Anybody Need a BLUE OX Tow Bar?

I have a Blue Ox Tow Bar that is excess to my needs right now....anybody need one? It is an Aventa II BX 7335 Tow Bar Class IV-2 inch receiver, rated to pull up to 10,000 lbs.


I just had it totally rebuilt at the Escapade Rally in Gillette, WY in Sept 2011.   I thought I would offer it to any of my readers first before I put it up for sale locally and on eBay. They are heavy and cost about $50.00 to ship anywhere, so a local pick up would be great.  I’m asking $250.00 for it….. If you can use it, let me know and we can work something out…….. 


We found a couple of these old deteriated RV vent covers in our yard when we got here. I thought, hmmm, must have blew off somebody's RV sometime during one of the summer wind storms. I didn’t think much more about it until Ms. Pat ask “Does our cargo trailer that we store the ATV’s in have vent covers like that?”  A light suddenly went off in my head,,,DUH! Gee, I don’t remember if it does or not, I’ll go look. Well it's so tall ya can’t see the roof without a ladder.  So I drug out my step ladder and VIOLA.....sure enough!!!  2 big gapping 12” square holes in the top of our trailer…… Uh Oh.....better look inside and check stuff out.

That’s a pretty big hole that was wide open on the roof…… 2 of them. 


Fortunately, I had covers over the ATV’s and there was no damage to anything.  I could see where the water had puddled in the heavy canvas covers, probably until it evaporated.  No floor damage either, so we were very lucky!


A quick trip to town and $50.00 later, I have two brand new vent covers, new gaskets all installed and ready for that rainstorm brewing in the background.

Yesterday, Ms. Pat spent all afternoon at her Pistol shooting practice at the Wickenburg Sportsman’s Club range. She shot over 100 rounds through her new Ruger sr1911 .45 Cal pistol. It’s a lot different than her Glock and takes some getting used to but she said she loves the new gun. Now I gotta get to reloading some .45's.

Tomorrow we are headed to the big city and over to my Dr. appointment in Scottsdale.  Long day and a long trip but that is where the Dillon reloading factory is and I need some items…so it won’t be a wasted trip… 

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!! The weather is PERFECT…

Thanks for stopping by.  Come on back when ya get a chance………..or better yet, stop and see us!

God Bless you all…

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

I Salute All Veterans...Young and Old!!

I want to thank all of our Veterans and Active Duty Military Personnel for your service. It is because of you that we all get to live the life we do and enjoy the freedoms we have in this country.


We are getting settled in at our place in North Ranch near Congress, AZ and back to our usual activities.  Ms. Pat was in extreme demand as a Line Dance Instructor and she was anxious to get back to one of here favorite activities. She also hasn’t been able to finish a little “Lap Quilt” that she started in Custer, so she got started on that again. Moving daily down the road in an RV makes it difficult to do any quilting, so sitting up her sewing room was one of her priorities.

Just last night she announced to Ms. Megabyte2 and I that she had completed the “Lap Quilt”.   Her projects keep getting a little bigger. First the Table Runner, then Baby Quilts and now this. I think it is beautiful.....don’t you?

This is the back side of her Quilt……… Good job Girl!  Well done.  I am afraid to think what will be next.  I do know that she is anxious to get back out to the shooting range and join the group of gals she shoots with. She will start that on Tuesday afternoon.

You guessed it !! Yep, I’m back in my shop doing what I love to do…………making bullets.  We have all these .45 ACP guns now, so I’m getting set up to reload them. I have only loaded .40 S&W so far.   So this will be fun and a new experience. Gotta be careful, don’t want too big of a BANG!!

It is with deep sadness that I must report the passing of our good friend and faithful follower of this Blog, Sherry Dilworth. Sherry and Charlie had been constant blogging buddies for a long time and we were fortunate to have them visit us at our place in the Black Hills of South Dakota during the summer of 2011. In August of that year Charlie and I were initiated into the Elks Lodge together at the Escapade in Gillette, WY.

