Summer Trip 2010 #7 Sturgis

Our final week in Sturgis was very busy and lots of fun. Mason, (Jim's brother) and his wife Judy came to Sturgis to camp with us and tour the Black Hills. They arrived on Saturday, the last day of bike week so we rode the camp bus into town to show them all the bikes and crazies. We did some T-shirt shopping and enjoyed the sights. That night, our friends from Fredericksburg had to leave early and gave us their concert tickets to see the Doobie Brothers at the Buffalo Chip. Again we rode the camp bus out to the Buffalo Chip. The concert was great but it got so cold we had to go and buy long sleeve t-shirts to put under our jackets. The next day we went to Deadwood and Judy and I tried our luck at gambling and the guys waited for us in the bars. I finally won a little so I was pretty happy. On another day we went to Custer State Park. We saw lots of wildlife; it was such a fun day. Our first encounter was a buffalo walking along the street. He was so close to our truck we could have reached out and patted him. We continued to see lots of buffalos and lots of buffalo babies. Then we came upon a white donkey. He came right up to the truck so Mason fed him a fig newton. He loved them so we ended up giving him the rest of the figs in the box. Needless to say he was Mason's buddy. Then we came upon some baby burros. They were so cute. I wanted to take the one above home but Jim said no way. What a party pooper. From there we went to Needles highway. It is a very curvy road with the most unusual rock structures. We went to 3 rock tunnels and they were very tight, so tight that Mason scraped his mirror going thru. One evening we had a cookout and our friends from Sturgis came. We had such a nice visit with them. Mason and Judy had met them on a previous trip so it was fun for all of us. On other trip, we went to yhe Broken Boot Gold Mine. It was really cool. Mason and Judy had never been inside a gold mine so it was a real treat for them. From there we drove through Spearfish Canyon. It is so beautiful and lots of streams and a neat waterfall. We all took our shoes off and soaked our feet. We ate lunch in a little town and decided to check out an antique store. Mason found a wall phone he couldn't live without and the lady sold it to him for half price. He was one happy camper. Every night, we played canasta with Mason and Judy and just had so much fun. We all departed Sturgis on Saturday. Mason and Judy got home to Tulsa on Sunday afternoon and Jim and I have made it as far as Iowa. We plan on getting home by Wednesday afternoon.

Summer Trip 2010 #6

Jim and I have had a wonderful time riding around the Black Hills. I have ridden nearly 500 miles on my bike since we got here! I've gotten so comfortable on my motorcycle and have really enjoyed the rides. Our longest ride was out to Crazy Horse. It is the largest mountain carving honoring the Indian hero, Crazy Horse and all North American Indians. The carving was started in 1947 and as you can see, only the face is done. The second picture is a replica of what it will look like when finished. We've ridden to Deadwood, a gambling western town. We rode out to Spearfish Canyon which is a beautiful ride and had lunch at the Spearfish Lodge. Along the way we stopped with other bikers at certain picture spots. Jim was really testing me as I had to back into narrow spots on hills and curves. I was sure I would tap a bike while backing in causing a domino effect of falling bikes, but I actually had no problem. Now pulling out from a hill on a curve with bikers coming from both directions was tricky but I actually had no problem. I really surprised myself. The third picture is of Main Street in Sturgis taken from a tower. Our friend took the picture and Jim and I are actually standing on the right hand side of the street about a fourth from the bottom. I actually parked my bike downtown in all that traffic too. We rode out to the famous Buffalo Chip Campground to see Credence Clearwater. What an awesome concert. It was wonderful. The traffic getting there was unbelievable. It took two hours to get there and it is normally a 20 minute ride when it is not bike week. The 2nd concert we went to out there was to see Bob Dylan and Kid Rock. We decided to take the campground bus to that concert and it still took 2 hours, but the bus driver did the driving not us. I loved the Kid Rock concert - he has so much energy and he had the crowd roaring. It was really fun being a part of the excitement.

The last few nights we have been going down to Main Street to watch all the people with our camping neighbors and our friend, Ed Steckler. It has been a hoot watching all the crazy people and seeing all the different bikes. Bike week ends Sunday morning, and tomorrow Jim's brother, Mason and his wife Judy are coming in. We plan on having a quiet week and doing some more touring around with them.

