POTR #66 The Winnebago Factory

PEACE ON THE ROAD

A Visit To The Winnebago Factory

July 8, 2011

According to the calendar it is now almost Independence Day. Summer is fast going past. I would like to tell you about the interesting places that I have visited lately, but that is just a bit limited this time. I left Texas and have traveled north to upper Iowa and then across the upper US. I have spent a lot of time “holed up” waiting for weather, tornadoes and rain to clear ahead of my intended route. Along the way I have seen many places that either I want to visit some time or it looked interesting as I drove past on the Interstate. I have been able to stop and see some friends in a couple places, but for the rest of the time it has been almost a duty to get to a specific destination for some reason.

For several years I have been wondering if it made sense to take the Vectra back to the factory in Forest City, Iowa to have it worked on. Until this year it would have been a rather long specific trip for a small amount of work, or what I thought would be a small amount. This year about the time we reached Oklahoma I looked and saw that we could change our route just a little and go to the factory. So that is just what we have done. We did not think we would have the problem of ordering parts from the factory and waiting a week before they could be delivered and then another week before the part could be installed. Everything we needed would be at the factory. That was excellent in theory but it did not work in practice all that well. It was likely a bit naive of me to think that even the factory would have all the parts necessary for a seven year old motor home. I have gotten a lot of education in coming here. Many parts still have to ordered from somewhere else. But the delivery time is short.

When we called in to see if was possible to get an appointment we got our first surprise. Either we could schedule an appointment for August or we could come in for an unscheduled service anytime and they could get us in within a day or two. I have not been able to figure out how those two work together. Either wait over two months or get in within a couple days. Why would a person wait months unless they lived in the area, but if they lived in the area then why would they wait that long. At any rate we were delayed during the trip up here by the weather. We really did not have the desire to drive through a lot of rain and through areas that were predicting high probability of severe winds and tornadoes. We arrived on a Monday afternoon and they thought that we could in Tuesday afternoon. We could stay in one of their parking lot sites that are reserved for the “unscheduled” people. It was finally Thursday that we were able to get in the first time. Their service day started at 7:00 and ended sharply at 3:00. The Vectra was in the shops for four days, being returned at 3:00 every day and over the weekend. We would move it to the parking area and set up camp every day.

I think that it would be logical for a factory campground to be nice. Again I suppose that I was being naive. The camping area is good gravel, the electricity is 30 amps only, which is just fine for small units that some people have. Nearly all the units that are here for service are large units that really should have 50 amp service. As long as the weather is not too hot, the microwave is not used, the water heater is on LP gas, 30 amp works just fine. But if it gets hot then there are going to be a bunch of people that will be short of power. I am now writing this a thousand miles away from the factory so I can say that we did not have hot weather. In fact it was cool and rainy. The rain was actually to our advantage. A new leak appeared in the front section of the RV last summer. When we were in Denver we took the Vectra into the dealer where it was bought to get the leaks repaired. Four times we took it in and four times we were told that it was fixed. After the last visit it didn't leak for a couple weeks, that is because we did not have any rain, by then we were many miles into our travels. Spending the winter in Texas where there was a severe drought was the best thing we could do. There was little rain and therefore no leaks, that is until we started moving north. The factory techs finally found and sealed (I think and hope) one of the leaks in the front. Another leak was around the windshield so the windshield had to removed and resealed. That led to a broken windshield and the installation of a new one. At least so far, through several rains there have been no leaks that we have detected.

We spent over a week in the parking lot of the visitors center at the Winnebago Factory. In addition to the leaks mentioned we have some issues that are caused by living in our motor home for seven years and there have been some problems from the day that we bought the Vectra. In our rear bedroom slide there has been a leak during every rain that we have been in from day one. We have taken it in to be fixed more times than I care to think about. It has been “fixed” in New York, Texas, Colorado and now here in Forest City, Iowa. We have been told every time that it is fixed. It is until the next rain. I hope that after we leave here I will not be able to say, “It leaked again.” The leaks should never have left the factory. We took a tour of the factory and they claim that all units are water tested with the equivalent of a 50 inch per hour rainstorm. I for one do not believe that was done to our unit before they shipped it, or nobody inspected the inside with any diligence after the test. We had several leaks fixed in New York on our first trip in 2004. For the most part New York did a good job. But many attempts to get the leak in the bedroom slide fixed have failed. Seven years of leaking in the bedroom slide has caused additional damage that will require a factory scheduled time to repair. Since we have the documentation that indicated we have have the leak “fixed” so many times the factory says, “We can work with you on the charges.” So towards the end of August we will return to the factory and hope to have fixed a leak that should have never left the factory in the first place.

We have read many places that tires should be replaced every six to seven years no matter how few miles it has. UV rays and oxygen cause tire rubber to deteriorate. Cracks develop in the sidewalls and the cord inside starts to weaken. My tires were seven years old in the last week of June. Again the factory should have tires. Right? Wrong! It was going to be up to ten weeks before any tires of the size I need would be produced by the tire manufacturer and then a while longer to be available. The service adviser called a local tire dealer. This is a small dealer in a small Iowa farm town that he called. He could have them in two days. That in itself was amazing to me but equally amazing was his price. He was at least $200 cheaper than any other price I had found including the factory if they ever got any. Don't get the idea the dealer was cheap. I need six tires and each one was over $500, mounted, balanced and exchanged. It is no wonder that many motor home owners will keep tires on for ten to fifteen years. We have heard numerous stories of tire failures which resulted in thousands of dollars in damages to the motor home. Also we have heard similar stories from people that bought low quality, cheap tires that perhaps were not maintained properly. Early in our travels I bought a tire pressure monitoring system that will warn me of tire pressure drop. It will allow me to check all the pressures of the six tires on the Vectra and on the four on the Jeep that I tow in about ten seconds even while driving. Actually Erma does the checking if I am driving about every hour so and any slow leak will be detected. I hope that this system tells me if any rapid pressure drops long before there is any major damage. In all the years I have never had any leaks. I have always believed that balancing a tire was good practice. Many times I have seen five or more ounces of wheel weights put on an auto tire. The tires of the Vectra are a LOT heavier than an auto tire so I expected more weights to be used. But tires are made with better balance than they were thirty or more years ago and the balancing technology has improved. The way they balanced the motor home tire was to pour ten ounces of glass beads inside the tire. I have seen balancing systems that put marble sized glass balls in a hula hoop like ring and then fastened the ring to the tire. These are very tiny glass beads, like the glass beads on reflective highway signs, which seek the light side of the tire and rebalance every time you drive. It really is quite a concept. According to the dealer it works much better than lead weights attached to the rim.

