August 12 - Current (Casa Grande, AZ)

December 16:

Sine the last blog entry, we have spent most of our time painting rooms and finalizing furnishing and decorating. I had cataract surgery in October and November which was quite routine. We also made a trip to Texas to see Erin and family the week before Thanksgiving. Now we are approaching Christmas and looking forward to a visit from Loyde and Connie for Christmas. The year is winding down and possibly this blog is ending also. Since we are no longer traveling, it makes little sense to continue making entries under "Rays and Judy's Travel Site." When I have a new blog up and running, I'll post the link here.

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October 8: Today is Ray's birthday and the pool is done and filled with water today.

Landscaping early next week, purchase some lawn furniture and we should be able to enjoy the backyard, even if it is only going to be warm enough to swim for only about another week unjtil it gets too cold.

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September 21: The month that we've been back in Casa Grande have been busy, but a lot of hurry-up-and-wait also. Ray jumped right in to classes for tax preparers. We managed to get all the furniture we need for each room in the house and painted a lot of the interior walls in the open area. We were happy to have guests last week, but they will tell everyone that it is a little too hot to visit! If our pool had been done, they probably wouldn't have felt that way. It has been a month since we chose a pool and signed the contract. This is where the hurry-up-and-wait comes in. Finally had the hole dug today. Just hope to be finished within a month. It'll be too cold to swim but it will be pleasant outside nonetheless, and we can get the landscaper in after the pool is complete. To be continued....

August 9 - August 12 - Verde Valley TTN (Cottonwood, AZ)

Back to civilization at last. After spending 6 or the past 7 days without water, electricity or sewer, it is great to be at Thousand Trails with all the amenitites. Yes, it is hot, but there is a beautiful pool for colling off. We'll be cleaning and rearranging the trailer to ready it for going into storage in Casa Grande when we get back on Thursday.

August 8 - Wal-Mart (Page, AZ)

Starting to be a pattern of drive a lot, then sleep at Wal-Mart. Another 300 miles today to the Wal-Mart in Page, AZ. There is actually a beautiful view of the desert from here!

August 7 - Wal-Mart (Layton, UT)

Made the approximate 300 mile drive from Dillon, MT to Layton, UT. Stopped for the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

August 6 - Countryside RV Park (Dillon, MT)

We left Glacier this morning and took the southern route to our stopping point in Dillon, MT. This was a beautiful drive today with the exception of a very brief wind/rain/hail storm that took us by surprise for a few minutes. High winds and thunderstorms are predicted tonight, but at least we are off the road.

August 4-5 Glacier National Park (Montana)

We arrived early enough to get a good camping spot in A Loop in the Apgar campground at Glacier National Park. Ray enjoyed a hike at an area known as Avalanche Pass on Tuesday while I relaxed back at the campground. On Wednesday we both took the transit bus to Logan's Pass and walked around and took some pictures. We enjoyed meeting new friends Cal and Anita who we visited with later in the evening back at the campground.

August 3 - Wal-Mart (Kalispell, MT)

August 3: We arrived too late in the day to obtain a campsite at Glacier National Park, so we spent the night in the Wal-Mart Parking lot in Kalispell. Very uneventful.

July 22 - August 2 Little Diamond TTN Preserve (Newport, WA)

July 31 - Arrived here at Little Diamond on Tuesday and claimed what we feel is the perfect campsite. Plenty of room for the tents that we will need for Erika and family this weekend. Weather is a little cool at night, so we'll see if they are hardy souls and stay outside in their tents or if they quietly creep in to claim floor space! Looking forward to a few days of swimming, fishing and campfires. As you can see, it is beautiful here.

July 21 - July 28 Horn Rapids RV Park (Richland, WA)

July 28 - After 6 days and about 10 trips to Home Depot and with the father son teamwork, the punch list was completed at Erika's house. All the baseboards and trim around the doors were cut and installed, cabinet work all trimmed, repairs made to the fence, garage door installed, etc. We'll be heading to Thousand Trails Little Diamond RV Preserve tomorrow.

July 21 - We finished our stay at Gary's & Samm's place with some pretty busy days. A bit of animal sitting last weekend when Gary and Samm went to Snohomish to visit Samm's parents. Gary and Bob milled some cedar trees into boards while they were there. Back home on Sunday and the work on the arbor began in earnest. The arbor was pretty much completed by last night due to the efforts of Gary, Ray and Samm. My job yesterday was taking pictures and playing with my anniversary present, a new computer. So all that accomplished and we departed mid-morning for a beautiful drive through the Columbia Gorge. We arrived at our destination here in Richland mid-afternoon. Lots of things to do in the week we are here.

