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USA Road Trip 2013
  • Walkabout AUS
Agustus 2013

USA Road Trip 2013

Hi there and we welcome you to follow our RV trip across the USA commencing on the 7th August 2013. The trip has been planned for nearly 9 months now as part of our daughter returning to her US University where she studies on her sporting scholarship Baca selengkapnya
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    2 Agustus 2013
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    Just 5 More Sleeps

    2 Agustus 2013, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Well its been a long time in the planning and just 5 more sleeps to go at home and we'll be saying by to home and on our way. Travelling with the good old flying kangaroo direct from Brisbane to Los Angeles on Wed 7th at 10:35am and arriving in LA the same day at 6:40 am. Cool, we gain 4 hours.
    Will drop another blog soon as we start thinking about packing and realise we've probably forgotten something.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Cleveland, Queensland

    4 Agustus 2013, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Well finally got the desk tidied so now Sue will let me go on the trip. Just need to get it all approved by the boss (Sue) of course but I think she should be pretty happy as I completed rearranged the whole office to create more space, looks pretty cool now.

    Other completed tasks today were transfer of funds onto the Amex Travel Card, registration on the Australian Smart Traveller Website, confirmed all the travel insurance details, and still managed to get the office cleaned up.
    Am I good or what, imagine how organised our trip is going to be, not.

    Just 3 more sleeps now and we will be on our plane to LA at 10:35am Wednesday morning. Flight is around 14 hours, and should see us landing at around 6:45am the same day, pretty cool getting 4 hours back.

    From the airport we will head east to collect the Motorhome from El Monte RV's at Santa Fe Springs, about 35 minutes by cab, supposedly, but who knows what the traffic will be like that time of morning. At least we should be heading in the opposite direction to the main peak hour traffic.

    Once we collect the RV it will be off to the supermarkets to stock up on supplies and then head out through Palm Springs toward Phoenix. Check out our itinerary as to where we will be heading thought our road trip.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Newstead, Queensland

    5 Agustus 2013, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Getting close now. Well I've got most of the work out of the way and now starting to actually get excited. Currently sitting in Newstead at the Liquid Bar & Grill waiting for my lovely wife to finish work at one of her clients.

    Will probably be late as she has to make sure everything done covers the next 3 weeks or so and all is taken care of. She's a good girl that one of mine, always ensuring that her clients are well taken care of.

    While sitting here have been checking out the trip with flights etc, and with flights to LA 15,200k, RV road Trip 10,186k, and return flights to Brisbane 15,200k, this could be around 31,500k travelled in just 23 days. Thank goodness most of it is in a aircraft, Boeing 747, (Jumbo) to be precise. The exciting part about all of this is that we will be blogging like this constantly for the entire trip.

    All 3 of us, Sue, Bec, and myself, will all be putting our thoughts and experiences up on the site so should be interesting in how we each perceive the different aspects of the trip.

    Bec will of course be leaving us in Youngstown once back at college and Sue and I will continue on back to LA from there using the different northerly route through Kansas, Colorado, and Nevada. Bring on Las Vegas.

    We reckon we might try to catch one of the magic shows in Vegas if there is one, will let you know once we check it out.

    OK, this is thirsty work, best get back to the bar for another drink, bye for now.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Brisbane International Airport

    6 Agustus 2013, Australia ⋅ 23 °C

    That's it, at the airport now, checked in, done customs etc and now enjoying a relaxing snack and coffee at the lounge
    Flight departs in 1hr 25mins and then 13 hours to LA where we collect the motor home and start heading East out through Palm Springs.
    Getting excited now.    Baca selengkapnya

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    LA Airport, Los Angeles. CA

    7 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Had a great flight from Oz, left a little late but made up time on the flight and actually landed about ten minutes early.
    Flying Qantas was great as usual with really good meals and free drink, but of course I was driving upon landing in LA so had to be careful. Took in 3 movies and one was an absolute screamer.
    The movie Olympus Has Fallen was absolutely amazing, and a real eye opener as to the security of the Whitehouse. We'll see it happen for real now as movies tend to create a scenario that eventually happens in real life, yeah?
    Now, when we travel we always expect a few things to go wrong and today was no exception. Got to homeland security border control and Bec had a document missing that she needed to enter the country as a Student, an I20, but apparently it was torn out when she left there last time. Fortunately the guy was very pleasant and we sweet talked our way through and got in, would have been a long trip back home.
    Drama then continued when Sue suddenly remembers she left some medication on the aircraft that needed to be kept in the refrigerator. Race back to one of the information volunteers who kindly took off back to the aircraft and managed to collect the package before everyone had left the aircraft, talk about lucky.
    So now into a cab to get out to Santa Fe Springs to collect the RV, nice driver, polite, courteous, well kept, but virtually no English so we had to show him the address so he could type it into his GPS and off we went. Luckily we headed in the opposite direction to the traffic as it was horrendous, bumper to bumper on the freeways to miles and miles. Wouldn't want to be doing that trek every day for work, so true what they say about the LA traffic.
    We arrived at El Monte RV around 8:30 which was perfect timing for a good early getaway, or so we thought. After doing the paperwork, watching the induction video, we headed back out to do orientation of the vehicle only to be informed that there was a problem with a tear in one of the seats and the upholsterer was onto it and should be no more that 45 minutes, I figured he must be a damn good upholsterer to do it that fast. Sure enough I was right, 2 hours and 15 mins later we finally hopped aboard and departed the depot. Leaving at 12:15 after having pre-paid a early departure fee seemed rather pointless.
    So, we hit the road and headed East.
    The smog was atrocious, a dark grey haze that covered the entire city, wasn't until we got right out through Riverside and headed towards Palm Springs. The desert.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 1, Blythe, California

    7 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Headed out from the RV pickup and as we passed out towards Palm Springs came across this massive bush fire, well probably grass fire, not much bush in the desert. Created a massive amount of smoke. Reached Blythe a few hours late but none the less as per schedule.

