V1N1B

Over the past couple of months we have visited several National Parks, Monuments, Historical Sites, a Seashore and even a Military Parks or two Listed are the ones we have visited so far on this trip. We have enjoyed them all.

For those of you who don't know the designations of the Parks here goes:

NMP-Nat'l Military Park

NHS-Nat'l Historic Site

NP-Nat'l Park

NT-Nat'l Trail

WSR-Wild & Scenic River

NM-Nat'l Monument

NS-Nat'l Seashore

NRA-Nat'l Recreation Area

NHP-Nat'l Historic Park

The 2nd 2-letter designation is the state they're located in.

DECEMBER:

Pea Ridge NMP, AR

Fort Smith NHS,AR

Hot Springs NP,AR

Trail of Tears NT, AR

JANUARY:

Arkansas Post NM,AR

Padre Island NS,TX

Palo Alto Bttlefld NHS,TX

Lyndon Johnson NHP,TX

FEBRUARY:

Amistad NRA, TX

Big Bend NP, TX

Rio Grande WSR, TX

Gila Cliff Dwellings NM, NM

Fort Bowie NHS,AZ

Chirecahua NM,AZ

Coronado Nmem,AZ

Organ Pipe Cactus NM,AZ

Joshua Tree NP,CA

MARCH

Tonto NM,AZ

Tumacacori NP,AZ

Juan Battista de Anza NT,AZ

Saguaro NP,AZ

We have several other parks which we intend to visit on

the way home, but for now,

this is the list we have compiled. We camped on the beach for free at Padre Island National Seashore which was really neat. And

the drive to Gila Cliff Dwellings was 2 hours to go 40 miles. That was a trip!

The walk and climb to get to Fort Bowie was an experience we'll never forget. However, we did it with Len and Rose Schultz from Norway, MI who climb like mountain goats.

The The sign that said," If you encounter a mountain lion, be aggressive," was a special thrill for Sharon.

Big Bend was also

a memorable experience as

the Javelinas (wild pigs) and coyotes walked right next to the motorhome. (15 feet)

We've had a new experience this year, camping on the beach at the Padre Island National Seashore. Prior to setting up shop on the free beach at P.I. we camped for 3 days at Port Aransas beach for $6 per night. We moved to P.I. after visiting the park, and seeing other people on the beach. We were there for three days without hook-ups, which for us would help us later on when we went for 12 days without hook-ups.

We camped next to a couple from Lower Michigan for the 3 days that we were there.

It was really nice being camped about 50 yards from the water, and only sand between you and it. Things do have a tendency to rust, though, when you're so close to the salt spray. When we left we immediately went to a car wash and gave the motorhome a bath.

I think sometime in the future we'll do that again. It was very relaxing.

We attended a Coast to Coast Rally for the first time this year, and we were pretty much disappointed in the whole thing. The bright spot was the fact that we attended with friends from home, Wally and Anne Petersen and Len and Rose Schultz.

There were 1400+ RV's in attendance and C2C's attempt to break the record for the world's largest pot-luck succeeded by serving 2702 dinners in a little over 48 minutes. It took us forever to get our food into the building, but once they started serving, it went very fast.

We attended a couple of seminars and toured through several RV's's on display, but for the most part there wasn't a lot to do during the rally. The cost was $135 and what we felt was exorbitant.

We were camped in a field, with no hook-ups for 4 days, and we were paying good money for the privilege.

The main course at the pot-luck was going to be a half a chicken supplied by C2C, which was smoked. The meal was very good with the remainder being the pot-luck. However, I did mention to Sharon that for $135, that chicken better come with a string of pearls around its neck.

By Sharon We have a beautiful living room at home, but it really needs "something." We decided on this trip we would give it a Mexican/Spanish theme.

Between the Flea Market in Apache Junction, and shopping in Mexico, we've collected quite a few items. Including a Mexican blanket, sun and moon wall plaques, mirror picture of Monument Valley, and even a statue of a sleeping Mexican, along with a cactus statue with a vulture. We also purchased several real cacti that my "green thumb" will be able to handle. We were told you only water them once a month, and don't water at all for 3 months in the Winter.........perfect.

There is one other item I should mention, it was Bill's purchase, yes Bill's, of a steer's skull, with horns, to hang on the wall. He's wanted one since he first saw them here. This one has an Indian warrior painted on it. The dealer gave him a good price, and I just didn't say "NO".

By Sharon

Recognize this fella here? Well, you will when he gets home. He's not quite that thin, but he sure dresses like that. I think he's always wanted to be a cowboy since he got his first cowboy boots at a very young age. He has hit every store in Texas and Arizona. And bargained with all the shops in the 5 Mexican border towns that we've been in. And now he's waiting to get to the Oklahoma Trading Post cause he said, "I still got money in my jeans."

Some of his buys are 2 cowboy hats, grey cowboy boots, (he had 2 brown pairs at home) grey leather vest, (still shopping for a black one) 3 leather belts with turquoise buckles to match, and several bolo ties. I just let him strut around and I walk 5 feet behind. so I don't get hurt by his spurs.