Back to Business

Shame on me!  Several of you have asked why I haven't been posting on this blog - and I have no excuse.  It's partly because in my desire to get everything PERFECT, I spend too much time on each entry.  The photos take the most time but I know people, including me, like photos.

Meanwhile, it looks the quarantine for the Covid 19 Pandemic, would have given me the opportunity to catch up, doesn't it?  The quarantine started the middle of March.  I was expecting it to end with the summer weather so didn't use my time wisely.

On the other hand, when you're in your house all day, nothing happens so there's nothing to talk about or write about.

We're not officially quarantined now but neither I nor my friends and family go out much.  When we do, we wear masks, social distance ourselves from others, and wash, wash, wash our hands.  

As of now, there are 4,887,648 positive cases of Covid-19 in the USA and159,596 deaths.  

I won't be moving to the local retirement community (VMRC) or selling my house this summer because that community is still under lockdown. That means people aren't able to move in or out... so there are not empty condo apartments at this time.

I'm trying to start using my time more wisely and get my photos purged, scanned, and organized.  That is QUITE the challenge! 

I think I'll make my posts more casual and share random thoughts.  If I slack off, you have permission to give me a nudge.  If I make grammatical errors, I plead with you to let me know.

Here's to updating Angelil Adventures.  Stay tuned.......!

Storing Stuff - Front of RV

A few friends have been curious about what goes on inside an RV and how we manage to live and keep up with things. I'm certainly no expert but you can take a tour of the front part here:

Keeping one's "stuff" is a challenge in an RV. You have to find a place for it that is convenient AND you have to remember where it is!

I'm the one who usually forgets.

Summary of Sites Seen with Blog Links

To see our all of trip blog posts, you can click here: Trip Out West , or you can click below on the various individual posts listed under each state below.

OHIO:
Dayton (visited Paul & Anita Krull, my sister, and family)

• Dayton, OH -- 5 nights instead of 1
• We're at My Sister's in Dayton, OH
• Warning
• Departure Day of Disasters

MISSOURI:
St. Louis (Archway to the West, Botanical Gardens)

• In Pursuit of HD TV
• Glad to Get Some Repairs
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Our "Trip Out West" Approach

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Midland (Badlands, Wall Drug Store), Rapid City (Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument)

• Mt. Rushmore and More Tour
• Badlands and Wall Drug in SD
• Hail......Yes!

WYOMING:
Cody (rodeo and Buffalo Bill Museum), Yellowstone National Park (Old Faithful, buffalo, elk)

• Wonderful Wildlife in Yellowstone
• Apple Pie and Yellowstone Park
• Splendiferous Scenery In Yellowstone
• Paparazzi in the Park (Yellowstone)
• Waterfalls and Buffalo in Yellowstone
• Firearm Museum Blew Ed Away
• Rodeo in Cody, Wyoming
• Using the Map
• Rocky Mountain "Hi" = A Harrowing Highway

WASHINGTON:
Seattle (Space Needle, Pike's Market), Long Beach Cranberry farm, jetty, lighthouses)

• The Space Needle
• Public Market in Seattle
• Passport Problems
• Boeing Tour - Ed's Report
• Our Duck on Land and Sea
• Desolation in East Washington
• Tally Ho in Idaho
• Ilwaco - Fishing Village
• Cape Disappointment Photos
• Cape Disappointment - Lighthouses and Jetty
• Long Beach, WA - A Few Observations
• Crazy for Cranberries
• Virginians Meet in Person

CANADA:
Butchart Gardens (sooo lovely), Victoria, Canada

• Canadians Kept Ed - Almost
• Glorious Gardens in Victoria, Canada

OREGON: We spend a whole month slowly moving down the coast of Oregon.
Portland (friends, downtown foodcarts), Newport (whales, aquarium) , Florence (seascapes, beaches), Coos Bay (sand dunes, sea lions), Port Orford (lighthouse, driftwood), Gold Beach (jet boat up the Rogue River, salmon fishing)

• Seeing Seastacks
• To Each His Own (Camping Style)
• Roving the River (Rogue) in Oregon
• Salmon and Seagulls at Gold Beach, OR
• Port Orford Harbor & Cape Blanco Lighthouse
• Our Secret Beach at Port Orford
• We've Done the Dunes
• Sea Lions Without Tryin'
• See Birds and Sea Lions
• Map of Trip as of 9-14-09
• Seascapes in Oregon
• Oregon Coast Sea Aquarium
• Staying in a Forest - No Internet
• A Tail of a Whale
• Portland

CALIFORNIA:
Crescent City (redwoods, sea lions up close)

• Waldo in the" Wedwoods"
• Redwood Patterns
• Under Tsunami Advisory Here
• Trees of Mystery
• Supper near Sea Lions
• Not Fussing about Fog
• Raving about Redwoods
• Trip from CA, thru OR, to NV
• Picnic in the Park

NEVADA:
Las Vegas (6 nights of Luxury at Caesar's Palace)

• A Few Last Pictures from Vegas
• Last Lunch in the Lap of Luxury
• Casino and Hotel Life
• New Encore and Wynn Hotels
• Food for the Soul and Body in Vegas
• Las Vegas Strip
• Next Door - The Bellagio
• Cesar's Palace, Our Hotel
• What a Way to Start the Day!
• "Click on Photo" Help
• Livin' THE Life in Las Vegas
• Nevada = Brown All Around
• Bath for the RV - At Last!

