Today is Miss Terry’s birthday, but I got the present, because I get to spend the day with her! Terry is a very practical lady, so she thinks it’s just another day. But it’s pretty darned special to me.

Some women want jewelry or clothes for their birthday, but when I asked Terry what she wanted, she told me one of the new Dremel Trio power tools. I asked her why she wanted that, since we are done building a bus conversion, and she just looked at me, shook her head, and sighed “There’s always something.” I wonder what that meant?

Yesterday while we were in Flagstaff dropping off the new issue of the Gypsy Journal at the mail service, we stopped at Home Depot to get Terry her new toy, but they were sold out, it being the day after Father’s Day. So I promised Terry a rain check, then took her to one of her favorite places, Barnes & Noble bookstore. Okay, I confess, it’s one of my favorite places too. We can spend hours browsing, and usually spend more than we had planned to, but we justify it by telling ourselves that we don’t drink or smoke, or play golf, or gamble, so we deserve a treat now and then.

I know I have shown you pictures of forest fire smoke two days in a row, but just to put in in perspective, here is one more that Terry took in Flagstaff yesterday. It’s close enough to town that some folks we talked to were getting pretty nervous.

When we left Flagstaff, we stopped at the new Camping World in Bellemont to drop off a bundle of sample papers, then stopped at several RV parks around Williams doing the same. We got a chuckle out of this sign at the KOA. Somebody needs spelling lessons. But what can you expect from people who spell campground with a K?

So what does a charming husband like me do for his special lady on her birthday? He drives her across the Mojave Desert in 100+ degree temperatures! And if that were not enough, tonight I hope to be in Bakersfield, California, where she has her choice of dinner at the Flying J truck stop or the Jack in the Box restaurant next door! Hey, do I know how to treat a girl right or not?

I’m pretty much recovered from my bout with the flu, but my energy level still doesn’t feel quite up to par. It’s about 450 miles from here to Bakersfield, so we have a long day of driving ahead of us. And if we get tired or run into any delays, I have a couple of alternative stops in mind.

We have several readers in Bakersfield who have asked us to stop in for a visit, or invited us to dinner, but this is just a quick overnight stop, since we have to be at the Elks lodge in Oceano Wednesday by mid-day to claim an RV site before somebody else snags it out from under us.

We plan to be in the Oceano/Pismo Beach and Morro Bay area for a few days, then we’ll go up to the Thousand Trails preserve in Morgan Hill for a week or so, where we have arranged tours of a few places to write about for the next issue.

Happy birthday, Terry. I love you with all my heart, my darling.

Thought For The Day – One man all by himself is nothing.  Two people who belong together make a world.

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I got the new issue of the Gypsy Journal wrapped up yesterday, so today we’ll make a run to Flagstaff to drop it off at the printer. It’s about 120 miles each way, and while we’re in the “big city” we’ll stop at Sam’s Club to pick up some supplies. This is our Eleventh Year Anniversary Issue, and it sure feels good to reach another milestone!

My granddaughter Destiny had her own milestone yesterday, when she turned three years old. We had cake and ice cream, and wondered again where little ones get so much energy! Here’s the birthday girl with her cake.

And here’s a picture Miss Terry took of my daughter Tiffany and me. You can tell that she didn’t get her good looks from her daddy.

We have never liked the day/night shades that come on most RVs, and since a couple of them need restringing, we decided that rather than deal with that, we’d replace them with wooden blinds. Miss Terry has spent a lot of time online comparing options, and over the last few months we had stopped at several home improvement stores to see what we liked and what fit our motorhome.

After we left the birthday party, we stopped at Lowes and placed an order for the blinds, which should arrive in about two weeks.  We chose Lowes because the pricing was comparable to Home Depot across the street, but Lowes gives veterans a 10% discount. I appreciate that, and try to spend my money with stores that support our troops and vets.

When I handed the clerk my credit card to pay for the blinds, it was declined. Huh? No way. I told her that there must be a mistake, so we tried it twice more, and the card was declined both times. That’s really embarrassing. I used a different card, and the minute we got back to the Winnebago, I called my bank to see what the problem was, since I knew I had the money available.

After shuffling me between a couple of different customer service representatives, they told me that yes, my account is in fine standing, but they had declined the charge because our billing address is in Nevada, and this was a “large purchase” in Arizona. “We do this to protect you,” the young lady on the other end of the phone told me.

This has happened to us before, and it really ticks me off. I always feel like telling them that I’m 57 years old, I spent more time in uniform than they spent in high school, and I’m heavily armed to boot. I can look after myself, so stop protecting me!

I pointed out to the young lady that the name on my account includes the words “RV Travel Newspaper,” which might imply that we travel, and that we frequently make “large purchases” from Arizona to Florida to Michigan, and points in between.

Once we got that resolved, we had a quiet evening at home. Miss Terry gave the new issue a final proof reading and I made the changes necessary, then we had a light dinner and I posted a travel story to the RV Net Blog while we watched a movie on the Hallmark Channel.

Thought For The Day – Closed minds always seem to be connected to open mouths.

