This is a chronicle of 4 Morgans: Larry, Phyllis, Roscoe, and Harpo. On March 14, 2002, Larry was in a chain-reaction auto accident on the north split of I70 and I65. Larry sustained a neck and head injury. After many doctors (even a trip to the Cleveland Clinic in Fort Lauderdale, FL), Larry was not improving. Eli Lilly, Larry's employer, had worked with Larry. He worked from home 2-3 days a week, going to the office the rest of the time. Larry and Phyllis decided early retirement was the only answer. Larry retired December 31, 2004. June 5, 2004 We sold our house to our son Paul. We have moved our Jayco Eagle TT to Heartland Resort. What we have with us, is all we have except for Larry's trains and a few articles of clothing. October 24, 2004 We had a major disturbance with diesel construction equipment. It was at 9pm on Sunday. The owner of Heartland, John Salis, got abusive with us. October 25, 2004 We moved to S&H Campground. October 28, 2004 (This is an approximate date.) God sent angels in the form of the Albright family. Some healing took place. We were included as family in get-togethers and pitch-ins. By November 5, all of the above family was gone from the campground. The next month is drudgery. It is cold, wet, and muddy. December 5, 2004 The long awaited date has come. We head west and south. It is such a relief. We have planned, sold, and purchase for this time in our lives. The BAT (Bad Assed Truck) was one of our purchases. It is a 1999, 3500, diesel, Dodge Ram dually, black. Our first stop is in Benton, IL--Benton-Best Holiday Trav-L-Park. There has been a fire here recently. Everything is charred and stinks. We ordered pizza delivered. December 6-9, 2004 We arrived at West Memphis, AK. This is stop # 2, Tom Sawyer's Campground. We are about 300 ft. from the Mississippi River. We were there 3 nights. There were 2 major storms. Laundry here is free. It was here we decided to get rid of Dish Net. Our service was horrible and the equipment was cheap. December 9, 2004 We left Tom Sawyer's and headed for Little Rock. This city is to be avoided at all cost. The interstate around the city was totally torn up, including the part you had to drive on. We cut our travel short and stayed at Benton, AK.(stop 3) JB's RV Park was an interesting place. It had a great setting with pine trees and a pond. However, the sites were not leveled. They were domed in the middle. December 10-13, 2004 Stop 4 is Kilgore, TX, Shallow Creek Campground. We met some nice people here, who are also full-time RVers. The campground is basically a golf resort. December 13-28, 2004 We have arrived at Rainbows End, Livingston, TX. This is our home address. Larry parked at the office and I stayed in the truck with Harpo and Roscoe (our dogs). I need to stop here and explain. Rainbows End is the headquarters for the Escapees. Escapees are mostly full-time RVers. We joined this club in 1999. Now back to the story. While waiting for Larry to register us, Tyler came out of the laundry. She came over and said hello and welcome me to the park. When she found out that this was our first visit here, I received a hug. Then she wanted to meet Roscoe and Harpo. Of course this made my day. By the way, we purchased Roscoe the July after Larry's auto accident. Roscoe is a miniature Schnauzer, 2 1/2 years old, salt and pepper color, and a delight. Harpo is a CocaPoo--she looks all Poodle. She is 1 1/2 years old, white, and charming. I need to back up. Before arriving at Rainbow's End, we had the truck and camper inspected for Texas licensing. December 14, we got our vehicle plates and registration, plus registering to vote. December 15, we got our drivers' licenses. We are now Texans. In this above time period, we also got Texas insurance. December 16 was our first free day in Livingston. We have lots of places to walk the dogs. On one of these walks, we met Carolyn Walters and Lucy. We went to a luncheon and then the afternoon social. From December 17-27, we walk a lot; met other Escapees and their dogs; did laundry; washed truck and camper. December 25, Christmas, we had a great dinner with about 200 other Escapees. That evening we had Carolyn in for wine. Lucy, Roscoe, and Harpo had bones. Larry has helped Carolyn with WiFi and some other computer items. We also went to Lake Livingston for an outing with Roscoe and Harpo. December 28, 2004 -January 1, 2005 We leave Livingston and go to Victoria, TX. We stayed at the Lazy Longhorn Campground. The other campers here were friendly and the dogs were able to meet some new friends. Roscoe and Harpo were able to be off-leash in a back grassy area. While in Victoria, we needed to stock up on items from Sam's Club. We pulled shorts out of storage area in the back of the truck. January 1-April 1, 2005 We are currently in Rockport, TX at the Raintree RV Park. We are just north of Corpus Christi in the Coastal Bend of Texas. We have a small site, but for the most part our fellow campers are friendly and inclusive. Roscoe and Harpo have a lot of new friends. January 3, we went exploring with the dogs. We found the big tree of Lamar (35 1/2feet in circumference, 1000-2000 years old, coastal live oak). Roscoe got very excited. We couldn't figure out what had his interest. January 5 is our first month anniversary of being on the road as full-time RVers. January 6, we went to the beach. We saw 6 dolphins in the jetty. Harpo chased seagulls and other birds. She got so coated with sand, I had to shampoo her 4 times. January 7, Carolyn and Lucy joined us at Raintree. January 9, we went to Aransas Wildlife Refuge. We saw 2 adult whopping cranes and their chick. January 11, we went to the Padre Island Seashore. We had a lovely walk on the beach and enjoyed the surf while having lunch. Mr. Lee, our lawyer for the auto accident, called and the other side has made an offer. We could take the offer or Larry will have to fly to Indianapolis before the end of February for a physical. January 15, 2005, Larry and I went to a soup pitch in and became better acquainted with some of our fellow campers. January 16, 2005, Larry hadn't had time, energy, or appropriate weather to grill out since leaving Indiana. Today he grilled an awesome meal: kabosa sausage, vegetable kabobs, corn-on-the-cob, and sweet potatoes. I added homemade pumpernickel bread. January 17, 2005, we went to tour the WWII aircraft carrier Lexington. We were able to go all over the ship. We followed roped off hallways, up and down ladders, onto the flight deck. The flight deck had a Y added after the war (It could not go through the Panama Canal with the addition). The Lexington was in active service until 1991. It was fascinating. We saw aircraft on the flight deck from various wars, dental and medical facilities (also what had been added to accommodate women), admiral's quarters, captain's quarters, kitchen, sleeping bunks, emergency equipment, library, the bridge. The Lexington was used as a Japanese ship in the Pearl Harbor film. Between January 23 through February 6 the weather was gray, rainy, and damp. We did more indoor activities like internal camper repairs. During this time, we drove around Goose Island and checked out its camping facilities. We also went to the Aquarium in Corpus Christi. Larry and I found their small displays more interesting than the rest. The sea horses were darling. I was fascinated by the jellyfish. One type of jellyfish, a little smaller than a quarter, had like an colored, alternating, electric current--sort of like mini-mini Christmas lights. February 11, 2005, we got a settlement check for Larry's accident. The lawyer has held some of the settlement money