The View from the Peak

Lafayette, LA

2007-01-12T09:02:00.000-06:00

I usually don't get political in any way on this blog. But this week, I got an email -- one of those silly chain things that I usually just glance at and delete. This one got under my skin. The original message and my rebuttal are below. Yup, it's a long read:

WEATHER BULLETIN -- DENVER

Up here, in the "Mile-Hi City", we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds, actually thousands, of motorists in lethal snow banks (some weren’t even located until 1/03/07), closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:
George Bush did not come.

FEMA did nothing.

No one howled for the government.

No one blamed the government.

No one even uttered an expletive on TV.

Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.

Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.

Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.

CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards. No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.

No one looted.

Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.

Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.

No Larry King, No Shepard Smith, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.

Nope, we just melted the snow for water.

Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.

The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny. Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families. Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.

We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal & oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns. We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".

We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.

Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."

It does seem that way, at least to me.

I hope this gets passed on. Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.

My reply:

After spending the last several months in Louisiana and having grown up in blizzard country, wish I knew who wrote this -- it needs rebuttal. I could take it line by line ("Nobody expected the government to do anything"? Oh really! Who plowed the roads? Not your city, county and state governments? "CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report"? Funny, who was on my TV here in Lafayette?).

But I'll just hit the highlights.

In a blizzard, people hunker down in their own homes with generators, Coleman lamps and well-stocked pantries. They don't get ordered to leave everything they own and go away, knowing there may be nothing to come back to. When a blizzard is over, neighborhoods, businesses, roadways and infrastructures haven't been destroyed, they've just been covered in snow that can be moved, albeit laboriously, with a simple tool called a shovel. Try moving floodwater out of the way before it's damn good and ready to move itself.

In a blizzard, trees and powerlines may come down and the odd roof may collapse, but if you're in trouble, chances are your neighbor is fine and help is as close as the nearest 4WD, snowmobile or pair of skis. Hospitals, banks, stores and emergency personnel may be hard to get to for a while, but they're still there. When a Category 5 hurricane wipes out a major metro, if you can't carry it, you don't have it. No food. No water. No shelter. No medical care. No transportation. No money. No job. No way of knowing when or where you will get any.

Blizzard-choked highways and runways can be cleared; snowed-in homes can stay warm and tight; stuck and stalled cars and buses will run fine again once they're unstuck. Everything washed away in a hurricane and flooding must be rebuilt, often from the ground up. But before the rebuilding can even begin, all the tons of flotsam and jetsam that used to be houses and stores, bridges and roadways, public and private vehicles, must be hauled away and junked. And the bodies. Don't forget the bodies. Twelve died in Denver's blizzard. More than 1300 bodies floated and lay rotting in the streets of New Orleans after Katrina.

In fact, this writer sums it all up in the first ten words. Denver "just recovered" from its blizzard, in less than 14 days. New Orleans and other communities hit by Katrina and Rita may never fully recover. More than a year after those storms, tens of thousands of what were once homes and businesses remain completely uninhabitable. More than HALF of the city's former population is still in exile.

I'm genuinely sympathetic with what Denver went through. I'm sure it was tough for a while. But this isn't even an "apples and oranges" comparison -- it's "apples and A-bombs." And the difference doesn't have a gawdam thing to do with the latitude OR the attitude of the people affected.

If you don't understand the difference, that's a REAL tragedy.

P.S. Seems this whole load of crap is nothing but some rehashed plagarism. This Snopes article debunked a North Dakota version last winter ...

Lafayette, LA

2007-01-10T12:43:00.000-06:00

Any wonder we love Louisiana? Bilingual signage and labeling is almost as common here as in Quebec -- I walk past these signs every time I go to the medical center where I do my physical therapy.

