In the photo above you see the soles of 2 different pieces of footwear. The worn tread of my favorite Rockport's & the cool super tread design of my new Merrell hikers. I bought those Rockport's in the Ellenton Mall just north of Sarasota Florida back in the late 90's. Most comfortable shoes I have ever owned so have worn them absolutely everywhere for years. The shoes are still in good shape except for the worn tread. Well, it was in those Rockport's that I did all our hiking & rock scrambling last winter in the Southwest. Despite a bunch of slips & slides on the rocky mountain trails I was stubborn about not giving up my very much most favorite pair of shoes regardless of the obvious perils they presented. Have you ever had that happen to you? Get something you really like, such as a pair of jeans, type of shirt or jacket, maybe a favorite coat. Doesn't matter how cold it is out, you just gotta wear your favorite coat despite freezing your shorts off. Well, same thing with footwear. A good old pair of shoes or boots is like a couple of good old buddies you've had forever. Just not going to toss those old pals over for some fancy new upstarts. Nossireee!! Well, so it was with my old Rockports. Figured I'd get another 10 years out of them I guess. But, even old stubborn cursmudgeons like myself sometimes reach the point where ya just gotta give yer "smarts" a shake. It was only a question of time before I was going to take a big header down a rocky slope somewhere & end up with some busted stuff. Don't care much for that pain feeling so said to Kelly last week, "dya think maybe I should think about getting some better footwear before we head south this year." Well, she had me in the car so fast & on the way to Wuerth's shoe store in Goderich, that I'm still suffering whiplash 5 days later!! Now, that gal knows her footwear & within about 5 minutes Kelly & the clerk had a pair of Merrell Vibram Polartec mid-size lite hiking boots strapped to my feet & convinced me that with all the gription on these boots I could walk right straight up the wall, across the ceiling, & right down the other side......which of course I proceeded to do:)) Yep, that gal knows her footwear alright.Ok, lets go find us a rocky mountain trail............Ya-hooey Louie!!
Our handyman friend Bruce finished up the final stage of our television renovation project in the motorhome last week. Pictures show where the last section was fitted in place to cover the hole where the old heavy analog television used to be. Much better view out the front now with that big blonky television cabinet out of the way. Gives us some extra storage up there too. 
We'll put a push on this week for getting the rig loaded despite our departure date being well over a month away. Want to get the bulk of everything loaded while the sunny days are still with us. By mid to late October things will begin to fall apart very quickly in the weather department as we move towards November. November can easily be the most miserable month of the entire year. Prolonged cold, gray, & rainy days. All of the vegetation is off the trees as their stark, bleak, branches twist in the frigid gusting winds of sullen & somber November skies. There is nothing nice about November.......NOTHING!!
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I generally like to leave early on a Saturday morning because it gives us a 2 day head start on a lot of rush hour traffic nonsense south of the border. We'll cross into the States at Port Huron (& probably get pulled over for an agriculture check again) & follow I-69 down through Flint & Lansing. Into the State of Indiana & through Fort Wayne stopping somewhere north of Indianapolis for the first night. We'll do Indy bright & early Sunday morning & then head southwest on I-70 to Effingham. From there it's I-57 south to Missouri where we'll pick up I-55 into Arkansas. Just west of Memphis, Tennessee we'll pick up I-40 & that begins our true journey west, sliding through places like Little Rock & Texarkana. Texarkana launches us into the big State of Texas & from there we'll pick our way north of Dallas through Sherman & Gainesville until we pick up highway # 380 somewhere around Jacksboro. Once we're on # 380 it's a quiet straight line level drive to just west of Roswell, New Mexico whereupon we'll slip up & over the southern end of the Rocky mountains. We came home this way last year & found it an easy mountain drive compared to Denver for example. No big scary stuff!! Would like to stop at White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo this time & have a look around. Over another small mountain range & we'll be in Las Cruces, New Mexico. From here it's anybody's guess where we'll go because the rush is over & we'll just go wherever feels right, whenever we feel were ready. Most likely will head up into the Silver City area for starters. 
As I read this all over, it looks good on paper but as some reader's already know, we don't always stick to the paper. I remember one time near Joplin, Missouri we were heading west with a rough travel plan in mind & at the last minute I decided to take a different route & wheeled us off the Interstate heading south & that little venture eventually landed us lost on some twisting back roads in the Ozark mountains. That was an interesting afternoon to say the least. We were driving a small Class C on that trip. Another time I figured out another quick last minute short cut in my head & landed us in the Boston Mountain range in Arkansas huffing & puffing our truck & fifth wheel at the time up & over the long graded mountain tops. Another nail biter for awhile but did get to see some great scenery again. Every twist & turn is a new adventure & if we keep that foremost in our minds we sort of get along just fine in our travels. 
I few weeks ago I closed a bin door on the motorhome a little too hard & broke a piece of the mechanism inside which left the door in a locked state. Fortunately I discovered the problem when I took the rig down to the Bayfield Garage to get the propane tank filled. Luckily a mechanic came out & within a few minutes had the door unlocked. Well, it was back on the computer & phone again to Elkhart, Indiana to order a new door lock assembly from a Damon dealer down there called, True Value RV. This is a good place & within days UPS rolled in the driveway with the new part. Now here's the really strange thing. I was able to take the old assembly out, figure out the new part & actually re-install the whole thing correctly. But, that's not the strangest part........it worked!! It really did, it actually worked. Walked immediately to the end of driveway & peered up through the pine trees to see if there were 2 moons in the sky.....and of course there were. I'm still gloating over that unusual accomplishment so the tip for to-day is.......don't slam your bin doors!!
We took our Hyundai Santa Fe in a couple of weeks ago for it's annual tune up so it's now ready for the trip south. Hope I can remember how to assemble all that tow bar stuff. I figure the key to a Senior's memory success is repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, & it's been about 6 & a half months since I worked with all that tow bar stuff so no doubt I'll have to get the instruction manual out again to see what bar goes where & what chain hooks up to who. Oh boy, wait until I try setting up that tri-pod internet satellite system again. That oughta turn the air blue for a few miles around!! Good thing that the Bayfield Bunch has Kelly on it's team. She's got the most good brains for everything & if it wasn't for her I'd still be back at Sandbox 101.
