Those 70ish Girls

We’re still having a good time with Kip’s sister, Karlyce who lives in Greeley, CO. The weather has been almost as amazing as the food. Karlyce is still taking Kip down memory lane by fixing dinners their mother made. I get to go along for the eating.

Since I last reported, we’ve had fried trout with cole slaw, and hamburger gravy served over torn up slices of bread. This caused a little argument. Kip remembers his mother frying hamburgers, which they cut into pieces and tossed with the bread before pouring white gravy over the top. Karlyce, and as it turns out, Kip’s other 2 sisters remember their mom browning crumbled up hamburger and making the gravy with the crumbled hamburger in it. I’m probably not explaining this right, but I’m here to say it is great comfort food. We ate it with yummy sweet corn and sliced homegrown tomatoes.

Yesterday, we took a beautiful drive up to Estes Park. Nellie and Rylie even got to go. Karlyce and I did a little shopping in several of the cute touristy stores before treating ourselves to a great lunch. I had an Elk burger, which was delicious, until I walked outside and saw several Elk basking in the sun. I felt bad.

We usually eat breakfast out…

We have 2 more home-cooked meals to look forward to before we waddle to the reunion. Man, oh man, Karlyce is a great cook!

As my husband and I get older, we think about our birthdays. How should we celebrate? Will this be our last one? Will we get to celebrate with our family and friends? Should we do something special, because we don’t have many more chances to enjoy our time here on the planet?

I’m all for a big splurge. I want to go on a trip somewhere exotic or unique. Some place I’ve never been before. Who knows at my age if I will ever get to go on my dream trip? We usually go out for lunch or dinner at a snazzy restaurant or to eat our favorite cuisine to celebrate senior birthdays. This year I want to try something bigger and better and funner.

This year for my birthday, I told my husband I want to visit Charleston and Savannah to tour the historic homes, museums and Civil War sites. I’ve always wanted to go there. I went ahead and looked into arrangements for such a trip to celebrate being 70ish. My hygienist and friend of 25 years even gave me the name of her daughter’s great travel agency. I called and talked to a travel agent there who had me flying high on ideas and wondrous destinations in the South! He painted a visual canvas of fascinating places to see with stays at old remodeled 1850’s style inns and romantic southern foods at lavish intimate dinners overlooking lush gardens with trees covered in Spanish moss. I was enthralled. I was ready.

The tour trip was called Southern Charms but there was nothing charming about the cost of a week long trip to Charleston and Savannah in the fall. My heart and my hopes sunk. My husband said he didn’t want to go on any tours. He also said it’s too expensive. Maybe I will go alone. It costs half as much that way.

Then later as we discussed what else to do for my special birthday, one like no other, he may have been fooling around, just joking, which he does tongue in cheek quite successfully. I was cooking something at the stove. He said, “I’ll take you out to dinner for your birthday- first to Burger King then to Dairy Queen for dessert.”

I just stared at him a minute.

I hope he wasn’t too badly injured by the flying frying pan.

One of the things I love about RV life on the road is that every day is different. Even if you’re in one spot for a couple of weeks as we currently are, you experience new sights and scenes each day.

Yesterday, I went to lunch with my sister-in-law, Karlyce, and a group of her friends. After lunch, we went back to her beautiful little stone church for an hour of fellowship. Karlyce asked me to read a poem from my “Rhymes for all Times” book. I read, “On any Given Day,” which they seemed to enjoy.

Wednesday night, Karlyce prepared another nostalgic dinner that her mom made when the 4 kids were growing up. She made chicken and noodles served over mashed potatoes and a fresh fruit salad made with fruit and sour cream. It was all amazing. Kip and I brought lemon bars, which are something my mom used to make.

I would encourage you all to take the food walk down memory lane. It prompts a lot of fun conversations about growing up and family times.

This weekend we plan to drive up to Estes Park. We used to go there a lot when we lived in Denver and Kip, and Karlyce’s mom lived in Loveland.

The weather continues to be gorgeous. Coming from Texas, where the heat has been relentless this summer, it’s a real game changer.

The following are pictures taken at the Sheels store. What a fun place. We bought a bunch of dog paraphernalia.

One day, while driving around, Kip and I made the sudden decision to become full-time RVers. Once we make a decision, especially an important one, we typically storm ahead and don’t look back.

I have to admit that after being sidetracked for 6 months due to Kip needing back surgery, I have had the occasion to look back. The other day, it dawned on me that other than the vast amount of liquid assets we have squirreled away (just kidding), we have everything we own with us. We didn’t leave anything back home. There is no “back home.” Our immediate family members reside in Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, and California. Our dogs are with us.

So what is home? It’s a 38′ RV that has recently been pummeled by hail. We’re in the throws of arranging for it to be fixed. Thankfully, we have insurance. That can happen to a house, too, of course.

We had the RV washed and waxed the other day. (Sharp inhale when Kip told me it was going to cost $500.00.) You have to paint and do other upkeep on a house as well, right?

I don’t really mind the smaller living space. We’ve been graduating downward for 10 years. We have a nice little patio that we can put down, and we really enjoy that.

Our biggest frustrations while traveling are bad highways and road construction. Our house shakes, rattles, and rolls. One of my jobs is to find a good RV park for each stay. Often times I search just a couple of hours in advance because we’re not sure how far we’ll get, especially if there is a lot of road construction. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a necessary evil. We’re happy to see improvements in the country’s infrastructure. Finding a park to stay in can, however, create anxiety.