And that therapy, by the way, is going well. Three days a week, Fran, a quiet, petite woman with a soft lilt in her voice and a warm spark in her eyes, supervises my two-hour treatment. I'm heated and tingled for 20 minutes, then start a 90-minute exercise routine. Finally, Fran plays the Marquessa de Sade, slowly stretching my stiff shoulder. She pushes, pulls and leans against my arm until tears come to my eyes, then, while I pant like a LaMaze student, holds me at the point of agony for a countdown somewhere between a NASA liftoff and a network commercial break. Rinse and repeat for every direction a shoulder moves. Bless her heart, she always apologizes for having to be "aggressive," in between sotto voce reminders to "relax ... relax."

But it's working. I can reach the top shelf of the cabinets again. When I can hold my arm over my head long enough to fix that ceiling light that blinks intermittently over my chair, we'll be ready to travel...

Duson, LA

2007-01-09T23:10:00.000-06:00

OK, OK, I've been roundly and soundly rebuked for failure to keep up our travelogue. So I'm trying ANOTHER new tool. As usual, I work under the theory that if it's easy enough, maybe I'll keep up with it.

Anyway, it's about time I entered the "blogosphere." (Have you seen the new T-shirt with Samuel L. Jackson, pointing a pistol, with the quote, "Say blogosphere again..."? As usual, I'm a dollar short and a day late.)

It's not as if I don't have excuses ... at least recently, anyway. For those who don't know, I tripped over Murphy's dog food dish in early October, fell into the refrigerator, broke my right humerus in two places, up high near the shoulder. So for about six weeks, typing was a miserably slow, painful, left-handed affair. In fact, standing, sitting, lying down, walking -- all were miserably slow, painful affairs.

Broken bones suck. As Cory's Aunt Eva said, "The girl has to learn to look down."

Anyway, my resolution for '07 -- keep in touch. And keep my feet under me. The camera is charging.

On the way to the Soo

2006-09-27T19:45:00.000-06:00

We've lost Uncle Al. Services will be Friday. We're on our way north.

Eagle River, WI

2006-09-01T19:22:00.000-06:00

We're back in Wisconsin, hoping we'll get out of here by the end of the month. Cory's dad had his cast taken off Tuesday, but the orthopedist doesn't want him putting any weight on it for a while yet, so he'll be in the home for several weeks longer. We want to get him settled in, either at his old home or a new one, before we leave.

Elgin, IL

2006-08-18T19:34:00.000-06:00

We took a break and headed to Chicago for a few days--trying to get some of our long-delayed doctor's appointments taken care of. PLUS we've been invited to a backyard barbeque at our "home address" -- hosted by friends JoAnn and Irene. Looking forward to having conversations that don't revolve around aging, relatives and long-term care...

Eagle River, WI

2006-08-01T19:16:00.000-06:00

We checked Cory's Dad into a nursing home late last week and have spent the past few days trying to help him settle in.

In a couple weeks or so, after he's had some rehab and thorough evaluation, we'll have a better idea of what will happen next. Right now, the family is concerned about him going back to the house -- it's four levels, with no bathroom/bedroom on the same floor, too far out in the country for quick access to healthcare, and even a walk to the garage is about 300 feet away, all uphill. He fell last winter and, of course, there was the fall a few weeks ago. Everyone is concerned that at his age (90 in October), another fall could be disastrous.

Eagle River, WI

2006-07-24T18:59:00.000-06:00

We rented the house in the Soo without problems, and were hanging out for a while so Cory could visit with Aunt Edith and Uncle Al. Then we got a phone call from brother Tom. Her dad Jim had fallen, broken his right arm, and Tom wanted us to come to Three Lakes ASAP to give him some reinforcement.

So we arrived here on Thursday. On Friday, Tom went to work at 6:30 am. When we got to the house that afternoon. Jim was asleep in his chair, so we didn't disturb him. Tom came home, we talked, then with Jim still asleep, we left. About 20 minutes later, Tom called to tell us he couldn't wake his dad. He called the ambulance right away.

