Alan and Nedra's Travel Page 1

Now that we are both retired from our careers with the VA we can devote our time to the finer things in life.... Gourds, woodburning, woodcarving, traveling and just learning to stop and smell the roses.

Life hasn't been easy for us the last few years fighting to get Nedra's retirement problems fixed but now that it has finally happened we intend to enjoy every minute of it and do all the things we have been planning for the last few years but couldn't.

Because we have been unable to make commitments until now we have not been able to schedule classes, shows, etc. But that has all changed. We are foot loose and fancy free and ready to go!!!

I received so many requests from people to post updates on our escapades so here is the page where we will do it. The first photos of our new motor home that will take us on our new adventures. We will be living in it until our home is done in NM and then once settled in we will be traveling as often as possible to all parts of the country.

If you would like to see more photos please go to our picture trail albums

Use of the Photos

I promise not to bore you with family photos but I will try to include some great photos of the country during our visits. Who knows maybe some of them will prove to be inspiring to some of you get those creative juices flowing!

We will be posting photos of our travels and some of the exciting things we run across. The photos are copyright protected. If you see one you like please let me know what you would like to use it for.

LUV you all and hope to meet up with some of you along the way.

Nedra and Alan

This is our new home on wheels. Some of these photos the dealer provided me and some are ones I took. It is 37.3 ft long and has 2 slide-outs (the parts of the "coach" that are extended). This coach is just a tad bit smaller than our other coach but it's more workable for our shows and with only 2 slide-outs it will be easier to find places to park. It is called a Super Class C with a diesel engine.

If you're in the market for a new RV check out World Wide RV in Mesa, AZ. Great people to do business with!

Views of the bathroom, bedroom and bunks (this will be our storage for the business). The nice thing is we will have most of the "store" inside so we don't have to deal with weather to process orders along the way. Bedroom has a full wardrobe and a small one on one side of the bed. Also has a nice LCD TV for midnight viewing :)

This is the living area. The black Euro chair pictured here has been taken out and we put in the Lazy Boy that we bought for the other coach. Much more comfortable. The bottom photo is of the new pull out sliding drawers we had made for the pantry. The cabinet maker did a great job and so much easier for me to reach things.

Here are before and after photos of the front cab. It came with an overhead bunk which we didn't need or want. What we wanted was an entertainment center with large TV and that's what we got. The 2 left photos are the before photos. The photo on the right shows it just about done. We now have a 26 inch LCD TV with even more storage.

FINAL PHOTOS W/IMPROVEMENTS BY THE CABINET MAKER: The photo on the bottom left is the finished entertainment center with a front bezel on the TV made by a cabinet maker. The 2 photos on the right show the custom cabinet work he also did for us. The middle photo is the left side of the entertainment center. He added 3 slide out drawers so we could access things easily. He also added a small cabinet along the front for small things like maps, etc. The bottom right photo shows how he totally remade the right side in front of the entertainment center. First he added a slide out inside the cabinet just as he did on the left side. He also filled in the windows (both sides) with a wood panel stained to match the rest of the coach. He added a small cabinet from the front of the entertainment center along the side wall to match the other side. It is covered and will hold lots of "stuff". The cabinet on the top (right side of photo) was installed by the dealer to cover tv wires where the old tv used to be. It was poorly made so he removed the wires and built a small, long cabinet with a front door to cover the wires. They are now easily accessible if needed. He removed the flimsy plywood covering the bottom of the other cover and added a thicker piece of wood and sealed it since we have no need to access it. Overall the entire front of the entertainment center is not only more functional but we have so much more accessible storage AND no wasted space.

Exploring New Mexico Photos
The Acoma Pueblo and Sky City are about 60 miles west of Albuquerque. It is the oldest living pueblo in New Mexico and still home to many people. Like many other pueblo's they now have a hotel, casino and also an RV park. We went with our RV group. Most of us toured the pueblo after breakfast. It was a wonderful day and very glad we had the opportunity to visit. They are a very hard working people and very proud of their heritage. These photos were all taken atop sky city. The city was built high a top the Mesa as a means of protecting it's people from attackers. The city is still inhabited by some of the elders. There is no electricity or running water. The photo on the left was taken from the top of the Mesa from the top of sky city and as you can see the views are just amazing.	El Morro National Monument is southwest of Grants, NM. This was a day trip we made while camped out at the Acoma RV Park. We were joined by another couple and we thoroughly enjoyed the visit although climbing up there was exhausting. It is made of sandstone. El Morro means Inscription rock and it holds over 2,000 inscriptions and petroglyphs dating back to 1605. Inscriptions are from Spanish and American explorers, soldiers and ancient puebloans living atop the mesa. It is unfortunate that due to the very nature of the sandstone and nature many of the inscriptions are being destroyed and to date all methods of trying to preserve the inscriptions have failed. We were totally amazed at how many still remained and were visible. The inscriptions were all done by hand and looking at the inscriptions on the bottom right you can see that some are very ornate.
National Petroglyph Monument is in Albuquerque on the west side and it is amazing to see them right in the heart of a booming metropolis. There is quite a climb to get to the top but well worth it...even considering that I am terrified of heights. I found this expedition to be very therapeutic just as long as I didn't look down. It is amazing that I lived here for many years and never had the opportunity to do this when I was younger and definitely more fit but as they say, better late than never. So, here I was just like the other tourists, snapping away all kinds of photos. Of course my motives were to use them on some of my burnings.	Chaco Canyon is north of Grants, NM. It is amazing to see all the ruins and if you look at the photo on the top left with Al you can get an idea of the size of the rooms in each building. Those people must have been very small! The building of this community of native americans took hundreds of years. Nobody seems to know much about the people who lived here but I suspect that it was people who when they left ended up becoming the pueblo's that are now known throughout the southwest. We were told when we were at Acoma that the Acoma ancestors left Chaco Canyon 100 years before the people who resided in the existing ruins arrived.
El Mapais National Monument is another wonder that is south of Grants, NM. Just one more amazing place to visit. This was one of the places we had wanted to visit during our visit to Acoma but we just didn't have enough time. La Vantana, which means window is something to behold and the photo on the right doesn't do it justice. The entire area Northwest area of New Mexico has so much history and culture and it is our goal to check it all out.	El Morro, State Park in NM is one of the most amazing places I've been to. Photos could not capture the amazing writings and pictures carved into the rocks. I was blessed to have the opportunity to visit it because all of this beauty is slowly eroding due to winds and weather.

