Gizmo, Calico and Las Vegas

It’s time to shake “Godzilla” out of its new digs and roll on another adventure! We recently found a new home for the rig while it’s between trips. We are now parking it at Santee Lakes under a huge carport-like structure that is topped with solar panels. These panels provide most of the power to the facility. Claudia and I drove down Saturday, pulled it out of its parking spot and headed for home to get packed. The clothes, food, fish, and new addition to the family, “Gizmo”, were all ready to go by 2:00 pm so, rather than wait until morning as we had planned, we just took off and headed north on I-15, heading for the Calico Ghost Town at Yermo, just north of Barstow.

“Gizmo” is a nine-month old long-hair Chihuahua that we adopted from the local humane society a week ago. He’s only sort of potty trained at this time so we have concerns about him and the motorhome. As long as we take him out every few hours, he doesn’t potty inside, which is a good thing. Gizmo got his name from the movie “Gremlins”. The lead animal in the movie, a Mogwai, was named “Gizmo”. Now, for those of you who saw the movie, don’t you see a striking resemblance between Gizmo and Gizmo? I do!

Anyway, we are now on the road again. I am driving, Claudia is navigating and Gizmo is lying on an imitation leopard pooch pad on her lap…fast asleep! So much for worrying about how he would take to motorhoming. We took the I-15 to Yermo, turned off on Ghost Town Road and headed north for about three miles to Calico and the RV park. The ranger told us to just grab any open site and he would be around to check us in. We picked a power-only site and settled in for the night. It was about 80 to 85-degrees but cooling off fast as the sun set behind the hills. We slept GREAT!

Gizmo’s whimpering got me up at the ungodly hour of 7:00 am. Dressing quickly, obviously not quickly enough for Gizmo who now whined louder “encouragement”. I opened his cage and we stepped out to face the dawn. He was soon finished with his “duties” and we returned to the rig. He ran inside and slid to a stop in front of the refrigerator, anticipating his usual after-duty treat, a small chunk of a mystery meat product from our favorite dog food company. Does he have me trained, or what?

Claudia and I finished dressing and set off for the ghost town. The first building we came to was the Calico House Restaurant. We went to the rear outside patio and were met by a young waitress in a yellow hoop skirt which was covered with large yellow and black bees, a vintage outfit from the late 1800’s. She took our order and soon returned with two huge plates of chicken fried steak, two eggs to order, a side of home fries and another side of biscuits and gravy…EACH! We immediately decided to skip lunch today! The breakfast was $9.25!

After about an hour, we waddled out of the restaurant and started to walk the town. We walked to the train station for a short train ride through the mine area and then continued our walk through the rest of the town, stopping at every gift shop to look for “bargains”. Luckily, we found none. Returning to the motorhome, I walked Gizmo and we settled back to wait for our previously assigned site to open up.

About forty-five minutes after the checkout deadline, the slugs in our assigned site finally decided to leave and we slid in right behind them and got all set up to meet several of our Allegro Club members. We are all headed for the Oasis RV Resort in Las Vegas and a rally being put on by Tiffin Motorhomes. The rigs started arriving and we got everyone parked without incident. Since the temperature was now a toasty 105-degrees, we decided to abandon the “Five O’Clock Rule” and headed for the bar for a few cool ones.

Calico Ghost Town

After a couple of beers, iced teas, and assorted other refreshing liquids, the gang headed down the hill and back to the rigs. Everyone had a lot of “extra” food so we set up an impromptu pot-luck at the meeting area in front of the rigs. Suffice to say, we ate well…again! After-dinner showers were well-appreciated by both us and those whom we came in close proximity to. We cleaned the rig as much as we could for a planned early departure for Sin City.

We woke up about 6:00 am. I took Giz for a morning “prance” while Claudia finished cleaning up. We took off right at 7:00 and got to the RV park at 9:30. After checking in, Claudia took off in the car to meet Jacque and Gizmo and I got the rig all set up. Claudia returned sometime around 1:00 to find the motorhome perfectly set up, cooled down and ready to party. We tinkered for a while and then headed for the pool. Boy did it feel great. The temperature was perfect! Walking back to the rig after swimming, we looked toward the motorhome and went “YEAH, BABY!” Just on the other side of the freeway was a Bass Pro Shops (for me) and the Silverton Casino (for Claudia). Guess what we are doing tomorrow after we do the rally check-in thing.

Tuesday started off bright and early. Gizmo greeted us with his usual glee and whining. The only thing wrong(?) with this park is that there is no dog grass. There is people grass, like the little chipping golf course, but there are 1, 219 signs stating “NO DOGS ON THE GRASS”. There is also a $50 fine for letting your dog use the grass and a $25 “bounty” to anyone turning you in. Naturally, we are as far as possible from the closest dog run. Oh well, we get our exercise walking to and from the dog run…LOTS of exercise!

