Hello out there!

    I'm back!
                  I didn't think anyone was reading my blog until we returned to West Virginia and people started asking me what happened to the blog! Well to be honest I just got lazy about doing it. It use to amaze me how friends who were retired would always put things off to tomorrow which never seemed to come. Now I understand, being retired things just don't seem to have the urgency they use to. So with that being said let me catch you all up on where we have been and what we got into.

                  After leaving South Dakota we headed to Flagstaff AZ. There we met up with my sister and brother in-law Sue and Ron who flew in from the east for vacation. Together we toured the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Williams and several other sites in the region. Saying goodbye to them we headed to Zion and Bryce National Parks.

                   From  Arizona it was off to Las Vegas NV. Cathy has been there several times but it was a first for me. In Vegas we did the usual tourist things, walking through the mega casinos, loosing money at the slot machines, going to the Pawn Stars store,Freemont street and the Hoover Dam.
The highlight of the Vegas stop was taking Cathy to see Elton John at Creasers Palace for her birthday. What an awesome two hour show!

                    Leaving Las Vegas we headed to Carson City and visited Lake Tahoe and Silver City while there. Different regions different weather. Out west we noticed signs about extreme winds and found out what they were talking about trying to leave Carson City. The day we started out for California there were high wind warnings for the highways. Several routes we tried were all closed to big trucks and rv's due to the winds and wind gust of 60mph or better.

                    The following day it was off to sunny California. While in California we met back up with our new friends Frank and Judy and toured San Francisco. In SF we rode the cable cars, drove down Lombard St, walked across the Golden Gate bridge and ate in Chinatown. Me and Cathy also toured Napa Valley and Sonoma  visiting several of the wineries.

                      Change of plans. While in South Dakota Cathy had gotten a call from back home that a family member would be needing surgery. We decided when that occurred she would fly back home for several weeks and I would wait in California for the out come before heading east. I spent two weeks in the central valley. Central valley is a huge agriculture region. Miles and miles of fruit and nut trees, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and cotton, lots of cotton. It was interesting to see how the canal system brings water from the northern park of the state to this region.

                     Things went well back home so Cathy flew back after two weeks. I started heading east and picked her up in Vegas. From there we went back through Arizona stopping in Glendale to see an old friend and then on to New Mexico. We stayed in Tucson for a week. While in Tucson we visited Tombstone and Nogales Mexico.

                     From Tucson we turned the motorhome east and headed for West Virginia to be with family and friends for the holidays. Along the way we made three more stops, one in Amarillo Texas, Branson Mo. and the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Amarillo was going to be a rest stop for a couple of days to break up the driving. While there we saw the Cadillac Ranch and ate at a steakhouse where if you eat a 72oz steak, roll, salad, bake potato and shrimp cup its free, Good Luck with that!

                      Branson was a lot of fun. We saw the Osmond Brothers and Lennon Sisters at the Andy Williams Theater. Branson and Silver Dollar city were decorated for Christmas and it was absolutely beautiful. Silver Dollar city is an amusement park decorated in 5 million LED lights. Branson is pure Americana family entertainment with all the theaters and shows. The last stop on our journey was the Creation Museum in Petersburg KY. It a great museum showing the scientific evidence to support creationism.

From there it was on to West Virginia. Our trip was twelve weeks long covering eight thousand and thirteen miles, which Cathy will proudly tell you she drove a whole 165 miles!  In the coming weeks I will post some of the thousands of photos we have taking and fill in some more of the details.

Until then remember, YOLO

Barry