Monday, 5/23/2022 – And we’re off for another adventure!! Yesterday we left our winter home in the Rio Grande Valley for another trip that will last just over four months. It’s our maiden voyage in our newest motor home and as always, we’re very excited. We spent last night in Victoria, Texas for a one-night stay and arrived in Houston today where we’ll be staying for three nights. Tomorrow we’re looking forward to meeting up with some new friends for a day at the Houston Space Center. These friends are the same people we just met a few months ago when we purchased their motor home that we are now traveling in. They’re anxious to see what we’ve done to the coach and we’re anxious to show it off.
We’ll be heading east through Louisiana n Thursday and will be taking another break in Vicksburg, Mississippi over Memorial Day weekend. I see some Cajun food in our future. Lots of good stops in our future this year!!
Thursday, 6/2/2022 – Our last post ended with our arrival in Houston and a lot has happened since then. Our first afternoon in Houston was spent with Claudia visiting a dentist in order to take care of a toothache she just began to have. The dentist determined it was just sinuses, not a tooth and prescribed some meds so we were on our way. The following day we met up with our friends from Houston and we enjoyed a day at The Houston Space Center. It was a very nice take as we explored the world of NASA from the early days of Alan Shepard and John Glenn all the way till the current day. Highlights included walking aboard the space shuttle Independence, the 747 that was converted to taxi the space shuttles as well as reproductions of Skylab and the International Space Station. That evening we met up once again with our friends to enjoy a great dinner together.
We began the following day by welcoming our friends back to our motor home at the campsite so they could see the changes we made since they sold it to us. They are transitioning from taking an occasional trip in their new motor home to taking longer trips and wanted to see how a couple of “seasoned veterans” turned it into a “home” on wheels. Following their departure, Claudia and I headed over to the Kemah Boardwalk, a 60-acre Texas Gulf Coast theme park in Kemah, Texas. The Boardwalk is built entirely along the shores of Galveston Bay and Clear Lake and is considered among the premier boardwalks in the United States. There we enjoyed the beautiful weather and strolled along the bay. It was also a perfect spot to relax and enjoy a cold beverage.
Next it was time to hit the road again in order to make our way east. Our first stop was a favorite overnight stop of ours, Frog City RV Park in Duson, Louisiana. It’s nothing special but it’s got clean, level sites and is close to I-10. On this day our focus was to find another dentist who could perform a root canal. At this point Claudia realized that it wasn’t just sinuses causing the pain and based on a previous visit with her dentist back in Edinburg she knew her only hope was a root canal since the pain had come back worse than before. After several phone calls to our dentist back home she was able to get an appointment for the upcoming Tuesday with a dentist in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Unfortunately, our troubles continued as we prepared to hit the road to Vicksburg from Frog City on Friday morning. Our right rear hydraulic jack decided to give us some trouble. Every time we retracted them that one jack would drop a few inches causing the alarm to go off and keeping us from being able to travel. After several calls for help (thanks but no thanks Good Sam) I learned about a trick to strap the jack up with tie down straps in order to keep it from dropping. After several tries and as I was getting closer to succeeding, all of a sudden it just stopped dropping. I finished strapping the jack anyway and off we headed to Vicksburg, a couple hours later than expected. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but we were timing our departure so that we’d hit minimal traffic crossing the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, always a busy route and worse during rush hours. As it turned out it wasn’t too bad, especially on a Friday of Memorial Day weekend so once past there we were on our way north to Vicksburg. After arriving in Vicksburg, I spent the rest of the day talking to RV techs, one of who said he’d try to come by on Tuesday. After doing my own research however and some testing I decided to pass on that visit since it now appears that the problem is no longer happening. It may have been simply a piece of sand in the hydraulic jack. Time will tell but for now, it’s retracting as it’s supposed to.
Once in Vicksburg we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the area once again. We spent Saturday, Sunday & Monday visiting the area once again. We were shocked to notice that there was hardly anything going on and most businesses were actually closed. We did do a little gambling, revisited the Vicksburg National Battlefield and ate out a few times but this was probably our final visit to Vicksburg.
Tuesday was another day we’d rather forget. Claudia had her dental appointment scheduled for 2pm but we also had to make a four-hour trip to Cottondale, Alabama following her appointment for an overnight stop. I decided to get the RV ready for travel early that day. At about 10am we had the slide brought in and held our breath as we retracted the jacks. Lo and behold, they all retracted perfectly. We were thrilled!! That’s when I noticed the flat tire. Yup, our passenger side rear outside tire had no air. If it wasn’t for the inside tire it would have been sitting on the rim. Once again Good Sam and I had a few phone conversations. During my first hour and a half wait to hear back from them I decided to see what my little air compressor I keep in the Equinox would do. I could only run it ten minutes at a time, or it would overheat but slowly and surely, about ten pounds at a time I was able to fully inflate it to its required 84 pounds. I knew early on that it must have just been a loose tire sensor since it never lost a pound once I began adding air. When Good Sam finally did call me back and let me know that a truck would be on the way in approximately two and a half hours, I canceled the whole thing. Anyway, Claudia received her root canal; the tire held the pressure and we arrived at our overnight stop in Alabama just as it was getting dark.
Wednesday turned out to be a much better day. The jacks came up, tires had stayed inflated and we made it to Chattanooga, Tennessee without any issues to begin a nice four-night stay. We started that afternoon off with a cold beverage and a swim in their pool. Yes, a much better day.
So here it is Thursday, June 2nd. We started off early this morning with a visit to Ruby Falls inside Lookout Mountain very close to us here in Chattanooga. It was a beautiful waterfall but what made it unique was that it was approximately 1,200 feet underground. We had to get to it by descending almost 300 feet in an elevator and then hiked through an underground cavern for close to a half mile to get there. Most of the paths were quite narrow and not for the claustrophobic. It was a fairly level path and the fact that the surface went from 300 to 1,200 feet above us was based on the fact that we actually hiked to an area under a much higher elevation. I can honestly say we’ve never visited a cavern quite like it and it was well worth the visit.
Now we’re sitting back and enjoying what was supposed to be a rainy afternoon. Instead, the sun is shining, I’m getting a chance to update the web site and Claudia is heading out for a few groceries. It looks like another lovely afternoon for a nice quiet happy hour (or two) as we enjoy some much-deserved rest. We have several outdoor activities planned that we’re looking forward to over the next couple of days with a great weather forecast ahead. Thanks for checking in!!
