A lesson and a pocketful of blessings 8)

Well, it just seemed like a good time to head East. To Texas to visit my Mom who is getting older (I'm not allowed to use her age just say North of 20 x ___)

I have been in Arizona since Feb 6th ish and now April is upon me. Time to move on. Other than the weather there is no longer any reason to go to Arizona. Seen most of it, no one left to visit, and weather is getting warmer so East it is.

It was a nice morning, still coolish, and very pleasant. One stop then on the road. Eastbound and down.

It took 3 days of driving to get through Texas and in West Texas was a HUGE windmill farm. Miles and miles as far as the eye could see. Some think its a great thing some a boondoggle. But there were a lot of them and a lot of Federal dollars spent in that wind farm. I could hear the blades making a whoop whoop sound as they turned in the wind.

Finally made it to my Moms. Did some sonny-do chores and visited some family.  It was a fun trip. Took my Mom to the hospital in Tyler for some chemo, dug a leach line, bought her a lawn tractor since she insists on cutting her three acres of grass. It also lets her go the 1/2 mile to the mailbox etc. She doesnt admit shes a tad older but ,,,, 10 days later it was time to head West again. Westward Ho to Oregon this time.

Going West through Texas was more fun as I fought a crosswind all the way for 3 days. This duststorm was a lot thicker than the pic indicates. There were a few of them across the miles.

After what seemed forever I made it to Arizona. I would turn on the GPS just to watch the blue dot move across the screen because it didnt seen like I was. Was taught a lesson in Humility in Lordsburg NM.
A couple was there in a very delapidated old C-class towing a full size van. I watched as they worked on it. Then I noticed a man at the entrance to the truck stop with a sign "out of gas". Not putting the two together I judgementally thought scam so I just sat and watched. After a bit I saw him walk to the old c-class in dejection so I got out and walked over there to find out they were both deaf. So I had him pull over to the pumps and filled thier tank. They left and not 5 min later a cop pulled in, went inside, then came out and asked me if they asked for money and where they went. I said no and I had no idea then laid into him for coming all that way to harrass a couple in deparate needs. Then I sat down and realized I had been just as judgemental and was happy to have been taught a lesson in Humility.

Stopped in Catalina at the RV Park where I had been staying in Arizona for the night. Dumped some tanks, filled some others, and had a good nights sleep then westward Ho again.

I crossed into California twice on this trip.

About 100 miles East of the      POW!!!!!     california line the right fron tire blew out.  This is the first of a pocketful of blessing I received in the next couple of days

I stepped out of the box to see what had happened and fell five feet to kiss the gravel with my nose. 

I saw that the automatic step had not extended indicating an electrical problem. And being so use to it extending when the door opened I just stepped right out 2 feet down at my feet but 5 at my nose due to the slope. LOL

After laughing just about as hard as you are right now I checked the damge and saw that all the wiring on that side was wrapped around the axle. Including the main wire to the RV meaning NO electric.

I called roadside assistance and they were going to send a tow truck to repalce the tire as I said Id deal with the woring issue. As soon as I mentioned wiring it became a tow issue and under collision so now my $500 deductable kicked in.

While waiting for the tow truck I decided to hike back down the highway and clean off all the tire peices i left along the shoulder. About 100 yeards back I found the large major wire for the whole system and picked it up.

After sitting awhile in the dark with a dead phone 1 foot off the white line with semi's zooming by at 80 mph I finally wised up and started the Jeep to charge the phone then pulled it a bit down slope with the headlights lighting up the RV and its flashers on.

The tow truck appeared and was driven by Leroy a very nice guy. 100 miles later he left the RV outside the yard so I could sleep in it rather than get a motel room and even brought a cord out for power.

The next morning Leroy towed me to a shop he recommended for repairs. An equally nice shop as Leroy was a driver. The Front End Shop in Parker AZ.

 The insurance was playing so many games paying the $1,200 for the tow then wanted me to have the shop do an estimate, fax it to the adjuster in Tucson who by maybe Wednesday (5 days later) may authorize repairs all this time Im supposed to stay in a motel which were $100 a night then pay the deductible as well. So I talked to the shop and we decided to keep it between us. He even let me stay in the RV in his lot the one night. So $1,300 later, 2 new tires, new wiring, new brakes, etc. I was once again on the road. I made new friends and know of some reputable tow and reapir facilities in Parker AZ.

Here's my pocketful of blessing from these couple of days.
By having a blowout I was stopped at the perfect place rather than further down the road where it could have been a worse experience.
By it taking out the wire out I was towed rather than simply replacing the tire which allowed the shop to see the second tire that would have blown out 100 miles later.
Then the brakes were repaired as the brake cyclinder broke while there
and I met two people who did not try to take advantage of a poor traveling old guy.

