Breriot XI bis, First US Air Mail, 1911

Of course there was lots of air show goings on. There was flight after flight of War Birds including the only flying B-29, “Fifi.” Every hour we would watch the departure of two airliners from the 1920’s; a pair of Ford Tri-Motors.
We were able to walk almost right up to the active runways and watch the planes landing and later departing. It is an amazing sight to watch two and even three small general aviation airplanes landing on the same runway at the same time. Then a minute later two or three more planes do it again. We listened in on the air traffic controller’s frequency with my hand-held Ham radio. Instructions would go something like this… “Cessna over the gravel pit, waggle your wings. Good waggle, you are number two to land on runway 27, cleared to land on the green dot.” The second later it was… “Citation, as soon as you have you plane under control, turn left into the grass, follow the volunteers to parking, welcome to Oshkosh.” Each runway had a set of huge painted dots at 1/3 and 2/3 of the runway. Each was a different color, red, green, purple and pink. I kept thinking what if the pilot is color blind?

Traffic Jam at EAA Flyin on last day

Classroom Team: Mike, Dave and Gary Fabric Covered a Horizontal Stabilizer

(This is where Henry Ford was evicted from the train as a teenager for catching the baggage car on fire with his experiments. Ford’s friend Edison had the depot packed up and rebuilt in Ford’s own Greenfield Village without telling him about it. Anyway it’s a long story, go check it out.)

I was having a detailed telegraph discussion with a lady who portrayed a conductor on the train. She had a telegraph key and sounder set up as a demonstration. Of course I stepped up and bragged that I was a telegrapher on the Northern Pacific Railroad in the 1960’s and offered to demonstrate. She handed me a telegraph form that had the code printed in a table on the back. Only the code was the international code, not the railroad code. I spent the next quarter hour explaining and demonstrating the difference. For example an “O” in International Morse is dah-dah-dah and in American Morse it is dit – dit. Not di-dit like an “I” but dit – dit like an “O”. Also “Y” becomes di-dit – di-dit instead of dah-di-dah-dah.
As a reward for all my effort the lady conductor offered us a ride on her train. So for my kibitzers I have a steam locomotive video on the website this time around. (Note: I have not been able to insert it here, so jump to my Facebook page to see the video clip.)

We did have some excitement the first day. When we returned to the coach for lunch there was a big puddle of antifreeze under the front of the coach. The heater core had sprung a leak. To get by I connected the inlet and outlet hoses together. We don’t really need the heater this time of year. Temperatures run in the 80’s by day and 70’s by night.
It is just after nine here and the big red meatball of a sun is just setting at the Isabella County Fairgrounds in Mount Pleasant Michigan. We have the whole campground to ourselves. Good Night and pleasant dreams from Gary and Judy in Michigan.

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain
And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.
Oklahoma, Ev’ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk
Makin’ lazy circles in the sky.

We have driven one full day into Oklahoma. Down from the rarified cold winds of New Mexico at 8,000 feet to Black Mesa State Park in the very northwest corner of the Oklahoma panhandle at 4,000 feet. Now today we are camped in a Corps of Engineer Park on Fort Supply Lake at 2,000 feet. It was a two hundred mile drive along the full length of the panhandle.

Ever wonder why Oklahoma has this skinny pan handle? It is only 35 miles wide. I still remember taping it back onto my Oklahoma State piece of my US Map puzzle as a kid. It has to do with making Texas a state on December 29, 1845. The Texans agreed to be limited on the north by Latitude 36 degrees, 30 minutes. Kansas was admitted to the union, January 29, 1861. So Oklahoma got what was left over, November 16, 1907. By the way New Mexico is celebrating their centennial in 2012.

The wind has been “sweepin’ down the plain” these past three days. The wind is from the south at 20 with gusts to 30 mph. Arcturus bucks every time we pass behind a big tree or enter a cut bank. It really keeps you on your toes.

Last evening we helped the neighbors ‘man handle’ their awning into submission. They had spent the day fishing and when they got back the arms were bent and they couldn’t retract it. They come from nearby Lavern, Oklahoma so they should have known better. It is a new-to-them, RV and their first with an awning. I guess we can give them a pass. We aren’t even deploying our living room slide for fear of tearing the slider-awning. The wind and humidity never slackened all night.

Neighborhood Tree House

Fort Supply Lake Patrol

We will close for now, and wish you all good health and safe travels.

Gary and Judy

Below are some photos of our travels, click on the photos to see larger versions.
Love to all from New Mexico, Gary and Judy

I am trying to perfect this technique myself. I used to collect all kinds of stuff that I expected to come in handy…someday. Occasionally one of these parts would come in handy for a project and of course that reinforced the hording instinct.

When we went full time traveling things had to change. Everything had to fit in a 17 foot trailer and weigh less than 7,000 pounds gross weight.

The other argument for just in time inventory is that you can easily waste a whole day trying to find that gizmo that you know you have…somewhere. The good news is that while you are looking for that gizmo you are likely to come across something else you misplaced some time ago, so the exercise is not a total bust.

So here is today’s adventure: We got ready to move this morning and there is this small puddle on the floor under the kitchen sink.

Stop me if you have heard this story before.

As I was saying, a small puddle under the sink. I assured Judy that I could fix it once we got parked this afternoon. When we got to our new camp in Mojave, California we went to move the kitchen slider out and now there is this largish puddle.

