sally's blog

April has been a busy month

2011-04-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures of that funny cactus in bloom. I think this is the first year I've seen it bloom. And my rose bushes are really putting out some beautiful roses. The pictures don't do them justice.....

My sister in Seattle decided she would like to have a stainless steel copper clad Revere Ware coffee percolator, like the one our mom used way back when we were kids. She found some on eBay but asked me if I'd ever seen any at the estates sales I often attend. I have, so I set out on a quest to find another one. I was just about to give up when I came upon one at a Estate Sale Resale Shop in Sun City. for $1.50!!!! The glass top knob wasn't an original one and didn't fit quite right, so I then set out on a quest to find a good replacement knob. I found one at a Sun City Ace Hardware store. The small hardware stores often have odd items the large stores don't carry. I boxed it all up and mailed it off to Susie. She should receive it in a few days. I think if I ever come across another one I will buy it for myself.

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A few weeks ago mom and I participated in a community yard sale. We paid $10 for one parking stall, which included one table. We barely squeezed into the space, but luckily no one set up in one of the stalls next to us, so we overflowed a little bit. We had worried about it being too warm, but it turned out to be very chilly most of the morning and early afternoon.

Here's a picture of most of my stuff boxed up waiting in the backyard for the sale...

Here's a picture looking down the road to the north of us.

Here's our stall...

We had a FREE STUFF box. It was very popular. We kept adding to it all day. At the end of the day we were announcing that half our stuff was FREE!! Some of it we couldn't even give away. We donated a box full to a thrift shop and I took a box full back home. We cleared about $200.00.

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

I've been busy getting my laundry room updated a little bit. I painted the block walls, laid down new linoleum flooring, had a new laundry sink installed and had the positioning of he sink and washer rearranged. I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

Here's a couple pictures of how it looked before....

And here's an after picture.....

Maybe someday I'll have a nice new matching washer/dryer set.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

And last but definitely not least, here's some pictures of my new TOY. Yep, I sold my Harley and bought a golf cart. I named her Harley, so I can still say I'm taking my Harley for a ride. I'm having fun driving here around Sun City to the market and yard and estate sales. Golf carts are allowed on all the streets around here that are posted 35 MPH or less. Sometimes I have to do some creative routing to get to my destination, but I see it as one big adventure.

Here's Harley in her garage, where the real Harley used to be parked. It's actually the far end of the laundry room.

Here she is on her driveway.....

Check out her fancy license plate frame....

My plan is to take her up to Concho for the summer to get around the neighborhood to Happy Hours, Pot Luck Dinners or just visiting the neighbors.

2011-04-06T14:06:00.001-07:00

It's been so long since my last post I've almost forgotten how to do this. Maybe it will all come back.

I have been busy. Here are some of the things I've been up to.

I had a huge crop of grapefruit this year. I personally hand picked and delivered close to 500 pounds of grapefruit to a local food bank. They seemed happy to accept them. I was happy to get rid of them. I ate what I could, gave away what I could and threw away a lot of too small and not very pretty ones. As a last resort I put an ad on Craig's List announcing FREE GRAPEFRUIT on my porch. I had one guy show up and take away two small bags of grapefruit. I still have quite a few in my refrigerator. I'll squeeze them soon into tasty juice. It's the next best thing to an ice cold beer on a hot day.

I've spent all year trying to get my rose bushes looking good and producing some roses. This picture doesn't show all the new buds about to bloom, but they are finally acting like blooming rose bushes.

I've had issues with my shower head for two years now. The arm coming out of the wall is so low I had to bend down when washing my hair. I had a shower head I liked so I bought an adjustable arm and attached the shower head, but the tube on the new adjustable arm was so small the water coming through it was so restricted. It wasn't much fun taking a shower with such little water pressure so I never took one. Oh, I'm just kidding!!! Anyway, I finally decided the solution was a hand held shower head. They mount a bit higher on their own little bracket. So, I went shopping yesterday and came home with one that looked pretty good. Here's a picture of it all installed and not leaking. = ) I've only used it once so far but I love it!! I can't believe all the water pressure coming out of that thing. I actually got all the shampoo and conditioner rinsed out of my hair for a change.

Friday April 8th I'm participating in a community yard sale at one of he Sun City rec centers, so I've been busy going though every drawer, closet, cupboard and storage cabinet collecting unneeded stuff to haul over to the sale and hopefully sell off and make a little money. Here's a picture of some of the stuff. In addition to this I have some cans of paint, some clothes and a bedspread. Oh, and a shower head with an adustable arm.

After being assessed as having damage to my roof from last October's huge hail storm, I set out on a quest to pick out the best replacement roof color that would compliment my way-to-bright (in my opinion) yellow house with the odd colored brick across most of the front. Here's a picture of the new roofing materials up on the roof waiting for the roofers to arrive and remove the old stuff and install the new stuff.

I was hoping to get a roof about the color of the palm tree trunk in the front yard. I think I did a pretty good job. It matches pretty good.

Here's a close-up of my new "house jewelry" bird houses and the green "plant." I think the bird houses, the green plant and the new roof help tone down the bright yellow. I still wish the color was a little more muted, but for now I'm not thinking about repainting.

My next project is the laundry/motorcycle/golf cart storage room. I've started painting the walls and putting down new flooring. Hopefully it won't be as long until the next post with pictures of the updates, including a new laundry sink and a new toy to park in there.

Annie and Maizie

2011-02-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

Maizie knows that big green thing is nothing to mess with.

Cute little Annie

Maizie's little Yorkie ears should be standing up straight, but they seem to need a little help. I read about this technique on-line and thought I'd try it. I wrapped each ear with masking tape, then taped the two together with another strip of tape.

She doesn't seem to be bothered by this beauty enhancement treatment. I read to leave the tape on for about a week.

Meanwhile back in Annie's little world, she's waiting for me to through her bottle for her. She can spend hours chasing it around.

She's such a happy little girl when she has a bottle to chase and destroy.

Bee at Quartzsite

2011-01-31T17:06:00.000-08:00

Mom and I took Bee to Quartzsite for two weeks of camping and shopping. The crowds and vendors seemed a bit less this year, but I still managed to find lots of cool things to buy.

We had to deal with a few water leak issues in Bee, and one little electrical issue, but nothing too serious.

We came home on Saturday, Jan. 29th with an additional passenger. Maizie, my great grand dog was having potty training issues so I brought her home to see if I could have some luck training her. After just 3 days Maizie is getting the hang of doing her business outside instead of in the house. I have the carpeted areas blocked off leaving her lots of non-carpeted area to romp about on. Annie seems to be tolerating this new little intrusion into her life pretty well.

I hope to post some cute pictures of Maizie and Annie soon.

Introducing Bee, The Argosy

2011-01-18T14:02:00.000-08:00

9 Days Left

2011-01-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

The little Argosy had a great adventure. She spent a few days at R&D Family RV for installation of one 150-something Watt Solar Panel and a spiffy control panel. Now her one little battery stays all charged up from the free rays of the sun. I haven't taken a picture of the panel yet, but I will soon. We removed the unneeded TV antenna to make room for the panel.

Ron, at R&D, also installed a gas line for a catalytic heater, a few new light fixtures, hooked up the three existing 12 volt sockets correctly, and installed a brand new water heater. Also, to my great delight, the Argosy now has a brand new hand crank jack. The old one was so hard to crank even when there was no weight or resistance. The new hand crank is so easy compared to the old one that it's almost like having an electric jack. ALMOST!!

Hand Crank Jack

The bathroom is coming along. Hopefully this coming Tuesday and Wednesday our carpenter, Jim, will be finishing up the bathroom and refrigerator. Time is getting short and we still plan to set sail for Quartzsite, AZ on the 17th.

The Argosy has three stabilizing jacks. She used to have four but she lost one sometime during her life. One of the "feet" was terribly bent. I removed it and tried to pound it back into proper shape but I was unsuccessful. So, I stopped by my friendly neighborhood RV dealer and purchased one new "foot." Now she has one shiny new "foot" and two old, rusty looking ones. Maybe someday she will have three more shiny new "feet" along with a forth stabilizer jack. In the meantime, we will use one of those portable jacks. Also, the three jacks got, probably their first ever, a lubricating dose of WD-40. They are working much better now, with less squeaking.

Portable stabilizer jack.

In the meantime, I'm working on the porch light. I finally got the whole assembly unscrewed, un-caulked and removed. I removed the old 12 volt light bulb socket and now I'm trying to figure out how to install a new socket so we can have a lighted porch area.

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

The New Year is a time for new beginnings. On New Years Eve I sold my beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle. = (
For many different reasons, it was time. I'm hoping to go shopping for a new fun mode of transportation in a few months. I'll post pictures when that happens.

Since not much has been happening around here, I thought I'd post this picture of the one minute snow storm in my back yard. It's been really cold ever since. I'm ready for the usual 70+ degree AZ winter days to come back.

Here's my tiny glimpse of a typical sunset I get from my back yard. I'd like to build a viewing deck so I can climb up above the tree tops and get a really good view. Desert sunsets are known for being fabulous!!

The work continues.....

2010-12-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

There used to be a hole in the roof where the propane refrigerator exhaust vented through. The previous owners sealed up the roof and installed an electric refrigerator. Mom and I are reinstalling a proper RV propane/electric fridge. We bought a new fridge, a used fridge vent scoop, a new roof vent cap and a new inner collar with a screen. I'm hoping all these parts work well together and one day soon we will have a working refrigerator, complete with a new custom refrigerator cabinet.

I put the awning out and climbed up onto the roof to do a little caulking and riveting.

Mom did a great job painting the bumper and adding some weather stripping to help keep water out of the bumper storage area.

The Agony continues

2010-12-16T06:16:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago while saling (Estate Saling) I found a great deal on a bedroom set. It's solid Black Walnut. It's very heavy and very well made. I'm not sure how old the set is. There is a date on the back of the mirror but I can't read all of the numbers. I bought the set on the 4th day of the Sale and paid a whopping $100 (plus tax) for the four pieces - dresser, mirror and two night stands. Plus, the dresser and one night stand have glass to cover the tops. The second night stand has a piece of glass but it doesn't quite fit right.

The Argosy came with thick, solid covers for the front windows. They are good for traveling to protect the front windows from flying rocks, but not good when parked because you can't see out them. We had all the windows tinted, except the two big curved windows. They are just too curved for the tint application. So, Mom made covers for all three front windows. Of course all the snaps had to be changed on the trailer because the new snaps on the new covers didn't work with the old snaps on the old trailer. At this point, most of the snaps are working well. Some need to be tweaked a little. For travel we will insert some of that silver, insulating material between the windows and the covers to help protect the windows from rocks. I'm hoping the snaps will stay snapped while cruising down the highway at 55 MPH.

We had some custom work done on the kitchen cabinet. The stain we picked didn't end up matching quite as well as I had hoped, but all in all we are pretty happy with how it turned out.

It's hard to tell in this picture but the front wall is up in the shower. The side walls should be done very soon. It's coming out really nice!! Again, those curves are making installation of materials very interesting.

And then there's the bumper. I won't go into detail of how I made extra work for us, but it will soon have a new coat of paint. = )

And the biggest source of distress for me is the roof leaks. I can't put it off any longer. It has rained only one day since bringing her to AZ, but my luck will run out eventually, so I am now tackling the roof issues. UGH!!

The Argosy needs a name! So far my favorites are Rosie, the Riveted and Bea, as in Plan "B" because on most projects Plan "A" hasn't worked out well. I'm open to suggestions.

The Big House and the Little House

2010-12-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

I spent a year and a half checking Craig's List almost ever day I was at home in Sun City for a good deal on an 8' X 4' window for my front living room. I finally found one. It was just what I needed!! But there was a bit of difficulty with the project as the original window was installed with a 3/4" flange all around it, then the bricks on the front of the house were installed. But, my installer finally got the old, single pane, aluminum frame window removed and got the new one installed. Stage two was installing the wood window blinds I found on Craig's List many, many months ago. First I had to add a 1" x 3" board on the inside of the window opening so the blinds, which were a bit too skimpy, would fit properly. Well, two boards made the opening just a little bit too small, so I had to remove one of them. After I got all that done, the brackets installed and the blinds hoisted up into place, I discovered the cord locking mechanism was malfunctioning. As I tugged and tugged on the cord to try to release the slats the whole shebang came crashing down on my face. OUCH!!! So, I went to the local Lowe's store and priced new blinds and shutters. They ranged from $150-$730. Instead I opted for the window blind repair shop. For a reasonable fee I had the lock/release mechanism replaced, a full tune-up, a foot of unneeded slats removed from the bottom and two additional support brackets to install. The blinds are now up and after about two weeks I now have some privacy again.

Here's the new window installed with some wall repair work yet to be done.

Here's the inside view of the new window and the new blinds, .

Here's the window and blinds from the outside, just in time for Christmas.

When I'm not busy with house projects I'm busy working on the Little Argosy.

Here's some pictures of the progress we are making on the bathroom.

Isn't the little 10" stainless steel sink cute?

Here's a bit of an eye sore...

...that is hidden nicely behind a cabinet door.

The cabinets will eventually be painted white to match the doors. The counter top will remain natural, with about 8 coats of Urethane on it.

