Required for every vacation

Last night Paul and Shirley went out to paint the town, so I spent time surfing the other blogs on blogspot. Oh My! I hope this one is better than many I perused last night. Wow, I was getting embarrassed for them. I had thoughts of pulling this thing down, but then I remembered nobody looks at these blogs anyway. I also keep the content somewhat anonymous so I have deniability if anyone should confront me on it. Who would believe our real names are John, Diane, Paul, Shirley, how creative is that? So then I thought, in the spirit of bad blogging, I'd post a picture I took, just for such an occasion.



Every vacation has to have a picture shot out of a moving vehicle. Worse thing you can do, so I made a special effort to get one. I also made sure I didn't remember where, or when I took the picture in order to stay in the spirit of vacationing. So here it is, scenery somewhere in Texas, going around 60 miles an hour down the Interstate. Think it will win any awards?

Things change for me now, spouse shares the sun.

Picked Diane up at the airport this morning. I think she's happy to be here. At least that was my impression when we saw her jumping up and down on the sidewalk when we picked her up. She didn't have to go to the bathroom, so I think I interpreted that correctly. That and the huge grin on her face all the way from the airport, telling us how awful it is at home reinforced my initial interpretation. She will stay happy now, I shaved, showered, and made an emergency run on bicycle to the grocery store this morning to get celery for the Bloody Mary's. Am I the perfect husband, or what? She's been here two hours, and she is already in the pool with some hooch stuffed in her towel bag. Life is good.

I quit telling you about the weather, because it really doesn't change. Although the weatherman went out on a limb and said it might approach 80 by Wednesday. Otherwise they just change the forecast to be a high of 72 followed by a high of 73, followed by a high of 72. What a cushy job, I might like being a weatherman down here. I could phone in my prediction from anywhere in the world once a week, and still be right 80% of the time.

The aged type A competitive athletes in the big pool are pounding the volleyball again today. Extra rowdy, they must of had some Red Bull mixed with their prune juice this morning. I think the name they've given the drink is 'Black Bull Running'. (alright, I made that up)

Dog Days

Man, this Sun is unrelenting. It’s almost to the point where I would welcome a cloudy day. But I don’t, I figure I’ll get enough of that when I get home Feb. 10th. I’m poolside again today, there is a raucous water volleyball game going in the big pool. One thing that evidently doesn’t change with age is the competitiveness and obnoxiousness found in a small percentage of people. Not all people mellow with age. There’s no alcohol allowed in the pool area, so at least it moderates the rowdiness somewhat since they have to go and sneak a drink from under their towel during the time outs.

Been witness to many retired person conversations in the last few weeks. Evidently teeth are a big deal to people down here, at least for the people who still have them. I listened to many conversations about root canals, caps, and multiple trips to Mexico for dentist work. I didn’t get to hear any of the horror stories from Mexican dentistry, although people did allude to the fact it didn’t always go well. There is a hesitation on people’s part to unleash medical horror stories. The fact that they are in the high maintenance part of their life, and the fact starting one of these conversations would result in a very long lively discussion that would leave everyone in a depressed state squelches one from ever getting started. With as many conversations that I listened to, I would encourage everyone to brush and floss regularly. Dental insurance is a luxury for many of the older crowd.

I’ve been strolling around the park the last few evenings and have made some observations:

As I’ve reported before, each lot has a grapefruit tree planted next to the road. Well, on 13th street, all the trees are orange trees. Wonder what that’s about.

If you walk around meal time you can smell what everyone is having for supper. The smell from the grills really carries far.

Five feet on the WiFi towers would go a long way in making people happy. I just had two different people stop and talk about how they couldn’t get it just 40 yards from here. In some ways I’d love to tear into this whole complex and sort out the multiple problems here with this WiFi, but I’m retired, and I don’t think the Park management is really that interested in fixing it, since it’s a ‘free’ service. But there is a business opportunity to build an outdoor antenna/booster for WiFi that could easily be mounted on a trailer, and of course didn't cost much. Could easily sell hundreds of units in this park alone. And there are 300 more parks like this in Mesa.

They have rooms in this complex for all kinds of interests. There is Lapidary, Wood, Poker room, Pool Hall, Library, Computer Room, even an exercise room full of equipment. Too bad I didn’t see it earlier, it’s too late now. I’m leaving in a week and a half. Otherwise I would have been in there. I stumbled on one called the Tap Room and wondered why I didn’t know about it sooner. I peeked inside, didn’t see any taps, or even a bar. I think it’s for learning to play Taps, not serving drinks. That’s why I didn’t know about it.

There, that’s the end of the totally worthless information.

Tomorrow morning we pick Diane up at the airport, and Shirley already has plans for the day. It involves burgers and beer, so I think it should be fun.

Company coming

Saturday my wife Diane flies down to join us. I spent some time today looking at maps and checking out what we're going to see next week. Her and I are going to head down to Tucson and partake in some hiking and check out the Old West. They are forecasting 80's by the middle of next week. I sure hope she can handle the heat :-)

So it's been a quiet time, saving all the site seeing for when she is down here. I was at the pool again today with the laptop, and of course someone stopped and asked how the WiFi was working. Of course it was working fine, but I think it was his laptop by the way he described the problem. I try not to get sucked in to hard, I could work on their problems 12 hours a day if I advertised.

The Truth? Or another cover up.

Check this link out. Read the section labeled 'the truth'. Is he just covering up the mistake he made by reporting the truth to the UFO magazine? Is this pressure from the government? Pressure from the Aliens? We'll never know what goes on down here. We never did have the wind blowing like we had when we were camping at Alomogordo, right across the mountain from Roswell.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/681/1050681/nasa-agent-spills-ufo-beans

Relax people, I'm not serious. Just playing with you........Or am I?

Weather has changed

Well, last week we had above normal temperatures, yesterday we had below average temps. The high in Mesa was 59. Can you imagine how cold that feels? Just to give you an idea, I was in the shade next to the pool using my laptop and my fingers were just freezing! And I was wearing a sweatshirt besides. It was sunny out, but I can't see the screen when I sit in the sun. Oh the suffering I endure to stay connected! It was so cold yesterday morning I couldn't see the faces of the people in the heated swimming pools through the steam that was rolling off of the water.

This morning was also very cold. Paul hooked up a small propane tank yesterday to use what was left in it up. It ran out about 4:30 this morning, these RV's cool off very quickly when there isn't any heat. Luckily for us, this was the last cold night, and today will be in the 60's, then the 7 day forecast has 70's for the duration. Sunny everyday, no rain in site.

