2018 Wine Tastings

During our travels, we pick up bottles of wine, not only in the grocery stores in different states, choosing the local brands that sound good, but also during our wine tasting excursions, as we taste them we will share our findings.

Cherry Moscato

Oliver Winery & Vineyards

Bloomington, Indiana

This was a bottle we picked up at a local grocery store while in the Midwest area that sounded delightful and it was. Montmorency cherries, which is a tart cherry balanced by sweet tropical Moscato with a spritz finish. This is on our list to purchase again.

Sweet White Expression

White Pine Winery

Fennville, Michigan

This was the 3^rd and last tasting room in St. Joseph that we visited and had a hard time finding a good choice for us, most were not sweet and we felt rushed by the server, he was not very friendly. This has a peach, mango taste, with a Riesling flavor, a bit on the dry side. Because it’s so dry, we would not purchase this one again.

Pink Tutu / Sweet Rose

Lazy Ballerina Winery

Fennville, Michigan

Tasted this one as well while visiting their tasting room in St. Joseph and after tasting this one, we knew we wanted a bottle to take home. Mixture of sweet red and white grapes that will keep you dancing, hence the name. The next time we are in the area, we will stop at the winery and pick up more of this deliciously sweet wine.

2017 Lake Michigan Shore Traminette

Baroda Founders Wine Cellars

Baroda, Michigan

We picked this one up at a local grocery store while in the area and we love the light taste. Not sweet but definitely not dry, just perfectly blended as one of our favorites that we will purchase again whenever we find it. It is a hybrid of the Gewürztraminer wine which is one we have previously tasted and liked.

White Catawba

Lonz Winery

Sandusky, Ohio

Another local wine that is light, clear, crisp, and just a hint of sweetness, but no dryness at all. This will be on our list of favorites to purchase again.

  

Sweet Nita’s White

Lazy Ballerina Winery

Fennville, Michigan

We stopped at their tasting room in St. Joseph and after tasting this one, we knew we wanted a bottle to take home. Inspired by Grandma Nita’s “secret recipe” homemade white wine. It has a great aroma and the taste is perfectly sweet without being overpowering. The next time we are in the area, we will stop at the winery and pick up more of this delightful wine.

Pink Catawba

Ferrante Wine Farm

Geneva, Ohio

We went to their winery a few years ago and we loved this wine, so while in the area we picked up a bottle and we were not disappointed. Not too sweet, but definitely not dry, made only with the Catawba grape and has a great, light, crisp end.

Winter White Table Wine

Leelanau Cellars

Oneda, Michigan

The bottle was beautiful and the description was everything we like in a wine. There are no additional fruits added, just all grapes. It has a sweet beginning and an ending that is clear and crisp. This would be one of the wines we would purchase again, and when we get to Northern Michigan again, we will stop by their winery.

Raven's Glenn Winery - Sangria

Raven's Glenn - West Lafayette, Ohio

This was purchased because the bottle looked interesting, and it is so sweet, with a cranberry, plum taste. A very different fruity taste with elderberry extract, a 12% volume that kicked our butts, and is NOT on our list to purchase again.

Chalet Debonne Vineyards - White Catawba

Lake Erie Wine - Madison, Ohio

Clear, crisp and a fresh ending...definitely on our list to purchase again when we are in that area!

Oliver Winery & Vineyards – White Sangria

Bloomington, Indiana

Celebratory wine from our travels, sweet and spunky taste that we would definitely purchase again!

Tabor Hill Winery – Riesling

Lake Michigan Shore – Buchanan, Michigan

Rieslings are a different type of wine for us, there are times when many of them are sweet enough but many times they are not, this time it was somewhere in the middle. Fresh and clear tasting with a dryness at the end but not lingering. We would recommend it but we would probably not purchase it again since we do like the sweeter Rieslings.

Our Final Blog

It’s that time of the year when we complete the one year and move onto the new one with high hopes and anticipation knowing that this may be the year when we are finally able to do the things we love and not settle for less than we deserve.