Summer Trip 2010 #5

We have been in Sturgis a week now and we have already done so much. Poor Jim, everywhere we go people crowd around my bike and they never acknowledge Jim's Harley. I even had a guy lay down on Main St. and look underneath my bike and taking all kinds of pictures. Friends here at the campground have been teasing Jim, letting him know he is only along for the ride with me. One evening the guys put my pink sheepskin on Jim's bike and told him maybe if he put the sheepskin on his bike people would look. I'm sure they would but for the wrong reasons! I have been getting a lot of good experience riding out here. Some of it not planned, like riding in the rain, and riding in the dark. But some of it planned like riding the Black Hills in the National Forest Park. Got lots of experience riding up and down hills and around curves. I was a little intimidated at first but quickly got comfortable. We have ridden about 300 miles since we got here. Our trip to Crazy Horse Monument tomorrow will be 130 miles round trip. We have had rain almost every night but most days are sunny but one, it rained during the day. That was the day we got caught in the rain. Thankfully, we were only two miles from the campground, but I tell you it was pretty scary for me, especially since 1 1/2 miles was on the freeway. Once we got back we watched the storm on the TV and the campground owner had his kids running around telling everyone hail was expected. We put quilts on our bikes then our covers and they did just fine. We had strong winds and pea size hail so we lucked out. But 20 miles away in Lead, SD they had 8 inches of golf ball size hail and they had to bring in plows to clean up the streets for the stranded bikers to get through. Our friend, Ed Steckler arrived this week. Him and Jim are happy right now because the scantily clothed ladies are coming into town.

Summer Trip 2010 #4

We left Forest City, Iowa on Sunday morning and headed for Sturgis, SD for the motorcycle rally. We were having a great trip, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and the beautiful weather, when all of a sudden, Jim said the motorhome lost power and was belching black smoke out the exhaust. We could barely make 35 miles per hour on even a very small grade. It was about 10 anxious miles to a rest area, where Jim call the Freightliner help line. It was comforting to know that we were still under warrenty and Freightliner would cover a tow if we needed it. After talking to customer service at Freightliner and to customer service at Cummins (engine), we decided to drive the RV the 40 miles to Sioux Falls, SD to the Cummins Engine Service. We spent the night in their parking lot and the next morning they started on the RV promptly at 7:30am. Jim had already looked at the engine and found a turbo boost hose on the engine had blown off. Cummins found the cause to be a broken clamp. We were on our way in an hour. The rest of the drive went great. We reached Sturgis, SD Monday afternoon and got our motorcycles unloaded and the RV set up and we are again happy campers. Our little trailer hauling our motorcycles has done just fine. When we got to the campground, the owner (Matt) came out and gave us a big hug and big welcome. (This is our third time here). We are camped up on top of a hill where we have wonderful views of the Black Hills, and a constant breeze. We are looking forward to being here a few weeks. After we unloaded the bikes, and parked the bikes and RV, Matt hooked up our trailer and brought it up the hill for us and parked it near the motorhome. Our tattoo artist friends from Germany are already here. They come every year all the way from Germany. They say the money is that good. We also got reacquainted with the little kids that walked our dogs for us during the day, only they are not little anymore. Brady and Layton are now 15 and 16 years old. I was worried they might feel to big to be dog walkers but Layton said he would be glad to. Brady the 16 year old will be working the campground resturant this year and he is really excited about earning lots of money. Next week is the pre-rally for bike week. We have been told that they are expecting 700-800 people this year. Jim and I were going to ride out to the grocery store and the Buffalo Chip campground to get concert tickets this afternoon but it looks like rain. Since we have no car, we will have to wait til the rain clears. I am definitely a fair weather biker!

