And Here is the Rest of the Summer

There are a couple reasons I haven't worked on the BLOG.
First off - nothing was happening! Boring!
Then, suddenly everything happened all at the same time and I haven't had time.

Did you know that I can rationalize almost anything? I’m good at it! No good excuses!

A good RV buddy got killed in a bad accident not that far from here and that kind of took the wind out of our sails.

We did get up to Wetaskiwin to see Chuck and Sheila. We spent our three days with them and I got my IKEA fix and Chuck introduced us to Smoothies that have become almost a nightly thing.

Let’s see, we finally got it together to go over the “Road to the Sun” and the Logan Pass in Glacier . . . one of the places we visited often when we were kids. It is so much busier and is showing signs of wear, just like most of us, but it is still specular. Did I tell you that I love the mountains?

We got a photo of one of my favourite sculptures. These Native warriors sit just south of the Canadian/USA border crossing at the entrance of the Peigan Nation. They were constructed by a local Native out of parts from vehicle destroyed in a big storm that ripped through the reserve many years ago.

In the background is one of my favourite mountains – Chief Mountain. Actually one face of it slide down a few years ago.

I have been writing a few articles and RV West gave me a column called Snowbirding 101 (http://www.rvwest.com/index.php/snowbirding_101/ ).

I like that, it keeps us busy researching things. The Escapees Magazine printed my piece about being Canadian and spending all those months in the US.

Some interesting feedback, (and not what I expected) and one fellow wanted to know if he could buy hard wheat flour on-line . . . who’d a thunk?

RV Lifestyle Magazine (out of Ontario) want a feature piece of attractions around Calgary for next Spring and sent me a Press Pass.

Now, this was fun!

We managed to arrange a couple of nights at a new RV Place (Aspen Crossing) about 3/4 of an hour south-east of Calgary; then we toured the Blackfoot Crossing - a National Heritage site designed and built by Siksika Blackfoot Nation close to the TransCanada Highway about an hour east of Calgary. Our final destination was Rosebud - a small town in Southern Alberta that hosts a Theatre Arts School and a Dinner Theatre.

Aspen Crossing isn’t a resort or just a place to park your RV but a complex with umpteen dozen features besides a place to stay. It started out as a family farm – they added a tree farm then a nursery and green houses, then a railway dining car restaurant that has a dinner theatre in the winter, then the RV Park then a caboose transformed into a sleeping cabin and . . . it goes on and on and on.

Blackfoot Crossing The Interpretation Centre of the Blackfoot Crossing Heritage Park stands guard over the Bow River Valley and the many ceremonial and sacred sites that found shelter in the River coulee.

It celebrates the Siksika Nation and the signing of Treaty 7 (the most important treaty for the Blackfoot Confederation) signed by the Seven Blackfoot tribes: Siksika; Piikani (Peigan); Kainaiwa (Blood); Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee); and the Stoney (Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Wesley/Goodstoney).

It’s so well designed and even has a teepee village where guests can spend the night.

Rosebud is the School of the Arts and the Theatre. The population is less than 100 people and the whole town lies dormant until around 5:30 when the doors open to the Mercantile and you can get your tickets for the Dinner and the Theatre.

There is an Historical Walk that explains how Rosebud became what it is and highlights some of the significant buildings.

The Mercantile-site of the dinner

The Opera House – site of the Theatre

Museum – site of the old Chinese Laundry

We had a Great Adventure!!

Our final adventure this summer is going to be Frank Slide – then we leave October 20th – WOW – that's getting close.

And Another Year Passes

Tomorrow (July 5th, 2011) is my 68th birthday – I can’t believe it- I don’t know what 68 is supposed to feel like but I really don’t feel any different, I don’t think.

A big question in my life has always been “how do you know what you didn't know once you know it?”

I guess I’m a real in the moment type. Either that or I just don’t remember or it just doesn’t matter enough.

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We went up to Calgary for Ann-Marie’s Easter celebration and an old friend fix.

It was so good to spend time with AM and some old friends – it’s funny how time can pass but friends seem to transcend the gap and pick up where they left off.

Occasionally that doesn’t happen and that makes me very sad.

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We had our first 2011 sojourn out - it was time. It seems like we waited a long time for the weather to warm up and then left anyway. With gas prices as high as they are, we decided to stay fairly close and headed West to Castle River Falls (June 20th).

