We are still at Fisherman's Cove on the Mississippi near East Moline, Illinois enjoying a cooler, breezier day. The May Flies are back, but not like they were the first day. Many lie dead on the ground and I am assuming that it must be breeding season.
The breeze feels like cool silk slipping over my arms and face. The Mississippi shimmers as if there were diamonds on the water. Birds are singing their morning songs. What else could anyone ask?
Yesterday was a happening day. After our jaunt to Wal Mart to stock up on more supplies for our extended then extended again stay, we returned to Fisherman's Cove. As we reached our campsite, we noticed we have a new neighbor. Walking over to greet them, we discover that the gentleman has a distinct accent and his wife was standing a bit behind him being very shy. He introduced his wife and said that they were camping so that he and his wife could practice their English. He appeared to be Indian, but I wasn't sure, so I asked him where they were from. He named a country that either I did not understand or have not heard of. He said it is in the corner of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Hummmm,, the thoughts that sprung into my mind. I'm not proud.
Were they here to blow up the dam and lock? What were they up to? After a bit more casual conversation, John and I walked back to our lounge chairs and I mentioned to John that I was not proud of my thoughts and he said "you too?" It's sad that we cannot just accept people for who they are and that we have learned to be suspicious of people who are "different".
We returned to our campsite and while sitting on our patio, I saw something strange moving in the water close to the shore. Strange.....it looked to be about two feet in length and appeared to have spikes along its spine! THIS was something I have never seen in ANY water. Not the Atlantic, the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Michigan, Ohio River or the small lakes in Indiana.
I called John to look and we walked the shore as the "creature" continued to swim. It ducked under the water then surfaced and continued to swim. Neither of us could decide what it was. I laughingly said, "hum, you think THEY put that into the water?" (not kind) After following it for approximately thirty yards, I saw a head! Wow, looked like a very large, black, rat's head, oh yuck...those beady eyes! The THING continued to swim another ten yards or so, approaching the shore, Ah ha! it was dragging plant life that that gave the critter an spiky back appearance...It was only a badger (I think). Mystery solved.....no Mississippi Loch Ness like monster here and no terrorist attack on the lock and dam. We retraced our steps back to our campsite chatting about our "monster" and discussing about our thoughts and feelings. Surely we are old enough to not believe in different species, but terrorists? We do need to be vigilant, but not to the point of suspecting others when they have a different color of skin, dress differently and speak with an accent.
Later in the afternoon, a tiny camper was pulled in by a minivan. How cute was this little Scamp? Way too cute. Even though it was only about twelve feet in length, the driver was having a terrible time backing it into their campsite. A woman got out and guided the driver in. Ahh, success.
A grey haired gentleman unfolded himself from the minivan. If this man was less than eighty-five, I'd be surprised! The lady had to be his daughter. What I saw brought tears to my eyes. As the daughter took firewood from the Scamp, she had a huge smile on her face as she talked to her dad.
Then she took a back bag from the minivan and removed what looked like a chair. But this was a special chair. It was a lounge chair, recliner combination. It even had a cushion for the lower back. She showed it to her dad and what a delight to watch his reaction. The daughter helped her aging father into the chair, adjusted the back cushion, showed him how to recline and where the foot rest was.
The daughter returned to the minivan and brought out a blue bag. Out of this bag came just a seat with a back...no frills. She sat down to talk to her dad the rest of the evening. Now, that is a great Father's Day gift. A gift of time and attention.
I miss my dad.
Showing posts with label camping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camping. Show all posts
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Joy of Having Children and Grandchildren
Wow! Double Wow!!
What a time we have had since last talking to you. We have celebrated our grandson Ross' third birthday. He is such a sweetie. Beautiful red hair and energy to the max. Ross has the sweetest temperament I have ever seen. He is totally into the Cars cartoon movement. Ninety percent of his birthday gifts were in one way or another in the Cars genre. He loved each and every gift and was totally overwhelmed with the entire celebration. This is the first year that he "got it" as far as birthdays go.
Now the age spread between grandchildren is quite a spread. Our two oldest are 23 and 21. The younger two are 3 and 6. A bit of a gap there, isn't there. Megan, at 23 is expecting her first child, our second great grandchild. Megan seems more like one of our daughters than a granddaughter and needless to say, there have been baby showers. We took Meg to Babies R Us and she showed us the items they need for our little Harper. We, being the stingy curmudgeon, of course did not listed....... HA! We did our part to make her showers a total haul.
Harper is to make her entrance into the world this Sunday morning. She has been a bit of a concern the last week or so. An ultrasound has brought to light an aneurysm in the umbilical cord and arrhythmia AND she is going to be a breach baby. What more could be expected? Nothing, I hope. We trust that God has both mom, Megan and little Harper in His hands and we will have a healthy little girl to dote upon.