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My father always told me that he never made a wrong decision in his life, given the information he had available to him and the circumstances when he made that decision. He said that sometimes, looking back with 20/20 hindsight, he could see where a decision went wrong, but that he never consciously made a decision knowing it was going to cause trouble. I guess that’s the only excuse I have for the traveling we did yesterday.

The wind blew hard all Sunday night, rocking and rolling our motorhome We had decided to sit tight in our RV site at Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, in Williams, Arizona. But yesterday morning, when I went to the office to extend our stay, I learned that they were booked up and that our site had been rented and we couldn’t stay there. What they did have available just wouldn’t work for us, and we decided that if we had to move anyway, we’d just move on down the highway.

We were only 165 miles from our destination in Show Low, Arizona, and we knew that we had several options if the wind was too bad and we had to get off the road. There is a Camping World in Bellemont, 20 miles east of Williams, and 10 miles further would bring us to  Flagstaff, which has a couple of RV parks. 37 miles further east, Meteor Crater RV Park is a Passport America affiliate and right off of Interstate 40.

About 20 miles past Meteor Crater, Winslow, Arizona has an Elks Lodge and a couple of truck stops where we could get off the road if necessary. 22 miles east of Winslow, Joseph City has a truck stop, and another 11 miles would put us in Holbrook, with an Elks lodge, RV parks, and truck stops. We knew that once we reached Holbrook, we would only have 42 miles to go to our destination, and that the wind would not be as bad as out on Interstate 40.

So we set off like a herd of turtles, and though the wind was pretty stiff from the southwest, and we didn’t appreciate a few gusts that hit us along the way, overall it was no big problem, just a typical windy day in northern Arizona. We climbed up to Flagstaff, and then started downhill. At Meteor Crater, we could see a lot of dust up ahead, and debated whether or not we should stop, but (foolishly) decided to press onward.

A few miles down the road the world suddenly disappeared, and we found ourselves driving in almost zero visibility, caught in the worst dust storm I have ever experienced; and I lived in and traveled all over Arizona, for many, many years!

We were barely able to see the rear end of an RV ahead of us, and we stayed as far back as we could for safety and still maintain visual contact, all the while hoping that some idiot driving too fast for conditions didn’t slam into the rear of us. But traffic was just crawling along, so we were okay. It took us two or three miles, and several lifetimes, to drive out of the worst of the storm, and then the road was relatively clear again and we motored on eastward, counting our blessings.

We learned later from readers Kathy and Dave Bossert, who were wise enough to stop at Meteor Crater RV Park, that the state police closed Interstate 40 down soon after we passed by, and it remained closed until 8 p.m..

Once we turned south on State Route 77 in Holbrook, we had more of a headwind to contend with, but no more than we were used to on that stretch of highway.  We made the rest of the trip just fine, and arrived at Juniper Ridge RV Resort, where our friends Tim and Sue Daugherty have a lot that they have graciously offered us the use of while we spend a few weeks visiting my daughter and her family, and our friends here in our old hometown.

So, yes we made a bad decision, and we learned a lesson from it, But, thankfully, we came through with no more than frayed nerves and a filthy motorhome. By the time we got parked, the inside of our Winnebago was covered with gritty sand that had somehow managed to blow in around the windows on the passenger side. Yuck! I was surprised that our paint job hadn’t been sandblasted off!

We’ll be here a few weeks, spoiling grandkids, reminding my daughter Tiffany what a wonderful Dad she has, and sponging the occasional dinner off of old friends from our days before we became fulltime gypsies.

Thought For The Day – Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, even to a foreign country; but NOT to where the guilt is!

We had originally planned to stay in Kingman, Arizona until Monday, visiting my old friend Mike Howard. But a combination of Mike not feeling very well, terrible cell phone and internet service, and a scheduling mix up changed our plans.

We had been in contact with the marketing folks at the Grand Canyon Railway in Williams, Arizona about doing a story on the train ride to the Grand Canyon. The original plan was to arrive in Williams Monday, stay overnight at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, and ride the train Tuesday.

But somehow communications between their main office in Denver, Colorado and the folks in Williams went awry, and after a lot of phone calls back and forth, a bit of frustration further complicated by it being the holiday weekend, and a false start or two, it was decided that we’d come to Williams yesterday, and take the train to the Grand Canyon today.

I know that Mike was disappointed to see us leaving so soon, but if he’s anything like me, the last thing I want to do when I’m under the weather is have to entertain guests. We hope to stop in and see him again in a few weeks, after we spend some family time with my daughter in Show Low.

I think Mohave County, Arizona was just as happy to see me go as I was to leave. Is it just me, or is that mountain giving me the finger?

What a difference a year makes! Exactly one year ago to the day, we left Kingman headed for our old hometown of Show Low. I just re-read my blog post for that trip, and noted that it was a slow, torturous trip uphill, and that between Seligman and Williams, we were crawling along on the shoulder of Interstate 40 in our old MCI bus conversion at 10 miles per hour, radiator misters on, and temperature gauge just bumping the red line.

