Wednesday, October 29, 2008

First post in our new blog

Hi everybody. This is our first post in our new blog. We are using this blog as it gives us much more space on the web. We where running out of space on freewebs. We can also add pictures much easier. We will try to email when we add something new. To those who want to follow along, put us in you favorites. Hope you will all follow along on our journey.

Here are our post from free webs.



This picture is from 2007, and the following post is from our first work experienc at Walt Disney World. This is from our old website at freewebs.com. We used this site before we started using 'blogger'. We are posting this for new followers.


Greetings from Disney
We arrived at Theme World RV Resort on Sept. 4th in Davenport Fl. We are about 12 miles from Disney.We are having unseasonably hot weather(naturally we are here). Oct 19th set a record high of 94. We are working The International Food and Wine Festival The festival started on Sept. 28th and runs to Nov 11. We had about 30 hours of traning at Disney University.We have met a lot of people from the Lehigh Valley. We wear name tags that have our first name and our home town on them. Many guess say "oh your from Pa or from Bethlehem", and tell us about where their from. Our work schedule is about 18-20 hours a week.The rest ot the time we are taking our time enjoying the parks.
We usually work the same countries each week. Bob's at Poland (pierogies, kalbasi and cabbage rolls) or at Hops and Barley serving beer. Thats right beer at a wine festival. Beers from around the world. There are over 300 different wines to try. Linda is usually in Peru (roast duck, crab salad) or Dominican Republic serving their specalties.
The nightly fireworks are beautiful. We get to see then on the nights we work. We usually work 3 to 9-10 PM or 1500 to 2200, how are schedule reads, they use military time. Bob get to see the stars on stage.
Then click on photos to enlarge.
We've done a few backstage tours. One was Behind the Seeds. This is a tour of how they grow vegtables without soil. They use hydroponics.-growing of plants in neutriant solution and inert medium. We had a special dinner for festival cast member and were entertained by the Cirque Du Soleil performers practicing their routine and choreographing a new routine. Cirque Du Soleil has a show sat. nights during the festival. It is called Party of the Senses and costs $138. per person. A very dressy afair. We did go to the Cirque Du Soleil theather to see the regular show,it was fabulous as was the 1/2 price tickets for cast members(we are cast members not employees).
So far our favorite resturant is at the German pavillion. We did receive passes to taste foods we serve so we can tell the guess what they taste like. No beer or wine while we are on stage(stage-our work area, working anyplace with guess present). Some things we tasted are good, some not so good. Each countrie has several specialty. Lobester roll and strawberry shortcake at the American pavillion is great. Irelands potato pancakes where not to our liking.
We've been to Animal Kingdom,, several times. We enjoyed the the walking trails and did the Safari tour severl times. The Kali River Rapids white water raft ride was great. We did get soaked. We saw the parades at Aminal Kingdon and MGM Studios severl times. We don't know how people do these parks in a week vacations. Of course we have several monthes too, so we are taking our time gaucking. Haven't got to Magic Kingdon so far.
We had friends from Ark., that we met in Tx. stop by for a visit. They are thinking of going to Alaska with us in 08. They'll make the 4th couple.We are making a new set of friends here. There are about 25 couples staying at our RV Park that work at Disney. We had a covered dish dinner to meet other Disney workers. We do play cards and games with some of them. Of course,we do have a LEO (lets eat out) group. The RV Park is really filling up with snowbirds-a term we never fully understood in our former life. There are 287 sites in the park and they should be full by the 15th of Nov. according to the park manager. The pool and hot tub are great. We usually have then to ouselves during the day
.
One morning there was am eagle perched atop a light post abour 1/4 mile from our site. He stayed for at least a 1/2 hour.
Orange picking season is here. All around the area you see ladders against trees with workers. Had some, hopefully they'll be sweeter as the season goses on. Guess we've gone on long enought.
From the dogs: We now know what Disney means. Mom and Dad leave and come home and just talk and talk and talk about it. You think they never saw anything. Lot of new sniffs, and many new dogs to meet. Lilly wishes she could use the pool, shes nuts, water is for drinking, whats her problem anyway. She has been in the sum to long. Blazer likes the big play pen. There is a fenced in area, about a 1/4 acre, where we can run off leash. I'ts great.
Dec 20th 2007
WOW! We've been in Florida 3 months already. Where does the time go? Hope you are all doing well. We are having a blast a Disney. This place is truly magical.
We had many visitors, Dave and Liz, Jack and Barb, our adopted parents from Escapees, cousin Jane and Nick, Diane and Marvin now living in Florida, Johanna and Ed and Sue and Don.
Disney is more than four theme parks,Magic Kingdom,Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM Studios (which will become Hollywood Studios in January). There are also 2 waterparks,Typhone Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. There is downtown Disney,The Boardwalk, and WideWorld of Sports. There are 24 Resorts,each a destination in themselves,plus several golf courses. We have visited many of the resorts before the Xmas decorations were up. Now we are revisiting them after the Xmas decorations are up (unbeliveably beautiful). We have also dinned at some of the resorts,thanks to the 1/2 price cast discounts. As for the different park decorations, all we can say is fantastic. The whole Disney complex incomposes 47 thousand acres.

