Trip Home April 20, 2009 Day 4

We were up and on the road shortly after 7 this morning. The goal was to make it to northern Illinois or southern Wisconsin for the last night aboard the RV. Paul took it around St. Louis in moderate traffic into Illinois. We switched a couple times throughout the day and had lunch at a truck stop somewhere in the middle of Illinois. At this point the driving was going quite well, and the topic of making it all the way home came up. It was looking like we might make Wisconsin by the middle to late afternoon. The question would be at that time whether we will have enough time and energy to make it home before dark. Paul’s segment in northern Illinois was a windy section with gusty crosswinds. If that kept up, quitting early and resting seemed like a good idea. As we entered Wisconsin though, the cross winds subsided and we were again making good time. At this point it looked good for completing the trip today. We stopped at a truck stop in Fond u lac and ate our supper, then jumped back on to Hwy 41 to arrive at Paul and Shirley’s a little after 7. Shirley had indicated that was a new record number of miles in the RV for one day. Somewhere over 520 I think.

Well, now I've got to get back to real life and get the lawn mower ready for the summer.

Trip Home April 19, 2009 Day 3

Shirley won 9 bucks in the casino after our $2.99 breakfast at the Fireside Casino where we had spent the night with complementary RV parking including water and electric hookup. I don’t think the casino really envisioned people rolling in to stay a night for free, win enough to eat breakfast free, and then rested, full, and showered, leave not to be seen again at least for the rest of the year, if ever.

PauI got up this morning, started the coffee and went outside with the right rearview mirror under his arm. Before he fell asleep last night he figured out a possible fix to get us all the way home. So he was out there with toothpicks and wood glue banging and screwing the mirror back on to the side of the RV. It was re installed before the coffee was even finished brewing. I went out and checked his work, and I really think it was installed better than when they bought the RV.

We head back on the road at 9:30 am to fight the wind and rain for the remainder of the day. Today was fairly uneventful. No pepper spray in my eyes when I drove, and nothing broke or fell off of the RV. Midday, after seeing the waterlogged farm fields as we made our way across Missouri, we switched the destination for the day and picked a campground that indicated a good gravel base. I was driving the last leg this day, and exited I-44 at the correct ramp. Only problem was after we drove toward the campground a sign indicated the place wasn’t opening until May. Well, there wasn’t much room to maneuver, so we kept driving down this narrow road searching for a good place to turn around. After a couple of miles, we saw indications that maybe this narrow road would lead us back out to the Interstate, so we kept on. Paul kept reminding me to take my half of the road in the middle because there wasn’t a shoulder to speak of and the RV was easily as wide or wider than the lane. So we kept motoring along with me driving a touch to the left of the center line. Every once in awhile we would come up next to the Interstate and drive a short time next to it, but we weren’t seeing a way back on. About this time we realized we were on the ‘Old Route 66’. Traveled a few more miles down the road until we finally came upon a ramp back on the Interstate.

So my adventure was complete, we ‘got our kicks on Route 66’. Now I've heard the songs about this highway, but I couldn't remember any of them, and when I asked Paul and Shirley if they remembered so we could sing while we weaved our way back to the Interstate, they weren't much help. Anyway, we headed to the original campground and found it was now called Ladybug instead of Blue Moon, and the new owners had graveled it the year before. All was good. While talking with the new owner we find out he’s spent the last 38 years driving cattle to slaughter houses all over the U.S, and this was his retirement project. He’s delivered cattle all over Wisconsin including to Green Bay and Milwaukee. Didn’t really realize they truck cattle from Southern Missouri to Green Bay to create next week’s quarter pounder.

Thoughts While Driving

"Man, we've been driving for days! Wonder if we'll ever make it home.....where is home again?.....some place the sun don't shine......doesn't matter, I don't have to go to work tomorrow....... I really have to learn how to drive this thing before we get home.......hope I don't get pepper sprayed again.....eeewwww, that deer really got hit.....couple more hours of driving and it's Miller time......what the hell day is it anyway?......doesn't matter, I don't have to go to work tomorrow.....I should really put on clean jeans for tomorrow though......Man, we've been driving for days! Wonder if we'll ever make it home....wonder if the lawn needs cutting.....where is home again?....Got to figure out how to turn on the headlights pretty soon.......couple more hours of driving and it's Miller Time!!"

