I remember a country song where he sings "Six days on the road and I'm gonna make it home tonight"! Well we will be 111 days on the road tomorrow and God willing we'll be home tomorrow evening. We don't want it to end but we're not full-times yet so home base and obligations but me met. We're already talking of the short winter time trips we'd like to make to California and parts of Arizona or even Texas, way down south Texas that is.
This year we played a lot of golf at a lot of very nice courses all over the south, we traveled more miles than we had in the previous 8 years of travel. We're roughly 421 miles from home right now as we sit here at this fine Route 66 RV resort, that being said when we get home our total miles for this years journey will be right at 8895 miles. A lot of miles and a lot of beautiful country and a lot of beautiful people visited and met along the way.
Some of the cities we'll never forget like Biloxi, Mississippi or Savanna, Georgia, the there was Port St. Lucie, Florida and St. Augustine, Florida and who could forget Bristol and the surrounding area of Abingdon. I finally talked Bev into visiting Branson, Missouri and we loved it, the shows the golf it was worth the time spent visiting. This rig we call home while on the road now has been in 44 of the 50 states of our country and one is impossible to drive to so 44 of the possible 49 states we can travel to. Next year it looks like Bev wants to finish the New England states, so we'll see how that goes next year.
The passing of my Mother came quickly, after our visit early in our journey to Iowa we anticipated seeing her once more next year. We were lucky to be able to make it back and visit Mom once more and be by her side in her final hours. Mom was ready to go and we all know she's now in a better place and has her memory back and with Dad. It was also good that we could drive down to Texas get brother Dave and take him back with us to visit Mom before she passed. We ended up spending quite a bit of time in Iowa, so much so it felt like we lived there again. It was good being with family.
I've enjoyed sharing our travels with those that visited my blog, and I hope those of you that visited enjoyed reading about our travels and living them with us via this medium. I may or may not have an epilogue to this journey upon returning home, if not I appreciate your visits and hope you enjoyed traveling with us. We thank the "577" visitors to the blog to this point and hope my rambling wasn't too boring.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Monday, September 12, 2016
Can Fall be upon us already?
Here I sit in North Platte, Nebraska at 7:15 am and it's just now starting to get a bit light outside! The cool breeze from last night with the windows open has turned into a bit of a chill as I sit here in this quiet solitude. I just nuked a cup of two day old coffee and it taste wonderful, just like I've done so many times in the morning. I first noticed it yesterday when I woke up to darkness in Council Bluffs, Iowa, it must be nearing Fall and winter darkness in the early mornings. This has been one of our longest journeys (do you mind that I call these journeys? Being retired I find it hard to say vacations because those always have to end and these do not, especially when I hear during the Cardinal game that it was 103 in Phoenix at game time.) we entered Iowa with the corn green and about knee high already and left with it mostly brown and almost ready to pick! Yes, the crackling of corn stalks in the breeze, the stiff dryness of the stalks tell you it's almost Pheasant season and Fall is upon us.
Bev and I both say to ourselves numerous times "I don't want to go home yet" but then we think of the kids and grand kids and can't wait to get back to see them once more. With the passing of Mom and the kids coming to Iowa for the funeral we got a taste, but then were ready to move on once more to being alone together. I'm not sure two people can get much closer together than we have and do on these journeys, we love being together now more than ever in seems.................Beverly is truly my best friend!
From here it's either a few days in Colorado somewhere or Moab, Utah, regardless whether we do either one or just head home it has been a wonderful 4 months of travel and adventure on this 2016 trek. We're trying to get home by Matt's birthday on the 19th otherwise who knows what or where we would go from here. Stay tuned to find out, all I know now is that I just might turn the heater on to take the chill off................I woke up to balmy 59* this morning and this old Arizona blood is thin and feeling a bit cold.
P.S. The Arizona Cardinals secondary better step it up or this might be a long season!
Bev and I both say to ourselves numerous times "I don't want to go home yet" but then we think of the kids and grand kids and can't wait to get back to see them once more. With the passing of Mom and the kids coming to Iowa for the funeral we got a taste, but then were ready to move on once more to being alone together. I'm not sure two people can get much closer together than we have and do on these journeys, we love being together now more than ever in seems.................Beverly is truly my best friend!
From here it's either a few days in Colorado somewhere or Moab, Utah, regardless whether we do either one or just head home it has been a wonderful 4 months of travel and adventure on this 2016 trek. We're trying to get home by Matt's birthday on the 19th otherwise who knows what or where we would go from here. Stay tuned to find out, all I know now is that I just might turn the heater on to take the chill off................I woke up to balmy 59* this morning and this old Arizona blood is thin and feeling a bit cold.
P.S. The Arizona Cardinals secondary better step it up or this might be a long season!
