DiscoveryTravelers

A Year Remembered

2011-12-31T17:35:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone, much like the year 2011. It has been a very interesting year. It was our first full year back home since our rving days on the road.

This was the first time ever my mom n law had a picture made with Santa. Here's the proof. She had a great time. Then we watched the local Christmas parade.

In the beginning of the year I started the process of getting a local Weight Watchers class organized in my hometown. As of the class this morning the total weight loss from the start of the class last March they lost a total of 801 pounds. I'm very proud of my class.

Throughout the year I got involved in helping with our church pantry. I think everyone should volunteer to do something for the greater good. I've read that real joy comes from being of service to others, getting outside ourselves. I believe that is true.

One of the highlights of the year was seeing the River City Men's Chorus perform, not once but twice. Why is this important? My cousin Carl is a charter member. In the beginning there were some thirty men, now there are sixty. In November they and their spouses traveled to Italy where they performed at the Vatican. Just days before they left for that adventure they performed the same concert in Little Rock. My dear friend Ellie and I attended.

This picture is the Chorus performing their annual Christmas concert in December just days after returning from Italy.

There have been many great memories made this year but I'm ready for the new year. I told my class this morning that we can't change the past, the history, but we have a clean slate now with the new year. It's up to us what we do with it. We can write a new history, make new memories, set and meet new goals. I don't make New Year's Resolutions because they are usually out the window by January 2nd. I prefer goals with built in flexibility. That's mangeable.

The new year is just hours away as I write this. Some folks don't like change....I do. I find it exciting, invigorating, refreshing, sometimes challenging and always interesting.

Welcome 2012.

Happy New Year to all our dear friends. May God bless you this new year.

I Still Have A Blog!!!!

2011-12-10T13:27:00.002-06:00

Yes, it's a fact...I still have a blog. I believe I said I wanted to start posting more often, what happened with that? I don't know. I do know that lifes pace has picked up and I am busy, I might add I'm very happy these days.

Shortly after my last post, long ago and far away, I drove to south Texas and brought my dear sweet, mother-n-law or as my friend Pam would say....my mother-n-love back to Arkansas. She came for a couple of months, a trial run you might say. Guess she wanted to see what life with Dan and me is like. I tried to warn her that we live a quiet, non-dramatic lifestyle. As a rule we don't eat out. OK, there is the burger or pizza maybe every three or four months and we don't go to movies. We are active in our church and I lead a Weight Watchers Class. We kept asking her to make a permanent move here. In September she did. Life has gotten very interesting.

We are so happy to have Janie here and she has brought us so much joy. She has moved her church membership to our home church. That fact pleased us greatly. She and I attend the same Sunday School class. We've been very busy getting her situated with new medical folks. The good thing is that she likes everyone of the folks she has dealt with. The medical community here has made me proud. They are a kind, compassionate, patient group of folks. She took note of that, being that she has a medical background and knows a thing or two about the way the medical people should treat their patients. We have a couple more appointments and I think the schedule will mellow out.

Dan had back surgery this past Spring and he is once again having back issues. He is scheduled for another MRI this next week. Please keep him in your prayers. He was told a couple of surgeries ago that if this keeps going he will wind up with a fused spine or a steel rod. Dan is not known for being still and quiet. He is a man who wants.....needs to be busy. He likes being productive, believes each person should earn their keep for each day they live. Dan is a man who would give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it. He helps out at church, will help a neighbor in need. You get the idea. Being careful and never lifting, squatting, bending, stretching, well you might as well tell him he can't breathe. He is who he is. Again, prayers...please!!!

During the time back home I've managed to find time to pursue my interest in beading. While we were fulltiming I learned to do the peyote stitch and I've turned out many bracelets using that stitch. The beads are Miyuki Delicas, laser cut glass, very precise. That precision makes for some beautiful bracelets. Some interest was shown in my work and I now have several bracelets on display in a local shop. I'm in the process of designing pieces for our local and state football teams. Go Yellowjackets and Razorbacks!!!!!!!!

I mentioned that I lead a Weight Watchers class. I don't remember the exact date but I moved the class from the church to a bank community room. We are in a central location, right next to Micky D and a couple of steps away from Wally World. I have a great class and to date from last March the class has lost a total of 770 + pounds. Not too shabby, huh!!!!! Just today we talked about the advantages of attending a meeting. There is group support, encouragement, fresh ideas, accountabilty, strength, drive and motivation to succeed. Besides all that, the members become friends and the meeting becomes something of a social event. What's not to like about that?

Another fact I want to note here.....it was during our fulltiming life in the motorhome that I got to meet face to face with some online Weight Watcher friends. It was on a trip to Colorado, the western slopes, I met Pam, the pilot. While there I also met Ellie, the now retired power plant operator. Back here at home I met Janice, now retired from managing a lawyer's office. Each of these women in their own right are strong, independent, Christian, role models, mothers to some incredible kids and I'm so blessed, proud to call them my friends. Weight Watchers is the leading weight loss program in the world and it's so much more. I have the friends to prove it.

I enjoyed life in the motorhome. I've been asked if I miss that life. There are days I miss the tranquility of seeing wildlife and water, sunrises, sunsets, campfires.....I cherish my memories, I cherish the lifelong friendships I made. I like to think I'm in a new chapter of my life now. I'm happy being at home, able to be involved with my church family, I'm happy being in the position of leader with Weight Watchers. I've always wanted my life to make a difference and I feel like maybe, just maybe I found the place for that to happen.

I want to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas!!!! It's all about Jesus!!!!!!!!

Going Full Circle

2011-06-08T15:47:00.003-05:00

The most recent question has been, "Are you crazy?" Maybe, I don't know, I always thought everyone was a tad unique that way. I still don't know the answer to that question. I'm going to go with "yes". It keeps things interesting.

Back in the day, long ago, Dan and I did tent camp. We moved up through the ranks of travel trailer, small motor home, large motor home, back to tent camping. We've gone full circle. We use to sit in the motor home while full timing and watch the tent campers, the weekend folks, and we observed how much fun those folks were having. We wanted to see just how much fun it can be.

We marched off to the local "all you could ever need store" and bought a tent....not a tiny thing, but one that is 8 X 14 with over 6 foot height inside. It is quite roomy. We got the queen air mattress, something we didn't have in our first days of tent camping. The one thing I noticed about tent camping versus our days in the motor home, we stayed outside except for sleeping. We also have a screen room that I named the kitchen, we didn't cook in it at first but we got brave the last camping trip and fired up the coleman stove inside the screen room. That baby worked like a charm. The tent is named the house.

One real adventure on the first camping trip was during the second night. A critter, thinking raccoon here, relieved us of most of the groceries in the cooler. That animal consumed more than we did in the four days of camping. Dan fixed that situation and added a latch to that cooler. We bought a larger cooler and he attached bungee cords to it, no critters from that point on.

One thing we didn't consider was the heat of summer. On our last trip that reality set in, along with the gnats. We were suppose to stay until last Friday but I checked the weather and saw where Thursday's heat index was predicted to be 110 degrees. We packed up and came home early. Our biggest concern was our sweet furkid, KD. She was having a hard time in the heat and we simply will not do that to her. Now, we wait for a break in the heat until our next adventure. We hope our future will include a new travel trailer but we are in no hurry. It is so much fun to walk out to the waters edge and throw that fishing hook in the water and see what happens.

While we wait we are back home. Dan is tending the yard and working his magic with flowers, bushes, fix it jobs, all the joys of being back in the sticks and bricks dwelling.

One of our roses.

In our travels we saw a flower pot built like this and Dan decided to build his own. When the flowers are fully grown the white tube will not be visible...at least that is the plan.

Our first trip with the new tent, the house, and the screen room, the kitchen. This is the site where the critter paid us a visit. This trip was to Lake Catherine State Park.

We saw this Mama and her babies, just precious to watch.

There was a full moon during the first camping trip, made the stay even better.

The view of the lake from our site.

Going full circle...who knew!! If someone had told me a year ago I'd be tent camping I would have called them crazy. I will always love the cool brisk mornings by the lake, fresh cappuccino in hand, birds singing, fish hitting the surface of the water, the quiet, the peace...no I'm not crazy after all. This full circle thing.....come on cooler weather....I want to go camping.

Spring Brings Roses

2011-05-02T18:15:00.004-05:00

In my last post I had pictures of snow. That snow has been replaced by green grass and roses, trees greening out, all a welcomed sight. Much has taken place, not only in my corner of the world but the world in general.

My Weight Watchers At Work class finished its ten week run. It was a great group of folks. When the class wrapped up several members had plans to go on by attending traditional classes away from the work place. My local class is going full steam ahead, another fantastic group of folks. We meet on Saturday morning and it is always so much fun. They are enjoying great success with the new program.

During the month of March Dan had back surgery. His pain got so intense he could hardly walk. There was no relief sitting, standing or lying down. He was just in a miserable state. The test and surgery revealed two ruptured disk. The doc said they took out fragments the size of ones index finger during the surgery. They also didn't know how he was walking at all...well....he just about wasn't. The surgery was a great success and he is a new person these days. He will always have to be very careful.

On the same day Dan had surgery we learned that his Mom was taken to the ER for her own back issues. Her back is fractured in three places. There has been much discussion over whether to do surgery or not. She was admitted to the hospital only to be sent home. Her lungs needed some time to clear before they would talk about surgery. During all the waiting Dan flew to Texas to be with his Mom, to be available to help her. A road trip that soon after Dan's surgery was out of the question. He was there a couple of weeks when I drove his truck to the Texas Coastal Bend. I was there a couple of nights and we came home. His Mom's surgery is on hold indefinitely. The docs are x-raying every couple of weeks....her back seems to be stabilizing. If things stay on track she will not require surgery. Your prayers for her and Dan are much appreciated.

My heart goes out to all those effected by the horrible storms around the country. We should keep all of those folks in our prayers.

The one highlight through all the tragedy regarding the weather was the Royal Wedding. This world needed something positive and happy and a wedding just fills that order. I watched the famous wedding that took place thirty years ago and I wasn't about to miss this one. It's history in the making. Besides I think they make a beautiful couple. There are just some positive things in this world, things that bring me joy.....my dear friends.....flowers......babies.....puppies.....doggy kisses...sunshine......rain drops......hugs.....rainbows anywhere but especially over the Colorado Rockies......sunrise over any body of water......and weddings.

Weather....You Need To Decide Something

2011-02-25T12:13:00.010-06:00

"If you don't like the weather in Arkansas, stick around it will change". I thought that was unique to Arkansas until we began our fulltiming life in our motor home, roaming around different states. I heard that same comment about every state we visited. Goes to prove that no matter where you are, the weather can be wild in spite of the best intended weather predictions. During the past four weeks we've had temps in the 70's, a week later it was near blizzard conditions. OK, maybe not blizzard but the air was white.

The snow was beautiful, most of the state shut down. The television stations were already announcing closings on Tuesday while there was no sign of what was coming, except for the weather map on the TV. It was a monster, it's rare for the entire state to have snow all at the same time. It happened. Two days later Mr. Sunshine was beaming and snow was melting, life was back to normal.

I was really hoping the snow would wait just twentyfour hours, like I would have some say in that matter....didn't happen. The same day it snowed was to be my second "At Work" Weight Watchers class in Little Rock. That class didn't happen, in fact the city offices closed. So the class will be made up at the end of the class series. At Work classes go for a ten week period. If the company wishes to renew toward the end of the ten weeks then the class will continue. Out of four weeks we've met three times, the class is a great group of members and I look forward to seeing them each week to see how they are doing. I've also accepted a second At Work class and that class will start March 4th.

The Weight Watchers class I've been working on getting started in Sheridan will be happening soon. I needed sixty signatures, I have near seventy with more coming in. I have the place, the time and the day of the week all decided but have to wait to announce all that. I need a receptionist for the class and a wonderful young lady is about to start training for that position. As soon as she is ready, we will move ahead.

Yesterday the weather put on another show. This time instead of snow we had rain and wind and tornado watches. I much prefer snow to all of that. At least snow is beautiful. Our yard and plants loved the rain. The temps today are lower 50's with a breeze but all is calm, the sun is shining again. This is what we are looking at today.

Dan is making plans for landscaping the yard, moving flowers, planting hedges, other plans he won't tell me just what.....says it is a surprise. Now, he has my attention. I think there's something in there about a firepit and a sitting area.....Oh, I hope so. I miss the campfires we use to have while camping. I can see it now....a brisk evening, a small fire, sunset.......then out of the still, quiet, KD takes off barking at a person walking by. That's OK, it's her yard, her territory, her domain and she protects it well.

Dan is out in his shop.....maybe I should go peak in and see what's happening. At least today the sun is shining....a great day for yard work. Hummmmm!

That White Stuff....Spring We Are Waiting

2011-02-04T11:24:00.002-06:00

As I sit here starting this blog entry we are getting snow. We expect to have snow fall all day. The ground is covered and everything is beautiful. Oh, traffic is moving along nicely, haven't heard any sirens this morning. Maybe most folks stayed home today. Everyone can use a long weekend from time to time.

With this snow comes the memories of last winter. I know I keep referring to last winter but it holds a very special place in my heart. I think two flat landers taking on the Colorado Rockies is an accomplishment. We are folks who are not bent on having lots of stuff, we prefer a simpler life and thanks to those years on the road we learned how to do that. We also learned that our memories and our friends are our true treasures.

We are still volunteering at the Wednesday night church supper, in fact we look forward to it. We are also planning to work the food pantry the second weekend this month. That Friday is prep day, getting the sacks of groceries ready, then Saturday folks come from all around to pick up sacks or do their own shopping. We've been informed that one of our group is coming in Saturday morning and cooking pancakes and sausages for the day. It is truly a social event, so much fun, lots of hard work and so worth every minute we are there. One dear friend told me that wherever I was I was going to have fun, she said that is how I roll. I'd never thought of myself that way but she may be onto something. I believe we should approach each day with happy hearts and a good attitude. I believe we should leave the path we walk a happy place for the folks we meet along the way. Besides it's just so much fun.

I mentioned in my last post that I had completed training to be a Weight Watchers leader. Two weeks ago I had a phone call offering me an At Work class. I didn't hesitate....I accepted the offer. For those not familiar with Weight Watchers classes, the At Work is a work place getting together employees who want a class and they decide the day and time and meeting room and Weight Watchers provides a leader. My class is in City Hall for the city of Little Rock. I had my first class on Feb. 2nd and I have a fantastic group of folks. Talk about being wired, no not from coffee. I thought I'd be shaking in my shoes but I never got nervous. I have some incredible friends who have been my encouragement, my support, my rock. One particular friend sent me an email and I've printed it and have it hanging over my office desk at home. It reads, "Today and tomorrow and ever after, I live in a state of inner direction. Calmly and with poise and confidence, I move toward new experiences." I read this every day and apply it to every thing I do. I proceeded to my class and kept those words in my head and the day went very well. I'm looking forward to my next class.

The report is that the groundhog is predicting an early Spring. I wonder, all the while looking out at that white blanket that is getting thicker by the minute. I'm ready for the flowers to bloom, the grass to be green, the trees to bud out. I want to sit on my porch with my cappuccino and watch KD go hunting in our yard. I love the very early hours of the day during Spring, Summer and Autumn.

Yes, Spring we are waiting........any day now!!!!!!

The Journey Just Gets Better and Better

2011-01-14T13:08:00.005-06:00

When we came home we knew we were entering a new chapter in our lives. It continues to be a journey of discovery as we learn more about us, our likes, dislikes, the things that aren't important and those things which we are devoted to.

The house, as I've said before, required a lot of work to fix things that needed attention. We were very blessed in finding a very good construction carpenter, all round fix it fellow. He was very thorough in his work and we are happy with the results. That part of the repair is done and a very heavy load lifted.

Upon coming home we knew we would return to the church we attended before we left town to pursue our RVing fulltime lifestyle. Returning to church was like going home. It has been the most wonderful experience and we continue to make new friends as we get more and more involved in the church. Shortly after going back to church Dan told our friend Ann, who heads up the kitchen and all that goes on there, if she ever needed his help he was available. A week ago Ann approached Dan and asked if he was serious about helping. He was. This week he and I both showed up early on Wednesday and I'm very proud to say Dan cooked the Wednesday night church supper. It was delicious. He was in his element and having fun. He went after that like he had been doing that forever. He really does know his way around the kitchen...I've told folks that and I think they think I'm just trying to make him look good. He doesn't need my help in that department.....his work speaks for him. He had many compliments on the meal and I have a feeling he will be in the kitchen more and more. I hope so....it really was good.

Our church also has a food pantry and one Saturday a month the pantry is open to provide food for those in need. We volunteered to help there and learned there is a lot of work in that production. We went in on the day before the pantry was to open and sacked many bags to be delivered that same day to folks who don't have transportation to come get the food. We also sacked many bags for pick up on Saturday. Some folks who come in choose to go through the pantry and pick out what they need. It was a fast paced two days and the most wonderful blessing to be a part of that program. We will continue to help. We carried bags to the cars for folks and got a chance to visit with some. The kitchen also serves coffee, soft drinks and sweet treats while folks are shopping. It was fast paced, a lot of work and a whole lot of fun. We are looking forward to next month.

Last Sunday toward the end of the service, the pastor announced we would not have Sunday night service. Now I know the weather man was calling for a winter storm but I tend to not put much stock into weather predictions. Then here was the pastor cancelling the service. OK, I'm thinking maybe there's something to this weather report. I'll say there was something....within an hour of getting home from church the snow started. We had very cold temps and some six to eight inches of snow. Yes, yes, yes....we will give the weather man this one...he was right this time. Dan and I stayed in for the most part, just wandered out on the porch to check on how deep it was. I'm very happy to report the streets are all clear now and we still have snow in the yard.

With winter hitting, the temps dropping, being involved more and more at church, I have also completed my training to be a Weight Watcher leader. My friend Janice and I made a trip to the corporate office so I could pick up a new calculator and while there we, OK, Janice announced we need a meeting in Sheridan. Gena's reply was,"find the people and a place to meet". We came away from there with signature sheets and information on how to get a meeting started. I have signature sheets in four churches and the rec center. I've also located a great meeting place and now I'm waiting for the signatures. I keep studying my Weight Watcher papers while I'm waiting. I figure I better know what I'm talking about....can't hurt.

Our very latest news is that Dan has a new toy. It has been six years since he had his own wheels. He has always preferred Chevrolet's and the color of choice is black. Here it is..isn't it a beauty. Dan did take KD and me for a ride.....I haven't dared ask to drive it.......not yet!!!!

The journey we are on, this new chapter really does get better and more interesting with each new day.

For all our RVing friends, safe travels....our prayers are with you.

State of Mind

2010-12-27T08:16:00.005-06:00

This morning I find myself in a strange state of mind. The excitement of Christmas still lingers, as it should all year long. Folks are generally in a great mood this time of year. I think it has to do with the fact that we all can slow down, even stop our normal routines and it's OK. No one is going to complain about getting some time for themselves and their families. I hear friends discuss the long lists of things they feel they must get done prior to Christmas. Whatever stress we find ourselves in is, in my humble opinion, self induced. I tell friends to stay in the moment. I also think those same folks who have those long to do lists are the same ones who are creating some incredible memories that the adults and kids will all look back on with warm feelings. Who knows, maybe those kids will someday re-create what they remember.

It was this time last year that Dan and I were sitting at a 7000' elevation surrounded by snow. By this time last year the snow was old news but I was having a time. The first snow came by mid October and when we pulled out in March a lot of snow was headed that way. The staff at the park told us the real snow was just beginning. What was all that white stuff covering the ground for months? We cherish those memories! That brings me to being cold now. I find I'm colder this year at home than last year in the Colorado mountains. Guess it has something to do with the humidity that Arkansas is so famous for. I find I'm cold most of the time. By the end of the week we are suppose to be in the low to mid 70's. No complaining here. Bring it on!!

This week we had the pleasure of meeting Janna and Mike who are visiting here from Montana. Janna is from my hometown. Turns out we know lots of the same folks. We have a mutual friend, Ellie, who was instrumental in our meeting. Janna makes beautiful quilts and she has made one for Ellie. Dan and I had the honor of seeing that quilt. It is a work of art. I took pictures of it but in all fairness to Ellie I will wait to post it. I think that honor should be Ellie's to share. I asked Janna and Mike about life in Montana. Just makes me want to go see it. Montana is one state I've never been in. Someday I hope to change that.

This brings me back to my state of mind. This is our first winter in our house in six years. Usually this time of year we and many RVing friends are heading to warmer climates for the winter. I find I miss the excitement of planning the travels, meeting up with friends, making new friends, seeing new country, the anticipation of travel day, preparing the rig for travel, the setting up once we arrive at our destination. We have many good memories and some not so great, but all in all it was fun. I find myself getting a cold dose of reality that we really did come off the road and we are now into a new chapter in our lives. That doesn't stop me from missing what was.

I'm a person who has reinvented myself many times to adjust to my circumstances. Maybe it takes working on my state of mind. I'm truly enjoying being in the house with all the space, the real refrigerator and a dishwasher that I forget is sitting there. There are lots of good things about being home. First is our home church. It's wonderful to get up Sunday morning knowing where we are going to church, not wondering where a church is. We also have our dear friends Bill and Janice who live just a few miles from us. We see each other regularly and we always have fun together.

My Mom use to tell me that I was going to wish my life away. Wise woman!! I still look forward to things, not so sure if that is wishing my life away but it comes back to the state of mind. The glass is definitely half full. Remember I'm the one who is always saying "stay in the moment".

I hope all our friends are having a great week getting ready for the new year. To all our traveling friends, safe travels, enjoy the journey.

Memories and Dreams

2010-12-19T14:12:00.011-06:00

There is something about this time of year that makes some, OK, me reflect on times that were and times that are yet to be. The memories are much like a file cabinet and I can open any drawer and pull out whatever memory I want to replay, those I want to relive, some I don't want to relive but the total sum of the things stashed in that file cabinet have made me the person I am. I wish I had made some different choices along the way but I really have no regrets. I've learned many valuable lessons and I figure if I've been busy learning stuff there is no room for any regrets.

