POTR #57 Merry Christmas

PEACE ON THE ROAD
Merry Christmas
December 21, 2009

It is absolutely impossible to be this late in the year already. It might be getting close to Halloween or with a wild stretch of the imagination Thanksgiving might be a couple weeks away, BUT THAT IS ALL! I can use the excuse that I have been busy but I almost think that it would be more correct to say that I have been buzzy. It seem that all I do is buzz from one place to another. I am not complaining. I would much rather be fully occupied with activities than to be sitting around and bored. One of the activities that keeps me busy is line dancing. This picture is the first group picture of the 2009-2010 season. You can be assured that not only will more people will be in the next picture but some of those that could have been in this one will be there too. This is a good group of people to have an activity with. The background of these people is so varied that it is amazing. When a person gets together with a group of people there is usually many common backgrounds. Perhaps religion, occupation, or perhaps kids in sports. But here in Bentsen Grove the common part is simply that we all like to get away from the cold in other parts of the country and keep active doing things. I guess I should also add that we are all retired. This truly is a fun place to be, even if some times it is almost too active.


THE BENTSEN GROVE LINE DANCERS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASON

A short time ago I was at a fellows home helping him with a computer problem. As I was leaving he pointed out a very large moth that had landed on his sunscreen. I think it was the largest moth that I have ever seen. I dashed home and got my camera right quick in hopes that it would not fly away before I got back. Obviously it cooperated with me. I was given a ladder so I could get high enough to get a view that did not have the sun glaring in the background. When the picture was displayed on the the computer screen I was pleased with the effect of the sunscreen mesh showing through the wings of the moth. There have been a lot of butterflies and moth here in the park this fall, but this one surpassed all the rest by being at least double in size. I had a friend that was asked how he was able to get a butterfly to pose so well for a picture and he said, "Raid. One little spray and they will pose anyway you want for as long as you want." I think the girl he told that too just about killed him him before he could say "I'm kidding you!" I did not have to use raid. I would never do that, but it was a great story. I used fill flash to get a better picture and took several pictures. Every time the camera flashed the moth would move to a slightly different position. But when I left it was in the position that is here.


VERY LARGE MOTH WITH A FOUR INCH WING SPAN ON SUN SCREEN

There are those that claim that everything in Texas is bigger than anywhere else. While the state was for a long time the biggest state it has to be proved that everything else is bigger too. This moth does a lot toward making that claim correct. Here in the park is a lemon tree that also adds another layer of fact to that claim. One of the residents here in the park has a Ponderosa variety of lemon tree. The story that is told is that they used a common fertilizer that they bought at Walmart and had a full time resident water the tree during the summer while they were gone. These are honestly lemons that are six to eight inches in diameter. I have had one of the Ponderosa lemons from another tree and the flavor is just great. There is so much juice that it is hard to cut into the fruit without making a mess. Also it is about as sweet as a lemon could be and still be a lemon. The owner of the tree says that they can make about six lemon pies from the juice of one lemon.


A PONDEROSA LEMON TREE IN BENTSEN GROVE RESORT

The weather here has been unusual in many ways. During the summer there was less rain than usual. In fact many places have been graded as being in an extreme drought. Then when fall came along came the rain, small compared to many places, but lots for here. Some of the residents that have wintered here for many years have claimed that there has been more rainfall just this season than there has been in the entire time they have been coming to Texas. In the last few days there has been more rain than I have seen some entire years of our travels. I heard one person say that in one day we had over four inches this last week. And that was only one of several days that it rained. The temperature has also been getting very low for this part of the country. There was a light frost one night which damaged a lot of plants. It has been odd to see well manicured bushes with an inch or so of dead foliage at the top. One thing that did not seem to get hurt was the cactus. I have always thought of cactus as living where it was not only always dry, but also always hot. I have found out that is not necessarily true. Cactus can take a lot of freezing weather without being hurt. I have also learned that the fruit that grows on cactus is called a tuna. Some of the tuna grow to a very large sizes. One cactus here in the park has tuna that must be over five inches long and over two inches in diameter. It is no wonder that the little animals eat them so often. I have even seen some of the tunas in the grocery store. If I knew how to fix them I would be temped to buy them and see how they taste.

Since Christmas is almost here I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and send you wishes for a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On The Road

POTR #56 Getting Into Autumn

I have always thought of butterflies as creatures that were around during the late spring and summer and by September they would be gone. I guess that I spent too much time in place where autumn and winter was cold enough to discourage active insects. I am sure that in just the last month I have seen more butterflies than I have seen in the total sum of my life to this point. While we have been driving around we have seen them crossing the roads and they seemed more like autumn leaves in a windstorm. There seem to be many varieties. I really like the swallow tails, the yellow ones and the white ones. Of course I also like the Monarchs and the Viceroys that look almost identical. The Monarch make a migration north in the spring and a migration south in the fall and gather in places in such numbers that they reportedly can break branches on trees. I believe that I have seen some of the migration.


TWO FEMALE MONARCH BUTTERFLIES IN BENTSEN GROVE RESORT

One of the birds that has impressed me whenever I have been around them is the white pelican. They are the largest of all species of pelican. Seeing them sitting on the water or sitting on top a post you would never guess that they hide a secret. It is not until they either stretch their wings or are flying that they reveal the secret. Along the outer trailing edge of the wings is a band of very black feathers. They do not show up until the pelican stretches out their wings and then they are very striking. Even when they are flying quite high above the ground the black on their wings makes it easy to differentiate them from any other white bird. I always thought that all pelicans fished the same way. But I was wrong. The brown pelican will fly above the water till it sees a fish then fold its wings and plunge to catch the fish in its large beak. They hit the water seemingly so hard that it is amazing they can survive the impact. While the white pelican has a large pouch attached to its beak like the brown it has a very different way of catching fish. It will cooperate with others to encircle fish and concentrate them int shallows to feed by dipping their beak in the water and engulfing fish. The beak pouch will hold as much a three gallons of water and fish. It really is a large bucket.


TWO WHITE PELICANS AND A BROWN PELICAN


WHITE PELICAN IN FLIGHT NEAR CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS

Our last sight before coming to the Rio Grande Valley was in Corpus Christi. We have been there several times in the past ten years and have seen "The Mighty Lexington" aircraft carrier setting in the harbor, but we have never been able to add it to our plans. We were finally able to have the time to tour the ship. After being decommissioned in 1947 and again in 1991 it was placed in the harbor as a museum. Actually we did not allow enough time to see the ship as well as we might have, but we did allow enough time to get very tired, so it was enough for a single visit. The "Lex" served the United States longer and set more records than any other carrier in the history of naval aviation. The flight deck is 910 foot long and 52 foot above the water line. From the water line to the keel is 30 foot. It has 90,000 square feet of landing area. It had a displacement of 42,000 tons and can travel at over 30 knots (35 MPH). The ship was painted a blue gray color during the war. The Japanese reported that she was sunk no less than four times, but each time she was repaired and returned to fight. The color and her return to battle caused the propagandist Tokyo Rose to nickname her "The Blue Ghost, which became a tribute to the ship the crew and air groups that served with her. In 1967 the ship passed the mark of 200,000 arrested landing, which is more than any other aircraft carrier in the world.