It must have been 25 years ago that I read a book about living the “Full Timing” lifestyle. The book told of several people who were “living full time” in some sort of RV and it indicated the amount that they were spending. Bear in mind that it was 25 years ago or more and the book might have been 5 years old at the time that I read it. Some of the people were living for as little as $250 a month. The ones that seemed to be living high off the hog were spending $1500 a month. I imagine that most of them were living in small RV's too. Times have changed for sure.

On the north side of Rochester is a beautiful light house that we were privileged to visit this week. For over a hundred years the town of Charlotte at the mouth of the Genessee river which flows into Lake Ontario was a very important port for many sailing ships and paddle wheelers which carried supplies for international trade and coal from Pennsylvania. In 1822 a forty foot light house was built on a small hill on the west side of the river. Subsequently piers for the lake trade were built into the harbor. The piers reduced the effectiveness of the light so it was decommissioned and the cast iron lens housing and Fresnel lens was moved to the west pier location by the river. For a hundred years the top of the tower was covered with a roof to keep rain out. It was being considered for demolition at one point. Charlotte high school students rallied to save the tower. The current tower top was built by the Edison Technical High school shop teacher and students. The light keepers house has been converted to a museum and gift shop. It is the second oldest lighthouse in all of the Great Lakes.

THE CHARLOTTE GENESSEE LIGHTHOUSE

This was written over a couple weeks so it is a bit rambling. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and the rest of your summer goes well. We will spend a few more weeks in Rochester and then go, slower than three days, back to the factory in Forest City, Iowa for additional repairs to our motor home.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road

Catching Up

I had the surprise just a couple days ago of being told by someone just how long it had been since I wrote anything to post in Uncle Ducks Tracks. While I had not a single doubt about the correctness of their statement I found it hard to believe. Of course I also had to check to prove to myself that they were correct, and I wanted to see what I had written so I know where to star today. Another friend told me last fall that a high percent of blogs are laying fallow. That in itself is unfortunate but it is almost criminal when I have to admit that my blog is fallow. Is it okay if I do like a crop farmer and just plant a couple crops a year and let my friends do the harvesting. I do not seem to have the ability to be like the farmer that raises chickens and sends product off to market every day.

At my last posting I just ready to start my duties as the new editor of the “Bentsen Grove Mirror.” That proved to be quite a job. It is desirable to submit the final draft to the office on Monday morning. Hopefully the Activity Director does not find any serious errors and she can send it on to the printer. If all goes well it will be printed and back for distribution on Friday, so that people can have it by the publication date of Saturday. Fortunately the publication is fortnightly, every two weeks. I would be in trouble if I had to do it weekly. When I thought I had the first issue that I was to edit complete I had Erma proofread it. She found some errors, which were corrected, and we both missed a couple. The next morning the activity director found a name that was incorrectly spelled. Those were bad enough. The Mirror has advertisers that pay a fee to be put into each issue. After it was distributed I found out that one of the advertisers was left out. There are supposed to be 24 outside advertisers plus 2 in park advertisers. I did not know about the in park advertisers. So I only had 23 ads. Later still I discovered that I only had 20 ads because 3 were in it twice. So with a grading system I could only give myself a “D”. Even that was after staying up till 3:00 AM trying to get it right. Many people complimented me on the “good” job I did. They did not see the mistakes that were made. Most did not notice three of the six pages of that issue had either the wrong month or wrong year or both wrong.

I have edited five more issues, which had eight pages each, and each time I have been able to improve my grade slightly. I cannot say that I have made an “A” yet but I keep getting closer. I decided that it would be desirable to make the Mirror available to people by e-mail. At first I tried to set up a system that people could join or leave without me doing anything. When that turned out to be not too feasible I decide that I would just set up a group and add anybody who asked to be added. There are many residents, former residents, residents family and others that would like to know what is going on in the park. I can send an e-mail to them and nobody has any expense for stamps or printing. Some of the residents do not get to the park until after Christmas or they leave early and therefore don't get the early issues or the late ones. Anyone, resident or nonresident, that is interested in getting the Mirror only has to write to bentsengrovemirror@gmail.com and ask and I will put them on the list.

Fortnight is a word that I have known since late grade school or so. But I had never thought about where the word came from. I just now looked it up in a dictionary of ethnology on the Internet. Apparently it originated around 1000 AD and was a contraction of fourteen and nights. When I read that I wondered “Why night instead of day?” For the most of my time reckoning I think about days, but apparently the Germans of that time counted time as the number of nights. Thus it was a time period covering fourteen “nights.” It is too bad that when I was a kid I did not feel the need to become more knowledgeable. Too soon I have become old and too long I have waited to try to become smart. It may be too late for the smart, but I am doing well in getting old.

When a lot of the winter Texans went back to their homes in the north the amount of computer help that I was doing dropped, but did not stop. I was helping a couple ladies the day before we left Bentsen Grove. I do not even know if my help was successful. I have yet to figure out how I seem to be able to fix the things I do. Part of it is that I am not afraid of computers and have tried many things. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. Someone told me that anything you know how to do is easy. So I like the easy things so I am successful. With the slowdown I did have time to do some reading and that I enjoyed. I also had some time to visit a couple friend that I had not talked to much during the year. That also was nice.

The day we left Bentsen Grove was strange. About a week before I had found a bunch of water in a watertight compartment. I could not find a leak. I got the water out and it stayed dry. As we were ready to leave, the motor home was in the street, and I was hooking on the Jeep, I saw water running out of the compartment again. This time when I looked in I could see a valve leaking. I found out after a while that the plastic bonnet of the valve had broken. The MH's water pump puts out more pressure than the park water connection. As long as we were on park water connection it did not leak. A couple weeks before the park water was off and we switched to the pump. When we got ready to go I went in to wash my hands after disconnecting everything outside and I used the pump again. Each time the pump was used the leak became worse. If it was not fixed we would not have any water in the MH at all. I think it took over two hours driving around with the MH pulling the Jeep to find a valve. Then I simply took the new stem out of the new valve and installed it into the old valve. It is working fine. But oh did we ever get a late start. We even considered going back to the park and spending another night there.

