Category: Sights to see!

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January 31 – February 5, 2022 Arizona adventures with friends and family!

We’re feeling great after our extended rest during January. We’ve booked 8 different SOWER projects for the year and its time to get on the road and see what adventures God has “booked” for us!

Our first “re-direct” …we planned to leave on Wednesday to arrive in Tucson, AZ on Friday. But over the weeekend we received a major weather warning: “WINTER STORM EXPECTED TUES – WED”. It’s no fun driving in wind, cold, and snow, so we decided to hit the road on Monday morning. Thankful we can be so flexible!

We spent Monday night at a KOA Las Vegas, NM and Tuesday night at the Hatch, NM RV Park. Yea! – just down the street was the Hatch Chili Marketplace. We bought some famous Hatch Chilies! So good! Another short but fun adventure that we never planned – thanks again God!

So now we had a couple of extra days ahead of us before we were scheduled to be at our SOWER project in Tucson, AZ. We got in touch with Alan & Karen Johnson (cousins) who live in Cochise, AZ (see blog from April, 2020).

They said, “sure! come on over!” So for our next two extra nights we stayed at their property, “Chapel of the Rise” in Chochise, AZ. Beautiful country!

Dennis was able to help Alan finish the install of the last end wall of the new shop. This is a great new addition to their vision for their property. The next projects will be a new house and the chapel. I’m sure we’ll be back to help whenever, wherever we can!

We had a lot of great conversations, sharing meals together, and playing games in the evening. It was such a joy to spend time encouraging each other, sharing our experiences walking with the Lord, and learning how God is so active in blessing each of us. We serve a great God!

On our way out we saw orchards of pistachio and pecan trees. We also had to slow down to let a family of javalinas cross the road – what a surprise to see! We learned that these guys can be ferocious. We also learned that they cannot raise their heads so if you stand on a rock above their line of sight they can’t see you! Hmmm, I’m keeping that tip in my “back pocket”!

An adventure at the [outdoor / living] Desert Museum in Tucson

We took a drive outside of Tucson to the visit the Desert Museum. The drive to get there was full of beautiful sights. We’re amazed at the desert and cactus landscape – such a contrast from the pine trees and mountains that we’re familiar with. The sign mentioned that there are “islands of mountains in the desert sea”. That pretty much says it all! (FYI: This adventure took place while we were serving with SOWERS at the Gospel Rescue Mission).

We saw more wild life than we thought we would! The Mountain Cat and the Rattle snake were behind glass but the others were all there for us to see. We missed the Raptor Falcon Flight presentation: they fly free out over the desert and come back to the trainer while the crowd watches.

WOW! There are so many different types of cactus – who knew? We spent about 3 hours just walking the paths through this outdoor living museum. It was facinating to see and experience the variety and creativity of our creator God! We didn’t take pictures of everything but these are a brief sample of some of the things we saw.

It’s Super Bowl Weekend! …and valentines Day!

We enjoyed watching the game and just relaxing after church. Look at that amazing apple pie Lorree made for me for Valentines Day. She is a very special love and a great cook!

This is my Valentine! Lorree has been growing her hair for a few months – look at the french braid she can do! (People pay big bucks for a look like this!) Love it!

We enjoyed a face time visit with Mom and Kay later in the month. She is doing so well – she’ll be 94 next month, what a milestone in life! Talk about adventures, she sure has had an wonderful journey with the Lord all these years! We are blessed to have her praying for us during our adventures!

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April 11 – 14, 2021. An amazing adventure in the Great Smoky Mountains – One of our favorites!

We set out for a day trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We drove through the Cades Cove Loop. It was great! Lots to look at and enjoy. We followed along with our guide booklet and learned about the history of early pioneers and their lives in the Smokies.

Here’s an interesting scene. The picture on the left was taken in November 2004 (the last time we were here). 17 years later without knowing, I took the picture on the right – almost the exact same angle! This is Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church – the first church in the area. It was encouraging and challenging to learn that God was a primary focus of life in the culture of that era! God is ALWAYS with us!

It was a bit rainy off and on during our hike and while exploring Cades Cove – and a good amount of others driving the loop. We found “Elijah Oliver’s Place”, a nice log cabin with multiple buildings. It was fun to imagine living here during his time. There was even a “cold house” that allowed the stream to run through and keep food cool during the day!