Sherry was on the long list waiting for a Lung transplant and this Fall she was finally called for her transplant. Although her life had been a struggle the past few years, she was sure that with her new lungs, she would be able to continue the life of full-timing that she so loved and enjoyed.   She was a fighter and really fought a long battle.  For a while, we all thought she had won this terrible battle but God had another plan. On Friday, November 9th, she passed on to that wonderful RV Park in Heaven. 

I’m sure gonna miss her encouraging and friendly comments on my Blog. Charlie and their family are in our thoughts and prayers. May Sherry rest in peace as I know she is.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Old man Winter is breathing right down upon us and not wasting any time. This is what our Weather station on roof told me this morning.............Brrrrrrrr

I have a super crop of Oranges going on our trees and don't want a frost to snip them. What do I have to do to protect them, cover them every night? That's quite a job as we have 4 of them and they are about 6' tall.........HELP

God Bless you all, please come on back when you can stay longer…..

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

We are HOME!!

Pulled into North Ranch just as expected Sunday before lunch time. We soon had the Motorhome parked in it's dedicated spot.  When I shut the big ole' Cummins engine down, I just sat there for a moment thinking. What a trip, what a great time we had visiting all our wonderful friends and family.

It is so wonderful to travel out on the road for over a month and sleep in your own bed every night.
But it is always so good to get HOME!!  I looked at Ms. Pat and gave here a big hug and as I told her “Here we are”.  I could tell she was likewise Happy to be Home!  Ms. Megabyte2 was up looking out the window and I’m sure she said ”Hey...I recognize this place”! 

We all took a couple deep breaths and immediately began the process of transferring our home from the Motorhome to the house.  Everything looked wonderful and I’m happy and proud to say I’m coming to you from my recliner at home in North Ranch today!


It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Give us a few days to get things rolling around here and dream up something exciting to do….

See ya next time……

God Bless

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

It Wasn’t Meant To Be !!

Well I’m not coming to you from my living room at North Ranch in Congress, AZ like I wanted to. When I made that statement I knew I was dreaming.  Yep, I was dreaming alright. No big deal, it just wasn’t meant to be.

As happens so often, the motor for the MCD shade didn’t get in. They could get it in the next day but I wasn’t wanting to sit and wait on it and take another chance of it not making it.  So, I told the boys at MOT that I would just go up to the shade company near Dallas and have them install it. It was less than 200 miles away and right on our way. So just before noon, we headed for Dallas.

We arrived at MCD Innovations about 3:30 and I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool if they could stick the motor in our shade this afternoon and we could be on our way the next morning (Thursday). Yep, that would sure be cool alright but here I was dreaming again.  That wasn’t going to happen. They said they couldn’t get at it until the first thing in the morning.  But they have a nice campground in which they invited us to stay in.

First thing Thursday morning NOTHING.   So about 10am Ms. Pat goes in and asks when they will be getting to us.  Oh, it will be right after lunch she was told.  Hmmm, right after lunch turned into about 2pm. Within an hour they had us ready to go.   But, take off at 3pm in the afternoon??? I don’t think so.  By popular vote, we decided to stay the night with them and get an early start on Friday morning.

So as the sun rose over Dallas Friday morning we headed West.  It was a beautiful day and perfect for traveling. We made it well into New Mexico.  Yesterday (Saturday) we made it across New Mexico and about 100 miles into Arizona.   Again the weather was perfect.  So we’re coming to you from Winslow, AZ. right along I-40. We will cruise on into North Ranch today and arrive around noon as it is only 200 miles.

That’s it from this end...short and sweet this morning. We are anxious to get home and get unloaded and settled in. We have so much to do, it boggles our mind. But I know it will happen and we will get it done...one thing at a time. 

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!! As we continue to thank our Heavenly Father for everything He has blessed us with.

Thanks for stopping by and come back Wednesday and hopefully, we will be all settled in.

We place our trust in God.
But keep the shotgun handy just in case He’s busy!


Ya'll take care….

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Here we sit on Halloween Day! Trick or Treat!!

We had such a wonderful weekend with Rollie and Gina and all their family……. What a wonderful bunch of people.

