Home Sweet Home

Someone asked us if we consider our camper a "home" and our answer is YES!

Even though we live in it 24/7 and travel all across this beautiful country of ours with it, we still need to maintain it, inside and out, and, when we go on vacation (which means we drive the van and stay in hotels or with family), I always get a "rush" when we round the corner and see our "home". Much like your home, right?

To end up our "seasonal" blog, the 4 of us (Tom, Tim, Trish and I) really enjoyed our winter at the Casa Grande RV Resort in Casa Grande AZ and have decided it's our favorite winter destination.  We just wish it wasn't so far away. The mountains

and sunsets

never disappoint and the weather, for the most part, is really great. OK, really, Tom would rather always go to FL so he can hit the beach, but he does enjoy playing pickleball, card games, relaxing in the hot tub,  sightseeing, etc.

Coming back home after dealing with minor RV problems, windy conditions and lots of rain, I'm glad we're staying put for awhile.  Well, mostly staying put, with the exception of our Sangamon Valley Campers Club monthly outings

including a trip with them to Sevierville TN; attending the annual Suites Owners Rally in Goshen IN and camping with the Lokker ladies in KY/TN/VA.

And, with our "home sweet home" being so close to the Brockman clan residence, we've enjoyed some fun times with them. And, Kenley and Chase have already had their first sleep-over this summer with Grandpa and me.  The first part of June, the Lokker clan will spend a few days at the young Brockman's so it'll be great getting together for some quality family time.

Here's to a great summer, especially once the flooding threat throughout this state and others ends. Sad to see so much devastation in the Midwest.  We'll catch ya' next winter when us snowbirds hang out in FL for a few months!

Some Arizona Highlights

Didn't do as much sightseeing in February.  However, we did enjoy a few road trips including the shops at Tortilla Flats while driving along Superstition Mountain, touring the Biosphere in Oracle, Trish and me going to the Wrigley Mansion

and Tom and Tim checking out the Dwarf Car Museum.

Of course, that's not to say we haven't been staying busy here at the Casa Grande RV Resort.  They've made some nice changes since we were here 3 years ago and hope to come back to this same cg 3 years from now.  Nothing like planning ahead, huh?  Anyway, they provide free waffles and coffee, lunches on WE and hold a few special dinners like Valentine's Day and the upcoming St. Paddy's Day.  They're up to 4 pickleball courts, which are really busy and have monthly "Rob's Fun Day" games (beer pong, bags, Jenga, ladder jacks, etc.), drinks and appetizers.

It's also been great spending some time with Chic & Kim and I hope we can get together a couple more times before we leave on April 1st.  They introduced Tim & Trish and Tom & me to a great place for brunch on February 4th called "Biscuits".  Maybe I can convince them into going back there before too long.   Then, on Feb. 25, they took us to "Rustler's Rooste" to celebrate Kim's birthday.  A really neat place where you can feed the bull, slide down the indoor slide, and enjoy the view of Camelback Mountain.

 I had some delicious prime rib but Tom was disappointed in his steak as it was too done.  Of course, as you all know, it's pretty hard for Mr. B to find a steak that meets his "Texas Roadhouse" expectations.  :-)

Additionally, on Feb. 16th, Tom and I enjoyed gathering with some Suite friends at the SOITC Western Rally in Benson AZ.  Several of us went on a fun tour of the Gammon Gulch movie set then back to the Valley Vista RV Resort for a mighty fine BBQ.

Then, on Feb. 22nd, we helped our friends, Larry & Betty Nance, host an AZ Luncheon at "Boston's" for approximately 48 Suite friends.  Nice meeting some new members and playing catch-up with the rest of our members.

To wrap up February 2017, Tom and Tim had a really great day at the NHRA Arizona Nationals Races at the Wildhorse Pass Motorsports Park on the 26th.

 And, they made it back home in time to take Trish and me to our favorite pizza place, Barro's, for dinner.

Texas Two Step

For most of December, we danced our way through Texas as we continued our journey to AZ.

We left Gulf Shores, AL the morning of December 8th with our good buddies, Tim & Trish.  Our first stop was to the Stennis Space Center at the MS/LA border to tour the base and museum.  Very interesting exhibits about the space mission.  Unbeknownst to us, we discovered that evening that John Glenn had passed away that day.

After a couple nights in New Orleans, we arrived in TX ready to start a few sightseeing adventures.  The first one, on Dec. 12th, was to tour the Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio.

We always say it's great to travel with friends, which really proved its point on Dec. 13th when the Mather's called us on their walkie-talkie that they had to pull over to change a truck tire. Tom walked "all the way back there" (wink, wink SVC!) to help out. Thank God it wasn't a blow-out as Tom and I have had a one of those and they're not fun.  Then, on the 14th, Tim calls us again on the walkie-talkie to let us know our stabilizer is hanging out on the right side of our rig.  Good grief!  He and Tom braced it up so we could get back on the road.

