Facebook

I read a post someone wrote about Facebook and how the author didn’t like it so much. Many of the comments mimicked the same about it. The complaints were right on, that is, Facebook crams useless stuff down your throat, lessons your chance of privacy on the internet, generates spam e-mail to your e-mail account and generally is just another tool to gather information and demographic stuff to sell to the corporate giants and the, now tainted as dishonest, US government.

All true, I guess. Maybe it is, most of it. I don’t care. First of all, if the government wants information about me, they can get it anytime they want by other means. I have a drivers license and since I own a home I am part of the public record. Besides, I am a Veteran. You don’t think there isn’t a folder with my name on it at the VA? Facebook can gather all the crap they want about me. Just because I click on a link to a local State Farm Insurance brokers site, the one she uses to advertise her office in Eau Claire, WI, doesn’t make me someone that purchases car and home owners insurance on line from an ad I’ve looked at. Incidentally, the State Farm agent, Deborah Becker, is a very attractive woman and advertises herself in costumes. She has used her pretty face for one, and has a humorous approach to selling insurance. The one that caught my eye was her dressed in pirates garb with black mustache and heavy eyebrows “drawn” on the picture. Since I am a pirate buff, I had to have a look.

My point is that I have had good fortune on Facebook. I have been put in touch with many old friends from my past. Important people in our lives, that had gone on and lived their lives away from where we were, that we had lost all contact with. Young people that worked at YMCA Camp Menogyn way back in the early 1990’s. Old friends from where we grew up. The gal that introduced me to my wife. School chums from elementary and high school.


Yours Truly in 1969

Sure, I could have done searches for these people, but that’s something that takes time and patience, and there are so many. I put my mug and name on Facebook and they come out of the woodwork. It works the opposite as well. I’ll type in a first and last name and find someone. Then there is the friends of friends, many people we knew back when still have contact with others we knew back when.

All in all, it has been a good experience for me. I enjoy talking via e-mail to old friends. Many have exchanged phone numbers and we’ve talked on the phone. We’ve visited a few too and have plans to visit more in the future. One of the biggest thrills I got off of Facebook was an e-mail from a young guy who worked for me back in the 1980’s when I had a small business in Pine City, MN. Pine City was where we lived, along the Snake River in East Central Minnesota, from 1980 to 1989, (see This Post and look for numbers 11-15)

I had a service company and did many kinds of maintenance. This young man mowed lawns for me. He’d drive out to commercial accounts and mow the lawn. He’d clean up the equipment. I also did some janitorial maintenance and Billy, (not his real name), worked for me at numerous businesses along the way.

I hadn’t heard from Billy in over 20 years. In fact, I never gave him much thought. He worked for me. I liked him. But when life went on and we lived it, people like this pass through and life goes on. When I opened Facebook a couple of months ago, I see the icon indicating that I have an e-mail message. I open it and it is from said “Billy” who tells me this:

Seeing your picture brings back a flood of memories,Even tho we haven't talked in 20plus yrs I always remember you as a good person and someone who gave me a chance when no one else had.And I prolly let you down but ive always kept my nose clean and outta trouble and never forgot the lessons I learned from you.Work hard ,be honest and treat others like you want to be treated.I just wanted to say thank you even if it has been 20yrs..your a good man...peace..(Billy

Now I never thought myself anything other than a guy trying to make a living by mowing lawns, cleaning bars and fixing plumbing, (I used to be a pipefitter in Chicago before I got the land in Pine City), and I sure didn’t try to be a father to Billy Boy here. But I guess by being who I am, I made an impression in his life. He felt it important enough to tell me about, and Facebook was the place it happened. Sure, he could have sought me out another way, but he just happened to put in my name and found me and said to me what he had to say.


Laughing Joe sometime in the early 1970's. Maybe how some old friends might have remembered me.

I appreciated his words. In life, you just don’t get many chances to hear about what impact you might have had on people. In the Army, you got a medal maybe, or an old Army buddy finds you and shakes your hand. School mates have reunions and such. But when you move as often as I did, and change your phone number, etc, etc, you lose the contact and get lost in the shuffle. I was pleased to talk with a couple of gals I went to high school with and find out they remember me in a good way. (They liked my dimples), and a friend I played with as a twelve year old remembers me too.

