KnTFarr's Blog

House Improvements -Stairs

2011-03-02T18:38:00.002-07:00

These are the beginnings of new stairs!

Kevin and Tara LOOOONNNGG ago

2010-07-14T12:27:00.002-06:00

More Pendaries, NM

2010-06-22T18:40:00.004-06:00

Our site at Pendaries, NM

Long Horn between the camp site and the golf course

Us from a distance

Looking out from the front of the RV park

More Pendaries, NM.

Pendaries, NM

2010-06-22T18:09:00.003-06:00

Gary and Vicki, how cute!!

Deer at Pendaries golf course

Pendaries golf course

Pendaries golf course

Our six day trip to Pendaries, NM with the Lands (minus Da Land Man! who we missed during snow cone time!) This place is a keeper and we'll be going back for more sitting outside, staring at the pine trees, and doing nothing but reading.

Sir Bacon

2010-04-06T21:52:00.001-06:00

2010-02-17T20:36:00.002-07:00

Landscape and animals of the house

2010-02-03T19:07:00.003-07:00

Kevin's birthday weekend playing Mass Effect 2..... Saturday and Sunday... Sunday he didn't even get out of his PJs. Now that is a birthday weekend!

Second Snow

2009-12-23T10:31:00.001-07:00

We got our second snow! YEAH!

Master Bedroom Done

2009-11-11T19:08:00.002-07:00

Couple weekends ago we got the MB done... YEAH!

Master Bedroom

2009-10-27T18:57:00.003-06:00

The horror of doing a master bedroom with a HUGE bed!!

Guest Bedroom Work

2009-10-27T18:52:00.003-06:00

We are now done with the guest bedroom! YEAH! Now we are working on the master bedroom....

Red Morning Sky

2009-10-13T13:30:00.002-06:00

08/29/09 - La Luz Trail

2009-09-07T21:49:00.009-06:00

Kevin and his friends, Clint and Greg, traversed La Luz Trail. This is the trail that starts at the base of Sandia Peak and heads up 3000+ feet. The total walk was approximately 8 miles. It took 6.5 hours. Clint brought a GPS that had a great feature--it showed time in motion and time at rest. The hike was spent about 1/2 and 1/2 between moving and not. This was likely the result of two newbies on the trail (Clint and Kevin) that spent about every other step taking pictures. It was exhausting, but well worth the effort. Looking at the mountains face on from Albuquerque, you could not even begin to guess the beauty from up close. You cross through four climatic zones (see more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Luz_Trail). Kevin was doing great until they reached the switchback trails through the rockslides. This part was very difficult (aside from the oxygen deprivation and lack of excercise on Kevin's part).

Overall, the trip was filled with beautiful views. Kevin came home afterward, took a shower and didn't move for the rest of the weekend. More pics below...

Master Bathroom Nearing "Completion"

2009-08-23T21:40:00.007-06:00

08/23/09 - Albuquerque, NM. We've made good progress on the master b.room. The grouting is 99.9% complete (you can't see the few spots left to be done). The "throne" has been installed; however, it is not "fully functional". The Lowe's employee asnsured us that "all my toilets have every part needed for install"; this was even after Kevin asked, "Does it also have the connecting hose (a.k.a. the supply hose)?". Well, we get it home and find that it does NOT have everything needed for install...the supply hose is separate. It was a nice sales pitch, but not fully accurate. We'll pick up the hose soon and complete the installation. After we finish the toilet install; we have to seal it at the base and a few minor spots to grout. We can then call the master bathroom project finished for now (we'll return to this room, that we are both sick of at this point in the future to replace the shower). The stairs will be our next project. One other, very important part of this project is to ensure that our baby girl, Poka Dot, has a nice place to sleep. She got accustomed to sleeping on a blanket under the sinks. With the removal of the carpets, a blanket will no longer do (she is a cold cat, even in the summer); so we added a new bed for her under there (see below). She will sleep quite comfortably there until it gets too cold, then she'll return to the heated blanket that Grandma Pat gave her.

Storm rolling in

2009-08-19T11:07:00.001-06:00

Storm rolling in from a couple weeks ago.

Bathroom Tiling

2009-08-09T19:54:00.003-06:00

Well, today we finished tiling the bathroom. Now, if you have done tiling before, you'll understand that the project is not complete until the grout is done. Tara will be working on that. We'll be installing a new throne when the grout is complete and we'll be able to stop using the guest bathroom!

Very Cool Present

2009-07-24T20:36:00.002-06:00

Kevin bought me the very coolest present! I am going to be tooteling around ABQ sharing the knowledge!

Grapes

2009-07-19T19:47:00.002-06:00

The grapes we grew... before the birds ate them.

Tiling the master bathroom

2009-07-19T19:20:00.002-06:00

In maybe a week we'll finally get to use the master bathroom again! YEAH!

Conchas Dam

2009-07-17T09:37:00.003-06:00

Conchas Lake

2009-07-17T09:19:00.003-06:00

Our favorite place to camp:-)

New Grill

2009-07-01T10:41:00.008-06:00

Finally after about 12 years of using a very little but reliable grill Tara got a new one!!! She is very happy!

BACON!

2009-07-01T10:15:00.002-06:00

His cute self!

2008-12-15T15:15:00.001-07:00

Albuquerque's first snow!

2008-12-15T09:42:00.001-07:00

Christmas lights are out! "Santa Clause is comin' to town!"

2008-10-30T11:27:00.000-06:00

10/12/08 - Bye Dennis and Ellen!

