Wednesday, July 20- Home at Last

Heat wave 105...driving across the country in a 40+ year old unairconditioned car....playing "words with friends" to fight boredom and make the miles pass quicker...Drinking water by the quart to keep hydrated...reading two books...texting with friends that are one different routes....checking into hotels before 2:00 for a shower and nap before dinner....getting on the road by 6:15 (to beat the heat)...seeing a sign that says Asheville 26 miles....
WE MADE IT HOME...IN 4 DAYS....YAHOO....

Seriously we had a fantastic trip...made lots of memories...marked some things off my bucket list...shared a lot of good times with friends from across the US.   I can truthfully say the trip was everything I expected it to be and more...

Monday July 18

Thurs. and Friday we were in Taos, NM.  This is a very artsy town.  We stayed at the historic Taos Inn right downtown.  All of our rooms were on a little courtyard.  The guys had a great time playing Liars Poker...


Saturday we got to Sante Fe, NM...We checked into the Hotel Sante Fe that was really neat.  This was to be the last night of the tour for most of us. We had a great celebration dinner, complete with local storytellers and a few Healey story tellers...

we Grouped up for a shot before dinner

Randy Hicks, Pat Bagby, Jeanne Hicks, Wright Bagby, Carl Brown, Linda Brown



Dan & Jackie Erwin



On Sunday morning at 7:00 we left Sante Fe and headed east.  We are traveling I-40 all the way to Hickory, NC.

The first night we stopped in Shamrock, Texas.  The temp. was around 105+.  We ate at Big Verns on old route 66...It was the only restaurant in town open on Sunday.

They had two great hosts to greet us....

hosts at Big Vern's

After dinner we went back to our hotel and noticed a sign  on the door...Please clean the mud off your boots..and there was a place by the door complete with hose to clean up those boots...
When I tried to Blog...my computer would do nothing...I was worried that I had lost all my pictures...but I guess computers get hot too and don't cooperate.  Tonight when I turned it on, it started up like always,  go figure.

Monday we left at 6 am hoping to beat the heat a little...we were going to travel to Ft. Smith, Arkansas...but decided that we could make it 70 more miles to Russellville, Ark.

Along the way we saw several Wind turbine farms....We checked into the hotel around 3 and were completely wiped out from the heat...106 degrees...but showers and naps do wonders.  We will get up in the morning and do it again.  If we can make it to Cookeville, Tennessee tomorrow, we can make it home on Wednesday...It has been a great trip but we are both ready to be home. 

Along the way...I have marked several things off my Bucket List:  Riding a Cog Train, going to the top of Pikes Peak (then I learned that it is the 31st tallest peak in Colorado), going on a hot air balloon ride...driving across country and back in our Healey...
Several have asked how Alan has managed on the trip...He has done great...I think he is stronger now that when we left home.

July 14 -Taos, New Mexico



Alan Teague, Dan/Jackie Erwin, Bill/Sandy Parks, Treasure



Sorry to be so long to update my blog...When we were at 3 Rivers Resort in Almont, Co. we had no internet connection...then the next two nights we were in Durango and the connection was so slow I could not download pictures.  So.  I am going to post most of the pictures on Facebook, (it is much quicker) but I will try to catch you up on our travels.

On Sunday, 10th we traveled to Three Rivers Resort in Almont, Co.  We are 10 couples and a single..one group went rafting in the Taylor River and Alan and I with two other couples went for a Hot Air Balloon ride.  We left at 6:45 on Monday morning.  This was one of the things on my bucket list and it did not disappoint.  The sun coming through the clouds was glorious.  It was a clear day and you could see forever. 

On Monday evening the resort fixed us a cookout...ribs and chicken and all the trimmings, topped off with S'mores (sp) over an open fire.  Our accomodations at this resort were small cabins..it was a different experience...very memorable.

On Tuesday we drove to Durango and stayed at the Historic Statler Hotel.  Tuesday we had a very nice group dinner at the Hotel..on Wed. morning we went to Mesa Verde National Park to tour the cave dwellers. 

After touring the park, we had a special lunch at the lodge in the park called Metate...It was a delicious meal of Southwestern Fare.  During lunch we had a park narator tell us all about the people that inhabited the caves 2000 years ago.  I am including a picture of our entree:

tortilla encrusted turkey cutlet




our cars at an overlook in Mesa Verde



When we got back to the hotel we had dinner on our own before going to a Play at the Statler Theater..."The Pursuit of Happiness".  it was very funny and we all walked back next door to the hotel to call it a night and get up tomorrow and drive to Taos, NM.  That is all the time I have right now...we have dinner at the Historic Taos Inn in a little bit and Alan said I have to get ready.  

I hate to even say this....but the cars are all running well and we have had no problems.  The weather is cool in the mornings and evenings and warmer in the day with afternoon showers...but the weather has not curtailed any of our fun.  I am beginning to dread the drive home.  Hopefully the heat wave will let up before we leave on Sunday.

