The Great Escape

It Is Done

2007-11-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it! 40 states, 5 Canadian provinces and over 20,000 miles. We pulled into San Diego at around 6:30 pm on October 31, right on schedule. Are we glad to be home? You bet. Do we wish we could just keep on going? Well in some ways but we are tired and anxious to move into the next phase of our lives. Can you imagine it? We traveled for so long through so many states and had not one ticket, not even a warning. We hit nothing nor did anything hit us, the rig is intact without a scratch. We encountered no dangerous weather and, if my memory serves me, had less than 5 rainy days that hampered our plans. I am completely convinced we are so blessed.

Get Your Kicks on Route 66 – For those whose goal isn’t just to reach a destination but rather to enjoy the journey itself, U.S. Route 66 may be the solution. From its official beginnings on November 11 1926 it has been explored by families, vagabonds, dreamers and vacationers like us. You can still “get your kicks on route 66”. Many of the cities through Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona have kept their downtowns vibrant with a diverse selection of restaurants and shops. I always think of that old TV show, Route 66, and the fun those guys driving a new corvette had every week on route 66. As a kid I promised myself I would do that some day. Well, no corvette but we did explore Route 66 and had at least a few kicks.

One last park, Mesa Verde National Park – Out last tourist outing was to Mesa Verde National park. We also took in the four corners monument nearby (so we could be in 4 states at the same time). About 1400 years ago, long before Europeans explored North America, a group of people living in the four corners region chose Mesa Verde for their home. For more than 700 years they lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of canyon walls. The cliff dwellings range in size from one room houses to the huge 5 story Cliff House with more than 150 rooms. Walking in among these ruins is awe inspiring. It brings a new respect and understanding of the American Indians and their history.

And The Winner is - Drum roll please. The winner of the international quest for best barbeque style is……Santa Maria Style. Ok, so that is the style I personally use but believe me there was no bribing of the judges. For those of you unaware, Santa Maria style barbeque features a special cut from the top of the sirloin called tri-tip. This cut is thick with fat and marbling which makes it particularly succulent. It is then slow cooked with smoke (either red oak for the purest or hickory can be used). Prior to smoking, the meat is dry rubbed with special seasonings. So why Santa Maria style? Well it incorporates the best of all of the styles we tried. We fell in love with the Memphis dry rubbed ribs and have always been fans of Texas brisket. But Santa Maria style is unique in that it uses a high quality cut of meat rather than inexpensive cuts which are the norm. As far as sauces, it’s a personal choice. Kansas City has great sweet sauce, tomato base. Memphis has wonderful hot vinegar based sauce. Maybe not to everyone’s liking but I loved it. And Carolina has great vinegar based sauce similar to Memphis but sweet. So put the sauce of your choice on the side and enjoy a Santa Maria style barbeque. You won’t be disappointed!

Road Revelation #24 – Just DO IT. Having a dream is great. Dreaming that dream can be enjoyable as well but doing it is best. So if you have a dream like we did, just do it!

The Great Republic

2007-10-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

I am referring to Texas of course. Texas is a huge state but I always remember when I was young and Alaska was becoming a state. Texans were warned to keep quiet about their big size or the Alaskans would split Alaska into two and make them the third largest state instead of just the second largest ( I don’t think it worked). We continue to push on down the road, getting closer and closer to home. I find myself on the one hand anxious to get home but on the other wishing that our travels could never end. Texas is a big place with lots to see but for us it was all about visiting our friends. Seeing old friend helped us hold off the urge to just push on home but to instead relax once more and enjoy.

McAllen – This is the home of many of Mellie’s college friends from the Philippines. So we arranged to spend a long weekend here. It was great to have someone else take charge of the planning and coordination of our visit. We were well taken cared of and kept busy Friday all the way through to Sunday evening. For me, to be driven around and catered to seemed to be heaven sent. Thanks guys!

Castles in The Sky – well on the beach anyway. Saturday afternoon we drove down to South Padre Island and were pleased to find it was the annual festival, Sandcastle Days. The weather was warm and the crowd of over 20,000 was enjoying the surf along with viewing all of the sand sculpture entries. Sandcastle Days is a not-for-profit annual event that showcases the unique art form of sand sculpture with the help of amateurs and professionals whose talents make the sand come to life. Sandcastle Days annually donates funds to efforts such as Sea Turtle Inc. and other organizations committed to the integrity of our coastal environment. We stayed until after sundown and enjoyed the weather, the sand art and great friendships. This was a day not to forget!

Fort Worth – Worth the visit! Our next visit was to the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. Now it seems to me that where Dallas is a fine modern city, Fort Worth has the charm and history. This time it was my friends who took control and provided us with an enjoyable tour of their fine city. I could get use to this! As we made the drive up from McAllen to Fort Worth, with a stop in Austin, we saw a huge change in the weather. A cold front was right in our path and as we drove into it the winds became strong and the rain began to pour. Unfortunately, even though the winds and rain did not last, the 20- 30 degree drop in temperature stayed. I guess its ok. I was getting a bit tired of wearing shorts and flip flops anyway.

Riscky Barbeque - Thats Riscky not risky. It's not every barbecue restaurant that sticks around to celebrate it's 80th anniversary, but in October 2007 Riscky's Bar-B-Q in Fort Worth did just that. Joe Riscky immigrated to America from Poland in 1911. He worked at the Armour Packing Company in the Fort Worth Stockyards for $9 a week. In 1927, Joe and Mary opened Riscky's Grocery & Market in the Northside of Fort Worth. Their son Pete Riscky took over in 1952 and today Pete's son, Jim Riscky, runs the company which has evolved into eight restaurants. Riscky's barbecue is hand-rubbed with "Riscky Dust" and slow smoked for hours. Riscky's has become a legend in Texas barbecue and so it was the logical pick for our sampling of Texas Style barbeque. So the winner of our barbeque contest is .... now hang on for a minute, we have to contemplate this for a bit. First off, we have come to the conlusion that we can never find the "best" barbeque place in the country. There are so many so we will decide what "style" is our favorite. So the contest comes down to: Kansas City Style, Memphis Style, Carolina Style, Texas style and a little know style Santa Maria style. There are others but these are the best that we have found. Sorry to our international entry, Canada, but you don't have a barbeque style just great beef and that don't count. The winner will be announced soon so keep watching the blog entries.

Road Revelation #23 – Good times come and go but good friends are forever. Make sure that you protect and cherish your friendships. Few things are more important in life or are so fragile. So take the time to invest in your friendships, the rewards will come.

Run Forest Run!

2007-10-23T07:35:00.000-07:00

I couldn’t help but think of Forest Gump as we traveled from Florida through Alabama, Mississippi and on into Louisiana. We did not spend much time in the Gulf area since our schedule was pushing us but we tried to absorb as much culture as possible along the way. So that’s why I felt like Forrest running across the country.

Tallahassee – Our last stop in Florida was two nights in Tallahassee. This visit was more “business” rather than “pleasure”. One of our trailer tires developed a small bump on the sidewall about the size of a golf ball. So I changed it with the spare before it had a chance to get worse. My plan was to get a warranty replacement at a service center in Tallahassee. This seemingly simple task ended up being basically impossible. Even after finding a service center that carried the proper size of tire, we were told that they really did not want to break up a set to sell me just one. Calls to the trailer manufacturer, Keystone, informed me that the tires are a new equipment only version and we would have to deal with the tire manufacturer directly for warranty support. So I called the tire manufacturer and they could only offer to ship one to me in “a few days”. I was assured it was safe to continue with the spare and use the defective one as an emergency backup in the event of another tire failure. So we will take care of this issue when we get home…I hope.

The Big Speakeasy – As we approached New Orleans I had mixed feeling about touring the area. I was not sure what we would find. I have read that recovery from hurricane Katrina is going well and downtown is functioning fine with most of the restaurants open. So we decided to select a RV park a few miles outside of the city then drive in for dinner. Several years ago I had visited New Orleans and fell in love with the Cajun and Creole styles of food. I think it is an indisputable fact that no place loves its food quite as sincerely – or as indulgently – as New Orleans. Some people eat to live, but New Orleanians live to eat. As a result, the city offers one of the most incredible – and incredibly diverse – concentrations of exceptional dining and unforgettable cuisine in the world. There are more than 1,500 restaurants open in the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan area. This includes most of the city's culinary treasures such as Emeril's, Arnaud's, Commander's Palace, Bayona, Herbsaint, Restaurant August, G.W. Fin's, Bacco, Peristyle, Palace Cafe, Lilette, Brigsten's, K-Paul's, Cuvee, NOLA, Bourbon House, Broussard's and Antoine's. I wanted Mellie to experience New Orleans style of cooking but with so many choices it was hard to pick. We selected K-Paul’s mainly because of his television exposure and a reputation for excellence. We were not disappointed!!!