Saturday, Rollie took me over to Bass Pro just a couple miles away because he knows I like to check out the guns wherever I go.  Then we went to Camping World which was a few more miles away…  all the time he was showing me the area.  This is where he grew up.  It sure is growing and businesses are springing up all over the place and closing in on their beautiful home.  While we were doing that Ms. Pat was with Gina shopping at some of the close by stores. The day sure went by way too fast…


Rollie is a very important businessman now days and he had to leave Sunday afternoon and head back towards Houston where he works. Here he waves so-long and says to tell all his friends “Hello”! I sure enjoyed spending some time with him again, just like old times.

Here he is cooking up some of his famous Cajun type foods that are so good.  That's Ashley, their son Thomas's wife, coming out the door.



Rollie and Gina love to cook and I love to let them!!  


I’m not one that believes in showing pictures of Food, but Boy, he makes some delicious stuff.  That’s Rollie's famous "Jambalaya" on the left and Gina's Shrimp and Corn soup on the right. 


Sunday afternoon about 4:00 it was time for Rollie to head on back towards Houston and be ready for work Monday morning. The gals took him a short distance to his plane ride.


A couple hours later he sent me this view from the Airplane………… taken with his iPhone.


Just as he was leaving we got a few last minute pictures…




So long Rollie and Gina, it was so great seeing you all. Can’t wait until we meet again…  Love you both so much!

Sunday morning we were up and out on the road around 8am as Gina gave us our last hugs for a while and bid us goodbye.  Hmmm, there is that tear coming to my eye again!   We had a very enjoyable trip West as we headed for Motorhomes Of Texas in Nacogdoches for some minor service work.  We stopped for lunch right at the Texas-Louisiana Border and Ms. Pat made us a sandwich.   The weather was perfect as we continued on to our destination. 

After 301 miles we pulled into Motorhomes of Texas driveway about 3pm, gave Keith the Service Manager a quick call and told him we had arrived. Almost immediately, Keith and Kyle came out and took over. They took the motorhome and parked it on their lot in the lineup. They sure treat us great here.  They were full up to the brim but managed to squeeze us in. Here we are parked in their lot. It may look like we are at the end of the line, but we are at the head of the line! Next one’s up!!

Since it was nearing closing time and after we discussed what all we wanted done, Keith and Mike, the Shop Foreman, told us they would get us in first thing in the morning. That’s fine with us.  We had good 50 amp power and were ready for a good nights rest. They told us if we needed anything just let them know.

At exactly 8:00 AM Tuesday morning we were parked in Bay # 4. with 3 different technicians working on our motorhome. Now that’s service! It's unbelievable what great service they give us here.  David, the Owner of the MOT, came out, shook our hands and said “welcome back”. When we bought this Foretravel from them, David told us we were part of the MOT family. I can truthfully say, they treat us like family.  If you're looking for a Motorhome, look no further. If you buy it here, you won’t be sorry!! Just tell Mel, our personal salesman and faithful Blog reader, we sent ya! 


They service all makes and models here at MOT and I wasn’t too surprised to see this Prevost parked in the parking lot getting some work done on it. I would say its an “eye catcher” wouldn’t you? Maybe a sore eye.....  How would you like to travel around the country in this monstrosity?   Ya, me neither!!  I never did get to meet the owner of it as I guess he just dropped it off and is probably off trying a lawsuit somewhere! Stay out here on the road long enough and you’ll see about everything.

They also had several big Newells here, some for service and some for sale. Take a look at their website.  Many of you know about the Newell Motorhomes. They are about the finest you can get. They have a 2003 46' er for sale at a mere $300.000.00!  A real nice, newer one that was here for service and finishing up just as we arrived belonged to race car driver Elliott Sadler……a big name in the NASCAR world. They also have 2 Allegro busses and a couple Country Coaches along with others for sale...... They take trades and do consignments too.
 
We had a motor go out on one of our MCD electric shades and they had to order one shipped overnight from Dallas. That is all that held us over last night...hopefully it will get here this morning (early) and they will get it installed so we can get on our way WEST!  I know I may be dreaming to expect it to work out that well, cause usually it doesn’t. But a guy can dream, can’t he?? Ms. Pat and I are getting ever so anxious to be at home in North Ranch, Arizona.  Wish us luck!! Tomorrow I want to be near Albuquerque……or maybe Tucumcari.

