Entering into the Great Plains

After two nights among the gorgeous and stunning mountain scenery in Glacier National Park, we departed in the morning to begin our journey south toward Great Falls, Montana and Malstrom Air Force Base, where we planned to stay at the Gateway FamCamp. Immediately on leaving Glacier National Park, we entered into the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which consists of gently rolling hills covered with lush, green grass. Some roadside signs warned us of free-range cattle and sure enough, we came across some small groups of cows standing near the edge of the road, as well as a few horses.

With Consuelo driving and Sydney snoozing with her chin propped on the dash (again), I felt comfortable to lean back and enjoy the beautiful scenery as it rolled by.

After miles and miles of fertile green pastures, I noticed the landscape was gradually changing and I soon realized we were seeing the unmistakable amber color of wheat fields.

It dawned on me that we were now on the far north-western edge of the Great Plains, which was home to thousands of buffalo until they were hunted to near extinction during the 1800s.

Alaska RV Tour - Halibut Fishing off Homer

On the day before were scheduled to fish (Tuesday, July 27th), those of us without our own cars loaded up into Spike’s van and he took us down to the boardwalk on the Spit so we could purchase our fishing licenses and pay for our spot on the charter boat. Debbie at The Fish Connection told us the name of our boat and where at the docks we could find it. She also gave us a stern warning that the boat would leave at 6:45 AM. and would not wait for late-comers.

At some point, Spike told us most of the boardwalk on the Homer Spit and the retail spaces along it were built by and owned by the same family who owns the Time Bandit of “The Deadliest Catch” fame.  He always knows tidbits about the local area, no matter where we are!

Anyway, that evening Consuelo packed a back pack for me with a lunch and a set of dry clothes and she made sure I was in bed early - since it would be an early wake up for me the next morning. Despite her declarations to the contrary the night before, Consuelo was up with me bright and early - she made some coffee and sent me on my way. Worried I would have problems with seasickness, she made sure I had my pressure points wrist bands as I left to meet the others at Spike’s van at 6:00 AM. Since Roger and Teresa would also be fishing, Roger drove all us hopeful fishermen down to the docks, In addition to me were Neil Brown, Paul Deragisch, Jim Dick, Bob Bennett and his grandson Weston.

When we arrived at the dock, we weren’t surprised to see John and Linda Bland’s white Jeep already parked – John is an avid fisherman and it was no secret he he’d been looking forward to this since we met up in Hazelton. I was a little relieved it hadn’t worked out for me to ride with them as we planned— John probably left the RV park at 5:15 AM!

We walked down the slight ramp from the parking lot to the dock and quickly spotted our fishing boat and her crew waiting for us. Also waiting was the rest of our fishing group – Don Braucher, Herb Neubaum, Tim Wolums, John Melcher, Snake and Irene Simpson, Jim and Bettye Chaplin, and of course, John and Linda Bland.

The captain introduced himself, checked each of our fishing licenses and gave each of us 2 things that looked like big safety pins, each with a number embossed on it. He explained the limit on halibut is two fish per person. As we caught fish, the deck hands would ask for a pin and pin it to the fish. When you run out of pins you may as well stop fishing, because you can’t keep anymore. The captain also told us to remember the number on our pins, because that’s how they would identify who’s fish is whose at the end of the day. I was number 3, since I was the third person to get on the boat .

Once everyone was on board and had their pins, the captain had us gather in the galley area so he could give us the mandatory safety briefing. After he pointed out the location of the life vests, many of us agreed that if we ended up in the water, a life vest would only prolong the agony - although we wouldn’t be going out onto the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska is still some pretty darn cold water.

Finally the captain fired up the engines and pulled away from the dock, and he navigated us out of the harbor. We were soon cruising along, headed to the open waters where we would do our fishing. We saw nothing but some beautiful cloud formations as we motored along. I tried to stay out on the aft deck as much as I could (to stay in the fresh air and reduce my chance of getting sick).

After about 2 hours, we finally spotted our boat’s sister ship, who was stopped with all her passengers happily fishing. Our captain swooped our boat around— perhaps so we wouldn’t be hitting the same school of fish? And our deckhands started giving us lessons on how to catch halibut. They had rods and reels and bait all ready for us. One of the deckhands picked up a rod and showed us the 2-pound lead weight; he showed us how to unlock the reel and told us to just toss the weight out and let it carry the line to the bottom. He explained the bottom was about 200 feet down, so to be patient. When we felt it hit the bottom, we should jerk it up quickly and let it sink again. Once we felt a fish hit, we shouldn’t try to jerk to set the hook – that would likely yank the hook out of the fish’s mouth. When we felt a hit we should just smoothly start to reel the fish in.

While the deckhand was demonstrating all this, he got a hit! So he called young Weston over to bring in the fish. And so it was that 11-year-old Weston caught the first fish of the day!

The hand also explained that when we got a fish close to the surface we shouldn’t try to pull it out of the water but to instead shout out “fish up!” so they could come and assist. The two deckhands gave each of us a fishing rod and spread us out around the boat. They kept an eye on us and quickly came to our aid when anyone had a problem. I had a little trouble at first with locking and unlocking the reel, but one of the hands got me sorted out. When I got my first hit, I started reeling and reeling (200 feet is a lot of line to reel up) until it finally got to the point where I could see my fish in the water.

It seems like halibut don’t fight very much, but their shape and weight make them tough to pull up (picture a big flat fish – they’re not exactly slicing through the water…we were pulling in 12 to 20 pounders – but they can reach a couple of hundred pounds!).

So I could see my fish and every time he got close to the surface, I could see him dive under the boat. So I kept reeling and reeling. Finally one of the deckhands noticed I was struggling and he came to help me. He looked over the side, saw my fish go under the boat, he told me he’d be right back—he was going to the other side to cut my line. A few minutes later, he was beside me and told me my fish was lying on the deck on the other side of the boat. He took my rod from me and told me to go get my fish.

I went around to the other side of the boat where I found Irene sitting and resting. In front of her were two halibut fish lying on the deck and flopping around. I asked her what happened and she said someone else’s fish was tangled up in her line, so the deckhand had cut the line. We laughed at each other as we realized we had been fighting each other under the boat! Right about then the deckhand showed up and I was relieved when he told me the bigger of the two fish was mine. He showed me and Irene where he’d cut the line and he asked me for one of my pins. I reached into my pocket and he pinned my first fish. When he picked it up off the deck, he told me he thought it weighed about 18 pounds—not bad for my first one! I was happy.