When Dan and I embarked on our life together we knew we had many things in common, one of those things was a love of the outdoors. We had no idea we would spend six years living in a motor home. Soon after we got married we bought our first tent and Dan had most of the camping goodies one needs to make the tent experience great. Nothing like breakfast over a campfire, yes memories. I can just smell the bacon. We moved up to a small travel trailer, including the tongue it was a huge 20' long piece of adventure. We thought we were hot stuff...we had an RV. I remember like it was minutes ago....Dan was busy setting up the outside doing blue (guy) stuff and I was inside playing domestic goddess. In my circle of RV friends I was doing what we refer to as pink stuff. Dan came marching in and announced he needed more room than this trailer allowed, why if he wanted to change his mind he had to go outside to do it. We went from the tent to the trailer then to a small motor home then the fulltiming bug bit and nothing do but we had to have a 40 foot diesel pusher. That gave the RVing experience a whole different perspective.

My greatest memories, my greatest blessings from six years on the road are the precious friends we made, all the terrific folks we met. We saw places that were breath taking and I wouldn't take anything for what we saw but the crown jewels are the friends. The RVing community is made up of a lot of very good and decent people. Yes, I treasure my friends, my memories.

Now we are approaching Christmas, there's just something about this time of year that makes me reflect, makes me count my blessings, makes me aware of where I've been and where I'm headed. We are happy to be home, we needed to come home if for nothing more than to take stock of us and map out our plans. Dan has done an incredible amount of work on the house and has it looking good. That hard wood floor is still waiting...we aren't in any hurry. It's a journey after all.

We have done minimal decorating even though we have the things to go all out. This time of year is not about lots of lights and bells and whistles...it is about the birth of Jesus and we are choosing to make that our focus. I appreciate all the folks who want to go all out and we have done that but not this time. If we want lots of lights we will take a drive one night and see all the lights we want. In the mean time I will admire the nativity scene Dan made many years ago. My father in law built the wooden structure that houses the scene.

We have this scene and our small fiber optic tree and the wise men all on a table in our living room. It is a beautiful sight.

We received this beautiful wreath from our dear friends, Peggy and Michael. It is perfect. Peggy and Michael......thank you!!!

Our hometown friends, our first ever RVing buddies, Bill and Janice, brought over this poinsettia and I saw this as an opportunity to display Dan's collection of old world Santa's. This is on our breakfast table. It's the first time we've ever had them out of their boxes. Bill and Janice...thank you!!!

We are very happy to be home for the holiday season. We have had time to reflect on what makes us happy. This brings us to our dreams....we are planning on another RV. This time it won't be a bus, it will be a rig that we can have fun with, maybe get in some fishing, who knows maybe spend the summer back in those Colorado Rockies we came to love so much back in the day. We learned to live a simpler life during those six years, we don't need nor do we want lots of stuff. Stuff is not what brings happiness. Happiness comes from within, from living, talking, walking our Christian lives, from surrounding ourselves with our friends whom we love so much.

Memories and dreams....they manage to come full circle and they come together. Who has time for regrets.....not us.

Merry Christmas dear, precious friends. God Bless You!!!

The Reason For The Season

2010-12-08T11:40:00.004-06:00

On one hand it seems like yesterday that we pulled that Discovery into the drive in pouring rain, made a run for the porch and waited out the storm, on the other hand it seems like a lifetime ago. When we got here we literally hit the ground running, so much that we both burned out with all the fix it stuff we needed to do to reclaim this house. The house is looking great, the hardwood floor has yet to be done but it can wait. We are taking a break.

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving day at home, just the two of us. I took a couple of pies to our church for their community dinner. Other than that it was a much appreciated day with our little meal and football on the tube. Yes, it was a very good day.

For various reasons the holidays are stressful for many. We learned a few years back to embrace the holidays, keeping our expectations under control so we would not stress out. Because Dan's relatives are many miles away and my immediate family is gone we tend to have quiet holidays this time of the year, just the two of us and our sweet furkid, KD.

My last blog entry was too long ago.....I really want to post more often....but I think folks would not be real excited to see that I got up, had my cappuccino, got dressed, walked my pet, then did house stuff. How exciting is that? Anyway, a couple of things have taken place since that last post that has long since fallen into the archives somewhere. First, we found our sweet Whitney a new and wonderful home. His new Mom is absolutley in love with him as are her grandkids. He is thriving, has a large fenced back yard to run and play in and I hear he is puttng it to good use. When we adopted him I thought it would be fun for KD to have company. Well, little did I know, KD never adapted to him, would not accept his being part of the family and I felt in all fairness he should be in a one dog family. He is a happy little boy now and I'm happy...yes I miss him but it was the right decision.

The other major thing that has happened is that I completed my training with Weight Watchers. I'm good to go as a leader and have had training as a receptionist and weigher. I do not yet have a class but am on the roster as a sub and for now I like that, in fact I prefer that for now. I'm presently going through test for a back problem, have been given instructions to stay off my feet. The doc doesn't want me aggrevating the problem. I have an MRI Friday and the outcome of that will determine if I need spinal injections to relieve the pain. I've also been having weird things going on with the heart and I'm scheduled for a stress test next Monday. You know I'm in for some fun.

That brings me to now. Christmas is here, people are busy getting ready for the big day, Jesus' birthday. Dan refuses to go into any stores because he doesn't want to hear someone say "Happy Holiday". That would certainly light a fuse with him. We both are adamant about saying "Merry Christmas". Christ birth is the reason we call it Christmas....the reason for the season. I know everyone has their way of celebrating and they have that right, but let's not forget that Baby born 2000 years ago.......the Baby who changed everything.

Merry Christmas....may God bless and keep you and yours.

Looking Forward

2010-10-28T09:54:00.006-05:00

The work on the house is moving along. The interior is almost where we want it and refinishing the hardwood floor is the last thing on the list. That was an issue Dan and I didn't agree on..I wanted the floors done before we put all the stuff on them, Dan wanted it to be last. He is the one who will be doing all that work so who am I to argue the point. His work is meticulous so I know in the end it will be nice. Living in and keeping up a house is much like RVing..it's really a journey, it's not about the destination. We learned that early on in our RVing, we loved the travel days, the preparation, the anticipation of the journey. So, we too, are loving the journey of caring for this place we call home.

The painting on the inside of the house is just about done. Dan is moving through the house today touching up paint where needed. I've been sewing stuff for the house, something I've never done but I'm very happy with the way things turned out.

This is a dust ruffle or bed skirt I made from curtains. Now I need to make or find a comforter that works with this color.

Curtains for the Red Hot dining room. Dan is planning to make a white wooden curtain rod so I can use the tabs that are hidden in the picture.

The comforter is reversible from the yellow and rose to a very dark green. Then I made pillow covers to match.

With all this remodel stuff, I've also started training with Weight Watchers. I earned my lifetime membership back in the early 80's, that was one of the best things I ever did, it was a real feeling of accomplishment. I have learned that just because one earns the lifetime status with Weight Watchers there are no guarantees that one keeps the weight off. It, too, is a journey. It is about a lifetime commitment, a lifestyle change, it's about doing mental work. Weight issues are never about the food, it's all about trying to feed a void in ones life. The big deal is to figure out what that void is and work on that. Then with the right attitude and the proper eating program the weight is brought under control. This is where I find myself in this journey. I've done the mental work this time, something I didn't do before, I have lost the weight, I am so grateful to Weight Watchers and one dear friend who helped me find my way back, she continues to set a standard, a great example of success. I am training to be a leader, in hopes that I can inspire others the way my friend has inspired me.

I'm looking forward, feeling real excitement, anticipation and joy. Life is very good!

Time and Paint-----Both Flying

2010-10-05T16:59:00.006-05:00

It seems like yesterday that I was packing for my trip to the wilds of Mississippi for an adventure I wasn't real sure about. It was so far outside my comfort zone that I wondered if I was nuts for even thinking about going. Those gals get together a couple of times a year, all are Weight Watcher folks, on the journey to healthier lifestyles, making good choices, sharing in the journey, encouraging one another. Besides I knew Ellie would be there and she said it would be OK and it was......it was a magical time, a very fast week, over much too soon. Our hostess, Shirley, is also a Weight Watcher leader and we had the pleasure of sitting in on one of her classes. I came home with new energy, new focus, new recipes, knowledge of new food choices which I've already been working on. Yes, we are already talking of our get together next Spring.

A wonderful group of women. Back row from left...Karen, Colorado...Sandy, California...Shirley, our hostess, Elaine, Pennsylvania. Front row, Gail, Alabama....Ann, Virginia....Yours truly, Arkansas..and Ellie, my dear friend who comes from Colorado. I am already excited about next Spring and getting to spend more time with these beautiful people.

Here's the proof that we really did kayak. What an experience. The hostess said I took to it like a duck to water. If you ever think your life is out of control, get in a kayak. You will learn fast who is controlling what. Wow!!!!!

The week was over and we all headed back to our homes. It was sad to leave but there is next Spring.

Upon arriving home I was welcomed by dear sweet Dan and two furkids. Dan had the place looking terrific. The dining room is the crown jewel. It is Red Hot...really...that's the name of the color.

The rest of the house is Colonial Yellow with accents of light yellow in the kitchen. The whole house has white woodwork. It is truly a happy place to be.

The kitchen before the yellow.

The kitchen with yellow...we weren't closing doors just yet to give the paint time to dry.

We are still doing touch ups and still have a couple of baseboards to paint but the place has been transformed. It is warm, inviting and like I said, "happy".

It is so good to be home.

Making Lists

2010-09-20T15:43:00.006-05:00

We are notorious list makers. I've joked that Dan will make a list of his lists. It's a sure way of keeping some kind of order and to keep from being overwhelmed at all there is to do.

We are continuously working on our home, it is understood that it's a journey, it's the process that brings the joy. We look at being here now different from when we left six years ago. We are at peace, very happy, content even but we are making list every day, then revising them.

Dan bleached the outside of the house a few days back and the outside looks fresh, even has a sheen to it. The house is a soft yellow with white trim around the porch. Dan has also sealed nail holes in the walls and I've been washing woodwork, cabinets, doors and door facings, walls, cleaning all around so he can get to painting in the next few days. We've also removed the hardware from the kitchen cabinets so we can clean them, possibly paint them. We aren't sure how that will work but figure it's worth a try. Paint is much less expensive than new hardware, although that is the next option if the paint idea doesn't prove successful.

I"ve been asked what colors we finally decided on for the interior. Our dining room will be Red Hot. One wall in the master bedroom will also be that same red. The kitchen and breakfast rooms will be a very soft yellow, the kitchen cabinets and the remaining interior walls will be Colonial Yellow. All the woodwork will be white and all the paint is semi gloss. This is going to be very interesting. I've taken before pictures and when the painting is finished I'll add some before and after shots to the blog.

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Mississippi to hang out with a group of girlfriends for a week, some pink time. We will be kayaking, line dancing, exercising, eating all Weight Watcher friendly meals, just some great fellowship. It's my first time to go and I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I'm way out of my comfort zone. I had considered not going due to all the work here but Dan has insisted that I go, he even wants me to go a day early. He wants me to take my time and arrive safely. The truth is he wants me out of the house so he can work his magic. Now he has me wondering what I'll come home to. Come to think of it, he is also changing the locks...could that be a sign. Maybe I should leave a window unlocked just in case. Nawwwwwww!!!! He loves to surprise me and that is what he is planning. He has admitted that part.

Our new puppy, Whitney, has adapted very well to us and to KD. Of course, KD is still running the show. They play together now and it is fun to watch. Sometimes they will get into this growling, barking frenzy and it's like they are having a conversation. I never know what it's about except it can get intense. They are so much joy!!!

Whitney in his favorite place, watching for Squirrels and Birds...he is a hunter.

Whitney and KD playing!!

Sun setting over Wally world. I thought it was very pretty.

I have a packing list for my upcoming trip. I should check that and get to packing.

Organization...list making....all good!!!!!

The Journey Begins

2010-09-08T09:04:00.003-05:00

With our dogs boarded that Saturday we decided to go ahead and get an early start on our trip to the Texas coast. I learned that I forgot how to pack since I've carried my stuff with me for so long. After checking several times to be sure we weren't forgetting anything we left home, drove about five hours, stopped for the night north of Houston. We knew we were in for a long drive, the computer map program said it's a ten hour drive, well, it's more like eleven. We decided we wanted to break that up and we were glad we did. We rarely eat out, again because we carried our food with us, but that night after getting a room we found a Barnhill restaurant. We ate in a Barnhill in Mobile, AL and remembered the food being good. It's like a self serve buffet type service. After supper we returned to the room and turned in early.

Sunday we drove six hours to get to Aransas Pass. I had reserved a rental truck to be picked up Monday early in Rockport. About thirty miles out of Fulton Dan got a phone call from another rental place telling us they had our truck, not the 24' we asked for but a 26', no extra charge and they would give us more miles and additional travel days. Well, OK now. That would certainly fit the plan. We picked up the truck, checked in our motel, rested about an hour, then took Dan's Mom to supper.

Monday morning we were at our storage unit by 6:30 a.m. I hired a couple of fellows to help pack the truck and they arrived about 7:30 a.m. While the guys loaded and Dan supervised I went to get gas for the car and two cappuccino's. I took the coffee and went to visit with Mom for some pink time (girl talk). I arrived back at the storage facility around 9 a.m. and by 9:15 the truck was loaded. We drove back to the rental place where they hooked up a car dolly to tow the car.

All went well until just south of Atlanta, TX when we were pulled over. No ticket or warning, the policeman just wanted us to know that one of the tail lights on the dolly wasn't working. Turns out there wasn't even a light bulb in it. Dan was not happy. We called the hotline, waited an hour and a half, no one came, we drove on. We arrived home by midnight, tired, but very happy to be home.

We had agreed we would not unload in a hurry. That idea lasted about as long as it took to say it. Tuesday morning I played navigator to help Dan back the truck to our porch. We got it lined up for the ramp and I left by car to go get the furkids from boarding. I stopped by our friends, Bill and Janice's house and asked Janice to ride with me. We had a great visit and picked up the puppies. Lots of doggy kisses and tail wagging later, we arrived home.

We worked non stop for about thirteen days straight. The place is looking good. We are home, now we are picking out new paint colors for the interior, making plans, yes we back in our groove. Our new puppy Whitney is thriving. Our latest news with him is that he is not a Schnauzer after all. He is a Jack Russell Terrier, which explains his antics, his comical way, his loving nature. I've been around many Schnauzers and I knew I'd never seen one behave the way he does. KD is just happy to have her space back.

This past Sunday we attended our home church for the first time in years and there were hugs all around. We have missed them.

Yesterday I bought a new vac and I'm anxious to give it a spin....just see how that baby works. Why would I be excited about a vac, I've never had a brand new vac, see.....such a simple thing.

Life is good and the journey has begun.

Catching Our Breath

2010-08-28T12:18:00.002-05:00

Ever since arriving home we've been on the run and leaving no tracks behind. It's been a whirlwind life around here. Yes, even exciting. I just keep saying "it's so good to be home".

We've managed to get the place cleaned up. That will remain an ongoing project, it is a house after all. That upkeep is one of the things most folks who go fulltime find they don't miss. In the end, it was one of the things we found we missed. Dan has straightened his two shops. One shop is for lawn stuff. The larger shop will double as a stained glass studio, if and when I have the inclination to go tackle some glass. Otherwise, it will be where Dan can go putter and tinker, fix things, make things.

As of this morning I took KD and Whitney to their vet to board them for a couple of days. Now, KD has only been boarded maybe three or four times in all the years we've had her. To Whitney it was just another adventure, new people to play with him. He is just a happy, fun loving puppy. And, yes, I feel horrible for boarding them. I don't like being away from them. So, why are they boarded!! Well, we are about to take a car trip to the Texas Coast and load a rental truck in the south Texas heat. A hot car would be no place for two sweet furbabies to have to wait while we load our stuff from storage. It is bittersweet...I'm so excited to be getting our stuff and bringing it home but I hate leaving my pets.

A very good friend told me it would be like having Christmas in August. It will because I don't remember half the stuff in storage. The stuff has been stored for three or four years. I have joked that if something is stored that long then we must not need it very badly. OK, I do know some things that are there. I have several finished stained glass pieces I made, there's my Mother's china and my dear mother in laws china, my paternal grandmothers cedar chest and the list could go on. We have the house ready for our stuff.

We will be on yet another adventure learning, all over, what we lived without for the past six years. This is going to be fun.

Life is good.....and we have been blessed.

Never Say Never

2010-08-25T05:37:00.009-05:00

You can be moving along in your life and in the matter of minutes everything can change. That can be sad and again it can be a happy thing. Such is our lives recently. We chose the fulltime RVing life because of our love for the outdoors, nature, seeing new places and meeting new and as we learned some incredible people. Meeting the people, making friends we hold close to our hearts is or was the icing on the cake.

After several conversations about ending the fulltime lifestyle.....we did just that. On August 18, 2010 after almost six years on the road we came home. We surprised some folks maybe even ourselves just a bit. I've wanted to come home for a while but I learned that Dan and I need to be on the same page. He loved fulltime RVing and hated giving it up. Over the past month several times he said he was so tired and then the simple sentence "I just want to go home". I prefer to not go into the nitty gritty of "why". I also prefer to look forward, not backward. A very wise person once told me "you can't move forward if you keep looking back". So, I'm looking forward.

The motor home is parked in our yard, has been unloaded and for now will sit right there. We have agreed we will not ever full time again. The plan is to sell the motor home at some point. We do enjoy a cool crisp morning by the lake that looks like glass, campfire going, coffee in hand, one of those mornings when you need some light sleeves to take the chill off....yes love that stuff. Always will, but not as a full timer. Arkansas has some beautiful lakes, I once read this state has some 10,000 miles of shoreline so there is a lake nearby in any direction. Who knows, might just get up early one morning and go fishing...we do know some great fishing spots.

We are at peace, very happy with our decision. We are reinventing our home. From here on we are on a journey of discovery, learning about our likes and dislikes, having the time to savor the moment without rushing, without worry about what day we have to move on, without worry about the rig and the surprise of the day.

The day we pulled into the yard it was raining so hard. Our plan was to hit the ground running but we had to wait for the rain to quit. That meant we could just take the time and walk through the house, catch our breath, take a soda pop and sit on our porch and watch the rain. The second day here we had a thunderstorm, again we went to the porch, just sat and watched and listened. It was awesome.

To add to the excitement on Monday before we came home Wednesday we added a new puppy to our family. He is Whitney, a Schnauzer, a rescue like his big sister KD.

Meet Whitney, a white ball of fire and energy, so full of life, bringing so much laughter to this house.

KD and Whitney catching their breath, she plays with him, then gets enough and sends him packing. Yes, she is the alpha dog.

A couple of days before leaving one of our last campsites I saw this deer who had discovered the feed sack....talk about a happy deer. There is a baby on the other side of the mama.

We are busy with choosing paint colors for the interior of the house, planning when to make the car trip to the Texas coast to reclaim our stored stuff and bring it home by means of a rented truck, planning how to arrange the interior of the house. I plan to have a guest room when all is said and done. I've already learned some things I missed...my bathtub, my dishwasher, my real refrigerator with all its room and that wonderful, long, porch. Dan has his office, I have an area designed for my crafts, we have an outside enclosed shop that is heated and cooled for year round fun, it doubles as a stained glass studio. Dan has told me that I don't even want to think about going out there right now...well...I did peak into the door...he was right....I'm staying out of there until he works his magic.

Never say never.....that is a long time and things happen, life changes and that's OK, progress is about change. You just never really know so it's important to keep the options open.

Life is very good and it is so good to be home!!!!!

Decency Is Alive And Well

2010-08-07T09:50:00.002-05:00

When fulltimers are sitting still it seems strange to write about the daily routine. Mostly the days are about the same with minor exceptions. We are still in Cedar Ridge near Temple, TX riding out the ridiculous heat wave that is showing its ugly self all around the country. This is our first summer in heat in three years...yes, makes me miss those beautiful Colorado mountains. I've asked myself several times..."what were we thinking" when we bravely announced we would spend this summer in Texas!!! Oh, that's right...we accepted a volunteer position which proved to not be our cup of tea, but it did bring us back to this part of the country. As it has turned out, we needed to be here to be able to take care of stuff back home. I've said many times that we don't always understand why things are going the way they are going until later, when we see how the puzzle is coming together. Then we understand. That's God's way of putting us where we need to be, doing what we need to be doing.

As of my last post, KD was in recovery stages from surgery and an injury to her eye. I was taking her to the vet every three days. A couple of years ago the same clinic referred us to the Austin Animal Eye Clinic. I gave them a call and took her in the same day. That's the place to go if you are ever in central Texas and your pet needs eye care. The doc showed me the problem..the end of a suture had worked out of the incision and was sticking into KD's eye, also an eyelash had turned into her eye. The doc had to sedate KD to work on the culprit. She wore the cone for a couple more days for eye protection. I'm happy to report she is out of the cone, the color is returning to her eye. The doc said she should make a full recovery. I brought KD home and the next morning I took my report and receipt to the operating vet, wanted them to have a record of what was done. First, the vet was happy I took her in, she knows the eye doc and his work. Then she announced she would take care of this. I looked at her, not sure what that meant, then she said she would issue a credit to our account. That credit paid for the eye doc and part of the original surgery. We still have a credit for future use. Decency!!!!

One day I had errands to run and as I started home I found myself in traffic waiting for a funeral procession to exit a church parking lot. There were police cars leading and following the procession. The procession moved along very slowly and those of us not in the procession followed far behind. I've seen many folks pull over and wait for the hearse to pass then proceed on. For the entire part of that journey until the procession exited that highway, folks pulled over and waited...they waited for the entire procession to pass. Some folks are in too much of a hurry these days so to see that made me so aware of the fact there is still honor and decency in this day and time. It just did my heart good.

One last example of decency goes to the RV tech who came to our rescue a couple of days ago. We got up to a water leak and didn't know where it was coming from. We knew it was in the area of the washing machine or the water heater. Mr. Brown has worked on this rig before and is in the process of fixing those little things that need attention. He is waiting on some parts to arrive and is retrieving infomation on other stuff so he knows how to proceed with his work. Dan called him that morning to inform him of our water leak. He came right over and spent most of the day, in the extreme heat.....one of those days with the heat index hovering around 105, outside working on the water heater. Turns out the leak was around the heating element. Mr. Brown fixed the problem. That fix it required a trip into town to get parts, he also picked up new switches for the interior sconces that decided to quit working. He is use to being outside but I still admire a person who comes to the rescue of folks in need of help. Decency!!!!!

