Home for a While

Now home after a truly wonderful two-month, 5127 mile trip around the U.S.  We went as far south as Palm Beach, FL....as far west as Tucson, AZ with a great stop in New Orleans.   Now we wash our clothes, clean the coach and plan the next adventure!

HAPPY EASTER 2012

Rome Georgia

The iconic Clock Tower in downtown Rome. We made a three-day stop here to visit with George & Irene Harper....as usual they had a lovely itinerary for us. We camped at Lock and Dam county park right on the Coosa River where George played as a boy.  Our private guided tour came with a driver and narration. We saw George's boyhood home and schools.

,,A highlight was a drive through Berry College, a gorgeous, 26,000 acre campus. Founded in 1902 by Martha Berry for rural boys. Some Academic Gothic buildings were donated by Henry Ford in 1904.....berry.edu

After lunch downtown, the driver took us to Cartersville, GA to the Booth Western Art Museum....an unbelieveable collection of hundreds of paintings and sculptures. I found it wonderful!  Of note was the American Presidents exhibit...a painting or photo and handwritten letter by each of our Presidents.   Great refresher in Presidential history.

boothmuseum.org

The next day we had a wonderful bike ride on part of the Silver Comet trail.....a 61 mile bike trail that starts in Atlanta  and connects with the  Chief Ladiga trail.  silvercometmap.com   Our nine mile ride ended at the small town of Piedmont, AL.

More Texas

We travel on through this huge state....we have departed from the caravan in order to slow down and visit some points of interest. We miss our traveling buddies! No wine time with boisterous conversation.  Spring is getting ready to burst, we saw Texas bluebonnets along the highway today.

We stopped at Frontier Texas...an incredible museum that traces the opening of the Texas Frontier with multi-media presentations. What a way to learn! Holograms of actors told the stories of Indians, Wranglers, Slaves, Women, Settlers. Relive the Old West with a century of adventure....1780-1870. frontiertexas.com

We spent one more night in Texas at Gladewater....a horrible thunderstorm kept us inside the coach.

Friday found us moving east to Shreveport, LA....I found a gem of art museum and garden. R.W. Norton Art Gallery...he made his fortune in oil. His wife and son amassed a significant collection of fine art. To honor the memory of Mr Norton they created a foundation and opened the art gallery. For a small museum I was stunned by the quality of the works which leaned heavily to Western Art, one of my very favorite genres. rwnaf.org

In back of the museum is a 43 acre garden with paths, benches, sculptures, water gardens, mass plantings. The camellias were just finished blooming and the azaleas were ready to burst into glorious bloom. What an incredible place, it filled my soul.

Lubbock TX

How did we find ourselves spending the night at the Lubbock Walmart? 

Our caravan of three coaches headed east on Monday...spending the night at a luxury RV resort at Las Cruces. Our leader George likes to travel on state highways enjoying the local scenery: we followed and saw huge mountains, open ranges, small towns.

At a rest stop in New Mexico

We stopped for lunch in Roswell, NM...home of many UFO's...we didn't see any. Our fearless leader found parking spots for the group on the city street in front of the country courthouse. Amazing!

We lunched at Pepper's and I found their murals entertaining. We drove a total of 360 miles and ended up at Walmart in Lubbock. It will take a few days to drive through Texas!

More Tucson

Sunday was a free day at the rally. We took the time to do laundry, house-clean, nap. In the afternoon we drove to the Tucson Mountain Park  at Gates Pass for the scenic views.

We went to afternoon mass at Mission San Xavier....a stunning example of Spanish Colonial architecture. The mission was established in 1692 and the current church built completed in 1797. One can step back in time into an authentic 18th century space. sanxaviermission.org

Tomorrow we head back East..........

Destination - Tucson

The caravan arrived in Tucson safe and sound thanks to leader George Sanders.  We arrived  at the rally site four days early to be able to sightsee in the area.

Several of the guys enjoyed their visit to Pima Air and Space Museum. An outstanding display of a huge variety of aircraft. Jack found the military aircraft that he flew in the 1960's.

pimaair.org

photo by George

 

I went to the downtown Tucson Museum of Art; a wonderful variety of exhibits from comtemporary painting to Mexican Folk Art.  tucsonmuseumofart.org

Pima County Courthouse

We visited Sabino Canyon, a desert
oasis. We rode a tram 3 1/2 miles though the canyon. Incredible desert beauty full of hiking trails. We opted to walk back down to the visitors center.