May 2011

On the 1^st we met my cousin Shelly at church in Sierra Vista and then went to her home for lunch.  Her son, daughter and son-in-law, and grandchildren were there too.  Had a nice visit and played cards.

We drove as far as Yuma on the 2^nd and spent the night at Arizona Sands RV Park.  The main reason for stopping at an RV park for just one night instead of a Walmart was because we wanted to do laundry.  After we were set up for the night, we found out that they were working on the water line and the laundry room was not available.  So we went in search of a laundromat in town.

The 3^rd we arrived in El Cajon, CA and checked into the Circle RV Park.  The next morning we met my cousin, Paul, for breakfast at Lake Murray Café and then went to his apartment to visit.  That afternoon we went to the Creation Museum.

The 5^th – 11^th we stayed in Anaheim at the Anaheim Resort.  We visited with Kent’s sister and brother-in-law, Becky and Bob, several times while in the area, and also got to see our niece, Brittnie.  

One day Kent and I ate at Mrs. Knott’s Restaurant (outside the entrance to Knott’s Berry Farm).  Because Kent missed seeing the parking lot entrance and we had to circle around a few blocks, we arrived later than planned.  If we had gotten in earlier, we would have been too early for the “senior dinner” which was only available for a couple of hours.  It wasn’t listed on the main menu and we would have not known anything about it.  What a surprise.

We attended worship at Knott Avenue Christian Church on the 8^th.  We had Becky and Bob over for dinner.  From the back of our RV space, we were able to see Disneyland’s fireworks.

We spent a couple of days at Disneyland and California Adventure.  We took in:  Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln; Indiana Jones; Jungle Cruise; Innovations—House of the Future; Say Hello to Honda’s ASIMO; Aladdin—Musical; It’s Tough to be a Bug; World of Color; Imagineering—Blue Sky Cellar; Mission Tortilla; Soarin’ over California; Grizzly River Run; listened to Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, and the Straw Hatters; and watched the Flag Retreat Ceremony.

Kent enjoying a turkey leg -- his favorite food at Disneyland.

Billy Hill and the Hillbillies

Straw Hatters

The 12^th we left Anaheim and went to Twain Harte.  We stayed at Heavenly Hills Christian Camp.  It seemed kind of strange to be back.  The next day we had lunch at Cover’s Apple Ranch and discovered that their Apple Blossom Community Breakfast was the next morning.  Great timing—of course we went and Kent had a chance to visit with several people that he knew from Tuolumne.

On Sunday, the 15^th, we woke up to 5 inches of snow—a real surprise.  What a change in weather!  We had been in temperatures of 90 to 100+, for the past month.

We attended worship at Heritage in Sonora and it was great to see our old friends.  Had lunch with

 some of them and then headed to Concord to see Bob and Donna.  On the 17^th we had dinner with Kathy and Dick.  Stayed in Concord until the 19^th when we went back to Twain Harte.

On the 20^th we had some medical and dental appointments, so most of the day was spent in town.  Kent did some work at the camp in the afternoon.  The 21^st we both did some camp work.

On the 22^nd, we attended worship at Heritage.  Had lunch with Dale and Roberta.  When we got back to camp in the afternoon, Lewis and Betty arrived.

The 23^rd through the 31^st  we finished up our doctors’ appointments and also helped around camp. Work Camp was the 27^th – 30^th  so we got to see more friends.

On the way into town on the 31^st, we saw a couple of snow plants.  I called Tatia to tell her that the snow season was over.  I let her know where we saw them so that she could watch for them when they went in.  After my eye appointment, we went to shop in Modesto.

April 2011

We planned to leave Ft. Collins on April 4^th.  But it snowed on the 3^rd and more snow was predicted, so we decided to wait.  The 5^th was Kent’s birthday and he didn’t want to hitch up and drive on his birthday.  On the 6^th snow started falling while we were eating breakfast and again we decided to wait.  On the 7^th, while getting ready to leave, the switch for one of the slide-outs quit working.  Kent was finally able to get the slide-out pulled in.  Then he noticed that the tire pressure was wrong on the truck tires (we’d had the tires rotated on Saturday), so he had to go have that corrected.  Finally we were ready to head for Colorado Springs.  We made two stops on the way to find a replacement switch before arriving at Goldfield RV Park in Colorado Springs.

One of the things we want to do while traveling is to re-connect with family members, some we haven’t seen for over 40 years.

On the 9^th, we met my cousin, Bill, and his wife, Laura, for lunch.  After church on the 10^th, we met Kent’s cousin, Mike, and his wife for lunch.   It’s good to get acquainted with family and “catch up” on their lives.

The 11^th, we left Colorado Springs and went to Dalhart, TX.  We stayed at the Corral RV Park.   While there, we had dinner and an enjoyable visit with my cousin, Candy and her husband, Mark.  We also got together a couple of times with Judy, a friend we had known from Concord, CA many years ago.

On the 14^th we left Dalhart.  We spent the night at the Walmart in Abilene.  There was a lot of smoke from wildfires.  The next day we stopped in Fredericksburg.   Only Kent would think of looking for an "authentic" German restaurant in Texas -- we ate at Der Lindenbain.

After lunch, we walked around the historic area and saw this beautiful church building.

Then we went on to Kathy and Paul’s home, my cousin and her husband, outside of San Antonio.   Getting set up took some “doing”—a power line had to be raised, tree branches trimmed, and when we turned the air conditioner on, the breaker would trip, so some electrical work was done.  

While there, the four of us went to the Alamo and the River Walk. 

  

On Palm Sunday we attended worship service with them at Oak Hills Church where Max Lucado is the senior pastor.  

One day, Kent and I went to the SAS outlet store and also had a tour of the factory.  We didn’t know until then, that SAS stood for San Antonio Shoes.

We headed to El Paso on the 20^th.   Parkview RV Park in Fort Stockton was our overnight stop.  The landing gear on one side would not extend and Kent had to use a jack for support.  While watching TV, a severe weather alert came on for thunderstorms and large hail – for the location we had traveled through just a couple of hours earlier.  We were thankful that we had driven further than planned.  The next afternoon we arrived at Mission RV Park in El Paso.  We were in El Paso to see if we could help my sister, Dorcas, whose daughter, Elisabeth, was in the hospital with a rare medical condition. Elisabeth’s husband was out of the area on an Army training mission and they have 6 kids.  

The evening we arrived, we met Dorcas and Gary, Rachel, and Elisabeth's children for dinner at the Cattleman's Steakhouse which is located on a working ranch outside of El Paso.

Bruce was released to come back home early.  Elisabeth got out of the hospital the evening before Resurrection Sunday and attended worship the next morning.  While we were there, Kent helped with some home repairs for Elisabeth and Bruce.  Also, we made a trip to Las Cruces, NM to pick up the parts to repair the landing gear.

On the 28^th we moved to the Quail Ridge RV Resort in Huachuca City, AZ.  We met my cousin, Shelly, her son and daughter-in-law, and Aunt Carol for dinner.  Shelly lives in Sierra Vista.

The 29^th was a sightseeing day in Tombstone.  We toured the infamous Bird Cage Theater and then watched a re-enactment of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Of course, there was a stop at Boot Hill.