Heading South

October 12-16, 2006

After leaving Destin, we spent one night on the road and then stopped at Joni’s college friend’s home in Lakeland, Florida. Gayle McGibbon was one of Joni’s best friends in college. We have visited with Gayle, and her husband Dean, quite a few times in the last few years.

Brittany, Gayle and Dean’s daughter, had her second daughter, Sydney, in September. Joni loves little babies, so she loved holding and playing with the baby while we were there. Brittany was staying with her parents until she was able to go back to work.

We "enjoy" dicussing politics and religion with Gayle. She is always on the opposite side of the argument. What can I say - she's a democrat! We love you anyway Gayle.

We didn’t take any pictures while we were there, so the included picture is from our visit last year. We will visit again on our trip back north.

The Most Beautiful Park Ever

Topsail Hill Preserve, Florida
October 7 – 12, 2006

 The panhandle of Florida has the most beautiful beaches in the continental U.S. It also has one of the most beautiful campgrounds – Topsail Hill Preserve in Santa Rosa, Florida. It’s just 8 miles east of Destin. Before we got to Destin, we spent one night at the Navarre Campground. Pictured is the Navarre Campground Beach.

 
Pictured NEXT is our site at Topsail. It’s the most beautiful spot we’ve ever had.  
The landscaping is lush, green and full of colorful flowers and tropical plants. The reason the foliage is so nice is that the park has a sprinkling system. The streets have curbs. It’s neat and clean.

  
The park is located on the beach, although you must take a 1 mile bike ride, walk or shuttle to get there. Most ride their bikes on the private, paved path to the beach. Once you get there you can park your bike in the bike area and walk a little further, over the dunes to the beach. Pictured is the boardwalk to the beach. It’s all so very pretty. 

We met a few tennis players and enjoyed some fun games.   

Delton played golf. We had a great time and didn’t want to leave the area. We honeymooned in Sandestin, a few miles away, 19 years ago when we got married. The area has changed a lot since we saw it last, but the beaches are as beautiful as ever.

Prayer for Karen and Paul Reinhart

Steele Magnolia House with Karen and Paul
October 7, 2006


We were able to visit with Karen and Paul Reinhart again this year. We were on our way back to Florida for the winter and our route took us right by their home.

Their home is the Steele Magnolia Bed and Breakfast. They own the home where the movie was filmed. See December 2005 in our archives for more information on their home.

We would like to request prayers from all our family and friends for Paul and Karen. Karen has been very sick with cancer. Please pray for her and family. Thanks.

Back Home in Texas 2006

September 15 – October 4, 2006

Well, here we are. Back Home! Again! It always feels good to be back home. AND we are having a wonderful time traveling around the country and visiting lots of family and friends everywhere. It’s what has made fulltime RVing wonderful.

We stayed at “the Vineyards” RV park in Grapevine, near The Gaylord The Vinyards Park is an old park that was renovated last year and now it is very very nice. It’s right on Lake Grapevine which is very very low right now. The Scout’s Landing Marina is right here, but the boat ramps are not usable because the lake is so low. We’ve enjoyed staying here and will stay here again. It’s nice and it’s close to friends, family and church.

  
Kathy and Larry Lehrmann came to the campground and we rode bikes to the Gaylord (pictured) and enjoyed diner. Chris joined us for diner that day also.    Also pictured is an indoor scene from the Gaylord in Grapevine.



We are sorry that we haven’t taken many pictures while here, but we just don’t think about taking our camera everywhere because we are “home”. We have just a few and will use some for previous times.

We were very busy doing lots of catching up on “business” like getting our car inspected, new tires, etc. We also got a new washer/dryer for the motorhome. Our old one wasn’t working very well and I don’t want to go the laundramat. Ron, Delton’s brother, helped him install it.

Delton got to play lots of golf at Lake Kiowa with his brothers and nephew Jay. He had to drive 1 hour each way but it was worth it for him. He loves golf and seeing his family as well.

 
Joni’s son Chris came to the campground a few times. One day he decided to go kayaking with Joni. They used Joni’s hard kayak and also the blowup one. Chris started out in the blowup one and after paddling for about ½ hour, we discovered it had a hole in it. Wish we had a camera. We managed to get back to the campground, but we didn’t have a lot of air left…… Pictured are Chris and Delton watching football.

Delton’s son, Chris, celebrated his birthday while we were here. We took him out to diner. It was nice to be able to be here to celebrate with him and his family.

Delton’s son, Ken and his wife Shawna, are in the process of purchasing a new house and we were able to go see it. We’re hoping that it closes soon and next time we’re here they will have moved in.

We got to see many friends and family: Chris and Michelle (Delton’s son), Ken and Shawna (Delton’s son), Chris (Joni’s son), Kandy and Val, Kathy and Skip, Kathy and Larry, many friends from church, lots of family in Lake Kiowa.   

