2012 Big Adventure

Well, it has been a very very long time since I put anything on this blog, so we will see if I can keep up while on this trip.  We left Sundance today, August 10, 2012, commencing our long Eastern, Southern, adventure! As always Rally week in Sundance was very busy but fun.  Always a treat to see old friends that we don't see very often.  Makin' tamales with Marta was a kick and working with Jinx and Steve is always fun!   We traveled to Hazen, ND and found a great little RV park, (with Passport America it was a ten spot for a night!)  Sweet, leaves more room for beer in the budget!  Seems awfully quiet here with no bikes!  Saw a few on the road but not many. 

I was very surprised that we were able to find a site in Hazen, due to it being so close to the Bakken Field where all the oil activity is.  The camp manager said there are a few folks living there that drive 2 hours to work every day.  No place to live any closer I guess. 

Pretty uneventful trip today!  Hate to say it, but the scenery between Belle Fourche and Hazen is about as blahh as it can get, although we did see some grain being combined and some that was already done.  Seemed pretty early to me, but I haven't been in this neck of the woods for some time. Uneventful travel is really a good thing though for us! Drove to Minot to see John and Val's new house and spend some time with them.  Won't be able to be at Jessica's wedding over Labor Day so was good to see the Aftem clan now! 
Sunday August 12, 2012, finds us leaving Minot, ND.  Got to Minot yesterday, mid day and spent the rest of the day and evening with the Aftem family.  Old friends are sure priceless.  'Spent Saturday night in the Rough Rider RV Park.  Nice place, and all cleaned up from the flood.  Didn't have a problem getting a site when we called, but it was full Saturday night. 

Hard to believe the devastation to this town from the flood.  Many many people have picked themselves up again and either built new or redone their old places.  Parts of town are still pretty messy but for the most part, many many hard working hands have put things back to the way they were, or better.
Minot is growing at an unbelievable pace.  The Bakken Field has had a huge impact on this town.  Hardly anywhere to rent and what is available is ungodly expensive.  Those folks that had rental properties that weren't damaged in the flood are sitting pretty now.

Went from Minot to Sioux Fall, SD on Sunday.  Pretty rainy day, which it looks like will be much appreciated.  Paid 3.99 for fuel.  I know that NE, and neighboring states are in a draught, but the fields look great to me!  Goes to show you what I know about farming huh? 

Monday, August 13, drove to Oakland, NE to visit Dan and Linda Rasmusson.  Barry and Dan met in trade school then worked together in 1970-1971,  Hadn't seen each other since.  More old friends to appreciate!  Linda cooked us a wonderful roast beef lunch, and after a few hours of catching up, we continued down the road.  Spent Monday night in Victorian Acres RV Park in Nebraska City.  Nice park.  Today's temperatures were mild and pleasant, although it was a little humid for us when we landed here in Nebraska City.  Of course we are just wimps when it comes to humidity!

Called and made our reservation at an RV park in Maryland for the reunion.  Tailer is in luck, they have a dog walking service at the park!  Lucky for me I guess I should say, as without that I would probably have stayed home on those long days of activities. 

Here it is August 14, and we are settled in for a couple days in Columbia, MO. At a park called Cottonwood RV Park.  Not a cottonwood on the property! I gotta say, that is one popular name for RV Parks.   Had a flat on the truck today...(of course it was an inside dual!).  Tomorrow will get a new tire.  Called our trusty Emergency Road Service and they put the spare on.  Did I mention Good Sam's Emergency Road Service is the best ever???  Well, they are!  Not too hot and humid here so we are happy.  Will get some photos added to this soon, as it is pretty damn boring reading! 

We got to Lexington, KY to visit with friends Tom and Mechealle, and they took us out to eat at Butt Rubb'in BBQ. Really had to giggle at the name  Now when you are in KY, you have to eat BBQ.  Pictured are Barry, Mechealle and Tom before we gorged ourselves on damn fine BBQ!  Was fun seeing all the old tobacco barns and the tobacco fields as well.  Tom used to work in the tobacco fields so had lots of stories to tell!  KY looks just like the photos of it too.  Long white fences with horses behind! 

Tonight, August 19th, we are in Huntington, WV.  We are staying in an RV park that is on an air park, and all afternoon there has been a little plane taking people up and then they jump out, so there are people falling out of the sky with very pretty parachutes!  Ya just never know what you will find if you just look around a little!  Weather is pretty nice today so once again we are lucky! 

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.

Dubois, your fun little town

Well, one thing is for sure, Dubois may be small, but there is always something going on! One of the highlights for us so far was the Packhorse Race. Now, I'm sure there aren't too many of this type event around. There were 5 teams in this years contest. It is held in the park just East of the National Bighorn Sheep Center. Here is a condensed version of the rules for this competition.

1. Each team consists of 2 people, 1 pack animal and 2 saddle horses.

2. Each team will compete with the following equipment. 2 western saddles for the riding horses. 1 pack saddle on the pack horse.

3. 1 canvas wall tent at least 8x10, equiped with at least 2 front ties, and 4 side ropes.

4. Minimum 6 tent stakes

5. 1 camp stove

6 1 axe

7. 1 shovel

8. 2 sleeping bags or bed rolls, each at least 20"x60"

9. 1 pack cover

10. Tent ropes and 1 lash ropeand cinch

Tent poles will be furnished. The race is a timed

event with all teams starting at the same time. Each team must take down their tent, gather their gear and load it on their pack horse. If anything falls off during the race, the team will be penalized, so securing the load is imparative. After the pack is set, the team starts on the predetermined route. The route is a 7 mile loop, and the saddle horses must not go faster than a trot, or they will be penalized. There are judges, along the route making sure that each team stays on the route. When the teams complete the 7 mile route, they return to the starting gate, unload their packs and unsaddle their horses. Time is called and a vet is available to check any horse that may be having problems.

After 10 minutes, each team is allowed to resaddle and pack their animal and run the 7 mile route once more. After returning the second time to the starting gate, they must unpack and unsaddle their horses and pitch their tent and put out all of their equipment. At this point their time is called. Both members of each team wore matching shirts, so it was easy to differenciate the red team, blue, yellow, etc. (The red team won!)

The team that won it this year won by a substantial margin, and we were told they were returning champs from last year.

There is a $100.00 entry fee for each open class team, $65.00 for each womens and old timers team. The women and old timers run on Sunday and the Open class is on Saturday.

It was a very fun event to witness. All of the participants were very adept at the task at hand and you could tell had practiced many hours. Ah, only in Dubois!!

Dubois, Our Summer Home

We got to Dubois, the Wednesday before Memorial day, as we had to start work the holiday weekend. The Big Horn Sheep Center is very nice, quite a nice place to spend a few hours. We have quite a few tourists that stop in. We are located right by the city park, so it is nice for folks to stop in and visit. This bronze stands outside the center.

