Welcome To
Tom and Jill's
Home On The Web

We have started this site to share our experiences of Retirement and the adventures we take along the way. 
We hope you will all check in often to see our progress with the adventures and excursions we take.

After almost 15 years we have decided to put our beloved Celia's Gourmet Foods in our sons hands!
They have agreed to adopt our cherished business so the papers have been finalized. And....
WE ARE FREE!!!!!!!

Ecuador and Galapagos Islands

From the highlands of the Andes at 13,000 feet, to the Amazon Jungle, we had a GREAT time visiting Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Almost 3 weeks of exploring and adventuring left us with awesome lifelong memories! We have broken up this trip into 3 categories listed below. We hope you enjoy our stories and pictures! Above picture is from our Amazon Jungle Forest stay at Suchipakari Lodge. If you like jungle, you would love this place! We even spotted a family of wild monkeys jumping from tree to tree a few times.

Western Caribbean

A quick 10 days in Florida and the Western Caribbean to relax after our Ecuador trip. Well OK, in comparison it was much more relaxing, but still on the go almost everyday!

Ft Lauderdale to LA via the Panama Canal

6 countries and almost 3 weeks, are we having a good retirement party yet?

Road Trip 2026

Our Journey to see the USA and complete our Geocaching challenge of finding at least one Geocache in all 50 states. Still in the organization and planning stage, as well as working on the van contortion, but we hope to hit the road fall of 2025. We are starting to realize that this retirement stuff gets in the way, and we might have too much going on, but we are really trying to make this happen!

Duck Hunt 2024

Prineville Reservoir and hunting the upper stretches of the lake. Ducks EVERYWHERE! Ryan's new Prodigy was AWESOME!!!.

Tom's Elk Hunt
2024

Anterless Hunt Starky Unit for 7 days!
First non-archery hunt in 35 years. Wow what a different mindset. Also first harvest on the old Ruger paddle stock 270...

Ocean Trip

December 24

Soaking In The
Moonlight
January 2025

Man we love it when one of us (in this case Jill) decides to surprise the other with a short trip! This one was to Crane Hot Springs for 3 days of wrinkled fingers in freezing temps. Nothing like waking up at O Dark Thirty and heading out in 12 degree temps to take a swim right?

The sunrises were fantastic, as were the sunsets, BUT.... The sunsets were behind the resorts buildings so nothing photogenic. If you have not been to Crane Hot Springs, we would recommend you adding it to your things to do in Eastern Oregon! No overwhelming sulphur smells and everything from a Lobster Pot to cooler refreshing temps in the water.

HINT: If you are staying overnight, get one of the suites so you have your own bathroom. That way you do not have to walk in freezing temps to use the public toilets...

Early Summer Kokanee Trip

We missed the spring trip this year because of our 2 month Central America trips, but we did make the June trip to Wikiup Reservoir . Fishing was GREAT,,, catching sucked big time. But spending a week up at the lake either catching or not is a week well spent!!!

Another Soaking
In The Books!

Mid June found us over in the La Grande area attending another Arctic Fox Owners Association rally at Hot Springs Resort and Hotel. Because we only had a couple days we decided to stay at the old motel at the hot springs and leave the trailer at home. We must say that we very much prefer Crane Hot Springs out of Burns much better than Hot Lakes, but a soak is always better than no soak! We had a great time seeing old friends and fellow Northwood RV owners, something that dates back 22 years for us!

July Ocean Trip to 
Newport Oregon

One of the best things about being retired is being able to make impulse decisions and just pack up and leave on a moments notice. So, we were sitting around on a Thursday afternoon and we says to ourselves..... Let's Go To The Beach!!! So after spending some time trying to find last minute accommodations, we took off the next morning and went for a beach trip! Awesome idea right, it's 95 degrees here in Bend, the beach should be great! Well ok, reality hits about 1/4 mile from the ocean and we realize it is blowing sideways at 25-35 and the clouds are so think we can't see the ocean from our beachfront room. The clouds are screaming past us and when we can see the beach the sand is almost moving sideways faster than the wind. But hey, we going to have fun! Turns out we had a few hours on Saturday that at least were clear and we got our beach fix we so muchly needed!

