Day 12~Texarkana, TX to HOME!!!

Today is our last travel day for our trip and will bring us back to "Home Sweet Home!"  It will be late, but that's okay because I can sleep in my own bed.  This is one of only a couple of days that we have had clear blue skies and the further south we travel, the less green we see.  I pray that Texas receives some substantial relief from this awful drought.  Just south of Hillsboro, we saw grass fires blazing along the highway in two different areas.  Everyone, please continue to pray for rain!

Now that we are at journey's end, I will spend the next couple of weeks posting video and other pictures that I have not yet posted until our actual 25th anniversary date of November 27th.  Thanks everyone for sharing in our anniversary trip.  Through all of the trials, rain and setbacks, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip to its fullest and have a lifetime of memories to share with each other and look forward to our 50th anniversary (I think I will start planning it now~LOL).  God bless you all.  <3

Day 12~Texarkana, TX to HOME!

Day 11~Dickson, TN to Texarkana, TX

Today we continued on the "Music Hwy" of Tennessee crossing over the mighty Mississipi river in Memphis to the "natural state" of Arkansas.  We stopped in Hot Springs, Arkansas to visit with my brother, James and his sweet family.  It was the first time that we got to meet his one year old twins, Kinsley and Kylen.  We had such a wonderful visit and didn't want to leave, but we have to get back home and still have a long way to travel.  We finally hit the Texas border late and stayed in Texarkana for the night.


Day 11~Dickson, TN to Texarkana, TX

Day 10~Cincinnati, OH to Dickson, TN

Today, we drove through Cincinnati, OH (close to the state line) and through the beautiful hills of Kentucky.  In Bloomfield, KY we stopped to spend several, and very enjoyable, hours connecting with Cliff's cousin, Kathy Gaudette Eichorn and her husband, Ron.  What a WONDERFUL couple and Kathy is such a great cook.  Thanks so much for the visit...BTW, we made it past Nashville to Dickson, TN around 1:00am, Kathy.  Hope to see you both again real soon!  :)


Day 10~Cincinnati OH through Kentucky

Niagara Falls (video)

Here is a very short video of the Falls...

Day 9~Niagara Falls, NY to Cincinnati, OH

We got up this morning and drove 15 miles to Niagara Falls, NY then walked across the Rainbow Bridge in to Canada to have breakfast.  It only cost us 50 cents apiece!  We took lots of pics and picked up some souvenirs and as we were crossing back through customs, I asked Cliff if we could go back in to get our passports stamped (apparently, they don't stamp your passport if you are not staying the night...).  He didn't want to because the Canadian officials were very brusque with us the first we time we went across, but he did it  anyway.  :)  The last thing we did before leaving Buffalo, NY on our way to Cincinnati, OH was to have some authentic, New York style pizza and Buffalo wings in it's birthplace (the buffalo wings, anyway).  It was magnificent~New Yorkers are serious about their pizza "pies!"


Day 9~Niagara Falls, NY and Niagara Falls, Canada

Day 8~Pittsfield MA to Buffalo, NY

We spent most of the day discovering Cliff's mom, Joanne Gaudette Tomerlin's childhood home of Pittsfield, MA.  This is a quaint old town in New England in the middle of the Berkshires and we thoroughly enjoyed discovering places that she had walked as a child.

Day 8-Pittsfield, MA

Friday in the White Mountains (video)

Here is a little three and half minute video of some of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  The video doesn't do it justice...it was breathtaking!  Will try to post more later...enjoy.  :)

Day 7~Portland, ME to Pittsfield, MA

This beautiful, Saturday morning we spent checking out the local lighthouses.  It was a beautiful day and then we ate lobster rolls and clam chowder at the Two Lights Cafe in Cape Elizabeth.  After lunch we headed out to Pittsfield, MA through the beautiful Berkshire's and where Cliff's mother, Joanne Gaudette Tomerlin, was born.  We are going to tour the area and attend services at St Joseph's Catholic church in the morning.  Sweet dreams, Texas...


Day 7~Portland, ME to Pittsfield, MA 

Day 6~Lincoln, NH to Portland, ME

Today started out great with breakfast at a local cafe called Peg's and a beautiful backdrop of the White Mountains.   We ate corned beef hash for the first time and LOVED it!  
Here is a video that I posted from my phone this morning. 


