ON THE ROAD AGAIN!!!!!

Hey everyone...I (Linda) am going "on the road again"!!!!  My sister, Phyllis, invited both of us to accompany her to NY State in her motor home.  Dennis declined in that he did not feel up to packing up all his breathing apparatus...oxygen, CPAP and nebulizer and making another trip quite yet this summer!  So-o-o, he said I should grab the opportunity to spend this time with my sister and go along with her.  We will take off tomorrow morning...stopping for a few days visit in GA first.  Phyllis' oldest son, Steve lives in GA as well as our sister, Kathy...so we will visit there until Tuesday when we will hit the road again northward bound  to Central NY State!!!!  I will try and keep everyone posted with photos and "goings on"!!!  She usually spends the month of July in NY State, but she said we could "play it by ear"...so, I am not sure exactly when we will be returning to FL.  Below is Phyllis' new camper van that we will be traveling it!  Amazingly it has everything in it that a big motor home has...just on a smaller scale!  Thanks for tuning in!

HEADING BACK TO FLORIDA!!!

Well, we made it through the busy Memorial Day Weekend, but each day took a tole on Dennis' breathing and ability to catch his breath as he performed the duties in the park.  We handed in our resignation on Sunday morning of Memorial Day Weekend telling them we would hang in there for two weeks if they wanted us that long.  Business after Memorial Day was expected to drop off considerably so our managers graciously told us to leave whenever we were ready.  We packed on Memorial Day and left Bear Den Campground on Tuesday morning.  Our first night en route to Florida was spent at Cade's Cove, TN and we had the opportunity to drive the 11-mile loop two or three times in search of wild life.  We saw many turkey, deer and three black bears!  The next night was in the mountains of north Georgia and presently we are in southern Georgia and will be home today!  We are not going to try to work again right away.  Dennis needs to rest and we have had to face the fact that he may no longer be able to perform the campground work that he has done in the past!  Thank you all for checking in on us and we will keep you posted.

BEAUTIFUL BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS

This is a view from Altapass Overlook off the Blue Ridge Parkway that I took a couple of days ago!

We are bracing for a full campground of 144 sites for this Memorial Day Weekend…everything is reserved FULL!! I am working today from 3 PM thru closing at 9:30 PM to get over 100 sites checked in! We had about 14 sites check in yesterday. Wednesday and Thursday were supposed to be our days off, but I worked in the office while the woman who has been here several years restocked the store shelves with supplies. Tomorrow night the park will have a live band playing 50, 60 and 70’s music and I will be working the office/store! Dennis is working maintenance the next couple of days, so he will be finishing work as I begin my shift!

There have been several bear sightings reported...but we have not seen any bear yet, but lots of turkey and deer!


We are thinking of all of you on this Memorial Holiday and hoping that you have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

DREAM HOME FOR DENNIS AND LINDA

Okay folks...we have found our "DREAM HOME"! We guided this unit into one of our largest RV sites a couple of nights ago and we believe we could live VERY comfortably in this unit and use this "Trike" to get around in the tight locations of interest! The "Trike" you see parked under the awning drives right up a ramp in the back of the coach where you see the short ladder.

  The space above the "Trike" garage is where the bed is located on the inside!  Guess we might need to continue working a few more summers to pay for this one!!!!!  It is amazing the types of RV's we see here and how they travel along the Blue Ridge!

LIFE ALONG THE BLUE RIDGE OF NORTH CAROLINA

All is going well here at Bear Den Campground in NC!  The days have been cool (in the 70's) and nights in the 50's with showers frequently in the evenings!  We have finished our first week and will be off tomorrow and the next day.  We may get a chance to explore a little bit.  This beautiful Rhododendron flower was one of many around the playground area.  We have seen several deer, turkey and a fox right here in our park...but have not had the camera at the right time!  There has been a bear reported up on the hill at some of the privately owned cabins a couple of days ago but we have not seen it yet!  A beautiful Woodpecker landed right on a tree at the edge of our site a couple of days ago...but once again the camera was not where I could grab it!  Stay tuned...we WILL capture some of this wild life on the camera sooner or later!!!!  Check out our campground at http://www.bear-den.com/    Thanks for checking it!

HUMMINGBIRD AND FLOWERS FROM VIRGINIA

This photo was taken at Mt. Airy, NC (Andy Griffiths hometown!).Hummingbird "preening" his tailfeathers!  This was taken while we were still in Virginia...right at the edge of our patio!

