And Before We Were Done, We'd Walked From Arizona All The Way to Nevada!

It's been a relatively calm 2 weeks since we returned to Lake Mead. We're back out on the back country 'Approved' roads performing our Road Monitoring jobs and the scenery is still as spectacular as when we left. The temps here in Boulder City and Lake Mead NRA are great considering what some places in the country are experiencing. We usually wake up to temps in the low 40's and then spend the day watching the thermometer rise up into the mid 60's. We saw our firsts sightings of coyotes Thursday night as we were leaving our campground. 2 large coyotes had just come down from the hills behind the campground and were on their evening commute towards the lake via the campground road. Not enough time to snap a picture as they headed into the bushes as soon  as they saw our vehicle. Well, maybe next time.

(L-R) Steve, Joan, Barb, Liz, Liz & Bob

Last Monday was a holiday and several of our friends decided a hike back into Majestic Canyon might be in order. Majestic Canyon is located just behind our campground. It's pretty much a consistent uphill hike through a wide wash until you reach the steep high dark canyon cliffs.







The wash continues to narrow as you hike further and higher into the canyon, eventually ending at a high overflow that is impassable unless you're willing to climb using a knotted rope. Here's a pic of me probably 70'-75' up the overflow.



Err....wait....who photo bombed my pic! OK so I was only a few feet off the ground....I still went further up than anyone else. As we started back down the wash we were all rewarded with seeing a pair of peregrine falcons apparently nesting in and among the high cliffs. Nice little hike in & out, maybe a couple of miles all told.

Boulder Beach Marina

Saturday Joan & I decided to see what the Historic Railroad Trail was all about. The trail is 3.5 miles from the Lake Mead parking area to the Hoover Dam parking garage; and travels along the old railroad bed used to transport supplies and equipment to the dam during its construction. The trail passes through 5 tunnels along the way. We parked 1 vehicle at the Lake Mead Visitor Center (the parking area was full) and drove down to and across the dam to where we parked on the Arizona side.

Tunnel #2

We hiked from the Arizona side back across the dam to the trail head on the Nevada side and then onto the trail itself. Nice views of Boulder Beach, the marina and our campground once we reached the tunnels portion of the trail. All together we probably hiked about 4 miles taking about 2 hours to complete the walk.




Special Breaking News........this just in........earlier in the week Joan and I received employment contracts from Crazy Horse Memorial just outside of Custer, SD. We had contacted Crazy Horse after reading about our friends Phil & Rudee's (Workin' RVers) work experience there last year. We're excited about the opportunity and it's another new location for Joan & I to explore this summer. We'll report to work April 30th and work through the end of September. Phil & Rudee have both a jeep and motorcycle so we're really looking forward to spending time with them as they'll be returning to Crazy Horse for the 2014 season. Phil has even picked up a set of golf clubs, so maybe I'll have a golfing buddy this summer as well! Yahoo!

2 of my favorite girls
Birthday Girl Vickie &
my Granddaughter Tristyn

3 Shout Outs this week....one to my sister Vickie who celebrated a birthday last week (she's the one on the left....man is she getting old!)

2 more of my favorite people
Chris & Joan

Another to my youngest son Chris who will celebrate his birthday tomorrow! Happy Birthday to both of you.













And finally to Joan's son Sean who celebrates his birthday on Thursday! That's him Today...........












And in the day.......who's mother would send their son to school dressed like that?????!!!!!! Borders on child abuse. Poor kid probably got beat up at school too! I'm sorry Sean. I'm still working on your mom. Together we'll get her where she needs to be before we're done.





Well that's it for now. Stay Tuned. More to Come!

We're Back! Whew!

Hello boys and girls......we're baaaaaack! Back home in our own little RV at Lake Mead. And we're glad to be back. As much as we enjoy seeing our family and friends back in Florida, our RV is our home. And being gone for almost 5 weeks reinforces how much we enjoy our RV and our RV lifestyle.

Our trip to Florida was fantastic. We drove our car from Vegas to Joan's brother's house in Alabama in 2 days; where we spent 2 nights before stopping over in Atlanta to see Tristyn (and her mom & dad). Why is it that every grandparents' grandchild is the prettiest/most handsome grandchild ever? And when they are about 3 years old they turn into the smartest child in the world! It's amazing how that works.

