Bob's Grand Adventures

The Cream Team

2012-02-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

As a member of the Golden Spike Chapter of Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA), I was involved with distributing ice cream for the Ice Cream Social during the FMCA's Western Area Rally in Indio, CA in January. We handed out over 4,000 ice cream bars during the event. Tough duty, but someone has to do it.

U. S. Open Sandcastle Competition

2011-12-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

One of the things on my Bucket List was to attend the sandcastle building at the Imperial Beach pier.

Each group has a 30ft. X 30ft. space in which to create their masterpiece.

Water is a very important ingredient in making just the right consistency of sand to use in the construction of a sandcastle.

Once the forms are in place, the teams can start loading sand into them.

I followed the team "I.B. Posse" which are all from the same family (the ones wearing the yellow shirts). They were last year's winners and practice building their "castle" before the competition. They all have a specific job on the team and there is no shouting or commands given. Each team has 5 hours to complete their project.

Now the crowd is getting thick. There are this many people on the other side of the pier as well as about this many up on the street at the vendors booths.

It is almost time for "Tools Down".

FINISHED

The American flag is backed up by the troops. The I.B.Posse team won first prize in the Grand Masters class again this year and you can see why. (Click on each picture so you can see the detail.)

Twilight In The Park Concerts

2011-10-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

San Diego has a plethora of events in the summer time. One of them that I enjoyed was their Twilight In The Park series of concerts that took place on every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday late afternoon from 6:15pm to 7:15pm. from late June to the end of August. Some 30 concerts by local musical groups that were held in Balboa Park at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The price was right.... FREE!

I attended about 20 of the concerts and took anywhere from 60 to 100 pictures of each group. I would then take those pictures and synchronize them with either the groups CD music or comparable. Each group was in their field of music.

Here are a few select pictures from my presentation on the Twilight In The Park concert series.

The Navy Band Southwest:

Graceland (an Evils Presley Tribute):

The 300th Army Band:
(50 years ago, I served two years in the 323rd Army Band.)

The Legends:

The San Diego Six:

The Dixie Express Jazz:

The Ron Jermain Big Band:

Some of the audience:

Summergrass

2011-10-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

I traveled up to Vista, CA to a bluegrass festival that is called Summergrass.

I meet several of my friends there that were camping at the festival for the week. Among them were Joe Reynolds and Kathleen Johnson. They were having a jam session at their campsite. I spent a couple of hours listening to some fine music. Joe plays the guitar and Kathleen plays the auto harp. They both sing well and have recorded several CDs. As you will notice, several others stopped by to join in.

They use this parachute device to provide shade.

I took listened to a couple of bands before I returned to the San Diego area.

I was a very good day!

Whale Watching

2011-09-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

To begin my adventures in San Diego, I went out with the San Diego Natural History Museum on a 110-ft. whale watching boat. There were three Naturalists and one Scientist from the museum on board. There were only 18 of us Paid Customers so we had plenty of opportunity to ask questions about what we saw along the way.

We traveled out to sea some 16 miles to edge of the California Shelf where the Blue Whales were feeding. They were not hard to find, because when the whales surface while feeding they bring to the surface a lot of what the Sea Gulls and pelicans love to eat. So there are a swarm of birds over the area of the whales. The Blue Whale is the largest known animal on this planet weighing up to 170 tons and they get up to 150 feet long. The ones that we saw were only in the range of 100 to 120 feet long. They do not come out of the water like the Hump Back Whales but just sort of porous along.

One time the whale rolled onto its side so we were able to see both the dorsal fin and half of the fluke. The next picture is the 12-ft long jaw (under water) and the dorsal fin.

Next is the rest of the whale. We were about 500 feet or so from the whale.

After observing the whale for an hour or so, we traveled into Mexican waters and investigated the Coronado Islands. These were where pirates hid out in the 1850s. We heard many pirate stories along with the saga of the Coronado Yacht Club back in Prohibition days.

We only had time to check out two of the smaller islands. The Coronado del Norte island is were we saw hundreds of Sea Lions, Cormorants and Pelicans.

All lined up ready for inspection as we passed.

Our Captain held the bow of the boat just a few feet off the second island so we could get a close look at the Brown Boobys that are found only on that island.

An adult Brown Booby is about 1.5 times the size of an adult Sea Gull.

A young Brown Booby with baby feathers

They let Captain Bob take the boat back into San Diego Bay.

One the way in, we spotted another Blue Whale.

An End to a fantastic adventure!

Hemet Air Show

2011-08-15T13:26:00.001-07:00

While spending a month in Hemet, CA, I attended the their Air Show. They had a team of retired Air Force pilots demonstrating formations.

Aerial acrobatics

Lots of Fly-bys with various aircraft

There were NO Blue Angels, but they did have an A-10 Thunderbolt that flew in from Tucson put on an extensive demonstration of the plane's maneuverability.

On the A-10's last fly-by, a P-38 went up to join with the A-10.

The thing that I found most impressive was a 26-year-old lady that put her aerobatic plane thought some tough maneuvers. Not only could she fly her $300,000 plane that had over 600 Hp upside down in a straight line . . .

. . . she took it up several thousand feet and put it in a flat spin while upside down.

After she finished her show, and had landed . . .

I had a conversation with her.

More Bakersfield Area

2011-07-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it is time to continue with my adventures while staying in Bakersfield. One morning, I headed east to the very small town of Caliente, which is located close to the north side of US-58. This use to be an important place for the Southern Pacific Railroad. They would add helper engines to eastbound trains to get up over the Tehachapi Mountains. Today, about the only thing there are several occupied houses and a U. S. Post Office.

Flowing through town is a creek with a good flow of water. I followed it up through the hills for about 20 miles through some very beautiful country side.

Anyway, I thought I would share a few pictures that I took along the way.

The hills were still green from the late spring rains but very few wild flowers were visible. The road traversed several "open ranges" were cattle were wandering around.

I wound up at one of my favorite places, the Tehachapi Loop on the Union Pacific Railroad. The trains cross over themselves with a 77-ft. vertical spacing.

Bakersfield

2011-06-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

When I left Las Vegas, I headed for Bakersfield. I set up camp in an orange grove for a month.

In fact, the name of the campground is the Orange Grove RV Park and it is in the middle of an active orange grove. While I was there, it was naval orange season and you could literally open you RV window and reach out and pick an orange off the tree next to your rig and eat it. You can't get them any fresher than that.

Above, is one of the evening activities that had. A group of us would gather around a "fire ring" and enjoy telling stories and sharing laughs. Some of the people stay here for over a year. After a while you get to know most of the people staying here. They have another section where the "weekly" or "overnighters" stay.

One of the interesting places that I visited while in Bakersfield was the Chrystal Palace. This was build by Buck Owens (country/western star). It is a dinner house with live stage western music along with a Buck Owens museum. It is known for its good food. Behind the counter is a full-size, custom built car. I had to wonder how they got it in there?

Another place in town that I found interesting was the Fox Theater. I opened on Christmas of 1930 and functioned until 1977 when it closed. In 1994 a group of business people saved it from the recking ball and restored it. It seats 1500 people and is used for concerts almost weekly.

More Bakersfield Adventures Later

Viva Las Vegas

2011-05-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

What Happens In Vegas Is A Lot Of Fun!

I spent three weeks in Las Vegas mostly having fun creating slide shows. I did one on Hoover Dam with the new bypass bridge. I took Pictures of the bridge while on it.....

....from it.....

....and of it from Hoover Dam.

I also took the Hoover Dam tour which covered again all the places that the tour went before 9-11. One of the places in Las Vegas that I enjoyed seeing was the Neon Boneyard.

This is a museum that has a large collection of old sings from extinct casinos and business in Las Vegas. The museum has restored about 15 or so signs to working order and has them displayed on the city streets and inside the Fremont Experience. It was like a treasure hunt to locate them. I photographed them for the slide show. Some of them I photographed in daylight and at night. Here are a few of the signs in the yard:

Here are a few signs from the Fremont Experience area:

I stopped in to pay a visit to the Pawn Star's Establishment.

Of course no visit to Las Vegas would be compete without a date with a showgirl.

I think we will just let that part Stay In Vegas!

Death Valley Continued

2011-05-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

After descending back down to the valley floor, we continued our tour of the Westside Road. Our next stop was the grave site of Jim Dayton and Shorty Harris.

We also stopped at the Bennett's Long camp site where in 1849 the group almost died from the elements before they found a way to proceed west. They gave this valley the name of "Death Valley".

We completed the tour of the Westside Road and headed back to our camp in Furnace Creek. We stopped along the way at Bad Watter, which is the lowest spot in the U.S. (-284 feet).

