The Munday Travelers

The final post....

2011-07-20T18:11:00.000-05:00

This has been a; slice, ball, blast, delight, enjoyment, pleasure, hoot...you get the idea...I have had so much fun writing in this blog!!

I have enjoyed going back and re-reading my posts and also from hearing from all of you on how much you enjoyed reading our posts of the big adventure. As of today there are 8392 views on it, which is amazing!

I was going to continue to write some reviews of campsites but after thinking about it, I don't want to influence others with our opinion on what is "good" or especially "bad" ...they are all good, if the weather is right, the company is right etc...

I was also going to detail out the expense of going on an extended road trip, lots of people ask me how much it costs to do this sort of thing, again, that is subjective.

Do you have income while you are gone?

Do you have bills at home to pay while you are gone?

Do you have your house rented out?

Is your RV paid for?

How far will you travel each day?

What kind of RV parks/campsites will you stay in?

What is the price of fuel?

How is the Canadian dollar?

Will you do lots of sight seeing?

Will you eat out lots?

Are you towing a vehicle or will you use your bikes?

As you can see there are so many variants to the costs....

We had a budget of $800 per months for fuel and $800 per month for RV/campsites. Some of our months we spent $1500 on fuel but other months we only spent a few hundred dollars...some months we spent a fortune on campsites, other months we had free places to stay.

Over the year our average was just below budget...fuel came in at $6600 for the year or $600 per month...camping came in at $7010 for the year or $637 per month.

Our food expense was all over the board...some months we had huge costs...some months we ate cheaply...we only ate out a few times a month, mostly when we were visiting company.

The entire year away from home ended up being cheaper for us to live in the RV than to live at home. We only had to worry about the 3 costs: food, fuel, camping.

At home we have a mortgage to pay, taxes, insurance, phone bills, cable bills, internet bills, hydro bills, gas bills, maintenance on the vehicles, maintenance on the house...we have only been back home for 7 weeks now and are already feeling the debt load going higher and higher...

If any of you are considering doing an extended journey, just do it! You don't need to be a millionaire, you don't need to be mortgage free, you don't have to be retired, you don't have to wait until the kids are out of school.... if the time is right for you, just do it...we have no regrets now that we have done it but we had a million concerns before we actually left!

So, in closing, I want to thank every one of you for reading this blog, for making it worth my while, I hope that it will be up and running again one day in the future...one never knows...maybe, just maybe!

Bye for now, ciao, farewell, adios, cheerio, arrivederci, sayonara, so long, au revoir, see ya!

Kelly

xoxo

Our favourite places to stay in the USA! part two!!

2011-06-21T23:12:00.001-05:00

here is the finale for the "good"places that we stayed at in the USA...

Grand Canyon RV park, Williams, Arizona. If you are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon, consider taking the train instead of driving from Williams....this RV park is RIGHT at the train station, so convenient!! Nice facilities, the town is on Route 66, very neat!

Las Vegas KOA, Las Vegas, Nevada. If you are traveling to Vegas in an RV then you MUST stay here!! This park is at the Circus Circus, very close to to the bus stop to get to all the attractions etc. Nice pool area and dog park, decent bathrooms.

Pomo RV Park, Fort Bragg, California. A nicely wooded area on Highway 1 that is popular with divers. Nice facilites, private sites and very friendly owners.

Bandon KOA, Bandon,Oregon. A wonderful little hideaway on the HWY 101. Beautiful little spot to camp, nicely kept and looked after, friendly owner.

update: here are 2 articles in our local news:

The Terrace Standard

The Terrace Daily

Our favourite places to stay in the USA! part one

2011-06-14T11:09:00.000-05:00

This is a list of our favourite campsites that we stayed at in the USA.

Fish Creek campsite, Adirondack Park, New York. Private waterfront lake sites, very woodsy, nice setting.

Fort Wilderness Resort, Disneyworld, Florida. This campsite is on Disney property, extremely clean private sites, (bathrooms as nice as the Marriot), woodsy, nice setting, tons of activities, pool and hot tub, music, dancing, shows, fireworks, parade, decorations, free boat ride or busses to the Magic Kingdom, a wonderful experience! We had just as much fun staying at the campsite as we did visiting all the theme parks!

Lake Rousseau, Crystal River, Florida. Extremely friendly family run RV park, lots of activities, potlucks, bingo, dances, pool, lake, canoe rentals, great location. We stayed here the longest amount of time and made many friends, Terry's dad liked it so much that he is going back in October for 6 months to be a "snowbird".

