Time for a new post, already?

Hey everyone, we've been busy doing things, working basically.  However, we stopped working on the 20th of October and now I have a little time to catch up with a few things, this blog being one of them.

After the 2nd month at Medora, things there became routine but not boring by any means.  My job was a pretty sweet gig, and I enjoyed it a bunch.  I mean driving a riding lawn mower 98% of the time has got to be good, right?  Yeah, there were times that I wasn't mowing, like when I had to help with the tee service, or when there was spraying of noxious weeds to be done.  But for the most part, I was riding a lawn mower, often times, lost in my own thoughts, or thinking of a song while I was doing it.  While mowing isn't that big of a deal and most anyone could do it, the job had to be done to a certain standard and I'm thinking that I did a fairly good job of it.

I got to know several other workers there in the golf course maintenance department, good folks all of them.

Here are Juan on the left and Emma on the right.  Emma interned for the summer after graduating from North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, and was in charge of remodeling the foliage at the hole markers this summer.

Above are from the left, Kyle, Raul, and Jake.  Kyle is a student at trade school so he left early in September to attend it, as did many other young adults in college or university.  From what I was told by Raul, he was planning on leaving shortly after we did, and I'm thinking that Jake stayed until they shut down the golf course in October heading for either Alaska or California.  Raul and Juan, as well as Vicente and Luis who I wasn't able to get pictures of, left family in Mexico to come work at Medora for the summer months.  We was surprised to learn that there were so many folks in Medora who come there on work Visas.

  

This is Kyle, the golf course superintendent, who supervised the maintenance of the golf course.  He did a great job of this, and it wasn't uncommon for us groundskeepers to receive compliments on the condition of the course.  The picture doesn't do him justice.  Sorry.

Kyle, his assistant AJ, and equipment manager Dan, work year round, with the brunt of their work being in the summer, obviously.  Wasn't able to get pictures of AJ and Dan as they moved pretty fast and my camera couldn't focus on them.  Regardless, they were conscientious of the importance of their job and did it well.

Meanwhile, Katie was cashiering at the Medora Chuckwagon Buffet.  She became well known by most of the folks who worked for Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation (TRMF) as they'd come there for lunch, if not dinner also, often times breakfast as well.  If I needed to know something pertaining to TRMF, I'd ask her and if she didn't now the answer, would find out the answer in a day or so by asking the people she knew, which was A LOT! 

This is Vivian from Taiwan on the left, Katie is on the right.  Vivian worked with Katie for several weeks before being transferred from the Chuckwagon to the Pizza Parlor across the street.  She, along with 10 other young folks from Taiwan, came to work in Medora for the summer. This picture was taken in the Pizza Parlor with Vivian and Katie wearing their work uniforms.  Maybe you figured that out by the name badges they were wearing.  Maybe...

These are the folks that ran the Chuckwagon with Anthony, the chef on the left, from the Union of South Africa, and Michelle from Ireland on the right, who was in charge of the cashiers and clean up crew.  Michelle was Katie's supervisor.  Good people, and great to get to know them.

There were a few interesting things going on in Medora besides work.  One was a daily show of a Teddy Roosevelt impersonators Joe Wiegand and Larry Marble.  Joe would do the TR shows at the Old Town Hall six days a week, and Larry and his wife, Julia, would take over on Joe's day off.  Larry and Julia would also tour around the town on weekends greeting folks as TR would do, and Julia would host an afternoon tea at the von Hoffman house on Saturdays telling about TR from the perspective of TR's second wife, Edith.  All three of the impersonators did their parts well, and it was always a very interesting show.  If you're going to be anywhere near Medora during the summer, this is one of the things that you should be seeing.  

Larry and Julia Marble as Teddy and Edith Roosevelt at the Old Town Hall in Medora.  This is a show not to be missed.

Another item that was interesting to me was the wildlife.  Deer were abundant all over the place, and it wasn't uncommon to see them in or along side the road in the morning.  One of our neighbors in the campground planted a garden and was very disappointed to see that the veggies she was growing were being eaten by deer as she could tell by the hoof prints in the dirt next to the veggies.  I didn't realize they were fast also, as one of them decided to race the van taking us workers to the golf course in the morning, keeping up with it up to 35 mph.  Not sure why it didn't just turn left away from the road though.  I'm thinking they just aren't the brightest animals after this summer, whadya think?  

