December 17-18, 2014 Fort Collins, CO to Scottsdale, AZ

We are starting our annual trek to Arizona for the Christmas holidays before we head to Baja Mexico in the RV.

Getting ready for this trip was a little crazy –  and it seemed that for every step forward, there were two steps back.

Tobey ordered new shocks for the RV and had a shop in town put them on. They only charged us $20/shock – good deal! It took them longer than then anticipated, so they kept the RV for four days and worked us in between other customers. They probably wish they hadn’t quoted us such a low  price! He then had the tires rotated. Tobey filled with gas and noticed a new squeak in the wheels, so a trip back to Discount Tire to figure out the problem. It turns out that we just have squeaky hubcaps. As Tobey was working on the other things to get  the RV ready, he noticed the house battery that we had just replaced in October was dead. A trip back to Interstate Batteries, test the battery, and yep, it was dead. They replaced it so we were good to go – or so we thought. The last minute RV issues didn’t stop there. Our steps wouldn’t retract and none of the repair places in and near Ft. Collins could get to it until mid-January. Well, that wasn’t going to work for us, so Tobey got on the phone and made calls to the step-manufacturer (they don’t take calls) and then to Jayco. They seemed to think the motor was shot and would need to be replaced. Tobey didn’t like their answer, so he waited until it warmed up, greased the steps, and they seem to be working! 

On Tuesday, we had to take my camera back to BestBuy because it wasn’t focusing. Great. They will attempt a repair, but in the meantime, we had to buy a new camera. Now I need to learn a new camera. If they can repair the camera, they will let us return this one.

Loading the RV continued. Tyler and Katie asked us if we could bring a load of things for a friend of theirs who had recently moved to Arizona and didn’t have room for everything. Good parents that we are, of course, we could find room for her stuff. Then we then got a call from my sister with a request – could we please transport a rescue  dog from Colorado Springs and bring her to Arizona? The dog was going to be adopted to a  woman in Sun City. Well, we couldn’t let Cupcake miss a chance to have her forever home, so we agreed to bring her along.

Thursday morning arrived and we were able to finish loading refrigerator items and wrap up last minute house details. By 11:20 we were ready to go. We had our Lions club meeting and hit the road about 1:30 with one more stop before leaving town. Tobey wanted to weigh the RV so we stopped at the sand and gravel company on the way out of town. Tobey told the guys that if we were overweight, he was leaving me there with them! Good thing our weight was okay, otherwise Tobey would have to write the blog!

We had lots of traffic, but arrived in Colorado Springs around 4:00 pm and picked up Cupcake and headed back down the highway. She was a pretty good little traveler and stayed in her kennel until we stopped in Albuquerque for the night. Friday morning we were up and on the road by 7:30 – this time with Cupcake on my lap. Penny spent most of her time in Tobey’s lap just glaring at the little visitor! Just west of Grants, NM, we noticed fog starting to head our direction. By the time we hit Gallup there was lots of fog but it didn’t slow us down too much. The trees and bushes were all covered with hoar frost – pretty to see! Fifteen miles later, we alternated between sunshine and clouds. We arrived in Scottsdale about 4pm and ALL of us were glad to be out of the RV.

My sister, Bette, met us here at my mom’s so she could take Cupcake to her new home. Everyone got a chance to meet her. We walked both dogs, had dinner, then said our goodbyes before Bette took little Cupcake to her forever home. Bette sent me an email this morning with loads of pictures of Joanne, Cupcake’s new mom, and Cupcake. She will have a great new home (and maybe a new name)!

Tyler and Katie fly in this afternoon for Christmas. There won’t be many posts over the holidays so we hope you have a Merry Christmas!

October 20, 2014 Des Moines, IA to Fort Collins, CO

We were up and ready to get on the road before 7:15 today. We said our goodbyes to Kathy. Penny licked her like crazy because Penny just adores Kathy! When we got on I-80, we decided that it is one bumpy highway! If you are prone to car-sickness, this is one road that would do it to you!

Near Adair, Iowa, we passed lots of wind turbines. As windy as it has been the last few days, I am sure they do a great job generating electricity!

Near Council Bluffs, Iowa we noticed a few orange-red colors in the trees, but it certainly is more muted than the colors we experienced in the southeast and through Kentucky and Missouri. It was still beautiful!

