Summer 2009

I guess it's time to update this blog. We are a long ways from NEW YEARS, the last post.

Where does the time go. Well, when your having fun, it goes very fast! We spent Jan and Feb in the AZ area with our RV friends. Quartzsite, Lake Havasu, and Yuma. March and April we were in Carlsbad, our lovely home base. Ken played lots of tennis, and worked on the local Habitat for Humanity build.He also practiced a lot of violin, his new hobbie. Sue played lots of golf, and volunteered at the Women's Resource Center 2 or 3 times a week. We went on a few short outings with our local SKP RV club, The Shanty Shakers.

We got ready for our 3 month trip to MO and AR. We left Carlsbad on May 2nd, and just reurned Aug. 1st. It was quite an interesting summer trip. We put over 3,400 miles on both RV and car. When we park the RV we take the "toad" and hit the road and do all the side trips we can find in the area. Of course our Geocaching hobbie puts some miles on both the car and the bikes. Although this summer the weather was very hot and humid so we didn't do as much bike riding, or hiking for caches as usual. On the way to Sedalia, MO for our clubs Escapade, we stopped for a week of volunteering at the Tornado torn Greensburg, KS. This was a project of our Shanty Shakers RV Club. It was interesting to see how a town torn apart has put itself back together in less than 2 years. There was still on going projects that we helped with, like building "safe rooms" in basements, to tileing floors, fence building and gardening projects. We worked with other RV friends who also stopped on their way to the week long Escapade.

Arriving in Sedalia, MO, we encountered lots of rain and it made it hard for the 2,000 participants to get around. We were glad we had our bicycles as we were parked a long ways from the class rooms and Hospitality rooms. We almost had to be towed out of our parking spot as our back wheels were bogged down. With a bag of lime, we were able to give the wheels traction and we got out onto the road. Many rv's had to pay money to get pulled out.
Then it was on to Hot Springs, AR for our volunteer assignment at the Nat. Park. We got free parking and hook ups for the 8 weeks we stayed. It was very hot and humid, and had many thunder storms during our stay. Ken did not seem bothered by the weather, but Sue hated it and had a hard time dealing with the humidity. But the job at the park was fun. Ken talked to many visitors as they came in the front door. Sue had fun selling goods in the visitor center gift shop. On our days off, we took to the road with the car and saw many fun, and beautiful sights.
We also had several visits with Sue's son's family in Greenwood, AR. Swimming in the pool, and barbequing, and relaxing on the porch overlooking the lovely porch.

Sue left to attend her Aunt Audrey's 90th birthday in Paradise, Ca and when she returned, she brought along Ken's two grandkids, Jacob and Sarah so they could spend a week on the Lake with John and the girls. When Ken finished up at the Nat. Park on July 25th, he brought the rig to John's and we packed up the 4 kids for a ride back to CA. The kids had a great time, but Sue was exhausted after 4 full days of travel with 4 kids. We stopped each night at an RV park with a pool, and we spent 1/2 day in the Grand Canyon. Ken's kids returned home on Aug. 7th, and Sue's 2 grandaughters, Bailey and Addie, got dropped off with Sue's daughter Ann. Now the girls are having a week with their aunts and uncles. Ann, April & Tom, Patrick, Daniel, and one night with Heather and Natalie (Steph's sisters). Saturday, about 15 of us will take the water taxie to Catalina for lunch, hiking, and snorkling. Grandma Sue will fly home with the girls on Aug. 10th. and that will end our official summer. Wow, are you tired yet???? We are. sue and ken