The plus side is we can spend a lot more time with family and friends and they don’t have to put us up. We have our own home with us. We get around to more places than we would if we took car road trips and had to stay in a motel with 2 dogs. We really enjoy new scenery and doing a lot of fun activities. We have all our own things around us. I don’t really like motels anymore. I prefer my own sheets and towels.

Best of all, we can travel with our pets and thankfully, they are good travelers.

I’ll be sharing more thoughts about all of this as our adventure continues, but…So far, so great!

Baba is back. We’re not sure where she’s been, but she has returned.

Do you remember the song “Sunflower” by Glenn Campbell? Soup? It was Yram’s mother’s favorite song. Bean soup was her favorite soup.

Can Baba interview Arnold or Taylor? More importantly, can she interview Klip and May, the easy ones? Can she fertilize and water her sad roses? On a lighter note: Her sunflowers and beans look pretty good, so we have hope. Stay tuned but don’t hold your breath.

After 2 nights in La Veta, CO, we headed for Canon City on Monday morning. We stopped at the Royal Gorge RV Park around 3:00. By the time we went to Walmart to pick up some salads and other essentials and walked the dogs, it was too late to do any sightseeing.

This morning, we were up and out early and drove the 3 miles to the Royal Gorge Bridge. Turns out we were up too early. The park was not going to open for an hour. We only cried a little because it was $35 per person to get into the park. I’m sure it would have been well worth the money.

The Royal Gorge Bridge was constructed in 1929 by the Royal Gorge Amusement Company at a cost of $350,000 (today it would cost more than $18 million).

The Royal Gorge Bridge is 18 feet wide and 1,260 feet long, and 956 feet high

After looking at it, I wasn’t sure I wanted to take the walk because I don’t like heights.

After the Royal Gorge, we drove to Lyman, CO where we got a spot at a KOA. I’m now doing laundry. Ho Hum…

On with the adventure. We left Amarillo, TX on Saturday morning and headed for our next stop…La Veta, CO. We’re early risers, and I knew we would get there hours before the check-in time of 2:00 pm. When we arrived at 10:30 am, I panicked.

Me: What are we going to do until 2:00? We can take the legendary scenic drive along Highway 12, but we might not find a place to turn this big RV around? La Veta is a small town. There aren’t that many places we can go in this big RV!

Kip: Yeah, try that in a small town. You’re forgetting that we tow a Jeep. We’ll find a place to park the RV, unhook the Jeep, and take the scenic route.

Me: Oh…

Here are a few pics from Saturday.

Sunday…Once again, we woke up early and headed for The Great Sand Dunes National Park. We stopped along the way and let the dogs go for a run.

What a fun day it was! We saw the sand dunes where people climb as high as they can go and then slide down on a board. Like surfing in the sand.

Next, we went to Zapata Falls. Kip hasn’t quite healed enough from back surgery yet, but I climbed the treacherous 1/2 mile, straight up, rocky trail to the falls. I seriously need to start that healthy eating and add regular exercise. I had to stop and rest a few times. I took a lot of selfies to save face. I couldn’t pretend my shoes needed tying and get some rest that way because my tennis shoes are no-tie slip-ons. Here are a few of the more scenic pics of the day.

When we got back to LA Veta, it was time for Kip to panic. He couldn’t find the keys to the RV. After 5 minutes of trying to see under the Jeep seats and watching Kip search his pockets at least 4 times, I finally said, “Are you sure you took the keys from the key hanger thing and locked it?”

He assured me he had. I checked, and he hadn’t. Don’t worry, we’ll make it. Sometimes, we need a little help from our dogs.

We got up Wednesday morning, walked the dogs, finished getting the RV ready to go, hooked up the Jeep, drove to Love’s in Van, TX, where we got gas, aired up all the tires, and weighed our rig. (You have to be under a certain weight.) All that done and it was only 10:00 am.

We got onto I-20 and drove 27 miles past the exit we wanted to take to get on a more scenic backroad highway. We turned around and drove 27 miles back. All we have is time.

We stopped for a late lunch and made it to the Eiffel Tower and Veteran’s Memorial in Paris,TX by 4:00.

The dogs were great and didn’t seem bothered by the fact that we folded up their house and drove it down the road.

We stopped for the night at a nice little RV park in Whitesboro, TX.

The next morning…

Kip: I really need to lose a few pounds.

Me: Let’s enjoy ourselves for a couple of days, and then we’ll start eating healthy.

RV: Next stop… Germain bakery

After our cost saving wedding and reception on 24th of July of 1971, we took off that evening on our first honeymoon in our 1964 VW van.

We had just purchased the van for $800, first selling my Mustang which my folks had bought from cousin Bill. My folks- (especially my Mom) – made sure we paid my parents back for every penny with which they had paid for my used 1968 Mustang. The VW had a “lawnmower” engine in it, at least that’s what I called it, which some mechanics had put in for us on the spot, and it needed the valves adjusted every few hundred miles. The top speed for our van was about 50 mph. It wasn’t painted and just had primer on it. We never did paint it. It looked iffy and temporary like a gray box on wheels. You would’ve laughed seeing it. We loved it.

Ken had gotten reservations at a lovely inn up north that we never used. Instead we stopped somewhere in Santa Barbara and slept in the van our first honeymoon night. Next we headed north to Big Sur, first camping at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park which is an exceptional California jewel of nature. The redwood trees tower over you and the river runs through it, all making you wonder how God and Mother Nature could’ve created such majesty. We were enthralled.