Katrina Recovery – There were signs of total devastation everywhere. I could post horrific pictures of entire blocks of homes destroyed, piles of debris and business boarded up. But this would not do justice to the heroic efforts and wonderful progress New Orleanians have made. Make no mistake about it, New Orleans is back and will be even better as plans for full recover are completed.

Road Revelation #22 – Celebrate Success. Life is full of twists and turns, good times and bad. It is important to look to the successes and celebrate them rather than dwelling on the past or on things or conditions that you have no control over. And if all else fails, run Forrest run!

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow...

2007-10-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

You can bet your bottom dollar is how it goes I think. So here we are in “Sunny” Florida. It was raining when we crossed the state line and continued to be gloomy if it was not pouring rain for the first 3 days of the week we were there. But that’s ok, it gave us a good reason to relax and do nothing for awhile. The temperature though was hot and humid of course. I’m not sure why they have the slogan “the sunshine state”. I guess it just sounds better than “the hot and humid state”.

Fort Lauderdale – We decided to make Fort Lauderdale our Florida home base. Mainly because we have friends there but also because it has lots of interesting RV parks to pick from. I picked out what looked like a nice place, called them for a reservation and was quite disappointed. “We don’t guarantee pull-throughs” was the response I got. So I decided to rethink our selection. I prefer a pull-through because it is much easier to park than backing in and well my backup skills are still “improving”. Later in the day I asked Mellie to call them back. “Oh you need a pull-through? Sure we can save one for you, no problem.” Must be that female charm. So that is how we ended up in Paradise Island RV Resort.

Anyone Want Sticky Fingers? Oh, before I forget again, we visited a barbeque place in South Carolina called Sticky Fingers. The fact that I forgot to put it in the blog should not reflect on the quality and enjoyment we had sampling Carolina style barbeque. This place had it all, ribs, brisket, chicken and it could all be ordered “wet” or “dry”. They have six different types of sauce to boot. We had a hard time deciding what to order so ended up with a sampler platter for two. If that was not enough it came with free home made peach cobbler (topped with ice cream of course). Out of all of the combinations I think my favorite was dry rubbed ribs with the Carolina sauce. Carolina sauce is kind of like Memphis style but is made sweet. So Carolina style barbeque is officially in the running, no decisions yet though on the winner.

Going South, Way South - We wanted to savor a taste of tropical living, Florida style, so it was off to Key West for a couple of days. It would be the first time during our trip that we would stay somewhere other than our RV (I did not want to pull the trailer down to the Keys over miles and miles of bridges, with it still being hurricane season it seemed too risky). So we picked one of the most famous Key West resorts - Casa Marina Resort. Nestled on the island's southern edge - spanning more than 1,100 feet of private beach - our historic, Mediterranean-style accommodations provided a luxurious hideaway (not sure what we are hiding from but it was fun!). Listed in the National Register for Historic Places, this landmark resort has attracted business tycoons, artists, dignitaries and vacationer like us since the 1920s. Imagine this ··· basking on the private beach among soaring palms trees, blooming native flowers, and sweeping ocean views with a warm gentle breeze. Paradise found! Besides lounging on the beach, a morning dip in the warm ocean water and lots of tourist shopping, we had one of the most memorable dinners to date. Since we are in a five star hotel I felt we should take advantage of their services, so the concierge was invaluable in steering us away from the “tourist trap” restaurants to one of the best family owned establishments on the island, Camille’s Restaurant. The fresh fish was prepared to perfection and the service was great too. But a perfect dinner in Key West would not be complete without finishing it off with Key Lime Pie, yummy!

Road Revelation #21 – Splurge once in awhile. Sometimes you have to put the old budget concerns aside and just go for it. Life is too short to miss out on sampling some of the real pleasures life has to offer, be it a five star hotel, an excellent dinner or the free sundown celebration we attended on the west facing beach near old town Key West. Ah yes, life is good when you splurge.

The Low Country

2007-10-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

This past week found us in the South Carolina Low Country. Low Country is a term used to describe the state's coastal counties, generally south of and including, Charleston and stretches to Savannah, Georgia. The region contains its share of culture and history. Notable is the Gullah influence (more on that in a bit) and the early European Settlements with their Southern Hospitality and charm.

Boone Hall, a southern Icon – While visiting Charleston we wanted to experience a famous southern plantation so we visited the Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens. It is an antebellum cotton plantation located in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina near Charleston. The plantation includes a large post-civil war farmhouse, a number of original slave cabins (which were occupied by sharecroppers well into the 20th century), several flowering gardens, and the historic "Avenue of Oaks": a mile drive up the house with live oaks on either side. The earliest know existence of the ground is 1681. It originated from a land grant given to Major John Boone. On the grounds today, besides the house, sit nine of the original slave cabins, a smoke house dating back to 1790, the Cotton Gin house (1853) and the grand Avenue of Oaks that was created in 1843 and runs 3/4 of a mile long from the entrance to the front house gates. While they would not allow photographing or filming of the house on the tours, the house and grounds have appeared in the mini-series North and South and the movies Queen, Scarlett, and most recently, The Notebook. The Avenue of Oaks was used in the filming of Gone with the Wind.

The Gullah - De buckruh dey dey duh wait fuh we. (translation: "The white men are there waiting for us."). One of the best performances provided at the plantation was a demonstration of slave life by a Gullah woman. She told stories, showed how rice was processed and sang beautiful Gullah songs. The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia. Historically, the Gullah region once extended north to the Cape Fear area on the coast of North Carolina and south to the vicinity of Jacksonville on the coast of Florida; but today the Gullah area is confined to the South Carolina and Georgia Low Country. The Gullah are known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African American community in the United States. They speak an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and significant influences from African languages in grammar and sentence structure. The Gullah language is related to Jamaican Creole, Bahamian Dialect, and the Krio language of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Gullah storytelling, foodways, music, folk beliefs, crafts, farming and fishing traditions, etc. all exhibit strong influences from African cultures.

Bonaventure Cemetery - while in Savannah we visited the Bonaventure Cemetery which overlooks the Wilmington River and is filled with grand old trees covered in Spanish moss and beautiful statues and tombs dedicated to the memories of some of Savannah's most notable citizens. Kinda creepy but fun just same, fortunately it was a sunny day. It is located on the site of a plantation once owned by John Mullryne. The Plantation was converted to a cemetery in 1868. Later the cemetery was made famous after John Berendt's book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was published (1994). The book, and then the movie of the same title by Clint Eastwood (1997), propelled Savannah and the Bonaventure Cemetery into the spotlight and made the city a major tourist destination.

Road Revelation #20 – If you have to visit old cemeteries, do so on a sunny day. We did not read about the Bonaventure cemetery until after our visit but the rumors of murder, voodoo and haunting ghosts would have made the visit even creepier. To go there at night would be just short of heroic I think.

The Great Abyss

2007-10-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

It was time to leave New England, time to seek new adventures. But this meant we had to make a difficult decision. Do we take a few days and make a wide swing around the East Coast Metropolitan areas or do we head straight down I95 directly through the Great Abyss? Who wouldn’t relish the challenge of pulling a 38 foot, 12 thousand pound trailer through 450 miles of multi-lane, bumper to bumper traffics? Me, but the thought of 7 to 8 hours and it would all be behind us was so tempting we had to do it (actually it took just under 12 hours due to some congested, stop and go traffic…like that would never happen).

The Cities Tour – As we have stated before, we do not “love New York” except for upstate and what we were traveling through was anything but that. I had this phobia about driving through New York City but what I did not take into consideration was I would have lots of cities to practice in before we got there. We had over 80 miles of cities to go through before reaching New York. Another aspect of this jaunt was I did not notice that after making it through New York I would still have Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC to tackle and it would be late afternoon for sure! We hit the rush hour traffic in Baltimore and it continued through DC. What an oxymoron, rush hour. You are doing little rushing that’s for sure.