If you go to This Post, and scroll down a bit, you can read what my school mate said about me. On Facebook, we connected and now we talk on the phone and will meet up in the Chicago area soon as I have a trip planned in that direction.


About 1971 on a fishing trip, first time to Minnesota

This post isn't about bragging that I am this great individual. It is about the few virtues of Facebook and how I have been blessed with correspondence from people out of my past.

Those of you that think Facebook is bad, please don’t get the idea that I am trying to change your minds. Have your own opinion for sure. It is none of my business at all. And I can say with much certainty that I will agree with most of your complaints about the whole idea of it in most cases. But my experience has been good. No, I don’t play Mafia wars. But I do send little “gifts” to people I want to pay a little attention to. I am hoping they get them and feel as though someone thought of them that day. Or the “Poke”. On Facebook, you can Poke someone. No message, no words of pictures. Just a poke, a nudge, telling them you saw their name and are thinking of them. Sort of like the poking you might do while standing in line at the movie theater at the Saturday matinee when you were twelve.

In other news, the possibility exists that I will leave Tuesday afternoon to ride to Michigan on the motorcycle with a couple of buddies. I might be gone for a few days. I’ll catch up on Facebook and Blogger when I get back.

Peace.

Only the Good Friday 08/14/2009

What can be nicer than a beautiful rainbow, right in your own back yard?

Here it is, Friday already. Time to write the Only the Good Friday post. Only the Good Friday is the brainstorm of one Shelly Kneupper, of Texas, who pens some great articles on a variety of subjects. When at her site, This Eclectic Life, scroll around and check out the reasoning for finding some "Good" each Friday. I also like the "My Neck of the Woods" stories.

Just want to mention that rainbow picture above was taken Thursday late afternoon when a short lived thunderstorm moved through. It left behind this beautiful rainbow. I couldn't resist taking a picture of Mrs. Spadoman and Yoody, (see below), as they played in the yard when the sun popped out. That was a very "Good" scene.

I started writing posts this week at two different times, and even though I had an idea and some insomnia time to write, I never made it. This week has had me pretty busy overall. Grand daughter Anna had a pre school year meet up that met up Monday through Thursday. (No, not pre school, Anna is eleven years old! It happened before the school year started, so, pre, school, year. I mean, how should I have written that? See why I'm not a professional writer?) I was around to get her to school and pick her up. It was only for a couple of hours in the morning, to orientate new students to Middle School and the changes that occur with switching classes and locked lockers and such.

I did have enough time to experiment at the stove and finally come up with a recipe for genuine Southern Fried Chicken that worked. Worked for me anyway, and that was some "Good" chicken for any day of the week, Friday or not! The recipe was out of Uncle Bubba's "Savannah Seafood" cookbook. Uncle Bubba is the brother of Paula Deen. Paula cooks on the Food Channel and uses a lot of butter. That might not be so "Good", but it sure tastes "Good". Looks "Good" too, (see below).


Here's the cook book cover. Some mighty "Good" recipes in here!

After I picked up Anna at 10:00 a.m., I headed into the city to my youngest daughter's new home. She took the week off from work and asked me to help her with some projects. We ended up priming and painting her sun room, then striping the floor, sanding and applying varnish. The replacement windows will be installed next week, then more varnishing of woodwork. I don't mind helping her out at all. In fact, when she asks for my help, I am flattered and honored. But I'm getting old and some muscles just don't work like they used to and when I do use old muscles, I pay the price of aches and pains later. But I recover from those sore muscles in the hot tub. But there is nothing but "Good" spending time with either one of my daughters, helping them out and chit chatting as we go.


Kids enjoying a hot tub soak. "Get out, it's my turn!"

The problem is, I am on disability for a reason. Just because I have time and don't have a job doesn't mean I am available to "work" doing home owner projects. I've decided to be a consultant and teach the young daughter how to do stuff. She is already mechanically inclined as she works in the automotive industry with a background in auto body repair. She manages the accident services department for Avis/Budget car rental.

