Planning January Trip

I know it's only November, but I am already planning my upcoming trip to Arizona this next January.  :)

-The place:  Near Quartzite, Arizona

-The reason:  Annual gathering of people for the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous

-The purpose:  To attend the seminars, meet the many wonderful people I have gotten to know, check out the desert

-The stay: About two weeks boondocking in the desert

-The companion:  My co-pilot, Chevy, as far as I know (although my mom has threatened to go)

-The route:  Will take the more southern route along Highway 10 to avoid more of the nastier weather that may appear on Interstate 40

-The miles:  About 1140 miles one way.  Plus driving in between to nearby towns for supplies.  Will be splitting this into a few days to get there and back.

-The Hula planting:  I know for sure one will be planted in nearby Blythe, California.  This is the town John lived in up until 6th grade.  We went through there in 2001 and he showed me his house and the town and told me his growing up memories.  With the help of his sister, I am planting one in that town.  For Arizona, not sure yet.  But I will be planting one on this trip, I am hoping a spot just inspires me.

High School Story

True life story of what happened to me in my junior year of high school.


Was at a new school, in the small rural town of Erick, Oklahoma.  We had just moved there, I was a junior in high school at that time.  I realize now that it was not a big deal, being a small town, but I was new there and very nervous about fitting in.


I had and English class assignment to write a story.  Well..  my brain took over, haha.  That's all I got to say.  I got creative, haha.  I handed in my assignment.


The day came for the teacher, Mrs. Reynolds, to talk about the stories she read.  She got in front of the class and decided to read one she found pretty good.  And OMG, wouldn't you know it, she was reading mine!!   I could have crawled into a hole in the floor if there was one.  


I sat there, frozen in embarrassment, listening to her read to my fellow classmates my story.  So worried about how they would react to it, stupid worry.


Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds, for never disclosing the source of the story.  :)   Here is a gist of what I wrote to the best of my knowledge:


"I am here, sitting in the dark.  Alone.  Scared. 


I see no light, I have no way of moving. 


Suddenly, a small dot of light comes on.  I can see it, through the murky water. 


There is an eye peering down on me.  Looking at me.   Judging me.  I don't like it here.  This eye is still staring down on me. 


Again, I am left alone.  In the dark. 


All of a sudden I see a bottle above me with the words 'D R A I N O" on it.  (I did mis-spell this in junior high, lol)


Some thick stuff comes splashing down upon me, weird stuff.  And then..  I start moving.


WHOOSH!!!!   I start descending downwards, like a kid on a waterslide, down, down, down.


I am free!!!!!!  Weeeee!!!!


I am hair ball."






Yeah..  such was my brain in high school.

Van Halen Is Home!!

She is home..  and I'm $1900 poorer...

But DAMN she runs awesome!!!  :D

Some Sad News

Yep...  it's the transmission. 

Got the call today, finally, the tranny is busted.  Yee.  But, it will get fixed and get me off to see places again.  Oh, and they said the dying problem it had when putting it into reverse is caused by the tranny locking up when trying to go into gear.  So this fix with take care of that is well.

I'll be a little poorer, but that's life.  Ready to get that beast back and finish redoing/rearranging the inside.  Saw this pic earlier today, liked it, it's fitting....

Van Halen Heading Into Shop

Will be taking the girl to a mechanic next week to see about the tranny issues.

It did a few things that made me nervous.  A big rev up in first or second gear, then jerking when it got into gear.  I was told that is the tranny slipping.  Not cool.  As she is still drive-able now, went ahead and made an appointment to a guy both my dad and uncle liked and trusted with their transmissions.  They both have been working on cars all their life, so if they trust him, I'll trust him.

Will probably need tranny rebuild.  Ugh.  Not $$ cool.  But, better than being stranded on the road later on, miles from home.  Has got to be done if I want to keep taking her places.  Here is a good reason right here:

If you want to see places like this, you must keep the Van on the road!!   :)

While she's getting the tranny fixed, will also have the mechanic look into the dying putting it in reverse thing as well. 

After that, will have to figure out how to replace el fund-age, lol.  That, and figure out where I'm heading next.  There is the RTR (a gathering for like minded peeps) in Arizona in January I'll definitely be going to.  But before that?  Who knows.  Depends on how much $$ is left over.  Maybe a little trip early November, so I'll be around come Thanksgiving.  Can't give up that turkey, yo!  :)

Look What Came In

Woohoo, lookie what finally came in.  :D

First time in my life I've had one.   :)

So now you're thinking "Where is she going now?" right?   Haha!   I wish!!   I might use it in a few months to visit Mexico for a day, but otherwise, there is no country that I'm planning on hitting soon.

Then again, I keep hearing how you'll be needing these to fly in the next few years, some states already requiring it.  So it was just a good idea to go ahead and get 'er done.  :)

That Famous Road

Here is a pic of those do do's on that somewhat famous road....   haha

Here is that same scene...

 

 

Spider Rock Near Chinle, Arizona

Thought I'd post some pictures from our time at Spider Rock, near Chinle, Arizona.

We actually slept in a hogan.  I didn't know what that was until I saw it.  The man that runs the campground gave us the background on it, his uncle built it, and lived in it, raised 11 children in it.  It is made of logs and dirt.   He, Howard, built two smaller ones at the campground.  The logs were fashioned in a hexagon type of structure and was filled in with dirt.  Dirt floor, as well.  The temperature inside was always pleasant, even through the hot hours of the day and the cold temps at night.  Here are some pics:

 

Interesting, huh?   I got the twin bed, slept pretty good.  Tim got the bigger bed, it was hard, he said his back hurt less, go figure.  Nathan chose to put up his tent and slept in that. 

 

The next day, the doggies had to stay inside the Hogan (prounounced Ho-Gan according to Howard) while we went on a tour of Spider Rock.  Tim made sure Howard would be our tour guide, lol.  What can we say, we liked the old coot.

 

The tour lasted about 4 hours, here are some pictures from it:

 

 

 They called this the 'White House'..  you can barely see the white part back there.  There were many ruins on the side of the rock, many footholds and lots of pictographs, as well.  Very interesting.

 

 

 



Scenes Around Moab, Utah

Thought I would share some of the views we had around the Moab, Utah area.

 This is where I decided to plant the Hula doll.  It was at the visitors center, lots of people around, so I decided to put it in a spot not quite as noticeable, yet hopefully found.

The next day, we went to Canyonlands National Park, here are some pics from there.

 

These last pictures are at Dead Horse Point...  Way back when, someone decided to coral the horses there, but forgot to get them water, they all died.  The Colorado river can be seen, the view is breathtaking.  I feel bad for the horses, though.  It was also the scene where Thelma and Louise found 'the Grand Canyon', so says Wikipedia.

After we left Moab, Utah, we headed south towards Chinle, Arizona.  Will post about that next.  :)