It was a long, tough weekend, waiting at Jim's bedside. Last night, he finally woke up. This morning, he's sitting up in a chair, drinking from a cup and asking to walk to the bathroom.

Sault Ste Marie, MI

2006-07-05T15:19:00.000-06:00

During our time in Sault Ste Marie, we visited the TenderCare facility almost daily to visit with Cory's Uncle Al. A sweetheart of a man, he's the proverbial "bachelor uncle" -- never married, never moved from the house where he was born. But his nieces and nephews revere him, as do hundreds of students at Lake Superior University (especially the hockey players!), where he worked as a maintenance man for many, many years.

(Sorry--the quality of photos taken with my phone is pretty sad.)

This is Aunt Eva's oldest daughter, Lucynda, with her nephew (sister Patti's son), Jack. Jack was a real pistol ... we had a great time with him.

Belvidere, IL

2006-06-29T14:34:00.000-06:00

Jim and Joe have become enthusiastic bowlers. Aunt Cory couldn't bowl, but she kept score. Aunt Mary June couldn't bowl either, but she tried. Some day, I'll break 100 ...

Rockford, IL

2006-06-28T14:26:00.000-06:00

Since the boys were toddlers, we've been taking them to Rockford's Magic Waters. And they still love it. Truth be told, so do we.

Bozeman, MT

2006-05-27T16:22:00.000-06:00

At Jim and Mary's RV Park in Bozeman ...

Bend, OR

2006-05-13T14:35:00.000-06:00

We rode the mystery train with Mom and Dad. Had a great time, and Cory got a kiss from a good lookin' cowboy.

Reno, NV

2006-04-24T23:53:00.000-06:00

What a beautiful view ... the park at Boomtown Casino is nothing special, except for the view of the mountains that surround Reno.

Tucson, AZ

2006-04-18T23:49:00.000-06:00

Well, we called ahead to reserve a special site -- to our knowledge, this is the only RV resort in the country that has sites with private jacuzzis, right at your site. But on arrival, none available. Perhaps we answered wrong when the reservation desk asked us "Are you in the market for a new RV?" Beaudry's is also one of Tucson's biggest RV dealers.

Las Cruces, NM

2006-04-16T00:05:00.000-06:00

This one was a pretty little surprise. We stopped first at "the lowest price RV park in Las Cruces"...and drove right through. Even if they'd had a site big enough for our rig, we wouldn't have been comfortable there, as it looked rather rundown. Sunny Acres, with our Escapee discount, was even less! And we had a big, grassy site and free WiFi, to boot.

Fort Stockton, TX

2006-04-12T23:59:00.000-06:00

Finally, we're on our way to Oregon! We spent the night right off I10 in the first RV park we ever visited that features 15' arrows buried in the ground...and a "herd" of silhouette buffalo just off to the north.

San Antonio, TX

2006-04-01T15:32:00.000-06:00

Mission Concepcion, in San Antonio.

San Antonio, TX

2006-03-27T15:43:00.000-06:00

Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, just northwest of San Antonio. We've been to petting zoos where the animals weren't as tame ... and these fellows wanted to be handfed!

San Antonio, TX

2006-03-25T16:24:00.000-06:00

We took my sister Susan to the Alamo ...

San Antonio, TX

2006-03-11T00:30:00.000-06:00

Arrived January 29. Surgery for our old Barney required that we hole up in San Antonio for a couple months. We've had a great time here, especially during the week sister Susan flew in to join us. We went to Sea World, which was less than a mile from our RV park, had dinner with Shamu and saw ALL the animals! And of course, we did the Riverwalk. (One really can't miss the prickly pear margueritas at Boudros on the river...)

San Antonio, TX

2006-02-26T00:07:00.000-06:00

Ah, the Riverwalk! Truly, San Antonio may have one of the most pleasant downtown areas we've ever visited. We'd heard about the famous prickly pear margueritas served by the water, so we made sure to stop for one.