in escrow for the insurance company that he is still negotiating with. It is a good feeling to put this behind us. February 12, we took a lovely drive toward Bayside on Copano Bay. Along the road, in the water, we saw rosette spoonbill birds. They are a hot pink, wading bird. The underside of their wings are pinker than the outside. In the town, there is a wonderful small park on the bay. Roscoe and Harpo fully enjoyed themselves. They particularly like piers, footbridges, and boardwalks. February 14 was a terrific Valentine's Day! We went to Mustang Island, access road 3 beach. From the beach we saw 3 breaching dolphin, pelicans, and a navy helicopter. The helicopter circled the beach, then went to the Gulf and hovered creating a large mist. Then the copter came back to the beachside and worked for an hour or more moving some sort of floatation marker out into the Gulf. We left the beach and checked out some off-road areas. Then we went to a Port Aransas park by the ferry landing. Roscoe met some friends in the form of miniature wire-haired dash hounds. One of them looked like an offspring of a miniature Schnauzer. Harpo made up with the other rust-colored one. This park is great for watching pelicans. February 15 was another beautiful day in the upper 70's. We played with the kids(Roscoe and Harpo) in the dog park in the campground. Blaze (a brown spotted Dalmatian) came and played with Roscoe. Harpo is too intimidated with large dogs to venture playing with them. Larry and I went to Wal-Mart. Larry grilled out on the gas grill--delicious. He fixed burgers, skewed veggies, portabella mushrooms, and corn-on-the-cob. February 17 we went exploring. We drove toward a couple of towns just south of us. We are always on the lookout for different walk and play areas to take the dogs. We found a boardwalk area in a wetlands environment. This is attached to a water park in Port Aransas. This is a different type of place. We will return and explore some more. Sorry for the long delay! We had so much rain in Texas in the month of Feb., that I reacted by getting an inner ear infection. It took me a good month to six weeks to get over it. By the time I was on the mend it was time to get ready to move. During that period of time, that I was fighting an infection, Larry was busy installing a Hensley Arrow hitch on the travel trailer (This is to control any sway). Also, Larry had cameras installed on the rear of the truck and travel trailer. These are to help with seeing behind us. These are great safety improvements. We went to Padre Is. one more time before leaving Rockport. The sand at Padre is so clean and white. The Gulf is so alive and active that there is very little debris on the shore. We left Rockport Sunday morning, March 20. We had an appointment with Camping World in New Brunfels, TX to have solar panels installed Monday morning. We were able to spend the night in the Camping World parking lot. We even had an electric hookup. The solar panels are to keep our batteries charged when not plugged in to an outlet. We are hoping to do some boondocking in our travels. From New Brunfels we went to San Marcos, TX, just south of Austin. Felicity, our daughter, was getting married May 7; so I needed to find a dress plus accessories for the wedding. San Marcos has several major outlet malls and I thought this would take care of the shopping needs--no such luck. Fortunately I had the choice of two cities to shop in (San Antonio or Austin). Austin was closer and luckily I found a dress, shoes, and earrings. While in San Marcos we were able to meet and have dinner with a friend we met in Indiana. Steve lives in San Antonio and visits his sister in Indiana in the summers. We stayed in San Marcos a week and then started our trek back to Indiana to visit our kids before Felicity's wedding. On our way back to Indiana, we decided to pick up a portion of the Natchez Trace; so we headed toward Mississippi across Louisiana at Shreveport going to Vicksburg. Arriving at Vicksburg, we went to the information center. We met a knowledgeable young lady who helped us lay out a path starting from Jackson, Miss. going to Tupelo. After leaving the info center we found a campground for the night, did laundry and headed out the next morning. The Trace is gorgeous. It runs from Nashville, TN to Natchez, Miss. There is no commercial traffic on the Trace. The scenery is beautiful with plenty of places to get out and walk and enjoy. There are RV places to park for the night; even a place to fuel up and get something to eat. We spent one night on the Trace. On leaving the Tupelo area, Larry took US 45 north to Jackson, TN. There is a great shoe store there. Though it wasn't Christmas, I waited for my present until we could get here. The store specializes in European shoes. I have had good success with Birkenstock. This trip the saleslady introduced me to Finns. They are like going barefoot. From Jackson we headed to Clarksville, TN and spent three nights. We restocked at Sam's Club. After leaving Clarksville, we made a brief stop at a Camping World in Bowling Green, KY. Then we went Shepherdsville, KY. There is a terrific KOA there. The four of us really enjoy the Indian Cave dwelling trail. Larry and I do not like taking I65 through Louisville, KY; so we went on the west side and picked up I64 to cross the Ohio River. I called my sister-in-law and we had a wonderful lunch and visit before heading north to Indianapolis. We continued on to Greenfield, IN where we stayed for the next three and one half weeks (April 6-May 2). This is where our son Paul has his home. Our daughter, Felicity, lives on the southwest side of Indianapolis. This was an incredibly busy time. We had doctors’ appointments, some more shopping for Felicity's wedding, visiting with our children and friends. During this time, Paul had an incident with his car--it caught on fire. We spent quite a bit of time car shopping. Roscoe and Harpo and Paul's kitten Hathor had some interesting times. Also, Roscoe renewed his "friendship" with Felicity's cat Orca. Her new kitten Thor was a bit uncertain of these barking critters. On May 2 we tried to leave Indiana. We had electrical problems in our hookup. We thought we had the problem fixed and left. In Ohio we saw the brakes on the camper weren't working. We stopped at a RV sales and service business and a technician checked our truck electrical connections. This checked out ok, so we had them make up a new extension between truck and camper. Once this new extension was hook in we had brakes, etc. We stopped at a KOA close by and spent two nights. On May 4 we went through customs at the Canadian border. The border guard wanted to know what we had in our truck and trailer. We explained we were full time RVers and this is everything we own. He immediately asked us how many firearms we had to check. Fortunately we had given these to family. That was it; he didn't ask anything else except where we were going and how long. We had chosen a delightful campground directly across from the Niagara River, seven and a half miles above the falls. It was very quiet. There is a great twenty mile walkway-bikeway there. This was a wonderful walking area for the dogs. The girls, Felicity, Mel, and Ashley, flew in on Thursday, May 5. We picked Paul up at the Buffalo airport on May 6. On May 7, the wedding took place in a lovely room at the Marriott overlooking the falls. All went well. Quite a few people drove up or flew in for the wedding. We had dinner at the Capri, an Italian restaurant nearby. Paul had to get back to work and school so he flew out on Mother's Day. We were able to enjoy a lunch