Making good progess

We arrived yesterday in Holbrook AZ so we are well ahead of the pace that we like to maintain. Our route to Goodyear AZ takes us through Flagstaff AZ so we have been tracking the weather since it is higher in the mountains and although it will be cold there is no precipitation mentioned for our travel day through the area. One forecast had snow a couple of days after our planned driving day so we sped up our pace and went to 2 nights at each place instead of 3 or 4. We plan to leave tomorrow for Goodyear and after a chilly night here it should be in the 40's and sunny through Flagstaff and then in the 70's in Goodyear.

Moving at a faster pace has meant very little sightseeing although we have been able to make new friends and catch up with a few old friends and of course eating at some of our favorite places. Shortly after we arrived in El Reno OK a brand new 2011 Carri-Lite fifth wheel pulled in next to us at the KOA park. If you have been to this park you know that we really mean 'next' to us as we were jammed in there. We met and talked with the owner, Bob from Washington, and he was the nicest guy. We took tours of our 5ers since both are made by Carriage. Our Cameo is the entry level model from Carriage. We saw a lot of similarities in both units but Bob from WA had a couple of options that we thought about getting that being a dishwasher and a fireplace. We can add those options later if we want so we have some thinking to do.

Our next stop was Amarillo where we spent a couple of extra days since it was the weekend and we like to eat at Abuelos, Famous Dave's and Rudy's while there. We did have some of the best pulled pork that we have ever had and it was not at a restaurant. Bob used to work with Ed and they invited us over for supper. Ed put the pork in the smoker for about 18 hours and it was wonderful. Diane fixed beans, cole slaw and to die for potato salad. Bob made a pumpkin ribbon cake for dessert. We then spent the rest of the evening just catching up, all in all great food and great people. On our last day there who should pull into the park but Bob from WA. We had told him about the park we were staying at and there he was. Had a nice chat with him comparing the winds driving and the effect on the mileage.We also got a great picture of a sunset and you know how we like sunsets.

Our last day in Amarillo was when we got the forecast that snow could happen in Flagstaff so we picked up the pace. We only stayed two nights in Albuquerque but were still able to eat at a couple of our favorite places there, La Salita and the Range Cafe. Bob also had lunch with TC another friend that he worked with for many years. While in Holbrook we were able to eat at the Turquoise Room at the La Posada Hotel in nearby Winslow. We have written about this place before and it was as good or even better than we remember. Sometimes you can build up a place so much in your mind that when you finally visit there again you are disappointed. This does not happen for the truly great places of which the Turquoise Room is easily on that list.

Picking up the pace made us realize that we have quite a few travel modes; 

'mad dash to get there' - every two days, 

'need to get there' - every 3-4 days, 

'enjoying the road' - every 1-2 weeks. 

We also have the 'take up residence' mode which means we will stay longer than a month or two which we will do in Goodyear AZ this winter since our experience last winter traveling around was not so great. In extremely rare cases we may have the 'emergency' mode which would be every day in case we needed to avoid weather or for other reasons.

It will be awhile before we get to the 'moseying' mode which will be to stay at a each place for a month. Right now we have so much that we want to see that the 'moseying' mode just won't work for us now. Whatever the mode we know realize that we do better if plan on 200 miles driving a day with 250 miles a day our maximum.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

You would have thought we were rookies today

We got a little overconfident today during our preparations for departure. We first noticed it when we went outside and luckily looked at the roof and our satellite dish and TV antenna were both still up. When we let the slide out so we could get to the satellite controls we noticed that the printer was still in the overhead cabinet above the couch. We then realized that the baby locks on the cabinets had also not been put on.

We finally got that straightened out and put the slides back in and locked the door and stowed the stairs yet again. Bob noticed a tremendous lack of power while trying to leave the park. If you have followed closely you probably have figured it out by now and no it wasn't the parking brake, it was that the rotochocks where still between the tires of the fifth wheel.

You would have to think that this is the end of the story but you would be wrong. When we got to Amarillo and setup we realized that we had left the switch for the electric water heater on. Like we said we were overconfident since we had worked on this routine twice before in the last few days. The big difference is that we used our printed checklist on those two departures. We guess we felt we just didn't need them this time, boy were we wrong.

That checklist will be used every time we depart from now on.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Now that's what we were talking about!

When we first started talking about the full-time RV lifestyle we vowed that we would have nice cool days eating at truly unique places to eat and visiting neat places. Well today was one of those "now that's what we were talking about" moments. The day started out a little chilly but warmed up nicely to 70 with clear blue skies.

We went to lunch at Sid's Diner in El Reno OK. We saw this diner on a 'Man Versus Food' episode on the Travel Channel. We wanted to try one of their famous onion burgers and man were they wonderful. The onions are fried to perfection and then melded to a great burger. The buns were toasted on the flat top making this one of the best burgers we have ever had. The fries were fresh cut with the skins on and although very small in cross section they were cooked to perfection. Unless you want to eat about 5 pounds of potatoes get the 1/2 order. Jo and I split the 1/2 order and it was enough fries. As we were leaving the owner Marty asked where we were from because he didn't recognize us. We had noticed that Marty knew everybody on a first name basis so this did not surprise us. He told us that he has been running this place for 40 years and that he named it after his father. The place was decorated with old pictures that we swear were taken of our families all those years ago, it was really neat. We signed his book and put a push pin in the map on the wall where we were from. We are already planning on stopping here on our way back from Arizona to the KC area. This is a great small town 'dive' that deserves a visit. In fact Marty told us that a couple of guys from Wisconsin flew down to eat there and then kill a little time and then eat at Cattlemen's in Oklahoma City before flying back. Both places were featured on 'Man Versus Food'.

After lunch we went to historic Fort Reno which was named in February 1876 by General Phil Sheridan, in honor of his dear friend Major General Jesse L. Reno, a Virginian, who was killed in the Civil War in 1863 at the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland. We had no idea of the historical significance of this place. From the conflicts with the Native Americans to WWI to being a prisoner of war camp for German soldiers from North Africa. Horse lovers will also get a kick out of this place. In 1908, Fort Reno became one of three Army Quartermaster Remount Stations for the military, a role which it served through 1947. Specialized horse breeding and training of pack mules became the central focus of activity at Fort Reno.The sire of Seabiscuit was at Fort Reno and Black Jack, the spirited riderless ceremonial horse used in the funeral processions of  Presidents Hoover, Kennedy, and Johnson, and General MacArthur was raised and trained at Fort Reno. Right now you can only tour the Visitor's Center and the Chapel but this is still a worthwhile stop, admission is free although a donation is greatly appreciated.

After over a year of full-timing we realize that we will not always have days like this but when they do happen it makes them even more special.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

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New "States visited while full-timers" map

We have added Kansas to our States visiting while full-timing as shown on the map in the left pane of our blog. This is a momentous occasion since this is the first state added in 8 months.We have big plans to add more states next summer and fall but one thing we have learned in this lifestyle is that you really can have no definite plans because things can change so quickly. Reminds us of the Yiddish proverb, "Man Plans, God Laughs".

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

On the road again!

After nearly 7 months in one spot in the Kansas City area we are now en route to Arizona. Our idea of travel is from 10a to 2p and between 200-250 miles and then spend 3 nights so that both us and our three cats can recover. We have a reservation in the Phoenix area on November 15th so that is our target.

