Natchez in the Rear View Mirror

Guess its time to move on. We were planning to travel on to Biloxi area on Monday, but weather forecast was not good, with heavy rain forecast for the next 2 days, so we just decided to sit tight and vegetate until Wednesday when the weatherman says it is to be sunny. We have no timetable, so sitting an extra few days has no impact on us. And rain it did!! Extremely heavy during the last two nights.
BUT IT"S BETTER THAN SNOW, THAT YOU FOLKS BACK HOME ARE EXPERIENCING!!!
When we originally checked in at this RV Park, the lady at the counter, recommended that we sign up for "Passport America", that give 50% rates for over 1500 RV Parks in the US, Canada, and Mexico, with some stipulations about week-ends and holidays. Becoming a member costs $44/year, so she showed that if we had been a member we could have paid for the membership during that 1 week stay. So, after some deliberation, the next day we went to the office and signed up. Now when we decided to stay another two days, we were now members, so the rate was only $22/night, rather than the $44.

Now, what we did for the last period of time since my last Blog.
Lets see, the last I did was on the 4th. On the 5th we drove up the Natchez Trace. Woke up to some snow, but went anyway. Phiedeaux thought it tooo cold to go, but we just covered his ears and took him anyway!!

This is a scenic 2 lane highway that extends from Natchez 444 miles to Nashville, Tennessee, Of course, we were not able to drive it all, in fact only about 65 miles, and that took us from about 10:00AM until 3:00PM.

Yes, that is snow!! 1/2 inch of the stuff!!

There is just so much to see and so many stops to check out things. One of the unique things about it is, that it travels through what appears pristine forest land, and wetlands, where Spanish Moss and Vines cling to all the trees. But unknown to the traveler, there are rural communities all along the route only short distances from the road.

An old Indian Pyramid. It is huge, almost on the scale of the Aztecs.
Some great planning must have gone into this to hide it from those that use it. Also just a few miles away, is highway #61, a super interstate highway for those that are in a hurry. Speed limit on the Natchez Trace is 50 mph. After our 65 mile drive we jumped onto the Freeway and were back home in an hour. Well,we took a little unplanned detour that added another 1/2 hour. Never Lost!! Only taking the scenic Route!! Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!!

The Old Original Natchez Trace. It was the route that the settlers used to return home from taking their product to market down the Mississippi to Natchez. They would boat their product down, but were unable without power to return upriver, so would sell their boats at Natchez and walk home up the Natchez Trace.

A harvested Cotton Field. Looks like a lot left there yet?

Looks like Gator country to me!

Then the 6th, 7th, and 8th, we did very little, but rested, shopped for groceries one day, and just generally relaxed. I, for one never get tired of seeing the big tugs pushing their barges up and down the river. For a landlubber like myself, I find it really intriguing. Had a chance to talk to an old neighbor RV'er today who had spent a lot of time on the river as a deck hand, and he filled me in on a lot of details, that I did not know. Most of the river traffic consists of grain going down the river and Oil up. Big barge groups go from New Orleans to Alton,IL, just up river from St Louis. The reason being this as the stop point, is that from there upstream there are locks, that require splitting the load. Downstream there are no locks. Some of the tugs take as many as 21 barges per trip. That is 3 wide by 7 long. In fact, we even saw one group that 2 tugs had joined together pushing their load of 42 barges before them. Now that is a lot of freight!!

My informer told me that each tug is equipped with 2 diesel electric power units of about 7800 hp each. Crews on one of these big tugs number about 18 members. They work 6 hours on and 6 hours off, with only 2 crews. He says that although some of them look a little rough on the outside, each captain is very proud of his boat, and they are extremely clean inside. He likened it to a first class hotel, complete with cook and helper. Return trip from New Orleans to St Louis is about 15 days. There is a interesting page about the Mississippi at this link:

http://www.caleuche.com/River/RiverFacts.htm

And of course a sunset to end the day!!

