Mullibear

We begin our journey north to Cottonwood, Arizona. The landscape is painted with desert flowers. We're at one of our favorite Thousand Trails RV resorts. As often as we've been here we still find new places to visit. The Chapel of the Holy Cross was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is a Catholic church; however it welcomes visitors of all faiths. Built into the red rock landscape of Sedona, visiting it is a very spiritual experience. While taking the short hike to the entrance we saw a rock climber way up high on the face of adjoining rocks. I bet the view from the top is outstanding! It is good to meet up with old friends. Happy to see our friend Kat, who has rebounded after losing her husband. A bonus for us are her ... read more

We stopped at Coach Care in Phoenix to get the motorcoach's annual service. We found ourselves in the middle of an eight-lane interstate with semis merging left and right. Sandwiched inbetween, we got side-swipped twice. Our first (and hopefully last) traffic event. Even though our passenger side-view mirror was hit, in Tom's words, "We're still alive!." Thank you Lord. Since that didn't kill us I mapped us to Ehrenberg and reserved a Kawasaki ATV for a day of play. Steve Berns, the General Manager at River Breeze RV Resort graciously offered to show us his desert. Now the cost of this was very reasonable even BEFORE Steve offered to come. He really knows this part of the desert and showed us a thrilling afternoon. Reminicsent of ATVing with our friend Kat at Verde Valley Thousand Trails, ... read more

They say once you're out of Texas, you are half way to where you are going...........so we are almost there. We've seen more oil pumps, cottonfields, windmills and long-horn cattle than in any of our travels. We had a wonderful visit with Tom's son, Mike and our daughter-in-law, Donna. No surprise that Mike enjoys the smokin'/grillin' thing like his Dad. He grilled a wonderful dinner for us in his "Green Egg." Tom would go buy one, for sure, if we could travel with it. We spent the weekend doing what many families do-- FOOTBALL! Amazing to find all four of us loving football! I have a picture of the campground we stayed at in Dallas below. Let's just say it isn't our usual venue. It will take us three more weeks to get out of Texas. ... read more

Our trip was really from the ridiculous to the sublime but I felt quoting Napoleon should be accurate....so first we camped in Illinois at Corps of Engineer Parks (ridiculous) and then off to Indianapolis for a Family Motor Coach Rally (sublime) of more than 2,000 coaches. We found some beautiful COE parks in Illinois to spend time in while waiting for the FMCA rally. Obama had spent wheel barrels of money to upgrade the parks. Electric was upgraded to 50 amp, which our coach appreciates. In two parks a 5,000 sq ft Visitors Center was erected which made the one (yes, one) ranger on duty quite comfortable. Oh, they also put in aquariums. So as seniors we can camp at $12 a night with full hookups. Thank ya'll for your stimulus tax money! Pheuuu! Hissy fit ... read more

We stayed in a wonderful, albeit busy, Gettysburg Battlefield Campground. It was just 3 miles from the battlefield. 50 amps and the satellite TV worked. Although it was as hot as everywhere else, shade trees kept us comfortable. We bought the auto tour CDs and took our time exploring. I had just read Scharra’s Killer Angelsand felt up to the challenge of Tom’s historical acumen. We toured on the 149th anniversary of the battle. It was like visiting a 25-square mile graveyard. Certainly the National Cemetery was impressive—officers and non-coms buried shoulder to shoulder with no distinction of rank. They were all heroes that day. To us it seemed that this was a testimony to what bad leadership results in. General Robert E. Lee insisted on rushing the high ground and running his soldiers through an ... read more