A Full Day!

Caden and Lillian playing

Caden just woke up from a nap

Lillian stole Grandpa's hat

Grandpa and Lillian

Janice and Mel at The Grille

This morning was bright and sunny and the high where we were which was around Dayton, OH was about 81F. However in the afternoon, it clouded over and got cooler so that by the time we got back to the RV Park it was about 74F at 7:15 p.m.

We left at 10:00 a.m. to head to Lake Loramie State Park to join friends, Mel and Janice for lunch. They are camped there in their new Jayco trailer for four days just trying it out to be sure everything works. Lake Loramie is north of Dayton, Ohio about 45 minutes near the town of Fort Loramie. We arrived around noon and Mel and Janice announced that they were taking us out for lunch in a little town called New Bremen. First we had a tour of their trailer and then we took two vehicles as we had brought Bib with us and couldn’t just leave him in the truck at the campsite and didn’t want to take the chance of leaving him in their new trailer so we headed to a really nice restaurant called, The Grille in New Bremen. New Bremen is a very clean, pretty little town and after our tasty lunch we walked around a bit and took some photos. There’s not much in the downtown anymore. Most of the shops are empty. By the time we finished lunch and our walkabout it was 3:00 p.m. so we headed south to Dayton to see our Dayton grandchildren. Our youngest grandchild, Lillian will be a year old next week and we had not seen her yet.

We arrived there around 5:00 p.m. after stopping to take some photos here and there on our way back on SR66 to Piqua then picking up I-75 out of Piqua. Caden was asleep so we got about ½ hour getting to know Lillian. What a cutie! She has bright blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair and was a little shy at first but after about 10 minutes, warmed up to both of us.

Caden then woke up and we all went outside for a while. Caden has grown very tall. He has very long legs and is talking a blue streak.

Not long after Caden woke up we had to leave as it was over an hour to get home and Bib didn’t want to eat in the truck and besides we had had a very long day. It was nice to spend time with Tracy and the family.

We’re looking forward to getting everyone together at Michelle and Eric’s on Saturday.

We Visit the Grandchildren Again!

Faith riding her new bike with Grandpa and Big Larry in the background

Faith in the lawn chair on their front porch

Grace posed for this one

Michelle (and Luke), Grace and Faith sitting on their front steps

Faith, Grammy and the Prayer Bunny (photo by Grandpa)

Grammy and Faith make smoochie faces (photo by Grandpa)

Today started out cloudy but got sunnier and 80F as the afternoon progressed.

This morning was very laid back and then around 2:00 p.m. we went over to see the family again. This time we took Bib with us but as always when around kids, he stays in the truck. He doesn’t mind, he loves the truck! We took a roundabout way of getting to our destination and stayed off the interstate completely. It’s interesting to find different ways of getting to a place that we go to all the time.

Faith got a new bicycle today, an early birthday present from her parents and she’s already riding it quite well albeit with training wheels, she will only be 3 on her birthday. She enjoyed showing her Grandpa and Grammy how she can ride.

I need to get more photos of Grace!

We only stayed a couple of hours. The girls tired Grandpa out, then we stopped on the way home at Dollar Tree to get some stuff, then came back on the Interstate and went past our usual exit to see where the next closest one is to the campground but had to go a fair drive west of here and then come back.

Tomorrow we’re planning a trip into Dayton. Gordon’s friend, Mel and his wife, Janice are camping at Fort Loramie State Park north of Dayton and then we’re going to stop and see Tracy and the kids later in the day. Ian will probably still be at work. So, my posting tomorrow may be late!

Getting Reacquainted

Sandra at Whetstone Rose Park

Faith on the left, Grace on the right in the top bunk

Grandpa, Faith and Grace

Today was a beautiful sunny day and about 75F. This morning we didn’t do much. This afternoon we left the RV at about 2:00 p.m. and drove east on US Route 40 to downtown Columbus. We hadn’t been there since Michelle was going to Ohio State and she’s been married 10 years now. We drove by Ohio State going north on High Street and stopped at Whetstone Rose Park where Michelle and Eric had their wedding photos taken. Not much happening there yet. The spring flowers were about finished and it’s too early for roses so we took a few photos of some of the trees and headed to Michelle and Eric’s.

