Category: Retirement
Livingston to Mont Belvieu Texas
Tornado Watch! Severe Thunderstorms! Heavy, heavy rain! No pets! Whadda day. more »
Double Adobe
Home Again! 19,000 miles and 30 some states. I need to go back to double check how many states exactly. We spent 2 nights in Flagstaff then drove 140 miles to Phoenix where we stayed at my brother's condo for three more nights. more »
Flagstaff, AZ
I feel like I am coming down from an acid trip after being in the Glen Canyon. This is the most spectacular scenery we have seen the entire trip. If you haven't seen Southern Utah, put it on your must do before you die list. more »
Farmington to Escalante, UT
The day was almost overwhelming. We rode over 400 miles which included 100 miles through the Glen Canyon. more »
Taos to Farmington
Monday we got late start but still did over 200 miles through Carson National Forest and Brazos area more »
Taos,NM
The drive here the day before yesterday-was a tough one. We came down I-25 to Hwy 160 westbound and hit a monstrous headwind of 20 to 30 mph. I was in fourth (of 5) gear with the throttle wide open and doing 52 mph. more »
Colorado Springs, CO
Left Cheyenne at 11:30 and got onto I-25 S and got off at Loveland to head east to Rocky Mountain NP. I hadn't heard much about this park but I'm glad we took the detour. We actually reached a higher elevation than the Beartooth Pass getting above 12,000 feet more »
Cheyenne, WY
We escaped the rain in Rapid City by heading south and then east to Cheyenne. We got another passport stamp at the Oregon Trail landmark Scottsbluff. But we were in another tornado watch, this makes our fifth more »
Rapid City
Bob asked where Bentley was during the windstorm. He was cuddled up in his kennel with his sheepskin rug hiding out. He don't like that stuff! more »
Rapid City/Sturgis
After we left Billings we drove to Sheridan Wyoming with a stop at the memorial to Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn. Two nights at the KOA in Sheridan then on to Rapid City. more »
West Yellowstone,MT
Day before yesterday we left Ennis and drove along the Madison River to this tourist town on the border of Wyoming and Montana and the west entrance to Yellostone Park. It is 72 miles of flat along the river. more »
Ennis, Montana
We have been camped for the past week on the banks of the Madison River in Ennis, MT. When we left Great Falls we headed south on I-15 past Helenea to Boulder, MT then got onto Hwy 69 US 287 into Ennis. more »
Great Falls, MT
We stayed two nights at a KOA a few miles south of Whitefish. Whitefish is a little tourist town with a small old downtown area with a ton of restaurants and small boutique shops. more »
Glacier National Park
Bob Gourley, in the comments, asked about the status of the glaciers in Glacier National Park. I suspect it was a leading question and that he knew the answer already. more »
Missoula, Montana
We have certainly slowed down. We stayed three nights camped on the Lochsa River, then drove a hundred miles to Missoula and have been here three more nights. more »
Between Dayton and Pomeroy, Idaho
Another 300 mile day, to a KOA on Tucannon Road along the Tucannon River, off of Highway 12. We also took a cut off road, 730, that follows a canyon through the Columbia River to Walla Walla, WA that was very nice. more »
Culver, Oregon
I haven't written for a while because we haven't been doing much for a while. We had a wonderful few days with the kids in the Willamette Valley then drove up to the Metolious River and Camp Sherman where we holed up for 10 days. more »
Rapid City, SD to Corvalllis, OR
We put in some serious time on the trike and logged some serious miles since my last post. We left Rapid City on the morning of June 17. We stopped to see Mt. Rushmore and got some pics of that. We didn't stay long as it was very dog un-friendly more »
Rapid City, South Dakota
We've been here in Rapid City two nights now. The drive from Valentine was more good riding road although the west central Nebraska run didn't have much in the way of scenery, just rolling hills in cattle country. more »
Valentine, Nebraska
Yesterday was very similar to the day before. Highway 20 through Nebraska is an excellent road and we were making good time, hoping to do 500 miles to Rapid City, SD. more »
rockwell City, Iowa
I am writing this two days after we rode from Lena to Rockwell. The day started out with cool but pleasant weather. We traveled through rolling hills in northeast Illinois and U.S. Grant's home in Galena, a quaint tourist town of many old brick buildings. more »
Lena, Illinois
The day before yesterday we stopped by the factory where our trailer was built in Elkhart to buy a tripod stand for the map table. It allows us to get the table out of the middle of the tent and really improves the living space available inside it.We then drove on to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and got another stamp for our Passport then on through Gary, Chicago and to the Lena KOA more »
Middlelbury, Indiana
The air bag arrived at 11:30 am and we had it installed and on the road by 1:15. One hundred forty miles to the KOA here in Middlebury and we were off the road before 4:00. This is Amish country, more »
Bowling Green, OH
We are in a Best Western across the street from the Bowling Green University. We drove 60 miles with light rain most of the way. The bike shop was able to diagnose the problem as a leaky airbag. more »
Sandusky still
We are staying here in Sandusky for a total of three nights because the airbags on the trike have begun leaking badly. more »
Sandusky, OH
We finally stumbled into to some good luck. Yesterday we rode 144 miles from Erie to Sandusky and I started to see a lot of motorcycles. more »
Erie, PA
We made a quick trip to Niagara Falls after we packed up then got onto US 5 and stayed with it to Erie PA. The road stays close enough to the south shore of Lake Erie that you can frequently see it off to the right. more »
Niagara Falls
Three hundred and fifty miles. We left Lake George at 10 am and arrived at our campsite at 8 pm. That worked out to be 7 and a half hours on the bike per the GPS. more »
Americade, Lake George, NY
The ride down from Plattsburgh we used Hwy 9. It was 120 miles of sunny but cold riding to our hotel room which we got for a pretty good deal considering this is the busiest week of the year for this primarily tourist town. more »
Gorham to Plattsburgh
I don't know why but Plattsburgh seems to give me writer's block. We were there for a week, arriving last Tuesday evening after another wonderful day in the hills of old Vermont and New Hampshire. more »
Acadia NP to Gorham, New Hampshire
210 miles yesterday to the White Mountains of Northern New Hampshire. Travel on Memorial Day was not bad, we got an early start and were off the freeway before it got busy, rode the backwoods across Maine and crossed into New Hampshire at about 4 o'clock. more »
Portland to Bar Harbor/Acadia NP
Another 178 miles, another 6 hours. The roads here make it almost impossible to make any time. more »
White River Junction to Portland Maine
The weather was almost too hot yesterday but I ain't complaining. It was a record high in Portland for the date, 91 degrees. more »
Plattsburgh, NY to White River Junction, VT
We crossed on the ferry after noon yesterday after waiting for the light rain to stop. It cleared up about the time we finished loading up the trike and trailer and we drove 150 miles to here. more »
Plattsburgh, NY
I can't believe it's been almost a week since I updated the blog. We have been staying with Mark, the awesome victory owner, since last Thursday more »
Hagertown to Newburgh NY
We were actually in Hagertown last night, in MD. We drove the 14 miles down to the Antietam National Park and did the 8 mile driving tour of the battleground. more »
Charleston to antietam
We received our package at 10:00 am. I gotta give kudos to Chase and to USPS for the prompt delivery.