June 21 - July 20 Gary's & Samm's Place (Washougal, WA)

July 4: We have enjoyed a week alone here on the Moller property animal/house sitting while Gary and Samm enjoy some away time. I will have to give the grand-animals back tomorrow. Walking Bobbit several times a day allowed me to appreciate the rural setting. Birds chirping, bunnies hopping, snakes slithering and God only knows what else Bobbit was trying to chase down! There were even some horses from neighboring property who managed to come for a visit. It's been so relaxing to be in suce a serene setting for the past week.

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June 21: An uneventful 5-1/2 trip from Birch Bay to Washougal today. Enjoyed a Father's Day dinner with some of the best grilled steak and asparagus! We are looking forward to a little work around the "ranch" and I MUST go through my stored stuff that is stacked in the barn.

June 11 - 20 Birch Bay Thousand Trails (Birch Bay, WA)

June 20: We enjoyed our last evening (for awhile) at Birch Bay happily enjoying the friends who gathered at Gordon's and Judy's backyard at Latitude 49. Shared some great food, memories of times past and promise of fun together in the future. Bidding everyone a heartfelt "until we meet again" we are now heading for Washougal to visit Gary and Samm.

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June 14: Still enjoying our time with friends at Latitude. Ray and I took the advice of friends Gail and Art and went to the Deming Logging Show this afternoon. Amazing display of strength

and skill. It was interesting that there are multi-generations competing together and against each other. Seemed to be an awful lot of mutual respect as was obvious from the bantering and teasing between contestants. The Deming Logging Show is not for profit and has been an annual event for about 40 years. http://www.demingloggingshow.com/

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June 11: We signed the closing papers on our Latitude 49 Property today and moved our trailer over to Thousand Trails. Returned to Latitude 49 to a nice gathering with neighbors. Bittersweet day. Leaving behind some very negative relationships, but sadly leaving extremely positive friends, experiences and memories. Some of the best people I've ever met inhabit Latitude 49 and I am proud to count them as friends. We'll see them down the road, either here or there. They know who they are, and I hope I've let them know how much of an impact they have made and how much I treasure them. You are never too old to connect.

June 7 - 10 Latitude 49 (Birch Bay WA)

Sunday June 7: Uneventful drive over the mountains to our RV lot in Birch Bay. Bittersweet feeling because we have accepted an offer on the lot and are now just waiting for a closing date. So although we are "home" it feels like we are just visiting. We plan on making the most of our week to 10 days before we turn over keys and move to the Birch Bay Thousand Trails RV Preserve a short distance away.

June 5-6 - Horn Rapids RV Park (Richland, WA)

June 4 - Farewell Bend State Park (Ontario, OR)

Strong thunderstorms in the area all day, but we got set up and comfortable before the winds and rain came through.  This is really a nice spot to stop.

June 3 - Cactus Pete Campground (Jackpot NV)

Stopped for the night at Jackpot NV, which is just a mile or so from the Idaho border.  Usually we enjoy time in the casino, but my lingering cold/flu kept us in the trailer for a quiet evening.

June 2 Ward Mountain Campground Humboldt National Forest

Made the approximately 250 miles from Las Vegas to this campground near Ely, NV.  I woke up with what might be the flu or the start of a cold.  The campground is at about 7800 altitude so it was doubly hard to breathe!

May 30 - June 1 - Las Vegas Thousand Trails

Made the 6 hour trip to Las Vegas on Saturday 5/30.  We'll relax and see the sites until Tuesday morning when it will be time to depart for a continuation of the trip to Birch Bay. 

April 15 - ?? Our Casa Grande House

May 6:  We are back in Casa Grande after almost a week absence while we were in Kansas for the wedding of our niece, Karen.

 (It seemed strange to make a trip by car and do the motel thing.)  Besides enjoying the family time and a beautiful wedding, we also met our grand-niece Addison for the first time.

Now it's back to work on the house!  

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April 22  It's been a week since we received keys to our long-awaited house in Casa Grande, AZ. After doing a fairly deep cleaning,  we started moving almost all the trailer contents here to the house.  This week was delivery week....living room, bedroom and and dining room furniture, a new refrigerator.  We have yet to start on the floor or do any painting, but there is plenty of time to tend to that.  For now, we are loving life here.