with him before the flight. After we got back I was exhausted and rested the rest of the day. On Monday the girls took Larry and I to several Canadian wineries. On the way to the wineries we passed the giant whirlpool in the Niagara River. It is very impressive. Tuesday, May 10, we prepared the truck and camper for travel and did laundry. We left Niagara Falls Wednesday, May 11 and headed for Erie, PA to visit my nephew Jim. We had a lovely visit with Jim and his children. The weather was cold so we stayed only one night. We went on to Elkhart, IN on Thursday and spent three nights. We had always wanted to check out the surplus store there and had not had the opportunity. Of course we also had to stop at Camping World. Then we went to Sam's Club and Wal-Mart. We left Elkhart on Sunday morning and went to visit Larry's Mom in Chesterton, IN. Upon leaving IN we drove into IL and visited with a friend we met in TX. Roscoe also got to visit with his friend Blaze ( a brown and white Dalmatian). We had a wonderful time visiting. We left our IL friends on Sunday morning May 22 and headed west--spending one night in Iowa; then we headed north into Minnesota and west to South Dakota. We spent two nights in Mitchell to shop at Cabellas and Wal-Mart. Finally we arrived in the Badlands Thursday May 26 and were here until May 31. Our campground had about a 270 degree view of the Badlands. On our first night there was a storm. As storm was easing up, about 8:30pm, we took the dogs out and saw a vertical rainbow over the Badlands. This began our WOW days. The Badlands are so incredible, colorful, and harsh. We have been here before, but the beauty is awe inspiring. We took several back roads (Larry and I like the out of the way, off road places). One of these roads was an abandoned railroad. We literally had to back out of that. We went on to explore some of the National Grassland areas. We found bison, prairie dogs, and pronghorn antelope. It was a great day. Another of our back road experiences took us to Sheep Mountain Table. This is incredible. You climb up in-between large rock formations and end up on top of the world. It is basically flat on top with 360 degree views of Badland formations. There are valleys, narrow canyons, all with another planet look. May 31 to July 5 brought us to the Black Hills of SD. This was a glorious five weeks. Larry, Roscoe, Harpo, and I have had many experiences. We revisited Custer State Park. We took the wildlife road, turned onto a side gravel road where we found the main herd of buffalo. There were so many calves; they were darling. We checked to see how the in progress mountain carving of Crazy Horse was coming. In the last three years much work has been done on the horse's head. We drove through Spearfish Canyon. We found a delightful walk along Iron Creek. We met an artist painting a landscape on the trail. We drove into Rapid City to meet our new mail service and pick up packages and mail. Larry ordered a new laptop. While in Indiana, Larry decided to give our desk top to Paul. On the road, Larry's old laptop developed more and more problems. My HP was having problems charging. A good working computer is important for us on the road to keep track of and pay bills as well a great communication device. This new Dell was one of the packages we picked up. In order to save money, we changed our state citizenship to SD. We now have a SD address, driver’s license, registration, title, plates, insurance, and voter registration. We try to find areas we can take Roscoe and Harpo. Custer State Park is great. Dogs are allowed on trails. We assumed the other state parks would also do the same, but we still checked on line for rules at Bear Butte State Park. We paid upon entering, parked the truck, and read the sign going up the Butte--no pets allowed on trails. Fortunately, a park worker refunded our money. On Father's Day, we went to Devil's Tower. This is a must see. It is a unique formation. The columns that form the exterior of the tower are falling off. Of course, these aren't just tumbling off left and right--it all happens after many years of erosion. We walked the inside trail around the tower. It was great fun! In-between our campground and Devil's Tower at the first exit in Wyoming is a wonderful canyon called the Little Grand Canyon of Wyoming. The red rock walls are spectacular. We were enjoying the scenery when we came upon a beautiful arch or bridge about two-thirds up the canyon wall. Larry found a "short cut" from our campground to Hill City and south--Larry and I don't like driving in Rapid City. This "short cut" was supposed to have a cave on it. We started out and the sign on the road said "No Outlet". Did we believe the sign? Of course not! The road was fun. It deteriorated at about the half way point. Fortunately, we have 4-wheel drive and made it just fine. We got out several times so the dogs could check out the smells. We never saw the cave. Hill City is a small neat town. We had lunch at the Alpine Inn and it was fabulous ( be sure to save room for desert). There is the Prairie Berry Winery. All the wines are made from fruits grown in SD. One late afternoon, Larry and I had been working around the camper all day and decided we would take a hike. We went to Mount Roosevelt (in honor of Teddy Roosevelt). As we started up the path the sky looked threatening. However, we continued. We had a very quick hike. We did the trail fully and looked at the views but at a very fast pace. There were views into ND at Teddy's home place, Bear Butte, and Harney Peak(the highest point in the Black Hills). It did not rain while we hiked. The fast pace was invigorating. Larry seems to be improving from the auto accident. The relaxed lifestyle, fresh air, exercise, and an absolutely great place seem to be helping. We took the Needles highway and had a fun time climbing up around the backside. There are tunnels on this road. At the top, there is a 8'7" wide and about 10'6" tall tunnel. We took the truck through here--very interesting and close. From here we took the Iron Mountain road that has tunnels that frame Mount Rushmore. We got out at one lookout. There was a short walk. Taking the trail, we got off trail and saw an arch here near the lookout. In Custer State Park, there are tons of great hiking trails. One area is up at Sylvan Lake. Near here we took a very challenging hike up little devil's tower. Some of the hill we climbed was at least sixty-five degree climb. The hill was laden with loose rock. About two-thirds up the trail was this narrow walled section that we walked through--really cool. Right at the tower, you have to climb and lift yourself up through a very narrow crevice. I have bad knees. I felt really proud of myself when I accomplished this small feat. The view was incredible. After climbing out of the crevice, we came to a grassy area. We had a view through the trees. The trail went higher, but that was beyond my physical abilities. Larry went up a short way beyond me. The dogs and I waited, sitting on the tower. We were so proud of the dogs. They were regular troopers. Only at that last narrow crevice, did they need help. We came down much faster then we went up. Throughout this area of SD there is the Michleson Trail (an abandoned railway). We hiked a part of this. The hill next to the trail was rock turned up on end that looked like petrified wood. One portion of the trail where the mountain had been blasted away for the track, the rock, that looked like petrified wood, was stacked like firewood. Below us, in a small valley, there was a mine door with a rag tag mining operation. On our drive away