Thursday, 6/16/2022 – It’s been a couple of enjoyable weeks since our last update. In addition to visiting Ruby Falls in Chattanooga we also decided to visit Rock City Gardens, a beautiful area with a 4,100-foot walking trail showcasing soaring rock formations, caves and lush woodland gardens that includes a 100-foot waterfall that cascades down the mountain. It also provides some great views including a birds-eye view from high atop Lookout Mountain where you can see seven different states. While in Chattanooga we also spent some time exploring several civil war areas including Point Park, a ten-acre memorial park that overlooks the Lookout Mountain Battlefield and the city of Chattanooga.
Our next stop took us to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We decided to stop here because we wanted to visit the Smokey Mountains National Park. We were surprised to find that Pigeon Forge itself is quite the tourist attraction, aka tourist trap. It appears the area sprung up when Dolly Parton developed her theme park Dollywood. If you want to drive go carts, ride amusements, play mini golf, take in a show, eat out or anything else that you or the kids might want to do, they’ve got it in Pigeon Forge.
We decided to spend the first day exploring a portion of Smoky Mountain National Park that was noted for having a lot of bears. During our 3- or 4-hour drive through the park we saw several groups of black bears and many cubs. One mother bear was out with her three cubs. They liked to stay low in the meadows, but we had several good opportunities to see them in their own habitat. We also decided to take a hike, so we selected the Laurel Falls Trail, a 2 ½ mile trail that included a view of some fairly nice falls. The trails weren’t too crowded, but it turned out to be quite busy at the falls themselves. It still turned out to be a very nice hike.
We couldn’t leave Pigeon Forge without a little fun so on our final night there we headed out to the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s Dinner Feud where we became part of the longest running feud in history and helped the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s try to settle their differences mountain-style. We enjoyed a great dinner along with singin’, dancin’, and lots of laughs.
By this point we still were concerned with our tire and jack situation but once again we headed off with no problems. After a one-night stop at an overpriced campground in Statesville, North Carolina with an unlevel site we won’t forget we continued on and arrived at the North Carolina Fairgrounds Campground for a 5 night stay to visit our daughter and her family. This is a first come first serve campground we’ve been to twice before without any problems. This time however we thought we had a problem. A horse show was going on and it appeared every single site was taken. With no other campground anywhere near us we thought we were in trouble. Out of pure luck, site number 1, a lovely level spot right there at the entrance became vacant as someone was just hitching up to leave. I’ve never blocked and grabbed a spot so fast, but I made the call to the ranger, and it was ours. Even he was surprised we had found a spot, especially as he says, site 1. We watched many people arrive after us only to end up leaving without a spot. So glad we got an early start that day.
Over the next 4 days we enjoyed the company of our daughter Melissa, her husband and three of our grandkids aged 6 to 11. We spent time at the pool, played some board games, spent time outdoors playing catch with footballs and baseballs, watched a dance recital, enjoyed a championship little league game and basically did whatever the kids wanted. We don’t get to see them very often, but we just love enjoying the time we do have together.
Yesterday we arrived in Dumfries, Virginia for a 4-night stay. Today we spent the day visiting the Manassas National Battlefield where we watched a film describing the battles and we toured the area. We don’t have any definite additional plans yet but we’re hoping to visit Mount Vernon and take a few hikes right here by our campground in Prince William Forest Park.
Thursday, 7/7/2022 – When I last posted we had just arrived in Dumfries, Virginia located southwest of Washington DC. Following a visit to Manassas that I described in my previous post we spent a day touring Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. His estate has been well maintained and restored to reflect how it was when he was alive. It was a trip to the past as we walked around his estate and toured inside his home. There were also theaters and museums to visit as we learned more about George Washington’s life, the American Revolution, his role in the birthplace of our nation as well as his family life and his love for Mount Vernon. It was a stop well worth the visit.
We left Dumfries on Sunday, 6/19. We left on a Sunday because we had a feeling, and we were correct that traffic would be terrible on any other day getting past Washington. We left early that Sunday morning and had a nice leisurely drive towards northeast Pennsylvania where we had a one-night stay. I believe this was our fourth one-night stop at Tri-State RV Park located in Matamoras, PA. It’s nothing special but it is a great overnight campground as we head towards Massachusetts where we annually stop to spend time with family.
We arrived at my sister’s home (Camp Sawash to us) on Monday 6/20 for a three week stop. Since our arrival we’ve been having a great time staying very busy and visiting with family. At this point we’ve seen just about everyone at least once. We are over two weeks into our stay right now and will head out in less than a week. We won’t get to see everyone and do everything we wanted to do this visit, but it seems that’s always the case no matter how long we stay.
Next week we hit the road again beginning with a one week stay at Lake George in upstate New York. While there we’ll celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long with half of those years occurring after we hit the road. From there it’s a westward route along the northern US and a brief trip through Canada with lots of fun stops before heading south. There is so much remaining to see and do this trip and we’re anxious to get started.
Sunday, 7/24/2022 – We left Camp Sawash as planned on July 13th and made the trip to Lake George without any problems. We began our time in Lake George by exploring the village down at the lake. We walked along the boardwalks, stopped in a few shops and took a tour of Fort William Henry. If you’ve ever seen the movie or read the book, “The Last of the Mohicans”, you’ll get a sense of when that fort was active. Although the book and movie were fiction, the fort and the battles were basically historically accurate. The following day we took a narrated boat ride on Lake George that included a buffet lunch. The weather, the scenery and the lunch were beautiful.
Next day was a drive and short hike to the top of nearby Prospect Mountain to see “the hundred-mile view”. You can see much of the Adirondack Mountains of New York in one direction and the Green Mountains of Vermont in the other. It was a beautiful view! On the 17th we celebrated our anniversary by taking a scenic drive along the western shore of Lake George, stopping for a great country breakfast, then going on to Fort Ticonderoga. After touring the fort, we drove up to Mount Defiance and got a great bird’s eye view of the fort and surrounding area. It hasn’t changed much since the French and Indians battled the British for control of the area. On our last evening in Lake George, we met up with some good friends from our Texas park. By coincidence they were staying in the same RV park as we were. We had a great supper with them at a restaurant right on the Lake.
On our next day we headed off again and arrived in Ontario, NY to visit more good friends from our Texas park who grew up in the area and now have a summer home here. They were wonderful hosts and tour guides. We took an awesome boat ride on a section of the historic Erie Canal followed by a great lunch nearby. That afternoon we were treated to a lovely drive and tour along Lake Ontario near where our friends grew up. On the following day they showed us a couple of the local historical sites such as the William Seward House and Harriet Tubman House, both of which were quite enjoyable and very interesting. Throughout our visit they also made us some great home cooked meals and were great company. It was so nice to see them again!
On the 23rd we left Ontario and settled into the Niagara Falls area. Even though we’ve been here before, getting a chance to look at the falls is always an awesome experience.
