Friday, April 22, 2011

Apologies

For those who have been checking our blog, I want to apologize for the lack of postings and blank pages over the past 3 weeks. I did some blogging late in March prior to leaving the RV park in Mesa, Arizona. We had a good wifi connection there and the pictures and text showed up correctly on the blog. We left Mesa on March 29 and did not have internet for the next 9 days so I was not able to check the blog. When we stayed in a campground in Arkansas, I was able to connect and found that all the pictures had disappeared though the text remained.
I attempted to post again in that campground but the connection was so tenuous that it did not work. (The laundry at that campground was also NOT up to expectations).
When we arrived in Michigan at my sister's home, I found that many others had a problem with Blogger losing their posted pictures. This was over a 2 week period. I emailed Blogger and they told me that things were now fixed. But I had little time to do any blogging while we were there and after arriving at home, life has been busy getting settled in again.
SO - I have now completed the last of our winter travels. I will not be blogging as often - life is not so interesting at home as it is on the road.
Our plans are in flux at the present. Our RV is up for sale. We hope to buy a smaller RV and use that for travel and next winter we plan (the Lord willing) to look for a winter place in Florida. Arizona and the south west is our first love - the beauty of the desert, the mountains, hiking, biking, low humidity and Mesa Regal RV park. But Florida is closer for our children to visit while we are there and several of Jack's siblings are planning to spend the winter in Florida.
We shall see.................

Home Coming!

On the last morning, I do the calculations - how many days on the road, money spent on fuel, camping, groceries, resturants, etc.
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Greg and Tara are waiting at our condo to turn on the heat, help us unload the RV and cook dinner for all of us. What a lovely home coming!
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Dylan loves any kind of truck, including RVs. But he is not too sure about sitting in our RV even with his Mommy.
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Dylan has a new Davy Crockett hat from Oma and Opa - he LOVES hats!
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Green Acres Farm

Mary's sister Jacque and Chuck live near Goodrich, Michigan on a 60 acre horse boarding farm
Our son Derek lives with them in a basement apartment and helps on the farm.
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We arrived in the evening - time to take the horses back into the barn for the night.
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Our son Derek works in the barn - he cleans the stalls and other chores in the morning and evening.
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Jacque's dressage horse, Teddy. He is a tall 17 1/2 hands high and weighs 12oo pounds. A beautiful animal!
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Leaving hay in the paddocks for tomorrow
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Each horse gets an allotment of grain each evening
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Miniature donkeys - Bailey and Baxter
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Corner of the barn, composter and hay barn
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Walking from the barn - back of the house and the pond.
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Derek is comfy in his apartment
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Monday, April 11

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We wave "Good Bye" to Gerry and Dia TerHaar in Kentucky. They will spend two more days on the raod - we are heading directly north to Michigan and my sister's farm.
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We ran into heavy rain in the afternoon and spent the night at a Walmart just north of Dayton, Ohio.
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Cherohala Skyway

In eastern Tennessee, we are exploring the southern area of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Cherohala Skyway climbs from ridge to ridge with great overlooks and winding roads. We are traveling in the Jetta - not the RV - on this interesting roadway. It will even take us a short way into North Carolina before we return to Tennessee - a total of 150 miles.
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The road begins climbing the slopes of the foothills - it's a beautiful day for a drive.
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Bald River Falls
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Along the Tellico River

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From a lookout point, ridge after ridge in the Appalachian Mountains.
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We stood on a bridge and watched several kayakers as they paddled through this series of rapids.
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