Travel History

Reminiscing about all our road trips prompted me to write a bit about them. It started out with our first camper a used, 1971 solid side Apache fold down and a 73 Caprice Estate Wagon when Rick and Vicky were small. There were lots of weekend trips and always a week or two summer vacation, like a trip to the Smokey Mts. We liked camping so much we then upgraded to a 1974 19 foot Mini Motorhome. This took us to Yellowstone and all parts in that area also the Grand Canyon, Washington DC and the east coast, Chincoteague Island and Myrtle Beach. We also used it for winter camping, ice fishing, hunting and snowmobiling. Needing more room as Rick and Vicky were beginning to bring friends we upgraded to a 22 foot Coachman travel trailer and a 4 wheel drive Suburban. With this we did a lot of camping in Michigan, like the Porcupine Mts. and the Lake Huron side of the state along with the weekend jaunts. After Rick and Vicky left for college we pretty well gave up on camping with the exception of going tenting, mostly for salmon fishing. Most of our travels after that were by car with a couple of trips to San Diego, one by way of Texas to visit Brigitte’s sister and then across Arizona, the other by way of Minnesota and across US2 to Vancouver then all the way down the coastline on Highway 1 to San Diego. Then up through Las Vegas. We try to hit all the National Parks we can, it’s still our goal to see them all, but one really stands out and that was driving through Zion NP on Easter Sunday. Totally awesome. We are truly blessed to be able to see all that God has created. We found ourselves in Albuquerque, New Mexico with 2 days to get home and back to work. We made it! Before retiring we bought a new 1997 ¾- ton suburban and a 32 foot travel trailer. This was to be our retirement rig. We tested out on a “leaf peeper” trip through New England with our friends, Phil and Lou Wigent. We went to VA Beach with Chelsea (age 4), picking up Vicky along the way in Richmond. We traveled to Myrtle Beach the following summer with Rick, Tammy and the girls, and Vicky drove down to meet us. We took several shorter trips, like the annual salmon fishing excursions to Ludington, MI. I retired Jan. 2001 and we headed to Texas for the winter. Found the people at Alamo Rose so friendly that the rest is history. Getting back on the road we did the BIG ONE- drove to Alaska. Over 2 months on the road, around each curve was another overwhelming, spectacular sight. When we came back we upgrade to a ¾ ton Silverado and 36 foot 5th wheel. 8 years to Texas 6 with the 5th wheel, 3 trips to Florida and many side trips either on the way down, (Thanksgiving in Richmond at Vicky’s) side trips to Big Bend NP, Carlsbad, Santa Fe, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Branson Missouri and the list goes on. That brings us to our current trip. So there you have it, a lot of miles and a lot of memories. Our children and grand children that have traveled with us some of the time always say “remember when” it gives us a good feeling that we have shown some of what God has created. So we continue on with this trip along with our youngest grand daughter Lindsey to build more memories.