Dunfey Alaska Journey

We visited with our Son’s extended family for 3 days in Foster City. We stayed at a RV Park in Half Moon Bay.

One day, we toured wine country with our daughter-in-law’s parents, Geoff and Dianna Wood.

Our daughter, Kim, joined us for 3 days at Yosemite. We came into Yosemite from the south. We stayed at Crane Flat National Park Campground.

We visited Yosemite Valley several times. We hiked to Taft Point which had quite exciting views looking down into the valley far below.

On our final day at Yosemite, we traversed the length of the park to go to Mono Lake. Mono Lake is very similar to the Great Salt Lake in Utah. We went from forest to arid desert. The limestone formations in and near the lake were fascinating to see. On the way back to our campsite, Kim and Fred kayaked in a Yosemite mountain lake.   We also hiked down into a sequoia Forrest and back out.

Yosemite and Mono Lake Pictures

Kayaking in Tenaya Lake at Yosemite

When we got back from Yosemite, we parked our camper for 4 nights in an alley behind the house where Kim lives. We stayed at Alex and Elena’s apartment for 3 nights. Our new grandchild, Evelyn, seemed more active when we got back. She really is a delightful baby!

Family Pictures..

Fred got a chance to hit some tennis balls with Alex one afternoon.

Our last night in San Francisco we had dinner in Mountain View with our daughter, Kim. She took us to a Japanese Sabu Sabu restaurant. We ate beef and various veggies cooking them “fondue style” in a mild spicy broth. We noticed that almost all the customers were Japanese.

After breakfast at Kim’s on 9/28, we headed for Tucson to visit Milly’s cousin, Art.  We spent the first night boon docking in Mojave Desert. Then we stopped at 2 pm at Lake Havasu State Park for an overnight stay. Lake Havasu City was much larger than we expected. On our way to Tucson, we travelled along the Colorado River. We saw many small retirement communities along the Colorado nestled in the mountains.

As we post this, we are south of Phoenix on Route 10 within an hour of our Tucson destination.

San Francisco, Lake Havasu Pictures

Arrived at Milly’s cousin’s home in Tucson late in the afternoon of Oct 1st. We were greeted by Arthur Havemeyer and partner Kathy. We stayed 3 nights there parking our camper on the gravel in front of their home.

We had three wonderful evening meals with the meats cooked on the charcoal grill by Arthur. We relaxed each evening in the privacy of their enclosed back yard enjoying beer or good wine.

On our first full day in Tucson, Arthur drove us up to Lemon Mountain. It was about an hours drive each way. The road wound up into the mountains along many cliffs and switchbacks. We reached a small village just beyond the mountain which had recently been rebuilt after being destroyed by fire. We had lunch of chilli and pizza before heading back to Tucson.

The next day, we went to Saguaro National Park near Tucson to hike among the local desert cactus.

We left Tucson towards New Mexico. We ended up staying at Elephant Butte State Park near Truth or Consequences, NM. Our campsite was located on a hill overlooking the lake. We gave up on kayaking and went for a hike along the lake shore. The winds were horrendous. They howled all night making sleeping difficult.

We decided to go to Santa Fe, NM after stopping in Albuquerque, NM at the Indian Pueblo Culture Center/Museum.

We stayed two nights at the Black Canyon Campground in Santa Fe National Forrest above Santa Fe.    

We went into Santa Fe for breakfast. We ran into special event detours and saw about 12 police motorcycles escorting a bunch of cars. At breakfast, we asked the waiter what was going on. He checked and reported back that Spanish Royalty was in town for the 400th anniversary celebrations. We wandered into the Basilica just before the Spanish Crown Prince and his Wife arrived there. We were given the last 2 tickets and attended the welcoming service.

In the afternoon, we went up to the mountains to hike among the Aspens. We visited the Santa Fe Ski area and discovered that they ski there from Thanksgiving to April. 

We found the Santa Fe shopping area outstanding. It’s too bad that we are not shoppers. We could have spent a fortune there.

On the morning of October 7th, we headed to Amarillo, Texas on our way to Tennessee.

We stopped for lunch around 3 PM at the fameous Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo before continuing on to Elk City, Oklahoma.

