Diary of an Adventurous Lady

Home or away, the adventure continues

2011-10-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

"We don't always have control over what happens, but we do have control over what we do with the experience." – unknown author

Finally, I’m back to my blog. I was too busy while at Navajo Lake State Park, available to help campers and rangers from sunup to sundown. I left there Sept. 28.

After three days in Rio Rancho – visiting family and friends – I finally arrived home after being gone for six months. More adventure. I arrived to find two sick willow trees, the large one on its last legs and the smaller one only a bit better. Both trees were removed.

I also arrived to find out that Africanized bees had set up housekeeping in a void area between my living room and the attic. The local bee guy encouraged them to leave by poking some toxic material into their entry hole. Then he came back after a few days and closed up the hole. No more bees.

Discovered that Trader Joe's is building a store in the Prescott area – yea! This is one of my favorite shopping places; great selection of fresh produce and great quality food products.

Hired a new gardener. The former guy performed miserably, supposedly keeping weeds cut and checking on my automatic drip system. And had six spruce trees planted.

Got computer fixed. Repair guy removed about two-cats-worth of cat hair and replaced the fan. Hallelujah!

The local little theater – Lonesome Valley Players – performed Fiddler on the Roof. Great cast. The “fiddle player” was a 13-year-old local boy who played beautifully.

Had sweet times with neighbors and family. And had some kick-back and reading time.

Had a visit from a “leaf” – at first glance, that’s what it looked like. Ranger Amy identified it as a Katydid!

I’m now at my winter volunteer ‘job’ at McDowell Mountain Park in the northeast portion of the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix area). I’m assigned to help staff the park’s visitor center on weekends and some weekdays. Prescott Valley house is closed up and my sweet neighbors keep an eye on it.

Carol’s Cat – Rest in Peace

Now to the very sad news – Cat seemed to be on a hunger strike and was sleeping more than usual. And she was obviously loosing weight. I found a cat-loving Vet who x-rayed her and discovered that she only had one functioning kidney which was failing and the x-ray showed something in her lung that possibly was cancer. Cat had already lost a couple of pounds; was down to 5+ pounds from her normal 7+ pounds. And the Vet said she was in a lot of pain. So, Cat has gone to cat heaven and I sure do miss her.

Adventures at Navajo Lake State Park

2011-09-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

It's a chilly, rainy day at Navajo Lake State Park

“Little ducky duddle, went swimming in a puddle; went swimming in a puddle quite small. Says he it doesn’t matter how much I splash and splatter, I’m only a ducky after all” – a song children sing on rainy days.

I arrived the afternoon of Thursday, August 11, got Jeremiah settled into site #48 and then I was off and running by 7 a.m. the next day. It would be a typical busy weekend both in the campground, on the lake and at the river. I mentally prepared for up to 10-hour ‘work’ days, seven days a week. Thankfully I’m blessed with high energy and stamina. And I'm blessed to have super Rangers who are so appreciative of their volunteers.

Navajo Lake, located in northwestern New Mexico and southwest Colorado, is New Mexico’s second largest lake. The lake is part of the Colorado River Storage Project. Water is impounded in the lake by an earth- and rock-filled dam that is at 6,085 feet elevation. Released water flows into the San Juan River, famous for its superb trout fishing.

My responsibility includes 77 RV and tent camping sites and assisting campers in a variety of ways. Fortunately, most campers are super and make this job a sweet one. I enjoy greeting campers, being able to make time to visit with them. However, there are always a few rotten apples in the bunch that can challenge my naturally good nature.

Birding time has been incidental – watching House Finches and Scrub Jays at my seed feeders and Black-headed Grosbeaks on the ground, enjoying the Williamson Sapsuckers that hang out in the Pinon trees and the Juniper Titmouse that spend their time in the Juniper trees. Crows, Common Ravens and Turkey Vultures lazily soar over the campgrounds and lake. I know there are other birds, but I have not taken time to look for them. Oh, yes, today I saw an Eastern Collared Lizard - greenish body and yellow feet!

My two biggest inconveniences when I was here last year were laundry and groceries. This year one of the rangers, who lives on the park property, has let me use her washer and drier. And although another ranger has offered to bring groceries from town (closest town is about 25 miles), one of the regular campers brings groceries when she goes to town. What a blessing.

During my time here, weekends are always busy – just ‘warm-ups’ for Labor Day weekend and after Labor Day campsites are full of local and serious fishermen. For Labor Day, as expected we were full and overflowing. As I navigated the tangle of RVs, tents, boats, boat trailers, bicycles, cars, pickup trucks, dogs, adults and children, I discovered that it helped to be singing or humming a hymn, and smiling.

Sept. 11 – moving out day for 28 campsites means site cleaning for me. At least the sun is out again, although weatherman says 30% chance of rain for the rest of the week. When this evening arrives, I have just two more weekends here – I’ll leave either Sept. 28 or 29; drive down to the Albuquerque/Rio Rancho area for a couple days before heading home early Sunday, Oct. 2, morning.

My computer is acting up again, and actually had a major problem last week – a corrupt operating system according to the tech help at Carbonite (a backup system I wisely pay for). Thanks to my foresight, I didn’t lose anything.

Last week of the Sisters 2011 Adventure

2011-08-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

The Judy and Claud Mary RV Resort and B&B

Give this place a 10-Star rating! After a short driving day, we arrived at the Mary’s driveway of their huge, beautiful home. Jeremiah was parked alongside the house for Cat and I; Linda moved into the guest bedroom.

During our stay here, we spend part of a day at the famous Garden of the Gods. At one of the scenic stops, we found another tourist to take our photo.

That day we also walked around the historic town of Manitou Springs. Of course we shopped and did lots of people-watching. It was Sunday and the town was busy. As we meandered down the main street, I was surprised to see two colorful birds – unattached to their owners – perched on a bicycle rack. Here’s the photo of them: Sammy on the right and Lolita.

One evening we spent at the Flying W Ranch – dinner and music in a barn-like setting since it had been raining and threatened more of the same. The five guys – guitars and fiddle – kept things lively making for a super evening.

Judy and Claud are super hosts and made our stay there extra special. With two outdoor patios, we spent plenty of time overlooking their large property and enjoying the squirrels and birds.

Cat got lots of napping time since she was basically left alone except for evenings, nights, and mornings. She says she enjoyed watching the critters.

Last night – the NRA’s Whittington Center RV Park

After a stormy drive south on I-25 – including a down-pour as we crossed the Raton Pass – we settled in for our last night on the road here. I barely got Jeremiah plugged in before more rain hit. We are here because Sugarite State Park (New Mexico) our original stop, was closed due to wildfire damage.

This NRA Center, at elevations from 6,100 to 8,000 feet, offers a variety of family recreational activities such as hiking, bird watching, wildlife viewing and camping. The Center hosts many competitive shooting events at a variety of shooting ranges.

Next Stop – Rio Rancho, New Mexico – the end of the road for this adventure.

Linda flies back to her home on Sunday afternoon and after three days of appointments – hair cut, motorhome service – and visits with friends and family, I’ll leave on Thursday for my volunteer time at Navajo Lake State Park in northwestern New Mexico. I’ll be there from Aug. 12 through the first week of October.

This is the end of this adventure, but as I once read:

What the caterpillar thinks is the end of the world; the butterfly knows is only the beginning.

So just like the butterfly, I know this is just the beginning of many more adventures.

Thanks for traveling with us.

Week 4 of 5 weeks

2011-07-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Imagination plus incentive creates ambition Ambition plus action creates courage and strength -- Harold Warp

On my last blog post from Spencer, Iowa, I left you – and us – in suspense as to our next destination. Somehow we miscalculated and had two extra days to look forward to! We had a couple of ideas, but had to do some checking. Plan A was to drive north for a short visit with “Mom” Rayburn in eastern South Dakota (mother to my RV friend Carol Rayburn). This would have been super except for the fact that Mom was in Custer State Park in western South Dakota. Plan B was to continue west at a more leisurely pace.

So it was Plan B which would take us about 100 miles south and then across southern Nebraska on Hwy 6/34. Sunday’s destination was the Double Nickel RV Park just outside of Waco, Nebraska. On our way we stopped at the small downtown of Oakland, “The Swedish Capital of Nebraska”. Being Sunday, the stores were not open but the walk was super and a nice break in the drive. The streets were red brick and the light poles were adorned with colorful wooden cut-out horses. One building had a Swedish-theme mural.

As usual when traveling in tornado country, I check for a storm shelter – and the Double Nickel RV park had one. Linda said she would check it out while I got Jeremiah settled. She came back and said she didn’t think she would go into it – dark and lots of spider webs and who knew what would be toward the end of the large semi-submerged “tube”. Below you see the door and the tube.

With extra days available and no serious storms predicted, we spent two nights at the Double Nickel. Linda enjoyed the swimming pool and lived up to her ‘eagle-eye’ reputation by finding half of a Robin egg and a whole/dead/dried butterfly. I spotted a tiny toad – about the size of a penny. Even though the days were in the mid to high 90s with humidity, we got rainy and cool nights.

Minden, Nebraska

Our last Nebraska stop was Minden, location of Harold Warp’s Pioneer Village which included a lovely, shaded RV park.

I wish I could remember who told me about this amazing piece of history. And “amazing” doesn’t adequately describe it – it is a one-of-a-kind labor of love. Below are signs on the main building - look closely at the second sign and note the "man starting up the car".

As the entrance sign says;

PIONEER VILLAGE, MINDEN, NEBRASKA

The story of America and how it grew

Showing Man’s Progress since 1830.

For thousands of years man lived quite simply. Then, like a sleeping giant, our world was awakened. In a mere hundred and twenty years of eternal time man progressed from open hearths, grease lamps and ox carts to television, super-sonic speed and atomic power.

We have endeavored to show you the actual development of this astounding progress as it was unfolded by our forefathers and by ourselves.

The Pioneer Village covers three city blocks with 100,000 square feet of floor space housing thousands of irreplaceable items of historical value, all restored to operating order, arranged in groups and also in the chronological order of their development… in 26 buildings…

Pioneer Village was founded by Harold Warp in1953. He was born 1903 on a Nebraska homestead. The construction of the village was triggered by the sale of the 1948 of the country school Harold had attended as a child. The Village is now run by his son.

We spent two nights here – needed that to see everything. Our camping fee gave us one village entry; the second fee was just $11. And that admitted us as many consecutive days as we wanted. Such a deal! The Village also includes a motel and restaurant.

Here is a rundown of the buildings. In all, I took more than 100 photos!

Main Building – shows development of transportation, lighting, guns, etc., horse-pulled carts up to vehicles of the 1960s, all in chronological order. It includes the oldest jet airplane (1942-P59). And a “folding” boat.

Above is a milkman's cart.

Early cart – The Irish Jaunting Cart, 1890, was used for picnics and outings. Fields and streams could be crossed with ease in this ruggedly built, high two-wheeled cart. See photo below:

Elm Creek Fort – the first log cabin in Webster County (Neb) was moved to the Village.

The People’s Store – replica of a general merchandise store in pioneer days, completely stocked with by-gone items.

Bloomington Land Office – moved from its original location in Franklin County (Neb)

Fire House – shows the development of fire-fighting equipment from hand cart to modern fire trucks are here.

Lowell Train Depot – complete with two early-day locomotives and a narrow gauge caboose.

Country School – an authentic rural school building of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, furnished with original desks, books, etc. Linda says this was her favorite.

Sod House – Authentic replica of the “little old soddy on the plains.”

China House – collections of china, pottery, cut glass and precious keepsakes that had been carried west in covered wagons.

Church – Built in 1884, the first church in Minden has original pews, pulpit, organ, etc. Services are held here in the summer. The sign below the church photo was inside the church.

Merry-Go-Round – the oldest one in the U.S., steam powered – and it works! Rides 5 cents. Sadly, there was no one there so we could have a ride.

Horse Barn – typical pioneer barn, moved from Warp’s homestead. Harold Warp’s parents were good Christians, so the hayloft boards were laid rough-side up, so young folks couldn’t have barn dances.

Homes and Shops Building – My favorite. Within the large building, on the first floor, were 20 interior rooms of the past, showing kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms of each generation since 1830. It also had a doctor’s office, music shop, print shop, drug store, butcher shop, beauty shop and many others. The second floor showed the surprisingly low mail order prices on furniture at the turn of the century. Below is the 1950s beauty shop - 'lady' is getting a perm. and the 1950s kitchen - which looked familiar to us.

Antique Farm Machinery Building – includes the complete history of plowing, cultivating, seeding, harvesting and threshing equipment.

Antique Tractor and Truck Building – has 100 early farm tractors.

Livery Stable – originally built in Minden during the horse-and-buggy days. The two-story building houses saddles, harnesses and horse-drawn rigs.

Antique Cars – 22,400 sq. ft, two-stories, has 100 antique cars in their order of development.

Chevrolets and Other Cars – A separate two-story building, with more than 50 Chevys.

Fords, Studebakers, Motorcycles, Snowmobiles and Bicycles – yet another two-story building. We saw an early Wendell motorhome. It weighed 16,000 lbs., had fuel capacity of 80 gal, of water capacity 30 gal, 50 gal ‘septic’ tank. Propane capacity 95 lbs operated refrigerator, fireplace heater, gas burners that were located on the top of the fireplace, hot water.

Agricultural Building and Steam Tractors – again, a two-story that has more than 500 agricultural implements.

Blacksmith Shop – this working blacksmith shop forges items for sale during the summer months.

Pony Express Barn – authentically reconstructed with model horses and historic saddles.

Pony Express Station – authentic log building moved to Pioneer Village.

Home Appliance Building – has the evolution of washing machines, stoves, refrigerators, bathtubs, etc. It included a 1925 electric Hotpoint stove and several photogenic washing machines.

Above: The Thor Dish and Clothes washer, 1935. The tub for washing clothes could be lifted out and replaced with the tub for washing dishes.

Hobby House – houses assorted collections of dolls, pitchers, buttons, etc.

Snack Bar – housed in an old diner that was moved to the village.

Above is one of the clever places to sit and ponder history.

Trivia from Pioneer Village

The mousetrap is far and away the most invented machine in all of American History. Since it opened for business in 1938, the U.S. Patent Office has granted more than 4,400 mousetrap patents. There are 39 official categories that patents are classified under, including Impaling, Smiting, Swinging Striker, choking or squeezing, electrocuting and explosive.

The first telephone operators were boys as young as 12 years of age. Being an operator could be boring at times. Boys soon got up to all sorts of high jinks to relieve the monotony, which resulted in poor customer service. Telephone managers soon decided to hire women to be operators. By 1920, more than 14 percent of all working women in the U.S. worked as telephone operators.

The very first bath tub in the U.S was built at Cincinnati in December 1842. It was a huge, 1,750 pound, 7-foot mahogany box, lied with sheet metal. It looked like a water-tight coffin. Cincinnati doctors were quick to condemn this outrageous contraption and local politicians slapped a $30 tax on the luxury. The enameled, cast iron tub was introduced in 1870. Below.

Downtown Minden

When we felt an over-load of pioneer stuff, Linda and I walked to downtown Minden. This basically was the courthouse square bordered by some historic buildings that now serve other purposes, small shops and the restored historic Minden Opera House. The 2,000 sq. ft. theater ceiling mural depicts the history, seasons and sky of Kearney County. We were given a personal tour of the building and appreciated its beauty.

We also stopped into a thrift store. The sign said “prices are suggestions; cash only and no change given.” It also featured an “Exchange Board.”

Hitch’n Post RV, Wray, Colorado

With two days before our friends in Colorado Springs were expecting us, and with my preferred ‘no more than 200 miles a day’, we split the distance with a stop at the Hitch'n Post RV Park in Wray. A nice and extremely clean park.

Stop #2 before Colorado Springs

The RV park directory had a good review for Shady Grove RV Park in Seibert, Colorado. In reality, it was pretty much a dump – wonder who praised it so highly! After a quick conference we decided it was another time to be flexible and to go further to Limon, Colorado. As I write this, we are settled in the local KOA and will leave tomorrow for Judy and Claud Mary’s home just north of Colorado Springs.

The Midwest - Hot and Humid

2011-07-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

The times of my life that I will forever cherish form a bouquet that I’ve saved, pressing it carefully between the pages of my life. --unknown author

Hot and sticky Medford, Minnesota

Goodbye, Blackhawk Park, hello Medford, Minnesota. We crossed the Mississippi at LaCrosse (appropriate name, don't you think?), Wisconsin, and continued west to Medford, Minnesota Destination was my cousin’s family farm complex – three houses, four generations, hundreds of acres – farming corn, soybeans and raising hogs. (Actually, Gloria is our mother’s cousin). We were there from Sunday, July 17 through Wednesday, July 20.

