Weimar Texas to Baton Rouge Louisana

We left at 7:30am and hit Houston at 9am. Whew!! Traffic instead of taking one of the ring roads around the city, we ended up taking 10 thru the center as traffic was heavier on those roads. It was a beautiful drive, saw an armadillo on the side of the road. Going thru La Fayette, Louisana I got a picture of steamboats. We went thru Henderson Swamp and the bridge thru it is 15 miles long. Unbelievable!! We arrived at Baton Rouge and low and behold, the mighty Mississippi River. We unhooked and headed out to Dinner to try their seafood. It was delicious and we got to try Crawfish Gumbo. Yummy!!!

Arizona to Texas

Well, Feb 20 we woke up to rain but started to get the trailer ready to leave and it started to hail. Thanks goodness it did not last long. Kevin and Gary finished up outside on the trailer and we ended up departing at 9:40am instead of the 8am we were hoping for.It was sad to leave our good friends that we made there. They have made our stay so enjoyable and they will not be forgotten. We had 2 hrs of steady to very heavy rain but we were out of it before Tucson. We decided to detour to Tombstone to see it and it was awesome but sadly we could not stop. Holiday weekend and it was so busy and nowhere to park. With our truck and fifth wheel we were kind of limited. Pretty Cool though...Part of it looks like a old western town from the old movies. We went by Bisbee which had a copper and gold mine in the center of town....It looks like a big hole in the ground...Wow!!! We were close to the mexican border in Douglas via 80 and crossed into New Mexico and stayed overnight at Lordsburg . Next day we continued on I10 and crossed into Texas at El Peso which is right on the Mexican border....if fact I got pictures of Mexico from the center of town....amazing. There was tons of stockade of cattle along I10 amazing the number of cattle. So decided to take a picture and opened the window and near died from the smell. Gag City!!!! I could not imagine working there if that was the odor I was getting. We had to go thru border control outside of El Peso....Checking to see if we had any illegal mexicans with us. We continued on to Fort Stockton Texas where we overnighted. Today we drove by San Antonio and when as far as Weimar Texas. We were amazed at how many dead skunks and deer that we saw on the side of the road. Vegetation become more colorful as compared with the desert gray we were used to. All in all it has been an amazing trip.

Leaving Arizona

It is hard to believe we have been here 4 months tomorrow. We were planning on leaving early in the morning but it is rain and windy so we might delay it by a day. We are sad to be leaving our friends that we have made here. They have made our stay so enjoyable and they will not be forgotten. This quote I found says it all:

"Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away they are meant to be there". We will be staying in touch.

They had a farewell dinner for us last night Sharry, Mandy, Danny, Denise and Dan did an awesome job, we had mexican food and it was delicious...Yummy! and dessert was to die for. I got the recipe!!

Sharry Kitzman is next door to us and it is like I have known her all my life.

Danny & Mandy Wessels are from Texas along with their kids Tyler (9) and Blake (7) are a great family and we have enjoyed our time with them. It is like having my family with me. We will miss our Crantini Time and I know they will miss Gary's cooking....He was always sending samples for them to try.

Virgil who works here at Leaf Verde is such a sweet man. Always, stopped in to see how we are doing. Now our journey continues across the United States on our way to Florida forour first break. It will take us a week or 10 days to get their and I will be posting in my blog along the way.

Las Vegas

We left for Vegas on Sunday morning and arrived at 10:30am. Got checked in but had to wait until 2pm as our room was not ready. We went over at the Imperial to get the half price tickets for Jersey Boys for the 7pm show....You know the expression "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" Well, Marilyn can say it and mean it as she lost her wallet in Vegas. Had to cancel all her cards. Thank Goodness her money was in another wallet. If you ever get a chance to see the Jersey Boys, do not miss it. Our daughter, Tracey, told us to go and I called to thank her as it was awesome. It is based on Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. Fantastic!!

The next night we bought tickets to the last of the Vegas Showgirls extravaganza, "Jubilee" The costumes were spectacular. It was a great show. We also went to the Premium Outlet Mall and decided to take Fred, Marilyn and Bill to Hoover Dam as they have never been. It was a great day and we left early on Feb 1 as they were predicting a storm across USA. We decided to go down 95 into part of California before heading to Lake Havasu City and home. We took Fred and Marilyn to a u-pick farm and they got to pick oranges. They departed this morning for home and we will miss them. It was a great 11 days.

Grand Canyon

To describe the Grand Canyon it is beyond words. The vastness and the depth and the changing scenery is unbelievable!!!! You really have to see it to understand. We were mesmerized by the views. We saw a bit on Friday and today after breakfast we headed to the Grand Canyon Visitors Center and we could not of picked 2 perfect days yesterday and today was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. In the summertime there are so many visitors they close a lot of the park to vehicles and only shuttle buses take you around which by the way is free of charge. Since they were not running we were able to follow the south rim from the south entrance to the west rim at Hermits Rest. It took us 3 1/2 hrs to see all the overlooks and we stopped at all 11. We even saw Big Horn Sheep on the side of the cliff...See picture. There were 5 of them.. I hope the pictures I will post will give you a idea of what we are talking about but I have to say as the expression goes: "Seeing is believing" It was an amazing day and we headed to Kingsman overnighting at the Days Inn before heading to Vegas tomorrow morning

Montezuma Castle and Sedona

Friday Jan 28 we headed towards Grand Canyon and stopped at Montezuma Castle which is built into the side of the mountain and it was 4 stories high. Amazing to see. They called it Montezuma after the Mayan King but it was actually inhabited by the Sinagua Indians....

We headed to Sedona and for anyone who has been to Banff it looks exactly like the town of Banff...Very picturesque...It is also the home to the red rock walls of Oak Creek Canyon as you can see by the pictures we had an awesome day before we headed to Grand Canyon. We took 89 north and entered the Canyon on the East end and stayed at Red Feather Lodge in Grand Canyon Village. We had prime rib at Best Western....Unbelievable....if you are ever in the area, please try it out...

Fred & Marilyn Scottsdale

We spent 10 days in the Maritimes as I was working the travel shows and did some training. Fred and Marilyn flew back with us for a visit on Jan 24 and today we took them to Pinnacle Peak's Patio. We planned in advance and told Fred that he had to wear a tie so Marilyn bought his old tie because if you wear a tie they cut it off. The look on Fred's face was priceless and Gary wore one of his old ties so Fred would not suspect...Also, Fred ordered well-done Wrangler Steak and they brought an old wrangler boot on a plate. Hilarous!!!!! Marilyn also retired her business card there as well. We had a great time and well worth the trip to Scottsdale....