After a couple of days we stopped over at my sister's house in Snellville for a night before we continued our travels into central Florida and set up 'moochliving' with our friends Jim & Debbie. I don't know how they stand us for that long, but we're grateful they do. This is the 2nd time we've stayed with them during our Christmas holiday vacation in Florida. Jim & Debbie still have a couple of years yet before they can go 'fulltime', but we're doing everything in our power to convince them they should start as soon as possible. We keep tempting them with pictures and stories of our adventures as well as inviting them to come visit us while we're on the road. Hurry up guys....we miss you already!

Merry Christmas
Ryan, Emily & Bradley

While we were in Florida we spent lots of time with our families, attending multiple Christmas parties. We also traveled back and forth across Florida to see friends in person that we've kept in touch with while on the road with via Skype, Facebook, email and cell. Our friends Dave and Lydia found out on Christmas eve that they are going to be grandparents for the first time (subsequent testing determined their daughter is having twins!); my cousin Terri and her husband Joe will become empty nesters as both their children are now engaged and planning weddings; we caught up with Workin' RVers Rudee and Phil as they arrived in Florida the day before we left to return to Vegas;

Happy Birthday Mom!

We celebrated my mom's 77th birthday by taking her to the Cotillion Southern Cafe in Wildwood (if you haven't been there, you may want to try it!); Joan's girlfriend Terri from Seattle flew into Florida to spend Christmas with Joan and her family; I got to play golf twice (twice as many times as I played during the entire year); and I even got to play in my first 60+ softball tournament with my old team the Cardiac Kids; we took Joan's grandkids fishing on my parent's lake;

Joan, Will & I...Semper Fi!

We attended a party for Joan's nephew William who has joined the Marine Corp Reserve and reported for training Jan  6....can you say Hello Paris Island!; we met our friends Tom & Rita who informed us they are retiring and moving to Texas this summer (now we'll have a stopover point in the middle of the country!); and more and more and more.....whew! enough! Time to head home.

Go Noles! 2013 National Champs

We packed up the car and headed out, stopping in Atlanta once more to visit with Tristyn and watch the BCS National Championship game between Florida State and Auburn. Tristyn and her mom & dad are hardcore Seminole fans which is plain to see in her first pic.

Who Did That?!

I'm sure you already know who won that game but I bet you didnt' know some behind the scenes recruiting was going on by some devious person with a blue knit Florida Gator stocking cap! I'm not sure if a certain 'new' Nana.....er forget I said that.....if a certain grandmother will be allowed to hold Tristyn for the foreseeable future. Only time will tell.

Larry looks real good for 75!

We took a little more time driving back to Boulder City, stopping in Monroe, Louisiana for gas and Cracker Barrel only to get turned around and end up driving by the Duck Dynasty warehouse! Didn't see any of the family or get invited in, but it looks the same as on TV. We stopped in Buckeye, Arizona to see our friends Larry and Jean; and Mel (all friends we met and worked with in Oregon in 2012). Larry even invited me to play in a 'pick up' softball game with his fellow league members.

While there we met Jerry and Kim of CR8TING THE LIFE who we've followed on their blog. We traveled on to Yuma and caught up with Don, Donna, Jerry and Phyllis, also friends we met in Oregon. Then it was a short drive back to Boulder City and home.

We arrived on Saturday, got everything set up and reported to work on Monday. On Wednesday we were invited to participate in the Eagle/Raptor Count on Lake Mead. Joan and I loaded up on boats early Wednesday morning and headed out to our assigned 'section' of Lake Mead with our pilot Tom, Recorder Vanessa and Chief Observer Christy where we spent 9 hours and traveled 80+ miles documenting all eagles and raptors observed. I'm not sure how many people or boats total were involved, but our group alone documented 16 eagles.

Tom, Christy, Vanessa

Well, that's it for now. Stay Tuned. More to Come.

