Colombia, South America

We are in South America, visiting Ellen's son Matt and his fiance, Nohora Garcia. We are staying at their finca (farm), about 9 acres on a mountainside near Medellin Colombia. They have dubbed it "La Bella Fonte", 'beautiful fountain. Above are some of the many waterfalls on the finca. There are tons of brick walkways around up and down the steep slopes...Very tropical looking trees and plants and full of flowers. A beautiful environment!

View of the main house at the finca. Sunken lliving room w/fireplace, master bedroom up, second bedroom and small apartment on main floor. Beautful open dining room leading out to tiled patio.

View of the alley and lake from the patio.

Tim Ellen and Nohora in Cartagena posing in front of a Fernando Botero sculpture. This city is the oldest in Colombia, and the old city is actually inside a walled fort to protect it from pirates.

Matt and Nohora at the beach near Cartagena

Matt Ellen and Tim at Las Cascado near the finca

Not so fair weather

We are still in Livingston, at the Escapees Park (the original). The weather has not been bad (like the cold and snow in Iowa), but it hasn't been that good either. After quite a while with below freezing temps at night, we are now having overcast skies, and light rain, with more to come this week. I shouldn't complain I guess.

We went to the Livingston Christmas Parade last weekend and enjoyed that. It was a quite long parade, with vehicles of all types bedecked with holiday lights. We were amazed at the crowds that watched, considering Livingston is about 5300 people. I guess a lot were there for the fair as well, as there about 75 vendors set up the next street over from the parade route. We did sample some fudge and some salsa, but it amazing how much stuff that was for sale we don't need. Living in an RV makes shopping unnecessary.

We skyped with two daughters these past couple of days too. Erin and Jenn got their Skype working and that was fun. We have been doing this with Matt in Colombia for a good long time.

My Packers keep rolling, annihilating Oakland on Sunday....still undefeated!

Livingston TX

Howdy Pardners...

We're not exactly deep in the heart of Texas, but about an hour north of Houston. We are staying at an Escapees Park, their original, 'Rainbow's End'. Escapees is a national RV group of which we are members.

We are here via the invite of Larry and Rose Miller, who we met in Minnesota this last summer. It has been nice visiting with the Miller's. They have shown us around and we've dined out with them a couple of times.

We have looked at several homes here, and saw a couple of nice ones. The houses here all have RV parking shelters with full hook ups, which is nice, then you have a guest house for visitors, plus you never have to winterize your RV. But alas, the prices feel too high for what you were getting. Plus Livingston is okay, but not a town we want to be 'close to'...only 5500 population...limited shopping and facilities.

We are staying here through our trip to Colombia though, as we can leave the RV hooked up to electricity for $5 a night while we are gone.

Time to wrap Christmas presents so we can get them in the mail in time for delivery to Iowa and Minnesota.

James Knox Polk Home, Columbia, TN

We took an overcast day to visit another Presidential Home, this time the James Knox Polk home, which was actually built by his father. This is the front view from the visitor's center. The home is right downtown, two blocks from the Count Courthouse. Nice Federal Style Architecture.

Polk was the 11th President of the US, and he is regarded as one of the 'top ten best' . Polk said he was only going to serve one term, and he was one leader who did everything he said he going to, and he left office after one term.

The home had Polk's beautiful furnishings. His wife had expensive tastes, that's for sure.

Polk died just a few months after leaving office. Three states were admitted during his term, Texas, Iowa and Wisconsin. The U.S. also added the Oregon territory (54 40 or fight!) and the whole Southwest following a victory in the Mexican War. Ah yes, Manifest Destiny.

Crossville, Tellico Village

We continued our search for a place to 'settle down'. After Nashville area (Del Webb--very nice!), we toured Crossville, a town of less than 20,000, but just south of Fairfield Glade, a really nice retirement community.

FFG had lots of nice single family homes, wooded common areas, and lots of golf. The last item means nothing to us, but there are many many activities and groups to become part of. Pools, fitness center and lakes. Especially appealing is the low cost of living...especially low property taxes.

