You can see more picture on the Utah photo & Zion National Park page.  Next we went to
 Zion National park there again the scenery was extraordinary, ( I think the Kolob Zion is more photogenic), Zion National
  

will take you at a minimum of 3 hours to explore you need to take the tram to all areas except through the tunnel, there are 7 stops and each one has walking trails, some are easy and some harder and longer.  Since I cannot walk very far, I know I missed a lot, but what I did get to do was worth every step.  Zion photo page.

After all of the exploring we were asked to put Texas Hold'em on here at the clubhouse, so of course Mike and I agreed. Jim was the one to instigate the idea, he and Sandy were a couple we had meet in Alabama at Styx RV park and played Texas with them in 07, I am really glad we played as we all had a lots of fun and have been asked to do it again this Monday.  Here are a few pictures of the game and players

Above Bob takes 3rd, winning hand pair of Kings, Sandy takes 1st place.

We are having fun and will update again soon.

Love Carol

 (Please do not listen to him only stopped to take pictures and happen to find a necklace that was inexpensive and beautiful, the Navajo gal who made the fetish necklace did a great design and sold the piece for $20 so I couldn't pass it up, right?)

We finally made it to Ferdizona, and Carol blinked, didn’t even know that we went through the town.
Instead of going over the mountain past Kanab I figured that I would take the valley over to Hurricane. Looking at the map the little line for the road just kept getting thinner and thinner; man I hope that this is not a mistake. We might be out in the middle nowhere on the Indian Reservation parked on the side of the road for the night. This is not one of the things that I would really like to do.

 
Man, what scenic drive it is. If ya ever get up in that neck of the woods, or should I say rocks, I recommend it highly. The colors were just great and the road, although just 2 lanes, was really pretty good. Not much traffic and really enjoyable, even with Carol's never ending stops she would yell stop and there I was trying to figure out where in the world was a wide patch of dirt, I made sure I pleased her as you just don't know what might happen if she did not get those pictures .

 
Since our GPS croaked we had replace it with another one. Yep, we are going to call this one Bertha also. She gets lost once and while. I thought that as time progressed it would be better than the last one. WRONG! I think that Tom Tom made it worse. She would tell us to turn around going down a straight road, turn when there was no street. I think maybe she is just a little confused, or is it one of those blonde things. (Hey watch it there fellow you are married to a blonde)
Anyhow, we finally got to Hurricane and we figured that we would call the park and see if they could take us a day early. Yippee, they can. Hey, we got this thing made now. Only 15 miles from the park and it is only 3:00. Cool!
Now that we are in Hurricane Bertha says, “Go right”, ok, and away we go. Carol and I both think left, but hey, Bertha knows the address, so let’s go. WRONG!

We finally get to I 15 and since I had already looked up on Google where the park was we backtracked down the interstate to the Hurricane turnoff. No problems. There is the old Highway 91 that runs along the Interstate and that is where the park is. Ok, again no problems. Made the off ramp turned left got on 91 and we are on our way. Pretty good road for an old highway, hey, there is the Distribution Center for Wally Mart, yep saw that on Google also. Can’t see the lake that is supposed to be here but that is ok, OH NO, what happened to the Black Top, IT’S NOW DIRT. Now, this is not hard dirt, but, that fine red clay, that when a fly would fly over it there would be a dust storm from his wings flapping. And we just had the car and coach washed and waxed..Bummer. Just before getting to the gate of the park it turned back into blacktop. And lo and behold there is another street, yep you guessed it that went by the lake and is all black top. Without the dirt section in the middle. Got in the park, with sewer and 50 amps.
Hey this RVing is tough. Maybe it is just the pressure. Would I like to go back to work and leave this life style? Heck no.
Oh boy, 50 amps. I think that the first thing I am going to do is make a pot of coffee, and take a little rest.
 

 I thought Mike could make coffee the way they used too don't you!!!!

Take care
Mike



 

 they must have known Mike was coming as they had the coffee on. 

The Calvary served lunch from the kettles that they used back in those days. There are more pictures on the Az photos page.  The weather was warm so we only stayed for the morning did not eat the lunch as we had had a late breakfast the clubhouse, if we had known we would have waited and ate with the Calvary as the food smelled great and they gave me a peek at one of the kettles and it had a pineapple upside down cake and boy did it look good. 