There really are good people in this world and I think all too often we don't read about them and the good they do. We need more good news. Until we get that good news we can rest assure that decency is alive and well. I'm so proud to have experienced this first hand.

Idle/Busy Days Of Summer!!!

2010-07-26T13:37:00.004-05:00

Being busy or idle, it's a choice and one I enjoy being able to make. We left Amarillo where we spent time with Ellie and Jim and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had a small window of time between obligations in the Temple area and we took advantage of that time. It was a wonderful break.

On our way back to Temple we stayed a couple of days in the Whitney area at another COE park, Lofers Bend West. We liked the park, although the sites were a tad unlevel. We started out on a 50 amp site located just feet from the water, with no shade and the heat index was over 100. After a couple of days of the AC's running non stop we moved into the trees and took a 30 amp site. We put the frig and the water heater on propane, then we can run both AC's on 30 amp. We don't leave the water heater on propane continuously, just as needed. We enjoyed our stay at Whitney, even took a drive around the lake checking out other parks for future reference.

We moved along to Cedar Ridge. We have stayed in this park many times, it is one of our favorite parks anywhere. We had a reservation but when we arrived I asked if we might move to a first come, first serve site. The gate attendant was kind enough to let us do that. We are back on 50 amp service. We are still in search of shade so we are waiting on another first come, first serve site with shade to come available and we will move to that one.

We are getting stuff done while we are here, that was the plan after all. We have lined up an RV tech to work on the motor home, nothing real big, just stuff that is a pain if not working right. I have an appointment to have the car serviced.

While we were at Whitney I brought our sweet KD to see her vet. When we first came back from Colorado I took KD in for her check up. There was a bump on her back and one on her lower eyelid the doc said to keep an eye on them. And, the vet wanted to see her again. So, this trip was the follow up. That day the vet scheduled surgery. That surgery has been done, the vet removed four tumors off KD's back and the one off the lower eyelid. The back incisions are healing nicely. KD came home with a big collar to wear to keep her from pawing at her face. I've been taking the collar off to take her out and to allow her to eat. While not wearing that collar she has pawed at her face and as of this morning has an abrasion on her cornea, she is now wearing the collar fulltime and has a new medicine for her eye. I feel absolutely awful, I feel like it's my doing or undoing that she is in this fix. Dan kept telling me she needed to keep the collar on and I didn't listen. The doc says the cornea should heal but to KEEP the collar on. I'm listening this time. I can handle lots of stuff, but, when it comes to KD, it's another story. Pets depend on their owners for their care and I am at my witts end when KD is in trouble. I am responsible for her upkeep, like I said, I'm listening now....I just pray it's not too late.

As I write this, KD is standing beside me. I'll go now and simply hold her.....not so much for her, but for me.

This picture was made while riding to the bottom of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, near Montrose, Colorado.

Idle, maybe not so much, I'm happy to be busy taking care of my furbaby.

Out In The West Texas Town of....Amarillo

2010-07-11T12:59:00.004-05:00

I know that's not how the song goes but that tune has stuck in my head for several days. When you've ridden around, across and up and down Amarillo that song comes to mind. This is ranching country, it is a western town, cowboys, horses, ranches.and all. It is a neat place to hang your cowboy hat for a few days.

Cowboys...the real deal!!!

We arrived in the area on July 1st and our plan was to stay at the Amarillo Oasis RV Resort. We have stayed there before and found it a pleasant place to be. This time things turned out different. Our dear friends, Ellie and Jim of http://www.justravelin.blogspot.com/ were already there and Ellie had mentioned fireworks in our conversation on the phone. We arrived, sat up the rig and later that day the fireworks started. We like fireworks just like the next guy but we get concerned when those fireworks are flying behind and over our rigs. We thought the owner, who lives on the property, would come out and put a stop to it. That didn't happen so Dan went to his door and politely requested he do something, simply because of the danger involved. Dan told him if it didn't stop we felt we would have to vacate the park for our safety. The owner said, "fine, leave" and proceeded to slam the door in his face. Rude, arrogant, irresponsible!! I've never seen an owner take such a shabby attitude toward his guests, everywhere we've ever stayed the owner or manager has been happy to have us and very accomodating if we needed anything. The fellow finally had signs posted banning fireworks but on the fourth day we left. The trash cans were overflowing, the laundry room we used was filthy and we simply didn't feel comfortable there anymore. We and the Meachams got refunds for our unused days. That's about the only positive thing I can about that situation at this point. We moved on and we are happy wth our decision.

We moved across Amarillo to the Amarillo Ranch RV Park, exit 74 on I-40, located just blocks from the world famous Big Texan Restaurant where the deal is if you can eat a 72 ounce steak, it's free. OK, we aren't going to try that but it's an interesting thought. We arrived at Amarillo Ranch RV Park and set up our rigs. We are facing one direction and the Meachams are facing the other so we are sharing a patio. That same day we sat outside and simply enjoyed ourselves. We have a nice shadetree and we've had a breeze...not wind....a breeze and wonderful temps since our arrival. When checking in, the park staff was friendly, helpful, escorted us to our site, they are constantly out and about checking on the park, seeing to it that all is going well. Yes, we've been very happy here, we feel like we came home. It doesn't get much better than that. We will return to this park and we recommend it to anyone coming through this part of the country. Oh, they also have a great indoor heated pool and Ellie and I got in some laps....nice. There is also a hot tub, a playground, laundry, dog walking area, wide streets and level sites.

The new neighborhood and we love our neighbors......best ever!!!!

Our shared patio and the portable flower bed we carry with us.

Our time in Amarillo has flown by and we have enjoyed spending time with Ellie and Jim. Thanks, you two....it is always an adventure when we are together and we really hate to leave. We are already planning our next adventure.....it will be another lifetime experience....and we are so excited...looking forward to it.

Now, if I could just get that tune out of my head.

Life is very good!!!!!

Lazy Days of Summer

2010-06-23T09:19:00.010-05:00

This is our first summer in three years to experience the summer heat. The past summers were spent in the mountains where we enjoyed the much cooler temps and almost non existant humidity. Summer officially arrived this week, although the heat arrived much earlier. We are getting any errands taken care of during the early, cooler time of the day, then just hanging out inside the Discovery during the heat of the day.

We have observed camping folks for the duration of our fulltiming adventure. One time there was a discussion with a neighboring camper who proceeded to explain why we didn't see them out much at their site. They were fulltimers, he said. They, like us, live this lifestyle. There is no rush to be out with the campfire, trying to cram a vacation into a weekend. After that comment I paid more attention to who is out and about and those who aren't. Interesting!!! We get a kick out of watching the weekenders arrive. We started out that way...all the fun we could have before we had to go home to our other life. I don't ever take this lifestyle for granted. I am grateful, feel blessed to be able to do this. Although the temps are hot we are enjoying our summer.

We are enjoying Lake Granger, located in what I refer to as the heart of Texas. This area is said to be the richest farming land in the state. We've been here many times during the Spring and Fall, never in the summer. We've seen the vast black soil that extends as far as the eye can see. I never thought about it with crops on it. Well, we've seen the crops on this trip. There is corn growing for miles and miles. It makes me think of driving through a tunnel.

I got a couple of pictures of things I remember taking pictures of before on our winter excursions here. This is a then and now example. This is the same bush on our site. Neat!!!!

This lake has a swimming beach and a boat ramp and is a favorite fishing spot for many folks. In fact on one trip Dan and Britt fished for the duration of our stay here and caught near 100 white bass. That made for some very good eating and the three couples here took home fish for the freezer.

In the late Spring this park is loaded with wildflowers, Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrushes, and Buttercups. It is a beautiful place. Of course the park doesn't do any mowing during flower blooming season. These two pics were taken on one of our earlier trips here.

Over our fulltiming we have given thought to things we could do to make our little world feel like home. One of those things was live flowers. Back in the stick and brick place we had flowers. Dan came up with this project and I've really enjoyed our little flower garden.

We've also changed the inside of our motorhome, we put our stamp on it. I'll post pics in the future. We've made it our "home" and now it really feels that way. For now, we will enjoy the lazy days of summer. It's a very easy schedule to follow and we are right on track. Life is good!!!!

Taking A Vacation

2010-06-16T08:47:00.005-05:00

During our fulltiming adventure we have visited the same parks several times, simply because we like the parks. It's also a good feeling to know what we are driving into. This week we stepped outside our comfort zone and visted a new park. As we were driving along I told Dan it felt like we were taking a vacation. He said he had thought the same thing.

We were in Maumelle Corp park near LIttle Rock, a park we have visited many of the times we have been in the Little Rock Area. Maumelle is located off highway 10 on the west side of town. There are two corp parks there, the other is Willow Beach on the east side of town. Willow Beach is much smaller, cozier, also has a catfish stocked pond. Both parks are on the banks of rivers, Maumelle sits by the Maumelle River which feeds into the Arkansas River and Willow Beach sits near the Arkansas. Willow Beach has just gone through a facelift, with new blacktop on the sites and the streets, new fishing piers for those who want some fish.

The view behind our site at Maumelle, the walk went from our loop to the main drive through the park.

Our "new" park is Brushy Creek on the Lake O' The Pines, near Jefferson, TX. We've talked for years about visiting this lake and have traveled highway 59 many times but never took the time to come here until now. It is a beautiful area. We have a 100' pullthrough and the lake is about 30 or so feet from our door. The lake is over 16,000 acres with a dept of 50 feet and is home to crappie, catfish and bass. The town of Jefferson is a town of just under 3000 folks and used to be an inland port for steamboats and supplies coming up from New Orleans. The town is home to over fifty bed and breakfast establishments, quaint shops, restaurants and one thing I love....brick streets. The architecture is of Greek Revival influence and many of the buildings look like they could be in New Orleans. The town could easily be set in the 1800's and it has a tranquil feeling of times past, like time stood still.

There has been a lesson in all of this. No longer will we look at towns the same way. I will be more curious, I'll look for places to take more vacations, get out of the comfort zone. Who knows, maybe after six years of fulltiming we may be finally getting it right or at least finding our way of living this lifestyle. Everyone who chooses this way of living has their own ideas of how they want to pursue it.

Sunrise this morning on Lake O' The Pines from our site.

Sunset from our site yesterday.

This statue is Hebe, the Greek Goddess of Youth. There are six drinking outlets, two at each level. One level is for humans, another level is for horses and the lower level is for dogs.

This is a very old Texaco gas station located in the historic district of Jefferson.

Now, I think we will go back downtown, park and look around, maybe get some lunch in one of those neat restaurants. Then I will start planning our next vacation. Tomorrow we will travel to Lake Granger, another of our frequently visited lakes where we will catch up with friends, get in some card playing and some fishing and some medical stuff.

After that.....we will take another vacation. Life is good!!!

No Hard Feelings

2010-06-08T07:56:00.007-05:00

Those were the final words exchanged between us and our former boss. We gave it much thought and admitted we weren't happy with the job we had accepted. We will always love the park we worked in, we've visited there many times over the years we've been fulltiming. We will visit there again but only as guests, not volunteers. We have also agreed that we are done with the volunteering thing as a whole. With that said, we think anyone interested in volunteering should give it a try. You never know, it just might be your cup of tea.

We had such a positive experience at Ridgway in Colorado, back up when we needed it, great team work, positive people around us and the view out our windows was a lifetime experience. I saw the Aspens change colors and I saw enough snow to last a lifetime. We are happy we got to experience Colorado that way.

The mutual agreement to end our volunteer career was reached on a Friday and we asked for permission to stay until Tuesday so we could prepare to go. We got up Saturday morning and almost together said, "let's go". No grass grows when we decide to pack up the Discovery. And, no one would want to get in our way. It's a fast and furious process. Even sweet KD looks at us like we've lost our minds. She sticks close to the door, just in case. You would think she has been left so many times....never happened. She's prepared just in case.

We made a fast travel plan, OK not really, Dan was going to crank the engine we were going to drive and plan as we rode along. That's living life sort of on the edge. Who says this RVing life isn't fun and full of adventure? We spent our first night near Longview, Texas, a little town called Hallsville, in a park named the Hitchin' Post. It was a very nice park. We drove something like four hours which has to be some kind of record since we are known for marathon drives in the neighborhood of eight to ten hours. We keep saying we are going to quit doing that. We arrived at the park around 2 p.m. or so Saturday afternoon. We settled in for the evening and then had a quick conversation about where we were headed. We knew our friends, Bill and Janice, were in Mt. View, AR so we decided to drive there and surprise them.

Sunday we did a seven hour drive (see I told you). I called ahead and talked to the owner who knows our friends. He agreed to help us surprise them and would hold the site next to them for us and he would not tell them we were on our way. We pulled in, leveled and put the slides out, all the while right next to them. They later said they knew a motor home had pulled in but didn't think anything about it. We went out the door, Dan slapping their rig with his hand and I went around to the door knocking on the exterior as I approached the front door. I won't repeat what Janice said, lets just say they were surprised. We had so much fun with them. We haven't seen them in a year so we had a lot of catching up to do.

Park residents, fun to watch.

After our stay in Mt. View we headed back to Little Rock for a few days which has turned into weeks. We are here visiting family and friends and taking care of business. We will head back to Texas next week. This time we will visit Lake Of The Pines, a place we've always wanted to see but never got there. We have reservations at two different lakes up to July 1st. I've joked that we may hop Walmart parking lots for the holiday. Can you think of a better way to celebrate?

The pictures are taken at Maumelle park near Little Rock. It is a beautiful park, close to lots of things.

Life is very good!!!

Seeing Stars

2010-05-06T09:34:00.004-05:00

Well, it's true! When you aren't sitting among many lights and or close RV sites and you walk outside on a clear night, you really can see the stars. We are also seeing things besides the stars. We get to see the resident wildlife and listen to the birds. We've recently had a whippoorwill take up residence near us and we hear that familiar sound day and night. Guess it or they are enjoying the stars as well.

Over the past couple of weeks we've had new additions to the park family. This is the first one we've had visit us. There are more but they are keeping a safe distance.

The site we are on is away from the mainstream of the park, very private, also secluded. That's a good thing and that's a bad thing. I'm enjoying this quiet peaceful place we get to hang out but on the other hand I miss being among the activity of the campsites, seeing the folks moving about, watching the rigs arrive and leave. I'm no different than most other Rvers in that I love watching folks arrive and go about the business of parking and getting set up. I'm sure that there have been some marriages put to the test over the simple act of parking a rig. One can tell who has experience in that department. When we first started Rving we had our share of yelling and waving arms like wild people, then over time we got the hang of it. Now there are simply quiet hand signals, no voices and it's a pleasant experience now. Oh, the joys of the Rving life. Yes, I enjoy watching folks park while I try to figure out how long they've been doing that. I've also said and my friends know that it takes so little to entertain me.

Whether it's seeing stars, listening to the birds, watching rigs park, or simply having quiet time to read.......life is good.

The Back Forty

2010-04-16T16:50:00.004-05:00

It's official!!!!!!!! We moved to the park host site this week. It's quite here with the exception of the occasional vehicle going to the marina. We have a huge yard with a paved site and room to park several cars. One has a no parking sign on it but we are reserving it for our friends who come to visit.

The first night was too quite and too dark. We have a street light which is on the blink literally right now. You never know when it will come on, then it goes off the same way. It's on the fix it list for the crew who does that.

Our move took place on Tuesday, then Wednesday Dan got busy and placed our solar patio lights on the fence post along the front of our site. At night we have eight lights and I must say it's very pretty. He also put out our three shepherd hooks, one for the bird feeder, one for a bell and the last for hanging some lights on. We had a string of 200 multi colored lights and we looped that string of lights on the double hooked shepherd hook and at night it is also very pretty. It cast a soft light between the rig and the picnic table area.

While we were in Colorado we could not feed the deer...a state law. Here the deer live in the park and it is OK to feed them. We inherited a large trash can almost full of deer corn and Dan has been throwing corn out. This morning he counted twenty two deer. They are so trusting that they stand there waiting and watching while he gets the corn. A couple of deer started for the woods but stopped as if they were thinking they should wait and see exactly what was happening since their buddies weren't running. We've also seen fox, several road runners, wild turkey and our ever present deer.

Our sense of routine, a schedule of our own making is finally shaping up. We do have certain responsibilities that are right up our line. We get to talk to the campers, drive the loops as a way of being visible and checking for anything that needs our attention. We check all the bath houses to make sure there are no water leaks, we pick up any loose trash along the roads or around the sites and so far there has been very little. We have sixty eight campsites and eight screened shelters (like cabins) and three day use areas that rent out to groups that we unlock on the day of their arrival. We also go every morning to the boat ramp parking lot and check the trucks with boat trailers for day passes or annual passes. Any truck without a pass is usually one that came in before the gatehouse opened. We note those vehicles without the passes, we place notices on those trucks and take that list to the gate house so as those trucks leave the park they can stop and pay. The next project is tackling the gatehouse flower bed. We now have some tools with which to get that project going. I'm so anxious to clean it up, make it much more attractive. It occurred to me that of all the times I've been in this park I never noticed that flower bed. I want it to be noticed. Just today Dan and I received a compliment from a visitor regarding how clean this park is. I said "thank you".

We are very happy to be here and to be doing what we are doing.

Just how does the back forty look? I hope this gives you an idea.

We really are on the extreme west end of the park, the back forty and I'm loving it.

This is a view from one of the screened shelters. The whole park is pretty but the screen shelter loop is something to see. It's possible to camp there and walk right down to the water and fish or get in ones boat all right there. That is the only place that I know of in the entire park where that is possible.

Life is good!!!!

Changing Of The Guards

2010-04-06T11:00:00.004-05:00

Wasn't it just yesterday that I updated my blog? Guess not!! We arrived March 17th and here it is already well into the month of April. Much has happened, lots of training, lots of being busy, lots of activity and I've loved every minute of it.

We knew it would be a few days before we move to the park host site and we are still waiting on that move. Just this morning we saw Carleen and she told us they will pull out early on the 13th for sure, the 12th if she can talk Wes into it. She is ready to move on. They are heading to Big Bend in south Texas and plan to wander the southwest on their way to their new gig in Idaho. We wish them well.

Our first day on duty was suppose to be April 1st but we decided we wanted to get started the day before, so we did. That day, March 31st just happened to also be the day the gatehouse would be closed for most of the day while staff meetings were going on at headquarters. It was suppose to be a quiet day. That was not the case. I took a drive to check out the loops and as I passed the gatehouse I saw folks waiting, wanting first come, first served sites....no gate attendants on duty. I turned around, went back and talked to the waiting folks. I asked them to wait while I went to see Carleen. She and I returned and directed the folks to sites we knew were open. A while later the new gate attendants came in. It turns out we know these folks, Royce and Pat. We've camped in the park they came from. It was like seeing old friends, I'm so glad it's them who took the gate job. They are a great couple!

Royce and Pat got the incoming traffic moving and all proceeded along nicely. I returned to our site and the evening got underway. We have my dear Mom in law, Janie, with us for a visit and she and I were sitting in the living room watching a movie. We had the windows open for the cool air. All of a sudden we heard a woman yelling. We took off to see what the problem was. We knew from her voice something was very wrong. I wanted Janie with me because she has medical training and I knew she would know what to do if someone needed medical attention. As we started across the lawn we could see flames inside the motorhome where the yelling was coming from. It turned out that the woman was taking a hot dish from the microwave while frying chicken on the stove and dropped the hot dish into the hot oil, splattering the oil into the flame and that sent flames up. Fire went through the roof and out the back of the rig, but did not burn the motorhome up. I'm amazed that it didn't. Other folks heard the woman yelling and many came to the rescue. Everybody was bringing fire extinguishers. Some called 911 and before it was over there were six or eight fire/rescue vehicles on the road. Thankfully, no one was hurt, the motorhome sustained smoke damage but is sitting idle while the owners wait for the insurance folks to come check it out.

That was our first day!!!! What a day it was!!!!

Easter weekend we had a full park so Sunday afternoon and Monday was like watching a moving RV show. Most of the rigs pulled out and today all is quiet once again.

We feel like we have a handle on this new job. One of our responsibilities is the care of the flower bed at the gate house. We have yet to start that project but we are looking forward to spiffing up the area. It needs some attention and soon.

On that note.....it's time to check out the loops and see that all is well.

Sunset at Cedar Ridge on one of our prior visits!

This little guy is guarding our site, actually he is watching the bird feeder!!!!

Happy Camping!!!!

Hurry Up and Wait

2010-03-24T09:42:00.003-05:00

We arrived safely at Cedar Ridge Park after what felt like a running a marathon. I've never run a marathon but I think that's what it would feel like if one did it on wheels. By the time we got here we covered some 1700 plus miles. We had a great time in Little Rock. I got to see my Aunts and some of my cousins. It was a very happy time!

Now we are waiting!!! We arrived as the gatehouse opened last Wednesday, a week ago today! The gate attendant, Richard, told me he didn't have any sites. I said, "don't tell me that". He says "I really don't have any". I said, "I don't want to hear that". Then he says he has one. I told him that was all I needed. I've been around this guy before and I figured he was bluffing, poker face and all that. He gave us the site. He told me we would have to pay for it. Well, no kidding!!!! We were scheduled to arrive the 25th, the boss had blocked off a site for us for free, but because we came in early we pay. We had planned to pay. We are on our time, private campers and loving it. I feel like we are spying, OK, observing the park stuff.

We finally met our boss on Tuesday. He was very surprised to learn that we were sitting in the park. We never told him how long we've been here. We were suppose to move to another site which would mean two moves but he has told us to stay on our present site until we move to the park host site sometime in April. That's great because we like our site. Besides, friends are parked on the site next to us and I want to sit right here as long as they are here. Our boss has told the couple we are replacing to come by and visit with us and fill us in on the job. They've been park host for a year and a half and are now taking over as the new gate attendants. I think they still need another couple for gate attendants. Anyone interested in a job with a great view and a free site needs to check it out.

So, we are enjoying our waiting mode. We arrived last Wednesday, then on Friday we drove to the coast and brought Dan's Mom, Janie, back to visit for a while. It's always a lot of fun to have her here. On Sunday our card playing friends, Jo and Britt, arrived and are the ones parked next to us. We've yet to play cards but I see a wicked game in the very near future. Jo and Britt taught me how to play Canasta, Hand and Foot. I love that game and I'm not a card player. Let the games begin.

We got here so we could just have some time to do a lot of nothing......so far we are right on track. There's an art to hurrying up and waiting. I think we have it down.