Time Flies

Well we've wrapped up (literally and figuratively) our last few days here at Lake Mead NRA for 2013. Literally because our last workday for this year was Thursday the 5th. Figuratively because "Baby, it's COLD outside!" Yes even in Vegas it gets cold. The forecast for last night was a low of 25 in the Vegas valley area. We got down to high 30's in Boulder City last night and that's where the temps started a couple of days last week. Even with the temps in the 30's & 40's the amount of 'cold' you feel is dependent on your immediate surroundings. If you're in the shade, or if there's a little bit of a breeze you really feel the cold. I'm talking about layered shirts, jackets, gloves and knit cap cold. However if there's no breeze and you're standing in the sunshine then it's really pleasant. A long sleeve shirt and sunglasses are all you need. That's the kind of winter weather that has enticed us to seek out a workamping gig in this area.

Our last few days here were very interesting as we got to do and see some new stuff. Last Tuesday we worked with the 'Vegetation' group to water some plants.......well actually we 'dry watered' the plants. WWhhhaaaatttt? That doesn't make sense? What you talkin' bout Willis?



As you probably already know most plants need water to survive, especialy when they have been transplanted. Late last year during an entrance station rennovation an old roadbed was removed and the vegetation group replanted about 350 native plants. If you look at the pics you'll see small brown tubes (about the size of tennis ball cans) placed at the base of the 'new' plants. You'll also see small tubes of a clear substance. That clear substance is referred to as dry water. It has the consistency of....well....snot. Some times you can peel off the wrapper and hold the snot..kinda like play dough, only a little softer. Other times as soon as the wrapper is opened, the contents start running just like your nose during a bad cold. The dry water is placed into the tubes at each plant and over the course of 1-2 months the compound breaks down into a liquid and 'waters' the plant. A little bit messy, but really cool!

My Lovely Co-Pilot & Partner in Crime!

On our last day of work we drove AR61 & AR62. AR62 ended in a steep wash very close to Lake Mojave. Joan and I decided to take a short hike to see if we could get to the water. When we arrived at the water's edge we discovered a little piece of history....a Gauger's Station. When Hoover Dam was being built, there was still a question about the affects the dam may have on the local environment. In an attempt to gather data, Gauger Stations were built in the 1930's along the river downstream from the dam.

Gauger Station Foundation Overlooking the River

The 'gauger's job was to measure water speed, depth and silt content. Each day the 'gauger' traveled along the rocky embankments on the river to small 'buckets' that hung on cables strung across the Colorado River. The gauger climbed into the bucket and pulled himself out over the water so he could drop lines and measuring tools into the river. Not a job I'd want, especially back in the 1930's. The scenery was nice, but the job was a real challenge.

Joan and Barb Celebrating

On Thursday we celebrated a birthday with our neighbors and fellow volunteers. Happy Birthday Barb. If you look close you'll see the Happy Birthday Princess button and tiara that she got to wear all evening!




Tomorrow we leave early to begin our holiday road trip back to Florida. Even though the midwest has been blanketed wth winter storms the forecast is for sunshine and no precipitation along our route for the next 3 days. Let's hope that trend continues until we're home!

That's it for now. Stay Tuned. More to Come.

We're Down to 3 Oreos and a Grape Soda........I'm Not Sure We Can Make It!

One of our lunch overlooks on the east side of Lake Mead

Another couple of weeks have gone by and we're still having a great time in our volunteer position at Lake Mead. The opportunity to use the park's vehicle and fuel to visit all of the back country roads and see sights that most of the Vegas tourists will never see has been very satisfying. We actually look forward to going to 'work' on Mondays.

And the adventures we encounter are always interesting. Many of the roads we drive end after turning into small box canyons or near old mining sites. We've explored several small slot canyons and several dozen abandoned mines during our time here. And we've driven some roads that I would definitely not have taken our jeep down; sometimes because their so rough; other times because the 4x4 we use at work has much better clearance than our jeep. Last week we drove about 50 miles south of Vegas to check out the 'Approved Roads' near Laughlin.

Lake Mojave

One of the roads ended at the shoreline of Lake Mojave so we decided that was a good place for lunch. The view of the lake was great; weather temps were very comfortable and the company was fun to be with. When we finished lunch we packed everything up and went to start the truck when..........nothing. Nothing but a slow clicking noise. The kind you don't like to hear anytime....much less when you're 6-7 miles off the paved road. We shut everything off and waited a few minutes before trying the truck again...alas with the same result. Dead battery. Not to worry, we have a 2-way radio so we can call for help. "700 Victor Lima 62" (Dispatch, this is Volunteer 62) click, click, click. Guess what.....it works off the same dead battery that won't start the truck. Uh oh! Dun Dun Dun!

