Abilene Z00 (Abilene, TX)

Further details to come!

Hospital Visit (Abilene, TX)

Today we took a test drive over the hospital (Hendrick Medical Center) Shelly will be doing her new travel nursing assignment at.

We also took a quick peak inside and located the room Shelly will be reporting Monday morning to for orientation. Although the outside of the facility looks older or like a military hospital, the inside was very modern and nice!

SNOW!?! (Abilene, TX)

What is that white stuff!?! LOL

WOW, our first full day in Abilene and we get SNOW!
Only got about an inch but is really the first snow we have seen since we started full-time RVing in '06!

Further post to come!

Happy Anniversary! (Abilene, TX)

Today is Shelly and my 18th Wedding Anniversary!

Wow what a journey! You are my ROCK and SO BLESSED to have you!

Happy Anniversary honey!

-Bobby

Because of the great weather and storm quickly catching us from the west, we drove the 240 miles to arrive at the KOA in Abilene, Texas. Although we aren't KOA fans, this is unfortunately the nicest campground in Abilene.

Further details to come!

Anthony, TX

just north of El Paso. At American RV Resort, behind the Camping World.

Not a bad, great views!

Heading to the Escapees RV park in Pecos, TX tomorrow.

Further details to come!

Merry Christmas! (Benson, AZ)

Further details to come! Please check back!

Heading East! (Benson, AZ)

Today's the day. Took us longer than planned to get out of Mesa Spirit, with everyone coming over to tell us good-bye and wish us well. We are going to miss everyone!

Once we did get out of the park, we stopped in Mesa to fill up with propane before driving the 167 miles south to the Escapees Saguaro Co-op RV Park in Benson, AZ.

On our way there, we went by the section of I-10 where the huge pile-up took place yesterday. They still were cleaning up. There was an upside down burned up semi in the median with only the steel belts left of it's tires. On the west side of the road were two more burned up semis along with a bulldozer pile of vehicular debris. The road was a bit burned up, but not to the extent we expected. Yesterday, they closed I-10 for hours, until approx 8:30PM. Again, we thank God that we weren't involved in this and we pray for those who were.

We safely arrived in Benson, and God answered our prayers by providing us with a site (vs boondocking). We'd been calling the park for a week and this is the first available site they've had for us. We had planned to stay at another park if a site hadn't been available.

So, we got into our site, started getting set up and gave our Full-timing Class of '06 friends, Dave & Diane, a call to let them know that we were able to get a site in the park with them. We'll meet up with them at "Happy Hour". Our site has great views of the mountains, as it is on the lowest level of sites and right across from a desert field.

4PM - Happy Hour. We headed to the clubhouse, eager to see Dave & Diane. Gotta love this lifestyle, meeting up with friends on the road. It was good to see them and we enjoyed catching up with them, as well as meeting other fellow Escapees.

Once Happy Hour was over, we parted ways to have dinner and then they came over to our RV to visit with us further. All in all, a very good day!

No Go

We had planned to leave today, but it looks like it's going to be really windy and we want no part of that driving an RV. So we're staying put.

Looks like we made a good decision. There was a sudden dust storm south of Phoenix, just north of Casa Grande on I-10, southbound. It took place around 10AM, about the time we would have been going that way. Many vehicles and tractor trailers were involved in the pile-up, killing three, injuring many and leaving numerous burned up vehicles/semis. God was truly looking out for us by helping us decide not to drive today.

Once more dinner (Mesa, AZ)

One more dinner - tonight we're going over to have dinner at Judy & Bob's RV with another couple, Mike & Bev. Judy made a yummy pasta dish and we brought over garlic bread. Very good dinner, enjoyed with good friends. Judy also had mini-eclairs for desert. We'll miss them and our friends when we leave here!

BBQ (Mesa, AZ)

Looking like we may pull out of Mesa Tue-Wed. So tonight we're off to Famous Dave's BBQ with friends Ed & Michele, John & Julie, and one other couple. What happened to our beloved Waldo's BBQ you ask? Well, after the owner put out a display of a bicyclist run over by a tractor (wearing a famous Dave's shirt) in front of his restaurant, we and many other local bicyclist/clubs voiced our opinions and asked for it to be taken down. The owner chose to stand his ground and refused to remove the display. After over a month had passed and much pressure, he finally relented, removed the display, and invited all cyclists to a half priced dinner to show his so called 'goodwill'. We didn't attend, and have no plans to set foot in Waldo's again. What a shame!

So, Famous Dave's will have to do. We all had a good time, eating dinner in the company of good friends and Michele & Ed surprised us by picking up our tab! Thanks guys!

Early Departure? (Mesa, AZ)

Since we'll likely be leaving early next week to make our way over to Abilene, we're trying to spend time with friends in the park. So, tonight we're going out to eat with Jim & Cheryl to Cici's Pizza. They have a pizza buffet for $4.99/person plus the price of drinks. It's nice, because you get to try so many different pizzas. Our favorites were Spinach, Mushroom & Cheese, Chicken & Mushrooms, and Mac & Cheese. It was a nice treat and we'd certainly eat at a Cici's again. Especially with great friends!

New adventure

After 2 weeks of looking and only one interview, Shelly's been offered a travel assignment at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, TX. This certainly wasn't in an area we really wanted to be in, as they have temps only maybe 5 degrees warmer than "back home" in Delaware. But nothing else seems to be coming in, so we took it. She'll be starting January 4th. A little added pressure is that she'll have to take the dreaded PBDS test her first day there. The test takes approximately 4-6 hours to complete - getting the results the next day. If she passes, good. If not,  the contract is immediately canceled! So we'll be praying that all goes well.

Prayers Please!