Our temporary site......a long way from all that snow around us....now green grass, deer, red birds......sunshine....loving it.

This guy was in the tree next to our site. Isn't he a beauty!!!

Our bird feeder is back to work, just in time for the meeting!!!

The view across the lake from the park!

Hurry and wait!!!! Think I'll take my capuccino and go sit outside and wait some more. What's not to love about this RVing thing!!!!!!

Hanging Out in Little Rock

2010-03-14T08:51:00.007-05:00

We've been here one week today. It has been a fast and fun week...too fast really. After parking the Discovery before noon last Sunday we decided to take the afternoon to rest and regroup. After all, we covered a lot of miles in a short time and both of us could close our eyes and see the road ahead of us. It was a fast trip for sure, but also one of the most fun trips we've ever done. We made it a point to keep our spirits high and enjoy the journey.

Crossing the Arkansas River on I-430 coming into the western side of Little Rock!

The view out our front window while at Maumelle Park!

During this past week we've had lunch with my Aunts, visited, caught up, visited my family graves, lunched some more and just had a great time all around. I got to see my nephews and see the oldest one's new home with pool. He and his wife flew to Hawaii to get married last Fall. Then, they honeymooned in Japan..yes...I was impressed. I met Yumi (pronounced yu-me) about five years ago and loved her instantly. She is a beauty and a sweetheart. My youngest nephew is getting married this coming June and I got to meet his finance' Jessie, also a beauty. They are about to close the deal on their new home. My brother would be so proud of his boys. They have done great.

Charles and Yumi, their Hawaii beach wedding!!!!

My cousin showing Aunt Winnie how to hold Smokey, one of her birds!

I'm acting silly, of course, with Aunt Winnie, Aunt Marcee and my cousin Thomalane!

That brings me to today. It is Sunday, a beautiful day weather wise. Every day, with the exception of one night when tornadoes were bouncing around...no damage here) we have had beautiful weather. It's a long way from the 15 to 20 stuff we left back in the mountains...oh..they also had more snow after we left. We, on the other hand, have flowers blooming, birds singing, kids playing, campers coming and going, folks enjoying the days.

We plan to hang out in the Discovery today. Tomorrow we will do pre-trip stuff. Tuesday our good friends, Bill and Janice, will come to see us. We will have a wonderful time with them and then....Wednesday is travel day.....the Discovery will move on toward Texas!!!

Life is good!!!!!

Mountains, Prairies, and Home

2010-03-07T19:07:00.003-06:00

In my last entry I wrote that we might head out that afternoon after Dan returned from his med stuff. We did just that. We left Ridgway State Park at 5:18 exactly....not sure why I looked at my watch but I did. In one hour and 55 minutes we drove one hundred miles, including going over Lizard Head Pass. I knew we would be driving into the dark, not my favorite thing to do in unfamiliar territory, with me in the lead no less. We went higher and higher and it got darker and darker. Oh, let me tell you, car lights reflect very well off the walls of snow that banked the sides of the road up on that mountain. After reaching the highest point we started down and of course there had to be a few snow flurries. We were also driving in avalanche areas, the signs said so. I was fit to be tied. I just wanted off that mountain. I prayed, I talked to myself, I prayed some more. I always take my sweet KD with me and she never layed down on that trip. She looked at me, while I was talking to myself, like I had lost it.

I did have the good sense to call a park in Cortez just to know that there would be some place to land once we were over that pass. While talking to the lady I asked if there was a Walmart there and what do you know!!! There was. I looked up their number and called and got permission to park on their lot. Not a problem, she said. This way we had two choices. It was getting late and I knew the park office would close so we decided to dry camp on the Walmart lot, our first time ever to try that....dry camping and using the Walmart lot. I've been following my dear friends, Ellie and Jim's blog and making notes on this dry camping stuff. We parked ourselves in our little corner of the parking lot, far away from the store and settled in. Oh, and I wanted to run out and kiss the ground after parking. Can you say "relieved" to be off that mountain. I love mountains but not under those conditions.

We settled in only to discover that we had no water in our fresh water tank. We were so tired we didn't really care at that point. Dan said he would check it out in daylight. Needless to say, we didn't sleep very well that night. We slept but in segments. Around 2 a.m. Dan got up and took the car over to the entrance of the store. His mission was to buy several gallons of water. It had also snowed a light layer of snow with a thin coating of ice so walking to the store was out of the question. He got the water and some breakfast stuff and we had breakfast around 3 a.m. This may sound like real drama but we were having a blast.

After daylight came Dan checked the water connections and found a cracked fitting. We were afraid the fresh water tank itself had frozen and cracked during all the cold we put it through but for now we are thinking that didn't happen.

We traveled Friday morning to Gallup, New Mexico where we got on I-40 and pointed the Discovery east. It was a leisurely travel day, great weather, beautiful wide open countryside. New Mexico has beautiful rock formations, some look like castles. I was still driving ahead of the rig until just north of Gallup so I didn't get any pictures. I've been asked why we weren't towing. We wanted to use up some of the car fuel to reduce the towing weight. We never tow with a full tank of gas in the car. We did hook up the car and I got to play navigator. I love that job. I also fired up my camera.

We spent Friday night in Tucumcari, NM in a real RV park between I-40 and old route 66. It was like being suspended in a time warp. I grew up hearing about route 66 and there it was right out my door. So neat!!!!!

Saturday we drove and drove!!! We wound up being on the road some eleven hours that included a time zone change. We took breaks, stopped, rested, ate, kept moving. We found a rest area that is labeled parking lot on my GPS. We stopped, got a good nights rest and dry camped again. We were less than fifteen miles from the Arkansas state line.

Today, Sunday, we drove into Little Rock and Dan informed me we drove some 1270 miles since Thursday night. We are hanging our hats here in a Corp of Engineer park for about ten days. I have two very dear Aunts who live here and three first cousins I hope to see. Our friends Bill and Janice live in the area but we won't see them until later on. They are heading out of town for a much needed visit with her Dad.

This is bridge crossing I-40 in Albuquerque, NM. They display lots of artwork along the roads.

This is some of the highway landscaping in Albuquerque!!!

Wide open country!!!!! Feels strange after being in the mountains!!

Fields of lava rock along I-40 in New Mexico!!

The journey continues in a few days!!!! For right now...... we are home!!!!

Happy News While Waiting!!!

2010-03-04T11:55:00.002-06:00

The work days are finished, the motor home is packed, the sun is shining, the roads and Lizard Head Pass are dry. And I wait!!! I always thought I was a patient person but when travel is looming ahead I want to go.......NOW!! In the RVing world I think that's called the travel bug.

Dan had to see his docs one more time before heading out. Poor thing...he had three appointments this afternoon. Oh, they didn't plan it that way. The medical folks wanted him for one appointment today and two more later in the month. He called them and they worked it out so he would get all the appointments in one trip. He is off taking care of that stuff and I have finished cleaning and packing the inside of the rig. He has had the outside stuff ready for days.

It is a beautiful day for travel. We were suppose to go tomorrow but there's a good chance for snow on Lizard Head tonight around midnight. We are seriously thinking of getting in a couple of hours driving this afternoon which will put us over that pass and almost into New Mexico. Our plan is just to get to I-40 and out of the mountains. If we can do that we feel we will be OK.

During all this pre-travel stuff I got an email. You may remember that I submitted a photo to Road Trip Journal. I got an email yesterday informing me that I won. Yes!!! I won!!!! I was so excited...still am. On Facebook on the Road Trip Journal link they have posted my deer and the announcement of my winning. Someone who voted for me will also win. Our prizes are $50.00 gas cards. Who can't use a gas card these days.

I think I'll go now and check the weather map one more time. I can't change it but I feel better if I'm keeping an eye on it.

Please pray for our safe travel. This motor home has been sitting longer this time than any other time since we've been fulltiming. Maybe that explains our excitement and our aprehension.

We will see you down the road.

These pictures were taken last fall on a trip to see the Aspens.

Patience, patience, patience!!!!!! I'm ready to go!!!!!!!!

Countdown To A New Adventure

2010-02-26T09:56:00.007-06:00

We have news. I've waited to post here mainly because I've wanted the time for my brain to process the news. I've needed time to think it through and make plans.

Long before our mountain adventure we applied for a position with the Army Corp of Engineers, more or less to see what kind of response we would get. Back then the parks we were interested in had full volunteer staffs, so our services weren't needed. We went about our lives and came to visit Colorado friends, still wanting to volunteer. This volunteering thing is something we've talked about for several years but just never found the place we wanted to hang our hats for a long spell.

The friends we came to visit in Colorado introduced us to the Colorado State parks and as you know, we fell in love with this place, these mountains. It has been the experience of a life time. We've learned a lot about being volunteers and about ourselves. We love being volunteers, having a schedule, an agenda, a purpose, we especially love being able to give back.

While going about our business one day, out of the blue, Dan got a phone call from a ranger in Texas. He wanted to know if we were interested in a volunteer position at one of the parks he is over. Dan told me of the phone call and said the ranger would call back the next day. The next day came and Dan decided to call the ranger, not sit here and wait for the phone to ring. He called to get more details. Turns out the position is at Cedar Ridge COE park, near Temple, Texas. Why is that such a big deal you asked? Well, that park just happens to be our all time favorite COE park in Texas. We have visited that park many times. It is there that we have fed the deer, something we can not do here. We've become friends with folks who camp there regularly. We have fond memories of that place.

We talked it over and decided if God opens a door for us, we best be checking it out. If we chose not to pursue it, well, we would always wonder. We have accepted the position and we are excited about our decision. We will miss this park, our first ever volunteer position and the friends we've made here. We were especially looking forward to the new summer season just ahead. We were looking forward to all our friends returning.

I would like to extend an invitation to anyone coming to Colorado to visit Ridgway State Park, particularly Dutch Charlie area and the Dakota Terrace campground. Come here, stand and just look around. See what we fell in love with, see what kind of memories we are taking with us.

We will miss Ridgway, but I prefer to think of where we are going, not what we are leaving. We have new adventures ahead, new friends we've yet to meet, old friends we are very anixous to see, to visit, to catch up on their lives, campfires to share, laughter and good times are ahead. Yes, we are excited.

We have left our departure date open. Our boss suggested that we grab the first window of clear weather and get out of dodge. Our target date for departure is March 5th, if the weather behaves. We report to our new assignment April 1st although we plan to arrive a few days earlier to get stuff in order. So that means we have a month for travel. I think we might can get there in a month.

We have a side trip planned enroute to Texas. We are going the long way around so we can catch up with some folks who are very dear to us. Yes, we have time to play and we plan to do just that.

We will see you in Texas!!!!!!!! Happy trails and travels!!!!!!

A ranger and two maintenance guys came with plows and snow shovels to start trying to dig us out.

Some of the snow the plows moved down the drive beside us.

A lot of snow and they say we are behind.

Let the new adventure begin!!!!!!

Winter Marches On!!

2010-02-04T10:26:00.005-06:00

It seems like just yesterday we were off to the store to purchase our electric tower heaters for our winter adventure. A lot of water....OK.....make that snow has gone under the proverbial bridge. Well, the snow came but didn't leave. We still have snow on the ground from the Thanksgiving holiday. I've grown so accustomed to the white ground in most of the park that I wonder if I'll miss it when it melts. Somehow, I think I will. I love walking in the snow, for that matter I especially love walking while it's snowing. Yes, still a kid at heart, I hope I will always be that way.

Interesting things have come about during our winter hiatus. The most recent is an email I received from the road trip journal folks telling me a picture I submitted was selected as a finalist. It would be nice to win but if it doesn't win, I'm already a winner. The fact that I had the opportunity to even take the picture, the fact that I had a camera I love that takes awesome pictures, (thanks Ellie), just to be where that buck was, to see him standing there in Dallas Creek surveying his domain, they are such regal creatures.....I'm a winner several times over. I count my blessings everyday. I see the deer and more recently the elk on a regular basis and every time I see any of them I'm right back to being a kid at heart. This is their land and I want to always respect that fact.

Another interesting thing happened one day while at work. I had a phone call from a somewhat frantic caller who was traveling through on the highway and wanted to report an emergency. This person told me there was a man down near the swim beach trying to get his dog out of the ice. There I was kicking into high gear, trying to get the rangers on the radio. We, well, they had just practiced ice rescue. My part in that "we" thing was taking pictures. Anyway, I knew the rangers were out on patrol but couldn't get them. Dan answered our radio and asked if he could be of help. I told him the situation and off he went. He was also in on the ice rescue practice. Ice rescue is something he did in his previous life so he knows his stuff. He found the rangers with the man. The "dog" turned out to be his hat. Was I ever relieved? You bet. I can't handle pets being hurt or in any kind of trouble. This fellow had been ice skating on the lake the day before and he went through the ice. He got himself out. I find that most folks who tempt the ice have some knowledge of what to do if they go in. Our park manager got into her dry suit and went in after the hat. Later, she told me her thoughts. She knew if she didn't get the man's hat he would stay and try to get it. Not a good thing. She had to chisel away at the ice to get that hat. The good thing to come of it was more ice practice , the man got his hat and all ended well. Just another day at the office!!!!!

Winter has arrived and is well under way. I'm told we haven't had nearly enough snow but there is still time to get a huge snowfall. The summer level of the reservoir is effected by the amount of snow fall throughout the winter. When I think of the weather around the country I know we've gotten off easy. We have cold and snow, no wind, no mudslides, no torrential rain, no flooding. With the crazy weather around the country I can enjoy looking out at the blue, sunny sky, put on extra layers and go for a walk. Yes, we've gotten off easy.

We closed our boat ramp back around the first of November, much to the dismay of some boating fishermen. They made it clear they weren't happy about that. We posted notices that the ramp would reopen March 15th. Well, that is if there isn't a slab of ice on it. I realized a couple of days ago that March 15th is next month, just a few weeks away. Then comes April and our volunteers will start returning. Our reservation season opens May 17th so the time between the staff returning and the opening season will be dedicated to preparing the park for our summer season.

Yes, winter is marching on, maybe a bit too fast. I've enjoyed sharing 4000 plus acres with a couple of other volunteers and the wildlife. I think how easy it would have been to have traveled away from here last September when the staff left. Then I think of what I would have missed. I'm so thankful we stayed. It is a dream come true, it's one thing marked off the bucket list, it's a lifetime experience. I've learned much about myself, but, that's for another day.

These guys were grazing out front of the visitors center one day while I was on duty.

This is the closest I've gotten to the elk.

This photo was taken by our co-worker Mark who shared his photo with us. Bald eagles are a daily presence at Dallas Creek, especially when the salmon are running.

This is a view of Dallas Creek from the overlook behind the visitor's center. There is much ice and snow on the reservoir, as the white shows here. There is water under all that white.

Winter is marching on alright, I'm enjoying every step it takes.

On This Day!!!

2010-01-23T07:23:00.002-06:00

The doctor and the nurse argued. The doc said there was just one baby. The nurse said there was two. Turns out the nurse was right. I was born and fifteen minutes later my twin sister, Sharon, came into this world. Guess the argument lasted that long. I never did live down that fifteen minute thing. Hey, it wasn't my choice. Our first claim to fame was simply being born. We were the first twins ever born in that hospital so many years ago. I have the newspaper article to prove that fact.

As babies and toddlers our Mother dressed us alike. By the time we were entering the third grade we were put in different classrooms and our Mother was no longer dressing us alike. My Mother was one of the smartest women I've ever known. She did not ever try to erase the fact that we were twins but she knew from the get go that we were two different people and she wanted us to grow up that way. One of our favorite things to do was sit on the couch and look at the catalogs. Mother told me years later she would sit there with one of us, then the other, and we would always pick out the same things in the book. That's how our lives were.

Being a twin was and always will be the single biggest blessing in my life. I've been asked what it was like being a twin. I can't answer that. I've never not been a twin. I do know what my life was like and I loved the fact that we had each other. We were extensions of each other in spite of the fact that we were both fiercely independent, thanks to our Mother. We were so alike, yet so different, again, thanks to our Mother.

I believe that when God closes a door, He opens a window. Sharon passed away at a much too early age, to my way of thinking. But, my thinking and God's thinking are not alike and I have to trust that. I think back to how my life has played out and it has been much like the pieces of a puzzle coming together. I met my husband after Sharon passed away. She would have loved him, they would have been buddies. I got into RVing after her death. She would have been proud of me for pursuing this lifestyle. She would have flown to the various parts of the country to hang out with me and I would have made sure this motor home parked in Savannah every chance I got. She was smart, educated, funny, she had the most caring heart I've ever known, she would go to the end of the world for her friends, she was loyal, she was a Christian who didn't just talk the talk, she walked it by the way she lived. She was the kind of person who would do things, good things for people, and never own up to it. She passed out of my life but never out of my heart. God has blessed me with loyal friends, the kind of friends who are much like my sister. God opened a big window for me. One friend traveled across this country to be with me when I needed her the most. She knew and I didn't ask. She just knew. Another friend stood beside me as my Mother passed away, she cried with me, she listened, she prayed for me. Another friend opened her heart, her life, her home to me. And the one friend who gets all of this, truly gets this is one who lost her twin.

My life has been an interesting journey, one I would love to have shared with my twin. I wanted to grow old with her and sit in rockers on a porch and remember. God had other plans!

Sharon, Happy Birthday. I miss you every single day of my life. You would love my friends. They are so much like you.

Tracks In The Snow

2010-01-03T10:03:00.006-06:00

The Christmas and New Year holidays have come and gone. We are into a brand new year with all its hopes and promises of many good things to come. We've passed the shortest day of winter and now enjoy knowing the days are gradually getting longer. We are on our way to Spring and Summer. That's some of the good things to come. I feel very optimistic about our new year.

While we wait for warmer weather and longer days we are still surrounded by snow as far as the eye can see. The snow on our park roads is finally giving way to the blacktop underneath, where the guys have plowed. I never thought I would be so happy to see blacktop in my life. As much as I like snow....I like blacktop better. A couple of days ago Dan and I took off in the car and drove down to Dallas Creek. We were in search of the bald eagles that have been visiting there. Everytime Dan goes down to check out that end of the park he sees bald eagles. This particular trip we didn't see any. The neat thing about our drive to Dallas Creek is that when we left the highway and turned into the park, once we passed the gatehouse we were on this beautiful snow without any tracks in it. The tracks we did see were made by deer which were grazing nearby. We drove all the way to the south end of the park and made the circle so that coming out we were driving in our own tracks. That was a first.

Undisturbed snow......beautiful. The mountains in the background are the San Juans.

Following our tracks back out!

This fellow just watched as we humans made our way through his domain.

This is a view of the reservoir from the highway. The mountain behind the reservoir is Log Hill which many folks call home.

A view from the highway into Montrose. The snow gives the mountains more definition.

Seeing snow where nothing has left tracks brings me back to our brand new year. There are no footprints on it, nothing has disturbed it, each step we take is making a track or a memory. It is up to us which way we go, the memories we create. Each step into the new year can be an adventure, a happy memory. The new year, the new snow, both clean and undisturbed, both hold all kinds of possibilities.

Christmas In A Winter Wonderland

2009-12-23T09:54:00.006-06:00

For the first time in more years than I can remember we are having a white Christmas. The snow started last night and continues to fall on an already white ground. Yes, we are guaranteed a white Christmas.

I hope your Christmas is a happy and memorable one, that you get to share it with someone you love. I'm sitting here writing this, listening to Christmas carols and watching the lights on the tree. We have a fiber optic tree and this year Dan added small lights to it. Perfect!! It is beautiful.

We are blessed to be fulltiming RVers but it comes with a price. We get to spend it in a beautiful place with snow, a killer view and wildlife roaming about in the park. The price we pay is the isolation. Oh, we have the park staff at the office and a couple of other volunteers who live in the park and they are all great folks. They are friends but not the friends we hold so dear to our hearts. Yes, I miss my friends terribly. I have very close friends who are scattered around this country and those who are fulltimers are in some cases having their first Christmas without family or close friends, as well. We all hold on to our memories as we celebrate the birthday of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May God bless each and every one of you.

When I think of home I think of our dear friends, Bill and Janice and their family. They were our very first RVing friends and the funny thing is that we met on the internet, while living just miles apart. That fact is something we joke about to this day. That was several years ago and we will always be friends. This RVing lifestyle provides the wings in my life, but, Bill and Janice provide the foundation in my life. They represent what a real Christian family is all about. They have raised two incredible kids, the kind of kids anyone would be blessed to have. Those kids, now adults, are the result of some good parenting.

The last time I spoke to Janice on the phone she told me she was putting her Christmas Village out. She also said her cat Smokey was up there trying to figure out what she was doing. You have to love Smokey. He is the curious playful ball of fur. I told her to send pictures of the village and the cats. I told her I wanted to put the pictures on my blog.

The village sits on the buffet in the dining room.

Janice is an avid collector of all things Santa. This is just part of the collection.

Meet Smokey, the curious, fun loving, fur ball. That really is all fur.

And, now, the Queen, the boss of the house, Puma. She can be sitting there appearing to mind her own business and you try walking by without giving her some attention. She will reach out and get you with her paw. She is very regal, very much her own cat. What's not to love!

Merry Christmas to all my dear friends!!

And The Snow Came!!

2009-12-08T10:16:00.004-06:00

The weather folks said it would happen. The snow started falling Monday night, just a dusting of snow by bedtime. By this morning, Tuesday, we have a white blanket of snow everywhere. It is blowing from the north, the south, some flakes just drift down like they aren't in any hurry to hit the blanket of snow below.

Our maintenance crew is already out with the snow plows clearing the one loop we have open and the main drive from the highway. It is another winter wonderland.

Dan is clearing a path from our door to the street by the rig.

Today is my second work day of my two day work week. Yesterday as I left the office for the day, the office manager told me to wait until mid morning to report in. That is unless we have a blizzard going on then I was to simply stay home for the day. I've never been in a blizzard and DH is assuring me we aren't having a blizzard...yet!!! We called in on the park radio and the office manager said she would call me back on the radio if/when she needs me there. I'm still home watching the snow fall.

There is a mountain in the background between these two trees. Is this a whiteout?

Wednesday is our scheduled office dinner. There are some calling it the Holiday Dinner. I call it the Christmas Dinner. I don't mind being politically incorrect. I know what I believe and that is that. I'm wondering if the dinner will even happen since the snow is covering the entire western slopes and we were expecting folks to drive in from a couple of hours away. I'm told the dinner will happen, snow or no snow. I'll be hanging around either way and I'll be at the office right in the middle of the fun.