Road Etiquette – Some might expect me to rag on the East Coast drivers as rude, horn blowing bullies but I found this not to be the case. What I did discover was they have no idea how to merge into traffic! As they approach the traffic via the on ramp they invariably slow down rather than speed up to meet the flow as we do out west. This would not be a problem but for the fact that I am usually in the first lane going 5 to 10 miles an hour slower than everyone else. I would see the oncoming vehicle and begin slowing down a bit to give them room. At the same time they began slowing down too. But we usually worked it out with a few waves and they would return the jester, pointing out that they thought I was ok and gave me the “you’re number one” wave. Through the grace of God we made it through all of this without incident. It had to be that because frankly I could not say it was due to my skill alone that’s for sure.

Rest, Relax and a Step Back in Time - After our long day through the great abyss, we settled in for a few days rest and relaxation in a nice RV park outside of Richmond Virginia. We picked this area for a couple of reasons, its right off of I95 and it is not too far to Jamestown. I wanted to visit Jamestown so that we could experience some colonial history. Founded in 1607, Jamestown is celebrating their 400th anniversary. The park includes a very large museum along with the reconstructed village. In the harbor are several period authentic ships which are open for exploring. Throughout the village were individuals in period costumes performing typical tasks of the colonial days. Raising vegetables, combing cotton, repairing sails and fishing nets were a few of the many activities being demonstrated. It was a very educational and entertaining day but we left with the realization that our life today is much better than what they had. We are again excited to continue our tour. Bring it on! I have survived the Great Abyss.

Road Revelation #19 – Try to follow local traffic etiquette rather than attempt to change it to your own style. If people want to slow down as they attempt to merge into the traffic flow, so be it. Trying to get them to do otherwise is fruitless. I found that the best way is to find a semi-truck and just get behind him in the second or third lane and follow what he does. It’s just like in life, accommodation rather than confrontation is always better.

True Colors

2007-09-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

Fall represents a very special time of the year. The lands bounty is being harvested. The temperatures begin to feel cool maybe even crisp. But nothing says fall more than the changing colors of autumn leaves. Did you know that the season we call “fall” is the only season with two names? The word 'autumn' is derived from the French word "automne", and became popular in usage for the season since the 16th century. The North American name for the season, 'fall', probably derived as a contraction of the phrase "fall of the leaves", has since become interchangeable with autumn.

Leaf Peeping – With the first day of autumn this past Sunday behind us, Tuesday morning found us following our noses (ok our GPS mapping program) on a drive to upper New Hampshire and Vermont. As we drove into woods, we could not help but let out a little gasp as the colors of the foliage season enveloped us. Mother Nature’s fashion show is featuring some of the most vibrant colors in several years or so says the locals. Red is very big and under a clear blue sky, it absolutely pops out and makes you just pause for a moment. Although the weather has a certain feel of summer to it (it’s over 80 degrees), the air is clear and the sky, aside from a few wispy clouds, is a deep blue. We can’t tell you precisely when peak foliage will be, but we can tell you we found the fall colors awe inspiring this last week of September. In reality they say there is no precise definition of “peak fall foliage”. For us we feel the most beauty is when there is still some green mixed in with the reds and oranges. So this last trip into northern New Hampshire and Vermont was a wonderful experience and did not disappoint.

Lost in the Woods? – I let the GPS plot our trip and well I think it had a somewhat “senior moment” or something. The road became narrow then turned to gravel and finally turned into a one lane dirt road before the “Posted, No Trespassing” sign was blocking our way. Mellie was not pleased but for me this is what you call a bonus scenic side trip. It took us an hour or so to backtrack out of the farm and back to “normal highways” but boy what a tour of the Vermont farmland!

Ben & Jerry’s – To create a sort of purpose to our wanderings through upper Vermont we decided to visit the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory. Ok so it was because of the free samples, at any rate the visit was quite interesting. The beautiful weather, actually rather hot, made for a perfect day to enjoy a little ice cream and have a picnic lunch on the factory grounds. The free samples for the day were mint chocolate chunk (mint ice cream made with all natural peppermint extract & fudge chunks) but after our picnic lunch we purchased our selected favorites at the scoop shop. Mine was a new flavor, cinnamon buns (caramel ice cream with cinnamon bun dough & a caramel cinnamon streusel swirl) and Mellie selected Crème Brûlée (sweet custard ice cream with a caramelized sugar swirl). So can you blame us? With concoctions like that who could resist?

Road revelation #18 – Don’t be afraid to take a country road. Sometimes life sends us down a path that seems confusing or maybe even a bit scary. But don’t live life so safely that you never take a risk or challenge. You never know what may be at the end of the road even if it is only a “do not trespass” sign. You will at least be able to say I’ve done that/ been there!

It's All About ME

2007-09-28T06:25:00.000-07:00

Maine that is (for those of you who don’t know ME is the abbreviation for Maine). Maine is an interesting place to visit, not at all like what I expected. But then, those of us from California have a rather biased point of view. I expected cold, it was actually in the 80’s. I expected rocky unwelcoming beaches. Although we saw these, I was surprised by the many nice sandy beaches for swimming. And the people were actually very friendly.

A Maine Icon, LL Bean – You just can’t visit Maine without doing a little shopping at the LL Bean flagship store in Freeport. This place is amazing! It is huge with three levels, departments for men’s wear, women’s wear, kid’s wear, footwear, outdoor gear, luggage, home and gifts department. It’s is so full of stuff that they had to open separate stores for hunting & fishing supplies and a bike, boat & ski store. To top it off the place is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Now that’s retail savvy. Founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean, the company has grown from a one-man operation to a global organization with annual sales of $1.5 billion. A good example of Maine stick-to-it-ness.

The Atlantic – Having been way from the ocean for many, many weeks (except for the brief visit to Cape Cod) it was great to be on the Atlantic coast. We enjoyed the smell of the sea air and the sounds of the surf. In the evenings we took long walks on the beach for our exercise. The air was warm and it felt so good. Somehow we managed to arrive here in the mist of a record breaking heat wave, in late September no less. To make it even more enjoyable there was a harvest moon this week so even when the sun went down it was still light outside.

Kennebunkport - To me, the Kennebunks (there is Kennebunk the town and Kennebunkport the port…duh) represent the best that the Maine coast has to offer. There is architectural treasure of historic sea captains' homes, a working fishing port combined with modern pleasure boats docked between cruises to the ocean, plus a thriving, diverse artists' community. On the edge of the port, on Walker Point is the Bush compound or summer residence. The Bush compound, firstly Walker's Point, is the summer home of 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush. The property has been a family retreat for more than a century. The estate was first purchased by St. Louis banker George H. Walker in the late 19th century; he built the mansion in 1903. The estate was later sold to his daughter Dorothy Walker Bush and her husband Prescott Bush ( George senior’s parents) and has remained in the Bush family since.

The Lighthouse - The Cape Neddick Lighthouse stands on Nubble Island about 200 yards off Cape Neddick Point. The lighthouse is commonly known as Nubble Light or simply, The Nubble. Cape Neddick Point is at the north end of Long Beach in the village of York Beach. Nubble Light is a famous American icon and a classic example of a lighthouse. We were so impressed with this lighthouse that we decided to visit it twice. The second time was in the evening so we could enjoy it by the light of the harvest moon.

Road Revelation #17 – Don’t believe everything you hear. My views on Maine and New England in general were biased and stereotypical. I often times feel offended when people do the same with their views of California. Keep an open mind and you just might be surprised.

Parlez-vous Francais?

2007-09-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

Our wanderings this past week took us through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the beautiful hills of Vermont, and even out of the country to a very foreign land, Quebec Canada. Even though officially fall does not start until the upcoming weekend, it felt very “fallish” outside. The trees must have felt the same way because many have begun to change their colors already. There was enough to cause more than one oooh or aaahh as we traveled through this beautiful countryside of New England.