Whatever you think prickly pear tastes like? You're probably wrong. It's sweet, delicate, delicious ... and PINK. We enjoyed ours...

Seguin, TX

2006-01-24T00:43:00.000-06:00

Lost the turbo in the truck about 50 miles outside San Antonio, so we wound up staying in Seguin for a week for repairs.

Carencro, LA

2006-01-20T00:39:00.000-06:00

Lafayette is one of our favorite destinations. Spent three weeks...and ate all the crawfish, crab, boudin and cracklins we could handle. Stayed at Bayou Wilderness RV Park.

New York, NY

2005-10-29T15:00:00.000-06:00

We stopped in Brewster, New York, to visit with Cory's cousin Susan, whom I'd never met and Cory hadn't seen in nearly 30 years. Susan and her friend graciously played host for a visit to The City. Though the day was frigid, we did the open-air doubledeck bus tour anyway. Then we took in a Broadway show (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring John Lithgow) and had dinner.

UPDATE: Sadly, only a few months after our visit, Susan lost her long battle to cancer. We will miss her ... and we'll long remember our visit and her warm, gracious hospitality.

Boston, MA

2005-10-01T15:11:00.000-06:00

Eagle Island, MA

2005-09-11T23:14:00.000-06:00

Scarsborough, ME

2005-09-05T23:09:00.000-06:00

Yes, that's right. What we have here is a life-size, hand-carved, 1,700 pound ... wait for it now, we didn't make this stuff up ... chocolate moose. And its name is Lenny.

Lenny's home is Len Libby Chocolates, just up Route 1 a bit from our spot in Arundel, Maine. Which is, itself, just down the highway a piece from Kennebunkport. We've done a fair bit of beachcombing, shopping and exploring in this area. But we stumbled onto Lenny purely by chance, when we finally decided to stop and visit the chocolate shop we had passed several times in our excursions.

Lenny, though, wasn't the best thing there, IMHO. We found a soft caramel-like confection dusted in powdered sugar called Bangor taffy. I'm a caramel aficionado, so I couldn't get out of there without several pounds of the stuff.

Philadelphia, PA

2005-08-13T23:06:00.000-06:00

What would a trip to Philadelphia be without trying a genuine Philly cheese steak sandwich? We asked around and learned that two steak shops are considered the best of the best -- Geno's and Pat's. And they're across the street from each other!

We got the pictures at Geno's ... but between us, we liked Pat's just a bit better. Order "with" -- that's with onions -- and "Whiz" -- with cheese whiz melted on the steak. Mmm-mmm.

Philadelphia, PA

2005-08-10T23:22:00.000-06:00

Wisconsin Dells, WI

2005-07-08T23:27:00.000-06:00

While in the Dells, we took a duck tour. That's officially D.U.K.W.s – which is a military code describing the WWII vehicle (D = 1942 , U = amphibian, K = front-wheel drive, W = rear-wheel drive), but the GIs just called 'em ducks. The Dells have one of the largest fleets of original ducks still in operation.

While we waited to ride, the boys were boys. While we rode, trying to avoid the splashes meant they did a lot of ducking!

Lion Country Safari

2005-04-15T23:39:00.000-06:00

Lion Country Safari, Pt 2

2005-04-15T23:36:00.000-06:00

Sure, it's a gimmick. You overpay for a couple of tiny medicine cups of sugar water, just for the privilege of going in the cage. But who cares? The lorries know what's in those cups and you'd better have a tight hold on them. And at least until the cups are empty, you get to play "Bird Man" ... or woman. It was a total hoot!

