Loving It - In Oklahoma City

So we find ourselves, once again, enjoying Oklahoma City.  This is the fourth time we have set up camp in OKC and enjoy it more every time.  We enjoy visiting with friends here but beyond that this area seems to have just enough “red neck” to make us feel welcome but not enough to make you uncomfortable.  They just passed some kind of a new law that allows, those properly licenced, to carry their gun on their hip, just like in the good old days.  We didn’t see anyone carrying a side arm but apparently it’s now legal here.  Like I said “just enough” redneck makes one feel welcome.

Remember five days ago we were in Manitoba and 15 (F) degrees.  Here in Norman OK yesterday it was in the 80’s and today in the 70's.  It sucks to have to adjust to the heat but we’ll persevere.  Looking at the Weather Network, Pharr Texas is in the high 80’s to 90’s so we have some more adjusting to do.  I’ll take it.

Today we went out to a fabulous car show.  There was a really nice collection of cars there and even one “BIG” truck.  Now, we all know Bernie’s not very tall but this picture clearly shows this is a “tall” truck.  Yes – the owner does drive it on the street, and it is street legal here.   Just enough redneck, I love it. 

 Bernie and the street legal pick up

 

 

I took these goofy pictures for you Ed (my brother.)  These were both spectacular Galaxy 500’s, 63's I think.  They had your name on them, for sure.

A fabulous 55 Crown Victoria

So tomorrow we pack up and Monday head off South for a while.  We have no particular goal in mind, just working our way South to Pharr and our winter hangout.  We have a place just North of San Antonio we really enjoy so we might hang out there for a few days.  A decision we’ll have to make when we get there.  The RV Park is really nice and we like to go to a small place outside of New Braunfels, called Groene, for lunch.  Time will tell, we’re going to decide on the road.  I tend to want to drive, 6 hrs, 8, 10, 12, who cares, let’s get er done.  But I know that’s not what we’re supposed to be doing out here and Bernie keeps me on track.  Slows me down when she can.

So that’s it for tonight.  Next update will be from someplace South of here, and N or Pharr but where????????  We’ll see.

Thanks for stopping by, please say hi when you can.

Neal and Bernie

Time To Head For Someplace Warm

It's ging to be -9C (15F) tonight and that's cold enough for us.  Time to be "on the road again," Texas - here we come.

The park's almost empty, most of our freinds left a couple of weeks ago, work is finished for the year, the forecast is for some snow, and despite my Nov. 1st goal, we're headed out in the morning.  The park has had to shut off the water becuase everything is frozen - so - Mother Nature Wins - Neal looses.

There aren't many of us left here.

The temps, all the way through the Dakota's look fairly cold so it might be a rather fast trip for the first couple of days.  Bernie's maxed out at about 10 hours.  At 10 hrs I'm just nicely warmed up and ready to rock.  Hmmm - this could be interesting..... 

We loaded up Smartie, and hooked up the rv today.  We even considered a few hours on the road tonight but decided it was wiser to get an early start and be safe.

All loaded, hitched up, and ready to go in the morning.  I know - I know -  the Freightliner is embarrassingly dirty but I got caught up in a snow storm a few days ago and it's too cold to wash her.

 

We'll spend a few days with freinds in Oklahoma city, where the forecast is for some nice warm days.  Our routine in OC is a lunch or dinner at Toby Keith's "I love this bar" and to catch some r&r before the drive to S. Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.  We have come to really enjoy our time there each year.  Thanks to our freinds we have found a nice place to stay and have uncovered all the services we need, and a place to wash the truck.

So I'll post more from the road.  I have no idea what I can say about 3 days on I29 South, but we'll try.

Stay well, be happy, thanks for stopping by, and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie

THE END OF A PRAIRIE SUMMER

So What Do You Do With A Manitoba Summer? 

Manitoba is known to have some of the best summer weather on the continent.  We’re hot, but not too hot, we get some rain, but not too much rain, we get some bugs, "big bugs," but not too many (most of the time,) we have 10,000 fresh water lakes to enjoy, we have world class fresh water fishing, we have summer festivals everywhere, there are a couple of internationally recognized music events, and the list goes on and on.