We left the hotel at noon and headed a little south and east on Highway 60 to the New River Gorge visitor center. We didn't do much sightseeing as… more »
Cherokee, NC to Charlotte, WV
Sunday we rode 400 miles, crossing the Smokey Mountains, through Knoxville, TN to Cumberland Gap National Park, KY then along the Cumberland River on Hwy 119 up and over Pine Mountain to the North Fork of the Kentucky River and all the way the Charleston, WV. more »
Happy Mothers Day from Cherokee, NC
riday we drove 300 miles. Left Cordele heading west on US 27 to Americus. This took us near Plains, GA, Jimmy Carter country. Americus is the headquarters of his Habitat for Humanity project. We then headed north on US 19. more »
Fort Pulaski, GA
Fort Pulaski was built on the Savannah River on Tybee Island in 1847. It was built of stone and brick with walls many feet thick and in times before the development of rifled canon would have been nearly impregnable. more »
Jekyll Island, Brunswick GA
Whew, I'm finally feeling good enough to work on some photos. I am way behind. We camped at a private campground on Jekyll Island just outside of Brunswick on May 1. more »
Savannah, GA
I kinda lost track of the narrative here. We drove from Fort Clinch to Brunswick, GA then to Savannah. We got to Savannah on Friday and I came down sick with an intestinal disaster the knocked me flat for three days, now Von is in her third day with it as well. more »
Fort Clinch, FL
I posted a few photos of us at the Kennedy Space Center here. Jenny asked in a comment if I was disappointed to not go to Disney. more »
Tomoka State Park, near Daytona Beach, FL
Just time for a quick note. We went by the Kennedy Space Center and had planned to use their on-site kennel but it was closed for remodeling and we didn't go inside, just took a few pics from outside the entrance gates. more »
Cocoa Beach, Florida
On Sunday we went into town to do some laundry and I spotted a barbershop doing haircuts for $7. So while Von watched Bentley and waited for the clothes to get done I went in for a haircut. more »
Getting a haircut
On Sunday we went into town to do some laundry and I spotted a barbershop doing haircuts for $7. So while Von watched Bentley and waited for the clothes to get done I went in for a haircut. more »
Long Pine Campground, Everglades, Florida
After we left the Keys we came up to the Everglades and checked into a very nice campsite in the National Park. more »
Long Key, Florida
Like a dream come true, we are in the Keys. I wonder why I thought at first that we would not come here when we were already so close. more »
Miami day 2
We are in an area of Miami on the very southwest edge and are surrounded by nurseries. more »
Miami!
When we checked out of our hotel yesterday the weather had warmed up and dried out nicely. We went to the nearby National Park visitor center and signed up for a boat ride out to the Islands. more »
Catching Up
Sorry about the lag time in getting any posts up. On the 17th we left the ticks at O'Lena and drove to Lake Louisa. more »
O'Lena State Park, Florida
The road yesterday reminded me of parts of Oregon. Much of it through pine forests but mixed with a kind of scrub oak but lined on the road edge with what I call a fan palm since the leaves are fan shaped more »
Eastern Time Zone
Amazingly, this is my first time ever in the eastern time zone. So we lost another hour yesterday and our now 3 hours ahead of you in the Pacific Northwest. We are at St. George Island this morning and Have a 183 mile ahead of us today to the O'Leno State Park not far north of Gainesville. more »
Mississippi
I don't know if it is valid but I think that it is possible to tell a lot about a place by the attitudes of the everyday people you deal with while transacting daily business such as buying gas and groceries, visiting tourist spots, etc. more »
A walk in Fountainebleau Park
Bentley spotted this critter crawling along in the scrub next to our campsite. more »
Ocean Springs/Biloxi, Mississippi
It looks like we dodged a bullet weather-wise yesterday by leaving our campground when we did. more »
Fountainebleau
Due to the Easter weekend coming up all campsites in the state are full so we have decided to stay in our current camp until Sunday. Fortunately it was available. more »
Galveston to New Orleans/Lake Pontchartrain
418 miles yesterday. By far our longest of the trip. We have ridden over 3000 miles now. The weather was just about perfect, 80 to 90 degrees with a tail wind most all the way. The roads in Louisiana are not nearly as good as the ones in Texas but th… more »
Galveston Memorial
In 1900 Galveston suffered the worst natural catastrophe in terms of fatalities in American history. An estimated 6000 people were killed. This statue is a memorial to that event. more »
Trike with trailer
Here's a couple of pics taken by Von of the loaded trike and trailer shortly after we left Livingston. more »
Mont Belvieu to Galveston
March 28, yesterday, we checked out of the hotel after sitting out thnderstorms and made the short ride south across the Bolivar Peninsula to Galveston. Another miserable day weather wise. more »
Livingston still
We have been here at the escapees park for a week today. Last night it rained hard and at three am a thunderstorm passed directly overhead. more »
Livingston
I finally got the pictures uploaded to SmugMug.Yesterday I drove with another cyclist from the RV park up to Troup, Texas and the factory where the trike kit is made. more »
Alpine to Del Rio
The weather was great, the road was well paved and level with a few sweeper curves, and the wind was at our backs but it was a long way between gas stations and we ran very very low before getting to Del Rio. more »
Fort Davis to Alpine, the long way
The weather yesterday finally turned decent. The night before though it rained during the night, rain that froze to the tent rain fly. Clear skies though and the sun felt good when we got up at 7:30.