Fairfield Glade is close to a lot of good shopping, and less than 10 minutes from I 40. It is cooler here in the summer and colder in the winter than say in Nashville...and that means more snow. But overall, we were very favorably impressed!

We were really won over at Tellico Village, a planned community about a half hour SW of Knoxville. They have golf here too, and just about as many activities. The homes we saw seemed much better built than in FFG. And the scenery is breathtaking!!! Driving around we had views of the Smokies (35 miles away). It is hilly here, and tons of trees are on all the hills.

Every house we looked at was great. Each one had so much good about it, none were perfect, but certainly would be a nice home for us. Everyone we met was friendly, and our realtor was awesome. We were very impressed with the fitness center.

We had our truck worked on and checked over here, and we were given a clean bill of health. It just happened that a Ford diesel mechanic 'lives' at the park we are at, and we were able to get some good one on one attention.

Nashville, the Hermitage

Above is the front view of Andrew Jackson's mansion, The Hermitage, just east of Nashville. This historic place is one of the best tours we have been on. They have terrific audio tour sets, free!!! There is a museum, informational video, and acres of beautiful grounds. The garden is awesome, as is the graveyard where the family is buried.

If in the area, this is a must see.

Here is Ellen at the side entrance to the Hermitage.

We spent a few days looking at properties around Nashville...Mount Juliet (just east of Nville) has a beautiful Del Webb, and there were developments in Gallatin and Murfreesboro. Any of these places would be great to move into, although all are a little bit pricey.

Ellen has finally kicked her intestinal bug! She has been having trouble since we got back from Mexico Sep 24. It has been a long haul, lots of discomfort and limited activity. It is great to have her back to normal.

Murray Kentucky

Spent Wednesday racing around Murray KY (pop. 15,500) with a realtor to check out this community near Kentucky Lake. The racing was due to Rebecca's lead foot. Murray is a nice town, lots of good restaurants, a very nice college town, home of Murray St. University. Saw about 5 houses, 4 of which were brick. LOTS of brick homes. The neighborhoods were nice and quiet and well kept up, but we are pretty sure Murray is not for us.

It is a pretty 'young' town in terms of population, very conservative--with Tea Party meetings frequently, "dry" (not weather, alcohol), and we felt the house prices were kind of high. It seems to be a pretty vibrant community, and the recession has not hammered the town. The county has the lowest unemployment rate in the state.

So, step one in our search for our future home town is over.

Ellen is still having repercussions on her abdominal difficulties. We may need to see a specialist soon.

Sculpture in WI

This is a post from the past...when we were in west central Wisconsin this summer, we stayed in Baraboo, and got to visit an amazing sculpture garden just off highway 12 south of that town. I cannot remember the guy's name, but he collected a whole bunch of scrap iron parts, and welded hundreds of fantastic fanciful sculptures. Some were like 30 feet tall!!! Some were painted, some not. Some were small, like 12 inches tall, some moved, some were like wind chimes on a huge scale. And it is free! Here are a few photos.

I missed

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License Renewal

Ellen' South Dakota driver's license was going to expire on her birthday, Feb, 4, 2012. We decided we did not want to be in South Dakota in February!!! Fortunately, she could renew 6 months before or after her birthday, so we pulled the Excel to Tea, SD, 10 miles southwest of Sioux Falls, where the DMV was.

To get a renewal license, one needs several documents due to the strict regulations put in place following 9/11. The scary part is South Dakota did not fully comply with the Federal Regulations until 2009!!!

Further, to renew the SD license as a 'full time RVer', one needs a receipt for one night's stay in the state. After Ellen filled out a form and got to the window, the clerk informed Ellen that the receipt from the Red Barn Campground her name was not on it! So, back out to Tea to re-do the receipt!

All was good then, especially having lunch afterwards at Applebee's.