In traveling north we seemed to follow just behind the bad weather. We never hit any rains that lasted long or was hard. I do not want to travel in rain for a couple reasons. First is just the fact that I have a big unit and there is no reason to do it unless necessary. The second is my windshield wipers. There is something wrong with them. They will stop in the middle of a wipe and will not start again until the fuse is pulled and then put back in. Now that has caused much confusion several times. Before I found out how to “reset” the computer that controls the wipers by unplugging the fuse and replacing I had it is a shop to have it repaired. Of course the first thing they did was pull the fuse and check it and put it back in. The wipers would work great and they could find no problem. Just on this trip we hit a little rain, just a sprinkle, but rain never the less. The wipers ran about ten minutes or so and stopped. I pulled off at the first exit, pulled the fuse and put it back in. Back on the Interstate and they stopped within two minutes. Next exit I pulled off, pulled the fuse and they started and then ran for forty miles till I decided to exit for the night. They have not stopped since. I never know if they will run for 5 minutes or 5 hours. I really do not want to pull off the Interstate shoulder to pull the fuse in a driving rain or drive along without wipers in a driving rain either. I am sure it can be fixed with a well place on/off switch.

Our plans are to take the motor home back to the factory where it was built and have some work done on it. There is some maintenance that needs to be done and after seven years the tires need to be replaced even though the tread is barely worn. At the rate of tread wear I could drive them for least seventy more years. But time is harder on tires than driving when you have a trailer or motor home.

In continuing with my promise of sharing place of interest that should be seen with you I will recommend that you go out along I-70 to the middle of western Kansas. Some people say that there is nothing to see out there but I hope they make the effort to see this. The painting is huge, but not quite a large as it looks in the picture with the water tower in the background.  (Left click on the picture to get a larger view)

No. 3 – Largest Easel In The World, Van Gogh Painting

Goodland, Kansas has the third painting in The Van Gogh Project which is a series of Big Easel paintings based on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflower Paintings. Vincent van Gogh was born in the Netherlands in 1853. His family worked primarily in religion and art. One of his relatives also named Vincent was a very successful sculptor. His Grandfather, Vincent, had a degree in theology. Three of his six uncles were art dealers, again one of them was named Vincent. That uncle assisted him in getting a job with an art dealer in London and Paris. He became isolated and fervent about religion and expressed to the customers resentment about how art was treated as a commodity. A decision was made that he should leave his job. For several years he either went to theology school or worked as a preacher in various locations. He chose squalid living conditions shared with the people to whom he preached. The church authorities believed this was undermining the dignity of the priesthood and he was dismissed. His brother convinced him to take up art seriously, so Vincent attended the Royal Academy of Art. Van Gogh’s early paintings were mostly dark painting in brown and black, which his brother attempted to sell. In the last ten years of his life he produced the colorful pictures for which he is famous, including a series of seven paintings of sunflowers. Three Sunflowers In A Vase is the painting on the easel that is in Goodland, Kansas. The easel is eighty foot tall and weighs forty five thousand pounds. The painting is twenty four foot by thirty two foot. The intent of the Van Gogh project is to reproduce all seven of Van Gogh’s Sunflower Paintings which he made during his stay in Arles, France between 1888 and 1889. The first easel with Twelve Sunflowers In A Vase, has been reproduced in Altona, Manitoba, Canada. The second easel is in Australia.

POTR #65 Texinated

PEACE ON THE ROAD

Texinated

April 15, 2011

After spending twenty years in Kansas winters and over forty years in Colorado winters I got pretty familiar with the cold and snow. There were some winters that I never put on a coat. To be sure I always had a coat in my vehicles along with all the other necessary articles for warmth. I also spent some winters wearing every insulated item I owned and wished I had warmer clothes. The last few winters have been very different. Mostly I have been wearing shorts and tee shirts all winter, thus I have gained a reputation of not wearing enough clothes. But then I think of a friend of mine that spent a winter in Alaska at forty below and claimed that when it got to ten above he and his friends played football during the daylight in tee shirts. Here in Texas there have been many times that I have seen people wearing parkas when the temperature dropped to sixty degrees. They tell me I need to put on long pants and a coat. I tease them right back and tell them that they are just too “Texinated”.

We have had some cold weather, at least weather that is considered cold down here. The temperature has gotten down as low as 26 degrees and has been below freezing for ten hours or perhaps longer. There were a lot of water lines that froze and some that broke. The problems were not just in the park as the electric companies here did not have the facilities to handle the cold weather. There were some rolling blackouts and when an area that had been shut down for a few hours was turned back on the power surge was too much for many transformers, and then it took as much as two days to get power back on. We really did not have too much trouble with the cold. This motor home has its own water supply and we have a generator if there is a problem. One drawback it has is the necessity of having 12 volt batteries that are holding charge. In spite of running off 120 volts or propane the controls for everything are 12 volt. The furnace may be propane but the thermostat is 12 volt. When this Vectra was built the cable from the converter to the house batteries was terminated with an extremely thin battery connection. The first time I saw it I was afraid to move it at all because it might break off. It lasted six years before it failed which means that it was better than I thought. But it broke off just before the cold weather so we could not keep the charge up on the batteries. I put my very small charger (6 amp) on the battery and I borrowed a charger (12 amp) from the neighbor and was able to keep the battery charged, which allowed us to function normally. After the weather warmed a bit, up into the 60's I replaced the terminal with a quality clamp and we have had no problem with it since. All in all it was an eye opener to the dependence that we put on electricity of one sort or another.

I have not written much for Peace On The Road lately and I am tempted to use the excuse that I have been busy, but I also would have to say that while it is true it is still an excuse. If I had something unusual to write about I would find the time. We have stayed busy here in the park all of the time with activities and duties. So perhaps I should tell you something about our life here in the park.

Shortly after the last POTR was sent out I was approached by the Activity Director and asked if I would consider taking over the editing of the Bentsen Grove Mirror, the fortnightly newspaper of the park. Part of the reason that they asked me to do it was because of my skills with the computer. But I suspect that the rest of the reason is my apparent inability to tell someone that truly needs help, “No.” The editor at that time was seriously ill with cancer and was not expected to live much longer. He did die before the first issue of the Mirror that I edited could be distributed. It takes about four days from the time I finish with my part till the paper is distributed. In certain ways there was some humor in my accepting the position. I was considering accepting the position but I wanted to know what was involved in doing it. To find out I thought that I could ask the wife of the editor some questions, the editor himself being in a near coma state. She invited me in and offered me a chair to sit. I said, “I have been asked to take over as editor of the Mirror.” The editors wife said, “Oh, good! I was hoping that you would take it. You will do great! Here is all the information that you will need,” and she handed me a CD which did have all the necessary information on it. I did not expect to accept the job at that time, but how could I refuse the wife of a dying man when she was so enthusiastic about giving me the information. She also gave me a lot of resource material in addition to the CD which has been wonderful. To be honest I think I was still a bit stunned when I got home and told Erma, “I guess I am the editor of the Mirror.” The first issue of the Mirror that I did was anything but well done. Erma and I were up till 3:00 Sunday night (Monday morning) getting it completed and ready to turn into to the office early Monday morning. It should have been dated on every page 2011, but I think that 4 of the 6 pages were dated 2010 along with the wrong month. And there were other mistakes too. If the readers were being honest most people did not see the mistakes. Thanks for small favors. The Sunday of the weekend that I edit has continued to be a late session but in certain respects it is becoming easier. At the time of this POTR writing I am done with the Mirror for this season.