Since it was early, we jumped in the car, crossed the freeway and went into the Bass Pro Shops store. I found a killer deal on a long-sleeve camo shirt for my soon to occur predator hunting trips. I just about have my black powder muzzleloader sighted in. When I get that done, look out varmints! We then went next door to the casino where Claudia joined 99% of all slot machine players as she lost again. One of these days, she’ll hit the big one. At least, that’s what she keeps telling me. We then returned to the park, ate lunch and met up with the rest of our group to register for the rally. We won a $20 gift certificate to Walmart as a door prize and an oil change for the generator. That’s cool! After checking in, we perused all the new motorhomes on display here in the park but decided to keep Godzilla. We then attended a hosted social and dinner featuring a baron of beef. They do feed us good at the rallies. The only meal not covered is breakfast on Thursday.

Wednesday started early again as we both needed showers. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, perfectly cooked bacon or under-cooked sausage, home fries and fruit. Not spectacular, but adequate. After breakfast was a seminar on the electronics installed in our RV’s. The questions centered mostly around satellite and radio systems…interesting and helpful. The next seminar was on convection microwave cooking. Since my Dutch ovens don’t fit or work in the microwave, I decided to pass on this seminar. Claudia and some of the other ladies decided to check out the local outlet mall.

The weather turned weird this afternoon. We got a bunch of dark Cumulus Nasty clouds in that kicked up the winds in the afternoon. The awnings on the motorhome started flapping so wildly they woke me up from my afternoon nap. I had to get up retract them. Luckily, it has electric switches to bring them in. I didn’t even have to go outside. I love this motorhome! Since I was now up and awake, I fixed a toddy and turned on the news. Tonight is a dinner and entertainment with a western theme so I get to dust off my boots and show off my new belt that I bought in Quartzsite back in January. It even has my name embossed on it! WOW!

The dinner was good, the show was great and we went down to Fremont Street afterwards. The light show was all about rock music…”We will, we will ROCK YOU!” etc., etc. We stopped for a few minutes at one of the casinos along Fremont Street so Claudia could lose some more money and then returned home for some very welcome sleep.

Thursday started with a shower and a romp. In case you were wondering, I took the shower and Gizmo romped. (just to set the record straight) After breakfast, we headed out to the demonstration rigs for a one-on-one with the Tiffin reps. We then went in for a show-and-tell with craft makers from the group. One member of our club makes wooden toys for disadvantaged kids and displayed his toy trains, planes, tools and push toys. He’s really good!

Gerry and his toys

Next was lunch and Bingo. Claudia stayed for Bingo but I had to talk with the repair guys and coordinate with them about a venting problem. I have now filled the gray tank as requested and am awaiting their arrival. They got here at 4:15 and got everything fixed that could be fixed. The venting problem was diagnosed as a vent pipe inserted too far into the tank. I will have to do a quick examination of the vent tube to see if it can be fixed. If it can, it will be easy. If it can’t be fixed, I’ll live with it. I have a couple of little follow-ups, but they are within my technical expertise and I shall prevail! Now…I heard there was an unadvertised wine party in the ballroom. Better check that out!

Unfortunately, after putting stuff away and taking a much needed shower, (the second one today), we barely made it to dinner on time. After dinner, the entertainment started. It was WAY loud and not to our liking so we, and a few others, drove next door to the Silverton Casino. Claudia went left (toward the slots) and I went right (toward Bass Pro Shops). I did have to stop for a few minutes at the huge salt water tank to admire all the fish. There were lots of sharks, bat rays and other salt water fish. There was also a scantily clad mermaid cavorting in the tank waving at all the children. She was a big hit…with the kids! I was admiring the fish. I then went into BPS and killed some time looking at the new in-line muzzleloader rifles. Now, if I could only win a modest jackpot…well, maybe a little more than a modest jackpot as Claudia would probably (yeah, RIGHT!) request her share. After drooling and dreaming, we returned to the rig, romped the mutt and watched TV. Tomorrow, we return home.

Friday started with the usual romp followed by a box breakfast of a muffin, fruit, yogurt and coffee. We then returned to the rig and made preparations to get underway. Once it was cleaned up, stuff put away, tanks dumped and Gizmo walked, we said our goodbye’s to our club members and headed south on the old interstate. It was pretty windy so the trip was a “both hands on the wheel and pay attention” trip. We hit “creep & crawl” a few miles from home but still made the trip in six hours and twenty minutes…not bad at all. We unloaded all the stuff, parked the rig on the street for the night and called it a great trip.

