Day 1802

 I woke up at 8, but didn't get out of bed until 10.  I was playing a special game that took an hour.  By then Ellen had handled the pets.  Tony called while I was getting dressed.  He was sure that Mom was about to die.  He had me talk to her for almost an hour.  Of course she wasn't dying.

I finally got off the phone with him and talked to Hooch.  Hooch was almost at Touchmark and filled me in.  Apparently Tony is off his meds and not responding well to spending a lot of sleepless time with Mom.

I had breakfast, just before noon.  Then I went out and mowed the lawn.  It took me 3.5 hours.  That included mowing the cul-de-sac edges and some time fixing a slipped mower belt.  I was covered with dust when I finished, so the next thing was a shower.

I didn't feel like a sandwich, so we went to the Italian place.  It was sunny and 77, a great time to eat outside.  Of course we stopped at Tomlinson's first so Lucy would have a treat.  While we were there I called Hooch.  He filled me in on what's really happening.  He said Mom's O2 sat was 65.  I don't know why she's still alive.  He also said that Tony had kept the attendants from giving Mom medication for 45 minutes.  Dan has made arrangement for them to throw Toy out if he does it again.

After a wonderful lunch/dinner we went for yougurt.  Then it was home to feed the pets.

The evening was spent watching TV.  It's great to watch pre-recorded shows again.  I love fast forwarding through commercials.  Hooch called to talk while he's with Mom.  We had a long conversation about lots of stuff.  I just wanted to buck him up some.  He's had a lousy year and this is a lousy time for him.

Day 1801

 We didn't wake up until 8:30.  Then it was about an hour of games.  That meant pet stuff an breakfast didn't happen until almost 10.

After that I decided to try to get my money back from the tickets.  I fought with the phone tree and chat options for over an hour.  Finally I found a way to get a human.  I was on the phone for 45 minutes with him.  He finallhy told me that he couldn't get me a refund because they hadn't been officially notified that the race had been cancelled.  I offered to gie him the track's URL, but he wasn't interested.  He said I'd get an email when they confirmed the cancellation.

I emailed the track.  They said they couldn't do anything to notify the ticket vendor.  They just gave me the same URL.

After that fiasco I decided to set up the Ranger shipping.  I called a company and got the ball rolling.  They said it would probably be picked up next week.

By then it was after noon.  I went out to mow the lawn.  The battery on the lawn mower was dead, so I decided to edge instead.  It wasn't overly warm, but it was hot in the sun.  I edged the entire lawn.  It took about 2 hours.

When I was finished I went inside and had a sandwich for lunch.  Then I called the Men's Wearhouse.  My suit was ready, so we went to pick it up.  On the way back we stopped at the post office and HEB.

Ellen fixed an HEB meal for dinner.  I was pooped.  I took a shower, ate dinner, and then spent the entire evening surfing.

Day 1800

 We got up a little after 8.  When I went out to the kitchen I discovered that the cats had knocked over the plant shield and plants.  In the process they'd broken the bulb on the antique lamp.  I was very pissed.  It took quite awhile to fix the plants, clean the table, and vacuum up the broken glass.  I did finally get breakfast.

After a little surfing I decided it was time to clean out the closets.  I started with the old suits and some shooting gear.  Then it was sweatshirts and coats.  Finally it was old shirts.  Ellen added some of she clothes.  My closets are significantly emptier now.

Since we were going to Goodwill I decided to clear out the stuff Isaac had left in the play house.  Their was quite a lot of stuff.  Ellen and I loaded everything into the truck.  We took it to Goodwill.  By then it was after 2 and we hadn't had lunch.  We stopped at Cheddar's and had a big meal.  The plan was to skip dinner.

When we got home I decided to put away the guns.  I went out to the apartment and cleaned out the safe.  The I brought over all the guns from the house.  Finally I carefully packed everything into the safe.  It actually all fit.  I might have space for one or two more rifles.  It was a relief to get the guns put away.

