We’ve been on the road a week now and have naturally fallen into our own jobs. Brian’s job has become pilot and out of necessity, I’ve become the navigator. Emma? Well, she’s become the co-pilot letting us know when we need to touch down for a potty break.

I fell into the role of navigator after hearing Brian exclaim, “Uh-Oh” “WHAT?? No Uh-Oh!” Just about then I heard the truck sputter and Brian went in to full speed shutting down the air conditioning and radio. “What in the world is going on?” As he looks at me with a sheepish grin he tells me, “We’re running out of gas.” Great! We’re 2 miles from Casa Grande, it’s 108 degrees out and we’re running out of gas. As we literally coast into the gas station, I proceeded to let him know that if we run out of gas, I’m not the one who will be walking in that God forsaken heat to the nearest gas station.

And so my role of navigator began. Since we’re only averaging 6 to 7 miles per gallon, I’ve become fairly proficient at telling him what, when and even where to go… take that anyway you want. ;o)

After spending a couple of days visiting Brian’s mom, we headed toward Bisbee. After living in AZ for the last 25 years, neither one of us have ever been to Bisbee and let me tell you, it’s no big whoop. I think we could have lived another 25 years without seeing Bisbee and never lived to regret it. After walking around the town for a couple of hours in the scorching heat, we did learn there are quite a few characters who call Bisbee their home. A picture is worth a thousand words…

We bid farewell to Bisbee and moved on towards New Mexico landing at Carlsbad Caverns. I remember visiting the caverns when I was but 5 or 6 but Brian had never had the pleasure. Even though it was cloudy and raining, we headed to the caverns the night of the 1st for the bat flight. Every evening thousands upon thousands of Mexican free tail bats exit the cave in search of food only to return the next morning. We learned the bats exit the cavern, circle 7 times, then fly off for the night. Why do they circle 7 times before leaving the cave entrance??? No one really knows but one can only guess maybe it’s a correlation between the way the water in the toilet circles 7 times before it’s flushed down the pipes.

We realize some of you may or may not have been through the caverns but we were truly amazed by all the formations, the vastness of the cavern itself and how nice the park is kept. Park rangers were polite in answering every question, the road to the cavern recently paved and the path inside the cavern is well maintained and easy to hike. But word to the wise, make sure you wear comfortable tennis or hiking shoes. The caverns is not a path you want to wear flip-flops.

I need to back up a bit here… On our way to Carlsbad we stopped at our first “largest ball of twine.” As we were coming up on the White Sands National Park we decided to take a peek. Pulling in we forked over the moola for an “America the Beautiful” park pass and drove on. It was really weird driving through the large mounds of white sand, your mind playing tricks on you making you think it was going to be cold outside only to step out of the car onto the hot ground. What was really mind boggling was the kids with their sleds sledding down the mountains of the hot, white sand. To each his own. I’ll take the slopes of Telluride any day!

We’re now in Fredericksburg, TX for the 4th of July weekend. We’re heading to the town parade tomorrow with a concert and fireworks in the town park tomorrow night. We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday tomorrow and have a hot dog for us!!

Ready... Set... Go!!!

We closed on our home the morning of, Friday, June 25th. It was bittersweet since we'd lived in that house the last 14 years and had worked hard to make it our own. Yes, I cried as I gave the new owner a hug and told her I hope they make many new memories of their time in their new home just as we had over the years. With tears in my eyes, I crawled in the truck and we drove away.

Since the last time I blogged was before closing on the house, you're probably wondering where we are. One can only imagine we've put many miles in between us and Phoenix and have seen quite a few things by now. Encontre!! We drove north out of Phoenix and spent the next 2 days camping with our friends - - got to get in that last camping trip with everyone, you know! - - drove back through Phoenix and ended up in the little town of Amado, AZ. What, pray tell, are we doing here?? My sweet mother-in-law lives just north of our location in Green Valley and since the only RV park in Green Valley cateers only to those 55+, we ended up here.

We spent yesterday afternoon with Brian's mom, his sister and brother-in-law going through old pictures and papers of Brian's grandmother, Midge, who had spent her early years in various all girl bands playing tenor sax. I knew she used to play with Ada Leonard but yesterday, we learned she had also played with Jean Harlow. It also appears Midge and her husband enjoyed the arts and had kept playbills from the late 1800's in her scrapbook! Those who know me, know I was in Hog Heaven going through all those old photos and papers!! We're heading back later this morning to visit, and to finish going through Midge's box.

We'll be heading out early tomorrow so stay for our next "adventure".

Luv to all... D

It's amazing who comes out of the woodwork when you're giving stuff away.

Listed our piano on craigslist and within the first 10 minutes of the posting we received 3 emails and 7 phone calls. The problem now is trying to find just one out of these 10 people who are actually serious enough to come haul the thing away.

Also listed our mattress set as a freebie. I would have never thought anyone would be remotely interested in an old and lumpy mattress but my girlfriend suggested there must be someone out there sleeping on the floor and just waiting for this old thing. Well, thanks to P's suggestion, a young man is now the proud owner of our throw away. He'd told us his ex-girlfriend got their bed in the breakup and he's been sleeping on his couch. He was almost giddy as he drove down the street and out of sight.

They're delivering the pods tomorrow so it's going to be a big day. I never realized just how much stuff we have until I started packing. Is it too late for another garage sale???

D

And The Journey Begins

We've sold the house and we're off into the world unknown.

Since we're young (or at least young minded) and healthy, and don't have anywhere we need to be at any certain time we've decided to put all our belongings in storage and head off in to the wild-blue-yonder with dog and trailer in tow. And since family and friends keep asking us, What's next? Where you heading? we've decided to start this blog so those we love can track our travels.

We hope you join us as we start in Arizona and eventually end up in Colorado. We're looking forward to adventures around every corner and to sharing our happy times and challenges.

B & D