CONGRESS GARAGE FIXED OUR JEEPS CLUTCH STARTING PROBLEM FOR $5 & SOME CLASS A MOTORHOME THOUGHTS

A strong Skunk odor rousted me out of my dreams this morning.  Guess that is what I get for leaving my window open.  Waited awhile before I took Pheebs out.  Glad I still have a good working nose.

Our Jeep clutch switch appointment at the garage was at 9.  Thanks to MARK & MIKE'S suggestions the problem has been solved for $5.  Kelly did take the Jeep in to make sure it was the switch & not something else.  Fellow at the garage said it was common for Jeepers to by-pass the switch but he first took it out, cleaned it, & tried it again.  Yes, definitely a faulty switch.  While he had himself wedged under the dash he just rewired the wires & charged Kelly $5.  Now if it had been me there he might have charged me $10.  Always best to have the right gender go to get the best job done:))  And thanks to Mike for offering to fix that problem for us as well.

A few more things loaded into the rig today & the calendar finally came out to have us a look at a departure date.  Our 180 days away is up on Saturday April 19th so we are using that as a target date to be home.  Still figuring on wandering up through North-Eastern Arizona across Northern New Mexico into South-East Colorado & out onto the Kansas Plains.  Long range weather forecasts for my 10 weather check points along the route between Congress Arizona & Bayfield Ontario are so far looking favorable.  Chances are good we may roll out of here around April 10th. (or sooner)  As much as we wanna get goin….we don’t wanna get goin.

Our neighbors Shirley & Lou from around the corner are going to keep an eye on our place this summer.  It is their yard where I sometimes get those nice cactus garden & spring daisy photos.  Nice folks & they have a little dog named Pebbles.  I’m in the habit of calling her Pickles.  Shirley & Lou live right next door to Dally.  We stopped & gave Dally some big scruffles Tuesday morning.  She’s looking good & being given more attention by her owners.  

  

NEIGHBOR LOU CUTTING HIS GRASS LAST WEEK & LITTLE PICKLES…ERRR, PEBBLES

Reason we were down to Surprise 2 days in row was to look at a 2008 37’ Winnebago Destination Limited Edition Class A Motorhome we really liked.  It was different than anything else we had seen & that was precisely what caught our attention.   I drove it & it was the quietest smooth driving coach I’ve ever driven.  Course I’ve only ever driven two, our Damon & this one.  Liked the fact it had the bigger tires normally found on Diesel coaches.  Had the most beautiful hardwood floor we’ve ever seen in a rig.  It was a rear engine gas Chevy Workhorse on a Peterbuilt frame.  Had a lot of extras on it & had been ordered new by someone on the 06 Colorado Ski Team.  Definitely one of a kind………… Had we been able to work out a trade-in deal with our Class C on this coach we might have……well, who knows.

 

 

It was during our boondocking venture over in Arizona’s Kofa mountains nearly 2 months ago that we had to accept the fact ‘the writing was on the wall’ about our 26’ Class C Winnebago.  As nice a coach as it is with it’s many pros we just could not adjust to it’s smaller size, try as we did.  There was just no getting away from it, we have been increasingly missing that big Class A living space ever since downsizing over a year ago.  Not so much the storage space as the living space.

We found ourselves cutting our boondocking trips short this winter for several reasons.  Smaller fresh water & holding tanks for one thing.  We used to get about 2 weeks out of our Damon tanks before we had to consider dumping or taking on fresh water.  Our Class C has smaller tanks.  But the biggest reason was simply by the end of one crowded (for us) week we were already uncomfortable enough & just wanted to head home.  How unlike our other 6 years when we would spend the entire winter boondocking in our 33’ Class A Damon Challenger & got along just fine.

With an added piece of memory foam I found the overhead bunk in our Class C comfortable.  What I hadn’t figured on was the getting up & down from the bunk though.  I just assumed I would be able to skitter up & down the ladder from there with no problem.  Somewhere over the years I’m afraid my skitter has up & skattered.  The clumsy tumble from my bunk one morning made that very clear to me.