By then it was almost 6.  I did some surfing and ordered a replacement bulb for the lamp.

I got tired of surfing and got out the Lego.  The kit had 2900 pieces, so it will be months before I'm finished with it.

Day 1799

 We woke up at 8 today, but didn't get out of bed until 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold again this morning - 40.

I did some more work on Moms obituary and mailed off a draft to Hooch.  Today's big task is to get a suit.  I have no idea what happened to my other one.  The mall didn't open until 11, so we spent some time surfing.

We got to the mall just after it opened.  It was pretty deserted, but that was expected.  We went to the Men's Wearhouse.  I bought a suit, shirt, and tie for $200.  All of it was on sale.  The tie had a $100 price tag on it.  After that we walked around the mall.  I'd say at least 25% of the stores were vacant.

We bought two things.  One was a Minions Christmas ornament at the Hallmark store.  The other was another RC Lego kit at the Lego store.  By the time we were finished the sun was shining and the temperature was rising.  We stopped at the post office on the way home.

Lunch was leftover pizza.  Then I got to work on the stuff I'd been putting off because of the temperature.  I replaced both of the outside door knobs.  Now Cooper won't be able to open them when they're locked.  Then I went out and winterized the trailer.  I drained the hot water tank and blew all of the water out of the plumbing.

Ellen had brought the plants from the trailer.  I reconfigured the plant cage so that it works on the kitchen table.  Then I took out the garbage and turned on the gate light controller.  It turns itself off whenever the power fails.

I surfed away the time until dinner.  Ellen fixed steaks on the Traeger.  They were great as usual.

After dinner it was surfing and some reading.

Day 1798

 We got up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  It was 38 degrees out.  It didn't get above 40 all day.

The first project of the day was transporting the Ranger.  I went through the emails from the different companies.  I boiled it down to 2.  I asked Ellen to vet them.  Basically it's a crap shoot.  Some people have good experiences, some don't.

The second project was getting a refund on the MotoGP tickets.  TicketMaster's phone tree does not let you get to a person.  Their "chat" is just an automated copy of the phone tree.  I emailed them, we'll see what happens.

Then I started working on the rifles.  I uncased all of the remaining ones.  Then I started to put them away.  I moved some around in the safes.  I ended up with 14 that don't have homes.  I still have to work on the apartment safe.

Hooch called for a Zoom.  He's in Mom's room.  Mom wasn't responsive, but Hooch says she does hear.  So we talked for quite awhile just so she had voices to listen to.  I hope it helped.

When the call was over we went out.  We were going to take some stuff to the safe deposit box, but you need an appointment for that.  We also wanted to get new door handles that the cat can't operate.  We did get those.  By then it was way past lunch, so we ate a big meal at Longhorn.  The last two errands were the post office and HEB.

When I got home I went in search of my suit.  It wasn't in the trailer.  It isn't in the house either.  I guess it got mistakenly given to Goodwill when we sold the old trailer.  I'll have to buy another one tomorrow.  

Hooch called and asked me to write an obituary and look into the cemetery.  I worked on both some, but by 6 I was just tired of working, so I took the rest of the day off.  Most of it was TV with a little surfing.

There wasn't any dinner, just a couple of snacks.

Day `1797

 We got out of bed at 9, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  It was 54 degrees and raining.  Welcome to Texas.

When breakfast was done we left to vote.  We had to drive to Dripping Springs, all of the other places were closed.  When we got there there was nobody in line.  We just walked in and voted.  When we were done we stopped at Tractor Supply for bird seed.

The next stop was a long drive.  We went to the post office to get the mail.  There was a box of it.  We spent quite a bit of time sorting it at the post office and recycling all of the junk.  Then we put the rest in the trunk. 

The next stop was Michael's for buttons to fix the trailer's duvet.  Then we had lunch at the Cajun place.  It was fantastic.  After that it was home.