Pioneer Beach Resort, Port Aransas, Texas. Nice beach front RV park, lots of activities, potlucks, dances, bingo, etc. Free bus into downtown, friendly people, beautiful beach on the Gulf of Mexico.

Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort, Mission, Texas. Beautifully landscaped RV park in the Rio Grande Valley, right beside the Rio Grande river, bordering to Mexico. Extremely friendly people, tons of activities, bingo, potlucks, Margaritia nights, woodshop (I made a bowl), pool and hot tub, dog park, right beside the World Birding Headquarters. ATV rentals, free bikes and kayaks, pontoon boats.

Oliver Lee State Park, Alamogordo, New Mexico. A wonderful oasis located in the Chihuahuan desert, full of birds, lizards, rabbits, coyotes, and lots of different plants ( Mesquite trees, creosote trees, agave plants and cacti). Nice campsites including water and electric for only $14 per night!

Rock Hound State Park, Deming, New Mexico. Located at the base of the Flo-rida Mountains in the Chihuahuan desert. A great spot to find geodes, thunder eggs, agates, jasper and many other rocks. Great campsites serviced for $14 per night. Star party at the visitors center, hiking, lots of wildlife and plants. Great place!

Wells Fargo RV park, Tombstone, Arizona. Located right downtown Tombstone, right beside the OK Corral!

Rest stop on Hwy 191, Apache National Forest, Arizona. We took the winding twisting route on 191 through the Apache Forest and spent the night at the summit of 10,000 ft at a large pull out rest stop. Spectacular views, road not advised for vehicles over 40 ft long!

stay tuned for part two with more of our favourite camping spots in the USA...

Favourite places to stay - Canada

2011-06-09T22:42:00.001-05:00

Now that we are back in the house and have our internet turned on I can go through my notes and list off some details of the trip:

Here are our favourite campsites in Canada that we stayed at: (click on the name to view the website)

Brae Island Regional Park in Langley, BC. Close to town, a 5 minute walk into Fort Langley, lots of wildlife (rabbits, owls, birds, frogs). Kayak and bike rentals available.

Beachcomber RV Park in Saanich, BC. Right on the water, lots of driftwood to have bonfires on the beach, very private setting away from the city.

Kettle River Provincial Park, Rock Creek, BC. Dry Ponderosa Pine forest, very nice setting. Great spot to tube down the river from one end of the campsite to the other, a short walk back. Lots of bike riding trails.

Rainbow Falls Provincial Park (Rossport), Terrace Bay, ON. Right on Lake Superior, a nice setting.

Pancake Bay Provincial Park, Batchawana Bay, ON. Beautiful white sandy beach right on Lake Superior. Each site is very private and most sites are beachfront.

Twin Shores, Darnley, PEI. A beautiful red-sand beach on the North side of PEI. Private sites, lots of fun activities (hay rides, free movies, music and mussels on the beach). Beach fires permitted.

Brudenell River Provincial Park, Georgetown, PEI. On the East side of PEI, swimming pool, horseback riding, $5 golf at the Devine Nine for registered campers, private sites.

Kouchibouguac National Park, NB. Board walk over the tidal flats to the ocean, many different seabirds, kayak and bike rentals. Lots of bike trails.

MacLeod's Beach, Dunvegan, Cape Breton Island, NS. Beautiful white sand beach hidden away from the campsite, hiking trails.

Green Cove, Neil's Harbour, Cape Breton Island, NS. Not a campsite but a rest stop right beside the surf on the rocks, a beautiful place to spend one night tucked away in a very private corner.

Lunenburg Board of Trade campsite, Lunenburg, NS. Up on the hill above downtown Lunenburg, a 5 minute walk to downtown, spectacular view of the bay.

**Next Post will be our favourite places that we stayed in the USA**

ah...it is good to be back home!

2011-06-07T00:49:00.000-05:00

We moved back into our house on June 3rd. we still haven't set up all of our stuff yet...there are boxes everywhere and I just finished painting our bedroom today...phew I am glad that is done with!

It is hard to believe that we managed okay in the RV with such little room...the space that we have in the house is crazy for just the 3 of us.

Mike is excited to have a separate lego room, a Magic card room, a TV room and of course his own bedroom...I am happy to have my laundry facilities and a full size fridge, oh and of course my comfy couch...Terry is happy to have the shop and his big TV... and Sampson is happy to have his yard and to run free without the rope attached to his collar!

