tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73702730514795782922024-03-13T13:45:22.511-07:00Lafferty's LifeRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.comBlogger432125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-65745165441250502702018-11-23T11:22:00.003-08:002018-12-07T17:51:10.227-08:00Australia and New Zealand 50th Anniversary TripFirst, an apology for taking so long to get this documented, but we've been busy. Second, an apology for the length of this post. I thought about breaking it up between the two countries, but decided not to. It was all one trip, so it is all one post. You may want to get a cup of coffee before you begin, and check your bladder.<br />
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Visiting Australia and New Zealand had been on our bucket list for many years, and when we neared our 50th anniversary we decided that a trip like that would be a great way to celebrate. We made plans to travel in early October which would be early spring in the southern hemisphere, and after our six month stay at our summer hang out in the mountains of Northern Arizona. We were going to leave our trailer at the Blue Ridge Ranger Station where we spent the summer, and drive to CA to catch our flight to Australia. Unfortunately, plans were changed when Darin's house caught fire and burned in late August. Since we actually owned the house and Darin needed our support we moved to Tennessee and were set up in a campground in Benton, TN by September 4.<br />
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The next four weeks were filled with hectic activity which I will not detail here, but the change in location required a change in travel plans. We made reservations to fly from Chattanooga to Atlanta to Los Angeles on the 2nd of October so we could catch our flight that evening at 11:30 PM for Melbourne. We left Chattanooga at about 3 in the afternoon and arrived at LAX about 10:45 local time, so we had already been traveling 10 hours by then. We walked next door to the international terminal and checked in for our flight, and the timing was just about perfect. The only fly in the ointment was that there must have been a lot of flights leaving that evening about the same time, because the terminal was a zoo. It makes sense because leaving about that time and flying overnight to the far east makes a lot of sense.<br />
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We had decided to treat ourselves since this was a special occasion, and upgraded to Premium Economy on Quantas. The seats were not lay flat, but they were much larger than those in economy, and they reclined much more. There was even a way you could put your feet under the seat in front of you that made it quite comfortable.<br />
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This was the first time I had traveled across the International Date Line since the trips to Vietnam in 1968, which I don't recall with any clarity, so it was an interesting experience. We arrived in Melbourne at about 6:30 AM on the 4th of October after a 15 1/2 hour flight. We never experienced October 3rd (or at least felt like we did.)<br />
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For the first time in our lives we booked a guided tour. It would have been too much work to plan the trip ourselves at our age, and we decided this would be the best way to see as much as possible. The tour we booked was a very upscale tour. All the hotels were first class, or the best available in the cities we were in, and everything was arranged for us in advance. This was brought home when we walked out of customs towing our suitcases and saw the line of limo drivers holding signs, one of which had our name on it. He took our bags and led us to his car (not a limo but a nice car), and drove us to the Crown Plaza Hotel in downtown Melbourne. (We had expected much from a Crown Plaza, but were disappointed - it is run down & desperately needs a major renovation.) As we exited the car I asked him if the gratuity had been taken care of, and he said "No worries." (On subsequent research I discovered that tipping in Australia and NZ is not common.)<br />
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We were early in the day so well before check in time. Still, the desk had a room available for us. Unfortunately, we discovered that it had twin beds. Somehow our reservation from the tour company had us as requesting that. I said we had been sleeping in the same bed for almost 50 years and I was not about to stop now. They did have another room available with a king bed but it was a handicap room. In retrospect I wish we had waited for a standard room, but we really wanted to get settled and have an opportunity to get some rest before meeting the rest of our group that evening. We couldn't even open the door by hand. You had to push a button on the wall about 10 feet away from the door, and the shower and bathroom were definitely "handicap accessible". Nonetheless, the view of the Yarra River and some of Melbourne's skyline was very nice.<br />
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We met our tour guide, Manuella, at a late afternoon meeting and found that the group consisted of about 40 people. That was a little larger than I was hoping for but Manuella was excellent and handled things very efficiently. (She quickly made sure that all the rest of our hotels would have king beds.) After some introductions and overviews, we had an opportunity to sign up for any optional tours we wanted. This worked out well because there were many things to do in each of the locations we visited, and different folks wanted to do different things. I'll mention the optional tours we took as they come up.<br />
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That evening the whole group met at a tram stop just across the river for Dinner on the Tram. It was an actual street car that was a rolling restaurant. We enjoyed a delicious filet minion dinner while touring some of Melbourne!<br />
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The following day began with a bus and walking tour of Melbourne. It reminds me of San Francisco in that there are many beautiful old buildings and it has a cosmopolitan feel to it. We saw cathedrals, train stations, government buildings, parks, war memorials, botanical gardens and more. The walking tour included some of the "Laneway's" in the downtown area. They are mostly little shops, many small restaurants, cafe's or coffee houses. No cars are permitted and they just teem with activity.<br />
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We then walked to some buildings they call "galleries". They are enclosed buildings with many shops in them, and were built quite some time ago. We were too early for most of the shops to be open which made it easier to photograph. (For which, I'm sure he was grateful, as I couldn't do any shopping! D) They were really very beautiful.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjCrptNh7etMY-gloRnFXQfFTAMBWLfvhhRnxXijb5FoE1Ec721lKDoBwlUYjh_fY8BABVuVI7Jwe4S_ZtYaeDW-7E5KhQT8rm4WYAqGzpqGiGHcTkhc49_LF5Jg6UEE9yZP4lDbM-mPA/s1600/OZ_NZ+0014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjCrptNh7etMY-gloRnFXQfFTAMBWLfvhhRnxXijb5FoE1Ec721lKDoBwlUYjh_fY8BABVuVI7Jwe4S_ZtYaeDW-7E5KhQT8rm4WYAqGzpqGiGHcTkhc49_LF5Jg6UEE9yZP4lDbM-mPA/s320/OZ_NZ+0014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here are a few other photos from the morning tour.<br />
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Flinders Railway Station</div>
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St. Patricks Cathedral</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPcG_sxkjvGZbYoljWlygALuQ-e9LLQ1jUsopvoPeSApx1BiqeK6qAGcWNdGy8SO7ArC2P49NHKXf-wco1FHeCyAhua5Ye17Bvs-xBsb1ScDpTJwW07_QZJn2Zk5iRMgkb24G7dKVBEug/s1600/OZ_NZ+0021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="576" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPcG_sxkjvGZbYoljWlygALuQ-e9LLQ1jUsopvoPeSApx1BiqeK6qAGcWNdGy8SO7ArC2P49NHKXf-wco1FHeCyAhua5Ye17Bvs-xBsb1ScDpTJwW07_QZJn2Zk5iRMgkb24G7dKVBEug/s320/OZ_NZ+0021.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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St Patricks Cathedral</div>
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Botanical Gardens</div>
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City Skyline from the War Memorial</div>
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We were still tired from our trip and the rest of the afternoon was free. We rested up some and took a ride on the street car system around the city. All the street cars in the downtown area are free. That evening we walked across the river and had dinner on our own. While many meals were provided, we were on our own for about half. It was a good thing because all the heavy, rich meals could take a toll on us. </div>
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We enjoyed our time in Melbourne and found it to be a fine place to visit. It was a bit cool there because it is on the south coast of Australia, but the next morning found us at the airport on our way to Cairns in the sub-tropical far northeast of the country.</div>
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Upon landing we were taken immediately to Hadley's Crocodile Farm north of town. Cairns is a whole other world from Melbourne. It was like going from San Francisco to Honolulu, except Cairns is a much smaller town. It is primarily a tourist town for people visiting the Great Barrier Reef. At the crocodile farm we took a boat ride that reminded us of the River Cruise in Disneyland, and was about as long. The difference was that the crocodiles were real.</div>
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In addition to crocodiles there were many other animals available for us to see. Dianna got to experience a life long desire to hold a live koala.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Vm1lLpgFKCP-6cvt-hHL4FtnqH9zSB78cAOpCikYI5d6ZHajUI7I5tFTBpRNiUIb_3BCLT0rhpI5uCOgiQhXs7aoWWgcDaRm7kqEswD2_xTpHLD8eE7oWFMmA6shf-Hy7JF5vdFZrRA/s1600/OZ_NZ+0033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Vm1lLpgFKCP-6cvt-hHL4FtnqH9zSB78cAOpCikYI5d6ZHajUI7I5tFTBpRNiUIb_3BCLT0rhpI5uCOgiQhXs7aoWWgcDaRm7kqEswD2_xTpHLD8eE7oWFMmA6shf-Hy7JF5vdFZrRA/s320/OZ_NZ+0033.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here are some of the other critters we had a chance to see.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5cqczaHVKkJ2ec_qCoSQhI_td8fRds12DqakrfsnBcehMU8qNCYLJgCM0XGwCmRYwmq33RaCeu3txV9CJ-w96Zbq8Q86tf9ajlv7iolhpb0p3M9MIRGJygZ-pgTDOaGJcMxHlFvhZ6Bs/s1600/OZ_NZ+0090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5cqczaHVKkJ2ec_qCoSQhI_td8fRds12DqakrfsnBcehMU8qNCYLJgCM0XGwCmRYwmq33RaCeu3txV9CJ-w96Zbq8Q86tf9ajlv7iolhpb0p3M9MIRGJygZ-pgTDOaGJcMxHlFvhZ6Bs/s320/OZ_NZ+0090.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then it was back to our hotel, The Millenium, and dinner on our own. I chose a fish and chips place in a food court, and Dianna had chicken schnitzel.<br />
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The next morning we took our trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The boat that took us was a high speed catamaran that made a stop at Green Island to drop off passengers who spend the day at that resort island. The reef was about 40-50 miles offshore. The tour companies have permanently anchored platforms in various places. I suppose this is to prevent random damage to the reef, and also to provide all the various "toys" you can avail yourself of there.<br />
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We chose to snorkel and take the "submarine tour", which is very much like the submarine ride at Disneyland, except it is a real reef you are looking at. They provided lycra suits to wear that prevented jellyfish stings. There were not supposed to be any at that time of year, but the suits also served the purpose of preventing sunburn and kept us warm as the water was chillier than we had expected.<br />
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Although we enjoyed our experience, we were disappointed in the reef itself. The colors were mostly muted grey and looked dead. The guides said that was because of the makeup of the water and not because they were dead, although there are issues with parts of the reef dying off because of global warming issues. This photo was taken from the "submarine".<br />
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At low tide much of the reef is above water. I took this photo after the tide had begun to come back in. At the lowest tide there was much more visible.<br />
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The following day we took an optional tour to <a href="https://www.kuranda.org/">Kuranda</a>, a village in the rainforest on the tablelands above Cairns. The trip up was by Skyrail Cableway. There were three separate sections of cableway, which totals about 4 1/2 miles.<br />
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At the first was a walking tour of the rainforest with an excellent guide.<br />
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The second stop was overlooking some of the waterfalls in the gorge, although this photo was taken from the cable car.<br />
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The village of Kuranda itself was something of a disappointment. Originally it was a small native village, but in the 60's a new group moved in -- hippies. At first they just lived there but over time they aged and now it has become a tourist and art center with some native artisans still making and selling beautiful art pieces. There are shops and restaurants to service the tourists who visit daily, but nothing special other than the location in the rain forest. We had a nice lunch in a crepe cafe and bought a few souvenirs.<br />
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The trip back down to Cairns was on Kuranda Scenic Railway. It was built in the 1880's to serve the mining industry, very similar to the Durango-Silverton railway in Colorado. We made several stops along the way as we rode back down the canyon to town.<br />
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That evening we were taken to the Tjapukai Cultural Center near Cairns. Although it is, of course a touristy thing, we did learn something of the original people of Australia. The Tjapukai tribe was one of about 500 tribes living in Australia when the Europeans first arrived. The same thing happened there as in the US as Europeans brought disease and colonized the land. They did some of their dances and ceremonies for us, and served a buffet dinner which included optional crocodile, emu and kangaroo. We tried all three and thought they were different & pretty tasty.<br />
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After dinner they posed for anyone who wanted photos.<br />
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I always take these things with a grain of salt. While I appreciate the keeping alive of their heritage, I always wonder what jobs these guys hold when not performing. Probably lawyers and bus drivers and accountants like everyone else.<br />
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The next day we flew to Sydney, the largest city in Australia. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency overlooking Darling Harbor (a side harbor off Sydney Harbor) in downtown Sydney. Sydney had none of the eclectic feel of Melbourne, but instead felt more like any city you might find anywhere. The first night we had a dinner cruise in Sydney Harbor where we got to see some of the major sights including the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.<br />
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The evening was very nice, but it was also the end of our good weather. Melbourne and Cairns had been very nice early spring weather, but rain caught up with us the next day. We took a city tour with several stops, including a tour of the Sydney Opera House. It is a very impressive structure. We were able to visit the auditoriums and see where they have performances. Much better photos than any I took are online if you are interested. Here is a photo to prove that at least Dianna was there.<br />
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The bus tour stopped for a lifeguard demonstration and lunch at Bondi Beach, a world famous surfing and skimpy bikini beach south of Sydney. The lunch was very nice but the weather made viewing the beach a major disappointment. This is probably one of the very few photos of Bondi Beach with absolutely no on on it. This was taken from inside the bus as the rain was blowing sideways.<br />
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The next day we took another optional tour to the Blue Mountains. These are the mountains closest to Sydney and I'm sure they are quite pretty when you can see them. Unfortunately, our bad weather continued and we had fog and drizzle for most of our trip. This is the view from one of the scenic overlooks.<br />