Every now and then, I'd see a coyote on the golf course in the early morning, and they could be heard in the evening as well.  Owls could be seen rarely also.

Bison were in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, adjacent to Medora.  Here one is seen at Cottonwood Campground.  During the summer months, it was hard to find them during the day due to the heat, so it was better to look for them early in the morning or in the evening just before sunset.  They roam freely in the park, not caring if they're on or off the road.  If you're driving on the same road they're in front of you on, it'd be best if you care though.

Another popular animal there are jack rabbits.  For the most part, they were like most wild animals that shy away from humans, or other animals larger than them.  However, on the tee for the 15th hole were jack rabbits that were more than just a little bit tamer as evidenced by this picture of Juan getting up close to take a picture of a jack rabbit eating breakfast.  He was about a foot away when the jack rabbit decided that he'd had enough of Juan and left for the safer surroundings of the grasses around the tee.   Emma was another bunny enthusiast, and had the nickname of "The Bunny Whisperer" as she would always try to touch one every time she  was on the 15th hole, calling to them as if they understood what she was saying.  I guess the bunnies did understand her, because it seemed to work to a certain extent!  I wasn't really wild about the idea of touching them because jack rabbits are wild animals who don't take baths in an effort to keep themselves clean.  And free from parasites and dirt.  ...Get my drift?

 

There were chipmunks at Bully Pulpit Golf course, as I'm sure they were elsewhere, but they seemed to be more prolific there.  They'd usually make themselves known by running out on the paved golf cart path in front of me as I'd drive a cart along it.  Not really sure why they'd want to do this, I mean they could've turned into the grass at any point to get out of my way, but usually went many feet rather than just a couple feet to seek safety.  From what I was able to find out about them, this the Least Chipmunk species.

Working in the early mornings meant that I usually started work before the sun came up, so I'd be there for the sunrise, which was often quite nice.  

This is one of those spectacular sunrises taken from the third hole.

There is a river going through the area called the Scenic Little Missouri River.  I'm not sure why it's not just the Little Missouri River, from what I could tell, it wasn't all that scenic.  But apparently the folks in charge of the signs telling everyone what it is decided that it was scenic.  

Taking that into account, this is a picture of the Scenic Little Missouri River on a cold morning when the temperature of the water was warmer than the air temperature.  This was taken from the third hole as well, looking north towards Medora.  And I'm glad that I'm warmer now.

That's about it for now.  Hope this posting finds everyone well.

Month Two in Medora, North Dakota

Hey everybody, we've been here in Medora now for just more than two months.  It's been pretty good for the both of us, with the biggest complaint being that Katie and I don't get to spend very much time together.  In other working gigs that we've done, we've never had this much separation during the work day.  Which isn't bad in the long run, it's just an inconvenience as I don't get to spend as much time as I would like to spend with Katie.  Ya see, in my job as a lawn care worker (...sometimes called a grounds keeper at a golf course, ok?) there has to be folks that work in the afternoon and early evening because that is usually when there are fewer folks on the golf course and more mowing can be done as opposed to the early parts of the day when there is more dew on the grass and more golfers wanting to be there when the temps are cooler.  So my work schedule has one - two days a week when I'm gone in the afternoon and early evening.  Katie's work schedule has usually been a daily split shift with her going to work for a couple hours, coming home, and then back to work,  sometimes until 9 PM at night.  Lately, we haven't been able to spend as much time together as I'd like because of those work schedules.  Having said that, it's only gonna be for less than another three months, so it's a doable thing.  Good for that.

On our few days off together, as well as the Sundays that I work from 5:30 - 9:30 AM or less, we try to see a little bit more of North Dakota than what we've seen so far.  If it's a Sunday, we've been going to Dickinson for a ...healthful, ...nutritious, ...wholesome breakfast at the golden arches, McDonalds.  Yeah, it's probably not the best cuisine for us, but we're currently liking their steak McMuffin.  That, and their coffee, is what we'll have on Sunday mornings.  Then we go to church at Evangelical Bible Church of Dickinson.  After church, we'll hit a market for our weekly shopping, either Wal-Mart, Family Fare Supermarket, or the new Cash Wise market.  We'd been shopping at Wal-Mart as they have just about everything we'd possibly ever want, but thought we'd try the Family Fare store, and found it to be more expensive than Wal-Mart.  But this last Sunday, we tried Cash Wise, which is like a small Winco Foods with the same variety, food display, and ...feeling that Winco provides, although they aren't owned by the same company from what I learned from an employee.  Not that anyone really cares, but we'll probably be shopping at Cash Wise more in the future while we're in Medora.  

