Round Mountain

This is a picture taken from the top of our Teton 5Th wheel showing the vast desert behind our RV lot. Way back in the background in the center of the picture is Round Mountain. It is an identifying landmark for this area.  I would say that as the crow flies, it is about 6-7 miles from us. Friday we decided to ride our 4-wheelers to the top.

By noon, we were stopped for lunch at a staging area about a mile down from the top of the mountain. That's Pat with her back to us on the left and next is Larry and Geri Gustafson, then Jim and Donnalyn Vickers. This is an extremely beautiful area and is extra green this year because of all the rain in the past few months. Way back in the background of this picture is the Hassayampa River and the town of Wickenburg. The journey on to the top was very rocky, rough and steep, but it was a blast and we all made it just fine. At the top, the view was outstanding in every direction for a complete 360 degees. I was so busy taking it all in that I didn't get a picture.  However, I had some taken on a previous trip.

I took this picture from the top of Round Mountain back in 2008 when we went up with our friends Paul and Nancy Wilson. It was also extremely green at that time. In the top center of the picture is North Ranch RV Park where we live.

This picture is of Vulture Peak, way back on the horizon in the center of the picture.We have hiked to the top of it several times.  It's at least 15 miles away from us here.  What a beautiful view!  I want to hike it again soon.

We continued our ride from Round Mountain over to Box Canyon.  Box Canyon is a neat little canyon on the Hassayampa River and very pretty. The river was quite high and a little too deep for our 4-wheelers, so we found a way to get to it from the top and hiked down into it.

This is Ms Pat and Geri last year when we visited Box Canyon. It was about the same time of the year.  The date on this picture and the next picture is wrong.  It should say 2009.....not 2007.

Larry is on one of the upper ledges. This is a very deep and gorgeous canyon and always fun to visit.

We cranked up and headed back to North Ranch and pulled in just about in time for "Happy Hour". It was a grand ride enjoyed by all. We clocked on 30 miles and had a blast. It was a beautiful day! Again, we Praise the Lord and thank him for what he has given us.

Yesterday, Ms Pat and I went to the Gun Trader Show in Wickenburg. I saw a couple of guns I would have bought but since I am not a resident of this state, it is impossible for me to purchase one. I was also looking for a magazine for another one of my automatic pistols. I thought I found one and I was able to purchase it but when I took it out to the car and tried it, it wouldn't work. I took the gun and the magazine back into the show to have the dealer look at it.   After trying it several more times without success, the dealer gave me my money back,  but I was disappointed  I really needed a clip for my old 22 High Standard automatic However,  it was a nice little Gun Show and I enjoyed it. Not too big and not too small, just right for me.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!

Thanks for stopping by and a gracious welcome to Julie, our 50TH follower.  We have been anxiously watching and waiting for our followers to reach the "50" mark. We finally made it !!!  Many thanks to all of you that follow us on our journey across the country and through life. We appreciate you all VERY MUCH!!
We are getting  nearly 200 hits per day now and it continues to rise. I remember back in 2008 when we started the Blog. It's been quite a journey. It's been a real learning experience for me, and I have a lot more to learn. Thanks again to all of you for your help and encouragement. Without it, I would have quit long ago!

"Adios" and take care 'til next time.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday.. 

Escapees North Ranch Has It All!

This is why we love this place.

North Ranch is a favorite destination park in the Escapees Rainbow Park system. Located in Congress, Arizona, it is about 50 miles northwest of Phoenix and 50 miles south of Prescott. Prescott Square is a historic treasure, but history buffs won't have to venture that far because historic Wickenburg is just 15 miles away. There are bluegrass festivals, rodeos, and museums to attend. Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy hiking trails, trail-rides, and rock-hounding. And, if you like 4-wheeling, you can use the BLM land that is accessible right out the back gate of the North Ranch property. The nearby town of Stanton even offers gold panning!


Even though there is so much to see and do in the area, you can fill your days without ever leaving the park. The activity calendar is filled with fun things to do. There are things like woodcarving classes, beading classes, jam sessions, sewing, quilting, games, and line dancing. Or, if you'd rather just take it slow and easy, you can settle into a rocker on the clubhouse porch and watch an amazing sunset or stroll through the beautiful memorial garden.


Don't Miss La Fiesta! Coming up soon. March 5 - 6, 2010


La Fiesta is an annual event that takes place at North Ranch each March. The event is filled to the brim with activities and fun. This year's Western theme will offer a "Roundup" complete with a Western band and lots of good ranch-style cooking. You won't want to miss the Senior NASCAR (golf cart) Race, with blind-folded drivers, no less! La Fiesta wouldn't be complete without its traditional parade and, of course, the crowning of "Ms. North Ranch." You are sure to enjoy the local talent as well as the local hospitality, so y'all come, ya hear!

Learn more about North Ranch and the surrounding areas at : NORTH RANCH

(The above was borrowed from the Escapee News Letter)

I haven't spoken or shown you a picture of Ms Megabyte2 lately, so yesterday I snapped a shot of her doing what she does best, "napping". She continues to be her lovely self, entertaining Ms Pat and I to the fullest. She fits right into this RV lifestyle and I believe you'll agree that she appears to be quite comfortable with it.

It's been a little rainy and cool here for the last couple days, so we decided to take advantage of the down time and work on that most unpleasant task of preparing our Federal  Income Tax. It's real hard to stay in a good mood while doing this. With our business and other interests, it is extremely complicated and requires a lot of record keeping and bookwork. Bah Humbug!!!

My Harley is definitely not getting enough attention! It feels mighty neglected and I feel bad about it.  I wish our riding buddies Gregg and Bonnie were here.  We would have been out a long time ago. So many great places to ride around here. We're gonna get out there SOON!!