Busch Gardens, FL

2005-03-19T23:47:00.000-06:00

Gulf Shores, AL

2005-02-21T18:32:00.000-06:00

We’ve arrived on the Redneck Riviera, that stretch of white sand beaches along the Gulf Coast between Alabama and Florida. The weather is a temperate 67-77 degrees, and though the day was mostly cloudy, there’s no wind and threatened rain storms never materialized. Last night, we drove in to Foley to eat at the famous Lambert’s Cafe. I had the hog jowls (now, don’t look down your nose–it’s a real treat for bacon lovers!) and Cory had the pork chops–good, down-home cookin’ with plenty of pass-arounds, including sorghum molasses for the hot rolls. They’re the size of a twelve-inch softball, and that’s how they’re delivered, as well.

Every few minutes, a young man comes out of the kitchen with a cart, hollering "Hot rolls!" Give him the high sign, from ANYWHERE in the dining room, and he’ll lob one to you. Mmm-mmm. That’s why Lambert’s is known as "the only home of the throwed roll." Late today, we’re going down to the beach…and we’ll get some pictures.

Lafayette, LA

2005-02-08T23:53:00.000-06:00

It's MARDI GRAS!

Lafayette, LA

2005-02-06T23:58:00.000-06:00

Biloxi, MS

2005-01-20T08:55:00.000-06:00

Mississippi does Mardi Gras, too!

We spent a week in the Biloxi-Gulfport area–found on arrival that this is an area where reservations are best made in advance this time of year. We arrived without any, naturally, but we found a spot in Gulfport. We were parked so close to I-10 that Abby (the nickname we gave to our new Garmin 2610 GPS) couldn’t direct us home properly. The coordinates for our site came up as ON the highway, so she informed us that we had ‘reached our destination’ when we drove by and waved to the trailer.

We hit our first Mardi Gras parade in Biloxi on January 29, where we collected more than 8 pounds of beads without even trying. Can’t wait for sister Susan to arrive next week in Louisiana–you can’t help but have a good time at Mardi Gras in Acadiana.

North Fort Myers, FL

2004-12-28T04:08:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, we caught some kind of nasty URI while in Orlando, and when we arrived in Ft. Myers, we were both laid low. We had Christmas dinner with friends Rose, Pam, Kathy and Mary Jane, three of whom used to drive school bus with Cory. All have since relocated to this area, and all of THEM got sick after we had dinner with them. So though we spent nearly a month in town, we only saw our friends one other time after Christmas--nobody was well enough to be up and visiting!

But we did get out a few times to see some of the sights. We took an airboat ride on the EverGlades, as well as a "jungle boat tour" out of Everglades City that, mostly, consisted of riding through the no-wake zone looking at the fabulous homes build on the waterfront. And we saw all the alligators we cared to see, right off the highway!

Orlando, FL

2004-12-19T04:18:00.000-06:00

I can't imagine a better place to be with kids for Christmas than DisneyWorld. Michael brought the boys down for five nights. Naturally, the first couple of days, Orlando was having unseasonably cold weather, with highs in the 50s. That's mighty cold when the sun goes down and the parades and fireworks start. But before the boys went home, we finally got some highs in the 70s, and they could go home bragging about how warm it was, just as we had promised. Unfortunately, we never were able to find Joey a palm tree with coconuts in it. He couldn't believe they were really palm trees unless he could see coconuts!

Of course, Disney doesn't have a monopoly on Orlando (though it feels that way). We managed to squeeze in a helicopter ride, a nice drive to the beach, and on one of our exploratory drives, we came across BigFoot!

St. Augustine, FL

2004-12-06T04:23:00.000-06:00

This little town may be the best-kept secret in Florida. Older than the Jamestown colony by nearly 50 years, St. Augustine was held alternately by the Spanish and the British. What the two left behind is a charming oceanside community of white sand beaches, old colonial architecture, and lush hotels built by and for America's elite of the 19th century. From wandering down the narrow streets full of eclectic shops to strolling through the museums and down the beaches, we had a great time.

