Nomads2

I did some day labor work today helping my Father-in-law with an outside project. Here I am helping my Brother-in-law, Jeff, and as you can see, we are both working hard (really all I did was hold things). It never seems to fail though, when some men are working hard, some women (Norm) are fooling around. Jeff would have driven off to work in Flagstaff with the sticker on his shirt, if I wouldn’t have told him.

“Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.” [Ps. 103:22]

I was talking to a bus driver today – he ferries people from one side of the airport to the other.  He is a Pakistani man and I asked him what type of hours he worked.  He told me he works 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for 1500 dirham per month!  This is about $400 US dollars per month.  I asked him how much he could make if he worked in Pakistan and he said about 1000 dirhams per month.  Makes me realize how blessed I am, and how blessed the United States is.  I have often heard that the poor in the US really are not poor when compared to the poor in other parts of the world.  Here this guy is working 72 hours a week, earning less than $1.40 per hour.  How much does a welfare recipient pull down per month in the U.S.?  I don’t know, but I imagine it is quite a bit north of $400.

I have also heard where the Taliban and Al Queda have an easy job recruiting soldiers.  They offer them money to join their cause, and obviously it wouldn’t cost them much to give all these guys more than they are making in a normal job.

It really seems wrong that the UAE doesn’t pay these people more.  They could easily afford to.  As it is I don’t see much difference from these low payed workers and the slaves who worked the plantations in the 1800’s.  I should start organizing a union for these hard working people, I am sure that would get me deported quickly!

This is the second time in about three years that a rattlesnake has struck out at Norm as she was riding her quad down the trail.  The first time the snake took a swipe and than crawled quickly off the trail into the bush, but not this one. This snake is bigger than the one we encountered last and had a bad attitude toward trail riders. There seems to be a large crop of reptiles in our desert this year. We have been riding and hiking through this area since 1998 and have never seen this many rattlesnakes. They are also very close to the park. The other thing that surprised us was how loud his rattle was. You could easily hear it from quite a distance. Not only do you have to watch where you walk, but, where you ride! 

We decided to go to our favorite firing range and blast away a gallon jug, but stumbled across a native of our desert. Norm would not get any closer than this.
Just out in the middle of the day catching some rays. Not in the least bit interested in moving on.
That is a face only a mother could love!
I guess I got a little too close and this guy had enough.
A strange looking track, at least to us.

I waited for five days to get just the right shot of the wind that blows almost non stop twenty four seven in Oklahoma. The good thing is it was warm weather even while we walked bent over to keep from being blown over. Poor Leo was actually blown from his wheel barrel while waiting for someone to wheel him around his backyard. I got an early birthday present and some great food and cake. I look good in black. A few weeks ago, my Father-in-law and I put electric in our small cargo trailer. We took it on its maiden voyage and I must say, it worked very well. I did not get any pictures from our stay in Tucumcari New Mexico because of freezing temperatures and darkness. On our return trip we stayed in Grants New Mexico and enjoyed a great campground (The Bar S) and very nice weather.

Leo enjoys two of his favorite activities, watching toons from the back of his motorcycle and driving his new jeep.

Our shower and laundry unit ready to respond.
The present chain saw trailer, I understand there is a new one in the works.
Just to the left is part of the feed unit. We ate two meals prepared from the unit, both very good.
We are now trained and ready to respond to any disaster that might involve towing a trailer or cutting up trees and removing brush. Norm and I learned all the bookwork and rules, so now we just have to wait for our chance to get some hands-on experience. Arizona Baptist may not have been doing this type of ministry as long as some states, like Florida, but Arizona has some first class equipment and fired up leaders. We have more training to look forward to as we start our journey into this mission field. 

We love to go target shooting and I guess we are so excited about it, we always forget to take something. This day we were already on the trail to our target stand when I realized we had forgotten to take a target to shoot at. Turning around, going back home, and picking up some recycled products to put holes in, we finally arrived at the range only to find we had no ear protection. Norm, not only being a great shot, (at one point she hit eight of nine rounds) figured we could jam my camouflage handkerchief in our ears and still get some rounds down range. This emergency fix worked just fine and allowed us to have a great afternoon. If you look close, you can see the duct tape fix I used to improve our target stand. Norm is a much better shot now and did not blast the other white elbow to pieces (yet).  