At least we found a place to stay for the night!

What now! We're down to 1/2 bag of carrots, 3 oreos and a grape soda! I'm not sure we can make it! Let's see if we have a cell signal. Yes sir we do! So we call our supervisor and eventually get in touch with a park service maintenance tech that works out of Laughlin. He's there within about an hour and we're on our way. We were lucky this time, because once we were on our way out we attempted to call our supervisor to let her know we were OK. No cell signal. Once we were away from the lake shore and into the tall washes we could not use the phones. Like I said, we do enjoy our adventures.

Devil's Cove

Wednesday our trainer Kelly went out with us to drive AR115 on the north side of the Colorado River. We drove about 2 hours on the interstate north to Mesquite, then turned off onto a small broken pavement road to the east towards Gold Butte. The rough pavement lasted about 10 miles before turning into a rough rocky dirt road which we drove for another 30 miles alongside the Virgin Mountains before heading down into an extremely steep and challenging rocky wash towards Devils Cove. There were a couple of spots where we had to back up and take a different track around large rocks that the truck could not clear (on the park maps this road indicates Experienced 4x4 only). Once we got to the lake shore we had been traveling for almost 6 hours. Many times when the park crews have to work in this area they plan to camp overnight so they can be more productive. I know it's not for everyone, but Joan and I really enjoy getting to go different places and especially when they are far out and off the beaten path.

View from the Bridge

On one of our days off we decided to take the hike out onto the 'new' Hoover Dam Bridge. Technically it's called Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge and was completed in 2010. It spans the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada and offers a great view of the dam from above. 


The bridge was the first concrete-steel composite arch bridge built in the United States and it incorporates the widest concrete arch in the Western hemishpere. At 1900+ feet in length and 840 feet in height above the Colorado River, it is the second-highest bridge in the US, following the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. It is also the world's highest concrete arch bridge. In the middle of the walkway across the bridge is a marker for the state line.

Thursday morning we packed an overnight bag and headed north towards Utah. We were hoping to see snow and that we did. We thought we might be able to drive Kolob Terrace road from Cedar City back into Zion NP, but once we started up the mountain in Cedar Canyon there was so much snow on the road we were fairly sure we would not be able to make the entire 35+ mile drive across the unpaved mountain roads back to Zion. So we turned northeast and drove towards Cedar Breaks where we found more snow, but snow we could handle. The drive was beautiful and we made a loop around and back down into Zion for the night. Friday morning we drove back into St George, Utah for a meal at Chik-Fil-A and a wet but scenic drive through Snow Canyon State Park.

It's so hard to portray the actual beauty of the land around us. We try and try, but even as good as some of our pictures turn out, it doesn't really do it justice.







You just have to see it with your own eyes to really get a feel for how spectacular it really is.





Less than 3 weeks before we head back towards Florida for Christmas. Along the way we'll stop in Alabama to see Joan's brother Jimmy and his family. And we'll stop in Atlanta to see my new grand daughter Tristyn.......and her family(almost forgot about them). This year has really flown by. Joan and I are really glad we made the decision to go full time. And we got to go early. Our original plan was to go full time on 9/10/11/12/13 (November 12, 2013; 9:10am). But we went early. Look what we would have missed if we'd waited!

That's it for now. Stay Tuned. More to Come!

"It just goes to show you, it's always something--if it ain't one thing, it's another."