As I said I had to enter California twice this trip. Once on the freeway but the second time I took a different route crossing the Colorado River 50 miles upstream then a small two lane down to the interstate. (afterall I had two new tires and new front brakes LOL)

After returning to the interstate all traffic was stopped. On the CB they were talking about an accident 20 miles ahead of me. I waited an hour before we started moving then it took an hour to reach the accident site.

At the next truckstop I saw a FedEx driver and asked him about it. Seems a semi was on the side of the road having been stopped by CHP and a FedEx truck pulling doubles had moved into the left lane to pass. Unknown to the Fedex driver the semi had been released and was pulling back onto the road. Also unknown to the semi driver the Fedex truck was coming back into the right lane to exit for a rest area. The cab of the semi hit the front edge of the rear double on the fedex truck opening it like a sardine can. Here you see thousands of shoes that came from that trailer. fortunately no one was hurt but someone in California had a late shoe order.

The trip was somewhat uneventful from there on. I was worried about snow in the mountain passes up ahead. Mt. Shasta you see here was predicting snow down to 2,900 feet and I was crossing at over 4,000. But fortunately no snow. It was midday as planned so if there had been any I was hoping it would have melted off. Also decided to keep driving as the temps were predicted to be quite low that night in southern Oregon. Did 576 miles that day, 8)

I did hit snow in Southern Oregon but it was heavy squalls that didnt stick just slowed me down a bit. Traveling through there with the clouds snow, and rain made for some beautiful sites to behold.

Made it to Albany Oregon that evening and am trying a new RV Park. Actually it is a small mobile home park that lets RV's stay.

It's a quite place and really kind of nice. Conviently located to about everything. And the lady next door brought me homemade snickerdoodles the next afternoon.Welcome to the park. 8)

My second day I went up to Beaverton to see Shane and Suzy. But Shane has a new job with an electrical outfit so I saw Suzy, Nate, Jerry and Jane. Will go back and see Shane on a Sunday and attend church with them

Be here until May 9 or so then Northwards to Marysville Washinton.

I started out 2013 with a Surrrrrrprissssse !!!!!!

As usual my daughter Jessica knew I was coming to town. Afterall I need a ride from the airport and she's really good at keeping it from her youngest sister.

I arrived in Juneau on a chilly Saturday night about 9.  Jessica was supposed to pick me up but wasn't there. Since she had to go to work at midnight I figured she had fallen asleep. Fortunately I saw my neighbor getting off the plane and he offerred me a ride when his wife showed up.

I got to Jessica's (my old place) and opened the garage door to see her car gone. I thought oh heck, and my text thing went off. A text from Jessica asking where are you I'm waiting outside (the airport). I texted her to say I was at her house.

Seems she had left as I was headed for her house and we passed each other. Actually she had overslept planning on getting me and staying up so we talked about my adventures and her life.

The next morning I went to church where I planned on surprising her youngest sister Ashleigh and her husband Dan. I was talking to Ashleih's mother-in-law and some friends when she came strolling in with her soon to be 2 year old (Ruby Winter) and the new 1 week old (Imogen Rain). She saw me, smiled, said Hi, then did a double take. Someone took the baby and she gave me a tearful hug. It was great. So, I re-met Ruby, and met Imogen.

The visit went well. I actually think I avoided the Daddy-do lists this time. A lot of relaxing, hanging out with the girls and the grand babies. Slipping on the ice. Guess being in Arizona I had forgotten how to walk on it.
Basically a relaxing month

Got to play with Jessica's Italian Greyhound puppies Apollo, and Chronos. They are active little guys. Like spring wound tops where the spring is always wound. They would know within the minute when Jess was supposed to get home and stand on the couch trembling waiting for her to come through that door.

Went for walks with Ashleigh and the girls

Fortunately for me Ruby took breaks. LOL

Ruby loves her little sister. Always trying to help.

On the 20th Ruby turned 2. I got her a baby carrier where you carry the baby in front like her Mom has. Here she is carrying her baby after she decided that twins were to much. The tent was made by her Mom.

I left February 1st for Montana to attend another granddaughters birthday.

Another daughter Amanda lives in Missoula Montana with her family Jason, Samantha (10), and Taylor who was turning 4.

I arrived Friday night to a really nice evening and went to thier house for the weekend.

Saturday was spent shopping and the routine eating out at Perkins.

Sunday was birthday time (Birthday was actually Tuesday) and this kid was into it more than any other 4 year old I can think of. She was ready. So Sunday the girls and I went out while Amanda and Jason got everything ready.

We went to the mall.

Rode the old 1930's restored Carousel.

