RV PrimeTime Travelers

2011-05-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

Our last stop! The trailer is parked and home sweet home is in the background. After taking 3,303 pictures and traveling nearly 17,000 miles we arrived home Sat evening, April 29. What an adventure.

2011-04-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

We're almost home. After going 9 month without incident we get stuck in Paul and Linda's back yard and have to be towed out by AAA. Hopefully we'll pull into our alley this evening and then begins the ordeal of unpacking. It's been a fabulous trip and God accompanied us the whole way, guiding and keeping us safe.

2011-04-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

It's finally morning tea time with Linda, one of many events that were missed on our long treck around our country.

2011-04-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

For many years Tom lived in the farm community of Eltopia, WA, near the Tri-cities with his first wife, Glenda, and their children. Tom taught elementary school and Glenda was a pastor of the United Church of Christ in the community. Here some of their old friends from Eltopia join us for dinner at Tammy's house.

2011-04-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Tom helps his daughter Tammy install new door hardware. Helping out his kids on household projects is one of Tom's favorite things to do.

2011-04-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Father and daughter "pancake pigout".

2011-04-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Our 9 month road trip is coming to an end. We will be home in just 2 weeks. We plan on stopping in Portland OR to pick up a "tax free" Apple computer and a large screen TV and then spend a few days at Tom's daughter Tammy's house. Hopefully I'll have some new pictures of that visit to close out this blog.

2011-04-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

We spent a wonderful time with Tom's son Sal and his wife Pat. She served us a delicious dinner of Mexican lasagna followed by a lovely walk along the Russian River in Clover Dale, CA.

2011-04-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

Giant redwoods of California

2011-04-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

The beautiful Oregon coast. It was breathtaking!

2011-04-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

We had lunch here at the famous "'Mo's" restaurant in Newport, OR. What a treat. We camped near here at South Beach State Park.

2011-03-31T08:48:00.001-07:00

We've been having a great time in California visiting with Tom's daughter, Tammy and his three sons, Sal, Ben and Andy and their wives, Patty, Patty and Jen. It was wonderful being with his good looking, creative, smart, fun ,etc,etc, grandchildren, Joe, Dana, Will and Cayleigh. We have a few more days to visit but then we'll be heading for the Oregon coast for some camping time. We hope to arrive home to Spokane in time for Bloomsday.

2011-03-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Here Tom is with his daughter, Tammy in San

Francisco once again eating an ice cream cone. (Gelatto this time). The ship's wheel Tom is standing in front of leads into one of Tom's favorite restaurants in Berkeley. Spenger's Fish Grotto. We enjoyed a delicious dungess crab bisque for lunch. The house is one Tom and his first wife, Glenda owned while they lived in Berkley.

2011-03-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

The Exploratorium in San Francisco where we went with Tom's family.

2011-03-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Tom's family at Bistro M in Windsor CA where we all joined for lunch to celebrate his adopted, mexican born son Sal's US citizenship. It was a great reunion with all present. Some interesting stories were told about the 2 1/2 year effort it took to unravel the endless requirements to prove citizenship and to discover that indeed Sal was a citizen all along.

2011-03-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Tammy, Tom, Ben and Will getting ready to go into Muffin Mania for a breakfast treat in San Rafael CA where Ben lives with his family.

2011-03-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Joe, Kisuke and Dana.

2011-03-22T08:01:00.000-07:00

Tom demonstrates one of his "hands on" science experiments with his grand children, Joe and Dana. Here he proves that air has weight.

2011-03-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

Bowling and dinner with Tom's son, Andy and his family (Joe, Tom, Jessie, Andy, Dana, Patty and Kisuke, a Japanese boy visiting with the Latimers.

2011-03-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Enjoying a cup of our favorite coffee(Peet's) at a cafe in the 4th street shopping area. Peets originated in Berkeley.

2011-03-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

In the tower of Berkeley, Tom overlooks the UC Berkeley campus. He attended summer school here in '77 and '78 while persuing his master's degree in Science education. In the late 60's he and Glenda, his first wife, with their 4 children lived in Berkeley while Glenda persued her Master of Divinity degree at the Pacific School of Religion.

2011-03-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

This is the elementary school in Berkeley, CA where Tom taught 5th and 6th graders. His classroom was the 7 windows on the upper floor left in the picture on the left.

