TEXAS, LOUISIANA,MISSISSIPPI, ARKANSAS, FLORIDA!

                                                  HELLO ALABAMA & FLORIDA

          CRAIG AND LENNY ON THE BEACH OF THE GULF OF MEXICO IN MISSISSIPPI!

                   ME AND LENNY ON THE BEACH TOO!

                                               OUR DOLPHIN WAITING FOR US!

                                                      A BUTTE IN TEXAS!

                                              MY DASH WITH ALL THE BOOKS I USE!

                                            HELLO LOUISIANA

                                            CAMPGROUND IN LOUISIANA

                                                 HELLO MISSISSIPPI!

                                                     ENTERING MISSISSIPPI!

                                  ADDING ARKANSAS AND FLORIDA TO OUR MAP

                                             SUNSET IN FLORIDA CAMPGROUND!

 Left Arizona a week ago, took us 3 days to get thru Texas, and 4 to get thru the rest, we left Mississippi this morning and went thru Arkansas and made it to Florida today!  Louisana was so so, a lot of swamps, but we didn't drive thru New Orleans because of the flooding going on there right now, Mississippi was beautiful, we drove along the coast and stayed at a the Buckaneer's State Park, in was right on the Gulf of Mexico, beautiful, we could of  stayed on the gulf side for $15 more, but it was very foggy out and couldn't see much anyways until morning when the fog cleared it was and it was awesome, the sand is so white and the water is so clean!  We finally was able to stop alone the road and walk on the beach, looked just like the beaches in the Caribbean!  Was only in Mississippi about 2 hours and Arkansas for about an hour and a half, we drove along the bottom of each state on I-10!  Made good time today, should make it to our friends in Homosassa by late tomorrow or early Sat.
                                  I included a picture of all the books I have on my dash, I use everyone of them, Woodalls is for letting me know where every campground is in every state, most even have the prices, I use the Next Exit so we know what is off each exit, gas stations, camping, stores, restaurants,etc. I use the Walmart book so if we need to boondock or need a few items I know where everyone is in every state and last but not least is our Escapee's book, we are skp members and get up to half off rv resorts that honor our memberships, we have saved a lot of money this way, helps a lot, especially with the cost of gas right now, we are paying between $3.56 to $3.89 a gallon and it is a killing us, there are days when we are putting $200 a day in the tank! Hoping and praying the fuel prices go down by the time we leave Florida! We try to save by eating most meals in the motorhome or fast food places, we stay only at state parks or Skp parks!  Been cutting back on the souvenirs too! But we will be staying put at our friends for about 2 weeks before we head to our daughters in Virginia, that will save us a lot on gas, we will give them money towards our expense for staying there! I also use travel books from AAA travel. Well, tired and ready to hit the bed! Until the next time God Bless!

GOOD BYE ARIZONA! HELLO NEW MEXICO!

                                         HELLO NEW MEXICO!

                                                   A TEEPEE IN NEW MEXICO!

                                         OUR CAMPHOST READY TO SHOW US OUR SITE!

TWO STRANGE BIRDS, THINK THE ARE FLY CATCHER BIRDS!