We spent quite awhile sorting through the mail and handling some of it.  Hooch set up a Zoom meeting at Mom's room.  I got to see her - she was unconscious.  Dan and Tony were with her.  The three of us had a good talk though.

When we were finished with the mail I went out to the trailer.  I collected all of the personal stuff that was still in the trailer and piled it on the kitchen table.  I hauled part of it along with some financial stuff back to the house.  I also tried to deal with the rifles, but I gave up.  It's too daunting.  At least they're in the house.  I went out and fixed the DirecTV antenna instead.

I surfed for a little while before dinner.  I had another call from Hooch concerning funeral arrangements.  Dinner was a frozen pizza that had been frozen a little too long.  After dinner I went to the HOA meeting.  I'm on the board again.

When I got home Ellen was watching chick flicks.  I surfed.

Day 1796

 We got up a little before 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then I went out to drain the tanks.  Ellen started packing up the trailer.  It took me the better part of an hour to drain the tanks.  Then I hooked up.  We left the park about 9:45.

We took 410 instead of 1604 because that was what the GPS said to do.  It was Sunday morning, so traffic wasn't a worry.  I'm not sure it's any better than 1604 now that the lights on 1604 have been removed.  I35 was a little heavier, but we never had to slow down.  We got home about 11:45.

Parking the trailer took some time, but there were no major difficulties.  We did have to move a lot of rocks though.  It took about an hour to park and set up the trailer, open the house and apartment, and get the pets in the house.

Then the work started.  I moved all of the stuff out of the truck and the basement and into either the house or the apartment.  I was amazed at how much was there.  We were definitely traveling heavy.  The I moved the guns out of the trailer along with my computers and some other stuff like the cameras.  Ellen moved out the pantry, cabinets, and refrigerator.  I finished up by moving my personal items like drugs and toothpaste.

I was too tired to do anything else.  I even left unpacking the personal stuff until later.  I got the car started and we went on errands.  We fueled up the car, stopped at CVS for drugs, and went to Tomlinson's for dog food.  I went up Mopac to see the progress.  They're almost done except for under the Lacrosse overpass.  It's one lane - guaranteed to be a traffic jam.

When we got home I hooked up the TV.  It had a satellite reception problem.  Ellen says DirecTV claims it it their problem.  No info on when it will be fixed.  The internet didn't work either.  Ellen messed with it and finally power cycled the router.  That fixed it.  I would have done that first.

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner was surfing..

Day 1795

 We got up about 8:30, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then I connected the sewer hose so I wouldn't have to do it later.  After that it was surfing until it was time to go to the club.

I shot the 20 ga.  The floaters were giving me fits again.  I really sucked on the first half of the course.  I did better on the second half because the floaters were starting to go away.  I feel a little sad about the A400.  It's a nice shotgun.  However, with Lucy too old to hunt It's likely that I've shot it for the last time.  It probably doesn't have 1,500 rounds through it.

We stopped by the snack bar for candy and then it was time for Ellen to shoot the women's course.  It was 50 birds.  The targets were pretty easy, sort of like the executive course at Capitol.  Ellen messed up a couple of stations, but she shot well on others.  There were a lot of B squads, so it took a long time.

While she was shooting I saw a kid with Pilla shooting glasses.  They looked really nice.  Ellen had to turn in a drawing ticket at vendor's row when we were done.  There was a Pilla dealer right next door.  I ended up buying a $900 pair of shooting glasses (4 lenses).

Ellen went to talk to Gretchen.  I got a practice ticket and tried out my new glasses.  They are fantastic.  I really like them.

It was well past lunch time, so we went to Rudy's for a late lunch.  It was great as usual.  Lucy really perked up when she started smelling the place.  Of course she got some brisket.  We fueled up, $1.79/gal, and went home.

I positioned the truck.  Then I poured a bunch of water into all of the tanks.  I want them to sit for awhile before I drain them tomorrow morning.

