4/27/10 Here we are in our cozy little apartment in the El Born district in Barcelona, where we have been enjoying wonderfully warm, sunny weather ever since we arrived Sunday evening. Our 2 week trans-Atlantic cruise ended Sunday morning in Southampton, where it was rainy and cold when we disembarked. Happily, flights had been resumed several days before so we were able to take a bus to Gatwick and catch our Easy Jet flight to Barcelona. That is about the worst airline we have ever been on and they really nailed us for extra baggage too. We were happy to arrive and catch the Aerobus to Plaza Catalunya and then we walked down to our apartment. It is very small, but has most of the necessities and we have been able to cook some of our own meals, which helps with expenses. Here is a picture of Elaine sitting in the dining area of the apartment:

This is the same apartment we stayed in for one night when we joined our friends Carole and Dick Schneider here just before we all took the Navigator of the Seas back to Galveston in Nov., 2008. The El Born district has many old, tall apartment buildings with shops, restaurants and bars at street level. There are lots of very small streets which are too narrow for cars, so it makes walking around here delightful because of all the pedestrian streets. It also means staying here is more enjoyable because it is quieter.
Yesterday we had to get set up in the apartment so we went to the nearby Santa Catarina market to buy some food. There were wonderful displays of fruits and veggies, meat stalls, pastries, and just about anything else we could want.

We bought salad makings, some of the delicious Spanish green olives, a couple of great cheeses, and some fruit. Everything else we needed came from the nearby supermarket.
Today we did some walking around to get set up for our train ride to Montserrat tomorrow, then we took the bus to Park Guell. This was a park where the most famous architect and artist in Barcelona, Anthony Gaudi, lived for 20 years. He made some decorative benches and pavilions and several very fanciful buildings. Here are a few pictures of some of his creations in the park:
Part of his decorative benches:

One of the buildings at the park entrance:

Another park building:

It was hot and we needed a rest so we sat down at an outdoor eating area and had a beer and a sandwich. A delightful couple from Peru named Lucy and Armando came and sat with us. We had an enjoyable time discussing travels in their country, and other parts of the world, because they spoke good English and had been to quite a few places. It reminded us that one of the joys of traveling are these little incidental interludes with new friends. Here is a picture of them with Elaine:

Another interesting part of the park experience was seeing lots of small green parrots in the palm trees and listening to them squabbling. Here is a picture of one of them sitting on her nest:

Of course, while we were on the transAtlantic cruise, we had some fun times in ports also. One of our favorite port cities is Funchal, in Maderia, which are islands belonging to Portugal. The island has a mountainous interior so the city goes up steeply from the waterfront and forms a kind of a bowl. We took a bus to the area where they offer rides down the steep streets in a wicker toboggan controlled by several of the local men who run alongside.

Some people take a cable car to get up there, and there is a nice botanical garden up there too. Here is a picture of us with David & Diane after we got up there:

There was also a big flower festival going on during our day there, and here is a picture of Diane with some of the flowers:

There was also a nice flower arrangement with lots of the different types of flowers:

Lisbon was the next port and we enjoyed walking around for a few hours. We spent a week here a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed everything, so we didn't need to rush around trying to sightsee this time. The last port was Vigo, Spain, which was new for us. It specializes in good seafood and here is a lady in the market who shucks oysters:

There were lovely flowers in the park, and here we are with some of them and a fountain behind us.

It was a nice little town but we were glad that we weren't going to have to get off there and make our way to Barcelona, as we thought we should if air flights hadn't started up again from England. Whoever would have thought that a volcano in Iceland would have such a huge effect on so many people and in such far-flung places.
We will be here until next Monday, and the weather is supposed to be nice until Saturday, so I'm sure we will have lots to tell you gain next time.