The deckhand laid the fish out at the stern of the deck and set me up to fish some more. With my next hit, I started reeling the line in, but I think that first guy (and Irene on the other side of the boat) had worn me out. I struggled to hold the rod with my left hand (which is so much weaker since the stroke) and reel the line in with my right. I kept having an awful vision of the whole rod and everything jumping out of my hands and disappearing into the water –and I had seen the sign in the galley warning of a $100 charge for lost tackle. Fortunately, Roger was standing right next to me. Without even asking if I needed help, he reached over and held my rod for me. Roger yelled “fish up!” and one of the hands came over to help get the fish off the hook. He asked me if I wanted to keep it, I asked what he thought it weighed, he said maybe 12 lbs, and I said let it go – that first one spoiled me, so this guy lived to grow some more!

My last hit of day, I’m proud to say I brought up completely by myself. I was getting very tired by this point. As the fish got close to the surface someone yelled “fish up! And a deckhand appeared beside me. He looked at the fish and said, “God, you’ve just got him by the skin of his lip, can I go get the gaff?”—I guess he asked because gaffing a fish can ruin the fillets… I told him sure (Frankly I was just glad for the help at this point… I don’t think I could have reeled that line in any more).When he came back with the gaff, he was very careful and hooked the fish in the mouth with the gaff. He took my other pin and pinned my second keeper, telling me he thought it weighed about 14 lbs.

I went back to the stern of the boat to check out the “bounty of the sea” we had brought in. All day long, I had been hearing people yelling “fish up!” but I was focused on my own fishing and hadn’t really paid attention to how the others were doing... Turns out everyone caught their daily limit of 2 fish each—we had a great day!

Laid out across the aft deck and covering the deck from side to side was a great row of halibut fish! The crew gave us the opportunity to go find our fish, pick them up and get our pictures taken with our catches. When I found the fish with the #3 pins, I could barely lift them up!

We had about a two-hour ride to get back to the docks and as we motored in, the two deckhands made use of the time by cleaning and filleting the fish - not a pleasant job, but these guys really knew what they were doing! With super-sharp knives, it looked to me like they could gut and fillet a whole fish in about 2 minutes with 4 or 5 swipes of their knife. They tossed the guts over board as they worked and we soon had a large group of very happy seagulls chasing us. They used numbered plastic bags to line 5-gallon buckets, and as they got a fish filleted, they dropped the fillets into the appropriately numbered bucket. For another $5 per fish they would skin the fillets, as well. I decided to keep my fillets with skins, but a few folks requested this extra service.

When we got to the dock, the crew brought out several large plastic trays. They had index cards with everyone’s name and fish number; they took the bags of fillets and dispersed them among the trays, placing the matching index cards on top of the bags. Right about then a guy came down the dock pushing a big wheelbarrow – he was from Coal Pointe Fish Processing, the place that would be packaging and freezing our fish. This guy loaded all the trays into his wheelbarrow and headed up the dock to load them into his pickup truck and rush them down to the processing center - I was very impressed with how efficient this whole process was. Halibut fishing is what they do in Homer and these guys know how to do it right! The crew told us we should head down and meet the guy at Coal Pointe to put in our orders.

So, tired though we were, we climbed up the steep ramp from the dock to the parking lot (it had been just a slight ramp down that morning but the tide had gone out while we were gone). We loaded into the van and Roger drove us three buildings down to Coal Pointe. Our fish was already unloaded and waiting for us. The staff there was pulling index cards and calling out names. When you heard your name you stepped forward and they weighed your fish. Someone with a clipboard wrote down the weight and asked what you wanted – vacuum-packed, frozen or for an additional charge, flash-frozen.
I told the young lady helping me that I wanted all my fish packaged into 1-pound packs and frozen; and that I would want to ship some home. She told me I’d have to come back in the morning (it takes overnight to freeze the fish), she also explained that they would package the fish in approximate 1lb. packages – no guarantees of exactly 1 pound and in the morning I could take what I wanted then and arrange to have the rest shipped home. Coal Pointe also has a FedEx counter so they can handle everything. She handed me my receipt, which showed I had 12.5 lbs of fillets and told me I would need to show it in the morning to get my fish.

Finally we headed back to the RV park. I was exhausted and excited to tell Consuelo about my day. I wanted a cold beer and to peel out of my clothes and take a hot shower – everything I was wearing smelled like a dead fish. I was also curious to hear Consuelo’s ideas on what we should do with nearly 13 lbs of fish!

As it turned out, I decided to send 10 pounds home (it got there in less than a day, still frozen solid) and we kept the rest which we'll enjoy over the next few weeks.  My plan is to invite friends and family over for a Halibut bake when we get back to Tennessee in late September.

Click here to see photos from this fishing trip.

Alaska RV Tour - Visit to the No. 4 Dredge: Dawson City

While Consuelo decided to stay in the Trek with the dogs and “clean house,” I thought I’d go ahead and join Spike’s scheduled tour of No. 4 Dredge – I’m so glad I did! I learned about a fascinating piece of history I didn’t even know existed.

Our tour was conducted by the same Parks Canada guide who gave us our historic downtown tour; and she did a fantastic job making what could have been a very dry and technical subject interesting to all of us – even the kids were entertained, and they probably learned something, too!

Our guide began the tour by showing us a diagram of a dredge and explaining its basic operation—a dredge is a huge floating shoveling device that digs out the ground in front of it, sifts and sorts the sand and gravel to sluice out the gold as the material travels through the dredge on big conveyer belts. The left-over material was dumped out the back end and left strewn in huge snake-like wavy piles of rubble, called “tailings.”

As we walked onboard, the guide explained the dredge was built on site in 1912; first they dug a big pond in Bonanza creek because they had to build her right on the water, she was a floating dredge and once built would scoop out the ground in front of her, enlarging the pond, so she could float forward and continue working. The massive beams and lumber for her construction were transported up from British Columbia and Vancouver Island – trees just didn’t grow big enough in the Yukon to provide the necessary materials.

As we entered her lower deck we were all impressed with the massive machinery hidden inside the dredge. Giant flywheels, gears, conveyors and the huge metal tub that agitated the gravel and stone to sift out the gold – Spike had told us earlier that if any oils or lubricants made their way into the water, the gold flakes wouldn’t float out during the sluicing process – so none of these huge moving metal parts were ever oiled. We imagined how noisy it must have been inside the dredge when it was operational.

