Final Post

First, I want to say that we have had a most blessed 7 months. We have been able to see so much and do so many things, and for that we are very thankful.  Second, I would like to once again thank all of you that gave us gift cards. We have enjoyed the meals you have provided, as well as the help with the gas.  We have been very thankful that the gas prices have been lower than we expected.  Because of that we have stayed under budget the whole trip.  If anyone is planning a trip anywhere we have been, we will be more than happy to give you our take on the journey.
I am now in Tallahassee, where I will meet up with family, and go to an FSU football game. For those who don't know, I got my bachelors from FSU in the dark ages, met my husband here, and spent a great four years.  I will then go visit with family on the west coast of Florida before going "home" to the east coast.
Sondra has moved on with the motorhome, and will be in Ft. Myers in a day or two.
We are not sure what the future holds, but agree that seven months in an rv is a bit much.  We are looking forward to our friend, Terri, visiting us in the winter, and I have many things planned with family in the next couple of months, including at least one trip to the cold weather to visit my son and get a little skiing in.  Sondra will be enjoying her family in Ft. Myers and planning a remodel of her new cottage.
God bless all of our dear friends, and looking forward to seeing you in the near future.

MA at her beloved ocean in Biloxi

San Antonio River Walk boat ride

The same

Missions is San Antonio

Same

We actually rented bikes and rode about 10 miles to the missions in San Antonio.  We were exhausted after the small hills and really felt some previously unused muscles the next couple of days.

Gavleston rv park, right across the street from Gulf

We rode on more ferry out of Galveston.  Sondra a tad nervous driving the motorhome onto the ferry. But we made it.

Arizona -Prescott, Lake Pleasant, Peoria, Sondra's family

Supper at a hamburger "joint" with some of Alaska caravan gang. Great to see Greg, Linda, Ky, and Susan. And of course, Terri

Lake Pleasant - Wild Burro Trail hike

So, hadn't seen my best friend from 3rd grade through high school for forever, and when I went to stay with her and her husband for a few days, look where she took me! Had a great visit with Joan

Sondra's niece and family we had lunch with.  What a lovely family.  What fun we had.  Miss playing the game with you Jaxon.

We had to say goodbye to Terri and leave her in Phoenix.  We are really going to miss her.  Had some great times.  She has promised to come to Florida this winter.

More of our Alaska caravan friends, Richard and Liz. They fixed a feast for us when we were in Prescott. Richard even made the cookies for dessert!
 

Well, can you tell we have been having a great time visiting with old and new friends, and family?  Great time in Arizona.  If you haven't been to Lake Pleasant, you should go.  Great time in Prescott seeing friends, and doing some hiking.  Thankful Terri and Sondra made it, there were some questions about that on the Thumb Butte hike.  Then off to Lake Pleasant, where I got to visit with a friend that never ages, Joan,  Wow, we have know each other for over 50 years closer to 60, How scary is that! Wonderful to see more Alaska friends there as well. Went to Kartchner Caverns before leaving Arizona.  Now making our way through Texas.  Sorry, any Texans, but a whole lot of nothing so far.  We are going to spend a few days in San Antonio, and then depending on the weather, Galveston. Then through Louisiana and Mississippi, with a short stop for Sondra to hit the casinos.  Then home to Florida.  What a trip this has been.  Gone for seven months almost!  We have seen much, haven't killed each other, although thought we might a few times. We will be home for Thanksgiving to spend it with our families, whom we both miss, and to truly celebrate all we have to be thankful for which is much.  But mostly that our blessed Savior has been with us all the way, and we have felt his protection.  See you Florida friends soon.

Dead Horse State Park, Monument Valley, and Watson Lake

Watson Lake, Prescott, AZ

Monument Valley - you can almost see us! Scenery is way more than we are!

You may recognize this from all the John Wayne movies. This one is for my brother in law, Steve.  Monument Valley.

What we do when we are not hiking.  Eat, in case you can't tell!

We have seen Indian writing on rocks several places.

Made it!

Monument Valley. Sondra begged off on the top of this one.  She is a trooper, though.  Doing much more than she thought possible.

As you can see we have been doing a lot of hiking.  It is a little warmer in southern Utah and Arizona.  We have been having a great time with Terri. We will be with her through our next stop at Phoenix, and then will start heading east.  Will try to avoid all the storms.  Hopefully, they will be gone before we get to Texas and further east.  We are in Prescott Arizona.  We had dinner last night and lunch today with Liz and Richard who we met on the Alaska caravan. It was great to see them. I didn't take a picture.(slipping)  Continue to marvel at all we are seeing. God has been so good to us with His protection these six months we have been traveling.  We are looking forward to seeing all our cronies in South Florida.

Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands

We have completed our tour of the 5 Utah National parks. How amazing they are, and all different. I highly recommend a trip to Utah Parks to anyone. Even if you are not a hiker, the scenery is beautiful and each park is different in scenery, and general atmosphere. Some parks are very crowded, some are very sparsely visited. But all are truly worshipful experiences seeing all that our Mighty God has created.  One of the highlights for me was a Canyonland cruise by night. A simple light show, no fancy laser  or colors, but just a light reflecting off the canyon walls, while the telling of the amazing story of creation, and telling of the area history and beauty, the stars shining, a beautiful moon. A truly remarkable evening.  Pictures can not begin to show the beauty, but a few to give you and idea.

Capitol Reef hiking

We made it to the top!

Canyonland National Park

MA and Terri at Arches National Park

Sometimes it is just cold!

When we drive with Terri, her dogs think it is awesome to sit on my lap. There are two of them even though this picture just shows one.

Sondra picking apples at Capitol Reef with the deer.

Snow on the mountains, time to head south!

Still having cows cross is front of us. Thank God we have not hit one.

Almost see us at a beautiful arch we hiked to.

Bryce Canyon National Park

On the drive to Capitol Reef, we were herding cows.

At Queens Garden in Bryce Canyon

Freezing on hike to Mossy Cave, Bryce Canyon

Beautiful Bryce Canyon

We made it!

The fall colors are amazing. Don't see this in Florida

We have been to Beautiful Bryce Canyon. As you can see our friend, Terri, is with us.  We also drove the scenic Highway 12, which Fox said was the second most beautiful highway in the world. It is gorgeous.  We have done a lot of hiking, and a lot of eating!  It has been very rainy, and quite cool. Sondra and I are getting tired of being cold and will head south after we have seen the last two Utah National Parks, Arches and Canyonland.  We are now at Capitol Reef National Park which most of you probably have not heard of.  It is beautiful as well. We are feeling very blessed to be able to see such beautiful country that we have only been able to see in pictures before. Pictures can not do the countryside justice. We definitely see God's creative hand in all that we are seeing.

Great Basin National Park and Zion National Park

Lehman Cave at Great Basin

Lehman Cave at Great Basin

Lehman Cave at Great Basin

Big Horn Sheep Zion

Zion

Sondra enjoying Zion

Sondra at Weeping Rock in Zion

MA hiking "The Narrows" at Zion

Zion
Well, we certainly have been able to see two very different National Parks in the last few days. First we were at Great Basin, camping at a little town "Baker", maybe 50 people. No grocery store, no restaurants open, but a nice campground. A remarkable cave there, and some nice hiking at 10,000 feet. Poor Sondra could hardly breathe, but she didn't let that stop her, she kept at it and made it all the way on the three mile hike.
Then to Zion, a little different story. A resort type town, Springdale. Lots of people. lots of restaurants. Personally, I enjoy the less resort-like places, although Zion is unbelievably gorgeous. Somewhere everyone ought to see. We just happened to get here when the Utah schools were on fall break so there are people everywhere.  Terri, our friend from the Alaska caravan, met us here and MA and Terri were able to hike the Narrows. In case you have not heard about it, it is a hike through a stream between a more narrow part of the canyon, although, you can see from the picture it wasn't terribly narrow where we were.  Yes, my two sons, this is where the people were killed several weeks ago. However, there has not been any rain, and the water did not get higher than knee high.  Today and tomorrow, the area is having flash flood warnings, but not yesterday when we went. I never felt unsafe.  I am so glad that we were able to take the hike.  Today we hiked as well, but on dry ground, and I believe both Sondra and Terri are thrilled to have a day or two off from hiking, although there is a pretty good chance of rain the next few days.
Our goal is to see all five parks in Utah, and then Mesa Verde in Colorado. What we are finding, is that the cold weather is going to be very quickly upon us, and places are starting to close. We are not used to that being from Florida.  So after Mesa Verde, we will begin to head south to try to stay in warmer weather, We both think it would be disastrous to end up in snow and have to try to drive the motorhome in that.  

Lake Tahoe

Hike at Lake Tahoe

Too beautiful

Cave Rock 

We have seen many beautiful places, but you would be hard pressed to find somewhere more amazing than Lake Tahoe.  Second deepest lake in USA, clear, clear water, and mountains surrounding the Lake. You can probably tell it is one of my favorite places.