We’re HOME!!

This was a Grand site to see as we entered Arizona….

We took the Phoenix Bypass at Casa Grande, taking I-8 to Hwy 85 in Gila Bend, then back up to I-10.  At exit 103, we turned north to Wickenburg and on up to North Ranch.  This route avoids the traffic through Phoenix.  We arrived yesterday shortly after lunch.

I just love this cut across.....it’s a little curvy and wavy but it is beautiful.  It brings you into Wickenburg from the south on Vulture Peak road.


It takes you right by Vulture Peak....Ms. Pat snapped a picture as we passed. There is a nice boon docking area just off the road at the base of the Mountain. We have hiked to the top many times with several of our friends and look forward to doing it again. This Peak can be seen from our lot at North Ranch.  Hey, "geocachers", there is a local "cache" on the top put there by the Chamber of Commerce!


This sign pretty much describes the road but it is an easy trip and the road is excellent…


You can just “inhale” all the beauty, which is just what I am doing as the Foretravel Motorhome easily traverses the curves and small hills……. 


Even before we get to Wickenburg, you can see North Ranch where we live way off in the distance (where I placed the +).  It is a good 12-15 miles away. You can see we are way out in the boonies, which is what we love!


Soon we arrived at North Ranch.  Ms. Pat and I are both anxious to see our home that we left nearly 6 months ago……..


We pulled up in front of the place and unhooked our pickup. I backed the Foretravel into it's spot and  immediately took this picture, even before we went inside.  WOW, doesn’t the place look good? Look how the trees have filled out since we cut them back last year and Gina, your rock gardens look wonderful. All the solar lights even work.

We are so glad to be here and to find the place in such good shape.  Thanks to our great friends and neighbors Paul and Nancy for looking after it for us……

Now we have a ton of work to do!! Ms Pat is already started and I better get to helping her….

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!         It’s going to be a GREAT WINTER!!

Thanks for riding along with us and if your in the area, be sure to stop by or give us a shout….
We are ever so Thankful to our Father in Heaven for continuing to place his blessings on us….
See ya Sunday.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Crossing Texas..

We traveled the 4 states of FL, AL, MS and LA all in one day but it’s taking us 4 days to get across TEXAS!

If you remember we arrived here at Motorhomes of Texas Sunday for some scheduled work and servicing of our Foretravel on Monday.


They pulled us in early Monday morning and began working. This is Mark on the left and Isaac on the right as they serviced our Coach.



They had everything all taken apart as they began looking at different things we had on our list besides the routine annual services.


They totally serviced our big 475 HP Cummins powerhouse, the Allison 4000 6 speed auto transmission, the Aqua Hot  heating system, the leveling air system and the 10K Power Teck diesel generator, plus a few other things. We only traveled 12,000 miles last year but we have found the better you treat and service these big rigs, the better off you are. It usually pays off in the long run. Plus, it makes us feel a lot better!


The last thing was replacement of our driver's side windshield……..glad it’s a 2 piece’er but it is still a big windshield.

Friday morning after a few more quick adjustments on our HWH computerized air leveling system, we were good to go.  We are pleased with the work these guys do and the attention they give even to the smallest items.  They are still the greatest bunch of guys to work with I have run into and make you feel like part of the MOT family. Since I bought the Coach here they provided us with a 20% labor discount and 10% off all parts!!


We took on some fuel and headed Southwest out of Nacogdoches. We cut across Texas and avoided the horrendous traffic of Houston, San Antonio and Austin and hit I-10 at Kerrville. Although we have stayed many times before at the beautiful Buckhorn Lake RV Park, this time we went to the Elks Club for the night. It was a nice club and just happened to be their Meal Night. They provided us with complimentary Happy Hour and the BBQ dinner was only $10.00 per person.  We had a great 350 mile easy day.

Saturday morning we were out of there at 7:30 and continued our trip West on I-10.  The TracStar in-motion satellite dish worked perfectly and we were able to watch the Nebraska-Penn State football game. Well, I should say Ms Pat watched it. I was busy driving and she scolded me if I even glanced at the TV. But she gave me a play by play action description. By half time, we had gone the 300 mile quota Ms Pat has me on and I watched the last half from my recliner.  WOW, it was a super game and back to back to that game was FSU playing Miami.  Our teams Nebraska and Florida State both won their games… What a day!!

This morning we are head on West and hope to make Deming, NM. tonight, which should be no problem since its only 290 miles.  Personally I would just like to drive right on to North Ranch non-stop but Ms Pat puts the kabash to that and says 300 miles is our limit.  I think she had the guys at MOT install a special 300 mile a day monitoring device. If I go over 300 miles, lights flash and alarms buzz. :-)  I love driving this big motorhome.  It is so easy and comfortable to drive, I could go on forever....but us guys are like that.  Right Mike, John and Rollie?

