Moose - Our New to Us Motorhome (Coach)

Kathy here:  just to clarify, we haven't sat around for a year doing NOTHING!  (see Steve's comments below).  We have been volunteering at our Humane Society, and our "at home part-time" business has become almost full time.  At least we're able to work from home or the motorhome... all we need is a phone and computer :)

After selling our Phaeton last year Kathy and I have discussed many a night how much we missed "being on the road."  Our cocktail hour on the back yard patio ( we call it our "round table sessions") revolved around the question, "What can we do now?"  

To the left was our RV trip log in 2008/2009 when we were full-timers.  After sitting around and doing nothing for over a year, an opportunity presented itself to us!  One of my RV friends ( George and his wife Sandy) decided they were going to sell their "coach" which was a 2000 Foretravel M-4010 U320.  It's affectionately known as "Moose" because the paint striping on the front of the RV kinda looks like a "M."

I've been following George's blog for 3 years and I know how well he took care of Moose, so I emailed him and we started talking about buying something we could "part time" in.  Since they were currently in Maine and we were in Jacksonville, I had no idea if the floor plan would accommodate us because our Tiffin had 4 slides and the Foretravel had one - in the living room and no slides in the bedroom.  
We got word that there was a RV exactly like Moose for sale in Tampa, so we took a little road trip to Tampa to look at it.  We absolutely LOVED it!

Moose has had $31,294 in upgrades accomplished since 2008 so even though he's a 2000, he's practically brand new!  

We intend to enjoy Moose on a part time basis (we already full timed it for 2 years and want to keep a place to come home to) and will be chasing that 70F weather whenever we can.  
Our current plans are:

• Head up to New England or the Great Lakes area in July - August 2012 to escape the FL summer heat which we just can't tolerate anymore.
• Head down to the FL keys maybe in Jan/Feb if it gets too cold in Jacksonville!
• Take trips to TN & SC in the fall and spring to visit our kids.
• Take trips to Meridian, MS where Kathy AND STEVE! will volunteer to help a wonderful person take care of dogs that need help.
• And pretty much just take off and do whatever we want when we want!

Life is grand and we're very lucky to be able to enjoy ourselves while we can :)

Gatlinburg TN April 2011

What a week up in the mountains!  First of all, I have to say this before I forget.  When we finally got settled in our cabin, we did some reviews on restaurants for the week.  Steve searched for "Number 1" restaurant.........................and guess what popped up?  McDonald's earned 5 STARS!!!!!  We haven't been yet; hope we don't need reservations!!!

Christmas At The Burnettski's 2010

Christmas 2010

After being on the road, and all of us spread around the USA, we finally got together at our home for a big Christmas!  It's been a great week and we really overdid it with food and gifts!  But it was fun!!  Steve and have also spent time at the Humane Society, because even though we have Maddie, we haven't forgotten our special friends who haven't found their forever homes yet.  Justin begins his student teaching in January, so we are going shopping today for some "grown up clothes"!  Justin, Mom and I went to St. John's for mass yesterday and he looked sooooo good in a sports jacket!  He already looks like a great teacher!!!!  Fortunately, he was able to do his student teaching (Junior or High School English) right in Newport, TN.  It's about 5 miles from his cabin on the mountain! 

Justin's dad, his wife Lisa and her girls were here for Xmas breakfast then headed to South Florida!  It was a great visit and I was really happy to meet Justin's "other family"!  Lisa, your girls are so sweet and polite and I really enjoyed our visit.  Maybe next time you all are in Florida it wil be nice and warm for you here! 

Hoping everyone had a good holiday and didn't get snowed in or rained out.  It's a sunny day here..............but cold!  So, off we go to shop.  Happy New Year to everyone and I hope it's a good 2011!  Wow does time pass quickly or what?  Next thing you know I'll be 40!!!  Ha Ha!!!

God Bless, Take care and if you have time, please look at the slideshow above. 

Introducing Maddie...

Introducing our new best friend, Maddie!  Maddie is a rescue dog from the Jacksonville Humane Center, is about 4 years old and is a female English Cocker Spaniel.

She's been with us for a week now and is one of the most laid back dogs we've ever seen.  She's house trained, loves walks and only barks once when someone knocks on the front door!  We love her already!

I Rescued a Human Today

“I Rescued a Human Today” 
(Author Unknown)


Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels.


I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her.  I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.
As she stopped at my kennel, I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage.
I didn’t want her to know that I hadn’t been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn’t want her to think poorly of them.
As she read my kennel card, I hoped that she wouldn’t feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone’s life.
She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds to me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship.
A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well.
Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms.
I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that
She came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven’t walked the corridors. 
So many more to be saved. At least I could save one. “I Rescued a Human Today”

A Rant About Flying...