The "Good" in this idea of consulting rather than hands-on-work-my-ass-off-in-90-degrees-with-soaring-humidity is that I don't have to work my ass off in 90 degree weather when the humidity is soaring!

This was genius on my part, (yeah, real genius to wait until I'm 60 to become a consultant, should have been doing it this way since the beginning!) What is really "Good", is that I can still do a few things. I miss all the activity that I no longer participate in as age creeps up, but it is "Good" that I know my limits and it doesn't get me down.


Daughter Jayne, first day at her new home.

In any event, I got through the week and had some fun besides. We went to a ball game, the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball. They are building a new stadium and will play there next season. That means this trip to the Metrodome was probably the last time I'll ever have to watch an indoor baseball game unless I go out of town to attend another domed stadium. They tore down the perfectly good ball park they had to build the Mall of America. The politicians convinced us that with the weather up north, we had to have a domed stadium. That was in 1979. Now, we have to have an outdoor ball park. I guess the weather patterns have changed enough to play baseball outside again. I'm glad that spell of inclement weather is gone. The whole stadium debate and ordeal made me laugh and that was "Good".


Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins went 3 for 4 at the Dome.

The newest member of our household, one Zeke the dog, got a ticket the other evening too. That made me a little angry. No, not at Zeke, but at the woman who called the cops. She says Zeke attacked her as she walked her little yapping live animal past our house. Zeke had been in the yard, but someone left the little service door to the garage open and Zeke wandered out into our front yard. The woman must have gotten frightened, but Ole Zeke never barked. He just ran towards the duo and wagged his tail. Well, he didn't run, he hopped I guess, Zeke only has one front leg. The cops came and gave me a ticket. I will appear in court and plead not guilty. Zeke never left our property, and when the cop came to the door, he didn't even get up to look let alone bark. The cop looked at Zeke laying on the living room floor with his one leg and rolled her eyes, but explained that the citation must be issued. The "Good" part is that the whole process only bothered me for a little while. Now, I'm over it, and Zeke got a milk bone out of the deal. He thought that was "Good".


Would you be afraid of this dog?

All in all, a good week. I have the good fortune and blessings of everyone in our family being healthy and happy these days. We returned from an awesome family trip and still rave on and on about what we saw and what we did. I know there are issues to deal with in the neighborhood and the world. Issues that need our attention, like war and health care, poverty, global warming climate changes and dishonest politicians, but these things get plenty of my time, if not just with concern, then with some kind of action. The rest of the time is mine and I'm enjoying it, peacefully.

"Good" all around. Wish I could bottle it up and send out a few cases to those that suffer. I guess prayers and positive thoughts have to do. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of life around Spadoville. Enjoy your weekend and the days to follow.

Peace.


I made Southern Fried Chicken and it came out really good with this new recipe I found. Yummy!


Yoody enjoying the swing right after a brief summer shower.


Looks like they don't use the dressing rooms at Spadoville.


Waiting for the light rail to take us to the Ball Park


Pure Glee! Might have been the lemonade. Anna at the Dome.

Wanderlust

The travel schedule this summer has been hellacious. I consider summer to be the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, even though the regular calendar says it doesn’t start until June 20th or so and is still going strong well into September. Summer weather can creep over these date boundaries too. It can be hot in May and still hotter in October. I don’t use the weather, especially with these climate changes that are so evident in the world today, as any kind of bellwether for a season, and I travel in all the seasons, or have in the past, but this year it has been all summer on the road.

I did the motorcycle trip out west and then putted around the midwest in Iowa, Missouri and South Dakota. Over 5100 miles worth. Then the big trip I just completed, another 6600 plus miles in the van. In, around and between these trips were local trips. But some of my local trips are a couple of hundred miles. I mean, I went to Spooner Tuesday and put over 300 miles on Goldie, the new Ford Focus. Then there was the trip up north to Red Cliff and the one to the Sundance in Red Lake. Man, I tell you, I’m wracking up the miles.