March 24 - ??? Sundance RV Park (Casa Grande, AZ)

Thursday, April 2 - We hurried back from Texas so we could close on our house on the 25th.  The plan was for occupancy possibly Friday the 27, but more probably Monday the 30th.  Today is April 2 and there is no longer talk of "probably."  Each day the qualifying statement has been "maybe."  No really clear explanation as to the delay in getting keys has been offered.  Depending on the day, it has been the fault of the Title Company or the Seller.  Never the Realtor or us, of course.  Ahh, for every XXX number of  real estate transactions, one doesn't go according to plan, and that be us.  Gary and Samm drove 1700 miles to bring our car to us, arriving on Tuesday.  We had planned to use their decorating sense and sheer young strength to help get us launched.  Only 3 days left of their visit after today.   So they have mostly escaped our diabolical plan, and the choices and workmanship will have to be our own. I think it was the collective wisdom of the children that we not be left without supervision as we go about decorating. 

March 23 - Dream Catcher Escapees RV Park (Deming, NM)

Our travel today was about 5 hours into pretty strong winds.  Really glad to be off the road and in a park we have stayed at numerous times.  The locals tell us that these high winds are not unusual.  The road between Casa Grande and Houston is pretty desolate.  All in all, this has not been a very pretty trip!

March 22 - Saddleback Mountain RV Park (near Balmorhea, TX)

We left Brookshire in the fog this morning before dawn.  We are on our way back to Casa Grande, AZ.  Today was a long one, about 510 miles. We are stopped for the night at a small reasonable RV park, right off I-10 near Balmorhea, TX.  

March 15 - March 21 Houston West RV Park (Brookshire, TX)

March 19  Fun day today at Brazos Bend State Park near Rosenberg, TX.  We took a walk around a lake filled with all sizes of alligators.  Beautiful day in the upper 70s.

March 15 We did a relocation today to Brookshire which is much closer to Erin's house.  Josh was with us last night at Colorado River so was on hand to help with the move.  Bella will be traded for Josh in a few hours for her overnight stay.  Lots of fun with each kid as they like to do different enjoyable things.

March 10-March 14 Colorado River TTN Preserve (Columbus, TX)

We were here a year ago for the kids' spring break and we are now back for the same reason.  We will be moving to Brookshire, TX on Sunday because the kids have the coming week off from school.  It has been unbelievably cold and rainy for the past few days, but the weather is supposed to improve by Monday.  

March 9, 2009 Buckhorn Lake RV Park (Kerrville, TX)

N30  6.938'

W99  12.008'

Traveled about 350 miles today from Van Horn to Kerrville, TX.  Decided to stay at a commerical campground tonight so we could do some tv watching and have electricity for the various toys.  We are parked with 2 other Excel trailers.  That is pretty unusual.  We'll leave in the morning and travel to Columbus, TX to stay a few days at Thousand Trails Colorado River.  Looking forward to seeing Erin, Chris and the kids.

March 8, 2008 Van Horn, TX (Chevron Truck Stop)

N31  2.010'

W104  51.27'

We had a nice long drive today (513 miles) from Casa Grande to Van Horn, TX.  Stopped along the way in Tucson to meet an internet friend who sold me his Garmin IQUE 3600.  Most of my family knows how attached I am to my GPS/PDA/MP3player/voice recorder etc.  I dropped it one too many times.  They don't sell them anymore, so one of the people in a Garmin yahoo forum offered his.  To me, it is a big deal!  

March 1 - March 7 Sundance RV Park (Casa Grande, AZ)

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March 1, 2009 We moved to another park in Casa Grande today.  We had an unfortunate event this morning when it was time to take down the Hughes internet sattelite.  A sweet mournng dove had made a nest in the neck of the tripod.  They are such sweet creatures and didn't fly away when approached.  We rigged up a container to contain the nest and found a high spot fairly close by.  Mommy bird was forced to abandon the nest while Ray carefully transferred her nest.  She stayed close by, but didn't seem to see where the nest was relocated.  She frantically came to the spot where the tripod had stood; couldn't seem to understand the nest was gone.  Ray even got the nest and showed it to her thinking she would understand.  The father bird was every bit as upset as she was. Well, we did the best we could but it probably was futile. 

This is a far superior park over the previous park.  There is free wifi at the site, cable tv, phone system. Wonderful recreation area with a computer lab, woodworking shop, ceramic shop, and an indoor/outdoor pool.  I wish all parks were this nice.