Traveling on the next day, We explored another hiking area in the Great Smoky Mountains that we had experienced 17 years ago – the Appalachian Trail and the Clingmans Dome Observation Tower! At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome boasts the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (The “Dome” refers to the mountaintop, not the man-made observation tower.)The Dome actually lies within both Tennessee and North Carolina and is the highest point in Tennessee.

The paved trail to the summit of Clingmans Dome is paved, about 1/2 mile, but very steep! We gained elevation of over 330 feet which makes the climb gradient almost 13%! There were several benches along the way – we needed to catch our breath several times! Then we needed to take the ramp to the top of the tower – another approx. 400′ and another 45 feet elevation! They say on clear days, visitors may see as far as 100 miles – it was very clear for us, and we had amazing views! (Again with the whole exploring high places – yikes!)

What a special treat to find this old sign at the Appalachian Trail near Clingman’s Dome. We were here 17 years ago! It was fun to re-create these photos and reminisce of earlier adventures together! (The sign sure has aged – not us! LOL!)

A picnic lunch by a river and more exploring in the GSM National Park. So beautiful and relaxing! We’ve had a full week of every-day adventures! One of our favorite get-away’s this year!

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April 23 – 30, 2020 Back to Colorful Colorado and amazing friendships!

We learned that Colorado was “opening up” somewhat from the COVID-19 regulations. We said goodbye to Arizona – we’ll be back to visit the Saguaro National Park and many other places when the opportunity comes up. We’re looking forward to familiar home-turf and seeing our many friends and family, with or without masks & hugs! Its been 8 months since we launched our RV life adventure… no regrets – we love it!

On our way through Tucson into Phoenix we stopped for a one-nighter at Matt and Jayle’s house. It was fun to catch up on family news, see the girls, Abby and Lizzie – and of course the puppies!

We traveled Route 66! This gas station brought a flood of memories; the old gas pump and an A&W with authentic draft root bear! We noticed the price of regular gas was dropping (2.14 here). We saw gas as low as 1.43 in some places! As we traveled through New Mexico we enjoyed the wide open landscapes with big sky views!

In Colorado safe and sound! Oh what a blessings we have received! Our friend Jesse from Penrose, CO has a place that he built to include RV hook-ups! We are “camped” a few miles east of Canon City and can enjoy the beautiful views of mountains and sunsets in the western skies!

Our first weekend, we were delighted to attend our home church again and see a lot of our friends – through our car windows! This is quite the novelty, having church in the parking lot because of COVID-19 regulations (no more than 10 people can congregate and must maintain a 6 foot “social distance”). We estimated that there were over 100 attending – honking and waving at each other before and after service. It was so good to hear Pastor David preach again! He got excited when people would honk instead of saying “Amen”! What a fun and refreshing morning gathering together and being encouraged with God’s Word!

After church we helped Jesse and Barbara host a birthday party cookout for Mat. We tried to hold to the “rule of 10” and social distancing (don’t tell about what you see here -LOL!) We roasted corn on the cob and grilled Elk, Bison, and Beef burgers – so good! We had such an amazing day hanging out with our long time friends – it was one of those days that will be a memory for a long time!

Jesse and Barbara have mules and donkeys! We watched how they care for them every day and how the animals loved the interaction (and their feeding times!). Lorree wanted to ride so Barbara prepared Milton for Lorree. It was a great time, and beautiful to watch during the sunset that evening.

Ye-Haw!

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March 12 – 18, 2020 PLANS CHANGED! We’re going to El Paso, TX and then……??

South Llano River State Park, TX was our next stopover for one night. The weather was warm and we had visions of floating and wading in the river to cool off and relax! (This was advertised on their web page). But when we checked in, they told us that all river activities had to end daily at 3:00 pm due to the effort to encourage wild turkey roosting on their nature preserve…we had arrived at 2:30 pm. Pretty disappointed about that. We did enjoy another nature hike, they had bird blinds set up so you could hide and record different birds coming and going – pretty cool.

EXIT AHEAD!

We had to change our planned route for COVID 19 Regulations!

