house was disappointing. I really thought it was hokey and underperformed.

Creatures This one sounded cool. Steph and I thought it would be based on famous movie monsters (this was Universal Studios, am I right?). However, this house was based more on the redneck killer families of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes. One part terrifying, one part silly. Once again, the set designs were awesome, but the characters and scares were bad. The first guy we saw was the big jethro looking dude with a creeped out monster/zombie face and a mullet. Yes, a mullet. It just went downhill from there.

The Hallow This one had a cool premise, too as it was based on a haunted forest or meadow. Appropriately, the whole place smelled like fresh dirt. Appropriate, yes, but weird. There were also a bunch of monster trees and plants and pumpkin headed creatures. It was more odd than scary. Like I was in the Garden Department of a haunted Home Depot.

Those are the 7 haunted houses we went through. There was one more called Doomsday. Reading the description in the event guide above it seems the house was based on the movie of the same name. Post-apocalyptic world, cannibalistic zombies, you get the picture. It really didn't sound interesting to us. For all I know though, it may be the best one, but I don't see how it could have topped Dead Exposure or Body Collectors.

We did a few other things that weren't haunted houses:

This is an annual show done almost every Halloween that takes over the Fear Factor stage. It stars Bill S Preston, Esquire & Ted Theodore Logan from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. The whole show is an excuse to lampoon popular movies and TV shows from the past year. Let me tell you, this show was hilarious. We loved it. It made fun of Sex and the City, Indiana Jones, Speed Racer, Rocky, Rambo, Kung Fu Panda and Hellboy. Actually, the name of the show was Bill & Ted Meet Hellboy. There was language and adult situations. The pre-show featured two actors as McCain and Obama and a drunken Hilary Clinton. I tell you, there were no taboos. It was really a lot of fun and I would have watched that show again. Actually, you can see the video from this year's show on YouTube here. That's only part 1, there are 4 more parts. The video and sound isn't great, but you can at least see the show.

The Simpsons Ride Being such a huge fan of Back to the Future The Ride, I was very sad to see it go last year. Also, I was not surprisingly curious to see what took its place. It was tough walking through what used to be the Institute of Future Technology but what is now KrustyLand, but I have to say, Universal did a good job with this ride. The mechanics and environment areas are geographically the same, they've just been re-painted and redressed for the Simpsons. Even the ride and it's mechanisms are the same (I'd almost say the program that runs the ride is the same, they just animated the Simpsons Ride to make the same maneuvers as the BTTF ride). However it's a lot of fun and I enjoyed it very much. It still made me motion sick, though, just like it's predecessor.

We also rode the Mummy's Revenge roller coaster in what used to be the King Kong ride. We rode it a few years ago and we love it. It's very fun.

So, that was our Halloween Horror Nights experience. We got there around 9:30pm and we didn't leave until well after 2am. We were exhausted and sweaty and ready to be back at the hotel in our beds. After all, the next day, we were going to get up and go to Disney Epcot for the annual Food & Wine Festival, but that's another story for another day. If you can make it down for this, I highly recommend it. Hopefully Steph and I can go again next year and bring some friends. That would be a blast.

I have no idea what's on deck for next week, it's like Halloween Roulette over here. It may be an article about candy, maybe it'll be about a certain book series I've teased you about. We'll see once it gets written. Have a good rest of Week 3 of AWESOME-tober-fest!!!

Per si no n'estava segur, aquest matí només sortir de casa ja m'ho han deixat clar: torno a estar a Itàlia.

Com ja us vaig comentar, he vingut a fer uns tràmits administratius per al meu pare, i ha estat l'excusa perfecta per tornar a visitar a la família de Torino. No se quin temps fa a casa, però aquí sembla que estiguem a la primavera, i s'agraeix. Així doncs, ahir a la nit vam fer un soparet a casa de Santi i Sílvia, que encara no l'haviem estrenat amb un acte oficial. Vaig ser un bon convidat i em vaig portar un kit de "fondue" de Suïssa, i el sopar va ser tot un èxit.

Després del sopar ens van acompanyar els nostres amics de València i Murcia, i vam complir com bons erasmus. Un dimarts nit, el típic joc de taula per tenir excusa per beure, i després de festa per un parell de locals.

M'estan intentant convencer perque em quedi el cap de setmana per fer una excursió per la muntanya, així que ja veurem quan acaba la visita, ja us contaré.

