Oklahoma City

This picture was taken at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. This is the Field of Empty chairs. There are 168 chairs symbolizing a life lost, with smaller chairs representing the 19 children killed.

If you're every in OK City. This is a must see. It will evoke every emotion you have.

I just figured out how to make a collage using Picassa. I took a bunch of pictures, cropped them and used the "create a collage" feature, added background color...don't really like the color that much but can't go back and change once it's "created" and, voila! My first collage!





We met up with our friends, Tim and Crystal who once again played tour guide for us. They took us to the "stockyards" to show us some pigs - in particular a real ugly pig - but all the piggys were gone. So we went to lunch at Cattlemen's (will be featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) and ate beef.

Cars and horses

We were at the Colorado State Fairgrounds for the Discovery Rally the last few days and there was also a "low rider" show and a rodeo going on at the same time.

I was fascinated with the low rider show. The work these young people put into these cars. The detail was unbelievable. Mirrors were a big factor to show off tires and the underneath carriage. Chrome was a factor. Lots of chrome. Sprinkle dust, rope lights. Crosses, skeletons, polish cloths. Hydraulics - stuff that makes the car bounce up and down.
I expected the the car in the second picture to rise, hover and fly. All of the cars at the show had to be cars that would start and run. We talked to one young couple who had an absolutely beautiful car. He had gutted the car, put 1800 hours in rebuilding it to show quality (can't imagine the $$ involved) and no additional insurance coverage other than basic car insurance. He drives it on the street and if it were totaled in an accident he would get whatever an insurance company would pay for an old car...in this case a '62 chevrolet. They can't afford any additional insurance.
















Then there was the rodeo. Cowboys, horses and ropes. Lucy wasn't crazy about the horses. Didn't smell like any dogs she knew. There's a link to my web album (below the cowboy picture) where you can see all the pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/psdaugherty

20 Minute Shower!!!

Yea! I'm camping! I took a 20 minute shower!

If you all read a previous post, you know my idea of camping is Marriott. Well, we are at the Pueblo Marriott: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pubdt-pueblo-marriott/ for the next two nights. The motorhome is at the Caterpillar dealer here in Pueblo having maintenance work done (something to do with the diesel engine) ($$ kaching $$) and we needed a place to stay. And, guess what? Pueblo has a real, live Marriott! And, Lucy gets to camp, too! She gets her own bed. We pick the moho up Friday and head to the Pueblo fairgrounds for the Discovery Rally. But, for now, I'm living in the moment...the Marriott moment. (Can you tell it's been awhile since I've been in civilization???)

Tim and I were trying to figure out the last time we were in a Marriott. We think it was our last trip to Ireland (about 4 years ago). I really like Marriott. I like the Marriott burger. I've missed Marriott. I've missed 20 minute showers. I've missed flushing a real toliet. I think I've flushed it 20 times already...just because I can. (Hopefully, we won't get an added water bill charge!) Hark...there's a knock on the door...it's room service! Later.

Lucy & The Air Force Academy

Updating this blog is more work than I thought it would be. Actually, not work in the sense of punching a clock...more along the lines of getting the brain and creative cells working together. They don't always jive. And, when they do I don't always have good internet available. At the moment, I seem to have it all. So, I need to type fast before something fails.

We are in Monument, CO (which is about 12 miles north of Colorado Springs). Tim asked me what Monument is known for and I'm not sure it's known for anything except it is the highest elevation between Denver (40 miles to the north) and Colorado Springs. We left Gunnison, CO a few days ago driving east on US 50. I drove the truck instead of towing. We had to go over Monarch Pass (a kagillion feet high) and didn't want to take a chance of the moho overheating. We stopped in Pueblo to stretch our legs and Tim said it was one of the most scenic roads he's been on. I wouldn't know. I didn't take my eyes off the center lane. It's a curvey with no guard rails road. I haven't driven on such a road for 25+ years. Last time I did was when the kids and I drove through Rocky Mountain National Park. That trip ended with a migraine.
We went to the Air Force Academy on Thursday. Lucy had her Therapy Dog vest on hoping it would get her in the Visitor's Center. The receptionist was ready to attack (she could see us coming up the walk) until Lucy started waving to her. The ice was broken, Lucy was allowed to enter and she called her boss to come down and see the "military's smallest working dog". I'm not sure where she got that idea...maybe the "blue" Air Force vest? I wasn't going to contradict her. Lucy won everyone over and was even presented with an "Air Force" coin.