New Hampshire White Mountains - From old carriage roads to timeless paths over the high peaks of the Presidential Range, the New Hampshire White Mountains have it all. Nowhere is autumn more enjoyable than here off the beaten path on a glorious fall day with the roads blaze with rich colors. This use to be home of the famous “Man of the Mountain” a rock formation on Cannon Mountain that resembled the craggy profile of a man until it fell in May 2003. . It must have been devastating to the locals seeing this rock formation crumble and fall. What to do with the thousands of Old Man of the Mountain trinkets ordered from China? No problem they still sell them in the stores and shops…. Whatever, it remains the state symbol of New Hampshire.

The Flume Gorge - A flume is a deep and narrow chute that is used to divert water from streams to transport logs down steep mountains or sometimes power mills. When this occurs naturally it is often referred to as a gorge. Instead of the deep chasm being formed with wooden planks they are formed with rock walls. This particular Flume is naturally occurring but was used as a log transport and power resource. It is called The Flume because those that found it were used to seeing the artificial flumes and thus referred to this natural wonder by the name they were familiar with. This was a beautiful 2 hour walk through the forest next to water falls, huge rock formations and amazing vistas of the surrounding mountains.

Vermont - Nearly a million and a half acres of Vermont land are in agriculture, sustaining the pastoral landscape that has made Vermont famous. Dairying is the primary farm industry in Vermont, producing approximately half the milk consumed in New England and home to companies like Ben & Jerry’s (makers of that famous ice cream). Vermont is America's largest producer of maple syrup and also produces substantial crops of Macintosh apples, potatoes, eggs, honey, vegetables, Christmas trees, lumber, pulp wood, and green house nursery products. If that isn’t enough it has down right beautiful scenery. As we drove though the state, it became clear that we would have to come back to this beautiful place.

Quebec, Oh Canada… After driving though Vermont we thought it would be fun to go over the US/ Canadian border into Quebec. At least that is what we thought. Oh the border crossing went smoothly (you know we have done this drill before). But instantly we are in a foreign land where we not only cannot understand what anyone is saying but to our horror all of the signs are in French, only French! The landscape was not much different from Vermont and New Hampshire and the trees are at about the same fall colors so after having a picnic lunch we turned the truck around and headed back to the good ole US. It was so nice to hear the US Customs official respond when we told him we had only been out of the US for a couple of hours “well, welcome home!”. Thanks we needed that.

Road Revelation #16 – Expect communication difficulties if you leave the home land. Now don’t get me wrong, I have traveled the world but was still taken aback by the lack of English in Quebec. I knew they spoke French but I thought it was Canadian law that everything was labeled in both French and English. Am I wrong? Or maybe that only applies to the other provinces and Quebec is immune to this law? Maybe my Canadian friends can help explain this “two faced, double standard” of theirs.

The Smell of Coffee

2007-09-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

I love the smell of coffee on a cool fall morning. The nights are getting cooler, naw I think I can say cold! Last night it got down to 40 degrees but we are warm and cozy in our trailer. Over the past week we have seen summer days but fall nights are creeping up on us. But that’s ok because our mission right now is to do some serious leaf peeping. Leaf peeper is what the locals call those of us visiting to see the fall colors. So here we sit in the middle of a forest next to a stream near the White Mountains of New Hampshire. There are only a few hints of color so far so we will have to wait on that story in the next blog entry.

Gettysburg, Accidental Tourist – As we were moving through Pennsylvania towards Upstate New York, I was having difficulty contacting the selected RV park. Seems they would never answer their phone. So in a shift of plans we looked towards other areas and found a nice park just outside of Gettysburg. Gettysburg with its battle fields and cemeteries would be interesting enough I guess although after Washington DC and Arlington we were a bit worn out on stories of dead people. The Hershey factory in Hershey PA had sound much more entertaining, oh well maybe another time for that. We did end up enjoying our visit though and found Gettysburg a very interesting and friendly place. After all, how bad can it be when I was able to buy a fresh rhubarb pie from the nearby market? We bought some sweet corn too but it just does not compare to the Iowa corn.

I Love New York – at least that’s what they say. I think I can go along with that as long as you clarify that we are referring to Up State New York and not the city. We took a wide berth around the city just to make sure it stayed out of our way. Our primary target in New York was Niagara Falls. More than six million cubic feet of water fall over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet on average. It is the most powerful waterfall in North America. Which is probably why after parking our truck and walking a good distance to our first lookout over the falls looking down at this torrent of falling water I realized that I have to pee…really bad. Later after being fully relieved, we bought tickets to ride the imfamous Maid of the Mist boat. This boat takes you right up the to foot of the falls. They provide rain ponchos to help keep you dry but it didn’t work much for me anyway. I got soaked. Good thing it was still a warm day and I dried out quickly after our sorjourn to the falls. As you may know, the falls are on the US/ Canadian border and can be viewed from either country. We observed them from the US side and did not go over to the Canadian side although many say the best view is from there. They probably just say that as a way to make Canadians feel better (ha, ha just kidding my Canadian friends!).

Boston City of Good Taste – Would you believe it that a large US city can actually have great tasting tap water? It’s true. In Boston their water source is so pure that testing indicated that no filtering was necessary. A few years ago they switched their purification system from chlorine to ozone and the water tastes great! During our time near Boston we visited the Kennedy Presidential Library, Plymouth (home of the famous Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims) and had dinner on Cape Cod. There were so many things to see and do in this great city but we selected just these few so we could at least experience a small bit of Boston culture. It was well worth it. As we drove around, navigating round-abouts and narrow old city streets I mentioned to Mellie how different this feels compared to California with its wide streets and accommodating freeways. Maybe you get use to it but right now I miss California.

Road Revelation #15 – Consider an unanswered call for what it is and accommodate change. No sense wasting time trying to make plans that just refuse to be made. When things aren’t working out maybe its time to look in another direction. You never know what you might find.

A Walk Through Time

2007-09-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

Our travels this week take us to Washington DC. Naturally we centered our visit on the National Mall and the Smithsonian. With over a dozen major museums and uncountable monuments, memorials and statues, there is no lack of things to see and do.

In 1826, James Smithson, a British scientist, drew up his last will and testament, naming his nephew as beneficiary. Smithson stipulated that, should the nephew die without heirs (as he would in 1835), the estate should go “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” Bet you didn’t know that, I didn’t.

Air and Space Museum – One of my personal favorites, we spent quite a bit of time in this museum. I find all of the technical aspects of the displays fascinating (duh, I am an engineer). I think Mellie enjoyed it as well although I had to promise we would visit the Natural History Museum next, home of the Hope diamond and other bobbles, but back to the Air and Space. This place is full of history and explains quite eloquently, how flight, from the Wright brother to the flight to the moon, has really shaped what and who America is today.

Natural History Museum - The National Museum of Natural History is dedicated to understanding the natural world and our place in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah…which way to the precious stones? Second floor, to your right was the quick answer. The main building on the National Mall contains 1.5 million square feet of space overall and 325,000 square feet of exhibition and public space; altogether the Museum is the size of 18 football fields and has more than 125 million natural science specimens and cultural artifacts. Just to name a few of the museum holdings, the collections include 30 million insects carefully pinned into tiny boxes; 4½ million plants pressed onto sheets of paper in the Museum’s herbarium; 7 million fish in liquid-filled jars; and 2 million cultural artifacts, including 400,000 photographs housed in the National Anthropological Archives. So we skipped the stuffed animals and headed to the important stuff. Thankfully this jewelry store does not take Visa.

Monuments, memorials, oh my - It was a hot day and the walk was long but we just had to do it. The Washington Memorial is a world known icon of the American people. We passed on the climb to the top. The next stop was the World War II Memorial. It honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort from home. It was a touching memorial. I thought of my dad who served in the Pacific including the Philippines and Mellie thought of the stories told to her by her mother and the Japanese occupation. Toward the end of the mall we visited the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veteran Memorial wall. Both are inspiring and thought provoking. If there is any negative thing to say about the National Mall is that you tend to become overloaded. There’s too much to see and absorb.

Road Revelation #14 – Always wear comfortable walking shoes. It would be a shame to miss out an opportunity to enjoy because you just had to wear “style” instead of “comfort”. Can you imagine we actually saw women on the Mall wearing high heels? For me a walk through time begs for nice sturdy tennis shoes.

The Land of Shenandoah

2007-09-07T05:48:00.000-07:00

It’s September and we find ourselves in Virginia, nestled between the Blue Ridge and Massanutten Mountains in the fabled Shenandoah Valley. The weather is still hot as though it could be another one of those dog days of summer. But there is already a hint of fall colors in the leaves. Not much but it’s there none the less. Impressing on us the reality that we have no time to waste, we have to keep pushing on.