Natchez in Review

Time to Post a Blog again. Just trying to keep everyone updated to the Langs Adventures.
Since last blog day before yesterday, we have seen a lot of the sites of Natchez. Yesterday started something like this:
Ahhh Glorious sunshine this morning.
Took a city tour of Natchez today- Denice and I the only ones on the bus so we had service plus!!

Saw most of the Antebellum homes during the one hour tour.

Then came home for lunch and then returned to Natchez for our own tour.

Stopped and did a detailed tour of one of them. It was called Longwood, and was an octagon shaped one with construction starting before the civil war, but never completed because of the war. This taken from their Web site:

No site epitomizes more the rapid rise in wealth that one could attain in the pre-Civil War era, nor the rapid rate of decline in wealth in the post-bellum era. This six-story 30,000 square foot mansion was designed by Samuel Sloan of Philadelphia for wealthy planter Haller Nutt and his wife, Julia Williams Nutt. As it was nearing completion, the Civil War began and the workmen dropped their tools and went home. Haller died in 1864 and his wife Julia continued to live in the finished first floor that today contains many original family furnishings. The upper five stories are an architectural wonder - a magnificent work in progress where time just stopped and stayed. This grandest octagonal house in America is a National Historic Landmark.

one can see more about each of the registered houses at:
http://www.natchezpilgrimage.com/dailytour.htm

Of course no historic site visit would be complete without a trip to the old cemetery. Lots of 1800's ghosts there!! End of the day.

Then today:
Late start this morning
Then about 11:00AM took a drive down the west side of the Mississippi for about 85 miles to New Road (Name of a town), and then crossed the Mississippi on a ferry and returned through St. Francisville and returned to Natchez on highway #61 by 5:00PM

A good trip with lots to see. The west side road is mostly built on the levee that holds the river back. As the ground is sooo flat, the levee is up to 50ft high. Me, being a construction guy, recognize the sheer magnitude of a project like this, to do both sides of the river for hundreds of miles. One of the things that boggles my mind is "Where did all the fill come from?" If the fill is 59 ft high, with a 2 lane highway near the top, and 5:1 slopes on each side, this works out to approximately 2,650,000 yd3/mile!!

Staggering!!!
And no borrow pits. At least it is not evident to me, to see any. Could it be from dredging the channel? I guess it's a job for me to research on the internet.
Denice took lots of pics of water birds. Cranes, egrets, cormorants (at least that is what I called them, but she thought they were anhingas), hawkes, and vultures.

But John Bown, the Roseate Spoonbill, still alludes her. She says, "You wil be eating your words" before this trip is over.
For those that don't understand the last comment about John Brown. He is a good friend of ours that we spend a fair amount of time with last winter down in Rock Port Texas. As you all know how Denice is about taking pictures of every type of Flora and Fauna that she comes across, well while on the Gulf Coast, she was determined to get a shot of a Spoonbill. So, time after time we pulled to the side of the road to try and capture a shot of one. No Luck. She was bamboozeled. Anyway, John sent her a photo of one that he says he took on an early morning walk along the coast. Hmmm, there or Florida? We are not sure!

Mississippi River in our front Yard

Well, we finally did reach the Great Mississippi River, although much farther south than we had intended. Our original plan, although cast in jello, was to reach the very upper end of the river in Minnesota and travel down th length of it, but since winter is upon us, we elected to head south as quickly as reasonably possible. We were also going to travel through Kentucky and Tennessee, but these are higher elevation states, where most of the RV Parks are shut down for the winter, we just took the shortest route to warmer weather.

The land all the way from Little Rock, Arkansas to Natchez, a distance of at least 300 miles, is along the Mississippi flood plain, and is absolutely flat, only broken by the occasional grove of trees.

Even so it has not been that warm. We are now just across the Mississippi from Natchez, MS in Vidalia, LA. Found a nice RV Park right on the river (only 100 yds from the motorhome).

Weather forecasts were not that good with heavy rain, possible tornadoes, and wind for the next few days, so we are just going to sit tight here for a week. Hopefully by then conditions will improve to the south and east of here. We think we want to meander that direction across Mississippi, Alabama, and into Florida. We have never been there so we will never have a better chance than now. We will likely tour down the west side of the peninsula. Maybe all the way to the Everglades, depending on weather and time.
Seems like everyone these days traveling has a pet dog or a cat, or some other little beast. We are no exception as we travel with Phiedeaux, our favourite pet, and he is sure enjoying the trip so far with his exalted position on the dash of ELTORO!!

