A Special Reflection

All of our thoughts have been back in Delburne in the last few days.

Our community has lost a very special lady - Debi Volker.  Deb - we will always remember your great big smile and laugh, your hugs, your willingness to help anyone wherever you could and your spunk.  You will be missed greatly.

Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to Jeremy, Jordan and Janelle.

Love Ray, Carmen, Emma and Leah 

On Route 66......

Hi there - here's a quick update on what we have been up to.

We headed to the tiny town of Oatman Nevada which is on the historic Route 66. What a cute little place - it is an old mining town/ghost town with a western flair. Leah's favorite part - the cute little burros who roam the town (they actually stop traffic as they walk down the street). They have gun fights on the main street - as you can tell one of them captured Leah from the crowd and wanted to keep her! (He offered his share of the local gold mine and his burro for her).

We then meandered further south to stay at Quartzsite for the night. Now this is an interesting place - motorhome after motorhome camped all over the place. Quartzsite is home to a huge rock and gem show in January which seems to drag into February and brings people out from all over. We seem very young here let me tell you!!

We are now in Yuma and weather is wonderful. We plan to be here for the next week or so since Ray's parents are here.

So no issues with Homeland Security in the last few days but Tyrone did have a bit of a run in with the Native Tribal Police Animal Control Services in Bullhead City!!!

In regards to Emma's bathroom question - she had her emergency stop at the Walgreens on Las Vegas Boulevard.

The next question - what is the favorite treat for the burros at Oatman?

Ta, ta for now

On Route 66....

Hi there - here's a quick update on what we have been up to.

We headed to the tiny town of Oatman Nevada which is on the historic Route 66.

Oatman Nevada on Route 66

Hi there - Here is the lates o

Emma's Post

So I hear that you all wanted me to write the blog so I decided I would. Yesterday we went to the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam started to be built in 1931.They finished building it in 1935. Since the Hoover dam was built in the old days, they didn’t have all the high-tech tools and equipment we have now. So sadly in the making of the dam, 110 people died.

When we were parking, dad was already mad, because we were being charged 7 dollars for parking but then what I am about to tell you is very, very funny and made Dad even more mad. When we took the long walk from the parking lot to the dam, and just entering, we saw a sign that said no food, drinks, or weapons allowed. Then dad started to look very guilty. Then I asked him what was wrong? He had his Leatherman (pocket knife) in his pocket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom started freaking out telling him that he had to go back to the car and put it back. But then dad started having a hissy-fit saying that he wasn’t walking all the way back to the car to put a Leatherman back. So then dad started walking over to the corner pretending to look at a sign. Then he pretended to um…………..oh I don’t know what he was pretending to do next. He bent
down and put the pocket knife under a tree. But happily he didn’t get caught. I’m surprised he wasn’t arrested by the Department of Homeland Security!
P.S Doesn’t that bring back any National Lampoon’s Summer Vacation memories!


Also that night we went to see the Las Vegas lights. It was A-M-A-Z-I¬-N-G!!!!!!!!!! At the Mirage they had a volcano and waterfall mixed together. IT WAS SWEET!

Now what you’ve all been waiting for, it’s time for another Trivia Question!!!!!
Congratulations to our last contest winner Mr. Harry Andrew!!!! The correct answer to the limo question is 24 limos. Grandpa guessed 23. We would also like to say that Mr. Andrew has always made a guess on the Trivia Question, but has never won. So YAH for you Grandpa.
Today’s hard question is when we were enroute to the downtown Las Vegas light show, what store did Dad have to make an emergency stop at for me to go to the bathroom? P.S This is in America. Think American Stores.

Today we went shopping at an outlet mall. Me and Leah got matching green outfits. Are twin names are Pixie and Dixie. We also went to Pro Bass Sports. Holly cow is that store BIG!!!!!!!!! It is like that Wal-Mart super center we told you about before but bigger. I know some people who would die to see it. ( Grampa Harry, Grandpa Ralph, Paul, Dwayney Boy.) It includes Hunting, Fishing, Camping and lots of other sport stuff. And they also have a huge clothes area of very nice Men’s, women’s, and kid’s clothes. + Shoes. And the coolest thing about it is, is that in the parking lot the lines were FISH!
P.S If you guys are exited about this store one will be near Calgary soon. And they are making a lake with it so you can test out your boats before you buy them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to know were we are we are at Bullhead City, Arizona and staying right close to Lake Mohave.

HAPPY SWEET 16TH BIRTHDAY SHELBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Viva Las Vegas!

We are in the Las Vegas area and enjoying our time in the “city that never sleeps” and the lack of snow!

We are staying at the beautiful Lake Mead National Recreation area which is only about 20 minutes from Las Vegas. The location is perfect, we are close to the city but we are on the outside which works great for all of us (especially Tyrone who loves the canyons). Today we toured the strip via double decker “Deuce” bus. The highlights were seeing the Freemont street area, Circus Circus performance and the tigers at the MGM.
Yesterday we dined at the very busy In and Out Burger Restaurant.


So we plan to stick around here for a couple more days – we want to explore Lake Mead and hit some factory outlet malls! Then we will continue south to the Lake Havasu area.

About the blog question – None of you are right! The correct answer is The Flying J Travel Plaza.

Our next question: Emma and Leah were very excited to see all the limos in Las Vegas – they would like you to guess how many they saw today.

A bonus question – We want to hear your best Las Vegas story (just remember this is a family blog).

Here are a few pictures of interest:

*Leah practicing her poker face (what do you think Uncle Gordie?)
*Emma & Leah on the Deuce bus
*Ray at the In and Out Burger
*For all you Delburne Ladies – this billboard signs for you - Hot Australian Men “The Thunder from Down Under” – Carmen says she’s already setting up a girls weekend!

