Happy Birthday!!!

to our Buddy

Buddy is celebrating his 13th birthday today!!! I must also say that Buddy has turned into a terrific RV cat and a great traveler. Mr Doodles and I are very relieved with Buddy's adjustment to RV life.

If interested I wrote a blog about how Buddy had come to us.

We are off to Rapid City, South Dakota with a visit to Mt Rushmore.

Happy 4th y'all

So all is well...

poor Grace, our RV, the plumbing problem has been solved, by none other than Mr Doodles and a snake that went down the plumbing. And all is fixed and finished and never to be discussed again.

Our afternoon was wonderfully spent touring the Battlefield of the Little Big Horn. What a wonderful area this is and the history on those grounds is just awesome.

I would have loved to have the opportunity to tour the Battlefield on horseback but our timing was not good. The self guided tour was very well arranged and laid out for any tourist.

We do live in an amazing country, so beautiful, how lucky we are. While driving I could just imagine Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and their group behind those hills waiting for Custer and his band of merry men riding right into what we now know as terror. The photo below is supposed to be the exact spot of the Custer, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse battle. They have done a tremendous amount of archaeological digs in the area and found many items of proof. Some reside in the Visitors Center located at the beginning of the Park.

Before I forget I posted some of Mr Doodles photos over on his very own flickr page, go take a look. He took a couple a hundred of the bull riding event alone and I have only posted six. I'll post some more pics over on my flickr site....stay tuna'd

No pictures with this post

Things were going along too smoothly you see. So the RV gods thought let's see if the Doodle folks are good RV'ers and if maybe they are strong enough to carry thru.

Arriving at the RV park in Garryowen, Montana and while Mr Doodles is taking care of the outside jobs, unhooking the trailer from the truck, hooking up the water, sewer and electric lines, I am putting the slides out, turn on the A/C and water heater once the electric is secured, unhooking any cabinets we have secured and just in general making sure things are in order. While all of this was going on I popped in to the potty and to my surprise and horror I might add, the damn toilet was stopped up.

Many folks from the campground come to our rescue and to no avail as of this a.m. toilet still plugged. Now don't make me describe the mess all these nice folks made while they are trying to be helpful, let's just say I have several loads of towels to launder.

So while going around lighting candles I remember we have roadside assistance with the company that made our unit, that info made Mr Doodles very happy. I call them and they were very nice but due to the day, Sunday, they were not able to assist us at that time. They will call this a.m. once they have secured a dealer in this area that can do the repair work. Needless to say we will be delayed at least on day.

Let me also say I know why they call Montana Big Sky Country, wow it is beautiful. Also we are located on the Crow Indian reservation and right next to the Little Bighorn Battlefield. So very much history in the area and the fine folks that live here try very hard to preserve their history.

I'll try to fill you in on this as soon as I can........stay tuna'd

It's amazing...

that we go from one state to the next and each one we say "what beautiful landscape". Friends we live in a stunning country and how I wish that each of you could enjoy the views that we have had the pleasure of seeing. We commented upon entering Idaho how the hills looked of pea green velvet. How Wyoming had such stunning mountain ranges.

So far Wyoming wins for the best roadway surface. We are now in Montana and on our way to 7th Flag Ranch on the Crow Indian Reservation, right next door to the Battle of Little Big Horn Battlefield Monument.

We will be here only two nites, so only one day of photo ops.....stay tuna'd ;}

So now we know…

as the heat works in the RV. Cause while in Yellowstone we woke every a.m. to a very cool 37 - 39 degrees. Had not tested the heater, didn't have a need to. We even got out the down comforter. But the heater quickly took the chill out of the air when we woke so it wasn't a bad experience.

The last day in Yellowstone we ventured over to the Grand Tetons, just south of Yellowstone Park. We did the loop drive around the majestic, I know an over used word, but none the less magnificent vistas. We hop on a ferry that takes you across Jenny Lake. The ferry dropped us off to take a 3 mile hike up to an area called Hidden Falls. They weren't that hidden but quite big and very loud and wet but gorgeous water fall and so cooling after a warm hike.


We were waiting for the ferry to take us back across Jenny Lake, I struck up a conversation with two charming ladies from England. Now get this these two females have been friends since fourth grade. They have each been married to their respective spouses for 40 years. Every year these two females take a trip somewhere away from England for at least a month. This year they flew to Denver rented an RV and took off for parts unknown of the American West. So next time you think awww I can't do that, you think of May and Julia and what they did.

When getting off the ferry I notice a lot of folks with cameras in hand. We see a young moose standing on the bank of the lake. I see a park ranger and she is telling the group that the young moose is about 3-4 years old and had never been on this side before. It had just swam across the lake. Holy crap I just went on a three mile hike and was exhausted, this sweet, goofy looking moose didn't look a bit winded.