After shopping, we try to find a place that we haven't been to see.  On last Saturday, we went to see the Enchanted Highway, which is a stretch of road from I-94 on the north to Regent on the south.  What makes it enchanted is the seven humongous scrap metal sculptures off the side of the road.  The sculptor, Gary Greff, sculpted them in an effort to stop his home town of Regent becoming a ghost town.  That's where we started our journey stopping at the Enchanted Castle Hotel first, which was a former school that's been remodeled in a castle like way.

As you can see from the outside of it, it was a school

 And the former school house before that is just a few feet away as well.

While this was a weekend, there just weren't that many folks at the Castle, not even someone at the front desk (I'm guessing that they were just out and about the property).  We only saw a custodian who wasn't able to answer our questions about the history of the castle as he had just moved there.  But from the websites I've visited, the Enchanted Castle gets high marks for hospitality and food as well.

From there we went to the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop, which had not only memorabilia about the highway, but ice cream as well.  No, we didn't imbibe in it as we had plans for lunch later on.

Across the street were various other touristy shops that weren't open on Saturday.  Strangely enough, the convenience store on the far right in the photo below wasn't open either, although the gas pumps looked like someone could get gas from them.  Not that it's bad, just that we've never seen a convenience store that wasn't open on the weekend.

We didn't realize it, but there is a sculpture right next to the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop that I didn't show much of in the previous photo of it.  I guess it's a mechanized sculpture as the figures moved about while we were looking at it.  Just can't show it in a photo, ya know?

We wandered around the town a little more to see what it was like and found the office of the Cannonball Company.  At first, I thought that they must make shotgun ammunition, and this was only their offices rather than their manufacturing plant.  I was quite wrong as the Cannonball Company hosts hunting expeditions for pheasant, white tail deer, grouse and partridge, and prairie dog.  I can see hunting the pheasant, white tail deer, grouse and partridge, but I'm baffled about hunting prairie dog.  I don't think that I'd be doing any hunting of them, or eating of them, but apparently it's a big sport in some places.

From there, we headed north for a couple of miles to find the Tin Family.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the sculptures have good parking, and most have a sheltered picnic table as well.  The figures here are anchored to the ground with telephone poles, the man stands 45' high, the woman 44' high, and the boy is only 23' high.

Going a few more miles up the road is the sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again, which is made of 1 3/4" well pipe, stands 51' high and weighs about 9,000 pounds.  In the photo, it shows a bulletin board in the lower right corner telling about the other sculptures, as well as the Enchanted Highway RV Park which offers a full hook up for only $20/night, which isn't bad if ya need that.

We'd seen a lot of yellow fields that day and thought that it was mustard growing.  But when we checked in the gift shop in Regent, we were told that it was canola, and you can read about it here if ya don't know much about it.

The next sculpture was Pheasants on the Prairie with the rooster being 40' tall and 70' long.  Humongous birds.

Fisherman's Dream is the title of the next sculpture, and it shows a lot of work with a few fish, a boat with a fisherman in it, as well as underwater vegetation also.

Grasshopper's In The Field was the next sculpture up the road, with a humongous grasshopper and two smaller ones that are still large enough to gobble me up, and still go for more folks my size.  Off to the right are littler ones even yet that are mounted on springs that little folks can sit on and go back and forth.

The town of Lefor was up the road a bit.  It had a population of over 200 at one time, mostly of Hungarian descent, but has turned into a ghost town kinda over the years.  It was founded in 1890 and named for the first postmaster, Adam Lefor.  Here is the sign on the road.

And here is the claim to fame for Lefor, St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church.  Quite a large one as you might be able to tell in the second picture (which was taken looking into the rear view mirror).

Quite a large building for an unincorporated community, imho.

Next up the road is Deer Crossing.  As is with all the other sculptures, this one is really big as well, as you may be able to tell by looking at Katie in the lower left corner.  The buck is 75' tall and the doe is 50' tall, and they're both held up with many really large guy-wires.