Frontier Days, Fort Dodge, IA

Wahoo!!! Frontier Days is an annual celebration of Fort Dodge. All kinds of stuff going on here, with music, a Lone Ranger Impersonator (no Tonto) on Silver, Lots of vendors selling everything from fake dreamcatchers to snakeskin belts to skunk hats--kind of like Davy Crockett's coonskin cap but black and white. And this interesting covered wagon with this frontier doggy riding shotgun.

Oh and thay had an old tyme speling bea, too. Alec Pendry and I participated on Saturday, and each of us got a ribbon--he an honorable mention, and I earned a second place finish. I missed 'proselyte', and I missed it badly. It was somewhat uncomfortable standing up and trying to visualize the spelling of a given word, and then vocalizing it correctly. Hadn't done this since 6th grade!!! It was kinda fun, in a weird sort of way.

Now where can I hang this ribbon in the RV?

Gowrie and Fort Dodge, IA

Erin getting ready to make her move as Mason and Jaiden look on

We have been in the Gowrie and Fort Dodge area for a couple of weeks now. We had been in Washington visiting daughter Heather's Family. Had a great time there.

We have managed to play a few games of Catan with Erin and the kids. I think Erin is hooked more on the game than I am! And Jaiden loves it too. Good players all.

We also have seen some soccer games, and music programs, and a couple of funerals too. We squeezed a few days in at Minneapolis, seeing daughter Jenn's family.

We took Mason and Ethan to Kung Fu Panda II in 3D. Wow, this movie was beautiful. The 3D effects at times were amazing, but the Chinese landscapes and architecture was jaw dropping!

We are staying at friend's Alec and Charlton Pendry's RV spot Alec fixed up for us. It has been great to catch up with them too. The weather has been soooo different than what we had in AZ. Clouds!!! Rain!!! Humidity!!!! yuk.

Marilyn is to my right

I did get to go to an art teacher retirement deal this week at Olde Boston's downtown Fort Dodge. Marilyn Olivari from Rockwell City was celebrating her 'freedom'. She had taken my position at Fair Oaks Middle School five years ago. She looked great and was truly excited about retirement. I am amazed I have been out of work for 5 years!

I took a month off

Well, I have been off the blog, and I feel pretty guilty about it. It just seems that so many things have come up and so many people have been a part of this last month, that once I got out of the habit, there was no way I could get back to it. All rationalization aside, I hope to do better...

First off, our Ford F 450 was indeed taken care of by Jim Click Ford's Service Center. The warning light came back on a day or two later, and we took it back in to Tucson the day after. They were able to run diagnostics on it and found our thermostat was not functioning, so they replaced it. NO PROBLEMS SINCE!!!!

We made the big long trip back to Iowa, spending several days in Moriarty NM getting some work done on our Excel. RV Sales is the largest seller of Excels nationwide, and their service is awesome. We had several little things fixed and some others that were 'big' repaired as well, most notably our large slide. It was fine until we were fixing to leave and when we went to pull the slide in, it broke!

Another day sitting at Moriarty, but that was okay, because we were right next door to Howard and Melita Robinson. Howard and Melita have become great friends, as we met a year ago at Smith Center, KS (we were both getting some work done on our rigs). We also spent some time with them in Tucson, where they winter.

The trip back was fun, and fine...even though it cost over $800 in fuel! The truck ran great, we boondocked a few times to save some $...even in Terrible's Casino in Osceola, IA. I was able to restrain myself, and did not enter the casino boat!

More news to come....

Not the best news

We are spending the day at Jim Click Ford in Tucson, AZ. Our F-450 has had a warning light go on twice in the last 2-3 weeks, indicating 'reduced engine power'. I had taken it to Lawley Ford in Sierra Vista, and got to sit around for 3 and a half hours, only to have them say we have no idea what happened.

Here in Tucson the tech sounds much more knowledgable, and told us that we might not be smart to travel pulling our 18000 pound fifth wheel until the problem is diagnosed and resolved. Not what we wanted to hear, but I can just picture us going up a mountain with 83 vehicles behind us when the power goes out!