Tomorrow, it's back to the Big City of Phoenix for more medical stuff. It always takes the entire day and I'm getting tired of it and hoping this time wraps it up.  I guess it's time to take heed and give thanks for the great health we have. Health is so important because without it we have nothing. Remember folks, eat healthy and get plenty of exercise. Don't wait until it's too late. You won't regret it.  As my Dad used to say, "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."  He was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for. :-) 

It's a GREAT WEEK!!!

See ya Sunday. Be careful.

Mike

This Blog is published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Rio Grande Valley makes Nick's Top 10 list.

I read Nick Russell's Blog every morning at 4:30am. Nick is the well known Editor of the Gypsy Journal RV'ers newspaper. Nick has also published many books on RVing and traveling and before he and Terry began full-timing, he was a Newspaper Journalist, Reporter and Editor. We have attended many of the annual and semi-annual rallies that they put on each year and have become quite good friends with them. I love to read his work. Yesterday his Blog was titled "TEN LEAST FAVORITE PLACES". That caught my eye very quickly. Nick travels a lot of places and studies them all closely and reports on them all. It was interesting to see the first one he mentioned:
(quote)
While this list reflects just our impression, and we know RVers that love some of the same places we dislike, here are our Top (or actually Bottom) Ten, in no particular order.


1. The Rio Grande Valley in Texas – Most RVers just refer to it as “The Valley,” a stretch of land that begins down in southwest Texas at Brownsville, and stretches north past Mission. This is a popular snowbird roost, where you can find RV parks in every price range, and with every kind (or lack of) amenity. A lot of people love it, but to us it was just crowded, lacking in scenic beauty, and unappealing in every way. What grass there is was full of thorns that stab your feet, and the general RVer population is so old that people joke that “every time you hear an ambulance siren, another RV site just became available.” (unquote)

Read Nick's entire Blog here:  Nick's Blog

Most of you know that The Valley is not my favorite place either. Why people flock there the way they do baffles me...maybe they just don't travel much and haven't seen many other places. It's sure not a place where I would want to stay very long. It works out fine for us and I enjoy it for a couple months, but to plan on staying there much longer, winter after winter, is out of the picture.

Now our RV Park, thats a different story. It's wonderful, and the population in it is not OLD'er...'cept for me that is! I am no doubt the "OLDEST" one there and shucks, when we hear the ambulance siren, it's because some young lady fell off the ladder and broke her leg....:-).  (Hugs to ya girl!)

If we could, we would hook on to RETAMA VILLAGE and bring it with us everywhere we go. I love it. I'm not the least bit sorry we have a nice place there and will continue to enjoy it for a couple months every winter for several years. The question I have is...why have an RV with "WHEELS" if you're gonna stay in one spot all the time? Especially the first 10 years. But I guess it's like my dear "patient" Ms Pat says "it's each to their own". That says it all !

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, we continue with our great rides out into the Desert. Thursday we asked our neighbors and long time friends Paul and Nancy Wilson to take us on a Super Ride!! Paul and Nancy have been 4-wheeling this entire area for many, many years and they really know all the trails extremely well. David and Norma Turner, Paul and Nancy's kids, who are our neighbors also, joined us for the ride, along with Larry and Geri Gustafson.  That made a total of 8. Paul was the leader and he took us on a beautiful ride up into the foothills of the mountains, in and around many of the small and large mine's, where several folks have "staked" a claim and continue to search for GOLD. With the price of gold nowadays, mining for it has really increased in popularity. As you can see from the picture above at one of our stops, it is a breathtaking place. We traveled a distance of nearly 30 miles all total. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather and temps. Everyone really had a SUPER time.   Thanks Paul!!  You led us on another spectacular ride.

Last Wednesday we again spent the entire day in Phoenix with medical checkups and talking to Drs. Now next Thursday we have to do the same thing with another set of Drs. You know, they will keep checking until they find something they can treat you for......sure as shootin'.  I told Ms Pat, I'm about done with it. My attention span is very short and I'm about to say to heck with it.  Let nature take its course. We'll never get outta this world alive anyhow.  I don't know a soul that has here-to-fore....Do You?

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!

Travel safe and ENJOY!!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday.. 

National Seniors Rodeo Association

I mentioned last Sunday that after Church we would be going to the Seniors Rodeo.  Before the Rodeo, we stopped at the Arts and Crafts show in town and walked around. I was only interested in ONE thing...that being to see our good friends and sometimes neighbors, Tom and Sally Geirisch.

Here is Tom....hard at work at his booth surrounded by some of the best smelling "stuff" there is. We could "smell" them long before we could find them. We missed Sally, she was off somewhere. Tom was looking good and today was the last day of the Gold Rush Days, so we will look forward to spending some time with them both at our infamous "Happy Hour" and maybe a Pot Luck.  WOW!!  That "stuff" (potpourri) sure smells good.  Check out their web site and try out some :  S & T Potpourri, Etc

On to the Rodeo.......

First is the Grand Entry.

And the presentation of the Colors and National Anthem.  That little gal,  between the horses carrying the American and Canadian Flag, has a microphone. She is none other than our Pastor's daughter! She can really belt it out and did a beautiful job.  Well, leave it to me.   I forgot my telephoto lens!!! Dad Gum it!!

Here is one of the Bull rides but without my telephoto you can't see much, so no need showing you more. Sorry...

It was a fun afternoon. What a beautiful day...we were actually even searching out some shade for a change. The crowd was large and the Rodeo was good, for a bunch of OLD guys.   Gosh, I was stiff and sore just from sitting for 3 hours.  It would have killed me to be out there contesting. OK, so now I'm a "tenderfoot".... but I used to love to get out there and roll around in the Mud, the Blood and the Beer!!

Yesterday, it was back out in the Desert with Larry and Geri Gustafson. This is one of the trails and that hill is MUCH steeper than it looks but what was really fun was going up the other side.

