Summertime in New York

   

     Just a few days late getting this final post out and closing out our Going To See America 2015.  After crisscrossing our way down the east coast starting in November 2014, we completed our 10,000 mile journey right where we began, on Wednesday May 20, 2015.  We are about 10 days short of completing our 7th month on the road in Big Red.  Knock on wood, Big Red performed flawlessly, as we have come to expect from this great Tiffin product. To Debbie's great dismay, I couldn't seem to schedule in a visit to a barber, and except for a trim from Erika in Bonita Springs, I haven't managed a real haircut since March 2014 in Borrego Springs, CA!  I'll have to do something about that pretty soon.   I'm going to include some photos from our trip that have nothing to do with the story at hand, so don't get confused.  It's just an opportunity to include some photos at didn't make the cut previously.
     We worked our way across the heartland cautiously watching weather reports.  May is tornado season, so we have to be just a little bit careful.  Of course we have the advantage of being able to sit and wait if there's nasty weather in front of us.  Texas and Oklahoma were getting pounded with storms as we looked to the East, so our leisurely days spent with Randy and Retha actually worked to our advantage.  As we said our goodbye's, the weather window opened up, and we headed across Tornado Alley on I-40 and I-44, with clear skies and good road.  On Sunday we pulled into Akron, OH for a short visit with the in-laws.  The hospitality is always terrific, and Bob and Char love to sit and visit, which gives me a chance to rest up from several days of driving.  Kids and grandkids tend to show up when Aunt Debbie comes for a visit, and that's always fun.  

By Monday evening we were all caught up, and Tuesday morning we continued our push for home.  One more night on the road at a Passport America Campground for $16, and Wednesday afternoon we landed back on the Thompson Rd.        With just a small amount of trepidation, we pulled into the driveway and up to the front door of our house that we had closed up nearly 7 months previously.  As I calmly used to tell people all around the country, "we filled the pipes with anti-freeze, turned on the alarm, locked the doors, and drove away!"  Now we were back.  We wondered how the house and contents survived those many months of below freezing temperatures our friends talked about as we described our situations from the comfort of a sandy beach sipping a cold brew!  Debbie went inside, as I tended to the job of unhitching the toad and parking Big Red.  When she didn't reappear after quite a long time, I ventured in anticipating the worst.         

Amazingly, everything was fine.  Lots of dead ladybugs lying around, but that's to be expected.  After all, the house has been here since the 1860's, and ladybugs love the red brick as the sun warms it on those crisp fall days.  Our preparations were fine.  The grass was about a foot tall, and we had to figure out how to get the water turned back on.  But we were unable to locate any major disasters and that was fantastic.  We spent Wednesday night in Big Red, and the next 2 days we moved back into the house after draining the pipes and checking for any leaks.  Even the tractor started right up, and it seemed like I spent 2 days working on the lawn.  The outside temperature this morning is a crisp 39 degrees, and we're suddenly remembering why we left last Fall!  We fired up the pellet stove in the front room, and soon the house was nice and toasty.  I think we'll find an inside project to work on till it warms a little bit.

     Our Going to See America 2015 Journey has ended, but already preparations are beginning for the sequel Going to See America 2016!  We had a terrific time, and we're hoping this story will be retold to grandkids and great grandkids long after we're gone. We know we are very fortunate to be able to do this.  There were many highlights to the journey.  Topping the list would be the news of grandson #1 arriving in October 2015!  It's pretty hard to top that.  Although MAE did a pretty good job at surprising us with her unannounced visit to San Diego!  It's always great visiting friends and relatives across the country, and we hope we're not being too pesty with our visits.  We feel very fortunate having these places to stop.  
     Ben, Joanne, & Jamo have a new house in San Diego, and that's pretty exciting.  Looks like MAE is getting a big promotion and will be returning to Plattsburgh as the Office Manager in the U.S. Attorney's Office.  We are very proud of her! 
      Our plan so far is to do the trip counter-clockwise for 2016.  This will give us a chance to visit the North-West before winter weather arrives.  Our list of places to visit on our westward journey, which should begin right around Labor Day, is growing each day. Of course, we'll be awaiting the new arrival in San Diego and Grammie is pretty excited about that!  We are very curious to see how Jamo likes the new roommate!  We should be visiting several National Parks out west as we move up and down the coast as we give Ben and Joanne some quality time alone.  We're hoping to visit Big Bend National Park in Texas with Randy and Retha as part of our eastward journey.  Then there's Spring Training in Florida in April.  There's just so much to do and see.
     The map below shows you where we've been in 2014 & 2015.  There does seem to be a big hole up in the NorthWest.  But we'll be filling that up pretty soon.  
         
     

     
     We hope that everyone has a great Summer in 2015, and hopefully our wakes will cross and we'll see you somewhere along the highways and byways of America.
     

Go-Sit-Down-Jamo.....Good Dog

Getting Our Kicks on Rt. 66

   

     I can't believe it's been a month since my last post, and if any of you really enjoy following us as we wander around, I apologize for being so tardy.  We've spent 2 months in San Diego at the Chula Vista RV Resort.  Much longer than we had anticipated, and probably much much longer than Ben and Joanne anticipated.  But they tolerated our visits, and Grammie and I really enjoyed our time together.  Jamo even quieted down, and had a couple of sleep overs with us. Grammie certainly couldn't tolerate Jamo being left alone in that big scary house.
     Debbie and I did a lot of touring around SD as Joanne and Ben had to work.  I seemed to get a lot of enjoyment listening to them as they told their sad stories.  Debbie seemed to spend a lot of time reminding me to behave myself.