Ever since renovating our Class A Damon in 09 we have never had a proper easy to use dining room table.  You know the kind where you can just walk up, pull out a chair & simply sit down.  Supper time has always been some kind of food balancing act for us with plates resting precariously on laps or laptops & food clinging to shirt sleeves & pants pockets.  I’m tired of trying to wring soup out of my socks.  We do have an easy to set up small table in the Winnie Wagon but found it kind of awkward after a bit & stopped using it.  I did try to get used to sitting in the half turned driver’s seat to do my blog stuff at night but it turned out to just be too uncomfortable after awhile as well.  I really think our Winnie Wagon would be the Cat’s Meow for a single person.

Two people together in a small space for any prolonged period of time has it’s own problems.  Not only do people need their individual space but there has to be enough room for each person to call their own.  And I guess this is where we have become spoiled over time.  Both in Bayfield & here in Congress Kelly & I both have our own coveted space.  And as we have found out, that space is of prime importance to us & if we are going to continue to travel as we plan to do we just have to bite the bullet & accept the fact we have to go back to a Class A Motorhome.  If we are able to set out across Western Canada next September on our way south we realize we not only want but need the room to be comfortable.  Maybe that comfort thing has a little something to do with aging.  I gotta remember I’m 69 & not 29 anymore.

We have poured over hundreds of rigs on-line these past couple months checking floor plans, makes & models, manufacture’s pros & cons, gas vs diesel again, what size would be too big for us & what size would be too small.  Cheaper entry level coach or something better with some quality to it.  Chevy or Ford engine.  Newer as opposed to older.  We wrote out a list of needs, wants, & ‘no ways’ early on.  Drove down to Phoenix about 6 weeks ago looking at rigs.  Checked out some friends Class A’s & had a look at a nice Itasca Suncruiser in Camp Verde about a month ago.  Stopped & looked at others wherever we saw a ‘For Sale’ sign.

The question in some reader’s minds may be, ‘why not wait until your back in Canada until you think about changing rigs”?  Good question & of course much easier to buy a coach in Canada & basically that is what we have finally decided to do.  We have been in touch with our good friend Ron from FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE all along & he has been helping us with suggestions & advice about the pros & cons of different rigs & manufacturers.   We will be talking to Ron further when we get home………………….

GROANER’S CORNER:((  An elderly man went to his doctor and said, "Doc, I think I'm getting senile. Several times lately, I have forgotten to zip up."
"That's not senility," replied the doctor. "Senility is when you forget to zip down." 

JUST STAYING COOL & RESTING UP

NEIGHBOR’S BIRD OF PARADISE IS BEGINNING TO BLOOM

Three a.m. this morning found me wide awake.  Been a long time since that has happened.  Maybe it was the fresh night air gently rustling curtains through my open bedroom window.  Long time since it’s been warm enough for me to sleep with a window open.  Nice:))

Had to drive ourselves back down to Surprise Arizona this morning on a little business but other than that we are just staying cool in the house out of the heat.  Been having a harder time starting the Jeep with that faulty clutch switch just above the clutch pedal so the Jeep goes into our Congress garage in the morning for the fellas to see if it needs replacing.  Lot of Jeeps around here so we figured it would be a good place to have Jeepers looked at.  Garage has a good reputation & we have dealt with them before.  Don’t want to wait until that switch fails completely & leaves us stranded in the desert somewhere.

Gerry & Larry dropped around this afternoon to say Hello.  They are friends of Mike & Pats & Janna & Mike.  They are the folks Janna & Mike go ATV’ing with.  Real nice easy to be around people.  They usually drop in to see us when they are in the area.  We’ll see them again when we get over for Happy Hour at Mike & Pat’s again shortly.  Hey Mike, have ya ever thought of moving that Happy Hour up to about 10 a.m for us morning people:))

Has been a few RV related questions coming in such as, what type of work/jobs can a Canadian snowbird do in the USA, where to dump black tanks while boondocking, & what about Northern Campgrounds/RV Parks that are closed for the season before Northerners would be able to leave (say November) and wouldn't be open again until April.  My best advice for everyone with RV questions is to refer folks to the RV NET FORUM.  This is a great place for RV’ers & wannabe RV’ers to go for all kinds of RV related questions & advice.  It was a big help for us in our early RVing years.  We didn’t know nuthin from nuthin.  The forum is made up of fellow RV’ers numbering in the thousands so the resources one has for answers to any kind of RV question is many.  We have always found people to be very helpful on RV Net Forum.  For example, here’s a question from a reader the RV Net Forum folks might have an answer for…….“what about the weird 3 year calculation of days allowable in the States for Canadians; after that limit they make you file income tax there”.  ????  I don’t know the right answers for some of these questions so it’s just best to go to the Forum where all the smart & knowledgeable RV folks hang out.  I might be able to accurately tell you what color shirt I’m wearing today but for sure I would have to look first……………

