On the Road Again!

July 3, 2016July 3, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

Nice fountain to enjoy in this RV park!

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I am happy to report that we headed out from Amarillo early this morning and we are planning to have a fun time in Northern Arizona. We drove for 433 miles today! We got an early start and made a couple of stops along the way to get a chance to move around. We are staying in Gallup, New Mexico and thoroughly enjoying the beautiful evening.

It is always fun to see places along famous Route 66!

After getting the motorhome setup, we discovered they had a nice pool and it was the perfect temperature! It is so nice to go swimming after a long day on the road.

Their pool was nice because there is a flag pained along the bottom! This is absolutely perfect for the 4th of July weekend!

We stayed at this RV park many years ago with our first 5^th wheel trailer. We lost a trailer tire thread and had people working on it when we stayed here. That was not the greatest memory. Today is much more fun!

I was feeling very good today, so this seemed perfect. A classic phrase not heard for a long time. It also reminded me of my old VW bug!

After a long day of driving, it is nice to sip on something very nice!

Texas Hill Country!

May 29, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

Check out the horns on these guys!

Texas bluebonnets

We had a quick stop in Tucson and then headed back through New Mexico. We stopped in Anthony, Texas and it was very windy! We headed out the next day and made a beeline for the Texas hill country. We stopped in Van Horn for lunch at the famous Chuy’s restaurant.

Chuys

We stayed in Fredericksburg for the night, but I wish we could have stayed longer. Sometime we need to go back and spend time going through the wineries in the area. I did have a chance to walk to a local fresh fruit stand and see the fresh peaches for sale.

Our Fredericksburg site was quite roomy, but we endured a huge storm during the night!

drink beer

We next drove to Leander. This is in the northwest suburb of Austin. I have been trying different RV parks in Austin to find the best place to stay when visiting John and Michelle. Leander seems to be a very nice community that is not as busy as Georgetown, where we stayed on our last trip. It was wonderful to see John and Michelle! I would like to figure out a way to spend more time in this area.

It is so fantastic to spend time with John and Michelle!

Graduation!

May 29, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

Charlene and Cheyenne celebrate her graduation!

We had a quick trip to Arizona to visit with Elizabeth and Dennis before their move to Germany and to attend Cheyenne’s high school graduation. Both were very special to us! It is so wonderful to be in Flagstaff in the summer! The pine trees are beautiful and it was nice a cool. The low temperature was 35 degrees, so it was quite brisk and refreshing in the morning.

We also had a chance to have a great visit with Matt and Melissa and their 3 amazing kids. It was wonderful to see everyone! Since we no longer live in Arizona, it is very special to visit with these people who are so special to us! Phoenix has some great RV parks, so maybe we can spend some time there during the winter?

We Got to Meet with John!

April 18, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

The Horned Frog mascot taught us how to make their Horned Frog symbol!

The TCU campus is beautiful!

This weekend was absolutely wonderful! Charlene and I drove to Fort Worth, Texas and John met us there too. It was so incredibly fantastic to hug John and see the special sparkle in his eyes. It is truly special to spend time with your son!

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Fort Worth-4

We ate lunch and then walked through the campus on Texas Christian University. They have a beautiful campus. The Horned Frog mascot taught us how to make the Horned Frog symbol. It was fun to see the plaques about their recent success of their football program.

Fort Worth-5

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We next drove to the Fort Worth Water Gardens and enjoyed a leisurely time walking through the park. My favorite was the pool where watered flowed down from multiple directions. It must be quite popular in the heat of the summer!

The Fort Worth Water Gardens are very beautiful!

This pool had water flowing down the walls and was very peaceful.

This was my favorite pool with the water flowing from all sides.

Places Visited

March 14, 2016June 8, 2018 / Ed Armstrong

These are all the places where I have spent the night in our motorhome!

I have had a busy start to my retirement! This map shows the places where I have spent the night in the motorhome. Although I have run into some problems along the way, it has been a fun and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to see so many new places!

Whew! We finished the Southern Loop!

March 14, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

This is our trip to Southern Texas and then east to see the southern US.