    Blythe was expected to be our first night stop as per the original plan but I was doubtful we would make that distance after not getting much sleep on the plan. However, we arrived around 5:00 and headed straight to a cell phone shop to get our phones sorted with SIM cards. Bec already had hers but had to be cut down to a nano size card to fit the iPhone 5, as for they rest of us we will have to make do with Bec's phone until we can get to a bigger city and get another couple of our simple mobile sim cards.

    OK, so we said, lets get a Motorhome so we can cook for ourselves and eat healthy, so straight to McDonald's for dinner and free wi-fi to get some messages checked and do some blogging. Found this lovely RV park at Blythe right on the Colorado river, see the snaps we took.

    Proceeded to hook up the RV to power and water only to discover we had not been provided with a water hose for connecting to the town mains, so much for paying a preparation fee. Time for an early night seeing as we can't get the tv working, no signal.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 2, Tuscon, Arizona

    8 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 19 °C

    So day 2 of our road trip and after waking up a little later than expected 10:15am we unhooked ourselves and off we headed for Phoenix, Arizona. After the long flight and then continuing on after our late departure from the depot it was decided lets just sleep till our bodies tell us they'd had enough.

    Although California has huge motorways, the road surface is pretty disgusting and really need a lot of maintenance. Thankfully Blythe was almost on the border of California and Arizona and not long after leaving Blythe the border crossing was almost like entering a new world. The road went from crap to beautiful surfaces and wider lanes as well, which made a huge difference to the comfort of the trip.

    As we drove we contacted the RV people to have a little bit of a b**** about the fact that none of the keys that came with the RV actually worked in any of the locks, bar the ignition thankfully. They responded pretty well with an address in Phoenix for us to go to and keys for the locks so we could actually leave the vehicle secure, and also provided us a water hose and regulator so we can actually hook up to mains water, unfortunately at our own expense, to be reimbursed upon our return to the depot.

    We got to Phoenix and the GPS was taking us south towards Tucson, our route destination, but alas, the RV place was in New River, 28 miles north of Phoenix. You gotta laugh.

    Well as the day drew to a close we arrived at our RV Park joust south of Tucson and wow, it was a total mind blower, this is apparently the largest RV park in the world, and voted number 1 RV park in the whole of North America. I'm not gonna take away Sue's thunder, I'll let her tell you more about it and post some pics tomorrow.

    So off to bed now and then up in the morning for a workout in the gym, swim in the pool, maybe a stroll by the lake, and then a hearty breakfast at the Bar & Grill. Got you salivating, check back tomorrow for Sue's and Bec's comments.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Leaving Tombstone

    9 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Stayed in the most amazing RV park last night. It had 3 swimming pools, one 25m for laps, indoor pool & normal fun pool. There are 1500 permanent residents, Hotel, Bar & Grill. Tennis courts, solarium and is on the bank of the Colorado River. I could retire in a place like this.

    We have just left Tombstone, which sorry to say I was little disappointed. It was good but I expected to see horses tethered in the streets & a few more gun fights. It's great that it has been preserved.

    We are now headed towards El Paso not sure that we will get all the way. Weather still hot but a few clouds around.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 3, Tombstone, Arizona

    9 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Heading out of Tucson we made our way to Tombstone, Arizona. Well I don't need to tell anyone about the history of Tombstone, most of us grew up with the cowboy movies telling the stories of Wyatt Earp and the shoot out at the OK Corral.

    We headed there thinking it had some sort of theme park but in actual fact the entire town is the theme park. The main streets are still as they were in the late 1800's at the time of the shoot out at the corral. The entire population almost appears to live in the past as they parade up and down the main streets acting out the cowboy era and shoot outs in the streets. Live theatre shows at the OK corral reliving the shooting and the incidents leading up to the event gave the town a real theatrical feel. Not sure whether I was disappointed or ok with everything. Guess the jury is still out on that one, but one thing is certain, it is a relief to see that the people still place such a strong emphasis on their towns history. I think the history is what really keeps the place alive as it died when the water tables rose up to make the mining of the silver and gold no longer viable.

    Four hours at Tombstone certainly placed us a little behind schedule but with the RV refuelled we headed back through Benson to the I10 East and took off toward Las Cruces, New Mexico.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 4, El Paso, New Mexico

    10 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Day Four - Today was a good start as the first day we did not need a sleep in due to dramas that took away our travel time.
    We all got a reasonably early night and had the alarm set for 7:00 so as to get a good early start to our day. The new plan was to be up early and get to our next night destination by mid afternoon with a few tourist stops along the way. Thanks to some impeccable planning from our master navigator, yours truly, it worked beautifully.
    Our trip today took us out along Interstate 10E toward San Antonio from El Paso. Heading south east first opened up the landscape as we crossed over into Texas, the change in landscapes is quite distinct and unique state to state. Arizona was very much sandy desert with very little growth other than desert grasses, whereas once we entered New Mexico and then into Texas the landscape changed to a lot more more greenery and some light shrubbery.
    Texas is BIG, flat, and incredibly expansive. Temperatures today mellowed a little to just around 95F (36C) but the locals started to suggest the weather was now quite mild. MILD?
    Travelling through Texas much of the Interstate ran along old sections of the original road leaving behind it some extremely old Mexican style buildings vacant and falling apart, old fuelling stations that were no longer viable as the only access now was via the off ramps and the big oil companies had these sewn up.
    We were talking a little about where the original oil fields may have been and then almost as if scripted for a movie we can over a small rise to see the beginning of the Texan oil fields.
    List outside of Barstow is where it began. Continuing NE toward Odessa the wells became more prolific until we reached an area so laden with wells the entire landscape was just a forest of thousands and thousands of power poles providing power to the thousands of pump derricks scattered across the land as far as the eye could see. I could only imagine what this area once looked like in the days before the electric driven derricks, back when all these wells were tall timber and steel structures. It must have been an absolute forest of old style oil wells, standing high off the ground giving the whole landscape an eerie appearance.
    Just before Odessa we managed a detour off the main highway to the Odessa Meteor Crater, now a National Historic Monument. The crater at impact would have measured some 500 feet across and nearly 120 feet deep, but as time has passed over the last 50,000 years much of the original crater has been filled with sand and blows from the numerous desert sand blows that can cause zero visibility. Many areas along the highway even have sign postings and flashing lights to warn of the sand blows and instructions to pull to the side of the road when visibility drops.
    We reached Odessa mid afternoon as planned and proceeded to our RV park and checked in. Odessa is quite a substantial town of nearly 100,000 people, mostly there for the provision of services to the oil industry and of course, the associated service industries catering to all those people.
    Well, after a good stock up of supplies and beverages we settled in to a lovely sunset drink with the stunning Texan desert sunsets. Tomorrow is our next leg to Dallas, the home of JR, and the wealth of Texas. So far we are fully back on schedule and looking forward to leaving the deserts of the southwest and moving across into the more lavish climates of Arkansas and Tennessee. Check out our photo albums and we'll see you again soon, Cheers.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 5, Odessa, Texas