On the latest trip, I went to Colorado, Redondo Beach and Northern California to visit friends. One of the friends I visited was Hal, who I rode motorcycle with in June. His bike is still in my garage with all his riding gear. He wants to get back to Wisconsin and finish the ride. You might remember that he rushed home via commercial airline to be with his wife who was suffering from some complications with her dialysis.

We discussed how we might accomplish the task of getting his bike back. I could load it on a trailer and at some point just haul it back. But Hal decided he wanted to finish the trip he started. My dear friends Hal and Ellen lost their daughter to breast cancer last summer. Literally on her death bed, Hal made her a promise that he would come east, which he rarely does, and see some old friends. It was on this trip, doing exactly that, that he was summoned away back home to help out his spouse.

The decision has been made. Hal will take the train into Chicago. The Amtrak from Emeryville, CA, near San Francisco, across the continent to rural Princeton, IL. Hal’s brother lives in Princeton. It is about 60 miles from Chicago. Chicago is where Hal and I both grew up. He has some roots there and some old friends, and he is bound and determined to see them and fulfill his promise to his daughter.

I’ll travel to Chicago sometime in August and pick him up, bring him back here to Wisconsin. We’ll tune up the bikes a bit. Adjust this, tighten that and change the oil. Then we’ll ride again, west. I’m not sure of the exact dates and I’m not sure how far I’ll ride with him. Maybe all the way back to the west coast.

Some other local Minnesota and Wisconsin friends might take part of this trip with me as well. There is some interest with a few riding buddies from here. We’ll see how things develop. In my wishbook of trips I want to take, I would go back to Northern California and visit a bit more out there before heading back via the high desert area down near Barstow. There, I’d set up an appointment with Thornie. Yes, of Thorne’s World, the blogger. She is a world class tattoo artist, (I’ve seen many examples of her work), and I want some work done on me. I’m in the act of getting the information now about how this might be accomplished.

After the tattoo session, I’d head back home. But I also have been invited to Hot Springs, SD for a reunion of sorts with a couple of Army buddies. Then there is a wedding in Northern Minnesota in late August and another in Cornucopia, WI in October. I mentioned to the kids that we’d try to make the annual buffalo round-up at Custer State Park in South Dakota the first weekend of October too. Also in October is the annual big reunion in Seattle for the 22nd Infantry Regiment Society. Another Army buddy thing.

All these opportunities to travel have me confused. I put the brakes on for a while and I was really liking being a homebody. Not like the old days when I’d write the Monday Mystery Tour and recall one of the many road trips I made over the years. I just can’t do all these trips. Not that I don’t want to, but there is just not enough time and events overlap dates and I made a commitment to be here for the kids as they will center after school activities at our house this school year. I promised to be here!

We bought this house last March too. I like it here. As I mentioned, I have become a homebody and felt like I was really grounding myself. I even have a dog now. Now, seems like I have more opportunities to travel than I ever had. But I really want to be home. I have many projects to do here. Things I want to do. Some of them are related to fixing and remodeling things, others are art work and crafty, and still others are of the hanging around the neighborhood variety.

Oh well, problems some others wish they had I guess. Wondering which trips to take and which to pass up. Money is a big concern too. I’m broke. I hate to travel on a shoestring every time. You can eat only so much peanut butter and jelly. Although the freshness of the seasonal fruit in California was a wonderful repast to partake in on our last jaunt.

Anyhoo, like my friend Batmo says, I have my work cut out for me. I’ll be around a while until the road calls me again. Been the story of my life and I like it. Now, to decide which trips I’ll make and which I’ll miss. Then again, I think if I like home so much, why do I think of leaving at all? Can’t shake that old wanderlust as easily as I thought.

Years ago, the Grand child, singular, was but one and a little baby in diapers. Our lifestyle was nonchalant and we were easily tempted away from our rented apartment living situation. Now, you can’t swing a dead cat without hittin’ a Grand kid around here and leaving isn’t so easy. But I like the challenge of having decisions to make about when and where I’ll travel to next.