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We were taken to an area where they have three "rides" to view some of the more spectacular scenery. There is a cableway that takes you across a canyon, a "worlds steepest railway" ride that takes you down into that canyon, and a cable tram that brings you back up from the canyon. In the canyon you can hike a trail through the rain forest that connects the two canyon stations. We actually enjoyed it, riding up and down on each, and hiking between the stations both ways.<br />
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After lunch in a nearby town, the bus took us to the Featherdale Wildlife Park on the way back to Sydney. It was basically a private zoo but we got to see some of the native animals closer up than in other places we had been. We saw kangaroos, wallabies, cassowaries, emus, koalas, wombats, penguins (yes, they have them in Australia), dingoes, birds and critters of all kinds. I'm not going to include photos as anyone interested can find much better photos than mine on the internet.<br />
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The next day we relaxed and didn't do much of anything. We explored a bit on foot but that was about it. That evening we had our end of Australia dinner at a very nice restaurant along Darling Harbor where we said goodbye to many friends we had made and to our tour guide Manuella.<br />
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The next day we flew to Queenstown, New Zealand and were met at the airport by our guide Alan. Only about half of the group we were with in Australia were on this part of the trip so our group was only about 20 in total. It was a much more enjoyable group size. After being picked up at the airport, we were first taken to a small tourist town for about a half hour stop to visit shops, but no one seemed interested in it. Fortunately it didn't last long before we were taken into town to our hotel. After checking in at the Millenium Hotel and getting settled, we were taken to The Boat House restaurant for a great dinner. They were open only for us and it was a very nice meal with great scenery. As it turned out, this was October 12, our actual 50th anniversary. Everyone congratulated us and drank a toast to us, and there was a free bottle of champagne waiting for us when we returned to the hotel.<br />
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Yes, that is snow on the mountain. In fact, there were snow flurries in town that afternoon. Queenstown is in the center of the Southern Island and has become quite a tourist mecca, for good reason. The scenery is magnificent and there are several ski resorts nearby. The mountains are known as the Southern Alps and were where much of the Lord of the Ring and Hobbit outside scenes were filmed. Amazingly beautiful area.<br />
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We were exhausted from all our travels and the next two days were free for us to explore on our own or take any optional tours. We elected to stay in Queenstown the next day and just take it easy. Unfortunately we discovered Dianna has left her purse on the bus the night before, but Alan was able to have it returned to the hotel. Meantime we walked over to the Skyline and rode up to get a good view of the area. They have mountain biking from there, as well as other outdoor activities, but the big thing for us was the view.<br />
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You can see how close to town the Skyine is. It is a small town and everything is in easy walking distance.<br />
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These were hanging on the wall in the tram station.</div>
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Can you guess what they are made of?</div>
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The next day we arranged to take a tour to Milford Sound, a fjord on the eastern coast. Most of our group took that tour the day before. They left at about 8 in the morning and did not return until 7 at night. The bus ride over the mountains to the coast and back was the major part of the trip, with the boat ride on Milford Sound only accounting for around 2 hours.<br />
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Here is where we ate breakfast at the hotel.<br />
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We left at the same 8 AM time and had gone only 10 miles or so around the lake when we came upon an accident that had just happened. A tour bus that was 5 minutes ahead of us had come around a corner and met a car in his lane head on. A couple more tour buses ahead of us got through but the first fire engine came screeching up and pulled in just ahead of us, blocking the road. Our driver went out to check on when they thought they might reopen the road, and when he returned he said it would be at least 3-4 hours. We had to turn around and cancel the trip. He also told us no one was hurt in the accident, but we learned the next day that the driver of the car in the wrong lane was killed on impact. Sad.<br />
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On the way back into town the bus driver, who was also a tour guide himself, offered to see if he could arrange a trip by air to Milford Sound for anyone who wanted it. Of course, they refunded the cost of the bus tour, but the air tour was much more expensive. We decided that we would never be back to this part of the world again, and money was not going to hold us back from seeing it, so we booked the tour for that afternoon. It turned out to be the best adventure of our whole trip.<br />
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Air Milford operates 3 Cessna Caravans, turbo prop airplanes that hold about 9 passengers plus pilot. I got to sit in the copilot's seat on the way out. To say the scenery was magnificent is an understatement. We did not fly over the mountains to the coast -- we flew among the mountains. It reminded me very much of our glacier flight in Alaska, but these mountains were even more beautiful.<br />
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Photos do not do it justice as we flew through passes with scenes like this on both sides of us.<br />
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That is Milford Sound out ahead of us.<br />
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After landing we took a short nature hike with our pilot to the tour boat terminal where we began our tour. Milford Sound is actually a fjord, just like the ones in Scandinavia, which is a glacier carved deep valley in the side of the coastline.<br />
We saw waterfalls,<br />
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sea lions,<br />
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and a seal playing with an octopus he had caught.<br />
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The boat tour was enjoyable, and the scenery was great, but after the flight over we were a little underwhelmed. Still, all in all, it was a great tour, especially the flight over and back. We were back in our hotel late by afternoon. That was certainly the best way to visit Milford Sound instead of a 10 hour bus ride.<br />
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The following day we flew from Queenstown on the South Island to Auckland on the North Island, changed planes and flew to Rotorua, about 75 miles to the south. Rotorua, a city of around 70,000, is the center of Maori culture in New Zealand, and something of a tourist mecca. Most of the residents of Rotorua are Maori, but you would never know it. There is not much to distinguish a Maori from a Westerner anymore. The town of Rotorua is built in a very active volcanic area, similar to Yellowstone. There are steam vents, mud pots, geysers, and hot springs everywhere, and the smell of sulfur fill the air. There are no actual volcanoes now, but there is evidence of them around. In fact. Rotorua, just like Yellowstone, is in an ancient caldera that collapsed several hundred thousand years ago.<br />
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We learned something very interesting when we arrived there. I knew that the native people of Australia were some of the oldest cultures on earth. They had migrated to Australia around 65,000 thousand of years ago, probably from Indonesia, and been cut off from the rest of the world for most of that time. The Maori who settled New Zealand were an entirely different group of people. They are Polynesians who came from the Pacific islands. Some may have come from as far away as Hawaii or Easter Island. They arrived in ocean going canoes around 1250-1300. Their culture bears little resemblance to that of aboriginal Australians.<br />
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After a bus tour of town we checked into our hotel, another Millennium, and soon left for a dinner and show at the Tamaki Maori Village. It is built strictly for tourists. They have warriors and dancers, women and cooks, who give you a bit of a show in the outdoors at first, then take you to various places where they show you something of their culture. The next to the last stop was at a pit where they were roasting our dinner under palm leaves (think luau), followed by a show where they sang and danced for us. Finally we were taken to a building were we were served the meal they had prepared. It was quite good.<br />
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The Entrance</div>
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Greeted by Warriors</div>
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Dianna playing a stick game</div>
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Richard participating in a "make the tourist look stupid" game</div>
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Dinner cooking in the pit</div>
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Entertainment before dinner</div>
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The next day we made several quick stops around Rotorua. The first was at Rainbow Springs, a natural springs that has been turned into something of a zoo. This is a stuffed Kiwi. They are a flightless bird native to New Zealand. It is related to the emu. Their numbers have been reduced over the years but they are no longer on the endangered list. </div>
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They lay a very large egg for their size.</div>
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The next stop was another tourist trap, the Agrodome. There is a show with a funny MC who shows all the different breeds of sheep, and then shears one for you. Then you all walk outside to watch a sheep dog do his thing. And yes, there are gazillions of sheep in New Zealand.</div>
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The next stop was at the Whakarewarewa Thermal Village. It is only open to tour groups like ours because it is an actual village. Native Maori have been living there for hundreds of years, right around and among the hot springs. They have adapted them for heating, cooking and bathing. Of course, many of the people who live there go off to regular jobs during the day, but they return to their homes at night. Hot pools occasionally dry up and new vents form. It is quite common that a vent opens up beneath a house which causes them to relocate. Can you imagine living among the hot pools in Yellowstone?</div>
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This was our guide explaining how they steam food</div>
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They are all communal</div>
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This woman had been cooking something in a boiling hot spring. This was not staged for our benefit. Her food just happened to be done while we were there.</div>
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These are the communal baths, filled by diverting water into them.</div>
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Looks just like Yellowstone, doesn't it?</div>
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That afternoon we again had the opportunity to choose from optional tours, and we decided to go to Hobbiton, about an hour bus ride away. Yes, it is the movie set where the outdoor scenes for the movies Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed. It quickly became apparent why Peter Jackson chose his home country for the setting of his movies. He flew all over New Zealand until he found this location and made arrangements to build the movie set for Rings.<br />
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It was done mostly out of styrofoam and other temporary materials, and it was completely removed after filming. After the movie came out fans sought out the location, just to say they had seen it. When Jackson decided to do The Hobbit, the land owner made a deal with him (a partnership of sorts I believe) to build the set out of something more permanent, and then make the place available as a tourist spot. If you are a fan of those movies, you would enjoy visiting. Except for the Green Dragon Inn, all the Hobbit Holes (houses) are mostly exterior only. Still, the level of detail was amazing, and the site itself idyllic.</div>
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Yes, I took way too many photos, but it was quite interesting.</div>
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The Green Dragon Inn</div>
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Inside the Green Dragon Inn</div>
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The following day was our final day of sightseeing in New Zealand. It consisted of a bus ride from Rotorua to Waitomo to visit the Waitomo Glow Worm Cave. We have been in many caves so this was not all that special from that standpoint, but the unique aspect was that there is a small stream that flows into the cave, which is how it was discovered, and it is inhabited by something called a glow worm. They are actually a type of gnat known to live in damp caves or other humid places. They lay their eggs attached to the ceiling of the cave, and during both the larval and imago stages of their life cycles, they are luminescent. In several places in the cave the lights were dimmed and it looked like a starry sky. Quite unique. We finally came to a very dark area where we boarded a small boat by flashlight, and the guide pulled us through the grotto using ropes attached to the walls. We could see nothing but the glowing spots of light as we glided through. Soon we reached the exit, which was also the entrance where the stream flowed into the cave.<br />
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From there we continued to drive through the gorgeous green, rolling hills of the New Zealand countryside, seeing more sheep than anyone thought possible, on our way to Auckland, the largest city and capitol of New Zealand. When we arrived we toured the city by bus, but frankly it was just a city. I only took one photo because the only place we stopped was an overlook near the entrance to the harbor. I include it here only because it is the last photo taken on our trip.<br />
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Our final stop was at our hotel in downtown Auckland, the Stamford Hotel. This was by far the most elegant hotel we had stayed at on our entire trip. First class is the only way to describe it. Unfortunately, it was the hotel we spent the least amount of time in. We arrived late afternoon and had a going away dinner with the group at the hotel. We had our own room and the food and wine was excellent. Unfortunately, Dianna had developed digestive problems from all the rich food by then, so she was not able to enjoy it as much as the rest of us.<br />
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After saying our good byes to all our new found friends, we went to bed early because we had to leave the hotel the next morning at 4:30 to catch our flight home. Thus ended the tour part of our trip.<br />
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We flew from Auckland to Brisbane, Australia, a four hour flight to the northwest, and then boarded our flight eastward to Los Angeles. This time the flight was only about 13 hours. We did our best to sleep but I don't think I was able to at all. We arrived at LAX at 6 in the morning the same day we left New Zealand, and made our way through customs. Unlike the zoo when we left, there was hardly anyone in the terminal so we zipped through quickly. From there we walked to the Delta terminal next door and checked in for our flight to Chattanooga with a stop and change of planes in Atlanta. We finally arrived in Chattanooga about 5 PM, still the same day we left New Zealand but after about 30 hours of travel, where we summoned an Uber for the 30 minute ride home. (Darin was working and could not pick us up at the airport.)<br />
