2023 Recap, Part B, Even Longer

 We arrived at a favorite place in Montana, Ennis to beautiful skies and no smoke.

We had to go into Bozeman to get some groceries and other items and of course while there we had to have some sushi at Dave's.

One thing we wanted to do as soon as we could and the weather cooperated was paint our roof.  Our coach has sat out in the sun and weather for 16 years and the roof showed it.  I had done quite a bit of research into what various people were doing to address it and Rustoleum Marine Topside paint was the winner.  It turned out great.

Before

After

It was a sad year for fishing, not that we didn't try, we were in Ennis for 3 weeks and fished a lot of the days, but not good.  Figured it was obviously just us, but literally every single person we talked to said the same thing, this was just not the year for the famous Madison River.

But we explored, had to stop at Quake Lake for coffee.

Enjoyed the scenery.

Made some great meals.

Even made time for a Guinness:-)

We moved over to Missoula for a couple weeks and had a nice time when our daughter, Kelly and Brian came to visit.

Enjoyed our time together and showed them around.

To include this place:-)

A couple great dinners.

We said goodbye to Kelly and Brian early in the morning, they on their way back to Lubbock, and Jan and I over to Helena to get new tires for the truck, might as well take advantage of no sales tax in MT.

Tried fishing again in another river.  I caught one but still slim pickings.

Then we moved over to Emigrant, MT for access to Yellowstone National Park.  Nice site right on the Yellowstone River.

Into the park and to Lamar Valley for coffee and breakfast at dawn.

And saw more wolves than ever before, still learning with our diopter for the phone camera on our spotting scope.

Then a ride over the amazing Bear Tooth Pass to include a picnic lunch.

Then another amazing dinner by Jan, and a last dose of sushi before heading south.

A stop at Henry's Lake in ID for some sightseeing.

Then on to Heber City, UT and one of our favorite RV parks, Mountain Valley.  The foliage was incredible!!

And since our troublesome brake light stopped working again, the Diesel Mechanic, Jan went under to run an entirely new wire, adding that this would be the Last time!  It worked though and is still working now.

Found a great place for coffee.

And just to prove I can cook, shrimp and grits:-)

Way back in 2014, we found a sensational Vietnamese place in Salt Lake City called Oh Mai, which has wonderful food, bun, pho, etc, but the Banh Mi's are stellar.  We ended up going twice.

Then to Montrose, CO.

Another favorite restaurant in in Ridgway, GNAR Tacos.

Then the Last Dollar Road, a gorgeous drive, with a coffee stop.

A drive into Silver Jack Reservoir and over Owl Creek Pass with a picnic.

We got a dose of snow, so that the scenery on the way to our secret boon docking site over Slumgullion Pass was absolutely spectacular, the best we have ever seen in all our years doing this.

We had been looking forward to our spot for awhile, but especially this year as we would be there for our 50th Anniversary!  

10,500' north of Creede
privacy at its best

Even had a visitor.

It's a special place.

We celebrated in style.

Then on to Durango and a new campground for us, Durango Ranch RV Resort, very nice.

Spud Lake hike is one of Jan's favorites, and off she went.  I surprised her by doing it as well.

Found a new Asian fusion place, and went back to a favorite pizza place.

Then down to Taos to visit with Karen.

Along the way lunch stop

Even got to see several of the local denizens, YUCK!

On to Lubbock, but stopped quickly in Santa Fe to have the greatest green chile cheeseburger in the world at the newly reopened Santa Fe Bite.

Nice visit with Kelly and Brian at their new house.

Kelly fed us like royalty, an example was this delicious Thai shrimp curry soup.

Eastward now and happened by this place.

Got some catfish in OK.

Then Hot Springs, AR.

On to Nashville.

Couldn't be all fun and games though, the flex drain hose for our galley sink that goes in and out with the slide broke again.  Pretty easy fix except for finding a replacement hose which took several days.

Even got a Guinness fix in, and really enjoyed our site and views on the water.

Then through Guntersville,

And NC,

Back to Ellijay, GA for dentist and dermatologist, and friends.  

A beautiful site

John and Diane came up to visit, went to a local brewery and smoked some cigars

And we went to their place for a great visit, dinner, drinks, and cigars around the fire!

Not all good news there though, Jan's cancer showed back up, and was taken care of and I learned I needed a new crown.  NBD.

Then we back to Nashville to a new place Four Corners, very nice, in fact made some reservations for next year, met a friend Keith for lunch and a tour.

Jan still creating,

And we found a great Thai place.

Then to Gulf Shores, AL, nice place, Sun Resorts, Orange Beach.

Found some great seafood and oysters.

Then our AquaHot troubles began again.  No heat and the diesel burner if it ran put out so much black smoke you couldn't see.  We did all we could do ourselves and finally had to call in an expert to evaluate and determine it needed a new motor which he installed.  We also had the circulation pump for the main living area heat go bad.  

After it got fixed we celebrated with some crab stuffed local shrimp!

Then on to Port St Joe, right on the water but cold and windy.

And more shrimp.

On to Grand Oaks, an equestrian event center and RV park in Lady Lake, where we tackled the replacement of all the AquaHot circulation pumps, a 3 day ordeal as I mentioned:-)

Before

After

Enjoyed our quiet Christmas and dinner.

Then one more stop before Royal Coachman in Nokomis for the winter, Hidden River in Riverview, FL, also a nice place.

Had a quiet week there with some good food, imagine:-)

First excellent pho in Lakeland,

I followed it with a treat from Parkesdale, the best strawberry milkshake in the world!

Some superb sushi in Brandon.

And yes, that finally brings me to the end.  We are now here in RCR for the winter, the posts will slow down now that we aren't moving.  So thank you very much for following along with us on our travels and travails.