Sunday, February 27, 2011

All Good Things Come to an End

Sharon and I Started our RV adventure November  2009 and what a ride its been …..I said that we’d travel until we found the place we wanted to settle down ……
       I really thought it would be many years until that time would come……We made it to Phoenix , AZ. , and we ran into a a man from Sharon's past looking at a house . His name is Tony Gregorio , Sharon use to baby for him , well actually his daughter Angel .
I also have known  him , his wife Pam and a couple of their kids ……A good family….
Well the housing troubles we all saw on the television the last few years , were happening here live and very sad too . Sharon and I went to look at the house that Tony was looking at and met his realtor Tom .
  A few days later we looked at a few and found one that was wonderful . It was built three years ago and after a couple of offers and counter offers we ended up buying it for a third of what it sold for three years ago .
This is our new HOME :
 At first I thought we could sell the RV and buy a travel trailer for our summer home at Green Harbor campground . But it isn’t going to happen for a while . we are going to stay here FULLTIME , and go to Rochester to visit a few weeks every summer . Maybe after social security kicks in we wil be able to go for the whole summers .
          We will still travel around the west coast and blog . Just not as often and not for long periods of time .
I hope to see you all at one time or another , either in N.Y. , here in Arizona or just on the road  .
       
Happy Trails to You ……..

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Texas USA

Our first stop in the great state of Texas was in a small town of Wallisville TX. The time here would be short , only two days but the experience would not be .
We headed to the Gulf of Mexico via the Bolivar Peninsula , that’s where Sharon and I saw the working oil wells  we’ve never seen before .
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I started to wonder why there weren't more housing along this gulf shore …….Sharon remembered that this is where Hurricane Ike hit only a year or so ago ……
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 Mile after mile of empty shore and streets …….
We drove the 20 miles along Crystal Beach , finding only an occasional house being built or done ……very sad ……
At the end of the road is Port Bolivar and a short ferry ride to Galveston TX.
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Galveston , is a neat city ……  lots of shops and older buildings ……It also had one of Sharon’s favorite places ……Ice Cream Shoppe ……
We drove back to the campground and were treated with a nice bridge ride :
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we’ll be heading to Elgin TX. , home to one of Sharons’ friends from when she was a young newspaper girl ……

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Christmas in the South

We arrived at Abita Springs Resort in Louisiana on the 21 of December …….and only a 45 minute ride to the” BIG EASY “ that’s right Christmas in New Orleans LA……..

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The route we took to New Orleans was on this 24 mile bridge …..we couldn’t see any land and it looked like a bridge to nowhere …….

The first thing we saw was the Silver Dome …..it  brought memories of  Hurricane Katrina , I think it was only five years ago …..

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Next , we had to find parking , not an easy thing to do , lots wanted $20.00 for all day parking….They are nuts to think I’d pay that much……1/2 hour later I found no free parking ….DARN IT !!!!  I did remember a fellow camper told me if you  gamble only 30 minutes the Casino lets you park for  “FREE” in their ramp !!!!  That’s for us I said to Sharon ,as smart as I am , when I’m done they’ll be paying me to park there !!!!  OK needless to say it cost me over $125.00 for parking ….Will I ever learn ?

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So , here's the French Quarter :

Bourbon St . is just like you see in the movies ….and on TV…..Bar after bar and we were there during the day  , but you can feel it’s the nights when all things good and crazy happen !!!!!

Next we went to the St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square .   Really big and beautiful ……

It was time to find something to eat ……we  wanted to try the food known in the Quarter ….we found a neat café and ate on the second floor balcony ….

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This was the view and the weather was a little cool but sunny …… I ordered a Muffaletta , it’s a round sandwich with ham , salami and cheese grilled with and olive oil and green olives dressing  …. uuummm so good …..Sharon had a chicken and fish gumbo ….

The Casino had a snow machine going outside …so we had a feel for  Christmas's past  …It was fun to see the kids playing

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Oh and Santa was here too …..

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That’s it for now …from here we head to Wallisville TX and we all know everything is HUGE in Texas ….

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

2010 WINTER TRIP HAS STARTED

We started a little late this year due to Sharon needing  some surgery …..here she is just before under going the knife …looking good too ……

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Well , all went fine and a week later Sharon's  Dr. Wendy said that we could start our winter trip…..

We left on the 5th of November about an hour after that doctors appointment.

Our first stop was Gettysburg , Pennsylvania . The weather was cold  , but no snow yet …We stayed there for two days and then left for Longsville , North Carolina .

Last year we met Dan and Tricia at the “ RV-Dreams “ 2009 Rally .They invited us to stay at their place sometime soooooo.  we did .. What a good time we had . They are both fun and loving people , we felt like not only relatives  , but like relatives that you actually enjoy ……Tricia made some great meals and fantastic deserts too .

