Here it is, home for six days and still haven't got everything put back or the house cleaned and dusted from 4 plus months of collecting! We sure appreciated all the kids and grand-kids did in helping get everything unloaded and put back in the house, the worst part of coming home is the unloading/unpacking! I still have many things all over my bed waiting to be put back in drawers and closets! One thing I will say is we waited just long enough to miss the 100° temps, they seem to have ended the day before we arrived home. Usually after a couple of weeks of being home we're ready to hit the road again, we miss the kids and grand-kids immensely while on the road, but the itch to travel might overcome us this winter. Having Jack along for the first two months was a joy, showing and sharing parts of the United States with him was good for both of us. Jack was able to visit 13 different states in the two months he was traveling with us, and he gained a much need 10 pounds of weight at the same time! And he was a big help to Papa many times along the way!
The main reason for mentioning or thinking that the itch may overcome us this winter has to do with the community we live in. We live in a 55 and older community here in Phoenix as most of you know, The Friendly Village of Orangewood. So many things have changed here over the past few years since we down sized and moved in here over 9 years ago. We made many friends and participated in many of the activities available to us as residents. I was like 63 years old at the time and we were a couple of the youngest residents at the time. Nine years later, I'm 72 years old and those that were say an average age of 72 - 75 are now well into there 80's or have passed on unfortunately. We had a very large contingent of snowbirds in the park when we moved in and now that number is down to just a few. All the Canadians of which there were more than a handful have since sold and not longer visit due to the rent increases and the exchange rate! It was just not financially prudent any longer to pay these rent prices. So....we come home to no golf league, maybe Bocce ball but probably one day a week league rather that the 3 day a weeks leagues of the past, the monthly potlucks started to dwindle last year and are yet to be seen going forward. Our community PNP (Phoenix Neighborhood Patrol) is down to a handful of members, and managers come and go like there was a revolving door at the office! Rules have been over-looked by the past few managers and now we have some small children, more under 55 age working folks and bigger dogs than ever before allowed and breeds banded for being aggressive breeds roaming our streets! To make a long blog shorter it's not the same place and nowhere near as fun living here as in our early years as residents, easier to pick up and leave with no weekly commitments!
The annual struggle to loose the weight I gained while traveling this great country of ours and continue trying to loose the weight just to get back to a healthy number seems to get harder each year. The slow down of exercise really hinders this struggle, not to mention the fact that the 72 year old joints just don't want to or like to cooperate as well as before! I must say though this year I can really feel the difference the weather plays with my joint issues. The dryer Phoenix weather and the warmth of the Phoenix sun already has made a difference, I can see it in the fact that I can do without the cane I at times use to give me that safety and balance security. The hip is feeling a bit better and I'm hoping it continues to improve as I hope to add more exercise to our routine.
There has been talk between Bev and I about this Journey of 2019 being our last, or maybe our last putting on the kind of miles and destinations we try and cover. Some of the aspects of motor home traveling can be taxing in some ways, the constant hooking and unhooking up at so many stops across the country. We might just contemplate less miles total and longer stays in a few locations, now that we've traveled the entire USA and have taken this motor home into every state of the lower 48 states it may be time to slow down and smell the roses a little here and there. We do want to thank all those we visited along the way for the hospitality shown us, I'm going to name them in closing and hope I can provide a more interesting blog in the near future.
Thanks to all our family in Iowa (Des Moines & Davenport) where all our journeys start even though this years was a shorted visit. And now Thanks to Alan & Kathy Nelson (Superior Wisconsin) Kitty Madlinger (Mollala, OR) Al Rojas (Florence, OR) and Don and Sharon Paper (Sacramento, CA) Suzzane Floyd and Rich Paper (Sacramento and Vacaville, CA)
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Old stomping grounds......Sacramento, CA.
