Sept. 29, Here we are at Enchanted Trails for 4 days just resting and doing nothing!! laundry, grocery shopping, visiting old town, and I even washed the airstream. Tomorrow at 9am we convoy into the Balloon Fiesta with 100 other airstreams. So far we already had a happy hour with some to get to know each other. The water tanks are filled, sewer empty and batteries charged. We are boondocking for 5 days with no hookups. I am Ready!! To click click a few balloons? I will post pictures in a few days after the Rally, right now too much fun to post!

Sept 24, saturday, We leave Cottonwood after visiting Verde Days at the Lagoon. This was a day for families to fish and see the local clubs. We left at noon for Sedona. We went thru Sedona to catch Rt 17 after driving straight up the mountain on Rt 89 a we finally got to Rt 17 then onto Rt 40 East!! We stopped at Winslow to see the Rt 66 sights and continued on. Stopping at "Root 66 "Camp for the night. Only $15.50 a night. This was owned and run by an Indian family, very gracious hosts. They said it is slow this year.
Sept 25, Sunday , we leave at noon and drive Rt 40 for about 100 miles and enter New Mexico. We drive to exit #79 to Grant,NM. arrived at Bar "S"
campground. Only $17.00 for the night with full hookups. The place is full because people are arriving now for the Balloon Rally in Albuquerque.
We can hardly wait. We leave in the am for Enchanted Trails RV Park to meet many other Airstreamers,we want to rest for 4 days before the party begins!! Here are todays pictures of Rt 66
https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/CottonwoodSedonaWinslowToRt66ToGrantsNM#
God Bless.. AirstreamHobo and Mom

Wednesday, Sept 23, We are camped at Cottonwood,Az. for 3 days at Dead Horse Park. I didn't see any dead horses yet? We drove up to Jerome and saw the hillside town that used to be a mining Town. Now it is an art/craft town, we walked the streets and had fun looking at the sights. Then we drove the Mingus highway over the mountain for 12 miles and back.The view was spectacular! See album https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/JeromeAZ?authkey=Gv1sRgCMTf39rF0oP1wwE#

Tuesday, Sept 20, Today we drove to Dewey, AZ. to met up with Pee Wee Schwamborn an Airstream Friend! He was the son of Helen Schwamborn who was the start of WBCCI and started and planned many Airstream Caravans all over the World. Pee Wee was the advance scout on the Capetown to Cairo Caravan over 50 years ago. His airstream experiences are mind boggling!!! Just to sit and see his scrap books were like sitting with living history. We then left for Prescott to see the rocks and city. We spent the day taking pictures everywhere. Thanks to Pee Wee & Sue for your Hospitailty and Friendship. We will see them again at the Balloon Rally next week. See the pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/DayWithPeeWeeInPrescottAZ#

Sat, Sept 17, We left for Arizona, we drove down Rt 93 to Rt 66, stopping for information and maps of Rt. 66 in Kingman, AZ. Rt. 66 is a road of the old days of the 50's & 60's before Interstate Highway system. My favorite stop was Hackenberry's Gas/Store Station. This place was a photographers paradise too. See the Album to see what I mean, Enjoy!! https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/ViewAlongRt66Interesting#

Here is a separate Album for Hackenberry's Store.
https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/HackenberryStore#

Friday, Sept. 16th, we spent the week in the Vegas area enjoying the sights. Today we went into Las Vegas to see the town during the day. There was lost to see and we got back at 10pm that night. The people were friendly and spoke many languages. Here is a album to see some of the sights. https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/DaytimeInLasVegas#

Hi everyone, I just wanted to give you an update. Most of you know that our hometown was flooded and had severe damage to a lot of homes. I sent out an email telling my followers that I will not be posting a blog for a while. I cannot talk about our travels when so many back home are having a rough time trying to clean & find a place to live.
We had 6-9" of water in our home, but our sons/wives & friends jumped in there and cleaned it all up. They told us to continue our trip and come home afterwards. We are so Thankful for Family & Friends for helping. I know I am not posting a blog, but some have requested pictures. So I know pictures are worth a thousand words. I have downloaded a few albums for you to see. Go this album
https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/HooverDamLasVegas#
and when finished look up at top and click on Airstreamhobo's Gallery to get the other albums posted , then you can click on them to see. I hope you all understand our feelings about Manheim & Friends.We are in Las Vegas near Hoover Dam at this time. We have 2 weeks yet till the Balloon Rally then we will head home!!
God Bless everyone!! AirstreamHobo & Mom

The Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here are some pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/TempleSquareSalitLakeCityUtah#

Sunday, September 5, We meet up with Steve & Linda Koreny at the Copper Mine. They are members of Central Penn Unit and are also traveling in the West. Awesome to see them and swap stories so far about our trips.
We tour the mine and then leave to find a campground. We stop at one, it is full onto the next one. The sign says full but they had 2 campers leave today, so we are in luck. We set up and get together for a evening chat. Planning for tomorrow, we will see the downtown of Salt Lake City.
Monday, September 6, we leave at 10 am and go downtown to Temple Square where the Mormons have their Church and Conference Center. We first drive up to the Capital Building and take a self guided tour. Next off to Temple square, we park right across the street. Free parking, Labor Day! Now we eat first then the tour begins. We get a tour of the Conference Center, Wow, lots to see.. see the pictures. The place is massive. The audutorium holds 21,000 people. The organ has 8,000 pipes. There is even a garden on the roof. We have a freee guide to learn all the areas. 4 hours later we are ready to sit in the van. Pictures
https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/CopperMineUtah#5649500050639248722

Here is Rt. 80 across Nevada, It is the most boring! 400 miles of highway, 75 MPH Limit, I set the cruise at 65 and didn't touch the gas pedal for 125 miles. Time to stop for fuel then off again. We made it till 7pm and stopped for the night at "Loves" truck stop. We were surrounded by trucks for the night. There was a fuel, McDonalds and a Casino all in one place. We did 350 miles today and it was Boring!!

