March 31, 2024

More Stops in Beautiful Arizona Taking Advantage of our Thousand Trails Membership

March 31, 2024/ Deb

We have been moving around the beautiful state of Arizona and have stayed at some great RV Parks as well as seen some very beautiful areas. Right now we are staying in the Verde Valley area which is close to Cottonwood and Sedona. This is one of the most scenic areas that we have visited. Every where that you drive, there is absolutely stunning scenery. The best part is that the road approaching our RV park has a fantastic view of the red rocks of Sedona in the distance and is is exceptionally stunning in the afternoon sunshine; and our 3 week stay is free with our Thousand Trails membership!

March 14, 2024

From Sea to Shining Sea

March 14, 2024/ Deb

We did it! We have completed a full cross country trip. In the past year, we saw the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico while staying in Florida and now we saw the Pacific Ocean in California. I love that our lifestyle is able to take us to so many beautiful places. When we initially planned our winter travels, we were going to spend the winter in Arizona, with 3 months in Tucson and we didn’t think we would make it to California on this trip.

February 23, 2024

Moving On From Tucson

February 23, 2024/ Deb

We headed a bit further west last week to Yuma, AZ and have now been here for a week. Unfortunately, I started getting a head cold the day we got here and after having it for a week, I am feeling better but Tim now has it. I had to share, right? With both of us being sick, we haven’t done very much yet in Yuma, but we did enjoy our last couple of weeks in Tucson and had a nice stop in Why, AZ on our way here.

January 30, 2024

So Much to Do, So Little Time

January 30, 2024/ Deb

It is hard to believe that a 2 month visit to Tucson, AZ is not enough to see and do everything that this area has to offer but it is true. We have found many great places to visit in the area and in the city. I suppose that most cities provide many things to do and areas to explore although I feel that often what we find is similar to other cities. So I don’t always feel that we need to do everything that I have read or heard about in the area. This time, my list of what I don’t want to miss keeps growing and I suppose it is because of the abundance of nature and beautiful settings in this area as well as the abundance of history in the area.

January 10, 2024

Enjoying Tucson Arizona

January 10, 2024/ Deb

We have now been at Mission View RV Resort for 4 weeks and are enjoying the park. One of the nicest features is our site that backs up to the desert. We have a wonderful spot to view the sunsets and mother nature puts on a show for us most evenings. It is best on partly cloudy days especially when the clouds reflect the colors.

December 24, 2023

Our First Stops in Arizona

December 24, 2023/ Deb

Its Christmas Eve and we are enjoying desert views and much appreciated sunshine. While we miss being with family, we are able to enjoy the holidays, especially being able to spend it in such a beautiful place. Today I felt privileged to be able to attend morning Mass in one of the most beautiful missions I have seen.

December 19, 2023

Our Last Stop in New Mexico, Part 5

December 19, 2023/ Deb

When I was planning our trip, I ended up with a month to book between our stay in Alamogordo, NM and our planned 3 month stay in Tucson, AZ for the winter. We had a choice of traveling around Arizona a little bit before settling in Tucson or staying a little longer in New Mexico. I went to work researching our options and checked our various memberships for discounts.

December 12, 2023

Visiting Alamogordo and White Sands National Park, New Mexico Part 4

December 12, 2023/ Deb

Since we were touring New Mexico, I had to book where we could visit White Sands National Park. I remember the very first time I came west many years ago, I expected to see a sandy desert. I was very surprised to see how much vegetation there is and never saw the big sand dunes that I expected. Needless to say White Sands was a bucket list spot to see a true sand desert.

December 06, 2023

2023 Annual Christmas Letter

December 06, 2023/ Deb

Merry Christmas! I went to the Lighted Christmas Parade in Deming, NM on Saturday evening. It was a very cute parade with lots of homemade lighted floats and Christmas music that just put me in the mood for the holidays. I love this Season of Joy especially seeing the children’s eyes light up at the parade. Tim had mentioned that we need to get our Christmas letter written and the parade put me in the mood to do just that so here goes!

November 27, 2023

Visiting Elephant Butte and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico Part 3

November 27, 2023/ Deb

After leaving Santa Fe, we headed south on I25 towards Elephant Butte. It was a spectacular drive, especially leaving the Santa Fe area and descending over the buttes; at least that is what I think these rocky ridges are called. It seemed at one point like the earth was opening up to my right with these rocky drop offs to the valley below and mountains in the distance. I couldn’t get any pictures because I was driving the RV but I can still visualize it.

