The Search Begins ... and happily ends!!

On Monday, April 16, 2012 my DH, Jay, had a 100% blockage heart attack.  This was especially surprising considering Jay is 6' 1", 180 pounds and a nonsmoker.  Thankfully, after emergency surgery to insert two stents he survived with minimal heart muscle damage.  The heart attack was a wake-up call and a huge reminder that "life is short" and each and every day is to be treasured.

We felt the need to get back to basics and nature and to spend some time away from the hustle, bustle and stress of the big city.  We decided to go tent camping in the summer of 2012 in Northern New Mexico (Red River/Taos area) in the Carson National Forest.  We found an awesome spot at Columbine Canyon ~ site #15 and Columbine Creek is adjacent to this camp site.  We camped at Columbine Canyon in early June and again in mid-July.

Jay enjoying the fire while listening to the babbling

Columbine Creek ~ at campsite #15

Columbine Canyon (Carson National Forest)

The view from the road in front of our campsite (#15)

at Columbine Canyon. 

Taking a walk around the Columbine Canyon

loop just before sunset. 

We also went to Jack's Creek in the Santa Fe National Forest in mid-July and spent two nights there.  This is a beautiful campground but it is very isolated.  There is no phone or internet (3G) signal at Jack's Creek which was a little disheartening as I worried about DH and a repeat heart attack.  We did not have phone/3G signal until we drove 45 minutes down the mountain to Pecos, New Mexico on our way back to Texas.  DH's health was (thankfully) fine during our camping trips but I still worried.  We love the time we spent tent camping but ...  the nighttime temps at Columbine Canyon and Jack's Creek were in the high 20's to low-30's and no matter how many layers we wore at night the cold still permeated every ounce of our beings.  We had a wonderful and very relaxing time during both of our tent camping trips to New Mexico. We decided when we left New Mexico after our second camping trip in July that we would definitely go back in the summer of 2013 for more camping and enjoyment of the great outdoors.

With the cold New Mexico nights still lingering in the back of our minds, in early to mid November 2012, my DH and I decided we wanted to purchase a "new to us" motorhome so we could camp without almost freezing to death at night!  We determined our budget and set out to find our "perfect" motorhome.

Because our budget was limited I was really afraid we would have to purchase something like this (1978 Winnebago Chiefton) ~

or, like these ...

We set off on our motorhome adventure by looking at several motorhomes for sale here in Texas.  We drove what seemed like most of the State of Texas with no luck at finding our "perfect" motorhome.  Actually, what we saw here in Texas was very discouraging and again the 1978 Winnebago Chiefton popped into my head ~ yikes!!

Thankfully, with a lot of searching we finally found our "perfect" motorhome!  We found a National Dolphin in Iowa and over Christmas break we picked her up and brought her back to Texas.

Introducing ~ "Dolly"
(before pictures of our girl)

We will start the remodeling/updating

of Dolly later this week.