2 more weeks

2011-05-20T01:47:00.002-05:00

We move back into our house in 2 weeks!!

I will be updating the blog with summaries of the road trip at that time... Stay tuned!

Then What?

2011-05-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

We have been home for a week now. We are homeless for the time being until we can move back into our house on June 1st. We have re-insured our vehicles that were parked while we were gone, cleaned up the boat, re-actived our cell phone with our Canadian number, arranged for the internet, cable and phone to be re-connected. We have seen most of our friends and family, had a couple dinners out etc... Where are we going next? Where is the next destination that I can plug into our Nuvi GPS of look up in our road atlas......we will get to move into our house in 3 weeks, that will be entertaining for the 1st month...Then What?

Michael and I are flying to Prince Edward Island tomorrow to see Jennifer, it has been 10 months since Mike has seen his big sister! We will spend the week with her in PEI then Mike and I are flying to Vancouver Island to see everyone else! Once I get back from there it will only be 10 days until we move back into our house...Then What?

Then What? = getting back to a normal life, getting Michael back to school in the fall, getting him back into his Ju-jitsu, skiing etc.
Then What? = Kelly going back to work in August and finally having a pay cheque again, re-joining the photography club and ladies golf club.
Then What? = Terry going fishing to his favorite river, getting the boat in the water, going golfing, learning how to be patient and sit still..

Then What? = realizing that what we did for the past 333 days was an unbelievable, extraordinary thing that most people will never experience, that we were lucky enough to be able to pull it off without too many hardships, and the hope that maybe, just maybe we will be able to do it again one day...maybe 10 or 20 years down the road...but maybe it will just happen again...then what?

we are home!!

2011-05-02T23:41:00.001-05:00

After 333 days on the road, 9 provinces, 22 states, 30,000 KM's...we are home!!

We managed to live fairly peacefully in our 189 sq ft motorhome for 11 months which is a huge accomplishment in my opinion! Life will slowly start to go back to normal...we move back into our house on June 1st and will be able to spread out a bit...moving into 3400 sq ft for just the 3 of us seems a little extravagant but hey, we will all get our own bathroom and play rooms!

We are staying in mom and Ken's driveway for the month of May, Michael is slowly migrating into the house to sleep at night etc, but Terry and I are determined to get our full year in in RV!

I will still be updating the blog on a regular basis with some stats and facts from the trip...stay tuned and thanks for watching!

Heading Home!!

2011-04-26T23:23:00.000-05:00

We departed Astoria, Oregon yesterday morning in the pouring rain...it had rained and rained on our parade for 3 days in a row and our plans to take our time in Seattle were not panning out...We almost made it to Seattle and alas...it was still raining...

Since we were at the tail end of our journey and we were quickly running out of money and going into debt (which is not what we had planned on doing) we made the decision to NOT go to Vancouver Island for the month of May...we are heading home to Terrace....we should be arriving home this weekend!

We have mixed emotions about going home earlier than our 1 year but we did have 11 excellent months!

Astoria, Oregon

Seattle, Washington

getting closer to Canada!!

yay!

Canadian Customs

Oh Canada!

great to see Grandma in Langley!

The Redwood Highway

2011-04-23T21:46:00.002-05:00

After 3 grueling days on Hwy 1 we finally joined up again to Hwy 101, The Redwood Highway. We drove down the Avenue of Giants and stopped for a walk in the enormous old growth Redwood forest...wow..these trees are huge!

We spent the night in Eureka and met Joel's brother-in-law, Solomon, I guess he is my cousin-in-law?

After a late start we drove through the Redwood National Park. Terry and I drove south through here on our Harley trip on our honeymoon in 1997, it looked different heading north this time!

The Redwood trees are absolutely massive, we thought that we had huge trees in the northwest with the Sitka spruce but the Redwood tree is the tallest living thing on earth! The average height is 100-250 ft with the tallest one ever recorded was 379 ft tall!

We stopped at a few touristy places for some photo ops, Michael got to see a 35 ft tall Paul Bunyon and Babe his blue ox!

Pacific Coast Highway, California

2011-04-19T23:50:00.003-05:00

We have followed Highway 101 and then Highway 1 from Carpenteria, just north of LA up past San Francisco along the coast. Highway 101 was a freeway most of the way and then once we turned off onto Highway 1 it also had parts that were designated a freeway. It was great to see parts of San Francisco again, we were here 4 years ago and recognized a few things. Michael and I walked out onto the Golden Gate bridge but it was so foggy out we couldn't see much...