As usual, Jeremiah was parked beneath huge trees that would give shade in the mornings – but alas, no afternoon shade. We were plugged into her 20-amp house circuit. The infamous Midwest heat wave had not let up at all! Before the first day there was over, the motor home air conditioner was seriously struggling. With both Gloria and me running AC, doing laundry and such, Jeremiah (needing 3o amp) was not getting enough electricity. Big problem! Solution was to turn the AC off and for Cat and me to move into Gloria’s house (Linda had already moved in.) Cat, litter box and food were put in the laundry room and I got a bed in the sewing room. The inside temperature in Jeremiah that afternoon with full sun reached 100 degrees!

After a day or so, Gloria felt sorry for Cat and let her have the run of the house. And Cat sure made herself at home, as this photo shows.

On each of the four days here we played cards with other Tuttle cousins – Alton and Marcella and Laura. We played Progressive Rummy and also a game of Mexican Train Dominoes. And of course, Linda and I pulled rhubarb and cooked it down into sauce which is now happily frozen in Jeremiah’s freezer for future enjoyment.

Picturesque Annandale, Minnesota; Thursday, July 21

When she found out I would be traveling in Minnesota, Elizabeth Cabalka and her husband Mike, invited us to stop by their home in Annandale. I had seen photos of the house and yard and was thrilled to see them in person. They are friends of mine and fellow-camp host volunteers at McDowell Mountain Park where we spend the winter.

Elizabeth picked us up at our RV park and the first stop on our personal tour of the area were the Munsinger & Clemens Gardens in nearby St. Cloud. With more than 20 acres of world-class gardens, plant collections and historic hardscape along the bank of the Mississippi River, it was a delight to walk around.

The Munsinger Garden showcases the achievements of the WPA (Works Progress Administration of the 1930s). Among the thousands of annual bedding plants and perennials there are ponds and fountains, a gazebo, historic cabin and a wishing well.

There’s a sweet story behind The Clemens Garden. This was developed by Bill Clemens in 1986 as a gift of love to his wheelchair-bound wife, Virginia. He started with a garden of more than 1,000 roses. Then it grew, adding a formal garden, white garden, perennial garden, treillage garden and what is called a rest-area garden that includes a replica statue of the Clemens.

(Above - my favorite flower at the gardens.)

I knew there were more stunning flowers in store for us as Elizabeth drove from St. Cloud to their lovely 100-year-old house in Annandale. Her colorful flowers in interesting and creative yard areas have motivated me to get something done about my Prescott Valley yard of rocks.

As if the flowers weren't enough, the dining was a four-star experience, rivaling the fanciest restaurants. Weather had cooled off and we could dine outside while feasting our eyes on the flowers.

After dinner Riley, Elizabeth and Mike’s sweet dog, entertained us with his 'floor show.

Great food, amazing surroundings, entertainment and good conversation - it doesn't get any better than that. The delicious dinner was followed by a walk around the charming small town of Annandale as Elizabeth told us about the town and various projects she has been involved with. We ended our visit by enjoying ice cream cones for dessert. Before leaving, I took a photo of Elizabeth and Mike at their front door.

Flooding takes its toll; Friday, July 24

It was raining as we drove through the Spirit Lake area (northern Iowa) and we decided to keep driving south into Spencer, Iowa. Our destination was Leach Campgrounds along the Little Sioux River. Well, most of the camping sites were actually IN the river. Lucky for us they did have a few campsites open.

And the RV area is just a few blocks from Spencer’s historic downtown. And of course, we spent a couple of hours wandering in and out of stores. But first, we used the old bridge to cross the river. (Note the first photo shows Linda crossing the river and the second photo is taken from the bridge)

Last stop was a Dairy Queen and then back to Jeremiah.

Linda’s visit with her granddaughter; Saturday, July 23.

We got an early start this morning for a short drive to Little Sioux Campground near Correctionville, Iowa. After settling in a shady site, Linda’s granddaughter Sarah picked her up for a day’s visit in nearby Anthon. Linda got to see her two great-grandsons!

While she was gone, I reviewed our upcoming travel days, doing some re-routing. I discovered that we had a couple extra days not accounted for, so we’ve been thinking how to spend them. No decision yet. Stay tuned.

My Big Goal – Find adventure in each and every day

2011-07-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

Part of the adventure of life is not always knowing what’s going to happen next, and the next part may be grander than your original plan. Be open to the unknown.

It is good to laugh! Olathe, Kansas

The drive from Spring Lake RV Park in Halstead, Kansas, to Cousin Steve’s was mostly through farmland with a few small towns along the way. Delightful and easy. The challenge came as we encountered what is probably the most confusing multi-lane intersection in the entire Kansas City (KS) area.

To help us, I entered Steve’s address in Lucy (my Verizon phone GPS system). Ha! Ha! She was no help at all. After exiting the Interstate – just as Lucy said. And I tried to follow her directions. We ended up going through the same intersection at least three times, driving Lucy crazy as she repeatedly said “recalculating – make the first legal U-turn”. Laughing, I finally gave up and drove further south on a side road and then Lucy, Linda and I finally found our way to Steve’s home in Olathe.

Because Steve and his wife Ellen live on a short cul-de-sac, we are able to park on the street – no slides out, making it a very cozy arrangement. Steve ran an extension cord out and we at least had air conditioning as long as we didn’t try to also use the microwave, hair appliances or other such things.

We got settled in and then Steve drove us to pick up his mom – our Aunt Maxine who is 91 years old but looks the same as she has for years. She lives in a lovely senior housing apartment. We found her watching the golf channel, most likely re-living her younger golf-playing days. She has all of her marbles and continues to have a great sense of humor – in short, a delightful person.

Steve and Ellen treated us to a stroll through a beautiful Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in nearby Overland Park, Kansas. The carefully manicured gardens are maintained by volunteers and the generosity of donations. Thankfully Linda’s new titanium knee – just three months old – is working well. (Below: Linda at the gardens; Cousin Steve and his wife Ellen at gardens)

Covered bridges and John Wayne - Winterset, Iowa

After two sweet days in Kansas, we were off for the next stop – Winterset, Iowa (population 5,190). This area has lots of old covered bridges and was made famous by the book, The Bridges of Madison County. It’s also John Wayne’s birthplace.

After more laughs – translated that means we made a wrong turn again – we settled in at Winterset’s City Park Campground for two days. Shortly after getting leveled and hooked up to electricity, Linda and I walked and enjoyed the park. Along the way eagle-eye Linda spotted a doe with what appeared to be twin fawns.

Highlight of our stay there was a walk into downtown – a typical small town with a courthouse square bordered on four sides by small businesses. One business was a shoe store with the expected shoe displays in the window. These two signs tickled us.

We also found an old-time drug store and a Ben Franklin Five and Dime Store just like those many of us grew up with. At the drug store, Linda spotted a fountain/lunch counter in the back where locals gather. We giggled over some of the store’s offerings and bought a few things.

On the way back to the park we went by the John Wayne gift shop and his birth home, both on John Wayne Drive.

Being an old town, we oohed and aahed over the homes. We also noted that Midwesterners are big on yard ornaments. One house had “chicken bird houses” and another house’s offering was apropos to the area – a model covered bridge.

Wined and dined by Sharon and Jim - Pinicon Ridge County Campgrounds, Iowa

The highlight of this campground was being wined, dined and entertained by camp hosts Sharon and Jim Price! They are friends and co-volunteers at McDowell Mountain Park.

Our camping area is along the Wapsipinicon River (called Wapsi for short) and we settled into a campsite under tall trees near Sharon and Jim. And wonder of wonders! I didn’t have to use any leveling boards at all! I think this is a ‘first’. (Photo below is Wapsi River)

Five o’clock was Happy Hour at the Price picnic table. I took note of Jim’s tanned feet (he is rarely in anything but his sandals) and thought’s you’d enjoy this photo.

Jim and Sharon also chauffeured us around to show us the area during our three-day stay there. They both grew up in this area and of course know it well.

We went to a nearby restaurant for the first night dinner. I’m sorry that I didn’t have my camera with me because a photo of the delicious pork tenderloin sandwich would amaze you. The meat was more than twice as big as the bun!

Jim and Sharon also have a passel of relatives in the area. In fact on our second day, they invited us to go with them to the Price Cousins’ (and their spouses) brunch. What fun and laughter! We felt honored to be included; there were 16 folks including Linda and me.

Our last day there, Jim and Sharon drove us around the area going through a bunch of small-to-tiny towns. First stops were in an Amish area where their ‘stores’ were in their yards instead of in a town setting. The bakery was closed that day (sadly) but we did purchase some things at two different ‘general’ stores.

The weather was super! The days were relatively cool and nights were in the 60s. Our three days there flew by and we were on the road again. This time, a short drive into western Wisconsin.

The Mighty Mississippi River - Blackhawk Park, Corps of Engineers Pool 9 on the Mississippi River

Because I enjoyed this park so much last year, it was a ‘must’ on our itinerary this year. Jeremiah happily parked under the park’s many huge cottonwood trees – and at times it looks like it is snowing.

We have front row seats along the river and watch the boats with hopeful fishermen and pleasure seekers and the occasional barge traffic. Behind us, and behind rows of thick trees, is a major busy north/south rail line. When we feel or hear a rumble, it is either river or rail traffic.

After the cooler days in Iowa, we were in the typical hot, humid weather of the Midwest. Thankfully it rained our first night there, making it good sleeping weather. The downside was that the humidity seemed to double the next day. We did some walking, but kept it to a minimum because Linda’s ‘new knee’ apparently doesn’t like damp weather.

As we walked through a neighboring community, we laughed over their speed-limit sign that said:

PRIVATE PARK

Slow Down or Stay Out

5 MPH

Blackhawk Park is a small portion of the 240,000-acre Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge that was established in 1924 by the Corps or Engineers. A plaque in the park reads:

The seemingly endless panorama of river, backwaters, marshes, islands, and forest, framed by steep bluffs, makes the refuge a national scenic treasure; a place for wildlife to feed, rest, breed, and rear young.

That’s it for this week. On our last evening there, I took this picture of the sun setting over the Mississippi River.

The Anderson sisters Amazing Adventure of 2011

2011-07-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people. (part of ‘a prayer for old age’ attributed to a Seventeenth Century Nun) From the book She Who Laughs, Lasts! a compilation of stories from Women of Faith.

Day 1 – drive from Rio Rancho to Tucumcari, New Mexico.

Mountain Road RV Park, Tucumcari, NM – was an OK place to spend the night. Good electricity and clean restrooms, temps in low 100s. Thank goodness for air conditioning. The park was just off I-40 on Hwy 54 and across from a busy truck stop. Next time I stop in that area I’ll stay at the park where I was last year – A-OK RV Park in downtown Tucumcari.

I did learn that Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari offers a two-year AA-degree program in wind technology, turbine maintenance, tower safety and wind economics. Their on-campus classroom wind turbine is 350-feet tall.

We left early the next morning with Oklahoma as our destination.

Supply Lake Corps of Engineers Park, Ft. Supply, OK. We spent two nights here, July 3 and 4, and it is lovely. Along our drive to get here – in the middle of nothing – we came upon a road construction area – not a soul in sight, just a “stop/go light” that was red. I dutifully stopped and after what seemed a long time, the light changed to green.

We listened to a country/western radio station and enjoyed the song with lyrics that said: “Toes in the water, ass on the sand – no worries at all!” While we won’t be at lake parks each night of this trip, we will be traveling with a flexible schedule and no worries at all. It’s nice having a live navigator! Linda has kept me on the right roads so far.

Picked up an interesting Oklahoma Fishing Guide publication. Found out we could take up to six turtles a day at state lakes - as long as none of them are a western chicken turtle, map turtle, painted and razorback musk turtle and/or alligator snapping turtle. And we can take up to 15 bullfrogs per day with hook and line, gig spear, bow and arrow or other methods, except firearms, if I have a fishing license. Sadly, I am not allowed to sell or ship any bullfrogs to you.

The campground we were in was full of RVs in spacious campsites with tents nearby, Jeremiah was parked just a row back from the lake, giving us great views of the lake and the hundreds of Canada Geese.

My biggest frustration was that our site was nowhere near being level. It took much gnashing of teeth, patience and a variety of boards to get fairly level. Linda was a great help with the boards. As you can tell from the photo below, the skies dumped rain shortly after we leveled, plugged in and got the slides out. Cooled things off nicely.

Oologah Lake Corps of Engineers Park, Oologah, OK. Locals say it is pronounced “oo’ – la – gah” – all short vowels (remember your English class?) We did manage to flunk our attempt to stay on right roads as we were driving through Ponca City, OK. We were engrossed in looking at the huge Conoco/Phillips Petroleum buildings and missed a sign. A quick stop at a convenience store and we were back on track.

We stayed in Hawthorn Bluff campground amidst tall trees. We had plenty of campsites to choose from but did find it a challenge to find one that was fairly level and long enough. It was HOT and MUGGY – felt like a sauna; not one breeze. Assuming (incorrectly) that this campground had water at each campsite and failing to fill the potable tank at Supply Lake, combined with the stifling heat, we decided to stay just one night.

In the early morning – before the sun was up – we took a nice walk around the campground and down the steps to the fishing dock.

Before leaving the area, Linda directed me to Will Rogers’ Ranch. She had been there a few years ago. The restored house (moved from its original location before it would be flooded by the lake formed by the Corps dam that was being built) was a huge step back in time. Besides the two story home, the barn. chicken coop, a shed for cattle and outhouse are on the property. We enjoyed the barn animals – a few cattle in a nearby pen, three horses, two burros, two goats, and chickens roaming around the property. Here are a couple photos we took – me by the outhouse (Anderson’s called these ‘ozzie-cozzie’) and Linda on the front step.

Spring Lake RV Resort, Halstead, Kansas (just north of Wichita) While we were at Oogolah, Linda decided that our next stop must have a swimming pool. I was also eager to be back in Verizon phone and Internet service. Northern Oklahoma is basically Sprint country; Verizon is either roaming or extended service for phones and global (expensive) access for Internet.

So we re-routed ourselves, backtracking west about 50 miles with this park as destination (instead of a park near Kansas City). I had been here last year and enjoyed it a lot. This became another two-nighter so we could get laundry done.

Again, leveling was a challenge that I failed this time – even with patience and teeth gnashing along with plenty of boards that kept sliding. I gave up and called the office for help. The nice lady gave us a different site and still had no luck leveling. That was when they sent park volunteer Mr. SOS Wayne to my rescue. He taught me a new way to use my boards and voila! we were level enough.

At this park, I’ve seen another “first”! A tent with an air conditioning unit where a window flap would normally be. This is ‘home’ to two construction workers from Colorado; they are working on a hotel nearby. (The AC in the white-ish part of the tent, between the upright pole and the backside of the tent.)

It rained last night, making this morning a cool 79 degrees! The drought has affected this area also; several of the park’s eight ponds have dried up and the creek that runs through is low. Photos: last year and below that the same location this year.

It was laundry day and Linda became laundry lady. At the laundry room, she was surprised to meet Pat; she and her husband Bill are volunteers at Maricopa County’s Usery Park (McDowell Mountain park where I volunteer in the winter is also in the same park system).

As Linda and I walked around the park, she spotted a turtle in the ‘mostly dried up creek” And I took ‘before and after’ photos of one of the ponds

Also on our walk we saw this sign by a trailer parked near the creek: Note, the bottom of the sign, which is partly obliterated by the grass says, "please send photo of boat and motor."

Any takers? This is where some 'good woman' would be living.

And lastly for this posting

The reason I didn’t help with the laundry is because I was busy with a surprise project! I got an email asking for information about my first husband Rick Pray and the two businesses we owned simultaneously in the late 1960s through early 1980, Associated Tennis Suppliers and the United States Racquet Stringers’ Association. He will be featured in Racquet Sports Industry Magazine for one of their Pioneers in Tennis series features.

So today I’ve been busy traveling down memory lane to be able to provide information when I have a telephone interview with the magazine editor next week. FYI, both businesses continue to flourish under two new owners. After Rick passed away in 1979; I continued the USRSA for several months and the supply business for several years.

Tomorrow’s drive will take us to our cousin’s home in Olathe, Kansas.

Here's your thought to ponder this week. Contentment

In our world, contentment is a strange street vendor, roaming . . . slowly from house to house . . . offering his wares: an hour of peace, a smile of acceptance, a sigh of relief . . .

When I asked him why so few welcomed him into their homes, his answer left me convicted. “I charge a high price, you know . . . I ask people to trade in their schedules, frustrations, and anxieties . . . You’d think I’d have more buyers . . . but people seem strangely proud of their ulcers and headaches.” – Pastor Max Lucado

Almost time to move on…

2011-06-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

… and not a moment too soon. It is really hot here this week. Outside temps in the 100s. Inside Jeremiah, with AC going full blast, window shades pulled, cab curtained off and bathroom door closed. It is 5 p.m. and Jeremiah’s inside temp won’t go below 91 degrees. Unfortunately, this volunteer campsite puts my motor home broadside to the sun. Don't let those trees in the photo fool you. There are no trees anywhere near Jeremiah's driver's side.