There are several fields where the corn is still standing. Several farmers were in their fields, all across Iowa and Nebraska. The nice weather is allowing them to bring in their crops. Our friend, Carolyn, told us that the new combines are so high-tech that they can calculate how many bushels per acre the farmers are getting as they harvest! Amazing.

We stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska to have lunch with a good friend, Denise. We had a chance to catch up and find out what her kids are up to and what is happening in her life. We were so glad she was able to meet us. We were back on the road by 1:45 and decided to just push on through to get home. We crossed the border into Colorado about 5:30 and made it home shortly after 9pm Colorado time. Penny was happy to race into her house and settle in on her bed! We unloaded the refrigerator and a few necessities before we were off to bed ourselves.

Tuesday, October 21, we spent the day unloading and doing laundry. I cleaned the inside of the RV and Tobey took the door lock to our Home Depot and they were able to repair the deadbolt. We still need to wash the outside of the RV and winterize, but MOST of the laundry is done and we can reload for the next adventure!

October 18-19, 2014 Des Moines, Iowa - and a side trip to Marshalltown!

We had a lazy Saturday – we slept in until 9am! Penny didn’t even wake up to be fed!

It was pretty cold, overcast, and windy. None of us felt like doing too much, but our backdoor deadbolt isn’t working properly, so Tobey and I took it off and Kathy took us to the hardware store. First stop was Home Depot and they didn’t have what we needed. Kathy and I did have fun looking at all their Christmas trees and displays. Our next stop was Menards and they had something that might work, but we didn’t want to take a chance, so we will wait until we get home. They had a much larger Christmas display, so that was fun to see.

Back at Kathy’s we had lunch, then everyone took naps – even Penny! The sun finally came out around 3, so we took Penny to the dog park and she got to chase tennis balls and was a happy dog. Tobey,Kathy, and I played cards and visited the rest of the afternoon.

Our friend, Carolyn, came from Marshalltown and brought Zeno’s ham pizza. We had fun eating pizza and catching up on what is happening in Iowa.

On Sunday, Kathy, Tobey, and I went to Marshalltown and met Carolyn at the movies. We saw The Judge, with Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duval. It was really good!

After the movie we all went to the Maid-Rite for lunch. I was having a little bit of Heaven! If you have never had a Maid-RIte loose meat burger and malt, you haven’t lived.

Well, maybe not everyone would agree, but if you grew up in Marshalltown, you would certainly understand.

It is almost like a cult following, the ritual of going to the Maid-Rite when you are in town. Taylor’s Maid-Rite has been owned by the same family since 1928. Even though my family owned a restaurant when I was growing up in Marshalltown, we still went to the Maid-Rite for sandwiches and malts! http://www.maidrite.com/maid-rite_history.html

We drove by my old high school on our way out of town. They are building an addition to the gymnasium, “the Round House”.

It was pretty innovative when they built it way back in 1965 and I was happy to see they are keeping the integrity of the round house with the addition.

We barbequed chicken and burgers back at Kathy’s for dinner, then watched the Broncos football game. We were happy with the win – 42 to 17 against San Francisco. Being in the Central Time zone made it a late night! Tomorrow we have an early start as we head to Lincoln, Nebraska to have lunch with another friend on our way home.

October 17, 2014 Webster Groves, MO to Des Moines, IA

Happy Birthday, Tyler! Today is our son’s 29th birthday and we called him this morning to extend our happy birthday wishes. He and his wife are taking a long weekend to go up to the mountains in Colorado while we make our way north to Des Moines.

Today started off sunny and the traffic on I-64 wasn’t too bad. Of course, we were going OUT of the city, so that helps. We did, however, have a strong headwind, once again reducing our gas mileage. Tobey commented that we had a headwind when we were traveling east and now have one going west, it didn’t seem fair! We noticed the barges working on the Missouri River as we left St. Louis.

We noticed, too, that the wind is a cold wind, not warm. Around Taylor, Missouri, it started clouding up again and the skies were mostly overcast.

The rolling forested hills of southern Missouri are giving way to the more flat farmland of northern Missouri and southern Iowa. We saw several fields of corn being harvested as we drove along.

We saw several old cars converted into hot rods heading south. We wondered if there was some sort of car show or rally this weekend. One of them was even towing a little Scamp camping trailer!