2008-10-24T11:18:00.000-06:00

10/11/08 - THE ICE STORM FROM HELL. During and right after.

2008-10-24T10:02:00.000-06:00

10/12/08 - THE ICE STORM FROM HELL. I still can't think of this experience without getting a little freaked out. Had to be the most horrible experience in the RV on the road. Lots of shaking during and after that experience! Here is the pre storm... Oh isn't that pretty!?!? Yeah.....

2008-10-24T09:48:00.003-06:00

10/11/08 - Driving back to Albuquerque

2008-10-24T09:09:00.000-06:00

10/10/08 - Out of the Grand Canyon and onto Meteor Crater, Arizona

2008-10-23T09:47:00.000-06:00

10/11/08 - Meteor Crater, Arizona

2008-10-23T09:32:00.004-06:00

10/9/08 - And because the Grand Canyon is just that beautiful! Here are more pictures!

2008-10-23T09:01:00.000-06:00

10/10/08 - Grand Canyon!

2008-10-23T08:55:00.000-06:00

10/9/08 - Goulding's campground the next evening. Nice place!

2008-10-23T08:33:00.002-06:00

10/9/08 - Monument Valley, Utah

2008-10-22T08:26:00.000-06:00

10/7/08 - Goulding's Monument Valley Campground

2008-10-21T08:18:00.001-06:00

10/8/08 - Road to Monument Valley, Utah

2008-10-21T08:09:00.001-06:00

10/7/08 - Four Corners, New Mexico. It was cold and windy!

2008-10-21T07:56:00.002-06:00

10/6/08 - Onto Four Corners, New Mexico. We stayed in the Wal-Mart parking lot over night in Farmington, New Mexico. It was cold and all the semi's in the parking lot made sure to run their engines to keep themselves warm and us up all night long!

2008-10-21T07:49:00.002-06:00

10/4/08 - Kevin's graduation! Good job Kevin!

2008-10-20T07:46:00.000-06:00

10/4/08 - 10/5/08 - Into Albuquerque and the KOA

2008-10-20T07:38:00.000-06:00

10/4/08 - White Sands National Monument, Alamogordo, New Mexico

2008-10-20T07:28:00.000-06:00

10/3/08 - 10/4/08 - Oliver Lee State Park, in southern New Mexico. One of our favorite places to camp. It is right against the mountain and so dark and quiet.

2008-10-20T07:22:00.000-06:00

10/3/08 - Must I really get up this morning!??!?

2008-10-17T12:23:00.001-06:00

10/3/08 - Whew! Made it to New Mexico!

2008-10-17T09:46:00.005-06:00

10/2/08 - 10/03/08 - More of the HUGE state of Texas!

2008-10-17T09:39:00.000-06:00

10/3/08 - You see lots of things while traveling on our highways. This day we saw many wind props destined for a wind farm. NEATO!

2008-10-17T09:34:00.000-06:00

10/1/08 - Getting mighty tired of Texas!

2008-10-16T09:26:00.000-06:00

10/1/08 - Notice the one sign that is posted that states that the speed limit is 80 mph! Nice to see the night time speed goes all the way down to 65 mph!

2008-10-16T09:02:00.000-06:00

10/1/08 - 10/3/08 - Texas is a mighty BIG state! It is a beautiful state.

2008-10-16T08:53:00.008-06:00

9/28/08 -- FL->Louisiana. Got up early and left De Funiak Springs. Crossed the Mississippi River (BIG bridge)! Tara got the sunrise shot out of the back window. You can see Mom and Dad's RV behind us. Anytime the RV makes a stop, Bacon visits Kevin in the driver's seat. AWWWWWWW. We made it between Baton Rouge and Lafayette on this day. There is about an 18 mile stretch of causeway between these two cities where I-10 crosses the Atchafalaya Swamp (this is scary Scooby Doo-type swamp with the tall cypress trees and mosquitos that carry off small children and dogs--we kept Bacon inside). Off of this causeway is a small pocket of land that held the Frenchmen's Wilderness campground. We got there early enough to have a cookout (introduced Mom & Dad to chicken sausages). As we were putting stuff away (right after sunset), the mosquitos swarmed. We could not believe how many mosquito appeared so quickly. That finished the evening--it was inside-only from there on.

9/29/09 -- Louisiana -> Schulenburg, TX. Kevin started unhooking the RV before sunrise. The mosquitos came out in full force just before sunrise. In any case, we got on the road and headed for Texas. We made a quick jaunt through Beaumont, TX looking for the worlds (3rd) largest fire hydrant, but had no luck finding it. Beaumont seemed to be a nice little town though. All along the eastern edge of Texas through to Houston, we could see the damage done a few weeks back by Hurricane Ike.

During planning, we promised not to drag Mom and Dad through the Houston interstate system (after their nightmare passage in rain a few years back). Looking at the map, we found this nice "little" Farm Road (FM1960) that looped around the north of Houston. It appeared that it would take us around the bulk of Houston traffic. It turned out to be a nightmare "shortcut" It was nice and serene on the Eastern edge of Houston, but once we got close to the airport, it was stop-and-go traffic in the northern suburbs of Houston. It remained that way until we reached the western side of Houston and picked I-10 back up. We have agreed that if we ever make this trip again, we'll plow on through Houston without taking any other shortcuts. This made for a very long day. It was nice to reach the Shulenburg RV park in Shulenburg, TX. After we setup camp, the four of us (sans dogs) walked to the Dairy Queen next door for a well earned ice cream cone.

