FW: Our year in review

Jim and Cathy�s Christmas 2005�

Well, can you believe it�s been two years since we picked up roots and began traveling? We�ve been from the extreme North West (The Olympic Peninsula),to the South West (San Diego) and to the North East (Down-East Maine). Now it looks like we�ll be going to the extreme south east the first of the year.

Currently, we are in Heiskell, Tennessee, which is essentially Knoxville. We have truly enjoyed our wandering, and have even remembered to evaluate places as settling spots when (if?) we decide its time to �Park It�. Although Knoxville itself is not on our list, the general area will receive favorable consideration. There are more places on our �Been There, Done That, don�t need to do it again� list than on the �Gotta go back� list, but so far there is no single �This is the Place� spot. Yet. And, we haven�t been everywhere we intend to go. Such as Yellowstone (Haven�t made it there yet) and a trip to Alaska. Which means we get to go back to Canada�where we spent a large part of this last summer.

So, where have we been this year? We started in New Orleans, with a visit from Josh. Then on to Carlsbad Caverns, and to Santa Fe for a spirituality conference. After a quick stop in the Farmington area to visit our stuff, we moved on to Las Vegas to horse sit, and then on to Santa Barbara for one of Cathy�s classes. We then followed the coast highway up to Monterey, and a visit to the aquarium. From there it was a visit with the grand kids in the Sacramento area, then a short stop at Mount Shasta en route to Madras, Oregon, where all our mail goes. After building a patio for Jim�s sister, and helping Jim�s brother move from Las Vegas to Roseburg, Oregon, our friend Linda joined us for a week in the North East corner of Oregon, at Wallowa Lake. We then went on up to spend some time in Sand Point and Bonners Ferry, Idaho, for a few weeks.

Leaving Idaho, we went east to Montana and a visit to Glacier National Park. Good thing we tow our Durango behind the motor home, �The Beast� would not have been allowed over the Highway to the Sun! We enjoyed Glacier so much, we went north into Canada to visit the Canadian part, Waterton Park. That was so nice we continued up to Canmore, Alberta, which we used as a base camp for visiting Banff National Park, including Lake Louise. It was as pretty as Cathy remembered from her after high-school trip just a �few� years ago�

From there we crossed the Rocky Mountains, and spent some time at a nice little campground in Revelstoke, while visiting the Okanagan Valley, up and down the Canadian part of the Columbia River. Returning to the lower 48, we spent some time in the Spokane area, but then returned to Madras to have the cooling system on the Durango rebuilt. One new water pump, fan clutch, and radiator later, we headed down to Crater lake, which was snowed in the last time we went past. We stayed at Diamond Lake for a week, then moved on to the Roseburg area to visit with Jim�s brother. From there we spent some time along the McKenzie River, then back to Madras to Park the Motorhome for a quick trip to another of Cathy�s classes in Connecticut. After returning, Cathy had minor surgery on her foot to remove a carbuncle, which resulted from a spill at Crater Lake. Two weeks later, we headed for Farmington again, with the goal of reducing from two storage units to only one. Success! Thanks to the gracious assistance of Bill and Linda, who allowed us to use their yard for a moving sale, what we didn�t sell was repacked into a single unit�and no trips to the dump!

Leaving Farmington before it got cold (and before they finished the road work at Bill and Linda�s) we traveled to the Bosque Del Apache, a bird sanctuary on the Rio Grande near Socorro, New Mexico. Since we were so close, we took the opportunity to visit the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope on the plains of Magdelena , and took the self guided walking tour. Amazing! From there we went to Alamogordo, NM, for a visit to White Sands National Monument, where Jim was able to climb the sand dune that defeated him as a child�and has a picture to prove it.

When we left Alamogordo, we went on to Livingston, Texas to visit the home park of an outfit called Escapees, a club for full time RV�ers. We were so impressed we joined, then traveled to their RV park in Tennessee�which happened to be in Knoxville, which we wanted to visit. On the way, we traveled the entire Natchez Trace Parkway, from Natchez Mississippi to Nashville, TN. We have spent a month around Knoxville, seeing the area, from the Cumberland Gap to Pigeon Forge. There are areas we like better than others, but by and large we are impressed with the area. We may even get to meet Josh�s girl friend next week, she will be visiting her parents in Kentucky for Christmas, just a short drive from here!

When we leave here the first of the year, we are going to Key West. We are not running from the cold, we have connected with Habitat for Humanity, to do some clean up after hurricane Wilma. As long as we can be helpful there, we�ll stay for a couple of months. We don�t have any firm plans after that, except for a habitat for humanity build going on in Leyland, Mississippi, in March. Leyland is along the Mississippi River, which we intend to follow to the headwaters at Lake Itasca in Minnesota . Since our motor home is an Itasca, it kinda feels like a pilgrimage! And then, on to Alaska?

We�d like to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year. If we get near any of you this year, we�ll try to stop by and visit for a while�and if you find yourselves in our neck of the woods, either accidentally or on purpose, please stop and visit!

Oh�.this email address is still good (jimandcathygreen@earthlink.net), but now we have another one also! jimandcathygreen@escapees.com

We check both of them regularly