Tombstone . . . again - 9/8 to 9/15/2012

Yes, we went to Tombstone again.  Why you ask?  Because it's there?  But, a lot of things are "there" and we haven't gone "there" . . . yet.  Give us time and we might make it to wherever you think "there" should be :-)  Whenever I tell people that we are headed to Arizona, I always get suggestions of the things that we MUST SEE while in that great state.  I'm sure their suggestions would be wonderful, but we really have not exhausted all of the wonderful things to see in and around Tombstone.  For instance, on this trip we didn't find time to hike into Contention City, although we drove within about 4 miles of this historic town site.  Remember the movie 3:10 to Yuma?  Contention is the town where Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) was initially captured.  Contention was a small town that sprung up in order to support the mining industry in Tombstone. Located about 15 miles from the mines, the town sat along the San Pedro river, using it's flowing water as the means of powering stamp mills that reduced the silver ore from the mines into powder for further processing (with cyanide and mercury of all things).  We also ran out of time to visit the world's largest rose bush.  We've seen it before, but it was quite a while back.  Maybe next trip, huh?

Although we didn't have time to do everything we wanted, here are some of the exciting things that we DID do!  First off, we arrived on Saturday evening about 5:00.  Just in time to set up camp, take a walk around town and fix a tasty dinner.  On this trip we chose to stay at the Wells Fargo RV park, which is located between Fremont street and historic Allen Street, right across 3rd street from the OK Corral.  If you're not familiar with the local history, the OK Corral is the site of the famous shoot out between Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp and the "Cowboys", a lawless faction that lived in the area surrounding Tombstone.  The shootout actually took place in a vacant lot behind the OK Corral (which was located on Allen street), with the Earp group standing in the middle of Fremont street while the Cowboys stood in the lot.  How much more history would buffs like us need in order to want to spend entire vacations here exploring?  More on all of that later.  Here's our cozy little nest away from home:

 You can see from the ground around the trailer that it had been raining a bit.  We caught the tail end of the monsoon season in southern Arizona.  We got a nice mix of beautiful thunder storms, spattering rain and torrential downpours.  NICE!  Everything was very green as a result of the monsoon.  Since we usually visit Tombstone in June (our anniversary month), this was a nice change for us.  Next year we may make the October festivities that commemorate the OK Corral shoot out.  Here's the OK Corral over my right shoulder:

We were able to get a few new activities in on this trip.  Of course, we took our obligatory trip to Bisbee and ate at "our" restaurant - Santiago's.  We shared a plate of green corn tamales with lots of chips and hot sauce.  Then we wandered over the the cemetery.  Yes, we visit cemeteries.  Why?  Uh . . . because it's also "there"?  Actually, if you want to get a feel for the history of a town, go to the cemetery.  It will show you the names and dates of real people who lived there, sometimes revealing information such as what their occupation was, whether they were well off, poor or somewhere in between.  While there, Sandy spotted what she assumed was an eagle that was part of someone's headstone.  Although we were not quick enough to get a picture, the "eagle" turn out to be a hawk - and yes, it was very real.  There were actually two of them.  HUGE, wonderful looking birds.

We also took a trip out to see the grave of Johnny Ringo.  History buffs will remember that Ringo was a part of the "Cowboy" faction.  An outlaw and gunman, Ringo lost his own life to a bullet on July 13, 1882 at the young age of 32.  Contrary to the depiction in the movie "Tombstone", Ringo was NOT killed by Doc Holliday.  Holliday was in Colorado at the time of Ringo's death.  A couple of theories exist concerning the death of Ringo, but the one that I personally subscribe to is that Ringo was dry gulched by some of his "friends".  I suspect that they were put up to it by someone who hired them to kill Ringo.  You can find a number of theories if you search around.  One thing is for sure in my opinion - Ringo did NOT commit suicide.  None of the forensic evidence supports this theory.  We'll never know what happened for sure, but what we do know is A) - Ringo is dead.  B) - He died of a gunshot wound to the head.  C) - A shot was heard by someone who lived in the area on July 13 and Ringo's body was found a couple of days later and D) - Ringo is buried on the spot where he died.  Here's shot of his grave:

Here's a shot of his headstone, such as it is:

Here's a gratuitous shot of Sandy next to said headstone:

Ringo's body was found propped up in the crotch of an oak tree.  His gun was hanging from the finger of one of his dead hands.  The story is that his gun had one empty chamber, but the coroner's jury that assembled on the spot failed to record whether the chamber was completely empty or if it contained an empty cartridge.  This is important because the jury concluded that this was a suicide.  Ringo was shot in the temple with the bullet exiting the back of his head.  Without being too descriptive, how could he have held his gun at that angle, if indeed he shot himself?  I don't buy it.  What I do buy however, is that this is the actual oak tree where Ringo's body was found, propped in the crotch shown:

Here's my wonderful companion with the same pose:

There is a memorial with a plaque on the site:

And Sandy with the same memorial - notice the oak tree in the background:

The drive from Tombstone to Ringo's grave is about 55 or 60 miles.  It is through a beautiful area, the road taking us past the historic town of Gleeson and down into Turkey Creek Canyon.  We found the coordinates for Ringo's grave on a couple of websites and punched the numbers into our GPS.  An old timer named Bruce (who worked at the museum in Tombstone) told us that Ringo's grave was on private property and that we needed to ask permission to visit.  Although the GPS coordinates took us to the grave site, we didn't know for sure who's property it sat on.  So as a helpful hint to any who read this blog and may take the trip, look for this guy's house along Turkey Creek Canyon road:

Just hallew the house and the old guy will come out.  He'll know what you want before you even ask and will be kind enough to grant access and show you where to go.  Just up the road (the one in the background on the above photo - the one with our trusty Dodge) is a chain link gate:

Through the gate and past the brush you will come across a sign:

The sign implies that visitors are welcome and that they are.  It is still a neighborly thing to do to talk to the land owner and get his blessing.  One thing about out back Arizonans - they are very neighborly.  On the trail to the grave, watch out for rattlesnakes.  Although we have yet to run across one while walking, we did see one that had been run over by a car on the way up to this location.  It pays to be vigilant of the dangers in this area.  Just ask Ringo  "Poor soul . . . he was just too high strung".  "You're no daisy at all!"  

I forgot to mention this . . . while driving up Turkey Creek canyon, we saw a large critter running alongside the road.  At first, I thought it was a black calf.  Then I thought it appeared to be a large, furry dog.  It turned out to be a bear and he or she was on a mission to get away from us AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!  We were able to watch it run up into a rock outcropping and disappear.

Speaking of critters, the locusts were THICK on this trip.  According to the locals, they come about about this time of year like clockwork and then disappear just as suddenly.  We were lucky enough to have invaded Tombstone at the same time that it was invaded by the locusts.  They didn't bother me much, but Sandy was definitely a bit freaked out by them.  In the mornings when we would take our walk/jog, she would stay in the middle of the road so that any murderous, blood thirsty, zombie locust with a lust for human blood would get me first.  As a result, she very nearly stepped on this little guy:

For the uninitiated, this is a tarantula.  In this part of the world, these boogers are a bit smaller than some species, however they are still menacing looking.  So anyway, after Sandy got done screaming and jumping around (I'm kidding - sort of), I stomped my foot a couple of times in order to get him to sit still long enough for a photo and then we left him to go on his merry way.  After all, somebody has to clean up all of those blood thirsty locusts. :-)

There's a new restaurant in town that we highly recommend.  It's on 10th street on the corner of Allen.  The name is The Depot and they have a pretty good steak, probably the best there is in town.  Honestly, saying that it is the best in town isn't saying all that much, but it was pretty good and well worth the price in our not-so-humble opinions.  It doesn't compare to a steak sizzled up by yours truly on our own grill, but few steaks do.  Hey!  I'm not boasting . . . it's just the way it is.

