home at last

Sept 19th   Left Reno Monday morning with an early start-before 9AM  and reached Bishop around 12"30.  Decided it was to early to stop so continued on to Lancaster, Ca  to stay at our friends house.  Parked in their driveway and hooked up to their new 30 amp breaker so we have air with we need since it is around 100 and we are not use to this heat.  Had a nice visit and caught up on out Alpenlite group news and had a relaxing evening  just hanging out and having a BBQ dinner on the patio.  Had breakfast the next morning together and got home here around 11"30.  Decided to go to work and have lunch with everybody after we parked the motor home and checked out everything around the house.  All looked like to much work so we went to lunch with kids.  Getting back into swing to work and household stuff=nicer to be on the road and not have so many responsibilities.  Been warm too.  Thanks for following along on our travels.  Will post more next month when we get back from visiting relatives in Virginia.  Love to all John & Virginia

NEVADA

WELL WE MADE IT TO LOVELOCK, NV AND NOT A LOT HERE TO CHOOSE FROM FOR CAMPGROUNDS AND NONE RATED VERY HIGH.  ENDED UP AT A MOTEL, TRAILER AND RV PARK.  NOT THE BEST OF CAMPING FACILITIES BUT WE ARE TIRED AND DON'T WANT TO DRIVE THE REST OF THE WAY INTO RENO.  I FIXED US DINNER AND WE WENT TO MCDONALD'S AND HAD AN ICE CREAM BEFORE A GAME OF CRIBBAGE AND BED.  ARRIVED IN RENO AND MY BROTHER RICHARD WAS UP AND WENT TO HOUSE SO JOHN COULD GET BUSY ON SETTING UP HIS LAP TOP AND COMPUTER FOR E=MAIL AND SUCH.  IT HAS BEEN A REALLY NICE DAY HERE.  THE AIR RACES ARE GOING ON SO AIRPORT IS FULL OF LITTLE PLANES AND HAVE SEEN SOME OLD ONES COME IN FROM THE RACES.  TOOK RICHARD OUT FOR DINNER AT the PEPPERMILL CASINO AND HAD THEIR BUFFET.  ATE OUR FILL OF CRAB AND SHRIMP AND RICHARD SAID THE OYSTERS WERE GREAT!   SUNDAY WE WENT TO CABELLA'S and then had lunch there.  We could have had elk or buffalo dogs or hamburgers but just stayed with a regular hamburger and cheese steak sandwich.  I did laundry while John finished up with the computer.  Richard went to work late afternoon and will probably be busy bringing in all the rental cars for the races.  We have enjoyed the days here-not hot at all.  It is fitting that we have come full circle as we started off here 2 months ago and end our trip here.  Tomorrow our goal is Bishop, Calif and probably have a little more heat to put up with but have to get ourselves broke in as I think it will be quite warm when we get home.   JVP

PROVO, UTAH

WE TRAVELED THROUGH COLORADO TO UTAH.  FOUND OUR CAMPGROUND IN ORAM SO WE COULD VISIT RELATIVES.  MET JOHN'S SISTER CHERYL AND HUSBAND AL AT THEIR DAUGHTER, LORI'S HOUSE.  THEY ARE BUSY BEING GRANDPARENTS AND TAKING JOHNATON TO HIS FOOTBALL PRACTICES AND GAMES, ALSO TAKING AND PICKING UP THE GIRLS (THEY HAVE THREE) FROM SCHOOL.  LORI AND ERIC ARE BUSY WITH KIDS AND FIXING UP THEIR HOUSE.  JUST HAD THEIR KITCHEN CABINETS AND COUNTERTOPS DONE.  ERIC IS MAKING A POND IN THE BACK YARD FOR SOME KOI FISH.  NEXT MORNING CHERYL WAS GETTING HER NEW CARPET IN SO WE TOOK BUDDY TO VET.  HE'S GOT A RASH ON HIS TUMMY AND JUST CAN'T STOP SCRATCHING.  WE'VE TRIED BENADRYL AND CORTISONE ON HIS TUMMY BUT JUST HASN'T HELPED.  WENT TO CHERYL'S AND SAW HER NEW KITCHEN CABINETS AND RUG.  LIKE SHE SAID IT'S A WORK IN PROGRESS BUT THEY ARE GETTING CLOSE TO MOVING IN AND ARE GETTING THEIR FURNITURE LINED UP.  GUESS THEY'LL BE DOWN AROUND THE 20TH FOR DR. APPOINTMENTS AND WILL CATCH UP IN LA AGAIN.  HAD SOME SPRINKLES OF COARSE SINCE WE HAD MOTOR HOME WASHED BUT STILL LOOKS BETTER THAN IT DID.  A LOT OF THINGS TO DO HERE BUT NOT ENOUGH TIME, SO DO MORE NEXT TIME.  DECIDED TO GO TO RENO NEXT TO HELP MY BROTHER WITH HIS COMPUTER AND GET  USE TO WARMER WEATHER BEFORE WE HIT THE HOT STUFF AT HOME. We left Utah Friday morning and drove hard toward Reno, we got 460 miles to Lovelock, NV. We only had 90 miles to drive on Saturday. We are going to stay in Reno till Monday morning, then we are on our way home. Should be home late Tuesday. JVP