We work 3 days a week. Barry is the "yard boy," he says he has to be the yard boy as he doesn't have the body to be the "pool boy!" He mows, sprays weeds, keeps the sprinkler system up to snuff, and just generally does all the outdoor stuff. I work inside in the gift shop and the center itself. It is kind of nice, as they use the same computer program as the Bosque used, so not much to learn, although I think this may be a newer version, as it is much, much easier!

The Whiskey Mountains near Dubois have the biggest herd of Big Horn Sheep found in the US.

The center is owned and operated by a private non-profit organization that supports the well being of the herd. There are many bighorn sheep mounts in the center like the one to the right. There are also heads from the 16 different sheep that comprize the world grand slam.

We live in the Dubois KOA. It is right in down town Dubois. Dubois has a population of about 952. There is a pretty nice grocery store, 4 or 5 restaurants and two bars and an active VFW. If an of you saw the movie Taking Chance, it was about a young marine from Dubois that was killed in Iraq. I was here in Dubois on the day they buried him in 2006. It is a great movie, although it wasn't filmed here, it was filmed in MT. The Rustic Pine bar is our favorite, I don't think it has changed an iota for the last 30 years. The VFW is quite active which is nice to see since most VFWs have fallen by the wayside in the last few years.

The Wind River, as well as Horse Creek run through Dubois. As you can see, the Wind is running pretty high. It is now much redder that when I took this photo last week, as there are red cliffs, rocks and soil near here. I think the river will run high for some time yet, as there is still a lot of snow up on top of the Wind River Mountains.

So, that is where we are this summer. We wish all of you could come see us!

Spring time in WY

Well, we made it to WY. We didn't break any time records because we were afraid we would get there before winter had gone. Of course, you never know it WY. It has been known to snow every month of the year!

We got into Casper and spent several weeks there, betting Dr., dentist and other appointments accomplished. The highlight of our stay in Casper was attending our grandson Jevin's piano recital. What fun that was! He plays really well for only having been taking lessons for 5 months.

We fished the Platte River some while we were in

Casper. We went out to the "Rattle Snake Hole", a favorite of our families to fish. Well, we didn't see any rattle snakes but we saw 6 bull snakes, among them, these two mating! First for us, we had never seen snakes mate before. You can see, the female is not as bright colored as the male. For sure it was spring time in WY!

I did manage to catch a nice 18 inch rainbow that day. It was a really beautiful day, nice and sunny and hardly any wind, which is so rare in WY. While Barry was fishing, I sit down and scribbled down my sentiments.

Spring Time on The Platte

When the morning brings the sunrise, and I stand to face the day,

I realize my "should dos", all seem to fade away.

With the wind only a murmur, my heart reacts with glee,

The river calls me softly, I know where I need to be.

I grab my gear and ponder, what those pesky boys might take,

My arsenal is ready, with flies of every make.

I don my waders, string my rod, and feel the quiver in my soul,

Now I'm only minutes from my long awaited goal.

The wild flowers nod and wave to me, and I smell their spicy scent,

When they speak of paradise, this is what they meant.

I gaze upon the water,oh could there maybe be,

a trout nose on the surface, rising up to feed?

A butterfly flits by me, he's a marvel to see,

A meadow lark sings sweetly, songs meant only just for me.

The trees have ceased their winter sleep, and take on their summer dress,

A black bird calls out to her mate, "Lets hurry, build a nest".

The sound of moving water, gently settles on my ear,

The sun's warmth softly tells me, spring is finally here.

I came to catch a brown trout, or a rainbow maybe two,

When finally I realize, its the whole experience I pursue.

This ol pelican was cruising down

the river, I think he was fishin' too.

So, we finished up all of stuff in Casper, and made our way up north to Dubois, where we will spend the summer.

One Night In Winnamucca

We drove from Walker River to Winnamucca the 19th. Nice easy day. We talked with Joe and Bonnie Nemmers and they told us about a fun little bar in Winnamucca. Joe said it was right on the main drag. Well, I think Joe was drunk, cause we found the "Players Bar & Grill" which he recommended and said they had great burgers.

Well, the Players Bar no longer has food, but they did in deed have a great little bartender, pictured here. Her name was Shyla and she recommended we eat at a basque place called Martin's Hotel. It is on the historical register and is a typical basque restaurant, but oh so good! a little expensive but you really get a lot of food! The picture at the left is at the Martin Hotel. Very rustic and fun with with wonderful old photos on the walls. They bring you a salad and beans first, if you are basque you put the beans on your salad. We were rookies, we ate the beans separate. All good! Then they bring you three sides consisting of mashed potatos, carrots and a hominy dish made with basque chorizo. I didn't know there was such a thing. We both really liked it, and I found basque chorizo in a little grocery in Wells. So, now all I have to do is experiment and see if I can replicate it. Yum yum. Barry had a rib eye that he said was one of the best he had ever eaten and I had sweet breads! I can't recall ever seeing sweetbreads on a menu before. They were delicious! Sooo, we ate too much and had a great time!

Aaawwww, fishing at last

So, we took off from Pahrump and made our way to Walker River RV Resort near Smith, NV. Long day of about 350 miles. Smith is a small town south of Carson City. The park is nice, but we have no cell service which means we have no internet service either. They have a pay phone that we have gratefully used. As far as the internet goes we go to Yerrington about 20 miles down the road and we have great service there.

We got to Walker River on Thurs. April 9th. We left the 5er there and went over the Sierras to visit our good friends the Richardsons in Pine Grove, CA on Good Friday. A lot of snow on the Sierras but guess it was to be expected as it is a little over 8000 feet. Earlier this month we were 200 feet below sea level at Death Valley! It snowed a little on us over the mountains but the roads were good. As always it was wonderful to see Pat, Rick and John. Barry served in Vietnam with John and they have remained great friends through the years. Rick will soon be 90 and Pat is 87. Rick has lost a lot of his sight but remains a treat to visit with, and Pat is an extremely young 87. We cooked Easter dinner and had a wonderful time. John's daughter came for Easter from Sacramento where she lives. It was all very enjoyable. We were very glad we went.

Came back to Walker Rive on Monday, April 13. We met my old friend Colleen from Minot in Carson City for lunch and had a wonderful visit. She looks great and seems to love living in Reno. She and her husband Keith relocated there a few months ago. It was great to see them and catch up a little bit.

