Rose Parade and Palm Springs

Just a quick note on these as it was a great experience but with my Buddy being sick, it wasn't a very fun time.   We got up at 4am because we were really worried our 45 min plus drive to Pasadena might be crazy hectic and we didn't want to have issues with parking or missing it.  The parade started at 8am and we were in Pasadena and parked by 5:30am.  That accounts for leaving the coach by 4:30am too.  The most interesting part of the whole parade was all the people that had been camped out on the sidewalks all night.  Sleeping on blowup mattress, bean bag chairs, livingroom chairs, blankets, tents, and so many kids.  For many this is their annual event and so they make a huge deal bringing coolers, and propane heaters to make it bearable.  The parade was so beautiful in person, but I do miss the announcer on TV giving all the extra info.  I was texting my sister-in-law who was watching it on TV.  She was a float about 30 minutes before we saw it and there were many that were not on TV that we saw.  Beautiful day and warmed up nicely.  Then we rushed back to the Vet to check on Buddy.












Palm Springs and Indio (connecting cities - actually there are many connecting in that area) was a beautiful desert oasis.  The cities and almost every yard had beautiful green grass and tons of flowers.  They really know how to landscape.  There was some film festival in town and supposedly all the Hollyweirds were in town.  It was nice to be able to find just about any store in the US right there.  Not like driving 30 miles for a Wal Mart.  We attended an FMCA convention (Family Motorcoach Association) were we volunteer for Security with our Beaver Motorhome friends.  It is easy duty about 3 hours a day at an assigned post.  God was really watching over us, that when we had to face the hardest day with Buddy, there were many friends and hugs all around.  We even had a GodWink.  Buddy was put to sleep at 11am and at 3pm our friends Pam & Bob had their daughter/grand daughters visit them at the rally.  The 2 granddaughters had recieved a puppy for Christmas and could not agree on a name in the 2 weeks they had him.  On their way to visit, both of the girls decided on Buddy.  We had never met them and they knew nothing about our Buddy.  It made me cry (of course) and know that it was God saying Buddy would go on.  Praise God!

 They had a wildlife preserve with desert animals of North America and Africa.  First Big Horn sheep we'd seen - ever.

Buddy

It is with great sadness we write this post. If you are an animal lover you will understand.
If you follow our blog in our last post there is a picture of our beloved Buddy in the desert just outside of Las Vegas.  It was a great day and it was all we could do to contain Buddy to keep on the lease. As we climbed the rocks he was pulling on his chain to stay way ahead of us.He was having a ball. A few days later he was vomiting and had a loose stool. We decided to take hime to a vet since there was one just down the road, and we may not be close to one in the next few days.
The vet drew blood, all OK, and prescribed a few meds. We moved to Palmdale Ca. 3 days later. and Buddy seemed a bit better.  2 days later he had a Seizure that lasted 5 min. Lonna rushed him to the nearest vet 5 miles away but they were not able to handle his problem. So rushed him to the next closest vet 40 miles away. They admitted him and started him on anti-seizure meds. They kept him 2 days to make sure the meds were working. We were in this area to see the Rose Bowl parade which was very cool to see up close. We checked the internet and found out the side effects of the sickness pills from Vegas had a possible seizure side effect. We were not told this. Buddy went 3 days with no seizures, then had about 20 small ones on that Sunday. We had moved to Indio Calif for an FMCA motorhome rally. We took Buddy to a vet there, as he was going down hill very fast. He was falling over and just standing in a corner. The vet pumped some fluids into him and he seemed a bit better.
The vet was hoping he would be better in a couple of days. By the next morning he was even worse, and 10 days and $2000 after the vet in Vegas we had to put our beloved Buddy down in Palm Springs CA. He truly was a member of our family and a great traveling companion. Everyday things remind us of him and it's hard living in the motorhome without him.  Time will heal.  I know that we rescued him at 1 year old from a bad home and we were so blessed to have him for the last 10 years. I am clinging to God's promises that in Heaven we will have the desires of our heart.  My desire to to have Buddy there waiting.

 Buddy's favorite two positions.  Sleeping and relaxing while sleeping.

December travels

OK, it's been awhile seen I've blogged.  So to catch you up to our travels I will buzz through a few states.  Texas, Amarillo - we only stopped for 3 days but saw a lot.  I did not know they had a version of a mini Grand Canyon in Texas.  Palo Duro Canyon.  Beautiful and you can drive down into the canyon in your own vehicle, none of this donkey on a cliff thing! Many pull offs and areas to see the different flora/fawna of the area.  It took about 2 hours to view it all but a beautiful sunny day.  They have their own pet longhorns in a fenced in area by the entrance. Cadillac Ranch - been there forever but they have spray cans available so you can leave your own mark on the vehicles.  All 4 of our kids now have their name on a caddy. 

