Christmas day 2015

we arrived to PPRV on Monday Dec 21st in the afternoon and we over joyed with our new home. I took pictures before we started dragging stuff in and making a mess. Friends showed up to assist and get us welcomed home.  the home is great! more storage than our house in Barrington. lots of windows, cabnets and more. The back year/patio is all set up with Cactus and plantings. we love it.  Dave and Virl took us down to the new canteena by the pool for diner. it is a nice little spot in the park to get quick food. it was great.  we took the RV mattress to use in the house for a few days. Tuesday we continued to unload the truck and camper into the house and get kind of organized. I played darts that evening, did ok but not great. had a good time. Linda is feeling alot better after having been sick the last few days. we did get to Casa Grande and got a real mattress that we really like, a vacuum and lots of other stuff. Our friend Jim O loaned us a kitchen table and others have been offering us items that we can use for the time being. I help pour a friends concrete driveway. I have spent quite a bit of time arranging for internet service to be installed, I decided to try Direct TV and they are coming early next week. last nite we had carolers show up and sing to us. it was fun. in  the evening we went to friends and just relaxed talking and reconnecting. today being Christmas most folks are hanging with family so Linda went for a walk and I have been writting a shopping list for Home Depot, I want to install a couple of outlets where I need them, arrange out little shed and a few more projects. At 2 pm we are going to the club house for Christmas dinner with lots of folks from the park. We didn't have alot of choise of what to take for our donation to the dinner so Linda has made a big Mac and Cheese .  Forgot to tell you, we have misplaced our camera  so I can post pictures or even take any more. I am sure it will turn up in here when we aren't looking for it. Merry Christmas to all.   Russ and Linda

Monday dec 21,2015

here we are again. Yesterday we drove from Odessa,TX to El Paso and got into Ft Bliss rv park where are friends Donna and Johnnie live. Linda had not been feeling very good all day but felt well enough to go out to eat with them. They took us to Texas Road House on base. Great food and a huge food court and shopping mall for the military. Came back and lLinda went right to bed at 630. she still doesn't feel very good but we are going to get ready and head to Picacho and be there's by early afternoon to get settled in. I think we just over did the long days and she is worn out. Might be a cold coming on. Hope when she's in her new home she will feel better. The time change is messing with us both. 2 hours different than home. Jess called yesterday evening to check on us, glad we have her to watch the homestead.  Going to go start readying to leave. Hugs and smiles

dec 19th 2015

Hi,
 Well we have stopped early for a change. so trying to get you all caught up.  we left Tuesday at 0500 and drove to Hershey,PA and parked in front of Linda's sons and hooked up thru his Christmas lights. Had a good time seeing the kids open their gifts , having supper, and then off to Gavin(grandsons) basketball game. back to the rig and a early nite. left abot 8am and drove to Bristol,TN(long day). nice park but we just needed supper and a place to sleep. we had made crockpot meals at home and made up meal packages with out vacuum sealer. just toss on in boiling water and presto a hot simple meal. left there at 0730 in the rain and drove across all of TN and stopped in North Little Rock,AK for the nite. another long haul. the weather had cleared and we found a city rv park right on the Arkansas river directly across from the Clinton Library. The gated park had access to a walking bridge that was all lite up with christmas colors that we could have walked across and gone to the Clinton stuff but it was to late. Great little park right in town. we have had a couple of issues with the truck alarm system going off and of course it did at 2:30 in the morning. I stepped to the rv door and pushed the remote button and it stopped , but I think everyone could see my truck lights flashing and the horn blowing until I got it to stop. well to bad, they don't know me anyway. we left the early and drove to Joey and Brenda Paradis's place in Mineola TX (about 80 miles east of Dallas). had a great diner with them. Brenda is a wonderful cook and the both are great hosts. wish we could have spent more time with them. let at 073 this morning and have stopped in Odessa, TX for the night. early day as I was getting tired and Linda said her legs were falling asleep. got hooked up and finely have a miniute to relax.  the piping in the camper bathroom has a bad fitting and when we hook up to park water it causes it to leak, so we hook up and get the waterheater filled and heated then shut off until nighttime, and then just leave towels on the floor to soak up the clean water. will fix it after we get to Picacho and moved into our new home. I trust that I will find time.  The Flury's (the hot air balloon folks have already called and need me on Tuesday AM but I said I really couldn't help unless it would cause then to not be able to fly and if that happened to call and I would go.  This is a real quick trip across the country and neither of us really want to try it this quickly again, as there is so much we still want to see and do. We had decided that we wanted to be in Picacho before Christmas so get settled in and get to the grocery store before Christmas. so the push is on. we leave here in the am and go to FT Bliss in Elpaso,TX for the night and see out friends Donna and Johnnie that we had so much fun with last year in AZ. They are there for a while as his work demands that he go differeent places for certian times. the on the PPRV on monday am.  will try and get more to this blog later this coming week.  hugs the speedy driver.