Sunday, 8/7/2022 – Once again we had a terrific time while we visited Niagara Falls. We spent our first day walking along approximately two miles of trails that bordered the American Falls. This included stops on the observation tower on one side of the American Falls and continued to Goat Island where we came within a few feet of Horseshoe Falls. The parks that have been developed on the American side have grown over the years and are quite impressive. On our second day we decided to walk over the bridge to the Canadian side. It was at the border crossing into Canada that we learned about the new protocol that has been put into place in order to cross into Canada. They now require each person to have an account on an app that contains a copy of your passport and covid vaccine history. Once the account exists you need to complete a questionnaire prior to each visit. This took awhile and was a pain while standing at the crossing but was worth it because it would have been a lot more difficult if we had learned about it on the following day when we were crossing into Canada with the RV. Once into Canada we spent another beautiful day walking along the Canadian side and taking another close view of Horseshoe Falls, this time from Canada. We enjoyed a lunch with a great view of the falls before returning to the US without any issues.
On the following day we headed out early with the hope of avoiding heavy traffic crossing into Canada. We were successful and had a very short wait followed by an easy interview and border crossing thanks primarily to knowing about the ArriveCan app that we learned about at Niagara Falls. A few hours later we arrived at what was supposed to be our waterfront site on Lake Erie that we had been looking forward to. It turns out it was a water “view” site not a water “front” site and sitting between our motor home and the water was a travel trailer and a shed. We could still see the water from our site, but we were quite disappointed. To top things off, the drain for our sewer hose stuck up over a foot and as most people know, shit doesn’t flow uphill. The manager did cut the pipe for us but it still a pain to use.
Our week in Ontario however turned out much better than it began. Once again, we met up with some Winter Texan friends who lived about 30 minutes away in Amherstburg, ON. We had a great time spending the rest of the week with them. They joined us for an overnight trip just across the Detroit River into Dearborn, Michigan to see the Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village. If you’ve never been there, it is a definite must see for anyone interested in American innovation as it developed through the years.
When we arrived back to Ontario, we stayed busy by visiting historic Fort Malcolm in Amherstburg, as well as a museum that featured a stop along the Underground Railroad for escaped American slaves. We also enjoyed a tasting at a local winery and checked out a local beach where we dipped our toes in Lake Erie. They also treated us to several home cooked meals that were much appreciated. That part of Ontario is so picturesque we loved our visit there.
Back in the US, we headed west toward Minnesota to spend the weekend at a resort where more of our friends from Texas spend their summers. After a few hours of socializing, we headed out for a lovely dinner with two more of our friends who work here. On our first full day, we enjoyed pool time and were treated to a delicious dinner at one couple’s site. Yesterday, two of our friends hosted a dinner for all the folks we know at this resort and tonight we’ll squeeze in one more trip to one of our favorite local restaurants with some of the gang. Time well spent!
Tomorrow, we head south as we make our way down to Omaha to visit family and then through Kansas until we reach Colorado. We still have lots of things to see and do this year. We’ve attached a copy of our full itinerary so that you can see where we’ve been and where we’re going. Still loving this life!!
Sunday, 8/21/2022 – After a two-day drive, we arrived on schedule in Omaha, Nebraska on August 9th. We began our visit by enjoying an excellent dinner with a whole bunch of Claudia’s family at a great local restaurant named Round the Bend, home of the annual “testicle festival”. Yup, that’s what we said. Good food (including the testicles!), good drinks and good company. While we were there, we visited Claudia’s aunt’s home and one of her cousin’s homes. We took a short trip to downtown Omaha and saw the beautiful bronze sculptures of members of a wagon train at Pioneer Courage Park and had a great lunch while there. We also stopped into a local shop called The Brownie Bar which is owned by the brother of the guy that sold us our current motorcoach. The brownies were delish and there are more in the freezer to sustain us on the way home. Our Nebraska family is growing all the time and it was so nice to see them all again, and their new little ones.
When we left Nebraska, we fulfilled a longtime dream of finally adding the Kansas state sticker to our US map. We are living the dream! While there we stopped at the summer digs of some more of our Texas friends.
Then we left the flatlands and headed to the mountains of Colorado for the last month of our journey. First stop was Colorado Springs. We took a drive out to see the Paint Mines Interpretive Park in Calhan, CO. The park features geological formations including spires and hoodoos formed by erosive action that exposed layers of selenite clay and jasper. The clays were used by native Americans to make paint. We got an early start next day to drive up the road to Pikes Peak. The peak is over 14,000 feet high, one of the tallest in the state. The view was magnificent. The temperature was much chillier than we expected. But it was worth the drive. It seemed you could see forever. On the way home we stopped at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings in Manitou Springs. They are a replica of ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi people.
For the past few days, we’ve been enjoying some down time at a nice resort tucked away in a box canyon here in Colorado. We’ve spent a lot of time sitting by the pool and catching up on some reading. Tomorrow, we hit the road once again to begin the final stretch of our road trip. This will include stops at Rocky Mountain National Park, Glenwood Canyon, Black Canyon National Park & Great Sand Dunes National Park.
We’ve decided to head back to our Texas home a couple of weeks early so we’ll be heading back there following the stops we listed. The itinerary has been updated on this web site to reflect these changes.
One last thing we wanted to mention. We discovered that we had some pictures left in our camera from last years road trip. We have updated the “Beaches & Family Reunions” photo album to include these pictures. We also added a new photo album with pictures from our last season in Texas. We’ve got some great pictures from this year to share as well and plan to get them posted as soon as we can.
We’ve got a few busy weeks ahead and we’ll do our best to keep you updated. Thanks for stopping by!!
Sunday, 9/4/2022 – A lot has happened since our last update so let’s start off with our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. We have got to say that this park ranks right up there with our visits to Alaska, Yellowstone & Yosemite. We arrived at a beautiful campsite backing up to a lovely river at our campground in Estes Park on a Monday afternoon. Shortly after settling in we were greeted by several elk including at least one mom and her baby. These were not pets, just wild elk that wondered through the campground looking for fresh grass and berries. We knew right then that this wasn’t going to be an ordinary stop.
On the following day we began our first trip into Rocky Mountain National Park. We travelled along the 45 mile stretch of Trail Ridge Road; a nicely paved road that would take us high into the elevation of the Rocky Mountains. We stopped at many viewing areas and took several hikes including one that provided a gorgeous 360-degree view of the area from an elevation of over 12,000 feet. The drive took us to some spectacular views and some scary hairpin turns as we crossed over the continental divide and back again. Along the way we saw too many elk to count as well as glimpses of moose, bear and numerous other small creatures.