Summer Trip 2010 #3

The rally went into full swing starting Monday. The day was full of RV seminars, entertainment, arts and crafts - you name it - there was something to do everyday all day. Some of my favorites were a tribute to Elvis by a young man named Brad Boice. He sure was great. He put on a show in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Janet and I enjoyed the morning show together and when he sang Blue Hawaii, he picked me and this other lady to get up and be his hula dancers while he sang. It was a riot. Of course we didn't have the camera with us! Then in the afternoon, Jim and I watched his show again. Jim thought he was the best Elvis impersonator he'd ever seen and we've seen a lot. Jim and Joe spent most of the days attending various seminars. Jim must have asked a million questions at each of them. Joe said he had to leave after an hour; it was just too much technical info at once, but not Jim he stayed to the bitter end. Monday evening they had a Comedian, Jeff Allen from TN, for the main entertainment. He talked about his wife and kids (teen boys) throughout the whole evening and if you ever raised teenagers, you couldn't help but laugh your ass off. Jim and I were thinking we sure can relate to a lot of his stories with Donnie and Davie stories. They offered hot air balloon rides, first come first served, in the evenings starting around six. I almost forgot about it when Janet reminded me and we rode over to the balloon location on our bikes and were able to get in line right behind two other people so we were assured to get on. I have always been fascinated with watching hot air balloons but never went up on one and never realized how much work it was to get it up. It took several people holding ropes to spread out the balloon on the ground and then they used this powerful fan and blew air into the balloon. It took quite a while to get it set up and then they no sooner got it up when a storm brewed up real fast and they immediately took it down and deflated the whole thing. After about a half hour they started the whole procedure again and this time we were able to go up. It was tethered to the ground so we didn't fly off anywhere but we definitely got the feeling of being up in the air. Tuesday was the row parties. All the states cook up a meal or treat special to their state and you go around sampling all the different treats. Virginia row cooked up Brunswick Stew. Our state got a lot of compliments on how tasty our stew was. They also had a polka band that drove around the campground going up and down all the state rows playing and cutting up with the audience. One of the performers in the band is a guy dressed up as a woman. I think he called himself Melvina. As you can see from the attached picture, he was having a ball cutting up with everyone. He sat down in my chair with me and wanted to know whose boobs were bigger mine or his - and of course his were! Wednesday night the entertainment was the Blooze Brothers Band from Chicago. There were excellent. Two of the singers were called Jake and Elwood imitating Joe Balushi (sp?) and Dan Akroyd from Saturday night live. It was a great show and the band had so much fun they even played an extra half hour. Jim and I and Janet and Joe enjoyed dancing to the oldies but goodies from the 70's. So much fun. The last entertainment for the rally was Thursday night. It featured Barbara and Frank (the concert that never was) from Las Vegas, NV. They were great too and if you didn't know better you would have thought it was really Barbara Streisand and Frank Sinatra. Thursday night we had a terrific rain storm after the show. The campground was a muddy mess on Friday, when a lot of people were leaving. Lots of folks got stuck and some even swerved into other motorhomes as they were trying to negotiate their way through the mud. One of our VA state row friends RV got struck. Thankfully they are scheduled for service on Monday at the factory so they will be able to get their paint job fixed. That is one thing you do not want to do is slide when your trying to negotiate those big motorhomes. Jim and I and Joe and Janet stayed on an extra day so we didn't have to get caught up in the slippery getaway. Joe and Janet are leaving for home in Oklahoma on Saturday and Jim and I will leave on Sunday. Jim is scheduled to tour the Historic Minute Man Missile Site near Wall, SD. It is now a national park offering tours of a cold war missile silo. After that, we will go straight to Sturgis for Bike Week pre-rally and rally. After the rally, Mason and Judy are joining us to finish up our trip. We will be back home about the 3rd week of August.

