The Paiute ATV Trail

Every since we started ATVing and found out about the Paiute Trail in the mountains of south central Utah we have wanted to come here. So when we started making our "bucket list" we knew we were headed this way!

The Paiute ATV trail is a 236 mile loop over three mountain ranges and through rugged canyons and deserts that have been designed for recreational ATV riding. From the main Paiute Trail there are numerous side trips leading to spectacular scenery and all kinds of opportunities which make up over 800 miles of open roads and trails open to ATVs.

We made reservations for a week at Lizzie and Charlie's RV/ATV park in Marysvale, UT and that was the beginning of a "beautiful relationship"!! From our site we can see mountains on 2 sides of us and the Trail is right here! So cool! ATVs are allowed on the streets and they are everywhere. There are about 90 sites here in the park and at each site you will see at least one ATV and usually two or three. And everyone is so friendly. Marysvale was hosting a UTV rally and the park filled up quickly with campers and all kinds of ATVs and UTVs.

As soon as we pulled in and got parked our neighbors beside us and behind us came over to say hello and to welcome us to the park. Bob and Loretta, beside us, have been coming here for 6 summers and know all the trails and offered to take us out on some. Their friends, and our "behind" neighbors, Karen and Jim are here for about a month. Jim and Karen travel in a 37 foot motorhome with their family of 5 dogs and live in their motorhome fulltime. I can't believe we were so fortunate to have parked by these fun and friendly folks!

The first day here we explored just a little on a close portion of the Trail and the next day we joined up with Bob, Loretta, Karen and Jim and took off on our quads for lunch in the small ATV friendly town of Koosharem. By the end of the day we had traveled over 90 miles up and down and through the most beautiful mountains, large stands of aspen, and spruce forests with spectacular views from mountain tops.Wow. It was a fun day but our tushes were pretty tired at the end of it!

By the end of the first week we had ridden almost every day and we just couldn't get enough! The park sits at 5800 feet elevation and we have been up as high as 11,500.This place was everything we had hoped for. We decided we needed more time to see and do so we paid for 3 more weeks here at Lizzie and Charlie's and will ride ride ride!

We like the weather here too. It gets into the mid to high 80's through the day(sometimes 90)and down to 50 or so at night and day time humidity has been as low as 14%! Just right to leave the windows open for sleep. If we do run our A/C it is just for a short time in the late afternoon. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Sevier River runs along part of the Trail and we hope to get to get on it in our kayaks! We will need to do that during the week though because the week-ends the river is busy with white water rafters. There is a lot to do in this area. So if you are ever near Marysvale,Utah be sure and stay at Lizzie and Charlie's RV/ATV park. You can read all about it on their web site www.lizzieandcharlies.com/

I will post more later in the week and hopefully some pictures. Until then you will find us on the trails!

Month 2 of Summer travel

We started our second month in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We had enjoyed the lower part of the state so much we didn't think it could get any better. But it was great.

We explored the Lake Superior area for a few days and found it to be beautiful, peaceful and remote a lot of the time. We camped in a Michigan state forest campground along the great lake. We were able to hear the waves at night and ride the quads through the day. We had no cell service, no TV and no internet....again! But it was so much fun to take the ATV trails to some of the light houses and to pick wild blueberries that were growing along the trails and county roads.

We got suggestions from people we met as to what we should see while we were in the U.P. and did actually take in a lot of the places mentioned. One of these places was Tahquamenon Falls. They are touted to be one of the largest falls east of the Mississippi.The Upper Falls has a drop of nearly 50 feet, is over 200 feet across, and can propel a maximum flow of more than 50,000 gallons of water a second over the edge. There is also a Lower Falls located 4 miles downstream that is smaller but just as spectacular. We spent several hours there and were glad we got to see it.

We also drove(the truck this time) to Pictured Rocks National Seashore and it went on for miles! It was well worth the time we spent. We had great weather for our time in the U.P. We were able to leave the bus windows open at night and the days were just right for exploring.