How do you pick one or two pictures for the blog LOL

A tent for her bed. She liked that. Dolls, doll stuff, more dolls. (How many dolls can a little girl have? lol)

One of Taylors favorite games is restuarant. So what better than food for her toy kitchen, dishes, a chef costume, and here you see the waitress costume complete with order pad and menu, oh amd serving platter.

Guess who served the cake after taking orders and it was served on ,,,,, you guessed it. The serving platter  LOL

A fun party, a fun day, and a great weekend.

I left the next morning for Tucson where I picked up my Jeep and came out to the RV.

I'm wishing I still had this and it was down here. LOL

Oh, and everyone in Juneau knows I miss my little tractor.

It was soooo much fun. 8)

Bout dang time, LOL

Everyone tells me it's been a long time since I've updated this blog. My response was yeah, yeah, yeah LOL

So today I looked and WOW, last update was August 31, 2012 8)

It's been a good 6 months though. Sometimes I looked like this guy
<<<<<< on the outside looking in but all in all a pretty good trip.

I left Ohio the end of August and headed to Arizona. I had received a call from my brother that I was needed so I headed for his place in Southeast Arizona.

Though he contacted me shortly thereafter to say some people had misunderstood and it was a false alarm I kept heading west.




I stopped in Gallipolis Ohio to visit Jack, Sasha and the boys. That was a nice 2 day visit. We walked and visited, saw Jacks Tatoo shop. Heck I even thought about getting one. I told him I wanted one of a period in true lifesize. Just couln't figure out where so ,,,,,

The last day Sasha, the boys and I went over to West Virginia to a place I had seen on the TV Show Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins.

We had some really good hotdogs in a very unique place. Heck I even got T-shirts all around and a hat autographed by Shawna herself. LOL

After taking them home, and saying good bye I left headed West to Bowling Green Kentucky. Of course the best route just happen to pass the Hotdog place so ,,,,, why not. The front license plate off my RV now hangs in thier License plate tree. They didnt have an Alaskan one. I even got to autograph it. 8(

The Corvette Museum, a dream come true. A long morning spent here, then lunch in the Corvette Cafe (of course) then across the street to the actual assembly plant. Where there was a large parking lot up next to the entrance marked GM Vehicles only. Others will be towed at owners expense. Non-GM vehicles parking in Lot C-2.

Lot C-2 would hold maybe 100 cars. LOL The tour of the plant was really cool. You got to watch a Corvette travel along the assembly line from a bare running gear to a finishied vehicle then watch it start and drive away. Between the assembly line, the sub-assembly areas and the history a really fun day.

While traveling if not in an RV Park for awhile I like to stay in Truck Stops. Safety, convienance, and I can leave the RV there and travel in the Jeep to see the sites.

I made many more stops along the way. These will be individually posted on here or on my webpage where I am slowly moving my blog.

I stopped along the way at places like Lost River Caves where they had a restuarnt Banquet facilty in the cave.

The Truck museum where they had examples and history of heavy haulers from the turn of the century to late model 18 wheelers.

The Antique Acheaology Shop which is better know by it's TV name of American Pickers

The Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth Wisconsin.

Then Montana for Sammy's 10th birthday.

She told me she liked the Dallas Cowboys so ,,,,,,,

I stopped in Marysville Washington for the evening. I had an appointment Monday morning in Seattle with some folk I knew from Government days.

I had a nice visit and dinner with Carri and her family.

Then on to Oregon to visit Jerry and Tracey

This is also Keebler Country. If you remember Jimmy worked there last year and had a really nice visit with Leonardo and the boys.

Driving South I made it to a Truckstop about 150 miles North of Los Angeles. It was hot and getting hotter. I did not want to face L.A. rush hour, I was tired from just driving 400 miles that day and the desert laid on the other side of L.A.

So I made an executive decision after consulting with Jimmy. We decided to leave then, we'd hit L.A. about dark (who knew rush hour went til 10 at night? LOL) then drive all night hrough the desert then on to Tucson to beat the heat.

 A sight for very tired and sore eyes. The Wishing Well RV Park where I spent last winter.

I had began volunteering at Habitat for Humanity whenever I stopped for a week or more back in Oregon so my schedule became somewhat routine. mornings working at Habitat follwed by exploring or ?? in the afternoon.

Randolph J. Middleton

December 6, 1950 - December 28, 2012

R.I.P. Lil Brother

I left shortly after attending my younger brothers passing at TMC Hospital in Tucson Arizona and returned home for a much needed visit.

That will begin my next post

2013

For those that I love back home.

As the sun sets on another day at the North Pole I will end this post

and try to be better ,in 2013 ,,,,,,, yeah right !!!! LOL

O-HI-O, O-HI-o, O-hi-o, OHI-o, o-HIO, OHIO !!!

