Stats ~ Recognitions - Guest appearance

We would like to say a BIG Thank You to my Mom & Dad who without them, this trip wouldn't have been possible! Thanks for letting us use your RV and tow car! Also, thanks for so graciously watching our sweet Max for us for the duration of the trip!! He was so happy to stay with you and be spoiled!

Also, thanks to our son Alex who took care of our bills and who overnighted packages to us along the way! Thanks for holding the fort down for us! We so appreciated all your diligence and for making sure there was food in the house to feed your brother!

Well, we traveled a total of 10,000+ miles! We drove through 38 states and were gone a total of 68 days. We only had 3 incidents with the RV, not bad! Once one of the chairs broke at the base and had to be welded ~ there just so happened to be a fine welding place down the road from our KOA in New York! And once we had to be towed in Baltimore, MD, but praise the Lord, it was an easy fix, 15 minutes before closing on a Friday afternoon! ($150 for an accelerator pin to be replaced or we would've had to wait until Monday) And then there was the time in Texas the awning fell off and we were dragging it for a short time before we could pull over. Praise the Lord no one was to the right of us when it happened!! We had to cut it off and leave it behind. ~ These could have played out differently, but we knew each time, that the Lord was watching over us!

Thanks for all of you who were praying for us! We really appreciated you keeping track with us as we traveled about and for keeping us in your prayers! I know the Lord delighted in answering them and we were kept in His safe hands! Athan and Alex were too, while they stayed at home! They have their stories to tell also! ~ Like getting locked out and having to climb through an upstairs bedroom window to get in. Or the time of the GREAT ANT INVASION! And I'm sure there are many more that I don't really want to know about! :)

What trip, what an experience we will never forget!

The Raptis Family reunited

Thanks Mom and Dad for making this trip possible!

Alex and his mother

Mom and Dad and Bodie

Taking the RV back to the desert

Final Thoughts

It's hard to believe we are finally back! It's hard to imagine we were ever gone!
We want to thank those of you who followed us along our journey and adventure! Thank you for all your prayers for our family while we were apart from each other! The Lord is good! He heard your prayers!

Please stay tuned as we would like to put up some final thoughts about our trip, some fun facts, etc. ~ It is a busy week with Thanksgiving upon us ~ so stay tuned!

Sweet Home ~ San Diego!

Vasili thought the perfect way to end our trip, would be to spend the day parked in front of the beach! Boy, was it a gorgeous day!! Indeed, it was a great way to wrap up our weeks & months of traveling the USA! Our last official day on the road ~ visiting our own "backyard"! We love the beach! We love living in San Diego!

Beautiful Torrey Pines Beach!

Vasili got up at 6:00am and snagged the last RV spot at the beach!


A room with a view!!

Relaxing and enjoying another beautiful San Diego day!
We were even able to watch the Charger game on the flat screen TV!
It doesn't get any better than this!

The Lord blessed us with a gorgeous day!
Can you believe it's November?!

The beautiful coastline of Del Mar

Nicolas enjoying the day with his Dad

Nicolas wanted someone to go in the water with him ~
they messed around with the football instead!

It's good to be home!

Athan and Evan joined us.
We made tacos for dinner and hung out to watch the sunset.

The surf was up!

It was a nice musical backdrop to our sunny day!

Athan joins in the fun!

All that was missing was Alex ~ he had to work! (sadness!)

Relaxing and enjoying the day.

Did I mention it was good to be home?!

Watching the sun sink into the west.

It was a spectacular sunset!

The perfect ending to a wonderful trip!

700 Miles in a Day!

When we got up Saturday morning from Las Cruces, New Mexico to drive to our destination of Case Grande, Arizona, little did we know we would actually end up sleeping in our beds at home in San Diego that night!! What was to be a 5+ hour - 340 mile drive, ended up being a 12 hour - 700 mile drive! ~ Vasili just decided to push through all the way home! He was a man on a mission!

Athan & Alex weren't expecting us home until the next day, so they had to scramble to get things pulled together before we arrived at 8:30 that evening! But, they were so happy to see us, as we were to see them! (By the way, they pulled it off! ~ the house, yard, and cars all were sparkling and looked great!) ~ whew! ~ thank goodness for text messaging!

Home Sweet Home!!

We left New Mexico and crossed through Arizona
These beautiful cactus were our friends for miles.

Vasili on a mission ~ Let's go home!

We took a lunch break to stretch our legs and backs.

Nicolas doing his school work.

In the jump seat.

Here we go, the last leg of our journey!

We were very excited to see this sign!

Las Cruces, New Mexico

Sometimes in life, the Lord hands you a gift. Beautiful, unexpected. Life changing. Today we were given such a gift!! ~ On our way to Las Cruces, New Mexico we were told of a beautiful place to stop along our way. White Sands National Monument was the place. It is a 275-square mile preserve of magnificent pure white gypsum sand dunes. ~ Incredible beauty! Thank you Lord!!

Pristine, like white velvet snow!

The sand felt so good! ~ soft and cool to our bare feet!

The dunes have their own beautiful plants that manage to thrive.

Nicolas had fun rolling and tumbling down the dunes

So pure and white and graceful

This place was utterly quiet and peaceful,
not a single sound, except our voices.
The sand had the most exquisite feel, so soft!

As far as the eye could see, dune upon dune

The boys messing around

Nick blazing a trail

Cowabunga!

Carlsbad, New Mexico

It was another long day of driving from San Antonio, Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico. We have left the North-east and South-east and have come full circle to the scenery from whence we began, the South-west! ~ We witnessed a beautiful sunset at our campground and enjoyed a day of crawling beneath the earth inside the caverns of Carlsbad.

These caverns were discovered over a 100 years ago by a cowboy mending fences who saw what he thought was smoke along the horizon. When he went to get a closer look, he found that it was really bats flying from the mouth of the cave by the thousands during the evening. So thick were they, that they looked like smoke rising. He later would profit by selling the bat "poop" called "Guano" to California farmers as fertilizer! (Interesting huh?!) You can still see the bats leave during the months of May-Oct. They migrate else where for the winter because there isn't enough insects to eat.

We are here in New Mexico

We saw this billboard along the way ~ Matthew 19:26!

The entrance to our KOA campground

Behold the Majesty and Beauty of the Lord's creation!

Ranger Nick!

The awesome mouth of the Carlsbad Cavern

Under world beauty and wonder

This formation was called the Whales Mouth

Isn't this cool?!

We hiked for 2 hours along the cavern

Yoo-hoo - here we are!

San Antonio, Texas

It was a long day's drive from New Orleans to San Antonio, Texas! 9 hours! Vasili did a great job and it was his idea to go so far in a day. We jumped into the HOT jacuzzi upon arrival! Nicolas was excited the pool was heated! The nights were cold in San Antonio! We had to break out our warm jammies again! (after having put them away in Florida)

We found our way to The Alamo and the River Walk the next day! The Alamo was originally a mission built in 1724! But it is most famous for the battle that took place there in 1846, where 186 men gave their lives for Texas' independence from Mexico. Remember the Alamo!

Louisiana's marshes and bajou ~
this was our view for hours! The freeway is even
built up on stilts the whole way.

Our greeting to the Great state of Texas!

The Alamo!

Nicolas with a 10-gallon hat ~ Texas style!

Here we are along the River Walk

We took a boat ride along the beautiful San Antonio River

The River Walk area was so romantic and charming!

There's shopping and dining along the River