NICE MORNING FOR A BACK ROAD MOTORCYCLE RIDE

I MISS MY MOODY MOUNTAINS (Borrego Springs, California)

The humidity was gone out of the air to-day making for a really pleasant morning. Perfect for a motorcycle ride so I headed off out into the countryside. Local country roads were hard packed from recent rains & dust free making for some nice enjoyable slow scenic riding. My favorite kind:)) Years ago Kelly & I went on a "Food Drive" motorcycle run with about 40 other motorcyclists. It was a 4 hour ride with a couple of stops in between & it was the first time I had ever ridden with a bunch of other motorcycles. By the end of the day I knew I would not be doing that again. For safety sake each bike is confined to a small riding block in the formation & if you stray out of that block there could be a serious collision with another bike. Not my idea of a relaxing enjoyable ride so if & when I go somewhere................ I go solo!! Never was much for group decisions anyway.

We lost a neighbor to cancer yesterday. Just recently retired & looking forward to spending summer vacation & travel time with his wife & little dog. Had just purchased a newer truck & travel trailer this past winter. He was only 62 & it is a reminder that at this age & stage the hands of time are winding down much quicker on all of us. Do whatever it is you want to do now............. while you still have your health!!

When is a travel blog not a travel blog? Does it cease to be when the traveler's return home? Does it lose it's travel status when the blogger stops blogging about travels or does it lose it's status when the blogger blogs about thoughts, feelings, & opinions of non traveling issues? Hmmmmmm, just curious.........................

TO-DAY'S PUN: Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: 'Does this taste funny to you?
And did you know.......Flea's can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6ft. person jumping 780 ft. into the air.

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AWWWWW NUTS, I MISSED THE HAIL STORM TO-DAY!!

AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS PRETTY LITTLE GIRL

Ho Ho Ho...........6 months from to-day will be Christmas. I didn't get any pictures for the blog to-day so have included some pics from Christmas Day 2 years ago in 2006 when the Bayfield Bunch was staying in Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, New Mexico. We had gone to a Christmas Day dinner put on by a volunteer group of town's people at the local hall. After the turkey dinner we heard what we thought were sleigh bells on the roof & the next thing we knew Santa Claus blew through the front door with a big sack of presents for everyone. Kids & Seniors alike all ended up on Santa's knee that day including Kelly & I:)) HELP, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!

It's been about a month since I last took the motorhome for a run so took it out for the 16 mile around the country block tour this morning. Everything checked out fine & the rig ran like a fine tuned swiss watch. We have been very pleased with this coach since purchasing it used back in April of 2007. It's not a high end motorhome & the workmanship & materials used in the coach are nothing to write home about but the Chevy Workhorse chassis, Vortec engine coupled with an Allison transmission, have been very smooth & reliable. SOME LOCAL ENTERTAINERS

I couldn't help but think as I was driving along this morning how much I wished we were still on the road traveling somewhere. I've been to Canada's east coast several times but Kelly has never been there. I have always wanted to return to British Columbia for a visit since leaving there in 75 too. Would like to travel the coastline of Oregon & Northern California as well & summer is really the best time to do that. Montana, the Dakotas, Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, & others await. When I look out the window & see the motorhome just sitting there month after month it just kind of drive's me buggy. So much to see & do yet & so little time left to see & do it all in!! That economic downturn last September & the winter's downslide of the markets sure rocked us back on our heals & forced us to re-consider our future plans. I'm still hopeful though that we will have many years of mountains & canyons in our future. Sitting at home watching the world pass us by is not an option!!!!
COLORFULLY DECORATED HALL WAS FILLED TO CAPACITY LATER