The view this evening out the door of the RV along side a river in the woods near a place called Marion in the state of Ohio.

Including a family of Wooducks.

(these however, are also made of wood LOL)

On Monday earlier this week while visiting my daughter is the Chicago area she was called by the HOA and told someone complained about my RV. Even though the HOA had already given me permission to park there I didnt want her to get any more complaints so I left and headed east.

The coolness of the night felt so good after a week of 90+ temps that I contnued to drive until 9 the next morning when I arrived in Marion Ohio. I found this really nice site and here I be.

Today I found that the local Heritage House had, of all things, Prince Imperial, the horse with the longest mane. As well as displays of President Harding and a huge collection of popcorn and peanut machines.

In fact Marion Ohio claims to be the popcorn capital of the world, hosting a Popcorn Festival which happens to start next week.

So, since we're here lets begin with Prince Imperial.

Prince Imperial once belonged to Napoleon. not that Napoleon, but his Nephew, Emperor Napoleon III.

In 1868 a Marion livestock breeder named Jacob Howser traveled to France and bought the Princely horse ($3,000 in 1867 dollars) whose mane was so long it dragged on the ground and thus had to be braided. Even braided it had to be looped as you can see in the picture along with how large he was.

He was shown at fairs etc and Billed as Prince Imperial the horse with the worlds longest mane.(9ft 10 inches and bangs over 7 feet)

Upon the horse's death in 1888, Jacob had him stuffed and during the off season kept him in his living room.($7,000 in 1888 dollars)

His will said that upon his death the house was to be burned with Prince Imperial inside but instead his sons kept showing him as did thier sons.

The soda fountain area in Sweeney's Drug Store 1917

An 1870 Parlor

Including a Piano.

An 1870 Boudoir.

An 1861 boys Blue Velvet Christening dress, he lies in an 1810 Cherrywood cradle on rockers

As mentioned Marion Ohio lays claim to the Popcorn Capital of the World. If you can read it here's a little history of Popcorn which has played a large part in our history doing better in rough times.

1909 Dunbar model 950 horse drawn wagon with dry popper and peanut roaster. Only one in existence. Once owned by Paul Newman in 1984 to promote his Newmans Own Popcorn. The steam engine can be fired by boiler or compressed air.

Valued at well over $100,000 this 1927 Creators Model TT Ford concessions truck is driven every year in the Popcorn Festival Parade.

Another view of the 1927 Model TT concessions truck.

1911 R.O. Stutzman Eclipse Popper and Roaster.

1899 Creators No.1 Popcorn and Roasted Peanut wagon.

Early in the 1900's a German mixed some popcorn and peanuts, covered them with a homemade glaze and Cracker Jacks entered the popcorn market.

During the time in Germany "Cracker" was slang for cool, and Jack for man thus the name.

and in every box of Cracker Jacks you found a prize. Here's a selection of prizes from 1912 forward.

There were ver 100 various popcorn machines from the 1800's on. I cant show them all or even all of the really cool ones. So, here's one more, a smaller version

This popcorn vending machine pre-dates WWII.

Snow's General Store and Mercantile was open in the late 1800's and sold pretty much everything.

Coats were inexpensive and well made for the working man.

Old men would sit by the wood heater and play checkers, there were cannisters of penny candy that actually cost a penny. You could buy anything from fresh pickles out of the open pickle barrel at the end of the counter, to food by the bag and bushel, fresh in season fruits and vegatables, bolts of cloth, clothes, handtools, and maybe even checkers. (Oh, and shorts and flipflops on a lady? No Way)

A few year later your Mom or Grandma may have used one of these 1955 Whirlpool Washers to do the family laundry if the family had the money otherwise a tub and washboard would do.

The term "Dont throw out the baby with the bath water" came from this period when a #3 washtub was the bath, the water heated on the wood cook stove. The man of the house got first dibs, then Mom, the the boys and so on down to the baby. By the time the baby got in there it would be pretty dirty and dark thus the term.

Ohio produced 8 Presidents for this country. I agree with Rutherford Hayes as said in this poster.

However he forgot God first, Family second, then America.

I defended and shed blood for My country, Our Freedoms, and My choice to be a Christian.

While I fought for all of our Freedoms.

Dont disrespect mine and I'll respect your freedom to disagree.

Marion has a large and varied history in the history of our country from the industrial revloution, to our defense mechanism, the arts, etc.

It's a beautiful state and I am happy to spend a week learning and seeing what I can.

But bottom line.

GO ALASKA !!!!!!

If he's good enough for the GOP Convention then he's good enough for my Bloggy Thing.

Go Clint !