9/30/08 -- Shulenburg -> Ft. Stockton, TX. Texas does indeed seem to continue on forever. We left early on this morning to continue heading west. Our destination was Ft. Stockton. Today involved one of the more exciting events in the trip so far. We stopped off for gas and when Dad went to open his fuel cap, gas shot out several feet soaking his entire right side. Apparently, pressure had built up in the tank (we believe that one of the vents may have clogged. We got filled up and pulled off so that Dad could shower off. Unfortunatly his shoes and clothes he was wearing would never be the same, so they had to be discarded. We continued our journy and about 30 minutes out of Ft. Stockton, we had to do another emergency pull of. The smell of gas was overpowering in their cab. We pulled off at a rest stop and checked things out; Dad found a small hole in the bottom of the tank that had been patched before. It turned out that it was near the tanks drain plug. We continued on to the campground and planned a run into town the next morning to pick up a patch kit. The next morning, Dad got under the RV and began repairs. Kevin assisted with the procedure, but managed to keep his hands fairly clean.

2008-10-16T08:39:00.006-06:00

9/27/08 -- Odessa->De Funiak Springs, FL. We departed nice and early. Grandma Burton watched us go! For our trip out of Florida, we got to see a great deal of RV Butt (that is Mom and Dad's RV in front of us)! The next 4 days were to be a fast-paced trek back to Albuquerque (we have to be back for Kevin's 10/4 graduation). This evening we spent the night at a nice little campground in De Funiak Springs, FL. Kevin scraped the tow hitch on the road coming out of a gas station on the way to the campground (Tara was not happy and had an "I told you so" moment...that's my Nagigator...er...uh...navigator).

2008-10-16T08:32:00.001-06:00

9/26/08 - Day before departure we had to get The Blue Raja off the drive way and into the street. Here is Kevin backing the beast out of the drive way! Good Job Kevin! (Note from Kevin: WOW! Their driveway is steep! I try to to get too impressed with myself, but when I see the pictures of this and realize that I didn't scrape the car hitch or the muffler, I'm impressed! :)

2008-10-15T08:20:00.001-06:00

9/26/08 -- Odessa, FL Spent a nice time with Kevin's family at his Grandmother's house. We rested up and prepared for our trip back across the country. We are heading "Out West!" in just a few days. We happened to hit Odessa at a time that my nephew Ray was back from Iraq. The timing was a great blessing. During the few days here in FL, Bacon got to swim for the first time in a pool (no pictures; Tara and Kevin had to stay focused on the dog, so he didn't panic and drown). We also had a wonderful family get-together and got to sleep in a normal, non-RV bed and take normal showers! We stayed for a few days and then had to start the trek back to Albuquerque for Kevin's graduation.

2008-10-15T08:18:00.002-06:00

9/24/08 - We had a very nice visit with Anthony and Pat this evening. We went out to dinner and made them suffer through the pictures that we took so far on the trip. It was very nice visiting with family after being on the road for 3 weeks. Tomorrow, we'll be sleeping in for some much needed rest and then heading out to Odessa to spend a few days at Mom & Dad's (Kevin's parents).

2008-10-15T08:14:00.002-06:00

9/24/08 - Tara's Dashboard Friends! (Note from Kevin: I don't have "Dashboard Friends" other than the speedometer and fuel gauge. Doesn't seem fair to me, but hey...at least she isn't insisting on doilies yet)

2008-10-15T08:02:00.002-06:00

9/24/08 -- Southern Florida Traveling through Alligator Alley. Today represented the first day since we departed 3 weeks ago that we would turn back West. The drive through Alligator Alley was full of beautiful scenery. It isn't the scary cypress swamps that you would see in an old run of Scooby Doo, but a vast sawgrass plain. During our trip across the "Alley", we got to see a bit of sweet justice for the speeders we encountered on our trip through the outskirts of Miami. We were traveling along with traffic. The highway is 2 lanes in each direction, and we were (of course) traveling in the right lane. In front of us was a car traveling at our speed and to the left of it another passing it slowly (we'll call this Car2). To our left a third car comes speeding past (we'll call this car JerkDriver) and begins to ride the bumper of Car2 . This bumper riding went on until all of a sudden, the Car2 "lit up"...turns out that Car2 was an unmarked police car! JerkDriver instantly breaked and put serious distance between himself and the police car (guess the lights took the fun out of bumper riding). It was really nice to finally see one of these aggressive drivers get a little come-uppance. The police officer was obviously in a generous mood because he did not hang back to pull over JerkDriver. Our guess is that JerkDriver had to change his shorts when he got home.

Our destination today is Anthony and Pat's (Kevin's oldest brother). We plan to spend the evening with them. One of their neighbors is out of town and has offered to host our RV on their RV pad for the night.

Days 16 - 21

2008-10-14T17:16:00.029-06:00

9/18/08 thru 9/23/08 -- Key West, FL We left Ft. Pierce, FL early on the morning of the 18th. Traveling was smooth going until we got onto the Florida Turnpike. There was alot of construction around the Miami area and the people using the Turnpike in this area were not very friendly. On two separate occasions, we had to make dicey lane changes--once to get to the proper exits and then once to get into the proper toll lane. In both instances we found that people would rather pass on our right than wait a few seconds behind us while we moved into the right lane. Add poorly planned road construction to the shockingly selfish driving behavior and you have the recipe for a very stressful drive (note: we do not have pictures from this experience because Tara couldn't remove her fingers from the dashboard to pick up the camera).