COOL DUDE!!!

Since arriving here from Branson, we have done little, other than read, rest and relax. Rain and poor weather has hampered any site-seeing, but the weather man says tomorrow should be better. We want to experience Old Town Natchez, and some of the real old Antebellum homes there. In case you don't know, as I didn't, antebellum means Deep South Plantation Houses built before the Civil War. (Ante = before and bellum = war)

We will also try to travel some of the Natchez Trace. We drove the southern end about 20 years ago in the car and enjoyed it very much. I will update after we do it again. It may not be as good now as late fall may have some effect on what we see.

The 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail used by animals and people that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River, through Alabama, to salt licks in today's central Tennessee. Today, visitors can experience this National Scenic Byway and All-American Road through driving, hiking, biking, horseback riding, and camping.

Maybe a short drive down some of the Great River Road as well. We will see!

Vegas of the Ozarks

Well, our week in Branson is quickly coming to an end. We have greatly enjoyed our time here. The signs say that the population of Branson proper is 6,000 people, but I'm sure with all the suburbs that it must be about 100,000. At the info booth, they told us that 10,000,000 people a year pass through here. Traffic is heavy during the rush hours, but thins out for the rest of the day. Getting around in the city is quite easy, as all the main routes are color coded. For instance if you want to get the the "Sheppard of the Hills" all you have to do is follow the green route. In just a week we have found ourselves quite comfortable with finding our way around.
We started the week on Monday with a trip to the Butterfly Palace - Denice took lots of pics



This Statue is real!! I saw her blink!!!


The Sheppard of the Hills



Then we went around Highway 65 by the Lake and Tablerock Dam and then back to Branson
Went to "Fish House"for dinner - Denice had catfish, me shrimp. Both were very good. Appetizer was alligator tail. It was good. Pink Flesk, but it didn't squirm!
Then returned to 2 1/2 miles of "Trail of Lights" - 4,000,000 lights! Very Good!! Took lots of photo's, but many did not turn out, as taking them in the dark is an art that we obviously have not mastered. Instead we bought a DVD that a professional had done.
Back at ELTORO at 9:00PM

Tuesday - Spent the day shopping. Walked the whole Branson Landing Mall, a huge place, with 2 main Dep't stores at each end and a couple hundred in between. Made a few purchases. Knick-knacks and stuff
Denice bought another photo scanner. This one scans old 4" X 6" pictures, She is going to scan a whole bunch of the old ones we have.
Then we drove all over town looking for some thread that she needs to do some stitching that she wants to get back to.
Lunch at a wine tasting place. We had coffee and a sandwich - No wine ----

Wednesday - Shopping again today. Wally World for groceries
Michaels for for Denices thread
Not much excitement today

Thursday - US Thanksgiving - stayed home all day
Did some cleaning and then Denice cooked a great Turkey Breast Dinner with all the trimmings. Turnips, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus, and salad. Turkey and dressing.

Friday - Black Friday - not sure why they call it that, but it’s the day after US Thanksgiving and one month till Christmas. This apparently starts the Xmas shopping season and has the highest volume of purchases of and time in the year.
Did some shopping in the morning - Home Depot, Wally World, Michaels, post office etc.

Then drove out to the Branson Belle paddle wheeler ship, till evening - sunset pics.

Cleaned up the Left over Thanksgiving Dinner for supper - It's even better than yesterday

The Charms of Branson, Missouri

Well, finally back on the Blankety-Blank Computer. Spend a good share of the past few days trying to get onto my Blog to do a new Posting. For some reason unknown, as soon as I put in my Password, the stupid thing would go into all kinds of contortions, and keep re-directing to an address in a circle route. Thats the best I can explain it. I have tried everything, and nothing seemed to work. However something I did must have been right, as all at once, "Here I Am". Denice says "write it down so you know what to do next time" I don't know what I did, so how am I going to write it down. "IT'S A COMPUTER". That explains it all.
Now, when I have a little more time I will fill in some of the Branson details. Today is US Thanksgiving, so we are cooking a turkey breast to help celebrate.