Rocky Mountain National Park is one of those parks that require timed entry permits into the park in order to reduce traffic jams and provide more availability to parking. The system works great because we were able to stop at most overlooks and trailheads without any problems. The following day we used our second timed entry permit, this one specifically for the Bear Lake area of the park. This area also requires the use of shuttle buses to bring you to the various trailheads. On our first day there we travelled all the way to Bear Lake where we took a 2 1/2-mile hike to view three separate lakes, all unique and all beautiful. Along the way we also saw waterfalls, wildlife and a lovely elk who decided to munch on tree leaves smack dab in the middle of the trail. Luckily, she was so engrossed with her meal we were able to sneak past her.
For the remainder of the week, we enjoyed the sites of Estes Park as well as a couple of return trips to the National Park for more hiking. On our final trip into the park, we decided to take Old Fall River Road rather than the more popular Trail Ridge Road. This was the original road into the park, built in the 1920s, and was not paved. This dirt road consisted of some very scary hairpin turns without any guardrails and travelled all the way up to the visitor center that sat at over 12,000 feet. Luckily it was a one-way road and traffic was light, so we took our time, took plenty of pictures and enjoyed the views.
On our final day, we decided to just relax a bit and enjoy our campground. As it turned out, we witnessed something we never expected to see. Late in the afternoon the elk began to arrive. More than we could count. There were way more elk than people in the park including one bull elk that was larger than any we had ever seen. He just munched along with the rest just outside our motor home. They just walked around slowly, eating whatever they could as we wondered around slowly taking pictures. At one point the bull decided we were a bit too close and made a fake charge that made us all jump. I wasn’t that close, but I sure did jump. Rutting season was just beginning and we understand we were witnessing him in the process of collecting mates and proving who was in charge.
This past Monday it was time to hit the road again. We arrived in Glenwood Springs where we planned to relax for a couple of days including a trip to some local hot springs. On our first day we decided to make a quick stop for a hike to Doc Holiday’s gravesite. While driving to get there our Equinox started giving us trouble. We first sensed trouble at Rocky Mountain National Park, but they were subtle hints of what was to come. On the way to the gravesite the car started downshifting on its own and had some serious hesitation while driving. Following our hike, we drove directly to the local Chevy dealer to get it checked out. By the time we arrived it was having serious issues, so we pulled into a parking spot at the dealer. I put it into reverse to back up a few inches and found out it wouldn’t move. It also wouldn’t move in drive. The service techs determined that the transmission of our three-year-old Equinox was blown. The only solution was for a new transmission. It was Tuesday afternoon and Labor Day weekend was just in front of us.
Here it is Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The transmission arrived on Thursday but without a gasket. The gasket arrived on Friday. We talked to the Service Director on Friday, and he informed us that there was no way we were going to get the car back till after the weekend. We had already added a night to our stay in Glenwood Springs but had just been kicked out of our campground due to no availability over the holiday weekend. We had planned for this and we had called ahead for a campsite in Grand Junction, about 80 miles west of Glenwood Springs, so off we went, and here we are. We have cancelled our plans for Black Canyon and are hoping to get the Equinox back on Tuesday as promised by the service director. He also informed us that the repairs were totally covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, and he promised us that they will deliver the car to us here in Grand Junction. Guess we’ll know on Tuesday.
If all goes as planned, we will leave here on Wednesday. We’re hoping to arrive a day early at our next stop in Alamosa, Colorado. There we plan to enjoy the Great Sand Dunes National Park and take a train ride aboard the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. There we’ll ride aboard a Victorian-era meticulously restored Parlor car complete with beverages and snacks as well as a lunch stop for a six-hour 64-mile ride to Chama, New Mexico. We’ll pass imposing peaks of the Rocky Mountains, cross incredible trestles, wind around wide curves as we continue up into the mountains before descending into the Chama Valley. We’ve been looking forward to this and it’s scheduled to be the final adventure of our road trip this year.
In the meantime, we’ve been relaxing in Grand Junction. We’ve been able to enjoy a few restaurants and even get haircuts, all within walking distance. The weather has been close to 100 degrees every day and it doesn’t look like that will change before we leave. Fortunately, they have a nice pool here that we’ve been able to enjoy. We’ve also been able to get caught up with updates to this web site including a blog entry for this past winter and a photo album containing pictures from the time we left Texas until just before we arrived in Colorado. We had forgotten how busy we’ve been. We have good weather, a lovely campsite and each other. What more could we ask for?
Sunday, 9/25/2022 – If you don’t already know, we have arrived back safe and sound at our Texas home in Edinburg, Texas. We arrived here on Thursday, 9/15 following a bumpy start but a smooth finish.
The bumpy start began before we left Grand Junction. The Equinox was delivered to us as promised in Grand Junction, just a day later than expected. Considering our transmission blew on the Tuesday before Labor Day weekend and was delivered to us eighty miles away only eight days later, we felt very lucky. It was on that Thursday morning, 9/8 that we hit our bump. We were packed up, ready to go and received a “low voltage” message on our electronic leveling system indicator. Unfortunately, as a safety measure, the RV will not move with that message displayed. The good news is that we found a great mobile RV repair guy who came out that morning and after spending most of the day with us, discovered the problem and corrected it. It turned out to be an issue with a faulty ground that I could have never figured out on my own. If you ever find yourself with RV troubles anywhere near Grand Junction, Colorado, look up Scott at High Dessert RV Repair.
With that problem resolved we headed off the next day to our final multi night stop of our trip in Alamosa, Colorado. There we were able to enjoy a couple of days exploring the town and hiking at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. This park spans over 30 miles and contains over 5 billion cubic meters of sand to create the largest sandbox in North America. It is also surrounded by the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains making it a stop worth remembering.
Over the next few days, we spent most of our time travelling south through Texas. Along the way we enjoyed a night out for dinner at the world famous Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo where we enjoyed an overrated but still tasty steak. We were fortunate to be joined by some new friends that we had met at the campground that afternoon making it a very nice night out. Our next two nights were simply overnight stops before arriving back at Sandpipers on the 15th.
Since arriving back home we have spent our time, unloading the RV, dropping the RV off for some service, getting the mobile back into shape and most importantly, spending time with our friends that are already here. I’ve been playing some volleyball and we’ve been out to practice some bowling with over a dozen other Sandpeeps.
We’ll be running the bowling league again this year, so we’ve begun preparing for this season of bowling which doesn’t start till 12/9 but teams need to be set up and that’s usually the most time-consuming part. We’re also beginning to think about and make plans for our Panama Cruise that we have scheduled for 11/23 through 12/3.
I guess that’s about it for now. We are currently enjoying our slower pace and spending time with our friends. Our next few months are full of fun stuff as well as several appointments that we take care of each year while we’re here. It’ll probably be a while before I post again but I do plan to finish up our photo album so that you can enjoy some of the photos we took at Rocky Mountain National Park as well as at Great Sand Dunes National Park. Keep an eye open for the “Recent Updates” section at the bottom of this page to see if the photos have been added. I’ll try to get to that within the next couple of weeks.
Take care everyone!! Enjoy your winter!!
We’ll be heading east through Louisiana n Thursday and will be taking another break in Vicksburg, Mississippi over Memorial Day weekend. I see some Cajun food in our future. Lots of good stops in our future this year!!
Thursday, 6/2/2022 – Our last post ended with our arrival in Houston and a lot has happened since then. Our first afternoon in Houston was spent with Claudia visiting a dentist in order to take care of a toothache she just began to have. The dentist determined it was just sinuses, not a tooth and prescribed some meds so we were on our way. The following day we met up with our friends from Houston and we enjoyed a day at The Houston Space Center. It was a very nice take as we explored the world of NASA from the early days of Alan Shepard and John Glenn all the way till the current day. Highlights included walking aboard the space shuttle Independence, the 747 that was converted to taxi the space shuttles as well as reproductions of Skylab and the International Space Station. That evening we met up once again with our friends to enjoy a great dinner together.
We began the following day by welcoming our friends back to our motor home at the campsite so they could see the changes we made since they sold it to us. They are transitioning from taking an occasional trip in their new motor home to taking longer trips and wanted to see how a couple of “seasoned veterans” turned it into a “home” on wheels. Following their departure, Claudia and I headed over to the Kemah Boardwalk, a 60-acre Texas Gulf Coast theme park in Kemah, Texas. The Boardwalk is built entirely along the shores of Galveston Bay and Clear Lake and is considered among the premier boardwalks in the United States. There we enjoyed the beautiful weather and strolled along the bay. It was also a perfect spot to relax and enjoy a cold beverage.
Next it was time to hit the road again in order to make our way east. Our first stop was a favorite overnight stop of ours, Frog City RV Park in Duson, Louisiana. It’s nothing special but it’s got clean, level sites and is close to I-10. On this day our focus was to find another dentist who could perform a root canal. At this point Claudia realized that it wasn’t just sinuses causing the pain and based on a previous visit with her dentist back in Edinburg she knew her only hope was a root canal since the pain had come back worse than before. After several phone calls to our dentist back home she was able to get an appointment for the upcoming Tuesday with a dentist in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Unfortunately, our troubles continued as we prepared to hit the road to Vicksburg from Frog City on Friday morning. Our right rear hydraulic jack decided to give us some trouble. Every time we retracted them that one jack would drop a few inches causing the alarm to go off and keeping us from being able to travel. After several calls for help (thanks but no thanks Good Sam) I learned about a trick to strap the jack up with tie down straps in order to keep it from dropping. After several tries and as I was getting closer to succeeding, all of a sudden it just stopped dropping. I finished strapping the jack anyway and off we headed to Vicksburg, a couple hours later than expected. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but we were timing our departure so that we’d hit minimal traffic crossing the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, always a busy route and worse during rush hours. As it turned out it wasn’t too bad, especially on a Friday of Memorial Day weekend so once past there we were on our way north to Vicksburg. After arriving in Vicksburg, I spent the rest of the day talking to RV techs, one of who said he’d try to come by on Tuesday. After doing my own research however and some testing I decided to pass on that visit since it now appears that the problem is no longer happening. It may have been simply a piece of sand in the hydraulic jack. Time will tell but for now, it’s retracting as it’s supposed to.
Once in Vicksburg we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the area once again. We spent Saturday, Sunday & Monday visiting the area once again. We were shocked to notice that there was hardly anything going on and most businesses were actually closed. We did do a little gambling, revisited the Vicksburg National Battlefield and ate out a few times but this was probably our final visit to Vicksburg.
Tuesday was another day we’d rather forget. Claudia had her dental appointment scheduled for 2pm but we also had to make a four-hour trip to Cottondale, Alabama following her appointment for an overnight stop. I decided to get the RV ready for travel early that day. At about 10am we had the slide brought in and held our breath as we retracted the jacks. Lo and behold, they all retracted perfectly. We were thrilled!! That’s when I noticed the flat tire. Yup, our passenger side rear outside tire had no air. If it wasn’t for the inside tire it would have been sitting on the rim. Once again Good Sam and I had a few phone conversations. During my first hour and a half wait to hear back from them I decided to see what my little air compressor I keep in the Equinox would do. I could only run it ten minutes at a time, or it would overheat but slowly and surely, about ten pounds at a time I was able to fully inflate it to its required 84 pounds. I knew early on that it must have just been a loose tire sensor since it never lost a pound once I began adding air. When Good Sam finally did call me back and let me know that a truck would be on the way in approximately two and a half hours, I canceled the whole thing. Anyway, Claudia received her root canal; the tire held the pressure and we arrived at our overnight stop in Alabama just as it was getting dark.
Wednesday turned out to be a much better day. The jacks came up, tires had stayed inflated and we made it to Chattanooga, Tennessee without any issues to begin a nice four-night stay. We started that afternoon off with a cold beverage and a swim in their pool. Yes, a much better day.
So here it is Thursday, June 2nd. We started off early this morning with a visit to Ruby Falls inside Lookout Mountain very close to us here in Chattanooga. It was a beautiful waterfall but what made it unique was that it was approximately 1,200 feet underground. We had to get to it by descending almost 300 feet in an elevator and then hiked through an underground cavern for close to a half mile to get there. Most of the paths were quite narrow and not for the claustrophobic. It was a fairly level path and the fact that the surface went from 300 to 1,200 feet above us was based on the fact that we actually hiked to an area under a much higher elevation. I can honestly say we’ve never visited a cavern quite like it and it was well worth the visit.
Now we’re sitting back and enjoying what was supposed to be a rainy afternoon. Instead, the sun is shining, I’m getting a chance to update the web site and Claudia is heading out for a few groceries. It looks like another lovely afternoon for a nice quiet happy hour (or two) as we enjoy some much-deserved rest. We have several outdoor activities planned that we’re looking forward to over the next couple of days with a great weather forecast ahead. Thanks for checking in!!
Thursday, 6/16/2022 – It’s been a couple of enjoyable weeks since our last update. In addition to visiting Ruby Falls in Chattanooga we also decided to visit Rock City Gardens, a beautiful area with a 4,100-foot walking trail showcasing soaring rock formations, caves and lush woodland gardens that includes a 100-foot waterfall that cascades down the mountain. It also provides some great views including a birds-eye view from high atop Lookout Mountain where you can see seven different states. While in Chattanooga we also spent some time exploring several civil war areas including Point Park, a ten-acre memorial park that overlooks the Lookout Mountain Battlefield and the city of Chattanooga.