This trip, in our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage, we were doing over 50 miles per hour, passing eighteen wheelers on the steep climbs, and our Cummins diesel engine never missed a beat. There are a lot of things about that old bus that I really loved, but driving it in the mountains wasn’t one of them.

Once we were settled into our site at the RV park, we went looking for someplace to eat. A girl at the railroad depot, and somebody at the local Visitor Center, both recommended the Pine Country Restaurant, which features 25 different pies, baked fresh daily. Well, let me at them!

The service was friendly, the portions huge, and while our dinners were good, I wouldn’t call them great. But the pies! Oh, the pies! The servings were just as large as with the rest of the meal, and beyond delicious. I had the pecan pie alamode, and Terry had cherry Dutch crumb, and we argued over whose was better. Miss Terry said the next time we go there, we’ll just have a sandwich to have room for more pie!

Once we had finished our dinner, we had to make a quick run into Flagstaff, 30 miles to the east, to go TV shopping. While we were at Best Buy, a pretty young lady sales clerk invited me to play with the new Apple iPad, which was just released yesterday. Anytime a pretty girl asks me to play with anything, especially a new gadget, I’m all over it!

To be honest, when I first heard about the iPad, I wasn’t at all interested. But after spending a few minutes browsing the web and watching a video on it, my thinking changed 180 degrees. This thing is cool, and I could find a hundred uses for it.

Would I buy one? Probably not, but only because in another month or so they are introducing a new, improved version with 3G capabilities, in addition to the WiFi the current models have. The young lady also told me that Apple will be making its iPhone available to Verizon customers by the end of the year. I’ve heard rumors of that before, and if it does happen, I’ll definitely make the change from my Blackberry Storm. I’ve used the Blackberry for almost a year now, and I have also played with a few iPhones, and the Apple product is far superior in my opinion.

Okay, we’re off to ride the train!

Thought For The Day – Finding fortune among the accidents of life – is there any greater talent?

The worst of the storm was gone by the time we woke up yesterday morning, but heavy clouds hung overhead all day long, and it rained most of the day. Not a heavy rain like we had been experiencing, just showers. At least the wind was gone, and that alone was a blessing.

From the blogs I’ve read and the e-mails I received from our RVing friends who are in Quartzsite, it looks like everybody came through the bad weather okay, but they all agree that it is an experience they never want to repeat, and that they will remember for a long, long time.

My daughter called from Show Low to say she had about 30 inches of snow at her house, and it was still coming down hard. She said that a few miles further up the mountain, in Pinetop-Lakeside, the snow accumulation was estimated to be four to five feet high by the time the storm moves out. News reports later in the day said that the roof of the Pinetop fire department building had collapsed under the weight of the snow. In Flagstaff, the roofs at the giant Bookman’s Bookstore and neighboring fabric store, as well as several other businesses, had  had also caved in.

A little after noon, Terry’s cousin Carolyn Henley and her husband Mel stopped over for a visit. Mel and Carolyn have been fulltiming for several months now, and it was interesting to hear about their transition to their new lifestyle, and the places they have visited. Whenever we talk to newbie RVers, it reminds us of our first months on the road, with so much to learn, and guess what? We’re still learning!

For 35 years or more, Miss Terry has had a big, bulky Pfaff sewing machine, and it gave her very good service. But eventually the old machine wore out, and when we took it into a shop for a tune-up and adjustment a while back, they told Terry it needed some parts that were no longer available, and they couldn’t guarantee that it would last much longer.

Since then, Terry has talked about getting a new sewing machine, but she had not seen anything that really appealed to her. The other day, while out with her sister Dani, Terry came across the Bernina Bernette line of machines, and decided that she liked the Model 66.

Now, I’m always finding some new toy that I just have to have, but it’s very seldom that Terry says she wants anything, so when she does, I try to make it happen. The original store, where she had seen a different model, did not have the machine Terry wanted, so while she was busy doing something else, I snuck around and made some calls and found one at a quilting shop in Tempe.

After Mel and Carolyn left, we drove to Tempe and bought the Bernina, and Terry is looking forward to getting familiar with it. In fact, the shop even has a day long class to teach customers how to use all of the features on their new sewing machines. I can see why, it’s got almost as many bells and whistles as the dashboard of our Winnebago!

We were supposed to have dinner with Terry’s sister Lisa and her husband Jim, and by the time we got finished at the quilt shop, we had about twenty minutes to get across town. Terry called Lisa to tell her we’d be a few minutes late, but we hoped it wouldn’t be long. When we got on the Superstition Freeway (U.S. Highway 60), it looked like traffic was going to be bad, but I managed to get across to the car pool lane, and we zipped across town with no delays, arriving at the restaurant only ten minutes late.

We never get to spend enough time with Jim and Lisa, and they are a fun couple that we always enjoy. Dinner was delicious, and afterwards we went back to their house to continue our conversation for an hour or so before we headed back home.   

By then I was happy to just log onto the internet, check my e-mail, and read a few of my favorite blogs. But Terry never slows down, and before long she was baking some wonderful peanut butter cookies. The perfect dessert after our dinner out!

Thought For The Day – Enthusiasm is contagious. You can start an epidemic.

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