While I'm on the subject of food, I will say that we ate at the Longhorn for a lunch meal.  So-so food as always, but it's in the heart of the historic district.  We keep going back there, probably hoping that it will get better.  The same could be said for the OK Cafe.  It's a quaint little spot and it looks like it should be really good.  But alas . . . it's simply not to be, no matter how much we wish it.

We also took a trip to Benson, which is at the intersection of Interstate 10 and state highway 80.  Benson is also an historic town, although it's history is buried in modernism (unlike Tombstone).  There's not a lot to see, but there is a Walmart (where we spent a night while on the road to San Antonio a couple of years ago) and a HUGE True Value hardware store where we bought an Ocotillo to plant at home.  What really made it worth the trip though was a conversation that I had with a docent at the visitor center.  He was a wealth of information about the town, but his best tip was a website:  http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/  Seriously, check it out.

A few years ago, a fellow came to Tombstone seeking his fortune.  He purchased the old Helldorado town set and started doing gunfights.  He also started a trolley tour service.  Although both of these are very much tourist trap things to do, we were kind of sucked in by this guy's personality.  He turned out to be a big Hollywood stuntman named Lee McKechnie.  Besides putting on a good gunfight show, he is also a very funny fellow.  I highly recommend his trolley tour as well as his show.

Also starting a few years ago, another fellow, a miner, came to Tombstone seeking a fortune of another kind.  In this case, he felt that if he could open up one of the old mines, he could possibly make his fortune by taking tourist down into the mine.  So with that thought in mind, he went to work clearing out the old Good Enough mine.  The entire town of Tombstone is built on the top of mines that were dug in the 1880's.  Miles upon miles of tunnels were blasted and dug from the limestone under the town and the surrounding hills.  Silver was the main product of these mines and they continued to operate until the veins led to elevations that were well below the water table.  Note that the water table is about 500' below the surface here and with the aid of pumps, mining continued down to the 700' level.  At some point, the giant pumps that kept the mines from flooding caught fire and were destroyed.  The pumps were never replaced (because of cost I suppose) and the mines flooded back up to the 500' level.  There is untold billions of dollars worth of silver down there, but it is inaccessible because of the water.  Our tour guide was a crusty old miner who was very informative.  Here's our guide:

These photos are quite blurry and a bit dark.  The lighting in the mine is poor and all that I was able to get were some cell phone photos.  Sorry 'bout that.  Here's a few shots inside the mine:

The last picture is a shot of a silver dollar that was minted from silver taken from the Tombstone mines back in the late 1800's.  Oh, and the ugly rocks that the dollar is sitting on?  Silver ore.  It doesn't look like much does it?  If I were a miner, I'd be looking for pretty rocks, not this ugly stuff!  This tour convinced me that a guy wandering around out in the desert with a donkey, a shovel and a pickax would really need to know what he was looking for.  Otherwise, he might come home with nothing but pretty rocks.

No trip to Tombstone is complete without a trip to the Bird Cage Theater.  The Birdcage was opened in 1881 and operated until 1889.  During these just-less-than eight years, there were 26 murders.  Town Marshall Fred White was murdered just outside of where it's historic doors would soon stand.  His successor?  Virgil Earp. A number of "painted ladies" plied their trade within these adobe walls, including Josephine Sarah Marcus, AKA Josie Earp, Wyatt's third and final wife.  If you ever visit Tombstone, it is well worth your time and money to tour this historic landmark.  However, beware.  The holes in the ceiling are NOT bullet holes, regardless of what the barker out front may tell you.  They are actually bolt holes from a trapeze that was erected for one of the last shows that took place here.  There are some bullet holes here and there though, so if you lust for historic bullet holes, you'll find them here.  By the way, they encourage you to take photos while you are there.  Take as many as you'd like.  Just don't show them to anyone.

