Jane and John – we travel and we ranch!

When we updated last, we were going to meet up with Bob and Judy in Colorado. We pulled into the campground and about five minutes later, B&J pulled in!  Great to see them again, since we had parted early May in Virginia. Traveled with them a couple of

Bison at the Terry Bison Ranch, Cheyenne, Wyoming

weeks and up into Wyoming. Terry Bison Ranch just south of Cheyenne was our destination, and we visited several interesting museums, even running into some of our buddies, Mike and Cathy, we had seen at the Winnebago Rally in Iowa!   Just proves it’s a “Small World” after all! Back at the RV Park, we had taken a little train out to see the bison (thus the name) and got closer to them than we ever had before!

The great news is that John and Bob worked on our King Dome (our in-motion satellite TV dome) and were able to get it working again! Yippee!! The sad news was that we were parting again…they to New York State, for Judy to do more hiking on the North Country Trail, and we to the mountains of Colorado…and hopefully cooler climes.

Our next stop was Eleven Mile State Park at an elevation of around 9000 ft., a beautiful

11 Mile State Park, Colorado

park! I took Sassy for her usual walk after getting parked and she was her usual self, but after we got back to the RV, she more or less just collapsed! Respirations were high, and very lethargic, and very unlike her…especially when she wasn’t enthused about eating we knew something was wrong for certain! One morning at 3:30AM, I was awakened by her vomiting, and later that AM, I called a near-by vet, who told us he would call and have us bring her in that afternoon, but he never called back! John did some reading about “Altitude Sickness” in dogs, and sure enough, every symptom mentioned fit Sassy’s to a T! After two days of this “lethargy”, she seemed to be rebounding, just as other dogs had, in the information John had read, so we definitely think this was the problem!  (Sassy completely recovered.)

After an overnight stop in Montrose, John drove us up the “Million Dollar Highway” to Silverton, and elevation of 9300! Jane had driven this route in 2008, so she decided John needed to have this experience! A twisty-turny road (and pretty narrow, too)!  If you want to get an idea of why they call it a million dollar highway, check out this YouTube video somebody made as they drove it in a motorhome.  Just

Jane and Sassy at Animas Forks, Silverton Colorado

after we got into our campground (Red Mountain RV Park) which faced the tracks of the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Train, we got to see our first train come in! Always fun to see that steam train!!

Jane’s allergies became a problem while in Silverton, but we were able to do some four-wheeling in the San Juan Mountains and enjoyed spectacular views and John did a wonderful, safe job of driving! One day Jane’s brother and his wife drove over from Telluride to spend a few hours, and it was fun seeing them and their two “boys”, Sassy’s brother Max and their nephew Frank. Bettye and Jane had several heads turn when we walked the three Corgis! While in Silverton, John and Jane celebrated their 38^th anniversary with another fun day of four-wheeling, and a nice meal out at one of the local restaurants.

Cinnamon Pass, San Juan Mountains, Colorado

After a week in Silverton and morning temperatures around 40 degrees (marvelous!), we moved back North and down the “Million Dollar Highway” to Ridgeway State Park Pa- Pa-Co-Chu-Pak (or Cow Creek) Camp Ground to spend two weeks. Our cat, Trekkie really has enjoyed herself just lying out watching the world and almost having another close encounter with one of the pretty tame mule deer than wander through! The Uncompahgre river runs alongside the campground. Again, we do some four-wheeling and really enjoy our time here. Jane finished her book TomBoy Bride which is about a woman’s experience at one of the mines in the San Juan mountains back in the early 1900s…most interesting, and she would highly recommend it!

As always, we thank you for following along with us on our travels, and pray our Lord’s blessings on all of you!

We last left off with our report about Commissioning Week at the US Naval Academy and then were headed to Gaffney, SC for Freightliner factory service on our motorhome chassis. Then it was on to visit our good friends of many years, Les and Karen in Oriental, NC, then back home for about a month.

In Gaffney, SC we had some major routine maintenance performed.  Major since we have now rolled over 50,000 miles.  We needed an engine coolant change (over 10 gallons), new synthetic transmission fluid (at about $35 a gallon), engine oil change (about six gallons of that), differential fluid changed (I think that was only five or six gallons.)  Since we have air brakes like a large truck, we have an air dryer to keep moisture our of the system – that cartridge needed to be replaced.  Oh, we also had a new engine air filter installed – our air filter is about the size of a round kitchen trash can (the kind where you step on a pedal to lift the lid.)

