Saguaro National Park

We spent the day hiking and driving around Saguaro National Park. Took a ranger guided hike in the morning to learn about the life cycle of some of the desert cacti. It was pretty interesting. The Saguaros with all the arms are over 100 years old. It takes about 60 years before they start to grow the arms. The wind was pretty ruff but the temperature was in the high 60s so wasn't bad hiking. After we left the park we went in search of 3 geocaches, found them all. Got back to the motorhome just in time to go to the park club house for ice cream. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, maybe a little more geocaching or hiking. Maybe just rest. We take the coach to Tucson on Tuesday to have the filter changed in the transmission. Then I think we will move toward Phoenix for a while. P. S. If you don't know, you can click on the pics to enlarge them.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Benson, Arizona

We have been in Benson. Az for a few days now. We spent one day in Tombstone. Pretty cool, but pretty expensive too.. Everything we wanted to do cost extra there. Most of the town is privately owned so they can charge what they want. The Bird Cage, OK Corral and the museum all charged, so we went to the museum and left the rest alone. The original street is blocked off for 4 blocks so they have stage coach rides up and down, cost extra of coarse. The head stones were at Boot Hill, the actual place and free.....lol

We spent one day in Tucson. Went to wildlife museum, picked up the part I needed to fix the motorhome and Campers World. Spent today at the Cochise Stronghold and the Chiricahua National Monument. This area was the home of the Apache Indians in the 1800's. The rock pictures are from the park. This was WILD land, no wonder the Army had a hard time finding them. Tomorrow is a day to install the parts I have and rest up some for our next sightseeing day. May go back to the monument on Sunday to hike the trails, not sure yet.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

On to Benson Arizona

We skipped the trip to Gila National Monument because we were having trouble with the 12 volt switch on the coach. It runs the heat, refrigerator, and lights. It stills works when it wants to, but cuts out when it wants. I have been able to keep it going so far. Sooooo, we decided we had better get to where we had parts available to fix the problem. I am going to buy the parts in Tucson in the next few days. No big deal to replace, just time comsuming. We are at an Escapees park in Benson, Az. that is real nice. Going to stay here till next week while we sightsee the area.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

The desert is awaking

The desert is just starting to come alive. These are a few pics I have taken in the last few days. In the next couple of weeks things should really start to pop. We are planning to move up to the Gila National Forrest tomorrow. This is the site of some cliff dwellings, should be interesting. We spent are time here visiting a few museums and state parks. One of the parks was Rock Hound. You are allowed to keep any rocks you want to. There are a lot of agates and jasper in this park. We picked up few small rocks but with our limited space we didn't keep much. We really didn't know what was good and what was trash, but we are learning. Today we went to Pancho Villa State Park. Why the state chose to name a park after the only man to lead an attack against the U. S. we could not figure out. It was a small but pretty park with nice little museum. Did some geocaching every day. Had one stump us, but got the rest. Have had a good time here, but time to move on. Went to the clubhouse in the rv park for ice cream tonight. After the Gila area we will be heading to Arizona.

Till next itme

Duane and Louise

Carlsbad Caverns Area

These are a few pics from Carlsbad Caverns. The second one is named "Cave Man" , pretty cool, huh. The antelope pic was taken near the Davis Mountians. We saw several herds of them when we were driving around. We are now setting in Deming, New Mexico. Planning on being here for about a week while we see the sites here. There a lot to see in a 70 mile radius of here. The cliff dwellings at Gila national park, Rockhound State park, several museums and other sites. We will take this time to catch up on our house work. I have a few thing that need attending to on the coach before we hit California where the prices are higher, oil change and such. This is an Escapees park so we can stay pretty cheap here. It's a nice park and real friendly.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Davis Mountians

The first pic is of the canyon in Davis Mountian State Park. The second is one of the many mule deer we saw there. The third is at the site of Fort Davis National Historic Site. We spent most of the day wondering around the fort site. Lots of interesting buildings and a nice museum. After we left there we went geocaching for a while. We found 5 that day. We have moved up to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico for a couple of days. Will go to the caverns tomorrow, then maybe geocach a bit. I think we will go to the Guadalupe Mountians National Park for a couple of days when we leave Carlsbad. It is about 40 miled from here and on the way to El Paso, our stop. Then it will be on across New Mexico. Internet access is giving me trouble around this part of the country, so, sorry I have not been posting more often. Any time I have it I try to post. Having a great time.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Big Bend National Park

Hello from Big Bend National Park Tx. It is 800000 thousand acres desert and mountain beauty. We hiked and drove around for 5 days and never got bored or saw even half of it. Weather was shirt sleeve first then light jacket. Met friends Bob and Sharon and saw the park with them. Had a great time in the warm sunshine. Internet connections are few and far between in the mountain areas so it may be a while before we update.