The next day we headed to the ghost town of Rhyolite. I caught this picture of a ghost trying to get on a bicycle

Look what taking a picture of that ghost did to my camera!

There are just a few crumbing buildings left in Rhyolite, once a town of over nine thousand people back in 1909.

After Rhyolite we traveled through Titus Canyon and on to Scotty's Castle and took the Hourse Tour. We did not have time to take any of the other tours before they closed for the day.

We had a very enjoyable 4-day stay in Death Valley and we are planning to return next March.

Death Valley 2011

2011-04-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

After attending a Bluegrass Festival at Lake Havasu City and spending two weeks in Laughlin, NV, I met up with daughter Shonda and her husband Jim at the Furnace Creek Campground in Death Valley National Park in the third week of March. After setting up Camp, we walked over to the Tent Area and met up with our friends Kitsy & Ray and Bill & Connie. We have been coming out to Death Valley and camping together in March almost every year for the past 18 years. Our fearless leader, Keith Knoche was with us in spirit only because he passed away in 2009 and was missed. We had pleasant weather, except for some windy conditions, all four days that we were there.

Jim and Shonda arriving with their trailer.

Tee-shirt decorating time.

One of the days we took our 4 X 4 vehicles and toured the Westside Road area. We took a side "road" up into a canyon about 3 miles to an old abandon mining camp. It was slow going and by the time we had finished looking around we ate lunch and headed back down to the valley floor.

MORE on our adventures in Death Valley to follow SOON!

Quartzsite, Arizona

2011-03-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

I camped out on this 3-mile stretch of BLM land below (along with several hundred other RVers) that is about 5 miles north of the town of Quartzsite. This year, I had the opportunity for some aerial photos. I had a wonderful time with two groups of friends. Here are a few of the photos.

This takes a bit of preparation before take off, but it is sure a lot of fun once you are in the air.

Hang on. Here we GO!

NEWS

2011-03-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have been busy doing things over the past weeks, but have not been able to post. I am currently in Laughlin, NV and will be leaving for Death Valley in a couple of days. I hope to be able to post more information about my activities when I reach Las Vegas in about 10 days or so.

See you then,

Bob

FMCA Rally in Indio

2011-02-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Another year has rolled around and so had another Rally in Indio. I parked with the Golden Spike Chapter and we had a good time together. They parked us so close that we had very little space for out club meetings, but we did just fine (thanks to two of the coaches pulling their slides in).

Believe it or not, there is a RV hidden inside this covered wagon.

We even had a snake oil salesman.

Bringing up the rear of the parade a chapter that brought a full-size stage coach with matching horses.

Our chapter was in charge of the Ice Cream Social

The Cream Team

We handed out over 5,000 ice cream bars at the rally.

We even had a Dixie land band to play some "ice cream eating music" for us.

It was a very good rally.

Almost A White Christmas

2011-01-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

Just after the first of 2011, we had some funny white stuff fall from the sky here in Apple Valley. Jim was predicting a "white Christmas" but he missed it by a week or so. Anyway, it made for some interesting pictures of where I spent the month of December.

Christmas In Apple Valley

2010-12-21T11:41:00.000-08:00

One evening with the temperature in the low 40s, I decided to take a tour around Apple Valley to see what kind of decorations people were displaying on their homes. I found quite a few really nice displays and I thought I would share some of them with you.

Mollie's, one of the restaurants here in town, had a very beautiful display for their patrons to look at as they drove into their parking lot.

Across the street from Mollie's I found the Desert Feed Store.

We may not have a "White Christmas", but it looks like we may have a wet one.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

Wildland Fire Training

2010-12-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

Shortly after arriving back in Apple Valley and getting settled in front of my daughter's house, I was invited by my son-in-law, Chief Hulbert, to accompany him on a training exercise with the Fire Academy class at the the Victor Valley College where he is an instructor.

The exercise for the day was how to deal with wildland fires. We met at an open field on the property of a cement plant in Victorville. They were to set the field full of tumble weeds on fire and practice controlling the fire and putting it out. BUT for my second time at doing this, the County Fire Marshal said the winds in the area were too high. So they proceeded to PRETEND they had a fire to control.

One of the things the class practiced was doing a Consecutive Hose Lay. This consisted of one squad (5 or 6 persons) connecting an Attack Hose to an engine and controlling a bush fire by laying down a path of water wide enough to slow down or stop a small brush or grass fire.

The squat starts out with a 100-foot hose and as they proceed they add another 100-foot hose that they carried in a back pack while the hose is still charged (pressurized) by using a hose clamp. (see below) (be sure to Click on a picture to enlarge)

After the new section of hose is connected, the clamp is removed and the squad continues their mission.

Of course this all takes a large amount of water. A Water Tender supplies water to the engine to keep its water tank at a high level.

Of course, after several squads performed their consecutive hose lay, the water tender gets low on water. So off to find a fire hydrant to refill the tender. The hydrant we found had a stiff valve.

Chief Hulbert always feels better when his engine or tender has a full tank of water. You will notice all the radios that he carries. He is monitoring the San Bernardino County Dispatch and Apple Valley fire frequencies to keep up to date on any fire activities.

Then it was back to the engine and connect up the hose to pump water.

Then we heard over the radios that there was a major structure fire in Apple Valley. Chief Hulbert kept a close ear to the radios because if he had not been one of the instructors for the college that day, he would have been the Battalion Chief for that fire. As it was, another BC was on scene to take his place.

It is never good to have a structure fire of any kind. This was what all the fire fighting activities was about.

New Tehachapi Depot

2010-11-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

Just after sunrise one crisp morning in October, found me at the Tehachapi Depot Museum.

Back on June 13, 2008, The historic 1904 Southern Pacific Depot burned to the ground.

The community of Tehachapi was in the process of converting the old depot into a museum when the fire occurred. They responded in a big way and broke ground to build a new depot using the original plans. Only changes were to bring the plans up to modern codes. In less than a year the New Tehachapi Depot had a Grand Opening.

On the outside of the museum they have some of their over 50 working railroad signals on display.

On the inside of the museum you will find many artifacts of railroading in the 20th century.

If you ever have the chance to stop off in the neat town of Tehachapi, be sure to take in this very interesting museum. I know I will be back in the near future.

Shasta Dam

2010-11-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

On my way south from Oregon, I stopped to take the tour of Shasta Dam. This dam was started in 1937 and was completed in 1945 at a cost of $121 million. It is the key storage facility in one of the world's most elaborate and extensive water development projects - the Central Valley Project. The dam is 602 feet height and 3,460 feet wide. It is 883 feet thick at the base with over 6 million cubic yards of concrete.

Let's take a look:

We took the elevator down the the 13th level and walked through the dam to the face of the spillway.

And then there is the Power House with its five 15-foot diameter pin stocks:

Each of the five generators can produce 142 megawatts of power.

A very impressive facility to say the least.

New HD LED TV

2010-10-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

I stopped at Davis Cabinets in Junction City with the coach to have the overhead cabinet that holds the front TV rebuilt to hold a 32" LED HD TV. Innovative Coach Works installed the TV along with a tuner that has a DVR. Also installed was a Blue Ray player with surround sound.

First thing was to remove the old TV cabinet.

Then it was in with the new cabinet.

Then I was on my way south to Riverside.

Walkin' The Dogs

2010-09-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

Most every Saturday afternoon, Marlene, Brent's wife, and Andrew go to the Wellamette Humane Society shelter and spend a couple of hours Walking The Dogs. They take them out for about 10 to 15 minutes each.

One day, I went with them to take a series of pictures to put in one of my slide shows.

This is a dangerous activity, because they might fall in LOVE with one of the dogs and bring it home with them.

The dogs seem to know when somebody is going to take them out and become very excited.

How can you turn down a face like this?

Well, the "Big Eyes" trick worked, because Andrew unlocked the dog's jail cell and out they went for a walk.

This guy really perked up when he saw that he was going for a walk.

And then there was Mr. Sad Eyes.

Golden Spike Rally

2010-09-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

As a member of the Golden Spike Chapter of FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association), I attended a fun rally where about 15 coaches gathered at an RV park in Fairview, OR where the Union Pacific tracks went right by our campsites. We had a great time visiting and eating as we watched trains go by on our first day.

Our second day, we took the Brunch Train on the Mount Hood Railroad. This was a 4-hour round trip to the town of Parkdale on a vintage train where they served a meal while we were watched the fabulous scenery going by our train car windows.

We paused for a group picture at the station in Hood River before boarding the train.

When we arrived at the station in Parkdale, we were able to get off the train and streatch our legs for a while and get a good look at Mt. Hood.

All too soon, we were on our way back through the forest to the station in Hood River.

