MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR

Dec 27th

We want to wish all of our family and friends  Merry Christmas  and Happy New Year  from Cottonwood, AZ.  It has been a sad, but good year for us. Sad  that my Dad passed away last March.  Good in that both of us are healthy and having a good time traveling. 

This is our first year without either of my parents, Mom passed away Sept. 5, 2012 and  Dad March 15, 2013.   Been thinking about that alot. In a strange way, it is comforting to know that we are now in one of their favorite campgrounds in Northern AZ.  The last one we were at in Southern AZ was also a favorite of theirs.  In a few days, Dec 29th, it  was the beginning of the end for my Dad.  We all thought he was fine at Christmas, but by Dec 29th, he was back in the hospital with the first of many infections.  He only came home for 1 week during that whole time. He went from the  hospital to rehab and back 3 times  until he passed away March 15th. 

Cottonwood is about 100 miles north of Phoenix.  It is also one of our favorites and we always stop here. We are in the mountains at 3000', so we are a little colder than Phoenix. Our highs are the mid 50's with the lows in the mid 20's.  It is cold, but bright sunshine during the day, no clouds in sight.  It is a Thousand  Trails park with lots of activities.   The best part (for me) is that there is a restaurant open  all day Wed thru Sunday, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We had very good fish and chips last night. We are going to prime rib tonight.  Love that!  Lots of beautiful scenery and history here.  We are a little south of Sedona  and west of Jerome, a funky little artist ghost  town, always interesting to go to.

Have  to mention that we have been carrying little critters all the way from Tuscola, IL. We were there from Oct 20th to the 24th.  We were infested with  ladybugs, but these are not the cute variety. Not sure what kind they are, but they smell when you kill them.  We had hundreds in our RV.  Denny vacuumed a few times and we thought we were done with them.  BUT, OH NO,  they still come out. We kill a few everyday. getting kind of tired of them. Surprised they have lived so long after leaving Tuscola.

We were also infested with sugar ants in  southern AZ. The park warned us to put out powder around all  the openings going into the RV. We did, but I  guess, not enough. Killed hundreds every day. Since we left there Dec 24th, we still have them, but not many.  At least they are going away, unlike the ladybugs

GOOD LUCK, BAD LUCK, ALL IN ONE DAY

Dec 19th

A few days ago, I plugged my phone in to charge it.  My brother called, it only rang once. When I went to answer it, the screen went black except for a little circle that looked like it was searching  for something. Then  that disappeared and everything was black. Wouldn't turn on, wouldn't do anything.  I left it plugged into the charger all night, hoping that maybe I hadn't had the plug in just right.  In the  morning,  the phone was still black, wouldn't do a thing. I was afraid my phone had died and I would have to buy another one. OH NO!  Phones aren't cheap.  I have an extra charger so tired it.  It worked, it was only my charger that had quit.  I never would have thought about that except that I had  one to try. If I hadn't, I would have just gone out and bought another phone.  First Good Luck for the day!

I had taken my rings off my ring finger and put them on the end table between us.  The next day, I looked and they were gone. It was my wedding ring and the original wedding set my parents had when they married in 1943.  I can always buy a new wedding ring, but my parents set was irrareplacable. The end table is over a hot air vent, so I moved the table and saw my rings. My ring  was still on the carpet, very close to the edge. My parents set was in the vent.  It had landed on a flat area within a inch of the opening.  Denny opened up the vent cover and carefully got my parents set. I was so lucky, another inch and it would have been gone. Second good luck

NOW COMES THE BAD LUCK1

That night we were watching TV and I heard a noise. When I got up to go to the kitchen, I saw water dripping onto our dining room table.  We had thought there was a small leak somewhere because we had noticed a darkening of the fabric above the table in the last few years. We would clean it and it would come back. It was so small that Denny could never find it.  There was so much water that it was also dripping from the edge of the cabinets and light fixtures. It had been raining for 2 days, but we have had alot of rain before.  I guess it finally got big enough for water to get thru. We filled a  bucket twice  with water. My computer got wet. It still works, but the inside of the screen got wet. Very blotchy. Hopefully it will dry. It looks better than it did 2 days ago.  Denny finally found the trouble. The slide out has sagged little at one point on the roof.  When the slide is in the out position, there is a small gap between the roof and the rubber that is suppose to seal it off.  Since it is all movable, Denny hasn't quite figured out what to do.  I'm sure he will, but is quite stumped  for  now. This is the first major problem we have had with the RV since we bought it. 

Have to mention one thing that we have noticed in all the states we have been in. There is very little, if any, recycling.  Some places only do plastic bottles, some do cans only, most do nothing.   We rarely drink pop so we don't have many cans and refill our plastic water bottles.  In Texas, there was absolutely no recycling. The worst part is that the well in the park we stayed at  wasn't up to the city standards, so they were giving out cases of water to drink and cook with.   In the 2 weeks we were there, we used almost 4 cases. Every single plastic bottle went in the trash. Seemed sacrilegious to us, but no choice.  The park was full of alot of oil workers living there full time. Just think of all the plastic going to a landfill.   My cousin, Denise, said that the city had tried recycling, but it didn't last long. No one would do it.  What a waste.