So if it is not so pleasant at the beach, we decided to head up to Lincoln City and head inwards for a hike we have wanted to do for years. Amazing, were retired and we now have the time, crazy! So we spent the day on a 3 mile hike to Lost Creek Falls. We have read all the hype, and we must tell you it might have been a little overblown, but it really was a great little hike and a great little falls. If you find yourself in LC and have an afternoon free, look it up and do the hike, you won't regret it! 

September at Silver Falls State Park

Nothing like hitting the trails at Silver Falls State Park in the fall when the leaves are starting to turn and the crowds have dissipated. 

We have to say that Silver Falls State Park is the perfect fall trip for those that like a little hiking and sightseeing adventures. The total hike to view all 10 waterfalls is about 10 miles long, but we broke it up into 3 separate day hikes. Us old fogies like to take our time and not exert to much energy as at our age we only have so much left in the energy bank! So we spent the week between hiking the park and sight seeing the small towns to the west. And of course..... Geocaching!!! It was a GREAT week getaway and another notch in the "retirement belt"...

So this trip is kind of bitter sweet in our memories as it was the last time we would ever spend another night in our beloved Arctic Fox travel trailer. She had been with us for 22 years and treated us to some AWESOME memories during that time. But, it was time to part ways and let her be adopted so that she could continue giving her next family the kind treasured memories that she shared with us. She will be missed, but her replacement is much more fitting for our needs in the next stage of our life. Retirement years ahead involve making new memories with our extended road trips in our new traveling home on the road!

Bitter sweet on one hand losing our 22H, but very exciting on the other hand gaining a new truck and trailer. This was the first trip towing with our new Duramax and what a fantastic improvement over our old 2006 version! Let the trips be lengthy, fulfilling, and stress free, we hope!!!

Fall 2025 - Multiple Trips 
With The Completed Contortion Project

After picking up the new rig in Spokane the first of October we spent 2 weeks on the road getting back home to Bend and another week on the south Oregon Coast. 

Four nights in Coeur d'Alene Idaho, Then 4 nights at Steamboat Rock State Park in Washington. Four more nights at BeeBe Park on the Columbia River followed by 2 nights at Potholes and the final night at LePage Park in Rufus Oregon. A couple days at home to readjust the rig, and back on the road. We started off with a night in Roseburg followed by 4 nights in Bullards Beach SP and 3 nights at Honeyman SP.

The new truck and trailer performed perfectly and we thoroughly enjoyed our time on the road. Steamboat Rock State Park was a fantastic place and the fall colors were perfect. We hiked Northrup Canyon and took a couple excursions including Dry Falls and Grand Coulee Dam along with our Geocaching addiction. BeeBe park was a very nice park but to close to the hwy. We were glad we had the quality of our new Outdoors RV with the superior insulation that not only kept us warm but blocked all the truck noise at night. Potholes was still the Potholes, wind blowing from sun up to sun down, but we still enjoyed our visit. Lepage park on the Columbia is a great place to stay for 1/2 price with our old geezer national discount, and broke the long drive into 2 easy days getting home. We did make a 4 hour detour in Pasco to get the new slide out cover/awning installed on the contortion project, something we neglected to make happen before we picked it up in Spokane 2 weeks earlier. 

After being home for a few days, we again hit the road again and headed to the south Oregon coast for a week. Mainly stayed around Bandon and took trips both north and south during the extremely stormy week. We did spend time enjoying strolling the small towns and shops and added a local production of Charlotte's Web at the Bandon Performing Theater Friday night. We then turned east and headed home to winterize the rig and start planning our 2026 USA road trip! Enjoy the pictures...