We were just blessed to have a four day seminar on the creation of the world. Russ Miller and his wife, Jo-Ann have a first class presentation aimed directly at Christians and the attack Darwinism has put on the Word of God. Their web site is http://www.creationministries.org and it is filled with videos and information every believer should know. Russ and his wife are so dedicated to getting the Word of creation out to everyone, they did not copyright their videos. So you can buy one and make a bunch of copies and hand them out other believers. If you ever get the chance to hear Russ speak we would highly recommend you jump at it.

Norm and I put our school clothes back on and headed for two days of classroom instruction. Beyond belief, at least for me, we both graduated ( yes there are two certificates). The CISM course was very exciting and informative. We now keep discussing how we can use our new techniques in regular conversation so we can practice. Our instructor could not have been better for us, a born again believer with a doctor title to her name. Life is good. The class had mostly professional people with just a few retired guys like us. We learned, among a lot of other things, listening skills, communication techniques, how normal people react in a crisis, how to intervene, and the most important part of the job, do no harm. I sure hope not. 

Here in the desert, water has always been important. It would be interesting to know what time this bag dates back to.


Norm and I actually thought about downsizing to save on fuel costs, but after taking a closer look, maybe we will wait for a newer model.
This is a nice look at most of the show. Cars lined up on both sides and down the middle of the street.

My favorite part of Gold rush days is the classic car show. They don’t have a lot of cars, but they are unique. Like the one above, I have no idea what year it is, and it was for sale.
I love the old muscle cars and there is nothing like a big block engine.
This car looked very much like an original. At least to an amateur like me.
This is a 1957 Thunderbird. I think my Mom had one like it when I was a toddler.
This is a Hornet, it reads “Super Wasp’ on the side. I’m not sure but I think there was one like this in the movie “Cars.”

 use this type of gesture, but I feel like this with our goverment leadership. Do you? Thanks, Blackfive.

On the way to and from Quartzsite we pass through Hope. It looks more like an intersection with a gas station, but it might be more. I don’t want to offend anyone from Hope that might read this. The first sign you see when entering the town and the second one is on your way out of town. I hope that is not true of any of us.

I came across some free PVC pipe and for about five dollars, I made this crude looking target stand to practice shooting. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea for Norm to learn how to shoot a pistol. So, we load up our machines and head out to our local desert for Norm to take her first shots and to try out my new target stand. I only had to wait for Norm’s second trigger squeeze of the day to see the flaw in my design. She blew the upper right elbow apart! For some reason, I had no duct tape, but I did have my Father-in-law with me and the two of us wired the frame back together, hooked our old tea pot back up and were ready to go”hot” in no time. Norm hit the pot a lot, and filled it with holes. At one point it had a face like image made from Norm. Now the tea pot has taken up a prominent spot in our desert junk yard display. Just have to wait for it to rust up now.

The “big tent” and heavy traffic on the way to all the big doings. RV’s of all types dot the landscape. The gang we spent time with.

Starting from the lower left, Maude, behind Maude is Donny, “The Dude,” Walter, the nihilist with the missing toe, and Bunny. Always remember, “The Dude Abides!”

We spend a few days in the desert near Quartzsite Arizona. This is a ride we took on the first day, about ten miles south from our camp to the foot hills

We had to get a new TV before the DTV dead line. I know, we did not really have to get one, we just wanted one. A couple of reasons we went with a new TV, first the old one weighed a ton, and second we wanted to make another place for Norm to put stuff (hopefully not shoes). Again, this is another project that I would have liked to have been my idea, but of course it is not. I first read about this in Trailer Life magazine, small article with not much detail. There is a NuWA owners web site that I frequent to check on what other RVer’s have go wrong with their Hitch-Hiker model. A fellow 29.5 owner published a very nice article complete with photo’s and details on up grading to a flat screen television and gaining some much needed cubbie space. After cutting three doors from a sheet of plywood and only needing one, we finally start work on this one. We have the hinge installed and my Father-in-law is doing a final sanding before applying some stain. I look like I am over seeing the operation, but I am just holding the door. The project went fairly smooth compared to most of my adventures of this type and we got a sweet deal on the TV from our number one salesman at Dell.com, our son. After some pushing and shoving, some grumbling, and someone (Norm) saying it was crooked, things turned out very well. The presentation is a huge difference from our old heavy weight model.