We knew we only had so much time so after our day at Pictured Rocks we moved south a few miles to a National Forest campground on Lake Colwell and rode the quads on the trails in that area. Here the trails were also snowmobile trails and weren't as much fun as the actual ATV trails we had enjoyed up near Lake Superior and down in lower Michigan. But the area was just as beautiful and we are glad we got to see it.

We left Michigan and stopped in Crivitz, Wisconsin to see our friends from Texas, Ed and Karen Dimmick. Karen had told us when we all left Texas that if we got close to Wisconsin to stop in and so we did. They took the day and showed us around where they live. And let me tell you the U.P. has nothing on this part of Northern Wisconsin. Absolutely beautiful. They have the tall pines, blue water, waterfalls and much more. And while we were riding around they took us to see other Texas friends,Roger and Gloria, Rosie and Jim, and John and Carol(only John wasn't home)It was fun to see where everyone lived. What a great day with good friends.

Wow! What a month!

Well, we loaded up our toys and left southern Indiana headed north on the 20th of June and are having a great time seeing new places, making new friends, and kayaking and riding our ATVs.

After a stop in northern Indiana to order a new couch for the bus we drove north to a wonderful National Forest campground near Hesperia, MI. Pines Point campground is a very popular spot for a lot of the locals to bring their families and cool off in the White River. They float on innertubes, kayak, paddle canoes and swim.

Our first day in Pines Point we met Mike Wambaugh and his great family and the next day we all loaded up in his truck and ours and hauled 9 kayaks and one innertube up river a few miles and floated back down to our campground. What a neat float! The river was fast enough with just enough ripples to keep it interesting!It was a great day spending time with new friends.The Wambaughs are a friendly and fun loving family and welcomed us into their group. We sure hope our paths will cross again.

The Wambaughs had to leave after a few days and new people were arriving daily. Most of them had tubes and kayaks and were there for a long 4th of July week-end. Jay and Sue were one such couple and they settled in the camp site next to ours. Right away Sue came over to introduce themselves and before you knew it we were making plans to paddle the White River with them! Only this time we went even further up river and had a great 4 hour trip on the water. Sue has been coming to this campground for years and years and knows the river pretty well and was a great guide. The next day we even went on a portion of the river she hadn't been on before but knew people who had. They told her it would take us 2 hours to get to the take out where her friend's truck was parked that would take us all and all of our kayaks back to camp. That didn't turn out to be the case but we had fun anyway! The good news is that we made it to the truck but... it took 6 hours to do it! It was an adventure that included having to portage our kayaks around log jams and shallow water. Our arms were sure tired though!

We spent 12 days at Pines Point and enjoyed every minute of it. We had no TV, no cell service and no internet and it was very relaxing. Terry cooked breakfast every day outside and we had campfires at night. What a great way to start our summer trip.

The next leg of our trip found us near my family in Cadillac, MI. We stayed in a campground near some ATV trails near Luther, MI in Lake County. We rode the trails and explored the area on our ATVs. All the county roads were open to the ATVers and we really hadn't been anywhere that friendly to the ATVers. If we wanted to go to town for icecream we just jumped on the quads and rode to town! But the best thing about the area was that we got to see my family a lot.

Before we left lower Michigan we stopped in Frederic, MI near Grayling at the Happi Days Diner and campground.This was about an hour north of Cadillac and near some awesome ATV trails. The owner,Todd was very friendly and helpful telling us everything we needed to see and do in the area. We stayed at Happi Days 7 days and played every day! We rode the trails and kayaked the rivers that Todd suggested. Since we didn't know anyone else that were going to kayak these rivers we found outfitters to take us up river with our kayaks and then we floated down to our truck.

Our favorite river was the Sturgeon, touted to be the fastest river in lower Michigan and that it was! It was a blast! It was hard work to get around the bends (and it was VERY winding!) without getting swept into the bank or a log jam and to keep from getting dumped. The outfitter told us it has an 85% dump rate and we were proud to announce that we made it without dumping even though we came close!

