M-72 West Self Storage & U-HAUL

Teddy's sister Deborah and her husband, Dr. Fred Lawrence, in addition to their medical clinic also own and operate this self storage facility. They have hired Teddy to help with the annual blacktop sealing on the roads around the buildings.
Here are the three of them hard at work laying down the sealer. Over the last couple of weeks they have already put in about 20 hours of work and are only about half done.
L to R: Teddy, Deb, Fred

Settling in!

We have been busy settling into our new Cardinal...putting up shelves, adding cup hooks, hanging pictures, wiring electronics, etc.
Here are some interior shots of our new home.

Looking toward the bedroom from the living room.
Looking toward the kitchen from the living room.
Looking toward the living room from the bedroom hall.

Larry turns 69

Although we had to cancel our planned week of camping at Calumet County Park on Lake Winnebago, we did have our traditional 4th of July picnic/outing there.





We arrived around noon. Greg & Sue, Dick & Jen, and Mike & Toni soon setup the lawn chairs & grills and started grilling.




I, of course just sat and watched because after all...it was my birthday.




Dick really impressed Mike with his monster burger.










As usual, some went on the hike up the ski hill. Here are Dick & Jen resting at the top.





While they were hiking, Greg tooled around the park on my Segway




Later in the afternoon, Wes joined us from Green Bay.












We reluctantly packed up and headed back to Appleton around 7 pm...all in all, it was a real good day.

New Bird

There’s a new bird in town! While we were waiting for the parts to repair our 5th Avenue trailer, Appleton Camping made us an offer that we could not refuse and we ended up trading it in for a brand new 2006 Cardinal model 34TS fifth wheel. We left Appleton on our first trip with our new home on Tuesday July 11 and headed for the Whispering Pines summer reunion in Xenia, Ohio. On the way we stopped for two nights in South Bend, Indiana and visited our friends Lee & Luella Chizum. They live only about 15 miles from Forest River Inc. where the Cardinal is made so on Wednesday afternoon we drove over for a factory tour. We had an over two hour personal tour with a factory rep. and were very impressed with the quality of construction.
Wednesday evening we visited with friends Huston & Carolyn Mitchell who also live in South Bend and then bright and early Thursday morning we continued on to the reunion in Xenia, Ohio. We love our new “bird” and, knock on wood, have had no problems

Cecropia Moth

While I was fueling up the truck one day last week, Teddy, as she often does, was out wandering in a nearby field and discovered this adult female Cecropia moth. They do not live long (about two weeks) because the adult cecropia cannot eat. The purpose of the adult stage is to mate and lay eggs. She wasn't very active and was probably near death, having already laid her eggs.
With a wingspan of 5 to 6 inches, the cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is the largest North American moth. It is a member of the family Saturniidae. Cecropia moths are referred to as silkworm moths.
Although these moths are common throughout North America, you don't often see them because they fly only at night. However, because a cecropia moth is colorful as well as large, when you do see one for the first time you will remember it forever!
Like most moths, they are attracted to bright lights. This is where most people encounter them for the first time.

Whazzsup...July 4th...etc.

We are now in Appleton, WI and parked behind the maintenance shop at The Appleton Camping Center on McCarthy Road while they do some needed repairs on our living room slide mechanism. Kudos to Tammy, Jason and Tim here at Appleton Camping, although we did not purchase our trailer here, the service here at Appleton Camping has been outstanding. It is refreshing to find an RV dealer that is not only interested in a sale but will also go out of their way to accommodate their customer’s service needs. They are having trouble getting the necessary parts to repair the slide but have supplied AC power to us and said that we can live in our unit right here on site until the repairs are done.
Starting Monday July 3rd we have reservations for a week at Calumet County Park on Lake Winnebago, site #6. However we might not make it as the slide repair takes precedence. But we will, of course, be there hosting our traditional 4th of July picnic on Tuesday, with or without our trailer…hope to see all of our friends and family there.