Beautiful Moab

What a wonderful day. We got a later start since we spent a couple of hours this morning trying to come up with some kind of draft of where we're headed after leaving Moab, until our arrival at Glacier National Park on June 12th. That gives us about 6 weeks to get there and lot's of places we want to see, hence the need to at least draft our next several weeks.

Once we got that behind us we were out the door, heading to Arches National Park. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and the first half of the day and the majority of our visit to Arches was spent in a snow storm. Yep, that's right a snow storm. Ironically, it was semi sunny an hour before. It actually began when we stopped for gas on our way to Arches. We were first hit with sleet pellets and by the time we arrived at Arches, the clouds were gathering.

So no good pictures of Arches today. We did take a few as we were leaving the park and plan to head back Monday to get some great shots. Once we left Arches, we headed for one of the scenic drives recommended in the travel brochures. We got lot's of good pictures from the scenic drive and combined with the few we were able to get at Arches, I've posted them to our blog. Check out the Moab Pictures slideshow on the left hand side. Just double click on the slideshow to enlarge the pictures.

We stopped by a local brewery on our way home and grabbed a burger. Mark had a couple of their homemade brews and we headed home, kicked back and chilled. Considering we were in an unexpected snowstorm earlier today, who would have thought this would turn about to be such a terrific day?

Well that's a wrap for this update...we had a wonderful day today, and hope you did as well. Until later...~

Short Travel Day to Moab, Utah

Since we moved into the Mountain Time Zone last week, we're slowly beginning to move our hours back in the direction they should be. I wasn't crawling out of bed until 9:00 - 10:00 on some mornings! Yikes, almost half of my workday was behind me by this time in my 'old' life. I've been setting the alarm the last week so we could get going on our site seeing adventures. Well, it's apparently worked. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. this morning without an alarm clock. Just like I used to do--it's like the brain knows what time to get up even when you're sound asleep.

Anyway, I was up very early this morning and grabbed some coffee and sit back to watch the news. Around 6:00 Mark got up and by 7:00 we had pretty much everything in the RV packed up and ready to head out. We were leaving Cortez, Colorado this morning, heading to Moab, Utah.

Before heading out this morning, we knew we would be cooking most days during our week in Moab, and since they don't have many grocery stores there we headed to the Walmart in Cortez this morning to buy our weekly groceries. We were back home and still had everything packed away and heading out by 9:00 a.m. this morning.

We only had a short 120 mile trip today from Cortez to Moab. The drive into Moab was absolutely, breathtaking. Mark and I were exchanging "OOHHHHHH and AWWWWW's" on our walkie talkies the last hour of the drive. Many many westerns, movies, and TV shows including Touched by an Angel were filmed in the southwest area of Utah. The scenery is not like anything either of us had ever seen. The stone formations were unlike anything we've ever seen. Just gorgeous.

We rarely make reservations because in this lifestyle you're really never sure exactly where you'll be on a given day, but we just squeaked by today. We almost left empty handed with no place to stay! Thank goodness we traveled on Wednesday. Had we arrived on the weekend or Mon/Fri we would not have had a place to stay. Countless RV Parks were full, but we finally found a place, got settled in and everything hooked up and then headed to the Utah Information Center to pick up lot's of brochures and info of Moab, Canyonlands and the surrounding areas.

Suffice to say we'll be quite busy this week. We plan on spending tomorrow at Arches National Park. The area is full of unique sandstone structures, on the Colorado River. We'll be spending several days checking out different areas of Canyonlands National Park. It's huge--makes the Grand Canyon look small. We also want to see Dear Horse State Park--several movies were filmed there and the scenery is just spectacular (notice I keep saying that? Can't think of a better adjective!)