NEW LOCATION...NEW JOBS FOR DENNIS & LINDA!!!!!

Here we are along the Blue Ridge Parkway at Bear-Den Campground.  We landed jobs here on Tuesday, May 11..loaded up and drove over the mountain from Elizabethton, TN past Roan Mountain and down on the North Carolina side to Spruce Pine, NC.  Drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway via Rt. 226 and North on the Parkway to mile marker 324.8 to Bear Den Rd and back in about one mile to Bear Den Campground.  I am working in the office/store and Dennis is part of the Maintenance/Security team.  It is beautiful here and we are looking forward to a cool and enjoyable summer!  Picture will follow within the next few days!

LOOKING FOR A NEW SUMMER JOB!

This organization is just NOT for us and we have given our 2 week notice and will be leaving in the morning!  Nothing has been as it was told to us and does not show any signs of improving.  We are way too old to work someplace where we are not comfortable or happy!

SO, down the road we are heading into North Carolina where we will check out another family owned campground tomorrow.

We may or may not have Internet so will try to keep everyone up to date when we settle down with something!

LIFE AT HILLSVILLE, VA

May 1, 2010 -- Time is flying by and we have not started work yet…we are on the schedule to begin on Monday, May 3.

We are all settled in and have the trailer as well as the patio pretty much the way we want to live for the next few months. There are bright flowers and hummingbird feeders. The awning is out and tied down as tight so that it doesn’t flap!

Friday we explored Mt. Airy, NC (home of Andy Griffith…and, Mayberry RFD)…it was a beautiful drive with dogwood and azaleas everywhere. So far we have not seen any rhododendron in bloom…I think it is sometime in June before they come out!

Lake Ridge RV Resort is about 7 miles to the NE of Hillsville out in the country. On our way to and from town we see this BIG BOY nearly every time!

This morning they were having “Spring Fest” at the Southwest Virginia Farmers Market right here at Hillsville and we visited it and listened to mountain music while eating fresh pulled pork sandwiches. There were lots of flowers for sale as well as the real “Virginia Hams” in bags and sliced Virginia Ham in shrink wrapped packages. We bought a cabbage, new potatoes and onion as well as a couple bags of different homemade trail mix…one with cranberries, raisins, nuts and raspberries and a bag of Roasted Green Peas!

Here on the patio the hummingbirds took no time in finding the sweet nectar I cooked up for them and they entertain us constantly! It is amazing how they seem to hover just like they are looking us over!

Denny wants to know..."HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A HUMMINGBIRD PREENING ITSELF...UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL?????" Isn't this a neat shot?

BACK FROM NEW YORK STATE!

Hi All...WHEW...we have only been gone from home in Florida one week today and have already checked in here at Lake Ridge RV Resort...made a trip and visit to Central New York State and returned!!!

We left early last Friday morning and made our way to Treadwell and Oneonta, NY...a 620 mile trip!  We made it in a little less than 12 hours.  We had three nice visits with Dennis' Mother...Saturday, Sunday and Monday...each day we arrived at the nursing home around 10:30 AM and stayed until about 1:30 PM.  Mother hates for them to take her to the dining room to be fed so Irma feeds her in her room when she is there.  Mother is confined to a "Gerry Chair".  She broke her leg over a year ago and can not bend her right leg so it has to remain in a reclined position.  We took the laptop with us and played a slide show of photos for Mother that showed her where we are working and current photos of Randy and Russ and their homes and family.   Here is a photo of us visiting with Mother.  Mother will be 96 this coming December!

We left NY yesterday (4/27/2010) around 7 AM and arrived back here at Lake Ridge in VA a little after 7 PM last evening.  Today has been filling out paperwork, laundry and shopping!  We do not know yet exactly the day and time that we will begin our work!  This is beautiful country...we will post photos as soon as we get some!

SAFE ARRIVAL AT LAKE RIDGE RV RESORT, HILLSVILLE, VA

Greetings everyone...we have arrived safely at Lake Ridge RV Resort at Hillsville, VA where we will be working for the summer of 2010.  Check out www.lakeridgerv.com and you will see where we are located.  It is beautiful here with the terrain being quite hilly!  Spring has arrived here and there are lots of flowering trees and bushes.  Most trees have their spring green leaves!  We will leave our travel trailer here and continue to travel early tomorrow morning to visit Dennis' Mother and sisters in NY State.  Will add updates and photos as soon as time allows.  Thanks for checking in with us!