We wrapped up our time in lower MI with a visit from my stepbrother Larry and my sister-in-law Lynda, my stepsister Donna and her hubby Bruce and my stepmother Dorothy. We all went out to eat and say our good byes. We were so glad they came up to see us off!

We left the next day for more adventures in the U.P. of Michigan.

 

 

 

Texas to south Florida to Indiana

Here we are at home and have been for 2 1/2 weeks. We had good weather for traveling and arrived at our son's home in Lehigh Acres, Florida 3 days after we left Aransas Pass, TX. And that was after a stop in Livingston.
It was so great to see our son and daughter-in-law and grandaughter. It had been a while! We had so much fun! Troy was able to take the whole week off and we ran every day,BBQ'd every evening and played cards and games every night!
One beautiful sunny day we all went kayaking on the Estero River. Now that is quite a feat for me because we have spent entire winters in Florida with our kayaks and I refused to get into those waters. I just knew I would become some big ole aligator's lunch! But when our son mentioned going I was all for it. There were even warning signs to not swim in the river because of the aligators but we didn't see any and had a great day. The Estero is a beautiful river, I am hoping you can see the reflective waters in the pictures. It runs along side of the Koreshan State park where we pulled the boats out of the water and ate our picnic lunches. We got a little sunburned but had lots of fun. We returned to Troy's house where we were parked and Troy grilled some scrumptious steaks. He said with us there and grilling every night it was like they were camping too.
On our 7th day there we pulled out with lots of tears all around. We drove to Bushnell, Fl where we were meeting some "bus nuts" friends for a cook-out at the SKP RV park. Our friends Tom and Fran were stopping there on their way to Ohio in their Eagle bus and Florida Cliff and his wife Julie came over from their home near Bushnell and we had a good evening catching up and talking about buses and everything else!
Here at home we have been really busy cleaning up from the winter, mowing and mowing and mowing! It looked like a hay field in our yard! We also had a surprise waiting for us...a roof leak. So Terry tore out and replaced the drywall and we got it and the walls all painted and now are just about ready to lay new carpet.It is nice to be here though and be able to see our daughter and all the Indiana grandkids. We really miss them while we are gone.
We have also been preparing to do some ATVing this summer. We ordered a new rack for the ATVs and Terry got it assembled and it looks like when we leave again we can take both the quads and the 2 kayaks! Ya gotta take your toys!
I hope to blog more in a couple of weeks(we'll see if THAT happens!LOL!)But for now had better get busy.

Happy Easter!

Wow. It's Easter already. We are still in Texas and soaking up the sunshine...finally! Our park is emptying out as our friends all head back to their summer destinations. Clark and Janet are back in Ohio, Bob and Linda in Indiana, Karen and Ed in Wisconsin, Kathy and Bob in Kansas and a whole bunch more...gone.
We have enjoyed the winter down here with them and everyone else. As soon as the weather got better the natives and Winter Texans took to the beaches, bays and the Gulf in droves.Due to the weather there hadn't been a lot of fishing so everyone was READY! When the waters warmed up and the fish we like to catch, Sheepshead, moved in we all got to fish! Woo Hoo!
I think we have finally got the boat to where we want it to fish. We have been out a few times but there are certain days that we don't like to go. Weekends, for example, are really busy on the water so we usually find something else to do.If the water is really choppy and the wind is gusting at 20 to 25 MPH we usually don't take the boat out either because we can really get tossed around. So... I guess you can say we are "fairweather fishermen"! We went out with our friends, Jerry and Mara the other day. They in their boat and us in ours and it looked like it was going to be a good day on the water. However, it was rough and none of us caught any fish. We couldn't even get tied up to anything but we enjoyed the day anyway. Jerry and Mara have been fishing these waters for many years and showed us good places to fish when the waters are calmer. And the live shrimp we bought for bait became our supper that night! Where else can you eat your bait when you come home with no fish!!
Speaking of shrimp. When Bob and Linda were here they had so much fun going around to the many shrimp boats in the area and stocking up on shrimp to take back home they almost ran out of freezer room! Oh they ate a lot here too. They would grill them outside and have all our mouths watering! And if one doesn't want to go to the shrimp boat there is a Shrimper who lives in our park and when he and his wife come in from the Gulf with their catch they just deliver however many pounds you want.That is so cool to have home delivery! They have been catching the really big ones lately, 9 to a pound. The last ones he brought us we froze. We are looking forward to grilling those. The ones we boiled(our bait)were smaller and nice and sweet.
We are probably going to be here for another 2 weeks before we head out. Our plans are in jello right now as to where we will go first but hope to be in Indiana at least by May 1st.