The best part of Highway 1 was after we crossed the Golden Gate bridge, through Sausalito, then up a few hairpin corners to Muir Beach and winding our way along the coast...wow....we are now camped in a private RV site in the woods right on the San Andreas Fault..yikes! Who would have thought that our little 23 ft motorhome would be having such an adventure!

The weather is foggy and cool, we are not acclimatized yet for out normal weather after spending so much time in the desert. (My sinuses are actually starting to feel better, I had hoped that the dry desert air would have solved my sinus problems but all the dry air actually made them worse...ahh...feel the moisture..I can breathe again).

California a very expensive state to be in compared the others that we have traveled through. Fuel is up to $4.50 ga and camping has been $35 for a cheap place and $52 for a so-so place per night!

we finally made it to the Pacific again!

Carpenteria, California

San Francisco

fog obscuring most of the Golden Gate bridge

the Golden Gate bridge

Hwy 1

steep cliffs on Hwy 1

PCH Hwy 1

Apple Valley, California

2011-04-19T23:25:00.000-05:00

We spent 2 days and 2 nights at my cousin Joel's place in the Mojave Desert. Joel, his wife Angel and their 3 children, Judah, Ethni and Silas have lived there for 5 years. Angel is from California and grew up not far from where they live today, Joel is a BC transplant and now an American citizen. The 2 older children were very happy to meet Michael, their big cousin!

Joel took Terry, Mike and I out to the desert to go target shooting. Mike and I have never fired any guns before so it was a big eye opener for us! Mike was pretty impressed, Joel let him shoot a .45 automatic handgun; a 9 mm automatic and a Smith and Wesson assault rifle. Americans sure love their guns!

We had a BBQ on the 2nd night and met some of Angels family. Joel built a HUGE picnic table to seat all of us, the dimensions were 12 ft by 5 ft, maybe we will have to build one for ourselves too!

Mike all ready for shooting

Terry and the assault rifle

Mike with the 9 mm

Joel showing Mike how to hold the rifle

watch out terrorists!

Ethni

Judah

Silas

Angel, Terry and Joel and the huge picnic table!

cousins!

Viva Las Vegas!

2011-04-16T02:07:00.000-05:00

Mike's version:

Hi, its me Michael yet again. So my last post was about Tombstone. So then from Tombstone, we went to the Grand Canyon. On the train there, we had an attendant named Shea. He was really nice. On the train, we had music and entertainment.
Then we arrived at the Grand Canyon itself, we could look to the bottom, but not long before fright of heights pushed us back, then we took the train back.
A few days later, we were in Vegas, yeah you heard me, Vegas!
Although I couldn’t gamble, I didn’t really care, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, especially Money. We didn’t stay in a hotel, they could accept dogs, but we can’t leave them alone when we leave, and we can’t bring them into stores and stuff, so we just stayed at a Campground. But we did do so much, and I got a special collector card from a comic store that my dad bought me for 40 dollars, the card name is Tezzeret, agent of bolas.
We left Vegas and I was surely sad to leave, but life is life, and thats how life goes.

Kelly's version:

This was our very 1st visit to Vegas...WOW...quite the place!

We spent 4 days in Vegas @ the KOA campsite on the Circus Circus property. It was more or less just a huge parking lot but we did have a palm tree beside us and a bit of grass....luckily we backed right onto the pool and K9 park...we could watch people bungee jumping off the Stratosphere right from the RV!

We walked everywhere the 1st day then decided that the bus was a better idea for all the rest of the days! We went through the majority of the casinos and hotel lobbies, watched as many of the free attractions as we could....we missed a few hotels due to being so tired we didn't feel like crossing the road, it was enough effort just to find a bus stop!

We ate dinner at the Mandalay at the House of Blues, and had pizza and Chinese food from Caesars Palace. I think if we ever fly back I would like to stay in either one of those 2 hotels!
Gambling isn't really our thing either but I did donate a few dollars to the slot machines!

Michael went to the Adventuredome and also ziplining on Fremont St and he also had his face sculpted into clay!

Terry's version:

Big city, not enough money in my pocket to do it right! Will fly back here at another time! Loved the live blues music at the Mandalay and Fremont St was the best place to hang out.... 2 large beers for $5 !!