Everything smoothed out once we got past the Miami area. We picked up US 1 in Florida City, FL for journey into the Keys. We crossed the Seven Mile Bridge (which Kevin actually measured out to be just under 7 miles; the old Seven Mile Bridge still runs along side it, but is not open to traffic...maybe it was really 7 miles long; in any case The Seven Mile Bridge sounds much better than The Just Under Seven Mile Bridge). While traveling along this bridge, we passed Pidgeon Key (the Pigeon Key Foundation maintains a museum and several of the original buildings here used by Henry Flagler during the construction of the original railroad bridge to the lower keys). Note the picture below is not one that we took, we copied it from Wikipedia :)

We stayed at Boyd's Campground while in the Keys. Our campsite was located on a small peninsula. The space backed right up to the water. Below is an aerial view of the campground (retrieved from their website http://www.boydscampground.com/) along with an arrow pointing to our approximate location.

It started raining a bit right after we finished hooking up at the campsite. Kevin and Bacon were bummed; they had hoped to get out and walk around the little peninsula after setting up. They both sat and stared out the window as the rain poured down. The great thing about our time in the Keys is that although we had several afternoon thunderstorms, they passed quickly and left clear skies behind. On this day, Kevin and Bacon didn't have to wait very long for their walk.

Bacon was so facinated with the view that he spent hours sitting on the bed and staring out at the water. From this vantage point, we could see the boats anchored in the little "harbor" behind us. In the picture to the right, Kevin tried to capture how beautiful the sunset was reflected by the water and the boats (unfortunatly, in the time that it took him to get the camera from the front of the RV, the most spectacular moments were past).

At one point during this trip a friend of ours asked to see more pictures of us enjoying our trip. You'll note in this picture, Kevin is quite relaxed and that for the first time, he is lounging outside of the RV reading, NOT a textbook, but a novel (The book is They Thirst by Robert McCammon...he writes very entertaining horror stories; this particular one is about vampires attepting to take over LA). Our RVing friends will tell you that for the past year and a half, Kevin was always packing text books on his camping trips. I think it is safe to say that those days are over.

We made a couple of trips into "downtown" Key West. It was a bit touristy, but the architecture of the homes and the atmosphere in the "old" section of town stirs an inate desire to quit our jobs and move to an island community. Our assumption is that once you slip into "island mode" everything is free, so there would be no need for continuous employement :) . We also made a quick visit to the Southern-most point in the US. It was surprisingly crowded--you would be amazed at the cheesy things that people will wait in a line to take pictures of (see our Day 1 posting). Not too far from this point, rests the Key West Lighthouse. As is apparent with all lighthouses, this one also has an interesting history. I'll leave the history lesson to the museum--(http://www.kwahs.com/lighthouse.htm).

Two other notable sights--to us at least--was a docked cruise ship and some of the local residents. These were a first for both of us. We'd never been that close to a cruise ship (a fact that Tara will no doubt use to remind Kevin that he still owes her a "right proper" honeymoon). They are HUGE! The picture doesn't convey the mamouth proportions of this ship. With respect to the resident wild-life, there were chickens everywhere! From the shops downtown to the parking lot of the local K-Mart (as seen in the picture above).

As with all good things, our stay in Key West had to end eventually. This came on the morning of September 23rd. We departed early in the morning for the long drive to Kevin's brother's house in Zypherhills, FL.

We enjoyed our stay here almost as much as the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We'll close our Key West entry with a video. One morning during our stay, Kevin setup the camera early and got the following Sunrise video. The compression required to fit it up on the web takes alot out of the quality, but I think one can get the idea that it is much better to be sitting on the water, watching this rather than sitting at your desk in the office.

Days 15

2008-10-14T14:26:00.007-06:00

9/17/08 -- Fort Pierce, FL We left Kingsland today and headed south on I-95 through Jacksonville. Jacksonville was the only traffic that we ran into. Other than that it was a relativitly uneventful day. Today also represents the first of 7 days in our former home-state of Florida. Early arrival at our campground in Ft. Pierce meant that we had an opportunity to lounge around by the pool before sunset. It was a decent pool and we did get a little sun.

On the way back from the pool we noticed a very weird looking palm tree. On closer inpsection, we saw that the tree actually had a cactus growing up near the top of the tree which gave it a Medusa-like appearance. We settled in that evening and watched a very nice sunset from inside. Tomorrow...The Florida Keys!

Day 14

2008-09-22T14:03:00.007-06:00

(9/16/08) Kingston, GA -- Today was another travel day. We changed up our St. Augustine plans. Originally, we would travel from Myrtle Beach to St. Augustine, stay there for two days and travel into Key West. We decided to slow down a bit and broke the 2 days in St. Augustine into a two day trip between Myrtle Beach and Key West. We spent a few days in St. Augustine when we lived in Florida, it is a beautiful place, be we decided it wasn't a "must see" on this trip. This makes for a much easier trip to Key West. We ended up on the road much longer than we anticipated, however. We took another "direct" trip on US 17. Thinking the worst was behind us, we encountered all of the joys of taking US17 from Myrtle Beach to Walterboro, SC to pick up I-95...the maps showed it to be more direct and less miles than finding an eralier route to I-95. Miles does not equal time. See, even if you cut a trip by 100 miles, if you have to travel through Summerville, SC on US17, be prepared to do ALOT of stopping...this brought our average speed down to around 2mph (that may be an exaggeration, but it sure did feel like it). We were excited when we finally reached I-95, until we realized we still had the rest of SC and the whole state of Georgia to get through before getting to our campground. :) When we did reach our destination, we found that Country Oaks in Kingsland, GA is a quiet and beautiful place to camp in. Sadly, one of their semi-permanent residents lost his trailer in a fire two days before our arrival. What was left of the trailer was still in its space. Apparently a fire broke out in the fridge. He lost everything. His name is John and he recently returned from combat in Iraq. He uses Country Oaks as his home as he is stationed at Kings Bay Naval Sub Base a few miles down the road. For now, he'll be commuting 30 miles to the north where is mother lives. Please keep him in your prayers as he works with his insurance company to recover. All in all, today was a longer day than planned. Tomorrow...travel to Ft. Pierce, FL for a one-night stay at the Road Runner RV Resort. The trip will be much smoother--I-95 all the way!

