GOT A LITTLE CROWDED IN THE JEEP TODAY

OUR FIRST MORNING DESERT WALK OF THE SEASON
First, an apology to the city of Albuquerque for my 'smog assumption’ a couple days ago. Received this comment from Debbie...'Al, that wasn't smog you saw in Albuquerque. There was a prescribed burn in the Jemez mountains and it drifted down our way. Most of the time, we have the most beautiful blue skies and clear air that you will ever find.

PHEEBS GETS A LITTLE HELP WITH A STICKER THIS MORNING
Forgot to set my night clock to Arizona time again so when I woke up & checked my clock it said 4 a.m. Got up, took Pheebs outside & then realized it was really only 3 a.m. Oh well, we were up now so Pheebs & I just took in the beautifully quiet starry night, cricket sounds & mild 63F night temperatures with stars, stars, everywhere:))

THIS IS PART OF THE BRUSH CLEARING I AM WORKING ON:))
Our time of arrival in Congress Thursday morning was 11:05. Would have been a bit earlier if it hadn't been for some road construction in the Skull Valley & a stop at the Yarnell Bakery. On the way to Congress we talked about not having to unload the Motorhome when we get to our house. Two hours after arriving we had most of the rig unloaded as well as all of the Jeep. We don't listen to each other very well sometimes. I think we were both too excited to just sit down & do nothing. By late afternoon we had no choice....we were both totally wrecked.

I WILL TRIM THAT PALO VERDE TREE ON THE RIGHT, UP TO THE 6’ LEVEL
Sure have a lot of work ahead of us but that's Okay because that is exactly why we are here. Had a little chuckle at myself early this morning. Because I was already up, I headed outside before the sun was over the horizon & tackled the weed problem with the battery operated weed whacker. Battery only lasts about 20 minutes & then I have to charge it again. And, I realized the battery whacker wasn't powerful enough to chop down a lot of the tougher weeds I was faced with. No doubt about it, I was going to need a gasoline powered whacker. But I did have a little chuckle at myself, out there by the light of the moon & early dawn, buzzing down the weeds. By 9 a.m. our temps were rapidly climbing & that was the end of the yard work for the day. I don't work well in the heat anymore.

THE DREADED YELLOW JACKETS ALONG OUR ROOF LINE
After talking to the water guys again this morning we came up with some good leads on a fence builder guy, a local handyman by the name of Indian Joe, a great place to buy desert trees & shrubs, & some good tips on where to buy a few yard work tools. Headed up into the Weaver Mountains to the Yarnell Hardware store & came home with a wheelbarrow & a gasoline powered weed whacker. We've seen some rather unique hardware stores in our travels.....& then we walked into the Yarnell store. Two people could not pass one another in this small cramped hardware store, but the two owner Brothers have everything from soup to nuts packed in there. Next time back I'll grab some pics of the well known Yarnell hardware store.
 
A BIT CROWDED IN THE JEEP THIS AFTERNOON
Aside from a mild coating of dust on the floor the inside, the house looked fine when we walked in Thursday morning. Our March roof repair may have worked because we didn't see any new evidence of water damage. Our house's stucco job from last March looks fine & everything is intact. In other words, the mud didn't fall off during the summer Monsoons.

PULLING INTO OUR DRIVEWAY THURSDAY MORNING
Everything looked good, but I spotted a bunch of Hornet looking things along a roof line. Having never seen them before, I didn't know what they were. About an hour after we got home, a guy showed up from the water company to turn our water on at the road. When he lifted the lid on the water box he immediately jumped back. Yellow Jackets. He headed back to the depot & returned with a guy in a bee suit. The Yellow Jackets were sprayed & our water was finally turned on.  Lucky break for me that I didn’t turn the water on myself like I did last March.  Showed the guys all the Hornet things along our roof line & the bee suit guy said, "Yep, Yellow Jackets all right. With that, he hiked up my ladder & gave them a good spraying. He had to tear off a board to get the spray inside the roof to get at the nests. Another old board has to come off so I will try to do that myself when the weather turns colder & knocks out the Yellow Jackets. Thought that was really decent of the water guys to go out of their way to help us out with those Hornets. It's just the way folks seem to be in these here parts. They used up 2 full cans of Hornet spray. I think we may have to get a case of that stuff by the looks of it.