April 15, 2010
Hello from the middle of the Atlantic. This is our 5th day on the Independence of the Seas and, as always, we are having a great time. Quite a few of our friends are on board with us and we have been having daily Happy Hours with them in the Diamond Lounge. The drinks and appetizers are free to Diamond and Diamond Plus members between the hours of 5 and 8:30PM but the real perk is having the time to schmooze with our good friends from other cruises. Here is a picture of some of the friends in the lounge:

Last night 14 of us went to one of the specialty restaurants on board called Chops, where we had a gourmet meal which unfortunately took quite a long time because of the slow service. But the food was fabulous!
This adventure started last Thursday when Elaine and I drove to San Diego and stayed with her son, Darran, and his partner, Marielle. It was another beautiful day there and we enjoyed walking around on the Mission Bay pedestrian path. Friday morning we got up at 2 AM and Darran drove us to LAX where we boarded a flight to Miami at 6:05AM. This was our first try at using a companion fare and flying standby, which we were able to do because one of our Boy Toys, Martin, works at American Airlines and put us on his buddy list. The flight was very full and we felt lucky to get on it, although we didn’t get into First Class, and Martin and Roger often do. After landing, Martin & Roger picked us up and took us out for a lunch at a Cuban restaurant we had enjoyed the last time we visited. We also stayed at their condo and we all used the hot tub in the evening, along with Roger’s brother and his wife.
The next day we worked out in the exercise room at their condo, then joined a bunch of friends for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. The guys then dropped us off at the Ramada in Fort Lauderdale where we shared a room with our good friends David and Diane Wilson, and were just down the hall from Jim & Jan Sylvester. Both of these couples hosted us on our recent trip across the south as we returned to California in our RV, and we are also sharing a table at dinner with them on this ship. Here we all are at our table on the first Formal night:

Sunday we all took the hotel shuttle to the ship. Too bad the weather was cool and rainy on Sunday, and our suitcases even got wet while being transferred to the ship. It has also been the coolest crossing we have ever experienced, even while we were still in the Caribbean area between Florida and Bermuda. The swimming pools and lounge chairs aren’t getting any use on this trip so far!! We are hoping for better weather soon, especially as we approach our first port which will be Punta Delgada in the Azores.

April 3 Tomorrow is Easter, and we hope you all have a lovely day, whatever you decide to do. We will be having a delicious dinner with Ken & Carolyn Kimpton and Brenda & Dave Neil here on "our hill" at Park Sierra. These people are all good cooks, so we are happy to share this holiday with them!
Not many interesting things have been happening in our lives, and I wouldn't even be updating this except some of our family members have indicated that they want regular updates even if nothing exciting is in it. Today I whacked all the weeds on our lot and then sprayed them with Roundup. It just reminds me that I never want to live in a house again where there is lots of this regular maintenance!
Of course, we are having to do some maintenance on our bodies as well. This week we had more medical appointments, some of which are the prerequisites for some minor surgeries we are hoping to schedule when we get back from our Europe trip in early May. I am going to have a foot surgery for a hammertoe as soon as they can get it scheduled. Yes, I did try to convince Elaine to do it for me, since she was such an excellent foot surgeon but she says that after 23 years of retirement, she isn't going to take it up again, even for me. I will also be trying to schedule a surgery for a carpal tunnel problem, which I have in both hands. The left one is the worst so I want to get that one done in May or early June. Elaine also needs surgery on her hands because she has Dupyertins Contracture, which means she has knotted tendons which are causing one of her fingers to stick up and she can't straighten it. So that will have to be scheduled too. It really stinks when we have these problems, all of which are related to GETTING OLDER!
The next few days will be busy, as we organize and pack for our upcoming trip. The next blog entry will be when we start that trip, so I promise that it will be more interesting than this one!

March 28, 2010
Finally I am finding a little time to update this blog! Since we have been at Park Sierra, we have been dealing with many of the issues that non-RVers deal with on a regular basis. One of the big issues is arranging and attending medical appointments to deal with some of the health problems we are developing as a result of advancing age. Happily, we are fairly sure that we do not have any life-threatening illnesses. But it is finally time to deal with some things we have been putting off. So last week we had two days of appointments and this coming week there are three more; such tings as mammograms, dermatology, lab tests, an x-ray of my hammertoe, etc. I won't bore you with a complete list....
When we aren’t at Kaiser, we have been either socializing with our many friends here, or trying to deal with rig organization and repair. After 13 months on the road, there is a lot to deal with! Additionally, there are still some preparations we need to do to get ready for our April transatlantic cruise. On April 11 we will join many of our friends from last year’s Around the Horn cruise on the Independence of the Seas to sail from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton, arriving on April 25. Then Elaine and I will fly to Barcelona where we have rented an apartment for a week. We hope to visit some places outside the city too, such as Montserrat. On May 3 we fly back to Florida and then will catch another flight back to CA.
Before arriving back here, on March 21, we spent about 6 days at Jojoba Hills SKP Park in southern California, near Temecula. Our good friends, Dick & Carol Schneider, and Joe & Carla Calwell have lots there, and we had may delightful social times with them. Here are a few pictures of some of the events:
Dick, Carla & Joe:

Elaine & Carol:

For St. Patrick's Day we drove to Darran & Marielle's in San Diego where Elaine and Darran fixed a great corned beef meal.

Marielle's sister Meg, and her husband Ben, also came, as well as Darran's good friend Brian, his wife Jen and their baby McKenna. Here we all are at the dinner table:

It has been a LONG time since we have been around such a young, and cute baby, so we enjoyed holding her:

Brian & Jen and McKenna:

Meg & Ben wearing some of the beads we got at Mardi Gras:

Darran & Marielle like to play with McKenna:

Of course, we needed a picture of the Moms with Darran:

One of the delights of visiting Darran & Marielle is that they live about 2 blocks from Mission Bay in the Pacific Beach section of San Diego. So we love to walk on the pedestrian walkway around the bay:

After we returned to Jojoba, we enjoyed a lovely cocktail party with Joe & Carla on their new lot, and old friends George and Madelyn also joined us.

Later we had a delicious dinner with lots of friends held down at the Ranch House. Here is a picture of Elaine with Vicky & Terry Webb, who also have a lot at this park, but are Boomer friends of ours from our summer at Lake Kachess:

A few days ago, we drove to Merced to see my granddaughter, Paige, who was home for quarter break from college. We all went to lunch together at Applebees, then did some thrift store shopping before dropping her off at her boyfriend Christopher's house. He took the following picture of the three of us. Too bad Paige's eyes were closed!

It was great to see her and she is not only doing well in her classes, but also at her job as assistant manager at a retail store called Pac Sun. We are very proud of her and miss the days when she used to be able to stay with us for one or two weeks at a time.
Here at Park Sierra, there have been lots of Happy Hours and dinners but we haven't taken many pictures of these gatherings. The weather has been sunny and nice but we are due for some rain starting Tuesday night. Hey, maybe I will finally get the taxes done!

3/24/10 Sorry it has been so long since our last update! We have been very busy with socializing during our stay at Jojoba Hills SKP park, and while there we also squeezed in an overnight visit with Darran & Marielle in San Diego. Sunday we drove all day to get back to our lot at Park Sierra because the neighbors were having a big party, partly to welcome us back and partly to say "goodbye" to some of the people who were leaving for a while. Since then we have been busy with doctor's appointments and catching up on chores such as paperwork, and getting resettled on our lot here. Even now we do not have time for a full report, since it is late and we have more early appointments at Kaiser in Fresno tomorrow. So I just wanted to let you know that we are well, and in a few days, when things slow down here a little, I will do a more complete report and post some pictures of our recent doings.

3/14/10 Tonight we are at the Quechan Casino west of Yuma and on the road to Algodones, where Elaine has an appointment with the dentist tomorrow morning. He will check her titanium post to make sure the bone is healing where it was inserted, and then we will be free to head back to California. She will have to return in 3-6 months to get the final tooth put on the post.
While waiting for this appointment, we have been camped out at Mittry Lake with Mike & Marilyn Harrison. Here is a picture of the lake from our camping spot:

Unfortunately, it was pretty darn windy 75% of the time we were there. We were hoping to use our time to catch up on paperwork, household chores, and start doing our taxes, but many of our RV friends were around, and we had lengthy visits with them, so our spare time evaporated. One of the visitors was Maria Navarro, who was on our Panama trip with us. Her partner, Bruce, died about a year ago and we were happy to learn that Maria is doing OK and making a new life for herself here. Other visitors were our old friends, Lee & Susie Blattner, who have traveled with us a LOT. Some friends of Mike & Marilyn's who also came were Bob & Sam Fleckner. So we all had a nice corned beef dinner together last night at MArilyn & Mike's. Here are Lee, Sam, Bob & Elaine at one table:

And Susie, Mary, Marilyn & Mike at the other table:

Previously we had enjoyed a nice visit with Dave & LaVerne Markle, and today when we dropped by the RoVing Rods site for their gathering, we saw them again and also Bruce and Bunny Ratliff.

