Thanksgiving

It was a good week, lots to give thanks for as we continue to get ready for the future. In addition to celebrating Thanksgiving we crossed a few more things off our list of things to do and things to buy during the next few months.

The CRV went to the dealer for it’s first service appointment and checkup. The Honda was a little short on miles but it has been with us for six months so we wanted to do the service before the end of the year as we will be in a hurry when January gets here.

Thanksgiving was enjoyed with the Byrnes family, we were invited by John’s aunt and uncle to spend the day with their family; good people and good food equals a good day. We got invited to cousin Joan’s birthday party later this week so we will see them soon; we will also visit them in Arizona as they are one of our first visits when we get started in January. John’s cousins Joan and Bob own homes in Mesa and we will be stopping there and plan on spending more time with them.

We purchased a couple of items that were needed before we leave. John will have to return his cell phone when he retires so we purchased a new one for him from Radio Shack and added him to the family plan. We also purchased a Cradlepoint MBR1000 router for the mothership from the 3G store, we didn’t purchase the router or air card when we installed the amplifier and antenna so it was time and 3G also had a sale this week; now we only need an air card or MiFi card.

On Saturday we took a few items to a local Goodwill and spent time getting forms ready for South Dakota. We put up our one Christmas decoration and took a few others along with a few other items to Goodwill. We spent some time completing our mail forwarding form and vehicle title and registration forms; we have our list of documents to take with us when we travel to South Dakota in January.

Today Sandy is preparing something special from John’s favorite food group (cookies), for the holidays; if they last that long.    John also finished another past blog entry from when we purchased the latest mothership. We would also like to send a Happy Birthday message to Sara and Joan, enjoy your day!

South Dakota’s new driver license requirements

South Dakota drivers license requirements will be changing beginning December 31, 2009. On their website it states you now need two documents to prove your principal address (along with the two forms of identification to prove who you are). We are planning to change our residency to South Dakota in early January and were concerned how we would meet the principal address qualifications. Sandy contacted the South Dakota department of Public Safety and spoke with a very helpful Sonja. Our situation was explained to Sonja and she quickly replied that if we will be using a mail-forwarding service all we have to do is fill out a “Residency Affidavit” which states we are South Dakota Residents using a Personal Mailbox Address or Mail Forwarding Service. This form must be accompanied by a receipt from a local RV park, campground or motel for proof of the “temporary” address where you are residing. Sonja said the Affidavit form MUST be signed in front of a notary. Sandy asked if the forms could be emailed to us; and if we could get them notarized in WI, and Sonja said “Yes” any notary was acceptable. Sonja kindly emailed us the documents so we can have them notarized prior to our visit at the local South Dakota driver’s exam station.

The Beginning Grows Near.

Another good week for us as we continue to prepare to move into the mothership. We continue to sort through property and plan and prepare for the not so distant future.

Sandy talked to some of her family and we now have takers for most of the items that remain here in the duplex, we only have a sofa that does not have a home. Sandy continues to sort through kitchen and bathroom cabinets; similar items are combined into one box and the excess packaging was disposed of. John has the motorhome storage unit emptied and swept out, only a few bags of cans to take to the recycler and a few bags of sand that will go into the pickup when the snow flies remain. John had a chance to work on a 2006 entry about a visit to Point Beach State Park.

We purchased a Panasonic High Definition Video Camera from Electronics Expo  which was ordered through Amazon.com. Video quality and Still Image quality are impressive, the unit has a 120 gb hard drive and a 12x optical zoom; our first production featured Diva KoKo chasing the ball. Sandy also had a chance to use it on Saturday when her family got together for an early Thanksgiving celebration.

We have been planning to visit South Dakota in early January to set up residency and obtain our driver’s license and registration. This week we noticed that South Dakota will institute some new rules for required documentation; these rules will bring the State into compliance with Homeland Security but will make it a little more difficult for us to get the documentation together; we will call out there this week to make sure we know what to bring.

