DejaRue's travels to California, Colorado and home

Enjoyed our time in Calif. with Jeanne, Marcia & Pat.  The weather was rainy and cool but that didn’t stop us from going to the beach, playing some pickleball, doing water aerobics and Joe even did a few jobs at Pat’s and Jeanne’s houses.

Jeanne drove all of us to San Francisco one day-thank goodness she was driving, we could not have handled the crazy traffic.  

Our first stop was at the Golden Gate Bridge and then we went on to Point Lobos and the Sutra Heights Park, and Baths.  Had a fun picnic lunch in Golden Gate Park.

We drove through some of the neighbourhoods including “Castro” and “Haight Ashbury”

Spent the afternoon at the California Academy of Sciences where we did the Planetarium, the Rainforest, the Aquarium and a display that actually shook us up like we were in an earthquake-good practice for Pat & Jeanne.

Great day and on the way home Pat treated us to  a wonderful dinner at her favourite Thai restaurant.

Yummy dessert of mango slices and sticky rice

Sad to say goodbye to all of them the next day but it was time to head to Durango, Colorado where Joe will help our friends Tom & Stanna with their bathroom shower project.

Very windy conditions on our drive to Barstow, Ca.  Stopped at a “Love’s Truck Stop” where we had a good internet signal from the McDonald’s so after dinner we went inside for an ice cream and watched some TV.

The next day we found our way to a Bureau of Land Management campground near Flagstaff only to find that it was “closed”.  Went on and found a Cracker Barrel to stop at and discovered in the morning that it had snowed.

  Went in and had a good breakfast before heading out.

On the way to Durango we had snow and sleet but managed to arrive at Tom & Stanna’s by mid afternoon.  So good to see them.

Joe and Tom started the shower renovation on Saturday.

  We spent the next 6 days going to the rec. centre to play pickleball and do water aerobics.  The guys did take a break to go for a bike ride and Joe discovered that it was quite a challenge to ride a bike up and down the mountain roads.

Stanna and Helen enjoyed walking on the trails along the Animas River.  Their condo is located right on the river and within walking distance of the town of Durango.  Had a great visit with Rita, long time friend from Bailey's Bluff & her friend, Ralph.  

Al & Jill (Dragonfly) arrived on Fri. afternoon and we spent the day and evening getting caught up with what has been happening with them-Jill going through Breast Cancer surgery, Al recovering from his bicycle accident in Spain and the dismasting of Dragonfly enroute to Hawaii.  We also had a lot of discussion about Lloyd’s of London Insurance Co. claim for the boat.

Kurt & Carol, Tom & Martha Ann joined us for 3 days of fabulous meals, a hike on Sun. at Bisti Wilderness Park in the desert.  Full of petrified wood & trees, amazing rock formations.  

Monday evening was the 10th anniversary of the “Paradox” capsize.  We were all involved with the search and rescue portion but had never heard all of the details of their survival so we all sat around listening as Tom & Stanna recounted it.  They are amazing people and we’re lucky to have them as “best friends”.  

On Tues. morning it was time to say goodbye and head for home.  Our trip back took us through Colorado, Kansas, Indiana and Michigan.  Arrived home at 7:00 P.M. on Fri., Apr. 14th.  Our entire trip was 11,721 miles.  Wow, good to be stopped for a while.

Getting  settled into our home and looking fwd. to lots of summer fun with family and friends.

On our way to California

We left Mesa on Monday and drove to Parker Dam on the Calif. side of the Colorado River.  Found a nice BLM (Bureau of Land Management) Park where we had a  spot to park the van right across the road from the river.

The next day we drove to Parker Dam and then went across to the town of Lake Havasu .  The original London Bridge which was built in 1830 was moved there brick by brick and was reconstructed on a site over the canal. Spent the day walking across the bridge and the beach area where we had “free” pancakes”.  A local church set up a stand to feed pancakes and water to anyone who stopped by.

numbered bricks for the London Bridge

Parker Dam

walking on the gorge bridge

Decided to spend another night in the park-great deal just $5.00 per night.

On Wed. we drove to another BLM Park near Lake Isabella.

part of the Pacific Crest Trail

We were the only campers there and it was a nice peaceful night.  Good washrooms but no showers-yuk.

Thurs we were off to Sequoia National Park which is the 2nd oldest national park. Since Joe has a seniors pass for the national parks we didn’t have to pay the entrance fee of $30.00 and we paid half price for the camp site - $11.00.  Good deal.  There were only two camping areas open so we were lucky to find a spot.  

On Fri. morning we took off to drive through the park.  The Sequoia trees are amazing.  The General Sherman tree is 2200 yrs. old and is 40’ in diameter. The swish back roads are a challenge and they are restricted to vehicles no more than 22’ long-we just made it.  Joe was looking forward to driving all the way up the park to the Kings National Park.  We got 1/4 of the way when the sign said “road closed” and we had to turn back.  Found out at the information booth that they were working on the trail to get it opened so we had our lunch, Joe took a nap and when I checked the road had just opened.

After we got there we knew why it had been closed-high walls of snow on both sides of the road but the pavement was clear. Windy roads all the way up 5,000 to 7,000 feet and back down again.

Walls of snow on each side of the road

Our next stop was at San Joaquin River park just east of Fresno.  There was only one other camper there until after we took a 1 mile hike to the bridge.  When we got back there were 30 tents set up with a group of boy scouts.  We also met a couple from New Zealand who are traveling across the U.S. in their van.

The next day we made out way to Sebastopol.  Jeanne and Pat greeted us on the front steps at Jeanne and Marcia’s.  So good to see them.  Had a delicious chicken dinner with Pat, Jeanne and Marcia.