UTAH:
Hatch (Bryce, Red, & Zion Canyons)

• Zion, a Zenith of Our Journey
• A Few More Beautiful Bryce Treasures
• Beautiful Bryce Canyon
• Red Canyon Colors
• Utah, Utopia of Unique Scenery

ARIZONA:
Sedona (red huge rocks/mountains, chapel), Grand Canyon (by helicopter, champagne picnic)

• Our Grand "Grand Canyon Adventure" by Helicopter
• Heading South Through Arizona
• Seven Years
• Sedona, the Corona of Arizona

NEW MEXICO:
Silver City (Friends, Cliff dwellings, Catwalk)

• Silver City Slickers
• Catwalk near Silver City, NM
• Cave Dwellers near Silver City, NM
• Silver City So Far
• Jogging Instead of Blogging...

TEXAS:
Cisco and Pecos (cotton, oil wells, wind farms), Waxahachie (visited Maribeth & Phil May, my brother and Mother, went to my first cat show)

• Mother, My Brother and His Family
• West Texas Wind Farms
• Trip Map as of October 31, 2009
• Cat Competition - My First
• The May's Oasis in Texas

MISSISSIPPI:
Biloxi (beautiful beaches)

• Western Trip is Winding Down
• Biloxi's Beautiful Beaches
• Lousy Louisiana Roads

FLORIDA:
Ocala (visit Jan & David Clements), Tampa (Lazy Days for minor repair), Port St. Lucie (visit Kay & George, Ed's bro), Ft. Lauderdale (We used to live here.)

• Look Out, Lauderdale -- Here We Come!
• Surgery for Mary Kay Angelil
• 100 Nights, 8,000 and 30,000
• Special Friends in Summerfield, FL
• Wal-Mart is RV Friendly

Trip Trivia 2009

8,000 hits on this blog as of today!

August 1, 2009 to November 13, 2009
105 days

8,208 miles

States visited:
Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, FloridaBreakdowns - 0

Fights - 0

Sickness - None
(disregarding Cancer and Fibromyalgia)

Weather - Amazingly good!

Memories - Priceless

Blessings - IMMEASURABLE

Pepper says, "We're here, here at last!"

Comment - How To

Several people have emailed me that they can't make a comment. Hopefully, these 5 steps will help.

1. At the bottom of each post, you'll see the words "...comments". Put your pointer on the word "comments", and click.2. A window will open and a cursor will be blinking in a white area. Type your comment. You can sign your name or not, but I'd love to know who you are!
Here's where most people have trouble......they don't realize you have to scroll down.

3. SCROLL DOWN until you see this...
4. Click to the left of "Anonymous" to put a dot there.
5. Click the orange rectangle, "Publish your comment"

100 Nights, 8,000 and 30,000

Sunday night, November 8, 2009 was our 100th night on the road. Our first night was on August 1st.

The miles covered on the trip as of Monday were 8,106. Ed drove 8, 096 of those miles.

The miles on our Chevy Malibu, our towed car, reached 30,000.

We're back on the east coast of Florida, where we both lived for over 20 years, and it feels like home. This is where we're going to spend the winter. So we're declaring that our big Western Trip of a Lifetime 2009 is officially over.

Please stay tuned for further Angelil Adventures.

Special Friends in Summerfield, FL

Summerfield, Florida is right by The Villages and is just south of Ocala. We spent several days there at Southern Oaks RV Resort, which is about 4 miles from Jan and David Clements.

I met Jan at a week-end religious retreat in 1996. We started a reunion prayer group following the weekend (Cursillo, which is like The Emmaus Walk) and Jan was our leader. She also became my hairdresser and treasured friend.

Since then, Ed came into my life and Dave came into hers. We both love and appreciate our husbands!Jan decided she needed a career change after 27 years of doing hair. She got her real estate license and she and Dave moved from Ft. Lauderdale to Summerfield, Florida. They live in Stonecrest, which is right by The Villages. They are now partners in The Clements Team and specialize in Stonecrest Residential Community real estate.

Jan spends many hours designing brochures, ads, and filling out forms. It is astounding how much paperwork is involved just to take a listing!

Jan and Dave worked hard to do all this landscaping themselves, then discovered that it takes a LOT of work to maintain it!

Don't be fooled by Sierra's innocent look.....she got into my purse while we were gone and ate a whole pack of gum!

Wal-Mart is RV Friendly

We stayed in Wal-Mart parking lots on Monday and Wednesday nights. When we're just focusing on getting from one place to another, it's hardly worthwhile to set up camp and hook-up just to sleep for a few hours. We do like to stop every 2 or 3 nights in a campground so we can take a "big" shower and I can wash my hair. Besides that, we bathe in the RV's shower and function just fine.