The first night we were in the park we heard snor… more »
Fort Davis State Park, Texas
day started as a cold one. We didn't leave Van Horn until 11:15 as we waited for the temperatures to get as high as possible. It was something like 50 degrees F when we got on the road. more »
Van Horn, still
e did decide to stay the extra day here and are glad we did. Lots of rest and Von is feeling much better. Loaded a few more photos of the first day on the road more »
Van Horn-again
It looks like we may stay here in Van Horn another day. The wind is gusting up to 40 mph and blowing steadily at 20. No way we want to get on the freeway in that. more »
El Paso
Today was a very short day mileage-wise. 80 miles or so. We took our time this morning reloading all the gear in a totally different arrangement to make things we need to get at more accessible. more »
Pancho Villa New Mexico State Park
We got on the road at 10:15 this morning. It was overcast all day and the wind kicked up in the afternoon. We stopped twice for gas more »
Trike ride
We are hoping to get back on the road tomorrow with our first stop probably being the Pancho Villa State Park near Columbus, New Mexico which is south of Deming. more »
Holy Crap, It's Daylight Savings Time already
I just realized that Daylight Savings Time starts tomorrow. Well, not in Arizona where it never changes but since we will hopefully be in New Mexico tomorrow we will be changing our clocks. more »
Rhythm and Blues at the Double Adobe
February 26 the RV park hosted two musicians for an hour and a half of Rhythm and Blues more »
Chiricauha National Monument
On February 17 we took a day trip to Chiricauha National Monument, about 60 miles from Double Adobe. It is the area where Cochise and Geronimo and their Apache tribes fought the U.S. Army. more »
Double Adobe Sunset
Here's a panorama shot of one of the many great sunsets we have been having here. more »
Bisbee
My daughter nudged me in the comments that I haven't posted in a while. Time flies when your having fun. We went into Bisbee on February 18 more »
Douglas, Arizona/Agua Prieta, Mexico
We finally went over the border even though it was only for a very short walk to import some cigarettes for Von. There is a store that is actually on the US side that sells duty free/tax free products, mostly tobacco and liquor. You can by it here then… more »
Second Trip to Tombstone
Yesterday we made another trip to Tombstone. We had a great time but need to go back for another day to finish up with things there we want to see. It is an amazing little town with more to do than you would think for a town of about 1500 population.… more »
New Home
Yesterday I drove the trike alone to Douglas which is about 15 miles away. It is a dieing town with the old town about half empty with boarded up store fronts. The big exception is a turn of the century hotel, the Gadsden Hotel. more »
packing day
We're getting ready to move out this week, emptied the trailer and reloaded it, got Von's plants in the car.... more »
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
I made a solo run to Organ Pipe last week on the trike. Von has been under the weather with a cold and didn't feel up to the trip so I went alone. The park is about 150 miles from Casa Grande. more »
Aaron pic
I created an account at Facebook a while ago but really haven't done much with it. However, I was invited by my niece's husband to become a friend and went back to the website today. Whilst cruising around the site I found this pic of Aaron. It is one… more »
Blogging from new notebook computer
01/26/09 12:50, by gr3g, Categories: Retirement, blogging, computers, and other internet stuff, Movies We decided we needed a smaller computer box to fit into the limited space we have on the trike and so bought one of the e-computers. I've had a couple of issues getting started but so far we like it a lot. There are no cd/dvd drives installed so gettin… more »
Trip to Tombstone
We camped four nights, it was cold at night but we slept well in our tent and down bags, except for one night when Von got cold.
Photos are up at the gallery.
Bisbee was one of the towns, here's a photo of the copper pit mine there.
Just loo… more »
Iron Butt Quest
I have long known about an organization that verifies/audits and will provide certification for riding a motorcycle 1000 miles in 24 hours. That never appealed to me but I found out a couple of days ago they have another deal for National Parks, Nationa… more »
Trike touring
We left Casa Grande on Monday at about noon, went south on Indian Road 15 through the Papago Indian reservation. We saw about 25 Border Patrol vehicles and one check point. The only thing we saw more of was road side creches and crosses. There were so… more »
Bentley's Trek on the Trike
Bentley went for his first ever motorcycle ride on Friday!