We also got to meet Ron’s new wife, Trude. We welcome her into the family. Pictured are Ron and Trude.

We took a day trip down to Waco to visit Gayle and Walt Fengolio. They recently moved back to Texas from Glorietta, New Mexico near Santa Fe.

Wish we had more pictures. Sorry!

Palo Duro Canyon Texas with Don and Debbie

September 14 – 17, 2006

About 100 miles from Dalhart is Pampa, Texas. Our friends Don and Debbie Taylor live there. We met Don and Debbie at Fun Valley about 5 years ago and they have become very special friends to us. Of coarse, we couldn’t pass by Pampa without visiting Don and Debbie.


Debbie thought it would be fun to spend a day at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Most of the panhandle of Texas is very flat, but then you come to the Grand Canyon of Texas – which is Palo Duro Canyon. You’d never know you were still in Texas.

 
It was a hot day, but since Texas summers have many scortching days in the 100s, 90 degree temperatures really weren’t that bad. We hiked about three hours. It was an easy hike compared to some of the Colorado hikes we had taken with Don and Debbie, but it was hot.


As you can see, the Canyon is very colorful with interesting rock formations. We hiked to “the Lighthouse”, a formation that looks like two lighthouses standing side by side. When we got there, Joni wimped out again.   

She almost made it to the top, but there were just a few spots that were steep and slippery and the footing was narrow. You can see the "trouble" spot in the picture. She had to scoot down on her fanny to get back down.

 
While on the trail, Debbie noticed a SNAKE!!! And SHE PICKED IT UP!!! Brave Lady!!!

While in Pampa, we also got to visit Debbie’s parents, Clark and Jean. We met them in Fun Valley also. They usually spend the whole summer there, but were unable to go this year, so we were glad to be able to get to see them.

Visiting The Tim Jones Family in Dalhart, Texas

September 7 – 14, 2006

Delton’s brother Tim and his family (wife Kim and sons Carson and Grayson) recently moved to Dalhart, Texas from Decatur, Texas. We were happy to stop and visit them on our way back to Texas. As luck would have it, Delton’s Mom Josie, and two of her sisters, Betty and Ruth, were visiting Tim and Kim at the same time. We played a lot of “Murder” (a board game) and ate lots of good food.


Tim retired from the Navy last year and has taken a job as the anesthetist for the hospital in Dalhart. Many patients with serious medical problems are taken to a larger city for treatment, so Tim’s work schedule is light and varies greatly from week to week. He has a lot of free time.

Since Dalhart is a small town, there is not a lot to do there. They must even travel to Amarillo (about a 1 hour drive from Dalhart) to go to Wal-Mart. But, they have found a very worthwhile activity – GOLF! Delton was very happy to help Tim, his wife Kim and their son Grayson with the basics of golf. We played often while we visited them and can easily see that with all the time they are spending on golf, they will be winning any Jones Family Golf Tournaments in the future. SORRY – we have no pictures. We kept forgetting to bring our camera to the golf course.

We enjoyed our visit a lot but missed seeing Carson. Carson is a freshman at A&M. Too bad he didn’t go to a good school like Texas or Texas Tech!!!!!!!!!

Vail, Colorado With the Lehrmanns

August 27 -29, 2006

Larry and Kathy Lehrmann are friends of ours from “home” in Texas. They vacationed in Avon, Colorado – about 10 miles from Vail – and rented a condo for 1 month in August. Avon is about 3 hours from Fun Valley, so we decided to drive our car up to visit them, leaving our motorhome in Fun Valley.

 
Our three days were packed with lots of activities. Kathy and Larry are very athletic, active people and we didn’t waste a minute relaxing. Joni liked that!


Our first outing was a hike to Beaver Creek, a beautiful resort area close to their condo. There were a lot of art galleries and statues. We were impressed! Our hike took us past "The Ritz". This picture is taken on the ski slope looking down towards the hotel. Notice the ski lifts in the background. I think it looks alot better when the mountains are covered with snow.   




The next day we biked in the morning and then went to Vail (Joni and Larry rode their bikes to Vail). Vail is a big ski area in the winter, but we were there “off season”. The gondola ride up the ski mountain was great.  
You can see how much Larry enjoyed the ride. He’s the one with his tongue sticking out!


At the top of the mountain, we enjoyed disk golf. You fling a special disk (frizbee) from the “tee box” to the basket (hole). There are 18 baskets, just like regular golf, but it takes much less time to play. Pictured are Joni and Delton on the 18th “basket”. It was quite hilly at the top of the mountain so playing disk golf was just like hiking up (and down) the mountain.

Notice the disk flying through the air.  

We had a great time with the Lehrmans and look forward to seeing them again when we get back to Texas.