Still In Texas

Well! Here it is the 15th of January! Good Grief! Where did the time go!?

As most of you know we are having a much wetter and cooler winter here in the Coastal Bend of Texas but we are just learning to roll with the punches. We have not been fishing or kayaking yet but we stay pretty busy. There is a lot to see and do in this area even when it is not 70 degrees and bright sun.

Our friends Clark and Janet are still with us and Bob and Linda Pease got here shortly after Christmas so we are having a good time with all of them. We have to check out all of the eating places around so that takes a lot of time! Last week we ate out 5 days out of seven!

Right after Clark and Janet arrived we all went down to South Padre Island to The National Seashore and even though it was a windy and overcast day we had a lot of fun. We are looking forward to returning there soon since it is warming up. The beach there is so clean and very serene.It is the longest undeveloped stretch of barrier island in the world. There are 70 miles of sand-and-shell beaches on the National Seashore and I can't wait to do more beachcombing. I have included some pictures but will post more after we return there.

Closer to us is the Aransas Wildlife Refuge just north of Rockport where we enjoyed a day of exploring and seeing the wildlife. We even walked among the alligators! I am not kidding either! They were sunning themselves on the banks of pools of water we were walking alongside. It was actually kind of cool! And of course there were many seabirds which I love to watch. The picture above is Clark hamming it up for the camera!

Some days we just stay around our park. We do a lot of walking and visiting with the neighbors when the weather is good. I am teaching linedancing in our activity hall twice a week. I thought I was just going to be ATTENDING these classes but that all changed when our teacher and her husband sold their property here in the park and I got elected! I didn't have to do it but I like to dance so I will relearn and learn some dances and lead the folks that want to dance. Besides, it is good exercise. And we have a lot of fun.

Today is windy but the sun keeps coming out at times so I think I will get ole Terry and we will take off for a walk. Since we feel that it is our mission to check out all these eating places we must exercise!

Hopefully I will post next week.

Channel Watching And Coffee On The Beach

It has been a while since I have blogged so I will try to catch everybody up on our activities.

We are in Aransas Pass, Texas in the Coastal Bend of Texas and enjoying all the area has to offer.

After we arrived we stayed really busy cleaning up our sites here in the RV park. There is a pesty thorn that grows in the grass called "Goatheads" or "Puncture thorns" and they are awful. They are as hard as a rose thorn and will go through the bottom of a shoe quite easily. The best way to get rid of them is either concrete over them(as many of the people here have done) or keep a healthy stand of good grass. The grass thing is difficult to do unless you are here year round and can keep it watered and the weeds out. So, we have poured a lot of concrete and will have to pour more later as budgets allow!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with old friends over on the island in Port Aransas. In her RV, our friend, Ann Eddy, baked a big ham, pineapple casserole, corn, brussel sprouts, candied yams, cranberry salad, rum cake and pecan pie! What a feast! And we had a great visit with her and Ken and her nephew and his wife.

We still enjoy going over to the island on the ferry and sitting on the beach on the Gulf of Mexico and reading, napping, channel watching, and walking, too. A couple of mornings before we started our work for the day, we took our morning coffee and enjoyed watching the waves while we drank our coffee. It is a great way to start the day! We had nice weather for that sort of thing when we first got here. And we don't have to go to the island. Just 5 minutes from us is the Conn Brown Harbour and we go there to watch the boats go out and to watch all the sea birds.