We are currently in Wichita Kansas and are leaving today for Oklahoma City. We can confirm again that Abuelo's is a great place to eat as there is one in Wichita. One of the best chile rellenos that we have had. We were planning on going to the Zoo but it was too cold and windy so we went to our home away from home, Wal-Mart for some shopping.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Sunsets

When we look at a sunset in awesome wonder we are filled with joy and peace. We love taking sunset pictures across the country. Here are a couple of our favorites.

Concerts

Continuing our role as tourists in our old hometown we recently saw a couple of concerts in the Kansas City area; the America's Got Talent Tour and Michael Bolton. The AGT Tour was at the Midland Theatre in downtown Kansas City MO built in 1927. In 2008 the theatre was renovated to make it more multi-purpose. What that meant for us the concert goers is that the seats on the main floor were removed along with the tiered floor. We had the misfortune of being in the last row of one of the flat sections on the man floor and it seemed like to us that it sloped upwards making seeing the stage difficult at best.

This reduced our overall enjoyment especially for the acts that you would want to see the whole stage, Patrick and Anna the young dancers, Michael Grasso the magician, and the dance troupe Young Beast Society. This was billed as the Top 10 finalists from the show and we only bought tickets since we thought Jackie Evancho, the 10 year old girl who sings opera like an angel, was going to be there since she finished 2nd. During the intro neither one of us saw Jackie on the screen but we thought we must have missed her due to all the people getting seated late. So we go through the whole show expecting Jackie to be next and then the show ended with no Jackie and we were disappointed. We enjoyed the show and not to take anything away from all of the acts because Christina and Ali, Fighting Gravity, and Michael Grimm were excellent but Jackie was the main reason we bought the tickets because we wanted to hear her in person.

We next saw Michael Bolton at Yardley Hall, the auditorium at Johnson County Community College and the differences were striking. We paid much less for the tickets and parking was also a lot less. We could have chosen to park for free but we are glad that we paid because there were a lot of students at evening classes and the free parking was quite a hassle. The acoustics were also better than the Midland. Michael sang a wide range of songs from his early ones to Sinatra tunes and vintage ones like 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay' and an opera song "Nessum Dorma". It was an incredible concert and we were glad we went. It also made us even more disappointed that Jackie Evancho was not at the AGT Tour performance.

So caveat emptor if you are planning on seeing the AGT Tour and if you get the chance to see Michael Bolton on his tour you will see an excellent concert.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Being a tourist in your hometown

Surprisingly one of the toughest things we have found to date in our full-timing lifestyle is how to be a tourist in your hometown. The surroundings are so familiar that we easily fell into our old routine instead of our on the road routine where we research the area before we get there and then gather info once we get there.

So we recently decided to treat the Kansas City area like a stopover on our journey instead of our home town. We may be in our home town but we have more time to see some of the sights now than when we were working. That is not to say that we have not visited the sites in the area as we have been to the Truman Presidential Library, the Kansas City Museum, the Zoo, the Steamboat Arabia and others but we haven't done much this extended visit.

With that in mind we decided to return to the Zoo to see the new polar bear exhibit at the Kansas City Zoo, The Polar Bear Passage. We watched as the polar bear named Nikita swam in his 140,000 gallon 65 degree pool and explored the 10,000 square feet exhibit space. We were amazed at how close we were and how active he was diving underwater and then putting his paws on the glass right in front of you and pushing off and back stroking. We also saw feeding time and watched as Nikita ate some of his 25 pounds of food each day.

We hope to do more sightseeing before we head in mid-November to Arizona for the winter. For more details on what to see, eat and do in the Kansas City area you can read our blog entry, Kansas City 

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Changes to 'Our Favorite Things! (Food)'

Sadly the Main Street Inn in Grandview MO has closed after over 50 years in business due to the bad economy. We feel like we have lost a good friend as we have been going there for over 30 years. The food there was amazing, the best tenderloin and the best filet from our list but everything was good. We have to do some research to find contenders for best tenderloin and filet.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

We just voted!

As full-timers we like every American are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". To make sure we live in a country that is free we exercised our right to participate in our Republic by voting. It was a fairly easy process. We accessed the form to request a mail in ballot online. We printed it and filled it out and then mailed it to Polk County Texas. In a few days we received our ballots. We filled them out and mailed them today.

So in the last year we have switched our residency to Texas and our new Texas driver's licenses. We obviously registered to vote at the same time. Jo has already been called for jury duty but a phone call explaining that we were full-time RVers currently out of state removed her from the jury pool list. Finally we were able to take part in the 2010 Census.

Even though we are full-timers we still have the same routine happenings that we had when we owned our sticks and bricks.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

One Year Anniversary of Full-timing

September 10th marks the one year anniversary of our full-timing. We cannot believe it has been a year since we first moved into our new home and spent the first night there with the cats. We started out with 2 months at the Peculiar Park Place RV Park south of Kansas City to get used to our new digs. We then spent 5 months on the road and arrived back in Peculiar in early April. What was supposed to be a couple months stay has since turned into a 5 months stay due to medical issues.

One might think those are some discouraging statistics; 7 months in the same spot and 5 months traveling, and we do have to admit that at times we got a little disappointed and sometimes it did show. The most frustrating thing was that it was so unknown. Just when we thought we might be leaving Bob would start looking at the route and then BAM we would be staying for another month. This we are leaving, nope we are staying, cycled a number of times throughout our stay. But through all that we were much more worried about the medical issues than anything else. We were in a park that was close to friends and family and doctors and some of our favorite eating places so it could have been much worse. Plus we have the added flexibility of once we get the all clear and decide to leave we can leave the next day.

Throughout our one year stay we have to say that our new home, our condo on wheels, has performed very well. We have endured temperatures as lows at 17 degrees and as high as 105 with a heat index of 121 and yet we have been comfortable while inside. We have endured winds as high as 50 mph while driving and 70 mph while parked and yet we have felt stable. We have been rained on and yet we have stayed dry. We have yet to be snowed on but we are sure that happen.

We have to say that we jammed a lot of sightseeing into 5 months of travel. We walked on the deck of an aircraft carrier that was the same class of carrier that Bob's dad served on in WWII. We saw a 6' scale model of the ship that Jo's dad served on in WWII at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg TX. We visited the Alamo and some great small town museums like the Luna Mimbres Museum in downtown Deming NM. We visited the site of the only ground invasion of the United States after the War of 1812 and that was Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus NM. We toured the Fulton Mansion in Fulton TX which was built strong enough to survive hurricanes. We also saw great natural wonders like National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks.

With all this crammed into 5 months we are excited to see how much we can fit into even more time traveling the next 12 months.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

You can subscribe to this blog posts and/or comments by making selections under 'Subscribe To' or you can join the yahoo group which will notify you whenever a post is made,

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

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In-N-Out versus Five Guys

We recently ate at our first Five Guys burger place and we have to say it reminded us a lot of the In-N-Out burger places that we have eaten at. In-N-Out started out in a single location in Baldwin Park CA in the 40's and instantly became a hit. The owners were reluctant to expand because they wanted to ensure a quality product. The first 200 locations were all within a days drive of the headquarters. As they get close to 250 locations that restriction has eased a little and locations are currently planned in Texas.