And of course, we can’t forget servicing of the diesel generator [sigh...]  We left quite a bit of money in Gaffney.

The visit with Les and Karen was fun as always and our few days passed too quickly.  After leaving Oriental, we made a bee-line for home so John could tend to some ranch duties.

The idea of being back in Texas in the summer was for the primary purpose of spraying the prickly pear (using a restricted herbicide called Surmount, but John now has an applicator license) to kill it.  Eventually.  The herbicide takes two to three years to kill the pear (as it is called around here),  it is a tenacious plant as you might imagine.  Ranchers actually like pear since it makes great food for cattle (at least once you burn the spines off so the cattle can actually eat it) and it is very drought resistant.  However if there is too much pear, it will decrease the amount grazing land available.  We are on the verge of having too much pear, so it is important to control it now.

Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate (too much wind most of the time) and when it looked like we were going to have a good day to use a boom sprayer on the tractor, the tractor developed a hydraulic leak.  John found a leaking seal and replaced it (along with 10 gallons of new hydraulic fluid – it seems like everything we own uses 6-10 gallons of a petroleum product.)

The tractor was finally back in business (took a few days for the seal to arrive), and so was the wind.  He did manage to spot-spray quite a bit of pear from the mini-truck with a 30 gallon electric sprayer and a hand wand.

John has been wanting to add a roof-top air conditioner to the coach for a couple of years (our present AC is a ‘basement’ unit) for those moments in hot climates, so he finally accomplished that.  It was a great excuse to to buy another toy, er, tool.  He bought a used electric scissor lift (Genie GS-2032) from an Internet auction so he could safely lift the 95 pound unit to the roof of the coach.

July 5th we hit the road headed for the Winnebago factory in Forest City IA for a little more maintenance (are you spotting a pattern here?) and to attend the Winnebago Grand National Rally.  Two days of maintenance and about four days of rally fun passed quickly.  In the meantime our satellite Internet system was having problems.  We got switched to another satellite which was a big improvement, but then had a different issue.  John ended up switching satellite modems out (we had a spare) and that seemed to be the trick – we were on-line again.

Then we headed west to hookup with our RV buddies Bob & Judy in Colorado – we wanted to get relief from the heat and humidity.  When we arrived at a little campground in eastern Colorado (Seibert) yesterday, John discovered the satellite TV in-motion dome (we have DirecTV  while running down the road) has failed yet again.  This is our 4th King Dome (from King Controls) and #4 has failed previously. The back TV is on a separate dish, so at least we have some satellite TV available.

On our way to Colorado, we were in a torrential rainstorm somewhere in Kansas on I-70 and discovered a leak at the top of the windshield (best taken care of by the factory in our opinion), so we’re going to be back there for an appointment September 13th.  [big sigh...]  We’re never at a loss for things to do – there is always something to deal with

Thanks again for traveling along with us, may God richly bless you and keep you safe.

Wow!  What a busy past week (picture gallery.)

We are tired from all of the activities we participated in for the Naval Academy’s Commissioning Week (one of Jane’s childhood girlfriend’s son was graduating from the Naval Academy) which concluded in the conferring of academic degrees (Bachelor of Science) and the commissioning of the midshipmen into either the Marine Corps, Navy, or even the Army or Air Force (special circumstances for Army/Air Force commissioning.)

The week started for us with a demonstration of precision marching and rifle handling by the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon based at Marine Barracks Washington.  The 24 man rifle platoon performs their entire drill without any commands, drum beats,

The entire drill is performed without any command of any sort

or any other visual or aural clues.  The Marines were all about the same height, looked about the same, and acted as one organism.  Their routine was a thing of beauty to watch.  There are some YouTube videos of the guys performing and I encourage you to search them out and watch the guys in action.

We thoroughly enjoyed a walking tour of the over 300 acre Naval Academy site first established in 1845 by then Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft.

The dormitory that houses all 4,000+ midshipmen under one roof is in fact named after George Bancroft.  This is one humongous building (the largest dormitory in the world) consisting of 33 acres of floor space, 1,700 rooms and 4.8 miles of halls.

