New Landscaping at our SMR home

One final addition.

We decided to add a cactus garden to our lot.

Friends in the park were our landscapers and they worked many hours to create this garden for us.

A Week in Sedona then home to SMR

After leaving the Balloon Fiesta we headed west towards Sedona and spent about a week there.

We arrived to our winter home to Apache Junction, AZ and will spend 5 months here. We are looking forward to spending time with friends and being involved in activities in the rv park.


I will discontinue this blog until we're back on the road again.

Have a safe and happy year............love to all of you,

Barb and Linda

Oct. 6: Albuquerque, NM Balloon Fiesta

WE made it to the Balloon Fiesta. We were too late to make reservations for the Rv Park so we just decided to show up to see if there was an opening. Since we were arriving on a Monday, we were very lucky. Most activities are on the weekend. Lots of the weekenders had left. So we got in. We will be staying through Sunday. We are thrilled. What a wonderful way to begin celebrating my Birthday celebration month.

Sept 4 - Sept 29: St. Charles, MO to Oklahoma

We spent a wonderful 10 days in the St. Louis area. Barb had a chance to visit with her mom everyday. We also spent time visiting with family and friends. It was good to see everyone and catch up with news. We are pleased that everyone is doing well.

We left St. Charles on Sept 24 and started on our month-long trip back to Apache Junction. Our first stop was just outside of Joplin, actually on the border of Missouri and Oklahoma. It is the first Oklahoma Indian casino we come to. They have RV parking with hook-ups. We stayed there for several days.

And then we moved on to our next casino, the Lucky Star Casino, in Concho, OK. It is located about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City. This casino is Barb's favorite since it has poker tournaments every day, sometimes twice a day. And I spend my days catching up on computer stuff and paying bills and most important, reading.

We are at Lucky Star now and will be here for several more days. When we leave here, we will head to Albuquerque for the Balloon Festival. And from there , we go to Sedona for a few day.

We should arrive at our destination, Apache Junction, no later that Oct 23.

Safe travels to all of you , no matter where you journey in life.

Love and hugs,
Barb and Linda

From Chesapeake Bay, VA to St. Charles, MO

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Sept. 6: Effingham , IL

We finally left Decatur on Friday. Traveled 80 miles to a casino..........no surprise there!

Barb played a new type of poker. They had e-poker tables. No dealer. Everything was electronic. Much like the online poker rooms only she sat at a table with other players. The cards were dealt electronically and showed on the center of the table. Her cards would only show when she placed her hands over the cards. She did all of her bidding electronically. It was a new experience and we wonder if this will be the "wave of the future." It was a "no limit" game but she had fun.

We are now about 120 miles from St. Louis. We will be staying at Sundermeier's Rv park in St. Charles. Barb will be able to spend time with her mom again and that is a good thing. Her mom is doing well but is really looking forward to spending time together. And we are looking forward to seeing her.

Love and hugs,
Barb and Linda

Sept. 3rd: We are still in Decatur

Well, we thought we would be gone from Decatur by now, but , well, we just thought, well, we thought of a few more items they could check on while we were here. In particular, they have a "rain room" that they put the motorhome in for about an hour. And then it rains, storms. Great way to check for leaks. And, of course, they found some. So we had them fix a few slight leaks in the front windshield, door and bay compartments. Better to find them now than on the road.

It seems the longer we stay , the more we find for them to work on. I think we better leave soon or the next thing you know we will be having them rip up the carpeting and doing a total redecorating !!!

Love and hugs,
Barb and Linda

August 14-31: Hershey, PA and Decatur, IN

When we left Chesapeake Bay area and the kids, we headed towards PA and stopped to visit our friends. Several other friends also stopped by on their way to Cape Cod. So the six of us visited the Hershey Chocolate World and Amish country.

We had a different outing each day followed by a superb dinner prepared by Maddy and Sandy. Great fun and lots of laughter!

We then came to Decatur, IN, the home of Fleetwood Industries. We have a list of about 20 minor items that needed work on so we just decided to stop here. Since we have never seen the Fleetwood plant (that is the manufacturer of our motorhome), we also took a tour of the plant. It was fascinating to see how the start with a basic chassis and then add the walls, the roof, etc. Hopefully the rest of the parts that they ordered will be in by tomorrow and we can leave by the Wednesday. Time will tell.


Hugs to all of you,
Linda, Barb and Bailey

Summary of our Travels: June 30 through August 14

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This is a summary of where we have been since we left the St. Louis area on June 30. Our major stops were:
A: Leave St. Charles, MO
B: Camp Lake, MN to spend time with Barb's brothers and their families
C: Chetek, WI to visit our friends, Christine and JJ
D: Appleton, WI to visit Mark and Bev (Barb's brother and his wife)
F: Blue Ridge Parkway in W. Va. to have the experience of seeing the beautiful views
G: Chesapeak Bay area to visit Susan, Peter, Nick and Caroline (Linda's daughter and family)

(Note: You can use the "hand" symbol on the map to move it around to see the entire map from spot A to G. Also, if you place the cursor over the letter, it will tell you the destination.)

Visiting the Kids - Yorktown, VA

We have been here for almost three weeks now and have had a great time.

Susan and Peter are settling in with their new home and the kids are actively engaged in all kinds of activities. Our time with them had to be scheduled around Caroline's gymnastics and dance classes and Nick's baseball games, tryouts and batting lessons. Of course, we went with them to many of their activities.