A quick inspection allowed me to identify the leaking fitting on the hot water heater. This did happen before and I did a jury rig fix that time because I didn’t have the correct parts to fix it then. Now in the interim period I did go to the hardware store and lay in some real just-in-time parts for the inevitable second failure. Only now I can’t find them. They are somewhere in the drawers, or in the cargo bay, or in the trailer or maybe in the junk box…

I removed every likely bin and box and tray and looked thoroughly for those gaskets without any luck at all. I did, however, find a bag of crutch tips that I bought just-in-time to fix the feet on one of the camp stools a few months ago. I was unable to find them when I went to do the repair.

All was not lost, however. In my search I located a bin of old parts from the garage on Bonneville Drive in Scappoose from six years ago. It had a collection of plumbers washers that I had stockpiled long ago. One gasket was just the right size.  It turned out to be too old and brittle, it split when I slid it over the fitting.  One was over-sized but still pliable.  I slipped it over a mandrel and chucked it in the drill press and turned it to the correct size with a rasp.

Yes it worked, no leak. Now I will stop at the hardware store and buy another set of gaskets and put them where I first looked this time. That way I will have two chances of finding one of them when I need them.

Oh yes, I got the legs on the camp stool repaired as a bonus.

As I finish this up I am looking out the windscreen of the motor home in the waning daylight. Just showing up through the trees are Venus and Mercury, side by side in the dusk. They are such a glorious sight. Look to the west just as the sun is setting to catch them tomorrow evening. Venus is the very bright “Evening Star” this month and Mercury is to its right and it is fairly bright. They will be side by side for a few more days and then Mercury will be lost in the glare of the sun again.

Love to all

Gary and Judy

Well you just invite your sister along and spend ten days showing her everything that you normally enjoy at a leisurely pace. For ten days we went Bluegrassing, mud stomping, Clydesdale spying, museum hopping, birding, caving, hiking more birding and even more hiking.

First we took in the Casa Grande Pinal County Bluegrass Festival. Many good bands and lots of parking lot picking. Gary entered the band scramble and his band, “Keeping the Faith,” won first place. Voting is done by noise level, Judy and Holly almost screamed themselves hoarse. The festival was preceded by a very heavy rainstorm, so we had to contend with a lot of mud all weekend. Several of our bluegrass friends showed up and we spent hours picking bluegrass favorites with them.

Next we moved to the Tucson, Arizona area to a state campground called Catalina State Park. We timed it perfectly and found a nice stall to stay in. The park filled to capacity every day. The had miles of hiking trails and two birding walks while we were there. We joined both walks and added 14 new species to our lifetime list of birds. Of course our list is not very long, so it is still easy to find new species.

We spent one day driving Holly’s rental car to Benson AZ, and toured the Kartchner Caverns. These are some of the best caves you will get to see. They work hard at keeping the cave pristine and unspoiled. The groups are small and the guides are excellent. Cost is about $20 and there are two separate tours to take. We took the Rotunda/Throne Room Tour. If you are in the area this is a must see: Don’t go without reservations, however. By the way, they have a nice campground on site. This time of year it was only partially full.

Harris Hawk in Free Fly Demonstration

One day we spent in the Saguaro National Park and the nearby Desert Museum. This is also a “Don’t miss” stop in the Tucson area.

Finally we spent a full day in Sabino Canyon National Recreation Area at the edge of the Tucson metropolitan area. We took the tram up the canyon and hiked the five miles back to the visitor center. The Sabino river was flowing strong so we got lots of practice doffing and donning our shoes to wade through the icy water flowing over the bridges.

Finally on Monday we sent Holly off into the morning rush hour traffic in Phoenix to catch her plane home, and we relocated to Lake Havasu on the California border to attend another bluegrass festival. Oh yes the weatherman is predicting another rain storm just before this festival starts. I hope it is not too heavy, we are camped in a dry wash.

Holly and Judy Fording the Sabino

Bare Feet Across the Sabino River

Clydesdale and Handler, Stepping Proud

Actually there are eight, but two of them are still here at the Pinal County Fairgrounds taking the day off. Of course you guessed the Budweiser Clydesdales. Actually one of the four teams spread around the country and they will be right here for the Bluegrass Festival. While we watched, the handlers, about one per horse, braided their manes and tails then loaded them in the 18 wheelers and headed out for Surprise Arizona.

We have just set up camp here at the fairgrounds for the weekend festival. We are in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Loading a Clydesdale in the Trailer

We have never come to this festival so it will be a new one to us. One of the bands, however, we are familiar with. A favorite called the Bost Family Tradition. I joined a scramble band with their young son, Micah. See the blog from Feb 28, 2005.

In addition to the Bluegrass, my sister, Holly, is coming for a ten day visit. We will want to show her some of the special sights here in southern Arizona. We have met her before in the Northwest and done some great fishing at the Potholes Reservoir and Lake Roosevelt. This time we can show her what she is missing by staying in Spokane in the snow all winter. I expect we will have some exciting adventures to write about, so stay tuned.

Love to all from Casa Grande, a little south of Phoenix.

Gary and Judy

Here are some more photos of the Clydesdales as they prepare to parade around the Pinal County Fairgrounds. Click on the thumbnail photos to see the full size photos.

Duck Please

Dressed to the Nines

Wheel Horse Hitched, Seven to Go

Parading Through Pinal County Fairgrounds