This heat reminds me of my 11 years counting Big Horn Sheep at Anza Borrego Desert State Park (California) over July 4 weekends. It was even hotter and we were out in it day and night for four days. Sat under a large tarp each day and slept in a tent at night. Plus, each day entailed three miles of trudging on the hot sandy and rocky trail. That's where I learned to love water - nothing else (except a cold beer at the end of the day) would quench my thirst. Hot, but what memories!

I leave early Tuesday morning and head north to Rio Rancho/Albuquerque area where it will be cooler. I’ll stop midway at my favorite café – Acosta’s in San Antonio (New Mexico) – for a green chile cheeseburger.

It’s been an interesting time here at Pancho Villa State Park. This is the first time I’ve been here when the campsites are so empty and visitors to the park’s Exhibit Hall are few and far between. Under these circumstances, my skills and abilities have been able to ‘take a vacation.’ There has been no opportunity to use my customer service and problem solving abilities and no need to task my organizational skills. My Anderson work ethic, energy and stamina have only been valuable for keeping trees watered and for cleaning cactus patches between 6 and 8 each morning.

I have read plenty of books and worked a bunch of crossword puzzles, made several trips into Mexico for lunches, dentist, pharmacy and optometrist. Today, Jeremiah got a top to bottom cleaning inside. Sunday and Monday mornings will be spent giving Jeremiah a spit bath and stowing tools, hoses, etc. to be ready to travel.

Cat has been plenty lethargic in the heat. She convinced me to let her drink from dripping water in the bathroom sink. When she wants some, she leads me in, hops up alongside the sink and waits for me to turn the water on so it drips.

I have two more all-day shifts (7 hours) in the visitor center on Thursday and Friday, and then two 1-hour lunch-hour shifts on Sunday and Monday. More book reading!

Be careful what you wish for

2011-06-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

I wasn’t seriously grumbling about the wind last week, but I did wish we could have some calm days. Well, calm days came and with them came the black, biting gnats. These are the flying insects that love to gnaw on ears, heads, and any place they can get some sweaty moisture.

As an aside – when I see or think of gnats, I’m transported back to a pharmacy aisle in El Centro, California, 50 years ago. That’s right – 50! A young woman came up to me and asked if I knew what she could buy for g-ants. G-ants? After a puzzling moment I realized she must have meant gnats. I directed her to the bug spray aisle. How’s that for an interesting recollection?

But back to the gnats. The pests threatened to make my evening ‘yard work’ miserable. I fished out my bottle of vanilla body mist (thanks, Barb and Wayne Nielsen of Yankton, South Dakota!) Seriously, this works, and instead of smelling like a combination of sweat and insecticides when I finish, I smell like a combination of sweat and vanilla – a huge improvement.

Today is June 1 – one of my days off. Cat and I are in Jeremiah; she’s napping and I alternate reading and rearranging Jeremiah to accommodate my sister Linda on our summer adventure. For some reason she wants to have some drawers and closet space! I’ll be off-loading some of the stuff we won’t need at friend Jesse’s home in Rio Rancho, and then re-load it before I go up to Navajo Lake State Park in mid August. Jeremiah’s air conditioner is working non-stop to keep things cool. Weather guy says 10% chance of scattered showers tonight and tomorrow morning.

My “work” days in the Visitor Center are mostly quiet; visitors are few. However the few that come are always interesting people. Yesterday a couple of self-described history buffs were here to add to their book-knowledge.

Visitor Center hours are a perfect time for reading. I’m probably the last person to read Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen, author). I always look for ‘gems’ as I read, and I was not disappointed. I can identify with the lead character Jacob – who is 90 or 93, one or the other as he claims. When talking about his age, he says ‘even as your body betrays you [aches/pains, etc], your mind denies it.’

Desert Exposure – “biggest little paper in the southwest

This is a fascinating monthly publication – 80 pages in the June issue. It basically covers Silver City, Lordsburg, Deming, and Las Cruces with a variety of news and articles. Here are some that caught my eye and my interest:

Southwest Gardener column featured a Silver City woman who lived to be 90, turned her block-sized plot of land into a ‘panorama of towering trees, swaths of evergreen shrubbery, lily ponds, walls and crannies of ivy’.
The Lively Arts Column featured the Desert Dolls, Las Cruces’ first burlesque troupe. The eight performers have stage names such as Muffin LaBoom, and Judy Punchinella.
The Red or Green (food) column writes about Deming’s El Rey Carniceria and Las Cazuelas (meat market and restaurant). (Larry, come back – word has it this has the best steaks in the region.)
The Starry Dome column, written by the co-director of an observatory in Las Cruces, is about the planets for June and the constellation of the month, Musca, the Fly. Lists special sky dates, including the full moon on June 15.
Earth Talk is about the sorry state of today’s produce and how the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables can be enhanced with healthier soil.
Body, Mind and Spirit tells how to retrain your body to restore healthy breathing patterns.
A second Body, Mind and Spirit column extols the benefits of drinking water. It tells of a study that found that dehydration results in depression, anger and a generally negative mood. So all of you – drink more water!
Desert Diary includes a joke: ‘While creating husbands, God promised women that good and ideal husbands would be found in all corners of the world. And then he made the earth round!’
Southwest Wildlife has a great article on one of my favorite birds, the Curve-billed Thrasher.
Business Beat featured Rock City, USA – a.k.a. Deming. “With four rock shops, Deming is becoming the rockhound capital of the US” says the article.
Another article reported on the most popular newborn names. In New Mexico, Elijah and Isabella top the lists. To complete the New Mexico lists: Jacob, Aiden, Michael and Noah (boys) and Sophia, Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards), Mia and Olivia (girls) are numbers 2 to 5.

A weather update: Columbus sadly was not in the 10% to get rain; it is promised again tomorrow (Saturday).

I end this with some words to ponder.

The coming week: you have never lived the seven days in front of you, and you will never live them again. Life is like a coin. Spend it any way you want to, but you can spend it only once.

How are you spending your days?

Four weeks down, four more to go

2011-05-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

It feels like I hit the jackpot this past week – seven visitors! Definitely a highlight.

First it was a lovely visit from four friends from a camping group I used to belong to, Border Cities Travelers. Dottie and Darryld and Norma and Charles and I spent the afternoon visiting.

Next Albuquerque friend Larry Flinn arrived to camp for three days. Larry has recently retired and for the next 18 months he will be traveling around the country. He also plans to hike the Appalachian Trail before returning to his home in late 2012. He and the park’s heritage educator (John Read) hiked to the top of one of the Three Sisters peaks just north of here. He left Friday morning, heading to Arizona.

While Larry was here, Mary and Jack Harris (also Border Cities Travelers) drove down from Silver City. This called for lunch at the Pink Store and a stop at Super Memo (grocery store) in Palomas, Mexico.

Winds still blowing; weather turns toasty

Now, I’m not complaining – the winds are not as strong and not blowing every day. When I think of the folks in other parts of the country that have been devastated by tornadoes, I’m grateful that we don’t have it anywhere near as bad.

Day temps have reached 100+ in the afternoons; nights cool off to the low-to-mid 60s. We sure could use some rain. Weather website says 10% chance on Wednesday.

I love sunrises and sunsets – these are both times to drink in their colors and replenish my spirit with their richness. A time to reflect on life.

God arranges opportunities to remind us to slow down and think about what’s important in life.

I must remark about the amazing New Mexico skies! At PVSP we have a horizon-to-horizon view of the ever-changing cloud formations. I’m glad to be an early riser – to enjoy the sunrises, which I consider God’s gift for getting up. And because of a lot of dust and smoke in the sky to the west (wind and wildfires) the setting sun has been nearly blood-red.

Here’s a photo of the sky at mid-day a few days ago:

Spiffing up the campgrounds

Most mornings, between 6 and 8 a.m. and again between 6 and 8 p.m. when it is cool, you’ll find me cleaning up cactus patches and watering our thirsty trees. I’ve adopted 15 campsite areas that have 60+ trees. It is hazardous work and more than once I’ve ended up backing into a cactus or yucca. I do love these early morning times – the birds are singing – I think they are thanking me for the trenches of water around the trees I’m watering – and I have a deep feeling of satisfaction. As I work, I often think of something I read years ago:

Just like a few years ago when I spent time hoe-ing weeds here, I’ve worn holes in my heavy-duty leather gloves. No problem, I’ve patched them with ever-useful duct tape! I will say those campsites are looking mighty nice. Now if we just had some campers to enjoy them…

Park Techs Martin and Junior and Seasonal Worker Hector have been busy cutting down dead trees, picking up my piles of dead cactus and planting new trees. They cleaned up two dead “century plants” and found a rattlesnake and uncovered a nest that has 11 quail eggs. Surprisingly after several days, the eggs are still there. I had thought something would come along and make a meal

Useful plants are topic of presentation

Ranger Charles Wood from Oliver Lee State Park (Near Alamagordo, NM) had an interesting plant program the weekend that the Gila Travelers (Elks Lodge RVers from Silver City) were here. He had us all sampling mesquite and yucca flowers. And he encourages us to taste mesquite beans later this summer when they are ready.

As always, interesting campers

Jean Holloway-Burkett was here for a couple days – she had just picked up a new-to-her Born Free RV and was on her way back to her home base in Benson, Arizona. She introduced me to two of her RV friends, Betty (in an RV similar to mine) and Dick (in a trailer). We had nice visiting time and traded some books with each other.

Hazel and her two rescued greyhounds are camping here. I first saw her as she pedaled by on a recumbent ‘tricycle’ with her dogs in tow. She also travels with two cats.

Visitor Center duties

I ‘work’ two full days each week – Thursday and Friday. Visitors are few and far between so I read books, work crossword puzzles and take brisk walks around the inside of the building (about 105 paces each lap).

Not much reading this past Thursday, though, because the Sergeant Major’s Academy from Fort Bliss (El Paso, TX) brought 170 students here to study the Pancho Villa Invasion and General Pershing’s subsequent Punitive Expedition into Mexico. Students are from all branches of the armed forces and also include some foreigners. One of the students, who I had an interesting chat with, is a tribal leader from Indonesian Province of Papua New Guinea. When he completes the academy, he will return to his country to run the military.

(Info from Internet: Lying just south of the equator, 160 km north of Australia, Papua New Guinea is part of a great arc of mountains stretching from Asia, through Indonesia and into the South Pacific. With a vibrant and colorful culture, more than 600 islands and 800 indigenous languages, Papua New Guinea is made up of 4 regions with 20 provinces.)

FYI, friend Larry Flinn is a graduate of the Sergeant Major’s Academy; he explained that these students are not ‘kids’ rather most of them are career military in their late 30s or 40s.

Half-way through at PVSP

Four weeks down, four more to go. When I leave here near the end of June, I’ll drive to Albuquerque/Rio Rancho to visit family and friends and to get Jeremiah ready for the summer adventure.

The wind is back!

2011-05-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah is rocking and rolling – weather reports tell us to expect gusts up to 60 mph the rest of the week, of course with blowing dust. A huge dust devil wrapped itself around Jeremiah yesterday, slinging sand and small rocks.

Birds are my main entertainment

I must report that some of the White-wing Dove have figured out how to get into the window feeder. It only took them three weeks. First they got good at landing on top of the feeder; once two of them briefly balanced on the top.

Here the dove is trying to figure out how that other bird got in to get the goodies!

Birds I’ve enjoyed these past two weeks

Green-tailed Towhee

Red-wing Blackbird

Yellow-head Blackbird

Lazuli Bunting (migrating through)

Roadrunner

Bullock's Oriole

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Black-headed Grosbeak

Vermilion Flycatcher

White-crown Sparrow

My volunteer time

It’s been a fairly quiet two weeks at Pancho Villa State Park. During that time I’ve had four all-day shifts in the park’s 7,000 sq. ft. Exhibit Hall. This facility is all about Pancho Villa’s raid on the village of Columbus in 1916. Visitors come from everywhere.

If you are not familiar with this historic event, here’s the info from the park’s website.

“On March 9, 1916, soldiers led by Mexican Gen. Francisco “Pancho” Villa attacked the military camp at the sleepy border town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans.

“The park is located on the grounds of former Camp Furlong from where Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing launched 10,000 troops on an 11-month, 500-mile pursuit of Villa into Mexico. The Exhibit Hall tells the story that begins with the 1910 Mexican Revolution and ends with Pershing’s command of the Allied Forces when the U.S. entered World War I.

“The Exhibit Hall contains a full-size replica Curtiss JN-3 “Jenny” airplane used by the 1st Aero Squadron; a 1916 Dodge touring car, the type used by Pershing for a field office; historic artifacts; military weapons and ribbons. An armored tank stands as a sentinel outside the facility.

“With only rudimentary initial instructions, military recruits were given orders to drive vehicles and fly the airplanes, which had not been previously tested at high altitudes. As a result, equipment modernization and mechanical specialization during the 1916-1917 expedition period proved essential to U.S. military success during World War I.

“At Pancho Villa State Park, several buildings date from the time of Villa’s raid and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These include the 1902 former U.S. Customs House, two adobe structures dating from the Camp Furlong era and Camp Furlong Recreation Hall.”

A hoe, two rakes, a picker-upper and three hoses in a wheel barrow

That’s what you’ll see me with most mornings between 6 and 8 a.m. Park Manager Alex Mares asked volunteers to “adopt” some campsites, watering trees and cleaning up cactus patches. I have 14 sites and about 50 trees. Once I had trenches built at each tree, it’s just a matter of moving hoses around to get the watering done.

The cactus patches take more time – the record frost combined with the ongoing drought killed off quite a bit of cactus. Using my tools I remove the dead cactus pieces, tumbleweeds and leaves and rake into piles. Hector, our seasonal worker, comes around and picks up my piles. This morning I finished the cactus patches in and around my campsites.

It is enjoyable work, mostly because the weather is cool, the wind has not started up and the patches look so much better when I’m finished. It can be treacherous, though. The patches, made up of many individual plants, are pretty close together – I have to be careful not to back into the plant behind me. Even with my sturdy leather gloves, I manage to get some cactus spines in my fingers.

Other bonus entertainment includes the jackrabbits and cottontail rabbits frolicking about, the birds, and people walking by. As I raked in one area, I uncovered a Horned Toad who paused long enough to have his picture taken before scurrying away.

Every once in a while I come across a flower or two. Actually most people would call them ‘weeds’ – but as long as it has a flower, to me it’s a ‘flower’.

Surprise visitors

Four members of the local Winnebago camping group – the Border City Travelers – surprised me with a visit. Charles and Norma and Darryld and Dottie came by. We had a lovely visit. Charles and Norma are in their fourth year as campground volunteers at Rockhound Park. Darryld and Dottie live in Las Cruces.

That’s it for this time – my computer has been acting up and I don’t want to press my luck.

I am happy and satisfied with my life. And I’m blessed with energy and enthusiasm and a huge sense of curiosity. I enjoy being helpful and know I’m making a difference.

Success depends on the degree to which you are at peace with yourself. If you have people around you who love you, and you have peace with what you’re doing, it doesn’t get any better than that.

--- Og Mandino

Based on the above quote, I am successful!

Greetings from Pancho Villa State Park

2011-05-01T19:50:00.001-07:00

If we let ourselves, we could become so afraid of the potential dangers, so safety conscious, we would miss the adventure -- Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Wind and more wind at Pancho Villa State Park

There seems to be crazy weather all over the country – and Columbus, New Mexico is no exception. This spring’s windy season waited until I arrived. I’m not complaining, though. The west wind served to push Jeremiah between Tucson and Deming. Heading south on Highway 11 was another thing! With winds gusting as high as 50 mph, that highway was closed twice this week due to high winds and blowing dust.

Just how windy? One of my tire covers (helps protect from the brutal sun) blew off. If it weren't for a fence that is along the park property line it might have ended up in El Paso! Also two large, tall Century Plants have blown over.

We do have lovely sunshine, and for that I'm thankful because the winds are fairly chilly. Nights get down to the high 40s to mid 50s. Day temps are mostly in the 80s so far.

The winds didn’t surprise me, but the masses of dead cactus did, and there are no weeds in sight. I’ve since learned that there has been no rain since late last summer. And on top of that, the area had an historic freeze in February that killed many drought-stricken plants. One tree that died was what I called the 'owl tree' because a Barn Owl and a Long-ear Owl used to spend their days in it at campsite # 44.

We are in the process of hauling the dead cactus away and watering the thirsty trees. The park will look quite barren.