We took a long ride to the Chesapeake Bay area to see the beaches and small towns along the penninsula.

We also went to Colonial Williamsburg and that was really a neat experience.

Everyone is dressed in period costumes and re-enactments of the time period take place on the street all day long. We actually had to go back a second day and still did not get to go through all of the museums. We did see the blacksmith, printer, bookbinder, carpenter, etc. They too are in period costumes and speak to us about their trade as though it is in the 1700's.

Caroline also dressed in a period outfit. She loved twirling in her dress.

Nick spent one night with us at the campground and had a wonderful day fishing. He had to do all of the setting of the bait and removing the fish he caught. We watched and cheered him on.

Tomorrow we start back on the road again. We are heading towards Hershey, PA.

Safe travels to all of you.

Love and hugs,

Linda and Barb

Blue Ridge Parkway

We spent the past two days driving part of the Blue Ridge parkway and Skyline Drive. The parkway and the skyline drive are a total of 469 miles, which we obviously did not drive. We are camping right in the middle of the start of each drive. So we drove south for about 60 miles one day and then north for about 60 miles the next day. It took us about 4 hours each day and many, many pictures........here are just two

Tomorrow we leave for Chesapeake Bay area to visit with the kids.

July 21: Rio Grand, OH

We are currently in Rio Grand, OH, on our way to the Chesapeake Bay area. We are staying at the Bob Evans Farm Campground. We thought it would be fun to be at the home of Bob Evans and his first restuarant.

If you continue on with the blog , you will see a photo journey of our travels for the last month.

Love and hugs to all of you. Safe travels..............

Barb and Linda

June 29 - July 21: Where have we been since leaving St. Louis

So here I am playing catch up , trying to let you know where we have been, who we have seen, and where we are.




A JOURNEY VIA PHOTOS..............June 29-July3:
From STL to Keokuk, IA..Charles City, IA..Mystic Lake Casino, Mn..to Camp Lake, MN



Chief Keokuk





One of several unusual style home in Keokuk, IA




Nauvoo, IL : Old town along Mississippi River




Campground in Charles City, IA







The Gang at Camp Lake


THE BROTHERS + ONE SISTER


THE SPOUSES + ONE SISTER



THE LOON FAMILY.........we visited them daily







On June 8th, we left Camp Lake and began our travels to Chesapeake Bay area. Our plan is to travel leisurely, two weeks and see a few sites along the way.

Just out side of West Lafayette, IN, is the Battle field of the Battle of Tippecanoe.




Dairy Farm near Remington, IN. They had the best ice cream ever !!!



We had a opportunity to watch the birthing of a calf. Click the play button below to see momma try to get new baby to stand up. This baby is about 10 minutes old.






Bob Evans Farm and Campground.......we ate at a Bob Evans for the first time.




Love and hugs. That's all for now.

So Much Has Happened Since We Last Wrote

Well, here it is a month since we last wrote and we have been busy little workers.

• Closing was moved up to June 29...that is today !!!
• We have sold all of the furniture in the condo...to neighbors, friends, Craigs List
• We donated all unsold household items to Independence Center..they made two trips to get the large heavy stuff and we made about 20+ trips with everything else
• We have visited with friends who we have not seen in several years
• We have planned our travels for the next two months, tentatively
• Barb has visited her mom regularly and had several meetings with the nursing directors, etc. to get everything with her mom in smooth working order
• We have spent time with Elsie taking walks and playing dominos
• We have endured the heat and humidity of St. Louis....temps in the high 90's with heat index at 106+
• AND WE LEAVE ST. LOUIS TOMORROW

Our first leg of this trip is to travel through Iowa to get to the Mille Lacs area of Minnesota where we will have a gathering of Barb's brothers and families. Dave has a cabin on one of the lakes and a space cleared for our motorhome. We will be there about 5 days.

So off we go............Love and hugs to all of you,

Barb, Linda and Bailey

We have a contract !!!!!

We received an offer on the condo and have accepted it. Closing is scheduled for the first week of July.

We are just thrilled !!!!!!!

More Chihuly: Missouri Botanical Gardens

Ben and Larry visit St. Louis

My brother, Larry, and his son, Ben, came to St. Louis for a family wedding. We toured the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Here we are with Larry and Ben ready to go to the wedding.

All the Packing and Sorting is Finished

Last Wednesday we finished all of the sorting and packing and shipping. The furniture left in the condo is for display only. When we have a completed contract, we will either sell the furniture or donate all of it to Independence Center.

So this weekend our time is devoted to my cousin's daughter's wedding and to spending time with my brother and nephew and other cousins, who came in town for the wedding.

Will publish pictures at a later date.

Wexford Friends

We had a mini reunion in the Central West End with our friends Jean, Judie, and Maggie. Our plan was to have drinks at Judie's beautiful condo and then go out to dinner.

But the storms came in and watching the thunder and lightening from the 13th floor was so cool; we just ordered a pizza.

Gathering to Celebrate Andrea

Our very dear friend Andrea left us last year.

We gathered at BC's house to celebrate her life.

Her husband Peter and daughter Annie were there.

Andrea was one of those very special persons who would bring joy to your heart and whose laugh reverberated around the room. We will miss her very much but feel joyful to have had her as a part of our lives.

Mother's Day

We had a great weekend

celebrating Mother's Day with Elsie

First we had a Mother/Daughter tea on Saturday and then Mother's Day luncheon on Sunday. She loved the corsage that we got for her.