April, 2001
APRIL 14, 2001 We spent
the first week of April at the Canyon Vistas RV Resort just east of
Mesa/Phoenix, Arizona, at the foot of Superstition Mountain, attending the RV
America Rally. It has been a fantastic experience meeting in person a lot
of people whose websites we have been following for months. Nancy and Pat
Gallagher, who organized the rally, did a fantastic job of pulling
everything together and there was lots of good food and wine, good
entertainment (planned and unplanned) and plenty of information at the seminars.
It was a great experience and we hope to meet up with many of our new
friends again. One evening we enjoyed playing bridge with Barb and Ron
Hofmeister whose path we were able to cross while still in the Toledo area as
they passed through. The two books they have written and their website
"Movin' On" had inspired us years ago to try this RV travel lifestyle. Our
next-door neighbors, Kate and Peter Pleasance flew from London and rented an RV
to attend. They are planning to buy an RV and spend six months a year
visiting around the US. Photos of the rally are available on one of our new
friends' website: www.seeya-downtheroad.com/RVAmericaRally.html
These are the "trees" in the campground...just don't
get too close.
We had some rousing games of
Mexican Train dominoes with some of our new friends.
On
Saturday, April 7, from Phoenix, Mary flew to Columbus, OH to spend some time
with the granddaughters and Tom drove the Bounder to Palm Springs and then on in
to Los Angeles to have the Banks Power System installed on the coach. Tom
says that he could definitely tell the difference in the engine as he drove on
to Las Vegas after the installation. And he was not a "happy camper" when
he had to stop for gas in the middle of a snowstorm on the drive. In
Las Vegas he got settled in the Thousand Trails Preserve and spent time getting
caught up on various tasks. Meanwhile, in Marysville, Mary was spending
time with the ever-growing and changing granddaughters. They spent some
time at the Columbus Zoo, coloring Easter eggs, reading lots of books and just
playing. Matt and Ann are certainly kept busy taking care of the girls,
but we'll agree that they are precious!!! The visit was over far too
quickly, and Mary flew to Las Vegas on Thursday.
Coffey, Merrick and Close
APRIL
21,2001 We're planning to leave Las Vegas
tomorrow, Sunday..and the good news is that we still own a motor home! We
didn't "loose the farm" here in the city that never sleeps! We've
had a fun time visiting many of the casinos playing blackjack and people
watching. Our good friends, Kathy and Dennie Dew flew here on Easter
Sunday and spent five days. We enjoyed Easter dinner outside at the
picnic table - not a common occurrence in Ohio. Tom and I stayed 2 nights
at a hotel with the Dews - sort of a "field trip" for us. On Tuesday we
all spent the afternoon on Lake Mead with Bonnie and Don Wolfe, Whitmer
classmates of Dennie who now live in Las Vegas. They transplanted their
boat from Lake Erie to Lake Mead and this was the second wonderful day we've
spent on it. The water on Lake Mead was like glass that day and not many
boats were out. We had a splendid ride from Callville Bay to Echo Bay and
back again, with a stop for lunch at a marina. Friday was spent doing
housekeeping and maintenance chores and on Saturday we took a "day trip" to
Pahrump and Red Rock Canyon - some beautiful scenery. Photos just don't
look like the real thing!
Dennie and Kathy, Tom, Bonnie and Don
The Las Vegas strip at dusk from the top of the
Stratosphere Tower
"Don's Dinghy" parked at the visitor's dock at Echo
Bay Marina, Lake Mead.
Red Rock Canyon
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April
28,
2001
We've had an adventurous week! We left Las Vegas on Sunday morning, April
22 and headed north into Utah. I think Utah is the prettiest state we've
driven through so far. It has the beautiful mountains and rock formations, but
is also greener than farther south. We spent the night at a new truck stop
near Beaver, and on Monday continued to Salt Lake City. We arrived in Salt
Lake around noon, so had time time to get settled in a really nice RV park right
near the downtown area and still get to do some sightseeing at Temple
Square. We toured several of the beautiful buildings in Temple Square and
viewed two different films depicting parts of the Mormon heritage and
beliefs. The new Conference Center has an auditorium that seats 21,000
people - wow! And, it has a large garden on the roof. Tom and I had
our own private tour given by two young missionaries. There are many
missionaries stationed around Temple Square who are quite friendly and expect to
answer questions and show you around. Our timing in the time of year was
good as the flower beds and trees throughout the Temple Square are in full
bloom...and there were flowers everywhere!
We
stayed in the Temple area until almost 9pm. The Salt Lake downtown has two
large shopping malls as well as many other busy shops and buildings. As we
left the parking garage across from the Mormon Temple we discovered that we had
a flat tire on the rear of the car. It took over an hour for AAA to arrive
to change it. But it was still about 70* and we enjoyed watching the
horse-drawn carriages ride around the Temple Square. When Tom went to get
the tire fixed on Tuesday morning he discovered that both back tires had nails
in them. Tuesday noon Mary attended an organ recital in the Mormon
Tabernacle. It was wonderful music showing off the magnificent pipe
organ. Unfortunately, the Tabernacle Choir is there only on Thursdays and
Sundays.
We left Salt Lake City around 2pm on Tuesday, April
24 and headed north to Ogden where we met our friends Jacques and Sandee
Everhart and their yellow lab, Alyeska, from Perrysburg, OH. They have a
Bounder almost like ours as well as an almost identical Olds Cutlass tow
car. We'll be travel partners through Alaska. The drive north on
I-15 is fantastic. It winds through the mountains and across rivers,
crossing the Continental Divide three or four times. The Bounder just
hummed right along up the mountains and Tom is pleased with the performance of
the Banks Power System that he had installed earlier this month.
As we traveled on north Everharts discovered that
their cell phones and computer were not working. So, over the next several
days we visited Radio Shacks and Verizon stores in several cities trying to get
them working again. Meantime, we stayed at several locations of "Camp
Wall-Mart" in Blackfoot, Idaho and Butte and Great Falls, Montana. While
waiting for things to get fixed we had time to go to a library and check e-mail
and get laundry done as well as stock up before heading into Canada
We left Great Falls on Saturday morning, April
28. On the drive from there to Sweetgrass at the Canadian border, Montana
changed from mountains to prairie. Montana certainly lives up to it's
nickname of "Big Sky Country." There are miles and miles and miles and
miles of "nothing." We passed some ranches along some winding streams and
lots of cattle...pretty isolated!
After we crossed into Canada (without any problems at
Customs other than the agent saying he'd like to use our liquor to make a few
margaritas) we drove into some fierce winds. We can't imagine what it
would be like up here in the winter. We stopped for the night at an RV
park in Lethbridge, Alberta so that we could take advantage of full hookups to
clean out our tanks and fill up with water. From here we'll be heading to
Prince George and then Prince Rupert to catch the ferry up the Inside
Passage.
Stay tuned for more adventures!
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The
west side of the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City.
Mary,
Sandee, Jacques and Aly at the Montana/Utah border which is also the Continental
Divide.