When we’re in S. Texas every winter the decision is always – what do we want to do?  There is never enough time to do it all so, like everyone else, we have to make decisions on what we want to do.  This summer in Manitoba has been just the same.  There wasn’t enough time to do all of things we would want.

This summer was complicated somewhat because I decided to work on my bucket list and spent the summer driving big rigs.  It has been, and still is, a ton of fun.  I spent the spring months driving a water hauler for a local contractor and since July I have been driving for a local farmer.  He had over 14000 acres to harvest which kept me and a few other drivers, “off our feet busy.”  At one point we had 5 combines and 8 semis in the field.  The trucks couldn’t keep ahead of it but we had a really good time trying.  For any, non-agricultural person, reading this please just accept it as “HUGE, really, really, HUGE.”   After we finished the cereal crops it was straight into beans and now we’re finally intro the last 1500 acres which is corn.  We’re had some bad weather and are on hold for a few days.  We should, weather permitting, wrap it up next week.  I’ll be sorry to see it wind down.  Even though there have been lots of 12, 14, and even 16 hr. days, it’s been allot of fun.

For and old Saskatchewan farm boy this has just been a blast.  Things have changed a lot.  When I left the farm in the early 1960’s we could till about 50 acres, or a bit more, in a long day.  He had me on a machine this summer that did 50 acres an hour.   Yes – things have changed.

Bernie has had a nice summer as well.  She spent some time at home, which she enjoys, she spent a few weekends at Falcon Lake with daughter Leslie, John, and their girls, she had a nice week in Vancouver with daughter Colleen, Tim, and their family, and she spent tons of hours at the gym with her friends.  As usual she took great care of her “old fart” husband, which all by itself is a huge undertaking.

 

Bernie finding a few minutes for some sun and a good book

Adios Amigo, my good friend.

I had to say goodbye to very dear friend this summer.  He was one of the best friends I have ever had and I miss him tons.  Thom and I, along with others, spent many thousands of miles riding our motorcycles to far off places like Mexico, New Orleans, and almost every road “worth riding” in Western North America.  Although we didn’t see much of each other since Bernie and I left Vancouver, he was one of those friends that was just “there” and I knew it.  I can only hope he knew it as well. 

 From the left, yours truly, Thom Sprague (and his Blackbird), Ron, and Glenn leaving for Mexico in 2002

To remember, reminisce, and mourn the loss of our friend many of our motorcycle friends got together for the Thom Sprague, Memorial Ride.   Sons Brady, Rob and I rode from Manitoba to Washington State to meet up with the rest of the guys.  It was about 4500 kms but well worth the effort.  Ron rode Thom’s bike for the trip which was really good for all of us.  I spent thousands of miles listening to Thom’s “Blackbird” (motorcycle) growling though the miles and loved HEARING it again.  I always told him his sounded like it was angry all the time.  It sounded even angrier on this trip.  Maybe it was missing Thom as well.

 Rob, Brady, and I in Glacier National Park

This is the whole gang of us in the Canadian Rockies, gathered around Thom’s bike, missing our friend.  RIP THOM, WE WON’T FORGET.

It’s getting cold here and our thoughts are turning to South Texas and our friends there.  Last night we had mid 20’s F. (-6 C) and we’ve had two days of snow and wind.  Looks like we’ll likely head South around the first of Nov. unless the weather gets really bad and we decide to bail out sooner.

This year, since we’re leaving later, we plan to head straight South until the weather warms up a bit and then see what happens.  We want to make a stop near Kansas City to see a 5^th wheel I’ve had my eye on for a while.  We plan to stop in Oklahoma City for a few days to visit friends and after that follow the road wherever it may go until we end up at Tropic Star in Pharr, Texas.

More soon, thanks for stopping by.

 Neal and Bernie

Big Green Water Machine

Greetings from Sunny Manitoba.

Since our province (state) requires us to be here for at least six months each year I have to find something to do.  Sitting still for six months is NOT an option. 