We traveled through the Kancamagus Hwy down the middle of the White Mountains and received the call about Pumpkin.  As beautiful as everything was, it was devastating to realize that our old friend would not be greeting us when we get home.  The rest of the day just seemed to be so somber and it rained harder on the way to Maine which just seemed to echo our moods for the rest of the day.  

So we decided to get cleaned up and go out to find us a lobster dinner in Maine.  It did help cheer us up.  I have never eaten lobster before and it was delicious.  I got to pick out our lobster (I took a picture of it before we ate it-kind of sick, I know...) and it was sooooooo good!  

Day 6~Lincoln, NH to Portland, ME

Day 5~Meriden, CT to Lincoln, NH

This morning finds us leaving Meriden, CT traveling through Hartford, and Springfield, MA then up I-91 in Vermont straight up to the White Mountains.  People everywhere told us that because of all of the summer rains, the fall foliage isn't like it should be and hoped we wouldn't be disappointed.  The further north we got, the brighter the leaves became!  Today was a GREAT day for seeing the colors and there wasn't any rain, just cloud cover.  We camped in a place called Country Bumpkins beside a babbling brook and slept like babes.  


I am a day behind in posting and will try to catch up later today.  Have a FABULOUS weekend everyone!!!


Day 5~Meriden, CT to Lincoln, NH

Day 4~Greensboro, NC to Meriden, CT

Today, we left around 7:30am and drove over 650 miles.  Starting in Greensboro, NC, we grabbed breakfast at a BoJangles and traveled to Raleigh-Durham, NC, Richmond, VA, into Washington, D. C., Baltimore, MD, Wilmington, DE, Philadelphia, PA, Trenton, NJ, New York, NY and finally Meridan, CT (just outside of Hartford, CT).  That's eight states, 650 miles and over 16 hours of traveling.  We are tired and have decided to sleep in tomorrow morning (rather, THIS morning!),.  Please don't call and wake us up (LOL)...but we are FINALLY in New England.  Let the "leaf peeping" begin!!!  :)  Here are just 120 of the 1,348 pictures that we took today.  I also video taped New York City because it was after dark and my camera would not take pics then.  I will try to post the videos tomorrow.


Day 4~Pics of North Carolina to New Jersey

Day 3~Montgomery, AL to Greensboro, NC

It's the end of Day 3 and we are in Greensboro, NC.   We have driven through Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and almost out of North Carolina in just one day.  Tomorrow should find us in Pennsylvania (I hope!) and we are praying that it will stop raining because it has done that all day today.  Blessings and love to you all back in Texas.  BTW, it is 56 degrees here!  :)

Day 3~ Greensboro, NC

Day 2~Baton Rouge to Montgomery

This morning we left Baton Rouge and headed to Mandeville, LA to cross Lake Pontchartrain, the longest bridge in the world at 23.8 miles!  We headed through New Orleans then back up toward Mississippi.  In Mississippi, we traveled around Gulfport and through Biloxi before reaching Alabama.  In Alabama, we were so close to the Florida border (only 5 miles away) that we decided to stop there as well then back on the road to our final destination of Montgomery, Alabama (the capitol of AL).


Day 1~New Orleans, LA
Day 2~Montgomery, AL


Here is a 2 minute video of Lake Pontchartrain...not much to see, but it was cool to be driving on it and be surrounded completely by water!

With the late start and the heavy rains delaying us, we ended up in Baton Rouge, LA.  We will have to leave early in the morning to catch up.  I had several pics so I loaded them up to my Picasa web albums...This is End of Day 1  Enjoy!   :)

On Our Way!!!

We left Uncle GG and Aunt Nita's this morning at 10:30 just as the rain started to fall...THANK YOU, LORD for blessing Texas with rain and thanks, Sherry, for taking this first pic for us!

We are finally headed out...

"Thumbs Up!"

My three sons...I will miss them so much!  <3

Can't go anywhere without stopping at Buc-ees!!!

Driving through Huntsville you will see the tall statue of Sam Houston.

The rain was so hard that we had to drive around 40mph for several 
miles all along I45 to Houston.

Almost to our first stop.

Cliff snapped this and he thought it was a mini submarine...