Summer Trip 2010 #2

We have been busy enjoying the pre-rally this week. We've been checking out the little stores down town and have enjoyed eating breakfast in town. Thursday night, we had a row party with all the RV'rs from VA. We really had a grand time and have met some people who have a home not far from us in Stafford, but they rented out their home and decided to full time it for two years. Friday night, our Winnebago club from VA met at the Branding Iron (a steak resturant) in a little town of Thompson not far from Forest City. Every time we come to the rally we travel to this steak resturant for a delightful dinner. The pictures above are of Jim and I and Joe and Janet at the Branding Iron. We've been stopping in everyday at the little Winnebago surplus store here at the campground. I bought several bolts of upholstery material. Don't know what I'm going to do with it but at $2 a roll, I had to get it. Janet got a beautiful queen size bedspread for $5. Joe bought a sheet of Iron On Winnebago logos for 25 cents. Jim wouldn't spend the 25 cents because he wanted to see how Joe's logos turned out. Well Joe ironed the logo on a hat and Jim was like a puppy dog asking Joe if he was going to share some of the logos with him. And being the good guy that Joe is, he cut off a few for Jim to iron on. You would have thought Jim had a real prize there. He was routing around in the closet looking for shirts to iron on the logos. Saturday was Puckerbrush Day in town. So we went to town to watch the parade. They also had entertainment all day on the courthouse lawns and out in the main street. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the little kids catching candy from all various parade units and after the parade they had a tractor pull for little kids. It was so cute watching them. We took Baxter to the Parade with us since we are crate training him I didn't think he could hold himself for the time we were at the parade. He wasn't the least bit impressed with all the noise and people. He preferred to sleep the whole time. But as soon as we got back to the campground he knew where he was and he was fired up. He was running all around and greeting people and other dogs and just having a ball. There must be 40 or so other little Yorkies here. The last pic above is Baxter in his puppy diaper. We are crate training him but we don't want to keep him in the crate all the time in the motorhome so when we're there with him we put the diaper on him and let him have the run of the place. He doesn't seem to mind it and I'm sure it beats staying in the crate. The Grand National Rally kicks off Sunday evening. Prior to that our VA row is going to have a wine and cheese party before the festivities.

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Summer Trip 2010 #1

Well we are on the road again in our RV. We left home July 6th and our first stop is the Winnebago Grand National Rally in Forest City, Iowa. Our next stop is Sturgis, SD. We don't have a tow car on this trip but we are towing our motorcycles in a trailer. This will be a new experience for us, not having a car. We met up with friends from our Winnebago club from Virginia and also our two friends, Joe and Janet Utley, from Tulsa, Oklahoma at Amana, Iowa. Then we all caravaned to Forest City Forest City on Sunday. After getting set up, the four of us took a ride around town and pointed out the Winnebago factory to Joe and Janet and the grocery store, etc. The town is very small, only about 4,000 population. But it is a very family oriented town. After our ride and ice cream at A&W, we went back to the town square and listened to the Forest City Municiple Band under the shade of the oak trees. It was a very enjoyable first night. Jim and Joe go back a long way as airplane buddies. Joe and Janet recently bought a Winnebago motorhome and we invited them to meet us at the rally. This week is known as the pre-rally. Not a whole lot is going on, except trips downtown Forest City and lots of happy hours. We have a pot luck dinner planned for all the Virginia RVr's here at the rally on Thursday. Then our club is going to go to a steak resturant called the Branding Iron just outside of Forest City. The town of Forest City celebrates Puckerbrush Day (I told you it was a small town) and they have a parade, and all kinds of entertainment and they close off the main street in town and set up these big cookers for chicken and corn. So we'll be going there on Saturday. Sunday is the kickoff day for the Grand National Rally and all kinds of activities are planned. Oh and before I forget, we have a new addition to our family. We have a little 12 week old Yorkie, named Baxter. He is the cutest thing and he has really gotten in to this camping. He loves going for walks and greeting people and when we head back to the motorhome he goes racing across the lawn and knows which motorhome to stop at. That is pretty amazing since they are expecting 1200 motorhomes this year and most of them are already here.

