Rain / Snow day

Even in Arizona, there is winter weather..We have had rain since this morning, but there is 12-24 " of snow north of us in Flagstaff.  The I-17 is closed from Flagstaff to Sedona, with a 30 car pile up..Temp is 50* colder today than yesterday.  They are forecasting more snow and rain, even for this region, with 60 mph winds tomorrow.  We had the propane tank filled today, so the furnace and stove have plenty of fuel.. $80.00 for 20 gallons, twice the price as MN, but at least we will stay warm and can cook.
Finally got the internet up and working, ended up buying a broadband card and paying the fee for monthly unlimited usage. We just can not connect at the campgrounds, the signal is too low, so this seems to be working, at least after 24 hours, everything seems to be OK,  I hate being without an internet connection, this is my only way of communicating with everyone.
I did some laundry today, cleaned and repacked..since the coach is now stationary, and not on the road, I can finally get some stuff out again and leave it stand, without having to pack up every morning.
Remember the week we spent in Wildwood FL, having the leaking slide repaired ?? ( Paid BIG bucks $$$$$)  Guess what..............
with the rain today, it is leaking again !!##**####/// We are NOT happy campers..called Alliance coach, they want to know when we can bring it back in.. Wally informed them, that is NOT an option..And the story goes on........tomorrow is another day, who knows what adventures we will have..

How I spent my Christmas Vacation

We left Las Cruces NM on Thursday 12/23..driving into Arizona, we had to go through a Bureau of Immigration check point.  Border patrol had german shepherds sniffing every vehicle going through.  They had several cars and trucks pulled to the side, and were unpacking everything in the vehicle.






We stayed with Cheri & Phil, parking the motorhome in their yard, quite the job getting something this size down dirt roads and through the cattle gates

Their son Christopher, his wife Shannon, granddaughter Courtney (age 5) plus their 2 dogs also stayed with them., so she had lots of people to cook for. They were also entertaining family and friends, so it was a busy time.  The food was FANTASTIC... Good thing we left after 4 days, or I would weigh 600 pounds. Cheri is as good of a cook as her mom was !!

We arrived in Goodyear AZ ( basically a suburb of Phoenix,) late afternoon, checked into Cotton Lane RV park, this will be our home for the next month, or possibly longer. Again, we opted for staying out of town, as you can see....shopping is less than 5 miles away, everything in Goodyear is new and clean, a very nice area, the dogs have plenty of space to walk

Las Cruces, New Mexico

We left Fort Stockton this morning, for it being 82* yesterday, it was down to 44* this morning. Gas prices are fluctuating any where from $3.38 to $2.89 per gallon, saw in Marsha's blog what gas prices were in Hutchinson, so don't feel so bad. We crossed over from central time, to mountain time, so turned the clocks back one hour, Poor dogs, they never know what time supper is any more !!
I am getting up close and personal with I-10, feel like I am spending a good part of my life on this interstate. they say everything is bigger in TX, guess that goes for the miles also, seems to take forever to get across the state. We came through El Paso TX, this afternoon, population 700,000 plus..right on the border with Mexico....take a wrong turn, and you end up on the international bridge to Mexico.
We are spending the night in Las Cruces, NM. this was an important town going back to 1848, it was the crossroad between San Antonio and the land to the west. It was the largest town in between San Antonio and San Diego CA.  It was a stop for the stage line, and mail delivery.
Tomorrow, we will be in Arizona, and spend the night in Benson with Cheri & Phil.

Fort Stockton TX

My biggest pet peeve............campgrounds that advertise internet or wi-fi, and you cannot connect !!!!

We are in Fort Stockton TX (sorry no pictures) We left Kerrrville this AM in heavy fog and a light drizzle, cold enough that the furnace turned on. Arrived in Fort Stockton to 82*, it's no wonder the dogs are either under a blanket, or panting from heat stroke.
Heading west towards Las Cruces NM tomorrow, we will cross back into mountain time, so will set the clock back one hour. From there, we are on our way to Benson AZ, where my cousin Cheri Beck lives.  She called yesterday and invited us for Christmas dinner, we can park the motor home in her yard, sounds like she will have a house full, but she is making room for us too.!!! We will spend several days with her,, and explore the Tucson area again.

