Re-Visit #12

No news Monday.

This photo is more of a surprise than anything else. I do not know what you think of when you hear, Nevada but I imagine it has to do with neon and excess everything. Or if you know about the area, there are arid stretches, rocks and more rocks, long two lane highways - and all of that is true. However in the Eastern section of the state, midway north to south is there is a National Park, Great Basin with 13,000 foot mountains, heavily forested with lots of mountain streams is not what I expected. .

Sparkling mountain stream in the Great Basin National Park, Nevada.

Re-Visit # 11

Anxious to hear this week about the progress on the Oliver. They are going to upgrade the inverter to a 3000 watt unit to better handle the power of the 2 lithium batteries. That would give us a lot of options on usage.

Isn’t this photo just grand? It is made in Arizona at the Grand Canyon National Park. This tower was built years ago but is part of the park that you can tour now. I ventured off the path about 200 yards to find this perspective.

Colossians 3:1 NLT

There is a spark of hope!

Talked to the Oliver service manager Friday late morning. They located the source of the problem - very technical when I first heard the explanation and I will not try to repeat that now but after I think about it and ask some questions I will post what occurred. It is a freak situation and that is good and there is prevention and that is better. Also, a glimmer from Mike (Oliver) who reports having talked to Deborah (Insurance at AMICA) they are inclined to cover. She is waiting for his photos but that news is encouraging. No time frame yet for anything. There is a lot of work to do including new brakes and electronic systems on the wheels that also fried. And we plan to have four or five small things replaced and one big upgrade done. So I guess we ought to be back on the road very late March for a week or three. I will keep you updated here on “As the Wheel Turns or Doesn’t Actually Turn.”

This is the first photo I took with my Fuji X-T2 camera. This is along the James River near Jamestown Island.

Re-Visit # 9

No news is NOT good news.

At the appropriately named White Sands National Park.

Re-Visit #8

No trailer news, I did send the inspection report of the trailer I had done on January 4th to the adjuster.

This is my all-time favorite bird photograph. The Snowy Owl was at Chincoteague NWR near the beach. I shot about 100 of him from fairly close range. There were two others about a mile down the beach and I got a photo of them flying away as I neared but did not seem them again. This one posed for more than an hour and the 10 or so of us shooting pictures were pretty thrilled.

Re-Visit # 7

Here is where we are at this point getting the trailer repaired and on the road. As of March 1 no work has been done on the trailer. They “did not get to it” after telling me that they expected to work on it beginning on February 23rd or 24th. Now they have pushed it to start tomorrow. MAYBE. The insurance is waiting on Oliver to determine a cause for the melt down before making a decision on whether it is covered or not. They said a factory mistake or a maintenance issue would rule out the claim. I think after 6 years the factory issue is likely moot and the trailer was completely gone over in January for inspection and maintenance issues. So I am at least somewhat hopeful it will be covered. We have a steep enough deductible to make even that uncomfortable but not nearly what I expect this bill to be when they are done. Our plans are now canceled for this winter trip - we do hope to do a week or two in the general area of the factory when we pick up the trailer before heading back home. Now we are just concerned about late spring and summer.

Great Smoky Mountain sunrise. The GSMNP may be our new spring destination.

Re-Visit #6

I hope I will have something to report this week. So far not even a return phone call. Time to escalate the effort.

Wild ponies at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

Re-Visit #5

Detail of Lincoln’s hand at the Memorial in Washington, DC.

I will update later this afternoon - nothing over the weekend.

Prayerfully

White Sands National Park

Re-Visit #4

As some of you know, we were derailed on our trip to the Southwest. Half way into Texas we had a massive electrical malfunction and we could not get it fixed locally so we took the Oliver back to the factory in Tennessee and came on home. We are expecting some word this week from Oliver on the extent and the time frame for repair.

I will use this space to keep up with the latest developments in the trailer repair.

No word from anyone as of late today. Not expecting daily updates from Oliver but no return call from AMICA is a bit troubling. This is on REPEAT cause nothing different happened today even with a second call to the person assigned my claim.

This is a shot I like not because it is particularly good but it is the first time I tried this and it was with my grandson working with him that evening to do something he wanted was special. This is on I-440 near Raleigh on an overpass with no fence! Only one we could find.

Re-Visit #3

As some of you know, we were derailed on our trip to the Southwest. Half way into Texas we had a massive electrical malfunction and we could not get it fixed locally so we took the Oliver back to the factory in Tennessee and came on home. We are expecting some word this week from Oliver on the extent and the time frame for repair.

I will use this space to keep up with the latest developments in the trailer repair.

No word from anyone as of late today. Not expecting daily updates from Oliver but no return call from AMICA is a bit troubling.

A full bloom Yucca plant somewhere in Joshua Tree National Park. I think!

Re-Visit #2

As some of you know, we were derailed on our trip to the Southwest. Half way into Texas we had a massive electrical malfunction and we could not get it fixed locally so we took the Oliver back to the factory in Tennessee and came on home. We are expecting some word this week from Oliver on the extent and the time frame for repair.

I will use this space to keep up with the latest developments in the trailer repair.

The adjuster for AMICA has been to the factory to look at the Oliver. No decision has been made yet about whether AMICA will cover a part of the repairs. They would like to know the cause first. Not sure about if that can be done according to my contact at Oliver. They will likely start Thursday or Friday on the work. I am waiting for a call from the person assigned my claim at AMICA. So far our experience has been stellar with AMICA and I hope this goes well too.

We are at Pictured Rocks National Seashore around 2013 before we decided to try and visit as many parks as possible. At this point we were in the low 50’s from our years of travel. We are now over 300. Once we began intentionally to plan and visit the parks the numbers rose. I loved the color of Lake Superior - it is clear and brilliant in the afternoon sun.