On our way south from the great Northwest area, and stopping to spend a week with my cousins in the Sacramento area. After living in the area for about 5 years from 7th grade to a Junior in high school it's always been nice to return and visit family. Cousin Don and Sharon Paper have been wonderful host as usual and we appreciate the hospitality they show us. We visited with Bill the other day for a while and had dinner, and also got to spend a little time with Suzanne and Steve. We'll close out the week doing the same with Rich Wednesday and Thursday. After a jam packed week we're still not sure where we are heading next other than continuing south towards Phoenix and hoping the 100° days are gone by the time we get home! I know Beverly would like to spend a few more days traveling down the coast and the cool breezes of the coastal shores.
San Francisco is no longer a must see destination for us with all the liberal trash and corruption filled streets, not to mention having to download an app showing all the streets with human waste and trash lining these streets! That kind of sanctuary we don't need or want to visit, and we have always loved our visits to the Bay area..........no more unless a lot of changes are made.
No other big adventures to share, Beverly has been very busy with work during this last month or so of the journey. That's a double edged sword of sorts trying to share the days with work and pay checks and sightseeing and just bumming around. The worst part has been no golf for Beverly this trip with all the hip and back aches I've been dealing with, and her being so busy. The damp cool weather of the northwest has been playing havoc with my joints that's for sure, nice and cool but we take the good with the bad sometimes.
After what has been and uneventful week or so of "blog material" I hope to bring more exciting journey news next time...........until then peace to all.
P.S. not sure it's called a P.S. on a blog, but I must ad that even with school out now on the west coast states, RV parks are still hard to get in sometimes without prior reservations. Folks are traveling the country like never before and those of us that "fly by the seat of our pants" so to speak still have a hard time getting a spot at times. But we like not knowing where we will be sleeping tomorrow night at times, our trips are truly adventures!
San Francisco is no longer a must see destination for us with all the liberal trash and corruption filled streets, not to mention having to download an app showing all the streets with human waste and trash lining these streets! That kind of sanctuary we don't need or want to visit, and we have always loved our visits to the Bay area..........no more unless a lot of changes are made.
No other big adventures to share, Beverly has been very busy with work during this last month or so of the journey. That's a double edged sword of sorts trying to share the days with work and pay checks and sightseeing and just bumming around. The worst part has been no golf for Beverly this trip with all the hip and back aches I've been dealing with, and her being so busy. The damp cool weather of the northwest has been playing havoc with my joints that's for sure, nice and cool but we take the good with the bad sometimes.
After what has been and uneventful week or so of "blog material" I hope to bring more exciting journey news next time...........until then peace to all.
P.S. not sure it's called a P.S. on a blog, but I must ad that even with school out now on the west coast states, RV parks are still hard to get in sometimes without prior reservations. Folks are traveling the country like never before and those of us that "fly by the seat of our pants" so to speak still have a hard time getting a spot at times. But we like not knowing where we will be sleeping tomorrow night at times, our trips are truly adventures!
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Ready or not......I'm back!
September 10th 2019
Coos Bay, Oregon The Mill RV Park
It's been 13 months since my last blog and here we are winding down our journey of 2019 already. I never gave the blog much of a thought until an old friend we visited asked about the blog and said she missed seeing/reading it. That was about two weeks ago and now this morning I thought I'd give it a go! Yes, believe it or not I did have followers and folks that enjoyed my writing and reading about our adventures each summer.
This years (Journey of 2019) trip started on May 29th because we waited for Jack to finish school, yes our grandson Jack traveled with us for the first couple of months of this trip. There were a lot of changes in this trip compared with journeys of years past. We spent far less time in Iowa in order to make it to Madison, WI. for Beverly's company annual managers meetings June 18th thru the 20th. That meant only 10 days between Des Moines and Davenport and our families in both cities. One of the best things that made this years reunions complete was having both our kids and their families and Bev's brothers kids and their families all in attendance.....we love being able to spend time with family in Des Moines! A second and very important change was the addition of the Quigley side of Bev's family with the Ackelson side in a combined reunion. This reunion brought cousins together that hadn't seen each other in some 40 years, what a great time visiting so many and all looking forward to next year already!