And on to Branson, Missouri

Nov 19th:

Lazed around today - A few motorhome chores. Went and got some more groceries at Price Chopper store - Nice grocery store!! Put groceries away - Cooked a steak for supper. End of Day. Now wasn't that exciting !!!! Watched planes come in to Kansas City as we are in the flight path and only 4 miles from the end of the runways.

Nov 20th:

Denice does washing this morning.

Dennis washes floors in ELTORO.

Mostly just a rest day - went for a walk around the RV site - It is very nice - I wouldn't mind spending a few more days here, but we have reservations in Branson, so will leave in AM tomorrow.

Nov 21st:

Leave Platte City by 9:00AM this morning. Take circle route ,East 435 around outskirts of Kansas City, then 71 to 7 and then 13 to Springfield, and then 65 to Branson. Arrive early at 2:00PM. Check in at Lakeside RV park, a City owned Park. Decided to stay for a week rather than the 3 days we had reserved for. They had to do some shuffiling of spaces to accomadate us. We are in space 103 tonight and then move to 108 for a week. Both are right on the water. Our front widow faces the Lake. A Great Spot!!!

ELTORO Repaired for under a buck

Woke up to light fog and cloudy skies this Morning. Decided to re-route to the south as fast as we can go rather than through Kentucky/Tennessee. Headed south down Interstate 29 - Lots of construction going on, on the highway to upgrade, What is good is very good, What is bad is quite bad. We stopped at a rest area and looked up RV Parks open all year long, ahead of us. Found one,"Basswood Resort" near Platte City Missouri. We called ahead to confirm reservations. Although only a couple of hundred miles travel, decided to stop there. As it is now raining steadily, we knew that was far enough for the day. (ELTORO behaved well in the rain - see note below) Arrived at about 2:30PM and checked in. Very nice park and friendly people. We reserved for 3 days. We were ready for a rest. They have a nice store and some take-out food. We ordered a Pizza and 10 hot wings. They delivered them to us at about 4:30PM, and they were well worth waiting for.
--- ELTORO -- I think you have heard me speak of him as being a "Fair Weather Vehicle" who does not like rain. Whenever in the past we have been in rain it is inevitable that it will soon start missing, and soon after the windshield wipers will start acting up, either start without turning on, or not be able to shut them off. I have spend at least $1500 trying to find a solution to both these problems. Been to some of the best service centers on both sides of the border. Installed new Spark Plug Wires, a new Wiper module for $800, and $100 here and $100 there at several diferent shops. No one seems to be able to solve the riddle.

Well I think I have.

At Shaw GMC they said they thought that the missing was from moisture getting into the air intake, not a wiring problem. Their solution was to extend the air intake higher into the front compartment, to be above moisture sucking in. I did that, but to no avail. But I was looking at the problem before I left High River, it just dawned on me that there was a little rubber valve arrangment at the bottom of the intake pipe to allow any dust that might accumulate there to escape. I inspected it and found when I pulled it off that it was not closed completely, and concluded that moisture could easily be sucked in there. My solution, 3" of duck tape!!! As for the wipers, I sprayed water on the electrical junction, and sure enough the wipers started on their own. Out with the black electrical tape, and taped it up firmly. Tried spraying water there again. Voila, success!! But when sprayed around the wiper moter they started again. Solution, one baggy completely covering the motor and electrical connections, secured by tightly wrapped electrical tape. Soak again with water. Everything working just great!!
Moral of the story:
After spending nearly $1500 at some of the best service departments in the country, yours truly fixed it with a 3" piece of "Duck Tape" and one large baggy from our kitchen. Lets hope that it is a perminant fix.

November 15th

Whats that white stuff??