Indio FMCA and Quartzsite

The trip to Quartzsite was almost an afterthought. We were going, then we weren’t, then we were, then we weren’t. Finally, we decided we were going and started planning in earnest. After the Rose Parade Rally, we needed a break. We made plans to go to the FMCA rally in Indio, stay at the Elk’s Lodge and just be daily walk-in's for the rally. We arrived on the 7th and parked right next to another member of our RV club. A third joined us later that night.

Bright and early on the 8th, we all drove the three miles to the RV show. Claudia and I walked the vendor area first to see what was for sale and find what we could not do without. We shopped until noonish, took our new treasures back to the car and then met the rest of the group for lunch. Jim and Joan McCracken, past guests of ours who were working the rally also joined us. Following lunch and catch-up conversation and gossip, we headed out to look at the coaches being offered for sale. There were very few and they were almost all used coaches. We returned to the Elk’s Lodge vowing not to go back. It was a very poor show.

The 9th was “Explore the Area Day”. We headed east and then south on Highway 111 and arrived in Niland about an hour later. After a bit of searching and a stop at the Niland Fire Department, we soon arrived at the thriving metropolis of Slab City and its world famous monument, Salvation Mountain.

Entrance sign


Salvation Mountain

Entrance to the Temple

Salvation Mountain is the result of the efforts of a single man, Leonard Knight. Leonard is in his mid-seventies and has worked on Salvation Mountain for about 24 years. Many years ago, he turned to God and eventually wound up in Niland. He started building a monument to his faith and never stopped. The entire site is built of old tires, trees, automobile parts, adobe clay and a whole bunch of dedication. Some of the trees are pretty big and there are a few telephone poles mixed in. He puts them all in place with three come-alongs…simple block-and-tackle devices.

Leonard giving a tour

Trees inside the Temple

He lives with his cat, Jack, in the back of an old flatbed truck that has been somewhat converted into a camper.

Leonard's home

The site is listed in Ripley’s Believe it or Not and has been the subject of several documentaries. Leonard gave us a tour of the place and presented us with a DVD of his life and the story of Salvation Mountain.

Claudia and me with Leonard

You may think he is a few French fries short of a Happy Meal but you can’t question his faith in God or his dedication. Not being able to do something is not in his vocabulary.

After Salvation Mountain, we drove through Slab City. The “town” got its name by the fact that it once was a military camp, now decommissioned and leveled with only the slab foundations remaining. It is now a haven for snowbirds and a core of very definitely “odd” characters. Every known and mysterious object that has ever fallen off vehicles on the local highways now adorns the front yards of the permanent residents of Slab City.

Homes at Slab City - Note the salvaged decorations!

I was listening for banjo music as we drove through the area but we made it out safely and headed back for home. We finalized the day by going to the new Clint Eastwood movie, “Grand Torino” followed by dinner at Mimi’s. I highly recommend the sautéed scallops with butternut squash ravioli. It was prepared in a sort of Cajun sauce and was to die for! Pass on the bread pudding though. Mine’s a lot better!

Saturday the 10th was a sleep-in morning. It felt good! When we finally got up and dressed, we took off with Neil and Terry Zitrin to go to the College of the Desert flea market. They assured us it was worth it and they were sure right! It was extra-large, double-huge…the biggest flea market I’ve ever seen! We looked all around and found some great stuff. We chugged down some bratwurst hot dogs with grilled onions and sauerkraut and then left about noon-thirty to go to “The Follies”, a musical vaudeville-type show with performers whose ages run from the high 50’s to the holder of the Guinness Book of World Records, the “Worlds Oldest Showgirl” at eighty-five years! Those gals looked outstanding! The men had nice hair! The show featured a dog act, a ventriloquist and lots of singing and dancing. The guest headliner was Susan Anton. It was a good show. Dinner that night was a much-too-large serving of chicken enchiladas and fried ice cream.

When we got up on Sunday, I went to the office and extended our stay by two days until the 13th. We all then went in for breakfast in the lodge. After breakfast, the Zitrin’s and Miller’s both left for home. Claudia and I went back to the CoD flea market to scrape up a few more “deals” before returning to the rig for the Charger game. We should have stayed at the flea market! What a miserable game. Oh well…next year!

Larry and Linda showed up on Monday and we all headed for Quartzsite on Tuesday after making sure our water was full to the brim and both waste tanks completely empty. We also made a quick stop at the Ehrenburg Flying “J” for fuel and propane. We were now ready for a week to ten days of dry camping. We headed for Quartzsite, took Exit 19, turned south to the “T” and east to Scandan Wash. After turning off the main road, we jiggled and joggled along the tire-track “road” toward the power lines. After passing the third wash, we turned right and found two members of our group all settled in and kicking back. Larry and I circled around and picked our spots. After an hour or so, we were all settled in and I was drinking a “Colorado Kool Aid”. Nice! That night we had a campfire. Hell, every night we had a campfire. That is a tradition in the desert and we upheld it in the finest tradition.