I have posted a lot of photos over on my flickr page if you care to peek. Now I must sort thru the hundreds of pics Mr Doodles took at the Bull Riding event in Cody, WY.............stay tuna'd

Leaving Yellowstone

We arrived in Cody Wyoming late Thursday afternoon. Drug the RV thru the Yellowstone Park exiting the East entrance. Oh my, the last 10 miles they are rebuilding of roadway. Roadway that is quite steep and now NO guardrails.

We were second in line behind a very nice couple from South Dakota. While waiting in line we got the low down on the area we are going to be vising for a few days.

We were delayed a the beginning of the construction site for about 30 minutes for traffic coming in the get thru. There was a pilot car to lead you thru the construction and the fastest we went was 25 mph. Took quite awhile to get thru but sure was glad there was a pilot lead car. Pictures do not do the altitude justice as to how steep and scary at times the trip was. My friend Bee would be on the floor of the truck or rip the door handles off for sure. Mr Doodles is like that if you might remember and oddly enough he does much better as a driver and not as a passenger...so take notice Bee.


No guard rails

OK after leaving the Yellowstone Park entrance we head to Cody Wy. What a lovely drive and scenery driving the whole way along the ShoShone River.

We stopped several times for photo/pit stops. How many pics does one really need of a babbling brook or a lazy stream. But at this one stop, 30 miles from Cody, we see a few cars that looks like folks might be fishing. Because of our size wse can't just pull into any turnout. This one happened to be quite large. As I got out of the car I see a man with a girl about late teens, they are walking up the bank to their car with about a 2 pound rainbow trout in hand. Man lives in the area and daughter was visiting her Dad. They had only caught the one rainbow trout, caught by the father and the daughter only caught some moss and mud. But her Dad did promise her a trout before her departure.

Back on the road and on to Cody. Lots to do in this little town. Friday we are headed to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

Then on Saturday nite we are going to the Bull Riding event in town. It kicks off their Fourth of July week long Rodeo Stampede event. That is an event we are really looking forward to. All the pros are in town for this even and many are stay here at the RV park.

Sowe'll be posting pics of the bull riding Woo Hoo!!! ............stay tuna'd

More ramblings

I’m calling this trip Hot Fun in the American Summertime…with the Province of Ontario Canada thrown in as a bonus.

We need/want to venture off the beaten path more than we have but with dragging a trailer behind us it’s a bit difficult.. But if I want some different photos I need to do that.

Sister is hoping to start a blog that will be just postcards of our trip, with a few words of description by me. She came up with a great title "postcards from the fringe".

We do have an itinerary but after the Denver meet up with friends our adventure can be easily altered.

I also must mention that I am NOT one of Walmarts biggest fans, but Walmart is a good friend to RV’ers acrossed this country. When you don’t want to go more than 300 miles in a day, and no RV park in the area there always seems to be a Walmart off the hiway. I think the reason they allow RV’ers to park on the perimeter of their lot is that RV’ers always need something, ice, food, etc. So thanks Walmart for being a friend to RV’ers….wish you were that good to your employees. Sorry had to throw that in there.

Now if you are reading this and have young children, do me a favor…teach them how to read a map. We have run into people in RV parks that cannot read a map. They are clueless as to north, south whatever. I know this sounds odd but it is an observation of the directionally challenged.. To be honest I was one of those people before I married my sweet husband. But he is a lover of maps and charts, so I am no longer directionally challenged. So teach your child to read a map……please.

Oh one other thing don’t drive and talk on your cell phone. Nothing, absolutely nothing is that important and you are endangering my life as well as yours. Use your head pull over to talk. And if you don’t you’re a MORON!

So crossing into Utah you come to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Side note to mention that those of you old enough might remember that Craig Breedlove set the land speed record here at 400, 500 and 600 MPH. Think that was in the late 60’s.

Leaving the Salt Flats area we realize we are hungry, no breakfast was had because we needed an early start and Mr Doodles does not consume food much before 9 a.m.

Mr Doodles sees a road sign that says an off ramp for Knolls that is just a few miles up the road. “must be a truck stop there”. Ha I say, Rand Mc Nally doesn’t know about it cause it ain’t on da map honey.

I look at the map again to verify that there is not a stinking off ramp with services for 70 some miles……….well there’s always gummy bears!

So I got a little ahead of myself but I just had to post those two snaps of the bison.

We are headed to Yellowstone.......so stay tuna'd!

still here ........

Norm's friend we shall call him Elmer. This big dude was meandering down the hiway, with not a care in the world. We should all be this content huh!!!


Mr Doodles took this out the truck window just four feet away.

This was in Yellowstone. We were there for three nites and have some wonderful pics to post. Will try to get them on flickr the next couple of days BUT I've got laundry to do also and some site seeing to do so give me some time K???!!!

as always..............stay tuna'd!

Utah

Buddy checking out all that salt




Louie and Grace visting the Bonneville Salt Flats

Random thoughts

Leaving Elko Nevada you see a lot of agricultural land with cows, goats and a few horses.

Some lovely mountains in the distance and some with a bit of snow dotted here and there on the tops frame this.