It is quite an ordeal to get ready to go on a ride. First you take off your tennis shoes and put on your motorcycle boots. Then you find your chaps and put those on. Next comes the leather… more »
Trek on the Trike by Von
I went for a ride on the motorcycle yesterday for the first time in years (probably 3). :D It was a really weird feeling when we bumped over stuff with the 3 wheels. :roll: It took awhile for me to feel relaxed and comfortable riding on 3 wheels instead… more »
Yuma
We left Sacramento and drove only about 170 miles to Merced where we drove all over the old town looking for a decent hotel. We finally stayed in an old place in a bad part of town. The room was clean but it was New Years Eve and we could hear a guy ba… more »
Oregon
We were in the state of Oregon for 8 days. It rained every day. We did have a wonderful Christmas with the kids and spent several days in Reedsport at my sister's place where she treated us royally. She is doing well considering she lost Jimmy only la… more »
Road Warriors
We have been following the weather forecasts for a couple of weeks for Oregon and Northern California and when we saw that a huge storm is expected to hit the area on Sunday, the 21st we decided to leave a day early and beat feet for the Pacific Northwes… more »
The Trike conversion is complete!
Here she is in all her glory.
More of the intermediate steps at the photo gallery. more »
Trike under construction
The mechanic doing the trike conversion sent me some photos of the project underway. He thinks it will be done tomorrow and will send pics of the completed trike. Here's a few. There are more in the photo gallery. more »
old photos
We had a couple of rolls of old 35mm film taken in about 2003. Here's one from the rolls of Von and our first Harley, a Heritage softail. more »
Mt. Shasta
I found the contrast in the two sides of Mt. Shasta to be interesting. The photos were taken within a few hours of each other, one from the southeast as we approached from Susanville and the other from Weed. The snowy side is from the east.
T… more »
December 1
This date always seems to me an important one but for no particular reason. Nothing much happened historically. Woody Allen was born today and Rosa Parks was arrested on the bus on this date. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print on December 1. I g… more »
Bentley blogging
There's a kind of tradition on the internet blogging scene to post photos of pets on Friday. Here's one of the Bent dog. more »
Casa Grande
We haven't written much about Casa Grande because, frankly, there isn't much to write about Casa Grande. Maybe that's why we have been enjoying it: we are in a personal time and place where we need to slow down and recover and a boring town is what is c… more »
11/10/08 09:35, by gr3g, Categories: Retirement, Politics, blogging, computers, and other internet stuff You can see we have decided to change the appearance of the blog. I hope you like this one. Note at the top of the page a tabbed link to Greg's Rants. I have resisted doing much politics or union related stuff here since I suspect most could care less… more »
Panther Creek Washington
About the prettiest place we have stayed was in the Gifford Pinchot NF outside of Carson Washington. We had driven to Stevenson to see my uncle who is suffering from Alzheimers. I'm afraid he didn't remember who I was. Bob was a major part of my early… more »
Diamond Lake by Greg
We camped at Diamond Lake this July for about a week and were visited by my sister, Kim, Andrew and Shiela and Trevor. We had a great site right on the lake.
More photos here.
As many of you know, Diamond Lake was cleansed of all fish by dumpi… more »
Whitewater on the White Salmon
The White Salmon River the enters Columbia River just across from The Dalles. I ran it twice in the late 70's. At that time to put your boat in you paid $5 to a guy to run the boat out on a cable that he had strung across the river. He'd drop it down… more »
Civil War Reenactment by Greg
I always have had personal reservations about civil war re-enactments since I believe honoring the war actually means honoring the Confederate flag. Which is too much about honoring racism. Some who support flying the Confederate flag will say that it… more »
Mt.Adams fire
We were camped in the Gifford Pinchot forest and went for a drive. We came upon these scenes. Click here for a link to the photo gallery album more »
Ledbetter, Texas
We had to drive out of our way to get there but this is Ledbetter in Ledbetter, TX
Greg in front of store in Ledbetter, TX more »
Grand Canyon by Greg
We saw the canyon for the first time. About all you can say is wow. We have all seen many photos but the scale of it can only be seen/felt to appreciate. We camped near the rim with my sister, brother, and sister-in-law. It was quite cold at night an… more »
Y'all can call me Tex now by Greg
10/07/08 08:02, by gr3g, Categories: Announcements [A], News, Background, Retirement, Politics, blogging, computers, and other internet stuff, Movies, Books Of my 58 years I have been an Oregon resident for 52 of them. I lived in California while I went to college and about two years in Washington when I got my first job in insurance. It was a difficult thing to do particularly at this time when I lose a ch… more »
On to Livingston, TX by Von
So we continued through Wyoming to spend the night at Laramie, WY. I always thought the Laramie was a made up town name for all the old westerns that I watched on TV when I was young, but there really is a Laramie. I wasn't that impressed, remember, I… more »
Whew!!! 900 miles going 75mph!!! by Von
Wow, I just drove 900 miles going 75mph on I80 through Nevada, Utah and into Wyoming. :crazy: I don't think I passed more than 3 cars the whole way. There isn't much traffic, just a lot of truckers. The cars that were on the highway passed me like I wa… more »
Eating Dirt by Von
After staying in the campground at the Head Waters of the Williamson River for 10 days and living in a lot of dust and dirt XX( we now are in an RV Park just outside of Klamath Falls on Highway 97. It was really nice to be alone in the campground and no… more »
Chiloquin 2
We still have had the campground pretty much to ourselves although a car or two will pull through each day. Yesterday we saw a couple of old guys pull in in their pick up with ten or so milk jugs and one five-gallon water container who went up to the sp… more »
Williamsone River Headwaters
We found free camping that includes pit toilets and garbage cans here. Very unusual. The temperatures here vary by 50 degrees from freezing at night to 85 degrees high. This is a lovely campsite thirty miles from Chiloquin. No one else has camped dur… more »
K. Falls
Von and I are sitting in a bar/restaurant called Waldo's on Main Street, in old downtown Klamath Falls. Von is playing lootery games, err lottery games while I have been getting a fix for my Jones for liberal blogs. The motor home is at Smiley's RV rep… more »
Toothache!!