Winter Trip -2010 #13

We had a great trip to Ocean Springs, MS. The Kuhl's were great hosts. We got to go to the casino in Biloxi, MS twice-- you know I was happy! We enjoyed buffet dinners on both occasions thanks to Nan and her comps. Both buffets had crab legs to die for. I was in crab heaven. And to top it off, on the second visit, right at the last moment, I won $571 on the penny machine. At first I thought I won $57 then when it kept going, I realized I won $571. It was very exciting. So my total wins for our trip was $1100. Not too bad. On Sunday, we went to another Diner from my book of Funky Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It is called Manci's Antique Club Restaurant and is located in Daphne, AL which is about 45 minutes from the Kuhls. Dave, Jim and I went. The restaurant has all kinds of weird antiques about the place. In the lady's room, there is a wooden figure of Adam (of Adam and Eve) with a fig leave covering his privates. (see pic above). If a lady should lift the fig leaf, a siren goes off all over the building. The locals know exactly what happened and break out in cat calls and applause. I admit I was tempted to lift the leaf, but I knew what would happen so I didn't lift it. Before we left some lady did go in and lifted the leaf and boy that siren was loud. A little girl sitting with her family goes, oh my gosh, someone looked! Anyway it was funny as hell and the food was very good too. After Ocean Springs, Jim and I continued our journey towards home. We spent the night at a Wal Mart just outside Atlanta, GA and that evening we headed out for another diner. This was called The Highlander and was located right in the middle of Atlanta. We used our GPS to get there and had no problems with traffic or directions. This restaurant is known for its unusal art on the walls and their great food. One of their specialties mentioned in my book was their home-made cheese sticks. So I had to try the cheese sticks and they were great. It was a fun atmosphere and we had a great meal. We left Atlanta, GA and made our way the next day to another diner in Tucker, GA called Matthews Cafeteria. The food here is southern home cooked food and was very very good. We met the owner, Mark and he was very gracious to us and thanked us for coming. We really enjoyed our experience. This evening, we are spending the night in Gafney, NC. We tried another diner in Spartanburg, SC called the Beacon Drive-In. This is a cafeteria style restaurant with the menu posted to a wall as you walk in. Then they have a caller at the end of the food bar and you tell him what you want and he calls out the order. Their hamburgers are covered with fries and onion rings and is called in as Hamburger - A- Plenty. The restaurant was started in 1946 and was sold to the current owners on the basis that they promised not to change anything about the menu or the way the restaurant is run. It was a very unique experience to go there and our burgers were great too. We also met one of the owners this evening and he signed my book and thanked us for visiting. Well we have run out of diners to visit and should get home tomorrow afternoon. Its been a great trip. We loved visiting with relatives, and friends and loved visiting different parts of the country that we haven't seen before. Right now though, home is looking very good.

Winter Trip 2010 #13

Well our two weeks in Harlingen, TX went by so fast we can hardly believe it is over. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect and our friends couldn't have done more to keep us entertained. I was telling Jim, it seemed everywhere we went there was music and seniors were dancing, laughing and having a grand time. It was so good to see people enjoying themselves. Harlingen does such a wonderful job of making "Winter Texans" feel welcome. There are welcome signs everywhere. One of our fun times was going to Pepe's on the river. They had wonderful entertainment and a huge dance floor and the place was jammed packed in the middle of the afternoon. We went over to Progresso, Mexico about 3 times. It was only after we left Texas that we heard about how bad Mexico is getting and it turns out Progresso is one of the only cities left that is heavily protected to ensure tourists are safe. After Harlingen we went to a Thousand Trails campground in Columbia, TX about halfway between Austin and Houston. We are still checking off diners from our book of Funky Diners, Drive-in and Cafes in the U.S. One of the Cafes in our book was located in Austin, called the Magnolia Cafe on S. Congress St. so we decided to go and check it out. The restaurant was wonderful and food excellent. It was extremely crowded but once you got seated the service was outstanding. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit. I noticed a lot of the customers looked like performers because of the way they dressed and the strange hairdo's. I started reading some of the pictures on the walls and realized Austin is known as the Music Capital of the U.S. (I always thought Nashville was). Later we rode through town and we realized that a music festival was going on so we parked and enjoyed the music for the afternoon. A lady sitting next to us told us it was a music festival with performers coming from all over the world to perform. Most of the concerts were free and there were concerts going on all up and down Congress St. We really had a great time. The next day we were hooking the truck up to the motorhome. I was in the truck and Jim was standing behind the motorhome and in front of the truck. The motorhome was running. All of a sudden I saw the backup lights come on the motorhome and I pointed to Jim to look up. Jim went around to check inside the motorhome and our dog Charlie had put the motorhome in reverse. Thank God the air brake was on, and the motorhome didn't move. So now we know we can't leave Charlie in the motorhome with the motor running. Jim says no telling what the little black s__t will do next. Nothing like a little excitement. The next night we spent at a WalMart in Lafayette, LA. We went to a Cajun restaurant called PreJeans recommended by Jim's brother Mason. The food was really good and they had a Cajun band playing music. We met a couple at the next table and spent the evening talking with them. It was a great time. We are now in Ocean Springs, MS spending the weekend with a classmate of Jim's from West Virginia, Dave and Nan Kuhl. We started off our weekend visit with a trip over to Biloxi, MS for dinner and gambling. I was pretty lucky and won $47.00, so needless to say we are looking forward to a nice weekend visit.