Our guide told us it had cost just over a million dollars to build this dredge and as we thought about the value of a dollar in 1912, we realized Dredge No. 4 was quite an investment. The guide went on to tell us that the dredge paid for herself in only one year, so it seems the investors behind the gold mining operations had made a good decision.

Dredge No. 4 ran continuously (every day, 24 hours a day with three 8-hour 3-man shifts) from 1912 until she ceased operation in 1959. Why did they shut her down, had they stopped finding gold? We asked. The guide told us the mining company had already surveyed up the valley and determined they could continue to run Dredge No 4 profitably until 1968—and that is actually what they were planning on doing—but in the winter of 1959-1960, they had an extraordinarily cold winter and Dredge No. 4 froze so hard into the ground they couldn’t budge her in the Spring, so they decided to shut her down early. They disconnected her bucket line and laid it down on the ground beside her and abandoned her right there at her last operational site. I had a couple more questions for our guide.

I had been looking in the below decks area for a furnace and steam engine to drive the equipment and gears in this massive mining equipment. The guide told me no, it was all run on electricity; that they actually ran power lines from Dawson City over the hill and down to the creek and when the dredge was working hard, the city would often experience brown-outs as the dredge put a drain on the city’s power.

My next question had to do with the vegetation that grew in the path of the dredge and the guide confirmed that in the year or two before the dredge went through an area, they would send in crews to clear-cut and strip the land around the creek bed. So all the vegetation we saw growing here was only what had grown and filled back in since 1959.

After the tour, we had the opportunity to view a short video about gold mining in the Yukon during the early 20th century. The video contained some fascinating black and white footage of a dredge in operation.

Of final interest to me was the fact that Parks Canada had finally gotten permission from the old mining company in the early 1990s to obtain and maintain Dredge No. 4 as a point of national culture and history. As an important piece of Yukon history, Parks Canada is not doing anything to “beautify” or correct the destruction the dredge left in her wake – they’re not replanting vegetation, filling in ponds and they’re even leaving her bucket chain laying on the ground, right where it was left.

Click here to see photos of our trip to Dawson City, including the No. 4 Dredge.

Alaska RV Tour - Visit to the Beringia Museum, Whitehorse

After we were done looking at the SS Klondike, we loaded back up into Spike’s van and he drove us over to the Beringia Museum. Also run by Parks Canada, this museum focuses on the Beringia land mass and the animals and humans that likely traveled to and from Asia and North America using the “bridge” formed during the last ice age. 

First, a Park guide spoke to us, and by showing us a huge globe, he helped us understand how much the continents have changed over the millennium. He explained that there’s no proof of one way traffic across the land bridge and that likely animals and humans traveled back and forth between the two continents.

He told us scientists generally agree that the prehistoric horse moved from North America to Asia, then went extinct in North America and that humans, mammoths and other large prehistoric mammal such as the giant bison, the giant beaver and saber-tooth cats came to this continent from Asia.

Next a woman guide took us into the auditorium and gave us a presentation on the tools early humans would have used for hunting. She talked about spears and explained how early hunters designed their spears so the shaft would detach and they wouldn’t lose the whole weapon when an injured animal ran off with it. She also demonstrated a tool the hunters used to extend the range and increase the accuracy of their spears. Finally she led us all outside to where some targets were set up so anyone who wanted could try their hand at throwing a spear at a woolly mammoth. Of course, all the kids jumped right in— Zach, Weston, Sophie and Roxie. Ultimately, Weston proved to be the most handy with his spear.

Seeing the fun the kids were having, several of the men in the group decided to give it a go. I recall John Kurz, John Bland, Tim Woolums and Neil Brown all trying to show their women they could be good providers! 

After some peer pressure from the others, I found myself standing up front with a spear in my hand. Sophie patiently showed me how to hold the spear and the launching tool. Good thing I’ll never have to kill something with a spear! Despite my best effort, I forgot to let go of the spear and everything landed with a clatter about 6 feet in front of me.  Oh well, I’d probably do better if I was hungry and really in truly needed to bring the beast down…at least I hope so!

Alaska RV Tour - Tour of SS Klondike, Whitehorse

While Consuelo stayed back at the Trek with the dogs, I joined Spike’s scheduled tour to go look at the stern wheeler SS Klondike. The boat is on display in a public Park at the edge of the Yukon River in downtown Whitehorse with tours conducted by Parks Canada (the equivalent of our US National Park Service).

The Klondike began her life in 1929 as a working boat to transport goods up and down the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City. By the 1930s, the gold rush in the Klondike was well over and there was less of a need to transport supplies, so the SS Klondike was converted over to carry passengers.

Parks Canada has preserved the Klondike in much of her original condition as a passenger stern wheeler and I was interested to see the galley kitchen with its enamelware pots, huge cook-stove and silver coffee urn.

The formal dining room for the first-class passengers was beautiful. But, we learned the third-class passengers received their meals crammed into a tiny little galley area with the crew. The first-class cabins on the upper decks were also quite interesting to look at. Each cabin contained a set of very narrow bunk beds - not even as wide as a twin bed. Most cabins had a sink and toiletry area in one corner and carpeting on the floor.

After going up top to look at the wheelhouse, we headed down below decks to check out the engine room. The Klondike was a steam driven stern wheeler and, as such, her lower deck housed a vast wood-burning furnace, intricate pipes and valves and giant pistons to turn the stern wheels.

I found it very interesting to learn that even though the Klondike was originally built for transport and she had lots and lots of storage space in her below decks area; she still didn’t have room to carry enough lumber (i.e. fuel) to make the entire trip from Whitehorse to Dawson City! So, she and all the other stern wheelers like her would travel north and stop at towns along the way to refuel. Many (if not most) of the towns along the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City originated as small lumbering operations to fuel the stern wheelers, and so most of the trees were stripped from the land around the river.

Here is one last thing our Parks Canada guide shared with us that we all thought was most fascinating: Back in the 1960s when Parks Canada decided to move the SS Klondike from the other side of town where she had last been docked when she was taken out of commission, the challenge was how to move her. They put logs across the main street of Whitehorse and lubricated them with thousands of gallon s of Palmolive dish soap. Then, they just slid her down the street and put her in the park. – That must have been quite a sight to see!