We plan on spending Monday night in Tucson visiting our 2 Grandsons. Mike and Stephen. It will be so good seeing them again…..yesterday was Mike’s 17TH Birthday  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!  I know your Dad wishes he could be here to celebrate it with you but I know he is with you in "spirit".  It was good talking to you on the phone last night....we'll see you soon.

Then.....if all goes well we will pull into North Ranch at Congress, Az on Tuesday.  Here we come Paul and Nancy!!  Have the red carpet ready.  We are both so anxious to get to our Southern Home.  It's been about 6 months since we left and I’m ready!!! What a trip we have had back to Florida…..I’ll go into that next time..

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by……..

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Weekend with Rollie, Gina and Family

Friday morning we got all settled into Rollie and Gina’s place in Denham Springs, Lousiana. They had a beautiful place for us to park on a concrete pad.



I really enjoyed some quality time with Rollie. 



This is Gina’s beautiful Rock Garden and Pond.  It is so peaceful and calming.



Soon it was time for one of those wonderful Louisiana meals that Ms. Pat and I love so much….


Rollie and Gina really know how to cook.... just look at this beautiful Crawfish Etouffee over rice…  Yummmmm, it was so good!


Saturday morning we even had time for one of my favorite pastimes, a little Target Practice.



I also noticed a different Flag displayed out front and the atmosphere soon changed to Football!!  This is LSU territory…NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!


Purple was the color of choice and the party began…… Rollie’s Dad on the left, then Ricky(his
brother-in-law), Gina, Rollie  and me getting ready for the 7pm game.


Here is Ricky, Dana (Rollie’s sister), Gina and Rollie for a quick picture in front of the fireplace.



About 6:00 pm we all gathered over at Ricky and Dana's place, just a few houses away, for the big game of the Century..... #1 LSU vs #2 Alabama. That’s Ricky and Dana's son and his wife with front row seats. Let the cheers BEGIN!!


Even their pets were wearing LUS colors.  What a beautiful dog.....I loved him.


Way too soon it was Sunday morning. Time for our goodbyes to a weekend that was so special to us.  I knew it would be hard to leave and I don’t like goodbye so we said  “So Long Kids”.  We love you all very much and thanks for all your wonderful hospitality.



We headed on West through Baton Rouge and then across the Mississippi River.


Then about noon we crossed over into the big state of Texas.



At 3:00pm we pulled into our destination for the day. Motorhomes of Texas in Nacogdoches. We had traveled 300 miles and the timing was perfect.  We pulled in and found a parking spot and hooked up, put out the slideouts,turned on the A/C, sat back and enjoyed Happy Hour.

Monday morning at 8:00 am sharp, they pulled us into bay #2 and two technicians began servicing our Coach. Both of them have been working almost non-stop the last 2 days and hopefully they will get us out tomorrow. I’m impressed with the work they do and how they are dedicated to customer satisfaction. They let us live in the coach while they work.



Several have asked about little Abigail, Rollie and Gina’s first and only Grand Child.  Here is a picture of her and her very proud Grandparents. Isn’t she a beautiful baby? So alert and look at the hair!! She is only 3 months old. This picture was taken in California on their last visit. I wish she had been here in Louisiana so we could hold her and hug her but maybe we'll get to see her soon.  Her proud Daddy, Thomas, is in the Marines and has been overseas.  He just came back to the States and saw his beautiful baby daughter for the first time……  Praise the Lord!!

I wish I could show more pictures.  There are dozens and we had such a wonderful time. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the space.  Hope I’ve shown you a little part of these great “Kids” that we have adopted. I’m sure PROUD to call them Family.

Is is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and hurry back.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

On to LSU Country……Rollie and Gina’s

Wednesday we had a great day visiting Ms. Pat’s Son Gus and his wife Billie in Slidell, LA.  Gus is a builder but his main love is Fishin’.

This is his Fishing boat and he lives right close to many openings to the Gulf of Mexico. It was really windy or he would have taken us out.


Gus and his Mom spent some quality time together.  They hadn’t seen each other for way too long!!  We sure need to do this more often.


This is Gus and Billie. Gus wanted to shuck us some Louisiana Oyster's and show us how they are even bigger and better than Apalachicola Florida Oysters..


WOW!!!  Now take a look at that!!  BIG!!!  And delicious!!


Gus also had some Gulf shrimp he fixed for us.  Now those are SHRIMP!!  He put them on Shish Kabobs and grilled them with some steaks.  Now let me tell you with those super oysters, it was a meal to remember.  Boy are we gonna miss this Seafood!!

Gus and Billie took us all around and showed us the area where they live and Gus works building houses and fishing. Here is Gus, Mom and me saying our good byes and wishing we had more time to spend together.. Thanks Gus and Billie for a wonderful day!!  Somehow we missed getting a picture of Bear, their beautiful boxer dog, but we did get a picture of his house in this picture.