Fun Valley 2006

July 13 - September 7, 2006

We have been looking forward to our time in Fun Valley, CO again. This is our 5th season and it seems to just get better and better every year.

All our “regular” friends came again this year with the addition of Kathy and Skip McKie from Trophy Club. We were especially looking forward to having the McKies with us.



We did all of our regular activities including: kayaking, biking, hiking, pots lucks, gospel and country music, etc.


We did some heavy hiking in Pagosa Springs. We went with Don and Debbie Taylor and Gordie and his son, Clint.
We hiked about 2 hours in and that’s where Joni decided it was too steep and there were too many cliffs and she was getting eaten alive by swarms of bugs. Joni turned around and hiked back by herself as the others continued on. After realizing that there may be bears up there in those mountains, Joni decided it would be a good idea to make some noise as she hiked back to the car alone. It’s best to make noise so if you come across a bear, they will not be startled. Singing to herself as she hiked back, other hikers smiled as they passed her by.

We took another hike with Gordie and Clint. Elise, Gordie’s wife was having knee problems so she decided not to join us. Again, Joni decided the hike was getting too high and steep and she didn’t go all the way to the top.

LOOK CLOSELY! Pictured are Gordie and Clint at the top. Delton stayed behind with Joni. They only had a couple hundred feet to go, but Joni just wimped out. Oh well, Delton has already taken her way out of her comfort zone and she has done real well and enjoyed every minute of it.


Kayaking down the Rio Grand was great with our large group this year. One kayak developed a rip and a leak in the air intake, so we had to double up and take turns on our ride. Also, it was a cool, rainy day, but we all had a great time anyway.

Fun Valley just wouldn’t be as much fun if we didn’t have all the pot lucks and country music. Val, Don and Tracy on guitar, Kandy and Debbie singing, and Joni on tambourine all make beautiful music together. The McKies also got to join in on the fun this year.

Casey, Kandy and Val’s daughter, is learning to be a beautician.
She had only 2 weeks till she gets her certification. Joni needed a haircut real bad, so Casey gave her a haircut. She did a great job. We wish her lots of success!


An annual event at Fun Valley is Mark and Nancy Northcutt's Pizza Breakfast. Mark makes many varieties of pizza with eggs, sausage, bacon, pepperoni, green peppers, and lots of other breakfast foods. They are delicious!!!! He has quite a crew of friends and family there every year and he cooks for all of us. He also makes great donuts!!!!!




Delton decided to go jeeping again this year with the group and Joni decided not to go again this year. Joni gets motion sick and doesn’t enjoy all the hills and curves. Pictured is the group at the top.

We were planning on staying in Fun Valley all summer this year, when we got a very sad phone call which abruptly interrupted our stay. On July 24, Joni’s Dad unexpectedly passed away. We put our motorhome in the holding area at Fun Valley and immediately headed toward Albuquerque to fly to Coral Springs, Florida to be with Joni’s Mom and family. It was hard to leave Mom and go back to Colorado, but we knew we would be back in Florida soon. We headed back to Fun Valley and called Joni’s Mom daily to make sure she was OK.

Our flight back was a little different. Security at the airports was tighter as we could no longer carry on any liquids in our carry on luggage. Travel has never been easy since 9-11 and it’s just not enjoyable any more.

Delton’s boss from IBM, Gary Miller, lives in Albuquerque and was kind enough to let us park our jeep at his home while we were away. Gary and his wife, Ellie picked us up from the airport. We went out to eat and headed back to their house for an enjoyable evening visit. We headed back to Colorado the next morning.



On our way back to Fun Valley, we were able to visit with some more old friends, Ernie and Tammy Cathy. We met Ernie and Tammy at Lake Ray Roberts in Texas. They had just bought their motor home and were ready to get on the road as fulltime RVers, so we had lots of questions for them. We have followed their travels and were excited to see them again. We had lunch with them and then continued on our way back to Fun Valley.

Since it was now near the end of August, a lot of people were heading back home after a wonderful summer. Fun Valley had a big turnover of people, although we still knew many who were retired and staying till Fun Valley closed on September 30.

We spent a lot of time with Dave and Mary Spear. They enjoyed hiking and biking with us. Dave celebrated his birthday on September 2 and had a small party at his camp site.


Jerry and Sherry Renfrow are friends which we met about 2 years ago. They have since bought a condo in Pagosa Springs which is about 30 miles from Fun Valley. We enjoyed renewing our friendship with them.


We noticed a new Monaco Dynasty parked across from us. Doug, Gayle and Daisy Parker lived there. We were invited inside and Joni fell in love with the new Dynasty. I guess that's our next purchase - some day! Daisy (the dog) was so cute - Joni was asked to dog sit one day. She enjoyed playing with the dog all day although she took a little coaxing to get out of her motorhome while her "Mom and Dad" went out for the day.