Cooking adventures in an RV

I thought it might be a nice to post some of the recipes for the meals we’ve been fixing during our trip.  Just so you know, the Trek has a combination microwave/convection oven and a 3-burner stovetop. We’ve also brought along an electric frying pan, a charcoal grill and a George Foreman Grill. We felt that with all these cooking options, we would be able to put together some pretty decent meals.

In the interest of sharing some of our cooking adventures, here’s the story of what Consuelo started calling my orange-drop chicken:

We always try to keep a bag of frozen uncooked chicken tenders in the freezer.  I thawed out about 8 tenders and dropped them into a large Ziploc bag.  I reached into the bag with a fork and pierced all the tenders and then I added small can of mandarin oranges (the small snack-size fruit cups).  I laid the bag out on the counter and using the heel of my palm, crushed all the orange wedges.  I then added a couple of spoonfuls of orange marmalade and kneaded the bag to make sure the tenders were well coated.  I left the chicken and orange to marinade for a while.  Meanwhile,  I mixed a small 4 oz. package of potato flakes in a dish with some salt and pepper and paprika. I poured a small amount of olive oil into the bottom of a baking dish (actually a 9” glass brownie pan). Then, I took the chicken tenders and coated them with the potato flake mixture and placed them into the baking pan.

I baked the chicken in the convection oven at 375 degrees.  After 20 minutes, I took the pan out of the oven and turned each tender. It was my intention to bake the other side for another 20 minutes.  But… while I was putting the pan back into the oven, I (gasp!) dropped it.  True to Murphy’s Law, the pan landed upside down, but fortunately, not on my toes – it was close, though!  Consuelo quickly jumped up to my rescue and  scooped up all the chicken pieces, rinsed them off and put them back into the pan. Everything went back into the oven for 20 more minutes. I cooked up a box of Uncle Ben’s Rice on the stovetop while we waited for the chicken to finish cooking.

Despite the mishap, the meal was still wonderful and I would certainly attempt this dish again (of course, Consuelo would have the honor of taking the hot dish in an out of the oven). My only disappointment was that the coating was not as crispy or crunchy as I had hoped.  I think rinsing the chicken –which was absolutely necessary since we’re traveling with dogs—made the coating a little soggy.

My big lessons learned: The position of our convection oven, above the stovetop, along with my short stature and my hyper-sensitivity to temperatures (a lingering effect from my stroke) are a bad combination.  So from now on, Consuelo gets to take dinner out of the oven!

Heading to Big Bend National Park, Texas - My First Exposure to the Desert

After a pleasant evening last night at the great FamCamp on Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, we got on the road this morning at a reasonable time (they sound reveille at 0700 hours on base!)

We started heading west on Hwy 90 to make our way to Marathon, where we planned to gas up the Trek, fill the jerry can for the scooter, then turn left on Hwy 385 to head south into Big Bend. Hwy 90 runs just along the Texas/Mexico border and we saw plenty of Border Patrol Agents. In fact, Sydney and Barley successfully passed through their first immigration checkpoint when the inspector asked if it was just us four traveling in the RV.   Border Patrol trucks became a common site as we made our way toward Big Bend.

We drove through land that appeared very desolate and scrubby – certainly compared to what I'm accustomed to in East Tennessee! Consuelo has visited New Mexico, Arizona and Utah previously so she was prepared for the American Southwest, but I’ve never been in this part of the country and the experience is completely new to me.

I found myself fascinated by the desert... the ground is all broken rock with some areas at the bottoms of dry gullies resembling crushed concrete. It’s amazing to me that anything can grow here, yet it does. We’ve seen a few things we could identify: the tall showy flowers sprouting from the spiky yucca plants, the splashes of yellow with the clusters of wild asters, and of course, the stubborn prickly pear cacti.

But, we’re more in wonder at all the plants we’ve never seen before: Consuelo said to me at one point, “Look at that brave tree.”  Short and lush trees grow abundantly along the sides of the road. We’ve seen some wild and wondrous plants: one that is tall and fingery and reminds us of an aquatic plant reaching for the surface of the water. When we stopped at a rest area and looked at one up close, we discovered it is covered with the tiniest little leaves that hide a bristle of thorns. Later on in our drive we saw some more of these plants with bright orange flowers at the end of each branch.

As we’re whizzing through the desert at 60 mph (the posted speed limit is actually 75 mph!), I kept looking out and thinking about the things that must be out there but I can’t see: scorpions and rattlesnakes and coyotes and other creatures that manage to survive in this dry and dusty place. While driving, Consuelo saw a lizard-type critter start to dart into the road. She thinks it was an iguana and we discussed whether iguanas are jungle or desert creatures or are there different varieties that exist in both climates?

A short time later, a bird ran across the road in front of us. I got a good look at it as it ran into the vegetation at the side of the road… We agreed it looked like a small hen turkey… or did we see our first roadrunner? We’ll have to Google that one!

We saw very few signs of human habitation – occasional entrances to ranches with roads leading off into the desert; windmills here and there (only a few of them actually turning). Fencing ran along the side of the road, indicating a rancher containing his cattle… we only saw a few scattered cows and I saw one small herd of goats. The towns along Hwy 90 are few and far between, and very small by all appearances. When we drove through these small towns we wondered at how these people stay in business and how they survive – several had little restaurants, few-room motels, scrubby RV parks and shop-worn souvenir shops, certainly geared toward the tourists driving through on their way to Big Bend.

We also noticed, scattered along the way, the occasional old RV trailer (usually a Fifth wheel) sitting out in the desert under the baking sun with nothing around.  People are living in these trailers...hard to believe, but it's true.

Click here to view photos of our drive through Texas to Big Bend.

Heading to Houston!

It’s day two of our travel to Houston, and we’ve settled into a pretty good routine with Consuelo driving and me in the “co-pilot” seat… Consuelo is a very good and conscientious driver – I feel absolutely safe with her at the wheel – the only time her attention drifts is when she starts punching information into the GPS (we try to avoid her having to do that while we’re driving).  And she does wake me up if I’m napping when she starts to feel drowsy. We chit chat and talk about the other RVs we see on the road or the flowers we see growing on the sides of the highway.

Consuelo’s taken to talking to the other drivers… especially the people who don’t accelerate on the entrance ramps and dilly-dally merging onto the interstate. Today, she invited a truck driver to play a game of Scrabble because he was taking so long to pass us on the left.

