Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: Summer Highlights and Winter Plans

September 2021 – Fall/Winter 2021

First of all I need to catch you up to some changes in our lives. Last winter we put a deposit down on a miniature schnauzer puppy. We were put on a waiting list and were notified on May 1^st that we could pick out a puppy from one of the litters. We chose a female, black with cream colored markings on her legs, chest, nose and eyebrows. We picked up Mica on June 10^th. She weighed only 2.8 pounds! As I write this she is 5 months old and weighs about 7 pounds. What a change in our household! She thinks she is the boss but we are trying to change her mind! Not sure who is going to win!

Another change we made is we traded in our fifth wheel for a small trailer. We had been discussing getting a smaller camper so we could be more mobile and worry less about hauling the big fifth wheel around. We purchased a Flagstaff Micro Lite 25FBLS. It is 25' long with two slides, one in the living area and a closet slide in the bedroom. Our entire rig is not much shorter in length but the trailer is 2' shorter in height than the fifth wheel. What we lost in storage and tank capacity we gained in being more nimble and able to fit in more camping spots.

Some of the highlights of this summer included our usual campground host gig at Richardson Lake National Forest, a fun weekend family gathering at my parents to celebrate Christmas and lots of Henry visits. Dennis went on a Lake Michigan charter with our neighbor Pat and they caught three nice fish. I went on an awesome week long hiking trip to Grand Lake Colorado with my friend Mary, who I horse back ride with, her sister Donna and her sister's friend Kelsey. We stayed in Mary's relative condo. We hiked many miles and visited the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park.

So now for our winter travel plans. One of our Rving friends has been after us the join her at one of their groups mission work projects. This year they are helping out a Methodist Church camp in Maine. We decided to join them! The project is happening the last two weeks in September so we are leaving earlier than most years. We plan to take a week to get there. Then after that we will work our way south and west through New England. Mainly staying away from the coast and the big metropolis areas. We plan to visit Shenandoah, Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smokey Mountain National Parks and any other interesting places we come across. Then we may head toward the coast to visit Charleston and Savannah. Then down to Florida to spend the month of December. After that we will probably head back to Texas and the gulf coast. Won't be making it to Arizona this year but that's OK. Its time to see another part of the country.