We decided at the beginning of this trip we would not be mileage crazy but due to the 4th of July holiday and going to Yellowstone as well as meeting friends in Denver we must keep to a pretty tight schedule. What is good is that we do not normally drive more than 300 miles in a day. I know that doesn’t sound like much but it is tiring and we are pulling a fifth wheel trailer I commonly refer to as Grace.

We do stop at rest areas to stretch the legs and maybe walk a bit depending on the area. And I must say how surprised I am at how clean all the rest areas are, including the restrooms. The amount of people that use theses rest ares is a lot so keeping them clean is an admirable chore. However don’t ask me about adults picking up after their dogs, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

On a side note when approaching the area of Mt Whitney in California, we hear Buddy, the cat, howling. Not a lot but enough to wonder what’s up. We pulled over at the next rest area so Buddy could use his box, makes sense maybe that was his way of informing us of his needs. I might also add that he had not done this before now. So a couple a days later Buddy is howling again. I think I might have figured out what was wrong with him. His poor little ears were popping with the altitude. I tried to get him to chew some gum, nope no interest.

We have been cruising in approximately five – six thousand feet and Buddy hasn’t been howling, so maybe his ears cleared and he has adjusted to the altitude. I know weird huh!!

I must also say that I have surprised myself. I have adjusted to this kind of living quite well. I can be a bit of a brat when it comes to my space and the space around me. I’m used to having room. When we pull into an RV park and after the chores of un-hooking and putting the slides out I will usually go for a walk. When we are at a spot longer than one nite I go off for me time. After all Mr Doodles needs me time also and it works for both of us.

Have you ever had a car have a vapor lock? Well we did and we learned something very valuable. We have an extra large fuel tank on the truck as well as the main fuel tank. We were on our way to Mt Witney and Mr Doodles switched over the fuel tank from the large installed to the main tank in the truck. He had let the large tank run almost dry when switching. Bad move we discovered and learned a valuable lesson. Stranded in the middle of NOWHERE I called Auto Club cause we weren’t that far from a small town. Come to find out our truck is considered commercial because of the danged size and they won’t tow. The man that was going to come out called and said to call Ford Road Service since it’s a new truck. Long story short I did and the conversation with the fema\le went something like this…..”Mam I think we have a vapor lock. Mam says oh OK easy to fix, do this….remove the gas cap. HUH??? OH OK I removed the gas cap. Now she says put it back on when I tell you. OK put it back on and start the truck. Mr Doodles did as he was told and low and holy crap it started. So lesson learned if you ever have a vapor lock, follow those instructions before calling AAA. Life is good


a lovely little trout stream beside our RV.

As promised.........

Yosemite Falls.....as you can see it's not very big and the reason for that is they had very little snow in the area. However I think it is beautiful.






The famous wall climbers love to climb - El Capitan. You must be joking to climb that. Many do and when they do they sleep while hanging from their ropes cause it's a 2-3 day climb. GET OUTTA HERE!!!





If you look real close you can see a few black dots on the photo. Those my friends are elk. There were five in that grouping and one was a baby. Made Mr Doodles trip because the only wild animals we had seen to this point were squirrels. Hope his snaps are better than mine of the elk.

When I get some free time I will put all my pics over on my flickr page for all to see. But if y'all wanna see some gorgeous pastels my sister has done, pop on over to her site when you have the time. She's making some lovely pieces. I was blessed and received an ORIGINAL from her.

Oh for those that are interested we are having Chamber of Commerce picture perfect weather so far.

Off to Salt Lake City.......stay tuna'd

Mr Doodles get five gold stars....

Mr Doodles drove up Yosemite all the way thru the park and back yesterday. And for those of y'all that don't know this is a BIG DEAL. Cause this man is very uncomfortable going up the third rung on the ladder. Ask my sweet brother-in-law cause when we were there he was kind enough to get up and install new vents on the roof of Grace (the RV).

So a warm round of applause Mr Doodles, I'm proud of ya bunky!

I'll post some snaps tonite when we get to better coverage area, soooo......stay tuna'd

My trip is complete.........

No our trip is not over just got the exclamation mark on it however.

As y'all know food is an important part of our lives and growing up we have such fond memories of favorite foods.

Mine is fried chicken. Well sister made fried chicken and potato salad tonite for dinner. Damn she fries chicken good. It isn't what you use it's how you use it, the technique is the key. Some folks got it and some don't. I don't sister does. However we make the exact same family potato salad. Nothing fancy, but potatoes, celery, hard boiled eggs. a bit of finely diced onions and mayo. That's it...oh salt and pepper.

We have had just the best time at sister and brother-in-laws. The boys did projects, lord only knows what those were. While sister and I just do what we always do when we are together have just the best time. We did play a lot of scrabble, our favorite game to play.

So off Mr Doodles and I go to Yosemite/Sequoia for a few days. And then from there we aren't sure BUT y'all will be the first to know when we get there

I'll get back on track posting I promise but time with family is very precious. Stay tuna'd.......

The celebration party.....