THE USS LEXINGTON, "THE BLUE GHOST", IN THE HARBOR AT CORPUS CHRISTI

We are back in Mission, Texas at Bentsen Grove for the winter. I have to say that it is nice to be in 80 degree weather when a lot of the country is having freezing weather and snow on the ground. More of the Winter Texans are arriving every day and right after Thanksgiving there will be an even larger number of daily arrivals. So far I have something scheduled every day of the week, there of course is church on Sunday. Four days we have dance class, one day I teach a session at computer club and on the remaining day I am the newcomer photographer for the park. I don't have enough to keep myself busy so I help people with computer problems (if I can) and I intend to add some more activities to my schedule as soon as some of the activity chairmen get down here out of the cold. There is plenty to do.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On The Road

POTR #55 It's A Good Life

PEACE ON THE ROAD
It's A Good Life
October 22, 2009

Back in the late 1950's like a lot of people I became a fan of Charles M. Schultz, the creator of the comic strip Peanuts. I bought some of his books which cost me half a days wages, but I had and read them until I decided that I would not take them on the road. In one of the strips Charlie Brown told a friend that Snoopy was his dog. In the panels that followed Snoopy looked to the right and said, "I am a dog?" He looked to the left and said, "I was a dog yesterday!" He looked straight forward and said, "I'll be a dog tomorrow." As Snoopy trotted off in the last panel he said, "It's a good life."

Being on the road like I am is something that I have thought (or dreamed) about since the late 1950's. I don't know when I first thought about it but I suppose it actually was when I was eight or ten. Don't most kids think of living an adventure? About that age I remember swapping lies with another farmers son about the things we had done. Each one of us was trying to out lie the other and we both knew it. As it turned out I married a good girl that was willing to share that dream even till she became old enough to retire. To have a good life is not just something that happens by accident but rather by an attitude of the mind. I have read of people that never went more than twenty miles from their place of birth and claimed to have the best possible life. I have been a lot farther than that away from my birth place and while I may not have the best possible life, like Snoopy I have to say, "It is a good life!'


THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION MOCK UP AT THE JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

The closest that I will ever be to outer space is either flying high in a commercial aircraft or with my imagination on television. I have been to several museums of space or space facilities. The Johnson Space Center is in Houston, Texas. It is the home of Mission Control Center that coordinates and monitors all human spaceflight for the United States, including the activities of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, and the activities at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Much of the training of the US Astronauts and International partners is done there. They have a mock up of the ISS (International Space Station) that is used for training purposes and can be viewed. Unfortunately the viewing is behind a glass window. Even through the glass the size was amazing both from the viewpoint of how small it was to work with and live in for the length of time that men do and also how big it was to have been put into space. The tour that they have is very informational and would be even more at a time of an actual space operation. When we were there even the astronauts on board the ISS were sleeping so it was rather quiet. In one of the buildings it is possible to view and touch a Saturn V rocket. While it is not possible to see a great deal of the workings of the rocket, they are inside the coverings, the extreme complexity of the wiring and piping is amazing. I was also struck by thoughts that I would not want to ride a bicycle that was built with some of the parts and the way it was put together. Some of it was so very delicate. It is no wonder that there have been problems in space flights. There are a lot of control computers and all computers are delicate pieces of equipment.


TERRA COTTA SOLDIERS OF THE TOMB OF QIN SHI HUANG

In 1974 a farmer in China started to dig a water well. He uncovered the first of nearly 9000 funerary statues at the burial site of Qin Shi Huang who had declared himself the first emperor of China in 221 BC. In 1997 a Chinese businessman named Ira Poon wanted to share this heritage of his country by building a scale model of the tomb in Katy, Texas. He had 6000 strong warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians built in China at a 1:3 scale and shipped to the US. They were put on display in an open air museum near Houston, which has the third largest Chinese community in the USA. In addition to the statues an area displays a scale model of the Forbidden City of Beijing China. It was the location of the central government of China for around 500 years.


DORSAL FIN OF A DOLPHIN ABOUT FIFTEEN FROM WHERE I WAS STANDING

We are currently in Rockport, Texas but will leave at the end of the week to return to Bentsen Grove for the winter. We have been in this camp in Rockport more times than we have stayed anywhere else. We enjoy the area and the closeness to the bay. Each time that we have been here there has been a difference in the type of birds to see and sights that we have seen. The fishing activities vary and we have seen a lot of different boats unloading their catch. There is an auto ferry that crosses the bay that we take once in a while. While crossing we have often seen dolphin, usually just the dorsal fin for a couple seconds. We never expected to see dolphins in a shallow area where the fishermen wade out to fish. The water seems to be less than waist deep from shore to shore and ideal for fishing, personal and small watercraft and kite boarding. A few days ago we were driving close to the water and saw a fin out a distance so we stopped and walked near the water. In a short time I heard a sound not fifteen foot from me and saw dolphin that had come up for a breath of air. To get any kind of picture took both fast response with the camera and a good deal of luck. I was very surprised that the dolphins came into the confined area but apparently the water was sufficient in depth for them to fish. The short glimpses of them are so very impressive. I could spend a lot of time watching them.

As I go from old places to new places and see new sights and meet new people I am impressed with the great variations of things in this United States and I am impressed with the people that call it home. As Snoopy said, "It's a good life." So here is hoping that you also find that you can say "It's a good life."

Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On the Road

POTR #54 Mississippi

PEACE ON THE ROAD
Mississippi
September 17, 2009

You may be surprised to see another POTR so soon after the last one came out. But as I somewhat indicated in the last POTR I have seen so much lately that I am having a hard time keeping up. I am behind in the writing that I do and taking care of filing the pictures that I have been taking. One of my main objectives is to keep this POTR up to date. I have made that promise to several people.

Vicksburg National Military Park lays claim to being the most monumented battlefield in the world. I read one place that there are over 1,500 monuments and markers scattered across the area which would surpass Gettysburg's 1,400 monuments and markers. The siege of Vicksburg lasted for three months ending on July 4th, 1863, one day after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg. There were only 7,782 deaths during the siege, which is a small number for that length of battle. Abraham Lincoln considered the control of the Mississippi River essential to the success of the Union cause. Vicksburg was the final obstacle to Union control of the river which split the Confederate armies in half and cut off supplies to the soldiers. When Vicksburg was taken Lincoln was quoted as saying, "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea." At the end of the siege 50,000 rifles and 172 cannon were surrendered with the nearly 30,000 Confederate soldiers who were sent home on parole after they pledged not to return to battle. Paroling soldiers was not an uncommon practice during the Civil war in spite of the fact that many of the soldiers did return to battle. Tradition has it that the people of Vicksburg did not celebrate the American Independence Holiday for 81 years or until WWII because it was a Union holiday.