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It was indeed a trip of a lifetime, and we enjoyed it immensely, but there were some challenges at our age. We left on the 2nd of October and returned late on the 18th, so the total trip was 17 days. There were times we were exhausted from getting up early. Most days we began our travels around 7 AM which meant we got up at 5:30 or six, then had breakfast at the hotel. Some of those days were travel days so we also had to pack our bags. The travel itself was also exhausting. We took 14 different flights altogether, 10 of which required going through airport security, the bane of modern air travel. Fortunately, neither of us suffered from any jet lag, but the rich food, although delicious, was not kind to either of us. All in all we had a great time. It was a great way to celebrate 50 years together.<br />
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My apologies for the very lengthy blog post, but we did a lot, saw a lot, and experienced a lot. It was a great trip that we will remember for the rest of our lives. I have posted only a few of the over 400 photos we took, but hopefully enough to give you some idea of what we saw.<br />
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What follows are some observations and thoughts that don't fit elsewhere in the post. In fact, much it may not interest anyone, but I wanted to document it somewhere.<br />
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This was the first time we have taken a guided tour and it had its pluses and minuses. We saw a great deal in a short amount of time, and our guides were excellent. They were both very knowledgeable and provided us with a great deal of information. We also went places and had tours that were not available to the general public. There was also a good deal of free time built into schedule so we were able to customize the tour to a certain extent, choosing what we wanted to do (or do nothing but rest) on those days. There were a few places we went that were not worth seeing, but for the most part the sites were interesting and worthwhile to visit.<br />
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As I mentioned, all the provided meals were excellent. Wine was provided at every dinner, and mixed drinks were provided at some events. But we could only handle so many rich meals in a row. On three occasions when there was no group dinner provided, we walked to a nearby convenience or grocery store and just bought Ramen or Cup of Soups which we fixed in our room. By the way, they do not have little coffee makers in rooms there. Instead they have electric kettles so you can make hot water. Instant coffee, tea and instant hot chocolate are provided. More simple and easier than the coffee makers in the US hotels.<br />
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I got some cash in both countries, but it was not really necessary. In Australia I got just $40 AU in cash from an exchange place at the Airport, paying a rather large transaction fee and getting a poor exchange rate. However we found that nearly everywhere we went accepted Google Pay from my phone. I had Google Pay attached to my Citi Visa card that charged no exchange or transaction fees, and had a very fair exchange rate. They also took credit cards everywhere, but I like the convenience and additional security of using Google Pay since I did not have to share my actual credit card number. I did use some of the cash in a couple places, just to use some of it, but it was not really necessary. I used the last of it at a food counter at the airport as we were leaving Australia for New Zealand. I paid what I had left in cash and put the rest on Google Pay.<br />
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In New Zealand I got smarter. I still wanted to have some cash with me but this time I used my debit card at a local bank to take out $40 NZ. That way I again had no transaction fee and a good exchange rate. I used my USAA debit card so they even refunded the ATM fee that the bank in New Zealand charged. However, it was the same situation as in Australia in that I had to look for places to use up the cash. At least in these countries, there was no reason to exchange your money or carry more than a small amount of cash.<br />
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One interesting thing that happened on the trip was the way our bags were handled. Each of us, and most everyone on the tour, had one roller bag apiece. The tour company included all baggage handling in the cost of the tour. When we arrived at each hotel, we were told to just check in (basically just get your keys) and that the bags would be delivered to our room. While that sounded like a nice thing, at the first hotel in Cairns it worked OK. In Sydney it took 45 minutes for our bags to get delivered. After that, nearly everyone stayed at the bus and took their bags with them when we arrived at a new hotel. The tour guides tried to get us to let the bell hops handle it, but no one wanted to wait for their bags again. Also, on those days when we traveled, we were told to leave our bags outside at a certain time (usually an hour or more before we were scheduled to leave the hotel) and that they would be collected by the bell hops. While it worked, it also meant that we had to be packed way before we were ready to leave, and usually before we even went down for breakfast. Soon some of us were bringing our bags down with us a few minutes before departure. All the collected bags were sitting there waiting to be loaded on the bus, and we just added ours to the group.<br />
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In addition to 14 flights and many hours on airplanes, we also spent countless hours on tour buses. Most were very comfortable and even had doors in the center as well as at the front. It made boarding and getting off quick and easy. A couple of them also had free WiFi, but it was slow and not of much use since we were off and on frequently. We certainly admired the drivers ability to navigate the narrow streets in the busy city centers. It took a great deal of skill.<br />
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As I think of other tidbits, I may add them here, mostly as a way of documenting them for my own review. Sorry if this was not of interest to casual readers.</div>
Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-23913707581531610642015-12-15T16:30:00.000-08:002015-12-15T16:30:26.631-08:00The ABC Islands Cruise<div class="MsoNormal">
After the year we have had, we decided to reward ourselves with a celebration of life. There's nothing like a cruise in the Caribbean to make you feel special.</div>
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We left our rig in <st1:city w:st="on">Mesa</st1:city> on
Nov. 18 and drove the car to <st1:state w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:state>
to spend Thanksgiving with Darin and Diane.
We stopped the first night in <st1:city w:st="on">Van Horn</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">TX</st1:state> and spent the next night at Chris and Dayna’s in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Allen</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">TX</st1:state></st1:place>. The next night was spent in <st1:city w:st="on">Jackson</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">MS</st1:state> and we arrived in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">TN</st1:state></st1:place>
on the 21<sup>st</sup>. We had a nice
visit with Darin and Diane, and a very nice Thanksgiving. They are doing well and the house is working
out great for them. It’s a lovely wooded
area only a mile or so out of town, but it almost feels like a vacation home.</div>
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The afternoon before we were set to leave for our cruise,
the car began running rough and missing.
I took it to Autozone where they read the diagnostic codes for
free. It said the most likely cause was
a bad coil on one cylinder. I took it
back to Darin’s where we verified that was the cause by swapping two coils,
then I returned to Autozone and purchased and installed a new one. Problem fixed! Nothing like car problems when you need to
drive 800 miles to catch a cruise in the next two days.</div>
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We left Darin and Diane’s home in <st1:state w:st="on">Tennessee</st1:state>
on Sunday morning, the 29<sup>th</sup> of November 2015, and drove south on
I-75 as far as <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gainesville</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">FL</st1:state></st1:place> where we spent the night. The following morning we drove into <st1:city w:st="on">Tampa</st1:city> and parked at the
cruise ship parking facility directly across from where our Royal Caribbean
Cruise Lines ship, The Vision of the Seas, was docked. After a relatively short and painless
boarding process we were on board. </div>
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For this cruise we chose an inside room at the lowest possible
price. This is our fifth cruise and we
have learned that you spend very little time in your cabin except to sleep and
shower. The time we had a balcony was
nice, but we didn’t’ spend as much time out there as we thought we would, and
by choosing the least expensive room we could take two cruises for what one
would cost us with a balcony. Outside
the room there is no difference in what you can do, where you eat, and what
activities are available to you. In
fact, there is no way for anyone to know what deck or type of room you are
in. Our room was admittedly small, but
adequate. The two beds were arranged
into one king size bed and there was plenty of room for all our clothes. The shower was quite small but worked great
with plenty of hot water. When we wanted
to know what it looked like outside we just turned on the flat screen TV on the
wall and tuned to the channel with the bow mounted camera.</div>
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We sailed out of <st1:city w:st="on">Tampa</st1:city> at
about 4PM and it was dark before we left <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Tampa</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Bay</st1:placetype></st1:place>. We had the late dinner seating at 8PM and
found the two other couples were delightful company. We ate in the dining room every evening, and
could have had breakfast and lunch there as well, but chose to use one of the
other venues available for those meals.
The options for food was varied and usually well prepared. On night 9 I chose the lobster, but it was
rather small so I ordered another. The
amount of food available was limitless.</div>
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The ship was completely booked but we noticed that the
majority of the people were even older than we are. There were a large number of walkers, wheel
chairs and mobility scooters. It turns
out that the cruise line had made a special effort to fill the ship by going to
some of the many retirement communities near <st1:city w:st="on">Tampa</st1:city> and offering special deep
discounts. I guess it is tough to fill a
ship between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Anyway, we felt like youngsters.
There were probably fewer than 100 people out of the 2300 passengers who
were under 50. While we are way past that age, we were still younger than most on the cruise.</div>
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Our first stop on our 10 night cruise was the next day in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Key West</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">FL.</st1:state></st1:place> We have been there several times so it was
nothing really new. The ship docked on
the Navy base because the cruise ship docks were full, so the cruise line
arranged for a tram system to take us directly to the center of downtown. That provided a free guided tour which was
nice. I had a bit of an upset stomach,
probably from eating a rich meal the night before, so we didn’t spend too much
time in town. We did tour the oldest
house in <st1:city w:st="on">Key West</st1:city>, but other than that we just
strolled down <st1:street w:st="on">Duval Street</st1:street>
and observed all the tourists buying the usual souvenirs that are made in <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region> and embossed with the words “<st1:city w:st="on">Key West</st1:city>” on them.</div>
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The next two days we were at sea as we steamed (just an
expression – the ship has diesel engines) around the east end of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Cuba</st1:country-region>, south between <st1:country-region w:st="on">Cuba</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Haiti</st1:country-region>, then into the Caribbean
Sea and south toward our real destinations, the <st1:place w:st="on"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_islands_(Lesser_Antilles)"><st1:placename w:st="on">ABC</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Islands</st1:placetype></a></st1:place>. That is how Aruba, Bonaire and <st1:place w:st="on">Curacao</st1:place> are often referred to. These small islands just off the coast of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region> were previously
known as the Dutch Antilles, and are located only about 30-40 miles from each
other. At their closest point the <st1:placetype w:st="on">island</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Aruba</st1:placename>
is only 14 miles from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>. They have been Dutch colonies since the
1600’s. Without going into too much
detail that you can learn by Googling, they still maintain a very close
relationship with <st1:city w:st="on">Holland</st1:city>. Bonaire is still a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">province</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Holland</st1:placename></st1:place>,
and the other two have a bit more independence, but still have Dutch
governors. The official language is
Dutch but most people speak not only Dutch but also English, Spanish and a
local dialect called Papiamento which is a mixture of all three plus some West African
languages and Portuguese thrown in. </div>
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All three islands are very dry with average rainfalls of only
around 10 inches. They were formed by
undersea volcanoes millions of years ago that were forced up by the movement of
tectonic plates. As they neared the
surface, colonies of coral grew and when they continued to rise out of the
ocean, erosion began to shape them to their current form. In many places you can see some of the eroded
top layer of coral, but the primary rocks are volcanic or in some cases
granite. Cactus and small brushy trees
are the primary vegetation. The
predominate cactus is a variety of Organ Pipe, very similar to the Organ Pipes
in <st1:place w:st="on">Arizona</st1:place>.</div>
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Although they are very dry, their size and the sea make them
feel much different than a desert area on a continent. Homes are colorful and built mostly on the
leeward side of the islands where the ever present trade winds are less, and
where the beaches are protected from the crashing waves on the Atlantic side. None of the islands have much in the way of
hills, but they are not flat. The
highest point on each of the islands is around 500 feet. The islands have been inhabited by Europeans
for over 500 years but were originally inhabited by a people known as Arawaks
who moved there from the mainland of what is now <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>. There were never large numbers of them on the
islands as the only food source was from the sea, and water is very hard to
come by. Until the advent of
desalination plants in recent years, the only source of water was by capturing
the scarce rainfall.</div>
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<st1:place w:st="on">Bonaire</st1:place> was our first stop
and is the most laid back and undeveloped of the three islands. Although it is the second largest of the
three in size, it’s population is only about 17,000. Only 3 or 4 cruise ships stop each week
during the heavy season, but tourism is still the main industry. We took an off road tour of the island on Unimogs,
a go anywhere truck like vehicle made by Mercedes Benz, that took us to the
remote north side of the island. </div>
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We
stopped at a collapsed lava tube where the volcanic origins of the island were
apparent. We also stopped at some sea
caves where petroglyphs left by the Arawaks were still preserved. Their graves are all above ground and painted
in the same bright colors as the house the deceased lived in. Makes for a very colorful & festive
place.</div>
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Overnight we relocated to <st1:place w:st="on">Curacao</st1:place>. It is the largest of the three islands and much
more developed. We took a tour here as
well, but this time in an air conditioned bus.