Today is laundry day for me. Then more sitting in the sun reading the next book I started. This one is on John Adams. With my less than stellar recollection of history, it should be a new exciting story for me. The Lewis and Clark book had a surprise ending, so I'm looking forward to this one. Ya, this Adams guy has something to do with the Revolutionary War and the start of the United States. Haven't gotten to far into the book yet, so that's all I can tell you :-)

Hiking Destination

After pounding my way through the rocks for almost 3 miles, this was the small pond and petryglyphs at the end of the path. It was worth it, but my photography skills with my new camera are limited and don't do the scenery justice.

The petryglyphs are etched on the rock to the left of the pond. For those that don't know what they are, they're pictures and symbols etched on the rocks from thousands of years ago. Of course, there always seems to be some teenage etchings that are much newer than the rest. Vandalism is a huge problem with the petryglyphs.

Desert Hiking on Monday

Traveled toward Apache Junction today to a hiking trail that Paul and Shirley knew about from years past. From the parking lot you walk toward some mountains on a rocky trail until you get to a gate which separates the local public access from the Tonto Wilderness area. There was a gross underestimate of how long this trail was, so the hike went on for a few hours. I think it was over 5 miles round trip to the water pond and petryglyphs. Of course it's up hill on the way in.

Saturday Night Festivities

Happy hour at the neighbors went well. It was a good old fashion patio party.The women formed a circle of chairs inside the car port, and the men formed their separate circle just inside of the door. Twenty different conversations started up, making it impossible to follow an individual conversation, but everyone was having a good time. It’s interesting listening to retired guy conversations. You’ve got 60+ years of B.S. built up and no one is afraid to spread it. Conversations start by one guy ripping into another one with a line of B.S. that no one could ever believe. It could be questioning their manhood, work ethic, maintenance of their car, trailer, yard, or questioning why their spouse puts up with them. One or two other guys deliver a couple more shots of B.S. Periods of laughter ensue. Then a normal conversation blends back into the cackle of conversations. These B.S. outbursts will periodically rise above the cackle as people come and go, or as they head toward the snack table. This stuff just rolls off these guys like water on a ducks back. It’s not a place for someone who might take comments about themselves personally.

Saturday night it was up to a county park on Usury Hill for a star gazing presentation. There were approx. 7 telescopes of differing types and sizes set up pointed at different planets, nebula, and clusters. They gave a short presentation, then let people look through the telescopes while they were pointing out constellations and informing people on what they can see with just a pair of binoculars. Many people showed up for this, which is great, but if you wanted to look through the telescopes, there were long lines of people. After a while of cutting in front of all the little kids to get a look through the scopes, the crying and whining got to be too much. So we left after a short time. OK, some of that wasn’t true, but there were a lot of people.

Sunday has been a very quiet day. I finished the book on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Wow, it had a surprise ending. Now seeing this was a nonfiction account of the Expedition, what does that say about my knowledge of history. Don’t know how that slipped by.

The Madness Continues

Saturday brings a light breakfast, because for lunch we head over to Paul and Shirley’s friend’s house in a different complex that is celebrating 50 years in business selling homes in their park. I think the park thought it was a good idea to help sell homes in a slow market, but they should of known not to offer free hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and soda in this town. We got there around 11 to find the park routing everyone through the sales office first. You quickly move through there and immediately your in a very long line of retired people waiting for a hot dog or hamburger. After awhile in line with very minimal movement, they start a new line just for the hot dogs. This was because it took them to long to grill the burgers, and if you want a hot dog, the line was less than a tenth of the size of the hamburger line. So of course I immediately liked hot dogs better than hamburgers and was eating within 20 minutes or so. There were very few people looking in the model homes they had all around the eating area, because less face it, this was a free lunch. That hamburger line was at least 30 yards long, and the grill wasn’t very big….poor rigid hamburger eaters, probably going to have to call this supper by the time they get served. They will never make the afternoon buffet now without paying the evening rate.

Back at the RV for a couple hours, now there is a Happy Hour party being given by one of the neighbors. It starts at 3, so I got to end it here. So far I’m still keeping up, but I didn’t think it would be a nonstop party down here.

aturday weather: Partly cloudy with temperature around 70.

Relative of Paul's?

Shirley claims this is a relative of Paul's. Don't know for sure, but Paul is smart enough to not claim him as family.

Didn't say what crime was commited. But I'm thinking the guy who came up with the idea of $8 burgers.

Burger joint in Tortilla Flat

Tortilla Flat complex, not a modern mall by any means. You can see the smoke from the grill that is on a patio that is shared by the live music, when it shows up.

Burgers or no burgers

The trip for burgers over the mountain was a trip to Tortilla Flat located in the Tonto National Park. It’s located east of Mesa approx. 20 or 30 miles back in the mountains. So it was again on a mountain road with switchbacks, tight curves, no guard rails, but it isn’t as high in elevation as Kitt Peak. Man, I just don’t like those roads. Paul and Shirley’s friends did the driving, since they had a van we could all fit in.

Once in the mountains the view was spectacular. The sun peaked through the clouds periodically and lit up parts of the mountains. The mountains are full of color which change as the sun moves across the side of them. We stopped for a few photos of Canyon Lake and moved on over a couple of one lane bridges to Tortilla Flat. Now Tortilla Flat is basically a small set of buildings that most people would call a tourist trap, and a very effective one at that. It comprises of a museum, restaurant, and a couple stores. They have a patio where they grill burgers and have a stage for live music. Now there was suppose to be live music while we were there, but they cancelled because of the threat of rain. It didn’t rain, but at that point it didn’t matter. Since there was no live music, and the burgers where $8 a piece, a decision was made to leave and skip the burger. But have no fear, retired people always know where the best and cheapest place to eat is at any given moment.

On the way out a stop was made at a natural food store. This I think was a tactic to stall a little before we ate. Country Buffet was the target after the shopping was complete. Here is the strategy used to attack the Country Buffet. First, need to have a Country Buffet Senior citizen card. This will give you a dollar off the lunch buffet, which makes the meal less than $6. The lunch buffet runs from around 11 to 3 in the afternoon. Now you must come in at the end of this time period so you pay for the lunch buffet, but you run into the supper buffet, which runs $4 or $5 more. Now this is no real secret I’m telling you, because when we got there around 3 in the afternoon, the line was almost outside. Of course, excluding the people working there, I was one of the youngest in the crowd. You pay, sit down and eat a helping or so from the lunch buffet, eat it slow and soon the line forms at the grill to get the supper steaks for the lunch price. Now for dessert, don’t screw around with those stinking little bowls for ice cream, you go over and get a soup bowl and use that instead. It will save you a couple of trips to the dessert bar. These seniors have eating out and drinking free or cheap down to a science. I’ve got a lot to learn if I’m going to compete with these pros.

