Catching Up – East to West

Time flies when you are on the go! The last time we posted an update we were in New Hampshire, where Steve completed his first of four fall marathons. A lot has happened between then and now, so we’ll try to give an update of the highlights.

From New Hampshire we headed south to Connecticut for Steve to run the Hartford Marathon. It was a great excuse to connect with some very special friends. One day we  drove to the coast to see our friends Alan and Cheryl.

A group of four adults smiling outdoors, holding two small dogs. They are wearing sunglasses and standing on a grassy area with a beach in the background. An American flag is visible, and the sky is clear and sunny.
Alan, Marnie, Cheryl, and Steve + Bob and Poppy

Other days we were guided around by our RV friends Gail and Jeff. These two even came to the race expo and cheered Steve at the finish line. 

A group of people sitting in bleachers, with three adults in the foreground taking a selfie. One woman is wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, while another is wearing a gray jacket. An older man with glasses is sitting next to her. The background shows several spectators, including children holding signs.
Waiting at the finish line with Gail and Jeff

From Connecticut we headed west through Pennsylvania and caught the trotters at Mohegan Casino. We also made a quick stop at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville.

Our next major destination was my hometown of Ashland, Ohio. There we had a great reunion with the Finley/Shoemaker clan, including several meals with Uncle Dave Shoemaker (Uncle Shoey), who is turning 96 this month.

A group of five people standing together in a warmly decorated room, featuring a wooden shelf in the background. The individuals are smiling and casually dressed, including two men wearing jackets and a woman in a patterned sweater.
Steve, Marnie, Uncle Shoey, Judy, and Dave

While in Ohio we also took a tour of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. The historic former prison, is now a museum famous for being the filming location for The Shawshank Redemption. The reformatory was built between 1886 and 1910 and remained in operation, without much maintenance, until the Federal government ordered it to close in 1990.

From Ohio we made a quick trip to Indiana to have our refrigerator replaced and then back to West Virginia for the Marshall University Marathon. Steve finished the race without issue, and I even completed the 3.25 mile race. We both crossed the finish line in the football stadium on a chilly day.

A woman smiling while walking on a football field, holding a football, with a university stadium in the background.
Finishing the 3.25 at Marshall University

On our way to the fourth fall marathon, we stopped in Lexington for a few of our favorite things…horses and bourbon. We hit up the big breeding stock sale at Fasig-Tipton and visited a few farms to see the top stallions. Of course we also took several distillery tours including one at Wild Turkey.

After a too-short stop to see Steve’s brother Gary and his family (not sure why I don’t have more photos) we made it to Tulsa for Steve’s fourth fall marathon and his 44th state. 

A young woman sitting in the backseat of a car, smiling while holding a small brown dog with curly fur, wearing a turquoise harness. The background shows a clear blue sky and grassy fields outside the car window.
Poppy loves Brynn

From Tulsa we made a last minute decision to go north to Nebraska for Thanksgiving, rather than heading to Arizona as planned. Spending time with Steve’s brother Brian’s large family for the holiday was full of fun.

But the real reason we drove 400 miles out of our way was the Nebraska Cornhuskers! All three Green boys, Hudson, Brynn, and Nathan braved the cold to support the Big Red football team. 

A group of five people posing for a photo at a Nebraska football game, wearing red and black apparel, with a stadium view in the background and the field visible.
Brian, Brynn, Nate, Gary, Hudson, and Steve – Go Big Red!

We finally made it back to Arizona on December 1st and set up camp at the Sunflower RV Resort in Surprise. We took advantage of a few of the resort’s activities and celebrated the season with Steve’s parents and our dear friends Russ and Susan Shoemaker who were also staying at the resort. 

Our year of full-time travel ended in our happy place, Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. A week at the condo was a great way to wind 2025 down. Mitch, Lauren, and Caleb joined us for a few days of fun as well. 

Whew! We’ve caught you up to present day, but there’s more to come. We have BIG changes planned for 2026, more marathons, and more adventures. Stay tuned!

Heading East Through the Finger Lakes

We are heading east towards Steve’s next race. Our journey took us through New York’s Finger Lakes region where we spent a few days exploring. We based ourselves in Hector, NY, on the shores of Seneca Lake, at the new-ish Finger Lakes RV Resort. How can you go wrong with two wineries within walking distance of the campground? And deals at each for campers?

Our first adventure was a hike through Watkins Glen State Park, where the stream descends 400 feet past 200 foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along the gorge.

We hiked the gorge trail in both directions for a total of about 3 miles. Going early in the day, midweek, made this much more enjoyable than fighting the crowds that descend upon this paradise on the weekends.