I LIKE IT WHEN UFO’S OCCASIONALLY APPEAR IN MY PHOTOS:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY? (written by kids)
You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
-- Alan, age 10
No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with.
-- Kristen, age 10
2. WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.
-- Camille, age 10
3. HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
-- Derrick, age 8
4. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Both don't want any more kids.
-- Lori, age 8
5. WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
-- Lynnette, age 8 (isn't she a treasure)
On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
-- Martin, age 10
6. WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
When they're rich.
-- Pam, age 7
The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that.
-- Curt, age 7
The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do.
-- Howard, age 8
7. IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
-- Anita, age 9 (bless you child )
8. HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?
-- Kelvin, age 8
And the #1 Favorite is...
9. HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a dump truck.
-- Ricky, age 10

WITH THE DAYS GETTING HOTTER MY MIND IS GETTING SLOWER:((

Other than slipping ourselves down to EL Mirage just south of Surprise Arizona this morning there isn’t a whole lot on my mind tonight.  Just kind of ended up at the end of the day here drawing a blank.  With the days getting hotter my mind is getting slower.  Think maybe it’s time to get on home & shovel some snow eh………………….

Thanks to everyone for the reading ideas.  Some of the books suggested I have read but most of them I haven’t.  I have made a note of the one’s sent in that perk my interest.  Some of the suggestions reminded me of my reading years.  Went through a phase reading many books about the first & second World Wars.  Shipwreck salvage operations held my interest for quite awhile.  I spent some time this morning browsing through Kindle book lists.  I have the links saved people have sent in as well.  And from some of the comments it looks like the Kindle can be used in other ways as well.  Very interesting.  Kelly has already downloaded so many books it takes two of us just to lift the Kindle up off the table……

I did take a walk around the yard later this afternoon looking at the Cactus pads I had planted this season.  23 of 42 have buds on them so I know they are going to make it.  About a dozen are still green & healthy looking but no buds. The rest are not looking well & I suspect they will be ka-put by the time we return in the Fall.  About 60% of the Agave’s are looking good & the rest are debatable.  About 90% of the Aloe Vera I put in are doing great.  Two new Creosote bushes are struggling & that’s because I forgot to water them for awhile when they were first planted.  The 5 Joshua Trees I transplanted are still green but who knows.  All the Yuccas I dragged home after a road grader ripped them out last Fall all look dead but I’ll leave them in the ground anyway.  Desert plants are extremely hardy at surviving harsh treatment.  I’m already looking forward to seeing how all the plants are doing when we return in 6 or 7 months………………..

GROANER’S CORNER:((  "It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realize what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool."

And remember….nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up your interests weakens the soul.

KELLY’S CONVERSATION WITH AN ARTISAN IS ABRUPTLY INTERRUPTED BY A RATTLESNAKE

Upon charging up the Kindle Saturday Kelly’s first question to me was, ‘Ok, what books do you want to download’??  Despite knowing we were getting ourselves a Kindle the question still caught me by surprise.  My mind had just not thought about that.  What books to read indeed.  Every time my mind went in search of reading interests it returned empty minded.  Couldn’t seem to get a grasp on the ‘books to read’ thing.  Figured the reason for that was my absence from the book loop for so long.  Occurred to me finally that maybe I had better re-verse engineer my thinking.  What books am I not interested in.  Years ago I my reading interests centered around fiction & I read countless books over the years simply because that is where my interest was.  In latter years my interest in fiction waned.  I have no interest in long fictional novels anymore regardless of who wrote them.  Books dealing with politics is out.  Murder mystery type books whether fact or fiction are out.  Not interested in travel books to exotic locations.  Philosophical books no longer hold my interest either.  So have I knocked out a big percentage of reasonable reading material for myself already?  Maybe, maybe not.