Enchanted Forest

2010-09-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

Grandson Aaron and I went to explore a very neat place that is located just south of the City of Salem. It was built and is operated by a family that had a Dream. It is located on the side of a hill that is covered with trees and vegetation. We arrived around 10:00 am and played for about four hours before we had taking in all the rides at least once and several rides Aaron did twice. It was a great place for Grandpa and Grandson to do some bonding.

When we first arrived, we walked through the area where they had various fairy tale displays.

There is nothing like a good Log Ride to get yourself wet.

And then there were the Bumper Cars. I let him drive us around the first time and then he was on his own.

But the BEST was the Ice Cream Cone at the end of our stay!

Dragon Boat Races

2010-08-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Salem, Oregon just in time to attend their Dragon Boat Races in the Willamette River. There were many crews from many organizations that participated in this event. They had Heat Races that covered about 750 feet river to narrow the field down to the finalists to race against each other in the afternoon. I was there in the morning to capture these photos.

There was even an Over 50 Crew and they took their Heat.

The green boat was the winner.

Glen Canyon Dam

2010-08-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

I forgot to tell you about one of the places that I visited on my way from Flagstaff to Kanab. I had never been there before in person. Only through the media had I any knowledge of this place. I do remember that it was dedicated back in 1966. It is the second tallest concrete arched dam with a height of 710 feet. and forms Lake Powell that can contain over 26 million acre-feet of water.

Not only is the dam a work of engineering, but the Glen Canyon Bridge that is located in front of the dam is great, too. The bridge is the second highest steel-arch bridge in the United States. It is 700 feet above the river. The span of the bridge arch is 1,028 feet with a road decking of 1,271 feet.

Here are a few pictures that I took.

Zion National Park (continued)

2010-07-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we ended the last post in the 1.5-mile Zion Tunnel. When I came out of the west entrance to the tunnel, I saw this view.

Once on the valley floor, I parked the car and caught on of the free shuttles to take me about 6 miles to the Temple of Sinawava. The shuttle makes several stops along the way and a person can exit the shuttle and take in whatever that stop has to offer. I went to the Emerald Pools and checked out the Lodge. One of the most famous locations in the park is the Great White Throne.

While riding the shuttle, you can look up through the hatch in the roof and see gigantic bolder several hundred feet right over your head.

At the end of the shuttle line is the Temple of Sinawava. From there I hiked the one-mile trail to the "narrows" where the width of the virgin river takes up the entire space between the valley walls. Today the volume of water was too great for safe passage on foot up the river. Just to stand outside the shuttle and look all around at the 2,000-foot vertical cliffs that surround you was awesome.

If you enlarge the picture below and look carefully at the center section of the rim on the cliff of the rock formation in the center of the picture, you mite be able to see the head frame of a cable tram that lowered cut lumber down from a saw mill that was up on the Plato. The mill was active from 1904 to 1924. The lumber used to build the current Zion Lodge came down on those cables. May of the houses that were built in the nearby towns used lumber that had a very scary ride down the cliff on those cables. (Check the area at the top of the red stain.)

Here is what you are looking for.

There is so much to see and do here that if you have NOT been here, be sure to add it to your "bucket list".

Zion National Park

2010-07-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

After making camp in the town of Kanab, Utah, I drove the 12 miles to the east entrance of Zion National Park. My first visit to this park was in 2006 and was able to spend a whole week there. I had seen pictures and read about Zion for many years. Evan so, I was just amazed at the spectacular scenery of this area. No pictures or words can begin to describe the beauty and wonder that one will experience when there in person. I can only touch on a few of the many wonders of this park.

I found that may of the formations on the east side of the park are just as interesting as the ones in the main canyon. They are a thousand feet or more above the floor of the main canyon and you are fairly close to them as you slowly drive along the two-lain road that was built in 1929. Usually, there is not much traffic in this area so you can travel 20 mph as you serpentine your way along enjoying the view.

When I came to the east entrance to the Zion - Mount Carmel
Tunnel, I stopped and took the .5 mile hike to the Canyon Overlook.

At on spot on the trail, you need to walk out on this plank bridge that hangs out over the canyon to be able to go around an area of the face of the wall that slide down into the canyon some time past.

The hike was well worth it to be able to take in the view from this vantage point.

You can see the 7-level switchback road that comes up from the canyon fl00r to the west entrance to the one mile long, Zion - Mount Carmel Tunnel. that is located just inside the face of the canyon wall on the left in the picture above.

On the way back to the car, I noticed one of the five windows that are unique to this tunnel. I was lucky enough to catch a car going by the window inside the mountain just as I was taking the picture.

HERE WE GO entering the tunnel to go down to the main canyon floor.

To be Continued!

Williams, Arizona

2010-07-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

The second location that I visited while camped at Black Bart's in Flagstaff was the town of Williams. My main reason for visiting was to document the Route 66 landmarks there to complete my documentary slide show that covers the "Mother Road" from San Bernardino, CA through Albuquerque, AZ. I had traveled through Williams back in March, but everything was pretty much covered with snow. I opted to bypass Williams at that time and catch it when I came back through Flagstaff in May. Today was the day to gather the final segment for this project (which is now completed).

The first place I stopped was the old Santa Fe depot in Williams. This is the station where the Grand Canyon Railroad departs from on its daily run to the Grand Canyon. The train leaves at 9:30 am with about 13 cars full of excited travelers.

As I was leaving the station, three "bad guys" with guns approached!

As it turned out, they were on their way to hold up the train while it was on its way back from the Grand Canyon. Meanwhile, I looked across the street from the station and saw what looked like a lady waving at me.

As I approached, I saw that she must have been one of the girls that "worked" there when this building was used as a brothel back in the early 1900s.

I figured she did not need my help so I continued my tour of the city looking for Route 66 places.

One place of interest that I found was this old service station where they still check your oil, and wash your windshield at No Charge. I did ask them if you had to be a good looking girl in a convertible with the top down to get your windshield washed and the attendant said, "No, but it always helps." (double-click on the picture to enlarge)

I walked over to the next street and found this old service station that had been turned into a Bar and Grill.

Another place called "Twisters" is a good place to get an old fashioned vanilla shake to wet your whistle.

After walking around town, I found Williams a real fun place to visit.

Walnut Canyon National Monument

2010-06-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

The next day after my Verde Canyon Railroad ride, I traveled to Flagstaff for a few days. I camped at a great little campground called Black Bart RV Park. They even have a Steak House there that has a dinner show ( I did not attend).

Located about 7 miles from my camp was the little-known Walnut Canyon National Monument.

I spent several hours there thinking back to what it must have been like to live in this primitive location. They did have a great view of the deep canyon just a few steps from their front door. Their source of water was from a small river at the bottom. From the Visitors Center, there are 177 steps down to the ruins that are about half way down the canyon walls.

Looking across the canyon, you can see one of the places where the Indians lived around 1100 AD to 1250 AD. They do not know how many lived here but I would guess no more than 100 at any one time.

A closer view

Closer still.

Those same 177 steps now have to be climbed up. That would not be so bad but remember this is place is over 7,000 feet in elevation. (double click on pic. below to see stairs)

Verde Canyon Railroad

2010-06-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

IF YOU EVER want to experience the thrill of riding on a train with the option of using an open-air car to observe baled eagles flying overhead, while riding so close to red, sandstone cliffs that you can reach out a touch them, then you will certainly enjoy the Verde Canyon Railroad that is located in Clarkdale, AZ.

Once the train leaves the station for its 4-hour, 40 mile round-trip journey, most of the riders leave the comfortable climate controlled coaches and walk out onto the open-air car where we had a great view of things.

I know that is making quite a statement, but it really was. In my opinion, better than the Durango to Silverton train ride. We traveled along the base of the cliffs just above the tops of cottonwood trees that carpet the floor of the canyon along the river.

We saw eagles flying overhead and what looked like their nests on the jagged sandstone cliffs. Each open-air car had an attendant to point out such things as eagles nests and other points of interest.

We went through one 600-foot tunnel

This is what it looked like when we exited the tunnel.

Pima Air & Space Museum

2010-06-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

While in Tucson, I just had to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum. They have a very extensive collection of mostly combat planes that I have ever seen. They have one of the very few remaining F-14s that are left. They had just about everything from the Wright Flyer:

To the SR-71 Blackbird

I took the tram ride that took over an hour to listen to them talk about all the planes they had outdoors. Somehow, I was fascinated by the B-36. I can remember seeing one fly over the house where I grew up after WW II. It has a very distinctive sound. I walked around it and took pictures from every angle.

Probably the smallest flyable plane is the Bumble Bee.

They have a whole hanger dedicated to a B-17 bomber wing. You could find out just about anything you ever wanted to know about the B-17 there.