Just so ya don't miss out on all the food goodies that we had for the celebration........scoot on over to PBE and read up on the goings on.

Sorry to say few snaps were taken cause we were all too busy cooking and eating and drinking OK!!! stay tuna'd...

there's just something about...

waking up at the beach. And the smell of the Pacific Ocean is all to itself in some odd way. Has a different smell than the Atlantic or the Gulf, which are the two bodies of water I have been used to for the past many years.


Sister and I walked the beach a lot the two days we were there. This body of water was an inlet that was caused by the mouth of the river up the road a piece.


Anyway the gypsy caravan moved northwest for a few days and went to RV at the beach. Good lord it was a state park and had no hook up, water, electric etc., but oh so very nice and peaceful. Sister and brother-in-law and their dog Buddy in their small trailer and the Doodles entourage with Buddy the cat all went off mid week to the beach for a few days. We lucked out in the weather department. Some morning haze/fog moved in but burnt off quickly. Then some afternoon haze/fog moved in, however by the time we were ready to roast marshmallows it was a lovely clear evening.

How lucky we were to have such wonderful weather to toast our marshmallows.




stay tuna'd there's more..........

If we moved any slower posting

By the number of post you can tell we are busy, busy, busy. What you say, we need to relax. Well we've been doing a bit of that, as well. Check out PBE for an update.

Stay tuna'd.

Not forgotten.......

but been having waaaay too much fun and being busy doing things. So I thought I would post a couples of photos for my friends and loyal readers ;\o)


gorgeous California Poppy ...absolutely one of my very favorites.


this lovely Echeveria Cacti was at the Getty Center


Now Sunday is the BIG Get Together Birthday celebration, Tuesday we are going camping on the beach for a couple a days...........that you must come back to see pictures and of course there will be a story of three.

Hope the beginning of your summer is as great as ours.........but stay tuna'd

a nostalgia trip today...

What a great day! Started off by wanting to eat, it's always about food, what is it with this family. Anyway it started off by Mr Doodles wanting to go to one of our fav Mexican haunts called Tito's Taco's.

Tito's is located in the town we all grew up in and a place that we frequented a lot with
good, simple food. A tad bit of history when we first started going to Tito's the tacos were 24 centavos and if you wanted cheese it was five cents more. Now they are $1.45 and w/cheese $1.85. And ya know something you can go home again, this place has not changed one bit in all these many years they are are as good today as they were many years ago. So if y'all ever in Culver City, California look up Tito's, you'll be glad you did.

Next stop on the nostalgia tour was to go by all the houses each of us had lived in. BIL's parents home looked almost the same as it did 40 years ago.

Mr Doodles and I lived in this house the first two years of our marriage. It was called the party house and we just had the best time in this house. Obviously it looks a lot different, but still has the same bones.

Next as we are driving over to the house sister and I grew up in we passed by the apartment where my Mr Doodles lived prior to our marriage, danged apartment is still there next door to the Catholic Church Convent.

Then we toddled on over to the house sister and I grew up in....and BIL and Mr Doodles knew quite well. Gosh it hasn't changed much.

Then we drove around Culver City, saw all the places we all worked and played.
It was a great day....but then any day with sister and BIL is a great day.
stay tuna'd...........there's more

for your viewing pleasure

little yellow to brighten the day...




still life in sister's kitchen

As you can see...

the three of us wasted no time in putting a meal on the table. Once we arrived at sisters we of course need lunch, a snack, a smidgen of food. So Mr Doodles captured sister Moon, niece lil bird and meself on film doing our task. I love this snap.



For more pics take a look at my flickr page

In the Golden State woo hoo!!!

So here we WERE in the lovely area of Lake Havasu City, AZ. Now this area is known for it’s recreational activities and high heat!!! I mean hot, 109* yesterday! The temps here during July and August gets up to 120-130 degrees no I’m not kidding. But ya know when it reaches over a 100* it’s just damn hot….oh yeah and it’s a dry heat

My Dad and his wife lived in Rancho Mirage, which is in the Palm Springs area of the California desert. They lived there for 30+ years, in fact M still lives there. Sister and I were down visiting once during the summer, I believe it was August and took of peek at the thermometer and it showed 120*, no wonder we dried off so quickly. However having said all of that, I love the desert weather and yes even in the summer. Just have to know how to handle it.

Now about Lake Havasu and the reason we drove out of the way to come here. Mr. Doodles had ordered a 100 gallon extra fuel tank for Big Louie, the truck. That was done on Friday and a pretty much all day event. So I hung out at the RV park, picked up and re-organized the RV that I now call Grace. Then I toddled off to the pool, which was a wonderful spot to be lazy. I’ll post some pics…. Mr. Doodles came back to get me for lunch, boy does love to eat. We then decided to go on a boat trip out on the lake that takes you over to a small Indian Casino on the California side. Well as all plans go the above didn’t quite pan out. Mr. Doodles decided that since the fuel tank was done, “let’s go put some fuel in it and make sure it works before we leave”. Ooooooohhhhh such a good idea Mr. Doodles, cause the sensor that tells you how much fuel is in the tank didn’t work. Not good huh?!? Mr. Doodles dropped me off and back he went to the install dudes. I in turn hopped on the boat and went to the Indian Casino and promptly came back with $50.10 more than I came with, thank you very much. I had to buy dinner.