Having Jack along meant visiting some places we've visited before but would be new to Jack and educational at the same time. All in all Jack visited 13 states in the couple of months with Papa and Grandma and a number of National Parks and interesting cities! Jack even caught his first Lake trout in the biggest lake in the world, Lake Superior. We thank our friends Alan and Kathy Nelson for setting up that fishing trip, Jack's lake trout and Bev's salmon she caught....yes Mike was skunked!
After what will be a month in Oregon by the time we leave in the next day or two, it's time to hit the road and get in a bit warmer weather. Yes this has been very refreshing the 60° and 70° temps, but the cool dampness I feel has been raising havoc with my joints! Arthritis has been flaring up and not even token a number now and then has helped.......you can do that in Oregon and Washington. We're looking forward to some warmer beaches, coastline and visiting some family in California, but with mixed feelings. The outrages taxes, gas prices, filthy cities that we normally enjoy visiting give us those mixed feelings. Eventually the State of California will keep more and more of us folks from visiting those places we've loved over the years. Liberal democratic policies and leaders have made California a place were more people are moving away from that moving to or wanting to even visit. Regardless we have about another month of travel ahead of us and are looking forward to hitting the road in the next day or so.
It's been over 12 years since we purchase our motor home, and it's been 11 trips we've taken since then and we have always wanted to spend more time in RV parks than driving down the road. This year we're spending some of that time, longer stays in certain areas than ever before. Thanks to the winds of Wyoming tearing off our awning, we've had extended stays here in Oregon and Washington. This has been nice at times, but I must say we're ready to hit the road and add to the 88,000 plus miles we've put on the rig. Revisiting places from years past is interesting, seeing all the changes even in some of the smaller towns and cities. Now our visit to Seattle after a 40 year absence was amazing, you can imagine how much difference 40 years can make! Beside the changes in the city, imagine visiting an old friend you hadn't seen in those same 40 years! It was a great few days visiting Gayle and catching up, we promised not to make it another 40 years between visits. The Space Needle had changed a lot, no longer open are but Plexiglas inches thick pretty much enclosing the whole thing.....even a place to walk out on a glass floor area! No...sorry not me! Also taking pictures with Jack at age 13 in and around places we took his Mother Lisa those 40 years ago was cool, we hope he loved traveling with us as much as we enjoyed having him along. Now since we completed our map last trip and have been in all 48 states of the lower 48 states of our country, we will on future trips visit some of our favorite stops on future journey's. I guess the only question will be can we take more long journey's as age creeps up on both of us especially me and all my aches and pains, only time will tell.
If you follow us on FB you might have seen where we have been "traveling with Jesus" this summer, taking pictures with our "stick Jesus" on different parts and places of this journey. Now that we will be moving on you just may see a few more pics. This has been so much fun for us and Jack while he was along, sending them back to church we can't imagine the comments when folks view the bulletin board pics!
Now I must get the coach ready to go to Tony's RV repair shop in the morning and prepare some kind of plan moving forward............stay tuned and let me know if you want more!
Coos Bay, Oregon The Mill RV Park
It's been 13 months since my last blog and here we are winding down our journey of 2019 already. I never gave the blog much of a thought until an old friend we visited asked about the blog and said she missed seeing/reading it. That was about two weeks ago and now this morning I thought I'd give it a go! Yes, believe it or not I did have followers and folks that enjoyed my writing and reading about our adventures each summer.
This years (Journey of 2019) trip started on May 29th because we waited for Jack to finish school, yes our grandson Jack traveled with us for the first couple of months of this trip. There were a lot of changes in this trip compared with journeys of years past. We spent far less time in Iowa in order to make it to Madison, WI. for Beverly's company annual managers meetings June 18th thru the 20th. That meant only 10 days between Des Moines and Davenport and our families in both cities. One of the best things that made this years reunions complete was having both our kids and their families and Bev's brothers kids and their families all in attendance.....we love being able to spend time with family in Des Moines! A second and very important change was the addition of the Quigley side of Bev's family with the Ackelson side in a combined reunion. This reunion brought cousins together that hadn't seen each other in some 40 years, what a great time visiting so many and all looking forward to next year already!