Our next stop took us to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We decided to stop here because we wanted to visit the Smokey Mountains National Park. We were surprised to find that Pigeon Forge itself is quite the tourist attraction, aka tourist trap. It appears the area sprung up when Dolly Parton developed her theme park Dollywood. If you want to drive go carts, ride amusements, play mini golf, take in a show, eat out or anything else that you or the kids might want to do, they’ve got it in Pigeon Forge.
We decided to spend the first day exploring a portion of Smoky Mountain National Park that was noted for having a lot of bears. During our 3- or 4-hour drive through the park we saw several groups of black bears and many cubs. One mother bear was out with her three cubs. They liked to stay low in the meadows, but we had several good opportunities to see them in their own habitat. We also decided to take a hike, so we selected the Laurel Falls Trail, a 2 ½ mile trail that included a view of some fairly nice falls. The trails weren’t too crowded, but it turned out to be quite busy at the falls themselves. It still turned out to be a very nice hike.
We couldn’t leave Pigeon Forge without a little fun so on our final night there we headed out to the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s Dinner Feud where we became part of the longest running feud in history and helped the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s try to settle their differences mountain-style. We enjoyed a great dinner along with singin’, dancin’, and lots of laughs.
By this point we still were concerned with our tire and jack situation but once again we headed off with no problems. After a one-night stop at an overpriced campground in Statesville, North Carolina with an unlevel site we won’t forget we continued on and arrived at the North Carolina Fairgrounds Campground for a 5 night stay to visit our daughter and her family. This is a first come first serve campground we’ve been to twice before without any problems. This time however we thought we had a problem. A horse show was going on and it appeared every single site was taken. With no other campground anywhere near us we thought we were in trouble. Out of pure luck, site number 1, a lovely level spot right there at the entrance became vacant as someone was just hitching up to leave. I’ve never blocked and grabbed a spot so fast, but I made the call to the ranger, and it was ours. Even he was surprised we had found a spot, especially as he says, site 1. We watched many people arrive after us only to end up leaving without a spot. So glad we got an early start that day.
Over the next 4 days we enjoyed the company of our daughter Melissa, her husband and three of our grandkids aged 6 to 11. We spent time at the pool, played some board games, spent time outdoors playing catch with footballs and baseballs, watched a dance recital, enjoyed a championship little league game and basically did whatever the kids wanted. We don’t get to see them very often, but we just love enjoying the time we do have together.
Yesterday we arrived in Dumfries, Virginia for a 4-night stay. Today we spent the day visiting the Manassas National Battlefield where we watched a film describing the battles and we toured the area. We don’t have any definite additional plans yet but we’re hoping to visit Mount Vernon and take a few hikes right here by our campground in Prince William Forest Park.
Thursday, 7/7/2022 – When I last posted we had just arrived in Dumfries, Virginia located southwest of Washington DC. Following a visit to Manassas that I described in my previous post we spent a day touring Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. His estate has been well maintained and restored to reflect how it was when he was alive. It was a trip to the past as we walked around his estate and toured inside his home. There were also theaters and museums to visit as we learned more about George Washington’s life, the American Revolution, his role in the birthplace of our nation as well as his family life and his love for Mount Vernon. It was a stop well worth the visit.
We left Dumfries on Sunday, 6/19. We left on a Sunday because we had a feeling, and we were correct that traffic would be terrible on any other day getting past Washington. We left early that Sunday morning and had a nice leisurely drive towards northeast Pennsylvania where we had a one-night stay. I believe this was our fourth one-night stop at Tri-State RV Park located in Matamoras, PA. It’s nothing special but it is a great overnight campground as we head towards Massachusetts where we annually stop to spend time with family.
We arrived at my sister’s home (Camp Sawash to us) on Monday 6/20 for a three week stop. Since our arrival we’ve been having a great time staying very busy and visiting with family. At this point we’ve seen just about everyone at least once. We are over two weeks into our stay right now and will head out in less than a week. We won’t get to see everyone and do everything we wanted to do this visit, but it seems that’s always the case no matter how long we stay.
Next week we hit the road again beginning with a one week stay at Lake George in upstate New York. While there we’ll celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long with half of those years occurring after we hit the road. From there it’s a westward route along the northern US and a brief trip through Canada with lots of fun stops before heading south. There is so much remaining to see and do this trip and we’re anxious to get started.
Sunday, 7/24/2022 – We left Camp Sawash as planned on July 13th and made the trip to Lake George without any problems. We began our time in Lake George by exploring the village down at the lake. We walked along the boardwalks, stopped in a few shops and took a tour of Fort William Henry. If you’ve ever seen the movie or read the book, “The Last of the Mohicans”, you’ll get a sense of when that fort was active. Although the book and movie were fiction, the fort and the battles were basically historically accurate. The following day we took a narrated boat ride on Lake George that included a buffet lunch. The weather, the scenery and the lunch were beautiful.
Next day was a drive and short hike to the top of nearby Prospect Mountain to see “the hundred-mile view”. You can see much of the Adirondack Mountains of New York in one direction and the Green Mountains of Vermont in the other. It was a beautiful view! On the 17th we celebrated our anniversary by taking a scenic drive along the western shore of Lake George, stopping for a great country breakfast, then going on to Fort Ticonderoga. After touring the fort, we drove up to Mount Defiance and got a great bird’s eye view of the fort and surrounding area. It hasn’t changed much since the French and Indians battled the British for control of the area. On our last evening in Lake George, we met up with some good friends from our Texas park. By coincidence they were staying in the same RV park as we were. We had a great supper with them at a restaurant right on the Lake.
On our next day we headed off again and arrived in Ontario, NY to visit more good friends from our Texas park who grew up in the area and now have a summer home here. They were wonderful hosts and tour guides. We took an awesome boat ride on a section of the historic Erie Canal followed by a great lunch nearby. That afternoon we were treated to a lovely drive and tour along Lake Ontario near where our friends grew up. On the following day they showed us a couple of the local historical sites such as the William Seward House and Harriet Tubman House, both of which were quite enjoyable and very interesting. Throughout our visit they also made us some great home cooked meals and were great company. It was so nice to see them again!
On the 23rd we left Ontario and settled into the Niagara Falls area. Even though we’ve been here before, getting a chance to look at the falls is always an awesome experience.