Birds entertain me

Cat and I were captive in Jeremiah during the very windy times – but we were not bored. The birds kept us amused. It didn’t take them long to find my feeders. The White-wing dove spent time trying to figure out how to get to the seeds in my window feeder. They manage to land on top where they can see the seeds and watch other, smaller birds inside the feeder. House Finch, Cactus Wren, Pyrrhuloxia, and Curve-bill Thrasher get inside just fine for their feasts. Several brightly-colored Bullock’s Orioles are enjoying the orange slices I’ve put out. My hummingbird feeder is out, but so far no hummers. Each morning I toss out a variety of seeds and cracked corn for the Gambel’s Quail and the Lark Bunting. I’ve been told we have a pair of Vermilion Flycatchers, but I’ve yet to see them.

Windy days bring another blessing - good reading time. I finished reading two books. "700 Sundays" by Billy Chrystal and "Gracie, A Love Story" by George Burns. He tells about Gracie's life and their years of vaudeville, radio and TV as Burns and Allen.

Two trips to Palomas

Yep! In less than one week here, I’ve made two trips south of the Mexico Border – and have safely come back both times (duh! If I hadn’t, you would not be reading this.) On Friday I rode the Deming-to-Border town bus ($1 round trip) to get my glasses remade and to have lunch at the famous Pink Store. (tostada trio and free Margarita) Pink Store owner, Evonne, graciously welcomed me back and sincerely thanked me for coming. She sat with me while I waited for my order. Sadly less people are coming to her store/restaurant, but she says she’s hanging in there. On Saturday I joined Sylvia Brenner (former park heritage educator) for lunch, free Margarita and shopping at the Pink Store. The border security has been beefed up, but basically is as quiet as usual.

The May Volunteer schedule

I’m on duty in the Visitor Center/Exhibit Hall all day on Thursdays and Fridays (an hour off for lunch) and there during the lunch hour on Sundays and Mondays. Other than that, I’m busy irrigating our thirsty trees and other odd jobs. Visitors are always welcome so if anyone wants to come down, just let me know.

That’s all for now – I hope to include some bird photos in the next blog posting.

Live Simply,

Love Generously,

Care Deeply,

Speak Kindly,

Leave the rest to GOD

Wrapping up Winter – Nov. 2010 through April 2011

2011-04-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

It’s been a wonderful winter of volunteering at McDowell Mountain Regional Park!

I took this photo at sunrise one day from near my campsite.

The location, the facilities, the park staff, the volunteers and the park activities – all top notch.

Location: McDowell Mountain Park is located in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun (Phoenix and surrounding cities) and just 100 miles from my home in Prescott Valley, allowing me to have my car while I’m here. The park is just 15 minutes from the community of Fountain Hills (two supermarkets, Walgreens, and a SNAP Fitness gym among many medium-to-small businesses).

Facilities: Jeremiah is nestled within “the gated community” (aka the maintenance compound), under a tall corregated metal roof, just steps away from the volunteers’ laundry facilities. (Photo taken before volunteer Dennis moved in where the orange cones are.)

Park Staff: Supervisor Rand, Ranger Amy, Office guru Jeanine and Maintenance wonders Mark and Erik – a relatively small paid staff to manage a huge and busy park.

Park Volunteers: The only way so few park staff could keep this park humming is to have a corps of smart, capable, and personable volunteers – 19 in all (8 couples and 3 singles). Most of the volunteers have been coming back for years; a clear sign that the staff and working conditions are superb. Everyone got along well and we enjoyed frequent potluck meals and happy hours.

Park activities: The 21,000-acre park has about 50 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails. It has 80 RV camping sites, three primitive group sites used mostly by youth groups, six primitive individual tent sites, a large group area for RV clubs and a competition track area for bicycling. Ranger Amy organizes a large variety of park events, including guided hikes and interpretive programs. The park holds numerous walking, running and bicycling events throughout the winter months.

My park responsibilities: My official ‘title’ is Group Host. I also help in the Visitor Center and deal with the individual tent sites. I drive one of the park pickup trucks when I’m on duty. My co-host Donna, another single, and I decided on a 5-days-on, 5-days-off schedule. I also led a hike most Monday mornings and also a Backyard Birding program once a month.

Cat: She continues to be my 5 a.m. alarm clock, tapping me gently on the cheek. As soon as she gets me up and she gets a bite or two of food, she works to perfect the art of napping. On most days she gets a “walk” – she wanders around the gated compound and I follow in order to snatch her up should one of the local hawks want to have a meal.

Enjoying the birds: As usual, I have bird feeders out at my campsite and have enjoyed a variety of birds. My favorite has been the Cardinals – a male and female who sit on the Ocotillo outside my door and call to me when the feeder is empty.

MY PHOTO GALLERY

Muddy Buddy – a park hosted biking/running team event: This event took place shortly after I arrived at the park. I was fascinated to watch the preparations. Basically an obstacle course was laid out that ended with large mud pits right before the finish line. Seven hundred teams – two people and one bicycle per team – entered. The teammates alternated running and riding the bicycle, switching at each obstacle, and they had to be together to go through the final obstacle, the mud pits. Many teams came in costume, having to wear the costume throughout the event. This is such a wacky event I had to be there to understand it. And I took pictures.

Most interesting find: As I was checking the remote group sites, I drove by this ‘Diamondback Rattle Snake skeleton’ on the road. Obviously it was a fresh-kill and the flesh had been picked off most likely by the many Ravens we have.

WHAT’S NEXT?

I’ve had a super time here, and Lord willing I plan to be back for next winter.

I leave on tomorrow (Monday) morning and drive to Pancho Villa State Park in southern New Mexico. I’ll be there two months as a campground host and will also work in the Visitor Center/Exhibit hall. My mailing address here is Carol Anderson, General Delivery, Columbus, NM 88029.

Mid summer plans are to adventure again in the Midwest for five weeks. This time I’ve invited my sister Linda to travel with me.

And believe it or not - late summer/early fall (mid August to early October) will find me volunteering again at Navajo Lake State Park in northwestern New Mexico.

That’s all for now. I leave you with a photo of the sunset view here at McDowell Mountain Park.

Part of the adventure of life is not always knowing what’s going to happen next, and the next part may be grander than your original plan. Be open to the unknown.

Great Summer Adventure 2010 comes to an end

2010-11-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

Whee! What a ride!

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

Nearly 7,000 miles while driving through 18 states – what a super time!

Did I have a favorite state? Favorite campground? No to both questions. I can tell you that my least liked campground was Homestead/Yarwood in northern Kentucky; the most challenging one was Maple Springs Campground (outside of Preston, MN) where Jeremiah had to be pulled out of the mud.

During my adventure I stayed at three working farms: a dairy farm, vegetable farm, and pig, corn and soybean farm. I camped at commercial parks, state parks, Corps of Engineers parks, city parks and on three occasions at Walmart! Camping neighbors ran the gamut; most super people who also love to travel.

Besides my week at the Winnebago Grand National Rally, I made an unscheduled flight to northern Nevada to be with one of my sisters for a week. And on my way home, I stopped three days at Pancho Villa State Park in way-southern New Mexico and went across the border for a dentist appointment (ultra-sound cleaning for $30), had new glasses made ($90 using my old frames) and had lunches at the Pink Store (the must-go place in Palomas, Mexico). I also bought a raspador saldado for 214 pesos - $17.85 (also called a “Mexican hoe”). Actually it is a floor scraper that works great on weeds.

My last night was spent at McDowell Mountain Regional Park in the Phoenix area before driving home and parking Jeremiah and Cat (friend Connie looked after Cat) at my Prescott Valley home. I drove my Ford Explorer to the San Diego area for medical checkups (all OK!) and visiting with friends and family.

My winter volunteer "job" - McDowell Mountain Regional Park

Jeremiah, Cat and I are now settled into one of several volunteer host camp sites – with a sewer connection, laundry facilities for volunteers, a park truck for getting around the park and only a few miles to the town of Fountain Hills (in the greater metro area of Phoenix, Arizona) for groceries and such. What a luxury. My park “job” is to be one of two “group camp” hosts. This involves overseeing group campers in five areas. We have two groups coming in on Friday and leaving Sunday. My group host counterpart, Donna, and I spent time this week getting group areas ready. Our schedule will be four-days-on followed by four-days-off, making it nice for getting out and about in the Phoenix on off-days. I also have four days at Thanksgiving – Thursday through Sunday – so I’ll be able to join the rest of the Anderson clan for Thanksgiving dinner.

You can be sure I'll be figuring out my 2011 travel plans because:

My idea of a good time is getting in a car and driving to explore our great country. For whatever reasons, I have defined relaxation as driving long distances in short segments; freedom is associated with a steering wheel in my hands and a new section of America somewhere out past the windshield where the yellow center line dips over the horizon.

Seven weeks down; one more to go

2010-09-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. – George Leigh Mallory

My Adventure at Navajo Lake State Park is nearly over. One week from today I’ll stow items, unhook, dump tanks and drive to Rio Rancho. If this last week holds true to form, there won’t be a dull moment.

Here are highlights from this past week (remember you can double-click on photos to enlarge them)

The wild critters continue their antics

SKUNKS: Two women came with two large, barky dogs to camp in a tent. The dogs continued to be a nuisance and the women repeatedly said “they will settle down soon.” I told them about the raccoons, skunks and feral cats, advising them to put the dogs in their SUV or in their tent at night. The barking of dogs woke me and other campers sometime before midnight. In the morning on my morning rounds the odor of mad skunks was strong enough to make my eyes water. Here’s what I found out from one of the women. They did put the dogs in their tent (must have been crowded in there). When the skunks showed up, the dogs burst out of the tent to attack – and the skunks wasted no time spraying the dogs. Then the dogs ran back into the tent to share the brunt of the skunk odor with their owners! They packed up and left shortly after that.

RACCOONS: I was awakened about 1 a.m. by noises. Upon investigating from the safety of my motorhome, I saw four raccoons in the cargo portion of the gator trying to get into one of those ‘Costco-size’ containers of dry roasted peanuts. I watched with amazement as they tried – and failed. I did get a photo to share with you. On other nights, several campers thought their food was safe in coolers – bad assumption. Those crafty critters cleaned them out.

Food Fairy

Just as the groceries that Hilda and Jesse brought from Albuquerque, a camp neighbor who was leaving after a weekend here brought a bunch of her “extra” food to me! I called her my Food Fairy.

Splash for Trash

Teams of divers arrived on Saturday to clean up portions of the lake bottom and shore. When the day was over, they had gathered about 300 pounds of trash. They picked up cans, bottles, used diapers, odds and ends and even a swamp cooler (the large whitish item on the left of this picture). This photo shows just a portion of the trash. These divers were coordinated by a Dive Shop in Durango, Colorado.

Bass Championship Tourney

Fifteen teams (two per team) of bass fishermen from the Four Corners Team Bass Association qualified to participate in their weekend championship tournament. I was their for Saturday afternoon’s weigh-in, Sunday morning’s launch and Sunday afternoon’s weigh-in. It was fun meeting team members (all men except one female) and learning about bass fishing. One team also had a dog (see group photo). Of course I had camera in hand and took more than 100 photos and put them on a disk for them. Each day each team could bring in up to five bass (they had to be alive and were returned to the lake following the weighing) and vie for the largest bass and largest total catch. The fourth picture shows a bass receiving ‘first aid’ – something to do about being caught at a deep depth. I didn’t stay for the awards ceremony; I hustled back to Jeremiah to be ready to go to the local harvest festival.

San Juan Winery’s Harvest Festival

I had heard that the San Juan Winery’s wines were quite tasty but had never stopped to check them out. This was my chance! Rangers Shawna and Carol B invited me to go to the harvest festival with them. The winery is located along the San Juan River among towering Cottonwood Trees. The wines were delicious, the booths had a huge variety of crafty things and it was a great people-watching place. And surprisingly I met a couple - Loraine and Don Martin - from Prescott! I was interested in the nicely decorated porta-potty/wash stand that was provided (see photo).

Books I’ve Read

So far on my Great Summer Adventure I’ve read a dozen books! The most recent ones were A Walk in the Woods – rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson and Commodore Hornblower, by C. S. Forester – copyright 1945.

This coming weekend

Friend Selma is coming for a visit this weekend. She and her friend Tom will pitch a tent and in between my park responsibilities we’ll have a nice visit.

Oct. 5 to 11

While in Rio Rancho, Jeremiah will be parked at Jesse’s campground while I take care of some motorhome maintenance, shopping and visiting with family and friends.

I end this with some words of wisdom from this morning’s devotion. Think about this.

When someone speaks harshly about or to you, hurting your feelings, just move your sails out of their wind.

Kidnapped by a book!

2010-09-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Kindred camper, Jean, walked her dog several times a day and oftentimes stopped to chat a bit. Then she would scurry off to “read a very interesting book.” The day before she left Navajo Lake State Park, she finished the book and offered it to me – all 1,000 pages! Since she left right before the Labor Day weekend, the book sat on a shelf while I worked. I finally got around to starting it and could hardly bear to put it down. The book is – The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. While the story kept my interest up and stole my blog writing time, it was quite “raw” at times (I don’t need sex, blood and guts in minute detail) and the architectural discussions (for the cathedral buildings) were boring.

Live each day as a newfound treasure chest full of jewels just waiting to be opened.

That’s my motto, and it serves me well. The expectations keep me alert so I don’t miss a thing. Here are some 'jewels' I discovered since the last blog posting.

Rain and hail

Yes, I do like New Mexico’s summer thunderstorms; hail is OK as long as it is small. During the afternoons, clouds gather, the winds blow, and thunderstorms pass through, dropping rain and cooling the day off. One early evening last week the rain poured down and then it turned to hail. It sounded like rocks hitting Jeremiah’s roof. Hail stones were up to about 1/3-inch in diameter. “Rivers” of water and hail flowed everywhere in this hills campground creating gullies. It was amazing. Here’s a photo of Cat’s view.

The “Bass” guys

After the Labor Day campers left and kids were back in school, I thought the campground would become fairly quiet. Well, it was for three days. And then campers with boats filled a lot of the campsites – they were here for a Bass fishing tournament. I could hear sleek, well-outfitted boats leaving shortly after 5:30 a.m. each day; they came back mid to late afternoon with tales of woe. Bass aren’t biting – water is too cold, weather is too cold, lake is too high, lake is too low, and so on. But they were in good spirits.

The “Trout” guys

I’ve learned to recognize the trout guys’ campsites by the waders hanging out to dry each evening. Since the San Juan River (one of the rivers that form Navajo Lake) is recognized as primo trout fishing, there’s no lack of folks hoping to catch some. The part of the river just below the dam is a “catch and release” area. Farther from the dam, fishermen can keep their catch. They too have comments about their successes or lack thereof. One camper reported that when he switched to “gray triple threat” lures (purchased from the local bait shop), he started hauling them in.

Sunrises

I’ve always said “sunrises are God’s gift to early risers.” And here’s a picture taken from my campsite of the sun rising over Navajo Lake.

New spark plug

Zippy (my 4x6 Gator) was threatening to quit zipping. A trip to the maintenance building to have a new spark plug installed was in order. I was shown how to replace it and given a spare “just in case”. It sure made a difference!

Rabbitbrush

This plant is loaded with stunning yellow flowers, and the park has plenty of them. I’m blessed to have two large bushes behind Jeremiah; they brighten up the otherwise green/gray of the pinyon and juniper trees.

Williamson's Sapsucker

Something that was moving up the trunk of a pinyon tree caught my eye. I was out on Zippy which startled the bird, causing it to fly away. Making a mental note to come back when I could sit and perhaps get a good look of the bird, I finished my errand. Later I went back with binoculars and bird field guide and parked in the shade to wait. I was rewarded – it was a Williamson's Sapsucker (related to the Woodpeckers). It was shiny black with some white on its wing, small red throat patch, two white stripes on head and a yellow belly.

Raccoons, skunks and feral cats

These wild critters continue to raid campsites. And even though I caution campers to put all food items and meal trash in their vehicles or the dumpster before going to bed, they often neglect to do this and have a mess to clean up in the morning. One camper said that when his back was turned, a cat jumped on the picnic table and snatched a cooked chicken leg from a plate and ran off! And raccoons continue to get into dumpsters at night. We keep a long board behind the dumpsters to give the animals a way to climb back out. These photos show the most recent raccoon snoozing in the dumpster corner and Camp Host Dick putting the board in.

International campfire

Having camped in numerous places around the country, I’ve found out that not all park staff and/or camp hosts ever stop by to say hello, glad you are here, or do you have any questions. As a park volunteer I’ve made it a point to make time for a quick visit with all campers. And what jewels most of them are. This past week, we had campers from England, Germany and Australia. Before the evening I had chatted with them and instigated an informal “international campfire” at one of their sites. They were so appreciative.

Camper/fisherman with ‘bionic’ leg

Six guys from Texas were here to fish for trout; one had lost a leg and proudly showed me his new bionic leg. He gets around really well and has a great attitude. He explained that he also brought his old prosthetic leg to wear while fishing because he can’t get his new one wet! All six were super guys and they really enjoyed their week here.