Sampson's version:

The K9 park was great, but just as soon as I get used to a new area we are always leaving...I hate it when my people leave me all day long to go out and have fun...what about me???

our RV park

The Adventure dome

Mike's winnings!

Fremont St

going ziplining

Fremont St

The Grand Canyon

2011-04-13T12:11:00.001-05:00

The Grand Canyon was beyond words....

It had snowed heavily the day before and we woke up to a clear crisp day. We started off the morning having the best breakfast of our entire trip, the buffet at the train depot in Williams AZ.

We boarded the train at 0915 to the Grand Canyon's south rim which was approximately 2 hours each way, covering the 65 mile trip. The scenery from the train was fantastic and once we arrived at the Canyon at 1130 we were speechless, what a sight! We walked the rim trail for 2 hours one way to the Yavapai Point approx 1.5 miles away from the depot and then walked back in time to catch the return train at 1530. This was easily one of the best days of our entire road trip, the canyon was a close match to the Carlsbad Caverns for their beauty and awe. Can't really say which was was better, they are both so different, we spend half the day oohing and ahhing at both places.

Pictures really do not do the canyon justice, it is too large and incredible to capture with photos!

at the train depot in Williams AZ

getting ready to board the train

the train was right out of the 50's!

The conductor came to talk to us!

we woke up to a huge snowfall!

the 2nd best breakfast we had at the Pine Country

downtown Williams AZ

The Mother Road, Route 66, right through Williams, AZ

The weather has played a very cruel joke on us!

2011-04-09T03:14:00.000-05:00

We left the Painted Desert yesterday, we were wearing shorts, t-shirts and flip flops. We drove to Meteor Crater just outside Flagstaff last night and the winds started...I mean really started...

This morning when we woke up at 6 AM the winds were even more fierce so we decided to skip seeing the crater and head straight to Williams AZ to the Grand Canyon RV Park. The Interstate 40 was a mess, cars everywhere in the ditch, some had rolled over...police cars and snow plows everywhere...

We had a train trip booked for Saturday to the Grand Canyon and thought that it might be a bit cool...after this mess that we arrived in we have rescheduled the train trip for Sunday...

Can somebody please explain why we voluntarily left +30C weather the other day (and we needed our air conditioning on all day) to arrive to this mess we are in now? It is snowing, really snowing (sideways snowing)...full winter mode here. All we can do is look outside and laugh at ourselves for being so dumb... Our RV wasn't made for winter weather, our pipes are freezing, we are all stuck inside 189 sq ft with nothing to do, even the dog doesn't want to go outside! We have 3-4 inches on our RV, the forecast is supposed to go down to -8 C tomorrow and we have the heater cranked...good thing I packed all our winter gear when we left last year...I didn't thinkwe would need it...some cruel joke...I guess being a weatherman's daughter is my curse...get me out of here!!

through the forest and over the hills..to the Petrified Forest we go...

2011-04-08T00:55:00.005-05:00

We left Tombstone and headed to the hills...we went through Clifton AZ and up on HWY 191 towards Holbrook. Hwy 191 was the longest, windiest, curviest, highest mountain pass that we have even driven on...over 9500 ft and 200 km's long! We spent the 1st night at the peak at 9500 ft, at a little pullout...believe me, there was NO traffic coming by that night to tell us to move on.....the next morning we descended on downwards to Holbrook and the entrance to the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. We met another family, Greg, Danielle, Curran and Zane, in their class C motorhome also road tripping for one year...we spent a good part of the day talking with them and let Mike play with their boys...it was so nice to meet them...too bad we are going in opposite directions....

We drove through the National Park, took lots of pictures and then decided that the winds were too strong to go any further North...so Monument Valley will have to wait for another trip...we have now switched directions to Flagstaff and are going to the Grand Canyon tomorrow!!

We only have 3 weeks left in the USA!!

a rest stop in southern AZ

Hwy 191

Our new friends! click to see their website

The Petrified Forest

The National Park

petroglyphs

petrified wood

Tombstone Arizona - Michael's blog

2011-04-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

We arrived yesterday here at Tombstone, Arizona.

Now for a few seconds, you might think that Tombstone is like some sort of major Graveyard, no, in fact, it’s a town, and it was matter of fact burned down three times.