They have a B-24 Liberator.

And a B-29.

They all looked like you could fire them up and fly away in them.

Titan II Missile Site

2010-05-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

After traveling across the windy dry desert of west Texas, I found myself in Tucson, AZ. I plan to see several things while there for a week. At the top of my list of things to do was the Titan II missile Museum located about 30 miles south of Tucson. They are part of the Airo-Space Museum next door to the Bone Yard.

One of the first things we did on tour was take a look into the silo.

Then we went 30 feet underground to the Control Room. All the instrumentation panels were of 1960s vintage

Our tour guide spent 20 years stationed here at this site. He had two of our group sit at the controls. He gave them the special keys to use to simulate a launch. The lady at the console that had the buttons to push for launch could not read what the buttons were for because she did not bring her glasses. But the guide told her to just push any of the buttons.

Well, when the tour guide told them to turn the keys together and for her to push the simulated launch button, she got confused and pushed the wrong button.

Sirens went off and Red Lights started flashing and the place started shaking.

In about 10 seconds . . . . . .

WOOPS!!!

Fredricksburg, TX

2010-05-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

After a month in San Antonio, I am heading for Tucson, AZ. I will be spending a week there enjoying the many attractions in that area. But first I am stopping in Fredricksburg to take in the National Museum of the Pacific War. What a wonderful museum!

They set you our on a self-guided tour through a maze of rooms that show you what happened in the various stages of the Pacific War. They start with "The Seeds of War" that covers the events before Pearl Harbor. Then as you progress through the museum, you are exposed to the chronological events of our march to Japan. One such event was the Doolittle Raid on April 18, 1942 with a group of B-25s that took off from an aircraft carrier in a storm. While you are in one of the rooms and are viewing film of the event. Suddenly a wall opens up and there before you is an actual B-25.

They have have several aircraft (what's left of them) displayed with lighting effects that are very theatrical. There were dozens (mostly men) of my age going through the museum and there was not a word spoken. You would have thought you were in a church somewhere. You could tell they were reliving those war years.

They had an actual Japanese sea plane in one of the rooms.

At another facility of the Museum, they take you into a simulated hanger deck of an aircraft carrier where they have displayed and actual Avenger torpedo plane.

I can certainly recommend this museum to anyone who lived though the time of WW II. Even if you didn't, you will be very impressed with their presentation. They even let you stand on a wharf next to a very real PT Boat that is getting ready to go out on a night mission. On and on it goes.

If you are ever in the Texas Hill Country, be sure and stop in Fredricksburg and take in the marvelous museum.

Battle of Flowers Band Fest

2010-05-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

The most important event that I wanted to attend out of all 110 events that happen during Fiesta week is the Battle of Flowers Band Fest. This was held in the Alamo Stadium under cloudy skies that threatened to rain, but held off.

There were 32 bands from the area's high schools and Jr. high schools that participated in the competition. Of course to me the Number One band was the band that played for half an hour before the competition started. That was my old band that I played in for two years while in the Army. The 323rd Army Band or what is also called the Medical School Command Band still plays on. My seat for the event was high up in the press box area so I had a birds eye view of the action.

You will notice the camera man. They were all over the place. The event was broadcast on local TV that evening.

Here are a few pictures of one of the high shcool bands warming up.

Each band had 2 minuites to march in and perform their thing in front of the judges. After the compatition, all the bands assembled on the field to play several numbers in unison. WHAT A SOUND! Can you emagine several thousand bandpersons playing at the same time? Take a look.

River Walk

2010-04-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

One of the things here in San Antonio that I found amazing is how they have developed what was less than a mile long "River Walk" in the down town area to a length of about five miles in length. They even have a dam and locks for the River Tour boats so they can navigate the upper reaches of the river. The last addition opened up for traffic less than a year ago.

I took the usual Tour but it only covered the older section of the River Walk. I went back a couple of weeks later an caught one of the Rio Taxis at the northern most location and rode all the way to the southern end of town and got off at the Tower Of The Americas. You can't miss the tower, because it is over 750 feet tall with a rotating restaurant and observation deck.

A person really has to take the tour in person in order to fully appreciate the beauty of the River Walk, but here are a few of over 300 pictures I have taken of the River Walk and tower. I have two slide shows with music on just the River Walk area.

Fort Sam Houston

2010-04-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I have arrived in San Antonio, Texas. I will be spending the month of April in this town. There are two objectives for my visit. One is to visit Fort Sam Houston for the first time since I was serving in the Army at that post 1959-1961. I was assigned to the 323rd Army Band, which was attached to the Army Medical School that was part of the Brooks Army Medical Center. The other objective is to take in several of the events that will be taking place this month during the annual Fiesta Flambeau week. More on those events when they happen.

I did visit Fort Sam Houston and found where the barracks were that housed the band that I was with. The location is now a parking lot for a library. I found the current 323rd Army Band here on post and visited with them for an hour or so. Below is a pictures of their rehearsal room and equipment along with some of the members.

Part of the band was doing a dress rehearsal for a program they were going to put on so I sat in and listened.

I enjoyed my visit with the band and can now scratch one more thing off on my Bucket List.

One of the other places on the Post that visited was the Post Theatre No. 1. It has been out of use for a while, but just recently has been declared a National Historic Site. The Army is in the process of enlarging it and making it their National Headquarters for Theatrical Productions. They will be keeping the front as it was back in its prime when I attended events there.

Infamous Stringdusters Performance

2010-04-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

One evening while at the Rally in Albuquerque, I went into town to this old theater.

My favorite bluegrass band just happened to be in town for a one night performance. (They were in Los Angeles the night before.) There was a good turnout to hear them.

The next and last evening of the rally brought the festivities to a close by us having a Balloon Glow demonstration after the Flying J Wranglers performed to a packed tent that was at the Balloon Festival grounds.

Sandia Peak

2010-04-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

While in Albuquerque, NM, I took the tram ride to the top of Sandia Peak.

The tram is the longest passenger tram in the world, 2.7 miles. It takes about 15 breath taking minutes to reach the top station and the views are spectacular. Here are just a few:

Above is a view of downtown Albuquerque some 17 miles from the peak. The views from the top were spectacular no matter which direction you looked!

Arizona and New Mexico

2010-03-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

I finally have good Internet service again so I can post samples of things that I have been doing over the past few weeks.

Before arriving at the Petrified Forest area of Arizona, I took in some very interesting locations on I-40. I took in places like Twin Arrows.

Two Guns where you can see the remains of an old roadside zoo.

The Standing On The Corner in Winslow, AZ that was made famous by the Eagles.

If you are a fan of the movie CARS like I am, you would like to see the Wigwams in Holbrook that were the inspiration for the Kozy Kone Motel in the movie. And of course Mader was there.

I couldn't pass up a chance to ride on a giant rabbit.

All that before I even got to the Petrified Forest. Most of the places were favorite stops while traveling the old Route 66 Highway. I am working on a slide show production on that famous road.

Petrified Forest

2010-03-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

My next campground was Root 66 in Sun Valley, AZ. While there I paid a visit to the Petrified Forest National Park. Take a look.

I even met a "tree huger" while walking around the park.

Here is one of the many pictures that I took of the Painted Desert.

Train Watching in Kingman

2010-03-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I explored the Kingman area and wound up catching a few trains with my camera. I caught this west bound as it went by the old Kingman Station.

Note below the hotels in the background on Route 66 that were built in 1909.

A beautiful 195? Hudson Hornet parked outside this pupular 50s Mr. D'z burger place.

This morninng I'm heading east to Holbrook, AZ.

Weather Delay

2010-03-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

I had planed to travel east on I-40 on Monday morning after the bluegrass festival was over, but the weather forecasts showed that Williams, AZ was getting snow and below freezing temps. I decided to call the campground in Williams where I had reservations for four night and postpone my arrival for a day. Tuesday's forecast did not look any better than Monday's forecast so I called again and postponed my arrival another day. On Tuesday, the forecast for Wednesday still was bad with snow and freezing temperatures, but I waited until this morning hopping the storms would be cleared out. But NO, they were still hanging on.

I called the campground in Williams and told them that I needed to cancel my staying with them this time, but that I may stop there in May on my way to Oregon from San Antonio in May. I spent the last two days and nights in an old Walmart parking lot in Lake Havasu City and I found a RV park in Kingman, AZ that could find me a site for the next two nights. I arrived in Kingman around noon today and after getting set up, I took my camera and went into town to check out some of the historic buildings.

Tomorrow, I plan to take pictures of trains in the area. The past two days I spent most of my time working on the slide show for the Bluegrass On The Beach festival that had a lot of good bands. I have the timing of the music to the pictures down to within hundreds of a second. So you can guess how many times I had to run the slide show to get it that close. But that is what I like to do for a challenge. I am very pleased with the outcome.