Zucchini and tomato

Yum! Another payoff from befriending campers is occasional edible ‘jewels.’ One camper who lives in nearby Aztec brought me zucchini and a tomato from her garden.

Jesse, my ‘personal shopper’

Just as the perishable food that friend Hilda brought to me was running out, I got a surprise phone call from friend Jesse. He was on his way to visit family in Colorado and would stop and do some shopping in Bloomfield.

Map of Navajo Lake

I had heard that the lake was huge, even reaching into Colorado. It looks large from my campsite, but after looking at a map of the entire lake, it is not the biggest part. Here’s a photo of the map – the dam is at the bottom; I'm not too far from the dam.

Mountain lion in Prescott Valley

Meanwhile, from the Prescott Courier newspaper this week, a mountain lion was seen on the street that is behind my house! Sister Elaine emailed me the info. Check it out at the Prescott Courier website

Getting to the end

With October 5 set as my departure date, I’m beginning to feel like a short-timer. I counted days yesterday and found out I have 18 days left. I’ll be driving to Rio Rancho and staying a few days there.

Labor Day Weekend – my mantra: “Focus on the good campers”

2010-09-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

Actually I had three mantras: "Focus on the good campers" and "This too shall pass" and "This is part of the adventure." It was a hectic weekend.

Friday, Sept. 2: When I turned in for the night there were few campers in my immediate area. I awoke to full campsites and boats and cars everywhere; children on bicycles and scooters.

There were wall-to-wall campers, tents, cars, boats and dogs all weekend. Even with the "campground full" sign up, RVers continued to come in, driving around the narrow campground roads hoping to find a campsite.

A large proportion of the campers brought boats so by mid morning they were all out on the lake and by late afternoon to early evening they were back. Campfires were burning and the aromas of cooking foods signaled dinner time.

My great next door neighbors on one side – 10 people, three dogs, five or six vehicles, three tents, a camping trailer and a large boat! On the other side of me was Gloria, a state parks employee from the headquarters in Santa Fe (she worked the entrance station).

Thankfully, the Pine Main campground (77-campsites; where I am) was pretty quiet Friday night. Not so, at the remote campgrounds according to reports on Saturday. There were partiers going full blast until the wee hours of the morning at one of the remote campgrounds. It was such a ruckus that four rangers with badges and guns evicted the noise/trouble makers.

As I made frequent rounds, at each campsite I introduced myself. I warned them about the raccoons, skunks and feral cats getting into trash bags left outside. Then I asked the campers to do me a big favor – “please no cigarette butts on the ground or in the fire rings and don’t burn trash, including glass, plastic or aluminum in the campfire.”

During the weekend, as Bucky and I were out and about in Zippy, I waved to campers, sometimes stopped to chat, and talked with the children. Bucky is a hit with kids and adults alike.

It didn’t take me long to identify the two campsites that I predicted would be problematic - # 63 and #69. They were across the road from each other and were somehow related. It didn’t take long before their campsites resembled a war zone – trash, soda cans, beer cans, towels, etc. During the three days they had numerous visitors, many that spent the night in tents or in their cars. They were quite a rowdy bunch of perhaps 40 people at one time. They promised me they would leave clean campsites.

Most of the campers were pleasant and courteous; a joy to be around. Then there were some that didn't respect others or willingly follow park regulations. For those few, it is nice not having to be the enforcer. I'm just the eyes and ears for park staff; informing campers of regulations and calling a ranger to handle difficult situations.

On Sunday evening I delivered large heavy-duty trash bags to several groups who have been extremely trashy. I smiled sweetly as I handed bags to the camper who arranged the campsite, saying "You said you would leave your campsite clean and here are trash bags to use."

This morning, Monday, I had 60 campsites being vacated. As I set out to check and clean them, I wondered how effective my ‘keep things clean’ campaign was. I’m pleased to report that only #63 and #69 needed extra cleaning (and they had filled the two trash bags and left them for me to take to the dumpster). The rest of the sites needed minimal, if any, cleanup. Yea! I’m celebrating with a glass of wine and some popcorn.

Backup to pre-Labor Day

I decided to put Mack (my motion-activated Pennsylvania rooster that crows when people walk by) outside near Jeremiah’s door. He startled quite a few people. Here’s a photo of him tied to the railing post.

Last blog entry I told you about a really nice full-time camper – Jean Holloway-Burkhart (an Escapee member). She invited me to go to lunch in Navajo Dam (delicious green chile cheeseburgers). Afterwards she wanted to see what the Sims Mesa campground was like. We set out to find it. Even though it is visible from our side of the lake, it was a long drive. After nearly 40 miles, we found it. As we neared the campground, we saw a sign that said “Navajo Dam shortcut.” After asking the park ranger who said it was a really rough road, but passable, we took it. It was only about 12 miles!

I’m looking forward to a few pretty quiet days before next weekend’s rush. It is definitely an adventure here! The park staff – rangers, office gals, maintenance, seasonals, etc. – are super. They are appreciative of my work.

Week 3 at Navajo Lake State Park

2010-08-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

Can you pick out which photos are of Cat?

I finally had a good opportunity to get photos of VC the Visitor Center’s cat. Can you tell which photos are of Cat and which are VC? Here’s your clue – there is two of each.

There’s never a dull moment as a Camp Host at Navajo Lake State Park. Things do quiet down, mostly Monday through Wednesday, making that a good time for longer visits with campers, to do motorhome chores and read (finished “The Old Patagonian Express – by train through the Americas” by Paul Theroux) and passed the book onto a camper from Argentina. Off and on I read bits from a book I bought at Colorado Springs’ Garden of the Gods gift shop. It is Cowboy Poet Baxter Black’s “Horseshoes, Cowsocks & Duckfeet.”

And then there are times to just sit back and enjoy the sky, clouds, sunrises and sunsets. Oh, yes! Time to pet Cat.

Macky the Rooster (motion activated) has been on duty, crowing when people walk up to Jeremiah’s door. (Thanks Essie! I know you really wanted to send one of your real roosters with me.)

I’ve enlisted Bucky (the ventriloquist dummy) to be my co-host, riding around in Zippy as I make campground rounds. He is a big attraction with children and adults.

Hannah the dog walks his “mom” (Jean Holloway-Burkhart) several times a day. Jean, a delightful and interesting lady is a full-time RVer. Hannah is one of the most alert dogs I’ve met. The way she sits amazes me – and I took a picture.

During the three weeks I’ve been here, we’ve had some wonderful evening and nighttime rain storms. Sometimes the rain is gentle; sometimes it comes down in buckets. Either way it cools things off and makes for good sleeping – and beautiful pictures. Here’s one I took between storms one day.

This week’s highlight – Hilda Ripley

Hilda, a friend from Albuquerque, has been my first visitor. By herself she was a great treat – but the bonus was the groceries and such that she brought me. If that wasn’t enough, she also took pity on my ‘no laundry facilities’ circumstance, taking me to a Laundromat at the nearby town of Aztec.

She also became my host assistant as I helped campers get settled into sites. One day I had to go to one of the park’s remote campsites. We took advantage of the scenic route to ohh! and ahh! at the lake and take pictures. Hilda was fascinated by a lizard and while she took a picture of it, I took a picture of her.

Upcoming Labor Day

It’s count-down until the Labor Day camping rush hits. We expect to be completely full. I’m just hoping that the majority of campers will be respectful of others and keep their sites clean. Wish me luck!

It’s raining now, so I’ll end this. Here are some wise words written by Author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words."

Finding a routine in a non-routine job

2010-08-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure. --Irving Wallace

“While Mom (Carol) is out and about – and she left the computer on – I’ll write about my days of leisure. Yes, indeed! This is the life of luxury. Here’s how my nights and days go:

= Nighttime is my busiest time because I’m on guard duty while Mom sleeps. I go from window to window (Mom keeps the blinds up and windows open.) looking for dangerous night creatures such as raccoons and skunks.

= At 5 a.m. I lovingly tap Mom on the face with my cool paw. I think she pretends to be asleep so I’ll go away. No such luck. I’m persistent.

= She finally gets up, gets dressed and goes outside. In a while she comes back in, fixes her breakfast, gives me some petting time and then fires up the John Deere 6x4 Gator and leaves again. I wish she would let me go outside. During the day, when I’m not sleeping I watch the birds, ground squirrels and rabbits. They would be fun to chase.

= My night and early morning jobs done, I go to my bed and sleep.

= Mom returns about 10 a.m., does some inside chores and has lunch. I usually sleep until I hear her fixing food. I try begging for some of the good cat food (canned stuff), but only get three tiny cat treats. Mom reads or checks email and give me some more petting time. She tells me what a good cat I am. She also told me that the park office has a cat that looks just like me! Imagine that!

= Later I again bug Mom for the good food. She gives in about 4 – yea! I’m a happy cat. By then it has cooled down outside. Mom leaves again and doesn’t come back until about 6 when she fixes her dinner.

= Her bedtime is about 9 p.m., and I’m on duty again.”

Well, I see that Cat was a busy writer while I was outside this morning. She IS one lucky cat to be able to travel – and I’m blessed with the interest and ability to travel.

My sort-of routine

My days as a volunteer at Navajo Lake State Park are settling into a basic pattern. First thing in the morning I walk the park’s four loops (77 campsites), noting RVs that came in late yesterday. The mornings are pleasant and cool. After breakfast I head out in the Gator. Besides greeting campers, I spend time cleaning vacant campsites – picking up trash, cleaning out fire pits - my biggest peeve is cigarette butts on the ground. And why is it that people throw glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans and foil, and cigarette butts in the fire pits? News flash! They don’t burn!

Tuesdays through Thursdays are a good time for serious site and fire pit cleaning in early mornings before sun and heat arrive. Lots of campers come in on Fridays, and the park nearly fills up. However, since I’m the only daytime camp host, I’m basically ‘on duty’ all day.

Speaking of local critters

Cat was mesmerized by a ground squirrel that was exploring the Gator – I think it was hoping it could jump and get in the window bird feeder.

It took the House Finches a week to discover my window bird feeder. Other birds I’ve seen include Titmouse, Scrub Jay, Dove, Brewer’s Blackbird and Magpie.

On one early morning walk around the campground I picked up some trash and took it to the dumpster that had the lid off. I heard some noises and peeked in – coming practically nose-to-nose with a raccoon. Where is my camera when I need it? A quick walk back to Jeremiah for my camera and I was rewarded with this photo of two of the three raccoons who were looking for a meal.

The saga of the water leak

A camper told me that water was bubbling up at the base of the faucet, and I reported it to maintenance. Later four men and two shovels arrived to assess the problem. After digging at least four feet down, the problem was determined. The vertical piping/faucet unit is made to withstand freezing temperatures was not working right and needed to be replaced. After figuring out the location of shut-off valves, the leak was repaired.

Current reading

I’m working my way through “The Old Patagonian Express – by train through the Americas” by Paul Theroux. It is slow-going travel book, but interesting enough to keep me going. It’s basically a diary/journal of a trip he took in 1978. His plan was to travel by train from his home in Medford, Massachusetts to Patagonia.

I especially liked his introductory travel comment: “…travel – its very motion – ought to suggest hope. Despair is the armchair; it is indifference and glazed, incurious eyes. I think travelers are essentially optimists, or else they would never go anywhere.”

Heron Lake and Navajo Lake State Parks

2010-08-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

State and local highways are my kind of highway for my trip, and my kind of traveling – a journey, an exploration in which stopping is a virtue, not a vice. I have an ultimate destination, but the point is in the going, not just the getting there.

Sunday’s drive from Antonito, Colorado, to Heron Lake, New Mexico, on Highways 285 and 64 was made-to-order for me. There was very little traffic, the countryside was scenic, the blue sky had fluffy clouds with interesting, ever-changing shapes and formations and the weather was delightfully cool. Jeremiah was slow and steady up the grades and we poked our way back down. I was in no rush. I stopped at a couple scenic overlooks to enjoy the views.

As I drove down Heron Lake Park roads to find a good campsite, I encountered two sets of serious speed bumps. Concrete parking curbs – about 4 inches high – had to be driven over. Yikes! Even though I was creeping along way below the park limit of 5 mph, they sure gave Jeremiah a good jolt.

Jeremiah easily backed into site #21 at Lake Heron State Park. As with nearly all New Mexico State Parks, the sites are spacious and well-separated by trees – primarily pines, junipers and mountain mahogany. I knew from a previous stay that I would not have Internet. Surprisingly I did have a poor cell phone service.

Right off the bat I met Campground Host Rusty. He was checking sites and raking the camping areas with his home-made raking contraption.

After a good night’s sleep, I wrote out my to-do list: give Jeremiah a spit bath, clean and reorganize all storage areas, clean windows inside and out and give myself a manicure. I added take walks, read, work on my blog and cook salmon for supper. I am reading Julia Child’s memoir, My Life in France.

I had a peaceful and quiet day, alternating between chores, reading and walking. The park has a lovely short nature trail that overlooks the lake.

In the afternoon I connected with Rusty and learned that earlier this morning a hiker came across a mountain lion making a meal of a deer he/she had taken down. The mountain lion high-tailed it toward the lake when the hiker appeared. A couple of the rangers loaded what was left of the deer and took it to a remote part of the park.

I left Tuesday morning – destination Navajo Lake State Park. The drive was another adventure. After stopping in Chama for groceries and gas, I continued west on Highway 64. I decided to take 539 from 64 to the park. It was a blacktop road that twisted and turned, dropped down to an area that had been washed out from recent rains. That part was dirt with major holes to navigate. After that the blacktop reappeared. As I dropped down toward the lake it became apparent that I would be driving across the very top of the dam – narrow two-lane road with drop off to the lake on one side and drop off to the other side. I’m not a fan of high places and avoid them if possible. This was a HIGH place. Fortunately no traffic was coming, so I took my half of the road out of the middle, staring at the center line instead of the drop offs on both side.

Settled into Navajo Lake State Park

Campsite #48 overlooking New Mexico’s second largest lake is where Jeremiah, Cat, Bucky, Mac, Fargo and I will spend two months. The main campground, where I am, has 77 campsites in hilly terrain.

Shortly after arriving I discovered three undesirable circumstances:

l. I would not have a sewer hookup (will have to unhook and take Jeremiah to the dump station when waste tanks are full),

2. The park does not have laundry facilities for volunteers (closest town with a Laundromat is between 20 and 30 miles one way). Perhaps I should just take my washing down to the lake and beat things on the rocks!

3. Since I’ll be using the campground restrooms for my showers, the one nearest my campsite does not have hot water. (The restroom that is closer has a broken water heater.)

Admittedly I went to bed that first night feeling somewhat bummed out. After a good night’s sleep (wonderful cool nights and dark skies) and giving myself a talkin’ to about attitude, I decided to make a list of the good things about my situation: I have a great campsite and love seeing the lake, the New Mexico sky is always interesting and scenic, I’ll have a Gator to get around in, I have a very nice co-host to work with, I’m well-stocked with food and clothing for all weather, and I’m fairly close to Albuquerque and Rio Rancho where I have friends who will come to visit.

We had a major wind and rain storm early Thursday evening. Jeremiah was rocking side to side because very strong wind was hitting broadside. One camper, who left his awning out, returned to find it torn to shreds. We got buckets of rain dumped - visibility was nearly zero. Great thunder and lightning - loved every minute and hoped that Jeremiah would stay upright. Everything was soaked. One camper found his boat cover plastered against a fence.

I will make the best of the situation, enjoy meeting and being helpful to campers and park staff and find joy in every day. It’s amazing what a change in attitude can do.

I hold fast to a quote by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross:

It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had.

The get-around Gator was delivered today – I’ve named him Zippy! According to Vic the tech who delivered it, top speed is about 10 mph.

Litter pick up astounds me

In the past few days besides regular camp host duties (be helpful to camping guests and park staff) I’ve been doing major clean up in and around vacant campsites and on trails to the lake.

By far I’ve picked up more cigarette butts and beer and plastic bottle tops than anything else. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to after two mornings (about 4 hours) of cleaning up a tenting and lake front area.

Today’s haul also included two pair of women’s underpants (Yup! I was thinking the same thing!), a couple dozen beer bottles and cans, water bottles, broken glass, paper plates, tent stakes, and assorted pieces of plastic and wire. I also fished non-burnable aluminum foil, cans, wire, and plastic bottles from campfire rings. In all, I filled one large drawstring plastic bag and three grocery store bags. Also as I cleaned campsites from departing campers I found more cigarette butts (why are some smokers such slobs?), cardboard boxes and a dog leash. Oh the adventure!

I’ve met some mighty fine campers these past few days. Also the park staff is super, supportive and greatly appreciative of the volunteers.

