NO FORTUNE IN LAS VEGAS

Wednesday, I drove to Las Vegas to meet my friend Eileen and her late husband's daughter and son-in-law.  Since I was heading to Reno anyway, it seemed like a good idea.  And, for the most part, it was.  It was delightful to see them and we had a nice dinner together in the Miracle Mile.  The drive through the mountains - especially from Flagstaff to Las Vegas - was absolutely beautiful.  However, I have discovered that I am not a mountain girl.  Anyway, I digress (as usual).  The last time I was in Las Vegas you still saw the Luxor at the end of the strip when you flew in (also, you could still put actual quarters in the slot machines!!).  Now, you can hardly see the Luxor at all!!  Eileen was anxious to take me over to a casino and walk around a little and I had a little bag in the front seat of my car that I have been putting change in since I left Florida.  Of course, since you can no longer use actual change, I had to take it to the cashier to be put in the counting machine.  I should have just kept the bag of change!!  It totalled $62 after the fee for the machine - and it took me less than 45 minutes to lose all of it.  So, I would say I will not be depending of gambling to make my fortune!!  After Eileen, Susie and Ed left for Florida, I drove to Reno.  That drive was also beautiful coming through the mountains.  My trusty little GPS brought me directly to Meg's front door, where champagne was waiting.  Hopefully, the weather will also get a little warmer and THERE IS SNOW ON HER DECK THIS MORNING!!! Mike would not mind the snow as we are a five minute drive from the nearest casino and he really loved slot machines (and Meg, who is his cousin!).  I will play a few slots here for Mike because he loved them - and I'll let you know if I "hit the big one".  Thanks for reading.  Ricci

NEW MEXICO

Okay, so I left Texas, drove about 10 1/2 hours to Albuquerque, NM, where (apparently, until I arrived!) the weather has been beautiful.  It actually was for the first hour I was there.  Then the wind started - by Monday it was about 55 miles and hour, but I tried to play golf anyway.  It was really, really great when the wind was behind me!  However, as fate would have it, you eventually have to have it in your face.  Tough, tough, tough to hit a ball straight under those conditions.  Luckily, there were three men around my age who were kind enough to tolerate my playing and we had a good time.  Sunday, Mary and I drove up to Santa Fe, which is really beautiful.  The building code keeps the height of the buildings down and most of them are rather like adobe huts - but pretty.  Otherwise, NM is rocky, mountainous and quite windy right now.  So, if you are going through New Mexico, it would be wise to visit Mary and Bill because they are wonderful hosts and take your mind off the weather.  Tomorrow, I will head to Las Vegas and then to Reno on Thursday.  This has been a really fun week (it would only be nicer if Mike was around to share it!) and I am looking forward to moving west.  Thanks again for tuning in.  Ricci

THE STARS AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIGHT DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

Tomorrow I head for Albuquerque.  However, I have had a great time in Texas with Gretchen.  I have seen San Antonio, San Marcos, Canyon Lake.  I fed a deer out of my hand in Gretchen's front yard, actually got one of her cats to let me pet him.  And we are still friends!!  When we left Navarre Beach, I discovered I had left some clothes in the condo (I think they were on the dining room chair that was inadvertently pushed in.)  Anyway, we called the owner who kindly said he would send them to Gretchen's.  After a week and a half, Gretchen called him because they had not arrived.  After  tracking them, we found they were in the sorting bin in Jacksonville, FL.  Jacksonville is at the far east side of Florida.  So how the US Mail got them from the far west end of Fl to the far east end of Fl before sending them WEST to Texas is beyond comprehension.  So much for our tax dollars at work.  Anyway, I am fine, will miss Gretchen's company, but am moving on (like any good gypsy)!! As usual, thanks so much for tuning in.  Ricci

Argyle, Texas

Well, we just spent 5 days at the "ranch" in Argyle, Texas, with our friend Laura from high school, and her husband, Don.  It is a beautiful 10 acre property with a beautiful house, two horses, a burro, a goat,  3 outside cats, 2 inside cats, a huge black lab and a little corgie.  We had great fun!  There is a huge back patio where we could have coffee every morning.  Several times we went down to the "barn" to feed the horses, goat, burro and outside cats.  Oh yes, I forgot, before we went to the barn, we went to the pond to feed the fish and the turtles!  At the barn, after feeding them, hay was distributed outside so they could have "snacks"!  It was beautiful, the animals were beautiful - but Laura has to pick up a lot of poop from the horses.   Gretchen says it's okay because they eat mostly vegetable stuff - however, I believe poop is poop, no matter where it is from.  Laura cooked entirely too much food (which we happily ate because it was delicious), we drank and made merry.  I even got to play golf with Don and his friend Tuesday.  Not great, but a 106 - which means I am coming back!  Not to say I watch too many movies, but I kept waiting for the cast of Giant to appear!  It is a lovely, lovely house and they were wonderful hosts!  Hopefully, I will get to stop on my way back across the country (whenever that is!!)  Now we are at Gretchen's in Canyon Lake and even still speaking! 
When we got to Laura's I found I had left a whole stack of clothes on  the dining room chair in Navarre.  So, hopefully, they will take pity on an old widow and mail them to me at Gretchen's.  So, aside from Mike not being around anymore, life is pretty good.  Thanks for tuning in.  Ricci