4TH AVE WINTER FESTIVAL, TUCSON

Dec 13th,

Sunday I went with the ladies next to us  to the 4th ave Winter  Festival  in Tucson.  Denny stayed home to watch  football, more his style.  Lots of fun just people watching.  Bought a few things, ate too much and had a great time.

There was a man selling recycled license plates.  One of the patterns was all the football  teams. They spelled your team with the logo. The only one they were sold out of was the SEAHAWKS.  Amazing to see in Dallas of all places. 

This is a business on the same street as the fair

She was the balloon lady. Quite the character. I saw alot of people  dressed this way, but  had a dead battery in my camera

Neighbors Christmas decoration

Decoration in RV park in Dallas

Have to mention something  we saw in Texas.  Parents raise kids in Texas a little differently. My cousin's twin boys never answered us without saying yes,  mamam, no mamam.  Very polite.  At my Aunt's garage sale, I heard more yes, mamam, no mamam's from adults than I had ever heard.  They certainly were raised with more manners than I had seen in a long time, if ever.  Nice  to hear

FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OF SNOWBIRDING

We traveled thru the Northern States at a fairly fast pace to get ahead of the fall/winter weather.  Glad we did because several places that we have visited have lots of snow. Also  visiting lots of relatives along the way.  Arizona is our 14th state in about 3.5 months. We usually don't move that fast and we are exhausted.  We plan to stay in St David, AZ for 2 weeks just to relax, recoup and catch up on things.  This is our 3rd time in the area so we have seen most of all there is to see.  Perfect place to relax. St. David is about 50 miles south of Tucson.  Can't  tell you  how wonderful it is too know we aren't moving in a few days.  From now on, we will stay in places 2 to 3 weeks at a time.  We are finally stating our usual snowbird winter travels.

Christmas has finally come to the RV.  I usually decorate Thanksgiving weekend, but I was busy with the garage sale. Because you are limited in space in an RV, I didn't want to take up too much of it for things we only display for about a month.  Would like to have more, but  can't.  Everything we have is unbreakable.  I did buy one new thing this year, can you see Betty Boop at the top of the tree?  She is my favorite character

We have made friends with the couple next to us. They invited us to go to the local Benson Christmas parade last night.  Nothing like a small town Christmas parade to get you in the spirit.  Fun time. Today the ladies have asked us  to go along to see the Christmas Street fair at Tucson.  I'm going, but Denny is going to stay home and watch the Seahawks.  Street fairs aren't really his thing.

Catching up on my journal, decorating and my blog. Only thing left is Christmas cards.  Yahoo!

THANKSGIVING AT ODESSA, TEXAS

Nov 25th - Dec 7th

Been so busy I haven't been able to update my blog.  We came here to spend Thanksgiving with my Aunt Laura and  my cousins. Laura is my Dad's younger sister ( 90 yrs old)

Dinner at Denise's home. 

Denise, Richard and their 2 twin boys, Clayton and Garrett. Richard should get son in law of the year award. . He bought  Laura a new house so she could be closer to them.  She  now lives just around the block

Laura with her 2 daughters, Carla and Denise plus me. Carla lives in Dallas, but was here for Thanksgiving and to help with garage sale

I keep seeing this guy every where I go,  so decided to let him tag along

West Texas is the biggest oil producer in the state. . Refineries and oil wells as far as you could see

 These tile pictures are typical in any Texas rest stop

We stayed 2 weeks to help with Laura's garage sale at her old house.  She had 90 pairs of shoes for sale, alot which had never been worn. Also lots of clothes and handbags. . It looked like a department store.  

I have really enjoyed visiting all my 1st cousins along the way on our travels.  Had a lot of one on one conversations that are hard to do at reunions. Reunions are too hectic to have long  conversations.  Also loved getting to know the husbands more.  This has been our 8th stop to visit relatives. 

FORTH WORTH STOCKYARDS

Nov 24th

When you think of Dallas, you think of oil, when you think of Forth Worth, it's cattle.  Sharon and Gary took us to the Stockyards, the historical part of Forth Worth.  They picked us up, so we didn't have to tackle the traffic again. Denny was VERY  happy about that. 

They still have the streets of brick

For the tourists: cattle drive thru the streets everyday

Christmas decorations, Texas style

 Had to get  on. When I first saw this cow, I thought it was fake. NO, it was very real and MOVING. Couldn't get Denny to get on

 Stockyard museum. Closest I could Denny to a saddle

1800's stove. 

1924 stove. can't imagine using either one. Glad times have changed

1st cousin, Sharon and her husband Gary. Great tour guides

Went to a  Barbecue restaurant. Never  have seen a roll of paper towels for napkins and large jar of jalapeno peppers on table. Pretty typical in Texas. You order the meat by the pound.  You just get a slab of beef or pork on your plate. It comes with pinto beans, but all other sides are separate.  Very different experience. 

