A Very Merry Christmas to all of you

And a good healthy 2012!

Pictures

Alison's Graduation

Books @ BYU Art Gallery

Canyonlands

Devils Tower

Waterfall @ Twin Falls ID

Bob & Gail & Nicole & Dave & Rob & Leticia

2011 was a good year for us. Since I have not kept up the Blog, I will give you an update. You may stop reading this at any time if you like.

In June we went back to Pleasanton for Alison’s High School Graduation. We have now seen 6 out of 8 Granddaughters graduate from HS and 1 Collage Graduation so far.

We then traveled to Provo UT to visit my Dad and Vena Lee. Had a nice visit and saw the BYU are gallery. Have you ever seen 85,000 #’s of books? Then on our way to Moab UT to see The Arches and Canyon lands National Parks. Beautiful country. Very warm weather like in the triple digits.

We then made our way to Lafayette CO to see our daughter Kay and her family. We get to park in their driveway. Bruce, our Son in Law’s Birthday is on the 4th of July so we had a grand celebration with them.

In 2009 we met some RV friends Chuck and Connie in Santa Rosa NM. We then hooked up with them in Ozark MO. They e-mailed us that they would be Park Hosts in Cherry Creek Campground by Denver. So we headed there for a week. Had some wild and wonderful thunder, lighting and rain storms in Cherry Creek. Korkie spent a lot of time under the table.

Then off to Ogallala NE. Remember the TV series “Lonesome Dove”? They drove the cattle to Ogallala! It is a small ranch and farming community. We stayed in a park with a group of Harvesters. They get contracts from farms from OK thru ND to harvest the fields. They were about 3 weeks behind due to the rain. We were advised not to go East because of flood damage. So we headed north on Hwy 20 to Pender NE. Pender is a town with many quilters. On about every other house, there is a wood 3’ x 3’ sign with that persons quilt pattern painted on it. Pretty neat! The Blue OX towing factory is also there. We have had some problems with our system so had it checked out and got it fixed. A wiring problem in the car. We were in Pender when the heat wave hit the Midwest. Blue OX has a beautiful campground on the premises.

We then headed west across NE on Hwy 20 to WY. Saw Devils Tower. This is in the NE corner of WY. Well worth the trip. Then on to Thermopolis WY. Stayed in a campground where the Mineral Hot Springs are. I noticed about 7:00PM there was a parade of people heading for the Natural Hot Springs. I put my suit on and followed them. We went into the warm lake. There was a small stage and when it got dark, lights lit up the fountains and a cowboy with a guitar got up and sang. It was very surreal.

In 1971 we had rented a tent trailer and the 6 of us plus our dog headed out for Montana. On the way we stopped in Lander WY. Bob had heard of a river that goes into the ground, then surfaces a quarter of a mile down the road. At that time, you pulled off the road. You had to know about it to find it. Now there are Ranger Stations, parking lots, paved trails and gift shops at both ends. Still an interesting place to see. –

Went through Jackson WY then over the mountains on Hwy 22 to Victor ID. We were advised against it because of a 10% grade going up. We had hair raising curves and saw absolutely beautiful scenery.

We really enjoyed Twin Falls ID. Lots of things to see. Did you know you can see water fall equal to Niagara Falls? Lots to see in Twin Falls ID.

From there we headed to Seal Rocks OR. We wanted to see the OR coast. It was beautiful. Sunshine into AM, would have breakfast and proceeded to the beach across the street. By then the fog came over and it was cold. Decided to head east for sun shine and warmer weather.

We were due in the Bay Area in September for our Granddaughter Nicole’s and Dave’s wedding. Nicole was a beautiful Bride and the wedding was perfect and we had such a good time. Our whole family was there. It was a wonderful occasion!

Because this has gone on so long, I will sign off. Next entry will be our trip down Hwy 395 seeing Mt Whitney and Lone Pine where the old Westerns were filmed. And also pictures of our site here in Desert Hot Springs!