On our tour to revisit the resorts with their Christmas decorations we saw a 65 foot tree in the Wilderness Lodge lobby. We saw a giant gingerbread house with a small store inside it at the Grand Floridian.

At the theme parks the decorations are unbelieveable. Like the 5,000,000 + lights at MGM, see photo's, that dance to synchronized holiday music. There is a magical snowfall each night with real snowflakes.
So far Linda has taken over 3000 photo's. Thank God they are digitial. Can't wait to show them to the kids. It'll be better them home movies. I'm sure the kids can't wait.
Our new jobs are guess control at the Candlelight Processional which takes place at Epcots Holidays around the world. The Candlelight Processional and Massed Choir program feature over 400 performers that are accompany by 50 musicians.The choir members are from 20 state and the UK. A total of 24 thousand amateur vocalists will participate in the massed choir during the five weeks and 114 candlelight performances. There are three show nightly. There are several schools from PA participating,including Freedom High School from our hometown. There are 13 guest narriators including David Robinson, John O'Hurly, Neil Patrick Harris, Dennis Franz, Gary Sines and Rita Moreno.
Our job is to seat the audience and get the choirs in and out of the American Theater. It is really a fun job. We meet and greet guests before and after the show. After the show many thank you and tell you how great the show was,and how much they enjoyed it. The(Hallelujah) chorus brings everbody to their feet. Between the show is Mickey's Tree Lighting. Samanthe Brown was here with the crew from the Travel Channel taping one of the shows we were working. We don't know when it airs and whether or not we will be in any of the filming. The grant finale is(Illuminations) a spectacular fireworks display accompanied with music.
Wow! we sound like a commercial for Disney. We are just having such a great time and enjoying all of Disney. We are like kids in a candy shop. Besides seeing all the attractions we get behind the scenes and see how things are done. We've been in the dugout and on the field of Wide World of Sports(see photo). We were in the tunnels of Magic Kingdom and behind the scenes of many other attractions. This is truly a magical place.
We are also touring the area.We visited Jane and Nick and went on an airboat ride(see photo). Great fun. We did see two alligators and many birds and huge turtles. We checked out a few orange groves. They are all over the place here.
We spent Thanksgiving with about 30 couples that are seasonal workers at Disney.The dinner was held at the home of Christine who is a recruiter for Disney. We did meet several other couples we knew from the Esceepes club . This was our early Thankisgiving dinner. We returned to the RV park for our 2nd dinner with about 40 couples.They were both great, and we did over eat.
From the dogs: We are jealous of all the time Mom and Dad spend with Mickey and friends.We do have a lot of new people to meet and greet. Blazer has a couple of stuffed mickey';s to play with. A giant sheep dogs comes and plays with us in the fenced in dog park. Blazer pay's no attention to her, He concentrates so hard on gettong the ball and she just runs and runs with him. Lilly is just happy running with her big ball in her mouth. She carries to and from the playyard.The rest of the time she naps

                                                     2008

Feb 2008
Hi, and welcome to 2008. Seems like it was just yesterday that we celebrated New Years 2007. Boy! dose time fly. We where expecting to leave Fl in Jannuary, but we are still here. Our son Mark and his wife Tracey are visiting us here in Fl.. We will be leaving here on 3/9/08, to meet up with friends Ed and Johanna, and go to the big "Rally" in Perry Ga. We will then tour that area after the rally. Slowly we will make our way to Pa. We plan on arriving in Pa on 4/1/08. We will be in Pa for about 2 weeks then head west, then north to Alaska. We will meet up with friends Jean and Irvin in Nebraska and hope to be on the US Canadian border in North Dakota about the first of May. Weather will dictate are timeline. Hope to meet Shorty and Betty somewhere in Canada.
We did tour the east and west coast of central Fl.. We met up with many friends in the area, old and new. This has been the best winter (weather wise) we ever had. Much warmer here them the last 2 winters in TX and AZ. and definitly warmer then PA. This area is very very busy. The orange pickers are very busy. Every day we see tractor trailers full of oranges going by.
We worked New years eve. Boy was it crowded. We then worked the marathon on the 12th and 13th. We sadly turned in our costumes. We are done working. We really enjoyed the experience. These had truly been fun jobs.
From the dogs-- We are also enjoying the weather. We are glad mon and dad are done with this Mickey character. Now they are spending more time with us. We go for several walks a day, Lilly usually only goes one time. She gets tired, but not doing to bad for a 14 year old. We hope we get to see all our cousins back in Pa, and we hear there is a new baby. Boy here we go again, sharing the love with some unknown puppy. We hope her name isn't Mickey.