Just like Roseanne Roseannadanna would say.......It's always something! So the time changes Saturday night/Sunday morning and now it's light when we wake up and dark by 5pm. Joan and I like being up and out early....better chance that we might see some wildlife and we will get home before dark from our volunteer jobs. So we decide that we'll start getting up an hour earlier at 5am so we can make it to work by 6. It's Sunday night and I'm already snuggled into bed; Joan's brushing her teeth and all of a sudden we hear an audible 'click' and the overhead light in the bathroom goes out. And it's really dark....darker than usual when the lights are out. As I look around I notice all the small LED lights throughout the MH are dark. HHMMMMMMM....wonder what that's about. So I slip on some clothes and start checking things out. All of our 110v outlets work, but none of our 12v lights or 'cigarette' outlets work. I go outside and check the inverter/charger...it appears OK and the remote says it's charging the batteries like it should. I check the surge protector and it shows 'E 0" No Errors. Well it's late and I'm tired...so since the 110 works, we can survive until I figure it out. I'll just sleep on it. I slept well; even had a dream that the problem was fixed....felt good when I woke up and then remembered the 12v was still not working. I checked the 12v fuse panel and none of the fuses were blown. I read through the owners manual and got nothin'. I check the inverter again and it's fine as is the surge protector. I check the fuse panel itself and there is no 12v coming into the panel.

In the great words of the Bard...."O, woe is me, T'have seen what I have seen, see what I see!"(William Shakespeare, Hamlet). What to do, what to do. So I fall back on the tried and true......IRV2. Before we leave for work I fire off a quick note asking if anyone has any ideas on what may be causing my 12v to fail while leaving my 110v alone. It doesn't take long and within a couple of hours I've got 2 responses, both of which indicate I should check the Battery Disconnect Solenoid. Oh yeah! I've read about this several times before. As soon as we're home from work I start checking. 

Front Compartment
I Don't See Nothin' But Fuse Covers

OK, where is it located? Let's try the battery compartment. OK, there's a solenoid....let's see if this is it. Check it with a VOM and I've got 12v on both sides....so that's not it. Check the inverter compartment....no solenoid in there. There were some fuses in the front driver's side compartment, so I check there and no luck. Nothing that looks like a solenoid. Now what? It's starting to get dark and I've run out of ideas. We'd be OK without the 12v for a few days except that the switches that turn on the hot water heaters are 12v...so all we've got is cold water. Well I better make a service appointment to have it checked out. I call a local RV dealership and speak with Al in their service department. They close in 5 minutes and the earliest appointment available is almost 2 weeks away.....that won't work. Al help me out here....do you happen to know where the battery disconnect solenoid is located on my model? No, that's not one of the models I'm familiar with....Hold on a minute.........I hear him speaking with someone in the background......try the drivers side compartment; it should be in there. OK I'll look again. So out I go, looking everywhere in the compartment when I see a black cover with 3 wingnuts...spin off the wingnuts and 

Behind Door #1.....There It Is...
The Little Yellow Thingy Bottom Left

HALLELUJAH! in and amongst all the wires and connections is a solenoid....the solenoid....and there's a small slot on one side with a 5A fuse. I pull the fuse and sure enough it's blown. I pull out a spare fuse...plug it in.....and all the new LED lights and 12v outlets come to life. Thank You AL! You're the MAN!


It's always something. If you're an RVer....especially a full-timer....you will find out it's always something. Kinda like life.....you will definitely encounter obstacles along the way. What's important is how you handle them. When you run into that brick wall...don't beat your head against it...look for a way around it. If you haven't already, check out IRV2. Bookmark it as it is a wealth of information and members who are more than willing to help you when you encounter trouble. 


And Kudos to Al at Johnny Walker RV in Las Vegas. With a little help from Al and IRV2 I managed to fix a problem with a $.50 fuse instead of a $50 (or more) service call.




Stay Tuned. More to Come

November!?! What Happened to October?

One of our training days with Kelly
Repairing a barricade

Well it's the 1st weekend in November and we're back to work. We started our volunteer position the last day of September, then the closure started October 1st. We were allowed to stay in the volunteer campground within Lake Mead NRA during the closure, but all access to the rest of the park was restricted. We couldn't walk or hike the trails; couldn't drive through the park; didn't have access to the lake; nothing! All of the park entrances were barricaded and Rangers were stationed at each entrance to keep unauthorized visitors out.

Yes that's snow at the Las Vegas Ski Resort
near Mt Charleston

Joan and I tried several different things to stay busy. We took a weekend trip to Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah where we saw lots of fall color. We took a day trip to Mt Charleston on the northwest side of Vegas; even saw snow on the roadside from a light dusting earlier in the week. Did you know there is a ski resort in Vegas? We didn't until we drove to the top of Mt Charleston.