If you ever get a chance, the Carlsbad Caverns, in southern New Mexico, are really something to see.  We took a tour on Dec. 14th, with an interesting guide taking us through this huge cavern that actually has over 100 caves deep down into the bowels of the earth along this Chihuahuan Desert.

On the 15th, we spent the night in Ft. Davis, TX to go see the Marfa Lights. What a bust!  After planning around this stop to see the eerie dancing lights, and not finding them, Tom discovered that there's really only a few times a year that you can actually see this mysterious phenomenon. But, the stars, Milky Way, etc. were absolutely beautiful, so not a total waste of time.

OK, Pat.  Remember how you and I were white-knuckled going through Beartooth Pass?  Well, we experienced another harrowing road on Dec. 16th when heading down to Big Bend National Park TX.  The GPS (love her most of the time) took us on a road from Prescott to Terlingua with a 15% downward grade.  Thank God Tom was driving as I never would've made it.  Lots of praying through the narrow winding up and down road. That 15% grade made me sweat and hold on for dear life.  Found out later that, if we'd gone the alternate route the GPS would've taken us, it was a much better road. Go figure, huh?

Anyway, Big Bend NP was a neat place to check out, along with the Ghost Town of Terlingua.  However, this is 1 of those places where I'd say "Been there, done that", so don't feel the urge to go back. Behind us on the left is Mexico and on the right is USA.

On Dec. 19th, we stayed at a beautiful State Park called Hueco Tanks in El Paso that is known for its depressions that hold water and petroglyphs. They have had trouble with vandalism so they only allow 70 people a day access to the 1 of the areas with the petroglyphs, the other 2 areas are by guides only. Then moved over to Silver City NM for a couple days. It has a neat little historical downtown with museums, restaurants and lots of artsy stores. However the original main street is known as 'the Big Ditch' because a flood destroyed it and is now about 20 feet below the rest of the town.

 Once again, sure glad we were traveling w/our friends since, just as we were pulling out in the rain on moving day, Tom noticed, that our 2 front jacks dropped. So, the guys were out in the elements tying the jacks up with tie-down straps.

Spent Dec. 22-25 in Tucson and had fun exploring the Titan Missile Museum,

taking a copper strip mine tour

and seeing the beautiful San Xavier Mission. And, since we were too far away from IL, it was wonderful spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Chic & Kim, Bubba & Buddy (our nephew dogs) and Tim & Trish.

Arrived in Yuma AZ on Dec. 26th as a hold-over until settling in at the Casa Grande RV Resort on January 1, 2017. This was the first time we've missed Kenley's birthday on the 27th, but we were able to call and sing Happy Birthday to her.  On Dec. 28th, we crossed the border into Los Algodones Mexico and Tom found his new "red" stained glass window.

It's beautiful!  Then, on Dec. 30th, we drove slowly over a few miles of gravel road to see the Castle Dome Mines Museum.  Another interesting little ghost town.

Alabama

Our winter season has arrived, which means I'll try to be diligent in posting monthly blogs for the next few months.

After voting early and celebrating our grandson's 5th birthday, we hitched up the buggy and headed to Gulf Shores AL.  Not a whole lot of difference in pleasant temperatures the 1st part of the month between here and Illinois, but has sure been nice to just sit on the beach and take it all in.

Have been to the Flora-Bama a couple times this month.  Tom really enjoys going to the Frank Brown International Songwriter's Festival and listening to up and coming songwriters perform.  We also enjoy listening to the local bands on any given day.

Had a great day on the 11th at the Pensacola Naval Air Station Air Show featuring the Blue Angels.

This is their home base and that was the last weekend they were to perform here until next Spring.  Lots of other planes (military and private) to watch, but those blue birds are amazing!

Thanks to Valerie and Kim, I was able to get my Christmas shopping done and delivered by the time we went to Bloomington for Thanksgiving.  We hadn't celebrated that holiday with the young Brockman's for the past 7 years so enjoyed a couple days back home with family and friends since we won't be able to go home for Christmas this year.  Too far between IL and AZ.

Here's hoping everyone enjoyed your "turkey day" and that you'll all stay healthy and safe throughout the rest of the holiday season.

11 States in 14 Days!

See the difference in these 2 pictures?

Since we were heading to the June 6-10 SOITC Rally in Gettysburg, PA, Tom decided he wanted to add some of the New England states to our map.  A big grueling adventure was in store with most of the states being "one nighters" but, by golly, we did it!

Our favorite sightseeing adventures included the Canadian side of the Niagra Falls plus the boat ride on the "Maid of the Mist";

Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in ME;

seeing the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia PA up close and personal

and, finally, a whole lot of battlefields in a 25 square mile area around Gettysburg

and a Chocolate History Trolley Tour in Hershey!

