Gabbing with the Geeks #12

We do these little videos for our business site.  Just in case you don't subscribe to our Newsletter, or follow or Facebook page, we figured we'd post it here too. Visit with the Geeks in their new Motorhome, and hear about how we are now offering seminars anytime, anywhere, using Skype.




You can see all of the Gabbing with the Geeks on our website.

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Walk the Trails

We usually pay little or no attention to what day of the week it is, but, as fulltime RVers, it’s important to be parked for the big holiday weekends.  It’s the one time when we actually make reservations.  For the Memorial Day weekend, we’re at a Thousand Trails park just east of Cincinnati in Wilmington.  If I remember correctly, I think we were at a Thousand Trails park last Memorial Day as well.

Jim and I really like to go for a long morning walks.  We are a bit particular on the conditions however.  Not too hot, not too cold, not too wet, not too many bugs, a walking path that doesn’t cross roads, not too rocky, not too muddy, not too much concrete.  We like a path that curves around so we don’t have to retrace our steps, but it can’t be too small a circle – we don’t like to go around and around to get our mile or two done.  If you’re getting this picture – you know we don’t go for good walks too often!  But, we can usually count on our stays at Thousand Trails parks to satisfy our criteria, and walk we did!

Nice Trails for walking.

I really like seeing families at the parks on these big holiday weekends.  It’s just so nice to see parents and kids fishing, biking, playing volleyball.

We’re just having a relaxing time enjoying our wonderful new home!  And walking 1.5 – 2 miles every morning!  We know the exact distance because of Jim’s Droid App called RunKeeper.  We’re still trying to figure out why it’s named that?!

We also took advantage of BBQ chicken dinner at the clubhouse on Saturday night with live music afterward.  Oh, and they have a very nice hot tub/spa here too!

And there’s still been enough time to do some writing and video editing.

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Cincinnati

We're in Cincinnati, the home of FMCA headquarters.  We've had a change of plans for our summer - we're not going to Oregon for The Rally after all.  The numbers just don't add up.  So, we accepted an invitation to speak at the Heartland Rally in Goshen, Indiana.  And, it looks like we'll also be going to the NorthEast Area Rally (NEAR) for FMCA in Vermont.
We've been giving our computer seminars at the big FMCA RV Conventions since we started our journey in 2004 so, whenever we get the chance we like to stop in Cincinnati and check in with the wonderful folks here.  FMCA maintains a nice little RV park just for members.

We had a nice meeting at the headquarters yesterday with Chris Lusk who handles all the arrangements for seminars at the big conventions.  We went over our seminar plans for Madison this August.  We'll be teaching 8 different seminars, plus we've added a new hands-on class: Picasa Photo Editing Workshop.  That'll be fun.

For the first few years that we worked with FMCA, the seminar coordinator was Mary Ann Crowley.  She retired a couple years ago, but we have kept in touch.  It was a treat to get to see her yesterday and learn what she is up to.  She's busier than ever with volunteer work in her community.  Right now she's involved in a project called 'Bicycles in Bloom."  What fun!  We went around with her to see the different bicycles that have been placed.

Mary Ann taking a picture of one of the 'Bicycles in Bloom'

Jim helped Mary Ann make deliveries to other volunteers on the project.  What pretty homes we saw!

A Bicycle in Bloom in Milford, Ohio

Ohio isn't at all the northern, industrial landscape that I envision as a Floridian!  It is rolling hills, with rivers for kayaking, and trails for hiking, and beautiful little towns like Milford with story-book homes.

Thanks for the tour Mary Ann!

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Power Tools, Quiche and Cicadas

We were planning to leave the Marston’s driveway on Saturday, but I wanted to record some video for one of our ‘Gabbing with the Geeks’ and was enlisting Roxie’s help to run the camera.  That took us to about 11am.  We also needed to stop by a truck tire place on our way out of town to install some air fill extensions and get the tires properly filled.  Oooops, we called the place and they close at noon – no way we could get there and get it done in time.  And, they’re closed on Sunday.

So.we stay in the driveway for another couple days.  What a treat!  It was like I was just handed two days on a platter – two unexpected days.  Those things that we say “I just wish we had a little more time, then I’d ….”  Well, we now had that little more time!  I had wanted to get my closet organized but we hadn’t gotten around to it.  Now’s the time! Using a cool website for ClosetMaid, we feed in our closet’s dimensions and then drag and drop different combinations of shelving, hanging space and storage products to build your dream closet.  When you’re done, you can print out a shopping list.  It will show exactly what parts you need, including the various brackets, and cut lengths of shelving.

I think Jim was just happy to have a reason to use some of his power tools!  I’m thrilled to have shelves rather than piling boxes and clothes on top of each other.  A place for everything, and everything in its place!

Since we were here on Sunday and Roxie and Charles like to ‘do brunch’ on Sundays, I decided to make quiche.  Years ago, I was in a habit of hosting Sunday brunches all the time and my signature dish was quiche.  I surprised myself that I still remembered how!

We’re in Tennessee and it happens to be that special time every 13 years when the Cicadas come out, and boy do they make a racket! 

Nashville–The Music City

Jim here.

A couple of lifetimes ago, I was friends with members of a talented band called Transient.  Recently, I learned that one of those friends, Mick Rossi, was touring with Paul Simon promoting his latest “So Beautiful or So What” album.  I purchased tickets online and got in touch with Mick to see if we could get together for the Nashville concert.

He was all for it.  We reconnected and stay in touch now on Facebook.

Thursday was the day of the concert, so we went into Nashville early to do some sightseeing and eating.  All along  that stretch of Broadway there are places with good live music, adult beverages and food.  Tootsies is probably the most famous.  It is right across the alley from the Ryman Auditorium.

The Ryman is famous for being the home of the Grand Ole Opry until the Opry moved to it’s current newer, larger venue. 

The Ryman acoustics are said to be second only to the Mormon Tabernacle.  It is open to the public as a museum during the day, so we took the self-guided tour after lunch.

The crew were setting up the stage for the evening show.  Some of the band members came out to check instruments, and Mick came over to say hi.

What a treat to see him.  He hasn’t changed much even though he has attained great success with his music.  He has been playing with Jazz great Philip Glass for 11 years and has made numerous World Tours.

We made arrangements to meet after the concert and left to experience more sights and sounds and have some BBQ.

The Paul Simon concert was great.  He is such a talented songwriter and performer.  He is nearly 70, and has been performing since his teens.  A big reason for his success is that he is not afraid to embrace music from around the world.

Several local performers, including Don Everly of the Everly Brothers came on stage and performed during the encore.

After the show, we got together again with Mick  and met a couple other members of the band.  What a day and evening to remember!

Now we need to do another Gabbing With the Geeks and hit the road.  Next gig is in Goshen for Heartland.