Yosemite Part 1

Arrived at KOA Yosemite in Mariposa CA Monday afternoon, traffic light and the roads were bumpy. I think Arnold should have spent more money on the roads instead of his, ah…well you know. This campground is nice, but there is no satellite service for the ballgames in our site and the office wasn’t too concerned about helping us move to a site that would get service….we’ll see if they come through later in the day or tomorrow. There is also no cell service at all here so for the next 5 days we’ll be out of touch. I will pay for wi-fi if the service is acceptable but if not you’ll have to wait until we reach Morgan Hill, CA before our next contact. Tuesday we’ll all head out to Yosemite for a driving tour and to scout out some spots that we can bike ride or at least get some exercise.

Sequoia National Park

For the next few days we are staying at KOA located in Visalia, California, really lovely landscape, nice campground. We’ll relax through the Memorial Day Holiday here so that Les can catch up on his races including the Indianapolis 500 and the Coke 600. Shirley will be relaxing with the Red Sox and she and I will also try to fit in a haircut, much needed after a month. We arrived on Friday and headed up to Sequoia National Park on Saturday - wow the difference in temperatures was extreme…about 60 in Visalia and 43 degrees at the General Sherman Sequoia Tree, the largest tree in the world.. We did take some photos that we will post but we were very busy bundling up to keep warm! There was quite a bit of snow still in the area so it was cold! The road was windy and steep and poor Shirley was bounced back and forth in the back seat so she will be sore tomorrow! Sunday race day and Monday we head up to Yosemite National Park area to stay at another KOA.

California (here we come!)

From cool days and downright cold nights to the heat of the desert! We traveled from the Grand Canyon down to the lower elevation of Needles, California. Along the way we made a quick stop at the hearing aid repair shop in Kingman, Arizona to make a quick repair to Les’ hearing aid. I LOVE that guy at Colorado Hearing Center!!! LOL...Needles to Barstow California was uneventful, dry, hot and not too much scenery unless you are a desert fan. Pool today but at 95 degrees too hot to spend much time in the sun - oh darn, no walk for us tonight!

Grand Canyon

Here we are all snuggled in at the Canyon. It is cold, highs of 50 first day with lows in 20’s, but Friday and Saturday highs should be 60ish. We are staying at The Trailer Village located just outside the main hotel area on the Canyon Rim. Our first night at dusk 4 deer were meandering through the campground. We did manage a couple of photos from inside the RV! Friday Les and I took a long walk to Mather Point and then returned to the camp for breakfast. Then it was a bike ride to the Canyon Village, about 2 miles downhill - and then 2 miles uphill of course. I made it almost all the way before I had to get off and walk my bike the remainder of the way! Today I called one of my friends from a spot in the campground near the bathrooms where I had pretty good service…when I ended the call and came around the building I was staring at 4 very large deer grazing in the campground. While I could not confirm the deer as being the same ones as the previous evening I suspect they are “camp deer” since they don’t show any fear.

Saturday will take us via car to the Village with Shirley for lunch at the Lookout Point. If you have not visited the Grand Canyon you must - we highly recommend a few days here with good hiking boots.

Arizona

We leave Cibo Sands (Grants) Arizona on Tuesday. This was a cool place as it is surrounded by volcanic rock. Off to Holbrook, Arizona for the night. The winds were fierce heading there on Interstate 40 and it was difficult for Les to hold the RV steady on the road. We are only traveling short distances so it was not as stressful for him as holding the wheel for hours on end. On the way we stopped at the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. It is a nice 28 mile loop with spectacular scenery. Spent the night in Holbrook KOA, nice place but again terribly windy and cold! Today is Wednesday, Leslie’s birthday so he had a cupcake for breakfast! We only traveled less than 100 miles today but through high winds (up to 40mph) and a sandstorm to land in Flagstaff, Arizona where we were greeted with a snowstorm! The flakes were big so we figure “big snow = little snow” must apply here. It’s quite cold though which is a little unusual for this late time in May. Our next stop is the Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim so I hope the weather improves slightly. They predict 41 degrees for the Canyon area for tomorrow. I think we may have to make a quick stop at Walmart for a few hoodies - it’s definitely a hot cocoa day here.

May 13 - 16 Texas and New Mexico

Off we go from Amarillo Texas where we made repairs to Santa Rosa New Mexico and on to Grants New Mexico. Saturday night we celebrated Leslie’s birthday a little early with a pair of genuine cowboy boots from Cavender’s. It was amazing to see how large the store inventory of cowboy boots was. Then off to dinner at the famous Big Texan Steakhouse, home of the 72oz steak free if you can eat it in 60 minutes! Each part of our country has some pretty cool things to see (note the photo of the Cadillac Ranch in Texas) and we had some surprises here in New Mexico too. We are in Grants, NM surrounded by lava rock, yes you read it correctly, lava. There is a large area of “lava bowls” and we are camping smack in the middle of them. They are like giant mole holes. We have been averaging about 200 +/- miles a day which seems to be a comfortable range for us. The increased altitude has some effect on our breathing, even though you would laugh at us if you lived here! I am posting a couple of photos including one of the cats with frown faces - they are being good but I don’t think they particularly enjoy the travel part of the day.

May Update - Amarillo, Texas

Hi everyone....we had a blip in our schedule with a 2.5 day stop at Camping World in Denton, Texas to wait for a rear monitor system monitor for the RV. After it came in the CW people decided that it wasn't the monitor but the camera. It was frustrating but Les decided that we should order the camera and have it delivered to our Amarillo stop and he would install it. So today is Saturday (52 degrees this morning) and the camera is installed and working perfectly...good job by Les on this one! Now if I can convince the warranty company to reimburse me we'll be styling. Good Red Sox game last night with a win against the Evil Empire! Tonight dinner at "The BIG TEXAN" and maybe some photos to finally post. Anyway all is well, and we are back on schedule.

Mississippi and Louisiana May 7-8-9

Saturday and Sunday we traveled through Mississippi (233 and 291 miles) and with no offense to those who love that State, we didn’t find any photo opportunities! We were too busy holding onto our seats over the bumpy “badly need to be repaired” highway I-20. Somewhere along the line our rear view monitor system died so we are off in search of a Camping World that can repair or replace the unit. Having a rear view system really isn’t a luxury - it’s a safety item, although I don’t think Les minds me hanging out the window since that means I am not talking!Happy Mothers’ Day was lo-key for us, heard from both the boys via voicemail and text - gotta love the 21^st Century! Les cooked his mother a bacon and egg breakfast as a special treat. Monday morning as I write this we have crossed into Louisiana, better roads but oh my the flooding! We crossed over the Mighty Mississippi at Vicksburg and it was already overflowing it’s banks and I do not think that the crest is expected for at least another week.

May 6 - Florida

First official day of the journey takes us to Tallahassee Florida (KOA) for an overnight. We are making a conscious decision to travel lightly each day we travel to save on gas expenses as well as our mental health (okay mine!)...after all how much nagging can I do if Les keeps it under 70? Complimentary waffle breakfast in the morning to start us off! Heading to Robertsdale, Alabama area for tthe Saturday night stay. Total miles today was 219.

Welcome to our Blog!

Hi everyone...by now you have received this link. We will try to keep our commentary brief and we promise to post nice photos! We are leaving home Friday morning so we'll probably have a post ready by Monday morning...it may take some time to get into "vacation mode" but we'll try! Grand Canyon - here we come!