Per als que us pregunteu: "I quan tornarà aquest penjat?" jaja, us he de dir que aviat. Després d'aquesta visita començaré ja a tornar cap a terres catalanes, així que als que sou allí baix, en pocs dies ens veurem!

Per acabar el post del dia, vull aprofitar per felicitar a la meva mare, que avui és el seu cumpleanys, i que tot i que no li feia gaire gràcia que fes aquest viatge, no hauria estat possible sense ella. Felicitats Tere!

Sunday: Alyssa was going to watch Formula 1 racing with a friend of hers so she lets me and Ben borrow her car, since I'm the one with a license...I'm driving. We decide to head back to her house as my brother's cat is outside still and its probably about time we brought him in.  Three turns in, we're lost.  WOW are we lost, we end up in a place where I was only getting one bar of signal so even my iPhone couldn't triangulate where we were.  Ben get's the brilliant idea to just input the address of one of the houses we're in front of to get directions back home.  This would've worked except for the fact that we're not in Marietta anymore, we don't actually know which city/town we're in but we make it to a gas station as we're almost out of gas.  I get enough signal to hit the 'current location' dealie on google maps and get directions to Alyssa's house; of course we get lost again in the process but we eventually get back.  Now Alyssa doesn't have internet at her house so Ben and I head over to the Dunkin Donuts which has free wifi, woo hoo!  We screw around on the internet for a while, ben get's pissed off at McCain.  And we eventually head back to her house for a promisingly uneventful night.

Now on the flight into Georgia I had originally booked a window seat but some bitch was sitting there and the guy she was with was all, "We really want to sit together," to which I was just thinking to myself "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SEAT BITCH!!!!" but I rolled with it and took her seat on the other side of the aisle in the fucking middle.  In the middle of the goddamn night the fat dude in the window seat decides that he has to pee so me and the guy in the aisle seat have to get up.  Since I'm just gonna have to get up again to let the douchbag back into his window seat I just hang out in the back of the plane, one of the flight attendants is chatting it up with some people so I go see what's up and have a conversation that last pretty much the rest of the flight.  Turns out the flight attendant is also an Atlanta city cop.  He's pretty cool dude, gave me his card and told me to let him know if I get in a bind.  At any rate, I get a text message from him on this particular Sunday night asking if I want to come into the city to which I'm always game.

I get the name and address of the place and directions, also cleared it with Alyssa so that when she needs to get picked up I'll get her.  I got lost about 3 times trying to get into the city and eventually drive past the place.  I parked in this public garage below colony square and climbed the stairs to figure out where the hell I was in relation to my goal, turns out I'm only about a mile away so I decide to walk it.  A couple hours go by (I never thought I'd hear a cop ask if I were sure that I didn't want one more knowing that I had to drive) and Alyssa gives me the address to the place she's at only moments before her phone dies.  Ken gives me a ride back to ma' car which is on a hidden level of the garage that is somehow up a level but still below the ground...go figure.  I eventually get going but I lost the little card thing that says how long I've been in the garage, bye bye $16 regardless of the fact that the night maximum is $7. Whatever, I had a few beers and somehow got a free pack of cigarettes, I'm in the black.

About step 8 or 9 of the directions I missed a turn and am now completely lost so I pull into a gas station to regroup.  Oh no, my iPhone is dead...  I called Ben to get Alyssa's number for some reason unknown to me since shortly after I get her number I realize that her phone is dead too.  I get in the car and just start driving and luckily my memory kicks in when I see the I-85 sign and the path back to Alyssa's house lights up in my head, it's gonna take longer to get her but at least I know I can get there and from there I can get my iPhone charged enough and get her.  Success!! The route to here friend's house is actually super easy.  I eventually get her in the car and start driving until about half way there it turns out that she has a cracked tail light, blue lights at 2am.  I almost got Alyssa thrown in jail because I made an alcohol related comment completely forgetting that she's 20, whoops. We get off with a warning and make it back.

At least I know how to get back to Alyssa's house from anywhere in Georgia...

In 2005, I snapped. I fought with my mother, and misunderstood the whole argument. I thought she was implying that I was ungrateful, and that I should leave. She wasn't. But I did leave.
I waited until she went to sleep. At about 11:00pm I crawled out of my sisters window with a bag full of clothes and $160 in my wallet. I had no idea where I was going or how I was going to get there, but I was going.