Basically I make rounds of the campsites after breakfast posting notices on reserved campsites. The while it is still fairly cool, I pick another lake or trail area to clean up. After lunch I again make rounds of the campsites with my pick-up tool and trash bag to clean campsites that have been vacated, getting them ready for new campers. Then after supper I make rounds again, listing new campers’ information on the daily roster. In between I take care of my motorhome chores, read, and simply be available to help campers.

That's all for this blog entry. I close with an admonition, a phrase from a song, that one of my friends adds to email messages: Keep the sunny side up!

The Adventure Continues - Life is Great!

2010-08-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

Sweet Solitude

My two days at Pony Soldier RV Park near Lingle, Wyoming, were set aside for some time of solitude. And interestingly, as I spent time in quiet and reading, I read two quotes – one by my fellow RV-traveler Pat Bean (check out her interesting blog at: http://patbean.wordpress.com/) and the other from Pastor Chuck Swindoll in his daily Internet devotion.

Travel has as much to do with internal discovery as it has with seeing the world. New places, new sights, new experiences wash away stereotypes. – Pat Bean

“…the value of quietness, slowing down, coming apart from the noise and speed of today's pace, and broadening our lives with a view of the eternal reach of time. It means saying no to more and more activities that increase the speed of our squirrel cage. Knowing God requires that we "be still" (Ps. 46:10). It is necessary for survival. Our minds must be liberated from the immediate, the necessary stuff in the mainstream of our world, so we can gain perspective.” - Pastor Chuck Swindoll

The drive from Beulah to Lingle

I had no idea how large the Black Hills are! They encompass an area that from north to south is 125 miles and from east to west is 65 miles! My drive from Beulah to Lingle, Wyoming, was mostly lush green pines and undergrowth until I came to the Salt Creek Overlook.

I rarely pass up an overlook since these stops allow me to see the country from a high point. Here, the valley floor was a mostly lighter green and tan with an abundance of oak trees growing along the Salt and Beaver creeks. As Jeremiah made the long descent to the valley, the lush green areas ended.

My 190-mile drive ended at Lingle, Wyoming, a small town at the intersection of highways 85 and 26. I was eager to get settled into the Pony Soldier RV Park. When I had called to check on availability for parking, I was struck by the sweet cheerfulness of the voice on the other end assuring me that they had space. When I met ‘the voice’ she was such a delight. Julie and her husband Tom own the RV park and do everything they can to make their guests’ visit a pleasant one.

After hooking up and settling in, I headed to the row of sunflowers alongside an adjacent field to cut a bouquet to enjoy. To do this, and to do any walking around the park, I was “accompanied” by millions of grasshoppers, and thankfully no mosquitoes or gnats.

I love trains! And I was in the right place to enjoy the whistle and clackety-clack as frequent freight trains passed just across the highway from where I was parked. They passed, day and night, carrying loads of coal eastward. I had sweet times remembering my many train adventures around the USA and Canada on Amtrak and Via Rail.

I finished reading “The Secret Lives of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd (thanks for the book, Barbara). I enjoyed the book immensely, keeping me intrigued with the twists and turns of the story that was set in South Carolina in 1964. Besides the story, it was fascinating to learn about honeybees. For instance, I was surprised to read that “It takes honeybee workers ten million foraging trips to gather enough nectar to make one pound of honey.”

Fort Laramie

After two delicious days of solitude, it was time to move on toward Colorado. But first I made a side trip to Fort Laramie, a National Historic Site in Wyoming that sits along the Laramie River. The first fort on this site was built as a trading post by a fur trader in 1834 and originally named Fort William. In 1849 the army bought the fort and made it a military outpost along the Oregon, California and Mormon trails.

The brochure enticed me to spend time there by saying, “Walk in the footsteps of larger-than-life characters of the old west such as Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Generals Crook, Sherman and Sheridan, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane.”

I wandered through some of the restored structures – the infantry barracks, guardhouse, captain’s quarters, and “Old Bedlam” (the name given to the building that housed bachelor officers). I also found the trail to the river and walked around the Commanding Officer’s Chicken Coop and one of several ‘privies’. The latter two intrigued me enough to take photos:

Next night’s stop is River View RV Park and Campground

Lingle, Wyoming, to Loveland, Colorado, was a leisurely 190 miles. After driving through the Black Hills, the landscape along the way was ordinary. I found myself more interested in the blue sky and the cloud formations.

I made stop to fill the tank with gas and another stop at the Colorado Welcome Center. Then once in Loveland, I again got “lost” – aka took the scenic route – thanks to the new Interstate exchange that was not well-marked. Again I’m grateful for my compass (continual thanks to you, Jesse). RV friend Carol Rayburn gave me her old Garmin GPS, but until new software is installed and I make time to learn it, the device sits on my console at least giving me my route as I drive.

Finally after a phone call to the RV park, I arrived to a lovely wooded area that sits along the tree-lined, fast-moving Big Thompson River. Jeremiah fit nicely into its assigned space. It was time to do laundry and make some phone calls. Sadly, the Internet is poor here so this won’t get posted until another day.

Loveland to Monument, Colorado

The BEST RV RESORT

Cat, Jeremiah and I have voted the ‘Mary RV Resort’ to be the very best! I was at the lovely mountain home of my friends Claud and Judy Mary. The Mary’s had been neighbors when I lived in Valley Center, California. Their 6,000 sq. ft. home sits on 3+ acres among tall pines at about 7,500 ft altitude. Jeremiah was indeed parked in a beautiful setting north of Colorado Springs.

This area is home to many wild creatures, but the ones I saw were the Stellar Jays, nuthatches, Abert’s Squirrels, and a ‘regular’ reddish brown squirrel. Claud and Mary have seen elk and bear. And of course there were other birds. From one of the back decks I had super views of the birds and squirrels. I had never seen Abert’s squirrel before and took a bunch of photos. This squirrel is a very dark brown/black, giving it the nickname of a 'black squirrel'. Unfortunately, the trees always cast at least one shadow on this interesting critter.

Cat watched the squirrels that romped on the boulder wall outside the motorhome.

Claud and Mary are super fun people to be with; we laughed a lot. Judy took me on a beautiful walk through the nearby Garden of the Gods.

Judy and I talked about driving up Pike's Peak, but I decided to save that outing for another visit - no need running ourselves ragged to try to see it all. I did have a view of the Peak from the Garden of the Gods - unfortunately the clouds had already started gathering.

As we were leaving the parking lot, masses of people on bicycles were passing by. According to the support vehicles that passed it was a Ride for Wounded Warriors, and they were headed in the same direction we wanted to go – to see Balance Rock. We followed them for a while until we saw that they were using the rocks near Balance Rock for their group photo. (See photo)

We decided to have lunch first rather than continue to creep behind the bikers as they wound through the hills. Judy took me to the Visitor Center/Gift Shop/Café where we enjoyed lunch out in the patio. Afterward we went back to Balance Rock and then drove through the historic towns of Manitou Springs and downtown Colorado Springs.

With time still left in the afternoon, Judy took me to do my stock-up shopping at Walmart and Sam’s. On the way to Sam’s the afternoon thunderstorm hit, the clouds dumped masses of rain and hail on us as we drove. At one point, a car in the other lane drove through a huge puddle and we briefly lost all visibility! Since Judy and I both love rainstorms (as long as the hail isn’t big enough to damage vehicles) and cheered with each flash of lightning and thunder clap. It is ‘monsoon’ season and the daily weather prediction is scattered thundershowers with rain capable of flooding low-lying areas. Whee!

My last day at the Mary’s was a day to sit back and enjoy their home and pine forest. We walked the property looking for signs of the screech owl that makes itself heard each night – no luck. And we laughed a lot, getting caught up with each other’s lives. It was an outstanding visit and besides many photographs, I have many memories to file away for future enjoyment.

Today’s drive from Monument to Antonito

I did not want to move on, but my date with Navajo Lake State Park is nearing. My drive took me south on I-25, west on highway 160, south on 159, west on 142 and south on 285 – about 233 miles. I made a stop in Pueblo to get a haircut at Walmart and to get gas at Sam’s.

It was a beautiful drive through much of the San Luis Valley! The sky and clouds were picturesque, and I managed to take a photo that shows the beauty as I drove west on highway 160. Once I turned onto 159 I practically had the two-lane road to myself – I could take my half out of the middle.

On highway 142, I crossed over and puny-looking Rio Grande! I had expected it to have much more water. I passed by the Old San Acacio Church (considered to be the oldest standing church in Colorado).

I’m at Mogote Meadow RV Park 5-miles west of Antonito, just five miles north of the New Mexico border. It is a nice park and a good Internet connection so I can get my blog updated. Tomorrow morning Sharon (park owner) will be serving pancakes in the recreation room.

I’ve again modified my route and tomorrow will drive on to Heron Lake State Park – just 80 miles from here. I’m partial to the New Mexico State Parks and have decided to visit this park again. The only drawback to this park is that I’ll be without Internet or Verizon phone service for two days. So, don’t panic if you don’t hear from me until Tuesday when I arrive at Navajo Lake State Park in northwest New Mexico. I’ll be there two months as a volunteer.

Thanks for traveling along with me. I’ll probably update my blog at least weekly while at Navajo. I’ve camped here before but never been a volunteer here. I have no idea what my jobs will be, but whatever they are, I’ll enjoy them. It’s all in the attitude – I make up my mind to find pleasure and goodness no matter what.

Black Hills, Fish 'N Fry, Pig Wrestling

2010-07-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the Black Hills

It was only an 80-mile drive through western South Dakota’s Black Hills to my next RV park, but oh what a beautiful and interesting drive! The high and barren plains landscape became hills and mountains of tall pine trees, and the hot, humid air became dry and cooler. In one direction the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds; in the other direction it was gray and stormy, giving credence to the weather man’s prediction of scattered thunderstorms.

As to the name of Black Hills, the original name given by the Lakota Indians was Paha Sapa, meaning hills that are black. However, thanks to recent abundant rains, a more appropriate name today would be Green Hills. The road, Highway 36, has very little traffic, allowing me to poke along without annoying faster drivers.

My first surprise was rounding a curve to discover buffalo (actual name is American Bison) blocking traffic. I’ve since learned that there are 1,500 of these critters living here. Traffic had come to a standstill, only occasionally creeping alongside buffalo when they gave enough room. It was a very slow, nerve-wracking drive in two different places. I did not envy the few motorcyclists that were making their way among these large animals.

Remember - double-click on photos to enlarge them.

The road also took me through a portion of the 71,000-acre Custer State Park. The Black Hills guide book says “There are few truly wild places left in this country; Custer State Park is one of them. Besides buffalo, the park is home to pronghorn, elk, mountain goats and burros.” The park terrain includes prairie fields, lakes, and granite mountains and spires.

The radio programming was interrupted by a weather alert – severe thunderstorm with possibility of large hail – for much of the Black Hills, including the area where I camped last night. The sky overhead continued to be fairly bright, but there were lots of dark, threatening clouds not too far away. With no other road options, I continued on.

My route – Hwy 36, 16-A and 385 took me through the touristy towns of Custer and Hill City. I also drove past the Crazy Horse Memorial – a mountain carving to honor American Indians and show “the white man that the red man has great heroes also.” Remember your American history lesson that told about the famous Indian fighter at the Battle of the Little Big Horn against Custer and the cavalry troops? The rock carving of Lakota leader Crazy Horse is 641 feet long and 56 feet tall, easy to see from the road.

Today’s destination was Fish ‘N Fry Campgrounds just five miles south of the historic town of Deadwood. Amazingly the major part of the thunderstorm missed me; just got a bit of rain along the way.

On to Fish ‘N Fry Campground

“We furnish fishing gear. You catch them, we’ll cook them” says the promo for this Black Hills RV park. My campsite backed up to a creek among the tall pine trees – a great place to be. I was eager to explore this campground and wasted no time getting hooked up.

I was greeted by two well-fed white ducks. I later learned that these ducks do not swim; will only get into the creek in places where their feet will touch the ground. And they don’t fly, either. They wouldn’t budge from the shadows, so the photo is pretty dark.

With camera in hand, I wandered the camp store with cafe, trout pond (70¢ an inch) and creek banks. The campground did get the thunderstorm before I got there, so things were pretty soggy. There didn’t seem to be any mosquitoes! And Verizon service was poor. It was a great overnight stop.

Heading west – Wyoming sunrise

Every new sunrise introduces another reminder that
my body and a rocking chair weren't made for each other.

After a quick stop at Walmart in Spearfish to check email, I continued west toward my high school classmate Rita’s RV park (Red Water Creek Campground) just outside of Beulah, Wyoming. I’ll be here for two nights.

The surprise on this drive was the brand-new Wyoming Visitor Center – the Grand Opening sign was up and I stopped. It is a beautiful huge building with helpful staff and numerous 3-D interpretive displays.

It is five miles north of I-90 on a paved highway and then 1 ½ miles east-ish on a well-maintained gravel road. There are 10 full-hookup campsites in this high prairie location. One site is occupied by a volunteer couple; I was the only other RV.

Peaceful, quiet, expansive sky often adorned with a variety of clouds, magnificent views in all directions, green grasses, Red Water Creek – what a special place! Oh, yes, the wooden “statue” of a motorcycle with an American flag in the park’s activity area.

Shortly after I arrived, Rita and two of her girlfriends arrived – with an invitation to go to the Pig Wrestling matches in nearby Sundance, Wyoming. You KNOW I said ‘yes’!

First we went to Rita’s cabin nearby – an awesome place she built; perfect for a Wyoming setting.

Pig Wrestling!

For a $5 fee, we laughed our selves silly at this small-town event held at the Sundance Fairgrounds. Let’s see if I can describe the fenced-in arena. It is not too big, maybe 35- to 40-feet in diameter and filled with well watered bentonite (a clay-type mineral that is mined in this area). It was slip-p-p-ery! Four people made up a team, and they had peewee, junior, women and men divisions. The arena was surrounded by bleachers and the judge/announcer stand.

Each team had one minute to catch its pig and put it in a barrel in the center. Before letting a pig (small ones for peewees, a bit larger for juniors, and pretty big for adult women and men) was let into the arena, the pig was smeared with some of the slippery bentonite.

Enough said, I’ll let the pictures tell the story:

Between divisions, there was time for people watching. Our favorite sight was of this “smiling face”

Day two at Red Water Creek Campground

I did motorhome chores in the morning before Rita picked me up for a drive to nearby Hulett, not too far from the Devil’s Tower National Monument. We enjoyed lunch on the patio overlooking the golf course at the local country club. My cheeseburger (caramelized onions and pepper jack cheese) and fries were worthy of a photo!

Mileage update

So far I’ve driven nearly 5,000 miles, been through and camped in 17 states. I’ve also made a nearly 5,000-mile unplanned airline trip from Minneapolis to Reno and back.

Tomorrow morning I’m headed south through Wyoming on Highway 85.

I’m loving every mile and every adventure!

Good Grief! It’s been 23 days

2010-07-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back

Yep, 23 very busy days since my last posting – I’ve been getting lots of “flexibility” practice. But first before I get you caught up, I send sincere thanks to various friends and family members who have sent emails of concern – was I OK? Where was I? How come no updates?

My last post was shortly after I left Blackhawk COE Campground in Wisconsin. After crossing the Mississippi River at La Crosse, my destination for the night was Maple Springs Campground near Preston, Minnesota. It was a rainy drive and because of a detour, five of those miles were on gravel roads. Jeremiah was mighty dirty by the time I arrived. My campsite was a grassy area and after an all-night rainstorm it became puddles and mud. There was no Verizon phone or Internet service.

It was a lovely campground and the trails along a creek would probably be interesting, but between the rain and the mosquitoes I was stuck inside. I had no reason to stay a second night. I decided to drive on to Medford, Minnesota, to my cousin’s family farm complex – three houses, four generations, hundreds of acres – farming corn, soybeans and raising hogs. Yes, I would do that, if I could! As I tried to leave, Jeremiah would not budge due to the mud. Thankfully, one of the campground owners used a tractor to get me on solid ground.

If you’ve been looking at weather maps these past few weeks you’ve probably noticed all the thunderstorms, tornadoes and rain in the Midwest. Thankfully I’ve not been near any tornadoes, but the heavy rainfall has caused flooding in many areas and closed some roads.

Days at the farm

I arrived at Cousin Gloria’s just in time for their annual fish fry. Her son-in-law, Denny, had caught a variety of fish this past winter. He has what has been described as a deluxe ice-fishing house that is kept at a northern Minnesota lake. What a delicious meal! I had a most enjoyable time for several days visiting relatives who love to play progressive rummy, watching the hogs being loaded for delivery to become ham, bacon and pork chops, picking green beans and rhubarb from their garden and relaxing. The only undesirable things were the mosquitoes and gnats. Jeremiah was parked in the yard under some wonderful shade trees. And while Cat would have liked to be outside, the farm dogs make quick work on any cats that appear.