ONE OF THE LARGEST MONUMENT IS TO THE ILLINOIS SOLDIERS OF THE UNION

The ironclad gun boats of the Union and the Confederates were huge. I always figured that they were fairly large but until I stood next to the USS Cairo I did not realize just how large they were. The most famous of the ironclads were the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, which is commonly called the Merrimack. The USS Merrimack was a Union ship being repaired in the naval yards in Norfolk Virginia when Virginia seceded from the Union. To prevent Confederates usage it was burned and sunk by the retreating Union troops. It was salvaged by the Confederates and used as the base for an ironclad ship called the CSS Virginia. USS Cairo was the first of seven city class ironclads, named for cities along the Mississippi, that were built for the Union. The ship was 175 feet long, 51 feet wide, weighting 512 tons, with a draft of 6 feet. It's armor was either 2.5" or 3.5" thick depending on location backed by a two foot thickness of white oak timber to absorb the shock of impacting shells. It had 13 modern guns plus small arms. Its total crew was 274 men. It would burn almost a ton of coal an hour in two steam engines with five boilers. Because it was considered vulnerable without power the boilers were fired 24 hours a day. During the siege of Vicksburg the Cairo was sunk by the Confederates. It has the distinction of being the first armored warship ever sunk with an electrically detonated mine, called a torpedo at the time. Many of the torpedoes failed to detonate, so were not considered a serious threat. The torpedo was a five gallon glass demijohn filled with forty pounds of gunpowder, attached to a wooden float and anchored to the bottom of the river. It was connected by copper wires to a telegraph battery on the shore, and detonated by hidden soldiers on shore. The Cairo was rocked by two explosions in quick order and sunk in eight to fifteen minutes (estimates varied according to witness accounts) with no loss of life of any person on board. The location of the Cairo was discovered in 1956 and raised from the silt of the Yazoo River in 1977 to become a part of the Vicksburg Military Park. Its cannon are the only actual period pieces found in the entire park. Its steam plant is also considered the best preserved of its type in the world. "Ghost parts" show how the original looked.


THE SALVAGED "CITY CLASS" IRONCLAD GUNBOAT USS CAIRO

Did you know that there is a petrified forest east of the Rocky Mountains? If you said "No" you would be in the same category as most people, including me until about a year ago. Until a week ago I did not realize how close to Vicksburg and Jackson Mississippi it is located. The petrified forests of Colorado and Arizona were created when living forests were covered by silt mudflows or buried by volcanic dust. In Mississippi thirty six million years ago there was an event which felled a large number of trees. The trees were caught in a massive flood and carried miles downstream to a point that a logjam was formed. The trees were covered by sand and silt which excluded oxygen thus preventing rot and started the process of replacing the cellular construction of the logs with mineral content. After hundred of thousands of years the conversion of the logs was complete. As the geologic strata moved the logs were broken into sections that are five to ten foot in length. The sections stayed aligned in a fashion to show that at one time the trees were as tall as a hundred foot and had a diameter of twelve to fifteen foot. They may have been over a thousand years old while they were still living. These trees were bigger than anything that is growing in the State of Mississippi in modern time. This is the only location of a petrified forest that is east of the Rocky Mountains. This area has also been called the Grand Canyon of Mississippi. While there are many logs that are exposed there is a large amount of undisturbed land which will reveal more logs as nature removes the soil which hides them, unless as it is doing in some cases covers them back up.


A SECTION OF PETRIFIED LOG IN THE MISSISSIPPI PETRIFIED FOREST

We are now in Willis, Texas. We have been in this area two times before but there is much to see nearby. I also think it is time to relax a bit and do some of the things that I am behind in doing.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On The Road

POTR #53 Quart In A Pint Bag

PEACE ON THE ROAD
A Quart In A Pint Bag
September 7, 2009

It is funny to me how some time seems to pass slowly, or perhaps a day feels like it is a day long, and then again it may feel like events of a few day ago must have been weeks ago because so much has happened between. This last week or so could not have happened in the length of time that has passed since the week started. I have seen so much and been in so many places in the last week that at least a month must have passed. Well maybe it just seems that way. There is an expression that seems to fit this situation, "Putting a quart in a pint bag."

I have been to Athens Greece. At least I have gotten some bit of the feeling of being there. In Nashville there is a full size replica of the original Parthenon that was built in 1897 as a part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. At that time it was built of plaster, wood and brick to be the centerpiece of the 1897 fair. Between 1920 and 1925 the Parthenon was rebuilt with concrete. The building is 228 by 101 feet. The sixty five columns that support the roof are slightly over 6 foot in diameter and 34 foot tall. All the columns are tilted inwards. If the lines of the column were projected upwards the lines would contact each other more than five miles above the surface of the earth. There are carvings that are carved into the frieze on all four sides of the Parthenon. Inside on the main floor is a museum with many paintings. On the floor above is an artists depiction of a gold and ivory statue of a goddess that was in the original temple. It was created in 1990 and stands 42 foot tall. The description of the statue comes from the writings of a 2nd century traveler, Pausanias. It is believed that the original Parthenon was a grand setting for the statue and a treasury storehouse.


THE NASHVILLE PARTHENON AT NIGHT

When we first visited the Parthenon during the day it was very impressive and we wanted to see it at night. This is the first place that I have really had an opportunity to do night photography of this type with the digital camera. We were back that evening after full darkness, I set up the tripod and took pictures. The fact is that I was more impressed by the night pictures than the ones taken in the day.

The Hermitage in Nashville was the home of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. It was built at a time that Tennessee was deep within the wild frontier. When Jackson was 13 years old he enlisted in the American Revolutionary War as a courier. He was captured by the British and held as a POW. When he refused to polish the boots of a British officer he was struck with a saber and scarred on his face and hand. His entire family died of war inflicted causes for which he blamed the British. These two combined to cause an intense hatred of the British. He was hero in the war of 1812 and in the Indian wars. At about 33 he bought the land where he was to build the mansion he called the Hermitage. The first house on the 420 acre property in 1804 was a two story log blockhouse which had been built to withstand Indian attacks. At that time Jackson owned nine slaves. By 1821 when Jackson moved into the original Hermitage mansion, which had been built by skilled slave labor, he had expanded the property to 1,000 acres and 44 slaves and later to 150. When he moved into the first Hermitage Mansion it was considered improper to house slaves in a two story house so the original house was torn apart to create two single story houses for slaves. Today those dwellings are part of the walking tour which gives some idea of the life of the slaves in the 1820's. The slaves dug holes beneath the floors of their quarters to have a place to hide a few personal items of their own. The mansion was surrounded by orchards, cotton fields, corn fields and pastures. The building to the right in the picture below is the separate kitchen which was built after a fire severely damaged the main house. Farm buildings, a spring house and crop fields are all part of the tour.