Thanks for stopping by as our venture gets closer and closer to its destination.   If the Good Lord is willin', I will be coming to you from our front room at home Sunday.  See you then.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Moving on West.......Stopping along the way.

While we were stopped at Ms. Pat’s sisters place in Panama City, they wanted to see our Motorhome. Their daughters, Susan and Cindy, were there also, so we all went out to take the tour.  Here is Sabra and Tom sitting on our sofa and their #2 daughter, Cindy, is sitting in the passenger seat up front with her granddaughter, Hadley.


Sue, Sabra and Tom's oldest daughter, sat at the table and Hadley was watching herself in all the mirrors.


Ms. Megabyte, not being the social kitty, took off for the bedroom and hid under the pillows…….. She is afraid of “little people”.


Later that evening at Dinner, Josh, Ms. Pat’s grandson (Gus’s son) was able to come and spend a couple hours with us.  He lives and works in Panama City so this gave us a chance to see him before we head West.  Josh has a Black Belt in Karate and teaches classes in the area, also.   He is on the left and Sabra (Pat’s oldest sister) is in the middle, then Ms. Pat. We sure enjoyed the visit with them all. 


We departed Tom and Sabra’s place in Panama City early Thursday morning and headed on down I-10 about 275 miles to Slidell, Louisiana where we stopped to see Ms. Pat’s oldest Son Gus (Josh's Dad).   Gus is a contractor and he took off work a couple hours early so he could visit with us.  He stopped and picked up some fresh Oysters and Shrimp for our last Seafood feast.  We won’t be seeing any real good, fresh Seafood for a while, so we cherished the opportunity…..Man, was it good!!


Marc, one of Ms Pats grandsons, is there working for Gus and showed us this picture of the Gator Gar he caught a couple days ago.  Marc is Ms. Pat’s daughter, Terri’s, youngest son.  I know this gets a little confusing. I can figure out who is who because I have been in the family for 26 years!   Now that’s a FISH....it takes a while to get one of these in the boat.  It was sure good to see Gus and Marc…


When we got ready to leave Slidell Friday morning and travel the remaining 75 miles on to Rollie and Gina’s in Denham Springs, we were fogged in. Since Rollie was flying in from Houston that day, we called him to let him know we were fogged in and would be late.  He informed us that he was also socked in at Houston and couldn't fly out until the fog lifted.

We were able to get on the road for our short trip about 10:00am and were soon parked in Rollie and Gina’s yard. Rollie arrived a few hours later. We finally got to meet their daughter Ashley.  What an honor! We had heard so much about her and were so anxious to meet her.  Ashley is a Doctor and is just finishing up some intern work here in Baton Rouge.  I can see why Rollie and Gina are so proud of her.  What a joy she is along with her 6 month old daughter, Jolee. She and Rollie are pictured above.

We also got to meet their Daughter-in-Law and her name is Ashley, also.  She is their son Thomas’s wife and they have a beautiful little girl named Abigail. Abigail is a little over a year old and is full of energy. Ashley is here waiting for Thomas to complete his tour of duty in the Marine Corps in a couple months.  These kids are all so wonderful and what beautiful babies they have.  So beautiful that I made a complete album of them and their beautiful Moms. To see all these lovely girls and a few other pictures, just click on the photo below and it will take you to my Web Album.

Rollie and Gina visit Oct 2012

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

We continue to enjoy our visit with “our kid’s” until Monday morning when we will have to depart and continue our trip on home. We have been gone from our place in Custer, SD for one month and traveled 2400 miles so far and have at least 1600 more to go………

Come on back Wednesday and check how far we have made it by then.  Thanks for stopping by.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

A Sad Departure But a Happy "Early" Birthday!!

Since Monday was our last day at JRoger and Susan's before we headed towards home, Ms. Pat's daughters decided to come out and celebrate her Birthday early.

They both came out and spent most of the day with us and spent some time with their Mom.  They brought her a nice card and some beautiful flowers, plus lots of love!  We are so blessed to have these girls...although they are Ms. Pat's daughters, they are my daughters too and I love them very much. They sure made their Mother happy....but sad to be leaving.