Pictures from June Post!

Korkie is happy!

1st Veiw of our winter DHS lot!

View from front window to pool! Nice & close.

Tree cut down and removed and storage shed in and painted! Bob made our neat step stool!

January 2011 Pleasanton to Desert Hot Springs

Here in Pleasanton CA--


We have been here now since end of October. We were planning on spending Thanksgiving with our daughter Lynda and her family and son Rick and his family. Well time went on and now it is the end of January, and we are still here.

No problem. The Alameda County Fair Grounds RV Park is a nice park. If any you RV’ers would like to spend time in the San Francisco Bay Area, this is the place. Not fancy, but clean and well maintained. Good prices! Plans are in the works to build rest rooms, showers and a laundry. BART station a mile or two away that takes you to down town San Francisco!

Our company, Altamont Manufacturing is doing wonderful under the direction of our son Rick and his wife Teri. Bob was needed so he went back to work! Bob with his 50 years of wisdom and experience is training people again and running parts again. He is in “Happy Land”. He can train, he is asked to solve machine problems and he has the knowledge to do so. There are early morning times when I wake up, it is still dark and Bob is twilling his thumbs and wide awake. He is solving yesterday’s problems and is waiting for daylight so he can go into to work to test them! He is making running parts and is useful. He is really enjoying this time of his life!

What am I doing? Glad you asked. Well, Korkie is taking a lot of my time. I guess the more free time you have for your pet, child, etc., the more time and attention you give them. Well, Korkie is getting terribly spoiled. Going to have to change some things here. I do office work at the shop couple of days a week and believe it or not, I have been cooking a bit and grocery shopping. Don’t want to get carried away here.

On February 22, we left Pleasanton and headed into Desert Hot Springs. We like to stop for the night in Bakersfield at the Orange Grove RV Park. It is in the middle of a working orange grove. A small store is walking distance and we like to buy fresh oranges there. In the morning on my walk back with my bag of oranges I began talking to a lady. They were getting ready to leave and the subject came up on where are you on your way to? She said Palm Springs. I said we were on our way to Desert Hot Springs. She then told me that that is also where they are headed. She said Palm Springs because more people know that location than DHS. Turned out we were headed to the same RV Park! Now our park, Desert Springs SPA RV Park is a small park. Less than 90 lots. We have become friends with Jim and Florence. Jim served in the Navy in WWII on board on a mine sweeper. He was in the south Pacific and took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima. He was on his ship and watched the flag raising. He also was in Okinawa and had great stories to tell. Stan and Tillie are another couple we have become acquainted who live here year around and are quite interesting. Stan celebrated his 19th Birthday on Iwo Jima and was in a fox hole when the flag was raised! He told us that he was a little busy when the Flag was raised and did not see it. The “Greatest Generation” is still around us.

We were welcomed into the park with waves and glad you finally made it. Later some people told us that they did not really remember us, but yes they did remembered Korkie in the window.

It is now almost June! Yes, we are still in DHS. We have now leased our own spot for one year! So we are busy making it ours. We have added a nice 8 x 10 storage shed, painted it and bricked in a patio. A new winter resident had his drive way payed. Looked so good, we and another resident said, “we want that also!”Well it’s done. Can’t walk on it yet, but beautiful! We will do some landscaping in the fall when we come back. With the Natural Hot Springs pool across the street, we are set! Notice the view from our RV! The park is pretty empty now. Most of the people who come for the winter season have left. This will now be our winter home! Complete picture next blog!  Or let us know if you want the picture sooner!

http://www.desertspringsrvpark.com/default.asp?file=Facilities

We are planning on leaving here the first part of June, attending Granddaughter Alison’s HS graduation then on to Utah to see my Dad. We will spend some time in Colorado to see Daughter Kay and her family. We then will be meeting up with friends we met in a campground in New Mexico in April 2010. We then saw later in Ozark MO! We are planning on seeing them in July in Colorado!