Then, we WENT FISHING! Aaaawwww! We restored our souls. We hadn't wet a fly since last summer, so we were really eager to get back to it!. We fished the East Fork of the Walker River not too far from Smith. We found the Angler's Edge fly shop in Gardnerville and Liz gave us maps and the inside scoop on where the best fishing spots were. The first day we fished it was cold and snowing off and on lightly, but the fish cooperated fairly well in the cloudy cool

conditions. Barry caught 3 rainbows about 12 to 14 inches and I caught 2 bows about the same size and 1 brown. The bows were all chunky

solid fish and the brown a little thinner.

The Walker River is a gorgeous piece of water, and just the kind of water we love to fish. Easy wading with lots of riffles, runs and some deep holes. We were successful with pheasant tails, and san juans. They didn't hit hard and we didn't have a lot of strikes. I don't believe there are a lot of fish in that water. We fished in the regular regulation area where you can throw bait as well and flies.

The next two days, the weather was wonderful. Sunny and warm. However, the fish weren't on the bite near as much with the sun out. Once again pheasant tails and san juans seemed to be their choices.

We laughed a lot when we came across the mattress shown above. Must be someone's special spot, don't you think?

This was Duck's first fishing outing so he had a lot to learn. He did pretty good, but it was difficult for him, as he loves water and seems to think if he is near it, he is supposed to be in it! He would make a great "big air dog", as he loves to jump and launch himself into the water!

I don't know if you all know about Barry's uncanny ability to catch white fish!!! If there is one within miles, he will catch it! The photo of him above is with one of the whitefish he caught! I have never caught one in my life, but he can every time. But I told him to quote Bob Crum, "Any fish is a good fish if he is on your fly!"

So, Walker River treated us well. We were happy to have the opportunity to catch some Nevada trout!

Last days in Pahrump

Well, tomorrow we leave Pahrump and head toward Smith, NV. We will be at the Walker River Resort for about 2 weeks. Hopefully by then the weather in WY will be turning somewhat springy! Smith, however, is experiencing some snowy cold weather, so go figure!

Yesterday we went to Vegas and visited our good friends the Woodburys. Paul was the Regional Director for Ducks Unlimited Nevada. Anyway we had a good time, ate down on Freemont St. Barry had not been to the "old" area of Vegas so we saw the light show on the Freemont and that was fun!

Today we were back in Brothel mode! We went to Sheri's Ranch for lunch and a guided tour of the brothel. It was very fun. We ate lunch in the sports bar, (very good food,) and the "girls were all hanging around the bar doing the guided tours. They were all lovely and did not have on much! Sooo, after lunch we toured Sheri's ranch. A pretty young lady named Chirisa was our guide and took us from the sports bar into the Parlor. Very nicely turned furniture and atmosphere. This is where the johns see the "line up." After you choose your lady, then you view the menu, which included things I didn't even know what they were, like the Creme de Minte french......Guess that is a blowjob with a liquor of your choice in the lady's mouth. Found that different, how would the guy know what flavor she was using??? Ok, enough of that! From the parlor you could see out into the back yard of this facility. There was a beautiful pool complete with water fall and around the edge of the lawn area were bungalows and rooms where the ladies conducted their business. The bungalows are themed, Safari, King Arthur, Roman, etc. The grounds were all impecibly groomed lawn, which would take some work in this climate. The ladies sun bath topless there and they have access to a gym and hair and nail salon.

Then back inside the big building we proceeded down the hall to select rooms, most of which have a jacuzzi. One room had a lovely table for two, nicely decorated where you can have a gourmet meal with your "date." The next room was very fun, it had a jacuzzi and the whole room was decoraged in Budweiser stuff! Who would have known that Budwieser sponsored a room in a brothel. Choose that room and you enjoy a bucket of free Bud products! Then you come to the dominance and bondage room! Holy smokes! It comes complete with chains, a cage (for crying out loud!) a brass pole and other really weird stuff! I'm sure your friend wears black leather and boots for this one!

The girls all live there and in my opinion are pretty much inmates! They can only leave for 4 hours, if they are gone longer than that they must undergo another health check. They work 2 weeks then have 4 days off, and they are checked weekly by a Dr. there at the ranch for disease. They work 2 weeks on then they can get some time off, they schedule all their own work and all their own pricing. I dont' think you can go there for much less than a grand. It was a lot more up-scale than the other ones we visited! OK, then, that is your brothel update! Tomorrow we will hit the road again, it will be a long day, 360 miles to Walker River and that is a long way for us. We are hoping to find some fishing there. Until then.

Our Visit to the Brothels

Those of you that know me well will not be at all surprised that visiting a brothel was very high on my list of things to do here. With my collection of "hooker books" it only seemed natural that we should go to a cat house,....so..we did!

There is a sign in Pahrump saying there is a Brothel Museum 20 miles from Pahrump in Crystal, NV. So, we got up this morning and went in search of the museum. We looked on the map for Crystal, but there was no listing, so we headed west on 160, and low and behold, out in the middle of absolutely no where, we saw a sign directing us to turn down a dowdy little road, then we came to this sign! Yippeee, we knew were were on the right road then. So here we go!

the second sign we see is for the Cherry Patch Ranch, boy we are on the right track now!

When we pulled up in front of the Brothel and Museum, much to our dismay it was closed. There was a sign that said it was closed for remodeling. There was a couple that had pulled up just ahead of us, ( we were the only 2 vehicles in the parking lot), and they were just sitting in their car. I got out to read the sign on the door of the museum/bar. They stepped out of their car and we whined a little because it was closed. When we pulled up however, we saw yet another sign that said that Mabel's Whorehouse was behind this particular establishment, so the four of us decided we would go to Mabel's and see if she was open!

Well, Mabel was indeed open. The bar had a sign on the door that said it was open 24 hours a day! The sign shown here was on the fence, so if you were here for the brothel and didn't care to go into the bar, you just rung the bell and they let you in! We decided we would go in the bar and have a drink with our new friends Doug and Barb. They were from New York and seemed to be just as eager for an adventure as we were! They are pictured here with Chelsie, the bartender at Mabel's. We all remember hearing jokes about Mabel's Whorehouse, but who would know there really was such a place. Chelsie was very nice and was more than willing to answer some of my hooker questions. She told me that all the girls are private contractors, they set their own prices and menus, but she did know that $100.00 was the lowest price there was for anything. The place was a little seedy with a bunch of trailer houses out back connected with walkways. While we were there having a $5.00 beer, she told us that the museum would be open in about 30 minutes, so we decided to wait. The brothels are located so far out in the middle of no where because only a few countys in NV allow prostitution. And they have to be so many miles from large metro areas. Mabels and the Cherry Patch advertise as the closest brothels to Las Vegas. OK, so we had our drink, I bought a couple of books, Doug bought the only Tshirt they had left, and then we were off to go back up front to the Cherry Patch museum and bar.