Starting the car was the worst part. I could handle the phone call to tell her I was gone. I could handle the confrontation when I inevitably had to return. I could even handle getting pulled over by the police when she eventually called them, and I was unlicensed and a minor. But there was no way I could deal with getting caught. I could barely put the key in the ignition, and it took me 10 minutes to work up the courage to turn it. I sat there, scared shitless for another 10 after I finally had started it.
I crept out of my neighborhood with my lights off and drove to my best friends house.

She didn't try to stop me. She didn't even ask what was wrong. She let me use her computer to mapquest a few places I had decided I might go, and helped me creep back out of her house. Honestly, I wanted her to smack me around and tell me to quit being so stupid.
Soon I was on my way. I was about to get on the freeway when I realized the magnitude of what I'd just done, and what I was about to do. And I was ecstatic.
Los Angeles was to be my destination, after a few minutes of deliberation. I had an internet ex boyfriend there, and I created this crazy idea in my mind that he would know what to do and how to help me. His name was Kage, and he was Jesus risen from the dead in my eyes.

Every hour or so, I'd pull into a rest area and change $2 into quarters. I didn't have a cell phone, and surprise! Kage and I hadn't spoken in months. I called him about 8 times before I got to LA. He never answered, but I kept going. I'd figure something out, even if I had to sleep in my car in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
I was driving over the grapevine as daylight was breaking. It would have been beautiful any other time, a real moment, but I stank, I was covered in snot and mascara and I hadn't slept at all. I still had another hour or so to drive if traffic was nice to me. I didn't give two shits about the sunrise. I wanted to collapse over the steering wheel and cry.
2 hours, some anticipated morning traffic and another 3 payphone calls later, I picked a nice residential neighborhood, parked and tried to sleep til 7 am. There was no way sleep was going to come willingly. Tired and loopy, I tried one more time to contact Kage.

Success! I havent heard your voice in months, how are you, by the way I'm in the neighborhood and wondered if you wanted to hang out, I'm at Vons, come point me in the direction of your lair!
I'd never met him before. Looking back, I'm pretty sure this was one of the stupidest things I have ever done. But anyway, we went back to his place and as payment for his hospitality, I surrendered my virginity and undying love. The consequences of my actions didn't matter anymore. I was with him, I was on fire, I was happy.

Voltant per Europa he descobert horaris molt diferents als nostres, però sobretot els de tornar de festa. Qui torna fora d'Espanya més tard de les 3 a dormir? Els espanyols d'erasmus, és clar. A la resta no els cal estar dormint fins les 2 del migdia xD.

Era una reflexió que necessitava compartir, no us enfadeu jaja.

Boona nit a tothom!

Per raons familiars (he de fer un favoret al meu pare) he de tornar-hi. De fet ja em va bé perque em van quedar un parell de coses pendents de fer, i més o menys em venia de pas.

Així doncs estaré per aquí fins que pugui tenir els papers que necessita el meu pare, i després ja començaré a baixar, que ja toca xD.

Pero passem al resum del dia. He sortit una mica tard de Lausanne, per poder dinar amb la gent i poder-me despedir, i se m'ha fet una mica de nit durant la ruta. Són flipants els macro-túnels que hi ha pels alps. I també el preu que has de pagar per fer-los servir jej.

Bueno i aquí torno a estar, he tingut un petit comitè de benvinguda, i m'han estat explicant tot el que ha passat aquestes dues setmanes que he estat fora. I per acabar, la foto del dia. Com és habitual, una vista dels alps, la foto no té gaire gràcia, però el post quedava una mica soso sense imatge.

Highlander Hat

Started: October 12

Completed: October 12 (probably a total of 5 hours)

Yarn: Alpaca with a Twist Highlader, about 3/4 of a skien

Pattern:  Robin's Egg Blue Hat

Needles: Size 9Us circ & dpns

Notes:  No mods on this hat at all - it came out perfectly.  I love this yarn so much - I made my Panta out of it nearly 2 years ago and a couple of hats for friends last year and it is just so perfect for small items like hats & scarves - soft, warm, and non itchy.  I don't know if I would attempt a sweater of it  - bulky yarn + bulky body = not the look I'm going for - but it is one of my fave yarns.

I'm also loving how the button looks on it:

I picked this up at WEBS, thinking it would be for a sweater, but decided that it would be better suited for my hat since I only had one anyway.  I think hat will get a lot of use this winter - love the alpaca!