All was well with the sensors, fuel tank and Mr. Doodles and even better when I told the sweet thing I was buying dinner.

Sunday a.m. we will land on the doorsteps of sister and brother-in-law....so stay tuna'd.

OK we are off to Rancho Mirage, which is the home of dear M, Daddy’s wife…we will spend the nite there and head off to sister’s house on Sunday a.m. That will be our base camp for about two weeks and happily so I might add.

On our way to Rancho Mirage, I am sure dear husband will want to stop at the General George S Patton museum. Let’s see if he remembers where it is. I know he wants another t-shirt cause he has literally worn out the two I bought him years ago.

sunset over Tonapah!

a location re-visited

OK I’m a tad bit disappointed, I know things change but you want them to change for the better not the worse. I went so far as to go into the Tombstone Visitors Center and give them a piece of my mind as to what they have done to this sweet little town. They were quite interested in the fact that we got married here some 37 years ago and asked a lot of questions. Think they were just appeasing me, but so what.

The nice folks in the visitors center did tell us of a lady by the name of Lorraine who had a small eatery and that was born in Tombstone. Well we went and met Lorraine and her brother Tom who own this little coffee shop kinda place. They remembered just what we both did some 37 years ago. We had the name of a certain Saloon wrong but we knew where it was. Anyhow it was good to talk with folks that agreed with our assumptions.

Miss Lorraine did say that they just recovered from Wyatt Earp Days that was held over the long Memorial Day weekend. And in the Fall is Helldorado Days. She said people come from all over the world to see the historic Tombstone.

I made the mistake of telling a friend about the movie Tombstone with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and that hunky Sam Elliot. Now I had no idea that it was rated R and her son couldn't watch it. I honestly think that it was because of the violence, may R because of the huge inaccuracies, cause there were a bunch. But it was still good.

The photos we took of Tombstone area years ago are packed away in storage so I have nothing to show you. But now it is touristy and junked up with t-shirt shops and trinkets. Sorta picture a small Key West that's dusty.

The above photo is of the Crystal Palace Saloon...which was also the Golden Eagle Brewery built in 1879. What better place for us to have a marriage reception in a former brewery. The inside of the Crystal Palace is gorgeous with it's heavy mahogony wood bar and back bar that runs the whole.

It was nice to go back it really was. We are headed to Lake Havasu city to get a big ass fuel tank attached to Big Ass Louie.....stay tuna'd

roadside vision....

We’re still here…

Not a lot of connectivity in the Western part of Texas. Just a long road to go thru Texas. First out of San Antinio is the beautiful Hill Country. Then a bit of stretch of the uglies.. We are traveling Interstate 10 so it is taking us way south. Most of this area we have never been thru. with the exception of I10 thru El Paso. Made that trek when we moved to Connecticut, that trip could be another ten blogs.

So we have gone from on over nite stop at the Comanche Land RV Park. Now don’t let the name RV Park fool ya cause it wasn’t. However it did have hook-ups, electric, water and cable, all for a whopping 10$. We couldn’t run our generator all nite for 10 bucks what with the cost of gas.. Remember it was just west of Ft Stockton, which equals West of NOWHERE!!!

Sunday was in the lovely area of Las Cruces, New Mexico RV park was the Hacienda Resort.

View from our patio

Cute little old lady walking her puppy who looks just like her

Followed the suggestion of the RV park manager on dinner spot and boy are we glad we did. Allende something or other was a true Mexican style restaurant and damn good. I had a soft pork taco plate which consisted of the best pork, chopped onion, cilantro, and plenty of lime.

Also included was a small cup of beans in a wonderful sauce. Husband ordered the green chile verde plate, which consuisted of a taquito/flauta, a cheesey enchilada, green chile verde that was to die for in arich sauce. And a very large chile relleno that husband found a bit spicy to his liking, however I didn’t so we traded. The batter on the relleno was light and fluffy and yes a bit spicy, but oh so good.

Landing in Tucson shortly. We will be motoring down to Tombstone, which is the scene of the crime some 37 years ago...........so definitely stay tuna'd

It is Memorial Day isn't it?

After we landed in Las Crusces, NM on Sunday we popped a beer and settled down to watch the end of the race, Indy 500. Sorry the three ladies didn’t fair as well as I hoped. But they did make history. Nice to see cutie Dario Franchitti win…congrats to him.

Anyway once that was over we were flipping around and came upon a PBS program about WW II Veterans and what they went thru. Seems as though the host had followed these five men for many years and kept tabs on them. Very un-assuming men that made a huge, I mean huge contribution to the United States and their fellow countrymen.

