A Final Note to Suspend This Travel Blog

We are back home safe and happy to be here. We traveled 6,213 miles (10,021 Km) in 28 days thru 15 states. That may seem like a marathon trip for some but we enjoyed every mile of it.

The weather was great. The family and folks we met and visited with were a special pleasure. The events we saw and the historical places we visited were special as well. I would recommend a trip such as this to anyone who has the time to devote to it. If I would have changed anything about the trip it would only have been to make it longer. I would have liked to stay an extra day to two at several of our destinations. But that will have to wait for the next time.

As for the future, well we are planning a trip to Jamestown, Virginia for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown and then to Gettysburg, PA to visit the Civil War battlefield. We also have a trip planned to Dallas, Texas to a Praisefest with Dr. Charles Stanley. Later in the year we will be visiting "The Cove", the Billy Graham Retreat Center near Ashville, North Carolina. We will let you know when each of these will be so that you can follow along and enjoy yet another part of our great country.

The Dogwoods are in Full Bloom in Tennessee

We have been singing our Church Easter music, especialy today, and not only have we started the day with the beautiful sunrise, we also saw the dogwood trees in full bloom. Another fitting way to end the day and to start thinking about Easter that is just one week away.

We thank God for a wonderful trip with good health, good weather and safe travels. We hope that you have enjoyed riding along with us. We thank everyone for their comments.

Opryland, Nashville, Tennessee

Our last night on the road is in Nashville, TN. We stopped by Opryland and walked thru the Opryland Hotel. Wonderful gardens inside.

Thursday Morning, March 29th

This morning we started early because we are headed home. After being gone for 4 weeks we are looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone that we have been missing during our trip. We started before the sun came up and so as we were passing thru Ft. Smith, Arkansas, the sunrise peeked over the horizon. At the same time Sharon was playing a CD of some of our Church Easter music, and the song playing was "Was It a Morning Like This?" The good Lord made our day be providing the sunrise to accompany the song.

Giant Cross in Oklahoma

As we drove thru Oklahoma we came across this giant Cross. I don't have any exact measurements but it must have been at least 200 feet or more. You can see the telephone poles in the bottom of the picture. Around the circle at the base of the cross were life size statues of the Passion of Christ on his way to be crucified.

Holsinger Meteor Fragment

The Holsinger Meteor Fragment is the largest piece of the 150 foot meteor found thus far.

Meteor Crater, Arizona

Meteor Crater is 4,000 feet across and 550 feet deep and is estimated to have been created by a meteor approximately 150 feet in diameter about 50,000 years ago. Meteor Crater is located approximately 40 miles east of Flagstaff, AZ.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

The Grand Canyon is one of those special places in our country that you just have to see to believe. When you look down over the side of the canyon you are looking down 4,000 feet and that is a l-o-n-g way down.








They really have a "terrible" erosion problem here!

Grand Canyon, Arizona

This is Sharon relaxing on the side porch of the lodge at the Grand Canyon. We had a very special lunch in the dining room which was first class.

Tlaquepaque Art Center in Sedona, AZ

If you know Galax, Virginia, you know that our largest Mexican Restrauant is "Tlaquepaque". Well, driving thru Sedona we found the "Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village." A small area with several shops with local crafts and fine arts.

Sedona, Arizona

The trip down to Sedona, AZ was one of the most beautiful drives that we have taken. The two lane road wound around the side of the mountain as we descended several thousand feet into the canyon. There were several places were the road switched back on itself several times.

Monday, March 26, Sedona, AZ

Today we traveled south from Flagstaff, AZ to go to Sedona, AZ. We had heard from several individuals that Sedona was a stop we had to make on our trip. Well for Kenneth and all of the other hunters out there, we passed this group of elk driving south on highway 89a. We originally drove passed them before we could stop, but they waited for us to turn around and go back to get this picture.

San Francisco Mountains, Flagstaff, Arizona

As we got closer to Flagstaff, Arizona, we started to see the San Francisco Mountains. They are still snow capped and an unusual site to see after the warm weather we have been having. The snow is still in the mountains.

Black Mountains of Arizona

After leaving Hoover Dam we drove along Arizona highway 93 towards Kingman, AZ. That route took us thru the Black Mountains. It was another beautiful day, clear and sunny with beautiful clouds in the sky to make it all that much nicer.

Monday, March 26, Hoover Dam

We left Las Vegas, NV on Monday morning and drove over the Hoover Dam to get to our next destination in Flagstaff, AZ.

Since it was earlier in the morning, the sun was in a different place in the sky and some of the photos are different.

Currently, you can drive directly over the top of the dam but that is changing. For security reasons a new road is being build to bypass the dam.