Friday, July 8

Today's blog is really about what we did Wednesday, Thursday and today...


balancing rock



 

On Wednesday we went to Garden of the gods. These are some of the rock formations that were especially impressive.

Lundy Wright and Jack Porter

Inside the protestant chapel

waiting to get our pictures made

On Thursday morning we left the hotel and went out to the chapel at the Air Force Academy for a photo op.  We had a 2 hour window to get our cars in front of the chapel (one at a time) and have the picture made by a photographer. Then we could tour the Chapel.  The picture of our Healey in front of the chapel will come later...

After we left the Chapel, we took the cog railway up to the top of Pikes Peak...

this is something I have always wanted to do, now I can mark it off my bucket list...

After we got back from the top of Pikes Peak, we rushed back to the hotel to dress for the Awards Banquet..and say our good bys to people we would not see until next year...

Davie/Jan Burgdorf, Treasure, Ann Regan

Alan Teague, Hillary & Ed

Merkel,  Don Miller, Treasure, Pete/Stephanie Delaney

Jack/Annette Porter

 This morning we left the hotel with 10 couples for a 10 day tour.  We drove from Colorado Springs to Aspen for lunch and then on the Beaver Creek Lodge for 2 nights.

our car

12095 ft.

The road to Aspen was absolutely the most beautiful drive.  We traveled to 12095 feet..and the air was pretty thin.....

After we arrived at the hotel we walked down to the village and had pizza at the Blue Moose Cafe..and Carl Brown had a Moose Drool Beer....we had a Big Moose Pizza.  Tomorrow will be a rest day, shopping in the village and looking around...no long rides...

Moose Drool

telling Tom Jefferson good by

Tues. July 5

Car Show Old Colorado City

I haven't sent pictures since we got to Colorado Springs.  Once we got to the hotel on Sunday, we spent time catching up with friends we hadn't seen since last year.  Then on Monday, July 4..we left the hotel at 8:30 to go to Old Colorado City for one car show.  This was a neat little town with a lot of cute shops.

We left there at 2:00 and went to The Air Force Academy for the neatest car show and fireworks display with 30,000+ of our closest friends...Fireworks coordinated with patriotic music...cool evening...what more could you ask far.

Beautiful Views of the USAFA Cadet Chapel

     

We grouped up for a shot..mostly Carolina Folks

Old Colorado City

Tuesday...
This is a movie I made of the Ladies Tea Today....
The speaker was representating Catherine Bates that wrote the lyrics to America the Beautiful...I apologize for my singing...
IMG_0292.MOV

Part of our tea



There was a delegates meeting this afternoon at 5.  Then the highlight of my day was going to the Broadmoor for dinner...It has been awarded 5 diamonds for 50 years.  





Edie Anderson and Linda Brown



going into the Broadmoor



the Broadmoor

Broadmoor





Linda Brown and Linda May

July 4

Wonderful day...left at 8:30 am for car show in old Colorado City...went to Air Force
Academy at 2 ...just got back to the hotel 11:30  pm...lonnnng day..Promise pictures and comments tomorrow...

Day 4 - Garden City, Kansas

these are just a few of the wind turbines

Pat gets ready to go.

This is the guy that wanted to have his picture made in our car last night.

We left Pittsburg, Kansas this morning at 7:00.  We will go through Wichita, traveling on highway 400 all the way.  There were wheat fields on one side of the road as far as you could see and corn on the other...The land is flat..mostly farm land...few towns, filling stations (we found a porta john in the middle of a field for a necessary stop). When we went through Beaumont, Kansas there were many windmill farms...they were so graceful...I wanted to just stop and watch them turn...but the day was calling and the temp. was rising.  At one point the temp. in the car was 110 degrees. 

In the middle is the hand dug well...

We ate lunch in a town called Greenburg.  This town was totally distroyed by a tornado 4 years ago.  It has been rebuilt and they really did a great job.  There was a picture of the town right after the tornado and there was nothing left...They are building a huge museum in town and one of it's claims to fame is the largest hand dug well...

After lunch our cars didn't  really want to start...but finally they did start and we were on our way...We had not been 20 miles when our car starting running really badly.  We could not go more that 35 or 40.  We stopped and changed the gas filters and Alan and Wright did everything they knew to do and nothing seemed to help...by this time we were 40 miles from the hotel...We were trying to decide if we should just limp on in to the hotel or  call AAA.  The temp. was 104 but fortunately it was overcast...We made three stops trying to fix stuff...There were no stations or shade trees for many miles.  Finally we decided to just try to make it to the hotel...Wright called Carl Brown and he said he thought we had bad gas...get more at the first opportunity.  All this time Davie and Jan Burgdorf were following us in their Mercedes with the flashers on.  Long story short...we got new gas, put in a octane booster and headed the 3 miles to the hotel.  Alan went back over everything that had been done on the road to make sure connections were good...The car seemed to be running good...We drove it to dinner and it is running right...Pray for tomorrow...268 miles to Colorado Springs.....
It's late, we are tired...bedtime...Goodnight