Merry Christmas

I have so dropped the ball with this poor blog. I will give you a down and dirty recap of our year.

We started 2009 in Pasadena, CA for the Rose Bowl Parade. We went with an RV tour group and had a wonderful time. They took us every where by bus so we didn't have to fight traffic. My favorite part was helping build the City of Sierra Madre float! What a kick that was. Flowers, flowers and more flowers! This was our float.

After the parade we went back to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge and volunteered until the end of February. Same place we have wintered the last 2 years. We hadn't planned to go back, but they called us and ask if we would. We're easy, so we said yes. So we spent the winter with about 12,000 of these silly Sandhill Cranes.

After the Bosque we went to AZ and NV. We fished the Walker River in Nevada. It is always fun to fish new water. Even caught some of those Nevada trout. We visited a brothel in Pahrump, NV, and I have to say, that was very very fun. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the working girls, although they were all beautiful. It was a very upscale place and we even got a guided tour of the place. It was awesome!

We fooled around down south until the weather warmed up north and got to Casper in April. We did the obligatory Dr. appointments, etc. before moving on to Dubois, WY for the summer just before Memorial Day. It was realy a great summer there. We lived in the KOA and volunteered at the National Bighorn Sheep Center. We worked 3 days a week and fished 4!! That was great. Jay and Kristy and the boys came up and camped with us twice, and that is always a treat to spend time with them. The fly fishing was a little slow to take off this summer as run-off was late, but it eventually got pretty good. Barry and Duck fishing Horse Creek on the left. We had such a great time, we even plan to go back summer 2010. We became friends with the people that own the KOA and met several great people in the campground. We hope to see some of those folks again soon. We so enjoyed all the friends that came to Dubois to see us.

I flew to Minot for Marissa Aftem's wedding in June. Had a great time with old friends.

Jay, Jevin and I floated and fished the Platte River in June with Jason Hamrick of Cowboy Drifters. It was a perfect day weather wise and the fishing just as good. Caught many large fish! We fished it the week of Rod's birthday so we named it the Rod Greenwood Memorial Float,complete with T shirts! He was with us in spirit.

We left Dubois right after Labor Day and headed to Kansas City for Barry's Marine Corps reunion. He had a great time. Most of the guys hadn't seen each other since the 60s. At left are four of the vets that Barry served with. Took this photo outside the World War I museum.

From KC we went to Minot for Hostfest. It was very fun. Hostfest is a huge Norwegian festival held annually in Minot. There are 1000 RV sites on the fair grounds, so that gives you some idea how big it is. We had a blast.

From there we went to Fort Peck, MT where we stayed at Jeff Robertson's and Barry and Duck hunted water fowl. By then it was mid October so we headed south to beat the snow and cold weather.

We spent a week in St. George, UT, Jay's birth place. St. George certainly has changed since what it was 40 years ago! From there we went to Lee's Ferry, AZ and fished. We were there two days, the first day the fishing was great, the second day the dumb fish would have nothing to do with us! Beautiful scenery though, and rich history.

Then we decided to go to the Bosque and help out the week of Festival of the Cranes. Well, they somehow talked us into staying until the end of January! We were doing just that when my Mom had to have surgery Dec. 8th. So, we came to WY. The trailer froze up on the way up and we got here just in time for brutally cold weather! Now we know why we don't winter here! Mom is doing very well and we hope we can once more head south around the first of the year.

So that is our year condensed into a few pages. We hope each and every one of you have a healthy and happy 2010, and a joyous Christmas. Hold those you hold dear close in your hearts and don't miss a chance to enjoy time with those important to you. We are thankful for another year we have been able to live this nomadic lifestyle and spend time with all those folks that are dear to us.