Erma has taken on more volunteer activities. She is teaching the beginning line dancers and has agreed to take over another line dance class for an instructor that is going to have a knee replaced. In the line dancing she has organized two All Line Dance Nights. As far as we know there has never been any dances of this type in the Valley. There are many dances during the season and the line dancers go to those but they are “in competition” for floor space with all the other type of dancers.. So ours have been very successful. So successful that not only are the line dancers asking for more dances but the activity director of the park has encouraged Erma to schedule more dances for next year. Right now I think there are five scheduled. While she does most of the arrangements for the dance I assist her in making custom CD's with the dance music on them, fliers, sound booth operation, etc.

On Monday I lead a session for the computer club and on Friday I help in a personal help session for people with computer problems. Nearly every day I have a couple requests from someone to help with their computers. I am not sure exactly how I acquired the reputation of being so good with computers but I would not claim that I am real knowledgeable. I know some people who meet the criteria and I do not measure up to that. What I have determined is, “If an individual knows a couple things the second person does not know then he is a 'computer guru' to the second person.” I have made so many mistakes that I have learned to get myself or someone else back on the right path.

I know that everyone has heard the stories about the size of things in Texas. “EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS!” I for one can prove that is not true. This is a tomato that was raised by my neighbor. While it had to survive the freeze and the cold period and that might have something to do with the size this is not big. I can remember my Mom growing tomatoes in Kansas which had stem attachments twice the size of this whole tomato. I will say that though it might have been small it still tasted mighty good.

A BIG TEXAS TOMATO GROWN IN THE PARK

On January 11, 2011, Helen McConnaughey, Erma's Mother passed from this earth. She had been in care facilities for nearly two years just a few miles from where we spend our winters. There was an outpouring of care from the people that knew her here and from those that only knew Erma and myself. At one of the line dance sessions I was asked to bring my cameras to do some special photography. In retrospect I guess that I should have known that something was up. While the request in itself was not so unusual the dancing that I was asked to film was a bit different. Understand that at the time I did not think it was strange, it was only afterward that I realized I was being put on. What they really wanted to be sure of was that I showed up to class with Erma. At some unnoticed signal Erma and I were suddenly made the center of attention and a very special Memorial Bench in honor of Helen was presented to us. Helen had spent many hours sitting in the class room watching the dancers. She became a part of the class in spite of the fact that she never danced at all. So in through the door a sitting bench was brought and presented in her honor. It had a plaque on it which said, “The “Peace” Bench In Memory of Helen 2011 B.G. Line Dancers”. I doubt that they could have picked a more appropriate way to honor the memory of Helen if they had studied for months. Helen loved to sit and watch the dancers practice. She liked the music, she liked to observe how someone was getting better and how another person might have danced before because they picked up the steps so quickly. She would talk a lot with the dancers. She sort of became a part of the dance group. When we took pictures of the group there were many people that insisted that she be in picture too. When she was no able to walk much they wanted her to be there in her wheel chair and always treated her with the utmost respect and kindness.

HELEN'S MEMORIAL BENCH OUTSIDE THE LINE DANCE ROOM

In the last week this park has gone from a normal rat race to being very quiet. I look down the street and very few people are left. We will not leave here till mid May or close to June. We are planning to go see our daughter, but what route we take will be decided when we leave. We will need to be back here by mid October at least. As the new editor of the BG Mirror I will have duties.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road

POTR #64 Proximity

PEACE ON THE ROAD

Proximity

December 18, 2010

It almost seems at times that an idea, a thought or a question gets loose in our heads and just seems to flit around inside the brain similar to the flight of a butterfly in a large room. It is there and yet not really there. It will just catch our attention for a few moments and then be gone for a while. But eventually it will land on our nose and then we give it our full attention for a bit, at least until it flits away again. In the last six years (especially the last four) since I have traveling around the US there has been a question that seems to come up every once in a while. The question is basically, “Why does a particular geographical location feel more like home than some other location. As child the farm near Princeton, Kansas was always home. After I graduated from high school and started living in other places the farm stayed the principle home and the location where I was sleeping was a secondary home or perhaps a temporary home. As would be expected when I added a wife to my life my home became the place she was and the farm became either my folks home or my childhood home. For about forty years it stayed that way with several “house” changes. Then I retired and started the traveling and for the first time there was no permanent building to call home. Home became the inside of a motor home in whatever RV it was parked. It was not long before there were certain places that just seemed more like “home” than others. One was in New York near our daughters home. Another was Rockport, TX, and a third was in Mission, TX. While there were times that I wondered why this would be I never really tried to figure out why. Denver, CO where I spent forty years working and living just did not quite have that feeling any longer. That seemed strange too because many friends of thirty plus years are there along with some family. If any place seemed like home it should be the Denver area.

One day the answer flitted through my brain and landed on my consciousness and became very plain. It was simply proximity. This is mostly about my winter location in Bentsen Grove in Mission, TX. Here I am in close proximity to many of the things that made me feel at home in Wheat Ridge, CO. I have made numerous friends here and they are all within walking distance in under five minutes and several within fifteen seconds. In Colorado it is a minimum of a fifteen minute drive and there are some friends that would require an hour and a half drive to visit. Here I have replaced the occupation that I once had with helping people with computers (they think I know a lot more than I do), photography for the park and groups in it, operation of a sound booth (just a few weeks so far) plus other things. While the friends here in this resort are not more important than the friends of years there proximity is a whole lot closer. At least in my mind that is the reason for my comfort level here.