Today, Megan, her paternal grandmother and I all had lunch together at Bravo's. It was funny to see the appetite an expectant mother can have. Little Harper is not really giving her mom much room to breathe or to put food into her stomach, but Megan still managed to tackle her lobster bisque and salad.
After lunch, we went to Gymbore to look at baby clothes. What fun! The styles are so neat, I could have just purchased the store and been done with it. Alas, that takes capitol....so we continue to spoil a bit at a time. After our little shopping trip, we said our goodbyes and each of us headed to our homes. Megan, for an expectant mother's nap, Gam's Pam home, and I went off to library and to our rental for a confrontation with our renter.
He is behind in his rent and is totaling up a lot of late payment charges. I decided that instead of a letter, I'd just show up on his door step. What I found was very upsetting. He opened the door and all I could smell was stale cigarette smoke - in a non-smoking home! That really set me off! Not good! I asked for him to pay his rent to date and to add all the late charges. Then I told him that he was not supposed to be smoking in the condo and he needed to be smoking outside. Ohhhhh, the fun of being a land lord. It is tempting to just sell the place.
I cam home and ranted to John, then retreated to family room to "cool down". Following my cool down time, we went to dinner, but not before calling Megan and asking her to join us since her husband, Adam, works evenings. We had a lovely time together and that just made the day complete..
One week from tomorrow, we leave for Wooster, Ohio for another fiber festival. If you are in the area, this is a great opportunity to stock up on fibers, yarn, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies. Today, I ordered more knitting lights and hopefully they will be in for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that is June 3 and 4 in Franklin, Indiana at the Johnson County Fairgrounds. You might want to check our our website: www.hoosierhillsfiberartsfestival.com to find more information about classes and all the vendors.
Well, tomorrow, John and I resume our exercise. We have slacked off since returning from our winter tour. But tomorrow, he hit the road - walking. After our walk, we are going to tour some garage sales so John can get an idea of pricing items. He insists on having sales to begin selling off things so we can think about full timing.
As for now, it's time to go, - God go with you and bless your walk. - This reminds me of a sign I saw this week. It read "If you want to make God laugh........... just tell him YOUR plans! ..............
Blessings..............
What a time we have had since last talking to you. We have celebrated our grandson Ross' third birthday. He is such a sweetie. Beautiful red hair and energy to the max. Ross has the sweetest temperament I have ever seen. He is totally into the Cars cartoon movement. Ninety percent of his birthday gifts were in one way or another in the Cars genre. He loved each and every gift and was totally overwhelmed with the entire celebration. This is the first year that he "got it" as far as birthdays go.
Now the age spread between grandchildren is quite a spread. Our two oldest are 23 and 21. The younger two are 3 and 6. A bit of a gap there, isn't there. Megan, at 23 is expecting her first child, our second great grandchild. Megan seems more like one of our daughters than a granddaughter and needless to say, there have been baby showers. We took Meg to Babies R Us and she showed us the items they need for our little Harper. We, being the stingy curmudgeon, of course did not listed....... HA! We did our part to make her showers a total haul.
Harper is to make her entrance into the world this Sunday morning. She has been a bit of a concern the last week or so. An ultrasound has brought to light an aneurysm in the umbilical cord and arrhythmia AND she is going to be a breach baby. What more could be expected? Nothing, I hope. We trust that God has both mom, Megan and little Harper in His hands and we will have a healthy little girl to dote upon.
Today, Megan, her paternal grandmother and I all had lunch together at Bravo's. It was funny to see the appetite an expectant mother can have. Little Harper is not really giving her mom much room to breathe or to put food into her stomach, but Megan still managed to tackle her lobster bisque and salad.
After lunch, we went to Gymbore to look at baby clothes. What fun! The styles are so neat, I could have just purchased the store and been done with it. Alas, that takes capitol....so we continue to spoil a bit at a time. After our little shopping trip, we said our goodbyes and each of us headed to our homes. Megan, for an expectant mother's nap, Gam's Pam home, and I went off to library and to our rental for a confrontation with our renter.
He is behind in his rent and is totaling up a lot of late payment charges. I decided that instead of a letter, I'd just show up on his door step. What I found was very upsetting. He opened the door and all I could smell was stale cigarette smoke - in a non-smoking home! That really set me off! Not good! I asked for him to pay his rent to date and to add all the late charges. Then I told him that he was not supposed to be smoking in the condo and he needed to be smoking outside. Ohhhhh, the fun of being a land lord. It is tempting to just sell the place.
I cam home and ranted to John, then retreated to family room to "cool down". Following my cool down time, we went to dinner, but not before calling Megan and asking her to join us since her husband, Adam, works evenings. We had a lovely time together and that just made the day complete..