Fairly long day traveling - from Roundup to Spearfish SD. Good highways all the way. Stop in Billings and buy cell phone with 300 minutes airtime. Phone number 406-671-2957. Arrive in Spearfish, just across the SD border just before dark - found a great RV Park called Elhorn Resort.

Nov 16th

Left Elkhorn at 9:00AM and traveled down to Wall Drug at 11:30AM. Stopped for a couple of hours until 1:30PM - had lunch. Then on east on I-90 - trouble finding a RV Park that was open - most closed at the end of October. Called ahead to Cedar Shores in Chamberlain - they were closed but allowed us to park in the lot anyway - power was supposed to be on but wasn't, so we used the gen set as required to make sure water compartments did not freeze during the night

Nov 17th
Left Cedar Shores by about 8:30AM and headed south again - sure looking for some warm weather - last night in ELTORO was cold. Started Gen set at 9:00PM, 12 Midnight, and 3:00AM and let run for a half hour to warm things up - especially underneath to ensure water lines did not freeze. At 3:30AM after shutting Gen set off, turned thermostat down to 50 F but left furnace on to run from batteries. Between then and about 7:30AM furnace started quite often, but batteries worked well. Was a little cool in bed but we covered up well with blankets and an afgan. Didn't drive too far today. Down past Sioux Falls, SD and Sioux City, IA. Stopped at a rest area and set up international calling in our new cell phone. No big deal, just have to call 1-800-584-7652, then 1 for English, the the long distance number you want to call in Canada, including the 1- Area code - number. Our Cell number is 1-406-584-2957. We also were looking for an RV Park open all year and found one about 25 miles south of Sioux City, right on the banks of the Missouri River, a little rustic, but all hookups, except cable TV. We had called ahead and got directions to their site. Found it quite easily, and with help of hired hand set up on a grass site. Complete by about 3:00PM. Early supper of bacon, eggs and Hash Browns. By then sun dipping lower in western sky, so went and took some sundown pics across the Missouri.

South into Winter - Hmmm - somethings the matter here

Up and Have breakfast with Tom and Linda, Say our goodbye's and on the road south before 9:00AM. Long line up at Coutts border, but it moves quite well. No difficult questions this time, just the usual, firearms, booze, where you goin, how long you all going to be gone. I told him 120 days for sure and possibly 180 days. His comment, "Better come home in 120 days, we don't like you to stay any longer and we don't care how much money you spend" Don't know where that come from, but I thought a little uncalled for. OH WELL !!!!!!! Uneventfull from there on to Great Falls and then on to Roundup on Highway 87 where we stopped for the night. RV park next to motel. Manager allowed us to park right up beside the motel so we would not have to unhook TOAD. Couldn't make to corner into the yard, so Co-Pilot Denice to the rescue. Sit in TOAD an hold the steering wheel while I did some creative driving maneuvers. Highways were good all the way,but fields covered with up to 6" snow. Are we really traveling south??