I lived in Colorado Springs in the mid-80's for a couple of years. I haven't been back for 20 years. I recognized the Air Force Academy, the bank where I worked, The Broadmoor Hotel where Lorie worked as a dishwasher in their international building, the Jr. High where Shane and I had a meeting with the principal since it appeared Shane was trying to "shake down a kid's lunch money"...Shane's side of the story was he was just fooling around and the kid was a wimp. and, after spending a tank of gas looking for it, the townhouse where we lived. Didn't recognize much else.

We have played tourist the last few days and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The weather has been great but at the moment it's raining with a few thunder claps. At least it's not snow. The aspens were just starting to change over Monarch Pass (when I could sneak a peak without fear of going over the side). We leave for Pueblo next week (working a Discovery Rally) and I get to go camping...my idea of camping. Stay tuned.

Ramblings...

It's the beginning of Labor Day weekend and we are staying at Blue Mesa in Gunnison, CO. This "resort" is part of Western Horizons and is about 12 miles west of the town of Gunnison. We have a nice site facing west (great sunsets) and no one in front of us (and, so far, pretty kid free). The downside is we have no cell phone service. We have to drive 8 miles before we get any blips. They do have good wi-fi but are limited on usage. No downloading of music, movies, etc. We are here until Sept 8 and then move onto Monument, CO.

After leaving Junction City, OR we headed to Reno with the hopes of meeting up with my niece. Unfortunately, they were off on a camping trip. We stayed at the rv park at Grand Sierra Casino and signed up for the Player's Card in the Casino. We got our $5.00 coupon to play, won $40.00 on their $5.00 which paid for dinner. We are not gamblers. It was pretty funny watching both of us trying to figure out how to play the slot machine. You've got to put your Player Card in the slot, then find the slot for the "coupon" and then play. I just kept hitting the play 1 credit button. When I hit the double jackpot and it kept adding credits I had no idea what I won. I "printed coupon" which cashed me out. We took the money and went and stood in the buffet line.

Leaving Reno we drove to Elko where we overnighted and once again had a dead battery on the truck! I think we have battery gremlins who are messing with us. Got the truck running again but decided I would drive the truck the next day instead of hooking up in order to get a good charge on it. We spent the night at the Elk's Club in Provo and the next morning left for Grand Junction CO. I'm still driving the truck since Tim has been concerned about the motorhome overheating while climbing some pretty steep grades towing a weighty truck. We're currently at 7200 feet and when we leave here we go over Monarch Pass which is 10,000+ feet.

Weather is great - mid 70's during the day - 40's at night. Lucy wants an exra blanket.

It's September already...what happened to summer?

Junction City OR

We left Albany this afternoon after the Country Coach Rally. The worst Rally we have had so far as far as sales goes. Different group of people. Oh well.

We are now in the parking - storage lot of school buses and Amazing Creations where we are having some cabinetry work done.

There is also a train track behind us. Amtrak came through about an hour ago doing 257 MPG. I do like trains; however, let's hope they don't jump the tracks.
Does this mean a whole lot of drivers show up tomorrow morning to take the kiddies to their first day of school????
If we wake up tomorrow morning with tattoos it will be their fault.
We are locked in for the night. I think I may check to see if Eugene has a Marriott.