Just a little distance up the road was another town, Gladstone, which was incorporated in 1882 and named for the British Prime Minister William Gladstone, a liberal British politician in the 19th century.  The 2010 population of Gladstone was 239, so I'm thinking that it's now about the size of what Lefor used to be.  Not a bad place, it was just like the other bergs that we went through on that day in that there wasn't a lot of anything going on. 

The last sculpture can be seen from I-94 as well as the Enchanted Highway.  "Geese In Flight" is, in my opinion, the most famous sculpture as more people see it than any of the other sculptures.  It holds the record in the Guiness Book of Records as the Largest Scrap Metal Sculpture being 110' tall and 154' long.  The wingspan of the largest goose is 30' and the whole sculpture weighs in at almost 79 tons.  To me, it is the most impressive of all the sculptures. 

From there, we headed back home which was about 47 miles to the west on I-94.  Not a bad day to see some of the stuff in North Dakota, huh? 

Hope you had a great day, and enjoyed reading about the Enchanted Highway.  Be blessed!

We're in Medora!

Now that you know where we're at, you might be wondering where Medora is.  Well, there are three Medoras in the US in Illinois, Indiana, and North Dakota which is where we're at.  We're here for our summer and early fall employment gig.  We arrived here about two weeks ago on the 29th of April after a hard ride from Clearfield, Ut, which was 812 miles stopping overnight at Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Billings, Mt., on our way here.  The folks in the HR department of Theodore Roosevelt Medroa Foundation (TRMF) were very accommodating upon our arrival and offered us a room in the Badlands Motel as they weren't sure if the water was turned on in the Medora Campground where we're staying.  Well, ...the water was turned on, but we took up the offer for about a hour to just use the shower in the motel room, which really felt good as there was an unlimited amount of hot water as opposed to only the six gallons of hot water that we have in the moho.  Once the showers were completed, we went back to the moho and finished up setting up our campsite.  

The next day we were formally employed by TRMF by filling out the forms needed, and then took a ride around the city, in particular where we were gonna be working at, with me at the Bully Pulpit Golf Course three miles south of the city, and Katie at the Chuckwagon Buffet in downtown Medora.  We both started work the next day with Katie only getting a few hours as the buffet is only open those few hours right now, but will open more as the summer nears, and me getting two full days of work in.  Since then, the buffet has been open more and more so Katie's been getting more hours.  My work hours haven't really haven't changed, but the weather affecting my working has changed from summer back to winter with a snow storm in the area just Sunday night, leaving us with lows in the 20's both Sunday and Monday night.  Having said all that above, I'm gonna say that work so far has been pretty good with the exception of the weather.

As Katie's job is being a cashier at the only eatery in town that's open for lunch presently, she's getting the opportunity to meet just about everyone who works for TRMF.  And then when all the diners leave, she does the cleanup stuff, and assists in the kitchen.  I, on the other hand, take part in the golf course mowing, cleaning and setting up the tees, and other things having to do with golf course maintenance.  Not a bad gig, huh?

While the town of Medora has a history from the Marquis di Mores coming to the area in March of 1883 to ranch and try other business ventures and naming the city after his wife, Medora von Hoffman, it has it's most current claim to fame from Theodore Roosevelt when he came to Medora in October of the same year and afterwards as well.  From his visits in 1883 and 1903 and love for the area, the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park was established in 1947, with the south unit being established in 1949.  There is also history here from 1864 when General Alfred Sully fought the Sioux a few miles south of Medora, and from 1876 when Lieutenant-Colonel George Custer passed through on his way west to the Little Bighorn.

With the population of Medora being only 129 as of 2013, it's not all that big, with a downtown of only a couple of handfuls of blocks, and a total area of land only a third of a square mile.  Here's pictures of some of the buildings.

This is the Rough Riders Hotel.  It was originally the Metropolitan Hotel when it was built in 1885-86, and changed to Rough Riders Hotel in 1903 in honor of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and their service in the Spanish-American War.  Renovated in 1965, and again in 2009 adding 68 more rooms.

 

On the left side of this picture, you can see the east side of the Rough Riders Hotel, where you'd go if you were going into the lobby.  From the center to the right is the Medora Post Office (zipcode 58645), the First State Bank of Golva, and the Congregational Church.

This is the Demores Elementary School which has a student body of about 40 from Pre-K through eighth grade.  It also houses the 15, 000 square foot Billings County Resource Center Library.  Looks pretty nice, huh?  See the sign in the foreground?  See it better in the next picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks kinda old fashioned, huh?  This is why I like the new one better.

