Sunday Nov. 22, 2009

Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009

30143 miles on RV

7:30 a.m. - With 45 degree temperature and beautiful blue skies, we are out to Arizona. We are getting an early start in case there might be winds or bad weather that we might encounter. Altho the weather says calm winds and sunny skies, we rather go early than wait until later. Only truckers on the road now and clear dry roads.

9:00 a.m. - We are climbing now first at 5521 ft and we topped out at 7116 ft!!! A temp of 45 degrees, but no snow!

10:30 a.m. - We are going through Albuquerque, NM with beautiful blue skies and 50 degrees. A lovely drive so far and the scene is just gorgeous. They have unusual designs on their freeway overpasses.

11:00 a.m. - We are stopping for gas since we had to do so much mountain climbing and will be doing more on our way to Gallup, NM (got only 6 mpg climbing the Mtn's.) Gas here in Albuquerque is $2.49 a gallon, we are 127 miles from Gallup,NM. There is a lot of volcanic rock here in NM on both sides of the road. I'll have to check that out on the Internet.

1:00 p.m. - Crossing the Continental Divide just east of Gallup, NM

2:00 p.m. - Entering Arizona! Hoot Hoot!!! It is 66 degrees and sunny blue skies and clear roads. Passing the Chollo Power Plant at Joseph City, AZ

4:30 p.m. - Pulled into the KOA in Flagstaff, AZ with a beautiful temp of 60 degrees! It is suppose to get down to 18 degrees tonight!! That's ok, our RV has a good heater and we have an electric blanket!!

Drove 496 miles today!!!! Took 9 hours!! that's way too much.. But we made it.

Saturday, Nov. 20, 2009

SATURDAY NOV. 20, 2009

29,820 MILES ON RV

8:30 A.M. - On the road to New Mexico with a temperature of 50 degrees with fog starting to be a problem. Hopefully no rain today.

10:30 a.m. We crossed the Texas state line in a short time--only 76 miles going this way. i think we can make thatin less than the normal 3 days it usually takes us. hahaha

It is 48 degrees and overcast and still some fog. We are 10 minutes into Texas and the skys are a beautiful blue, no fog all of a sudden. The weather man said last night that Oklahoma would have fog and overcast skies up to the Texas border and he was right for a change!

11:00 a.m. - We ulled over off the highway to streth our legs and give Abby a run. We have been fighting strong winds and Frank needed a break. The town here is called McLean, TX with a population of 830. Wild turkeys just passed the RV!! It is a pretty dead ghost town. An ugly Llama kept eyeing Abby in a not so friendly way. Also a shaggy shetland pony seemed to be doing the same thing. Both are eating dirt because there is no grass in this redneck house they live in, as you can see by the pictures. The cattle skulls hanging under the Christmas lights hanging from the roof is a good clue as to what is here. The car and the tree were in front of the house. hahahaha. I-40 use to be Route 66 and the original road is right along side of the interstate. I remember driving down that old Rte. 66 many years ago. Took a picture of the Biggest Cross in the Western Hemisphere, so they say. we stopped in Claude, TX just east of Amarillo for gas. it is 60 dergrees and beautiful blue skies. Getting gas there were 3 of us from Michigan getting gas, one from Jackson going to Tuscon,AZ and another from Port Huron going to Packert, AZ then on to CA. Small world for sure. Very windy here with winds at 25 mph. and hitting the RV from the side. Frank has to really hold the wheel.

1:00 p.m.- Passing through Amerillo with blue skies and sun with a temperature of 64 degrees and still really windy. In about 1/2 hour we will cross the state line into New Mexico where we will put our clocks back an hour again. We will be on AZ time then.

2:30 - Central Time we crossed into New Mexico. Now it is only 1:30 p.m.!!! At this rate we could be driving for 10 hours!!! It is 68 degrees and sunny with still 25 mph winds.

2:30 again and we are pulling into the KOA in Tucumcari, NM. It is early, but it is either here or another 1-2 hours down the road in this wind. We will get an early start tomorrow and hope it won't be so windy.