You would not believe the amount of snow still up in the mountains

and how high and fast the river was running.

But then, of course, the wildflowers were well underway . . .

Blue Camus Hyacinth

Death Camas (Beargrass)

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Then off to Eureka, Montana to visit more unforgettable friends. Faye was our neighbour way back in the 80’s.

I felt incredibly close to her then and found that feeling of closeness is still there. It was so fantastic!

Carl, her husband, and Fred seem to enjoy each others company as well. The four of us had so much fun touring and hiking about the area.

We stood on the US/Canadian border

Fred has developed an insatiable interest in the camera and has taken some specular photos of the wildflowers . . .

I stayed with the old buildings

We ate; we talked; we tried to identify the flowers; and made an honest attempt to solve all the problems of the world (at least three or four times).

Fred has been working on an electrical problem with the Motor Home and I haven’t been doing much.

Oh, I have another article coming out in the RV Lifestyle Magazine. For the digital copy go to page 40 on http://rvlifemag.dgtlpub.com/?i=1665

Life Moves on

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Yes, life moves on . . . the mould only grows on your feet if you stay in one spot too long!!

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Effective July 8th, 2011, the firstepbooks web site will no longer be up.

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Hard-copies of "Jacob's Tails . . . (Back-to-the-Land)" are available directly through me.

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The E-Book is available through Smashwords 

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Barnes & Noble

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Chapters/Indigo (Kobo)

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Hello, Alberta!

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The E-Book can be downloaded through Smashwords

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OMG – We really didn’t need this!

Believe it or not, this photo was taken April 14^th from our deck and this was the second snow storm – the third is supposed to start tomorrow.

Enough of that – I do sympathize with all those who put up with this all winter – and they say it was a bad weather winter here.

Think about it, when we left the temperature in Yuma was 91 degrees F (30ish degrees C). Today, here, it may get to 40 degrees F (5 degrees C). My body is in denial and to say the least, I am NOT going to go outside.

Back to the original log – we left Gunsite (Why) and checked into the Escapees Park in Casa Grande (Rovers Roost) to rejuvenate and regenerate. The Park is a great place, as is the community. The people are great – energy, involved and friendly.

Casa Grande is a nice size and has pretty much anything you might want. The only draw-back is the sometimes smell. It seems the surrounding area supports a number of feeder lots that hold over 2000 cows each. They generate A LOT of manure and produce a very pungent odour. But we like the community and there is no question that Rovers Roost has the best Laundry I have had the pleasure to use.

Somehow, we were both starting to get restless – it felt like it was time to start heading home.

We may have felt that way but the weather was not going to co-operate and the last thing we wanted to do was travel or arrive home in the cold, wind and snow so off to Quartzsite again.

Visit with old friends; revisit our favourite vendors; try out our new hummingbird feeder after a couple of big birds at Gunsite managed to mangle the old one; and just hang out for a few days.

Off to Laughlin and Bullhead City to spend time at the casinos; consume too many buffets; get those final treasures to take home; spruce up with a hair cut and a pedicure; and explore places we hadn’t visited for a long time.

The Davis Dam has been closed to vehicles for years but allows foot traffic. It sits in the Colorado River and the reservoir forms Lake Mohave.

A much vandalized sign explains how the dwelling place of the Native Gods - Spirit Mountain - (Avikwaame) watches over the waters and all who frequent them.

We found one plant neither of us had noticed before – the Desert Dodder. It has fine hair-like branches that seem to grow in and amongst other plants and produces small white flowers. Apparently it has little wart-like bumps called 'haustoria' that are pushed into the stems to gather nutrients from the host plants. Other names for the dodder are devil guts, witch's shoelaces, witch's hair, angel hair and hairweed.

Hm-m-m, we had almost made it to Lake Mead a few times and considering how much time we had and the northern weather was not very inviting, we decided that this was would be the Lake Mead year.

We stayed at a very nice campground at Callville Bay and took off by car. The first stop was to see and travel the new bridge at the Hoover Dam.