2011-03-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

If you look closely you can see Tom faithfully doing his morning exercise after we spent the night here at this reststop before continuing to travel toward Morro Beach RV Park, CA

2011-03-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the smells, sights and sounds of Santa Monica Beach.

2011-03-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

The Pacific Ocean!! What a thrill to be back on the 'west coast and feeling the cool water wash my feet. We're at Santa Monica Beach. The evening before we had dinner with Tom's son, Ben who was working in LA at the time.

2011-03-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

Here, Jessie does her daily Bible reading at the Picnic table at our campsite overlooking the ocean in Malibu, CA.

2011-03-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a fresh drink straight from the faucet!

2011-03-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

Sunrise over Malibu Beach RV Park in Malibu, CA

2011-03-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

Moonrise over Superstition Mt. in Lost Dutchman State Park in Arizona. It was a huge moon and so wonderful to see.

2011-03-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

Too cold to wade in, but there's the Pacific Ocean. It's great to be here.

2011-03-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

We have traveled across the southern states and have made it to the Pacific Ocean. Breathtaking! We are spending a week in Malibu before we tour the west coast.

2011-02-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

This is Jessie with her childhood friend Virginia Perry. They met in 3rd grade and were friends and neighbors all through highschool. They hadn't seen each other since graduating from highschool (56 yrs). What a happy reunion that was remembering old times. Virginia lives in Glendale, a suburb of Pheonix, Arizona.

2011-02-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

If you look closely you'll see a nesting owl in the crook of this tree in Blythe, CA. We camped here last night.

2011-02-22T13:37:00.000-08:00

Strolling through the Sanoran Desert Museum being shielded from the hot sun

2011-02-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

Arizona sunset. We spent a few weeks exploring the Sanoran desert of Arizona. We've learned the names of many of the cacti and various plants that inhabit the desert. Jessie experienced the spines of a prickley pear cactus up close and personal. (while bending over to adjust a plank under the wheels of the camper).
Hidey tangled with a Cholla cactus and ended up having to be rushed to emergency, sedated, and had 4 people from the vet clinic remove the cactus spines that had literally covered her body. She recovered completely after a few days of medications but there were some tense moments.

2011-02-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

Here, Tom is reading "Arabella", by Georgette Heyer to Jessie, one of many books that have been read aloud to each other as we travel.

The other picture is Hidey helping herself to a drink at our kitchen faucet.

2011-01-28T18:03:00.000-08:00

We're in the small X mining town of Bisbee, Arizona. An artsy, hippy kind of town with interesting shops and restaurants. We're spending a week here at an RV camp.

2011-01-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

Enjoying lunch at Santiagos Mexican restaurant. Fabulous food and a lot of it!

2011-01-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

Not only was underground mining done here in Bisbee, but also strip mining. This is called The Lavender Pit. This whole area surrounding Bisbee is filled with pits, huge mountains of slag heaps (waste banks) and ravaged mountain sides. Eventually all the valuable minerals (copper, gold, silver) were removed and now the aftermath of scars and waste heaps remain. The old mining town of Bisbee still remains and is now a haven for artists and tourists.

2011-01-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

Inside the mine.

2011-01-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

Here we go into the deep dark world of coppermining. We wound up about 900 feet below the mountain top where in the past miners bored into the walls in search of various metals. Once found they would be blasted and loaded onto carts to be brought out where they could go through the multistep process of refinement.

2011-01-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

Here we are all suited up to go into an underground copper mine to seek our foutune.

2011-01-26T13:53:00.000-08:00

Arizona is serious about its no smoking laws!

2011-01-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

Some really strange art on a building front on main street (T)and a fence (B) surrounding a court yard.

2011-01-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

This is the old copper mining town of Bisbee, Arizona. A fascinating town built on the hillsides of the mining industry. Some really weird art but also some very beautiful art and jewelry (too expensive, though). The town has great coffee shops (roasted right here) and restaurants.

2011-01-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

The yucca plants grow huge here in New Mexico.

2011-01-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

Arizona here we come!!

2011-01-26T09:15:00.000-08:00

A beautiful cactus at a reststop in New Mexico.

2011-01-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

Even in the middle of El Paso in the Costco parking lot, with traffic hurling by, Tom is faithful to his morning exercise.

