Happy New Year~~~~~

To all our families and friends!

Last night was a disappointment with Iowa getting beat by Oklahoma but we had a great time of lots of food, drinks and great conversations.

Today Em and I went to the grocery and picked up all of our food for our evening of eating, drinking again, and we are having a Wii tournament tonight as well.  I plan on trying to get some pictures I promise.  Emilee is very happy we will be together for New Year's Eve.

Today is absolutely gorgeous mid seventies and blue skies....we are blessed!  We could easily get used to this kind of weather and plan to do just that when we retire in a few years.

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely

Camping World~~~~~

Heading out in a few to the big Camping World store.  We have only been to an express store before so this will be a fun adventure.

Emilee is at work today and we have been just doing more odds and ends around the house and in the Fiver.  Tonight we will be going to the North 51 Grill to watch the Iowa game.  It should be a fun evening.

Last night for supper I used up the left over Turkey and made a pot pie of sorts with potato topping instead of a crust topping.  It was really tasty and Emilee took the left overs to work for her lunch so I think she kinda likes my cooking...:)

Well we are off....

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely

Taking it easy~~~~~

Last night we went to a Mexican place and it was delish.  Then came back to the home place and hung out in the Fiver.  Pretty relaxing evening and tonight will be the same.

Today we went to an RV show and decided that the Fiver we have is still exactly what we need and want.  We enjoy looking at the motorhomes but are still glad we went with a Fiver first.

I think we may go for a bike ride later this afternoon.  I need to try out my new helmet.  The weather is awesome 70ish each day so far with beautiful blue skies.

Best sign out for now.

Until next time~~~~Travel safely

Better later then ever~~~~~

It's taken a while to post but we have been very busy having just a little bit of cheer....

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner all prepared by Emilee.  She made a delish turkey, cheesy hash brown potatoes, green bean caserole, stuffing, seven layered salad and her friend Tim made mash tators.  For an appetizer she made these parmesan crisps (yummy)and Tim brought shrimp cocktail.  Lots of wine later...a great time was had by all.  We called it a night at around 10:00 which was very early but we were beat after the drive through the mountains.

Yesterday we spent the day running, walking, biking and just hanging out.  Emilee had to work at the North 51 Grill last night so we went there for dinner.  I had shrimp tacos, DH had chicken strips (from scratch) and we split wings and fries with another of Em's friends James.  He is a riot...and we really enjoyed him and his humor.  We went home around 9:30 and Emilee got home at 11:30.  It makes for a long day today for her but she is enjoying being back at the 51 Sunday and Monday nights. $$$$

Pictures have been few and far between as my camera is acting crazy so I will post what I have taken thus far and then we shall see whether it will snap out of it.

So here are some from the last few days.



Our Santa Chef



Santa was at Em's house



Emilee's latest family member Jessie



  

Our Mandie enjoying the kitchen smells







The tree was so pretty....





Acting goofy because of the camera



Well that's about it for now... we plan to make a few runs today to Petsmart for the new doggie door, a light for above her kitchen sink and some other odds and ends.

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely

Merry Christmas to all~~~~~

We are in Springerville, AZ which is a very cold 8 degrees, getting ready to start the last leg of our trip.  We were happy to find that the weigh station had been plowed and I had suggested that perhaps there might be an outdoor plug so that we could plug in.  Afterall, even though the station was closed they had security lights and inside lights on.  Low and behold there was.  So we had all the conforts of home thanks to my thinking for which was greatly appreciated I must say...;)  This will be our secret stop over for sure now that we know we can have electric for free.  Hey we are tax payers and we pay for the weigh stations right?  Right.  Heehee.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with a surf and turf dinner as you can see.  Several Pinot's and some great Christmas TV.



Ribeye Steak with Shrimp Scampi and Salad



Well I best get a move on here....we will be on the road soon.

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely

We are blessed~~~~~

Our trip thus far has been uneventful.  The worst weather we encountered was in Burlington when we left home with snow.  Otherwise, clear as a bell.  Our first leg was a good one all the way to a nice rest area near Emporia, KS.  Yesterday we had a looonnng ride of 500 miles all the way to Tucumcari, NM.  Lots of snow but the roads are perfectly clear.  Everything in our fiver is working perfect including the heat....as it got down to about 20 degrees here at Mountain View RV Park in Tucumcari.

DH (darling husband) is getting ready to go for a run with the puppies.  I have already had them out for their morning business and made coffee .... life is good.  We plan to top off the fuel, oatmeal at Micky D's for breakfast and off we go to Springerville, AZ for our final night before dropping over into the beautiful valley....Phoenix with just under 70 degrees there.  Emilee has been keeping in touch and is very anxious for our arrival as our we.

May all of you have a wonderful Christmas Eve and we miss and love all of our families.