This is one of our "rest stops" and Larry is kicking back while Geri gets a few photo's of this beautiful area.

I just had to pause here and take a picture.....Look at this beautiful area, can you believe this! It is so Green this year. Out of this world!!  Can you see why I love it here so much? Right in our back yard....Praise God!

These machines are so neat and fun to ride. They will go almost anywhere. You should have seen some of the rock and boulder area's we traversed today.  Wow, it's amazing how tough and strong these 4 wheelers are.

After we got back out on the flat area, Ms Pat finally let me ride her new one....out where she was sure I couldn't abuse it like I do mine.  I only got to ride it for about 5 minutes.  But...My O My...let me say, I was impressed!! I couldn't ride it any more...had to give it back to her ASAP.   Otherwise, I could have never gotten back on mine.  I didn't think there would be that much difference, but there sure was. Her's rides better, has more power and is faster.  Now lets see??  What can I do and how can I talk her out of it?Hmmm, gotta work on that.  I can sure see why she loves it so much........and I'm glad for her!

Today it's back to the big city of Phoenix for more Dr appointments...not looking forward to it at all!! But gotta do it so off we go and get it over with.  Wish us luck and we'll see ya Sunday..

Wherever you are and whatever you're doing..... have fun, enjoy life and be careful.  See ya down the road.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Happy Valentine's Day to my Sweetie !!

I wanted to get my Sweetheart a Valentine she would enjoy, something sweet but that wouldn't make her fat. :-) So I have been looking hard for the last week to find the right gift.  Finally I found it and yesterday we went and brought it home.

Her very own Polaris Sportsman 500 4-wheeler....what a beauty and she loves it!  She said "Wow, it's even red like a valentine heart". This baby is like Brand New, just barely broke in...

We no more than got it unloaded and she was on it and ready to go for a ride.

Soon we were all set to head out to those "Wide Open Spaces" that we love so much right here in our back door.

We gave our friends Larry and Geri Gustafson, owners of  The Broken Arrow Campground in Custer, SD, a call and asked them if they would like to go out for a ride. They are staying right down the road from us, so we picked them up and headed out.

Soon we were tearing around, uphill, downhill, around curves in the dirt, rocks and sand of this great wide-open, wonderful area. Here we are "resting" for a few minutes. Ms Pat loves her new ride so much she won't even get off for a second.

I was hoping she would get off for just a minute, cause I wanted to try out that new one and let her ride the old one. NO WAY, she said "You ride yours and I ride mine"!! Oh, OK...(I guess) Fortunately, I rode it before I bought it, but I'm afraid that may be my last time!

OK, here we are ready to go again. You can see that smirk on Ms Pats face as she says " Nope, you ride yours and I'll ride mine"!  What's a guy to do??  OH WELL, what the heck, I'm having fun, out here where I love it.  Lets go.....I like mine BETTER anyhow...(I think)

Here we all are lined up in Martinez Creek, one of our favorite sandy dry river beds that runs for miles and miles right behind our house. In that deep sand, these machines just glide along and you can run wide open, or as fast as you want to. Larry and I had a race between his new Honda and my old Polaris.  I won't say who won.  Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings here, especially MINE!

As you can see above, Ms Pat still will not budge off her beautiful new machine.  Gee,, if she would get off that thing I would give it a whirl.  I don't believe that's gonna happen.  But, when she's happy, I'm HAPPY.

The weather has been just gorgeous here lately and more of the same is forecast. This morning we are off to early Church at 8am...then this afternoon we are going to the Gold Rush Days and "Seniors" Rodeo with Larry and Geri. That will be a blast. We have gone many times before and always enjoy it. All contestants in the Rodeo must be over 50 years of age. Ms Pat always wants me to get in the Bronc Riding.....since I used to do that for a living.  Ya,,,right,,,,!!! I'm a LOT over 50....Way Over!... and smart enough to know as the song says,  "I ain't as good as I once was".....in fact, I'm not even as good ONCE as I once was!!!  Nowaday's there is a lot of things I can just talk about and recall some mighty fond memories. I admit...I'm a "has been"!! I'm now content to just sit back and watch. But ya can't help but think back on the "Good Ole Days"!! I thank God I had all those days. We have so much to be thankful for...

God Bless you all.....Thanks for stopping by and please come back again.  Remember your comments below are appreciated.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!!  Be sure to tell that special someone how much you love them!!!  They may not be around forever.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!

Mike

This Blog is published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Killer BUFFALO Chili.

We had a wonderful Anniversary Sunday. It was our first Sunday back in Church for too long a time. Pastor Dean carries a super message and is quite moving and interesting.   I just love listening to him. We have been attending his Church for several years while we are at North Ranch.

When we got home from Church, our friends and neighbors Larry and Geri Gustafson from Custer were sitting in our drive way. It was great to see them again. We had arranged for them to rent Tom and Sally Geirisch''s RV lot which is just down the street from us. They will be around for at least a month, hopefully more. We plan on some good 4-wheeling together out in the desert.

We love BUFFALO meat and it is quite plentiful around our home base in Custer, SD.   Ms Pat always brings as much as she can can get into our 22 ft Amana household refrigerator freezer. I like Chili anytime, but when it's a little cool, it tastes extra good. Pat decided she would use the final package of our Buffalo meat to make up some of her "Killer" BUFFALO chili. She had it cooking for several hours and the smell was about to kill me. I had managed to sneak a couple small tastes while she was up at the Clubhouse doing her new found adventure of "Line Dancing". She knows that leaving me alone around  the house while she has something cooking is dangerous.