    11 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Today we travelled from El Paso to Odessa. The scenery changed from desert with mountains on most sides to plains with nothing as far as you could see. We eventually started seeing the oil derricks which let us know we were definitely in Texas. We stopped and had a look at the Meteor Crater at Odessa, where of all things I met an Australian Cattle dog called Roxy. Her master told me she was the best dog he had ever had. Tomorrow we head to DallasBaca selengkapnya

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    Big Springs, Texas

    11 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Day Five - Got away to a good start this morning and then straight to a Macca's so we could get some decent Internet access as the wi-fi at the RV park was pretty weak and probably a lot of users so couldn't get much done there.

    As we travelled, the RV was sitting pretty steady as can be seen by the speedo snap attached. The oil fields continued on in abundance for the next 100 miles or so, but then once we passed Big Springs towards Colorado City it suddenly stopped and was replaced by wind Turbines, thousands of them. It was so much like the old generation of power and fuel handing over to the next generation of wind turbine power, pretty ominous I thought and at the same time so futuristic and good for all concerned. The shift from old ancient fossil fuels to the new unlimited supply of wind power.

    The landscapes also started to change moving again towards more greenery and trees, undulations in the land, so different from the dead flat areas of the oil fields. We were now up into the higher lands away from the ancient inland seas that once occupied these areas and created the oil fields.

    Lunchtime came and we took advantage of our mobile hotel environment and made use of one of the many roadside rest areas, cooked up a hearty hamburger and a cuppa. Sitting having lunch in our air-conditioned RV and just watching the world go by through the windows was really restful, and start wondering what the different drivers in the vehicles passing by had on their minds.

    Where were they headed, what was their agenda for the day, so many heavy big rigs on the road (a big 10-4 there good buddy in their 18 wheelers). Were they married with families, where were they from, were they single maybe. We don't see that much big rig traffic in OZ on a Sunday, but here it just seemed like business as usual as they trundled on by to disperse their loads from coast to coast.

    The clear blue desert sky's were now starting to bundle up some cloud formations as we moved further east, just some light fluffy cumulus clouds, but none the less, cotton wool in the sky. Just an hour and half from Dallas now and once there we'll find an RV park close to the Dallas depot of El Monte RV so we can get some steering and aircon issues sorted first thing Monday morning.

    Arrived into the Dallas area around 4:30 and joined the peak hour traffic (thank god it was Sunday afternoon) but still pretty heavy and the motorways around the city centre had lanes as narrow as they are in Sydney. Our big RV just fit in the lanes and with the slack steering problem we are having made it a little tough to keep the thing in a straight line in the narrow lanes, but with the amazing negotiation skills of the driver it became a breeze.

    RV parks are scarce around the Dallas area unless you head out through the outskirts and into the country areas. The nearest park we could find was over 50k from the city centre, but just 28k from where we had to take the RV for the steering check.

    Upon arrival at the RV park the episode started that would have made a tremendous funniest home video. We selected a site to setup camp and plugged into the mains, set down the jacks and opened out the slides. We then noticed that the aircon units kept cutting in and out, so the first assumption was that the power outlet was tripping and resetting and we may have been on too low a power outlet for our RV. So in with the slides, up with the jacks and off to another site.

    Got to that site and the power outlet plug did not fit our van so off we went to another site to hookup only to find that sites power outlet wasn't working at all. Upon further investigation it was decided that our RV was the correct power for the first original site and we returned to there to hookup again.

    Once all re-connected our aircon problem retuned so as a last resort I decided to open the vehicle manual only to discover that we were not supposed to run both roof aircon at the same time, oops. Turned one off and then the cut-out problem ceased, amazing that, the wonders of technology. Why wasn't there an iPhone app to fix the problem, there is for everything else.

    OK, finally settled in, chairs out and open a beer, OH NO, the beers warm. Turns out the gas pilot light had gone out so when we were driving the fridge was not powered, b*****, no cold beer, arrghhh.

    That's it, so a semi cold beer, some dinner, and off to bed for an early start tomorrow.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 6, Dallas, Texas

    12 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    Day Six - An early start today to get the vehicle back in to the Dallas depot to see if anything can be done about the alignment to stop the shaking at certain speeds. Arrived and they treated us superbly, not necessarily with the answers we really wanted to hear, but at least very courteously.

    The vehicle was being taken immediately to the truck alignment place for them to start work and hopefully wouldn't need any parts, just an alignment. While we waited they drove us to somewhere to have some breakfast and then came back picked us up and took us to this incredible retailers outlet, the place was massive, everything big in Texas they say, no kidding.