Five Guys started out 40 years later in Washington DC and has a more aggressive expansion plan and is already at over 600 locations. To us diehard In-N-Out fans our first impression was that Five Guys copied a lot from In-N-Out. Both offer a very limited menu with only fresh hamburger that is never frozen. Both offer fresh cut french fries. While you could see the potato station at In-N-Out the sacks for fresh potatoes were evident at Five Guys. Five Guys does offer free toppings and that includes all the toppings they offer from the usual suspects to jalapenos and A-1 sauce. Five Guys also offers hot dogs.

In-N-Out offers both inside and outside seating while Five Guys only offered inside seating at the location we ate at. We have to give the nod to In-N-Out as far as seating goes. The entire inside of Five Guys was sound reflecting material which made for a very noisy dining experience. When there were more people behind the counter than customers it was still incredibly noisy with music that really was not that loud. As the place filled the noise became unbearable and we finished our meal with another couple and then went outside so we could finish our conversation.

OK enough already for the minutia how was the burger and fries? Five Guys offers a very good burger but in our opinion In-N-Out is better. Bob felt strongly that In-N-Out was better and Jo was on the fence (BTW Jo feels that the burgers at Culvers may be even better). Not sure if it is the bun, which is better at In-N-Out, or the meat or the cheese but In-N-Out was still better. Five Guys has a lot of posters stating best burger in a lot of locations but if you pay close attention most if not all these places do not have an In-N-Out to compete with. As far as the fries goes we are not sure which one is better than the other. For those interested the best fries we have had is at Sneads BBQ in Belton MO which is a suburb of Kansas City.

We are talking that since we will be wintering in the Phoenix area and both franchises have locations there that we will do a lunch one place and supper the same day so we can really give a good evaluation. This is purely for scientific reasons only :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Whole lotta eating!!!

August is Bob's birthday month and no we won't tell you how old he is! Through the years we have signed up for a lot of frequent quest programs or e-clubs at various restaurants. As Bob's birthday approached the emails started flowing in with offers of free food. The nice thing about these programs is that by joining them Bob got a free entree or money off just for signing up..

So far we have eaten at McCormick and Schmicks which gives you $30 on your birthday. Of all the offers this is the only one you have to pay to join but the fee is immediately refunded in a dining certificate of the same value. Bob joined this program while he was still working and traveling a lot on business. The program used to be a lot better but the bad economy has forced them to stop giving the spouse a free birthday gift.

All the other e-clubs are free to join and the offers received include a breakfast at First Watch, a stir fry meal at BD's, a dessert at Fridays, $10 off a $20 check at Mimi's, coffee or tea at Borders, and a free buffet at Ryan's.

We recommend signing up for the frequent quest programs or e-clubs at these restaurants and we are sure there are more. It is a great way to save a little money which is a good thing and an excuse to eat at some of our favorite places to eat which is a great thing.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

Amarillo 2010 Stopover

Catching up on some of our visits from earlier this year as we trekked from Arizona to Missouri. We hope to have all of the stops covered before we leave Missouri, whenever that will be. We then hope to be more current in our posting. We could probably have a separate post on how much time we spend on blogs, both on working on ours but reading the blogs of fellow RV'ers. There are so many blogs that offer unique perspectives on traveling, living in an RV, and dining. We have just added some of the blogs we are reading to the main page of our blog if you are interested.

Both of us have traveled to Amarillo on business before and we were both amazed at how different it was. And by different we mean better. There are more restaurants that you might recognize, some good local ones and this time we actually had time to do some sightseeing. We were able to get our Rudy's Country Store and BBQ fix for some of the best leanest brisket we have ever had. Along with that we sampled the bread pudding at Famous Daves which is on our 'best of' food list. We also ate at a Taco Bueno for the first time in 5 months.

We ate at Abuelo's for the very first time even though there is a location in the northern part of the Kansas City metro area and we wanted to eat there for awhile. What is it about traveling that makes it easier to eat at places that also happen to be in your area? We both got the chile relleno and definitely want to eat here again at maybe one of their many locations across the country including the Phoenix area where we plan to spend this winter.

For sightseeing we visited Palo Duro Canyon State Park which is located in the Texas Panhandle near Amarillo. The drive is about 25 miles and it is what you would expect, flat nothingness as far as the eye could see. We we wondering if we were on a snipe hunt because we never saw anything that would indicate that a canyon was nearby but then WHAM we were right on top of it. The Canyon is 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide, and has a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. Its elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level and is the second largest canyon in the United States. We thought it was neat that you could drive through the canyon all the way to the bottom and back up. Early Spanish Explorers dubbed the canyon "Palo Duro" which is Spanish for "hard wood" in reference to the abundant mesquite and juniper trees.

Our last sightseeing adventure we kept seeing from the road as we went from our RV Park (more on that later) to town. There were always cars parked on the frontage road and stubby things sticking out of the ground in the nearby field. Turns out it was the 'Cadillac Ranch', a collection of assembled used Cadillacs representing the "Golden Age" of American Automobiles (1949 through 1963). The ten graffiti-covered cars are half-buried, nose-down, facing west "at the same angle as the Cheops' pyramids." There is no charge and the use of spray paint is not discouraged.

While in Amarillo we stayed at the Oasis RV Resort and we really liked the park. It was everything that we like; full hookups, paved roads, concrete pads, clean and well maintained. The price was very nice also, pay for 2 nights get the third night free. At the clubhouse food was catered in for breakfast and for supper at a reasonable price. The only thing we did not like about the park, and it is something they have no control over, and that is the wind. If you remember the recent post on our new bird feeder it was real windy and that is one thing that has not changed since we have been coming to this area.

In closing we would like to say to all of our old coworkers who happen to read this blog do not hesitate to go to Amarillo for a business trip or a vacation, give it a chance.

Photos from this brief visit have been added to flickr.com.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

Albuquerque NM 2010 Stopover

We have blogged about our love for New Mexico and specifically the Albuquerque area before, http://bobandjotravelblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/albuquerque.html, so this will be a brief entry. For more details you can refer to the earlier post.

This was a brief stopover. We camped at the Stagecoach RV Park which has an excellent view of the Sandia Mountains and was the recommendation of our friends Ed & Diane Heath who incidentally were in town on a business trip so we were able to meet up with them at one of my old time favorites in the area, Sadies. We say old time favorite because when it was in the bowling alley years and years ago it was our favorite in the area. It still is good but not our favorite.

Our favorite now would have to be La Salita where Bob met an old friend TC Hobson for lunch one day and we went back for lunch another day. The chile rellenos there are some of the best we have ever had. A close second on the favorite list is the Range Cafe in nearby Bernalillo. Bob had a green chile cheeseburger with green chile mac-n-cheese which were excellent. Another favorite there is the Range Chicken. You cannot go wrong with the food in Albuquerque that is for sure.

A couple of photos from this brief visit have been added to flickr.com.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

You can subscribe to this blog posts and/or comments by making selections under 'Subscribe To' or you can join the yahoo group which will notify you whenever a post is made,

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You can also signup to be a Follower of this blog.

NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobandjotravel/sets/

New bird feeder

The observant reader will notice that we have a new bird feeder. We got the first one for the cats but we are getting as much or more enjoyment than the cats. We have seen American Goldfinch, Indigo Bunting, Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Woodpecker, Oriole, Cardinal and others since we have put up the new feeder when we arrived in the Kansas City area. Yes we are still in the same place due to Jo's slow recovery from her surgery. Only Jo could have a successful surgery but still have the same symptoms as before :-(

What was supposed to be a two and a half months stay has turned into at least a five month stay and some of the hottest and humid days we can ever remember and we lived in the KC area for many years before we started full-timing. The weather though has not dampened our spirits that much since we are used to summers in this area and we have a well insulated fifth wheel with two air conditioners so we are comfortable even in this heat. If either one of us ever needs a convalescing period we hope it is in this area because we have friends and family and our regular doctors. We are most discouraged by Jo not feeling any better than she did before the surgery and want to head somewhere as soon as we can but not before we know for sure.

We have a new bird feeder because the old one was destroyed by the high winds in Amarillo. You have to have been in Amarillo to truly understand because man it is real windy there. Bob was trying to put the bird feeder up and it slipped out of his hand as he tried to balance himself on the ladder in a particularly strong wind gust. The feeder hit the pavement and then did cartwheels as it slowly broke apart. It must have hit the pavement at least ten times before coming to rest in a number of places. Then the pieces kept getting blown by the wind as Bob reached down to pick them up. When finally all the pieces were in hand Bob triumphantly beat the remaining carcass against the dumpster in defiance. Another lesson learned to not try to hang the bird feeder in high winds :-)

The bird feeder in the picture is actually the second bird feeder purchased to replace the original one. That bird feeder did not hang very well from the ladder so it is now full of seed hanging from a branch outside the rear of the fifth wheel near the one in the picture. The Cardinals and the Buntings like that one while the Goldfinches like the tubular one. The Tufted Titmouse and Chickadees use both feeders. The final addition to our backyard bird habitat is a hanging suet feeder. Bob was working on our storage unit and came across it so it is now hanging from a branch just past the other two feeders, all visible from the back windows.

We know the birds are going to miss us if we can ever leave because the feeder that the Cardinals like needed cleaning and refilling. While doing this we got some uncomplimentary chirps from one of the female Cardinals. That's all Bob needs is another female to tell him what to do next, isn't a wife and two female cats enough :- )

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

121 comfort index

121, that was the 'comfort' index just recently where we are currently located in the Kansas City area. If it is over 120 shouldn't it be the 'discomfort' index?

Luckily we bought a second air conditioner for the bedroom and we are glad that we did. Along with that we have the dual pane windows and the astro foil insulation. In the 10 months we have owned our Condo on Wheels and have been full-timing we have seen temperatures as low as 17 degrees and as high as the aforementioned comfort index and have been comfortable in all extremes. We also have been in some noisy parks that we know the dual pane windows have helped cut down the noise. Plus they reduce the condensation insideNow we when we started out full-timing we PLANNED on daytime temps in the 70's and overnight in the 50's and you can see how well that worked out. I am sure you have heard the old Yiddish Proverb, 'Man plans, God laughs'!.

Now we when we started out full-timing we PLANNED on daytime temps in the 70's and overnight in the 50's and you can see how well that worked out. I am sure you have heard the old Yiddish Proverb, 'Man plans, God laughs'!

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

Holbrook, Arizona 2010 Stopover (and Winslow, Arizona too)

We cannot believe how much activity we jammed into this short stopover visit. About 20 miles away is an entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park on Route 180. Taking this entrance will allow you to see the Petrified Forest first and then the Painted Desert which we guess technically is part of the Petrified Forest National Park.

At this entrance Jo was able to buy a Golden Age Passport which for $10 got both of us into that park and all parks in the future. Add to that a discount on RV campgrounds and considering it would have cost us $10 just for a day pass that day it is a really good deal. Bob commented to Jo that she was becoming even more attractive and that maybe, just maybe, this marriage might last :-) We got a chuckle out of that and for those keeping track we just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary and 22 years of knowing each other.

We spent a day going through the Petrified Forest National Park/Painted Desert. The next day we went about 30 miles to Winslow AZ because we had good things about the restaurant in the La Posada Hotel. All we can say is WOW this is now one of our favorite places to eat and was the reason for an earlier blog posting about a so-called weather delay (http://bobandjotravelblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/weather-delay-kinda.html) that really was an excuse to eat one more time in the Turquoise Room. You cannot go wrong with Arizona Green Chile Eggs or french toast or the corn maiden. Whatever you do do not leave the place without trying prickly pear bread pudding. We also did some time 'Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona" at a site dedicated to the Eagles song. This is definitely a place we want to visit again. For more detailed information read on.

Petrified wood was formed over 200 million years ago when logs washed into an ancient river system and were buried quick enough and deep enough by massive amounts of sediment and debris also carried in the water, that oxygen was cut off and decay slowed to a process that would now take centuries. Minerals, including silica dissolved from volcanic ash, absorbed into the porous wood over hundreds and thousands of years crystallized within the cellular structure, replacing the organic material as it broke down over time. Sometimes crushing or decay left cracks in the logs. Here is an interesting fact, P\petrified wood at Petrified Forest National Park is almost solid quartz, weighing in at 168 pounds per cubic foot. It's so hard, you can only cut it with a diamond tipped saw!

Petrified wood was used by the ancestral Puebloan people for tools like arrowheads, knives and scrapers. But they also used it as building material. Be sure and visit Agate House which is a small, eight-room pueblo once built with blocks of petrified wood laid in a clay mortar.

The colorful layers of the painted desert formed in the triassic period when meandering tropical rivers deposted layers of mud and clay. Some of these layers are due to volcanic ash choking up the rivers and altering to clay.

The La Posada Hotel, the “last great railroad hotel,” was built in 1929 for the Santa Fe Railway, La Posada is truly one of America’s treasures. La Posada embodies the visions of both Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, the hotel’s renowned architect, and Allan Affeldt, its current owner. But the story really begins with Fred Harvey, who “civilized the west” by introducing linen, silverware, china, crystal, and impeccable service to railroad travel. (He was so legendary that MGM made a movie called The Harvey Girls starring Judy Garland.) Harvey developed and ran all the hotels and restaurants of the Santa Fe Railway, eventually controlling a hospitality empire that spanned the continent.

In the 1920s, Harvey decided to build a major hotel in the center of northern Arizona. “La Posada”—the Resting Place—was to be the finest in the Southwest. Construction costs alone exceeded $1 million in 1929. Total budget with grounds and furnishings was rumored at $2 million (about $40 million in today’s dollars). They chose Winslow, then (as now) the Arizona headquarters for the Santa Fe Railway. Winslow was ideally situated for a resort hotel since everything to see and do in northern Arizona is a comfortable day’s drive. They asked Colter to design the new hotel.

Colter worked for the Fred Harvey Company from 1905 until her retirement in the 1950s. Although famous for her magnificent buildings at the Grand Canyon, she considered La Posada her masterpiece. Here she was able to design or select everything from the structures to the landscape, furniture, maids’ costumes, and dinner china. Many people consider this the most important and most beautiful building in the Southwest. We really enjoyed just walking through the hotel.

This is definitely a place we will visit again, in fact we plan to on our way back to the Phoenix area for winter this year. We will probably stay closer to Winslow since the Turquoise Room will be visited time and time again along with the Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Meteor Crater.