 I suppose that I could probably get in trouble for publishing a photo of a sign INSIDE the Birdcage telling me not to publish photos taken inside the Birdcage.  Oh well . . . sue me, huh?  But in the spirit of cooperation, I will not publish any other photos.  Email me if you'd like to see them :-)

There are a number of historic items inside the Birdcage, displayed museum style.  One of the prized items is a Faro table where Doc Holliday plied his gambling trade.  The actual table and chair are still in place in roughly the same location where Doc 'worked'.  Don't be fooled by all of the items though.  I don't know how many museums we've been in that claimed to have Bat Masterson's personal cane/walking stick.  Humph.

Wyatt Earp came to town and bought into the gambling concession at a place named the Oriental Saloon.  The place now operates as a clothing and jewelry store, a tourist type of place.  This is Sandy's favorite shopping place.  Their clothing is nice (she looks SO CUTE in a couple of her selections) and the prices are reasonable, unlike most of the stores.  There is much history in and around the building, but I'll let you discover that on your own.  Across 5th street is the Crystal Palace, another famous saloon and gambling den from days of yore.  It was in the street between these two establishments where Virgil Earp was shotgunned, losing the use of one of his arms.  The shot was fired from the balcony of a building across the street where the Longhorn Restaurant is now located.  Although the original building burned down many years ago, a like building was built around 1950.  At night, you can stand on the corner and imagine Virgil walking across the dimly lit intersection, a shotgun blast ringing out, the impact, people running - either away from the danger, or towards the commotion, trying to find out what happened.  Anyhow, the Crystal Palace is now a restaurant, serving up a decent meal for an outrageous price.  However, the pool table (coin operated) is only 50 cents.

Lastly, I will mention that we visited Kartchner's Cavern just to the north of Sierra Vista, about a 25 mile drive from Tombstone.  For anyone who has toured a cavern before, this one is fairly small scale. Still, it is an amazing thing to see and comes highly recommended by us, your humble recommenders :-)

I suppose I could continue to regale the reader with tales of our adventures in southern Arizona, but this entry is getting pretty long and for that reason, you have arrived at these last few lines having merely skimmed  through the last half anyway.  But one last story, okay?  The weekend before leaving on the trip, our grand baby, Dani who is 9 years old, came and spent the weekend with us.  While there, I donned a cowboy hat and proceeded to tell her that I couldn't wait to go to Arizona so that I could wear my cowboy hat.  I told her that it is illegal to wear a cowboy hat in California.  Of course, she believed me and I had to reverse course and tell her the truth.  On the other hand, if it ain't illegal in California, it sure seems like it.

So long till next time!!

Father's Day in Pismo

As has become our tradition since 2010, we spent our third consecutive father's day in Pismo Beach.  If you have followed this blog, you are aware that I once lived in Grover Beach right next door to Pismo.  Coming here brings back a lot of memories and let's face it, this is just a FUN, FUN, FUN place to be!  There is a HUGE classic car show here every father's day weekend and really becomes one of the highlights of the weekend.  Arroyo Grande just across the 101, has wonderful antique shopping (I guess I really am that gay - j/k :-) and the ocean is an ever present distraction during good weather.  This year we once again stayed at Pismo Sands RV park in Oceano.  This weekend turned out to be one of the most beautiful (weather wise) that we have spent here.  Here's a Saturday picture of the pier in Pismo.  Notice the beautiful blue sky.

This is the second year that we have taken our motorcycle along.  Once we parked the truck and unloaded the bike, we pretty much rode everyplace we went.  Shopping, antiquing (NO, I'm NOT gay), out to eat, etc.  We took a bit of a ride on Sunday up to SLO to check out some interesting places.  SLO is only about 15 miles north of Pismo and is a wonderful destination in itself.  Anyhow, here's our motorcycle carrier setup.

Pismo is one of those spots where we can get back to the RV early for some wonderful relaxation (I'm resisting using the word 'fabulous').  Sandy and I are sticklers for eating only healthy foods and both of us enjoy a nice home cooked meal consisting of wholesome, non processed foods.  Red meat?  YOU BET!  Here's Saturday night's supper.  New York steak, bell peppers and home grown jalapenos.  Mmmm, Mmmm!

