The 40th day and the finish line is close

Our plan of getting out of Salem early ,didn't work, went to hook up the tow car and one
of my new tires was flat. Rather than unload everything out came the spare tire in a can, great
stuff . A hour later we are on the road and heading for Vancouver to drop of the bus parts I
acquired at Quartzsite.Found our drop site and visited with Paul awhile and headed home.
It would of  been a trouble free trip but the flat tire and 5miles from home we lost a alternator
belt  but that didn't stop us.

             So the OTHER WOMAN is going to rest for a month or so.
                                
                                                     THE END

The 39th day and almost home

Got up this morning to a cold rain, with compact snow and chains required on the pass
glad we made 7 Feathers yesterday . So today  we headed for the Salem Elks, nice drive,
traffic was lite, 32 sites 30-50 amp with plenty of room,
Had plenty of day left ,off to Costco & a good polish dog drove around Salem awhile and
checked out the capital and the fairgrounds and anything that got in our way by that time it
was time to head back to the lodge.Burger nite 2 beers 2bugers & 2 fries 13 bucks.and
another day gone

The 38th day & snow

The sunny Calif. days are nice but their fuel prices, and roads aren't, so we got
our FIRE WATER and headed North just watching those crazy fuel prices go
out the exhaust.So with Calif almost behind us we had to decide the east or west
route both have CASINO'S for the co-pilot. The West won and we hadn't been
in Oregon 5 minutes and hit rain and snow along the road on the pass.Rumor has
it low 30's tonight maybe 7 feathers will be white in the morning.Headed for the
Salem Elks tomorrow.

The 37th day & better road

The weather was cool & cloudy leaving the RV park today ,getting closer toWashington
I guess. Took on a load of fuel and watched the dollar bills flow out the exhaust. Old 99
was great compared to lower I-5 we ran 99 to Sacramento where we had planned to
stay. We had made good time so we headed for Corning and what do you think is there??
YEP- CASINO.     WE had never been here,even with it being so close to the race track
at Chico. Good food & nice RV park.
Tomorrow we will go to Redding, stock up on some FIRE WATER and then ?????

The 36th day and what a ride

We were glad we stopped at Ontario Elks probably one of  the friendliest lodges we
have been to.We got a good start this morning rolled down 210 rush hour trafficand
all. I-5 was bad, big dips on & off the bridges and some just anywhere I think the bus
front wheels had daylite under them a few times and I think my co-pilots ass was air
born to.Never again, this was as bad as some of the East coast roads we were on,. got
on to old 99 soon as we could. Found our way into the Orange Grove RV park and
picked a big bag of fresh oranges, nice park and lots of spaces.
Tomorrow we plan on burning some fuel and head toward home

The 35th day and snow in the distance

Today was a easy 90 miles ,no cross winds, good road , found the Elks lodge
like I had been there before [sorta strange]Nice open parking area with lots of
room and a great group of people at the lodge really made you feel welcome.
with lots of day lite left we headed to the Justice Brothers racing museum about
30 miles away and alittle harder to find ,well the GPS said we were there but it
looked like apartments buildings and no signs. After acouple drive by's I gave in
found a door and asked about the museum the lady said come on in and best of
all it was free.2 buildings full on the lower level old hot rod s, new hot rods, custom
cars,sprint cars, go carts and any thing else you can think of
On our way back we drove up to Mt Baldy a small ski resort, with snow about
1000ft above with a lodge on the ridge, and a single lift from the parking lot,
must of been more lifts we couldn't see.
Tomorrow we will pickup anchor and haul --- to Bakersfield the orange grove
RV park so we can pick oranges

the 34th day & snow

Thats right,snow in Palm Springs in the desert, Well today we went out to the
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway , everybody said it's a must do and it is quite
interesting starting at 2000ft and going up to8,516ft  in 21/2 miles and the
tram car has rotating floor that will hold 80 people and the trip takes 10 minutes.
When we arrived at the top there it was fresh snow , amazing what a few feet
does for the weather great view of the valley floor and all the wind mills
Guess what we did next ,your right another Casino , tomorrow we are
headed to Ontario ELKS  and hope to find the Justice Brothers racing
museum and what ever else pops up and no casino's in the area I checked
                                    Thats all

The 33rd day and REJECTED

Well I went to get my application for the cop job after a few questions , like
do you like Mexicans and how would you handle these 3 situations, I must
not of given the right answers so I was REJECTED. I sorta like sheriff Joe/s
approach
So with that behind me, we headed out to the Palm Springs air museum and
spent about 3 hrs looking at some fine old War Birds and World II films very
interesting and gruesome.
Would like to guess our next stop? Your right Casino, but I got her out pretty
fast .had to be at the show house by 4.30 to see Red Tails and then go grocery
shopping.           Day Done