Photos from this visit have been added to flickr.com.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

Goodyear AZ 2010 (Phoenix area)

Our time in Goodyear Arizona just west of Phoenix was where we really enjoyed our lifestyle change for an extended period of time. Living in the RV was never the issue thankfully. We already have posted on how wonderful the weather there was and to be honest that contributed greatly to our feelings. An El Nino year is not recommended to be your first year of full-time RV living is all we will say here. We also enjoyed a Hawaiian Luau and we posted on that, it was hard to imagine it was winter time when we were outside in shorts and sweating by the pool and palm trees. We also already posted our exciting day at the Cactus League, we had so much fun and the weather was so good that even professional baseball was enjoyable : )

Being there for a month and a half we did not do as much sightseeing as you would think. We mostly enjoyed the good weather, it was nice to sit outside in our lawn chairs and read and just relax. We drove up to South Mountain Park which is the largest city park in the world to get a panoramic view of the area. We love zoos so we went to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium which was neat. We saw some old planes and learned some history at the Commemorative Air Museum. We toured the Arizona Cardinals Stadium which is officially named the University of Phoenix Stadium and saw how the playing field is brought in for games and rolled outside after. We also visited the Hall of Flame Firefighting Museum where we saw an incredible collection of firefighting vehicles dating back to 1725 and other firefighting gear.

We are not sure whether to call this next place a sightseeing stop or an eating stop, Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa AZ. Has to be a sightseeing spot because it houses the world's largest Wurlitzer Theater/Theatre Pipe Organ which is played throughout the day but it also serves some pretty good pizza. We found some new all time favorites to eat at while in Goodyear. The one most visited is TJ's Homestyle Restaurant and mostly for breakfast. Paradise Bakery was the next most visited place which serves a menu similar to Panera Bread but maybe a little better. Diners Drive Inns and Dives led us to Giuseppe's and La Piazza and they both were excellent. Mexican food is pretty good in the area as you can imagine. The best was probably in the deli at the Food City grocery store although Garcia's and Manuel's were also good. We also ate at some chains that we really like. Among the chains in the area are Cracker Barrel, Old Spaghetti Factory, McCormick and Schmicks, and In-and-Out to name a few.

This is definitely a place we will visit again, in fact we plan to winter there this year.

Photos from this visit have been added to flickr.com.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

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You gotta try this!

We know we have not blogged for awhile but things have not changed too much for us. We are still in Peculiar MO in the Kansas City area. Our next big blog entry will probably be about the Phoenix area and it will be a big post and lots of pictures on Flickr since we spent a month and a half there.

What you have to try is the Memphis Chicken at Bob Evans. We know that some of our readers don't like chain restaurants but what they fail to realize is that the chain restaurants started out small and grew bigger because the food was good. We are not the diehard BBQ police either as we don't care how the preparation is, dry rub or wet rub, hickory or mesquite, etc. nor do we care if a chain restaurant, basically our mantra is if the food is good we go.

For a limited time Memphis Chicken is available at Bob Evans. You can get $1 off the regular price on Monday for what they call Memphis Mondays. We have been there for the last two Mondays, that is how good it is. As good as the chicken is Memphis Chicken is served with some of the best mac-n-cheese and sweet potato fries we have ever had. The portions are also huge, both times the two piece meal was both breasts. The first time we ate there we swear the breasts were from a Capon or a very large Cornish Cross. Needless to say we get at least two meals out of each order.

For those interested Capons are castrated roosters that are allowed to grow to almost turkey size and have very tender, flavorful meat. Bob used to raise Cornish Cross chickens when he was a youngster because they are so versatile. At 2-3 pounds they become the cornish hens you buy in the store. At 8 weeks you can butcher them as fryers at between 4 and 6 pounds. If you wait until 12-13 weeks they will weigh about 10-12 pounds. Then hens are great egg layers too, for about 6 months straight 48 hens layed 49 eggs a day we kid you not.

We also found out a tidbit about chain restaurants that we did not know. About 5 years ago Bob Evans bought the Mimi's chain which we also like to eat at, especially for breakfast. The midwest is the dividing line so far, Mimi's are found west of here and Bob Evans are found east of here. The Kansas City area is one lucky area where you can eat at both places but head first to Bob Evans if you like chicken and BBQ because you gotta try this and it is only available for a limited time.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

Water Pressure

Being able to bring your home with you everywhere is one of the great things about our full-time RV adventures. We still remember our first trip after moving in and living in our condo on wheels for two months parked in the same location just 7 miles from our old house. As the departure date approached both of us kept thinking we had to remember to take this and that with us only to realize that we weren't packing for a vacation like we used to do in our old sticks and bricks but that we were taking our whole house with us and everything we needed was already packed.

Having the house with you does present some challenges and this post is going to deal with the water pressure challenge. In our old sticks and bricks we had copper and plastic pipes that could handle a lot of water pressure, up to 80 psi. Plumbing in an RV cannot handle that high so when we picked up the RV last September we got a water pressure regulator from the dealer which was preset at 40 psi and nonadjustable. Right away we were very disappointed in the water pressure, the shower was like someone spitting on you and the water flow in the kitchen sink while trying to do dishes was terrible. Strangely enough the bathroom sink did not bother us as much.

The very first thing we bought was an aerator for the kitchen sink at an RV parts store although you can buy these at Wal-Mart too.

Man did that make a difference, now we can spray the entire sink down. After a lot of online research we next bought an Oxygenics Body Spa shower head which is self-pressurizing and can work with pressure as low as 20 psi. Now Jo can rinse the soap out of her hair in less than half a day. The only downside is that there is no off/on control so taking a "Navy Shower" is out of the question, however, the Oxygenics must use a lot less water than we expected because both of us can take a shower and not run out of hot water even with only a 10 gallon water heater.

Even with the improvements of the aerator and the shower head we were still a little dissatisfied with the pressure. More online research indicated that the type of regulator that we had accomplished the pressure reduction at a expense of water flow. Our next purchase was a Watts Adjustable 263A Regulator which maintains good flow while regulating the pressure. We set the pressure as indicated in our owners manual from Carriage and noticed another significant improvement and still are able to take showers back to back.

It may have taken us a lot of baby steps by first adding the aerator then the shower head and then a better regulator but now we have water pressure just like we had in our old sticks and bricks.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

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Blogging philosophy

We were doing a little reminiscing recently rereading all our blog entries when we realized that one of the very first blog entries that we had planned, on our blogging philosophy, had not been published. Sure enough there it was in draft form not quite ready to be published.

Bob was kinda the go to guy when he worked for restaurant recommendations. Whenever that group that he worked with was in another city one of the first agenda items at the meeting was where Bob was going to recommend we have lunch and supper. He even go requests for info when co-workers were going on vacations. We wanted to continue that so his former co-workers could look at his blog for restaurant tips (How to eat where the locals eat). Plus we wanted to provide a travel guide service (How to love where you are) to help explore this great country of ours. Finally we also want to sprinkle in our trial and effort, mostly trials, as we adapt to the full-timing lifestyle that maybe might help those that are considering a change (Full-timing adventures) or those like us that are just starting out.

That is how we ended up with "How to Love Where You Are and Eat Where the Locals Eat - Bob and Jo's Full-time RV'ng Travel Adventures" as the name of our blog. You can look forward to future posts that may cover one or more of these topics.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

Glad we bought the generator, Part II

We are in the midst of a stormy season here in the Kansas City area and we lost power again yesterday. The second time around was a lot easier than the first time. We knew to switch the refrigerator and water heater to propane and to turn off the living room a/c before we started the generator. We fired up the generator and did not pop a breaker so no running outside dodging puddles and lightning bolts for Bob. We adjusted the vents in the bedroom so more air would get to the living room. We were able to watch TV comfortably cool and ride out the power outage.

