For everyone who has asked about Olive, you can see that she is adjusting very well. Doug now has to fight for his seat in the sun. Doesn't this just make you want to cuddle her? I guess she still knows it's winter because she hasn't even thought about heading for the doorway. When we have the lift open we close her in the bedroom, just in case.

Weather continues to be very nice. It's so hard to remember that it's winter and that's it's not so nice back home. Sleeping with the windows open is wonderful. Yeah, I'm rubbing it in. Doug is just getting over a cold that I shared with him. Last night we went to a comedy/piano show and last week to a murder mystery dinner. Doug has been doing a little bit of fishing, no luck so far. I'm trying to talk him into going deep sea fishing before we leave here. He hasn't tried out the pool yet, it seems that we are always doing something during the day. They have karaoke by the pool every evening and we haven't made it to that yet either. I've been going to cardmaking/scrapbooking and jewelry making classes. I had a massage - the spa is right across the street and Reiki which is free. Went to a nice beach yesterday - all handicap accessible. Didn't have my camera handy. Then had lunch at dockside restaurant.

It might be cool but at least it's not snowing! Doug is fitting right in, here he is going to check the mail in the morning, just like at home. The sun rises right over this lake and streams in the front windows of the motorhome so this is where I sit to eat my breakfast. The outdoor thermometer read 90 degrees in the sun yesterday so it is definitely improving. Of course in the morning it was 31-32 and all flights out of Sarasota were delayed until the sun could melt the frost off the planes. No de-icing here.

There are so many activities going on here. We went to a show last night - Elvis meets Tom (Jones) Elvis was fantastic. Tom not as much but I never was a Tom Jones fan anyhow. Today I went to a jewelry making class. All free except for materials. We will be picking up a rental car tomorrow so will be able to do some exploring around the area. We've met lots of nice people. we find we can spend the whole day visiting and not get anything done but I guess that's what this relaxing is all about!

We finally made it to FL, unfortunately with the frigid jet stream reaching all the way down here, we still haven't warmed up yet! We are staying in St. Augustine tonight and it is supposed to get down to 22 degrees. We had planned for Daytona but got held up almost an hour in construction (yes on Sunday) so we will still be at "Sun n Fun" in Sarasota early tomorrow and I can finally get a shower and wash my hair! It's been so cold that we couldn't use water in here - still full of antifreeze.

Last night we stayed at the "famous" South of the Border. I'm sure anyone who's driven the I95 route will be familar with this tourist trap but we needed a place with a store so what the heck.

Well, we are now officially "snowbirds". Been keeping an eye on the weather looking for a couple of clear days and we managed to take off early Weds morning (12/30). I think I overwhelmed Doug with all the packing to be done, mainly because there were so many things we couldn't put out till the last minute or they would freeze. We took off 8am with the thermometer reading zero degrees. It was so cold that for the first 2 hours we could see our breath inside while driving. The dashboard heater just couldn't keep up with heating such a large area. Luckily as the sun came up we got warm again. We are heading first to VA to visit Karen & Dakota and then on the Sarasota, FL.

Olive has settled right in without a care. We got her a cage and put her bed in there. We keep it closed only when there is a chance of her slipping out -not very likely in these cold temps. The rest of the time she has been sleeping on the bed of if it was too cold back there she slept in the cage right between us and right in front of the heater. No she's not spoiled.. . . This is her testing out the cage before we left home. Apparently as far as a cat is concerned anyplace she can sleep is fine with her!

Friday morning the storm was over leaving 18" on the gound in Denver. Heading south on Friday morning, the ground was clear and dry within an hour. Even though it was in the 20's, the air didn't feel that cold to us.


Devils Head, heading south on I 25 out of Denver

Morning after the storm.

Pikes Peak

I guess my pics are out of order and I'm to tired to straighten them out.

Took a couple side trips on Route 66. I am amazed that all the run down, empty inns and resturants are just left there to rot in amoung places that are still open.

to NM. Everything is brown , flat and wide open. It got down to 14degrees here last night!! I thought we left the cold behind! What's so different is that it doesn't feel cold. I guess it must be the dry air. Even at 25 degrees in the morning you couldn't see your breath and I only wore a sweater and didn't even feel cold.

As we got into NM the mountains started to flatten out, notice the difference in the left from the right.

Saw some antelope in the plains of NM. These were close to the road, they were a little skittish but didn't run when we stopped. there's a buck out in the field just out of sight.

We didn't go thru too much of TX but boy is it flat!!

The difference between TX & NM is TX is greener in some places.

We are staying in Elk City, OK tonight. notice they are already decorated for Christmas. Either that or they never take down their decorations! BTW, it's halloween! and the temps got up to 77 today. My kind of weather!

Rocky Mountain High

We took off Saturday morning to do a little sightseeing. It was a warm 63 degrees and this was the view as we headed into the mountains.

