Lucy's got friends.

Lucy was a big hit in Tombstone. Don't know who these people are but when they saw her they stopped and he picked her up before I knew what was happening. However, I think he was just a little lonely...he left 3 yorkies at home wherever home is. I think Lucy was a little overwhelmed. She kept looking at me to make sure I wasn't leaving her with them!

Lots of tourists and motorcyles in Tombstone. They do a good job of re-enacting the old west but now I can say...been there - done that - don't need to go back.

Where we are today

If you look to the left you will see "Where's Lucy today? I just figured out this morning how to add the link to the map that shows our location (via satellite). We'll see if it works the way I think it should when we are in Benson. Each time we move I update the map to our new location.

Amost a year...

Hard to believe but it's only a week shy of being 1 year since I quit my job. March 31, 2007 I took the pictures off the wall, packed my name plate and took my froggy crystal ball and went home. I had been in the mortgage business for 24 years and with the same employer for 14. But, I had had enough. I wasn't having fun anymore and had lost my passion for the business a number of years ago. It was time to move on. I knew I didn't want to "retire". I just wanted a year off to get my yen and yang working again. They had gotten out of whack.

So. Here I am 12 months later. Amazing how things work out. Shortly after we left in the motorhome (moho) last June I signed up as a representative for SkyMed - www.skymed.com/daugherty - Didn't really do anything until after the certification training last October. We have been busy making presentations about SkyMed at rallies and rv parks. Business could be better...but it's not bad. And, for those of you who may be reading this and think SkyMed is only for RV'ers...it's not. It's for any and all. The economy and investments may be in the toilet but if you have a critical injury or illness the bills are still going to come in and they aren't going to give you a discount. Sorry. Got carried away. (Guess where my passion is now??)

We are now also the latest dealers for RV Quick Shades. Here's the company's website (not ours - we don't have one yet) and you can see what we're selling - http://www.rvquickshades.com/. Tim and Crystal (also dealers) hooked us up with Pat and Dave who are the owners of RV Quick Shades. Tim and Crystal also are dealers for Eagle boats - http://www.inflatableboats4less.com/. Here's a picture (taken at close range - I've got short arms) taken recently.
Pretty soon we will be on the road in the moho selling our wares. I just remember when we first got the motorhome (5 years this coming July) 4 days was about the maximum Tim wanted to be in it...then a couple of years ago he managed 3 weeks...then last year it was 3 months. Now, we're looking at 6 months. Hmmm. Did somebody say fulltime?

Crane Lake Merlot or Cabernet

OK. I tried and tried to get this on the RVForum.Net...but I've only been back on hormones for a week and the mental clarity still isn't all there. This is the best I could do...for now. However, Bernie has to take some responsiblity here as well. Afterall, it does appear to me he's having some challenges with mental clarity too. Do I drink from the left hand...or right? Crane Lake Cabernet or Merlot??? Big glass...little glass?

Bunny Killer?

How could this adorable, sweet, registered therapy dog be labeled a bunny killer??? There must be some mistake. Must I take her out of the country to protect her now from PETA? GreenPeace? Nancy Pelosi? Just look at that innocent face. There must be more to the story. Lucy's version is the bunny came around the corner, saw her, jumped into her mouth and had a heart attack. Lucy, being the caring therapy dog she is did what a caring therapy dog would do in such a situation. She was moving it to a place under the shade of a palm tree where the bunny would be more comfortable. Hmmmm.

Happy New Year 9 days later!

We are currently in Indio at Shadow Hills RV Resort. We will be giving our 3rd SkyMed presentation tomorrow morning (on this trip). We left Aguanga, CA this morning. Aguanga is 18 miles east of Temecula, CA. We were staying at Rancho California for a couple of days and had a wine and cheese event along with our SkyMed presentation. For those of you who have read this blog for awhile (or not) you may be asking - what's SkyMed? Well, click on the link to the left and it will take you to our website. You can get all the info you want from that website. HOWEVER, DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THE WEBSITE...YOU WILL PAY RETAIL...YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THAT (UNLESS IT'S SHORT TERM AND WE CAN'T DICKER THERE.) Call (or email) if you want more info.