I did lots of little maintenance jobs around the MH; adjusted the drivers and passenger captain's chairs that had started to loosen up on their floor mounts; replaced a couple of door latches that had broken; took down the cabinet doors in the bathroom, re-stained them to cover some scratches and polished the hinges that were starting to show some rust. But my biggest project was to change out several of the fluorescent overhead lights with LEDs. I found a thread on IRV2 from a guy who had changed out his lights and decided that would be a great project since I had 2 lights that appeared to have ballast problems. I ordered the parts online from EBay for $46; which included 30+ feet of LED strip and enough connectors to replace 10 or 11 lights. I opened the light fixtures, removed the fluorescent tubes and ballast cover, then cut the +/- wires from the ballast. I replaced the ballast covers and began working on the LED strips. I cut sections of the LED strip to the same length as the fluorescent tubes, attached the connectors, then used the backing tape to stick 3 LED strips into each fixture. Then I connected the +/- wires in the light fixture to the LED connector wires. Voila...we have light...a clear white light that turns on immediately and doesn't flicker. And the LEDs are rated at 100,000 hours of usage, quite a bit longer than the old tubes...and quite a bit cheaper too. All in all I replaced 20 tubes (@ $4-$6 ea), got better and brighter light and still have materials left over for less than half of normal bulb replacement would cost. And that's not counting the cost of any ballast I would have had to replace.

Temple Bar - Arizona

We've been back to work for 2 weeks. We took 2 days of additional training and we've been on our own since. So far it's been fun. We've seen places in the park that very few folks get to see.

Cottonwood East - Lake Mojave

Some days we drive 50 miles just to get to the area where we're working; then another 10 miles on secondary roads just to get to the back country roads. Then it's 30-40 miles of back country roads looking for disturbances that we record and attempt to restore if possible. The shortest day was 80+ miles total round trip; the longest was 180 miles.

Some of the wildlife we see 

And what's really great is that driving these back country roads is what we used to do on our days off; using our jeep and our fuel. Now we get to use the park's 4-wheel drive vehicle and gas. It just doesn't get much better than that!











Joan's BFF from Seattle, Teri came into Vegas for a couple of nights and Joan took advantage of that time to show her some of the sights we've been enjoying during our stays in Lake Mead. Joan and I started the day by getting up early and driving across town to see the Vegas Balloonfest.




There were 15 different hot air balloons and they coordinated their launch so they were all up at the same time.

Can You See the Moon?

We got some great pics.

Southwest Diner
A Triple D in Boulder City

Then we picked up Teri and took her to one of our favorite Diners, Drive ins and Dives eateries Southwest Diner for breakfast. Then the girls took off to visit Valley of Fire, Hoover Dam and a tour of Lake Mead. Last week we went out to lunch with friends we worked with in Oregon. Terri and Mel were in town on their way to Arizona so we joined them at Arizona Charlies for lunch. A couple of days later Allan and Sylvana came into town after closing their campgrounds in California and we met them at Sam's Town to catch up. Joan and I know that our families back in Florida worry that we're out west all alone, but it's not like that at all. We've made so many new friends in the last 18 months that we never have to be alone unless we want to.



That's it for now. Stay Tuned. More to Come.

Viva Las Vegas.....Where's Elvis?

Joan's Uncle Jimmy arived 2 weeks ago and we've been very busy ever since. While he was here we tried to show him as much of the area as possible. We took him to Fremont Street in downtown Vegas where he promptly 'fell in luv' with the locals.

We took him out to Boulder Dam, down to Lake Mead, up to Valley of Fire all in the 1st week. He had thought about driving up to Skywalk in Arizona, but after a little research he decided his money would be better spent on a helicopter ride over and into the Grand Canyon. He had a blast, including 'falling in luv' with the pretty young passenger next to him in the helicopter who kept leaning over into his lap to look out the window and take pictures.