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely

Get ready we are off Thursday~~~~~

Woohoo!  Heading south for 3 weeks...to Phoenix, AZ for Christmas with our youngest and her clan.  Stay tuned for our Fiver Adventures.  We promise to keep you posted on this big trip!

Until next time~~~~Travel Safely

KOA~~~~~

We have arrived and we have the A/C running to get things cooled off.  DH is out getting hooked up as we have full hook-ups tonight meaning 50amp, sewer and water.

We decided to just snack tonight instead of trying to get a meal started at 7 ish.

It is very clean here and we are satified.  It is also off the I-80 by about a mile or so and therefore we do not have any traffic noise.

Sooooo don't have to much else to say except we are all very happy to have finally stopped moving.

We will be landing at home sometime tomorrow afternoon barring any issues.  Our oil leak has re-surfaced and that put us behind about an hour or so at a rest stop.  But DH (my Mcquyver) has taken care of this and we will get home safely.  Love to all our family and friends who followed us during our Colorado Fiver Adventure!

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely

Holiday RV Park~~~~~

In North Platte, Nebraska is soooo nice. http://holidayparkne.com/

We arrive this evening at around 6:30pm.  I managed to get supper going within an hour which was pork steak(left over from the other night), corn on the cob, garlic bread, and pasta salad.  It was delightful and really hit the spot.  DH had another brownie with ice cream for dessert.  Now he is walking our puppies for the last time of the night.  Oprah did not want to go without me but too bad....I got nailed by mosquitos while I was cooking on the grill.

We will head out tomorrow morning for a KOA in Adel, Iowa.

http://koa.com/campgrounds/des-moines/

It sounds and looks really nice so we look forward to that.  It will be a long day of driving but we can do it.

Until Next Time~~~~~Travel Safely

Last night in Colorado~~~~~

It was a great day yesterday and last night was especially nice with our special supper.  It will be our last night here at Boyd Lake Campground and we will be enjoying ribeyes on the grill barring no rain.  Foil potatoes, carrots and onions will be the side dish and for dessert warm brownies with homemade ice cream from a place we found in our travels of yesterday.

Here are a few more pictures from our campground from when I took my walk with CJ and Oprah.  Craig takes Libby and Mandie with him on his run.  It works out really well as CJ can't go too far and I bring him back and then Oprah and I take a really good fast walk around the park.



Mandie and Oprah waiting to go!





Libby waiting to go!





Craig taking off down the trail with his girls....

Cj and Oprah taking me on a walk.....

These are from very near our site....

Until Next Time~~~~~Travel Safely





Camping World~~~~~

We went to our first Camping World yesterday...well it was an Express store but we still ended up making some purchases.  On the way home from there we stopped at Rv America which is supposedly the largest indoor RV showroom.  It wasn't anything that we hadn't seen before but we enjoyed checking out both motorhomes and fivers.  We made quite an impression with our F650 Supercruzer....they wanted to sell us something to pull but we told them we were pulling a Royals International with mouths dropped they decided not to try and sell any more.  It was really funny.  However, this one fellow, quite the talker decided we needed to see a Tiffin Allegro Bus which I had explained was what we were looking at before we found our home.  Well the Bus was very impressive and it was the bath and 1/2 which we had not seen before.  Very very fancy coach but still way out of our price range without the Lotto win.  Heehee

This was the first time we had left our puppies at home and they did not throw a fit so that was a good thing.  We were very pleased.

We had another great day and evening finished with burgers and pasta salad for supper.

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely

Oh what a beautiful morning~~~~~

Oh what a beautiful day!  We all had another great walk/run and now DH is off for his bike ride of the day.  No plans today just going to relax and enjoy our home.

Had another wonderful supper last night...it started out as a BBQ but the wind ended that so finished it up in the convection oven.  Pork roast with homemade cherry BBQ sauce, baked tators and caprese salad.  We had stopped at a Colorado Cherry store and picked up some stuff.  Hence, the cherry BBQ sauce idea using Cherry preserves.

We are eating well....heehee.

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely

Clean as a whistle~~~~~

Our Fiver is clean and shiney...we had taken it through a truck wash Sunday am and then yesterday DH finished waxing it.

We have settled into our home away from home here in Colorado.  Oprah and Mandie are very happy as you can see here.....

Libby is sitting on one of the kitchen chairs watching anything and everything that moves......

We had a wonderful supper again last night of Shrimp Scampi over brown rice, tossed salads and hot garlic rolls.  Yummy but I didn't get a picture of it.

This next picture shows where the puppies stay when we are outside chillin out.  They love their kennel and it was a great investment.  It keeps them safe but free to roam a bit as well.

After our walk/runs this am....I made Blueberry pancakes (DH request) for breakfast.

We are taking a day trip up into the mountains today.

