We began year eight parked at the home of our Texas friends the Davis's at Granbury, TX. In May we moved over the Lavonia Park on the Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Lavon. We spent several weeks there and stayed until mid June. One of the reasons for the length of our stay was to be at Ft. Hood to welcome our hero son home from his year of service in Iraq. (There is a link to the website covering that year of service on the first page of our site.) Our next stop was to visit family and friends in Kansas.

We spent a week in Wichita followed by another week parked on my uncle's farm, near Cottonwood Falls, KS. We then traveled west through Denver, and made a stop in Cheyenne, WY for a quick look at our former home and to visit some friends there. Next we made a two day visit to Custer Battlefield National Monument. Even though it was very hot while we were there, we enjoyed our time and learned a lot of history.

We next spent a day at Butte, MT to see the historic old town before moving to Lee Metcalf  National Wildlife Refuge for two months. While we were there it was unusually hot and at times the smoke from the forest fires was pretty heavy, but we truly enjoyed our time there and the staff were great to work with. One thing we were involved in which we had never before experienced was the capture & banding of songbirds. 

During our time in Montana we made trips to Glacier National Park, Big Hole National Monument, Ninemile Remount Depot, and many historic old towns and ghoast towns. As always we made many new friends and all too soon it was once again time to travel on. As the man once said, "Go west, old man!"

We spent about three weeks visiting our son & his family in Sequim, WA. While there we got to watch him work as Scout Master, following in Dad's footprints with his sons and also to watch the three grandsons play in soccer games. The weather was really great for our first two weeks there, as September is usually one of the prettiest months in that part of the country. From there we headed south, as the early signs of winter coming were approaching. 

In route south we stopped at Stanislaus River Park to visit our friends, the Holland's from previous work-camping positions. The local CoE rangers were kind enough to allow us to spend several days as hosts there in order to stay in the park with Ray & Carol. This is another park that I would strongly recommend to anyone who is looking for a volunteer position near Modesto, CA. From there we traveled to Redlands/Yucaipa area to visit Pam's family who still live in that area.

On October 2, we arrived at Black Rock Canyon campground to volunteer for Joshua Tree National Park for the next three months. This area is high desert and Black Rock is one of the highest parts of the park at 4000 feet in elevation. We quickly found it to be a place of spectacular sunsets and sunrises! Our site was one of two with complete hook-ups for volunteers and was near the Ranger Station, which we worked in when needed. This park is also a great place for hikers and for rock climbers. Every week end the campgrounds are very busy in the winter months but mid week there were few visitors. It is located quite near Palm Springs, CA and our campground was just a few minutes drive from the town of Yucca Valley. While we were there our grandson flew down from Washington to spend the Christmas holiday with us.

January 8, we left Joshua Tree and began traveling to the Phoenix area to our next stop at Boyce-Thompson Arboretum. We spent a couple of days visiting friends at Quartzsite, and in Phoenix area and then arrived at Boyce-Thompson on Jan. 12. We found the weather in the Superior, AZ area to be much warmer than at Joshua Tree, even though it too is in the desert mountains. This time the altitude was only 2500 feet and freezing weather is very rare.

The arboretum has six RV sites for volunteers to stay in, with full hook-ups and even propane. The volunteers are not very busy in the colder months, but as spring approached we were kept very busy as this garden, like most public facilities, is very short handed with paid staff. We did enjoy the work there and made several new friends. We got to visit a number of historical and scenic locations and we had good friends who were wintering in Apache Junction, just 25 miles away.

With six couples there was a great deal of social activity in the evenings after the gardens closed. This was a great way to complete our eighth year of RV living. We stayed at Boyce-Thompson through April 14, 2008, thus completing our eighth full year of RV life. We left to travel back to Texas on April 15, the first day of year nine as full-time RV folks. What a wonderful eight years this has been!

April 2005/April 2006

Our sixth year of RV living began back where we started year five, parked at the home of our friends, the Davis's. We had greeted the newest member of the family and contributed to the doctor's and dentist's vacation funds, and were once again ready to head down the road. As always, our first stop was in Wichita, KS to visit my family and we again stayed with Bennie & Neil Hollingsworth. From Wichita we then traveled to Wilsey, KS for a few days visiting frineds and family and then were off to Missouri and points east. We spent our next night in Columbia, MO.

After Columbia, our nest stop was St. Louis. We chose to spend several days here as we had not previously taken the time to see the sites of this area. We found St. Louis to be an interesting city, with a number of sites that are well worth the time to stop and see them. Best known is the arch.

There are a lot of historical sites and other points of interest located in the St. Louis area so it is very easy to spend several days there. From St. Louis we traveled east to Ft. Knox, KY to visit our youngest son and his family. Ken is a career soldier and is stationed there.

