I can't believe this!!!! The past 10 days of not writing on here has been the LONGEST period of silence on this blog since I began writing in April/May of 2005!!!!!!! Over five long years of almost daily writings......and then BAM!!! Nothing written since last Sunday, a week ago, except for a few brief words using my iPhone.
Sooooo, literally.....where do I begin...to tell the story of my absence??
I think it is best if I just summarize the days of this sagging hulk of Me for the time I went "missing".
It was a very good week at Willow Tree Resort, albeit NO wifi, as you already know sooooo damn well. Let me just say what I told the friendly staff at the registration desk of Willow Tree on the day before we left: I just do not understand a first class rv resort such as Willow Tree having absolutely NO consistent wireless internet service across their resort. IF there is anything that will prevent us from returning there again, it will be the inability of being able to connect to wireless internet while we are at Willow Tree!!!!!!!!! There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for a rv resort that during their "in season....summer" charges upwards of $98 per night to park your rv....and not having excellent, fast wifi!!!! IF it is because of a "contract" with Hughes Satellite, then break the damn contract and find a company that provides the services that Willow Tree need and demand!!! And......as I told the staff....who ARE very friendly......I plan to send in my reviews to various RV sites online that ask for reviews about rv parks and campgrounds that we visit.
Can you tell that I am angry and irritated??? And, to make matters worse......it was not just while we were there for the week, but seems to have been an ongoing issue for quite some time....over a year!!! DAMN!!!!! I am still angry.....really angry!!!!!! In this "day and age" of instant communications, there IS not excuse. The 1st Lady needed to continue working with our son-in-law in his business.....she does his billing for the services which he provides.....and could not do that, short of sitting in McDonald's where they do have free and very fast wifi!!!!
OK....I will try to refrain from continuing this tirade.....TRY!!!!!
Soooo, we had an evening with appetizers at the first night of the Rally. Then we had 2-3 evenings of carry-in's with the main meat courses being prepared by the hosts of the rally. We also had three "outings":
1. We went on a "cruise"....a gambling boat that had to enter the ocean through a river and then out to the international waters before the gambling machines and games could begin. No gambling in the state of South Carolina. Lunch was provided, but was quite lacking in attractiveness of the buffet and most certainly lacking in quality of food. OK....not another rant from me, as I wasn't really expecting much from the lunch and I received about what I was expecting. The 1st Lady and I dropped about a total of $15.00 into the non-paying slots.......didn't even win once, and I was playing on the quarter machines!!! BUT.....the great thing about this 5 plus hours of "cruising" was the opportunity to meet with old friends in the Cedar Creek RV Owners Club on a more one-to-one basis on the top deck/open deck of the boat and to renew those friendships......as well as meet many of the new members from the East Coast whom we had not met before. Sooooo, it was a very pleasant day, to say the least!
2. On Thursday we went to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center for the opening of their Christmas Crafts Sale with approximately 300 vendors in their booths offering for sale their various crafts, foods, dips, whatever. It was an interesting few hours there before our legs gave out on the concrete floor of the center. Did we purchase anything???? Yep......things to eat!!!!! Different kinds of "butters", dips, etc., etc. And...the great things was that we did get to sample soooooo many homemade items that were for sale!
3. On Friday, about 28 of the 50 some-odd members took a "jeep Safari"......a jitney I would call it which carried 14 tightly packed human beings, all of whom are creeping up in ages and weights....and we drove for over four hours around the Myrtle Beach area and south of there to see some of the local sights, as well as listen to our never-ending guides who went on and on and on and on and on......and on. But.....some of it did soak in, at least for a few moments. They do not realize that we all have short term memory loss problems, so none of us would have been able to pass a test over the info they told us!!! But, we had fun, even though we were huddled together like un-oiled sardines in that mode of transportation.
The remaining days, we spent visiting our friends who were there (all whom were complaining of the wifi situation).....and driving back and forth to the local grocery stores and liquor stores.