When we arrived I was immediately asked by Faith to go up to see the bunkbeds. They had been separate on the floor before but this weekend Eric stacked them and the girls are very excited. You can hardly get Grace out of her bed. She has the top bunk. The photo above shows them both on the top bunk.

After that I pretty much had Faith on my lap the whole afternoon. She is very cuddly and affectionate. Grace is old enough now to do her own thing so at one point I watched TV with both girls. We gave them each a prayer bunny that says the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer and they seemed to be a big hit.

Michelle prepared a great meal complete with butterscotch pie for her father. She spoils him! Eric got back from his flight in time for dinner so we got to see him too.

They have done a lot of work on their house and it looks really good. I love the outside paint job. The house is a taupe color with mulberry colored shutters. They had redone the kitchen and now have a new table and chairs and they have redone the upstairs bathroom. We saw the kitchen and bathroom last spring but it looks so much different with the new table and chairs.

Arrangements have been made for Ian, Tracy, Caden and Lillian to come to Columbus on Saturday so we’ll get photos of the whole family!

We Move to Columbus, Ohio Area

We had quite a thunderstorm early this morning. The power went out twice. We started to pack up when it stopped raining and then it started again so we went into town to warm up the truck and get diesel fuel. By the time we got back it had pretty much stopped again so we were on our way to Columbus at about 10:30 a.m. As we drove north the sun came out and the only fly in the ointment was as we were approaching I-270 which is the loop around Columbus the exit to go west was closed and traffic was backing up. Gordon did some quick thinking and got off at Grove City so we took a detour and got on I-270 at SR62 so we arrived around 12:30 p.m. at the Alton RV Park.

As an RV park it’s not much but it’s as close to Michelle and Eric as we’re going to get and the owner is very friendly and helpful. The sites are long and narrow but they have 50 amp and free wireless internet but no cable and it has a clear view of the southern sky. I guess I’m out of luck for cable until we’re in the south again next year unless we ante up for satellite. We’ll see.

We were set up by about 1:45 p.m.

For those of you that are interested in mileage that we have driven with Big Harv in tow, the total since we left Carleton Place on September 9, 2005 is 11477.1 miles added to the mileage since we started fulltiming in August 2004, the total is 20727.6 miles. Of course we’ve put a lot more miles on the truck, we’re now over 86,000 km.

After we got set up, Gordon went in to Michelle & Eric’s for a couple of hours. I stayed behind as I was tired but did manage to do a vacuum job and wiped up the floors, then I watched Desperate Housewives that we had taped from last night and had a nap. It was bright and sunny and reached about 70F with a light breeze.

Gordon got home about 5:00 p.m. and had a good time with his granddaughters. He took lots of photos. Hopefully I’ll have some for tomorrow’s blog.

My photo for today is of our site here at Alton RV Park.

Happy Easter!

Today was really lazy. I got up at 7:30 a.m. and Bib didn’t want to go out so I went back to bed and got up about 9:15 a.m. when he did want to go out. Then I read and went back to sleep on the couch.

This afternoon I spent reading both inside and outside and interneting before starting to get ready to go to Rick’s brother’s (Gordon’s sister’s husband) house for Easter dinner.