Our summer stop this year was at Lee Bottom Flying Field. It was probably one of the most unique experiences for any traveling volunteer. We had a wonderful time and anyone with an interest in airplanes should be sure to visit the Lee Bottom pages! While there were are also happy to have a visit from Norm & Linda Payne and we made a trip into Louisville to have dinner with the Holders.

As our volunteer tours always do, the Lee Bottom Experience came to an end and it was time to once again travel south for the winter. After a great experience with the Wood, Fabric & Tail-wheels Fly-In on the last Saturday of September, we started our travel south, like the song birds do. We stopped for a quick visit at Ft. Knox and then were off to Nashville, to see the "Home of Country Music."

After a few days and a visit with Rich and Dianne Emond, we continued on our way. The next stop was Memphis, TN.

From Memphis we then traveled on to Vicksburg, MS and then on to Monroe, LA where we would be spending the next two months as volunteers at Black Bayou Lake, National Wildlife Refuge. Our two months went by very quickly, as our work was interesting and enjoyable and the staff and other volunteers there are a wonderful group. We made many new friends and will long remember our time in Monroe.

All too soon it was once again time to get back on the road. We traveled west to Dallas area to spend Christmas with our children, Kirk, Jenny and grandson Kirk Andrew. We spent a week with them and then were off to our legal residence, Rainbow's End RV Park, in Livingston, TX. We spent a week there and were kept busy with meeting new friends and spending time with others that we have known for years.

After a very busy week at Rainbow's End, we once more traveled south, returning once more to San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. In the two years that we have been gone, San Bernard has made quite a few changes. The biggest is two new RV sites.

We were fortunate to have visitors while we were at San Bernard NWR. Our good friends Keith & Pat Williams stopped in route to Houston and also the DeGayners from Michigan took the time to visit. We were very happy to have friends come to visit.

Just as all good experiences do, the time flew by and we were once again heading back north to complete our sixth year by making our annual medical, dental and business appointments. We ended our year as it began, parked with Bud & Dayl Davis near Granbury, TX.

Year six ended and year seven began, once again parked at the home of our great friends, Dayle & Bud Davis.

You can easily see our home, parked near the shop here at the "Davis Ranch." We stayed here for just a bit more than a month this year, doing our usual medical & dental things and also renewing our friendships. My good friend and former co-worker, Jim Jones was kind enough to make his annual flight to Granbury airport to pick me up for our usual morning flight.

The month flew by, as it seems that all of our months do, now days, and on May 5 we were heading north to Wichita, KS for some time with our friends the Hollingsworth's and to visit Kirk's mother and sister, as well as other friends and family in that area.

After a week in Kansas it was once again on the road, this time traveling east to make a visit to our daughter-in-law and our grandchildren at Ft. Knox, KY. Since our son and their husband/dad has left for a year in Iraq, we felt that it was important to stop and lend what support that we can. We don't normally travel as quickly as we have on this trip, but with the obligations that we have, our trip to our summer stop is to be the fastest travel that we have yet made in our years as full-time RV people. We traveled as far as St. Louis in our first day on the road.

Day two brought us to Camp Carlson, the campground and park on Ft. Knox, Ky. This park is not open to the public, but as guests of an active duty soldier, we are allowed to stay there, just as other visitors. Camp Carlson is a very nice park and is very inexpensive to stay in. But the real reason for this stop is family.

We spent a week in Kentucky and then were off again, this time traveling north through Ohio. We traveled just past Cleveland area our first day and stopped for the night near Lake Erie. We took time out to do a little touring around the area, as we had never stopped there, even though we did travel through the area many years ago. We spent the evening exploring the area.

Our next stop was a short hop up the road to an RV park that was near Niagara Falls area for a day of exploring the state park there. The falls are spectacular, and the gorge and river are amazing as well. This is an area that is on our list for a return visit one day.

Next day it's back on the road again, and off to Massachusetts and then to Maine for the summer! We spent two more nights on the road, making what for us would normally be a month or more of travel in only two weeks, and with one sitting still! We found New York to be a state with fair to poor highways and the most toll roads that we have ever experienced. We spent $48 in tolls just in New York and nearly $70 total. The New York through-way is in fair condition most of the way with some areas very rough. When we crossed into Massachusetts the road improved.

We spent our first ever night at a Jelleystone Park in Massachusetts and it was quite reasonably priced. It was a nice, but older park. From there we traveled north to Maine, eating lunch at the welcome center and arriving in Bangor about mid-afternoon. We then had an easy drive of about 100 miles for out final day, into Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, our summer home.

While here job was doing some maintenance, giving guided tours of the refuge and some construction. We stayed until Labor Day had passed and then it was time to hit the road once again. Upon leaving Maine, we headed west into Canada with Quebec City as our destination.