Drove 323 miles today

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

FRIDAY, NOV. 20, 2009
29,380 MILES ON RV

8:30 a.m. – Leaving Brinkley, Arkansas and headed hopefully for El Reno, OK. We are taking a differend route than planned this time because for one thing it is shorter and also the weather on I-40 W is suppose to be good for us this time. A lot of the time snow appears in the month of November and it is not good driving for us. We have a nice morning temperature of 45 degree with sun and some clouds. Dry roads and not much traffic right now and my California husband is wearing shorts today and probably the rest of the way home.
12:00 noon- We are going through the Ozark National Forest and it is very beautiful, even this time of the year. In the spring time, I bet it is just beautiful. Just passed a city called Alma, Arkansas which is the Spinach capital of the world! There are Popeye’s all around. Hahahaha. (there is a city called Alma about 20 min. from Mt. Pleasant) We are at Fort Smith and crossing into Oklahoma with a temp of 64 degrees and overcast skies.
Saw a sign on a bill board that was advertising wine tasting and said “Like California but not as fruity.” Hahaha . There is also a street named in this area called- LOTAWATAH-cute
3:30 p.m. – We are in Oklahoma City now and no rain. We did get a huge downpour about 30 minutes ago, but now the rain has stopped and we are at Tinker AFB, I did not know there was an AFB here in Oklahoma. We are about 50 miles from El Reno, OK where we will stop for the night. 5:00 pm. – After a small break, we are at the KOA RV Park in ElReno, OK and ready to settle in for the night.

Drove 440 miles
29,820 miles on RV.

Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

THURS. – NOV. 19, 2009
28,930 MILES ON RV

8:45 am – On the road again with a little spitting rain and the temp. at 44 degrees. We had a great free breakfast at the RV Park and now ready to hit the road.
8:15 am – We just crossed the border into Illinois and had a time change. I guess that is good and bad. Hahaha
9:05 am – We are getting on I-57 south towards Memphis, TN which is the connecting Interstate to our southern route. We just turned over 29,000 miles on our RV. Not too shabby, time to turn it in for a new one. Hahahaha—NOT –We are still having some lite rain and the temp is still at the 44 degree mark. We are now passing Effingham, Illinois where we have stopped about 2 times before.

11:00 a.m. - We stopped for a break at a rest stop south of Mt. Vernon, Illinois and the rain has stopped but it is still cloudy with a temp of 50 degrees.
12:15 pm – We are crossing the Mississippi River and the nice bridge that spans over this famous river that connects Illinois to Missouri. We are having sunny blue skies with a nice temp of 56 degrees.
1:00 p.m. – We are now at Lambert’s Café in Sikeston, MO which is the home of the “Throwed Rolls” on I-55 at exit 67. We are going here for a late lunch/early dinner because you get a lot to eat here! Frank and I both had Polish Sausage and sauerkraut with carrots, sweet potatoes, fried potatoes, okra, applesauce, and cottage cheese. We could not eat it all, naturally, so we boxed it to have for dinner tomorrow and possibly lunch! Hahahaha. It is a place you don’t really want to stop at unless you have a big appetite or are a big eater. Even Frank could not finish what they put on your plate. They come by as soon as you sit down with a big pot of fried okra that they spoon on a brown paper towel that is sitting on the table. Then they come by with “side dishes” of macaroni and tomatoes, fried potatoes, black eyed peas and huge drinks! Whenever you want a hot roll from the oven, you just raise your hand up and they throw you one from wherever they are standing. It is so funny and a great place to have a good time. We missed the storm that was coming our way, seems it is behind us and now it is a gorgeous 61 degrees.
3:00 p.m. – We just crossed into Arkansas and it is beautiful weather. The cheapest gas so far is in Missouri at $2.37 a gallon, most of the states are at $2.59 a gallon.
5:15 pm. (Mountain Time) We pulled into the RV Park here in Brinkley, Arkansas with a lovely sunset and the temperature about 60 degrees and clear sky. Had a good day today with a good driver. We do not get the internet here.
Drove 450 miles in 9 hours! Whew!!!

MICHIGAN TO CALIFORNIA-NOV.18, 2009

Wed. Nov.18, 2009

28,536 Miles starting

9:15 a.m. - Said our good-bye to Tina and on our way back to CA. had a nice evening last night with Milne, Marilyn, Harold and Eleanor at the Big Boy Restaurant. Judy Bissel brought over some cookies that her lovely daughter, Tabitha made for us and also gave us her graduation picture which is very lovely. It sure is nice to have such good friends and family and co-worker giving all that love and kindness to us. We sure appreciate all that Bill, Eleanor and John have done for us this last year. It makes us feel very special.