We will be moving on Thursday and be at St. George (going in under AOR) on Friday where I hope to have my desktop fixed, they say it is the power supply, Mike says probably is as the amps at the Western Horizon Parks are not that great seems they are always low on power.

So until then Love Carol

We went to Montezuma's Castle yesterday, we had not been there for over 30 years and the erosion is very visible, if you have never been it is a cliff dwelling high up in the side of the limestone cliffs you can see more pictures on the Arizona photo page Teddy Roosevelt found the site in the late 30's and named it a National Park.  With our National Park pass it did not cost to go in otherwise you would have had to pay $10 per person.  By the way it is just off of I-17 exit 289 north of Camp Verde and it is also the turn off to the Casino which you pass to go to the monument, NO  I did not stop my year is not up yet.  We will be leaving here next Thursday and both Mike & I can't wait as the wind is getting too us, it is windy here every day we just hope it's not so in St George, we do like the temperature it has been in the low 70's during the day and around 40 at night.

See Sedona and other AZ towns 

Sedona is known as an Artist town

 Oil painters and Jewelry, it is 46 miles south of Flagstaff and about 120 miles north of Phoenix, it was only 30 min. from Camp Verde where we are staying.  

Tomorrow we go to Montezuma's Castle an Indian Ruin not too far from here.  Will also take pictures for all too see.  Enjoy the pictures Until tomorrow

Love Carol

Camp Verde about 2 1/2 hours north of Phoenix. It is green here, with lots of cottonwood trees and green weeds.  The park is nice lots of wind but cool,  When arriving we had to go to a site that had no septic for 4 days and today we moved to one that has septic but only 30 amps.  Most of the sites are back-ins and there are a few that are pull through they are for the Western Horizon members, since we came in under ROD we don't rate for one of those sites.  There are a lot of activities and plenty of meals if you want to eat here at the park.  We have had 2 breakfast here and for $5 bucks not bad meals.

As Mike said the entertainment on Saturday was great

Jesse (the dad) Molly ( 14 year daughter) and M'chelle (mom) they played and sung country western, Molly plays the mandolin & violin she has been playing since she was 4 and she is really good, they have a good following and are great to hear, everyone sings wonderful so if you ever get a chance to hear the Hired Hands sing and play make sure you go and listen and dance. There CD's are 2 for $10 so we bought some.  Love the songs they do, click here so you can see the CD'S and contact them for purchase and too see where they will be next.

After spending 3 days in Oxford getting the coach worked on, We were ready to get to our RV park in Langston, AL. on the Guntersville Lake, 69,000 acres of water, with all of the trees and grass, I am enjoying not doing anything.  Temperature right now averages 78 and the breeze off of the water makes it cooler at night.  Coming here was easy except the hwy. was again concrete and all we did was bump up and down the road.  I again wish that the person who thought this was the way to go on our highways should ride up and down on them in an RV, I bet they would be changed in no time.

We are enjoying the RV park since we are only 50 ft from the water, all of the spaces are wide and with grass, Brigg loves it.  Mike purchased a remote controlled sailboat while in Fairhope, he is having a ball with sailing on the lake the only problem with this is he wants to sell the car and purchase a boat!! 

We had to go into Scottsboro for Brigg who had his legs looked at. He had been limping and I was worried that he had pulled his ligaments, but the vet said it looked like arthritis so we have him on meds, they seem to be working as his walks ok now. We plan on going into Guntersville on Tuesday and look around.  The area we are in has had tornados, thank goodness, nothing while we have been here and hope to leave before they would have one. I am told that it is nice during the summer and they do not get snow in the winter just turns cold. I would imagine with the lake it would also be icy.

There is a lot to do and see around here also, Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, US space center in Huntsville, Lookout Mountain, Sequoyah Caverns.  So if you want peace and quiet and a place to stay plus places to see the ROD park of Mountain Lakes Resort is the one for you!

We are almost to the end of this first journey, since the goal was to go see my relatives in PA, we will be there on May 23rd and am getting anxious to see them. Our next journey is for Mike to plan, as he does not plan and likes to just make all right turns it will be fun to see what is in store for us.

We have 2 more stops before PA one in Nashville and the other in Indiana so until then hope everyone who is keeping up with this journal are enjoying it with us.  If you have any comments as to what you would like to know about the areas we have or are going to be in, please email me as I would love to hear from those who read this and your ideas.