We spent four days in the Quebec area and that really was hardly enough. We loved the "Old City" and also got out into the countryside to visit a Huron "First Citizen's" village and also the Ile'd Orleans, which both very French. Our next stop was Montreal.

Montreal, a city island is an interesting place but it is also much too large a city for our taste. We did find the street entertainers to be very good for the most part. We then visited Ottawa, Canada's capitol which was beautiful, even with constant rain. We next headed west across Ontario in search of sunshine! We found it near lake Ontario. We spent one more night in Canada and then headed to Michigan.

We traveled through Sault Ste Marie and down to the area of Mackinac Island for a visit to the area where my paternal grandmother grew up. After three days there we next moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the banks of Lake Winnebago.

After a visit to the Air Museum, we drove out to a small town where we visited the place where the Republican party began and also a cookie factory. Our next stop was the small town of Spring Green, where we visited the "House on the Rock" and the Frank Lloyd Wright home. From there we moved on to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to visit our good friends, Keith & Pat Williams.

We visited quite a number of sites around Cedar Rapids and all too quickly the days flew by and we were once again off to our next location. We made a stop in southern Iowa at the Terrible Herbst's Casino to visit with our friends Nolan & Joanne and then traveled on to the Kansas City area.

After a week on the farm, we were off once again to Wichita, Kansas to visit family and friends, then back again to our friends in north Texas for a stay of a couple of months. From there we went south to San Antonio Missions National Park for three months.

On April 5, we returned back the the home of Bud & Dayl Davis where we ended our seventh year of Our Great Adventure.

(some pictures link to related but different material)

On May fifth we left our friends in Texas and began our northward trek. As has become our habit, we first traveled to the Wichita, Ks. area to spend some time parked with our good friends the Hollingsworth's, and to visit my sister and my mother. Mother is now nearing 89 and her memory is failing badly, but she does still know us and seems to be happy, so we just count our blessings. We spent two weeks here visiting and also doing some maintenance on the motorhome and CR-V, with Neil's assistance. From Wichita we headed north again to visit the Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska. The road, US81, is a very good highway with light traffic and friendly people. Kansas seems to be a state that takes good care of their highways.

If you stay in the associated RV park, you will be less than a block from the museum entrance and you will receive one free admission to the museum. Each admission is good for two days and it can easily take that long to see everything. The RV park is nice, although not very modern. We would stay there again. From Minden we traveled to Kearney, Nebraska to visit the Great Platte River Road, arch. The arch is worth a stop, but do not buy fuel in Kearney because we  paid forty cents per gallon more there than it had been in Minden and when we got to Flying J in North Platte we found gasoline for 65 cents less! So plan your fuel stop for North Platte. We next followed I-80 to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where we lived for 18 years. We spent about a week there visiting friends and a nephew in Loveland, Co.

We continued west on I-80, after having been snowed on once and having had a great visit with friends. The pass between Cheyenne & Laramie has a visitor area that is worth a short stop but most of this trip is rather lacking in scenery. There are many antelope along the road, so keep a sharp eye out. The trip across I-80 was very challenging as the winds were blowing very hard with gusts well above 60 mph. We were at times traveling at only 45 mph, and only a few trucks were passing us. If you have never been across this stretch, be very careful when the wind is high! Rawlins is not a pretty place, although it does have some history worth checking out. Since we have been in Rawlins many times we contented ourselves with just a few hours of exploring. The next morning is was back to I-80.

We stopped at Flying J in Evanston, WY for fuel, paying $1.85 and then went on to a rest area in Utah for lunch. We then took I-84 north into Brigham City,  where we spent the night. Since we have spent time in this area before, we were back on the road the next morning, heading up the road to Idaho and then west to Baker City, OR. 

While checking into the very nice Mountain View Trav-L-Park, we discovered that there are many things to see in the area so we chose to spend a few days to see the sights. Two that are "must see" are the Oregon Trail Center, run by the BLM, and the Hell's Canyon Recreation Area. We were so taken with the Hell's Canyon area that we determined to locate the jet-boat tours from the lower end and take one as soon as we could do so. Since we were due back to Salt Creek Park for a tour as campground hosts, we returned to the road, traveling down I-84 to Portland where we turned north on I-5 to Washington.

From Kalama we continued north on I-5 to Tacoma, where we connected with WA16, across the Tacoma Narrows bridge, then crossed the Hood Canal bridge and joined US101 to Port Angeles and west to Salt Creek park. We spent the month of June as campground hosts and visiting our children & grandchildren in Sequim. At the end of June we moved to an RV park in Sequim for two weeks before once again heading down the road. Our next stop was Ellensburg, WA.