Short Reader’s Digest type of fiction I can handle.  Story telling based on fact maybe.  Factual reading has become important to me the older I become.  Also like to learn something as I am reading.  History, once thought of as kinda boring to me has moved up the ladder.  Just as in movies, whatever I read now has to be believable for me.  Biographies might be a good place to start.  Area history I find interesting.  History of an area I am not in or not likely to be in…..not so much.  Until I am actually planning on visiting an area or actually walking through an area my interests are limited.  For example I’m not going to read about the Florida Everglades if I am never going to be in the Florida Everglades.  It’s just the way I am.  No interest in reading anything about Polynesia or the Philippian Islands because it is highly unlikely I will ever be there.  Ok, so where does all this leave me so far??  Still scratching my head that’s where.

LATE AFTERNOON LIGHT COMING THROUGH A BATHROOM WINDOW CAUGHT MY ATTENTION WHEN IT REFLECTED OF MY KEYBOARD ONTO MY BEDROOM WALL

Hard to separate all the nonsense from cold hard facts in U.F.O. sightings but I do find the subject intriguingly interesting.  One of the last books I ever read cover to cover dealt with this subject & that book still sticks in my mind.   Speculation mixed with a healthy dose of fact & common sense, sprinkled with perhaps a bit of myth & legend held my interest all the way through the book.  Thanks to my poor memory I cannot remember the name of that book but it started with the Roswell Incident.  Anyway, I guess I have just told myself my reading interests lie somewhere along the lines of factual history, biographies, & realistic happenings that may or may not go bump in the night.  Ok, where should I start looking????

A new solar system for John & Nan from TRIPPIN WITH THE TALLEYS this past week in Quartzsite.  After solving some 10 year old battery problems they went ahead with the solar installation & sounds like they are quite happy with the fellow who did their install.

Chinle over at SPOTTED DOG RANCH after much indecision has finally made……’a decision’.  Not so much for herself as for Bodie, Spice, Rowdy, and Callie.  And not just those 4 guys but I think the Canine crew is going to love the change as well.  I’ll give you a hint…..might have something to do with a future room full of sun:))

Called Aunt Jean tonight & she’s doing good.  A little difficulty breathing some days with the humidity present over there in that Florida place but she is still making it to the golf course most Tuesdays.  She was curious as to why I had moved that umbrella clothesline Saturday.  Told her it was twofold reason.  Didn’t like looking at that thing right outside our  back door but more importantly it now makes it much easier for us to drive the rig around behind the house to dump our tanks when returning from our little side trip travels.  We have a dump station close to the house but with the that clothesline thing there it made it difficult to get the rig close enough to the dump pipe without running into the clothesline.  Much better now & we could probably almost get a 40 footer in there…….if we had to.

Arky makes walking sticks.  Don’t know his real name but he lives with a lady friend in the desert out the other end of Ghost Town Road.  They spend their winters here & their summers somewhere in Colorado.  The two of them somehow manage to travel between these two places in an old short based home painted school bus & a kind of aging army green cube van.  They drive separately in tandem with each one towing an old homemade trailers.  Arky’s an army Vet with a mechanical background.  Not much is known about his lady friend.  We’ve seen his green van coming & going past our place the last couple years but never knew anything about him until Kelly ran into him a week ago at a garage sale just down the road.  He was dropping off some walking sticks.

 

ARKY SHOWS KELLY HIS WALKING STICKS & EXPLAINS HOW THEY ARE MADE (KELLY’S PHOTOS)

 