Having Jack along meant visiting some places we've visited before but would be new to Jack and educational at the same time. All in all Jack visited 13 states in the couple of months with Papa and Grandma and a number of National Parks and interesting cities! Jack even caught his first Lake trout in the biggest lake in the world, Lake Superior. We thank our friends Alan and Kathy Nelson for setting up that fishing trip, Jack's lake trout and Bev's salmon she caught....yes Mike was skunked!
After what will be a month in Oregon by the time we leave in the next day or two, it's time to hit the road and get in a bit warmer weather. Yes this has been very refreshing the 60° and 70° temps, but the cool dampness I feel has been raising havoc with my joints! Arthritis has been flaring up and not even token a number now and then has helped.......you can do that in Oregon and Washington. We're looking forward to some warmer beaches, coastline and visiting some family in California, but with mixed feelings. The outrages taxes, gas prices, filthy cities that we normally enjoy visiting give us those mixed feelings. Eventually the State of California will keep more and more of us folks from visiting those places we've loved over the years. Liberal democratic policies and leaders have made California a place were more people are moving away from that moving to or wanting to even visit. Regardless we have about another month of travel ahead of us and are looking forward to hitting the road in the next day or so.
It's been over 12 years since we purchase our motor home, and it's been 11 trips we've taken since then and we have always wanted to spend more time in RV parks than driving down the road. This year we're spending some of that time, longer stays in certain areas than ever before. Thanks to the winds of Wyoming tearing off our awning, we've had extended stays here in Oregon and Washington. This has been nice at times, but I must say we're ready to hit the road and add to the 88,000 plus miles we've put on the rig. Revisiting places from years past is interesting, seeing all the changes even in some of the smaller towns and cities. Now our visit to Seattle after a 40 year absence was amazing, you can imagine how much difference 40 years can make! Beside the changes in the city, imagine visiting an old friend you hadn't seen in those same 40 years! It was a great few days visiting Gayle and catching up, we promised not to make it another 40 years between visits. The Space Needle had changed a lot, no longer open are but Plexiglas inches thick pretty much enclosing the whole thing.....even a place to walk out on a glass floor area! No...sorry not me! Also taking pictures with Jack at age 13 in and around places we took his Mother Lisa those 40 years ago was cool, we hope he loved traveling with us as much as we enjoyed having him along. Now since we completed our map last trip and have been in all 48 states of the lower 48 states of our country, we will on future trips visit some of our favorite stops on future journey's. I guess the only question will be can we take more long journey's as age creeps up on both of us especially me and all my aches and pains, only time will tell.
If you follow us on FB you might have seen where we have been "traveling with Jesus" this summer, taking pictures with our "stick Jesus" on different parts and places of this journey. Now that we will be moving on you just may see a few more pics. This has been so much fun for us and Jack while he was along, sending them back to church we can't imagine the comments when folks view the bulletin board pics!
Now I must get the coach ready to go to Tony's RV repair shop in the morning and prepare some kind of plan moving forward............stay tuned and let me know if you want more!
Sunday, August 5, 2018
New England states and completing our tour of the USA
This blog not necessarily like most others is completely my opinion and not that of Beverly's, just wanted to say that upfront. As you may know if you follow us on face book we now have completed visiting all of the lower 48 states with our motor home, and it only took 10 summers to finally hit these last six states in the New England area.
It may have something to do with aging or the fact that my legs and walking is no longer as easy as it once was, but over-all this journey to this point has been disappointing to me. Maybe not so much disappointing as lets say been a struggle to enjoy. After leaving Superior, WI., from a point roughly halfway to Niagara, NY I started to loose interest in some ways. The weather has not cooperated at all since leaving Des Moines really, a whole lot of rain and very very humid days and nights ever since! It has affected my joints immensely and subsequently my attitude over-all and I'm sure at this time Bev can attest to that! I'm disappointed for Beverly who wanted to do so much more.