EXIT AHEAD! News about the Corona virus had been circulating since early February, but not a lot of attention was given to it – at first! Now we learned that the April Juice Plus LIve Conference in Phoenix, AZ had been canceled! We also learned that ALL of our reserved campsites in New Mexico and Arizona had been canceled and money refunded. We scrambled to make a new route – so far Texas was still open – but we needed a place to “shelter-in-place”, but where? This was another opportunity to trust God and watch how He would direct and provide for our every need! His “exit” plans always work out for good – we’ve earned this truth over and over throughout our lives. God IS good!

We stayed at Fort Stockton, TX for a couple of nights. This allowed Lorree to work at ROH on Monday. We got to experience the worlds 2nd largest Road Runner in downtown Fort Stockton! There were lots of yucca plants along the highway – finally got to get a picture close up for comparison of the size! We never had these in La Junta, CO!

EL PASO, TX!

Lorree helped out driving across Texas – sooooo many miles to travel! We travel with all of our “gadgets” turned on; Garmin GPS, Google Maps, rear view camera behind the trailer, nothing’s going to surprise us (ha! ha!) Lorree tried to eat that semi!

We were able to make reservations at the Mission RV Park in El Paso, TX. Very nice park (even though we were just located just off the interstate and parked on a gravel “parking lot”). We enjoyed using their swimming pool and hot tub a couple of times! We were thankful for a place to stay for a few nights – we learned that other campgrounds were closing and telling people to leave ASAP. RV’ers are scrambling all over the nation to find a place to hunker down. Never imagined we would be faced with this when we started our new lifestyle!

We sure eat good when we get to settle down for a few days! The camp store sold ice cream – so we HAD to try the famous Blue Bell Ice Cream – YUM!

El Paso sits right on the boarder of Mexico. We drove by a section of the boarder wall that President Trump is building. Pretty impressive – not an eye-sore. We could actually see through it – but it would be pretty hard to climb over!

We went on a day trip to the mountings right outside of El Paso. We ended up at Franklin Mtn State Park. The new rules allowed for day visits and hiking, but no overnight camping (?…go figure!) We never saw any of the famous blue bell blooms (too early – usually in April they say), but we saw lots of the yellow Buttercups and Indian Paintbrush plants. Beautiful landscapes!

Aztec Caves Trail – looked like a nice moderate hike – we set out on a new adventure!

This hike about did us in – except that we were wise to stop, rest, and take our time! We were at about 5,300 ft elevation. It was about a mile to the caves with an elevation change of about 600 ft. We realized that although we thought we were “in shape” we needed more work on that! It was a bit treacherous coming down because of the steep path and the loose rocks, so glad we have walking sticks! We had a great day!

On the way home, we drove along side the boarder wall and came across this mile-long line of semi’s. They were going into Mexico – we don’t know if this is an everyday occurrence or a slow down of border crossing because of COVID 19.

Getting some Vitamin D and ultra violet light to keep the virus far away! The warm sunshine felt so good!

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March 8 – 11, 2020 San Antonio, TX!!

Our first KOA! Very nice, lots of comfort items (store, pool, activities, meals, etc). It was fairly crowded so we pretty much stayed at “our place’. This was a great home base to see and experience San Antonio. We even rode the metro bus to and from our camp site so we didn’t have to drive and try to find parking – score!

We took the “hop-On-Hop-Off” Bus tour through San Antonio. There was so much construction and building renovations going on that it was a bit disappointing – plus the tour driver was hard to hear – ugh! But we enjoyed getting a lay of the land and where the important sites were.

We really enjoyed the River Walk! We walked for a few miles, and then rode the river tour boat. Lots of interesting facts about San Antonio and the history of the buildings and river!

We found a great place to eat right along the river, so good! (Of course the birds loved the leftovers 🙂

And then we visited remains of the chapel at the Alamo. It was good to learn the history of the Alamo while on site. It always carries a deeper appreciation of what took place. The letter that was penned asking for help was an eye opener for us, and re-learning that the final battle was lost. Hence the motto, “Remember the Alamo!”

We met up with Rick and Sharon Carlton from our home church in Canon City! this was their old stopping grounds. They took us out to eat at a local Cat fish and onion rings restaurant – boy was it tasty! It’s always fun to meet up with friends while traveling – making memories! We said goodbye to San Antonio – there’s more to see and do next time!

