Author Archives: normdave

We found this guy next to one our favorite walking/quad trail. 

Only in the desert? No, it did not snow here, this snow is from Arizona, from Flagstaff. The two responsible for Mr. Snowman are seen above, Leo the little and his great uncle Jeff. The snowman came ready to assemble, minus his two eyes. The finished Mr. Snowman below stood proudly for about an hour.

“Location, location, location!” I hear that is said a lot in real estate. This is a shot of the neighbors (Norm’s parents) yard. This must be done to keep tomato plants from freezing. I thought we lived in the desert? You can call it an eye sore if you want, but the veggies all tasteContinue reading “12/22/08”

I went to the Department of motor Vehicles yesterday and a funny thing happened. I was the only customer in the building! I have been in DMV’s in Pennsylvania, Florida (Pan handle), West Virgina, Florida (south), Colorado, Oklahoma, South Dakota and now Arizona. I have a prior history with the DMV’ s across our greatContinue reading “Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles…”

“Calories are meant to be consumed, not counted.”  Garfield the cat

This is sunrise as seen from our front door. I am not normally up this early, but it was worth it. We were blessed with a double rainbow. The second one is hard to see in the photo.

Some people should just keep their thoughts to themselves.. I hope this person was completely humiliated by this complaint…. Noise Complaint at Luke AFB, AZ Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that it was there longContinue reading “If this is true, we live in a sad world…”

Now that I have some free time on my hands, I thought I would try doing some things in the kitchen. It seems that my Dad and my Father-in-law both started cooking and baking more after they retired and so I will try to keep the tradition going. There are so many more options toContinue reading “Cookies…”

We were both bummed and excited about finally getting back on the road after our extended stay in Oklahoma. We sure miss our grandson, who by the way, wanted to come with us, but both his parents are real “sticks in the mud” types and said no. I know, what was wrong with those two!Continue reading “It’s about time…”

A veteran, whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve – is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a check made payable to “The United States of America, for an amount up to and including my life.” That is honor, and there are few too many people in this countryContinue reading “Veterans Day…”

Norm told me Leo was looking for the valve cap off our trailer spare tire that I was on the ground filling. I said “He won’t find it in my ear!” As we started our preparations to leave Oklahoma for Arizona, Leo was a big help. We have been squatting (my name for being inContinue reading “Pre-Launch Inspection…”

Most people will not believe it, but the weather was cold, wet and windy here in Oklahoma and we had our grandson with us. What to do? We did something that was not available to us when our children were his age, we went to the mall, specifically we went to the play area insideContinue reading “The Mall…”

No, that is not a can of beer in Norm’s hand. She would never drink a beer when she could have a V8! Leo wanted to go with us on our road trip to Pennsylvania, but he couldn’t find his riding boots or his helmet. We kept forgetting to get a balloon, so Norm madeContinue reading “Road trip…”

I tried to remember the date of this Case model tractor. I think it was in the thirties or forties. This is a 1941 Studebaker. The sign read that the Studebaker company, at that time, was the richest automaker in the country.

This Indy car is from the fortieth running of the Indianapolis 500 race. A fellow from Oklahoma won in this car.The 2 upper outlaws look like they don’t have a clue. I think Norm looks a bit better then I do, but neither of us look as bad as the fellow in the lower right.Continue reading “Oklahoma History Center….”

STand and Never YIELD!!! – From the Battlefield in Viet Nam to Tower 2 on 9/11Posted By Blackfive[This is an annual post. Please sign the petition at the end of the post. Thank you.]“Men of Cornwall stop your dreamingCan’t you see their spear points gleaming?See their warriors’ pennants streamingTo this battlefield.Men of Cornwall stand yeContinue reading “From Blackfive.net”

Our rig kind of looks out of place parked in a full hook up site. I’m not sure we got our fifty-six dollars worth for the one night we stayed, but right behind me are the showers and we did get our monies worth out of them. The Glenwood Canyon Resort park is a veryContinue reading “Bound for home…”