Trip Home April 18, 2009 Day 2

A few miles down the road the snow was gone and with the drop in elevation the temperatures warmed up some. As we chased the Low pressure system traveling east, the winds weren’t much of a problem. In fact as the day progressed, we had a mild tail wind, so we made good progress traveling slightly over 500 miles this day. On my turn driving, the vent system unleashed another blast of burning particulates, or some variant of pepper spray, don’t really know what. This time it only succeeded in burning my left eye. I didn’t say anything at the time because I thought the excitement the day before was enough for one trip, and I could still see out of my right eye. Anyway, Paul ended up driving more than he should of the day before while I was resting my eyes. With no construction this time, I found it easy to drive for a little while with my left eye closed. Paul or Shirley couldn’t see my left side anyway, so I mentioned it to them after the burning receded. Shirley wiped off my glassed again and we kept going. Needless to say I redirected the vents away from my face for the remainder of the trip.
Toward the end of the day, Paul was driving around the Oklahoma City bypass. The traffic wasn’t bad since it was Saturday, but it’s still a busy multilane, exit enriched section of road. We were making pretty good time when a load noise emanating from the driver’s side of the RV overpowered the usual loud road noise. I had a good suspicion about what that noise was, so I quickly looked out of the driver side window next to Paul and satisfied my suspicion by not seeing any part of the left side rear view mirror. It was gone off the side of the RV. Paul was peering through the remaining right side mirror, and looking at the rear facing camera screen to see if he could see where it went. He worked the RV over to the right side of the freeway and pulled off as far as the road would allow, which wasn’t far enough to safely walk on the driver side of the RV. Paul sticks his head out the window and finds the mirror dangling from the cable connected to it. As luck would have it, the mirror has electrical controls for adjustment so required a good sized cable through the bracket into the mirror assembly. After looking at it for a minute or so, Paul grabs the wire clippers and we clip it off and bring the mirror inside. But before we even get it inside, there in front of us is a cop stepping out of her car to see what’s happening. Paul cradling the mirror indicates to her that we were just securing the broken mirror and will soon be on our way. And we were, with Paul using the rear facing camera much more than normal to compensate for the missing mirror.The stop for tonight is at a casino which offers free electric and water RV hookups. Shirley had found out about this casino while in Arizona from some of their friends. By driving all day, we managed to drive under the Low pressure system and on the warm side of the accompanied cold front. Of course we were barely east of it, in fact, we were just ahead of thunderstorms which caught up with us as we were driving into the casino lot. We found the sites off to the right and quickly picked out an empty spot with electric and water hook ups. In the rain, we unhooked the car and Paul backed the RV into the spot, lucky number 13. Paul hooks up the power and water while the rain is starting to come down at a clothes drenching pace. Everything is set, it’s Miller time. Shirley grabs a couple bucks and takes a shuttle into the casino to get a camping pass and try to win ownership of the casino through the slot machines. While Paul and I were hydrating in the RV, Shirley calls and informs us that number 13 has electrical problems and that the RV will have to be moved. The electrical was working fine, so we didn’t feel the need to move. A little while latter a Security officer stops in and asks if we have a Pass. Paul tells him that Shirley went in for a Pass and hasn’t returned with it yet because of some supposed problem with the electrical. Officer tells Paul to get a pass as soon as convenient. Paul then asks the Security guy if Maintenance is coming out to the site he should ask them if they’d bring a drill and power screwdriver so Paul can reattach the mirror. The Security guy smiled shook his head and drove off, not to be seen again. An hour later Shirley comes back to the RV and informs us we don’t have a Pass because they wouldn’t give her one for a broken site and that we were suppose to move. Meanwhile, the thunderstorms started up again and the temperature was dropping with a brisk wind. Well, we didn’t move, and we really didn’t ever get a Pass to stay there, but no one bothered us again, and Maintenance never showed up. Maybe they weren’t excited about working on Saturday night in a thunderstorm on a fictitious electrical problem.