In the meantime, I’ll be around and I sure have plenty of stories to tell. I’ll leave this post with a few more pictures of my past trip. I know, it’s like me making you watch home movies, but that’s what you’ll get today. It’s raining here. If you are having a slow day, here’s something to look at.


Arches National Park near Moab, Utah


We all got a kick out of the name of this park in Rexford, Idaho



My two beautiful daughters enjoying the sun while boating the Pacific


Hollywood


Mendocino, CA Aiko Annie is at the far left, hangin' with the Spado's


Foggy ocean image


Tree huggers from the Midwest invade California redwoods


We didn't see any in the Oregon Outback. We had a nice picnic though

Peace to all.

Only the Good Friday August 7, 2009

I've been away from these pages for quite a while. Traveling for weeks at a time does that, keeps you away from routine. I was sitting at the computer this morning, reading, catching up on blog posts of writers I admire. I remember it's Friday. I remember that it is the day we write only about good things. Good stories today. Find the good. Make it good. Amidst so much trouble and pain in the world, thinking people aware of it hardly know how to deal with the economy, war, hunger, racism, et al. But there is good out there as well. And it's not that we disregard the things that pain us, but rather we embrace some good and hold it.

The best thing that comes to mind today is the blog of a gal who calls herself Whimsy. She writes a blog called The Creamery. Seems like she hails from the Pacific Northwest. She is a young mother and writes about her child and her child and husband in her life. She is rather whimsical and I really like her a lot. Recently, she has been writing about the fact that she was adopted and recently got to meet her blood brother and father. This story, which is ongoing and sort of chapter-like, makes me happy and therefore is good and appropriate for Only the Good Friday, the brainstorm of Shelly Tucker, a storyteller her own self, from Texas.

Pay Whimsy a visit. Read for yourself about the family reunited. You can also find good at Mel's place. I haven't been going over there for very long. But I saw Mel's name on comments at other folks I frequent, so I went over there and find these regular "Fairy Thoughts". Her blog is called Mel's Dream. These are lessons on life. Seems like if I have something on my mind, the fairy thought of the day is right on and very helpful. Besides, I like fairies. I think they are cute and sexy. This one has all of that and is wise too. Smarter than me. And when Mel has come over to my place and read my stories and looked at the pictures of my trip out west, she comments with such genuine enthusiasm it just makes me feel good. So that's my connection to Mel and her blog and Only the Good Friday.

I didn't have to look for much. It's all right there. In fact, the Good is all around if we want it. And it's okay to look for and hang onto Good while other crap is going on. The Good takes the edge off the bad stuff. Takes your mind off of the problems. It doesn't make the problems go away, but it tempers those depressing thoughts, that is, if you want to suppress them for moments at a time. I feel thinking about something else for a spell is a good thing in and of itself. Change the course of my thoughts. Get my mind believing that there is a whole world out there and everyone in it has a story, has some bad, but also has some Good.

More Good things are my Grand kids. When I came out of the fog during my last heart surgery in 2003, I asked my Higher Power what was it all about. Why am I here? The answer was fuzzy, but here is the answer(s) I got a few years later. These great children to share the rest of my life with. These are Good things these children. And I can say they are not only Good for Friday, but they are the best for me and my life.


One of the activities Yoody likes to do when she hangs out in Spadoville.


The "D" Man, growing up way too fast.


Gracie Jayne. Goodness all around.


Anna B. We'll be spending a lot of time together next week.


Lastly, a Good thing that has happened for me is Zeke. Zeke is a dog that has come to live with us. He is a five year old Husky. He was too big to be a race dog, the path that he was bred for, so he never ran a race. He was saved from the owner/breeders gun and became a pet. He lost a leg in a car accident. Here I thought he was rustlin' some farmers chickens and got shot. I guess he was runnin' from the henhouse and got runned over. Anyhoo, like my friend Batmo says, he has one front leg, lays around a lot and he runs in the yard. He hardly ever barks and he seems to like me, at least he comes to me when I call or whistle. That is Good, to be liked and accepted. Nothing like a friend licking your hand. Another Good thing on Only the Good Friday, having a Zeke to love.


