Who's idea was it to head South?

Oh my gosh...it is HOT!!!  If we hadn't just started traveling, I'm sure Richard and I would both agree to stay put in Colorado with the beautiful weather.  But someone (me) decided to take a Housesitting position in Texas.  So be it, south is where we are headed and we are taking our time to get there by deciding to spend a few weeks in New Mexico.  So here we are in the dry desert

If you can take your eyes off the surrounding mountains for one second to notice our house hiding behind the bush on the right, you can get the feel of what our 360 degree view was!  Although it does look and was very dry, fortunately, it rained here everyday around 7 pm putting on an exciting lightning show every time and helping to keep the temps down in the 80's.

We also were very happy with the park that we settled in at as it is run on solar.  Genius!

We were here for 2 weeks and while we relaxed mostly, there were things we wanted see.  We made it to Los Alamos

to visit the museums that house the Fat Boy and the Little Man.

The scooter is doing not so surprisingly well with all of the climate and altitude changes.  As usual...my husband does know what he is talking about when he buys new and helpful "toys"!  We wanted to make it to the volcano but in the pictures that we saw it just looked like a sunken in patch of grass, so we "settled" for this view instead.

On our way back to the RV Park, we came across this rock...

Hey Camel!  I wanted to climb on it but they have it fenced off just for people like me.

We left Santa Fe on August 6th to arrive at our housesitting assignment on the 7th.  We drove straight through to Ingram, Texas to spend the night at Armadillo Junction Rv Park...practically a steal for $15

We tried to sleep in the next morning but we were overly excited about reaching our destination.  Can you imagine...after living in 385 square feet for over 2 years, we were about to move in to a house that has 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, a butlers pantry, a pool house with a swim spa and hot tub, and 34 acres of unaltered Texas Hill Country.  We were in over our heads!!  This is a beautiful home at the top of a hill that our house would not be making the trip up so we parked it in the meadow and give it a friendly wave when we leave to go grocery shopping.

We have truly appreciated all of the opportunities that we have been able to experience over these past 5 months and look forward to spending the next 2 months learning wether or not we miss living in a house or just miss living in "our house"!  

Just one week of living under a roof not made of rubber, we decided to take our house on a road trip to San Antonio.  We found this great park called Carefree Travelers RV Park that was less than 10 minutes away from the Riverwalk.  

They had Palm trees lining their paved streets (it is VERY difficult to find an RV park that is not just another gravel road) and their pool was heated and kept at the perfect temperature that seemed to go well with any flavor of beer!  The public transportation system AKA the bus stop was right across the street from the park so for $1.10 per person...we were free to roam around downtown and catch a ride back sober or not.  Of course after a night of dinner, drinks, and dancing we headed back by midnight and made it home just fine because the bus was empty, we were apparently the only crazies out that night.

We returned to Kerrville only slightly poisoned from the weekend and decided to rest a few days before going to explore.  Our first stop was the infamous Luckenbach, Texas

 We didn't stay to dance but will have some fun pictures when we return from our next visit.  We drove through Fredericksberg on our way home, stopped to have some barbecue but skipped out on the downtown shops because it was stinkin' hot and we were ready to jump into the pool!

Other than just hanging around the house and catching up on Redbox movies (pick up Limitless, Bradly Cooper is smokin' ), we have been pretty quiet for the past week.  That is until last night when my hubby took me out for my pre-birthday dinner to Mamacita's.  Upside down beer with frozen margarita!  Yum!

This was after my day of pampering at Salon De Ricardo where I got my hair colored, my shoulders massaged and my toenails painted... Happy Birthday to me and a big thanks to my honey, Love you Babe!

What are you doing here?!?

It's the funniest thing, being out on the road and meeting up with people from back home.  We left the green hills of South Dakota to head towards Loveland, Colorado.  We found a RV park that was at the base of the Rocky Mountain National Forest.  I do believe that it is my favorite spot that we have been to yet. This was our "backyard"

We would keep our back windows open at night and listen to the river rushing by...awww, peaceful.  We only stayed here a few days, so we had a lot of things to pack into a small amount of time.  The first day, we made the Meep meep do all the hard work.  We took her all the way to the top of the mountain.

Thank goodness we came equipped with sweatshirts!

As Richard played in the snow,

I was busy checking facts about this beautiful place, and of course trying to get close enough to the furry creatures but no such luck...those suckers are quick!

