It has been way to long since we wrote on this blog and I do apologize. We have been headed east and have made it home after a lot of traveling. I am not sure where we left off but I will give you a run down for the last week or so. We left our friends Steve and Yvonne and went to Camp Verde, AZ, between Phoenix and Flagstaff and stayed in Distant Drums Rv park. We travelled the hilly and narrow roads around Jerome, Cottonwood, Sedonna, and Prescott, seeing all the sites that Katrina and Jeff (our neighbors) had told us about. What wonderful sights!! We took the Verde Canyon railroad trip and it was exciting. A young man actually proposed to his love while we watched. cute. We then started our way towards home, up thru Flagstaff onto Rt 40 and across to Albuquerque, NM and met up with friends from Taos. They had to come down off the mountain into ABQ and we decided to meet them there. What a great visit with Ray and Bev Keen. (he and I had gone to school together) we then continused across rt 40 to rt 44 and up towards Tulsa,OK. and on to Springfield, MO and onto rt 60 and stayed overnight in Mt Grove. Continued to the KY boarder onto rt 57 to Paducah, KY. The bridge over the Missouri river was closed so the detour took us from MO, Illinois, and into KY over three rivers and in only 14 minutes. Narrow, small bridges that Linda was (me to0) pretty nervous driving the rig across. Paducah is where the national quilt museum and Handcocks of Pd are located. We had been there last year and wanted to see it all again in better weather but it was again cold and overcast, but it was fun. We left there and headed east on Kentucky parkway (rt 69 I think) across to Lexington, up rt 71 towards Cincinnati; stayed in a state park that wasn't open in Wilmington, oh(only three other people there and they were tenting); continued in the rian for a few hours; . thru Columbus, Akron and onto Rt 80; and made it to Rimersburg, Pa, where we set up in Paula Conner's mothers yard (the only place that was flat and wide enough to get into). It was a great site. We visited with our great friends Rick and Paula on Thursday nite and then visited with other folks on Friday. Friday nite, their kids and our friends Brianna and Jeremy, drove up from greensburg, Sarah and her son Conner came and we all went out to eat at a local restaurant. We all went back to Rick & Paula's and had a nice visit. We left Sat AM and drove thru heavy rain to Palmyra, Pa and saw Tim, Jamie and the kids on Sat nite. We had planned on staying Sunday, but the weather wasn't looking good so we took off for home around 10 am. We drove all the way home in rain. We got mixed up while looking for fuel and ended up in New Jersey and finely found an exit that took us across the Geo. Was. bridge and onto rt 95. I don't know what the tolls were and at that point I didn't care. We made it home about 7:30 and it was down to 35 degrees. Glad we made it home before much later, as it went below freezing. We unloaded just what we needed and called it a nite. We awoke to 3"s of slush/snow and rain. What a mess but we were home. We parked it cleared up and we completeted unloading, winterizing the rig and even got it backed into it's parking spot by mid afternoon. This is just a rough writting of where we went and how it was this..
I do have to say that it was a GREAT winter!!! We were able to meet up 4 times with our friend Steve and Yvonne Barnes from BC ( Tuscon, Picacho, Mesa,and Indio) it is always a blast with them. Thanks Steve for all the great places that you drove us to(even though Linda was on the floor alot of the time. She doesn't light heights and steep drop offs).
We met a whole new family at Picacho Peak RV Resort!! Folks just opened their arms and took us in as one of their own. Dave and Virl( our AZ mom and dad, Sandy for getting me started with darts, Norm for giving me darts and sparking my intrest in music, Dorothy for telling us to just get involved early in our stay, Frank for the silversmithing lessions and constant positive attitude, horse races and much more, Ed and Bernie for taking us around the peak and up to the mine, Jim and leigh for going to Pinnacale with us, Sarah for all she did with events and keeping us informed, Ed for letting me help with moving you rig, neighbors all around for just being the great family you are. I know that I have missed a lot but we do miss you all and we will be back!!
I do want to say a huge thank you to Jeff and Katrina Smith here at home for watching our place and keeping the snow removed!! Jess, we love you and all you did with keeping the house together and the huge task of mail room attendant. Our winter travels would be impossible without you all!!! So for another winter thanks to all and we will let you know when we start another blog. Russ and Linda