Grateful to God that we had a healthy and safe "excellent adventure".  Happy that we're back home and getting back to our "normal" routine spending time w/family and friends.

HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE

OK, one last blog until next winter. It was nice getting back mid-April to spend some time w/our IL kids and grandkids. As our granddaughter, 6-year old Kenley, said when she spent an evening w/us...April showers bring May flowers.  How true it is.  Busted her plans to have fun at the playground and jumpy pillow or even go on a golf cart ride because of the rain.  Chase's turn was a little better since he was able to take a ride on the golf cart to play at the playground.  All in all, we still had a fun time at Grandpa & Grandma's camper.

Before getting back here to Central IL, when we left TX we headed straight to Gulf Shores for a week of sun, sand and surf.  Sunshine and pleasant temps were great that week, but there were a couple days when it was so windy that we couldn't get over to the beach w/o getting "sand blasted".  Overall, a very nice R&R.

After leaving AL, we stopped near Memphis TN for a couple days.  SO enjoyed watching the duck parade in the lobby of The Peabody and seeing their high-end penthouse on top of the hotel.

Made it back in time for the 1st camp-out of the season w/the Sangamon Valley Campers Club.  It was great playing "catch up" with the other 5 families who joined us at Jim Edgar's Site M campground.

We just returned from spending some time in FL w/our VA granddaughters and Grandpa was a happy camper spending a couple days at a nearby beach.  There's also a pool at the complex we stayed at so the girls and Tom had lots of water playtime in sunny FL.

A pretty ambitious trip has been planned starting tomorrow, May 23, through the 1st part of June as we make our way to the Annual Suites Owners Rally to be held near Hershey, PA.  I thought we were only going to pick up 3-4 of the New England states to put on our travel map this trip but Mr. B has worked really hard on plotting a path to possibly pick up 11 states. WOW! If we manage to accomplish this feat, that only leaves 5 states (in the upper NW quadrant) that we'll need to spend a night or two in to "legally" put on our map.  The reason I say that is because I still contend that we should be able to put Hawaii on there but Tom and others in our camping club disagree since we didn't actually camp there.

Anyway, as you can see, we are still enjoying our "excellent adventures" going here, there and everywhere and hope all of you have a fun and interesting summer planned. Stay healthy and happy and we'll catch ya' next winter where we plan to spend January-March in AZ.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Well, not really in the heart of TX but rather in the deep South! Weslaco is so close to the border that it only takes us about 20 minutes to cross into Mexico.  And, Nuevo Progreso is only 1 of a very few "safe" crossings left in this state.  I'm OK with going down there once or twice when we winter in TX and, since nothing's really changed from 4 years ago, I'm satisfied w/our 2 trips.

I didn't realize that Tim & Trish and Tom and I had pretty much seen all of the historical sites and battlefields back when we were down here in 2012.  So, we're doing some repeats for things to do through the end of March.

Some of our activities have included the RV Show in Mercedes (none of us 3 couples found anything we liked better than our own campers); going to see the Iwo Jima statue in Harlingen,

taking a dolphin eco-cruise at South Padre Island where we saw an old oil platform that was being dismantled to become a ride at the Schlitterbahn Water Park on South Padre Island,

listening to a great talk about the "Orphan Train" at the Weslaco Museum (interesting stories about orphans coming over to the U.S. and being sent by train to families all over the country to be raised and educated); and going back over to South Padre Island for their Kite Festival

after we all checked out a couple museums in Port Isabel.

And, of course, we've had some "Movie Madness" going on with some of the better ones (in our opinion) being Star Wars, Daddy's Home, The Big Short, The Heart of the Sea and The Finest Hour.




Tom and Tim fly their drones on not-too-windy days

(which are few and far between as it's always windy here in Texas) and Tom, Tim, Trish and Pat play golf occasionally.

Aunt Ada and Uncle Don stopped by one afternoon following her DDS appointment in Mexico. It was so wonderful to visit with them after not seeing each other for 6 years.

 They live in Iowa but are wintering in Aransas Pass, TX and they both look great.  I hope it won't be another long spell before we see each other again.

Except for the wild winds down here (even snapped our flag pole in half one day so we now have a metal pole), we really are enjoying this weather.  For the most part, temps have been running from the low 70s to 80s for the highs to lows in the upper 40s to low 50s at night.  We have heard that family and friends back up north and to the east are experiencing snow, ice and really cold temps. Brrr.  We sure do NOT miss that and are so very grateful that we are able to put some miles behind us and go far enough south to throw on our shorts, sandals and/or flip-flops, grab our glass of iced tea and soak up some rays.  As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm getting ready to do!  Catch ya' later!