2014 went by in a flash. So much has happened in the last year. I am going to recap the events of 2014 and then give you an idea about what we have in store for us in 2015.
Our travels in 2014 took us back to Illinois for part of the summer and to Wisconsin for part of the summer, returning to Illinois for our 50th class reunion.
While in Illinois we had a new addition to our family! Isaac Thomas Carr. Heath and Sarah Carr’s youngest! He is a joy to be around and when we see pictures on facebook he is always smiling! Loretta says he is “living his name”(From the Hebrew name יִצְחָק (Yitzchaq) which meant “he laughs”.) 
This also was the year my daughters oldest, Luke graduated from High School! Wow, 1 new baby and one going away to college. 
Quite a year! We were able to spend time with both families, while we were home. we even took Zach, Heath and Sarah s 14 year old to Wisconsin with us for a couple of weeks. It was a fun time.
On May 31st we participated in the Relay for Life at MCHS field. We were part of the Class of 64 group. I had said if I reached my goal for fund raising I would wear my kilt.! I reached my goal and I wore my kilt! It was a great time and we enjoyed the time with our classmates as well.
Our class reunion was great! Many had returned, some for the first time. Friday evening was spent at a local establishment for some finger food, conversation and drink. Saturday night was the dinner and of course reminiscing with old friends! 
What a great time! 3 weeks after the reunion, we lost one of our classmates to cancer. Sue McNabb gave a great testimonial at the reunion. We will miss her, but we know she has a new body and is with her Savior Jesus Christ.
We left Illinois a day or to after the reunion and started our jouney to Lake City Colorado via Havana, Illinois, Aurora, KY and Nashville Tennesee! Stopping to see friends along the way! We also had stopped in Bloomington Illinois to have maintenance performed. More on the that later.
After Nashville we headed west. A must stop for us was Carthage ,Missouri, the home of the Precious Moments Chapel My mom and dad had visited there several times and enjoyed it very much, especially after their granddaughter, Michaela, died in a pool accident. They saw a figure in one of the paintings that looked just like Michaela. 
This brought them a lot of comfort and they even wrote to Mr. Butcher about that. It was a very pretty, interesting and emotional place. I would encourage everyone to visit.
Now the trip gets interesting! Our next planned stop was in Ablene, KS. I had forgotten that the rv park I chose to stop at was one we stopped at last year, when we discovered our refrigerator needed replacing. Hmm is this a bad omen? Yep! Got into the site and started to unhook the car, when I discovered the car was covered with oil! My first thought was they had overfilled my oil pan, when I had the oil changed in Bloomington, Illinois. After checking the slobber tube ( a tube that hangs down to expel oil etc) I confirmed that that was where the oil was coming from. This is the part about our maintenance jo in Bloomington, Illinois.
Apparently the shop in Bloomington overfilled our oil by about 5 quarts! After some discussions with Cat and the shop, the shop decided to reimburse us for the oil change and in fact thanked us for stopping when we did and for passing the information from Cat on to them.(They really should have known) We are now whole again and on our way to Colorado!
After stopping several nights along the way we arrived in Salida, Colorado. 2 couples from our Texas winters, happened to be in town! We stayed 2 nights and I even got to golf 1 day. Ron and Rhonda and John and Lenora showed us a good time, with laughter and remembering those winter Texas days!
Our time in Lake City was short this year. Loretta was not adjusting to the altitude very well (9,000+ feet) I was able to get a few rides in on the atv.(We had dropped the atv off before we headed to Illinois) So we pulled up stakes and left about a month after we arrived. The tree colors we just starting to change and about 2 weeks later they had their first dusting of snow!
Our trip back to Tuscon was uneventful, although we did stop in the Elephant Butte New Mexico area for 4 nights to explore the ghost towns and historic sites of the area. Highly recommend that area. There is a lot to do and see.
We arrived back in Tucson on October 3rd, got settled in, made doctors appointments and then it happened! We had been talking about trading the Bumblebeast ( our sidexside atv) in on a CamAm Spyder. Loretta was having trouble with her back on some of the rough trails and we had seen these motorcycles in some of the parks we stayed at and thought we would like one. One day after an eye exam and since we were in the area, we visited a dealer. Loretta took a ride, (I was not able to as I was in shorts and sandals) and found it very comfortable. Sooooo, as they did not have the one we wanted, they began to look for the model we wanted. In the meantime, I cleaned up the Bumblebeast, so I could take in for appraisal for a trade in. The actual trade in was just what I was going to sell it on Craigslist! So we made a deal and a week later we were proud owners 
of a 2014 CanAm Spyder RTS! Since that time we have put on over 1500 miles and are enjoying it a lot! I was even convinced to head up a motorcycle club here at the park!
So what are our plans for 2015! Since we will not be going back to Colorado this year, we decided to go west to Oregon to visit our son and grandsons, as well as do some work camping in 3 State parks. L.L Stub Stewart , for 2 months, Otter Crest State Scenic Viewpoint for 1 month and then we will take a month off and travel to Washington to look at some state parks there to host in maybe the following year. Our last Oregon park to host at will be Ainsworth State Park, which is along the Columbia river gorge. Should be an interesting summer!
We will leave Oregon behind October 1, and head toward Yellowstone, stopping along the way to visit friends in the Boise area. After Yellowstone we will visit Cody, Wyoming home to more friends, before we turn the rig south to Tucson. Of course this all depends on the weather in Yellowstone!
So for now we are doing genealogy, hiking, riding the motorcycle and just plain enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. Genealogy has been fun and interesting, since we both have had out DNA tested. If you haven’t done that and are into genealogy, do it! But be prepared for some surprises and mysteries! I have been!
Looking forward to this summer and the adventures that await us. Keep in touch and share your adventures!
Happy Trails