Our friends, Janet and Clark have come for a visit and we are looking forward to showing them around but the weather is not too cooperative. A front moved in and brought lots of rain and cooler temps but today is nice and sunny so we will take advantage of it! We did take them to a big Winter Texan Welcome at Fulton, just up the road north of us. It was an all you can eat fish fry with baked beans, bread,fish,(of course)slaw and cake. All free! And there were many many Winter Texas there in spite of a rain that had gone on all day! We had a lot of fun. They gave away door prized and had a band to entertain everyone. I have never seen so much fish! The mayor was even there to welcome all of us.

Better go and enjoy the sunny day. More rain is expected tomorrow so we better enjoy the sun! Oh! I should add that we are very thankful that all we have is rain! Several times when Clark and Janet have joined up with us in the winter, it has snowed! Even in Tucson,Arizona! So, we are just glad all they brought is rain this time!

The Buffalo Camping and Canoe Outfitter

The Buffalo National River

We are out and traveling again! It felt really wierd to leave Indiana without our 4 wheelers! Usually we are headed to the desert trails of California or Arizona but this year we will probably not make it to the desert. So, instead of the ATVs, we loaded up our kayaks and took off!

Our first stop was in Branson, Missouri where we stayed at the Escapees park in Hollister and took in the sites of Branson and surrounding areas. While there we met a new friend, Pam Bristol, who had her kayak with her and invited us to paddle down part of the Buffalo National River with her and her dog, Mischief. Afew years ago we had paddled the upper river portion of the Buffalo where the white water is but never the middle portion.

The Buffalo National River is nestled in the, Arkansas Orzarks, which are bounded north, east, and south by the Missouri, Mississippi, and Arkansas rivers , respectively. The water is crystal clear and has high river limestone and sandstone bluffs.

We had a beautiful sunny day for floating and enjoying the scenery. It took us a little less than 4 hours to float 10 miles from Baker Ford where we put in and Gilbert, where we took out. The river is lined with authorized concessioners who offer shuttle service, rental canoes and kayaks, guided trips, and lots of information.

We started at Gilbert, Arkansas at Buffalo Camping and Canoes, an outfitter on the middle river. As it turned out we didn't need his shuttle service since both Pam and we drove our trucks. If we had only brought one truck, the outfitter would have shuttled us to the put-in and drove our truch back to the take-out for a fee, of course. The outfitter was more than happy to give us all the information we needed though even if we didn't need his shuttle service. We parked Pam's truck at Gilbert, along the river(the take-out) and threw all three kayaks in our truck and drove to Baker Ford (the put-in) where we unloaded the kayaks and our picnic lunches,and parked the truck. This portion of the river is a smooth ride with occassional gentle ripples and plenty of gorgeous scenery. I didn't get a lot of pictures of the bluffs since I had buried the camera in the cooler but I got a few before we started. We are so glad Pam wanted to go there or we might not have discovered the middle river.

We stayed in Branson for a few more days and then, after watching the weather forecast, left on a sunny day headed to Coffeyville, Kansas where our workamping jobs await us.

North to Michigan

Here we go again! Yay!

It all started when our friends Teresa and LeeRoy bought a 'new to them' motorhome and wanted to take a road trip. They had been campers years ago but never in a motorhome. They had camped in tents, motorcycle campers, tag a longs and fifth wheels but never a motorhome and they wanted company to travel with and show them travel tricks they hadn't learned with their previous modes of camping. We knew they would be fine but we jumped at the chance to take off.

We took off the Wednesday before July 4th headed to Eastern Michigan, a place we had not been to before. Since it was holiday time campgrounds along Lake Huron were full so we stopped in Northern Indiana for a few days to visit the Surplus and Salvage stores and enjoy the Elkart/Goshen area and all the Amish influence and great food.

We started in Elkhart at the Elkhart Campground for one night and it was good we did. As it often happens in this lifestyle, you run into old friends when you stop somewhere where RVers are. Terry and Nick Russell were staying at the campground and we had a nice visit before we moved on.

We moved to Goshen the next day to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds and based ourselves there while we took in the whole area. This is a huge,beautiful and well cared for fairgrounds and they had plenty of empty spaces and lots of area for long walks. We stayed there until Sunday, July 5th when we left for the Lake Huron area. We had lots of good food and good times while in northern Indiana and even took in a large car show in Middlebury and enjoyed the Bluegrass music being played there.

