Dec 15, 2018 - Joshua Tree and Oceanside.

We have been in Oceanside now since Tuesday. Tassie, our beautiful, dependable RV will settle in this area until January 9th. We will be heading back to Orlando for ten days on Wednesday. It seems as if Joshua Tree experience is distant as our attention is on family here and seeing the kids later this week. Although we are only three hours from Joshua Tree, it looks and feels like a different part of the country. We stayed at 29 Palms, California. A town located near the marine base. We are actually only a mile for Camp Pendleton here. The...

Dec 14, 2018 - Heading South

Heading out at 9AM as planned and down US-13 on the Delmarva peninsula. It's foggy this morning but not bad enough to hamper the trip. By the time we reach the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel the fog has burned off and it's cloudy clear. So far the rain hasn't made it this far East. We pass through Virginia Beach around noon time so traffic is pretty light. Heading West on US-58 we meet up with light rain around 1 o'clock. As we get closer to I-95 we're beginning to notice piles of snow on the sides of the road from last weekend's snowstorm...

Dec 14, 2018 - Hidalgo Festival of Lights

Date: December 14, 2018 Weather: sunny, very windy Temperature: start 51º High 68º Wildlife count: Year List: 367 Birds: Six intrepid gentlemen joined us this morning, and the wind truly whipped. The best birds were the hawks attempting to stay in the air! We were back by noon with six happy guys – many had seen life birds. We completed our paperwork, had lunch, and went back to make our list copy. The evening was spent at the Hidalgo Christmas fiesta. We had a beef dinner, then a ride on the tram through the lights. We had been invited...

Dec 14, 2018 - Holiday Greetings 2018

Happy Holidays from Ennis, MT 2018 Isn't it great to get those cool Shutterfly holiday cards with the framed pictures of family and friends highlighting their travels and events during the past year, complete with good wishes and holiday cheer? Guess what... you're NOT getting one of those from us. Instead consider this your electronic "Season's Greetings from the Sussmans." Yeah, sorry...we tried. No patience, no 12-28 year old handy to help us plow through the uploads and downloads. Maybe next year, but don't hold your breath! The most...

Dec 13, 2018 - Christmas Lights Tour

After lunch today at the weekly music jam, Debra Ruprecht and I played a duet (“Silent Night”) with our Native American flutes. We received several compliments, even from our instructor, Carl Perry. This is significant because I’ve had only two lessons and Debra has had only one. We were encouraged by the reception, so we plan to do it again next week. After dinner tonight the CARE bus and a transit van took a bunch of us to see the Christmas lights in town. I was surprised at how many businesses and government buildings had extensive...

Dec 13, 2018 - A wonderful bird walk

Date: December 13, 2018 Weather: bright sunshine Temperature: start 62º High 81º Wildlife count: Fox Squirrel Year List: 367 Birds: This morning’s walk was one of the best! There were 8 guests, a couple from Scotland and a couple from South Africa. All were so very interested in finding birds and were delightfully thrilled when we did find the birds that they had hoped to see. It made our job so much fun. It had rained quite a bit last night, so the trails were very muddy, but the folks didn’t seem to mind at all. It was after 2pm till...

Dec 13, 2018 - On our way to Texas

I know it's been a long time since I posted but it's been busy and I've been sick twice and a lot has happened. It's late and I don't have enough time to tell you everything but I'll give you a condensed version. The weather has been horrible except for maybe 10 days scattered out over the last 2 months. We've had more rain and cold temps than I can hardly stand. Many, many nights of 30 degree or lower temps. We used a tank of propane a week for 2 weeks. That wasn't cheap so we purchased an infrared heater for the bedroom and we've mostly...

Dec 13, 2018 - Clam Bayou kayak

It seems to work out that twelve of us go kayaking on a Thursday and that seems to be a perfect number. The day started out cool but the kayaking temperature was warm and the day was a bit overcast or it was hazy, so sunburn wasn't a threat. The first thing that got my attention was a yellow-crowned night heron. I had not seen them here before, so it was a treat. But then I saw another and another - 5 or 6 all in different places with different poses. Sweet! This is the corridor with lots of Osprey and they are still there. We paused to...

Dec 13, 2018 - 2-year travel anniversary!

2-year anniversary December 13th marks the two-year anniversary of our RV adventure on the road! We left Birmingham Alabama on December 13, 2016 after we both retired on August 31st and spent the next 3 months doing a whole house renovation on a house my brother and I inherited from our parents. Once the renovation was done, we packed up the last of our stuff and headed east. We spent the holidays with Adam, Laura and the 5 grandkids in Savannah before heading to Florida to warm up a bit. While we were in Florida, we changed our domicile...

Dec 13, 2018 - And we're off and running

With Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again" echoing in our heads we're off for this year's adventure. At least the temperatures are better than last year's 7 degrees. It's an uneventful trip down the NJ Turnpike into Delaware and onto US-13. We'll stop at Lake Somerset Campground in Westover, just short of the Maryland/Virginia border. Day one has been five hours of road time to cover 235 miles. I'll try to keep this journal going. It may bog down once we get to our destination in Harlingen, TX, but I'll try to keep up with where we're at.

Dec 13, 2018 - Last Days in San Antonio???

Wednesday is the last day scheduled for San Antonio. However, the thing the west is known for...Moriah (the wind)...has raised her ugly head again and we are now changing our schedule to allow us to stay Thursday in San Antonio due to the scheduled winds. This meant also changing our destination reservations in Ft Stockton, TX and Las Cruces N.M. I ran downtown to Paris Hatters to get them to provide the silk liner they forgot to put back in my Stetson I purchased there last December. It took them less than 5 minutes to get a new liner...

Dec 12, 2018 - Dec 12th

Last night was pretty chilly. It was supposed to frost on the North part of Lake Okeechobee. The ladies walked dirt road at 9 in the morning, while it was quite cool and windy. I walked the top of the levee early in the afternoon after some warming and the sun shining bright. I am having trouble getting photos posted to the blog but I am still trying.