St. Charles, MO The Greatest Camping Trip Ever

Yesterday we began our Lewis and Clark Trip here in St. Charles, MO. This has been said to be The Greatest Camping Trip Ever! We had orientation in the afternoon with our 35 guests and Bill & Carol Hamilton, our friends since 1972, who are going to be our tailgunners. We have a total of 21 RVs and 39 people. We have 3 single women!

That evening we had a delicious dinner in the banquet room here at the campground and had two guest speakers in full costume. They were from the Discovery Expedition for the Bicentennial Reenactment of the Lewis & Clark Expedition from 2005 – 2006. It was hard for us to believe that a band of men in their 50s (the average age for the original expedition was 27) reenacted the entire L&C trip! It was exciting to hear their stories! Each person in the expedition portrayed someone from the original expedition. They stopped at schools all along the way to educate children about L&C.

Today a trolley came to our campground and took us to downtown St. Charles for their Heritage Days Celebration. We started with a tour of the first State Capitol of Missouri with a retired school teacher who took us back to the 1800s. At 11 the Parade started down Main Street with people dressed in period costumes.

We then toured the L&C Boat House and Nature Center where we saw replicas of their boats. We walked along the river to the encampment that had 100s of people in period costumes living in tents as they did in the 1800s.

From 5-16 St. Charles, MO

Florida to St. Louis, MO

We arrived back in Florida March 21 and visited with friends at our RV Park, Deercreek, until the 23 when we went back to Oliver’s house in North Port, FL, to pick up our RV which he repaired making it better than new! His house is near completion – YEAH!!! When you go to the photos from here, there are several photos of his house.

We were only at Olly’s house a few days then we returned to Deercreek so Bobby and I could work a little at Disney. Spring is a beautiful time to be in Florida, it’s warm during the day yet cool at night and everything is in bloom (but it always is!). Disney had its Flower Power Concert series that ties in with their Flower & Garden Show at Epcot. We just love these concert series because we can see groups from our generation for free! They have all developed a wonderful sense of humor about getting older! We were able to see Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Turtles, Herman’s Hermits and The Ventures.

The end of April Bobby bought a 2007 R1200RT Silver BMW. This has been his dream bike ever since it came out. It is more of a touring bike so it is extremely comfortable, has lots of carrying capacity and is 40 lbs. lighter than his other bike. Bobby’s brother Harry and his wife Theresa visited with us April 26 on their way to Alaska on their motorcycle. While they were there, we went to Bike Fest in Leesburg, FL. As with any bike event, you have more than your share of “interesting” people.

May 5 our “nephew”, Eric Moore graduated with an Engineering Degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona. The day before we took his parents and grandparents to Animal Kingdom for the day and feasted at Cape May buffet for dinner. Tuesday we got up early and drove to Daytona for his graduation, returned to Deercreek for the RV and headed west at 5 pm.

Wednesday evening we arrived at our friends Harry and Barbara Breece in Smyrna, TN. Friday and Saturday we took the motorcycle to Crossville to visit with Bob & LuAnn who went on the cruise with us. Sunday and Monday were spent with the Breece’s. Today we left at the ungodly hour of 5 am so we could miss Nashville’s rush hour. We drove all day and arrive in St. Louis at 4:45 pm.

From Olly's House

March 21, 2009 San Francisco & Assorted Photos

We went under the Golden Gate Bridge around 4 am this morning – we slept right through it. We had our last breakfast with friends and then had to go to the Spectacular Lounge and wait about 45 minutes for the ship to be cleared and the buses to arrive. We can’t believe 50 days have come and gone! It was a fabulous trip!

We didn’t find out what airline we were flying home until a week or so before the cruise was over. We were THRILLED when they told us South West because we were each allowed to 50 lb suitcases and a carry on. Lots of our friends had to pay for their luggage. I was prepared either way – I brought two good suitcases and two disposable ones and I told Bobby most of his clothes might be disposable too (was going to give them to someone working on the ship). He was very happy we didn’t have to do that!

By the time our bus left the ship terminal we had our doubts about making our noon flight out of San Jose! When we arrived at the airport, there was a very long line to check in but a kind lady at the front of the line let us in front of her (there are so many good people in this world!!!). After we checked in and were ready to RUN for the plane, he said, “Oh, your plane is running 20 minutes late!” Thank Goodness!!!

It was a beautiful flight over the mountains to Las Vegas where we had to change planes. I was lucky enough to get a window seat – we flew over the Grand Canyon and the Hover Dam; you just can’t believe how incredibly beautiful it was. I was so upset I didn’t have my camera!

From San Franciso & Assorted Photos

March 19, 2009 Los Angeles, CA

California is as busy as ever. We rented a car here and headed for the Petersen Car Museum. It took us about 2.5 hours and the four of us really enjoyed it. Cars that made you question what they were thinking, cars of the stars, cars of alternative fuels, on and on.

We then headed for an In-n-Out burger for Bobby and LuAnn and a El Pollo Loco for Bob and me. Our last stop of the day was Grauman's Chinese Theater.

