Travel Blog | About TravelBlog | World Facts | Travel Wallpaper | Travel Forum | Travel Insurance | Services | Cameras

Jerry and Rita - Welcome

Ahh...life does not always follow the plan. We are a happily married couple for 21 years. We had many plans for retirement. But alas, many health issues have crept into Jerry's life. Thanks to Rita's great company with very supportive colleagues, her request for a six month personal leave of absence was granted. We are now retired, albeit 'only' for six months. We will need to continue to deal with Jerry's health issues as we proceed - a new one just added the last two months - but with doctors' blessings for now, we are embarking to fulfill as much of "Jerry's Bucket List" as we can in six months. The list includes:
* Visiting kids/grandkids in Michigan at least twice
* Northwest - Glacier National Park, Waterton International Peace Park, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Kamloops, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore
* Southwest - Old route 66, Jerome Arizona, Sedona, and maybe see some friends in Colorado
* Florida - A visit to an old favorite - Disney World - and fulfill a long-time promise to visit fellow retired firefighters
* Aruba - rekindle the memories of our honeymoon 21 years ago
* Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - our annual two week condo vacation
* Home time sprinkled throughout - catch-up with cherished family and friends we will miss while traveling, get some things done around the house, and of course, stay in cahoots with Jerry's doctors
This is not a list ground in stone. Jerry reserves the right to substitute, change the order, and add or delete to the list at any time. As for Rita, she shares in Jerry's bucket list and adds only two - enjoy the journey, with both of us creating memories galore, and lose weight - maybe even quit smoking! All we know for sure, is that we will cherish this very special time. Our site is intended to simply keep caring family and friends in tune with our nomadic adventures. We love you all and sincerely appreciate all of the support!! Be sure to stay in touch via the private message or public comments buttons. Give us feedback on our postings or just say hello - we'll be happy to hear from you when we are 'on-the-road.'
Private Message Subscribe 1 Forum Posts Blog Map
Joined on: September 14th 2008
Last Login: November 23rd 2008

Blog Entries: 25
Photos: 1444
Visited Countries


RSS
TB Code: [blogger=91683]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by Jerry-and-Rita, order by Date newest first.

« back 1 10 20 next »

Joliet Route 66 Museum
Joliet Route 66 Museum
Jerry hanging with the Blues Brothers (or does that make it the "booze" brothers)
Finally - Back on the Road ...And it feels so good. We finally left Saturday, November 8th after finally receiving a part for Jerry's scooter. We were expecting it Tuesday and since we had to stay to vote anyway, thought that would work out to leave by Thursday. Oh well, we're on the road now and that's what counts. The part arrived at 1:05 and we were already on the road at 1:40pm (we were more than ready!). Even with the drizzling rain and cool weather, it felt great to be back on the road. We are armed with plenty of [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1773 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 104 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 17th 2008 | 22 Views | [diary=343870]

Must be Chicago Area
First Historic Route 66 Sign
Joliet Route 66 Museum

New energy source at work
New energy source at work
We saw a lot of windmills but as in this Minnesota picture, they are still
Special Note We did not want to write our final day's travel until we had caught up on the days we missed because a few of those days were some of the most special and would contain many of our best pictures. Those who subscribed, you will have received emails for the individual days. For those that are visiting periodically, the days we added that we had previously skipped are: * Days 4, 5, 6 (9/19 - 9/21 Glacier National Park) * Days 7, 8, 9 (/22 - 9/24 Canadian Rockies) * Days 17, 18, 19 (10/2 - 4 Grand Tetons [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
830 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 21 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 17th 2008 | 28 Views | [diary=334874]

Something is missing!
What
Autumn colors - again

Thanks Hampton
Thanks Hampton
Our longest stay at any one place - three nights
On our way Home With mixed feelings, we start our trek home. Slowly but surely, any hint of mountain is behind us and with each new hill, our minds wander to the things we will need to do when we arrive home. In the meantime, we revisit the cherished memories of the trip, trade off driving, and keep guessing where we will stop for the night. A sign tells us we have crossed the boundary to Central Time Zone, a clear sign we are headed home. Corn Palace We took one excursion from the expressway because of what Jerry had heard [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
405 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 7 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 10th 2008 | 27 Views | [diary=332809]

Going...
Going...
Going....