Jack Sisemore RV museum which is hidden within a huge RV dealership.  The owner has his own personal collection of the history of RVing and also quite a few one of a kind motorcycles on display.  He is in the process of adding on.  We toured the Happy Max RV from the movie "RV" with Robin Williams.  Even met the owner, Jack Sisemore.  He is the co-founder of Keystone RV manufacturing.  A big name in travel trailers.  We also stopped and ate lunch at the Big Texan.  Known for it's 72 ounce steak deal.  If you eat the whole steak in an hour, it's free.  Not too many can handle 4 1/2 pounds of meat.  Man vs Food from the Food Network - Adam Richman did it.  Not us, we got the 6 ounce lunch deal.

Onto Roswell New Mexico. Much larger town then we figured and our lovely "lady in the box" AKA GPS took up right through downtown instead of the less busy and non-stop bypass.  I really have to have a talk with her! We toured the Alien Museum and various Alien stores.  They really use the alien theme big time.  The McDonald's is in the shape of a cylindrical space ship.  Green aliens greet you all throughout town.  I love the history factor more then the tourist stuff but it was very interesting.  The day we went to leave we woke up to snow.  It just keeps following us! 

A few day stop on the West side of Tucson Arizona just to break up our travels.  We plan on spending the month of February in Tucson so got a "must see" list going for our return.  We did check out the weekend Flea Market - no purchases.  We also drove the loop through the Saguaro National Park. 

Being from Wisconsin, did not have a clue about cactus or the info about the desert area.  Got quite an education at the Visitors Center and know 10x more then we did before, which was zero. First off that Saguaro is pronounced "swaro".  They knew we were from out of town from how badly we botched the pronounciation. Lots of hiking and trails in the park. Great area for hiking, just watch your step and DON'T touch the cactus. Randy really loved the Saguaro's, but hugging not allowed either.

Sun City Arizona, which is a Northwest subdivision of Phoenix was the next stop.  We fell in love with this area.  Clean, well groomed area.  Lots of activities and super nice people.  They have multiple community buildings that offer swimming, tennis, pickle ball, bowling, billiards, movies, and classes for woodworking, jewelry making, ceramics, photography, quilting, stain glass and much more.  The crafty side of me was in love.  Randy got a personal tour of their metals shop.  We will definitely be back here again, actually planning on spending the month of April in the Phoenix area. 
 Las Vegas for 2 weeks over Christmas was a weird feeling of choices but it worked out well.  We found a great church in the area and went to their Sunday services and also Christmas Eve. Always nice to connect with a community. Being in the "city of lights" really lacked the lights.  The RV park had more lit RV's then the people of Las Vegas decorated their homes. We popped up our 2foot pre-lit tree, external lights, garland, and our stockings.  We walked down "the strip" a number of times to check out the Christmas decor and the casino's.  We were able to go to the National Finals Rodeo event on it's last night.  The best of the best rodeo people competing for the title World Champion. 
It was an exciting night. Charlie Daniels preformed during a break in the rodeo.Harrah's - awesome, family friendly show.  We also had to check out a few of our favorite cable show shops.
 Pawn Stars on the History channel- pawn shop in downtown LV.  Just like it looks on TV.  They kicked us out because they were getting ready to film an episode.  Didn't see any of the owners of the show but the security guard said they weren't very friendly people so forget about getting a high 5.  We drove by Rick's Restoration which is also on the History channel - really neat buildings but gated off from the public.  Lastly, we drove to check out ATM (Acrylic Tank Manufacturing) or known as Tanked on the Animal Channel.  They make unique one-of-a-kind themed fish tanks.  We were in Henderson Nevada and saw their massive snow globe fish tank made for the Henderson Christmas Celebration, then a few days later when we went to the ATM shop, there it was.  Went through their store and we could watch them working through a chain link fence.  As we were watching out came 3 of their known workers that are on the show:
Redneck, Frankie, and Heather the co-owner's wife.  She was so sweet.  Stopped and talked with us and even told us we could hang around because they were going to be filming an episode.  We had to get going because of our tickets for the Shark Reef, but otherwise that would have been really neat to see a filming.  We also drove to Red Rock Canyon, just outside of Las Vegas. Very pretty area and changes as the sun/clouds move in the sky.  They have wild donkeys and mountain goats but we did not see any, while we were in the area. 
Las Vegas Speedway has a drive thru lighting display for Christmas.  2 1/2 miles of lights in and around the Speedway.  The adrenaline built being at the Nascar track but Randy held back and drove really slow so I could see all the lights.  It was really hard being away from Wisconsin and all our family/friends for Christmas but seeing all the lights helped to make it feel more like Christmas.  Our temporary church family helped a lot too but nothing like being home for Christmas.  We also went to the Cowboy Christmas sale and watched a Horse Whisperer. Many displays and a lot of western wear and decor for sale. While in Vegas we saw the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay, Secret Garden, and Mac King comedian/magician at Harrah's. It was an excellent show.
 