And that isn’t even the reason it is called Tombstone, its called that because the first person to discover it was going to mine for silver, but other people told him, that he’d only find Indians and his Tombstone, and so he called it Tombstone.

We only planned to stay one night at Tombstone, but once we saw the town, we changed our minds to two nights. Many stores and buildings at Tombstone were very interesting, and we liked the place a lot. Anyway, my mom and dad bought me a toy rifle and a pistol, unfortunately later, the pistol’s trigger couldn’t go back so now I only have the rifle, but that will have to do. Anyway, we went to do two plays, well I mean watch. So the first one was about good guys and bad guys, I can’t explain every detail in the play, because that would take forever and take up to may pages, but any way, it was pretty funny, and the gun shots really made me jump, I laughed a few times when one the actors didn’t have a gun, but he needed one so he went to the gun shop, but he went banging into the door beside it, the laundry room and banged himself. Near halfway through the play, he said holding his gun “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” And tried to shoot his opponent (Of coarse with fake bullets, any way his opponent shot him a few times and he fell down.

Then next play was very similar, anyway I can’t tell everything about Tombstone and whatnot because like I said that would take forever and Page consuming, and I can’t take up all the room on the blog, but atleast you know where we went.

Seeya!

New Mexico

2011-04-01T13:32:00.000-05:00

We left Carlsbad and traveled through the desert, a mountain pass and then back to the desert once again, all in one day!

We ended up at Oliver Lee State Park in the Chihuahuan desert. The park is on the side of the mountain overlooking the desert and has a beautiful view. We saw some coyotes, different types of cacti, lots of birds and a few geocaches.

After 4 nights there we went to White Sands National Monument. 300 sq miles of white gypsum sand dunes…very cool…Michael enjoyed rolling down the hills…we had to make him strip off his clothes before he could go back into the RV…once the sand gets wet it sticks like cement…

We then drove further west to Rock Hound State Park, another beautiful state park on the Florida (Flo-rita) Mnts approx 45 km’s from the Mexican border and an hour from El Paso, TX. The price per night for a site with water and electricity is only $14, unbelievable for the views that we have!

The park is known for its collection of rocks to be found within it; geodes, thunder eggs, crystals, agates, jasper etc. We are allowed to take 15 lbs of rock with us but unfortunately we haven’t the slightest idea what to look for!

Oliver Lee State Park

White Sands National Park

Rock Hound State Park

Carlsbad Caverns National Park - New Mexico

2011-03-24T23:15:00.001-05:00

We arrived in New Mexico on Tuesday after 2 long days of driving through Texas. The drive was very long and windy and we were happy to finally be here...We all were very excited to get up early on Wednesday morning and see the caverns, we had no idea what to expect. Wow, were we surprised!

We decided to walk down into the caverns through the Natural Entrance, a paved walkway that leads you 800 ft below the surface. They say that it should take 1.5 hours to walk it but it took us 3 hours..I had to stop and take a million pictures! Once we were down to the bottom we took the elevator back up for some lunch and to see the sunshine. Michael and I took the elevator back down and did another 2 hour walk through the Big Room while Terry went birdwatching uptop. We went back for a 2nd day and did the Big Room again with Terry and then Mike and I went on a guided tour through the Kings Palace. Unbelievable. One of the best things I have seen in my life. I highly recommend visiting here if you are ever in this area, out of this world..I am still speechless...the best part it was only $24 total for 2 days for the 3 of us...

Here are SOME of my million pictures, I will also put some up on Flickr and Facebook...don't know how else to describe this place other than breathtaking.

The drive up the mountain. The caverns are in the Guadalupe mountain range in the Chihuahuan desert.

our 1st look at the Natural Entrance. The walkway snakes it's way down 800 ft to the bottom. The hole is where thousands of bats fly into to roost from spring to fall. We didn't see any bats when we went in!

looking back up towards the opening that we came in through. We are only 100 ft deep so far..

The Big Room at 800 ft deep

Stalactites, Stalagmites and a totem pole.

The Giant, a stalagmite in the Big Room.

Stalactites in the Big Room. Stala(c)tites hanh from the (c)eiling. Stala(g)mites are on the (g)round.

Remember the C and the G!

I made Terry and Mike hold still for 10 seconds for this long exposure...Terry was falling asleep?

Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort

2011-03-19T23:01:00.003-05:00

Our stay here at the Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort has been a good one.