We called it a day at about the time that we could no longer feel our faces and headed back down the mountain.  For those of you who know Richard really well, you know he is not a fan of heights.  So I recommend that anyone going to the top of the Rocky Mountains with him should go in a vehicle with 4 wheels and make sure that he not intrude on the oncoming traffic, or suggest to the park rangers that they install a guardrail!

The next day, we went back into the forest to go on a hike.  This is me at Bear Lake and in hindsight, we should have just hiked around the lake but I had to go up the mountain to the glacier...

That's me up there in the distance.  Rich says he fell behind to take a picture but we know the truth.

So if we had just stayed around Bear Lake, I wouldn't be out of breath right now because what was suppose to be a nice walk turned into a 3 hour hike.  But, we finally made it!

That was great and everything, but now we had to get back down.  Thankfully, Richard is thoughtful enough that he packed a baggie of pretzels, peanut M&M's and a delicious bottle of water when I wasn't looking, so we had some soul food to get down the mountain on.  Upon our much desired return to solid ground, I found this cutie

Not only did he come right up to me, he then SNATCHED the pretzel from my fingers.  Then the little bugger sniffed it, threw it on the ground and had the audacity to come back and ask for something different.  Well, I wasn't going to give him a M&M so he was out of luck with me.

We left Loveland, Colorado after 3 days and headed to Creede, Colorado.  There we stayed at Antler's Lodge and met up with these folks...

I would like to introduce you to Shawn and Jen from our "old neighborhood".  They were having a family get together and we were invited to join.  Good times with friends and great hamburgers is what we like to do, so for 2 days we had a fantastic time hanging out in the mountains.  After Antlers, we drove 22 miles up the road to stay in Southfork, Colorado for the next week.  Peaceful little community full of ice cream socials and domino tournaments.  Out of the blue, a different set of friends called up and said they were on a road trip and were headed our way!!  Lucky us!  A small taste of home in a beautiful mountain setting!  Jeff and Christy stayed with us for 3 days as we explored Pagosa Springs. 

Where, I had to touch the water,

and make Jeff pull over and take in the serene waterfalls

After they left for home, we headed to a reservoir to take in some sun and fresh air.  Although the water was freezing, the beach area was nice to lay out on.

After one week in Southfork, we sadly decided to leave Colorado and head to Santa Fe, New Mexico to study up on our WWII factoids.  Watch out...I'm coming for you Fat Boy!

Buffalo? I don't see no stinkin' buffalo!

Hello South Dakota!  It sure is beautiful now but come November...no thank you ma'am!

We nestled ourselves at the base of the foothills leading into the beautiful Black Hills National Forest.  Centrally located to Custer, Rapid City, Hot Springs, Deadwood, and Lead but hysterically, no where near a grocery store!  We'll take what we can get though, our surroundings were peaceful and our neighbors were nice. We of course wanted to stay away from the touristy attractions but alas, they sucked us in.  We saw Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial (which coincidentally is crazy for several reasons), Needles Highway, Lake Sylvan, and the amazing Custer State Park.  We were under the impression that we would see buffalo on our breathtaking scooter rides through Custer State Park.  There are warning signs everywhere that specifically tell people not to approach these massive creatures because they are consistently unpredictable.  However, we have been to the state park several times and still haven't seen these elusive creatures.  Do buffalo know how to hide?!?  After 3 weeks of living in South Dakota, we sat down to look at the map to see what we were missing.  Needless to say, we found where the buffalo might be hiding, wait for it, Wildlife Loop Road.  The only road in the whole park that we neglected to turn down.  This is what we were missing.

Ha!  Can't fool us buffalo.  This was only 1 out of 3 herds that we saw that afternoon.  Really amazing creatures but they spook really easily.  A little bit down the road, I fed this little guy a carrot.

All in all, a great day for sight seeing and animal spotting.  In addition to the buffalo and donkey, we saw Pronghorn Antelope, deer, prairie dogs, and not that day but eventually, Elk!

During our 4th week in South Dakota, we received a Couch Surfing Request from two British girls that were traveling through Canada and the US.  We were their 14th couch surf since they started their journey 6 months before staying with us.  We accepted their request and they stayed with us for two nights.  I would like to introduce you to Catherine and Karen.