March - April 2008
Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long since our last newsletter. We've been busy. All you retirees know what I mean. Our son Mark and his wife Tracey visited us in Florida for about 10 days. Also their friends Deb & Keith came down for about a week. Mark's neighbors came down for 2 weeks. We went out on their boat to watch Mark and Chris go barefoot water sking. They ask us to try, but we declined. We also watched the Cypress Gardens water show from the boat. It was great fun to have them visit.
The next week Bob's cousin Pat and her husband Larry stop by for a visit. We went to the Fl. Strawberry Festival. We saw the Crystal Gayle show. Her hair is almost to the floor. We had a fun time.
Then it was time to say goodbye to Disney. After 6 months touring the parks, backstage, and the resorts it was time to hit the road. We will miss our many new friends and co-workers. It was fun working with people like the "stalker". He made our nights. We enjoyed all the veried personalties.
We left for Lady Lake FL were we met up with friends Ed & Johanna. They took us on a tour of The Villages. They have family that live there so they have a gate pass. We could visit all the different areas. It is by far the nicest 55+ community we ever visited.
We left Lady Lake for "The Rally" in Perry Ga. with Ed and Johanna. www.therally.com The huge RV Rally attracted over 7000 rver's in over 3500 rv's,plus many day attendies. We dry camped (no hookups for our non rv friends) for 7 days. There was a great show every night. Mr "Blue Velvet" Bobby Vintin was a super super show. There were many, many seminars on all aspects of rv'ing. We attented 6 different seminars on Alaska. Felt like we were there already. We were on overload. The world is getting smaller. We met friends we worked with at Disney and Al and Gail from our Escapees chapter in Ohio. We participated in a Guinness world book of records for "the Most Couples Dancing" We bet the record by hundreds. We had over 1100 couples dancing for 5 minutes
After the rally we stayed in the area for a week to tour with Ed and Johanna. We toured the Museum of Aviation at Warner Robbins AFB. www.museumofaviation.org . We had fried green tomato's at the Whistle Stop Cafe, that gained fame for the 1993 movie of the same name. The cafe is in Juliette GA. We visited the Andersonville Civil War POW camp. We went to Plains GA. the home of Jimmy Carter. Next we toured Macon and the Ga Music Hall of Fame. We saw some of the great old architecture of Ga. We said good bye to Ed and Johana and started heading for Pa. We stoped at Hartwell lake on the GA SC border for a few days. Then we headed north.
We arrived in PA on April 1st. Does that day sound fimiliar?(Bob's birthday). That explains a lot. We spent two weeks visiting family and friends. It was nice visiting with the boys and their spouses and Bob's Mom. For 90 years old she's doing pertty good. Her short term memory is failing her.

Now it's off to Alaska. We left PA on 4/15 to begin our much awaited journey. We are meeting friends Jean and Irvin in Valentine NE. on 4/21. They will be traveling with us. We will also meet Betty and Shorty in Canada who will be traveling with us for awhile.
Our first stop was at Youghiogheny River Lake on the PA MD border. We wanted to visit this area. We traveled thru MD, WV, OH, IN, IL, and IA where we at now. We aren't doing much touring till we get to NE. Did we mention that when we travel how bad weather follows us. Either record highs, lows, torado's, and now earthquakes. While we were in Il. there was an earthquake. We are upping our insurance. The quake was about a 100 miles from us. We didn't feel a thing. The dogs did't even get us up. I guess we are sound sleepers. Tommorow we should be in NE. We will try to update on a regular basis. Keep you emails coming as we love hearing from you all.
From the dogs: From the warnth of Fl to the cold of PA, whats up with these humans? People -go figure. Whats wrong with the warmth? We did get to see most of our cousins We met Harley. Whats with these puppy's. Calm down already. Can't get any rest when they are around. Did renew some old sniffs. These humans can't decide where to stay. We just keep moving around. O well! we guess its off to Alaska with them. Lilly is having a hard time with steps, but with a little help from Mom and Dad she is making out OK. They got a ramp for the truck. She really likes it. Looking forward to our first bear sighting