I will keep you posted. The tech said to try and drive as many miles as possible to hopefully have the warning go on again, and then he could trace the source. He also indicated the tech in Sierra Vista must have downloaded and lost any information that could lead to a diagnosis.

Our last two rides

This week we made what were probably our last two ATV rides of the season here in the Sierra Vista Area.

On Sunday we drove out to the Empire Ranch with Jerry and Vicki and Pat and Charlie Schaffer. We cruised through expanses of grassland spotted with mesquite trees. We saw a lot of cattle, a couple of red winged hawks, sort of following a string of Cottonwood trees clinging to the creek that comes down for miles from the I 10.

Pat, Vicky and Ellen during a break on our ride

Our destination was 'The Narrows' , a lowland spot of water and lush trees where all the slopes and small mountains come down to the same spot. We had a long lunch there by the creek--two and a half hours--before heading back. It was a nice warm day, with a refreshing breeze all day.

On the way back we pulled into the actual Empire Ranch complex, which is being restored. This ranch began in the 1870s and was a modest operation until silver was found on the property. Big things happened, and the ranch grew to over a million acres! It is still a working ranch, but most of the land has been appropriated by the government. I guess in the 40s and 50s, movie stars including John Wayne made their way out here.

Ellen at the Empire Ranch

Tuesday we met up with Jim Pearce and Beth Manuel for breakfast at the Lone Star Cafe in Hereford, before heading out to the Coronado National Monument south west of Sierra Vista. This was probably one of the prettiest rides we have been on, climbing switchbacks to the Montezuma Pass, atop the mountain, manned with a bevy of Border Patrol trucks, and a special electronic radar/tracking camera atop a Ford F 550.

Border Patrol Recon

We rode down the Mexico side of the mountain into the San Rafael Valley, making our way to the border. We rode along the iron rail fence for several miles, finding a huge alligator pine tree that was hollowed and burned out. Jim said this was used as a shelter by illegals.

a shelter from the elements near the border

We turned north again and headed for Parker Canyon Lake for lunch. The lake was pretty and quiet, created by a small dam some 50 years ago. We had a nice lunch, good conversation, before heading back to the Monument. After loading the ATVs onto the trailers, we had a soup and sandwich before parting company.

At the border fence

A Ride and a Show

Hedgehog cactus blooms

Yesterday had a great ATV ride out past Cascabel, AZ, and I think we came close to Tucson! Hurried back to the RV to change, clean up and rush to Sierra Vista to enjoy the U.S. Army Field Band concert at Buena High School auditorium. Wow, great show, with a terrific variety of music...opera, Beatles, West Side Story and Mussorgsky...We went with our friend Jim Pearce, his girl friend Beth and her mother. Toodled over to Denny's for a post-show snack.

It was a beautiful day for a ride, not too hot and the wind was down. We went with Pat and Charlie Schaffer, Jerry and Vicki and Smoky, and Jerry and Gloria in their new Can-Am side by side. We rode along several ridges covered with prickly pear cacti. Saw tons of Saguaros as well as some Teddy Bear Cactus and occasional hedgehog cacti. We were hoping to see some cactus blooms, and we did see some prickly pears blooming, and many hedgehogs.

prickly pear cactus blooming

Back in Business

Hey, I almost feel guilty calling this a blog, but I am not going to get down on myself!

We are at Mountain View RV Resort in Huachuca City, AZ, about 10 miles north of Sierra Vista. We are having a laid back fun time. We have done a couple of ATV rides, had visitors (Ted and Jan Werner, friends from Gila Bend, whom we taught Catan, and Ted ended up winning one of the games!), got six new tires on the Ford ($1852.00!!!!), and made three trips to the Apple Store in Tucson in a week, trying to get our MacIntosh working right. They solved the problem last Monday, it acted up again on Wednesday. We took it back in Thursday, they kept it, presumably for a week. Lo and behold they called Friday and said it was fixed, so we made the trip yet again.