Late in the afternoon as we got near Ottumwa, Iowa, there were breaks in the clouds and the sky was trying to clear.

We got to my friend, Kathy’s, house about 5pm. Penny just loves her and jumped all around and made herself right to home! Kathy made a delicious pot roast with carrots and potatoes for dinner. We spent the evening visiting before Penny said it was her bedtime!

We hope the weather cooperates and the wind dies down! Tomorrow we will all go to Marshalltown to visit some other friends and have Maid-rites and malts.

October 16, 2014 Gilbertsville, KY to Webster Groves, MO

Tobey heard Chris pull out at 6 this morning on his way to work. We didn’t get up to say goodbye. We did say goodbye to Sue about 7:30 and got on the road toward St. Louis. After we crossed the Ohio River into Illinois, we looked at the map and changed our route so we took the first exit and headed back south over the Ohio River! I think Tobey just wanted me to have another chance to go through Paducah!

We followed KY60 west to Hwy. 51 at Wickliffe, Kentucky, then on to Cairo, then we crossed the Ohio River (again – but in a new spot). The bridge was really narrow and we held our breath as we passed the semi trucks coming toward us!

We picked up Illinois Hwy 3 which is also the Great River Road. It winds its way north and west though lots of little towns and is really pretty. It has been about while since we came this way and we are really enjoying the scenery. The sun came out and we greeted it warmly – we almost forgot what a blue sky looked like!

We stopped at a Steak-n-Shake for lunch and shared a triple steakburger and chocolate shake. It was pretty yummy!

We knew we were planning to get gas in the morning, but when Tobey checked his Gas-Buddy app, there was a station at Pevely, Missouri that had gas for $2.54 per gallon! Amazing.
We got to Tobey’s sister, Patty’s house shortly after 3 – just after she got home from work. She took us on a tour of Webster Groves so we could see all the changes that have taken place. We walked Penny all around Blackburn Park. She tried her best to chase the squirrels, but meanie that I am, I wouldn’t let her get them.

Tobey had fun seeing Bristol Elementary and Webster High School. I enjoyed seeing all of the big, old houses in Webster. We went by the church where we got married 34+ years ago, but it is sitting empty, up for sale.

We went out to O’Charley’s for dinner and it was really good. I had a prime-rib pasta dish with sun dried tomato/horseradish Alfredo sauce. Tobey had the chicken fingers and Patty had the fried catfish. They also serve hot rolls and bring refills – they were so yummy we could have just stuffed ourselves on them!

We stopped and got Patty a new printer so Tobey hooked that up after dinner, so now she is good to go. It was a busy afternoon and evening, but fun to see her. Tomorrow we head north to Iowa as we wind down this three-week journey.

October 15, 2014 Lake Barkley, KY to Paducah, KY to Gilbertsville, KY

It rained off and on all night, but it was a gentle rain, so we both slept really well. Penny wanted breakfast about 7:30 but she snuggled back in after eating until almost 9 am! It was dark when we arrived last night, so this morning we had a chance to see how beautiful the campground was. We had a great view of the lake, even though it was raining.

We got on the road about 10 and as we headed north along Lake Barkley we thought there was a flock of geese coming in for a landing, but wait! As it turned out, they were pelicans, not geese!

We went to Paducah so I could visit the Hancock’s of Paducah fabric store and go to the National Quilt Museum.

Hancock’s is HUGE! It is a warehouse store from which they ship all of their online sales.

I wanted to place bolt after bolt of fabric into my shopping cart, but had to remind myself that I didn’t really need it and we do have a weight limit in the RV! I did find lots of extra wide backing fabric and got a good supply of that. Tobey came to pry me away after an hour!

We had lunch, then went to the National Quilt Museum. Tobey waited in the RV with Penny while I went through the museum. The have some absolutely beautiful quilts and I was in awe of the “artists” who created them. They don’t let you take pictures inside the museum so I just have to remember how beautiful they were. I think my favorite quilt they had on display was “The Beatles Quilt” made by Pat Holly and Sue Nickels. Another quilt that was a lot of fun was made by the Hanging by a Thread quilt group called “Ms. McDonald Had a Farm.” It was a fanciful farm applique quilt.