    I got some Crocs, much to my daughters dismay, and the girls picked up some shoes and clothes at pretty good prices, although with our Aussie dollar exchange rate probably wasn't that cheap at all. I found a nice air conditioned food court to relax while the girls shopped.

    Time flew by as I waited for the call that the RV was ready but alas, it never came. By 11:30 I decided it was time for me to call them just to keep focus on our vehicle being finished and was told it was still at the wheel aligners and they would chase it up and get back to me, sure enough a call back straight away saying it would be about another hour or so. I kept a close eye on the time and did a fast calculation of circumstances.

    I called the depot and asked them to collect us and take us straight to the aligners for a quick getaway, and here was my thinking; the mechanics would finish the vehicle and move it outside, probably take another 15 minutes before completing the job sheet, 15 more before they called the depot to say it was ready, 5 for the depot to call us and say it was time to go, but then 10 more before the driver could get away to collect us from the shopping centre, 10 min to reach us and then another 10 to get to the aligners. Now by my calculation that would be an extra 1hr 5 mins before we got away.

    Hmmm, was I correct, sure enough the driver collected us straight away, we got to the aligners and the RV was sitting there waiting to go but they hadn't called the depot yet, am I good or what.

    Collected the RV and headed off for some quick phone issues to be sorted and then finally out of Dallas on the road by 4:00pm some 10 hours behind schedule. A quick discussion with the passengers and we decided we would drive through the night and catch up time to get back on schedule, agreed. Off we went and instead of Little Rock, Arkansas as our destination we dialled forward to Memphis Tennessee.

    The plan was that I would drive for a bit to get out of the big smoke and then Sue would jump in and get a feel for the vehicle while it was still daylight. Now, I am braver than most and prepared to try anything, but placing someone behind the wheel of a 34ft class A Motorhome for the first time in their life having driven nothing bigger than a Ford Fairlane was leaving me rather anxious. Remember this vehicle had some steering issues, which by the way had not been fixed by the wheel alignment, thus the lost day was just that, a needless lost day. Now back to the learner driver, nerves were good, effort was excellent but the over correction of steering was leaving me with heart palpitations. I was just settling when an overtaking manoeuvre was required, holy cow, that was it for me, find the next exit and let me out, lol. I think Sue got about 30 minutes behind the wheel, but I decided I was the worlds worst passenger and had to get back behind the wheel. All said though she did a pretty impressive job for a first timer.

    Now here I am at 10:30pm at Macca's for a late dinner some 50 miles outside of Memphis. We'll make our way in closer to Memphis and settle down for the night at a rest stop and then tomorrow we will be ready to visit the fabled Gracelands Mansion, so looking forward to that, so good night for now and check back tomorrow for some snaps of Gracelands.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 7, Gracelands, Memphis, Tennessee

    13 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Day Seven - doing the drive straight through to Memphis was an excellent plan as it had us at Graceland right on opening time ready for a great day.

    Having never really been an avid Elvis fan it still seemed wrong to not visit Graceland while in the area, and I must say it was a rather overwhelming experience. The mansion is still as it was when Elvis died back in 1977, and the upstairs area was closed to the public just as it was when Elvis was alive. It was always considered his private family area and no one was ever permitted upstairs other than direct family. So as a sign of respect these wishes are still observed till this day.

    We toured through the rest of the mansion and saw all the areas that were the day to day living spaces of Elvis and his entourage, things were alive 24 hours a day with people coming and going day and night and even the kitchen had full time staff preparing food throughout the day and night. The place has an Erie feeling about it, almost as if you could feel his presence their even today, it was Elvis through and through. His jungle room and tv rooms were just amazing with the furniture and fitment within them.

    Entering his trophy room was incredible, this room appears like it was done as a memorial to Elvis but in fact was already there when he was alive as a living memory of his experiences. The man was incredibly generous and on one wall in a display corridor were cheques written out to people that had been donated back many years later for the display after his passing. He would buy cars, houses, pay out debts etc. for completely unknown strangers just because they were in need, unbelievable.

    Stepping into his indoor handball court was the final culmination of his achievements. The walls were covered with just some of his gold and platinum album awards, floor to ceiling, and this room was so overwhelming as to his life and personal life of giving that I had to actually leave the room and step outside, really strange. Nothing has ever touched me like the visit to Graceland. It should be a must on everyone's agenda when visiting the area whether an Elvis fan or not. I can only imagine what it must do to those that were avid Elvis fans, and I now have an all new understanding of those mad Elvis fans that revisit every year on the anniversary of his death. This year is the 36th anniversary and the premises were setup for National Elvis week, a week long celebration of his life and achievements with live re-enactments of his Vegas concerts. If we had arrived here 3 days later the place would have been packed with worshippers.

    We went aboard the Lisa Marie, his private jet that is also parked on the premises, and it was one of only a couple of private jets owned by celebrities back in the '60's, completely decked out in the finest leather and all metal buckles and taps were covered in 24 carat gold.

    Well 4 hours was enough as we had to hit the road again and start making our way towards Atlanta. We headed off from Graceland and used a different navigation program on the iPhone as my iPad was playing up, talk about going round in circles.

    The google maps application on the iPhone had me leaving motorways to go down another motorway, exiting, re-entering on the other side to re-join the original motorway we just exited, hilarious, not to mention frustrating. Anyway soon were well out of Memphis and through Birmingham to a lovely quiet RV park set in the middle of the Talladaga forest, just beautiful and the sounds of frogs and crickets was relaxing music to go to sleep by.