Savannah, GA

2004-12-01T09:15:00.000-06:00

What a beautiful city! The streets of Savannah are canopied with live oak trees draped with Spanish moss, there's a lush city square park every few blocks, and the riverwalk area is a delight, with all kinds of shops and restaurants tucked into historic brick buildings right along the harbor. There are all these Victorian "painted lady" homes, as well as neighborhoods that feel almost like the French Quarter of New Orleans, with intricate wrought iron balconies. The College of Art and Design seems to have a campus building everywhere you look, and the whole city feels like a designer's sensibility is behind it, from the architecture to the decorating to the landscaping. We had a great time today roaming the shops on River Street and Bay Street, and we're going back to take a historic trolley tour and a ghost tour, too.

Savannah is now on our short list of cities we'd visit again at the drop of a hat. I'll bet it's magnificent in the springtime!

Charleston, SC

2004-11-30T09:22:00.000-06:00

When we left Myrtle Beach, we fully intended to get to Savannah, GA. But just before we left, we got our mail. In our Escapees magazine, I read an article on the Holiday Festival of Lights at James Island County Park in Charleston. I started telling Cory about it as we were pulling out, and before we reached Georgetown, we decided, "Why not?" So we stopped in Charleston!

We had to drycamp the first night in the overflow area of the county park. The HFOL is a big deal and the campground fills up every weekend through the holiday season. But we were able to get into a full hookup site the next day, and we planned to stay here through Thanksgiving. As it turns out, we've both been sick all week--caught a nasty bronchitis--so we extended our stay another couple of nights. We managed a nice Thanksgiving Day dinner, turkey and all the trimmings, here at home, and got out to see the big sand sculpture across the way at the Winter Wonderland.

Myrtle Beach, SC

2004-11-24T18:08:00.000-06:00

Over the last week, we've shared our beautiful oceanside resort with more than 900 horses! And we loved it! The event was the 23rd Annual American Heart Association Rideathon. Riders collected pledges, just like in a walkathon, then spent four days here in Myrtle Beach riding their horses on the beach to raise money for the AHA. We knew this would be something special when the long, long lines of horse trailers started arriving. The check-in system was very efficient; every horse went through a "Coggins inspection" to verify its health and vaccination history while the owners got their site assignments.

They came from everywhere--we saw plates from Texas, New York, Colorado, Wyoming, as well as lots from the Carolinas and neighboring states--and as they set up their portable corrals and started exercising the horses, you could feel the excitement spread across the campground.

We were surrounded by horses! (See us? That's the B.A.T. in center frame above.) The dogs were surprisingly calm about it all, only getting a little excited when they were outside next to a nickering neighbor. The group hosted a lot of entertainment and other events, and we were made to feel fully welcome to join right in at country music concerts, karaoke events and more.

But the best part was watching them ride on the 20+ mile stretch of beach. It's a relatively rare treat for both man and beast---to walk, trot and even gallop along the ocean surf in the company of hundreds of other horsemen. The sight is something we won't soon forget.

Myrtle Beach, SC

2004-11-08T18:26:00.000-06:00

Just arrived, so no pics yet, but Myrtle Beach looks like fun! We decided to settle in here for a couple of weeks. That will give us time to do some beachcombing, check out the local entertainment scene, and enjoy the indoor heated pool that's within sight of our spot here.

Virginia Beach, VA

2004-11-01T18:30:00.000-06:00

We've become part of a mini-caravan! We met Judy in Luray at the RVing Women rally, joined her and a few of the other gals again the next weekend at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, then found she was headed to Virginia Beach to visit her son. So we made arrangements to rendezvous again!

Judy is a solo full-timer who knows this area fairly well, so she became our guide for a visit to the Virginia Beach Aquarium. We got a late start today, so we're going back tomorrow to see more. The weather has turned cool, but we still hope to see a day warm enough to do a harbor cruise before we leave VA Beach on Saturday. No destination planned as yet...just south! Judy, on the other hand, will be heading back toward her home base in northern Virginia. But we'll stay in touch and hope for another opportunity to meet on the road.