I will be cold here in Kingman tonight. Somewhere around the low thirties with a high near 50, but that's much better than in the middle teens in Williams that will be having a high tomorrow of just 32 degrees.

Bluegrass On The Beach

2010-03-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I spent the past week in Lake Havasu City at the state park on the eastern shore of Lake Havasu. That was the site of the bluegrass festival that was a lot of fun. The music portion lasted three days, but the four days before hand were busy visiting with good friends that I have made over the past few years while attending various bluegrass festivals in California and Arizona. There were nine very good bands, but the last day was RAINED OUT. That gave me time to edit the more than 450 pictures that I took of the performers. I get music from their CDs and use that to go along with the slide shows. Here are a few pictures of the area, my dry-camping site in the parking lot and several of the bands.

I am using WiFi at the local library and it takes FOREVER to upload just one picture.

A band that everyone likes is the Bluegrass Brothers (below) from Virginia

Below is some the crowd. I had my chair on the fourth row and tree seats in from the center. It was great weather for most of the festival.

There were nine bands in the festival and everyone had a very good time, even with the rain.

On Tuesday of last week I traveled over 300 miles round trip to Kingman and then over the old Route 66 through Seligman where I got back on I-40 and headed back to Lake Havasu City. I took a lot of pictures for my Route 66 slide show that I am working on. I hope to get more pictures of places tomorrow or the next day in Williams, AZ. I have spent the past two days waiting for the weather to get better so I can motor on up there. The latest weather forecast is for snow showers in Williams for tomorrow. They are predicting a high of 32 in Williams for tomorrow and a low of 18. This should be fun.

Anyway, I will post when I can. The campgrounds that I am have reservations for all have WiFi. We will see if it is working when I want to use it. Stay tuned.

Quartzsite, Arizona

2010-02-16T10:34:00.000-08:00

I parked the coach with a group of Monaco coach owners. I had never meet them before, but RVers are a friendly lot and it did not take long to make friends with them. Our location was about six miles north of the town of Quartzsite and two miles east along the Bouse Road in a BLM camping area. It was very quiet out there and the weather was great for the entire two weeks that I was there, except for the torrential down pours we experienced one day.

All around us were scenes out of Arizona Highways.

The BIG attraction for the first week that I was there was the RV Show at the BIG Tent.

The Chamber of Commerce had local artists do some Rock Art and they placed about 18 of them around at business in town. The rocks are sitting on a small pallet about 2-feet square. People were to go around and look at them and then vote for their favorite. They will auction them off in April and use the money for charitable work there in Quartzsite. Here are just two of the fine works of art:

Another thing that Quartzsite is famous for is Swap Meets. You can just about buy anything that you need and a lot of stuff that you don't need out there. For example: Do you need an old fliver? If so they had four antique cars for sale on a used car lot.

All this is just part of the may interesting things that I enjoyed while staying out in the beautiful desert. The group that I was camped with all departed about five days before I did. So we all went out for breakfast on the morning they took off and then we posed for pictures and exchanged contact information so we can keep in touch and meet there again next year in the same spot.

Of course no Arizona trip would be complete with a sunset picture.

Blythe Bluegrass Festival

2010-02-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

My next stop after leaving Indio was Blythe, CA where I enjoyed my evenings sitting around a campfire with friends that I had made a couple of years ago while attending this festival. The festival workers furnish a wood stove and fire wood. They come around every day and resupply you with wood. Not only that, on the evenings before the festival starts, those same guys come around after dark with their instruments and play several bluegrass songs for the people sitting around the fire. They call themselves The Colorado River Boys and are very good.

Nine bluegrass bands performed over the three days of the festival on two stages. So if you did not want to hear the band that was playing on one stage you could walk over to the other stage and listen to another band.

This went into the early evening, but nobody complained. The music was very good.

FMCA Rally in Indio

2010-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

I had a great time at the Western Area FMCA Rally that was held at the Riverside County Fairgrounds located in Indo, CA. There were around 1,000 motor homes parked on the grounds.

The big thing that I did at this rally was to have a new satellite dish installed. The old one had such outdated technology that it could not find the right satellite.

Another thing that I did was join The Golden Spike Chapter of FMCA. They are a group of neat people who are railroad fans like myself.

They had some good entertainment in the evenings. One singing group was called Beachfront Property. They sounded much like the Modernairs or Manhattan Transfer.

On The Road Again

2010-01-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

I have just attended the Western Area FMCA Rally that was held in Indio last week. I am currently in Blythe, CA attending a Bluegrass Festival that will take place at the end of this week. I have met up with some bluegrass friends that I made two years ago while attending this same festival. We sat around a camp fire and told stories under a clear sky that was loaded with stars. The temperature was in the high 50s. A great time was had and we will do the same thing this evening.

At this very moment, I am in Quartzsite checking out the location of the Monaco group that I will be spending two weeks with after the Bluegrass Festival is over. They are out here in the desert somewhere. I stopped at the Quartzsite Library and jumped on the Internet to make this post. I would take forever to upload pictures so I will forgo those this time. Hopefully I will have time and the patients to upload them in the near future.

Sunsets On The Desert

2009-12-26T14:10:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are just a tiny sample of all the sunset photos I've taken while in Apple Valley. I have two 15-minute slide shows dealing with the skies of Apple Valley, which include various phases of the Moon and high-flying aircraft.

Clouds Over Apple Valley

2009-12-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

I have taken many pictures of interesting cloud formations and colors from my campsite here in Apple Valley. I especially enjoy the sunsets after a rain storm (I'll get to some of those in another post). These pictures were taken at sunset only I was facing east or north.

House Fire Part 3

2009-12-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

Well, as you can see by now the garage is almost completely gone and the interior of the house is fully involved.

Even at this stage, they have enough water capacity to put the fire out, but they will just keep practicing with the hoses and let it burn.

After a while, it was time to just let the fire go and let it finish off the house.

A person gets a funny feeling about watching somebody's house go up in flames, but you have to remember it is only PRACTICE. It was going to be destroyed anyway.

After the flames died down and most of the smoke had cleared, I found the following in the ashes.

House Fire Part 2

2009-12-07T13:51:00.000-08:00

Well, as we left the burning garage in our last episode, our trusty firefighters are on guard to make sure the fire stays contained.

Meanwhile, the front of the house has burst into flames!

When the instructor told the squad that they could put out all that fire with just their one hose, they could not believe it.

But before they knew it, they had the flames knocked down to the point where they had to stop poring water on it for fear of getting the house too wet and they wouldn't be able to get the fire to flare up again so another squad could practiced dousing the flames.

House Fire Part 1

2009-11-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

As part of the Fire Academy training, the school was able to obtain an old house and garage that was going to be demolished and use it to practice putting out structure fires.

First and foremost is Safety! Plenty of backup and water supply. There were no hydrants in the area so water was trucked in with a Water Tender. One engine would be enough, but there was another engine on standby. And they used lots of hose. I was wearing the same "turnout" gear that the rest of the firefighters were wearing to protect me from the heat and such. These are just a few of over 280 pictures that I took to try and capture their story.

This is the house and garage that soon will be gone up in smoke.

They practiced ventilating a roof.

A fire was set in each of the small rooms one at a time in the house and each squad had a turn at entering the house with a hose line and checking for people and then putting out the fire. They had to put out the fire quickly so as not catch the whole house on fire. They even practiced extracting a "downed fireman" from a burning building.

After putting out fires in the small rooms, they torched the garage.

Now they had an exercise in Exposure Protection. In other words keep the house from catching fire from all the heat from the garage fire.

This is just the first part of a three part series that is needed to tell the story. While the garage was going up, they posed for a Class Picture.

Wood Cutting At Big Bear

2009-11-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

After stopping in Big Bear to get wood cutting permits from the U. S. Forest Service, Jim, Shonda and I along with their next door neighbor caravaned the three pickups up above Big Bear Lake to an elevation of about 7,500 feet. Jim drove his '63 Ford and Shonda drove their Chevy crew-cab. We found a good spot in a "wood cutting" area to either cut up downed trees or fell your own tree, as long as it was marked for felling. We arrived at the cutting site about 12:30 pm.

Once we had arrived, Jim prepared the chainsaws for the task at hand.

By the time we had all three pickups loaded it was sundown. We carefully and slowly drove back down the mountain and ate dinner in Big Bear City.

Fire Academy Night Burn

2009-11-14T11:54:00.000-08:00

I was asked to be the official photographer for the current Victor Valley College Fire Academy. I have taken hundreds of pictures of various events that are part of their training. I posted several pictures of the Night Burn last April or May, but this time I was able to be in better vantage spots.