Day 13

2008-09-22T11:41:00.006-06:00

(9/15/08) -- Myrtle Beach, SC Today was beach and pier day. The campground we stayed at had what they claim to be the the longest pier on the East Coast (1,206 ft). Before going out to the pier, we had lunch at the restaurant on the pier. The view of the beach/Atlantic from the restaurant was great. After lunch we walked along the pier and got some pics and video of the beach. If we had to pick between here and Cape Hatteras, the Cape would win hands down. While the beach was nice, it was just a different atmosphere further north. We suspect it comes from the isolation in the Outer Banks. Bacon also enjoyed the beach (although as we mentioned yesterday, he still did not care too much for the surf). We met a very nice couple from Kentucky here. They spend some time at this campground each year. Very nice people. You find alot of nice people at these campgrounds.

One more special note...You've heard of thirst busters and bunker busters...have you ever heard of a satellite buster? Look below...this building is the reason that we didn't have Satellite TV in Myrtle Beach. :)

Day 12

2008-09-19T10:10:00.009-06:00

(9/14/08) -- Myrtle Beach, SC Today was mostly driving. While leaving Cape Hatteras, Tara took got a few pictures of the Bodie Island Lighthouse. This is one of three along the Outer Banks. Like the others, this has an interesting history. The current lighthouse is the third attempt. The first was built without a proper supporting foundation and the second was blown up by Confedarate troops to prevent its use by the Union Army during the Civil War. This latest version was completed in 1872. (for more, see http://www.nps.gov/archive/caha/bodielh.htm) We headed west for the first time this trip on our return to the mainland via U.S. 64. We had originally planned to take a couple of ferries at the southern tip of the Outer Banks, but limited availability for one of them would have meant reaching the mainland after 4pm; with the additional hours required to get to Myrtle Beach, that became a non-option. The bridge crossing Croatan Sound was obviously relatively new. It was a beautiful drive and Kevin was able to keep the RV from going over the edge (Tara is not amused when Kevin says stuff like, "one strong gust of wind and we are over the side..."). After crossing into the mainland, we started a dash down US Hwy 17. This was a more "direct" route intended to give us a "scenic drive", while "saving some time". What we got was BUGS, traffic, and stoplights. There was some beautiful scenery along the way, however.

To the left is a picture of what Tara stared at for most of the journey. Kevin laughed right after it hit and Tara almost threw up, so there was some entertainment in the route we chose after all (Tara did not find it as funny as Kevin did; his only defense is that 8 tons moving at 50mph is not something that you want try to quickly swing left or right to avoid bugs). In addition to this bug, there were a plethora of others scattered across our windshield, wipers and front grill. Worth special mention were the "Love Bugs". We hit our first Love Bugs in Columbia, NC. For those of you not familiar with this particular creature, Love Bugs should really have been called Windshield bugs, because this appears to be where they like to hang out most of the time. The following comes from Wikipedia :

The lovebug, Plecia nearctica, is a member of the family of march flies. It is also known as the honeymoon fly, telephonebug, kissybug or double-headedbug. The adult is a small, flying insect common to parts of Central America and the southeastern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast [...Because airborne lovebugs can exist in enormous numbers near highways, they die en masse on automobile windshields, hoods, and radiator grills...

Bacon found the ride quite boring (since he was not allowed to participate in the "bug catching activities") and decided to spend most of the day in his special napping place. We arrived in at our campsite in Myrtle Beach to begin our 2 day stay. We took an evening walk down to the beach after our setup (Bacon is afraid of the incoming surf in South Carolina too) and then kicked back for the evening. Pictures on the Apache Pier tomorrow!

Day 11

2008-09-16T17:50:00.005-06:00

(9/13/08) – Cape Hatteras Island, NC Lazy day…this is what vacationing is all about. We really sat around and did a whole lot of nothing. Some reading, some basic cleanup around the RV and just resting. Later in the afternoon, we went down to the beach with Bacon for another run; both he and Kevin were too tired for much more than walking along the beach. He was too cute—Bacon, of course. He’s still very uncertain about the waves, so he tends to run from the surf as it comes in, but then gladly joins his mom and dad when it rolls back out. I took a few pictures today. The first was when our "neighbor" left in the morning. They had an interesting tool to line up their hitch with their trailer. Two florecent yellow poles magnetically attached to the ball and tongue. The driver can easily see these through the rearview mirror to align the vehicle to the trailer. Very cool concept.

We mentioned the "sound" side of the island previously. To the right is a picture of what the looks like. You'll notice that you don't see land on the horizon...yes, the Outer Banks are that far out. The last picture is an interesting assortment of mushrooms that we ran into walking back from the store. These were all over the park. Being out in the desert, we don't typically see these. We very much enjoyed what is our last day at this camp ground. It is highly likely that we’ll return here for a visit as soon as we can. Tomorrow will be around 6 to 7 hrs of travel down to Myrtle Beach, SC.