We had told Larry and Geri when they arrived to get settled in and invited them over for happy hour and some Buffalo Chili.   It was delicious and we enjoyed it much more than any celebration dinner up town. That's my kind of Happy Anniversary...at home, with friends and some of Ms Pats wonderful cooking. Geri even helped her with the dishes....and we watched some of the Super Bowl Game. 

Monday morning early we began our annual medical check up procedures. Almost all of our Doctors are in this area and we love the medical facilities. We have a great Doctor her....and yes, he is a Cowboy. Doc has lots of horses and goes on long trail rides all the time. He is a great Doctor, too!! Definitely not a pill pusher like most of them. Anyhow, we were to meet him at his office at 7:15 Monday morning to pick up the orders for our blood work. I asked Pat if Doctors anywhere else in the world get in their offices at 7am...not many that we know of.   Maybe here and Custer, but that's about all.

Sure enough when we arrived there was Dr. Melde standing on the front porch with his coffee cup in hand watching another beautiful Arizona Sunrise. He took us inside and since none of his help was there yet, he dove into our files and made up our blood work orders. Since his office is in the Wickenburg Hospital, we walked down the hall to the Lab and gave our blood samples.

Since we usually get up at 4am and have a cup of coffee in hand by 4:15 and here it was 7:45 and we had been fasting since midnight, I was about to DIE! Pat was in about the same shape, but not quite as "grumpy" as I was. It's unbelievable how a person gets into such a habit of things and believe me I needed COFFEE!!   We have been doing this here for many, many years and have learned just exactly where the employee's lounge is. We headed there as fast as we could and began "draining" their coffee pot... Ahhh, it tastes Soooo GOOD!!

Now, early this morning we are off to the big city of Phoenix to begin our long list of getting our check ups. It's going to be a LONG, BUSY day and I'm anxious to get home even before we even get started!!  Wish us luck... I'm sure we'll be making several more trips during the next few months...

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

God be with you all...

Mike

This Blog is published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Oh, give me the Wide Open Spaces!!

One of the reasons we had to make a rather fast trip up to North Ranch in Arizona was because we were totally out of  PressurePro systems.  We had 16 full systems in stock before our Seminar at the Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort in Mission, Texas on Jan 18th.  We completely sold out of everything we had.  We even sold one system we didn't have and shipped it back to Gary Scoffied in Retama Village from here when we arrived. We had a big stock order shipped from our supplier and it was waiting for us when we got here.   Plus, we received two more orders to ship out while we were on the road traveling.

In the picture above, I am enjoying the beautiful morning sunshine and putting up the stock order. I love my "Wide Open Space's" office. Aren't we lucky to have such a wonderful life? Praise the Lord.

This is another reason I love my "Wide Open Spaces". This is what we see when we look out our back window. That's Round Mountain in the center. This picture was taken from the top of our rig 2 years ago when we were building our new Patio and parked across the street on our neighbors, Dave and Norma's, lot. This is beautiful country. We have a 360 deg view just like this with hills and mountains all the way around us. The closest town is Congress, 5 miles away..   Ah......I'm in Heaven!!!  Soon as we get setteled in, we will be out there in those hills stirring up a little dust and enjoying life even more!

Nobody says it any better than our great friends Rollie and Gina Thurston:

"I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with".

My exact feelings.   Rollie and Gina are in California headed this way to see us. Travel safe folks, we can't wait to see you....    

Today is our 24th Anniversary!!! God again blessed me 25 years ago when he so graciously arranged a "Blind Date" for me with Ms Pat. "Happy Anniversary Ms Pat, I love you very much."

We're off to early church at 8:00am this morning, anxious to hear the wonderful Pastor we have here in Wickenburg.

God Bless you all and thank you for following my Blog.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!

Mike

This Blog is published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Here we are at North Ranch Escapee RV Park in Congress, AZ.

We pulled into North Ranch RV Park at Congress, AZ Monday just as predicted at 3:45pm.  I told our friends and neighbors, Paul and Nancy Wilson, that we would be there by Happy Hour, Lord willin'! Praise the Lord, he was willin' and we were right on time. We had a great trip up from way down in South Texas. The weather was perfect all the way. The truck and all the equipment worked great.

Yesterday we got settled in and setup on our lot. This was the first RV lot we purchased way back in March of 2001, 9 years ago. We love the way the property backs up to the wide open spaces of the BLM desert. We came here several winters before we purchased the lot and stayed in the Campground.  

Right across the street from us is this beautiful desert garden area. It is maintained by several of our neighbors.

One of the first things I did yesterday was get the Polaris Sportsman 500 ATV out, uncover it and get it ready to roll!! I'm charging the battery now and hope to have it up and running soon.

Poor little Ms Megabyte2...all this commotion just gets to her. She doesn't like all the noise and can't understand what is happening.  We don't travel enough for her to get used to it.   This is the sleeper in our Volvo truck and she quickly found a little ledge under the booth table. She would not come out of there at all the first two days while we were in motion. The third day she would come out when we stopped, but the minute we started up, back to her secret hide-a-way she would go.  Yesterday, all day, she was SOOOO HAPPY to be stationary again. I truly think she remembered this place. She was happy as a lark! She would run from window to window to check things out and wanted to play all day. This was her first home after leaving Texas last winter.

It's a GREAT WEEK!!

Thanks for stopping by........come on back Sunday.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..  

Weather Delay..Sorry my Blog is late!

This is the weather we woke up to on Thursday, the day we planned to leave the Texas Valley, with more rain forecast for the next day. So we decided to delay our departure until Saturday.  We were up and out of Retama at 8:15am. It was a nice brisk, cool morning and we were happy to be on the road.

We had a nice trip and easily traveled 386 miles to our favorite boondocking spot of all time. It is just 40 miles West of The WalMart store in Del Rio. We got there shortly after 4PM, just in time for Happy Hour! It was a gorgeous evening and Ms Pat and I enjoyed the evening watching the sun go down on the beautiful Pecos River and Canyon.  You can see where the Pecos dumps into the Rio Grande River from where we were.  We had the place all to ourselves the entire night. The moon was full and bright as it reflected off the river several hundred feet below our camp site.