One day at a time

Love Carol

Mike never had to ask for a refill of coffee this mug was about 4 cups. My ice tea mug was even larger. You order dinner, while waiting for dinner someone comes around yelling want a roll, you raise your hand and it is thrown to you They never miss, not one roll is ever found anywhere except in your hand.  Then right behind him there is the fried okra, you put a paper towel on the table and he fills it up, right after him is the apple butter for your rolls, then comes the dinner, it is so large that you wonder if you could eat even half of it.  If you finish your plate you can ask for seconds no charge, as you are eating someone comes around with fried potatoes and onions, these were the best ones I have ever tasted, they were crisp and so delicious, right behind him is someone with black eyed beans and then here comes the macron and tomatoes, oh no more rolls and more okra. I had ordered the ribs and were they ever delicious, the baked sweet potatoes that they serve with the brown sugar and cinnamon tasted like you had just made baked honey sweet potatoes.

If you walk away from here hungry it is your own fault.  While eating, my waiter, came over and asked if I wanted a refill of my ice tea, I was about to tell him no thank you, when he started to pour and the pitcher ended up spilling on my lap, I jumped and looked, the joke was on me the pitcher was fake with hard something.  I had heard a lady scream when we first sat down and now I know why.  They also come around and ask if you want some mustard then proceed to spray you with funny putty. If you ever get to Mobile take hwy 59 towards go till you see Home depot and right to the left there is Lambert's Cafe.  no credit cards accepted, cash or checks only.  Our meal along with buying the mugs, and tip came to $50, which for all of the food you get is worth every penny. Great way to end our stay.  Thanks Bill for telling us about this.

We are now going to head north to our next destination. Until then have a Great Day

Love Carol

We drove into Fairhope today, this is also down 59 except you turn on the scenic 98. It is a small old town of artist and authors, 

it is an old town with lots of specialty shops and plenty of shopping, we then went down to their pier, 

where you can see the gulf and beautiful wonderful fountain

surrounded by roses. The aroma was just wonderful, all of the roses were in bloom and there was a lot of variety including   on this picture

 when you click to see larger view find the lizard taking a rest. you can see more of Fairhope on the Alabama page

Today we started in Robertsdale, AL, headed to Mobile and came home via Florida.  Wow, what a trip.  It is odd to think that you can be in one state and within no time be in another not even knowing that you have entered.  We wanted to go to the Orange Shores where we had heard of great museums, gulf shores, plus shopping.  Since I knew Mike did not want to go shopping, he would enjoy the gulf waters instead, that's where we ended up.  First, by the time we got to the gulf shores it was lunch time so we stopped at the Orange Shore Welcome center to find out a good restaurant to eat at, they recommended The Original Oyster House

   The special was Mai Mai,

Mike had his done blackened and I had my grilled, they both were real good. After eating our lunch we drove along the gulf shore.  Ended up at the National Seashore the cost would have been $8 but with our Golden pass there was no cost to us. looks like you are seeing the ocean not the Gulf of Mexico. The National Park very clean and you can walk from one side of the road going from the gulf to the inland straight which by the way (if you had a boat) could take all the way down Florida to the Atlantic Ocean.   Mike is wanting to do just that, and is trying to talk me into buying a boat and getting rid of the car.  It would be nice but there is no way I would get rid of our car, we can see more land then water.  It turned out to be a great day

 and Brigg even enjoyed the day.←Mike and Brigg

There are more photos of our journey in Mobile on photo page.

Until tomorrow have a Great day!!

Taking one day at a time

Love Carol

Oh boy, what to talk about. Just the everyday hum drum of RV living and the typical things that keep ya on your toes. But, it sure beats the way that most folks that live in houses. They get up in the morning and try to figure out what they are going to do for the rest of the day, or just lay around waiting for something to do.

I think that one of the best things about living in a RV is that you will always be surprised of all the things that you did that day and what is going to happen next. You never know. Here, let me back up to the last week, while we were in LA.