This is a picture of Barry, ringin' the bell to get into the Cherry Patch. Unfortunately the brothel was closed, so he was just out of luck! So that being said, we were off to the museum/bar which was attached to this brothel. I must admit the museum was disappointing, it only had some photos of actors and a bunch of newspaper clipping about the history of prostitution in Nye County. The bartender told us that this skeleton (which was missing it's hands) was assumed to be a hooker that had stolen and so they cut off her hands and shot her in the chest! It could be a skeleton of anyone, but the story was good.

This is a picture of Barry at the bar at Cherry Patch Ranch with the bartender Carrie and some weird guy that was hitchhiking when we came down the highway! He told Barry he had been working on Heidi Fliest's (don't know how to spell her last name, but you kow who I mean!) car. I'm sure she would hire a guy that doesn't have a car of his own to work on hers. Oh well, just another slice of Americana!

What a great day! It is not every day you get to go to an operating brothel. I really wish they had a little more imagination (and money I suppose), to decorate the places more like the old cat houses...(at least what we think they looked like), with flocked wallpaper and red shag carpet!

Here in Nevada

April finds us at Pahrump, NV. We are at a Western Horizons Resort with a winery! We can walk from our rig to the tasting room! (Yes there is a God!) It is a very nice place, and lots to see and do close by.

Yesterday we went to Death Valley, CA which is not far from here. It was remarkable. For some reason I thought Death Valley was bleak and desolate with not much to see. Boy was I wrong! Everyone should go if they are anywhere near. It is so beautiful. The colors in the rock formations are just breath taking. I took photos but they just don't come close to doing it justice. Going there really makes you feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things. The millions of years that it took to create the valley boggle the mind. Most of the valley is at or below sea level with Bad Water Basin being 280 feet below sea level. That elevation makes it the lowest place in the western hemisphere. Bad Water Basin is a large salt flat with small mounds of salt every where. Needless to say, not much grows there. Their temperatures are very very extreme. The lowest recorded temperature is 15 degrees and the highest is 135, and those happened the same year! Yikes.

This photo was taken at Furnace Creek in the Valley. Of course the green grass is watered regularly as there isn't much growing in the valley. The wild flowers were blooming when we were there, but there weren't a lot of them due to a dry winter.

Death Valley is a National Park so we enjoyed the use of our Volunteer Pass earned from working at the Bosque. The government worker that we showed it to didn't know what it was! Obviously they don't use or see many of them.

Anyway, we strongly recommend you see Death Valley if you are any where near. It is truely worth while.

Waiting for WY to warm

Well, it has been a long time since I blogged. Shame on me. Here it is March already. We are currently in Pahrump, NV for a week, from here will go on to Carson City, NV for a couple weeks, (will see some friends there) then we will start making our way North, IF, the blizzards have subsided in WY. We will spend the summer in Dubois, WY. We will work at the Big Horn Sheep Center 3 days a week so we can fish 4 days a week! That sounds great to me! The Wind River runs right through Dubois so it will be real convenient.

The photos above were taken shortly before we left the Bosque. We once again enjoyed our stay there. This shows only a few of the snow geese and sand hill cranes that wintered at the Bosque.

Winter in New Mexico

Well, last I wrote we were in Branson, MO. While we were there, just fooling around we received a call from our friend Daniel Perry, the Volunteer Coordinator at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge asking us to come back this winter. They had some volunteers that showed up then abruptly left, leaving the refuge short handed.

We didn't have any commitments for the winter other than going to WY to spend Christmas with Jay and his family and going to the Rose Bowl Parade, but the Bosque didn't seem to mind the fact that we would be gone for 3 weeks in Dec./Jan. so we came back to New Mexico.

It has been pretty fun. Many of the same volunteers returned this year so there are lots of familiar faces, as well as some new ones. The weather has been a little milder than last year, and that is pretty nice.

We left the 5th wheel here in Dec. and drove to Casper to spend Christmas with the kids. The only bad roads we had were in New Mexico! We stopped in Walsenburg, CO and saw my brother in law Jerry and his new digs. Then on to Fort Colllins, where we spent one night with the Rulons. Always good to see old friends.

Mallorys threw a Christmas party while we were in Casper so we got to see lots of our friends that we wouldn't normally have had an opportunity to visit with. That was very fun. We went to Sundance for a couple of days and Jinx and Steve had a party while we were there, so we faired pretty good! We took Mom back to Casper with us Christmas eve and had a wonderful time with the kids. We got up early Christmas morning and headed back to New Mexico. We drove straight through from Casper to Santa Fe where we stopped and had dinner with Barry's brother Robert and his daughter who were skiing Santa Fe. Then got back in the truck and came on south to the Bosque. Then we left the Bosque the 26th for Pasadena.

We had an absolutely wonderful time at the Rose Bowl! What a great experience. The RV tour that we went on was very very well run and organized so perfectly. We all parked our rigs in the back parking lot of the Santa Anita Race Track. They provided a huge generator for our electricity. They fed us 3 large meals a day and bussed us everywhere. We helped build the float for the City of Sierra Madre. So much fun! There were about 140 of us on the tour and one morning we cut and viled 21,000 roses for the float. It was so much fun. We went through many of the float barns where they build all the floats, we went to the Huntington Library, and of course the parade. We had wonderful seating for the parade, right up close and personal! The weather was sunny and very Southern California like! that afternoon we went and saw all the floats parked so we were able to get pictures and get a better look at all of them. Just unbelievable!! So, that was really a great trip. If any of you consider doing that, Fantasy Tours throws a great party.

We came back to the Bosque and have been pretty sedate since then. We did ride the train to Santa Fe last week and that was very fun. The train is pretty new, so it is still very clean and the schedule is perfect for day trips. We drove to Belen, (about 1 hour north), boarded the train, rode to Albuquerque, got off and had breakfast, then boarded again and went on to Santa Fe. Plans are to build track to run the train all the way to Las Cruses so that will be really great when they get that done. We may have to come back to the Bosque in a couple of years just to ride the train!

We will be here until the end of Feb. I plan to fly to Portland to see my friend Vickie the last week of Feb. then we will probably spend March and part of April in AZ or some place warm. The temperatures in WY this year sure make us glad we aren't there!

We have plans to spend the summer in Dubois, WY. We will work 3 days a week at the Big horn Sheep Center there. We are really looking forward to it. The fishing is good there and we will only be 3 hours from Jay and his family so we are hopeful they will come camp with us a few weekends.
Only working 3 days a week will give us time to go to Sundance and other short jaunts during the summer. We will be in Minot June 6th for Marissa Aftem's wedding.

Fall with the Floyds

Yikes, once again I have been terrible about this blog, I don't have any excuses, except we have been having lots of fun.