Just a couple blocks away from the Rough Riders Hotel are these buildings.  On the left is the Sacajawea Trading post, which is one of a few variety stores in town.  Next to that is the old Medora Fire Station which looks kinda small, if ya asks me.  The new fire station was dedicated a few days before our arrival here, and you can read more about it here.  The Town Hall on the right is where various plays are put on, including "Bully!  The Play" in which Teddy Roosevelt comes to life.  It's received many good reviews, maybe if you're in the area that'd be a good thing to take in.

Of course ya can't have a small town without the customary convenience store.  Don't know that it has any special history or not.  But it's the main store in town.

 

 

 

The place to eat in town where the vast majority of folks eat at right now is the Chuckwagon Buffet.  Having said that, with the exception of Theodore's Dining Room at the Rough Rider's Hotel, to the best of my knowledge, this is the only eatery serving breakfast, lunch and dinner right now.  And this is where Katie works.

And this is Katie at work.  Only this was after the rush of lunch so there wasn't anyone in line.  If there were, she wouldn't have been looking at me taking this picture.

Here's the food line with a couple entrees each meal.  Beverages are on the right out of sight.  The food is very good, and you can have as much as you want.

Lastly, here's what the campground looks like without campers in it.  There's been many folks working on cleaning it up from the winter months, and improving it by putting a new general store in it that includes a laundromat.  I'm not showing the swimming pool, or other play areas that are at the entrance to the campground, but they're there waiting for residents and visitors to use

Ok!  Having said all that, realize that not all the stores are shown here, and there aren't a lot of visitors and shoppers here right now either.  Starting on the Memorial Day weekend, there's gonna be lots more folks cruising up and down the streets, camping in the campground, golfing at the golf course, eating at the eateries, hoteling at the hotel (...?), etc., etc., etc.  In other words, ...I don't think it's gonna be quite as quiet as it is now.  So if you wanted to get here and have the place to yourself, I think that time is gone for the moment.  But if you enjoy being around friendly folks who enjoy having you visit them, Medora may be for you.  And if ya come, make sure ya lets us know so we can see ya!

Have a blessed day!

Beware the Ides of April...

As it just might snow!  And that's exactly what it did in Clearfield, Ut.  As I recall, it wasn't supposed to be more than a possibility of snow, but it turned into a "winter storm advisory" lasting through the night with the ground covered with maybe 2" in places.  And while it wasn't a lot, it was more than was expected, especially since it was in the upper 60's yesterday. 

Because Katie and I are gonna be working at Theodore Roosevelt National Park this summer, we won't be able to make it to the Dickson family reunion which is held every two years, with this year being the year to have it in the summer.  As a result, I'd be missing seeing folks in the family that I hadn't seen in some time.   So last Thursday, the 9th of April, after dropping Riley and Avery off at school, I headed up towards McMinnville, Or to see my sister, Elaine, and stay at her house for four days for the purpose of seeing as many folks as possible in lieu of being at the reunion.  She was kind enough to offer me room and board for those four days, as well as coordinate getting my son, Jon, my other sisters June & Shirley, and other family members to her house on Saturday for the mini reunion.  I arrived in McMinnville around 7 PM that evening ready to start my stay.  

In addition to the mini reunion, Elaine had a few things for me to do at her house and we started doing them on Saturday morning.  For lunch, we headed over to McMenamins restaurant in downtown McMinnville, and ate on the top of the Hotel Oregon where McMenamins is located.   Being up four stories affords a pretty good view from the top, and we were able to see the countryside well.  After lunch, Elaine led Jon and I on a tour of downtown McMinnville.  It was interesting seeing the various shops that were along 3rd street.  Half way down 3rd street, we met Ben Franklin sitting on a bench, and got our picture taken with him. 

Elaine felt like she needed to get close to Ben also.  So ...she did.

We had a lunch on Saturday with my sisters, June & Shirley, along with June's husband, Steve Taylor.  Their daughter and granddaughter, Stephanie and Aureliana, joined us a little bit later.  After lunch, other folks started arriving:  my cousin Kenneth Dickson and his wife, Rosa Lee, another cousin Keith Dickson and his wife Carol.  In addition, Kenneth's daughter,  Darla Bowman and husband John, as well as his son Kenny Dickson and his wife Kerry.  It was a good time being able to see how everyone is doing and especially great to see them since I won't be with them this summer.