How we got to SkyMed is a long story and I'm not going to bore you...but suffice it to say we totally, 139%, completely, passionately. can't think of any more adjectives (or is it adverbs?) - I never did like English - but you get the idea - believe in what we are now selling. And, we get to do it from the MOHO - AND write it off - (it's up to you Mikey, our wonderful CPA, to figure it all out for us). I was so done with the mortgage world. 24 years was enough.

We left almost a week ago on our junket and will be back home around the 20th. We leave Indio on Sunday heading for Lake Havasu City to do a presentation there but also meet up with rv friends for a rally. We then leave Lake Havasu City and head to Quartzsite to meet up with more friends out in the desert on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land to boondock (boondock means no hookups - we're totally self-contained and can last about 5 days without having to dump the tanks and you take lots of blankets, wine and Jack Daniels). We're talking minimalist living. Quartzsite is an experience. One of everything and then some. Old rigs with numerous antennas trying to contact space. I'm sure some do connect. Then there's the guy who owns the bookstore in town that doesn't wear anything but a little (really little) piece of cloth covering his obviously really little whatever he calls it. We'll head back home for a week or so and then down to Casa Grande for another big rally (Gypsy Journal Rally - http://gypsyjournal.net/blog/) where we will have a booth and meet up with more friends.

Lorie and Audrey were here for Christmas leaving Christmas Day. Let's just say it will be a lonnng time before I fly Northwest. They are the absolute worst on customer service. Lorie was weighted down worst than a pack mule and Northwest would not give me a pass to help her get to the gate. I don't even want to start in on the TSA...these people are suppose to protect us?????

I'm really going to try to blog more often. I follow so many other blogs...I don't know why I don't update this one more often. I'm never sure if anyone would want to read it. If you do...leave a comment once in awhile. It will inspire me. Maybe. Potatoes are done. Got to go. Need more wine. The following couple of posts were over Christmas. Check out the video in the post after the coffeecake. Coffeecake is another story.

Mom's Coffee Cake

Well, once again trying to get the pictures in order is a challenge. Here's the story. My brother and I are always talking about the coffee cake our grandmother (whom we called Mom) made. You see, Mom never wrote anything down (never finished school...not sure if she even went). But, it was the best coffee cake ever. When she took it from the oven, the butter was melted and runny. You had to be careful not to get burned. You had to wait until it cooled and hardened. I know she used Milnot. You probably never even heard of Milnot...but it's an evaporated milk like Carnation. Must of been a Midwest thing. Here's the website if you're interested http://milnot.com/.

Anyhow, the picture above IS NOT what her's looked like. This picture is the result of 12 cups of flour, lots of sugar and lots of butter. Took me 3 trys before I got the dough right so it would rise. Won't even go into those stories. Let's just say if the third time didn't work then Mom needed to show up in a vision. I was out of flour.


We tried a couple of pieces where it seemed to be the gooiest. I'm sure that's not a word but it's what we were looking for. Taste wasn't bad. But it wasn't Mom's. After 3 days of sitting in a cool garage (no room in the refrig) I dumped that puppy. Thought about making bread pudding out of it but I already had that experiment in the refrigerater from overcooked cinnamon rolls. Coffeecake had to go. As you can probably tell...I'm not a baker. However, I did just get a recipe for "no knead one pot" bread from a friend. I need to go buy flour. Stay tuned.

I know it look's like Lucy's paw print but, trust me, she was staying way clear of the kitchen...too many adjectives coming from there.

Grandma Needs Coffee

I think one of the reasons it takes me awhile to get back to blogging is I forget how to do stuff...like upload a video. Grandma needed something IN her coffee this morning and I don't mean cream and sugar.

Click on the arrow button to play video.



Click on the link for the web album...http://picasaweb.google.com/psdaugherty/AudreyChristmas#

Happy and Merry Whatever!!!

Lucy and her human family says turn off the news, plug your ears to all the doomslayers out there, make some hot chocolate (couple of shots of peppermint schnapps won’t hurt) and watch The Christmas Story for the umpteenth time.  And, if sitting on Santa’s lap makes you happy…go for it!  Lucy wasn’t thrilled about it but she got a cookie…and she’ll do anything for a cookie.  

Mom Shows Up

Mom gave me her version of the finger since I had been messing with her kid by taking pictures.
Go away.