We had to make an emergency run into Salem to get an infected tooth pulled yesterday, mine that is. We had visitors over the weekend, Andrew, my youngest, Shiela and two friends of Drew's. We had a very nice time in spite of my toothache. The weather… more »
Make yourself at Home by Von
June 9, 2008, Monday
Make yourself at Home by Von
The day was pretty nice. The morning started out as sunny and then in the afternoon the wind started up. I mean the WIND started up!!! Then in the evening the rain started. The wind was so stron… more »
July 5 by Greg
When talking about Oregon climate and weather I have been well known to say that you can't count on the rain going away until after the 4th of July. I am often scoffed at for saying so but I stick by it and this year is a good example. I started with t… more »
Mega Blogs by Von
This is the first opportunity that I have had to blog on this web site for quite awhile. I have been keeping a daily dairy of sorts so I will paste them below for your happy reading.
Bentley had quite an exciting morning for such a little guy. First… more »
More marginal weather by Greg
Seems like our whole time has been spent looking for great weather and it continues to elude us. Lots of clouds, cold, some rain for most of the past few days but we have a lovely campsite and the motor home has kept us warm and comfy and we have watche… more »
June 3rd in Sisters Laundromat by Greg
We found a perfect camping spot not far from where we camped last year. It is not right on the water but only a few steps away. We cannot see any neighbors from our site although there are dispersed camping sites on both sides of us. We are in a cleari… more »
Happy Birthday to Bentley by Von
Today is Bentley's birthday. :p He was born a year ago and spent his first 3 months getting ready to be a great little puppy for Greg and me. He then joined Greg and me on our traveling adventures. He has worked out to be the best little guy for us. I… more »
A day at the coast by Greg
We needed to get some work done on the motor home before we head out for the Cascades this week end and they needed it overnight so we left it with Oak Park RV and drove over to Lincoln City yesterday. We spent last night at the SeaHorse Ocean Front Lo… more »
Wilderness First Aid Class by Greg
After grumbling about the First Aid class I took from the Red Cross I have nothing but praise for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) class I attended for two days in Corvallis last weekend.
The class was… more »
From twigs to Hope by Von
When we arrived in Reedsport, OR from Mesa, AZ in the earlier part of March this year to help Kim with Jimmy's care, I noticed a scraggley young tree in her backyard. As I helped her out for the three weeks that I stayed at her house, I watched that twi… more »
Happy Mothers Day to All by Von
Happy Mother's Day to every mother out there and to all the children of mothers (that would be all of us, huh?). :p
Hope your day is wonderful and full of love for each other. Be good to each other today and every day. ;)
Von more »
Disaster Preparedness by Greg
Disaster preparedness has been an interest of mine for a long time. It is a more politically correct subject than survivalism but the concepts are much the same without the paranoia about the prime concern being societal breakdown. I got to thinking ab… more »
things have settled down here
My posts regarding Joe seemed to result in a huge influx in visitors here, we had nearly 700 hits in 5 days. The anecdote about the incident in the hallway with him brought 300 hits that day and many more in the next few days but things are back to norm… more »
Retirement number Two? by Von
Well, Greg has retired once again. :D This time he really feels like he is retiring. The first time he really didn't feel like he retired with the way that things went for us (his acident and surgeries, etc.). Now it feels real for him. B)
Bentley… more »
I'm okay, really. By Greg
Comments in the last couple of posts require me to say that I am okay. I overestimated my stamina and found I don't have the stomach for the high stress, high conflict work on a full time basis. I will continue to participate as I can, just not 50 hour… more »
Hello all, by Greg
So, from 20 hits on April 30 to 43 on the May 1 to 114 on May 2nd to and 125 already this morning. Thanks to Robert's advertising. His emails have a long reach! That is good. He comments below that he won't be changing but that he does regret some of… more »
Too long between posts by Greg
Sorry I haven't posted in so long. There are about 20 to 25 hits a day here in spite of no posts in some time. Thank you for your loyalty!
I have not been posting for a couple of reasons. First is that working has taken its toll in time and energy.… more »
Was it Lady Luck? by Von
Wow, that was a great basketball game last night. :)) I was rooting for Kansas so that I could win the March Madness pool. I had counted myself out at the end of the game with Kansas down but then, they hit the 3 pointer to tie up the game!! 88| It wen… more »
Snow in March? by Von
It seems that whenever I blog on this site it is about the weather. This year has given me a lot to say about the weird weather, no matter where I happen to be sitting.
On March 31st it was snowing here in Salem in the morning. That is really bizzar… more »
Back to the Salem area by Von
After staying in Reedsport for 3 weeks to help out with Jimmy, Bentley and I are now in Salem with Greg. It was a real hard time at Kim and Jim's but there was no where else that I wanted to be other than there. I was able to help and be there for Kim… more »
Let the Games Begin! by Greg
Hurray, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament begins in a few hours. One of the greatest blows to American economic productivity during the year!:>>
You can see all the player picks and the standings as the tournament progresses at this link
Wo… more »
NCAA Mens Basketball Tourney by Greg
I have been remiss in advertising my pool on the blog. You still have until the tip off of the first game on Thursday to make an entry. Go to this webpage to make your picks.