We also discovered another reason why we are glad we bought the generator which is a propane generator. This type of generator is generally quieter than a gas or diesel generator but we were worried about how much propane would be needed. After about eight hours of running the generator we are still on our first 30 lb. tank of propane. We have two 30 lb. tanks so we are happy how long we could run the generator if we had to.

We will be swapping the wiring in the junction box on the wall over the generator so that the 30amp breaker will be for the leg that will be drawing the most amps. That way if it gets really hot we will be able to run both air conditioners at the same time. We told you we were roughing it didn't we?

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

We do love BBQ!

As you can tell on our second blog entry on Kansas City, http://bobandjotravelblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/kansas-city-is-not-boring-restaurants.html, we do love BBQ. We feel that Kansas City has the best BBQ in the country, there are places here that fail that would be the best BBQ restaurant in a lot of places. Or to put it differently, there is no bad BBQ in town there is just some better than others.

What we feel sets the Kansas City area apart is that BBQ encompasses all regions. By this we mean that while Tennessee may be best known for pulled pork and Texas for brisket while other areas for ribs, turkey, chicken, etc. In KC all those are available and good along with lamb and fish.

One of the best things about full-timing and traveling around the country is trying the food. We are currently in the KC area but that does not mean that our quest for findng new good BBQ restaurants is on hold. Three new BBQ restaurants opened in Belton MO in the last few months after we left on our Texas and Arizona adventure. We have eaten at one of them, one that we have gotten information on and one more we need to get more info on.

We have eaten at "The Little Pig" which was started by a couple of friends that have won some BBQ contests and we loved it. Bob also met some friends from his old job and everyone was impressed. In all we have sampled the brisket, pulled pork, burnt ends, ribs and chicken. We also have plans to try the Cajun Meat Loaf at a future date.

Just yesterday Bob drove by another new BBQ restaurant in Belton the "Twisted Brisket". He already had lunch but stopped in to find out more about the place and this place certainly deserves a visit. The owners won best brisket at the Greater Lenexa BBQ Battle a few years ago. Their signature sandwich is a hot brisket sandwich, smoked brisked on bread covered with mashed potatoes and gravy. All their sides are made in house. The only food that we have sampled is the BBQ beans and they are very good. The restaurant is non-smoking and has a full bar for those interested. We will be trying this place before we head north and Bob hopes his friends from work are also interested.

The third place is called 'One Rib Short' which we hope to have more information about. What we do know is that it is a small place with limited seating that mostly does carryout.

What this says to us is that you can always learn something new, even about BBQ in the town you used to live in.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

Glad we bought a generator!

We recently had a bad thunderstorm and lost power in the park for over 5 hours and we needed our generator for the first time. We had run the generator once a month as part of our maintenance. During the May maintenance run the 20amp breaker at the generator kept flipping. It quit when we shut off the living room a/c. We planned to figure out what was on the 20amp vs. the 30amp legs at the June maintenance run. When we lost power last night and it was still hot outside we had to figure things out in a hurry.

Knowing that the living room a/c might cause problems we turned it off before we started the generator but the 20amp breaker flipped off. That required Bob to run out in the rain and dodge lightning and reset the breaker. There is a remote starter inside the unit so Bob did not have to go outside to start the generator which is real nice. We have DirecTV DVRs and when power is restored the DVRs start up and both are on the 20amp breaker. So while Bob is dancing in the rain Jo is frantically trying to turn off the DVRs. This happened two more times since we learned more each time we repeated this just how much was on the 20amp breaker. Turns out that the bedroom a/c and the microwave are the only things on the 30amp breaker and EVERYTHING else is on the 20amp breaker including all the outlets, the living room a/c, converter, refrigerator and water heater. Knowing this Bob switched the refrigerator and water heater to propane and unplugged or turned off everything plugged into an outlet. Doing this meant the last lightning dodging dance in the rain for Bob. Well maybe one more time since after we had done all of that we turned on the TV and still had power so we got cocky and turned on the surround sound system and yeah you guessed it, click and now no power. One last time outside and this time we ran the TV with the TV sound and not the surround sound system.

This story does have a happy ending because for the rest of the evening we had one air conditioner running and were able to watch TV comfortably cool. Then the power came back on and we plugged everything back in. We have been spoiled with 50amp shore power and the ability to run everything with impunity, maybe 30amp shore power at some of the parks will be roughing it.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

There's always something to buy!

One thing we have learned with our new full-timing lifestyle is that there is always something to buy, from the infrared thermometer to a CO2 tank for filling tires to our latest purchases of a bed cover and hub caps for our tow vehicle. We thought that maybe, just maybe, our buying days were over but we were wrong. It gets to a point where if you bring something into our condo on wheels then something has to go out and we have hit that point big time. Now this does cut down on what we buy but we have become more ingenious with our purchases.

When we started out last fall we pretty much had everything that we needed fairly well organized in the storage in the living area and on the cargo tray in plastic bins or in the rear basement. What we did not have room for was the portable satellite dish in case our roof mounted unit was blocked by trees. We figured, and rightly so, that in the fall and winter trees would not be a problem for reception and we did not have a place for the dish anyway. We got the bed cover so we could put the dish and tripod in the pickup bed.

Buying the bed cover set off a domino effect where that allowed us to "buy" a couple of plastic bins to go in the truck bed. Our books from the rear basement went into one of those bins allowing our backup griddler to go where the books came from. We still have a few things from our storage locker to get so we will have no problem filling the extra bins we purchased.

We also have a tire pressure monitoring system on order that we should receive next week. Maybe that will be the end of our buying spree for awhile.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

Benson Arizona photos

There was a permission problem for the viewing of the Benson AZ photos that has been corrected so you should be able to see them now.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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Stormy Weather

Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky. It sure has been a stormy or cloudy spring. The weatherman recently displayed a graphic showing only 4 sunny days in the last month and a half that we have been here. Even before we became full-timers we were weather obsessed trying to catch as many forecasts as we can and then averaging them out. Most of the time they are fairly close but every once in awhile one of them will go out on a limb and be different. They may be the same or they may be different but they are invariably wrong.

When we were in our planning stages for full-timing we decided we needed a weather radio since we would not have a basement anymore. Since we were near two county lines we added both counties into the mix. We finally turned the dang thing off and sold it at the estate sale because we got sick and tired of getting woke up in the middle of the night because there was water in Millie's back yard. Every watch or warning was blared out and to be brutally honest 99.9% of them only served to annoy us.

Since we are weather obsessed we watch local weather no matter where we are, along with ForecastFox, a Firefox extension that puts weather based on a zip code in the statusbar of your browser. We also watch the Weather Channel but we still felt vulnerable even with all that. We are currently back in our old stomping grounds, the Kansas City area, and saw an article in the paper interviewing a local weatherman. They have hooked up with WeatherCall (http://www.kmbc.com/weather/16511224/detail.html) and this info is from their website, "WeatherCall combines this new method to determine a warning area with robust emergency telephone notification. Using computerized mapping, WeatherCall matches the danger area defined by the National Weather Service with your address. If your address is within the danger area of the weather warning, Chief Meteorologist, Bryan Busby will deliver the warning message to the phone numbers you register, and also send you an email if you provide one." SMS text messages are also available and an iPhone app is in the works.

