missed the chili pepper drop

The weather is pushing us on west. We wanted to stay in Las Cruces, NM for new years eve to watch the 15' lighted chili pepper drop 90' in a downtown celebration tonight but a strong cold front is moving in, so we're moving out. Terry will have to stow the water and sewer lines for at least two more nights. He's getting tired of that!
Yesterday we drove down to El Paso to tourist around.
We'll see Barb on Friday and get our motorcycle out of their garage. They were soooo kind to let us leave it there during our tour back to Nebraska. We're looking forward to riding weather ahead!
Tonight we're in Benson, AZ. Dinner was at the Mi Casa Restaurant.
A little hole in the wall and kinda scary looking. Took a leap of faith from the Yelp reviews. It was fantastic! And the carrot cake is served with a spoon.... to scoop up all the gooey rum sauce. Oh my!

watch the weather on the passes

Headed west out of Roswell on hwy 70 today to go to Las Cruces. We made a late start this morning to be at the 7,500 ft. summit in the afternoon hoping that it would be clear. It was clear and dry except near Mescalero. Pretty!

Roswell

You never know what you'll see in Roswell

Christmas in the sticks of Texas

We were grounded yesterday (Christmas day) due to high winds so lounged around watching movies, planning future routing, and even played Rummikub.
Blue sky today and we're on the move again. I always like moving day! I'm done with where we are and looking forward to seeing/doing what is next.

Trout fishing

Yesterday we hiked the river with my brother and watched him trout fish. Along the way found a bottle tree. Today we christened our new grill with the trout wrapped in foil. Good eating and no mess. A Christmas season to remember.

Oklahoma

Arrived Broken Bow State Park where we are all alone for four nights

Finally heading south

Eighteen nights in Nebraska and tomorrow we head south. Yea!
Camp A Way in Lincoln and recently Pine Grove near Gretna (both on i80 with noise 24/7) have been our most expensive per night stays. We look forward to getting out of here to cheaper campgrounds, cheaper gas, cheaper diesel, and new sights.
Ready to move on!

Fuel in Topeka, Kansas. Diesel $2.85!! WOWZERS! Regular $2.16

On Monday night we were in Bartlesville, OK for a two night stay.
SHREDDED lettuce salad with choice of homemade Garlic dressing (mmmmmm! ), or Ranch or Blue Cheese! Also notice the slices of white bread, individually wrapped, in the basket of "wafers."

 

Bartlesville, OK is home to the famous (since 1946) Hot Hamburger. Two slices toast topped with a half pound burger, fresh made french fries, and "gravy over all." If only they served beer!

North of Bartlesville is Dewey, Oklahoma

 

Drilled in 1914 and the town of Barnsdall, OK left it in the middle of their street.

 

Thanksgiving

Travel planning...

 



Basement only got down to 42 degrees and house stayed at our chosen 68. It was 10 degrees outside when I woke up at 5 am. Woohoo! Sons should be here in an hour and then it's on to a day with our extended family

New Mexico

Most times I drive the first hour or so and then Terry takes it. Lots of truckers on I-40 but still an easy drive on good road. Now I get to sit back with my feet up... and be enchanted.

US capital with the highest elevation.


 



first snow above this adobe town

 

Wigwam Motel

Got down to 23 last night and all was fine. Good news!
Stayed near Holbrook, AZ last night and came into town for breakfast this morning. Drove past the Wigwam Motel.

What a hoot! At least six of them were stayed in last night as told by the new cars parked among the old. There were 15 teepees.
Now, eastward ho!

Phoenix!

We bounced around on the west side of Phoenix. First week was at Paradise RV Resort in Sun City and our first night was spent with friends Barb & Bill and their brand new Itasca.

 

 

 

 

 While in the Valley of the Sun we've been riding our motorcycle in short sleeves, watching tv outside while basking in the sunshine, eating outside at In-N-Out Burgers and sleeping with the windows open.

Terry walked all of the Mesa Swap Meet.

Some days were in the 60s but the sun was always shining.

Nov 20 -
Sunshine and 73 today. Our "bread box" heats up in the sun so the a/c has been on all afternoon. We leave here tomorrow to start the trek to Nebraska. Still praying for above freezing and sunshine!

Stary night Halloween

The snowbirds haven't arrived so it's pretty quiet. We sat outside and watched the stars appear as the sky darkened. Nice evening.

Vegas

Leaving Las Vegas. Quite a different city than 35yrs ago, when I was with JCPenney, when we shopped the store on Fremont. WOW what a change! The Fremont Experience is quite an experience. Topless with pasties and weirdoes outdoing weirdoes! And last night on the radio I heard a commercial with a woman asking men if their morning wood isn't what it used to be. She was urging them to see a particular counselor or sex therapist here in Las Vegas. I don't know as my jaw was on the floor and my brain wasn't accepting what my ears were hearing. But I know that the commercial ended with her saying something about being able to once again, "rise and shine." Goodbye Las Vegas!

Saw Pete Rose signing stuff at a sporting goods shop. That's how he makes money these days. And selling stuff about not being in "the Hall." Commercials too. Sorry looking dude.

Goodbye to the rocks

Left all the National Parks of Utah (and their rocks, rocks, rocks, and rocks) and now we're in Vegas for a week. Boy is it noisy in the city!