It is doing better, and sometimes the problem is our internet connection, so we went to Verizon yesterday, to see if our MiFi was working right.

Three trips to Tucson means three big eating out events (Yum, Sweet Tomatoes and Mimi's Cafe!), which led me to my doctor's checkup this week, in which I was encouraged to eat less and exercise more. So I am watching my carb intake, Ellen and I have been walking daily. Here's hoping for a long term commitment.

Ellen has been working on a beautiful afghan of Swedish Weaving. It is gorgeous, but Ellen exclaimed today that she will not finish it until she is 100!

A Short Story of where I have been

I'm not sure how long it has been since the abduction. The scout ship was bluish silver with orange and white lights rotating around the rim of the craft. The hatch opened with a whine and I was sucked upward with tremendous velocity. I could only see four pairs of green eyes in the darkness behind the metallic panel, but heard gutteral exclamations echoing about the chamber. That was when I lost consciousness.

April Fool's!!!

Don and Connie Sarver Visit

This past week has brought Don and Connie Sarver to our Augie's RV Park to visit. They have been with family in Albuquerque, NM, and are on their way to Pahrump , NV to visit one of Connie's high school classmates.

We have done quite a bit besides catching up and visiting. We drove through Ajo, AZ, to drive through Organ Pipe National Monument. Beautiful setting, and wonderful views of the mountains and cactus fields. We had lunch at one of the ramadas roofed with ocotillo stalks.

Donnie, Connie and myself under the ramada at Organ Pipe National Monument

Friday Don and I took an ATV ride with several others from the park. It was quite a rugged ride, led by Gila Bend native Ron Martin. Don drove the whole trip and did a masterful job at it. We drove to Red Rock Canyon again, though this time we drove down into the red sandstone wash...it was touch and go for a while, but Don pulled it through. In the wash are several Native American petroglyphs, carved into the 'soft' sand stone walls of the gully.

That night the Park celebrated February birthdays with a baked potato bar and lemon cake dessert. The taters were excellent, huge, and anything you might have wanted to load on them was available.

Today the four of us went out with Larry and Evelyn Rahmig. Don and Connie drove the borrowed Polaris 2-up of Bob and Mary Jo's. We had a very nice ride, to the cross, the red tank well, and the extinct gas station on old highway 80. Cloudy, but not too cool, until a ferocious wind kicked up a bit over half way through the ride.

myself, Ellen, Connie and Don Sarver.

Ride in Vekol Valley, AZ

Phyl Barger and Ellen, and a friendly hedgehog cactus

Wow, we had a great ATV ride trailering out of Augie's RV Park, traveling 29 miles east on Hwy 8. Unloading at the Vekol Road exit, a group of 10 ATVs zoomed south to see a few interesting things.

One of which was a white Dodge pickup truck.

Next, what remained of a veal plant. Concrete flooring, sloped for drainage, most of the main building standing.

Then a little back and forth, trying to find the way to some mines even further south. No luck.

We then drove west through some very beautiful cactus groves--lots of saguaro, ocotillo, cholla, and prickly pear.

A stand of saguaros

Finally arriving at Johnson Ranch, the remains of a once thriving old west ranch. Foundations, water tanks, windmill and troughs. A very pretty setting.

What's left of Johnson Ranch

The white pickup? When we got back to the area we unloaded, a marshal drove up and started asking us where we had gone, what we had seen, etc. He asked if we saw any suspicious people or vehicles. Yes, we saw a white Dodge pickup, off the road by some 75 yards, heading north. Well, the marshal relayed that that vehicle was carrying a drug load, and yes they had the vehicle under their possession, and yes, they confiscated some of the drugs, and No, they do not have the suspects in custody. Whew!!!! We saw a drug run!!!