Our camp at Quartzsite

The next day, I broke out my glider for a scary short flight. I think the balance was off…WAY OFF! I got it up around 100 feet and, when I throttled the motor down, all it wanted to do was porpoise badly. It was like 99.9% out of control. After an unintentional loop, I gained enough control to land it in one piece several hundred yards away. That was enough fun for the morning! I put it away until my flight instructor checks it out. Around 10:00 or so, we did a quick reconnoiter of the early sellers booths and found a few items worth “oohing” and “ahhing” over. Over the next few days, we hit new areas and made several “finds”. I scored on a great new straw cowboy hat for $20.00 and a 9-inch only slightly rusty cast iron frying pan for $5.00. Claudia found some clothes and jewelry, notably a whimsical glass fish pendant. We kept biding our time until Saturday when the big tent show opened.

We decided to wait until Saturday afternoon to let the main horde get in and out of the tent show. About 2:00 in the afternoon, we made the trek and did a quick familiarization tour of the vendors and their wares. I made an appointment for a windshield repair and made a couple of semi-necessary purchases. We then returned for dinner and a campfire. Tonight’s fire brought a new twist. A kangaroo rat had moved into our wood pile and amused us by running around our feet as we sat in our chairs. One of the ladies “accidentally” dropped a few pieces of dog food near the wood pile before she retired for the night.

All in all, we had much fun over the next few days and met several friends staying in other locations around the area. Verle and Curtis Lambert, former Wagonmasters from the company, came over from Yuma and stayed for a pot-luck diner of ham, barbecued ribs, lasagna, salad, and, and, and… I stopped at thirds, not including dessert. We were planning to leave on Tuesday but extended a day for more shopping and came home on Wednesday. For those of you who have never been to Quartzsite, it is a “happening” you shouldn’t miss.

Rose Parade Rally

Claudia and I were off in the Explorer on December 13th and we headed north to Ventura for a whole week of doing nothing but kickin’ back in an “efficiency” room. We were expecting a postage stamp sized room with maybe a couch bed and a small stall shower. We were pleasantly surprised when we got there and quickly settled into a very nice and comfortable room. The first thing we did was to call Claude LeMond, one of our favorite sergeants when we worked at the San Diego CHP office. He and his wife, Marcia, one of our favorite radio dispatchers, live in Ventura. We quickly made plans to meet the following night for dinner and a long overdue eyeball meeting. Things were going swimmingly when we got “The Call”.

Our plan for the rest of the month was to prepare for the Rose Parade. We were scheduled to be the Assistant Rallymasters for the Rose Parade Rally in Pomona that started on the 24th. Now “preparation” for Assistant Rallymaster is synonymous with “just show up” and we were prepared to do just that…show up and do what we were told. At some point in time that night, we got a call from the Rallymasters, the couple who were running the rally. We were informed that their son was scheduled for an emergency quadruple bypass Monday morning and they had to pull out of the rally. I quickly surmised that, since he was calling me, Claudia and I had just been promoted (?) to full-blooded Rallymasters. Wow! How wonderful! Let’s see…today’s the 13th and we have to start a rally on the 24th and, oh, by the way, throw in Christmas while you plan the festivities…FROM SCRATCH! Somehow, “thrilled with the news” was a little off the mark. I poured one of my famous “two-fingered” Scotch drinks, sat down and we talked. After a while, we had a short “To Do” list. Actually, it was a short “Here is a list of the major things that better get done…and damn fast!” Sleep that night did not come easy.

The next morning, we started planning as soon as we got up, had breakfast and headed into Ventura to sightsee as we planned. Equipped with a large notepad and pen, we headed into town. We parked on the main drag and started walking. Within one block, we came across a party store called “Bonnie’s” that was soon going out of business. New Year’s stuff was priced at 30% off. We spent about an hour going through the store and making notes. This was a good start! Another call from the previous Rallymasters informed us that there were four boxes of “stuff” for the rally just 30 minutes down the road at his sister’s house. We took off and retrieved said boxes which filled our poor overly-stuffed little car. We were moving forward! Now, back to vacationing. We met Claude and Marsha, got caught up on old times and went out for dinner.

