THE END OF SUMMER

 

We enjoyed a weeks visit with all in Colorado, daughter, Cyndi, SIL, John, our grandson and wife, Robert and Kerstin, but the best was seeing our great grand babies again.  They are so precious, and smart and cute, and and and…did I mention smart?  Went with them to a science fair down town.  It was very interesting for kids, there was all kinds of things that engaged their little minds.  Here they are painting a car, but they were so careful, basically leaving their just finger prints on it. 

Here is a booth you wouldn’t catch Chuck near, mushrooms, all types that grow in Colorado.

Then there was the funny car.

We did get to work on the storage unit, and it went rather quickly.  We took very little, seems a whole lot easier letting things go when you hardly remember them.  We loaded the few things we decided that we could put to use out here and that was it.  The kids are working on getting all the spruce up work they want to do before they put the house into the vacation rental pool.  Sure hope it works out for them.  To us it seems like theirs is a much bigger undertaking than ours was.  But then again they will still have the house if they decide to move back into it.  Then again they are going overseas. We had a great time, although they had to work some, and Chuck's breathing was not so good.  The elevation really got to him this time.  We decided to leave a day early, and hard to believe, but the RV park gave us a refund for that day.  We didn’t even ask, just wanted to let them know we were leaving as the park was staying pretty full.  Goldfields RV Park, passport America, and they take it for the entire stay.  Not much of a park, but close to everything, and for us just a few blocks from our daughters.  (Glad we left when we did as the rains came and we would have been land locked as they closed the road we used to get out.)

Then we were off, had a great audio book, and the miles just flew by.

We arrived in Albuquerque around 3, and checked in to a P.A. park, and as we were making our way to the site, spotted this couple outside that looked oh so familiar. Well, be darned, it was our friends that live here at Jojoba, but we had last seen them at Hart Ranch in North Dakota.  Of course we had to have a game of hand & foot.  Girls rule!  Next morning we were off, in and out of rain.  Luckily it never was too bad.  We had been batting around stopping and taking the train to the Grand Canyon, but the elevation was troubling.  Decision was made for us when we got there it was raining the hardest of the day, so we just pushed on. 

Scared Indian mountain, aka tourist trap.

We drove along the Colorado River and there were some very nice campground, especially on the California side of the river. 

 

We made it into a rather long drive, 500 plus miles, but the book was good.  Spent the night in Lake Havasu, the home of the London Bridge.  Been a long time since we have been there and the town has really grown.  Next morning we were off across the desert.  Glad we were a day late, looked like it had really rained in that area, lots of the “dips” still had mud and plenty of water on the side.  For quite a distance the road and the railroad tracks are side by side, and this is a mystery, there are no people living any where near, very little traffic.  Yet all this rock graffiti was next to the tracks. Ran for miles.

 

Then we were in Palm Springs, and it was getting hot.

We decided to grab something to eat before we tackled the mountain to “home”.  Yes we were taking the road I swore I would never travel on again, but we were just pulling the “Little Guy” so it did not seen so daunting.

Not only does the road look like this on the GPS, it fails to show you that it is going up, up and away till you get to the top. Down is not too bad.

We arrived at Jojoba Hills about 2 in the afternoon, and even though we had a great time this summer it was wonderful to be here.  And let me tell 400 square feet feels so spacious.  We love the little trailer, it is wonderful, park it anywhere, and that is the main reason we wanted it.  Taking it to Alaska next year will do just fine.  Having new love for the Damnearahouse, with its 4 slides and all though.

So that brings our summer adventure to a close.  Now it is on to doctor appointments and all that good fun.  By the way Chuck is breathing so much better, but he is still seeing the doctor.  Till next time.

CANADA, hey, AND BEYOND

We zipped into Canada, no problems, but the border patrol couldn’t believe that with Texas license we had no guns.  Chuck told him that he was ex-military and thus needed no gun for defense, and the guard not knowing him, actually took him at his word.  Going into the part of Ontario that we were, campgrounds are very limited, and we ended up spending the first night in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  Thankfully the weather was cool, and we did get some sleep, but the place we parked was a shortcut, so the traffic was non stop most of the night.  It was wonderful to see our good friend, Lois.  It had been 4 years, which was way too long. The first couple of days we spent getting caught up, and Chuck got in a round of golf. Unfortunately Lois started coming down with a sore throat and a terrible cold, and when she was getting worse right before our eyes, we decided that leaving was the only thing to do.  Knowing that if we stayed she would soldier through and  probably end up in the hospital, which she has visited way too many times this year, we were off.  We only had a 130 miles to Niagara Falls, other than going through Toronto there was no problem.  

We have been here a couple of times before, but it never fails to impress.  Wow, the view, the roar, just the majesty.  Awesome.

Then it was off to Chucks home town of Myerstown, PA.  Pennsylvania has an abundance of country roads, and our GPS managed to plan our route so we saw our fair share.  Turn right, turn left, repeat and repeat.  Ten miles from his hometown, he still had not seen anything that sounded or looked familiar.  But it did get us there, and we parked the RV in the back of Chucks nieces yard.

Lovely, we had a gentle stream running by.  Usually when we have been in the area we parked in an RV park, but the closest are about 30 miles away, so it was always a drive.

This was so much nicer.  And we did manage to put together a mini family reunion.  Chucks sister and BIL, Anna Mae and Jim, came up from West Virginia, along with a few other more distant family members.  We do so thank our hosts, Debbie and Norman, for their hospitality, as we literally invaded their lives.  We have traveled this summer as no other, with the only destination being the Escapade in Gillette, WY, after that it was ????? where ever the wheels took us.  Hart Ranch in South Dakota, friends in Harlan, Ohio, Amana Colonies, Ohio then Goshen, Indiana, for the FROG rally, well heck, Mike and Leslie are only a 100 miles away, then on to see Lois in Owasha, Ontario.  After our quick visit to Canada, we were just a short distance from PA, simple when you think about it.  And that is how we ended up so far away from where we started. The first leg of the trip back is like1700 miles, and we have a 3 day holiday weekend coming up.  So we thought we would settle down some place along the way and wait it out.

Longaberger Basket Headquarters

Unfortunately there was no place that we wanted to spend any length of time at, being as we camped at Passport America parks, and other than one, they were not that great. But the price was right!  So we decided we would just push on to Springs.  We knew our daughter and family were all gone for the holiday, but we thought that it would be no problem spending the time at the famcamp on the Air Force Academy, as it is a large campground.  Well not when it is parents week end at the Academy! They were beyond full.  Elks lodge, yes, they do have RV facilities, but only one left, we are 15 miles away, bummer, when we got there, taken, they said we could stay in the parking lot, free,and it was a large one, and private.  But it was hot, and we called around and found an opening near our daughters.  By no means what we had anticipated, but off the street.  And not far from here is a wonderful patio, with all the amenities where we can go for a picnic, our daughters patio.  Unfortunately we do not have a key to their house, and they are in the mountains with no cell service.  Oh well, we had planned to hunker down for the week end. Next week we plan to purge the storage shed that we are sharing with our daughter.  They are planning on an adventure of their own, moving to Guam for at least 6 months so they can get their fill of scuba diving while they are still able.  They are putting their home into a vacation rental pool, but will store their personal items, so they can use the space.  And other than a few things in storage, if we have not needed anything in all these years, it does not seem likely we will ever need it.