I knew it was going to be hard to leave JRoger's place, but it was even harder than I thought it would be.  It seems as you get older and have lost friends and family, it gets harder and harder to leave them. I guess I am getting sentimental in my old age. I never did like goodbyes.  Hello's are much more fun. 

JRoger and I hit it off from the first time we met on the internet at the time we were building our Volvo semi trucks to pull our 5th wheels. JRoger and I have so much in common and we can relate so well. He just seems to understand me and except me for what I am.  I so respect him and cherish his wisdom, advice and.....well, just about everything he does.  It's just fun to be with him.  He's taught me an awful lot and brought a lot of joy into my life.  You can see that I am missing him already. He and Susan have promised to do their best to come West and let us show them the Arizona desert.  We can hardly wait.


Getting to spend two full days at a Gun Show, sharing a table with JRoger, was a dream come true..... something I had wished for so many times before when I was attending other gun shows.  It was a big show.  You can see all the tables and I really had a ball.



This was JRogers table.  I got to relax and enjoy listening to him talks guns with his friends and the public as they stopped by.  In the picture above, the Gals stopped by and looked things over.  They rested a bit before they took off downtown Tallahassee to do some girl shopping at the real stores.  Ms. Pat got to meet her daughters and spend the afternoon shopping with them.

I must have asked JRoger a gazillion questions as I was looking over all the guns and “stuff”.   I enjoy his experience and more especially his patience.  I'm sure I ask him some awful stupid questions but he just grins and tells me how it is!

Tuesday morning was our departure day.  Before we left,  JRoger and I ran over and looked at some more guns a fellow had for sale. We managed to get everything loaded and hooked up.  We said the goodbyes and hugs and got on the road just as I felt a tear or two rolling down my cheek……    WOW, that was tough.

We were a couple miles down the road when suddenly JRoger and Susan came zooming around us and flagged us down.  Low and behold I had forgotten my cell phone. Left it in JRogers truck and also My Gun Price "Bible". WOW, I thought I had gotten everything but I’m so glad they caught us and gave them to me. Two pretty important items in my book!  I didn’t want to further prolong this sad departure, so I just waved thanks and continued on down the road.  Thanks so much for everything JRoger and Susan, God loves ya, and we sure do, too.  Can’t wait until next time..

We headed on West down I-10 and turned South towards Panama City, FL.   We were soon pulling into Ms. Pats sister and brother-in-law's apartment in a beautiful Assisted Living complex. Check out the pictures:  Mathison Retirement Center.  The building manager directed us to a big parking lot in the rear and got us all set up and told us that if we needed anything to just get a hold of him.  Wow, what a beautiful quiet spot.  Then we went inside and spent an enjoyable evening with Sabra and Tom.  They treated us to a real nice dinner in the beautiful dining room. 

We will spend today visiting and then proceed on West tomorrow. Next stop Slidell, LA to see Gus, Ms. Pat's oldest son.  I hear he is getting some more of that superb seafood all prepared for us…. Hot Dog!!


One last shot that appeared on JRogers Wildgame Camera at his hunting camp…….

The dancing bears!!   These guys are big!!  I would have liked to see them in person while I was sitting up in that tree house...but I wonder if this old heart could have stood it!!   This was taken at 6:59pm, that’s about the time we were there, but just a few days earlier.   This is the exact same spot that I shot the Hog!  WOW.... how exciting!!

We continue to thank our Father in Heaven along with all his Angels for the many continued blessings he provides us day after day!

Come on back Sunday.  If it goes as planned we will be at Rollie and Gina’s, near Baton Rouge.  You know how much we are looking forward to that!!

Travel Safe Everyone!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Last Days in Florida.. Oct 2012

We have had some kind of a wonderful time visiting Florida this year! Such wonderful hosts JRoger and Susan have been and how great it was to see all our friends and family, but our time is up and we must head for home. We are both kinda sad and glad at the same time. We will miss all these wonderful folks here in Florida but both of us are rather homesick for the beautiful Southwestern part of the USA and our home at North Ranch near Congress, AZ.