The rest of the week included two more meetings, a trip to the Ronald Regan Library (where we actually walked through Air Force One) and a dinner meeting with Steve and Sally Bascom who we worked with at Catalina Island a few years back. After dinner, we all froze while watching the Ventura Harbor Boat Parade of Lights. The next day, we packed up and headed home via a slightly circuitous route. We first went to Pomona to look at the RV park and meeting room where we were going to stay. We also went to Miss Donuts and the La Paloma Restaurant to make arrangements for our morning coffee supplies and the Orientation Dinner on the 28th. Things were progressing! We headed home and emptied the rig into the garage. Half the garage was now totally unusable for parking. We then put all the paperwork boxes, binders, brochures and other miscellaneous supplies on the dining room table. It was not pretty. Dinner for the next five nights would be either eat out or stand up style. “Busy” does not adequately describe the next few days.

We got as much done as we could, packed the motorhome, had Christmas Eve dinner at Alisa’s on the 24th (DUH!) and breakfast at Scott and Tye’s on the 25th. Alisa brought the third member of the Barber Rally Team, our granddaughter, Brooke, to our house later that night. The next morning, we headed for Pomona, vowing to give it our all. We pulled in, got set up at our site, had a meeting with our other two staff couples and went out to dinner at the Chino Buffet in Chino Hills. The Chino Buffet is ALWAYS on our schedule when we are in this area. We returned to the park and spend the rest of the night working on a shopping list until we crashed.

The 27th was spent checking in guests,



visiting WalMart, Costco, Sam’s and other local stores to help stimulate the local economy. We made a good dent in the shopping list but didn’t have time to put it to bed.

The 28th was the first day of the rally. We started out with coffee, donuts, sweet rolls and bagels in the morning and an orientation in the late afternoon followed by a Mexican dinner. It was a wowzer!


Orientation Dinner

The next day was full…almost too much. We started out at 7:30 with a trip to the Huntington Library, more shopping in the middle of the day and an evening trip to the Crystal Cathedral (Google it!) for the “Glory of Christmas” show. This followed the story of the birth of Christ and was complete with lots of animals, including sheep, goats, a jackass, several horses and three camels. We got home somewhere around 11:30 and then put 71 lunches together for our guests for the next day.

The 30th started early…too early…like about 7:00 am. We jumped into our busses and headed west to the float barns to watch several floats in the last stages of completion.


The Natural Balance float under construction

The next stop was “Bandfest”, a very popular demonstration by eight bands that will be performing in the parade.


The U.S. Marine Corps Band

After the Bandfest, we crawled through traffic as we headed back to the park. Claudia and I went shopping while our two assistants decorated the Carnation Room across the street at the Pomona Fairplex for the New Year’s celebration. They did a fabulous job! The room looked great.

The last day of 2008 started out with an early morning tour of "Hollywierd" and the La Brea Tar Pits. We again crawled back through traffic and hurriedly got ready for the evening’s festivities. New Year’s Eve dinner was barbecued tri-tip, complete with all the trimmings. It was delicious.

We broke out the champagne and some assorted non-alcoholic beverages for the non-imbibers

Brooke...one of the non-imbibers

and awaited the stroke of midnight. By popular demand and the fact that we needed to board the bus in the morning at 5:15, we celebrated a “Newfie” (Newfoundland) New Year at 8:30 and went to bed.

At the ungodly hour of 5:15 in the morning, we very reluctantly trudged to our busses and crawled inside for the trip to the Rose Parade. We arrived shortly after 6:00 and napped on the bus until 7:15 when we braved the crowds and headed for our assigned seats in the bleachers on Colorado Blvd. After most of the throngs got settled in, the parade started with a police motorcycle demonstration team that was totally overshadowed by a flyover by a B-2 bomber.

The U.S. Air Force B-2 bomber flyover

The parade continued with bands, bands and more bands,

floats, floats and more floats.

The parade ended just after 10:00 and was followed by the usual slightly misguided (my opinion) individuals carrying placards claiming that “Jesus caused 9-11”, “Jesus is the way to Salvation”, etc.

We braved the crowds once again and returned to our buses. After about 45 minutes, we were able to pull out of the parking lot and return once again to our rigs. That evening, we (the staff) prepared a lasagna, salad and garlic bread dinner which was followed by a raffle with company give-aways as prizes. Much fun! Good day!

On the 2nd, we boarded the busses for the last time and headed for the post-parade viewing area where we spend about four hours up close and personal with the floats.

Post-parade viewing

This is probably the most popular activity of the rally, short of the parade itself. Only when you get right up to the floats can you see the detail that went into building them. It is truly amazing! We headed back at 1:00 and, amazingly, there was nothing else planned for the day. We held a staff meeting and went out to dinner. We are winding down and it feels great!

