ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO FOR TAKE-OFF IN THE MORNING……….10-4

PHEEBE RESTS UP AFTER HELPING ME MOVE ALL OUR PORCH FURNITURE INSIDE
Coincidentally turns out we will be leaving for home the exact same day we left last year.  With the death of my Uncle Harry our trip home was rushed last year.  The year before we also made a quick trip home after our little Cora (Motormouse) died the very morning we left.  This year we hope to stop & smell a few roses along the way.

WE ARE ALL HOOKED UP & READY TO ROLL
Nice to wake up to clear sunny skies this morning.  Only 41F but we knew our day would warm up quickly in more ways than one.  Today was crunch day with all the last minute loose ends to be tied up before departure in the morning.  I kinda like occasional crunch days because they are a welcome break from the sometimes too many back to back routine days.
 
PHEEBS MET A NEW NEIGHBOR THIS MORNING & IT WAS SMOOCHES AT FIRST SIGHT
Well I’m feeling just about the way I figured I would be feeling on the eve of any major departure either North or South.  Excited & anxious to go but always sad to be leaving wherever I happen to have been for any length of time.  Two years ago, last year, & this year again I feel sad about leaving our Congress house.  Again the house & property have provided us with so many great memories over the past five & half months.  So comfy & cozy here & yet in a matter of hours we will turn out the lights for the last time this season, walk out the door in the morning, drive away, & leave our old Ghost Town Road house all alone by itself again.  And that makes me sad.   As I have said before I somehow get more attached to things than I do people it seems.  Even throwing an old pair of blown out running shoes in the trash is an emotional experience for me.  Threw away my old torn pair of Jammies a couple months ago & almost had go for counseling.  Don’t know what it is about me about that but it is what it is.  My sadness will begin to lift after we get ourselves a few miles on down the road & the business of getting us home becomes foremost in my mind.

<<< HAPPY TO SEE ABOUT 90% OF THE CACTI I PLANTED THIS PAST WINTER ARE DOING WELL
Air was cool enough for us to take a last morning walk out into the desert & have us a look around at the surrounding mountains we will be so happy to see once again when we return sometime in October.  Funny but I’m already anxious to resume our morning desert walks in the Fall & we haven’t even left yet.  With temperatures due to be in the 80’s & 90’s next week we are getting out of here just in time.  Don’t like the cold we are going home to but don’t like that high heat either. 

HOUSE/INDIAN ROCK CAN BE SEEN DEAD CENTER OF THE PHOTO….SEE YOU IN THE FALL:))
I have $7.64 left.  That’s it, all I got.  When we arrived in Congress back in late October of 2013 Kelly gave me $40 in American money with the stern warning, “now don’t you dare spend this all at once or in one place.”  I didn’t, but somewhere along the line I did manage to spend $32.36 of it.  And I didn’t even buy myself one single darn hot dog at the gas bar this year.  Can’t remember where I obviously squandered the rest of it but if Kelly asks me how much I have left I’m a gonna tell her $36.45.  And I know I am going to have to come up with a pretty darn good excuse for what I bought with that $3.55 I spent.  And I’m not good at remembering to keep receipts either………. Oh woe is me:((

Pat & Mike McFall dropped in this afternoon to have a look at our Winnie Wagon.  They were curious about the floor plan & general layout of Winnebago’s Access Premier Class C.  Always nice to see these folks & glad they dropped by.  All the best to you both:))

A comment on my Wednesday night’s post led me to the sad story of a couple losing their RV in a storage facility fire along with another 30 or so RV’s.  GOING RV WAY had been happily planning a trip to Alaska but those plans have now gone up in smoke.  And it was a sad goodbye for TIOGA GEORGE when he went to see Ms Tioga after he was released from hospital.  The accident brought a final end to George’s beloved Class C Tioga Motorhome.  Reading his latest post I felt sad knowing how he truly is feeling inside.  A sad, sad, goodbye for a couple of best Pals who spent all those adventuress traveling years together.  So many memories for George & Ms Tioga.  And such a sad end.

Our T-Mobile phone arrived at the Congress Post Office this afternoon so we are cleared for take-off in the morning.  Drained the house’s hot water tank late this afternoon.  We will shut off our own electricity in the morning & the Congress water department will shut off our water Friday afternoon.  Walked around the property & through the house umpteen times making sure we had not forgot anything.  Rigs loaded, Jeeps hooked up, Pheebs toys are on board, & we are ready to go…………….

JUST TAKING A WALK AROUND THE PROPERTY TO MAKE SURE WE HADN’T FORGOT ANYTHING
 
ME & DUCKY ARE READY TO GO DAD
 
Watching the news this afternoon I see where we have luckily dodged a major weather bullet in the mid-west.  Tornados along the very corridor we often use coming & going to Congress.  As I’ve said many times before when we leave here at this time of year knowing how volatile & deadly the weather can be along our usual route we never dally or lolligag along.  If the weather’s good we push hard for home.  Hoping our route further north this time will carry us above that weather.  We did have hard rains & a tornado warning one time when we overnighted in Hope Arkansas.  We were fast out of there first thing in the morning & kept the pedal to the medal all the way to the border. 