Ate too much & Campers

I shouldn’t watch Giada (Everyday Italian). But I did. And, because of her, I had to make lasagna. I haven’t made lasagna for a year (or two or three). Christmas Eve use to be when I would make lasagna…a family tradition. I make a pretty good lasagna…sweet Italian sausage, spinach, lots of cheese and no boil noodles. Of course, I make enough for 20 people. However, I also had a sweet tooth and made cheesecake bars which didn’t look like the picture on the recipe But, tasted great since I made a blueberry compote But, I ate too much. Tim ate too much…even Lucy ate too much of her kibble. We tried to go for a walk after dinner…but have you ever seen beached whales try to walk? It’s all Giada’s fault.

This park is full of Campers. There is a difference between RVer’s and Campers. Campers are here for their yearly vacation. RVer’s may still work and be weekenders (we were for 3 years) but many are retired and may be fulltimer’s (we now are). They live in their RVs. Campers show up with 3.9 kids (one under the age of two), 2 yappy dogs (RVers have dogs…Lucy, however, is not a yappy dog), 4 bicycles (one with training wheels), tents, sleeping bags, coolers, porta cribs, strollers, bouncy thingys, squeeky toys, expandable wooden clothes hangers, grills (RVers have those) basketballs (2) and wood…lots of wood. They kids forage the area and bring back branches to add to the fire. I think they are closet pyromaniacs. They love to have a campfire going – early morning, afternoon, and always at night. They have brought every folding chair they own because everyone they know within a 50 miles radius comes to see them and they all sit around the campfire (sometimes two deep) and drink beer and wine (RVers drink beer, Jack Daniels and boxed wine – Campers bring bottles…RVers travel with boxes – better storage).

Campers have to pack up, return to civilization and the daily grind for another year before they get to do it again. RVers have to pull the slides in and decide where they want to go next. Many RVers were first campers. Not me. I skipped the camper part and went straight for RVer. My idea of camping was JW Marriott. Still is.

I know I said…

being exposed to diversity among people, different age groups, etc… rather than living in a community where all were alike was a good thing…that was BEFORE spending a week in a campground with thousands of kids, strollers, loud screaming, bouncing basketballs non-stop, squeaky toys, crying kids, kamikazee kids on training bicycles, kamikazee kids on regular bikes, obnoxious parents talking goo-goo ga-ga to their crying kids, kids fighting, did I mention those x0!x?!X squeaky toys??????? And, did I mention they were parked next to us???? On both sides of us??? And, we’re here for another week?? Get the picture??

Live Writer

The previous post (I’m Not Wired) was written off-line using Windows Live Writer.  I save as a draft, editing and/or adding pictures.  I then make the trek to the clubhouse (free wifi), open Live Writer and “publish” the post.  Pretty cool. 

Just found - Not Wired!

Note…The post below titled “Not Wired!” was written a couple of years ago using Windows Live Writer.  I saved it as a draft and never got around to publishing it.  I still use Live Writer. 

I’m using Windows Live Writer to write this post.  I’m currently not “on-line”.  This is a first for me.  We are at a ROD property south of Newport, OR and it is a Thousand Trails resort…Whaler’s Rest  Resort.  Fortunately for us, we were able to get a huge site.  Most of the sites are very narrow and shallow.  If we had been here 30 minutes later the site we’re on would have been taken by someone else.  This is the first park we’ve been in that “you go find your site and come back and let the office know which one you took”. We have very spotty Verizon cell phone service ( 1 to 0 blips) and zip on Internet.  I have to go to the clubhouse where there is Wi-Fi. 

Talk about a change in weather.  Just a couple of days ago it was 192 and rising.  Today, Tim wants the heat on.  Barely 60.  Lucy’s looking at me asking for her blankets.  I have found WalMart, Fred Meyer’s and Dutch Brothers Coffee.  Life is good. 

This picture was taken at Boardman RV Park and Marina in Boardman, OR (next to the Columbia River).  The park is run by the Parks and Recreation Dept and is very well maintained.  It is also a Good Sam park.

I have to go turn the heat on…they are both looking at me shivering.  

Early morning reading...

I took this picture a number of years ago while in Edinburgh, Scotland. I even had notecards made using the picture as the cover!