GETTING CLOSE

We have completed a painting job that we have been wanting to do all winter on our home...the carport area as well as the front is completed and the remainder will have to wait until we return in the fall.  The travel trailer has been pulled out of storage and positioned right outside...it has been scrubbed inside and out and we are now in the process of loading the "stuff" we will need for our 4-5 month stay!

We are planning on taking off on Wednesday, April 21 and driving to SC...then the final 300 miles to Hillsville, VA on Thursday, April 22.  Phoebe is keeping real close watch of our every move...one day she sat in the trailer for a couple of hours waiting for us!

PREPARING FOR NEW WORK CAMP ADVENTURE!

Summer of 2010 will bring us to western Virginia...LAKE RIDGE RV RESORT at Hillsville, VA...just a few miles off of Interstate 77! Check out www.lakeridgerv.com to see where we will be working. More to follow as we get closer to departure!

FAMILY VISITS...ONWARD TO TEXAS

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Sunday morning we packed up and headed South on I-25 thru Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad, CO and then on to Raton, NEW MEXICO where we picked up Rt. 87 that took us across the corner of NE New Mexico toward the panhandle of TEXAS. We stayed Sunday night at CAPULIN, NM, near the CAPULIN VOLCANO at a small family operated RV park. Monday morning we were off for TEXAS and drove about 300 miles that day to CHILDRESS, TX where we found an RV spot at the Best Western…that stop included a complimentary breakfast the next morning just as if we had been staying at the motel. It had been fun and very interesting traveling through the different states watching the terrain change. I believe in Loveland I heard them refer to their area as the “Front Range” and as we drove thru NM and the TX panhandle, they referred to the area as the “High Plains”! New Mexico seemed to be mostly huge beef cattle ranches, but as we got into the panhandle of Texas we began seeing more crops…huge fields of corn and what we believed to be peanuts and/or cotton. There were hundreds of grain storage facilities dotted everywhere along the way…smaller ones at each ranch and then huge ones near towns and railroads. In the panhandle near Childress we saw Texas peaches, apples and pecans advertised and began seeing fruit and vegetable stands along the highway. This part of our return trip was dedicated to visiting family…if we missed you, I am very sorry…we just could not fit everyone in this time! We were also getting anxious to get home after being away nearly five months.

TUESDAY, we were off from Childress about 8 AM as we had a lunch date with Dennis’ cousins Peg & Jim in Chico, TX (about 180 miles to our south). We arrived in Chico and found Peg & Jim and had a wonderful visit and lunch. We had never met Jim and had not seen Peg since the 1960’s. What a wonderful visit we had…just like we had all seen each other just a few days ago and were catching up on the latest news! From Peg’s we headed to Mount Vernon to see Peg’s Mom…Aunt Florence and sisters Rose & Kathy. Aunt Florence is Dennis’ Mother’s only remaining sister and she is in her early 90’s! Aunt Florence was amazing…she does not get around well, but her mind and spirit were active! She shared her collection of paintings that she had done and we had a great time sharing memories of when we had all been together in New York State as well as when her and Uncle Jim had visited us in their motor home in Zephyrhills, Florida. Aunt Florence had wonderful memories of picking fresh grapefruit and oranges from our trees and of how delicious they had been! We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the RV park we had found and stayed at the night before bordered the cemetery where Uncle Jim and Rosie’s husband Earl were buried. We found their stones right over the fence. After a wonderful visit we were…

”On the Road Again” heading toward Tyler where we visited Stan & Dotty…other cousins that we had not seen in a couple years. We arrived mid afternoon and were greeted with a big TEXAS WELCOME. We had dinner together and we shared some of our photos from the summer and our travels with them and gabbed until nearly 10 PM!!! They insisted on cooking breakfast for us the next morning and then we were on our way to visit my brother, Sonny and his family at Iola, TX…about 150 miles to the southwest of Tyler.

Arrived at Iola, TX mid afternoon and enjoyed visiting with Sonny & Willie Faye. Our family calls him "SONNY" but in Texas, where he has lived since the 1950's he is known by his given name: Ira. He married Willie Faye, a native Iola, TX girl in the 1960's and they raised their family right there in Iola...he is a TEXAN now!

