Here's to Our Rosie!

We put Rosie in storage this week.

It’s not that we don’t love her, but we won’t be traveling for a while, and she needs to have a quiet place to rest.

Rosie has taken us to so many places! This map shows just our long trip in 2008.


Alaska in 2005! Here we're arriving at Mile Zero of the Alaskan Highway, in Dawson Creek, B.C.

Suzy is sightseeing near Valdez.

And of course, there is road contruction everywhere. We're sitting on gravel just above the permafrost, hoping the day doesn't warm up too much!

Once we were in Alaska, Rosie's map got an update!

Mexico! Two different trips. This is Puerto Penasco, or Rocky Point.

On one trip, some local folks offered to give Rosie a bath for just a few dollars. We were glad to accept that offer!


And New Mexico. This is Hidden Vally Ranch RV Resort near Deming. No salad dressing, but a nice park!

Hidden Valley offered us a nice view across the desert.


At Silver City, NM, Rosie had a sheltered site among the juniper at Manzano's RV Park..


Lots of stops in California! Along the American River at Lotus, between Placerville and Auburn on Highway 49:

Same park a few years earlier:

At Morgan Hill, just south of San Jose:

And Palm Springs:


Oklahoma offered us Randlett City Park in the town of Anadarko:

And Tenkiller Lake Park, run by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps does a fabulous job with RV parks, and they are very low cost.


One trip to Iowa, we stopped a few days at Lime Springs City Park. We learned that in spring, the river often floods well into the RV park, at a depth of a few feet where Rosie was parked!


This pretty park in Nebraska was miles off the highway, and we could only stay one night.


In South Dakota, Rosie celebrated July 4 at Rush-No-More campground in Sturgis, just a few miles from famed Mt. Rushmore.


Near Portland, Oregon, Rosie had a few long stays. This was Christmas at the RV Park of Portland, in the small town of Tualatin.

And we stayed summer and fall at Pheasant Ridge in Wlsonville, OR.


In the state of Washington, Rosie took a lunch break along this pretty river.


And here in Arizona, Rosie recently hosted a gathering of friends at a rally in the town of Bowie.


Rosie is a real member of the family! Here near Coeur d'Alene, ID, she went all out as the bride’s dressing room for Grandson Jason’s wedding. Here’s Crystal, all dressed up!


Rosie has asked for little in return. She did ask for new tires after a blowout in Nevada, but she had held off on that blowout until we were safely off the Interstate and the twisty state highways. We were going less than 10 miles per our around a turn onto a gravel road and heard (and felt!) the burst.


We added some half-steps so that Suzy would be able to climb into and out of Rosie more easily.


Rosie asked for more space to hold Suzy’s spices, so I built an extra spice shelf in the kitchen.



After six and a half years as our only home, Rosie had to sit in the background and watch as the trailer came in to be our new home on Rosie's old site!


So now Rosie is resting for a time, but we'll be sure to visit her once in a while before we return to the travel portion of ... Our Life on Wheels.