We stopped in Au Gres, Michigan, a quaint little town close to Lake Huron. We stayed in a city park for a couple of days while we explored. Terry and I usually try to taste the local foods when we go to an area new to us and so near Au Gres we stopped at a little seafood restaurant on Lake Huron where they served Smelt among other foods. Terry and LeeRoy chickened out but Teresa and I ordered the smelt. Well....hmm...let's just say maybe it is better when it is caught fresh! We ate it but it may be a long time before we order it again! But we tried it!

We visited the lighthouses in the area and found them pretty darn interesting. We enjoyed learning about them and the people who manned them. We will move on up the lakeshore tomorrow and see what sights await us.

Busy Spring

Wow! June 1! Where has the time gone!

Things are drying up around here, thank goodness. Our garden is out and the plants are growing very well as are the weeds! We are keeping them at bay though so it's not too bad.

With working in the garden and flowers we are also keeping busy getting ready for our county's Relay For Life. Our team, Team Chemosabies, is in charge of the concession stand again this year and that requires a lot of work, but we are up to the task! I have been out gathering donations and Terry has been cutting wood! Our daughter, DeAnne is over the concession stand and has already purchased 95 pounds of pork butt which we are smoking for pulled pork sandwiches. They went over really well last year so we are doing them again! There will be other food as well but the pulled pork is the main attraction.

Terry got up today at at 5:30 to start the smoking process and it sure smells good in this neck of the woods! He has our smoker and our daughter's going. We utilized both the house kitchen and the bus kitchen to prepare all that meat to smoke and it's a good thing we have two kitchens! This will be an all day process and then we have to do it again in a couple of days to get the rest of the 95 pounds done. The pictures show how much we are smoking today.

We have been going to a lot of Bluegrass jams and have one to go to this week-end where we will take the bus and camp there for 3 days as long as it continues to dry up so we don't sink! We had one over Memorial Day but it was too wet to take the bus so we just went on day trips. It was close to us as is the one coming up this week-end. The one this week-end is a Festival but there will be a lot of jamming too. I played along at the last one and really enjoyed the fun. I can't wait for the next one!

I had better check on Terry and take him out some lunch. Gotta keep him workin' on keeping those smokers up to temp!

Mushrooms, Bluegrass, track meets, and Krazy Joe's

Well we are home in Indiana and I am finally getting a minute to blog!
It feels really good to be home around family and friends. We are enjoying the grandkids and their activites. Our grandaughter Grace runs track and we have enjoyed watching her run and jump in the long jump event. It is hard to believe these kids are as old as they are! Two of our grandsons are now driving and have cars and that REALLY makes us feel old!
We got home to southern Indiana just in time for mushroom season and didn't even have to comb the woods to find them. As we were cleaning up the yard from winter storms we found them growing in the side yard and had a mess of them for the next day's breakfast! Nothing says welcome home like a 'fungus sandwich'!!
Where we live in Indiana is in an area of rolling hills,farmland, small towns, and the Hoosier National Forest. And it is very appealing at this time of year with everything turning green and in bloom.
Since we've been home,we have been going to some music jams near us and the most recent one was at the edge of the Hoosier National Forest at a little store/restaurant called Krazy Joe's Trading Post. This place has quite the personality.The restaurant part is in a corner of the store and has about 5 or 6 tables with cozy plastic tablecloths and I think it used to be an antique store because there are still antiques scattered throughout the place. It is located on the south side of Lake Monroe and just spitting distance of Hardin Ridge, a National Forest campground. The store is rustic and inviting and has supplies for campers and boaters and the restaurant serves hot meals and also hosts music jams every week. Very much country. Just our style. The owner, Krazy Joe met me at the door and when I asked if they served food he said "yep, it ain't good and the service is lousy but the beer is cold'! Well, the food was good as was the service but I don't know about the beer, whether it was cold or not since we didn't have any. It was a neat place and we enjoyed the drive through the forest.
Hopefully the ground will dry up some around here and we can get the garden out. Terry is getting antsy. He did put a few broccoli plants out since they need to be out early but the rest will need to wait on dryer soil. So I guess we will wait. Terry is not too good at waiting so maybe we will just have to scout around and find more music jams to keep him busy.

