Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veterans Day, everyone!  If you know a vet, please stop to shake their hand(s) and thank them for their service to the country that they've given.  They deserve our thanks.

Hope your weekend was a good one.  Didja get accomplished what you wanted to accomplish?  How about the weather, was it good for ya, or did it inhibit you from getting done what you wanted to accomplish.  I admit that at times I have used the excuse that the weather has stopped me from doing what I knew I needed to do, like take the garbage out, vacuum the carpet, or read a book.  Yeah, it's kinda far fetched, but isn't there a saying about going big, or not going at all?  So aren't those excuses good ones for going big?  No, they haven't been used a lot, basically they're saved in reserve for times I might need to have some quality couch time, or a nap, ok?

Actually, the weekend was pretty good.  No, not a lot was accomplished as was evidence by the lack of a blog post on either Saturday or Sunday.  But I had a good time with the family.  James' sickness seems to have left him and he has gone to work today.  The nasty sounding cough that he had on Friday didn't make its' sound heard again, so we're hoping that he's ok.  I did the sound tech thing at church again making the different praise songs words show on the screen, and was told that I'd do the soundboard next week.  As it's run a different way than the sound board at FPC in Las Vegas (which is now Grace Presbyterian Church), I'm a little concerned.  Also the tech I'm learning from is a former sound guy who'd done lots of professional videos prior to his retirement, and he does things a little different from what I've done before.  I'm sure it'll all turn out ok a few Sundays down the road.

The Travelogue

Going back to the traveling thing from a couple of years ago, we stayed the night at  Camp Wal-Mart in Hays, Ks., and the next morning, headed for Amanda and her family in Clearfield, Ut., where we're at right now.  Google Maps says that this is an 855 miles trip, so I doubt if we made it in one day.  Must've stayed somewhere along the way, probably another Camp Wal-Mart, just don't remember where.  We stayed at Amanda's for almost a month, taking in Halloween while we were there.  This was an important event as I got to take part in the candy filtering for grandson's Riley and Avery.  Good things the filter is small enough to stop them bite sized Baby Ruths, Butterfingers, and York Peppermint Patties, huh?  And let's face it, it was in their best interest that we were able to help them out by not having them eat all those empty calories, don't you agree?

 When we left Amanda's about a month later, we headed south on I-15 in the evening after the traffic had settled down as there was a lot of road construction going on, and traffic didn't want to settle down until late.  So it was about 8 PM when we said good-bye to Amanda and her family, and traveled to Fillmore, Ut before we got tired enough to want to find a place to stop for the night.  We pulled off at the north end of town onto route 99 and drove slowly through the town looking for a place to pull into that didn't look like it was the wrong place to pull into.  Didn't see one in the whole town, but since the population is a little over 2,000, it didn't take long before we were through the town and back to I-15.  Where, luckily, there was a truck stop that had a couple of truckers and no other RVers.  That was where we stopped for the night.

The next morning, we awoke to find snow in the hills and not far away from us, as you can see in the picture above, so you can tell that it wasn't a very balmy night.  I'm actually thinking there was ice on the pavement when this picture was taken the next morning.  In looking up information on Fillmore, we found that it was the territorial capital for Utah from 1851 - 1856.  Wow!  We didn't know we were staying in such a historic place!  

After doing some breakfast stuff, we hit the road again and  headed for Katie's Dad in Phelan, Ca., near Victorville, Ca. I don't remember if we got there in one day or not.  As the mileage is almost 500 miles, I'm not sure that we would.  But we've done more miles than that in one day before and after, so we may have done it.  The idea of going there was not only a visit, but to see if we lend him a hand around the ranch.  Ironically when we got there, we found that everything was OK with him, and our services weren't required.  Here's a picture of our property with our storage garage there, (which is next to Ken's property) with the front of the mighty Chieftain off to the left.   

We stayed there for a couple of days doing what we could at the ranch and in the area, and looking in on our stuff in the garage in the above picture.  Let me backtrack here a little.  While we were in Altoona, Iowa, we were told by Katie's Dad that our garage had been vandalized and some of our stuff had probably been stolen.  (His house is off to the right out of the picture.)  Amanda and James had put most of their stuff in the garage when they moved out of Portland, Oregon also, and that's what the garage was mostly filled with.  So looking in on what was left was definitely one of the things that we did.  I don't remember what we found missing (I guess that would be "what we didn't find"), but it was rather disheartening and disappointing.  After the breakin had occurred, Katie's sister and her husband, Karen & Bill, were kind enough to install a more secure lock on the door to the garage.  We were grateful for what they'd done and hoped for the best.  Still the same, looking in on our stuff, and the mess that was in the garage, kinda made us sick.

One can only do so many things up in the desert of Victorville, Ca., and the surrounding area, and one of those things is play disc golf, right?  Doris Davies Park DGC (This link goes to a YouTube video of Doris Davies Park, taken from a remote controlled plane or helicopter, my RC friends can tell which.  If you get motion sickness easily, you may not want to watch.  I apologize for the sickness if you watch and get a little uncomfortable.)  in Victorville has a bunch of different facilities, among them all is a nice disc golf course which I was lucky enough to have a 100' putt a few years ago.  (I think it was 100', I could be wrong.  Putting stories are kinda like fish stories, right?  It was definitely a long ways, much longer than I'm usually able to putt.)  Here I am on the first tee.  Pretty enviable, huh?  I mean for the small athletic prowess, not the extra poundage, ok?

BUT!  I do look good, don't I!

Ok, I can only stand so much self-adoration in one day, so I'm gonna close now.  Have a blessed day!