Get in touch with Cliff Nolen at DCBS or me at SEIU to pay the $5 entry fe… more »
On the job by Greg
Just a quick note while on my lunch hour. Back to work hasn't been too bad so far. Of course the first thing Monday morning was a staff meeting and that was good to get up to speed, at least somewhat, on what is happening. Then the morning going to a… more »
Back to Work by Greg
I drove up to Corvallis yesterday and am staying with Jen. I will be reporting in for the new job but I don't know exactly what time I am expected! I think I will shoot for 8:30. This should be fun.
Greg more »
But it makes everything so green! by Von
It seems that I am always blogging about the weather. Now that we are in Oregon again, the weather news from me is wet, wet, wet! It makes everything SO green. For the next six months while Greg is working for SEIU, I'm going to be liking this kind o… more »
Personal Time by Greg
This has been a difficult week. I don't have any new insights about death and dying to share but I do know that my love for Von and an appreciation for how special it is has grown. That I appreciate more the importance of strong family connections in t… more »
Dread Locks by Von
I can't believe that I drove the Jetta for 1300 miles. 88| Actually it wasn't too bad. That little car is just right for me, I didn't hurt or anything after any of the long days of driving. It was kinda fun to drive really. I got pretty tired of star… more »
Goldfield to Reedsport by Greg
We made it to Reedsport at 6:30 last night. Five days of pretty solid driving. I posted photos at the gallery.
The change in the climate after Reno was dramatic. We made it from Goldfield to Susanville on Sunday. Then from Susanville to Weed Monday… more »
Phoenix to Laughlin and the Casino by Greg
The drive out of Phoenix was difficult. I made the mistake of trusting the GPS software for the shortest route which in this case was not the fastest one. It took us out HWY 60 and it was 20 miles of stop and go heavy business district traffic. Von an… more »
OUCH!! by Von
It was soooo nice here yesterday that I put on a pair of shorts and sat in the sunshine and read my book. I now have a sunburn on my thighs that haven't seen the sun for years. :oops: I don't think that I have ever had a sunburn in February in my whole… more »
Baseball!
As Von says in the earlier post we went to see the Beavs get clobbered by ASU. I also saw ASU play on Friday night. They are a solid team with some great hitting. It will be interesting to see of OSU pulls it together like they did last year. Don't f… more »
Sports in the Phoenix Area by Von
We've been hanging around the Phoenix area so long that I'm starting to follow the sports news here. It has been really interesting to follow all the hype about the Phoenix Suns aquiring Shaquille O'Neal. 88| Some hate him and others are seeing him as… more »
Busy Day in the RV Park
When you stay in an RV Park even the little things become entertainment. Several of us stood around and watched while a crew of several men pulled an old, old park model out of its spot. This old park model trailer was called Mayflower (I think it came… more »
Returning to Oregon
We will be getting back on the road after a two month hiatus here in Mesa. Heading north to Oregon for a variety of reasons. Primarily is to be closer to my sister as the end nears for Jimmy. His condition has been gradually worsening and we want to b… more »
Damnable weather by Greg
Our bad luck with the weather just keeps on keeping on. I was really hoping to see the total lunar eclipse last night but it was dense clouds and the moon never did come out. We had some rain and the Valley here had several hundred lightning strikes, w… more »
Happy President's Day by Von
Today is President's Day and I used to really look forward to this day because it would be a day off from work for me. :p Now, what it means to me is that my mail isn't going to be delivered to me and I have to wait another day for it. :| My how things… more »
Happy Valentine's Day by Von
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! My daughter gave me the best gift ever for Valentine's Day. She works for a wholesaler that supplies florists with their flowers and stuff for their stores. They have been really busy getting all the supplies and flowe… more »
Laid up by Greg
We've been hanging out at the RV park the last couple of days trying to get over a bad back. I pulled a muscle in the middle of my back and just can't seem to get it to go away. I think it was caused by the way I lean on my cane when walking. It is no… more »
Scottsdale, Carefree, and Cave Creek by Greg
We went to these three cities/towns yesterday. Spent several hours in Old Town Scottsdale which consists of a whole lot of jewelry stores, museums, and art galleries. Unbelievably Von didn't see anything she wanted but she is not really into turquoise.… more »
Break out the shorts by Von
The weather was wonderful yesterday. The temperature here was in the mid 70s and going to be 77 today! 88| I had to go and put my shorts on I got so warm. I think it is amazing that in February it can be this warm. Usually in Oregon February can be t… more »
Pueblo Grande Museum by Greg
This museum is located near central Phoenix adjacent to Sky Harbor Airport. It is the preserved remains of one of the larger communities established by these Indian Peoples and includes many reconstructed buildings as well as original structures.
This… more »
Bentley learning Social Skills by Von
Bentley is doing really well with the "no bark" at everything that passes by our RV spot. Now we are learning to be sociable with other dogs. This RV Park has a wonderful dog run. It is real long and pretty big. I take Bentley up to the dog run durin… more »
Some Fun by Greg
I closed yesterday with saying we would be doing something fun. Well, Von had a different idea and we spent the entire day doing chores so not much to pass on this morning. We will be going sight seeing today though and I will post photos after.