We finished our loop through the Deep South and made it back to Amarillo, Texas! We were gone almost 7 weeks on this trip. We drove 2,157 miles to go from Amarillo, to the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas, and then east to Savannah, Georgia. We next went to Gaffney, South Carolina so I could attend Camp Freightliner. I now have the t-shirt showing that I survived Camp Freightliner!

This is our return trip back through the Deep South!

We drove 1,593 miles to go from Savannah, Georgia back to Amarillo. We traveled through 11 different states! We did not spend much time in Arkansas or Oklahoma on the return trip. We put in some long driving days to get back to Texas. We saw some wonderful sights along the way, however, still have many more places we would like to visit!

Driving a total of 3,750 miles through 11 states is certainly a long trip. Next time, I would like to spend some extended time at many of the locations we visited. Now, I need to plan our next trip!

Memphis, Tennessee!

March 8, 2016March 8, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

Charlene and I really enjoyed touring Graceland!

Charlene in front Elvis’ mansion.

Today was a busy day! We drove from Nashville to Memphis, visited Elvis Presley’s mansion (Graceland), and went to Rendezvous restaurant for some of the very best barbeque in my life!

Elvis’ grave

pool

I was not sure what to expect with Graceland, but I must say I was quite impressed! It was very well done and fun to walk through Elvis’s home. It was fun to learn about the impact Elvis had on music and culture in the US. It was sad he died at age 42.

Charlene on tour of Elvis’ living room.

clothes

It is Great to Meet with Relatives While Traveling!

March 7, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

I loved being able to have dinner with Valerie and Taylor!

Today was very special as I was able to have dinner with my cousin Valerie and her daughter Taylor! Charlene was not feeling well, so she thought she should stay in the motorhome and rest. One of the especially nice things about traveling is being able to see friends and relatives around the country. Valerie has lived in Nashville for many, many years, yet until today, I was never able to see her in her own “hometown.”

Taylor is a junior in high school and she is beginning to look around at different universities. She will be going on a road trip this month to see a number of different campuses in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Many famous musicians have a strong, important presence in Nashville.

I really like Nashville. Next time we are in town, I would like to spend more time here so we can see more sites.

Nashville, Tennessee!

March 6, 2016March 6, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

We love our spacious RV site that comes with a swinging bench and a table and chairs!

Today was a big driving day. We started out in Asheville, North Carolina and went west through Appalachia and about half way through Tennessee. We stopped in Nashville and want to enjoy this “music city.”

Nashville hat

Nashville

The drive sort of wore us out, but Nashville is such a nice city, it is nice to be back. I have always enjoyed visiting Nashville. The last time I was here, John was a senior in high school and we came to Nashville to watch the Tennessee Titans play the Indianapolis Colts. That brings back very special memories!

John’s favorite NFL team is the Tennessee Titans, based here in Nashville!

I have always liked the Tennessee flag.

Asheville, North Carolina

March 5, 2016March 5, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

We had a wonderful time trying this flight of beers!

In Gaffney, I finished the two day course “Camp Freightliner” and we had the yearly oil change done on the motorhome. It was fun meeting a group of motorhome owners, but my head was sore learning all about the Freightliner chassis. Today, we left Gaffney, South Carolina and drove to Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is a wonderful community in western North Carolina. We crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway just before we entered Asheville.

This was a great brewery!

Asheville has really fun “feel” to it. It is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia. Neither Charlene nor I have ever been in this part of North Carolina. As we looked at attractions in the area, we discovered that there are several breweries and one distillery in Asheville. There is a great water in Asheville and that has attracted a number of breweries. There is also a strong art community.

The oldest brewery in the area is the Highland Brewing Company and we had an absolutely wonderful time going on a tour of the brewery. We bought a flight of their most common beers. Their Gaelic Ale was our favorite!

Biltmore

Another interesting feature about Asheville is that the Biltmore was built here by the Vanderbilt family. It is 8,000 acres! Unfortunately, it was after 4:00 pm once we made it to the Biltmore, so we decided to not buy tickets ($50 per person). We will have to save that for another visit. The Biltmore in Asheville is called “America’s largest home” because it has 250 rooms! There is a huge mansion and garden along with a winery and two hotels. It was quite impressive, especially considering they started building it in 1895.

Fiesta on Wheels

Author: Ed Armstrong