RV travel

Revisiting a great restaurant

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After we get our vaccines we are so looking forward to getting back on the road and actually sitting down for a meal inside a restaurant! Here’s a revisit to a place we visited  back in 2018.

Hamburger Inn Diner an integral part of Delaware, Ohio

The Hamburger Inn Diner is on the main drag in the central Ohio city of Delaware. Our family enjoyed lunch there last weekend. (Read our post here) I was fortunate to meet and have a conversation with Bill Michailidas, the owner.

Bill shared how the Hamburger Inn Diner is really a focal point in the community. The generous serving of Thanksgiving dinner to nearly a thousand folks is a shining example of the good this Diner shares. Besides, it has been serving the people of Delaware great food since 1932.

Since 1947 the diner has become the place for local citizens to gather and share coffee and conversations. Oh, the wisdom that has been shared in the gatherings for the past seven decades.

The diner is open 24 hours on the weekend. As you can imagine, the diner is full of law enforcement, fire and EMS personnel . Workers from all shifts can find a time to eat, and local college students can enjoy great food and a safe place to study after hours.

Delaware, Ohio is fortunate to have the Hamburger Inn Diner. Be sure to stop in when you are in Delaware.

Jester King Brewery in the Hill Country of Texas

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This time last year we were staying at an RV Resort near Lake Travis west of Austin. The first rumblings were beginning to be heard about some kind of new virus that was killing people in China, and it had already shown up in the Seattle area in the US. We were still enjoying our winter in Texas, appreciating the tag “Winter Texans” instead of “snow birds”.

Brew tasting at Jester King Brewery

One activity that we enjoyed while in Texas last winter was visiting wineries, breweries and distilleries. One brewery we liked was the Jester King Brewery. This is a brewery, restaurant, farm and event center. Even though it has an Austin address, the establishment is closer to Dripping Springs, in the Hill Country. We sampled some brews and bought a couple of take out growlers. This is a nice facility, worth a stop if you’re in the area. This is the Jester King website.

Thrilling orca whale watch

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Orcas!

One adventure that we hope to repeat is another whale watching trip out of Bellingham, Washington. A few years ago we were blessed with the opportunity to take a day cruise around the San Juan Islands in the Salish Sea north of Seattle. So many wildlife sightings of both sea animal and birds happened. The highlight of course was the sighting of a pod of orca killer whales, part of which is seen in the above photo we took. Note it shows an adult and a juvenile.

Hot dang we got our appointments

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The local noon news announced that Indiana health officials today dropped the age for seniors to be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine from 70 to 65. We immediately got online to the State Health Department website and started the registration process. Within about 45 minutes Sher and I both had confirmed appointments back to back two weeks from today, on February 15th at our local Health Department Office.

Won’t be too long before we’ll be able to be back in the rig on the road again.

We’ve been really stewing over when we would be able to get the vaccine. We’ve even looked for states where we might be able to get the vaccine without having residency in that state. Fortunately we can stop that search now. What we have now is the chance to let loose with a sigh of relief and have a timeline in sight for future travel plans.

What to do and so many choices

/ Roadtirementvintage / 57 Comments

What to do and so many choices.  That is the situation we are in.  We sold our spacious 4 bedroom home with an in-ground swimming pool 5 years ago.  Our kids were all grown and college educated and we were ready for a big change.  So we sold our house and bought an RV to travel the country.  And that is what we did for 5 wonderful, exciting years.  Then coronavirus struck and shut down the US.  Being of the 65+ older population, yes we are “baby boomers”…we decided to play it safe and stay in our small 2 bedroom house in Indiana.  Plus, we have our youngest son, who is unmarried and takes care of the house while we are gone, that would be able to help us.  You know, grocery shopping, picking up our meds and etc.

Then we fast forward, or slowly forward to today.  Should we continue our adventures or should we acknowledge we are getting older and stay put?  It’s a big decision for us.  Our kids live in Washington state, Texas, Ohio and Indiana, we’ve always had fun visiting them while we travel.  We are pretty healthy and able to get around and take care of ourselves.  We’ve spent a winter in Harlingen, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley which we loved.  We were enjoying wintering in the Hill Country west of Austin when the virus hit the US and then we got coronavirsed in after retuning to Indiana.  We were going to spend this winter’s months in the southern part of Texas and visit our Texas family while there.

So, maybe writing it down has helped me see things clearer and I’m questioning why I’m even thinking of giving up our adventurous traveling lifestyle. We just wish we could get our COVID-19 vaccines sooner than later.

A goose on the lake

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If you have been following Roadtirement, you know we have been getting out of the house and going to some RV parks to get away from our COVID-19 “isolation”. We went back to the Thousand Trails Indian Lakes campground in Batesville.

Calm lake view

This park has great paved roads for bicycle riding, and there are no large hills that are hard to climb. The pretty scenery also is nice for walks. It is nice to get away in our motorhome and to know that we are in a safe environment. Having our own self contained “house on wheels” means we do not have to use public facilities at all.

It has been reported that RV sales are booming as many have discovered the having your own facilities is safest during the coronavirus pandemic. We talked (at a safe distance of course) to a fellow who had just bought an new motorhome so he and his wife could travel safely. They were on their first time out with their new rig.

Stay safe as you start to get back out, friends, stay safe!

Wild looking critter

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I had just got back from my morning walk and was sitting outside at the table enjoying a cup of coffee when I noticed something on Sher’s bike.


I have never seen a caterpillar quite like this one before. Not sure why it liked the soft plastic handlebar grips on the bike.

We are back on the road again enjoying a few days at this very nice park that is part of the Thousand Trails system. The weather is just delightful today. It was cool this morning and the temps now at mid day are in the low 70s. It is so nice that the heat has finally broken and there is a hint of fall in the air.

Two hawks on today’s walk

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I had just started on my morning walk today when some movement in the sky caught my attention.

I expected to see turkey vultures but much to my delight there were two hawks enjoying flying together, circling and enjoying each other’s company. The photo is not the best, but I guess reasonable for an iPhone shot of hawks at least 100 yards up. Spotting birds of prey always make my day!