Kelly has been on the look-out for a good MANZANITA walking stick for quite awhile now & as it turns out Arky just down the road from us hand crafts them.  He didn’t have any Manzanita sticks with him but told Kelly to come down in a couple days & he would have one for her.  Saturday afternoon she drove the short distance to the BLM land near the old cemeteries & sure enough he had a Manzanita walking stick finished for her.  The linseed oil finish was still fresh.  Arky puts a lot of work into his sticks & like many of his fellow craftsmen is very proud of his finished product.   He was showing Kelly how he first has to shave the outer gray bark off the dried Manzanita when their conversation was suddenly interrupted by something moving not far away on the desert floor.  Arky immediately hollered to his lady friend, “get the dogs inside…..Rattlesnake”!!!!  Kelly looked in the direction Arky pointed but without her glasses she thought it was just a stick.  Within seconds Arky had his shotgun in hand & with one shot the approaching snake was quickly dispatched.  Kelly had my Canon point & shoot camera with her & prior to the snake’s arrival had been taking some pictures of Arky & his walking sticks.  She did take some photos of the dead Rattler but I chose not to include them in the post.  Not a pretty site after a shotgun blast.  Nina had just encountered a Rattlesnake out there in that same area about a week ago.  Arky said that was the third one to come into their campsite.  Needless to say Kelly was pretty excited by the time she got home.  Arky also said with the snakes active now it’s about time they start packing up & rolling out for Colorado.  Needless to say we have curtailed our morning desert walks for the season.  Many of the photos in today’s post are close-ups of Kelly’s new walking stick.

ARKY DEMONSTRATES HOW HE FIRST HAS TO PEEL AWAY THE LAYER OF DRIED GRAY MANZANITA BARK

 

MANY JACK KNIVES ARE TOOLS OF HIS TRADE

 

HE INLAYS HIS STICKS WITH MANY INTERESTING THINGS WHICH HE TOLD KELLY ALL MEAN SOMETHING…THE STICK SHOWN IS NOT KELLYS

KELLY GETS A PHOTO OF ARKY TAKING AIM AT THE RATTLER WITH HIS SHOTGUN

Kelly now has her own personalized Manzanita one of a kind walking stick made by a true desert dweller Artisan from just down Ghost Town Road.  A neighbor if you will.

ARKY CALLS THIS A ‘WHEAT PENNY’ & IMBEDS THEM IN MANY OF HIS STICKS

  

GROANERS CORNER:((  Barry and Hannah, an old married couple,  are sitting on the couch watching TV. On the show they were speaking about how to prepare in case of death etc. “Honey,” says Barry, turning to his wife with a serious expression, “I want you to promise me, that if there ever comes a time that I am dependent on just machines and bottled fluid, that you will make sure to  put an end to it.” “No problem hun,” said Hannah, and she promptly got up, turned off the TV, and poured his beer down the drain.

WELL SPINDLE McVINDLE WE HAVE US A KINDLE:))

Noticed while hanging out my laundry this morning we had us a nice cooling breeze coming in from the West.  Also noticed my energy levels were up.  Excellent combination for doing a little work outside I had been putting off.  Move our umbrella clothesline.  Of course that idea didn’t materialize until after I had hung up all my wet laundry on it.  No matter, out came the shovel.  Start a hole around the base of the steel pole buried in the ground, add water, & wait about 15 minutes.  Repeat this process half a dozen times but not before I clued into the fact I had better take my wash off the clothesline first.  Oh I am such a smart fellow sometimes.  Moved my wet laundry to another clothesline tied between 2 trees.  I had anticipated the steel pole had probably been originally set in concrete.  Sometimes it is just so nice to be wrong about something & this morning I was wrong about the concrete base.  Having dug down about a foot I was able to wiggle & pull the laundry pole loose.  Bonus, it had just been stuck in the ground.  So confident was I that I would actually get this laundry umbrella clothesline out of the ground that I had already pre-dug a new hole for it over close to our backyard fence.  Carried the laundry Umbrellamagator over to the new hole, stood it up, kicked dirt in around it, tamped it down with the end of my shovel handle, added some water to harden the sandy clay dirt, & used my level to get it leastways standing up reasonably straight.  Amazingly enough everything went as smooth as a loose load of teetering bricks & I had the job successfully completed inside an hour.  How nice it is for people like me when things work right the first time……:))

 

POURED WATER AROUND POST THEN DUG IT OUT MOVING CLOTHESLINE BACK TOWARDS OUR FENCELINE

In Canada we do not have postal service on Saturdays but here in the States they do.  Kelly returned from the Post Office this morning with a small cardboard box.  Our new KINDLE PAPERWHITE had arrived.  She wasn’t long unpacking it & plugging the little device into our Acer laptop to charge it up.  Let the reading begin:)) 

