Rambling Road
Personal reflections, behind-the-scenes stories, and posts that don’t fit into a specific category. This is where the journey behind the journey is shared.
-
Latitude Margaritaville Model Homes: Inspiration and Possibilities
One favorite way to pass the time at Latitude Margaritaville Hilton Head —something Alan introduced us to—is visiting the model homes in the model home park. On our first visit to one of the most popular 55 and better communities in South Carolina in October 2023, it sparked our initial thoughts about the possibility of moving. While that wasn’t in the cards for us at the time, we were motivated to make a few modifications to our central Indiana home, including upgrading the kitchen and bath flooring to tile. By March 2024, we did decide to sell our home and move to southern Indiana near Louisville—more on that in a…
-
Living the Good Life at Margaritaville: Food, Friends, and Everyday Moments
When we arrived at Latitude Margaritaville, it was already dinner time. With the Bar & Chill right on site—both convenient and reasonably priced—it was the perfect choice. It gave us a chance to relax after the drive while still getting started on unpacking, which we finished the next day. We ended up dining at Bar & Chill many times throughout our month-long stay, but we balanced it with local restaurants, home-cooked meals, and plenty of dinner and game nights. During our remote work trips, we’ve found a rhythm that works well—enjoying new places while still keeping an eye on the budget. For Pat’s birthday, we headed to The Crazy Crab…
-
How Route 66 Brought Us Together
Our story actually began because of the Mother Road. Years before we met, both of us had independently fallen in love with the history, nostalgia, and adventure of Route 66. Through the Route 66 community and a mutual friend, our paths eventually crossed, leading to a first date on the Mother Road in Illinois. That shared passion ultimately brought us together and led to our 2002 honeymoon along the very highway that started it all. Pat’s Route 66 Journey In the early 1990s, Pat was living in Indianapolis, Indiana when he came across an article about Route 66 in the Indianapolis Star. The story sparked his fascination with the…
-
I’ve Been Everywhere…well, not yet, but working on it!
Of course, I haven’t been everywhere, and it would be impossible to literally go everywhere in your lifetime. But let’s narrow “everywhere” down to those places listed in the Johnny Cash song, “I’ve Been Everywhere.” I love that song, and it’s fun to play on road trips! [youtube=https://youtu.be/ov4epAJRPMw] “I’ve Been Everywhere” was originally written by Geoff Mack about Australian towns, and was later adapted by him for release in North America, by changing the locations to those in the United States and Canada, with some exceptions in Central and South America (Tocopilla, Chile; Costa Rica; Argentina; Barranquilla and Padilla, Colombia; Salvador and Diamantina, Brazil). As I listened to the song…
-
A drive like we took back in the day….
I’ve really been been itching for a road trip! For the past couple of months, we hadn’t been able to go on many road trips because we’re providing some necessary care and maintenance to our house, which has been neglected for just a little bit too long…due to so many spontaneous road trips and camping trips! So now, we have to be responsible homeowners! But regardless, I’m still itching for a road trip. LOL But, as I posted recently, our vacation has been moved up from September to July, so now I can really anticipate an upcoming road trip! But about two weeks ago, before this latest change in plans,…
-
Time to come out of hibernation!
Road Trip Memories isn’t dead, we’ve just been hibernating! It’s been such a harsh winter, we haven’t really had an opportunity to take any road trips or camping trips (we do like to camp and hike in the winter too)! We hope to get out and about this year. We’ve selected got our annual vacation destination – we’re heading west to South Dakota, which I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. After Dances with Wolves came out, I really wanted to visit the Badlands, and had a trip planned and booked. Unfortunately, the Great Flood of 1993 put the kibosh on that trip. So this year, it’s time to…
-
My Gadgets: Past and Present
Most ladies’ shopping addiction is to clothes, jewelry, etc. My addiction is to buying computer stuff, gadgets, electronics, etc. Here’s the lineup of my gadgets, past and present… GPS / Mapping / Travel DeLorme Earthmate BT-20 The first GPS unit I had was actually one I used with my Palm TX (see below). The DeLorme Earthmate BT-20 is a Bluetooth GPS unit that works on any device with Bluetooth capability. My Palm TX had Bluetooth and was capable of running the mobile version of DeLorme Street Atlas. The device worked well in receiving a good GPS signal fast. It would follow the map and show one’s position with speed and…
-
Season’s Greetings, Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas!
Here’s hoping Santa brought you plenty of new camping gear for 2012, and maybe even a new trailer for those of you who’ve been extra nice! Photo courtesy Kerola’s Camper Store
-
A Little Scotty Then & Now…
Since picking up our Serro Scotty HiLander a week ago, we’ve found out the prevailing question we can anticipate in the future: Is that new or restored? We encountered that question twice while camping in Batesville, Indiana Sunday. That’s a fair question to ask from those who remember Scotties from the trailer’s hey-day in the mid-late 1960’s. The HiLander model was introduced in 1964 and was manufactured until the late 1970’s. Little changed in the design, and with the popularity of them during those years, there was little need to fix what wasn’t broken. John Serro strived to build a line of small but roomy, lightweight trailers that were affordable.…
-
My Favorite Road Trip, Vacation, and Travel Movies
When I can’t take a road trip, there’s always my favorite road trip, vacation, and travel movies! You will see that I also included many movies in this list that are not road trip or travel movies, per se. They are on the list because there is either traveling involved, they give you a sense of really being in the place they are depicting, might make you want to visit there, or have great scenes, and for a couple of hours, transport you to another place. In no particular order, here’s my list: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Cannonball Run Duel Convoy The Long, Long, Trailer Rain Man…