Continuing Journey

It's the end of April and I have neglected this blog long enough. We're having a great  time in Southern California with friends and family, but I'll get to that later!

We finally made it across Texas (I thought it would never end) and drove into New Mexico where we stopped for two days at Carlsbad Caverns. What a majestic hole in the ground. We went in through the natural hole the first day and spent 4+ hours walking, touring and marveling at all the beauty buried under ground. The second day we took a guided tour to the King's Palace and the guide turned out all the lights! The darkness was total and overwhelming. What courage the early cave explorers had!!

From Carlsbad, we went through Roswell (plastic aliens everywhere!) and Ruidoso, then down to White Sands Monument. It was amazing to see so much white sand. It was a cool morning so the sand was cool to the touch. Fortunately we made it through before they did any missile tests.

From White Sands, we continued west through Tucson with a side trip to Tombstone, on to Phoenix and into California where we spent the end of March in Palm Springs!  It was very hot and we were thankful for a/c. Even the pool was warm -  almost like bath water! We were able to spend an evening with friends heading east for a four-month journey and met other friends we met last year in Anaheim.

We love this lifestyle and now that we've completed the circuit, we feel blessed to have been able to do all we've done. Gas prices will probably hamper some of our traveling and we will stay in the west this next year, but there is still so much to see! Check back from time to time and I will try to update this blog more regularly.

Texas

We are enjoying Texas with its wide open spaces and lots of things to see and do. We went to Space Center Houston and saw Johnson Space Center as part of the tram tour. After seeing the Discovery launch in Florida, this was a good look at the background behind the launch. We even got to see Gene Krantz who was the flight director for all of Apollo and some shuttle missions. He was filming a documentary and we were on the other side of the glass! The Saturn missle was immense and complex.

We stayed at a park along the Colorado River (in Texas - not to be confused with the Colorado River on the California/Arizona border!) and saw deer, three wild boars and a frisky armadillo! Of course we didn't have the camera with us when we saw the boars and armadillo so our memory will have to be enough!

From Houston, we drove to San Antonio and spent the day viewing the Alamo and the River Walk.

The weather here is a lot like S. California in June - what we call June gloom. Cool and overcast in the morning and hot and sunny in the afternoon. Temperatures are in the 80's in the afternoon so we try to do physical labor stuff in the morning and then relax in the afternoon. We drove north to Fredericksburg yesterday. It was settled by Germans in the 1800s and they have preserved some of the old buildings. We enjoyed tasting salsas, jams, barbecue sauces and dips provided by the different gift shops along Main Street. It was a nice day trip.

Our next stop is Carlsbad Caverns.

Four States in One Day

After 3 months in Florida, we are on the road again, heading west. Monday we left Milton, FL (east of Pensecola) and drove through Alabama, Mississippi, and stopped outside of New Orleans, LA. We spent eight hours touring around New Orleans on Monday (Lune Gras) and avoided New Orleans all together on Mardi Gras. Bourbon Street was crowded

and the parades were long but we had fun catching beads as the float riders tossed them to the crowd.

We saw the beginning of the Mississippi River in Minnesota when we were there in August and now we've seen the end at New Orleans! Some day we will have to travel its entire length!

Tomorrow we will continue across Louisiana and into Texas on Friday.

We posted the shuttle launch on YouTube. E-mail me and I will send you the link!!!



Still In Florida

We have just finished our 3rd month in Florida and we're both ready to hit the road again. Last week we drove over to the east coast of Florida and stayed 2 nights at Daytona Beach. The first day we drove on the beach and had lunch at a restaurant at the end of the old race track where they drove part on the beach and part on the road! It was a fun day. The next day we joined Ken's cousin in Titusville and watched the Discovery shuttle launch. What an amazing sight to see. I'm so glad Ken talked me into staying so that we could witness it. The power and force it takes to break free of the earth's gravitation is something you just can't describe! We felt the rumble of the take-off even though people around us said it was very disappointing compared to other times. I guess the wind conditions prevented us from experiencing the full impact. All in all, it was wonderful to see. We took a video of it so I don't have pictures I can include in this blog but it was great to capture even a small part of such an event.