We saved the best news for last; John’s retirement date is now on paper and in the computer with the Wisconsin Employee’s Trust Fund.  On Tuesday we had our appointment with them in Waukesha to discuss our separation benefits; we had a good idea about our choice of annuity plans so we were able to formalize this quickly. We went over a few questions and options but the entire process took about sixty minutes; John’s last day of employment with Calumet County will be January 6, 2010.

Google Calendar, Koko & more to-do's.

Sandy decided to place our important dates on “Google Calendar”. At present we use a PDA, a paper calendar and our desktop PCs at work to keep track of things, Sandy feels that our Gmail account is the best spot as it will send us reminders a few days or hours before the event depending on when we want the message.

Google Calendar Event

Sandy also had another training session this week with Chelesa, Koko’s groomer. Several months ago Chelesa offered to teach Sandy how to groom Koko, and said that Sandy was doing a huge part of the grooming by brushing Koko out every day. Sandy decided to take Chelesa up on that offer, so when we are on the road we don’t have to look for a groomer every 5 weeks. Chelesa provided a list of the grooming equipment and products she uses, so Sandy went to PetEdge’s website to place her order; Sandy is now all set to begin grooming. Sandy says Koko will never look quite as good as when Chelesa grooms her, but we think she will look respectable. Koko may still need to stop in at a Petco or Petsmart to get hair nails done; she is a Diva after all. Chelesa trimmed the nails on one paw and Koko was OK but when Sandy tried to do it she freaked out; Sandy was taking her time and Koko wasn’t quite as confident in Sandy’s abilities as Chelesa.

Koko after her grooming session

On Wednesday we took Koko to the Vet for her annual checkup and to get her Rabies and DHLPP vaccinations. Sandy brought Koko’s ball with us and Koko seemed to be entertained for about a minute when she started sniffing the floor and apparently remembered where she was and began to get real nervous. Dr. John came in, examined her and then gave her the dreaded injections. KoKo was a good girl and didn’t screech like she did the last time and we were in and out in 15-20 minutes; she seemed fine the rest of the evening. The next several days was another story, she mainly wanted to sleep and didn’t want us to touch her. She seemed like she ached all over, and it took until Saturday for her to perk back up and by Sunday she was her old self.

John cleaned and watered the mothership’s batteries and finished doing some maintenance on our bicycles then completed a blog entry from 2006 when we had a great trip to Michigan’s upper peninsula. We continue to sort through clothing making our final cuts on what goes with us and what gets donated or tossed. We were also invited back to the house by the new owners, we had a nice visit and were impressed with the changes they have made as they make the house their home.

More Maintenance, Comedy & Birthday

This week we did a few more maintenance  items such as going for our dental checkups, and removing the batteries from the mothership. When we put the battery charger on we found that our old charger had crapped out so we had to buy a new one, go  figure.

Last week we had a visit from John’s uncle Frank from Waupaca.  Frank was in the area picking apples at one of the local orchards, and wanted to stop by to tour the mothership.  John remembers that Frank had several camper trailers one of which he pulled with an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser wagon which was a nice setup back in the day. It was good to see Frank; he also provided us with some tasty apples that he picked.    Sandy got her domestic skills working and baked two very tasty apple pies, and some applesauce from the apples.   Thanks uncle Frank !

John also worked on a post from February 2007 to Palm Harbor, FL, which was our first voyage in the present mothership.  As time permits we will work on posting some past travels and the process we used to purchase and prep this motorhome.

Saturday was such a beautiful day (Sunny and High of 64);  we decided to clean both vehicles inside and out.    Later that evening we went to “Comedy Quarter”  to see Todd Yohn, he was hilarious as usual. 

Today we want to wish Jalen a Very Happy Birthday as he is turning the big number 7!     Hope you have a great day Jalen, Love John, Sandy and Koko.