Kerrville TX

We drove a whole 30 miles today, left one campground and moved to another in Kerrville TX.  "By the River" is a small campground, maybe 20 other RV's here. It is quiet, and out in the country, but town and Walmart are less than 5 miles away. We like it here............We have a full hookup, with cable TV and internet for $17.00 a night..may decide to stay awhile.

We are on the Guadalupe River, there is a 22 acre island for the dogs to roam on, walked this afternoon and Moko actually wanted to go in the water..it was cool, he didn't go in very far.

I'm anxious to see what the other side of the island looks like,  tomorrow we will take another trail and see what we find, there is a Turtle Falls I would like to find. There is plenty of space to explore, and when we get tired of that, we can go into Kerrville or Ingram, and check that out also. We will make the decision tomorrow if we want to move on, or stay here a few days.

Fredericksburg TX

This morning we drove out of Fredericksburg into the hill country to "Trade Days", a GIANT flea market, 300 vendors on 3 acres...lots of "STUFF" interesting to look at, but, nothing we wanted to buy..if you need it, it was there !!

Texas longhorn cattle on the way..

I wanted to catch some local History on Fredericksburg, so stopped at the historical society, which gave me tons of information on the area. I was fascinated by the idea of a "Sunday House". they were tiny homes built by early German settlers for use on the weekends. When they immigrated to America, they were given a town lot, and farm acreage, because the farms were miles from town, they would come in on Saturday for supplies and church on Sunday.

This is the Metzer House and was built around 1890, and has been restored. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one room downstairs, with a lean-to kitchen. Bedroom was upstairs, accessed by a ladder or staircase outside.
Sunday houses were also used if you were sick and needed medical attention in town, and some elderly retired into these houses.

Veriens Kirche..(Society's Church) built in 1847, was an eight sided public building that served as a church for all faiths, school, and public town hall.  It is located in market square.

This is the "Maibaum" traditional maypole and decorated for Christmas with candles and holly.  The town square also had a traditional Christmas tree, and an inside ice rink...lots of kids skating today.



Tomorrow, on to Kerrville

Fredericksburg TX

Said good bye to Marsha and Bernie this morning, and headed north to the small town of Fredericksburg, in the hill country. This town was settled by German Immigrants in 1846.  A lot of the old architecture is still here, they say there are over 700 historical structures in the historic district. A lot of the old buildings are being used for stores now.  We did a tour of main street this afternoon, but will go back and look more tomorrow.

Thursday San Antonio day 2

We had heavy fog in the morning, but it cleared quickly and we had a beautiful, but cool day. The 4 of us (Marsha & Bernie too) spent the entire day walking in San Antonio. We toured the Alamo first.

Then headed for the river walk, which runs right through the middle of San Antonio, beautiful place to just walk and enjoy..Lots of sidewalk cafes

On to the Mexican Marketplace, which goes for about 2 blocks, lots of "STUFF" to  look at. we did end up having lunch at la Margarita, their chicken fajitas were awesome.

We got our senior citizen bus pass, so we could ride the trolly or any city bus for .55 cents.
Left downtown after 4pm, and headed back to the campground to rest and feed the dogs.

That night we headed back to downtown and took a boat ride along the RiverWalk which was decorated with thousands of Christmas lights hanging from the trees and bridges. We all had a wonderful day !!

Wednesday 12/15

Left Beaumont TX heading west to San Antonio. There we met Marsha and Berning at the Braunig LakeRV caampground, we were right next to each other, so had the afternoon to sit outside and just visit and relex.

That night for supper, Bernie drove to a Texas Pride Barbeque.  It had been featured on TV's "Diners Drive Ins and Dives". Autographed poster of Guy fieri in the entry way. BBQ was chicken, brisket, sausage, or ribs, served on a piece of butcher paper  and 2 sides...food was good, had a fun time

.

Beaumont Texas

We spent yesterday laying over another day at Mobile AL..was windy and cold, so stayed put for the day, did Laundry AGAIN..and put supper in the crock pot. Heard on the radio they closed schools in the Florida Everglades...temp was 20*, not sure if the schools have heat down here.
We left early this morning and drove straight through Mississippi and Louisiana...all I saw was I-10 and a lot of the Louisiana bayou, just swamp land..bridges over the water, very different than MN.

This is the Texas border..spending the night in Beaumont and then on to San Antonio tomorrow..Temp is mid 60's yet this afternoon, so much better than Alabama where the water was freezing up in the coach, and had to unhook it over night.

