RESTING

We left Carbondale, CO Tuesday morning. Sure was hard to leave Elijah & Isaac and their parents. I'll post pictures from our visit tomorrow. I've been really tired; and realized we've been busy every day for the past month.

We had originally planned to only stay 2 days in Provo or Salt Lake City, but found this really great campground, Lakeside RV Campground. I would give it a 9 rating on a 1-10 scale, but the sites are really close to each other. Otherwise, it is great. It's right next to Utah Lake with a walking trail along the lake, lots of trees, but excellent satellite signal; level sites; excellent WiFi throughout the park and plenty of things to do in the area.

We do plan on some drives into the mountains and will visit the Mormon Temple, but this stop is really intended for rest and recuperation. I hope Erin will tolerate the slower pace for a few days. Hopefully we'll be able to mix in just enough activity to keep her happy.

I'll get some pictures and text posted tomorrow about Carbondale and the kids. Just plan on vegging out the rest of today.

More later.....

We'e Moved to Warmer Weather - Scottsmoor, FL

As you can see by our location, we have moved further south. Larry & Phyllis left us Tuesday morning to head back home to Illinois.

Soooo, since we wanted more sunshine than we have had and Dan wanted to walk on a beach in the sunshine; we spent a lot of time on the weather.com looking for just such a place. Wednesday morning we left Fountain, FL for Crystal Lake RV Park at Scottsmoor, FL. Now there's not a lot to see or do in Scottsmoor, but the RV Park is about halfway between Daytona International Speedway and the Kennedy Space Center.

We really prefer to stay in state parks and Corps of Engineer parks, but Florida State Parks are a little pricey unless you are a Florida resident with senior citizen status. This park is another Passport America park with no restrictions as to how long we can just pay half price for our campsite. Some PA parks restrict the rate to 2 days; some only Monday through Thursday; etc.

And, as most of you know, we like Nascar racing, so we would have to visit Daytona Speedway. :)

And we lucked out as far as racing. The 46th Rolex 24 at Daytona is being run this week. This race is a Who's Who of motorsports names with many of the top drivers from NASCAR, open wheel racing and sports cars. There are teams of drivers for each car and the drivers trade off driving for the 24 hours. There are 67 cars with drivers of all experiences driving around a 12 turn 3.56 road course that includes the high banked 3rd & 4th turns of the Daytona NASCAR track.

There are activities all this week leading up to the race start on Saturday. And the really neat part - we could buy a ticket that included admission all 4 days, parking in the infield, and garage access. Since Gail's NASCAR driver and 2 time NASCAR champion (Jimmie Johnson) is on the 99 Gainsco team, we just had to check this out. We spent the afternoon watching practice and strolling through the garage area. REALLY NEAT. And we spotted Jimmie Johnson. :) Didn't get close enough to get an autograph as he was walking away from us.

This is the car Jimmie will be helping to drive. It's called a Daytona Prototype (DP)

Left the race track and did a little grocery shopping and bought a small gooseneck lamp to better light my counted cross stitch fabric I'm working on. Drove back to the campground. Kasey was sitting in the front window of the motorhome to welcome us back. He is such a good traveler. He slept all stretched out on the couch nearly all the way here yesterday. And he sleeps most of the time while we are gone. There are several dogs in this campground and he's met them all on our walks.

Probably won't go back to the track tomorrow. May check out the beaches, but will go back on Saturday for the start of the race. And then, we just may not do much of anything. We are really trying to duplicate the kind of lifestyle we hope to begin this summer with this trip; trying to slow down and just enjoy life without feeling like we have to DO something everyday like we did when we went on vacations. Of course, we do have things that have to be done; walk the dog, wash dishes, walk the dog, vacuum, walk the dog, fix a meal, walk the dog (eat the meal before walking the dog). You get the picture.

More later........

Rickwood Caverns State Park, TN

Our site at Rickwood Caverns State Park. The cave was closed and we didn't have time to go on the fossil walk. Will do those when we return to Alabama in April for the Talladega Race. Will definitely stay at this park again. No satellite service and cell phone service scanty, but the park was beautiful, even in January.

Ate lunch on Sunday and made a Walmart run. About 2 miles from the campground we saw a little brown chihuahua dog running up and down the middle of the road, and there was quite a bit of traffic on the road. Larry stopped and I got out of the truck to try to get the dog. He was very shy and didn't want to come to me, but didn't run either. After much coaxing, I was able to catch him. He looked healthy, but had no collar so we had no idea where he belonged or if he had been dumped. We checked at some houses, but either no one was home or he didn't belong to the people we talked to.

Now you may ask (since you know I'm such a dog lover), did we keep him? Well, that answer is at the end of this story. Checked with the park ranger if he knew of an animal rescue group; he was actually reading a newspaper article about Crossing Paths Rescue Kennel http://www.xpar.org/about.html ; and the article included contact names and phone numbers. Soooo, I called Jo Chamblee and she put me in touch with Pat Kelley, who lives in Hayden, AL which was only about 15 miles from our campground. He was getting another rescued female dog and pups settled with a foster family, but said he would come by the campground later in the evening. Of course, he offered us the opportunity to keep the little guy. :) I think we both thought about it for about 1 minute, and if Kasey didn't already live with us, and if we had been headed back home, and.......... He was a really sweet little guy. Pat did come for him. He had really attached himself to me and DID NOT want to leave. He tried to bury himself in my chest and then tried to hide behind the couch pillows. He really squirmed when Pat tried to put a leash on him.

Pat called the next morning to say the pup had stayed with his sister and her daughters and slept in bed with the girls. He plans to check with vets and place some posters around the area and then try to adopt him out. He thought adoption should be pretty easy. He did remind me that if we were driving through the area on our way home and he was still available, "Just call and you can have him. You won't even have to fill out an adoption request form." :) Don't think that's going to happen. So here are the pictures of the little guy.

Wonder what other adventures we'll find for ourselves???