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
All good things must end
This could mean a lot of thing now that I think about it, not only our journey of 2016 but as most of you know our trip was delayed with our return to Iowa due to the passing of my Mother. A deeply religious person was she and that being said I know she is now in a better place and back with Dad and all her friends and family that went before her. We thank God for the time we were able to spend with her before she left, even though the Alzheimer/Dementia had pretty much left us wondering if and what she understood. My last eye to eye contact with Mom was while I was at the foot of her bed, I teared up and she managed a smile and shook her head no-no-no as if to say "it's OK I'm going home to Dad." Mom will be missed and remembered for a lot more that just that.
After 13 more days in Davenport and parked at West Lake once more we left for Des Moines for another visit with Bev's family.........because as you might have figured, that's what we do! When we're close to friends and family during our travels we make arrangement to pay them visits as long as their willing to have us. Plans were for one night here in Altoona, Iowa Adventureland RV park and then head straight home to get Lisa and Jack back by Friday the 9th of September. Yes, plans were for Lisa and Jack to ride back with us to save a little airfare after all that we had spent to this point getting everyone back for the funeral. But wait a minute! Maybe we'd like to spend a little more time on the road and not get home by the 9th, that sounds much better! Both Bev and I neither one are ready to return just yet...........so Jack and Lisa will fly out Friday for Phoenix and Bev and I will continue our travels as planned towards Utah and then south towards Arizona and Phoenix to get home on or near the 19th of September. We will continue to visit family in Des Moines until Friday morning and head west and might even get another round of golf in here in Des Moines!
As much as we miss family, believe it or not we can't wait to be alone and on the road again and maybe out of country that rains day after day after day. Yes, we had a few days of sun and nice temps before leaving Davenport and now we're in Des Moines and it's raining once more. Being from Arizona where we get roughly 7 inches of rain a year we have definitely had our share for the year on this trip, hell we've been where we've had almost 7 inches in a day! I've mentioned this as being one of ...............no this has been our longest trip yet in the motor home. As of now sitting here in Des Moines, Iowa we have put 7308 miles on the coach since leaving Phoenix back on May 27th, now with heading to around Zion, Utah and then towards Phoenix we ought to end this trip with over 9000 miles traveled. This amount of miles will end up being roughly 2500 to 3000 more than any other journey to date! Let's all knock on wood that this old girl gets us back home without any problems....I see you all didn't knock on wood, let's do it now together! Thank you! By the way, the price of gas has made this a most enjoyable journey in one respect, right now we're paying the highest prices since leaving Phoenix back in May, right near $2.20 give or take a few pennies either way.
The blogs aren't over, I feel a couple more before we end up in Phoenix so stay tuned to this channel for more updates we enjoy sharing our adventures.
Mike & Bev
After 13 more days in Davenport and parked at West Lake once more we left for Des Moines for another visit with Bev's family.........because as you might have figured, that's what we do! When we're close to friends and family during our travels we make arrangement to pay them visits as long as their willing to have us. Plans were for one night here in Altoona, Iowa Adventureland RV park and then head straight home to get Lisa and Jack back by Friday the 9th of September. Yes, plans were for Lisa and Jack to ride back with us to save a little airfare after all that we had spent to this point getting everyone back for the funeral. But wait a minute! Maybe we'd like to spend a little more time on the road and not get home by the 9th, that sounds much better! Both Bev and I neither one are ready to return just yet...........so Jack and Lisa will fly out Friday for Phoenix and Bev and I will continue our travels as planned towards Utah and then south towards Arizona and Phoenix to get home on or near the 19th of September. We will continue to visit family in Des Moines until Friday morning and head west and might even get another round of golf in here in Des Moines!
As much as we miss family, believe it or not we can't wait to be alone and on the road again and maybe out of country that rains day after day after day. Yes, we had a few days of sun and nice temps before leaving Davenport and now we're in Des Moines and it's raining once more. Being from Arizona where we get roughly 7 inches of rain a year we have definitely had our share for the year on this trip, hell we've been where we've had almost 7 inches in a day! I've mentioned this as being one of ...............no this has been our longest trip yet in the motor home. As of now sitting here in Des Moines, Iowa we have put 7308 miles on the coach since leaving Phoenix back on May 27th, now with heading to around Zion, Utah and then towards Phoenix we ought to end this trip with over 9000 miles traveled. This amount of miles will end up being roughly 2500 to 3000 more than any other journey to date! Let's all knock on wood that this old girl gets us back home without any problems....I see you all didn't knock on wood, let's do it now together! Thank you! By the way, the price of gas has made this a most enjoyable journey in one respect, right now we're paying the highest prices since leaving Phoenix back in May, right near $2.20 give or take a few pennies either way.
The blogs aren't over, I feel a couple more before we end up in Phoenix so stay tuned to this channel for more updates we enjoy sharing our adventures.
Mike & Bev
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