Mobile Alabama

Left Tallahassee FL this morning, temp was 29* and windy. We had had rain overnight, but drove into sunshine coming across the Florida panhandle. This area reminded me of northern MN, just by the pine trees along the freeway. Definately is not like MN is today.  Saw the pictures of the snow storm and roof going down on the dome. We did cross back into the central time zone, so we are the same time as at home for awhile.
Gas prices continue to climb, saw $3.20 in one place, we did fill for $2.89 per gallon.  We have driven 2110 miles as of this morning.

We didn't drive far today, 242 miles was all....driving into the wind just sucked the gas out of the tank.

This is the bridge over Pensacola Bay

                          Wally's co-pilots..too bad they can't read a map !! I could sleep while we drive.

Tomorrow, if the weather co-operates, we will keep heading west into Mississippi and Lousiana..if the wind is as bad as today, we may lay over here,  for $20.00 a night, I have internet, cable, electric, water & sewer.  People in the park are disconnecting their water hoses tonight..temp is really dropping like a rock..

Tallahassee FL

We were fogged in this morning in Hudson, Clearwater beach was just socked in too..decided we might as well head north. We did drive out of the fog, and into sunshine. Drove as far as Tallahassee, staying in a beautiful RV park under the tall pine trees.  Really is a pretty area.
Supper tonight was at The Warf....fish, fries and hush puppys for $5.99..more than we could eat, and really good.
Price of gas has really jumped, along the highway on the way up it was hitting $3.19 per gallon, but here we filled for $2.92..still is expensive !!!

Tomorrow, we will stay on I-10 heading west into Alabama , temp tomorrow is 54,  and then cooling off even worse as the storm frount comes in.  Watching the weather channel, Minnesota looks like it is being hit hard with snow and cold.  Everyone at home, please stay warm and drive safe !!!

Hudson Beach

We have been spending the days cleaning the coach, walking dogs, and trying to fix the furnace.  Wally put in a new relay switch yesterday, but that still did not solve the problem.  While going for parts, drove around Hudson and down to the beach.  theweather has been cool and windy, frost at night, but warming up during the day. They are saying Friday and Saturday are supposed to be in the mid 70's, but a storm front moving in on Sunday.  I would like to drive back to see the manatee at Homosassa State Park if the weather wams up.
The dogs have found out that the grass is full of sandburrs, we are constantly picking stickers out of their feet. Mya loves trying to chase the birds.

1439 Douglas Dr..Clearwater FL

We drove south today to Clearwater, found the house that Mom & Dad built back in 56-57..looks different than I remember, I don't remember the brick facing, I remember white stucco, otherwise, the circle is still there, palm tree is gone, another tree in its' place, the pond where Dad and Alan used to bass fish, with the alligator, has been filled in, and another house is there.  Landscaping is different, grapefruit trees in the front are gone, couldn't see the back yard to see if the orange trees were still there.

From there, we drove north to Honeymoon Island State Park, took the Dunedin causeway across to the island.  The island actually broke into 2 pieces during a hurricane in 1921.  The ferry between the 2 halves was not running because of the wind and waves.

There were alot of people on the beach picking up shells, found a few myself...sister Susie Sells
Seashells by the Seashore ??

Hard freeze forecast, with lows of 27* strawberry farms are worried about loosing their crop. I'm glad I packed my winter coat.

Home is where we park it

Left Wildwood FINALLY Sunday morning, drove as far as Hudson FL.  We will use this as our home base for the next few days, and drive out from here.  We are aprx 30 miles north of Clearwater, temp this morning is in the low 50's, and the breeze is cold.
I don't have internet available at our site, so have to drag the computer up to the offfice to log in. Nice little campground called Three Lakes, they really are just ponds, not lakes.  the sand hill cranes were feeding in one of them yesterday afternoon.
I'm really sorry I missed the 13" of snow at home !!! No idea as to what we will do today, but I'm sure we can find something..

Final day at Wildwood & Alliance Coach

They finally finished our coach early this afternoon..by then it was too late to hit the road, so we are spending another night in their campground. Thank God...it is finally finished, and we can be back in it. The dogs enjoyed 2 nights in a motel, but it is good to be back here.

As you can see, it was quite the project, took out the entire bedroom slide, replaced the floor, took out the refrigerator, fixed the leaks.