Kyleigh (Sonny’s Granddaughter & Great-grandson) and Ethan stopped by for a few minutes. It was decided to go to Bryan for a Mexican dinner at Papa Perez's. Sonny & Willie Faye knew the owner…he brought out a complimentary condiment of cheese dip in addition to the usual tortilla chips & salsa…YUM! We stopped on the way home for a quick visit with Sonny’s daughter and family, Mary and Dave and children Trey and McKenzie. Next day we had lunch at the Iola Café…it was catfish day! Sonny & Willie Faye had owned and operated the café up until about two years ago! Lunch was good and Sonny’s daughters Deanna and Mary & husband Dave joined us. After lunch we were watching the Weather Channel and could see that the rain was going to continue and possibly intensify…so we decided to head on east to try and stay ahead of it! There was terrible flooding to the north of I-10, but we only had a few sprinkles here and there. After spending three nights on the road we arrived home safe and sound on Monday, September 21, 2009…being away from home nearly 5 months…another great memory!!!! It was great to hug and see our families again! We do not know at this time what our next adventure will be, BUT CHECK BACK OFTEN as I am sure we will come up with something!

COLORADO'S ELK AT ROCKY MTN NAT'L PARK

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OFF TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK: We drove about 50 miles south out of South Dakota and into Nebraska and saw miles and miles of “wide open spaces”!!! There were beautiful fields of SUNFLOWERS for as far as you could see in WYOMING.

Before driving to Estes Park, CO we stopped at the Colorado Welcome Center and were told that there was a Scottish Highlands Festival at Estes Park and that literally everything would be booked full! We opted to stay 3 nights at Boyd Lake State Park at Loveland, CO…about 30 miles east of Estes Park. We drove the 30 miles each day up through a deep narrow canyon, ...it was a beautiful drive and we saw BIG HORN SHEEP grazing on someones lawn (of course we would have rather seen them up on one of the mountain sides looking down at us!)

We avoided as much of Estes Park as possible, going directly to Rocky Mountain National Park. The Elk were not hanging out in town or at the Visitor Center where we had seen them previous years. The photo below shows TWO BULL ELK...they seemed to be kind of "testing" each other and we did not get to see any head butting...but we were told as the season goes on things usually get more serious!
They were just beginning to return from the higher summer terrain but we got to see MANY BULL ELK and got to hear them bugle…it was awesome! One Bull Elk and his Harem of cows were just feet from us! The second day we were there we had wanted to drive over the TRAIL RIDGE ROAD to the western part of the park, where other years we had seen hundreds of elk as well as many MOOSE! This year was our third year in a row to visit the park and had never driven entirely over the TRAIL RIDGE ROAD because of closure due to SNOW! This year the road was open and we decided to go…but stopped by the Visitor Center first as it was rainy that day! As I inquired about the conditions, the Ranger looked at me and said “I would not recommend it today…we just had a call from the top (12,000+ feet high) and they have reported very wet roads with SNOW and they may have to close off the road within the next couple of hours! Needless to say, we did NOT make it over the top again and decided not to drive the 100+ miles around to Grand Lake…so NO MOOSE this time!!! We just hung out driving from one Elk viewing area to another within the eastern part of the park.
On the way back to our camper at Loveland we stopped at the CHERRY HOUSE and bought some Cherry Cider, Horseradish Mustard and canned Cherry Pie filling (all made in CO)…we had already stopped on the way out and purchased fresh COLORADO PEACHES…they were delicious!!! What a wonderful visit to ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK...can't wait to return again soon!!! As I write this it is one month from the date we were there and they have lots of SNOW and we are HOT in FLORIDA!

DAY TWO AT WILD HORSE SANCTUARY

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The next morning we were up early…I opened the shade to find dozens of wild turkey playing on big round bales of hay and dancing along a nearby wooden fence! They were chasing each other and jumping around playing…quite comical to watch!!!

We were outside early to watch them feeding the horses & cows!
There were only four camp sites at the Sanctuary and only one other occupied other than us. There was a lady next to us in a small motor home…she was volunteering at the Sanctuary for the months of September and October. She was driving the truck that was dispensing feed for the livestock. After the mares had finished eating, they came to the fence still looking for their foals and we petted them and took pictures. Our tour was to start at 10 AM. Bill was our guide and he herded us up and got us all loaded onto a small school bus for the tour. Bill was great and had many stories and interesting points to add to the tour. The bus traveled back into the hills a few miles and Bill was talking to us all along the way pointing out places of interest like the ancient Petroglyphs that had been verified by National Geographic: Bill also shared many interesting facts about the local Sioux Indians and how they are allowed to come to the lands of the Sanctuary to hold their sacred ceremonies each year.