We headed back to Gilbertsville after the museum to visit friends, Chris and Sue. Tobey and Chris have been friends since elementary school and have shared lots of good times together. Sue fixed a wonderful dinner and we had a great time visiting. We really enjoyed seeing Chris’s recording studio. He is such a talented musician! Our evening came to an end and tomorrow we head off to St. Louis to see Tobey’s sister.

October 14, 2014 Vine Grove, KY to Clarksville, TN

It started raining about 9 last night and continued all night in varying strengths. I was glad Cathy and Jim’s house is on a hill or we might have been swept away in the flow! Maybe we should have an ark! We did sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast before getting on the road.

It was still raining as we started off, but there were soon breaks in the clouds and the sun kept trying to peak through. It was pretty windy again today – and not in a good way – head and cross winds so we were bounced around the road and it wreaks havoc on the gas mileage!

One little town we went through had not just one large “animal”, but two! The pink elephant greeted us as we came into town at the gas station, and the cow with pink sunglasses was by the lotto store! They have everything in Kentucky.

We drove lots of small highways, KY920 and KY79, through lots of little tiny towns – one or two houses – on our way to Tennessee! Tobey was a good “barn quilt” spotter along the way!

We arrived in Clarksville about 3 and met one of Tobey’s fraternity brothers, Gary, to have an early dinner. He was leaving to go up to Ft. Knox – right by where we were last night – on business! We hadn’t seen him since 1979 or 80, but we had a really good visit. It was fun catching up and hearing about his travels all over the world with his job as an engineer.

After we said our goodbyes, Tobey and I took my dead camera into the BestBuy store to get the warranty repair work started. They will send it in and see if it can be repaired, then send it back to us in Colorado. It takes 2-3 weeks, so we were glad to get a jump on starting the process.

We then hopped on Interstate 24 and drove back to Kentucky! We are camping at the Kentucky Core of Engineers Hurricane Creek Campground located on Lake Barkley. It was dark when we arrived and the campground host’s day off, so we grabbed a site and will pay in the morning. It is pretty quiet and we can hear the crickets chirping outside.

It will be an early bedtime for us tonight since neither of us slept well with all the rain last night. Tomorrow off to visit friends Chris and Sue in Gilbertsville, Kentucky – about 45 minutes away.

October 13, 2014 Blue Ash, OH to Vine Grove, Kentucky

We said goodbye to Vicki this morning and got on the road headed for Kentucky. We had a couple stops along the way – groceries, lunch, walk Penny. It started off rainy, then got sunny, then clouded over again. Fall has certainly arrived! The leaves are starting to turn here, but it hasn’t been as colorful as North Carolina, Virginia, or West Virginia.Penny was tuckered out and climbed into Tobey’s lap for a nap. She just loves being close!

We arrived at our friends, Cathy and Jim’s house about 3pm and set up camp next to their house.

We went out to dinner and had a wonderful time catching up on what is happening in their lives. The time passed much too quickly, but we were glad we came. Tomorrow we head to Tennessee to visit one of Tobey’s fraternity brothers and his wife.

October 12, 2014 Camp Cheerio, NC to Blue Ash, Ohio

Tobey and Penny arrived at Camp just after 9 this morning. Penny was so excited she just raced around, then dashed up the steps to say hello to all the women still in our quilting room! We loaded all my stuff back in the RV, helped a couple others carry their things down the steps, and said our goodbyes for another year. It was foggy and sprinkling a little as we made our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The colors are absolutely incredible! My good camera stopped working a couple days ago, so I have only been able to use my small underwater camera, so pictures aren’t as good. It seems like at every curve we were saying “look at those colors,” or “oh, isn’t that beautiful?” In Virginia we passed several fields just filled with pumpkins, ready to be picked for Halloween carving. Just think of how many Jack-o-lanterns are in that field!We meandered our way north and arrived at my niece, Amie’s house about 6pm. Mason, her son, and her mom, Vicki, were there, also. She has her yard all decorated for Halloween – it was really cool. Mason was pretty jazzed about the scooter and wanted to go for a ride, but the weather was not really cooperative, so it will have to wait for another trip. We had fun visiting, then went out to Skyline Chili for dinner. The chili is different than any we have had before – it has cinnamon in it! I had the “regular” chili which is served over spaghetti. Tobey had the Coney dog with chili and cheese. They were both pretty tasty!

