Wednesday, October 29, 2008

HOPE YOU SNOWBIRDS ARE ENJOYING YOUR WARM WEATHER!!!!

Somehow I have a feeling it's going to be an early winter. Weather has been yukky for the last few days with rain & snow showers & I think they had a bit of a winter storm go through last night to the south of us near London. Temps have been down around & slightly below the freezing mark at nights. We are really hoping to get out of here before the really bad stuff starts happening which looks like it could be anytime now. A year ago temps were in the 50's & low 60's around here. A year ago right now we were also on our way south & were about to have our big side awning on the rig ripped right out by a big Kansas wind on I-70 just west of Salina. You can see that misadventure at this Picasa Web Album site. Scroll about two thirds of the way down the album.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ALBUM1THEBAYFIELDBUNCHHEADSWESTOCT27NOV3#
We later had a new awning put on in Quartzite, Az. Down there the awning company comes right out into the desert to do that for people. That installation can be seen here........
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/54BEEHIVEOFMORNINGACTIVITY#

Well, better get back to our winter weather like conditions. Good thing I sold the snow blower last month just in case we get a lot of snow in the next 2 weeks.........

Sunday, October 26, 2008

NOT THE BRIGHTEST CRAYON IN THE BOX

Well, my brain did it to me again just a few days ago!! The hose connection on the side of the motorhome has always been a pain in the butt for attaching or detaching the water hose. Usually end up having to use the vice grips. Figured there must be a better way of doing things & wondered about some kind of hose quick disconnect apparatus. I don't use that system at home here but remembered seeing a couple of plastic dis-connect pieces laying in a box somewhere. Rounded them up, grabbed the rigs water hose, & had a look at hooking everything up. No problem getting the larger piece threaded onto the rig but then the hose end didn't seem to match either one of the plastic fittings. Figured there must be a piece missing or something or maybe it's some kind of special RV device that is needed. At no point did my brain step up to help me figure out this problem. A few years ago it would have said, "hey dummy, try the other end of the hose!!" But, oh no, it was gonna keep that little tidbit of information to itself. Sometimes brains do not like to share things with their owners. Especially in these later years & I'm convinced my brain derives great pleasure in driving me right round the bend whenever it sees a golden opportunity. So, with the 2 plastic pieces in my pocket, Kelly & I head down to Stormrunners, our local RV dealer. Well, it didn't take Harry long to size up the situation & realize he's obviously dealing with someone as thick as a brick here. He quietly pointed out I was trying to connect the wrong end of the hose to the right end of the coupler!! So embarrassing:(( I made a comment about not being the brightest crayon in the package & I heard Harry's wife over at the main counter give out a little chuckle. "Hey," she said, "at least you do a good job with your blog & we enjoy reading it." Hey, I thought to myself, now there's a kind person who understands the thickness of a human brick & the failings of an aging male brain. Harry, on the other hand was probably considering submitting my name for the annual dunce cap Darwin awards:(( Needless to say, I felt pretty stupid for the rest of the day.............again:((

I took the above photo using a tri-pod & self timer on the camera. Do you suppose my brain reminded me how to use the self timer?? Not a chance!! Had to go in the house & get out the camera manual, but hey, the old hippy brain must have taken a little pity on me because it gave me a break & told me right where to find the camera manual. Now, how's that for some rare co-operation:))

Stormrunner RV Sales & Service is located at the south end of Bayfield right on highway 21. They specialize in 5th wheel trailers. Open Spring, Summer, & Fall...............
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

Thursday, October 23, 2008

LUCKILY, WE STILL HAVE OUR SENSE OF ADVENTURE

We are members of several on-line RV sites & one of my favorites is the RV Net Open Roads forum. http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm Lots of helpful RV related topics & just about something for everyone. A lot of people are either on the road at the moment heading south, are already there, or are packing their RV's & heading out shortly. I would say most of the snowbirds are heading for the same destinations they go every year & probably 80% of those places are RV parks. The main attraction of course is the warm weather followed closely by the availability of golf courses, restaurants, shopping malls, park amenities, friends & neighbors. Some people even convoy down to-gether & then stay side by side for the winter. And side by side in an RV park is really what it means. You are generally very closely packed in with not much room to spare.

Kelly & I have stayed in State Parks, BLM lands, & various RV parks. We even stayed in Slab City California for 3 nights last year. We like the State Parks because there is generally far more room & the Park is usually centered around some kind of an outdoor theme so they are always very interesting . Hiking paths, caves, forests, rivers, waterfalls, rock scrambling, etc. BLM lands (Bureau of Land Management) are our favorite of course. They are free in California for as long as you want to stay. Arizona has a loosely governed 14 day limit before moving to a different location. And then we come to RV parks. Even at the end of a long tiring day on the road I have been known to pull into an RV park, drive through, & roll right back out onto the highway again. Sooooo many units in sooooo little space!!