Norm tells me that is a long, long way to the bottom. I believe her. Norm took this shot with me having a death grip on her waist line. This, and the photo above was taken from a place called “Exclamation Point.” I’m sure that there is a variety of exclamation’s when you first lookContinue reading “North Rim trail…”

This photo and the next are from the drive on highway 92. There are two reservoirs on the way to the north rim, the Gould and the Crawford. These series of photographs are still from our driving tour of the north rim sites. Two from our drive to Crawford. We saw all of three carsContinue reading “North Rim, 2”

Some of these views are from the drive to the north rim by way of back tracking on highway 50 east bound, and than turning north on to highway 92. Highway 92 is a great drive with the maximum speed being around thirty miles per hour. Lot’s of twists and turns. Norm had to takeContinue reading “North Rim…”

Here is Norm on one of our last rest stops prior to collapsing in the truck and drinking all the water we had. These next series of photographs are from our drive around the south rim route to complete our visit here in the south, and head toward the north rim. Some how I foundContinue reading “We made it…”

Okay, here we are climbing back up the 80 ft. chain. Dave is making it look like a piece of cake. Me on the other hand, am making it look and sound, not a very lady like sound either, as hard as it really was. I’m telling you folks, this was probably the hardest thingContinue reading “The Chain! Norm here…”

This is just part of the trail, no signs or posts, just piles of rocks to point the way. There is a trail here, you just cannot see it real clear. I have probably done harder things in my life, survival and POW school in the military, Norm making me run five and ten KContinue reading “The Trail….”

The person you can barely see is Norm, she is not sure if going down or going up was the worst part. This is the Gunnision river taken from the bank. We could hardly imagine carrying camping and fishing gear down the “trail” we just came down. This is the most popular unmaintained route toContinue reading “The Gunnison Route…South Rim…”

The Blue Mesa reservoir at first light. A boat was already out on the water trying their luck. Another view of the reservoir, although the light was not quite right, we had to take the photograph as we were heading out. When we turned in to check out the campground, a couple of Mule deerContinue reading “Day Two/Three…”

This is the Royal Gorge bridge, it is quite a sight to see. I had to get this photo approved from the model before I could use it! This was on the way to our camp site. Norm really liked it. We went in the gift shop here and had some great ice cream andContinue reading “Day Two continued…”

We stopped in Canon City Colorado to visit this old prison museum. Norm’s Dad is retired from the Pennsylvania Prison system, maybe it runs in the family. This is the last gas chamber used in Colorado, I think. The prison used to be a women’s prison, with a working prison located just next door. TheContinue reading “Day Two….”

Near La Junta Colorado the United States operated a Japanese internment camp. We passed it east of La Junta, but the sign did not say what it was so I didn’t stop. Next time we will check it out. If you have ever seen the wind power everyone is talking about, this is just oneContinue reading “Day One….Oklahoma to Colorado….”

Here are just a few of the items we packed to take with us on our very first, and the start of many, we hope, of a truck camping trip. We have an aged tent that fits (kind of) on the bed of our truck. I will publish photos of it in a future blog.Continue reading “Truck Camping…”

We snatched our grandson up and hit the road west out of Oklahoma City for a visit to the Hinton Historical Museum and Parker House. It is located at 801 S. Broadway in Hinton, which for some reason, my GPS could not find. So I located it the old fashion way, I stopped and askedContinue reading “Hinton Oklahoma….”

Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!This is interesting.After reading this, you’ll never look at a banana in the same way again.Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energyContinue reading “Bananas….”

We have been trying to visit Route 66 while we are here in Oklahoma and, again this week, I am working ( maybe) on planning a trip later this week. I seem to do much more planning and thinking, and little to no action. The photo above is not from the real Route 66. ThisContinue reading “Route 66”

This is not a very good shot of Medlar Field where the State College Spikes, an A-affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates play. Their web site, http://www.statecollegespikes.com/ has a wealth of information on the Spikes. “Fear the Dear” is their official logo. I’m afraid there is not much fear of the team as when we attendedContinue reading “Home is where we’re parked….”