Friday was cloudy once again, and it periodically sprinkled through the morning, but it still made it up too 70 by late afternoon, but most of the day was in the 60’s.

Change is in the Air

The weather has changed today. It was cloudy and raining this morning, at least raining for a little while. Cloudy until 3 this afternoon, so the temperature didn’t get above 70 until late afternoon.

Since it was cool today, I’ve been reading a book about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. There was plenty of action toward the end of the book. Lewis got shot in the rear end by one of his men when they were elk hunting in the willows. He had to command his expedition while lying on his stomach. When I put the book down, Lewis was fighting to keep exclusive book rights from the others in the party. Didn’t work out the way he wanted.

Took a long walk today, actually it was around the block but the blocks are about a mile long down here. This whole area is just RV park after RV park full of senior citizens. Then a thought crossed my mind. Isn’t this a prime spot for a Soylent factory? I think this would be one of the first spots they would manufacture Soylent Green. Possibly Florida, but with the wide open spaces out here I think it would be easier to build a plant out here in the desert. You know, some of the food costs down here are cheaper than at home. I first figured it was because they bring it up from Mexico, but I think I need to re-evaluate that thought. There are a lot of empty lots in these RV parks too. People think it’s because of the economy, I’m thinking the Soylent factory is running a second shift. With Roswell not to far away it’s feasible the aliens are involved in some way. Minimally, it would be an excellent export market if the aliens are trading with us earthlings. Man, now I have to start worrying about this. It makes sense, plenty of raw material, large desolate areas to build factories, an alien export market, RV parks have many empty spots. I haven’t heard anyone in the super markets yelling ‘IT’S PEOPLE! IT’S PEOPLE!’. But maybe that’s because I’m the only one who’s figured it out so far. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, there is a movie made in 1973 called Soylent Green that did an excellent job of forseeing the future….check it out. (actually it's not that good a movie)

Tomorrow we’re going over the mountains to eat hamburgers. That’s all I know about it, let you know how it turns out.

Pool Side

I'm sitting near the pool, which happens to be about 50 yards from a WiFi antenna. The park offers free WiFi, but few people can actually use it. There aren't enough hot spots in the park, and I think with all the aluminum trailers the signal is bouncing in every which direction. I can sit in one specific spot in the RV with the laptop in a certain position, within 6 inches in any direction and I can get a 1 meg connection that works most of the time. Any other spot, or even outside the RV and the signal is bad. So today I walked to the pool area and now have a clean 54 meg connection. The negative is I only have the duration of my battery charge to get all of my surfing in. Don't worry, I'm tough, I can handle it. Might start coming to this spot everyday, there is even piped in music that I don't mind listening to, but it is a little hard to hear over the sound of flowing water from the waterfall fountain running directly behind me. But as I said, I'm tough, I'll endure it somehow.

Weather: partly cloudy, slight breeze, 76 degrees

Speaking of WiFI, I looked at a neighbors connection the other day trying to get a useable signal. They wanted to pay me in some way, but I kept refusing, I didn't spend that much time with it. So I finally said they could buy me a beer sometime. Yesterday he yelled across the street to us that he had the beer, to come over and and get paid. So I've got a cold beer waiting for me at the neighbors. I think if I wanted to work on wireless down here I could be drunk almost all the time. Wouldn't be good for my liver though.

I'm starting to feel a little guilty the way I'm laying it on in the first paragraph about being pool side, but I checked your weather up north and you'll be in the upper 20's the next couple of days, so I think I can get away with a little ribbing.

Battery below 30%, time to end it. Next time, more observations from the trip, and not so much rubbing in the nice weather.

Flashback 1 –First morning of trip

Paul and Shirley are campers, plain and simple. This is their third RV, and they tent camped before the RV’s. So I come on board as a complete novice. In the beginning I just stepped back and watched as the two of them went through their many routines of running the RV. When we park for the night, Paul starts up his hookup routines, drops the leveling jacks, extends the extensions, plugs in the power, hooks up the water, etc, etc. If the car needs to be unattached from the back, there is an exchange of some words, maybe a grunt or two, and Paul and Shirley are both unhooking the harness, then Shirley parks the car. There isn’t much for a third person to do but stay the hell out of the way. Well, after our first night in southern Illinois, Paul actually gave me a small task to make me feel somewhat useful. He told me to go back to the car and lock all of the doors. Well, I can handle that. When I got back there, I noticed the keys were in the ignition. I’m not going to lock these doors with the keys in the ignition, that would certainly ruin this trip. We don’t need that nightmare. So I took the keys out and locked the doors. I mentioned this to Paul a little while later and his response was the keys are suppose to be locked in the car because the ignition has to be set a certain way and that he has an extra set to unlock the car when we get to where we’re going. OK, so back I go, unlock the car, put the keys in the ignition and lock all of the car doors. That is a counter intuitive routine, but if that’s the way it’s done, then, so be it.

Three days later when we were setting up camp in New Mexico, Paul jumps in the car to start it up only to hear clickity clickity clack, buzz, and then quiet….. Batteries dead….. Oh well, so much for successfully accomplishing my first task. Glad he didn’t give me anything important to do.

Weather today: slight breeze, clear skies, and 79 degrees.

Tomorrow I think I'll go down by the pool area, the WiFi signal is much better down there. The signal at the RV is weak. See the hardships I must live through?

Settled In

Saturday morning was the 3 buck breakfast in the neighboring RV Park. We were going to walk over, but found out they quit serving at 8:30. My thought was, ‘man they only serve for a half hour?’ But I quickly came to my senses and realized I was at a Retirement RV park. I sleep until the sun comes up and I’m the last one up in the whole park.

It’s bring your own plate and silverware, and for 3 bucks you get pancakes, couple of sausages, scrambled eggs, glass of orange juice and coffee. Plus, you get live entertainment by way of some retirees playing polka music, or some unrecognizable derivative of it. I’m fairly sure this is the first time I‘ve ever listened to a live band that early in the morning. I think a live band that early is a little more than I can handle before coffee. But I forget, these people have been up for hours already. Well, since we got there late, we sat down with our plates of food while the retirees working the breakfast were slinging the chairs to one end of the hall and stacking the tables all around us. I pounded down my coffee so that I could get another one before they had everything put away. By 8:45 we were about the only ones left in the Hall. When we got there at 8:10 there were hundreds of people sitting around visiting. One thing I’ve noticed; retired people show up a half hour early for everything, and when it’s over, it’s over. They evacuate as if someone left the guard dogs loose. It’s different, that’s for sure.