Last year I set up and ran the pressure washing venture which was fun and made us a bit of dough.  Through that I met a fellow that has an agricultural spraying company, providing a custom spraying service for the local farmers.  The products include fertilizers, pesticide's, fungicides, insecticides and more.

When I met him, last summer, he asked if I'd be interested in driving his truck.  The sprayer goes through a whole bunch of water and he needs thousands of gallons at the edge of the field every day.  Since driving these things was on my bucket list I said yes and here I am driving the "Big Green Water Machine."  Obviously I made up the name and he'll likely make me delete this if he ever reads it.

Permit me to introduce you to the Kenworth I'm spending my summer with.  I just love loading her up with about 6000 gallons of water, a couple of thousand pounds of chemicals, and heading down the road.  The Cummins diesel and 13 speeds just hum along, working hard and loving the challenge.  Me to.

The Big Green Water Machine

She's got a few miles on her - but - so do I.

So we deliver the water and chemical to the edge of the field and his sprayer lays it out there.  I was born and raised on a farm but this kind of equipment wasn't even dreamt of back then. 

It's huge

100 feet of boom

So that's how I am keeping myself out of trouble for the summer. 

Bernie and I have been having tons of fun with our kids and grandchildren spending as much time with them as we can.  Sometimes we think they probably wish we'd just go back South - no such luck - they're stuck with us for the summer.  Seriously though, they are very generous with us and we enjoy every minute of it.

With a lot of pride I can tell you that Brady, my youngest, graduated last month with his B. Comm. from U of Man. (Asper).  Having your youngest graduate, now that tells you how time flies.  He was a baby just yesterday.

Brady, yours truly, daughter Amber

Bernie keeps busy with her friends at the gym a few times a week.  By the time we both get home from our respective days activities it's time for some rest.  So ends another day, and on that note so ends this post.

Thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie

Back to the Prairies, Warm and Sunny

All good things have to end and so did our travels for this winter.

After a great month with daughter Colleen (Tim,) their family, and many old freinds we headed out of BC at the middle of April. 

The month in B.C. couldn't have been better.  We'll leave rain and cold out of the discussion to concentrate on family and freinds.  We got to see freinds we haven't seen in far too long, spend time with family we see far too infrequently.  It was fun to look at our places of work, our old homes and have another look at Vancouver.

We were thrilled to get to see Brendan (Grandson) play in two hockey tournaments and to spend a whole bunch of time with him and his sisters.  We even got to babysit which is always a thrill for grandma and granpa.

We got to spend some time with some of our old freinds and motorcycle buds although time just didn't allow us to link up with many of them.  Maybe next year.

So off we went, headed for Calgary.  As we travelled through the majestic Canadian Rocky Mountains Bernie and I talked about how despite 8/9000 miles, 15 states, and 3 provinces, there is nothing we saw that has the splendor of our own Rocky Mountains. Pictures can never tell the whole story but these will give you an idea.
.

That snow is still more than 13' and it's been melting a bit

 Yes it's still snowing up here, our RV has never been this dirty

So we made it safely through the Rockies and pulled into an RV park just N. of Calgary.  They had the elecricity hooked up but the water lines and drain lines were still frozen.  It made for an interesting week in the cold and rain but we survived.  If it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger - well a week in that park certainly makes you stronger.  I won't mention the park name here but if you're interested send me an email and I'd be happy to share it.

Daughter Amber and husband Dallas treated us royally for a week of food and fun.  Sister Jan and husband Mel did the same.  Thanks to them we left Calgary fat and happy on our way to Regina for a couple of days with Brother Rick and his wife Norma.  Again we were treated like royalty and added yet another month of dieting to our itinerary.  I think we'll be on a diet all the way to our leave date at the end of Oct.

So we're back in Manitoba for the summer.  The weather is wonderful, the sun is shining and the fields are green. 

It was huge fun to get back to the Manitoba kids and the grandchildren.  They are all doing very well and the kids all grew about 6 inches.  Boy they change fast when you're away for awhile.  We hope to see lots of them over the summer.

Bernie is back to her gym, three times and week and loves to renew her freindships down there.  She's been a regular at that gym, with that trainer, for 7 years now and has some good freinds she loves dearly.  Her routine would have me dead and buried in about an hour.  She's at it three times a week plus a vigorous "off days" plan.  Amazing.