Day 10

2008-09-15T14:08:00.007-06:00

(9/12/08) – Cape Hatteras Island, NC Today we headed “into town” to replenish supplies. On our way back we stopped at the Monument to a Century of Flight (right) and then at the Wright Brothers National Memorial . Both awesome sites. It was very humid out, so the outdoor portion of the day was pretty intense considering we've been living in a desert for the past 12 1/2 years. The Monument to a Century of Flight was built for the 100th anniversary of the Wright's first flights at Kitty Hawk (actually at "Kill Devil Hills"). You can read about it at the link below. It is a round display of pillars that have etched into them key points of the history of flight over the 100 year span from the first flights in 1903. This monument is located at the Kitty Hawk visitors center. About 6.5 miles down the road is the actual location of the first flights. They have the actual path and endpoints of the first four flights of the Flyer indicated by granite markers. The starting point is marked by a larger granite marker. You can make those out in the picture (above left) to the left of and above the replica work sheds that were built on the locations of the originals. There are two replicas of the Wright Flyer on display at the site. And at the top of a hill on the south end of the site is the monument that congress erected back in 1928-32 (below). The site is truly inspiring and now that Kevin has finished his MBA, we’ll see if he has any luck convincing Tara that he “needs” his pilot’s license. Doubt it! When we returned to the campground, we put our groceries away and headed off to the swimming pool. While swimming, we watched the sun set along the “sound” side of the island (this is looking westward over the water between the Outer Banks and the mainland). We are so far from the mainland, that you can’t see it, so the sun was setting over the water. It was beautiful…and unfortunately we didn't bring the camera (we were swimming, so we decided that if we accidentally took any pictures of Kevin in his bathing suit that we would then be compelled to create the Kevin & Tara Farr 2008-9 Sabbatical Swimsuit Calendar; we really don't have time for that :)). After swimming, we enjoying hanging out at our campsite for awhile listening to the ocean and then turning in for the night. Tomorrow...another day in paradise

(http://www.monumenttoacenturyofflight.org /build.html )

(http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/)

Day 9

2008-09-14T19:00:00.003-06:00

(9/11/08) – Cape Hatteras Island, NC Day at the Beach! No Camera, much sun, followed by much redness. We came back to the camp site after and cooked out. Hot dogs and sausages (turkey, not grease-packed misc. meat). We went back down to the beach after eating to give Bacon another good run and took a lot of sunset pictures. We could easily spend another week here! Here are some pictures from the day.

Day 8

2008-09-14T18:37:00.006-06:00

(9/10/08) – Cape Hatteras Island, NC We left Dixie Caverns “early-for-real”. We headed NE on I-81 until we got to Staunton, VA, then took I-64 through Richmond and into New Port News, VA. Most of I-64 was tree-lined rolling hills (wonderful on gas milage). At the end of the rolling hills was one last mountainous pass. Apparently, it is frequently shrouded in clouds, so the roads are lined with “runway” lights. In New Port News, we saw some naval ships in dry dock. We decded to take the “Tunnel Alternate Route”, I-664. Note: The Tunnel Alternate Route is the TUNNEL Alternate Route…meaning there IS a tunnel, not that you are taking an “alternate route” to avoid a tunnel…this was a minor oversight on our part. It really wasn’t that bad. We had to pull over for a “pre-tunnel” inspection. All we did there was turn off the propane. We made it through the tunnel without hitting the wall or having any major panic attacks. I-664 rejoins I-64 which then turns into US158. There is a 3 mile bridge on US158 took us over to the Outer Banks, and SR12 took us on down to our campground. When we arrived, we were surprised to find that our campsite was one of a handful that can actually look out across the dunes to the Atlantic Ocean! We setup the campsite and took Bacon over to the beach. He had a field day running on the sand (Kevin wasn’t quite as excited about the run). It remained fairly cloudy for most of the day and we ran into rain on and off. The rain stopped in the evening for our beach run, however.

Day 7

2008-09-14T18:34:00.001-06:00

(9/9/08) – Dixie Caverns, VA Up and on the road early today on our journey back East. We spent some time on the road today pondering the term “back East”. Have you ever noticed that you always hear about people traveling “back East” or “out West”, but you never hear the terms reversed. Technically Tara and I are heading “out East” and will be returning “back West” in a few weeks, but those phrases just don’t sound right.
Today was a travel day that concluded with a very nice visit to Kevin’s relatives in Vinton, VA. We traveled north out of Chattanooga on I-75 and met up with I-40 again East of Knoxville, TN. We traveled along I-40 for about 60 miles before breaking north on I-81. Our campsite @ Dixie Caverns was another bust. The spaces were tight and a mountain blocked out the southern sky (i.e. no Satellite TV). After hooking up the RV, we drove to see Kevin’s family. His Aunt and her family had a very nice spread of home-cooked food laid out just waiting for them when they arrived. We spent several hours there visiting. We wish we had spent the 3 days there rather than the last place. J Unfortunately, the campground After a pleasant evening with family, we returned to the campsite for a night of sleep and another early departure. Tomorrow, we arrive at Cape Hatteras for a 4 night stay. (sorry, no pics from today)