Hershey & Lancaster, PA - May, 2009

The last time I was in this area I was about 10 years old but I never got to see Hershey. All I can say is WOW!!!

Our first stop was to Chocolate World. We took the grand tour of the factory, around Hershey and got all the scoop on Milton Hershey. This was one amazing man. He had no children of his own so he built a residential school and orphanage then made a trust and put 60 million dollars in it to run the orphanage for boys. It continued to grow and at one point the focus shifted to allow girls in as well as underprivileged children who could live there and go to school for free. In addition to this Mr. Hershey donated 50 million dollars to build a teaching hospital which has now become a huge medical center, children's hospital and cancer center. During the depression Mr. Hershey went on a building spree within the community in an attempt to ensure that nobody in Hershey would ever be unemployed. It worked and not one single resident of Hershey was unemployed at any time during the depression. It's no wonder that just about everything in Hershey is named after this amazing person.

Now if you are into food and lots of it you need to go to some of the restaurants in Lancaster County. Their smorgasbord is just amazing. We forced ourselves to go off South Beach during our stay just so we could sample some of these places.

We also got to go to Smucker's gourd farm and yes, I bought some gourds.

No visit to the area is complete without touring an Amish farm. The photo on the left is of a young boys bedroom with his clothes and hats laid out. The right photo is of the one room school house. We did the tourist visit and then we got a lesson in Amish culture from Mr. Smucker. It was truly enlightening and now we are reading up on it so we can learn more.

Nashville, TN - May/June, 2009

A very exciting place. Not exactly what I expected but a lot of fun. We managed to get tickets to the Grand Ole Opry but had to park about 10 miles away....or so it seemed! We did, however get GREAT seats on the main floor. The bad part is that I left my camera in the car. I never expected to be close enough to actually see anyone and as it turned out we were close enough to see their faces. Bummer!

We got to see some great performers that I love and some I didn't know but they were great. Some of the performers were: Vince Gill and Amy Grant, Steve Martin (he can't sing but he can pick a mean banjo), Brad Paisley (he wasn't on the scheduled list of performers but just "dropped in", Jo Diffey and a slew of others. It was a sold out show and boy what a show!

On our second day in Nashville Al's daughter and our grandson came to visit and we went to the Country Musical Hall of Fame. The featured display was the tribute to Hank Williams Jr. It was a fascinating place.

Oh well we did return on Sunday and took some outside photos of the Opry.

Gila Cliff Dwellings - June, 2009

I surprised myself and was able to not only climb all the way to the top but I walked across a very NARROW rock with a very LONG drop to get the cliff dwellings. I did not, however make it inside the cliff dwelling. There are limits for people with fear of heights and I had reached my limit when I got to the outside of the dwellings.

At least the photo proves that I was there and made it to the top!

Durango, Silverton & Ouray, Mesa Verde Colorado - August, 2009
This was our long awaited VACATION while my hand was recuperating from surgery. First stop was Durango. One of my favorite places but a new stop for Al. Actually this was all new for Al. One thing I discovered is that I don't much care for progress. Durango and Silverton have really grown. Durango was a cute little quiet town and now it's hip deep in people who want to get away from the city. Hmmm, wish they'd stay there! The top 3 photos are the Strater Hotel and Diamond Belle Saloon in Durango, CO. It was built in the 1800's and hasn't changed much since I was there about 20 years ago. The bottom 4 photos are of the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge RR pulling into Durango. The next is the Silverton old town plaza and the last two are along the scenic drive to Silverton and Ouray.
Mesa Verde was our last stop before heading to Chama and it was wonderful. It had been many years since I was there and it was still as awesome as ever. Al was truly impressed. These are just some of the photos of the cliff dwellings. Most of the dwellings required LONG climbs down on very LONG ladders!
Chama, NM - August, 2009
Chama was a new stop for me and along with some friends from our RV group we went on the old steam train, the Chama & Tultec RR. It was great fun and lots of wonderful scenery. These photos are just a small sampling of some of the great views we had. The Farmer and his dog are official greeters when the train stops for a brake check before beginning the 4% grade climb. Our friends who were on the train the day after us said they had to remove a car because they were slipping on the wet tracks. They picked the car up on the way down. I guess we were lucky that we had beautiful weather.

Balloon Festival March, 2010
This was not the great Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta but it was one that was literally in our backyard. While I was at the festival at Eagle Park watching them inflate and launch I counted 35 balloons in the air but there were 40 registered. A few did not make it off the ground, including the chili peppers but this was certainly spectacular considering that Belen is just a small city. It gave us a great opportunity to attend and not fight traffic and huge crowds. All of the balloons pictured on the right landed on our block. The photos on the right were taken of balloons landing on our block. The photos on the right were just down the street from our house and the photos on the left were a balloon that landed in the retention pond at the end of our street in the cul de sac where our house is. The people that owned this balloon were from Albuquerque and gave a few of us rides in their balloon. It certainly did create a stir in our community. The photos below were at the launch field and the bottom right was one I took on the way back home. Best Part is that we live less than a mile from the launch field......

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