THE BACK SIDE OF ANDREW JACKSONS HOME THAT HE CALLED THE HERMITAGE

Smoky Mountain National Park, which is the most visited National Park in the United States, was our next destination and we found it to be is a very special place. With all the roads that go through the park and all the original buildings that have been preserved it would take a lot of visits to see enough to say that a person had done justice to its exploration. And then I think also that it would require visits in all four seasons. The history of this area for the settlers began with Andrew Jackson. In 1830 he signed the Indian Removal Act which eventually resulted in the forced removal of all Indian Tribes east of the Mississippi to Oklahoma. With the removal of the Indians, settlers moved in to establish farms, mines and the major industry of logging. In 1926 a park was authorized which over time was to force the residents to cease operation of farms, mines, and logging operations. Cades Cove was the main town in the area that is now Smoky Mountain National Park. At one time it numbered over a hundred families. The people raised cattle, hogs, sheep, chickens, planted corn, wheat and cotton and other crops. Clothes were made from cotton and wool. The corn fed hogs, was milled into meal for bread and in some cases moonshine whiskey. A large family might butcher and cure a dozen hogs a year in addition to hunting deer and bear. Until about 1870 there were no sawmills in the area so homes, barns and other buildings were made from logs. Many of the barns were built with cantilevered overhangs that provided shelter for the animals during the winter months. The drive through allowed a load of hay to put into the lofts of the barn easily by a man on the wagon and another in the loft. The passage also protected farm implements from the weather. This valley was divided by the Civil War. There were supporters of both sides that lived there. It divided the people and it split the churches. Some churches were also split by a pro or anti missionary controversy. In the fall when the crops were harvested raiders of both the Union and the Confederates stole food and horses from any residents of the area. After the first raids a boy with a horn was stationed at the entrance to the valley to warn all the people whenever any raiders approached. This allowed the people to hide their animals and food which likely avoided the starvation of many of the people.



THE 1880 DOUBLE CANTILEVER BARN OF THE TIPTON PLACE

Knowledge is one of the things that I gain when I am going to different places in the country. A lot of the knowledge is expected, like some history of an area, or information about the people. Other times there is knowledge that has been in front of my eyes numerous times and I could not see it because it was not presented in a way to attract my attention. A case in point is a tub mill, which is a type of grist mill. I have seen grist mills in many states, particularly in the Eastern US and Texas. Most of the mills I have seen have been powered by water wheels. The usual water wheel is from ten to twenty five foot in diameter with water from a flume that runs over the top with the weight of the water causing the wheel to turn. Those are overshot wheels. With an undershot wheel the water runs beneath the wheel. Either type of wheel has a horizontal drive shaft which is converted with a gear to a vertically driven shaft which turns the grist stones and may drive other equipment. In a tub mill the three to four foot water wheel is connected directly to the vertical shaft which turns the grist stones. Water impinges on the wheel and turns it. The faster the stream waters flow the faster the wheel turns. In the POTR titled “Out Of Texas” is a picture showing a tub mill in operation at the San Jose Mission in San Antonio. At the time I took that picture I had not heard of a tub mill. The advantage of the rub mill is that it is fairly simple to build and the maintenance is low. In the area of Smoky Mountain National Park there were a dozen or more of these tub mills which could grind from one to four bushels of flour a day. The milling was done for a portion of the finished product, usually from eight to twelve percent.


A TUB MILL WATER WHEEL IN THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

From here in the Smoky Mountains we will be heading south and west towards the Mississippi River. We are planning to spend some time in Vicksburg and hopefully see some interesting things there.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On The Road

POTR #52 Back On The Road Again

PEACE ON THE ROAD
Back On The Road Again
August 27, 2009

We are back on the road again. We left the Rochester area last Tuesday and have gotten into West Virginia. Erma and I both have the feeling that there is no place in this state that is not either going up hill or down hill. So far we have not seen a single place that was flat except for some of the parking lots and not all those are flat. Do not misunderstand and think that all the hills are steep. It really is rather pleasant. Yesterday, just because of the route we took staying on Interstates and the shape of states we were in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and then back into West Virginia. We have nicked the corner of some states and been in three different ones in a single day before. I think one time we crossed the corner of one for about ten miles. But I think this is the first time we have been in one state twice in one day without making a U-turn.

We often ask the people at the camp where we stay what we should see while in the area. There was a lady in Mercer, PA that said, "I don't think there is anything around here to see. People just come here to be in the country." In our next camp in West Virginia the lady said, "You have to go see the Blenko Glass Factory." We decided we would go and it was a right decision. The observation area we could see was a small part of the factory of course but they were making items for sale in the gift shop and some for commercial orders. In another part of the shop they make sheet glass for stained glass windows and architectural glass. It is amazing to see the workers take a molten glob of glass and submerge it bucket of water. They also will stuff a ball of glass into a wet wooden mold and turn it to shape it into the shape of the mold. The glass they make is very beautiful. William J. Blenko, the founder of the company tried three times to establish a company before he came to Milton, WV. At one time there were over 500 glass plants in West Virginia. Today there are only a few more than a dozen still operating. There are two glass manufacturers in Milton.


A WORKER BLOWING A BALL OF GLASS TO BE FORMED IN A MOLD

We did not know where we were going to try to camp until we were close to Milton and made the decision of how far I wanted to drive so we did not do any research into what was worth seeing in the area. As we approached the Blenko plant I saw that we were on "Covered Bridge Road". About a mile from the plant was Pumpkin Festival Grounds which had an 1876 covered bridge. The bridge originally was called the Mud River Bridge or the Milton Covered Bridge. The bridge is 208 foot long and 14 foot wide. It was moved to its current location in 1997 and then totally restored in 2001. Because there was not a river or stream for the bridge to cross a pond was redesigned for it to cross. The pond was also rehabilitated as a safe habitat for fish, with an island in the middle as a sanctuary for birds. It is one of the prettiest locations that we have seen for a covered bridge and it is all artificial.


MILTON COVERED BRIDGE ON THE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL GROUNDS

I received an e-mail that the children of a friend of ours was having a special surprise party for him. We were asked to come if we were close enough to make the trip. We got the invite just barely in time to be able to make the necessary schedule. I guess that I would have to say this is why we decided to live the full time RVing lifestyle, to be able to do things at the spur of the moment. So suddenly we are rerouting to go through Illinois on our way to the Smoky Mountains. We were able to add a stop into the trip and see one of Erma's aunts in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was a short visit but we put as much activity into the time as we could.

In the years past we have been in Cincinnati, Ohio and across the river in Newport, Kentucky for the Tall Stacks Festival two times. During those times there were thousands of extra people that came in to see the river boats. It was difficult to see anything unless it was on the river. And even then there was a whole bunch of people sharing the area trying to see exactly what we were trying to see. It was great to be seeing the river boats going up and down the river in spite of the crowds. However it turns out that I missed taking a close look at the World Peace Bell up close. To be honest it would have been hard to get a close and clear look at it during those times. The World Peace Bell is the largest free swinging bell in the world. Most bells of its size are fixed and there is a striker that causes the bell to ring. This bell swings for special occasions and every day five minutes before noon to ring. It is rung at that time so that it does not interfere with the bell in the nearby courthouse which rings exactly at noon. It also has a striker so that it can be rung without being swung. The bell is 12 ft tall and 12 ft wide. It weighs 66,000 pound and was cast at a ship propeller foundry at Nantes, France under the supervision of the Verdin Bell Company of Cincinnati. The clapper alone weighs 6,878 pounds. It was cast from 80% copper and 20% tin. The striker was locally cast from a special iron which will not damage the bell. The bell was dedicated on December 31, 1999, and rang for the first time at midnight January 1, 2000 when it rang 12 times and was heard 25 miles away. We did not get to see the bell being rung and it was too late in the day to visit the museum so I guess that we have a reason to go back another time. It is worth visiting any time to see the steam boats that have their home port there.