We spent several days parked in Ellensburg to explore the area, visiting the beautiful Bavarian town of Leavenworth and also touring the Grand Coulee and visiting Grand Coulee Dam. We also spent some money at the fruit stands on the west slope of the Cascade mountains, purchasing some of the very best cherries and peaches that we have ever eaten! We spent the next day in Walla Walla, where I failed to get a picture of our RV park. But we stayed in the Four Seasons Resort. I would stay there again if we should return as it was very nice and reasonably priced.

It was just a short day's drive on US12 from Walla Walla to Clarkston. The road is excellent and the trip is through very hilly wheat farms. We arrived in Clarkston early and spent the day exploring with a trip by jet boat up the Snake River in Hell's Canyon on the agenda for the following day. I will put up a page on this adventure, so lets just say that the RV park and the tour were both outstanding. If you go, take a full day trip with Beamers tours and stay at Granite Lake park!

The climb up from the Snake River valley was a very long easy grade and we made very good time. As we traveled south on US95 we passed through some of the prettiest farm country that I have ever seen. It is mostly wheat and barley and very rolling with mountains in the distance. As you approach the Salmon River you will have to descend what folks here call White Bird Hill. While that may be what the locals call this, in the road map of my memory it will always be known as Pucker Butt Pass! What the sign doesn't show is that it is very crooked, with short stretches that are much steeper than 7%. And you don't want to take any short cuts on this stretch of road. We made it down with no problems other than some very sweaty palms. The view is spectacular. We stopped for lunch in a rest area near a tributary of the Salmon River and then continued on south to the town of Fruitland, near Boise.

We chose to stop at Fruitland because we figured that we could restock our supply of fresh fruit as we were running out of what we purchased in Washington. That did turn out to be the case as there are several fruit stands and the park manager sent us to the one that local folks patronize. We got more peaches, apricots and some fresh veggies. The following day we traveled on to Twin Falls, where we stayed at Anderson Trav-L-Park. It is OK, but nothing to brag about. But there are not a lot of choices in this area.. Since we have visited here before we were back on the road the following day.

We spent the last night on the road at the Idaho Falls KOA. It was nothing to brag about and we left about 9:00am, arriving at Harriman park just before noon. Harriman will always be a special place in our hearts, but as always happens, fall came much to quickly and it was time to travel south.

From Harriman we traveled south, stopping in Idaho Falls for a minor repair to the motorhome, then traveled on to Salt Lake City, where we spent several days at the KOA there to see the sights. If you have not been, a tour of Temple Square is worth the time, even for we who are not Mormon.

After three days we traveled south to Hurricane, Utah where we stopped at the Brentwood RV Park. It wasn't great, but cost only $9.50 per day thanks to Passport America. We had planned to do some serious hiking at Zion National park and also explore the area.

We spent three days in Hurricane, visiting the park and also a trip to Pipe Springs National Monument. On our second day it began to rain pretty heavily so that was more than enough and our hiking will have to wait until next trip this way. Our next stop was Las Vegas to visit friends who live there and indulge in a few buffets. We visited Keith & Jeannie Allen from our days in Cheyenne, Wyoming. While there we also got to see Jim & Linda Asbury who were also friends from those days and who are now fulltime RV'ers. The three of us were Scout Masters together.

After a week, we traveled on to Laughlin to spend a few days. We stayed at the Indian owned Avi Resort. We visited Granite Canyon Monument to hike and see the petroglyphs and also made a visit to Oatman, Arizona. Our next stop was Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, our winter home!

We had a wonderful winter in Arizona. This was an outstanding year for flowers and we were also visited by several of our RV friends from all across the country and even by Keith & Marie from the United Kingdom. The staff were really a great bunch and we will miss them all as we continue our travels around this great country. But winter passed, as it always does and we were soon back on the road, heading out to visit new places.

From the refuge we traveled east to Gila Bend, AZ to attend a rally of Starband Manual Flyer dish internet users. We had three good days of learning and meeting our fellow users. We next visited Las Cruses, NM for a day before moving to Alpine, TX to spend some time visiting Big Bend National Park. From there we once again traveled east to stop at Langtry, the home of the infamous Judge Roy Bean.

After a few hours in Langtry, we continued on to spend the night in Del Rio, where we took time to get a new safety inspection for the CR-V, which had been expired for several months. Del Rio doesn't offer a great deal for visitors so the next morning it was on to San Antonio to spend a few days visiting our good friends there, Rosie & DD Williams. On March 11 we returned to our base in Granbury, the home of Bud & Dayl Davis. We also spent two weeks at Oak Creek Park, near far north Dallas to visit our son and to welcome our new grandson, Kirk Andrew Wood.

Once again we completed our year of travels back at the starting point, near Granbury, TX.