Mark grilled a ribeye steak for himself and I had a hamburger pattie (don't care for steak believe it or not). It's Wednesday evening now and we've kicked back just chilling--anxiously waiting for tomorrow morning so we can go check out these places and take lot's of pictures. I'll post pictures tomorrow evening if I get a chance. Well, that's a wrap for us...we had a wonderful day and hope you did as well!~

Durango Silverton Train Ride

We got up very early this morning and were out the door at 7:00 a.m. We had a one hour drive from Cortez Colorado to Durango for our 1/2 day train ride to Cascade Canyon. During the winter season, the Durango Silverton train only runs a 52 mile round trip excursion. But it turned out to be just about right for us.

We had a wonderful time on the way down there. We sat the entire time in one of the outdoor observation rail cars and stood the entire two hour trip to Cascade Canyon. The views were obviously spectacular and the pictures uploaded via the slide-show to the right, simply can't do it justice.

I had wanted to go on this train for many years and was really glad we finally had the chance to do so. Having gotten up so early (5:00 is early for us these days!), combined with the rolling movement of the train on our return, I found myself dozing off a few times. But since we had a chance to see everything on our trip down, I didn't miss anything. (But I did do my usual "bobbing" of my head when I get sleepy that *Billy/Julie and Mark make fun of me doing!!) Fortunately, we had put the camera away and Mark didn't get any pictures of the bobbing this time!

To top off a wonderful day with terrific weather and sunshine, when we got back to the train station we stopped next door for an ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. Yum!! Wow, we had never had an ice cream from this place before and boy were they terrific! I had a chocolate cone and Mark had a vanilla one. Suffice to say they probably had a gazillion calories, but it was our 'dinner' as we were too full to eat anything else once we got home.

We've really enjoyed our short stay here in Cortez, Colorado, but it's time to move on. We leave tomorrow morning for Moab, Utah. We're tentatively planning on staying a week in the area and spend a day at Arches National Park and a couple of days checking out Canyonland National Park, which is huge.

Well, that's about a wrap for us...we had a wonderful day today and hope you did as well! Until later...~

Mesa Verde Nat'l Park

We arrived in Cortez, Colorado yesterday, Satruday April 24th. We're staying at the Cortez KOA campgrounds. We got up early this morning and headed to Mesa Verde National Park, which is only a few miles down the road from where we're staying. The backdrop and views from our campground are phenominal as well. We can also see the Rocky Mountains, still snow-capped as well.

Mesa Verde National Park was a wonderful experience. We saw lot's of wildlife, deer, countless birds and surprisingly, a herd of wild horses. They're apparently all quite used to humans as none of them run off when they see you. We have several pictures of the wild mustangs and deer included in our slide of the Park, on the blog for you to check out.

Now, as for a few details about Mesa Verde National Park. The park is considered America's premier archaeological wonder. National Geographic Traveler even named Mesa Verde as one of the top 50 things in the world that one "must see" in a lifetime.

The beauty and complexity of the homes and villages speak eloquently of the ancient peoples who built them. Walk into any of these spectacular cliff dwellings and hear the wind whispering through the shadowed rooms. The walls radiate noise and you can hear distant voices from other areas of the ruins. I don't think anyone visiting the park could not come away untouched by the experience.

Until recently, these ancient people were called Anasazi. Today, they're referred to as Ancestral Puebloans, forefathers of the people who now live along the Rio Grande River and the high mesas in New Mexico and Arizona. The Park comprises 52,000acres of amazing canyons, and home to falcons, eagles, deer, coyotes, bobcats, bear, mountain lions and wild stallions.

As for our journey today, in order to actually enter any of these cliff dwellings, you must join one of the National Park ranger led tours. We initially decided to go to both the "Cliff Dwelling Palace" and "Balcony House". After checking out the surrounding areas and Pitt-rooms some 2,000+ years old, we arrived for our Cliff Dwelling ranger-led tour. Wow! What an experience.