Til next time,

Duane and Louise

Big Bend National Park

We will be at Big Bend National Park for a week . We will be out of internet range for the next week, so I won't be posting for a little while. I have some cool pictures to post but have a shanky connection tonight so will post them when I can.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Hondo, TX

Spent the day driving around the Hondo area. The ruins of this church was pretty neat. It was the first Catholic church in this area. The church was built in 1847 and the last person to be buried in the cemetery was in 1893.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

The Missions

These are the Missions of the Mission Trail National Park. We spent the day touring all four of them. They are only a few miles apart. The Alamo was one of the group but is not in the national park trail. It is supported by Texas and the others are ran by the national park system. All of missions except the Alamo still hold church services in them. There is a lot of history in and around San Antonio. We will stay another day to visit a few more sights. We have really enjoyed our visit here so far.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Spent the day exploring San Antonio. Went to the site of the Alamo. Spent a lot of time there reading all the info. It was very interresting to both of us. Then we walked several blocks to the Buckhorn Taveren. The picture of the bar is the Buckhorn. They have a muesum there of Texas history and more mounted animals than you can imagine. There are animals and fish from all over the world hanging on the walls. After the taveren we headed for the River Walk. The place has all kinds of places to eat and spend your money. It's pretty but not our cup of tea. We walked around there for a little while, took a few pictures, then headed for the car. I think we walked around for 7 hours but didn't walk all that far, just on our feet a long time. The most expensive thing we did all day was pay for the parking garage. lol I didn't look to see what they charged for it when we went in, cost $18.00 to get out. When we left I looked around and found a place we could have parked for about half that. O well, I'll know better tomorrow. We will go to the Mission National Park tomorrow, not sure what else.

That's it for now

Duane and Louise

San Antonio

We are in San Antonio tonight. We are going to town tomorrow to look around. Plan to do the Alamo, the Missions, and a couple of muesums in the next few days. Hope to get some good pictures to post. We had planned to get here early today but got held up in Katy, TX. Had one of the tire air sensors go out and stopped at Campers World to get it replaced. Took it in at 8 am, got it back at 2pm, then drove 180 miles to San Antonio. Oh well, no hurry anyway, I'm retired you know. LOL We are going to stay here at least 3 days. There is a rodeo in town, plan to try and get tickets to that.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Livingston, Tx

Hello everyone. We are in Livingston, TX now, leaving in the morning toward San Antonio. We will be spending 3 or 4 days there before moving on west. We spent the day geocaching in this area. Found 6 out of 7 we went for. The seventh one we chose not to go for because the park where it was at cost to enter and it was getting late in the day. Didn't know if we would have time to find it before dark, so headed back to the rv. The campground we are in has some kind of activity every evening. Tonight was ice cream, so we had to go to that, darn...lol.... We met a couple from Alaska and got a bunch of tips about our trip up that way. They are going to email us a list of things that they think are a don't miss it. We went to a bon fire last night and enjoyed our chat with other rvers. Would stay here longer but still looking for warmer weather. Been nice in the day time but real cool at night.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Back on dry land

We are back on dry land once agan. In Celina, Tx till Wensday then over to Kilgore, Tx for a coupe of days before heading south. The weather on the criuse was perfect, 70's at night, low 80's during the day. We had a great time visiting with our friends that went with was. Went to Mexico, Grand Cayman, and Ohco Rios. Louise loved the snorkel time she had at Ohco Rios. We had a hard time getting her out of the water when it was time to leave. As for me, I ate way to much. All my pants must have shrunk while on the trip. lol I guess I had better get back on the ole diet.

When we leave Kilgore we will head to Livingston, Tx to the Escapees park for a few days. After that we have no set plans for a while. All I know is we will be going to Big Bend National Park, then on to Califorina. No time table set for that. I will set up the Alaska ferry part of the trip sometime this week. That will put us on a time frame for that part. That will be in June. Till then we plan to wonder a bit to see what we can see.

Till the next time

Duane and Louise

Going on the cruise

We leave tomorrow morning for our cruise to the Western Caribbean. We will visit Costa Maya, Mexico, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The cruise is 7 days returning Sunday a week. After that I have an eye doctor appointment, then the TRIP begins. We'll be leaving on the trip to California and then on to Alaska. I won't be posting anymore till we get back from the cruise. Hope we don't get to sunburnt. lol It is suppose to get cold in Dallas next week, good timing huh. It is suppose to start warming up the weekend we get back. Hope the weatherman isn't kidding to us. Louise went to doctor today and was told she could take off the funny shoe!! Just in time. Her foot is healing fine. She was told not to do any rock climbing for a while yet but walks on the beach was ok.