Our year-long travels have prevented us from doing anything with the group this year and we have missed that!
While staying out in the Foothills the week before, cruise friends Rick & Denice Osborne had hosted us at their home for dinner. Tonight they joined us here at the casino so they could see our RV. We had a nice Happy Hour together and then adjourned to the casino. Here is a picture of them:

We will all be on the Independence of the Seas together starting April 11 when we sail from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton.
Our plans for next week include driving to Jojoba Hills, the SKP park near Temecula for a visit with Joe & Carla Calwell and Dick & Carol Schneider. We will also stay overnight on Wednesday with Darren & Marielle in San Diego so he can cook a St. Paddy's Day dinner for us. Can't believe it has been a year since we have seen them! Then we will head back to our lot at Park Sierra next Sunday.

3/7/10 This will be a quick update because we are having company for dinner and I have to help prep it. Ron & Carol Leonard have graciously allowed us (and Mike & Marilyn) to stay here on their lot while we all get our business taken care of so we have been here for a week. Of course, we have been having some social activities, and also have squeezed in some visits with RV friends who are here for a while.
Yes, Elaine managed to get in to have the beginning phase of her dental implant done in Algodones. When we arrived here and met Ron & Carol's friends and neighbors, Linda & Ray, we learned that Linda had recently had a very good dental implant experience with Dr. Emmanuel Cordova. So Monday we went to his office and spent most of the afternoon waiting to get in for an assessment. He has a very modern office with the latest computer imaging equipment for x-rays, so they did that and determined what Elaine needed to have done, quoted a price, and set up an appointment for Tuesday. That day she spent 3 hours in his chair while he removed the remaining root of the tooth that broke and installed a titanium post and a temporary tooth. Now she is taking antibiotics and waiting for it to heal. She wasn't supposed to return to his office until the 15th but yesterday her tooth became loose, so tomorrow we will go back for him to stabalize it.
Our plan is to head for southern California once she has been cleared by the dentist on the 15th. Until then, we will be leaving Ron & Carol's Tuesday and move out to Mittrey Lake with Mike and Marilyn. Some friends we haven't had time to see will be coming out to visit, hopefully. Tomorrow night we will be having dinner at Rick & Denice Osborn's, some cruise friends who live near here.
Friday was Marilyn's birthday so we went out for dinner with them, Carol & Ron joined us, and we all had a great time.

Then we had cake and ice cream in Marilyn & Mike's rig and the neighboring couples joined us. Here is a cute picture of Ron & Carol we took at that event:

Our friend, Frank, who worked with us at Lake Kachess several summers ago, also lives near here, so we went walking with him and several of his friends one day. Here is a picture of the 3 of us:

Padraic & Willie Ley, from the Boomer group are also here so one day Padraic came to visit and it was great to catch up on their doings, since we haven't seen him for several years. He also helped us with our computers. THANKS Padraic!! (I forgot to take his picture - too bad cause he is a cutie).
It is raining heavily today and we are trying to catch up on inside stuff. Check back with us in a week or so for another report.

2/27/10
It is raining fairly heavily here in Yuma, AZ where we just arrived about 2 hours ago. We are set up on the lot of our friends Carol & Ron Leonard, who have also graciously hosted us on their property in Sacramento, CA in the past. It was so good to see them again and we are looking forward to a nice visit here. The main reason we have hurried so much to get here is because Elaine needs her tooth repair ASAP, so we have arranged for an evaluation appointment in Algodones, Mexico on Monday afternoon. Of course, we will also take advantage of our time there to buy some booze and meds, have a haircut and eat some shrimp tacos. Yummy.
Of course, one of our problems is that we have been doing a bit too much socializing and eating of yummy food during a time that we are supposed to be getting lean and mean for our next cruise. In Austin, we spent 2 days with our cruise friends David & Diane Wilson. Not only do they have a beautiful home, where we were able to park in the driveway, but they served us a gourmet dinner on Friday. Saturday they showed us around Austin, and we ended up having drinks and appetizers at a place called the Oasis, which overlooked Lake Travis.
That evening we went to downtown Austin for a special dinner at Louie’s, and afterwards walked around so we could experience the nightlife.

