A couple of things: this trip is done in our car. We have the camper for sale at Petersen's RV in Elkhorn, NE, I will sell it at a very good price for the buyer, if you know of someone looking for a very good fifth wheel have them bring up Petersen's website and take a look, I will be glad to answer any questions about it. We have sold the truck, it was difficult to do but a truck like that needs to be run more often than I was doing. It went to a good home in Oregon.
On to our adventures:
Friday, Jan 2, 2015
On to our adventures:
Friday, Jan 2, 2015
Left Omaha for Kansas City. Not a long drive but we had good
weather, I don’t remember the temperature when we left Omaha but it wasn’t too
bad outside.
We had hoped to see my latest great nephew Francis, he lives
with his parents Vince and Lindsay Ross in Kansas City, but he and his sister,
Sophia, were sick and on the way to the doctor. So we will try to see them on
our way home at the end of February.
We got to the Hampton Inn, our home for the next three days
a little after one. We called Steven and he said they would be home around 1:30
p.m. We had a great time visiting them. Zack is a very good artist, https://www.facebook.com/zach.ruschill?fref=nf,
check out his drawings on his Facebook page. Allison is a singer and her other
brother Nick is a budding pianist.
We went to IKEA, never been to this store before, and it was
huge. It has been in Kansas City for a few months and it was packed with
people, now we did go on a Saturday so I guess that should be expected. I found
it interesting how they displayed the merchandise. They had whole rooms set up
and you could buy pieces of it or the whole layout by giving the cashier the
number for the layout and you bought everything that was displayed.
Had a wet heavy snow Saturday night and very cold with
strong winds so the temp was below zero.
We had a great time visiting Steve and family. I even
ordered Girl Scout cookies which will be there on our way home so I can pick up
the cookies then.
Monday, Jan 5, 2015
Left Kansas City this morning and it was single digits,
COLD, the roads were good and the sun was shining.
We made it to Liberal, KS in midafternoon, we checked into
the Hampton Inn and got settled in. We didn’t do any sightseeing here, not sure
how much there is to see in Liberal. We had dinner at the local Applebee’s
because I had an ecard with money on it and I wanted to use it. Good hotel,
although the lady who checked us in had the wrong rate for us but a nice young
man got it straighten out for us.
Tuesday, Jan 6, 2015
We decided to spend the night at Alamogordo, NM at Holloman
AFB Inn. This is located on the base and is very affordable. We had a room with
a full kitchen. It was the first time I had stayed on a military base since
1968, so I enjoyed it. This is a fighter squadron base but they also train
drone pilots and I saw a couple drones in the air. The base also serves as a
training facility for the German Luftwaffe, they have their own planes and
train there because of the weather.
White Sands National Park, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_National_Monument,
this was a very interesting place. The link is a good read and explains more
about the park.
Thursday, Jan 7, 2015
Arrived at Debra Baker’s home in Tucson, AZ.
Friday, Jan 8, 2015
Boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB, http://www.visittucson.org/listings/Davis-Monthan-Air-Force-Base-Aircraft-Boneyard-/1134/?fromMenu=0&maxshow=10.
This is a must see for anyone who is interested in airplanes. They have quite
an extensive display of aircraft, some of which there aren’t any left in the
inventory.
Lunch today was at the Blue Willow, http://www.bluewillowtucson.com/,
very nice restaurant and the food was very good.
My favorite place in Tucson is Frost Gelato, http://www.frostgelato.com/. Great
gelato with lots of different flavors and made at the store.
Saturday, Jan 9, 2015
We did some sightseeing today, below are the places we saw
and where we had lunch.
Saguaro National Park, http://www.saguaronationalpark.com/.
Lunch was at Grumpy’s, http://www.grumpysgrill.com/.
Both places were great, I can't begin to describe them so I will let the websites do
Sunday, Jan, 11, 2015
Went to church at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, we have been here before, I like the interior of the church, http://seas.seastucson.org/
This was an interesting park, it was founded in 1691 and the
San Xavier mission was founded in 1692, the links give more detail, Tumacacori
National Historical Park, http://www.nps.gov/tuma/index.htm
The Hub, http://hubdowntown.com/. We had dinner
with my great nieces, Delaney, Kendall and Kylie, they are students at the
University of Arizona in Tucson. It was great to listen to what they are
involved in and how school is etc. They are great young ladies and I believe
they will do great things in their life time.
