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The year began in Australia, Adelaide to be exact. We were staying with
friends while we searched for a vehicle to take us into the Outback. By the
5th of January we bought our 4WD and had it packed with new camping gear and
we were on our own. The next 2 months we had free rein of where we went and what we did. It was loads of fun. The wildlife is amazing. We did have some engine trouble though that was cured when we gave up loads of cash and had a new cylinder head put in. We did a lot of bush camping. After seeing a 4 foot long Brown snake (deadly) crawl into the bush, then a huge spider that tried to hide in our tent while we folded it up, I didn’t enjoy the woods so much.
Our return to the US for work took place in March. However we "strolled" back via
Singapore and Rome. It was cheaper to buy a round-the-world ticket good for 1 year than a Sydney to LA round trip ticket. So we spent 5 days in Singapore (clean and friendly, but the only place I did step on gum!!!), and 7 days in Rome where we literally walked our feet off. It was great. We both love Italy and look forward to a return trip.We returned to work truck driving at USXpress. It is a great way to make and save
money as we have no need for an apartment or car. And we get to see the States and sort of be our own boss. We got back on a dedicated run for Marshalls/TJMaxx (department store chains). The loads ran from LA to Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and sometimes other places and sometimes everyplace. We ended each week in Las Vegas and then we’d drive back to LA to start again.Usually we’d get a day or at least an overnight in LA, so we decided to become
members of a naturist club, where we could park our big rig and go take a hot tub. There’s a restaurant on-site, and we seemed to be there often for Taco Tuesday. We eventually hope to purchase a site there to be our home base when we aren’t traveling the world.In August we joined Serge’s entire family aboard MS Maasdam in Boston for a one
week cruise to Montreal. We celebrated his parent’s 50th Wedding anniversary. We took this occasion to renew our vows after 25 years of marriage and we had a double ceremony with the ship’s captain presiding. We did get the tail end of Hurricane Charley, and of course it was on the one day the entire family went ashore for an excursion to Fort Louisburg in Nova Scotia. The rain and wind caused everyone to get wet within 2 minutes of departing the bus. Otherwise the sail was pleasant. Not enough time in the day to do everything though. It was fun to be all together again.Serge’s 48th Birthday was celebrated in Corona, CA and my 49th was feted in Barstow,
CA. He got the candle lit dinner. I got a diner across from a truck stop. We plan to celebrate good at our 26th Wedding Anniversary, when we hope to be in Phoenix, AZ. We have reservations at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliff Resort for room and board! Sowe hope to arrive in time. Our last load goes from LA to Boston with a switch with
another truck in Oklahoma City, so we’ll be heading to Las Vegas soon.
We’ve been doing a lot of ordering, getting last minute purchases for our cruise from
Australia to South Africa. I’ve gotten courtesy flags for all the ports of call, as well as an Indian Ocean Chart. I’ve loaded up on books for the different places we’ll be visiting. Can’t wait to start reading… The cruise itself starts in June with arrival in S. Africa in November.We ordered our Australian visas too late to get the 6 month long kind. We’ll have to get an
extension to our 3 months visas once we are there. But we seem to have all our other ducks in a row: tickets, visas, passports, updated green card and permission to be out of the US for over 1 year (to keep Serge’s resident alien status good), rental car, hotel accommodations, work resignation letter sent, etc. Of course, Christmas cards got put off, especially after the computer shut down by itself before I’d saved a Christmas newsletter, replete with photos. Having lost hours of work, I kinda got discouraged to start over. So here are some photos from our year:
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Geelong Bollards Driving on the Beach Camping at the Beach Artwork in the Outback
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Melbourne
Beautiful Singapore Our Hotel Furuma Merlion of Singapore
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Roman Coliseum If no room, make room Vatican Museum Trevi Fountain
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Our truck & new dress ms Maasdam Cruise Renewing our Vows Formal Night aboard