Gorgeous!! The Rocky Mountain area is beautiful.  We had a nice day trip and here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Until Next Time~~~~Travel Safely





Boyd Lake Campground~~~~~

We have arrived....it did not disappoint.  Here are a few pictures from our site number 31...

Here is our view....

This place has bike/walk/run paths all around the lake...

We are very content with our choice this time out. Lots of folks have stopped by to admire our rig...we are very proud of it.  Heehee.

We are resting this evening but I have made Oyster Cracker snack for munching on and for dinner we will have marinated sliced turkey breast on our grill (Thanks Mom), baked tators and "Gerst Farms" peaches and cream sweet corn.  Turkey and Corn on the grill picture....

Sounds good huh?  Oh and for dessert.....Lemon Drop Martini's!

Life is good on our first night on the lake.....





Until next time~~~~Travel Safely

Nebraska~~~~~

The longest state in the nation I swear.  We have landed after a very long day at Big Springs, NE at a very nice truck stop.  Had a bite to eat and have been relaxing.  Tomorrow we will have a short 4 hour drive to Boyd Lake Campground and really look forward to our 5 nights there.  I will post pictures for your viewing pleasure....

In the mean time, I am fading fast and therefore will sign out for now.

Until next time~~~~Travel Safely

Finished up packing the Fiver frig~~~~~

last night along with many other items we will need for our next adventure.  We certainly hope our destination in Colorado takes us to cooler weather.  One can only hope and the forecast there shows that we should get some relief and also we will be on a lake so that should help as well.  Hard to believe how much stuff we need when we take a trip like this.  But to me it makes sense because we will not be eating or drinking out at all which is a big vacation expense.  I enjoy cooking so it does not bother me to prepare meals while on the road.  Stay tuned.....

I have many yummy meals planned and will keep the blog updated with photos of our mini vacation which will start tomorrow at around 2 or 3.  We plan to get to Des Moines Friday and then put a good day in Saturday with a Sunday noon check in at Boyd Lake Campground, Colorado.

Exciting!!!

Until next time~~~~ Travel Safely

Getting ready for another road trip~~~~~

One week from yesterday we will start out on another adventure.  This time our trip will take us to Boyd Lake Campground in Colorado.  I started the grocery list today...DH will be home from his work around 2:00 and we plan to pick up groceries.  The excitement of another trip in our fiver gives me goosebumps!  I am quite sure that we will definately be ready for this lifestyle of living full time out on the road when we retire.  I promise to keep a picture blog of this short but wonderful adventure for all of your viewing pleasure.

I have been busy trying to keep the yard and garden and all of my flowers living through this Iowa drought we have had as of lately.  We did get about an inch of rain the other day.  Oh what a relief that was to see and hear.

At any rate, today will be a busy day of cleaning the S & B and shopping.......we have friends here from Cedar Rapids and hopefully will hook up with them at some point this weekend as well.  Needless to say it looks to become a very busy weekend.

Hope all is well with all my friends and followers....

Until next time~~~~Travel Safely.

My Goodness How Long It Has Been~~~~~

Can't explain why I haven't blogged for another month or make that almost two months.  Let's see what has been going on ... the river has been flooding seems like forever.  We are now driving in to our house again and hope to get the lawn done very soon.  We went on a short over nighter this past weekend just to make sure we remember everything and we do.  We have planned our summer trip and look forward to that.  We are going to Boyd Lake near Loveland, Colorado.  Thanks to Wheeling It blog we are going there upon their recommendation.  We decided to go to Colorado because we love this state.  It was where we went on our very first trip together for two weeks in a pop-up before we were married so it had to have been 37 years ago.  Great time and beautiful country.

We will keep up with pictures on this journey but it will only be for 5 nights.  We will leave July 29th and come home on August 5th.

We are again planning a big trip after Christmas this year....back to Phoenix for 3 weeks!  Woohoo!  Our daughter Emilee bought a home there with RV parking (how convenient) HEEHEE.  It will be a grand trip!

Other then that, I plan a short trip with my friend/horse trainer to go to Des Moines to a big horse show in September and am really looking forward to that trip too.

DH will be retiring in February of 2012 and he is counting the days...I swear.  Don't blame him though.  He plans to get something part time until I retire the following year.  Unless by chance we sell the house before then.  When the house sells....I retire!  Period!  Then we are off on Our Fiver Adventures!

Until next time~~~~Travel Safely

Ahhhhh~~~~~

Been a while since posting but there has been a good reason.  I have been busy with my daughters wedding planning and the wedding went off without a hitch.  It was perfect....if I do say so myself.  Heehee.

Here is a picture of our beautiful daughters, Tammy the bride and Emilee her maid of honor.  More pictures to come........

