I’m having a bit of writers block as I start this part of the adventure. I feel like I’ve used up all my words to describe how amazingly beautiful every day of our travels have been thus far. It must be boring anymore to read my stories. If I was reading my blog, not as me, I would think, Good Lord, this girl has used the word beautiful and amazing 1000 times. Everywhere they go, it’s beautiful and amazing. The trees are amazing, the waterfalls beautiful, the Buffalo, so amazing. The cliffs and mountains and lakes, beautiful. The hills dotted with cows, the farmhouses, small towns, the smell of lavender and coffee, amazing. Elk in a meadow, elk in the campground, beautiful. I would think, —-“girl, find another few words”.

So I did.

I have come to think that when I say beautiful and amazing there are feelings attached to those words. It’s sensory overload. My mind just can’t come up with anything else to say about what I am seeing. Like, when I say, “are you kidding me right now”?

I have lived two lives. The first part of my life was spent battling addiction and alcoholism. I spent many a day plagued with depression and the undeniable feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. I was young and I was lost. I raised children in this unpredictable, uncertain time. I was married and attempted to do this thing called life, all the while, trying different ways to see the “beauty” others were talking about. In my brief attempts to achieve sobriety, I was always thwarted with relapse because I didn’t accept the tools that are necessary to stay sober. I wasn’t willing to be honest, hence I continued to live with the secrets that kept me sick.

In my brief periods of recovery, life was good. There was some happiness and there was some beauty. If you are one of my children reading this, you all are my greatest accomplishment. One of my biggest regrets is that I never got to travel with you and show you all the beautiful places in this world. I hope all the pictures in my writings have given you the sense of wonder, through my eyes. Addiction is a progressive disease, and because I did not have the wherewithal or the willingness to surrender, I always returned to the darkness which is where I felt most home. I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but if you are reading this and you know- you know.

The second life I was given was this life.

After many years of doing things my way, I came to a point where I either was going to go left again, or go right. The children were grown, the husband was gone and I met my friend Jim. Girl meets boy on AA campus could be the most beautiful thing that ever happened to me. Jim made me want to be a better person. After some time, I asked for help and began the journey into real recovery and sobriety. I finally worked the steps of AA, where in so doing, I found a God of my own understanding and a freedom I had never known. I let go of my past and began to look forward to my future. I transformed. It is a Beautiful thing.

So, having feelings associated with the word beautiful, is what this story is all about. I can literally feel the word.

Jim and I have been together for 18 years. He has showed me what “beautiful” looks like. He chose me to go along with him on many adventures. Our Great Loop adventure was ( now I’m going to use new words) Awe-inspiring. Epic. Astounding! It changed my life and my whole outlook on who I was as a woman. I became strong. Bold. Fearless. He helped me see that I could do anything even if I was afraid. We both became better people. This is what beautiful looks like.

After living on a boat for over a year, we know how to live quite small, so going on this 10,000 mile LOOP around the USA in a RV is not much different. In fact, the only thing different is that it’s not as scary docking a RV😂 . Like on the Great Loop, we work together, we play together and we say I love you many times a day. This adventure is stellar! Learning about the United States is new to me. I, before this trip, could not have told you where states we’re actually located on the map. I could not have really cared less. I didn’t go to history class or pay much attention in geography. I was busy in that period of my life. This journey has forced me to do research. To find out why there are Amish people in certain states. To find out how many gallons of water flow over Niagara Falls in one second. To understand how floods from millions of years ago formed the valleys between the rock formations which make up this.

And how water levels and snow melting make this enchanting waterfall available for all of us to behold if you go looking for it. A waterfall is a river or others body of water’s steep fall over a rock ledge into a plunge pool below. They are also called cascades. The process of erosion, the wearing away of earth plays an important part in the formation of waterfalls. Waterfalls themselves also contribute to erosion.