My new friend, Zeke.

Peace.

A Few Vignettes

A bunch of happy campers.

I could have entitled this post, "Things that happened on the trip". Or I could call it the "Yoody Emergency Room Tour, 2009". Yoody is her nickname. My five year old Grand daughter. A Taurus, like me, (our birthdays are a week apart and we have celebrated them together for the past 3 years), and independent to the max! She loves life as I see it and jumps into living with both feet, fears nothing and trusts us as Grand parents totally.

It was hot, we were in Grand Junction, Colorado visiting a friend. The kids needed some relief from the heat and swimming was the answer. We headed out to Highline Lake. A man made affair west of Grand Junction near the small hamlet of Fruita. We got there and with only a little bit of fanfare set up two of those $7.88 collapsible chairs in a small spot of shade and let the kids have at the cooling water. We were there only ten minutes or so. The older two were in the water, sitting on the rope that divides the deep and shallow water. Yoody was near me as I was sitting on one of the chairs. Barb had walked toward a trash can to make a deposit.

Yoody ran towards the water. I heard a noise that gives me shivers even now to think of it. It was a "Konk" noise. I looked and saw Yoody, face down and completely prone, her head on the cement boardwalk that divides the sandy beach from the grassy picnic grounds. She rose up quickly, spotted her Grand mother a few feet away and ran to her arms. She started crying, crying hard. Grandma, or Na as she is called, picked her up and began the comforting. Barb walked with her in her arms to the empty chair next to me and sat down. All this happened so fast, I never did get up, but just watched. Once she was in the arms of her Grandma, there wasn't much I needed to do.

When they sat down, I said that I had heard a loud Konk and I wondered where and/or what she struck. She was still crying, and still crying hard. After a moment, she sputtered out the words, "My forehead". We brushed the hair away and saw this huge red egg that had formed. It scared me shitless. I couldn't believe Yoody didn't get knocked unconscious.

The crying settled quickly. I looked for ice. Barb went to buy a cold can of soda to use on the bump. We decided to gather up our stuff and take her to the hospital emergency room. I couldn't believe anyone could hit their head so hard, to make such a noise, and not have broken something or done more serious damage. A park ranger saw us and with his first aid experience, looked for dilation in the eyes and asked the concussion questions. We quickly stashed the chairs and other kids into the van and took off for Grand Junction and the hospital, about 15 miles away.

On the way TO the lake, I was stopped by the Colorado Highway Patrol. I was speeding, 72 in a 55. The trooper asked for registration, license and insurance proof. He checked things out. I was sure I was going to get a ticket, but he returned to my van with my papers in hand and just said, "Slow down". I didn't get a ticket that I certainly deserved. Now, I had an injured little kid in the car and I was scared. I once again drove over the speed limit. Luckily, this trip back to Grand Junction, I saw no troopers.


Yoody and Eggbert

We got to the emergency room and had Yoody checked out. There was absolutely no injury that could be found with the innards of her head. The doctor asked if we saw something or if the child exhibited some behavior that was unusual, or were we just taking precautions by bringing her into the hospital. Barb told her the latter and she said Yoody would get some black eyes. The hematoma on her forehead was the size of a silver dollar. When Yoody raised her eyebrows, the hematoma showed a place where blood came to the surface and it looked exactly like a smiley face. Yoody named her new bruise "Eggbert", in honor of us calling it an egg on her head.

Eggbert lasted for a week or so before turning into a small scar. We called Eggbert's name every time we did roll call right along with everyone else's name. She never showed signs of any pain or discomfort from Eggbert other than to cry hard when it happened. I still shiver when I hear that sound. And I am so grateful that the higher power or whatever force that governs these things allowed her to be okay.

That happened on Sunday, July 12th. On Friday, July 24th, I was sitting on a lawn chair with my friend Tony at his house up in Carlotta, CA. We were gazing into a roaring fire and talking. He heard a noise. I didn't hear what he heard. I looked in the direction he was looking and saw my son-in-law speaking to one of the kids. Next thing I know, said son-in-law, John, was in front of us asking Tony for a container to put the broken glass in. He was cleaning up after Yoody had ran through a sliding door.