I’ve been outside most of the day every day. I’ve been waiting for a cool and rainy day to spend some computer time. I can’t see my laptop screen in the bright sun, and it’s nice out, so I don’t want to stay inside. It’s just rough down here, what a hardship. Maybe it will rain in a week or so.

Tonight Paul grilled some venison steaks and we enjoyed them out on the patio. This sure is a different way to spend January. Tomorrow I’ll start posting a few stories and observations from the trip so far that I haven’t shared with you yet. Now that we are settled in, the nonstop action has quieted down. In the bad economy I need to keep an eye on my readership levels. Don’t want to lose my audience.

Weather today: slight breeze, 77 degrees, mostly sunny.

Destination pictures

If your on a grapefruit diet this is the place to be. The streets are lined with grapefruit trees. But people get real protective of the trees in front of their lot.

Here's the RV site where we will be spending the rest of my time down here.

If your wondering what the rest of the park looks like, here is the link to their website which has a photo gallery:

http://www.cal-am.com/subpages/mesaregalhome.asp

Happy Hour – It all comes together

Three pm on Friday, the RV Park Managers are putting on a Happy Hour around the pool area. This means free beer between 3 and 5 o’clock. To retired people, that means start lining up at 2:30 and reserving your chairs around the pool. There is an outside bar and a Gazebo on one end of the pool area where all the action takes place. By 3 there are hundreds of seniors lined up at the bar. At exactly 3 the two taps are opened up and the bartenders start filling pitchers of Bud Light. The pitchers are passed to the three bartenders behind the bar that are pouring the beer into plastic cups. Each person limited to two cups at a time. The lines are long, so of course everyone is filling 2 cups. For the next two hours the taps were running with only one break of 5 minutes while they changed out a CO2 gas cylinder. The three of us got our first 6 beers and sat down to listen to the band playing music in the Gazebo. It was a group that played many popular tunes from the past in a Latin/Reggae style, like listening to Bob Marley playing the top tunes from the last 40 years.

What a sight, reminded me of a college dorm party, only the people were all old. This is just unreal, all these people here with nothing to do but drink, eat, and play all day long. Sitting around the pools, drinking free beer, and listening to music on a weekday in perfect weather, 75 degrees, clear skies, calm winds, this is just unbelievable.

Back in line for cups 3 and 4, this is too good to be true. Music just keeps going, it’s so weird seeing hundreds of people at a beer party that are all older than I am.

Back in line for cups 5 and 6, music still playing, now on my way back to our chairs the old people are dancing on the walkways, so I have to stop once in awhile to let them make their moves. Good thing the beat was relaxed; don’t know if some of them could move to a faster beat without throwing out a hip. Good times are rolling now.

An Epiphany

At this point in time, after the free beer cleared my thinking, everything came together. While I was singing along to the Beach Boys tune Sloop John B, I was thinking this is just unreal, too good to be true, the weather is perfect, a little odd to be partying with people all much older than I am…..Boom….it came to me, this isn’t real. That windy night in the New Mexico State Park at Alamogordo, it wasn’t windy when we woke up. Was that just the wind? Now I don’t think so. That might have been when we were taken captive by aliens. The weather forcast never said anything about those strong winds. Alien ship? I think so. We had a brief incident of wind the next night, but it dyed down after a brief period of time. Was that the alien ship leaving after we were injected into their sociological experiment? Let’s explore that idea once. The weather is the same everyday, in fact they keep forecasting the same thing everyday. Low 42 degrees, high of 77, clear skies, calm winds. It’s not real, it is being simulated by the aliens, they don’t know the weather is suppose to be different after a couple of days. I’m at a free beer party, but all the people are older. They only know about older people because they are landing down here in the winter where that is all there is. The music is all older tunes played in the same style for two straight hours….that must be the only music they know about. It’s all making sense now. There isn’t even any clouds in the sky, I don’t think they know how to make clouds. I haven’t seen any aliens probaby because they are hiding so as not to contaminate the experiment they are performing on us. Or, if we have seen them, they have erased our memory. I can only think they are studying people’s reaction to a pleasant happy environment. They certainly have created that environment here. If they are not, than I’m a subject of a poorly designed alien experiment.

See how everything fits together? Scary isn’t it? I’m just happy they erased my memory of those body probes other people recall. Stay tuned. I’ll let you know what happens next. If I can, I don’t even know if I’m still on Earth. Could I be somewhere else in the Galaxy?

Not enough time in the day

Did my laundry that has accumulated over the last couple of weeks. Went grocery shopping with Shirley and to Home Depot with Paul to pick up some parts for the water heater. Now it's time to go to Happy Hour for some free beer. I don't know if I can keep this pace up.

Weather: clear skies, calm winds, 78 degrees again.

Destination Reached

We pulled into the RV park around 11:00 am today. This is a retirement community where you have to be at least 55 to stay here. It has half a dozen swimming pools, whirlpools, library, computer lab (which is where I am now), tennis courts, and anything else you could imagine. Paul parked the RV in it's assigned spot, hooked up the water and sewer, then found out there was a block party going on at 11:30. Bring a bowl and spoon, something to drink and head down the block. Four different kinds of soup with desserts, garlic bread, and one of my favorites, deviled eggs. I'm the kid that Paul and Shirley brought along, definitely the youngest person here out of 20-30 people. After the meal, the games come out, today it was bean bags. But Paul and Shirley had to leave early to make it to their bocci ball game at 2. I headed back to the RV, sat in the shade with a beer and a book enjoying the weather. The biggest decision was when I should move from the shade to the sun as it cooled off. I was going to take some pictures, but it seemed to hot in the sun. I'll have to get to that tomorrow, the weather was just to warm to do anything but relax.

Weather today: clear skies, calm winds, high of 78 degrees. I'll take pictures tomorrow, it will only be 77, I don't want to work up a sweat.

Computer lab is closing soon, I'll post more tomorrow, maybe even a photo or two.

Where is Popeye when you need him.

Usually when your parked in a WalMart lot there are other RV's in the lot with you. Well, there wasn't in this one. Didn't know why until I went to bed and was awaken about 20 minutes after I got to sleep by an ear piercing train horn. I thought the wind was rough the night in Alamogordo, but this might of been worse, at least for the first few seconds. I now know what it is like standing on railroad tracks with a train heading at you. I sat up in bed after being abruptly awaken thinking the RV was parked on the tracks. The horn just kept sounding and getting closer. I looked out the window trying to determine where in the world the tracks were. I really was thinking that engine was going to be pushing the RV down the track in seconds. I knew we'd never get off the tracks in time. My brain finally started working again and I realized the RV was in a parking lot, without any railroad tracks. Man, not a good way to wake up. Luckly after the third train came through an hour latter they quit for the night.