from where we had hiked we were confronted with Harney Peak right in front of us--magnificent. I was looking at the mountain through binoculars and camera lens. I panned to the right and found little devil's tower. We drove on to see if could get a better view. In Hill City, we found the tower over the town. I got a shot with the camera. We drove further and got a full view from the highway. Little devil's tower is a boulder that is set off by two other boulders that are staggered down the mountainside. Larry was able to pick out the tree at the top left where he had climbed to get some pictures. Speaking of pictures, Larry has hiked and carried several cameras with lenses in a camera bag hooked on his waist like a gigantic fanny pack. This was getting to heavy and complicated for him. Larry went searching for a digital camera that would take the place of most of his film cameras. He found a very, very light weight digital that zooms telephoto and even has a wide angle attachment. He loves it. Our time here in the Black Hills is drawing to a close. Today, July 4, we are going to get the camper and truck ready to go. This involves checking everything for safety in travel as well as securing anything that could move and break during travel. We plan to pull out first thing in the morning. We are headed toward West Yellowstone, MT. Larry and I found jobs there in a leather shop, working 21 hours apiece per week. The owner of the shop found a RV parking place that was reasonable. We thought we would have to pass on Yellowstone until a later time, due to how expensive the area is. God has everything worked out for us. Today, July 5, was a travel day. We left Sturgis, SD at 7:15 am. Larry and I are usually so slow getting ready that 9am is a great time to leave; but all four of us cooperated and we hit the road early. Two hundred thirty miles is our usual goal for a day. Today we did at least 350 miles. We came through the Big Horn Mountains at Powder River Pass (elevation around 9266ft.). The views were incredible. First of we got to watch the snow capped mountains as we approached them. Then getting off the interstate at Buffalo, WY, we started climbing. Above Ten Sleep Canyon, we came to this 270 degree turn in the road. This rock was jutting out high above us at the peak of the rock was a small arch--very delightful. We passed snow just off the road from us; then we passed through the small town of Ten Sleep. There was a campground there; but it was still early in the day and we decided not to stop. Coming down the mountain, we came to a rolling land area that was dry--sorta like desert and high plains combinations. Then this plains, desert area changed into badlands, similar to the Badlands in SD. The configuration of the hills was softer, more rounded than SD. Larry and I had such a great time that we kept driving. We have stopped for today in Cody, WY. Yellowstone is about 60 miles west. We will start that adventure tomorrow. In our crossing through Powder River pass, we lost our turbo charger. We were able to continue but at a much slower pace. On leaving Cody we proceeded west toward Yellowstone. The state park we came through was beautiful, lake on one side and mountain on the other. We got to the east entrance of Yellowstone. The Ranger told us there would be a 20 minute wait. What lay ahead of us was bad. Now I don't know what thoughts come to your mind when someone says road construction but what we saw was a mountain slide. The pavement was gone. We were driving on rock and dirt. It was a washboard in most places. Our sole possessions were being shook up. At one point in Sylvan Pass, the east bound lane literally dropped off the mountain. We were very relieved when we were through this. Fortunately, all of things were fine. We passed 3 male elk on the way. We were close enough to touch them. Their antlers looked like fuzzy velvet. We came around Lake Yellowstone, which is a filled in volcano. We almost always saw steam from geysers or fumaroles or we smelled sulfur. Since this is my first trip here it was amazing. We are driving towards our parking area in West Yellowstone. West Yellowstone is a tourist town. There are about 1000 year round residents. You can get just about any place in town on foot in 15 min. The nearest Wal-Mart is 90 miles away. Our camping spot gives a new definition to the term "white trailer trash". We had to set up and then clean up the site. We had 2 to 3 foot high weeds that had tough stems. There was lot of broken glass. It took us several hours getting the lot where we could walk to our front door without getting bug bites from all the weeds and the dogs could walk without getting cut on the glass. We are not in a campground but off an alley with 4 sites with hookups. It is July 8th, our first day on our first workamping job. Larry and I are working retail at the Backcountry Leather shop here in West Yellowstone. We are working 3 or 4 days a week. We sightsee as often as we can. Pets can only be in certain areas in the National Park. Larry and I try not to the dogs any more than necessary. When we first arrived, most of our forays into the Park were exploratory. The only section we have left to explore is the area that is closed (Dunraven Pass). We have seen herds of buffalo, elk, white tail deer, mule deer, coyote, wolf, beer, bald eagles, ferret, trumpeter swan. Larry and I have watched Old Faithful and the upper geyser basin. The thermal pools are beautiful--the blue in the pools and springs is 199 degree F. Each of the geysers seem to be individuals. Their height and volume are different. Grotto Geyser goes off for almost an hour. It had several exit places so there were several streams going off at once. It appears that this geyser sprang up in a group of trees. You can make out the downed tree forms under the dried mineral. Mammoth Hot Springs have several active areas. It gives the appearance of cave flowstone. There are 2 areas to visit: a drive and an extensive boardwalk area. We did the drive on a separate day from the boardwalk. Yesterday we did the boardwalk. After finding a parking spot it started to rain; so we went to the restaurant and had lunch. During lunch the rain turned into a hail storm. Timing was perfect, we finished lunch and the rain and hail stopped. If you've seen cave boxwork, then if you expand that to a grand scale you have Mammoth Hot Springs; then add waterfalls and cave flowstone and your picture is complete. Yellowstone Canyon is fabulous. It has waterfalls and geothermal features (past and current) that make descriptions trite. Today is Nov. 30, 2005. Sorry for the long delay. Life is truly amazing. The last week we spent in West Yellowstone was very busy. We went to the Paint Pots Geyser Basin. One of the geysers looked as if it was bubbling up blood. Then we went to the Lower Geyser Basin. The water from these geysers flows directly into the Firehole River--2000 gallons of boiling water every minute. We had to prepare the camper and truck for travel. All that was left was to work Labor Day. We got off at 11:00 p.m. We left the next morning for Idaho Falls. That night in Idaho Falls, we had our first boondocking experience. The Wal-Mart here is great. There is a good area over to the side and back in the parking lot that several RVers (including us) spent the night. In the morning we left Wal-Mart and went to Big O tires and had some work done on the truck. After the truck was done, we got on I15 and continued south. Right along the interstate there was amazing volcanic rocks. Hot molten rock had seeped thru cracks and flowed over existing rock and soil. This was along the