12:15 p.m. - Entering the state of Indiana and the weather here is 49 degrees and a light rain is falling. We are stopping for a break and a "snack". Gas here is $2.45 a gallon, that is 24 cents a gallon cheaper than in Michigan. As we were pulling out of the gas station, they were changing the price to $2.59 a gallon!!

5:15 p.m. - Just arrived at the KOA Campground in Terra Haute, Indiana with the temp at 49 degrees and very cloudy. Rain is expected tonight and tomorrow here. It is starting to sprinkle now, glad we got hooked up before it rains hard. We stopped at a Pilot Gas Station here before we went to the campsite to fill up so we van just take off tomorrow morning. It has been a long day, but we had good weather and clear roads. We have stopped and stayed here at this KOA before, I think it was in 1998 and again in 2000. The same mules and Kamp are still here

We drove 394 miles today

Sister Nashville Trip

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009-- 2:15 p.m. and Eleanor and I landed in Nashville and met up with Caroline. Her plane had just landed about 15-20 minutes earlier. The weather was bad for her getting out of Dallas. We didn't have any problem and had a good flight. We got to our hotel and settled in. We are staying at the Marriott Courtyard in Nashville about one mile or so from Downtown Nashville. The weather here now is partly sunny with some clouds and a nice temperature of 70 degrees. We decided to take the shuttle that the hotel offers and go downtown and see what was there. Walking the streets of Nashville and there are shops after shops with all kinds of western wear and gadgets and souvenirs to buy. All the honky tonk places here have some kind of country music being played by kids who hope to hit it big and be a star. It is amazing how many people are here mid-week. We got back to our hotel and had a lovely evening, with such balmy weather and not a bit cold. We went to dinner at the "Mid-Town Cafe" which is right across from out hotel. We can see it from out window. It is a small place and suppose to have "famous" people come there to eat because it is away from the "tourists" downtown. Tim McCraw and Faith Hill have a home here in Nashville and have been seen in this restaurant with "from what were told" other country stars. Every evening they put orange cones in the front of the cafe to "save" parking spots for the "exclusive guests". Also a valet stands outside and waits, just in case. No one of importance, except us of course, came in to eat the time we were there. They do a good business and the food was amazing. Back at the room and now we need to figure out what our game plan is for tomorrow.

Friday - Oct. 23, 2009-Well we are ready to go downtown again and see the Music City Hall of Fame. It is suppose to rain off and on all day today, so it is a perfect day to go and do something inside. The temperature is suppose to be 68 degree and balmy again. We toured all around downtown Nashville and went thru the Hall of Fame. It was very interesting and a great site to see a place for anyone coming to Nashville to see. We had some lunch and a great guitar player named David Anderson was playing and strolling through the lunch crowd. He was very enjoyable to listen to playing a lot of old country mixed with new music. I bought 2 Cd's from him and had my picture taken with him. It is suppose to be on his web site, but I have not seen it posted yet. We also had a tour of "Studio B" where Elvis and many other singers made their recordings. Finally got back to our hotel about 6:30 p.m. and then left to have dinner at the Valentino's Restaurant. Since it was late we only wanted something lite to eat so we just had some smoked salmon and minestrone soup. Back to the room to plan our day for tomorrow. Finally sleep at 11:00 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009 - Breakfast at 11:00 a.m. in the hotel. hahahaha. On our way to Opryland area. Took a cab since the shuttle at the hotel does not go that far. Walked all through the beautiful gardens and the hotel area, we sat by a beautiful waterfall and relaxed with the orchids and all the other exotic plants, I can't name. It is almost like being in a rain forest, everything is so green and full. There are small boat rides that take you for a ride down a "river" that is just lovely. The trees are just starting to turn color here and the weather was so nice to just walk around this complex. We are having a great time and after sitting and resting awhile, having something to drink, we decided to walk over to the Opry Mills Mall. It is a HUGE mall!!! It has every store imaginable and then some. We did not even have time to walk all through to the end because it was getting close to the time for us to go to the "Grand Ole Opry" show. We saw Montgomery Gentry, Oakridge Boys and Trace Atkins and Mallary Hope. Trace Atkins was the best and also the cutest. I did not know he was 6'6". What a deep voiced he has. WOW. We enjoyed being in a place that has been around for so long and has had the best of the best in country music sing here. The Oak Ridge Boys were also amazing. Sure glad we had a chance to do this. It was a full night of good happy music. We all walked out of there singing and laughing.