Of course, many will remember that this is also our anniversary weekend.  Our new favorite anniversary restaurant is Steamers on Price street in Pismo.  Always the food is great - almost as good as the beautiful lady that escorts me.

Wonderful trips must eventually come to an end, so pack up we must and hit the road to home.  Until next time, keep the shiny side up and the fire kindled.

Memorial Day 2012

I haven't been very good about keeping this blog up to date lately.  No excuses - this just isn't as important to me as a number of other things.  Sandy and I keep ourselves busy and happy and only share our adventures when we feel like it.  That reminds me of an old Steely Dan lyric - "I cried when I wrote this song, sue me if I play too long, this brother is free, I'll be what I want to be".  :-)  So with that, here's the update:

We made it up to the Sierra for Memorial day again this year.  Memorial day is that time of year when Bishop has it's Mule Days celebration, including a parade, rodeo and craft faire.  Big whoop?  Yeah, it kind of is for us.  This is the one trip per year that we make sure to take Buck the Wonderdog with us on our adventure.  Buck never really cares where he goes, just as long as he gets to go.  Although most of the time these days, Emily comes over and stays with him and Vashti (the CAT) while we are on the road.

While bumming around the Owens valley this trip, we took Buck to a nice little lake so that he could have a swim.  He is, after all, a Lab and ALL Labs like the water, right?  Well it seems that Buck, although a pure bred Lab, isn't all that fond of the water.  I was actually quite disappointed that he didn't go running out into the water at his very first opportunity.  Although he would wade in up to his chest, he wouldn't go further, even in order to chase a stick!  He did however do his normal wading in Big Pine creek while we were there.  Here's a slightly out of focus shot of him slurping up creek water.

I didn't get any shots of us in Bishop (just lazy I guess), but we had a pretty good time watching the parade and walking all over town.  We walked from the Jack in the Box (where we parked) on the south end of town, all the way up to Schatt's bakery on the northern end of town, then around the city park where the craft faire was and then back down to Jack in the Box.  Long walk, huh?  Yeah, poor Buck was really feeling it by the time we got back.  And then we walked from our campsite at Upper Sage Flat up to "the lodge" and back again.  We were well worn but feeling great for the workout.  Buck on the other hand was just tired.  He was so tired he wouldn't even eat!  However, he was ready to do it all over again the next day.  Here is Sandy and Buck on one of our hikes.

The weather was a little chilly.  You just never know what you're going to get up there at any given time of the year.  We have actually been snowed on over Memorial day on a couple of occasions.  In this case, the wind was blowing much of the time and it was just COLD.  Take a look at Sandy enjoying the warmth of a campfire.

Overall we had a great time, as we most often do.  We enjoy each other's company and can't wait to do it all over again!

Long time, no see - but we have camped.

It seems that I've really been terrible about keeping this blog up.  Although we have not been able to "go and do" as much as we would like this last year, we did get a little bit of quality travel time in.  I'll try to update everything we've been up to in one (relatively) short blog.  Let's see . . . our last blog was about a March 2011 trip to Santa Paula, so let's start with our next trip.

Our next foray was back up to my beloved Sierras for a Memorial day trip.  Taking advantage of the 3 day weekend, we stretched it into 4 days.  Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to take more trips to this lovely area of God's green earth and every year time gets away from me and the camping season is over before we can make a return trip.  There are just so many things that we enjoy that it's difficult to attend to each of them with the amount of time that we would like to dedicate.  Between camping, motorcycle trips, fishing, hunting, etc., I'll tell you it's a wonder that we find the time to work for a living.  Anyhow, back to the subject.  On this particular trip, my oldest son and his wife headed up to Upper Sage Flat with us.  If you have followed this blog, you will know that this campground along Big Pine creek is one of my favorite places to camp.  Not only is it one of the most ruggedly beautiful spots in the southern eastern Sierra, it also holds great sentimental value to me.  The first time I laid eyes on it, I was about 10 years old.  Since then, we have shared many, many campfires with my parents, our children, and our friends.  Anyhow, Chris and Florica usually go with us on Memorial day weekend and this was no exception.  It's always wonderful to have them along!  They are tent campers - at least for the moment.  Here is a shot of their campsite from the front of our site.

