Where Do You Live?

Years ago when we moved from the city to the country in Minnesota, Trevor would often ask me, “Where do you live?” He would be referring to the pastures and cornfields, cows and chickens, and the tractors we would pass on the way home from everywhere; things it took us awhile to become accustomed to. Since we left stick and brick (house) living two and a half years ago, that question has remained constant in our daily lives.

As of Sunday, we’ve completed the 7,000+ mile journey Trevor planned for us back in April of this year. A journey that had us living in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia, and now Florida. Dwelling in 13 different states during a seven month period can really mess with your head, causing a bit of confusion at times. Now when we ask each other, “Where do you live?” (Especially when walking out of a Walmart Store somewhere), we’re not always referring to the novelty of where we happen to be at the time; sometimes, we really need to know where we live!

We loved spending time with our friends and family in Minnesota and miss them all terribly. The weather was great for sharing time with them visiting museums, hiking in state parks, exploring quaint little shops along the river, meeting in unique restaurants, boat excursions on Lake Minnetonka, and enjoying sweet and precious time with them in their warmth of their various homes. As always, it was difficult to leave there not knowing when we’ll see them all again, but as it was about to turn cold soon; it was time to start heading South.

Leaving there, we stopped in Indiana for a month to visit Mike. We shared dinner almost every evening, watched movies, put an awesome Lego set together, watched some debates, and had some lively political discussions. It rained there much of the time, but we did get to enjoy some nice fall colors as we toured the university campus and hiked some trails in a couple of the state parks in the area. It was very sad to have to leave Mike as well.

We enjoyed more fall colors as we made our way further south to Alabama. We stayed in a great park there called Point Mallard Campground in Decatur, Alabama. Look it up if you’re interested. The price, the scenery, the biking and hiking trails and the golf course were all great. The park also boasted a wave and swimming pool, soccer fields, etc.

We met with couple there who helped me hammer out a climbing scene for my book. We learned so much from them and really enjoyed the company of this very sweet couple. We’re looking forward to spending more time with them in the future. I saw a couple of things there I’ve never seen before. Can anyone tell me what these are? One appears to be an Albino Ladybug (do they make things like that? Ha ha!). The other is a complete mystery to me, but it must be pretty common in Alabama. They were all over the place!

After Alabama, we hooked up with our friends, Gordon and Christie, in Georgia. If you’ve followed this blog, you know they are friends of ours who left Georgia to begin full-timing in a 5th wheel back in September of 2011. We did spend a short while traveling together last year. Had a lot of fun with that and looked forward to meeting up with them in Florida this winter. Sadly, when they returned to Georgia so G could have knee surgery, they received some bad news. Due to health issues (MDS), Gordon was unable to receive the knee replacement and is currently grounded in GA as he goes through chemo-therapy. Christie, who’s an excellent writer, publishes a blog at: chuckwagonadventure.blogspot.com Check it out if you’d like to read her posts on the subject and also of their great adventures on the road. Despite it being really cold there, we did enjoy a full week of visits and catching up with other friends and co-workers in Georgia. But we were freezing! And looking forward to getting to the sunny Florida. Well, it’s sunny here, but the high today is only 69. As we’re debating whether to sign up for another month here or head to the most Southern Florida Keys, we look at this sign

and ask each other: “Where do you live?!” We love you guys! Love, Trevor & Roni

The Sunset in His Eyes

It was so cool to be able to wander the desert, make new friends, hang with old ones, and see creatures and rocks we’d never seen before. We saw A LOT of rocks! And dirt! But after a while, I just needed to see some green grass. And trees! And water! I really needed to see water!

We stayed at an RV park in Salem, Oregon where we had a nice visit with our friends, Ron and Sugar. This is the couple who taught us how to play Hand & Foot, so it was fun to squeeze a few games of that in and learn a new game as well. They not only blessed us with their company, but blessed us with fresh raspberries from the garden, raspberry pie and the most delicious Butterscotch Rice Krispie Bars!

Some added bonuses of our time there was being able to take a walk every day through green grass on an unpaved trail that ran alongside a creek and wound around the perimeter of the RV Park, and being able to squeeze in a run to the ocean one evening where we had dinner on the shore and visited some now familiar places on the coast.

All too soon, we left our friends to head toward the state of Washington. We spent the first week there in Anacortes, Washington; one of our favorite places. There are many spots in the area to catch a nice view. One of our favorites is Washington Park. They have a 2.2 mile paved, loop trail, that takes you through forest so deep the sun barely gets through, up high hills with beautiful overlooks, then down to sea level, where you can watch birds, fish, seals, and boats, and ferries shuttling people and vehicles to various islands in the area. It was great kicking back down at the water, gazing at the beautiful scenery, sitting next to Trevor and watching the sunset in his eyes.

We met some very nice couples in the RV Park. One of them allowed us to dog sit for them one day. We took little Snickers for several walks, took a nap, and played in the grass. We got the greatest dog fix that day!