 
SPRAYING THE YELLOW JACKETS
Our rig's gray tank was filled to the brim so knew I had to try & do something before the gray water backed up into the tub. Amazingly enough I was able to summon up enough patience, get my socket wrench set out & undo the 4 bolts & remove the valve. Expected water to come gushing out........but it didn't. Couldn't believe it but the drain line was totally plugged with about 4 inches of grunge. Probably about 10 years of grunge too. It was soft so I was able to easily dig most of it out with a screwdriver. Then, the grunge began to move, & 'WHOOOOOOOOOSH'........ we had Niagara Falls happening right there & then in the bin. I had expected that would happen so had everything cleared out of the way. Needless to say we had a mini lake going on under the rig. There is a garage that does RV repairs in Congress so think I will get them to install the new valve which we already have. Like I always say, 'if I want something important done right, I gotta get somebody else to do it'. Rig is in need of an oil change & filter anyway so will hopefully get all that done at the same time before too long.

 
Our Verizon signal was sketchy Thursday but we did think it was working better than in March. Maybe the Verizon guy was right & they did upgrade the tower. This morning we tried out our ‘Wilson Sleek’ that I pooh poohed' last March & 'bang-zoom' it was like we were on high speed. Nice to have another problem taken care of:))

AS SOON AS WE TRANSITION INTO THE HOUSE, I WILL PARK THE RIG HERE IN THE FOREGROUND
First thing I heard when I stepped out of the Motorhome here Thursday was a Rooster crowing just up the road. A neighbor has chickens & I like that barnyard sound. Second thing I heard was a Cactus Wren sitting on one of our 3 front yard Saguaros. We have a lot of birds here so I'm looking forward to getting some backyard feeders up. And, the third great sound was.....Crickets. I love the sound of Crickets. And, like I said Thursday, it is just so great to see everything still so green. We may still be very tired here at the Bayfield Bunch, but it's a good kind of tired:))

SUNRISE ON GHOST TOWN ROAD
GROANER'S CORNER:)) An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his plane into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy, which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, give a smile, and a "Thanks for flying XYZ airline."
He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment, but no one seemed annoyed. Finally everyone had gotten off except for one little old lady walking with a cane. She approached and asked, conspiratorially, "Sonny, do you mind if I ask you a question?" "Why no Ma'am, what is it?" "Did we land, or were we shot down?"
--------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

GALLUP NEW MEXICO TO OUR HOME IN CONGRESS ARIZONA… GRRRRRREAT:))

FLAGSTAFF ARIZONA IS JUST AHEAD SOUTH OF THOSE MOUNTAINS
I could easily write an entire post on just how grrrrrrreat it feels to finally be at our house…..but, first things first.

THE SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS NORTH OF FLAGSTAFF ARIZONA
We dropped another time zone today so I think it was about 4:30 this morning Arizona time we were up getting ready to hit the road. Really cold out as I did a walk around checking lights, etc. The Walmart parking lot was quiet with maybe half a dozen RV’s scattered about. Despite the heavy I-40 traffic not far from our door, we did have a decent night’s sleep.
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Plodded steadily westward in the dark for a couple hours before catching the first glimmer of dawn. Light traffic & no wind, so we just kept the hammer down with only one fuel stop somewhere east of Winslow. What a great feeling it was knowing it was our last day on the road for awhile & we would soon be at our house in Congress.

PHEEBE LOVES HOWLING ALONG WITH THE ‘SONS OF THE PIONEERS’
We had driven I-40 eastbound in that area a couple times before, but never westbound so the scenery was new to us. Caught sight of our first large mountain as we approached Flagstaff. Have seen the San Francisco Peaks several times before but never from the east side. Our altitude increased as we approached Flagstaff & how great it was coming up from the lower flatter plains & mesas of eastern Arizona onto the higher Colorado Plateau. Pine forests stretch for as far as the sky can see, growing up & over hillsides, climbing to mountain tops, & filling canyons & valleys. It is truly beautiful country stretching southward to meet up with the northern edge of the Sonoran Desert. And, it is that very northern edge of the Sonoran desert where our house is. Only 12 miles separate us from the higher Pine tree Colorado Plateau.