The weather??? In the mid-60's most days, sunny everyday, and sometimes VERY chilly at night!! I once again must chastise the resort for not having a pavilion or meeting room for our large group to use for dinners and evenings when we might have enjoyed talking with each other in a lighted room. But.....perhaps they don't have those kind of facilities, even though this is a relatively new resort which is highly landscaped, planned (with wonderful lake and swimming beach), a beautiful almost mile-length entrance which is sculpted with grasses and trees and winding curves on the paved road. There is a hiking/jogging/walking/biking path around the lake and it is really a very nice touch for the guests. Also....they have several little cottages built on the lakeside for guests who are not in RV's.....another wonderful idea! There are many other amenities to the Willow Tree Resort.......but, the absence of just a few specific things make this not quite the wonderful "10 rating" that some RV rating groups have given to Willow Tree.
Sunday, the 1st Lady and I left and by that time, we had already decided to return to Misery via a different route: Over to Augusta, GA to Alanta, and then up the normal route to Chattanooga to Nashville and then home. The first night we stopped in Madison, GA at a campground......not an rv park/resort.....Country Bob's RV Park.....and stayed there. We had enough time to go into the town and look....from the outside....at many of the OLD southern homes in the center of town, as well as the lovely town square which is quite up-to-date with their shops and restaurants and coffee shops. Upon walking around the square, we realized that we had been here many, many years ago as we discovered a restaurant where we had eaten at that time, in that year, in that decade of our lives. (NO wifi except within 100 feet of the office....and we were FAR from that building, but this place served our overnight needs of water, electric power, and sewer hookups.
Monday......we drove the hour into the Atlanta area, taking the beltway around the eastern side of the city.......in horrendously awful rains!!!!!!!!!!! It never ever stopped....and with six lanes of bumper to bumper traffic in ALL lanes all going the same way....and the god-awful rains and splattered rain and puddles, it was quite nerve wracking, to say the least. Even worse than the sleet and snow we experienced as we drove through the mts between Knoxville and Asheville, NC. It took us over an hour to go 23 miles.......that says everything about it!!!! And....the rains continued until we reached Nashville!!!! We stopped at Clarksville RV Park......and, we had wifi!!!!!! OMG.....it was like we had returned to the real world!!!!
Hmmmmm, believe I failed to mention that at Willow Tree, we did not have cable nor satellite tv, so the 1st Lady and I used our antenna which allowed us to access mainly the four main networks, as well as many, many PBS and local Gospel channels.......hmmmmm!
Yesterday, we drove on into Misery....in rain, of course....and then home, which was as dry as a wheat field in Kansas in August. Exhausted I was......not a bad trip except for the rains. Sooo, we just kicked back and watched a bit of the tv programs we had DVR'd and caught up with some of our favorite programs.
Today....we attended a memorial service for one of the 1st Lady's local sorority sisters who had died quite suddenly on Monday morning of an unexpected blood clot. This is the SIXTH death of either friends or family members in the past three months......and, it just really accents to us just how short our time is becoming..........toooo short!!! Sad, it is.....as many of these were quite sudden and some were of those who are much younger than we are!
OMG, OMG.....I forgot to mention that our son and his wife, Jeremy(Jay) and Anne-marie spend three days with us at Willow Tree on their way from Philly to Mobile, AL!!!!!! It was just fabulous that we got to spend those days with them.......it was soooooo damned great!!!!! I only wish they could have spent the entire week with us........WOW....soooooo good to see them again!!!
OK......there you have it!!!!!! I am still writing, in case you might have worried (????) that I was not going to continue to shout and joke and curse and keep you informed of my ever-shortening Life! And, you know........just as I have always written.......
LIFE IS JUST REALLY, REALLY INCREDIBLY GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!......And, I certainly hope it is, and has been over these past ten days, for YOU!!!!!!!
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