Not far from our campground is the town of Ithaca, the home to ivy league Cornell University. We took the afternoon to explore the campus and its beautiful historic buildings. Sage Chapel and Uris library, known as the Harry Potter library, were definitely highlights. Tuition here is about $71,000 a year and the acceptance rate is below 8%. Kind of a different vibe from our alma maters.

On another day in the Finger Lakes we experienced rain, which was a great opportunity to hit up the nearby Corning Museum of Glass. Besides being the home to Corning dishes, the company now makes fiber optic and cable technologies and developed Gorilla Glass, used in iPhones. We learned a lot while being wowed by the world’s largest collection of glass art.

From the Finger Lakes we continued west with a stop in Oneonta for lunch at Brooks House of BBQ on the recommendation of our friend and neighbor Norb Tornes. Steve devoured the chicken plus the sides, and afterwards, we checked out the giant charcoal pit where the magic happens.

We continue to enjoy visiting Harvest Host locations for overnight stays along the road. On this route we stopped in Rexford, NY at Bowmans Orchard for the night. Bowmans claims to be the home to the Macintosh apple.

The house where the MacIntosh family lived still stands on the property and dates back to the 1700s. We even got to chat with Jackie Bowman, the current resident of the house and one of several Bowmans that live on the property. Unfortunately it was raining, so the u-pick was closed. We still enjoyed the stop and bought some yummy apples.

Heading eastward!

Michigan Summer with Poppy, Family, & Friends

We’ve neglected our regular blog posts in favor of enjoying the summer here in Northern Michigan. Between our new puppy Poppy and a slew of visiting family and friends, it’s been a busy few months. Now that we are on the back side of Labor Day and beginning preparations for fall travels, we thought it was about time to provide an update on our summer fun.

Poppy
When we last posted we had just returned from a two-week exploration of Italian highlights with our niece Brynn. Within 24 hours of arriving to the USA, we picked up our new 10-week old baby Poppy.

She is a sweet toy poodle that is ALL puppy. Much of our summer revolved around introducing her to new toys, places, friends, and adventures. You can see from the photos how much she changed just over a few months.

Family visits
This summer we were lucky to receive numerous visitors to our lovely, adopted city of Traverse City, Michigan. First to visit was Steve’s brother Brian and his entire family (plus partners) plus Steve’s parents, Judy and Larry. In total there were 14 of us together for the 4th of July week.

Our time with Brian’s clan included the usual excursions like golf, lighthouses, farm markets, dune climbing, and wine tasting.

It was fun to have everyone together, especially since we got to celebrate Judy’s 80th birthday!

On the heels of Brian’s visit we welcomed my sister Mickie and my niece Lauren and her “boyfriend” Caleb. Together we hit many of the same spots (dunes, wine, shopping). It was a fun, busy few days.

What we didn’t know was that Lauren and Caleb had a secret. A few weeks after returning home to AZ, they surprised us all and got married! So, unbeknownst to us, we kinda celebrated their honeymoon here in Traverse City! Congrats kids!

A couple smiling and embracing each other in a sunlit outdoor setting, captured in black and white.
Congratulations to the newlyweds!

Next to swing through town was Steve’s brother Gary and his two kids Brynn and Hudson. We were sorry sister-in-law Kristy couldn’t make it to share in the fun. The group went fishing one morning and caught a bunch of lake trout and Brynn and I spent another day shopping in downtown Traverse City. The kids also did the dune climb with Steve, which was his third time in three weeks.

We had a quick visit from my cousin Red and Judy. He was in town to watch his granddaughter McKenna compete at Flintfields, the world-class equestrian center that’s right next to our resort. We didn’t get photos of the group but McKenna was a big winner, which was fun to see.

A young equestrian stands between two horses, proudly displaying ribbons on their halters after a competition.

Mitch made his second visit to Traverse City in early August and stayed with us for a week. We kept busy with visits to farmers markets, a distillery, wineries, and a day on a pontoon in Torch Lake with our neighbors Norb and Linda. Mitch got to know the neighbors and a good time was had by all!

Mitch was also helpful around the house, helping Steve with the installation of new furniture and a few other projects.

For the fourth summer our dear friends Dave and Peggy Armstrong joined us as part of their summer vacation. We were excited to show them a few of our favorite parts of Traverse city. The guys caught lake Michigan salmon, Peggy and I hiked, and of course we visited the wineries with Kunio and Michelle.

Our summer was also dotted with fun social events here at the Traverse Bay RV Resort including a fun progressive dinner and numerous happy hours. We also made two trips to Shipshewana, IN. Once to have a new refrigerator installed and once for the National Grand Design Rally where we had additional repairs made to our home on wheels.

The summer fun is not quite over, but we are winding down and getting ready to head east for the fall marathon season. More blog posts are forthcoming, so please stay tuned!