The dogs have also settled in very well. Sydney spends most of her time lying on the “dog house” between the driver and passenger seats… sometimes with her chin propped up on the dashboard, but usually staring balefully up at Consuelo as if to say " Are we there yet?" Barley’s happy stretched out on the floor in the living area.

We boondocked last night at a Wal-Mart in Meridian, Mississippi. We were a little bit nervous because this particular Wal-Mart was quite a distance from the interstate and we were the only RV in the parking lot. I did a little shopping when we arrived; Consuelo did some cleaning inside the Trek; we ate a sandwich and settled in for the night. The dogs enjoyed a nice long walk around the mostly empty parking lot this morning before we got back on the road.

We made such good time yesterday and today, we decided to drive as far as the Lake Charles area in Louisiana and find a state park for the night instead of boondocking. This way, we can hook up to water, take some nice leisurely showers, walk the dogs somewhere besides a parking lot, and dump our tanks before we get to Houston. We located Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles and stopped at a Wal-Mart on the way to the park for gas and groceries… Consuelo ran in to pick up some fried chicken for dinner. She bought a bag that was labeled “fried chicken dinner” but when we got set up in our site and opened the bag we discovered a giant burnt turkey leg! I made some rice and Consuelo warmed up some vegetables and we sat down to enjoy our “fried chicken” dinner! We tried our hardest to make the best of the meal and realized the best thing we could do was laugh… As we peeled the skin off the turkey leg, we uncovered turkey meat that was an unnatural pink color - lesson learned today: unless you can stomach bright pink turkey, always check inside the bag – don’t believe the label that says fried chicken: 2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs”.

Click here to view some photos of our drive through Louisiana.

Home Economics 101 – Made Our Own Curtains!

Our December trip to Houston taught us much about the Trek and the realities of living in it from day to day. One of the big things we discovered was the difficulty with the windshield privacy curtains…I think they were the original ones when the Trek was brand new. Anyway, they were made of a stiff material and tightly pleated so they “accordion’ed” into the tie-back areas on the driver and passenger side windows. They were also just a tad bit too long which made it very difficult to smoothly pull them across the windshield.

Every night when we closed these curtains and every morning when we opened them, it was a struggle that quickly became fairly irritating. Consuelo and I agreed that fighting with them for 5 or 6 months would make one of us go insane, so we decided to replace the curtains.

We started looking into our options and soon learned we had a couple choices: we could order some custom-made curtains through numerous on-line vendors that would cost us over $350, or we could buy ready-to-hang curtains off the shelf at Camping World for about $140. So we tried the latter but discovered there were very limited colors to choose from and the standard length of 36 inches was about 3 inches too short for what we needed. So, we returned those curtains and scratched that approach. We really did not want to spend over $350 on custom curtains in colors we could only view online and so we decided to just make our own. How hard could that be, really? 

So we made a bunch of measurements and examined the hardware and construction of the existing curtains. And we asked my mother – who used to be a sewing instructor – for some advice, and she offered assistance if needed. So the three of us (Mom, Consuelo and I) headed off to Joanne’s Fabric Store to find material for our new curtains. As luck would have it (and as is often the case at Joanne’s – I suspect), they were having a sale and we found something we liked for less than $8 a yard! The fabric we chose is a light upholstery material with an ivory/cream background and dark brown cheetah spots - a perfect pattern and color scheme for our Safari Trek!

From Joanne’s we bought more than enough fabric, pleating tape, and thread to make the curtains. We also needed a small collection of hardware to hang them on the existing I-beam track. We got the curtain carriers from Camping World and Wright’s ceiling pleater drapery hooks from Create For Less.

Once we washed the new fabric, we headed over to Mom’s house to begin our project. Although I have a sewing machine, I keep it stored in a closet (like a trophy)… but my mother sews a lot so her machine is always set up, ready to go and she has a nice sewing room with a big sewing table. Mom helped us figure out how much to turn over for hems and showed us how to pin it up. Then, she took the material and sat down at the sewing machine and started sewing.  It just could not have gone better than that!

As the project evolved, and after examining the pleating tape, drapery hooks, and looking at the track the curtains would be hanging on, we realized we did not have enough clearance between the top of the curtain and the track. But, no problem! We headed to Home Depot to see if we could find some tiny S hooks to add between the drapery hooks and the curtain carrier hardware. They didn’t have S hooks small enough so we bought some small “J link” chain and then used 3 links from the chain on each drapery hook to add the needed space between the top of the drapery hook and the curtain carrier doo-dad. Actually, Consuelo sat with a pair of needle nose pliers and did this… it was a little too tedious for me but she didn't seem to mind!

Click here to see photos of our new curtains

All totaled, with fabric, pleating tape, thread, drapery hooks, curtain carrier hardware, and chain our new curtains cost us $210 - a $140 savings! And we got a fabric that matches the décor inside the Trek plus we had enough material left over for Mom to make three throw pillows for the couch!

We send a big THANK YOU and hug to Mom for her help!

Nitty Gritty on Trip Planning

Consuelo and I have gotten down to the nitty gritty details of our trip-planning. We’ve spent the last 4 or 5 days with our heads together and both notebook computers burning up the internet.  And we really appreciate the suggestions readers have sent us... there is so much to see and do!

I sometimes make fun of Consuelo and her unfathomable (to me, at least) need to be organized, but after our Fall Foliage trip, I’m a true believer in her methods. She’s created a spreadsheet itinerary to outline our trip—from the day we leave home until we meet up with the Alaska Caravan Tour—then from when we finish with the tour, until the day we get home. Her spread sheet reflects where we’ll be spending each night, how many miles we’ll travel each day, how much it will cost us for campground fees, and if we’ve already made reservations. Of course, we’ve agreed that we will depart from this itinerary whenever we want to… we want to enjoy the freedom to change our minds and so the itinerary will provide us an “anchor” but not a ball and chain! And we’ll be giving a copy to friends and family so they will have an idea of our whereabouts.

For popular family vacation spots like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone, we’re making our reservations now! We don’t want to be disappointed because we can’t get a site at a popular park. With the exception of one place, we can pretty much get our deposits back with only a couple days notice and so this approach is the best of both worlds – peace of mind and flexibility.

Whoever would have thought all this planning would be so much work? But we believe our efforts will pay off with a truly great RV escape—it certainly was worth all the work on our Fall Foliage trip. Planning the Fall Foliage trip was simple compared to this undertaking… 3000 miles in 3 weeks versus 15,000 miles in 23 weeks!