Till we return from the beach
Duane and Louise

Christmas

We had a great time with Christmas. All of the kids were here in Celina, Tx for a few days. We all recieved a lot nice things and ate way to much. The kids that came from out of state all got home safely. All is well.
We had a chance to meet a few couples that are also fulltiming. We are hoping to meet up with them down the road. Had a great time sharing stories about our adventures. We will leave on the cruise on the 14th. After that we will be off on our long trip. Sure hope the money holds out....LOL

That's it for now

Till next time

Duane and Louise

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

This is our little tree.
Merry Cristmas to all who come here to follow us through our travels. We are in Celina, Tx babysitting dogs and fish while the kids are in Ohio. The young'uns will get in round 7 pm tomorrow evening. I will have to brave the Dallas airport once more to pick them up. If I survive the trip, we will have Christmas at Duane and Brandey's on Friday. The whole crew should be here this year. We are looking forward to the get together. Once we are back on road I will try and post to the site more then I have been. Hopefully I can take a lot of good photos to post.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Duane and Louise

In the woods at Jeremy's

Hello from Texas
We have been sitting in the rv park here in Kilgore for a week and a half now. Louise has been working on a quilt and I have been going to Jeremy's sitting in a hunting blind. She finished the quilt tonight and I got this picture of a bobcat. It was almost to far away to get a really good picture of it, but this one turned out pretty good. We'll be here till after Louise goes to the Doctor. She is getting around pretty good now. We hope she can take the cast off after the appointment.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Sitting still

We are now staying a rv park near Kilgore, TX. Louise is doing good with her air cast. She is going back to the doctor on the 18th. Hopefully she will be able to get around without the cast after her appointment. We will moving over to Celina, TX after she sees her doctor. We'll be spending a couple of weeks there at Duane Jr. and Brandey's.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

The Foot

We are back at the rv park where it all started, Miss Ellie's RV Park. Returned here so we would be closer to the doctor Louise was going to for her foot. She now has an air cast on her foot. It allows her to put some pressure her foot without it hurting to much. She returns to the doctors on the 18th to see how things are healing. We are going to stay at this park for a week, then move over to Jeremy and Jennifer's for a while. We'll be in Texas till after the first of the year.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

OUCH !!!

Today we spent the the day at St. Andrews State Park. The beachs were really pretty with pure white sand. Now the bad part......Louise was climbing around on the jetty rocks looking for shells. This cute little raccoon distracted her and she took a missstep on the rocks. She heard something crack in her foot. We toured the rest of park, went to get something to eat and stopped at underwater museum. After we left there her foot was really hurting her so we decided a trip to the emergency room was in order. BROKEN FOOT !!!!!!! She has a splint on her foot with an ace bandage holding it in place and walking with crutches. The hospital told her she needed to go see an ortho doctor. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Texas so she can go to our home doctors. We are about 750 miles from home base. I will take a couple days to get home. Louise will call our family doctor tomorrow to set up the appointments. Other then that we are having a really good time. We will be in Texas till after Christmas and a cruise we are going on in January. Hopefully Louise's foot heals in a hurry and we can be off again.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Back on the road

We are on the road again. Left Georgia this morning heading to Florida. Stopped at this lighthouse and wildlife refuge at St Martin, Florida. Then it was on to Carrabelle, Fl to see the smallest police station in the country. We drove to Mexico Beach, Fl. to a camp ground to spend a few days while we do some sight seeing. We'll stay here till Monday then move on again. Should be back in Texas about the second week of December. Just taking our time going across Florida catching a few sights on the way. I have internet here so I can post a little more often, at least till Monday....lol

Till later
Duane and Louise

Well it's been a while since we have had access to the net. We are in Quitman, Georgia till Monday then it's off again. We stopped at West Point Lake the first of November to spend time fising with Uncle Sie. Uncle Sie is John Harmon's uncle that we went fishing with when John was alive. We had a great time but it was COLD. I had to wear coveralls to fish, that just isn't right...lol. We did catch some really nice crappie. Louise stayed in the motorhome and worked on the quilt she is making. The lake veiw pic is from West Point Lake. After we lleft there we headed for Quitman where the Cooks live. I worked with Terry and his wife Cathy in Dayton at the GM plant. We have been there for a couple of weeks now. The pic of the geese was taken looking out the window of our coach in Cook's yard. Went to a few museums while here and did a little geocaching. We plan on leaving on Monday and head for the coast of Florida. We're going to travel the coast back Louisiana, then on north to Texas. I hope we have better access to the net from now on. We are in the only dead spot around here.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Georgia

Well it's been a while since we have had access to the net. We are in Quitman, Georgia till Monday then it's off again. We stopped at West Point Lake the first of November to spend time fising with Uncle Sie. Uncle Sie is John Harmon's uncle that we went fishing with when John was alive. We had a great time but it was COLD. I had to wear coveralls to fish, that just isn't right...lol. We did catch some really nice crappie. Louise stayed in the motorhome and worked on the quilt she is making. The lake veiw pic is from West Point Lake. After we lleft there we headed for Quitman where the Cooks live. I worked with Terry and his wife Cathy in Dayton at the GM plant. We have been there for a couple of weeks now. The pic of the geese was taken looking out the window of our coach in Cook's yard. Went to a few museums while here and did a little geocaching. We plan on leaving on Monday and head for the coast of Florida. We're going to travel the coast back Louisiana, then on north to Texas. I