Trip Home April 17, 2009 Day 1

Left the campsite at 7 am this morning and headed north to Holbrook to catch I-40 going east. Paul took the first shift driving and took it up to the Interstate where we stopped and stretched before driving east on I-40. Pretty routine drive until somewhere in New Mexico just as I was entering a single lane construction zone something came up through the air vents that started burning my eyes. My left eye I couldn’t keep open it was watering so bad, while the right eye was struggling to see the road. Being funneled down to one lane with barriers holding us in the lane, there was no room for me to pull off. Once I could sort of open my left eye, I noticed a fog over my glasses. After fighting my way down the road for 4 or 5 miles I finally exited out of the construction zone and pulled over. Paul then took it for the next few hours. Don’t have any idea on what blew into my face, but at least my glasses repelled some of it from going into my eyes. Don’t really need that type of excitement when I’m trying to aim this RV down a one lane construction corridor. Have I told you how wide this beast is? Finally at the end of the day at Clines Corners NM we pulled over into a Travel Center to spend the night. It was down to 33 degrees and started snowing to beat the band. Welcome to the rest of the country! There was about 1-2 inches on the ground when we woke up at 6:45. Had some breakfast, wiped the moisture off of the inside of the windows and started rolling again around 7:30.

Home Again - Still Winter

Made it home Monday night after racking up over 500 miles traveling from south of St. Louis MO on Monday. Following will be some posts chronicling the trip back from Phoenix. We left Phoenix Friday morning, just days before they had their first 100 degree day. Good time to get out of there. The snow here Monday night did a good job snapping me back to Wisconsin's climate.

I've been unpacking and catching up on the email, snail mail, and bills that accumulated over the last 2 weeks. This morning I ran across this article that supports my belief there is still something going on at Roswell NM. Yes, I know, plenty of arguments about aliens, but here is an astronaut claiming aliens exist and just might have been at Roswell. So why would the government try to keep hiding the fact aliens might of crash landed in the 40's? I'm now thinking the aliens have taken over our government and are running it. That would be a very good reason to hide the evidence. What makes me think that? Ever notice whenever your voting it seems your always trying to pick the candidate that would do the least damage? No one has any respect for politicians, they seem to only be looking out for themselves. Intelligent people don't seem to run for office. Politicians never seem to know what's going on and always tell us what we want to hear. Yet never follow through on campaign promises. Sounds like maybe they aren't one of us, uh? Check out the link and see what you think.

http://www.dailytech.com/Former+Astronaut+Says+Aliens+Exist+Accuses+Government+of+Conspiracy/article14917.htm

Pack it Up, Party's Over

Snow birds are packing up and heading to their homes. Each day a few more people and trailers leave the park. The people that stay behind get to eat from everyone's refrigrator and freezer as they are one by one cleaned out. Tonight I had pumpkin pie with whipped cream. This morning it was oatmeal left behind by a different Snow Bird. If someone played their cards right, they could get free groceries for a month as everyone clears out of the parks.

Paul and Shirley have been pulling their stuff together over the last couple of days. Reshuffling the storage compartments to put things back in their proper position for the trip. Tomorrow, Wednesday we leave the RV park and head up to Usery Park for a couple of nights camping before saying goodbye to Arizona. Friday the long trip back starts as we head north to I-40 at Winslow.

This will be the last of my Internet access until I'm home next week. So I will dutifully accumulate any good stories on the trip home to post on the blog after I'm home.

Event Three: Religion

So it's Mesa in the morning, Scottsdale in the afternoon and now the third event is at a Mormon church in Tempe. After supper we load up three lawn chairs and drive to Tempe. The week preceding Easter this Mormon church puts on an Easter Pageant that basically consists of a play that brings you through the New Testament from the birth of Christ to the Ascension into Heaven. Well, as it turns out it is a very popular event that draws large crowds. Paul was grumbling about parking most of the way there and when we were close, I understood why. This was like Packer Sunday around the Stadium an hour before game time. There were cops directing traffic at the intersections and cars parked in every available spot for blocks around. After an average amount of grumbling we located a spot on a side street about a quarter to half mile from the event. We walk, carrying our lawn chairs to a large field in front of a stage that looks like it's a quarter mile away. On the way people were selling bibles, candy bars, and I think someone might of had a bottle of salvation. OK, I made up the salvation stuff. Every five steps someone was trying to hand us pamphlets. Couldn't tell you what they were since we resisted taking them. Once we made our way to the event, there must of been 5000 chairs set up in the grass facing the stage, almost all of them filled. Behind the chairs was a sloping ridge where blankets were spread out filled with even more people. You'd think we were attending a rock concert (without the smoke, drugs, and booze of course) with up to 8-10 thousand people attending. We slid along the back ridge slightly parallel toward the stage. We found a clear spot in the grass and set up our lawn chairs. Just as we sat down a guy behind us asks us to move because 'We have been here a long time and can't see over your heads because we are on blankets.' He repeated this until we picked up our chairs and moved them over 6 feet. Rough crowd, we couldn't figure out why if he was here so long he didn't take the spot in front where we set our chairs up.