We are still in Yuma, but we changed resorts on Christmas Eve and will be here through the New Year. It’s that game we play with our memberships, only two weeks at a time, then having to be out for seven. It saves us tons of cash, so we have learned to play the game well between two different memberships.

Jerry wants to thank you all for the birthday wishes, he now knows what it feels like to be in his 60’s as I do, and we will both be collecting retirement in 2019, finally having a safety net, that will be awesome.

We have had Amazon Prime for many years but have not taken advantage of all it offers. We use it mainly for the two-day free shipping, but also occasionally get free books and music, but besides those options we don’t use it. We decided that would change this year since our renewal was due last week. We researched all it has to offer and decided if we were going to renew it, we would use it more. Once we figured out how to pipe it through our TV which wasn’t as hard as we thought it would be, it has been a week of movie binging. Mostly comedies and action films, we don’t do gory and for love stories, well once we start to cry at this time of the year there would be no stopping the geysers. It’s been hard enough with some of the comedies having meaning or life lessons that make us tear up, we don’t want to take the chance of opening that Pandora’s box.

We are absolutely bored and finding work has been really challenging, not only for now but also for the summer. We think we have it all figured out and then the rug gets pulled out, right from underneath our feet. So typical for this time of the year, but we will stand tall and push through to the other, much better side. We are just so grateful that we have one another to pull each other out of sinking into that deep dark hole of despair that we usually fall into at this time of the year. The good news is there are only a few days left, then 2018 holidays will be over, and we will ring in the fabulous New Year. Our plan is to celebrate from our east coast TV station feed, since making it to midnight on the west coast where we are is doubtful for us. As usual it will be Jerry, myself and a bottle of champagne, already chilling…just the way we like it.

2018 was a decent year, no drama and not too much crap being thrown at us. It didn’t always go according to our plans, but we made the best out of what was given to us. We met some wonderful people, kept in touch with many old friends and had some incredible adventures. Our journeys took us to new and exciting places and we even revisited some of our favorite places. As for 2019, we have hope, lots of hope that our dreams will materialize, and we will relax and enjoy the ride.

We wish you all a spectacular New Year…we hope you all have great experiences throughout the year, that all your prayers are answered, your wishes granted, and your hopes and dreams become your everyday reality. Happy New Year!

Still in Relaxation Mode

Heading out with Maggie, MayB and now Dolly is nice once again. We have been in Yuma for a few weeks and with 99% of the honey do’s complete, we are bored and need to find some work, so since we have been unsuccessful in finding anything else, we decided to work a few shows with Lt Blender. It may not pay much, but at least we will keep ourselves busy and have some income coming in.

They all traveled well and even though I-8 is a picturesque drive, many parts are extremely rough, weather was great with just a tad of wind…couldn’t ask for a better driving day. The only issue with Dolly were the straps, so we have replaced them. The ones that came with it had a few shred marks on them, but they are also a different type and were a pain in the butt, so we got the standard ones that will work out much better.

We have several offers for summer work, and at this time we are not sure which direction to go, but we will figure it out. We are leaning towards the Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota area, but we are still very open to all options.

We so wanted to do Spring Training in Surprise, Arizona for 6 weeks in February and March but life has a way of telling us NO. We knew we would not make a lot of money because even though we will be working full time, our rent is not included, and that area is pricey, if we could even get in somewhere. But it has been on our radar for many years and wanted to give it a try this year, but it just does not seem to be coming together. We have been hired but finding a place for those weeks are just not happening.

We are all decorated for Christmas and are now just patiently waiting for it all to be over with and begin a new year. There was a time this was our favorite time of the year, now it’s just a time we pray we get through without too much pain...

This time of the year is rough on us and we usually sink into our pity party, but we decided that this year we will pull up our big kid panties and stop the madness. Sure, there are things that make us sad, but there are also many things in our lives that we are so grateful for and need to hold on to those, instead of sinking into that dark hole of despair just because we do not have certain things. We are choosing to dwell on all the great things in our lives and STOP exhausting ourselves with the things we do not have.