This trip planning effort has also allowed us time to look into ways to save money here and there, such as…

• Many military bases and facilities have small campgrounds, called FamCamps, with full hookups and, since they’re located on base, most offer many extra amenities such as laundry, grocery store, fuel station and other things we wouldn’t use (like golf courses, swimming pools, athletic gyms, etc). Since we’re both retired from the Air Force, there’s no problem in staying in these places; they’re usually far more affordable than most private campgrounds. Military FamCamps are typically available to Active Duty members, Guard and Reserve troops, Retired military, and DoD civilians.  Check out this web site for more information: http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/state-listing
• The Army Corps of Engineers operates many low-cost campgrounds with at least basic amenities. You can purchase Camping With the Corps of Engineers: The Complete Guide to Campgrounds Owned and Operated by the U.s. Army Corps of Engineers through Amazon.
• Boondocking is a not-to-be-overlooked option. See the Resource links posted on the right side of our Blog.

We also realize that traveling back and forth across the Canadian border with two large dogs could present some challenges – of course Alaskan Discovery RV Tours had already advised us about the necessary veterinary paperwork required for each dog. But Consuelo had received an email from a friend who works in the dog agility competition circuit and she warned that Canadian customs would seize any open bags of dog food. So, I started researching to find what I could about visiting Canada with dogs in tow. After looking at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website, and not really finding answers to my questions, I submitted an inquiry and received a very polite email response within a couple of days. Here’s what it boils down to: We can only bring dog food that will be fed to the animal that accompanies us across the border; the food must be commercially prepared in the United States; it must be in its original package (they said nothing about it having to be sealed); and we are limited to 20kg, which is about 44lbs. That last bit may require some careful thought on our part, these 2 big dogs chow through their food pretty quickly! And I guess we won’t be dumping big bags of dog food into plastic containers to keep it fresh like we usually do…

Meanwhile, we’re continuing with our house cleaning efforts and getting ready for a trip to Key West. Yay… sunshine and warmth! We’ll be in Key West with some friends for about a week… not with the RV, however. Once we get back from Key West, we’ll have about 4 weeks until we leave on Our Great RV Escape!

We’re Making Progress…

Our spring cleaning efforts are still underway and we’ve been making some good progress sorting items out for donation and sale. We’ve sold a lot of items on Craig’s List and a few things on eBay. Craig’s List has become Consuelo’s new best friend! We continue to be astounded at how well things are selling. We listed a 9 year old Kyocera cell phone and got it sold in three days… OK, we only sold it for $5 but still it’s great to “place” these items rather than send them to the landfill.

Yesterday, Consuelo listed the big plastic cargo box we used as a camping tote on our Fall Foliage trip. Not 5 minutes after she had posted it, her phone rang and the man came by in less than an hour to pay her for it and take it away!

We’re still waiting for the weather to get warmer before we tackle the basement…. East Tennessee is experiencing a most unusually cold winter, making us all the more impatient to get this house cleaning behind us and depart on Our Great RV Escape! Consuelo keeps bursting into song, singing ‘”I want to be freeee!” – not sure what that’s all about :-)

Cleaning Out Closets and Drawers. Oh My!

So, we’ve started a MAJOR spring cleaning effort, with our impending trip as the reward for this tedious hard work.

Who would’ve thought two people could accumulate so much stuff? We’ve only been in this house for about six years. And we’re making incredible finds in the backs of closets and bottoms of drawers. Admittedly, I ‘m a bit of a pack rat, and a lot of the accumulated crap is my fault. I also have to admit that it feels good to get rid of a lot of this stuff that’s just been sitting around for years. We’re throwing away, sorting stuff for donation and turning sales on Craig’s List and eBay into a fulltime job... Consuelo, with her mysterious need for organization, is turning cleaning house into a lucrative pastime. We decided to burn all of the music CDs into iTunes so we can enjoy via the ipod during our RV travels. By backing up iTunes onto an external hard drive and two separate computers, we feel comfortable selling the entire CD collection. Consuelo spent about 8 days straight working on this project (we had about 375 CDs!).

Although all of this has been a stressful ordeal in terms of the quantity of stuff we need to sort through, in some ways it’s been fun – kind of a reminiscent trip down memory lane: like when we discovered our old ski pants, the ones we wore more than 20 years ago, when we were learning how to ski in Germany… and we realized how tiny and cute we used to be and we laughed when it dawned on us why all those guys used to love to go skiing with us!

We’ve got the closet in the dining room done, the hallway coat closet almost done, the buffet in the dining room cleared out and the cabinet in the laundry room empty. And we’ve made a big dent in the library by moving many of the CDs –so there’s progress…We’ve still got the upstairs to do—closets and dressers (all those clothes… dreading that) and the basement – which will be the biggest, dirtiest part of the job… but we’ve agreed to wait ‘til the weather warms up a little bit – way too cold right now, bad enough that there’s cobwebs and dead crickets down there, we don’t want to deal with that in 30 degree temperatures!

Consuelo is starting to get a crazed look in her eyes.  I think she’s tired of all this - she muttered something today about missing her job! Ha, ha...

Travel Notes: Houston for Christmas

After our Nashville Thanksgiving trip we were feeling more confident about RVing in the coach and we immediately started looking forward to our next RV adventure.

We already had plans to travel to the Houston area to spend the holidays with family and friends and, after looking at airfares and the price of gasoline, we were able to justify driving the RV instead of flying. It didn’t take much to convince me to make the trip in the Trek – I was quickly getting addicted to the fun of RV travel!

So we made arrangements to leave Sydney and the cats in Tennessee and got an OK from Consuelo’s sisters to bring Barley with us. We also needed to figure out what to do with the RV once we arrived - we could not park the RV in front of anyone’s house. Luckily, Consuelo’s older sister and her husband live on a private air strip in Baytown and they offered to make arrangements with the owner for us to park the coach in the Flight Base Operations area. As is typical of most Texans, the owner was very generous and accommodating and so that is exactly what we did.

As part of our trip planning, we decided to test the waters of Boondocking by overnighting at Wal-Mart stores along our route. We plan on doing a fair amount of Boondocking during Our Great RV Escape and so this was an opportunity to test it out. I have to admit that I quite enjoyed our Wal-Mart stays. It was very convenient having the store right there and being able to run in and pick up something for dinner.  The biggest challenge to spending the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot turned out to be taking care of Barley’s needs - there are very few grassy areas for a dog to do his business and get some exercise.

