Kite Building Retreat

Feb 14 - 17,  2025

One of the reasons we chose to stay with Mike and Cathy in February is the Maryland Kite Society's kite building retreat weekend. Harold used to attend this faithfully when we had a house in Virginia. 

I helped Cathy with the bag raffle. Each year the retreat offers a bag raffle and a loud auction to raise funds for future events. It can be a great time to stock up on kite-related stuff.

No new kites for Harold though. Our Jeep rooftop case is full. Harold enjoyed catching up with people and spent some time repairing sewing machines. 

Something to see out the window

Harold talking about kites with my cousin and her family

Everyone at work

Presentation on kite building

Laying out the design

Auction item assembly

Bag raffle area

Over, under, over, under

End product

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Chateaux du Mosman

 January 30 - March 2, 2025

When Mike was designing his new house, he told us he was putting in an RV pad. He asked questions about dimensions and what was needed to put in full hook ups. The finished spot is amazing.  We were truly humbled by their willingness to be a landing spot for us. 

We met Mike and Cathy through kiting. Harold and Mike both enjoy making kites and have had many discussions over the best way to build kites. The new hobby room allows them ample space.

Cathy shares the hobby room. She sews and is very accomplished. After admiring her purse, she commented that she makes her own. A light bulb went on. Though I had replaced my Cadillac Ranch spray-painted purse, the replacement purse was proving a bit too small. Cathy graciously used her talents to make me a new purse, customizing pockets and letting me select my own fabric colors. I love it!

Harold in a real kitchen

Unpacking the new tv

Chateaux du Mosman 

Cathy in her element

Hobby room

My new purse

Made especially for me!

Mike building a new kite

How many trees?

Glad we were parked and cozy

The trail of raisins 

Not all work...

Examining a drone before getting some footage

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Family time

  January 25- 30, 2025

We so enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with family. My dad took us up to the woodland where they were building a storage shed. They're getting quite the camp set up with picnic area and a number of hammocks. 

We also visited my Aunt Ella, enjoying a game of Qwirkle and some yummy apple cake. She had made a snow scene. You use bluing and the "snow" forms overnight. Her snow scenes are always a delight to see. 

The shed is almost done

Stonewall camp

Sewing machine tractor

The snow scene

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Brr...It's Cold

Jan. 18 - 30, 2025

We spent a weekend in Nashville, catching up with Bill and Bitsy, who live nearby, and Neal and Ginger.  Neal and Ginger are New Aire buddies we met at Panther Creek State Park a couple of years ago. They have a '22 New Aire. 

Neal was leading the seminars at the Nashville RV Show. So naturally we attended the show one day and took in a seminar. It was rather cold that day. We were thankful much of the show was indoors. 

We left Nashville with intentions to overnight near Bristol and then continue to Harrisonburg. Well, the freezing weather and several inches of snow changed that. We moved from Bristol to Wytheville and stayed four nights at the KOA, waiting out the single digit temperatures in forlorn hopes that the snow would have an opportunity to melt. 

Our water hose showed its age while we were in Wytheville. The single digit temperatures probably didn't help either. Time to order a replacement. We do have the heated hose. We just hadn't dragged it out since the original intention was an overnight only. That's the second water-related hose to wear out on us within a month. We'll have more on that first repair in a future article. 

That weather delay turned into an unexpected blessing. Mark and Amy, neighbors of my dad, offered the use of their FHU RV pad. Yeah! Mark and Amy had donated their fifth wheel to the western NC flood relief effort, and their pad was currently empty. They're a generous couple to say the least. We did leave the area a day or two earlier than we originally planned. The forecast was calling for rain. We didn't want to repay their kindness by leaving deep ruts in their yard!

Neal's seminar

New Aire buddies

Frost on the inside

Single digits outside...still pretty warm inside

Time for a new water hose

Time to dump and rinse tanks

Frozen slideout topper cover

Hmm...warm tires spinning and plastic blocks

Moochdocking

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Riverfront in the City

January 14 - 16, 2025

In somewhat of a departure for us, we opted to camp in a city. North Little Rock runs a campground that offers pull-through sites and pull-in waterfront sites. Downtown Riverside RV Park is on the banks of the Arkansas River. There's a pedestrian bridge that takes you across the river to the William J Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, several riverfront parks, plenty of places to dine, and the Arkansas River Trail. We agreed that we could easily spend a week here to see things and incorporate a little down time. However, we also agreed that we would not want to be here during a peak season. The campsites are very close together, and the waterfront view that we had from our rv would be partially blocked if we had had a neighbor on either side of us. Overall, we were pleasantly surprised and who knows, we may opt for another, longer, visit. 

Waterfront view and Clinton Pedestrian Bridge

View from Clinton Bridge

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Junction Bridge and the little rock

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