Starting from the left, Rosa Lee Dickson (Kenneth's wife), Shirley Dickson (my middle sister), June Taylor (my youngest sister), Kenneth Dickson (Rosa Lee's husband), Kenny Dickson (Kenneth and Rosa Lee's son).

 Starting from the left, John Bowman (Darla's husband), Kerry Dickson (Kenny's wife), Rosa Lee & Shirley.

Starting from the left: Darla Bowman (John's wife, and Kenneth and Rosa Lee's daughter), Jon Dickson (my second son), Carol Dickson (Keith Dickson's wife), and Keith Dickson (Carol's husband).  Steve Taylor was off to the left out of sight in Elaine's kitchen, and you can see Elaine leaning against the door frame on the right side of the picture. 

As you can tell, these pictures were un-posed, and everyone was deep in thought.  Except maybe for Jon who looks like he was smiling about something...  I'm thinking that I thought about taking pictures after Stephanie and Aureliana had left.  Poor timing on my part.

On Sunday, we went to worship with June, Stephanie, and Aureliana,  and had lunch with June & Steve afterwards.  On Monday, we finished up the projects that Elaine wanted done, and then went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum to relax and see the Hughes H-4 Hercules, aka, the Spruce Goose, as well as other exhibits there.  We spent a lot of time in the Space Museum, but managed to get a tour of the flight deck of the Spruce Goose and have pictures taken before we had to leave to take Jon home in St. Helens, some 60 miles away.  After having pizza from Sunshine Pizza Exchange, we dropped him off.  In the picture below, that's me on the left doing my best Howard Hughes' impression.  Pretty good, huh?

The ride back to Clearfield, Utah the next day was a long one.  I got up at 4:30 PDT (really 5:30 MDT) to start on my trek home.  After spending time going through the little towns along the way to I-5 going to Portland (Lafayette, Dundee, Newberg and Sherwood) (and I could've gone through Tigard also, but I didn't want to spend the extra 1/2 hour to 45 minutes to get through it!), I got gas and was on my way.  I decided to go on the north side of the Columbia River this time rather than the south side as I did when I went to McMinnville earlier, so went to Vancover and turned right on route 14.  Once again, there were many small towns along the way, including Washougal and White Salmon, where my father, Charles Kenneth Dickson, lived growing up.  I thought the trip on route 14 was more picturesque than the stretch of I84 opposite it on the Oregon side.  I highly recommend it if you're traveling east or west along the Columbia.  If ya have an RV, ya need to be aware that there's a couple of tunnels along the way that need to be negotiated though.  

There was a snow storm on the mountains around the Idaho - Utah border that I had to go through.  Luckily, it wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick.  Much.  And the snow plows were out in force, spreading sand and/or gravel, and ready to do plowing when the need arose.  (Sadly, that snow storm is the one that stayed with me all the way to Clearfield, and is still here now at 9 PM.  Weather.com says that there was a high of 44 here today, but I didn't see it.  They also say that the high tomorrow will be 57.  Not really sure if I believe them on that either.)  I arrived here about 7:30 PM which means that my trip was about 14 hours long.  After giving Katie a big hug and taking a shower, I ate, and then collapsed into bed.  Regardless of how long the drive was both ways, it was good to see family again.  

Have a blessed day! 

Happy Easter!

As Christians, Katie and I celebrate Easter, which is one of the most joyous events for Christians.  When I was a kid, I remember having Easter egg hunts and coloring Easter eggs, although I never got into the coloring of the eggs much at all.  Kinda boring and stinky, if ya ask me.  But I really loved the hymns sung at Church worship services, and as I got older, the different choral works also.  As I've grown in my Christian faith, I've come to appreciate what Christ did for me many years ago, as well as his resurrection.  Each Easter brings more meaning to my faith, so it is with joy that I look forward to Easter celebrations.

We've been with Amanda and her family now for three weeks now.  Wasn't sure how long it'd been till I looked at the calendar and computed when we left Tucson, Az.  It's been long enough now that we had to drain the tanks yesterday, and in the same trip filled up the gas tank so we'll be all set for our journey on April 27th when we head up to Medora, ND.  The weather here was great the first few days, but this last week the nights have been cold in the 30's, and the days not much warmer with the highs in the 50's.  One day it was very windy which made the cooler temps that much cooler.  Maybe spring is just trying to get back to normal temps rather than going back into summer temps so soon, ya think?  We try to take walks in the morning, and this is what it looked like one of those days looking east on a cloudy day.