I’ve learned that a 326 foot redwood tree has grown from a seed no bigger than one from a tomato, and are over 2000 years old in the Redwood National Park. Their existence speaks for themselves, not in words, but rather in a soft-toned voice of patience and endurance. They are breathtaking.

I’ve learned that there are at least 50 shades of the color brown on this adventure. Everywhere we look in the past few weeks as we have traveled from Las Vegas to Zion National Park, to Yellowstone National Park and on to The Arches in Utah, we have witnessed a palate of rich, warm colors. A kaleidoscope of color, that change according to the color of the sky, the clouds, the sun, the moon. Around every single corner or bend in the road, the colors invade your senses. These colors make me feel calm and warm. Scientists estimate that there are about 10 million colors in our world. Everyone sees the world differently, so there may be an infinite number of colors out there we’ve yet to discover. We are able to see color thanks to light waves reflecting off objects.

Speaking of color and things learned, there are actually people who make color turn into artwork on the sides of our highways. Seven Magic Mountains is in Las Vegas, Nevada. Occupying a space between the stillness of the Nevada desert and the constant flux of people traveling between Los Angeles and Las Vegas along Interstate 15. The totemic forms of Seven Magic Mountains are stone carins, or balancing rocks, marking the way for travelers passing through unfamiliar landscapes. This is “land art”. It makes me very happy. It’s bright and colorful. It is just plain terrific! Human intervention making the desert brown come alive for a moment.

How does the color blue make you feel? Blue is often considered a spiritual color as it’s hues make up the sky, which is a representative of heaven. Blue is also the primary color of the oceans and seas, and many people feel connected to these bodies of water spiritually. Blue has no time for baseless fears. Blue inspires me to live in the present and bid farewell to my stress. By creating an air of serenity, it does just that. On a particularly challenging day, consider looking up at the sky. You will maybe find, as I do, an oasis of calm as you gaze up at the clouds.

I witnessed this jaw dropping cloud as we drove through Utah .

We have seen and felt many colors of blue on this adventure. From colored skies to the breathtaking boiling hot turquoise hydrothermal pool in Yellowstone National Park.

Colors of blue

Arches National Park ❤️

A red-rock wonderland

This park contains more than 2,000 natural arches—the greatest concentration in the country. But numbers have no significance beside the grandeur of the landscape—the arches, the giant balanced rocks, spires, pinnacles, and slickrock domes against the enormous sky.

Perched high above the Colorado River, the park is part of southern Utah's extended canyon country, carved and shaped by eons of weathering and erosion. Some 300 million years ago, inland seas covered the large basin that formed this region. The seas refilled and evaporated—29 times in all—leaving behind salt beds thousands of feet thick. Later, sand and boulders carried down by streams from the uplands eventually buried the salt beds beneath thick layers of stone. Because the salt layer is less dense than the overlying blanket of rock, it rises up through it, forming it into domes and ridges, with valleys in between.

Most of the formations at Arches are made of soft red sandstone deposited 150 million years ago. Much later, groundwater began to dissolve the underlying salt deposits. The sandstone domes collapsed and weathered into a maze of vertical rock slabs called "fins." Sections of these slender walls eventually wore through, creating the spectacular rock sculptures that we were privileged to see today.

Using the words from my list above, these photos from our journey through The Arches, form a huge smile on my face and a lump in my throat. I love this life, and do not take one second for granted. My God saw fit to drag me through the first life, (sometimes kicking and screaming) and deliver me to this place, one day, in August of 2023. I am forever grateful.

Arches National Park, is a realm of enchantment where sandstone arches and red rock formations are bathed in golden light. Our morning drive reveals the tranquil silence which amplifies the wonder as nature awakens, while at sunset, the fiery hues intensify, creating a mesmerizing spectacle. These moments at Arches National Park are a testament to the profound beauty of the desert landscape.