BIT OF FOREST FIRE SMOKE IN THE MOUNTAINS AHEAD AROUND WILLIAMS ARIZONA
There are 3 ways to reach Congress from the Flagstaff area. Two of those ways go south from Flagstaff & the third one runs south from Ash Fork. We went home last March via the Ash Fork route & that is the way we took back to Congress today. Can’t tell you how great it felt to finally turn off I-40. We had been on that Interstate since Oklahoma City & on Interstates all the way from near Rochester, New York. How nice to be on a quiet two lane highway again & the drive down through the Chimo Valley to Prescott was soooo relaxing.

SOOOOO HAPPY TO SEE THESE SIGNS

OOPS, A LITTLE CONSTRUCTION BETWEEN PRESCOTT & SCULL VALLEY
Garmin Gertie weaved us through the north end of Prescott & put us on track for Skull Valley. There are two ways to travel between Prescott & Congress. Both are mountainous, one is very scary & the other one is kinda scary. I strongly suggest RV’ers take the kinda scary route. We did the very scary route in the Jeep last March & you really do not want to do that one in a big RV. However, the scariest part of our whole trip took place in the last 10 minutes of our drive.

THE COTTONWOODS ARE JUST BEGINNING TO CHANGE COLOR
Coming down the steep twisting grades of the Weaver Mountains between Yarnell & Congress will test anyone’s driving skills. Brakes, gear down, brake again, try an even lower gear. Brakes & gears & preferably more gears than brakes. Great feeling of relief to reach the bottom & glide right on into Congress.

Unhooked the Jeep in a large dirt parking lot across from the fire hall. It hadn’t been off since we left Spencerport New York last Saturday morning. Kelly went on ahead in the Jeep & I followed the short distance down Ghost Town Road to our house.

UNHOOKING THE JEEP IN CONGRESS

JUST STARTING DOWN GHOST TOWN ROAD & OUR HOUSE IS ABOUT A MILE DOWN THERE ON THE LEFT
What a totally super great feeling it was to turn in our driveway &……shut er down.

We found everything inside the house exactly as we left it. The outside was a bit of a different story. With all the rain this summer, things had really grown & our yard was in quite a mess. We were surprised at how green everything was. But, I will get to all that Friday, including….the Yellowjackets. Tonight we are both so tired we can hardly move, & that includes the Pheebs. But, it’s a great kind of tired & we are all soooooo happy to be at our south-west home:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( I’m even too tired tonight to go find me a joke.
--------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

SANTA ROSA NEW MEXICO TO GALLUP NM…AT LAST, WE’RE COMING DOWN THE HOME STRETCH:))

HALLOWEEN NIGHT IN GALLUP NEW MEXICO

My body is having a little trouble adjusting to the time zone difference. Thinking it was 5 a.m. it conspired with my brain to wake me up at 3 in the morning. Pheebs was confused too & decided it was time for her & I to get up.  Besides, she figured it was time for a bathroom break anyway.  So, that was it.  Clock said 3:15 a.m. as we headed out the door for a walk around the moonlit camp ground. Good thing I had on my pajamas & housecoat because it was pretty nippy at that hour of the morning Spotted one of my favorite constellations in the southern hemisphere....Orion.
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No big hurry to get rolling this morning because we did not want to land ourselves in the middle of the Albuquerque morning rush. Albuquerque is the last city of any consequence before we reach Congress. However, after deciding not to leave too early, we left early anyways. But, not before dumping our tanks....or should I say tank. For our first dump of the season we had us a good news/bad news situation. Last year in Arkansas we had a little mishap with our black tank, but this year all went well with Mr. Black. However, when I pulled the gray water tank lever......nothing happened, zero, zilch, nuttin!! The lever pull handled functioned but the inside valve did not open. Therefore, we were unable to dump our gray water this morning. Had been looking forward to getting rid of that weight. Oh well, we'll deal with that when we get to Congress. Had ourselves back on I-40 about 7:30.

