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.