Our next adventure will take us to Colorado. We are going to visit our girl Brandi. Brandi moved from Florida a few years ago. She is a young woman who Jim and I met 5 years ago. It never ceases to amaze me how my God works. He put people in my life right when I need them most.

We had just returned from our Great Loop adventure. I was feeling a bit adrift. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do this “life after the loop” life. I didn’t know anyone and had not quite established a tribe yet. Then, just like my God dropped a bison in my path in Yellowstone, he put Brandi in my life. She, (and I know she wouldn’t mind me saying this), was a hot mess. She asked me for help, and we began a journey together, that I am so grateful for. Jim and I both love her like our own. She has grown into an amazing human being. I was sad when she moved to Colorado, but I knew that it was going to be the best thing for her. She met her Charlie. She started college, where, as of today she is working towards her bachelor’s degree and one day, she will help change people’s lives. She and Charlie bought a home. She is a miracle.

Our time together in Colorado was really fun. She and Charlie came to the campground and we had a nice dinner. The following day she took me to the family ranch, which is a stunning home and property that would blow your mind. Horses and cows, goats and deer, that she helps take care of. She took me for a buggy ride up in the hills. She is a badass! Jim and I drove to her and Charlie’s home for dinner. The next day we met her at a meeting and that night, she and I went to Iron Mountain Hot Springs, where I was in 7th heaven. I’ve never been to hot springs before, so this was a great treat!

Brandi Adding Our Colorado State Sticker 😊

The Colorado River could be seen around every bend and I could picture the mountains being covered in snow and how resplendent it would be. It suits Brandi just fine. Me, not so much. Brrrrr.

We love you Brandi, and both Jim and I are very proud of you. Until next time, peace and joy.

As of today, August 26, 2023, we have traveled 8,230 miles and have been gone from home for 70 days. We are now making our way back to Florida. We have been to 10 National Parks. We have been to 10 AA meetings in some of the different states we have been too. Jim and I were talking the other day about how when we were on the Loop, we got to 38 meetings in a 10 month time span. I found it interesting that we were able to get to so many on the loop, but so few on this road trip Loop. We agreed that it was easier on the Great Loop because marinas mostly are in bigger cities for the most part. Even though we didn’t have a car, marinas had loner cars we could use and getting an Uber was easy. On this road Loop, we have been in small cities or out in the middle of nowhere. Meetings were few and far in between, or we were there in the wrong days. Either way, I will be glad to get home where I can go to my weekly meetings and I can count on them being there.

I think I’m ready to get home. We do have a few more weeks on the road, but I miss my girlfriends and I’m feeling a bit unsettled. It might just be the day. We have had so much stimulation over the past few months. As you have read and seen above, the USA is very big. Driving for hours a day can wear on you. I know it must be even harder on Jim who does all the driving. Some days have been really long, but up until now, the spectacular scenery was always something to look forward to. The last few days we have been in the middle of nowhere, with no tv or WiFi or cell service and a big, windy thunderstorm in the prairie land of Colorado. Today we are in Kansas at a cheesy campground called Gunsmoke. Fitting for Dodge City. When I think of Kansas, my thoughts have me thinking like Dorothy. “There’s no place like home”. Most likely why I’m in a funk.

But, I still choose this life. Even on a bad day, which is rare, it’s only a day or a moment, not a lifetime like it used to be. We are all entitled to a bad day. What I know about that is I can start my day over at any given moment. It’s a choice I get to make.

The above statement is very true. It’s a new day. I have so much to be grateful for.

On this day, after my funk, somewhere in Kansas called Mullinville, my smile came back when I saw something eye-catching! A whole block of color! More road art! Tasteful? Hardly. Offensive? Often. Beautiful? Not exactly. Lined up along a lengthy stretch of fence on the north side of the road are dozens and dozens of whimsical scrap metal sculptures and gizmos, many of them political-themed, created by a self-taught sculptor M T Liggett. Liggett, who died in 2017 at age 86, was an oddball who delighted in creating eye-catching, thought-provoking, patently offensive sculptures. This one of the most fascinating collections of scrap metal sculpture I have ever seen. Pure Roadside Americana.

