Mchigan May 2012

 Ok I know I said that there  would be a break in my blog but old habits are hard to break. We have been home since April 10 and have been doing almost nothing. Our grand daughter Chloe had her prom and looks absolutely beautiful. The motor home has been setting in the side yard just waiting  to get on the road again. Still have a couple of things to fix but had two weeks of rain when we got home that slowed things up.

On April 30 I went in the hospital and had a full knee replacement for my right knee. We have been in the house since driving my daughter and grand daughters crazy. They and Holly have been taking very good care of me and I have finally started to see progress in my recovery (I guess I am to impatient). We have been getting job offers for the winter but are still waiting to see how Holly's knee replacement goes. That's right she also needs her right knee replaced. She goes on June 4 and hopefully hers goes as well as mine. That's all for this month hopefully we will have some idea where we will be this winter. See you next month.

On The Road Again April 2013

We said goodbye to New Mexico on Easter Sunday after working the morning shift at the visitor center. We were anxious to start the trip home and since we were taking a longer route to get there, we thought we would get a few miles under our belts. We headed to Corpus Christi Texas to visit a friend that has been laid up since Christmas. We had talked to his wife Deb but we decided to not tell Lew and just surprise him, which we did. It was nice to see him and since we were there he has had good news and hopefully he will start getting better and get back to Michigan this summer.

On the way we stopped in San Antonio Texas for two days, taking this opportunity  to take a mini vacation on the way home. We visited the Alamo and took a walk on the River Walk. The Alamo is right downtown and it was interesting to see the artifacts and surrounding buildings. You are not allowed to take any pictures inside so this is about all I have of the Alamo. The River Walk is also downtown and is very nice. The walk is about one mile long and is along the river which is below street level. There were a ton of restaurants and a couple of hotels that overlook the river. There one five and dime but mostly food places and bars (must be a Texas thing).

We toured the USS Lexington while in Corpus Christi. It's a self guided tour and you had access to almost all of the ship. We spent a lot of time climbing up and down the ladders to all of the different decks. There are five different tours and Holly did four of them but skipped the fifth one which was the engine room. She was the smart one because the ladders down to the engine room were more like ladders then stairs. For those that have never toured or served on a ship the ladders between decks are steeper than stairs but not quite as steep as a ladder.  For someone with bad knees, it was a challenge.

They had a lot of displays on the hanger deck. Holly tried out for the Blue Angles but decided not to enlist.

This brought back memories from when I was in the Coast Guard (not really I never spent time in the Brig) we didn't have a brig on our ship.

Holly tried out the Flight Officers chair on the bridge and thought that she could handle that job.

We took the boys down to the Gulf of Mexico and let them run on the beach. They haven't been able to do that since we left Washington and they really enjoyed it. We said goodbye to Lew and Deb and headed to Gulf Shores Alabama. We have our names on the list to be hosts at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores and thought we would swing by to get a look at the park, plus the weather in Michigan was still cold (little did we know we should have gone to Florida for two weeks and waited for the weather to get better).

The state park in Alabama was very nice. It is about one half mile from the Gulf of Mexico. They have their own fishing pier that has been rebuilt since it was destroyed by a hurricane. We took a walk out and watched many of the fisher persons (how is that for being politically correct) landing several different kinds fish. The weather was fantastic and we had a nice time while there. Just hope we can land one of the camp host jobs there this winter.

These pelicans were hanging around the fish cleaning station waiting for any scraps that might come their way.

This is us just enjoying a walk on the board walk going out to the beach. The sun was out, the sky was a wonderful blue and the sand was white as white can be.

We headed home to see family and friends and make doctor appointments I had made before leaving New Mexico. We arrived home to cold weather and rain, rain, and more rain. Bah humbug! We were able to see our granddaughter Mikayla as Mike Teevee's mother in  her school's play Willy Wonka. She did a great job!

This may be the last of the blog for a couple of months. I go in to have my right knee replaced on April 30, and as a surprise to us, Holly has to have hers replaced also. She goes on June 4. We have nothing planned as of this time for the summer except staying home and recovering and getting ready for winter. We may take some time and head north for a little R&R...we just have to wait and see. Don't worry, we are still planning on doing our work camping and traveling so check back every once in awhile and we will be   "ON THE ROAD" again as soon as possible.

Elephant Butte Lake State Park March 2013

March has marched on by and we are done in New Mexico. Before we could leave we had to redo some trail work. It seems that someone thought a parking area was needed right where we built a trail to the visitor center last year.  This gave us a chance to practice our trail building skills again and we did another great job. Hope this one last longer because we won't be back next year to do it again.

One thing nice about working the visitor center is that you get to know some of the regulars and the people that work at the marina. One such person was Shane, who is the Manager of all three marinas on the lake. He offered to take us out on the lake on a pontoon boat and show us the view from water level. We jumped at the chance and our friends Jackie and Larry went along.

Shane took us by the Dam Site Marina and showed us where all the big money houseboats are moored. There were some very big house boats there and Shane said that most of them never leave the marina...they are used more like summer homes than boats. As you can see by the lower picture of the dam, the water is very low. They were saying that the lake was only at eight to ten per cent of capacity but as we found out, there is still a lot of lake.