In addition to the midshipmen rooms, Bancroft Hall houses offices for the Commandant of Midshipmen, six battalion officers, six battalion chaplains, thirty company officers and their senior enlisted leaders, a barbershop, bank, travel office, a small restaurant known as “Steerage,” textbook store, general store (“The Naval Academy Store” or “The Mid Store”), laundromat, uniform store, cobbler shop, the USNA Band, the USNA branch of the United States Postal Service, a gymnasium, spaces for extracurricular activities, and full medical & dental clinics as well as small optometry and orthopedics clinics. The Hall even has its own ZIP code (21412)!

The building also contains King Hall (named after Fleet Admiral Ernest King), where all midshipmen are fed simultaneously three times daily.

The midshipmen gather in formation three times a day, five days a week (except the summer) in the large plaza in front of Bancroft to count noses and gain more practice at assembling, marching, and following a military routine.  Every Friday, there is a formal Color Parade at Worden Field in which all 4,000+ midshipmen again get more practice in marching and generally following a very regimented lifestyle (my analysis!)  We got to watch a noon meal formation in front of Bancroft Hall and the very last Color Parade for the first class (seniors) midshipmen.  It was so hot and miserable, 62 mids were either carried off or helped off the parade grounds due to heat exhaustion.  We heard one was taken to the academy hospital!  The mids were dressed in their dark blue formal uniforms so it’s no wonder so many were being helped off the field.  The local Annapolis newspaper showed some pictures of the graduating ‘firsties’ playing in a fountain after their parade – celebrating and cooling off!

On the same day as the color parade another tradition happens, the Herndon monument plebe climb.

A ‘plebe’ is a first year or freshmen student that has a very difficult life at the Academy until they transform from civilian student to military student.  These kids leave a known and familiar world for a completely different environment where they are challenged physically, emotionally, and mentally with the upper classmen  and Chief Petty Officers (senior enlisted Naval non-commissioned officers) dishing out the ‘works.’   Their first year is extremely challenging and demanding and when they realize their plebe year is about over and they will advance a year, they are all excited with the realization of a major milestone accomplished in their path to becoming a commissioned officer in the armed forces.

This excitement is discharged with the Herndon monument plebe climb (we finally got back to this!)  All 1,000+ plebes dress in their gym outfits and prepare to climb the 21 foot tall Herndon obelisk with the objective of replacing the plebe ‘dixie-cup’ cap  previously placed on top with a hat worn by 1st, 2nd and, 3rd class mids.  Traditionally the obelisk is greased with lard and the plebes sprayed with water while they climbed, but this year the Commandant of the Naval Academy decreed no grease for safety reasons (which turned out to be an extremely unpopular and provocative decision since he altered a long tradition.)

The Blue Angels put on quite the show

The Navy’s Blue Angels (officially the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron) performed their amazing aerobatics right in front of the Naval Academy over the Severn River.  We have never ever been so close to an aerobatic show, either civilian or military.  There are 20 pictures of this demonstration in our photo gallery (I took 500!)  You aviation lovers be sure and check it out.

Last Friday was the event that 1,000+ midshipmen ‘firsties’ and thousands of family, friends and supporters were eagerly anticipating – the commissioning of the mids into the Navy, Marines, or for the class of 2010, one into the Army.  The new  Navy officers are commissioned as Ensigns (O-1), and Marine/Army as 2nd Lts (also O-1).  The rank insignia is one gold bar affectionately referred to as the ‘butter bar.’

The speaker for this commissioning ceremony was Vice President of the Unites States Joe Biden while President Obama was the speaker for the West Point ceremony (they trade off each year.)  Biden shook the hand of each graduate – I’ll bet his hand needed

VP Joe Biden shakes the hand of new Navy Ensign Quinn Rohane

a rest after all of that.

We are all very proud of brand-new Ensign Quinn Rohane who has chosen the Naval Flight Officer (NFO) career track.  He reports to Pensacola Naval Air Station in about 30 days for primary flight training.  Quinn’s NFO track is not a pilot track, but he will be aboard Naval aircraft in an electronics warfare capacity or something similar (navigator, radar intercept officer, ??)

We leave the Annapolis area tomorrow and are headed to Gaffney, SC for some routine maintenance maintenance on our Freightliner coach chassis, and then later on the week we head to the Oriental, NC area to have another visit with some dear old friends, the Auths.