Jake Discovers New Mexico!

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Jake is ready to drive the motorhome on the original Route 66.

Charlene and I had a special treat in that Jake was able to travel with us in the motorhome! He was impressed with the large windshield, but he really enjoyed sitting on the couch while we traveled along the interstate.

 

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The raspberry color was a perfect match for his shirt.

Having Jake with us was quite educational. We learned about the power of Raspberry Warheads. Jake sure enjoyed them!

 

We stopped in Edgewood, New Mexico and enjoyed a cool afternoon and evening sitting outside and watching the rain clouds move around us. The scenery was very nice and it was fun to drive along some of the original Route 66 highway.

Down and Dirty!!

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We were very excited to start driving from Matt and Melissa’s cabin in a nice clean Razr!

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Matt and I were excited to pick them up!

Today we rented two Polaris Razrs and had the time of our lives driving through the Kaibab National Forest. The Razr is easy to steer, does not require gear shifting, and has seat belts. There are 4 seats and room for coolers in the pack. They are especially fun to drive as they have a tight turning radius, high clearance, and an amazing amount of power!

 

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We climbed this huge hill using four-wheel drive and the lower transmission case!

On the flat straightaway, our Razr went 60 miles an hour! It is amazing how fast you can cruise. The power was evident by how steep we could climb! We put the transmission in lower case and put it in 4-wheel drive and we climbed up an amazingly steep hill. The Razr just chewed it up like butter!

 

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Melissa took a fantastic selfie photo with Charlene!

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Melissa took a great photo of some excited people driving in the forest!

However, there is one key downside about renting a Razr for 8 hours: YOU GET UNBELIEVABLE FILTHY! I enjoyed getting each piece of dust on me, but after driving all day, typically behind the dust created by Matt and Melissa, you get filthy. We had such fun laughing at how dirty we became! I feel like I must be in middle school again. I cannot remember having so much fun getting so dirty!

 

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Look at those dirty girls!

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We got “dusted” and enjoyed every minute of it!

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There is so much dirt coating our skin, it looks like we have changed skin color!

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It was an adventure trying to wash off all the dust!

 

Great Wildlife!

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Today we joined Matt and Melissa and their family and visited Bearizona. Jacob, Macy, and Ben were the stars of the day. It was a tremendous amount of fun to be with them as we saw all kinds of animals.

 

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Great Horned Owl

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Lonesome and looking for a friend.

The raptor show was probably my favorite. I especially loved seeing the Great Horned Owl! The birds were quite impressive.

 

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Ben enjoyed petting the goat.

It was also fun to watch the kids in the petting zoo area.

 

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Matt found a friend for life!

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The love of a father and daughter is a very special thing!

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There were many deer to enjoy. This one was licking his lips for a tasty treat!

I also enjoyed seeing the bobcat and the ram too!

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The bobcat was on the prowl!

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The rams were impressive!

The Forest is Beautiful!

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We are getting ready to head out to ride in the forest!

I learned something valuable today. If you look up fun in the dictionary, it says the definition of fun is riding all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in the National Forest in Northern Arizona. It was so much fun!

 

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Northern Arizona is so beautiful!

I have ridden an ATV one previous time a number of years ago in Rocky Point, Mexico. That was wonderful riding in the sand. However, there is something extra special about riding in the National Forest near where I grew up. In high school we would often drive around on dirt roads near Flagstaff. I remember those trips fondly. Today was re-discovering that memory by riding on dirt roads that weaved around through Ponderosa Pine forests, meadows, and lakes. It was gorgeous and I kept thinking about so many memories growing up.

 

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Gorgeous scenery with the pines, lakes, and gorgeous sky!

We had a new variation by riding ATVs. Matt road his powerful ATV (that can go 70 miles an hour) and I rode Melissa’s (that can go about 40 miles an hour). We started out cautiously as I was learning how to balance around curves, shifting gears, and climbing over rocks. As I got more comfortable, we increased our speed.

 

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Matt is waving from the top of the forest look-out station.

As we were weaving through narrow, small roads, I had a big grin on my face. When we got going faster, I knew there was testosterone flowing through my veins as we cruising through washes, climbing hills, going over rocks, and taking in the different landscapes.

 

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Amazing views from the look-out tower!

One of the most surprising aspects of the trip were the number of elk that we saw. One group had to have had at least 30. We saw a large buck with a huge rack, standing in the sun, just watching us. It was magnificent!

 

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After riding I was filthy. My beard was no longer grey, but tan from all the dust. My face was dirty all around my goggles!

The time flew past. We were gone for about 4.5 hours, but it sure seemed much shorter. I hope to do that again!

 

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Macy, Matt, and I enjoyed some delicious hamburgers after our ride!

On the Road Again!

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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 5th 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!

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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!

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

Texas Hill Country!

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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.

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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.

 

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

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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.

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

Graduation!

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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!

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

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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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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.

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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!

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The Fort Worth Water Gardens are very beautiful!

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

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

Places Visited

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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!

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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!

 

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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!