Wednesday we had some PressurePro systems to ship out and other work to do before we headed on West.  Gus stopped by before we left to tell his Mom how much he loved her and how glad he was we stopped by to visit.

Our next stop, less than 70 miles away was to two of the greatest people in this world that came into our lives only by the Grace of God, Rollie and Gina, our Kids.  Rollie met us at the Interstate 10 exit and led us to their place just a short distance away..  

This is there beautiful home near Baton Rouge, LA and this is the house Rollie was raised in. Soon our Motorhome was comfortably parked in the back yard.

We had such a wonderful time with these kids.  They are such a joy to be around. Ms Pat and I can not stop thanking our Father in Heaven for placing them in our lives… Praise God!  It was such an enjoyable weekend and we have so much to tell and show you about that I can’t do it the justice it deserves today.  Plus, we must get on our way this morning and travel on West 300 miles to Nacgdouches, TX. to MotorHomes of Texas.

Tomorrow morning early we have an appointment to give our Motorhome it's first annual checkup.  So, I am sorry but you must just wait until Wednesday to see and hear about our fun filled weekend with Rollie, Gina and more of their Louisiana family.    LSU was playing  football  at Alabama Saturday night and Ms Pat and I found out how seriously these LSU graduates take their football.. It was truly the game of the Century. Plus LSU won!!  They get almost as worked up as us Cornhusker fans and FSU fans.....but not quite. :-)  It was Fun, Fun, Fun.  I didn’t get back to the Motorhome until 10:00 pm last night and that is way past my bedtime. But it was worth every second of it…..

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping b.  Be sure to stop back on Wednesday…

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Good Bye Florida.....Time to head WEST!

Our 3 weeks in Florida were sure enjoyable.  We all knew it had to end sometime and Monday was the day we had to leave and head West. We certainly thank everyone for their gracious hospitality.  The 3 weeks went so fast it was unbelievable.  Now you all have to come see us!!

Our first stop as we headed West down I-10 was only 130 miles to Ms Pats home town of DeFuniak Springs, Fl. Her sister Sabra still lives there.

This is some of Sabra's family.
Left to Right:  Granddaughter Tiffany with Great grandson Cadon, Grandaughter Brianna with Great granddaughter Hadley, Daughter Cindy and Sabra

Pat's sister Sabra and brother-in-law Tom.

Tuesday morning we again headed West. It wasn't long until we entered the state of Alabama....

Shortly after you enter Alabama you come to the city of Mobile. On I-10, the George Wallace Tunnel is a long tunnel that goes under the Chickasaw/Mobile River. It's quite a long tunnel and we have 

pulled all 4 of our RV's through it at one time or the other.

Here we go down into the Tunnel and under the River......

This was taken right about in the middle of the tunnel.  It is neat and I enjoy it every time!

Soon we were out of the tunnel and on our way. It don't take long to cross Alabama and soon we were entering Mississippi.  While crossing this state, we stopped for fuel at the Flying J in Gulfport.   At $3.799, it was the cheapest we could find anywhere on our entire trip to AZ. We ran the tank lower than we usually do and I was getting a little nervous until we pulled up to the pump. We had traveled over 1000 miles since our last fuel stop and it took 155 gal to fill it up. Do the math and yep, the bill was almost $600.00! OUCH! Could anybody loan me a few bucks? :-)

Mississippi is not very wide down here on I-10 either, so we were soon crossing into Louisiana.. Hey, this is the 4TH state we have traveled in the same day!!

Soon we were almost to our destination for the day, Slidell, LA, where Ms Pats oldest son Gus lives. We haven't seen him for years and years.

We are using our new Elks Membership a lot.  It sure beats the heck out of Walmart parking lots and I sleep a lot better!    It was an easy find just off of I-10.......

Check out that Spanish Moss hanging from the trees.

There were a couple other RV's here but still plenty of room for us. Only $11.00 per night with 50amp and water... You can't beat a deal like that.

Ms Pat called her son Gus and he came right over and we sat and visited for a couple hours. Ms Pat was so happy to see him. We will be going over to his place this morning and look forward to spending the day with him and his wife Billie.

Tomorrow morning we will continue our trip on West with a short trip to Denham Springs, LA., the home of two more of our wonderful KID's!.....Rollie and Gina.  We are both so excited to see them, we can hardly wait. It's been a long time.....TOO long!!!

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!
Although we celebrated Ms Pat's Birthday last Saturday at her Daughters place, TODAY is her Official Birthday!

From the bottom of my heart I want to wish this wonderful lady that God so Gracefully and Thankfully placed in my life over 25 years ago,
A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
I love you very much my dear!!

Thank you for stopping by and riding along with us on our journey.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday