Personalizing our RV

With its limited square footage and countertop space and wall areas the modern RV offers limited options for personalizing but enough for your house on wheels to really feel like a home for the full-time RV'ers. We started out with gifts that we received when we began full-timing; the pillow that is the new main blog photo and a trailer cash bank. We then added a crucifix to remind us that everything we have is a gift and then a calendar to remind us the day of the week. After a few months we realized that we just were not using the calendar so we removed it. Luckily we are using the Command wall hangers and we just peeled it off the woodwork with no damage.

There really is only a couple of places to hang anything of size so being cat lovers we added a wall hanging of cats on the side of the pantry. We had to hang to hook high enough for the slide to pass and we take the hanging down each time we move. We can change the hanging piece throughout the year to match the seasons if we can find suitable hangings.

Next came a piece Bob's sister made for us a long time ago, a counted cross stitch of Four Seasons of Cats.











Because it is 4 seasons we will be able to showcase the work year round. We also take this down each time we move. Both of these tasks are on our departure checklist which we make sure we use each time we depart after the issues we had when we did not use the checklist.

We also have replaced the cheap RV mattress and love seat recliner that came with the unit, both of which have increased our comfort. Feeling more at home and very comfortable we continue our adventure.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving wishes to all!!

We cannot believe it is already our second Thanksgiving full-timing. We guess it is true that time really does fly when you are having fun!!!

We have so many things to be thankful for; family, old friends, new friends that we met on the road, we live in a great country where we are free to roam, the food across this country is amazing, and health wise we are OK.

We are living the dream while realizing that everything we have is a gift from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Pantries - we got pantries!

When you full-time you have to be ingenious when it comes storing items. In addition to the 'official' pantry with 5 slideout drawers provided with our unit we have many cubbyholes where we place things and have come to these cubbyholes our extra 'pantries'. Following is the list of the extra 'pantries':

Oven Pantry - great for chips and bread. The rare times we use the oven it is easy to just empty the pantry and then fill it back up when the oven cools.

Den Pantry - the cabinet in the entertainment center, great for popcorn, coffee, pancake mixes, biscotti and hot chocolate.

Basement Pantry - a plastic bin on our cargo tray dedicated to food, great for extra cans of soup and cake mixes and bottled water and pop.

For non-food pantries we have:

Closet Pantry - the side wall of Bob's closet (you didn't think it would be Jo's closet did you?), great for toilet paper and Kleenex.

With a little imagination and a cubbyhole here and there you can greatly improve the livability of your RV by providing ready access to some of the more commonly used items. Although Wal-Mart becomes your home away from home maybe you don't have to visit there everyday :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

Does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?

As full-timers we really don't notice the time that much. We go to bed when we are tired, we sleep until we wake up, and we eat when we are hungry which is pretty much all of the time :-)

We have two DVRs so we hardly watch a television program live anymore. We do try to catch the local weather wherever we are. That is when we recently started noticing the impact of the time changing on us. We were in the Central Time Zone when Daylight Savings Time went away. The very next day we crossed over into the Mountain Time Zone and we have been screwed up time-wise ever since. Usually after the local weather was watched Bob started his going to bed routine but now he can barely stay awake long enough for the weather. You would have thought we would have adapted by now and although it is getting better we are still getting tired earlier than we usually did.

Daylight Savings Time is one of the few areas where we have a difference of opinion. Bob feels that we should not mess with time and quotes an Indian Shaman who said, "Only the white man could think that by cutting off the bottom of the rug and sewing it to the top that you end up with a longer rug". Jo feels that the clocks should never be turned back so that we are on Daylight Savings Time all the time. Neither one of us will get our way so we guess we will just have to deal with yet another big government intrusion on our lives.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

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

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,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobandjotravelblog/

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 "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,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobandjotravelblog/

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/

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,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobandjotravelblog/

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