Dead Bones and Baby

A.L. Savage is buried in the Haines, OR cemetary and is Tim's Great grandfather. A.L. stands for Americus Llewellyn.
Mary A. (Savage) Daugherty is also buried in Haines, OR and is Tim's grandmother. A.L.'s daughter.
Tim making notes on "relative" tombstones we found.

Not doing too well on my spacing but took this picture this morning on our drive to Sumpter, OR (population 11, 3 dogs). This is a baby osprey. Mom pictures to follow. Baby started chirpping (big time) and Mom AND Dad showed up. I kept watching skyward to make sure they didn't dive bomb me.

Been awhile....

Thought I would be blogging about our "great, grand adventure" at least weekly but as the date shows...it's been 2 months since my last post! I knew I wanted to pull my "oars" in and relax in this "semi-retirement" mode but I think I lost them somewhere in Utah.

We are currently in Vancouver, WA with a stuck bedroom slide (won't go back in). We're waiting for the service guy to show and see what's going on. We could be here for awhile if they have to order a new motor. At least we're in a decent park with full hook-ups, my satellite works, have Direct TV and/or Cable so Tim is able to watch the Olympics. We could have been in the boonies when this happened. Weather, however, is a little warm. Apparently they will be breaking records today with temps around 104! Very unusual for the area.

I think my last post was after Byrce Canyon, Utah. We then made stops in Provo, Salt Lake City, Declo, ID, Boise, Burns, OR (middle of nowhere), Bend, OR (liked Bend - Tim and Lucy both got groomed), Grants Pass, OR, Canyonville (7 Feathers RV Resort where we met up with family) then to Portland and stayed with friends we made while at 7 Feathers - Michael and Randy - they have the most beautiful 5 acres that includes a full hookup site behind their home. Michael, however, purposely failed to tell me about the twisty, narrow, winding road to their place. Made the roads on our CA trip last year look great. Leaving Portland we headed to Seaside, OR (coast) for a few days where Jan and David met us. Tim, Lucy and I took a car trip down the coast stopping at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, Cannon Beach, Bandon, Lincoln City...long day. We then followed them up to Olympia where we stayed (3 weeks) on their lot at Lost Lake RV Resort. Their lot is set up to accommodate two motorhomes with full hookups.

We left Olympia yesterday with the intent of going to Westfir, OR for a few days. Decided to stop in Vancouver and just make it a short day....and, so, here we are.

Pictures can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/psdaugherty. Select an album, then for best viewing - click on slideshow.

Service guy just showed up. Stay tuned.

More Ramblings

We've been on the road for only 10 days and I think we've seen every rental rv there is in this country and they are all being driven by foreigners...Germans, French, Italians, Swiss with a few Brits thrown in. (Asians are usually on the tour buses.) Usually they only stay one night and move on. It's about 50/50 with kids in tow. The Italians moved in last night with kids (lost count on how many) but proceeded to build a fire so they could roast weinies, marshmellows, burn the park down and contribute to the noise pollution...where are the environmentalists when you need them? (Just kidding...but I did keep peaking out the window to see where the sparks were flying.)

Bryce Canyon National Park

Took about 150 pictures of rocks, hoodoos, and a few trees. After awhile it all starts looking alike. It is pretty amazing scenery. If you are a hiker, backpacker, avid outdoors person then this is your mecca. They also say this area has the blackest skys for great star gazing. We're leaving tomorrow so tonight is my last chance for night time viewing. I'll try...but if the alarm doesn't wake me then I'll have to take their word for it. The sun doesn't even set until almost 9pm!!! For more pictures go to my web album http://picasaweb.google.com/psdaugherty/Bryce -
If you select "slide show" it views better.





Tim says, " Having a great time...wish you were here!"

At 8100 feet, he was better served waiting for me in the car.

Bryce Ramblings

We had to paste a calendar on the cabinet above the driver's seat. Notice days are crossed off. Only way we can keep track of days/dates.
Cappucino machine has come in very handy these cold mornings. It was 28 degrees yesterday morning. It's only 58 right now (12:30pm)Charles Shaw comes in very handy in the evenings. Don't care what the temperature is.
It's hard to tell where the sofa begins and Lucy ends. My neck hurts watching her sleep.