After dinner we visited for a while before saying goodnight. Both Amie and Mason leave for school at 6:30 in the morning, so we also said our goodbyes! I was exhausted and went to sleep by 9 pm!  Tomorrow we are off to Kentucky.

October 11, 2014 - Camp Cheerio, NC

Breakfast was at 8 this morning, then back to sewing. I had a quilt top I had finished years ago in my Ft. Collins quilting group that I brought along to actually finish.

I managed to get the entire thing quilted and trimmed. One of the women taught us a new binding method, so I tried it and got the entire quilt done! I had fabric left over, so I made a matching pillow case and I am pleased with the results.
Our group usually has a “show and tell” where we show quilts we have finished over the year, or tops we pieced this weekend. After the show and tell we normally have a “quilt show” on Saturday afternoon where we hang all of the quilts outside on clothes lines along the railings. The weather this year did not cooperate – it rained and rained on Saturday, so it was too wet to put them out. Bummer! It is amazing to see the different talent from so many quilters. These are just a couple of the quilts from others in the group.

The Indian Guides and Indian Princesses were at Camp this weekend also with their dads. Saturday afternoon the groups that were doing crafts on the first floor of our building came up to visit us. The little girls were enthralled with what we were doing, and the dads were too! One of our group brought a bunch of butterfly quilt blocks she got at an estate sale and she let every little girl pick one to take home. The parade of girls never seemed to stop!

Dinner at 6 tonight was prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes, roasted and steamed veggies, and more of the camp’s wonderful breads. If you think the food on a cruise ship is good, this camp may beat them out! It rained all through dinner, but quit just before we left the dining hall and walked up the hill to the Sloan Center where we quilt. We have our sewing machines set up on the second floor of the building in this picture.

After dinner we played two more games of Left-Right-Center. I was the winner of the second game and came away with 9 yards of fabrics! WOOHOO!

I finished the night making two potholders and a fabric birthday card for someone in another “crafty” group which I belong to.

It was really too late to start another project – even though I wanted to! – so I started packing up my stuff since Tobey will be here at 9 tomorrow morning.

October 9–12, 2014–Tobey’s Story! Stone Mountain State Park, Glade Valley, North Carolina

Tobey dropped me off at camp the drove back about 6 miles to the Stone Mountain State Park with Penny.

The camp was $15 a night with the senior discount, no electricity, and had nice flat sites. Most of the campers enjoyed their campfires, even in the rain, producing a smoke that laid in the hills.

On Thursday after he set up, it was sunny, so he and Penny started off on a hike. They were intending to see the Stone Mountain waterfall. Halfway through the three mile round-trip, it started to rain, so they booked it home to the RV, only to have the sun come back out when they arrived! Penny did seem to enjoy the warm-up hike. They did see the waterfall and Penny got to swim.

Friday morning the weather was nice with a forecast for rain in the afternoon, so they took off on the Stone Mountain Loop Trail. The trail is 4.5 miles, but they had to hike .7 miles each way to get to the trail, so it turned into a 5.9 mile hike. At the top of Stone Mountain they could see down into the valley.

They also visited the historical Hutchinson Homestead which is located in the park. The farm was built in the mid-19th century and restored in 1998. It is complete with a log cabin, barn, blacksmith shop, corncrib, meat house and original furnishings.

They went by the Stone Mountain Falls again and made it back to the RV before it rained! The rain started in the afternoon, so they snuggled in and watched movies and read.

Saturday morning was a repeat performance, but they did it in reverse. They also went to the Middle and Lower Falls as a side trip. Penny was getting to be a good hiker by then. Tobey asked Penny if she wanted to go back to the Falls again, and she immediately said “yes!” She got to swim again before hiking back to camp. They made it back from this 8 mile hike before the rain started again! Penny was one tuckered out dog. Tobey took a nap, too!

They did a repeat of movies and staying in until Sunday morning when they loaded up and came to get me.

I left the camera that wasn’t working with Tobey, so several of the pictures he took didn’t register on the SD card. We were both disappointed that none of the waterfall pictures or pictures of Penny swimming were there! Next year we need to plan so I can spend some time at Stone Mountain with them to see all the beautiful sights!