My mom and I found the 3 cabinet doors for the bathroom and three for the kitchen at the Habitat for Humanity Store in Peoria, for $2 each.

Here's a kitchen cabinet door after being stripped and sanded, and waiting to be stained and coated with Urethane.

These are ready to be coated with Urethane.

The shower area is the next major hurdle to concur.

And of course the refrigerator needs to be installed and a custom cabinet built around it.

One day we may actually get to use the Argosy. = )

Work, work, work!!

2010-11-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

I'm finally finishing up the updating of my kitchen.

Here's the old stove and microwave. I've always thought they weren't very attractive.

So, I had the old ones hauled away.

After much work removing unwanted tile, adding a 110 electical outlet and some gas pipe,

and prepping for the microwave...

VOILA!!! I just love my (almost) new Kenmore gas range and Kenmore microwave. These look more normal and like they belong there.

Next, a new kitchen window, a new (or almost new) all white dishwasher, new window blinds and new white outlets, switches and wall plates. Plus, a little more painting and then the kitchen updating will be complete. Next, the laundry room!!!

When I'm not working on my house I'm agonizing over the Argosy.
Here's where the shower pan goes. I've been working on scraping, chiseling and sanding the Liquid Nails, or something similar, from the shower wall area and from the shower pan. I just about have the shower pan ready for a few coats of Krylon Fusion paint.

A Few Home Improvement Projects

2010-11-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

I had a new kitchen door installed. I still need to paint it.
The funny board on the thresh hold was just to remind me not to step on it until the sealant dried.

I never liked the wrought iron posts on my front porch. For two years I've wanted to replace them with pretty white wood posts.

I finally did.

Next.... New kitchen appliances.

More Progress

2010-11-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of our little work shop set up outside the Argosy. We have been blessed with an empty space next door to our storage space, so we have lots of room to work.

The kitchen counter is waiting for it's new counter top and sink.

And here it is.
Jim did a great job making the custom counter top. We will be adding wood trim that has been stained Onyx and then coated with urethane for the back splash and finished edges.

The new solid bathroom floor has been installed. The black tank with it's new Thetford slide valve is ready to be permanently installed.

While Jim did all the hard stuff, I painted the plastic, bathroom end cap. It came out pretty good!!

More Agony....

2010-10-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

....with a few little successes thrown in.

First I painted the end-cap. Then I decided the plastic roll-up Tambour cupboard doors needed to be painted too. They had yellowed too much over the years.

So Mom and I masked them off. Then I primed them with Gripper, and painted them with the same color as the end-cap. I had used spray paint on the end-cap but I used a brush on the Tambour roll-up doors.
The one on the left is primed. The one on the right has been primed and painted.

Here's the end results. The picture is deceiving, but they really are the same color as the end-cap.
I still have to mask off and paint the small center section.

Meanwhile back at the ranch (actually it's just a house) I had another leaky sprinkler line. I dug down to it, which was very difficult because there was a maze of grapefruit tree roots lurking down there. In fact that's what caused the problem. A very large root pushed on a Tee in the line, which had a capped off sprinkler head on it, and caused the Tee to separate from the 3/4" PVC pipe. I cut off the Tee and installed a repair, compression coupling. They say 3rd times a charm, well, in this case it was the 6Th or 7Th try to finally get the nifty repair coupling to not leak.
The root was almost as large as the pipe.

I've spent two years in a dilemma over my green tile kitchen counter tops. One day recently I had an epiphany and realized the worse thing about the green tile was my beloved red kitchen accessories. So, I decided to 86 everything red and just go with green and white.

Here's my new green checked window valance. And to add a little spice I have a black coffee maker, tea kettle and toaster. Next is some more painting and new (or slightly used) white appliances.

New Computer

2010-10-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

One week after my dog Murphy went to heaven, my computer went to where ever dead computers go. I lost a lot of important stuff like my good Blogger friend's Blog addresses. So, could all of my Blogger friends please send me their Blog addresses?

Thanks!!

The Agony and the Argosy continues...

2010-10-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

We hired Jim to do the hard stuff. The new bathroom floor is just about ready to be screwed down. But first I have to clean the rusty metal underneath the new floor, then paint it with rust inhibitor paint.

Meanwhile, Mom and I prep and paint the front PVC end cap that used to be off-white but turned kind of an orange color through the years. Just to the right of Mom's hand you can get an idea of what color it used to be. That little section of off-white has been covered by trim caps.

Here's the little end cap trim pieces. I painted them first, sort of a trial run.

I sprayed on 2 coats of Krylon Fusion paint. The end cap needs one more coat. Then it will be almost perfect. Almost.

Meanwhile back at the house, here's my new guestroom bed. It was almost free. Now I need some new bedding worthy of the new headboard and matching foot board.

Here's Little Annie, napping. She seems to be pretty happy being an only dog. I miss Murphy. Annie likes having me all to herself. It's been almost 20 years since I've been a one-dog dog mom. But Annie and I both agree that a one-dog house at this time is probably a good thing.

Rest in Peace, Murphy

2010-10-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

My beloved little Murphy went to heaven today. He will be missed. He was such a sweet little guy. I know he's already found his long time buddy Oliver. I know he's busy taking care of Oliver. I remember several years ago somewhere in Montana when Oliver ran up a hill barking and giving heck to a skunk. Murphy ran up the hill after Oliver, trying to tell little Oliver DANGER!! STOP!! Well, Oliver came out unscathed while Murphy got "skunked" full on, right in the face. I cleaned Murphy up as best I could but two months later I could still smell remnants of the episode.

Murphy had a good, long life. He made it to 14 1/2. He was born in Bakersfield, CA. He came to live with Oliver and me when he was 3 months old. It took him about 10 minutes to convince 5 y/o Oliver that he was alpha dog. But Ollie and I knew better!!

Murhpy was well traveled. He accompanied me to Alaska, Maine, Florida and the Southern border of California and many, many points in between. He hiked part way up Mt. Whitney with me when he was just 1 1/2. He loved lying in the sun and having his ears scratched.

Rest in Peace, Muph!! I miss you!!

A Pet's Prayer
Treat me kindly, my beloved master, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I should lick your hand between the blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me do.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world's sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep falls upon my waiting ear.

When it is cold and wet, please take me inside, for I am now a domesticated animal, no longer used to bitter elements. And I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth. Though had you no home, I would rather follow you through ice and snow than rest upon the softest pillow in the warmest home in all the land, for you are my god and I am your devoted worshiper.

Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for although I should not reproach you were it dry, I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst. Feed me clean food, that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life should your life be in danger.

And, beloved master, should the great Master see fit to deprive me of my health or sight, do not turn me away from you. Rather, hold me gently in your arms as skilled hands grant me the merciful boon of eternal rest and I will leave you knowing the last breath I drew, my fate was ever safest in your hands.

Written by Beth Norman Harris

New screen on the screen door

2010-10-13T11:38:00.001-07:00

This project turned out really well. Mom cut the new screen material and I installed it, with her help. The little spline fit just perfectly into the little slot and the screen came out nice and taut. I didn't slice into the screen material even once. I wish all the Argosy projects went this well.

It's hard to tell, but the new screen is there. The next project is new weather stripping on the screen door and new light fixture installation.

The Agony and the Argosy

2010-10-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

I stole the title from someone else, but I like it because it really fits!!

Here's the worst of the worst of the rotted bathroom floor in the little Argosy. I spend sleepless nights trying to figure out what to do about it. Then I remind myself that someone else is going to figure out what to do about it. I just have to figure out how to pay for it.

Occasionally a project comes out really well, like the one below. I removed the screen door grill, took it home and spent two afternoons rubbing and scrubbing and polishing it. It's not perfect but it's 99% better. I had to repair a few broken rivets with tiny little nuts and bolts, and then I riveted the whole thing back in place. Also, I finally got the little white slide thing cut down and filed down just right so it would squeeze into the tiny little grooves and actually slide. Those two projects helped a lot to make up for the many projects that have not turned out so well.

There are at least 4 more projects on the regular door and the screen door before that area is finished with. It seems like every project that is started leads to 4 or 5 more projects, and just as many trips to the hardware store.

I know I'm way behind.......

2010-10-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

...but I'm just going to jump to October.

Mom and I set out early one Saturday morning from Sun City and headed to Oklahoma to purchase a 1976 24' Airstream Argosy. It took us two days to get there. After carefully looking over the trailer we decided to take her home with us. She had a lot of issues but nothing that seemed insurmountable. We headed back west around noon on Monday, with the little Argosy in tow. We drove and drove and drove and drove. We spent Monday night at a fairly quiet rest stop somewhere in Texas along HWY. 40. The next day we drove and drove and drove and then spent the second night at a fairly noisy (due to the constant passing and horn blasting of trains) rest stop just west of the NM/AZ border. It started raining sometime during the night. The next morning we drove and drove and drove in pouring rain. The rain finally stopped when we turned south on HWY 17 in Flagstaff. We were on the final leg of our journey. = )

The little Argosy pulled well, weighing way less than half of what my 28' Toy Hauler weighs all loaded up.

I parked in front of my house in Sun City and discovered water dripping down from the underside of the trailer. HMMM!! The whole outside of the trailer is practically smeared with silicone caulking so where could the water have leaked in? I don't know yet, but hopefully I'll figure it out before the next rainy day. **UPDATE-- It just started to rain!!!*** Mom and I have been busy updating the little Argosy. Mom is working on new drapes for the windows and I am tearing out the bathroom. I started out just wanting to put in a new toilet in the rear bathroom. Well, one thing led to another and now I am removing the shower pan, the sink and cabinet and black tank, so I can (or hire someone else to) replace the rotting wood floor across the back wall of the trailer.

This past week I learned how to remove old rivets and install new rivets. And today I bought a jig saw that should come in handy for a few upcoming projects.

I found an invaluable web site which has posts and links to almost anything you ever wanted to know about new, old and Vintage Airstreams - http://www.airforums.com/forums/ (copy and paste if you want to check it out)

Here's my truck all ready for the trip to Oklahoma.

We stopped in Gallup for lunch on our first day.

This is a Visitor's Center in Texas.

After spending Sunday night in Tulsa, bright and early Monday morning we pulled into Wade's RV Clinic.

Here's the crew at Wade's who were most helpful.

Here's the little Argosy all hitched up and ready to head west.

Mom and the little Argosy.

I was happy to find speaker wire hiding behind some plastic covers. I hope to install a radio soon.

This orange ring and black ABS flange were very difficult to remove!!

This is inside the sink cabinet, all rotted out, one of the places the toilet leaked into.

I thought the toilet flange was hard to remove. The shower drain was even harder. I cut into the threads on the ABS pipe coming up from the shower drain pipe. That will have to be replaced. = (

Removal of the shower pan, the black tank and sink and cabinet is next on the agenda.

After Leadville...

2010-08-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

I left Leadville on Saturday July 17TH and drove to the Silverthorne Elks Lodge where I had planned to stay for a few days. The lodge is closed on Saturdays and Sundays so I thought it would be nice and quiet and I wouldn't be in any ones way. I got parked way back in a corner, but before long someone from the lodge came to ask me to move closer to the building because there was a wedding reception there that evening and I was taking up too many parking spots. The spot by the building wasn't really parking spots. I didn't understand why the reception guests couldn't park in the non-parking spots by the building, but after discussing the fact that there would be loud music until the wee hours of the morning I decided to try to find somewhere else free or cheap in the area. I had no luck, so I drove to the Black Hawk/Central City casino area. I heard about a huge RV/truck parking area called Miner's Mesa where I could park and a shuttle would take me to the casinos. Not only was it a very steep drive up to the towns, but an even steeper drive up to Miner's Mesa. I promised my truck he could rest for three days before I made him do anything like that again!!

Here' a sign posted in Miner's Mesa. I never did see a Bear or a Mountain Lion.

Well, the fridge quit working when I got to the Mesa, so I called Camping World in Golden, CO and pleaded for an appt. ASAP!! I was scheduled for Tuesday and of course, shortly after I called Camping World the fridge decided to start working again. After 2 mights at Miner's Mesa I went down the hill on Monday evening and spent the night at Camping World and decided that if the fridge wasn't working in the morning I would keep my appt. and if it was working I'd cancel the appt. I cancelled and moved on to an Englewood, CO Wal-Mart for two nights. Then I moved to the Englewood Elk's Lodge where Elk members can park overnight free for two nights. While there I did some shopping in the area and rode to 4 area Harley shops.

After my two nights at the free Elk's Lodge I spent one night a the Loveland Harley Shop, not far from a "No Overnight Parking" sign. No one bothered me and the next day I continued on to Cheyenne for the WIN RV Club's annual Frontier Days gathering. Every year Ila puts a notice in the WIN newsletter that she will be hosting a gathering at the VFW in Cheyenne during Frontier Days. If you put it in the newsletter, they will come!! Well, this year I CAME. Another lady had been there before Frontier Days started, and left. And two local ladies stopped by for visits, and I stayed for 10 days. Hey, two can make a gathering.

Here' some pictures I took at one of the three free pancake breakfasts put on by the town of Cheyenne every year during Frontier Days.

They feed a lot of people!!

Here's the chuck wagon where all the cooking takes place.

One morning while awake, but not up yet up I heard a loud BOOM!! My first thought was, "Oh great, the oil refinery 1/4 mile away blew up." I got out of bed, did a few morning rituals, then thought I'd better look out the window and check out the refiner. Sure enough, the refinery was on fire.