On Sunday, after church, we took a drive to Point Reyes National Seashore had a picnic lunch and then went on to Pat’s house where we all spent the night.

The Berry Kids - Pat, Jeanne & Joe

Lots of rain in the forecast for this week so we’ll enjoy visiting with Jeanne and Marcia this week and just chill out.

Great Time in Arizona

We’ve spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Mesa, Arizona with Annette & Hardy and Pat & Doug.  They kept us busy with lots of get-togethers with their many friends here in Sunland Village. I loved the water aerobics every morning and Joe went on lots of bike rides and played pickleball every day.  We enjoyed meeting all of their friends, watching the tennis matches and of course, the girls did lots of “shopping”.

Spent one Sunday afternoon at Filley's a neat spot in the mountains where the cowboys and cowgirls come riding in on their horses.  Good fun and music.

Even had a surprise visit from our friends from Windsor, Ken & Jeanne, who also cruised in Georgetown, Exumas with us for several years.  

  Now we’re headed west toward California.  Hoping to make several stops in State parks along the way and looking forward to our visit with Jeanne, Marcia and Pat in Sebastopol ,California.

Beautiful evening at Cheryl & Bill's

Ken & Jeanne joining us on the patio at Annette & Hardy's

The Georgetown, Ontario group at Annette & Hardy's 

Fresh Orange Juice, Yummy

Hardy at Filly's

Fun time at Filly's

Beautiful Sunset

DejaRue in Arizona

Wow, we made it to Arizona-arrived in Mesa at Annette & Hardy's on Fri. afternoon.  It's been a busy couple of weeks.

It was difficult to leave the lovely home and wonderful people we spent 3 months with in Melbourne Beach but it was time to continue on with our travels.

Along our way through Florida we had great visits with friends, Barbara & Mike in Englewood, Ron & Bernice in Ft. Myers Beach and our beautiful daughter, Alison, in Dunedin, friends, Lyn & Harold, Chuck and Clara in Tarpon Springs and Tim, Nancy & Mia in Hudson.

The drive across the U.S. from the Florida panhandle to Arizona took 5 days and was uneventful
 except for fast moving traffic, lots of wind in Texas and a rainy day through Alabama.  We enjoyed our camping in the Cracker Barrel parking lots, a State Park in Texas and the Flying J Truck stop. We did make a detour in Alabama so Joe could visit the Battleship Alabama Museum.

So glad to pull into the driveway at Annette & Hardy's home in Mesa.  Of course we've been busy since we got here and are enjoying spending time with Annette & Hardy, Pat & Doug and all of their friends here in Sunland Village.

We plan on doing some trips from here to see Arizona before we leave for our Berry family reunion in California and then to Durango, Colorado for our cruisers' reunion.

Keep in touch with us. Love, Helen & Joe

The 3 "Sisters"

Another great visit with Barbara & Mike

Ron & Bernice in Ft. Myers Beach, FL-celebrated Helen's birthday!!!

Our beautiful Daughter, Alison in Dunedin, FL

Joe  visiting the Battleship Alabama museum

Having dinner in our little camper

The start of a new year - 2017

The new year has been quiet for us - no big storms to worry about and wondering if the anchor is dragging.

We are continuing with our kid/sitting gig and are in a pretty good routine with Kai.  Keeps us busy when he gets home from school- doing homework, reading, monitoring his “screen time”.  He’s learning to hit the pickleball and enjoys going out every afternoon to practice.

Had another good visit with Richard at Torrey Oaks.  Joe was in his glory because they play pickleball every morning and then again at 4:00 for Happy Hour pickleball.  I played a few games and also joined an exercise class, water aerobics class and line dancing.  You can be busy every day in this park.

We took Kai to the beach on Martin Luther King day.  Joe tried flying his kite but the wind was onshore and it quickly it got tangled up in the dunes.

Suzie always has lots of projects going to keep Joe and all of her other worker bees busy.  The biggest one is installing an outdoor kitchen-2 burner stove, rotisserie BBQ and sink.  

Kai and Suzie took off on a Thurs. afternoon for Orlando where Suzie went to work and Kai was picked up by this father for a weekend at Disney.  He came home on the Sunday with his new Disney monorail.  He now has a complete airport and monorail set up.

Joe continues to tweek things on the van-he took it for an alignment and ended up with a $900.00 bill-needed 4 new tires too.  It never ends.   The electronics are the biggest issue and I think he’s figured out most of it.  Guess it’s a good thing that we were here for 3 months to get all the kinks out of this vehicle.  Now it will be ready for our trip West.

This past weekend, Joe & Kai worked on his science fair project.  Kai loves airplanes so he picked the project “Can the design of a paper airplane make it fly farther”. They made paper airplanes and Joe designed a launch out of a cardboard box, paper clips and rubber bands.  They tried different wing and elevator configurations to see which one flew the farthest.  Amazing how much fun Kai had with some paper and a cardboard box.

We managed to see a satellite launch from Cape Canaveral.  It was scheduled for a Thurs. evening so we all went over to Suzie’s parents house on the beach to watch.  As we followed the countdown, Joe read online that there was a problem and the launch was cancelled.  The next night we were watching TV and saw a message saying the satellite had been launched so we grabbed Kai, ran outside and saw it clearly in the sky above us.  Really neat.

We try to see a movie and go out to dinner every week-so far we’ve seen, Allied, Fences, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Arrival.

Just purchased a 12V refrigerator for the van and we will continue with updates as we improve our camper.