I've been doing a lot of early morning reading. Tim's still in bed and Lucy is curled up by me on the sofa. I've got my tea, window open with a slight breeze coming in. It's quiet...no diesels running yet and the sun is just beginning to rise. The book I'm reading is Wayne Dyer's Excuses Begone! Tim and I watched his PBS special a few days ago which prompted me to go out and buy the book. It's one of these books I'm glad I saw the special first because it's a thought provoking one and since it's about "thoughts" I'm afraid my thoughts would be lost on the book if I hadn't seen the special first. Follow me on that one???

Another book I read quite awhile ago - How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life by Mark Victor Hansen and Art Linkletter brings to mind our neighbors here. You'll need to hang with me here...there is a tie in coming. In one of the chapters Art Linkletter was talking about where one lives. He said, of course in his opinion, that living in one of those 55+ gated communities would suck the life out of you (my words, not his...I can't remember his...but it was similar). He said when you live with like people - same age, mind set, same activities - you don't grow...you remain stagnet maybe even regress. Your conversations have to do with "Did you hear so and so died last night? Had a stroke? Cancer? What's your (golf) Handicap? Those grandkids were in the pool when they shouldn't be...they were suppose to be out 5 minutes ago. And, so on and so on. Of course, I read the book while living in one of "those" communities. And, it was sucking the life out of me.

So, back to our current neighbors and the book tie in. They are a young family with 2 children ages 5 (boy) and 7 (girl) and 2 beagles. Did you know beagles howl? They have been parked beside us for the last 10 days. They are here from the Seattle area on vacation. When they first backed their 5th wheel in and piled out of the truck I cringed...especially the howling dogs. Campground sites are relatively small. You are close to your neighbors. If you sneeze, your neighbors will say "God Bless You". My first thought was this is going to be a long 2 weeks. How wrong I was. Tim and I have enjoyed every minute they have been here (including the howlers). First off, they are great parents. It's so nice to know there are still (young people) out there who are parenting well behaved and respectful children. Unfortunately, we have seen the opposite too many times. This vacation has really been for the kids because Mom and Dad have taken them to the pool, playground, pool, playground, playground, pool, lake, and playground and board games. It has been a hoot listening to their conversations. I couldn't even begin to tell you about the conversations we had with them. They are leaving today and we are sorry to see them go. However, it does reinforce for us we would rather live (and travel) where there is diversity and in this case, youth, rather than "sameness". You don't get the life sucked out of you. Lucy, however, didn't care for the howlers.

Ancestors

I have spent many hours in cemetaries looking for Tim's ancestors. He owes me BIG TIME for this trip to the boneyard...actually, 2 boneyards. We took a day trip to Farmington, WA where Tim's grandfather was born. His great grandfather - Jessie Quarles - settled there in 1873 as the plaque on the left reads. They travelled with the Wooddy wagon train with 2 wagons. We had stopped at this cemetary and Tim said this wasn't the place where the plaque had been erected. He didn't really know where it had be erected...just said it wasn't there. We were just in an old cemetary. Didn't even have a name. He backed up, turned the truck around and started back to the road. I told him to stop. Reluctantly he did still saying it was the wrong place. Something had caught my eye and I wanted to check it out. Welllll, it was the right place and the plaque he had been looking for.
Farmington is in the middle of a kagillion acres of wheat. I've never seen so much wheat in my life. It goes on forever. I thought there was a lot of corn in Illinois...but the wheat fields have it beat.
We were in another cemetary down a gravel road from Farmington. Tim wanted to check to see if he could find any relatives. We pulled in and he took one look at it and said "let's go...we'd be here for hours searching for tombstones and I'm not even sure they are buried here". Well, once again, I said I just going to take a walk toward the back and I would meet him at the back road.
Bingo! Found the mother-lode! He knows he owes me big time. I wonder how many more ancestors he still has to find? I don't mind traipsing through cemetaries...but Lucy's not too thrilled about it.