Good bunch of techs, but I have been here since Tuesday afternoon, so it is time to leave.  they do have their own campground with 40 spots to stay in while your coach is being fixed. Here is a picture of the dog walk...

They are not kidding, really have alligators in the pond, so nice it is right next to the dog walking area!!

While we were laying over did some driving down the coast..this is Crystal Springs..Tomorrow we will head for Hudson FL, just north of Clearwater. 


Thanks to Marsha, I now can add pictures to my blog !!!

Wildwood FL, day 4 and still counting

Another night in the motel...the adhesive used to replace the floor in the slide-out is not drying, ( they say it is too cold...temp today was 70*, they have never been in MN) can not be put back together yet today, so here we are, back at the same motel as last night.  good news was that they fixed the leak in the kitchen, but had to pull the entire refrigerator out to do it. Some good news, some bad..oh well, we wanted to spend some time in Florida, just didn't want to do it at a repair center.
As long as we were homeless again today, stuck the dogs in the jeep and started driving in another direction, checking out some campgrounds and state parks..anything to kill time, found some areas we liked,  but will have to wait and see if we EVER get out of here...there are people that have been here for 3 weeks, waiting for parts to come in..hopefully, we will be out tomorrow afternoon, if not it will be Monday.........
RV having fun....yet ????

Wildwood FL, for the 3rd day and counting

Still in Wildwood FL, at Alliance RV..turns out our problem was worse than expected...they have to pull out the entire bedroom slide and replace everything that the moisture has rotted away.  this is not a new leak, has been going on for some time, previous owner must have tried to fix, and screwed it up even worse, we cannot stay in it tonight, as the entire side is pulled off, so we are sitting in a motel room with 2 dogs, at least there is Internet.
We had the whole day to ourselves, so drove to Homosassa Springs state park, only to find out that in the state of Florida, dogs cannot be left in a vehicle.  Since it has rangers patrolling, we could get fined and turned in if we took the boat ride and left them in the car....so much for that. We drove as far north as Crystal River, seems funny to be following hurricane evacuation routes. Stopped for lunch at Olive Garden, then back to the dealership to check on work progress. Slide is off, nice hole in the side of the bedroom. We will still be there tomorrow, hopefully will be done and we can leave by Saturday afternoon ?????? God willing..took some good pictures of it, but my cord to download from the camera is in the coach, and I am not..maybe tomorrow I'll sit in the office and work on pictures.
We still have tomorrow to kill time, may head out the other direction and see what we find. there was frost here last night, had to scrape the windshield in the jeep before we could leave, warmed up nice to about 65* this afternoon, more of the same for tonight and tomorrow.
Yesterday afternoon, Marsha and Bernie found us at the repair center, and stopped to see if we needed help, they remembered we were going to Wildwood..how ironic, we've seen each other twice already !! Nice of them to take time to check on us and see if we needed help. LOVE my family !!!!

Wildwood FL

The repair team came this morning at 7:00am to get us up to the service bay..after the initial check over, the estimate is over 6 hrs to repair.  Guess we will be spending the day here. The lobby allows dogs, so I am sitting in here using their wi-fi.  We can also sit in our coach while they are working on it, but it is a pain trying to keep the dogs in while the repair man goes in and out. There is grass around the camping sites, so will take them for a long walk to kill some time. We will stay away from the pond, as there is an alligator in it !!
Temp this morning has dropped over 20 degrees since we got in yesterday.  They are saying a high today of about 65, and breezy.

Tuesdaqy 11/30 Wildwood FL

Drove across country from St Augustine to Wildwood,  FL..drive was beautiful, nice to get off the interstate and see the countryside.  Lots of orange groves starting close to Ocala, and truck gardens on both sidess of the road.  Lots of roadside stands selling vegetables, and fruit. I saw a sign along the road that said Ocala was the horse capital of the world, and judging by the size and number of horse farms, I can believe it.
Temp was 85* and humid when we got here around noon.
We are at an RV repair center, trying to take care of our water leaks..they have 40 service bays, and their own campground that holds another 40, and we got the last camping spot at that time.  They just keep pulling them in and taking them out.  We have electricity,(turned the airconditioning on) water and TV, but no internet.  We have to wait our turn in line to be repaired..

