Life is Good
Tiahrts Travels
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR IN 2009 TO ALL OF YOU
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
HOME!
2004 Trailblazer/Trailer
8:15 a.m. - Well it is 50 degrees now and sunny clear skies with a little wind as w
e leave the Quality Inn Motel in Barstow, CA. We had a good night sleep and a good dinner and this morning a good breakfast. This motel gives you a voucher to eat at the local restaurant which was nice. The weather man says we are going to get caught up in the Santa Ana Winds that are coming through this whole area all the way to Bakersfield, CA. Suppose to be 30-40 mile winds with gusts up to 60 m.p.h. Hope we can get through there before all that happens, since we are leaving a little earlier, we might just be ahead of it. Seems the winds pick up more in the afternoon and evening.
10:00 a.m. - We are in Tehachipi, Ca and the windmills here are moving but not blowing off their stacks. Still 50 degrees and the winds are picking up a bit. We have the wind at our back which is good for us and our mileage.
10:40 a.m. - We are on the ground floor of the valley with still 50 degrees and sunny and lots of smog! Luckily we missed the 30-40 m.p.h. winds going this way, we are about 180 miles from HOME!
11:30 a.m. - We are in Pixley, CA just 2 hours from home and we have come
into FOG and the temperature has dropped to 40 degrees. What a bummer, we were hoping to have sun all the way into Merced. 1:00 p.m. - Whoopee there is no fog in Visalia, CA and the sun has reappeared. We gassed up here in Madera, CA which is about 30 miles from Merced. Gas here is $1.59 a gallon and the weather is a pleasant 57 degrees and sunny. There is no wind here at all and we are getting great gas mileage for us, 17.5 miles to the gallon.
1:50 p.m. - WE ARE HOME! Sunny blue skies and 60 degrees! Was invited to go to Barbara and Dick's this evening for dinner and to see little Kaelyn, Andr
ew and E
rika. What a lovely beautiful family. We really enjoyed the evening with all of them. A nice way to end the day, that's for sure.Drove 335 miles today
Total Miles Driven 3,356
Monday, December 8, 2008
Monday - December 8, 2008
December 8, 20081:30 p.m. - Making our turn from-10 north on Us 95 to Lake Havasu, CA and gassed up on the AZ boarder because gas here is $1.59 gallon and in Blyth CA it is $1.89 gallon. The temp is a nice 70 degrees with smog, cloud covering but it still feels good and warm and nice to be on the West coast again.
3:15 p.m. - There is a gas station here along the road in the desert and gas is $2.79 gallon!!! what a rip off, but I guess if you need gas and you are at least 50 miles from the next station you will pay. We stopped to let Abby run and have a bite to eat with a nice 70 degrees still holding on. We are just getting off US -95 and it is not a good road on the CA side at all! It has nothing on it for miles and miles and you hardly even see a car. I will not travel this road again!.
5:15 p.m. - Finally saw some civilization here in Barstow, CA. We pulled into a Quality Inn and they had one room left. We went and had dinner and we are TIRED. Frank had to fight the wind in the latter part of the day and that is always tiring. We decided to make this a longer day so that tomorrow we will be home early in the afternoon. Whoopeeeeeeee!!!
Drove 534 miles today
Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008
Saturday - Dec. 6, 2008
rdsburg, N.M. with a 45 degree temp and sunny, clear, blue skies.
lot of road construction. Gas here is $1.65 gallon. We can see Mexico from this freeway across the Rio Grande and on the left side of the freeway and N.M. on the right side.
t. Not much here but sagebrush and dinky palm trees. The speed limit here is 75 m.p.h. but like most of the roads we have traveled, no one pays attention to the speed limits.Friday, December 5, 2008
December 5, 2008 Friday
8:45 a.m. - We left Debbie and Jimi's after a great evening and a good morning. Jimi left for work about 8:00 a.m. and Debbie was leaving right after us. The majority of the homes and business' here in Texas, that we see, seem to be made of brick.
Hardly no wood or stucco structures. The temp is a cool 33 degrees, but we have sunny, blue skies. Elliott sure is a cute little dog. It is funny to watch him when you tell him to go to his bed and he goes and then waits for his treat. We are taking I-35 south from Debbie and Jimi's to US-190 west towards Killeen, TX and then to US-281 south and catch US 29 west to US-377 south to Junction, TX which is on I-10 west. We will then continue on I-10 west to Fort Stockton and hope to spend the night in a La Quinta Inn.
10:00 a.m. - Debbie you might be interested in this little tidbit. In a small town of Lampasas, TX, which has 6700 people in the middle of nowhere gas is only $1.54 gallon a
t a new Wal-Mart and $1.59 at a regular station down the street. We figure it must be a winter retreat because there is a fancy hotel, a lot of new business cropping up and a resort area with cabins to rent on a lake here, by a dam. They are also building a big new high school here (for 6700 people? you figure)
11:00 a.m. - We stopped at our favorite place to eat--Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar B-Que in Llano, TX right off the freeway. This is the place where you pick out your meat from the BBQ then go inside and choose which side dishes and drinks you want and they have white butcher paper you eat on as your plate!! The BBQ guys are out starting to fire up the
grill and BBQ at 6:00 a.m.! As you can see by the pics it is a different place to eat, very interesting. This is the web site: http://www.coopersbbq.com/
2:00 p.m. - We stopped for gas at Sonora, TX. Most of the stations here have gas for $1.99, rip-off city, we are so use to paying $1.50 or so. It is 50 degrees and sunny.
4:30 p.m. - We are at Ft. Stockton, TX for the night, we have had no cell service since we left Sonora, TX until now. We have been in the high desert at 2900 ft. and only a handful of cars and trucks have been on this road. The temp is 46degrees and still blue skies and sun. No wind for a change, all the windmills on
the mountains are still. The RV campground we usually stay at has quite a few RV's. It is odd seeing all this
during the daytime
hours, usually is it dark when we pull in here. We went for a walk around the area after we settled down for the night.
We drove 384 miles today
Thursday, December 4, 2008
December 4, 2008