It seemed that everytime we turned a corner it was more spectacular then the last view. We saw so many log cabins nestled into little nooks and valleys, and way up on the peaks too.

Before long it was snowing, not just on the peaks but swirling around us on the roads too. We got up to almost 12,000' altitude so we were in the clouds and the temp dropped to 33 degrees. the sun was still shining and it just lit up some of those peaks.

When we thought we had reached the top of the pass, I expected to see lots of peaks and instead there were just wide open meadows. In one we saw a herd of antlelope.

So glad we took the time to take another 5 hour ride after sitting for the past 6 days. The scenery was beautiful. At one point I said to Doug the mountains are so "rocky". Well I guess that's why they are called the Rocky Mountains.

We made it!

This was our first view of the Rockies as we neared Denver. We arrived in Englewood, CO on Friday afternoon. This is Mountain time so we are now 2 hours behind home. We had to find our apartment - went to the wrong place first- and then went to get groceries and finally I laid down and put my feet up and we both rested, in fact slept 2 hours over in the morning. Felt good!

Going through KS was flat and straight. And very brown. The whole landscape was varying shades of brown, gold and rust. And no trees. When we saw a cluster of trees there was usually a house in the midst of them or sometimes there was a long row of fir trees planted as a wind break. I actually enjoyed the trip though, maybe because it was so different from what we are used to.

And just a little while later it looked like this, snow, lot too much 3-4" but the expanse of white with the sun shining on it was blinding!

BTW, I think Ohio had the prettiest fall colors.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Stayed in Greenfield, IN, just before Indianapolis on I70. Got up to a beautiful morning sunny and in the 50’s.
We discussed if we should take the time to try to view Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) when a gal from the hotel mentioned that there would be 50,000 kids from FFA here for a convention but she said the convention center was on the other side of the city so we should be ok.

We took off and saw a sign that said construction delays on the road we wanted to take so we plugged the address into TomTom and took off thru the city. Got there with no wrong turns. But we saw hundreds of kids waiting in line for tours. Well I wanted to at least see the gift shop so we made our way inside and stopped at the desk to ask if we could get tickets for a tour. She immediately recognized that we’d need a handicap bus and called out to see if one was available. But they were all already on the track. Then she called someone else and next thing we knew we were asked if we had our own handicap vehicle so she was trying to find a bus driver to take us. None were available. So she says wait one more minute we are going to get a CD you can play as you drive. We looked at each other with our mouths open. A wonderful lady named Ellen came out and said she would ride with us. (Doug had to hustle to repack the car to make room for her!) Apparently she had some pull because every time we got stopped she just said “tell them Ellen said it’s ok”

So bottom line is WE GOT TO DRIVE OURSELVES AROUND THE IMS TRACK!!!! It was very cool. We saw the winners circle, and I took a picture of the bricks at the start/finish line. The backstretch was soo long. We went down pit lane and I told Doug not to speed. (see picture) Actually we only went 20mph. There’s a lot of history there, the track is 100 years old. A lot of the stands are rusty and the track was not as wide as I expected it would be but overall it was still pretty exciting. Two other employees couldn't believe they let us do that, they said that rarely happens.

So we finished up the day just outside of St Louis, MO. Weather got up to 70 yesterday and today. Not too bad!

The colors were beautiful this year, unfortunately I never got a chance to get out and take pictures except for this one off our back deck. It seemed that every window I looked out of had gorgeous fall colors.

Well, most of the back yard is finished. We just put the deck on the back with a ramp so that I have access from both the bedroom and the sunroom. Here is Olive waiting at the bedroom doors. We have six doors in the house and she never knows which one she should use.

The patio was completed this summer but I couldn't use it till the ramp was finished. In just the last couple weeks we have enjoyed sitting out back very very much.And now I have raised planter boxes so next summer I will finally be able to garden again. We just set them down today so needs some landscaping but soon it will be ready to go.

Where did Summer go???

We finally took the motorhome out for a trial run. We drove up to a campgound in Rumney NH called River...something. It was pretty deserted this time of year but had everything we needed for our maiden voyage. Everything worked great, we did learn that we need to be very level for the lift to reach the ground. The first site we tried was a little uneven. Not a problem as far as leveling the motor home but a big problem when the lift ended about 6" off the ground. Although it is nice enough to stay inside all the time, I really enjoy the sunshine too much to do that.

I was able to use the shower with no problem. The bed was comfortable. We did cheat on meals and brought 2 microwaveable dinners. So we didn't really try out the stove.

I had hoped we'd have another opportunity to go somewhere again but with so much going on, there won't be much time. Doug was getting pretty comfortable driving. He does need to practice backing up though. I think he does OK but in case we get in a predicament, a little practice goes a long way!