When we first came to Bentsen Grove we had a site that was near some people that had planted a small agave plant in their flower garden. That winter as we drove by their house we admired the plant. I thought that it would be many years before the plant would grow to any appreciable size. How wrong I was. It has only been four years since we were staying there and the agave has grown huge. It is commonly called a century plant. It is supposed to live a hundred years, bloom and then die. However I have found out that is just a myth. It does not live for a hundred year but rather the average life is around 10 years. When it blooms it does die but usually sends out shoots or suckers around the base and thus its life continues. The years required to bloom varies based upon soil condition available water and other factors. During the growth years it is storing energy to be used at the time of its blooming. When it sends up its flowering stalk it is reported to becomes the fastest growing plant on earth. The flower stalk grows a foot or more a week. While it is a beautiful plant it can also be a dangerous one. The tip of the leaf has a sharp needle that can penetrate all the way to a bone and the edge of the leaf is lined with sharp barbs that easily tear flesh if a person does not stay aware of the proximity of the leaves. There are over three hundred recognized varieties of the agave plant. It is one of the varieties that is used to make tequila. That one is harvested at about six to eight years when the plant has become loaded with sap, also known as honey water, in preparation for flowering. It is possible for the sap of some agave plants to cause skin rashes that will last for several weeks. The dried leaves have been used by the Australian aborigine to make the musical instrument the didgeridoo. It is an amazing plant that combines beauty and some danger.

AN AGAVE PLANT IN BENTSEN GROVE WHICH IS ABOUT EIGHT YEARS OLD

Many years ago Bentsen Grove was a commercial citrus orchard. It was converted to a trailer park and then expanded to include a RV resort. When that was done many of the citrus trees and palm trees that were in the orchard were left standing and today make this park a desirable place to live. Most sites have a citrus tree of some sort and some even have several different kinds, like orange, tangerines, grapefruit, lemon or lime. Of course many residents have planted trees and cactus of their own in addition to the original trees. In another site not too far from this agave is one of the largest cactus of its type that I can recall seeing. I guess that I get to thinking that except for the saguaro cactus they do not grow to large size. Of course that is simply just not right thinking. There are many cacti that grow to great size, it is just that I have not been around them. The flowering cacti produce a fruit that is called a “tuna” which carry the seed and provides a lot of nourishment to many animals. The animals in turn carry the seeds away from the original plant and spread them into new territory. I have done some research into the origin of the word tuna and have not been able to find anything that indicates how or why the seed pods are given that name. Until just recently when I heard the word tuna all I thought about was a large fish that lives in the ocean or a small can of meat which is great to make a spread for sandwiches or a stuffing for tomatoes. Since I started to travel and have come into contact with more cacti in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas I have found another use for the word.

TALL CACTUS ON ONE OF THE SITES IN BENTSEN GROVE

Right at the moment I am having a difficult time. It is sort of a proximity problem I was looking at a paper and saw an ad that said how many days were left before Christmas and it is not possible. If it was said that there were that many days left till Independence Day I would not have a problem with that. To say that I am not ready for Christmas time would be a gross under statement. And I am willing to bet that seven days later I will not be ready for 2011. I had a next door neighbor for nearly thirty years that said he did not know how he was able to get things things done before he retired because he was not able to keep up with his duties after retirement. I sure understand what he was talking about. When he told me that in the past I really did not understand except in the slightest way. I will grant that if I did not volunteer for some of the things I do I probably could catch up somewhat, and then I might get bored. It surely must be better to wonder where the weeks and months have gone than to wonder what will help the time to pass. As would be expected I take a lot of pictures wherever I go and I try to label and file them in a timely manner. In other words before I forget where I took the picture and what the reason for taking the picture. But I am about a year behind AND I am still taking more pictures. To catch up will have to be a goal for next year. Speaking of that--

I want to wish all who read this a very Merry Christmas and also send you my best wishes for a very successful and Happy New Year. While I would like to wish you a white Christmas I was just watching a You-tube of automobiles on snow covered streets and I cannot bring myself to wish that on anyone. Therefore I will have to wish you a dry and warm Christmas like I will be enjoying here in south Texas

when I have a Christmas Dinner with 300 to 400 residents of this park.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road  

POTR #63 Preconcieved Ideas

PEACE ON THE ROAD

Preconceived Ideas

October 7, 2010

I think that it must be simple human nature to get certain ideas of how something will be and then be surprised when it turns out to be another way. Part of it will be due to the paradigms that we live with and have been taught. Perhaps we have seen something and therefore we think that all things in the same category will be very similar. If a person had only seen oak trees in their lifetime and had only heard about oaks or similar trees it would not be unreasonable to think that all trees would be like oak trees. This is not necessarily a bad thing as long as a person is willing to say, “Okay, I was wrong!” I have come across a couple things that have altered my opinion.

Back in June or July of 1947 something happened in the town of Roswell, New Mexico. Not a whole lot was mentioned until about thirty years later when the possibility of an extraterrestrial space/air craft having crashed in the desert and killing several aliens was suggested. Sometime between then and now I have gotten the idea that Roswell was a single blink town. If you went through it and made a single blink you would likely miss the whole town. The main feature of the town would be a rundown cafe out in an open field where they have pictures and models of aliens and serve some decent food on the day the good cook is working. Also the impression that aliens are short creatures with very large upside down teardrop shaped heads with huge almond shaped eyes and antenna like appendages growing from the tops of their heads have been pushed into my consciousness. Both those impressions seem to be incorrect. Roswell is a fair sized town that has a business area along the highway that is several miles long. If you blink long enough to miss the town you can be guaranteed to be in accident. There were a lot of restaurants and most any other type of business you want. So, Okay, I was wrong!” I do believe that I saw some aliens though. They did not look like my description. While they looked a little strange I suppose that after all these years they have learned to “blend” in with the locals. They did look rather different but I am sure that they were aliens. My wife is convinced that the proper term would have been “undocumented seasonal workers.” But this is Roswell, New Mexico, therefore????