One week from tomorrow, we leave for Wooster, Ohio for another fiber festival. If you are in the area, this is a great opportunity to stock up on fibers, yarn, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies. Today, I ordered more knitting lights and hopefully they will be in for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that is June 3 and 4 in Franklin, Indiana at the Johnson County Fairgrounds. You might want to check our our website: www.hoosierhillsfiberartsfestival.com to find more information about classes and all the vendors.
Well, tomorrow, John and I resume our exercise. We have slacked off since returning from our winter tour. But tomorrow, he hit the road - walking. After our walk, we are going to tour some garage sales so John can get an idea of pricing items. He insists on having sales to begin selling off things so we can think about full timing.
As for now, it's time to go, - God go with you and bless your walk. - This reminds me of a sign I saw this week. It read "If you want to make God laugh........... just tell him YOUR plans! ..............
Blessings..............
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Rain, Please GO AWAY!
It has rained so much that we have not had a day to mow the lawn. It is about long enough that we could cut and bale it! The rain started a week ago as we went to Greencastle, IN for The Fiber Event. The Fiber Event was great! Sales were up and I met many new friends and had such a great time talking with old friends. Dinner at Greencastle's restaurant, Almost Home was again a treat. A great big YUM!
After coming home from Greencastle, I taught a felting class. The class was using a resist in felting. When one uses a resist, they can make an object with no seams such as a vessel, mittens, slippers, etc. This time the student wanted to make a saddle pad for one of her horses. By making the pad by using a resist, she will be able to add padding to the hollow inside of the pad. This project is the largest using a resist. I was very thankful that I have the felt rolling machine or we would have been totally exhausted!
Late Thursday, Edmundson RV called and said that the motor home would not be ready for our trip to the Fiber Arts Festival in Kendallville, IN. (again) We loaded the truck and were on I 69 heading north. Since we had such a late call from Edmundson, we arrived with only about an hour to set up our booth, but we made it.
Friday, we were greeted with more rain and a cold that was totally bone chilling. Since my silk long johns were in the motor home, I was totally unprepared for the cold and drank more hot chocolate than I had all winter! Surprisingly enough, the die hard fiber artists came out and shopped for supplies. I was very pleased that our sales were as much as they were and looked forward to Saturday's sales since it was not supposed to rain before 7:00 p.m. and the show was to end at 5:00. Saturday's sales were also good and for a first time show, I was mildly pleased with our sales. We packed up and headed home and of course it began to rain as we approached Indianapolis.
It has rained all day and we have had a quiet, thoughtful Easter. Our California daughter, Jojo, sent me a picture of Joshua Tree. They are camping there this week end. Later, she called and we talked for a wonderfully long time. It is so hard to have a child 2000 miles away. Her phone call made the day wonderful!
The rain is supposed to continue all week. This will guarantee that I stay in the studio and get some work done. I also need to order more pottery knitting bowls and the knitting lights. I have sold about 50 lights in a week. They are truly a hit with knitters, weavers, and those who do other kinds of needle work and reading!
The end of this week we will be heading for Nashville, IN and the Brown County State Park. John will be fishing and I will be attending a 3 day crank in for owners of antique circular sock machines. This is going to be a great time. I have yet to make a second sock because I keep running into a problem when I get to the increase portion of the heel! There will be plenty of people to help this newbee cranker. So far, I have just been a cranky cranker and I plan to leave as a happy cranker!
Wow, this week is going to be really productive! I'm going to felt hats and vessels in the studio and then crank some socks! What else could I ask for other than 2 dry days to mow! Hey, maybe we will meet some campers in Brown County!
Till next time.....may the meaning of Easter bless your lives.....He is risen!
After coming home from Greencastle, I taught a felting class. The class was using a resist in felting. When one uses a resist, they can make an object with no seams such as a vessel, mittens, slippers, etc. This time the student wanted to make a saddle pad for one of her horses. By making the pad by using a resist, she will be able to add padding to the hollow inside of the pad. This project is the largest using a resist. I was very thankful that I have the felt rolling machine or we would have been totally exhausted!
Late Thursday, Edmundson RV called and said that the motor home would not be ready for our trip to the Fiber Arts Festival in Kendallville, IN. (again) We loaded the truck and were on I 69 heading north. Since we had such a late call from Edmundson, we arrived with only about an hour to set up our booth, but we made it.
Friday, we were greeted with more rain and a cold that was totally bone chilling. Since my silk long johns were in the motor home, I was totally unprepared for the cold and drank more hot chocolate than I had all winter! Surprisingly enough, the die hard fiber artists came out and shopped for supplies. I was very pleased that our sales were as much as they were and looked forward to Saturday's sales since it was not supposed to rain before 7:00 p.m. and the show was to end at 5:00. Saturday's sales were also good and for a first time show, I was mildly pleased with our sales. We packed up and headed home and of course it began to rain as we approached Indianapolis.