The park has over 250 sites and is beautifully landscaped and arranged. We have needed to visit the pool almost daily to escape the heat and humidity here. The people here are very nice, both of our neighbours are great, helping us get to the grocery stores and lending a helping hand with ladders etc.
Michael loves taking Sampson to the dog park for the daily "doggy social hour" from 4-5 pm..all the dog owners sit under the palapa while the dogs run free in the fenced in dog park. I have enjoyed the woodshop here, I have created my 1st wooden bowl from a piece of walnut. I am now hooked on woodturning and will be looking into getting set up once we return home!

We have gone to Margarita socials where the drinks are $1 per glass...uh oh...and ice cream socials..$1 for cake, ice cream and root beer floats...Mike was very happy about this!

We have gone to card bingo twice now..

Terry has also managed to find 40 new birds for his life list and I have found another 30 geocaches!

We are leaving this park on Monday morning...road trip time again!

Ice cream social

the club house...we were the 1st people at our table...

my 1st bowl made from walnut

the supermoon seen on March 19th from Texas..very cool!

The Rio Grande Valley

2011-03-14T00:34:00.001-05:00

The Valley is hot, very hot...hotter than I expected..and I don't particularly like the heat, well not the humidity part of heat!

The thermometer read 97 F the other day. Being a Canadian that went through school in the 70's and 80's I don't know the Fahrenheit system. I had to ask Terry what 97 was and he quickly calculated that it was 36C ...I quickly jumped in the pool after that...

Thank goodness for air-conditioning too, I have had it on almost every day. I stand right in front of it and revel in the cool blast of air I am getting, as soon as it is turned off I start to perspire..I can't wait to get into milder climes again! (don't quote this to me when I am shivering next winter)

Michael is having a blast at this park, as usual. The other RV'ers just love him and have welcomed him into their park nicely. He was invited to play card bingo last night, so we all went. A $2.20 investment in nickles,dimes, quarters and one $1, per person wasn't too hard to come up with from our laundry money. Michael won a game with quarters and ended up with $18 in coins! I exchanged it for him once we got back for my laundry stash, he was very happy, so was I!

Most of the other RV'ers are leaving within the next week, a mass exodus of 125 units all leaving to head back to their regular lives.

We are departing on March 29th for Big Bend National Park where we have a reservation for 4 nights. After Big Bend we are heading to Carlsbad, New Mexico for a few days then Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley etc for 3 more weeks. Our last week in the USA will be in Las Vegas where we have a reservation for the KOA at Circus Circus on the strip! Hard to believe that neither Terry nor I have been to Vegas before! Once we leave Vegas we are heading home via the California coastline into the Vancouver area of BC...

A year ago I couldn't wait to get out of BC, now I can't wait to get back to BC!! Funny how that happens!

Pontoon trip down the Rio Grande River

USA is on the left, Mexico is on the left

a park on the Mexican side

quiet time in the RV park

night time with lights from the next city

Bensten Palm RV Resort, Mission Texas

2011-03-10T18:58:00.000-06:00

The palapa on the RV's Resorts property

rented a UTV for the day to explore

looking across the Rio Grande River to Mexico

Mike's turn to drive!

a new birdwatcher in the family

the dog park

the dog agility park

Mike loves his pool time!

"cardboard" wine!

acres of huge cacti!

hot tub time

Mike heading out for a nature walk with our neighbours

Port Aransas to Mission TX

2011-03-03T20:49:00.000-06:00

We departed Port A on Feb 28, drove through Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande Valley to Mission, a border town. Our RV park is approx only 1 km from the Mexican border, near the Bentsen Palm state park and the World Birding Center. Terry is in heaven, he has spotted 14 new birds on his life list in just the 2 days that we have been here.

The RV park is one of the nicest that we have stayed in, concrete drives and patios, surrounded by grassy areas and tons of landscaping. Mike loves the heated pool and hot tub, nice shaded areas for me to sit read while he swims. Sampson loves the dog park, it has a palapa in the center for all the humans to sit at while all the dogs play together, also a dog agility course we have been trying to get Sampson to go through! Everyone at the dog park was thrilled to see Mike, a child, that could throw balls for their dogs :)

We have met quite a few of the other Winter Texans, most are from Canada! Ontario has the largest number of RV's here, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Alberta and even other BC'ers!

I heard a few of the RV park residents saying that there were 15 "illegals" found in the RV park last night hiding under some of the RV's..Yikes! The swim across the Rio Grande River right beside us and then try to sneak into the USA but the border patrol is watching carefully for them!

