It was a fantastic trip for all of us on the road, so I'll only highlight the adventure with our agenda and some photo’s.
Dallas, TX
We were in Dallas for a week visiting with the grandchildren’s parents.
We also visited with Wilma’s brother Charles.
Wink, TX
We drove through to check it out for Wink.
Abilene, TX
(Elegante Hotel) really nice – favorite hotel of the trip
Carlsbad, NM
(Best Western) – saw the bats fly at night
Spent two days enjoying the cavern.
Ancient Petroglyphs in NM
The tallest spot in TX is near El Paso.
El Paso, TX
(Camino Real Hotel) – could see Mexico from our window
Went shopping for Jeans and Western Shirts. I wish I’d gotten a pair of boots and a hat too.
Tombstone, AZ
(Best Western) – Butterfield Stagecoach ride, OK Coral,
Boot Hill – Lots of Fun
Yuma, AZ
(Best Western) – Territorial Prison at Yuma and the
Colorado River – at Mexican Border
San Diego, CA
(Wink’s Brother’s Home) We were there for the week of
Wink’s brother John’s Hawaiian Wedding – Great event and
had lots of fun with
family.
The bride is a member of the local
paddle club which honored them with an
Hawaiian Chant and assisted in making
all of the head dresses and lei's for the wedding.
Wilma learned lots more of Hawaiian Culture.
Wink was born in Honolulu, HI
Lompoc, CA
We had to drive through because Wilma use to live there about 30 years ago.
San Louis Obispo, CA
(Best Western-not great) The weather was cold and hotel was noisy.
Monterey, CA
(Best Western) We went to the Aquarium.
Top Notch and highly recommended
Sacramento, CA
We were visiting with Wilma’s cousin for 3 days.
We panned for gold in the American River (no luck)
Wilma and her cousin William had a great time catching up.
From Sacramento, we traveled east through numerous National Parks also.
Kings Canyon National Park, CA
General Grant, third largest tree in America
Wilma was there 30 years ago with her son and wanted to bring her grandchildren.
Sequoia National Park, CA
Lots of impressive large trees.
Death Valley National Park, CA
HOT! 120 degrees in the shade. 280 ft below sea level.
Las Vegas, NV A drive thru during the day.
The girls enjoyed the architecture.Hoover Dam, both NV and AZ
A spectacular site of the Colorado River. A bridge is being built to bypass the dam.Terrorism threat is a worry that American must now have to accept.
Williams, AZ –
visited the mother road Route 66(Best Western) This is a neat little town that has tourist shops and is very idealist for the Fifties.
We wish we could have stayed longer.
We went to Bedrock City, AZ
Wilma is a Flintstone nut and she needed some more Tee Shirts.
Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Meteor Crater National Park, AZ
Pahrump, AZ
(Best Western)
There were lots of Wind Farms in the West.
Petrified Forest National Park, AZ
Painted Desert National Park, AZ
Albuquerque, NM
(Best Western)
Ft Sumner, NM
(Billy the Kid Grave and Gift Shop
The gift shop is owned and ran by a great couple and
they have a very nice selection of great products.
Lubbuck, TX
(Best Western)
Plano, TX
We stayed in Plano for a week. Our daughter-in-law made
the decision to move back to Florida so we help her
pack and move to Delray Beach, FL before returning to the boat.
Our travels back from Texas included stopping at Wilma’s sisters
in McGehee, AR, her mother’s in Yazoo City, MS, Wink’s aunt in
Live Oak, FL, two days at our condo in Sarasota, FL, another
night in a Best Western in Boca Raton, FL and then Wink’s counsin
in Stuart, FL and on to Green Cove Springs, FL were the boat
has been waiting for us.
We enjoyed our LAND vacation but are thrilled at being back on board
John Henry. We've discovered that leaving the boat for 2 months is good for
the soul, but bad on the A/C strainers and the boat bottom was full of barnicles.
We'll have to plan a more compresensive caretaker for the boat if we do this again long term. It's taken us almost two weeks to get everything cleaned up, and washed down.
I hope to update the blog again shortly for our new adventures on John Henry.
We've already had a couple of interesting events at Green Cove Springs, FL so .....
Stay Tuned........
