Granbury, TX

Oklahoma City Memorial

Oklahoma City Zoo

We are now in Granbury, TX. We had a great time in Oklahoma City with Donna's sister and brother-in-law. We saw the Murrah Building Memorial - very distressing, but also gave us a good feeling about the way people drew together to help the victims, their families and the rescuers. After leaving there, we went to Bricktown and had lunch followed by a boat ride through the canal. It was fun and informative. One day we went to the zoo (it was a free to the public day) and had a nice long walk and then a tram ride. There were many, many kids there, but we managed to see and do everything we wanted to. Thanksgiving day we had a relaxing time, went to dinner, played cards, went to see "Life of Pi" (excellent movie), played more cards. What else would a person want for Thanksgiving? Our time with family went so fast and this morning we all went our separate ways. Sister and husband went to Branson and then on to Michigan and Tom and I headed south to Granbury. We are going to visit one of Tom's college friends here, then Sunday head to Dallas to see family again. Tom misses the rig, Donna doesn't yet. It's fun to be away for a while and just wing it a bit. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Amarillo, TX

We are getting close to our Oklahoma City destination (270 miles to go). We have had a great trip so far. Yesterday we were in Moriarty, NM, and we visited RV Sales and saw Ralph and Kathy Chowning and some other Excel owners we had never met before. We had a great visit and Tom was able to spend his gift certificate on things he just couldn't live without. Today after doing our water aerobics and having breakfast, we headed east to Amarillo. We arrived in time to have a late lunch at The Big Texan. You may have heard of it - they offer a free steak if you can eat it in 1 hour. It's only 72 oz. or 4.5 lbs!!!! No, Tom didn't try to do it. We hoped that someone would be there trying for it, but no such luck. We had a great lunch and enjoyed the circus-like atmosphere very much. After lunch, we ran a couple of errands then checked into our motel. We decided to just kick back and have a quiet evening as we know that once we are in OKC we will be busy having too much fun with Donna's sister and brother-in-law. It's always a good time when we get together. We're also glad to spend a few days off the road before we head to Texas to see more family and friends. We'll keep you posted about our fun times.

Flagstaff, AZ

We left Hemet bright and early this morning and headed east and north! We made it to Flagstaff in 9 hours which included our breaks. We saw some beautiful scenery and had a very pleasant trip. After arriving here at the motel, we put on our bathing suits and headed to the pool for some much needed water aerobics! We finished up with a nice soak in the hot tub and now both of us are very relaxed and looking forward to another day of fun travel. We both enjoy a road trip so much and even though Tom misses our "Charm", he's beginning to relax and enjoy himself. I know by the time we get home, we'll be glad to see Charm again, but I think it's fun to take a vacation for our "vacation" life style. More news from the road soon!

Hemet, CA

Trip to Reno

We are in Hemet now for the winter. We arrived last week but were unable to do much with the blog as the Wifi was terrible. We are now in good shape with it and Tom is so glad. We left Ukiah on Oct. 22 and went to visit friends in Winters, CA, overnight. Jane and John were great hosts and we had a fun visit with them. From there we went to Reno, NV, to visit Paul and Mary Wells. We had to go over Donner Pass to get there and it was closed because of snow. After waiting around Sacramento for a few hours, the pass was open and we were able to get over it with no problem. While in Reno, Tom and Paul went to the car museum and had a grand time. They also did a 3 hour tour of Reno on Segways. Here's a little videoclip of Tom being released from "turtle" mode and allowed "rabbit" mode!! They had so much fun. While they were having their fun, Donna and Mary went yarn shopping and lunching. We also had some time to catch up on our knitting. Sunday evening we went to a performance of the Jersey Nights and it was fabulous. Paul and Mary are wonderful hosts and we left Reno reluctantly to head to Hemet. We traveled down Highway 395 which is an amazing route. We saw beautiful mountains, colorful fall leaves and the time just flew by. The day after we arrived in Hemet, Donna went to a Red Hat tea - very posh! It was nice having such wonderful treatment and the food was delicious. Since we've been here, we have been busy seeing our old friends, going to water aerobics and Tom has been busy getting things done on the rig - no new news there. We are leaving in about a week on a trip back to Oklahoma and Texas to see family and friends. We are driving the car and taking a "vacation" from the rig. Every once in a while, it's good to leave home at home. We're excited about it and we'll post from the road to let you all know about how much fun we're having.