Over the past two years, Alfredo and I have had the opportunity to pack up the car with our tent, camping gear, art supplies and set out on the open road to experience the natural beauty of this country.

Many folks have asked us where we are going and I have to admit that the answers are varied and somewhat vague. We’re heading WEST to the Rockies, from there, who knows. We pick out a National Park or Forest, locate the ranger station and find out their favorite areas and hope for the best. One of our goals is to reach the Redwood Forest on the coast of California and Oregon. Will we be disappointed if we don’t make it that far? Perhaps. But rest assured, we will enjoy every bit of the journey to get there.

Over the next two months, we will be adding a post here and there to share our explorations, sketches and some good stories and laughs.  I hope you enjoy reading about our discoveries and see what creative endeavors may transpire from our travels.

 Each year we make improvements and adjustments for our summer journey. Last year was a new tent, this year, a new adventure-mobile. Alfredo searched for weeks to find this perfect vehicle for our trips. In the end, Alfredo took advantage that his cousin Jony came for a visit and we utilized his mastery of negotiation to get the vehicle of our choice which is a Nissan Quest. As you can see by the photo, it can handle all our equipment with ease. Alfredo calls it “The Spaceship”.

Two weeks before we planned to depart, we were like squirrels preparing for the winter. Collecting, storing and preparing our food, supplies and gear (both camping and painting supplies). We’re leaving the schedules and itineraries in Florida as we let serendipity takes its course. Before we get to the mountains, we’re stopping along the way to see friends and family. On June 23, aiming to leave around 8am, we didn’t pull out until almost 1pm! Our goal was to make it to Alabama to visit with a friend of mine from college.  Sorry to say that we didn’t get any pictures, but it was so heartwarming to talk with her and her family till midnight.  Eager to escape the humidity of the south, we left the next morning, westward, ho!

Driving, driving, stop for gas, get some coffee, more driving. We finally make it to Texas to visit with my cousin Tommy and his family. He has been raising horses for years. Even better, he and his wife Julie have raised 3 beautiful children and they now enjoy the delight of 2 grandchildren.  During our visit, we got to take part in Timmy’s Birthday and life around the farm. They made us feel right at home and Tommy and I had a chance to share memories and stories.  To all the Merrils, Crawfords and McClures out there, if anyone knows how long our family lived with the McClures when we moved to Florida, we’d like to “fill-in-the-blank” of our family history. LOL!

There is so much more to say but I don’t want to get too long winded since we have more to share of our journey. Our next post  will be about our adventures in New Mexico.