Two to three times a week Norm and I take a walk in the desert. We each carry two bottles of water, some survival gear and travel around three and half miles in a little over an hour. The terrain is split between level and hilly. Every time we go for months now, we have checked to see that one of us got the camera. We have it with us to take a picture of wild life. After two and half months, this is our only shot of wild life. Our hope was for a close up a jack rabbit (way too fast to shoot), a mule deer, or maybe a javelina. We even saw this guy (we think he is the same one) in the same spot for two different times till we finally stopped to take his picture. He did not want to cooperate so Norm used a stick to stop his forward progress. This did not make him happy. So I worked quickly and this is the best I could do. He is all fuzzy with a bad disposition, especially when confronted with a stick.

Our home improvement projects got off to a great start by chucking the inside of our sofa sleeper. I had several ideas floating around in my head on how to proceed. None of which we used. I have to give all the credit to my Father-in -law for the final design and how well it works. All of my ideas were kind of crude and goofy. The best part for me, Norm is very happy with the new storage, and that is very good for me. Second best is getting half of the vacuum out of my side of the closet. The other half was in Norm’s side, she’s happy, now there’s more room for shoes. Last, but just as good, is the weight savings of venting the insides of the sofa bed. We set it out next to the road with a free sign hoping someone would take it, but that was a no go. We decided to keep the mattress for a future home improvement, but we will have to pay to take the remains to their final resting place (the dump).

These church doors were hand painted by our friend, Julie. She not only paints on all kinds of surfaces, among those are rocks (we have a few), but also plays keyboards, and sings in the choir at her church. Julie and her husband, Bob, always keep us entertained.

Our neighbor did tell us what type hawk this is, but I can’t remember. The hawk has been around our house for a couple of days now and looks really tough. Thanks to Max for the photo.

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 taste really good.

I’m glad we never run into these fellas out in the open range.

This big dead stick used to be in a bucket of cement, like some old mafia guy in the east river, buried in our bank out back. Some how it rotted through and fell over. It laid around for a while, till we saw how others had their dead stick propped up. So we came home and did the same thing, worked like a champ.

 

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 great nation. What makes this visit stand out is I, me, am the only customer. No lines, no waiting, no looking at funny looking people. I was just standing there, taking this all in. Basking in the thought of being number one, numero uno. There were three gals behind the counter, each at their own station. I gazed across the empty room trying to decide which gal’s day would be made better by my sitting across from her. Suddenly the moment was broken when one of the young ladies said, “Take a number.” Huh? I just stood there, like a deer in the head lights. The girl two cubbies away looked at me, not moving, and she said, “Take a number please.” I stole a quick look around the room and took a number. I was number four. I looked at the nifty digital counter on the wall and it read, number four. Only than did the one clerk say ” I can help you here.” I asked “Am I on Candid Camera or what?” The answer was no, taking a number is the state of Arizona’s way of tracking customers. I still looked around one more time and thought, holy cow. 

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 long before they were. A certain Lieutenant Colonel at Luke AFB deserves a big pat on the back.

Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall.

When that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must Have stung quite a bit.

The complaint:

‘Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 A.M, a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns early bird special? Any response would be appreciated.

The response:

Regarding ‘A wake-up call from Luke’s jets’ On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a.m, a perfectly timed four- ship fly by of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques.

Capt. Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day.

At 9 a. m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend.

Based on the letter writer’s recount of the fly by, and because of the jet noise, I’m sure you didn’t hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son’s flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured.

A four-ship fly by is a display of respect the Air Force gives to those who give their lives in defense of freedom.

We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects.

The letter writer asks, ‘Whom do we thank for the morning air show? The 56th Fighter Wing will make the call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and parents of Capt Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.

Only 2 defining forces have ever offered to die for you…..Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel, Jr. USAF

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 to investigate in food as compared to building something or working in the shed. The big difference is cost. It is much cheaper to get some food items, or ingredients (these items are probably all ready at hand) and try to whip up something that could be consumed by humans, as opposed to having to buy wood or parts to build or modify a machine. The cookies are gingerbread cookies made with Grandma’s brand molasses (recipe on the jar). Everyone that tried them said they were good. I hope they were not just being kind.