Badlands Our revised plan gave us a relaxing early morning before heading out to the Badlands. We had a challenge to face as the ladies in North Dakota a few weeks back had said they believed the North Dakota Badlands were better than the South Dakota ones. Obviously, they were somewhat biased but still, it gave us pause to see what we'd think since we had already seen at least some of the North Dakota Badlands and thought they were excellent. The roads leveled out pretty quickly after leaving Rapid City. Did you hear the whining? Jerry was like - what [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1157 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 85 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 10th 2008 | 27 Views | [diary=332777]

Not much happening on this road
Wow - a turn!
Mileage checkpoint before choosing the unpaved road

Rapid City, South Dakota We see more of Rapid City this morning as we start our day's activities headed to the Black Hills. Rolling hills of different shapes, sizes, and colors blanket the countryside. It was nice to take a very relaxing morning morning before headeing out, though now running later than we had expected to get our tour stops in. No worries. We will see what we are able to see and leave the rest for other planning. Bear Country USA What a treat this was! For the most part, the animals here live in a pretty natural habitat [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1658 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 83 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 9th 2008 | 24 Views | [diary=332558]

One view in the Black Hills
We arrived
Greeter

Best Western Sheridan
Best Western Sheridan
Nice place for last two nights
Boring Drive? NOT!! We were expecting a rather boring drive leaving Sheridan and heading over to Rapid City. Our expectations were not met. It was an absolutely stunning drive and the little stops just called to us such that we had to take a look. Our quick three and a half hour drive to Rapid City took six but at least the extra time taken was under our own control - not because of mountain driving at 25 mph. It was the Bighorn Mountains with snow capped peaks that kept creeping out behind the lower, pine covered mountains that drew our [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1027 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 72 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 7th 2008 | 20 Views | [diary=331704]

Sheridan History
Statues on corners were common
We knew we were in cowboy country

Sheridan, Wyoming Packer Fans
Sheridan, Wyoming Packer Fans
Can you tell we didn't have any fun?! (Paul and Jane to our right on picture). Great people!
Much Needed Rest Today we declared a down day. This last week has been constant on-the-go. Also, for the first time, we have significant rain in the forecast - both here in Sheridan and the next two days at Mt. Rushmore where we plan to head from here. So, for today, we decided to stay in Sheridan, Wyoming, watch the Packer game, try to get through some pictures to share while getting some much needed rest. Oh those Packers! We were so hopeful that the Packers would hold out for the win but alas, they just couldn't do it, much to [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
552 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 6th 2008 | 25 Views | [diary=331327]

Nathan
Texas Hold

Trip Checkpoint We start the day tired and somewhat tempted to stay put for a day. However, as we do an overall checkpoint on weather and timing for the remainder of the trip, we find that we need to get through the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument today if we have any chance of seeing it in anything other than the rain predicted for tomorrow. We think about bypassing it altogether only because it is further north than we really need to go but a colleague of Rita's (Tad) had highly recommended it and we know it is one of those [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1334 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 45 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 16th 2008 | 17 Views | [diary=334671]

Different kinds of mountains
Sandy brown starts replacing the more
Changed scenery

Planning is Key We begin today with one of our more difficult planning sessions. We have only one day to play with given weather predictions of rain, cold and potential snow within another day or two. We have many options from which to choose but we need to plan wisely so that we don't end up in the same position as last night - driving in Yellowstone, in the dark, without adequate lodging facility in range. We settle on heading up toward Mammouth Springs and around, then down toward the East Entrance of Yellowstone, heading to Cody where lodging will be [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
2010 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 108 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 16th 2008 | 15 Views | [diary=334398]

Winding roads are back as we head back into Yellowstone
One watefall
Closely followed by another watefall

Leaving Idaho Falls
Leaving Idaho Falls
Did we take a wrong turn back toward North Dakota?
Leaving Idaho Falls, Idaho We asked the hotel staff as we left this morning if they had any insights for touring Grand Tetons or Yellowstone National Parks. One had just been there the weekend before and excitedly gave us the places we should be sure to see. In addition, she questioned how we were getting there. She recommended we reroute to a different highway in order to see the Tetons from the back, not just the more popular front side. We note that it really wouldn’t take us any longer and she confirms it is a much more scenic route. We [View Full Entry]

Jerry and Rita - Welcome | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1928 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 126 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 16th 2008 | 14 Views | [diary=333980]

Mormon Temple
Ahh - Idaho potatoe fields!
Circle of color in the middle of potato fields?!



« back 1 10 20 next »