Friday, April 16, 2010

April 2010

Hello,
We went to Yuma during the month of March. We stayed the entire month in a park model home in Araby Acres which is a 55+ park in Yuma. It is also the park where Judy's Dad & Pat reside duriong the winter. It was a great experience which we hope to enjoy even more once we retire. I did not even get real bored while we were there. There is so much a person can do. I even went to Mexico while we were there it was not scary, but rather depressing. Some of us here in the states take what we have for granted untill we visit a foreign country. The border towns are really indictive of the country as a whole but it does give you a somewhat askewed look. But all in all the whole experience of spending the most consecutive days with my wife alone was great. We have never done this in our entire 37 year marriage. What with life going on, you know raising kids, military career and now the postal career so it was really relaxing. Well have a great day. Must spend time planning the next vacation. LOl

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Update

Not much out of the ordinary has happened since Ragbrai. Although a new route for the 2010 Ragbrai has been announced. It will be shorter and flatter than last year. Thanksgiving has come and gone as with Christmas. many things have changed and many things have pretty much stayed the same. Experienced a good motorcycle ride shortly after my return from Iowa. Uneventful as far as accidents or breakdowns were concerned. But nice overall. Judy and I are now planning on vacationing to Yuma AZ during March to experience a small taste of the "snowbird" life to see if we actually would enjoy doing something like that after we retire. It seems intriguing. But I know that I am not ready yet to just hang around playing horse shoes and watching the grass grow. But who knows maybe in a few years or so. I will try to post pictures and keep this thing more updated take care and god bless

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Week after RAGBRAI

Hello,
I spent the week after ragbrai at my mother"s in Sioux City,Iowa. It was great. Got to spend some time with mu mother helping with a few things and working with my brother's Melvin and David. Were able visit with several other relatives. Had a real good time. They say you can never go home. I disagree, things change but your memories always remain. I have great memories of growing up back there. So it is always a treat to go back home and hang out. I left for home on 2 Aug. I was able to visit with my aunts Doris and Velma on the way home. It took me a day and a half to get home. But it was a good trip. The truck ran fine. I then spent two days at home and left for a 5 day motorcycle trip down the Oregon coast. Will write more later.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Saturday 25 July


WOW,
I cannot believe this is the last day. I actually can see the end of the ride. It is sad and happy at the same time. It has been fun and challenging at the same time. We got up a little later than normal and got off to a later start. But because it was the last day every body and their brother were out there early as well so it was really congested. But we made it out of the town without incident. We stopped at Lowell VFW for breakfast. Boy were they ever slow but the pancakes and sausage were really good and a nice price. We continued along our way and we were really doing good for this last day was a picnic. We stopped for our last smoothie and continued along our way and were going down a steep hill with a sharp turn at the bottom when people were at the end slowing everyone down because there was a accident. Never did find exactly what happened but they took him away in a ambulance. We went by a beautiful lake and great scenery. The rest of the trip into Burlington was uneventful. We were really cruising and making good time. It was great end to the ragbrai trip. We made it down to the Mississippi river and eventually made it to a boat ramp to dip our tires and thus complete our journey across Iowa. We then continued a few miles north to meet up with David and Lisa to go to Jan's for the night and actually sleep in a real bed for a change. We stopped by the Amish village of Kaloona and several Amish country stores. It was great. We finally made it to Jan's and had supper then bed. It has been a great journey and had a great time with my brothers and Lisa.

Friday July 24

Hello
Today was a day from hades. Not only was it hot and the hills murder. But I lost Melvin the last half of the day. Which was kind of frightening. But we found him or rather he found me at the end of the day. We stopped at a nice farmhouse to have breakfast. They had a really 1930 ford car there and a donkey and a 64 Chevy convertible. But the great breakfast they was nice looking but really expensive after the nice breakfast we had the day before. So we skipped it and went down the road. We had a really stop at peking school which had a great place to stop and eat and rest and get out of the sun which was starting to really bear down among us. After that we had a nice ride for a while. It was right after the meeting place that the hills got to me and i was a little slower. Melvin was ahead of me and got to the top of the hill and somewhere he must of turned his back to me and I passed him. I even slowed down at the next pass trough town and I thought maybe he just continued pedaling. By this time it in the afternoon and it was hot and we were battling a headwind. I stopped several times to cool off and try to un numb my bottom, and still no Melvin. I finally made it to the last night of camping on the trip. However to add to the frustration of losing Melvin, My phone battery gave out and I had no way to contact Dave and lisa to ascetain where they were located. I finally made it to the campground and every rider and support vehicles were located at the old thresher campground. Boy was it ever large and intimating. I had to use the Iowa telecom trailer to call Jan to have her call mom to get David's cell number so Jan could call David and find out where he was located. It worked and I found David and Lisa all set up. Boy did they ever find a great spot. Right across from the thresher museum and even better across from the restrooms and free hot shower. It was great. Because we having to pay $5 dollars every night for a shower. By this time I was still looking for Melvin. I went back to the information booth and was looking for him when all of a sudden Melvin appeared behind me. So everything worked out. We went to supper at st Al's in town a catholic church. It was great fried fish with all the trimmings including dessert. When we went back to the campground to settle down for the night we were told to prepare for a big storm. It was hard to believe because the sky was fairly clear. However later that night the police were coming through the campground tell everyone to evacuate to the museum buildings to avoid the storms. We were able to look through the museum for free. The great part was we got to look the museum buildings for free. The storm also split and bypassed us. So it was great. We went to bed.

Thursday July 23

Hello,
WE left chariton after waking up to thunder and lighting and a strong rain storm. The inside of the tent was even a bit damp after the rain was forced trough a bit. A bout a hour or so later we came among a scene which quickly let us know how luckily we were. The storm actually skirted us a little and hit south east of us. There was hail along side of the road so thick that Melvin was waiting for me as he usually was. But this time he scoped up a handful of hail and threw it at my legs. That felt good. We stopped and ate breakfast at a little restaurant by the lake (rathburn ) It was great the food was good and cheap. $2 for a full order of biscuits and gravy. We arrived in Moravia and had a good time and stayed a little while enjoying the shade and the local culture. We continued onto Ottumwa. We stayed a local park. It was the first time we stayed all concentrated at the same spot with the other 15,000 people. It was crazy. However it was okay even when it started to rain. We went next door and stayed with a nice lady who luckily allowed us to share her canopy. The storm passed quickly as it came. We went out to dinner to the knights of Columbus. It was steak dinner. It was good. We took the shuttle to eat and roam around town. We had a great time. Even stopped and listened to a couple who quit their jobs and sold almost of of their possessions and have traveling around the world on their bicycles and free camping and such. It was interesting. But not my cup of tea. We went back to camp and yes we went to bed pretty quickly.

Wednesday July 22

Hello,
Yippee we were to sleep in late today (7am) because it was a short ride only 44.4 miles and a fairly easy ride. It stopped raining by the time we got up in the morning. The town was so friendly and we had a good time there. However we started riding and we hit some misty stuff again. But by the time we arrived at Milo it was nice out. We even stopped at a local farm house and had pancakes and eggs. They were really friendly and the food was good as well. We arrived in Chariton before noon I believe. We were camping at the middle school. It was really nice of them to keep the school open all night which was great. We had a great time running around town looking at the different vendors and food stuff. Later that night we went back down town for supper. They stared the band. We had to leave because it was so loud. The band looked like a bunch of weirdos and were screaming at the top of their lungs. Crazy. WEnt to bed as usual by this time 9 pm.