And The Rain Came
Had the weather channel on most of the morning wondering where the rain was. Well, about 1pm it showed up and is still raining at 530 pm. The radar showed the rain right down 67 to 30, completely covering our escape route through Arkansas. Was glad we waited. It is supposed to be cooler tomorrow, as it dries up, then warmer on Wednesday. The daylight temps don't concern me as much as the night time coolness. I hate having to run heat all night in the GMC just to keep from having our water freeze. By waiting until Wednesday the weather is supposed to have night time temps in the upper 30s and low 40s across our route in Texas. That is what I am looking for. We have plenty of heat if we need it but I just wanted to wait for warmer temps. We may pick up a few geocaches as we travel. By giving ourselves 3 days to travel 1400 miles we will have time to make a few stops.
Hey, listen to this. Saturday evening we are over at our daughter's having Christmas. Open the door at the other end of a long hall, coming from their garage. I am sitting where I can see and think it is our son in law's dad. I turn my attention back to the kids. The guy gets right up close to me and and my son in law Chris. I turn around, complete stranger. I make a comment to him and he acts a bit stunned. He is holding an un opened beer and what looked like a stick of wood. I am still thinking it might be one of Chris' friends but the beer bothers me a liitle. Then I hear Chris say, "can I help you?". Wow, Up Chris Jumps up, the guy is stuttering something about the Taylor's house. This guy came through the garage and into the house like he owned it. I am telling you I don't know who's eyes were the biggest, the intruder or Chris'. The guy had obviously walked into the wrong house, but how in the world could he have confused himself so much? I am thinking the beer he had drank before he showed up. He is lucky he came into this house or he might not have left alive. Chris escorted him out as the guy was apologizing. Wow. I think our daughter's garage door will remain locked from now on. Everyone seemed to have learned a valuable lesson Saturday night. The guy was lucky 7 year old Colsyn, the deerslayer, was not carrying his deer rifle, ha. We had several good laughs afterward but at the moment things were a bit tense.
We did more work today around here and in the coach. All will be finished tomorrow at this time so we can jump in and roll first thing Wednesday morning. I don't want anything left to do.
Don't forget the tracker at the top of the page. Here is the link:
http://aprs.fi/?call=WD0AFQ&mt=m&z=11&timerange=21600
You can play around with the map and the times. Don't forget my license. It is WD0AFQ. ZERO after D and before A. You may have to enter it back in if you move the map around. It goes in the blank on the right side of the page.
Catch you on the road.
Dan
Thanksgiving, The Sunday After
Well, it is Sunday night. I hope everyone's family had a great visit and that all are safely home now. I am sure many of you got your Black Friday fix. I chuckle when I see the clips on the news.
Teri and I had a good visit with extended family members yesterday at a family brunch. None of my brothers and sisters, or their families showed up but it was their loss. Teri really enjoys putting this brunch on for my family members. Maybe next year we will just call it a "Gregg and Freinds" gathering and forget those that don't wish to be here. Some had valid reasons, like 500 miles and some had no excuses and just chose to sit home. It was easy to know they were home because they were on Facebook. Isn't that funny?
We have the GMC loaded and are pretty much ready to head out of here for the winter. Monday was the target date but it is supposed to rain where we would be spending our day traveling so Wednesday looks like a better day to leave. That will give us 3 days and nights of fairly warm and sunshiny weather. I have the tracker running on the GMC so check your maps to make sure you can find us. Teri and I love for family and friends to ride along with us. The link to the tracking system is at the top of this page. Thursday, sometime, we will roll through the same checkpoint in Sierra Blanca that snagged Willie this morning. I will mention it to the patrol when we are checked. How funny.
Teri is watching Amazing Race in the other room. I Skyped her a few minutes to see her pretty face. I am sitting here watching this corny Sarah Palin show. I have to admit, I am enjoying parts of it. Gives me some insight into the Alaska folks. I must also say I do like the girl's husband. He is a special kind of guy. I never had much of a clue about Alaska but my father in law lived and worked there for 20 years. He has good stories for Teri and me. Maybe we will make the trip someday.