It was a rush through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and I don't know why for sure it just happen that way. I know this disappointed Bev, but it seemed I/we might have been anxious to finally get to Boston and then to NYC. These two cities seemed to always be the "destination" while getting the final six states visited. I was anxious to get to Boston, but after a week there not so anxious to get to NYC. Physically my legs would hurt too often, the lymphadema caused swelling and in turn aching, coupled with being over-weight made a lot of walking a chore. We have managed to visit most of the things Beverly wanted to see and do, and I'm sorry and feel terrible for not being as enthusiastic at this stage of the trip in not getting everything accomplished. I must say I have NOT enjoyed this big city stuff, the traffic is a joke, being 35 minutes from down town literally means at least an hour and a half ride in bumper to bumper! The train to and from Boston worked well for the most part, but it still meant a lot of walking to and from depots to events etc. I can tell you right now, I am not a big city guy or at least a big city like these type of guy. Boston still had parking lots for the most part at $25/day, but in NYC if you can even find one it runs on average $8.50/half hour. At the pier the other day it was only $23 for 3 hours........what a freaking bargain! We both can't see how regular folks manage around here with the cost of living being so outrageous! Shopping at the market was a real eye opener, fresh fruit and vegetables are so much more expensive as well as the fresh meat and fish/seafood items.
Went to the movie tonight, 6:15 show, 2 senior tickets $22, didn't have time for dinner before so we grabbed a slice of pizza at the theater $5.75 for Bev's and $6.00 for mine......two small coke's $11.50 (small fountain coke's at $5.75 each no refills!) You adding thit up, that's $46.25 for two seniors! Oh shit I forgot the small bag of gummies and Snicker bites were $10.50.........new total $56.75! How do these folks do it, no popcorn and still $56.75. Had a glass of Blue Moon with dinner the other night, 8 oz. draft $8.00, a dollar an ounce...........the orange slice was very large though, about 1/3 of an orange (that probably meant only 7 oz. of beer)!
I'm glad we got to visit this neck of the United States, I don't need to return anytime soon that's for sure. I think we'd both agree we've more pleasant journey's to places like Montana, Idaho, the Dakota's, Oregon (Florence mainly), Virginia, northern coast of California and Florida coast lines and all the South for that matter. For some reason this journey has seemed to be far less relaxing and far too much bickering between us, and that usually doesn't happen on these trips. Small town theaters, small town golf courses, small town ease of getting around is more to my/our liking anyway.
I'm glad to have seen the monuments and points of interest in both areas, wish I could have taken Bev into more of these and on a more up close and personal tour of some of them. We probably should have visited these cities 10+ years ago, started on the east coast with our journey's, but it's too late now.......the years have gone by. Hell it's not over, we still have a couple of months to travel if we so desire, or at least that's the plan so we're not even sure where that will take us from here. I am sure it will be more relaxing and a lot less stress filled.
We are going to drive into NYC again tomorrow, looking forward to Sunday traffic being much less hectic and we hope it is. Going to visit the 9-11 memorial and hope to find a parking spot near by. I know there are those of you out there that really love this big city way of life and can't understand me not liking it, but at this stage of my life relaxing is better than hectic and stressing.
Yes the blogs have been few or should I say two...........seems the readership has gone down and I feel I'm doing this because I enjoy writing these things. Past journey's had quite a bit of following but maybe this is betting to be old boring stuff any more, we'll play it by ear and see what happens down the line.
It may have something to do with aging or the fact that my legs and walking is no longer as easy as it once was, but over-all this journey to this point has been disappointing to me. Maybe not so much disappointing as lets say been a struggle to enjoy. After leaving Superior, WI., from a point roughly halfway to Niagara, NY I started to loose interest in some ways. The weather has not cooperated at all since leaving Des Moines really, a whole lot of rain and very very humid days and nights ever since! It has affected my joints immensely and subsequently my attitude over-all and I'm sure at this time Bev can attest to that! I'm disappointed for Beverly who wanted to do so much more.
