We decided to go west then north instead of heading north first. With all the flooding in Iowa and vicinity, we figured dealing with itinerant campers is the last thing those poor folks need. So yesterday we crossed the Mississippi River at Memphis on I-40. The river was high, up into the trees along the shore, and the current was moving right along. The big flooding is still to the north. Arkansas was green and lush, unlike last year. We saw lots of rice fields (paddies?) It was a dry day so we saw lots of dust devils, too, along with several of the bright yellow crop duster airplanes that are so common here. Later the rice fields became corn fields. By the time we neared the Ozarks it was hot and hazy. We stopped ... read more

I want to thank you all for your comments and encouragement on our first blogging efforts. Any comments or suggestions for blog improvement on our next trip are, of course, welcome. Thanks again to Skip and Mary and Pat and Jim for your hospitality. It was so nice to be able to sit and relax for a few days without worrying about setting up the camper. And your company was a delight. Family is everything. On this trip Kerry ate enough sunflower seeds to sprout colorful feathers and squawk "Polly want a cracker," but he only smoked one cigarette the whole 30 days. He says I need to add more humor to my blog entries, and I will try. We had plenty of laughs, but not all would translate well to written word. Anyway, you ... read more

Western Arkansas looks a lot like home with hills and hollows, trees, honeysuckle vines, grass greening, and rivers and creeks that actually have water in them. Spring is coming as was evidenced by the thickening and color of the the trees and I actually saw daffodils blooming. As we got closer to the Mississippi River we could see darker clouds ahead in Tennessee. About 50 miles into Tennessee it started to spit snow. It got heavier the closer we got to home. The ground was mostly covered, but the roads were fine. We picked up pizza on the way through town and David, Misty, Ethan and Daniel came over to eat with us. They looked great to us. It was a great trip, but we're glad to be home and looking forward to sleeping in ... read more

We headed east on I-40 from Albuquerque. In the mountains east of Albuquerque there was snow on the ground in the shaded areas, and the lovely green color of pines. Further east it was high plains with broad expanses of fairly flat ground covered in dry grasses (not sand) and staghorn cactus, with occasional wooded hills. We came over a hill and there were the colorful mesas of eastern New Mexico. Next came the high plains of the Texas panhandle. We've stopped for the night just at the western edge of Amarillo, not far from the famous Cadillac Ranch. We drove down there after dropping the camper and took some pictures. We've driven past several times over the years, but had never stopped. How nice that they let people wander into their cow pasture to ... read more

We had a great time with Skip and Mary again. They went down to Mexico over President's Day weekend with church groups to build homes for needy families. We had talked with them about our possibly going down to the Sea of Cortez, but decided against it. So Mary brought us back a bottle filled with water, sand and shells from the Sea of Cortez. What a neat idea. This morning Skip picked us some fresh oranges and grapefruit and gave us fresh-squeezed orange juice with breakfast. We decided to take I-10 down through Tucson (for the third time) rather than the scenic route through Globe. I think we're just ready to get home and see our family. We've seen what we set out to see and then some. We'll stop if something catches our ... read more

It's a pretty drive down to Baker, CA and the entrance to Mojave National Preserve. We saw more desert flowers blooming, pinks, yellows, and whites. The cinder cones and lava beds were fascinating and the landscape everchanging. We stopped at the Visitor Center at Kelso Station and looked at the exhibits. The temperature was dropping and the woman at the Visitor Center said they were expecting snow storms overnight. We ate our lunch on the side of the road near the Kelso Sand Dunes. As we neared I-40 the dark clouds came closer. We heard on NOAA radio that the thunder storm warning for Mojave County (where we were headed) had been cancelled because the storm had moved off to the NE. Wrong! It started raining just before we reached Kingman, AZ, then became mixed ... read more