Las Vegas, Nevada

The KOA Campground in Las Vegas is right downtown. We can look across the fence to the Sahara and Circus Circus.

The New Nevada Route 93

At the present time you travel over Nevada Route 93 to get to Hoover Dam. The highway actually crosses over the top of the dam. I recall seeing a program on TV that an alternate route was being built to take traffic off of the dam for security purposes. The new roadway uses several bridges to cross the deep gorges. This picture shows how high one of the bridges will be as it by-passes the dam. It is amazing that they are building this bridge where they are. The new road will be 4 lanes compared to the two lane twisting winding road they have today.

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, Nevada

We dropped our camper at the campground in Las Vegas and drove over to see the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Located about 25 miles from Las Vegas, Lake Mead is the largest body of water that we have seen since we left the west coast.

Mojave National Preserve, Southeastern California

After Barstow, California we entered the Cady and Soda Mountains eventually passing thru the Mojave National Preserve. We climbed to 4,728 feet at Mountain Pass and then desended a very long steep grade as we went down the other side of the mountain.

Max and Rebel say Goodbye!

Saturday morning Max and Rebel say goodbye as we pack up at George's place in Westminister, CA.

George and Sharon pose next to the new camper. There is another shot of it below. So far it has been working well with no problems.

Day is done! Gone the Sun!

There is no better way to end the day than to watch the sun set in California. Tomorrow we break camp in George's driveway and start our trip east. We plan to stop in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

The Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, CA

The Crystal Cathedral is the Church of Dr. Robert Schuller located in Garden Grove, California. Garden Grove is a suburb of Los Angeles.

Here are a few pictures of the Crystal Cathedral.

The Glory of Easter @ the Crystal Cathedral

This evening we extended our stay in LA by an extra day so that we could attend a performance of "The Glory of Easter" at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA. We drove by the Cathedral earlier in the week and when we learned that the opening performance of their Easter program was Friday night we decided to stay and watch the program.

The production included more than 200 volunteers as well as a cast of professional actors for the major speaking parts. With a stage 124 feet across and 80 feet high it is one of the largest indoor sets in the world. Six angels fly throughout the production some as high as 80 feet and at speeds up to 20 miles per hour.

No story of the passion of Christ would be complete without the animals; from the donkey that carried Christ into Jerusalem to the 5 horses of the Roman Soldiers as well as a camel, llama, water buffalo, peacocks, sheep and goats.

For the past few days we have been parked in the driveway of my brother George who lives in Westminster, CA. Our dog Max was happy to meet George and his dog Rebel. Rebel is about 11 years old and while they got along very well with each other, Rebel wasn't in the mood to run and romp around like Max wanted to do. They seemed to enjoy each other.

It was especially good to visit with George. Since he lives out here in California, we don't get to see him as often as we would like.

CBS "The Price is Right", Los Angeles, CA

Wednesday, March 21, we had tickets for the CBS show "The Price is Right." Sharon hoped to get on the show. We obtained tickets on-line. But those tickets only gave us the right to stand in line to get other tickets. We had some advice from Robert and Norma who were on the show about two years ago. Robert recommended getting there about 3:00 a.m. to get in line. We didn't get there until 4:15 a.m. and we were about 212th in the line. One man and his daughter had camped out on the street since 8:00 a.m. the day before!

At 8:00 a.m. the studio started to issue passes that showed your approximate arrival order. When we got our order number we were #308 and #309. Seems some people were holding spaces for family members and friends who showed up just before the 8:00 oclock time when the passes were distributed. They gave out a total of 325 passes.

We were told to return at 9:45 a.m. to be admitted to the audience holding area. We went across the street for a bagel and coffee and returned to CBS. From 9:45 until about 12:00 noon we stood around while a CBS employee "Chuck" entertained us and had us play games. About 12:30 p.m. they started interviewing everyone for possible contestants. The interviews were done 10 at a time; asking the simple questions about name? were we were from? and just made small talk.

At 2:10 p.m. we entered the studio for the 2:30 p.m. taping. Unfortunately, Sharon's camoflague T-Shirt with the saying "Vietnam Nurses Love Bob Barker" didn't attract enough attention. Sharon did not get on the show, but we were happy that the fellow who camped out since 8:00 a.m. the day before did. By the time we got home at 5:30 p.m. it had been a very long day. "Been there, done that." Don't think we will try that again.

The show we saw will be broadcast on April 20th. We were seated in the back left section if you want to watch for us.

Mission at San Juan Capistrano, CA

We stopped by the Mission at San Juan Capistrano on our way from San Diego to Los Angeles. The swallows were not there; they seem to be behind schedule returning this year.

The Mission had just reinstalled a restored altar piece.

KOA Campground at San Diego, CA

The flowers at the San Diego campground were beautiful as you can see.