As we went north on the lake we were able to see rock out croppings that are normally under a lot of water. We also found out that there is a "burger barge" on the lake back in a cove. In the summer they sell burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and drinks to boaters so they can stay out on the lake to play.

That is our guide Shane is to the right. We want to thank him for taking us out. It was a beautiful day to be out on the lake.

This is a picture of the boys in their new play area. When we had them on leashes we spent all of our time trying to keep them untangled. We thought this was a great solution, they didn't.

Easter was early this year and we were still at the park for the Easter egg hunt.We now know how to color two thousand Easter eggs. You need a lot of big pots and a lot of helpful people. On the right you can see the group from Quail Run Campground. That is the camp host George and the happy volunteers Holly and Ollie. As you can see they are doing a very important job of holding up the wall so it won't fall on the finished eggs.

The next day it took all of seven minutes for the kids to find most of them and get their goodie bags and see the Easter Bunny (that is really Sara one of the rangers). That's all for March. We worked on Easter morning, went home had lunch, packed up, hooked up the Jeep and that's right we were "On The Road". We are sort of on vacation this trip since it's still cold back home so we are going to take our time and see things. We don't know about summer yet, will know more after my Dr. appointment. That's it for now will see ya all back here next month.

Elephant Butte Lake State Park February 2013

Well here it is March. February is gone and one more month before we head home. We have been out exploring places we missed last year and revisiting some of our favorites. We have been traveling roads less traveled and the Jeep really needs to be washed now.  We took a trip to Pie Town (that is the name of it...I even took a picture of the sign) because one of the campers told us that a restaurant there had very good pies and I do love pie. Turns out it was closed, but it was a very nice drive up into the mountains so it was still a good day. It would of been a GREAT day if I had some pie.

Our daughter Krista came down for a short visit. About a week before she came down it decided to snow. It wasn't a lot and didn't last long but it was a omen of things to come.

Krista's flight arrived at the Sunport in Albuquerque at 10:15 p.m. We left the airport around 10:30 p.m. We ran into the blizzard around 11:00 p.m. That's right a good old Michigan blizzard, blowing snow, white out conditions, and slippery roads. Just what you want in a state where whenever it snows, even a little, the people go in ditches and have all kinds of accidents and rollovers. We arrived home safely even though it took a hour longer then it should have.

Up bright and early we took Krista on a guided tour of the park and then down to the town of Hatch where we went to Sparky's for green chile cheese burgers and green chile cheese fries. After a great lunch we took the back way home and saw something other then the freeway. We continued our tour of the park - after all it is the largest state park in New Mexico. After a short rest at home we went for a soak at the hot springs and to Maria's Restaurant (one of our favorites) for some really good Mexican food.  After dinner back home and time to catch up on the news before bed...another busy day tomorrow.

Friday we went to Chloride, which is a old silver mining town, and where we have been several times. It seems that every time we visit we see something new or hear some new information. Krista did find a nice cabin and it was low maintenance due to the fact that there is no electricity or plumbing. Also no yard to mow or water; just sand to rake. I think she passed on it due to the fact that it is a 50 mile drive to Walmart and no malls for 150 miles.  We had dinner at the Arrey Cafe where they have a steak special every Friday (no green chiles this meal).

On Saturday we had a early start and headed to Albuquerque where we stopped in Los Lunis at a breakfast and lunch place called Weck's. They have a great breakfast menu and most of the food has green chiles in it somehow. Once we arrived in Albuquerque we  took the tram up to Sandia Peak. It was 20 degrees and very windy at the peak... had to get her ready for Michigan again. We then went to Old Town were we did a little shopping and a lot of looking. We went to Church St. Cafe for dinner and had some great Mexican food (more green chiles) and had a very nice meal before we went to the casino for a little while.

Sunday morning we took Krista to the airport and sent her back to the cold and snow. It was great to have had her visit with us and see some of the sights that we have fallen in love with here in New Mexico. On the way back home we made a stop at Costco and picked up a few things and then headed back to get ready to go to work Monday morning. That was our February, not as exciting as some but we still enjoyed it. Not long now and back home to the family. We don't have summer plans yet but once I find out how long I need to be home we hope to pick up something for part of the summer. Hope everyone's weather  starts getting better, see you all next month.

Elephant Butte Lake State Park January 2013

Here it is February and we did nothing in January. Well almost nothing. This will be my shortest blog so far. The weather has been cold and windy, we have been working most of the time in the visitor center and we have been staying close to home. We did spend a couple of days in Albuquerque to celebrate our 44th anniversary. We went to the Route 66 Casino and saw Ron White, we enjoyed the show and had a very nice time. Holly went to Mexico with Bonnie who is one of the other volunteers here at the park. She took the camera but didn't take any pictures. That is about it. I have included some of my favorite pictures and pictures of family and friends we have meet since we started this adventure. Enjoy and hopefully I will have more for the next one.

Left- Ludington Lighthouse crew.  Top- 40 Mile Point Lighthouse.

Left - Young State Park Boyne  City, Michigan    Below- Elephant Butte Lake State Park.

Right- Cape Flattery on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.  Below- Realto Beach, Olympic Peninsula.

Left- Holly and her sister Debbie. Below- Holly's brother, sister, niece and her fiancee, and all of the dogs.

Right- Holly and her friend Sue. Below- The Elephant Butte bunch. Bottom- My sister Deb and her husband what's his name (David).