PHOTO – hogs loading

July 9 - On to St. Peter, Minnesota

It was only a 50+ mile drive from Medford to St. Peter to visit with former New Mexico neighbors Mary and Aaron Everett. Along the way I passed this "double steeple" church. Years ago two churches decided to merge - and they moved and placed the two church buildings back-to-back.

Jeremiah was parked at the City Campground after checking in and paying the camping fee at the Police Station. Mary and Aaron picked me up and we spent the afternoon and the next morning visiting and walking through the Gustavus Adolphus College Campus.

The highlight of the campus tour was seeing Perry the Corpse Flower that is located in the college’s Nobel Hall of Science greenhouse.

Even though it was about two weeks from its actual “bloom” and “stink”, it was fascinating to see. According to an Internet article, 12 days after my visit, this amazing and rare, nearly 7-foot-tall flower started to open and emit its repulsive odor. “The [event] drew flies and about 5,000 curious visitors all day on July 22; and then began its natural decline with obvious signs of wilting and less odor three days later.” You can find a photo and more information at http://news.blog.gustavus.edu/2010/07/22/perry-the-corpse-flower-starting-to-open/ Or check this time-lapse video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67UQEgz6Ub0. If those links fail, go to www.gustavus.edu

Mary and Aaron are well-traveled, and along the way they collect key chains. Here's a photo of the collection in their St. Peter home. They have another collection at their New Mexico home.

An unscheduled trip to Gardnerville, Nevada

The second day I was in St. Peter, I got a call from my sister Linda that her husband Bob had had a pulmonary embolism and was in the Carson City hospital and not expected to live. I drove right back to my cousin’s in Medford, parked Jeremiah, left cat and was on Southwest Airlines the next morning. The flight from Minneapolis to Reno seemed extra slow since I was eager to be with Linda. Bob never regained consciousness and died a couple days later. I spent the week with Linda helping with arrangements and such. We did take time off for relaxing and time with her three sons who live nearby.

One evening nephew Tim and his wife (also named Linda and on left in above photo with sister Linda) arranged to boat sister Linda and I across Lake Tahoe for dinner, another day nephew David and his twin girls took us to lunch, and I enjoyed visits with nephew Richard. A week later I flew back to Minnesota to continue my summer adventure trip.

Winnebago’s Grand National Rally

This was my fourth Winnebago National Rally and as always a busy, informative and interesting time. I had missed pre-rally week’s festivities, arriving on Day 1. I was pooped after my long Sunday flight – took nearly all day due to route scheduling and thunderstorms when we took on passengers at Denver – and mostly loafed and visited with friends on Monday.

Tuesday late afternoon was the “state row” parties; always a ton of fun and laughs. At the row parties, the states serve a variety of foods - usually those indicative of the state. At one booth they were serving alligator tail that had been breaded and deep fried. It was quite tasty. This year’s rally theme was Hollywood Legends and attendees really got into the spirit with costuming. Check out these photos.

During the week I got some motorhome items repaired/replaced: awning tension spring, refrigerator shelves adjusted, clear coat on motorhome hood replaced and a new propane detector installed. My volunteer jobs at the rally included a.m. coffee-donut area setup at 5:45 each morning and vendor hall take down on the last day. I made new friends and enjoyed friends from past rallies. It was a good week.

Hot Hurley Nights

Last Saturday, after the rally, I followed my RV friend Carol Rayburn to her mother’s home in Hurley, South Dakota. We parked across the street from the house. This small town’s annual celebration – named Hot Hurley Nights – was this weekend. Events we went to include a tractor parade, lunch in the park on Saturday, dinner at Simo’s Café, tractor pull, pork dinner in the park on Sunday, and music in the park afterwards. Some kids’ events included a scavenger hunt and a “money hunt.” For the money hunt, event organizers had put $40 to $50 worth of quarters on one half of the sand volleyball court – kids scrambled and dug for the loot.

At the one-and-only café in Hurley the Saturday night special is chislic (or sometimes spelled chislick). Red meat (in Hurley it was mutton) is cubed and deep-fried or grilled. It is usually served hot on a skewer or toothpick along with garlic salt and saltine crackers. This dish is virtually unknown outside the state of South Dakota. Locals say it is delicious - I chose to have a chicken salad sandwich.

Yankton, South Dakota

My next stop was to visit with Barbara and Wayne Nielsen at their home on the South Dakota side of the Missouri River just outside of Yankton. They gave me a super parking spot at their home. On Monday night we drove to Nebraska (just across the lake/river) for a delicious wall-eye dinner. Exceptional sights included an Osprey habitat set up to repopulate the area with this large bird (brought to the habitat shortly after hatching and a tour through the Lewis and Clark Campground where we spotted this bright orange motorhome! On Tuesday morning Wayne and I hiked a lovely trail.

Along the trail I spotted a plaque that had this to say about the Missouri River:

In the 19^th Century, many travelers considered the Missouri superior to the Mississippi. They contend that the Missouri is, in reality, the main stream. One traveler, Charles A. Murray, wrote that “all who journey on it feel that the Missouri has been miss-used in having its name merged after its junction with the Mississippi; whereas the Missouri is the broader, the longer and in every respect the finer river of the two.”

After hiking and lunch, Jeremiah, Cat, Bucky the dummy, Mack the stuffed rooster and Fargo the stuffed horse pulled out toward my next destination – Al’s Oasis RV Park just outside of Chamberlain, South Dakota on I-90.

West across South Dakota

Originally I planned on taking back roads to Rapid City but that plan was scratched due to flooding and closed roads. Drats! I had to use I-90 – a monotonous road where one mile felt like 10 miles. Farming country became ranching/hay-growing country, hills became flat lands, and towns were few and far between. The only diversion was at Wall – home of the famous Wall Drug tourist area (free ice water, etc). I thought I should stop at Wall Drug, but the Dairy Queen was calling to me.

Heartland RV Park

I finally arrived at Rapid City (locals just say “Rapid”) and drove south 15 miles to Heartland RV Park. It is a good place to spend the night because the Internet is speedy and I’m hoping to get this posted. Tomorrow I’ll be driving through the Black Hills area to Fish ‘n Fry RV Park just south of Deadwood, SD.

MY DAYS TRAVELING BY RV are among my best. I see new places. I meet new people. I fill my head with new experiences that morph into memories. And I am richer for it. I am happy to live in a time where I can do something like this. – Chuck Woodbury, editor of RV Travel e-news. Rvtravel.com.

Thanks for "traveling with me" - you can email me at CarolinArizona2@aol.com

Birds, Boats, Barges and more –

2010-07-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

The Great River Road – Highway 35 in Wisconsin – was indeed great, basically paralleling the Mississippi River and its network of backwaters! Thankfully I got to Blackhawk Park Corps of Engineers Park in time to get a campsite under tall trees that would shade Jeremiah from the sun and give me a view of the Mississippi River. I planned to be here six nights, until Monday morning.

Jeremiah at Blackhawk COE Park

Blackhawk Park is a small portion of the 240,000-acre Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge that was established in 1924. A plaque in the park reads:

I was eager to start exploring. First I noticed how high the river was – some primitive campsites were flooded, the dock at the boat ramp was partially under water, and one of the park’s dirt roads was closed due to flooding.

Note: That the "yellow" is sunlight on the water.

According to COE Ranger Eric, the Mississippi and all its backwater channels and lakes will be at their highest point in a couple of days. Check out this brochure photo of the river and its backwaters at Blackhawk. Note Battle Island, the location of The Blackhawk Massacre in 1892.

Barges and “tugboats”

While I was at the park several barges and tugboats (should be called “push boats” because they push from behind) passed.

Cabins on stilts

Between Highway 35 and the park’s entrance is an interesting community of cabins and homes of all sizes that appear to all be on stilts. This small one intrigued me.

Campground filled up quickly

Besides 65 campsites with electricity (no water or sewer) there are many primitive sites, and by Friday morning all sites that weren’t under water were full. Tents, vehicles, boats on and off trailers, and RVs were everywhere. Adults and children were fishing, boating, running, riding bikes, playing games and walking dogs – enjoying their vacation. This made for some major traffic jams at the one-and-only modern restroom/shower facility. In the woman’s side there were only three showers!

Enjoying the birds

I saw two birds that were new to me: American Redstart and Red-Bellied Woodpecker. Other birds included Cardinal, White-breasted Nuthatch, Crow, Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, Bank Swallow, Killdeer, Great Blue Heron, and House Finch. I was surprised at the apparent lack of other water and shore birds.

Park Outreach Program

The day I checked in, Ranger Eric told me about a school program to be held the next day and invited me attend. Ranger Eric along with representatives from the nearby Genoa Fish Hatchery, Wisconsin Fish and Game, and the Department of Forestry set up learning stations for students from the DeSoto Summer School program. Park Volunteer Carroll was there taking photos for the Park and his wife – a.k.a. Bobber – was there. Here they are:

Park Volunteer Carroll and his wife "Bobber"

Then the rain started

On the morning of July 4, with 90% chance of rain in the forecast and having already been alerted by regular campers that I was parked in one of two sites that flood during heavy rains, I asked myself, “Carol, do you really want to be here another day?” And as I noticed many RVs packing up to leave, I did also.

My next camping park was only 100 miles away near Preston, Minnesota. I would cross the Mississippi at LaCrosse.

Along the way I pulled in at COE’s Lock and Dam No. 8 at Genoa. Lucky me, there was a set of 6 barges in the lock and another set of 6 along with the tugboat waiting their turn in the lock.

Lock and Dam No. 8

Lock and Dam No. 8 at Genoa is set on a foundation of sand, gravel and broken rock. It has a 110-foot wide chamber and an 11-foot lift from the lower to the upper pool. This is one of 26 locks and dams built by the U.S. Government to improve transportation from Minneapolis to the mouth of the Missouri River. The project, approved by Congressional Act on August 30, 1935, was largely completed by 1938.

Things I learned from a helpful COE employee at the lock and dam:

-- The average river depth in the main channel is 8 to 9 feet.

-- Besides barges/tugboats, the lock serves recreational and fishing boats

-- From the shoreline it looked like each tugboat only had 4 or 5 barges, but barges are three abreast, making a total of 12 or 15 barges.

-- These barges are loaded with farm products, chemicals and other bulk commodities.

McClosky Farm to Blackhawk Corps of Engineers Park in Wisconsin

2010-07-06T05:20:00.001-07:00

Sunday, June 27. It was time to kick back and relax after a busy and exciting 10 days on McClosky’s Farm. I had motorhome chores to tend to. Stormy weather was threatening as I drove west on Hwy 224, heading through Ohio.

The weather was stormy so I decided on Timberwoods Camping Resort near Van Wert, Ohio. Shortly after parking and hooking up electricity, thunder and rain started. By the time it let up, Jeremiah was in the midst of a shallow ‘lake.’

The park was nice, but not peaceful. So after one night, I headed west again – through Indiana and into Illinois to Hickory Hill Campground near El Paso, Illinois. It was a nice campground; a good place to relax for a couple of days.

Then it dawned on me that the coming weekend was the July 4 holiday and RV parks often fill up. Hmmm! It was June 28; time to figure out my next few days. With camping directories and maps out, I calculated mileages. I decided to check out one of two Corps of Engineer parks along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.

My original thoughts were to find a park along the way for Tuesday and perhaps Wednesday nights, then be at a Corps park for Thursday through Sunday nights. I started making calls and found out that all the reserved campsites were full at both Grants River and Blackhawk COE parks; I’d have to take a chance on getting a first-come-first-served site. The ranger at Blackhawk said my best chance for a site was to arrive early on Tuesday; by Wednesday they would probably be full.

Tuesday! That’s tomorrow. I got Jeremiah ready for an early a.m. departure (fresh water tank full and waste tanks empty). By 4 a.m. I was on the road. About seven hours later I pulled into Blackhawk Park after just one stop for gas. And I got a super site with a view of the Mississippi River! Good job, Carol!

View from Jeremiah at Blackhawk

The next posting will be about my six days at Blackhawk. I leave you with this great poem about old age:

My Mother’s Philosophy

“Age is a quality of mind.

If you have left your dreams behind,

If hope is cold;

If you no longer look ahead,

If your ambitions’ fires are dead,

Then you are old.

But if from life you take the best,

And if in life you keep the jest,

If love you hold;

No matter how the years go by,

No matter how the birthdays fly,

You are not old.”

(From a June 2010 entry in The Writer’s Almanac, Garrison Keillor)

More McClosky Farm Adventures

2010-07-05T05:16:00.000-07:00

You can’t control the length of your life,
but you can control its depth.

Update on PO, TA, and TOE

The big event on Father’s Day was moving the chicken house. Richard had built this on skids years ago and it had not been used for quite some time. Once moved, it required a lot of cleaning inside and out.

With that finished, the three chickens acquired at the Chicken Yard Sale, Po, Ta, and Toe, were moved in. Then trouble started.

Yes, one of the “roosters” from the Chicken Yard Sale is indeed a hen – and with giggles accompanied by silly grins – Richard and Essie have named her ‘Carol’! The roosters got new names, too. Ta, the Banty rooster, became Herald. The large Rhode Island Red, Po, was briefly named Mighty Mouse before Essie finally settled on Rocky.

The two roosters did not like each other. Herald and Carol evidently decided to be a ‘couple’ and Herald objected to Rocky sharing the house. That was solved by letting Rocky out of the house, which seemed to be OK by him. He took over most of the house yard; Herald and Carol opted to stay in and around the chicken house. There was calm again.

PO - now named Rocky

Weeding strawberries on the McClosky Farm

Yesterday this ‘wanna-be’ farmer helped weed the strawberry field (strawberries planted this year are for next years crop). I was working alongside five Amish "kids" and Farmer Richard.

weeding crew ready to work

Richard explained we were to hoe weeds from between the plants and then bend over or squat down to hand-pull weeds that are real close to the plants. I started hoeing and bending over to hand weed. When my back was tired, I decided to pull weeds while on my knees. Then, that grew tiresome and I decided to just sit on my butt in the middle of two rows and weed plants on each side of me.

The earth smelled great, the morning was still cool, birds in the nearby woods were singing, cabbage moths were busy laying eggs in the cabbage plants on an adjacent field, the "kids" chattered away in their Dutch/German language (they speak great English also, but mostly communicate in their ‘home’ language with each other) and when I felt thirsty I picked and ate sweet strawberries (with Richard's permission). Three-plus hours later it stopped being fun, I stopped weeding and walked back to Jeremiah and the farm house. I'm just a teensy bit sore this morning. (Richard and the workers put in even more hours after their lunch break! I guess I'm a wuss.)

Richard is an amazing 80-something guy with farming in his blood. He squats to pull weeds and easily stands up afterward. And he works all day long except for meals. At 6:30 this morning before the workers showed up, he headed out to plant some sweet corn.

Essie, 60-something, is a spry and a diligent worker and great farm-partner for Richard. There was plenty to keep her busy, even before the ducks, kittens and last weekend’s three chickens were added. When the vegetables and blueberries are ripe, she mans the farm store, selling to people that come from all around the area.

Essie - taking a break from field work

Crazy ‘starving’ Carp

Today was to be ‘weed the pepper plants’ day, but God had other ideas and sent a good rainstorm. When the rain let up, Richard, Essie and I were off to explore a portion of nearby Linesville Lake and Spillway. Richard’s young grandson, Cordell, went with us.

The most amazing part of the lake is the spillway and the seemingly starving Carp. Essie and Cord tossed bread to the Carp and I took photos. We also went to a Wildlife Center (sadly the building was closed) to see birds and to walk in the woods.

The Amazing Cabbage Planting Machine

20,000 cabbage seedlings to be planted? Oh, my! My eyes glazed over as I looked into one of the greenhouses and saw the waiting seedlings. This sounds and looks like more back-breaking work. Essie would get three willing Amish kids to help us. But still …

A Side Note about the Amish

There is Old Order and New Order Amish. In the mid-1700s and again in the first half of the 1800s, Amish came from Europe, searching for political stability and religious freedom. With the rising tide of industrialization in the late nineteenth century, some clusters of Amish became known as the Old Order Amish. They are the most strict and least likely to compromise with the worldly culture around them. In the 1960s some Old Order Amish, wanting modern conveniences, formed congregations of New Order Amish. The small numbers of New Order Amish groups sometimes permit their members to install phones in their homes, use electricity from public utilities, and use tractors in their fields. And they allow their pictures to be taken. (A good website to learn more about the Amish culture is http://www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Amish.html)

Back to cabbage planting

Richard hooked the cabbage planting machine to a tractor and led the three-vehicle parade to the waiting field. I followed, driving the farm pickup with workers Gertie, Elsie and Vernon, and Essie brought up the rear with the large farm truck that was loaded with trays of the cabbage seedlings.