From Los Angeles, California

March 16, 2009 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

March 16, 2009

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

This morning when we went to breakfast and first saw the city we were extremely impressed by its beauty. The mountains were in the background and a clean city on the beach stretched in front of us. The funniest part was Wal-Mart and Sam’s were right across the street. We disembarked at 9 am with Bob and LuAnn and started looking for a cab to go to the old town. The first one wanted $10 p/p after walking a block to the main street we got one for a total of $5 for all of us. He dropped us off on the beach front and we walked a block to the church then the market. After a short time, the guys said they were going to the Internet so LuAnn and I had plenty of time to explore what we realized was one of the largest markets we had been to.

We met up with the guys and walked toward the ship along the Malacon, which is a concrete boardwalk along the beach with beautiful statues. We walked to the end; about a mile and caught another taxi back to the Wal-Mart where we all went in for drugs! There are three stains of a virus on the ship (we call it the Carnival Crud) and everyone has had it at least once and some are working on two and three times. I finally caught it in Lima and the cough just keeps hanging on. Terry had to be different. Last night after dinner he felt really bad so he skipped the show. Heidi went to check on him and he was extremely ill. She finally talked him into going to the doctor and they said he had passed a kidney stone or as they said kidney sand since it was so small. No matter what the size was, it was extremely painful! This morning he was doing so well he went to the gym!

We all went back on the ship for lunch then Bobby went back to an Internet and LuAnn and I went to a craft market right off the ship until 5 pm. Time flies when you are having a good time! We all agreed we could come here and spend a winter – what a beautiful place with so much to do in the area.

From Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

March 14, 2009 Acapulco, Mexico

I can’t believe it – we only have 7 days left on this cruise – we don’t want it to end!!! We were told we shouldn’t look at it as only 7 days left but as a 7 day cruise. The last time we were in Acapulco was 1991 – it certainly has grown!

From Acapulo, Mexico

March 8th

March 8, 2009

Lima, Peru

We heard a lot of negative things about Lima….it is overcrowded, polluted, noisy, extremely dangerous and it even has wretched weather. Well, we were pleasantly surprised to have found it the total opposite. I’m sure a lot of it had to do with the day being a Sunday and the weather perfect. We walked out of the port and found a taxi driver who would take the four of us around for $15 an hour in a large Volvo. We docked in Callao and had a 40 minute drive to downtown Lima, the capital and largest city in Peru. We drove to Plaza Mayor, the district that houses the educational and historical sights. We were extremely impressed with the architecture, it was some of the most beautiful we have seen in South America! We toured the San Francisco Convent and Museum, which was incredible but the most fascinating part was our descent into the catacombs, which were dug beginning in 1546 as a burial ground for priests and others. This was a huge maze that you could easily get lost in. As many as 75,000 bodies were interred here. Several years ago archeologist and scientist wanted to make it more orderly so they separated all the body parts, legs, arms, heads, etc. and put them in separate pits. In one large circular pit about 10 feet they really got carried away and made a spiral design with heads and leg bones – very grotesque!

After this we needed something a little more cheerful, so we went to a local park where teenagers dressed in local costumes were dancing for the tourist. We continued walking around the area looking at the beautiful sites.

Our driver then took us to the town of Miraflores to their Indian Handicraft Market. This was the best market we have been to on the entire trip! This is one of the times I’m lucky I live in and RV because I have no room to really buy anything!

Four hours later we went back to the ship after a wonderful day.

From Lima, Peru

March 10, 2009

Manta, Ecuador

Ecuador straddles the equator and is the smallest of the Andean countries; it’s about the size of Nevada. Again, we found a taxi drive to take the four of us around for $15 an hour – such a deal! We gave him the itinerary of what the ship tours were doing. Our first stop was an overlook of the city of Montecristi, we then went to Montecristi, which is the birthplace of the Panama hat. The reason it is called this is Teddy Roosevelt was given one as a gift when he was visiting the Panama Canal and when he returned to the US and was asked where he got it he said “Panama.” The name stuck and Panama has received all the credit for making these beautiful hats even though they are made here in Ecuador.

There was a wonderful market at the base of the cathedral so we spent an hour visiting everything. I even bought myself a hat. These hats can cost up to $200 for the best quality. They are handmade and take a month or more to make. My hat is a step down from the best and an excellent deal at $22! The hats can be rolled up, washed and ironed! They keep you head cool on the hottest of days.

On our way back to Manta we stopped at a tagua nut button factory. Tagua nuts, also known as the “vegetable ivory nut”, becomes solid like ivory and artisans use special tools to transform it into beautiful buttons, figurines or jewelry. This unique tropical palm takes 24 years to reach maturity and grows deep in the rain forest. The pod that holds the nuts weighs about 25 lbs and holds about 200 nuts!

When we arrived back in Manta, LuAnn and I went to the Archaeological Museum while Bob and Bobby went to the Internet. From there we walked back to the ship to go for a swim to cool off!

Tonight we crossed the equator for a second time!

From Manta, Equador