My sister died suddenly in May of a heart attack. I miss her terribly. She and I had gotten very close over the last several years. She was 7 years older than me. I went to AZ along with my two nieces and helped my brother-in-law go through her stuff and get rid of a lot of it. Not an easy trip. Then they came back to WY with me and we scattered her ashes on the lower ranch where we lived until I was in 3rd grade. That was the place we both always considered home.



We spent the summer at Devils Tower KOA Campground. We worked 4 days a week and for the most part, had a great summer. We met lots of great people that worked at the KOA , also workampers, and renewed friendships with old friends. It was wonderful to be back home for a while. Opal (my Mom who is 87 and lives in Sundance) was very happy to have us around. As well as working at the campground, we also got some sorely needed upkeep done on our house in Sundance. In Sept. I worked the bar for a week in Sundance while Bev was on vacation so Barry got to scrape and paint the trim on the house. Actually I scraped the week before while he was in Montana hunting grouse with Jeff Robertson.



Barry also went to OK to his nephew's wedding this summer so he got to see his siblings. He also attended a gun school in Casper and had a great time doing that.



The high light of our summer was, for sure, the big fat party we had Aug. 23 at the KOA. We had decided to celebrate our 60th birthdays we were going to have a great big party. We planned it at the KOA so people could come and stay and enjoy that beautiful place. There were about 100 people at the party on Saturday night. We invited Chad Lore, a one man band from Casper to entertain us, and boy, entertain he did! He was fabulous and everyone loved him. We had many friends and family that came and camped at the campground for the weekend. Jay and his family came, as did my niece Stacey from Gillette, our Grand daughter Shayne from MN and of course my Mom. Old friends from Minot, Dickinson, Colorado and Casper. Joe and Bonnie came for the party from TN but arrived Friday and left Saturday as they had an appointment in NM on Monday. Anyway it was a most wonderful time, we are so blessed to have so many good and dear friends and such a great family.



The sad note of our summer was losing Sara. She had a heart attack in August and is now buried under a big oak tree in the shadow of Devils Tower. Tailer was lost without her for awhile, as I think he always thought she was his mother.



We did enjoy most of the summer. Rally was down considerably this year, however the bar revenues didn't reflect that, but over all it was off about 40%. I sold out of the bar in July so it was kind of nice not to have to work 18 hour days during rally as in past years .



In Sept. Barry got a new hunting dog since we had Pete put down last January. The new boy is named Duck, he is a 2 year old black lab, already trained to hunt. He does real well, has a few quirky habits but those should straighten out with time.



When we left Sundance we headed north and visited friends in Dickinson, ND on our way to MN. Barry hunted grouse with Mike Burton near Nisswa then we went on to Grand Rapids and he hunted ducks with Dick Birch. We left there and went south to Owatonna and saw Jim and Karen Killen for a few days. We hunted pheasants with them. We also saw Shayne at Mankato where she is a sophmore at MSU. Once again we headed south. We saw Travis and his family in Iowa, actually part of his family he and 3 of the kids met us for supper but the little one was sick so Candy stayed home with him. We had seen Travis and his family this summer as they were in Lead for a wedding. From Owatonna we continued south. We stayed at Wallace State Park in MO, (really a nice park) which is only about 50 miles from Kansas City. My old and dear friend Lynne and her fella live in KC and they came to Wallace and saw us. I hadn't seen Lynne for about 12 years, so that was great. She is Rod's high school sweetheart and she and I have remained friends all these years.



Also while we were at Wallace we sold the sports car. I had driven it this whole trip as we were going to sell it when we got down south as it is difficult to sell a convertible sports car in the north in the fall. It was just too small for Duck and his crate too. We were going to buy a small station wagon or something like that to drive back to WY for Christmas but I think we would be better off to just rent a car for that trip. I'm not sure but I think that is what we will do.



We are currently in Branson, MO. Think we will stay here a few days, we found a nice cheap park to stay in. When we leave here we will go to Pangburn, Arkansas to see a friend of Barry's from Ducks then on west, probably stopping in OK to see his siblings then to Safford where my brother-in-law still has his house. He has bought a place in southern CO but hasn't sold the one in Safford yet so think we will hang there for the first part of winter until we go to WY for Christmas then to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl Parade. We will also stop at the Bosque to see old friends there.



So 'til next time, and I'll try to do this more often. See ya.

Finally, we are back

Well, this has taken forever hasn't it? Yikes. I am such a lazy lump! Don't know where the time has gone.

Will try to bring you up todate on our activities since last Oct.! My goodness! Only 5 months!

We wintered at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in NM. We were among about 25 other volunteers there and we had a wonderful time. We worked 4 days a week at various things there on the refuge and enjoyed it so much. Some days we worked in the visitors center welcoming guests to the refuge, other days we worked in the gift shop, answered phones, or worked in the fee booth. We also did what was called roving maintainance, meaning we drove a van around the refuge picking up trash, making sure the porta-pottys had paper, glassing the birds and some days having a little nap in the sunshine!

For the better part of the winter there were about 40,000 snow geese, 20,000 sand hill cranes, and 40,000 ducks, along with other birds and critters that opted as we did to winter there. My sister and brother in law came and spend Christmas with us which was a real treat as I hadn't spent Christmas with my sister for about 30 years! Then some friends from Sundance came down and spent a few days over new years with us.

We made some very good friends during our stay at the Bosque. Steve and Linda Guthrie were volunteers there and they are from Libby, MT. We had a lot in common with them, they love to laugh as much as we do, as well as enjoy cigars and a cocktail now and then. The staff of the refuge was wonderful and worked very hard at making our tour there enjoyable. They offer an RV pad, full hookups, propane and laundry facilities to all the volunteers. It was truly very fun. We laughed alot about being nearly 60 and making a buck and a quarter an hour! Actually we laughed a lot for the entire time we were there. We were in the company of many many good cooks and the pot lucks were many and wonderous! Wonder we didn't gain 50 lbs. over the winter. Right before we left I did a Bag Lady performance for all of the crew there and it was fun and well received. I joked that we would have the rig hitched up and the truck running when I did it, as I am not always so politically correct! Everyone took it very well, even the federal employee I called an asshole! Actually he turned out to be a realy nice guy, we just all got off to a rocky start with him when he first got there.

About nine of us women made a quilt while we were there depicting many of the birds and critters on the Bosque. We had a great time doing it, and we presented it to the Refuge manager and his wife when we left. It was fun and turned out so nice.

The only bad part of our winter was the loss of our black lab Pete. He was 11 years old and his arthritic back finally got the best of him. He hunted right to the end, and loved every minute of it. He was a wonderful pet, we miss him alot.