    So it's been a long couple of days with the drive though etc. so getting an early night to catch up on some sleep.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 8, Bass Lake, South Carolina

    14 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Day Eight - Left our cosy little spot in the middle of whoop whoop and continued on toward North Carolina. We weren't sure about timing and didn't want to get to North Carolina too late in the evening so decided that we would travel about 4 or 5 hours and then find a nice spot with say 2 hrs left for the final leg to NC tomorrow.
    Copped a fair bit of rain today so was not too suitable for sight seeing so the only stops we made were for some shopping in Atlanta so the girls could get some retail therapy, and the few meal stops. Took our time today after the night driving episode the other day and enjoyed the beautiful countryside of Georgia. It is almost like being in another world with all the fur tree forests that cover the undulating landscape. This is a really beautiful area of the US and such a contrast to the flat desert areas of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Dallas was really the end of the desert area where the greenery really started and as we moved east through Tennessee and Georgia into South Carolina the magnificent treed areas were so beautiful.
    So we sorted ourselves with a refuel, checked generator oil etc. and sought out a nice RV park again in the forests and found this amazing location at Bass Lake, South Carolina.
    The park didn't have a lot of RV's there and was really quiet with sprawling lawns and huge pine trees. Got ourselves a good spot and settled in after doing all our hook-up.
    Tomorrow will be the day that I catch up with an old mate from my Air Force days that I have not seen in over 40 years. Last year at our RAAF 40 year reunion the boys managed to get a Skype hook-up with Enzo in the United States, that's where he lives now in North Carolina. So in the morning it will be a quick unhook and off for the next 2 hours drive, so we thought. We checked out the google maps and turns out we stopped just 45 minutes short of his destination, just can't trust those google maps.
    Alright off for a bit of tv before hitting the sack and looking forward to tomorrow. Night for now.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 9, St Pauls, North Carolina

    15 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 18 °C

    Day Nine - Had a bit of a sleep in due to our morning session only being about 45 minutes to St Pauls. Along the way through South Carolina we kept seeing all these billboards talking about a place South Of The Border, almost seemed like it was talking about somewhere in Mexico with all the Mexican style paraphernalia on the billboards.

    Turns out it was a stop area just south of the North Carolina border and had a small theme park and tons of tourist style outlets in a total Mexican theme. She took some pics of the area and it was quite interesting so we stopped there for a while and did the tourist thing, shopped. Take a look at the pics.

    With that out of the way we moved on towards St Pauls and the reunion with my RAAF mate that I had not seen since 1973, wow, now that is some reunion.

    Enzo had this lovely country place surrounded by beautiful forests, such a gorgeous area. When we pulled into his driveway in the RV it took a minute or so and he came out the front door, looked just like he did back in the '70's, just a little older. It was so good seeing him as our mate-ship came to a very sudden end in 1973 after Enzo was involved in a car accident which left him seriously injured, he was in hospital for many months and discharged from the RAAF on medical grounds. I went on for the next 40 years not knowing what had happened to Enzo, and what state of health he was in. So therefore it was fantastic to see him well, and very successful in his chosen field.

    A very successful author, professor of history and English, with a Masters Degree and imminent submission of a paper for his Phd. World travelled and speaking 7 languages. Wow, now that is success.

    We headed off for lunch at a lovely local restaurant named the Cracker Barrel, and in somewhat southern hospitality we enjoyed a beautiful lunch and bounced around old memories of our RAAF apprentice days and some of the mischievous things we got up to that I had completely forgotten about.

    After lunch Enzo took us on a tour of his area and the hamlet of St Pauls and district. Seeing the different areas of North Carolina and hearing the history behind the area was amazing. Enzo being a historian had some amazing information about the region from back in the pre-civil war years and then the demise of the area and loss of jobs when the tobacco industry wound up due to tobacco no longer being a viable labour reliant crop after the introduction of higher technology processes. The area became very much a retirement area with virtually no work and many people moved off to other areas.

    We finished our day with the completion of the assembly of Enzo's new garden shed. He had been putting this together over a couple of weeks but many things were too difficult to complete with just one set of hands, so we knuckled down and got the roof on and finished off all the assembly of the shed. Karen came home with a smile on her face once she saw the completed shed and now stuff could be relocated from the house to the shed.

    A quick spruce up and off to an hilarious evening at the local Outback Restaurant which is amazingly a massive hit with the locals being in love of all things Australian.

    Our waitress Millie was just ecstatic that she was getting to look after a table of real Aussies, she said she had never got to serve Aussie cuisine to Aussie's. Enzo and I gave her a real hard time with some ridiculous Aussie humour and she lapped it up as she was the centre of attention from all the other staff having Aussies on her table.

    Well a great day and so great knowing that Enzo is well and has succeeded so well in life and loves with a passion what he does, to some degree I'm a little envious.

    Off to bed for a driving stint to the nations capital tomorrow, Washington DC.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 10, Washington DC, Maryland

    16 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Day Ten - So after a an early farewell and a pact that it wasn't going to be another 40 years until our next reunion we headed off from St Pauls toward the capital Washington DC.

    The drive was pretty good with just a couple of light showers and the road traffic was good until we got closer to DC and then the dreaded traffic started. Many people had warned us that the DC traffic even on the motorways was pretty crook but didn't imagine just how bad.

    Nearly an hour outside of the CBD and it started, slow bumper to bumper traffic that stopped and started with no real reason for it, stopped and crawling for miles to suddenly open up and doing 50 mph again and then suddenly to a stop again.

    Well we finally got there around 4:30 and made our way into the Cherry Hill campground about 16 miles on the north side of DC. This was amazing park, with 2 pools, outdoor theatre, cinema room, cafe's, putt putt golf etc. the list went on, a really well put together park.

    After getting ourselves all hooked up we headed off on the bus which came right into the campground to catch the train into town. After a quick 20 minute train trip into the subway we disembarked at Archives Central right in the heart of the city and just near the small Chinatown they had there.

    Now with all the travel apps you can download from the apple store we put together a self guided walking trip around DC. Heading off we first visited that most famous address of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House.

    Well we sent a text message to my mate Barack to catch up but he was disappointed that he couldn't catch up with us due to business of national importance, but took a rain check for next time.

    Continuing on we visited the Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Capitol Hill, etc. until eventually we figured we could eat the crutch out of a rag doll so it was time to eat.