The 32nd day & a career change

Today we left Blythe heading for Indio on US10. Were rolling along good til
construction ahead signs, left lane closed merge right about 3 nice big signs
spaced 1/2 mile apart.  Cars still in the left lane trying to get ahead of the next
guy after the 3rd sign things slowed and then stopped for (for 1/2 hr) Seems
somebody up front didn't want to let the crowder in so they butted fenders.
The career change will be ME getting a ticket book and use it all up right
there, if those damn people would get their head out of their ____, fall in line
when you see the signs, everybody would be ahead.  OK with that said, the
rest of the trip went good, right into the ELKS lodge when who met us at the
check in was Gary, the guy I ended up helping find his oil leak and remove the
cooler for repair but he ended up buying a new one and just got it in yesterday
do he ended up dry camping better than 2 weeks.  I had offered to rig something
up so he could move but he opted not to.
So to finish the day, ever since we left on the trip, there were a couple movies
we wanted to see but never worked out for us.  THE GREY was showing 2
blocks from the lodge so we took advantage. It had a very strange ending.

The 31 st day and more people

This morning we headed out for the Hauser Geode Beds found our turn off, headed up the road
past some BIG FANCY PRISON looked like a resort from a distance , Palm trees lined the road
and around the hole prison .After the prison the road turned ugly ,bad washboard and dust 2-3" in
spots after 11 miles we saw a sign for Opel Hill Mine[ thats where we wanted to go but hadn't got
a reply] rough road but no dust dips and tips with 4 wheel drive we arrived and people were there
paid a small fee and dug for awhile ,found a few fire agates & wasted more being a NEW-BE.
We crawled the 3 miles back to the washboard & dust road and headed for the Geode beds at
about 13 miles we crest a hill and see campers every I hated driving the JEEP in and there were
trailers everywhere. we pushed on to the 1st bed dug alittle bit and found nothing it was getting
dark so I gave up.All we have to do is find our way back after afew wrong turns coming in hoped
the GPS had it firgured out, on how to get us out. After a few ?? turns we are on paved road and
headed for the car wash,bus, shower, food in that order

The 30 th day & the big drive

On the road again,we covered some ground today a hole 20 miles and made it into Blythe Calif.
and found a nice little CG along the Colorado river.With some day lite left we headed  N towards
the hills and found more BLM land with short & long term parking with lots of campers, it just tips
me over all the people out here .
We have been trying to contact the Opel Hill  Mine , but no reply yet, so tomorrow we are going
to try and find the Hauser Geode Beds known as the Potato Patch at N33*24'49" by W114*58'09"
I put  the Long & Lat. in just if I don't post my blog tomorrow we are lost in the desert ha-ha.
Seen some of these fire agates lots of colors at Quartzsite it will be interesting to say the least.
probably cheaper to have bought one but we can say we found them not bought them.

The 29 th day & no wind

The wind settled down today, and the sun took it easy on us, so we looked at some of the
junk stores and worked our way over to the big tent and car show probably 50 cars and
expect a lot more tonite.The show was scheduled to open Sat.
So we still had some day lite and decided to try and find the mysterious Blythe intaglios
[gigantic human figures created by scraping a design in the dark colored rock] the one we
were looking for is 171 ft from head to toe.These designs were spot in 1932 from the  air
and could date back 2000 years, the area is fenced and you really can't see much but we
found one .We ended up making a 60 mile loop it's just hard to believe all the people camping
out in the desert. Most of the descent camp ground are full and people are every where out in
BLM land areas

The 28 th day & in reverse

So with our rocket ride over ,it was time to think about heading home. We said our good-by's
fueled up the bus and headed back to Quartzsite a 3hr windy drive but we made it.
Got back in the same lot the rally was in so we will be able to walk over to the car show and
not have to find a parking spot.besides that the walk won't hurt us.Some of the temporary shops
are still here so I am sure we will JUST have to check them out for bargains

The 27 th day & THE RIDE

Every thing went great, on the road by 5, didn't miss any turns going to the riding site and it was
just turning lite when we arrived .The machine was literally a rocket on wheels with 2 NUTS
aboard.We traveled 147 miles in 7 hours operation time & only 36 of that was primitive road
the rest was sand & dirt trails.All I can say I guess its the most fun  I have had for 100 bucks
in a long time., oh it cost Jerry that to.[ Just a fun ride ],
So tomorrow we leave for Quartzsite and the car show,after that we will draw a number from
the hat.to see where we will go next ,maybe gem stone hunting in Blyith!!