I was parked a little farther away, but if you look close you can see Ila's motor home in the lower right corner.

We both were ready to hookup and pull out quickly if things got worse. But I did have a thought that this could be a solution to my trailer back wall problem. = )

The fire burned for over an hour.

Here's what the refinery looked like before and after the explosion. Even when it wasn't burning it was noisy and smelly. I was more than ready to leave after 10 days.

While in Cheyenne my refrigerator stopped and started about every other day. I made an appt. at a local RV repair shop for a week and a half out. So, I stayed at the VFW until the day of my appt. While there I purchased an ice chest and 20 pounds of ice. The ice lasted until the fridge started working again. = )

Frontier Days and the WIN gathering came to an end, and a few days later my fridge appt. came. Of course the fridge was working on the day of the appt, like the last appt. They say it's impossible to figure out what is wrong with it if it's working. The RV tech cut out a small piece of aluminum saying it just wasn't getting enough oxygen. There was a recall several years ago and apparently this small piece of aluminum wasn't removed when I took it in for the recall. I left there feeling so hopeful that I would have NO MORE problems!! WRONG!!

I left Cheyenne and headed to a really nice rest stop just east of Laramie. The next day the fridge stopped working again. This time I transferred all the still frozen water bottles from the freezer to the ice chest. That worked well.

My next over night stop was the RV friendly Laramie Wal-Mart. The next day the fridge was still working when I left Laramie to head to a Rawlins truck stop. It was very noisy, but convenient. I had checked out a few free spots in the area but they didn't work out too well. One I couldn't find and the other had no cell phone service. After a so-so night of sleep at the truck stop I unloaded my motorcycle and rode to the Rock Springs Harley shop for raffle ticket #14. There were soooo many bikes on the road heading east to Sturgis. I so much wanted to go, but it wasn't meant to be this year.

Before I left the truck stop, the fridge had stopped working. I bought 16 pounds of ice, and then it started working again.

Now for true confessions. Not only is the fridge malfunctioning, but the back wall of my toy hauler trailer is separating from the side walls. I have visions of driving down the highway and having the whole back wall falling off and dragging down the road. I've changed the last two months of my summer travel plans. I decided not to go any farther east (Sturgis) or north (Jackson, WY) but rather start heading west and south, back to Arizona and the dealer where I purchased the trailer in 2005. I've come to accept that the back wall problem probably has something to do with negligence on my part resulting in water infiltration, wood rot and separation. I might be wrong, but I'm preparing myself for the worst. $$$$$$ =(

Shortly after the Rawlins truck stop I headed south toward Colorado.
I checked out a free spot I had read about in my very old "Free or Cheap Campgrounds" book. It went from free to $16/night with no phone service. So I spent the night at the Craig, CO Wal-Mart instead, where I didn't see the "No Overnight Parking" sign. Or so I was prepared to plead. = ) No one bothered me.

The next day I continued south to the town of Meeker and a delightful $5/night city park campground. Well, way-back-when it was $5/night. Now it's $15/night. And muddy from the previous nights rain, and my phone and Internet service was on Global Roaming. That sounded scarier and more expensive than Global Warming, so I left. I ended up at the Grand Junction Moose Lodge.

The Grand Junction Moose Lodge has RV parking spots out back with electrical hoop-ups. I parked in the first spot, got my dogues out of the truck and tried to usher them back to the trailer. They both just sat down and looked at me like I was really mean!! They were sitting in the middle of a goat head sticker field. Poor puppies!! And the bottom my rubber sandals were solid goat heads!! I decided that if the RV spots with electrical hook-ups and goat heads was my only option I would have to go to the noisy Elk's Lodge instead. But, a nice gentleman at the lodge told me I could park on either side of the building. = ) so I stayed.

That brings us to today, August 9. Today I rode to the Grand Junction Harley shop for raffle ticket #16. It took me 15 minutes to get there and an hour to get back to my trailer. I got lost. In the rain. Tomorrow I ride the 280 mile round trip to the Vernal, Utah Harley shop. The free spots I checked out earlier would have made for a shorter ride to Vernal, but I'm here and Vernal is there, and I will ride the 5 hour ride to Vernal and back tomorrow. It will be a long day, but it will be worth it when I win that brand new 2011 Harley Street Glide next month. =) I might have to sell my beloved Sportster to pay for my trailer repair bill, so I sure could use that new Harley Street Glide.

10,200' Leadville, CO

2010-07-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

After 11 days in Salida I headed to Leadville. I parked at the very friendly Leadville Elk's Lodge.

Here's a picture of my trailer and another rig parked in the Elk's Lodge parking lot. The picture was taken from the Lodge's south facing deck. Notice the colorful Victorian behind my trailer.....

Here's a full picture of the adorable Painted Lady...

I only stayed in 10,200' Leadville for two days before heading to a town with more oxygen. But, while there, I went on another 200 mile loop ride. I went south out of Leadville and then turned west on Hwy. 82 which took me to the top of the beautiful Independence Pass. At 12,095' I think it is the highest paved pass in Colorado. It's the highest one I've every ridden over. The views on the ride up and down are just breath taking!!

Hwy. 82 took me through Aspen, playground of the Hollywood stars. I didn't see any Hollywood types but I did see lots of huge Hollywood star type houses. I first visited Aspen in 1967 on a two week Christmas vacation, while in high school. The town has sure changed since then!!! The ski lift tickets where only $4/day for those under 16, which I was.

I arrived in Glenwood Springs, home of Colorado's and possibly the world's largest natural hot springs-fed pool. It's 405 feet long and 100 feet wide, and varies from 90 degrees to 104 degrees depending on where you are in the huge pool. I was lucky enough to take a dip in the pool back in 1967. But this day after visiting the local Harley-Davidson shop I stopped by a white-water kayak park. Unfortunately no one was bobbing around in a one of those little kayaks, but I did take a picture of the turbulent water.

I then hopped on the beautiful Interstate 70 and headed east, then south on Hwy. 24, and back "home" to Leadville, thus completing my 200 mile loop.

I was going to gas up my bike in Glenwwood Springs, but I was having such a good time riding I completely forgot. 57 miles later, while passing by a gas station in the tiny, charming town of Minturn, I luckily remembered about the importance of gasoline. If not for that very expensive gas station I would not have made it the 30miles to Leadville and the next station. WHEW!!!

So long Salida

2010-07-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

Before I left Salida, CO I went on one last ride - A 200 mile loop which took me north to Fairplay where a motorcycle rally was going on and where I bought a pair of riding glasses to replace the ones I left in Arizona and miss a lot. Then I continued north up Hwy 9 up and over Hoosier Pass. Some bicycle riders where stopped by the sign and offered to take my picture. I continued on up to Frisco where I caught Interstate 70 and headed west a short distance to Hwy 91. I took 91 south up and over 11,318' Fremont Pass, which I didn't get a picture of. I rode through Leadville and checked out the local Elk's Lodge. About 18 miles south of Leadville I turned right off the hwy. to check out the free camping situation at Clear Creek Reservoir. My camping neighbors at Salida were heading there in a few days and invited me to join them. I didn't like the dirt road going to the camping area. Plus, a few days after Jerry and Terry arrived there they called to inform me that the mosquitoes were really bad. Meanwhile back on the hwy... I cruised through Buena Vista, also known as B.V. or Boonie. Don't ask me why!!! Boonie is a cute town where scattered around the town are old, small white-water kayaks recycled into flower planters. I should have stopped and taken a few pictures, but I didn't. They were really cute.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One evening when it was just getting dark this little rig came in looking for a spot to camp for the night. The man driving it had a stroke several years back, but didn't want to give up riding a motorcycle. He found this three-wheeled bike with a steering wheel and automatic transmission. The back end of the trailer has a cooking area and the inside has cozy sleeping quarters. He's from Kansas and just decided to head to Colorado for a few days.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally my water heater was working well with it's new pilot assembly and gas valve, and my mail finally arrived, so it was time to move to greener pastures. Or should I say higher elevations. I had spent several days deciding where to go and finally decided on 10,200' Leadville. I'm staying at the Elk's Lodge which is just a block from the old historic downtown and across the street from the High Mountain Pie shop. = ) Leadville has a lot of charm, but not much oxygen!!

I have one bike ride planned, for Friday - a 200 mile loop to Glenwood Springs via Aspen, then Hwy 70 east to Hwy 24 which will take me south back to Leadville.

More Colorado

2010-07-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

I spent one night at Antero Reservoir. I was going to stay a few days and do some riding from there, but the 4 mile rough, dirt road wasn't conducive to me and my motorcycle, so I decided one night was enough. The reservoir is at 9000' elevation and it was quite chilly the one morning I woke up there.

Here's the view from my campsite. Being that it was a weekend, there was lots of fisherman there.
But hey, I had good phone service!!!!

On the 4Th of July I left Antero Resevoir and drove about 50 miles to the charming town of Salida. I found the free camping area along the Arkansas River and one of the few available spots I could fit into, where I could easily unload my motorcycle for the next days ride. Salida is at 7000' and again I had good phone service!! That evening I listened to the local fireworks, but I decided to stay home with my dogues, in case they got spooked by the loud, scary noises.

Here's the view from my Salida campsite.

On July 5Th I left my camp site along the Arkansas River, just east of Salida, CO, headed east on Hwy 50, and road up and over the 11,312' Monarch Pass. Then I zipped into Gunnison where I cruised through town and stopped for a short rest. I then back tracked for 8 miles and turned south on Hwy. 114 which took me up and over 10,149' North Pass. I hit the small town of Saguache, which I'm sure I do not pronounce correctly, then headed north on Hwy. 285 which took me back into Pancha Springs, then east about 7 miles back to my campsite. This was a 180 mile ride.

There was a short ride to the very top, with a fabulous view. but I chose not to partake.

This is the pretty, city park in Gunnison.

The next day I rode my bike west, to lower elevations. This loop ride took me east on Hwy 50 past the really tiny town of Texas Creek, then to Canon City (pronounced Canyon, I think, then south on Hwy 67, then scenic Hwy 96, then Hwy 69, then back north to Texas Creek and Hwy 50, then back west and back to camp. I didn't take very many pictures, or stop very often, but the whole loop was very beautiful. This was a 140 mile ride.

Salida is really cute town, with a charming, touristy old historic district. There's a small Super Wal-Mart, a friendly Chamber of Commerce, an RV dump and water station, a public swimming pool heated by water piped in 5 miles from a natural hot spring. The town also has an extensive recycling center that I utilized. People come from all over the area to partake in a number of outdoor activities. 4-wheeling, bicycling, fishing, white-water rafting, white-water kayaking and of course, motorcycle riding!! The free camp area I am staying has a raft launch area nearby where individual and private rafting companies launch their rafts all day long. Also, many white-water kayakers camp at night after kayaking all day. Many set up tents, but most sleep in their trucks and cars. There is a 14 day time limit for camping but many semi-homeless looking people arrive in classic RVs just before dark and leave just before sunrise, allowing them to evade the Park Ranger who came around everyday checking on the campground. I was planning on staying for four days, then head down to Hooper and stay at the UFO Watchtower Campground while attending the Del Norte Motorcycle Rally. Then, return back to Salida for a week or so. But, with my on going water heater problem, I'm just staying at Salida while a nice young mobile RV repair man works on my water heater. And, I ordered my mail to come to Salida, so here I will stay until my water heater is fixed and my mail comes in.
It looks like I won't make that ride up and over Wolf Creek Pass this year. Maybe next year!!

Before my refrigerator stopped working.......

2010-07-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

My first stop on my summer adventure was spent at Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico. It's about 7 miles off Hwy 40 and 7400' elevation.

My second stop was the Elk's Lodge in Santa Fe. While there, Murphy was treated to a Spa Day.

Isn't Murphy handsome after his Spa Day at Companions in Santa Fe? I think that was the most expensive Spa Day any of my dogues has ever enjoyed.

I went on a 150 mile motorcycle ride one day, starting at the Elk's Lodge in Santa Fe heading toward Los Alamos, which is known for, well, here's the Chamber of Commerce's description:

We say, "where discoveries are made" because Los Alamos, New Mexico is a place of ancient village sites, spectacular scenery, diverse wildlife, uncommon high-altitude recreational opportunities, small-town friendliness, world-class cultural activities, fascinating history, and world-changing science and technology development. Los Alamos .... Yours to Discover!

Here's some signs I stopped to read and photograph, just west of Los Alamos.

And the beautiful valley, looking north.

Towards the end of my 150 mile loop, about 15 miles south of Santa Fe, the wind began to blow, then it rained and then it hailed. I pulled off at a closed weigh station hoping to find some shelter, but there wasn't any, but there was an underpass just up ahead. I turned left to find a nice dry spot, which I found, but I also found a dozen or so other motorcycles taking shelter too. I talked to one couple from Canada, and another from California. After awhile, all the south bound bikes got back out on the highway, but the few heading north waited a bit longer. There was a rest stop up at the next off ramp, which we all headed to. After hanging out there for awhile, I was getting anxious to get back to my trailer and check on my dogues...

