BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN:-)

And - we are off on another adventure in the Magic Bus!

We retrieved the Magic Bus out of storage on Thursday (March 4th) and brought it home to begin the ‘stocking’ process that evening and all day Friday. The weather had been beautiful - so we were hoping that this time we might be able to load without snow and ice. How wrong we were!! We had the largest snow storm of the winter beginning Thursday afternoon and going thru the night - 17 INCHES!!! So - Gary and I spent the morning on Friday “digging her out”! First the base around the bus so we could even get in - then I carefully crawled up top to ‘brush’ the snow of the top of the Bus. Every neighbor in ‘the hood’ was over watching and asking “What in the world are you doing up there??? You are going to kill yourself!!” BUT, I obviously lived to tell about it:-) I must admit - I didn’t stand up much as there was easily 12” of snow up there and the roof was VERY slippery. So, I just ‘scooted’ around on my hands and knees and my butt and a lot. Once all the snow was removed - we began ‘the process’. Everything was loaded and we ready to go - so ‘the hood’ came over for cocktails and a good bye party in the Bus Friday evening.

Saturday morning we were off bright and early - well sort of. It seemed that everything having to do with the tow car was frozen (the breaking mechanism that goes inside, the hook-ups, etc) so we had to heat them up in order to hook them up. Finally, at 8:07 we were on our way with all our neighbors cheering us on and taking pictures for us (I think they just wanted us to get that BIG thing going!).

Our first ‘real‘ stop would be Lemoore, CA to see the Hengsteler clan - especially that granddaughter. In order to break up what would be a VERY long travel day, we did stop overnight in Las Vegas. This time we stayed at a new place - one of those ‘buy your spot‘ places (WE were only there ‘renting‘ for one night). An interesting experience - we definitely brought down the average cost of a unit in there. More Prevosts and Marathons than we have ever seen in one place! (To get a feel what I am talking about look them up on the internet - you will get a good laugh!)

Sunday we headed to Lemoore and are having a great ‘babysitting’ day today. After lots of dancing to “Mama Mia”, Haley, Gary and I had lunch - and now it is nap time. So - Gary and I are taking advantage of the internet connection and trying to get a blog posting up.

This trip is taking us east (after California) across the US on I-10 to Key West, FL after many stops along the way. The first couple of weeks will be a lot of National Parks - Saguaro NP and Sabino Canyon in Arizona, Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad NP’s in/around New Mexico and then Big Bend NP in Texas. We will then go to the Hill Country, Austin and Houston. Next major stop is Florida - Sarasota, Key Largo, Key West and the Everglades and Biscayne NP’s. We will then head up to Beaufort, SC to see those triplets again. From there we will probably begin our trek home with stops in Atlanta, Piedmont and Red Bay, Alabama (Red Bay is where the Magic Bus was made) and head home (we aren’t sure how yet - but that is one of the beauties of the Bus!).

So - keep checking on us. We will try to post every few days - or as we hit new spots. As always - we never know about internet coverage when we get into the National Parks - sometimes it is good and others it is non-existent! But, we will be on the road until Mid-May - so enjoy our trip and hope to hear from all ya all:-)