After we left the Bosque we went to Las Cruses for a few days and I went to Mexico and had some dental work done. That worked out very well. Amazing how cheap that is compared to having it done in the states and seems to be the very same quality of work. After that we met Steve and Linda in AZ and spent a day in Tombstone, which I always enjoy. I have such an imagination when it comes to history. I loved having a drink in the Crystal Palace where Wyatt and Doc often drank and gambled. We went from there to Tucson and stayed at the Gilbert Ray RV Park southwest of the city. What a great place to stay. It is out in the desert and very very nice. We took in the Desert Museum while we were there and enjoyed that as well.

Barry has been doing some work on the trailer. We have been very fortunate since we have owned it and have had nothing go wrong with it to speak of. We are coming up on 2 years and one of the levelers malfunctioned and the gate valve for one of the gray tanks also demanded some attention. Barry fixed the gate valve and we have a guy coming to fix the leveler next week. The only bad thing about this full time RVing is if you have to take your rig in for work, you have no place to live!

I flew back to Casper in January for a Nickie's 50th birthday. The party and the whole deal was a huge surprise for her. I got to spend a little time with Jay and Kristy and the boys. That is always so fun. Gavin is just a scream, and comes up with the darnest stuff. One night Jay had promised the boys an oreo blizzard after dinner and he and Gavin had gone to the grocery store for the makin's. Before dinner Gavin came to me and said, "Gramma can I have an oreo?" I told him to go ask his dad, he said "no, I already ask him and he said no, so can I have one?" He is a character. Jevin is kind of quiet and pretty bookish! Loves to read although he enjoys his sports too.

Right now we are in Safford, Az hanging out at my sisters, waiting for the weather to get better up north. We are going to summer in the shadow of Devils Tower at the KOA campground there. Friends of ours own it and we thought it might be fun to do the summer there as we know the fishing is good around there. We plan to have a big party there the weekend of Aug 23 so come if you can! Barry and I both turn 60 this year, he in June, me in Oct. so we are just having a big fat party in Aug. We hope all our friends and family can make it.

We will leave here around the end of March and head back for WY..we are hoping their nasty winter weather has passed by then! We will keep you posted!

Southward Bound

Well, I have certainly taken my time getting back to this haven't I? I will go back in memory as best I can.

We left Willow and went back to Glennallen to pick up our mail before we headed to the lower 48. Our bosses at the campground were gracious enough to let us stay for free for as long as we wanted, so we were there a few days then started the journey home. I must say that we were both dreading the long trip a bit until we got on the road. The first day we decided we would stay in Tok, as we hadn't stopped there going up. We pulled into a campground and they only had 15 amp. service so we elected to go on to the border, to a campground right on the Canadian border called Border City. We had stayed there on the way up, so decided to try it again. As soon as we pulled into our site, we spied a Teton 5er and a motorhome near us and the men were out cleaning their rigs. I soon realized that we knew the people! They had spent several days in the park at Glennallen. So we cocktailed and visited with them that evening. They were also heading home, via Haines to catch the ferry.

So, after Border City we headed south across Canada. We didn't have any trouble at the crossing, other than they took my chili! I had made the mistake of telling them that I had cooked chili in the fridg made of Canadian beef, so they confiscated it. Said you can heat meat to 3000 degrees and not kill the Mad Cow virus. I was very put out since my chili is never the same twice in a row and that was a damn good batch! Barry said he thought they just wanted it for supper! Anyway then we started across the Yukon and the worst stretch of road on the whole Alaska Highway. It is only about 60 miles and you just have to go slow. We stayed in Calgary a couple of days and took a guided fishing trip down the Bow River. That was really fun, and resulted in several pretty large Browns. It was ironic, we stayed in two different parks in Calgary, one being the worst we had been in and the other the nicest. The one that didnt't stack up was very crowded and full of people working contruction in the area. Some of the rigs didn't even look like they would run. The second place we stayed was beautifully kept, and huge sites.

It took us about 2 weeks to get from AK to WY. We stayed in Casper about 3 weeks and also made a side trip to Sundance. In Casper we saw old friends, and of course the kids and got our Dr. appointments and that sort of thing accomplished! then we set out for NM. We went to Steamboat Springs to see friends then on to Fort Collins, also to see friends. We stayed at the

Wittington Center in Raton. It is the NRA center and a very nice place. They have a big camp ground out in the desert that is very nice and quiet.

Then we came on to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, our new home until the end of February. What a cool place! We are actually volunteers, but they give us our site, propane, laundry, 2 shirts and a coat. Plus we can drive the government vehicles around the refuge to look at the wildlife. The Sandhills are just starting to come in. There will be several thousand of them here in a week or so. There are also thousands of Snow geese, ducks and other birds, all making their way south. Some of them will stay here for the winter, others will travel on. On the 13th the Refuge holds the Festival of Cranes, an event that draws thousands of people. I'm sure Nov. will be our busiest month here. There are about 30 of us volunteers, most of us living in RVs here on the refuge. So far we are really enjoying it, and I will try to not take so long in making another entry!

Willow Creek

After leaving the penninsula we went north to Willow, still in search of our silver and chum salmon. We stayed in the Pioneer Lodge RV park in Willow and it sits right on Willow Creek. We walked out of our trailer and watched silvers and chums right there in the camp ground. The chums were about done as were the silvers. We really didn't care though, as we just wanted to catch them, we didn't want to eat them! Our freezer is still full of halibut and Copper River Reds that a friend gave us.

We really enjoyed the park in Willow. It is a tiny little thing, maybe 15 sites with a restaurant and bar. The first night we were there, we went to the bar to get local info about the fishing, and meet some of the locals. I'm not sure, but I think if you want to live in Willow, you have to have several teeth missing! We met several people that could have really benefitted from dental work. The first guy we met was an expert on shooting pool and drinking Miller High Life, (That seems to the beer of choice in Willow!) His name was Fuzzy. Fuzzy didn't know a damn thing about fishing, but he was really quite the character! He did tell us that we needed to come into the bar the next morning and talk to Jerry, as evidently he is the local fishing expert. OK, so we visited with and laughed at Fuzzy for the evening, along with Tom, who is leaving soon to go to Thailand as he thinks he wants to live there. And Kathy, a lady who has lived in AK for 20 years, is currently between husbands and you guessed it......has some teeth missing! Fuzzy, Tom, Kathy and Jerry are not natives of AK, but transplants. So, the next morning, we went into the restaurant for breakfast and to talk to Jerry. He also is a piece of work, will talk to you forever about fishing and put us on to some great places to fish. He is the chief cook and bottle washer there at Pioneer and prides himself on being able to do it all there. He doesn't have a vehicle and lives right there on the property. Makes me think he is like many here in AK who are running from something on the outside. But anyway, Jerry was a wealth of information about fishing the Willow, since, I guess he doesn't do much else other than work, drink, shoot pool and fish!