Here is our “ SITE “ at their place :

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It’s a beautiful  home ……It also goes up for sale in the spring when they’ll join us as fulltimers……how cool is that ….

It was Dan that made me need a bike after seeing his set up for hulling his Harley ……..

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and 5th wheel .. a sweet set up he engineered himself.

Dan and I went to a Veterans day celebration in town on 11 November …we rode the Hogs there ……

And then took a ride around the area :

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Tricia and Dan had a chili and bomb fire party  with friends and family ….It was a great start to our winter trip and look forward to see them both again soon …maybe this summer up in Green Harbor …….Thanks for the fun, Guys  …….

……Heading north to our next stop , Lake Gaston Resort in Gasburg , Va. Its part of our program of campgrounds and therefore the fee’s are free ……we spent four days there …..a nice park and a bunch of cats

From there we traveled north to Paul and Laura’s for the 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Dinner ………

Paul and Laura made arrangements for us to camp on a Navy base for $20.00 a day……its about 8-10 mile away from their house…….it was very convenient . They had a full house this year , Lauras’ Mom and Dad , and this year Pauls’ Mom Esther and husband Michael  came down and Steve and Teresa with the boys ; Tryston and Baylan too came for dinner . Pauls’ cousin and my favorite nephew Andy came from D.C. for a few days . They made a turkey in the oven and a deep fried one too ….

We had a group help with the deep fried one ……

it seems with the beer and nice weather it wasn’t hard to get help !!!!!!!!!

Paul did the carving and everything turned out so so goooood ….

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That’s me back at the kids table !!!!!!!   I guess that is really where I belong and we had a ball ….Steve’s boys are so much fun and well behaved… He's a good Dad ………

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Laura made a cake for my birthday it has very tasty ….TY

I did find some time to nap :

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It was another 10 days of family time and good times , some pictures of the 10 days …….

We drove around the Navy Base and found the SeaBee Headquarters ; here's me with the BEE….

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We left Norfolk with full tummies and good memories …..

Now its time to head south ……..

Next stop , Jackson Springs N.C. at The Sycamore Lodge  ; we were there for four days . We didn’t anything there ; it seems I left Norfolk , VA , with a cold and not much energy . Sharon did take some picture of the grounds , it’s a beautiful place .

Our next stop Greensboro , GA. A place called “ The North Shore Resort “ A neat idea for a campground all the buildings and cabin are made up of old railroad cars …..Many of the individual site are at different levels giving great views of the lake .

Can you tell we are getting more south from this sign ?

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I'm sure they lost the C stencil . Who am I kidding if I didn’t have spell check no one would be able to read my blog …..

We did some antiquing and found this shop with all Pakistan and India rugs , clothing and material . It didn’t really interest me until this woman appeared and we started talking ……We told her we traveled during the winter months and camped up north in the summer. It turned out she traveled  as  a child with her parent who were American State department employee’s and then so was her husband .  She invited us for tea and crackers , I’m not one to pass up a free meal . She made Green Tea with some sort of star shaped additive to take the bitterness away ..and flat bland crackers ( no jelly too ) . Sharon and I stayed there for over an hour and had a wonderful time . I wanted to hear about her life , but she keep going back to  us  talking about our life style . I felt like she couldn't talk about the State Dept. maybe Spy's I thought in my mind ….

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I very neat lady …. Time well spent and one of the things I like most of traveling …..the people we meet and all the things I learn from them ….

On to more shops ….found this very cool hat …Sharon said no …GEEEEE

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The 8th of December came and was our time to more on ……

Live Oak , FL . and seven days at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park ……I’m still not feeling 100 % In fact I think for the first time Sharon drove for a few hours …….

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She’s good too …..told me not to get use to it….Yea , Like I would take advantage of any situation …..

The park is neat and in the spring and fall home to some big name entertainment …….at the peak I’m told over 50,000 people ………its on the river with the same name ……can’t really tell from the pictures , the water is clean and clear …..

I went for a ride on the Harley ( weathers not allowed it often ) and found a place to play Texas hold um ….Played for about 2 1/2 hour and only lost $20.00 ….. ( ok …Sharon reads this too sooooo )

That's about it for now ….Sorry its not to exciting , I am starting to feel a little better ……Tomorrow we head to Alabama …continuing our Adventure.

In closing , Sharon and I celebrated Twenty years as husband and wife  on the 7th of December 2010 .  Some measure a life by the amount of money or the size of a house or by great things they do ……I find that I’m so BLESSED to have a friend and companion that’s with me supporting and loving me all the time  …..I want for no more then to finish life with her …….. How lucky am I ?