Return Trip to Florida 2009

Our first stop was Clayton, NM. On the way, we saw some pretty fall colors but it is really hard to shoot pictures while moving. Not too many places to pull over either! We were greeted at our first campground by a real roadrunner. He stayed put (in our site) for me to get a picture. That was cool! Next day was Elk City, OK where we sampled elk meat that we purchased at our campground. It was pretty good for a packaged dinner that you boil in a bag. Due to bad rain and wind, we extended our stay for a second day before we left for Sallisaw, OK. On Friday, 10/23 we traveled to Cabot, AR to visit with family for a few days. It was a nice visit with Debbie, Valarie, Richard and Regina. We also met the stray white dog that has claimed Debbie's house as her own. The dog is part coyote and part pink ears. It was hard to leave her there but with three animals already.......I'm dumb, but not stupid! Takers anyone ???? The family visit was great with good food, gabbing, a Nascar race enjoyed in a big living room and a chocolate martini. On the way to Vidalia, LA we passed the time looking at cotton fields. Without mountains, the drive is pretty boring. Our campground in Vidalia was right on the Mississippi River and we enjoyed a nice walk along the river. After leaving Louisianna, entering Mississippi at Natchez and then back down into Louisianna again, we arrived at our spot in New Orleans. We were in a "gated community", but not because it was an exclusive neighborhood. (More like the "hood") Anyway, the visit with Shawn (Norm's Son) was good. We ate great N'awlins cajun food, had a few beers and played disc golf at a very pretty park. The food was good as always and we tried to work it off by walking in Shawn's neighborhood and the French Quarter, not to mention 18+ holes of folf! On the 30th, we arrived in Navarre, FL at a campground on the Navarre Sound. It is complete with it's own beach and tiki huts. We enjoyed a couple of beers on the beach and conversation with some fellow campers. The weather changed on Saturday from hot, humid and miserable to cool and sunny. Everything I remember that I love about this area of Florida. We got to get a fish sandwich at the beach and I love that too. Today we found a Unity Church and met some nice people and now it's time for Nascar. The trip has been great so far, even with the propane compartment flying open while we were on the highway and having our credit card denied at a gas station. Seems after traveling from state to state since last March, they decided to do a fraud check. (Thank you for that experience, Visa)
Tomorrow we are supposed to leave this campground but I'm enjoying the weather so much, I may need to check out some other options.....

Last week in Colorado

This week was still cold, but nice enough. Norm had to disconnect the water several days but we also got to enjoy hooking up and using the inside water instead of the jugs, bottles, buckets. We had a nice deer family visit our site and caught Butch (cat) cuddled in our new bedspread! I remodeled while in Montana....new bedspread, throw rug and dishtowels. One day I shopped with Abbey and her friend, Hannah for Abbey's belated birthday. It was a fun day for me, and I hope for them too. Norm also laid out a disc golf course for the Castle Rock RV Park and we played the course a few times. Nice job, Norm. We also took a 2 mile hike in a VERY nice neighborhood. On the last weekend, we did some window shopping and a nice lunch with Gregg and family in Littleton, including a Halloween store where we were all scared of a granny doll who rocked and talked and looked pretty bad. Mason thought twice about passing by her. On Sunday, we played 18 holes of folf with the whole Banks family and of course, I got the highest score. (That means I win, right?) The best part was that Mason copied Grandma's "super tee off" throw. After folf, Gregg fixed us stuffed hamburgers for dinner and we headed home to get ready for Monday's take off! It's so nice to be able to see the kids and so hard to leave.....

Can't believe I forgot the white water rafting!

Where was my head? One of the highlights of summer Kamp was the white water rafting trip that Walt took us all on. We had different trips, of course, but all were exciting and fun. Some were wetter than others. In our trip, Pat decided that Norm should get wet so he tackled him off the raft's edge. They both went in and Norm is still planning revenge, Patty boy. Same thing happened in Mike Darlin' and Jan's ride when Neal pushed Mike in. Sheri went in with a bit of help from one of the fast rapids and so did Tracy and Marika! Fine boss that we have, he purchased the raft just to take us for a free ride. Is that also why he has his snowmobiles, etc? Thanks again, Walt! Oh...new discovery, you can click on a picture to enlarge it and then click the back arrow to go back to the posting.

COLD in Colorado

It has been Really FINE cold (Norm's version of the "F" word learned from my Sister)in Colorado since last night. Yesterday was rather glorious at about 55 during the high of the day, but down to 19 degrees during the night. We played folf in Castle Rock during the day, with the dog and it was great. After sunset tho' it was a whole different story. We had a new neighbor pull in and hook up to our water hydrant, hose and all and turned the water on. (Ours was unhooked to prevent our water lines from freezing & to prevent the hydrant from breaking). At about 10:30 Norm went out and turned off the hydrant to try to save the water supply. Turned out, the hydrant broke anyway due to the neighbor having the water on, so we are using buckets, bottles, etc today to wash dishes, flush the toilet, brush teeth and make ice for coctail hour! I'm roasting a turkey breast to use the oven to heat up the RV. Hope we don't run out of gas.....
It's really odd, the turkey breast didn't quite defrost in the fridge after almost 3 days and the ice didn't quite freeze after 24 hours. What is going on?

Rocky Mountain Park

Really great day with the kids at Rocky Mountain Park. We left early for the drive through Estes Park (small tourist town) to the Rocky Mountain Park for a hike with the kids. It was a beautiful day, not too cold, not too hot. The hike was about 3.5 miles and it was the kids longest hike. They did great, though we were all hungry when we finished. The final destination, the "Pool" was not all that great, but the Elk sightings were fun and exciting. One of the pictures is of Long's Peak which is the mountain Gregg hiked a while ago. (overnight hike up a 14,000' elevation) Needless to say, it was a hard hike and he suffered altitude sickness and the Marmots got his backpack food. I don't think I want to do that hike.......not the height thing, just don't want to loose my trail mix! We ended up in Estes Park and joined the tourist crowd and Gregg & Jen treated us to hamburgers, then some shopping. It was a wonderfull day and Chassis was really glad to see us when we got back to the RV.

Spending time in Colorado

Since the kids work weekdays, we spend our time with disc golf in both Castle Rock and at Colorado Springs at Cottonwood Creek. We've also hiked the Spruce Mountain and enjoyed a campfire with some of the current workampers here and a nice dinner with our former employers, Ian and Sally. The Spruce Mountain first hike is a funny story. I accidentely lost my camera on the way up and only noticed it when I tried to take a picture of some orange leaves. So, we headed back down to look for the camera when a woman on the way up asked if we lost a camera! Of course we said YES, and she said she didn't have it........but, she had the phone number of a young man who found it. We called, got his address, found him and the camera and offered a reward. He gave us the camera and kindly refused the reward of $20.00. On our way home, I decided that we had earned $20.00 in that transaction and should stop at a restaurant we had heard about for a "free" lunch. The restaurant is called "Three Margaritas", so..........we had to use the credit card as lunch cost us twice the amount of the reward! Good lunch, way too much food and way too uncomfortable in my clothes during the following folf game. At least it got me started on a new less food direction, for now.....
The next hike at Spruce Mountain was the full 5 miles up, around the top and back down. Chassis went and only barked at a few people.

Dawson Butte Hike

Today was one of the warmer days. Shorts & Tees! We hiked a new trail to us which is near the campground. It's 5 miles through meadow and some forest. Thankfully, no ups! Saw Fall in the pretty grass colors and maybe the last vestige of Summer in some daisies. On the way home, we saw a herd of Elk! That was a neat surprise so we pulled over to get some pictures.