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December 15-22, 2019 Adventures on Tybee Island & Savannah, GA! -River’s End Campground & RV Park

Ugh! Google maps did it again! Just exited off the highway and was immediately traveling through the historic district of Savannah with our 35 foot trailer! It was beautiful…BUT – very narrow streets, cars parked, people, traffic everywhere! We mentioned this at the Campground when we checked in and she said, “you must not have read your email we sent to you.” Here it is… ” PLEASE NOTE:     WE DO NOT RECOMMEND FOLLOWING GPS DIRECTIONS TO THE CAMPGROUND TRAVELING IN AN RV! ” — LOL! lesson learned!

Just east of Savannah about 20 minutes we drove to Tybee Island, had to watch for turtles!! (We never saw any). We’re at River’s End RV Park at the tip of Tybee Island. It is a commercial (owed by the city) RV Park with all the amenities. Everything is very nice, clean and comfortable. We enjoyed driving around town and found a great seafood restaurant “Sting Rays”. It was a nice day with sunshine – but still on the chilly side, low 60’s.

We ventured out on the beach in the afternoon. The tide must have been out – way out! lots of sand and very few people. We found a great swing on the beach and just relaxed together!

After 47 years (its our anniversary today!) we still have to take care of routine things like an ear/hair cut! (She didn’t -but we laughed cause some people were walking by when I did this!) Also took care of laundry and cleaning the trailer (doesn’t take very long 🙂 We are SO blessed to have a love that continues to grow each day with God adventures and sweet laughter to keep our days fun!

We toured Wormsloe – an area of land that has a significant history ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormsloe_Historic_Site ). t was amazing to walk down the tree shrouded land and learn the intricate details of history from a live guide!

Almost every day, we had a great time getting together with friends! Sharon and Jim Lucas, Tim and Kim Osborn , Richard and Lucy Warren, Mike and Trina Crescenzi, and who is that mystery lady? (…at Paula Dean’s restaurant 🙂 )

We spent one day just touring Savannah using the hop-on-hop-off Trolley . We learned a lot about the early history of the Colonies. Savannah was originally laid out in “squares” with houses and important community buildings built around them. Johnson Square was the first square in Savannah and was used by many prominent men as a speaking platform.

It was fun to see these sights and spend time walking around – there’s more to come back for!

To celebrate our 47 Anniversary we enjoyed a night on the town! After supper at the campground, we traveled into Savannah – first stop was the famous Leopold’s Ice Cream shop! A great example of the “American Dream” – te ice cream was sooo good!

Then we went to the Theater! Over 200 years old – longest running theater in the United States!

The show was “Christmas Traditions” – a variety of Christmas music from serious to funny to acrobatic. They made it very special by focusing the evening on Christ’s birth – the true meaning of Christmas!

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December 8-11, 2019 The Mounds! Kolomoki State Historical Park, GA

This was another peaceful spot – and we were very curious as to what “the mounds” were all about. We learned through the visitor center, short film, and museum that the man made mounds are here left over from the Kolomoki peoples who built them for burial ceremonies and temple worship.

The main Temple Mound was quite impressive considering it was built with dirt by hand. There is a nearby ravine that is thought to have been created by the removal of dirt, bucket by bucket, for this mound!

We had quite a bit of rain and colder weather here. Lorree took advantage of the down time and started sewing Christmas gifts. Dennis waited until after the rain to wash the truck – first washing since we bought it!

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December 1-8, 2019 Fort Pickens – the beach, the fort, the navel base, and the Blue Angels!

Fort Pickens is located at the end of a long skinny island on the national gulf shores, just south of Pensacola, FL. Quite a different view as we drove with water on both sides of us! We had a great campsite, but a little tricky getting the trailer around and under those tree branches!

Oh that white sand! Our friends and family had been sending us pictures of the snow they were getting in Colorado – we shared these back with them but had to caption them, “NOT Snow!” Its always good to create a little envy to keep their attention 🙂 lol!

This stay was booked for seven days – Lorree had time to work on gifts. So glad we brought her sewing and ironing equipment. She is having fun being creative! Dennis was able to work on the blog – trying to keep up with all of our adventures!

We went for a sunset walk on the beach – so beautiful. The colors!!

177 Steps! We were huffing and puffing 🙂 We could see everywhere. The lighthouse was only 1 mile from our campsite as the bird flys, but we had to drive an hour to get there going around the bay and over the long bridges.