Monday 11/29 St Augustine FL

I'm trying to catch up from all of the days I could not post anything.  We drove from Savanna GA to St Augustine and Stagecoach RV park.  Met Marsha and Bernie there, we had adjoining campsites which was great.. Wally and I took off in the afternoon to tour St Augustine, while Marsha  did laudry.
the city of St Augustine is the oldest city in the US, going back to 1565..It had a fort complete with moat and drawbridge and a city gate that closed at night..no one in, no one out..that was 1672..this is where Poce de Leon thought he found the famous "Foutain of Youth"..we did not pay the $8.00 to drink from the spring..guesss I won't be getting any younger..
We all went out to supper together at Barnacle Bill's .  You know you are "Down South" when you open the menu and see things like: shrimp & grits, hush puppys with cinnamon butter, baked sweet potatoes, corn & tomatoe medley, boiled peanuts and collard greens.
Had a great evening with them !!

Savanna GA

We are spending the night at Savanna Oaks campground. got in here before noon, so had time to drive downtown to the visitors center.  Decided to take another trolley tour, this one had a guide telling the history of all of the historic squares, and absolutely beautiful homes.  I could fall in love with that old type of architecture, but the shear size of those homes was just unbelievable. What a beautiful city, but the streets are narrow, and the streets do not run through..lots of one ways and squares. By taking the trolley, both of us can look, don't have to worry about traffic and street names. We could get on and off at will, just had to be back to the bus stop to catch the next one. I've never known much about civil war history, but Savanna has quite a past. Found it very educational and interesting.  Loved the secret gardens !! Plants down here are totally different than MN, live oak trees hanging with spanish moss, and tropical blooming shrubs.
Tomorrow we will head towards Jacksonville FL, we have an apt. Tuesday in Wildwood FL to have the slide that leaks looked at and hopefully repaired.

Charleston SC

Fantastic!!!!
Finally have internet service again, and can get into my blog ..We have spent the last 2 nights in Charleston SC..
Since my last post, we have driven through the Smokey Mountains which were beautiful..leaves still on the trees with fall colors. Heavy traffic on the interstate.  Thanksgiving, left Spartanburg SC and drove to Charleston SC, got into Oak Plantation Campground early afternoon.  traditional thanksgiving dinner was at Ruby Tuesday..ribs and shrimp, first time we have eaten out since we left home.  I'm still waiting for the maid to come and clean, and room service to deliver food...guess I'll be waiting along time !!!!!!
Friday, we went to the visitors center in downtown Charleston, they have free bus routes through Christmas, so took 3 different routes, just kept changing onto a different bus route. Saw the downtown district and huge 3 block long market place.  All we did was get off at one stop and on at the next..was great..no driving !!  We then went on to Patriots Point, home of the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier.  Spent hours climbing up and down steps, and at the maritime museum.  the submarine USS Clamagore is also docked there, which Wally went through.  By then, I had had enough steps.

Tomorrow, we will be heading for Savanna GA, for one night, then on towards Florida..will try and post whenever the internet is available..

Frankfort KY

We arrived in Frankfort KY late afternoon, finding the campground was a chore, traffic from the freeway was bad, everyone trying to get home for the holidays, last day of school at the University.
Everything is starting to dry out after the leak last night, took time to do a load of laundry and wash all the soaked bathtowels before we left this morning.
We are heading to Spartenburg,  SC tomorrow a little over 6 hr drive time.  Country coming through KY is pretty, we are camped by a river, it was getting dark when we got in, so didn't see much of it.  Temp has cooled off today, about 55*, but the sky was clear. I need to take time and get pictures taken !!!!

We had our first major leak in the heavy wind and rain tonight..bedroom slide is leaking,,soaked every bath towel we had, Wally and I out in the wind and rain with a flashlight, tools, and ladder, Fun !!!! Guess I will be doing another load of laundry in the morning before we leave for Frankfort KY

We left Friday the 20th, trying to get ahead of the ice, snow, and bad weather. Drove as far as Cedar Falls IA, spent the night at Walmart , wonderful, 24 hr shopping !! Mad rush to get going, everything just dumped in.
11/21/2010
Drove as far as Champaign IL..gas is averaging $2.69-$2.99 per gal.
In a cute little campground in Champaign, IL, waiting out the wind, and weather, too windy to drive this rig !!
11/22/2010
Spent another night here, nice pull through spot, looking at the water..temp was almost 70*, but that must be the wind speed also..tried to spend the day unpacking, and finding a home for everything..did a load of laundry...
fun !!!! Thunderstorms and tornado warnings out for tonight.