Sunday, 8/7/2022 – Once again we had a terrific time while we visited Niagara Falls. We spent our first day walking along approximately two miles of trails that bordered the American Falls. This included stops on the observation tower on one side of the American Falls and continued to Goat Island where we came within a few feet of Horseshoe Falls. The parks that have been developed on the American side have grown over the years and are quite impressive. On our second day we decided to walk over the bridge to the Canadian side. It was at the border crossing into Canada that we learned about the new protocol that has been put into place in order to cross into Canada. They now require each person to have an account on an app that contains a copy of your passport and covid vaccine history. Once the account exists you need to complete a questionnaire prior to each visit. This took awhile and was a pain while standing at the crossing but was worth it because it would have been a lot more difficult if we had learned about it on the following day when we were crossing into Canada with the RV. Once into Canada we spent another beautiful day walking along the Canadian side and taking another close view of Horseshoe Falls, this time from Canada. We enjoyed a lunch with a great view of the falls before returning to the US without any issues.
On the following day we headed out early with the hope of avoiding heavy traffic crossing into Canada. We were successful and had a very short wait followed by an easy interview and border crossing thanks primarily to knowing about the ArriveCan app that we learned about at Niagara Falls. A few hours later we arrived at what was supposed to be our waterfront site on Lake Erie that we had been looking forward to. It turns out it was a water “view” site not a water “front” site and sitting between our motor home and the water was a travel trailer and a shed. We could still see the water from our site, but we were quite disappointed. To top things off, the drain for our sewer hose stuck up over a foot and as most people know, shit doesn’t flow uphill. The manager did cut the pipe for us but it still a pain to use.
Our week in Ontario however turned out much better than it began. Once again, we met up with some Winter Texan friends who lived about 30 minutes away in Amherstburg, ON. We had a great time spending the rest of the week with them. They joined us for an overnight trip just across the Detroit River into Dearborn, Michigan to see the Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village. If you’ve never been there, it is a definite must see for anyone interested in American innovation as it developed through the years.
When we arrived back to Ontario, we stayed busy by visiting historic Fort Malcolm in Amherstburg, as well as a museum that featured a stop along the Underground Railroad for escaped American slaves. We also enjoyed a tasting at a local winery and checked out a local beach where we dipped our toes in Lake Erie. They also treated us to several home cooked meals that were much appreciated. That part of Ontario is so picturesque we loved our visit there.
Back in the US, we headed west toward Minnesota to spend the weekend at a resort where more of our friends from Texas spend their summers. After a few hours of socializing, we headed out for a lovely dinner with two more of our friends who work here. On our first full day, we enjoyed pool time and were treated to a delicious dinner at one couple’s site. Yesterday, two of our friends hosted a dinner for all the folks we know at this resort and tonight we’ll squeeze in one more trip to one of our favorite local restaurants with some of the gang. Time well spent!
Tomorrow, we head south as we make our way down to Omaha to visit family and then through Kansas until we reach Colorado. We still have lots of things to see and do this year. We’ve attached a copy of our full itinerary so that you can see where we’ve been and where we’re going. Still loving this life!!
Sunday, 8/21/2022 – After a two-day drive, we arrived on schedule in Omaha, Nebraska on August 9th. We began our visit by enjoying an excellent dinner with a whole bunch of Claudia’s family at a great local restaurant named Round the Bend, home of the annual “testicle festival”. Yup, that’s what we said. Good food (including the testicles!), good drinks and good company. While we were there, we visited Claudia’s aunt’s home and one of her cousin’s homes. We took a short trip to downtown Omaha and saw the beautiful bronze sculptures of members of a wagon train at Pioneer Courage Park and had a great lunch while there. We also stopped into a local shop called The Brownie Bar which is owned by the brother of the guy that sold us our current motorcoach. The brownies were delish and there are more in the freezer to sustain us on the way home. Our Nebraska family is growing all the time and it was so nice to see them all again, and their new little ones.
When we left Nebraska, we fulfilled a longtime dream of finally adding the Kansas state sticker to our US map. We are living the dream! While there we stopped at the summer digs of some more of our Texas friends.
Then we left the flatlands and headed to the mountains of Colorado for the last month of our journey. First stop was Colorado Springs. We took a drive out to see the Paint Mines Interpretive Park in Calhan, CO. The park features geological formations including spires and hoodoos formed by erosive action that exposed layers of selenite clay and jasper. The clays were used by native Americans to make paint. We got an early start next day to drive up the road to Pikes Peak. The peak is over 14,000 feet high, one of the tallest in the state. The view was magnificent. The temperature was much chillier than we expected. But it was worth the drive. It seemed you could see forever. On the way home we stopped at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings in Manitou Springs. They are a replica of ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi people.
For the past few days, we’ve been enjoying some down time at a nice resort tucked away in a box canyon here in Colorado. We’ve spent a lot of time sitting by the pool and catching up on some reading. Tomorrow, we hit the road once again to begin the final stretch of our road trip. This will include stops at Rocky Mountain National Park, Glenwood Canyon, Black Canyon National Park & Great Sand Dunes National Park.
We’ve decided to head back to our Texas home a couple of weeks early so we’ll be heading back there following the stops we listed. The itinerary has been updated on this web site to reflect these changes.
One last thing we wanted to mention. We discovered that we had some pictures left in our camera from last years road trip. We have updated the “Beaches & Family Reunions” photo album to include these pictures. We also added a new photo album with pictures from our last season in Texas. We’ve got some great pictures from this year to share as well and plan to get them posted as soon as we can.
We’ve got a few busy weeks ahead and we’ll do our best to keep you updated. Thanks for stopping by!!
Sunday, 9/4/2022 – A lot has happened since our last update so let’s start off with our visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. We have got to say that this park ranks right up there with our visits to Alaska, Yellowstone & Yosemite. We arrived at a beautiful campsite backing up to a lovely river at our campground in Estes Park on a Monday afternoon. Shortly after settling in we were greeted by several elk including at least one mom and her baby. These were not pets, just wild elk that wondered through the campground looking for fresh grass and berries. We knew right then that this wasn’t going to be an ordinary stop.
On the following day we began our first trip into Rocky Mountain National Park. We travelled along the 45 mile stretch of Trail Ridge Road; a nicely paved road that would take us high into the elevation of the Rocky Mountains. We stopped at many viewing areas and took several hikes including one that provided a gorgeous 360-degree view of the area from an elevation of over 12,000 feet. The drive took us to some spectacular views and some scary hairpin turns as we crossed over the continental divide and back again. Along the way we saw too many elk to count as well as glimpses of moose, bear and numerous other small creatures.
Rocky Mountain National Park is one of those parks that require timed entry permits into the park in order to reduce traffic jams and provide more availability to parking. The system works great because we were able to stop at most overlooks and trailheads without any problems. The following day we used our second timed entry permit, this one specifically for the Bear Lake area of the park. This area also requires the use of shuttle buses to bring you to the various trailheads. On our first day there we travelled all the way to Bear Lake where we took a 2 1/2-mile hike to view three separate lakes, all unique and all beautiful. Along the way we also saw waterfalls, wildlife and a lovely elk who decided to munch on tree leaves smack dab in the middle of the trail. Luckily, she was so engrossed with her meal we were able to sneak past her.