Back Out On The Road

So a very busy 3 weeks back on the road.  We had a timeshare week to use or lose so we decided to stop by Branson Missouri and use it up.  Really bad condo, but they let us park our RV on the premise while we stayed in the room.  I like MY home on wheels better.  We attended one of those wonderful timeshare/vacation demos - not because we like to be tortured but because we're cheap and took the 4 show tickets that came with the torture.  The Hughes Brothers (a huge multi generational family show), Six (6 brothers) both were awesome. Also, Grand Jubilee and The Haygoods - they were OK.  We also went up Shepard of the Hills Inspiration Tower and drove the Ozark Mountain Christmas light display.  My mother used to frequent Branson on a bus tour, and there were dozens of buses everywhere.  We loved driving around and finding the "other" places.  Downtown Branson, Lake Taneycomo, fish hatchery, the dam, and Table Rock Lake.  The fly fisherman were out in droves, fun to watch.
As we travel and need a quick stop, we usually choose Wal Mart parking lots for those quick 1 night stops.  But after being in the south we learned that Indian casinos can be a great place to stop.  They may or may not have a camping area with hookups (electric, water, sewer) and it's FREE.  Then you go inside and get a players card, which can include $10 up to 100 of free play.  So we play their $10, entertain ourselves for a few minutes up to hour (if were lucky) and then spend the night in their lot.  Some even have 2 for 1 or reduced price buffets with the players card.  So they let us have a nice, safe spot to stay, entertain us, and feed us.  We spent the night at the Cherokee Casino in Oklahoma.
Just east of Oklahoma City we took the hospitality of the Kickapoo Indians and stayed in the casino campground for 5 nights (FREE), played with their $10 players card, and ate at their buffet.  It also allowed us to visit around the area. 
We went to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.  It was great.  History of the Cowboy, artist display, tack, town reproduction, Indian heritage, and cowboy movie display.  Love all those old cowboy movies.  They had memorabilia from many famous cowboy actors and their movies. Rodeo history too.
We also stopped by the Oklahoma City Memorial, in memory of the OKC bombing in 1995.  It was really moving.  I had traveled through in 1998 and a lot of the building was still there, as they couldn't demolish it because of the trial.  I am so glad they build the memorial on the same grounds.  There is also a museum but it contains personal information and video of all of the victims.  Too much for me so we opted out.  A reflective pool is in the making. 
Lunch was spent in the Stockyards, were the states beef pass through on there way to the market (but don't tell them).  The famous Cattleman's Cafe has not changed in the 100 years of service, not from personal experience, but from historical information.  We had the absolute BEST steak ever.  It is one of those restaurants where people were walking in and the waitress would say "the usual Fred?"  A step back in time and an awesome experience. 
Onto Lawton Oklahoma.  Home of Fort Sill Artillery Army Camp.  We were honored to be invited to the boot camp graduation of Jasmine Reuteler.  Her father is a good friend of Randy's for decades (and mine for 1 decade plus).  He was the best man in our wedding.  So we spent a week in Lawton going to Army graduation events and visiting with the family.  Really neat to see all of the Army routine and events.  We got to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the base with the Reuteler's and about 200 other service people.  So thankful for their service and commitment!  Having had 8 uncles and a father in the military, this whole experience was really neat. Joy of joy's, it snowed while we were there too.  I thought we left that "stuff" back in Wisconsin. 
We took a driving tour of the Wichita Mountains, just outside Lawton.  Beautiful views on top of Mount Scott.  There is 59,000 acres wild life preserve to restore the long horns and bison on Oklahoma. Elk are there too but we did not catch one in view.  On the way is the Holy City.  The USA longest running Passion Play with a replica of Jerusalem and area. Cobblestone everywhere.  The area is known for cobblestone everything.  Beautiful.

Onto Amarillo Texas for a quick 2 night stop to see the sights and then head to Roswell New Mexico. Randy's really excited to see a few relatives!