Merry Christmas - 2014

 

Backstory: Some of our long time friends and family will remember that we would prepare a newsletter each year at Christmas time and send that out to let everybody know what had happened with our family during the year.  As the kids got older and moved out on their own the newsletters went by the wayside.  We then would send out some Christmas cards to friends and family but….(not so much).  In 2011 we began our “Life on the Road” and have had the blessing to see many of our friends and family as we travel around the country.  With our nomadic lifestyle Christmas cards fell by the wayside, but we would recognize those of you that tracked us down and sent us a card.  This year I thought I would resurrect my old Newsletter by way of my blog.  I will then place a notification on Facebook so my friends, and other family members, can pass it on so that it will get a wide audience to cover our friends and family.  Social media, the only way to go.  And no postage!

 

Life on the Road:

 

We started the year as we end the year, in Anaheim, California.  We find this a nice place to spend the winter (weather wise) and it allows us to spend some time with my parents who live nearby.

This past year we really took an unusual route as we decided to buy a new trailer which meant changing our travel plans and heading to Chicago to pick it up.  For the year we covered 23 individual states, many of those twice.  Our main destinations were the Midwest and the South before we headed back to the west coast.  We attended three weddings (Las Vegas, Palm Springs and Kansas City).  Let’s start from the beginning to give you some highlights.

We left Anaheim in January to meet up with my Aunt and Uncle in Quartzite, Arizona.  We did this to get the Quartzite experience (see my blog entry on this post).  We had a great time with my Aunt, uncle and cousin while we were in Quartzite.  The actual Quartzite experience was OK but nothing we will be rushing back to enjoy.

Me, my aunt and cousin playing Monopoly.  I think I lost!

From Quartzite we moved to Las Vegas to attend the wedding of the daughter of our friends the Sherwood’s.  This was a black tie event so we really dressed up nice.

Looking good!!

While in Las Vegas we had some issues with our trailer and had some discussions with our dealer in Chicago.  This led to a discussion about a new 2015 model that had everything we wanted.  We were able to put the deal together over the phone and email.  We agreed on a delivery date of March 3rd, which meant we had to get to the Chicago area in about three weeks, DURING THE WINTER!  We skirted some storms and made it into the Chicago area just before a snowstorm hit.  We picked up our new trailer and then quickly got out of town to find warmer weather.

We headed south and then did a loop through the southern states before heading back to our dealer in Chicago (when it was warmer) to get some warranty work done.  The highlight of this southern loop was meeting up with my niece and her family in Crystal Beach, Texas.  They have an RV so it made for a very nice weekend, except for the weather (a little cold).

Leaving Texas we headed up to Knoxville for a month long stop to attend the high school graduation of my grandniece at which point one of the air conditioners in our trailer failed.  Fortunately we had an appointment set up with our dealer in Chicago to handle some other issues, so this was added to the list.  We made it back to Chicago where everything was repaired.  We then headed north to Wisconsin to meet up with our wine group friends.  We had a fun filled weekend with all our friends with a special thanks to our hosts the Coleman’s. 

Quick summary, so you don’t get to bored – we then went to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and worked our way to Knoxville, Tennessee to spend the summer and do our annual visits with our doctors.  A highlight of this part of the year was celebrating our daughter’s Kelly 30th birthday.  We surprised her by showing up at her party in Knoxville then the following week her and our daughter Kim came to spend the weekend with us in Asheville where we did a craft brewery tour and a tour of the Biltmore estate.

Enjoying sunset at the Grove Hotel in Asheville.

Another highlight of this part of the trip was a week long stop in Pinehurst, North Carolina to visit with Fran’s former boss and some office mates who came in for the 4th of July weekend.  We had a great weekend.

The group

From Knoxville it was now two weddings in two weeks.  First up was Fran’s nephew, and our Godson, Casey.  This was in the Kansas City area. 

We then had two weeks to make it to Palm Springs for the wedding of Fran’s niece, Amanda.  We made it but not without issues, three tire blowouts in three days.  As of this newsletter we are still waiting to get the repairs done from the tire damage. 

From that wedding we then arrived in Anaheim.  Here the big event was my stepfather’s 90th birthday party.  My mom threw a party for him at their condo complex and his two sisters from Rhode Island surprised him by flying in to attend the party.

My mom and stepfather dancing at the party.

Side trips:  We took two side trips this past year, without the RV.  The first was to Portland, Oregon to visit with our daughter Katie and her husband Tyler.  We had a great time seeing the city of Portland and spending time with both of them.

Yeah, she is special!

The next side trip was to Hawaii.  This was a family trip to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary and to finish our quest to visit all 50 states (Hawaii was the last).  We had a great 8 days visiting Honolulu and then Maui.

That was a whirlwind trip with us through the year but it brings you up to date.  As for our family, Tyler and Katie, and their dog Layla, are in Portland, OR doing great.  Our daughters Kim and Kelly, and their cats Elsie and Chase, live together in Knoxville, TN and are having a great time.

As for us we are in good health and have our travel plans for 2015 on the books.  This year we are going to Alaska.  First we will be hitting some western states that we have not visited with our RV then heading to Canada for the summer and up to Alaska in July through September.  We will be in Knoxville as fall begins and most likely spending the winter in Florida.  If everything goes as planned we will have visited all 49 states (Hawaii not included) with our RV since we started our “Life on the Road” in February of 2011.

Fran and I would wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Hopefully we will see “on the road”.