Our FINAL DAY, January 3rd started with a breakfast for the guests in the KOA game room. It consisted of breakfast burritos, juice and coffee…nothing fancy, but good! After cleaning up, we threw everything into the rig, packed up and headed south for home. Finally at home, we unloaded, straightened up, cleaned up and put the rig away for the next trip…which will begin in four days. We head for the FMCA rally in Indio on the 7th, followed by a 10-day or so stay at Quartzsie, AZ…but that’s another story.

Godzilla in Paradise

OK, OK, OK…I got yelled at for not having an up-to-date blog. When I mentioned we hadn’t gone anywhere, the reply was, “What about the Jimmy Buffett concert?” Oops…well, that was really just a home base for the concert, not an RV outing. I was “ordered” by the (so far) unnamed source to “fix the problem”. So here it is…LINDA!

October 15, 2008: I pick up “Godzilla” at its storage yard and bring it home. We start the loading and unloading to get it ready to be “Buffett Base”. As soon as the Motorhome is ready, Claudia and I start preparing the many ingredients for the main course at the show…Jeff’s soon-to-be-world-famous gumbo. At 8:00 pm, I head for the airport to pick up the kids from Texas. They show up, partially bedecked with the appropriate Buffett clothing and paraphernalia. We head for home and, after a short get-together, go to bed. After all, it is almost midnight (Texas time).

October 16, 2008: After a fabulous breakfast at Barber’s Gourmet Restaurant, we started the final loading for the trip to Cricket Amphitheater in Chula Vista. We pulled out shortly after noon. The trip was uneventful, except for a few honking forays with other RV’s headed for the same venue, all of us bedecked with the appropriate (and some not so appropriate) Jimmy Buffett regalia. We were directed to the RV parking lot and were soon parked, leveled and partying!

"Buffett Base"

Party Central

Alex and Alexis...and me

After setting up and decorating the rig, we spread out to do our own things. Mine was to observe all the stages of dress (and undress) that wandered around the parking lot.

There were several “quality sightings” and spectacular booths set up by the Parrotheads.

A Parrothead PT

A typical Parrothead booth

and another

and another

I shortly returned to Buffett Base to help with the meal setup. Jeff and I had a Landshark Lager,

the Landshark beer wagon

Jimmy Buffett’s new beer sponsor, and got started. After about two beer’s worth of time, we were set up and ready. The Gumbo was simmering

Jeff preparing gumbo

and the “Pain Killers” (another necessary liquid concoction at a Jimmy Buffett concert) were ready in their pump dispenser.

The Pain Killer dispenser and 4 soon-to-be victims

Anticipating your furrowed brows, the recipe follows:
4 parts pineapple juice
1 part orange juice
1 part Coco Lopez
Dark rum to taste (use more as the night goes on)

The partying went on until around 7:00 pm when we all assembled for the march (stagger) to the concert. Suffice to say there were many happy people moving toward the concert entrance, some MUCH happier than others. There was also a slight “haze” that lingered over the venue that had a slight odor of burning tennis shoes. I seemed to remember it from my past law enforcement days but that was years ago and we continued on.

Our “seats” were in the nosebleed section known as “The Grass” or “The Lawn”. We brought several blankets to throw out and settled in for the wait. I somehow developed a dry mouth and bought a bottle of water from a vendor…for FIVE FREAKIN’ DOLLARS!!!!! Water…not gold…water!!! A beer was $8 and out of the question. We are in a recession in case no one has noticed! Anyway, the concert soon started. Our “seats” were now “stands” as no one sat down during the entire concert except for the one short intermission.

The concert was fabulous! Jimmy was at the top of his game. It was a terrific show and everyone was having a ball! Sometime after about 11:30 and three encores, the show ended and we all moved slowly toward the exits. Returning to the rig, we finished putting all the gear away and waited for the small rig next to me to pull out so I could move “Godzilla”.

Somewhat after midnight, my lane opened up and we headed for home. The throaty noise from inside the rig was louder than the throaty noise from outside the rig. We arrived home somewhere between 1:00 and 1:30 in the morning, as I remember. After parking the rig on the street, we walked back to the condo and hit the sack. Great night! Great party!

Saint George, Utah

Claudia, Valentino and I left Saint John on August 23rd and did a six-day, 3,100-mile trip to St. George, UT…a trip I never want to do again. After the third day, I could barely turn my neck left or right. It was a tough ride. All we did was drive and sleep. One day we did 600+ miles so we could meet my sister at Wolcott, just west of Vail, CO. All in all, it was a tough six days. We arrived at St. George the afternoon of the 28th.