So, we went down to the mouth of Willow Creek where it flows into the Big Susitna and fished there one day. The only really bad thing about fishing AK this time of year is, it smells terrible! There are dead fish everywhere, as the salmon are finishing spawning and then they are done. The bear love it, and you have to be constantly on the lookout for bears. We were lucky and didn't have any encounters. But , does it stink! I had taken halibut out for supper that night and after fishing all afternoon with that nasty smell, I didn't know if we could eat fish, but after being off the river for a while and having a cocktail, we were OK! So then the next day we walked up Willow Creek and got into some absolutely wonderful rainbows! They have been eating salmon eggs for several weeks and they are like footballs! Just beautiful fat fish! They were also hitting beads and we had a great time.

Barry got his silver and his chum. I got my chum but didn't land my silver. Barry's silver was already red and wouldn't have been good to eat! So, Barry got his salmon slam, catched all 5 different kinds of salmon. Then we went after rainbows and that was just a blast! They were such fat heavy fish it was wonderful fun. We also have those pictures that we will post later.

So, now we are back in Glennallen waiting for our mail and we will be on our way back to the outside on Tues. after Labor Day. I probably won't have cell or internet through Canada, so probably won't post until we get back down.

The Kenai Penninsula

After leaving Glennallen and spending a few days in Anchorage, we made our way south to the Kenai Penninsula to fish the Kenai River. We had hoped to get our silver and chum salmon there, but our timing was off just a little bit. So, (oh rats), we had to fish for big rainbows and dolly varden. We wade fished the Russian River right after we got down there and it was full of red salmon and we did catch some small dolly and rainbow there. It was fun to fish it after you read so much about it in the flyfishing mags. Then we chartered a float trip down the Kenai River and had a wonderful time! Our guide was pretty sharp and able to put us on lots of fish. There was another couple fishing with us from CA. Very nice people. That was pretty different for us, as we are used to fishing two to a drift boat in WY, so being in a 20 ft. drift boat with for fishers was different. It was OK, once you got the hang of it. We did in fact catch lots of BIG rainbows and dollys. The 30 inchers that we were hoping for did elude us however. Between the 4 of us, we boated about 100 fish that day, which was really nice. Some of which were in the 25 to 27 inch range. Really nice scrappy fish, and the dollys were just as much fun to catch as the rainbows. We fished with beads, something we had never done before. You put a bead that resembles a fish egg about 2 inches above a bare hook and when the fish takes the bead, as soon as he spits it out, the hook gets him. Guess that was illegal here until a year or so ago, but everyone seems to fish that way now. We fished with a lot of weight and a strike indicator. It was a great day. I have photos of the day I will post to this after we get outside and I get stronger cell signal.

It is really expensive to fish the Kenai with a guide. We were amazed, but decided if we wanted to fish it, we would have to bite the bullet and cough up the almost $600.00 to do it, and, you don't even get lunch, you have to take your own! Wow! There are good things about WY that we didn't even appreciate! I guess if you want to fish a famous river like that, it is expensive.

August past so quickly

Well, haven't I just been the lazy heifer in getting back to this huh? August was a busy month for us. I went to WY the 2nd week to work in the bar during Sturgis. The Burnout event at the bar was a hum-dinger, with more people than last year. I have photos to post to this blog, but will have to wait until I am somewhere where I have a stronger signal, as I just can't get them to load here. All went well in Sundance during the rally, my Mom is well, and her usual self. I flew into Casper and drove to Sundance, then drove back to Casper. It was a whole lot cheaper to fly into Casper than to Rapid City and besides, I got to see the kids. They are doing well, and Jevin and Gavin are growing like weeds. Gavin turned 4 in Aug. so is growing up way too fast. Had a little cocktail party at Julia's in Casper so got to see lots of good friends. Boy the weather was warm. It was pretty different for me after being up here in AK all summer. Our bosses were in Palmer for medical stuff while I was gone, so Barry had to run the park by himself for a few days. I think he enjoyed it though, as if you are here alone you get to meet all the people coming and going. After I returned there was a couple here in the park, (actually they were here when I left and still here when I got back) from Germany. They spoke OK English and had brought their 14 year old motorhome over from Germany. Now lets just say that wasn't the smartest thing, as it broke down and of course they couldn't get parts for it here in the states. Anyway, we became friends with these folks and before they left I gave them one of our cards in case they had trouble as they were being towed to Anchorage where they were going to salvage out their motorhome, as they didn't want to ship it home and customs won't let them just discard it here. Anyway, a few hours after I had given them our card, they came to me and pointed to the words "trout bums" on our card and ask what that meant. I ask them if they knew what a trout was and they said yes, but Rolph said "this word here, I put it into my translator and it comes up"......he patted his butt! So the poor people thought our card said we were fish butts!!! We hadn't thought that the word "bum" wouldn't translate into what we meant. So, us old fish butts are just traveling along!

So, about the 17th of Aug. we left Glennallen and went to Anchorage and spent a few days, getting our carpet cleaned and enjoying the shopping after being in Glennallen for the summer. There are just lots of things you can't get in an Alaskan town of 450 people! We had planned to be done on the 15th, but our boss was in Palmer for two days then for chemotherapy, so we stayed until they got back.

We had a great summer here. We loved the work and the area as well. It was nice being able to go to Gakona, about 20 minutes away and see our friends who used to live in Sheridan that now own the Gakona lodge. We met lots of nice people here, both people staying in the park and people that live here. Itwas also fun learning the history of the area. And of course catching our kings here was wonderful. I really believe that this little RV park is one of the nicest in AK at least that we have found. All the guests really enjoyed the cleanliness and well kept aspect of it. Barry did a wonderful job of keeping it all landscaped really nice, and that is no small feat when the sun shines 24/7 during June and July, plus there is plenty of rain too. We are so glad that we came, but now, we have to drive the long way home, and that isn't something we look forward to! Oh well, it beats spending the winter in AK!

A Fishie, Fishie Tale

Greeting from AK! All is well here, actually we had a very fishie day last week. We went to Valdez on our days off and took a cruise out into the Sound on the LuLuBelle. It is a 40 passenger boat that has gone out into the Sound on tours everyday in the summer since 1979 with the same captain. He talked the entire 8 hour tour! Very nice, we saw sea otters, sea lions, humpback whales, dall porpoises and glaciers. It was a very fun time. Met some fun folks from Victoria and had a great day.