A great deal of the island is developed with a population of about
150,000. We visited a very nice but
small limestone cave, not unlike most of the caves we have visited in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>. We also took a walking tour of downtown <st1:city w:st="on">Willemstad</st1:city>, the capital
city and where we were docked. We spent
more time on foot in <st1:city w:st="on">Willemstad</st1:city>
than at any other place we stopped, and enjoyed it very much. The downtown area and the pontoon bridge over
the harbor entrance were pleasant and interesting. We even stopped at McDonalds for a chocolate
shake and a sundae.</div>
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<st1:place w:st="on">Curacao</st1:place> also has a
magnificent protected harbor that fostered the development of a huge refinery. Check it out on Google Maps. Oil is brought in by tanker from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region> and
the refined gasoline and other products are shipped out to various
locations. There is also a salt
production facility on the island, and of course, tourism. There are miles of hotels, condos and time
shares lining the beaches. Curacao had
none of the remote laid back feel of <st1:place w:st="on">Bonaire</st1:place>,
but it was still an interesting and beautiful place to visit.</div>
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Our last stop in the <st1:placename w:st="on">ABC</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Islands</st1:placetype> was in <st1:place w:st="on">Aruba</st1:place>. Aruba is even more developed than <st1:place w:st="on">Curacao</st1:place>, and the economy consists almost exclusively of
tourism. The population is about 100,000
and the island is the smallest of the three.
There are few places that are still undeveloped. There are miles of hotels, condos and time
shares all over the island. It was not
our cup of tea because of that.</div>
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We did take a tour of <st1:place w:st="on">Aruba</st1:place>
in an air conditioned bus. We saw a good
part of the island and made stops at an old lighthouse on the tip of the
island, the rugged north shore, where we visited a neat natural bridge formed
by waves that undercut an opening, and an aloe factory. The commercial production of aloe used to be
a major agricultural product of <st1:place w:st="on">Aruba</st1:place>, with
hundreds of acres in production. But
with industrialization and the rise of tourism, there are only the 60 acres
beside the factory still in production.
They make many cosmetic products that are sold all over the world. We also stopped at an interesting rock
formation that reminded me in some ways of Cochise’s Stronghold near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Wilcox</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">AZ.</st1:state></st1:place> Huge boulders were scattered about. We spent very little time in the town of <st1:city w:st="on">Oranjestad</st1:city> where we were
docked.</div>
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We then headed north again and after a full day and a half
at sea, we stopped on <st1:place w:st="on">Grand Cayman</st1:place>. There are no docks in <st1:place w:st="on">Georgetown</st1:place>, and we were ferried ashore with
tenders. Apparently the family that owns
the tender company has a lot of political power because every attempt to
develop docks has failed. There were
four ships in port when we were there and the tenders were very busy. We had been there before, but many years
ago. It did not look like we
remembered. <st1:place w:st="on">Grand
Cayman</st1:place> is highly developed for tourism. Again there are miles and miles of hotels,
condos and time shares. We took a local
tour that we arranged on shore that took us to Hell, were we saw very unique
rock formations, and to a dolphin show.
As we drove around the islands we saw many iguanas, as we had on all the
islands, and chickens running wild. Both
are problems and their populations are not well controlled, although iguana and
chicken are both eaten by the local population.</div>
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After another full day at sea we arrived back in <st1:city w:st="on">Tampa</st1:city> early on the 10<sup>th</sup>. Previous debarking experiences had left us
apprehensive about getting ashore, but this time it was a breeze. Since we had parked just across the street in
the parking structure, we were on our way in no time. After stops near <st1:city w:st="on">Tallahassee</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">FL</st1:state> and <st1:city w:st="on">Vicksburg</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">MS</st1:state> we arrived in <st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place> once again to spend the next two weeks
of the Christmas season with Dayna’s family.</div>
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This was our 5<sup>th</sup> cruise and we have noted some
changes since our first. We certainly
enjoyed it, and spent time on the ship engaging in some of the activities and
watching the entertainment. We availed
ourselves of the hot tubs, took walks on the deck, Dianna used the fitness center,
and we had all we wanted to eat.
However, it did feel as though the level of quality has dropped over the
years. Some of the food was not as good
as in prior years, and it appears that it is getting harder for them to keep
trained staff. Almost all waiters and
cabin attendants are from Eastern Europe, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Philippines</st1:country-region>
or <st1:country-region w:st="on">Indonesia</st1:country-region>. These areas don’t have a lot of jobs and an
opportunity to sign a six month contract for working on a ship gives them an
income. What many don’t realize is that
they will be working seven days a week and for 12 or more hours a day most
days. They become disillusioned and
burned out quickly. Some don’t make it
through their contract, and a large number do not stay past the first one.</div>
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The other thing we find disappointing about cruises is the
way we always feel that we are being nickeled and dimed. All cocktails are exorbitantly priced, and
even sodas and bottled water cost $2.50 on the ship. On top of that, they automatically add an 18
percent tip. Tipping is expected and we
understand that. It is how the waiters
and cabin attendants are paid. We
prepaid the gratuities before the cruise, however if you elect not to prepay,
the cruise line automatically adds $12.50 per day per person to your shipboard
account. This is over and above the 18
percent added automatically for drinks.
You can have the charge removed or changed if you go to the customer
service desk, but the point is that they are just constantly sticking it to
you. You used to get envelopes that you
put cash into and gave to the people you wanted to tip, but I guess enough
people stiffed the help that they decided to make it practically
automatic. If that’s the case, why not
just include the tip in the cost of the cruise, and let you add an additional
tip if you feel you had extra special service.
The staff certainly needs to get paid, but I wish it felt more like a
tip for extra service than just an additional cost that they are going to make
you pay regardless.</div>
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All that said, cruising is still a great experience and
something we enjoy doing. It has allowed
us to go places we would otherwise never visit, spend quality time together,
eat much better food than we normally would, and be pampered and waited
on. (When we got off the ship, I was so
used to that pampering that I almost forgot to take care of my tray at a fast
food place where we stopped for lunch!) We’re
already looking forward to our next.<br />
<br />
To see photos of our trip, follow this link: <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/116136748277437203852/ABCIslandCruise?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIq7obu_0tGQ7QE&feat=directlink">ABC Islands Cruise Photos</a></div>
Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-67572059305041014552015-01-01T16:08:00.000-08:002015-01-01T16:08:15.857-08:00NAS IIThis post is for the techies in the family. It's not a travel post.<br />
<br />
For the past few years I have had a NAS on our home network that has been used for local backups. Although I also have Mozy cloud backups set up for all three computers, the desktop, my laptop and Dianna's, I just like the extra security and flexibility that local backups provide. There are also some large files that don't seem to lend themselves well to cloud backup, like .iso files. <br />
<br />
A few months ago I began to have problems with my desktop computer which was still running XP. After many weeks of trying to get it to work right, including a stint at "Daryl's Computer Repair", it just became more trouble than it was worth. I made the decision to shut it down permanently except for rare instances when I needed some old physical interface that only existed on it. We didn't really use it much anymore anyway, except that I did keep some large archival files on it because it had dual 250G drives configured as RAID 1. This has always provided good local security for my data. I had a drive failure a couple years ago and simply replaced the failed drive and kept on running. That's the beauty of RAID. I decided to just leave the desktop sitting here in case I needed an aforementioned interface, but I also replaced the 250G hard drive in my laptop with a 500G Samsung SSD and copied all the important files from the desktop to my laptop just in case.<br />
<br />
All was well until about a week ago when the drive in the NAS failed. Fortunately there was nothing on it that was not also on one of my other systems, but still..... I decided to replace it with what I should have purchased in the first place for backups. I purchased a new NAS with RAID 1. Fortunately, the prices have really come down so it is much more reasonable than it would have been back when I purchased my first NAS.<br />
<br />
I purchased a Buffalo Linkstation 220 with dual 1T drives. Although my previous NAS was 2T, I was only using about 600G of it so having only 1T is plenty. If I ever do want to upgrade I only need to purchase larger drives and install them in the enclosure.<br />
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I read many reviews and decided this will work well for me. Most of the reservations pointed out by reviewers had to do with using the NAS in a small office environment, and with features that I just don't plan to ever use. So far it seems to be working fine.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-83238207459120275032015-01-01T15:35:00.000-08:002015-01-01T16:16:49.655-08:00Tennessee and TexasI again find it has been a while since I posted about our travels, so I guess I better bring things up to date. We spent the month of November in the same place near Darin and Diane where we spent last summer. This year the project was enclosing an area of the garage and turning it into a salon for Diane. I did the electrical and plumbing work, and the rest of the crew, along with a friend of Darin's did the drywall and painting. It came out nice.<br />
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Other than spending some time with them and Christine, Nathan and Skylar, we didn't do a whole lot. The weather was cool, wet and not conducive to much of anything else. One of the things that many people expect is that since we are full time RV'ers we are always doing something or going somewhere, but it doesn't always work out that way. We have spent a lot of time in the Chattanooga area and have seen most of what we want to see, so what we really do is just "live" there for a month.<br />
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After an uneventful four day trip to the Dallas area we parked in an RV park near the Jennings family. Again, what we did for the most part was just "live" here for the month. There were several Dr. visits since all of Dianna's doctors are here and she needed to do all her annual stuff. She also saw a dermatologist who treated her for some skin issues that she will need to keep an eye on.<br />
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We visited the Jennings family and had the kids and their friends over to visit us. Christmas was spent at their apartment, as was New Years Eve. The rest of the month has been pretty boring. Except for a couple nice days when Dale stopped by on his way west, the weather has been cold, wet and gloomy. Many days we do not leave the rig.<br />
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Our plan has been to leave here on the 2nd to head for Arizona, but a winter storm may delay that for one day. It's kind of wait and see.<br />
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We wish everyone a Happy New Year!Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-28517232656919129702014-11-01T17:00:00.001-07:002014-11-01T17:00:14.674-07:00On To TennesseeOur stay in the Branson area was enjoyable but definitely not our groove. It's really a tourist trap town and most of the shows are not name entertainers. We did take another very nice 120 mile motorcycle ride through some beautiful country that included a ferry ride across Bull Shoals Lake.<br />
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I began to experience some discomfort the day before we left and thought it felt like a recurrence of the pancreatitis I had earlier this year. The pain was tolerable and I did not seek treatment. I just did what they did when I was put in the hospital -- I stopped eating and drinking. The next day we drove to a Corp of Engineers campground near Poplar Bluff, MO. The campground was beautiful and had full hookups for only $12 per night. <br />
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After setting up we went to the Veterans Urgent Care center where they took blood and verified that I had pancreatitis. They wanted to put me in the hospital but I declined since I was not feeling all that bad and knew how to treat it. I went back the next day for another blood test to verify that I was improving. After a couple more days I was feeling fine but just avoiding as much fat as possible to give my pancreas a rest.<br />
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After four day at the COE park we drove on to Nashville where we camped at the Tennessee State Fair. It was perhaps the strangest camp site we have ever been in. Although the web site says it costs $35 per night, there was no way to pay anyone nor did anyone come around. There was only one other RV there. Oh well. Free is nice.<br />
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The next day we continued on to the Chattanooga area where we set up camp in the same campground we spent last summer in. We've been over to see Darin, Diane and Christine's family since we've been here. It looks like I will be helping Darin with a room he is building inside their garage. It will become Diane's Hair Salon.<br />
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The temperature was nice when we got here but today it turned very cold. The high today was only 43 and it is supposed to freeze tonight. Welcome to winter.<br />
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I'm still feeling fine but trying to eat fairly low fat. If I don't have any more problems I will follow up with my Dr.'s in Prescott when I get back to Arizona.<br />
<br />Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-11816950251350725872014-10-18T07:29:00.001-07:002014-10-18T07:29:32.065-07:00Wandering EastAfter our visit to Chaco Canyon we relocated to Edgewood, NM where we spent a week visiting old friends and places in the area. We attended church at Valley View Christian Church which has grown to average attendance of 600. When we first started going there the average attendance was about 20. It's now a huge place and we know only a very few people.<br />
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I'm not going to list the names of the folks we visited because I will probably forget someone. Let's just say our calendar was full and we say many old friends.<br />