Heading North

Last night we heard the coyotes yipping in the night. At least for 10 seconds or so, then all of the dogs in the park let loose with their own barking and howling. It sounded like 1:00 am at a local Karaoke bar with all of the howling. Luckly it only lasted a few minutes unlike the howling that takes place in a bar.

Another nice day, it's in the 50's, blue sky, calm winds, expected high of 71. Headed north toward Mesa, AZ. Will be staying at a WalMart tonight, so no WIFI access. Will update when we get to our destination in Mesa. Hey, wear a hat and gloves up there, I hate to hear about anyone getting frostbite.

Heading up to the 4 meter telescope

Large dome on the right is the 4 meter telescope and the observation level. You can definitely notice the thin air when your walking up hill.

Here's the link for Kitt Observatory if your interested:

http://www.noao.edu/kpno/

Never forget where you came from

There are reminders everywhere that makes me think of all the people left behind in Wisconsin. Here's a reminder I found in the parking lot up at Kitt's Peak. I didn't touch it though, I think I remember that it's really cold....like ice or something.

Up Up and Up some more.

Today was a trip to the Kitt Peak Observatory. Now none of us are fond of mountain roads, but to get to the Peak you need to drive 13 miles up a mountain road to move up to an elevation of 7000 ft. The road was in excellent shape, it even had guard rails on many of the curves. That isn’t it, I just don’t like heights that much. If you run off the road and have enough time to say a complete rosary before you crash, that’s not a road I want to be on. Of course we made it up there without incident, well, maybe a change of underwear. Never thought I might need two pair, man we’ve got to go down the same road!

There were three of the telescopes open to the public today. The large 4 meter telescope is housed in the large dome that can be seen easily from Tucson. We went into this one and headed up the elevator to the observation level. There are windows almost completely around the dome. From here, you can see all the way to Mexico. The view is awesome. We then went up some more stairs and took a look at the telescope housed here. Then it was on to the Solar telescope. This one was actually active, tracking the sun across the sky. We could walk up to the control room door where we could see into the room where the equipment was recording the data from the Sun. A technician could be seen studiously playing cards in the back room. Maybe it was astrology instead of astronomy. At least then he could of explained he was using the cards to determine his future.

Weather today, Winds calm, clear skies, High of 70. How sweet it is!

Attraction to this RV Park

We are on the second day of our stay at this RV park. All I see are old people walking dogs all day long. We are figuring out why this place is so popular. This park is adjacent to the Saguaro National Park, which is a desert chuck full of cactus, or is it cacti. There are trails leading fromt the RV Park into the desert. We took a walk this evening along the trails at sunset. Saw a couple of dozen quail running through the brush as we walked back to the RV. It was starting to cool off from the 70 degree temps during the afternoon. It really is a scenic desert, except if you step off the trail. Then it becomes a wild game of hopscotch as you try to keep the dog crap from sticking to your shoes. This RV park is a favorite of dog owners because they walk their dogs on the trails and let their beloved pets do their business in the desert. So I propose the name of the National Park be changed to some name that is more indicative of what the park is being used for, like ‘Dog Crap National Trail’ or ‘Dog DoDo Desert’. I guess I’m not much of a pet person. No, don't blame the dogs for a lack of capability on the owners side. Guess I'm not much of an idiot owner person. There, I feel better now.

Campsite in the desert

It's pretty layed back around here. Even the pets are trained to take siestas.

There are all kind of comments I was going to pair with this photo. But I thought I'd leave that up to you. Might be a good contest idea to come up with as many captions for this picture as possible.

This morning we headed out of Tucson a few miles to a campsite in the desert. Paul or Shirley had never seen it before we pulled in. It was a little further out than first thought, but when we finally got there it was somewhat of a disappointment. The park is large, we can't really even see the desert from our spot. But the showers are close and the WiFi signal is strong. We will be here two nights before heading north to Mesa, AZ.

The weather has made a turn for the fantastic. One week forecast has it sunny everyday with a high of 70 or 71, except for tomorrow, which is only going to make it up to 69. I reported the temps this past week, which were on the cool side...I'm obligated to report when the weather is just awesome:-)

On to Tucson AZ

The plan Sunday was to pack up for the trip to Tucson, which was approx. 200 miles southwest on Interstate 10. Skies were clear, winds calm and the sun was warming the day nicely. It was in the upper 50’s by the time we pulled out.

Stopped at a rest stop in Arizona for lunch. Here’s the view looking across the parking lot.

Rolled into Tucson in the late afternoon with temperatures in the upper 60’s. Found a casino parking lot that was going to be our campsite for Sunday night. I strolled through the casino to see what there was to see. Instead of a blackjack table and dealer, they had this life size video screen displaying a dealer that would deal cards to video screens built into the table. This was a really slick video game. Of course the dealer was either a handsome looking dude, or a hot looking babe. Do you think they might of done that to try and distract the players?

Rock Hounding is hard work

Need to pace yourself when hounding those rocks. Here I'm unwinding after a rigorous workout. I'll be out of WiFi range for a day or two, so update you then. I was going to upload a photo of the roadrunner but a past coworker questioned my manhood when I showed her my past vacation photos. I don't want her to get wind of all the photos I took this vacation!

Hounding those Rocks

I'm studying the rock to find that perfect million dollar gem. This was taken in front of an abandoned mine. Looking at the rocks out front, I know why they abandoned it. No treasure here!

Rock Hounding in the Hills

Today we headed into the hills to find some gems. In order to get ready, we headed down the road to the Winery and did some wine tasting first. After checking out the local grape juice it was strap on the boots and head for the hills.

Drove ten miles down a gravel road across the dessert to an old abandoned mine. Picked through some rocks, but didn't find any precious gems. I was looking for gems that would be worth at least a million dollars. So I didn't collect any rocks. Saw another road runner and had the camera along this time, so I did get a few pictures. It was windy today and really only got into the mid 50's. So jackets were worn most of the day.

Tomorrow we head to Tucson AZ. Won't have Internet connectivity available, so it might be a couple days before I get back on line.

South of the Border

Friday was the Mexico run day. Enough talk, it’s time to chase that cheap liquor! Ya, there were murders, people disappearing in a drug war along the border. Well, it was last year since they had any big stories of violence (Dec. 08). So grab the passport and away we go. South from Deming approx. 30 miles lies Polomas Mexico; our destination. The drive down was uneventful except for the two road runners we saw cross the road in front of us. I never have seen one before and we were lucky enough to see two of them. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me. There was no possible way I was going to be walking around Mexico with a brand new digital camera. In fact I changed into my old underwear. There was no way if I got shot, or scared for that matter, that I would ruin a new pair of underwear. So anyway, there are no pictures of this adventure.

