Our First Day as Full Time RVers

Saturday
July 11, 2009

I must confess that it was an amazing feeling going to bed last night knowing that I could wake up with Gina and lay in bed until I wanted to get up. And guess what? That’s exactly what I did this morning. It was a very mellow morning in that we did not wake up until 8:30 and then we just laid there watching TV and drinking a cup of coffee. I brought my laptop into the bedroom so we could get on Facebook and see the pictures of our nephew (Rickey) proposing to his soon to be wife (Lacey).

Will You Marry Me?


Rickey's Catch of A Lifetime


WOW What a Ring!!!

Congratulation to Rickey and Lacey!!

We didn’t have anything planned today but we finally decided to get up around 10:30 and Gina made some homemade biscuits and fried some bacon while I fried some eggs. A wonderful breakfast / lunch. We went over to the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi so I could get a base sticker for my truck. This will make it easier for me to get on other military bases since Gina and I believe we want to try staying at some base campgrounds. We keep hearing how nice they are but we just have never had the opportunity to stay at any of them. We went to the commissary and bought some meat and other items. We both commented that it seemed like we got a lot for our money. We kind of discussed that our travel habits should include stopping at a commissary at least once a month so we can replenish our food and save some money in the process. We made it back to the camper and just relaxed. Ok I did get a nap in around five o’clock and it felt real good. After I woke up we were both hungry so Gina suggested that we should go out to eat to celebrate our first day of being full time RVer’s. We went to Hampton’s marina bar & grill. We both think it’s the best food around here and its walking distance from the park where we're at. Gina had fried shrimp & fish and I had their half pound cheeseburger on a homemade sweet roll. We stayed there for a little while watching the boats come back in from a day of fishing and enjoying the cool breeze coming off the water. With our stomachs full we went for a walk to the public park / fishing pier at the end of the road. We ended our evening sitting outside relaxing and listening to music. Around ten o’clock we both decided that we both needed a shower before we went to bed. While Gina was in the shower I decided that I would go ahead and write the entry for today.

For our first day, it was relaxing and we both believe we could get used to this. How do you spell stress free living? Fulltime RVer!!

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Our Dream Has Arrived

Friday
July 10, 2009

Well let’s see I finally wrapped up our vacation with Rickey and Dana yesterday and I know that I’m skipping four days of this week but not a lot happened. However, today was a different story. Gina and I decided that today would be the first day of living our dream as a Full time RV’er. Can you hear the screams of joy???

I officially resigned from my position effective immediately. So you can say I’m retired or unemployed but really you can say that Gina and I are ecstatic, happy and just cannot believe it’s finally here. We are so happy that we thought we would take a picture just to let you see the smile on our faces.

This Is What Dreams Are Made For

Now we have to get with the program and decide what and where we are going. We do have about two weeks of August and September that are busy and then we are heading to Kansas for the HDT rally in October. From there it’s an unfinished book that we’re writing daily. So join us as we travel and experience God’s wonderful creations.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Making Memories

Talk about being behind on blogging. It was nice for Gina to cover two days of it for me but she didn’t like writing about what we did. She said it was too difficult. I understand but this is the easiest way for our family to know what we are up to. So I’m sure I will miss a few items but I want to get caught up.

Monday
June 29, 2009

We woke up and got on the road heading toward Tucson. I wanted to see the Saguaro cactus which it only grows around southern Arizona. Our goal was to drive through the Saguaro National Park and take a few pictures before we continued our trek east. We made it through all the traffic in Phoenix and I missed the exit for the Saguaro National Park west but I knew there was still the Saguaro National Park east. We continued going east and finally saw the sign for the exit to the park. It was only about eight miles off the road. It was nice to get out and stretch a little and see all the cactus.

Me and Gina in front of a tall Cactus

A Beautiful Teddy Bear Cactus


Here We are at the Saguaro National Park


Dana & Rickey with a Saguaro Cactus


I just couldn't Pass up this Blooming Cactus


Gina is at Peace with Her Rocks!!