And Sunday morning we walked their 2 dogs on the golf course in their neighborhood.

We then moved our rig to another part of town and drove our car over to visit Elaine’s nephew, Mike, his wife Judy, and their children, Sam & Josie. It has been quite a few years since we saw them, in fact, they hadn’t even gone to China to adopt Josie then. So we were happy to meet Josie, and catch up on all the family news. Mike is the son of Elaine’s sister Penny, who lives in Tucson.

It had been our intention, as we traveled West, to visit more of our friends along the way. But as we proceeded across Texas, the weather reports were not very good, and we realized that we needed to hurry in order to miss a batch of snowy weather headed our way. Unfortunately, that meant missing a visit with our friend Pene DeMore, who lives in El Paso. That evening we made it to Las Cruces, where we stayed with former full-time RVers, Stephanie & Paul Bernhagen. When they built their home, they made sure they had plenty of room for visiting RVs in their side yard, so we even had an electrical hookup. That evening we went out to a BBQ place with them, called Smokey Dicks. Here is a picture of all of us in the restaurant.

The forecast was for snow showers the next day but there was sunshine when we left. However, as we drove west on interstate 10, we were being passed by lots of trucks who were covered in snow, or who were dropping huge chunks of snow and ice on the pavement. So we knew it had been snowing in Texas and we were lucky that we had missed getting caught in it.
Tucson has always been on our agenda when we are in Arizona because Elaine’s Aunt Marion and sister, Penny, live there. Marion lets us park on her property and we always have good family dinners together. Here is a picture of Marion’s son, Tom, with Marion, Elaine & Penny, taken when we visited him at his office.

Marion also took us out for a delicious Mexican lunch at El Charro, and here is the picture taken there.

One of the nicest parts of this visit was that the weather was sunny and warm and we were able to get in some nice walks, as well as pick oranges, grapefruit and lemons from some of Marion’s trees and also the neighbors.
Yesterday we drove as far as Gila Bend, where we stopped at the Elks Lodge. This is Elaine’s home lodge, and when we went inside to pay her dues and have a beer, 2 couples we knew from the Boondockers came in, and then Billy & Marianne, from our Newfoundland trip last summer, arrived. What a small world it seems when we keep running into other RV friends in unexpected spots! In fact, we have learned since leaving Bayou Segnette State Park near New Orleans, that 3 other RV couples we know were there at the same time we were and none of us knew it until later, when we e-mailed or read each other’s blog.
Don’t know how long we will be here in Yuma, because it all depends on the dentist now. I will post more information next week.

Blog Update Feb. 19
Hello from somewhere between Houston & Austin, TX. After a wonderful dinner party last night at the home of cruise friends, Duane & Dorothy McCarthy, also attended by Charlie & Marla, we are now driving towards Austin. Duane & Dorothy always offer such impeccable hospitality and we certainly ate and drank well!! Here is a picture of them with Charlie and Mar on the left and Duane & Dorothy on the right.

Usually social occasions last between 3 and 4 hours; because of all the travel talk and catching up on each other’s news and upcoming trip plans, we stayed for 7 hours!!! This morning they all came over to see our rig, which was parked in the Sam’s parking lot just 1 mile from their place. We will be in Barcelona with them for one day after they take a Spring transatlantic crossing on the Voyager, and we take ours on the Independence, so we will be having dinner with them on May 2. What fun it is to meet up with special friends all over the world!
Our week at Betty’s RV Park is Abbeville, LA was filled with social activities and outings. Abbeville is in the heart of Cajun country. Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles (French-speaking settlers from Acadia or Nova Scotia, in the maritime provinces Canada). Today, the Cajuns make up a significant portion of south Louisiana's population, and have exerted an enormous impact on the state's culture. Betty arranged for us to visit a Cajun museum in Erath, where we learned about their expulsion by the British around 1755, and also saw a letter of apology from the Queen of England written in 2003. Most people learned about Cajun people from Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline”. It describes the betrothal of an Acadian peasant girl named Evangeline to her lover, Gabriel, and their separation as the British deport the Acadians from Canada in the Great Expulsion.
When we registered at Betty’s, she provided us with a very complete listing of events that were going to be held over the course of Mardi Gras, and people could decide which ones they wanted to attend. Laura and Gordon went to more of them than we did. Most of them involved Cajun music. Betty also arranged for a very good musical group from Kentucky, led by Judy Bailey, with her brother and 2 other guys, to perform in the clubhouse at her park. They sang mostly country music, but also some popular numbers from the past. Here is a picture of part of the group:

The main event which was promised to be very different from anything else was the “chicken run” and parade at Church Point. Betty had arranged for our group to park on the farm of Mr. Stanford, and watch the festivities there, because he would be one of the people providing chickens. So bright and early we carpooled out there and then waited for things to happen. The history of all this is that in the past people would go to the farms and ask for chickens for their Mardi Gras gumbo, and in order to “earn” the chickens, they had to chase and catch them. They usually visit 20-30 farms every year in this area, and they had a big wire cage full of chickens by the time they arrived at Mr. Stanford’s farm where we waited for them.
Eventually three horsemen approached, wearing very colorful and shiny capes, and they asked permission to enter the property. Following them came a couple of tractors pulling huge trailers filled with people all dressed up in rather strange costumes, and also with a couple of porta-potties because pretty much everyone was drinking beer. They all gathered on the big grassy field and the farmer threw a guinea hen up in the air and several hundred drunk, costumed men chased it until they caught it. Unfortunately, after the pile broke up, one of the teens was laying there in pain from a dislocated shoulder. Then another chicken was released and caught, and finally a third met the same fate. The field was somewhat muddy from the recent rain but there didn’t seem to be too much concern about that. Here are a few pictures of some of the costumed people and also one of the chicken catchers:


Here is the guy who caught the chicken:

Once the chicken seekers had left, there was a very long parade which went right by us with costumed horse riders on more horses than I have ever seen in a parade. I suppose it is because this was a rural town and the people in this parade were mostly farm people. Here are a few pictures:

There was even a young lady riding a PINK horse:

Following the horses, there were lots of arrangements of “floats” and/or trailers carrying lots of people throwing beads, candy, Mardi Gras cups, etc. So once again we got a major infusion into our bead supply.


Laura & Gordon also got some more beads:

At another location, there was a festival with music, and a pig killing (and roasting, I assume). We skipped that one.
Tuesday was the actual Main Event, because it was Fat Tuesday. We all drove to Lafayette where there were three parades and lots of people who had set up BBQ’s and were partying all day along the parade route. Fortunately, it was sunny with no chance of rain, but it was still chilly. Once again there were bands, Kings and Queens on floats, other floats with lots of beads and other paraphernalia being thrown, and some very fancy costumes. You have to watch out because sometimes they throw big batches of beads, even bagfuls and one of our RV people got nailed on the hand, which immediately swelled up and had to be iced. Here are some pictures from those parades:
One of the floats:

Here are some of the costumes of people in the parade:

Some of the people who came to watch the parade in costume:


That evening Betty wanted us all to go out to dinner at Shucks, an Abbeville restaurant where we had to wait 2 hours to be seated because we had such a big group. This was a farewell dinner because about 6 couples were leaving the next day. While waiting, we met a very nice local couple who personified what we have been finding in the South – graciousness and hospitality.
One of the things you see everywhere are places selling crawfish. Turns out that we had been driving past lots of fields where they catch them. The fields are flooded, and they grow rice in them, but they also have small cages spaced fairly evenly through the field and they put bait in them. The crawfish crawl in to get the bait, but the mesh of the cages is a certain size that the crayfish can’t get through to escape once they get big enough. Here is a picture of a field with the crayfish cages in it.

We also noticed that there were little muddy mounds in Betty’s lawn, and also in other fields which weren’t flooded. These were also created by crayfish, living in the muddy soil.

We have arrived in Austin and been spending some enjoyable time with David & Diane Wilson, friends from several of our cruises. We also visited them last summer in Wisconsin, at their lakefront cabin. I will tell you all about our Austin adventures in my next update.