Yours truly, well since I can't sit still, I found a guy looking for a driver and I'm having a blast driving his water truck.  He has a custom crop spraying company that requires a lot of water at the edge of the field.  That's where I come in with up to 6000 gallons of water in three tanks on a 48' step deck trailer.  The truck is an older Kenworth with a Cummins engine and a 13 speed tranny.  Just a hoot to drive the old girl and it keeps my skills sharp for fall.

So thats about all we have for now.

As usual thanks for stoppping by and please leave a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie

Arizona to California and North to B.C.

Now that's a long drive...............

As usual our guardian angel sat in the truck with us and got us safely through an interesting (to say the least) ride from Mesa West and North.  This morning we're having coffee at a very nice resort called Eagle Wind here in  Aldergrove B.C.   http://eaglewindrv.ca/photo-gallery 

And did I mention it's snowing?  Yes it is.........

Our first day out was uneventful except for a killer headwind.  We normally get about 8.5 mpg when we're towing but I think we likely got about 5 on that leg of the trip.  :-(   By carefully planning our fuel stops the most we had to pay was $4.13 but we saw it posted as high as $4.79 in parts of California.  We had filled up in Arizona so we avoided buying any diesel in CA.

First stop was at a place called Quartzsite Arizona.  This was something I was really looking forward to.  One of the RV organizations we belong to is called Escapees http://www.escapees.com  where I spend far too much time on the forum seeing what others are up to.  Quartzsite is a small town on the Arizona California border where people spend days/weeks or more camped in their RVs in the open desert.  Many have solar panels, others have generators, others just use a bonfire.  Trucks come out from town to bring you water and pump out your waste tanks.  It was fun to see but we quickly decided we'd stick to RV parks.  We spent the night just West of Palm Springs in Banning California.

 Quartzsite isn't a very big place

Out in the desert - no services.

There are RV's out there. 

From Quartzsite we were both looking forward to seeing the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area although we didn't have plans to stop or stay.  Neither of us had ever been there so all of our opinions were based on what others have told us and what we had learned from the movie theatre.  You could say we were anxious to see what all the fuss was about.  Now - I know one can't make decisions based on what they see from the freeway but about all we saw driving through there was the biggest wind farm I've ever seen.  Imagine the Bob Hope Boulevard sign framed by windmills.  I guess we'll have to go back but I certainly don't feel any particular urgency to do so.

Now the fun began.  We were travelling on I-10 West and wanted to connect to Hwy I-215 Northand then on to I-210 West to go across the top of Los Angeles through San Bernadino, Pasadena, and Burbank so we could catch I-5 North to B.C.  Well that's just what we did, no mistakes, no wrong roads, perfect drive, EXCEPT nobody told me how bad California roads are.  I thought we had some bad roads back home in Manitoba but they're smooth as glass when compared to this.

California has a law that requires all vehicles towing something, anything, including the heavy duty trucks, to use the right lane only and at 55 mph.  The result is unbelievable congestion in the right lane and all those heavy trucks have beat the right lane all to _____.  Sorry to be so blunt but it's the truth.  It's was brutal to have to tow our rig almost 1000 miles on roads this rough.  We talked to one fellow, from California, who said he was ashamed of the roads in his state.  I understand his opinion.  Our other option was to go further East which meant we had to deal with higher elevations, snow, and ice.  Note to self (again) "don't go North until you can stay East of California."

So now that I have that off my chest back to the trip.

We were now coming North out of L.A. and into the hills patting ourselves on the back for surviving the madness unscathed.  We stopped for our daily (when travelling) cup of coffee from McDonald's and "life was good."  Oops, oh no, we didn't know about the Tejon pass.  I still had half of cup of java when I started having to downshift hard and fast.  We were into a serious climb, some places at a rate of 6%.  This chunk of I-5 goes climbs from L.A., and close to sea level, to 4144 feet at the top.  We were down to 20 mph in places and at that I was passing semi's most of the way.  If you're Canadian this road reminded us of a super size Coquihalla Highway in B.C.  It's a road built on top of the mountains with dramatic climbs and descents.  If you interested this 10 minute video takes you through the whole road.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrSGw7Mosic  It was fun and we're really glad to have had the opportunity to drive it.