I just can't imagine living in such crowded conditions for 5 or 6 months of the year. We stayed in an RV park in Yuma last winter for one night on our way to Borrego Springs & we couldn't wait to get out of there in the morning. Maybe we are both claustrophobic or something but we felt like a couple of sardines. The park owner actually came out & had me move the right front wheels of the rig over about 4 inches because apparently we were not perfectly square on the cement pad. We walked around the park that night looking at all the Christmas lights people had out. Very pretty of course but we just couldn't get over how crowded to-gether all the units were.

And, that brings me back to the blogs title....Luckily, We Still Have A Sense Of Adventure!! I have thought about this a lot over the past 4 years as we have traveled here & there to various locations in different States. How really fortunate Kelly & I are that we share the same interests & ideas about traveling. We're convinced that there must be some wayfaring explorers in our past. Maybe a little gypsy blood & I'm sure I've got some cowboy in me from somewhere long ago too. Was always fascinated with old western movies as a kid & always paid particular interest to the majestic scenery in the backgrounds. I think right from the first day Kelly & I met, we recognized those adventurous qualities in each other & from then to now our goals have been the same. To travel free with no confining time limits, to wander at our leisure with no hard & fast destination at the end of the day. To wake up in the mornings, step out of the rig & watch the sunrise creep over the mountains casting long saguaro cactus shadows across the desert floor. Listening to the Gila woodpeckers & house wrens close by & the distant calling of coyotes. No crowding here, no human sounds, no pressure & no commitments. Stay for a couple of days, weeks, or months. Hike & explore all the areas near by & take short day trips by car to other points of interest. So many mountain trails to walk & so many canyons to venture into. The American Southwest is a fascinating place with all it's history & tales to tell. Beautiful scenery all day, every day, & to really appreciate it you have to get right out there & live right in it. No neighbors a few feet away, no shopping malls down the street, & no fancy restaurants around the corner. No traffic, no pollution, & best of all...........no crowds of people!!

We don't know how many years we have left to enjoy this way of life that we have missed for so many years but while we still have our health & a couple extra dollars in our pockets we fully intend to make the most of it while we can.

Now, lets hurry up & get this show on the road............puleeeeeeeeeeeeze!!











OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

Sunday, October 19, 2008

SO, WHICH ONE IS THE REAL WORLD??

That question came up last spring when I was having an over the fence back yard chat with my neighbor Bert. He said something to the effect, "well, it's nice to get away for awhile but then you have to come back to the real world." That statement stuck with me all summer as I pondered those words. Yes, it's true, right now here at home it is the real world, but I also remember thinking to myself while traveling, this too is the real world. In my last post I referred to our travels as a vacation but I am wrong about referring to it as that. In my mind, a typical vacation scenario is 2 weeks away somewhere relaxing, & doing things you like. And, if that's the case, we haven't had a vacation in years. Took a travel trailer up to Killbear Provincial Park near Parry Sound, Ontario about 10 years ago for a couple weeks & that was about it. No, our travels are much more than a vacation. They are a very real way of life while on the road for 4 or 5 months. The days & events are every bit as real as when we are living in our stick house in Bayfield. In fact, I noticed while traveling that I rarely thought of our life in Ontario & when I did, the memory seemed so far away that it just didn't matter. And the same can be said now as I think back to our travels the past few winters. That world seems so far away at the moment, but we know our two reality worlds will soon be switching places once again as we head off for our land of deserts & mountains. That other lifestyle. That other reality........................................
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
Photos: Packing the motorhome:))

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Just Wanna......GET GOING!!

Waiting to go somewhere has always bugged me. I have one of those brains that always wants to do something 5 minutes before I even think of it in the first place. Patience has never been one of my strong points & so it is once again that time of year for waiting, & waiting, & waiting!! It's always the same, whether your waiting to go on vacation or waiting to come home from vacation. Once the decision is made to do either, it's time to get the wheels rolling & get on with it. Because of a work commitment for Kelly our departure time this year is delayed to mid November. I'm always ready to rumble by the first week-end after Thanksgiving so it's a long patient wait for a short patience guy like myself. By mid November we could be into snow & ice here plus salt laden roads & I really don't want the motorhome & car encrusted in that horrible road salt all the way down south & it's not like you can just pull into any old car wash with a nearly 12' high, 33' long motorhome. Our Canadian dollar is taking a pounding again but at least the gas prices are continuing to drop. Well, until November 14th that is.....................................
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