FRIDAY THE 13TH

It's Friday the 13th, and that explains it all. We are prepared to leave first thing this morning - all I have to do is fill with water, and we are off - Not To Be!!! Go to hook up the water and immediately find a froze up and broken valve on the hook up rigummaroll thingamajig. Can't get it apart - fingers freezing, and then finally able to completely break it and get it apart. Off to High River RV Supply, but as luck would have it, I walked in and walked directly to the exact fitting/valve that I required$29.50 later I walked out and returned to the subject site. Installed same quite easily, then went to hook up the hose - Froze solid - get new one from garage and commence filling. Can't get water to the Hot Water tank --- Hmmmmm, forget that, we'll deal with that later. RV Water pump will not start, even though I did a proper "Winterization" a month ago. Deal with that later also. Then yesterday, we had the bedroom slide out, to access our closets, but didn't slide it back in at the end of the day. Denice said we should put the furnace on overnight, but Me knowing best, said why would we do that, as its all winterized and nothing can freeze - Maybe a little "Scotch" blood there. You know, we need to conserve propane.Anyway the long and short of it, when we tried to activate the slide it would not budge. Checked 120 Volt breakers - AOK. Tried 12 Volt Fuses AOK - now what?? I went outside and tried to assist by pushing while Denice activated the switch - Good Luck, thats like a flee trying to stampede an elephant!! But while I was out there I detected a small short hum when Denice acivated the switch -- so the motor is ok. I went back in and tried the switch a few more times, and alas, finally noticed small movements. A few more tmes and finally it started to come in. I surmise that overnight there must have been a small amount of condensation on the rubber sealing around the slide perimeter, and it had froze overnight. Now it was about 10:30 AM. By now our master plan said that we would be somewhere south of Lethbridge. Oh well plans are only made to be broken. By the way, we are retired. What we don't get done today, we will do tomorrow!! So now shut off the water and all appliances in the house, humidifier, water softener, add vegetable oil to all setting water in the "P" traps and toilets to prevent evaporation (as we plan to be gone up to 6 months) and finally at 11:00AM we are on the road. Once out of High River I ask my co-pilot to call friends, Linda and Tom in Warner to let them know we are on the way and will see them in a few hours. Not to be. I had instructed Telus to put our land line, internet, and cell phone on Vacation Disconnect while we are gone, in an effort to save $$$. Again SCOTCH you know!! We plan to buy a "Wally World" cell for $29.99 once in the USA and a 300 minute card. So now our cell is out of commission. Can't call anyone. So we just arrive at Lindas and Toms at 2:00PM. Linda whips up a turkey sandwich for us, and dinner at 6:00PM. GREAT FRIENDS !!! Tom and I get the Pump working - must have been stuck!! Fill the hot water tank, and now I do believe we are really on our way. Spend the night in ELTORO in front of Lindas house.

OK, starting new 2009-2010 winter blog

Here it is November the 10th, 2009, and we are getting ready to head south once again. We have had a great summer here in Alberta. Just spent a lot of time relaxing and enjoying our home in High River. Did about 3 short week long trips in ELTORO during the summer. Twice down to Pincher Creek to visit our kids and once to Waterton, with a day trip into Glacier Park and over the "Going to the Sun" highway. And, oh yes, once out west of Turner Valley to Blue Rock campground for a week long primitive sojorn. The last month has been rather hectic, as my financial advisor, Denice, took a well deserved vacation in England with her sister and another friend. Denice, has always wanted to go and see some castles and see some of the real old stuff.
If that is all she wanted all she had to do was look at me, as I am some of the really old stuff.

Anyway, if she was going to wait for me to take her to England, she would have had to wait a long time, as I have no desire. While she was gone, our son Ross, decided that he could no longer affort the basement suite that he was living in, so we decided to buy him a Mobile home close to where he works at the Sears Warehouse in Calgary. So, the long and short of it, Dad had to step in with some assistance, and then to move him. God, how I hate moving!!! The big stuff is easy. A few loads of furniture, and its done. But the small things a person collects over the years. Seems it never ends. Load after load after load. Finally finished on Sunday. His mobile home is 30 years old. Originally 12' x 54', but with a 10' x 40' well constructed add-on on one side, as well as a nice deck and a garden shed for all his landscaping equipment. He should be happy now!!
So now we are rushing around trying to get all the final arrangement done before we leave this fall. Put phone, internet, and cell phone on "Vacation Disconnect", get all insurances, and ongoing bills organized for auto payment, vehicles (TOADONE and ELTORO) serviced and ready for a long vacation ahead, medicals, pills, and all of that stuff figured out, etc, etc, etc. I'm sure you all know what I mean!!
Plan on leaving as early as Friday, or Saturday. Heading down across the border at Coutts and on to Shelby, then turn east on US #2 across Montana and North Dakota to Grand Forks, then turn south down to Minneapolis, and down the Mississippi on the Great River Road to near St Louis somewhere, then likely over into Kentucky/Tennessee. From there everything is just cast in jello. Whatever road look appealing, that is the way we will go. Hope to be somewhere in Texas in mid January, and spend a couple of months there, between Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, before returning home in the spring. This year we are going to try for 6 months away. Not sure how that will work out!! May have to fly home for Christmas, for a break, but we'll see!!
This year, I have decided not to do a daily "Blog" as what we eat at each meal, gets to be rather "Old Hat", so will try to update at least once a week, to keep all informed of our whereabouts, and activities. Sometimes, I may do it more often, if we have interesting things to report.
So now follow along, and do send comments as you see fit. We do love to hear any news from home.