The Houston trip also gave us an opportunity to practice conservative consumption of our fresh water and finding places to dump our tanks. The RV fresh water tank holds 80 gallons and so with brief showers, cautious dish-washing and frugal toilet flushing, we were able to make the water supply last the three days it took us to drive to Houston. In fact, our water supply could have stretched at least one more day. As for dumping the tanks, we easily found Flying J truck stops with dump stations.

We were very excited when we left for Houston the Friday before Christmas. All was well as we pulled out, although we were in a cold and miserable pouring rain. Consuelo had checked the air pressure in all the tires, as well as the oil and power steering fluid levels. Even so, after a little more than an hour on the road, the Service Engine Soon light on the dash came on... and we also had developed a steady drip of water from the overhead light fixture in the cab area. We pulled off at a rest area so we could look up the dash light in the owner’s manual. We learned that this light indicates an emissions problem or that something in the electrical system is damp. So we tightened down the gas cap and debated if we should drive on or turn around for home. We decided to press on, thinking that surely something was damp, considering the heavy rains we were driving through, and that must be what’s causing the light to come on. We got back on the road and made it to Tuscaloosa, Alabama before we pulled off for our first overnight at a Wal-Mart.  Once set up in the Wal-Mart parking lot, we removed the lens from the dripping light fixture, dried the light as best we could, and left it apart to dry overnight.

Although we were hoping the Service Engine Soon light would be off after sitting overnight, it was still on the next morning when we set off for day 2 of our trip. Then I had a thought that perhaps if one or the other of the dipsticks wasn’t seated properly, it might also trigger the light. So we got off at the next rest area and reseated the dipsticks, and that did the trick! It was while we were at this rest area that we saw something pretty cool… A fairly large truck hauling a big horse trailer pulled in behind us. The driver unloaded three or four of his horses and, keeping them on their halter leads, he jogged up and down the grass at the side of the parking area to stretch their legs. Barley was astounded—he had never before seen such big creatures!

The rest of the drive to Houston was uneventful. We spent the second night at a Wal-Mart in Crowley, Louisiana. I particularly enjoyed the drive on I-10 over and through the bayous of Louisiana – this is such a different landscape from anything in my experience.

After we arrived in Baytown at the Flight Base Operations where we would be keeping the RV for the duration of our stay, Consuelo climbed up on the roof with a silicone caulk gun and put a bead around the FM antenna mount, where she suspected the water was coming in that dripped through the light fixture. We have not had a leak since so I guess that did it!

We had a wonderful time over Christmas with family and friends... there is no better place to be at Christmas than with extended family! As always when visiting Houston, the week went by very quickly and then it was time to head home.

Well, the trip back to Tennessee proved to be quite challenging. On the morning of our departure, Consuelo checked the air pressure in all the tires but she couldn’t get any reading on the rear right inside tire. Not sure if the valve extender was just flaky or if there really was an issue with the air pressure, we set off anyway but with a level of anxiety. Our plan was to pull off at the first Truck stop we came across and check the tire out with another pressure gauge. About 50 miles later, we pulled off at a Petro truck stop with a Bridgestone Tire Service Center. 

Sure enough, the Bridgestone service technician confirmed that the tire was completely flat! They charged us a flat price of $45 to remove, inspect and repair - the culprit was a loose valve stem. This episode made us quite nervous because Consuelo had not felt any difference in the way the coach handled with a flat on the inside rear. And we had no way of knowing how long we had been driving on only one tire on that side, which is not a good thing at all. Anyway, we made it without further incident to our overnight stop that night.

The next morning, quite paranoid now, we again checked the tire pressure on all the tires before setting off once more. A few hours later, we stopped at a rest area for lunch. Feeling a little silly, but doing it anyway, Consuelo once again checked the tire pressure. And this is when she discovered there was no pressure in the rear inside left tire – unbelievable! Using our handy Garmin truckers’ GPS, we looked up Tire Repair and found A1 Tire Service in Laurel, Mississippi.

We had to backtrack on the Interstate about 25 miles and it was pouring down with rain when we arrived at the tire repair shop. It turned out that the tire wall was blown out. We already knew from the imprint on the rear tires that they were 5 years old. But we had been unable to tell how old the front tires were because someone had mounted them with the dates on the inside. So the tire technician crawled under the RV to look – the front tires were 8 years old! Well, considering we had two flats in a 24 hour period and were getting ready for a 15,000 mile RV trip, it did not take much discussion to decide to replace all 6 tires.  We resumed our journey home about an hour and half later with shiny new tires all around. 

The Houston trip taught us about roof leaks, Service Engine Soon lights, and the importance of checking tire pressure. A BIG take away is that you need to pay attention to how old your tires are - just because they look good, doesn’t mean they are good.  Once we got back, we did some reseach and learned that the common wisdom is to replace Class A coach tires every 5 years no matter how few miles are on them or how good the thread looks.  Now we know!

Travel Notes: Thanksgiving in Nashville

Once we had the Safari Trek, we started thinking about where to take it for a trial run. It was now November and we didn’t have any plans for Thanksgiving and neither did Judi and Gary. So we decided to take our RVs (Judi and Gary also have a coach) and go to a campground that does a Thanksgiving banquet (not your traditional way to spend Thanksgiving - I would truly miss cooking a turkey but we were so looking forward to going somewhere and testing out the new toy).

Gary found a state park in Georgia that did a Turkey Day banquet, but by the time we called to make our reservations, they were booked up. I looked a little further and found a KOA in Nashville that was planning Thanksgiving Dinner for their guests. This would actually be better as Judi and Gary’s younger daughter, Teela was attending Watkins College in Nashville and would likely be able to join us for dinner.

So we made our reservations, loaded up the RVs with Consuelo, me, Sydney and Barley in the Trek , Judi and Gary and their two dogs , Vanna and Izzy, in their Monaco. We left Lenoir City on Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving. Consuelo was quite nervous since this was her first time driving without her mentor Gary in the passenger seat. We made it safely to Nashville and I wasn’t at all nervous about Consuelo’s driving and I thankfully didn’t feel any motion sickness – something I suffer from in a regular passenger vehicle.

The dogs loved riding in the Trek much better than riding in a car – all that windshield! Unfortunately, they have no concept of “your head is blocking the mirror” (Barley’s got a big ol’ head). Sydney got quite spoiled on this trip, we put a blanket on the couch and she rode in luxury with her chin propped up on the arm rest. But we’ve decided not to allow this on future trips – it would be too confusing for her to ride on the couch and then not be allowed on the couch when we stop at night.