llas.12:15 p.m. - We got through the mess of Dallas with no problem, thanks to "Nellie". It is 47 degrees and still sunny, blue skies and not as much win.
1:00 p.m. - -We stopped for gas at Hillsboro, Texas where gas here is $1.69 a gallon with still sunny blue skies, 50 degrees and windy. The good thing is the wind is behind us so we are getting much better gas mileage. We are about 1 1/2 hours from Debbie and Jimi's. We have driven 1510 miles so far.

2:35 p.m. - Arrived at Debbie and Jimi's with a 52 degree temp. Had a great night and dinner with them and just kicked back and enjoyed their company. At this stage of the game we just want to get home. Frank is really relaxing and enjoying the company and calmness. We will head out in the morning for Fort Stockton, Texas which is close to the border of New Mexico. That should take us about 7 hours.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
December 3, 2008 - Wednesday
a 59 degree temp and still windy. On our way to Little Rock, Arkansas right now. It is very nice to have some clear dry, roads. Danny Thomas St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is here in downtown Memphis.
mile per hour winds, with gusts to 30 mph! There is suppose to be a cold front coming in here tonight right now we are 41 miles from Little Rock. I-40 west in this area is a double lane interstate with woods on both side going north and south.
urry, but it looks like a semi must have caught on fire. Now we are free to continue on our merry way. We have about 5 miles before we get onto I-30 west and head out for Texarkana, Arkansas and the temp here is now 70 degrees.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Winter has set in!!

e been traveling around the state visiting our relatives and friends. We went passed the old house we lived in and saw the grade school, high school and the old downtown Ferndale where we all walked to and from school and it was good to laugh and have those "memories". We are hoping to continue traveling for a few more days to see more friends north of us, providing the weather cooperates. I shoveld snow for the first time in 30 years!!! I like it as much as I did when I was 30 yrs. old. yuck!!!!! We are thinking mayb
e we will be ready to leave here by Dec. 1 or 2. We'll see.Thursday, October 2, 2008
canning season has begon

Well we just finished canning 22 quarts and 10 pints of applesauce, 9 pints of apple butter and 25 pints of peaches, and 9 jars of peach jam. If there is a depression we will have some food, with the venison and fish, we are ok. hahahahahahaha. here are a few pictures of our "days work". We will be going to the cabin for the weekend, since it is opening day for Bow Hunting. It has been raining here today, but tomorrow should be nice.

Friday, September 5, 2008
Friday Sept. 5, 2008

Well here we are in Michigan and the weather is a little on the cooler side. About 65 degrees today and tomorrow with some rain left over from the hurricane. I don't think we will ever see the 100 degree temps again until next June in Merced. Took Eleanor out for her birthday on Wednesday and had a great time. It is wonderful being here again with her. We are at a church convention this weekend and the Martins had to go up north for some business
, we hope to get together maybe Sunday and during the week, for sure on the weekend. Finally got the things put away that we brought and are now back into the swing of things and getting re-acquainted with the house and where everything is again. Here is a picture of my Baby Sister on her ??? birthday. (shhhh 10 yrs. younger than me.
wood shop in the garage like last year and is busy doing bowls, etc especially when we have rainy days and cool days. Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
n the other. The McDonald sign in the background was where we got our salad for dinner. We try to eat before we settle in for the night, so that once we park the car and trailer we are set until the morning.Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
this time. We have never stayed in one and they take pets and the room is very big, clean and probably the nicest one we have stayed in so far. The Comfort Inn's is where we have been at and they are very nice also and take pets. We had a nice dinner, relaxed and went to sleep. This is a picture of the corn fields around the motel in Colfax, Iowa which is about 15 miles east of Omaha, Neb.Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday-Aug.25, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Sunday August 24, 2008

0 degrees and you would think it would be much cooler this high up.
ntryside as we have been seeing for awhile. There is a small town called Georgetown that is nestled among the canyons and is very cute and clean. This area is a lot like the Altamont Pass in CA with the rolling hills except now we are at 6500 ft. but still 90 degrees! The government has come through here and built 8 ft. fences along the road so the deer cannot cross. Quite amazing. We talked with Lyle today and he is doing ok, just waiting for the tomato season to end. He keeps in touch and wants to know exactly where we are because he tracks us on the map.
own. 