Yes, we have a beautiful fireplace in the visitor's center and it has the little stockings hung with care, by yours truly. Santa is coming.....Santa is coming!!!

I remember the summer of 08' as we left Colorado heading south for our winter destination. I told DH I would love to spend at least one winter in Colorado, just to experience it, to see what it's like. This is my Colorado winter, my wish come true. It is beautiful, it is an experience, it is something to see. It is not for everyone and I understand that. I'm sure if I lived in the area and had to live through this every winter I would feel differently about it. The fact is I don't live here year round and I get to enjoy the beauty of my wish coming true.

Next winter.........the jury is still out on that!!! For now I will enjoy living my dream!!!

Snow Birds and Geese

2009-12-05T14:19:00.005-06:00

Lately we've been seeing the migration of geese doing what they know to do. They are heading south and they are flying over us in the process. They are making that very distinctive sound as they fly. As I look up and see the formations I feel like they are getting a kick out of seeing snow birds firmly planted in the Colorado mountains. I just imagine they are laughing at us, the folks they are leaving behind as they head to warmer climates. There are days I laugh at us too.

Snow birds and geese have one thing in common.....wings. Sometimes I think the geese have better sense, they don't toy with mother nature. We, on the other hand, are tempting mother nature. We may find out just what kind of a sense of humor she has. So far, we are doing great at this mountain lifestyle we've chosen this winter.

For now we don't have snow, at least not any new snow. We still have patches of old snow throughout the park. I was told yesterday that we have two major storms approaching from opposite sides. I heard the words "three feet" in the high country. Things could get a tad interesting if those storms collide over us. These are the mountains....I'll believe it when I see it. Yes, we are tempting mother nature. I didn't say we had good sense, that's the geese with the good sense.

I watched this beautiful sunrise one recent morning, it lasted just minutes, then clouds moved in. It was awesome while it lasted.

Safe travels to our fair weathered friends with the wings. These snow birds are adding another layer of clothes and checking the propane. Oh, sweetheart, I think we need more propane!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-26T10:55:00.006-06:00

Since my last update we've had our third snow fall. The last one wasn't in the weather report I checked. It happend last Sunday night while we were sleeping so you can imagine my surprise Monday morning when Dan came in from going out to check the area and he reported that we had snow. I thought he was joking. He wasn't. We had a couple of inches so as soon as the temps started warming the snow began melting. To date we still have many spots of snow on the northern side of buildings and slopes where the sun can't reach.

Today is Thanksgiving, a sunny beautiful day, the high here will be between 50 and 60. It will be a beautiful day to enjoy the quiet, the beauty of this fantastic place, take a couple of hikes, take pause to give special thanks for the blessings in our lives.

I'm thankful everyday of my life but today is special. Stop and think how longstanding this tradition of Thanksgiving is and think about how we all get to participate in this wonderful tradition, to be a part of something started so long ago. If our founding fathers could see us now, well, I wonder what they would think. That would be interesting to know. That thought is another story all to itself. We will save that one!!!

We had an invitation to share dinner with friends but our boss asked us to remain in the park. After some thought we decided that might be a good idea. Our office staff, with the exception of one ranger, is off today. Tomorrow is a governor ordered furlough day for fulltime state employees so the office will be closed tomorrow as well. Tomorrow there will be one ranger, actually the park manager, will be here. She doesn't ask anything of anyone she isn't willing to do herself. I admire managers with that mindset. While I'm on the subject of our park manager I would like to say, she gives her volunteers credit for the success of her park. That might be true but she is the brains behind it and for that I'm very thankful. She runs a great ship.

One of my responsibilites at the office is checking for yurt reservations. I got very excited when we had a reservation come through for the holiday. I had hoped we would have several campers come in, it really is a lot of fun when we have more here. Sometime late last night two rigs came in. Dan discovered them on his first drive around the loop early this morning. The day is still young, maybe more will come in for the weekend. I sure hope so. After the temps warm up a bit I want to venture down to the campsites of our campers and say "hello". Turns out one couple is from my homestate of Arkansas. How cool is that? I don't even know the folks, yet I feel like family has come to visit. Funny, huh!!!

I want to wish all my friends a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope your day is a pleasant one, filled with love and laughter. I make it a point to tell those I love that I love them. I tell anyone who will listen, if you love someone, tell them. You never know when it might be the last words you ever say to them. It happened to me, so I know. I'm thankful those were my last words to those so dear to my heart.

Now, get on with the business, the fun, of having a great holiday season. From Thanksgiving to New Years Day can be stressful or it can be a time of joy and reflection. It's all in how we approach it. Make it a time that you hate to see end, not one where you sit down and breathe a sigh of relief that it's over. Savor each day, make it special. Give thanks!!!

Views I never get tired of seeing!!!

From our corner of Colorado, Happy Thanksgiving!!!1

Sunshine, Snow Falling and Sudoku

2009-11-14T11:32:00.004-06:00

Our first snowfall came and went. I thought it was beautiful while falling but I was in for a surprise. The day after the snow stopped I took a walk. It was so still, quiet, no wind, nothing moving, just the pristine white undisturbed snow hanging in the trees, covering the ground and the roofs of the various buildings in the park. I felt like I had been transported to another time and place. The snow formed a blanket as far as I could see. The mountains are much more defined with snow, the trees on the mountains in the far distance take on a silver glow while dotting the landscape. The area is totally opposite what I remember from last summer.

We have very few campers these days as far as RVs are concerned. Our yurts typically stay reserved throughout the winter months, usually by hunters. When I work my three day week at the visitor's center I enjoy hearing the stories told by the hunters who come by for various reasons. Sometimes the hunters come by to check on the weather report, sometimes just to stop in and visit a few minutes. Another thing I enjoy while at the center is watching for the deer. They will wander right up to the glass windows in front or the patio off the conference room. I make it a point to remember that we are on their turf. This land belongs to the wildlife and we go to great extremes to protect them. It is illegal to feed them, as much as I would love to do that. Feeding them will make them come to depend on humans for their food source and we don't want that to happen.

Dan and I have looked outside our rig a couple of times to see several deer right outside our door, just wandering around munching on the grass. They don't hang around long as there is much more grass in other areas. It is a joy to watch them. Yesterday I looked up and several, I lost count, came out of the trees just to the west of us. Dan said they knew snow was coming and they were feeding, getting ready. Smart animals.

Which brings us to today. It did snow last night. Those deer knew what they were doing. We awoke this morning to three or four inches of snow, not nearly the amount from the first snowfall but just as awesome. While sitting here typing my blog update, the sun is shining, snow is falling and snow on the ground is melting. The weather here is different, the mountains do their own thing. I'm told they make their own weather and they do. We watch the forecast for something of an idea about what to expect but we take that with a grain of salt. These are the Colorado mountain ranges after all and they are a bit unpredictable. I come from Arkansas where it's a standing joke that if you don't like the weather, just hang around and it will change. That thought applies to these mountains as well.

My friend Linda and I walk our dogs every day, whether it's snowing, raining or sunshine. We dress accordingly and take off. We have walked as much as seven miles in a day but the norm is more like three or four. Either way, the dogs love it, they don't care what the weather is. They know they are in for a hike. My sweet KD is the perfect reason to get outside and enjoy this beautiful place I call home right now.

When I'm not busy with a project whether it be personal or business, I've taken up working Sudoku puzzles. I can blame my friend Linda here. She is a math whiz, a logical thinker, very smart. She whips through these puzzles like there is just nothing to it. Uh huh!!! I'm too analytical for my own good sometimes. I wanted to learn how to do these puzzles and there is a way to work them. Linda told me I was making it much harder than it needed to be. After working hard at it, I'm finally getting it. I'm not as fast as Linda but I'm getting it and I love trying to figure these things out. So far, so good. I call it a left brain, right brain thing. Either way, it's making me think. If you want a challenge, try one!!!

Now I want to show you pictures from the day after the first snowfall. I want to share the solitude, the eerie beauty, the tranquility.

This tree is down the street behind our site.

The early morning of the first day after the snowfall and this guy was out exploring.

The camper services buildng across the street from our site. The patio area has an open roof and the snow was hanging in scallops.

A view through the trees of another park building.

Several days after the snow melted and on a day while I was working I found this fellow by the patio of the conference room.

Now, it's time to take KD for a hike. When we get back I'll hit that puzzle that's waiting on me. It's going to be a good afternoon. When Linda gets off we will hit the trails again.

Life is good!!

Winter Wonderland!!

2009-10-29T13:40:00.005-05:00

My Mom use to tell me to be careful what I wished for, it might come true. I wanted to see the Aspens change colors and I wanted to see snow. Both my wishes have come true. I am a very happy camper.

This past Tuesday night the snow started falling and with the exception of a short time Wednesday afternoon, we've had continuous snow fall. This park is a winter wonderland, it is breathtakingly beautiful. As I write this, the snow continues to fall. Our trees need some lights and we would be set for Christmas. I've said Mother Nature knows how to put on a show and this is no exception. She is having a good time of this.

Ive had a bit of a change in my work schedule since other volunteers have made their way to other places. For a couple of weeks I'll be in the visitors center three days a week. I will eventually go back to two. This week was my first three day work week. It has been during this work week that the snow started falling and I've been like a kid about all of this. I'm the office person who keeps a check on the weather forecast and I keep a weather board up to date so when calls come in asking about the impending weather we can just check the board. When I discovered we had three days of snow coming I was literally jumping up and down. The rangers just rolled their eyes. This snow is old stuff to them but not to me. I couldn't be happier about it. I am thankful I don't have to commute in it like our rangers do. But, again, they are use to this.

With the snow, one must have a snow man. I as much as said that. Yesterday about mid morning my boss came to my desk and ask me to go with him. I said this better be good. He assured me that it was. I thought, yeah right!! I work with a bunch of real characters. So, I got up from my desk and followed my boss. He told me to go into the conference room and go toward a set of double glass doors that go outside. I heard one of the guys say "she isn't going to see it". The other said I would. I walked toward the door, looked down on the concrete patio area outside the door and there stood my little snowman. The guys made me a snowman with stick arms. Those guys, one never knows what they will do next. Snow fall and a snow man, it doesn't get any better than that.

I must share my very happy place.

The first morning after a night of snowfall. This is my first ever fall/winter snow in the mountains.

Mr. Snowman

A red fox visiting the park early this morning!

The day before all the snow these guys were in front of the visitors center. Call this job perks.

The view of the road up to Elk Ridge.

And last, but not least, our home in the winter wonderland.

We are very comfortable inside our rig with the temp hanging around 70 plus, that's without the central heat. We have heat tape and insulation in the necessary places outside and two electric heater towers inside.

My winter wonderland......wishes do come true!

Visions Of Snow

2009-10-08T07:18:00.006-05:00

Each day brings a different view of the mountains, a different view of the park and it is exciting to watch all the changes. Many of our volunteers have gone home or continued on with their travels. The seasonal staff has made their departure. We are preparing for the upcoming winter.

From the summer camping season to the winter season, the park goes from some eight camping loops down to one. On the days that I work in the visitor's center I get mixed reactions when I tell folks that we will have one loop open for the winter. I get a lot of "oh, really"!! It's fun to watch that reaction. Then I get even more of a reaction when I inform them that Dan and I are the winter host for that one loop. It takes a couple of seconds for that to register, then I get ask, "you are staying here for the winter?" Yes, that's the plan and I really do want to see snow. It has been so many years that I don't remember the last time I saw snow. Every day is an adventure.

This past Monday while I was working in the visitor's center I kept an eye on the clouds to the east and south. The forecast called for a 30% chance of rain/snow mix for Ridgway. We are about five miles north of the actual town of Ridgway and we are some five to ten degrees warmer here than there. How do I know that? On one of our trips into civilization, OK, make that Walmart, we bought one of those inside/outside thermometers. We have compared the weather channel temps to what our gauge says and that five to ten degrees is on the mark. As I write this it is 36 degrees outside. We have been down near 20 but Dan and I are very comfortable.

We also bought our winter boots and they make all the difference when we are out and about in the park on the cold days. We are using electric heaters inside the motorhome in order to make our propane last. We bought an additional 40 gallon freestanding propane tank and we've had it filled. Our monitor system shows we still have full propane tanks.

This past Monday while I watched those clouds hanging on and around those mountains, the peaks on those mountains were getting snow. It was my first time ever to see that. It looks like rain clouds somehow but it's different. From the distance it looks like a wall of rain, but, again it's different. It's eerie, magical, mysterious....mother nature knows how to put on a show and this flatlander was enjoying every minute of it.

Snow was falling!

After the clouds moved out!

Tuesday, while working in the office this mama and her twins appeared in front of the visitor's center. One of the babies discovered itself in the window!

One might wonder why we chose to stay the winter here, where the weather can go from mild to wicked. We have been fulltiming five years this month. In those five years we have not experienced winter weather. As winter approaches I feel a sense of adventure, my senses are coming alive, the weather makes ones survival instincts kick in.

Yes, visions of snow!!!

Lizard Head Pass, Snow, Aspens and a Memorial

2009-10-04T08:31:00.007-05:00

Ever since arriving in Ridgway we have planned to take some drives into the mountains. On one of our days off from being park host we first went to get boots for the colder weather that is headed our way. Then we took off into the mountains. We decided we would go up to Lizard Head Pass, some 10,000 foot elevation at the pass, not the mountains around it.

Our first stop was just south of Ridgway park. We've heard about the Dennis Weaver Memorial and wanted to see it. It was built by his family as a tribute to him.

The Memorial

We proceeded to the town of Ridgway and turned west on highway 62. The drive up to Lizard Head Pass is spectacular this time of year. As we drove the wind picked up and the aspens leaves were blowing like snow. The weather was perfect, fall like and crisp and yes...there was snow on the peaks at Lizard Head Pass.

We just took in all the beauty. It is breath taking to see. We wanted to just hang out up there but we knew we needed to get back to the park. We've been warned that we can get snow any time and the last place we want to be if that should happen is sitting on a pass somewhere. We came back to the park still seeing so much yellow in the mountains. The next morning I took a drive in the park to check on the color here.

This is the swim beach area.

As I drove through the park I looked up toward the highway and saw a couple of motorhomes heading south. My dear friend Ellie use to sit in her office and when she would look out toward the freeway she would see a motorhome towing she would announce "motorhome southbound towing". Every single time I see a rig towing I think of Ellie. This was no exception.

Motorhome southbound towing.....it really was....maybe they are out to see the aspens.

Getting to see the aspens, that's something we've always wanted to do and now I can mark that off my "to do" list. What an adventure!!

Where Is The Reservoir?

2009-09-30T08:51:00.007-05:00

The weather is changing, the mountains are changing, winter is coming. And so far we've been asked several times if we are crazy for staying the winter. I find that question funny...although in a few weeks I may not think it's funny at all. Which reminds me...I need some boots. But, that's another story.

We came to Ridgway the first time back in June, then again in July and that's when we stayed. The reservoir was full and beautiful. Many folks were taking advantage of boating, fishing, and swimming. We were told in our initial interview at some point we could go out on the reservoir in a boat, just to see it. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago....Mike, one of the boat rangers knocked on our door. He invited us out for a boat ride with him and his dog, Cooper. We went. The reservoir is really low due to the fact that it is irrigation water and the park has no control over the level. It is a sad sight looking out on it. I'm told in the spring it will be good as new, with the snow melting and the folks who control the level. At its fullest, the reservoir is five miles long.

While we wait for spring we have what remains of our beautiful reservoir. In the deepest section it is some 180 to 200 feet deep...not sure if that's the case right now. We took the boat ride and from that perspective it is awesome. We saw rock formations, boaters, some folks fishing, the mountains, many things we see on a given day but they appear even more spectacular from the view on the water.

I took pictures and I promised myself the next time someone ask me where is the reservoir, I will tell them it is still with us in all its glory and splendor. Now to share what I saw!!!

Out on the reservoir!

The structure is a handicap fishing deck and when the reservoir is full the water is up to near the bottom of the floored area.

Another view of the handicap fishing deck. I liked the outline agains the sky.

The ramp leading from the bank to the boat slips. The water is usually above the concrete blocks on the left.

Approaching the dam by boat.

Rock formations seen from the water.

The Dallas Creek area to the south of Dutch Charlie. Where the trucks are parked is usually under water.

A view of Dallas Creek before....it will look this way again.

Meet Cooper. I was talking to him and he started yawning. Sweet dog! He is a boating dog!

As we were returning to the docking area a storm was moving in from the west.

DH said someone asked him where the water went and he told them somebody stole it and moved it to Texas. Now we know better. The reservoir is alive and well, waiting for the arrival of spring.

Tribute To A Bouncing Daisy

2009-09-24T08:04:00.009-05:00

Life as a fulltimer has high points and low points. Seeing this awesome country we call home and meeting friends is at the top of the list of high points. Seeing our friends pull out and head on up or down the road is the low point for me. I'm happy my friends are pursuing their dreams of travel but that doesn't make seeing them leave or my leaving any easier. I miss my friends all the while being among a very interesting mix of folks.

We came to Ridgway as camp host. I've been informed that in the next couple of weeks we become park host since we will be the only host in the entire park. The temps are dropping, the San Juans to the south have snow on the peaks as do the Cimarrons to the east. Our mornings have been in the upper 20's and 30's. Our daytime highs are upper 50's to lower 70's. I'm loving this.

I always look at arriving in a new place as the chance to make new friends. Strangers are friends we haven't met yet. One day after arriving here Dan came in and told me I must see what Tom's wife was making. I knew who Tom was but I didn't know his wife. Tom is in maintenance and I learned that his wife is Lori and she is a gate attendant. I went that very day to meet Lori and see what she was up to. We have become friends and I've watched Lori at work. Lori has the perfect personality for gate attendant. She is a ray of sunshine, always smiling, knows her stuff, makes a wonderful first impression for visitors to the park. I met Lori and saw what she does while sitting in the gatehouse waiting for folks to come in. She was doing what is called the Peyote bead stitch. Turns out she, Tom and their daughter Amanda all have a hand in making some beautiful jewelry. Lori and Amanda do the bead weaving while Tom works with stuff like red tiger eye and turquoise, making some sets anyone would be proud to own. They have a website where they showcase their work and I asked Lori that day if I could link to her site and their work. She smiled and said "of course". While we were discussing this I was admiring one particular bracelet called the Bouncing Daisy. Lori picked it up and handed it to me....told me it was mine. I was in awe because I didn't expect that! Of course I must show it off. And, I asked Lori to send pictures of more of their work. She did and I have permission to show it here. Since that first meeting Lori has taught me the Peyote stitch. I love doing this and could sit and do this for hours. One would think it would be nerve wracking but it's quite the opposite, it's a tranquil, methodical, zen like process....very relaxing.

So as promised, here is the link and pictures.
http://www.beadedjewelrybylormanda.com/

The Bouncing Daisy......Lori, thank you!

Snowing in the Rockies!

Lace in Peyote!

Green Bubble Spiral Bracelet

Hemalyke Pendant Set

Jet Swarovski Crystal Set

And my version of the Bouncing Daisy!!! I had a very good teacher!!

I think Lori, Tom and Amanda are on to something.....they are a very talented family. As I said, one of the low points in this lifestyle is when friends move on.....this morning Lori and Tom pulled out on their way to their next adventure. Safe travels and hurry back!!!

Yes, a tribute to a bouncing daisy.........and to all my dear RVing friends! May God Bless you!!!

Our Life In The Mountains, Day By Day

2009-09-07T18:54:00.000-05:00

We are in this beautiful place, with winter looming ahead of us. The mornings are cold, at least to this flat lander. Locals say this is nothing. Should I be worried? Hummmm! OK, mornings are cold when the temp is lower 40's with a wind chill of mid 30's and it is early September. I get up and put on two or three layers, which I shed later in the morning. The afternoons are spectacular, couldn't ask for better temps. Then the sun disappears behind the mountains and the temps go down again. Yes......I'm loving this.

Friday, many of our sites filled up with the Labor Day campers coming in. For the most part getting the campers settled in went smoothly. If we have questions about camp sites and reservations, the campground ranger is the one we call.

This past week DH and I went shopping for things to make our winter adventure more pleasant. We bought heat tape strips, insulation, an additional 40 gallon propane tank, all the tidbits to connect the new tank, and we bought a new electric heater for inside the motor home. This new heater takes me back to those cold mornings, as a kid, when my Dad built a fire in the fireplace. Good memories!!!! All because of an electric heater!

Saturday came and went! Since nearly all our sites filled up on Friday we knew Saturday and Sunday would be a bit slower than normal. Most of our guest will stay until Monday noon. The office at the visitors center has recently acquired a new system for keeping up with our sales in our bookstore and the sale of a variety of licenses. I am not due to be back in the office for almost two weeks. That meant I would not be able to train with the folks in the know. So I took it upon myself Saturday and Sunday to go to the office and work for the sake of training. I learned a lot in my hours there. Then Sunday afternoon DH and I had swim beach duty for three hours in the afternoon. The water level is very low and there is no swimming now. We must be on duty to keep folks out of the water. There are sharp rocks and a very deep drop just a little ways from the edge of the water. We are there for the safety of our guests.

Sunday night, the park is full. We just returned from making a run through the loops. There are more campfires than I've ever seen in one park in the entire time we've been full timing. The scent in the air is magic. Lots of folks sitting around their fires, kids playing, dogs wagging tails from their vantage points on their respective campsites, folks grilling...every site is full of activity. We thought at first we would dread this weekend but it has been anything but dreadful. It is fun watching the kids, parents and dogs all taking this in. It is the last official camping weekend for the summer. These folks are marking the end of summer on a very happy note. We are thankful to be here to experience all of this.

Monday has arrived and with it, the mass exit of campers sometime during the morning. We had other plans for this morning. The Ridgway Labor Day Parade was scheduled for this morning. DH and I signed on to participate on behalf of the park. We along with three other couples went into town around 8:30 a.m. and proceeded to decorate our park ranger boat with lots of red, white and blue. Even the truck towing the boat got decorated. Two folks, Billy and Jo Ann rode in the boat. Six of us walked along side the boat tossing candy to the kids, sometimes actually placing the candy in their hands. During the procession Billy played with the boat siren. DH, Janice and I threw a couple of handfuls of candy at him. All in fun!!