It's in the 80's now so we've gone from winter clothing to bathing suits in a week! Ken's mom is still with us and in a nursing home so we will go visit her tomorrow and after that make our plans as to when we will leave and start heading west. We anticipate being in S. Calif. all of April and then heading to Oregon. Keep in touch and I plan to write on this every Saturday since there will be something to write about now that we're on the road again!!

Life in the RV, Part 2

We're beginning our 3rd month in Florida so we haven't been "on the road" and have not had much to share. We decided to stay for the shuttle launch on Feb. 24th. We're also staying around because Ken's mom is not doing well. She's in the hospital now with blood clots in her lungs and will return to a nursing home because Ken's brother is unable to care for her at home anymore. It's a hard time, but we're glad we had the holidays with her.

I never thought we would stay so long in one place once we began this lifestyle, but weather and family circumstances have affected our plans. And that's the best part of this lifestyle - we don't have to be anywhere so we can come and go as we like! Being in Florida with all the snowbirds has also taught us to make reservations at RV parks as far in advance as possible. Every park is full until April 1st! Right now we are at a park outside Orlando that is built around a golf course. It sure is busy on the course every day.

While sitting here in Florida, I've looked back on all we've done since August. The memories are wonderful but so is all the food we've bought along the way. This morning I had Meyer Lemon Pear Marmalade on my toast that I purchased in Paso Robles, CA. The Lingonberry jam in the cupboard is from Wisconsin and the rubard wine from S. Dakota needs to be sampled. We have enjoyed Maple Walnut pancake mix from New Hampshire, Biltmore Estate wines for the holidays, and blueberries from Maine. We don't have room for nicknacks or other mementos but I'm enjoying the food we've purchased from different parts of the country. They are nice reminders of our travels and don't take up too much room. Alligator jerky will not be added to the larder. YUCK! I'll have to find something else from Florida - citrus fruit!

Thanks for joining us - again. I'll be sure to tell you all about the launch!

Thunder Storms

What a day. We woke up to rain on the roof and thunder crashing outside our window. Florida needs the rain and so we will stay home and just enjoy watching the rain and lightning.

We were in Tampa for the RV show and had a great time. We participated in our first RV rally and met so many nice people. This rally provided five nights of camping with electricity only (we call that semi-boondocking), donuts and coffee in the morning and entertainment three different nights and church Sunday morning! It was fun, we laughed a lot, saw a lot of stuff you can buy for your RV, learned some important tips at the seminars we attended and made new friends. We joined the Thor Diesel Group because our motor home is made by Thor and it's a diesel engine. Everyone there had a Mandalay and it was nice to be with  people who own the same thing we do. They have rallies several times a year so I'm sure we will meet up with them again.

Living this life is exciting. You don't have time to get to know people gradually. Once you're set up at a place you go walking around the campground and start meeting people. The connections are quick, you take pictures so you remember what they look like, and the next time you meet, you pick up where you left off. Ken has a hard time remembering names but he keeps trying.

While we were in Tampa we went and visited Ken's mom. She is in the hospital right now with a severe urinary tract infection. She's not eating very much so isn't getting her strength back. At 89 it's not really surprising. With her condition in question, we have decided to stay in Florida a while longer to see how she does. The weather everywhere else is not condusive to traveling so we will stay.

Keep in touch!

Happy New Year

I'm a week late wishing all of you Happy New Year but better late than never, right?

We have spent the whole week at Independence RV here in Orlando. We had a roof leak and the ceiling panels were failing because of the leak, so we brought the motorhome here to see if they could fix it. After talking with the factory and discovering it was a design flaw, our service tech designed a solution and it's working! It's nice to find a service center that is honest, willing to work with us and able to do the work. We have not found that before now. Since the work is in the front of the coach, the kitties spend the day in the bedroom and that's a lot better than having to cage them up and put them in the car. The back lot of the dealership isn't a great park, but we have electricity and water so we spend every night in our home.

We wanted to stay and see the shuttle lauch but they have pushed it back to the end of February so I think we will get back on the road. We'll go to Tampa next week for a huge RV show and then probably start heading west on I-10.  Stay in touch and I'll let you know where we are!