Water falls in Alabama

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Thought of Mom, who loves waterfalls. Went on a beautiful scenic drive Little River Canyon, rare river that runs on top of a mountain. Colleen and Jay hiked to little falls. See Jay ready to dive into beautiful pool of mermaids- not! Stayed @ Desoto State Park on a 'buddy' site. Water, sewer and electricity for $25. Near Fort Payne Alabama.

Pristine Sand Bottom River

Kayaking this beautiful river in panhandle of Florida today. Note the white beach sand shore.We paddeled upstream and then floated downstream to bridge near campground. Did not see any alligators today for which Colleen was grateful. Temp in mid 70s made trip very comfortable.

Tom doing "The Woody"

Tom and Jay did "The Woody" a 3 level wooden go-cart track. Lots of smiles and Tom giggled like a kid- love that sound. Wish our boys were here to do it w/ them. The piece of Key Lime pie beforehand give him the energy to 'win'- beat out a macho college kid. Course needed pizza to re-energize. We plan on going to worship here in park this am and then out to champagne brunch for Colleens' birthday. Sound good? Join us!

Gulf of Mexico

Pelicans, shore birds, sea oats, fishermen, white sand, waves, kite surfers, but no dolphins. Probably too rough seas to see. Red flag warning so no boogie boarding either. Ate @ a wonderful Mom and Pop place for fish and shrimp bisque with homemade Key Lime Pie. Had to go back today for their wonderful coffee and pecan pie. Also bought reds (deep sea shrimp that tastes like lobster) so Tom could steam us up some.

People here are so friendly. What is it w/ us northerners?

Smell The Ocean

Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, AL. Site on canal @ sunset. Note the lovely pink tinged campsite. 73 degrees and sl. breeze. We had our pick of sites but hard to see the dead trees from 2004 hurricane that made the soil too salty for trees to survive. They are still rebuilding. Hope to go to beach tomorrow and walk the sugar sand of Gulf.

Rocket Man

Rock

Mammoth

Dead cave, historical tour, butt grease for Fat Mans' Misery just like it looked 4000 yrs ago minus the jeans and shoes :). They think these caves run from Cave City, Ky to Bowling Green, Ky. That's alot of splalucking(sp).

Heaven on Earth

On vacation with DeBies! It's a miracle, we actually got off as scheduled, to parts unknown w/ our good friends. A 1st! So a little bit of heaven for us. What will the new earth be like? So much beauty here even now it makes you speechless. Our Creator has such diversity in His design. Note creatures in pic. You can't see but our kayaks are on top of truck so we are prepared for adventure.

Just Campin' Here

"This world is not my home; I'm just a 'campin' here. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heavens' open door and I can't feel @ home in this world anymore."

On R: Chapel in Topawa, AZ. Dorothy Low,R.N. Hospice Nurse Manager to give message on "Violence in the world; how would God have us bring peace?"

On L: Sonoran dessert scene of saguaro cactus- trees in the dessert.

Back To Work

After a 5 day visit to San Diego we are back in Sells and picking up where we left off. We had a great time in CA visiting Sea World, the San Diego Soo and wild animal park with our daughter in law, 2 grand daughters and occasionally our son, Mark. It was a cool 60 and windy but nice none the less. Joanne has now resumed her work on the Hospice policies etc. and I spent the day doing the wash and a couple of trailer projects.

We are starting to get involved and getting some work done. Joanne is busy updating the Hospice Policy manual and finding material for Dorothy to use and I have been fixing things. We went to Tucson yesterday to get some dressings for a bad blister that Joanne has on her foot and to get a printer for the work she is doing (see picture). Last nite we attended a wake for someone who died. First there was a service at the church and then the casket was placed in the back of a pickup and moved to the yard of a house and a group of people gathered for a wake. Groups of people from each church in the area got together and sang hymns for the family and friends. Joanne and I joined the "choir" from the Nazarene church. The service started at 5:30 and we left the wake at 9:30. Someone stays up all night with the body which is was to be buried at 7:00am this morning.

The annual local rodeo begins tonight so we are going to check it out.

85/40

We Made It

We arrived is Sells AZ on Thursday afternoon after an interesting and enjoyable trip. We traveled through and stayed overnite in Ill. MO. OK. TX. NM. and now AZ. We stayed in a motel in IL. but otherwise we stayed in campgrounds. It was mostly in the 50s during the day and 20s at nite although we stayed for a day in MO when it was 68 degrees. Here in Sells it has been around 70 during the day and 40 at nite with totally clear skys.

On Monday Joanne is scheduled to begin working with Dorothy Low, the missionary nurse, at a nursing home about 30 miles from here. I will probably be working with a group from Pensylvania that is here for a week doing repair work.

This is a test posting. We plan on leaving TC on Monday the 19th, arriving in Sells at least by the 1st of Feb.