Luray, VA

2004-10-16T18:42:00.000-06:00

An auspicious omen for our arrival in Virginia...the most beautiful, full arc rainbow I've ever seen. Couldn't even get it all in the picture! While in Luray, we visited the caverns. We've done Mammoth and Carlsbad, but never been in caves where we literally stepped around stalagmites in our path and had to remember not to touch them as we moved by. Almost all the formations were really up close--not as huge as in the bigger caves, but a lot more accessible.

We were getting ready to leave Luray on Saturday morning, the 23rd, when I spotted a crowd of women around a campfire a few sites down. Curious (you never see 20 or 25 women together at a campsite), I went down and introduced myself and asked if they were a club. Turns out it was the MidAtlantic Chapter of RVing Women, having their fall rally. They invited us to join in, so we stayed an extra night. We learned how to play Mexican Train dominoes, then went to a potluck dinner, where two accordian players and a harmonica player led a sing-along. We had a great time. We were planning on heading down to Virginia Beach on Sunday, when a few of the gals told us they were going to be camping in Richmond the next weekend. So...we stopped in Richmond for a while! The drive down through the Blue Ridge Mountains was spectacular.

Hershey, PA

2004-10-10T18:56:00.000-06:00

It's the sweetest place on Earth! It's true, the town smells like chocolate when the wind is right. Here in Derry Township (though the Post Office is named Hershey, the town has never officially changed its name), the main street is named Chocolate Drive and the street lamps are shaped like the famous kisses. There are no tours of the actual factory anymore, but you can tour a mockup at Chocolate World, so of course, we did!

Our plans to head for New England for the fall colors had to change when I was summoned to jury duty. But we headed east anyway, and have found that the Allegheny Mountains are beautiful this time of year. We'll be in Lancaster for a day or two, then we're off to Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley for a week. It's perfect fall weather in this part of the world, cool and sunny...most days, anyway.

Skokie, IL

2004-10-02T09:35:00.000-06:00

We stayed in Illinois a lot longer than orginally planned--I was called to jury duty in late September, so our plans to head to New England for fall colors are on hold. But it meant we had more time to spend with friends and family there. JoAnn and Irene have a new pug puppy...now, get this right, to say her name properly, throw your head back like Marlon Brando and yell, "STELL-LLA"! She's shown here in the Halloween sweater her Aunt Cory picked out for her!

And of course, we visited with our godsons--growing like weeds, they are. We made our annual trip to Magic Waters in Rockford, where they each got tattoos...the kind that last about four days. That's Jim on the left, Joe on the right.

La Pine, OR

2004-06-05T09:46:00.000-06:00

The snow was still blocking the road to the top of Paulina Peak the Sunday we drove out to visit "the highest flush toilet in Oregon," but we had a great day, anyway. Dad and I climbed up the obsidian field to look down over the valley while Cory and Mom stayed in the car down below. It was a steep climb, and just between us, I was considerably more winded than he was.

Our stay in LaPine extended several weeks longer than we orginally planned, while we waited for an appointment to repair our trailer's bedroom slide in Bend. But with those beautiful Cascade Mountains surrounding us, the thick, tall Ponderosa and jack pine forests all around, and our ongoing double-deck pinochle tournament with the folks to entertain us in the evenings, we had plenty of reasons to enjoy our stay.

One of our favorite haunts turned out to be a restaurant that recently opened in LaPine, Angel's Thai. Yup, we're big fans of Thai food...and Angel's serves the best we've ever tasted. It's run by two sisters (neither one is named Angel), one who cooks and one who manages the front. If you're in the area, make sure you try the Yum Nua (beef salad)--and trust us, save room for dessert. For weeks, we saw "mango and sticky rice" written on the board as the dessert special, but we didn't try it until we were leaving LaPine and the sisters gave us a serving to go as a good-bye gift. When delays on our repair took an extra day, we went back just to have more!