 
ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO FOR A MORNING LAUNCH
Topped up Winnie’s propane tank this morning but not the fuel tank.  No need to pull a fully loaded gas tank up the Yarnell Hill.  We will fill up later in Chino Valley north of Prescott.  Our 300 mile destination for the day will be one of two free CAMPGROUNDS at Arizona’s NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT. 

OUR BIRDS ARE SURE GOING TO MISS US
The area we are heading for Friday is in Arizona’s MONUMENT VALLEY North-East of Flagstaff & West of Kayenta.  We have heard there may be little or no internet service out there in those far reaching expanses of wide open Hopi & Navajo Indian lands so if you do not see a post from us for a few days do not worry.  I will of course write my daily post or posts but it may be a day or two before I am able to publish them so we’ll see y’all whenever……………..:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  After being retired for a couple of years and completing all the jobs my wife had lined up for me, I began to feel somewhat useless and decided to enroll in a couple of courses at the local adult-education school.  I noted, upon registration, that there was no tuition fee for a person over 65.  As I handed my tediously-filled-out papers to the clerk, I announced, "I'm 68." Then, pulling out my wallet, I asked if she wanted to see my driver's license.  She replied, "No, that's okay."  A little surprised, I asked, "Oh, do I look honest?"  "No," she answered. "You look 68."

WE ARE ON TRACK TO ROLL OUT FOR HOME FRIDAY MORNING………….

PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS BLOSSOMS

Well it happened again & now I have a tummy ache.  Kelly spent the morning cooking up food to take with us on the road in a few days.  Of course that cooking was also interspersed with baking.  And yes, that meant more cookies.  Chocolate Chip cookies this time to be exact.  And right on Q no sooner were those cookies out of the oven & stacked on the counter Kelly & Pheebs were off to the Library again.  I don’t have to tell you what happened!!

Getting a few things squared away in the Winnie Wagon this morning I was momentarily distracted by my own thoughts.  Happens sometimes.  Only 15,000 miles on our 3 year old rig.  Tires are all Michelin & like new.  Really good sound system plus it’s 26’ length handles just fine in & out of small spaces.  Looking at the loveseat we put in I couldn’t help but ask myself, what if we had put in a couple recliners instead.  Recliners would have been better but a small space is still a small space.  Ya, sometimes I do get distracted by my own thoughts alright.

We dropped down to 46F last night, dark clouds moved in this afternoon & all day we had wind gusts holding the temps down.  Feels downright cold but sunny skies Thursday with 70F predicted.  Radar currently showing rain around us.  This morning was nice for working outside but I just couldn’t drum up enough interest in anything exciting enough to motivate me.  And after overloading myself with chocolate chip cookies late this morning I didn’t feel well most of the afternoon anyway.  You would think I should know better wouldn’t ya:((

THIS LITTLE FELLOW HAD THE LOVELIEST SWEET SINGING VOICE THIS MORNING

Our friend Paula from our Ranch sitting & Bisbee days a few years ago dropped in on her Spring trek from Bisbee to Portland Oregon this afternoon.  It was almost a year to the day since we last saw Paula on her last Northbound journey.  Thanks for dropping in & safe travels:))

   

Finally got myself Kindleized today.  Kelly had downloaded my asked for UFO/UAP book last week & this morning I tried my hand at reading a Kindle for the very first time.  Well, I liked it right off the bat.  Much easier for me to read than anything printed on paper that’s for sure.  I found the Kindle easier to hold than a book.  No unbalanced left or right problems.  Liked the compactness of it.  Easy to turn pages after only a few practice thumb swipes.  Pages are always uniformly flat & if I set it down without a bookmark it doesn’t close up & lose my page.  And I like how it only shows me the page I’m reading.  I no longer have a left & right page, just the one I am reading.  I like that because I do not feel overwhelmed by two full pages of small difficult to read print.  I’ve just started out but right off the bat I give the Kindle two thumbs up.  And two thumbs up for the book I have just started reading as well….UFO'S: GENERALS, PILOTS, & GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GO ON THE RECORD. How nice to have my thoughts reaffirmed in such a positive, reassuring, & practical way.  A no nonsense approach to Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon….UAP.

 

The T-Mobile cell phone we are waiting for arrived in Phoenix today & UPS is on track to deliver it to the Congress Post Office Thursday.  That will put us on track to have ourselves on the road for home Friday morning.  Weather is looking good so far from here to Eastern New Mexico but we will have to be vigilante about the winds which are blowing hard in parts of the South-West at the moment.

