We are Mary Beth and Bob, and we recently moved from Houston, Texas, where we enjoyed a lovely home and beautiful back yard , to deep Southern Illinois,  another beautiful home and an even more wonderful back yard. We can now have a garden that produces nice meals, and savor the peaceful life of living in the country.

 In our intergalactic quest for a better quality of life for ourselves, we traversed the far corners of the world, across desert, vast bodies of water,  glacier trails, and rain forests.

In 2001, we camped across Western United States, Canada, and Alaska for over 7 months, living in our 1970 VW Camper Bus.

Living in a 1970 VW Camper bus for 7 months was unusual, for sure, but we loved the adventure, meeting new friends, sharing stories with new friends, and camping with new friends.

That experience allows us to know that we have truly found our ultimate camp spot as we set up "camp";  in the heart of the Shawnee National Forest.

We discovered this wonderful country during a Fall, 2004 VW bus trip, where we camped among the land's many lakes and wooded hills, all cloaked in their finest coats of many colors.

It is our new home, and also home to wonderful vineyards, apples, cherries, peaches, pears, persimmons, hickory nuts, walnuts, birds, deer, largemouth bass, scrappy bluegills, steep hills, deep ravines, rivers, lakes with open access boat launches, fish filled ponds, for myself, and for others, hiking trails, beautiful state parks, vast expanses of national forest, open access to primitive camping, winding country roads with panoramic views, "get out of bed right now!" sunrises, "please don't ever end!" sunsets, "do I really have to  come in?" twinkling night skies...,

and what we hope will be a most wonderful life.

Please stay tuned for updates!

__If you care to drop us a line.