After the Tejon pass and descending "The Grapevine" we were into hundreds and hundreds of miles of agricultural heaven.  There was a big sign at one point that said "California feeds America."  That probably is an exaggeration but they sure do grow allot of stuff down there.  Many of the trees were blooming as we drove through and in places it was a sea of white or mauve, and always mixed with that beautiful green.

A few oranges on their way to ?

Trees in bloom

Mile after mile of perfectly trimmed orchards

We knew we were headed into some tough weather so we decided to spend an extra day in Red Bluff CA, at the Durango RV Resort.  The sun was shining, and a day off is never a "bad" thing. www.durangorvresorts.com/  If you find yourself in the I-5 on N. California this is a place we would highly recommend.  The place is very nice but the staff are fantastic.  They did everything they could to make our two days there a pleasant experience.

That was the end of our nice weather, from here to Vancouver it was wet, extremely windy, and thankfully, uneventful.  Beautiful country and much better roads.

Snowing in Weed California

We did get above the snow line for awhile but it wasn't snowing at the time :-)

From there we were into Oregon, Washington, and the Canadian border.  The Canada Customs officer was really good to us.  He asked a few questions and let us go without any search at all making it one of our best crossings ever.

If you follow this blog you may remember we stalled at the border last year.  It took seven hours and a bunch of aggravation to get out of there.  When our truck started this time Bernie and I were VERY relieved.

So we're here in B.C. looking forward to a month with our family and visiting some friends we haven't seen in far too long.

Thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie

A week in Mesa

Like all good things our week in the Phoenix area is winding down.  We now understand why so many snow birds spend their time here instead of further South in the Rio Grande Valley.  Like them, we have really enjoyed it here.

After leaving the Tucson area we headed North and found a great place to overnight in Casa Grande at the Buena Tierra. http://www.campgroundbuenatierra.com/  Set well out in the country this RV Resort may not be for everyone but we enjoyed our night there.  It sits on 1200 acres of land with lots of open space.  For anyone with a HD truck or extra length this place can handle us with ease.  It's only a couple of miles down the road to all kinds of shopping and services.

The next day we headed into the Phoenix area to find a place to hang out for a week to explore a little and rest a lot.  Unfortunately we didn't realize this was a Nascar weekend and spring break all rolled into one.  There were still openings, but not as many as normally available.  We found a place and have enjoyed  our week here.

The sightseeing highlight of the week was a day trip to Canyon Lake and lunch at Tortilla Flats.  The lake was created when they built a dam back in the late 1920's and it's beautiful.  Driving up and back is through country and scenery one can't capture with an ordinary camera and a photographer with a questionable skill set. The following few feeble attempts will hopefully give you the idea.

That sort of a green tinge you see is from a sort of moss that grows all over these stones at this time of year.  It gives everything that green look when in reality it's just plain old, cold, hard, stone

This is a big lake

I climbed way up to get this one.  Up was easy.  Down, well, it was pretty scary.

One of several single lane bridges you have to cross (carefully).

You just don't expect to find a good size marina in the mountains above Mesa, but there it was.

Lunch At Tortilla Flats

Then of course we had to have lunch in Tortilla Flats.  Everyone here asks if you've been to Canyon Lake and did you have lunch at Tortilla Flats?  Now we can say, "yes we did."  It was fun, the food was good, and the service was excellent.

Check out those seats.

Taliesin West

Then we were of to spend an afternoon in awe at Frank Lloyd Wright's summer home, Taliesin West.  This place is unbelievable.  By today's standards it seems just very nice, with some very forward thinking involved, but when you consider he figured this out 70 or more years ago it blows you away.  We took a tour of everything.  It gets you into their private quarters, the outside, the inside, the theatre, everything except the architectural school.  The tour guide we had knew just about everything there is to know about Mr Wright, Taliesin West, his other architectural designs, and his personal life.  It was just huge for me.  Having been a fan of his for my whole life this was a dream come true.