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We drove to Santa Fe and had lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants; Tomasita's near the train station. It also happened to be Balloon Fiesta week so we went to one of the Mass Ascensions to watch about 500 hot air balloons launch and fill the sky. That brought back some fond memories, but the Balloon Fiesta is not as large as it once was. Apparently the growth of Albuquerque and increased costs have reduced the numbers of balloonists.<br />
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After a week in Edgewood we continued east as far as Amarillo where we ended up staying three nights. West Texas is no fun when weather moves in and we had very strong winds for two full days. We just hunkered down and waited it out.<br />
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Our next stop was just an overnight stop at an Indian Casino near Oklahoma City. The full hookup camping is free and they give you a $10 gift card to play the slots. You can't cash in the card but you can keep any money you win, so we walked away with $4.50. Not bad to get paid for camping.<br />
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Our next stop was one of those that sometimes don't work out all that well. We had planned to stay at a Corp of Engineers park on the Arkansas River near Ft. Smith, AR. I read the reviews and checked it out on satellite maps and it looked fine. However, when we got there we discovered that it was completely tree covered. The Google satellite views had been taken in the winter time and did not show the tree cover. TV is important to us and there were no sites where we could see the satellite, so we found a nearby overpriced RV park for the night. Oh well. You've got to be flexible if you plan to live as we do.<br />
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The next day we moved to Hollister, MO, a small town just across Turkey Creek from Branson, MO. This is a real touristy area with many shows (mostly country type) and lots of places to spend money. We plan to spend a week looking the place over but it's doubtful they will get much of our money. We'll see. It is a very pretty area of the Ozark Mountains and the fall colors are starting. We took a motorcycle ride yesterday and may well do some more of that while we are here.<br />
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More later.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-28495000108140139872014-10-06T07:07:00.000-07:002014-10-18T07:37:12.449-07:00Chaco CanyonOne of the places we never visited when living in New Mexico was Chaco Canyon. It is the site of a very well developed society of Native Americans who lived in a remote area near Farmington. They lived there between about 850 and 1100 AD and probably were the ones who later inhabited Mesa Verde and many of the pueblos that now dot the landscape in New Mexico.<br />
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They were major builders and constructed some four story buildings that housed hundreds of people throughout the canyon. The site is one of significant cultural importance and we found it interesting to see how they lived.<br />
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The road to Chaco Canyon is mostly dirt and is maintained by San Juan County except for the last few miles. It appears that no one maintains that last section. Once you enter the National Monument the road is paved and very well maintained. Many times access is completely cut off because of an impassable road.<br />
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We stayed for two nights in the parking lot of the San Juan County Fairgrounds between Bloomfield and Farmington.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-8972416485081380572014-10-01T06:58:00.000-07:002014-10-18T07:37:44.665-07:00The Rest of the SummerWe spent the rest of the summer in the same location at Blue Ridge Ranger Station. Our activities were pretty much the same for the entire time we were there. I worked maintenance three days a week and Dianna worked in the office two half days each week. I think I covered our duties pretty well in my previous post.<br />
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The rest of our activities were noteworthy at the time, but it seems a bit pointless to recount them again in detail. They included:<br />
<ul>
<li>A couple trips to visit Mom in Mesa that included one to celebrate her 90's birthday and another that included a visit with Karen.</li>
<li>Shopping trips to Payson, Flagstaff or Prescott.</li>
<li>Dianna's two trips to be with her cousin in California when she had cancer surgery.</li>
<li>A visit from Daryl and Gisele.</li>
<li>A visit from Donna.</li>
<li>A trip to California to see Dianna's sister and spend a few days with Marie and Adam's twins.</li>
<li>A four night stay in the hospital in Flagstaff for me while I recovered from pancreatitis.</li>
<li>Dianna's month long trip to Texas to help Dayna with her new business.</li>
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There were probably some other things that slip my mind just now. Rather than spend a lot of time trying to remember what we did for the past 6 months I am just going to move on and post about what we have done since in a subsequent post.<br />
<br />Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-86771012464713216082014-05-19T11:02:00.001-07:002014-05-19T11:50:55.711-07:00Volunteering for the Forest ServiceAs we were finishing up our winter wanderings in Southern Arizona we got a call from the maintenance supervisor at the Forest Service ranger station where we had made arrangements to volunteer this summer. He wanted to know if we could come up early because he had a lot of work that needed to be done in preparation for the opening of fire season. That's how we ended up at the Blue Ridge Ranger Station, halfway between Payson and Winslow, Arizona a week earlier than our anticipated April 1 start date.<br />
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The facility serves many purposes and is open year round, however there is only a small staff during the winter months. The majority of the facility is housing and equipment buildings for fire crews. There are two engine companies that always stay in the local area, and two hot shot crews that can be deployed anywhere in the Western US. Because there was so little snow this winter, the fire crews start dates were moved up, and housing needed to be de-winterized and prepared for them. That's why we were asked to arrive early if possible. Although I was recruited for a grounds keeper position, the experience I listed on my application convinced the maintenance supervisor that I could help with the other projects until the grass started growing. As it has turned out, I may never see a lawnmower.<br />
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Dianna is volunteering as well. She spends a couple mornings a week in the office, helping out whereever she can. It gives her a chance to be with people and get the social contact she needs. I, on the other hand, work three days a week. I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8 to 4. There are some days that we get off early and a few times that I have had to work much later. Those are usually days that I am far away in the forest and it takes that long to get back to the ranger station.<br />
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Once my supervisor discovered that I am a jack of all trades and master of none, he immediately put me to work on all kinds of projects. For the first month or so, mostly we worked as a team with him, another volunteer and I working together. Getting to know where everything is and how things are done is an ongoing process. The Mogollon Rim District of the Coconino National Forest is a large area with hundreds of miles of forest roads, several campgrounds, three fire lookouts, and a sub-station where two additional engine crews are located. Lately my supervisor has been sending me off on my own to take care of issues, now that I know my way around and have learned what needs to be done.<br />
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I am absolutely amazed at the variety of things that the maintenance crew is responsible for. It would take a book to cover all of it, so I'm just going to list a few of the things I have worked on thus far.<br />
<ul>
<li>Repaired several permanent housing units and mobile homes used as firefighter quarters.</li>
<li>Done carpentry, plumbing and some minor electrical work</li>
<li>Installed washers and dryers</li>
<li>De-winterized and turned on water systems in campgrounds. </li>
<li>Filled water tanks and sanitized the systems. </li>
<li>Tested water for chlorine and took water samples to the lab in Flagstaff.</li>
<li>Installed a new vehicle washing station at the Happy Jack sub-station.</li>
<li>Made several trips to Flagstaff to transport equipment for repair and pick up supplies.</li>
<li>Installed a sliding glass door in a housing unit.</li>
<li>Removed downed trees that were blocking several forest roads using a Bobcat and chainsaw (My supervisor operated them).</li>
<li>Hauled water trailers to fire lookouts.</li>
<li>Installed a solar system at a fire lookout.</li>
<li>Took down and put up signs.</li>
</ul>
That represents a simplified overview of some of the things I have worked on. It is far from comprehensive. To give a sense of what a typical day looks like, here is what I did one day last week when the other volunteer took a broken washing machine to Flagstaff and my supervisor worked on several minor projects and paperwork at the ranger station.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Loaded the pickup with a replacement battery, the water test kit, chlorine, and the new control board for the automatic chlorinator.</li>
<li>Installed the large pintle hitch on the pickup.</li>
<li>Drove about an hour and a half to Knoll Lake Campground (25 miles away over very rough forest service roads)</li>
<li>Opened the gate and drove up to the water tank on the hill above the campground.</li>
<li>Opened the gate around the tank and the guard on the ladder.</li>
<li>Climbed the 14 foot tank, opened the cover and dipped a water sample.</li>
<li>Tested the water for chlorine, radioed the results to my supervisor, added the amount of chlorine he calculated was needed, then locked everything up.</li>
<li>Drove to the dam, opened the gate and drove across the dam to the well site on the other side.</li>
<li>Installed the replacement battery in the generator (The generator had been broken into and the battery stolen)</li>
<li>Opened the cover on the structure over the well head and climbed in.</li>
<li>Installed the new control board in the automatic chlorinator, started the generator and turned on the pump to test the chlorinator.</li>
<li>Turned everything off, locked the well house.</li>
<li>Hooked the generator to the pickup (It weighs 8,000 pounds and can run the entire ranger station during a power failure)</li>
<li>Returned to the ranger station via a different route than I had taken going out in order to avoid some very steep grades. The trip took about 2 hours, most of it right along the Mogollon Rim.</li>
<li>Filled the generator with diesel and parked it </li>
<li>Filled out my logs for the day and locked everything up. It was 4 PM.</li>
</ul>
I had called Dale when I found out where I was going that morning. He was camping about 20 miles away and met me at the lake. He worked as my helper, getting me tools etc. when I was in the well head so I didn't have to climb in and out. We also had lunch together in the campground.<br />
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I don't want to give the impression that I am over worked. There are some days the tasks can be somewhat strenuous, but we usually work together on those and take plenty of breaks. Other days are mostly driving or working on simple things. Just going out to remove a sign and lock can take an hour given the distances involved, and a trip to Flagstaff takes most of the day.<br />
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So far I am having fun. I enjoy the variety of work and my supervisor is very accepting and appreciative of my suggestions and expertise. For example, he has little experience with solar systems so I did the install at the fire lookout by myself. I was also able to provide him with some information that changed how he planned to approach the system.<br />
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I know this is getting long so I will be brief about the rest of our doings. Dianna made a trip to Texas to help Dayna with her new business. She was gone a month. Dale came to visit for a couple weeks during that time before going out into the forest to camp. We had a good time visiting, hiking and helping the camp host at a nearby campground with the electrical system on his new RV. Dale will be back in a couple days to spend a few more days with us.<br />
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Enough. Just as a way to end this, here's a photo taken when were were working to clear one of the downed trees.<br />
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<br />Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-63477527724908679472014-05-18T09:09:00.000-07:002014-05-18T09:11:17.579-07:00The Blog Has MovedMany have been clamoring for a new blog post, but first some house keeping is in order.<br />
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I have moved my blog from a rented server that we (I and my brother Daryl) must maintain. While our own server certainly offers more autonomy, I have drunk the Google Kool-ade. I am deeply entrenched in the Google/Android world and have found that Blogger just works better and easier than having my blog on Wordpress. It integrates everything nicely and eliminates all the maintenance and upgrading issues encountered when maintaining your own server.<br />
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Moving the blog was a multi-step process. First I exported the blog from Wordpress in XML format. Then I ran it through a process to convert it the XML code fro Wordpress to Blogger format. I then imported the XML file into Blogger. Everything came across fine except for photos. Most of the early photos were not copied properly due to their setup on Wordpress, and all the later photos were included but Blogger still pointed to the files on the old server. I FTP'd all the photos to my laptop and am currently in the process of uploading all the photos to Blogger so that everything is in one place. <br />
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Photos are another reason for making this change. All photos taken with my phone are automatically uploaded to Google Plus, and including them in a blog is a simple process. <br />
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Setting up the simple URL or blog.richardlafferty.com to access the new blog took a little work. GoDaddy is my domain registrar and the entries there point anything addressed to richardlafferty.com to the AZNB server. I had to add entries there to redirect blog.richardlafferty.com to the Blogger server. Behind the scenes on Google's server there is another redirect taking place. It hides the fact that the real URL for my blog is "laffertytravelsandlife.blogspot.com". Entering that URL directly will get you to my blog as well, but Google will sort of mask it from you. It took some stumbling around and Daryl's help to figure this part out. <br />
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There is a pretty good chance I will eventually move my Gallery from the AZNB servers to Google as well. That will come later. For now, our photos are still in the same place as always.<br />
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<br />Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-87658218295553551702014-03-13T01:47:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:55:25.992-07:00TombstoneYesterday we drove to Tombstone for the afternoon. I don't remember being there since sometime in the early 60's with the family. They call themselves "The town too tough to die" which it appears they still are. There were a fair number of tourists wandering the streets and shops.<br />