We were way off the highway right on the high canyon above the Pecos River. It has a nice, wide, winding road leading back to overlook, with a big turn around that can handle any size rig...even ours!  There was NO cell service and NO WiFi or Internet....we felt a million miles from nowhere! We did flip our King Dome on for some Direct TV, but we were so beat we couldn't stay awake to watch it.

This is the bridge across the River on Hwy 90 just North of us. It is some 240 ft above the river and is the highest bridge across water in the state of Texas.  Have you ever seen such a beautiful view from a private camp site??

We were on the road at the crack of dawn the next morning and on our way to Deming, NM to the SKP Dreamcatchers RV Park. We racked up a total of 486 miles and made it in by 4PM. However, we lost an hour, so it was really 5pm. Anyhow, we were just in time for Happy hour! It was another day of superb travel. It is so comfortable traveling with this big rig, I could almost go on forever. We even had a 5-10 mph tail wind all the way.

Sorry I couldn't get the Blog out yesterday.  It is the first one I have missed in 2 years. It is kinda nice after a day of travel not to have to put the Internet Satellite up, although I didn't really mind it. Being a Ham Radio enthusiast for the last 45 years, erecting antenna's and getting a signal, then tweaking it was my enjoyment.

This Verizon Air card is handy, but I really hate it. Just like yesterday, no signal and we couldn't even get a respectable connection on I-10 from Van Horn West. Plus, the 5 GB monthly limit really kills us. We go over that amount in two weeks with both of us on the internet as much as we are. Most of you know that we went over the 5GB to the tune of $190.00 the first month we had the Verizon Modem. Oh and yes, we don't watch movies or download music, etc. We have stopped all our automatic downloads and updates. We absolutely do not watch any of the You Tube videos, etc. forwards that we get.   So, no I don't like the Verizon Air card at all! Better than nothing...OK, but just barely. Pardon me for griping, but we just came off of a high speed cable data line for 3 months at Retama and BOY did we get spoiled.

I have come to the conclusion that I am spending way too much time on the computer. To the point that it is interfering with other things that I really like to do. So I have decided to put myself on restriction and cut out some of this computer time. Here at North Ranch, where there are so many great things to do that I enjoy, like 4-wheeling and target shooting out in the desert, Motorcycling in the hills and just getting a lot more exercise, my computer time will diminish.

Today (Monday) we will be up and out of Deming, NM early and make the final leg of our journey to my second favorite spot (Custer is first!!) North Ranch. It's a leisurely day's drive of 436 miles through some of the most beautiful country in the USA. I just love these Hills and Mountains. I guess the flat lands of the Rio Grande Valley make me appreciate them even more!! Thank you God, it's great to be HOME.

Paul and Nancy....see you around 4 PM this afternoon if the good Lord's willin' !!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!

God Bless you all!!!

Mike

This Blog is published every Sunday (sorry I missed yesterday) and Wednesday..

Last day at Retama Village in the Rio Grande Valley.

Today will be our last day here at Retama. We have been extremely busy the last few days. We were able to get in one last Motorcycle ride with Gregg and Bonnie. We rode about 120 miles altogether and Gregg showed us a neat little place called Delta Lake and Park about 50 miles Northeast of Mission. We had a little picnic lunch, a good visit and cruised on back home. We are really gonna miss Gregg and Bonnie. However, they will be coming West to Arizona in April and we will get to see them again. Hopefully, we will get some more riding in then. There are a lot of neat places to ride near North Ranch.....like Vulture Peak, Prescott, Sedona and even the Grand Canyon! Plus there is Parker, another beautiful area.

Ms Pat made us a cover for the Harley while traveling....

Not really,,,(just kidding!) I couldn't resist showing you this picture of how someone got carried away while crocheting.

Yesterday we got the Harley all loaded and buttoned down and ready for travel. Thanks Gregg and Rocky for your help.  You both really made the job easy.  I sure feel a lot better with the new cover. It kills me to leave it out in the open unprotected. The next best thing would be a "Toy Hauler".  But until Ms Pat is willing to give up at least 12 ft of her living room, this will have to do.

We have really had a run on PressurePro tire monitoring systems. We just got Jim and Sandy Cox set up with a system  yesterday when Sam Jones called and asked if we would come to the RV Park next door and check out his Motorhome for a System. While setting him up, Ron Eichholz stopped and purchased a system for his 5th wheel. We were finishing up with him when Ron Mertz stopped and purchased one for his Alfa "See Ya". Then we had to rush home and quickly get a couple systems packed up and shipped out.

Just a few days ago I had 16 full systems in stock. Now we are SOLD OUT. WOW, what a send off!! We also sold 8 Repeaters and 4 PowerTanks  during the week. We should just about have enough money to buy fuel to get to Arizona!

Meanwhile we continue getting things ready to go, including sealing up the Coach House, shutting off the water and covering the air conditioner, etc, etc. With another busy day today and a little luck, by tomorrow evening we should be about 400 miles West between Del Rio and Van Horn, on Hwy 90, with God as our co-pilot.

Who knows where we will be by next Sunday when I post again. Thanks for stopping by and come on back Sunday for more on "Mike and Pat's Travels".

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Time in Texas is getting short!

Only 3 more days and we will be headed to our place at North Ranch Escapee RV Resort near Wickenburg, AZ. WOW, and so much to do getting ready to leave. So many things must wait until we are about ready to leave that it makes the last few days quite hectic.