The move into the new house in Lakeside went quite smoothly, and I anticipate Ben and Joanne will be unpacking for the next several months. Gifts for Baby Do continue pouring in regularly, and I really enjoyed watching unpacked boxes accumulate everywhere!  Ben and Joanne assured me that all would be unpacked within a few days, but I would bet that they are still around when we return.  Jamo has a great big yard to play in with lots of grass.

There always seems to be something going on in SD.  In Seaport Village, we attended a concert by The Cadillacs.  They knew every song ever written in the 50's, 60's and 70's and the "senior" crowd was out in force dancing away to the wonderment of the Millennials and Gen X wandering by with their cellphones in their hands.  I guess they're afraid they are going to miss the latest text or tweet or whatever they do. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and I can assure you that the "boomers" had a great time!
     The Coronado Island Big Band put on a 3 hour show along the shores of San Diego harbor on a Sunday afternoon, and that was very enjoyable also.  We attended a couple of Padre baseball games during our visit.  Petco Park is located in downtown SD, and Debbie and I jumped on the trolley near our campground and rode it right to the stadium.  We even got our senior discount and rode each way for $1.25!  Can't beat that!  I got together with some BP friends from my time at Campo, but unfortunately I forgot to bring along my camera.  The photographer in the group, Jerry Hjelle assured us that he would send along the pictures, and if they ever show up, I'll upload them into this story. The small get-together was hosted by Bob Grossett (CHP-Retired) and Spanky Hayden led the story-telling.  We reminisced about the good old days and told story after story of the antics of Walter Harwell, Teddy Hampton, Gary Young, Blue Mauldin and many others.  Amazingly I can't remember a single lie told the entire afternoon !!!
     After completing the task of moving, we reluctantly accepted the fact that it was time to start heading east.  On Sunday, May 10th, we pulled up stakes and started across I-8, destined for Phoenix, our first stop,  In Phoenix, Debbie worked her magic with Passport America, and we booked an overnight at the Sunflower RV Resort.  The Sunflower is one of the many Cal-Am properties located around Phoenix, and is usually extremely difficult to get into.  Then we remembered....it's summer, not winter.  No problem.  We checked in with the gate guard, and were escorted to our site.  Our visit on our way west found the Cal-Am resort packed and bustling with activities.  Now we found it nearly completely empty.  1092 sites, and nearly completely empty.  It was like staying in a ghost town.  Music was being piped out around the empty pools and hot-tubs.  The workout room was open, but empty.  We did see maybe 5 other people walking around, but that was it.  Really creepy!

          On Monday we headed out for Williams, Az to meet up with Retha and Randy from San Angelo, Tx who were just starting out on their summer adventure around America. Ya'll remember how we spent 4 days waiting out an ice storm with R&R on our way west.  But I guess they didn't have enough of us, cause the next day they amended their plans, (although they deny it) and accompanied us a hundred or so miles east on Old Rt 66 (I-40).  Debbie and I dropped our rig off at an eclectic old RV Resort in Sun Valley, Ca, and we jumped in with them for a tour through the Petrified Forest National Park.

We remembered our passport and got it stamped at the Visitor Center, and then persuaded R&R that they needed one for their journey this summer.  So now with both passports stamped, we headed out.  We didn't get to experience the full grandeur of the cliff colors since it was clouded over, but the views were still pretty spectacular.  These colorful mesas were formed by wind and water over 200 million years ago and make up what is now known as the Painted Desert.

   Most amazing were the countless "rocks" scattered about that looked exactly like trees.  They are actually fossilized remains of 50 million year old trees that are now rocks.

       After working our way through the park, we enjoyed a wonderful meal with R&R, said our goodbye's and wished them well on their journey.  The following morning, I snapped a few photos of our cozy campground interestingly called Root 66 RV Park.

 If you Google it, it will show on the Passport America website, and it is a bargain at $16.50 for an overnight stay if your traveling along Rt. 66.
     On Wednesday we continued our eastward trek, and our next stop along old Rt 66 was Tucumcari, NM and the Cactus RV Park, also a Passport America Park.

As we entered Tucumcari we were stunned to see a town that appeared to be hit hard from the recent recession.  But again we found an older RV park that was very clean with level sites and 50/30 amp service.  Debbie and I decided to go for a walk around town after hearing that there were numerous hand painted murals around town.  Almost across the street we found an antique shop that had been painted to look like a Texaco gas station.

 It was markedly similar to the Texaco station in Corinth where my Uncle Earl Vandenburg worked.  
     As we arrived back at the RV Park, we noticed an Allegro Breeze arriving that looked amazingly similar to our Wheezy, which we had traded exactly 1 year ago.  We approached the RV and there on the windshield was our old NY registration.  The new owners, were from Albuquerque and were headed for Texas.  We were amazed to find that they were 89 & 88, but still active enough to move an RV down the road.  We had a fantastic visit as we helped get them set up and explained some of the nuances we found during our time with Wheezy.  The neighbor next door, also driving an Allegro RV joined in and was able to temporarily solve their tv issues.  I pulled out the hardcopy of last year's journey and showed them photos of Wheezy covered in snow in 2014. We enjoyed a good visit and Debbie made arrangements to send them the original quilt from the bed. This morning, as we worked our way east to Oklahoma City, we passed them eastbound on I-40 heading for Texas.  We wish them the best of luck in their future journeys.

     As we journeyed east on I-40, Debbie received the amazing news that Ben and Joanne will be having a little boy in October.  I told everyone I didn't want to know, but Debbie was so excited that the secret lasted about 2 minutes.  We only want a healthy grandchild, but we're both pretty excited as we anticipate the arrival of our grandson.  The next great secret is our grandson's name, but I think Ben and Joanne are keeping that pretty close to the vest.  We'll just have to wait till October.
      Tonight we're settled in at the Twin Fountains RV Park in Oklahoma City.  Tomorrow should find us over near Springfield, Mo. as our journey home continues.