Lots of things catch my eye. Storytellers help you to see things through their eyes, and with their words, bring you to a place where you will actually feel like you are there. My hope is that you can feel what I see. I have managed to use 25 new words for my overused words of “beautiful” and “amazing”. Think about using new words to describe something you are seeing or feeling. It brings you to a whole other level.

Moving forward, we have traveled through Kansas and arrived in Oklahoma. I find it so weird to be in these states. I don’t know anything about these two states. Even worse, we are going to be in Missouri and Arkansas in the next few days, and I don’t know anything about them either. It saddens me that I have to search the internet to retrieve information sometimes. Jim, he knows everything. He told me that Oklahoma is the “Sooner” state. I asked him how he knows this. He knows because he reads. He reads a lot. And then he retains it. If you ever need to know anything, call Jim. And then, expect to get an answer. I looked up the Sooner state. This is what it says. The unassigned lands of the Oklahoma Territory were opened up to settler claims on April 22, 1889. Thousands of people were in line on the border waiting for the signal to be given so they could race into the territory to claim a stake of land. Some people went in early to stake claims and they became known as "Sooners."

Now we know😊

There is so much to learn about the USA. On a road trip like this, it’s not just about what you see. I want to be smarter. I want to know who, what and why. I’ve read a lot on this trip to try and understand what I am seeing and how “it” got there. Here are a few fun facts about these 4 states we traveled through in the last few weeks.

As pictured above, our stays in these 4 states was just over a week. 5 stops, Dodge City Kansas at the Gunsmoke RV Park, Wellington, Kansas at the KOA, Bernice State Park in Afton, Oklahoma, Baxter Campground in Baxter, Missouri, where we rented a pontoon and hit the Taneycomo Riverfor a few hours, and Maumelle Campground, In Little Rock, Arkansas, where we stayed for 3 nights over Labor Day weekend. It was at this stop that I got to finally do this⬇️

Unbelievable!!!

47 of 48 contiguous states have been trudged. Road of Happy Destiny

This is a very big deal to Jim and I. It’s been quite the adventure to say the least.

Today is Sunday September 3rd, 2023. We are 2 weeks shy of pulling into our hometown in Osprey, Florida. Two more weeks of adventures which will take us into Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and back to Florida. We are looking forward to what is still to come.

As we arrived to the state of Mississippi, memories flood my mind. Five years ago, while on our Great Loop by water, we had the privilege of cruising the Inland River Systems, which included the Illinois River, The Great Mississippi River, the Ohio River, and the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway. As we crossed over the Mighty Mississippi in the RV, I was taken aback at how far I have come as a human being. Never in my old life would something this grand ever have crossed my mind. It wasn’t even a thought. Yet, in this life, I have been blessed with these visions of grandeur many times over. If I haven’t mentioned it, I love the water. It sets me free. The water is “my place”. As we drive, if there is a creek, or a bridge, or a sign that indicates any sign of water, you will find me looking and grabbing my phone to take a picture. Columbus Mississippi, is where we land in this state. Columbus holds a very special place in our hearts. I intentionally put this stop in our itinerary, for we have a tribe here. Friends we met along our way. Our campsite is right on the Tombigbee waterway, where, as I sit outside, I can recall all of the memories of us cruising, right in front of me. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Tombigbee Waterway

DeWayne Hayes Campground - Columbus, Mississippi .

I have written a few times about a man named Randy, who has a home right here on the waterway. We met Randy on our Great Loop in an interesting kind of way. He was following our journey and he reached out to me on Facebook. He offered us the opportunity to stop by his dock and have a cup of coffee. We did not take him up on that, but, as we passed his house, he snapped our picture and we yelled and waved as we went by.