Here we are at Mystery Trees attraction in California. There was a Indian Artifact Museum here too. The largest private collection of Indian things collected by a 97 year old Indian lady and she still collects everyday. The flower garden was beautiful too. we left here and headed for Sacremento to reach Rt. 80 east. We stopped at a rest stop for the night at 10 pm. We woke up at 7 am and headed to Nevada. We hit the Nevada border and drove 350 miles today.

The Redwoods are bigger than the van!

That is Big!!!

How many hugs to surround the tree?

We made it!! to California!!

Thursday, September 1, 2011.... We made it to California, first we went under an inspection at the border for Gypsy Moth(she said Penna. is known for them) carrier. The young lady search over and crawled by creeper under the Airstream with her flashlight. We passed and got a yellow pass good for one year.

We found a campground near the entrance of the Redwood Forrest. We unhooked and drove the van thru the massive trees for 10 miles thru the dirt road, narrow at times. We stopped several times to marvel at the large trees!!

Here are pictures from the past week to see ... 3 Albums to see..

https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/OregonRt1011#

More.. httphttps://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/Oregon4#

More.. https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/Oregon3#

Any comments, would love to hear from you!! e-mail me obclown@ptd.net

God Bless.... AirstreamHobo and Mom

Wednesday, August 31, we leave camp at 11 am and continue down Rt. 101, this is the most beautiful drive I ever took, the ocean has it's wonders and beauty at every turn in the lookouts. I pass a restaurant with cars all over the roof, I stop and walk in. There are 2 49' Fords with the interior changed to a table and benches as a booth for you to sit in while you eat. That was cool, also many old signs of yesteryear on the walls.
Back on the road, more lookouts to stop and see. We arrive at Bullards Beach State Park for the night($24.00/nite) We get a nice shaded spot to relax. Tonight is country entertainment for the camp, I think I will go? I did go and see Mark Madden, he had a great mix of country songs for an hour. Back to camp for a campfire till 9:30 pm. zzzzZZ zz .....
God Bless, AirstreamHobo and Mom

Tuesday, August 30, we drive along the coast to take in the sights again. This time we stop at Yaquina Head Lighthouse. This is a National Park, so we gain free entrance. We stop at the visitors center for a little history and a short film on this area. Then off to the lighthouse, there is a lot of steps down to the water here. There is cobble stones(made from lava flows made into round stones). I walked down about 6 sets of steps to see the lighthouse from the water, the lighthouse is high on a hill overlooking the ocean. I met a volunteer who explains the rocks and also the animals that can be found in the water when the tide is out. They asked that you not take any cobblestones with you(I think that’s why he was here, to make sure you don't). You should hear the sound of the stones when water hits and leaves the shoreline. It sounds like applause all the time. It is also very hard to walk down here, they are like giant marbles. Now to wall back up the steps to the top.. Huff .. huff.. even the kids were slow by the top. Mom and I tour the lighthouse and take a mini-tour. I elected not to climb those steps too. The view is wonderful up and down the coast.
We then drive down the coast checking out the waterfront. I pass a wood carver making bears and cowboys.. Cool. Then we find a Crab Shack for lunch and stop in for some local fish. Mom got Shrimp basket, I got the Halibut with fries, very good. The place was a poplar place for everyone.
Tonight we buy firewood to enjoy. Just relaxing watching the fire tonight. The sun was hiding all day, so we didn't go over to the beach for sunset.

We also stop to see the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, there are 2 here in Newport. This one is downtown overlooking the waterway into the docks, near a big bridge that crosses over Newport. Enough sightseeing today back to the camper. We walk out under the bridge at the camp to the ocean at 7:45 pm to see the sunset. It was ok, there were several people also watching. The tide sure goes out far and there is a wide beach from parking lot to the water, lots of driftwood is left behind. ZZZZZ
Pictures .. https://picasaweb.google.com/AirstreamHobo/NewportOregon#

Monday, August 29, We leave here early in am and drive down Rt. 101 stopping at overlooks and enjoying the ocean and the shoreline. We arrive in the Newport area and stop at Beverly Beach State Park for 2 nights($26.00/nite). We have a nice shaded spot in the back loop(G-3) There are not many sites left, the Ranger tells us they have been full since June 1st. We unhook and drive to down town Newport and find the historic waterfront. There we see a fish processing plant on the docks. The boats are coming in for the day with their catches. The waterfront is lined with big and small boats.
We hear barking off in the distance, we go to seek out this noise. Here the sea lions are on a rock island 50 feet off shore and also below one of the docks on a lower dock just for them. They are Big, some over 1,000 lbs. and very loud in their barking voice. We stop and watch them swim and basked in the sun. They crawl over each other to get a spot on the dock, fun to watch them belly around.