It has rained all day and we have had a quiet, thoughtful Easter. Our California daughter, Jojo, sent me a picture of Joshua Tree. They are camping there this week end. Later, she called and we talked for a wonderfully long time. It is so hard to have a child 2000 miles away. Her phone call made the day wonderful!
The rain is supposed to continue all week. This will guarantee that I stay in the studio and get some work done. I also need to order more pottery knitting bowls and the knitting lights. I have sold about 50 lights in a week. They are truly a hit with knitters, weavers, and those who do other kinds of needle work and reading!
The end of this week we will be heading for Nashville, IN and the Brown County State Park. John will be fishing and I will be attending a 3 day crank in for owners of antique circular sock machines. This is going to be a great time. I have yet to make a second sock because I keep running into a problem when I get to the increase portion of the heel! There will be plenty of people to help this newbee cranker. So far, I have just been a cranky cranker and I plan to leave as a happy cranker!
Wow, this week is going to be really productive! I'm going to felt hats and vessels in the studio and then crank some socks! What else could I ask for other than 2 dry days to mow! Hey, maybe we will meet some campers in Brown County!
Till next time.....may the meaning of Easter bless your lives.....He is risen!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Smoky Mountains
The Smoky Mountain Fiber Art Festival is over. We have made many great, new friends. My classes were fun to teach and students have returned home with their scarves, purses and felting materials. Oliver joined the class for a while and eagerly helped the students as you can see on one of the photos. Felting is not an art for the weak. It takes tremendous energy. What I love about teaching is seeing the creativity of each student. You can see their personalities come out in their work. The students give me energy and gives me the desire to return to my studio and continue with my experiments with color, fiber and design.
Again, the knit lights were a huge success along with the hand thrown pottery knitting bowls by John Todd of Paw Paw Pottery. I am amazed with the colors that I regularly have great sales. It seems that black is hard to find and, of course, I have it. Choral is the new color for 2011 and is running a close race with black for top sales. The student that chose to make a choral purse, of course, had to leave early and I didn't get a photo of her finished product.
Thank goodness it is time to rest. Three days of sales and two of teaching can make a person weary. Now we are parked next to the Little River in Townsend Tennessee and letting the sound of the rapids sooth us. John is planning on getting his fishing rod out and I may even join him. Last night, he saw fish jumping and it totally excited about finally getting to fish. In seven weeks of travel, he was unable, or unwilling to pay the high price of an out of state fishing license to fish a day or two to fish.
We will leave for home Tuesday. John has physician appointments Tuesday and Wednesday, then we are off to Bowling Green, Ohio, for the Black Swamp Spinners Guild Market Day. I hope to see some of you there!
Again, the knit lights were a huge success along with the hand thrown pottery knitting bowls by John Todd of Paw Paw Pottery. I am amazed with the colors that I regularly have great sales. It seems that black is hard to find and, of course, I have it. Choral is the new color for 2011 and is running a close race with black for top sales. The student that chose to make a choral purse, of course, had to leave early and I didn't get a photo of her finished product.
Thank goodness it is time to rest. Three days of sales and two of teaching can make a person weary. Now we are parked next to the Little River in Townsend Tennessee and letting the sound of the rapids sooth us. John is planning on getting his fishing rod out and I may even join him. Last night, he saw fish jumping and it totally excited about finally getting to fish. In seven weeks of travel, he was unable, or unwilling to pay the high price of an out of state fishing license to fish a day or two to fish.
Friday, March 11, 2011
On the Road Again
Returning home is not as exciting as heading out on a trip. But Everything has a cycle and this is just part of it. We have started our list of what we missed this trip and hope to make the things on our list our plan of "attack" next year. We plan to start earlier in order to have more time on the road. Since my show season begins with the Smokey Mountain Fiberart Festival, I will always have to be home for that event. The next week end is the Black Swamp Market Day in Bowling Green, Ohio. I sure am going into these events rested and totally relaxed. That won't last long since the push is on for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival the first full weekend of June, located in Franklin, Indiana - Just south of Indianapolis. I will be teaching wet felting classes at two of these shows.
As we have driven through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, I have seen so many abandoned homes, farms, businesses. Some appear to be ghost towns along the side of the road. Here in Texas, many are in the oil and gas fields. This coupled with the dry grass, some pumps not in operation tells a story of hopes and dreams of the future. It is a history lesson of families who gave it their best, some had success and some failed. But failing at one thing, most pushed on to find success in another realm. That's life, isn't it. We don't give up with a failure, we push on, an on until we reach our goals.