After the stockyards, they drove around to show us the area. Back to Arlington to see the stadiums.  Arlington is between Dallas and Forth Worth.
  

Dallas Cowboy stadium, nickname: Jimmy's world. It is huge. It costs $75 to park there for a game. Tickets average $350.  

Close up of workers on roof. I don't think I would get up there.

Workers from a distance. They look like ants

Texas Rangers stadium.  Built to look old. I like that better

6TH FLOOR MUSEUM AT DEALEY PLAZA

Nov 23rd

the 6th floor museum is the old Texas Depository building that Lee Harvey Oswald  was in to shoot President Kennedy. He was on the 6th floor.  Dealey Plaza is the Grassy Knoll where alot of people think they heard more shots coming from.  There are all sorts of conspiracy theories but nothing ever proved.  It was very interesting. Everyone had headphones for an audio tour. When you came to a display, you clicked on the number and  it told all about it. Pictures weren't allowed. We saw  the window that Oswald stood with packing boxes all around to hide him.  Looked out at his view.  

The day before we went was the 51st anniversary. 

Grassy Knoll

Wanted to show where the grassy knoll is in relation to the building. Grassy Knoll is  left, building on right

Room is the on the far right, 2nd from top. 

Close up of room, notice the boxes at the window

 Old Dallas

New Dallas, quite the contrast. I took both of these pictures from the grassy knoll, just looking in 2 different directions.  Sharon said that the tell skinny building is a resturant

Driving into Dallas on our own was quite the experience.  Freeways crisscrossing on top of each other. Missed our last turn so went back on freeway.  Luckily the Garmin came thru but nerve wracking to get lost in the city. So glad we were there on a Sunday.  It was an experience that we hope never to do again!

TEXAS, OUR 12th STATE

Nov 23rd

We have been gone 3 months yesterday.  Sometimes it seems like a long time, other times not at all.  We have been to 12 states, visiting and sightseeing in 11. The only one we drove thru was Arkansas.  We had a time frame so we couldn't stop,  maybe another time.  We have traveled 7828 miles. That is alot of diesel when you only get 9 miles to the gal. We paid the cheapest diesel in Memphis at $3.19 per gal. Our most expensive was in  Medora, North Dakota at $3.99. We came to visit my 2 first cousins and their husbands. Sharon and Gary live in Plano,  25 miles east. Carla and Dan live in Southlake, 10 miles to the west.  The Dallas/Fort Worth area is huge.  Between those 2 cities there is almost 2 million people. The Metroplex is what they call all the surrounding cities. So close that you don't know what city unless you see a sign. The Metroplex area has 6.5 million people and we are right in the middle.  We don't usually like to go to big cities, but nothing  is really close.  This is one of our favorite campgrounds. We were here in 1996.  Expensive, but beautiful.  The Metroplex has been in a drought for many years. They can only water their lawns twice a month

View from our campsite

View of campground

Map of states when we started

Filling in our 8th state on this trip that we had never been to. I doubt if we will ever get to the remaining 2 states,  South Carolina and West Virginia. I can't figure out how we missed those states when we went all over the U.S. in 1996

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

Nov 17th

One of the places  I really wanted to see was the National Civil Rights Museum.  I'm so glad we went. We have seen alot of museums on our travels, but this  is the most well done and  thought provoking that we have ever seen.  There is so much to see and take in,  that it is mind boggling. I got teary eyed several times. It is located at the Lorraine Motel, the site where Martin Luther King was assassinated.  You start in the modern building next to the motel and  it ends  actually looking into the room of Martin Luther King.  Felt very strange  looking into his room. The other part of the museum is across the street in the boarding house where James Earl Ray stayed.

This was taken from the  bathroom window where James Earl Ray stood.    His  room and  bathroom at the boarding house were on display.   The wreath is where martin Luther King stood when he was assinated.   Also felt   strange  to be at the window.

Original sign of the motel

Wreath is  right in front of his room, exactly where Martin Luther  King was standing when he was killed

Hard to imagine

Statue of typical sale of slave woman and child. Sometimes they didn't have clothes on so the owner could see what he was getting

 Hold of slave ship, hard to imagine

Rosa Parks on the bus she rode when she wouldn't give up her seat

One of the lunch counters where they had their sit in's.  The 3 on the left were white,  3 on the right were black.

 Burned  bus of the Freedom Riders

 Equality has come along way, but still has far to go.  Just think of what's going on in  Ferguson, MO.   We visited my cousin, Lois, in IL.  She has  been a teacher in  Ferguson for 27 years. It was interesting to get a point of view from someone who has been there  from the beginning.


Unfortunately you still see this in the south.  This trailer was at our park in Memphis.  When we toured the south extensively in 1996, we saw  alot of rebel flags.