The Park Rangers indicated the tours were 'somewhat strenuous'...especially since we were at 7,000+ feet above sea level. Whew! For awhile there, I thought I may end up spending the night there, it was sooooo difficult getting out! Initially, you work your way down several levels of stairs, all uneven and hand-made. I thought, sheesh--piece of cake, getting down. I got this thing covered! Well, uhhhh...that was until the End of the tour and we had to CLIMB out.

The ranger led tour was wonderfully help, quite interesting and we really thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I had no idea just how difficult it would be climbing out of that sucker. We had to climb up 4-5 sets of wooden ladders and additional stone stairs for a total of probably 10+ flights of stairs, to get out. The steps between were quite high as well. Throw in the fact that we were at 7,000+ feet elevation, and it's a wonder I ever got out of there.

Of course, Mark patiently walked behind me...not even appearing winded--at all! I on the other hand, was Gasping for air. I had to stop several times on the way out to try and suck in a little air. I actually thought I might have a heart attack before I got out of there. Whew! That's without a doubt the most strenous thing I've done in 10+ years. Really.

We had tickets for a follow up tour of "Balcony House". However, we were informed it was much more strenuous than the Cliff Dwelling Palace. So did we go to the second tour? Uhhhhhh....hmmmmmm, let me think a minute here--Not!! At that point, it was after 3:00 and I was exhausted, very tired and hungry. So we called it a day and left. We stopped for a bite to eat and then came back 'home' to our RV and I crashed on the bed with our babies for a few hours of rest.

Overall--we had a wonderful time at Mesa Verde National Park. We're really glad we did it--another item crossed off our "bucket list"! Tomorrow, we're planning on driving an hour from our current location in Cortez, to Durango and riding the Durango Silverton train. It's an entire day trip up there and back with lunch included.

We should have more updates tomorrow or the next day. Be sure and click on the Mesa Verde Nat'l Park link on the left side of the blog to look at all the pictures we took. **Oh yea, BE sure and check out the picture of someone's "rear-end"!! That unfortunate individual is me. Yep, Mark had the audacity to take a picture of me trying to climb up one of the many ladders getting out. I told him I couldn't believe he did that--that was down right cruel...so I decided to include it so you could see for yourself! Suffice to say it's a terrible picture--but my wonderful husband took it. (See what I have to put up with...??)

Well that's a wrap for today. We hope you had a wonderful day today--we certainly did!!~

Lubbock to Albuquerque

We left Lubbock this morning heading to Albuquerque for the night. Not long after entering New Mexico, the winds really kicked up and temperature started dropping. I quickly remembered why I do Not like New Mexico weather! Last year we spent a couple weeks in New Mexico, and the winds continually blew 40 - 50+ mph constantly.

The winds were so bad last time that the toppers on our slide-outs were ripped out (it's kind of like a material awning above the slide outs of the RV)...well, guess what? Yep, that's right--it happened again. Ugh!!!! Within an hour of entering New Mexico, one of the toppers blew out again, so we'll have to get it repaired some where along the way once again.

In addition, the temperatures continued to drop from the mid-60's in Lubbock, to the low 40's by the time we made it to Albuquerque. About an hour outside Albuquerque we hit I guess what you'd call a 'blizzard'. Really, a blizzard. The flakes were so small at first I thought I was driving into a mass swarm of small insects. I actually called Mark on our walkie-talkies to ask him what it was! The mountains in the distance were almost white in color. Imagine snow blowing at 50 mpg. You couldn't see the mountains it was so white.

Well we successfully maneuvered through New Mexico, the wind not withstanding, and arrived at an RV Park just outside of Albuquerque and will spend the night here. We'll be leaving here early tomorrow morning, heading to Cortez, Colorado to spend a few days. We're tentatively planning on spending some time in Mesa Verde National Park and driving to Durango, Colorado to check out the area and possibly take the Durango Silverton train.

We've spent five of the last six days traveling, so we're looking forward to spending a few nights in one location. Both our babies (Clyde & Duffy) travel really well. Both sleep in their little doggie bed in the front seat, though Clyde does ride on my lap some as well (did I tell you Clyde is one really spoiled "and loved" little Chihuahua??) Well, that's about it for today. I hope you had a terrific day--we did. Until later~

We're Finally On Our Way!