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! We (me), not towing for almost a year, were concerned that we (me) had forgotten all the rules and common sense items that are full time rving. The first thing we did before leaving Oklahoma City, we had the truck and trailer weighed and I was surprised to learn we are almost 1200 pounds under weight. The mileage for our first day was very short, stopping in Amarillo, Texas and got hooked up just prior to a steady down fall of rain. It seems, no matter where we travel in our RV, we see someone do something that makes you get a funny look on your face and think “what the heck.” Another couple, that were disconnecting and getting ready to get back on the road, did the unthinkable. While the guy was working on the getting hooked up for the road, the gal had their sewer hose at the fresh water supply in the next site, rinsing it out with the drinking water spigot! Gross! If you don’t carry a spray bottle with bleach water in it, get one. Wow!

The Bar S campground in Grants, New Mexico. A very nice park and at around twelve dollars. a bargain too.

It is always good to be home!

The Welcome center rest stop on interstate forty in Arizona.

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 country who no longer understand it. Author Unknown.

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 in one spot too long) here at the Council Road RV park for almost a year. Norm would stay longer, but I am not going to spend another winter here in Oklahoma. Although we are planning to return here for the Thanksgiving holiday. There are so many little things that need to get checked and changed from the truck to the fifth wheel. Our 2006 Chevy has given me two flat tires due to faulty valve stems, so I had the other two changed and the tires rotated and balanced. I have a thru the bed fifth wheel hitch that I put back in the bed of the truck, much to Leo’s dislike as now he has less room to play back there. We are going to weigh our fifth wheel for the first time. When we first started out we had space everywhere, now a lot of that is gone and I want to make sure we are under the max gross weight. The truck stop across the street will hook us up on Monday. Norm and I have a side bet as to who will be right. I think we might be a little over gross, she says under. I removed our auxiliary fan from the fridge compartment, charged our walkie-talkies (Norm will be driving the model T) and I’ll sweep all three slides and roof Monday morning just prior to launch.

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 made one. She is so creative!
Left to right is Norm, my Mom, her cousin Dodie, her husband Ken and my step-Dad Bob, the reason we made a fast trip to the keystone state. The doctors are still not sure what happened, but Bob seems to be recovering well, thanks to many prayers and good doctors. As usual, the weather to and from Pennsylvania was fine, our two weeks there contained just two nice days. The rest of the days were raining, drizzling, fogging and just for good measure, one day we woke to twenty-nine degrees. On the two nice days we managed to replace air conditioners with storm windows, do yard work and a number of odd tasks. Just some random thoughts about driving across the country. So far this year we have driven from Oklahoma to Arizona twice and Oklahoma to Pennsylvania twice. By far, Oklahoma has the worse roads, even the ones you have to pay to drive on are in a sorry state. Driving from Pennsylvania west on I70, the speed limit is 65 mph. Enter West Virginia where the road is just as filled with turns and hills, the limit goes up to 70 mph. Ohio comes next where the road starts to straighten out, speed returns to 65. The two “I” states, Indiana and Illinois, I can’t remember which have the exact same type of roads, straight and flat, not Kansas straight and flat, but close. One “I” state is 70 mph and the other is 65 mph. Huh! I really did not make notes for accurate facts, but I think Missouri has the most variety of fast food chicken places. Of course, we could tell we were back in Oklahoma by the 25 mph wind blowing to welcome us.

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. This truck would come to your house and fix your radio.
We have been thinking about getting a new tent for our truck, so we looked this one over very closely.
This past Saturday Norm and I picked up our friend Rob, and headed off to visit the Oklahoma History Center, located near the state capitol. The center covers eighteen acres, including a 215,000 square foot learning center. We found it very interesting, informative, and at five dollars per person, a bargain also. It included five Smithsonian-quality interior galleries and outdoor exhibits, along with the Gemini Seven space capsule. The three of us stood in front of the capsule trying to figure out how two men could live in such a small place for two weeks. How could they go to the bathroom was Norm’s big question. The other thing that struck us was the construction of the space ship itself. Up close, it looked like a regular Joe could have built it with a little help from a do it yourself book from Home Depot. Regular screws, thin sheet metal, and what looks like foam covering the bottom. We spent three solid hours at the center and it was not near enough to take it all in. The web site http://www.oklahomahistorycenter.org/, has plenty of good information if you are interested.