Day 4 thru Day 6

2008-09-14T17:47:00.009-06:00

(9/6/08 – 9/8/08) – Guild, TN Day 4: We slept in a little today as we were not in a rush for a long travel day. Our first stop along I-40 took us to Nashville. There we spent about 45 minutes walking the grounds of their Parthenon exhibit. It is a full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Greece. We toured the downstairs museum (where no pictures were allowed…it wasn’t THAT exciting, although part of it did give the history of the exhibit which was) then took a few pictures on the main floor. There was a bride or bride-to-be getting her pictures taken on the front steps…ah, young love, wait till they get an RV and spend a month in it on the road (just kidding)! Bacon loved the pond. There were many ducks there for him to observe. When Tara saw the picture of him overlooking the ducks, Kevin got into trouble for letting him get so close to the water--his mama spoils him! He has been quite the trooper along the road. He has endured many hardships (loud trucks passing the RV, pee stops in scary locations, and the dreaded windshield wipers). Yes, our dog is a wimp (but he is cute). Any time the windshield wipers come on, he spirals into anxious shaking and panicked climbing up to Tara’s shoulders. This has required the development of “a system”. If the rain starts falling, Bacon is quickly placed onto the couch behind the driver’s seat so that he can secure himself out of view of those evil wipers (see pic below).
After Nashville, we hopped onto I-24 South toward Chattanooga, TN. Just before Chattanooga, was our exit to Guild, TN and Hale’s Bar and Marina “Resort”. We’ll consider this a low point in our journey. While the “resort” was positioned in a prime location along the river, it had much to be desired. It appears that someone had made an effort to create the perfect resort, but then got tired and never finished. It is a fine “fishing village”, but far from the resort they claimed it to be. The views across the river were beautiful in the mornings, but the facilities had much to be desired and we ended up completely cut off from civilization (no cell, no internet) during our stay with the exception of the two brief visits we made into “town” where we could get a cell signal. On a positive note, we were able to get a satellite signal and we did have electricity to run the A/C, so all was not lost. J Day 6—Guild, TN During our three day stay at Hale’s (why, oh why did we choose this place for a 3 day lay-over?) we drove into Chattanooga to visit Lookout Mountain. This mountain hosts, some beautiful homes and three tourist attractions—Ruby Falls, Rock City and the Incline Railway (for more information visit their website at http://www.lookoutmountain.com/ )

We visited Ruby Falls and then Rock City (the Incline Railway will have to wait for another visit; Kevin visited this back in ’81). We started with Ruby Falls. This is a waterfall ___ft below the ground. It requires a ~30minute walk through caverns (Kevin spent at least ½ the time slumping down to keep from hitting his head on the cavern ceiling). The waterfall was beautiful. They even let you walk around behind it (more stooping for Kevin). After leaving the falls, we moved on up the mountain to Rock City. Definitely a tourist trap, but a fascinating use of the rock structures in the area for the creation of a stunning garden walk. We had to have walked for 3 miles around the park. In one area, you can look out across the horizon to 7 different states. There was another waterfall there and a swinging bridge. Very nice and we didn’t go broke in the gift shop! The only bad thing about this day was returning to the campsite in Guild. When we returned to the campsite, we decided to get everything packed up for an early AM departure (don’t know why we were in such a rush; just this inveterate desire to get out of Guild)

Day 3

2008-09-14T17:43:00.004-06:00

(9/5/08) – Memphis, TN Today we got to take the Graceland Tour. It was interesting to see the home of Elvis (albeit in a very controlled manner). You only get to tour the first floor and basement. Out of respect for Elvis they keep the second floor off limits. Kevin thinks that Elvis is up stairs looking at security cameras and laughing at how much people are willing to pay to see the inside of his house. Tara does not find that thought amusing. There are several museums in the complex including those dedicated to Elvis’s cars, airplanes, clothes and many, many gold and platinum records. The weather was overcast for us during the day and we got sprinkled on a couple of times, but since we were inside most of the day that did not matter. The only snag in the day was having security tell us that we couldn’t take our video camera onto the mansion grounds (interestingly enough, they do have a DVD tour available in the MANY gift shops for a mere $39.99—we did not partake; however we did pick up some souvenirs for Kevin’s mom…allegedly, Kevin destroyed his Mom’s collection of Elvis records sometime in the late 70’s, so he figures he owes her that at the very least—Kevin still denies the accusations and blames the destruction of said records on a “vast sibling conspiracy”). During the tour Tara, who never gets sick, developed a minor sore throat…we’ll have to see how that goes. When we returned to the campground, the sun came out briefly (for about 30 minutes through a few breaks in the clouds), so we decided to go for a dip in the pool. It was very nice, if not a little chilly. Our next day will be travel to Hale’s Bar Marina and RV Campground for a three day break. This campground is located on the Tennessee River, so we are hoping for an enjoyable stay.

Day 2

2008-09-10T17:06:00.007-06:00

9/4/08 - Memphis, TN We left the KOA in Elk City, OK this morning "early for real". Even Bacon was wondering what was going on (see pic below). Traveling East on I-40, we got to watch the sunrise (pic to the left). It was most awesome!!! (Sadly we are still getting the hang of taking pictures while the RV is jarred and swayed by every bump in the road--and on I-40 through OK, there are PLENTY of bumps) There were a lot of clouds, so we didn't see the sun fully emerge, but what we could see was quite beautiful. The sun did not come out again until we were passing through Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, it happened at the most inopportune time--during rush hour traffic! We drove along Tinker AFB on the Eastern edge of the city and continued on across the state. We saw several wind-power farms across the state, very nice to see--although we did not get pics. Ran into a few light rain showers...only mist really. The day did not contain any cultural enhancement points, just driving. We found that the I-40 road conditions in OK were not "OK". We would cruise along nicely on smooth highway for miles, then apparently out of no where, the roads became pitted and cracked for several miles. Overall, we found OK along I-40 to be a pleasant and scenic drive. Arkansas was apparently very serious about litter; the signs posted would make one worry, if exhaling was considered pollution. We think that our favorate part of Arkansas, was a sign that indicated the directions to "Toad Suck Park" in Conway...a place near and dear to a friend of ours who we will no doubt have to question regarding the history of this park. We finally arrived in Memphis a little after 4pm for a 2 night stay at the Graceland RV park right across the street from Graceland (our site was on "Teddy Bear Lane" right off of "Love Me Tender Blvd."). Tomorrow morning...the Graceland Tour. :) [Note: We'll update fuel stats soon]