Heard thunder out over the lake & noticed dark skies to the north in the direction of Goderich late this morning. Had some errands to run in Goderich anyway so grabbed my cameras & headed off in hopes of getting some storm pictures on the beach there. As I approached the harbor area the rains came & within minutes it was raining so hard I couldn't get out of the van anyway. What I didn't know was that back in Bayfield the town was being pummeled by hail. Just as well I didn't know that because I would been going bonkers worrying about our solar panels on the motorhome's roof being smashed. I saw what hail did to Kelly's car years ago so I know the damage hail can do. By the time I got out of Wal-Mart & headed back to Bayfield the storm was over. It was later reported on the local 6 o'clock news that a tornado touch down had destroyed a house about 60 miles inland from us. Soon as I got home I scampered up the rig's ladder onto the roof & much to my relief the solar panels had withstood the hailstones & were fine.

And Ontario's liquor stores have averted the big bad booze strike so countless thousands of hard core drinkers have stepped back from the brink of absolute panic & are once again comfy in the knowledge they will have a perfectly normal alcohol infested summer after all................................

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ALAS, AN EMAIL FROM FELLOW RV BLOGGER GYPSY:))

ALL PHOTOS IN TO-DAY'S BLOG ARE OF A FLOWERING ASTILBE IN OUR FRONT YARD

It's been nearly a month now since fellow RV blogger Gypsy97 headed off to Lassen Volcanic National Park in northeastern California for a summer job & disappeared off our cyber radar screens. She is doing well & sent us the following email this morning which I'm sure she wouldn't mind me posting here.............................. "I came to Sacramento for the birth of my granddaughter (9:17 pm yesterday). I'll be here for a couple of days before heading back to Lassen Volcanic National Park. I love it there, although I have no electricity (also troubles with the generator), no cell phone & no internet. I'm supposed to use the Park radio that was issued to me to keep in contact, but I am at such a secluded spot the radios don't work all that well. Love the folks I work with, the campers are generally nice, but once in a while I have to deal with stuff.It is really a paradise up there and I'm looking forward to returning for a few summers to come. I have been keeping an update for my blog, and will try to get it posted before I leave Sac. It'll be a long one, but I will divide it up into smaller parts. Left my reading glasses back at the Park so I will have to buy yet another set of drugstore glasses to see what I'm doing. (I can barely read what I'm typing here, but you will get the picture.)I miss y'all too, but I will be back." Gypsy When I hear the chorus of songbirds outside my window in the morning I know it is 5 a.m. & time to roll out another new day. I don't know exactly why I get up that early but I just do. Figure if I were to sleep in till 9 or 10 I would probably think I had died & figure the day was half over anyway so what's the point of getting up. Well, that's my logic anyway.

Disappointed this week to find out my back to back 5 a.m. Andy Griffith TV shows have run their course & been replaced by something called Matlock which I have no interest in. Oh well it's just nice to sit quietly by the open patio door & listen to the morning's early song birds. Even the old noisy crows have their kaaa kaaa-ing song parts in the treetop symphony of sounds. Sandra's blog yesterday mentioned a common nuisance for this time of year & for the rest of the summer as well. "BUGS" Our morning's walk yesterday was brought to an abrupt halt when we entered the pine forest. I was immediately swarmed by cluster flies, mosquitoes, & flying hippopotamus's which are brought on by warmer humid weather. One of the reasons we like the American southwest so much in the winter is it's lack of bugs. Walking, hiking, & all outside activities are always pleasurably bug free:)) Spent some time motoring through our beautiful rural farmland again this morning. Crops are quickly emerging from farmer's fields & acres upon acres of waving grass are already being cut for feed & hay. An eye catching swatch of bright yellow on the horizon turned my attention to a large wild mustard crop amid a sea of greens for as far as the eye could see. Many farms along the roads compete for attention with their sweeping mowed lawns, stately maple trees along gravel lanes & colorful flowerbeds around the houses. Cattle & horses lazily graze in sun splashed pastures. It all makes for beautiful country scenes you may only see on picturesque calendars. I really must get out there with my cameras & take some pictures.

TO-DAY'S PUN...... Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

And did you know there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).

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