 

No big hurry today so I just set a comfortable speed on the cruise control, put my feet up, relaxed & sat back watching the great southwest scenery rolling by. If it hadn't been for a dozen or more hills & long grades repeatedly kicking us into overdrive I might have been able to grab myself a few winks.

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Thanks to a reader in Shout Box I was able to correct the spelling of our 'Made In The U.S.A'. items in Tuesday's blog. Bought three colorful bowls, not bowels. I have since corrected that. I'm sure we know bowels are made in more countries besides the U.S. Of course bowls & bowels have some similarities. Both are filled & emptied on a regular basis:))

Forgot to mention, but Kelly did phone her Mother a couple days go in Spencerport NY to see how she made out with Hurricane Sandy. Aside from some wind & rain, everything was fine on Coleman Avenue although there were a few parts of town that did lose some electricity for a bit. Back home at our 5 Seasons Park in Bayfield we heard the electricity was out for over 12 hours but no damage from the wind blowing Pine trees or their limbs down.
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Another nice advantage of a Motorhome is the freedom of moving around while driving, & especially for pets. Pheebs likes to lay between our front seats on the low profile engine cover. Sometimes she will walk back & bring up one of her squeaker toys. Kelly throws the ball down the length of the rig & Pheebs goes rumbling after it. I like how she comes & sits beside either Kelly or for some scruffles. Pretty nice way to travel, with your best Pal, or Pals, sitting right beside you:))

JUST A GREAT WAY TO TRAVEL

No egg salad sandwiches on this trip but I have had some other interesting things make their way forward from our mobile galley. For breakfast Tuesday morning I had a raw wiener plus a peanut butter & honey sandwich rolled up in a piece of flat bread. Chased that down with a tall cold glass of Skim milk. Now, how's that for some fine mean cuisine. Other things making themselves forward for the driver have been, yep, some more peanut butter & honey sandwiches, orange & cranberry juice, bananas, small piece of a chocolate chip cookie, & part of a scrumptious Sub. Think there were a couple hand fulls of Almonds in there somewhere too.

HEADING WEST THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS EAST OF ALBUQUERQUE

We rolled through Albuquerque New Mexico at the ideal week day time of 11 a.m. Now, maybe I have lived a sheltered life, but I have never seen pollution soooooo bad in a city as we saw this morning in Albuquerque. And, it was definitely pollution because I could smell it for miles & miles. I wonder if they have some big coal factories or something around there. About 5 or 10 miles west of Albuquerque we spotted a Camping World & pulled in. From Camping World we could look back down the valley to Albuquerque & it was lost in a thick low hanging cloud of pollution.

I-40 & I-25 INTERCHANGE IN ALBUQUERQUE

Camping world is like Mecca for RV folks. Just about anything & everything one needs for their travels including large service bays plus a parking lot full of new & used RV's.  And, this is a large Camping World. Figured we needed a new gray tank valve for sure so we picked one up. Kelly had been looking for a BBQ & we managed to snag one of them as well. The inside of our Motorhome is beginning to look like a Home Depot warehouse.

THIS LITTLE DITTY IN CAMPING WORLD CAN BREW 4 CUPS OF COFFEE, MAKE TOAST IN THE TOASTER OVEN & FRY A COUPLE EGGS ON THE GRILL ON TOP…NO, WE DID NOT BUY ONE

It was exactly 10 years ago tonight Kelly & I moved from our old country farm house near Fullarton Ontario to our place at the 5 Seasons Estates in Bayfield. It was Halloween night & it was cold, dark, & pouring rain as we rolled out of the old farm laneway for the last time with both our Dodge pick-up truck & Mazda car loaded to the rafters. Kelly drove the car while Max & I were crowded in the truck with a pile of clothes between us. Aw, the stuff memories are made of. Now, here we are 10 years to the day, about to move stuff into our Congress house Thursday sometime.  Also, this is our third Halloween night on the road. First was Ellis Kansas back in 07 & another, 3 years ago in Columbus New Mexico. And tonight, it is Gallup New Mexico:))