    At Bec's insistence we went to a Subway style eatery named Chipotle, based on all spicy Mexican food and I must say it was quite enjoyable even though I didn't put enough sauces on mine which made it a bit dry.

    Now silly old me did not tie my shoe laces tight enough for such a long walk and subsequently agitated an old motorcycle injury in my foot and soon walking became quite difficult, so mummy Bec decided it was time to head back to the train and head back to Cherry Hill.

    Off we went and got home for a restful sleep. Tomorrow would be our final leg for Bec getting her back to her home in Youngstown, and back to the duties of a scholarship student athlete.

    Good night for now and speak again soon.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 11, Youngstown, Ohio

    17 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Day Eleven - We planned to get out of Washington early to beat the traffic but when we slept in it became a non option.

    It seemed a much smarter idea to leave it a little later to get out after the peak hour rush. Only one problem, the peak hour never ends in Washington.

    This was going to be Bec's last day with us once we got back to Youngstown. Once there she would be on campus and moving into her new apartment with her room mate Shannon. Took a rest stop and looked for an RV park in or near Youngstown to settle ourselves down for a few days, absolutely nothing closer than 24miles (40k) which was a bummer.

    Oh well it was that or sleep in a Walmart carpark but they normally only allow single night stopovers. So we headed out to Country Acres campground and we were very pleasantly surprised. It had tons of things to do on the lake and even activities for kids and adults, a great place.

    Youngstown is an old wealth town from the last century and the mid 1900's that went into decline with the closing down of the steel industry back in the 80's with much of the population moving out into the outer lying hamlets (suburbs) where all the growth had been with shopping centre's and other industries. To this day the centre of Youngstown looks like a ghost town, but the University is slowly buying up a lot of the city area due to its expansion into greater technology industries. As the new gas industries explode in the area Youngstown will be reborn so a lot of opportunity exists here for those entrepreneurial spirits willing to take a chance.

    After dropping Bec off at campus we headed to our park and settled in with the van. Bec's coach Nick and his wife came out to collect us and we went to a lovely Italian restaurant in the local township of Ravenna. Was a lovely night and great to catch up again. Dropped us back and we got an early night as tomorrow we needed to head to the airport and pickup a cheap hire car for the 4 days we were going to be in the area.

    So good night and see you all tomorrow.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 12, Youngstown, Ohio

    18 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Day Twelve - This morning was a sleep in day as we only needed to head into town by midday to collect a Budget hire car to get around for a few days so we could just leave the RV hooked up in the campground, much simpler that way than moving a 34ft Bus around the centre of a large city and university.

    We had Shannon's offer to come out and collect us to head back in to the airport which was the only place available to collect a hire car in the weekend, but with the distance they had to travel to get us I decided to make another plan of attack.

    What we chose to do was head into the airport in the RV to collect the car, take the RV back out to the campground and do a re-hookup and then head into town to help Bec with settling into her new apartment. Worked beautifully but meant we didn't get there till after 2:00pm, not to worry, got the shopping done and then met Shannon's parents at the apartment as well. They had come up from Pittsburgh to help the girls get settled and were a lovely couple that bend over backwards for the girls.

    Off to Target, a little bit different to the Targets we have in Australia, these stores are massive and carry a lot more variety. Collected all the things she needed for the apartment and then proceeded to head back there and assemble the bedroom items she chose to add to her room. Most main furniture items are provided on campus but some additional storage never goes astray.

    The car we got by the way was a Dodge Challenger, a mid size car but very nice to drive and quite a sporty looking thing, handles well too.

    Our day was pretty well taken up with helping Bec get settled and also to take a bit of a look around to see what sort of vehicle we may be able to pick up for her later on as a car really is a bit of a necessity due to most of the shops and resources being out of the centre areas now and out in the suburbs.

    By the time we got all that done it was pushing 9:00pm and I was ready for the sack, said our farewells and headed back out to the campsite. Into bed and tomorrow is another day.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 13, Youngstown Ohio

    19 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Day Thirteen - A relaxing morning got us into YSU campus around 11:15am after we did a little shopping for some basic household toolkits the girls could use to do stuff around their apartment, also helped me in finishing off the assembly of some bedroom shelves and things with a real hammer and screwdriver. Putting shelves together with Phillips head star head screws and a flathead screwdriver, not to mention attempting to hammer in little tacks for the backboard with the back end of the same flathead screwdriver was just doing my head in yesterday. Therefore the tools were more for me today, not the girls. Hahaha.

    Oh dear now it seemed there was some more shopping needed to complete the bathroom requirements, mmmmm funny thing that. Ok, this time off to Walmart, man they are damn big shopping centres with nothing unavailable, a sort of combination of a Target, Bunnings, and Masters all in one, not to mention the Woolies supermarket for foodstuffs as well.

    Now back to the apartments to assemble the last few additions to the furniture list. With that our of the way it was time for a relaxing stroll around one of their major shopping malls while the girls had their nails done. OMG, these things are built for women only. Other than a couple of menswear stores there was nothing but clothes, shoes, beauty and hair, and food, not a damn thing that would be of any interest to a bloke, crikey, what's the world coming to?

    All I could do was find a coffee shop, a Gloria Jeans to get a good cup of coffee, the Americans have no idea how to make a good cup of coffee, and blow me down, it was nothing like a GJ's back home. The coffee was atrocious and all I ordered was an ordinary cappuccino.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 14, Youngstown, Ohio

    20 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Day 14 - our last day in Youngstown started out with an early rise and taking the troublesome RV to a truck workshop to see if something could be done about the questionable steering mechanism. At least this time it was going to an actual truck workshop where the problem should be solved.

    Got it there and left it for the day, headed off to catch up with Bec and get some YSU T-shirts, caps etc. you know, the usual parent supporters type stuff. Bec even got a T-shirt for her coach back in OZ and asked us to package it up for him and give it to him when we get back home.