...but, here's the view I saw looking north, towards Santa Fe. It was pretty intimidating, but eventually it cleared a little, and I hit the road. When I got back to the trailer I was soaked, and so was the trailer. I had left windows and roof vents open so the dogues wouldn't get too hot. Eventually everything dried out, and then the refrigerator quit working!!

Colorado....

2010-06-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

After my refrigerator stopped working in Santa Fe I pulled into an RV repair shop to have it looked at. After $110.00 and over an hour waiting to see if the repair job worked, I was confident that it did, and I headed north to Colorado. I stopped at an RV friendly Wal-Mart in Alamosa to stock up on groceries and spend the night, only to discover that the fridge was NOT cold!! I cried a few tears into my room temperature beer, then come up with Plan B. Plan B was an RV repair shop in Alamosa. Well, that didn't work out very well, so I headed towards Colorado Springs. I am now at the Camping World just south of The Springs. I found a very helpful and friendly Repair Dept. employee, told him my sad story, took him out to my trailer so he could check it out, and lo and behold, the burner is staying lit. So, I'm hanging out at Camping World for a few hours to see if the fridge starts to cool down. If it doesn't, I will probably stay here until Monday when they can get me into the repair shop. If it does work, I'll probably head north a little and wait around for my motorcycle appt. on Thursday. Or, maybe I'll try to get that appt. moved up a bit.

As much as I like to plan things out, looks like I'm having a big opportunity to see if I can adapt to unforeseen circumstances. So far, the room temperature beer is the hardest part.

Santa Fe

2010-06-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

I arrived at my destination in Santa Fe and discovered I was looking at the wrong building, and the ever important parking lot, on Panoramio. If I had paid more attention to my directions to the location I would have figured it out before I arrived. So, the parking conditions aren't quite as nice as I was expecting, but I guess it will do. It is close and convenient to all the errands I have planned for tomorrow. I just hope that if it does rain in a few days, like predicted, the dirt lot won't become a mud bog. I might drive up to Hyde Memorial State Park and check it out and move up there if it looks appealing. But after yesterday's stay at a State Park I've had enough of other people's eye irritating campfire smoke!!

It's windy and warm, but hopefully those conditions will improve soon.

Later~~~~~

Let the adventure begin!!!

2010-06-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

People often ask me how do I decide where to go on my summer travels. Well, sometimes I decide to join up with my RV Club the WINs - Wandering Individuals Network. Sometimes I just do my own thing, going to motorcycle rallies and visiting friends. This year I'm doing the budget plan. I got out my Elk's Lodge books and Moose Lodge pages and looked up the lodges that offer free, cheap or donation RV parking. I plotted them on the map and the ones that are in cool temp/high altitude spots made the short list. I tried to throw in a few motorcycle rallies, WIN club stops, my favorite Montana Brewery, and beautiful mountain passes to ride.
I use the Internet extensively to search for RV dump stations, Costcos, Petsmarts, pet groomers, the cheapest gas stations that sell diesel, free and cheap camping spots and the very important Verizon phone and Wireless Internet Service Areas. I found that Wyoming doesn't have one Costco or Petsmart so I'll have to anticipate and stock-up on needed supplies before I leave Colorado and head into Wyoming. I have many publications that range from telling me what I can find at every off-ramp along the main highways, where every Wal-Mart is located and which ones allow overnight RV parking and how steep a grade to expect on every mountain pass. I also have Hot Springs books, a Harley Shop guide, and lots of maps.
When I have the dilemma of choosing between two spots, I use "Panoramio" which shows an aerial view of almost every spot on earth, or "Vpike.com" which shows street level views of most addresses. They are helping me decide between two Elks Lodges in New Mexico I am contemplating and two different Harley Shops in Colorado. I'm looking for a Harley shop with a large parking lot where I can unload my bike and take her in for her 30,000 mile service. And one of the Elk's Lodges looks like it has a much larger parking lot and looks to be in a much quieter area than the other.
I try to have a nice balance of quiet, remote spots vs. city spots convenient to shopping. I need an RV dump station about every two weeks, a dog groomer about every 5-6 weeks and an easy access US Post Office once a month to pick up the mail I have forwarded from South Dakota.
At this time I have on my schedule: 2 Elks Lodges, 1 Moose Lodge, 1 VFW Lodge, 4 Wal-Marts, 1 State Park, 1 County Fairground, 2 City parks, 6 free dispersed camping spots, 1 National Park, 2 National Recreation Areas, and 2 BLM areas. Seven of the spots are with the WINS and the rest are just on my own. Fifteen spots are free, and most of the pay spots are $5-$6 per night with one or two from $10-$20/night.
I haven't scheduled any motorcycle rallies but I'm planning to ride my motorcycle over 10 Mountain passes 10,000' or higher, mostly in the beautiful Rockies. And I it looks like I won't make it to the Big Sky Brewery in Missoula, MT this year, but I shouldn't have any problem finding my beloved Moose Drool beer in stores in the states I'm heading to.

Some people pull up to an intersection and flip a coin to see which direction they will go. I guess I'm a planner. I like to plan where I'm going and what I'm going to do when I get there. If something unexpected comes up and I want to change my plan, that's OK!! I will do that. But for now I plan to stick to my plan and head east to New Mexico early tomorrow morning before the wind kicks up, stopping in Gallup for fuel, then continue on to one of New Mexico's beautiful state parks.

See ya down the road!!

My 2010 Summer Travels

2010-06-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

The heat arrived in the Phoenix Valley, so I headed for the mountains. I'm up on my little half acre near Concho, in the White Mountains, but since my land partner isn't coming up this summer, I have the whole acre to myself.

Last summer I had problems with my DirecTV receiver box and this summer I had problems with my dish. But with the help of my friend and electronics wizard Jack, I'm getting DirecTV reception with a Dish satellite dish. = )

This is the view from the front steps of my trailer.

Here's a shady little spot where I occasionally have my morning coffee. It makes me feel like I'm sitting right in the middle of a Juniper bush.

Here's Cute Little Bear, welcoming me and my guests.

This is the view looking down the driveway.

I've been spending some of my time working on plans for the rest of my summer travels. Of course my plans, like most RVers plans, are set in jell-o and subject to change at anytime, without notice. As of now, I am planning on heading to New Mexico this coming Sunday. Besides new Mexico the route will be taking me to Colorado, Wyoming, back down to Colorado, over to Utah and down into Arizona as I head back to the Phoenix area around October 8Th.

Microsoft Streets and Trips tells me my route is 2800 miles and would take 6 days, 1 hour and 33 minutes to drive, but I'm going to take my time and spend 124 days (or 4 months) doing the loop. Beside the 2800 miles driving my truck and pulling the trailer, I will probably put about 2,000 miles on the Harley also.

Memorial Day

2010-06-01T06:44:00.001-07:00

On Memorial Day I joined about 200 motorcycle riders for Riders USA's 4Th annual gathering at the Phoenix National Cemetery to welcome and thank all the Veterans, family members and friends on their way to the annual Memorial Day Ceremony. I arrived at 6:30 AM and Riders USA members already had dozens of flags flying and there were already dozens of bikes lined up along Cave Creek Road.

World famous photographer George Childress...

Worldwide Motorcycle Awareness Day

2010-05-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 23, 2010 was Worldwide Motorcycle Awareness Day. Rides were organized all around the world to remind drivers that motorcycles are amongst us, so please be aware and stay alert.

I participated in the Phoenix, Arizona ride where approximately 350 bikes and riders met at Toby Keith's I LOVE THIS BAR AND GRILL in Mesa, AZ then departed for a 120 mile ride on the freeways of the Phoenix area. I was hoping Toby would be riding with us, but he was a no-show. = (

This is a stature at the Bass Pro Shop near Toby's place.

Lots of beautiful bikes...

Florescent colored T-Shirts were sold, and worn by many of the riders.

This ride was much more colorful than than most, where most riders are usually dressed all in black.

A few local news crews came out and interviewed Paul, whose wife was killed in the horrible crash two months ago where four riders were killed, and John, who is the founder of the local Meetup riding group PMRG (Phoenix Motorcycle Riders Group).

The ride ended at Greaswood Flats, a popular restaurant out in the Cave Creek area. I rode to Greasewood with the group, but I didn't stay.

Here are some links to a media report and picutres and slideshows:

http://www.meetup.com/Phoenix-M-C-Kruzers/messages/boards/thread/9159268/

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2010/05/23/20100523mesa-motorcyclists-awareness-accident.html

Border Operation

2010-05-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

From Concerned Citizens.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and the other race baiting, ethnocentric anarchists want the sheeple of America to believe the border is under "operational control". Nothing could be further from the truth and a group of "Concerned Citizens" are ready to deploy, to video tape and educate Americans about the real threat to National Security and our public safety.

"Concerned Citizens" want a full blown showing of people who can come out and enjoy our federal lands. This will be people coming together to help AZ Governor Jan Brewer and the people of Arizona to bring attention to the need for National Guard on our southern border.

In support of Jan Brewer signing SB1070 let's help educate.......It’s time to bring back the" Minuteman Type Lines"

There are 30 miles of area in a straight line that we need to cover. Which make it perfect for a "Line"

What action? I propose doing what we do best..... DETERRENCE BY PRESENCE
When: Kick off ASAP for 2-3 weeks
Where: Interstate 8, 45 miles south of downtown Phoenix
Details: Multiple base camps at major choke points.
Comms: cell phones & FRS
Supplies: Gila Bend or Casa Grande
Participation: concerned citizens
Organization: concerned citizens
Responsible Party: yourself
Facilities: none (desert camping - BLM land- no permit required)
Weather: Hi- 90, Lo-50
SOP: detect, report & observe

"Concerned Citizens" continue to do the job the Federal Government won't do by securing the border south of Phoenix along Interstate 8. Let's show them how it COULD be done if Congress put Troops on the border.

How do we do that? Detect report & observe. Eyes and ears. Local law enforcement in the area "gets it". This area is extremely active. No apprehensions, citizen’s arrests or high speed chases on I-8 (nothing wrong with "leaving the light on" for them at night).

The area south of Interstate 8 between Gila Bend (Junction 85 & I-8) and Casa Grande (Junction I-8 & I-10) is a major smuggling corridor.....drugs, IAs, weapons..... We’ve seen it all. This is approximately a 60 mile stretch, but not all that distance is active with smuggling. The traffic comes up through the Tohono D' O'dham Reservation day and night.

The fact that load vehicles use I-8 to enter this area, pick up their loads and leave the area makes them vulnerable to detection. Load areas on I-8 are typically one of the following: dirt roads, major washes and/or mile markers. Mile markers are used a "waypoints" by the load vehicles, so this also makes them vulnerable to detection.

Bottom line, if we had enough dedicated individuals "camped out" on the entire known active load up points on I-8, we could effectively shut this area down. A lot of recon has been completed in this area so we know this is doable.... just a matter of enough dedicated individuals.

This IS a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and is potentially very dangerous so participating individuals who need to be prepared to defend themselves.

This is just one person's idea of something to do to make a difference and make a statement. Pass this around and see what interest there is in doing something like this

A Concerned Citizen
Email contact only sbi2010@live.com

Home Sweet fixed-up Home

2010-03-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

I had a big crack in the tile in my shower. I called in a consultant and decided to take his advise. I cleaned out all the old grout and caulking.....

then apply new Silicon caulking in the crack. It looks pretty good, but time will tell if that's all it really needed.

The Saga of the Radio ends here. The trash collectors came today and the old radio was taken to the happy radio hunting ground in the landfill.

Annie kept sneaking into the laundry room and eating the cardboard I had laid down on the laundry room floor to cover the sticky, black, glue stuff. So, I got out the smelly, caustic, adhesive remover and removed the old black mastic that held down the old linoleum in the laundry room. The remover stuff turned the black mastic into a gooey, back, tar like gunk. It was disgusting!! I wanted to give up and say FORGET IT!! But I pushed on until all the remover was gone. I used one and a half roles of paper towels!!

Then I placed the new flooring down, where it will eventually be glued down. It's starting to look pretty good. But I still have old black, mastic to remove under the washer and dryer and two storage cabinets. UGH!!!

Grapefruit, anyone?

2010-03-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

After being gone for 5 weeks, I returned home and decided it was time to get busy picking some grapefruit. First, I removed all the ones I could reach from the ground. Then I used my 8' picker-on-a-pole for the ones I could reach that way. But inside the tree there are so many dead branches that get in the way. So, then I climbed up on a ladder to remove some of the dead branches. That didn't work too well. Then I climbed up on the ladder and used the pole picker and removed the high up grapefruits on the outside of the tree. And for my last trick, I climbed up inside the tree on the branches, just like when we were kids. It's a pretty good climbing tree, but there's still lots of fruit way up high, inaccessible mainly because of the old dead branches inside.

After picking all that fruit, what do you do with it? I put a few bags full out by the curb hoping someone would help themselves and take them away. They didn't. I bagged up about 20 more bags full, some for me to juice later, and some small yucky ones to be thrown away on trash day. The rest will be loaded up into my truck and taken to one of the Sun City collection sites where they will be donated to a Food Bank.

I could just hire someone to come pick all the fruit and haul it all away for a rather nominal fee. I'll probably consider that next year. But in the meantime, I'll look for a tree trimmer to come prune out all the old dead branches.