2011-01-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

We're in Texas having a great time. Here, oil wells dot the horizon of this great state. Jessie tried to download a video of bull riders we saw at a stock show in Dallas but her computer wouldn't cooperate. It was wild!

2011-01-22T14:43:00.000-08:00

Dallas skyline

2011-01-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

Tom with his nephew Bill and his wife, Rosa. Two of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. We had a great time with them. They're from Dallas, TX

2011-01-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

"Hmmm...I wonder how I could use this at Sunstead?

2011-01-10T15:38:00.000-08:00

We hunkered down in a KOA camp this evening to avoid traveling on icy roads in Shreveport LA. Temperatures are going into the 20s this evening with cold icy drizzle. You probably read about the snowstorm that pelted the southeast. Fortunately we got out of the hardest hit states just in time.

2011-01-10T15:32:00.000-08:00

This ancient, huge live oak tree stands in the back yard of Shadows-on-the-Teche. (teche means bayou). It is a magnificant home owned by the weeks family and built during the time of riverboats and sugarcane transport in the mid 1800s. Members of the family resided in it until the 1950s when it was turned over to the community historical society with its original furnishings.

2011-01-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

Tom draws a cartoon portrait of Jessie on the tablecloth at Clementine's Restaurant in New Iberia, LA. where we ate official Lousiana fare. Rather than allowing the owner of the restaurant to sell it to a museum for millions, Jessie chose to bring it home. The later added grease spots add a homey touch.

2011-01-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

We took a tour of this first off-shore oil rig ever built (late 1940s)and now moored in Morgan City, LA. When in use the crew would go out drilling for up to 6 weeks at a time and live on this rig. Today's rigs are much more elaborate with luxurious living arrangements but the danger still lurks.

2011-01-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

This is Bob and June Wigfield, the couple who invited us to Sunday dinner after church when we visited the United Methodist Church in Theodore, Mississippi. What a blessing it was. We hope to keep in touch.

2011-01-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

French Quarter of New Orleans on New Years Eve.

2011-01-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

Waiting to board that steamboat in the background, the Creole Queen for Jazz and dinner on New Years Eve.

2011-01-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

Table partners and new friends, Luke and Shelli, from Honolulu aboard the steamship

2011-01-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

The view from our window over our table on the Creole Queen steam boat.

2010-12-31T11:57:00.000-08:00

Getting acquainted with a new friend from the VooDoo Blues shop in the New Orleans French Quarter.

2010-12-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

Inside St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans

2010-12-31T11:48:00.000-08:00

New Orleans

2010-12-31T11:45:00.000-08:00

On the ferry boat heading for the French Quarter in New Orleans.

2010-12-31T11:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, One of Tom's favorite movies is "Big" where a young boy makes a wish to be "big" and it comes to pass. Here, in a similar scene Tom makes his wish to be "little". Actually, in truth, I think that wish of Tom's came true long ago.

2010-12-31T11:38:00.000-08:00

This is a Catholic cemetery in New Orleans. All tombs are above ground due to underground water levels.

2010-12-28T12:10:00.001-08:00

As I write this, we are waiting in an Italian Cafe outside of Biloxi, Mississippi while our trailer tire is being repaired. On Christmas Eve we attended a candlelight service at the United Methodist Church in Mobile Alabama and then spent a quiet Christmas missing our family but enjoying opening our gifts and eating a Christmas ham dinner in our small trailer. On Sunday after attending the same church we were warmly invited to join a couple in their home for left over Christmas dinner. It was wonderful and truly a blessing. I'm hoping to receive a picture of our new friends through facebook and I'll get it posted as soon as I receive it and get back on line.
Now we are headed to New Orleans. We were told about a great 2 hour boat ride off the New Orleans shore along the Mississippi River ,that we may take and of course we hope to see the French Quarter , also, while we're there.

2010-12-28T11:58:00.000-08:00

Here, Jessie gets ready to slice her favorite Christmas bread, Panetoni, imported from Italy.

Below, Captain Thomas H Latimer ("Aye! There was a man!") skillfully operates the dorsal fins of the USS Drum,

ledgendary submarine of World War II fame.

2010-12-28T11:42:00.000-08:00

USS Alababa . We toured this ship and were glad when we came back out into the sunlight. Depressing maze of gray corridors, decending level after level leading nowhere.