    Most of the day we spent around the campus and helping Bec get her new apartment sorted out and I must say, it really gave us a connection with her life at college, being involved in the setting up of her accommodation and meeting with advisers, coaches etc.

    Spending the day on and around campus was great, we also headed out for a while checking out second hand cars for when the situation arises that we need, and can, get Bec a car for getting around Youngstown and not being completely reliant on someone else. Seems that the best cars for students in the US are the Toyota's and Honda's, and of course their upmarket versions, Lexus and Accura.

    Advice I received from a past YSU student who now runs a car yard was that they are cheap to buy, cheap to run, and get the best resale values in 3 years time when it's time to come home. Great advice I thought.

    Chased up the workshop around 3:30 to see what was going on with the vehicle and turns out they found some issues but the RV company did not want to spend the money required to make the vehicle up to scratch. They did a full re-alignment that was supposedly done by the Dallas tyre place, but by proper truck mechanics. They also discovered that one of the front tyres was actually out of round and this would certainly have created some havoc with vibrations etc.

    Well we collected the RV and decided to just park up at a Walmart for the night as it was closer to the airport where we had to return the rental car to.

    All settled and then went back to collect Bec and go for dinner with one of her best friends and her mum at this Italian restaurant in the heart of Youngstown. Had a lovely meal but the service was atrocious. Got a pretty filthy look from the waiters when I refused to pay any tip on the bill as I strongly believe that a tip is a reward for good service, not just a given that it will be granted.

    Youngstown has a bad reputation for being dead in the old city centre around the University after the decline of the steel industry back in the '80's, but it turns out there are some nice little bars and restaurants trying very hard to get custom from the locals and the food is exceptional. The newly created gas industry will play a very important part in the rebirth of Youngstown and it will return to its time of financial glory but probably not in the time that Bec will be there.

    After dinner back to Bec's apartment to say our final farewells to her and her roommate Shannon. A little sad to have to say goodbye again and leave my little Princess behind.

    All done we headed back to our location at Walmart and off to bed. Interesting to see tomorrow if the steering really had been resolved.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 15, St Louis, Missouri

    21 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    Day 15 - Today was a bit of a sad day for Sue and I as we had said goodbye to Bec last night and would not see her for another 9 months. It was lovely though last night to have dinner with the family of one of her best friends.

    Bec seems to have left a lasting memory with everyone in the US, mostly for the good. Those that have chosen to push her over the edge of her patience have learned to not cross the young girl from OZ, she has a long memory and does not take kindly to stupidity.

    Seeing as we were now a day behind schedule we thought we would try to catch up a day over the next couple and do a little more driving. We didn't believe there was much we wanted to see in Columbus or Indianapolis so we drove on through for most of the day.

    In actual fact we drove from Youngstown which is right on the Eastern border of Ohio, right across Ohio through Columbus, through Indiana via Indianapolis, across Illinois to St Louis in Missouri. So driving across 4 US states in a day, some 650 miles (1000k). The great news is that the RV finally drove beautifully with no shaking and even much of the slack free play in the steering was gone. Such a pleasure to drive the vehicle the way it was supposed to feel. Shame it took 2 weeks of driving horror before someone could locate the problem and rectify it. That resolved we had anther issue appear when we were refuelling at Indianapolis.

    The tank filler is at the back of the vehicle and as I was refuelling I notice some minor damage to the back of the vehicle, a bit of a surprise seeing as I hadn't hit anything and the vehicle was fine yesterday when it was dropped off at the workshop. This could be a drama but will fill you in once I know some more.

    We arrived in St Louis just on Sunset and located a magnificent RV park right in the heart of the city, but on the Illinois side of the river, not the Missouri side. Parked up in the shadows of the city and famous arch at an RV park with its own full blown Casino was quite a bonus, so after a quick shower and spruce up we headed over to the casino in the private park shuttle. The place is massive and situated beautifully on the mighty Mississippi river as it runs south from the Great Lakes on the US/Canada border all the way through the country to the Gulf of Mexico.

    We didn't spend too long at the casino but a few bucks in the pokies and watching some blackjack games in process was enough for me. After just a couple of beers we decided it was time to just head back to the RV for a quiet night and try and catch up on the news to see if the rest of the world was still in existence.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 16, Russell, Kansas

    22 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Day 16 - After our lovely evening at the Casino Queen we had a little sleep in and prepared for our next leg towards Denver.

    Once we checked out the maps and possible points of interest it looked like there wasn't really a lot to see once leaving St Louis. We said ok, no plan let's just head west and do what takes our fancy so, off we headed west.

    The next major city was of course Kansas City, and the motorway took us straight through the city centre and the place looked pretty run down and dilapidated so we just kept on moving. What was a big surprise was when we entered Topeka, further west and suddenly see these great big billboards stating welcome to the State Capital, Topeka. Never knew Topeka was actually the state capital of Kansas, always figured Kansas City would have been the capital.

    Our original plan was to stop over at either Topeka or Salina but as we moved west these places didn't quite get us as far west as we wanted and we figured we'd just keep going and set Hays, Kansas as our night destination.

    The city of Topeka though was a stunning city, the gardens and manicured public areas were such a pleasant change from the rundown areas in a lot of the towns and cities we had visited. Topeka is really a lovely city.

    For some reason I decided I had a craving for some McDonalds French fries at a little town called Russell in Kansas. Thank goodness we did because when I then checked on available campsites of RV parks between here and Denver there was very little so just across the road was a tidy little RV park called the Triple J, sounds more like a Kansas cattle ranch but all the same we went and checked in. Fantastic people and guided us to a little site right across from the oil rig museum. Seems there was just as much oil in Kansas as there was in Texas back in the mid 1900's, the history of the place and the murals in the local bar, come pizza bar told an incredible story.

    Well what do we do in a tiny little town called Russell in the middle of whoop whoop, go to the only bar around tacked onto the back of the local gas station. Check out our pictures.

