Hi all, Dianne here.
I still haven't figured out how to move the left panel off the map, so to view what's hidden underneath, you can slide the map to the right out from under the panel.
Year three began with the interior construction of our little coach house at Retama Village. After stepping around boxes of faucets, sinks and other items in our motor home, we were thrilled when the coach house was finally complete. It was an exciting day when our POD arrived from Indiana and all our furnishings could be put into place.
We also finally met Bob and Linda, whose blog I’d been reading for years (their blog "Because We Can" gave me the idea to sell everything and start fulltiming). Now they are not only good friends, but next-door neighbors here at Retama!
The loss of our beloved Jasper (click on link to read our tribute to him) in January left a gaping wound in our hearts. It was healed only by one of the best decisions we ever made, when we adopted Bandido from Cinderella Pet Rescue. He lightened our hearts and has made us laugh at least once every day since then!
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| Kaia and Amanda at the San Antonio Riverwalk |
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| Robyn on the longhorn steer at Luckenbach |
Our Indiana camping buddies Chuck and Cindy and their dog Sophie (the luckiest dog in Fishers, Indiana) made the l-o-n-g drive to Texas for a visit. Just a reminder, I’m using smaller photos for these retrospective blogs, but you can click on the small photos for an enlarged view.
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| Ancient Pictographs |
In May it was getting hot in Mission, so it was time to begin our summer travel adventure. We headed to Big Bend National Park with a quick stop at Seminole Canyon State Park in West Texas to view ancient pictographs along the way.
We sure didn’t beat the heat, as it was mighty hot at Big Bend. What we didn’t miss was the spring bird migration. We saw whole flocks of indigo buntings and, as soon as they left, whole flocks of painted buntings (a bird I’d always wanted to see).
This was the spring of terrible wildfires in Texas, and it seemed everywhere we went that spring there were fires burning or charred remains. We were even evacuated from Palo Duro State Park as a fire began there just as we finished setting up camp for an expected 10-day stay. To review that blog entry, click here: Texas Burning
We made our way north with a stop at Scott’s Bluff National Monument in the hills of western Nebraska. What a pleasant and beautiful surprise!
One of our main stops this summer was Custer State Park in western South Dakota. To see more of our adventures there, click on the keyword “Custer State Park” on the left panel of this blog to bring up those entries. Our drive on the wildlife loop was a day we’ll always remember!
We made a quick jog west to Wyoming to visit Devil’s Tower National Monument, another beautiful and favorite spot. Spring was a great time to visit both Custer State Park and Devil’s tower, for we got to see baby bison and baby prairie dogs.
Time to head east. We had visited Custer, Devil’s Tower, and Badlands National Park in a pop-up camper when our girls were little. We had always wanted to go back, so this was the summer to retrace that trip.
The badlands were even more beautiful than we’d remembered. We hadn’t been able to hike there with small children, but this time we took some awesome hikes and saw parts of the park we’d missed before.
Once we made it to eastern South Dakota, we headed straight north. Our plan was to spend some time in the lake region of Minnesota, another spot we’d only heard of. Well, we didn’t see much of it; it rained the whole time we were there, and when it wasn’t raining we had to literally cover ourselves head-to-foot and run the dogs outside to do their business because of the worst mosquitos we’d ever experienced. We really did wear this mosquito net on our heads the few times we ventured outside! (gloves, too).
I’m sure it’s a lovely area and we just timed it wrong. We might give it another try if we’re in that region again.
One of the best surprises of that trip was our time in Duluth, Minnesota. We were parked at a boat marina right near the famous lift bridge. Huge cargo ships went past day and night, and the lights of Duluth sparkled on the hillside out our front windows at night. Our new friends Jim and Sue (who had just purchased a home at Retama) spend their summers there. We met up, and they graciously showed us the highlights, helped us avoid road construction, and even took us out on their boat in Lake Superior.