OK, I have to get this out of my system!

Who else HATES to fly now days?? Anyone?
I flew from FL to CA on Continental Airlines (American is the same and so is Delta) this past weekend.

Why? Glad you asked.
I know my butt isn't getting any smaller, but holy cow... the seats on airplanes are freakin narrow and have NO leg room. When the person in front of me reclines their seat back - the seat hits me on my knees. The tray can't even fold out flat because it's so close me. What's up with THAT??  Oh sure - you can ask to sit at an exit row for more leg room... if you're willing to pay an extra $25 per FLIGHT for the exit row.  I don't think so.


The food - Food? What food? Pretzels, sodas and water for free! Big deal. Want a sandwich? That'll be $6 for a cold, nasty ham & cheese on some kind of bread. I thought I'd be smart and eat one BEFORE I got on the plane and I had to pay $10.00 for a freakin roast beef sandwich that was dry and skimpy on the meat to say the least. Where's the BEEF?? Not in MY sandwich that's for sure!

The movies - Oh yeah, if you're on a flight that allows a movie... just slide your credit card through the slot to pay the $6 it costs now and you get to watch the movie! As far as I know Jet Blue is the only airline that give you a movie for free. On the bright side, they GIVE you the head phones now. Remember when the movie was free and the head phones cost $2? HA!

Baggage - THIS has got to be the biggest rip off in the world. Paying extra to check your baggage is CRAZY! It causes a LOT of people to carry their luggage on board to save $25 - $30 so now you have to fight for space in the overhead to stow your "carry on." Hey - just charge everybody another $60 for the ticket and let us check our bags on the plan! I'd hate to fly with a family of 4. Not only are the costs of tickets up, but if each person had to check ONE bag, it would cost $100 more EACH WAY at the gate! That's ridiculous!

Changing Tickets - On this trip I had a little medical emergency and had to change my return ticket home from a Tuesday to a Sunday.  It cost me $433 to just CHANGE my flight!  WTF????  Are you kidding me???   And when I got on the flights... it wasn't even full.

I'm ready for trains...

Done with rant.

Kathy's Singing Debut...

Gosh, I sure love my wife for being such a good sport!

The other day I heard some cute clatter
So I rose from my couch to see what was the matter.

When I peaked through the door just what did I see?
My cute little wife - singing with glee!

So I got out the video and started to record
Hoping that my batteries would last ... to capture the reward.

I got a few minutes of Kathy singing a song
and now it's here, so watch it and sing along!

New York City October 2010

Well, of course, our timing was all off, yet again.  This is the 3rd trip we have made in the fall to various parts of the country to "see the fall foliage".  Not gonna' happen.  This time, we "Jet Blue'd" up to The Big Apple................yeah!!  Oh wait, the leaves aren't going to change for another 10 days or so!!  Anyway, we got some great pictures and saw lots of things we'd missed when we went there three years ago for Christmas.  We'd forgotten just how darn expensive that city is!  Our hotel room was so small there wasn't even room for a chair, nor a suitcase and it didn't even have a closet.  So, we upgraded there.  Got a great place at 59th and Lexington.............about a block from Bloomingdale's.  Saw a purse I liked there, but it was $600.00 so frugal little me, walked out!!  But at least I've been to Bloomie's now. 

We bought unlimited Subway passes because we really do like the Subway!  We took it all the way out to Coney Island on Sunday so Steve could get his Nathan's Hot Dog!  Turns out he likes his hot dogs at home on his own grill.  So do I.  Coney Island was desolate and deserted, but I guess it's a hot spot in the summer. 

We also did a lower Manhattan Island boat cruise.  (the boat cruise and the Subway passes were the best deals we found!)  We took lots and lots of pictures, they are in the slideshow below.  The day for the cruise was absolutely gorgeous and it the boat was nearly empty so it was a great photo op day. 

We also visited Ground Zero again.  Last time we were here, it was basically a huge hole in the ground.  Now you can see the construction going on.  Also, St. Paul's Episcopal Chapel is directly across from Ground Zero and we went in to see the memorials of 9/11.  It is pretty humbling to see the pictures and the patches from the NYPD and NYFD stations who worked, lived, and sadly, died in the attacks. 

We did Times Square (again)...................so many people, so little space. 

Central Park was beautiful even if I only spotted a few trees with some color.  Maybe next time.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.  I didn't put all of them in the slideshow because I didn't want to bore anyone to death!

We got home last night at about midnight and are still so tired that we need a long long rest.................

Cheers to all!