We are now starting the Grand Circle caravan…a 29-day tour around the Four Corners area where we visit most of the state and federal parks in the area. We started out by visiting Zion N.P. yesterday and will be headed for the Kaibab Plateau tomorrow. The Kaibab is the home of my favorite little critter, the Kaibab White-Tailed Squirrel



Kaibab White-Tailed Squirrel

and where we visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We follow that with visits to Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef N.P., Goblin Valley, Canyonland N.P., Dead Horse S.P., Arches N.P. and then on to Cortez, Colorado where we visit Mesa Verde N.P. and the Anasazi cliff dwellings. After Cortes, we head for Durango and to take a bus and train trip up to Silverton. We then head for Monument Valley, stopping at the Four Corners Monument on the way. This is where the Four Corner states of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico come together. After Monument Valley, we head for Lake Powell and the Wahweap RV Park at Page, AZ followed by a jaunt to the last stop of the trip, Sedona, AZ.

The trip ends on September 29th and we plan to be home on October 1. That’s the trip in a nutshell. Since we are leading this trip, blogging time will be little or non-existent. I might get a free day now and then (like today) and be able to get out a short blog but don’t expect anything like the Maritimes trip. (Maybe some of you are saying, “Thank God for that!”)

Anyway, that’s the story for now. It looks like we have a great group and all is going very well so far. “Talk” to y’all later…maybe.

The Bay of Fundy

Truro proved to be a very uncomfortable stop. First of all, it rained. Second of all, it poured! Last of all, it freakin’ deluged!!! When we pulled out, two rigs sunk into the grass and mud and had to be pulled out by a backhoe. Although we started the trip in sunshine, the sky darkened as we headed south and the CB radio crackled loudly every time a lightning bolt fired off (which was just about constantly). The rain was coming down so heavily we had to slow to 30 mph. Wipers on high speed hardly kept the windshield clear enough to continue. This was a true frog strangler!

As we neared our destination of Hopewell Cape, the rain subsided and we parked and got set up with relative ease. At 3:00, we carpooled to Hopewell Rocks, a Provincial Park on the Bay of Fundy, the site of the highest tides in the world. Tides of over fifty feet have been recorded here. Today, we would be treated to a slightly above average tide, a “mere” 43-footer. We go back tomorrow at low tide for a completely different perspective and even get to go out and walk on the sea floor.


Bay of Fundy presentation


Explaining tides using "models" of earth, moon and sun


Hopewell Rocks at medium tide


Low tide

More low tide

Returning to the park, the staff got ready for a travel briefing and an ice cream social.

Terry dishing it out!

Serving fresh homemade berry pie

After the briefing, one male guest got his retaliation against three female guests who had “decorated” his rig at an earlier date. Dressed in full Scottish attire, he presented each lady with some Orgasm candy and a set of autographed pink balls, tied together with a purple ribbon.

"Scotty" and his victims!

Each got a set of pink balls and a purple ribbon!

This had a “special meaning” to each and created quite a hoot from all the other guests. After the howling subsided, we dove into the ice cream and some fresh berry pies, donated by another guest.

Tomorrow, after the low tide visit to Hopewell Rocks, is the final leg of the trip. We travel to St. John for one day and a wake-up. The one day will be a morning bus tour of the city with the Farewell Dinner in the evening. We will be up early Saturday morning to serve the guests coffee and sweet rolls. After the morning “Hitch-up Breakfast”, everyone splits to go their separate ways. Barry and Terry are headed to Bangor, Maine and Claudia and I are staying in Canada. We are headed northwest to Quebec and then southwest to Port Huron, just above Detroit, where we will cross back into the USA. From there, we follow I-80 to I-70, through Denver to I-15 to Saint George, Utah where we start the next episode of our summer travels, a 29-day caravan around the Four Corners area. This caravan visits all the state and national parks in the Four Corners area. As we will be leading this trip, I seriously doubt there will be much blogging time from now on. Look for us to arrive home on or about October 2nd or 3rd.

From the Canadian Maritimes, Au revoir!

Jerry, Claudia and Valentino

Labrador, Deer Lake and Louisbourgh

As I didn’t get to Labrador, this particular blog is from Claudia.

End of blog! (She refused to write it)

When we left St. Barbe, we headed for Deer Lake, a run of about 185 miles. We were a little worried about one rig that had the “check engine” light come on along with a loss of power. The rig started up and they took off with crossed fingers. We pulled out about a half hour behind them, hoping for the best. They wanted to get to the Caterpillar mechanic about 35 miles past Deer Lake. We ran across them at the Gros Morne Resort, about 112 miles into the trip. The rig had shut down again and they were on the phone to the mechanic. The short story is that they called a tow truck and were eventually towed to the repair facility. We continued to the RV park and settled in for the night.

The next morning, the entire group walked across the street to the Newfoundland Insectarium and Butterfly Pavillion. The building was a beautifully refurbished dairy barn.