And it was one year ago April 3rd my Uncle Harry died.   I had a bit of a rocky childhood but my Uncle Harry was always in my corner. I will forever remember him for that & all he did for Kelly & I in the last bunch of years of his life.  Uncle Harry was 96.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  You know you are addicted to coffee if .……….. You grind your coffee beans in your mouth. You sleep with your eyes open. You have to watch videos in fast-forward. The only time you're standing still is during an earthquake. You can take a picture of yourself from ten feet away without using the timer. You've worn out your third pair of tennis shoes this week. Your eyes stay open when you sneeze. You chew on other people's fingernails. The nurse needs a scientific calculator to take your pulse. You're so jittery that people use your hands to blend their margaritas. You can type sixty words per minute with your feet. You can jump-start your car without cables. You don't sweat, you percolate. You walk twenty miles on your treadmill before you realize it's not plugged in. You forget to unwrap candy bars before eating them. You've built a miniature city out of little plastic stirrers. People get dizzy just watching you. Instant coffee takes too long. You channel surf faster without a remote. You have a picture of your coffee mug on your coffee mug. You can outlast the Energizer bunny. You short out motion detectors. You don't even wait for the water to boil anymore. Your nervous twitch registers on the Richter scale. You help your dog chase its tail. You soak your dentures in coffee overnight. Your first-aid kit contains two pints of coffee with an I.V. hookup. You ski uphill. You get a speeding ticket even when you're parked. You answer the door before people knock. You haven't blinked since the last lunar eclipse.

COULDN’T THINK OF A TITLE SO I’LL JUST CALL IT…….TUESDAY’S POST

TONIGHT’S PHOTOS ARE FROM OUR MARCH 2011 TRAVELS TO CANYON DE CHELLY  IN NORTH-EASTERN ARIZONA The name of Canyon de Chelly was derived from the misspelling and mispronunciation of the Navajo word for the canyon. The Navajos call the canyon "Tseyi" which is pronounced 'say-ee.' Eventually the word became "de Chelly" which is pronounced as 'de-shay'

Well here it is April Fool’s day already.  Always reminds me of my Uncle Fred who lived with us when I was growing up.  Uncle Fred & I were usually the first ones up in the morning & we would always be trying to trick each other with a little April Fool’s day joke.  You know the kind, ‘oh look you’ve got some ketchup on your shirt’.  “April Fools:))”

 

Kelly headed off on one last trip to Wickenburg for the season.  A little banking to care of, a few groceries for the road, & I’m thinking probably a couple Thrift stores along the way as well.  Managed to get myself into cleaning mode around the house for a bit, did a couple loads of laundry, plus puttered around with some additional bits of rig loading.

 

Another one of our favorite RV couples dropped around about mid afternoon to say goodbye before we pull out in a few days.  Always good to see JANNA, MIKE, & LITTLE EMMI.  We always have a lot in common to talk about.  I’m the wannabe Cowboy & Mike’s the real Cowboy.

 

Oooops, looks like I misplaced Raton again for the second time.  Raton New Mexico is obviously not in Colorado.  Maybe I’ve been confusing it with Trinidad just up the road……in Colorado.  Thanks Pat way down there near that Sierra Vista place:))

  

And an update/correction on TIOGA GEORGE.  The link I originally put in was incorrect.  The link above is now current & up to date.  I have since fixed the incorrect link. Tioga George underwent open heart surgery on Tuesday March 18th following his accident on March 15th.  No updates that I am aware of since his latest post.

  

DO YOU SEE THE OLD INDIANS EYES IN THIS PHOTO?

Encouraging email for our neighbors back home in Bayfield saying snow is rapidly melting.  Grass showing in places.  Checking the Grand Bend Yacht Club web cam this morning I see the river is open & lots of open water out on Lake Huron where before only ice & snow was visible.  And seeing people finally out walking on the pier is always a sure sign of Spring back home.

Anybody out here with a COAST TO COAST membership might want to sit up right quick & take notice of Ray’s post entitled, FRUSTRATION.  Sounds like some shenanigans going on with that Coast to Coast company.

  

Thanks to a recent email from RV SUE we hope to check out the NATIONAL NAVAJO MONUMENT which happens to be right on our route home through North-Eastern Arizona in a few days.  Should be a good opportunity for me to find me some new photos.  Cameras have been gathering a bit of dust lately……………

GROANER’S CORNER:((  And a few thoughts on safety::::  Dad's a safety-first kind of guy. But while vacationing with some buddies, he was talked into going parasailing.  He was on the back of the boat getting hooked into the parachute when he nervously asked the pilot, "How often do you replace the rope?"
The pilot replied. "Every time it breaks."

------

Safety is a major concern at the manufacturing company where I work. So I'm constantly preaching caution to the workers I supervise.
"Does anyone know," I asked a few guys, "what the speed limit is in our parking lot?"
The long silence that followed was interrupted when one of them piped up. "That depends. Do you mean coming to work or leaving?"