Who We Are

We sold our home in June, 2007, and spent the next 7 1/2 years traveling full time in a Cross Roads Fifth Wheel. (We had been traveling during our summers for several years before going full time.) We loved the full-time lifestyle! Each summer we spent a month or two volunteering in State Parks, first in Indiana at McCormick's Creek State Park, near our family, then in later years as the grandchildren got older, at the Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico. We spent 6 months each winter at Cactus Gardens RV Resort in Yuma, AZ, where I worked mornings in the park office. The remaining months were spent on the road, seeing this great country of ours. Our favorite places are our National Parks. Anita loved photography and the freedom of digital photography, taking sometimes hundreds of photos in a day. We hiked as much as our legs will allow. We also really enjoyed square and round dancing as we travel across country, and meeting all the wonderful people who dance and/or travel.

But as in all things, there comes a time for change, and we decided it was time to create roots once more. In the fall of 2014, we purchased a home in Cactus Gardens, and in the spring of 2015, sold the 5th wheel. Anita also retired in the spring. We will continue to travel each summer, but for a shorter period of time. We hope to continue blogging about those trips, but it will obviously be on a more limited basis than in the past.

Please explore our past posts if you are interested in traveling this great country. You'll find an index in the left column. We hope you enjoy our blog, and appreciate all comments

Friday, May 31, 2013

May in Texas and New Mexico

We did not have plans beyond July 1st for this summer until a couple of weeks ago.  Chance brought a lady to Cactus Gardens who has volunteered for several years in New Mexico State Parks.  She told me what a great state it was to work with, and encouraged me to apply for a volunteer summer position.

I did, and 3 state parks contacted me.  We decided to check out Bluewater State Park on our way to Texas.  Bluewater Lake lies in the mountains at 7400 feet elevation.

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The park is small, and rather remote … 30 miles to the nearest grocery, laundromat or WiFi, so it’s sometimes hard for them to get volunteers.  Other than the distance to those amenities, it is what we had been thinking of as a summer destination…. hopefully, high enough in elevation to not be so hot, relatively low humidity despite the lake, and not so busy that it will be a good place to relax.  We accepted the position offered, and will return for orientation the last two weeks of May.

From there, we traveled on to Kerrville, TX.  We spent almost a month in Take-It-Easy RV Resort with friend, Donna, and other friends, and enjoying visits from granddaughter, Cassandra, who lives in Austin.

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When Cassie’s fiance, Logan spent an afternoon with us, we visited the Kerrville Arts and Cultural Center where we enjoyed a minature quilt display and a western art exhibit.

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Upon our return to Bluewater Lake, we began our volunteer work of manning the office and gatehouse.

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We are actually parked in a snug little corner of the maintenance compound.

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Memorial Day weekend brought a lot of people to the park.  Campers lined the lakeshore, and the campground was quite full as well.

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We will leave this week for a month in Indiana.  It will be the first time we’ve traveled without the 5th wheel since we moved into it full time in 2007…will definitely be different.

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