Class 32 decided to spend a little money and paint the car that is used as a prop for putting out car fires. I thought the paint would burn off the first time they set the car on fire, but the paint lasted the whole 2 hours of the event because of all the water that was put on the car to put out the fires. However, when it came time for me to take pictures of the 6 different squads posed by the burning car, the car got very hot and the paint vanished.

Here are just a few of the 110 shots that took that evening.

While they were putting out the car fire, another group from the class were extinguishing the blaze on another prop. I had to be able to dance around 8 fire hoses and stay out of their way while taking these shots.

My next post will be about my adventures at a Wild land Burn in the city of Victorville.

Back To Home Base

2009-10-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well this adventure that I started on May 20 that took me to Salem, OR, where I spent the summer, and then back down to San Diego where I spent two weeks, has come to an end. I had a great time and took over 7,000 pictures and put most of them in slide shows to which I added music and sound affects. I am back in Apple Valley where I am camped in front of my daughter and son-in-laws house. I plan to be here until just after New Years. At that time I will embark on a new 10-month adventure that will take me to San Antonio, TX and then on to Salem, OR and back to Apple Valley again. I have scheduled many stops along the way. In the meantime, I will be posting from time to time on events that I am involved with while here in Apple Valley.

After I parked the coach I looked out my bedroom window and was greeted by Singe and Jack.

One of the first tings I did was attend a luncheon for the group of guys that I worked with at AiResearch (which is now Honeywell). We met in Carson at the . . . . .

On the way I saw this neat old car making a turn in front of me.

We had a small turnout, but had a great time visiting as we had lunch.

USS Midway

2009-10-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

After attending the 55th year reunion of my high school class at my college room-mate's house in Corona, riding the Metrolink to the Union Station in Los Angeles and taking the Gold Line to Pasadena and back, visiting my brother in Yucipa and various other activities, I moved the coach to Santee in the San Diego area.

I spent one whole day at the 1,200-acre Balboa Park with 15 major museums and took about 300 photos, which I put into a slide show with music. They even have the Sprckels Pipe Organ, which is the largest outdoor pipe organ in the world. I took in an hour concert of a wide range of music on that amazing instrument. It was well worth the price of admission (FREE).

I also spent a most interesting day (5 hours) touring the USS Midway Museum which is docked at the foot of Broadway. I took the Green Line trolley to Old Town and transferred to the Blue Line trolley and got off at the Santa Fe Station and walked two blocks to the museum. I found a new display of 13 life-sized bronze figures situated in a tree shaded area that are clustered around a figure of Bob Hope. This is to commemorate his USO trips to entertain the troops. According to the posted information, this work of art took several years to complete and at a cost of $1.6 million. It is VERY GOOD and is worth the time to stop and see. The area is located in a small park just south of the Midway.

Here are a few of the 380 shots that I took while on the tour. I think I took the complete tour and then some, all the way from the Bridge to the Engine Room. I talked with several of the docents that had served on the Midway and learned even more than what I heard through the headset of the best tour information system that I have come across. The unit is about the size of a cell phone and all you do is punch in the 2-digit number that is displayed at each exhibit and you will hear about that exhibit. If you want to know more on that exhibit, you just push the PLAY button and you can hear stories about it from a person who actually used it or was there when it occurred. This system lets you wander around the ship and punch in the display numbers in any sequence that you desire.

If you ever get a chance go there, it is well worth while. They currently have about 35 aircraft on the flight deck. You can go inside several of the helicopters. Here are just a few pictures:

The plane that I had a close relationship with was the F-14 Tomcat.

You are able to see the M-61A1 gun.

Here are a couple of photos taken in the Flight Control Center that is located above the flight deck.

The served 13,500 meals and baked 1,000 loaves of bread daily.

There is just SO much more to see from the pilots Ready Rooms to the Captains quarters to the Sick Bay and Brig.

I had a great view of San Diego bay is from the "horn" on the boue of the Midway.

Pasadena Train Station

2009-10-14T07:13:00.000-07:00

I have made an uneventful trip south to Southern California to the town of Riverside. The stayed at the very nice Rancho Jurupa County Park for a few days.

This is the view from my entry door early in the morning.

This is one of the ponds in the park that are stocked with fish.

One of my excursions while staying here was to take a ride on the Metrolink to Union Station in Los Angeles. I boarded the train that departed Riverside at 6:29 am.

After getting off the train (above), I walked next door to the Metropolitan Water District building and had breakfast in their excellent cafeteria.

After breakfast, I boarded the Gold Line light rail train and headed north to Pasadena.

Once the Operator was buckled in, off we went.

Through Highland Park . . .

and on until we came to the Del Mar Station. That is what they call the location of where the old Santa Fe Depot was in Pasadena.

Below is the same view after the pulled up the rails.

This is what the Station looked like before the area was changed.

This is what the front of the Station looks like today.

I spent many happy hours watching trains come and go from this station back in 1943.

As the trains left going east, they had a 2.2% grade and I would stand next to the 4-8-4 engines as they struggled to get moving. You don't think it got real exciting whenever they would loose their feet?!

2009-10-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

It is time to head south for the winter. I left Salem and headed south to Eugene where I stopped for one night at Quality Coach Services to have a thermal switch installed on the Norcold refrigerator. I was put on to take care of a recent Norcold recall.

After leaving Eugene, I drove on down I-5 to Seven Feathers Casino, where I parked the coach and drove the car back to Myrtle Creek to visit my good friend Will Garner and his new wife, Darline. When I drove up his driveway and saw all the posts and wire fencing, I thought he was putting in animal inclosures, but Will was in the middle of putting in a terraced vegetable garden. He had already put up the retaining walls of 2" by 10" and 2" by 8" planks. He had put 4" by 4" posts in concrete to support the planks and all we had to do was cut down the top of the hill and fill in the low spots in the terrace. Well, it was not all that easy. The ground was very rocky and we had to use a pick to break up the soil. Will bought a new roto tiller to help with the process and it did a fantastic job, but to break up the really hard stuff, we used a pick. Here are a few pictures.

Here is a picture of the small roto-tiller. It has a 2-cycle motor.

You can see how rocky the soil was.

This is Darline in the kitchen fixing supper for us. After a workout in the yard, it tasted GREAT!!!

Backyard Fort Zip Line

2009-09-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

Brent and I worked on completing the Fort that he built in his backyard. The last feature of the Fort was a Zip Line. We put in the lower end post (10 feet) into a 3-foot deep hole 12 inches wide. It took five bags of concrete to fill the hole.

Then we augured the same size hole for the high end pole (14-foot) and poured cement again.

Once Brent had the cable was up and guy wires were installed to stabilize the two end posts,

it was time for F U N ! !

Even the water cannon is up and working. Anyone want to have a water fight?

Powerland Museums Part 3

2009-09-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

How about this WW I army truck?

They even put it in the afternoon parade.

And this early WW II tank?

Powerland Museums Part 2

2009-09-07T13:10:00.001-07:00

This is an example of more than a dozen steam tractors that were fired up and were part of the big parade on the grounds that took place in the afternoon.

The Truck Museum has about 60 completely restored vehicles in their collection.

They even had a miniature truck tractor in which Andrew looked right at home.

To be continued.

Powerland Museums Part 1

2009-09-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Powerland Museums Association is a group of museums and clubs that are located on 62 acres near the town of Brooks, Oregon. I attended the celebration of the 150th year of Oregon's statehood that was called The Great Oregon Steam-Up. All 15 partner museums were open and displaying various items of their particular interest. The participating museums were: Antique Caterpillar Machinery Museum, Antique Implement Society, Blacksmith Shop, Branch 15 Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Association, Brooks Historical Society, Northwest Vintage Car & Motorcycle Museum, Oregon Electric Railway Museum, Oregon Fire Service Museum, Oregon Two Cylinder Club, Pacific Northwest Chapter - National Railway Historical Society, Pacific Northwest Logging Museum, Pacific Northwest Truck Museum, Western Steam Fields Association, Willow Creek Railroad, and the Willamette Valley Model Railroad Club

Below is a Caterpillar tractor that was used to haul hay for the horses and supplies for the troops through the mud during WW I.

The twin D9 CATs below are joined and can be operated by only one person.

They steamed up this Southern Pacific Railroad steam crane that can handle 160 tons. Once they had it all steamed up, they used it to pick up a set of wheels (trucks) and set them on the ground and then picked them up again with the other hook and placed them back on the track.

The Fire Museum had about a dozen retired fire trucks on display. The oldest was this 1902 steam pumper that had been modified with a 1916 tractor.

One of the things that I really enjoyed was being able to talk with the people who operate all this equipment. They have some very interesting stories to tell.