"After America , There is No Place to Go"

2010-03-07T12:07:00.000-08:00

"After America , There is No Place to Go"
The author of this article lives in South Dakota and appears to be very active in attempting to maintain our freedom. I encourage everybody to read this article and pass it along. I see so many parallels in this country–are we going to sit by and watch it happen? Spread the word; also contact your congressional reps; vote them out if they don’t do what they should. If you don’t want to be bothered, then you’re part of the problem! Google Kitty Werthmann and you will see articles and videos.

Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
By: Kitty Werthmann
What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.

I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote.. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.
Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.
The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.
We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.
After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:

Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education.
Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very unhappy.. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:

In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.
Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:

When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children.. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:

Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna . After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.

As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.
We had consumer protection.. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
"Mercy Killing" Redefined:

In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration.. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria . Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.
After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.
"It's true..those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
"After America , There is No Place to Go"
Please forward this message to other voters who may not have it

I DID IT!!!

2010-03-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

Here's the picture again of the STABBED RADIO.

When stabbing didn't work any longer, I started using a clock radio, which I had to plug into the inverter, and hang from the mini blinds for it to work.

I finally found and received a new RV radio. Here's the hole after the old radio was removed and before the new one was installed.

Here's the new radio. It was surprisingly easy to install. There were two things to disconnect from the old one and reconnect to the new one. The hard part was finding the TUNER UP AND TUNER DOWN buttons. They are down towards the bottom with the CD player buttons.

I tune the radio to 88.1 FM and turn on my Sirius Radio Receiver and Sirius plays through the regular radio. Sometimes 88.1 doesn't come in really clear. Or maybe I have an antenna problem. = )

EBay and the Radio

2010-02-24T13:47:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I participated in my first EBay auction. I found new radios, like my old, stabbed one, being auctioned on EBay. After much drama my bet was NOT the highest. I did a little more searching and found the exact same radio available to purchase, not bid on, and so I purchased one for $10.00 less than my highest bid on the auction one. = ) Someone bought a bunch of these radios from an RV manufacturer that went out of business and is auctioning and selling them on EBay. I'm tracking my purchase. Yesterday afternoon my radio left Indiana!! I'm so anxious to get the new radio installed. I should be able to do it myself. Whatever I disconnect from the old one I'll connect to the new one and, PRESTO!! The new one will work!! I hope!!

Check back soon for the next chapter in the Saga of the Stabbed Radio.

"Stabbed With a Letter Opener" & "Up On The Roof"

2010-02-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

The only way I seem to be able to keep my trailer radio playing is to stab the on/off button with the letter opener. That keeps the button pushed in, making contact with whatever it makes contact with. I am on the hunt for a new radio. And an installer. = )

I was up on the roof the other day adding a little caulking here and there. I noticed that the radio antenna (no relation to the on/off button problem inside the trailer) didn't seem secure. When I wiggled the antenna the whole glob of dirty caulking wiggled the rubber roof around it, lifting it up.

I decided a little surgery was in order.
I assembled my tools, removed all the old, dirty caulking around the antenna and inspected the three little screws holding the base of the antenna in place. Or rather, the three little screws that were supposed to be holding the antenna in place. Two of the three screws seemed to be stripped out.

So, I searched draws and tool boxes and found two larger, hex head screws. I tightened up the one remaining little screw and installed the two new larger screws. It seemed to be holding pretty well so ....

I used some leftover caulking with my newly purchased caulking gun, and caulked the heck out of it!! It's supposed to be self-leveling, so I'm hoping when it's done self-leveling the new glob of caulking will be a nice flat glob just like the old flat glob of caulking. Only the new glob will be clean and white, at least for a day or two I suppose.

With my antenna project completed I decided to look around a little at my view from the roof.
I'm parked at a neat, not so little, FREE county campground.
Oh look, there's Marlene's motorhome..

That's the view behind me, to the west.

Looking over the front of my trailer, there's Nelda's motorhome. I pulled in behind her, hoping she wouldn't mind sharing her spot with me. Actually, she was glad to have me there to keep an eye on her house while she was away visiting a friend for a few days.

And those long, flat, white things way off in the distance are cattle feed lots. The unpleasant odors haven't wafted to the campground, but when you drive by, on a motorcycle, you know where you are!!!

Woo Doggies!! The Cactus Cairn Round-Up

2010-02-06T17:16:00.000-08:00

Woo Doggies!! Annie, Murphy and I attended The Cactus Cairn Round-Up in Cave Creek, AZ on Saturday Feb. 6Th. at the beautiful home of Allan and Florence.

Here's the views from their back patio.

There were probably 20 or so pooches - mostly Cairns who were one way or another connected to the wonderful Colonel Potter Cairn Rescue Network. Also in attendance was my Westie, Murphy, 3 Schnauzers and one Australian Terrier.

There was a lot of sniffing and frolicking going on!!!

RUN GEORGE RUN!!!

Tony was very popular with most of the dogues, especially my little Annie who wanted Tony's water bottle.

He wasn't handing it over so Annie thought she could just jump up and take it.

She almost made it!!

When lunch time came for the humans, the canines happily retreated (hahahaha!!) to exercise pens and crates for some quiet time (hahahaha!)

Murphy and Annie are there on the left. Annie spent most of the time trying to figure out how to escape.

After lunch there was lots more sniffing and frolicking.

This is George, the youngest at only 8 months old.

Murphy is wondering where the rest of the Westies are hanging out. He says there's just too many of those crazy corn dogs, er, Cairn dogs!!

Starry Night and Annie are sharing secrets.

Karen and Tony, Annie's Foster Mom and Dad, give a grooming demonstration on their little adoptee Bree. The proper way to groom Cairns is by "hand stripping" their coat. I bought two little hand stripping tools, called McClellans. Annie loves it (hahahaha!!).

After the grooming demo it was time for the costume parade.

Here's Molly (I think) sporting a cool Valentine Day dress.

A few friends are checking out Annie's stylish dress.

Here's Andy looking very dapper and tropical. ALOHA!!!

Here's McDuffy looking like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

There's a glimpse of Bree the Mermaid on the right, and Starry Night the Scottish lass on the left.

Annie in her very stylish "Born With Style" dress. It was Christmas gift from her niece, Torey.

Starry Night in her Scottish Kilt outfit, complete with a bagpipe and tam. There's Bree's Mermaid tail again.

After the costume parade, it was time for the wienie dunk contest.

McDuffy is going to demonstrate how it's done. But first he wonders why he has to work so hard for wienies when it would be so much easier to just get them out of the bag.

I think this is Andy

This is Bree.

Murphy didn't quite get the hang of putting his nose under water.

Annie tied for first place with Andy. Notice the air bubbles coming out of Annie's nose. She didn't let a little water get in the way of eating her wienies.

The wienie dunk sure got everyone's attention.

Shortly after the wienie dunk the party came to an end. Everyone left with great memories and hopes of meeting up again next year for another great time of sniffing and frolicking with old, and new friends. WOOF!!

PS I apologize for any misnamed or mistaken gender reporting.

Toilet Paper Mystery

2010-01-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure what was going on here...

I followed the trail into the hall...

Around the corner...

Into the livingroom....

AH HA!! Caught red-pawed

"Murphy did it, Mom!!!"

Through the Panama Canal

2010-01-18T13:07:00.001-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal
The Panama Canal is a 77 km (48 mi) ship canal that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific ocean and a key conduit for international maritime trade. Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in the canal's early days to 14,702 vessels in 2008, displacing a total 309.6 million Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tons.
One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the canal had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 9,500 km (6,000 miles), well under half the 22,500 km (14,000 miles) route around Cape Horn.[1]
The concept of a canal near Panama dates to the early 16th century. The first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership, but was abandoned after 21,900 workers died, largely from disease (particularly malaria and yellow fever) and landslides. The United States launched a second effort, incurring a further 5,600 deaths but succeeding in opening the canal in 1914.
While the Pacific Ocean is west of the isthmus and the Atlantic to the east, the 8- to 10-hour journey through the canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic is one from southeast to northwest. This is a result of the isthmus's "curving back on itself" in the region of the canal. The Bridge of the Americas at the Pacific end is about a third of a degree of longitude east of the end near Colon on the Atlantic.[2]
The maximum size of vessel that can use the canal is known as Panamax; an increasing number of modern ships exceed this limit, and are known as post-Panamax or super-Panamax

Many people were on deck before sunrise to watch as our ship approached the first lock of the Panama Canal. This first set of photos are all about getting through the first set of locks, the Gatun Locks.

These machines are called Mules and guide the ship through the narrow lock so the ship doesn't smash up against the side.

We were served famous Panama Rolls and coffee on deck...

The Panama Canal Cruise Day 6

2010-01-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

Day 6 we were at sea and we spent the day enjoying the activities available on board the Oosterdam. The list of things to do was extensive including learning the art of creating animals out of bread dough, learning how to make towel animals like the ones left on our beds each evening, listening to music, dancing, a Broadway Sing-Along, afternoon tea and cupcakes, learning about the construction and operation of the Panama Canal, watching a movie, enjoying an hour of comedian Bob Brizendine and of course non stop eating in the dining rooms and cafeteria.

Here's our view out the window next to our dining table....

Here's some of the dishes we enjoyed at dinner....

And here's my towel animal......

The Paneling Is Gone!!!

2010-01-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

I've spent almost a year deciding if I wanted to remove the ugly paneling from the wall in my bedroom. I originally painted it to match the rest of the walls, but yesterday I decided it has to come down.

One panel gone...

Two panels gone......

The third and last panel is gone. Notice the 45 years of dirt on the wall. I scraped the glue and I'm hoping the paint will cover the residue left behind.

Then I removed the old baseboards and will replace them with 3 1/2" baseboards to match the news one in the living room, dining room, kitchen, hall and bathroom.

I put the bedroom back in order. After a good nights sleep, tomorrow I paint!!!

Around the House

2010-01-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

The first grapefruit from my huge tree.

My huge tree with an abundance of fruit.

My tree up close and personal.

My large mission style coffee table and end tables weren't working well for me so I sold them and then set out to find new ones, on Craig's List. I first found the new coffee table not too far away in Sun City West. There weren't any end tables to match, so I continued the search to complete the set.

I had to travel 60 miles one way, to Mesa, to purchase the end tables, but the price was great and they go really well with the coffee table. And with the new, plush carpet my living room is just about complete. I still plan to replace the large front window with a new double-pane window and add new horizontal blinds.

Saturday Rides

2010-01-03T06:29:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, December 26, 2009 I joined the riding group PMRG for an icy cold ride, from Fountain Hills, on a large loop which included Roosevelt Dam.

The ride started out on a scary note as one rider missed the turn into our meeting point, locked up his breaks trying to make the turn, went down and skidded to a stop. The emergency response people responded and took the rider to the hospital to be checked out. The rider and his bike looked better than expected, but there was probably more damage to both than met the eye.

The ride departure was delayed a bit, but eventually we arrived at our intended destination.........

..............Roosevelt Dam.

There's a nice walkway out to the Dam Viewing Site.

All bundled up to continue our ride.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday January 2, 2010's ride took us on a much warmer ride to the intersection of Enterprise Rd. and Old US 80.....

....the site of an old steel bridge over the Gila River.

But the highlight of the ride was a stop at the Space Age Lodge and Restaurant in Gila Bend, AZ. I had the Chicken Burger which included a trip to the wonderful Salad Bar. = )

Day 5 Oranjestad, Aruba

2009-12-28T05:27:00.001-08:00

We safely docked in Oranjestad, Aruba at 7:15 AM on our 5th day, Nov. 6, 2009. The weather was warm, around 86 degrees.

Aruba (pronounced /əˈruːbə/) is a 33-kilometre (21 mi)-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, 27 kilometres (17 mi) north of the Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón State, Venezuela. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles.

An autonomous region within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba has no administrative subdivisions. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather. It has a land area of 193 square kilometres (75 sq mi) and lies outside the hurricane belt.

We could have stayed onboard and enjoyed the ship activities such as Low Impact Aerobics, Pilates, Photo Editing in the Digital Workshop, Ping Pong Tournement, Cribbage, Basketball, Charades, Wii Bowling, the Team Trivia Challenge, Napkin Origami, and Bingo, but instead we ventured onshore to see the sights of Aruba. There didn't seem to be a "Search for Natalie Holloway" tour, so we boarded a tour bus and had an enjoyable day seeing the tourist attractions of Aruba.

This was the view from the ship when we docked in Aruba.

This made me feel right at home.

Aruban stores seem to decorate for Christmas even earlier than American stores.

"One Happy Island" for most people.

I knew I gained a few pounds on the cruise, but............

This is the bus tour we were going to take but the driver didn't get enough tourists to make it worthwhile so he found us a smaller bus and guide.

Here's our guide giving us his spiel. I don't remember his name and I didn't get a picture of his bus.

This is one of the usual tourist attractions on the island. It is an odd outcropping of rock. Geoligists seem to be baffled as to why it exists there.

Here's a view from the top of the rock. You can see our ship way off in the distance.

This yellow Caribbean house made me realize my house isn't too yellow after all.

Here's a picure, way off in the distance, of another tourist attraction..... The Lighthouse.

This scene reminds me of the California coast.

And here's the Light House up close.

A typical look on this Dutch Island

I got a quick glimpse of the Aruba Harley Shop.

Later, we dressed "Smart Casual" for dinner.

This was some sort of raw appetizer.