Looks kinda dreary, huh?  But the trees were blooming, as they still are today.  Maybe it'd look better on a sunny day, ya think?

Our days have been filled with making things easier for Amanda and Shelby with us taking care of some household chores, and me taking the boys to and from school.  That's been a fun time for me as we've been able to talk about a few things, particularly RV's.  There's one RV lot we go by, and I always tell Avery that there's motorhomes there, to which he replies that "he knows" they're all trailers.  Riley is supposed to help me out as he's older and is able to see the motorhomes, but he's just gone along with Avery.  They've even come up with a theory that motorhomes are bad, and they've had an effect on Katie and me.  It's all in fun with many laughs along the way though.  I made popcorn for them, and they've determined that I make the best popcorn, even better than movie theater popcorn.  There's really no secret to it except that it isn't microwave popcorn, but the real thing.  Then last week, I made waffles for them, and I'm now the best waffle maker also.  Can't take credit for that as Amanda got the mix and the iron, all I did was mix it up.  I guess my point being that actually "making" things to eat is better than using a microwave or toaster to heat up food.  Like they were many years ago before convenience food was invented.  

We did go up to Meridian, ID., for a memorial service for Katie's niece, Allison, who was involved in an auto accident earlier in March.  While it was a somber even, it was good to see Katie's brother and sister in law, Ken and Lori, as well as her sister, Karen, and her husband, Bill, also.  Ken and Lori's great grandson, Mikey, also celebrated his 2nd birthday so the trip was good for that also.  On the way up there, we went through a wind storm that brought up many, many tumbleweeds from along the highway, and points beyond it seemed like there were so many of them, I didn't try to avoid them and our car wound up with a moustache.

A couple of blogs ago, I spoke about getting a different rig for us as our mighty Chieftain is ...not as it once was.  As much as we've been for RVing in a moho, the time has come that we're believing that a 5th wheel trailer would give us more usable room than a moho as there's space taken up at the front end of a moho that can't be utilized easily.  Plus there's the added expense of paying for the running gear of a moho which usually isn't used that often, especially if we go somewhere and just sit for weeks to months at a time; I mean it's an extra engine and drive train that we'd have to take care of.  Registration fees tend to be less for a 5th wheel than for a moho also.  

This represents quite a change for us as there's a few things that don't occur in 5th wheels that occur in motorhomes.  In particular, they usually weigh more than the dinghy that is towed behind the moho which is used for traveling around when the moho is setup at the campsite.  The vast majority of 5th wheels will weigh more than the truck that pulls them.  More than half of the mohos made will have fiberglass roofs, where they're available only in the crem dela crem of 5th wheels (the rest of the 5th wheels have a rubber roof, or something similar).  Setup and tear down at a campsite is usually easier and quicker in a moho by far.  When traveling, food can easily be procured from the refrigerator, and heated up if needed, for all the passengers of the moho.  Bathroom stops aren't necessary, except for the driver, because the bathroom is traveling with the driver and passenger rather than in a vehicle behind them.  These are some of the reasons that we've always thought of having a moho rather than a 5th wheel, it's just always made sense to us.

5th wheels can cost upwards of $150,000, such as this one.  As with just about anything in life, ya gets what ya pays for with very good quality and high end features being found in the rigs at the upper end of the price spectrum.  We're not looking for those rigs as they don't always have what we want anyway, but more the ones that are at the middle part of the price spectrum instead.  In my opinion, any RV that is made at the lower end of the price spectrum is made for young families that want to get started in the RVing experience, and not for the rigors of full time living in it.  So we'll be paying for something that will hopefully be able to stand the test of time in that middle zone.