Every cave that I have been in has been way back up some gully, draw, or canyon. It was nearly impossible to see any indication that anything was there, including the buildings that were built around the entrance. Somewhere in every cave there is a BIG room which really is not very big at all. Perhaps a hundred to two hundred in its maximum length. They have been very humid, damp and have had a smell that is very much associated with water. There has been water dripping from the ceiling, running down the walls and across the floor. There have been pristine pools of water in any location that was even the slightest bit lower than the surrounding area. So with the exception of a few caves in the deserts of Egypt or around the Dead Sea which I have read about all caves must be like the ones I have visited. Right? Right! Now don't go near the southern border of New Mexico to the town of Carlsbad and force me to say, “Okay, I was wrong!” I have already been there and said it. I also said, “This is stunning!” As you drive south out of town on the highway into the Chihuahuan Desert it is hard to imagine that this was at one time the bottom of an ocean and that the ridge to the west was a ocean reef that was formed about two hundred and fifty million years. It was then covered by thousands of feet of younger rocks. Seventeen to twenty million years ago it was lifted by tectonic forces and the younger softer rocks were worn away to form the Guadalupe Mountain range. A brine that formed deep below in deposits high in hydrogen sulfide was pushed through cracks and faults toward the surface where it combined with oxygen rich surface water and formed a weak sulfuric acid. The acid in turn dissolved the limestone rocks creating the caves. As the mountains lifted more the water drained out and allowed the surface water to start dripping through and depositing minerals which are called cave decorations. As you drive along the highway you can look to the west at the high ridge and see the Carlsbad Caverns visitors center. A short distance beyond it is the “natural” entrance to Carlsbad Cavern, one of over 300 caves in the fossil reef. The natural entrance descends 750 foot along a mile and a quarter switchback trail to the Big Room. It is well paved with asphalt which is quite different than it was in 1898 when 16 year old Jim White first explored with a homemade fence wire and wood ladder. Or in about a minute an elevator can also drop you to the Big Room trail. The Big Room has been calculated to have an area of 357,469 foot square. This is the size of over six football fields. It is the largest under ground cavern in the US and the seventh largest in the world. A trail of a mile and a quarter goes around the Big Room and goes by thousands of stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, popcorn, and other forms of cave decorations that mainly formed during the last glacial period when the land above was covered by forests. I was surprised at how dry the cavern was, including the feel of the air. Because it is desert above there was not the expected water dripping or the number of water pools. Only a couple locations had cave decorations that were in the process of growing. At one time the 57 degree air was used to cool the visitors center but it was found that the conditions in the cavern were being changed and causing it to dry out more. Air conditioners were installed in the the visitors center and revolving door were installed for people access down at the cavern. After the cavern itself is closed for the day there is still a spectacular show of 250,000 or more Mexican Free Tailed bats that exit the cavern to forage for insects. The only way I can think to describe them is to compare them to a swam of gnats on a hot summer Kansas afternoon. Then to add that the gnats have a wingspan of thirteen inches and weigh half an ounce. Each bat will eat between half its body weight and its full body weight each night. Thus there are a lot of insects removed from the farmers fields each night near the caverns.

NATURAL ENTRANCE DESCENDING 750 FOOT INTO CARLSBAD CAVERNS

A couple years ago when I was were talking to a friend, David, about some of the things I enjoyed doing I was told, “You are a very eclectic person.” At the time I took it as a compliment and agreed that the statement was likely right. When I get to looking at the subject of the pictures that I have taken over the years and the ones that I still want to take I still have to agree. I love taking pictures of the landscape and I love to take pictures of the smallest things that I can see. If I had the equipment I think it would be great to take macro pictures of the common things that we have around us ever day and do not even notice. We went to the Guadalupe National Monument which is just barely in Texas south of Carlsbad, NM. The monument encompasses 240 square miles of the same ancient reef in which Carlsbad Caverns was formed. It has Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet. It also has El Capitan, a very prominent formation which was used as a landmark for travelers crossing the area along the trail that would be later used by the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route. The Butterfield Stage operated through this area from 1857 till 1861 when it was discontinued because of the Civil War. It took 22 days to move the mail from St. Louis, MO to San Francisco, CA. During 18 months it was in competition with the Pony Express which took ten days from St. Louis to California. Both companies were disbanded at the onset of the Civil War and the assets of both were acquired by the Wells Fargo company. Just a short walk from the visitors center of the Guadalupe National Monument visitors center is one of the stage stations of the Butterfield Stage Company. Along that walk we encountered a large variety of flora and fauna. The most striking was the Blue Legged Jewel Beetle. On a small branch of the tree there were four of them enjoying a snack of tree leaves. We were told that the lights at night attract them in hordes along with other insects including several kinds variety of preying mantis. While we looking at the entrance I saw six different species.

BLUE LEGGED JEWEL BEETLES FEEDING ON A DESERT TREE

By the time this gets sent we will have been in Mission, TX for a few days. While it really too early in the season to return circumstances have made it desirable to return. Thus far it has not been too hot, but still I am glad that the air conditioner works well. It is also good to see some of our friends here.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road

POTR #62 Front Row Seats

PEACE ON THE ROAD

Front Row Seats

September 2, 2010

There are certain things in life that are taken to be be the very best that is available. In automobiles it is either the Rolls Royce or the Cadillac. In a business environment it is the office with a large window. In apartments the Pent House is on the top floor because it the best. In many other things it can be said that it is the crème de la crème. In the theater the very best seats to view the show are located on The Front Row. We have those seats here in the United Campground in Durango, Colorado. First of all we are parked with the front of the motor home headed east to catch the first rays of morning sun. Just out in front of us about sixty feet is the tracks of the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail Road. Twice in the morning and twice in the evening we have a short but spectacular show as the steam train heads toward Silverton or completes its run back to Durango. A couple hundred foot to the right of us is a road crossing so the engineer starts blowing his whistle shortly before the train reaches the camp ground. Since there is a slight grade through the campground there is plenty of steam and smoke to enhance the show. There is a one man putt-putt that comes 15 or 20 minutes ahead of the steamer and one that also follows behind. Once in a while there are work trains that come through as a bonus.

THE DSNGRR ENGINE #482 ARRIVING IN ROCKWOOD STATION

There has been a story circulating on the Internet that the gauge of the American Standard Gauge Rail Road dates back to the chariots of the Roman Empire. While there may have been some slight stretch of the facts but basically the story is accurate. Grooves were cut into stones to guide wagons across dangerous areas long before the roman empire came into existence. The grooves were cut between 4' 6” and 4' 9” in most instances. Sixty percent of the world's rail roads use the “Standard Gauge” of 4' 8.5”. Other sizes are used in many locations. In the Colorado mountains there were several reasons to use a gauge of 3'. First and foremost was consideration of cost. With the smaller gauge all the rolling stock was smaller. This included engines, tenders, box cars, flatbeds, gondolas, and passenger cars. The smaller equipment was cheaper to build. The tracks that needed to be laid was smaller, lighter and cheaper as were the ties. Because the trackage and equipment was smaller the cuts required through any hill or through a canyon could be narrower. Any trestles and bridges that needed to be built could be lighter and therefore cheaper. Another advantage was a shorter turning radius allowing negotiation in tight areas. The grade that a narrow gauge could negotiate was steeper by a couple degrees than a standard gauge. That shorter turning radius and couple of degrees climbing ability allowed the narrow gauge to go into areas not available to standard gauge trains. There were disadvantages too. The narrow gauge made them more unstable thus requiring lower speeds. In the mountains that may have been a minimal disadvantage because any train would have to go slow. The smaller engines and rolling stock necessitated smaller loads which was overcome by simply running more trains.