Had a great time in Arizona with family but time to move on, having a bad attack of hitch-inch!  We left Arizona Thur. around 11:00, stayed at Saguro SKP(escapees) Co-op resort in Benson, Az, because we are Escapee members we stayed for $15 plus electricity which was on $2.50.  Left there around 11am Fri. and headed for New Mexico! The wind was horrible plus we were really pushing the motorhome up some pretty high mountains, so we decided to quit driving around 4 pm and settle down for the night, found another SKP park for only $16 a night including electric at Low Hi RV Ranch in Deming, NM. Both were nice parks but still love State Campgrounds the most, resorts are like living in a trailor park, where state campgrounds are more with nature and usually more scenic! Temperture dropped down to the 30's last night, going to be raining and only in the 50's today! Should be in Texas today and Craig said it will take us about 3 days to get thru it, hoping to be in Florida by the 17th, where we plan on staying for a couple of weeks and visit our friends Annette and Barry, then head for Virginia to see our daughter Susan and Russ, stay there until the end of April then head for Michigan.  Got a bite on a couple camphost positions, we have decided to go for  the camphost positions only, less physical labor, so we are going for state campground camphosts only!  We are looking into the Bay City and Caseville area in Michigan and for next fall the Homossasa area in Florida! With the price of gas possibly going as high as $5 a gal. we are not going too far from home, Mich. for the summer months and Florida for the winter months!  We have been pretty lucky with the gas prices so far, it was up to $4.05 in Arizona when we left, we were able to fill up for $3.77  and $3.61 so far, still a lot but prices are getting lower as we head east! Gas prices are one of the reasons we decided to find only escapees and state campgrounds to stay at, gotta cut cost somewhere, plus finding camphosting positions will help also! But the biggst reason to stay in Mich. and Florida we will still be closer to our kids and grandkids, miss them all so much, but have to admit how proud I am of all of them, they have made it thru some very hard times since we left and have done ok, a couple of times I was ready to fly home but was told not to worry that everything will be ok! And they were, I pray EVERY NIGHT for them and am so proud to see how well they have handled everything that camp up, my boys were there for each other, big brother was there for his little brother and vice versa!
Their sister Susan and husband Russ have been there for us and her brother, love them all so much! Well, gotta get packed up and get out of here, believe it or not it is snowing, only light flurries but it's still snow, time to move on!  UGH!!!! Texas here we come!

QUARTZSIDE, PARKER, LAKE HAVASU!

            Camping in the valley at River Island State Campground

           The beach, that is California across the Colorado River

                    More veiws from the beach!

Craig walking on the beach!

Hi, been awhile since I have been on here, but lots to catch up on! We left Wellton Az. at his Aunt and Uncle and Dad and Step-Mom for about 2 weeks and went to check out Quartzside for about 5 days, which we found out later was too long! We stayed at Rose's Campground, which is not that fancy, but was close to the flea market, lot's of dealers but they are saying it is about 75% down from what it use to be, but found a few things to buy and send to the grandkids, one neat thing Craig found was a Stump Stove, it was a log that was hollowed out and they gave you a tube of jelled alcohol that you squirted into the log, then lit it and it would burn between 2 to 3 hours, depended on what size you got! We liked it so well that we went back the next day to get another one, but the dealer was gone!  Then we headed for Parker to the River Lake State Campground and what a beautiful place, we reserved 4 days but liked it so much that we reserved another 4 days, we were right across the river from California and we had mountains all around us, internet or phone didn't come in good, but believe it or not satellite did come in, even among the mountains! We were on the Colorado River, which is a beautiful turquoise color! I even got brave enough to climb the mountain, one of the things on my bucket list, Craig went part way with me and even climbed a small mountain that over-looked the river! He even got to check out a cave! I went on to the largest mountain overlooking our campsite! I had to climb two mountains to get to the biggest one! I almost didn't do it, looked like it was way to high, but I thought of my Dad and Craig who would have loved to climb it but because of their bad knees couldn't, so I did it for them, when I finally made it to the top I could see our campsite and there was Craig and Lenny looking up, he took my picture, then I sit down and cried it was something I have always wanted to do and here I am 62 years old and I did it! I was sore for a couple of days but it was so worth it!

  Craig checking out a cave! And above our campsite!

          Camp on a small mountain over looking the Colorado River

                                    Craig checking out the cave

              Me and Lenny on the small mountain overlooking California

  Me at the top of the big mountain, had to climb 2 small mountains to get to this one, it is overlooking our campsite!

 

The moutain I climbed!

We then went to Lake Havasu and spent the day there, seen and crossed the London Bridge! It is a beautiful place, on the way back we crossed a bridge in Parker over to California and I kept seeing signs about wild donkey crossing and then I seen them, they were everywhere! Thought that was pretty awesome!

                                       Was able to cross into California from Parker only a 5 mile trip!

                                       Craig checking out the London Bridge!