I was the guy that made the reservations for this trip.  Usually, we stay at the downstream (east) end of the campground, but on this occasion I was determined to get us close enough to the creek so that we could be lulled to sleep by the natural sounds of running water.  We accomplished that goal, but it caused two things.  Number one, it made we want to . . . well . . . um . . . go number one.  But more importantly, it put us in a tight campsite, perpendicular to a very narrow road that was basically a small loop.  Why is that important?  Have I mentioned lately that BoldlygoII is 30 ft. long from bumper to hitch?  Have I mentioned that our truck is a quad cab diesel 4x4?  Have I mentioned that when the two of them are put together they are almost as long as a cross country freight train?  No?  Well, let me tell you that this combination is not particularly well suited to fighter pilot like cuts and turns.  As a matter of fact, it harks back to an old country song that I remember as a kid . . . "give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around, it's the easiest way that I've found . . . "  Thankfully, Chris was already there so that he could help guide me into our (extremely tiny) spot.  "But" you ask, "how come Sandy didn't help you back in"?  Simple.  After a long and tiring journey, neither of us is usually very relaxed upon arrival, which generally assures that I will get annoyed with Sandy's backing directions and she will begin to think of me as a jail sentence.  So, since I enjoy continued living and she didn't want to go to jail, she very tactfully suggested that Chris help me back in cuz SHE WASN'T DOING IT.  So anyhow, we got the trailer backed in and set up.  Thank you Angel.  you're the bestest!  Of course, all of this is tongue in cheek.  Here's a nice little shot of our campsite.

From there on out, it was just a nice relaxing weekend.  Here's Sandy still in her jammies:

And me getting ready to play lumberjack (sans high heels):

Somehow I ended up the weekend without getting a picture of Chris and Florica.  Sandy probably did however.  Maybe I should learn to steal her pictures for this blog too? :-)

Did I mention that it snowed?  Well it did.  My brother and sister in law, along with their beautiful chocolate lab - Bocephus - were camped with us also.  Here's a picture of our sister Carol along with Boey and a pretty good flurry of snow:

Hmmmm . . . snow at the end of May.  I'm thinking that Al Gore dude is full of poo.  We cut the trip a bit short because of the weather and headed back home.  Overall, it was a great trip.  We didn't do a lot of fishing but we had a blast anyhow, attending Mule Days in Bishop and just hanging around camp.

Next, we headed up the California coast for Father's Day.  This has now become an official tradition for us.  On Father's Day weekend, there is a HUGE car show in Pismo Beach, CA.  Among our other loves, Sandy and I really love old cars.  I'm not sure why it is . . . maybe it takes us back to a simpler time in our lives.  Maybe it's because the lines of the older cars had real character, as opposed to the boxy new stuff wandering the streets.  But maybe it's just because they "don't build 'em like that anymore".  Whatever the draw, we love the feel, the atmosphere of a car show and this one is the best we've ever attended.   On this occasion we stayed at the Pismo Coast Village Resort.  Not much of a resort if you ask me.  We are still looking for some of the better places to camp in that area.  On this trip, we took our motorcycle for the first time.  Here we are all loaded up and ready to go with the bike in the back of the truck:

I didn't bother taking any pictures of our RV "Resort".  It was little more than a gravel field with an electric post and a hole in the ground for our sewer hose.  Guess you'll just have to use your imagination, creating a mental image that matches your thoughts on what an RV Resort should look like.  Besides the lack of any real character, the campground had a LOT of kids running around.  Now, I love kids.  I raised three of my own and anyone who really knows me knows how I feel about kids.  But these weren't just little kids having fun.  These were kids making a nuisance of themselves, running through our campground, hitting the truck and trailer with their balls . . . um . . . like basketballs and tennis balls, etc.  Anyhow, I felt like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.  "Get off my law . . . I mean, get off my gravel"!!  But, the car show was great!  Here's Sandy's favorite part - a bumper sticker on one of the show trucks:

I can just imagine Sam Elliot saying that in his own inimitable way.  Love it . . .