Dennis had a hanker’n for some gooey barbecue ribs and sweet tater fries. He used the crock pot instead of the oven for the first four hours, then finished them off on the Blackstone. Soooo tasty! We’ll have to do that again for sure!

We visited the Navel Air Station base and museum in Pensacola – very impressive! So thankful we have such well trained people protecting us.

The Blue Angels were doing practice maneuvers right over our campground – I could never get out there fast enough to take a good close picture. These were the best we got. So fast – and loud! It was fun to hear and see them!

Fort Pickens

We toured the fort at the tip of the island. This fort protected our coast and was used in the civil war. There were so many canons (places for the canons) they could do some real damage!

There were some real interesting trees at the campground. We also made some new friends, Darrel and Phyllis Pufahl. We ran into them while doing laundry at the campground. We spent an evening together talking and playing card games. So much fun to meet others. We will try to get together with them while in Florida, we’ll see!

Right next door to us at the campground was a couple (probably our age) who was booked here for two weeks. They lived in their tent and out of their car. They didn’t have much but they had all they needed. We thought we had downsized….but this! We were impressed as they lived in the cold 40’s and sometimes rain. They had an air mattress, electric blanket, a hot pot, elec hot plate, few dishes and clothes, and their faithful dog who they never had to tie up.

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November 17-20, 2019 Alligators! Lake Fausse Pointe State Park, LA.

We’re in Louisiana! A bit different here – swamps, cotton fields, and wildlife everywhere. We were greeted by raccoons when we checked into the State Park – so cool! Lake Fausee is pretty much a nature preserve of sorts – check out the alligators below!

Our campsite was nestled in the trees along a water way. Small boats would cruise by real slow headed to the open waters of the nearby lake. We even had a fishing dock at our site – but look what the sign said – YIKES!

We got on our bikes and rode the trails and the bridges across the swampy areas. There were lots of rough spots with roots and rocks and various hills. We had fun but had to walk our bikes in some areas (and we were feel’n the bumps on our backside – uncomfortable to say the least! 🙂 Dennis had to try out the Tarzan vines hanging from the trees!

We had no data service at our campsite, but found “one bar” on this bridge so Lorree could work her JP business. The water way under the bridge was covered with live water plants floating on top – looks like a meadow but it’s water …with alligators!!

Yep – there ARE alligators in the swamp waters! And also big turtles! The alligators and the turtles would get on a log and have a staring contest – we never saw who won :)! The turtles would also climb up on a single log and line up we suppose to get warmed by the sun. So fun to see these critters in their natural place.

This is sooo funny! The camp host was a single guy who rode by on his Gator several times a day. One evening Dennis was cooking up some steaks. The host stopped by on the road and asked Dennis a question. Dennis went over to him to hear what he said. “I was just ask’n if ya’ll are cooking up some squirrel for supper?” He was serious! Dennis didn’t know what to say … 🙂

Surprise! They had a splash pond in the middle of the campground. Since there were so many signs about not swimming in the waters we guess they had to do something for the kids. Pretty smart!

This was a real nice State Park except for having no data service, fresh out of squirrel, and we couldn’t go swimming!

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October 20-24, 2019 The Beach! Relaxing at Goose Island State Park and Padre Island National Park.

Traveling south to the gulf was a lot of interstate highways and overpasses. We stopped to get a haircut (isn’t she beautiful!) and take care of our laundry. Learning to look for these things as we travel.

It was a beautiful drive to Goose Island State Park. We were looking forward to being camped at the gulf.

In the campground we found The Big Tree – claimed to be over 1,000 years old! Some of the branches were being supported by iron poles – we all get old and need support from time to time!

We hiked around the campsite and enjoyed all the twisty maple trees. Our campsite was all right but had lots of stickers in the grass and mosquitoes at night. We always seem to eat some good food!

North end of Padre Island – Mustang Island Beach!

Our truck floats! We were first in line on the ferry across to Padre Island – pretty cool ride!

First thing we did was to drive right on the beach! I made some interesting tracks as I did a “16 point” turn on the beach!

It was a beautiful day warm sunshine but not hot. The water felt good on our feet – so nice to relax and unwind listening to the waves and seagulls. Ahhhh!