Good Friday

If my memory serves me right, Good Friday is usually a problem weather day.  Well it is this year.  I don't have a thing to wear in the rain.  Rain coat, you say?  I remember  them from when I wore galoshes to school.  They still make those?  WOW  And it still rains where you actually purchase them and wear them?  OK  Guess I'll have to adapt and over come.  After all, I'm a USMC wife, mother and grandmother.  I can do anything with nothing except weld the crack of dawn.
Today is finish putting things away and a trip to Costco for supplies.  Wish I could find some real fresh asparagus   for Easter dinner.  Miss that old pig pen in Missouri where it grew wild and all I had to do was go pick some and Mom would cook it for me.  I'd be willing to cook it for myself if I could find some.
Hope everyone has a Blessed Easter filled with the Hope of the real reason for the season.  He arose.

Home Sweet Home

We got a good night's sleep, woke up at 20 min to 8 am.  Got dressed and headed for the free breakfast.  Glad we took the time to go.  It was by the pool but the chlorine smell wasn't bad at all.  They had scrambled and boiled eggs, sausage patties, biscuits and gravy, french toast and all the cold cereal, bagels, English muffins and toast plus juice and coffee and milk.  We ate well and checked out with a 20% reduction in our bill because of a non working TV in the living area.  The one in the bedroom worked fine.
The trip thru Iowa into IL went well despite an 18 mile oops and we arrived home late lunch time.  Ron unloaded the car and I tried to put things away.  Got to change the system next time.  Leave everything downstairs at first and then bring stuff upstairs as it's determined that's where it goes.  Coats and dirty clothes got brought upstairs by mistake.  The cranberries didn't fare to well in the electric cooler and leaked all over everything underneath them (they were on top) but it was all glass jars except for the butter.  Any one like cranberry butter?
After the car was unloaded and put back in order we took out for Kohls and Ordmans.  Kohls had the duplicate coffee pot of the one in Tucson so that was quick and to the point.  Ordmans was closed.  Looked like there was "stuff" inside but it was dark and NO cars parked outside.  I gave in and said Jewel.  Didn't feel like dealing with Wal Mart or Aldi's.  Jewel worked out well, they had parsnips and ham that wasn't boneless or spiral cut.  When we went to check out the checker asked if we had the ham coupon.  I guess the glassy stare gave her the answer so she reached in a drawer and pulled one out.  $9.00 dollars off the ham.  Until today I had not set foot in Lockport Jewel in over two years, with Ordman's closed, maybe I will again.
It was a great time in Tucson and we miss everyone but are glad to be home and looking forward to November.

Day 5, Iowa City, IA

Quiet day.  Short Day.  Boring Day.  We went from the lesser Best Western Motel we stayed at on our trip to one of the two nicest.  Suite with two rooms and two TVs and one fireplace, wet bar and king size bed.  Ron has decided there's more space here than our 5th wheel and he's probably right.  Shhhh, don't tell him I said so.

Day 4 Kearney, NB

We got up early again this morning, ate some breakfast and headed out.  It seemed like it took forever to get out of Colorado but we made it to Kearney, NB today.  An early stop but we had a nice leisurely dinner and are back in our room for the evening.
We're glad to be back in the central time zone and that all our clocks adjusted by themselves except for Ron's watch.  Guess it's time for a change of watches.
Tomorrow thru NB and some of Iowa to leave a short drive home on Thursday.  Got to spend Friday shopping for Easter Dinner.  Looking forward to ham and all the fixings but I do need requests from the attendees.

Day 3 Colorado Springs, CO

What a day.  A wonderful day.  We started out at 6:30 am rising and then breakfast on the motel,  Armed with directions from the night clerk, GPS and State highway markers we took off for Cog Railway for a trip up to Pikes Peak.  We got to the station without a bit of problems and early enough to get a great FREE parking place and good seats on the train.
The trip up took over an hour to the top but the train moved slow enough so we were able to enjoy the view out the large windows along with the conductor's narrative pointing out places of interest on the way.
What a surprise when we reached the top and stepped out of our nice warm train car.   It was cooold and winnnddy we made it to the gift shop/restaurant and bought a couple things.  Time up there was limited to about 20 minutes so we headed outside to check out the view and take some pictures,  We took our M&M coats and they worked perfect and I took gloves which I used as ear muffs cauce we forgot that.  Pictures will have to come later.  On the trip down the conductor informed us the temperature at the top was 15 degrees with winds at 80 MPH so, yes it was cold up there.  Saw more interesting things on the way down.  It was a great trip and I'm so glad my friend Pat M mentioned it when I was talking to her.
The rest of the day was anticlimactic but we did stop at the Cliff Dwellings and Garden of the Gods.  Back to the motel and a walk to Village Inn for dinner and pie.

Day 2 Going East

Another beautiful day traveling.  I drove for awhile and it happened to be the leg of the journey where we crossed from New Mexico into Colorado.  They tell me it's a beautiful sight but I was deeply concentrating on the hills, mountains, construction and curves.  I did manage to see a herd of young deer of some kind but only because it was straight in front of me for an instant before the road curved but I did manage to yell at and point so Ron got to see them, too.   After we got out into the open area we got our first look at the Rocky Mountains and their snow capped peaks.  Unfortunately, neither of us has a camera that takes good distance pictures.
We're in Colorado Springs, CO for the night.  Depending on the weather in the morning, we may stay another day and go to Pike's Peak in the morning and some other of the tempting attractions in the area afterwards.
We had some pretty high wind gusts but still made pretty good mileage, 25 + mpg.  New van is doing good. We did see several historical markers marking the Santa Fe Trail and The Little Sisters of the Poor.

Heading to IL

Day started out good, up early and finishing packing the car.  The people who were left stopped by to say farewell for the season.  We got a 10 am start and made good time.  Stopped at a rest area just between Lordsberg and Deming, NM for a lunch of fried egg sandwiches with bacon. Not far down the road, almost to Deming we spotted black smoke ahead of us.  We took a few pictures as we were approaching but ended up stopping about a quarter mile before the fire.  It seemed like it took forever before the fire department and police to arrived.  An hour and a half later as we passed the semi trailer 3/4 gone and still smoldering, I could tell it had been carrying mattresses.  The trip north to Socorro, NM where we're spending the night, went without a hitch.