Sunday -Oct. 25, 2009 - Took off this afternoon on the shuttle to downtown Nashville again. This time we wanted to listed to some Blue Grass music. Went to a few places that advertised, Blue Grass music, but they were playing rock and roll and we were not interested in that. So we walked up and down Old Nashville streets and went into almost all the shops and checked them out. We walked down by the river they had at the end of town and there was a nice park and it overlooked the L.P. Field, which is the stadium where the Titans play. We had lunch on the top deck of a very nice restaurant that overlooked the downtown area. Because the temperature today was 70 degrees with blue skies we decided it would be a good place to eat. We called our hotel shuttle and had them pick us up and the we vegged out for awhile then went out to eat at the Brewery which was right across the street. None of us were very hungry since we had such a late lunch. So we only had Nachos and chips for dinner. Walked back to the hotel and enjoyed our "sister bonding".

Monday - Oct. 26, 2009 - We took the shuttle downtown again, (Frank asked us if the shuttle driver was cute, since we are always taking the shuttle) I laughed, because they change from old, retired, to fat, old and retired. hahahahaha. But it is the only way we can get to the downtown area without having to pay for a cab and it is just a little too far to walk. We walked up and down all the streets of Music Row and saw the recording studios of the stars, Reba, Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others. We got back home and ready to see our Elvis show tonight. the Elvis shuttle picked us up and the show was great!! Started out slow, but it sure turned out fabulous. Shuttle took us back to the hotel when it was over, all included in the price.

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 - Going to the Ryman Theater today and it was so interesting. This is the original Ole Opry. Where the Grand Ole Opry is broadcasted from now is a new building. Saw all the old gold records on the wall from all the country stars, a video and blurps of the country stars in concert, Elvis's Cadillac, so much history, it was hard to comprehend and remember it all. Took some pictures of our new group, called the ATM Trio, Anderson (lead singer), Tiahrt (Guitarist), Martin (2nd Guitarist). Catch them if you can the next time you are in Nashville. (hahaha) Walked back to the Music hall of Fame and saw Anne Murray signing autographs on her new book. Also check out how much the tickets were for the AMA Awards that will be held here and also if there were any seats available. (Just for the fun of it). Tickets are still available ranging form $115.00-$470.00 depending where you wanted to seat. BUT they did not have any two or three seats together, only single seats, scattered here and there. We then decided that we would go see a local entertainer. We went to a place called "The Station". We saw the Dole and Debbie Show. What a hoot that was!!! A redneck comedy show and we laughed, and laughed. It was so funny!!! Went back to the hotel after the show and had our usual cup of coffee. It rained hard all day today. ugh!!

Wed. Oct. 28, 2009 - Going downtown today to see the world famous "Wild Horse Saloon". Having lunch there and checking it out. They were getting ready for a "Halloween Party" so the country band they are having was tuning up and we got to listen a bit. It has 3 floors and it is amazing to see. Does not look like much on the outside, but is very nice on the inside. We then decided to go back to the Opry Mall and check out the SAKS store for sales. We went and could not find anything "saleable" so we decided to go to a movie. We saw the movie "Amelia". It is about Amelia Earhart, and it was

a "must see". With Richard Geer, how can it not be a good movie. We took a cab back to downtown Nashville and walked around just people watching. Since "Kiss" is in town having a concert there was a lot of people watching to do. A lot of people dressed up to look like the "Kiss" group. Eleanor got interviewed by Nashville Channel 2 News and was suppose to "air" tonight, but she got "cut" and they put on the news someone dressed up like "Kiss". So much for her "debut".hahaha. Called our hotel shuttle again and back to the hotel. We walked across the street to our favorite place-Midtown Cafe-and had a good final dinner here. Back in the room we called and asked for a "wake up call" at 5:00 a.m.!!! for our ride to the airport after a fun filled week here in Nashville. Lots of food, walking, music, and laughter. A good shot in the arm for all 3 of us for another year.