My Father was a veteran of World War II. He was a SeaBee in the Navy. Hunky husband was in the Air Force during Vietnam as was my dear darling brother-in-law. BIL father was in World War II….so a special thank you to these four men,

Daddy, Mr Doodles, Mr D and Grandpa C……thank you!!!

greetings from San Antonio

San Antonio……beautiful……..RV park right on the river! Enjoying the river walk area and headed to see the Alamo and the San Antonio Missions of San Jose. Also looking forward to some good Tex-Mex food. I see a couple of dinning reviews in the future for PBE

It rained quite hard yesterday and thru the nite....which I thought would slow our touristy events down today. But there are some brighter moments ahead around noon so no biggie.

Well we sure did luck out with the weather Gods – thank you very much. Did the whole River Walk walking as well as the Alamo. Which as Mr Doodles says “ it sure is a lot better than it was 40 years ago.” Very well done and the tour was great.

Ate at a cute little Mexican eatery called Casa Orio…I’ll do a brief review over on PBE after I get over my 40 ounce margarita…YUM!

Found it very interesting walking around the Downtown area of San Antonio where the River Walk and the Alamo are located, there are a lot of information folks dressed in uniform asking you do you need directions, or any help? That is very nice. Also saw a lot of people, city workers I’m sure, with brooms sweeping the sidewalk and picking up any trash….quite impressive.

OK headed to West Texas today and we are gonna see how far we can get hopefully 300 + miles and that would be around Ft Stockton. Certainly not a booming metropolis but that much closer to the Pacific time zone.

I put some photos up of My Flickr if ya wanna go peak.

Remember the Alamo

Beautiful San Jose Mission

simple observations

First off - very special Birthday wishes to my beautiful Niece.
We will certainly celebrate when we are all together...........

Happy Birthday

My Sweet lil bird!!!

It’s interesting traveling the highways of the US…you notice funny things like the cleanliness of rest areas. So far Mississippi gets the highest grade. The MS rest area was also an information center, built to look like an old southern mansion. Had very friendly folks inside handing out cold drinks, if wanted, and in return they wanted to know how many in you group and where you are from. That stumped me cause I didn’t know what to tell them, for the time being I’ll say Florida.

Cruising down the highways you become aware of drivers and the lack of courtesy. I’m talking about 4 wheelers now. Drivers seem to have an oblivious attitude to anyone else on the road and of course many of them are talking on their damn cell phones going 80 mph while entering the highway…amazing. So do me a favor next time you see an 18 wheeler or a truck pulling a fifth wheel trailer be more aware and get your ass over and make room.

Oh one more thing there seems to be a big push in the states that we have gone thru on seatbelt safety….click OR ticket they are say. Please don’t tell me you drive without your seatbelt buckled up…stay tuna’d

Louisiana roads SUCK!!

but other than that things are going along quite well.

Left Biloxi yesterday a.m. after touring around the Gulfport/Biloxi area. No I didn't win any money but I didn't lose any either, so came away OK.
Mr Doodles was stationed in Biloxi while in the Air Force, well that was a bajillion years ago, and obviously things have changed quite a bit since his eleven month stay here. But he did say that there were some gorgeous olde mansion on the gulf road, over looking the gulf. They are all gone, as are all the businesses along that boulevard.

We did go into a casino, the Beau Rivage, my they did a wonderful job getting that back up and running. It's as nice as any smaller casino in Vegas. Anyway.........we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Majestic Oaks RV Resort. Lovely people that own it, would recommend it highly. with lovely gardenia bushes outside our RV door next to the patio area designated for each RV.

The photo below is for my seester ;)

If ya get a chance though write to your congressional dope and tell him to please alot some $ to Louisiana. They are spending all their money on Katrina re-build and ignoring the interstates.

San Antonio...........next stop...stay tuna'd

spose this is one of the reasons gas prices are so high - Shell Oil has not spent one thin dime for the folks in this area...so if y'all are buying Shell gas remember where they are not putting their $$$









this is a lovely resort on Bilox Bay or I should say was a resort.














Picture this was a very lively drive-thru on the luscious white sand beach of Biloxi Bay.

three states in two days...

and Mr Doodles is driving, how cool is that!

Here we are in beautiful Biloxi, Mississippi. We both waved good-bye to Florida, when we crossed into Alabama. There happens to be a couple of casinos in Biloxi, so think I just might go see if I can try my luck and win some $$$ for fuel.

It has been great to hear from all of you….while still in the Panhandle, the air card for internet connection was quite slow so I didn’t get to get on. I am sure that will happen more often than not when in remote areas.

BTW Buddy is a great trailer cat…he has adjusted quite well.

OK more when we get a bit further on down the road……..stay tuna’d!!!

ps.......holy crap Mr Doodles just came it to invite me out to our lovely patio area and join him in a Corona. He is showing off because he put the awning out by himself. Remind me to tell y'all bout the first time we tackled the awning. It might just appear on funniest home videos...no kidding.

and they are off

At approximately 10 a.m. EST....May 17...the adventure has begun.......