Looking forward to one more nice Motorcycle ride with our friends Greg and Bonnie Gheyssens this morning. Then tomorrow, I will load the Harley and get it all secured and ready for the trip. After that, it's then time to prepare the 5Th wheel and the truck for travel and secure the Coach House for another year. As much as we have done this, we should be able to do it with our eyes closed. However, it still takes a lot of thought and double checking.

Chuck and Rhoda Roper from Tallahassee, Florida came and spent several days with us last week. They were our neighbors and good friends back when we were working and had a "stick" house. We have kept in close contact with them since we decided to sell our house and live full time in our "Home on Wheels". That was nearly 15 years ago. My how time flies!

Here they are in our Retama neighbor's driveway just before they departed for home. It was sure good seeing them again and talking about old times. They are the first couple that have stayed in our Coach House since we finished it and commented how much they enjoyed it. Come and see us again anytime guys!

We had one more little project that we wanted to complete on the patio extension before we departed. We found out about some special kind of sand called Polymeric Paver Sand. It is supposed to reduce weed growth, resist joint washout and prevent insect penetration.

In order to do this, we had remove some of the sand we had used to level the pavers and install the new Polymeric Sand. We got this all done yesterday.  Below are some pictures of the process.

First we had to clean it all up. I removed as much of the previous sand as I could by going down each joint with a screwdriver and then sweeping what was loose and Pat used the blower to further clean the surface.

Next, I slowly swept the sand into all the cracks. Note how much better the joints look on the right with the new Polymeric Sand.

Ms Pat hand swept each paver to get the excess off. Then I sprayed down the entire patio with a very fine mist of water. We had to respray it every 30 minutes for 4 times. This will make the sand set up and get hard, although it will stay somewhat pliable.

After we completed the portion outside of the patio fence, we started on the inside. Notice at the bottom of this photo how the finished product looked. We got it all done just in time to take a shower and get up to the clubhouse for the 1st annual Chili Cook Off. As usual the Buffalo chili was the best!! (IMO) But none was even close to as good as what my sweetie Ms Pat makes!!

So hopefully that's our last project for this year and we can move on down the road to new and different things.. I'll get one more Blog in on Wednesday, the day before we leave, and bring you up to date one more time before departure.

Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know if these larger pictures are hard for you to download or if they take too long. I know I'm going to have to change things when we leave and I get off this high speed data cable line.  We wil be back on our Verizon Air Card with a 5GB monthly limit. That really cuts us down. Pat and I will use that much in 2 weeks or less if we don't really watch our usage.  This Cable line spoils us!!

God Bless you all and remember to tell your kids, family and friends that you love them.  They may not be around forever.

We continually give thanks to our Lord for all the blessings he provides us. We are most grateful.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Great Ride to South Padre Island, Jan 17,2010

Sunday was a Beautiful day just as predicted. The skies were clear and the wind was not blowing, so we took off on a Bike Ride with our friends Greg and Bonnie Gheyssens. We headed for South Padre Island, about 100 miles East on the Gulf of Mexico.

Greg and Bonnie are long time riders and we were waiting for an opportunity to ride with them. The weather hasn't been cooperating a lot this winter, so I'm glad we had this opportunity. Bonnie has her own Harley Heritage Softail Deluxe just like ours. However, she is recuperating from a mean fall off of a ladder while she was cleaning their 5th wheel. She was in the hospital for about a week with a bad break in her left leg. She is still in therapy and has been for over 2 months. I mentioned her fall in my Blog some time ago when we called the Emergency unit here to the park. Thankfully, her hard work and physical therapy are working and she only has to use a cane now. Soon she hopes to be back on her own bike..

We arrived at South Padre about noon and were anxious to find some good Seafood.

We had heard a lot about Dirty Al's, so we headed there. It was very busy and there weren't any parking spaces.

It's never hard to fiind a spot big enough to park a Bike; in fact, we got both Bikes parked nearly at the front door.

Greg and Pat as we were leaving the restaurant after a great seafood lunch...

We took the northern route home and went past this Sugar factory. It was a busy place and trucks were bringing in the Cane one right after another.  As far as we know, it is the only Sugar factory in the area.

Soon we were back home from a great ride, our longest so far (200 miles), and our first with other bikers. We are so glad we finally had the opportunity to ride with Greg and Bonnie. Maybe we can get lucky and get one more ride in before we leave for Arizona in 8 days....

Meanwhile, things are quite busy around here. Monday morning we had our PressurePro Seminar for folks here and in the big RV park just south of us. I'm extremely happy to say that it was very well attended by over 50 Rv'ers.  They were there because they are interested in learning about PressurePro and improving the safety of their travels.  We almost sold out and only have a couple systems left. Plus, we sold 4 PowerTanks. Pressure Pro Tire Monitoring Systems have become very popular and PowerTank is catching on fast.

Then Monday afternoon our friends and old "stick house" neighbors, Chuck and Rhoda Roper, came all the way from Tallahassee Florida to visit for a few days. We have been showing them around and we'll be headed back over to Padre Island today.  Hopefully, we will even get to see our friends and fellow Church members, the Geetings, from Custer, SD. They have a Condo on the Island and just recently came down for some warm sunshine.  

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

Thanks for stopping by......

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wedensday and Sunday..

Chief Crazy Horse

Although my body is physically down here in the deep south Texas Valley, my mind and heart are still up in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. I often think about Crazy Horse Mountain. When we first started going to the hills every summer about 15 years ago, Crazy Horse Mountain was just another Mountain. When you drove by it, you would not have known what it was going to be if it were not for the outline they had painted on the side. Many folks were wondering if it would ever come to be or if it was a joke. I remember going past it back in the 50's and thinking "NO WAY"!

Soon (50 years)Crazy Horse's head took shape and you could actually see it was for real. Maybe it wasn't just some sculptor's dream after all. Soon Ruth, the sculptor's wife started inviting people, especially dignitaries to ride in a van to the top and walk on Crazy Horses arm and under his face. This really got folks attention.  Plus it got them into the museum and brought attention to what was happening.