We finally began our journey north today. We made it to Lubbock this afternoon with no unexpected surprises this time. It was a rather uneventful trip, which was great. We had planned on stopping over in Snyder, Texas for a visit with family. Unfortunately, all RV Park in the area were booked for some kind of pipe fitters activity, so we pulled over and made an 'executive' decision on what to do next.

One of the wonderful things about this lifestyle is that changes like this aren't a big deal any longer. I told Mark yesterday that we were fortunate that we weren't on a schedule vacation, like the old days when I was with Ma Bell...we lost a day, no major problem--just make a new plan.

We decided to continue on to Lubbock this afternoon and drive an hour or so back to Snyder tomorrow for a visit with my aunt. We're not sure if we'll be here more than a couple of days--that will depend on how my aunt is doing. She's having a very difficult time with her memory these days, so we'll just play it by ear and see how it goes. From here, we head to Cortez, Colorado to visit Mesa Verde National Park and the Durango, Colorado areas.

We also made some adjustments to our upcoming travel plans as well. We've added a few more stops along the way in our trip to St. Mary's, Montana. We're tentatively going to see Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and a short stop in Las Vegas to check out the new attractions since we were last in Vegas several years ago.

Well, that's about it for now. As always, our plans are in 'jello'--(one of my favorite parts of this entire journey for sure). Hope everyone had a wonderful day, we sure did. Until later...~

A "Lucky" Breakdown?

Ever heard of a "Lucky" Breakdown? We had one. Yep, that's right--we were lucky. How's that possible? We were on our way back from Lake Livingston and a vist with Chris. We were headed to West Texas for a short visit with family...and about halfway, the truck engine overheated and started an automatic power-down. I was following Mark in the Ford Escape as he limped off the freeway, and Guess what was directly across from us as we moved on to the service road?

A Ford dealership! Yep, that's right. What are the statistical chances of having an engine failure, with only enough time to pull off the highway and the very exit you must take--has your vehicle's dealership (in our case Ford) right in front of you! Is that awesome or what? I mean, if you're gonna have a breakdown on the road, it couldn't possibly go any better huh?

As we pulled into the dealership the service manager comes out and immediately explains that his diesel mechanics are back up thru Friday, with a 3 day backlog! Ouch! Mark explained our situation and asked if they could tell us if it were at least safe to drive some 100 miles back to Dallas. The dealership manager was present and told us they'd work us in that day, due to our circumstances.

It took the dealership 4 hours to make the repair, and fortunately we had just purchased our Ford Escape, so......rather than having to wait outside the dealership in hot weather with both dogs (Ugh!) we had our other vehicle and went to grab a bite to eat. At least we were comfortable in our airconditioned car!

We made it back to Forney late Tuesday afternoon, got set up and were relaxing by 7:00 that evening. Whew! What a "great" day, huh?

Travel Plans

We've made our tentative plans for our journey to Glacier National Park for the summer. We're supposed to be at our workamping summer job in mid-June. That gives us 7-8 weeks to get there and more importantly, time for a little site seeing along the way. We've mapped out our tentative travel plans for the next several weeks as follows:

1) Snyder, Texas - Visit with relatives
2) Cortez, Colorado - Mesa Verde National Park
3) Durango, Colorado - Durango Area and Train
4) Monument Valley, Utah - Monument Valley, where many western films were made
5) Moab, Utah - Arches National Park;
Badlands National Park
6) Jackson, Wyoming - Grand Tetons National Park
7) West Yellowstone, Montana - Yellowstone National Park
8) St. Mary, Montana - Glacier National Park
St. Marys RV Park - Workamping Location

Of course, there will be changes along the way...but at least we have a draft as we begin our journey. As always, more to come--stay tuned~

On The Road Again

Finally! We ended up staying home in the Dallas area much longer than anticipated, but between all the "To Do's" we needed to accomplish in selling the parent's home, getting both our boys moved and settled in different cities, getting our must keep stuff into storage--along with all the things necessary to help Mark's parents over the last several months, and tons of other things, we feel good about getting out of town as quickly as we did!

