GET SIRIUS

Radio, that is.

I recently received a call form Sirius Radio asking me to update my annual billing info. I gave it to them, then they informed me that my usual annual fee would be costing me an addition $170.00 to cover the royalty fees due the musicians, because the Sirius Radio music stations are commercial free. I told them I DON'T WANT TO PAY A ROYALTY FEE TO THE MUSICIANS!! I was transferred to Customer Care. The customer Care lady didn't speak good English. We had a communication problem. I told her all I ever listen to is FOX News. Anyway, after half an hour with her, I no longer had any music channels on my Sirius Radio. And I no longer had FOX News. I told her I don't think I'm going to be happy. She didn't seem to care. I tried to love my new Sirius Radio lineup, but after two days, I really wasn't happy. I did some checking on the Internet and discovered they offered an ala cart plan where you can choose 50 different channels for an even lower price than my new, no music, no FOX News plan. I called Sirius and after talking to three different heavily accented people, I was on my way to being happy. Somewhere along the way I was told I could NOT get the ala cart plan with the radio I had. I told Sirius I would rather buy a new radio than pay the royalty fee. So, I ordered a radio, to be delivered to my campsite at Bluewater Lake State Park. It arrived on the 5Th working day, as promised, and I got my new Sirius Radio all setup. I then called Customer Care, and then logged on to Sirius.com to select my 50 favorite channels. I inquired from every Sirius person I spoke with and was told by everyone that if I added one music channel it would cost me $1.78 per month extra for that pesky royalty fee. I decided I could live with that, so I added ONE music channel. But on the last online screen I think it was telling me that the royalty fee was only .02 per month. I thought about going back and adding a few more music channels but I was afraid I'd have to go through the whole process of clicking on my 50 choices, so I just stuck with my one music channel choice - Prime Country. Actually I ended up only with 49 channels because I opted out of the Spanish News Channel.

Aside from all my other Sirius radio problems, I am now having problems with my built-in trailer radio. My setup is one Sirius Radio receiver and two separate docking staions, one in my truck and one in my trailer. My setup requires me to tune in the truck or trailer radio to FM 88.1 and Sirius Radio plays through my truck or trailer radio/speakers. Well my built-in trailer radio is starting to malfuntion. The on-off button isn't working. I have to push the button in and then wedge a straight pin in and VOILA!! the radio stays on. Until today. The pin method no longer works. So now in the trailer I'm listening to Sirius Radio through my Kaito Emergency radio. It's working pretty well.

Ah, life is good!!

Gallup and Bluewater

After leaving Igancio I headed south, then west to Gallup, NM. I had thoughts of staying there for up to two weeks, but when I got there my Sirius Radio didn't come in. I had a grooming appt. for my dogues there, so I had to stay a few days. The first night there I stayed in the Wal-Mart parking lot, without my favorite radio stations. The second night, I drove 10 miles out of town until my radio reception came in. I spent that night on the side of a frontage road next to a pile of gravel. I retired early, and soon after crawling into bed I heard a knock on the back end of my trailer. I quietly crept to the front door, expecting a law enforcement officer telling me to go somewhere else. I turned on the outside lights and didn't see anyone near the door, but did see someone outside on the opposite side of the trailer. He was NOT law enforcement. Through the window I asked him what did he wanted. He said he was looking for the road that cuts over to the interstate. He pointed east, so I told him that was east and to go that way. He sounded very drunk, he got a little mouthy, then I told him to go away or I'd call the cops. First he headed east, then west, and a minute later a Sheriff's car drove past my trailer, lights flashing, and he headed straight towards that trouble maker. The trouble maker probably thought my call to the cops was pretty effective. = ) I had no more problems that night, and slept very well.
The next morning I headed to the Dogue Groomer, dropped the kids off, then found a a good spot to park while I waited for a call from the groomer. It took an hour and a half longer than he originally said, and he did a so-so job, but as soon as I picked them up I headed east to Bluewater Lake State Park.


Here's a picture I took looking west, from my campsite ---- I'm waving at you.

I found a nice campsite and visited with a few fellow RVers. A few more familiar faces eventually arrived, too.
One Sunday I took a nice 200 mile motorcycle ride past the Bandera Volcano and Ice Caves, through the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation and past El Morro National Monument, north up to Gallup, then east back to Bluewater Lake State Park. GOOD THERAPY!!
Another day I went to Wal-Mart in the little town of Grants for a little shopping and a hair trim. Well, that W-M doesn't have a beauty shop, so the hair cut didn't happen, but I bought some groceries, then found some propane in the tinier town of Milan, washed my truck then headed home. Oh, and I picked up my mail in the tiniest town of all, Bluewater.

Mesa Verde National Park

While in Ignacio, CO I ventured over to Mesa Verde National Park and took two tours to view the famous cliff dwellings.

"Mesa Verde National Park"
"Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States."

Pictures of "Cliff House"






The exit from "Cliff House"


"Balcony House"



A tree which seems to be growing right out of the rock.



One of the very scary ladders at Balcony House. I couldn't look up and I couldn't look down. I just took it one rung at a time. = ]

Navajo Lake, NM and Ignacio, CO

Navajo Lake


After the HOG Rally in Albuquerque, I headed back up north on HWY 550 to Navajo Lake State Park. Several RV friends were already there and I was looking forward to visiting the area. The state park had several different campgrounds but the one where my friends were parked was up a very rough, bumpy, yucky road, plus the campsites where small and the turns were very tight. So, I splurged again and paid to have electricity and a nice, paved campsite.

I went on one nice, long Harley ride which took me to two different Harley shops in two different states - Four Corners Harley-Davidson shop in Farmington, NM and Durango Harley-Davidson in Durango, CO. I bought a quart of Harley Motor Oil in Farmington.

One day I went out on the lake in Trish's boat. I drove the boat for about four hours while Trish and John fished. They didn't catch anything, and I didn't run into anything = )

After 9 days at Navajo Lake I headed north a short ways to the little town of Ignacio, Colorado for the Igancio Bike Rally. The rally has been going on quite a few years, but this was my first time. I passed on parking in a dirty, dusty field and paid to stay at the Sky Ute Casino RV Park. It was very clean and very new. My friends stayed in the dirt lot and after a very big rain storm Saturday night, they were pretty much stuck there, in the mud. And another storm was expected Sunday evening.


Before the rains came, I went to the Rodeo. Bikers get a chance to see how skilled they are at riding a bull instead of their steel horse. I didn't have a very good vantage point, and the bulls moved pretty fast, so my pictures aren't very good, but I had a good time. Oh, and the "Cowboys" didn't stay on very long.