Won't be checking email for a bit so if needed we are on the cell#

Wish us luck.....stay tuna'd

Okey Dokey...

Well it's raining...I never thought I would be happy to say that but happy we are. The interstate highways are open off and on.....sooooo, we are gonna do a couple a dry runs with Grace and Louie on Wednesday. And then if all goes well, and we foresee no problems we will head out on Thursday for our travels West.

Not only were we stranded because of fires and road closures, we are both stinkin sick with sinus infections and bronchitis. Oh and I am to have limited speaking for a few day....hahahaha. Just came from the Drs. both of us and are on 10 days of augmentum and some quite tasty cough medicine that is great with a tequilla chaser.

So thanks for all the phone calls and emails - much appreciated ya know.

Hot DAMN!!! stay tuna'd..........

please standby...........

So when they say that over 200 fires are burning in 57 of 67 counties in the State of Florida........doesn't look like we be leaving anytime before Wednesday or even later.

Waiting to inhale

If this wasn't so tragic for the State of Florida because of ALL the vegetation and wildlife that will be lost.........I could turn the last few weeks into a sitcom, I know FOX would buy it.

Yep we are/were affected by smoke and wind. We were going to try to get outta here Saturday........maybe Sunday but looks more like Monday.
Y'all are just getting tired of hearing about our impending departure I spose. Well pray for rain and we can get on with it. The fire fighters do not need people of the roads clogging things up. Around our area it was so bad they closed the roads cause there were so many accidents. FHP went so far as to call the Governor who said close em...that's probably what they will do to some portions of 75 North of us if in fact they haven't done that already.
Yesterday I had to drive thru some smoke and at a distance you could see the shooting flames. Makes hurricane damage pale in comparison I do believe. Smoke has been horrific.

Guess this is the blue tarp saying a fond farewell to us. They really didn't have to go to all this trouble. Gosh I just heard on the news that there are only 220 ground fires here in the state eeeekkk!!! Only good thing is no loss of life and very few structures. But the firefighters are really having a hard time of it. Who would wanna build thousands of feet of a fire barrier in this heat and humidity. Then get the derned things just barely contained, nite time comes, the winds whip up and there they are back at it again even bigger in some places.
Stay tuna'd ... because we do have every good intention of becoming Nomads!

the dopes are everywhere......

Lordy, lordy what are we gonna do? We got the Texan in office being a dope along with all his other co-horts - now they are importing dopes to run for the present spot.

I sent each and every one of them an email saying could ya just concentrate on the development of wind energy and alternatives and don't be doing your drilling offshore.


We can't let them do this can we ??? Here's another one

A quick update...

For those interested = we have been on delay an/or hold for a couple of days. The fires here in our charred state have kept us from completing the tasks of wiring the RV. It was so blasted smokey you could not see 20 ft. in front of you. And breathing that gunk is even worse. Even Buddy, the cat, was bothered by the smell. Mr. Doodles feels like crap and has a horrible cough, and because of that not sleeping well. But he persists on his scheduled tasks, albeit a tad behind schedule.

The problem with these fires is what it is burning, singed maleluca trees are quite very bad for breathing and that is the primary here in our area. Happy to say no homes have been devasted by this latest in our area. Now I can't say that about every one of the 220 +/- ground fires burning in the state of Florida.

So it seems that we are not leaving on the scheduled Thursday or Friday BUT Saturday or Sunday is looking pretty good.

Now want something to cheer ya up? Go look at my sisters latest art work

stay tuna'd.....

Wedded bliss

So the coupling of Grace, the RV and Louie, the truck was consumated today at 10:30 a.m. est. The happy couple were rather glistening in the morning sun, as it rained like hell last nite. But they fit together just like a PBJ sandwich.

So now we start loading and wiring, and futzin as only Norm knows how to do. Only problem that we see at this very moment is they forgot to wire the satellite hook-up for the bedroom TV. The living room was completed, but it appears the sales dope let another item slip thru the cracks. I see a letter written to him in the future. But right now we are concentrating on getting outta here.

See those Nike kinda woosh deals on the side of the RV, those are decals, and we are going to change the colors of them to coordinate a bit better. Blue is not the choice color for our taste and it would appear to make it more of a custom look. And no I have not started painting inside yet. Don't think I will untill we live in it for a year and see how it all grows on me. Y'all know Norm doesn't care as long as it's clean and comfy.

My sweet seester wrote in her blog about our impending departure headed West. And I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am that we are going to be closer in miles than we have been in God knows how long. And throw in the added bonus of my brother-out-law, my sweet niece and her hunky bunky, and my Dad's wife who I love to bits and not to mention the three pups.......wonder if they realize that Cousin Buddy, the cat is included in this package. Well we just will never allow them to co-mingle.

So look for the Gypsy Caravan at an RV park near you cause ya never know where we are gonna turn up......stay tuna'd

The truck that draws a crowd

I am not kidding! Here is a brief explanation of our day yesterday. I will leave out all the curse words and ill feelings we had, but you will get the picture.