Supe… more »
Wow! by Greg
The number of hits on our blog has increased dramatically these past two days. We were seeing around 45 per day and it vaulted to 195 yesterday and we already have 99 this morning at 8:00. This does not count a few googlebot hits that we get every day.… more »
Sight Seeing
I posted some photos over at the gallery of the Goldfield/Tortilla Flats drive we took on Friday and of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum tour we did on Saturday. I was able to actually walk the guided tour at the Arboretum which was about a mile and a half… more »
Book Review by Greg
I have been a Science Fiction fan since I was 11 years old and read Robert Heinlein's "Rocketship Galileo", a book written for juveniles. I don't read as much of it as I used to but I picked up a paperback at the RV park's library two days ago by S.M. S… more »
Conversation Starters by Von
We took the Jetta in to get it washed again. This is twice in one week. I can't remember if I ever washed my car twice in one week before, let alone twice in one month (or year?). With it being jet black it showed every greasy fingerprint where the ma… more »
Cold here in the Desert by Von
Woke up this morning in this sunny desert and froze my you- know-what, it was 36 degrees out. 88| I checked the Accuweather for Mesa and Eugene and it was warmer in Eugene than in Mesa. What's up with that? :crazy: It is sunny but cold. Hope it warms… more »
Lake front Property by Von
Oh, oh, we may see the rent go up around here. Some of the spaces in this RV Resort now have lake front property. On Sunday it rained over an inch and that's a lot for around here. There were flash flood warnings but we are not near any ditches or str… more »
Feels like Oregon by Von
Well, here we sit on a gray, rainy Sunday morning just like we did so many times in Oregon, however there are several differences being here in the rain in Mesa, AZ.
It is warm. B) The temperature this morning when Bentley and I went out for our first… more »
TDI by Greg
I finally did some internet research on the new Jetta. I had relied on my mechanically minded son's decision to buy this vehicle so did not to this prior to buying it from him. My first search turned up one of the "this or that sucks" websites so I got… more »
STOP!!! by Von
We decided to take the Jetta to a car wash and get it washed. It was a little dirty after Greg drove it for 1300 miles through the rain and had a lot of road dirt on it. As we started out an idiot light on the dash was blinking BRAKE, BRAKE, BRAKE. We… more »
Home Again by Greg
I made it home from Corvallis to Mesa. I drove almost straight through driving 1300 miles in 23 hours. I slept about three hours and stopped 6 times. I bought my son's 2000 Volkswagon Jetta TDI (diesel) from him and got 46 mpg for the trip. I kept th… more »
Brrrr! by Von
Woke up this morning here in the sunny desert and it was COLD. 88| Bentley and I went outside for our morning constitutional and there was frost on the cars. I thought I had left all that back in Oregon. Oh well, at least the three M's are not here. T… more »
A beautiful wedding by Greg
I think Lizzy's wedding was in many ways the best wedding I have ever attended. Tom's side of the family lives in the midwest and were unable to attend but aside from that there wasn't much to ask for. Having it at home and in a very informal setting w… more »
Still Holding down the Travel Adventures here in Mesa, AZ by Von
Although Greg, Bentley and I have a side trip on our traveling adventure with Greg going back to Oregon and Bentley and I staying here in Mesa, AZ holding down the travelling spot this too is all part of being alive and being human. I have always tried… more »
Oregon by Greg
Blogging becomes somewhat addictive for some reason. I have read other bloggers who I follow say the same thing and am finding it to be true. I missed yesterday due to fatigue and a very active day.
I stayed the first night in Oregon with my sister… more »
Lonely in Mesa by Von
Bentley and I have been in Mesa now for over 24 hours without Greg. :'( Poor little Bentley thinks he is the man of the house now. He's wondering where his Dad went. He is currently sitting on the back of a chair looking out the windows and barking at… more »
Bentley has found his voice by Von
Yesterday Bentley started out the day talking at the top of his voice to everybody and every dog that he saw. It was a pretty rough day with Mom chewing him out and trying to make him more sociably acceptable to be in public. Today may be another rough… more »
Jim and Kim and my Dad by Greg
I mentioned earlier that Jimmy has been released from the hospital and is now home in Reedsport. Their two kids, Bryan and Elisabeth, are there now as well, having driven up from their homes in California. They will be there a couple of weeks and Jim's… more »
Work work work
Today was chores day. The TV cable guys came by this morning and hooked us up to have cable TV while we are here in Mesa so that we can watch the NFL playoffs. :p Then the RV Doctor came to fix our fuse box so that we can get our refridgerator back. :p… more »
Decisions decisions
It feels pretty good to be sitting still for a month. We will have time to get some of the odds and ends done before moving on.
We have been planning to sell the motorcycle and get a car to tow but the closer I get to doing that the more torn I am.… more »
On to Mesa
Up at 7 AM this morning (what's up with that time?) |-|to get some chores done before we drive up north to the Phoenix area.
We are discovering that this is the "in season" and the RV Parks are crowded this time of year around here. We are used to Ja… more »
Bicycle Built For Two
I put Bentley in his basket on my bicylce today and walked him around the RV park for a while. He did pretty well, at least he didn't freak-out and want to jump out. I need to get a harness for him so that if he does jump he won't go very far and hurt… more »
Out of Gas
The gas gauge on the motorhome has never worked since we bought it so we have judged the need for gas on mileage. Then the speedometer cable broke the other day and we were figuring by guess or by golly. And we were wrong. We went to the Post office a… more »
It's Raining!!
It finally rained and rained pretty hard last night here in Tucson. It was kind of like being in Oregon with a big difference. It only lasted for one night and not for days and months. You should have heard all the people that we talked to today. The… more »
Short move
We found an Escapees park only a half mile from the sardine can so we decided to save the driving. The wind blew in after my last blog and knocked some branches off a tree. Pictures in the gallery.
We will be here a few days, then we will be heading… more »
Another day in Paradise!
We leisurely got going this morning, being retired and all. We packed up and the RV and utility trailer and left Gilbert Ray Campground right at checkout time, 11AM.