In non knitting adventures, I went on my first Leaf Peeping trip with my dearest friends and CoffeeBoy.  We had a wonderful time, up in the White Mountains in New Hampshire - it was a perfect day, sunny & cool and the leaves were stunning.  I couldn't stop snapping pictures.  Here's one I love, even though it doesn't have as much of the pretty leaves in it.

You can see all my Fall Foliage Tour pictures here.

Denna gång fick mig dock att fundera på riktigt. Varför inte dra en roadtrip nästa sommar, runt på ett par festivaler och sen ner mot södra Europa och chilla i värmen med lite kompisar. Sedan när det börjar bli kallare så drar jag till Tokyo och efter det några månader i Sydostasien innan det blir tillbaks till Sverige eller Norge igen lagom till att våren kommer. Varför inte liksom? Det låter som en plan.

Följ med E! ;)

Leider muss aber der mehrfach versprochene Artikel zur Routenplanung mit dem RadRoutenplaner 6.0 wegfallen - ich finde meine DVD nicht! :(

Aber vielleicht findet sich ja ein Gastautor, das den Artikel übernimmt? Freiwillige vor! ;)

Now, I want to make sure you all know that Minneapolis, and the midwest in general DOES have culture. So, this website won't be a one-sided Koop party. But for now, since I'm in Salt Lake City Utah I"ll talk about it here.

Not only Mormons live here. The mountains are amazing, the streets are clean and the people are nice. This morning, even though it started to snow, Scott, his sister, husband and kids and I, went for a small hike. Below is a picture of me and Scott with his Nephew, Will, at the base of our hike.

For more information about Utah and her natural beauty please visit http://www.utah.gov/

From Nashville we set out in his xB with a very loose agenda towards the state of Alabama. The only thing we knew for certain was that I had set up a few couches that we would surf, and that we wanted to spend the weekend in New Orleans. We really had no idea what to expect or what was in store but we were both extremely ready to get "away" for a while. We are both also very poor, but we weren't going to let that stop us

From the random sleazy rest-stop in Alabama at the start of the trip to yesterday's final drive from the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis back to Nashville, it was a memorable trip.

We went photo-treasure-hunting in the backroads of Mississippi, walked a crusty beach in Gulfport, explored the bayous and tattered coast of Louisiana, stumbled upon cozy little towns like Arkadelphia, AR, went thrifting in Arkansas at the mother of all Salvation Army's in Texarkana and her evil sister in Little Rock. We choose the "scenic route" whenever possible including a drive through DeSoto National Forest.

We spent a fair amount of time trying to find places where we could steal wireless internet to plan out our stops, destinations and coffeehouses as we went along. Also in Texarkana we were nailed by a pretty ridiculous thunderstorm, and it was also one of the only two nights on the trip that we spent sleeping in the car. The rest of the nights we were spared the discomfort and had the opportunity to meet new people and crash at their homes, trailers, and apartments.

The highlight of the trip was an amazing weekend spent in New Orleans. There in New Orleans we met some amazing people, especially a girl named Paige at whose place we stayed for the weekend.

Her place in and of itself was pretty great, a shotgun style unit with hardwood floors and super high ceilings and large windows in the top of a building right on Magazine Street. Paige along with her sister and all of her many friends introduced us to New Orleans.

Among other things in our weekend tour, we bummed around Loyola, saw the "tree of life," rode the streetcar and spent an afternoon shopping, eating, and taking in the sights and sounds of the French Quarter, we enjoyed late night coffee and beignets from the world famous Cafe Du Monde while sitting by the river and each night we stayed out late going to shows at local venues by local bands as part of the New Orleans Indie Rock fest. Craig and I both fell in love with the city.

I couldn't get over the sheer amount of historic, amazing homes, and the antiquated awesomeness of the city in general, especially the absolutely ancient huge trees right in the middle of the city. We didn't get to see the now infamous ninth ward or any of the hurricane damage and the 'tent city' of homeless people living near the Superdome had been recently shut down, so we understood that we had a bit of an imbalanced look at the city, but even so, it was just WOW. It has so much character and its own unique flavor, I am excited to go back there someday.

The other highlight of the trip was our excursion to the National Civil Rights Museum in downtown Memphis yesterday.

I had always wanted to visit and I finally was able. The National Civil Rights Museum is located at the Lorraine Motel, the site at which Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed back in 1968. The back half of the motel has been turned into a museum that details the entire American civil rights movement and also the life and death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the museum also includes the building across the street from which James Earl Ray fired his infamous shot.