We spent about an hour there before we headed back down the interstate. I was unsure where we were going to stop but finally we stopped in Cohise, Arizona. It was starting to rain and we all just wanted to stop and eat. We grilled hamburgers and sausage and pretty much called it a night.

Tuesday
June 30, 2009

We woke up and got on the road around ten o’clock this morning. Our goal was White Sands National Park. We made it there and then drove the truck and camper through the white sand.

This Picture should Remove all Doubt Where Our Truck can Go


Our Happy Family


Rickey, Dana and Addison in the Sand


Rickey and Addison Relaxing

Recalling Childhood Memories

Took a few pictures and then found a Wal-mart in Alamogordo, New Mexico. While Gina and Rickey were shopping I found us a campground to stay at just a few miles down the road. The campground itself wasn’t great but the owners were great and I’m sure we will stay here again. Gina loves pecans and they gave her some from there pecan orchard. They were just a wonderful couple.

Wednesday
July 1, 2009

On the road again pretty early since we wanted to see Carlsbad Caverns today. However, on our way there we were just too close to Roswell not to stop. I will admit that it was a bigger city than I expected. I finally found a place to park the truck and camper and then we went into the Roswell welcome center.

Group Photo with the Martians in Roswell


Oh No, They're Trying to Take Me

It was kind of like a mad house since they were getting ready for the UFO festival that was beginning on Thursday.

From there we made our turn and began heading south toward Carlsbad. It seems like all the campgrounds were north of town and the Cavern was south of town. We decided that we would stay as close as possible to the cavern since we wanted to see the bats fly out of the cave and I didn’t want to drive far in the dark. There is a campground seven miles away. I would never stay there again unless I was going to the cavern. The location was perfect since we didn’t arrive there until two o’clock. I got the camper unhooked and the AC on and off we went to Carlsbad Cavern.

Gina is Just Amazed


Dana & Gina


I'm Still Amazed at the Size

I'm Trying to Show Gina a Rock

Dana & Rickey

We spent three hours down in the cavern and then rode the elevator up around 6:30. We were all thirsty so we went to the snack bar to relax until it was time to take our seats at the entrance to the cave and wait for the bats to fly. They finally decided to fly out around 7:40 and it was such an amazing thing. Thousands and I mean thousands of bats flew out. We never did see the end but after thirty minutes it was just time to leave. They just kept flying out. We made it back to the camper and had dinner. We took the dogs out around eleven o’clock and startled a skunk which caused Rickey to almost jump out of his shorts. A little too close for comfort but he went on his way and we just sat outside watching a few bats eat insects that were flying by the security light in the campground.

Thursday
July 2, 2009

On the road again, we had originally planned on spending the fourth in San Antonia but with great regret we were unable to find a place to stay for the weekend. So Gina and Dana discussed about meeting up together on a future weekend to see San Antonio and go sightseeing. With that decision made we found a Passport America Park in Junction, Texas and stopped for the night. We grilled some chicken breasts and made quesadillas for dinner. Today was a long drive through west Texas. However, the best part of the day was this beautiful sunset in the hills of Texas.

A Beautiful Sunset

Friday
July 3, 2009

We got on the road around ten o’clock this morning and arrived back at the campground at three o’clock. We got the camper parked and set up and then it was laundry time. I’m not sure what was hotter today Tucson or Rockport. Two different types of heat but both were very hot. One felt like a convection oven and the other was feeling like a sauna. We didn’t have anything planned other than Rickey & Dana repacking their suitcases and loading up their car for an early departure toward Louisiana. They still had 500 miles left to drive before they could say that their vacation was over. We did drive to HEB and the seafood market to buy some fresh shrimp. We were having a shrimp boil tonight as our final meal for this vacation. The shrimp, corn, and potatoes tasted great and it was a great finale to a wonderful trip.

Saturday
July 4, 2009

We all woke up around seven o’clock and Rickey and Dana got on the road a little after eight. I will admit that after 15 days it was nice to wake up and know that I didn’t have to drive. Total distance that we towed the camper was 3,372 miles and we drove the truck 344 miles sightseeing for a total of 3,716 miles driven. We used 475 gallons of diesel for an average of 7.8 miles per gallon. We stayed in ten different campgrounds over the course of 15 days. We were definitely in vacation mode. We covered a lot of miles and created a lot of memories that we will cherish in our hearts forever. We had a wonderful time with Rickey and Dana and look forward to more vacations in the future with them.


Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Trying to Help Rollie Out

Rollie Driving

Thought I needed to take up the slack since Rollie has now driven 3400 miles in fourteen days and when we stop somewhere it’s only to see a sight and by night time he is just exhausted. It has been five days since his last entry. I would like to begin however on Saturday June 27th. Our day began by me making homemade pecans waffles. After we ate, Dana and I decided to catch the bus to Treasure Island hotel & Casino. We had vouchers for the show “Mystere” later in the evening and needed to get our actual tickets for seating. We thought it would be a cool idea to ride the tram and scope out our evening events. We went to The Mirage hotel to find out the time the volcano show began. After which we made our way over to The Venetian. What a beautiful place with its Italian décor. We of course had to visit some of the shops. I fell in love with and purchased an ankle bracelet from Brighton.

A Painting on the Ceiling


A Gondola


Lots of Shops


Beautiful Painting on the Ceiling

We continued our stroll through the shops. Seeing the gondola made us hungry for some gelato which is an Italian ice cream. All good things must come to an end. Our husband called us wondering what was taking us so long. We had left the men back at the camper. Rollie was updating the blog and Rickey was reading.

Here we are meeting up with our Men

Our men met us at The Venetian as we were leaving. We decided that it was too late to really do anything else before the show tonight so we headed back to the camper. We made a quick stop at Circus Circus hotel for a half of pound hotdog with all the fixing. Now if you could have only seen Rollie enjoying that hot dog. You might be thinking that it was only a hot dog but I refuse to buy hot dogs and highly discourage him from eating hot dogs. He even made the comment that he couldn’t even remember the last time he had eaten one but for sure this one tasted reeeeeal good!! We all got our showers and dressed and off we went. The show “Mystere” was created by Cirque du Soleil. It was a mix of acrobatics, dance and special effects. Rollie and I were very impressed with the show and we really enjoyed it. After the show we all got on the tram to the Mirage and saw the volcano show.

The Volcano Show at Mirage

We then were off to The Paris hotel for some pizza. We then found a great band playing 70’s and 80’s music and finished our evening off dancing the night away.

Can you Tell We Had a Great Time in Vegas

Sunday
June 28, 2009

We all woke up early and got everything packed up to head down the road. We were on our way headed toward Tucson when I asked Rollie how far we were from Sedona. I had a friend tell me about how beautiful it was and that we just had to go there since she just went on and on about how gorgeous it was getting there. So the wonderful husband that I have took the detour and headed back east toward Flagstaff. We arrived in Flagstaff unhooked the camper and took the big truck to Sedona. The drive was breathtaking. You feel like you’re driving through the Grand Canyon.

Our First View


Rollie Drove Great through these 180 degree turns


The Colors were Just Beautiful


Such Beautiful Red Mountains


More Mountain Formations


The Colors would Change with the Sun

We took a ton of pictures along the way. Made our way to town where there was more quaint little shops. We did buy some buffalo meat for Uncle Jim and some buffalo jerky for Rickey. I was surprised because Rollie bought two shirts from Sedona (Rollie never buys clothes). Sedona is a beautiful town and there is so much to see and the view is just magnificent both getting there and in town. It’s definitely a place that Rollie and I will visit again. The sun was beginning to set so we headed back for some more beautiful pictures. We were so pleased that Rollie agreed to take the detour and allowed us to see this wonderful sight. We would have loved to stay longer in this quite town but we wanted a few pictures of the sun setting behind the red mountains. We finally made it back to the camper and Rickey and Dana grilled some delicious baby back ribs for dinner. After dinner we called it a night since it would be another early morning with us heading toward Tucson to see some cactus.
I know that I convinced Rollie to create this blog for me but this is hard work. So, I’m not saying that I will not write another entry but I do believe that I’ll turn this back over to Rollie so he can continue with his honing his writing skills.

This Flag Says It All