I ordered the Escarcot. A few of the little critters are trying to crawl away.

For my main course I ordered Salmon, which I did often.

My dessert was a "No Sugar Added" Chocolate Mousse.

Every evening our room attendants left a towel animal. I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING!!!!!! But I think this was supposed to be a sea snail.

My spell check isn't working, so I apologize for all my misspelled words.

More Home Improvement Projects

2009-12-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

I've been busy sprucing up my little house. I removed some of the carpet and hired Mike and Bill to lay some "wood" flooring in the entry, dining room, kitchen, hall and bathroom. It's actually vinyl which is quieter and more cushy than real wood and a lot less expensive. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Then Mike and Bill replaced the old 2 1/4" baseboard with new 3 1/4" baseboard. I really like the way that turned out! New living room carpet will be installed soon.

My next big project will be new paint on the kitchen cabinets and walls, new counter tops, new sink and new appliances. That will be next fall. OOOOH, and maybe some crown moulding and some chair railing. And a new living room window and blinds.

The battery on my Harley was almost 4 years old and not behaving very well, so I bought a new one and installed it myself. I removed the sissy bar/passenger backrest and the seat. It turns out I didn't need to remove either to get to the battery. Everything went back where it belonged and my bike fired right up. = ) NOW I'M READY TO ride!!!

Day Four

2009-12-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

Day Four was spent at sea cruising from Grand Turk toward Orangjestad, Aruba.

Looks like a storm is brewing up ahead.

Ready for a "Smart Casual" dinner.

Cory's Graduation Day

2009-12-13T16:06:00.000-08:00

A four hour drive brought me, my mom, sister and brother-in-law to Brawley, CA. We arrived in time to check into our motel, The Brawley Inn, and then drive 15 miles to my daughter's graduation ceremony from the nursing program at Imperial Valley College. Most of my pictures came out blurry for some reason, but here's a few that came out OK......

Each graduate wrote an inspirational statement of thanks. Here's Cory's.

Here's the Happy Graduate

My granddaughters Torey and Natalie, who are very proud of their mom.

Three generations.

Natalie, Cory and Torey.

Cory's Grandma gets a hug after the pinning of "The Pin."

Cory and some of her friends.

Cory and her friend Ariceli who is an RN and who encouraged her to sign up and get her degree.

Cory, her daughters and her Man, Danl.

Hmmmm, does Danl have thoughts of becoming an RN?

Day Three

2009-12-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

After sailing all night our third day brought us to Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos in the Bahamas. We safely docked in Grand Turk at approximately 11:00 AM on Nov. 4, 2009

The small commonwealth of Turks and Caicos, a British Crown Colony, includes eight main islands and about 40 small low-lying cays. The beach paradise has been blessed with crystal clear turquoise waters and smooth powder white beaches. Seven miles long and 1.5 miles wide, Grand Turk has served as the government seat for the colony and the British Governor since 1766.

Grand Turk has a sparkling new Cruise Ship Complex to welcome shipboard visitors. We opted to take a private taxi to a small village area about 5 miles from the Cruise Ship Terminal. There were lots of colorful buildings and people,

Whether Christopher Columbus or Ponce de Leon was the first European to sight the islands is the subject of continued dispute (Columbus did land in the islands, but the exact site is uncertain). Columbus landed on Grand Turk on Oct 12, 1492.

Here's a view of one of the beautiful beaches from the ship.

I was told that the name Turk came from the Turk's Head Cactus which used to be abundant on the islands.

Boy, I sure am little!!

There's Brother-in-law Phil and Sister Sue.

This guy told me his name is Dan.

The beautiful, empty beach at Margaritaville, right at the Cruise Ship Terminal area.

Here's some of the small, colorful shops we visited. In Sept. 2008 Grand Turk was hit by two hurricanes, Ike and Gustav, just 10 days apart. 80-90% of the houses on the island were damaged. Much of it still hasn't been repaird.

I liked the name of this street.

I don't remember exactly what this building with the American, and many other flags flying was, but some sort of government building.

Heading back to the Oosterdam........

for lunch..... what a big burger!!

I didn't get a picture of Phil with his mouth open, but he really did get it.

The ship set sail at 6:00 PM and started it's voyage towards Oranjestad, Aruba.
Later that evening we went to the Screening Room and saw the movie ""The Taking of Pelham 123." It starred John Tavolta as the bad guy. It was very suspenseful!!

Sarah Palin

2009-12-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

Sarah Palin

On Tuesday Dec. 2, 2009 after the "Geek at the Door" took my sick computer to the shop for virus cleanup I hopped on my motorcycle and rode 32 miles to the Costco in Chandler, AZ. There are Costcos that are closer to me but the Costco in Chandler was hosting a book signing event featuring Sarah Palin and her new book, "Going Rogue." The store opened at 11:00AM and that's when the signing was to begin, and would go until 2 PM. I arrived around 10: 15. The line was very long. I was informed that there was approximately 1100 people in front of me and that Sarah would be signing about 800 books. So, the odds weren't very good that I would actually get to meet her and get a book signed. But I'm not a quitter and I decided to hang in there and stick it out til the bitter end!!! Around 1:00 the remaining crowd was informed that 247 more people would be allowed to go in. Looking at the line in front of me I thought I just might make it. Well, when the line stopped I was about 10 back from the front. I missed it by 10 people. But, the remaining crowd hung in there hoping for another chance at being admitted. A little while later a woman came to inform us that no more people would be admitted but she had 500 stickers with Sarah Palin's signature on them. The people in front of me, and then me, got a sticker. Most of the remaining disappointed people dispersed in various directions, but I decided to walk down the sidewalk toward the coveted side door that all the lucky people were granted access to and see if I could go into the store that way for some shopping or maybe an opportunity for another picture of Sarah. I got to the door, waved my signed sticker and asked if I could come in. Apparently the people at the door didn't know the people handing out the signed stickers were telling the remaining hopefuls that there was no hope for them. But I was asked to show my Costco card, then I was given a book signer number (mine was #986)and then I was allowed to find my way to the end of the line of people inside the store waiting to meet Sarah Palin. I was in!! The two ladies I'd spent the last 4 hours in line with had headed to the store's front door so they could do some shopping, and there I was, in line, a few minutes away from meeting Sarah Palin. About a dozen more people came in behind me. I felt we should maintain a low profile and not draw attention to ourselves. I just knew any minute someone would come along and demand that the people who were in line and had gotten the signed stickers had to leave. But that didn't happen. Before long I was next in line to meet Sarah Palin. My purse, jacket and book had temporarily been taken from me, and then, there I was, in front of the 2008 Republican Vice-Presidential candidate. Without missing a beat she signed a book, then took a moment to relax her arms and look me in the eyes and ask, "What's your name?" I told her, and then she extended her left hand to me (as she signed another book with her right) which I shook with my right, and then emotional tears of joy and respect welled up in my eyes. She looked quite surprised and then I just walked away. Her hand felt small, soft and warm. Mine was cold and sweaty. I was too over whelmed, I guess. I had all these great things planned to say to her, but they all just evaporated. I think I was as excited at having actually gotten in as I was to have actually met her. Her parents were there and I did stop to shake her dad's hand and ask him where his wife Sally was. Her dad told me she was changing the baby's diaper. I told him my name was Sally, also. He said he'd be able to remember my name. Afterwards, I thought of more things to say to him, like how proud he must be of his daughter. But I just gathered up my stuff and floated to the check out to pay for my book.

To make the hours in line go a bit faster, my new friends and I took turns saving places and going into the store. I went in to get a replacement Costco card. I lost it and several other important cards a few months ago. While inside I also did a little grazing and than I joined the many others who were trying to take a picture of Sarah. The store didn't make it very easy to get close enough to get a good picture, but I did manage to get a few. But later that evening while deleting all the bad, blurry ones, I mistakenly deleted all the good ones too. That made me feel a bit ill for awhile because I was really looking forward to posting them on my BLOG. But then I took a picture of the book cover and of Sarah's signature, and I had a glass of wine and then I found myself feeling a little better. = )

I started reading her book. I find it impossible not to respect and admire her. I hope I get the opportunity again to vote for her someday.

Day Two on the MS Oosterdam

2009-11-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

Day One we cruised all night and at 8:00 AM we anchored in Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. We were tendered from the ship to the shore where we were treated to a beautiful private beach, warm Caribbean waters and a tasty BBQ lunch.

Goofy smile.

That's a little better

At 4:00 PM we heaved up our anchor and depart Half Moon Cay and set a South Easterly course for the Crooked Island Passage.

We opted for Open Seating Dining, which was on Deck 2 and started seating at 5:15. We were often the first in line and always got a table by a window. And sometimes the four of us, me, mom, sister Sue and brother-in-law Phil were seated at a table for 6 and enjoyed the company and opportunity to meet other guests.

Day 2 evening was a "Formal Dress" dinner. Here's one of my bargain outfits from Shar's in Sun City, AZ

Me and Mom ready for dinner.

Shrimp cocktail appetizer.

No (real) sugar added cheese cake. Sometimes I got so excited about my meal I forgot to take a picture. I don't remember what my main course was.

This beautiful Globe could be seen from the 1-3 decks, surrounded by a spiral staircase.

Every evening the Oosterdam presented a stage show, at 7 and 9. The first and second night we were treated to The Singers and Dancers of the Oosterdam. They were all fabulous!! We also had the option, every evening, of visiting and enjoying entertainment of various types in 6 or so of the ships Lounges. Some evenings we went to see a movie, and some evenings we did laps around Deck 3. Three laps equalled one mile. Some evenings we hung out around the pool or lounged on the loungers on Deck 3.

No more floor tile!!!!

2009-11-24T18:47:00.000-08:00

While contemplating my next Cruise entry, I spent a few days pulling up the ceramic floor tile in my kitchen. The tile came up pretty easily, but the cement left behind was anything but easy. Or clean. It was very dusty!!

Right in the center of the kitchen I found remnants of some old linoleum. And some other unidentified stuff.

Lots of cement under the fridge.

My cute wheel barrow sure came in handy for this project.
I'm only allowed to fill up the dumpster 1/3 full with really heavy stuff. I don't think I'll go over the line.

The last remains of the ugly fountain in the backyard are going in the dumpster too.

Annie felt very ignored all day while I worked hard. She had no one to play fetch with.

It was so much fun tearing up the kitchen tile I finally made the decision to tear up the bathroom tile, too. And I'm also having scary thoughts of tearing up the green kitchen counter tile. But that's another day. Or year.

Day One on the MS Oosterdam

2009-11-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

The MS Oosterdam is one of many in the Holland America Fleet. The Oosterdam is 935 feet long, 106 feet wide and weighs 82,000 tons. She accommodates 1875 guests and 794crew and staff. She travels at 23 knots. On our trip we traveled 4900 nautical miles. One nautical mile equals 1.15 statue miles equals 1.852 kilometers.

Getting ready to get into the van and head to the Cruise ship terminal.

A view of Ft. Lauderdale from the ship.

The cruise ship dock.

Deck lounges on Deck 10

The Aft Pool on Deck 9

The Mid Ship Pool on Deck 9 with a retactable roof.

My Spinach Salad

My Salmon dinner

An attractive dessert

My yummy dessert

Phoenix to Ft. Lauderdale

2009-11-02T05:59:00.000-08:00

I'm hurrying to post these while waiting for a ride to the ship...

Annie is trying to stowaway with the Rum bottle.

Outside the plane

I hope my luggage gets loaded!!

Inside the plane

The luggage truck driver took the corner too fast and lost a few items. At least he went back to retrieve them!!

Over New Orleans

Ft. Lauderdale

Coming into Ft. Lauderdale

Sunday in Ft. Lauderdale

Hotel Swimming pool

Bon Voyage, almost

2009-10-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

I had a busy week getting ready for my three week cruise. I had to go through an unexpected root canal last Monday. I'm going on the cruise with a temporary crown. They are usually expected to last two weeks. This one needs to last three weeks.

I am now at the Houston Airport, after a smooth flight from Phoenix. I'm waiting for my connecting flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Another hour and I'll be up at 40,000 feet again.

I'll be in Ft. Lauderdale until Monday, so I hope to log on again before I ship out. Once out on the ship I'm not sure when or if I'll be back on line until I return back to Arizona on Nov. 21st.

Happy Halloween and don't forget to turn your clocks BACK tonight, if your state participates in Day Light Savings.

Keeping busy!!

2009-10-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have a totally functioning camera right now (Diana, the big view screen on the Minolta isn't working, so the only way to see pictures is to load them into the computer) I have no pictures to share. I was going to take pictures of all my new cruise wear outfits, but that's on hold. Hopefully I'll have time to do that after my new camera arrives early this coming week.
So, all I've been doing is shopping, mostly at local thrift shops, for my cruise wear outfits and shoes, fretting over and hopefully successfully fixing my leaky sprinkler line, going to dentist and doctor appointments, doggie groomer appointments, getting a hair trim and a manicure, washing, ironing and organizing my suitcases, going on a motorcycle ride now and then, taking a friend to the airport, and counting down the days until I join 1800 of my closest friends on Holland America's Oosterdam cruise ship. 6 days!! = )

Home Sweet Home

2009-10-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a sample of what I've been doing since I returned home to my cute little house in Sun City......

There used to be another big bushy bush here....