NOT EVEN OUT OF THE BOX YET

YES, IT IS AN ORANGE CASE WE HAVE FOR IT

Spent some time pouring over my Arizona, New Mexico, & Colorado, Benchmark Atlas’s today.  Also Mapquest on the computer.  Still figuring on a run up through Monument Valley but am now leaning towards an easterly route through Northern New Mexico rather than Southern Colorado.  Might just take the same route out across the Plains we took coming down in the Fall last year.  I’m starting to monitor long range forecasts & we’ll see how the weather begins shaping up for places like Flagstaff & Tuba City Arizona, Farmington & Taos New Mexico, Raton Colorado, Dodge City & Salina Kansas.  Maybe Lincoln Nebraska & Davenport Iowa.  If the weather goes into the dumpster up in Northeastern Arizona or out on the Plains in a couple weeks we’ll have to consider a more Southerly route.  It’s a wait & see game now…………

I thought Paul from R SANITY RV ADVENTURES in a blog comment did a good job in summing up my Friday paragraph about ‘Blog Mode.  Paul said, “Even though I don't blog every day, I do enjoy writing posts. I find blogging makes what I do during my days and travels more enjoyable, it gives me a new perspective on life and helps me keep my eyes sharp for interesting things to share with my readers”…..Well said Paul:))

 

My photos of Alamo Lake’s slot canyon a few days ago pale in comparison to what Sue over at THE MOHO AND OTHER TRAVELING TALES has just seen.  She & Mo were fortunate enough to visit the Slot Canyon of all Slot Canyons.  Near Page Arizona lies a gem hidden away on ancient Navajo lands.  ANTELOPE CANYON is visited by people from all over the world.  Sue not only has great photos of the swirling Canyon but her narrative gives one a feeling of the Canyon as well.  Be sure to drop over & see Sue’s ‘ADVICE FROM A CANYON’.

 

AND HERE COMES ‘SPEEDBALL McPUG ROUNDING TURN FOUR & COMING DOWN THE HOME STRETCH

Antelope Canyon is definitely on our ‘must see-must do’ list for next winter.  Page Arizona & Antelope Canyon is an easy day’s drive for us at 328 miles.  It will make for a nice week long side trip out of our home base here in Congress Az.  We did pass through Page in the late Fall of 07 on our way to the Grand Canyon’s South Rim but we didn’t take the time to stop & see Antelope Canyon.  I have read where the biggest problem at Antelope is the crowds of people & many tour groups going through.  Things sound rushed.  No doubt I will have to steel myself against the throngs of people.  Thinking about that this morning I came to a conclusion of why I become so irritable with so many people crowding around historic & scenic sights.  And it has to do with my photography interests.  Thought occurred to me if I were to leave my camera gear at home when I visit these especially scenic places I would probably enjoy the experience of where I was much more.  Photography & maybe Arts oriented people will understand when I say, it is so maddening trying to capture & compose the beauty & feel of a place when one has hordes of people milling about obstructing views.  It is that plus all the noise which is so frustrating for someone like myself.  Figure I could maybe wear ear plugs to muffle or eliminate the noise of so many people going on at once.  People carrying on in foreign languages is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me & extremely annoying.   I don’t know why that is….it just is.  I understand their need, want, & desire to be there just like myself but it doesn’t lessen my annoyance.  If I didn’t have my camera along I’m sure my irritability would be much lessened.  I would just walk around with my ear plugs in enjoying what I could see without getting myself all bent out of shape trying to photograph things.  But then again I would be kicking myself all the while there that I hadn’t brought my camera.  It is the way with me…..there are always 2 sides to everything & I am always in a constant flux between the two.  Anyway, I’ll deal with all that next winter when we get to Antelope Canyon…..or other great spots along the highways & bi-ways of this big beautiful land so many of us are so very fortunate enough to travel in:))

CAN YOU SEE A MAN’S PROFILE IN THIS PHOTO >>>

GROANER’S CORNER:((   Last summer, my husband, took me camping for the first time. At every opportunity, he passed along outdoor-survival lore. One day we got lost hiking in the deep woods. He tried the usual tactics to determine direction -- moss on the trees (there was none), direction of the sun (it was an overcast day), etc., etc.
Just as I was beginning to panic, he spotted a small cabin off in the distance. He pulled out his binoculars, studied the cabin, turned and led us right back to our camp. "That was terrific," I said. "How did you do it?" "Simple," he replied. "In this part of the country all the TV satellite dishes point south."