Well, we are pretty much set to go. last minute stuff in the morning. heading for Hersey, PA for an overnite with the family.  the weather is overcast and  a little rainy but still almost 50 degrees and they are predicting about the same for Tuesday.  Thanks to all the folks that have stopped by to say bye and to all of the house sitters.  Wishing you all a great warm winter.  Hugs and Smiles  "the driver"

dec 10 2015

This is a test to ensure I remember how to do this.

april 14, 2015 St Louis

Linda and I made it into St Louis and after asking a few times we got to the Arch. there is alot of construction so some roads were closed and our gps ran us all over the place. Asked so construction workers and the gave us a short and easy way to get there. was unsure about parking, but the old church right at the Arch entrance allowed us to park there for a $5 donation. cool! we rode the tram to the top and took some pictures and then came down and saw the god movie about the building of it. went for a 1 hour river boat tour, but it was over rated but relaxing. we then drove to the old train station on Market st and walked around there for a while, but it seemed like a has been mall. I wanted to go to C and K BBQ(highly rated in a Must Eat there book I have) and let the GPS take us there. 8 miles NE we got to the place and it was a dump, in a rough looking area but I went in and ordered. there is no seating there so we brought the ribs back to the KOA park we are holed up in. 25 mile ride and the ribs were not that good. the potato salad was whipped potatoes with pickles mixed in and the coleslaw was mostly vinegar. overall it was a good day, the Arch being the best part

April 1 Taos,NM

 VIEW UP THE SKI SLOPES IN TAOS ski village where Ray is Public Works director

 Linda, Bev Keen and I standing on the Rio Grand Gourge bridge. 600 feet above the river

 Walking out into the blind dessert to see some hand carved caves . These are on private land and not for public viewing, but we did it anyway.

 Views of cliff dweller ruins in Bandolier National Perk, outside Santa Fe

we drove to Santa Fe, NM and left our RV in a rv campground, more a dirt parking lot. spent the nite and drove to Taos (truck only and we had heard that the road in was steep ,winding, and narrow) it wasn't  that bad, but it was easier anyway.  Ray Keen had taken a couple of days off work and he and Bev  opened their home and hearts to us for a couple of days. We had a ball!! They took us to Taos ski village where Ray works and at the highest we were at 10500 feet. we both noticed the light air. we then drove out to the Earth house comunity ( where people build into the dessert sand bank and construct homes from recycled materials. they come up with some pretty neat homes, using tires, soda/beer can and all types of junk.  we then drove across the Reo Grand Gorge bridge. 600 feet above the river. windy ,cold but really neat. I was impressed when Linda walked out onto the bridge, as she hates heights.  we went out to dinner at a true mexican resturant that they reccomended. it was very good. I do love the green chilies!!! the next day Bev had an appointment so Ray took us out touring and we found the neatest place. we had seen a documentary at some point about a guy and his dog that wandered into the dessert and found a hill and dug a cavern and hand carved the walls, ceilings, and all the inside by hand, and then just left it. no owned by anyone and not advertized where there were. check out  Well, we just happened to have someone that had found a couple of them while hiking in the dessert  http://www.newmexicospiritualland.com. They were amazing!!  we then drove thru White Sands and on thru Los Alamos, and to Bandelier national park and toured arond the Cliff Dweller ruins. great day!! went back to the Keens house and their son and girl friend came over for a cookout of ribs, salads and such.  A wonderful visit!!!!! stayed the nite and drove back to Santa Fe and hooked onto the rig and drove to Shamrock,Texas spent the nite in a rv park(really just a back yard off I 40  with power and water, but off the road and easy back on in the morning. then on to Cleora, OK.