As ya already know, I like my coffee in the morning, so, I took this shot of the lake on my way to the club house to get a cup. It looked so serine and peaceful. With the sunrise just getting ready to pop up to clear everything off. Man what a sight.
The park had already set up Easter Sunday for a Easter Egg Hunt, Potluck dinner, and a lot of activities for the kids. Anyhow, with nothing planned until noon Carol was going to sleep late, so it was just me and the dog.
Ahh, around 10 in the morning after 3 or 4 cups, the dog and I were under the awning just relaxing, remember we are not one of those folks that live in a house, so anything can happen, and it usually does. Quite away down the road I heard this siren just letting go, Oh no, must be a fire or something, and then another one started, then a third, and then a whoop, whoop. Holy cow, must have been a bad accident. Now if you haven't been the southern states let me tell ya, the roads down here were made for two small cars to pass, and be careful when you do. I kind of noticed that the sirens were getting closer and closer, but why were they taking so long to get by the Park. Heck, it sounds like they are coming in the park, Hey, they are. I can see the Fire Truck, a real big red one. Uh oh, is there a fire somewhere, don't see any smoke. OPPS, there is an ambulance, oh darn, someone had a heart attack and they came to get them to a hospital. Wait a minute, they seem to be lost, or are they looking for a number on one of the stalls? They are only going about 3 miles per hour. Yep, they were going pretty slow. The noise by this time was deafening. There were 9 units coming through the park and they all had their sirens on. By this time Carol has come out of a deep coma and really was upset by not getting her beauty sleep. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON OUT HERE? Like there was something I could do to stop it. Well, I did have a fire going and there were fire trucks coming. Maybe the fire was to large, or high. It was a pretty good fire, but heck, I had it all under control. Anyhow I thought so. What are all those people doing taking pictures of the Fire Trucks for? Sure I realize Fire trucks, Ladder trucks, ambulances, and the Fire Chief don't go though RV Parks with there sirens on everyday, but heck, when ya have seen one Fire Truck yuv seen them all. HEY! Looky there. That great big White Thing. It is throwing candy, and beads, and all sorts of things to the big and little kids. Aint no grownups in this here park, were all kids, just some are bigger than others. It is the Easter Bunny! Hey neato. The fire fighters every year do this and it was quite a surprise, kind of scary to tell ya the truth, until you finally figured what it was all about. Oh well, it was time for Carol to crawl out of the sack anyhow. What all that commotion, even I couldn't have slept through it.
See what I mean by RV Living, Ya never know what is around the next corner. It is really quite interesting to learn new things, and meet new friends. Who by the way you just might run across in you later travels. It is a small world.

Catch ya later
Mike

After all of the excitement of the Easter parade and my being woken up by that bunny, we went to the clubhouse for the potluck, I made my famous deviled eggs, the food and the company was great, at first I thought we might not get any as we were at table 4 and they were drawing to see who got to their food first and of course ours was the last to go.  You don't want to be a table where we are, since this was the 4th time we had been last to get food.

Their was still plenty to eat and the fried chicken was one of the best I had eaten in a long time. Renea who you see in the background wearing the cowboy hat is the manager along with her husband Lamar, boy do they work, they keep the grounds and the park spotless and they make sure everyone is happy and having a good stay.  This is one of our top 10 parks to stay at.

That's Charlene and her husband Dean sitting with me, they played at the Texas Holdem games, Dean won 2nd the night I won 1st.  Great couple.

We are now in Styx River RV park and will be here until the 23 of April, then we go north. 

Will have more to say about Styx and Mobile, Pensacola later.  Going to explore.

Until tomorrow
Love Carol
 

We made it to New Orleans yesterday,   overcast and a little warm, about 80 downtown and only 70 at Abita Springs.  Too get there from Abita we drove across one of the largest causeways, it crosses the Lake Pontchartrain, which is 23 miles long. It looked like you were crossing an ocean, you could not see any shore line the fog was preventing it.

 Walked the River Walk and ended up at

Harrah's Casino, decided to have the buffet, was not worth the $28 for the two of us.  We try and not eat out too much normally the food served not worth the money.  Mike and I agree on one thing I may not know how to cook many dishes but they sure taste better then the so called food you get in restaurants.

We were going to take a Harbor Cruise, but the tour would take too long and we had been away from Brigg now over 4 hours, funny thing was, Sam and Juanita who are right next to us in Abita Springs, as we were walking ,as large as the New Orleans area is I couldn't believe there they were having a rest right there on the river walk.  Anyway by the time we got home Sam had taken Brigg for a walk, informing us that Brigg had watered 3 trees.  So we could have taken the tour.