THE DSNGRR EXCURSION TRAIN FROM DURANGO ENTERING OUR CAMPGROUND

When a train comes through there is a lot of steam and smoke. There is the chuff, chuff, chuff of the drivers, the rattle and clatter of the steam valves. The engineer is ringing the brass bell and the whistle is blowing before every road crossing and perhaps they still blow the whistle near the homes of former engineers like they did forty years ago. Every one of the wheels clickety clacks across the rail joints and any irregularity of the tracks. The ground shakes like a small earthquake as the train goes by. In just a minutes time silence returns, the smoke dissipates and the last car of the car of the train is around the bend or has gotten so small in the distance that a person is unsure if it was just there. For all the noise and all the clatter is is amazing how quiet the train can be. It may be possible to hear the whistle from a mile away echoing down the canyon as the train approaches a road crossing. Yet if there is no crossing and the wind is right and blows the smoke away the train can approach within a hundred yards before it is detected. At that distance the whistle can be very startling when it is the first sign that the train has arrived. The putt-putts that precede the steam train and the diesel engines are even quieter. There were a couple evenings that we went up the canyon to photograph the train, then move down the route and photograph it again and repeat, then photograph it a final time at our camp or even close to the station. It was really a lot of fun. Now I have lots of pictures and video to edit.

As near as I can determine the last time I was in Aztec Ruins, New Mexico was in 1967. It has been long enough that I am unsure what has changed and what has not. Back when cameras took film and it was expensive to develop I did not take as many pictures as I do with the digital so it is difficult to compare with today. Somehow the ruins themselves seem to have changed little except for some minor excavations and some filling to protect certain areas. But it really seems to me that the visitors center has been improved a great deal. It is an amazing place to visit and contemplate how life might have been for the Native American inhabitants of the 1100's and 1200's. There is much speculation as to the real purpose of the pueblo that was built here. It might have been a planned cultural center, a religious center, or perhaps simply a village that built in a good location to live with access to water, crop lands and trading routes which became an important center for the surrounding area. The first explorers that saw the ruins thought that the Aztec from far down in Mexico must have built the pueblos. It was some time later it was determined that the the Anasazi, translated as “the ancient ones” or by some “the ancient enemy” were the actual builders of the ruins around 800 to 1000 years ago. There were several occupations and abandonments over 2 to 3 hundred years. Inhabitants came from Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon to build the 450 room up to three stories high and the numerous kivas.

DWELLINGS, KIVAS, STORAGE ROOMS OF THE ANASAZI AT AZTEC RUINS, NM

No visit to the this area would be complete unless at least a small amount of time was spent at Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is about fifty miles to the northwest as a crow might fly or an Anasazi might walk from Aztec ruins. The American natives that lived at Mesa Verde built pit houses on the top of high mesas for several hundred years and then moved down into the cliffs to build their homes. There is a lot of speculation about why they made the transition, better living conditions, safety, or some other reason. The water supply was often 700 to 900 below in the canyon bottom and the trek for all water had to be made frequently. Some of the cliff dwellings were only a few rooms and others contained over a hundred rooms plus many kivas. The people seem to have left the mesa because of a drought that lasted over sixty years. They moved further south into Arizona nearer the rivers where a more dependable supply of water was available. There are over 4,400 archiological sites in the park with 600 some cliff dwellings. There was a fire some years ago and due to the removal of vegetation there were several sites discovered. As I drove along the roads I could not help but wonder, “How many more sites are still to be found just a few yards from where people pass every day?”

CLIFF PALACE RUINS IS THE LARGEST CLIFF DWELLING IN NORTH AMERICA

As I drive from state to state and town to town I am struck with the beauty of this country and the diversity of things to see. I only scratch the surface of a small area in each place that I stop. I drive the Interstates and main highways from point to point and then get into the Jeep and then look for a few diversions near where the motorhome is parked. Even at that I think I am seeing more than the average person will see. So from here we will slowly go south towards our winter home in Texas and look for more places to increase our amazement of this great country that we call home.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road

POTR #61 5280 Foot High

PEACE ON THE ROAD

5280 Foot High

July 27, 2010

I would have a hard time trying to figure out how many times that I have made a trip between Denver, Colorado and to some point 75 or more miles beyond Topeka, Kansas. If it was suggested that I have done it 75 or more times I would not argue. It is likely less than a hundred but it is possible that it is more. I knew that the farm we lived on in Kansas was around a thousand foot, give or take some, and of course I had heard that Denver was “The Mile High City”. In one of the steps to the west entrance there is a brass cap which reads: Elevation: 5280 feet, One Mile High, 5-12-69. I had also heard people state that Denver was actually in a low spot. The elevation increasing in all four directions. To the west a few miles the mountains start and of course it is obviously higher there. But to the east it is less obvious, so I took other peoples statements as true. This last time coming across eastern Colorado I had an altimeter. A hundred miles east of Denver about three miles past Arriba, CO we reached an altitude of a mile above sea level. When a discovery like that is made a person has to wonder just how many other towns could also advertise themselves as the Mile High City. It really did takes some of the “zing” out of the slogan. But the capitol building with a 24 carat gold dome and its interior of Colorado Rose Onyx is an impressive building to be setting “A MILE HIGH.”