The rest of the evening was surfing.

Day 1794

 We got up about 9, but we'd woken up a lot earlier.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was kill time until our shoot at 1.

We surfed and watched TV until about 11:30.  Then we ate lunch (leftovers) and then left for the club.  It started raining just as we left.

Luckily the rain stopped about 15 minutes before the start time.  Instead it was hot and very humid.

I shot one of my worst competitions in years.  Both eyes were full of floaters.  I missed a lot of birds because my subconscious was shooting at black things in my eyes instead of targets.  The course was a good one though.  I walked off the course very discouraged.

We stopped at HEB on the way home for bread.  I was a little hungry, so we stopped at Sonic for a snack.  It really turned into a really early dinner.

By the time we got home at 4:30 the wind had come up.  I sat outside and read because it was pretty pleasant.  Then I got the call from Hooch.  He said the hospice nurse said Mom will die withing the next 48 hours.  There' just no way I can make it there by then.  It's actually OK with me.  I said my goodbyes this fall.  Also, I really don't want to see her unconscious and unresponsive.  I did that with Dad and I don't want to repeat it.

We didn't really have a dinner - just some snacks.  We spent the evening watching TV.  The temperature has really dropped now.  It's 57 degrees at 10.

Day 1793

 We got up about 8.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  There was nothing pressing to do, so we surfed for awhile.  Eventually we left for the club.

The place was pretty dead when we got there.  Apparently they have about half the people they usually have.  We only saw a couple of people we know.  Some of the vendor spaces were closed also.  I did manage to get the 20 ga choke and the new shooting lenses for my shooting glasses.

We walked around all of the vendors, but didn't buy anything else.  We ate lunch at the lunch bar.  I've never seen it so empty.  The silent auction is being held online.  That takes all the fun out of it.  All of the other usual things like the banquet have been cancelled.

After lunch I shot a couple of practice 5-stands.  Ellen didn't want to shoot.  My floaters were really bad today and I shot like shit.  I hope that they're gone tomorrow.  After that we left.  The place was just boring.

We stopped at HEB on the way home to get something to drink.  I ended up getting a ready to cook meal, some rolls, and a pineapple upside down cake.  The whole thing cost less than our lunch at Mickey D's the other day.

It was in the low 90's and humid, so we spent the rest of the afternoon in the trailer.  I might have napped.  Dinner took 5 minutes in the microwave.  It tasted good.

After dinner I got a text from Hooch.  Apparently his treatment went as well as could be expected.  That's great.  Mom is apparently holding steady, but they "have the morphine ready".

Day 1792

 We got up at 7 and packed up to leave. We were already hooked up so that simplified things.  We were on the road by 7:45. 

The trip was like yesterday - long and boring.  Mileage wasn't spectacular - a little over 10.

The cats decided to scream from the time we left.  Both of them.  I finally got sick of it and put them in the trailer.  I think they road back there for 75 miles or so.  I put them back in the truck when we stopped for fuel.  They were mainly quite after that.

The only problem happened in the construction area between Boerne and San Antonio.  The rubber stripping on the bottom edge of the trailer decided to come out and flap in the wind.  I couldn't do anything about it because it was a construction area.  After a few miles the construction ended and I was able to take an exit.  I fixed it on the frontage road with cars whizzing past.  

I looked at it when we got to the park and it looks OK now.

Traffic was OK all of the way through San Antonio except for a couple of slow parts on 1604.  The construction on it is finished and there are no longer any lights.  It's nice to go 70 all the way instead of stopping every half mile.

Unhooking went great again.  After we set up we watched TV and surfed.  Ellen fixed sloppy joes for dinner.

After dinner we went to HEB for bananas and milk.  After that it was surfing and bed

Day 1791

 I woke up at 6:45 and decided to get up.  I had breakfast and then we packed up to go.  Hooking up went easily because I followed the youtube instructions.  We were on the road by 7:40.