interstate for 30 to 50 miles. That night we stayed in Brigham City, UT. This seems to be difficult getting this journal caught up. It is now Jan. 16, 2006. On Sept. 7, we traveled thru Salt Lake City. On the east side of I15 the mountains look like old velvet with many folds in the fabric. The colors were browns and reds. On the west side of the interstate was the Great Salt Lake. We saw evidence in the soil where the lake has receded. We got off I15 to Utah 28. The mountains on the east were rugged and to the west were more worn and rounded. The state road stopped so we got on I70 and Us89. US 89 split off and we went with it. We were climbing in the mountains here. They are streaked with golds, pinks, soft, soft browns, green/golds, and smoke. There was one mountain called Big Rock Candy Mountain. It had to have volcanic ash or lava flows to have such soft colors blending like cotton candy pulled and stretched over the rock. We stayed at a campground near here. The next morning we left for Bryce National Park. We have been told Ruby's Inn (one mile north of Bryce) is a good place to work -- so this stop is to check out the area and do a job interview. I don't think Larry and I were prepared for the beauty. Before getting to Ruby's Inn, we went thru Red Canyon. Totally awesome! Depending on the time of day, the sun seems to paint the rocks from a soft red-orange to a deep purple-red. This canyon has a stream thru it. There is a great biking path and wonderful hiking trails. Larry, Roscoe, Harpo, and I had a blast here. We reached the Ruby's Inn complex, found the campground and set up for several days. This facility has cabins, motel/hotel rooms, several dining places, gas and repair stations, groceries, post office, beauty shop, film processing, 2 laundromats. We found the manager was out of town but due back in a couple of days. Of course we went to investigate Bryce. The red rock colors, the rock formations are a must see. You view from the top of the formations down. It's like you are viewing an amphitheater. The rock formations are called hoodoos. They are pillars that have been changed by the elements. In some places there is a single hoodoo; then you can turn and see layer upon layer of hoodoos. My explanation of this absolutely gorgeous place is to limited. When you add the red color to the many, many formations you need pictures or better to be there. We stayed here for 5 days to just get a flavor of the area. We were able to do a face on interview with the campground manager. This seemed to go very well. We start work here April 10. We can hardly wait to get back here. We left Bryce with the intention of going to Zion. We had to stop in Cedar City for some prescriptions. I called a campground that is immediately across from Zion. I was told we could not make same day reservations. Larry and I were not comfortable not having a secure spot to park in this remote area. We decided to see Zion another time and we continued south. We were headed for the Grand Canyon. It is mind-boggling for Larry and I seeing these places we have dreamed about seeing. We were actually heading for the Grand Canyon. We were traveling east on the area called the Arizona Strip. This is the section of land in between Utah and the Grand Canyon. We stopped for fuel at a place called Pipe Spring (a Mormon Landmark). This is an Indian reservation. I was very tired and it was still two hours to the North Rim. Low and behold as we are fueling up I see a campground sign. It is on the reservation. It was ten dollars a night of 150 for a month. The campground host told us about part of the North Rim call Torroweap. We decided to check it out. The turn off was about 5 miles from campground. We turned onto a gravel road. We had gravel road for about 50 miles. We past the ranger station; then the road got really bad. We went over and thru boulders. It was the most challenging road we have ever been on--not for the faint of heart. This area of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is beautiful. You can see the Colorado from here. It is different here because there is not the number of other canyons coming in to the main Canyon. You are much closer to the south rim wall. We saw a jackrabbit when we were leaving. Our bodies were really shook-up by the time we got back to the trailer. Our truck was a massive dust deposit. Our campground host (Montana was his name) invited us down to his site and helped us cleanup our truck. We left the next morning and found Jacob's Lake, about 30 minutes from the North Rim. We stayed here 3 days. The first impressions of the Grand Canyon are colors and immensity. There are so many canyons coming into the Colorado. The colors on the Canyon are constantly changing as the sun moves across the sky. The wind on the north side (at least while we were there) was forceful. We were at a lookout just below the Inn and Larry's cap literally flew off and away. There was a controlled burn going on while we were here, so there are some parts we have not seen. That will be another trip. On the road again, we are making our way from the North Rim to the South Rim. We come in on the Desert View side. We wanted to stay in the Park but there were no campsites available in the main area. Since our time was limited, we stayed on the south side. To our amazement the dogs were allowed on the trails above the rim. We had a wonderful 6 mile hike. We went to lots of the lookouts. The dogs made new friends and had a very full day. We are headed south again. Flagstaff is our destination. We need to stock up at Sam's Club and Wal-Mart. We find Sam's just fine; but Wal-Mart, we could not find the exit for it. So we just bypassed that one and continued south. We started looking for place to stop for the night. Larry and I do not like to stay near interstates because of the noise. We got off the interstate and headed into the Verde Valley. We stayed here 2 nights and found that this is a great place. Lots of outdoor things to do--Indian ruins, state parks. There is also a Wal-Mart. We had several things we wanted to do before starting our winter jobs in Casa Grande. We visited with my youngest nephew, his wife, and their 5 children. This RVing lifestyle is great. I love being able to stop and see family and friends that normally we would not be able to see. We also had some work done on the camper in Tucson. On to our jobs. My-oh-my we got ourselves into a pickle. The campground manager had a domestic situation occur before we arrived. To cut to the chase, this job did not work out. We went searching for another place to live for the winter. Larry landed a security job here in Apache Junction. The manager here said they only would hire one of us. We are busy exploring this area. The mountains that surround us are beautiful but the air quality is terrible. Superstition Mountain dominates the landscape. The Apache Trail drive around the mountain and up to Roosevelt Lake is gorgeous, especially the area at Fish Creek Hill. You drive through the Sonoran Desert mountains with the Saguaro Cacti. We have enjoyed good eating from the Mining Camp (all you can eat ribs, ham, chicken vegetables and desert). The drive on Us 60 is wonderful. There are places to get out and walk. On one trip Harpo and Roscoe got to climb volcanic rocks. Felicity and Melody joined us at the end of October. It was great having them with us. We took a boat ride on Canyon Lake and saw some rams. Over Christmas, Paul visited. It made a wonderful holiday. We got to share some of our favorite spots with him and explore some Indian ruins we had not yet seen. Before Paul came, we took the dogs to