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| June 1
On the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend we drove the car to Laughlin, Nevada, for just one night so we could donate a little money (darn!). On Friday we drove to visit my son, Mark and his family at their new home in Agua Dulce (north of LA). What a lovely place they have and the view is outstanding. We had a great time.  
Happy hour with Ana, Ron and Mark*******I loved the little yellow flowers peeking through the wagon wheel at the pool. 
View from the front lawn of the house. We have added two new articles. Take the Grandchildren Along is my current article. Ron's is Comparison Between the Costs of Living on a Fixed Foundation and Living Full-time in a Recreational Vehicle. I have added two more old newsletter stories. The first one from January 1996 has a lot of good articles in it including part one of a guest article by Bette Salter about their trip to Alaska. Every time I redo one of these newsletters, I get all nostalgic. It is kind of like looking at photo albums. But there is something sad too. I read letters (in the newsletter) or about people we met while on the road and know that they are no longer with us. A good example is Bette Salter's husband Clyde who died recently. Some died young too like Bob Henderson (his wife Ellie writes several letters in this issue) so the moral of this note is to get out there as soon as you can. The second newsletter I uploaded is the February 1996 issue so you can read part two of the Alaska article without having to wait until fall when I add more stories. It seems you all liked our special book offer
that we ran in May. We may do it again in the fall when we are back in
Gold Canyon with a phone line do get emails promptly.
New Mystery Picture  June 5 The motorhome is parked out in front of the house and packed. Erkki arrived Tuesday evening and we spend all day yesterday packing the loading everything we need and want. I will update the web site after he flies back to Florida on June 15. Wave if you see us on the highways heading north. June 9 We had a terrific time at the Grand Canyon except that Erkki lost his glasses to the canyon. We were looking through the binoculars and he had his glasses off when our arms hit and off they went. We arrived at Zion National Park yesterday and this morning drove in to St. George, Utah, to get new glasses for him at a one hour place. The Mather campground at Grand Canyon and Watchman campground at Zion are wonderful. I will do a story later on how wonderful the national park campgrounds are in comparison to the full hook up sites available in the national parks. Everyone thinks that big rigs can't go into national parks and that is wrong. I will post pictures later; right now we are just
having fun (well I am really in a laundromat in St George while we wait
for the glasses to be ready).
June 16 Erkki is back home in Florida and we are ready to take off for cooler temperatures. We think we will head towards Colorado or Utah and spend a little time there before heading to Moscow, Idaho, and the Life on Wheels conference.  
Pretending to have climbed up the canyon (trick photography) and at the stables with Ron 
Erkki helping to cook breakfast at the Grand Canyon (Mather Campground) 
Our campsite at Watchman campground in Zion was right on the Virgin River. Erkki spent a lot of time tubing the river with the neighbor's kids.  
 June 18 The weather is fine up here in Snowflake, Arizona. We drove east on 60 through the Salt River Canyon and enjoyed beautiful scenery and cool temperatures. At our campground here we are right next door to a golf course so for the next two or three days (while we are here) we will play golf. It is great to be back on the road again. We are foot loose and fancy free. Saturday we will head north again and stop somewhere in Utah. We are headed to Provo eventually because they have a great rail/trail bike path there. I need to get in training. June 20 I'll bet that you think that Snowflake, Arizona is so named because it is in the high country and gets snow; that's what we thought. Mr. Flake and a Mr. Snow were the founding fathers of this town and added the two names together to come up with Snowflake. It does snow here but not a lot and it never lasts very long. It is amazing that we are always learning something new. June 24 We arrived in Provo yesterday and immediately had to change clothes; it was cold and raining. There is fresh snow on the mountains too. It hasn't rained in a long time here so the rain is welcome. Highs in the 50's isn't what we are used to. This is late June isn't it? But it will start to warm up Tuesday. In fact they predict 100 by Saturday. Lakeside Campground is wonderful and right next to the 22 mile bike path that we intend to ride a lot. June 26 We took a wonderful drive up into the mountains today to Timpanogos Cave National Monument. The scenery was breathtaking with snow in the high crevices. We stopped at the visitor center and met Ranger Randy who when learning that we are camped in Provo suggested his very favorite restaurant in the area. Ottavio's Italian Restaurant is at the corner of University and Center street and we went there for dinner tonight. It was supurb. Our waiter, Anthony, was very attentive and helpful as was the owner Vic. We were seated at a booth which was adorned with family pictures showing the young family arriving in America long ago. Ottavio is shown as a child. We highly recommend both the scenic drive and dinner Ottavio's. Yummy. |