When downtown you could not see any damage from Hurricane Katrina, but Sam said that he drove back to Abita, along the I-10 instead of the causeway and he could see lots of damage, &  all of the homes along that route had not been repaired and are still abandoned. Sam said it was a depressing site.

Abita Springs is growing on me as there are a lot of places to go see if you want to drive 40 minutes or more, but the thing I love is the lush greenery and the color of the landscape.  It is just like being at a Botanic garden.  With the lakes here at the park, I have even been able to fish.  We don't need a license as this is a private park, I just have the fun of catch and release.  I caught 3 today and they were very small but it was fun. next time I hope to take the camera and take a picture of the fish that got away.

Covington, just outside of Abita Springs, where we were trying to find a UPS store, this lead us to the heart of the old town, it looked like the French quarter of New Orleans, new business has been built on the outskirts and when I say new business this area is growing exceptionally large, when asking different people were we might find the shipping store, each and everyone said they did not know as they were not from here.  We must have asked at least a dozen people, they are either transits from Katrina or have come because of all of the growth.  There are help signs all over, if one was looking for a job (no Mike! I'm not), I don't know what they pay, but if you like the winters which look to be great, as long as no tornados and hurricanes, and the summers which are hot and humid, then this might be the place to work, we have meet one couple who come here for the winter and work then leave for the summer, they live here in the RV park and say they have done this for several years, and other then the rain so far, they can enjoy the area and still make a little extra money, the weather since we have been here has been overcast with a couple of days of light showers, very nice, we are enjoying the climate. 

Tomorrow we hold our Texas Holdem game and there is an RV maintenance program at the clubhouse, looks like it might be a busy day.  On Sunday there will be a pot luck dinner for Easter, I am bringing my deviled eggs, if I can get them out the door before Mike eats all of them.

Hope everyone will have a Happy Easter.

Until Tomorrow Carol

We have now been in Abita Springs, LA for about 1 week, the foliage here is beautiful the streets are lined with bushes of pink purples and whites,  Wisteria is hanging from the trees and the begonia's are pink purple & rose and just beautiful

We took a Cajun Swamp tour the other day and we were treated to many different types of foliage and alligator's.  

There are more pictures to see on the Louisiana page and I have

put together a short film of the tour.  The weather here has been overcast and humid, I like the overcast just don't care for the humidity. 

Mike went to the open house of Abita Springs Brewery the other day ,came home a little on the happy side.  He said the beer there was good especially the Tobadog beer, it's a dark beer.

We have been active by putting on the Texas Holdem games and are enjoying doing so. There are not as many people who participate here at this park so it makes winning not as profitable, but it is fun playing even when you only have about 14 people to play.  (I won 1st place the other night playing the $1 buy in). 

There has been one tornado warning since being here but nothing has even come our way, thank goodness.  I know I like the foliage around here and the greenery but not the climate nor the idea of having to always listen to the weather to find out it's time to get out fast.

We will be going to the French Quarter on Monday the 2nd and check out the town of New Orleans.  As we were going to the swamp tour, we did see some of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, there were homes that ended up in the swamp and a lot just blown apart, you would think after 3 years the homes would have been cleared from the property or removed from the swamp, but that is not the case, one wonders what the insurance and the state is really doing with the money from the government to clean up.  I feel sorry for those that are still waiting for help.

A lot of the people here in Abita are construction workers or counselors to help people in the surrounding area, we learned that the swamp rose 17 feet during the hurricane and the water reached all the way to Abita springs, about 45 min. away from New Orleans, damage here, in Abita, fallen trees and debris, the homes here in Abita had some wind damage but none were blown away that we could see.

There is a lot of new construction going on here, lots of new business and homes. Abita Springs is a small community and with all the new growth it will need lots of help with the roads, there was a garage sale on the weekend and the police had to direct traffic as there was no way to move on the two line roads.  The whole town was selling, it was like a huge swap meet, only at all of the homes and schools.

We have eaten out twice and the prices are a little higher then other places, guess they are trying to make up for lost income.  The service at these restaurants not so great, don't know if they just can't hire help, as there are help signs all over.  If one was looking for a job, I believe no matter what you would get hired. Mike says we could stay here and I could go to work, NO WAY!!

Until tomorrow

Love Carol