THE WORLD PEACE BELL AND MUSEUM IN NEWPORT, KENTUCKY

We are now in Nashville seeing things that I did not even know existed. From here we will go on to see some of the sights in the Great Smoky Mountains. This last ten days has been very active for us and I think we will take it a little bit slower for a few days and try to catch up on a few of the things that we have let go. We seem to be busy all the time and this week has been more filled with activities than normal. It is time for a bit of relaxation for a change.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On The Road

POTR #51 Back Where I Started From

PEACE ON THE ROAD
Back Where I Started
July 17, 2009

I just got an e-mail from a friend of mine that said he was watching a parade in Milwaukee with circus wagons from the Circus World Museum that the two of us went to see in Baraboo, Wisconsin. I understand that the first parade of this type was in 1963 and was held annually for several years then stopped. This is the first time again in years. I wonder how many kids still have fantasies about living and working with a circus. I have heard many tales of a child that said they wanted to run off and join the circus. When there is so much excitement and glamor that is shown on the surface it would only be natural for a child to be drawn to it. Even as I went through a part of the museum I could not help but think that it would be great to be able to work at the restoration of some of the old circus wagons. Some of the wagons were covered by gold leaf and the restoration of those is quite expensive. But when the work is complete they have a beauty beyond common belief. The museum has been offered wagons that have been in barns for fifty to a hundred years and now the barn is falling down. Back when circuses were traveling around the country a broken wagon might just be abandoned along the road, then a farmer might pick it up and put it in a barn. There were even instances when a circus went into bankruptcy and the entire circus was abandoned where it sat, including all the animals and all the rolling stock. The wagons like this one would carry all the supplies between towns and then perhaps carry an eight to twenty piece band on top during a parade to attract people to come to the circus show and spend a quarter to get in and hopefully another quarter for food. They had to take in a lot of quarters every day. I would like to spend more time and learn more, so I will have to go back. I was only able to tour a part of the museum before time ran out and my legs were too tired to run at all.


A CIRCUS WAGON DEPICTING THE RESCUE OF JOHN SMITH BY POCAHONTAS

I like trains. I like the tiny trains that have engines that are no longer than inch up to trains that roll by pulling over a hundred cars and shaking the ground that I am standing upon. The very best trains are those that hiss and rumble and spew smoke and cinders from their stacks with a huff and a puff. Steam trains are seldom seen anywhere except as a tourist attraction. Out in Sacramento I saw a one man hand operated turntable that was used to turn steam engines and tenders around. It was an authentic reconstruction on the original base from the 1850's. The ingenuity and technology was amazing. It would have been perfect if I could have been one of the people watching the turntable being operated or even better to have turned a 70 ton engine around myself. But I was born a hundred years too late. So the closest that I have come is watching a similar hand operated turntable being operated for a live steam engine on a fifteen inch wide track in Wisconsin Dells. I felt a bit of jealousy while watching the activities of the engineer and the conductor with this coal fired live steam train. This train goes through the woods along the river on the abandoned right of way of a former standard gauge railroad. At the end of the run, which is three mile in length is another simpler hand operated turntable. Along the way is a multitude of bright spring flowers and there is always the possibility of seeing deer or other animals. A lot of people come to ride the train during the fall to see the colored foliage along the river. They also have a pumpkin give away for the kids half way along the route. During December if the weather cooperates they have a Santa Claus Train that runs on the weekends


RIVERSIDE AND GREAT NORTHERN ENGINE LEAVING THE TURNTABLE

This weather here in Rochester has been wet enough to make up for the many months of dry that we have seen in the last year. In almost a month I don't think that there have been more than five dry days. Some days there has been a rain shower six or seven times. We have not gotten the type of rain that I called a goose drowner but areas close to us have. In that way I guess we have been lucky, but having spent so many years in Kansas and Colorado we are accustomed to more sunshiny days than we have had. Our Jeep developed a leak in the sunroof, perhaps a long time ago, that let the water inside. I have been threatening to buy a wet/dry vacuum to carry for at least four years and this finally pushed me to doing it. A couple days I vacuumed over a quart of water out of the floor of the Jeep, and sometimes a pint a couple times during the day. I took the Jeep in to the shop to see about the seal of the sunroof. The sunroof closer was out of adjustment and the drain tubes were plugged. In thinking back I had wondered if the sunroof had always closed to "that" position, and it had not. I would never have guessed that Jeep would have built in drain tubes instead of designing it so that there was not leaks in the first place. At any rate the leak seems to have been fixed.

Back in 1996 I visited a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Erie. It was tucked back on a little obscure road that did not lend itself to being visited. The area was rather weedy and the lighthouse itself was not in bad condition but it showed the effects of age. The only sign that was evident was a sign over the doorway that said "Marblehead 1821. In 1998 the ownership of the lighthouse went to the state of Ohio and it is evident that a lot of rejuvenation and improvement was made to the area when it became part of the Ohio State Parks. The light is located sixty five foot above the ground and has a green flash every six seconds to distinguish it from any beacon lights. It is the oldest continuously operated lighthouse on the great lakes. There was a Civil War Confederate interment camp within eyesight of the lighthouse on Johnson Island where 10,000 men were imprisoned. There were many of the prisoner diaries that mentioned the lighthouse along with dreams of returning to their homes in the South.


THE 1821 LIGHTHOUSE AT MARBLEHEAD, OHIO ON THE SANDUSKY BAY

There have been several times that I have tried to get some pictures of butterflies with a limited success which would have been even less successful except for my telephoto lens. I had the opportunity to go to a butterfly pavilion here in Rochester the other day. Instead of seeing a few or even a couple dozen butterflies I saw hundreds of them. There had to be several dozen different varieties of butterflies and several kinds of moths. My only objection to the visit was that the time was just too short. Maybe it is standard procedure to limit the time a person can visit to a very short time but I did not have nearly enough time to photograph more than a few. To be sure there were a lot of people that came through in each and every tour group. The camouflage of these insects is amazing. There were some with blue iridescent wings that would almost seem to disappear when they folded their wings together. I likely would have never seen one very large and very beautiful moth if it had not been pointed out to me by my wife. It is handy to have a second set of eyes around some times.


A HUGE MOTH IN THE BUTTERFLY PALVILION

Peace On The Road has made me think that in some ways I have come back to where I started. I started by bringing a bride to a home that she had never seen, in a place that she had never visited, to be with people that she had never met, and we didn't know what we were going to do or where we were going to go. That first home had wheels under it, a kitchen in it, a bedroom, a bath, a living room and some storage space. It did not have a motor in it. Something in front had to pull it. It carried no water nor could it generate its own power. Everything we owned was inside or beneath on the ground. Now move forward forty and some years and what do you see? There I am asking the same bride with a different colored hair, to move into a home she had never seen except in a brochure, to go places she has never visited, to be with new people that she had yet to meet, and we don't know what we are going to do or where we are going to go, sometimes until we actually get there. Like that first home this one has wheels under it, a kitchen in it, a bedroom, a bath (well a shower), a living room, and (underneath but not on the ground) some storage space. This one has an engine in the back that pushes, a container of water underneath and a power generator in the front. Except for a few select things everything we own is either inside or beneath in the basement storage. There are some things that have changed in our lives and we see some of the things that have changed for others. It is these changes and the places we visit that makes this life exciting and I have the privilege to share some of them with you.