I have always been intrigued by King, who was such an amazing and influential figure and the museum was equally incredible, both extremely interesting and powerful. It occurred to me inside that this was a great time to visit in light of the upcoming election and its, let's say, 'possibilities.'

The trip was great but it's also good to be back. I've got a renewed sense of hope. I'm at peace. I'm excited. Basically, I feel like the trip along with some of the inspiring people I've met lately and also some circumstances in the last two months including the start of my volunteering with the Jr. High students at Mars Hill has me completely renewed and excited. Stay tuned, because this blog is going to be better too. Like more updates (hopefully).

And

Dale & Cheryl want to know what is the best position for your slide when you’re parked for storage between trips. We’ve seen quite a few RVs in yards with the slide extended.

I live in Tellico Plains, little town nestled in the mountains of east TN, population under 1000. No traffic lights to be found, or needed. We live in the Cherokee National Forest (God’s country).

OTR: How long have you been RVing?

Officially, only since June of this year. Prior to the purchase of our Class A, we were avid tent campers. We thought long & hard about moving up the traditional ladder: pop-up, to travel trailer, etc. But we were attracted to the Class A’s from our 1st RV show.

We bought our RV from Camping World in Chattanooga. We were just going to look around at their clearance sale & voila, 2 hrs later we were signing the sales slip. I still think we got a great deal, since the cost was lower than what we paid for our Chevy Tahoe. But in hindsight, we paid the sticker price. Now we know to always go 25% lower--lesson learned!

How long and what kinds of things did you consider before purchasing your first RV?

I am of the firm belief that we ‘draw’ to ourselves the things we most love. (That Law of Attraction) So I started visualizing the RV long before hitting the sale lots. We also shopped the online sites to see what was available and the costs. We knew what the bank would loan and what were looking at in gas prices, so we felt pretty secure in our decision. We also had to consider where to park the unit, since our log cabin home is up a ½ mile curvy driveway. We ended up having a drive pad put in for it at the base of our driveway.

What would you say to someone thinking of purchasing their first RV?

Do your homework. Check out the videos offered on making your purchase. ‘Google’ all the info you can on your preferences. Check out groups like the Good Sam Club & AAA for their input. Read books, pester your family & friends about their experiences in the RV world & attend all the RV shows that you can. Don’t be pressured by an eager salesman. This is a buyer’s market, so you can afford to be picky. You may want to rent an RV before deciding which class is for you. Ask to take a unit for a weekend camping trip. Most salesmen will agree to this, and it gives you the opportunity to really experience the unit, rather than just accepting a ‘walk-through’ cursory exam.

Have your own mechanic check out the RV before you take possession (My, how I wish I’d have followed that suggestion.) In the end, I think we just resonate w/ the RV that we’re meant to have.

What finally made up your mind that you wanted to take part in the RV lifestyle?

 I was introduced to mobile home living as a child. For a few years six of us lived in a 33ft unit. We were one CLOSE family. It was a great lesson in space conservation--knowing that there was a place for everything & everything in its place. We tended to keep Route 66 busy, between Oklahoma City & Phoenix, in those days.

For me, the RV lifestyle is about simplifying. We did just that when we moved from a busy Florida city to our little house in the big woods. I see the RV as an extension of that idea--a simpler life, getting closer to nature, answering that call to the open road that my dad instilled in me and just the sheer ‘fun’ that RV-ing provides.

Where have you traveled so far?

Our unit was in the ‘shop’ for the summer, so our 1^st actual outing was to Jackson, Mississippi, where my husband was working for the week. It was an eventful trip to say the least. We rode in with hurricane Fay and rode out with hurricane Gustav. But the lovely Natchez Trace Highway was still enjoyable, rain or shine. Our other trips have been to local campgrounds and a long wk-end at High Falls, GA.

Where do you hope to travel?

I want to go absolutely everywhere! I’d love to travel caravan style thru Mexico and Central America. I’d like to take Hwy 101 from San Diego to Vancouver. Dan would like to drive to Alaska for some good fishing. I want to see all the National Parks (& get that super senior discount) Have maps, will travel.

Do you have a favorite memory from an RV trip?

When two of my grandkids saw the RV for the 1^st time, they were in awe. Alec said, ‘Grandma, you should sell your home & just use the money for gas, so you could live here all the time.’ You know, that’s starting to make perfect sense.

What are your future plans regarding your RV? Any plans to become a full-timer?

