I (Vickie) was born in West Virginia and my husband, Roy was born in California. We sure had a long way to go before getting close enough to meet one another. In fact, it took us almost 40 years to make it. First, I'll start out telling you a little about myself. My family moved from W.Va. to Washington, DC when I was almost 2 years old. Shortly after, the family ended up in Maryland. We settled in Prince George's County. I will not bore you with my childhood. It was basically a regular, loving, well reared kind of existence. :) I got my first job working for the telephone company (following in my mother's footsteps). I only kept that job for about 3 years. I quit shortly after my mother passed away. After that, I fell into a different profession. Driving a taxicab. I spent 7 years doing that before going back to the telephone company. After getting robbed and living to tell the tale, I decided it was time to return to a real job. One which guaranteed a steady paycheck. Still not satisfied with that job, I turned to the Federal Government, where I spent my final 5½ years in Maryland, working for The Department of the Treasury Thanks to my interest in computers, I found the Internet and had spent the previous 6 years learning, growing and meeting people from all over the world! Turns out, it was a blessing in disguise. That's where I met Roy. We met in May of 1998 in a chat room called 40-55something accessed on the Microsoft IRC Servers. It no longer exists there but I have recently found our Blessed Eveningtime, who originally created the room Roy and I met in. The room is now called #eveningtime and can be found on the ChatNet IRC Servers. Roy and I spent the remainder of 1998 learning about one another and found we had much in common and decided to get together and see if it all would work out. In December, I took the big step and moved to Sierra Vista, Arizona to join my beloved.

Now, a little about Roy. He was raised in southern California and moved to Redding, CA in 1974. He joined the Air Force in February 1977. He was stationed in Louisiana, where he worked as a weapons mechanic for 3½ years, maintaining weapons systems on a variety of aircraft. He was also stationed in Montana and Germany. In 1980 he trained as a Nuclear Weapons Specialist and worked on the Minuteman III Missile System and Air Launched Cruise Missiles and various other weapons systems. He spent his last 8 years in the service in Minot, ND. He retired in October 1994. After retirement he went to driving school and drove long haul for a year. He left that to join the local propane company, Amerigas Inc., to drive as propane delivery representative. Roy has 3 children from his previous marriage, Aaron, Tessa and Jeffrey. Also, Jeffrey and girlfriend Karen have blessed us with our first grandchild, Mikayla.

After getting married on May 16, 1999 (in Maryland), we came back home to begin our wedded life as newlyweds. Roy was not satisfied with his job and longed to get back on the road as an OTR driver (over-the-road). In July 1999, he signed on with a trucking company our of Blenker, WI. After waiting a month for the insurance to kick in, I joined Roy and got to tour America in a way not many get to do. We traveled together until July 2000. I had to get off the road and begin keeping our new home, complete with animals. :) Now, I work on designing web pages for our family and several of our personal friends.

Well, that's about it for the Barnes Family of Sierra Vista, AZ. More to come as it happens. Love to all!