                                                Me checking out the London Bridge

                                        Wild Donkeys in California!

Just me in California! Loved this tree!

We were even able to go to the local casino a couple of times, pretty much broke even, but we felt that being there was taking us away from the beautiful outdoors! But fianlly decided to head back to Wellton and spend some more time with the family for a couple more weeks, Craig's sister is going to be here this Sunday and stay until the following Sat., then we will be heading along the southern coast towards Florida, stay there for about a week, then on to Virgina to my daughters then hope to be back in Michigan by May 1st!   As soon as we are on the road again, will be blogging about our travels!

STILL IN ARIZONA AT CRAIG'S FAMILY!

                                         Craig talking to his Dad and Uncle Carl

                                                  Their Beautiful home & Dad's motorhome

                                              The patio above and Craig in the hot tub below

 

                                    Aunt Lynn, Craig, Dad and Lindsay

                                       Craig with Aunt Coralee, Aunt Lynn and Uncle Grant

                                               Niece Lindsay with us!

                                        Silly Aunt Lynn and Uncle Carl

We have been here at Craig's family for a week today, and what a week it has been, enjoying family and getting re-aquainted. Craig hadn't seen his Dad and step-mom Zelda in over 10 years and his Aunts in over 40 years, plus he is meeting Uncles for the first time! What a wonderful family, Craig's niece even drove over from Phoenix to meet everyone! They have showed us a wonderful time, took us to a huge flea market, to church, cooked us all a few fantastic meals, played some Uno (I missed out on that, got sick) going to go to Mexico yet, there will be a big Superbowl party Sunday, going to go watch Dad,Zelda and Uncle Carl play in their band, they have even cut a few CDs! Craig's Aunt and Uncle live on a golf course in a beautiful southwest styled home with a pool and a hot tub, a beautiful patio that we have spent many days and evenings on, I swear it is like living on at a resort! They go out of their way to make us feel at home, they are such genuine people and truly love having us here! We will be leaving here Monday morning and heading south toward Phoenix where I will meet up with my Grandson Nathan and my best friends daughter Tricia! Then taking our time going to Florida to our friend Annette's! Hoping the price of gas goes down before we leave, it is $3.59 a gallon here right now, thinking because it is a small town and prices will lower as we travel south and east!
                                                      Well, that is all for now, here it is 9:30 and I'm not even dressed yet!

KARCHNER CAVERNS S.P. AND TOMBSTONE!

                                                BOOTHILL, TOMBSTONE

                                         TOMBSTONE

                                     HAVING LUNCH AT A SALOON

                                         ME WITH TWO BAD GUYS!

                                               ENJOYING A DRINK AT AT THE SILVER NUGGET

                                  SILVER NUGGET SALOON AND FAMOUS BIRD CAGE THEATER

                                 They found bones from a giant sloth like this in the Caverns

Finally am able to get on here, been in the mountains and weak internet! But the beauty of the places we have been staying is worth the sacrifices of no internet, no phones or no satellite! We stayed at the Kartchnes Caverns State Park and went thru the caverns, had to push Craig in a wheelchair, but well worth the trip. The we headed for Tombstone!  Best time ever, seen they famous shot out that started in the streets and then followed it to the Ok corral!  This town is awesome and you acturally feel like you went back in time! Everyone should go here at least once!  Then we moved on to Picacho Peak State Park for a night, what a beautiful park!

                                            CRAIG IN FRONT OF A HUGE CACTUS

                               BREATH TAKING SUNSET!

                                       BARREL CACTUS THAT LOOKS LIT UP AT SUNSET

                                  ENJOYING A CAMPFIRE!

                                             CRAIG AND LENNY ENJOYING THE FIRE!

                                            BEAUTIFUL SCENE!

We left Picacho Peak and heading for Welltons by Yuma to see Craig's father and step-mom at his Aunt Lynn and Uncle Carl's place, been about 15 years since we seen them! Beautiful people and home, they are letting us park here and use their electric and water! Feel right at home here! Well, gotta go for now and do some banking and mail some packages! Later!