Shenandoah National Park – Breathtaking is the word that comes to mind. Gazing across the horizon from the peaks of Shenandoah National Park it’s hard to believe we are just 75 miles from the bustle of our nation’s capital, Washington DC. Skyline Drive takes us along the crest of the mountains through the woods and past spectacular vistas. Remember when driving was fun and relaxing? No? Well, a slow meander down Skyline Drive gives you a whole new driving experience. The Skyline Drive runs 105 miles north to south along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park.

Arlington National Cemetery - For the almost 4 million people who visit Arlington national Cemetery represents many differnt things. To me it reminds me of Honor, Valor and Loss. We spent the afternoon walking through the cemetery. JFK’s grave with Jacquelyn beside him was sobering. Bobby Kennedy’s grave is nearby, on a hill all by itself. It seems so sad, so alone. We continued on to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It stands atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. On March 4, 1921, Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater. Later remains of unknowns from World War II , the Korean war and Vietnam war were put to rest here. Note: (The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were exhumed May 14, 1998. Based on mitochondrial DNA testing, DoD scientists identified the remains as those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, who was shot down near An Loc, Vietnam, in 1972. It has been decided that the crypt that contained the remains of the Vietnam Unknown will remain vacant.) I guess the Vietnam War will continue to baffle us.

Road Revelation #13 – Never forget the past. It is a sobering experience to walk through the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. To me it reminds me of my younger days being drafted to serve the country and how luck (or was it’s God’s grace) provided me with the opportunity to not be sent to Vietnam but instead to stay out of harm’s way. No, we must never forget the sacrifices of these brave souls, we must not forget the past but learn from it.

American Soul Food

2007-08-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

This week found us in beautiful Tennessee. Our first stop was Memphis. The weather continued to be good/bad. Good in that we left the heavy rains behind in the upper Midwest, bad because we are now suffering from a record breaking heat wave. Most days have been over 95 degrees with high humidity. Thank God we have an air conditioner in our fifth-wheel. On hot days like this it tends to run non-stop until late in the evening when it can finally keep up with the outside heat.

Standing Out in the Crowd – We picked an interesting church to visit this weekend, Long View Heights church. We usually try to find a church with a fairly large congregation and this one fit that requirement without a doubt. It was a nice large stone church with a large, black congregation. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We were just a bit surprised to be the only non-black people there. It didn’t bother me as much as it seemed to bother Mellie. After all, I’m use to being the only blond guy around in our Filipino gatherings. But we had a great time. Everyone was so welcoming and the choir was awesome. Man, they could really sing! Can I get an Amen from the congregation on that?

Graceland and the King – It was 30 years ago when Elvis passed away. We missed the big memorial “celebration” (can you call it that?) by one week. Even though he has been gone for a long time, his fans keep coming. They get $25 and up for the tour of his house, a lot more if you want the deluxe tour which includes his two jet airplanes. It was fun just the same to see and even feel the excitement of this place called Graceland.

Neeley’s Barbeque – Now this place is definitely in the running! Dry rubbed ribs with vinegar based sauce on the side, now this is getting good! We went to Neeley’s, one of Memphis’ best barbeque joints, on Saturday evening. The food was great, the service so-so and the décor mediocre but after all that’s why they call it a barbeque joint! We found this Memphis style of barbeque so enticing we ended up going out for barbeque again on Monday and again on Thursday. Three times in a week must mean something. Of the three places we visited though Neeley’s was the best.

Grand Ole Opry – Moving on down the road we found ourselves in Nashville home of the Grand Ole Opry. So we went to the Tuesday night show and had a ball! They really know how to put on a show. I guess they should since they have been doing it for over 80 years. What began as a simple radio broadcast in 1925 is today a live-entertainment phenomenon. There was a sad moment though when the legendary Little Jimmy Dickens announced that he was not feeling too well. Seems he had a sore neck but perhaps it was caused he thought when he was getting ready for the show putting on some toilet water and the lid came down and hit the back of his head! I think the highlight of the evening for me was hearing the band Little Texas sing their hit “Thank God for Texas”. Porter Wagoner and Dale Watson were great too.

The Corvette Mecca – We took a side trip up to Bowling Green Kentucky to visit the National Corvette Museum and tour the Corvette factory. I’ve never owned a corvette although it was high on my dream list when I was a kid. When the factory tour guide asked “so who owns a Corvette?” almost every hand in the group went up. I guess it was good that we discretely parked our Ford truck way in the back of the parking lot. They even have Corvette only parking spots, right next to the handicapped. I could make a remark about that but better not. I don’t want to offend any handicapped folks out there.

Road Revelation #12 – Feed your soul. Man does not live on bread alone. You have to feed not only your stomach but also your soul. That may come from experiencing an energy packed sermon backed up by a first rate choir, seeing a legend’s home like Elvis’ Graceland or participating in an American tradition called the Grand Ole Opry. We went back for seconds and even thirds this week! Can I get another Amen!

Wagons Ho!

2007-08-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

It’s the 20th of August and we are saying goodbye to Iowa. It’s been a wonderful time but we have roads to burn, places to see and barbeque awaiting. Our time in Iowa was packed with family visits, great food and celebrations. All of us Lande boys have birthdays in August so it was natural to have one big birthday celebration. That occurred on Sunday the 19th. We feasted on Norwegian delicacies such as Kumla (potato dumplings) and Lefsa (sort of the Norwegian version of tortillas) plus we had our favorite birthday cake, chocolate upside down cake. My grandma named it that. Seems the original name was Devil’s Float cake. She refused to bake anything associated with the devil and so renaming it made it ok. Oh, and yours truly baked a rhubarb pie!

We are off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of Oz!

Next stop is Kansas City, home of the famous Kansas City style of barbeque. So naturally we had to include it in the agenda. I have visited Kansas City many times on business and was well acquainted with the restaurants. I selected one of my favorites, KC Masterpiece Barbeque. This place is famous for their sauce. I’m sure you have seen it in the stores. We went early for dinner at 5 o’clock to be sure that they would have enough burnt ends. Yeah, it’s one of their specialties. They take the burnt ends from the sirloins they smoke and fix them in a special way with their famous barbeque sauce. Mellie always asks for the burnt ends of the tri tip barbeques that I do and so I was sure this would be a big hit with her. Our rating on this barbeque? Well…any barbeque is good but I think our quest must continue. We will keep it in mind though when the final scoring takes place.

Branson Missouri, “Where Values Are The Difference”

Branson has been selected as one of the top 3 vacation destination in the US for the past several years. Imagine a born again Las Vegas. No gambling, no naked dancing girls (or boys), but with all of the performance theaters, restaurants, hotels and souvenir shops. That’s Branson. It was an enjoyable diversion. For my birthday, which happened to fall in the middle of our stay, we saw a performance by The Oak Ridge Boys. It was two hours of nonstop music. They have been performing together for over 30 years and seem to enjoy themselves as much as if it was their first year. Unlike some legendary rock bands, these guys actually look like they fit the part. Don’t you just hate seeing one of your teen idols now gray and paunchy up on the stage singing the old hits? It’s so sad, but not these guys. Like I said they just looked the part.

Road Revelation #11 – Do what you love, love what you do!
If there is any secret to life it must be this. Enjoy whatever you do and do what you enjoy. Look at the Oak ridge Boys. They have been doing what they love for over 30 years and still seem to be having fun. What a blessing and you know Elvira still sounds as fresh and enjoyable as when they first put it out almost 30 years ago. Now I'm a singin' Elvira;
Elvira My heart's on fire Elvira
Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow
Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow Heigh-ho Silver, away.

Who Cut the Cheese?

2007-08-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

This week found us in Wisconsin, home of the world famous cheese. California may have “happy cows” but in Wisconsin it’s serious business. In just one cheese factory we visited they had over 50 varieties of cheese. That’s a lot of cheese to cut! Know how to tell if a cheese curd is fresh? It squeaks when you chew it. Believe me I now know the difference and only fresh cheese curds for me from now on!