For the remainder of the week, we enjoyed the sites of Estes Park as well as a couple of return trips to the National Park for more hiking. On our final trip into the park, we decided to take Old Fall River Road rather than the more popular Trail Ridge Road. This was the original road into the park, built in the 1920s, and was not paved. This dirt road consisted of some very scary hairpin turns without any guardrails and travelled all the way up to the visitor center that sat at over 12,000 feet. Luckily it was a one-way road and traffic was light, so we took our time, took plenty of pictures and enjoyed the views.
On our final day, we decided to just relax a bit and enjoy our campground. As it turned out, we witnessed something we never expected to see. Late in the afternoon the elk began to arrive. More than we could count. There were way more elk than people in the park including one bull elk that was larger than any we had ever seen. He just munched along with the rest just outside our motor home. They just walked around slowly, eating whatever they could as we wondered around slowly taking pictures. At one point the bull decided we were a bit too close and made a fake charge that made us all jump. I wasn’t that close, but I sure did jump. Rutting season was just beginning and we understand we were witnessing him in the process of collecting mates and proving who was in charge.
This past Monday it was time to hit the road again. We arrived in Glenwood Springs where we planned to relax for a couple of days including a trip to some local hot springs. On our first day we decided to make a quick stop for a hike to Doc Holiday’s gravesite. While driving to get there our Equinox started giving us trouble. We first sensed trouble at Rocky Mountain National Park, but they were subtle hints of what was to come. On the way to the gravesite the car started downshifting on its own and had some serious hesitation while driving. Following our hike, we drove directly to the local Chevy dealer to get it checked out. By the time we arrived it was having serious issues, so we pulled into a parking spot at the dealer. I put it into reverse to back up a few inches and found out it wouldn’t move. It also wouldn’t move in drive. The service techs determined that the transmission of our three-year-old Equinox was blown. The only solution was for a new transmission. It was Tuesday afternoon and Labor Day weekend was just in front of us.
Here it is Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The transmission arrived on Thursday but without a gasket. The gasket arrived on Friday. We talked to the Service Director on Friday, and he informed us that there was no way we were going to get the car back till after the weekend. We had already added a night to our stay in Glenwood Springs but had just been kicked out of our campground due to no availability over the holiday weekend. We had planned for this and we had called ahead for a campsite in Grand Junction, about 80 miles west of Glenwood Springs, so off we went, and here we are. We have cancelled our plans for Black Canyon and are hoping to get the Equinox back on Tuesday as promised by the service director. He also informed us that the repairs were totally covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, and he promised us that they will deliver the car to us here in Grand Junction. Guess we’ll know on Tuesday.
If all goes as planned, we will leave here on Wednesday. We’re hoping to arrive a day early at our next stop in Alamosa, Colorado. There we plan to enjoy the Great Sand Dunes National Park and take a train ride aboard the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. There we’ll ride aboard a Victorian-era meticulously restored Parlor car complete with beverages and snacks as well as a lunch stop for a six-hour 64-mile ride to Chama, New Mexico. We’ll pass imposing peaks of the Rocky Mountains, cross incredible trestles, wind around wide curves as we continue up into the mountains before descending into the Chama Valley. We’ve been looking forward to this and it’s scheduled to be the final adventure of our road trip this year.
In the meantime, we’ve been relaxing in Grand Junction. We’ve been able to enjoy a few restaurants and even get haircuts, all within walking distance. The weather has been close to 100 degrees every day and it doesn’t look like that will change before we leave. Fortunately, they have a nice pool here that we’ve been able to enjoy. We’ve also been able to get caught up with updates to this web site including a blog entry for this past winter and a photo album containing pictures from the time we left Texas until just before we arrived in Colorado. We had forgotten how busy we’ve been. We have good weather, a lovely campsite and each other. What more could we ask for?
Sunday, 9/25/2022 – If you don’t already know, we have arrived back safe and sound at our Texas home in Edinburg, Texas. We arrived here on Thursday, 9/15 following a bumpy start but a smooth finish.
The bumpy start began before we left Grand Junction. The Equinox was delivered to us as promised in Grand Junction, just a day later than expected. Considering our transmission blew on the Tuesday before Labor Day weekend and was delivered to us eighty miles away only eight days later, we felt very lucky. It was on that Thursday morning, 9/8 that we hit our bump. We were packed up, ready to go and received a “low voltage” message on our electronic leveling system indicator. Unfortunately, as a safety measure, the RV will not move with that message displayed. The good news is that we found a great mobile RV repair guy who came out that morning and after spending most of the day with us, discovered the problem and corrected it. It turned out to be an issue with a faulty ground that I could have never figured out on my own. If you ever find yourself with RV troubles anywhere near Grand Junction, Colorado, look up Scott at High Dessert RV Repair.
With that problem resolved we headed off the next day to our final multi night stop of our trip in Alamosa, Colorado. There we were able to enjoy a couple of days exploring the town and hiking at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. This park spans over 30 miles and contains over 5 billion cubic meters of sand to create the largest sandbox in North America. It is also surrounded by the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains making it a stop worth remembering.
Over the next few days, we spent most of our time travelling south through Texas. Along the way we enjoyed a night out for dinner at the world famous Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo where we enjoyed an overrated but still tasty steak. We were fortunate to be joined by some new friends that we had met at the campground that afternoon making it a very nice night out. Our next two nights were simply overnight stops before arriving back at Sandpipers on the 15th.
Since arriving back home we have spent our time, unloading the RV, dropping the RV off for some service, getting the mobile back into shape and most importantly, spending time with our friends that are already here. I’ve been playing some volleyball and we’ve been out to practice some bowling with over a dozen other Sandpeeps.
We’ll be running the bowling league again this year, so we’ve begun preparing for this season of bowling which doesn’t start till 12/9 but teams need to be set up and that’s usually the most time-consuming part. We’re also beginning to think about and make plans for our Panama Cruise that we have scheduled for 11/23 through 12/3.
I guess that’s about it for now. We are currently enjoying our slower pace and spending time with our friends. Our next few months are full of fun stuff as well as several appointments that we take care of each year while we’re here. It’ll probably be a while before I post again but I do plan to finish up our photo album so that you can enjoy some of the photos we took at Rocky Mountain National Park as well as at Great Sand Dunes National Park. Keep an eye open for the “Recent Updates” section at the bottom of this page to see if the photos have been added. I’ll try to get to that within the next couple of weeks.
Take care everyone!! Enjoy your winter!!
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