We left about 5:20 p.m. and went to the bank and then headed to Jim’s (Rick’s brother). We were early so we drove in to Mason, the small town where Jim lives and looked around there, then we drove to Jim’s. Lots of people there. Jim’s girlfriend, Nancy, Carla, (Jim and Rick’s sister), her husband, Ed, two daughters, Emily and Olivia and their two dogs were there as well as Jim’s son, Ryan and his fiancée, Christine, (Jim, Rick & Carla’s mother), Mary and then Carol and Rick arrived with Jim, (Rick, Jim & Carla’s father). There were also Nancy's two elderly daschunds and Jim's dog. Glad we didn't take Bib! It’s all too confusing! Anyway, we had a nice chat and a great meal, said our goodbyes and were home by 10:00 p.m. as we have to get ready to leave for Columbus in the morning.

I took some photos but none of them turned out that well so instead I’m posting a daffodil that I took the other day.

More humidity

Field of Dandelions

Violets and One Dandelion

Gordon with the deer

Deer in the morning mist

Deer frolicking in morning sunrise

We had a rotating thunderstorm last night that lasted from about 8:00 p.m. to the wee hours of the morning. Consequently poor Bib didn’t go outside until this morning at 7:15 a.m. He’s such a good boy. I thought he’d wake me during the night once the storm was over. At one point there was a tornado warning as well. I really miss the southwest!

I didn’t get much sleep. I went to bed but couldn’t breathe so I got up and did some reading and computering and then lay down on the couch about 2:30 a.m.

This morning when I took Bib out it was very misty and the sun was coming up. There were also six or eight deer that seemed almost tame but with the dog there they weren’t taking any chances. I’ve enclosed some photos of them.

I really enjoy seeing wildlife so close without having to leave the park so I think we’ll probably stick with this park and just try to arrange a better site next time.

Gordon and his sister, Carol went to the Cincinnati Conservatory today to photograph the flowers. I decided I didn’t have the energy so stayed at home with Bib and started to get some of the bills ready to cross the border. It’s a big job but I don’t want to wind up paying through the nose for duty and taxes like we did last year so it needs to be properly organized. I also read and went for a walk around the campground. It’s quite humid here again today.

When Gordon got back we both had a nap and then he got the BBQ out for the first time in a while and cooked up the burgers that I had in the freezer. If meat isn’t in it’s original package, there may be a problem crossing the border and I had the burgers made up and in a freezer bag.

It was a nice evening so we ate outside at the picnic table. That was really nice for a change.

The campground is pretty much full, I guess since it’s Easter weekend so it’s interesting to sit outside and watch what’s happening. The people across from us have a wire haired terrier puppy named Mickey Mouse. He’s so cute and also has no clue as to obedience.

The forecast tonight is for more thunderstorms!

It's Humid! We must be in Ohio!

We had a thunderstorm about 5:30 this morning.

I slept late. I think it was almost 10:00 a.m. when I finally got up. Thank goodness the dog didn’t want to go out early! I guess yesterday at Carol and Rick’s wore me out. After walking Bib and having breakfast, Bib and I sat outside for a while. It was a beautiful morning. If there hadn’t been a light breeze it would have been hot and humid.

After lunch we headed out to look at other campgrounds. Cedarbrook is the closest to where Carol lives and is within the Lebanon, OH town limits. The other campground that has a Lebanon address is Olive Branch. It’s quite a ways out of town and in the middle of nowhere. It’s also not the cleanest or prettiest campground I’ve seen and their daily rates are $40 for a back-in and $45 for a pull thru. They don’t have wifi, they don’t have cable. I don’t know how they can get away with charging that kind of money. Based on that $62 in Key West doesn’t sound all that bad! You could rent a motel room in most places around here for that! Nix that one!

Then we drove up to Waynesville. Gordon lived in Waynesville when he first got married and his daughter was born while they lived there. It’s quite a cute little town and claims to be the Antique Capital of the MidWest. We also saw the Frontier Campground but no one was around to talk to us and we drove to Caesar Creek State Park campground which is a possibility except it’s also in the middle of nowhere and quite far from where Carol and Rick live.

We were looking for a campground where they didn’t have many trees so setting up our internet satellite wouldn’t be such a problem. Gordon finally did get it working on Wednesday so we’re okay here but there are very few sites where we could see the satellite. We’re going to take note of those sites for next year.