Guess that's it. No pictures tonight. They will start coming as we begin our winter's journey in the GMC on Wednesday. Ride with us when you have time.
Dan
Happy Thanksgiving
We have been busy around here this past week. Trying to get some time in with some of our local grandchildren before we take off west in a couple of days. Grandpa got this tooth Monday evening. Marci Claire got the other one when she got home Tuesday.
I remember her dad telling her not to pull the two front teeth "tonight". I was nervous when Marci Claire called me into the bathroom and told me to "snatch it grandpa". I reminded her what dad had said but it was just hanging there. She said dad did not really mean it so we grabbed it. Then she went to work loosening the other one. It nearly fell out before she went to bed but she wanted it not to come out until she got home. Well, that is what happened so I guess we were not in too much trouble as we did not pull "teeth" just got one tooth while at grandpa's. The tooth fairy came to the Gregg home Monday evening.
Wednesday it was Colsyn, Mari Clair's older brother. He is the deer slayer. Everywhere he and I went he would say, " did you hear about the 8 pointer I got?" Oh boy what a 7 year old can do. Here he is collecting some spring water for grana. This is great water. Someone tapped it and it flows right out of this pipe. No need to buy bottled water if you live in this area.
Colsyn and I did some geocaching Wednesday after he finished his home schooling with grana. I had a tv to repair. Was gone about an hour and half. When I returned Colsyn was finished and ready to go geocaching. He is a good cacher. We took off up to Advance as I had forgotten something on one of my warranty jobs. Got it and headed to a cache out near Studivant. Took us about 10 minutes and we had the cache. I forgot to take a picture so I got one while we were getting water. We have a cache hidden here. I put it out Monday and it was found Tuesday. Folks really enjoy these treasure hunts. If you blow up the photo you can see the little black tube. It contains a log for the hunters to sign. I have it inside a tree with a fishing line tied to it.
We then headed to the local post office so I could get my passport card. that thing cost me 70 bux. I could not believe it. Now I can cross into Mexico and Canada and then get back home. Wow. Plus, they kept my birth certificate. Takes 4-8 weeks to get the card. Hope they don't lose it. I just do not like going into our post offices around here. It is so hard to get a smile out of the folks. My local mail carrier is great but those office folks, oh well.
Thanksgiving is here. We hope everyone has a good one. It is hard when we have lost loved ones during the previous year. Those sad times turn into pleasant memories as the years pass. Funny how it works that way. Just want those who have lost loved ones this year, we are thinking of you.
There is no way that I can list all of the things that I am thankful for here on the blog. Close to the top are the folks that make me smile. Teri is number one but those grandkids are right up there. Also all of the friends that Teri and I have made. Nothing like having great friends. Teri and I have many. We are thankful for each and every one of you. Please smile when you think of us.
So, go enjoy your day. We will slide out of here as soon as this front leaves us with sunny warm weather to drive in. All things are ready and we are sitting on Go.
Dan
Geocaching Cooter
Have you ever been to Cooter? This was Teri's first trip. I had been there once before for a dear freind's wedding. This one was on our way into the little town, population 440.
Grabbed this one on our way out. We started about 9 am. When we got to Cooter I lost the internet. Upset I was. Teri said, "check for an open router". Not in Cooter. Oh yea, several routers and all open. We jumped on one and away we went. Life is good. That Teri is a thinker.
Our first stop in Sikeston.
Mr. Wilson hid this cache yesterday. We were the second ones to log in at 930 am today. Might have been first but the fog was heavy and I kept our speed at 70 mph.
New Madrid, Missouri. This is a cool little town on the Mississippi. Lots of history here and it is in your kids' history books at school.
Very nice monument right on the river.
Only a levee between the Big Mighty Muddy and New Madrid.
Great cache and out of the weather.
Next stop was Lilbourn, Mo. This was hidden yesterday. Teri was the very first to sign the log and take some things from the box. I am not too fond of these. Right in a guy's front yard. Oh well, no shooting at us.
Northbound rest area on I-55.
Neat one in Hayti. I enjoy the ones that pay tribute to our vets.