We just confirmed our Tennessee factory appointment near Knoxville for the day after Columbus Day. It may last several days.

Santa Fe and Spanish Royalty

After Santa Fe we headed east on route 40 across New Mexico and part of Oklahoma. We stayed overnight in Elk City, OK. In the morning, it was raining. We proceeded to complete our trip across Oklahoma to Arkansas .

We set up camp in the Ozark National Forrest about 15 miles away from the highway. The national campground was called Lake Shores near Boston Mountain. Before dinner, we went for a hike in the Forrest and noticed that we could feel the humidity. That night, it poured and poured. The noise of rain pounding on the roof all night made it difficult to sleep.

We headed across Arkansas in the rain to Memphis, Tennessee and then down to Corinth, Mississipi where we visited the Civil War Interpretive Center. This civil war center focused on the battles at Shiloh and Corinth. The Center is part of the Shiloh National Park. The exhibits there and their movies were worth the trip there!. We stayed at the “primitive” Battle Ground Campground right outside the park in the village of Shiloh, Tennessee.

In the morning, we visited the National Shiloh Battlefield Park. The vistor center showed an old movie of the battle which was well done. We took the auto tour of the battlefield. This was manificent. It gave you a good feel of the battle and the horrible slaughter of men that took place there.

That evening we arrived in Nashville and went to the Grand Ole Opry to see and particpate in a 2 hour radio show. Our participation consisted of singing along when asked. This was the Opry’s 84th Birthday Bash. The show participants were mostly older Opry members with a sprinkling of younger entertainers. It was interesting and entertaining.

The next day, we went to Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage outside of Nashville. In the evening, we toured downtown Nashville Music places (Bars). We ate at the Wild Horse Saloon and watched the Tennessee Titans/Colts football game.

On Columbus Day, we travelled from Nashville to the Mountain Lake Marina & Campground in Lake City, TN just north of Knoxville, TN. We have an appointment at Trailmanor trailer factory to have a list of items repaired and adjusted. It may take a couple of days. Then, we head for our daughter Colleen’s home near Rochester, NY before going home to Eastman. We hope to be in Eastman by 10/21.

On Tuesday October 13th we dropped our camper off at the Trailmanor Factory in Lake City, Tennessee. We had an appointment to get maintenance and have certain repairs done. We went for a hike in state forest near the TVA’s Norris Dam and then did laundry. Trailmanor was done by 4 PM. We headed north on route 81. We stopped for the night at Walmart in Bristol, VA just across the Tennessee border.

In the morning, we drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway just east of Roanoke, VA and took the scenic drive north. The rain prevented us from seeing the complete beauty of the parkway drive. We continued onto Skyline Drive as we went into Shenandoah National Park. We camped overnight at Loft Mountain National Campground. The rain continued with a few snow flurries. The temperature dropped to 32 degrees as nightfall came. We kept out heater on all night for the 1st time on our trip!

In the morning a thick fog and rain greeted us. By the time we finished getting our camper ready for travel, we were soaked and cold.  We departed towards Harrisburg on our way to Rochester, NY to visit our Daughter, Colleen. It poured most of the day. At points, the rain changed to snow! We decided to stop overnight at a Walmart near Williamsport, PA. In the morning, we headed to northinto New York  with rainy and snowy weather.

As we approach the Rochester area, there is snow on the ground. We will most likely leave this area for Eastman Sunday morning.  We should be there by late Sunday night or Monday at the latest.

We arrived home at Eastman on Sunday night at about 5:30 PM on October 18th. We had left for our Alaska Trip on May 11th.

We made a bad decision to park our trailer in the opposite direction from the way we had planned. We got stuck between two trees! After some cursing and maneuvering back and forth, we were able to get the trailer back on the road. We parked it as planned originally and went in the house to watch the Pat’s football game. By that time, the Pat’s were ahead 59 to zip.

We were in Rochester NY area over the weekend. We visited Fred’s brother, Pete and our daughter, Colleen and families. Fred also got a chance to visit an old work buddy from Xerox. Milly and Fred met in Rochester in mid 70’s.