KATIE AND BRAD, YOU IS GONNA LOVE THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST:))

AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON WALK IN THE FOREST

Remember as a kid that swishing sound this time of year as we walked along through piles of Autumn leaves beneath our feet.  On our afternoon walks Pheebs and I for the past week or so having been swishing our way along through fallen leaves on the forest floor.  The sound brings back so many wonderful childhood memories for me growing up in the small Southwestern Ontario village of Tavistock.  Remember the smell of burning leaves when folks would rake them to the curb and light them up.  So many nights a lovely smoky aroma hung in the chilly Autumn air.  Ahhh yes it's no wonder Autumn is my all time favorite time of year.   And sadly.........it will soon be gone.  In my perfect world summer would be shorter,  Autumn would be longer, winter would be gone, and spring would be but a blip:))

ALL OF TODAY’S PHOTOS WERE TAKEN WITH MY SONY RX100-3

Kicked off our day having breakfast with good friends and neighbors Gayle and Richard over at the Bayfield Berry Farm .  It was a change of pace for Richard and I who are usually out buzzing around the back roads every couple weeks.  The Bayfield Berry Farm is one of our favorite breakfast places in the area.

 

 PHEEBS STANDS BESIDE MY ‘GO TO’ TREE ALONG THE TRAIL

Pheeb's nose was a little out of joint that she never got to go this morning so when we arrived back home I took her for a forty minute spin around the countryside with Libby's front windows down and a touch of heat on. 

Another picture perfect Autumn gold day with sunny skies and no chilling winds to blow the cooler air around. Kelly began loading the first of her clothes into the Motorhome.  I will probably wait until the last minute then take five minutes out of my day to load up everything thing I own and will need.

LOTS OF AUTUMN LEAVES TO SHUFFLE THROUGH ALONG THE TRAIL

No route plans yet except to say we'll probably cut across the warmer lower States instead of our Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha, Lincoln, Albuquerque, Flagstone route we have been using these past few years.  That route can be cold and unpredictable by the middle of November.  As usual we probably won't know exactly where we are going until after we have been there.  Been a little Texas talk but just a little.  For sure we will likely re-visit most of our usual old haunts in Arizona and California and maybe if we're lucky and the weather stayed warm we could spend some time in New Mexico as well.   We really like New Mexico but winter's there seem to be cooler.  Even as far as the Mexican border where we have been snowed on twice.

Folks over the years have suggested we go to Mexico but neither Kelly or I have ever had an interest in that.  No doubt it's beautiful scenery but we are content to stay in the States.  Yes it's a lot hotter in Mexico but heat is not what we're looking for or feel comfortable with.  I have enough trouble with heat and humidity here in the summer without going somewhere in the winter and putting up with the same thing.   I sometimes read other blog posts from folks in Mexico near the ocean complaining about the heat and humidity.  And from what I have read from articles and other Bloggers I don't think I would want to subject our Motorhome to the rough roads.  The great American Southwest has everything we love and enjoy so I think we will just stick to that and happily soak up another season there.  It's a money system, language, lifestyle, and Government we are familiar and comfortable with.

WE SURE DO LIVE IN A NICE PARK

Reading Katie and Brad’s The Rogue Less Traveled blog brings back memories of our first season of RV travels back in 06/07.  These Canadian folks and Robbie their dog are new to RVing and have just crossed into the States with their RV for the very first time a few days ago heading to the Southwest.  Already they are experiencing some of the frustrating trials and tribulations so many of us first experienced in our early RV days.   When we started out we didn't know nothing from nothing.  In fact we probably knew even less than nothing.  We were about as green as it gets.  We made the wrong choice (for us) in RV's before we even got on the road.  Didn't know much about RV Parks, State Parks or anything else.  Had never even heard of boon-docking and solar panels.  Only thing we knew for sure was that we wanted to see the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.  Figured out how to get there with a map and after that we didn't have a clue where we were going except to say further west.  We did actually made it as far as Quartzsite Arizona that winter just in time for the big ‘to-do’ in the desert.  There were times that winter we talked of just giving up and going home but luckily we worked our way through those discouraging days and kept pushing on.  We’ve had our share of upsets along the way and I particularly remember one only three years ago on our journey to the southwest when we found ourselves sitting in our cold and dark stone dead Motorhome about 4 a.m. one morning.  We considered whether to pull the plug on the whole trip and just go home.  We were in a Walmart parking lot in Williston North Dakota.  It was cold and dark outside and our Motorhome wouldn't start.  Not even with the coach batteries because they were dead too.  Couldn't get the generator going and our furnace wouldn’t work.  Our rig's troubles had started a few days before soon after leaving Winkler Manitoba and our minds were totally frazzled.  We had broke the headlights, fog lights, and blinkers out of the front of our Jeep Wrangler and cracked the windshield.  By the time we reached Williston our inverter was giving us all kinds of trouble and we didn’t have a clue what to do or how to fix it.  Long story short the engine finally and unexpectedly turned over and started so we pushed on for Congress Arizona making it there a few days later.  We were so stressed out we were both sick.  Took a few days to get our heads back on straight and a few more days and weeks after that to even think about heading out in the RV again.   As most RV'ers know the lifestyle does have it's rougher downsides periodically and it's all part of RV'ing but luckily the good times far out weigh the bad times and one simply has to expect things to go right most of the time and things to go wrong some of the time and try to roll with the punches.   Guess what I’m saying to Katie and Brad is to stick with it despite the dumpster days along the way because you have some absolutely great memorable adventures ahead of you.  You is gonna love da great American Southwest and there will be lots of people around to help you out.  You haven’t even met some of your bestest friends yet.  All the best to you guys and Robbie too………….:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two brooms were hanging in the closet, and after they got to know each other a bit, decided to get married.  The bride broom looked very beautiful in her white dress. The groom broom was handsome and suave in his tuxedo. The wedding was lovely and attended by all the push brooms and dust mops.  After the wedding, at the wedding dinner, the bride broom leaned over and whispered to the groom broom, "We're soon going to have a little whisk broom!"  "Impossible!" said the groom broom, indignantly. "We haven't even swept together yet!!!"

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A witness was called to the stand to testify about a head-on automobile collision.  "Whose fault was this accident?" the lawyer asked.  "As near as I could tell," replied the witness, "they hit each other at about the same time."

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"Oh God," sighed the wife one morning, "I'm convinced my mind is almost completely gone!"  Her husband looked up from the newspaper and commented, "I'm not surprised: You've been giving me a piece of it every day for twenty years!"

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Knock Knock
Who's there?
Pecan!
Pecan who?
Pecan somebody your own size!

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