We drive up yesterday to pickup the RV and trailer land about 100 miles north of us. Now as a side note we ordered and PAID FOR this RV two months ago. It took two months for the blasted truck to get here...see other blogs on that subject. Anyhow, this is the grand day to couple Louie, the truck with Grace the RV. And ya know we are excited and apprehensive from the get go, it's normal.

The place we purchased the RV from is very well known and has ectremely highly rated customer service. We did our homework before purchasing this RV.

So we get there and the plan is for the service dudes to install the RV hitch in the bed of the truck. That went with out a hitch ... HAR!!! And while that was happening we were to get our meet and greet with folks we will probably never see again, and then get a walk-thru in the RV. Walk-thru meaning a thorough education on how to handle and take care of this RV, we now call Grace, that is going to take several hours. We had the very best fellow to do this, knowledgable, answered all our questions and to make it even better he is a huge drag racing fan.

So now it's 8:30 am and we are delivering Louie, the truck, to the service department dudes to do the hitch install, we pull into the bay, get out and there are at least ten service techs standing there drooling. A couple of them applauded when we got out. I thought this is one hell of a welcoming committee! NOT they were all there to see this damn truck.

Now jump to late that day. we are on our way the hundred miles home without said RV, Grace, and I ask husband to pull into the rest area so I could make a pit stop. As I am getting out of the truck I look up and here comes a Ford Explorer, the exact same color as Louie, the copper. The guy saw us on the freeway and wanted to see the truck, he is a truck nut and had read about this new engine and wanted to see it.
I ghot out of the truck and started laughing, husband had no idea what was going on. I said look honey our Louie looks like he had a baby !

So suffice to say, if in fact this happens while we are traveling, look for us in your area a few days later than originally planned...............stay tuna'd !!!

Oh and I will more than likely write about the Grace issue of yesterday, however the blood pressure needs to subside a bit.

As promised.........

Here's Louie...........is he just the cutest little thing you have ever seen.

21 ft long, 6 wheels, eats diesel and we are well on our way.

stay tuna'd..........

ta da.........

Louie Louie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Louie Louie, oh baby
Me gotta go

Those are the words to Louie, Louie by the Kingsmen........actually those are just some of the words........the rest of them are all in question. It's funny the conflict that encircles this odd song.

So let me cut to the chase..........the truck is here and we are on our way to get the little guy, well Big A** truck that we now have named Louie.

So stay tuna'd cause I got a ton to tell y'all...............

Let's take it on outa here now
Let's go!!

Must we Endure???

OK, please raise you hand if you are as tired as I am when hearing about the present Bush Administration what they knew and when they knew it. These people are crazy!!
Someone drank the kool aid and passed the pitcher to the rest of the dopes. I think I know who it was, but gads!

Let me say this === George Tenet WE ALREADY KNEW what you have written about in your tell all book. You, my sleazy dope, are just gonna make money on that book Why don't you be a big person and donate that money you will make to all the children of service men and women who died in the horrific war. The money could be used for school scholarships.

Theses people are despicable! DOPE = a stupid or unresponsive person

I must say I was going to write something on pet peeves and the funny sites out there about pet peeves....and maybe you could share your pet peeves. But lordy, lordy this subject must be one of my biggest pet peeves....stay tuna'd

My funny Buddy..........

So here's our crazy whacked out cat, Buddy attending to his favorite pastime, he is drinking out of the faucet in the tub....I know don't ask... the cat loves water and loves to play in water. You turn the water on, he jumps in the tub splashes in the water a bit then tries to catch the last drips outta the faucet. I have no idea what we are going to do in the RV cause there is only a shower. And we haven't told Buddy yet, so there could be a revolt on the part of the cat...stay tuna'd!

ps...thanks seester moon for publishing the youtube!

Earth Day

I really should have posted this yesterday however due to an invasion of sinus pain and such I could barely see, let alone use the computer.

Do yourself a favor and sign up for this service......GREEN DIMES it is NOT costly at all. And so very worthwhile. And you would be doing the future generations of this world a big, big favor.

Moon and lil bird don't sign up cause you already have!

While searching for fabric softener that was fragrance free I came upon this site that you might find useful.......a green guide

I interupt your regular viewing...

to bring you this message.

Steve Capus is an ignorant fool and inspite of how much I like Brian Williams, he is in the same sinking boat with Capus.

Good God gentlem what were you thinking didn't you think for just one second, one second that it was WRONG to give this person a stage? Didn't you think to consult, for one minute, with Tom Brokaw!

Now I will say that I wasn't real happy bout your greedy, yes greedy decision to fire Don Imus. You caved to the advertisers in a big way. Mr Capus what are you going to tell the advertisers now? I am angry and won't be watching a lot of NBC news because of your errors. Splain that to the big boys Steve.

Oh and I would hope you would publicly apologize to the community of VTU.

A friend recently posted in her blog, a link that I would like to share - read this

Mr Capus, Mr Williams see ya at the races..................stay tuna'd!