17 - HOME!

Paul and I arrived back in my hometown of Danville, IL on October 5, 2010.  One of our all-time favorite campgrounds is the local state park, Kickapoo.  Monkey was enthralled with the IL fall.

Although I'd called my folks almost daily, I had no idea my step-mother suffered some medical problems the week before.  They didn't want to ruin our vacation. 

We stayed a week, but it was filled with doctors appointments and other things requiring attention.  I think she's better now, but their lifestyle will change as time goes along.  Meanwhile, we had some good times such as a weinee roast.  The parents enjoyed it immensely :) 

All good things must come to an end.  After 13,246 miles, we arrived home on the 101st day... to a ton of mail and various chores we're still working on.  Was it worth it?  Does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle? * 

Monkey is smiling because he didn't have to deal with the mail.  He is a happy camper. 

Then in the back yard, he met an old buddy who'd been turned into a handsome Tree Frog over the summer.  (Our friends Ruthie and Jason painted him as a surprise.)

So.... it's good-bye from Florida until the next trip worthy of a blog.  Happy trails.  Donna

*GEICO commercial, in case you didn't recognize it.

16 - Colorado and Kansas

In my last blog, I was surprised at the difference one week makes.  Imagine two.  I said I didn't have any big news flashes, but my friend Dawn said it's not about the big ones so here I am.

We finally got rid of most of the red UT dirt (after at least four truck washes).  From Monument Valley, UT, we jumped up to Mesa Verde National Park at Cortez, CO (9/20/10).  This was the home of the cliff-dwelling Pueblo Indians (Anasaszi).  

 

We bought a ticket for Cliff House the first day (pictures below) and next-day tickets for Bacon House.  The Cliff House tour was down very narrow, steep stone steps and up ladders.  The pictures make it look like a playhouse, which is an optical illusion, believe me!

 

The next day, it rained and rained.  Imagine... this is desert!  So much for Bacon House.  We went to the Anasaszi Museum instead (as well as Pipo's in Cortez for Navajo tacos).  Oh dear, I left Monkey back at the camper!

 



Cliff House



Pink house on left top

We left Cortez, CO for Denver (actually, just north of it) to visit Paul's sister and husband, Jane and Larry.  The aspens were already changing color.  They look like a painting, don't they?

While Paul was sure our dog, Kiwi, is so used to being an only dog now he would never get along with Jane and Larry's two Boston terriers.  After much barking and tail-sniffing, they had a great time.  The pictures of the three together are fuzzy, but here's one each.



 Benny the Terrible for a cool down

Boss, the already cool one



Kiwi, the tailed one -- see it wag!





Jane and Larry also have Big Dogs. 

Elvis (L) - Stetson (R)

Pictures of Cowboy Larry didn't turn out, some of Jane did.  I'm not whom/which she loves more...

While in Denver, my co-worker Barbara and bud Nancy had a luncheon for manager Janet, co-worker Chris and me.  (Yikes!  I mean -- all former all that, now that I'm err -- stutter--- "retired.")  Barbara and Nancy have a beautiful downtown Denver historical house that they've restored perfectly.  It seemed perfectly natural to be together again.  What a perfect day.

 

We left Denver on 9/30/10 for Topeka, KS.  Long way across the rest of CO and KS. Miles and miles of nothing.  We're in Topeka for the week-end, visiting good friends from Paul's old Air Force group.  I think I like Topeka!

  L-R:  Paul, Bob, Christel, Donna

Tomorrow, 10/04/10, we're leaving for IL and back to visit my folks.  Should be a good time with autumn leaves in IL.  We'll be there about a week and hope to be home in FL around 10/15/10.

Thanks, everyone for staying with on my three-month journely around the U.S. post-retirement!