Lake Pleasant, AZ - Feb 22 to 26

Another close to home outing to the Desert Tortoise Campground at Lake Pleasant Regional Park just north of Phoenix.

This has been one of our regular local go-to campgrounds to check out our various camping trailers.

This time we are at a site high on a hill with a great view of the lake and surrounding hills.

It certainly is desert camping.  The weather was plenty warm but the breezes kept everything pretty cool.

On Wednesday we took a ally nice 5 mile hike on the nearby Pipeline Trail which took us to the top of Yavapai Point.


Our lunch spot was right on top behind a nice shady bush with a wonderful view of the lake.

Afterwards we made a stop at the Scorpion Bay Marina Cafe for a cool one!

Tucson / Catalina State Park, AZ - Jan 18 to 22

We make our first RV excursion of 2016 down to beautiful Catalina State Park on the north side of Tucson, Arizona to do a little bit of hiking and to simply get back in the RV travel groove.  Funny how much you can forget in just three months.

We were joined by Julia & Larry Travis and Julia's sister Sarah who happens to love to cook so we ate like kings.

We had sites adjacent to one another which made meals and campfires really easy.

The views of the Catalina Mountains were really nice.

On Tuesday we took a tour of the University of Arizona Telescope Mirror Lab where they fabricate mirrors about 25 ft in diameter.

This one is in the process of cooling down before being moved to the next part of the process.

The lifting rig is pretty huge.












The lab itself is a part of and underneath the U of A Football stadium.  It essentially already had the type of foundations needed for the gigantic mirrors.

Every day was a happy hour and gas campfire.

And the Sunsets were terrific

Dinners were in the Travis RV.

On Wednesday we took a pretty rough 6 mile hike on the Romero Canyon Trail up to the Romero Pools.

The scenery was really spectacular.

As were the waterfalls and pools at the top.  It was well worth the trip.

On Thursday we made the trip down to the Pima Air and Space Museum

You best behave Johnboy!

San Diego Weekend - 10/08 to 10/10

We make a trip over to San Diego to watch Mary's granddaughter play volleyball at Point Loma University

The Home Stretch - IL to Arizona - 09/21 to 09/26

Ready or not 

Here We Come!

We made it pretty much a straight shot heading for home.  For the most part we stuck to the freeways to make time and stayed in more or less commercial RV parks, many times not even un-hooking the truck & trailer.  We stayed at the Meramec Valley Campground in Cuba, MO; the Riverview RV Park in Sand Springs, OK (Tulsa); the Overnite RV Park in Amarillo, TX; the Enchanted Trails RV Park in Albuquerque, NM and finally the Desert Drums RV Resort in Camp Verde, AZ.

Making the last stop in Camp Verde, we made it Home about 10:00 in the morning and had plenty of time to start the unloading process, pick up the accumulated mail (mostly junk) and get the RV safely stowed back beside the house.

Great to be back at home ... but ... already missing the excitement over what the next stop will bring.
Can't wait for the next adventure!

The Map below attempts to show the entire trip in one place.  What a gas!
Left Phoenix on May 20 and got back Sep 26.  Grand total = 12,530 miles

PA to Illinois - 09/16 to 09/18

Seriously starting to head towards home with a planned stop in Illinois to do a mini-reunion of sorts with some of Mary's family.

First stop was a really nice State Park outside of Springfield, OH.  Then a small private park on the north side of Champaign, IL where we linked up with John's cousins Andy and John Geissal.  They actually brought dinner out to our campsite - what a treat and thanks much.  It was a really nice evening.

And finally a campground near the town of Hopedale, IL where one of Mary's brothers is currently staying.  They are now full time RVers so it made great sense for everyone to meet up there.  We went out to a birthday dinner for Marge Starr on Friday and then Sunday is scheduled to be a mini-reunion with a whole bunch of the Illinois family showing up.

Fallingwater, PA - 09/15

Today we made our way a bit further west from Gettysburg to a town called Rockwood where we dropped the trailer and continued on to Mill Run, PA.

Our target was the famous Frank Lloyd Wright home called Fallingwater designed in 1935.  It was built directly over a spring fed creek and waterfall.

No doubt about it - for us this was well worth the stop.

We really like Frank Lloyd Wright's work but this one tops them all!

Gettysburg, PA - 09/13 to 09/14

We're now really starting to head west as we leave New Jersey and pass through Delaware and Maryland on the way over to Gettysburg.

Going all the way down to Baltimore seemed strange but believe it or not there was not a more direct route.
Travelling in the East we have become super sensitive to low hanging bridges with our beast of an RV.  It only took one close call and a big detour in New York state to make us believers.

Neither Mary or I had been to Gettysburg before but it seemed like a reasonable stop.  Neither one of us are particularly Civil War buffs so our expectations were not so high.

Big surprise - this place is really impressive.
Never realized or understood how pivotal this one engagement was to the entire future of our country.


We walked all through the Soldiers's National Cemetery and it really brings home the tremendous losses that occurred here

This is the Monument to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  Kind of a moving experience to be standing right where it all happened.




The Soldier's National Monument is pretty impressive.

As is the Monument to General George Meade

The number of monuments to specific state units all over the battlefield is amazing.
And the area over which the battle was fought is incredible.



We took the 2 hour tour bus and learned way more than we ever expected.
The tour guide was great and really put it all into perspective.

The Films (about six) and the Cyclorama at the Visitor's Center are really impressive.  The Cyclorama is a 360 degree oil painting that is 42 ft high by 377 ft around, painted by French artist Paul Philippoteaux completed in 1883 depicting Pickett's Charge, the climatic Confederate attack on Union forces on July 3, 1863.  The attack failed and cost the Confederacy over 5,000 soldiers in one hour, effectively spelling the beginning of the end for the Confederacy.  Robert E. Lee acknowledged afterwards that it was one of the biggest mistakes of the war.
A few shots of the Cyclorama are below.
It really puts you right in the middle of the battle and brings home the extent of the devastation that happened here.