I am still exhausted but starting to get back into the swing of normal everyday life.  Today is a horrible rainy day today.  The river is flooding which means my yard is the Mississippi River.  It doesn't bother us though after all we have lived her coming up on 35 years this July 4th.

Well I hope all is well with my blog followers and friends......

Until next time~~~~Travel Safely.

Dinner out tonight~~~~~

Been a while since I have posted.  We have been busy with wedding planning and such.  Everything will come together and be picture perfect.  I assure myself and my daughter all the time.......

We are starting to warm up and then we drop down again.  Look forward to warmer weather soon!!  I have been keeping up with everyone's blogs.

We are going out to dinner for a Birthday celebration tonight to a Japanese place.  They cook in front of us and I love it!

Well take care everyone!

Until next time~~~~Travel safely

Snow day~~~~~

I think this is the first time in my 20 year career that my company closed down due to the weather.  Hopefully I will be able to get in tomorrow.  My road is quite snow covered with drifts that my Prius will not get through.  One of my great neighbors will hopefully take care of it yet today.  The wind is terrible yet and tonight we are expecting -10 with wind chills at around -30!! Yuck!!

I wish I was some place nice and warm like my brother Mike and wife Kathy.  They are in the Keys on their sailboat for three months.  They had the nerve to call me yesterday and rub in the fact that it was 78 degrees and sunny!!  Some day we will be down visiting them during their 3 month time in the beautiful Florida Keys.

Stay safe all..............

Until next time~~~~Travel safely

One heck of a morning~~~~~

Good grief!  Went to check to see if the water over at the barn had thawed so the pump would work and low and behold I have an extra horse in my pasture and two others running around wondering how to get into my pasture because the hay is better!!  Not a fun time at the barn today with the fact the mare that got in with mine broke down a fence.  On a happier note I had water so now they have a full tank.  Whew!  Back to the neighbor's horses, they finally came over to get them and that was like a rodeo.  They did help me fix the fence so my horses don't get out so that was nice.  At any rate, just another day on the farm in the winter in Iowa!  I can't wait to be able to wake to the warm breezes we will be following around the country.  LOL

The other fun thing I woke up to this morning was our furnace decided not to heat and it is very chilly in the house so had to turn on the emergency heat and it takes a while to get the place warmed back up.  Thankfully we will not have to use the emergency heat very long before the guy can get up here within the next few days.  He is so busy with folk that have no heat which is soooo sad.

Have a grand day all cause I certainly plan to since I will be watching the big game Bears/Packers with my mom today.  It should be fun!

Until next time~~~~Travel safely

Four Paws Kingdom~~~~~

http://www.4pawskingdom.com/index.html

This is our next trip this year.  We haven't decided when we will head to the Blue Ridge Mountain area yet but we will keep everyone posted.  Check out the link above and you will see why we are planning this trip.  It will be great fun for all of us!

It any of you dog lovers out there have been here before give us a holler and let us know what you thought.

Until next time~~~~Travel safely

Been a while~~~~~

My goodness it has been busy at work.  It was difficult getting back into the swing of things and you know I almost felt like I had jet lag.  Weird.....

Our trip was the best!  We will definately be returning to Lake Pleasant as we loved it there.  The Desert's Edge RV Park was not for us we found out after we set up camp out at the lake.  We are country folk after all and know now that we will strive to full time out in the country away from sardine type RV Resorts.  Okay for some but not for us.

I plan to add more pictures from our trip out on my facebook page if anyone is interested just go to Sue Hoschek Spear to be my friend. Heehee.

DH has the Fiver winterized and we just ordered A/C and tire covers too.  We look for to our next adventure which will be a place called Four Paws Kingdom in NC.  It looks like our kind of place for sure!! LOL

Until next time~~~~Travel safely

The last leg of our trip~~~~~

We are in a rest area north Kansas City, MO.  Looks like we will be home sometime tomorrow between noon and two.

I look forward to getting home but certainly realized from this two week tour that we are destined to travel about this great country.  We are both enjoying our new home in some of the same ways but yet in different ways as well.  It is hard for me to explain this....but perhaps some of you will understand it.  Or maybe I am just very very tired.  LOL

At any rate, I can now understand where some of my blog followers are coming from when they talk about this life on the road.  It is very cool.

I will be posting many more pictures from our trip at a later date.

Until next time~~~~Travel safely

Goodwell, Oklahoma~~~~~

Is where we have landed for the night tonight.  We are at a lovely little park.  The puppies are playing with all of their toys.  They have ridden for many hours today.  We still are in awe at how well they have adjusted to this lifestyle.  Life is good and so is the "Cab" I am having as I write.

We will plan to put in another big day tomorrow and then will have a short day on Monday.  Tuesday I go back to work and more then likely DH will be sent out yet this week as well.

Until next time~~~~Travel safely