Piedras Blancas, CA

2004-04-27T09:56:00.000-06:00

See that white blip, farthest to the right, out on the cliff? That was us, right on the Pacific Coast, just about 7 miles north of Hearst's Castle on CA-1. It was a totally primitive site, no water, no electric, no cable TV, no bathhouse or even outhouse, just parking. We had our portable generator, our satellite dish and a little water in the freshwater tank, though, so we were fine.

Was it a spot we'd have picked? Probably not--we whizzed right by here nearly three days earlier on our way north. But that was before we broke down for the second time this month and had to leave the trailer for several nights in a turnout at the top of a mountain road. After help from one of the really good guys (if you know Craig Isom of Cambria, CA, tell him the ladies are still saying 'thanks'), we limped down the hill to the first safe place we could find. This was it, and for three days, until we could get to the nearest repair shop...

...this was the view from our front door. Sometimes, circumstances force you to slow down a little...and listen to the surf. Lesson learned.

San Simeon, California

2004-04-26T10:03:00.000-06:00

On this short stretch of beach on the Pacific Coast Highway, elephant seals come to mate, molt, and bath in the California sunlight.

It reminded us just a little of the Chicago beach on the 4th of July...

During our drives back and forth along CA-1, we saw a lot of these fellows.

30 miles north of Cambria, California

2004-04-24T10:11:00.000-06:00

The Escapade over, we headed for San Francisco. On the Pacific Coast Highway, coming out of a hairpin curve headed downhill, I applied the brakes, something snapped and we were smoking again. Thank heaven there was a turnout big enough for us only 100 yards ahead.

This time, there was no way to limp, and no help was available until Monday, so we were stuck on the side of a coastal mountain road, out where the cell phones wouldn’t work and the nearest town (Cambria, only 6000 people) was 30 miles away. We stopped at a Chevron station there, where a nice young man spent almost an hour on the phone trying to find a mobile mechanic or road service that would go up on the mountain to help us. No dice. And because of height restrictions on that highway, a low-boy wasn’t an option even if we could find one! So we took a motel room in San Simeon. The thought of trying to sleep in our trailer on the side of a dark, deserted, twisty-turny mountain road made Cory too nervous, so she stayed there and manned the phone so someone could reach us. The thought of leaving our HOME 30 miles away and obviously deserted made me too nervous, so I went out there and stayed the nights with the dogs. We had purchased a small generator at the Escapade in Lancaster, so I had lights and could watch movies on the VCR and work on the computer.

Monday came and we still hadn’t found anyone to help—then on my way down the mountain, I passed the nice man from the Chevron station, going the other way. Seems he’d spent the whole weekend worrying about us, so he was going out to see if he could do anything to help. He wound up spending both Monday and Tuesday (his days off) chasing down parts to help us get rolling and get down the mountain to a repair shop 50 miles away. There, we learned that during the last repair, the last U-bolt hangers installed apparently weren't tightened down properly.

Santa Clarita, CA

2004-04-18T10:17:00.000-06:00

Well, here was the solution to our problem. The shop and the manufacturer agreed that the original suspension design failed, so a beefier solution was installed that included welding a reinforcement to the frame and shortening the leaf brackets to stiffen them. So we're off to Lancaster, to the Spring Escapade, a week of social activity and seminars just for full-time RVers.

Los Angeles, CA

2004-04-14T10:26:00.000-06:00

Yup, that's the B.A.T. parked on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, right in front of Lalique!

Of course, you HAVE to drive the Pacific Coast Highway when in LA. We started at Topanga, and followed it all the way to Marina Del Rey. Loved the architecture of the crowded ocean view flats in the Santa Monica/Venice areas...

We stumbled into Hollywood one evening, and I wasn't about to leave until I got a shot of the famous Chinese Theatre. OK, nobody said it was a GREAT shot....