Waking Up In Paradise

We made it to our desert paradise on Wednesday around 1:30. After first stopping at John & Brenda’s to say hi and looking where everyone else was parked we continued on. We didn’t make it far before stopping at Jim & Ellie’s for a quick hello & hug. While we were stopped there Gina & Pop’s walked around a little to see where they wanted to park. Pop’s picked out his spot and Gina decided we would park in the same spot that we were at last year. We just love this view out our back window.

Our view out our back window

After we got parked Rod & Deb stopped to say hello since they were out in town when we arrived. We had not seen them since February 2009. A little while later Mike & Janna walked over. Then Brenda drove down to let us know that Happy Hour and dinner would be at their place. Gina and I sat outside for a little while soaking up the beauty out here in the desert. To say we love it out here doesn’t seem to do it justice, but that’s the only way I know how to say it.

We drove down to John & Brenda’s at four o’clock and met back up with everyone. We have a really nice group of friends here. John & Brenda and Janna & Mike’s blogs have a nice photos from up on the hill showing how we are all spread out.

Down at John & Brenda's for our first get together

All of us here in the desert write blogs and I highly recommend you check them out since we all do different things during the day.

Mike & Pat (aka Mom & Pop's)
Mike & Janna
John & Brenda
Rod & Deb
Jim & Ellie
Glen & Sylvia

After getting our fill of brats and hot dogs we said good night to everyone. We stopped by Mike & Janna’s for a few minutes and then headed toward our house. Almost that is. Some how I got turned around and got just a “little” lost. Of course the next morning Mom & Pop’s along with Jim & Ellie asked me why I was riding around in the desert after dark. They all had a good laugh.


We woke up early Thursday morning to absolutely beautiful weather. After I built a fire outside, Gina and I enjoyed our coffee sitting by the fire waiting for the sun to rise above the mountains. Once the sun was up I cleaned my solar panels while Gina set up all her tables and chairs outside.

I'm up cleaning our solar panels

Parked in our desert paradise

Zoey trying to get used to all these rocks

Angel looking up asking where's the grass?

Next on the agenda was taking a short four-wheeler ride through the desert. We rode about 16 miles and even found cave. We didn’t have a flashlight so we’ll have to go back and take a look around.

This is the cave we found

Looking into the cave

Of course, Gina is looking for that special rock

One of the many views we had during our ride today

There are hundreds of miles of trails like this through the desert

For our first ride we had a great time. Once we arrived back home Gina made a cheese ball for Happy Hour at Jim & Ellie’s. We enjoyed another great get together with everyone. Thanks for the boiled shrimp Sylvia. They tasted great!! A little after five o’clock we walked back and had leftover Taco Soup with Mom & Pop’s for dinner. Gina and I enjoyed another great day in the desert with friends.


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

We Made It To Arizona

We finally departed El Paso at noon and continued our travels toward Arizona. With our late departure we were not sure if we would make it to Congress, Arizona today. However, we arrived a little after nine o’clock and got backed in. Mom & Pop’s came down soon there after for some long awaited hugs. It was so nice to see them. Travel days are not very exciting but seeing Mom & Pop’s was well worth a long travel day.

Monday morning found us waking up late. We just needed a little more sleep than normal. After we woke up and had a cup of coffee it was out the door for me to get our trailer setup. Once we finished getting our trailer setup Mrs. Nancy came over to say hello and then we walked over to their house to tell Mr. Paul hello. We haven’t seen them since we left here last May.

We then unloaded our four-wheeler and Pop’s came by to pick me up so we could run into town so I could fill up our gas cans and buy a new battery for Gina’s four-wheeler.

It was then time for our Happy Hour with Mom & Pop’s. It was so nice to sit outside on their screened porch catching up with all of our happenings. We ate Gina’s taco soup for dinner that she had cooked earlier. We enjoyed a wonderful day with Mom & Pop’s.

Tuesday morning we woke up in time to watch our first Arizona sunrise this year.

What a beautiful sight to wake up to out your back window

Mom & Pop’s came down and picked up all the boxes that we brought down from South Dakota for them. After I got Gina’s four-wheeler running we decided to take a short ride out in the desert.
Of course we didn’t get very far before Gina was stopping and picking up rocks.

Gina and her rocks

Gina having a little fun

We did stop and eat lunch just so we could enjoy and soak up the solitude of the desert. We both love being out here in the desert.