    We only went to have a beer but once we settled in and met the locals it turned out to be a great evening. Our Aussie accents and some strange sayings we had, got some of the locals quite intrigued and we learnt, from one of the locals (Russ from Russell) Google searches, that our Aussie saying of your chances are Buckley's and none comes from a gentleman many years ago called William Buckley who historically had the absolute worst luck, so hence the saying Buckley's and none now made sense. How's that, all the way to Kansas to find the true history of our saying, Buckley's and none.

    I found this amazing beer called Boulevarde made locally in a Kansas City brewery that was astonishing. A beautiful wheat based beer that had the same foggy appearance as the famous Belgian Beer Hoegarden. Needless to say I had one or two or whatever.

    In our pics you will find some snaps of pizza, rather ordinary to post such pics but this had to be the best pizza I have ever had anywhere in the world, and I've had plenty. The lovely Denise, pictured in our snaps, looked after us superbly and we had a fantastic evening in the little Kansa town of Russell.

    Getting late so off to bed, night all.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Day 17, Breckenridge, Colorado

    23 Agustus 2013, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Day 17 - We decided to get away to an early start today so that we could get across Kansas to Denver in Colorado and up into the Rockies

    Our plan was to get right through to Grand Junction as a full day driving, about 6 hours, but the plan got changed as we saw what we were driving into.

    Heading off from Russell took us through the high prairies of Kansas. Continuing west the countryside became a mass of green with crops being grown which were obviously the food bowl of the US. One crop we did not recognise that was abundant was Sorghum, which is a grass when ground up has no gluten, but abundant in iron, and glucose, which makes it a great gluten free alternative for wheat based flours.

    Sorghum flour will be something we will look for when we get back home as being gluten free will be a better alternative for breads and baking etc. than normal flour.

    As we continued on toward Denver we appeared to be travelling on flat ground but the drive over about 3 hours took us up about 4,500 feet in elevation. If I ever did this run again I think I'd do it in the other direction for a much better fuel economy. Now don't get me started on fuel economy, when we researched these RV's it was advertised that the 6.8L V10 had between 10-12 mpg depending on how you drive it. Well, that could not be further from the truth as we have been averaging around 6.5mpg, considerably less than anticipated. Now that means in dollar terms that our fuel bill is considerably higher than what we budgeted for. Oh well, we just need to get back to the end of our trip now in LA which is now only about 5 days away.

    Arriving in Denver it took us 2 hours just to get from one side through to the other before our climb up the ranges into the Rockies. And boy was it a climb, 3 lane highway all the way as some of the big rigs were down to walking pace. The climb is long and steep and seems to go forever, we managed to only drop down to about 40mph (75k) as the big V10 had plenty of clout and had no problem dealing with the climb at all.

    The Rockies are absolutely amazing and the feat of building that I-70 highway back in the 50's must have taken some amazing engineering. At one point there is a massive tunnel through the mountain at almost 12,000 feet.

    The I-70 was instigated by Dwight D Eisenhower as a means of connecting the East coast to the West coast in one continuous highway. It starts in Washington DC and terminates in San Francisco after connecting to the I-15 from Salt Lake City through Las Vegas. A pretty good damn highway most of the way.

    As we reached the ski resorts of Breckinridge, Copper Mountain, and Vail, we chose a park at Breckinridge called the Tiger Run RV park, it was just incredible with more massive Motorhome RV's than we had seen the entire trip. These things were huge, up to 50ft bogey drive coaches with trailer hook-ups, vehicle towing hitches, Harley Davidson racks and more, they were just mind blowing. Our little 34 footer looks like a baby against them.

    I think there is a massive amount of retirees in the US that sell up and buy these huge RV's towing Jeeps and Harley Davidson's to spend the rest of their days travelling and experiencing what the US has to offer travellers.

    One word of warning when checking in was to not leave anything outside the RV after dark as the bears are still out and about, and get into anything during the night as they move through the park. Now I figured that was just a sales pitch to create a little drama until I had to take some garbage down to the dumpsters at the back end of the park.

    In the dark and dropping trash into the dumpsters I was suddenly confronted by this cracking noise of something big moving through the trees behind the dumpsters. Needless to say I retreated rather rapidly back to the safety of the RV, interesting.

    Some pretty serious thunderstorms were moving through the mountains now and there was rumour that there may be some snowfalls during the night due to the drop in temperatures.

    We got rugged up for a cool night ahead and our continued trip through Colorado tomorrow    Baca selengkapnya

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    A Note from Sue, Richfield, Utah

    24 Agustus 2013, Australia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    It was hard saying goodbye to our girl as we started the second part of our trip. I'm so glad that we got to spend time with her and to help settle her and Shannon into their new apartment. We got to meet some of her friends and their families, which helps when she is so far away from home.

    St. Louis was our first stop, we stayed at a RV park attached to a Casino and looking straight across the river to the Big Arch. I had a flutter on the pokies, spent a massive $7 and came home with 28 cents.

    Russell, Kansas was our next stop, a lovely little park with Reindeer. We had a great night in the local Pizza and Pub. Kansas is pretty flat and not much of anything.

    Next was a complete change of scenery, The Rocky Mountains. I enjoy the mountains much more, the scenery is always changing. We had a bit of a hold up as there was a big bike race on and the Highway was closed. We turned around and went back to beautiful RV park in Breckenridge, called the Tiger Run Resort. Would love to come back and spend a few nights here. Driving through the snow resorts we decided if we come back in Winter Copper Mountain would be the place to stay. I will have to improve my golf game before they would let me play on any of 16 magnificent golf courses in the area.

    Utah is the most amazing landscape. I have also had a thing about rock formations and this was heaven for me. The formations are just stunning and they can differ from one side of the road to the other. We didn't get to go to Monument Valley, but will one day.

    Today we are off to Las Vegas for a couple of nights, and some retail therapy for me.    Baca selengkapnya

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