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Because I had been awake since 3 a.m. I began to fade around 1 o'clock, so set my sites on Gallup New Mexico today. And, that is where this post is coming to you from tonight. Rolled into Gallup's Walmart parking lot about 3 p.m. & just shut er down for the day. MapQuest tells me we did a relaxed 253 miles today.  And yet, tonight, I feel like I drove a thousand miles to day:((  Probably the nosiest spot we have ever had because we are only a few hundred yards north of I-40. Oh well, it's all part of our kind of RVing & we're just fine with that. With a bit of luck, we'll be at our Congress house sometime Thursday:)))))))))))

I LOVE YOU MOM

GROANER'S CORNER:(( It was visitor's day at the asylum. All the inmates were standing in the courtyard singing "Ave Maria" and singing it beautifully. Oddly, each of them was holding a red apple in one hand and tapping it rhythmically with a pencil. A visitor listened in wonderment to the performance and then approached the choir director. "I am a retired choir director," he said. "This is one of the best choirs I have ever heard." Yes, I'm very proud of them," said the director. "You should take them on tour!" said the visitor."What are they called"? "Surely that must be obvious," replied the director....."They are the Moron Tapanapple Choir."

--------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

WEATHERFORD OKLAHOMA TO SANTA ROSA, NEW MEXICO…WE’RE IN AN RV PARK. WHAT!!!!

A TEXAS REST AREA
We have already traveled through a couple time zones, so already we are 2 hours behind Bayfield time. When we reach Arizona it will be a 3 hour difference. And, by the way, because of the time changes now, my blog will publish at a different time than usual.

Another good sleep Monday night & we woke up with 'shopping' on our minds this morning. What!! Shopping!!!! Yep, while in Walmart Monday night picking up a few groceries, Kelly noticed an Acer Notepad on sale. Her 6 year old Toshiba laptop is slowly dying so we had already decided to replace it before we have a total computer crash. We were back in the Walmart at 7 a.m. this morning.  The smaller & cheaper Acer fits Kelly's needs perfectly.   Did we go with Microsoft’s new Windows 8……..? Nope, we're sticking with Windows 7:))

JUST A HAPPY GUY ROLLIN DOWN THE ROAD:))
While in Walmart we also decided it was a good time to pick up a television, blue ray DVD player & a small micro-wave for our Congress home. Once we get there it will be a long time before we are in any big box stores again so just made sense to grab these things while we could.  Got ourselves a light weight flat screen 32" LED Samsung TV which we will take back to Bayfield with us & put in the sunroom for the summer. Totally amazing how cheap the price of televisions have become over the years. Also picked up 3 little colorful kitchen bowls with an amazing sticker inside each one saying.....'Made in the U.S.A.’ Wow Walmart, bet you didn’t know you had those in the store:))
 
SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO SWITCH NAVIGATOR’S, & SOMETIMES THE NAVIGATOR FALLS ASLEEP

I ALWAYS GET A KICK OUT OF WHEN KELLY SAYS ON THE DEER PARK LODGE PHONE, “UMMM, I’M NOT AT THE OFFICE AT THE MOMENT”
Rolled out of the Weatherford Walmart about 8 this morning, picked up some fuel & headed west on I-40. Beautiful sunny morning & what a great feeling it was to be motoring down the road watching scenery slowly morphing into scenic open plains & tall plateaus. Yes, this is the great south-west we so dearly love. Crossed the Texas State line about 9:20 & the New Mexico State Line 4 hours later. Gotta love the sweeping horizon to horizon vistas.  Watched for & spotted the first small mountain at Tucumcari.  It's the kind of territory that brings out the little wannabe cowboy kid in me.