The next day we went Pink Salmon fishing in the back bay of Prince William Sound. They are a smaller fish than the kings, but there are lots of them in the Sound right now as they are running to spawn. The Pinks were jumping out of the water like crazy and we couldn't figure out why they were doing that, as they were feeding below the surface. I joked to Barry that I thought they were doing it because they were itchy from the sea lice they had on them from being in the ocean. Lo and behold we talked with someone that knew and that is exactly why they are jumping, to get rid of the lice, also to smack their sides on the surface of the water to make their eggs and sperm easier for spawning. (Would that be like going on a bumpy road when you are over due pregnant???) Anyway, we fished the Sound on Thurs. morning then came back to Glennallen, about 117 miles. We got set back up in our spot in the RV park and a friend of ours who is a fishing guide on the Gulkana River came by to tell us that the Kings were really hot that day. Sooo, about 8:30 that night we went King fishing. Oh my God, what a time that was. We both landed King Salmon on our flyrods! Barry caught about a 30 lb. king on his 8 wt. It was so much fun. Barry caught 3 and I caught 2. I was totally exhausted after two! I had to sit down, rest and have a cigar, as did Barry! (See photo above..I haven't figured out how to put the photos where I want them yet!) We were back in the trailer by 1AM and had landed 5 kings. We let them go, as if you keep one your limit is one. Much more fun catching them! This time of year here is like zuccini season is WY, everyone has more salmon than they want so they are always trying to give you some! Barry isn't a huge fan of LOTS of salmon, and I don't reallly want to eat it 3 or 4 times a week, so all is well! We didn't catch them on flies, we used roe, but all the same it was extremely fun! By the time I had my second one landed, I was totally exhausted from the fight (about 25 minutes) and the adrenalin rush. It was truly an experience of a life time. Neither of us had ever caught a fish near that big. I used the guide's 10 wt as the reel on my 8 wt. had a malfunction, but all the same it was great. I landed my first one on a spinning outfit and the second one on the fly rod. Anyway, it was super! OK, now I have to go take a nap just from talking about it!

We had some horrible news this week. A young man that was Rod's best friend until they were about 10 years old, took his life last week. So, so tragic. They live in Georgia. I am so sad, as he was like one of my kids those years when the boys played together every day. You just never know what tomorrow is going to bring.

OK, I'm outta here, I have to vacuum up the dog hair...imagine that. Later

July in Glennallen is something to behold. We went to the 4th of July parade here in town and it was fun. Glennallen only has about 450 people and the only real street in town is the Glen highway that does directly through from Tok Junction to Anchorage, so for the parade they just closed the highway! Probably some unhappy travelers. The leading vehicle was a state trooper throwing candy. Pretty much every one in the parade threw candy. State troopers are the only law enforcement we have here, so they started and ended the parade. The last trooper was the one that was stopping the traffic on the west end. Anyway, of all the entries in the parade I liked the guy with the "honey wagon" the best. Most everyone here has their sewer tanks pumped all year long because they can't have an actual cesspool that drains due to permafrost, anyway the honey wagon guy threw individually wrapped toilet paper! And behind his tank truck he was pulling an outhouse on a trailer with no door and there was a guy sitting in there....(I said sitting in there.) After the parade we went to the free salmon bake in the park. They grilled salmon and had baked spuds, corn on the cob and beans and garlic bread. It was pretty fun.

Salmon season is in full swing here now. The first run of kings is about over then there will be another run after that. There as sockeyes going up now too. The fishwheels (see the photo at the top right of this post) are going strong on the Copper River. Fishwheels originated in China and have been around AK since the early 1900s. If you are a resident you can get a fishwheel permit, as this area has subsistance fishing as does most of AK, primarily set up for the natives, but any resident can get a permit for a fishwheel. They scoop up the salmon in the baskets then have an angled shoot that drops the fish into a holding tank. The wheels are all home made, as there is no manufacturer of them. The amount of fish you can take with your permit is determined by annual income and need. They range from 49 fish to 500. How sick of salmon would you get if you got 500?? Anyway, I found the fishwheels very interesting. Residents can also dip-net on the Copper River as well.

We just found out yesterday that our lady boss has cancer. She had a stroke last year and suffers from Lupus and now a biopsy showed she has cancer of the intestine and stomach. No treatment plan yet, but that will all have to be done in Anchorage, so it appears that Barry and I will be running the park a lot of the time the rest of the summer.

I don't know if I told many of you about our friend John Richardson in Northern California whose 19 mo. old grandson was shook and banged up againest a wall by his baby sitter. Anyway, that happened in May and the little guy is doing better, they operated and took out a piece of his skull to accomodate the swollen brain. He is able to walk a little bit now with braces on his right leg as his right side doesn't work very good yet. They haven't given them a prognosis yet until the swelling goes down. He is still in the hospital in Sacramento but gets to go home the 13th of July. He will continue with therapy and hopefully they will be able to put the piece of his skull back when the swelling is down. I'm not sure how that all works, if they save the piece of his skull or if they put something else in. Anyway there is a webside for him, http://www.babykai.com/ that shows pictures of him. Unbelieveable. If you go there, you put Kai in as the password and hit enter. His father committed suicide about 6 months ago, so his poor Mom has really had a hard hard time. Hopefully all will work out for the little guy.

Well, so aren't I just a ray of sunshine in your life? I really got on a kick there with horrible news. Guess we all should just count our lucky stars that our lives are going as well as they are.

Barry and the dogs are fine. He is getting to be pretty darn good at week eating, although this week he has been running a chain saw too! Yipes. Bet you all are scared now! Yesterday he and the boss man had to dig up the sewer pipe as someone had put some rocks in it about the side of a baseball and that pretty much screwed it up. Anyway they got it fixed and smelled no worse for their work! (Although I did have the urge to pour bleach over him when he was in the shower! :)

It has been raining here quite a bit lately, and the temperatures have been lovely, especially compared to some of them that I hear about in the lower 48, (the locals here call that "the outside". We actually ran the fire place today awhile after being outside in the damp weather. it is about 55 degrees now and don't think it got over 65 today. Great sleeping weather. The days are getting shorter here. It now gets almost a little dark about 1 in the morning but it doen't last long.

The over 1000 flowers that I planted in early June are going great guns! All this day light sure makes them grow. My tomatos don't fair as well, due to the cool nights. I had to build them a green house. I only have 2 plants, so I took the wire dog cage, turned it on one end and covered it with plastic. Works like a charm, although it looks a little weird. Oh well, in Alaska anything goes. Our friend up here told us this is the land of half-ass stuff and he is right. There are lots of houses (or shacks) that are not quite done or not even close to done that people live in. I think the summers are so short they just do what they can and call it good.

We went to the half-way to Christmas party June 23rd at the Gakona Lodge. (See the picture on the left at the top of this post) It was pretty fun. Because so many people leave during the winter and it is so damn cold for the ones that stay here all year, they just have their Christmas parties in the summer, complete with Christmas decorations! They hired a band and he played outside the bar at the lodge. I took the attached photo at about midnight and you can see, it wasn't anywhere close to dark.

OK, well, I'm done til next time. Love to all.