There’s also a Travel Lodge motel in northern Cincinnati that has 15 RV spots that we want to check out too just so we’ve covered all our bases.

While we drove through Fort Ancient (on the highway) where they have Indian Burial mounds. We also drove past an interesting old tavern which is pictured above.
It was built in 1802 and was operated as The Cross Keys Tavern from 1809 to 1820 and is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

On our way back, Gordon dropped me at WalMart. We’ve needed groceries since we got here but my being in the hospital got in the way of a lot of things. I called him when I was going through the checkout and he picked me up and we went to Taco Bell for dinner. We should own shares in Taco Bell! We had some rain about the time he was coming to get me and when we were taking the groceries to the truck.

It’s cloudy, warm and humid tonight. You can tell we’re back in Ohio!

We Visit Carol & Rick

L to R: My husband, Gordon, his sister, Carol & her husband, Rick

View from Carol & Rick's yard

Today when I got up I had some breathing difficulty and was feeling shaky but I felt better after I was up and around. After walks and breakfast, I decided laundry had to be done so we drove the laundry down to the laundry room at the campground and it wasn’t too taxing but I was tired when I got back. We went for showers and then I sat outside in my chair with Bib for a while.

We were supposed to be at Carol’s for about 2:30 p.m. so we got ready and went over there. We sat and chatted for a while, then I lay down on Carol’s couch in her family room and had a nap. It’s a really comfortable couch! We walked around her yard and saw her spring flowers and then had a really nice dinner. We were home by about 8:30 p.m.

That was enough for me for today!

No posting for April 11th

My apologies for no posting yesterday but I had an excellent reason.

I woke up yesterday morning not feeling the best. I took the dog for his walk and then went for my walk but I was very short of breath and shaky so I came back to the RV and asked Gordon to look for a hospital nearby. We wound up at Bethesda Warren Emergency here in Lebanon at around 8:30 a.m. They were great people. I had five people working with me at once. At one point they gave me a morphine cocktail which made me really high and very sleepy so I slept most of the day.

They took me in right away, took all kinds of blood tests, EKG but they didn’t have a CT scan machine (they are moving in two weeks and will have it then) so they sent me to their hospital in Cincinnati, Bethesda North by ambulance. This was also my first ambulance ride. I went into Emergency at around 1:00 p.m. at Bethesda North, got my CT scan and thought I would be released. In fact one of the clinicians had said that since my CT scan was normal that I would be released. Then the doctor came by and said that my insurance had approved my overnight stay for observation and a stress test in the morning. They finally fed me. I hadn’t eaten all day, not even breakfast. They brought me some really tasty chicken noodle soup!

This was my first time staying overnight in a hospital. Imagine. 57 years old and never been in the hospital for anything serious. I consider myself to be extremely lucky!

Good things about staying in a hospital:

• They wait on you hand and foot


• They have really good cable TV


• They have an adjustable bed

Bad things about staying in a hospital:

• They take too much blood


• They wake you up to take more blood


• They wake you up to take blood pressure


• They starve you until your tests are finished

This morning they told me that my stress test would be at 10:30 a.m. and that I couldn’t eat until after the test so by the time the stress test was done and the heart photos done (this was done by nuclear medicine) and I got back to my room it was well after noon so I got lunch. Then about 2:00 p.m. I had to go back down for more heart photos, then back to my room to wait for results. About 5:15 p.m. the day nurse, Beth (really nice girl and really young) came in and told me that my stress test and photos were completely normal and that she had a call into the cardiologist for instructions but she felt that I would be going home today. The cardiologist came and talked to me, said all my tests were completely normal, he had no idea what the problem was and to increase my Nexium (I have GERD) to twice per day. For those of you that don’t know GERD is Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. There is a possibility (probability in my opinion) that this is what has been causing my breathing difficulties and shortness of breath. I got released about 6:00 p.m. I have to say their food was pretty good when I finally got to eat but maybe it was because I was starving! I've never told the same story over and over and given out my birth date more often.