Day 1

2008-09-04T21:41:00.009-06:00

9/3/08 - Elk City, OK We left home "early" this morning--twice. The first time at 7:08 AM. After returning to the house to get Kevin's sunglasses (which he had left on the trunk of his car), we left the second time at around 7:20 AM. Our first stop was to top off the gas tank before we hit interstate (36.744 gallons @ $3.579/gal = $131.51). We had a nice drive on I-40; very light traffic through New Mexico. We stopped at a rest station about 20 miles from the Texas state line to enjoy breakfast burritos that Tara made. Bacon and Kevin froze on their potty walk (well, it was Bacon's potty walk, Kevin was just along for the walk); very chilly day. Just east of Amarillo was our first fill-up (39.693 gallons @ $3.589/gal = $142.46). Our first fun stop in Texas was just west of Amarillo to see the Cadillac Ranch. We didn't bring spray paint, so we didn't get to take part in the wildly popular graphitti-fest on the cars--this is apparently legal and adds significant artistic value to the attraction. More on the Ranch can be found on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch)

We traveled a little further south-east to get to our next cultural enrichment excerise--Huge Pair of Legs. We came close to not finding them, however. The driving

instructions provided by our map software were so detailed (we're talking they get down to describing the cars that you will be on the road with you) that we "misread" them and took a detour into a small farming community. Well, the Legs were, well, legs (& feet). You look, you snap a picture, then you try to figure out how to make a U-turn with a 32' RV towing a Saturn in order to get back to the Interstate without taking any more adventures through unknown territory. We will have to research the history on this particular "curiosity" and get back to you. We did notice that the socks have been enhanced by the addition of "nail polish" to the toes (unfortunatly, you can't see that in the picture). Update 9/5/08: Here is the story...http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1242

After leaving the Legs, we made our Groom, TX to see the Groom Cross. This was an awesome sight to see. It stands 190 feet just south of I-40. There are several sculptures there depicting Christ's path to the cross as well as other representations from the Bible. You can see it was overcast, but what you can't feel is the chilly wind that went along with the cloudy skies. :) If you want to read more about it, you can visit their website at http://www.crossministries.net/

We ate a quick lunch in the parking lot here while we looked over the plan for the rest of the day. It was here that a minor flaw was found in Kevin's well-thought-out plan. Our mapping software failed to account for the time change going from the Mountain to Central time zone; this combined with the fact that our scheduled stopping point couldn't be reached before 8pm led us to alter plans for our first night.

The beauty of RVing is that you can change plans at will. We were orginally going to stay in Hinton, OK, but moved that in by about 50 miles to Elk City, OK. The KOA there was a nice campground in a quiet part of OK. There was a field behind the KOA that was full of corn; the picture below would make for a nice Windows desktop. :) We didn't really spend much time setting up as we were both tired from the long day.

Ultimately we ended up traveling 476.9 miles today. It was a long--but good--day on the road. Tomorrow...Memphis, TN.

The "Plan"

2008-09-04T20:56:00.006-06:00

First of all, let's start with the action plan. As Christians, we recognize that our plans are all prefaced with "Lord willing..." The image above (click on it to see the full image) is our travel map for the next 5 & 1/2 weeks. We leave Albuquerque on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008. Our plans take us to the Atlantic coast via Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia & North Carolina. From there, we travel south through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. After 5 days in Key West, Tara and I will meet up with my parents (Dennis & Ellen Farr) in Odessa, FL. From there we willl caravan with them back to Albuquerque for Kevin's graduation through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, & New Mexico. After graduation, we will travel with Kevin's parents to "Four Corners" New Mexico, then to Monumement Valley, Utah then to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. On our way back to Albuquerque, we will travel to Flagstaff, Arizona to visit Lowell Observatory and then to see sites like the Berringer Crater, the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. We choose not to describe anything further as it would have to recoginize the pending "end" of Kevin's sabbatical. :)

Down to the wires!

2008-09-02T12:23:00.004-06:00

Many of you already know that we had an "incident" a few weeks ago. Apparently, someone felt the need to steal our generator out of our RV in storage (the picture to the right shows the compartment that the generator is usually in). Well, the replacement generator took twice as long as expected to arrive in Albuquerque. We are now T-17hrs30mins before departure and just got word from the mechanic that they are putting in the final wiring and will have the RV ready this afternoon. This is not exactly the day-before-departure that we had in mind when we started planning this trip, but it could have been alot worse. We'll be leaving "early" tomorrow morning. When is "early"? Well, that depends on if you are talking to Kevin or Tara. For Kevin, it is around 5/5:30a; for Tara, it is more like 7am. We'll see, but I (Kevin) suspect that Tara will win that one. :) First stop is Red Rock Canyon just outside of Hinton, OK. We'll post more later! -K&T

Welcome!!!

2008-09-02T12:20:00.003-06:00

Welcome to our blog. We'll be logging our trip here through the next 5 to 6 weeks (assuming that we don't get so wrapped up in our sabbatical that we decide it is too much effort). We hope you enjoy our trip as much as we plan to! -Kevin & Tara