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 ye steadyIt cannot be ever said yefor the battle were not ready.STAND AND NEVER YIELD!”- “Men of Harlech”Sung by Rick Rescorla in the Ia Drang Valley 1965 and in the stairway of WTC Tower 2 on September 11, 2001
First, you must read the definitive post about Rick Rescorla by Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette. Rescorla was one of my heroes when I was a Sergeant-turned-Cadet and began reading extensively about Viet Nam and the Ia Drang Valley.


Rick was a British (Cypress and Rhodesia) and American (Viet Nam) war hero. He retired as a Colonel in 1990.
Decades later, after 9/11, I had no idea that Rescorla had everything to do with denying Al Qaeda a huge victory. I wasn’t surprised that Rick had saved 2,700 people that day, and then paid the price with his life when he went back into the tower for stragglers. He knew, KNEW, it was coming down. And he went anyway…
Tenacious, strong, and leading all the way to the end.
In 2006, we honored Rick at Pundit Review Radio where I featured him – Rick Rescorla – Someone You Should Know Radio (“September 11th” podcast for Pundit Review Radio).
Appropriately, Rick now has a statue at the Infantry Center at Fort Benning. The US Army has honored his accomplishments. AWTM had a post about visiting the museum and defending Rick.
Rick’s town of Hayle, Wales (UK) has this plaque honoring their son:

Rick’s widow, Susan, left this comment for all of us (you, too!) here at Blackfive last year:
Thank you for keeping Rick alive. I know why Rick died, and I am so proud of him. The book, and of course the fabulous bronze statue, which will be on Heroes’Walk in 2008 will endure forever, as his legacy, as a new Hero in our new millinium. Today is a day to be proud to be an American.
All the best, Susan Rescorla
September 11th is a day to be proud to be an American. Which brings me to the point of this post – The petition for the President to award the Medal of Freedom to Cyril Richard Rescorla:
A PETITION TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH TO AWARD THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM TO C.R.”RICK” RESCORLA FOR HEROISM AND GALLANTRY BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY ON SEPTEMBER 11,2001.
MR. RESCORLA CAME TO THIS COUNTRY AS AN IMMIGRANT TO BECOME AN OFFICER IN THE ARMY. MR RESCORLA SERVED WITH SUCH DISTINCTION AS AN OFFICER IN VIET NAM THAT ALL WHO SERVED WITH HIM CONSIDER HIM THE BRAVEST MAN WE HAVE EVER KNOWN. HE WAS HIGHLY DECORATED FOR HIS BRAVERY AND LEADERSHIP IN COMBAT. HE BECAME A US CITIZEN AND SOUGHT A HIGHER EDUCATION OBTAINING A BACHELOR AND MASTERS DEGREE AT UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA AND FURTHER OBTAINING A LAW DEGREE BEFORE SERVING A AS TEACHER AT USC LAW SCHOOL BEFORE BEING LURED TO THE WORLD OF COMMERCIAL BANKING. MR. RESCORLA’S SPECIALTY WAS SECURITY AND SECURITY LAW. IN 1993 HE WAS THE LAST MAN OUT OF THE TRADE TOWERS AFTER EVACUATING EVERYONE. ON SEPT.11TH IN SPITE OF BEING TOLD HIS BUILDING WAS NOT IN DANGER, HE IMPLEMENTED THE EVACUATION PLAN HE HAD DEVELOPED FOR HIS FIRM, MORGAN STANLEY. AS A DIRECT RESULT OF HIS EFFORTS THAT DAY AND HIS QUICK ACTION, OVER 2600 EMPLOYEES WERE SAVED. MR RESCORLA WAS LAST SEEN GOING UP TO RESCUE PEOPLE WHO WERE UNABLE TO GET DOWN. HIS ACTIONS REFLECT THE VERY BEST ABOUT AMERICA, ITS CITIZENS AND ITS DREAMS.
THE UNDERSIGNED URGE YOU TO RECOGNIZE MR RESCORLA BY BESTOWING THIS HIGHEST HONOR TO THIS MOST DESERVING MAN.
Why hasn’t the President awarded the medal to Rick? The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded for “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
Please go and sign the petition. Please link, email, and print the petition. And remember Rick and the other heroes we lost on that horrible day…
Stand and never yield!