So, now I’m home, it’s hot, about 83F at 7:30 p.m! There’s talk of a thunderstorm tonight but it’s supposed to be a really nice day tomorrow.

Needless to say, we didn’t see Carol yesterday but plans are to go to her place for dinner tomorrow night. Unfortunately Lillian has a bit of a fever and Ian and Tracy have plans this weekend so we probably won’t see them until we’re in Columbus next week.

Sorry, no photos today.

Back in Ohio

We left Mulberry Grove, IL around 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Lebanon, OH around 2:15 p.m. We’re now back on Eastern time.

We had another nice day for traveling. We went through Indianapolis around 11:00 a.m. and traffic was fairly good. We arrived at Cincinnati around 1:00 p.m. and traffic on the bypass wasn’t too bad but we didn’t have far to travel.

When I called yesterday for a reservation at the Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon I was told that they had no pull thrus and I asked for an easy back in. We probably had the worst time backing into our spot here than we have anywhere. The guide who took us to our spot probably should have just left and let us do it on our own. We’ve usually been fairly successful but it took almost an hour, I think to get parked. They have wifi internet here throughout the park thank goodness because the park is surrounded by trees and so far we haven’t been able to get our internet satellite set up. I really hate paying for it when we can’t use it. We’ve been lucky on our travels this year, I think there were only two places where we couldn’t use it, Banff and Chilliwack.

Anyway, we’re here safely and that’s what counts.

The photo today shows Gordon just coming out of the door of the RV and it shows our internet satellite set up but unfortunately that’s all it is, just set up not working.

Tomorrow we're going for lunch at Taco Bell with Gordon's sister, Carol.

We are both wiped out and have lots of mundane things to do like laundry, vacuum and get groceries, but not tonight!

We Officially Arrive in the East!

Timber Trails Campground, Mulberry Grove, IL

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO (taken from the truck en route)

We left America’s Best Campground in Branson, MO at 8:50 a.m. and headed east on I-44. The trip was uneventful except for getting through St. Louis. Driving through large cities is never fun but thank goodness it was Sunday.

We officially arrived in the east as we saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis – Gateway to the West and then crossed the Mississippi River although we’re still in the Central time zone until we reach Ohio tomorrow. We took I-70 out of St. Louis and arrived at Mulberry Grove, IL around 2:30 p.m.

Our plans had been to stay at a Good Sam Park east of I-70 but when we were traveling I checked the Passport America book and found that the campground north of I-70 was a Passport America campground and only $15/night. We arrived and finding no one in the office, I called and got an answering machine. We were about to move to the other campground when we came upon some pull thrus that faced south so decided to go ahead and set up. As we parked a man came along on a tractor and since we had decided to stay here, paid him and got set up. Gordon then went to fill up with fuel so we can beat a hasty retreat in the morning to get through Cincinnati hopefully shortly after lunch.

I called and made a reservation for a week at Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon, OH where we stayed in 2004 on our first trip in Big Harv. We are sort of between Dayton where Gordon's son and family live and Middletown where Gordon's sister lives but closer to his sister.

Tomorrow's trip is 318 miles.

I’m looking forward to staying in one spot for a week. I don’t really like packing up and moving daily.

There’s no cable here but our aerial gets ABC TV thank goodness so I get to see Desperate Housewives and Gray’s Anatomy tonight. I would not be a happy camper otherwise!

Our Last Day In Branson

The Neon Lights of Branson

The Titanic

More Branson Neon Lights

Dicks 5 & 10 Downtown Branson

We had another slow morning and after lunch and a movie I was watching we went into downtown Branson and went to Dicks 5 & 10 store. What a flashback! They had kaleidoscopes, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys & Bobbsey Twins books, horehound, imagine! I haven’t had horehound since Grandma Whitteker died 40 years ago! Very interesting store but packed with stuff and people and very narrow aisles. After that I walked around the shops on the main street while David took some photos.