We drove onto an RV Park in Tucson called Prince of Tucson RV Park. We now have sho… more »
Oh, my poor Baby!
Getting Bentley neutered today kinda felt lousy. :'( I know it is for his own good, but I hate to see him so groggy and out of it. It makes me sad to think that I caused him pain in any form. :no: Wow, I can't believe how attached I've become to him. H… more »
Happy New Year
Boy, the winds have been blowing for the last couple of days. It's still been pretty warm, but the wind has made it real dicey to go out and have a cigarette. I think if they keep up, we will have to get an anchor for Bentley to keep him from blowing a… more »
Windy Night
This old motorhome is rocking and rolling in the desert wind. It is a warm 54 degrees but not very comfortable to sit outside. A lot of cloud cover and a prediction for some rain today as well. Von did not sleep well but I slept like rock\
I had a… more »
Go Ducks, again!!!
Wow, the Ducks absolutely demoralized USF. We had fun watching that. Turned out we didn't need to go to the casino to watch as our rabbit ears on the TV picked up CBS beautifully.
I've changed the skin for the blog, there has been no change in the c… more »
Cactus Cactus everywhere
Boy today was a really interesting day. We toured the desert in the Saguaro National Park and saw all kinds of flora and fauna. There are several kinds of cacti in this desert but the towering Saguaro are the most impressive. After spending two days n… more »
Tuscon
We are camped with electric only hook ups in the county park. After the accident we arrived here quite timely. We have 4 bars on the data line so I was able to load a lot of photos at our photo gallery
We had a wonderful day with Bill and Cyndi. Le… more »
Driving to Tucson
We left this morning doing pretty well on the highway when all of a sudden we were not moving any more. There was a very large accident on the freeway on the other side with cars in the mediam and emergency vehicles all over the place even on our side.… more »
Live Blogging I-10
We are stuck in a massive traffic accident 85 miles north of Tuscon. We have seen three lifelite helicoptors and 4 ambulances go past and have been sitting still for half an hour. The scene appears to be a couple miles or less in front of us. Sigh. We… more »
Onward to Tucson, Arizona
It still is cold here in Phoenix in the evenings and nights, but no rain. During the day it gets into the 50s and that feels pretty ok. Tomorrow we are on the road again to Tucson to camp with Bill and Cyndi. The weather is supposed to be getting a li… more »
Southward to 75 degrees
Today marks a week in Phoenix. We have enjoyed it here but are leaving for Tuscon in the morning. Bill and Cyndi are driving down with us to tent camp in a county park called Gilbert Ray. It is in the Tuscon Mountain Park. We are going to visit two di… more »
Freezing in Phoenix?
What's up with this weather in Phoenix? They had freezing temps last night and when Bill (Greg's brother) went out to golf at 8AM he wasn't allowed on the course until 10AM because the greens were frozen and it would ruin them if they played golf on the… more »
Phoenix
No post from me yesterday out of sheer tiredness. We finally had a day in camp without either driving or going somewhere. It was nice, we slept in until 8:00. Which remeinds me. Bentley has been allowed to sleep in bed with us. He had slept in his k… more »
Day after Christmas Shopping Day
Well, the crazies are out there shopping their fool heads off. :crazy: It is the day after Christmas and there are bargains to be had. In my opinion there isn't a bargain good enough to get me to battle those crowds. Besides, if I bought something wher… more »
Christmas Eve
We had a really fun and relaxing day today. We spent most of the day with Greg's brother Bill and his family. Bill and Cyndi and 3 very fine grown children that are a delight to be around. Of course, Bentley kept us all amused with his antics and love… more »
Livin' in Phoenix
It was really a great feeling to end up in Phoenix yesterday after all the time that Greg and I have spent talking about us doing it. :>> The drive over the desert was not the most exciting drive, but I will take that boring desert scenery over that Los… more »
Phoenix day 1
Our first full day in Phoenix was very pleasant. We spent the day with Glen Horsmann and his wife being chauffered around to buy miscellaneous odds and ends then they cooked us a great spaghetti dinner. We paid for a week at this RV park, which looks e… more »
We are in Phoenix at my brother's condo. I had a major computer breakdown this morning and just now am able to blog. This will be short as dinner is ready. More when I have time and get this computer back up to speed.
Greg more »
100 page hits yesterday
The email generated over a hundred page visits yesterday but only a few people signed on. At least we know someone looked! It would be cool if you would sign on if you haven't already.
If you are worried about security, this is software on a server w… more »
I'm really enjoying my trip now! We spent the night at a Casino RV parking lot in Cabazon, CA just off of I-10, and when I woke up this morning the sky was blue with no clouds and the sun is shining really hard, just like summer in Salem.
The drive o… more »
Grapevine
Ol' Nellie, as I am starting to call the Airstream, pulled up the hill at a rock solid 25mph. We are stopped for now at the exit to the Seven Flags Park. The pull up the vine was wet, low fog and Nellie has a windshield wiper on the driver's side that… more »
Summerville California
I think this is the first day in months we have woken up to dry pavement and dry grass. It was 49 degrees F. at 7:00am. High is expected to be in the 60's so we have a ways to go to get to 75. My brother was looking at the national map and says I may… more »
Warm and dry weather here we come
I'm getting happier and happier the farther we go south. :D The layers of clothing are coming off as we travel. I don't need the fur on my winter coat any more, in fact, I don't need my winter coat either. I can't believe that I am out having a cigaret… more »
75 degrees Fahrenheit or Bust
I'll start at the beginning of this road trip for now and will get photos later. We finally pulled out of Salem on Monday afternoon but had to make a short run to Corvallis to drop off the old Taurus Von has been running around in with Jennifer. Back t… more »
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