They wanted to see all of the touristy sights as well so here we are at Mount Rushmore, where we took the guided tour with a ranger to learn all of the things that we have forgotten about since school.  The girls were very well informed from all of the google searches they had done before coming to South Dakota, so they knew all of the answers to the Ranger's questions.  Thanks for showing me up girls!
Next, we went to Crazy Horse Memorial.

The memorial has never accepted governmental funds, so they rely on the public to continue blasting away at the mountain.  They do 2 blasts a year, and they do them at night so the can light them up and make a show out of it.  This is what the memorial will look like when it is done.

As I mentioned earlier, Crazy Horse Memorial is indeed crazy due to the fact that they do not even know if this is what Crazy Horse really looked like!!  This is a compilation of the descriptions that were given to the architect.  We will never know if he got it right but it seems to be pretty set in stone.  After the memorial, we headed into Custer for some lunch and a hail storm.  Poor Grey Truck.

Next, we went up the scenic Needles Highway.

Then Sylvan Lake.

After our long day we all were in need of some rest, so we headed home for a cookout.  The next day, the girls went on their way to Yellowstone and we were left behind to start making our way down south.  Next up, Colorado and the majestic Rocky Mountains.

Whoa, That's Mammoth!

It's hard to believe that we have been on the road for 3 months and this is the very first time that I have gotten to dry the laundry outside!

I know it is silly but I love being economical.  We were at a metored electric site and every penny counts in this lifestyle.  Oh fine, It was Richard's idea but I didn't put up a fight and that's the important part.

We spent a month in Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky

We got to tour a cave

go on a few bike rides

and do some extensive scooter sight-seeing to a model airplane show, strawberry festival, and  barbeque festival.

At the beginning of our very long sight seeing day, we came across the remains of Bell's Tavern.

So rich in history and beautiful architecture, it is a shame that it burnt down.  After taking the pictures and pondering the thought of everything that might have happened in that bar it made Rich and I chuckle as we read the sign.

To think, they had the formula for a panty dropping drink way back then.

The model airplane show was fun.

Against my recommendation to park away from the big boy bikes, Rich decided to park right in the middle of them.

To my surprise, a small gathering took place right by our scooter which happened to be the topic of discussion.  It seems that those particular men were impressed at its size and miles per gallon.  Not bad meep meep, not bad.

The strawberry festival might have been fun but the GPS took us on a VERY long route which ended up being beautiful but not in the interest of time.  That's alright though, we got to have strawberry shortcake and play a round of cornhole all by ourselves as we got there 15 minutes before it was scheduled to be over.

We then headed to the BBQ festival to chow down on some delicious ribs but ended up splitting a chopped brisket sandwhich because when we got there at 5:00, they were wrapping it up for the night even though the internet information stated that it was going to be the hot spot of the town until 8:00.  Bummer.  So, I wanted to take a picture in front of the sign for a small, simplistic memory.  As I was making a move toward the sign, Richard stopped to take a picture of this informational bulletin.

As you can see in the picture, I am headed to position myself for my picture and the man in the red shirt that also appears in the background is holding a box knife in his right hand.  He apparently read my mind and had every intention of spoiling my memory making efforts and cut the sign down while I was in pursuit.  Double bummer.  I should have asked him to be in the picture with me holding up the sign and laughing, but the moment was ruined.  I was laughing way to hard, and I was doing it in front of his face without any explanation.  I hope for the sake of my memories he lies in bed at night wondering what the hell I was laughing at.  On the way home that night on the scooter, it started pouring down rain 10 miles away from the rv park.  Tripple bummer.  As you all can imagine, after 200 miles, a sore caboose, and some memories that I did not plan on making, we were ready for our last Kentucky sight-seeing day to be over.

All in all, a pretty great month until we decided to leave 3 days early to beat the weekend traffic...bad move.  15 miles in to our journey due SW, I blew the right front trailer tire.