February 23-28 Casita Verde (Casa Grande, AZ)

February 27 - The week has been really busy for us thus far while we are parked at Casita Verde in Casa Grande, AZ.  We were aware of a buyers' housing market here so began looking at houses with a real estate agent on Monday. By Wednesday we were pleasantly surprised that we had found a house that literally had our (MY) name on it.  Located at 1337 Judi Drive, there just wasn't anything not to like.  Not the house, the location or the price.  We made an offer on Wednesday, had the offer accepted on Thursday and signed the papers on Friday.  Pictures of the house are available at: http://picasaweb.google.com/MollerPix/CasaGrandeHouse02?feat=directlink

Besides all the fun of house hunting, we enjoyed time with our friends Jack & Darlene and Gordon & Judy. We have been enjoying the weather here and walking most every day.  Life is good.

February 15-22 Cactus Gardens RV Park (Yuma, AZ)

N32°40.498

W114°28.638

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February 19

I thought Yuma was supposed to be warm in February.  Apparently that is not true. We have  needed jackets since arriving 5 days ago.  But at least we aren't roasting while waiting to cross the border each day from Tuesday through Thursday.  Takes about 3 hours in line (on foot) so there is a price to pay for good, cheap dental work.  I'd still rather spend time instead of money, though.  This is a picture of me in line an hour and a half in to what turned out to be 3 hours. The Border is off in the distance where you might be able to see the tiny US flag flying a little to the left of 12 o'clock position at the farthest point visible in this picture. It's a speck between the far two trees..  .

February 14, 2009 Salton Sea Rec Area, CA

N33°28.786'

W115°53.580'

A quick overnight stop at a very beautiful spot.  We arrived early afternoon and enjoyed the approximately 70 degree weather.  This picture was taken right outside the door of the trailer.  We enjoyed watching the many pelicans who were feeding and interacting.  It was a very cold night and since we have a malfunctioning furnace, we were happy to get in the truck Sunday morning  and move on to Yuma to  a location that has hook-ups that means we can run the electric heaters when necessary.  

February 1 - February 14 Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails (Sun City, CA)

N33°40.623'  W117°08.495'

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We were briefly lulled with three sunny days before things got cold and rainy. We haven't had many activities while here except for a few trips to the store, the repair shop and a movie to see Grand Turino. Anyone who has stayed at Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails will remember the frequent smells from the dairy farm that borders the preserve.  Also, the numerous geese and ducks who are unmerciful beggers, like these guys. 

January 18 - January 31 Soledad Canyon TTN (Acton, CA)

N34° 26.763'

W118° 12.178'

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January 31 - Have come to the end of 2 weeks that I'll never have back again.  All in all, fairly unsatisfactory time.  Partial dissatisfaction had to do with some trailer malfunction errors that are still unresolved.  The preserve seems to be in a state of decline since the last time we were here 3 years ago.  The high point of the past several weeks was our visit today to the Exotic Feline Breeding and Conservation Center outside Lancaster..  A very clean facility dedicated to the breeding and conservation of endangered felines.  I'll put a few pictures in the Current Photos section.  Off tomorrow to Wilderness Lakes (near Hemet, CA)  for a week.

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January 18 - Beautiful day to relocate from Santa Barbara County to LA County.  The orange trees and lemon trees are full with fruit; the sun is shining; and we have un-assisted cell phone service for the first time in a month.  I am writing this as a sort of place-holder and will add to the entry once we have some trips and/or adventures.

January 4 - January 17 Rancho Oso TTN (Santa Barbara, CA)

N34°32.187'W119°45.975

January 17, 2009 -  This is the last day of our 2 weeks at Rancho Oso.  It's been the best overall stay this season.  We enjoyed having guests, sightseeing in Santa Barbara and Solvang.  Only thing to mar the stay was a transmission problem that had the truck in the shop for a long weekend.  But a rental car was the solution to transportation and we enjoyed a couple of trips to the Chumash Casino.  This last week has been our get-serious and get-in-shape kick-off and we've been hiking the horse trails for about 2 miles every day.  Finally, we enjoyed a demonstrtion of stock dogs by a top trainer and judge here at Rancho Oso.  The stock dog demo was followed by a training session for bucking bulls.  The bulls are young and the cowboys put weighted teddy bears on them that are released by remote control.  The explanation of how stock dogs are trained and how bucking bulls are trained was really detailed and informative.  Tomorrow we move to Acton, CA to Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails.  But I'm going to miss Santa Barbara!

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January 8, 2009:  We have had enjoyable days since arriving Sunday at Rancho Oso in the Santa Ynez mountains in Santa Barbara County, CA.  We were joined by Carole & Jim on Monday for a 3-day visit.  Besides lots of good conversation (that means Carole & I talked our heads off), we made a trip to Santa Barbara and several hikes around the preserve were undertaken.