Monday, October 13, 2008

A COVERT OPERATION UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS

Under the cover of darkness I quietly moved my darkened van into position at the side of the street & shut off the motor. In the back were 3 large boxes containing 50 objects that had to be hastily deployed before drawing any attention from the nearby houses. This was not an easy mission because 2 metal rods had to be affixed to each object & the holes for the rods did not match. The rods then had to be carefully pushed into the ground. But, there was no turning back. Two days earlier I had received a telephone call from a shadowy figure in Nova Scotia who was in need of help. She outlined her plan & said it was imperative that this mission be executed late Sunday night. She said, "this is your mission Al, can you handle it?" I ran it through my cranium & immediately thought, no this is not something I can do, so, I quickly said to her, "yes, I'm the right guy for the job!!" I code named the mission, Kayakattack, after the person who had called. Took me 40 minutes to deploy all objects, one at a time, being careful not to leave any metal rods laying on the ground. Didn't want anyone injured if possible!! Turns out not all the rods had been shipped so I had to carefully place some of the objects in trees & shrubs. At one point I detected cigarette smoke in the air so quickly launched a night vision scan (I have excellent night vision) & immediately detected a dark figure standing beside a vehicle about two hundred yards away. I deployed 2 objects into the ground & re-scanned. The figure was gone but I knew it was not a threat. Someone down the street had just slipped outside for a smoke & then wisely slipped back into their house. Minutes later I hooked the wires to the last object & strategically placed it near a darkened window. Within seconds I was back in the van & rolling with lights out. Two minutes after that I was home & silently slipped into the driveway. Well, not silently enough for our 3 super watch dog guys because they immediately sensed an intruder & let out a big barking uproar which probably woke up every neighbor for about a mile around. So much for my super stealthy covert operation....................................

Now, here's the rest of the story:))
The phone call from Nova Scotia was from my friend Bruce's daughter. Bruce's Birthday was Monday & she wondered if I could pick up 50 pink Flamingos at a store in Goderich (Balloons To You) Saturday afternoon & put them all over Bruce's lawn late Sunday night. Kelly swung around that way this afternoon & took a few drive by pictures of my shenanigans the night before. I would have gone down & took the pictures myself but I didn't want Bruce chasing me down the street shouting loud obscenities & throwing pink Flamingos at me. Could have been most embarrassing seeing two old guys running down the road under duress with pink Flamingos flying through the air!!
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

TRYING TO REMAIN POSITIVE IN A WORLD OF FINANCIAL INSANITY

The day started out with a cold rain falling from dark overcast & gray skies. Figured it was a fitting day to go talk to our financial advisor. With the last few weeks & especially these past few days of economic insanity & the fact that our money is disappearing faster than a cold case of beer amongst a sweaty gang of construction workers on a hot summer day we figured we might as well hear about our own financial demise from a man who occassionally deals in such matters. Our money guy advisor spent an hour & half with us answering concerned questions & taking the time to explain everything. Lots of charts & graphs, lots of optimism on his part & of course, lots of pessimism on my part. Good news confirmed that two thirds of our investments are insured, although it may take until 2017 to recover that in a worse case scenario. I understood the words, "worse case scenario" because now he was talking about the world I generally live in. My mind normally gravitates to that geographic area whenever in doubt. Kelly had done her homework well & of course had all the right questions to ask. I'm glad she understands all that financial mumbo jumbo because the only question I probably would have had for the man was, "got any doughnuts?"
We did leave his office feeling better than when we went in & if we're careful we just might make it to the end of this wild roller coaster adventure & step off this whacky ride on the positive side of things.....eventually. In the meantime we're still hoping to continue with our Nov. 15 travel plans to the southwest. Wish us luck...............and send doughnuts:))
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Monday, October 06, 2008

FINALLY GOT ME SOME GOOD GRIPTION!!

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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Friday, October 03, 2008

DEPARTURE DATE.....NOVEMBER 15/08

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
Looks like November 15th will be our launch date for this year. Kelly's place of employment, Deerpark Lodge, will be closing for the winter during the week of November 10th to 14th. Deerpark will be open the previous week-end for Bayfield's annual & final big event of the season, called, Christmas In Bayfield. It's a popular week-end with people coming from near & far. All the shops are open & there is a Saturday morning parade through town. We will head out of town the following week-end. 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 will call the above, travel Plan A. Depending on what happens with the screwy economy right now, we may be forced to revert to Plan B in the end. That would be a gas saving shorter trip into Texas & the Big Hill Country or Big Bend National Park area. YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT PLAN C!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The photos I've included to-day are mushrooms growing all around us in our little pine forest here. It's been a damp year & we've had a lot of rain lately so I figure that is why there are so many this year. Don't know what kind they are but they sure do look pretty. Some of the them are sorta like Pizza's on stems.........