The RV with a name!

Kevin from Mo's Graphics came by today with the new name for the RV...we named her Esprit....in French....Esprit means "free spirit." I think that sums it up for Pierre and I...we are real free spirits!
We also became grandparents again for the fourth time...but that does not change how special it is and how excited we are to see our new grandson Kai Orion Nauman. What a beautiful name~right. I am so proud of our daughter and our son in law..... they did good!

Selfie with Kai

What a sweet face!

waiting...post grip

Life continues to throw you curve balls doesn't it? I never thought i would still be here in Panama City this late in the year. Here it is July and we are waiting for the wee grandsons appearance...we had planned to be out of here seeing the country side.. by now, but the news that we are going to be grandparents again kinda stopped us from leaving and the fact that I get to see the birth of this one keeps me here

barn door 

After all the DIY. on the house....it is done now, well...as done as I am going to do!

the new light fixture for thee kitchen

vessel sink

new floor and rug

more pictures from Atlanta

kangaroo

panda cubs (twins)

whale shark

beluga whales

cuttle fish

Shakedown Cruise

We had to take care of some business in Atlanta so we decided to go ahead and take Esprit and make a long weekend of it! We left Panama City around 9:30 am and did not arrive in Atlanta till 5:30pm...traveling in Esprit does take a bit more time so I am going to take that into consideration! We did run into bumper to bumper traffic 34 miles out side of Atlanta..Nuts?? right? I am going to have to get used to seeing more people and cars. We stayed at a campground about 20 miles south of Atlanta and there is so many people it boggles the mind...mine at least!
 There is so much history in Atlanta it dates back to 1836, when Georgia decided to build a railroad to the U.S. Midway and a location was chosen to be the line's terminus. The stake marking the terminus was driven into the ground in 1837, it was called the Zero Mile Post. In 1839 homes and a store were built there and the settlement grew. Between 1845 and 1854 rail lines arrived from four different directions and the rapidly growing town quickly became a rail hub for the entire Southern United States. During the American Civil War, Atlanta, as a distribution hub, became the target of a major Union campaign and in 1864 Union General Sherman's troops set fire to the city's assets and buildings, saving only the hospitals and churches. After the war the population grew rapidly as did manufacturing, Coca-Cola started in Atlanta in 1886 and grew into a world empire! When the Great Depression hit and it was the Coca-Cola Company that bailed Atlanta out of its deficit.
The Coca-Cola Factory is one of the main tourist attractions along with the Zoo, the Aquarium and the Botanical Gardens. went to all of these attractions, save the Coca-cola factory...we ran out of time.
All and all we had a good time and I am getting excited about getting on the road with Espirt, she did not let us down!

elephants at the zoo

Garden Speech

Lettuce all be kind
Squash gossip and bad talk
Turnip to help your friends
Because that Beets everything
Thought that little poem was cute!

We have been remodeling the house on Center Ave and I have come up with a new saying!
FYI I do not like DIY!
Really this house remodeling is for the Property Brothers!
We gutted the bathroom, pulled up all the carpet in the bedroom, tore out the wall that separated the dining room from the living room, repainted and laid down bamboo flooring. It looks so nice!
We had a crew come out and they tore down the carport and laid down a new concrete pad for Espirit.

harold with Harold

She is now home with us and it is a lot easier to work on her when she is right here.We did take off for a long weekend and we went to St. Joe for one night to visit Danny and Harold Raffield at Raffield Fisheries...we walked along the beach. We then moved on down the street to Carrabelle to visit more friends! It was so nice to get out for a while and Espirit did wonderful! we are planning leaving in the Fall for a trip up the East coast then on to Kansas to visit family! We had to get a new computer and we bought a Dell laptop...the only problem is i do not know how to use a PC, but I am learning...

New Land Yacht "ESPRIT"

So how do committed boat people end up owning an RV?
Easy?
Well…not so....When we headed off in Adagio..we kissed our peeps goodby..telling them we were off to sail the seven seas...after a time we returned triumphant..but after all the work and time and effort we put into Adagio last year, Pierre confessed to me that he was tired of working on a boat all the time and he wanted to see more of the U.S.A.
He has worked on ships for 30+years and has been around the world 6 times, seen lots and lots of the world by sea.
So we are starting a new adventure, I for one have never seen the Stature of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, The Redwoods, Yellowstone National Park, the list just goes on and on…I do want to see all these things, I want to fish in for salmon in Alaska, dig for clams and eat lobster in Maine, go to Canada, the more I think about it and the more I read, the list just keeps getting longer and longer!!
We figured we should catch up on the land bucket list for awhile before we buy another boat.
 Planes, trains and automobiles, not to mention hotels, motels, and restaurants would bankrupt us in a very short time before we even began to see some of this great land of ours, so what happened??
an RV…. thats what! We can take our time, hit the hot spots and we have our bed, head and galley with us everyday!!
A land Yacht!
It was not our original plan to buy and RV, but how many of you know how original plans don't always work out? Can I get some hands?? (I see that hand)
Now I did a bit of research, and those of you that know me know how much I love to make plans and research things and we needed a lot of research because we know nothing about buying and RV or the RV lifestyle. I started out by casually "browsing" our local online classified sources, Craigslist, RV trader and local papers…and sure enough, in time, I found the perfect one for us…it was hiding in Seale Alabama…of all places….Who Knew???
We are now the proud owners of a Holiday Rambler Imperial, she is 38ft long and powered by a Cummins 350 Diesel engine with a Allison 6 speed transmission.
We are only the second owners. She's a beauty!
I named her Esprit, in French that means "Free Spirit"
after all.. that is what we are!
I am going to share all the fun we have and all the surprises, mistakes, the whole sha-bang!

Espirit

Drum roll please

Our new adventure started out with bang...but with a bit more research..went out with a fizzz
I had planned a trip to New Zealand, then on to Australia via a container ship or break bulk, that would have knocked two things off my bucket list..cross the Pacific on a boat and go to Australia, after contacting a few shipping company's I found out just how expensive that mode of travel is, they charge you three times more than it cost to fly and twice as much as a cruise ship! on top of all that I found out we are going to be grandparents again and that took the wind out of my sails..quite literally...
So we are going to hang here for awhile....but my feet are already itching!
We have been looking at RVs
A land Yacht!
There is quite alot to see here in the US!
The possibility's are endless!!