Then we drove out to the glitzy area and I went into a Craft Mall much like the one in Bells Corners. Didn’t see anything I needed or wanted so we came back to the RV and started to get things ready to go for tomorrow.

When I got back I called my younger sister as I hadn’t heard from her in a while. There is lots of news at her house but because some people don’t know yet, I can’t publish anything.

We had decided earlier in the day that we would go into Branson to Taco Bell for dinner and then take some photos of the neon of Branson so we left around 7:00 p.m., had dinner and then took a bunch of photos of the neon lights. We got back about 9:00 p.m. so now it’s time to get things organized and get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a long day!

Our plans are to get as far as Mulberry Grove, IL so we will make it to Ohio by Tuesday.

If I don’t publish my blog tomorrow night it’s because we decided since we’re just overnighting, we wouldn’t hook up the internet satellite. We’ll see!

Trip into Arkansas

Scene along US65 on the way back from Harrison, Arkansas

Sign for Dogpatch, Arkansas

Scene at Buffalo National River, Arkansas

Our site at America's Best Campground, Branson, MO taken at sunrise

We weren’t moving too fast this morning. Last night was rather scary waiting to see if the tornado was going to hit but it didn’t, thank goodness. One went south of us and most of them went north east. Gordon slept in his chair until about 1:30 a.m. and I was on the couch, still dressed just in case we had to make a hasty exit for the clubhouse building.

I finally took a photo of our site this morning just as the sun was coming up and it is shown above. I was out early for our walks as I had a nap yesterday afternoon and then slept all night.

After lunch we headed out for a drive and wound up driving into Arkansas. We stopped at a Tourist Bureau at Harrison and was told to go to the Buffalo National River that the scenery there was very pretty, so we drove there and took a few pictures. On our way there and back we drove through Dogpatch. I took a photo of the sign for fun. Then we drove back on US Route 65 and took some photos along the way. We bypassed Branson coming back and stopped for a few groceries before heading home.

It was 86F and sunny today but tonight it has clouded over and gotten cooler. There is apparently a cold front coming through.

Chandler, OK to Branson, MO in a rainstorm!

We decided to head east today as the weather forecast said 20% chance of rain and tomorrow would be worse so we were on the road by 9:00 a.m. heading east on I-44. We no sooner got onto the freeway than it started to rain. It rained all the way to Tulsa, poured through Tulsa, then stopped for a bit until we were heading east on US Route 65, then it started pouring again.

We arrived at America’s Best Campground just outside of Branson, Missouri a little before 3:00 p.m. The rain let up long enough for us to set up the RV. They have free wifi here so thankfully we didn’t have to set up the internet satellite because it started to pour again.

When we checked into the campground we were given places to go for safety as there has been tornado warnings here all day. So far so good and it appears that the tornadoes are going east and north of us. Let’s hope it stays that way. Gordon doesn’t think that tornadoes can form in the mountains and we are in the Ozarks here. Sure hope he’s right!

Around 6:00 p.m. after the rain had stopped we got in the truck and toured around Branson. It’s a glitzy showy sort of town with all kinds of shows and gimmicks but does have a lot of nice scenery around too. Regis and Joy Philbin are supposed to be here. Doubt we’ll go to see any shows, it’s just not our thing.

No photos today – too much rain!

Amarillo, TX to Chandler, OK

Largest cross in the western hemisphere

Britten, TX leaning water tower

Oklahoma Countryside

Wind turbine

Our site at Oak Glen RV Park, Chandler, OK

We left Amarillo at 9:15 a.m. and headed east on I-40 under cloudy skies. Again it was cloudy for most of our trip and then the sun came out around Oklahoma City.