3rd Week at Home.- May 3rd to May 9th, 2009

Well, time to fill you in on another weeks activities here in High River. Lets see, what did really happen? I'll have to refer back to my digital diary that I do keep up regularly, well I try to, sometimes it even gets a little behind. And now with my age, it's sometimes difficult to remember things that happened even a few hours ago, let alone a few days. As I often say to friends in todays computer age, "My Hard Drive is good, but the Ram is a little Slow". Like its all up there, but the recall is sometimes a little hesitant.
Sunday May 3rd - Like all Sundays, starts with Coffee, then the "Health Thing". Weigh in, Uggg, we're each up another lb. We go US system here. Kg's whould be bad, although the total is good, like 90 kg's vs. 200 lbs, but an increase of 1 Kg is not good. Then Blood Pressure. Mine stays about 140/80 without taking any pills. Denice takes pills and her's is usually around 125/65. Got to do something about that weight!!!
Then I make Porridge, oatmeal today, with toast. Denice likes cream on her oatmeal!! lllllbbbbbs. Mine downfall is brown sugar.
Ross comes out from Calgary in our Suzuki, TOADONE, in the afternoon. I have him sold so need to keep him here for a well deserved cleanup prior to delivering to the new owner. Ross tries "turning" a large dry piece of poplar tree to make a bowl. It does not turn out well as the wood is so dry that it tends to tear, rather than peel away smoothly. By dinner time he is so frustrated that he just quits. "Dad, you can throw it out or whatever" I take him home to Calgary and keep TOADONE here.
Monday May 4th - Little to report of interest - Breakfast, Wash and clean TOADONE, Lunch, Down town for some of those things necessary to sustain our bodies, groceries, Dinner, read, to bed.
Tuesday May 5th - Take Denice to South Center appointment for Medical Tests at 1:00PM. After go to Oscar's for lunch. Return to High River. Dinner is left-overs from Lunch. Friend RV'er from Warner, Tom Neal stops by for coffee at 7:30PM on his way home to Warner from Calgary Dentist visit.
Wednesday May 6th - Around home all day. Take TOADONE to Fountain Tire for service and safety check, required for sale, at 8:30AM - completed by noon - A OK - recommend new tires and a tune up. Work on TOADONE some more. Denice comments that yours truly has spent more time getting that little fella ready for sale than I have for the last year, keeping him in shape for ourselves. True, true, true. Buy Groceries. Read, rest.
Thursday May 7th - Today is the day that all vehicles we own need to have next 6 months insurance paid, so, go pay insurances - Uggghhhh. Lincoln, (pay, but hopefully sell in next couple of weeks so will get a refund on that one), Suzuki, ( taking it to Warner tomorrow to sell, so sweet talk the Cooperators into just keeping it insured for another day with no charge) Jeep Liberty ( no option there but to pay), and my 3/4 ton Ford pickup( I just carry PL/PD on it). Then of course there are Ross's vehicles. His 1/2Ton Dodge and his 1 Ton Dump truck. And then you start to wonder where the money goes !!!!!

Friday May 8th - Hook TOADONE to my 3/4 Ton Ford and take him to Warner to Doug and Germaine, the new owners - I must tell the story of the sale of TOADONE. While we were in Quartzsite in January, while having a coffee with Tom and Linda, one evening, their friends Doug and Germaine, showed up. During the coffee chatting, the subject of tow vehicles came up. I said that I was towing a jeep, but at home in High River I had a little Suzuki that I had formerly towed. Germaine, especially, said. "We want to buy it". Well I wasn't really sure that I wanted to even sell it, as it is just a great little unit to "Bomb" around in, but however as the evening progressed, Germaine, just kept the pressure on. Much discussion on pricing, and I must tell you Germaine is good, and I guess I am a little weak, and finally I relented, and basically made the deal there and then, "sight unseen". Germaine, you got a good deal !! So that is the story of the sale. Then last week after we were back home in Canada, Lo and Behold, Sunday afternoon Doug and Germaine stop by with their motorhome on a trip back from the Edmonton area, with the hopes of taking TOADONE home with them. I would not allow it, as I wanted to get it all "ship and shine" before letting them have it. Why do people do that??? I guess its the old scenerio where your wife has to completely clean the house before the Maid service shows up!!
Anyway, back to Warner and the sale. We have lunch with Tom and Linda, then do sales paperwork with Doug and Germaine - cheque paid in full. They immediately go to Milk River and get insurance and Licence plates. Deal Complete - GOOD BYE TOADONE!!!