Winter Trip-2010 #12

We have been having a wonderful time in Harlingen, TX, catching up with old friends, Mason and Flo and Kenny & Jerry from Oklahoma. They have been wintering in the valley now for eight years. The weather has been beautiful. We've been enjoying having dinners together, flea markets, and going to Mexico. Progresso, Mexico is about 30 minutes from Flo and Mason's Campground. We also went to Border Fest which was kicked off with a 2 hour parade. The parade was awesome. They must have had a hundred floats, a couple high school bands, motorcycle clubs, beauty queens and my favorite of course was the horses. We saw lots of paso fino horses and it was really cool to watch them. The middle picture above is one of my favorites - this dad and daughter are making wonderful memories together. That little girl was so cute and she rode the whole ride. We even saw Charo at Border Fest. She is still a good entertainer. I remember seeing her some 20 years ago in Hawaii and she still has the crowds laughing and clapping the whole time she is on stage. We all went to Padre Island today to watch the spring breakers but the fog was so thick and it never lifted so we couldn't see the beach goers but we did have a nice lunch at the beach. We leave Harlingen, TX on Monday, March 15th.

Winter Trip - 2010 #11

We left San Jose, CA on Feb 24th and headed for Harlingen, TX. Our first night, we spent in Ventura, CA camped along the Pacific Ocean. It was a cloudy afternoon when we stopped but we opened our windows and enjoyed listening to the ocean. It was very soothing. We made it to Quartzsite, AZ the next day. We went to the same location that we spent two weeks earlier on this trip. There were still a lot of winter campers in Quartzsite but most of the flea markets and gem dealers were gone. It was a very quiet town this time. That evening Jim and I went to Parker, AZ which is 30 miles from Quartzsite, for a birthday dinner and some slot time at the casino in Parker. The place was packed. We had a very nice dinner but our gambling experience turned out to be a donation. We didn't win a thing but we did have fun. We have a book called More Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, which is a drop top culinary cruise through America's finest and funkiest joints. We decided that we would make it a goal to try to visit as many as we can in our travels now and in the future. One of the diners noted in the book was Matt's Breakfast located in Phoenix, AZ. So we left our motorhome at a Flying J in Phoenix and drove over to the diner. It was a very small diner with a waiting line around the block. The wait actually turned out to be fun because we met a couple and talked with them until our name was called. The wait was worth it - the food was great as well as great service. We look forward to trying out more of these places noted in the book. The next night we spent at a Flying J along the New Mexico/Arizona border. The next night we made it to Ft. Stockton, TX and stayed at a Wal Mart. The next day we made it to a Thousand Trail Camp Ground in Medina Lake, TX. I love this place. We have stayed here before. It is full of deer. They come right up to you for treats. Of course I spent the evening feeding them cereal. The next day we made it to Harlingen, TX. We are staying at another Thousand Trail Camp Ground. We'll be here for two weeks. We are visiting with our good friends, Mason and Flo Young and Kenny & Jerry from Oklahoma. We started off our visit here with a little crises though. Tomorrow we are all going to go the flea market here. Its only open on Wednesday and Sat and Sun and is a pretty big deal here. Wednesday night we are going to a show where a guy sounds just like Willy Nelson so that should be fun. Saturday they are having a Mexican Border Festival here and we all plan on attending. Sunday we are going to Mexico. Kenny is having some dental work done there and we are going to keep Jerry company drinking Margaritas while she waits for Kenny. I mean what are friends for! So looking forward to a fun weekend.

