If you're in the Austin area this coming Saturday July 24th, we'd love to have you join us for an Evergreen Club get-together. It's an open house from 3-7pm.

Bring your Evergreen stories, travel photo albums and if you're so inclined, an hors d'oeuvres to share. We'll also be doing a demo of the new website set to launch next month.

All are welcome, even if you've not yet joined the club.

To RSVP and address/directions, email:   evergreenwebmaster@gmail.com

The search for California is broken if you try to go past page 1. The fix is coming soon - but until that time you have some workarounds:

The 'googlemaps' button at the bottom of the search page will show all the members in California.  Also the 'Directory View' button will show (most of) the member details.

You could use the googlemaps button to help you spot areas of California where members exist and where you plan to travel. 'Googlemaps' allows you to zoom in (using the + symbol on the left hand side of the screen). You can then click on individual balloons to get the name and city of the specific members in that area. Then you can switch over to the 'Directory View' to look up some of the details on the specific members you are interested in staying with. 'Directory View' does not show the member email address (which is another reported bug) so if you wanted to email a particular set of members from California your options would be:

1. To use the printed directory which is mailed to new members as part of the new member package - that directory lists all the member information.

2. To use the Firefox web browser as when it is used with googlemaps it has a link inside the balloon of information on the member to link you right to their member profile record - and that record has their email address in it. 

3. If the members you wanted to stay with all resided within a particular city - then you could do a search based on that criteria. For example - if you were wanting to stay in Fresno - you could do a search for city=Fresno. Trouble is - some times a member will use a name of a suburb or adjacent city/town as the name of their city (as in Los Angeles / Hollywood).

Hi There,
Does anyone know how to open pages 2-8 on the california state search. When I do it, it doesn't show any page but the first page, even when I hit next. Any solutions out there?
Thanks, Julie Ashley

Agree with Vern and Judy's post of April 09 - unless one is very familiar with a state, it is impossible to tell from a list of cities just how close they might be to our destination city.  I then have to resort to going to mapquest and checking each available city against my destination city to see what is close.  Are there search or map updates in the works??   

P.S. We love being Evergreeners!

Rick and Cathy

Last month my husband and I traveled a short distance to Flat Rock, NC and stayed with Mike and Barbara, whom we had stayed with two years ago. This was our brief anniversary trip and they made our overnight stay so nice once again.  Mike made his signature 'French toast' and Barbara served her yummy zucchini bread and fresh melon.  It's always so good to see them!

We then went on to Charlotte and met our new hosts, Gene & Nancy, who helped us celebrate our two wonderful years of marriage.  They too were celebrating an anniversary.....their SIXTY Second!!! A lovely couple...one we will want to see much more of.

Since Ed and I just recently "rejoined" Evergreen  (we rejoined because Evergreen is now on line), we were anxious to have visitors.  We got a call from Fred and Linda from Dayton, Ohio for this past Saturday evening.  They were in Cleveland for a baby shower and heading on to New Jersey to see grandchildren.

 Although they arrived later in the evening and had to leave very early Sunday AM, they were a delightful couple. Thanks for coming!  They had an interesting rondevous in New Jersey Sunday afternoon.  They were meeting friends that drive the "Jelly Belly Mobile" company motorhome that passes out samples of jelly beans throughout the country!

 So like Evergreeners to be interesting and connected travelers!

 

Diana

In May 2009 we stayed with Doug and Margret, two Evergreener in Salt Lake City. At their urging we visit among other things a place called, THIS IS THE PLACE. It turns out that this was the place that the Mormon wagon trains stopped and Brigham Young delcare there journey over. Video has become a hobby for us and if you would like to see this video of  THIS IS THE PLACE you can go to WWW.hodgesvideos.com and then page down to the On The Road section. Just follow the directions to see this and other travel videos from our Evergreen travels.

After a lovely breakfast at Pat and Penny's...they pointed us in the direction of Jim in the Jungle  foodie paradise. We had never heard of this amazing collection of food from all over the world.  What a delightful experience. I am a gourmet cook and our son is a San Francisco executive chef.  We wondered through the huge store (the best kitchen supply I have ever seen) and purchased a few pantry items and Christmas presents.  We will return, thanks Pat and Penny for a great travel tip!