There's a few different genres of 5th wheels in the market now.  The most common would be the one with the bedroom in the front of the rig, followed by the bathroom as we go towards the back, and finally the living area which includes the kitchen and eating area as well.  Lately, another style has come out where the living area and bedroom are switched so the living area is raised above the kitchen in the middle.  In a few models like this, the bedroom is also raised in the back of the trailer enabling the manufacture to allow for a hefty amount of storage under the bedroom as well as the living room.  Another trend is to have a large bathroom in the front of the rig with a half bath amidships.  Toy haulers are another style which offer an abundance of space in the back of the rig for toys such as ...bikes and trikes clear up to cars and lots of things in between.  On most of them, there is one or two large bunks that come down from the ceiling allowing for sleeping in the garage as well.  Many toy haulers have the ability to turn the tailgate into a patio for outdoor seating on the same level as the rest of the rig so ya don't have to got down steps to get to your outdoor chair, or up them to get another piece of chicken.  Another style would be the rigs with bunk rooms, which are usually placed either amidships or in the extreme back.  Having the bunk room in the middle  still allows the living room to be in the back, which seems to be a little more desirable for us.  Although with the bunk room in the back, it's larger and there is a possibility of more bunks, or often times there will be an abbreviated outdoor kitchen under the upper bunk on the curb side. 

Having said that, as far as we're concerned, the floor plans in 5th wheels come in two different styles: the ones with the dining area on the curb side, and the ones with the dining area on the street side, and this includes toy haulers.  We prefer to have one with the dining area on the curb side, which just happens to be the side that would have our campsite on it.  These floor plans also can allow for seeing who might be coming to your door a little easier as well.  We also want the living area to be in the rear of the rig if possible. That criteria narrows down the field a bunch.  

As you may recall, one of the reasons for the change in RVs is to have more room, mainly for Katie's painting.  If there is a bunk room or garage available, it could be used as Katie's studio, in addition to providing extra storage space which sometimes happens when paintings are made and space is needed for them.  Plus if other folks choose to stay with us, we'd have extra space for them to sleep.  Without the bunk room or garage, Katie would have to set up her easel somewhere in the rig, probably in the living area where a recliner would be removed.  She's not too keen on this idea, wanting the ability to close things off when needed.  In considering toy haulers, it seems as though they aren't always set up for full time RVing, although they have pretty good construction.  Their interior storage seems to be set up for the occasional weekend outing or vacation still the same, and their TV viewing angles aren't optimum with it usually being 90 degrees to the right or left of how folks are sitting.  They're very heavy, and have no slides in the garage, although they do allow for extra sleeping with extra beds.  But their cost is higher than we want to spend, and they weigh more than we want to tow.  That leaves a bunk room 5th wheel as our choice.

So, that's where we're at right now in that we know what style of 5th wheel we're gonna want to get.  We've narrowed the field down further to less than 10 rigs, but as they 2016s are coming out soon, the homework we've done so far may very well be for naught if there are new models with more of what we want in them.  Might have to do a bunch more research, ya think?

Have a blessed day!

Granddaughter's arrival!

This last Friday, the 20th of March, our daughter Amanda, and her husband James, took the awaited trip to the hospital around 8 PM to deliver their 2nd daughter, Shelby Marie.  Shortly after Mom and Dad got situated at the  hospital, she arrived, all 7 pounds, 2 ounces of her.  There weren't any complications with mother or daughter, so it was a blessing to have a quick, easy delivery.  Yesterday, Mom, Dad, and Shelby were visited by Katie, Riley, Avery, Aubrey, and myself in three different shifts as we couldn't all fit in our car at one time.  

Not quite sure how Shelby likes the bow in her hair right then.  Then again, maybe she just doesn't care about it either.  Looks cute, huh?

The good, (bigger) brother, Riley, enjoyed his visit and holding her, as did the other good, (not quite as big) brother, Avery.  I see lots of educating for Shelby taking place with these two boys.  Not sure how much teaching of life went on with their visits, but it's probably only a matter of time.

And finally, the old man showed up and James took a picture of Shelby and me.  He said I wasn't smiling, I thought I was doing a pretty good job of it.  Maybe I was more concerned with not dropping her, ya think?  Or keeping my eyes open with that bright light from the flash. 

Other than the expected arrival of Shelby, can't say that we've done a lot of other stuff.  Mostly we've been filling in for Amanda by taking the boys to and from school, having fun with them and Aubrey, and doing other stuff.  Right now, we're awaiting the homecoming and just taking care of the three other kids, which can be a challenge at times.  Luckily, Riley and Avery are doing the boy thing in the basement with the computer, and Aubrey is inspecting the carpet for things that I didn't pick up when I vacuumed it yesterday.  You know, grandparent stuff.  So this blog isn't gonna have a lot in it.  As a matter of fact, this is about it!

So have a blessed day!