So we made it into Nashville without hitch, although we ran into some traffic and spent about a half hour creeping along at 5 mph. Consuelo turned on the CB radio and we got our first introduction to the truckers’ world – pretty colorful stuff! From the truckers, we learned there had been a bad accident, reminding us how quickly things can go wrong on the interstate and again making us thankful for the life we have - we realized that for one family there would be less to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day.

We finally made it into the Nashville KOA where Judi and Gary were anxiously awaiting our arrival… thank goodness for the cell phones, as Judi and Gary called us frequently to ask “what mile marker are you at?” so they weren’t too terribly worried.

The KOA campground was very nice with large pull-through sites (meaning Consuelo wouldn’t have to back the Trek into our site – backing is one of her fears). When we checked in, a guy in bright yellow pick-up truck led us right to our site (no meandering around trying to find our site). Judi had made the reservations for two sites next to each other with a nice patio area.

The campground also had a dog park where we took the dogs a couple time each day, and we learned that Vanna and Barley really like each other. Sydney was extremely jealous! The dogs had a great time playing in the park and of course we took them for walks around the campground. One thing about camping with dogs is dog poop - you need to always have a plastic bag in your pocket and be ready and willing to clean up after your dog - dogs have notoriously bad judgment on where to place these gifts. Consuelo has a squeamish stomach about such things, so this was usually my job. No big deal, I used to scoop dog poop for a living when I worked at a kennel.

The Thanksgiving dinner served by the campground staff was wonderful. They provided turkey, ham. dressing, mashed potatoes and green beans and asked all the guests to bring a side dish or dessert. I brought a crock pot with baked onions (which seems to be a New England thing, no one here in East Tennessee has ever heard of them) and Judi brought a sweet potato casserole. Teela was able to join us and so did Judi and Gary’s older daughter, Amber, who drove in from Knoxville. So we had six at our table and it felt like family to all of us.

Since Judi and Gary used to live and work in Nashville, they wanted to show us around to see some of the sights. We went to see the Christmas lights at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel - absolutely stunning! They had a nativity scene out front with life-size figures, all completely in white and lit up beautifully. Inside the hotel, they have huge indoor atriums with rivers and a wide variety of plants. It was most enjoyable walking through these areas.

We also went to President Andrew Jackson’s homestead, The Hermitage. It’s so wonderful to get in touch with the past of this great country and, as Consuelo pointed out, in many countries, even if they have their history preserved, they may not have it open for the citizens to go in and walk around. We stood just a few feet from Jackson’s tomb.

As the last outing of our Thanksgiving weekend, Judi and Gary took us to the restaurant where they used to work - Gary as kitchen manager and Judi as a bartender – the Cock of the Walk on Music Valley Drive. We enjoyed eating great fried chicken tenders and catfish and watching the wait-staff flipping corn bread in cast iron skillets.

Our Nashville Thanksgiving trip was a huge success – a great shakedown. While there, we borrowed a short length of coax cable from Gary so we could hook into the campground’s cable TV, only to discover a bunch of coax stashed in by the fresh water tank when we got home! A gift left by the Trek’s previous owner.

Sydney and Barley - RV'ing Dogs!

Sydney goes with us on our our RV adventures. She is a 7 year-old Shepherd-Border Collie mix (or some such concoction) and is convinced Lynda is her mother, or perhaps a minor diety. An avid protector, we pity the person who tries to enter our RV univited. Sydney loves to swim and fetch frisbees, balls, sticks, and other toys. She is not friendly with other female dogs but has a thing for the boys, so Sydney and Barley get along just great.

And this is Barley... who also travels with us. He is a 2 year-old German Shepherd-Siberian Husky mix and a beauty. He is extremely people friendly but has a special place in his heart for Consuelo. He loves to be outside, getting any and all kinds of exercise and attention. He is 70 pounds of love. Barley gets along very well with Sydney... if she gets out of hand, he puts her in her place and that's the end of it. Barley likes to ride up front in the RV, like the figurehead on a ship's bow.

How the seed got planted - 2009 Fall Foliage trip

While we were on a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida to see another neurologist about my stroke, Consuelo and I talked about how we both loved road trips and learned that we're also both afraid of bears. After some discussion, we determined that a camper van might be a good way to get on the road and out to the parks and other campgrounds, to begin having some RV adventures.

So, when we got back from Jacksonville, we started looking for a suitable camper van - in RV lingo: a Class B motorhome. Consuelo finally found one listed on eBay and entered into a frenzied bidding war and won the bid. Then we had to drive to Parkersburg, West Virginia to pick it up.

As soon as we got the camper back to Tennessee, we started making weekend trips to State Parks in East Tennessee and we were having so much fun, we decided to do something bigger. So we started planning what we were soon calling the Fall Foliage Trip - the first of what I hope to be many RV adventures.

We left Tennessee the end of September 2009 and drove north, up through West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and then into Vermont. Of course, we had timed this so we would be seeing the best foliage colors. Vermont was stunning!

We then drove over to New Hampshire for a day and night in the White Mountains, an area where I spent many happy childhood summers camping with my family. Then, over to Maine where we discovered they were hard at work repairing what seemed like ALL the roads. We stayed the night in Scarborough, outside Portland on the coast of Maine and dined on the mandatory lobster (Consuelo had two!). We then drove back down to the lower part of New Hampshire to visit with friends and family in Goffstown and go to my family’s cemetery in Hooksett.

Next, we went down to Boston where Consuelo’s niece Robyn had just started school at Northeastern University. While in Bean town we also visited with my cousin James. After Boston we headed to Mystic, Connecticut Consuelo’s father's childhood hometown. After visiting the family cemetery, we found her father’s old home, a beautiful old farm house. After taking pictures like crazy tourists, we headed down to Katonah, New York to spend the evening with Cheryl-Anne, one of Consuelo’s childhood friends from Barbados. After visiting with Cheryl-Anne and her family, it was time to head home, stopping in Charlottesville, Virginia to look at Monticello and the very interesting Natural Bridge.

Readers are welcome to browse through our 2009 Fall Foliage album with photos and notes from our trip.

This trip was so much fun! And, we had caught the RV travel bug! It was within days that we started figuring out how we could hit the road for several months. This trip was the seed that sprouted into our Great RV Escape.