Bridge under construction last year

Bridge this year

Did you know that Lake Mead is a man-made lake? Me neither. As the reservoir for the Hoover Dam, it’s huge BUT is running into a lot of water problems – too much water being used; not enough snow melt; and excessive evaporation. We saw closed and deserted marinas and water-lines metres above the level of the lake. They are talking about piping water in to keep the Power and Recreation systems going.

You have to wonder at the incredible Red Stone outcroppings that permeate the area along the road through the whole Recreational Area.

We left Lake Mead with over a week to make our way across the border – yeh, sure – it took us two nights. Great Falls was our last stop in the USA. Fred woke up at 4:30 am and decided to boogie on through.

We were home and I was having a long hot shower by 9:30 am – adrenalin flowing; roads good; no wait-line at the border.

Mail sorted and put away; Income Tax done and sent in; Laundry well underway.

We’re just waiting for the next snow – oh, joy!

The Birds, the Bees, and the Small Animals

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Jacob's Tails . . . (Back-to-the-Land)"

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It never ceases to amaze me how quickly you meet people and get to know them when you are out on the desert.

Anyway, we met and shared a new card game [Saskatchewan Rummy] with a couple from BC and then got an email and went off to find another couple [Tom & Nancy] we met in Indio, California. They were parked just a couple of roads away. Tom & Nancy are old-time Escapees and were off getting teeth work done in Algodones, Mexico and will probably be down around Ajo and Why after they are finished.

We heard from a couple [Judy & Terry] who are birders and Escapees and we had met a few years ago at Gunsite [the BLM near Why and the Organ Pipe Cactus National Park] to say they were going out there and would we like to join them.

Sure, why not? So on Monday we packed up and drove over here to Gunsite.

Yes, they are real birders and they know their stuff! I think trying to identify birds [without a good birder around] is just as tough as trying to identify different rocks when you have no idea why someone would pick up one particular rock and not another.

Mind boggling!

After three days we saw and identified more birds than we had even seen the past nine years.

Judy and Terry’s List

House Finch Sparrows Northern Cardinals Gila Woodpeckers Phainopela Verdins Oriole(new) (Hummers) Costas, Annas, Rufus Flicker-gilded Mockingbird Canyon Towhee Red Tail Hawk Black Throated Sparrow Gambels QuailChipmunks/Squirrels Rabbits

Our Photos (just some of them)

House Finch

Northern Cardinals

Male

Female

Verdins

Gambels Quail

Hummingbird-Costa

Feeder- after the Hummingbird left

Phainopela [we call it the P bird cuz we can never remember its name]

Chipmunk/Squirrel

Rabbit

We both sat for hours just watching them all.

Shopping Malls, Fenced Communities and Fast California Drivers

Jacob's Tails . . . (Back-to-the-Land)"

has been downloaded 150 times at

Smashwords

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We left the desert, peace and quiet and Ogilby Road about the middle of February to venture further into California. I wanted to sit in on a writing workshop led by Alice (a fellow RV writer) near Aguanga, California (up in the hills about 20 miles from Temecula). Mind you, we’d been talking about this for three years now and this is the first time we’ve been this close.

Most Casinos welcome overnight parking so we based ourselves at Casino Spotlight 29 in Indio – the first settlement (community) along the Million Dollar Freeway (my name for it) that leads through to Palm Springs and beyond.

Visitor Information? – We never did find one

, even though we asked and asked and asked. The only map we found was the center-fold in one of the Casino Magazines.

Signage? – What signage? If you are here, you must know where you are going! Getting lost at least twice was the standard we set for ourselves.

Drivers? – Scary! – We may not have known where we were or where we were going, but they did and they took the shortest, fastest route they could find.

We did a dry-run to Aguanga in the car. It turned out that Alice’s park is on the other side of the hills. That meant going through one very big city that extends from Indio to beyond Palm Springs; up the steep, windy road t

o the top and then down the steep, windy road on the other side to get to Aguanga and the Jojoba Hills Park.

Well, we made it and agreed that there was no way we would take the Motor Home over

that road. When we got there, Alice pointed out that there was a far better route so we went back that way. Unfortunately, we were stuck in traffic for almost two hours (there was an accident); they were promising another storm with wind and rain; the drivers were so scaring we decided to put our visit off for another year.

As compensation, we found a Trader Joe’s; did some grocery shopping before we headed back to Ogilby Road for some desert peace and quiet and incredible sunsets.