Welcome to McDonald's

Actually, this guy looks friendlier than the counter help at Mickey D's this morning in Bozeman, MT. All I asked was if they had a Dollar Menu. She looked at me, turned around, pointed up to the menu, turned back to me with a look that said "Are you blind?" and said "What do you want?" Once I was able to figure out where on the menu board the Dollar Menu was I made the mistake and asked: "Is the sausage biscuit on the Dollar Menu?" Wrongo bongo. Now I got the look: "Are you stupid and blind?" Needless to say, Tim did not get his sausage biscuit this morning.

We're Buzzed!!

Give me Wahl shears and watch me work. I got my hair buzzed today so I came home and did Tim's. You can tell us apart...I'm the one with lipstick! What one will do to save money! Watch out Lucy...the clippers are coming your way.

Been busy

Been sidetracked and therefore remiss on my blogging. Let's see...where do I begin? After we left Gillette, WY and the Fleetwood Rally we drove to Rapid City, SD to meet up with our friends, Tim and Crystal. He is the Shady Boat Dealer and she is the Shady Lady - http://www.inflatableboats4less.com/ - (he also has a "thing" for Lucy). They were wonderful tour directors taking us places I'm sure Tim and I would have never seen otherwise. They have a knowledge of the area, back roads, State Parks, small towns and great places to launch a boat.
The picture above shows us toasting July 4th. Crystal had packed a lunch and a couple bottles of wine. We really, really liked Rapid City and the area. We had such a great time with them. We hated to leave.

Our first official picture as new South Dakota residents. Yep, we are now fulltimers and have changed our residency from Arizona to South Dakota. Who would have thought Tim as a fulltimer????? Just a few years ago three weeks was the max he wanted to be in the motorhome.
Click here for pictures on the web album since there are way too many for a blog.



We are now in Cody, WY. The road from Sheridan, WY (Hwy 14) to Cody was a little nerve racking (at least for me). It's a climb and it's a two lane road. About 20 miles of it is under construction with delays due to dynamite blasting. There's about a 5 mile section where the "pavement ends" and it is then like pea gravel with cones dividing the road for two way traffic and no shoulder. A 6 inch driving error would put you over the side. The road from Cloverdale, CA to the CA coast we took a couple of years ago was a primer for this road.

A couple of days ago we drove the Chief Joseph Highway then Bear Tooth Highway to Cooke City, MT. This is the north eastern entrance to Yellowstone. Too many people heading to Yellowstone ..I'll just buy a post card. Yesterday we went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum. It is definitely a must see. To see and read everything would take you days. Lots of motorcyles here. There was a police escort of about 50 bikes through town on Saturday. Probably won't go to the Rodeo. I can't stay up that late. It is fun, tho, seeing the cowboys with their spurs on in town.

I've updated "Where's Lucy Now". Figured out how to do it without deploying the satellite (it's on vacation status). Between campground wi-fi and tethering the phone using Verizon's Mobile Connect we haven't needed the satellite. We'll be in Cody until Friday and then head to Cheney, WA via Montana and Idaho.

The indians on horseback almost look real.

Wyoming...Home, home on the range

Where the deer and the antelope play. Didn't see any deer but saw plenty of antelope.

We are in a park between Boulder and Pinedale, WY. Population of Pinedale is around 1400. What's making this economy work is oil and gas production. However, it is my understanding it is slowing waaaay down. Housing is ridiculous. There is lots of real estate for sale. People are trying to get their prices (and equity) before the boom goes bust. Large hotel chains have built here to accommodate the oil/field workers but I've been told they are sitting with empty rooms. I'm betting it won't be a pretty site when the bust does happen.

Lucy's best friend came and visited for a couple of days. Cooper and Lucy went to therapy dog training school together. Lucy's usually not to friendly with strange dogs so having Cooper to hang with was super.
















Kathleen and Dan brought Cooper to visit with Lucy. It was lucky for us they were in the area and came to visit since Dan (being the handy Dan he is) changed out our shower head to a hand held unit. We should probably just follow them wherever they go...so anytime I need something done (or fixed) I have Dan to the rescue!