Riding the Ducks – When it comes to seeing the Wisconsin Dells, nothing else will do but to ride the Ducks. I’m not talking about our feathered friends but 60 year old amphibian vehicles originally designed for use by the military during World War 2. These 7 ton rides have a top speed of 50 MPH on ground and 10 in water. The tour covers over 8 miles of fern covered dells, deep dark forests, narrow canyons and a cruise down the Wisconsin River with it’s towering sandstone cliffs. Perhaps one of the highlights of the trip was when the driver told everyone to turn around and look back at the house we had just passed. As we all craned our necks to look he explained that the house was nothing special he just wanted us to experience looking out of the rear end of a duck! What a view!

Architecture Wisconsin style – we visited a couple of famous houses while in Wisconsin. One was the “House on the Rocks”. This home is hard to describe, built by an eccentric on top of a cliff has views forever. The house is full of collections of stained glass, musical machines and antiques. The infinity room is particularly amazing, an unsupported room sticking out 218 feet, soaring 156 feet above the valley floor. In order to provide a bit of balance, we next visited the home of Frank Lloyd Wright. Taliesin is one of the most well known architecture examples in the world. The Mecca for Frank Lloyd Wright fans.

Concert on the Square in beautiful Downtown Baraboo – You know how much we enjoy evening concerts, especially free ones. So when we saw there was to be a free concert at the town square we couldn’t resist. The guest band for the evening, The Hank Thunander Band! What you have never heard of Hank Thunander? Well it’s truly amazing what one can do with an accordion. Hank together with a guitar player and drummer played a repertoire of ethnic, big band, old-time favorites and variety music for 2 hours. Without a doubt the crowd favorite was the polka medley. What else would you expect to find in Wisconsin but a guy with an accordion playing polkas. Ahh, savor the local spice!

Road Revelation #10 – STOP means stop! We were in the process of leaving the campground when our route took us through an area where the cars were parked a bit out on the street. I tried to miss them, really. Now don’t jump to conclusions, I didn’t hit anything but when Mellie said to STOP, I though the view in my mirrors seems to indicate I had enough room. The need to stop finally sunk in (supported by several campers hollering and pointing) I was about 2 inches from hitting a tree trunk with the trailer steps. Through God’s grace, a bit of backing up and three campers moving their cars we were able to safely pass without consequences. So when you hear STOP, you better!

Happiness - a Soft, Warm, DRY Bed

2007-08-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

This week found us at the ever popular, annual Lande Family campout. The campout was held at Pine Lake State Park near Eldora. Now some of you might have the impression by now that we are spending this year camping out…wrong. In fact what we do is far from it. We generally sit inside our comfy trailer, air conditioner on high, lounging in our recliners and watch TV. I like the outdoors, it’s just that either it is too hot and humid or the bugs are out.

A Modern RV’ers Confession – A couple of days before the big campout event I decided it was time we figure out how to use the awning on our trailer. As I explained to Mellie, “We better try it out now so we won’t look like idiots at the campground”. Can you believe it? Over 6 weeks on the road and we had never used the awning. Not only that but we had never even used a picnic table. At the last minute we went on a shopping quest in hopes of finding a picnic tablecloth (no luck though). In the end everything went quite well. The awning deployed without a problem and came in quite handy when it began to rain. Yeah, it rained and thundered a lot!

Food, food and more food – I guess that is what camping is all about, at least here in Iowa anyway. Over the two days we were there we had feasted on brats, homemade chili, pizza made in the camp fire, smoores, toasted marshmallows, Belgian waffles, French toast, smoked turkey and of course my famous Santa Maria style tri-tip barbeque.

Urban Camper to the Rescue - As I mentioned we had some rain over the weekend. By Saturday night it was pouring down. I made a casual comment “if anyone wants to they could stay in our trailer. We have a spare bed after all”. Next thing I knew, I had six takers on the offer. It was fun though. We had beds made out wall to wall and the snoring was not even that bad. At least I didn’t hear any complaints.

Road Revelation #9 – Be prepared to share with fellow campers – We find that in every camp ground we stay at there are many friendly folks. It’s one of the benefits of this trip, to meet and visit with interesting people. It’s so rewarding to share. Maybe it’s just a story or extra sweet corn or a dry place to spend the night. Sharing is the essence of being a Good Camper.

Pass The Gravy

2007-07-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

This is meat and potatoes country. Oh and don’t forget the sweet corn! It seems that we spend our time eating while planning what and where we will eat the next meal. We have sampled sweet corn from four different counties (so far). Everyone claims to have the best so we are compelled to try it and see for ourselves. Some more of my favorites; MaidRites (ground beef sandwiches), rhubarb pie, and fresh green beans right out of the garden.

Little Wall Lake - On a beautiful Sunday afternoon we went to Little Wall lake and had a picnic. This lake is about 3 miles from where I grew up. so memories of fishing, swimming and doing boy things ran through my memory that day. It was so nice and restful to just sit and wait for the sun to set.

Amana Colonies – This past week we took a side trip to southern Iowa and the Amana Colonies. Over 150 years ago a group of German immigrants established a communal settlement on 26,000 acres of land in the Iowa river valley. They founded seven villages and called their new home Amana. The name Amana was taken from the song of Solomon 4:8 and means “to remain true”. They farmed the land, established woolen mills, bakeries, meat shops, furniture shops and other businesses to provide their needs. Today, these businesses continue to thrive. Most are located in historical structures that are part of the National Historical Landmark called Amanas.

While in the Amanas, we toured the woolen mill, watched the craftsmen create beautiful handmade furniture out of walnut and cherry woods at the furniture factory and of course fattened up on some of the best German food this side of the Mississippi. The restaurants serve up huge portions “family style”. You want more? Just ask for a refill and another huge bowl of food will be served. I had to agree with a neighbor camper who exclaimed that he had to leave Amana “because there’s just too much good food to be had”.

National Balloon Festival, Indianola Iowa - We attended, or at least attempted to attend, the annual balloom festival in Indianola. When I say we attempted well we were about a half hour late from missing lift off. There were over 100 balloons and seeing them all up floating over the Iowa countryside was an impressive site to be sure. We ended up chasing them along with several hundred other crazy balloon enthusiasts. I guess I keep forgetting that things run on time here in Iowa, no Filipino time here.

Road Revelation #8 – Make sure to operate in local time. Not only is it important to adjust your clocks to the local time but to also consider the local customs and traditions. Around here in Iowa, if you snooze you lose.

Making Hay

2007-07-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

Having had enough (for now) of Canada, it was time to head south for the good old USA. We crossed the border at Pembina just west of Minnesota in North Dakota. Passing through US Customs was a bit more difficult than the Canadian counterpart. Where it took us only 30 seconds to pass into Canada, it took around 20 minutes for the US inspection. We had a small problem with the agriculture inspector. She decided to take my lemons I had brought from our tree in San Diego. I told her I understood and it was ok, but she seemed to need to provide an explanation. She explained that it was really California’s fault. Oh well. I talked with a guy from Texas and it took him over 2 hours to clear. Seems they were sure they would find guns or ammo somewhere in his trailer. California, fruits and vegetables. Texas, guns and ammo, go figure.

Iowa, You Make Me Laugh – Well to be honest, the slogan is (or was, I guess they changed it for some reason) ”Iowa, you make me smile”. Iowa is my home or at least it was for the first 20 years of my life. Most of my family still lives here and we are enjoying see everyone. We are camped at Whispering Oaks RV park in Story City which is pretty much in the center of the state. It’s less than 2 miles to my Moms place so it’s quite convenient.

In Memory of Raymond Sellers – Ray was my step-dad for the past 20 years. When we arrived here in Iowa on Thursday July 12th, he had been admitted into a hospice house. He passed away on Sunday afternoon with most of his family around him. Having no kids from his first marriage, he always called us his “ready made family”. He was 90 years old, led a full life and was ready to meet his Lord.

Summer Evening in the Park – One of my fondest memories of growing up here in Iowa is enjoying the band concerts in the park on a warm summer evening. Last night I had the opportunity to show Mellie what Iowa is all about; a free concert in the park with the band playing John Phillip Sousa and other favorites. Not only was the concert free but they had free ice cream and cookies as well. But there’s more to it than just that. Imagine it was over 95 degrees with super high humidity for the past week. The night before it rained buckets. On the night of the concert the weather was perfect, 80 degrees and no wind. So people came from everywhere to enjoy and take advantage of this rare summer evening. They may not have the perfect weather of Southern California very often but they know how to enjoy it when they do.

