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!
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