Red Rock Canyon, Robinson's Roost

Red Rock Canyon

We had a new ride the other day, heading north out of Gila Bend, and arriving at what our fearless leader Ron Brunk dubbed Red Rock Canyon. Beautifully pale red colored soft stone, carved out and eroded by the wind. Fantastic linear patterns of small ridges swept and formed by the wind. This is one of the prettier rides we have had here in Gila Bend.
Ellen, Jeannie Brunk and Coleen Lougee---what a trio!

Rendezvous at Casa Grande

Myself, Ellen, Melita and Howard, l-r

Thursday we had a great time meeting up with Howard and Melita Robinson in Casa Grande. We had a delightful lunch at Mimi's Cafe, enjoying the company for about three hours. The time literally flew by!

Howard and Mel had commissioned me to carve a basswood sign for them. We met the Robinson's in Smith Center KS, at the Excel Factory last spring on the way back to the midwest. It was cool to present the sign to them, and they seemed genuinely happy and excited with it. Mel is from England, and they wanted a thatched cottage image, with the words "Robinson's Roost".

We sure hope to keep up with Howard and Mel in the future. They are at Rincon East RV Park southeast of Tucson. We plan on driving up there from Sierra Vista to visit them at their park sometime in early April.

Valentine's Day came and went....

Hoo boy, we had a great Valentine's Day! The park had a terrific Hot and Spicy Dinner Dance, kicking off with a potluck featuring soft tacos with all the fixin's, assorted salad, side dishes and desserts. Following the dinner, the dance was a ton of fun, with some good 2 step music, and some "belly rubbin' music" as Bob Kowing described it. I danced with Ellen quite a lot, thanks to my Crown Royal Preparation....Nice and romantic.

I guess there were upwards of 70 people attending, and the dance went way late (about 9:30 pm). It was a fun time and the first real party we had here at Augie's. In the works is a plan for a Mardi Gras Party, so we are looking forward to that one too.

Desert Woodcarvers Show, Mesa, AZ

Ellen and I spent yesterday with John and Sharon Leek (next door to us at Augie's Quail Trail, they are from Onamia, MN) with the main goal to see the Woodcarvers Show at the Mesa Convention Center. Ellen and I had gone to this show 3 years ago and enjoyed it immensely.

The displays of wooden creativity were inspiring! All sorts of animals, birds, fish, were carved out of all kinds of wood...some painted, some natural finish. Human faces and figures of all sorts were on display. And then came the part where I buy stuff. I picked out 5 new carving knives, a multipurpose strop for keeping the knives sharp, some ornament blanks for future Christmases, and some good glue for the times I lop off something that is supposed to stay part of the carving.

We bumped into Jackie and Charlie Letsche from Cherokee IA. We met these folks at Val Vista RV Park in Casa Grande 3 years ago, and actually went with them to this very show back then! It was good to visit and catch up.

We had a huge feast at Sweet Tomatoes. Wow, one of our favorite buffets. Talk about food overload...We spent the rest of the day shopping, and did enough of that to manage a Baskin Robbins treat before heading home.

Arizona!!!

My my, I feel pretty neglectful about this. This is like a diary without any pages. I have not posted since we were in Houston, visiting my niece Rachel and her husband Josh. That was in December!!!!!!!!

We are at Augie's Quail Trail RV Resort in Gila Bend AZ---since December 16th. We have celebrated Christmas and New Year's here. We have had a visitor from Fort Dodge, Marsha Storbakken, who stayed for a week. We had a great time.

We bought an ATV in Sierra Vista AZ on the way here, and we have been going on lots of rides. We have added stuff to it, including front and rear brush guards, two extra storage containers, a front basket the width of the front deck, and a dust deflector in the rear. We love it, and truly enjoy exploring with the folks here at Augie's. Marsha enjoyed her ride too!

We have been busy doing lots of stuff here, including exercise groups, games at the clubhouse, Texas Hold'em, and Ellen has been doing some crafts and women's lunches. Just yesterday a group of 18 from the park drove to Apache Junction to enjoy the Arizona Opry, a fun dinner/music show. The show was Rock and Roll, with tons of hits from the 50s and 60s. It was a great show with many of our favorites.