I forgot to mention yesterday that there is a restaurant in Amarillo that will give you a 72 oz. steak for free if you can eat it in an hour. They send a limo to pick you up and return you. We didn’t take advantage as neither of us could eat that much steak but it’s an interesting concept and I’m sure there are people that I know or once knew that could take advantage of this without a problem.

I’ve put some photos on the blog today that I took from the truck on the way along I-40. One photo is of the largest cross in the western hemisphere. Another is of a water tower that looks like the leaning Tower of Pisa.

I also saw a real cowboy on a horse checking on cattle but couldn’t get my camera ready in time to get a photo.

Another photo is of one of the wind turbines at a wind farm near Weatherford, TX.

We went through quite a bit of construction today but traffic was fairly light so it didn’t hold us up. It’s interesting to go from desert to areas with green grass and lots of trees. We saw creeks, rivers and a lot of standing water today that we haven’t seen in months.

I thought Oklahoma was in the plains, I guess from the song but along I-40 and then onto I-44 coming out of Oklahoma City there are a lot of hills and very red soil as you will see in one of the photos. It was actually quite pretty.

I-44 out of Oklahoma City is a turnpike which I hadn’t realized however it wasn’t very expensive. We paid $3.25 for 60 miles. We’ll probably be getting back on and heading toward Tulsa tomorrow if we don’t decide to stay another day. I wouldn’t mind taking another day off but we want to stay ahead of weather if at all possible. This is tornado country and they have already started.

So, if we’re on the road tomorrow, we’re heading to Branson, Mo. to stop for a few days. I’ve heard so much about this place and it’s only about 35 miles off the interstate and about 290 miles away so that makes it about perfect for a day’s drive.

Anyway, we got to the Oak Glen RV Park about 3:15 p.m., got set up and then took a short drive through Chandler which is a small town about 3 ½ miles from the campground and on into the countryside. Nothing especially interesting there. Oak Glen is a Passport America park - $9/night! Nice park, 50 amp service, level concrete pad but no cable. They are doing lots of work on it or at least have the plans to do the work. We get all kinds of stations from Oklahoma City though so we're not without TV.

86F here today!

That’s about it for today. Time to hit the hay!

A Quiet Day in Amarillo

Robin on the swing - he has some nest building material in his beak

Horse statue - downtown Amarillo

Bib in the doggie walk area - he needs a haircut!

Today after walks and breakfast, I went up to the office and signed us up for another day here. So we spent the morning and part of this afternoon taking it easy, watching TV, computering and taking naps. I got to watch Bob Ross on PBS painting a scene. I love to watch him, he makes painting look so easy.

We have hazy sunshine here today, a stiff breeze and 75F temperatures and we’re back to some humidity. Sure didn’t miss that in the southwest this winter.

This afternoon I made a casserole with hot dogs, rice and frozen vegetables and put it in the slow cooker instead of the oven since it’s so warm. I like to have something ready when we’re traveling so we’ll have that for tomorrow night.

After that I realized I needed a few items from the grocery store and we were out of Contac so we went out and drove around Amarillo. Not a terribly exciting city. It has more truck stops per capita than any city I’ve seen. It is the only city for miles around though. It also has an inordinate number of McDonalds and not very many grocery stores or at least not very many that we could find. There is a SuperWalMart close by but they don’t carry Contac and I wanted to do one stop shopping so we found a United Supermarket with a pharmacy.

There are a lot of buildings all over the city that are empty and boarded up and a lot of banks in the downtown area. Amarillo is also head of the American Quarterhorse Association. In the downtown area there are a lot of horse statues much the same as Lakeland, FL had swans. Above is a photo of one of them.

This afternoon when we got back, I sat outside for a while. It was quite windy but warm so I read some of my book.

It’s really nice to be eating dinner and it’s still light out. It’s 10:00 p.m. and it’s still 74F!

From Albaturkey to Armadillo

Texas Sunset on our way back to the RV Park

Mule Deer at Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Texas Longhorns

Our site at Overnite RV Park

Actually it’s from Albuquerque to Amarillo but I thought the play on words was kind of cute.