We boondocked or as they say in California, drydocked in another Wal Mart at El Paso, TX. This one had a security guard that pointed the spot for us to use. Now that's service! We did some shopping, returned to the motor home for dinner and played more Nabbit. John won both games last night. I'll get him tonight.
The border patrol is and has been out in force. We passed 2 inspection sites in California, one in Arizona, and two in T. We could have had a motor home full of Mexicans as they looked in the driver's side window, asked how many were traveling in here and if we were citizens.
Well, we are heading to Dallas, Fort Worth. See you on the road!
As we have driven through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, I have seen so many abandoned homes, farms, businesses. Some appear to be ghost towns along the side of the road. Here in Texas, many are in the oil and gas fields. This coupled with the dry grass, some pumps not in operation tells a story of hopes and dreams of the future. It is a history lesson of families who gave it their best, some had success and some failed. But failing at one thing, most pushed on to find success in another realm. That's life, isn't it. We don't give up with a failure, we push on, an on until we reach our goals.
We boondocked or as they say in California, drydocked in another Wal Mart at El Paso, TX. This one had a security guard that pointed the spot for us to use. Now that's service! We did some shopping, returned to the motor home for dinner and played more Nabbit. John won both games last night. I'll get him tonight.
The border patrol is and has been out in force. We passed 2 inspection sites in California, one in Arizona, and two in T. We could have had a motor home full of Mexicans as they looked in the driver's side window, asked how many were traveling in here and if we were citizens.
Well, we are heading to Dallas, Fort Worth. See you on the road!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Santa Barbara Sunshine to Sierra Mountain Winds
We left Leo Carrillo State Beach with a lot of sadness. We had to tell Jojo good bye for almost 2 weeks. Even though she would be working all week, just to have known that we were near would have made me feel better. It was way too long since we had last been with her. Somehow, I was able to let my tears go on the beach in order to not ruin our goodbye hugs.
We moved north on both the 1 and the 101 toward Santa Barbara. This route is absolutely breathtaking. What am I saying???? Ninety nine percent of what we have been seeing has been breathtaking. I marvel at God's handiwork.
As we traveled north, the Pacific was so beautiful. Every turn in the road brought new excitement. How could the next scene be more outstanding than the other I don't know. Not only did we see water scenes, but we saw miles and miles of fields fill with strawberries, blueberries, avocados and vegetables.
Santa Barbara was larger than I remembered it. We walked the beaches and took State street out to the pier where we had a wonderful lunch of shrimp, calamari, oysters, scallops, a wonderful slaw with pineapple and onion rings. We ate outside and watched the fishing boats return with their day's catch. Sail boats completed the peaceful scene. A very nice day.
We stayed at the Sunrise RV Park. It was expensive! $55.00 / night but we had to hook up to electricity to recharge batteries in order to get the generator started so we could boondock during our trip to Death Valley.
Talley Winery was on our itinerary. They had a lovely setting. Rows and rows of vines in precise order blanketed the hillsides. After leaving Talley Vineyards, we visited the J Lohr vineyards. Oh my! I thought that Talley had a vast vineyard but J Lohr went on forever and as far as the eye could reach.
Bakersfield was our next destination. We were to boondock at the Camping World. We had some supplies to pick up and wanted to have the oil changed. They were unable to do the oil change which was okay since were were actually not at 3,000 yet. They were, though able to help us with a lack of knowledge about generators. This motor home is providing us with a HUGE learning curve.
Our greeting to Bakersfield was oil wells. A question I ask is why, when we have oil wells there, in Alaska, in the Gulf, just to mention a few places, are our gas prices determined by the price of oil in Lybia? A gas station right next to an oil field and refinery was selling gas for $3.86! Go figure. We have read that gas in Death Valley will be over $4.00 a gallon.
Wal Mart and Fresh & Easy were next on our list for shipping. We replenished some of our supplies and headed for the Sequoia National Park. The entrance to the park on highway 178 is another experience. The rapids are beautiful as they plummet down the mountain. We are now in the Sierra Mountains. What a difference in terrain. The mountains went from lush green to brown. This is considered the high desert. We were planning to spend a few days in the Sequoia N.P., but a winter storm was predicted with high winds. They said that 25 mph winds would gust to 50 mph. The more we drove, the more the winds began to plummet us.
We find that we have planned to much to do and see. Anyone surprised? We need to learn to plan our trips better so that we don't feel that we have to run from place to place. After our "conference" this morning, we have decided to spend today and tonight here and then go to Death Valley National Park. We are taking Las Vegas out of our itinerary. Not only will it provide us with more time in Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Forrest, but it cuts down on a full tank of gas at the cost of over $200.
Happy trails, to you......until we meet again....(sound familiar?)