Grand Junction, Colorado

We decided to spend another day here as was a lot to do in the area.  Yesterday we did laundry-hopefully the last time on the road.  It was a beautiful day so we BBQ steaks, ate Colorado corn on the cob and took a drive around the area. Today we had to move to a different spot and than we had the motor home washed.  It was so dirty.  I packed us a lunch, the dogs and took off for Colorado National Monument.  It is a 27 mile loop drive of breath taking beauty.  Colorado has its own balance rock.  It was a cloudy day so pictures aren't as bright as they could be but it was just beautiful red sandstone and trees.  We thought it was better than Zion.   Than we went to the town of Palisades where they grow peaches and corn and we bought more tomatoes.  Also stopped at a few wineries.  A lot of them here are fruit wines but there were a few we liked.  Today was cool and cloudy and a few sprinkles around.  Tomorrow we head for Utah to visit relatives. JVP

Last days in Colorado

We moved our motorhome down the road about 30 minutes after having breakfast with Melanie and Doug.  Checked out another campground and think it will probably be where we are when we start out trip next year.  Very nice and a lot more room.  This is a very nice campground in Castle Rock, too. These are a couple of pictures out the front window. Has large tepee's around and several train cars they use for movies and other things when they are busy.  We drove into Steve & Holly's (our friend's daughter).  Met his parents and  had a great dinner and learned to play hearts.  Anna played the violin for us for our evening entertainment. 

She's been playing since she was 2(she's 5 now). We took the boys with us and they played with holly's puppy of 6 months, Katie, and had a ball.  We went into town and bought some great corn and peaches at a fruit market. Also found a Sam's Club and bought some more books on tape for trip home.  Had lunch at On The Border-nice to have Mexican Food once in a while.  Sun was a lazy day and went back on Holly's for Hamburgers and game of Spinners. Monday, we a woke up to clouds and mist.  Drove over the big mountains on I-70.  A beautiful drive and made it over easily.  Tonight we are in Grand Junction.  Got some laundry done and the sun is out and shorts are on, it's in the 80's now.  We have decided to stay here another day. There are some things to do, and maybe some Peaches to get from the local growers. More later. JVP

Colorado Springs

Internet is good here in Colorado Springs, so try to get this out.  Arrived here in Colorado and has been quite cool.  In the 40's at night.  We had to get out our long sleeve shirts and coats for awhile.  Yesterday John & I took the dogs and drove around the Garden of the Gods.  It is a beautiful area with red rocks and lots of green trees.  It too has a balancing rock.  It just reminded us of Arches National Park in Utah.  Went to our niece's (Bud and Betty's daughter Melanie) and had a nice visit and went out to dinner.  This is a big city with lots to do.  We looked at our itinerary for trip next year and since we start out here in Colorado Springs we will be doing a lot of the stuff we wanted to see, so we will check out other things and do something we aren't doing then.  Moved to our next campground=only a short distance away and really nice here.  Last campground was old, not much room and glad we only had to be there one night.  JVP

traveling through the rain

Today is Sept 4th.  We have left Arkansas in the rain.  The hurricane is passing through leaving rain and we want to leave before it gets really bad.  Monday the guys went fishing and caught a few little fish, also got the truck stuck in mud getting boat down into water.  We were going to the rescue but they flagged a guy down and he pulled them out.  After that Sissy & I went to Little Rock to the Clinton Library.  It was a very nice museum of his days in White House and things given to him. History of his and Hillary's growing up. Had a great Southern pot roast dinner with way to much food.  Got a chance to visit with Dorothy (she lost her husband, John's cousin this past fall) and also with Patsy and daughter(another cousin).  Wednesday was another long day of driving especially with the rain through Kansas.  Seen a lot of crops-corn, soybeans, sunflowers and one they grow a lot of but we don't know what it is.  Today we awoke to sunshine and another 300 mile day of driving to Colorado.  It is just in the 70's and a nice cool breeze.  Haven't had much internet service the last few days so haven't been able to write.  We'll be in Colorado Springs tomorrow to visit with our niece.

Little Rock, Arkansas

 Well, we have spent the last few days here in England, Ark with John's cousins. We parked the motor home in their driveway and hooked up to electricity as it is quite warm and humid here.  Floyd and Sissy took us to dinner that evening to eat catfish and fried dill pickles.  Delicious!

John, Floyd and I went for a drive out to some lakes to check out the fishing situation.  The only trouble was it was a long ride after driving all day.  The next day we went to cousin Charles and Peggy's house up by Heber Springs. It was a nice day and a lot of people out on the lake for the holiday weekend.  A tornado came through this spring very near their home and saw all the trees laying like toothpicks along side the hills as we went for BBQ lunch.  Sissy has kept us full of Southern Cooking.  Had cornbread, beans, chicken & dumplings, and pecan pie to name a few.  We are definitely going to have to get back on a diet when we get home.  We have been watching the hurricane and wondering if we were staying too long here in Arkansas. Thanks for all the calls and the concern. So far we are safe. JVP