Winter Trip 2010 #10

We just spent a wonderful 10 days visiting family in San Jose, CA. We got there on Feb 15th. The ride was so beautiful. I have never seen CA so green and plush. It felt like riding through the hills of Ireland. Anyway, my Aunt Bev just moved into a new home in an adult community. It is a very nice community and very well kept. I'm sure she is going to be very happy there. She just recently moved from Morgan Hills to San Jose to be closer to her daughters and their families to include grandchildren and great-granddaughter. Aunt Bev was such a gracious host - always feeding us and Charlie. My aunt's dog, Pixie is half of Charlies' size and she wanted to play with him so bad but Charlie was only interested in what was in her feed bowl. Poor Pixie, everyday, Charlie would barge in the house and clean out Pixie's bowl. We enjoyed helping my cousin, Jody and Aunt Bev with little jobs to get her settled in. The rest of the family had already moved in her furniture and stuff and put in new appliances in so she looked pretty comfortable and cozy by the time we got there but Jody made up a "To Do List" and we enjoyed helping check things off the list. Aunt Bev treated us to a buffet lunch one afternoon at her favorite restaurant and cousins, Jody and Karen joined us. I can see why that is her favorite restaurant - the food was great and my goodness so many choices. It was hard to get back to our chores after that feast. On Friday evening, we finally got to see Jody's husband Dave. He worked all week and we had left for the motorhome before he even got home from his evening commute. Anyway Dave and Jody treated us to a nice dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, called the Flames Coffee Shop. It was really great. Again so many choices. But the one thing we noticed they had, but did not partake in, was wonderful desserts. I have never seen cakes so huge. We definitely had a fun evening catching up. We took a break on Saturday and drove over to Santa Cruz, CA for the day. They were having a Clam Chowder Cook Off on the boardwalk. I love clam chowder and I couldn't wait to taste all the chowders. The place was packed - it was a beautiful day and I think everyone came out because of the beautiful weather. However, when we got there I found out, out of the 76 chowders they had on hand, you could only taste five. What a bummer! But I did enjoy my 5 little tastes anyway. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the boardwalk watching all the people and the beautiful ocean until they called out the winning chowder. We then drove over to lighthouse point and watched the surfers. It was there that we had a quiet moment thinking of our beloved uncle Joe, for it was he who introduced us to that spot the last time we were with him. There were some huge waves. It was also cold. Jim and I wore jackets with hoods and the surfers did have on wet suits but it still looked cold. The waves were so big and we was wishing we had our camera but it was in the truck and it was too cold to walk all the way back to the truck and then back to the surf so you'll just have to take our word for it! Later that evening we met our niece, Heather and her finance, Nicole for dinner at the Hindquarters Steak Resturant in Santa Cruz. We had a wonderful time catching up and telling stories on each other. It was our first time meeting Nicole and we were delighted to meet her. On Sunday, Jody and Dave hosted a wonderful brunch at their house and everyone brought something. It was definitely a feast. That afternoon, some of us girls went to see the movie Valentine Days and the guys went to visit the Hiller (Hiller Helicopter fame) Aviation Museum. (Bless Dave and Tom's hearts, for they had to endure Jim reading EVERY information plaque in the museum) The movie was great and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Jim said he had a wonderful time at the Museum. Monday it was back to the To Do List. We were getting all the small stuff done and feeling pretty good about the list. Only the big stuff is left like paint the house, and landscape the front -- we would have like to have done that -- but they still needed to decide on the color to paint and the design for landscape and then notify the Manager of the park. Tuesday we spent the first part of the morning packing up the motorhome and getting things ready for our next leg of our trip. We went to Aunt Bev's for dinner on Tuesday and everyone surprised me with a 60th Birthday Party. To say the least, I was very surprised and had a lot of fun. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to San Jose and Santa Cruz and left for Harlingen, TX on Wednesay, Feb 24th. We'll be catching up with our Oklahoma friends in Harlingen and looking foward to it.