When we returned to the park we hit the ground running. DH and I had between thirty and forty sites to check on and clean and gather reservation tickets after the campers left. DH and I worked hard but that was OK since we know it's the last big camping weekend until next May. We got our work done, came back to the motor home and rested a while.

Tuesday this park will change. It will take on a whole new look. Now, where is that snow? We are ready....bring it on. There are friends here who think we won't stay the winter. One even wanted our email....wants us to keep in touch because they want to know when we pack it in and leave. The only way we will leave is if there is a medical issue involved. Of course we don't foresee that, but if it did happen we will be back. For now we are here, plan to stay and we are having the time of our life.

Park visitors out early in the day!

Building at the beach, houses rest rooms and showers.

Swim beach to the right with a bit of the reservoir showing. The grassy areas among the scalloped walls is where folks get in some sun bathing.

This road leads to loops B and C and shows some of the many campers that came in for the long weekend.

DH is making more swivel flag poles. They are impressive.

It is now Monday night and all is calm in the campground. The sun is setting behind the mountains to the west, casting light on the mountains to the east. This place is beautiful in any direction.

We are ready for our winter adventure here.....our winter in the mountains.

The Office Is A Jungle

2009-09-01T17:49:00.006-05:00

Well, that's what one might think upon walking into the foyer and front area of the office. We have a variety of animals on display so one can get up very close to see what they really look like. The sign on the first bear says "Do Not Touch". One evening a friend and I attended a program held in the conference room. I've been through the lobby many times and kept my hands to myself. That particular evening as I passed the first bear I reached over and touched it. My friend teasingly yelled "Karon touched the bear". My reply was "I've always wanted to touch one and it's rather difficult to touch a live one". I can't imagine even coming into close proximity of a bear. The park does not allow any sort of food outside overnight, even humming bird feeders. We've had to ask folks to remove their feeders and they were not happy about that. Right after we arrived in this park a woman in the next town was attacked and killed by a bear she was feeding. She had been feeding the bears for several years and she paid the ultimate price. She was warned for years about the dangers of that. This park doesn't allow feeding any wildlife. The bears are preparing for the winter season and they are on the prowl for food. We are making an extra effort to keep them out of the park. Once a bear attacks it must be put down. Sad, but true.

A couple of weeks ago our friends Pam and Fred came to camp here in our park and their overnight guest were two of their grandkids, Ben and Olivia. Now, Ben and Olivia, their little brother Caleb and their parents have just returned from Africa where they were serving as missionaries. Ben and Olivia are lively and very intelligent kids. I got into a conversation with Ben regarding the African wildlife and American wildlife. The more we talked the bigger his eyes got. I informed him that we had a mountain lion, a couple of bears, and various other critters in the office. He first wanted to know if they were alive. I said they weren't. He wanted to see them.

The next morning Pam, Ben, Olivia and I took off for the office. We saw the wildlife and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. As soon as we finished there we took a hike behind headquarters to the overlook. We saw the reservoir, the mountains, and a very interesting trail. Ben and I got into a lively conversation about the woods and the jungle. Kids, you have to love their imaginations. It was a very interesting conversation. I decided that day I would take my camera back to the office and get pictures of the animals and I would do a blog entry on those animals.

So here you are.

This guy stands guard at the door.

Mountain Lion

Bobcat

Beaver

Skunk

Bobcat

Mr. Owl

Flowers in front of the office

The view out one of the office windows

The view of the reservoir from the overlook behind headquarters.

As we made our loops this week one of the camping visitors informed us that we live in paradise. Who are we to argue that point? Jungle or paradise....we'll take it anyday!!!

Getting Into A Routine

2009-08-20T08:10:00.003-05:00

We've been in our new park host position a month and that time has flown by. We usually get antsy to travel at three weeks and this time we weren't aware of the three week time span. Our weekends or I should say Friday and Sunday are traditionally our busiest days. The crowd comes rolling in Friday and then Sunday they all do a mass exit.

After Labor Day the whole scope of this arrangement will change. Many of the volunteers will pull out sometime in September. Some are staying until October 1st. Two of our three loops will close for the winter. The site we are on will be behind a locked gate and we could move out to loop A but we've asked to be allowed to stay on the site we have. We have a row of trees that provide a wind break and somehow we figure that might come in handy with the upcoming cold weather. The site we are on is also a raised site and we like that.

We are enjoying the routine, talking to the campers, just seeing the surrounding mountains, the very cool mornings, the breeze, hanging out with other volunteers and planning on our winter stay here. We've been told the last couple of winters were mild, but the winter some three years ago was wicked. We plan to hang in here because we both want to see snow. If and when that happens I will get pictures for sure.

Since my last post, DH has celebrated another birthday. He doesn't like the attention that comes with that so I kept that news to myself.....I only told every volunteer we came in contact with that day. I didn't even get fussed at. I did give DH a shirt that says, "I'm right 97% of the time, I don't care about the other 4%". He loved it. He wore that shirt on his birthday. I wanted to do a blog entry on his birthday....but NO, he wouldn't hear of that. So here I am now, just casually mentioning it. Maybe he won't fuss too much. It will be our little secret.

Our friends Pam and Fred, the folks who are so kind to allow us to hang out in their yard from time to time, are here in the campground with us. Their camping club is also here. We've camped with the club three times since arriving in Colorado in May. They will have a potluch today at noon and we will be attending. It is our day off so we can play. I think I'll take my coffee and just go sit with Pam and enjoy the view.

This a map overview of the area. Dutch Charlie is located in the bottom center to the left of what looks like the Italy boot. We are in the Dakota Terrace campground located in Dutch Charlie.

A view of Ridgway Reservoir. This reservoir is irrigation water and the park has no control over the level, which right now is much lower than what this picture shows.

A Ute teepee located on the grounds next to the visitor center.

We've seen much of Colorado and all of it is beautiful, mountains, mesas, adobes, aspens, mining camps, four wheeling trails, hiking trails, sunrises, sunsets, the fourteen thousand footers, roads that take your breath away. What is not to love about this place?

Making A Good Thing Better

2009-08-07T09:39:00.003-05:00

We have been talking about changing things inside the motorhome for some time. We just didn't know how to go about it or what change would make for the best outcome in the long run. One day while we were parked at our friend's home in Delta, Dan announced he was ready to start working on this change. I wasn't real sure what that might entail but I did know the best thing I could do was get out of the motorhome for a while so Pam and I went to town.

When Pam and I returned from our pink trip (girls day out) I walked in the motorhome and was I ever surprised. It wasn't what was there......it was what wasn't there. Dan and Fred had removed the drivers side sofa. Finally this great plan of a change was under way. Now what to do with the space. We decided to try it on for size, live with the empty space, get a feel for what we should do next. In this situation, sometimes the situation itself will dictate what needs to happen. We lived with two wooden folding tables, a foot stool and a lawn chair in that space while we waited for the plan to materialize. Dan really wanted to build something, a desk, but all of his tools are in storage some 1200 miles from us so that was out of the question.

One day while making our rounds here in the park, we stopped for a minute to talk to a fellow volunteer who happens to be a wood working guy. Dan asked his opinion regarding building something or buying something already built. It came down to a weight issue. Our friend suggested buying something already built. Something custom built might add too much weight.

The very next day Dan and I took off in search of our new stuff. We decided a desk and a file cabinet would be great if we could find something that appealed to us. It really needed to appeal to Dan since it was going to be his desk....his space.

We walked into the store and while I was making my way to the furniture area, Dan was already there looking. As I approached him he announced he had found what he wanted. It is sleek, modern, clean lines and although darker than the wood in the motorhome, it looks great. We bought the desk and the file cabinet and came home.

The next day Dan put his new stuff together. Part of our plan was to remove the forward booth seat from the area and place our two Samsonite upholstered folding chairs that came with the rig, in place of the booth seat. Dan had that booth seat out in the blink of an eye. Now we had the new desk, file cabinet, no booth seat and two folding chairs at the table.

Another part of the plan was that I would use the table as my space, computer, crafts, my fun stuff. I've also been able to set up my printer and leave it up. Nice. The space has opened up and doesn't look anything like it use to.

A few days later I found a task chair that goes with the furniture. Now Dan has his office and chair. He uses part of the area for personal business and the area on top of the file cabinet is used for our park hosting things.

Our next item will be a euro recliner to place in the living area. This means I get the couch for TV viewing or reading. The plan is coming together. We feel like after almost five years, we are home. This is our space now.

The new and improved space.

The new desk with matching file cabinet.

The new task chair.

We also changed some things on our patio. We brought this gazing ball from home, but left the original base in our yard. This flower pot weighs much less and works great and makes storing for travel much safer.

This is our screen room we just put up. Now we can sit out rain or shine.

We have made a good thing much better. It feels right.

Reporting For Duty--Not All Work

2009-07-28T10:01:00.012-05:00

Dan and I have talked for several years about volunteering in a park somewhere, but we never quite found the place we thought we could stay for a long haul. Until now!!!

We left Cow Creek (Pa-Co-Chu-Puk) Friday and moved to Dakota Terrace campground in Ridgway State Park. We were assigned a temporary site for that night and on Saturday we moved to our new home site, the park host site with full hookups. There are three loops in Dakota Terrace and we are responsible for all of A and half of B. Another park host couple have the other half of B and all of C. When they are off we are responsible for all three loops and when we are off they have all of them. We check and validate reservation tickets, make sure the sites are free of trash and clean out the grills and the fire rings. Once a month for three hours we have swim beach duty. One day a week I go to the visitor center for four hours. We keep an eye out for dogs off leash, that little detail can set folks back a $50.00 fine if the rangers catch it. We gently suggest they leash the dogs for the dogs safety, we also mention the citation if they should choose not to comply. So far, the few we've found have complied immediately. We are truly enjoying this adventure. We are furnished a club car, a radio, a free site, free firewood, and lots of really great folks to visit with.

I've always wanted to spend the winter in Colorado. We've been offered the park host position for the winter or as long as we want it. It can go from mild to downright harsh, so we are told. Guess we will find out. Our boss suggested we buy snow shoes, another volunteer said we wouldn't need them. We'll see who is right. Dan will get the chance to learn to drive the snow plow. We will be park host for the one loop that remains open through the winter. We are excited about our new adventure. I haven't seen snow in years. Oh, and I get to see the Aspens in all their golden glory. I can't wait. We have found the place to hang out for a while.

Our park host wheels!

This winding sidewalk leads to our patio.

A recent storm passed over the park.

The front of the visitors center at Ridgway State Park.

This is a lookout located behind the Visitors Center, overlooking Ridgway Reservoir. Weddings are held here.

The view of the reservoir while standing on the overlook. The highway is to the left and Dallas Creek, a day use area, is located on the far side of the water.

The view of the mountains from my morning walk!

We feel blessed to have this opportunity. Almost everyone we visit with while working refer to the beauty of this area and how they love coming here. We have many repeat customers. We've heard many comments about the beautiful western slopes.....now we are living it first hand. It is not all work...we do get to play and do we ever have fun. Yes......we are blessed.

Up And Down The Million Dollar Highway

2009-07-21T10:01:00.011-05:00

We left the yard of our friends Pam and Fred with them in the lead and headed to Pa-Co-Chu-Puk or Ute for "Cow Creek" campground in the Ridgway State Park. The camping club camped there from Sunday until Friday. On Wednesday Pam and I took a drive on the famous Million Dollar Highway. Pam drove and I took over a hundred pictures. This drive goes over Red Mountain, which true to its name is red. It made me think of Christmas with the green trees all over the place. This drive is the same one Pam travels to go see her sister so she is very familiar with it. There are places the road appears to be suspended on the side of the mountain with steel reinforcement and much of it has no guardrails, no shoulder. One movement in the wrong direction and you find out if your vehicle can fly. It is a long way down. It is a breathtaking drive. We drove through Ouray and Silverton and a bit further south for the sheer joy of the scenery.

The view of Ridgway Reservoir heading south out of the park on Hwy 550.

Hwy 550 going south.

Looking back north over the town of Ouray.

Going south on Hwy 550 through the first tunnel.

This tunnel was built to keep snow from covering the highway.

Red Mountain.

Simply a beautiful sight.

A view of Silverton from Hwy 550 south of the town.

Old mining area

Old abandoned houses.

The highway hugs the mountain in many places and there is no guardrail.

There are different stories as to how the Million Dollar Highway got its name....one is that the highway cost a million a mile......the other is that there is a million in gold in the ground under the highway. It was mining country so its possible there is still gold there.

Oh, the excitement of legends and folklore!! Either way, the drive was spectacular!!!!

Black Canyon Quilt Show in Montrose

2009-07-10T17:13:00.005-05:00

We returned to Delta, to the home of our friends Pam and Fred this past Tuesday. The days are flying with much to do before we head out on Sunday for our campout at Ridgway. Dan and I really like that park, so we were pleased that our host and hostess wanted to return there for their monthly campout. The temps there are quiet a bit cooler than here so we will enjoy that too.

Pam invited me to go with her to the Black Canyon Quilt Show in Montrose today. I have looked forward to this because my Grannie and Mom were avid quilters. I've never seen so many beautiful quilts in one place in my life. I will remember this day!! I took many pictures. There was a section of quilts that were on display for a silent auction, those quilts could be touched. Then, there was the section with signs asking folks to refrain from touching. The folks who did any touching wore white gloves....these are works of art after all. I'm amazed at what folks can do with fabric and thread.

Check out some of my pictures!

There were approximately 150 quilts, all kinds of patterns, colors, themes, all beautiful. So much talent on display!

Grand Mesa-Anniversary Drive

2009-07-04T17:43:00.005-05:00

We returned to Island Acres State Park, near Grand Junction, last Wednesday, got settled in and went fishing. We caught several small perch and released them. Thursday we went fishing again and caught many very small perch and a couple of small bass. We released all of them...I'm talking about 30 or so fish. It was a lot of fun. Great entertainment.

Friday I went shopping and we were planning to go fishing in the afternoon. I got information from the office person that one of the ponds in this park has catfish in it. Now we're talking. I'm from Arkansas and I don't know how other Arkansans feel but where I'm from catfish is THE fish. Dan and I will be giving that pond a try.

When I got home from my shopping expedition I got busy hooking up our new router...getting Dan back online was my anniversary gift to him. He is very pleased! It works like a dream!

Since we've been coming to this part of Colorado I've wanted to drive the Grand Mesa. It is said to be the largest flat top mountain in the world. Dan and I celebrated our anniversary today by driving the Grand Mesa. He drove so I could take pictures. Dan....thank you!!! It was a breath taking, beautiful drive. I've seen much of Colorado but the drive today goes to the top of my list of favorite places. We saw some wildlife, many lakes, some snow, and views that words don't do justice. Check out some of my pictures.

Yes....SNOW!!!

A fellow is paddling a small boat in the center of the lake!

Great memories!!!! Happy Anniversary Dan!

Camping---How Do You Do That!!!

2009-06-30T22:09:00.004-05:00

The past week has been a blur. We returned to Delta on Friday and by Sunday, Father's Day, we were taking Caleb home. We spent most of Monday resting, enjoying our solitude and regrouping. On Wednesday our hostess, Pam, left to go visit her sister in Aztec, NM. I thought she would be gone until Monday. She surprised all of us and came in Saturday night. I didn't know she was on the place until I was checking emails Sunday morning. She emailed me to let me know she was home. As crazy as it might be, Pam and I email each other and we are about forty steps from the house. We sometimes even chat by computer. How cool is that?

I was happy to learn that Pam was home. That meant the four of us would attend church together. We were planning to go anyway but it's really nice to go together. The service was wonderful, such a blessing. We came home after the service and all of us hibernated the rest of the day. I've always thought Sunday should be family day....the world keeps its distance and families just hang out together. That's how I was raised. Good memories!!

Dan and Fred have been doing much work around the place, tending the garden, pruning bushes and trees, fighting the weeds, like my dear friend Janice said, all those things that go with having property. Of course this isn't our property but Dan helps Fred out when he can. Two days ago he was pulling weeds and moved the wrong way. He has to be careful about things like that. Multiple back surgeries and then a fractured back make being able to pull weeds something of a luxury. Today Dan is better but is still moving carefully.

Back when we decided to go fulltime in our motor home I remember asking Dan, "now what will we do for fun?" Before, our idea of fun was packing our RV and heading to a state park in Arkansas. You might make a note...Arkansas has some incredible state parks...great fishing and beautiful. Dan's answer was "I don't know". Well, I'm here to tell you we still get excited about going camping. Today I finalized plans to return to Island Acres near Grand Junction about noon tomorrow. We will be there a few days, then return to our base camp here and caravan with Pam and Fred back to Pa-Co-Chu-Puk for another campout. Today we went to the store to get our camping food. We don't want to have to run off for groceries once we get set up. I told Dan I'm so excited we are going camping. It's funny....we take our cabin on wheels, we don't have to load it, it's ready to roll. We are changing our yard and the view. I really do get excited about that. I'm trying to get Pam and Fred to come on up and join us there. I got a maybe on that one.

So, that's how camping is done. Put things away for travel, crank it, and roll. Yep, that's how you do that.

This is one of the views we will see by tomorrow afternoon.

We're going camping!!!! We're going camping!!!!

Wildlife, Walking, and Waiting

2009-06-25T12:54:00.007-05:00

I keep thinking I'm going to blog more often and it's not happening. I remember my dear friend, Ellie, saying she was having too much fun to write about it. Guess that's the case here. I get up, get my first cup of cappuccino, head out with KD for our morning 45 minute hike near the hills, return home, get more cappuccino, cool off and then plan my day. It's not like I don't have the computer on because that's part of the ritual after my walk. I do follow my friends blogs. I must try harder, slow down, or something. My time in Colorado is very interesting, certainly not boring.

We were at the Pa-Co-Chu-Puk campground in the Ridgway State Park for thirteen days. Pam and Fred came in on their scheduled date of arrival. We really enjoyed our time there. We got in a lot of fishing and caught our limit most of the days we fished. Caleb and I joined our friends for a few friendly rounds of Jokers Wild. The girls won some, the guys won some. Everyone came away happy. One evening Dan prepared a fish fry for the group since we had such good luck fishing. Everyone pitched in with some of their favorite dishes and the meal was great.

Last Friday the 19th we returned to Delta and to the home of our friends Pam and Fred. Saturday I made my wally world run. While we were in the state park we were about sixteen miles from wally world and I refused to run back and forth every day. Needless to say by the time I made my Saturday run we were getting low on things. I stocked up, came home and put the things away. Caleb was suppose to be with us until the 28th so I thought the food supply would last.

Saturday night Caleb announced he wanted to go home. After much discussion on Sunday morning we told Caleb to pack his stuff. He didn't want to leave on Father's Day...he wanted to wait until Monday. We took him home on Sunday...it was not the best Father's Day Dan ever had. Caleb is back in his world and we have our home back. We truly enjoyed having him with us but it was time for him to go home. He is suppose to get a job for the rest of the summer but that remains to be seen. I hope he does find some work. Things that come to mind are learning responsibility and team playing. Both never hurt anyone.

Here it is Wednesday already. I took KD out for our morning walk at 6 a.m. this morning. As we took off down the road toward the hills several elk took off across the field. I thought it was antelope but I've been informed it was elk.....beautiful creatures. KD didn't see them..she was too busy watching for the rabbits. When she sees the rabbits she just knows she is in for a chase until she gets to the end of the leash. That is precisely the reason she wears a harness. Poor baby.....in her mind she lives in the wilds and must chase anything that moves.

Yesterday my friend Pam came to the door and asked if I would like to go to New Mexico with her. Ohhhhh.....that was tempting. She was on her way to see her sister for what she called her sister fix. Having had and loving my sister as much as I did....I'm aware of sisters needing time together. I declined. Dan asked why I didn't go. I told him it was a sister thing. I told Pam to go and enjoy herself and to give Ginny a hug for me. They need alone time together without friends or husbands around. So, Pam left. It is strange here without her. She will be back on Monday. I hope.....well....I know she will have a blast. She and Ginny are very close and they always have a good time together. I'll wait until Monday to hear all about it.

One of the ponds at Pa-Co-Chu-Puk campground!

Delta is the city of Murals...there are many here! In this picture, the bike is real.

Another mural!

Approaching one of the tunnels on I-70 while taking Caleb home!

Inside the Eisenhower tunnel!

A view of the beautiful mountains!

Whether one is viewing wildlife, walking for the sheer joy of it or waiting for a friend to return or waiting for the next campout.......this is the place to be.

Can you tell I absolutely love Colorado?

Camping In The Wilds

2009-06-09T09:32:00.005-05:00

The camping club plans to meet at the Ridgway State Park, Pa-Co-Chu-Puk campground for their campout in June. Dan and I talked it over and decided to go early so Dan and Caleb can get in some fishing before the official campout. Our friends Pam and Fred will join us no later than Sunday....we are hoping they can come a bit early.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy!!!!

I am in awe of the beauty of this area. We look to the south and the east and see snow covered mountains. We are just north of the reservoir. The nightly temps are in the mid 40's, although it did get into the mid 30's one night, and the day temps are upper 50's to mid 60's. The elevation here is between 6500 and 7000 feet and that's just within Ridgway State Park. The park has three or four campgrounds or day use areas and the elevation changes that much within the State Park. Some mornings we have mule deer grazing near us. They are so different from the deer I've seen in Arkansas and Texas. The mountain terrain and the climate makes them a sturdier looking animal. We also have chipmunks running about, cute little critters.

When we first got here I got up each morning so happy that we have almost two weeks here. That time is down to little more than a week and I'm still in awe of this place. We have full hookups but with 30 amp instead of 50. That's as close to roughing it as we've had.

Not bad for camping in the wilds!!!!!!

Let The Games Begin!

2009-06-03T20:48:00.004-05:00

This past Monday we drove to Grand Junction to the airport and waited for Caleb's plane to arrive from Denver. The plane was actually early. I was impressed. There he was coming through the door grinning. He went straight to his Dad and hugged him. It is so good to have him with us for a while.

Dan and Caleb have already been fishing and I understand they caught fish but released them. These two guys absolutely love fishing. Caleb was fishing when he was big enough to hang on to a fishing pole. One time we took him camping in Mississippi and I witnessed him teaching another child how to fish. I told him he did a very good thing. I just know that kid who is probably a teenager now is still fishing and loving it. Yes, he did a good thing.

We have a list of things to do while Caleb is here. Of course there is much fishing to be done, hiking, camping at a state park, geocaching, and 4 wheeling. We are going to be busy.