May 16,2008
Hi! Everybody,
We hope all is well with everybody
We are writing this post with a heavy heart and tears in our eyes.
We were two weeks into our Alaska trip and in S.Dakota when we recieved a call that Bob's Mom had fallen and was admitted into the hospital She had fallen and broke her wrist and things just went downhill from there.We had seen her two and a half weeks earlier and all was well. But at the ripe old age of 90 the fall was devastating. We hurried back to Pa. We did team driving towing our RV,and covered 1600 miles in two and a half days. Luckily we arrived in time that Bob's mom could still communicat with us. Several days later, her condition worsened.

On Wednesday May 14th with us and our sons and daughter-in-laws at her side, she passed away. We are thankful that our sons and daughter-in-laws were with us. The last 6 days she spent at the Hospice VNA of St. Lukes. She had the best of care and loving people taking care of her. She was very peaceful.
Our future plans are in limbo. Right now,we are like a ship without a rudder, not knowing when and where we are going next. We will be in Pa. with our sons and their wives for at least the next month or two.
While at the RV Park in Pa. we were interviewed by a reporter from the Christian Science Monitor about our lifestyle. We just recieved an Email from the reporter that the story was picked up by Yahoo news. The reporter said the story should be veiwed by thousands.The story follows. Take care everybody,travel safe and keep in touch.
Bob and Linda



May 2008


csmonitor.com - The Christian Science Monitor Online

from the May 12, 2008 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0513/p01s01-ussc.html

High fuel prices curtail RV trips – just a little

For millions of Americans, towing the vacation home or traveling around the country in an RV is a way of life, even with the high cost of fuel.

| Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Inside the door of their 36-foot-long RV is a map that shows the route Bob and Linda Timko have pulled their "fifth wheel" – from Pennsylvania to California and back again.
With fuel prices at record levels, they allow that the trips may cover shorter distances – especially when they get 10 miles to the gallon. There will be some sacrifices for the retirees: perhaps fewer meals out, maybe working a part-time job.
But they can't imagine giving up the RV lifestyle: a sense of freedom and adventure mixed with close friendships developed over years of traveling around the country. They don't plan to turn in their wheeled home for a condo.
"I don't know how high fuel would have to go for us not to do this," says Mr. Timko. "God has created so many great places to see, and we just haven't seen them all."
For millions of Americans, towing the vacation home or traveling around the country in an RV is a way of life, even with soaring fuel prices. This time of year, for example, thousands of "snowbirds" are working their way north after spending the winter in Florida – as the Timkos are doing. By Memorial Day, many parks and campgrounds will be full of RVs. In fact, one indication that the RV crowd still considers the price of fuel secondary: Slots in campgrounds and RV parks are filling up fast.
According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), some 8 million households own an RV. One in every 12 vehicle-owning households owns one. About 80 percent are "fifth wheels," the variety that is towed.
In March, when the price of gasoline hit $3.35 a gallon, an RVIA survey found that 93 percent of owners said they planned to use their vehicles as much or more than they did last year. "We're finding people are traveling closer to home," says Courtney Robey, a spokeswoman for the RVIA in Reston, Va.
That would include Charlie and Janet Cooper of Milford, N.J. As they pull their RV into the parking lot in Hamburg, Pa., at Cabela's, a large outfitting chain, Mr. Cooper says the couple has decided to forgo trips to Darlington, S.C., and Martinsville, Va., so they can see NASCAR races. "The gas prices are not keeping us home, but we are not out as much or going as far away," he says as he uses the free waste disposal at Cabela's.
Cabela's anticipates some spillover effect on its sales. "Some customers travel 500 miles to come to the store to shop," says Bruce Biedenharn, manager of the store. "A good gauge will be after Memorial Day to see if people will jump in the car or RV to visit us."
If campground reservations are any indication, the fifth wheels will be rolling this summer. "We're hearing campground reservations are up 5 to 15 percent, depending on where you are," says Ms. Robey of RVIA.
The Pine Hill RV Park in Kutztown can attest to the incoming tide of RVs. Most of the RV park's 123 sites were taken for Mother's Day, especially after the offer of a free breakfast for mom. Only a few slots are left for Memorial Day weekend, says Pam Hasse, co-owner of the park.
"This summer, we've booked a lot of clubs like the Kangaroos, the Shriners, the Campers for Christ," says Ms. Hasse, who purchased Pine Hill in March.
Just down the road from Cabela's, the Boat-N-RV Superstore offers buyers 30 acres' worth of RVs for sale. The business is expanding, adding a fourth location, says manager Bert Landes. Some of the business includes RVers who are downsizing and buying vehicles that use less fuel.
Filling up an RV can be a wallet-sapping event. A Winnebago Destination, which has a $164,752 price tag, carries 90 gallons of gasoline. At today's fuel prices, it would cost $332 to fill it up – an event that occurs relatively frequently since the vehicle gets seven to 10 miles per gallon.
RVers try to monitor prices at the gas stations. On his way to New Jersey, Mr. Cooper filled up at a Flying J in Fredericksburg, Va. There, lines of RVers were waiting for a turn at the pumps.
RV manufacturers are trying to produce vehicles that get better fuel mileage. "We're now building vehicles with a smaller chassis and lighter materials and utilizing engines with better fuel efficiency," says Sheila Davis, a spokeswoman for Winnebago Industries in Forest City, Iowa.
The vehicles with improved fuel economy are selling better than the traditional-styled motor homes, Ms. Davis says. "But bear in mind that, mileage-wise, most of the vehicles only travel 5,000 to 10,000 miles per year. It's not like driving a typical car."
In fact, the Timkos are quick to note that their impact on the environment is considerably less than when they owned a conventional home. "We're only heating and cooling 400 square feet of space," Mr. Timko says. "We've probably reduced our carbon footprint by 70 percent."