THE COLORADO STATE CAPITOL BUILDING WITH ITS GOLD DOME

Coming across the middle of Kansas along I-70 has been described as boring by many people. Personally I have found it many things except boring. It is a long way with a lot of the same things to see. There are lots of wheat fields, lots of cattle pastures and a lot of miles of Interstate highway. I can understand that the Interstate system was built to move a lot of traffic and it bypasses the many unique sites along the way in favor of speed. A little over half way across Kansas is Post Rock Country. Back in the late 1800's just after the Civil War when Kansas was being settled it was almost treeless. There was also no restriction on where cattle could and would roam. Today it is the responsibility of a cattle owner to keep the cattle out of another mans property. Then it was the total responsibility of the farmer to keep the cattle out of his fields. There were few options that farmer had to protect his crops. Fences were made of whatever they could to enclose small plots of land. The first settlers had to be concerned with a place to live. So they built dugouts, soddies and some people built homes out of the local limestone rock, which was from the Greenhorn Limestone formation. This was a formation that was very consistently 8 to 12 inches thick and covered by a layer of earth less than 3 foot thick. There were some thicker and thinner layers of limestone and coverings of greater depths but they were not the best for the quarries. The earth was removed from the outcropping. Drills made from modified woodworking tools were used to drill a series of holes into the rock. Splitting devices called feathers and wedges were driven into the holes to split off pieces of rock up to twelve feet in length. Downward pressure was applied to the drills by leaning on them with the chest. Some of the quarry men claimed that they developed calluses on their chest. The drilling was all done by hand until a blacksmith “Nelse” Sankey adapted a Maytag washing machine motor to power the drills. The freshly exposed rock was somewhat soft but hardened after exposure to the air. The stone post weighed between 250 to 450 pounds so even the setting of the posts was a lot of work. A wagon could only carry between four to eight of the posts at a time, but at least they would last 50 years or more while wood only lasted 6 to 10 years. Some that are in use today are approaching 130 to 150 years. During the early years of the post quarrying the posts sold for 25 cents each delivered to the farm. When the price of the post reached $1.00 to $2.00 in the 1920's most farmers decided that the cost was too high with other materials like steel posts being made available by train, and a single wagon could carry the 360 posts necessary to enclose a quarter section. But before that happened there were over forty thousand miles of stone post fences installed. During the same time barbed wire was developed to attach to the posts making it effective for animal control. The farmers also discovered that Osage Orange trees would make a barrier to animals and hundreds of miles of hedge rows were planted. When crossing Kansas today there are many trees that were planted by the pioneers for the purpose of animal control.

REPRODUCTION OF A POST ROCK QUARRY WITH SOME TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Colorado has a couple record setting roads near Denver. Mt. Evans Highway is the highest paved road in North America. The key word is paved. There are higher roads but they are not paved. The road stops short of the top of 14,264 foot by only about 40 foot of elevation. There seems to be some confusion as to how high the road actually goes. I have found several figures. The other road is called Trail Ridge Road and it is the highest continuous paved road in North America. During the years that we lived in Colorado we drove over it at least a hundred times and possibly two hundred times. In the spring there were snow cuts that were between fifteen and twenty foot high. Years ago people were encouraged to feed the chipmunks and ground squirrels. That was a lot of fun to do. Now it is highly discouraged or even against the law. The scenery is unsurpassed any where that I know. Some places come real close but do not surpass. We almost always have seen elk and deer plus other smaller animals. There have been times that we have seen over an estimated 600 elk in one meadow. Many elk also seem to spend their time above timberline in the high meadows. We have seen a gathering nearly a hundred over 11,000 foot high. There is also one section of road where about every day the Bighorn Sheep cross the road to feed in the meadow during the night. That section of road is often crowded with people. In recent years parking has been restricted to limited areas and foot traffic is not allowed so that the sheep are not restricted in their movement. It is always fun to travel this road over the continental divide and stop at the place where rain falling in one place goes to the Pacific Ocean and rain falling a few feet (or inches) away flows to the Atlantic Ocean. It may not quite be the top of the world but it sure is high up there. All a person has to do is trot a short distance and discover that the scenery is breathtaking. Having wintered in Texas we have found that we can tell that the high altitude affects us in ways that are different from when we lived a mile high all year.

SEVENTEEN ELK IN A MEADOW ALONG TRAIL RIDGE ROAD

We have been in the Denver for longer than we had intended. We had put off some repairs to the motor home until we could have the work done where we had purchased it. And we were lucky, I think, while we have been here to have had a problem with a couple sensors on the engine of the Jeep rather than being elsewhere.. It seems that we have spent a lot of time in the repair shops for one thing or another. Have you ever noticed that a simple little job on a vehicle takes all the spare time in a day. There is another reason that we have been in Denver longer than planned and that could be called personal vanity I suppose. Kim a lady that we consider a friend has encouraged me to share the story with you.

When I worked for Newmont, the largest gold mining company in the world there was several years that they sold “Gold Splatters” to the employees. Gold produced in the Nevada mines was melted and some of it was poured into water from about a three foot height. When the molten gold hit the water it exploded and instantly solidified into fantastically shaped pieces, some very small and some possibly as large as an ounce. I bought some of these splatters and had them made into jewelry and gave them as gifts. I should have bought a lot of splatters, but hindsight is a lot better than foresight. After we had been retired several years we were in The Big Fisherman, a favorite restaurant in Rockport, Texas,. Erma had ordered fried oysters. She is eating one and “crunch”, “I think I bit into a pearl!” She had found a natural pearl in her food. We did not know if it was of any monetary value or not. It was valuable to her for esthetic reasons. We went to the jeweler that had made our other gifts and asked him if it would be worthwhile to make some jewelery out of it. He instantly said that it would look great in a ring, perhaps as the centerpiece of a rose. He said he could have it done in a week. We extended our stay a week. I took him some splatter gold from another project to be used in the ring. That really reduced the price. In a week we picked up a beautiful rose ring with a pearl center. I was able to place the ring on Erma's finger just like I did with another ring nearly 47 years ago.

Isn't that a good place for the story to end? If you say “Yes!” you are likely right. But there is another part that I can add. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 years ago my parents gave me a gold initial ring for my birthday. At least I think it was a birthday gift. I am sure it was not expensive but to me is was the greatest gift that I had ever gotten. I wore it everywhere and all the time. As I grew older and my hands got bigger I had to move it to other fingers, but I still wore it all the time. One day I was out in a field near the farm house doing some kind of farming work. When I got done I discovered the ring was missing. I can show you within an acre where that ring is likely still. Since that time I have always wanted a nice ring to wear. Most of my life I have not worn rings because of the danger that they meant in my work. Once I came within inches of losing a finger because of my wedding ring which was the only ring I regularly wore. I quit wearing that ring. I have considered for maybe ten years having a ring made by the jeweler that made Erma's but I guess I simply was not ready. When Erma picked up her ring I was ready. In a week I will have a ring that is made entirely from gold of my last splatters and some gold from the dental work of my Mother. There will be some copper added to it to create a harder ring alloy but all the gold will be what I provided. So I will have gold from my last job and a remembrance from my Mother to wear on my hand.

When we leave Denver our plan is to start a slow return to Texas for the winter. We plan to spend some time in the Durango/Silverton area and photograph the trains there. If it works out we may ride the train again, which is something that we have not done in over forty years. We went to that area the first time in a VW Bug with a weeks worth of food in the backseat area along with a tent. We had a gasoline credit card, paid tickets for the train and ten dollars cash. When we got home nine days later we still had some cash left. I can guarantee that this time it will cost us a bunch more for the same length of time. But with any luck I will have some new pictures and stories to share with you.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On The Road