While there, we motorcycled over to Arroyo Grande, a very historic little town on the east side of highway 101.  There are a lot of neat little shops and antique dealers here.  Here's a picture of some fat guy hanging out in front of a guitar shop:

When I was a kid, my maternal grandparents lived in Grover City (since re-named Grover Beach).  We visited them often and on one such trip, we went to the beach.  We took a walk along the pier and I remember being afraid.  Now, give me a break here . . . I was maybe 4 or 5 years old.  There were huge gaps between the wooden slats that made up the 'boardwalk' of the pier and I was afraid to look at the water below.  I remember my grandmother leaning down and sticking her fingers between the boards and telling me that there was no way I could fall through there.  I'm not sure that consoled me but come to find out, my fear was not terribly unusual.  Sandy got some of that same feeling while walking out on the pier.  This car show is so large that it spills out onto this pier and that's the reason we were out there.  She took a picture of the object of her discomfort:

When I was in kindergarten, my parents decided to rent out our house in Norwalk, CA and move up to Grover City.  I'm not sure what their reasoning was, but I have to assume it was mostly so that my mom could be near her folks.  Regardless, we moved right after the start of my kindergarten year.  Dad owned an auto shop up there at the time - this would have been 1961 or 1962.  I very well remember walking from my afternoon school session to my dad's shop.  From there, dad would close up shop and take my brother and I home.  Dad would occasionally put us to work cleaning parts, or sweeping - most anything to keep us busy and out of trouble.  Side note:  I really have worked on cars almost my entire life - and I still love it.  Anyhow,  mom nor dad could ever remember exactly where that old shop was.  Since losing my dad a couple of years ago, memories like this have become even more precious to me.  I always figured that if I could find my school, I could find dad's old shop location.  It was down to the first corner, turn right and down the street on the left.  49 years later and I still remember my route.  In 2010, we looked around a bit for the school but came up empty.  This year, while on our way from our campground to the freeway to head home, we took a little different route and, much to surprise, we bumped into a school that looked very familiar.  Hmmm . . . turn left here in front of the school, right at the first street and down the street on the left.  Oh my gosh!!!  There it is!!  After so many years, his old shop is not only still standing, it is still an auto repair shop!  It doesn't look like much I suppose, but it brings back precious memories.  Here it is:

Our next trip (in August) was a little different.  Instead of taking BoldlygoII, we decided to take a motorcycle trip to Big Bear.  So we packed a duffle, strapped it to the bike, made a reservation and off we went.  But first, a little fuel:

We're there dude!!

Parking so we can get some lunch:

This is where we stayed.  No, we didn't stay in the covered wagon.  I had enough of that when we immigrated on the Oregon trail :-)

Looking positively radiant!

Here we are, packed up and on our way home.  If you look closely, there is a miniature broom strapped to the top of our duffle bag.  Sandy found that little thing in an antique store and thought it would be perfect for students at school - it was just the right size.  So we strapped it to the back of the motorcycle for the trip home.  We had to wonder if people passing us on the highway though that the broom was our spare tire . . .

October found us back in the Gold Country of northern California.  This time, we stayed in a very nice RV park in Coloma, CA., site of John Marshall's gold discovery back in the mid 1800's.  What a great place.  We spent quite a bit of time in the surrounding hills and towns and even made a day trip to Sacramento to see the state Capitol and Sacto's "old town".  Unfortunately, I don't have any of our photos on my computer at this time.  I may come back later and update this particular set with some pics.

Well, there you have it.  Now you're all up to speed on the adventures of D&S along with their trusty traveling home BoldlygoII.  Until next time, so long!