We went to the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts and spent about eight hours meandering through all the exhibits. This tiny water park was sure popular later in the day. Those are real boulders that are hauled in for the week. If this is not one of the biggest arts festival, it is oneContinue reading “The Arts Festival……”

We are at the Highway Pizza joint in State College Pennsylvania with our good friends Steve and Linda. We have been meeting here for years and call it our “regular place.” Our connection goes way back to high school. I think we have been friends since Norm and I started dating way back in 1970.Continue reading “Friends, Family and Pies, oh my…….”

That is Norm way over there doing prep work on my Mom’s roof. With Norm leading the charge and telling my step-dad, Bob and I what to do, we got the job done in two days. Bob sprayed the first third, I took the second third (that is when Norm noticed some runs) so sheContinue reading “Roof Work…”

They had bench’s all facing the crash site with the passengers and crews names on. This book was of great interest to me and I have read quite a few CVR’s in my career, but none as moving as this one. This fenced off area is due to erosion around the site. It is aContinue reading “Flight 93….”

I asked Norm to take a photo of the Arch in St. Louis and she put her foot in it. We, not because we planned it, found our selves on the Flight 93 memorial highway and thought that was cool. After coming across this sign, we knew we had to take the time to visit.Continue reading “Road Trip to Pennsylvania…”

We have left our RV and have been living the home life staying in our kids home and taking care of a number of animals. It is just like having grand kids or petting another persons dog. You have some fun and than you give them back. We have a history of dog and houseContinue reading “Another Job…”

This is another shot of the Salt river. A long view of the area. This the view to the north. In New Mexico we departed highway 60 and took highway 36 north to 117. Our friend Todd wrote about this area on his blog and it is well worth the effort to find. Highway 117Continue reading “The End….”

These shots are all from the Salt River Canyon, east of Mesa Arizona on highway 60. The canyon is located at the far north western part of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. This the bottom of the canyon with Native Americans selling their wares. Behind us as we took this photo, a tractor-trailer withContinue reading “Salt River Canyon”

This guy was in our yard right by my feet as I was getting directions from Norm about cutting branches off our tree. The only reason I knew he was there, I heard him crawling around. I could have stepped on him! We think this is a bull snake about six feet long. From theContinue reading “ROAD TRIP PT. 2”

We took a road trip to Congress Arizona and than on to Mesa to bask in the sun and heat (plenty of both). It was a great time as we always look for different ways to go so we can see more of our country. This is Oak Creek Canyon on our way to CongressContinue reading “ROAD TRIP…”

This guy was not only huge, but good looking too. Leo kept calling this little horse a dog, but would not go near him, even though he let us rub his nose. Who would have thought a photo like this could be shot in Oklahoma. Just west of the Express Ranch, this very nice displayContinue reading “Big and Small…”

We visited the Express Ranch in Yukon, Oklahoma, located just north of Route 66. As soon as we arrive, Leo has to take a break from riding in his car seat to relax next to the barn. This looks like he is all alone, but both Mom and Gammi were just out of the shotContinue reading “The Express Ranch….”

This is by the old red barn in Arcadia Oklahoma. We spotted this out house and you know Norm…. “Do you have any T.P.?” This old Ford Model A or T, I don’t know was a part of a group of old cars going to California on route 66. The wheel spokes are made outContinue reading

This is a place called Pop’s on route 66 east of Edmond Oklahoma. You can buy just about any kind of soda pop ever made. They have a nice place to eat with good food also. This roof structure is huge and mostly free standing. I wondered how well it would hold up in aContinue reading

Thanks to our friend Todd, we found this trail system with a parking lot right next to where our son Paul works. It was pretty much empty so we had it all to ourselves. Leo forgot to bring his hat, so Norm gave him her ball cap to use, but he had to give itContinue reading

Security at Hickory hills campground Phone service

Yesterday, as we were heading west on I-70 we watched as a truck, an eighteen wheeler heading east bound, blew a tire on the rear of the flatbed trailer. The tire blew up and out away from the trailer. If someone would have been passing the truck, it could have been bad. A huge chunkContinue reading “5/1/07 No miles today”

Our Crib Indiana Zanesville, Ohio