The inside of the Insectarium (an old dairy barn)

We got a fabulous lecture on bees from the manager


Bee lecture at glass bee hive

(ask me anything about bees now and I can tell you!) and then toured the facility on our own. I started at the glass beehive and then wandered to the beetles, bugs,


A Walking Stick bug

butterflies and finally spiders. I really liked the Mexican Red Knee Tarantula and the Goliath Bird-eating Spider.

Mexican Red Knee tarantula

Giant Bird-eating spider

I then wandered downstairs to find Claudia in the gift shop but took a wrong turn and wound up in the ice cream snack bar. I had a single “Death by Chocolate”, my new most favorite flavor.
We then returned to the park and everyone fired up and left for Grand Codroy for a non-eventful overnight stay. We were joined enroute by the rig that had broken down. The problem was a faulty fuel sensor. The next day, we left in a convoy for the 26-mile trip to the Port aux Basque ferry terminal and out return trip to Nova Scotia. The trip was uneventful and we started loading around 4:00 pm. The ferry pulled out at 5:00 pm, right on schedule.

Our trip to North Sydney took just under six hours and we started offloading right about 11:00 pm. I happened to be the first one off the boat and took the convoy lead for the trip to the Arm of Gold RV park. Although the trip was in darkness, something the convoy was not used to, we had no problems at all. It was one nice straight line and no one got lost. OK, OK…so there was only one turn during the whole three-mile trip…and it was right at the park. When we arrived, there were three much appreciated traffic directors that led the convoy in and put us in our sites without so much as a hiccup. It went so smoothly, the entire caravan was parked in about ten minutes. We all just hooked up to power and went to bed. Screw the jacks, slides and all fanciness. The basics will do tonight!

We all got a good night’s sleep and again hit the road at 8:00 am, headed for Louisbourgh. As a point of interest (or not), the fuel prices are about 8-cents a liter cheaper in Nova Scotia than in Newfoundland so we were all playing the game of having our fuel tanks almost empty when we got to the ferry and were planning on fueling on the way to Louisbourgh. The key work here is “almost”. Some rigs “Low Fuel” warning lights were on as we left Arm of Gold. The first fuel was at the 26-mile mark. All rigs made it. I went by the first fuel stop (too many rigs already there) and pulled into the second at the 31-mile mark. We took 421.35 liters (about 112 gallons) of fuel at a cost of $585.26. After fueling, we continued the short distance to the park and settled in.

We immediately had a welcome briefing from the park manager and then carpooled to the Fortress of Louisbourgh, a Parks Canada Historic Site. We arrived at the fortress and went to the Visitor’s Center to view exhibits and then board a bus for the trip to the fortress. We found out there is a difference between a “fort” and a “fortress”, the later designed to protect a civilian population. We had another outstanding guide who took us on an hour-long tour of some of the fortress, leaving us later to explore on our own.

The Louisburgh Fortress

The guard at the gate

Fortress moat

Inside the fortress

The soldier's chapel


The bay entrance to the fortress

Claudia and I and Barry and Terry decided to explore the inside of one of their period restaurants. Claudia ordered baked cod, vegetables and pea soup. I had the same, but because I still have my lingering cough and chest congestion, I added a hot buttered rum for medicinal purposes. The tour of the fort was extremely interesting and we meandered through several buildings, including the Destouches Bakery where an apple and a cherry turnover somehow made it into a paper bag and out the door with us. I hate it when that happens! We also checked out a wooden horse standing in a small open area that was used as a muster area.

The punnishment "horse"

Any soldier found in violation of fortress rules, such as sleeping at his post, was taken to the “horse”. A punishment of time was set by the person in charge and the soldier was told to mount the horse. His hands were then bound behind him and large rocks were tied to his feet. This sufficed to lower the recidivism rate of such misdeeds.

We then left the fortress and drove slowly through the town, eventually ending up on the road to the lighthouse. The road weaved along the edge of the bay and we passed several homes and small businesses that were obviously used for fishing lobster and crab. Another super-picturesque spot!

Along the lighthouse road

More lighthouse road stuff

We got to the lighthouse (Canada’s oldest) and got out to check out the sights. The lighthouse was very pretty but the coastline was rough and spectacular.

Canada's oldest lighthouse


Coastline at the lighthouse

I burned up lots of “film”. We then returned to the rig where I am now writing my blog and Claudia is checking the darkness in the bedroom. Tonight is a Celtic show at the Louisbourgh Playhouse. Claudia just asked me what I was planning to wear tonight. My reply was, “shorts and a nice shirt”. Her reply was, “You might want to reconsider that!” I did!