We are so grateful for one another, not everyone gets that chance to marry their best friend and live happily ever after as we are…We are so grateful for our health, sure the years have added aches and pains but no major illnesses or broken things as many others have to deal with…We are so grateful for the ability to live this lifestyle with a beast like Maggie, that keeps on moving through all the miles we travel and for never leaving us stranded on the roadside. She is our home, our safe haven, and the best traveling companion anybody could ever have, she gets the job done.

Now those are just the major things we are grateful for, then there are thousands of little things every moment that we smile and are thankful for too. Life is grand, and we are grateful that we have been blessed with smiles, laughter, love, allowing us to live this life that is full. Thank you…Thank you…Thank you!

How Do We Learn To Relax?

We are truly trying but it is so very hard to just relax…

We still have a list of things to do and in all honesty, it all could be done in one day, but we need to stretch it out, so we do not get extremely bored. We love the hustle and bustle of living our lives to the fullest but there comes a time where we need to just reflect on it all and enjoy the moment. Something which has always been a difficult thing for us to do, but we are learning. We are learning to live in the moment and not fret about the future because as we have learned so many times that the future will take care of itself, if we allow it to do so.

Our goals have been to work on our honey do’s and to enjoy the moment we are in and not try to force anything. WE CAN DO THIS!

On our honey do list we had to get to the bottom of Maggie’s leaks. The front overhead has been bad and causing mold, but while in storage that area got SOAKED, so we proceeded to pull all the old caulking off and redo with repair tape and roofing sealant for leaks. In a few weeks once we are sure this is stopping the leak, we will once again fix the inside of the upper cab since at this time it is damp and soft.

Another item was our shower, last year we found cracks in our shower pan, so we patched with Flex Seal and it worked great, but we decided to do the entire pan this year and it should be perfect now. Replacing the pan might have been the way to go, but we had looked everywhere for our dimensions and there were none around, so we chose the lesser evil.

 We are also in clean out mode, all that stuff that we thought we needed or might need someday is going to the trash, well on the side of the trash and before we even walk away, it is gone!

Now here is a question, how on earth did we live without this gadget for all these years? It is perfect for the trash, especially while cooking, it stays open so we can dump without fidgeting for the opening, and fills up without falling out the sides and when its full we just remove and tie it up...amazing gadget!

FINALLY, our chairs arrived, and they are perfect, just the right size and so comfortable. The last few choices of ours did not feel so good, hard cushions or just uncomfortable, but we almost didn’t get these to arrive on time. It had been scheduled for Friday from the beginning, so we waited patiently…NOT…but we did wait and around 3pm while we were tracking the packages, the notice changed from Friday to possibly Monday delivery. That was NOT going to work since we are leaving here on Monday. I called FEDEX and we finally got them to deliver them on Saturday and they are all we expected them to be…thank goodness.

Patience is NOT either one of our best qualities and the more we try to RELAX, the worse it gets. We don’t think we ever would or could retire completely, we enjoy getting out amongst people and keeping active. But at the same time, we are not those people that participate in the resort activities. We like working, a reason to be there and to make some money. We are in hot pursuit of some sort of work once again that will keep us traveling and enjoying the lifestyle we love, we might also settle in again if the place is right, but for now we are just chilling!

We Welcome Dolly to Our Family…

What the heck is wrong with us?

No kids…no pets…so instead we name our things.

Maggie (our motorhome)
MayB (our tow vehicle and since she is our second one and our first was named May, we added the B, next will be MayC)
Dude (our GPS)
Dudette (our new 2^nd GPS)
And now let us introduce Dolly...

It is brand new, only used once by a couple who one wanted to adventure out into this wonderful lifestyle but the other needed her nest so they are selling it all. It has all the bells and whistles and in perfect shape and we only paid $1,300, definitely worth waiting for and just allowing time to take care of itself.