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 very nice place to stay, about one and half miles east of Glenwood Springs with a large number of sites right next to the Colorado river.
This is the view toward the river. The resort had a number of small cabins and larger park model ones.
This is Edwards Colorado, or at least part of it. I’m not sure how many blocks this area takes up, but it was a really neat place to shop and eat. Retail stores take up the first floor areas and the floors above are apartments or condos. That sure is a great looking truck in the background.
In the early Colorado morning, Norm finds a new friend.
If you are ever in Aurora Colorado, you must eat at Lam’s. One of our all time favorites! We have never found better sesame chicken any where. With our bellies full, we headed to our friends, Bruce and Becky’s house. We had a fine time of catching up, a feast for dinner, and then Norm and Becky left for some gambling in Black Hawk Colorado, while Bruce took me to the local motocross track to check out his up coming race. We were sad to come to the end of our Colorado trek. The next morning we left Denver for Oklahoma City.

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 look over. This particular area is a group of rocks that stick out and you can actually see the canyon in a different and scary way.
Us having a really great time, even being without a shower for three days. It’s a good thing we really like each other.
Most of the trail was marked by these piles of rocks called carins. The park did not spend too much on markers for many of the areas we visited.
This is a juniper tree that we saw on the North Vista Trail. The tree looks totally dead at the bottom and about half way up, but is all green at the top. The tree does this in times of draught to preserve it’s self. This trail climbs eight hundred feet in elevation and the views make the effort worth it.

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 cars on the (maybe) six mile drive. The road is unpaved, but in good condition. There are five viewing points that all require a short walk. Still sore from our inner canyon excursion, we limped and moaned our way to every one of them. As you can see, it was well worth the effort.

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 take some motion sickness pills for the first time. She just can’t sit and look straight ahead on a road like this one. Way to many awesome views. We drove past the turn to the north rim for a trip into Crawford Colorado for some supplies. Crawford is a real nice little town, but sadly, not for supplies. We headed back toward the road to the north rim with only a bag of ice. We could not find any type of food other than packaged stuff. Another eleven miles down the road for a real grocery store. We decided that the food we had left would have to do.

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 found enough energy to hang from this rock. I think I could have made the summit if I had not been so sore from yesterday’s hike/climb. It takes a long time for bodies like ours to recover. This is the most physical we got for the entire day. We drove to the north rim, and finished the drive there and after setting up our camp, took the afternoon off. We took a short, self guided tour just outside our campground. It had outstanding views, and was very educational.

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 thing I’ve ever done. All in all other than falling and rolling some of the way down, bringing home some nice bruises, the climb back up was easier, I think. Correction, other then not being able to breath, thought I was going to croak, (Dave thought I was going to croak), climbing back up was easier. But none the less, it was a great hike. I think we all take the beauty of God’s creation for granted sometimes. Take a moment today and look at that beauty around you, and be very thankful. We are.

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 K races in Miami, but nothing really hard in recent history. It was a real physical challenge for both of us. The temperature was in the low eighties with abundant sunshine and things would have gone a lot smoother if I would have just taken extra water. Our next hike a day and a half after this one (it took us that long to recuperate), we not only brought enough water with us, we carried it back out, so I did learn something.

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 to the inner canyon, but it is also strenuous, real strenuous for a couple of RVer’s. It is the route to take for a first time hike to the bottom of the canyon. The hike has an 80 foot chain 1/3 of the way down! That should have told us something. You have to get a “back country permit” before anything can begin. The permit, as was explained to us, meant that if you could not come back the same day, be prepared to spend the night and be rescued the following day. Another warning, not heeded. Here are the highlights of the hike, 1.5 hours on the descent, distance: 1 mile, vertical drop: 1800 feet, ascent: 2 hours, with 3/4 miles of river access, 3 campsites and believe it or not, a compost toilet. We were also informed that the poison ivy could be chest high. After learning all of this, it makes one wonder why we would not only go ahead and do the hike, but are already planning on another inner canyon hike from the north rim next summer.