...here's the bush waiting for the trash truck to haul it away, along with bags of leaves I raked up in the backyard.

This tree used be hanging over the sidewalk, but I trimmed it..

.......here's the trimmings waiting for the trash truck to haul it away.

Here's the cute dual wheel wheel barrow I bought at Lowe's, put together and used to haul all the cuttings and bags from the back and side yard to the curb.

Here's my next project - a leaky sprinkler line. There isn't much room between the elbow and a coupling, so it's taking lots of contemplating before I start hacking off the leaky middle section of pipe.

Down at the Bullfrog Docks

2009-10-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

On my lst day of pet sitting I went down to the marina to watch the houseboaters coming in to the dock.

Here's a picture of the Happy Boat heading in to the dock.

Diana, Molly's Mom, is sitting on the forward deck anxiously waiting for a Pet Report.

The big fish entertained me while waiting for the houseboats.

The kayaks were stored on the upper deck and to remove them, they were lowered down, very carefully.

The Canine and Feline line-up

2009-10-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is Little Miss Molly, a West Highland White Terrier. She's quite the lady at 15 years old. I've known her since she was 4 or 5. She's aged a bit, but her mom sure hasn't!!

Sweet Shadow. I'm not sure what breed Shadow is. She still gets so excited and amazed that I know her name.

This is Mellow Yellow. I'm not sure if Yellow is a girl or boy, but Yellow started talking to me Friday morning. I'm not sure what it all means.

One dark evening I entered her motor home and I couldn't find Mitzi, the Shih Tzu, anywhere. I looked under and behind every chair, nook and cranny. I called her and rattled her favorite treat package, but to no avail. I was beginning to think I left her in the wrong motor home. But I finally found her in her crate. She opens and closes the crate door all by herself.

This is Koda, a Springer Spaniel. He's a good boy and the only one I let off the leash during walks. He doesn't stand still long enough for me to get a good picture. He loves his Milk Bones!!

This is Mr. Hobbs, a Boston Terrier. He doesn't like to pose for pictures. He likes going for walks though, and wonders why he's the only one parked in the campground while everyone else is in the parking lot. (His motor home won't start and can't be moved)

Pepper the Doodle (Dachshund and Poodle mix), is very shy with other people when his mommy, Dottie, is around, but just like Dottie told me, when she isn't around, I am now Pepper's new best friend. Pepper is a little shy when I first enter his motor home, but as soon as he gets outside on the leash, he's so happy and, well, Peppy!!! Yep, Peppy Pepper the Puppy!! Say that really fast three times !

Peaches lurks by the front door with the hopes of making a Great Escape.

I captured a rare sighting of Moxxie, aka The Mexican Woman. She's usually hiding somewhere in the bedroom, but the last few times I entered, there she was, on the floor by the driver's seat.

Star, a Deer Chihuahua, was one of the best posers. I guess she really likes having her picture taken. She's still wondering what I did with her daddy, Austin.

Pebble is a PBGV, Petit Basset Griffon Vendeena. She loves getting out of the motor home for walks and I try to walk her with other dogs, mainly to tire her out so she won't be so sad when she has to go back into her home. She doesn't seem to like being left along and gets a bit vocal for awhile about her displeasure with the situation. But she's a sweetie!!

After a hard day walking and feeding 8 dogs, and feeding and scooping for 3 cats, IT'S MOOSE DROOL TIME with my favorite guy, Dan.
What time is it?

Bullfrogs, dogs and cats

2009-10-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

I arrived at Bullfrog Marina on Lake Powell about 4 days early for my Pet Sitting job. I was interviewed and was selected to take care of 8 dogs and 3 cats while 36 RV friends spend a week on 3 houseboats. That's 12 people on each boat. I like my arrangement better - me and 11 furry friends.
We had 4 days of very sunny, calm and HOT weather. Everyone was a bit concerned about which windows, shades and vents to leave opened or closed, and if fans should be left on or off in their RVs for their pets. Well, on the 4Th day the wind came up and blew for over a day. The Houseboaters where supposed to set sail on Wednesday after being briefed on the houseboat and the powerboat, but no one was allowed to leave the marina due to the high winds and rough seas (or lake in this case). So, their departure was delayed until Thursday morning. The winds also brought the end of summer. Thursday the early morning temperature was 26 degrees cooler than the morning before. BRRRRRRRR!!

I'm not sure this is actually one of their houseboats, but they would have looked like this anyway. I later saw 3 houseboats cruise by pretty close together and figured that was probably really them, but I didn't get a picture.

Speaking of pictures, I lost my camera almost a week ago, but my friend Diana lent me a camera to use. When I remember to remove the lens cap I'm able to take OK pictures. If they aren't good, it's not the camera's fault!
The delay in the Houseboaters departure gave me an extra day to become familiar with most of the pets and figure out my routine. Walking 8 dogs after dark, and walking and feeding 8 dogs and feeding 3 cats in the morning takes a bit of organization. I'm trying to figure out which dogs I can walk together so some don't have to wait too long in the morning for that first, very important walk. And now that the weather has cooled, I'll have to rethink some of the windows and vents.
Oh, and the keys. Keeping them all labeled and learning the quirkiness of some of the doors can be challenging. And entering the dark RVs the first night brought a new challenge. I envisioned switching a switch and suddenly finding I activated the slide out. I finally went back to my trailer and got a flashlight.
I hope to take and post pictures of all the temporarily orphaned babies. I just hope I can bring a little love and comfort to them during this trying time. Actually, most seem to be adjusting very well.

GET SIRIUS

2009-09-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

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.

New Mexico State HOG Rally

2009-08-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

From Storrie Lake I drove two hours to Albuquerque and pulled into the Elk's Lodge near the airport. I thought I'd have the whole parking lot to myself as there were no other vehicles in the lot. I had a nice view of the valley below, but it wasn't two minutes later a big motor home pulled in next to me and blocked my view. Oh well, they blocked the hot late afternoon sun.

I went to Albuquerque to attend the New Mexico State HOG Rally. HOG stands for Harley Owners Group. This was my 9Th HOG Rally in 9 different states.

Friday I joined the guided ride on scenic Hwy. 14 also known as the Turquoise Trail. We took a side trip up the 13 twisty miles to the Sandia Crest. At 10,640 ft. it was a 4,098 ft. climb from the highway. For an unreasonable price we were treated to a yummy box lunch. If you've ever been in Albuquerque and noticed all the radio towers at the top of the mountain to the east, well, here they are.

Here's the view I enjoyed while I ate my lunch.

OOOOOOH, look at all that chrome!!

The ride then continued on to the tiny town of Madrid, made famous in the movie Wild HOGS. We all gathered on the steps of Maggie's Diner, also made famous in the movie, for a group picture. I didn't get a picture of the group, but here's the Diner.

Here's some links to some info on the very funny movie
http://video.movies.go.com/wildhogs/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/443367/wild_hogs_featurette/

It was a 140 mile ride through some very scenic countryside, with good company and good riders.

Back at the main rally site there was a spot to wash your HOG

Saturday I passed on the poker run, and went on my own ride up to Montano Mountain State Park to check out the camping situation for a possible future adventure.

Saturday night we had an over priced, but very delicious BBQ'd hamburger dinner, with all the timmings. After dinner and awards and prizes a band played. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the Hot Air Balloon Glow was cancelled. = (
This rally didn't make the top of the list, but I had a nice time and met some nice people, as usual.

Storrie Lake State Park

2009-08-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

I left Eagle Nest on Thursday Aug. 13Th and headed down Hwy. 434. There was a 5 mile stretch where the road was so narrow a line painted down the middle is not allowed. That 5 mile stretch was not only narrow, but also very twisty and steep in spots. I had visions of coming around a blind corner and meeting up with a vehicle even wider and longer than me. Well, there were a few scary moments, but I survived!!

I arrived a Storrie Lake State Park, dumped and filled, then tried to find a good camp spot. My first choice sloped too much to the starboard side, so I found another one but the cabana area was so filthy I continued on. I found an empty "Camp Host" spot, with electric, so I asked at the gate and I was told I could park there. So I did. It was very clean, level and a my favorite type, a pull-through!!!

My big activity while at Storrie Lake, which is near Las Vegas, NM was visiting Montezuma Hot Springs.

Montezuma Hot Springs.

A collection of hot springs bubbling out of the side of a hill, feeding a variety of rock and cement tubs. Though the springs were originally used by the historic Montezuma Castle Resort, they are now accessible to the public. Three groupings of hot springs has been diverted into rather rustic cement and rock pools and tubs along the side of the road in the small community of Montezuma. Originally the numerous indoor hot-spring pools were operated by Montezuma Castle and several other resorts. Though most of the bathhouses are gone now, and the hot springs are out in the open - they have been kept rather clean, and bathers tend to be orderly because the owners, the United World College, maintain stringent regulations for using the tubs. Pools and tubs range in size and temperature, and with a little experimenting, you can find the perfect soak.

5 miles north of Las Vegas, a series of public hot springs with curative - supposedly the site of an early 16Th century visit by Aztec leader, Montezuma II, the Montezuma Hot Springs can be just what the doctor ordered after a busy day of 'touristing'. Just across you can find the 77-room old hotel which serves today as the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West. 200 students study from 70 countries for two years - equal to the last year of American high school and the first year of college. Rigorous academics are combined with special wilderness activities and multicultural workshops to make well-rounded, world aware students. Other campuses are in Canada, Singapore, Swaziland and Italy.

I spent 6 days at Storrie Lake, with three visits to the Hot SPrings, before continuing on to Albuquerque for the New Mexico State HOG Rally.

Eagle Nest II

2009-08-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

I spent two and a half weeks at Eagle Nest State Park. It was a lovely place but the high altitude and my sinus/tooth problem kept me feeling a little yucky most of the time. But, on the good days I hopped on my motorcycle and went on some really great rides.

My first ride was about 150 miles and took me first to the town of Cimarron, then back to Eagle Nest and then around the Enchanted Circle. It was definitely enchanting.

Next, Doug Hubbard and I went on a 250 mile ride, first to Chama where we had lunch, then down to Heron Lake, where Doug was heading next with his RV, to check it out. I was definitely in Harley Heaven. This was my favorite type of ride - mountains, pine trees, rivers, lots of gentle S-curves, and a more beautiful vista around every corner and over every hill.

Here's a picture taken on Hwy 64 in the San Juan Mountains, looking west.

Another ride took Doug and me down Hwy 434 so I could check out the road and Storrie Lake, where I was heading next with my RV. It was another great ride, with more beautiful mountain views and terrain. There was a 5 mile section where the road was basically 1 and a half lanes, not the usual two lanes. So, there was no line painted down the center of the road. It was no problem on the motorcycles, but I was planning on pulling my 81/2 foot wide trailer down the road. I was a bit concerned, but my friend Joan pulled her 5th wheel UP the hill, so I finally decided I could pull mine DOWN the hill. On that day we had a big breakfast in the charming town of Angle Fire before the ride.

On my last ride, after breakfast with Doug and Bill Wynn, I left those guys in the dust and headed around the Enchanted Circle again, but this time took the road up to Taos Ski Valley, where I took a few pictures, then headed back to camp the way I came.

Here's a picture of the Taos Ski Valley

Here's a picture of some of the wildlife I spotted in the Eagle Nest State Park

Here's a few more pictures of the lake at Eagle Nest.

I took a field trip to the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial in Angel Fire. It was originally a private venture, but is now a State Park.

http://www.angelfirememorial.com/

"The memorial was originally known as the Vietnam Veterans Peace and Brotherhood Chapel and had its origins in a battle near Con Thien, South Vietnam in which 16 men lost their lives. Among the men, was David Westphall, son of Victor and Jeanne Westphall. Thanks to their vision and determination the memorial exists today to honor not only these 16 Marines but all members of America's Armed Forces."

Here's some pictures I took when I visited the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial Chapel.

My stay at Eagle Nest State Park had to come to an end as I had to continue on my Great Summer of '09 Adventure.

Eagle Nest

2009-08-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind in posting this entry, so this was written two weeks ago. I left Show Low on July 27th and headed to New Mexico to meet up with the WIN RV Club/Escapees Boondockers Sundowner tour of the New Mexico State Parks.

On Tuedsday morning, July 28th I left the Isleta Casino (just south of Albuequeruqe) I headed to Petsmart for some dog food. I took Annie inside with me for her first experience in a store. She didn't like walking on the slippery floor next to the shopping cart so I put her inside the cart, on top of the 30 pound bag of food. She didn't like riding inside the cart any more than walking next to it. She was glad to get out of there!! Then I hit Costco while the dogues stayed in the trailer. When I finished up my grazing and shopping it was around 12:30 and 92 degrees. I started heading north up Highway 25 toward Santa Fe. as huge black clouds loomed up ahead. I was looking forward to a good rain storm. Somewhere in Santa Fe amidst grueling traffic the rain started and the temp dropped 29 degrees, down to 63 degrees. It didn't last long, but did stay around 66 for quite awhile. Then before I knew it, it was back up to 90 or so. And somewhere between Santa Fe and Taos my digital temperature and fuel mileage readout stopped working. I'm sure going to miss it. =( I was going to stop for the night somewhere before hitting the long, steep, winding road up to Eagle Nest, but as long as I was driving I had the comfort of the truck air conditioner. So, I kept going and didn't stop until I pulled into the Eagle Nest Lake State Park Campground. I filled up my water tank, then parked, all in time for Happy Hour. There's 10 or so members of various RV clubs here, most of whom I know.