At the border you park your car on the American side and walk across. Am I the only one thinking if we are leaving everything of value behind that there might be a valid reason to assess whether this is a good idea?...Yup, just me. We park at the Duty Free store and head into the store to see what the liquor prices are there before we head over. Prices are cheap, no question, but there is a procedure that needs to be performed to get these prices. This booze is for export only. In other words, it’s for export into Mexico so it doesn’t have the taxes. So you buy here, then get a ride by a Security guy to the border where you walk across into Mexico, then walk back into the United States. You report it at the border, and you might or might not have to pay taxes. If you don’t take much over, they will usually wave the fees.

Well, we didn’t buy anything; we wanted to head to Mexico to see if we could get it cheaper. So we walked through the 20 ft steel walls separating the countries, and there we were, in Mexico. We walked down the street, Shirley looking for good shops to go into. The main stores I observed were pharmacies and Dentists. Evidently Americans come across the border for prescription drugs and dental work. We headed into one store, but there weren’t any lights in the place. After we were in, a girl turned them on so we could see the merchandise. There wasn’t much there, so we quickly left. Walked a couple blocks, from the border then turned around. On the way back to the border we headed into the Pink Store. This store is set up for the American tourist. It’s a large store with the usual Mexican stuff you would expect to see. But it also has a restaurant attached to it. So the clerks in the store will offer you a drink while you shop. After a few minutes we headed into the restaurant and ordered us some Margaritas. We were the only customers in the restaurant when we sat down. There really didn’t seem to be very many Americans around at all. A few American tourists came in while we were there, but there really wasn’t much of a business.

We ordered lunch and a second Margarita. These drinks were really really strong. There was a musician playing music for the restaurant. Halfway through the second drink Paul was dancing with the store’s owner. We all knew two was our limit. I offer to pay for lunch and head to the cashier. She rings up the bill – 654.55. Whoa, we didn’t eat that much! Well of course it wasn’t dollars; I’m in a different country dummy, so the cashier explained the exchange rate for peso to dollars. She also explained that the dollar sign with one vertical line through it was for peso, two vertical lines for dollars. Ya, sure, it really didn’t matter at that point I guess. What was I going to do? Refuse to pay the bill?

We head back over to the American side and the Duty free store. There Paul and Shirley pick up a couple bags of liquor and it’s on the golf cart back to the border. Walk over the border again, and then return to the American side to declare the liquor and hope we don’t get charged the duty. I felt like Paul and Shirley’s drug mule pushing booze through the border. I was along to provide another body so each person is only bringing in a couple bottles a piece. Well, they let us pass, even though we were probably still half in the bag from those wicked good Margaritas we had for lunch. We walked back to the car, loaded up and headed back to Deming. Nerve racking trip, but somewhat uneventful.

Got back to the RV and took a nap. Don’t know what was in those drinks, but I know now why they take siestas.

Staying in Deming 2 days

Moved from Walmart to an RV park this morning. We will be here two nights before moving on to Tucson, AZ. Today was the liquer run to Mexico. Now they have had some 'troubles' on the border, so we weren't sure if it was wise to head over there. Shirley had asked around quite a bit to get a feel for the risk in going over there. She had said there were still people going over there, but they certainly wouldn't recommend going around there at night in the bars. OK, they went over there, but did they come back? Well that question wasn't asked, so the liquer run was on! We are all back in the U.S. with a couple of bags of liquer. I'll post tomorrow how the trip went.

The Reason We Are Here-January 8, 2009

Main goal today is pack up and head down Highway 70 to Deming, NM. It’s about 100 miles southwest of where we are now in Alamogordo. Since it is only a short way, we must lounge around the campsite until 2 in the afternoon before heading out. This isn’t difficult to do since it is calm, 70+ degrees and clear skies. Now this is what this trip is all about! Lawn chairs got a pretty good workout, and it was a two coffee pot day while I relaxed and scanned the horizon with binoculars looking for Alien ships. Didn’t see any, probably since we are on the west side of the mountains from the main landing site at Roswell. We’re leaving today, so someone else is going to have to take up the watch. Last night was much quieter, although the wind picked up around 10:30pm like it did the night before. It started out the same as the night before, only 3 hours earlier. Luckily for us it settled down after 30 minutes, and everyone is well rested today.

Passed through my first border watch checkpoint today. There are checkpoints set up on the highway where the Border Patrol funnels traffic to one slow moving lane, where there is a drug dog and a half dozen cameras aimed at the vehicle. They then wave you onward, or divert you to the side depending on whatever criteria they use to decide. We weren’t stopped. They must have had their quota of old people filled already for the day.

Here in Deming, NM RV parks line the street like hookers in Vegas. You would think there was an RV convention going on. I’m one of the youngest English speaking persons I’ve seen so far.

Tonight we are parked at the WalMart in Deming, NM. There are dozens of RV’s and trucks parked out here already. Paul has been here before, so he heads over to the spot he likes the best and parks for the night. Well, since we are here, I headed into the store to see if I can get a battery for my cell phone and some beer. They don’t have cell phone batteries, but they did have beer. In Alamogordo I blew out my sneaker and have a folded up piece of paper at the heel of it to prevent the shoe from digging into my foot. Since they didn’t have a cell phone battery, I swung into the shoe isle to see if I could get a new pair of sneakers. Now I use to wear a size 9 and a half shoe. But now, evidently I wear a size 11! Now what’s with that! Maybe as I grow older gravity is slowly compressing me down into my feet. Maybe in 20 years all I’ll be is a pair of size 30 shoes moving in unison. We’ll anyway, they didn’t have any size 11’s, so I checked out with a case of beer and limped back to the RV with my good old pair of sneakers.

Last Night at Alamogordo campsite- night night

I received a camera for Christmas, so I've been snapping all types of photos to get familiar with it. Here's the last one at the campsite.

Last Night at Alamogordo

We didn't really have any wood, but Paul and Shirley scrounged up a board or two and some newspaper.

Mighty big drifts White Sands

This is all white sand, not a hill with sand on it. Shirley is walking across the hill barefoot.

White Sands - This should make you feel at home

I talked this lady into sliding down the hill for some photos. The bad part was I had to carry her up the hill in all that loose sand.

The sand isn't as fast as a good icy snow hill. So see, you have something better up north than New Mexico.

White Sands - Just like at home

They plow the roads here just like snow up north, only it's sand. In this photo I captured some young men swiping sand from the park, which is against the law. They didn't pay my extortion fees for not posting, so here they are on the Internet.

Just for you back home White Sands

Now this is the place that makes me think of you back home. So I created this Snow(sand) Angel just for all the friends, family, and past coworkers who are toiling away back home.

