Author: Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. After deciding to stop RVing, we bought a ranch house halfway up a hill on five acres. After Bruce and I talked about names for our five acres, we settled on Blackberry Homestead as a homage to the wild blackberries on the hill. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist, and I’ll share my current projects. Gardening and reading are my favorite hobbies.

On to Sikeston, Missouri Along I-55

August 1, 2022 Bruce did most of the packing up this morning so I could stay off my ankle. I have decided once we find a place to stay for a while that I need to go and see a doctor. The Mississippi River had risen from all the rain yesterday. We left Tom Sawyer’s […]

On to West Memphis, Arkansas at the Tom Sawyer’s RV Park

July 27, 2022 We have signed up for one of the Forest River Owners Rally. The Forest River Owners Group aka FROG Rally is at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds, Goshen, IN, USA starting August 14 and goes to August 20. We are taking a slower trip to get there. We packed up and headed […]

Southern Sweet Potato Waffles

This recipe is a modification of the waffle recipe from thestayathomechief.com. Bruce bought a chicken dinner that came with two sides. He got the sweet potatoes side since he knows I love sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were candied yams and way to sweet for me. Since I hate to waste food, I used them […]

How Nox Ranks Campgrounds

July 25, 2022 Nox enjoys traveling with us and she is excited when we get to a new campground. The following items are important to Nox: No burs – Nox hates stepping on burs. Interesting smells – Nox loves to have lots of interesting things to sniff. Fenced play area aka dog park – Nox […]

Broken Convection Microwave Oven

July 22, 2022 A couple of weeks ago, I was going to cook boudin sausage using the convection oven part of the convection microwave oven. I turned on the convection oven to preheat and I noticed an electrical burning smell. I told Bruce that the convection oven had a bad smell. He didn’t seem to […]

Nox Hanging Out with Me

July 21, 2022 Since I hurt my ankle again, (see https://retirementrvdream.com/2022/07/12/ouch-i-really-did-that/ for the original story) Nox has been a sweetie pie. She keeps me company on the theater seating while I am icing my ankle, compressing it, and keeping it raised. Yes, you can see mosquitoes bites on my legs. We went hiking before I […]

Warfield Point Park in Mississippi

July 19, 2022 We visited Warfield Point Park in Mississippi, along the Mississippi River. We bought Nox along. The boardwalk was not usable and was blocked off with a No Thru Traffic sign on the side closest to the parking lot. The large sign was in sad shape. We walked over to the pavilion and […]

Decorations in My RV

July 16, 2022 While I was back in Colorado being a party animal (https://retirementrvdream.com/2022/06/05/party-animal/), one of my friends wanted to know what I had done with all of my art. Most of our art is in storage, but I brought some of it with us. There was a piece of art I did for Bruce […]

Sudden Wind Storm with Awnings Out

July 16, 2022 Our campsite faces east, so we get stunning views of Lake Chicot with the window shades up. It also means the morning sun in the windows, heating up the RV. To keep the RV cooler, I’ve been putting out the awning on sunny mornings to prevent the sun from directly shinning into […]

Ouch! I Really Did That?

July 12, 2022 I hurt my ankle again. On Saturday, we were walking Nox for her nightly sniff and pee walk. My ankle wasn’t bothering me anymore. I didn’t even think, I untied my shoes and tried to toe off my left shoe. Oh the pain!!!! I somehow caused it to twist when I was […]