The 1st day of his 2nd week here Joan and I had to report for our 1st day of orientation at our Road Monitoring job in Lake Mead. We met our boss Dara; and Kelly who would be training us on the GPS and other gear we would be using. We spent the morning filling out paperwork and then hit the road with Kelly. We drove about 4-5 miles out into the mountains between Lake Mead and Henderson on some of the rockiest 'roads' we been on in quite some time (I think she was testing us to see how we'd react). We finished up the 1st day with the caveat that we would report back to work the next morning 10/1 "if the government didn't shut down". Well we all know how that went don't we! Needless to say at this point, but we're still waiting to report back to work! We're still living in the Volunteer campground inside the park, but everything else in the park has been closed. There are LEO's (park service Law Enforcement Officers) stationed at the 4 primary entrance gates to Lake Mead and no one is allowed to enter the parks. The marinas are closed as are all the other campgrounds. Even the campers already set up had to leave.

Hiway driving towards Cedar Breaks

In reading through the various camping discussion groups I've stumbled across several threads where folks are 'bragging' about moving barricades and closed signs in order to enter many of the closed national parks and monuments. And unfortunately IMO too many replies to those posts are in support of the park 'crashers'.

The Fall Color was everwhere

Many of the statements being made are portraying the park service and their employees as the bad guys in this situation. I understand that many folks' vacations are being sidetracked because of the shutdown, but it's not the Park Service.



I can't imagine how I'd feel if a vacation I'd planned and saved for was impacted like many of the folks we see everyday as they're turned away at the parks. But just a little time and research will show you a multitude of options: there are numerous state, county and public parks where these folks can go. And there are thousands of scenic drives and locations that can be accessed. The parks are just doing what they have to do because their budget has been shut off. 'Nuff said about that.



Since we had time on our hands, we packed an overnight bag and set out towards Utah. We discovered that the roads through Zion and Cedar Break parks were open for normal travel (not stopping or parking or hiking).




And with the leaves starting to show their fall colors we thought a nice drive might be in order with Uncle Jimmy. We spent 2 days driving through southwest Utah, exploring some new roads and revisiting some known ones. The aspens in Cedar Break were bright yellow and gold, and many of the back road sights and overlooks were breathtaking.

Brian, Theresa (bless them) & Uncle Jimmy

After 10 days of staying with us Uncle Jimmy was dumped.....uh....er....dropped off with Joan's cousin Theresa for the rest of his vacation. He visited a couple more casinos and took an off road ride in Theresa and Brian's rock climbing jeep (the same one we rode in earlier this year). Joan and I have really enjoyed the visits from my parents and her Uncle Jimmy. And we're looking forward to the next time we have visitors. That being said it's been hectic with company for 23 of the last 24 days; especially in the motorhome. We'll have to plan better next time we invite company.

A quick shout out and Thank You to Jack Mayer. The cell reception in the Volunteer campground is spotty at best; have to step outside to be heard on some calls and you never know if you'll be able to access the internet or not. I've read Jack's posts on communications for some time now and earlier this year we purchased a WiFi Ranger to improve our WiFi reception while at Chalk Creek based on his recommendations. After reviewing his posts on cell reception and a couple of email exchanges we elected to purchase a Wilson Electronics Sleek 4G V cellular 'booster'. And Jack was spot on again. Our cellular signal went from 1X to 3 bars of 3G and even 1-2 bars of 4G at times. It's not the perfect solution as the phone must remain in the 'cradle' for the signal to be boosted. But until a 'wireless' 4G booster solution is available, this will do just fine. Thanks Jack.

Most of you know how much I enjoy playing softball. I had hoped to play this year at the Huntsman Senior World Games held each year in Utah. The Senior World Games host over 10,000 age 50 and up atheletes each year at this event. There are 27 different sports including track and field, golf, biking, shooting, basketball, softball and others. Check it out....you may want to compete one year. Unfortunately my softball buddies back in Florida were unable to get a 60's team together to play this year. But some of my friends that play in the 65 age brackets are playing; so Joan and I drove up to St George, Utah to see them and catch a game. While we were there it was mentioned that many of the 350 softball teams need a player or two to fill open positions. That's all it took. I threw my name and info into the system to see if anyone could use my help. The 60's teams were already locked in at this point, but maybe a 55 team (they play next week) will need some help. Wish me luck.

That's it for now.

Stay Tuned. More to Come

PS...write your congressman. Tell them to figure it out!