What a wonderful spot JRoger and Susan have carved out of the woods and made their home site here north of Monticello in Northern Florida. The good times we have had with them over the years, as we spent parked in their yard, are memories we will not ever forget as they linger in our minds forever.

  
The weather has been gorgeous for our stay and as you can see in this picture, Ms. Megabyte2 and I are thoroughly enjoying ourselves.   If any of you are wondering what to do with that big old Satellite Dish you have laying around, JRoger has the perfect solution. Isn’t this a wonderful gazebo he constructed of this old dish he found in his junk pile?  He sure gets lots of comments on it and I wanted you to see it.  The vines you see on the posts are grape vines.  He's hoping they will produce a good crop of grapes someday.

I am going to cut my Blog short this morning as we are headed to the last day of the Tallahassee Gun Show.  One of my dreams was to be able to spend some time at a GUN SHOW with JRoger.  When ever I go to one, I always say "Man, I wish JRoger was here..."  So I feel very priviledged to be here while he is working this gun show.  We spent yesterday wheeling and dealing from his table and let me tell you I had a ball.  JRoger is definitely my expert when it comes to guns.  It was him that brought this hidden interest out in me and gave me something really exciting to do in my life at an age that I really needed something to keep my mind busy.

I leave you with a link to my Web Album and pictures of the Air Boat ride JRoger and Susan took us on in their air boat on the nearby Wacissa River.. We saw some beautiful Florida river sites and what a day it was...... Hope you enjoy the ride and the sites...

Just click on the picture below...

Now I gotta get outta here to another fun day with Guns!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!! Come on back Wednesday and I'll let you know where we are... God Bless you all...

Mike

 

A Successful Hog Hunt.....and a GREAT Seafood Family day!!

If at first you don’t succeed, you must try, try again!! Right?


My friend JRoger is a very experienced hunter. His enthusiasm had rubbed off on me and he knew I wanted to get a "Wild Hog" and he pulled out all the stops to see that I got one. He said evening would be a better time, so at 4pm, rather than Happy Hour, we headed for his tree Stand. By 5:30 we were back up in his double man Tree Stand watching the feeding area.

We had about 2 hours before it would be dark. It was again very pleasant sitting in the Tree Stand listening and watching as the day was beginning to come to an end. We didn’t hear or see a thing and I was beginning to think this was going to be another “dry Run”.

At 7pm the sun went down. We had about 30 minutes of daylight before dark. At 10 minutes after 7. JRoger was looking to our rear as I continued to watch the feeding area. Suddenly I saw, not one, but two Hogs appear.  Shhhh....I quietly poked JRoger and pointed at the Hogs.  WOW, the moment I was waiting for was here.  I slowly raised my rifle to my shoulder and took aim as I released the safety. I was amazed at how calm I was but yet I was so excited. I watched and waited a few seconds until I had the perfect shot and squeezed the trigger. BAM, The Wild Hog dropped in his tracks! WOW!   “Ya got him” JRoger said.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Yep I sure did.  It came off just as I had planned…..SUCCESSFUL!!  

My First Wild Hog !   How excited I was.  Early that same morning, JRoger had helped me "site in" my new AR 15, 223 and also adjust the trigger to make it smoother. It worked flawlessly. Thank you so much JRoger. I am not good at showing enthusiasm but inside I was bubbling over for sure!

Florida is so over run with these Feral Hogs and they are multiplying so fast that they are doing a lot of damage to the agriculture.  The Florida Wildlife Commission wants to cull them out and are glad to have you hunt them.


It was dark by the time we got the Hog loaded and began our long trip out of the hunting camp and really dark when we got home. But not too late for one more picture of JRoger and I after our successful Wild Hog Hunt. Who says I can’t stay up past bed time?

Our Seafood Family day turned out very Successful also. Click on the picture at the bottom of the Blog to view some pictures from it.

We are having a BLAST....the time of our lives in FLORIDA!!
 
It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

Stop on back Sunday and see more of our Good Times here in Florida as our time winds down and we prepare to head back home to North Ranch.

God Bless!!

Mike

Seafood Day, Florida 2012 This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..