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I seem to remember that they used to stage reenactments of the shootout at the OK Corral right on the main street in town, but it is now held in a separate location where you have to pay to watch it. It's kind of like the Old Tucson set. There are guys dressed in period outfits all over town trying to get you to go see the show. There's also the OK Corral itself, (which you have to pay to visit) and the Birdcage Saloon, (which you have to pay to visit) and some other historic buildings, including one with real "ghosts", (which you have to pay to visit). I think you get the picture. Every building is either a shop selling tourist trinkets or someplace you have to pay to see.<br />
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We wandered the streets and read all the signs explaining what each building was, but we didn't visit a single shop. I guess we've just seen too many tourist traps like these in our travels. We did shell out $5 apiece to visit the Tombstone State Historical Park in the old courthouse. It is now a museum and quite well done. It has displays and artifacts explaining the history of the town and Southeastern Arizona.<br />
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We also made the obligatory stop at the Boot Heel Cemetery. It is owned by the city and is free, but you can only enter and leave through the gift shop of course. Almost all the headstones have been replaced with standard sized and freshly painted boards that I suspect bear little resemblance to their originals. Still, it is a real cemetery, and the people whose names are on the markers are actually buried there, even if it did feel like Disney built it.<br />
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It was a simple and inexpensive outing, only an hour from Tucson, and we learned something about the town and area. Still, I wonder what the future holds for them long term? My generation grew up with cowboys, Indians and outlaws from the old west on TV. There were more westerns on TV than cartoons, and not just on Saturday mornings. Westerns made up a good portion of the prime time shows as well. But that changed with my kids, and the subsequent generations. I venture to say that very few kids today have ever heard of "the shootout at the OK Corral". Although it is spring break this week, and we did see a few families in town, the vast majority of visitors were our age. That can't bode well for "the town too tough to die."<br />
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Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-79165030515024821792014-03-08T10:23:00.000-08:002014-05-12T09:28:21.036-07:00Organ Pipe National MonumentIn an attempt to follow up on my recent return to blogging, here's another post already! Will wonders never cease?<br/><br/>After dropping off Dale at Colossal Cave for his continuing journey on the AZT, we moved out to a boondocking location about 2 miles south of Why. One really does need to ask why. There are a few houses, a gas station, a cafe, a couple RV parks and lots of Border Patrol agents. There's not much else.<br/><br/>On Thursday we drove about 15 miles south to the Visitor Center at Organ Pipe. We watched the 15 minute movie, took the very short nature walk, and then took the 21 mile loop dirt road around Ajo Mountain. Some of the road was in pretty good condition but there were places a Jeep would have been a better choice than a Lexus.<br/><br/>We stopped about half way around and took a 2 mile hike up Arch Canyon. There is a double arch, one above the other, that is very interesting to see. On the loop we saw plenty of organ pipe cactus. This is the only place they exist in the US but they do grow further south into Mexico. Although the arms look a lot like a Saguaro, they have a very different internal structure. Instead of the wood ribs that form the trunk of the saguaro, the organ pipe has a single wood like shaft in the center. It's quite large in comparison to the ribs of the saguaro. They appear to be up to 3 or 4 inches in diameter.<br/><br/>Friday we drove about 20 miles up the road to Ajo. It was built as a mining town in the early 1900's and is architecturally interesting. There is a central plaza that reminds me of Santa Fe, and the old school, which is now an apartment building workshop space for artists, is also interesting. The entire Ajo area is dwarfed by the huge piles of tailing from the mine and smelter. We drove up to the open pit lookout but it was closed. Nonetheless, we were able to see almost all the way to the bottom from another vantage point. It is one huge hole. The mine closed down in 1985 but the town seems to be going relatively strong.<br/><br/>Today we moved back to Tucson and are staying at the Pima County Fairgrounds. We plan to be here about a week before returning to Mesa.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-3263351469046109612014-02-27T10:22:00.000-08:002014-05-12T09:28:21.001-07:00What Have We Been Up To?It appears that some regular readers think we are overdue for an update. Perhaps. It's just that we typically post about new adventures, and most of what we have been doing for the past few months is just living our normal lives. While our lives may seem like an adventure to some, when you have been full time RV'ers for nearly 15 years it's just business as usual.<br/><br/>After our Blue Ridge trip in late September we spent a couple weeks in early October travelling to Elkhart, Indiana where we had some maintenance work done on our trailer. The suspension system was worn out so we had the manufacturer replace most of the main components with new and upgraded parts. It is also the center of the RV industry in the country. We visited the RV Hall of Fame and Museum and generally enjoyed our time there. The weather was nice and we were able to see most everything by motorcycle.<br/><br/>Elkhart is Amish country and we enjoyed visiting the sites and eating good food. We arrived just in time to visit two "floral quilts". They are created from pots of mums which are arranged in quilt designs. They were most impressive and very lovely. We celebrated our 45th anniversary by going out to dinner and seeing a play, "Annie Get Your Gun".<br/><br/>We then returned to Tennessee and stayed until after Thanksgiving. It was the first time we have spent Thanksgiving with Darin and his family in a long time. We really enjoyed our time with them last summer. It was fun (and a lot of hard work) working with Darin and Diane as we whipped their new house into shape. They now have a very nice place to call home for many years.<br/><br/>The day after Thanksgiving we left for Texas to spend Christmas with Dayna's family. It was nice as always, but you can keep North Texas weather in December. Snow and ice storms are not fun.<br/><br/>After spending New Years with the Jennings, we made our way to Arizona to spend the rest of the winter. We spent a few days in Mesa visiting Mom before moving to Quartzsite for a couple weeks. Dale went with us and watched our trailer for a couple days while we went to California to see Greg and Tina who were visiting from India. Greg now works for a company in Chennai, India. We had a chance to see Marie and Adam's twins who were born on April 1, 2013, as well as the rest of Dianna's Southern California family. My brother Don was making a trip to Wisconsin that weekend so we were not able to meet up with him at the time.<br/><br/>We spent several days in Quartzsite before moving down to Yuma for a couple weeks. We did some hiking and also visited the old Territorial Prison. After that it was back to Mesa for another 14 days, and then to Tucson where we are now. We are staying in a boondocking area known as Snyder Hill. It is just off the Ajo Highway near Ryan Field.<br/><br/>Dale rode with us to Tucson but the next day we took him to the beginning of the Arizona Trail near Sierra Vista. He's hiking part of the trail this spring. You can read more details about his adventure on his blog.<br/><br/>While here we have visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum which is always interesting. We also made a trip to Kitt Peak. There are many more telescopes up there than the last time we visited. It was a pretty cold ride by the time we got to the top of the mountain, but we were prepared for it.<br/><br/>We made a short, quick trip to Albuquerque last Sunday and Monday to attend the memorial service for Joyce Stepp. She was the wife of our pastor in Edgewood and a dear friend.<br/><br/>Since our return we have made a trip to Saguaro National Park where we hiked to see several petroglyphs and then rode around the Tucson Mountains, coming back down Sliverbell and over Gates Pass. Tucson has changed so much since I grew up here that things are hard to recognize. In addition to good conditions for growing cactus, Tucson obviously also has good conditions for growing houses (you wouldn't believe Marana today) because they have sprung up everywhere. I think the only thing that has not changed in the past, nearly 50 years is the roads. It appears that they have not been repaved or maintained since then because they are some of the worst we have run into anywhere. It is a big contrast with the roads in the Phoenix area.<br/><br/>There you have it. You're all up to date. We plan to see a few more things while we are here this time, and then will probably head out to Ajo and Why for a few days before returning to Mesa. We do have plans to make another trip to California at the end of March for the twins' (Sydney and Noah) first birthday party. After that we have made tentative plans to spend the summer volunteering for the Forest Service in the mountains north of Payson, AZ.<br/><br/> Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-18918345770675199682013-09-25T10:54:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:20.954-07:00Blue Ridge Parkway - Days 6 and 7We waited for the rush hour traffic to die down somewhat and then rode the 10 miles to the <a href="http://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center/">Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center</a> near Dulles Airport. That seems like a strange name for what should be called the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Annex, but when you donate $65 million dollars to its development, they name it after you. The facility downtown on the mall is stuffed to capacity, and the Smithsonian had many large pieces they could not display, hence the new facility. Dianna was a trouper but it wasn't really her cup of tea, nonetheless we saw some very impressive things among the hundreds of aircraft and other displays. The highlights were the SR-71 that flew from Los Angeles to Washington in 1 hour and 4 minutes at an average speed of over 2,250 MPH, the Enola Gay B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a Concord, one of the first Boeing 707's, and the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was particularly interesting to see the shuttle close up. It's much larger than I thought.<br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040479.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-935" title="P1040479" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040479-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><br/><br/> <br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040481.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-936" title="P1040481" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040481-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><br/><br/> <br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040483.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-937" title="P1040483" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040483-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><br/><br/>After eating lunch at the McDonalds which serves as their cafe (no dollar menu), we rode down the interstate another 8 miles to the parking lot at the end of the Metro Orange Line. It was an easy subway ride into town where we exited at the Smithsonian stop near the Washington Monument. Dianna had wanted to visit the monument, but the damage from the earthquake in 2011 has still not been repaired. It is completely encased in scaffolding and you can't get close.<br/><br/>The first place we went was to the WW II memorial. It is located at the other end of the reflecting pool from the Lincoln Memorial and was built since the last time I was here. We both considered it as a way to honor our Dad's who served. It is nicely done and we enjoyed it. We both spent some time thinking about our Dads.<br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040485.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-931" title="P1040485" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040485-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><br/><br/> <br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040488.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-932" title="P1040488" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040488-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a><br/><br/> <br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040490.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-933" title="P1040490" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040490-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a><br/><br/> <br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040489.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-934" title="P1040489" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040489-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><br/><br/>We then walked the length of the reflecting pool and made my usual pilgrimage to the Vietnam Memorial. Iam not moved as I was the first few times I went there, but it's still something I feel I need to do. We then visited the Lincoln Memorial, which I always find moving, the Korean War Memorial which I'm not impressed with, and finally the Martin Luther King Memorial. I had not read much about the MLK Memorial, but it was nicely done.<br/><br/>By then it was after six PM so we hoped we would miss most of the rush hour crush on the Metro. We didn't. It was standing room only most of the way, but we were lucky and each found seats, just not together. Our feet and legs were tired from all the walking. DC is a big place and nothing is close.<br/><br/>The scooter was waiting for us at the motorcycle parking area near the entrance to the station, and we found we didn't even have to pay for parking with it. Another benefit of the two wheel world. The ride back to our hotel in Manassas was slow for a while, but finally the traffic broke up and we zipped along, stopping a mile or so from the hotel for pizza before the day ended.<br/><br/>This morning we saddled up and hit the interstates. Rather than take the long, slow way back to Cleveland, we are doing it the quick way. We rode 300 miles today and will be home tomorrow afternoon with only about 260 to go. We rode the length of the Shenandoah Valley today, looking up to our left at the Blue Ridge where we rode just a couple days ago. The weather was clear to start but became cloudy as we rode south, and we hit rain just 20 miles or so from Wytheville, VA where we are spending the night. We're in the same hotel, and the same room that we stayed in on day 3. The hot tub felt real good.<br/><br/>This will likely be the final post on this adventure. Tomorrow it is more interstate down through Knoxville and on to Cleveland. This has been fun, even with the rain, and we've seen some beautiful scenery, interesting sights, and moving memorials.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-72585160730372670302013-09-23T10:05:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:20.933-07:00Blue Ridge Parkway - Day FiveBRRRR!! Except for the last hour of our ride the temperature didn't get above 55 all day! Richard might have had his cold weather gear but I didn't and I was a block of ice all day. (I'm still thawing out!)<br/><br/>Our first and only stop (besides Visitor Centers and any place we could get in out of the cold for awhile) was at a farm exhibit. It had the same buildings as the Beringer Cabin (main cabin, spring house and root cellar) plus a small barn, chicken coop and a peg pig pen (so constructed to keep the bears out). There were furnishings in the cabin and a docent to describe things in it as well as what life was like in the late 19th century. It was very interesting to see how my ancestors and others lived. The people were poor Appalachian mountain folk and they had to provide everything for themselves.