We spent the following two weeks in Seattle, coming back to the motorhome on weekends. We enjoy Seattle quite a bit as well. We like to stay by Lake Union, with daily visits to Lake Union Park, where there’s always so much going on;

Lots of boats, sailboats, sea planes taking off and landing, people playing on the water and walking the docks to see the old and interesting boats parked in the harbor.

Back in Anacortes, we took the ferry out to explore Orcas Island for the day. The weather that day was perfect for exploring small island shops, enjoying a nice lunch outside and getting a great view from high up on a hill. I hope to go back again someday to explore more of the islands out there. The ferry trip alone is much more fun than one would think.

Soon we were off to visit Karen and Gary in Cedaredge, Colorado. We love the view from their front yard! It’s so beautiful and peaceful there! We loved to sit on their porch, breathe the fresh mountain air and watch hummingbirds at the many feeders that surround the porch. I wish you could see the gorgeous creek that runs through the back of their property. Nice, fishing spot! Their place is the first property in two years that made us think for a second about owning property again someday. That thought didn’t last long! And no, we don’t want to do that; but if Karen and Gary enjoy our company as much as we do theirs, hopefully, we’ll see them again before long.

After all those months in the desert, it was refreshing to be around so much water for a change. But the thrill soon changed as we traveled through Nebraska to visit my cousin. The drought was so bad there this year. There were fields and fields of brown, dried out corn. It was pretty sad to see, but it kept in mind the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. And the dream he had of the coming drought, and how God provided for the land through the inspiration He gave to Joseph. Awesome story, if you haven’t read it!

We had a great time with my cousin, her husband and occasionally one of their daughters. Deb and Bruce took us to many neat and interesting places. One of the places Deb and I visited was Lincoln’s State Capital building. What a cool building. My favorite rooms were library and the room where the Supreme Court meets, but really the whole building is cool, especially if you like marble and mosaics.

We’re in Minnesota for a short time visiting friends and family and feeling like turkeys being fattened up for Thanksgiving. We need to get out of here soon! In the meantime, we’re enjoying each and every visit. It’s been a year since we’ve seen the kids and most of our family and friends. We’ve really missed them and cherish every moment we have with them. Soon we’ll be off to new adventures. It’s always interesting to see where the Lord will bring us next. Peace and blessings to all of you! We love you guys! Love, Trevor & Roni

Diggin The Blues

Still making our way toward Seattle, we camped in Salt Lake City for a week in order to drop in on one of Trevor’s co-workers one evening. After making a stop at Macaroni Grill for take-out, Dave and LaVaun took us to their beautiful mountain cabin in the woods. We had a great time with this fun-loving couple as we enjoyed tasty food and lively dinner conversation in the sweet ambiance of their quaint, cottage style cabin.

Their cabin is a writer’s dream. Rich with history, ambiance and fresh mountain air, it’s perfect for getting the creative juices flowing. I was not at all surprised to hear that someone wrote a book there. The following week, we met up with our friend Penny at her home in Incline Village, NV. We really got to digging the amazing blue water as she took us on a tour of Lake Tahoe. We’d never seen anything like it. Many of my friends have often raved about Lake Tahoe. I was finally able to see why!

Traffic around the lake was really something, though. We were glad we stayed at a KOA in Verdi, NV, where it was nice and quiet. We made another trip out to the lake that week so we could hike on the Rubicon Trail. We arrived pretty early in the morning in order to beat the traffic, but by the time we finished our hike at 10 am, traffic was already jacked, stacked and backed.

The area between Verdi, NV and Truckee, CA is so cool! As we drove along Interstate 80, we felt like we were part of a toy train set. There were mountains with high and low train tracks, rivers, rocks, bridges, and old wood flumes that they used to send logs down the river on. I wanted to get some good photos, but high speeds and traffic along the route, made it difficult to pull off in the right spots. There was an emergency rescue behind the RV Park on the 4th of July. Some of the photos I took of the scene will give you a tiny hint of the toy train scenery I was telling you about. But take a look at the rescue chopper! Isn’t it a beaut?

We visited Virginia City one day, which, due to traffic and road construction was about an hour’s drive from the KOA. It’s a very touristy town made up of little shops in old west buildings. The mountain views around that town are pretty nice!

On the way to Salem, Oregon to visit Ron and Sugar, we stopped to take a look at Crater Lake. Our friend Christy told us it was beautiful, but oh, my! We thought Lake Tahoe was blue! Take a look at Crater Lake! Have you ever seen anything like it?

Trevor enjoyed playing in the huge amounts of snow on the way out of the park. When we lived in Minnesota, there weren’t too many occasions we could enjoy the snow in just a t-shirt and jeans.

Our new campground’s only an hour from the ocean, so we plan to check that out one of these evenings. Being by all of this water’s been truly enjoyable after being in the desert for so long! We only wish that you were here to enjoy it with us. We love you guys! Love, Trevor & Roni