Part of the museum is a large movie theater where movies and pictures are shown of the progress made over the years and just how far they have come. It is very interesting. The project was officially started June 3rd 1948, over 60 years ago, and the private owner and sculptor,along with his wife Ruth, truly did have a vision and a dream. Things were real tough and it was rough going for many, many years in the beginning. They didn't have much equipment and what they did have was old and not in good shape. A lot of things were done by hand the old fashioned way. The famed sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski and his wife Ruth, devoted and dedicated their life to the project. The sculpture was their entire life.  They lived and raised a family of 12 children on the mountain. Mr Ziolkowski died on Oct 20, 1984 at the age of 74. His dedicated wife Ruth and the children are carrying on their plan and vision. Blasting continues on the mountain, just as Korczak would have wanted. Ruth, CEO and President of Crazy Horse Memorial, is quite well known and respected.

Our boss Rollie Noem, the superintendent at Custer State Park when we worked there, became close friends with Ruth and part of our job and experience was to take VIPs to Crazy Horse Mountain and drive them up to the top and walk with them out on the arm. The view up there is outstanding. Pat and I enjoyed it every time and Ruth was always there to go along.  We got to know her quite well. She appreciated what Custer State Park was doing and always welcomed us with open arms. What a lovely lady she is. Plain and pure with a wonderful personality. We took many Senators, Legislators, Governor's and other VIPs to her place and up on the "Arm". We also hiked up there several times when formal, well advertised hikes were held throughout the year.  I will always remember Ms Ruth and the kindness she showed to us. She would welcome us and tell us "Now you go to my Restaurant and eat while you are here".  She would insist that we go and tell us, "I will tell them you are coming, so be sure and stop". Sure enough when we walked in, the head cashier would greet us and tell us that we were guests of Ruth and we could have anything we wanted.

I won't go into much more of the history as you can read all of that you want on the different websites, or you can just google "Crazy Horse" and find out all the legends behind this young Indian Warrior and how he was respected by his people. Crazy Horse also has a page on Facebook and Twitter.  I do want to show you a few pictures of some of the dozens of Dynamite Blasts that we have witnessed at the Mountain.

Day Time Blast

From Crazy Horse Day Time Blast 2009

Night Blast

From Crazy Horse Night Blast 2009

Again click on the link at the right lower corner to go to the Albums. Use your back arrow to get back to my Blog.

This morning we are planning a nice long Motorcycle ride with out great friends and respected Bikers Gregg and Bonnie Gheyssens. We are riding over to South Padre Island, about 100 miles to our East. The weather is supposed to be the best we have had in weeks. It's been so cool and rainy that our Harley feels neglected. More about our trip on Wednesday. I smell Seafood on the menu!

Next week is going to be an extremely busy one. Monday morning at 10 am we are having a PressurePro Tire Monitoring Seminar at Bensten PalmVillage RV Resort right next door. Then in the afternoon, our old friends and "X" next door neighbors Chuck and Rhoda Roper  from Tallahassee, Florida, are arriving to spend a few days with us. We haven't seen them for over a year and it will be fun seeing them and getting caught up on the old home site.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!

Thanks for stopping by...

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

OK 2010,,,Bring it on!!

Well, here we are almost 2 weeks into the New Year. They say as you get older, each year gets tougher and I suppose they are right, but I'm not old yet. So I say "Bring it on".   I'm ready and lookin' forward to it.

A few weeks ago, we had a Fireman from Massachusetts call and order a PressurePro System from us for one of their Fire Trucks. It was a big order and we were quite pleased to get it.  Monday, he called Ms Pat again and ordered 3 more big systems for 3 more Fire Trucks and Pumpers. He was pleased and happy with the first system and wanted more, which we were equally happy to supply him. Lets hope he continues to be happy with them and finds more Fire Trucks to put them on. The day after that, a Foretravel Motorhome owner called and ordered another big system.  Then, yesterday we shipped a system to Oregon which was a referral from one of our present customers. So that makes it already a good week. In fact, it makes it a good year! Plus, we still have over half the week left. So like I say, "Bring it on"!

It is getting a little "blah" as far as weather is concerned. It's pretty limited around here for things to do and places to go, but when the weather is dreary and damp and you're confined to the indoors, it gets rather boring. I'm getting way too much computer time for me. I did manage to get my hair cut yesterday and went to the Post Office. That was real exciting!

On the way home, I stopped at my favorite store to just look around. You're thinking Wally World, aren't you? Nope, my favorite store is Tractor Supply. We have one just a couple miles from us and I enjoy just looking through the stuff. It even brings back old memories. They have a section for horses and all type of animals. There are saddles, bridles, halters, breast collars and cinches. There are neat curry combs, hoof trimming tools, throw ropes, pigging strings, hot shots and you name it. They also have a good tool section, truck supply section, all types of hardware, a special section for western clothing, both work and dress, and all types of shoes and boots. I bought a nice western straw hat there a couple months ago. I could go on and on about what all they have, but next time you see one, you need to stop in and take a look.

The three main things I miss at this Park is something I enjoy very much. One is a Jam Session, where all the local musicial talent get together for a couple hours and just play and sing. Another is a "Swap" table. All Escapee Parks have a swap table where people put things they want to swap. I love them and I put stuff out and exchange stuff there all the time. The third is mountains or hills. Both are scarce around here.

However, in a couple more weeks we aill be heading to North Ranch Escapee RV Park in Congress, AZ. I'm looking forward to hiking the Vulture Peak mountain again this year and hitting the desert with our ATV where we can exercise our trigger fingers and catch up on some target practice (another favorite) and checking that swap table. Paul, Nancy, Pat H and Julie, we are looking froward to seeing you soon. Start your engines!!

