My favorite hobbie, even more than computers is

Let's Go

CAMPING

Here is a little traveler's prayer I picked up at a little church in Georgia.

If you want to skip all this rambling that is coming up, just click to detour around it and get on to this wonderful USA.

I did a little camping in my first life back in Connecticut in the sixties with a borrowed Shasta travel trailer, but my real camping started in Florida in the early seventies. Mykey (you know, my favorite teacher) and I bought our first motorhome, a 1969 24 foot Class A Winnebago. We looked like the mosquito fogger truck, getting about 50 miles to a quart of oil. I put a new (used) motor in it, and that caused the transmission to go out. After replacing that twice, (once in Georgia) we sure had some good times. We next did some camping in a truck camper. Talk about being cramped. So, like all hobbies, we had to go bigger, and better.
Our next motorhome was a 1976 26 foot Winnebago. After fixing it up, it turned out our maiden voyage was also our final voyage. I sold it on that first trip. Got an offer I couldn't refuse and then bought a 1978 28 foot Cruise Aire and then on to a 1980 32 foot Cruise Aire. Had fun in all of them, but our overall favorite was the next one. It was a 1984 34 foot Pace Arrow. It was only a year and a half old and only had 4,000 miles on it. The only problem was the man had been living in it for the whole time, and he was a heavy smoker. It took weeks of cleaning, and the odor was still in it for months. On the up side, he kept covers on all the furniture and the original plastic was still on the carpet. None of the appliences had ever been used except the refridgerator. When we got done, it was like brand new, and we kept it for over 6 years and 50,000 miles. Almost had tears in our eyes when that one was sold.
When I retired, we felt we needed more room and bought a 35 foot fifth wheel and a Ford F250 Diesel pickup. This unit took us all over the Eastern seaboard and as far west as Arkansas. Mykey is a teacher, so we were able to travel all summer when the schools were closed. What a life.
Our travels have slowed down now, and the trailer is parked on a lot we own in Palmetto, FL. It is on McMillan Creek, which is on Tiera Cia Bay, at the foot of the Skyway Bridge to St. Pete. We go up there almost every weekend and have taken shorter trips in the summer, but really enjoy being almost stable again. Maybe another North East trip this summer, if we get the energy up.
Well, we got the energy up. Traded in the 5th wheel for another motorhome. It is a 1987 31' Bounder, made by Fleetwood. The interior is almost identicle to the old Pace Arrow, we just lost a little room in the bedroom and bath area. We are on our first 2 month trip right now. Follow along with us, if you like. The link is below.

Now here are some of our favorite spots.

Starting our 1998 trip, we celebrated Bud & Fran Stringers 57th Wedding Anniversary with a little "Happy Hour" at our site in Palmetto. Here is a little photo album.
Well, it's finally happened. I have started assembling some pages for our Trip of 1997. The first page has a map that will be updated for each new stop on the trip. Just click on it to see the larger view. Of course that rule applies to all of the pictures. Check back every once in a while to see how we are making out. And send me some e-mail with any coments, or if you can guess where we are going next. There may even be a t-shirt awarded for best guess or maybe most original e-mail or something.

The best "find" from last year was Cape San Blas, in the curve of the Florida panhandle.

As much as I don't like to think of the guy in Washington from here, we found a great area to be is Hot Springs, Arkansas.

How about Halloween at Fisheating Creek Campground in Palmdale, Florida.

This is kind of slim, but I'm trying to find the time to put more up here. We have camping pictures from all over the country, and I will get to it "SOON."

More to come as I get the time to build the pages.

Back to the Cookeee Factory.