We moved north on both the 1 and the 101 toward Santa Barbara. This route is absolutely breathtaking. What am I saying???? Ninety nine percent of what we have been seeing has been breathtaking. I marvel at God's handiwork.
As we traveled north, the Pacific was so beautiful. Every turn in the road brought new excitement. How could the next scene be more outstanding than the other I don't know. Not only did we see water scenes, but we saw miles and miles of fields fill with strawberries, blueberries, avocados and vegetables.
Santa Barbara was larger than I remembered it. We walked the beaches and took State street out to the pier where we had a wonderful lunch of shrimp, calamari, oysters, scallops, a wonderful slaw with pineapple and onion rings. We ate outside and watched the fishing boats return with their day's catch. Sail boats completed the peaceful scene. A very nice day.
We stayed at the Sunrise RV Park. It was expensive! $55.00 / night but we had to hook up to electricity to recharge batteries in order to get the generator started so we could boondock during our trip to Death Valley.
Talley Winery was on our itinerary. They had a lovely setting. Rows and rows of vines in precise order blanketed the hillsides. After leaving Talley Vineyards, we visited the J Lohr vineyards. Oh my! I thought that Talley had a vast vineyard but J Lohr went on forever and as far as the eye could reach.
Bakersfield was our next destination. We were to boondock at the Camping World. We had some supplies to pick up and wanted to have the oil changed. They were unable to do the oil change which was okay since were were actually not at 3,000 yet. They were, though able to help us with a lack of knowledge about generators. This motor home is providing us with a HUGE learning curve.
Our greeting to Bakersfield was oil wells. A question I ask is why, when we have oil wells there, in Alaska, in the Gulf, just to mention a few places, are our gas prices determined by the price of oil in Lybia? A gas station right next to an oil field and refinery was selling gas for $3.86! Go figure. We have read that gas in Death Valley will be over $4.00 a gallon.
Wal Mart and Fresh & Easy were next on our list for shipping. We replenished some of our supplies and headed for the Sequoia National Park. The entrance to the park on highway 178 is another experience. The rapids are beautiful as they plummet down the mountain. We are now in the Sierra Mountains. What a difference in terrain. The mountains went from lush green to brown. This is considered the high desert. We were planning to spend a few days in the Sequoia N.P., but a winter storm was predicted with high winds. They said that 25 mph winds would gust to 50 mph. The more we drove, the more the winds began to plummet us.
We find that we have planned to much to do and see. Anyone surprised? We need to learn to plan our trips better so that we don't feel that we have to run from place to place. After our "conference" this morning, we have decided to spend today and tonight here and then go to Death Valley National Park. We are taking Las Vegas out of our itinerary. Not only will it provide us with more time in Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Forrest, but it cuts down on a full tank of gas at the cost of over $200.
Happy trails, to you......until we meet again....(sound familiar?)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Weather Change!
For the better! We have gone from snow and almost zedro visibility to driving into the sun, puffy clouds and clean blue sky. The sun is soooo bright, we need air conditioning in the motorhome.
We stopped at the Arizona welcome center, picked up some information, I fixed lunch and we are back on the road. Something that amazes me is how the scenery changes dramatically with each passing mile. . It looks to me right now that we might be in the dessert, The Petrified Forrest is the next interchange. Off in the horizion, we see a gully, brown grass and then way off there are low (seemingly, form a distance) mountains. The diversity is amazing. Another thing that John and I have comment on is the lack of fencing. In the midwest, farm fields are separated by rows and rows of fencing. In Texas, New Mexico and now Arizona, we cannot tell where one property ends and another begins. The only fence we see is to separate the land from the interstate. Ok, we are goig to tumble on down the the road with the tumbleweed!
We stopped at the Arizona welcome center, picked up some information, I fixed lunch and we are back on the road. Something that amazes me is how the scenery changes dramatically with each passing mile. . It looks to me right now that we might be in the dessert, The Petrified Forrest is the next interchange. Off in the horizion, we see a gully, brown grass and then way off there are low (seemingly, form a distance) mountains. The diversity is amazing. Another thing that John and I have comment on is the lack of fencing. In the midwest, farm fields are separated by rows and rows of fencing. In Texas, New Mexico and now Arizona, we cannot tell where one property ends and another begins. The only fence we see is to separate the land from the interstate. Ok, we are goig to tumble on down the the road with the tumbleweed!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Why did we do this? A Motor Home? Why?
As people discover that we have purchased the motor home, some look at us as if we have lost our minds (or what's left of our minds). They don't come out and ask why, but the looks on their faces speak volumes.
Let's go back a few years,,,,,,,,,,,,,
.
A few? Don't think so.
Well, you know what I mean.