I have included some pictures of our wet but green yard and woods!

From Desert To Seashore

Well! I am finally updating this blog. We have been so dang busy there is just not enough time to do everything!

We left Quartzsite about 10 days ago and came to Aransas Pass, Texas which is in an area we learned to love a few years ago. Aransas Pass is on the mainland along Redfish Bay and just a short ferry ride to Port Aransas on Mustang Island.

When we wintered here previously we stayed on the island and would take the ferry over here for Wal-Mart visits, different restaurants, fresh seafood, a bigger full service grocery store, and different kayaking trails. Now we don't have to do that because we are here! We take the ferry over there to see old friends and go to the beach.

It has been 7 years since we have wintered here and there have been so many changes. The Conn Brown Harbor is just 5 minutes away from where we are parked and is in the throes of a big revamping phase. It is the homeport for dozens of shrimp trawlers who fish the Gulf of Mexico and have earned Aransas Pass the title "The Shrimp Capital of the World". It is fun to go there and watch the boats come in and out. A few days ago we took a picnic lunch and sat and watched the boats, the sea birds, and the fishermen. The weather was beautiful for that sort of thing because it was in the low 80's the first 8-9 days we were here.

Yesterday we started getting some much needed rain and since we couldn't do much outside activity we headed to Corpus Christi just 20 miles away. We enjoyed the day just checking out all the changes there and we also ate at one of our favorite restaurants The Bayou Grill and had some delicious jambalaya. We made time to go see our friend Shannon Taylor who we hadn't seen for years and had a great visit. So it was a great day even if it was rainy off and on.

Since we started traveling during the winters 12 years ago we have been looking at each area we stayed in to see if we would want to return there often. We knew we liked the desert and all the ATV trails it provided and we knew we liked this area with the Gulf and all the water opportunities. And now we think we are ready to leave the ATVs at home next year and come back here again and bring our kayaks! When we had our kayaks here 7 years ago hardly anyone was kayaking and now there are tons of kayaks out here! And lots more kayak trails we haven't been on and are anxious to try. So maybe we have found a "home" for a while!

I have posted some pictures I took from the ferry and from the fishing jetties in Port Aransas and will take many more. Our weather is supposed to get back to being sunny and in the high 70's by Monday so in the meantime we will be thankful for the rain that the area needs so badly.

Don't forget to click on the photo to get a better view and then click on the back button to go back to the post.

A wonderful week

We have had such a nice week! The temperatures have been in mid to high 70's every day and the sun bright. Just what we drove all this way for!!

We started the week off with a trip to Bakersfield, California, almost 400 miles from here , to get the bus tuned up. It may seem like a long way to go to get that done but Terry wanted to go to a Detroit diesel man that he trusted. It was a great drive to Bakersfield too. We started off from Quartzsite at 820 feet elevation and had to go thru the mountains with one of the passes being 3800 ft elevation. That was the Tehachapi pass and once we topped that mountain it seemed like we were in another world! Everything was green. Lush. It was gorgeous. Going down the other side of the mountain was like being in the Swiss Alps or somewhere.(I have never been in Switzerland butI am sure it looked like this!) Beauty everywhere. It had been a long time since we had seen so much green!

We stayed in Bakersfield for a couple of days and headed back on Wednesday. The bus ran great and we had made some wonderful new friends. We loved being around buses and other busnuts!

Back in Quartzsite we took advantage of the great weather to do some quad riding and geocaching in our mountains. We also stayed busy meeting up and eating out with friends and going to music jams. I will include a photo of one of our geocaches hidden deep in the mountains.