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| Our camp site at the marina |
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was our spot over the Fourth of July holiday. Munising, Michigan goes all out for the Fourth, including parades with floats and a pet parade
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| Waiting with the locals for the parade floats |
Another pleasant surprise was Aune-Osborne RV park in Saulte Ste. Marie, Michigan. Once again, we were able to watch the huge cargo ships as they headed to and from the famous locks, right from our RV.
We also took an interesting guided boat tour through the Saulte Ste. Marie locks.
Straits State Park in St. Ignace, Michigan was our next stop, and our home base to visit Mackinac Island. Our new neighbors Bob and Linda were at Straits SP, and we met up for a memorable happy hour where we did a wine tasting using different boxed wines, just because we can (pun intended).
Roger and I took our bicycles on the ferry to Mackinac Island, and spent a gorgeous day circling the island on our bikes.
This was the summer of meeting up with friends. From St. Ignace we headed to Wild Cherry RV Resort near Sutton’s Bay, Michigan to meet our Indiana camping group, Chuck, Cindy, Pat, and Audrey. We toured wineries, enjoyed meals and happy hours, and took in the sights in the Leelanau Peninsula, just outside Traverse City.
Central Indiana was our next stop, including our annual kayak trip at Turkey Run State Park, Prophetstown State Park, and home base at Glo-Wood campground so that Roger could fulfill his summer work obligation. While there we signed up for two weeks at the awesome dog park in Fishers, Indiana. Bandido learned to swim in the pond…
...met up with his new friend, Sophie (the luckiest dog in Fishers, Indiana)...
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| C'mon in, Sophie! Let's play!! |
And Chaplin maintained his reputation as a chick magnet.
We decided to pay Roger’s brother a visit in Mansfield, Ohio before we left the midwest. On the way there, we spent a few days at beautiful Ouabache State Park near Bluffton, Indiana.
Ouabache State Park has its own herd of bison, and miles and miles of awesome bike trails next to the river.
Even before Jasper was diagnosed with cancer in January, we knew that Chaplin had a rare type of skin cancer that affected his blood vessels called subcutaneous hemangiosarcoma. We always knew that someday he’d have a bleeding lesion that would not be operable. On September 11, during our brief stop back in Central Indiana after our Ohio visit, Chaplin had a bleeding episode with a lesion in a nonoperable place. We had been dreading this day for a couple of years, but that did not make it any easier to put our dear boy down.
Our farewell blog to Chaplin
Losing both whippets the same year (after having had them for 9 and 11 years) was very difficult. We were no longer really “traveling with whippets,” but since that’s how everyone knew us, we decided to keep the name in memory of our dear boys.
With heavy hearts we headed west toward home. After a stop at Rend Lake in Southern Illinois, we spent a few days at a beautiful state park in Arkansas, Lake Catherine State Park outside Hot Springs. While there, we made a day trip with Bandido to Crater of Diamonds State Park to dig for treasure. No treasure found, but it was a fun day.
We stopped at Shiner in East Central Texas to tour our favorite brewery. We managed to drop some big bucks in their gift store.
Our last stop of the 2011 road trip was a few days near the gulf at Port Lavaca, Texas.
We were back at Retama in October, and once again enjoyed our laid-back lifestyle there. Bandido was especially happy to be back at his beloved doggie park.
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| Throw the ball, Auntie Sue! |
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| I'm now a spoiled only child |
He loves it so much, that he let us know in no uncertain terms what he wanted. Here's a short funny video we took of Bandido telling us it's time to go to the doggie park:
We spent our first Christmas at Retama Village in 2011. From now on, our Christmases will most likely be spent here. That first Christmas it was especially fun to dig out the decorations that had been in storage for three years, and to decorate our tiny little coach house and pergola.
This brings us to the end of Year Three.
The pet photos of the year show both joy and sadness; our new baby Bandido and saying good-bye to our gentle soul, Chaplin.
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