It was always in our plans to make RVing a fulltime activity. Dan is a business software consultant, so his job could quite nicely dove-tail into this lifestyle. And certainly when he retires in a few years, we’ll be on the road non-stop.

How are you enjoying MyRVer.com so far? Do you have any favorite features or ones that have been helpful?

I love this site! The ease in which you can respond to questions is great. Even a non-techie like me can maneuver around it. I feel right at home among the other members-- not at all ‘lost’ as one can feel on the huge social websites. It was very easy to start up discussion forums, blogs, upload photos and even start a group. Everyone has been polite, helpful and enlightening.

What would you say to someone thinking of jumping on board as a MyRVer beta tester?

Come on aboard! I have never been associated with a nicer group of people than RV aficionados are. The members have answered my questions, provided sage advice and just shared fun tales of life on the road. I have learned a ton of things about RVing through this wonderful site. And I look forward to meeting some of the members as we get out there and travel more.

Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about you or RVing in general?

I am a retired RN, metaphysical minister, life coach, co-founder of Spirit-Works.net. I’m a happy wife, mom and grandma, voracious reader and gleeful traveler. Dan and I have 8 kids and we have forewarned them that any day now the RV may be pulling up into their perspective drives for a monthly stay. I can already see them pulling the curtains and pretending not to be at home! I look forward to spending at least the next 20 years on the open roads.

If you would like to join Sande and be a beta-tester on MyRVer.com, just log on to MyRVer.com and become a member – it’s free!

What do you do as a beta-tester? You use the site--build blogs, post pictures, create moving maps of your trips, write about your favorite campsites. If you come across a glitch in the system or something doesn’t make sense, you let us know so we can fix it. It’s great fun—come join the crew!

Happy trails!

Abans de que me n'oblidi, us presento en Lluís, l'altre amic que també està estudiant a Lausanne. Abans d'ahir vaig haver de dormir a casa seva perque la que era la meva habitació estava "ocupada". Per a les que estigueu interessades, és un bon partit: arquitecte, andorrà i mooolt simpàtic.

Ja em queden menys coses per fer, avui he anat a visitar el llac, i ahir vam fer una "fondue" de formatge que mare meva. Aquí va el comprovant xD.

Si us ve de gust, jo quan torni a casa estaré encantadíssim de tornar-ne a fer una, així que només cal que m'ho comenteu.

Més coses. Com sempre, la foto de rigor del "erasmus team" de la ciutat.

I per acabar, us volia ensenyar un parell de cosetes. Primer les magnífiques vistes nocturnes de la residència que, com ja us vaig dir, és com un Gran Hermano.

I també els bitllets suïssos, dels quals m'he enamorat. Crec que la imatge no reflecteix bé el "colorido" que tenen.

Ja estic començant a preparar la següent visita del viatge, però estic tenint problemes tècnics. No consegueixo contactar amb un dels meus corresponsals, així que, de moment, no està clar cap a on aniré. El que si que ja tinc més o menys decidit és que diumenge o dilluns seguiré la ruta. Així doncs, fins aviat!

Husbands are fun!

We're trying to get Mystic, Connecticut in time to go to Mystic Yarns. Send good travel vibes our way...

Uit 'n triestige Boland het ons vroegoggend vertrek (met my sambreel op die agtersitplek) uit die groene Wes-Kaap: vanaf Stellenbosch, deur Franschoek na Worcester vir 'n koffie; en toe rustig na Laingsburg vir lunch.

So in die verbyry, kon ek 'n vinnige foto neem van die Franse Hugenote-monument:

En toe was dit Bon Voyage! op pad na Wakkerstroom...

Men vi gav oss iallafall ut på en liten roadtrip. Vi åkte till Hemljuvahem i Järna och kikade runt lite. Sedan åkte vi hemåt till Trosa igen. Bjöd Johanna på pizza till lunch och sen softade vi bara här hemma innan hon åkte hem till Nyköping.

Kasper har nyss ätit gröt och ligger nu och sover.. Mycket behövligt för hans del, då han varit lite gnällig ett tag nu.. Själv tänker jag också ta och sova en stund.. Mår inge vidare.. Hemsk huvudvärk och så har jag ont i magen.. Blää.. Inge skoj alls..

Kasper har förresten fått flytta tillbaks till sitt rum igen. Känns som om det blir bäst så. Jag älskar min underbara son, men det var lite knepigt att sova med honom i stora sängen.. haha.. Vi sover nog bättre båda två på varsitt håll.. :D