We sprang into action. Yoody was okay, we were told, but had a few cuts that they were attending to. I went into the bathroom and there was a compress on her little five year old foot. She also had a small cut on her arm and another behind her ear. I went with my daughter and Yoody to the emergency room at the hospital in Fortuna, CA, about 15 miles away.

That emergency room trip lasted from 10:00 p.m. To three O’clock in the morning before we finally got home. The hospital staff x-rayed the foot to see that there was no glass embedded under the skin. All looked good, it was bandaged and with a durabond bandage and instructions for care and cleanliness, we were sent home. The other cuts were superficial and would be fine with a small band aid.

Seems Yoody was carrying her Micky Mouse Star Wars Light Sabre, and when she ran up the ramp, she went right through the sliding glass door. The sabre must have hit first, for she walked right through the opening made in the glass by the sabre. She was standing there and crying because she thought she would be scolded for breaking the glass.

After a little comforting and attending to the bleeding foot, she was fine. She slept all the way to and during the hospital visit. I caught a few hours sleep and when we got up, started a day of activity on the ocean in Northern California. Yoody was running in the sand and getting her feet into the ocean often with no discomfort. Another bullet dodged as I thought sure she injured herself worse than she had.


Yoody swimming at Crane Crystal Hot Springs, Crane, OR

In between these two events, Yoody got lost while we were at Disneyland. For about five minutes, she was no where to be seen. We had split into three groups of getting refreshment or looking at something. When we all gathered together and saw she was missing, we didn’t panic, but rather started discussing our plan of action. It was moment later that a kind woman was escorting a crying child. The child bolted from her grasp and wrapped her arms around my leg. The woman said, “She must have found her family.”, and walked away.

Yoody used up a few lives on this adventure. We’re sure glad and fortunate that she didn’t get hurt worse than she did. I think back while writing this and can't understand our good fortune. Things could have been so much worse.

She’s pretty darn tough for a five year old, and handles obvious pain very well. No complaining or whining at all. I still hear that Konk sound and my legs shiver. Oh, and she named the cut on her foot too. Larry Laceration. We had to call his name at roll call too, every time.

A Whirlwind Trip

A foggy Golden Gate


We returned home on Friday, about 8:30 p.m. We drove straight through from Idaho. Did an all-nighter, three hours of sleep in the inclined front seat in a rest stop in Montana sometime during the wee hours of Friday morning. But what a trip. When we started home, we all had seen enough scenery and stopped at enough sites to give us plenty of stories to tell. We created so many memories.

I told the kids that I was with them 24/7 for 22 days and I wasn't even tired of them. I asked them what they were going to do when they got home. None of them knew, but the oldest, Anna, told me she wasn't going to stay over for three weeks. They are all here and spent the night last night with Anna creeping into my bed and sleeping with us. I am just thrilled that I have these kids as friends.

The trip itself went on for a little over 6600 miles and as I mentioned, 22 days. The 2000 E-150 Ford van averaged a shade over 15 miles per gallon. We paid as high as $3.09 and as low as $2.39 for gas. Then there was the complete brake job in San Francisco for $901.00, (that was an oil change and tire rotation too). We used a credit card. I don't have that kind of money laying around in ready cash.

But every cent was worth it. The closeness we shared priceless. The fun, adventure and memories we created were also priceless. Like the two emergency room visits which both turned out to be cautionary, or the visits with close friends that we don't get to see regularly in Grand Junction, CO, Redondo Beach, CA and up north near Eureka, CA. I also had phone contact with some of the folks that I met last year while on The Longest Walk. Many of them were together doing another walk in the bay area. I talkedon the phone with them, but never could get my group to their gathering point.

We also stopped in Mendocino and met up with a blogger friend that I had met once before at the same coffee shop. Last night, while relating this part of the trip to a friend, I was reminded that I forgot to ask Aiko Annie about her upcoming trip to Burning Man!