This service is available for $6 a year but you must provide a specific street address. We contacted WeatherCall and was told we could change the location address on the profile at any time so we signed up. So far we have received one phone call that was for a severe thunderstorm that gave us enough warning to lower the satellite dish on the roof due to 70 mile per hour winds. Last night it was mentioned that WeatherCall warnings went out to phones 10 minutes before the sirens went off in an area that had tornadoes.

We may have had only one phone call but there has been numerous interruptions of television broadcasts for weather reports on local television. There is a website for one local weather personality, http://firekatie.com, that we swear will break into network shows when there is water in Millie's back yard. One night all three hours of network television were interrupted for a severe thunderstorm lasting a few minutes. We then had to follow it way out of the viewing area and see what the same storm front was doing in Oklahoma for a few minutes, freaking Oklahoma hundreds of miles away for heavens sakes. Luckily now that we are full-timing our network channels are out of New York and believe us they do not break into network programming as often as Katie does. We do lose the satellite signal occasionally in heavy rains though.

So far we have been pleased with WeatherCall and we will keep you posted as we change our physical address in the profile and see how that works.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

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Benson, Arizona 2010 Stopover

Benson really surprised us with all that there was to do. Close by was the incredible Kartchner Caverns State Park which is a virtually unspoiled “live” cave recently discovered in 1974, is host to a wide variety of unique minerals and formations. Tombstone was as an easy day trip as was the mining community of Bisbee. Tombstone is not just the OK Corral and Boot Hill which we visited but we also saw the world's largest rose bush, the historical displays in the Courthouse were informative and the Bird Cage Theater, one of the few surviving structures, was musty but real neat. The weather finally started to cooperate and we had pleasant days. There were some really good places to eat like Gracie's Station and the Apple Farm Restaurant. We cannot believe we jammed all this into just one week. This is definitely a place we want to visit again. For more detailed information read on.

Kartchner Caverns State Park - In 1974 two young spelunkers were exploring the limestone hills near Benson. In the bottom of a sinkhole they found a narrow crack leading into the hillside. Warm, moist air flowed out, signaling the existence of a cave. After several hours of crawling, they entered a pristine cavern. Existence of the cave was kept a secret for a few years and then it was reported to the land owners who sold the area to the State of Arizona for a State Park. It took a few years to develop it as a "live" cave so the park has only been open to the public for a few years.

There are two tours available the Big Room and the Rotunda-Throne Room and we took the Rotunda-Throne Room Tour. It was too late in the day to do both tours, oh well next time. This bell canopy is one of many fascinating features on the tour at Rotunda-Throne Room. It is formed by water flowing over a bump on the wall, then dripping to create this beautiful formation. Full-timing has shown us just how much we don't know about this great land of ours and caves was one of our weaker areas. Now we know all about stalactites and how Kartchner Caverns is home to the world's longest soda straw stalactite at 21'3". We also learned about stalagmites, moonmilk, birdsnests, and turnips. In Kartchner Caverns you will see the only "turnip" shields and "birdsnest" needle quartz formations in the world and the most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk anywhere. So if you are a spelunker then you need to head to Benson ASAP.

No trip to this part of the country would be complete without a trip to Tombstone, site of the infamous shootout at the OK Corral. We actually saw Tombstone on two separate occasions since the historic Courthouse was closed on the first day we went. Turns out the Courthouse is a State Park and Arizona is having a budget crisis so they have closed some State Parks and a number of Rest Areas. Coming back to Tombstone on our way to Bisbee and stopping at the Courthouse was well worth it. We decided not to pay to walk into the OK Corral since it was expensive and we thought it just would not be worth it. You can read about the shootout in many places so we passed. There were a lot of historical markers along with a commentary on politicians, seems like they had issues with politicians back then too.

We also saw the world's largest rosebush while in Tombstone. The trunk is 12 feet in circumference and the rosebush covers over 8,000 square feet. Each spring the rosebush blooms with over a million tiny white blossoms. The accompanying museum about the family that planted the white Lady Banksia rosebush in 1885 and the interactions with other Tombstone residents was one of the better museums we have seen.

The highlight of Tombstone though had to be the Bird Cage Theater, which is one of the few surviving structures from the Earp era. The current owners wanted to have a museum in Tombstone and were surprised to find that the previous owners had just left everything in the building so all they had to do was buy the building and they had their memorabilia along with some supposed ghosts. Legend has it that 26 people were killed at the Bird Cage during its 8 year run and there are countless numbers of bullet holes that you can see to this day. The hearse that carried everybody to Boot Hill from 1881 to 1906 is also part of the exhibit. The only downside to the Bird Cage is that it smells like it was shuttered for a number of years which it was. In fact 6 rooms on the lower level were just opened to the public that have been sealed off since 1889.

Since we were planning on going back to the Tombstone Courthouse and since it was on the way to mining community of Bisbee we decided to combine those in a day trip. Bisbee is a neat city built right into the mountains that provided the copper they were mining. The streets were narrow so we were glad we just had the F-350 but even with that it was narrow. We found a place to park and on our way to the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum we walked by a shop selling Killer Bee honey. Having never tried it we bought a couple different flavors and man are we glad we did as this is good honey. We then toured the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum which is part of the Smithsonian Museum Affiliates Program. We have to say we came away a little underwhelmed by the mining museum so we cannot really recommend. After seeing so many good small museums we were a little disappointed.

As far as food goes we have a confession to make, we are creatures of habit. If we find a good place to eat we go back. So except for a visit to Quiznos, Taco Bell and the deli at a Safeway grocery store we ate at Gracie's Station or the Apple Farm Restaurant for every meal we did not have in our condo on wheels. Both are highly recommended as evidenced by the number of times we ate there. We were getting recognized at the Apple Farm we ate there so many times.

Next time we visit we will visit Kartchner Caverns again and do the Big Room tour. We also plan on the Chirachua National Moonument, a day trip to Wilcox and a visit to the Cochise Stronghold and Dragon Mountain. For food we hope to try other places but will probably eat a lot at Gracie's Station or the Apple Farm Restaurant.

Photos from this visit have been added to flickr.com.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

You can subscribe to this blog posts and/or comments by making selections under 'Subscribe To' or you can join the yahoo group which will notify you whenever a post is made,

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

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Not really roughing it : )

We married late in life and although we had camped in tents and RVs my wife said her idea of roughing it was a nice Hilton. After going to a number of RV shows and walking through a lot of different floorplans we finally decided we could have a nice RV and just take our Hilton room with us as we traveled across the country. That is how we ended up with our Carriage Cameo, or what we call our condo on wheels.

Being a fully enclosed fifth wheel allows us the capability to do what is called boondocking, that is parking without the electrical, water and sewer hookups. So far we tried this once at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Illinois when we were bringing the Cameo back from the dealership in Michigan where we picked it up. It was the first time we tried this and it was a disaster. We talked about this in an earlier post, http://bobandjotravelblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/2-weeks-of-full-timing.html, but this experience has made us very cautious to repeat roughing it in that manner. Running the battery down and not getting much sleep due to the parking lot and lack of circulation was so much fun!

Our reaction was to go clear in the other direction, every night that we have parked for the past 8 months we have had full hookups (electrical, water and sewer) at the site. We have two options when it comes to electrical hookups, either 30 amp service or 50 amp service. So far we have been able to get 50 amp service which allows us to use all of our appliances, even both air conditioners at the same time if need be.