I knew Albuquerque was too far for us today plus we are now in the area of the States we prefer so from here on in we are basically home for the winter. MapQuest reflected that feeling as we throttled back to a shorter 352 miles.  Today’s miles landed us on the doorstep of a little town called Santa Rosa New Mexico, right alongside I-40. Hauled ourselves off the Interstate about 2:30 & decided on an RV Park for the night. What!! An RV Park!!!! Yep, every once in a long while the Bayfield Bunch just throws in the sponge, pulls into an RV Park, hits the showers, burns up some real electricity, & cracks on an unlimited water supply. Also time to dump a couple tanks & lose a bit of weight. And, we even have Wifi for a change. I'm thinking it's maybe a year & a half since we were last in a private RV Park.  Don’t want to over-do it you know………..

SPOTTED OUR FIRST CACTUS TODAY
The SANTA ROSA CAMPGROUND RV PARK is on the north side of the wide main street & we like it. Very neat & clean campground. Eighty foot pull through’s, site picnic tables, great water pressure, nice Mesquite trees etc. etc. Especially liked the showers. Lots of endless hot water & hooks to hang clothes on. Two thumbs up for the Park & despite high surrounding hills & mountains we were still able to pull in about 10 TV channels with our rig’s aerial up. Pet area is too small though & pets have to stay on the roads or they will get stickers in their paws. Pheebs got 2 flat tires right off the bat when I tried to walk her in a nearby field. Goats beard stickers I think. Wifi was fine until late afternoon when more RV'ers rolled in & jumped on their computers. We had to switch back to our Verizon system…but it too was slow:((

SANTA ROSA CAMPGROUND RV PARK, SANTA ROSA NEW MEXICO


Say, did I mention how warm it is.  Yep, drove along today with the driver’s side window open & switched into a short sleeve shirt this afternoon.  Awwwwwwww. In the word’s of The Honeymooner’s Ralph Kramden…..“how sweet it is”:))

TUCKED AWAY IN AN RV PARK
GROANER’S CORNER:(( And, in the word’s of Rodney Dangerfield……..
. I was such an ugly kid...When I played in the sandbox, the cat kept covering me up.

• I could tell my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.
• I was such an ugly baby...My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend.
• I'm so ugly...My father carries around a picture of the kid who came with his wallet.
• When I was born, the doctor came into the waiting room and said to my father, "I'm sorry. We did everything we could, but he pulled through."
• I'm so ugly...My mother had morning sickness, after I was born.

--------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

SULLIVAN MISSOURI TO WEATHERFORD OKLAHOMA…A FINE DRIVING DAY SO WE JUST KEPT GOING

WE HAVE SOME COLORFUL NEIGHBOR’S PARKED NEAR US FOR THE NIGHT

Despite the obvious people noise from local business's all around us, we were both surprised at how well we slept. Especially Kelly, who can usually be woken up by a fly landing on a hamburger bun 6 blocks away. A cold night so we are very much looking forward to driving into warmer south-west temps in a couple days. Glad to be west of the Mississippi River now as well. Off with my baseball cap & on with my cowboy hat. Yahooie Louie:))

LOOKED LIKE STORMY SKY’S AHEAD FOR AWHILE THIS MORNING BUT THE CLOUDS MADE WAY FOR LOTS OF SUNSHINE & WARMER WEATHER

We 'un-Cracker Docked about 8 a.m. & climbed aboard I-44 minutes later. I had no intentions of driving all the way to Oklahoma City or beyond today but that's just what we did. We are presently Wally Docked in Weatherford Oklahoma about 120 miles east of Amarillo Texas.  We rolled in here about 5 o'clock this afternoon. This is the same Walmart we overnighted at on our way home from Congress 7 months ago. MapQuest tells me we traveled 502 miles today. Weather was great with a mix of sun & cloud, no wind & the roads were bare & dry. Always seems to me the traffic west of the Mississippi is not as intense as traffic east of the Mississippi.