The drive was as usual - long and boring.  The problems didn't start until we got to El Paso.  We stopped at a place just before El Paso for fuel.  We hadn't been there before.  It was half a mile off I10 and impossible to get in to.  We had to drive 2 miles on an arterial to get back on I10.  Every light along the way was red.

Then we tried a place we'd been to before.  It only had two diesel pumps.  One was broken and the other was blocked by some asshole.  We waited for about 15 minutes for him to clear.  Then I backed out and left.  We went to the place across the street finally got some fuel.

The El Paso traffic started just over the border.  It didn't end until mile post 38.  There were several really slow sections.  Traffic was heavy the whole way.  When we finally got out of town there was heavy truck traffic for 50 miles.  It was the same old slow down, speed up game.

We had to wait quite awhile at the Border Patrol checkpoint.  They just waved the trucks through.  The good news is that they all got so far ahead that I never had trouble with them again.

We got the the park at 5:00.  Due to the screwed up time zones I'm not sure how long it took us.  Ellen calculated 10.6 mpg for the day.

We didn't unhook.  Dinner was leftovers.  The evening was surfing and endless competitive cooking shows.

Day 1790

 We didn't get up early today because there wasn't much to do.  So pet stuff and breakfast didn't occur until about 8:30.  Then we started the wash.  Tomorrow is Tuesday, but we have a long day on the road.

I hooked up the sewer hose while the wash was being done.  One of the latches on the sewer connection broke, so now we needed to get one.  We also wanted to get some treats for Devon and some money.  We also needed fuel.  After the wash was done we started on the errands.

The park's store didn't have what we needed.  The store at the dealership next door had the supports, but not the connection.  We ended up driving a couple off miles to Camping World.  It was the best stocked Camping World we'd seen in a long time.  They had the connection.  They also had the supports for $10 less than I'd just bought them for.  Oh well.  We spent a lot of time looking around the store, but the only other thing we bought was a block to replace one I broke at Ben Avery.

From there we drove north a few miles to the pet store.  We drove by the airport and an A10 flew over us on final approach.  Cool.  The pet store didn't have the treats Devon likes, but we got a couple of duck feet and some cat dental treats.  I hope they like the treats.

From there we drove a few blocks to a Wells Cargo.  Then we drove another mile to a Pei Wei for lunch.  After that things went south.

We drove back to a station that advertised really cheap diesel.  It was cheap because it was biodiesel.  So we went to the station by the RV park.  It's diesel pumps all had broken card readers.  We ended up driving for several miles to find another station with a decent price.  That's when I checked the DEF.  It was half full, so we drove to an O'Reilley's past the first station to get some.  They were sold out.  So we drove farther to an AutoZone and got two boxes.  We put one in the truck.  Now the tank reads full.  Obviously it wasn't a low as it read.

Our last stop was a Fry's to get cookies for the road.  It was hot when we got back, so we hid out in the trailer watching TV and surfing. I did back up the truck for hooking up tomorrow.

It cooled off about 6, so I went out and drained the tanks.  The new flush thing I bought doesn't seem to do much except clean out the drain tube.  

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner was surfing and TV.

Day 1788

 This will probably appear out of order.  It's the day before 1789.

The checkin time at Tucson is 2, so we didn't get up very early.  When we did it was pet stuff and breakfast.  I spent some time surfing and then went outside to dump the tanks.  We'd been taking long showers and the shower tank was full.

We hooked up and left about 11:30.  I followed the directions on youtube and hooking up was easy. We got stuck in the middle of a Trump parade on the way out of the club.  It took us 10 or 15 minutes to get to I17.  Once on I17 we got in the middle lane and started passing the parade.  There were hundreds of vehicles, almost all pickups and Jeeps.  Their mere presence slowed traffic.