Zion National Park

A fabulous day at Zion Natl Park. We entered from the east to go thru the over one mile long DARK tunnel that opens up into the canyon. Spectacular!! There aren't very many people here at all and the weather just couldn't be any better. Beautiful, beautiful day.

North Rim

Not many people at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Quilt Walk

Panguitch, UT is 150 yrs old this year. Population has declined to 1500 but they have 16 motels, 4 campgrounds, and 3 bed & breakfasts. Panguitch means big fish and two things that stood out to us about this little town are the WIDE (really wide!) streets and the fact that most every house is made of brick and that there is a great variety of brick.
We had dinner at the Cowboy Smokehouse. Wow! And next door to the restaurant was an empty storefront with town history and list of events displayed in the window. There is a balloon festival in late June that looked big but my interest fell on the quilt walk...

Panguitch, UT

Interstate driving and then good highway from Moab to southwest Utah and a campground just north of Panguitch. The nights are down to 35/40 so the area is clearing out. The rate at Paradise RV Campground is just $13.95 with full hookups and free wifi!. The days are 70s so we'll tour this area a bit.

Needles Overlook in Canyonlands Nat'l Park

Our last day in Moab. We took the motorcycle to the Needles Overlook in Canyonlands National Park. Sitting on a rock looking at the view and all Sue can think about is the hole in the fence that she could slip through.

Canyonlands

Couldn't ask for better weather. The Canyonlands were beautiful. The heights were sure getting to Sue though. Her legs felt like electricity running up and down them.

SOLD the Sticks & Bricks

 

April 27, 2014 we placed a for sale by owner sign in the yard. We sold both of our SUVs, our 2002 Honda motorcycle and the motorcycle trailer. After our Estate Sale the end of June we still had a house full of STUFF. We worked long hours through July. Too many car loads to count went to Salvation Army. Sue sold over $700 through Lincoln facebook sites. We wore out a paper shredder. Sue shared a couple car loads of quilting and crafting supplies to friends and the Lincoln Quilters Guild. We finally emptied the house that we designed and built mostly from our own labor.
The first week of August we put the house on the market with a realtor.
October 8, 2014 we closed on the "Sticks & Bricks" and now are REALLY full time. Happy dance!

~  ~  ~  ~

A friend told us about a book she has in her daycare that is very appropriate to share...

Huff & Puff Have Too Much Stuff by Tish Rabe
Two train engines are pulling lots of stuff and can't get around very well. They end up giving all of the stuff away. The book ends with "So now there goes just Huff & Puff. "We don't need much stuff," said Huff. "We have you & me and that's enough!"

Utah!

 
 

Sunday, October 5, we left Grand Junction. We had never been to Utah TOGETHER :)

 
 
 





 On Monday we got on the motorcycle and drove from Moab to Potash along the Colorado River. On our return we stopped to see what people were looking at and saw the ancient art up on the rocks. Also saw a spider almost as big as my hand!

Friends, Barb & Bill, joined us at the OK RV Campground in Moab. Here's Terry watching Bonanza while waiting for them to arrive.
 

Grand Mesa National Forest

We put on our long johns and rode up Grand Mesa National Forest and then down to Delta and back to Grand Junction.
It was cold up there but the road was dry and the views were beautiful.

 



land of plateaus

 





The Visitors Center was closed but thankfully the restrooms had running water and were open.

 

 

 

 

Between Grand Mesa National Forest and Delta is the town of Cedaredge where we saw the Colorado Gold Distillery. We stopped and enjoyed a tour of the place along with free tastings of their whiskey, gin, vodka, and tequila.

 

 

Dinosaur National Monument

Rode north to Dinosaur Nat'l Monument Park today.

And we saw ancient petroglyphs.

Heading West

We left Barb's Happy Thought Ranch near Dumont and were met with a snowy scene on I-70!
We were keeping an eye on the weather but didn't think to check conditions at the passes!
Learn as we go :)

I-70 was slushy on both sides of the Eisenhower Tunnel but otherwise dry.








We stopped for breakfast in Silverthorne and then enjoyed colorful scenery on our way to Grand Junction.













Sue was glad she wasn't driving today!


 

 

The view from our home for the next few days at Junction West RV Park.

 

 

Happy Thought Ranch

We arrived Happy Thought Ranch 8/27. We've left twice and returned again but tomorrow we leave and head west. Here is the view from our bedroom when we first arrived and from our living room now before we leave. 

Thanks Barb & Bill! Thank you! Thank you!

Near Fairplay

Fun afternoon of Farkle on Bob and Joni's deck near Fairplay and enjoying their view.

Moose!

Five hours on the motorcycle today. Rode over to Estes Park for a last visit with Cathie & Dennis and then rode over Rocky Mt. National Park. The colors were more vibrant last week so no pictures. Down through Grand Lake & Winter Park and then saw this moose at Berthoud Pass. She wasn't much interested in staying around for a picture and I was too slow to get her before she started walking away. We were the only ones there. 

The ride from the pass down to Empire was spectacular but it was late in the afternoon so the sun was down too far for pictures. We might ride over there tomorrow since it's just 17 miles away.

Guanella Pass

Rode to Georgetown and up Guanella Pass and back down. Then rode over Loveland Pass to Dillon. Lots of "Leaf Lookers" & "Aspen Peepers" on the roads. 

So much beauty all around and we lucked out on position when Terry pulled over and we got the view in the mirror too.

Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park