After 3 1/2 weeks on Shelly's new assignment, we've just found out that they've canceled her contract, effective immediately! Besides San Diego, Shelly has never had a contract canceled. In-fact, she has always been asked to extend! So back to the drawling board to find something else. Well, she deserves a break anyway!

Bobby's dad has also gotten some bad news from recent tests. His lung cancer has come back. So, maybe Shelly's contract issues is to allow us time to go see him!? We'll have to see how everything goes.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

(Shelly and Cheryl)

At the Service and Tree Lighting at Central Christian Church.

Mesa Spirit RV Parks TG dinner tomorrow at 2:00. YUM!

First's (Mesa, AZ)

Today is Shelly's first day of orientation at her new travel assignment! I pray it goes well for her.

Bobby celebrated by going on a 67 mile group ride out to Phoenix Mountain. Our first ride in that area. Not bad, always fun riding new areas! Oh and a nice 85 today :-) I love 'winter' here! LOL

Arizona Ride of Honor (Mesa, AZ)

What an awesome day we had for the 'Ride of Honor' here in Mesa, AZ! Although we hoped for a HUGE turnout, we still had hundreds of riders in attendance!

Channel ABC15 footage: Killed and injured bicyclists remembered at Arizona Ride of Honor - Mesa, Arizona. http://shar.es/akr0i

Not One More

Happy Birthday Cheryl! (Mesa, AZ)

Surprise birthday part for Cheryl's 70th birthday!

She's a friend of ours, so it's nice to have a little get together on her behalf.

We all enjoyed good ice cream and cake before turning in for the night.

Update

Today Shelly got interviewed and offered a position starting November 9th. So no time off between her current assignment and this one. God comes through again!

'Winter' Cancelled

Found out this week that Shelly's winter San Diego nursing contract was cancelled, before she even started. Due to "Low Census" of patients at the facility. She tried to get an extension on her current St. Joseph contract, but since sheonly has a few weeks left, they've already hired other travelers to fill their needs. Have to start looking again :-(

WOW 50th anniversary celebration! (Mesa, AZ)

Central Christian Church (that we attend) is having their 50th anniversary celebration/party today!

They had different themed area for each decade of their 50 years.

Great games and things to do, especially for kids. Also Free food :-)

So we went for a few hours, enjoyed the sites, had lunch and headed back home.

Judy/sister

Back to Mesa Spirit!

Back at Mesa Spirit RV Resort! Coach ran great and no leaks, Thank You Lord!

As soon as we got here we had to head to church at Central.After church Bobby finished hooking up the lines to the coach. Quick shower and headed out to have dinner with our friends Judy & Bob @Joe's Crab Shack. King Crab dinner was awesome!

Coach is fixed!!

The new 're-cored' radiator arrives. Basically 'New' since it has new tanks and was re-cored with a 5 core, instead of the original 3 layer core! Should have all the cooling we need and then some!

 They also found our radiator fan was cracked and broken, so they installed a custom cut fan, new thermostat, new clamps, anti freeze(& DCA), and new coolant filter.

Heading back to Mesa Spirit Sunday morning as Shelly is working today and tomorrow.

Awesome group here at Massey's and half the price!

Highly recommended if you need repairs:

Massey's Diesel & R.V. Repair, Inc.

1417 S. 59th Ave.

Phoenix, AZ 85043

602-233-1700 (Ask for Tom)

'Camp' Massey's Diesel (Phoenix, AZ)

We paid the money that we owed Cummins and drove the coach over to Massey's Diesel to have the radiator work done. They were great, getting right to work on it. They even backed the coach into one of their bays with the front sticking out so we could still get our satellite. We will be staying/living while repairs are being made.

Leak was much worse after Cummins messed with it

Technician 'Red' removed the Radiator within 3hrs! Cummins wanted to charge us 20hrs labor to remove/install alone (and at higher rate!)!

Uh Oh!

Left Mesa yesterday to drive to Cummins on the west side of Phoenix for some basic maintenance work. However, when we got there, we discovered that we had a radiator leak! We had Cummins take a look at it but their estimate was so HIGH, we had a second thoughts. Bobby did some research online, phone calls to Spartan & American Coach, and found Massey Diesel, a shop just a few miles away. He called them and they sounded very down to earth, so looks like we'll be heading over there.

We hadn't thought we'd be away numerous days (as we didn't know we had a leak), so we didn't bring the car. Shelly has to work Wed, Fri & Sat, which puts us in a bind. Thankfully, when we called our friends Judy & Bob, they offered to drive the 30 miles to come pick us up, and take us back to Mesa to pick up our car. We didn't even have to ask! What good friends!

Ride & Dinner

Today Bobby went on a group ride from Mission Christian Church in Mesa. It was an AWESOME ride! Hammerheads did 54 miles @18.5avg! Cleaned his bike, then took a nap! So Blessed!

Tonight we went to dinner at Famous Dave's with friends with Judy & Bob. Our first time at FD, pretty good!

Women of Faith Conf

Today, Shelly went to her first Women of Faith 2-day conference.

Really good, with thousands of women in attendance.

They have four women who led the worship music along with speakers.

Thge speakers were so good and brought my tears as they relayed their stories abnd how God had carried them through their situations. God is an awesome god and He will lead us through anything - we only have to reach out and take His hand that is already there, waiting for us to grab hold.

This was such a wonderful event, and Shelly wants to try to attend one of these each year, with friends!

While Shelly was at the conference, Bobby made a Doctor appointment at Cummins for Monday because he found a coolant outlet hose that looks old/weak on the coach engine, check and replace if needed. He Also received ordered from Spartan yesterday, so he changed oil/air/fuel filters & oil in Genset. Drained air tanks/lines and install new air drier filter on the coach. Lastly topped-off coach batteries and packed up some outside stuff for our trip Monday.