Merry Christmas

We spent Christmas with the Henslers. Tim, Carol, Mark, David plus Mark's fiancee Chrisha and her brother Jesse came to our house. We had roasted chicken, ham and the fixens. Cindy made a delicious cranberry stuffing. We had vegan gravy and green beans and mashed potatoes. There was a lot things to eat for us vegans. We had a good assortment of desserts too. There was board games galore to play plus Dan brought his big screen HD setup. We watched stuff on it and playing WII games on it is a lot of fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Dan's bathroom remodeling

This week Dan and Mike remodeled his downstairs bathroom for his new renter/friend, Ken. The bathroom was in bad shape and needed a new vanity and tub/shower surround. The shower area had ceramic tile which had to removed because the drywall was water damaged and some of the studs were termite damaged. So we hammered, chipped, soldered pipes, pushed, pulled and did what ever it took to make the bathroom usuable and pretty. There is still some drywall repair to do around the shower and that will be done in a week, but at least the bathroom is now usable.

We're home!

Today, Friday December 5 we drove 2 1/2 hours from Palm Springs. We dropped Dan off at his house first. His cat Jake was waiting for him. Cindy and I picked up Subway sandwiches on the way to our house to satisfy our appetites. I guess we didn't feel like cooking. Anyway we had a great time travelling and seeing things and visiting Steve and Sudi. It was a little tight all living together in our compact motorhome but we enjoyed ourselves in a new adventure.

Last Stop

Tonight we are staying in the Palm Springs area in Desert Hot Springs at a nice RV resort that has a natural hot springs well that fills the hot tub and pool. We've been here before and it is so refreshing. Dan loved it. After we made pizzas and had dinner we jumped in. Tomorrow we leave in the morning and head for home, only about 3 hours away! No place like home.

Petrified Forest

Today, Wednesday we woke up to a light dusting of snow in New Mexico. We took off to Arizona to visit Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert which kind of surrounds it. We took the 28 mile route which winds around inside the park. It is very colorful and we saw a lot of petrified logs and parts of logs. Millions of years ago the whole area was flooded with water and covered the trees. Silica from the water saturated the trees and turned the wood fiber into minerals and stone. There are no trees standing now just pieces of tree logs. For years people just took the petrified wood and made souvenirs and really scavenged the area. It was finally made a national park and is now a criminal offense to take anything out of the park. Tomorrow we head towards Flagstaf and then maybe camp one more night and return home Friday morning.

From Texas to Home

Yesterday we left Benbrook, Tx for home. We got as far as Amarillo, Tx and dry camped at a Flying J Travel Center. We parked with the big rig trucks. We got gas for, gasp!, $1.57. Today we are staying at an RV park near Albuquerque, New Mexico. We got there early so we went and saw some very interesting Indian ruins. Then we drove back to the RV park and Dan cooked us dinner- Hamburgers and baked beans with chips and salsa. It was delicious!

Thanksgiving weekend at Steve and Sudi's

We are finishing up an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend today. We have been sleeping in their spare room, Dan in their study. Our motorhome is at a local RV park. It's nice having a big bathroom to shower in and a better bed to sleep in. Steve has been driving us all over the Benbrook area which is near Fort Worth seeing the sites. It is really like country, no malls just a few stores here and there. For lunch we went to Fuddruckers for veggie burgers. He took us through a few new housing developments. All the houses around here are mostly all brick, no stucco here. You can get a "mansion" here for 3 to 400,000 dollars or a nice 3 bedroom for under $200,000. He took us to a little quaint historic town kinda like Julian called Granbury. We walked around the stores and bought a few trinkets. Today, Sunday, Steve and Sudi are taking us to their church service. Last night Dan and I went to St. Bartholomews Catholic Church in Fort Worth a nice church that is all brick inside and out. It had a very nice choir. Today Sudi is going to fix us a Chinese lunch. Then we will, sadly, leave Monday morning for home.

Steve and Sudi's House

We arrived in the Fort Worth area late Tuesday to visit Steve and Sudi. Since we were 1 day early we went to see some of the sites of Fort Worth and went to the Fort Worth Zoo which is a pretty nice zoo for its size. Then we drove to Steve and Sudi's house and were given the grand tour. A very nice brick house in Benbrook. We are spending 4 days with them for Thanksgiving. Sudi and Steve are cooking a sumptious Thanksgiving meal, Mexican style and vegan! Last night we all went out to a nice Pizza Hut restaurant for dinner.

Carlsbad Caverans

This weekend we spent the time in the Carlsbad Caverns area. On the way here Dan got his chance to experience motor home driving. He did good. When we got to the city of Carlsbad we found our RV park and we set up camp and Dan set up our internet and his equipment. Are running 3 laptops. Dan set up his stop motion camera so we can see what our neighbors are doing while we are out touring. Sunday we toured the caverns. The immenseness of the caverns is mind blowing. We descended over 800 feet below the surface. We went on two self guided tours and one guided tour. This is one thing to see before you die for sure. It is better than any other cavern we've before. The formations are beautiful.
Today, Monday we are leaving and have to plan what sites to see through Texas. We know there are a lot of oil wells and flat land to see. We have about 8 more hours of driving to get to Benbrook, Texas to visit Steve and Sudi. We heard there is a chance of rain and SNOW by Thanksgiving!

Texas Bound

Yesterday we left on our Texas trek with Dan in our motor home t visit Steve and Sudi for Thanksgiving in Benbrook, Texas. We spent the night in Yuma in an RV park after Wal Mark kicked us out because of a city ordinance. Seems this is the RV park capitol of the United States. There are rv parks all over the city here for some reason. We are stopping at Carlsbad Caverns on the way. We should be there in 2 days.

Veterans Day

Today was a beautiful Veterans Day. The weather was perfect, not too hot, slightly cloudy. The day ended with a beautiful sunset. It's great to be an American in the USA!

Halloween '08

Today we had a fun halloween night. Kids were scared left and right with Hagatha hissing and spitting. Dan's friends were here lending a hand. Cindy made veggie lasagna and meat lasagna for eats. Need something other than candy for sustenance.

Fence project completed

Yesterday I completed the fence in our backyard by painting it. (actually a stain) I used my airless paint sprayer which really speeded up the job. It still requires a brush to blend it all in. Cindy says I looked like an alien!

Jeannie's baby shower

Last Saturday, Oct. 18 Jeannie, Bob's wife had a baby shower. Cathy who was visiting here and sleeping in our motorhome went with Cindy to the baby shower. Jeannie is due November 14 for a caesarian delivery. It is a girl.

Cathy Visits Chula Vista

Cathy flew down for a few days to attend a baby shower for Bob Boyce's wife, Jeannie. Yesterday we took Cathy to see a few of her friends: Kathy who was her bridesmaid and Margaret who actually made her wedding gown. Then we took her to Dan's house so he could give her the "tour";
Then we finished the day off with dinner and a tour of the grand Otay Ranch Town Center mall.