the vet for shots. Roscoe had been having a problem urinating. I had the vet check him. The vet found a bladder stone and took X-rays. There were a total of 3 stones. Then we went to a surgeon and she performed surgery. Roscoe has fully recovered and is his bouncy self. This brings me up-to-date. We will be here for a while if all continues to go well. Today is June 17. I will try to get caught up with this journal. I tried several months ago but my mouse went crazy and I haven't gotten back to it. I'm sorry to those of you who are following our dream. We left Apache Junction on March 13. It was a long winter for us. The air quality was so bad that Larry and I suffered from constant headaches from sinus infections. We only had one real rain from October to the time we left. We also had snow on the dominant mountain. That was the first snow in 25 years. It was beautiful. On leaving Arizona we traveled to California. We were checking out jobs for winter of 2006-2007. We took the dogs to the Pacific Ocean and play on the beach. Also we restocked at Sam's Club and headed east again. While in the area, we contacted Carolyn and Lucy, whom we met in Texas (winter of 2005-06). We boondocked with them for 2 days. It was great being with friends. Larry and I continued east to the Palm Strings, CA area. It is pretty but way to expensive, plus Larry and I aren't golfers. We continued on to a town called Twenty-nine Palms. We again were job shopping for winter '06,'07. While there we went to Joshua Tree National Park. We were delighted with this place. We want to camp here sometime. The Joshua trees look like a combination of Saguaro Cacti and scotch pine trees. There was an observation area that overlooked the mountains around Palm Springs and that city plus we could see the San Andreas Fault. That was very interesting and we were able to photograph it. We continued east to check out the Bullhead City, AZ and Laughlin, NV area. We do not gamble and were not terribly comfortable in these areas, so we were on our way. This life-style is great. Where we were searching for winter jobs and were not impressed with the city areas we did not have to stay we could continue on. Larry and I are amazed at God's handiwork and are not impressed with most cities (there are few exceptions). Now after the above paragraph, you are going to ask why we were going to Las Vegas. The answer is that this is the last Sam's Club available until we leave our current location. We shopped Sam's and hightailed it out of there. We picked-up I-15 and it came down to the Virgin River (this flows through Zion National Park) valley in AZ. We camped for the night at Cedar Pockets. This was a delightful find. The Virgin River has cut a beautiful valley. We continued the next morning. It is about the third week of March. We needed to be in St. George, UT to have our transmission looked at. While in Apache Junction, we had to replace our transmission with a much heavier duty one (Cottman-Hill Killer transmission). While traveling, Larry noticed the truck was not shifting as smoothly as it should. Upon taking it to the Cottman place in St. George they found an electronic device had gone out. Fortunately the transmission was under warranty. Also, they were able to put more cooling ability in for the transmission. While in St. George, we visited Zion--both sections. The main part is beautiful; but I think Larry and I both enjoyed the Kobel Canyon part the best. The overlook at the mountains and valley were magnificent. It amazes me how God can take a simple idea like a mountain and give it so many shapes, textures, trees, waterfalls, animals, etc. These mountains had a high mountain pasture on the west and descended to a jagged inverted V-shape in the middle, and I'll have to review the photos to remember the rest. It was past-time to head out. We were due at Bryce Canyon April 1. We had to wait for the transmission repair and the weather at Bryce. It was snowing there. Finally on April 6 we were on our way. We decided to go across the AZ strip on over to Kanab, UT, continuing north on 89. Again, just like last Sept., we are amazed at Red Canyon (Larry calls this the appetizer to Bryce Canyon). Upon arriving at Ruby's Inn, we proceeded to the campground office. Shaunna, the manager, was not in. Fortunately we knew where to park. Finding our spot we set up for a six and a half months stay. We are working about 32 hours a week. This has limited our expeditions; but we are trying to make the best of it. There are three national parks in a day's drive. Bryce, Zion, and Capitol Reef. We took off on Utah 12--one of our Nation's amazing drives. It is an experience in geology with fantastic views, steep mountain roads, and turn-offs to almost unspeakable delights. Our first such drive on 12 took us to Capitol Reef. It has canyons, that have gigantic walls, which some people think the tops look-like the Nation's Capitol Building. Harpo and Roscoe loved the picnic area. It had humongous cottonwood trees. They must have been hundreds of years old. We decided that buying a tent, sleeping bags, air mattress, etc. would add more range to our adventures. The first time out we took off on Utah 12 again looking for a camping spot. First we looked in Tropic at the base of Bryce--found nothing. We continued to Cannonville (next town east). Here we stopped at the BLM office to get some suggestions. We continued on. We tried Calf Creek Falls--they were full. Next we turned onto the Burr Trail--what a wow road. We headed for Duck Creek Campground--full. It is starting to get late in the day. We turned back west and looked at side roads for a possible camping place. None panned out. We headed home. The next morning we went to Red Canyon and set up for the night. Our air mattress went flat--Larry re-inflated it. It went flat again. Night passed. We returned the air mattress to Wal-Mart and ordered one on the web. Our next tent camping excursion again took us across Utah 12. We were headed toward Goblin Valley. This took us through Capitol Reef. We first became acquainted with Goblin Valley in the movie Galaxy Quest. The maze of small hoodoo formations is unearthly--like we had been transported to Mars. The campground was full so we looked for a spot on BLM land. We finally found a spot after rejecting several. Our campsite looked as if a million years before it had been part of an active body of water. The rock walls were pitted by what looked like whirlpools and rushing water. This area is desert, so we were on sand with some plant life. During the night, I had to get up. I did not zip the tent completely and after getting back into the sleeping bag I thought I saw a white flash. We heard scampering. Harpo and Roscoe got very excited. I had let a mouse in with us. Finally it must have gotten out. We decided not to stay a second night. A third tenting outing, as yet, has not been planned. Before I go on with adventures, let me explain our job which allows us to spend so much time in an area. Larry and I work in the campground office. We take reservations, check people in, help people explore the area by giving information, listen to complaints and try to make their experience better, sell product from the campground store, and check the campground. Larry does a lot of computer related work. Roscoe and Harpo really like it here. Dixie National Forest juts up to Ruby's Campground. The dogs can run off-leash here. They love this. On UT 12 is a town called Cannonville (about 15 miles from Bryce). There is a side road that goes to a state park. The Park is called Kodachrome Basin (named after the Kodak film). The formations