Another one in Hayti. Cool little school house. They have it moved right downtown.
Took a bit to locate this one but Teri grabbed it.
Right on the side of the service road south of Hayti. We have all of the caches in Hayti now. There must be 10.
You can not see all of this one but it was neat. Teri spotted the fishing line that held it to the brick gate post in the Steele, Mo. City Park.
Oh, I had to pitch these two in for you. Our 7 year old showing grandpa how he shot the deer. Colsyn is quite the story teller. His little brother is listening like it is his first time. Their sister, Marci Claire, let us know last night that she is tired of hearing about the deer.
The rifle that fired the deadly shot. As long as the grandson is tall.
Teri and I had a great day geocaching the bootheel of Missouri today. The weather was great, after the fog lifted. I think we have one or two caches left to grab in the bootheel. One is in a graveyard down in Hornersville. We rarely get down that way so it will be a special trip just like today was. The town of Blytheville, Ar. is full of caches. Maybe one day in the Spring we can head down and grab a few of those.
That is about it from here. Going over to get 3 grandkids for the evening. Hope eveyone had a great "hump day". It is all down hill from here.
Dan
Geocache Number 500
Check this out. Our grandson, Colsyn, with his first deer kill. Colsyn is 7 years old and has his own deer rifle. this same boy has a 7 lb bass mounted in his room that he caught when he was 4 years old. He can do anything and loves geocaching with his grandparents. check out his "war paint". He had no help from his dad.
I had to run up to Cape today so we chased a few caches. This one was put out yesterday, just north of Sikeston. Thought we might be the first to nab it. We got there at noon, but someone beat us to it.
Teri in a roadside park, just north of Benton.
A caboose in Scott City. This looks like an ac motor of some kind. I suspect it made ac power for the folks inside the caboose. Pretty neat, belt driven from the wheel. Cache right next to it.
Rv sites in the Scott City park. Look close and you will see my best freind nabbing our 4th of the day. I must see what they charge to hook up a motorhome here overnight.
Yep, that's my girl.
Look close and you will find the cache too.
Look at the red reflector on the left side of the bridge. One just like it on the right holds the log. Super cache.
Teri in the rocks.
Teri gave this one up to me.
Oh yea, we are cooking today. When we finished this one, # 12, we only needed 3 more for 500. I had the laptop and internet so we kept going.
Teri had this one in Cape fast.
Look at the fence post cap sitting on the bridge rail. Behind the rail is the fence. See that wire? At the end of it is the cache. Teri looked all around for this one. I walked over the bridge, grabbed the cap, and pulled up the cache for her. Life is good. Number 499.
Oh yes, Teri is happy. Number 500. I spotted this one too. What can I say? I am just good. This cache is located at a well kept apt. building. The building was built in 1860. That is before the Civil War. We had to go in and look around. So much Civil War stuff around here but few buildings left that were built before hand. We loved this one.
15 caches today. We found everyone of them, scattered 45 miles, in 4 hours, or less. We work well together. Weather was just great. Rain forecasted for Tues. and Wed. so we wanted to use this afternoon for our fun.
Teri and I hope you had a great weekend. We sure did. Thanks for checking on us. All is great. 2 weeks and we are on the road in the GMC.
Dan
Winterizing the GMC Motorhome
Teri and I had sleepovers last night. Tyler and Colby were here with us. This afternoon I grabbed Tyler and we ran some errands, in the bug.
One of our stops, this forever running water. this is a cool spot. The water comes out of an underground spring. If you look close you can see the water coming out of the pipe, in front of Tyler.
This plaque was erected about 15 years ago. There is a lot of history here. This monument tells all about Frenchman's Spring. It is cool. I think you can read most of it. Civil war history. I love this kind of stuff. Our area is full of stuff about the war between the states. We are right on the north/south line and lots of battles were fought here. I took coordinates here again, for the third time. After two more we will hide a geocache here. I want folks to see this place. Geocachers are going to love this one.