Flagstaff and Lake Powell

Our first stop on our "grand adventure" (GA) was Flagstaff. We visited our friends, Joan and Stephen and their dog Luke. Lucy's not sure about Luke. First of all he's big and he likes to play. She does alot of hiding behind our legs, furniture, whatever she can find.

Joan, Stephen and I spent one day hiking and riding the chair lift at Snow Bowl. Tim and Lucy weren't up for it so they stayed home and napped.

I can tell I haven't posted in awhile. I'm forgetting how to get the pictures in the right order.

One funny on Tim. When we left home, he was turning a corner and commented about some jerk (I cleaned it up) that was following too close behind. He then realized it was our car (we're towing). Obviously, we haven't been on the road for some time!

We left Flag Wednesday heading for Lake Powell. We got an early start due to a high wind forecast. Nice drive, crossed over Glen Canyon Dam and pulled into Lake Powell before noon. Got registered and headed to our spot. Made Tim find another site since a snake was slithering across ours. Yes, I know, it is capable of slithering anywhere it wants to. It just made me feel better. There isn't a bad location anywhere. The views are awsome. Had a horrible storm later in the day. Thank heavens we weren't driving.

Audrey's 1st Birthday

Here's my first attempt at movie making...only has taken me 2 days to figure it out!!

Major Blog Overhall

Want to know what I did in Ajo? Re-did, played with, added links (click on colored word or phrase and you will be taken to a website that describes whatever I'm talking about), slide shows (click on picture and you will be taken to my Picassa web album - use the back button to return to the Blog), added some of my favorite sites - more to come, editing and adding photos to web albums, adding maps with our route drawn and placemarks (still working on that one).

Spent HOURS working on fine tuning, tweaking, deleting, adding, actually reading instructions on how to add whatever to the Blog, uploading, downloading, losing then finding text, watching tutorial videos (thanks Geeks on tour), then watched them again, choosing size, color, style of fonts and texts. Whew! Thank the heavens we were in Ajo otherwise the Blog would still be just the Blog. Now it's new and improved and I'm just getting warmed up. Stay tuned.

Trip to Ajo (Ah Ho)

We took the motorhome out of mothballs and headed to Ajo, Az to Shadow Ridge Rv Resort (not going to do that link...obnoxious music on their website). Why Ajo? Well, it's only about 2 hours away, an easy drive and we've never been there. There is not much happening in Ajo unless you happen to work for Border Patrol. They are everywhere! One day we went to the IGA to get bread and Jack Daniels. They only sell beer and wine at the IGA. Tim had to go to the local liquor store "Indulgence" to get his JD. The next day we took a drive around town and out in the desert...which was a very pretty drive even tho we were dodging Border Patrol cars. Also went to the Pharmacy to get me some Zyrtek knockoff since my allergies were horrible. I was tempted to take the car and drive home leaving Tim to get back on his own. Fortunately, the drugs kicked in. The next day we went to Dollar General. Today, I went to the Chevron to get a "cappucino" before we headed south to the border and Organ Pipe Cactus National Park. The following posts detail the trip.

It has been a good trip. We like Ajo. They even have a Country Club...kinda. They also have an airport...but don't have any planes. Did I mention Border Patrol? We also went to Why, AZ. Why? Why not? Don't need to go back.

We head home tomorrow. I bet there will be a Border Patrol road block heading north.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Park

This is as close as Tim would let me get to the border. This border crossing is at Lukeville, AZ and it is a busy one. I was amazed at the number of RV's heading to Mexico. This is the road that takes you to Rocky Point which is about another 40 miles down the road.

On the drive back to Ajo we passed a Border Patrol car parked on the side of the road (facing traffic) and using binoculors eyeballing us as we drove by. There was also a "high intensity tower" watching traffic.
A 28 year old Park Ranger was shot and killed by a drug cartel member while he was on patrol in 2002. I had no idea that Park Rangers patrolled for illegals and drugs as well as Border Patrol.

We just visited the visitor's center...didn't do the 21 mile trip through the park (on a dirt road). Bought a post card instead.

They have a campground (dry camping only) that was real nice. Can handle 40' motorhomes. No entry fee and $6.00/night cost if you have a Golden Age Pass (now called America the Beautiful Pass) however; all the snakes are coming out of hibernation now so I'm not going there.

Picture of me...proof I was on this trip.