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 deer were enjoying an early breakfast. The Airstream trailer in the background belongs to the campground host. It is the smallest trailer Airstream makes so I’m not sure a larger RV would have fit in any of the loops. There are three loops in all with loop B having electricity, for a few more dollars a night. The photograph above was taken from the first pull over, Tomichi Point, just past the campground. This quote really sums up what it is like here, “Some are longer, some are deeper, some are narrower, and a few have walls as steep,” writes geologist Wallace Hansen. “But no other canyon in North America combines the depth, narrowness, sheerness and somber countenance of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.”

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 and when we came out it was sleeting, almost snow like.
We had this whole section of the camp ground to ourselves. The Blue Mesa reseivior is off to the left, with the sun setting on it. This is in the Curecanti National Recreation Area. Lots of camp sites all along the highway and marinas too. We hit the rack early for our assault on the Black Canyon of the Gunnision on day three.

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. The cell this prisoner is in is located in the basement, for trouble makers, the sign said. Finally the government gets something right.
This prisoner is in one of the old cells that were in use prior to 1979. One inmate sued the state and all convicts got bigger cells.

After the tour of the Colorado prison museum, which cost seven dollars each for the self guided audio tour, we both think it is a must do if you are ever in Canon City. The photo above is of rafters going down the Royal Gorge. The gorge is west of Canon City and quite expensive to even just walk across. At forty-eight dollars for the two of us, we just walked to the edge and looked over. If you have the coin, you can raft, helicopter over and through, ride a tram, train, do a sky coaster and a bunch of other stuff. We came, we saw, we headed west with our $48.00 secure in Norm’s purse.

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 one of the three blades that go around. It is located at the Colorado visitor center in La Junta. Very friendly folks, will give you anything you would ever need to know about Colorado.


Our first RV park was a KOA off highway 50 in La Junta. Usually my last resort for an RV park is a KOA, but the folks here were more than friendly and generous since we really do not fall into an RV or a tent site, so they gave us an RV spot for much less. The park was also very nice with good showers, a pool and a large recreation room. As a bonus, a Wal-Mart was within walking distance, which we would make good use of the next morning. We discovered in the morning, that our old sleeping pads were no longer good for us. I think they worked real well when we were in our forties. Not now! Our ice chest also proved to be not camping ready, so we purchased a new air mattress and a new ice chest, both worked beyond our expectations. The truck tent turned out to not be water proof. Waking up in the morning, we noticed the tent sagging with heavy dew, just then a large drop of water hit Norm and as I was laughing, one hit me. So, we beat it out of the tent and as Norm was in the shower, the sun came up and dried the east side of the tent. We left the tent on the truck and drove at a snails pace to the Wal-Mart parking lot and positioning it to the west side, shopped for our new products. When we came out, eighty-eight dollars less, the entire tent was dry. We fired up the diesel and turned west ward.

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. We have two aged thermo type pads that we Velcroed together for a double bed. To fill out all the other old equipment, we borrowed back an old sleeping bag that we had given to our son when we moved into the RV.
This is pretty much what our truck will look like as we head north west out of Oklahoma City. We will be driving into Colorado and plan on stopping at as many things that we find interesting. We plan to hike, drive over as many mountain passes as possible, ending up in Denver Colorado to visit our friends, Bruce and Becky.

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 asked for directions. The museum has an old farm house (that we had to pass up, as one in our party had enough visiting) a 25,000 square foot two story barn filled with lots of state and local history showing how people lived from the late 1800’s forward. They have Oklahoma’s largest buggy and barbed wire collections.
This is a fire extinguisher, I guess one of the first on wheels.
This is the first “station wagon” or so we were told. We had a private tour given by Art Peters. He has a great slide show and really explains the canyon system running east to west and how it was used in the 1800’s. The original wagon tracks are still visible in a few of the canyons.
This is a copy of “rules of conduct” for riding the stage coach. I hope you can read them, pretty interesting.

A lot of small towns in Oklahoma have similar paintings on some of their buildings, and we think they look really neat.