Re-Visit #1

As some of you know, we were derailed on our trip to the Southwest. Half way into Texas we had a massive electrical malfunction and we could not get it fixed locally so we took the Oliver back to the factory in Tennessee and came on home. We are expecting some word this week from Oliver on the extent and the time frame for repair.

I will use this space to keep up with the latest developments in the trailer repair.

We will not be going back to the SW at that point but hope to resume that effort next spring. However, this is a travel/national park/photo blog with a few mixed in extras and my photography was delayed along with the trailer. Therefore I am going to use a selection -NOT carefully curated - of photos from several years ago. This blog was redone in the Spring of 2016 when we started the quest for the parks and had the trailer. Before that it went three years as “No Itinerary.” So I have posted every day for nearly nine years. That is a lot of pictures with not more than a dozen repeats. So we are going to re-process some of the older ones and post them again. I need the break to catch up and even Dennis does not remember them all. So, here we go:

We were in DC in the evening a few years ago. As we approached the Jefferson Memorial the sun was setting and I got this image with the statue and the sunset. It is one I have always liked and it was a great memory of that very warm spring night and the scent of the cherry blossoms filled the night air.

Interior

This is a church built in the 1800’s in Waco, Texas. It was moved to the Magnolia complex next to the Wiffle ball field and restored by Chip and Joanna Gaines. They have not used it yet but it will be for several community functions. It was a very nice building.

Yup, Another One

This is yet another of the new birds I added to my life list. And we are not yet done:)

This is a Great Kiskadee and is found is South Texas and very occasionally in other parts of the gulf coast but rarely outside of Texas and south into Central and South America. They are large flycatchers and love fruit. The Great Kiskadee is a loud, aggressive and colorful bird easily spotted if you are in South Texas.

From Psalm 33

San Antonio River Walk

This sculpture loomed over the walk on a very mild and pretty night along the River Walk with several thousand new friends.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Cadillac Moose is a hero? What! First the Repair Police take him away, call in a specialist with the Fire Department, electric sub sect, under the Fire Marshal’s province. Surely they are closing in on the culprit. They enlisted the IBAEW union to assure compliance issues and instead of being carted away in chains he is a hero. How?

Dispatch from THE MARSHAL MOOSE

Clearly the Driver has no idea what is going on but then we all knew that. The police and fire were not investigating me they were uncovering the heroic work I did to save the Rolling Igloo not to mention the Driver and the Kind & Pretty one. Oops, I guess I did mention them not that they owe me anything for rescuing them. Or at least not much but we will get to that another time. Heroic effort is my most outstanding quality.

The fire folks & police were so impressed they gave me a huge gold medal, I guess it is worth a fortune. Also lattes and donuts. The Texas Rangers made me a real marshal with a solid silver badge. I also get a 15% discount on TR gear. AND….

I GOT A HAT! A genuine, cowboy 20 gallon hat with a terrific hat band. I look fabulous. I remembered all of my posse as well and got them each a hat almost as good as mine. 

I would love to recount all the dangerous work I did but my new book contract does not allow me to discuss it now. You can watch my appearance on Fox and Friends, The Today Show and the USNews & Moose Report. Then I am scheduled to “do lunch” with some Hollywood types at the Derby in CA. So I will be busy for a while writing my story and screen play. I may do a song as well. They wanted Bullwinkle to star in the movie but I said, “No.” I have of course already starred in a feature film so I will play myself. Ciao.

The Coffee Artist

We were in Kiingsville, a small town in south Texas, and decided to get a cup of coffee. We had made a pot in the morning, as always, but did not make one to fill our travel mugs. We were in the downtown and CJH wanted to see the Saddle Shop of the King Ranch. (It was very cool) and I asked where to get coffee. She first suggested the drug store and then said there was a new shop connected with a jewelry shop two blocks up the street. We set off primarily because she said there was a good bakery next door. I was not impressed with the adding of a bit of coffee at a jewelry store and first walking in did not help that impression. A single counter near the back encompassed the coffee shop with four or six tables in front of it.

But Bruce emerged from the back and when we said we wanted a cup of coffee he pointed to a menu. Four pages! Not just fancy names or drinks that had a passing resemblance to coffee, you could get Thai coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Japanese coffee, Cuban coffee, cowboy coffee, all the forms of espresso drinks you could imagine plus a few you could not think of and they were all different. Bruce made me a pour over coffee, adjusted to a medium strong brew with a bit of sugar. PERFECT. Cindy ordered a cowboy coffee and it was delicious. I asked about the kinds and he said as he traveled all over the world he sought out the best coffee shops and learned how to make coffee dozens of ways. When I asked what took him around the world, he said he was the sound technician for Stryper (sp), U2 and Rush on what seemed like endless tours. We chatted for an hour and he regaled us with several stories. What a morning. We also noted some brilliant small portraits and it turns out while his wife fills the store with creative jewelry he paints in a 15th century fashion gorgeous portraits - some of them can be found in palaces. Simply stunning.

Talking to Bruce was a treat, drinking the special coffee he made likewise and the whole experience made a remarkable stop. But there is more. I started to settle my bill, the prices on the menu wee “suggestions,” and Bruce said it was by donation. He said there were college students in town who could not afford the coffee so he just made it what you want to pay. I paid for ours and a couple more.

So if you are in Texas stop in a the Kingsville Coffee Cup. I know, Texas is a big place but that is no excuse to pass up the best coffee in the best coffee shop you will ever find. And you might find some nice earrings too.

Check out the Kingsville Coffee Cup on Facebook.

Concentration

Some of the studies for the full size works.