<br/><br/>Mountain land was far less expensive than valley land and (mostly) poor Presbyterian Scots-Irish settled the area. My Knox ancestors were of that descent and they settled in VA and then NC before moving west.<br/><br/>We ate lunch in Waynesboro at the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We then continued our ride, entering the 105 mile long Skyline Drive which goes through Shenandoah National Park. The biggest differences between Skyline Drive and the BR Pkwy are there are no farms, churches or cemeteries to dot the landscape and the speed limit is only 35 instead of 45. We had many wonderful views at "lookouts" of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley during the afternoon.<br/><br/>One stop we made was at a camp store which is at the 900 mile mark of the north-bound Appalachian Trail. (Dale hiked through there on June 17 of last year.) We visited with the proprietor who regaled us with stories. He was a marathon runner and one of his stories was that he and other marathon runner friends completed the AT in just 72 days in 1968! He said, had they known there's a race to see how quickly one can finish the trail, they would have done it in far less time.<br/><br/>We finally completed our journey along the Blue Ridge and Skyline Drive and dropped into Front Royal, VA around 5pm. We drove 45 miles east toward Washington, DC and are spending the night in Manassas.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-92095683775448548662013-09-22T11:02:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:20.912-07:00Blue Ridge Parkway - Day 4The rain moved through and we awoke to patchy clouds but much colder temperatures. We have our cold weather riding gear but putting it on and waddling around in it is something of a hassle. Nonetheless, we headed out. As the day went on the skies cleared even more and it turned out to be a beautiful, crisp fall day.<br/><br/>We made three noteworthy stops today. The first was at the cabin of Orleana Puckett. She was born in 1837 and died in 1939 at the age of 102. She was a midwife and helped in the birth of over 1000 babies. Ironically, she gave birth to 24 babies of her own, but none survived infancy.<br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040465.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-919" title="P1040465" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040465-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><br/><br/>The second stop was at the Mabry Mill. It is the most photographed spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway and it is easy to see why. Here's a photo of Dianna in the prime photo spot.<br/><br/><a href="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040467.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-917" title="P1040467" src="http://richardlafferty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1040467-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><br/><br/>We wandered the grounds exploring the mill and other artifacts. The water wheel powered a grist mill, saw mill, lathe, jigsaw and whatever else Mr. Mabry could think of. There was also a blacksmith demonstration, a still, a sorgum making facility, lye soap making equipment, and many old farm implements. It was an enjoyable stop. The hot cider we bought at the restaurant there was a welcome touch too.<br/><br/>Later on, after stopping for a picnic lunch at an overlook above Roanoke and then crossing the Roanoke Valley, we climbed back up onto the ridge and stopped at Fallingwater Cascades and took a half mile hike down into the canyon to see it. It was pretty and we needed the exercise.<br/><br/>Tonight we are in Lexington, VA. Tomorrow we should complete the Blue Ridge Parkway, ride the length of Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive, and end up just outside of Washington DC in Manassess, VA.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-91127859538847381862013-09-21T08:16:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:20.885-07:00Blue Ridge Parkway - Day ThreeThe weather forecast was right. When we got up we checked the radar and saw that it was indeed going to rain all day. Rather than spend the day getting cold and wet, we just moved to the nicer hotel next door here in Wytheville, VA to spend the day and night. This place has an indoor pool and hot tub. Therefore, there is nothing to report except that all the water we got on us today was heated and chlorinated very nicely.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-61188338199892307452013-09-20T08:23:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:20.855-07:00Blue Ridge Parkway - Day TwoAnother 200 mile day. It was way too long for our poor aching behinds. And we got rained on several times (again) - once was a down pour.<br/><br/>I know I've been disappointed that this parkway isn't more like the Natchez Trace in TN/MS that we did a few years ago. There just aren't the historical sites to stop and see like the NT.<br/><br/>We did stop at the Beringer Cabin, built in the late 1870's, just before the deluge hit us. There is a main cabin, one for fruits, vegetables and meat, as well as a spring house. All you could see through the windows of the main house was Mrs. Beringer's weaving loom.<br/><br/>For years I've been reading about linsey-woolsey in different books. Now I know what it is! It is a cloth woven from wool and linen (flax). Mrs. Beringer had to plan several months before someone in the household needed a new shirt, pants or dress in order to plant the flax, harvest it, prepare it for spinning as well as figuring the right time of year to shear the sheep for the wool into the equation. It is quite an involved process, literally taking months, to get from the first sprouts of flax to a final clothing product.<br/><br/>Mr. Beringer was a cobbler, making shoes for the immediate family as well as many friends and other family in the area. They grew all their own fruits and vegetables and slaughtered their own cows and pigs. <br/><br/>When the National Park Service bought their property to include in the Blue Ridge Parkway, a national park, Mrs. Beringer was granted a lifetime residency, in the 1940's, to remain in their cabin. She soon tired of all the "noise" from visitors and moved in with her daughter.<br/><br/>Below the cabin is the spring house where a cool spring still runs. They would make several trips a day to bring the water to the main house for drinking and washing purposes. The buildings are located on the side of a hill, with gorgeous views out over the Smokies.<br/><br/>Shortly after leaving there we encountered the rainstorm we weren't expecting. We had brought our "Frog Togs" (rain gear many motorcyclists use) with us, allowing us to continue riding in the rain. Fortunately it was a warm summer rain so, even though our feet and lower pant legs got wet, we weren't too uncomfortable.<br/><br/>Our biggest concern was finding fuel. Richard starts looking for gas at about 150 to 175 miles on the odometer. We were at 199.1 when we finally found a gas station - the maximum he felt the scooter would go. It has a 4 gal. tank and we put 3.53 gal. in it - definitely cutting it pretty close. From there it was just a few miles from Wytheville, VA where spent the night.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-19752180660194082032013-09-19T08:08:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:20.844-07:00Blue Ridge Parkwarkway - Day OneYes, we're off on another adventure! We finally finished up all but a few small tasks with Darin and Diane's new house and decided to reward ourselves. We have enjoyed our overnight scooter/motorcycle trips in the past, and decided to do another one. This one will be much longer than any of the previous ones. It will probably take more than a week.<br/><br/>We left Cleveland/Benton Tennessee where we have been staying for the past few months and rode east about 100 miles to Cherokee, NC, the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Even the trip to Cherokee was a beautiful ride. The trees and greenery, the hills, mountains and rivers combine to make this part of the country very beautiful.<br/><br/>The Parkway is 469 miles long and runs through North Carolina and Virginia. At the northern end of the Parkway we plan to transition to Skyline Drive which continues another 105 miles to a point only about 40 miles from Washington, DC. <br/><br/>The speed limit on the whole Parkway is only 45 MPH, but most of the time you can't drive any faster anyway. The road lives up to its name. It indeed follows the ridge line of the mountains. Many times we found ourselves heading southwest instead of the overall direction of northeast. We climbed from about 2,000 feet to over 6,000 in short order, and there were many times we could see out both sides of the road to the valleys far below and the mountains marching off in the distance in both directions.<br/><br/>As we rode along we thought of Dale's hike last year. His route paralleled our route for much of the way, but I suspect ours was much easier. I can't imagine slogging this area on foot with a 35 pound pack on my back.<br/><br/>Unlike the Natchez Trace which we rode a couple years ago, the Blue Ridge Parkway does not have a lot of stops for anything except views. Not that many people lived right on the ridge of the mountains. Surprisingly we also found that many of the pullouts with signs for a view of some mountain or valley would only have been worthwhile in the winter when there were no leaves on the trees. It was impossible to see anything except the trees! Of course, not all the stops were like this, but in this part of the Parkway, at least 3 out of 4 were.<br/><br/>The weather forecast for Thursday and Friday was for a 30 percent chance of showers. Naturally that means that you have a 100 percent chance of getting wet, which we did. As neared the highest parts of the road south of Asheville, NC we found ourselves riding above the clouds, and then in them. Visibility dropped to 100 feet or so and a light rain began. It wasn't bad, but we still stopped and put on our rain gear.<br/><br/>We encountered light showers one more time before we dropped into Asheville where we stopped for the night. It was a fun day with very pretty things to see. We're looking forward to more to come, although the forecast is again for a 30 percent chance of rain tomorrow, followed by a 100 percent chance on Saturday.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-63544614058148231652013-07-15T08:11:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:20.800-07:00The Tale of the TailIt's been a while since we had anything noteworthy to write about. We've been here in Tennesse near Darin, trying to stay dry and get over a nasty cold. It appears the worst of the rain is over (everyone say's they've never seen so much rain this time of year) and I only have a small cough and plugged ears left from the cold. As a result, we decided it was time to enjoy some of the beautiful weather and countryside around us.<br/><br/>Last Friday we took a motorcycle ride. From where we are staying near Benton, TN we rode east about 40 miles to the Little Tennessee River where we turned south. After following the river for a while we began a section of US Highway 129 known as <a href="http://www.tailofthedragon.com/">The Tail of the Dragon</a>. In an 11 miles stretch there are 318 curves as you cross from Tennessee to North Carolina. It is considered the holy grail of motorcycle roads in the US. <br/><br/>Naturally, there are those who ride it as fast as they possibly can, and they account for the death statistics that grow every year. If you ride it like we did, observing the 30 MPH speed limit, it is a beautiful ride through some spectacular country. No one passed us on the entire route, but a couple bikes did pull over and let us go by. I will admit that I was going a little more than 30 MPH a few times.<br/><br/>At the southern end of the Dragon is the biggest motorcycle oriented tourist trap I have ever seen. There must have been 200-300 motorcycles parked in the lot, plus maybe 5 cars. We window shopped but couldn't bring ourselves to pay from $22 to $25 for a T-shirt that said "I Rode the Dragon" or some such phrase.<br/><br/>We continued on, following much of a well know route called the Cherohala-Dragon 120 mile loop. This took us over the <a href="http://www.cherohala.com/">Cherohala Skyway</a>, a road that follows the ridges in one of the highest and most remote and rugged sections of North Carolina-Tennessee. The road took 34 years to build, opening in 1996. The views were spectacular and the ride was every bit as good as the 11 miles of the Dragon. In fact, I enjoyed it much more because the curves were mostly sweepers instead of hairpins. The speed limit varied between 40 and 45, and I did a pretty good job of holding it down to that most of the time. We stopped at several of the pull outs and enjoyed the views. As we neared the highest point in the road the temperature dropped to 69 degrees. That was some nicer than the 87 degree weather at the lower elevations.<br/><br/>Rather than complete the whole loop as some folks do, after we were out of the mountains we took a different and more direct route back to Benton, stopping for dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in Etowah, TN. Trust me when I say, Tennesseans don't know how to make Mexican food. At least it was filling.<br/><br/>It had been a while since we had a nice ride. This trip was only about 175 miles in total, but the scenery was spectacular and the ride was great fun. We're looking forward to more rides if the weather continues to cooperate.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-40111754398993127132013-02-27T09:53:00.000-08:002014-05-12T09:28:20.757-07:00On Behalf of MomMy most excellent day began around 9:30 this morning and didn't end until about 4:30 this afternoon. Due to a pricing change at CVAM (where they draw my blood to check my levels to determine if my coumadin dosage needs to be adjusted) I decided to go to a lab that was free and close my apt. After arriving on my scooter I was told that I couldn't go there as I am in the "north unit" (whatever that means) and they were not. Dianna and I had made arrangements to work on genealogy together today so I had to call her and ask her to take me to different lab.<br/><br/>She arrived and got me to to the lab. It was a long wait there and I've decided that I'll pay the $20 per visit and go back to CVAM. They don't have to draw a whole vial of blood and the wait is almost non-existent.<br/><br/>When we returned home Dianna took her clothes up to the laundry room as it's easier than having to haul water and run the generator for hours. The change machine didn't like any of her six $5 bills so down she came to change one of them for five $1 bills of mine. I guess the machine just didn't like $5 bills.<br/><br/>Later I noticed one of my hearing aids on the seat of my wheelchair with no silicone tip on the end. I put another one on and jammed it into my ear. BIG mistake. The other tip was still in my ear so I had just pushed it further in. The nurses were unavailable at the Square and my doctor is on vacation this week so off we went to Urgent Care to get it removed. It took a specialty tool with miniscule pinchers on the end to remove it. We were told they have to do that about two or three times a week! It was good to find out there are others who are about as bright as I am.<br/><br/>By then it was almost dinner time and with a Barro's Pizza right next door to Urgent Care we decided we owed it to ourselves to have a slice before going home. Boy, did that taste good.<br/><br/>I had taken a Soma (relaxant) before going to Urgent Care and was feeling drowsy by the time we arrived back home. I sat down in my chair to finish my piece of pizza and Dianna set out to print some genealogy pages from the internet. The printer jammed and kept on jamming. After doing all the trouble shooting she knew how to she called Daryl. He didn't know what else to suggest and will have to make a trip over, one of these days, to work on it. Richard attempted to do so when he arrived but couldn't find the problem either. By now it was 4:45 and time for a nap. I've really earned one today!<br/><br/>(Pleasant dreams, Mom.)Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-60497111859734460242012-12-22T23:41:00.000-08:002014-05-12T09:28:06.224-07:00Same Old Same OldIn an effort to forestall the anticipated "you haven't posted anything in a while" comments, let me just say that it's because there has been nothing of note to write about. We left Jacob Lake on 10/15 and drove to Mesa where we spent a month. We visited with Mom and the rest of the family and otherwise did nothing we haven't done before. We have been there so much that finding new things to do and write about is difficult.<br/><br/>A month later on 11/15 we began our annual migration to Denton, TX for the holidays. It took about a week to get here but we are in the same RV park we always stay in while in the area. Dayna and Chris have rented out their house and moved into a very nice luxury apartment about 20 miles away, but this park is still convenient for access to things we need to do while here. Like many larger cities, the Dallas area has a limited number of reasonably priced RV parks, and this place is a bargain.<br/><br/>Since our arrival we have kept reasonably busy with Dr. appointments, vehicle inspections, visits with the kids and preparing for Christmas. The only project I have taken on was the replacement of our shower hardware with a nice residential type setup to replace the cheap RV type original equipment. I've also been fighting with the repair of our water heater which was damaged when the truck wash guys sprayed the high pressure washer into the electronics compartment. After replacing just about every component without success, we finally decided to replace the entire unit. It turns out that our unit is 16 years old and that parts will probably not be available in a couple more years.<br/><br/>We will be spending Christmas at Jennings of course, as well as New Years Eve. Dianna's cousin Carrie is coming to visit us on the 27th. She and Dianna will make a girls only overnight trip to San Antonio to see the River Walk Christmas decorations, and to visit the Alamo. Carrie will be here until the 1st of Jan, and we will leave for Arizona on the 2nd.<br/><br/>Happy Holidays to all.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-8602897980729647742012-10-11T05:05:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:20.723-07:00From the Desert to the PinesWe left Tulelake on the first of October and moved south to Fernley, NV for 3 nights. It is a small town east of Reno. It was still fairly warm there so we stayed in a nice RV park that offered 50% discounts to members of one of the RV clubs we belong to. While there we drove to Virginia City to play tourist.<br/><br/>Virginia City was the site of the Comstock silver discovery, and one of the richest deposits of silver ever found. It is typical of those mining towns that grew from nothing to 30,000 people almost overnight. When the silver played out around 1900, the town fell into disrepair as almost no one lived or visited there any more. That all changed when the TV show Bonanza became popular. It triggered a tourist explosion that was parlayed into a long term tourist destination that lasts to this day. The town has all the usual shops and historic buildings. We took a short narrated train ride that provided a lot of the history of the town, the mines and the people. All in all, Virginia City was one of the better Old West type tourist destinations we have visited.<br/><br/>From Fernley we headed south through Nevada, stopping overnight just off the highway south of Tonopah one night, and continuing on to Las Vegas. We spent just one night at Sam's Town RV park. We drove the strip looking to see if there were any new hotels we had not seen, but eventually just went to the Venetian where we walked along the canal and watched the gondoliers. I guess times have been tough in Las Vegas because there is not a lot of new construction.<br/><br/>From Las Vegas we headed north and east through St. George and Hurricane Utah, then east toward Jacob Lake, AZ. We found a very nice spot in the forest about 3 miles east of Jacob Lake, and a mile off the highway on a forest road. We are in a large clearing with pine trees all around and a beautiful view out our back window. We are relying on our solar panels and generator for power, and have plenty of water for several days. Although our satellite provides both TV and internet access, we also have a good Verizon 3G signal that is faster than our satellite for internet.<br/><br/>In addition to the nice location and cooler weather, the primary draw of this location is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We drove the 40 miles down to the Canyon on Monday the 8th, and drove to Cape Royal and Point Imperial vista points. I greatly prefer the views and ambience of the North Rim to the South Rim. The canyon seems more spectaular and there are so many fewer people.<br/><br/>We returned to the Canyon last evening to have dinner at the Grand Canyon Lodge. We were seated at the window and had incredible views of the canyon in the hour before the sun set as we ate. After our meal we walked out to Bright Angel Point where we watched the sunset. It was a special evening. We considered it our 44th Anniversary dinner, and we also wanted to remember Dianna's Mom on what would have been her 90th birthday. <br/><br/>The drive back to our spot in the forest was slow after dark. We must have seen over 100 deer along the highway, most of whom had no idea when it was safe to cross the road. <br/><br/>On the 15th of October, everything except for the visitor center closes for the season. The visitor center remains open until snow closes the road south of Jacob Lake, something that could happen at any time. The weather here has been very nice up till today. The highs have been in the upper 60's to lower 70's, and the overnight lows have been around freezing. Today rain moved in so we will not be doing much until it leaves the area tomorrow night. We are at 7,500 feet and don't expect anything more than a chance of snow flurries, but at the higher elevations they might get a dusting or some accumulation. We certainly found cooler weather! Chances are we will move further south on Saturday.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-74333110051888951282012-09-30T02:08:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:06.267-07:00A Week in TulelakeThe time has come to start our southward migration. Although we could have stayed longer in Sutherlin, we decided to slowly start moving. Our first stop was in Redding where we had a minor adjustment made to the custom motorcycle seat we had made there a month ago. On the way down past Shasta Lake we came upon a forest fire that had just started. Already huge trees were ablaze right along the highway. They had already closed the northbound lanes of the interstate, but we managed to get through on the southbound lanes with no problem. It was as close to a forest fire as we ever want to be. <br/><br/>Our appointment was for Monday morning but we arrived Friday afternoon and spent a couple nights in a nice RV park just north of town. The weather was so different just 200 miles from where we left. The highs in Sutherlin were in the 70's and it was still over 90 in Redding. We quickly decided we did not want to move further south yet, so after the seat was adjusted on Monday morning, we headed for Tulelake, CA.<br/><br/>Tulelake is a tiny farming community in the Klamath Valley, just 4 miles south of the Oregon border. It gets its name from Tule Lake, an ancient shallow lake that was mostly drained in the early 1900's by the Bureau of Reclamation and turned into rich farmland. This huge, shallow, marshy lake was a major stop on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds, and they reduced it to approximately one sixth of its original size. Steps were subsequently taken to accommodate the birds, and there are now several wildlife sanctuaries in the valley. They have even worked out a beneficial system where various fields are flooded periodically to rejuvenate them, and the farmers in turn grow grains in such a way as to provide food for the birds. <br/><br/>There really are a lot of birds on the lake. They estimate that about 250,000 ducks are in residence at the moment, but on an annual basis over 2,000,000 migrating geese, ducks and others call this area home for part of each year. It is interesting to see how it has all worked out to the benefit of the farmers and the birds. We visited the Visitor Center at the Wildlife Refuge, and hiked the nature trail through the marshes as well as the trail up Sheepy Ridge to the observation hut that was built by the CCC in the 30's.<br/><br/>The other major thing of interest in the area is Lava Beds National Monument. We first visited here about 35 years ago. It is a major volcanic area with much to see and do. We visited splatter cones, vents, lava flows, and the most interesting features, lava tubes. There are dozens of lava tubes open to explore. Some of them are over 3,000 feet long. You have to take your own lights and be willing to walk, duck walk, or crawl on hands and knees to get through some of them, but they are interesting and fun to explore. While they have not changed in 35 years, our stamina certainly has. Duck walking is not nearly as easy as it was back then. Still, we had fun exploring. <br/><br/>We also visited a separate area of the monument that used to be an island in the center of Tule Lake. It has one of the largest concentration of petroglyphs in the country. It was apparently used by some very ancient people as many of the glyphs are thousands of years old. There are approximately 5,000 drawings along a quarter mile band where they visited the cliff face in their canoes. <br/><br/>The other thing of interest in Lava Beds is the history of the Modoc Wars. The Modoc were one of the last Native American groups to be rounded up and forcibly moved off their ancestral homelands. However, they did not go without a fight. The last battles were fought in an area of the lava beds named Captain Jack's Stronghold. The volcanic formations provided an almost impenetrable fortress for the Modoc to hold off the soldiers. They were captured only after they left the stronghold, and they were relocated to Oklahoma. <br/><br/>We have been very busy this past week, but it is time to move on. We have been staying at the Butte Valley Fairgrounds RV park in Tulelake, which has been a very laid back and pretty place to stay. Tomorrow we plan to move south toward Nevada, but not very quickly. It's still way to hot further south.Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370273051479578292.post-27881842823245762052012-09-14T09:11:00.000-07:002014-05-12T09:28:06.186-07:00Some Long Range PlansPeople often ask us, of all the places we have been, what area have we enjoyed the most. This area has to be close to the top of the list. Sutherlin, OR is a small town of about 7,000 and Roseburg, which is only 10 miles away, has a little over 20,000. Roseburg has everything we need including Costco, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Joanne's and every other chain you can name. Even more importantly, it has a major VA medical center.<br/><br/>The weather in the area is as ideal as any place we have been and there is so much beauty around us to see. There are many lakes and rivers nearby, the beautiful Oregon coast is only 60 miles away, there are countless miles of scenic and well maintained roads for motorcycle riding, and the weather is temperate year round. Even the annual rainfall is less here than in other, wetter parts of Oregon to the north.<br/><br/>We have often mentioned that we belong to the Escapees RV Club. They are headquarted in Livingston, Texas and cater to full time RV'ers. The club was started by a couple who were full timers themselves. They saw a need for an organization to provide services to people like themselves. One of the club's services we use is their mail forwarding service, but we also take advantage of some of the other benefits as well. They own and operate eight RV parks across the southern half of the US. These RV parks are always nice and very reasonably priced for members. We have stayed in many of them.<br/><br/>During the early years of the club they also started several RV Park Co-ops. These were RV parks where the lots were "sold" to individuals. They were chartered much like condominiums in that the park is owned by the lot owners. Each park has a board of directors and makes their own rules to operate the park. The original idea behind the co-ops was to provide an opportunity for a "home base" for RV'ers who would stay on their lot for a few months at a time, and put their lot in a rental pool for use by other Escapee members when they were off travelling somewhere else.<br/><br/>It is these rental pool lots that we have stayed in when we have visited in places like The Ranch near Carlsbad, NM, the Jojoba Hills park near Temecula, CA, Park Sierra near Fresno, CA and here at Timber Valley in Sutherlin. The lot owners are off travelling somewhere and we stay on their lots at a very reasonable price.<br/><br/>There are 11 co-op parks in the Escapees system. They are located from Florida to Washington state. Each park has a buy in fee and an annual maintenance fee. The buy in fees range from $2,700 to over $30,000 depending on the cost to purchase the land and develop the park. Most of the parks are $10,000 or less. The annual maintenance fees also range from a few hundred to as much as $3500 in one park, with most being in the $1200 or less range. (Actually, Jojoba Hills near Temecula, where we stayed early this year, is the most expensive one. Its buy in and maintenance is easily twice as expensive as any of the others and skews the averages.)<br/><br/>When owners put their lots in the rental pool, they receive a portion of the rental income as an offset against their annual maintenance. Each park has its own formula, but owners who don't spend much time in their site often have a large portion of their annual maintenance cost paid for.<br/><br/>The most unique aspect of the Escapees co-op system is that you must sell your lot for what you paid for it, plus any assessments for infrastructure. Some parks have also added a small inflation adjustment over the years. Regardless, this approach keeps the cost very low. It also explains why there is a waiting list for almost every co-op. Some parks have waiting lists of over 10 years. The waiting list here at Sutherlin is 2 to 4 years.<br/><br/>Owning a lot in a park like this makes good economic sense. You are essentially guaranteed your purchase price back when you decide to give up your lot, and the living expenses while using the lot are very low. People who live here year round, and there are quite a few who do, pay only their annual maintenance fee, electricity and propane. That rarely exceeds $250 per month. There are not many places you can live that inexpensively. Since this park does not add an inflation figure you do lose some value if inflation is high, but even with that the net cost is remarkably low.<br/><br/>If you haven't figured out by now, we have put our name on the waiting list here in Sutherlin. While we would not want to spend the entire year here, it is a wonderful place to spend some of it. As time goes on we find we like to stay put for longer periods of time. Spending our winters in Arizona near family is something we both enjoy, and spending holidays with our kids is also important to us. And, as I said, there are still many places around the country that we want to visit. How long we actually will stay in Sutherlin in the future is unknown, especially since it will still be a while before we get our lot. Much can change in the meantime.<br/><br/>We've talked at length about where, when and if we might want to eventually settle down. At this point we have no plans to do so. When it happens, we think it will be near one of our kids, but we don't want to live where either of them lives right now. We enjoy being able to spend a month or so with them at times, but North Texas is too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, and has tornadoes in the spring. Chattanooga is also too hot, cold and humid much of the year. When health issues force us to make a change, we will deal with it. But in the meantime, we plan to continue our vagabonding ways.<br/><br/>Here is a link to the park's web site: <a href="http://timbervalleyskp.com/">Timber Valley</a>Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12502532652097377301noreply@blogger.com4