Last Wednesday was our 33rd wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary Mark!! We left Thursday morning for an RV Park on Lake Livingston, in Livingston Texas. It's very peaceful and quiet here...we're really enjoying this park. Mark spent today fishing, not sure he had any bites, but he really enjoyed fishing...says it's relaxing. (As for me, my idea of relaxing doesn't involve sitting in the hot sun, staring at a pole, and reeling in those slimey little guys!) We do enjoy sitting out in the evenings just before dark and spending a couple of hours just enjoying the silence and stars. What a life, huh?

We drove to Brenham yesterday to spend the day with Chris and Love and took them for an early dinner before heading back home to our spot on Lake Livingston. One of the reasons for staying in Livingston is so we could drop by Escapees, which is an RV organization that also has a mail forwarding service that we just started using a few weeks ago. We dropped by today to pick up our mail not realizing they were closed on Saturdays. Not to worry...our schedule is always flexible! So we'll probably hang around here one day longer than anticipated to pick up our mail before heading out. We'll most likely leave here Tuesday morning for Snyder Texas, to visit with my aunt and cousin.

We plan on staying in Snyder for a few days to help my aunt with various things and once we leave, we'll be heading to Utah. More to come on our travel plans in a future update. Oh yea, I followed Mark to Lake Livingston Thursday, he was towing our fifth wheel, and I followed in our new Ford Escape with both our 'babies'. It drove just great and the gas mileage was almost 30 mpg! We're really happy with the new 'addition' to the family (knock on wood!). Well, that's a wrap for this update. Stay tuned...~

New Purchase/Plans

We've had a problem with our transportation needs since we moved into this lifestyle in February 2009. We sold Mark's small truck and returned my car when the lease was up, leaving us with only the Ford F450 tow vehicle for the last 14 months. That works out great on actual travel days when we're moving our 'home' on wheels to another location, as we travel around the country. However, we've come to realize that it's a Big problem when we're not traveling.

We've been back 'home' in the Dallas area for 5 months now, (far longer than anticipated) and have accomplished lot's and lot's of things. But we've had to do it with only one vehicle on most occasions. We were fortunate enough to have Mark's dads car for use and with us for a couple of months while here. But it's become clear that we can no longer go on with only one vehicle. To make matters worse, we've piled on way too many miles on our tow vehicle, just running errands, getting groceries, etc. So, we finally came to the realization last week that we simply had to buy another vehicle so that our tow vehicle was used only for towing purposes.

So, we finally 'bit the bullet' so to speak. We just purchased a 2008 Ford Escape. It's a small SUV and a 4 cylinder and we'll get really great gas mileage and we got a great deal. The only bad part for us is that I'll have to drive the vehicle behind Mark as he pulls the trailer. I really enjoyed travel days and enjoying the scenery while we crossed the country (when not nodding off...!) On travel days, we'll split the babies--Clyde will ride with me and Duffy will ride with Mark. Once we've reached our new location, the truck is parked and never driven, unless absolutely necessary. We hope this will significantly prolong the life of our tow vehicle and it should ultimately save us money, since the truck only gets 8-9 miles a gallon!

Last but not least, it will be a Much more comfortable ride around town too! Well it's Sunday night, and we're planning on finally heading out Thursday morning. We'll be going to Lake Livingston for a few days and visit with Chris and Love. From there, we'll head north to spend a few days with my aunt in Snyder, Texas. From there...we're heading north. We'd like to check out a few places in Colorado, see the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, ultimately ending up at Glacier National Park in Montana in mid-June.

Of course we'll keep the family posted as we roam this summer, so stay tuned!!