Our first stop was high on a butte that looked out over the Sanctuary and the Cheyenne River below. Then there was a stop further along on the same high butte where it looked down at the abandoned site where the refilming of Crazy Horse had been filmed several years ago. The movie company had left all the buildings but Bill said that the Sanctuary had not been able to afford to do anything with them or even keep them up and the buildings are now infested with Rattlesnakes! If you look close at the next photo you can see buildings in the big open field.
Then we were off to find herds of horses. These horses are not wild in the sense that we think of wild horses from days of the early west. They are used to humans and in many cases have been abandoned or sent to the Sanctuary to live out their remaining years. Bill pointed out one horse that had been retired from the Marine Corp. – he was a beautiful Palomino gelding in his late 20’s that would spend the rest of his life running free with the herds! Most of the horses came from the Bureau of Land Management and had been relocated from areas in California, Nevada and Arizona where they could no longer live for one reason or another…mostly because of urban growth and expansion. Most of the horses at the Sanctuary had never been broke for halter or riding but had become used to tour groups coming through daily. All of the horses on the ranch side of the Cheyenne River did receive additional grain and nourishment from the folks at the Sanctuary. All of the horses we saw appeared to be in great condition and were beautiful. There were horses of all colors and they were separated into different groups according to which stallion had been with them. There were Playboy’s mares and foals that were in the pasture directly across from where our camper was parked. Out in the hills were the mares and foals of Painted Dessert, Don Juan, Hawk and Frost that we visited. The mares and foals were all colors and sizes! Foals (as well as Registered Santa Gertrudas cattle) are sold year round to help support the Sanctuary.

Then across the Cheyenne River there were 9,000 acres of land where hundreds more horses ran free…some of them occasionally came to the ranch side of the river, but most did not.

Since I have been home I have read Dayton Hyde’s last book…The PASTURES of BEYOND…he is a great storyteller and made me feel like I was right there in the “Old West”…it was based on his own life. "Dayton O. Hyde is a cowboy, rancher, photographer, essayist, and conservationist, and the author of fifteen books for adults and children. He has been the subject of several nationally televised documentaries and was named an Amazing American by People magazine."
Dayton Hyde is now in his 80’s…I wish we could have met him while we were at the Sanctuary! It seems to me that he has done a wonderful thing for all of these beautiful horses…many of which would have been killed if he had not of established this Sanctuary and managed it so lovingly. Check out their site at www.wildmustangs.com ...
and donate if you feel inspired…it is a wonderful cause and all the money clearly goes for the care and comfort of the horses!
Our visit to the BLACK HILLS WILD HORSE SANCTUARY was over all too soon and we headed to Colorado to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park and find the big BULL ELKS...check back soon for our next adventure!

BLACK HILLS WILD HORSE SANCTUARY

BLACK HILLS WILD HORSE SANCTUARY – This is an amazing place. We saw many horses on our way back into the sanctuary…the sanctuary is back off the paved road about 3 miles on a gravel road and it consists of over 11,000 acres!
The terrain is like you would see in western movies…deep canyons, high buttes and miles and miles of land! There were several movies filmed at the sanctuary or nearby…Hidalgo and the “remake” of Crazy Horse are a couple that come to mind! Look at this beauty...some folks think he is the horse used in Hidalgo...but that is not true and his name is PAINTED DESERT...his foals often have the much sought after "medicine hat" (color around the ears about the size of a hat)...it was told on our tour that the Indians always looked for markings such as Medicine Hat and Shield of color on the horses chest.

They had all of the stallions separated from the mares and they had just separated some of the mares from their foals…so there was quite a bit of anxiety in the air! The mares would keep coming back to the fence calling for their foals and in the distance you could hear the foals calling back. Then there were the stallions whirling around their pens and calling out to the mares! The closest stallion to us was Playboy, who was a beautiful Black & White Paint. He allowed us to pet his nose but he was not really interested in us! We enjoyed him anyway as he ran and pranced around his corral!

The mares also would allow us to pet their noses, but were clearly looking way beyond us to try and find their foals in a distant corral.
We sat out and enjoyed a beautiful evening. On a high butte across the Cheyenne River we spotted a small herd of horses along the very top ride of a butte…a few we could distinguish as paints but they appeared mostly as silhouettes.

The setting sun shining on buttes brought out many shades of pink and it was very peaceful with only occasional horse whinny!