Here's to your winter wonderland! Salute!

On the way to White Sands

Shirley doesn't like to pass places like this up.

A quick check into this shop to see if there are any bargains.

This is serious stuff- photo from Jan. 6 at Alamogordo

It takes some serious work to camp. Notice the jackets? This was the first day, which was a little cooler than the second. Second day we shed the jackets. You can tell I'm concentrating on the task at hand.....Cool shades uh? My movie star glasses.

Guys, I'm the one on the left, remember me?

View of mountains from campsite

This is a view in the other direction.

This is a wider view to give you a better idea of the site.

Photos of Campsite outside of Alamogordo NM

Photo of our campsite from part way up the hill.

Yes the sun is out and it is in the 50's.

Ya, forgot to tell you

It is a beautiful day today, temps in the upper 50's with CALM winds and blue skies. Tomorrow they are saying 70 for a temp.....Just wanted you to be updated!

A Very Large Sandbox

Got up around 8 this morning more tired than I went to bed. Man, it's tough figuring out how your going to fight off an alien invasion in the middle of the night.

White Sands Monument was just awesome! I'd upload some pictures, but the Pringle can transmitter unit I'm getting Internet access through isn't strong enough to upload much. The bottom of the can keeps heating up and melting the connection at the bottom. The missle telemetry satillite I'm bouncing the signal off is small, plus the military keeps using bandwidth to track missles across the White Sands missle range. I will upload some more photos when I get better access, or I convert over to a sturdier coffee can.

You know those photos going around the Internet showing the incredible drifts of snow over the road? You know, the 30 or 40 ft. banks of drifted snow? Ya, I see where those photos could of been taken, sorry, it isn't snow.

We are staying at the State Park campsite one more night, then moving into AZ. I sure hope the wind doesn't pick up again. I could really use some sleep. Don't know when I have access again, so keep checking, I've got some great photos to show you.

The Invasion is On.

Didn’t get much sleep last night. Around 1 am I thought for sure the Aliens were staging an all out invasion on earth. My imagination was picturing the mother ship descending a couple miles to the west and the exhaust flooding the campsite with unbelievable winds. I figured it was a very large ship, or the pilot wasn’t that good at landing, because the blast of wind was lasting for more than a few minutes. Anything that could flap was flapping, everything that could howl, rattle, shake, was howling, rattling and shaking. I’ve never experienced anything like it. That’s why I was sure the invasion was on. I thought the dishes were going to rattle out of the cupboard and onto my head. Gusts of wind that went from calm and totally quiet to an ear shattering howl and vibration within seconds shook the RV. Once this kept up for over 3 hours I finally realized it couldn’t be an invasion. Aliens wouldn’t spend that much time landing the saucer, must just be an incredibly strong wind. Of course with all the racket, I still couldn’t get any sleep.

New Mexico--How sweet it is.-January 6, 2009

Alleluia, I still have the technical skills! My watch is now set to Mountain Time AND I figured out how to shut the 6 am alarm I had set the first morning. Life is good.

Short travel day today. We finished the drive from Santa Rosa down Highway 54 to the Oliver Lee State Park campsite. The first 50 miles we were pounded by crosswinds, but we fought our way down to a lower altitude where the wind calmed down. Tumbleweeds 3 and 4 bit the dust today in my continuous crusade to lower the number of these culprits tumbling through our country. Number 3 was undersized, and probably under the legal limit, but Tumbler number 4 was a beauty! Took him square on and sent sticks and seeds flying every which way. I was picking tumbleweed fragments from under the RV and car for the next two gas stops. What a Sport!

We are at a beautiful campsite just southwest of Alamogordo NM. Tomorrow we go to White Sands National Monument and a few other spots. We will be here two nights, and then head toward Tucson AZ.

Looking forward to spending a couple nights in New Mexico. Roswell is close by so I step out of the RV every once in awhile to scan the sky for Alien space ships. It’s windy tonight, and I don’t know think those saucer shaped spaceships handle the winds very well. So I’m not real optimistic I’m going to see them tonight. Maybe it will be better tomorrow night.

Hello Texas, Goodbye Texas -January 5, 2009

We are at the edge of the Central time zone, which means it is darker later in the morning and lighter later in the day. It feels like we are on Daylight Savings Time. So that’s the story we’re going with for not getting on the road until just before 9 this morning.

Headed down I-40 West through the panhandle of Texas, where I saw my first tumble weed tumbling across the Interstate. Cool, just like I’ve seen in the old Western movies. At least I thought that at the moment. Two minutes later I ran over my first tumbleweed. It was a good sized one and made a pretty good noise hitting the wheel well of the RV. Damn things!

Stopped for gas and lunch in Vega Texas, then back on the road to New Mexico. The landscape changes as you travel through New Mexico. It gets rockier, and the dirt and rock turn different colors. Old Route 66 runs alongside the Interstate for quite a ways. There are many abandoned buildings along the road. Signs and literature talk about the ‘Historic’ Route 66. If you take the romance and hype out, it really is just a way of leaving your abandoned condemned buildings left where they are saving the cost of getting rid of them. They might have something here.

Switched to Mountain Time now, so we’ve gained an hour. Got to Santa Rosa, New Mexico by mid afternoon and decided to quit for the day because of the strong winds. It’s still quite cold, and freezes at night, so Paul wanted to find a place to plug in so there wouldn’t be any question on whether the furnace would have enough electricity to run through the night. We found a place that was inexpensive. There won’t be any pictures posted of this place because I couldn’t find a good angle to snap the photos from that would make this site look good. But the electricity works, and maybe the dogs that are protecting the owners main business will provide security. I might be wrong though; I think the dogs stay inside the fenced acreage to protect the vintage cars and trucks piled up in there.

Welcome?

Always wonder if these RV camps really want you around or not.

Well, it's on the road to move west. It will be around 9 before we are rolling.

Catch you next time I have access.

Bedtime update

Current temp is 24, wind chill around 14. They have spotted some snowflakes in Oklahoma City, plus there might be freezing rain shortly.

Doesn't that make you feel better up there in Wisconsin?

Nite Nite.

Farther We Go, Colder it Gets!

Woke up Sunday with all the windows on the RV fogged up and the camper rocking! No, it wasn’t what you are thinking. Cold with 15-20mph winds blowing from the North made us think we didn’t really travel very far from home. What was interesting was the sound of coyotes yelping just outside of the RV camp around 5 am. They made a pass behind the RV heading south in a brushy area just west of the camp. They were moving at a good gate, not hesitating long in the area.