Meet a new American citizen

This is HeeYun, our daughter-in-law. The following "cut and pasted" email is from Tom, Tim's oldest son. They are in the states for 6 weeks and then will go back to Seoul, Korea where Tom is a teacher (DOD Schools)at Seoul Middle School on Yongsan Army base. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongsan_Army_Garrison#Department_of_Defense_Dependent_Schools

"We're back in the states. Hee Yun's naturalization interview is this morning and although she was cool breeze back in Korea, she is now a bit nervous. Did you know there are 27 ammendments to the constitution? She has done a wonderful job preparing for the interview, but keep us in your thoughts this morning. "

"Proving that births matched deaths, there is one more American today and her name is Hee Yun Kim Daugherty. She aced her tests and interview, although she sweated through the entire experience (she does that when she is nervous). We will be shopping around for social security numbers and passports now."

Way to go Hee Yun. Congratulations!

As a side note...she's also a top notch pool player and a member of the winning "Bless U Black Weirdos" in the Itaewon Pool League in Seoul.

Travel to Boulder WY

We dodge some and ran into thunderstorms on our way to Boulder, WY. Boulder is 88 miles south on Hwy 191 from Jackson, WY. The first and the third pic were taken from the moho while driving. Lucy had to piddle so we found a place to pull over to get the deed accomplished. It takes awhile...she is picky about her spots. And, for those of you who might question if I always wear a baseball cap...the answer is yes and no. If it's a bad hair day then Route 66 goes on.

OMG, what beautiful country even with all the rainy weather. And, we're not even close to the Tetons or Yellowstone NP.

We are parked at a campground (one of our ROD, AOR, DOD, DOA, DPS, DNS campgrounds available to us through our Western Horizons Membership) at Wind River View Campground in Boulder, WY. It's about 6 miles south of Pinedale, WY for those of you who want to look it up. I don't have the Datastorm Satellite deployed because I have been spoiled by faster internet connection through my Verizon cell phone. I use my cell phone as a modem to connect. We are here until June 24th.

Once again....

We will get it right. Not sure what we are doing wrong...but we've had our share of dead batteries on this trip. Truck is being towed to Twin Falls, ID to the Chrylser (I hope who is still there) dealer. This is the second time we've been towed. (First time was out of the Les Schwab Tire Dealer parking lot in Salem, OR.) It's a sinking feeling when you unhook, get in the truck to put it back into the "drive" position and everything is dead...no lights, beeps, whistles, nada. Plus, this time we had the entrance blocked to the RV park we had just checked into with 2 rigs behind us wanting to pull in. We hooked back up and pulled it around to our site. It's at this point I just wanted to go home, sit in my grandmother's rocking chair and suck my thumb.

Lucy didn't have a good night (or morning) either. We overnighted at the WalMart in Ontario, OR last night which butts up to the Snake River. In the middle of the night there was some feral type animal making horrible noises coming from the river area. Brought Lucy up out of a sound (making noises kind) sleep who then leaped over me and up on her hind legs looking out the window to see what it was. She was on point for over an hour. I'm not sure if she wanted to join in or if she was making sure it wasn't going to get her. I've never seen her like that. This morning I thought I would check her for fleas since I had a dream last night that she had them...yes, I do have some strange dreams...however, in checking her I found no fleas but a tick! Yuk! I googled what to do about removing a tick, made Tim read it while I prepared for surgery. Got the tweezers out, sterilized them with rubbing alcohol, got the rubber gloves out, got the neosporine, the super duper magnifying glass that lights up, a towel and a covered jar to put the tick in. And then I gave everything to Tim to do the deed. He looked at me as if he thought "I" was going to remove it. Are you nuts? I'll hold her. Anyway, he was able to get it out in tack...nothing left behind and it's now in a covered jar under the sink. You're suppose to keep it until you're sure the dog doesn't get sick...about a 48 hour period. Then that sucker is out of here.

Lucy made me promise that we will never ever go back to that WalMart.

Happy Dog!

Sorry about the quality of the video and noise (wind) but you get a brief glimpse of Lucy running on the beach. She ran and ran and ran. I think she could get use to being a beach dog!