Looking For A Lull

I found that I have a long weekend this weekend due to changes in our Holidays from my old company to our new company.  We're looking for something to do this weekend instead of sitting around.  Here are a few ideas we are mulling over: Visiting the Chiricahua National Monument Explore the Cochise Stronghold Spend a day sightseeing in Bisbee Look at all of the planes at the Pima Air and Space Museum Take a trip to Old Tucson We're not sure if we'll do more than 1 of these this weekend, but it would be nice!

Our trip to California was great and we had a wonderful time visiting with family, but it is great to be back in AZ.  It's crazy how expensive it is out there.  Food, Gas, Housing you name it and it is noticeably more expensive than 'normal'.  Beautiful state, nice to visit, wouldn't want to live there. Meanwhile, back in AZ we have been enjoying relaxing after our vacation time.  Its funny how being back to work feels like I'm getting more rest than I did when I was off.  One amazing thing about AZ is the spectacular sights you get at sunrise and sunset.  It's truly amazing.  Here are a few shots just to give you an idea. Not exactly "Sunrise", but not long after... ...that is the Moon BTW...

My apologies for not updating recently.  We've spent that last few weeks on the road in locations with very little to no cell phone coverage so my access to internet has been spotty at best and non-existent most of the time. We had a great time visiting our family in California for Xmas and New Years.  It's so good to see everyone and bringing Chappy out there made it much easier for us to enjoy our time.  No major issues on the trip only a stuck pocket door going to my office/bunkroom and I was able to fix that (mostly) when we got back. Here are a few pictures of some of the things.  I wish I could post them all but it would take forever. Of Course Karen and I found a  Brunch place that served a decent bloody Mary. Our Trip to Anza Borrego followed the rains resulting in many plants in bloom early! Walking through a slot canyon.  Notice the tipped column in the top center!  Yikes! Lunch prep.  That is Big Joe's homemade...

Labor day is past now and I'm feeling it a bit this morning.  We spent the bulk of the day helping Katia and Tony put in fence posts.  I'm just glad nobody caught it on film.  If it was widely known that I participated in manual labor the requests would come pouring in and my poor old body couldn't take that. Their fence is coming along nicely, but it is going to take longer than initially anticipated I think.  The bulk of the work seems trivial on the face of it but is much more daunting when you get started.  It will be nice when it is done though. I'm thinking about moving Chappy back to the house this coming weekend.  Since he has to be out of the park by the end of the month and we can't get back to Michigan soon enough because of my travel schedule for work, it seems best to bring him home and just use the time he's here to load up and prepare for the long trip coming up.  It will make it easier for us to get things put together for sure....

So we made it home and the water damage was pretty bad.  The kitchen flooring is bubbled, the ceilings in the basement have fallen and the carpet in the basement is a total loss.  I called the insurance company and it sounds like they are going to be pretty good to work with.  I'm a little apprehensive since this is the first claim I've ever had to file for homeowners insurance.  I'm hoping the process is smooth and we can get it all repaired.  What fun. That's the most action the elliptical has seen in a bit. What a mess!

Bodie came with the puck system so it didn't make much sense to remove the old hitch from Delilah when we traded her in.  I bought a new hitch from a local dealer and he got it delivered in record time delivered in record time.  The installation was simple except for moving around the bulky hitch, attach the legs, drop it in the pucks and close the latches. Hitching up to the trailer was a little difficult though.  The jaws are supposed to close and lock when you back up to the pin, but I couldn't get them to close all the way.  After a few attempts moving forward and then back again we finally did get it to engage so I'm hopeful that over time it will "loosen up" and be less of a hassle. It's a nice hitch system though and I like the design.  Curt Q20 if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Returning to Michigan and then to Ohio was very uneventful but sad as always to see the end of a vacation coming.  The Donk was a real trooper and on the final leg between Michigan and Ohio it was just her and I in the truck since Karen rode back in her own car with her Mom.  She actually fell asleep, unaided by the good drugs, with her head snuggled next to my elbow for most of that final trip. Sometime during the ride from SD to MI, I can't recall exactly when, the subject was brought up by Karen that Delilah's back seat was 'just to small' for a big dog like Donk and WAY to small for both her and the Donk so we discussed getting a new truck. I realize there is still much to tell about the trip, dropping the trailer off at the campground and other events that have occurred and I promise to get to most of that, but because I'm excited to share and sad to see Delilah go I want to introduce our new tow vehicle  "Bodie" (Short for Boadicea) Bodie at ...

It was time for us to start our trip back so we decided to make our way through the Indian reservation to Wounded Knee and then on to the same campground in MN that we stayed at on the way out.  You won't find any pictures of Wounded Knee because we only stopped for a second and didn't even make it out of the truck before we were accosted by people trying to sell us little trinkets.  It is really sad to see the state of what should be a hallowed place that holds the story of a part of American history that should not be forgotten barely represented and neglected.  So sad. I chose the headline for this post because of the state of things that we found when we arrived at our campground in MN.  While we were gone they got a TON of rain.  Many sites were flooded, they warned us that they couldn't mow because the mower got stuck in the mud a couple of times and OMG the bugs.  We drove through swarms of bugs on the way there and Chappy will need a big bath when...