This crop duster was working on the field across the highway. Before he left he flew right over us.

This is a view of the mesa from the house.

This is a view of the house, airpark and the highway from top of the mesa.

Let the games begin! Yes!!!

The Adventure Continues!

2009-05-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

We really enjoyed the James Robb Island Acres Park, one of the most beautiful parks we've been in. We walked the park and I got to see other sites and get the layout of the park. The site we were on was perfect, we had shade much of the day and we had a breeze most of the time. We were surrounded by mountains and hugged by the Colorado River. I hope someday we can return to that park.

Friday morning we returned to Delta and to the home of our friends, Pam and Fred. We have the view of views from our rv site on their land. We are looking out at the mesa to the north and to the south a mountain range with snow on the peaks. Pam and Fred live in an airpark and have a private hangar. The treat of the day is to sit inside the hangar and watch the traffic and visit. We talk about how we should be busy doing something and decide that whatever we need to do can wait another day. This is retirement after all.

Saturday came and went and I vaguely remember what we did. Remember this is retirement and I don't have to remember what I did...right!!! Hummm! OK, now I do remember Sunday. Dan and I went with Pam to church. The pastor had all the members of the congregation who were servicemen and women to come forward in honor of Memorial Day. The oldest fellow was a WWII veteran and he was presented with an award for his service. The pastor thanked all for their service to this country. Then, the pastor spoke on being soldiers for God. It was a good sermon.

Today we are talking about our plans over the next few weeks. This coming weekend Dan and I will travel by car to pick up Dan's son, Caleb. It is always a joy to have him with us. He brings life and energy to our home. He is a good kid, a smart kid. He likes to challenge his Dad. That is always fun to watch. When he was a little guy Dan had the upper hand. That may not be the case now. Caleb is taller and outweighs his Dad. This could get very interesting!!! Caleb told me the last time he was here that he was going easy on his Dad. Uh huh!!! He doesn't know his Dad very well. Let the games begin!

Sunday evening we had a storm come through the area and as I watched the clouds I grabbed my camera. Mother nature can really show her stuff!

Monday morning after the rain, everything looks fresh and clean. The mountains have fresh snow on their peaks and the mesa looks more alive with color.

What an adventure!!!

A River, A Train, and Mountains

2009-05-21T06:18:00.006-05:00

We arrived in Delta last Saturday. Sunday we attended church where we sang old familiar hymns and heard a young man speak who just happens to be a missionary in Peru. His sermon was on "The Missionary Tragedy". What is that you ask? The sum of his message was that we as Christians are missionaries, every day of our lives. That is something to think about. It is our Christian responsibility to live our lives in such a way that we are examples in the most positive way. It was an inspiring sermon.

Monday Pam, our hostess, and I took our shopping list and headed to the store. The guys stayed home and prepared the motor homes for travel. Tuesday we pulled out of Pam and Fred's driveway at the crack of ten-ish. Because we were only driving about fortyfive miles I drove the car instead of towing. Fred and Pam led the way, Dan followed in the Discovery and KD and I followed Dan. We arrived at the Colorado State Park, James Robb Island Acres near Grand Junction about an hour later. Talk about beautiful country.

This park is located between I-70 and the Colorado River and surrounded by mountains. Just beyond the river is a train track and there are several trains a day and night that pass through. Some folks would find the trains disturbing but not me. I love the sound of trains. Only once has a train blown his whistle and that was to the delight of some kids who were giving him the signal to blow the whistle. We've seen several Amtrak trains, coal trains, tanker trains. I'm not sure that's what they are called, that's what I call them.

The river is up and moving swiftly. If one tried to fish I think their line and bait would probably come back to them. Even with not fishing in it, the river is neat to watch. This parks location is such that the sun comes up behind one mountain and shines on the opposite mountains making shadows move on the mountains and the color changes throughout the day. It is like watching art in motion. While we are visiting our friends, I find myself looking up watching the mountains.

We are here with Pam and Fred and their camping club, The Thunder Mountain Camping Club. What a group. Our first day here, we had four couples including us. Wednesday four more couples came in. There is visiting, some good food, some hiking, and some games. Today is our last full day on this campout and I'm anxious to see what the day holds. It will be interesting. Pam and I have hiked half of a trail that runs through the park and today we will do the other half. I'm told that there is an eagle's nest here. I'm watching just in case.

Trees out our front window!

It just looks like we are hiding in the trees. We have nice shade all day.

I-70 is between us and this mountain.

Colorado River is between these trees and the mountain in the background.

Our first day camping and rain in the canyon to the east of us.

Standing in the park and looking up!

Pam and I followed a hiking trail and wound up on this service road, an old highway bed.

An irrigation set up pumping water from the river!

Flowers in the park!

We've been blessed with the opportunity to experience this beautiful place! I'm counting my blessings!!

Western Slopes of Colorado

2009-05-17T16:24:00.004-05:00

It is a big job to be a navigator, planning the routes, the turns, the stops, and I love every minute of the planning. We are parked near Delta, Colorado enjoying the view of the mesa out our windows. This is our second visit here in the Discovery and this time we actually turned into the correct driveway. How hard is it to miss a driveway into an airpark? Huh!!! That's exactly what yours truly here did the first time we came here. I navigated one turn too soon and yes, we had to unhook the car and turn this beast around (thanks Ellie, a good word). We realized as we turned that time that we had goofed. Lesson learned!!! The big thing is we got it right this time.

We arrived here Saturday, rested and glad to be here. We go back a ways with Pam and Fred and always enjoy getting to visit. Saturday afternoon Dan and Fred worked in the garden while I went with Pam to deliver a quilt she finished for a friend. Pam has an elaborate quilting machine in her quilting studio and she has been putting it to good use.

Pam is showing her friend the finished quilt.

Delivering the quilt and seeing the owners face was a wonderful experience. Another treat was getting to see her house. She lives in a Spanish Adobe that looks like something out of a magazine. I have never been inside such a home so I was engrossed in it.

What a great first day on the western slopes of Colorado!

Mountains and Winding Roads

2009-05-15T19:40:00.004-05:00

We left Amarillo Thursday morning following the rural roads of the Texas Panhandle as we made our way to Raton, New Mexico. The trip was a quiet easy trip until the wind caught up with us. Wind and high profile vehicles don't mix real well so we slowed down for several miles on the last leg of the trip. We arrived safely in Raton and we did a limited set up routine since we were staying one night. There's no need to decorate the digs for a night. It makes getting ready to go the next morning a bit less involved.

This morning we left Raton and headed north. We had a choice of two different routes to follow to get to the western slopes. We took what I call the southern route heading toward Delta. We decided to stop for the night and we will continue on tomorrow.

We both love the mountains. The route I picked is full of winding roads. In a car it is a fun trip, in a motor home, it is a real adventure. I looked at Dan today and asked whose bright idea it was to go that way. I got "the" look. I just laughed. He told me the next time we drive that route, I will get to drive. Hummmm!!! I don't know about that.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Delta where we will visit our friends Pam and Fred. We are looking forward to our visit, after all, it has been a couple of years. We have catching up to do, some camping to do, maybe a few rounds of some friendly card games.

We see many crosses in our travels. We saw this one today.

First view of the snow covered mountains.

Aspens along our route.

Following the road between the moutain and the water.

Interesting view of a moutain beyond an RV park along our route.

We've covered some ground today, coming over, through, and around the moutains. Gotta love those winding roads. What a trip!

A Short Visit in Amarillo

2009-05-13T19:01:00.004-05:00

Amarillo is spread out over many miles with a character all its own This time I learned there are painted horses around town, not painted ponies, but painted horses. They are painted, each with its own theme. The horses remind me of the painted buffalo in Custer, SD, the boots in Cheyenne, WY and the carousel horses in Meridian, MS. Amarillo is also famous for a unique collection of quirky signs. Jim and Ellie invited us out for a drive to go looking for the signs. Each sign has a quote, a picture, something that sometimes holds meaning only for the person or family who put it up. Some are funny, some serious, some questionable. My favorite, which I didn't get a picture of said "Don't go to bed mad.......stay up and fight." I think that's funny. I did get pictures of a couple I found interesting. We got some good laughs over some of the signs, others we simply tried to figure out the meaning behind them.

They speak for themselves!

It would be fun to hang out here for a few more days but our travel plans mean we will be pulling out Thursday. We've been in the Oasis RV Resort for the few short days we've been here and I can highly recommend this park. Check out http://www.myrvoasis.com/ This is our first time to stay on the west side of Amarillo. It is a quite park with large sites, it's very clean, has free laundry, free wifi, and there are many other perks. It is worth checking out if you are passing through Amarillo.

Tomorrow a new adventure begins as we head to Raton, NM. Tonight we are getting ready to go.

Our short visit in Amarillo is about to come to an end but we are taking some happy memories with us.

Safe travels to all our friends!

The Discovery Travels On

2009-05-10T16:58:00.006-05:00

Our time in Arkansas is but a memory now. Time really does fly when you get busy with plans and try to cram a month into a week. I had two goals in mind when we planned our trip home. I wanted to make good on a promise to my Aunt Winnie and Aunt Marcee, to come see them, spend some time with them. I also wanted to place flowers on my Mother's grave for Mother's Day. I accomplished both my goals.

I had a very pleasant surprise when I learned that Ellie and Jim were coming through my hometown and would be stopping. They had planned on two nights but the only RV park in town left much to be desired so they used the Wal Mart accomodations and stayed one night. The morning of their travel day Janice and I picked up Ellie and we went to the museum to view my Mother's doll collection which stays on exhibit there. We took Ellie back to the rig, which Jim had prepared for travel in our absence. The Castle pulled out heading toward Oklahoma.

Thursday, Janice and I went to see my Aunt Marcee (my Mom's sister) in North Little Rock. Dan woke up that morning feeling bad and running fever so he chose to remain at home. Janice and I had so much fun visiting my Aunt and my cousin. They prepared lunch for us and we got in a whole lot of visiting. Friday Dan was better so he went with me to see my Aunt Winnie (my Dad's sister) in Hampton. Aunt Winnie and her kids had planned on her spending the Mother's Day weekend with them in Little Rock. I decided I would drive her to her son's house. On the way to Little Rock we got lunch and dropped Dan at the motor home. He wanted to start getting the Discovery ready to go. Aunt Winnie and I had the best time riding and talking. I will cherish my precious time with my Aunts. They are both jewels, the kindest most loving women. Both were career women and raised their families and accomplished much in their lifetimes. They both raised children who are educated and successful, a real tribute to their upbringing.

Friday while we were visiting Aunt Winnie, Dan got the go ahead to make plans to see his son as soon as school is out. His son is in northern Colorado so it requires planning on our part to get there. We are looking forward to seeing Caleb soon. We had planned to go with our friends Bill and Janice to Mountain View but when we got the OK to get Caleb we knew we had to get moving in that direction so as soon as I knew we would see him I called and cancelled our reservations in Moutain View. We have to time our arrival with school getting out. We hated missing Moutain View as we do love the place, but, Caleb comes first.

On that note, we headed the Discovery out Friday evening. We stopped for breaks along the way, resting, getting supper, napping and moving on. We are our happiest when we are on the move. As I write this we are in Amarillo at a fantastic park, Oasis RV Resort. This is one of the nicest parks we've ever had the pleasure of staying in.

Today we took a drive to Palo Duro Canyon. We have been there before with Jim and Ellie but didn't get to go too far in due to high water. Today we drove the complete circle. It is a small version of the Grand Canyon and has several camping areas. There were folks on bicyles, horseback, hiking, you name it. It was a beautiful drive.

This sweet puppy is Lucas, he could pass for a twin to Jasmine. He really is laying on his back looking at the camera.

My friends, Ellie and Janice in front of some of the dolls on display from my Mom's collection.

The gang at Aunt Marcee's house. From the left, Janice, Karon, Marcee, and Thomalane.

Aunt Winnie and Karon

This formation in Palo Duro Canyon reminds me of Crazyhorse in Custer, SD. and the way that mountain looked before the project began.

I had almost a week in Arkansas and made some incredible memories. This fulltiming life opens so many doors for visiting dear friends, making new friends and making great memories. The Discovery travels on.

Going Home

2009-05-04T12:21:00.000-05:00

We made our way from Aransas Pass, TX to Rockdale, TX last Wednesday. After parking I drove to the office to pay and I saw our friend June walking toward her car. I stopped and said "hi" and she told me Jo had called a bit earlier wanting to know if we had arrived. By the time I got back to the site Jo and Britt were already there. June followed and we all visited a few minutes. It was the first time we've seen Britt up on his feet since March 4th. He is mending and gaining strength after his surgery. We enjoyed our stay in Rockdale.

On Saturday we were back on the road heading home. We knew it could be a long day even though we planned to stop about half way for the night. Because we left early we arrived at our next stop before noon and decided that was much too early to stop for the night. We kept going. We stopped for fuel just inside the Arkansas state line and decided to stop for a break at the new Arkansas Welcome Center just down the freeway. We felt like driving on but we really needed a break. We were also keeping an eye on the weather and knew if we kept going we would drive into bad weather. The area we were in and our destination were both under tornado watches. We cranked up the generator and waited. We were sitting there debating whether to keep going and the weather conditions were getting worse by the minute. The rain was coming down harder and the wind was picking up. We got hit with a wall of wind and water and for the first time this motor home was swaying side to side. It was not fun. About the time we got the worse of it my phone rang. It was our friend Bill calling because they were watching the weather on TV and knew we were in a bad place. They wanted to check on us. We discussed whether we should continue on and Bill advised us that we were safer sitting it out. That's what we did.

Sunday morning we knew we had a small window of time to travel the last two and half hours before the weather was predicted to get bad again. We made a run for it. We had no rain or wind and arrived at the home of our friends Bill and Janice safe and sound and very thankful to have the drive behind us. We visited a few minutes and Bill and Janice left for church. We also got to see their grandchildren, Dalton and Erin, who spent the night with Nana and Pawpaw. They are adorable kids and the joy in Bill and Janice's life.

When Bill and Janice came home they treated us to hamburgers for lunch and a great time visitng and catching up. We haven't seen Bill and Janice in a year and I was shocked when we figured that out. That's much too long! We are here for a week. Then we will be traveling together to Mountain View for a much anticipated stay there. Music and more music....we are looking forward to that.

While we are here, starting with today, we are awaiting the arrival of Ellie and Jim. They are coming through on their way to Oklahoma and they are stopping for a couple of nights. I am so excited because my friends are going to get to meet each other.

I have other plans for the week but I'll wait till they happen before I write about them. Stay tuned.

Heading toward Arkansas!

The view out our front window while at the Welcome Center!

The highway leading to Sheridan.....I've missed the trees.

Lucas and KD from another get together. It's rare to catch them still enough for a picture.

We are home and I will cherish each minute I'm here!

The Count Down Begins!

2009-04-23T11:09:00.002-05:00

We have enjoyed our stay on the coast. Since Dan grew up here he sees the area different than I do. I prefer my way of seeing it. It is a beautiful area, lots and lots of boats, lots of fishing going on, palm trees, nautical landscaping in different areas and then there is the water. Water and more water. From where we are, I take the route through Ingleside and Portland when I go to Corpus. The bay is visible from much of that drive. My favorite view is coming out of Corpus over the bridge toward Portland. There is one spot where the causeway looks like it runs off into the bay. Eerie, but beautiful. No pictures since the sky, water and highway run together so it's hard to distinguish the details in a picture. I've tried!

We have one more week here and we are talking about what we will do during that week. Dan will check out the Discovery doing pre-trip maintenance. I am spending my free time studying the maps, places to go, things to do. I recently, yesterday in fact, became the proud owner of a GPS, a Garmin eTrex Legend. What will I do with that, you say! Hours and hours of fun is what I will do with that. I love geocaching and I will put this baby to very good use. I'm already looking at geocaching locations. The fun is endless! It's a great way to go places you wouldn't ordinarly go, it's a great way to get exercise and if you are lucky enough to have a dear friend who loves the search as much as you do (yes, I have one) then you get to hang out with your buddy. Geocaching is perfect for the rving crowd.

The plans, so far, are to return to Rockdale to visit our friends Jo, Britt, John and June. We plan to get in some serious card playing with Jo and Britt. From there we will head to Arkansas, to the home of our friends, Bill and Janice, who have a site on their property for us. Yes, we are going "home". We plan to be there a week and then head to Mountain View, Arkansas with Bill and Janice. If you haven't been to Mountain View, well, you've missed something. It is the most serene place, music everywhere, no mental health clinics that I remember seeing. They are too busy making music in those parts. You take your chair, a bag chair is a good choice, and you head to the courthouse square. On every corner, in every feasible place, there is music. You take your chair and you roam around the square listening to any and every kind of music you could want to hear. Am I excited.....you bet!!!

The plans after Mountain View are still on the drawing board. I have two routes planned just in case. Maybe we will flip a coin. Who knows, we might spend the summer in Arkansas. The beauty of plans penciled in is they can be changed with the swipe of the eraser. We have followed a somewhat rigid schedule for a long time. It's time to throw caution to the wind.

What's not to love about that. On May 1 this rig will be rolling. Hey, it might roll before then. The count down begins!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, Wind, and Waxing

2009-04-15T12:04:00.005-05:00

Our time on the coast is flying by. This is already Wednesday and we've been here almost two weeks. I'm enjoying the coast like never before. I see things like I'm seeing them for the first time. Maybe I woke up, gained consciousness, I don't know. Maybe working to live in the moment, appreciate the here and now is working. Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is a dream, today is reality and what we have. Besides, it's all in God's hands so I don't have to worry one little bit.

Today we are having wind gust between twenty and thirty miles per hour. We have the windows open, I hear the birds singing. There is a canal behind the park and ever so often the sea gulls are there feeding and making the laughing sounds. When we are fishing we just know they are laughing at us because they know stuff we don't. That is possible. Remember I keep one eye on the birds and one eye on the fishing pole. The other day we took a snack with us and I tossed the bread to the gulls. Oh, did they ever like that. They would catch the bread in flight. What a sight. What fun!!

A couple of nights ago Dan decided to go fishing. He says the evening/night fishing is best. He also catches his bait, some of the time. That particular night he went down a road he knew but somehow the bushes on the roadside were more dense than he remembered. He, the car and the bushes had a bit of an altercation. The jury is still out on who won but the car sustained scratches on both sides. So, this morning Dan was out bright and early with the wax and rag and the car now shows no signs of having been off in the jungle. It's as shiny as a new penny.

While I'm on the coast I sometimes ride with Janie, my dear, sweet, mom in law, while she makes her rounds on her job. She picks up and delivers doctors orders so she covers some miles on the day that she is on the road. As we go down the road we sound like two teen age girls laughing, talking, getting serious, then more talking. We always have the best time. We also get lunch at our favorite restaurant, a locally owned place where we have "our" table. Neat, huh! That's how we spent yesterday. I hope we get to do that again while I'm here.

We learned how to play canasta, hand and foot from Jo and Britt. I'm not, well I wasn't a card player, guess I can't say that any more. I love playing that game. I think I'll go see if I can find my card playing buddy.

We brought our bikes from storage and "yes" I'm really riding mine.

Corpus Christi skyline

Sights on the coast

Dan has finished waxing the car, the wind is still blowing and it's still Wednesday. Now for a little friendly canasta competition.

Coastal Living, Friends, Birds and Wind!

2009-04-12T08:55:00.006-05:00

Ahhhh, life on the coast! It is a beautiful place. I've been here many times but this time I'm trying to look at the coast through the eyes of a tourist. It is an amazing place with the birds, the plants, trees, wind, the beach and the people. I'm enjoying watching the folks go about the business of their day, whether it is shopping, fishing, or sightseeing. We as RVers have the opportunity to see the many different parts of this country and the handiwork of God. My Mother's two favorite places were the beaches and the mountains....I inherited her love of both.

While we are here we have been getting in some fishing. We've released what we've caught. I find myself watching the birds instead of the fishing pole. Those birds are real characters. I got very close to the pelicans when I walked up to the fish cleaning station.

After waiting and feeding at the fish cleaning station these guys moved across the water.

I could sit for hours and watch the coastal birds. I might just go do that.

One day after arriving here we were sitting outside and having our morning coffee. I saw this fellow with this cute little dog walking in front of our site. We said our "good mornings" and I asked the fellow what his dog's name was. See, I remember the pets....I knew this dog looked familiar. The man said his dog was Boo Boo. I came up out of my chair while saying, "that means you are Fred". He looked surprised. He was Fred Wishnie of the Wandering Wishnies. His wife is Jo and I've been following their blog for ages. Check it out at www.mytripjournal.com/WanderingWishnies I introduced Fred, Boo Boo and Dan to each other. The next day I got to visit with Jo and Fred in their home and I got to play with Boo Boo. That puppy is a delight, such a joy to be around. She has just celebrated her second birthday. Happy Birthday Boo Boo. Jo and Fred, it was a treat to get to spend time with you. I will continue to follow your blog. Your adventures are so inspiring. I hope our paths cross again.

Today is Easter Sunday! I hope you take time today to reflect on this day and the ressurection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is nothing that measures up to what He did for us. Take a moment and give thanks!

May God Bless You!

Alive And Well in the Coastal Bend

2009-04-06T12:31:00.007-05:00

We didn't fall off the face of the earth. It is nice to know I'm missed when I don't remember I have a blog I'm suppose to be keeping up. My friends are the best friends in the world. Thank you for being you!

I would like to announce that our friend Britt is now home and slowly regaining his strength. It will take time but he will be good as new eventually. Thank you for all the prayers.

The medical appointments have thinned out considerably....so much so that we have a span of time and we decided to make a run for it. We headed south out of the Temple area and back to Dan's stomping grounds, Aransas Pass, TX. We have been in the corp parks since last October or November and although we enjoy them we decided it was time for a change. We are in a park with Palm trees, nautical landscaping, concrete pads, streets and full hookups.....Ransom Road. It is a beautiful park. We've been here before so it was like coming home to a place we know. We are parked, maybe a quarter of a mile from the bay and fishing.

Speaking of fishing....this past weekend we decided it was time to put our fishing license to good use. We went about the task of getting our bait and headed down the street to the bay and a public fishing area. The view one way is of the bay going out into the gulf. The other direction goes toward a marina and private docks behind the homes that line the canals. Boats come and go and it's always fun to watch. Dan went about the business of fishing while I kept one eye on my fishing pole and the other on my camera and anything that was picture worthy.