So, to the title of today's blog. I have pretty much finished winterizing our GMC motorhome. By winterizing I do not mean draining all the water and filling the lines with rv antifreeze. Nope, the winter is our favorite time to live in the GMC. I finished the polish job and added my transmission cooler today. Earlier this week I got the oil changed and greased the beast. I think it is ready to head west where the temps will be nice all winter. I am anxious to get to the Southwest USA. No place like it during the winter. I changed the oil in the generator yesterday and took the carb off to make sure it was clean. We rarely use the generator but I want it ready to go. We will be dry camping in the desert during January. The solar panels should keep us in electricity. Should the sun not shine for a week, highly unlikely, we might need a generator. I even polished the solar panels. Maybe the dust will slide right off them now. Why not, was up there polishing the roof. It did not take any time at all to shine up the four panels.
So, the GMC is winterized and ready for us to move in for about 4 months.
Hope you enjoyed the great weather this week, we sure did.
Dan
Veteran's Day 2010
Here are some of my heroes. No, I really don't know them well but I know they fought for my freedom. Even though I was in the USAF I did not set foot on foreign soil, unless you call Mississippi foreign soil. These guys were there. Some wounded and some captured and tortured. I appreciate every one of them. Our country has always been strong. We need to keep it that way. Today we are fighting a different kind of war. Folks have infiltrated our country so it is hard to know just who the enemy might be. I am all for profiling anyone that looks like they might do us harm. We need to support those who enforce our laws and those who are serving in the military trying to fight this new kind of war. One of the fellas on the float is 97 years old.
The fella in the middle is Ret. Lt. Col. Cliff Manlove. He looks great in his uniform even though he has been retired since 1970 as a pilot in the USAF. He was my high school councilor and encouraged me to join the Air force, which I did.
We had a very nice little ceremony in Dexter today, after the parade. I was too busy taking things in to get many pictures. This one is of the grade school kids that attended the talks. It is encouraging to see these young folks paying attention to what the speakers had to say.
If you are a veteran of the Armed Forces, thanks. If you have family or friends that are veterans, thank them. Our life continues to be great because these people are willing to protect us from harm.
As always, life is good. Today I feel it is good because of those who have served.
Dan
Life Is Good
Picked up Colsyn this morning and we headed back to that graveyard. Found it right off. That Colsyn is a great little geocacher. We think that we make a good team.
This graveyard is 200 years old. I think it is one of the oldest I have found with readable grave markers.
As we pulled the bug out of the graveyard Colsyn was hollaring "grandpa grandpa, eagles". I said "oh, where?". He pointed and there they were, two of them soaring over us. We stopped and watched them for a few minutes. If you click up the picture you will see one in the clouds. They got much closer but I missed the shots. No doubt they were bald eagles. We were about 8 miles northwest of Bloomfield.
So, off to a Civil War Cemetary next. It is cool. They have a couple hundred graves, just east of Bloomfield. Teri and I had hunted this cache before with no luck. Colsyn brought me luck today.
Colsyn, who is home schooled, got a lesson on the civil war today. Also he learned about two of his great great, 5 times, grandfathers that fought. They were father and son. Father was killed in a battle near Columbus, Ms. and is burried in the Confederate Cemetary there. The son was shot but survived. He is burried in Hamilton, Alabama.
So, Colsyn was really pumped. He found 2 caches that grana could not find. He had to have more. We came home and found 5 in Poplar Bluff to chase. Off we went, 30 miles west, in the bug. Here is the first one. Disguised as a water sprinkler. I like this kind of hide.
Left and headed to the train depot. Searched for 20 minutes and no luck. Time to move on.
Grabbed one under a bridge in Clinton park then headed south.
Looks like the shutter did not open all the way. Here Colsyn is showing the one in the old phone booth. this was in a park where his mom and uncle played lots of baseball as kids. Brought back lots of great memories for me.
Our last one of the day. Colsyn wanted me in a picture so he shot this one.
We had a ball today. Found 6 all together. These were scattered over 45 miles apart. That is a good day.
I also got one side of the GMC polished and half the roof washed so I had a good day. Hope you did too. We get our granddaughter for the night after church. Marci Claire, Colsyn's sister is coming. She loves doing crafts with grana.
Dan
