On the road

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The Outer Banks

July 5-10, 2008. Northern coast of North Carolina: lots of quaint cities with marinas. Some of our stops included: Wilmington, Morehead City, New Bern, Ocracoke, Waves and Kitty Hawk. New Bern, NC. is a nice place to visit. Donny Helbich with Neptune Yacht Sales showed us several fine sailboats. He was a wealth of knowledge, as he had spent many years living and sailing on boats, with wife and two large dogs at first. Then they starting having children, which they homeschooled while living and traveling the Caribbean on a 38′, then 42 footer after the 2nd child came along.

A 2 hour ferry ride from Cedar Island to Ocracoke, NC. Bus rocked along with the ferry. Met an interesting character, Ricardo, who has been living on the road for a few years. His mode of transportation is a bicycle. He crochets hats for children to sell as his only source of income. He finds things on the highways and byways, such as a digital camera with a tripod. Hmmm. He plans to write a book about his life, and will title it “Ricky”. He talked of his disgruntled attitude about the government, health care system, and particular family members. He was hungry and tired. I made a huge sandwich and gave him some other food for the road. He was very thankful. Disembarking the ferry we had to drive through the main part of the village that had very narrow roads, with lots of foot and bicycle traffic. It was harrowing. Found a beach side parking lot to dry camp in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Rode bikes through the village and had dinner by the water. It rained that evening and the next day.

To finish off the Outer Bank, we visited the Wright Brothers National Park and Memorial in Kitty Hawk. I had to see the grounds where man’s first flight occurred in a wheelchair…some bizarre foot ailment besieged my left foot. I think it was gout! :-/

Or is it just starting over? We’ve decided to sell the bus. This started as a one year plan and so it has become. We didn’t get to see the entire country in a year, just half. And we may move on to a boat to see the east coast. That sounds grand, but we need to move this bus first. It’s been well taken care of and is ready for a new owner. We’ve put together information here http://www.2000liberty.info so take a look. We’ll still stay in touch, right here.

First 2 weeks of May:

See all our pictures here.

After leaving New Orleans, we spent several weeks along the “Emerald Coast”, that beautiful part of the Gulf that includes Mobile, Gulf Shores, Pensacola, Destin. See the pictures. Had to get out and head north. Way too much vacation.

To my Mother, Dorothy Jean Pruner, 05/22/22 - 10/20/2004. On the anniversary of Mother’s death, I want to acknowledge one of the many gifts that she inspired in me… the wanderlust of traveling. Her Mother, Mildred, inspired the same in her. So, as a tribute to Dorothy and Mildred, and a deep felt thankfulness for their spirit of travel and new experiences, I want to continue the family tradition…in loving memory and gratitude, daughter Linda.

September 8, 2007. Off to Calgary, Alberta CA down the long, long, long and straight Highway 2, through Port of Piegan/Canway, the port of entry on the East side of Glacier National Park. After a full day of driving we found an RV park in NW Calgary, right next to the Winter Olympics facilitiy. It used to be the KOA. We found that most of the RV campgrounds in this general area of Alberta and BC do not have 50 amp service. So we limped along with 30 amps. Can’t use our grill nor the cook top without 50 amps. And we have to monitor our electrical panel when we turn on the microwave, or washer or dryer, and HVAC. It takes awareness, but manageable.

So, for our first night in Calgary, Jamie and Martino gave us the most energetic and enthusiastic welcome to their city. We were wisked out and about to the fave places of Becky & Patrick’s, plus a real treat, A Bar Named Sue with a live rock-a-billy group named “Black Coffee Cowboys”. We ended up back at Jamie & Martino’s for a musical odyssey and Martino’s Black Bush Irish Whiskey. We were escorted back to our bus by Jamie at 5:30am. Geez. These Calgarians know how to entertain!!! See ALL demented pics here.

Two days of recovery later, we took our fabulous tour guides out to dinner at the Original Joe’s, and dinner the next night was a homemade Greek affair put together by Jamie and her dear friend Antonia Andreou. Tiffany, Chris and their crew of children joined us. Mitch (Antonia’s son) along with Tiff & Chris’s kids made for a lively evening. It was special and yummy too! View all pics; no remote control needed.

Calgary is a pretty, cosmopolitan, Tulsa-like city. Friendly folks, great bike trails and beautiful parks. Our last day in Calgary was spent on a bike ride to Chinatown and dinner at the “Delicious Country Restaurant”.

I ran into a bee or wasp on the ride back. My ring finger and left hand became a a swollen, scary appendage. Preparation H and neosporin really helped alot (on the bee sting!!!). Out and about in Calgary pics.

We went to Longmont to get service for the cord reel and the reverse-osmosis water filtration system. Went to the recommended K&C Camping World in Longmont and they couldn’t help. They just don’t work on busses. Wanted to have the engine and transmission checked out because that had not been done since we owned this thing and we’ll be spending the next several months in the mountains. K&C recommended Transwest Trucking a few miles down the road for the Detroit diesel. A great group — Matt has to be the friendliest service guy ever. See the post on spending the night there. They work 7am to midnight just like Prevost in Ft. Worth. Very professional. The motor checked out with no fault codes. Got the computer printout that tells the motor history. All good. Went to near downtown Denver to Stewart-Stephenson for Allison transmission diagnostics. All is quite well with the transmission other than a little low on fluid. Got the full history and clutch analysis. Everything is good. Learning new things all the time.

While at the KOA (which has to be the most expenseive place we could possibly stay, even though it includes putt-putt golf, hot tub, pool, canteen, free USA Today at our door, patio with furniture, hordes of yellow-shirted workers), we hooked up with Rodney (Zuniga) Hamilton, a pal from long ago. Rodney helped me with soccer personally and helped coach the girls, mine and all those I coached. A good guy. Met his two great kids, Tucker and Lilli. See these. From here, we were off to the Air Force Academy and then on to the Denver area.

Stunning.

We needed to wait overnight for some diagnostics on the motor before doing more mountains, (the motor is fine). Found a great place — Trans-west. They work 7am to midnight and past. We dry camped on one of their back driveways. Beautiful night. Nice dinner. Looking around, it’s amazing that this is just a regular night on the road for us. Beautiful sunset, mountains, fresh air. Off next to the Allison transmission place to have that checked out (needed 5 quarts os transmission fluid). Driving the mountains requires that everything be in perfect shape. We’re just starting to get the hang of it.

Here’s some pictures, mostly boring — it’s almost sinful to dine like this.

This is a collage (big file) of what it was like to park in a driveway.

We moved 30 miles East on Thursday, 8/2/07, to the Colorado Springs South KOA. Now this place is deluxe! Lots of great amenities that are not usually at other KOAs or campgrounds.

Last night we had a most lovely evening and dinner at Richard and Cynthia Soudriette’s new home. It’s on a golf course in South Colo. Sp. Richard has a huge, manly Weber grill and he knows how to use it. We were introduced to their fun, funny friend, Jerry. She was the realtor that found their new home. Thank you Ricardo y Cynthia! You are a delight! Click here for pics of Richard’s new wading boot; Richard’s shining alien shoes on the golf course; a holiday cheer in advance; Cynthia hand-washing forks; and the recovery room.