Lunch with fellow Bloggers

At home in Holiday / Tarpon Springs area

If you travel and Blog, you will eventually run into fellow bloggers.  This is our third or fourth meet up with Tony and Karen of Rolling in an RV - Wheelchair Traveling.  I knew they were in Florida, and hoped they might make it our way.  But the other day I noticed they had already headed up the east coast from Orlando where they had date with a mouse and his many friends.  So I commented to Karen, and she commented and emailed back that they were actually in Miami, and would be passing through our area on Tuesday.  Well, we had a dinner date for Tuesday, and Wednesday lunch worked for them too…and Karen wanted to try our favorite Greek restaurant, the Original Mama Maria’s.  Suggested that they try one of their Greek Combo Platters, and I think they liked it.  Also had them try the Avgolemono Soup since neither of them had ever had it before…well, together they finished a cup of the soup.  Avgolemono is also known as Lemon Rice Soup, typically made from chicken broth, eggs and lemon juice, with chicken and rice or orzo.  Not on our low-carb diet, we had to pass…again…oh that is so hard to do!  Nearly 3 hours later, we were saying goodbye, and they were taking leftovers for dinner for later where they stop somewhere along US 19 tonight as they head on.

I know I have done it before, but I just HAVE to give Karen’s blog a big plug.  YES, it is focused on living in a RV, traveling, while being confined to a Wheelchair.  However, the many maps and resources she has compiled and offers free on her blog are outstanding.  I remember way back when, some six or seven years ago, making a comment to Karen either through email, or as a comment on her blog, about how impressed I am, as a Librarian, to the amount or resources she has compiled…and all I can say is that years later, it is even better!  From places to camp for free or close to free, to small, out-of-the way county museums, points of interest, to festivals large and small, and much, much more.  Headed to Wyoming, just click on her Wyoming map, look for the areas you are headed, and she will have something to see, do or place to stay for you.  They have been traveling for 25 years now…she has been in a wheelchair for over 24 of those years…and her website will tell you how it all happened.

Have continued safe travels friends…see you along the road again soon, somewhere…. (sorry the picture did not turn out very well…I have not used the camera for awhile now, and did not have it on auto setting, so it got washed out real bad…thank goodness for Photoshop I was able to clean it up a bit.)

Meanwhile…we completed another doctor appointment today for Marcia, one more to go along with some tests in March.  Marcia ordered a new pair of glasses to help her while at the computer too.  I still need to fix the small leak I talked about last time, on my to do list for next week.  Six weeks today and we are back on the road ourselves.

Tillamook Oregon, must be Tillabars Time

We ended up staying at Stan Hedwall Park for 3 nights, and drove over to Tillamook today (Monday).  It was a nice drive with a short stop for gas at Fred Meyers in Longview.  We had not driven this route, US 30 to Cornelius Pass Road to 26 and then to 6 before.  Only Cornelius Pass Road was narrow...the rest of the roads were just fine.  Stan Hedwall Park is not bad at all for $15 per night, water, electric, dump station.  Not far off I-5, and the trains that run near can be heard, but no whistles, and the sound is heavily muted by the trees and brush between the park and the tracks.  Yes, we heard trains...no, they did not wake us or bother us at all.

Of course, if in Tillamook, a visit to the cheese factory to pick up some Tillabars is in order.  Marcia was a bit tired, so she sent me over, and I came back with some cheese, and five boxes of Tillabars.  Showed her this yummy Raspberry Truffle box and told her I got five boxes of them.  Of course, she and my sister Sandy want Lemon ones...but send a man to do a job, and you get what you get.

Well, just because I am a man does not mean I have stupid written across my forehead!  Only one box was Raspberry, the other four are Lemon.  

Karen and Tony were also in the Tillamook area, and knowing that we were headed that way, Karen contacted me and they too stayed at the Port of Tillamook RV Park, also called the Tillamook Airport RV Park.  For $15 you get nothing other than peace and quiet and place to put your RV...although if you need water, they a few spouts in the park to fill up from.  We all went out to dinner to the Pelican Brewery & Tap Room which was a place that they can park their RV at since they travel solely in their RV, which accommodates Karen's need to be in a wheelchair.  This is their third wheelchair accommodated RV, and I think they like this one the best.  They have been fulltiming since 1993, and in October of that same year she had a freak accident at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival which left her paralyzed from the waist down.  That did not stop them from their dream to travel though.  Karen has assembled one of the best collection of RV travel related and also wheelchair related maps and resources than anything I have seen on the Internet.  Give them a visit at their website, Rolling in a RV - Wheelchair Traveling.   Nice seeing you again Karen and Tony...until our paths cross again...

Dinner with Karen (blogger) and Tony (gamer)

One would think that if you finally met someone, have a four hour dinner with them, that you would remember to get pictures of the event.  One would think…but we enjoyed our meeting with Karen and Tony of Rolling in a RV – Wheelchair Traveling so much that taking pictures was the last thing on my mind until we were pulling out of the parking lot.

Karen and Tony have been full-time RVing since 1993…that’s the year I became the director of the Public Library in Arkansas.  I retired after 23 years of working in the same Public Library System, and that span just about covers how long they have been traveling and living on the road. 

This picture is one I grabbed off their website.  What it does not show is that Karen is sitting in a wheelchair.  Back in 1993, while working the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque…her feet got tangled in a line while a balloon was landing, a gust of wind jerked the balloon up and changed her life, and Tony’s, forever.  (She tells it better on her website)  However, this setback did not stop them from doing that which they wanted to do, so they got a wheelchair friendly motorhome and continued their journey.  They are now on their fourth motorhome, third one which has been wheelchair friendly.

We met at Brookfields Restaurant in Roseville, each of us arriving right around 3:35, and by 3:45 we were sitting down amid introductions and general talk.  The waitress got our drinks and then noticed that we had not even touched the menus ... for a good hour.  In fact, at 5 pm we were handed off to another waitress, and when I said that I thought we were ready to order, it still took a few minutes for everyone to know just what the wanted.  It was just one of those moments in life when you meet someone, and the talk and the fellowship just instantly starts ... four hours later we are excusing ourselves not because we wanted to leave, but because our puppies were being doggiesitted by Sandy and Arny and they normally call it a night by 8.  (Thank goodness this was one of their 8:30 nights so we did not lose our spot on the RV pad.)   

Karen, the blogger of the two, has a great set of resources on her website, including her  “Interactive Maps!“ which shows interesting places to visit state by state (Museums, National and State Parks, etc.) and "More Maps"  which are a collection of maps that others have made, or she has made, which show places to stay, places to clear your sewer tanks, yearly festivals, etc.).  Although her website is designed to assist the mobility disadvantaged, her maps are good for everyone who is interested in visiting places in the United States and Canada.  Typically her blog postings are short and concise with just a few pictures.  If you have not seen her blog before, you really need to check it out.

Tony and Marcia have two things very in common....he is Italian and she is Greek, and as stories were being told one or the other could be heard something about how some member of their family use to say that too, or were just like that also.  The other thing is that they both like to play computer games in their spare time...while Karen and I like to "blog".  It is never fun to say goodbye…but our goodbyes were “we will see you again”, and perhaps that might be later this year as they are headed, ever so slowly, to Washington to visit their daughter…while our route takes us right through Washington and into Canada. If not then, I am sure it will be another time somewhere along the road.