We'll be there soon!!!

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

Thanks for stopping by.


Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

MEXICO

I mentioned in my last Blog we were headed to Mexico with our friends and neighbors Rocky and Sheri Rhoades. We left home at 9am and spent the entire day about 10 miles south of the Border in Mexico. We toured 4 different Children's Missions that the Hero Makers help support. This is wonderful work these folks do. To see how some of these misfortunate Children live is heartbreaking.  "Hero Makers" is doing its best to make life a little easier for them. Rocky and Sheri are Missionaries and part of their work involves contacting groups and Churches all over the US and Canada for help and assistance for these Missions.  It was a real treat to see what they are doing and what they have done.

At one of the Missions, there was a group of College students from Tennesee working for a week as a school project.  They were sweeping, cleaning, building and just doing what needed to be done.  It was very heart warming to see these College students trying to make these young kids lives a little better.  If anyone is interested in making a donation to Hero Makers or would like to volunteer on some of their projects or know someone or some group that might be interested, you can contact Rocky at the following email address:  rocky@heromakers.org .  Or, you can click here:  Hero Makers Donations

We also had a "REAL" Mexican dinner at a "REAL" Mexican restaurant.  They know how to make things "HOT".  If you click on the title below the picture, it will take you to my album of several more pictures. Click your "back" arrow to get back to my Blog. All pictures have a caption describing them. Take a look:

From Hero Makers Mexico trip to the Mission's.Jan2010

Cold weather is plaquing a lot of people all over the country right now and many have it a lot worse than we do but it still is getting on my nerves. It was 22 deg yesterday in this area, but the sun did finally manage to come out for a while and it got up to a quick 50. It sure felt good too! Friday the wind was so bone chilling that we went to the exercise room at 6:30am and worked out. We managed to work up a good sweat there, then about froze walking back home. I had to get out my BIG coat that I haven't had out for years. It's 35 here in Mission, TX. this morning at 4am and I see it's 46 in Wickenburg, AZ........so you know where I wish I was! This time next month we will be out there, Lord willing. I'm getting real anxious to move.  That's why we have a home with wheels, so we can go.

Hope everyone is staying warm.  Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday today to our son-in-law Randy and Grandson Gabe.  Hope you have a GREAT birthday!!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday.. 

WHAT?? Another Cold Front headed this way!!!

Everybody keeps hoping it will someday warm up! They say this is the coldest winter they have had here in the Rio Grande Valley in at least 5 years. We have only been here 3 winters and it sure is the coldest one we have seen. It just seems to get cold and stay cold for days on end. Cold and Damp! It's getting a little tiresome.  Now they tell us that tonight another frigid cold front is going to hit us and it will be worse than any so far...Geeze!

I'll bet those folks up in my home land aren't feeling one bit sorry for me.  I see it's going to be about
20 deg "below" zero up there and maybe warm up to about 2 deg "below" in the daytime.  Oh well, I guess we don't have it so bad after all.   In just 3 weeks, we are going to head North and West to Arizona.  I'm sure it will be a colder there. It will be a lot dryer though and that makes quite a difference. I just don't want to be in SNOW. I've had my fill of that stuff....40+ years of it is enough. Although several winters ago, we did get stuck in Deming, New Mexico in snow drifts of about 2 ft deep. I don't want to see that again.

Last summer I showed a picture of my friend Mel Harrison's PressurePro Tire Monitor stand that he had built by one of the Mennonite wood crafters near Elkhart, Indiana. It is an extremely attractive mount and several have asked me about it, so here is another picture of it. I have several more pictures if anyone wants to see them. Just send me your email address and I'll send you what I have so you can check it out further. Mel had them make it out of wood that matches the woodwork in his rig. He gets a lot of compliments on it.              (click on picture to enlarge)

 
Today's Blog is going to be short. We have an exciting day planned and must hurry around and get ready for it. In a little while, we are going to Mexico. No, not to shop or replenish the liquor supply. We are going with our good friends and fellow RV'ers, Rocky and Sheri Rhoades. They are Missionaries working with HeroMakers and have several projects going on just over the Border. They asked us to go along with them and see what they have been doing. I know they are very involved in working with underprivileged and orphaned children and I'm anxious to hear and see more about it.  I'll keep you advised.

Rocky and Sheri Rhoades at our place in Custer, SD

 
















It is a GREAT WEEK!!!
 
Thanks for stopping by.  See ya Sunday.
 
Mike
 
This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

First Blog of 2010,,,

2010 is here, just as we predicted.  All the holidays and celebrating is over and it's back to business as usual. In less than a month, we will be leaving the South Texas Rio Grande Valley and head West. I'm getting anxious and looking forward to getting out where there are some mountains. We plan on leaving here on Jan 28TH and stopping for a couple days at Big Bend National Park south of Alpine, Texas. We have been there before and want to hike some of the trails again and explore Big Bend Ranch State Park right next door to the National Park. After that, we will continue on to Arizona. We should arrive at our place in North Ranch at the Escapee Park near Wickenburg on or about Feb 3RD. We are looking forward to seeing our great neighbors and friends there.

Yes, 2009 is gone forever, gone but not forgotten. Here are a few pictures I put together of last year.

Great memories. 2009 was a good year!

Congratulations are definitely in order for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Florida State Seminoles Football teams. Nebraska beat Arizona in the Holiday Bowl and the Seminoles beat West Virgina in the Gator Bowl. Nice way to end the year for both teams and a wonderful way for the great Bobby Bowden to end his career of 57 years.

We are looking forward to another Great year. I'm sure there will be challenges, but we're up for them  and looking forward to it. ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIER!! CHARGE!!!

It was a GREAT YEAR!!!

God Bless you all from both of us.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..