Wings of Wonder

2009-08-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Brent, the boys and I drove to the little place called Buena Vista, which is located about 20 miles Southwest of Salem. We went there because we wanted to see the butterflies that fly around in a large building that has tropical plants inside at Wings of Wonder. The inside temperature is around 80 degrees and very humid. This is their second summer that they have been open to the public. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took while there (be sure to click on the picture to see the detail:

Since the lifespan of a butterfly is so short, here at Wings of Wonder they breed and raise their own butterflies. I was amazed at how government regulated breeding butterflies is. They have a very nice lab to do this in.

Most of the butterflies that they raise go to replace the ones in the big display room.

Mission Mill Museum

2009-08-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to take a guided tour of this museum. Thomas Kay founded the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill here in Salem in 1889. It flourished until 1963. The mill was remodeled in 1941 when they added the two top floors. At one time, about 20% of Salem's working force was employed at the mill.

Until 1941, the only power for the machines was a water turbine. The water for the mill race comes from a river 15 miles to the east of Salem.

Their main product was woollen fabric and wool blankets for the military in WW I and WW II.

A lot of wool fabric was used to make shirts for miners and farmers.

Wheatland Ferry

2009-08-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

Time for another engineering post for the guys at the Wednesday luncheon. I took a drive over to take a look at the Wheatland Ferry that crosses the Willamette River about 10 miles north of Salem, OR. It only travels about 600 feet (depending on the height of the river). It can carry 9 cars or a max. of 40 tons.

What I found to be very interesting is the fact that it is powered by electricity. The ferry has a diesel engine to power a generator, but they found they could save about $1,500 a month by running it on electricity. They rigged up a trolley affair over the river and is pulled back and forth over the wires by the overhead guide cable. (Click on the pictures to enlarge)

A crew of two just have just enough time to collect the $2 per car before the ferry touches shore on the other side of the river.

Pedestrians can ride free so I rode back a forth a few times taking pictures and talking with the crew.

Some Assembly Required

2009-08-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

One of the first things I did in Salem was help Brent assemble a slide for the kid's Fort. It came in a box with a hundred bolts and MUCH ASSEMBLY REQUIRED!!

We did have fun working together again on a project. When Brent asked me, "Where are the plans for the slide?" I said, . . . . .

. . . ."What plans? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKEN PLANS !"

There! That looks straight enough for government work! The inspector is giving it his OK.

The Salem Tuckers

2009-08-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can see I am with my son and his family in Salem, OR. You have seen my son, Brent, and two grandsons, Aaron (left), and Andrew (right), when we were at the Train Mountain doings last month. Brent's wife, Marlene, is seated. I was invited over to have dinner with them one Sabbath.

When I arrived, Brent had the boys enrolled in Tennis Camp and Swimming Camp for that week. Aaron's tennis camp was mostly exercising and it was warm so he was glad to get to the drinking fountain.

Aaron loves to have his picture taken and he wants to see it on the digital camera as soon as you take it.

On the other hand, Andrew returned a ball that was over his shoulder and kept it in play.

Special Post For Jim

2009-08-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

I finally arrived in Salem and as far as this blog goes and can post items of interest regarding my stay here. One of the things I need to do up font, is to show Jim the fire engine that is for sale. Since I can't attach the pictures to my e-mail account (too big a file), I'll post them here. So HERE THEY ARE! Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Train Mountain Part 5

2009-08-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

As we proceeded to the station, we passed another train full of happy passengers.

The trestle below is on the rail line that will someday go over the same highway that we went under. There is a lot of red tape that has to clear before they can start on the overhead bridge to extend the rail line up to Caboose Ridge.

We are about to enter a single track tunnel. It goes under part of the parking lot. It is over 200 feet long and has to have a vent in the middle.

We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Just after we emerge from the tunnel we are faced with a series of signals that control the yard entry.

Finally, after more than 2 hours, we arrive back where we started from.
WHAT A RIDE!

Train Mountain Part 4

2009-07-30T10:34:00.001-07:00

While the train was being put back on the track, I went up to the head end and took a picture of the motive power.

We traveled about half a mile further to a siding where we all got off the train and stretched our legs. At this siding is a miniature logging camp compete with a working log loader.

We could look through the windows of the mess shack and see the fancy dinner ware on the table.

While we were looking around, a woman pulled onto our siding riding a "high rail" car that she had made from an old pedal car. Real neat!

Then it was time to board our train again and pull out onto the main line to continue our train ride.

Train Mountain Part 3

2009-07-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Once we were through the industrial section of our trip, we headed for the big tunnel.

And under Chiloquin Blvd.

Then it was on out into the wilds of the forest to take in some pristine beauty.

Then it happened, the dreaded DERAIL!

The caboose was flipped onto its side and drug over the gravel.

The cars were lifted and placed back on the track and off we went again.

Train Mountain Part 2

2009-07-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

As we leave the station and run through several divisions of the railroad to the area on the north side of the highway, we pass other trains and various buildings along the way. Below is a group of guys getting their engines all steamed up.

Some of the larger scaled trains that are able to run on the 7.5-inch gauge track can carry a person inside.

Well, now that our train has passed the inspectors and have a green light on the signal bridge, we can proceed out onto the main line and start moving along at a maximum of 7 MPH. Railroad Mountain has a very good set of safety rules in place to keep all the trains and passengers safe.

So here we go!

We came upon an industrial area.

Then we headed for the tunnel under the highway, NEXT TIME.

Train Mountain Part 1

2009-07-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

My next stop on my adventures was to take in the Live Steam trains at Train Mountain Railroad Museum which is located in Chiloquin, OR. They have a total of over 26 literal miles of 7.5-inch gauge track laid out over about 2,000 acres of beautiful forest. Every three years they host a group of model rail enthusiasts that is an international event. This year they had around 250 engines registered. The event lasts two weeks where the first week is a Work Week where they get the right of way cleaned up from all the forest debris and make sure everything is in working order. The second week is Play Time, where they operate their trains over all the rails. Not only that, but there are seminars on various aspects of developing a railroad club from how to build switches and track to car couplers. Most people are out enjoying the great opportunity of being able to run their train on such a massive and beautiful layout.

My son, Brent, who lives in Salem, OR brought his two sons, Andrew (age 11) and Aaron (age 7) down from Salem one afternoon and to where I had the coach parked at a local Indian casino. We spent the night there and about 9 o'clock the next morning were at the registration desk at Train Mountain to pick up our Day Passes to explore this massive museum.

It will take several Posts on this blog to show just the highlights of our day. So check back and see how much fun we had. One of the first things we did was put our names on a list to take the 10 o'clock train out of the main station for a ride to the Northern Section of the layout. While we were waiting, we looked around at the various engines. All the steam engines were parked on raised rail. This made it much easier for the engineer to get his engine steamed up and ready to head out on the open rails. Here is just a sampling of the various engines:

Below: This 2-8-8-4 was the largest live steamer wheel configuration that I saw there.

There were plenty of diesel-electric engines present, too:

Well, we have looked around for while and now it is time to board our train at the main station. Our train carried, 24 passengers and 2 crew. ALL ABOARD!

We will be pulling out of the station on my NEXT POST.

Dunsmuir Part 6

2009-07-12T12:32:00.001-07:00

Of all the things I did in Dunsmuir, the best part was when I became acquainted with my camping neighbors, there at Railroad Park RV Resort. We sat around and visited for hours at a time. We sat around campfires at night and told jokes and stories until the flames died out. When they found out that I was by myself On Father's Day, they invited me to have brunch with them.

From left to right: Ron & Chris Parton, Annean & Dug Barrett, Chris & John Berry, and myself

We sat around the picnic table and ate a wonderful brunch out under the pine trees.

And we don't want to forget Ottis and Mo. They are two therapy dogs that Annean has had for a number of years.

Later on in the day, we all went over to the north side of Dunsmuir and parked the cars and then hiked up the railroad tracks for over a mile or so with the river on one side and sheer wall on the other. We just hoped that a train did not come by.

In a while, we arrived at the very beautiful and unusual Mossbrae Falls.

This is actually a series of falls that are about 300 feet wide which shoot water out from the side of the hill from an underground river. It looked like the water was coming out from the vegetation. The water then falls some 80 feet into the Sacramento River. This cool spot provided some much needed relief for us from the very warm weather of the day.

What a great week I enjoyed while in Dunsmuir. And wouldn't you know it, on the way back to the cars, here comes a train! At least the engineer and conductor waved.

Dunsmuir Part 5

2009-07-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

One beautiful morning, I dedicated to explore the area south of Dunsmuir. I went about 7 or 8 miles south on I-5 and pulled off at Pollard Flats to see if I could find anything of interest. That was when I came across the E. Raymond Huber Bridge. This suspension bridge. that traverses the Sacramento River, was the first major CCC project to be completed back in 1933.