Till later this is Doug of
Peace On The Road

POTR #50 North In The USA

As I travel from place to place I am constantly seeing something that is amazing or I learn a fact from history that amazes me. One of the things that I find amazing is the architecture that was built by the pioneers of this country. There were buildings that were built in a few months time and today it would likely take years to build a similar building. There were also complex organizations established in a few months time in the 1800's when it would take years today just to get permission to start. But also every once in a while I come across something that makes me think that some people were very naive.


GLASS INSULATORS OF THE FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL TELEGRAPH

A case in point. It seems to me that the Native Americans must have been a rather intelligent people. They were able to survive, and even thrive, in an environment that does not forgive mistakes easily. They were people that lived with nature and both adapted their surrounding to themselves and adapted their lifestyles to the surrounding environment. In the 1800's the United States was expanding west towards California. The best communication time was on the Butterfield Stage which took an average of twenty-two days to deliver mail in either direction. When the Pony Express came into existence the time was cut to about ten days. When the transcontinental telegraph was completed 1861 a message could be transmitted coast to coast in a matter of minutes. In the composite picture above the top portion shows an old telegraph key and two blue glass insulators that were used on the poles. It was indicated that the Indians would take the insulators from the poles and make decorative adornments for themselves. So to hide the insulators from the sight of the Indians wooden caps were placed over the glass. Out of sight and out of mind. On the bottom left is is an original and on the bottom right is a reproduction. It seems to me that it would take any person about one second to realize where the glass insulator was hidden. There must have been another reason for the covers. But as it was told the story is interesting. These and many more displays are at the Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph Missouri.

Every once in a while I find out that information that I have gotten from some source is not as accurate as is desirable. I have been telling people that the Tiffany stained glass windows in the Presbyterian church in Topeka are the only Tiffany windows west of the Mississippi. When I was in Topeka I visited them again, something I may do often. I was fortunate enough to visit when a former minister of the church was giving a tour to a group of school students. He related that he had in the past told the same story about the windows to tours that he gave. During one of the tours a man told him that there were two other churches west of the Mississippi that Tiffany windows could be seen. One was in St. Joe, Missouri and the other in Dubuque, Iowa. We went to see the windows in St Joe. They are from the early career of Tiffany, while the ones in Topeka are from late in his career. The St. Joe windows are heavily painted in the tradition of the stained glass window makers of the 1880's in America and Europe. While they are not the quality of the Topeka windows they are still fabulous. We had hoped to see the ones in Dubuque as we headed east, but things just did not work out that way. Next trip maybe.


EARLY TIFFANY STAINED GLASS WINDOW IN ST. JOE, MISSOURI

I can tell already that I should have written a POTR about two weeks ago. There has been so much happening that there is not going to be room to tell you all that I would like in this issue. I have been writing some in the Uncle Duck's Tracks blog. One big objective in our routing was to go through Sioux Falls, SD so that Erma could get her drivers license renewed. It took her almost ten minutes to get the renewal done. Look in the machine to verify that eyes are still functioning and stand in front of the blue screen till the light flashes to take a picture. Then in three minutes the new license is ready and we head out the door. But to do this we had to drive 1200 miles. There must be a reason besides "we have done it that way for sixty years." At least we do not have to renew for another five years.

Near Sioux Falls, but in the state of Minnesota, is Pipestone National Monument. I have wanted to visit there ever since I first read about it several years ago and I finally had time to get there. For three to four thousand years the Native Americans have quarried a red catlinite rock or pipestone which they carved into sacred effigies, religious items and medicine pipes or prayer pipes, which the white man called peace pipes. The pipestone was not only used by local tribes but was traded from coast to coast. The Indians considered the quarry area to be sacred and even warring tribes suspended any hostilities while in the area. When we were there it seemed to be an almost sacred place. The weather could not have been better in any way. There was wildlife to be seen and heard and flowers blooming in the area. There was even enough water in the stream to create a beautiful waterfall. The quarries are only worked in the late summer when there is less water that gathers in the pits. If there had been Indians actually quarrying it would have been great. There were two natives that were demonstrating the carving of objects . They were using modern methods and tools but it was still enlightening to watch.


A WATERFALL AT PIPESTONE NAT. MON. IN PIPESTONE MINNESOTA

We went on to Wisconsin Dells and met with some people from Bentsen Grove in Texas. Since they have lived in the area for a long time we had tour guides and good tour advice. There is so much to see there that we will have to go back some time. Unfortunately it was not all good. Our friend for nearly twenty years and travel companion for all our travels, our cat, died the first evening that we were there. While it was not unexpected it was still a loss. At least a few dozen times a day we look for him to come greet us or to be laying in some of his usual spots. We lost a very good friend. and companion.

In the 1700's the French made maps of the area and called it the Dalles of the Ouisconsin river. Meskousing was the name that the Native American called the river. As you can see it is a simple step to Wisconsin Dells. It is a land of great forests with high rock formations. One of the rock formations is called Standing Rock. In 1865 H. H. Bennett established a photo studio in town selling local photos and postcards to the tourist. He also developed a stop action shutter for a camera and is credited with taking the first ever stop action photo. He had his son Ashley jump from the main formation over to Standing Rock and got a picture of him in midair on the thirteenth jump. Today at the same place during a boat tour of the Upper Dells the same scene is reenacted with German Shepard dogs. It really is a short jump for them. Thanks to a camera that can take five pictures per second I was able to get the shot below. This is only one of many tall cliffs, formations, slot canyons and sights to be seen.


A GERMAN SHEPARD DOG JUMPING BACK FROM STAND ROCK

We are now in Rochester, NY and will spend time here visiting our Daughter and seeing the friends that we have made here over the past ten or fifteen years. There are a couple places that I would like to visit and some things that I want to do. So it should be a fun time. It has rained more in the three days we have been here than we have seen since some time last summer. It has not rained a lot but we simply have not seen rain beyond a heavy sprinkle for months at a time. After a rainy day tonight is very foggy and that is something that we have not seen a lot of either. We joke about it being a cold winters day. The different parts of the country sure have different types of weather. This is not bad though.

Till later this is Doug of
Peace On The Road

POTR #49 Out Of Texas

PEACE ON THE ROAD
Out Of Texas
May 19, 2009

It has taken a while longer than we expected but we are out of the state of Texas. As you may recall our original plan was to stay in Mission, Texas for three months and possibly a fourth month. Due to circumstances we stayed five and a half months. The extra time that we spent in Mission was due to some events that we had hoped would not happen for several years yet. My Mother in Law was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimers and was rapidly becoming worse. She finally reached a stage that we could not take care of her in the manner which she needed. While a motor home is a great place to live and a great way to travel and see the country, it is not conducive to caring for a person who is needing help with almost any normal task. There simply is not room enough through the doors to push a wheel chair. There are too many steps into the interior for us to be able to get her in and out safely. We knew that some day there would be a time when we could not give her care she needed and it finally got to be that way. But at least she was able to be with us for four and a half years. Helen has moved to an assisted living facility for Alzheimer patients. It is a small place with only about thirty five residents. The staff seems to be very caring people and they seem to be willing to do any thing that is needed. Helen seems to be doing a lot better in the home than she was with us. Her Dr told us before she moved that there is often an improvement that occurs. Whether it is because of a more routine schedule or people that are not related to her taking care of her or other factors has never been determined. At any rate it seems that the home is a better place for her to be.