We left the American RV Park in Albuquerque at 9:20 a.m. and lost an hour when we entered Texas so we’re now on Central time. We arrived at the Overnite RV Park in Amarillo at 3:30 p.m. Central time, a distance of 301.5 miles. Once we got through Albuquerque the trip wasn’t too bad. We ran into about three instances of I-40 becoming one lane due to construction but traffic was fairly light. We had planned to go farther but we needed to stop for fuel so decided to stop for the night.

We had high cloud for most of the trip but by the time we got to our site and got set up the sun was shining and the temperature reached 72F! BONUS!

Overnite RV Park again isn’t all that pretty but very functional. The only real drawback we’ve seen so far is that it’s on a flight path. When we first arrived I thought a plane was going to land on top of the RV. Hopefully they have quit flying for the night.

When we arrived at the RV park, the office had brochures for a place called Palo Duro Canyon State Park. We were tired from the trip but decided to go and see this place as the brochure looked very interesting. We’re very glad we did! It’s more beautiful there than Big Bend National Park which has been our favorite up until now. Neither of us had heard of this place. The bonus is that there are several campgrounds with electric and water within the park and with beautiful views so it’s on our list to come back. The problem is Amarillo often gets snow so we will either have to make this our early destination in the Fall or on our way back to Ontario as we are doing this time. Some photos are above but check out my Yahoo photo site.

I think we’ve decided to stay another day here for a couple of reasons:

1. We’re tired from spending all day in the truck. We didn’t get back to the RV tonight until 9:00 p.m. or so.


2. It looks like an area we want to explore further.

So, enough said for tonight. Nite all!

Beautiful Sunny Sunday!

Today was a busy day. Not sure what we did but it seems like I haven’t stopped all day.

After walks this morning, I decided I needed to do laundry. I went to the campground Laundromat but there was no parking so I pulled into an empty spot for RVs across from the laundry. One of the maintenance guys told me I couldn’t park there so I went back to the RV, got my purse, and went out to a real Laundromat. Although it cost in fuel, it was cheaper and the equipment was better.

On my walks around the park in the morning I’m always looking at license plates to see where people are from and also on the lookout for different RVs. Pictured here are a couple that are different. The large C Class we’ve seen before. It’s fairly new and a couple of manufacturers are building them. The Peterbilt cab with the trailer on the back looks custom made. There’s no name on the trailer. Looks like it might be a toy hauler. They have a Volkswagen Beetle.

I came back from getting laundry done, had lunch, read a bit and then we went to the new Camping World which is just across I-40 from us. Gordon has been complaining about our water hose kinking all the time so we got a non-kink water hose. We’ve also been buying water for mostly everything except washing dishes and showering and since it’s so expensive to buy bottled water in Ontario, we bought an in line water filter which covers the whole RV rather than putting one under the sink. Our toilet last year turned blue around the rubber ring because of some chemical in their water so hopefully now that won’t happen. Now we just have to decide if we want to replace the ball in the toilet so we have a nice clean ball rather than one with a ring around it. We also got a package of bungee cords which was badly needed.

When we got back I colored my hair which I’ve been putting off for far too long and since we’re headed to places where people know me, I thought I’d better get it done. So that being done, got showered and now I’m sitting here relaxing.

72F today, beautiful and sunny!

Tonight is my favorite TV night again! Also need to get lots of rest. Our hopes are to get past Amarillo, TX tomorrow.

All in all it's been a good stay here except for my breathing problems (but that didn't start here, it actually started in Tucson). The park is clean and well maintained, private showers and bathrooms were clean. They even provide continental breakfast every morning although we didn't partake. It's just outside the city, right along I-40 but we're at the back of the park so the noise wasn't bad. Other than that it was close to downtown and Old Town and also to WalMart which is always a plus.

Last night we set the clocks ahead one hour. It's so nice to see the longer days coming!