Back on the thinking back....One weekend, we visited with John's cousins from Bloomington, IN. They had invited us to where they were camping for a visit. They had a camper for their family of 5. Everyone was having such a wonderful time and they were outdoors! They were not cooped up in the house with the A.C. going. They were next to a lake, in the woods, enjoying what God had provided for them. Hummm, that felt pretty good.
That week, we purchased what seemed to us. a huge tent. The very next weekend, we were off to enjoy the camping life. Nearly every weekend, we camped with our daughter. We even potty-trained her while camping. No better place to put "big girl" panties on her. If she had an accident, nothing was hurt. We fished, we hiked then sat around the campfire at night and listened to others talking about their camping experiences. Hey, some of these people even went out of state! Now that was a great idea.
The family grew, then our summer activities shifted to Lassie League softball which took up every week end and we just didn't have time to be camping. So we thought. The girls grew older. We, as a family, got busier. Life got in the way and no more thoughts about camping crossed our minds until now.
Now, we have art shows and fiber festivals resulting in hotel stays. Those stays can get old. I wanted my own bed, I didn't enjoy eating out day after day. We enjoyed participating in the shows, but I wanted my own bed and to be able to eat my own food.
The first of June, 2010, we were driving to the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that I am a co-chair. Luckily for us, that festival was only 15 minutes away. At night, I could sleep in my own bed. woohoo!
On our way to the festival, we were at a stop light and low and behold, there was a Winnebago with a for sale sign in the window. Just to make conversation, I said, "that is what we need". The rest is history.
We almost purchased that motor home. We asked for a week to think about it (giving us time to do some research and to look at other motor homes). We took more than the week and finally purchased a Winnebago, not 27 but 35 feet. I thought John was going to have a mental breakdown right there on the spot! He was sure he'd never be able to drive one THAT long.(stinkin thinkin) We needed the storage space and this had sooo much more, was sooo much roomier, was sooo much newer. I'm sure you get the picture here.
Now, we are looking at even longer, newer models and guess what. I think John may be considering faking a mental break down this time. (big sigh)
So far, our Winnebago "Road House" has taken us to Wisconsin twice. We have camped in Illinois on Lake Michigan. We have participated in shows in Kentucky, southern Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina then traveled on to South Carolina, back to NC and then on to VA and Tennessee. W H E W!
It is great that after a day of work a festival, friends new and old, can sit and chat at a pitch in. If we choose, to be able to walk the trails, enjoy the mountains or the beach....just to enjoy the outdoors that we love so much. John can fish all he wants. He can visit every Bass Pro Shop on our path.
We had John's mom living with us for eight years. The last 8 months of her life were not good. In April, when I was at the Fiber Event, in Greencastle, IN, John called and said that his mom fell and "broke her hip". It turned out that it was not her hip, but her femur and it required Surgery. For a short while, she was in a rehab facility. It was a lovely place....to visit. This made us think about how we wanted to spend our "retirement". We decided that we do not want to just wish we had done this or that. While we have reasonably good health, we want to live our dreams. We want to experience a full life traveling as much as possible. If we get to the place we cannot get out and go, we want to have no regrets.
We enjoy vending at the art shows and fiber festivals. We enjoy our children, and grand children, someday our great grands.... Also there is traveling, being outdoors, having new experiences, trying out food of the area, visiting with old and making new friends....and having our own bed .... all to be enjoyed.
Not to say that we don't have frustrations along the way. We are supposed to be either on day five or day two of our trip west. It would have been day five, but on Friday evening, our grandson got married to a real sweetheart. We would not miss that for anything. We had planned to leave yesterday after the wedding, BUT, (enter Murphy)..... the motor home was in the shop for brakes, oil change, water closet fix etc. The etc. has turned out to be a BIG ETC. Four days later....need I say more?
I had mentioned to John that I thought I heard "something" as we came home from our last trip in November. I forgot to tell the service department, but they heard it too and there was a problem with the power steering so that had to be repaired too. One thing led to another and......eyeroll here .... the part that they installed turned out to be defective, so out it goes and another ordered...
what did they say about "made in China"???? Good grief, let's put our countrymen back to work! I'm sure they can make things better and have more human rights than the people in China.
oops! I strayed...(keep me off my soap box....please)
Sooooo, with all that being said, do I dare say it???? Will it jinx it????
dunno, but here goes......we are to get the motor home back tomorrow. HOPEFULLY, we can pack up and be outta here either tomorrow afternoon or first thing Tuesday morning...
I have waited soooo long to see daughter # 2, Jojo, ..... the waiting hurts .... physically hurts. But, each day passing makes seeing her that much closer....unless there is the dreaded phone call of something needed for the 'Road House'. Today, I will have faith...
Let's go back a few years,,,,,,,,,,,,,
.
A few? Don't think so.