I subsequently stayed in touch with him and we have been friends ever since. We met for lunch today. What a joy!

If you followed our Great Loop Adventure, we dodged and darted around many tugs and tows on these rivers. I find them fascinating. It’s much different watching them from the shore, rather than being up close and personal with them in the water.

We also visited Glenn’s BBQ, which, we believe has the best ribs that we have ever tasted. Our time in Columbus would not be complete without a stop here. Glenn and Miss Kimberley greeted us with open arms. 2 full racks of ribs later, and a promise to always visit when we are in town, we bid another farewell. If you are ever in Columbus, please stop by. Tell them the “boat people” sent you. 😂

Jim, Miss Kimberly and Me

Glenn’s BBQ and Produce - Columbus, Mississippi

Sometimes, it’s not just about the journey. It’s definitely about the people you meet along the way. We got to two meetings at the TUC club, which brought the biggest smile to my face. Many of the folks we met on our loop and the subsequent rv trip to a convention held in Columbus, have since moved away, but we did get to give a few hugs to those few who do remember us and who I consider our Mississippi tribe. Our lives are forever touched by these kind folks and I’m so grateful for a soft place to land and a place to call home.

Homeward Bound

I think at this point my storytelling has become just about done. As we spend our last week on the road, we will stay a few days in Alabama, a few days in Georgia, and a few days in Florida before we call it quits. It’s very hot in these areas and although our campsites are very nice and on lakes, the amenities are lacking.

Miller’s Ferry Campground

Camden, Alabama

Eastbank Campground

Bainbridge, Georgia

Yellow Jacket
RV Resort

Old Town, Florida

And just like that, we are home.

I’ve told you about my first life. I’ve shared some ugly details. But, without the first life, I wouldn’t have be touched by the Grace of my God and been given “this” life. I do not regret my first life. I will never shut the door on it, for it is where I, through trials and tribulations, became a survivor.

There are a set of promises in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. They tell me that if I work a program of recovery, I will be set free. I will find peace and serenity in my life. My experience will help others. I have learned to handle problems that used to baffle me. I will feel useful. I will not live in fear. These are very extravagant promises, yet for me, I have found them all to have come true. I was blessed with “this” life, and for that I am eternally grateful. I take none of what I have been given for granted. I know it is a gift.

I am so grateful for my husband Jim who picked me to do this second part of my life with. Thank you for this adventure. Thank you for getting us safely to every single place and for entertaining all my my silliness as we trudged the road to Happy Destiny. I love you. 💕

88 days away from home
10,000 mile of tire tread laid
170 hours behind the wheel
Countless hours of Old Time Radio listened to
1,230 gallons of gas put in the tank😂
11 National Parks visited including Niagara Falls
27 State Lines crossed, and one International Border crossed(Canada)
12 AA meetings attended in 12 different states
1 big beautiful Bison dropped in our roadway
1 alligator viewed
1 trip to the dentist
1 trip to the Emergency Room
1 trip to the Heart Doctor
1 flat tire
1 broken air conditioner
I meltdown day
1 big package of napkins used to wipe the smiles of our faces
839 photos and videos taken
To many to count mosquito bites 🦟
Many family and friends seen along the way
Many memories relived
Many prayers of thanks given to God for his beautiful masterpieces and for getting us safely to every landing.

If you got through this all, I applaud you. I continue to write because I made a promise a long time ago to let people who finished Americas Great Loop know that there is life after such an amazing adventure. There definitely is!

I continue to write because it’s good for me and I enjoy being able to look back at anytime and relive our adventures.

Thank you for following us around the USA. Thank you for your words of encouragement and for your love and support. We are glad to be safely home and look forward to our next adventure.

Until next time,

Peace and our love❤️

Jim and Kim

Sep 14 Traveling…it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller…

Arches National Park ❤️

A red-rock wonderland

Apr 27 Go Potty Buddy🐾

Aug 11 Over The Mountains and through the Woods

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