At the field, Essie drove the tractor, Richard and Vernon placed individual seedlings in the clever planter, the two Amish girls walked behind as “quality control,” adding seedlings if needed and pressing in any seedlings that landed cockeyed. I took photos – either walking along or riding on the tractor’s fender. It was a barefoot-day for most of us. Here are photos of the process:

My view of the planting

Adventures at an Amish Auction

Saturday’s great adventure for Essie and me was an Amish Auction in the nearby town of Atlantic. The flyer promised multiple auction venues at an Old Order Amish farm, selling everything imaginable: furniture, farm equipment, quilts and such, small, moveable buildings, kitchen ware, small farm animals, harnesses, and much more. Proceeds would be going to the local Amish hospital.

We were somewhat delayed in leaving the McClosky Farm because the 15 young ducks were missing. After looking all over – using the golf cart to extend our search beyond the yard – they were nowhere to be found. Essie recalled hearing coyotes so we feared the ducks provided a tasty meal. With heavy hearts, we left for the auction.

There were hundreds of people – mostly Amish – at the auction, and at least 10 auction venues scattered throughout the farm going on simultaneously. Some were in tents and some just out in the open. Families with children of all ages milled about. I took very few pictures, respecting the Old Order Amish customs, but the scenes are still vivid in my mind; words just don’t do it justice.

Amish-made furniture for sale

After sitting in one auction venue selling furniture, Essie and I found the area where small animals would be auctioned. Immediately Essie spotted some good looking chickens, some in wire cages and some closed up in cardboard boxes. She oohed and aahed – and I could see the wheels turning in her head! She wanted more chickens, especially one handsome Banty rooster and hen couple.

The auction started, and Essie’s coveted chicken couple soon was up for bid. Essie offered a bid, but then quit when the chickens went for more than she was willing to pay. A couple of boxes later, I heard the auctioneer say “sold” and a box with chickens was placed at Essie’s feet. Assuming Essie was though buying, I let my attention wander to all the surrounding activities. Then another box was deposited at Essie’s feet, then another and another until there were eight boxes (one box had two young rabbits)! Oh, dear! What have we done? Three Amish boys helped carry the boxes to the car, Essie paid for her new critters, and we headed home.

At the farm Richard was coming in from a field and he got a look at the boxes in the car!

We started putting chickens in the chicken house, and trouble started again! We had already learned that two roosters don’t get along, and neither do five roosters! That’s right! The new purchases included three full-grown roosters, four or so hens and their broods. In all, we added 23 chickens to the original three. Quick, open the chicken house door and get the roosters out, all but one rooster. In the process a couple hens and young chickens got out. Then the rooster fights began until we managed to get them to scatter.

Essie took the remaining box that had two young rabbits to a cage by the farm store.

The ducks are back!

On a cheerful note, amazingly the ducks were back. They had wandered all the way to the pond – not in it, but in the tall grass.

Total farm critters: 26 chickens, 15 ducks, 3 kittens, 2 young rabbits, Katie the dog and Boobama the original cat. In one week, the McClosky farm added 46 assorted critters to the one dog and one cat.

And I left the next morning, heading northwest, before Essie and I got into any more mischief. But not before Essie gifted me with my very own rooster – a stuffed one to join Cat, Bucky, and Fargo (my Wells Fargo Bank stuffed horse). I thought about naming my rooster Richard but that is my son’s name. I named him Mack (short for McClosky).

Essie’s Farm Update via email, July 3

“We have 26 chickens including everyone. The bunnies are over at Martha Yoders (an Amish friend). Her children just fell in love with them and they had an old rabbit cage that had been left there by the previous owners. Martha said the kids love to dress them up in doll clothes and wrap in baby blankets. The three kittens are there, also. It made my heart happy to leave them there with those kids, but I couldn't talk Martha into taking a rooster or two. Then I rescued a very small kitten in the Walmart parking lot, brought it home and named him Max!”
A life without adventure is likely to be unsatisfying. – Bertrand Russell

Never a dull moment at the McClosky Farm

2010-06-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Essie McClosky is a spunky gal with a zest for living – and mischief-making. Me? I’m always up for adventure and fun. Put us together and watch out! We have a well-deserved reputation to live up to.

Today is Day Three on the McClosky Farm in Jamestown, Pennsylvania – and the two of us are having a blast. Richard, a quiet hard-working farmer with a continuous twinkle in his eyes, is tolerant even though I think he suspects - or simply knows that we are probably up to something.

The picturesque McClosky Farm is a charmer. The minute Bucky, Cat, Jeremiah and I turned in the driveway, I knew the long drive to get here (2,860 miles) was worth every mile. There are tall, tall trees in the yard, lots of mowed lawn, flower beds bursting with colorful blooms, a stately tall farm house, barns and sheds, and a large pond that is stocked with fish. Oh yes, add the acres of farmland that keep Richard (aka Cuke Dude) busy dawn to dusk growing all sorts of vegetables, strawberries and blueberries on 170 acres. (Don't forget to double-click photos to make them easier to see.)

If you don’t know it, farmers are at the mercy of the weather. Too hot, too cold, too much rain, not enough rain, etc. This past week it was too much rain and hail – resulting in a ruined strawberry crop and many disappointed people who came expecting to buy some.

The greeting committee

As I drove Hwy 58 toward Jamestown and the road that would take me to the farm, I missed the turn. Since I had a few cars behind me, I could not back up. Another narrow two-lane road; where could I turn around? I did find a small place where I could at least pull onto the shoulder and check my map. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a red ATV pull off opposite me. I looked up and low-and-behold it was Gary Kidwell (another Cave Creek Park volunteer). He gave me directions, saying that the next road would get me to the farm.

As I drove into the farm driveway, there didn’t seem to be anyone around. But I did see the farm’s “livestock” – three kittens, a passel of baby Mallard ducks and Katie the dog. Then Richard arrived on a tractor. Essie was with her mother and would be home shortly.

Camera in hand I explored the expansive yard, stopping to get close looks at the flowers and to enjoy the kittens’ antics.

Jeremiah settled in alongside the farm market; I will be here more than a week.

The Great Fathers’ Day Plan

Essie had already asked Richard what he would like from her – his response was “More potatoes!” Well, what a splendid idea. Essie and I are thinking of serving plenty of potatoes dishes on Sunday!

That was settled, but our playful, scheming brains did not – or more accurately could not – stop. Especially after Essie told me about a ‘Chicken Yard Sale’ in a nearby town. The newspaper ad said, “small farm animals, farm implements, yard sale items, plants and baked goods.” (This is Amish country.)

Hmmm! Small farm animals – perhaps we could get something and name it Tater. Picture Essie and me with devilish grins.

The Chicken Yard Sale

There WERE small farm animals offered by a variety of vendors – ducks, geese, rabbits, chickens, bay peacocks, sheep and goats. I’ll let photos tell the story.

Hmmm, what about a baby goat? No, it would eat the flowers.

Or, what about a chicken? “Richard loves to hear roosters crow,” Essie offered.

So, chicken it was – not just one, but three roosters! So much for one animal named Tater. We decided the roosters’ names would be “Po”, “Ta” and “Toe.” And she would explain to Richard, “Well, you wanted more potatoes!”

We giggled all the way back to the farm, stopping briefly at a “moving sale” where Essie paid $2 for a genuine rabbit fur jacket and I paid $4 for a Wilson black leather jacket.

Then we plotted how we were going to hide the roosters until morning (Fathers’ Day), hoping that Richard would be out in the fields. He wasn’t in the field, but he was engrossed in repairing an implement that would allow him to cut the weeds and grass around the pond. We rounded up three cages, took them and the roosters out into the pine “forest” not too far from the house. In a day or two, the roosters will join the ducks, kittens and dog to roam the farm at will.

Well, come evening, Essie could not keep the secret any longer. So, the three of us went to the hiding place.

Note: Richard says one if our “roosters” is a “hen”! Stay tuned.

The adventure continues!

Goodby Lancaster; hello Somerset

2010-06-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.

-- Jack London

The Adventure continues - Getting ‘misplaced’ in Lancaster

I had printed a map of Lancaster (Ohio) from MapQuest and carefully planned and marked my route to get to Highway 22 for the 18-mile drive to Somerset. So far, so good. Then, following my plan, next thing I knew I was driving in the wrong direction down a narrow two-lane country road! I managed to turn around (not easy) and head back, trying to figure out where I went wrong. After a few such incidents – and 16 miles of driving – I discovered that I was holding my map up-side-down! I guess that is just part of the adventure.

I finally arrived in Somerset from the west and after negotiating the traffic around a huge statue in the middle of the intersection, headed west and saw the two silos of the Young’s farm.

Young’s Century Dairy Farm

Three days became five days on the Young’s Dairy Farm in the town of Somerset, Ohio. This farm is a “Century Farm” because it has been in the same family for more than 100 years.

Young’s Farm is now operated by Gwen and Jim’s son Denny, and it’s a life that requires hard work and long hours. The Young’s adopted daughter, Sandy, lives in the farmhouse and her nephew is a valued farmhand. According to Jim there are about 70 “production” cows – that’s a lot of milking twice a day. Then there are all the calves.

My friends, Gwen and Jim Young, spend their summers here and their winters as camp hosts at various RV parks in the Southwest. I met them when I volunteered at Pancho Villa State Park in southern New Mexico.

I learned that calves are taken from the mother right after birth. They are taken to the “nursery” (indoor stalls with slat-board floors) where they stay until about three months old. At that point they go into their “training” pasture – their first experience walking in a field – where they learn to graze and to stay away from the electric wire fence. This training pasture was practically alongside Jeremiah and when I arrived home one afternoon, eight of these calves had been delivered. They were standing alongside the fence, moo-ing and bawling. By the second day, they had settled down and were grazing.

The RV parking was delightful and each day ended with Happy Hour where we planned the next day’s activities.

Somerset is an historic town first settled by Pennsylvania Germans in the early 1800s. Many original buildings are still in use. Both Gwen and Jim have been town mayors in past years and can identify every building and home by past and present occupants. And I think they know everyone.

Gwen, Sandy and I traipsed around the area, picking strawberries, having a picnic (my first time having a “garlic bologna” sandwich which was delicious), going through the old jail and Jacob Miller’s Tavern that is being restored, shopping at the Saturday farmers’ market, and making a trip to the “big city” of Zanesville.

Picnic in the park with Sandy (left), new friend Rebecca and Gwen.

Historic highlights include

Jacob Miller’s Tavern: a two story log tavern built in 1807 along the Zane’s Trace

Zane’s Trace: Ohio’s first major thoroughfare that was laid out in 1796-97. This frontier road was financed by the U.S. Congress.

This is the birthplace and childhood home of General Philip Sheridan (1831 – 1888). There is a huge statue of Sheridan on his horse where two major roads intersect in the middle of the town, creating traffic circle. General Sheridan was a Union general in the American Civil War.

On to Salem, Ohio

I’m now in Salem, Ohio, to spend two days taking care of motorhome chores. Tomorrow morning I’ll drive 65 miles northeast to visit friends on their produce farm in Jamestown, Pennsylvania.

My "new traveling friend" has a name
After many suggestions from blog readers, I've settled on Bucky. This is short for Buckeye - state nickname for Ohio. Cat has totally ignored him. He's a great addition to my travels.

Church sign
Today in Salem, I saw this sign: "Sign maker on vacation; Come inside for message."

I have a new traveling companion

2010-06-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

I’ve been warned not to befriend strangers, but I couldn’t resist and figured that it would be OK this time. And, now Cat and I have a new traveling companion.

Here’s another photo of him – you can see he looks sad without a name, so please email me your suggestions. (CarolinArizona2@aol.com).

My campground neighbors, Judy and Don Reams, invited me to go shopping with them. After a stop at Walmart, they next stop was at a large antique shop downtown. That’s where I saw my new friend – he called out to me and pleaded with me, “Take me with you, it’s boring here and I’m lonely. I’ll be a good companion; I don’t snore and I’m not fussy about meals.” Of course, I can’t resist smooth-talking guys.

I’m in love --

-- with Lancaster Camp Ground along the Hocking River in Ohio! (Makes up for the less-than-wonderful RV parks along the way.) I’ll be at this delightful and beautiful place for two nights.

The Camp Ground facility was started in 1872 by the Methodist Rev. William Holliday as a local "camp meeting". First he located it in Logan Ohio, and then moved it to Carroll, Ohio, for five years. In 1878 he moved it to this permanent site in Lancaster, Ohio. For 20 or so years, it stressed a strictly evangelism oriented camp meeting.

In 1892 the Chautauqua Movement was introduced into the program.On the grounds of this historic Methodist campgrounds there are numerous unique buildings including the Hotel Woodside (built in 1884), The Tabernacle a huge hexagonal building (built in 1881) that has a small auditorium, small grocery and cafeteria. In 1895 a new, larger auditorium was built (closed for serious repairs in 2005; fundraising campaign is on to raise funds).

Many of the Camp Meeting Chautauqua enthusiasts who arrived loved the area and stayed. Early dwellings were tents. In the late 1880s cottages began replacing tents. There are about 250 cottages left of the four hundred or so that once were here. Cottage owners come from all over the United States – some live here full time. Don Reams told me about summer visits to his grandparents’ cottage.

The camp ground was a popular place for Christian retreats and summer Bible school. School bands came here for camp, using a football-sized field on the property for drill and half-time program practices. The grounds include tennis/basketball and croquet courts, shuffleboard, swimming pool, snack bar, chapel in the pines, and nature trail.

In 1995 the RV camping area was set up with 24 RV sites.

My timing was good; I arrived Tuesday in time to enjoy the camp's monthly potluck dinner. I met lots of super people.

Tick update
My tick site is looking OK, but starting to itch. Locals say don't scratch it because no matter what I do, it will continue to itch for a few days. Bummer. Just one more adventure!

The Midwest is hogging the rain

No wonder there isn’t much rain in the southwest, the Midwest is hogging it. It started raining during the Tuesday evening potluck, sending folks to their cottages and RVs. It rained off and on during the night and continued until nearly noon on Wednesday.

Thursday’s travel

Tomorrow afternoon's drive will be 20 miles to Gwen and Jim Young's Century Farm in nearby Somerset. I met them at Pancho Villa State Park several years where we were volunteers.

Who IS that uninvited “guest”?

2010-06-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

For there is a price ticket on everything that puts a whizz into life, and adventure follows the rule. -- Leslie Chateris

Hardy Lake State Park was wonderful! Green, lush, tall trees and electricity. Super hiking trails in the woods and – the plan was two non-driving days to enjoy the park. My plan was to enjoy the park, get a good night’s sleep and then head east in the morning (Wednesday).

I had just finished nearly four hours of slowly hiking on what turned out to be poorly marked trails and unmarked forest roads. Twice I questioned if I was even on the real trail; once I turned around and went back to the starting place, thinking of giving up instead of possibly getting lost. Between the curving and turning of the trail, the tall trees and the thick, sometimes head-high, growth between them, the only direction I could see was up.

I met another hiker who gave me a trail map and encouraged me to stop at the small cemetery and then include the Island trail that went alongside the lake in places. Well, what’s an adventure for? I had water and four small peanut butter crackers.Along the way I startled a deer and a large brown bushy-tailed squirrel. Heard lots of birds and saw a few of them.

Finally, after about 4 miles, I returned to Jeremiah – pooped and hungry. But first some iced tea while I changed from long slacks and long-sleeved shirt.

Who IS that uninvited guest?

As I was pulling the shorts on I noticed my uninvited guest – a tick, clinging to my groin! Now what?!? I’ve never had a tick before. After consulting the Internet and the lady in the park office, I decided to play it smart and safe and see a doctor. The office lady said ‘just pull it out with tweezers, wipe the area with peroxide or alcohol’, which I did. But I wasn’t sure I got it all out.

I located a doctor in the closest town, packed up Jeremiah and drove off. After nearly 2 hours in the doctor’s office (they were working me in), Dr. Buhse determined that some of the tick was still there and it would best to get it out. She did, I got a tetanus shot (it’s been more than 10 years since the last one) and rather than go back to Hardy Lake, Cat and I decided to continue driving toward Cincinnati. I have a 9 a.m. appointment at Freightliner for an oil service/checkup. I found a Walmart along the way in Madison, Indiana. That’s where I am now and where I’ll spend the night.

I’m sure living up to my goal of remaining flexible with my trip. After Jeremiah’s service, I’ll drive to Lancaster (pronounced LAN kas ter).

More about Hardy Lake State Park:

Birds I saw here: Northern Cardinal, Eastern Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, crows, blackbirds, Robin, Chickadee and Brown Thrasher. It was my first sighting of brown thrashers – I took a photo and emailed it to Maricopa County park ranger Amy Ford who identified it.

Funniest thing I saw: The sign in the camp store window that said “no shirt, no shoes, great service”.

Sobering thing: The small, old cemetery, reminding me that life is uncertain.