Road Revelation #7 – Make hay when the sun shines. My Dad use to always say that. As a young kid I merely took it literally and thought it was rather obvious, you sure can’t bale hay when it’s raining. But now I see what he really meant. Enjoy life’s moments as they come, don’t waste an opportunity to relish in a beautiful day. Take in that free concert in the park and make hay when the sun shines.

Prairie Schooner eh?

2007-07-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

We continued our travels through Canada leaving the beautiful Canadian Rockies behind us with the vast prairie lands ahead. As the driver in this expedition, I for one was rather relieved. No more mountains to climb, just nice flat wide roads that gently merge into a point at the horizon. I guess it was appropriate that the nice older man we met at a rest stop made the comment looking at our rig “Nice prairie schooner eh.” It really did feel like we were floating along in a vast sea of green and yellow. Yeah, yellow. That’s the color of the canola fields in bloom. Very pretty indeed.

Moose Jaw – No I’m not talking about some left over road kill. Moose Jaw is a nice quiet town in lower Saskatchewan on Canadian highway #1. We pulled into the Prairie Oasis RV park for the night. Besides the Casino Moose Jaw about the only other thing to see in town was Al Capone’s hideout. Seems at some point in his criminal career, Capone hid out here in Moose Jaw. There are actual tunnels that he used and these have been preserved as a tourist attraction. I might be stretching the definition of attraction but one sure could not call them “a historic site” eh? Guess we will never know for sure, we passed on seeing it opting to watch “Canadian Idol” on TV instead. No comments on Canadian singing talent. Sorry, my many Canadian friends and family would not be happy.

Winnipeg Manitoba – On our second day of sailing though the Canadian prairie we dropped anchor in a nice RV park just south of Winnipeg. Arrowhead RV park is actually in the town of Ile des Chenes (don’t ask me how to pronounce it, I could barely understand the instructions given by the camp manager, it was all French to me). But to be truthful, the biggest attraction to this place was they were members of Camp Club USA. What that means is we get a 50% discount, yeah! Time for another unscheduled stop. We decided to take a day off and tour Winnipeg. Near the center of town is the forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. This has been a traditional meeting place for centuries. Aboriginal peoples, fur trade rivals, settlers, merchants, politicians, immigrants and now Lande’s have congregated in the famous Forks National Historic site of Manitoba Canada. There are beautiful sculpture gardens, flower beds, river walks and lots of interesting shops to see. If you cross the foot bridge, Esplande Riel, you enter the French quarter of Winnipeg. More shops and restaurants to see.

Barbeque Quest – One of the activities we have added to our trip is a quest to find the best barbeque. When I saw the restaurant, Muddy Waters Barbeque, I though I had to give it the test. This way we can truly say we have looked for the best barbeque in all of North America not just in the US. They claimed to have Texan style slow cooked barbeque. The barbeque was ok (I was hungry) but having enjoyed real Texas barbeque and knowing the difference, I would be generous to give them a 3 on the 1 to 10 international barbeque scale. Sorry Canada it does not look like you will win the “best barbeque in North America” title.

Road revelation #6 – Be cautious of asking simple questions of talkative French guys. I made the mistake of asking the manager of the RV park “so what’s to see in Winnipeg?”. He went into a 20 minute lecture with maps, brochures, and personal accounts of several places not to miss (he even included his favorite grocery store and Home Depot location). I guess it would have been useful if I was able to understand him. I could not quite decide if he was talking French or English. But the maps were helpful anyway.

Oh Canada!

2007-07-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

We drove the infamous Canada highway 1 from Vancouver to Lacombe (a small town north of Calgary) for our next “scheduled stop”. Lacombe is home to CUC (Canadian University College) and our niece Myla. So we have a number of friends in the area and enjoyed seeing everyone while there for the weekend.

Revelstoke British Columbia – The drive took two days so we pulled into a KOA campground Thursday evening in Revelstoke. Never mind the weird name, this place is beautiful! I have always been awed by the Rockies but when you see the Canadian Rockies you begin to realize that the US may not be the only place with purple mountain majesty. These mountains are like the Colorado Rockies on steroids. It probably didn’t hurt that we just happened to go through the area on beautiful hot sunny day.

Banff and Lake Louise – We didn’t spend much time here although it deserved much more attention. We were anxious to see our niece and friends so we only stopped for a few pictures and fuel. That’s when I almost got into real trouble. (see road revelation 5). As the amount of miles to empty approached less than 20, we began to panic. I could not find a gas station with Diesel. We came up on the Banff exit and I decided I had to try there. We have been to Banff before and I should have known better but when you are in a panic mode well I guess the thought process starts to slip a bit. Banff is a small ski town with small confusing streets. So here we are with our big rig cruising the town looking for diesel. When I finally saw a diesel pump at a station I just told Mellie “we’re going in!” She kinda groaned “Noooo” but it was too late. I didn’t hit anything. It was just that once at the pump I could easily see that there was no way to drive on through. Oh well, I filled up and then told Mellie to stand in the street to stop the traffic as I backed out of the station. What a trooper! Everyone was polite and did not get mad but we decided to leave town immediately anyway.

Note the clouds look much worse that it was, we only got a small amount of rain.

Road Revelation #5 – Don’t pass up the opportunity to top off your tank. When we were at around a half tank I passed several excellent truck stops. It would have been easy to slip in, top off and be on our way but no I wanted to go further on before bothering. I didn’t realize what real “bother” lay ahead.

Sleepless in Seattle

2007-07-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

Seattle - After our brief stay in Oregon we moved on to Seattle Washington. It was the second of July and Seattle seemed like a nice place to rest for a few days and wait out the up coming holiday. After all, there’s no sense in getting into the holiday traffic if you don’t need to. Now mind you our goal is to avoid, at all cost, crowds and hassles (more on this in a moment).

You remember how I mentioned the overcast weather we found in Oregon? Well when we arrived in Seattle they are in the middle of the hottest, sunniest July on record. Nothing but clear blue skies and 80 to 90 degree weather. The weather is so unusual that I swear you would see people just standing outside, mouth agape staring up at the sky. If they were a bunch of turkeys and it started to rain they would drown. Naw, these guys understand rain, they would run for cover at the nearest Starbucks.

On the third of July we decided to visit the famous Pikes Market in downtown Seattle. Wow what a treat. There was so much to see and do. Piles of fresh fruits, vegetable and beautiful cut flowers for sale for as far as the eye could see. And the famous fish market where they throw fish to the amazement of the crowd was not a disappointment. Every corner seemed to have another street musician playing funky music. The atmosphere was electric.

One of our quests is to try local foods as we travel so we purchased several items at the market. We selected fresh Copper River Sockeye Salmon filet (expensive but oh so good!) from the famous Pikes Fish market. But since it was a filet instead of a whole fish they didn’t throw it for us, oh well. Then we got a few vegetable and some fruit. Fresh cherries and peaches were my choices. Back at the trailer, I selected one of the peaches to fix for a little snack and on the bottom of the peach there’s a sticker, “California grown”! Oh well, it was good anyway.

So by now you are wondering what fun, exciting Fourth of July celebration did we attend in beautiful Seattle with record breaking sunny weather. Well, we didn’t. Oh there were many to pick from with one of the largest drawing over 400 thousand. Nope we opted instead to head into Vancouver BC. Now don’t think us unpatriotic we just wanted to see Vancouver before we had to move on and well there’s that crowd thing. We were in Canada for only a few miles when the traffic began to slow. Then it began to stop. We got caught in one of the worst traffic jams in I think Vancouver’s history! Seems a big rig had crashed on one of the bridges, caught fire and the whole freeway was shut down for several hours. A couple of hours later (it seemed a lot longer than that) we made it to the next exit, we took our chance and turned around heading back to Seattle without seeing anything of Vancouver.

Back at camp we barbequed a nice tri-tip roast and had a wonderful meal. Ah, life is good. It had been a hot, stressful day so it was so nice to just relax after having a wonderful meal and turn in for a good night’s sleep. It was about that time when the war broke out. At least that’s what it seemed like. Fireworks were going off all around. They are legal here and it seemed everyone had tons to blow up. Wow how exciting. We could see explosions in any direction. But having seen fireworks many times before I am not all that impressed. I just want to go to bed. The explosions continued however for literally hours. I think I finally fell asleep out of exhaustion around 2 AM. Sleepless in Seattle!

