Good Morning from Beautiful NW Tennessee!

[mitch5252]

Good Morning!

My name is Michelle and I live in northwest Tennessee with my sweetie pie of 37 years - George, and our little, 4 year-old Bichon, Abby. We moved here about 5 years ago from a lifetime in the far west Chicago suburbs. What a lifestyle difference! We got lucky and found a lovely house on 30 acres smack dab in the middle of nowhere...oh, the peace and quiet, especially at night - so unlike Chicago!

Anyway, I talked my better half into getting a trailer so we could travel about now that we were retired. And I could have that 'hobby' by myself when the time came. Let me explain - we are 21+ apart in age - he is almost 78 and I'm 56, and he's in the early stages of Alzheimer's. So, odds are someday, I will be doing this by myself. I hope that day is MANY, MANY years in the future!! We got our little 16' Fun Finder in August '07. Turns out - he's not nuts about camping (and to think in our younger days, we camped all the time in tents)!! He won't go camping just to go camping - he has to have a destination. His only 'big' trip was last fall - we trekked out to the Grand Canyon. I think I have him convinced to visit some friends in Florida this fall and tack on a stay at Smoky Mountain National Park. Time will tell.

Well, that's about it. I will find the time to read the posts here and ultimately, I hope to have something to contribute! I have a great sense of humor, so expect a little of that from me (but from the little I've read here - there's no shortage of humor around here...). If you're ever in NW Tennessee, feel free to stop by - we have 30A service and a spare septic field about 200 yards from the house. In the summer, there's the pool and two stocked ponds (catch 'n release only). And usually, on most summer days, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the late afternoon!!

I maintain a silly, little web site - http://www.georgeandmichelle.com - there's a couple of pages there detailing an All-Girl Trip to Montana and Canada last May (dubbed Westward Ho)! Boy, did we have fun - NO MEN to have to take care of, just ourselves. It was a couple of weeks of heaven, in spite of the horrible weather! And it's a pretty cute read (one of the girls wrote it, with a bit of collaboration with us other two...)

Thanks for having this site! I look forward to a bunch of good information and sharing and laughs!!

Regards,
Michelle
BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID.

[Liz]

Welcome Michelle! I'm glad you found us. There's a wealth of information and camaderie here...some good, some false, some silly, but plenty of it!

I am a widow (age60) and have been rving since my husband passed in '03. Like your situation, he was 18 years my senior, and although he didn't have alzheimers, he was somewhat disabled for his last five years due to an automobile accident and complications with diabetes. We had a wonderful 27 years of marriage, but I guess you'd call me a merry little widow now.

I look forward to reading about your trip west with just gals. We consider ourselves all sisters here, so just jump right in the conversation anytime.

[Bethers]

No time to read your website right now - but I will. Sounds so interesting. Meantime, welcome - and let that humor lose here, it's very welcome. Join in anywhere you find anything of interest - and feel free to start new posts on anything your heart desires. We are a chatty bunch.

I see you got the avatar part down- cute pic. We do love pictures, so share them whenever you'd like, also.

So nice to have you here.

[OutandAbout]

Hi Michelle, Welcome to the group. You made a great decision joining. We are a great bunch of women. There is a lot of humor here, as you will see when you read past posts. I'm looking forward to reading your blog. Linda

[WickedLady]

Happy St. Patty's Day and welcome aboard.

[Bethers]

Michelle,
I forgot to mention I'm originally from the Chicago suburbs also. Grew up in Des Plaines, then lived in several other west and northwest suburbs. Have also lived in MN and WI and spent a lot of time in IA. My current permanent address is northern AL - not far from the TN border. Sure is different, even if I don't spend much time there since I'm full-time in the rig.

Who knows, we might have passed each other somewhere in the midwest

[avalen]

Welcome Michelle, so glad you found us, this is a great place to make friends and
share stories. I do remember passing through TN as a kid (I was 10) and thought
it to be lovely and so neat with all the little rolling hills. Will have to go check out
your blog now. Oh, almost forgot, stop by the campfire anytime, its always a'blazin
and Barbzee's kitchen opens every weekday morning, she has coffee and biscotti
and many other goods as well. She's off on the weekends so one of us usually
does a good morning post.

[rvgrammy1953]

Hello, Mitchelle....Welcome....yep, we're a crazy bunch...jump in at anytime.....

[Sparkle]

an a top o the mornin tae you on St. Paddy's Day. Well its evening now, but what the hey! I lived in Elkton TN just over the border from Alabama when DH was still with me. Sold the house and bought an old RV and in no time at all I was fulltiming. You are so wise to be mentally ready for the future. So many women are at a complete loss because they never learned to do anything, I hope you have many more years together, but at this stage every day you get will be sweeter and appreciated.

[mitch5252]

Well, y'all (that's a phrase I picked up here in the south...it's not a Chicago thing!) sure know how to make a girl feel welcome! Thanks! I think this is probably going to be a GREAT forum to be a part of!!

Beth, which west 'burbs did you live in? I, too, lived for a short time in Des Plaines.

There seems to be quite a few here that are kinda close to my area. I hope you'll include me if you ever plan a get-together!! I'll bring the cocktails and appetizers!!!

Thanks again for being so welcoming...I hope to see you 'down the road' sometime.

Regards,
Michelle

[bluepinecones]

Another warm welcome to you. Think you will find this a very interesting/useful forum. I know I have found it to be so.
I'm in north AL, about 30 miles or so from TN. state line. Hope to have the opportunity to meet you one of these days.

[Orchid]

Welcome, Michelle! What a cute little trailer. I bet you have some fun times in it. Glad to have to aboard. Cheryl

[retiredhappy]

Welcome to the forum. You'll love it and the ladies here.

[Echo]

Hey Mitch!!!

Welcome to the Sistah-hood!!!!

Your gonna be busy for awhile if'n ya try to read all the posts we've done since the beginning. Whew!!!

Hope ya feel at home, we are a awesome bunch of women, even if I do say so myself.

We're nosy in the best possible ways. We have lots of shoulders to lend and ears too. Never ever feel like ya can't post something that might be on your mind and want a little extra outside advise. We do that for free!!!!!

We love pictures so of course we are all forward to more!

[BirdbyBird]

Welcome aboard. It sounds as if you have already blown the dust off several roads, and as if you are just waiting to find more, roads that is. Most of us try not to think about the dust part. Hope to see you around a campfire in the future!