Oh and by the way – Leah wants Marina and Georgia to know that they will have to hop on a plane to Vegas to get her because she wants to pursue a dancing career at the Tropicana or deal cards at the Golden Nugget!

Good night all!

R

R

Viva Las Vegas!

We are currently in the Las Vega

Green Grass at Last!

Hi all - We finally made it out of the snow - we even saw green grass today!  After navigating our way through Salt Lake City - we ended our journey today in the beautiful St. George, Utah.  The red rocks are stunning - check out the link here of Zion National Park .

 It was even so nice out this evening we all played a quick game of basketball!  Tomorrow we plan to continue into Nevada, in the Lake Mead area. 

Just a point of clarity, it was brought to our attention that it was actually Merle Werseen not Terry who answered the Montana millionaire question correctly.  Uncle Phil was the first to answer the question about the Utah fry sauce - your prize will be in the mail shortly!

The question of the day - What is the name of the gas station that we regularly fill up the motorhome at??  Nice to see diesel around 2 bucks a gallon (that's around 57 cents/litre)!!

Bye for now,

Stormed Stayed in Salt Lake City!

Well here we are in the Salt Lake City area for a bit longer than anticipated. The trip yes

Storm Stayed in Salt Lake City

Well here we are in the Salt Lake City area for a bit longer than we had anticipated. We left Dillan yesterday morning and had a relatively uneventful trip - we did climb to heights up to 6400 feet!

When we got to Salt Lake City we heard that there was a big snow storm on its way. When we woke up in the morning - we saw snow - lots of snow (about 8 - 10 inches). So needless to say we decided to stay put.

Ray spent the morning working on the motorhome battery, being the handy person that he is, everything is good to go!

We went to this very cool, drive-in restaurant for lunch called Maddox. The girls were very impressed that someone would actually come out to our van to take our order and give us our food. Leah is a fan of the "long dog" as you can see by the photo.

We then spent the afternoon visiting a state park on the shores of the Great Salt Lake and Ray went to a RV camping store.

So the plan is to continue south in the morning and get out of the SNOW. We are beginning to wonder if we will ever see the end of it!

Congratulations to Mr. Terry Werseen (at least I am assuming I have the right family member) correctly answered the last blog question - Helena Montana is the community with the most millionaires in the 1880's. Terry your prize will be coming to you soon.

Today's skill testing question - during our lunch experience, we learned that the Utah folks have something called "Fry Sauce" that they always serve with french fries which closely resembles a popular salad dressing - any ideas??

Happy Valentine's Day everyone and Happy 18th Birthday Shanah - sorry we aren't there to celebrate with you!

Leah's Report

Hi grade 2-3 class (and everyone else)all we saw today was mountains - I miss you guys so much. I think we are slowly getting into the warm weather. We are at Dillon Montana tonight and will be off to Idaho in the morning. Didn't you used to live in Idaho, Cole?? So lots more mountains to see but not much snow which is good.

Aunty Tracy won the contest again from yesterday! (she googled it we think!) The next question - which community in Montana had the highest number of millionaires in the 1880's???

Well good bye love Leah.

Day 1 was definitely an Adventure!

Well folks we are now in the United States of America – Great Falls Montana. Yesterday was quite the day. Everything was fine until after Three Hills. Highway 1 was a nightmare. Snow was blowing across the road and the wind was howling. We counted 3 cars in the ditch in a very short stretch of highway. We eventually pulled over on the side of the highway by Brooks and had to unhook the van from the motor-home, due to the very icy conditions and the strong crosswinds. But then we got away from the snow storm and stayed overnight at Taber, at a beautiful campground. Did you know that they make sugar and Lay`s potato chips at Taber?

Ray is quite relieved the router and network thru Verizon is now setup and working perfectly - skype is working too!

Now it’s time for another trivia question!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to Auntie Tracy Atkinson and the Werseen family who are the big winners (tie). The actual length of our rig with tow vehicle is 56.6 feet or 17.25 meters. Auntie Tracy, Merle, Terry and Rylee check your email for your prize in the next few days.

Today we visited the Wallmart Superstore in Great Falls – so guess what our question is about Wallmart -- Who can guess how many checkouts there are at the Great Falls Wallmart Superstore?

So we will continue to head south in the morning – cross your fingers for NO MORE SNOW!

P.S
Hooray for the Grade 2-3 class for registering a gmail account and making a Hands on guess for the trivia question! Keep it up 2-3s!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today the girls started on their mountain of school work while travelling – however; the picture you see of the books insn't their work – it's Carmen's planning books!!!!




Bye for now.

And we're off.......... The Great Adventure Begins!

Wow - what a busy last few days - it has been wonderful to receive so many phone calls and visits - we will miss you all!

We are loaded up and ready to head south. Just our luck, we heard on the news that Arizona just had the worst snowstorm in recent history!

Congratulations to our first contest winner - Mrs. Helen Overwater. She was the lucky recipient of marshmellows and potatoes straight from the Pilkington/Andrew pantry!!

For our next skill testing question:

What is the total length of our rig including the towed van. Looking forward to your responses!

Talk to you soon...

Emma & Leah's Bon Voyage Bash!

This afternoon, Emma and Leah invited some of their pals to an afternoon of skating and tobogganing followed by hot dogs and hot chocolate. What beautiful weather - a perfect sunny Alberta afternoon! And only a few minor tobogganing incidents, Leah was one of the victims as she crashed into a pole! Thanks everyone for coming - I hope you all had fun!

Now back to the packing - we are still planning to head south on Tuesday morning. So stay tuned........

And finally, we would like to kick start off our blog entries with a regular trivia question - Name the three adults that skated on the ice? First one to comment (answering correctly) will be recognized in our next entry.