Winter Trip 2010 #9

Our second week in Las Vegas started off pretty restful. We caught up with laundry, cleaned the motorhome and watched movies and of course a little gambling. But by Thursday all peace and quiet went away. Jim's brother, Mason and his wife, Judy arrived in Las Vegas. It was their first trip to Las Vegas so we tried to pack in everything for them to see in 4 days. We had so much fun but we kept staying out later and later each night. Thursday afternoon we took them by one of our favorite sights to check out -- a neurosurgeon's house. This man collects carnival and Las Vegas memorabilia such as signs, statutes, boats, airplanes, etc. and it all covers his rooftop, backyard and front yard. It is quite the site to see. Of course I forgot my camera. Then from there, we went to Hard Rock Casino to pick up a rental car. Then we took them down the strip so they could see all the lights and fancy hotels. We later met with Audria and had dinner at Buco de Peppe's, then back to the strip to tour the Bellargio and watch the water show. Friday, we went out to Terrible's Casino for breakfast and then went to Hoover Dam. As you can see from pics above we had a beautiful day for touring the dam. Judy, Mason and Jim also took a helicopter ride over the dam. That trip really watered their eyes. Neither had ever been in a helicopter before. They did get some great pics though. The middle picture shows the new road they are building to get traffic off the dam. As you can see in first pic, the water level is down really low. After the dam tour, we went back to Boulder City and had an early dinner, late lunch. That evening we took them to the Freemont Experience (Old Las Vegas). We had a ball. Judy and I hit the slots and Jim and Mason people watched (or should I say "girl watched") under the dome. Saturday, we did breakfast at Terrible's again and then took them to the Sahara Casino where we taught Mason how to play Black Jack because the Sarah has a dollar table. Mason really took a liking to the game and really caught on pretty good. I played Black Jack with the guys for a little while and once I got $20 ahead I joined Judy at the slots. I was playing the penny machines with my $20 winnings when all of a sudden I hit on the bonus and the machine gave me several free spins and it kept hitting the bonus over and over. I must have sat there for 15 minutes and watched my winnings go higher and higher. I thought the machine had broken and was just going to keep going until it was empty, buy finally after reaching $562.00 it ended. I was so excited. I cashed out and found Judy and showed her then went to Mason and Jim and showed them. I spent the rest of the evening watching Judy - she did pretty good too. She ended up winning $100 that night. We also went to the Blue Man Group show (thanks to Audria) at the Venetian. It certainly was a wild show. We really enjoyed that. By this time it was getting late but we took them to one more casino that we like to play Black Jack over in Henderson. This is a $2 Black Jack table and Mason and Jim played til 2:30am. Mason was having a ball and he had really caught on and was playing really good. I think he ended up $100 for the better. Judy also had a good night there and won another $100. We actually didn't get to sleep that night til after 3:30am but boy we sure did have fun and all of us ending up making a little money so we were all pretty happy gamblers! Mason and Judy left on Sunday and we left for San Jose, CA on Monday,

Winter Trip 2020 #8

We have been in Las Vegas, NV for a week now. We have had a wonderful time so far. For all of our snow bound friends and relatives, I hate to tell you but the weather here has been wonderful. We are enjoying it so much. We had rain one day but that didn't put a damper on our activities. The first thing we did was meet up with David's girlfriend, Audria, (3rd pic) and had lunch. David had sent Audria an RV part that we needed. It was our first time meeting Audria. She is a wonderful girl and we really enjoyed meeting her. We also had a nice visit with my neice, Shaunna, and her son, Jordan (4th pic). We went to dinner at one of her and Jordan's favorite restaurant, Mimi's Cafe. We couldn't believe how much Jordan has grown. He's almost as tall as his mother at 12 1/2! They will be coming over to the RV for dinner this week and we hope to play some games; we are really looking forward to their visit. We've been to two shows; KA and a tribute to Prince called Purple Reign. Both were excellent. KA is a Cirque du Soleil production at the MGM. Audria was so gracious and surprised us by making arrangements for us to see it. It was a fantastic production. Purple Reign was held at the Hooters Casino. Believe it or not, it was an 11:00 pm show (way past Jim's bedtime) but he was a good guy and agreed to go with me to see it. We got there early (9:00pm) to be sure and get our tickets and then the show didn't start til about 11:30pm. But once it started it was so good even Jim had a good time. We've been doing a little gambling but haven't won anything substantial (duh!) but we haven't lost very much either. We have been going to $1 Blackjack tables and have been able to play for several hours and still break even, so we're pretty proud of ourselves!! Jim's brother, Mason, and his wife Judy are coming in later this week. We're looking forward to showing them around. Our next stop after Vegas is San Jose, CA to visit our aunt and cousins.