The weather here has been great, today was 86 F which converts to 30 C! I see that our family and friends are having a very long winter back home so I guess that we picked a good year to leave!

leaving the Gulf of Mexico,

our last glimpse of ocean until we hit the west coast in a few months

welcome to Mission Texas!

our campsite at Bentsen Palm RV Resort,

we are up against a fence where the RV sites organic gardens are

Sampson is all tuckered out after a long day at the dog park!

Life in the RV

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We have been at this for almost 9 months now! One would think that we have it all down pat and all the wrinkles ironed out...well some days yes, but we still have some issues...

Storage space is the biggest issue, places to stow the stuff while we are parked is easy; things can go up front in the drivers and passengers seats, like all of Mike's school books. The toaster takes up residence on the dash and the drinking water jugs can all go outside under the RV. When we are driving, storage is much more harder to find! The toaster fits in the microwave, all of Mikes school books fit behind one chair, the golf clubs fit in the shower stall, etc etc.

Terry still can't find some things, like the cheese grater, wedged up top of the fridge with all of our bowls and containers, and the peanut butter which always shifts to the very back of the cupboard when we drive. I however can walk through the motorhome blindfolded, be asked to retrieve a certain item and will have it with one minute, blind...but don't ask me to get anything from the outside storage container!

I asked Terry today where the extension cord was and if he could get it for me...he almost fainted...he told me that it was buried in the very back of the storage box, which meant that he would have to pull everything out to get it. Oh well, maybe next stop we will leave it at the front, hopefully...

Most days we wake up around 7:30 am, Michael is always the 1st one awake. He usually takes Sampson out for a walk right away but some days he will just stay in bed until we get up 1st.
Terry is usually the 2nd one up around 8 am, he turns on the hot water for me and will start the kettle for the coffee and tea. I lounge around as long as possible, usually I get up by 8:30 or 9, depending on the weather :-)

After we are all up and had showers and eaten breakfast I decide what to do for Mike's schoolwork. He only does school work on weekdays and not more than 2 hours per day. Math, social studies, science and english get worked on the most. Mike is learning about Canadian History as part of his BC curriculum I am teaching him, but we are also learning about every US state we pass through as well. He also has an excellent grasp on decimals just by using money as a starting point...that kids loves money! We really tried hard to do the French work with Mike but since I am not fluent in it, I decided that it was too hard to teach...hopefully when Mike returns to his francophone school he isn't too far behind. Some days we opt out of regular school in the RV and do field trips; Wonderworks was one we went to in Panama City; or the beach; or a museum. There are learning opportunities everywhere!

math in the RV

math on the beach!

Some times we go weeks without an internet connection and emails are not as easy as I though they would be. We did buy a tracfone from Walmart last month for $15 and thought that we had enough minutes for several months....nope...we used 270 minutes in 3 weeks...we are now phoneless until we can get to another Walmart to recharge the minutes..

Last week when we departed Florida we knew that our general direction was going to be Mission Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. We didn't know that we would find the coast and stop for 2 weeks! That is the beauty of not having reservations ahead of time...we were able to pull into this RV park, stay for one night and then request 2 additional weeks....next stop will be Mission and if we like it we will stay for a month or so...

getting ready to go outside for a long beach walk

Terry doing what he does best

watching the waves

the forces of the tides at work

rented a golf cart in Port A, as the locals call it....driving on the beach was awesome!

Michael's blog

2011-02-17T18:47:00.000-06:00

Well, we did a lot in Florida, at Lake Rousseau we went to restaurants like Reds, where they served huge breakfasts, and Cody’s, where foods is really big. We did fun things and I got a lot of new things like at Christmas time a lot of new magic the gathering cards, and a new play sword. I did the Prerelease of Mirrodin Besieged, and we did the manatee festival, and even Dave and Lorna, my parents friends came to see us for ten days. Once we left Lake Rousseau, we went to cedar key where we explore the town and beach, and rented a golf cart to drive around in. Then from cedar key we went to a Bestwestern inn, which had a big room and a connection to the room where Dave and Lorna were. From the inn, we went to cabin called, old saltworks cabin, and spent a few nights, the cabin was like a house. While we were there, My Mom, me, and Lorna watched Titanic 2. Then from there we went to Panama city beach.

So we did a lot in florida, once Dave and Lorna left when we were in Panama city beach, we left for Texas, and that’s where we are now.