The last couple days of our time in SD we decided to spend  around Hot Springs, SD.  The city got it's name from the Native Americans (Sioux and Cheyenne) that came to the area to enjoy the warm springs and considered them to be sacred.  Europeans came into the area in the 1800's and not long after built a few health resorts catering to the belief that the warm springs and others like them around the country had some healing and therapeutic qualities. It is home to the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, an Old Sanitarium that cared for TB patients and then was converted into a VA hospital (now a historic landmark), and really kick ass museum of the towns history in an old school house on a hill overlooking the town. Located just south of Wind Cave national park the town and it's surrounding areas offer quite a few interesting things to do especially for those that like nature, history, and science. Our first day there was a day trip from Custer where we visited the Mammot...

Before the trip we chose a campground near Custer, SD so we were central to all of the places we wanted to go, but not having spent time in the little town I didn't know what we would find. It turns out it was a perfect little place for some shopping, restaurants, and groceries.  We even were able to pick up a replacement stinky slinky from the local hardware store after ours broke. (More on that some other time.) Custer is located just about 10 miles south of the Crazy Horse monument almost right between Custer state park and Jewel cave making it a great place to visit if you are headed to any of those locations.  There is a small grocery store located on the east side of town right off the main drag and their prices are not bad considering they are literally the only place nearby for groceries. We spent time in many of the shops and ate at quite a few restaurants, but our favorite was "Buglin' Bull".  The food was excellent as it was at a number of the other...

Deadwood, SD.  I love history and so this was a highlight of the trip for me.  I've read numerous books on Deadwood and I still enjoy it even though much of what is town now was not town originally due to fires and such.  It is still pretty neat. There is still a lot of gambling in town, and even though we didn't gamble, it is a draw to some of those who visit.  We spent our time in the shops, restaurants and saloons picking out gifts to take back home, having some lunch or a drink.  For drinks we had "The Best Bloody Mary in Deadwood" at the Nugget Saloon, and a couple of mixed drinks with moonshine from the "Bloody Nose Saloon".  The bloody mary was $10, but it was REALLY good and lives up to it's hype. We did the bus tour up to Mount Moriah cemetery and saw the graves of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane.  I'm not much for kitschy tours but I knew Karen and Big Joe would enjoy it.  The bus driver was fantastic and I did end up learning a thing or...

The Donk has a sore hip so Karen stayed back at the trailer with her while Big Joe and I went to Jewel Cave.  It was a pretty neat tour of the worlds 3rd largest cave system and not far from the campground either.  I took a ton of video and we'll see how that turned out.  If it looks decent I may put some on here as well. The cave was pretty chilly as caves are, and the walking tour took us about an hour.  I learned some important facts though;  #1 Leaving your jacket at the trailer when going to visit a cave is a bad idea especially if you are sensitive to the cold. When the tour finished up we stopped at a quirky little tourist trap called "Four Mile old West town".  The buildings are pretty run down and the place needs some work, but it was still AWESOME!  There were a ton of old antiques that you don't see every day and the ladies working there were very friendly.  I'd suggest a stop if you have the time. Joe and I finished our outing at...

Being held back by the weather for a few days lit a spark under us and today we decided we would tackle both Mount Rushmore and Crazy horse in the same day.  Once again the weather stepped in and made the job pretty easy, the wind was wild and cold when we were at Rushmore and made it hard to even keep the camera up on it's tripod.  The leftover snow had the presidential trail closed so we were limited in what we could see but we did see the mountain. Crazy horse was nice as I remember it.  It is great to see the progress that has occurred in the time since I was last there. I also love the museum and the history that they present. With time left over we did eat lunch at the game lodge in Custer State park and follow that up with a ride through the loop to see the Buffalo.  It was a great day and I feel as though we actually accomplished something we had set out to do. The first Blog Video! There has been progress in the last 16 years Love this pla...

After two nights at the Jackson, MN KOA we decided that we wanted to situate ourselves closer to the black hills without going into the snowy bits so we took off to Wall, SD.  We had to leave EARLY in the morning because heavy winds were expected to move through in the afternoon and boy did they have that right.  We pulled into a reasonably priced campground in downtown Wall and not long after checking in the wind came.  The rain was blowing sideways and the trailer rocked all night.  Surprisingly, the Donk was relatively unfazed by the weather since there was not thunder. After checking the weather and seeing the forecast for 8 inches in the black hills we extended our stay one additional night. Wall is a neat little town, famous for Wall Drug, the tourist trap/drugstore that keeps it pinned to the map.  We spent a decent amount of time and money at Wall Drug and it was pretty fun.  It is also close enough to the Badlands for us to do a driving tour on...