here look as if a geyser was frozen in time. They a filled with conglomerate rock and I don't know what else. They stick up high in the air (several hundred feet). At the turn for Kodachrome is a Y in the road. The left fork is Kodachrome the right fork is a gravel road. This road is called Cottonwood Canyon Road. It goes all the way into AZ. About 17 miles down this road is a wonderful double arch formation called Grosvner's Arch. The right side opening is huge (several hundred feet high; at least 30 feet wide. The left side is much, much smaller. When we want to go to a Wal-Mart we have two choices: Cedar City is the closest at 73 miles; the second choice is Richfield at about 90 miles. When we go to Cedar City, we travel an amazing mountain road--UT 14. It goes up to about 10,000 ft. There is a field of lava flow there that was caused by cracks in the earth. It rises to 1000 ft. or more--a mountain of dried lava. A little further down Highway 14 is an overlook of Zion National Park--Wow! Our other choice for Wal-Mart takes us north on US 89. The drive is pleasant and the mountains are beautiful. On Such mountain I mentioned last year on our first time in the area. This mountain is Big Rock Candy Mtn. It has a sulfur spring in it that has given it some of its color--like lemonade. We really like the roads less traveled. One such road is the Burr Trail. You guessed it--it's off of UT 12. This road goes to Long Canyon. We went down a very steep hill into huge walls of red-red rock. Here we saw arched forming. We couldn't understand why this also wasn't a national park--much better than Zion. The road continued on to the top of a mountain, where we had to descend down a series of very steep, tight switch-backs--at least 1500 ft. We took the most amazing hike into Bryce. We went to Sunrise Point and down the Queen's Garden Trail. It is a totally different experience looking at the hoodoos on top and then going down amongst them and looking up. This trail took us through the Queen's Garden, to and in her castle, through three doors, then at the bottom (320 feet latter) we reached Queen Victoria--a hoodoo that looks like a queen high on a pedestal. Today is August 18. We took an absolutely wonderful hike. We took the shuttle into Bryce Canyon to Bryce Point. We started down the rim trail to Inspiration Point. Oh my! Wow! We walked about a third of the way around Bryce Point. We got different views of windows we saw from above, grottos carved into the walls by water, ice and wind. There is a feature at Bryce Point that looks like a gigantic alligator (actually it looks like very smooth concrete toweled on top of the hoodoos). As we hiked down and then back up the magnitude of the red rock formations hit me. There are canyons and crevices in between castle-like walls. As we walked 10-20 feet then turn back the scene changed, you could see more hoodoos, more canyons. We had to walk across several back-bones. There was a long way down on both sides. We were walking on loose rock part of the time, over roots and imbedded stones. Heights didn't used to bother me--they do now. To get to Inspiration Point, you have one more sizable hill to climb. Here the hoodoos are like a huge army of soldiers that have been turned into red-rock soldiers, one on top of another. You can see from this high vantage point back into Bryce Point and forward into Sunset Point. We came down the point and continued on toward Sunset Point. Wow! It is almost impossible to describe the view to you. We were able to look back into both amphitheaters--Bryce and Inspiration. It must be a very special place to God. He took exceptional care in the carving these awe inspiring views. On reaching Sunset Point we were tired and hunger. We took the shuttle to Bryce Canyon Lodge to check on the restaurant (we'll eat here when we drive in) and we stopped at the gift shop and found some treasures. We took the shuttle back to Ruby's, walked the dogs, and went and had a delicious meal and a bottle of wine--what an amazing day. This area we are in is a fairyland of treasures just waiting to be explored. Yesterday (8-17) we took a dirt/gravel road into a back area of Red Canyon. Roscoe and Harpo are with us. Red Canyon is part of the National Forest System the dogs are allowed here. We took the arches trail. You would think I'd tell you this was an average run of the mill hike but-- we found windows of all sizes. Some very tiny, some looked like the outlines of chubby moon men, and one good size arch, in a canyon setting, that changed shape as we walked around it. Now when God past out gracefulness I must have been napping. Some parts of the trail were steep and slick from loose rock. I went down on my butt and hands. Oh well, it worked I made it in one piece. The dogs had no problem at all. Larry is a little more sure-footed than me. Back on Highway 12, there is a town called Escalante. There is a road that goes north to Hell's Backbone. A bridge has been constructed across a chasm. This chasm has a creek running though it. I never saw the creek. The chasm went down forever. The colors here were pinks, grays, whites, foliage. One time in a travels we had a lady tell us not to see all the good-stuff first. I guess she hadn't come to Utah and Highway 12. On another outing we went to Coral Pink Sand Dunes off of US 89. They were pretty, but Larry is from northern IN and the sand dunes of Lake Michigan are truly amazing. From here we continued south to the Paria movie set. It is where some western films have been set. The movie set consisted of 2 saloons and a post office--not to impressive; but the hills around were purple, gray and white wide horizontal stripes. It was well worth the rough road to see the scenery. March 17, 2007 Happy St. Paddy's Day! It's the 39th anniversary of Larry proposing to Phyllis. Time really flies; and speaking of time flying, I'll try to catch up on Utah to now. It is the end of Sept. 2006. We were still working at Ruby's Inn campground. Some co-workers had already left. Felicity and Melody came for a visit. We had about a week with them. We took the Queen's Garden Trail from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point. It is hard to explain the oneness I felt with the hoodoos (rock formations) down at their level and looking up at them. The trail down passed twin bridges up a slot canyon. These bridges are natural formations. A slot canyon is a wide crevice in the rock and when it rains hard, water floods through the crevice. We had a wonderful week with the girls. A couple of days after the girls left we had monster rain. The bones dry washes filled with torrents of water. These streams were impassable. We watched a truck wanting to cross the usually dry wash and unable to. There were water falls from cliffs that are normally dry. After viewing these washes in AZ and now in UT it was amazing to see them rush with water. The last week we were at Ruby's, we agreed to work 40 hours, since we were the last of the night workers. We were very busy; there were still many people traveling. It was getting colder. We left the afternoon of Oct. 16. That night Bryce had a snowstorm. We spent the night in Richfield, UT. Our furnace went out. There was a dusting of snow on the ground. We were headed for Moab, UT. There was a RV repair place right of the main highway. The young man cleaned out the furnace and repaired a wire. What could have cost $1500 or more plus a wait for the parts, only cost us $70. We were most grateful for God watching over us. Leaving the repair place we went to our campground. Moab is one of those select exquisite, barren places on earth that if