Columbines blooming are a sure sign of spring. Lots of wildflowers on the trails.
White fluffy clouds just say summer to me.
Day trip to near by Echo Reservoir to enjoy the wonderful sunshine.
Another day trip to Santa Fe – 160 miles one way to the charging station. Oh, and could not pass on some great shopping!
Nice stop for coffee break. Took about 40 minutes to add 140 miles of charge (for a total 225 miles to return home).
Our first restaurant dining since Spain in 2020 – great outdoor patio with spicy New Mexican food.
We built this kayak stand to give us more room in the garage – works great!
Another building project?
A bug hotel for our 6-year-old great-nephew. We had fun painting and decorating!
We did an overnight trip to South Fork and got a hike in together as well.
He also came to see our house and check out the kid size bridge in our Japanese Garden- a fun day of mini-golf, picnic lunch, library summer reading, and a walk along the river.
We dodged some summer storms but managed a few evening concerts in the park.
Wandered downtown on 4th of July to see all having fun floating along the river.
Cruised downtown for the car show – dressed to match so owner wanted a photo.
Tesla Model 3 is our choice for our new electric car! It is a very smooth and high tech ride.
We ordered with an 8 week delivery but were offered a show room model so we headed out to pick up with our lunch stop at Lathrop State Park – gorgeous day.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at beautiful Pueblo Lake State Park.
After many months of research we had decided that we would go all electric as it is important to lead the way into mitigating climate change.
We arrived well rested to do a thorough walk through of the new 2021 Tesla.
Our first Tesla supercharger stop in Poncho Springs, Colorado – we saw 5 other Teslas pull in while we were there. A happening spot!
We made time to take a walk at Sand Dunes National Park.
A favorite photo under 14 thousand foot Blanca Peak, south of the Sand Dunes. Very red white and blue! Wonderful to buy an American car of such quality.
We also had time on our way home to see some of the Sandhill Cranes in Monte Vista on their northern migration.
The glow of the setting sun as we start our adventures with the 2021 Tesla and the 2016 Travato.
Visitng family and friends – and a class reunion. It is very hot!
The architects
The new Frederick Meyer Japanese gardens with fun sculptures
Beautiful reflections…
Not a selfie!
How far did we walk to see this Caulder sculpture? How many times has Mom done the walk? Ha! At least we got to relax for a nice water front lunch. Also we toured the recently renovated Gerald Ford Museum…did not see any mention of Vail.
Some 1950 Fords – what fun colors!
More fun reflections…
Cherries and blueberries and sweet corn. Yum! We are eating well 😉
High School friend took us around Crystal lake – fun to relax there and hang out!
A wonderful 101 year old friend of the family and his daughter – how fun it was to visit and give a hug.
In Moline, Rock Island Army Base had an interesting Arsenal Museum and Corp of Engineers Waterway museum at the Mississippi Lock. We were lucky to see this 2-part barge and tugboat going through.
The historic bridge pivots to let the tugboat through after the two barges reconnect. We were thrilled with our timing to see this during the hour we were there.
Further down the road we stopped at Hennepin Canal State Park to see the locks on this historic canal.
The bridge had a 4-ton limit so we were good for crossing!
We parked overnight along the canal with this picturesque view.
Pullman NHS near Chicago is a new addition to the Park System but the community has been working on conserving it for many years. This factory will be the future visitor center.
It was a factory town but constructed to entice people to be a part of the community.
A variety of housing styles.
They used different bricks on each home to provide individualism.
There is awesome community spirit. Most of the homes have been restored by their owners.
Indiana Dunes national Seashore provides a view of the distant Chicago skyline.
The bog area adjacent to the Dunes has been preserved as well.
St Joesph Harbor Lighthouse was our chosen spot for our evening stop.
June 1 we flew to San Antonio, Texas. We were chauffeured by Rick, cousin of Barry Gorden (Motown Music Founder), to KerRVille where our van was waiting. We learned so much about how to operate it from Keith, for which we are very grateful. We also appreciate the small town service of Otis, Todd, Shannon and Keri. Thank you so much!
We bought a Winnebago Travato 59K which is a converted RAM 3500 high top extended cargo van. This is the layout of the 21′ length – everything we need!
We did not linger in Kerrville because of the intense rains forecast. We drove to Fredericksburg in the rain and spent the night there. We had a pleasant evening but it did rain all night – so we know our van is waterproof!
Our first National Park with the Travato is LBJ childhood home. The Texas White house is closed due to flooding but we enjoyed our time here very much. Good movies on both LBJ and Lady Bird – seemed like a good start as they did much to preserve some of the beauty of our country.
We took a ranger led tour and sat on the front porch.
We left early and drove to Ft Stockton to skirt all of the storms. We were successful!
Our first purchase was this fresh water hose. Newbies trying to figure this out. We love that the Travato is fully self contained and that the solar panels recharge the “house” battery.
The little kitchenette, 2 coach seats swivel with airline type trays, overhead cabinets have lots of storage, 2 twin beds that can push together and also tilt for reading/TV viewing. Sliding screen door and lots of windows – good cross breezes.
After a visit to Ft Davis Historic Site, and the local library, we headed up into the hills and found this The Nature Conservancy Trail and picnic area.
Seemed like a good spot for wine o’clock and then to spend the night.
Guadalupe National Park with Chollas blooming.
Our camp site for 2 nights. Interior of van is 6′-3″ so Henry does not hit his head.
An automatic awning over the picnic table. Wine O’clock in style!
We got up early and hiked Guadalupe Peak. A 3,000′ elevation gain!
This formation of El Capitan from the top reminded us of Michigan lower peninsula.
What lies ahead? We wander into New Mexico.
The Mexican Trestle Bridge hike in Cloudcroft where we spent a night.
We went to the space museum in Alamogordo. This was the moon model behind Walter Cronkite when he gave all those updates on the astronauts. Pretty interesting that it is preserved here.
Capitan is home of Smokey the Bear and they have a museum to him.