Yesterday Quartzsite had their 4th annual Bluegrass Festival and it was great entertainment. It is a three day event but we probably will only go the one day since we are preparing to leave.We took our lawn chairs and sat out in this wonderful sun from 9:30 to 5:45 listening to a lot a great groups from Arkansas to San Diago. At the end of the day we were sunburned, a little tired, but had an awesome day. We ended our day with our friends, Rose and Phil, that we may not see for another year or so. We are both pulling up and leaving Quartzsite in the next couple of days.

Today we will load up our quads, see some other friends and get ready to pull out tomorrow. It is always a happy/sad time. We are excited to get back on the road and see what other adventures await us but we are a little sad to leave Quartzsite and our friends Barb and Bill.

Hitch itch setting in.

We are still in Quartzsite but we are getting the "hitch itch" so we don't really know how much longer we will be here!

We have had nice sunny days but sometimes the temperatures have not been conducive to ATV riding. But we really really enjoy the sunshine. We keep busy riding in the desert and mountains when we can, going to music jams, playing our own musical instruments here in the bus, and walking.(that is....Connie walking, not Terry!!)

I think I am finally getting my dental work completed in Mexico. We have been there a lot this season. Yesterday I got some fillings. Algodones was VERY busy with it being a holiday so there were lots of people. We got ready to get in line to go through Customs around 3:30 and the line was backed up to where we knew it would be at least a 3 hour wait so we went to Plan B. We decided to just eat supper while we waited for the line to get shorter. My feeling in my face and mouth was starting to come back and I was getting hungry so why not. We had a good meal and got into line about 5:30. The line was still long but shorter than it was. We ended up waiting an hour and 45 minutes. And we didn't have any purchases! The wait went pretty fast though since we were visiting and joking with the other people in line. We usually meet some very interesting folks in line!

The desert and mountains are getting green...well, green for here and it really is very pretty. Some purple and yellow flowers are starting to show up along with the green follage. I did snap some pictures on one of our rides last week but I don't know how well the colors will show up. The cacti will start to bloom soon but we may not be here to see it.

Better go. I need to practice my guitar. I won't get any better if I don't! Don't forget to click on the photo to enlarge it and then just click on the back button to return to the post.

Lazy Days and Friends

What a nice relaxing day we had today with our friends Clark and Janet. We took off about 11:00 in their 4-wheel drive Blazer and headed for the mountains.

We drove south of Quartzsite a few miles before heading west toward the mountains near the little town of LaPaz Valley. I think it is actually just a little community, not a town, built in the desert. After driving through the desert for 3-4 miles we got to the bumpy, narrow and dusty mountain roads and it got a little exciting for Janet. I have been out this way many times on the quads so I knew what to expect and I was just enjoying the views and the steep hills were just 'old hat' for me. We had a lot of fun laughing at Janet even though Terry kept telling her we were laughing WITH her, not AT her! The trail across and through the mountains was pretty steep at times requiring 4 wheel drive. Pretty soon, though, even Janet got used to the hills because she was so in awe of the scenery and the views. I know this because she stopped squeeling!!I was so glad they got to see the area that gives us so much enjoyment.And they loved it. We showed them favorite places of ours and it was so nice seeing them enjoy the ride. We even had an unexpected surprise of seeing 4 mountain longhorn goats(or were they sheep?) up close and personal. Of course I didn't have my camera with me so maybe I can import the pictures Clark took providing I can figure out how to do it!

The trail ended a couple of miles east of the Colorado River and California at Interstate 10. So we just went on in to Blythe, California and ate lunch. We often eat at local eateries and not the chain restaurants but there is a really good Sizzler restaurant at Blythe and we were hungry so we stopped there and ate a very good lunch.

After lunch we drove north of Blythe to the intaglios which we had seen before but Janet and Clark hadn't . The intaglios are huge drawings on the desert floor and thought to have been drawn by ancient Indians to tell a story. We saw three of them but there were more that we didn't get to. They are fenced in and protected by the BLM. The intaglios themselves were worth the trip but the views from there were awesome.

We had a really nice day with lots of friendship and lots of laughter. And the 75 degree temperatures were pretty easy to take too!!