Wal-Mart stores have a reputation nation-wide of being RV friendly, meaning they allow RVs to overnight in their parking lots. That's a smart move considering that most every RVer goes in to buy supplies. RVers are often senior citizens, which means they're quiet and responsible (Well, maybe there are a few exceptions!)

Someone pointed out that the RVs add another element of security to outer corners of their large parking lots. It's a win-win situation and we really appreciate their hospitality! (We ALWAYS ask the manager's permission.)

Yay for Wally-World!

Western Trip is Winding Down

Our Big Western "Trip of a Lifetime" is slowly winding down.

When I look at the map of our trip route, I'm amazed that we really went all those places! Plus, we're still getting along after being together 24/7 since August 1st!

(Click on map for a larger view.)

The good Lord was watching over us and I am thankful for the many things we were blessed with, such as good weather, decent health, and the motor home running well.
We left my brother's home in Texas on Monday morning and traveled about 300 miles to Alexandria, Louisiana. Tuesday, we covered another 300 miles to Biloxi, Mississippi. Wednesday we knocked out yet another 300 miles, crossing the bottom tip of Alabama and ending up in Tallahassee, Florida.

Once we hit the Florida state line, I thought, "Ah, we're home." Then I remembered that that's not right at all.....it's hundreds of miles to get to Ft. Lauderdale.

Thursday we left Tallahassee at an all-time record of 8:00 a.m.!! We drove the 180 miles to Summerfield, which is just south of Ocala and near The Villages.

A couple of our dearest friends, Jan and David Clements, live there and we've stopped to see them before. (Click here: Bye-bye, Tampa....Hello, Jan and David and Our First Trip - Part 2) We're looking forward to seeing them.


P.S.

The cranberries are in the supermarkets. We learned that they only show up once a year, so stock up. Buy those bags and freeze them.

Oh, how I do love cranberries. They now have a cranberry flavor in Crystal Lite!

Biloxi's Beautiful Beaches

Biloxi, Mississippi is a town we almost missed. We stopped at the visitors' center when we crossed the state line. We were planning to continue on Interstate 10 but they suggested that U.S. 90 is a good road right along the beach. They were right!

The only thing I had heard about Biloxi were joking comments made about the military bases here....that it was the armpit of civilization (and worse). So when we came upon these white sandy beaches, it was a surprise.We also saw for the first time, evidence of Hurricane Katrina (2005). There are many empty lots, foundations without walls, and walls of houses. I never could seem to get a decent photo of these things.

It is good to see that many of the new houses and hotels are being built on stilts, using the ground level as parking.

Lousy Louisiana Roads

Our trip through Louisiana was uneventful except that we were jostled,rattled and rolled for many miles by the rough roads. Even Pepper got grumpy and meowed and screeched, jumping from one of her beds to other, as well as on and off my lap about a hundred times.

We did pass through a few areas of swampland and it was remarkable how the highways were built in those areas.

The roads were built up on pilings for miles upon miles...
...because of the swamps.

Here's Baton Rouge, LA as we drove by it.

Cat Competition - My First

Saturday, Ed read in the local Waxahachie newspaper that there was a cat show. This was my first cat show and I got a kick out of seeing all the cats.

It took me a while to figure out what was happening but it finally started making sense. The cats and their owners were in long rows in the middle of the room. On each end there were 3 judging areas. The loudspeakers were calling for various cats by number. Each cat is judged and rated by 6 judges on Saturday and a different 6 judges on Sunday. The results are then tabulated on Sunday.

Walking in the aisles of cats and talking to the proud owners was lots of fun. We even saw 3 Cornish rex cats! One was an endearing kitten and naturally, Ed wanted to get her as a companion for Pepper. I say Pepper is the queen of her domain and she would be quite distressed to share her fiefdom. Besides, the motorhome is NOT big enough for two cats!

I'd never seen these Bengal cats in person......they're just beautiful!

The May's Oasis in Texas

We tease my brother, Phil, because when he was young he said he was going to have an A-frame house in the woods and live off the land. Now, he has a lovely house that is quite the opposite of an A-frame in the woods. Phil continues to play classical piano and treasures his Baldwin that he bought from a church in the Midwest.When Phil was in the Air Force, they lived in the Philippines for several years. They were wise to purchase some exquisite furniture and have taken care of it. Maribeth has created a peaceful, inviting music room.

I didn't realize how important window treatments can be for a home. The elegant draperies and wood plantation shutters came with the house and Maribeth has used colors that coordinate with them.

Maribeth loves to decorate. Their house has closets everywhere and that's a good thing because she has decorations for every season.

She has a knack for making things pretty and at the same time user-friendly. They both enjoy having people over and do so often.

They both enjoy the back yard that Phil has worked for years to create. They use their hot tub often and Levi gave swimming lessons there during the summer.

As of Monday, the day we left, they're officially Empty Nesters. When Levi went off to college last year, Maribeth's brother was living with them. He returned to Pittsburgh and 2 days later we arrived. (We were easy guests because we brought our own house, parked it in front of their house and only used their shower and washing machine.)

Anyway, we hope the Empty Nesters thrive in this new stage of their lives. Cheers!