Over the bridge on Rt 127 into Coventry, Kentucky.  Now this town was ready for a sale!  Their main street was closed to traffic and we spent time browsing. Interestingly, the town of Coventry bills itself as the start (or end) of the Rt 127 yard sale.  I guess they were until Ohio jumped in 4 years ago. It is obvious Coventy is ignoring the fact they are not  the end or the beginning of the sale.  Thought that was pretty funny.

Kentucky was beautiful, rolling and wooded.  More driving than sale, as that section of Rt127 is pretty rural, not too many stands.  As the afternoon approached, we called Owensville, Ky our southern most stop and turned around to head back to Cincinnati.

We arrived at our third Evergreen Club members home after dinner Friday evening. Phyllis was, as we have come to expect, another wonderful host.  She has travelled the world and holds an interesting position as executive administor for several retired executives families.  Absolutely delightful and beautifully decorated town home....there is that RE agent in me.

A quick stop at the Outlets in Jefferson on I71 and we returned home to the Cleveland area.  We drove 800 miles round trip.  We met terrific people, enjoyed every minute of our Evergreen Club stays.  We have decided we don't need to do the southern leg of the yard sale through Tenn. and Alabama next year. Been there, done that!

Hope you have enjoyed this blog, come stay with us in Strongsville, Ohio.

Diana

We started our Worlds Longest Yard Sale by staying with an Evergreen Club host the evening prior to our road trip.  We had a delightful evening with Ron and Jackie of Montpelier Ohio.  They have a lovely rural home that was interesting as it was a "kit" house from the Montgomery Ward catalog in the early 20th century.  As real estate agents, that was very cool!  Ron is a diehard Cleveland Indians fan and we hope they will stay with us the next time they come to town to see a game.

After breakfast we headed out for W. Unity, the northern start of the yard sale.  Tents were up, early birds were out and shopping!  This was our first time touring in this part of the state. We always knew Ohio was known for corn but never did we guess so many fields of soybeans!  Is it possible we supply the worlds demand for soybeans?  Acres and acres of soybeans.  There were small sales and huge sales, there were "guy sales" with cars and parts. I will say that 90% of what we saw was flea market.  The kind of items you can buy at your General Dollar store any day of the week. That was disappointing.

We did, however, plan a great ride with the top down, wind in our hair and taking lots of pictures.  I love old buildings, so I took many photos of "county seats" and victorian homes.  Did I mention wind in our hair?  We also had dust and "you know what"  being spread by tractors.  It was an experience for us surbanites! 

We started making a list of too many things: too many Big Mouth Billy Bass on a plaque, Barbie dolls, old tools, T-shirts, used  shoes and glass bottles!  When we noticed a car with Alaska plates, well, that started a license plate hunt.  I did purchase one lonely plate for my personal collection of Kettlespring Kilns commemorative plates.  Upper Sandusky...one I didn't have for $1.00.  Add some beautiful hand made hair ribbons for our granddaughters and that completed our purchases!

Our next stop, Hamilton Ohio with Pat and Penny and Bart the Lab.  Pat and Penny got a last minute committment to a meeting, so they called, left the key and Bart to stand guard.  Bart is a real pushover.  He greeted us at the door then enjoyed our company until his masters returned.  Lovely home and they told us about their current adventure, building a home themselves on a Tenn. lake.  I think all Everygreen Club members will be happy when it is complete! Just kidding...

 

 

 

 

OK what does one pack for the Worlds Longest Yard Sale...3 days on the road.  For one, I don't need the usual 6 pairs of shoes, going with sandals and tennis shoes.  Ed is smiling.  Clothes, well, tees and shorts, it will be 80 degrees and sunny.  Lots of sunscreen, sunhats, sunglasses, the car starts to fill. A sports convertible doesn't hold a lot of anything, even friends have to be left behind.

If your going overnite 1 nite, thats a small bag and a hanger.  But 3, you have to take everything (might as well go a week).  And staying with Everygreen Club members you need to remember all the little niceties that hotels provide.  Thats OK, you dont' get to meet really cool people.

Ed is not smiling.  The car is full to the hilt...and we still need to make a few quick stops before hitting the open road.  We are armed, IPhone mapping, a Garmon, old fashioned AAA maps (for emergencies)...work..we are RE agents, we work on vacation. 

 One quick look back at our golf clubs....Ed is wincing....our road trips are usually golf oriented.  We are out of here!  See you on the road!  W. Unity, Ohio here we come.

 

Diana