The New Happy Owners, Doug and Germaine.

After dinner Doug and Germaine Clinkenbeard, Denice and I celebrate my 68th Birthday that is Tom and Linda, Marty and Margo Kirby, andhappening tomorrow. Linda had made a delicious cake for me - Thanks Linda!! Our Good Friends, Tom and Linda

Saturday May 9th - 68 years old, Holy Shit!! 1941 was along time ago!!
At Tom and Linda's today - spent the night there after delivering TOADONE to Doug And Germaine. Return to High River leaving Warner about 2:30PM. Stop in Nanton to find place to have Brunch with Kids tomorrow for Mothers Day - reservation at Humpties at 11:00AM. Then we stop at Kens for supper - chinese smorg - very good. Back in High River by 6:ooPM - Good friends, Ron and Donna stop for coffee and bring dessert (Another cake)for my Birthday, as well as a neat card, and the "Good Sam" RV Campground guide. Thank you very much, Ron and Donna - they leave about 9:00PM, as they see we are bushed!! Does that come with being 68???

I Think Spring Is Really Here

It would certainly appear so! Last couple of days have been great. Up to 18 C yesterday and today seems to be another one the same. Not much to report this week again. In to Calgary a couple of times for the ever required groceries, and for Denice to catch up on the winters happenings from her coffee clutch.

Calgary Skyline in the background - shrouded by smog - something we here in Alberta are not accustomed to.

The new Calgary Hospital on the South side continues to Grow

I have been driving her in, but yesterday was supposed to be her initiation into driving the New Jeep on her own. She did drive it a few miles while down in Arizona on the desert, but was still nervious about going to the BIG city alone. In the end she coerced me into "Riding Shotgun" for the day. She did a great job and from now on will need no more coaching from me. The steering is much more sensitive than the old Lincoln's is, as is the gas pedal. Takes a little getting used to.
Other things during the last week, well income tax, completed and sent in, money back for both Denice and I, a nice surprise, but son Ross has to pay. Poor guy, he seems to always have to pay. Must be that Sears, where he works, or Langscaping Ventures, our little company, is not taking enough from him. Have to get that sorted out sometime! hmmm!
One other item; TOADONE, our little tow car, that we have pulled the last couple of years until we bought the Jeep Liberty, was broken into while we were down south for the winter. Ross had been driving it as it was much cheaper to use than his gas guzzling pickup. He had left it in his driveway and during on night someone slashed the back window ( it was a soft top, so sides were canvas and windows were plastic). Rather ironic that they slashed the window, when all they had to do was unzip the back widow, as it has a large zipper around the entire window. I guess its just easier with a knife!! There was nothing to steal inside other than a small stop watch that Ross had, a $10 value. Appears to me to just be kids in a destructive mood. However, I have the vehicle sold to friends of friends down in Warner, Alberta, so needed to get it replaced. Finally found a supply place called Zuki National, in Airdrie, Alberta that had them as used stock. Purchased it for $40 + $20 delivery by Greyhound. Received it yesterday, so will have Ross bring TOADONE out today and install -- Just Zip it in! Then get serviced and safety check prior to towing it to Warner where we will say a fond farewell to a great little vehicle. We will miss TOADONE, just a great little unit to bomb around in! But we have to get our vehicle number down. Just too many of them around here. Insurances, licences, parking space, etc, etc