November 26, 2023

Fall in New Mexico, Part 2

November 26, 2023/ Deb

When we first arrived in Santa Fe, we noticed a sign for Madrid as we took our exit for the RV Park. I remembered that town from “Wild Hogs”, a movie that we always enjoy and wondered if it was the same place the movie was filmed. Another sign indicated that the route towards Madrid was the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway. Of course, both of those sounded good to me.

November 21, 2023

Fall in New Mexico, Part 1

November 21, 2023/ Deb

We have now been in New Mexico for about a month and we can officially say that we arrived in the Desert Southwest. So I decided to start a new series of blog posts instead of continuing the westward journey series. After Tucumcari, we headed a little further west and north to Santa Fe. I have to say that this town has been on my bucket list for quite awhile and it certainly met my expectations.

November 10, 2023

Relics Along Old Rt 66, 2023 Westward Journey part 3

November 10, 2023/ Deb

Our westward journey has taken us near Rt 66 for a good bit of our travels from Missouri, through Oklahoma, Texas and into New Mexico. For the most part, we stayed on the interstate driving the motorhome and ventured along Rt. 66 when we stopped for the night. Much of the old stops along Rt. 66 seem to be gone or if they are there, they are pretty run down. It is a shame to see this historic travel route disappearing.

November 07, 2023

Visiting Oklahoma City, 2023 Westward Journey, Part 2

November 07, 2023/ Deb

After 5 days of traveling, we stopped in Oklahoma City for 3 nights. I am really glad that we stopped here for a few days. Not only did we need a break from driving, we also needed time to relax and enjoy our surroundings. We discovered that there is quite a bit to do in Oklahoma City so we explored different sections of the city each day.

October 23, 2023

Our 2023 Westward Journey, Part 1

October 23, 2023/ Deb

Over the past 1.5 weeks, we traveled from Batesville, IN to Tucumcari, NM. That is pretty fast traveling for us. We normally stay in each stop for a few days to a week with sometimes a one night stop in between our longer stops. Since we got a later start that we originally planned, we decided to move quickly through a few states so we could spend the time we had planned for New Mexico. We ended up with 5 days in a row of travel, with 4 one night stops before we had a 3 night stop.

October 22, 2023

A Slice of Americana

October 22, 2023/ Deb

While staying in Batesville, IN, I felt like we got to experience all types of American life: small towns, rural areas and city life. Batesville is a small city centrally located between Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville. We like to stay there at a Thousand Trails campground to visit our daughter Kim and son in law Greg who live in Cincinnati. It is a nice area and we always find plenty to do while Kim and Greg are busy working.

October 02, 2023

Summer Updates and Fall Travels

October 02, 2023/ Deb

I can’t believe that I haven’t written a blog post in months and I am sorry for not keeping everyone updated. Life got in the way this past summer with medical issues and work camping taking up all of my time. Thankfully, my arm is finally on the mend although it is going much more slowly than I would like.

August 03, 2023

Another Bump In The Road

August 03, 2023/ Deb

Well as any story goes, there are hiccups, or challenges to the main character that must be overcome, which always is resolved before the final credits roll!, As our story begins, Deb was taking Trent last Monday to the groomers at Petco, for a much needed bath, nails, teeth. You know, basically the works as far as dog grooming goes! Then the unexpected happened.

June 20, 2023

Camping Neighbors are the Best

June 20, 2023/ Deb

We settled in at Wright’s Orchard Station Campground near Altoona, PA for the summer and are really enjoying the campground and the area. This is a small, quiet campground with friendly people. Since we wanted a site without too many trees overhead, we are in a long, somewhat narrow pie shaped site which works well for us. There is room for the truck in front of the rig and I am able to park my car in front of the office. We have enough space for our chairs, table, and the dog cot in the patio area, with a little grassy area behind us.

May 23, 2023

A Little Fun Along the Way

May 23, 2023/ Deb

Since the last blog post was a bit depressing with all of our medical issues, I thought I needed to write one about having fun. Following Tim’s surgery, we headed back to the RV in Gettysburg. We had lost the couple of weeks that we wanted to spend touring the area so we were left with one full day before we had to leave. In the morning, we headed off to check out the battlefield with the national park visitor’s center as our first stop. There was so much to see and do in the visitor’s center that we could have spent the entire day there.

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