We are currently in Wichita, Kansas and will go on to Topeka tomorrow, May 18. The travel that we have done in the previous four days has been faster than any we have done since we have started full timing. We have several times taken four weeks to cover the distance we have covered in the three days we actually were driving this time. To be right honest I would rather take a longer time and see more of the country. Still it was nice to see the wheat that was already harvested in Texas, then in Oklahoma the wheat was about half golden and half green and here in front of the Vectra the wheat field is all green. If a trip of this distance is made slower it is very possible to see nothing except fields that have been harvested. As we were driving along we saw a couple signs that I thought were interesting. The first was a sign that said, "SEEDLESS PECANS", now how is that possible. The pecan that the nutmeat comes from is the seed as far as I know. Wouldn't that be about like seedless sunflower seeds? Or would that be a tree that is too young to have produced any nuts? The other sign that caught my eye was a very professionally painted sign advertising the services at an auto service center. Among the items listed was "GREZE JOBS." What part of the car needs greze? There was one time that I heard some people called grezers. Are they highly trained mechanics that only do this work like a transmission specialist? I should have stopped and asked them. Or maybe not.

Just a couple days before we left Bentsen Grove I heard about a humming bird that had built a nest on a swag lamp chain on the porch of one of the residents. I have never seen a hummingbirds nest in real life. So I had to go look and take a couple pictures. It is amazing that the nest is only about three foot from the door that goes into the house. When the lady steps in or out of her door the door comes within a few inches of the nest. What makes it doubly surprising is the fact that this is the second year that the bird has built a nest in this location. While the nest is in a location that seems to discourage predatory birds from coming near, which is good, there seems to be another problem with the location. Somehow the nest has been slowly tilting so the effective size of the nest is shrinking and also the babies, there are two, are growing and need more room. I understand that twice one of the babies has fallen out of the nest. In case one of did fall the lady that lives in the house had placed towels on the table beneath the nest to cushion the fall. When it did fall a neighbor was able to put it back in the nest using a spoon. When I took the pictures I used a long telephoto so I took no chance of disturbing either the birds or the nest. I really wanted to straighten the nest somehow but I was afraid to touch anything or approach any closer than I did. I was able to see slight movement in the nest but I am afraid that the picture leaves a lot to your imagination. It gives an idea of the size of the nest and the babies.

THERE ARE TWO BABY HUMMING BIRDS IN THIS NEST

THE NEST HAS TILTED ALMOST FORTY FIVE DEGREES

As we came up through Texas we stayed just south of San Antonio. We have been through this area several times and have visited the Missions. We are there on hot days and we always get to at least one of the mission sites close to closing times. It was not different this time. We had been out looking at the countryside around Poteet and had a late lunch near San Jose Mission. I was not ready to go home so I suggested that we go for a short look. Just as we got to the Mission a movie about the place started which we watched and then there was about a half hour before closing time. Even though we had been there before I saw things and learned things that were a total surprise at this location.

The irrigation system that was developed for the fields was quite extensive. There was around fifty miles of ditches that served fifteen hundred acres or more of cropland. In addition to the irrigating of the fields the ditches brought water to the mission to provide power to the grist mill. Of all the missions, San Jose was the only one that operated a mill. Records show that the Franciscans had the mill operating by 1794. Since Spanish ladies and gentlemen at that time ate only wheat and did not eat corn it was necessary to build a mill to reduce wheat to flour. Flour does not last as long as the raw grain so the mill was operated every day to produce the needed flour to bake bread. At the speed they would have operated the mill about a bushel of wheat could have been ground every hour or 600 to 800 pounds every day if desired. In a good year when there was an excess amount of grain produced and therefore excess flour produced, it would be traded to the other missions and residents in the area. A close look at the picture below shows that the mill was operated in a counterclockwise direction. That was only done in Spain and Portugal. All other European countries turned their mills clockwise. The water was supplied to the wheel from a ten foot deep pool of water called a forebay. The Spanish learned this technology from the Moors before they were driven from Spain.

THE WATERWHEEL UNDER THE SAN JOSE GRIST MILL

The working part of the grist mill was two mill stones each weighing about three hundred and fifty pounds. The millstones were made from quartzite stone imported from France where the most expensive and best millstones in the world were produced. It is notable that while the Spanish and French were constantly at war with each other there was trading between the two countries or at least between merchants. Both stones were rough on one side and smooth on the other. The smooth sides had grooves, called farrows, cut into them. The top stone or running stone was rotated above the stationary bottom stone or bed stone by about the thickness of a piece of paper. The grain would be cut between the grooves with action similar to cutting scissors. There is actually no grinding that occurs. There was a stick, called a damsel in Britain, that bounced along the rough surface of the running stone. It jiggled a grain hopper shaking a steady stream of grain into the center hole, called an eye, cut into the center of the upper wheel. The miller would feel the product or run of mill between his thumb and finger thus making adjustments according to the "rule of thumb." The run of mill would be sieved through woven cloth to remove oversized material. It would take a couple hundred pounds of flour every day to provide the bread needed by the approximately three hundred and fifty people that lived there during its heyday. Unfortunately in the first ten years of the existence of the mission seventy percent of the native inhabitants died of diseases carried by the Spanish. Since the continuation of the mission was dependent upon maintaining a stable work force recruitment was often done by military forces. Much of the training of the natives in various trades and how to defend themselves was done by one or two friars and only one soldier. Skilled stone masons and some other skilled artisans were brought from Spain. At one time the entire front and the interior walls were covered with frescoes of multicolored geometric designs. The frescoes were decorated using a tediously applied art form. The front was frescoed with red and blue crosses and with yellow and orange squares to simulate great depressed stones. There are still some indications of the frescoes that can be seen on the outside. There are only a few partial designs in the interior left today that have not succumbed to the ravages of time in the two hundred and fifty years since they were painted

THE GRIST WHEELS, GRAIN HOPPER WITH DAMSEL, AND TOOLS OF THE GRIST MILL

Our next destination is Topeka, Kansas where we will spend about a week. While we are there Erma will go to a class reunion. We also plan to spend some time with family that live in the area and I hope to visit a couple sites that I have not been able to visit on other trips. From there we have to go on up to South Dakota so Erma can renew her drivers license. Again while we are up in that country there are a few places that I would like to see again in some cases and in a few others some places that I have heard about but never had the opportunity to visit. I am always looking for new interesting places to visit and places where I can learn more about the history of the area. Any suggestions anybody?