10 MONTHS - AND STILL STUCK!!

You know, when Mike died, everyone said if anything was going to happen to one of us, it was better that it was Mike because he wouldn't know what to do (and they thought he would just sit on the porch, smoke and drink manhattans).  Well, I now think they were wrong!  Actually, I think he would have been just fine.  He would have sat on the porch for a while, drunk some manhattans and walked the dog.  Then he would have gotten himself together and gone back to work.  Eventually he would have had women trying to introduce him to other women and he would have found one who wanted to take care of him - because that is what we do.  We know all the women he met would have liked him and in the natural flow of things he would have found someone to be with.  And, no, it would not have been an insult to me - it's just life.  Part of the reason this would have happened to him is because he would have stayed in one place, either in Florida or back to Ohio near his children and grandchildren.  The gypsy (me), however, had to keep moving and I find I am no closer to figuring out what I want to do than I was 10 months ago!  When we arrived at this beautiful condo in Navarre Beach, FL, I still wanted to push the button on my phone and tell him about it.  At least today I didn't spend the whole morning crying - unfortunately that is because when I woke up yesterday, I thought it was the 7th, so I spent yesterday morning crying.  So, something to laugh at myself about.  Anyway, I am certain I will recover and now I will tell you about our third stop on the road trip.  After being disappointed in Key West and Orlando, we arrived in Navarre Beach with some trepidation.  What a great surprise.  This one-bedroom condo is beautifully decorated, with a small lanai on the sound with a beautiful view of the sunset and the dunes.  A short walk west and we are at the Gulf of Mexico, where we have walked the beach the last two mornings.  We said that if we had known how beautiful this was going to be, we would have just come here first and skipped the first two places!  Sadly, tomorrow morning we have to check out by 10 a.m., but it has been a lovely four days!  We will head for Argyle TX and horse country.  It will be quite a change, but it will also be fun because we are visiting another friend from high school.  Sorry I had to whine a little today and thanks for reading.  Ricci

Orlando

Okay, from Key West we went to Orlando because Gretchen had not seen the Harry Potter ride at Universal.  The hotel was nice - however, I had to park in the south tundra - and they charged for parking, which I really thought was quite unnecessary considering what they charged for a room.  But, because we are who we are, Gretchen and I managed to have a fun time.  Ellen was doing two shows from there while we were there, but there was no way to get anywhere near it.  There were hundreds of people who obviously knew she was going to be there and, while they definitely had advance tickets, they had to sit in the very, very hot sun for a long time before they got to see her.  I am certain it was worth the wait, though, because she is a very funny woman.  Nothing exciting about Universal and I will let you know about the panhandle of Florida tomorrow.  Once again, thanks so much for reading.  Ricci

KEY WEST WE ARE GONE!!

Okay, so I am a lot like the bear that went over the mountain - yep, all I saw was the other side of the mountain!!  Key West is l very long street of bars, shops and drag shows!  You know, I lived near the beautiful beaches for 10 years!  Who knew?  We (Gretchen & I) thought there would be beautiful beaches - like Clearwater, Siesta Key, etc.  How wrong we were.  If you want to walk about 20 blocks of shopping, stop for drinks (very many times because it is very hot - and pretty boring); visit Hemmingway's house - which is a big two bedroom house with a lot of cats and a beautiful garden ( it does, however, have great windows), you might like it.  I will say, we went to a butterfly museum and it was fabulous!!  The place was covered with beautiful plants and hundreds of butterflies flying all around you of various and beautiful colors - who would ever have imagined that there were so many kinds of butterflies?!!  Also, the Truman Little Whitehouse was very interesting, historically.  Mallory Square, which is supposed to be "one of the places to see" is really, really boring!!  Driving across the 7 mile bridge - which takes forever and a day - the water looks so beautiful - different shades of green and blue - just like an advertisement.  However, when you do get near the water, it is murky and full of seaweed - not at all enticing!  We did have a great breakfast at Pepe's thanks to the recommendation of Lynn & Al.  Three nights is just too long to be there.  If you have a boat and can go into the harbor and stay for 2 nights, you have seen all of Key West you need to see.  We are happy, though, that we went.  There were lovely people staying at the same B&B, and we have definitely satisfied our curiosity.  Tomorrow, I will tell you about Orlando.  I know you can hardly wait!  Didn't know you were going to get a travel report, did you?  I am really happy I didn't convince Mike to go there, because it would not have been a happy experience for him!  Now I know why he would never go!!  As usual, thanks for listening (or reading, as the case may be)!  Ricci