you haven't been there you must. Arches Nat. Park is here. Much of it can be seen from your car. Spectacle (as in eye glasses), double arch, balanced rock and more are right along the road. A short walk will give you a view of delicate arch. An easy short walk takes you to landscape arch (not to be standing much longer). Delicate Arch is perched on a barren cliff. It's there all by itself against the sky. Landscape Arch has an enormous expanse which is very narrow and thin. Double Arch you can see in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at the beginning of the film. While in Moab, we went to Dead Horse Point State Park. At this park, the Colorado River (same river as in the Grand Canyon) does a severe horseshoe bend. The colors are amazing, along with the layers of rock formations stair-stepping down to the river. This view rates as one of the top five overlooks that I have seen. On this same day we went to the section of Canyonlands Nat. Park that is adjacent to Dead Horse Point. The Green River has created some very tall islands. This part of Canyonlands is obviously called Island in the Sky. Canyonlands has several sections that are separated by the rivers. There are overlooks where you can see at least two other sections. We did not get to the Maze, but maybe on another trip. We were able to see a portion of the Needles--a lot like Bryce Canyon in the tall spikes of rock ascending into the air. Also in this section is the funniest arch--it looks like a wooden shoe. Before reaching the needles section, outside the National Park, is an Anasazi Indian Rock (Newspaper Rock). The petroglyphs are almost one on top of another. The rock had a like varnish on it and the pictures or messages are carved in this "varnished section". There were carvings of men, animals, and other items. Unfortunately, this culture of people did not survive and there are no accurate translations, only guesses as to the meanings. From Moab we went to Monument Valley. We had reservations at Gouldings. Gouldings is a small spec of land in the Navajo Reservation that had been established before the reservation was expanded from northern AZ to southern UT. Because of Gouldings, Monument Valley was introduced to the American people through John Ford films. It was the one place in the west were western films had great (absolutely awesome) scenery plus plenty of Indians. The land is harsh, stark and gorgeous. There is a spot known as Ford point. Here Ford would direct John Wayne and others from his favorite spot. There are two formations known as the mittens. These are view almost immediately as you enter the Valley. There is another formation near the mittens (I think) is called Merrick Point. Several car commercials were filmed here with the car on top. The way to see the area is a tour. When you take this tour, go with an empty bladder. There are no necessary stops. The ride is very rough; but I would do this again if the opportunity is available. On your own, you must stay on the controlled driving paths; with the Indian guides, you see so much more. From Monument Valley we headed south. We had wanted to go to Meteor Crater and over to Flagstaff. After checking the weather (it’s the end of October), anything above 6,000 ft. was going to be icy and snowy. We headed east into NM. Briefly stopping in two campgrounds, we head to Big Bend Nat. Park. The weather was terrific. Big Bend is a combination of desert, mountains, and river valley. It is so remote. The closest Super Wal-Mart is El Paso (over 300 miles). There are no good size grocery stores. I don't know how these residents stay. Everything is too expensive do to the distance to ship it in. If you are able to backpack or come when the Rio Grande has water coming through the side canyons it would be fun and exciting. From here we headed for Kerrville in the TX Hill country. We checked out a local winery--and bought some. We had a camper tire that was disintegrating so we replaced it. Larry found a wonderful herbal store and we stopped in. We enjoyed the local Cracker Barrel. We had been without one for over 7 months. That was a treat. We belong to Escapees RV Club. There is and Escapees Park in Hondo, TX. We wanted to check it out--we did. The people were warm and friendly. We investigated what it would take to lease a lot here. By the way, the Wal-Mart here is excellent (number 2 on Phyllis' Wal-Mart list). Nov. 15, 2006--San Marcos, TX: Pecan RV Park. This is home for the next 4 months. We were here a year and a half ago and really enjoyed the quiet atmosphere. It sits on top of a hill above the San Marcos River. You can walk over to an island and down to the river. There are large open areas and a dog park. It meets our needs with our two dogs. We thought we could easily find jobs here. Well----we failed to take into account the college here. We went in person to pick up applications, filled out applications on line, and went for interviews. Finally Larry got a call from a temp agency and got a job with the LBJ Museum as curator. Then another job opened up for Larry at Century Tel a DSL hotline company. Larry takes calls from customers who need help getting on line. Both Sam's Club and Wal-Mart called me 3 weeks before we were leaving. Larry is invited back in the fall to Century Tel. We will see how life pans out. We were hoping to find winter jobs to come back to each year. Also, we needed to find chiropractor, dentist, and MD. As I told you above, Larry found a job. We found excellent chiropractors in Drs. Sarah and Raphael Moreno. We also found a dentist. Hopefully, if we return here next winter we'll find an MD and Phyllis a job. The site we had was delightful. We had a concrete patio, yard, and wonderful neighbors also staying for the winter. This park has a good variety of people--babies, college students, professional people, the older generation. While Larry worked, I tried to accomplish the day to day necessities: laundry, dog baths and clippings, cleaning in and out on the camper. This allows us more time to have fun when he is off work--hiking in the state parks, RV shopping, and cooking out. After leaving San Marcos, we headed for Rockport, TX. This is where we came our first winter on the road. We have come back to Raintree RV Park. The owners live on site and are always working to improve things. We are visiting friends and favorite places. After leaving San Marcos, we headed for Rockport, TX. This is where we came our first winter on the road. We have come back to Raintree RV Park. The owners live on site and are always working to improve things. We are visiting friends and favorite places. We stayed in Rockport for 9 days. It's St. Patrick's Day. Larry proposed to me 39 years ago. We wanted to do some-thing special. We went to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge to see the Whopping Cranes. There were two sets-- a family of three and a pair. On another day our friend Marie and her Dalmatian, Blaze went to Padre Island National Seashore. The weather was perfect--in the high 70's. Roscoe and Harpo had a great time terrorizing sea gulls and small cranes. Roscoe was a little braver and got his paws wet. Harpo got her tummy incrusted with sand. It was an all round relaxing, enjoy able day. We came back and brought in dinner from Mac's Barbeque. Larry grilled sirloin burgers and veggie kabobs one evening--delicious. I caught up on laundry and Larry washed the truck. We enjoyed two more meals with Marie and other friends. One time we went into Corpus Christi and the other we had pizza (Larry and I have been on the S. Beach diet since the end of Nov. and pizza is a rare treat).