August 2008

Hi! Everyone, We are back on the road again. We wish to thank everyone for the cards, flowers,e-mails and condolences.
We spent a lot of time with our family They are so busy. Cyril and Dawn had their pool redone, Mark converted a room into a craft room for Tracey and Erik and Lori were busy landscaping their backyard. All their projects turned out beautiful.
Sadly we lost one of our grandpups, Gunni, Mark and Tracey's golden. But the rest of the pups are doing great. The two new pups, Harley and Cooley are very busy while Mojo, Jordon,Matti and Willey are busy trying to keep up with them.
Cyril was in Afganastan again, and arrived back home safely on the 23rd.
We left the Bethlehem area on the 7th of July and headed to Lancaster. We spent 5 weeks in the Lancaster area (one of the nicest areas in the US.) We were helping Linda's brother and sister-in-law do a little downsizing, they will be moving into a retirement community. While in the area we enjoyed the fresh produce (some of it was delivered to our campsite by the Amish children). Linda is a softy she"ll only buy from the Amish while in the area. We also enjoyed a lot of Pa. Dutch home cooking. We had the best corn of the season.
We left the Lancaster area on the 14th of August and spent 3 days in Fort Royal Va. We took about a 65 mile ride along the Skyline Dr, It was very hazy but beautiful. We went to Laury's Cavern, a must see in Va. ( Don't even ask how many photo's Linda took).
We left Va. on the 17th and headed for North Carolina. One of the last states along the East coast that we didn't have filled in on our map.We have passed thru the stste many times, but never stayed there. We finally have it filled in.
We spent a week in North Carolina at one of the nicest Corp Of Engineer Parks that we have ever stayed at. It was right along the lake,we just sat back and enjoyed the scenery. Bob did some fishing, we had a campfire every night and relaxed. Lilly went swimming and Blazer took the plunge also. He couldn't stand watching Lilly catch the stick. He finally broke down and went into the water after it. Lilly says, she's so proud of him. It was just such a relaxing place.
We will slowly work our way to Fl. along the Atlantic Coast of Georgia and Fl. and arrive at Theme World in Fl. the 15th of Sept. We plan on staying in Fl. till about the 15th of Feb. We'll be working at Disney again. After the 15th of Feb. we will be gradually heading west till about April,then start heading North to Alaska.
From the dogs: We had a great time visiting our cousins. We're sad about Gunni. Harley and Cooley are to busy, but Blazer keeps up with them. Lilly loves her ramp, it is so much easier to get in and out. But Blazer has nothing to do with it, he thinks he is smart, "just wait Blazer, your day will come".We think we heard the Mickey word again. We've been moving a lot again so we guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Have a great holiday, keep in touch and all stay well. Bob,Linda, Lilly and Blazer.
This is were our first Blog begins

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