On the road around 8:30 this morning. Paul shows me on the map how we are taking the back way through part of Kansas to get around the tolls in Oklahoma. It was 20 extra miles, but he claims saves because they charge by the axle, and with the RV plus the car being towed, we’re talking real cash. One stretch would have been a buck a mile. The roads were narrow, and the bridges were narrower. A couple of bridges would have been exciting if there were any on coming vehicles! The GPS didn’t have accurate maps of a few spots which caused some wrong turns and some lively conversation. But after some tight turns and a mile down a road only as wide as the RV, we made it back on to a main drag.

Since we had a late start, lunch turned into a stop at a casino so Shirley could get rid of some dollar bills she had piling up. Paul and I did the only thing we figure would be worthwhile doing….used the restrooms. Shirley started pumping money into the machines. She went in to the casino with $10 and came out with $21 by the time Paul could get her to leave. We continued on our trip with freezing gusty crosswinds for the rest of the day.

Pulled into Elk City, OK after 6 pm, and hooked up at the Elk Run RV park. The park looks a little suspect, but showers were the priority tonight, and it was getting late. Hey, the water wasn’t quite as hot as I like, but it felt good never the less. Our vehicle was too large to park near the WiFi access, so I spent an hour or so trying to get a connection from the half dozen I saw broadcasting. I was successful!

Tomorrow it’s across the panhandle of Texas into New Mexico. WiFi access might be a tough commodity to come by, so if you don’t hear from me the next day or two, hang in there..when I catch the air waves, I’ll post the updates.

Even the trees down here are cold.

Friendly trees, but not as tough as Wisconsin trees

It feels like Wisconsin

Here's what we woke up to this morning

That cold air did chase us down here, this should make you feel better now.

Almost through Missouri

Watch alarm goes off at exactly 6 am this morning. I will need to figure out how to shut that alarm off. Just haven’t thought about it yet. Bet I will by the 8th day the alarm wakes me up at 6!

Started off the day with temperatures in the upper 30’s, by 10 am it was in the upper 40’s. We stopped for lunch at a Rest Stop right at noon, and we were in the 50’s. Stopped for gas and some groceries just before 3 pm and it was close to 70. Went a few more miles down the road and pulled into an RV park for the night. Enjoyed the last hour of daylight sitting in lawn chairs having a couple of beers. It’s finally warm enough for me to take off my sweatshirt and enjoy the weather in a t-shirt. Forgot to take a picture to flaunt, but most know what Paul, Shirley, and myself look like in a lawn chair drinking a beer anyway.

We are spending the night at Coachlight RV Park in Carthage MO. Just a few more miles and we will enter Oklahoma on Interstate 44. Watched the weather, and the beautiful day is going to turn into a high of 38 degrees tomorrow. Seems the cold is chasing us down here.

Shirley talked about the Mexican town we plan to cross over to when we are further along. Google’d that baby, and looks like things are pretty exciting. Several articles about people disappearing and multiple murders taking place in a drug turf battle. Border Patrol recommending people cross at their own risk. But, that was last year. But there is nothing going on so far this year that we can dig up :-) The decision to cross for cheap booze will have to be made as we get closer.

Here's some pictures

Picture of the crew ready to depart the freezing cold of Wisconsin.

And here's the first nights stop just North of St. Louis.

Here's a small reminder upon leaving the camp I think the second item on the list is to keep the build up of wife's at the office's Lost and found dept.

Camp has free Wi-Fi

Caught up on my email, and set up the webcam so I could try out Skype video call with Diane. After 2 cell phone calls, 12 chat messages, configuring the microphone on my laptop, and making gestures on the camera so Diane knew what I was trying to do, we were connected! Worked fairly well but I hope in the future the connection process will work a little better.

Diane reminded me I’m supposed to be taking pictures and adding them to my blog. I’ll try to get those shots of the campground in the morning before we head out. If we luck off, maybe I’ll have Wi-Fi at the next campground so I can get those uploaded.

First Day of Camp complete

The watch alarm did go off at 6 am, and I grabbed a shower, bowl of cereal and some coffee. Next I loaded my stuff in the motor home, minus the lost flashlight. Lastly took a couple of pictures, said goodbye to Diane, and off we go at 7:35.

Turned south on 151 and headed toward Madison. This was my practice stretch piloting the 22 ton missile that barely fits between the lines on the road. In order to expedite my training, Paul set me up in a right to left crosswind to teach me how hard it would be to drive a billboard down the highway. This was excellent training; we’re still all alive, so obviously I learned fast.

We made it to an RV campground just north of St. Louis just before sunset. The snow has finally melted from the roof, and the temperature is in the low 40’s. They charge for extra passengers, but I looked forlorn enough that the woman at the desk said she wouldn’t charge for me. Evidently she could read the results of my retirement investments in my face.

Paul assigned me the task of locking all of the outside compartments on the RV, evidently after seeing me piloting the RV convinced him to give me a task I could be successful at. Well, the first compartment the key didn’t turn, so much for the easy tasks.

John Goes Camping

New Year’s Eve
Dropped our son Mike off at his home in Madison on New Year’s Eve and spend the remainder of the night at our friends house eating ‘surf n turf’ off of the grill, washing it down with beer and wine in true Wisconsin tradition.

New Year’s Day
After an excellent breakfast and conversation, it was time to head to Uncle Paul and Aunt Shirley’s in Appleton where Diane and I will spend the night. Spending the night before the trip was done to make sure I’m ready by 7:00 am to board the 22 ton, 34 foot long internal combustion powered missile I’m going to call home for the next month. Stopped at the Stone Cellar Brew Pub to tip a few excellent stouts and have some pizza with friends before reporting to camp. Seven pm Diane and I were at Paul and Shirley’s where we had a couple more beers before turning in for the night. Six o’clock was wake up time, so I needed to set an alarm for the first time in a long time. Since all I had was my watch, I started pressing buttons to figure out how to set an alarm. Now my watch is way cool. It is synchronized with the Atomic clock in Boulder CO, so it never needs setting. It has a battery that is recharged by solar cells, so I never change batteries. So basically, I never use the buttons on my watch; therefore I don’t know how to use the three alarms that can be set on it. I got through it though and was fairly confident it would go off at 6. The only issue was I don’t know how to unset it. In other words, I will be getting up at 6 every morning from this day on until I do figure it out.Lights out, time to get some shut eye….man it’s dark in here, maybe I should get my flashlight in case I have to get up tonight. After 5-10 minutes going through my bag, I came to the conclusion that I’ve lost my flashlight before the trip has even started. Man, it was my favorite one, it’s either at our friends’ house, or I left it on the cupboard at home. I’m not sure, but I’ve still got a spare smaller one for the trip, so all is still good.