Before the pageant began, the actors, in costume, roamed around the crowd handing out pamphlets or programs and visiting. After the second one offered a program to me, I took it just to prevent anymore actors hassling us. I don't know exactly why they were handing out programs, it was dark in the audience, and no way to read it. After we got back to the car I did take a look at it, but the whole thing was in Spanish. Oh well, at least while I was waving it around at the show it kept more actors coming up and offering me another one.

Twenty feet behind us is the sidewalk along the main road. Being a public walkway, anyone is allowed to stand or walk along it. So along the sidewalk are many of the competing Christian religions protesting with large banners and of coarse handing out propaganda to anyone who takes it. Once the show started, we had one protester yelling at the crowd about how we shouldn't be watching the brainwashing the Mormons were doing to us. Let's call him 'Born Nut Job'. He was the very vocal dude with the heavy beard and goofy hat, and shouting with the good book in one hand. While Jesus was throwing the merchants out of the temple on the stage Born Nut Job was telling me I was going to Hell to burn for eternity. Well this went on for a little while longer until one of the other protesters from a different denomination who was carrying a large banner near Born Nut came over and started discussing religion with him. Let's call him King James. King James took pity on us poor spectators and struck up a conversation with Born Nut Job so he would quit shouting across the audience disturbing the show for so many people. Another denomination's representative chimed in to the conversation at first and I thought there might be a round of fisticuffs on the sidewalk behind us. But they settled down and the technique worked in quieting Born Nut down. Not all the denominations participated in pacing and yelling from the sidewalk. Roman Universal had a wood vendor's stand set up at the intersection with a full array of religious paraphernalia. I suppose Roman figured he might not be able to change to many people's minds, but at least he'd have their money.

The show was professionally done, and involved hundreds of actors. But the part I enjoyed the most was the spectacle which included the 'christian' protesters and vendors giving it the feel of a large political rally or sports event. I have to believe even a devout christian would look at this with a cynical eye.

Well, what a way to end a busy day. The next couple of days have been much quieter, and this Easter Sunday is just about finished. The next couple of days Paul and Shirley have to start packing up for the trip home. Wednesday we move from the RV park and move to Usary Park for a couple days of camping before heading back to Wisconsin around Friday.

Event Two: History

Lunch in Downtown Mesa, then on to Scottsdale for the Titanic exhibit. This of course was free, but was located in the back of a shopping mall so everyone had to walk through most of the Mall to get to it. The exhibit was sponsored by Country Financial. With them being a financial institution it gave me confidence it was sponsored by a company that was an expert on disasters. Pictured here are Paul, Shirley, and myself in front of the Titanic staircase ready to view the artifacts from the great disaster. These were limited to the ship artifacts and thankfully didn't include any of my recent retirement investment statements which would of fit nicely in the display. This exhibit was mobile, and consisted of a few rooms of murals, facts and quotes printed on the wall. Along the sides and center of the rooms were glass cases holding the artifacts which consisted of jewelry, papers, and pieces of the ship. For being somewhat small, it was very well designed. The last wall listed all of the passengers, sorted by 1st, 2nd, or 3rd class and whether they lived or died on that fateful voyage. Very good visual showing how, percentage wise many more 1st class passengers survived compared to the other 2 classes. Then of course at the very end was my favorite quote of the exhibit by an Irish philosopher Jack Foster:

"We are all passengers of the Titanic"

Now the art exhibit I missed the meaning of the different pieces, but this quote I just love to think about all the levels and different meanings and contexts where this could apply. And I'm sure I'm reading more into it than the author intended.