It was a rush through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and I don't know why for sure it just happen that way. I know this disappointed Bev, but it seemed I/we might have been anxious to finally get to Boston and then to NYC. These two cities seemed to always be the "destination" while getting the final six states visited. I was anxious to get to Boston, but after a week there not so anxious to get to NYC. Physically my legs would hurt too often, the lymphadema caused swelling and in turn aching, coupled with being over-weight made a lot of walking a chore. We have managed to visit most of the things Beverly wanted to see and do, and I'm sorry and feel terrible for not being as enthusiastic at this stage of the trip in not getting everything accomplished. I must say I have NOT enjoyed this big city stuff, the traffic is a joke, being 35 minutes from down town literally means at least an hour and a half ride in bumper to bumper! The train to and from Boston worked well for the most part, but it still meant a lot of walking to and from depots to events etc. I can tell you right now, I am not a big city guy or at least a big city like these type of guy. Boston still had parking lots for the most part at $25/day, but in NYC if you can even find one it runs on average $8.50/half hour. At the pier the other day it was only $23 for 3 hours........what a freaking bargain! We both can't see how regular folks manage around here with the cost of living being so outrageous! Shopping at the market was a real eye opener, fresh fruit and vegetables are so much more expensive as well as the fresh meat and fish/seafood items.
Went to the movie tonight, 6:15 show, 2 senior tickets $22, didn't have time for dinner before so we grabbed a slice of pizza at the theater $5.75 for Bev's and $6.00 for mine......two small coke's $11.50 (small fountain coke's at $5.75 each no refills!) You adding thit up, that's $46.25 for two seniors! Oh shit I forgot the small bag of gummies and Snicker bites were $10.50.........new total $56.75! How do these folks do it, no popcorn and still $56.75. Had a glass of Blue Moon with dinner the other night, 8 oz. draft $8.00, a dollar an ounce...........the orange slice was very large though, about 1/3 of an orange (that probably meant only 7 oz. of beer)!
I'm glad we got to visit this neck of the United States, I don't need to return anytime soon that's for sure. I think we'd both agree we've more pleasant journey's to places like Montana, Idaho, the Dakota's, Oregon (Florence mainly), Virginia, northern coast of California and Florida coast lines and all the South for that matter. For some reason this journey has seemed to be far less relaxing and far too much bickering between us, and that usually doesn't happen on these trips. Small town theaters, small town golf courses, small town ease of getting around is more to my/our liking anyway.
I'm glad to have seen the monuments and points of interest in both areas, wish I could have taken Bev into more of these and on a more up close and personal tour of some of them. We probably should have visited these cities 10+ years ago, started on the east coast with our journey's, but it's too late now.......the years have gone by. Hell it's not over, we still have a couple of months to travel if we so desire, or at least that's the plan so we're not even sure where that will take us from here. I am sure it will be more relaxing and a lot less stress filled.
We are going to drive into NYC again tomorrow, looking forward to Sunday traffic being much less hectic and we hope it is. Going to visit the 9-11 memorial and hope to find a parking spot near by. I know there are those of you out there that really love this big city way of life and can't understand me not liking it, but at this stage of my life relaxing is better than hectic and stressing.
Yes the blogs have been few or should I say two...........seems the readership has gone down and I feel I'm doing this because I enjoy writing these things. Past journey's had quite a bit of following but maybe this is betting to be old boring stuff any more, we'll play it by ear and see what happens down the line.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Has it really been 9 months?
This our journey of 2018 is now a month old and we can report one thing for sure, that it's rained 60% of the days since we left Phoenix. After visits to family in Des Moines and Davenport, Iowa and now visiting old friends in Superior, WI. we're looking forward to some clear and dry skies and /hmore golf. Once again it was great visiting our families and now we are looking forward to visiting uncharted parts of this great country of ours. The objective of this years journey is to complete our map of visiting all the lower 48 states of the USA. We have six state the our motor home has not been traveled to and we are hoping to complete those visits this trip. The remaining six are in the New England part of the country, Maine, NH, Conn., RI, Mass.and Vermont. This will also make all 50 states for me and 49 states for Beverly (she will still will need Alaska) as far as states we've been in ourselves.