It is a still a very sturdy bridge and I would not hesitate to drive my car on it, but today it is only a pedestrian bridge.

After checking out several more bridges, I came across a spot where I could view three generations of bridges that crossed the same location. The bridge below was built somewhere in the 30s and was part of US-99 and is still used today. The bridge for I-5 above it was built in the 60s.

The following is what is under the bridge for US-99 above.

Less than 300 feet from the arches of the above bridge that was built in the 30s is this bridge that was built in 1915. The date in embedded in the concrete. Thus, three generations of bridges.

Dunsmuir Part 4

2009-07-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

You may remember that back in 1991 there was a train derailment on the then Southern Pacific Railroad in the Mt. Shasta area where a tank car with a load of herbicide came off a bridge and spilled its load into the Sacramento River. Well, this is the spot where all that happened, the Cantara Loop. It is a well known train watching location. The fish all died and the foliage along the river for a mile or so died, but due to a great job of cleaning up, today you would never know anything ever happened. Click on the picture of the plaque to enlarge and read for more information.

This is a beautiful spot to watch trains. The name calls this place a "loop" but it is only a 180 degree curve. A sharp curve at that for a major railroad's main line.

Dunsmuir Part 3

2009-07-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

I found a kind of interesting waterfall on the north side of Dunsmuir that makes a cool spot on a hot day.

I hiked in about a half mile to the base of the falls and took a few pictures.

Dunsmuir Part 2

2009-07-01T22:12:00.001-07:00

The Railroad Park RV Park, where I am staying, is located next the Castle Crags State Park.

The day after I arrived in camp, I drove over there and hiked up to their View Point. At present, the trees have grown to the point that there is not much of a view of the Crags any more. About all a person can see are trees.

If I stood on the picnic bench that was there and held the camera over my head, I could get a fair picture of the Crags.

The time of day also has an effect on how the Crags look.

In another part of the State Park there is a 5-foot wide suspension bridge that crosses the Sacramento River.

You can also get a good view of Mt. Shasta from the Crags "View Point".

There is a lot of talk about the State shutting down this park, because of the economy. I am glad that I was able to see it before that happens.

Dunsmuir Part 1

2009-06-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

After an exciting week in Red Bluff, I moved camp to Dunsmuir. The name of the RV park is Railroad Park RV Park. How can a guy go wrong with a campground with a name like that? They have about 20 railroad cabooses that are permanently sitting on tracks and are all plumbed and have electricity. They have been remodeled inside and have air conditioning, but the outside looks just like they did while in service with various western railroads. You can rent a caboose to stay in just like you would a motel room.

The interiors are all different, but the middle Santa Fe in the above picture has the following interior. There is a complete bathroom at the far end.

The RV campground is just up the hill from the cabooses. When I arrived on a Wednesday, I just about had the whole campground to myself. By the weekend the campground was close to full. I sure like the sent of pine and all the cool shade. The only draw back was that I could not make contact with the DirecTV satellite. However, I did not miss it one bit, because I was very busy doing other things. I thought I would have a lot of free time while there, but I kept finding more and more interesting things to do and photograph. Anyway, here are a few photos of the campground and the stream that was about 150 feet from the coach.

Check back later for the next part of what I found in Dunsmuir.

Red Bluff

2009-06-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

The town of Red Bluff has been around a while. Back in the days when steam boats went up and down the Sacramento River, well-to-do folks that lived in San Francisco wanted to move away from all that so they built lavish Victorian style homes in this area. I will post a few pictures of them, but first a little about the Down Town. One of the main commercial buildings in Red Bluff was the Cone-Kimball Building. It was built in 1886 and housed Zuckwilers department store. There was a clock tower on top of the building which brought a total height of 100 feet.

In 1984 the building burned to the ground. The town's prized icon was gone. The city fathers thought about the problem for a few years and in 2008 they put the finishing touches on a replica of the clock tower and placed it on the same corner lot where once stood the original tower. The new tower is only 75 feet tall but it sits on the ground and not on top a building. It has beautiful sounding chimes that sound on the hour.

Once again the cities icon can be seen from I-5 that is less then a mile away.

By far, the biggest attraction are the dozens and dozens of Victorian homes of all types. They are all privately owned and people are living in them. There is, however, on Victorian home that is now a museum. I went through it and found it interesting. Some take great pride in their homes and some have none, but the ones that do, display what these works of art looked like back when they were new buildings. Here are just a few that I photographed :

When I was taking a picture of the last picture above, the owner was outside and asked me, if I would like to take a look at his back yard? I said, "Sure would!" He took me all around his very well groomed yard. He had converted an old carriage house into a "potting shed" for his wife. He also added on the room over the porch. It looks like it was on the house originally.

Anyway, if you are the least bit interested in Victorian style homes, stop in Red Bluff and get a tour map then plan to spend a good deal of time feasting your eyes.

Old Putty Putt

2009-06-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

JIM, THIS POST IS FOR YOU!

I saw in the "things to do in Red Bluff" list at the campground office that the Red Bluff Fire Dept. has a museum and is open from 9 o'clock to Noon on Thursdays. I thought I would love to see that! Well, wouldn't you know it, the day I saw this was Friday and I would be leaving town on the next Wednesday. When I expressed my disappointment to the lady behind the desk, she told me that her husband was a city fireman and she knew how much the firemen loved to show off their Jewel of a fire engine. On the following Monday, I stopped by their fire station and told the person behind the counter my situation. He told me that the fireman in charge of the museum was not in at that time, but would have him give me a call when he came back. About an hour later, I received a call and he said that he would be glad to open the museum and show me around.

So I drove over to the address that he gave me and he had the doors wide open and introduced himself. His name is David Carr and is one of six full time firefighters in the city. The first thing he showed me was their 1918 White fire engine. It was the City's first motorized fire engine.

Update: The Red Bluff Fire Department has 9 full-time rank and file staff, 3 full-time admin. and 25 reserve firefighters. - Thanks Dave

It served the City of Red Bluff for many years. It runs perfect and it got its nick name from the sound it makes "putty putt". They have a right to be very proud of putty putt, because they have taken excellent care in restoring it to its original glory.

David also showed me one of the original "fire plugs" that were used to cover the access to the city underground cisterns.

We spent about an hour together and I have a lot more pictures of the old fire house, but no room to post them here. Jim, I'll show and tell you all about it when I get back to Apple Valley.

World's Largest Sundial

2009-06-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

This post is for all you AiResearch engineers at the Retirees Luncheon tomorrow. This sundial, which is 217-feet tall, cable stayed, cantileverd pylon. No part of the 710-foot glass, steel and marble deck of the bridge enters the Sacramento River below in Redding, CA.

The cables are about 2.5 inches in diameter. It is strictly a pedestrian bridge (bicycles are allowed at less then 5 mph). At night there are lights on the underside that illuminate the water below. The pylon actually casts its massive shadow on an extensive garden-lined dial plate inlaid with brass time markers.

There was a lot of controversy from the locals about building this bridge. It is a "bridge to nowhere" they said...but then the bridge over the Royal Gorge is also a bridge to nowhere. If you ever get to Redding, stop and check it out as you stroll across the World's Largest Sundial.

Manzanita Lake

2009-06-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

No tour of Lassen Volcanic National Park would be complete with out stopping at the beautiful Manzanita Lake near the north entrance. Even with the cloudy weather, the lake displays its beauty. Here are several pictures that I took just before it started raining. Be sure to click on the pictures to enlarger then.

The view that is the most spectacular is when you can see the reflection of Lassen Peak on the lake with blue skies. I had everything except the blue skies.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

2009-06-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

The weather forecast for the next several days is for thunder storms and showers in the afternoons. Especially in the mountains and foothills. Well, one of the places that I have never been in all the 71 years of living in California, is Lassen Volcanic National Park. After moving my camp from Lodi to Red Bluff and getting set up again, I decided to adventure out early the next morning to visit Lassen. Hopefully, I would be ready to leave before the weather got bad. The skies had broken clouds when I arrived at the entrance to the park. However, that quickly changed to heavy clouds with some periods of small hail the farther up the mountain I went.

I did stop and see a boiling mud pot shortly after I left the entrance.

At the summit, was where pea-size hail started falling.

It did not last very long. In fact, as I traveled slowly down the mountain, there was a break in the clouds and the sun shone through.

But with all this snow and cold weather, a beautiful flower can still grow for us to observe.

It was very beautiful up there even with all the stormy weather. There were very few people up there and I could travel just about as slow as I wanted without someone needing to pass. A GREAT DAY!