Monday, January 25, 2016

Going West…at last!


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After 4 days of sitting with Mom in the hospital, we leave early Friday morning, January 8th, 2016.  Mom’s recovering nicely from her surgery and we can get on the road, guiltfree.
We leave our Chattanooga home and hope to make Meridian, Mississippi before dark.  There’s a little RV park, a Passport America, that’s 16 dollars with full hookups including cable. We watch tv for the first time in our new to us Escape.  Dinner is leftovers.  

It is raining as we leave the next morning. I’m thinking that we will have a wet day, all day. We head for Jackson and turn south toward the Gulf.  The misty precip disappears, the sun comes out, and by the time we hit I-12 it is a sticky, muggy 72 degrees and I’m wanting to turn on the a/c.
I have picked Beaumont, TX as our destination for the night. It is a totally insane plan, for us, as it is over 400 miles!   Around 4 PM we give up and pull into a casino in Lake Charles. It is leftovers, again, after we take a great shower!  The next morning we treat ourselves to a loaded breakfast buffet at the casino hotel before hitting the road.


San Antonio is the destination for day 3 and, luckily, we have a driveway waiting on us.  It is great to catch up with friends and spend time in a real livingroom!
Last year we ducked into Fort Stockton RV Park as we were running from a icestorm. The park has a little cafe, the Roadrunner, that serves up some great home cooking.
All the leftovers are gone and if we don’t make it to the Roadrunner Cafe, it will be peanut butter sandwiches!
We make it! It is fried catfish and mash potatoes for dinner. And another night with cable TV!  If it sounds like this is making a big deal out of the cable, consider we have less than 10 channels on our home TV.

Deming, New Mexico is our next place to sleep.  It’s over 300 miles away but not too bad of a drive.  The Deming Road Runner RV Park charges us $13.50 for full hookups with the Passport America membership.  Not the nicest place but just fine for the price. Another night with cable and a makeshift meal of roasted chicken from the Las Cruces Walmart.

After 6 long days of travel, it is time to be back in nature.  We celebrate our Arizona arrival with a night at Gilbert Ray campground in the Tucson Mountain Park. The park is beautiful and it is WARM! …. Shorts and tee shirt warm until the sun goes down!

After a short visit with the relatives in Phoenix, we head west to Quartzsite where many of our buddies were already having a great time.
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Been missing those spectacular sunsets for a year.  Now we are back in this magical and weird place.
We have a surprise waiting on us. Two of our close friends, the ones who had sold us their Escape, are planning to marry the next morning! It is party in the desert time!
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So this is how we spend the week.  Shopping, eating, visiting…enjoying winter in the desert.
Bloggerfest is tomorrow…hope to see some of you there……..

Friday, January 1, 2016

2015’s Full of Changes!


2015 brought us a new camper, a new tow truck and a new home!!! Well, not brand new, but new to us.
The first two were totally unexpected and, at this time last year, the downsizing project did not seem possible.  Way too overwhelming!
By using Google Photos and the new Open Live Writer, we are presenting our last year in photos.



Picacho Peak State Park was our first night in Arizona after a harrowing trip west.  The setting sun lit up the mountain across I-10 from our campground and we were back in our winter home.



Our happy place…..at the foot of the Superstition Mountains in Lost Dutchman State Park.







Boondocking on Dome Rock Road in Quartzsite….We were climbing the hills behind camp.


Bloggerfest 2015



Lynne and Sylvester at Clark Dry Lake, Anza Borrego SP in CA



John, BJ and Turk at the Dome Rock Egg Rally in Quartzsite



Theodore Roosevelt Lake, Arizona’s largest lake.  We swapped the crowds of Quartzsite to almost complete isolation of this lake east of Phoenix.

More Roosevelt Lake



Salt River with Four Peaks in background…..close to our favorite parking lot at Phon D Sutton Rec Area.

Tucson Mountain Park

More Tucson

And that’s the end of our winter trip!

The remaining photos were selected to show the important happening of that month.


March: Green Eggs and Ham Rally in Montgomery, Alabama


April: Sadly said good-bye to our faithful companion of 5 years.  Sooo many memories!



May:  And said “hello” to our new home!


June:  Our house sold!


July:  Remodeling on our new home begins!


August: Time to rest, time to take a deep breath!



September: Land Between the Lakes Rally in Dover, TN.




October:  Cherokee Rally in North Carolina and our new truck!




November: Gulf State Park at Gulf Shores, Alabama



December:  David on the Tennessee Riverwalk after record setting rains.  Whole area underwater two days later.

Fireworks are sounding in the distance!  Another year is coming in! 
Hope everyone will have a wonder-filled 2016…HAPPY NEW YEAR!

PS  This blog was edited 4 days after publishing as the author mistakenly deleted all the photos!