Seems our country is in a pretty good place right now, and we've been seeing the proof of that ever since we left Arizona. There has not been one state or one city we've driven through that we haven't seen "Help Wanted", "Now Hiring", "Hiring all positions" signs on a majority of businesses large and small! HyVee markets with signs on the doors listing positions they are seeking to fill, not just one but a list of 6 to 10 department positions. Construction companies, large and small manufacturing companies in big cities as well as small towns, retailers, you name it and we've seen the signs. Just yesterday we passed a 3M company building with signage on a complete wall of the building proclaiming "HIRING" and things like this have been the norm and not the exception! Drove through a small town in Minnesota yesterday and I notice two things, one population 125 and second a block later a Kubota (small tractor manufacturer) dealer with the marquee flashing "Hiring Tech's" immediate openings! Bottom line............if you are not working you really don't want to work. Another example would be a billboard advertising Anderson Windows Co. somewhere near St. Paul, MN. not just Now Hiring but listing an hourly wage starting at $22.19/hour. Yes our economy is thriving and you take tax returns of young folk with children, those crumbs of $500 to $2000 and record breaking low unemployment for minorities and women we have really good time.
There is one negative we and I'm sure you all have noticed also, the lines and waits at restaurants is out of control..........no one eats at home anymore! Not just on Friday nights anymore, but each and every night of the week it's the same thing and yet there are still long lines at the markets.
We will be in the Duluth, MN. Superior, WI. area of the country until after July 4th and then heading East and from then on more information about where we're at what we've been up to on this journey of 2018. I look forward to blogging this year and hope a few folks will enjoy reading and following our progress. I still can't believe it's been 9 months between blogs.......Yes, I know some of you have been cheering these past months and are now cringing in pain!
.
Seems our country is in a pretty good place right now, and we've been seeing the proof of that ever since we left Arizona. There has not been one state or one city we've driven through that we haven't seen "Help Wanted", "Now Hiring", "Hiring all positions" signs on a majority of businesses large and small! HyVee markets with signs on the doors listing positions they are seeking to fill, not just one but a list of 6 to 10 department positions. Construction companies, large and small manufacturing companies in big cities as well as small towns, retailers, you name it and we've seen the signs. Just yesterday we passed a 3M company building with signage on a complete wall of the building proclaiming "HIRING" and things like this have been the norm and not the exception! Drove through a small town in Minnesota yesterday and I notice two things, one population 125 and second a block later a Kubota (small tractor manufacturer) dealer with the marquee flashing "Hiring Tech's" immediate openings! Bottom line............if you are not working you really don't want to work. Another example would be a billboard advertising Anderson Windows Co. somewhere near St. Paul, MN. not just Now Hiring but listing an hourly wage starting at $22.19/hour. Yes our economy is thriving and you take tax returns of young folk with children, those crumbs of $500 to $2000 and record breaking low unemployment for minorities and women we have really good time.
There is one negative we and I'm sure you all have noticed also, the lines and waits at restaurants is out of control..........no one eats at home anymore! Not just on Friday nights anymore, but each and every night of the week it's the same thing and yet there are still long lines at the markets.
We will be in the Duluth, MN. Superior, WI. area of the country until after July 4th and then heading East and from then on more information about where we're at what we've been up to on this journey of 2018. I look forward to blogging this year and hope a few folks will enjoy reading and following our progress. I still can't believe it's been 9 months between blogs.......Yes, I know some of you have been cheering these past months and are now cringing in pain!
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Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Winding down and heading home
Coming to you from Cherry Valley Lakes resort, Beaumont, California and yes this was our second stop back on June 7th for a week. We will leave here on Wednesday or Thursday and head towards Overgaard, Arizona for a couple of weeks in hills of Arizona before landing in Phoenix and ending this our journey of 2017!