As we got around it, we realized it was a life boat for up to
54 people.

Finishing Touches...

Yesterday, I made curtains for privacy, hung a power strip for electrical needs and put the  mattress on the foundation.  The truck is ready, now I just have to make sure I remember to pack everything we will need for the next two weeks!

The curtains are tied to plastic hooks and Velcroed
to the carpet on the camper.

Cliff told me that he was very glad that I put
flowery curtains up in his "manly" truck!  You don't
think he's being sarcastic, do you?  LOL

Both curtains are up.

The power strip is set in the center above our heads.

Time for the mattress.  I am so glad that I built
the extension for the mattress.  It works great!

I put sheets and a thin coverlet on it for camping down
south, but as we get further north, we have sleeping
bags to stay warm.

This picture shows the tail gate up and the
extension down for traveling.
It looks cozy...I'll let you know
how well it sleeps on the trip.  :)

Building the Bed (Pt. 2)

Today I put the carpet on the bed foundation, made "nightstands" to hold lights, computer, CPAP, etc. After I put the carpet on, I realized that the futon was 72 inches in length and the truck bed is only 66 inches in length. I decided to build an extension an attach it with a hinge that could be down for storage and up with two sturdy legs to hold the additional inches for the futon mattress. While traveling the extra few inches of the futon easily folds up against the tailgate and presents no problem whatsoever.

Adding the carpet to the foundation.

Putting carpet on the pieces added to the width of each piece so I had to sand down the sides to make it fit snug.

All four pieces are now carpeted and fit together nicely!  :)

Now to add the gear to see where everything will go.

This is cutting out the "nightstands."  They will clamp to the bed of the truck.

The cleats will give the added support needed to hold the nightstands in place.

This is the extension that I added for the extra length in the futon mattress. I used some gray carpet because I ran out of the black.

The extension has two legs that are screwed on at the bottom for added support.  

The bed foundation is finished.  In the corners you can see the "nightstands" in place.  They should be very functional.

Another view of the finished foundation.  I can't wait to use it!  :)

Building the Bed (Pt. 1)

Cliff and I thought that it would be fun (not to mention cheaper!) to camp out in the back of his truck for our trip so I am building a platform for our bed with room for our gear in boxes underneath it.  We have a 9'x9' tent that attaches to the truck to give us privacy, but we will be able to sleep on a 6" futon mattress that will be set up at all times and won't have to be torn down at night.  It should make loading out fairly easy every morning.


We are camping out at Federal and State campgrounds with electricity hookups for laptop, electric ice-chest, CPAP machine (for the "old man!") *wink* and charging our phones and camera batteries overnight.
Here are some pics of the platform for the bed:

2x6's are the main support for the frame...

The futon mattress we will be using is on the ground to the right.  It's one we've had for years and should work fairly well.

Getting the platform in was a challenge, so I improvised and zipped a line down the middle.

This is what it looks like underneath.

Now all I need to do is put carpet on top so that the plywood doesn't give us splinters or rip the futon mattress.  That pole in the truck is Cliff's handy tool for pulling things out from the back of the truck (it's a hoe!).  LOL

One Week Out!

Cliff and I met each other in the fall of 1984. His father owned Auto Parts of Big Spring and my step-sister's husband worked there. I fell in love with his wonderful sense of humor and his talent as a gifted musician! We started dating in February of the next year and moved in together. Because both of us had been married previously, we tried to take our relationship slow. However, our eldest son, Clayton, came on January 1st of 1986 and we tied the knot on November 27th, 1986 (Thanksgiving Day!) of that same year by the Justice of the Peace in his parents living room. Cliff and I felt so wonderfully lucky to be together that we decided to have our marriage blessed in the church under the eyes of God. We were married at Immaculate Heart of Mary church in Big Spring on August 22, 1987. We now celebrate two anniversaries~One in November when we were united as a family and one in August when we made our covenant to each other and to God.

This is why we decided to do something special between the two anniversaries to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary! We will be leaving on October 9th, 2011 and travel up to the New England states and back down for about eleven or twelve days. This blog was created as a diary of sorts for my children to be able to follow along with a written diary that includes pictures and possibly some videos of everywhere that we go. I will be trying to keep this updated for the entire trip and hope that you enjoy!