We got to the gems of our country. The Rocky Mountains, where we played amongst the snow packs up above 12,000 feet. We did the Colorado National Monument, Moab, Utah's slick rock, and Arches National Park. Grand Canyon's North rim and Zion National Park. We drove El Cajon into Los Angeles and played in and on the ocean, went on a trip in a beautiful boat and went to Disneyland. We even took in a Dodgers game.

Traveling up north, we stopped in San Francisco and rode the cable car and the streetcar.It was just too cold and foggty for a boat ride, so we saw the Golden Gate Bridge on foot and Alcatraz through binoculars. We toured Berkely and showed real Hippies to the kids. The giant redwood trees were fabulous as was swimming in the Van Duzen River and visiting three separate beaches in Humboldt County while staying with friends nearby. I hauled home at least thirty pounds of rocks!

Even the trip home had us at Crane Crystal hot springs in Oregon and Carters of the Moon National monument near Arco, Idaho. Crane is where I've been not one month before with my motorcycle. I love that place! And the Craters park, we visited a few years ago as well. My own goal was to show my Grand children some of the places that I've seen on my travels of the past. I got to see their faces as they gazed upon the natural wonders up close or through the car windows and camera lens.

Last summer, we had taken them to Washington DC for the end of The Longest Walk. It was then that I told DJ, my then eight year old Grand son, that I would take him to Oregon and he would swim in the Pacific Ocean. I fulfilled that promise and he remembered that I had made it! I just wish money was of no concern. I think we still would have had all those peanut butter and jelly sandwich picnics along the highways at the roadside tables and small town city parks. We still would have camped out like we did when we weren't staying with friends at their homes. The motels we did stay at were planned and quite comfortable in the searing 100 plus degree heat, (not to mention the swimming pools). More ready cash would have been spent in any event if we had it.

In the future, I'll tell some specific stories. About how Yoody fell down and whacked her forehead on a cement boardwalk in Colorado or the plate glass incident. Oh, did I mention she was lost at Disneyland for all of five minutes? She sure gave us some freaked out moments. She's one very tough little girl. I'll tell you about getting stopped by the State Patrol in Colorado and sent off with a warning to slow down, and the parking tickets at Hermosa Beach. Then, of course, there will have to be a post on our restaurant stops. Our favorites and the worst eating experience ever. We tried to stay out of the corporate fast food chains, but for convenience and identifiableness, (is that a word?), we did see Jack in the Box and Sonic on our menu, but NO MICKEY D's. Jack is well known in my household for 2 tacos for 99 cents. Feeding a crew was inexpensive, (I know that IS a word). Sonic was a novelty with the cute gals on roller skates taking and delivering the orders.

My son-in-law, who has never seen the coast, seemed to really like the trip. My daughter and he, along with two year old Gracie, flew into L.A. and traveled with us for 11 days up the coast. Yesterday, he described the beach visit in southern California to . "Bay Watch, without the commercial interruptions." He liked visiting Chavez Ravine, home of the first place Dodgers for a game and the surface street tour we took back from the ball park. My other daughter flew into and out of L.A. and joined us for a weekend.

I'll close this for now. I certainly could write for days since we were on the road for days. I'll post some pictures down below. As soon as I get a chance, I'll edit the video footage and post some YouTube action too. It's good to be home, but it sure was a great trip and I'm glad and fortunate that we were able to pull this one off.

Peace to you all. Enjoy the pics.


Yoody with Eggbert the Hematoma, (on her forehead)


An overlook at the Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction.


In one of the lava tunnels at Craters of the Moon National Monument.


Monkey Business.


KOA Kamper Kabin, Richfield, Utah


Chef Joe, ready to cook for the masses in Redondo Beach.


Checking out the landscape with binoculars



"DJ Rocks" until the tide comes in.


Dumbo at Disneyland


We are proud of our Jack in the Box antenna topper


Yoody in the van after playing in the snow at 12,000 feet


Gracie not sure what to make of the ocean


We made Oregon, as promised


Spadoman his own self, sitting by the hot springs at Crane Crystal


Humboldt County Redwoods


Seals, or Sea Lions?


Sonic Drive-In


Trinidad, at the College Cove