A HAPPY LITTLE PHEEBS RACES ACROSS THE PARKING LOT TO GREET KELLY COMING BACK FROM A McDONALD’S THIS MORNING

Nice country west of St. Louis with rolling hills, rock cuts, valleys, lots of colorful Autumn forests & long winding highways. Fair number of narrow laned construction zones along the way just to keep drivers on their toes. One just north of Oklahoma City on the Turnpike sure caught my attention right quick when a red van ahead of us clipped a retaining barrier but managed to maintain control.  Construction lanes were way too narrow.  Made 3 fuel stops today because I have been keeping the weight down by not traveling on a full fuel tank.  Our Motorhome has been humming along like a fine tuned clock & I'm thankful we put all new tires on the rig a couple years ago. Two new front tires in Clinton Ontario & 4 new rear tires in Kingman Arizona 6 months later.

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No route mistakes today, no missed exits or entrances. Always managed to be in the right lane at the right time moving through the heavier traffic areas. The Pilot & the Navigator were on the same page all day. It is so much easier traveling with a partner & I would be very hard pressed to go back to the days of traveling alone when I made solitary trips to both the east & west coasts of Canada. ED FREY, a lone traveler, left a comment in last night's post on just how he goes about planning his trips & doing everything himself.

SPENCER LOOKS QUITE PUT OUT ABOUT MR. PUMPKIN HEAD SITTING ON OUR JEEPS ENGINE HOOD AT A REST STOP AREA TODAY

This trip to Congress Arizona & last Aprils trip from Congress back to Bayfield were & are different from our usual way of travel. In the past we have mainly used Interstates east of the Mississippi & side roads, secondary roads & back roads west of the Mississippi. We once totally lost ourselves in the backwoods of the Ozarks when on a whim, we swung off the Interstate east of Joplin Missouri & somehow found our way out of the woods near Fort Smith, Arkansas. That was in December of 04. On our old southern route we always preferred & enjoyed the back roads through much of Texas. I have pooh poohed Interstate travels in the past but if one decides to make the best traveling times with the shortest routes & probably the best gas mileages, then the Interstates it is.

I’M THINKING THAT ROAD ON THE RIGHT IS PART OF OLD ROUTE 66…NEAR JOPLIN MISSOURI

Our Internet connection here in Weatherford was very poor so we hauled out our Wilson Sleek, plugged it in, used our metal step down stool as an antennae base & 'Walla' we had ourselves a right good blogable connection. I remember how disappointed we were in our Sleek when first trying to use it in Congress last March, but here in Weatherford tonight, our Sleek is totally slick:))

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We sure are out of the loop on info about the storm on the east coast. At home we probably would have had CNN or whatever on & been keeping up with the storm updates. When we stop for the night we put our rig's antennae up & pick up half a dozen local channels. Not much coverage about the storm. While driving along today, Kelly was catching me up on storm details from her laptop. Sad to hear about the H.M.C.S. Bounty going down.

KELLY READS ALOUD HURRICANE SANDY’S UPDATES

I’m not totally certain about this but I think I was aboard the Bounty when it was anchored in St. Petersburg Florida in 1965.  I have photos at home of my Mother, my Aunt Jean, & myself all standing on her deck by the large wooden steerage wheel.  And I’m pretty sure it was the one ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’ was filmed on.  I had flown to Florida after I got out of boot camp at H.M.C.S. Cornwallis near Digby, Nova Scotia.  My Aunt Jean was living in Bradenton at the time & my Mother was there visiting.  Pretty sure it was the Bounty.  When we get back to Bayfield I will post those photos.

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I have had some emails coming in from folks that I intend to get back to just as soon as I can when all this traveling dust settles down. Thanks folks:))

WALLY-DOCKED IN WEATHERFORD OKLAHOMA ALONGSIDE I-40

GROANER’S CORNER:((Latest news reports advise that a cell of five terrorists has been operating in the Harlem area.
Police advised earlier today that four of the five have already been detained. The Regional Police Commissioner stated that the terrorists: Bin Sleepin, Bin Drinkin, Bin Fightin and Bin Pimpin have already been arrested on immigration issues. The police advise further that they can find no one fitting the description of the fifth cell member: Bin Workin, in the area. Police are however, confident that anyone who looks like Workin will be extremely easy to spot in the community.

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