Well, you know what I mean.
Back on the thinking back....One weekend, we visited with John's cousins from Bloomington, IN. They had invited us to where they were camping for a visit. They had a camper for their family of 5. Everyone was having such a wonderful time and they were outdoors! They were not cooped up in the house with the A.C. going. They were next to a lake, in the woods, enjoying what God had provided for them. Hummm, that felt pretty good.
That week, we purchased what seemed to us. a huge tent. The very next weekend, we were off to enjoy the camping life. Nearly every weekend, we camped with our daughter. We even potty-trained her while camping. No better place to put "big girl" panties on her. If she had an accident, nothing was hurt. We fished, we hiked then sat around the campfire at night and listened to others talking about their camping experiences. Hey, some of these people even went out of state! Now that was a great idea.
The family grew, then our summer activities shifted to Lassie League softball which took up every week end and we just didn't have time to be camping. So we thought. The girls grew older. We, as a family, got busier. Life got in the way and no more thoughts about camping crossed our minds until now.
Now, we have art shows and fiber festivals resulting in hotel stays. Those stays can get old. I wanted my own bed, I didn't enjoy eating out day after day. We enjoyed participating in the shows, but I wanted my own bed and to be able to eat my own food.
The first of June, 2010, we were driving to the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that I am a co-chair. Luckily for us, that festival was only 15 minutes away. At night, I could sleep in my own bed. woohoo!
On our way to the festival, we were at a stop light and low and behold, there was a Winnebago with a for sale sign in the window. Just to make conversation, I said, "that is what we need". The rest is history.
We almost purchased that motor home. We asked for a week to think about it (giving us time to do some research and to look at other motor homes). We took more than the week and finally purchased a Winnebago, not 27 but 35 feet. I thought John was going to have a mental breakdown right there on the spot! He was sure he'd never be able to drive one THAT long.(stinkin thinkin) We needed the storage space and this had sooo much more, was sooo much roomier, was sooo much newer. I'm sure you get the picture here.
Now, we are looking at even longer, newer models and guess what. I think John may be considering faking a mental break down this time. (big sigh)
So far, our Winnebago "Road House" has taken us to Wisconsin twice. We have camped in Illinois on Lake Michigan. We have participated in shows in Kentucky, southern Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina then traveled on to South Carolina, back to NC and then on to VA and Tennessee. W H E W!
It is great that after a day of work a festival, friends new and old, can sit and chat at a pitch in. If we choose, to be able to walk the trails, enjoy the mountains or the beach....just to enjoy the outdoors that we love so much. John can fish all he wants. He can visit every Bass Pro Shop on our path.
We had John's mom living with us for eight years. The last 8 months of her life were not good. In April, when I was at the Fiber Event, in Greencastle, IN, John called and said that his mom fell and "broke her hip". It turned out that it was not her hip, but her femur and it required Surgery. For a short while, she was in a rehab facility. It was a lovely place....to visit. This made us think about how we wanted to spend our "retirement". We decided that we do not want to just wish we had done this or that. While we have reasonably good health, we want to live our dreams. We want to experience a full life traveling as much as possible. If we get to the place we cannot get out and go, we want to have no regrets.
We enjoy vending at the art shows and fiber festivals. We enjoy our children, and grand children, someday our great grands.... Also there is traveling, being outdoors, having new experiences, trying out food of the area, visiting with old and making new friends....and having our own bed .... all to be enjoyed.
Not to say that we don't have frustrations along the way. We are supposed to be either on day five or day two of our trip west. It would have been day five, but on Friday evening, our grandson got married to a real sweetheart. We would not miss that for anything. We had planned to leave yesterday after the wedding, BUT, (enter Murphy)..... the motor home was in the shop for brakes, oil change, water closet fix etc. The etc. has turned out to be a BIG ETC. Four days later....need I say more?
I had mentioned to John that I thought I heard "something" as we came home from our last trip in November. I forgot to tell the service department, but they heard it too and there was a problem with the power steering so that had to be repaired too. One thing led to another and......eyeroll here .... the part that they installed turned out to be defective, so out it goes and another ordered...
what did they say about "made in China"???? Good grief, let's put our countrymen back to work! I'm sure they can make things better and have more human rights than the people in China.
oops! I strayed...(keep me off my soap box....please)
Sooooo, with all that being said, do I dare say it???? Will it jinx it????
dunno, but here goes......we are to get the motor home back tomorrow. HOPEFULLY, we can pack up and be outta here either tomorrow afternoon or first thing Tuesday morning...
I have waited soooo long to see daughter # 2, Jojo, ..... the waiting hurts .... physically hurts. But, each day passing makes seeing her that much closer....unless there is the dreaded phone call of something needed for the 'Road House'. Today, I will have faith...
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