We changed it on the side of the road then drove 15 miles to the next exit, Bowling Green.  There, we got to sit and wait for 2 1/2 hours while they put a new tire on the rim, even though our house was taking up the majority of their parking lot they decided there was no rush.  We decided not to put the new tire on the house right then and kept on with our journey.  3 hours later, I blew the right rear trailer tire.  We proceeded to put on the new tire that we had just bought and continue with our journey hoping that no other tires decided to pop on us as all of the tire shops were not as convenient as the first.  We planned on staying in Little Rock, Arkansas for the evening but got a wonderful invitaion to campout on Aunt Diane and Uncle Mike's driveway.  We accepted but we had to get there first!  Richard was following the storms that were in the area and noticed that a particurlarly nasty storm was right over our heads.  We decided to exit off of the highway and take shelter under the bridge.  The 3 other cars that had the same idea were probably less than pleased when they saw that I was taking up 50 feet of shelter.  Oh well, we got to see the storm chasers zoom by in all of the hail and tree limbs that were falling like rocks, then hear the national broadcast system report that a tornado dropped out of the sky just miles away from us.  I fired up the engine and headed down the highway at a more speedy pace away from the tornado and we pulled in to Conway, Arkansas about 6 hours later then what we had originally planned on.  Man...what a day!  After 2 days in Conway, we headed in to Tulsa to visit his Mom before heading back to Edmond for a Bennett family picnic. Good times with the family made us feel better about the hardships that we had endured on our journey to get to them, but now we are off to become official South Dakotans.  Move over Crazy Horse, there is a new crazy coming into town.

Please!!!! Stop Raining on My Horse and Buggy Parade!

Another month down and on our way to Shipshewana, Indiana by way of Missouri, Illinois and eventually the Open Range factory way up north.  We decided to leave Northwest Arkansas on Thursday April 21st because the sun was shinning and we don't like to travel with the weekend traffic.  Not unbeknownst to Richard, storms were a brewin', and he wanted to get the heck out of there.  Because he is such a great amateur meteorologist, we thankfully missed all of the awful weather they had.  So we headed up through Missouri and managed to hit St. Louis' it's 5:00 somewhere traffic.  With me behind the wheel and being notorious for not being the most calm driver, I give myself an A +! Not only did we make it through without hitting anyone, we made it through with all of my hair still intacked, Success!  We stayed the night in Mulberry Grove, Illinois at what is sure to be some type of hillbilly permanent lodging as they all had porches on the travel trailers.  It was only a quiet night of sleep because, SURPRISE, it rained again.  We continued our journey north and decided to stay in Joliet, Illinois because we wanted to see Chicago.

We took a train in, which I was certain Oprah would be on it but when she was not, I was certain that we would in fact see her in the pizza place that we ate at.  But she was not there either.  I thought that she might be taking a stroll by the pier at Lake Michigan, watching this lone fisherman catch a fish with one of his many utensils, but alas, she must have been out of town.

So we sat in the garden to take in some sun and watch the uncoordinated people that were on the Segway Tours then headed back to the train station.

I was so enamored by the city and how beautiful everything was that I completely forgot to walk 2 blocks over from where we were to see Harpo Studios!!  So here is a picture that I found on the internet.

Even though I didn't get to see Oprah, there is something to be said about being married to a man that is willing to go to a taping of one of her shows.  Although I didn't plan enough in advance (it seems 2 years in advance to get tickets) it is the thought that counts.  We stopped at a hotdog shop to try the famous Chicago style dog.  Bummer that Sonic got it right and Chicago did not.  Cheers to you Sonic for using 100% beef (supposedly) and not vienna…yuck!  Who doesn't finish a hotdog?!!? That is how unimpressive it was and Richard and I were sharing!!  Oh well, back on the train and a what was suppose to be a 30 minute scooter ride home turned into an hour and 15 minutes because Gina got lost.  GRRRRR, technology.  Humans-One (for finding our way home on our own), GPS-still winning (for how many times she has saved us before this one incident!).  We stayed one more night in Joliet to recover from our sight-seeing-to-hopefully-spot-Oprah day and headed to our destination the next morning in the rain.  When we slowly pulled into Shipshewana, we automatically noticed something different about our surroundings.  The town looked clean and full of modern farmhouses that were big and beautiful but no $50,000 dollar vehicle in the driveway.  Nope, only a buggy attached to a horse on the side of the road.

I knew we were in Amish country, I just didn't expect to be in the center of its birthplace.  In all seriousness, the Amish people are SOOOOOO nice!  We had such an amazing experience at the factory and at the shops and restaurants.  I really did feel sorry for the horses though, they were working really hard in the rain.  On an ironic note, here is a horse and buggy tied up right next to the gas pump...

Cheers to you for not having to worry about rising gas prices!  We left the factory after 3 days of having everything done on our checklist and 100% satisfied.  Thanks Open Range!!  We are headed south to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.  Watch out spelunkers, even though it is still raining, here we come!!