This may change this summer as most of the parks that Bob has found in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are 30 amps and a few do not have sewer hookups at the site. This will be a new experience for us as we may have to worry about running the microwave and the toaster at the same time for example, oh the inhumanity. Now that is really roughing it!

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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Full-timing is about choices

Most of the time we as full-timers concentrate on the choices that we will be making, we can choose where you visit, how long we will stay there, etc. Rarely do we talk about what we gave up when we made the decision to go full-timing. This hit home as we spend time in our old stomping grounds of the Kansas City area. We had season tickets at the New Theatre Restaurant which is an excellent dinner theatre and the American Heartland Theatre. The local talent in the KC area is incredible so we always saw great talent doing shows. The New Theatre also brings in a celebrity to headline each of their shows.

Since we were back in the KC area for awhile we decided to attend a show at the New Theatre. We were surprised that we got great seats, in fact one of our old season ticket tables so that was special. The show was "Becky's New Car" which dealt with adultery in a very funny way. The celebrity headliner was John Davidson. The food, oh my gosh, the FOOD!! We have always said that the New Theatre is probably one of the Top 10 places to eat in the KC area and this time did not disappoint us. The quality of the food is well worth the price of the tickets by itself so we look at it like we are getting a show for free. If you are ever in the KC area we highly recommend the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park KS.

Before we head out of town we also will be going to the American Heartland to see a show. The American Heartland Theatre is located in the Crown Center in Kansas City MO. The show we will be seeing is the Dixie Swim Club.

It will be good to get a taste of what we gave up to become full-timers and still enjoy the lifestyle, it is good to be us!!

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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Spring Cleaning

One of the best things about full-timing is that most everything is reduced sized, not super sized like it was in our old sticks and bricks. Spring cleaning, or just house cleaning is one great example. Whenever we did cleaning before full-timing we would always start out strong and then fade as the enormity of keeping 3300 sq ft clean became evident. Spaced out over a couple of days we cleaned everything in our condo on wheels. Above the normal vacuuming with the central vac and dusting and the bathroom we cleaned windows inside and out and wiped down the ceilings and walls. Bob has never been a good wax on, wax off kinda guy so we had professionals wash and wax the outside so after spring cleaning our new home looks brand new, well maybe for about 30 seconds and then the cats spread litter everywhere and the birds think there are bulls-eyes painted on the roof and sides of the fifth wheel but we will always have those 30 seconds.

Since we have begun full-timing we have not cleaned gutters or mowed lawns or shoveled snow but now we are just being mean : )

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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Added blog gadget!

On the left pane is a list of our favorite things dealing with food. If changes are made to this list a blog entry will accompany that change. We look forward to comments on this list.

We also plan to slightly change how we do future blog entries. There will be more single themed entries that will be shorter in nature (kinda like this one). When a review of an entire area, like the upcoming Phoenix area, is posted there will also be a shorter summary of the area. We are still working out the template for the summary so be patient with us. Some readers like the full blown entries and some like shorter entries so we shall see if we can keep both types of readers happy.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

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Right back where we started from!

We started our full-timing adventure on September 10, 2009 when we moved ourselves and our 3 cats into our new home, our condo on wheels, which was parked at the Peculiar Park Place RV Park in Peculiar Missouri. We spent two months there getting used to full-time RV living and getting everything finalized since our house sold so quickly (if anybody needs a good Realtor we sure can recommend one). Our first full-timing adventure where it was more like a vacation was when we left for Branson in early November 2009. From Branson we went to Checotah OK to Melissa TX to Livingston TX to Rockport TX to San Antonio to Kerrville TX to Pecos TX to Deming NM to Benson AZ to Goodyear AZ to Holbrook AZ to Albuquerque NM to Amarillo TX to Chandler OK and finally to Peculiar, right back where we started from :-)

While in Peculiar we will be seeing friends and family, eating at our favorite places and catching up on appointments with our many Doctors. After 5 months of full-timing coming back to this area has been an adjustment though. It is the first time in a long time that we have had to put things on calendars and the first time we have had to be somewhere on time except for Mass.

We can probably summarize our first seven months of full-timing in three simple words; weather, food and history. Weather because an El Nino year is not the year to start full-timing. What El Nino does to weather is downright criminal. We are fans of anything water so we decided our travels would first take us to the Gulf of Mexico for a month and then work our way across Texas to see friends and family in the Phoenix area in February. Everywhere we went in Texas was experiencing record cold or rain or both. In over a month in Rockport TX we had maybe 4 or 5 nice days, other than that it was about 20-30 degrees cooler and rainy and foggy. We experienced our coldest overnight temperatures just south of San Antonio. In the Texas Hill Country in Kerrville we finally had some of the weather we were looking for but this was just a stretch of 4-5 days and then El Nino reared its ugly head. It wasn't until we made it across the vast expanse that is west Texas and across New Mexico and into Arizona and arrived at Goodyear just west of Phoenix that we had great weather. In the month and a half there we had a couple of days that were cool and a couple of rainy days but for the most part the temperatures were in the low 70's and it was sunny. That was the weather we thought we would have when we started this adventure.

All good things must come to an end though and the weather impacted our travel planning on the way back. Flagstaff had record snow so we had to watch the road conditions and weather forecast for our first leg, in fact for our entire journey. We did see our first snow up front and personal on this drive as there still was snow piles right near the interstate and the mountains were covered. Albuquerque had snow the night before we planned on traveling there so we delayed a day. Amarillo also had snow the the night before we planned on traveling so we delayed yet another day. On Good Friday when we planned to travel from Chandler OK to Peculiar MO a nasty thunderstorm blew through Chandler a little after 7am and then through all points on our planned route. Let me tell you 70mph winds, hail and heavy rain sure make a lot of noise in an RV. The cats were scared and the racket woke Jo up. Needless to say we spent the day watching weather forecasts all along our route and trying to decide whether or not it was safe to travel that day. About 1pm we decided to give it a go and we never got rained on or had any trouble. The roads were still wet around Joplin and you could see that it had just rained but we timed our trip pretty good. Now El Nino occurs on average every 5 years so one thing we know for certain is that when the next El Nino is forecast we will be back in Goodyear or Yuma because the Phoenix and Yuma AZ areas were the best places to be this El Nino year.

Now to our favorite topic - FOOD. As you can tell from our blog name, "How to Love Where You Are and Eat Where the Locals Eat", we do love our food. We have found a very good question to ask people where to eat and that is for them to imagine that they have been away for awhile and are back only for a short time and can only eat at one place, what place would they eat at? This question has lead us to a whole batch of new favorite places to eat. From the ribs at Florida's Kitchen near Livingston TX to the oyster stew at Charlotte Plummers and the po boys at Alby's Seafood, both in Rockport TX to the Arizona Green Chile Eggs in Winslow AZ.

Besides food we have been filling up on history on our travels. We walked on the deck of an aircraft carrier that was the same class of carrier that Bob's dad served on in WWII. We saw a 6' scale model of the ship that Jo's dad served on in WWII. We visited the Alamo and some great small town museums.

We do plan to provide updates on the rest of journey during our two months in the Kansas City area.

Till next time,

Bob & Jo

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NOTE: See our photos from places we have visited at

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