I did take pictures but this link will do a far better job than I every could.

https://www.google.com/search?q=frank+lloyd+wright+taliesin+west&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ySRWT9n7MPPoiAKOlLHcBw&ved=0CJcBELAE&biw=1366&bih=563

I sure hope our travels take us close to another one of his projects so we can tour it and learn more.  If I could every get to his "Falling Water", it would be another dream come true.

Saturday we had a chance to connect with a good friend that we haven't seen in about 30 years. They invited us to their home and then took us to an impressive spot in Scottsdale for dinner. It was fun to share the "good old days" for a few hours. It was a treat to see them, their home, and enjoy their company for an evening. Funny thing about good friends, three hours or thirty years, they don't seem to change, they just are.  J and D, if you read this, thanks again, it was really nice.

So this ends our time in Arizona for this year.  We had planned to leave today but have decided, because of wind warnings, to stay an extra day.  Tomorrow we'll go straight West to L.A. and then North toward Vancouver.  Plans are to spend a week or so on the trip seeing what we can.

As usual thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie

Sonora Desert Museum

Just outside of Tucson in a beautiful valley sits the Sonora Desert Museum. If you decide to visit plan to spend a day, its well worth the price of admission. Bernie and I truly enjoyed it, the reptile display, the desert walks, the prairie dogs, the aviary, and especially the Hummingbird walk. Where else can you walk through an aviary and have dozens of Hummingbirds buzzing past your ears.

This is a disaplay they have that shows the extent of the Sonoran Dessert.  You can see from this that it covers a huge area including the Baja Peninsula, a large part of Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and more.  The size really is quite amazing.

We started the day in the reptile display. Since snakes of any kind drive me crazy, we decided to get it out of the way first. The display was great; I can handle it when they’re on the other side of a piece of glass. Here are a few pictures, Jan (sister) you may want to skip this part. These two bad boys and a bunch of others, some extremely venomous, can all be found in this part of the USA.  They also had tarantulas and scorpions in case the snakes didn't make your skin crawl.

From here we apply a bunch of sun screen and headed out to walk around. This is a picture I took early in the day trying to show the views from up there. Of course my favourite subject is featured here.  In case you didn't know I like taking her picture.

Now it was a “walk about” to see all they had to show us. There wasn’t enough time to do the longest part but these pictures will show you a bit of what we saw.

This little fellow was checking us out, fortunately it was from the other side of a thick glass.

The prairie dogs have it too good.  There was a whole bunch of them and they were having a great time.  Interesting note here.  They had a display of one of their dens that shows how they share it with scorpions, snakes, etc and they live together in peace down there. Beats me, but that's what they said.  Maybe we could learn something from them?

Then we had a nice walk around a part of the museum they call the Agave garden.  There were lots of special pl;ants and things to see there but we really enjoyed the flowering plants.  The pictures will show the giant shoots these plants end up as they flower.  These flowers can reach to 8 or 10 feet and are very impressive.  The problem is that poor plant which could be 50, 60 or more years old only gets to flower once.  Over a course of two to three weeks they grow these giant flowers, the flowers open and then the plant dies. 

Bernie was standing at least 10 feet in front of this one but it gives you an idea of how tall they grow.

Then we went to the aviary to walk among a whole bunch of exotic and non exotic birds.  We finally ended the day in the aviary dedicated to Hummingbirds.  That was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.  There were dozens of then flying around in there and they were quite accustomed to people.  I was with about 6 inched of one but no amount of quiet chatter could convince him/her to land on my hand.  There were a few nests with babies and we were watching the moms feed them.  The babies were no more than the size of a thimble with no feathers, fuzz, or anything else.  They go from that state to flying in three weeks.

This fellow greeted us with a friendly "hello."

Hummingbirds are hard to get pictures of but I did get this one having a drink.

I caught these two watching us watching them.

So the day ended with us wishing as usual we had "more time."  This is an all day place and we had only budgeted for an afternoon.

Tomorrow move on to the Phoenix area where I hope to have some really nice things to get on here.

Thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment when you.

Neal and Bernie