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road

POTR #48 Spring Begins

PEACE ON THE ROAD

Spring Begins

March 17, 2009

As I start to write it is almost "Spring" again. (That was written the 16th and now it is the 24th) I look out the front window and see flowering poinsettias, trees with full branches of leaves. I can also look out a side window and see a flowering orange tree with the first baby oranges starting to grow. The oranges range from the size of baby peas up to about the size of a golf ball. There are hundreds, or more likely thousands, of blossoms that are going to try to produce fruit. If it is a good year and summer does not bring a "Dolly" I should have a lot of fruit waiting for me when I return late this next fall. Just a few steps away, on the sites of some of my neighbors are citrus trees of every common variety and I am often offered permission to pick and eat. There are also a lot of sites that are now vacant and by default a few fruits are available to anyone that wishes to partake. The biggest problem with all of this is the fact that if I didn't have a calendar I would not have a clue as to the date. I heard today from a person that at his home up north there is four foot of snow on the ground. We had a day not long ago that the temperature registered 112 degrees on our parked Jeep. To be sure it was in the bright sun, and as soon as I had driven a block the temperature had fallen to about a hundred degrees. I agreed with some of the people around here that said it was too hot even at that, but at least there was no snow. That was a record maker and it was followed by some cold days and more recently perfect temperatures.

THE ORANGE TREE JUST OUTSIDE THE WINDOW OF OUR VECTRA

There is an area within this park that is called the temporary area. I think that at one time it was for people that came in for a length of time that was likely less than a week. But that seems to have been put aside and it is used for several months by some people and some of the sites that would make sense for long periods of time are used by people that may only be there for a day or two. I guess that I should give up trying to figure out how they select where people stay. I guess it doesn't matter as long as the people that need a site have one. When we came here there were only a couple campers in the temporary area, it was not long before there were almost no spots, if any, available. Now it has gotten back to being very empty. Why people are heading back north this early in the year I am not sure. Several people have talked about how cold it still is and how much snow is still at their homes. Maybe they are taking their time to get home. Some also have mentioned taxes as the reason for leaving now, but I still don't understand that when it can be done on-line so easily.

BENTSEN GROVE DANCERS AT VIDA ADULT DAY CARE CENTER

I am sure that there are many towns that have Adult Day Care centers but I cannot remember seeing them in the Denver Area of Colorado or any other place that we have traveled for that matter. I suppose that now that I have made such a statement I will see them everywhere. Perhaps they have a different name for them in other states or cities. Here in the Mission/McAllen area there are a lot of them. Again Iwill have to say that I did not see them down here until after the dance group here at the park went to dance at one nearby. We have danced at two different ones this year. When we go to put on a performance we try to get the clients to dance with us on a simple dance that they can do with little or no instruction. Some of them really get into the action with us. I had one lady tell me that she wouldn't "dance today but she would when we came back the next time." The picture above shows us at the Vida Adult Day Care the first time we were there. We went there a second time this last week and half the clients or more were gone to one of the flea markets, so we had as many dancers as there were people to watch. At another center that we went to we were cut short because the cook burnt something in the kitchen and set off the fire alarm. The fire department showed up and there was a regulation that stated that the building had to be evacuated totally. We only had a couple dances to perform, so not knowing how long it would be before the people would be allowed back in we left to return to our lessons back at the park. It was getting close to the time that they would be serving their lunch so we did not really have time to wait for the all clear and continue the dancing.

PALM TREE IN BENTSEN GROVE RESORT ON THE MAIN STREET

Palm trees fascinate me. There are many varieties and I like every one of them. Perhaps that is due in part to the fact that I grew up in a place where the only view of a palm tree was in National Geographic Magazine or some other magazine or book that was about exotic places and vacation sites. Here there are streets that are lined with very tall palm trees for block after block. I have always liked any street that was lined with trees but I think there is something special about palms. Some of the palms grow large bases that look like huge pineapples when the fronds are trimmed off the trunks. Some people work very hard to remove the fronds as they get old and others allow the fronds to hang down and form a shape almost like a Tiki hut. Whatever form they take I like them. I have not found anyone who can tell me how to guess the age of any of the palms that I see. When the trees are transplanted all the fronds are removed and just about all the root is removed also. I am amazed that the tree can survive at all. Some people do not like palm trees. When we were in Florida there were many palms that had their blossoms removed almost before they had a chance to open. This park has a lot of palms. But I have heard that as they die of old age or are removed they will not be replaced because they harbor palmetto bugs, which we would call a giant cockroach. While that may be true I have yet to see a single one of the bugs. In the picture above the blossom is showing to the left side of the picture and the seed fruits are a dark blue-green. I do not have a clue as to the variety or type of palm. The nuts, if that is what they are, are very hard with an olive like covering on it. It might be edible, but if it is it would be hard to eat. Still I think it is a beautiful tree and I think it adds value to the view here.

Erma and I have had a running joke for quite a few years now. Ever since she got her personal cell phone we have said that I needed one also so that I could find her in the large stores when we go there. I have been aware that some day I would join the millions of people that have a cell phone. However I have never really liked the idea of the cell phone in spite of the obvious value of them. The thing that finally broke me was the air card for my computer. Over a year ago I had reason to believe that my computer was on the brink of total failure, so I bought a new computer. With all the changes that computers make the air card that I had would not work on the new computer. I needed a different card but it was going to be quite expensive to get for a while. Because I was then using the new computer most of the time the old one survived. Less load = longer life. So finally I was able to get an air card that would work in either computer. While we in the phone store getting the air card we went ahead and got a second cell phone for me. The first chance I had I tried to make the running joke of Erma and myself a reality. Later when we stopped at Wal-Mart I dropped Erma off at the door while I went to find a place to park. When I walked into the store I called her to ask where she was. She answered with, "About ten foot behind you." Took most of the fun out of the call. Since that time we have found out that the phones are as handy to have as we knew they would be. One problem I have had is that one number was calling between ten and twenty times a day and leaving a message that I could get my voice mail if I dialed my extension. It was some business in Kansas. The phone company put a block on that number and I have had pretty fair service since then. Not many wrong numbers. One caller wanted to know who I was since the number no longer went to his friend. People are funny.

It seems that every day has dancing, quilling, Spanish lessons or some other activity that we are involved with or there is some park show we want to go watch. If I am not occupied with those things there always seems to be something that I need to do on the computer. I have gotten involved with the computer club this year and I spend a lot of time helping people around the park with their computers. I have been leading one session of the computer club meetings and trying to teach some fun things to do with the computer that are not usually done by people. As an example I taught a class on Power Point Presentations and I did not know how to use the program so I had to learn before I went to teach. I am not about to say that I know even yet, but at least I can make a simple presentation. I have also learned and taught how to make movies. Many people have requested a copy of one of the movies I made. They in turn have told me that they have e-mailed it on to family members up north.

Our original plans were to leave Mission on the 1st of April and go up to Rockport for three weeks. I am not yet ready to say our plans have changed but there is a good chance that we will stay here for another month . It is pretty much anyones guess how things will work out in the near future. I still am hoping that we can do the things that we planned for the summer. One of those is to be able to go to Erma's class reunion of fifty years in Kansas towards the end of May. Next year we also plan to go to my fifty year reunion in Kansas toward the end of June. I have to say that the end of May in Kansas sounds more appealing than well into June. Somehow Erma has to be in Sioux Falls this summer to renew her drivers license. It is too bad that those cannot be renewed by letter or on the Internet. Some states allow renewal that way. It would save us a lot of trouble if we could do that. But at least we don't have to go there every year to renew something or show up in person to do some task. Following our stop in South Dakota we are still planning on going to Rochester, New York to spend some time with our daughter. We are looking forward to a busy and fun summer this year.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road