I think we drove at least 5 miles passing the parade.  We finally got to the exit they turned off on.  We never got to the front.  Traffic was OK after that until we got near the airport.  They had one lane closed for construction.  That caused a miles long traffic jam.  It was stop and go all the way.  That didn't do anything for the fuel mileage.  It was 9. something the whole way.

We finally got past the traffic jam.  Then it was smooth sailing except my asshole was giving me problems.  I stopped at a rest area and took care of the problem.  After that it was a nice trip for the last 90 miles or so.

We got to the RV park and set up.  Unhooking went well, too.  I think the secret is to leave some weight on the hitch.  That's totally opposite of the Pull-Rite.  When we were finished setting up we went to the restaurant.  We had a nacho - made with cheese whiz.

We went back to the trailer and surfed and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Day 1789

 We got up about 6:45, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then we loaded everything into the truck and went to the club.  We got there just after they opened at 8.

We got a cart and 325 targets.  I loaded up all the ammo we had on the cart.  Then we went out to the course.  It was warm, but not hot.  It got hotter while we were there, but it didn't really ever get uncomfortable.

We shot the Red course, which we think was the hardest.  It was fun, but challenging.  There was only one target I couldn't hit.  The thing that bugged me was the eye glitches that I would occasionally have because of the floaters.  We had lots of targets left, so we shot the White course, which was a little easier, but still fun.  We were tired when we got finished.

We left the club a little after we finished.  We tried to find a pet store to get treats for Devon, but that didn't work out.  We stopped at Mickey D's for lunch - $20 for two sandwiches.  Then we went home.  On the way home we saw a station with diesel for $1.85.  I might have to fill up there.

When we got home we put everything away and went into the trailer to escape the heat.  We spent the afternoon surfing and watching TV.  Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner was more TV.

We'll do the wash tomorrow even thought it's Monday.  Tuesday and Wednesday will be the long trip to San Antonio.

Day 1787

 We woke up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then we went over to the office to check in.  They only let Ellen.  I went in later to buy a t-shirt.

We went back to the truck and loaded up the cart.  We made it to station 1 just before our starting time.  The wind was blowing really hard.  They actually shut three stations.  Also, they would only sell us 100 targets a piece.

The course was fairly difficult, but fun.  I shot OK, but I still have these glitches.  The real bad side was I forgot to bring water.  It was in the low 90's by the time we were finished.

When we put everything away we drove across the freeway to the shopping center.  We got some groceries and ate at In-n-Out.  Then  we drove to the next exit for fuel.  It was 20 cents cheaper there.  We stopped at a pet store and got Lucy a treat.  Then it was home.

I hooked up the sewer hose so I could drain the shower tank after we took showers.  That's when I found out that we couldn't check in until 2.  It's only 140 miles to Tucson, so we won't be leaving until almost noon.  That means I can drain the tank tomorrow.

We spent the rest of the day surfing and watching TV.  We had leftover tacos for dinner.

Cooper had gotten out early in the morning.  He went about 10 feet and hunkered down until Ellen picked him up.  We thought he didn't like the desert.  Then he tried to get out again tonight.

Day 1786

 We got up at 7.  After breakfast we started to pack up to leave.  The temperature was 60 degrees, so I decided to do the tires.  All of the lug nuts were fine.  The tires all needed 2 or 3 PSI a piece.  Everything else went fine.  We were all set to get out a little early when we couldn't get the trailer hooked up.  The pin box wasn't sitting straight on the hitch plate.  I messed around with it for quite awhile and finally got it to set down correctly.  Then the latch wouldn't close completely.  I ended up moving the truck a little forward and reverse and it latched.  All this meant we didn't leave until almost 8:30.

The trip itself was pretty uneventful.  We drove through Las Vegas because I wanted to avoid the road north of Flagstaff.  The road is really torn up.  The trip is longer that way though.  The only driving hassles were the turn off in Kingman and Wickieup.  Oh, and the fucking trucks.