Road Revelation #4 – All is not what it appears to be, look closely.
When buying local produce, be the one to make the selections rather than the helpful clerk behind the counter. You may not get what you think it is if you don’t.

On The Road Again

2007-07-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yep! We made it! The house is sold, the money is in the bank and we are officially on our Great Escape. Thursday June 28 we pulled out of the “Casa Chocolat” driveway for the last time, not exactly bright and early but closer to 11:00 to be truthful. I had hoped to leave by 9 with the plan to be rolling even earlier but I must admit it was a little hard to leave. Enough, no looking back now (well except to be sure the trailer is still there once in awhile). No this is not Mellie's new ride

Note the custom logos on hat and shirt, cool huh!

Lodi and the Sacramento River Delta

– Our first night found us in Lodi California. Thanks to our late start we did not pull into the RV park until after 9 pm. Consequently we quickly decided that this would be a nice place to stay for a couple of days. After all, there’s no rush anymore. Lodi is a nice quiet farming town with lots of fruit trees and vineyards. We attended church and unexpectedly ran into some acquaintances. So we were invited to their house for lunch and had a wonderful time reminiscing and catching up. I guess it points out the fact that we have not traveled far enough to get outside of our circle of friends. When this trip is completed that circle will cover all of the US I guess.

Sutherlin Oregon – Sunday we continued our trek northward. Not far from the California state line as we drove into Oregon the all to familiar clear blue skies transformed into a white overcast. It’s ok, we will get use to it. San Diegans are so spoiled with almost perfect weather.

Road Revelation #3 – Slow Down! I found I needed to remind myself what the whole purpose of this trip was, to SLOW DOWN. After a very hectic 3 week escrow we found that we were stuck in high gear. So when we arrived in Lodi late in the evening it was a pleasant revelation to just decide to stop for a couple of days. So those of you ahead on our agenda be warned, this rig makes frequent and unscheduled stops. We may be late. No let me rephrase that, we will be there in our time.

We're Still Here

2007-06-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so being “self employed' can have it down sides as well. You would think that vacations would get automatic approvals. Believe me we have tried to get out of San Diego and on to our great adventure but selling our house is our number one job right now and it is taking precedence. The good news is that we are again in escrow and will be finished by the 28th of June. This time I think it will go through without a hitch. But to be sure we have decided to stay close and make sure everything is done in a timely fashion.

So as not to get bored, we are off this weekend on a small trip up to Sacramento area to visit family and friends. I like to call it a “trip-ette”. We will be back in San Diego Monday or Tuesday and begin the final house packing. So stay tuned, trust me we will be leaving soon.

Shake Down Run Completed

2007-05-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

We completed our shake down run and actually everything went quite well. There were no major mishaps, all systems performed as desired and we arrived home safely on schedule. The truck did a great job pulling our 12,000 pound house over 1000 miles and averaged around 12 mpg. We traveled from sea level to over 6000 feet in elevation (several time it seemed as we went up and then down again). I am very happy that I was convinced to get the diesel instead of a gas engine (thanks Rob).

Sedona – One of our side trips from the Grand Canyon Railway Park was to Sedona. I have always heard great things about Sedona and to be sure it is very beautiful. But I must be honest, I was not all that impressed. It feels too much like Beverly Hills gone camping. Beautiful canyon wall vistas with strip malls in the foreground. The stores are a combination of art galleries with stratospheric prices and cheap souvenir shops. Traffic was mostly bumper to bumper but that just added to the thrill of the “hunt” for some place to park.

Las Vegas & Hoover Dam – Our second stop was at the Oasis RV Park in beautiful Las Vegas Nevada. I’ve always enjoyed my visits to Las Vegas in the past but this time I just don’t know why but it seemed a bit artificial…(note tongue in cheek). We don’t gamble and find about the most interesting diversion to be the buffet line. I guess everyone has to have one type of vise or another. My idea of taking in one of the shows kinda soured when we found that even at the ½ price ticket store the cost was going to be $118.50 for two tickets. I thought geeze that could buy a tank of fuel for the truck! So instead for $20 we bought a DVD, Dream Girls, and went home to our trailer to watch our show. I don’t care call me cheap but it was a good movie and so nice to just kick back in the luxury of our own living room.

Hoover Dam was an interesting site to see. No, I’m not going to stoop for the usual dam jokes. We took the dam tour but didn’t buy any dam souvenirs in the dam souvenir shop. Ok enough. Remember the scene with Chevy Chase in Las Vegas Vacation where he slides down the side of the dam? Well, I didn’t try it but could just imagine him doing it. He’s one of my heroes.

Road Revelations #2: When driving down the highway, pay attention to unusual beeps. We were half way to Las Vegas when we crossed a rather bumpy bridge. It was then that I heard the shrill beeping sound for around 5 seconds. We looked at each other both wondering what in the heck was that sound. We quickly discounted it and continued on with our conversation. 4 or 5 minutes later I looked down at where the truck displays the mileage and here it was flashing “TRAILER DISCONNECTED”. “Oh Lord, restart my heart” I prayed. A quick look in the rear view mirror confirmed that the trailer was in fact still there. Seems that the electrical plug between the truck and the trailer had disconnected. I swear I could hear the truck laughing and saying “ha ha made you look!”

Chicken Little Was Wrong

2007-05-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

There’s no doubt in my mind that the sky is definitely not falling, but there is one heck of a crack in the ground! (more on this observation in a moment).

As you may have guessed we pulled out the wheel blocks and hit the road, 7 AM this past Thursday the 17th of May to be exact. But before we get too excited, this is only a test run. Some call it a shake down run but whatever you call it we are having a blast. We plan to be back to home base (San Diego) by next Thursday. We will then assess the “test”, make necessary adjustments, take on fresh supplies, attend to some last minutes boring house details and head out on the “great escape” for real.

Friday 18th of May – We are camped at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park in Williams Arizona. I highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to visit the Grand Canyon. (see: www.thetrain.com ) The park has everything you might need (including a four star hotel for those that don’t haul their own room around), it’s almost brand new and very convenient. 8:30 am we headed over to the train depot to pick up our tickets and browse the shops. Near the depot is an old west town and wouldn’t you know it some of the locals got into it and ended up shooting one of the ugly ones. After the dust settled we boarded the train, destination the south rim of the Grand Canyon. The train is a completely authentic restoration of a 1907 steam engine and Pullman cars. The trip to the rim took around one and a half hours but the time went quickly as the staff provided jokes and performed with various musical instruments.

Now back to that crack in the ground. No picture can do this place justice. You just can’t capture the essence of the canyon without seeing it in person. Walking up to one of the lookouts and leaning on the sturdy railing provided just look down, a mile to the bottom. Human nature being as it is, there’s a natural reflex to pucker up the ole behind. I always wondered why that was until this experience when the pucker intensity seemed strong enough to pull a Buick off of the parking lot behind. Oh I see, it’s a survival reflex.

Road revelations: (these will be lessons we have learned along the way). 1. guys, don’t wear shorts that are too short! It just ain’t pretty. Never mind the blinding white legs or knobby knees, it’s the view afforded when you sit down and, as guys do, forget to keep there legs together. I’m not going to describe this horrible picture any more, let your imagination do the rest.

Here today, gone tomorrow...

2007-05-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I wish. Of the few plans we have made for our epic journy the one that seemed most likely and necessary, was the day we would hit the road. That is/ was/ could still be the 14th of May. God give me patience! I want to begin now but there is still business to attend to here at home. The sale on our house was to close on the 10th. That is looking not likely since the buyer has had loan problems. So we are pursuing our backup buyer. It's always something!

Daughter number one threw us a curve a couple of weeks ago that affected our plans as well. She announced that she was going to get married. How wonderful we thought, but when? "Oh, next wednesday at 10:30, can you make it?" well yeah but Wednesday? "We thought it best so that the baby can be covered under his insurance". Oh well of course... what a baby? Oh geeze (or something like that was said). The baby is due first week of November so we will have to cut our time in Florida and Texas short I think.

Just point me to the highway, pull out the wheel blocks and let me loose!!!