CHESAPEAKE BAY TRIP

In October we traveled to a Country Coach (the brand of motorhome we own) Rally in Virginia along Chesapeake Bay and just north of Williamsburg. On the way we stopped at the Kentucky Horse Park (see photo) north of Louisville. There is a large stables/farm/museum dedicated to American horse breeds, primarily Thoroughbreds. Most of the famous American race horses are buried here and/or memorialized with statues. It is quite a unique place to see. The nearby RV campground is in an outstanding State Park, which we also enjoyed.

There were 67 coaches, so 135+ people at the 4 day rally/conference. You can see the coaches park all orderly in the campground. Like all conferences, we had our share of meetings, seminars, fun, food, and entertainment.

One of the group outings was a 3 hour cruise in Chesapeake Bay. We had enough free time in the area to spend a day in historic Williamsburg, a town within the city, with the square miles old area sectioned off and preserved as well as possible to show the colonial period.

OUR ANNUAL FAMILY AND FRIENDS TRIP

During July-August we did our annual Family and Friends Trip. We began with a stop in St. Louis to see daughter Mary & her family. We followed that with our first visit to the Amana Colonies in Iowa for another CAT RV Club Rally. Jeanne and Lee share a hug during the Rally. We thought you'd like to see a few of our wild and crazy motorhome friends providing some evening 'Magic Eyes' entertainment to the music of Barefoot Becky.

After a visit back in Byron with friends we went on to the Twin Cites to see son Alex, here with Jeanne on the way to Kowalski's Deli. Further north we spent time in Little Falls, MN, with Jeanne’s sister and family.

Soon after, we arrived in Door Country, WI, one of our favorite motorhome destinations. We connected with good friends David and Sue Edwardy, traveling in their beloved and totally renovated 1954 Aljoa trailer . . . which Sue's folks used for camping when she was a youngster!

This trip is never complete without a stopover in Chicago for some very special time with Lee's Mom, Mary.

WE MOTORHOME THROUGH THE SOUTH

In February we took a motorhome trip to Jacksonville, FL, for a Caterpillar RV Club Rally, then up the coast to Savannah, Charleston and finally west with a visit to New Orleans. On the trip we stopped at a number of State Parks to camp. The photo of Jeanne on the wooden, trail bridge was at Percy Quin State Park in Mississippi, showing the beauty of this kind of park.

The large group picture is of the CAT Rally attendees at an RV campground north of Jacksonville. Jeanne took the picture . . . but that’s her in the front row! A little Photoshop trickery. Music is always a part of motorhome rallies and Lee even tried his 'voice' at Karaoke.

While out east we worked our way up the coast to cities like Savannah (the St. Patrick's Day fountain) and Charleston, even stopping at Paula Deen’s son’s restaurant. Of course, if you pass through Louisiana, a stop in New Orleans is mandatory, as is cafe' au lait, beignets, and the opportunity to people watch at Café Du Monde.

WE LOOK BACK AT 2011

We both end 2011 in good health. The hilly terrain our house sits upon gets the heart pumping, keeping us in pretty decent condition. The snowy February photo gives you an idea of our up and down terrain. Like many of you, we are concerned about the economy as well as many of the decisions our government has made in recent years. When will rational thinking appear in Washington?

The big home project this past year was a deck just beyond our screened porch (under construction in the photo) - we spend a lot of time outside here! For fun we white-washed it an off-white with watered down latex paint. Lee calls the color ‘bird-poop white,’ a wise choice we think. One of our favorite visitors, a Pileated Woodpecker, stops by periodically for some seed.

We had three motorhome adventures in 2011, which we'll share with you in the following photo reviews. How do we define retirement? Enjoying house and garden, plus motorhome travel to see family, friends, and this great country. We also read (Kindles) a lot, Jeanne continues to quilt (the photo here of one of her works over our bed) & Lee is active in motorhome clubs/publications.

We also went to our share of Branson shows. As 'locals' we get a nice discount, and were treated to Ann Margaret at the Andy Williams Theater as well as the Lennon Sisters.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN, OREGON AND BACK AGAIN

In the following 9 photo sets we share our motorhome adventures from Branson to Oregon and back, over 5,000 miles during the hot summer of 2010. We made the trip as a clockwise oval, going west from Missouri to Arizona, northwest through Utah into Oregon, east to South Dakota, finally dropping south, back to Missouri and home. It was a thrill to finally see places we'd heard, read and seen pictures of since childhood. As the photos here show; the road can be long and straight, the rest stops amazingly beautiful, small town churches found to meditate, but one thing never changes . . . the roadside signs and billboards . . . from Burma Shave, to Wall Drug, to Blizzards. And the cat slept through it all!

PETRIFIED FOREST AND PAINTED DESERT

What a treat to see a National Park Ranger on horseback as we entered the Petrified Forest. The ever present souvenir shop before entering the park was there too, with more than a few junker cars out front to make the place look really busy. The Petrified Forest, long ago, was a swampy, tropical forest. After millions of years the submerged dead trees petrified and left what we see today. People, as recently as the early 1900s, were still walking across the petrified 'Agate Bridge' tree. The Painted Desert was not as colorful as memory suggested. Some rain might have brightened the colors. We got a kick out of the Route 66 memorial.