Monday, Jan 12/2015
Not much going on today in the way of sightseeing. We did
have lunch with Sarah’s brother Bob’s widow, Judy Cain, had lunch at Coco’s
restaurant, good food. We had a nice visit with Judy.
Tuesday, Jan, 13/2015
Left Debi’s at 1:30 p.m. and arrived at Colleen &
Darrius’, in Phoenix, around three.
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2015
Our day today is filled with seeing folks we met and worked
with in our time in Mesa.
First we went to the Cal-Am workampers place of work. There
we saw a lot of the folds we have worked with in the past and met others new to
the job. We got to see, Mikki, our boss, Bob & Bobbie, Colleen, York was
home sick, Steve & Teresa, Bob & Judy, Van & Delores, Linda &
Bill, although I didn’t get to say hi to Linda, and many others. Some I know I
know but can’t think of their name at this time and others who were new to me.
Bill & Ludella, these folks we met at the Excel service
center and we followed them to Mesa our first year to AZ. We had lunch with
them and enjoyed visiting with them. They live in Olathe, KS, so sometime we
are in Kansas City we are going to call them and have lunch.
We worked with Steve & Teresa our first time in AZ.
Teresa and Sarah worked in the costume shop and Steve and I worked on the
trucks. They invited us over for dinner. Steve made a shrimp boil, with new
potatoes, carrots, corn on the cob, sausage and shrimp. It was very good. We
had a great time visiting with them. They have a New Horizon fifth wheel and
they had it painted, the painters did a great job. Steve & Teresa are
working next summer at a campground north of Jackson Hole, WY, sounds like a
nice park and a great Workamper job.
Thursday, Jan 15, 2015
We didn’t do much all day, just a day of relaxing and
enjoying being at Colleen & Darrius’.
We were invited to Nikki & Jack’s for dinner tonight. We
had a great time, Meredith played the guitar for us and evening did a bit of
composing on the guitar for us. Jack showed us a video of him and his dad &
brother catching crabs. They anchor a line and bait it then scoop the crabs off
the line. I guess the crabs are too dumb to let go after they eat the bait.
Anyway, we had a great time and the food was very good also. I always enjoy seeing
Nikki and her family.
Friday, Jan 16, 2015
We went to Costco the first thing this morning and bought a
new IPad. I spent the rest of the day getting the apps etc. I wanted on it.
Great computer quite a bit faster than my old one and a bit lighter. I was
going to get a surface tablet but this was half the price and maybe I’ll get
the surface next time around.
Saturday, Jan 17, 2015
Darrius and I went to the Apple store, we got there shortly
after it opened, to buy new IPad covers. We got there about 10:15 and there
were a bunch of people in the store already. Don’t they have anything better to
do? Lucky for them they weren’t buying anything so they didn’t delay us any and
we were out of there by 10:30. I may have said this before but I don’t like to
shop, I go to a store knowing what I want, I buy it, I get out. The only
exception to this rule is a book store and maybe a toy store, and then there is
the tool section of Sears and also an Electronics store but that is all.
Sunday, Jan 18, 2015
Went to breakfast at Wonderful Wanda’s, http://www.wonderfulwandas.com/,
small but good place to eat. I had the blueberry pancakes, delicious.
We went to church with Colleen to St Benedict’s. We met
Linda Stratton and Tina, I don’t remember her last name, but after a few
minutes of talking Sarah realizes she knows Tina, she is a hair dresser from
Burlington and Sarah knows her. She was also married to the brother of Francis
Jones, she owned the duplex next door to where I grew up in Burlington, IA.
Small world isn’t it.
Sunday afternoon was spent watching the Packers give a
demonstration on how to lose a football game.
Angela & Tyler, Colleen’s daughter and son-in-law, came
up for dinner, ham, scalloped potatoes, and baked beans. It was a great meal.
Two of Angela’s daughters came over later and we all had a great visit.
Monday, Jan 19, 2015
Colleen and Sarah went shopping, I stayed home and played on
the computer and read.
Tuesday, Jan 20, 2015
Today Sarah and I went to a Walmart Neighborhood store, this
is the first time I had been in one of these. They are much bigger than I
thought they would be.
Darrius had an appointment and the ladies had a lunch date,
I stayed by myself, which I don’t mind at all, I did some reading and computer
playing etc. I did get out and take a walk up the hill to the cul-de-sac, only
about a block but uphill and it did give me a challenge. I hope the strength comes
back because I don’t have much at all these days.
Tomorrow we head out for San Antonio, TX with a stop or two,
we’ll see what the trip brings.
I will end this for now and pick up from here later on.
Until Later