We both had a great time

Before long it was time to head home and over to Mom & Pop’s so Gina could give Pop’s a haircut. While Gina was cutting his hair I was boiling shrimp for our Happy Hour. We enjoyed another great Happy Hour with them. I grilled Baby back ribs for dinner while Mom steamed some vegetables. Another great meal!! We finally said goodnight and headed home to watch the President’s State of the Union address.

Here it is already Wednesday morning. We are up early and getting packed up. We'll be leaving here later this morning heading over to Bouse, Arizona with Mom & Pop’s for a little boondocking. We are meeting up with our friends Jim & Ellie, John & Brenda, Mike & Janna and Rod & Deb. We are excited to have Mom & Pop’s come boondocking with us and are hanging out with all of our RV’ing friends. Stay tuned as I’m sure there will be a lot of stories.


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

A Month of Celebrations

It has been a crazy two weeks. Between Gina’s doctor appointments, getting packed up to leave Louisiana and celebrating birthdays. It has been extremely hard leaving Louisiana this time. It seemed like every time Gina went to the doctor they scheduled another appointment for some other test. We finally got packed up and headed down the road Friday morning. It felt great heading west. However, Gina and I were both exhausted getting on the road. We stopped in Katy, Texas to eat Lunch at Babin’s restaurant and then continued on to Kerrville, Texas before stopping for the night at a picnic area. I woke up early and got Gina back into the truck where she continued sleeping while I drove through west Texas. By ten o’clock she was awake and we decided to stop in El Paso and camp at Fort Bliss RV Park. We needed to restock our pantry and this was our best opportunity. We had our home all setup and shopping in the commissary by three o’clock. While Gina shopping in the exchange, I decided to fill the truck up with diesel since it was only $3.19 a gallon. What a deal considering the cheapest I had seen thus far was 3.29 gallon. After we unloaded our groceries we drove over to see my Uncle Donald that lives here in El Paso. We visited for a little while before saying goodnight and going home for some much needed rest.

Me and Uncle Donald

Now to backtrack a little, January is a big birthday month for us. Thomas, our youngest turned 21 on Tuesday the 18th. Gina’s birthday was Wednesday the 19th and Nicole our oldest will be 28 on Monday the 24th and Dana, my oldest sister’s birthday is the 31st. A whole lot of birthdays makes one wonder what was so special about May to make so many babies???LOL For Thomas’s birthday we could only talk to him but his wife baked him a birthday cake.

Rickey and I are ready to celebrate with the Birthday girls
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GINA and DANA!!!

For Gina and Dana’s birthday, Rickey and I took the birthday girls out to Mike Anderson’s Seafood restaurant for great food and a wonderful time. I would also like to add that Gina was so humbled by so many birthday wishes on Facebook and wanted to me to pass on a thank you to everyone for making her day extra special. The Lord has truly blessed her with such awesome friends and family. She definitely felt blessed and loved on this special day.  Nicole is in New York and will spend time with Shane, her husband. I’m sure he’ll have something special for her. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!

We have been so busy we still had not got by to see Paw Paw Jack & Maw Maw Sue to give them their Christmas present from us.  We finally got by there on the 14th.

Merry Christmas Paw Paw Jack & Maw Maw Sue

On January 17th Parker our SIL received his white coat as it brings him one step closer to becoming a Medical Doctor. Congratulations!!!

Parker and receives his white coat

Soon to be our two family doctors

Now about Gina and her doctor appointments. In two weeks she had eight appointments / tests done. We got the final results on Thursday afternoon and with the exception of being low on calcium they were all good. I would like to tell more but that would be way too much personal information. The main thing is, her doctors cleared her and we are on the road traveling to see friends.  A special thank you to everyone for all the prayers.

Now on a more sobering note, last Sunday Tressie Foster, our friend died at the age of 42. She was a beautiful young woman in good health. Not only was she a good friend, Gina taught two of her children and Larry, her husband put braces on our oldest daughter and we all attended the same church. She leaves behind her husband of 24 years and three wonderful children, Chase, Brennan, and Lauren. I ask that you keep this family in your prayers. I have said this numerous times but please tell those close to you how much you love and cherish them because there is no guarantee that any of us will get tomorrow.

We'll be leaving El Paso this morning heading further west.  Stay tuned as our adventure continues.

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