Event One: Culture

As you already should know by reading older posts, Shirley had gotten a free pass to the Modern Art Museum in Mesa, AZ by waiting in line at the Library. Thursday morning we headed to downtown Mesa to take advantage of them. Walking through the downtown was something we did, and obviously no one else did. There is this huge modern theatre and Art complex that seemed abandoned. After wandering for a bit we honed in on the Art Museum located a flight of stairs down from ground level. At the front counter Shirley started digging in her purse for the pass. The Lady at the counter immediately looked straight at Shirley and said 'Oh, the museum is free today, it's free every Thursday.' I could see the look of disappointment on Shirley's face as she realized her wait in line at the Library was a waste. Can you imagine being disappointed when you find out something is free? Isn't it a little foolish to hand out a limited number of free passes to something that is free one day a week anyway?

Well, ok, into the museum we go. Inside we find a limited time exhibit by Sergei Isupov called 'Androgyny'. Since my artistic side of my brain never formed as a baby, I have the ability to not get distracted by the artistic value or meaning of the exhibit. I can easily and logically describe this exhibit in two words--Ceramic Heads. That's it, there really isn't anything else I can say except they were about 4 feet tall and somewhat impressive looking. On to the next rooms where there were more ceramic or glazed figures scattered all over the floor. Then a room with paintings, and sketches. Since this is modern art, some of this stuff has just been finished and hung on the wall. I could almost smell the odor of fresh paint as the thick areas of paint on the art work dry out. Must be easier running a modern art museum. Just think, you don't have to preserve anything, and don't have to have curators dusting the old treasures.

So it's obvious not much culture rubbed off on me, bounced off like water on a duck's back. But it was interesting to see what the artistic thinking people come up with. I know my mind doesn't work that way.

Well, next post, on to the Titanic.

Culture, History and Religion in one Day

The schedule was packed yesterday. First there was the Modern Art Exhibit in Downtown Mesa. Second was a mobile Titanic Exhibit at the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall and to end the day there was an Easter Pageant at a Morman church in Tempe. All venues were of course free, or at least not a monetary price to pay. Since these were very interesting endeavors, and I'm not a fan of long posts, I'm going to split each of these categories up into individual posts. It's like this town just feeds me material for this blog.

Today it's windy again, but not up to 'blowing dust' proportions. But there is unbelievable excitement about a 50 50 chance of a quarter inch of rain tonight. It hasn't rained here since I left in February. They count the days since the last rain, sort of like Wisconsinites measure days below zero in winter. It's been over 53 days since it's rained last.

As the Wind Blows

Wednesday was a cool 79 degrees and in the afternoon quite windy. If you didn't get your newspaper read before noon you would of had to move inside. This wind wasn't the New Mexico wind at Alamogardo encountered on the drive here in January, but strong enough to blow your paper plates off the patio table. The Weather Service forecasts days like this on their Internet site as 'Blowing Dust'. I think that is a little understated. They shut Interstate 40 in the northern part of the state down because of the winds and blowing dirt. I was taught a different term which I think is more descriptive of the situation. It's called a Sand Storm.

Now today the winds are calm and it's going to be a nice one. It's after 9 this morning and most of the people in the park have their cars dusted off from the wind and are ready for another day of goofing off. We're headed to the Modern Art Museum in Mesa today to acquire a little culture. My skin is quite repellent to that sort of thing, but just maybe I can absorb a little bit. Shirley went to the Library yesterday and grabbed some free passes for the Museum. She was going for the free Zoo passes, but the kids in line in front of her grabbed all those before she got to the front of the line. I think if it wasn't Spring break for the schools she could of scored the Zoo passes. The art museum might be more interesting. I've seen monkeys and lions before and I'm certain I haven't seen anything that is on display in the art museum.

The vote is in

Well, after a week or so of heavy voting, the future direction has been set. Of the three people who read the blog, there is one vote to continue a blog and write a book, one for continuing the blog, and one vote to quit and find something I'm good at. One of the votes was mine, so there are only two votes that are valid. After pouring over the numbers and studying the results the best direction for now would be to continue the blog, hold off on the book, and stop reading my own blog. This will make everyone happy, but there will be a longer wait for the book. And that should give me enough time to develop writing skills.

Now for the blog, I'm back in Arizona as of yesterday getting acclimated to the weather in preparation for the trip back to Wisconsin. So the posts will start tomorrow and hopefully keep you up to date on the action. It was 92 here yesterday, to hot to work on a computer, but it's cooled down now and I've got a good Internet connection for at least a week.