The weather is cool and pleasant and the scenery is gorgeous!!!!

I took this picture along Hwy 68 between Santa Fe and Taos.

If you don't like the looks of the clouds, wait 10 minutes and they will change.

This big red wagon toured the campground.

Jon's Party

2009-07-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

I had to stay in Show Low until after the big social event of the season - Jon's Birthday Party. Jon cooked ribs and chicken and the ladies (Judy, Patricia and Ellie) made coleslaw, potato salad and macaroni salad. They served liquid refreshments and birthday cake. Also, Jon hired a 3 piece Country Western band to entertain us. Jon's sister Jane was there also. Jon and Judy share the same birthday, one year apart.
The weather was perfect, and the food and the band were great!! Everyone had a great time!! I can't wait to see how he tops it next year.

OOOOPS!! I didn't get a picture of the Birthday Boy. = (

Sunday Happy Hour

2009-07-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here's my patio all ready for the party-----------

Here's all the happy Happy Hour guests----------

We spent almost two hours dodging rain, wind and blistering sun. But everyone had a good time consuming chips, dip, salsa and engaging in stimulating conversations!! I'll have to do it again next year.

Summer Reading Continues, and..........

2009-07-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

Summer reading continues......

"1st To Die" by James Patterson. This is a series of ten books, so far, by Patterson which take place in San Fransisco. The lead character is Lindsey Boxer, a SF Police Lieutenant. I enjoyed the characters and the story. It was kind of gruesome, but not too bad. I'm looking forward to reading the whole series.

I skipped "2ND Chance, and then read "3rd Degree." Again Lindsey Boxer was involved in solving a string of murders, including the murder of one of her very best friends.

"Hello, Darkness" by Sandra Brown. This was Brown's 17Th novel and took place in Austin, TX. The lead character was Paris Gibson, a late night radio DJ. The reader is treated to a little murder, mayhem, and romance, of course.

"Hot Mahogany" by Stuart Woods. This Stuart Woods' series takes place in New York City. The lead character is Stone Barrington. He's a former NYC Police Officer, now a highly regarded Lawyer. This is the 15Th in the Stone Barrington series by Woods. Not sure I'll go out of my way to read the other 14.

"North of Montana" by April Smith. I expected something up north, maybe in Canada, but the story takes place in Los Angeles. North of Montana refers to north of Montana Ave. in the Santa Monica/Westwood area, not too far from where I grew up. The lead character is Ana Grey, an FBI Agent. This was April Smith's first novel and a very good one, in my opinion!!! I think there are two more Ana Grey novels. I will be looking for them.

Here's a picture of the little patio I built, using 12" pavers. It's a cozy little spot to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening. If Dan ever shows up I'll have to make it a little bigger.

This morning I went to Show Low for a little shopping.
Here Annie is taking a rest after killing her new stuffless, double squeaky Bunnie. It took her about ten minutes to totally destroy the squeakies. I don't give her stuffed stuffies because she eats the stuffing.

Here's Murphy with his new red ball. It's almost soft enough to sink his teeth into, but not soft enough to bite off a chunk and eat and get stuck in his intestines.

And what did I get? A bag of Double Chocolate Milano, and Mint Milano cookies. = ) YUM!!

A little Quiz on American Priorities

2009-07-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

Ed McMahon died this week. He was a great entertainer, but prior to his stage accomplishments he was a distinguished Marine Corps fighter pilot in WWII earning six Air Medals and attaining the rank of Colonel. He was discharged in 1946 and was later promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the CA Air National Guard.

Farrah Fawcett died this week after a long career in Hollywood as an actress. After she was diagnosed with cancer, she became an activist for cancer treatment and devoted her last remaining years encouraging people to seek treatment. She documented her plight on film and used it to encourage others to stay positive and upbeat despite their diagnosis and suffering.

Michael Jackson died this week. He was perhaps one of the greatest singers of modern time. He will also be remembered for his eccentric lifestyle that included sleeping with a chimpanzee, living in a carnival-like atmosphere at Neverland, his fascination with Peter Pan, and his numerous masks and costumes. He also admitted to finding pleasure sleeping with young boys and paying out millions of dollars in settlements to the families of these boys despite being acquitted by a court on one allegation of sexual molestation.

QUESTION - Which of the above did the House of Representatives declare a moment of silence for today? (Hint - It wasn't the first two.)

QUESTION - Which of the above's family received a personal note of condolence from President Obama? (Hint - It wasn't the first two.)

Need we say more??

Fourth of July BBQ in the Hood

2009-07-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

The neighbors all gathered at the home of Ted and Mary Ellen for the annual 4th of July BBQ. Ted barbequed and everyone else supplied all the additional goodies. I baked the traditional 4th of July pumpkin bread. It was good.

Here's a picture of Murphy and Annie. It's hard to get a picture where they both look their best. This one's not too bad.

Here's a picture of one of many beautiful sunsets here in the mountains.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!

2009-07-03T10:23:00.001-07:00

And now some history. A good read.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men

who signed the Declaration of Independence ?

- Five signers were captured by the British as traitors,

and tortured before they died.

- Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

- Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army;

another had two sons captured.

- Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or

hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes,

and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

- Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.

- Eleven were merchants,

- Nine were farmers and large plantation owners;

men of means, well educated,

but they signed the Declaration of Independence

knowing full well that the penalty would be death if

they were captured.

- Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and

trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the

British Navy. He sold his home and properties to

pay his debts, and died in rags.

- Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British

that he was forced to move his family almost constantly.

He served in the Congress without pay, and his family

was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him,

and poverty was his reward.

- Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,

- Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

- At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that

the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson

home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General

George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed,

and Nelson died bankrupt.

- Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.

The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

- John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying.

Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill

were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests

and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his

children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and

silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support by sending this to as many

people as you can, please. It's time we get the word out that patriotism

is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer,

picnics, and baseball games.

100 miles of steep grades and hairpin turns..

2009-07-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, July 27Th, I went on another great motorcycle ride. This is a ride I've wanted to do for several years. Again, I headed to the charming, mountain town of Alpine. Last time I went east out of Alpine into Mew Mexico, but this ride took me south out of Alpine down HWY 191. It used to be known as HWY 666. aka the Devils Highway. I'm glad the number and name was changed. It's now called the Coronado Trail, (Clifton - Alpine Highway). It's very long and winding. I didn't do my homework very well and I thought the whole ride would be about 250 miles, but again I found myself on a very long 330 miles ride. It was a long day, with threats of rain, but at least I didn't encounter 125 miles of strong headwinds, and no hail!!

Here's some pictures I took along the Highway:

At the end of the Coronado Trail I found myself in the town of Morenci, the location of what is the biggest copper mine I've ever seen.

I Googled Morenci Copper Mine and found this:

http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/morenci/
"Morenci is the largest copper producer in North America and remains a major contributor to Phelps' copper output, which is second only to that of Chile's Codelco."

The mine is so huge the Highway goes right through the operation. The towns of Morenci and Clifton both seem to be Company Towns, and are both very unattractive and very unappealing looking towns in which to live. I kept thinking, I'm sure glad I didn't have to grow up here!!!

Here's some pictures I took of the mine:

After leaving the mine area I headed to Three Way where I gased up then turned left onto HWY 78, and traveled NE which took me into New Mexico. 35 miles later I hit HWY 180 and turned north, which took me on a very scenic and pleasant 75 miles back to Alpine, AZ. In Alpine I headed north, then northwest, and 60 miles later I returned back to the garage, where I put my bike, Lucky, to bed for another week or two.

A Rare Sight

2009-06-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

My pictures don't do justice to this beautiful sight outside my trailer a few days ago. There was a complete double rainbow. It wasn't raining and the sun wasn't shining. The rainbow pictures were taken facing southeast.

This was the sunset.

Here's Fido, my porch dogue, guarding the Oliver Memorial Garden.

The summer reading continues......

2009-06-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

Next, I did read "Not Without My Daughter." It was a chilling, true account of an American wife, Betty Mamoody and her 4 year old daughter, who traveled to Iran with her Iranian-American Dr. husband for a two week vacation. She had fears that once there, he would not allow his wife and child to return to the USA. And that's exactly what he did. "She was a virtual prisoner of a man who rededicated his life to his Shiite Muslim faith, in a land where women are near slaves and Americans are despised." She was in that horrible country for 18 months, the last year of which she placed her hopes and dreams of escaping in the hands of strangers in a dangerous underground world. Finally, after escaping from her husband, she and her daughter spent one very long winter week travelling, at the mercy of some very shady looking characters, via car, jeep, bus, and horseback over the very high and frozen mountains between Iran and Turkey. After checking into a very nice hotel in Ankara, Turkey she and her daughter were kicked out, with threats of the police being called, because their passports didn't have the correct stamps. After a few phone calls and a night in another hotel, she and her daughter finally found help through the American Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, and returned home to the the USA. But the drama didn't end there. She found it necessary for them to assume new names and live in an undisclosed location, in fear that her husband would retaliate.
This all took place in the mid 80's. According to current news stories, it doesn't sound like things have changed much in that horrible country. It was reported at that time that there were over one thousand American women in a similar situation in Iran and other Islamic countries.
I did see the movie, starring Sally Field, which I enjoyed very much. But the book gives a much more detailed account of the background of how she got to that point in her life, and many more details of the deplorable conditions in which she lived in and the ordeal she endured in Iran.

---------------------------------------------------------

Staying with true stories, I then read "Misty's Long Ride," by Howard Wooldridge. Three summers ago, in 2006, while in Rapid City, South Dakota, I started following online the progress of a group of motorcycle riders who were riding to the 48 capital cities in the 48 continuous states, sharing with the American people the downside of illegal immigration as well as excessive legal immigration. The endeavor was the brainchild of Frosty Wooldridge, Howard's brother. Upon following the progress of the "21st Century Paul Revere Ride" I decided to meet up with them in Pierre, the capital of South Dakota, then continue on with them to Bismark, the capital of North Dakota. I had a great time and found myself a bit enamored with Howard. He was a very personable, intelligent and ambitious man, quite contrary to most of the men I have been enamored with. During an evening chatting with Howard, he told me about two very interesting years he had. In 2003, and again in 2005, he rode his horse Misty across the United States. The first started at the Atlantic Ocean in Savannah, Georgia and ended 6 months and 3200 miles later at the Pacific Ocean in Newport, Oregon. The second, a 7 month and 3700 mile ride took him from the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles, California to the Atlantic in New York City.
Howard wrote a book, or rather Misty his horse wrote a book from her perspective, on the first of the two rides. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about every day and every mile of the first long, grueling journey they took together. I opened my atlas to each new state they entered and followed along with their route. The big challenge for Howard, besides the weather and a few mountain passes, was finding adequate food for Misty everyday, and finding a dry, comfortable and safe place to spend each night. Howard paid only three times during the 6 month period for a camp spot. They walked along the shoulders of roads and highways constantly looking for water, grass, hay, oats, and cafes for Howard. Howard would ride for two miles, then walk for one mile in order to give Misty an easier day. Some nights Howard tethered Misty to a picket line strung between trees or posts, while he slept nearby in a tent. Sometimes they were lucky and Misty spent the night in a stall or an arena while Howard slept in a house. Most people, when asked, happily gave water and sustenance for Misty. Howard never asked for food for himself, or for a place to stay, but always accepted when it was offered. It was heart warming how many people across the country opened their hearts and homes to Howard and Misty. Both suffered minor health issues along the way, but always overcame them. It was a very heart warming story, made even more so since Howard has a special place in my heart. = )

Riding a 1,000 mile ride makes one eligible for the title of Long Rider. Riding across the country twice gave Howard the title of the only person to every ride cross the in both directions.

According to the Long Riders Guild, no one in recorded history has ever ridden both directions across North America. The Long Riders Guild selected Howard as one of the top dozen Long Riders in the world and Howard flew to London on March 12, 2005for a week and was honored with a weekend of events at the Royal Geographic Society Headquarters.
"I am still nearly punch-drunk for the honor given me. I am excited like a 6 year old before Christmas to meet the other 11, share a pint and stories of the road," says Howard.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Next, I read "Travels With Charlie, in Search of America" by John Steinbeck. In 1962 Steinbeck ordered an very unusual vehicle - a camper mounted on a 3/4 ton pickup truck. In 1962 RVing across the country was not something too many people did. Shortly after Labor Day, and Hurricane Donna, John and his Standard Poodle Charlie left their summer home on Long Island, NY and set out on a 3 month, 10-12,000mile adventure. Most of my RV friends would agree with me that such a trip should take at least a whole year, not a mere three months. Anyway, Steinbeck set out on his adventure in quest "to hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light and to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years." In this book he "reflects on the American character, racial hostility, on a particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and on the unexpected kindness of strangers that is also a very real part of our national identity."
Everywhere he went, Steinbeck approached fellow Americans and engaged them in colorful conversations. I'm suspicious that everything Steinbeck wrote about during his travels really happened. After all, he is a fiction writer.
But one common thread in all three of these books was the kindness of strangers. I myself try to do at least one random act of kindness everyday. Some days it doesn't work out too well, but I try.