A
Above, a tree with leaves of turkey vultures overlooking warm springs leading to St John' river where the Manatees hang out in cool weather.

To the left, Tom wraps Christmas gifts to mail to our families.

2010-12-10T08:48:00.000-08:00

How could you not love this cat!! She's been a great traveling companion. We both wish we could sleep like this!

2010-12-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

We think these yard statues will be a perfect addition to our own front yard. It'll definitely bring class to the neighborhood.

2010-12-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Tom, doing a crossword puzzle for the first time in his life all by himself while waiting for the DeLand Christmas parade.

2010-12-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is a play house theater in Deland where we saw "The Christmas Carol" put on by the local community theater group. They did a great job.

2010-12-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

Here at the Sugar Mill Pancake house in DeLeon Springs, Tom cooks his own pancakes on a grill at our table. There's nothing like blue berry pancakes hot off the grill.

2010-12-10T07:58:00.000-08:00

Our .Christmas tree lights up the window and sends Christmas cheer throughout the neighborhood of Highland Park Fish Camp where we spent a couple of weeks

2010-12-10T07:52:00.000-08:00

Our little 18 " Christmas tree we decorated and placed on the RV table . We have the Chrismas spirit even here in Florida although it feels like Christmas in July rather than December.

2010-12-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

Even Santa gets to bask in the sun every once in a while.

2010-12-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

We've made it to the Atlantic Ocean! We're at New Smyrna Beache here.

2010-11-29T08:19:00.000-08:00

Sunrise at our beautiful campsite in a Georgia state park. We spent a week here, cooking over a campfire, relaxing and just enjoying God's beautiful creation.

2010-11-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

We spent tim with Jessie's sister, Shirley and her nephew, Dale. We had a great time. Dale let us park in his driveway and showered us with hospitality. Here he.s preparing some delicious chili he served us.

2010-11-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

One of the toy soldiers decorating the streets of DeLand, FL

2010-11-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Feeding a dog bone treat to one of Tom's sister-in-law Beth's goats.

2010-11-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

Jessie, and artist, Noah Gerard, at his art studio in Asheville.

2010-11-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

We had a great time here in downtown Asheville listning to local drummers in a "drummer circle" and watching people dance, hoola-hoop, juggle,etc.

2010-11-04T08:03:00.001-07:00

Tom and Jessie posing with Tom's sisters-in-law, Margorie and Beth. Marjorie is an artist and Beth loves to tend her many goats. Both live in the hills of Robbinsville, NC

2010-11-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

Tom , reminiscing about the past while sitting at an oldtime Woolworth soda fountain in Asheville, NC

2010-10-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

This is one of the many beautiful sights we are enjoying here at a KOA Kamp in Asheville, NC.

East Coast

2010-10-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

We've traveled from the Adirondacks in NY to the Blue Ridge Mountains in NC. We're camped at a KOA with our site right on the edge of a beautiful pond. As I write this a Canada goose is making him/herself at home here in our site. The leaves are in full color and the weather is beautiful, in the 70's. Some rain yesterday but it has cleared today. Jessie stayed back at camp to catch up on laundry and this blog while Tom went into town to check out some used book stores. He'll probably come back with an arm full.

2010-10-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

You're looking at a very welcomed Starbuck's sign! Coffee houses are practically an unknown commodity here in the East. When we spotted this we gave a big hurrah and headed straight for it!

2010-10-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

The Biltmore home, built by George Vanderbilt in the 1800's. We took a tour of it and decided our next home will be fashioned after it. It's the largest home in the US so we would have to add an extra room.

cruising Chesapeak Bay, viewing battle ships and forts.

2010-10-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Help! I'm being held captive!

2010-10-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

An evening of solitaire

2010-10-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

2010-10-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

We're in the small town of Oxford, NC. The night before last we camped in a food store parking lot only to be surprised by the sound of cannon fire, flares in the sky overhead, the sound of a machine gun in the middle of the night, more cannon sounds at the crack of dawn while a trumpet played "Reveille" with more flares overhead. Unknown to us until talking to a service station attendant, we were parked next to a service training grounds.
We had a great time exploring the East Shoreline of Virginia and Williamsburg. We've entered NC and on our way to Durham. Found a library here where we're able to catch up on our email.

2010-10-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

2010-10-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

2010-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

2010-10-18T11:21:00.000-07:00