May 1st~~2nd RV Woes :-(

Woke this morning ready to travel for a couple of days to head to Texas...however the coach would not start! After much frustration and prayer, Steven was able to jump start it and we re-routed our day to the nearest Camping World. We limped into Ft Worth and bit the bullet for 2 new coach batteries, ($300.00) OUCH! Takes a lot of power to move 30,000 pounds of vehicle down the road!

Our coach has taken a beating on this adventure. The flat tire we had earlier was the beginning of repairs in our future. The "March Winds" ripped the slide toppers (covers over the pop-outs) off, so they will have to be replaced. And now the batteries! Cost of doing business, I guess.

The scenery has now gone from vast prairie lands sprinkled with tumbleweeds and Indian reservations to more vast lands sprinkled with windmills and oil wells. I was never fully aware of how much uninhabited acreage there is "out West".

RV-ING CATS!

We have been asked how Maverick & Martina are doing in this new life on the road we are now all enjoying? Well, see for yourself! :-) No stress here!

May 1st ~~~2nd, "All Part Of The Adventure"

Well, May has started off with a bang! We unhooked, dismantled and packed up the coach to start for our next destination...and it would not start. Dead. The two chassis batteries were finished. (Our coach has 2 batteries for the engine, and 4 four the "house"). So Steven had to jump-start it from the generator and we had to re-route our GPS to find the nearest Camping World, which was in Ft Worth. Made us about 2 hours behind our schedule, but we are now the proud owners of $300.00 worth of boxed up power! Should get us down the road!

I wanted to explain the title, "All Part Of The Adventure". It has become Steven's favorite phrase. It actually came from one of Braddock's cartoon characters, Secret Agent Oso. His favorite line is, "It's all part of the adventure, more or less". So every time we encounter a challenge in this new lifestyle of ours, Steven says, "It's all part of the adventure" and I chime in..."more or less!"

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

April 25th~~~May 1st New Mexico!

The scenery out here is composed of vast prairie lands and Indian reservations. Never knew there was so much uninhabited acreage! Barren for as long as the eyes can see.

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We arrived at Hidden Valley RV Park near Albuquerque, after battling more winds! The winds have been so horrendous on this trip, that our slide toppers (covers over our four pop-outs) have been ripped off and will have to be replaced once when get back to home base. :-(

The park is quiet, and very unkept. Looks like it has a lot of potential but was abandoned years ago and needs much TLC! It has been an education seeing all the different parks, some much nicer than others and most have not lived up to the pictures on their brochures! But thanks to the RV Clubs we joined...most are FREE and FREE is good! :-)

Albuquerque was a short ride away so we went into town for dinner and a movie. Ate at the largest Golden Corral we have ever seen! It was beyond impressive...would have never believed it was a GC!! Also took the tour through an American Indian Culture Center and learned much of their heritage; even watched as several of the existing Indians demonstrated their tribal dances and displayed their wares.

On Sunday we enjoyed a great worship service at Mountain Valley Baptist. It was actually the first church that had a praise band and sang praise songs, most of the congregations we have worshipped with are still singing out of the hymn book. Little closer to the kind of service we are accustomed to. Their pastor went out of his way to welcome us and their people were excited about their building project and new addition, which should be completed this summer.

We have been privileged to pray for and with many brothers and sisters in our Christ!

One of our excursions, we ventured out on the Harley down "The Turquoise Trail" (a 62 mile road that has small towns sprinkled along the way with interesting themes. We ended up in a very eclectic town named Madrid. It was a town consisting of quaint shops filled with anything and everything you could ever imagine and a multitude of eating spots! It was also inhabited by hundreds of bikers! Slightly resembled a mini "Bike Week" in Daytona! We shortly discovered the attraction, after chatting with a local, who told us that Madrid use to be a sleepy, abandoned town until 2007 when John Travolta & Tim Allen showed up and filmed the movie "Wild Hogs" there! She said, "they put Madrid on the map!"

WILD HOGS @ MAGGIE'S DINER!

April 20th~~~24th, Williams, AZ

Our stay this time was at Canyon Gateway RV Park, our "home" sat on top of a beautiful mountain and overlooked the small town of Williams, AZ. It is right off of I-40 and the famous Route 66. It was a very neat little town that was the model for the movie, "Cars". As we strolled down the streets we were reminded of the different scenes in the movie, so neat! The entire area was surrounded by train tracks and we heard the sounds of the rumbling trains daily. Got kinda' use to hearing them as they hauled their cargo from town to town.

Our precursor to the big Grand Canyon day, was to see the Grand Canyon, IMAX movie. On the screen it was pretty incredible, can't imagine what tomorrow will bring!

THE GRAND CANYON!!!

MAGNIFICENT!

AMAZING!

SPECTACULAR!

IT'S A "GOD THING" FOR SURE!!!

SEDONA...Breath-taking!

Definitely the most incredible sights we have seen, so far!  The pictures will not do justice to the beauty of this town...only the God-given camera of our eyes could really capture the magnificent hues in the rocks that compose SEDONA!

April 14th~~~20th, Page Springs, AZ

Not so good news for us, our AT&T coverage all last week and now here too is non-existent. Plus, no internet service, even with our mobile MiFi. :-( Amazing how cut off from everyone we feel. We certainly have grown dependent upon these wonderful modern technological devices!! Have had to drive into town everyday to check our mail or make calls. Bummer!

Sunrise RV Park, provided us a babbling brook, right outside our coach.

Attended two little churches, one in Cornville and one in Cottonville. Enjoyed fellowship with them during their Wed night meal and also prayed along side of them for the needs of their congregations. Good to feel a part of so many brothers & sisters in our Christ!

Right around the corner from us was a Fish Hatchery, we did the self-guided tour, pretty neat!

On to JEROME, AZ, an old mining town, which claims to be a Ghost Town. Never saw any ghost, but the quaintness was worth the trip! There was an old crusty miner still hanging around, who owns a 1942 Harley, and it still runs! He cranked it up and gave us a demonstration. :-)

April 7th~~~~14th, Camp Verde, AZ

Arrived at Camp Verde, on Saturday, and after setting up, sought out a church to worship with on Easter Sunday.  It is our commitment to never travel on a Sunday, but to be in a camp, fully set-up by Saturday so we will always honor our King by being with HIS people...wherever we happen to be!  Our worship on Resurrection Sunday was great and we returned that evening for their PM Bible study.  Thankful for the sacrifice Jesus made for us!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLEN!!

We visited several local attractions while we were here.  Just a few blocks away from our campground was a historic military fort, Fort Verde.  Enjoyed going back in time to get a glimpse of how life on a military fort would have been.

The next day we visited Montezuma's Castle, an Indian dwelling, built in a mountainside. An amazing house, to be sure!!  From there we ventured to Montezuma's Well, which is a natural artesian well, very picturesque.

VEGAS LIGHTS