The treat of the day was when Dan snagged something big. We didn't know for a while what it was or how big. This was my first time ever to watch someone try to land a large fish. What excitement that was. A small crowd gathered to watch. Dan was all over that pier and the fish was all over the place covering a span of some two hundred yards. We didn't have a dip net with us so I called Dan's brother to bring a dip net just in case. A good hour later Dan was still trying to get the fish in and both Dan and the fish were getting tired. He kept at it and got the fish to the pier where this fish decided to go under the pier. The 50 lb line snagged on the barnacles on the piling of the pier and snapped. While that was happening we did get a peak at the fish. It had to go thirty or forty pounds. Someone said it was a jack...not sure what kind but very large. It truly is the one that got away but what a fight it put up. The rod and reel Dan was using was a gift from our friends Jim and Ellie, (thank you). It will bring Dan many hours of fun. Dan is ready to go back and try again.

We are on the coast for a while, well until the going bug bites again. While we are here we plan to play tourist. There will be more news to follow.

In search of bait!

While we fished this guy kept us company!

Dan and the battle!

Nightfall at the marina!

Lighting at the pier where we fished!

It is another day in the Coastal Bend and more fun is waiting!!

Spring Has Arrived!!

2009-03-23T06:55:00.005-05:00

First, I want to thank everyone for your prayers and your concern for our friend Britt. His surgery went without incident, he is still in the hospital that did the surgery. His recovery is another story. We visited him on Saturday and as we walked into his room I was shocked to see him wearing a neck brace. I was told it was for his comfort. He faded in and out while we were there as he was still sedated. He had a rough first night and the next day was not much better. Jo told us they were going to try to get him up to walk later in the day on Saturday. We visited just a few minutes and left. He needed the rest. I spoke to Jo Sunday evening and she told me they are having trouble with getting Britt's legs to work. He is very weak after laying in the bed for almost three weeks. She reported that the doc says it will take some time. Please continue to keep Britt in your prayers.

Dan remembered a gift his Dad made for his brother many years ago when his brother was in the hospital. Dan decided to use the idea and make Britt a surprise. It would give Britt something to look at and think about while laying in the hospital. Dan got a coffee mug, some aluminum wire and a collection of fishing lures and bobbers and made this fishing bouquet.

Britt got a kick out of it. Now if he could just go fishing!!! He will in time.

We've been driving the miles from Granger Lake to Temple and wishing we could move the rig back to the Temple area. I started checking sites a couple of weeks ago and with Spring Break there were no sites to be had. Finally, Saturday I checked on the site we reserved for this Wednesday. It would be available Sunday afternoon...yesterday. I called and got the go-ahead to come on in. Yesterday we moved the rig back to Temple to Live Oak Ridge Corp park. We are now about fifteen minutes from Britt as opposed to an hour. Dan also has appointments this week so this is a win-win thing to be here.

The fun thing about being at Granger Lake was Spring Break. I thought it would be a noisy time with people everywhere. Well it was.....people were everywhere, kids rode their bikes, families hung out together, visiting, grilling, playing, just having a great time. It was fun to watch. That is where the love of camping starts when kids are little. In our fulltiming life we've never seen so many campers, kids, bikes, all that fun stuff at one time in one area. I loved it. We also got to see the beginning of the Blue Bonnets. Yes, I loved it.

Now, I'm ready to have some fun. Dan's appointments are winding down and we are ready to go somewhere. I wonder what it would be like to open the atlas and close my eyes and put my finger on a spot and go there. Interesting thought...huh!!!!

Spring is here and so is Spring fever, camping fever, going fever...did I mention I'm ready to have some fun?

What Day Is It?

2009-03-17T10:27:00.002-05:00

Time flies, things happen, we get caught up in our day to day routine and wonder where the time or the day went. This week is a good example. We are parked at Granger Lake. We've been here several times. We have not been here during the time of spring break. I keep thinking it's Saturday because the kids are out riding bikes, families are sitting on their sites visiting and seem to be having a nice time. I'm use to seeing campers come in on Thursday or Friday and pull out on Sunday headed back to their other life. This past Sunday if anyone left I missed it. Monday and Tuesday I'm still thinking it's Saturday. I hate to think I'll be in this time warp for two or three weeks. Yikes......I need to tune in.....I have my calendar right beside my computer for that very purpose. OK, for the record it is Tuesday. There....I figured it out.

Now, what's been happening! Right after my last post our friend Britt went in for medical stuff. Dan was scheduled to go for an appointment Thursday and it's not like him to want to go two days in a row to the hospital. On Tuesday Dan had a feeling he should go with Britt on Wednesday. Dan went along and when Britt went in for his last appointment he walked up to check in at the desk and as he turned to go have a seat he went to the floor. He complained of chest pains. Of course the folks came to his aid. He was in cardiology and the first thing they did was check his heart. His heart is fine. He was sent to the ER for further examination. Turns out he has a spot on his spine that is pressing his spinal column. Britt has been in the hospital since that day, for his safety. His surgery will take place at Scott White Medical Center. The surgery schedule is full so he is having to wait until Thursday the 19th for surgery. Dan's feeling that he should go with Britt proved right. Dan drove Britt's car home that day.

The next day was Thursday and Dan had a dental appointment.....root canal. So you know he really enjoyed that. When the dental appointment was over he went to Britt's room where I waited with Britt and Jo. We visited a while and then returned to the park. Jo's sister June and her husband were here as well and they all decided to return to their hometown on Sunday, a few days earlier than planned. We've had lots of wind and cold here and Sunday was the first decent day in a while. We would take that day to move their rigs. We formed a caravan. John pulled their fifth wheel, June followed in her car, then Jo in their Jeep, Dan drove Britt's motorhome and I followed in my car as the last in the caravan so I could bring Dan back. We talked of moving our rig but decided against that. We are in a good location to get to Britt or Jo if needed by either one.

For the past two weeks we've been running back and forth to the hospital. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we will all meet at the hospital for the surgery details. Britt will be moved very early Thursday morning and we will be there for him when he comes out of surgery. At this point we are thinking they will keep him for rehab before sending him home. We will see.

Britt fusses at us for coming to see him so much so we all are taking today off and tending to stuff around our homes. Tomorrow we will be back at the hospital. Another couple we haven't seen in a while will be driving in from north Texas and we are looking forward to seeing them. Britt will enjoy the visit.....we've all camped together and go back a ways. It will be a good day.

Now that I know what day it is and you know we didn't fall off the face of the earth.....I think I'll take a nice hot cup of cappuccino and go sit outside and watch those kids on their bikes.

Make it a great day......no matter what day it is!!!!!!!!

Control, Alt, Delete!!!

2009-03-02T07:32:00.002-06:00

As I posted in my last entry we were ready to move on. We were scheduled to travel on Friday but I checked online and it appeared that our site was open so we moved to Granger Lake and the Wilson H. Fox park on Thursday. We didn't tell our friends we were coming...we like surprises. They arrived about an hour ahead of us. It is nice to be parked with them again. We've battled the wind every day until yesterday, Sunday, when it was very pleasant to just sit outside.

We towed the CRV with the new bracket on our move to this park. The outside hookup is the same as with the Santa Fe but the routine inside is a bit different. I must run the gears to prepare the car for towing. The CRV is automatic, the Santa Fe was a standard shift. Running the gears is no problem but when I'm finished with that process I hook up our Brake Buddy. While hooking up the Brake Buddy the key is in the accessory position and the car sounds a warning ding to let me know I've left the key in the ignition. Now, try hooking up a Brake Buddy with this ding, ding, ding, going off right by your head. That is not fun. I'll figure it all out. It's not rocket science after all.

As we were traveling to Granger Lake, we were talking about something and Dan's reply was control, alt, delete. I started laughing. I said there is a blog in that somewhere. Wouldn't it be fun to be able to have buttons in our life that worked like the computer. A last resort sort of thing where you could just hit control, alt, delete when things are crazy. I guess that's much like the Easy button on that commercial. I have wished for an easy button through much of the last four months, a way to get through the medical issues, the not so happy moments in my life. I can not speak for other fulltimers but I know from experience that the act of hitting the road fulltime is not a magic solution to getting away from stress, worry, that sort of thing that goes along with us in reality. Fulltiming in itself is a joy, getting to meet new folks along the way is the highlight of this lifestyle. When medical issues rear their ugly heads, fulltiming takes on a different meaning.

Speaking of medical issues, last Wednesday while practicing my flamework I did a very stupid thing. I managed to get my right hand too close to the torch....OK, in the flame. That day ended with a three hour stay in the ER, second degree burns and a stop to the flamework for a while. I walked around with my right hand bandaged with gauze for a couple of days until I couldn't deal with it anymore. I couldn't find that easy button. I took the gauze off and now have bandaids on the burns. Hey, I can type so I'm a happy camper again. I will live. I will not make that mistake again. It was careless, dangerous, really stupid. I told the doc about my craft/hobby injuries and he just looked at me...grinned....told me I was accident prone. Maybe I am...maybe I should just watch TV and read good books. How dangerous can that be? I will live...I will do flamework again......one of these days.

In the mean time, I think I'll start a collection of easy buttons.

Ready To Move On

2009-02-24T15:37:00.003-06:00

Usually it's a three week period of time before we get antsy to move on. We've been here just under two weeks and we are ready to go. In the past it has not been unusual for us to leave a site with nights paid for just so we can go. We try not to do that but there are times we just throw caution to the wind and go anyway. It's possible we may do just that this week. We are scheduled to pull out Friday and if we had good sense we would wait until then. Hey we are fulltimers and we never claimed to have good sense so what's the point in using that theory now.

There is the small detail of a medical appointment tomorrow. Dan will see his cardiologist for a followup to see how he is doing these days. He tells me he is feeling better...not sure if that's for my benefit or if he is really feeling better. He acts like he is better. I'll go with that until I hear different.

This past Sunday we left the rig here at Cedar Ridge and drove down to Rockdale for the day. Dan took our car and Britt followed in his car so he could bring Dan back to Rockdale after dropping our car. The fellow installed our new tow bracket on the Honda and later in the day brought the car back to us. What service and he did an outstanding job on the installation. He also fixed it so we can use our Brake Buddy. We are happy with his work. When Dan and Britt returned to Rockdale we had time for them to get ready and we all walked to church together. They live a half a block from their church..it was a wonderful service. After church we had a delicious lunch of homemade soup and salad. After cleaning up the kitchen we headed to the sun room and we played cards all afternoon while we waited for the car. Half way through the card game we took a break for ice cream and then it was back to the card game. It was a great day. We got home around 8 p.m. so it was long but productive, happy day.

Monday I drove Dan to the VA two times. The first was to talk to the eye doctor about the new glasses he can't see with. They gave him an appointment for later that day and we returned. They are remaking his glasses.

Today has been a beautiful day. It's sunshine, blue sky, 80 degrees...what's not to love about that. I've also spent a couple of hours practicing with my torch. I made four beads. It is very much a learning curve right now but I'm having so much fun with it. I'm learning all the things that I don't want to do. I took a class a year ago and when I first lit the torch in that class I knew I was on to something I would enjoy. It takes a lot of practice and there are some flamework artist who turn out real pieces of art...wearable art. They set the standard all beginners strive for. While I strive to improve I am having a great time playing with the fire.

Are we packing yet...oh we wish! First we will make the appointment tomorrow and then...who knows, this rig may just pull out. Hey, we do need to check out that new tow bracket...right?

Just so you know I'm not making this up, here's todays beads.

These are from couple of days ago. What do you think?

This little gal decided to check us out. She's been to our window several times and just watches us.

This flock has been visitng several times. When Dan arrived at this site he had to wait for these guys and gals and a herd of deer to move off our site so he could park. They took their good time! Gotta love them!!!

Dan is waiting on me to play a card game. Life is so good!!!

Entertainment!!!

2009-02-19T09:43:00.000-06:00

Last Friday we returned to Cedar Ridge COE park, our favorite park in this area. We are parked on a site where we can look out at the water, always a favorite thing with us. And, the precious wildlife is here. Just this morning I looked out and the deer were waiting on their morning feeding. I went out and most just stood there and watched me. I threw the corn in all directions and while I was at it, I counted over thirty deer. I also put the last of the bird seed in the feeder. I will get more corn and bird feed today. These creatures are one source of entertainment.

It has been said, more than once by me, that it takes so little to entertain me. I really do like the simple things in life, I believe beauty is all around us, we should be happy in our moment, we should do things with a happy heart. We should approach each new day with a sense of adventure. When I'm waking each morning I count my blessings and I'm anxious to see what the day has in store. I want to make it count.

One bit of news is that we are having our new tow bracket installed on the Honda this coming weekend. As you may remember, the Santa Fe decided to quit and we had to replace the car. We hoped the tow bracket from the Santa Fe would fit the Honda but that didn't happen. We had to order a new bracket. I'm anxious to get it installed because I much prefer riding in or driving the motor home rather than being in the car in front of it. It's a lot more fun going down the road sharing the ride. I also get to fuss at the crazy drivers who want to cut in front of us like we aren't there. I'm sure you've seen some of those! Makes me want to slap them. Yes, I know....do everything with a happy heart. Can you slap someone and do it with a happy heart!!! Hummmm!!!

For those who've been asking....Dan's appointments are fewer and farther between. It's mostly followups now and we are anxious to hear the docs opinions of how things are going. We want to make summer plans but haven't yet....we wait.

Now for pictures I've been waiting to show you. Our entertainment!!!!!

Yes, a snake!!! Yikes!!! This little fellow was crawling across our mat outside our door right after setting up our first day here! We are discussing what kind it is. Dan says Copperhead. The gatekeeper says Rattlesnake. I know for sure it's a snake and a baby and that means it has a mama and sibblings out there somewhere. We've yet to meet the rest of the family. Dan took this one to the gate keeper!

My latest picture of our furbaby, KD. Bossy, nosey, curious, soooo loving.

I said KD is curious. This is the bag her food came in and she just had to check it out.

This goat was on the property next to the last park we were in. Isn't that the sweetest face!

You know this guy!!!! Dan was setting up his grilling stuff and KD and I were sitting outside watching. How about those suspenders!!!! Just wait till I get a picture of him in his new overalls. Yes he has agreed to a picture but that is coming in the near future.

More entertainment coming!!! Stay tuned!!!!!!!!

Live Oak Ridge-Life Among The Trees

2009-02-05T15:42:00.000-06:00

Our wonderful stay at Somerville Lake came to an end, for now. We will miss the critters and I'm sure some of them are looking for the peanuts, the chair and the guy who kept them entertained.

Yesterday we walked over to Jo and Britt's motorhome for the last of our card playing marathon. We were sitting by the window and could see the squirrels scampering about. Dan walked to the door just to see if they were near the rig we were in. Sure enough, one had followed us. Britt says the squirrels have a keen sense of smell and they trailed Dan. It's a wonderful thing to be on the same playing field with a wild animal but that can also be a bad thing, especially for the animal. Other folks would take advantage of the animals trust. Yes, we miss our "pets".

Today was travel day. I thought Britt would lead us but he told us to go on ahead. Since we don't have a tow bracket on the car yet, that meant I would lead. So off we went. The trip was just a couple of hours and an easy drive. We stopped for fuel in Milano and as Britt passed where we turned off he hit the air horn. We will see them again, we aren't sure when.

We are back in the Belton/Temple area for the med appointments. They are few and far between now but these are followups and necessary. So, we are parked on our favorite site in Live Oak Ridge. We get a bit more sun and that all important view of the southern sky so we can use the satellite dome for our TV viewing. The trees here are incredibly beautiful but not TV dish friendly. We will be here until Friday the 13th. No, I'm not superstitious in case you wonder. We will travel that day back to Cedar Ridge where I hope we get back to seeing our deer. We have the corn just in case.

One good thing that happened in the last couple of days is that we have a new tow bracket on order. We had hoped the bracket from the Santa Fe would fit the CRV but you know that wasn't going to happen. It will take a couple of weeks to get here. That's another reason to wait it out here. Then we can tow the car and we will be good to hit the road to fun.

For now we will enjoy the sunny sky, our open windows, the breeze and these magnificent trees. The only critters we see here are the two legged upright kind.....oh, wait that's the other campers. Oh well, they can be entertaining too. And, it takes so little to entertain me.

This park is all live oaks.

We have traded critters for trees. Life among the trees can be a good thing, it would be better with critters.

My First Ever Super Bowl Party

2009-02-02T09:05:00.000-06:00

In my previous life, as I call it, I watched a lot of football. I knew quarterbacks names and the teams they played for. I loved watching football with folks who got involved in the game with a lot of yelling at the TV, like that was going to make a difference. Well, it did. I loved it. It was almost like being at the game. I prefer the comfort of watching games on TV with all that instant replay stuff. They probably do the instant replay at the games now with all the new technology and all. I have no plans to go to a game just to find out. With all that being said....I never attended a Super Bowl party.

We've been at Lake Somerville for going on three weeks. During this time we've shared meals with our camping friends and they have done much of the fixing. A few days before Super Bowl we all decided we wanted to have a party. Well, like this hasn't been a three week ongoing party! We, OK, Dan announced we would host the party. What!!!! I've never done a Super Bowl party. What are we suppose to do? I'm here to tell you, Dan is an excellent host. He keeps the coffee pot full of fresh coffee, makes delicious food (he had a chance to go to culinary college, yes he's that good, but he passed on it) and he knew exactly how to have a party. He prepared much of the stuff while Britt grilled the chicken. Everyone brought something but Dan put it together. The food was delicious, the company was fun and yes there was much yelling at the TV. We worked hard at trying to help that game along. By the end of the third quarter our guest decided it was time to return to their rigs so I watched the rest of the game alone. I didn't care, I had a great time. We will do that again!!!!

While we've been here we have enjoyed the wildlife. That's one of the reasons we love the COE parks. We have lots of room on our site, a view of water and the precious wildlife. We will always choose a COE park over a private park any day for these reasons.

The proof is in the pictures!

Not exactly wildlife and not in the park but a beauty just the same!

Dan casting his throw net! There is an art to this! I enjoy watching this.

Who is being entertained here!!

We've had as many as five squirrels, many birds, many deer and an assortment of folks. All have been very entertaining.

The party just goes on and on!!!!!

Happy Birthday Ellie

2009-01-29T04:59:00.000-06:00

We met online!! Yes, it's true. The year was 2005. In the Spring of 2006, Ellie and Jim took a trip to the Grand Canyon. Dan and I traveled to the western slopes of the Colorado Rockies to visit our friends Pam and Fred. Ellie and Jim plotted their trip home to Colorado Springs and they made it a point to stop at the home of our mutal friend, Pam. We met face to face there and we've been friends ever since.

There are casual friends, then there are those friends who would give you the shirt off their back, the kind of friend who knows when they are needed without having to ask, the kind of friend who travels a great distance when needed, again without asking or being asked. Ellie is this kind of friend. I am humbled, I am blessed to be able to call Ellie my friend.

Ellie my birthday wish for you is laughter, kindness, joy, hugs, all the good you bring to the lives of all who know and love you......may it be yours on this very special day....your birthday.

Happy Birthday my dear friend. I love you.....I miss you!

Karon

Happy Birthday Sharon

2009-01-23T10:33:00.000-06:00

We never got to have a birthday party because it seemed every time Mother would plan one it would snow. Where I grew up in central Arkansas if it snows you can count on ice and that meant you stayed home. So, we shared our birthday in the privacy of our home with our family.

We celebrated our 21st birthday by driving into town together and registering to vote. To us, that meant we had come of age and our parents instilled in us our civic responsibility to vote.

Every year we talked by phone very early on our birthday. As the years passed the miles increased between us but we always stayed in touch, we talked several times a week by phone. Most of the incredible life experiences in my life can be credited to my sister. She had a passion for life and she shared that passion with me, her family and her friends.

We shared good times...we shared bad times. I am and will always be so proud to have been your sister, your friend, your twin. I miss you! I miss your smile, your laughter, the joy you brought to so many, especially me.

Happy Birthday Sharon!!

I Can Call It An Island If I Want To

2009-01-22T15:31:00.000-06:00

I have been informed we are not on an island. It sure feels like an island when I walk to the higher area and I can see water on three sides. There are gentle waves much of the time. The breeze can pick up some speed and we wonder if we will lose the slide toppers. So far, everything is in tack. I've also been informed that I look through rose colored glasses. I admit I do, so that means I look for the good in people, places and things. I imagine, when I look out at the waves, that I'm really on an island. For this time and place, I feel like I'm in paradise. It's a good place to be.

On the first day here, as I posted before, I drove to the coast and picked up Dan's Mom. She spent a week with us and this past Sunday we drove her home. I think she truly enjoyed her stay. She got to see, up close, birds, deer and squirrels. She could sit for hours and watch the beautiful Cardinals feeding just outside our window. The Cardinal is her favorite bird. When she first arrived she appeared very tired...when she went home she looked rested. It was a joy to have her here.

We are parked almost on the end of this peninsula (my island) and I am loving our new sites. We wondered if the deer would find us. Find us they did...we've counted twenty at one time. There are three bucks that we know of, with huge racks. Yesterday with the sun setting, I looked out toward the horizon the sun was sinking behind and standing there on the hill in all his majesty was this beautiful animal...all I could see was his outline and his rack and he looked like he owned this place. What a sight. Truly majestic. I was in awe. I did not take a picture. I just sat and watched until he made his way toward us to join the rest of the deer. We are on their turf and I'm humbled to get to experience times like that.

Dan is making friends with the squirrels. He can walk up to them and they stay put. It is fun to watch. They are sharing their space too.

Jo, Britt, Dan and I have been playing cards almost every night. I started this out not being a card player. Guess that has changed. Tomorrow Jo's sister and brother-in-law are scheduled to arrive. We will take up a new game using domino's. We will have so much fun. When this group is together things get crazy and there is always fun and laughter. The guys try to out do each other telling jokes and pulling things on each other.

While KD and I walk I take my camera. My friend Jim says I can't take pictures if I don't have my camera. Good advice. Everytime I go out I see a new view I find beauty in. It is my island, after all.

Our new sites near the end of the park.

One of the many trees in the park, moss looking like lace.

A pretty view in the park

One of our park visitors

Another park visitor

The view out the living room window in Jo and Britt's motor home

Pelican Island (yes, a real island here)

Life on my island is amazing. Does it get any better!