It's been a different trip this year, spending more time at each stop and even spending time in Hotel rooms while the motor home had some remodeling done. New flooring, some new furniture and this old 2006 model looks as good inside as the 2016's.........at least the one that counts thinks so, Beverly. The coach turn over 70,000 miles coming into this stop and will most likely be at around 71000 by the time we get back to Phoenix and the Friendly Village of Orangewood. I give the old girl credit, she's been running very well and had one hellava lot of mountains to go up and down over this trip.
I think we missed the kids and grand kids more this trip and than any other trip we've taken. I also think our newest grand baby Mia we really a big part of that because we really hadn't got to know her or her us before we left. They change so much from two months to six months and not sure she understood face time on the phones and ipad's! The same goes for Jack and Dalila, they just keep getting older and smarter and........................well we just love them so much!
All in all the trip up the west coast line was very enjoyable and the cool temperatures helped, it wasn't hard at all to get used to temps in the 60's everyday, and the sound of the surf lapping against the shoreline in the evenings was nice to sleep by. If not for the fact that California is so expensive to live there with the high taxes, high gas prices and a governor that continues to give away the store and take, take, take from the residents to fund so much bullshit it would be a great place to live. If that "State of Jefferson" ever takes off, that would be the place to live.........but making north California another state might take much to do. The north of California doesn't deserve the problems of SoCal and it's limousine liberals! Oregon's coast line is spectacular and so beautiful but then you have the extremely liberal crap to contend with, stay way south of Portland and you may be OK and not have to survive their riots! The sea food and especially the salmon is all so fresh and abundant, even got Bev to try and like I might add BBQ/grilled oysters. We now wish we'd have done some salmon fishing while there, maybe next time. Speaking of fishing, we would like to do a little of that while in Arizona for the last two weeks, maybe some trout can be had while we're there.
I may have another blog while spending those last couple of weeks in Arizona's mountains and then again maybe not............I'm not sure these are being read or viewed by as many folks this year, the counter seems to move a bit slower this year. This may just might not have been as an exciting journey as in years past as far as blogs go!
It's been a different trip this year, spending more time at each stop and even spending time in Hotel rooms while the motor home had some remodeling done. New flooring, some new furniture and this old 2006 model looks as good inside as the 2016's.........at least the one that counts thinks so, Beverly. The coach turn over 70,000 miles coming into this stop and will most likely be at around 71000 by the time we get back to Phoenix and the Friendly Village of Orangewood. I give the old girl credit, she's been running very well and had one hellava lot of mountains to go up and down over this trip.
I think we missed the kids and grand kids more this trip and than any other trip we've taken. I also think our newest grand baby Mia we really a big part of that because we really hadn't got to know her or her us before we left. They change so much from two months to six months and not sure she understood face time on the phones and ipad's! The same goes for Jack and Dalila, they just keep getting older and smarter and........................well we just love them so much!
All in all the trip up the west coast line was very enjoyable and the cool temperatures helped, it wasn't hard at all to get used to temps in the 60's everyday, and the sound of the surf lapping against the shoreline in the evenings was nice to sleep by. If not for the fact that California is so expensive to live there with the high taxes, high gas prices and a governor that continues to give away the store and take, take, take from the residents to fund so much bullshit it would be a great place to live. If that "State of Jefferson" ever takes off, that would be the place to live.........but making north California another state might take much to do. The north of California doesn't deserve the problems of SoCal and it's limousine liberals! Oregon's coast line is spectacular and so beautiful but then you have the extremely liberal crap to contend with, stay way south of Portland and you may be OK and not have to survive their riots! The sea food and especially the salmon is all so fresh and abundant, even got Bev to try and like I might add BBQ/grilled oysters. We now wish we'd have done some salmon fishing while there, maybe next time. Speaking of fishing, we would like to do a little of that while in Arizona for the last two weeks, maybe some trout can be had while we're there.
I may have another blog while spending those last couple of weeks in Arizona's mountains and then again maybe not............I'm not sure these are being read or viewed by as many folks this year, the counter seems to move a bit slower this year. This may just might not have been as an exciting journey as in years past as far as blogs go!
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