We got to Ben Avery about 2:30 (3:30 our time).  I was tired.  About 30 miles out I started suffering some kind of vertigo.  I was actually afraid I'd lose control of the vehicle.  We were on a stretch of two lane desert road with no shoulders, so all I could do was keep growing.  I had Ellen pull her head out of her phone and watch to make sure I didn't do anything stupid.  Fortunately the feeling passed after about 10 or 15 minutes.

The campground at Ben Avery is a gravel parking lot adjacent to the sporting clays course.  The office closes at 2, so we can't check in until tomorrow.  It was about 100 degrees when we set up.  I had problems unhooking also.  The two AC's working together kept the trailer very comfortable though.

I was too tired to do anything but sit in the recliner and watch TV.  There's an amazing number of on air channels.  Ellen fixed steak and rice for dinner.

After dinner I watched the manufacturer's videos on hook up and unhooking.  It appears that in both cases I'm raising the trailer too much.  This is especially true for hooking up.  It's just different than the Pull-Rite that I'm used to.

Day 1785

 We got up at 8 today, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  I loaded the stuff into the truck and we took off to Purgatory.  We got there just after they opened.

There were quite a few people there.  Apparently they have a big shoot the weekend and people were practicing for it.  We had to skip around a little to make sure that we got done in time.  The targets were fun.  We even got to shoot a few of there tournament targets since we weren't going to compete.  I actually shot pretty well.  I only had one really stupid station.  

We got back to the trailer about noon.  We had lunch.  Then we left the dog and went to the ATV place.  I kind of miscalculated and we were 20 minutes early.  We hung around until the appointed time.  There were two other groups on the same tour.  One was three girls in their 20's.  The other was a couple in their 20's.  That meant the tour consisted of four vehicles.

The leader asked me to go at the back.  I said I would.  That meant that we would eat dust and drive as slow as the slowest car.  The other two drivers were tentative at first, but they got better.  They never went as fast as they could have though.  That and the dust was a little disappointing.

We did get to see some areas that we hadn't seen the first time.  I really did have a good time.  We needed dusting off when we got back.

We stopped at a station to fuel up before we went home.  When we got home I backed up the truck so it would be ready to hook up tomorrow morning.  Then I dumped the tanks.  I spent quite awhile trying to get the black tank clean.  I think I'm still draining stuff from our time in Salem.

When the tanks were drained I took a shower in the bath house.  It was great to wash off the dust and sweat.

Ellen fixed tacos for dinner.  The evening was all TV.

Day 1784

 We played games after we woke up and didn't get out of bed until after 9.  Then it was pet stuff, breakfast, and start the wash.  It was kind of a pain walking up and down the hill to the laundry.  I connected the sewer hose to the trailer.  That's one less thing to do tomorrow.

When the laundry was done we surfed for a while and then had lunch.  After that I was thoroughly bored.  We got in the truck with Lucy and went to the BLM park across the freeway.  It's a real nice park.  It's built on a creek that's up against high red rock formations.  We went on a hike through the trees along the creek and then a little bit into the red rock.  Lucy did pretty good.  We didn't go a long way because it was 90 degrees and the trail was rough in places.

When we got back to the truck we drove north 5 miles to a ghost town.  The artifacts and buildings were interesting, but the museum was closed.  The area the town was in is now a housing development.  The houses range from .5 to 1.5 million.  They are pretty impressive.

I didn't want to sit in the trailer any more.  So we took Lucy to the trailer and then went to Hurricane.  We found a coffee shop/restaurant with a deck overlooking the Virgin river.  I had a beer.  I was sitting there enjoying myself when Hooch called.

Apparently Mom is not doing well.  The doctor suggested sending her to Hospice.  The social worker agreed.  I said it sounded like the right thing to me.  I feel like I signed her death warrant.  Hooch is going to get her placed and then call me with what's going on.  In the mean time I'm going to continue with our plans.

The news kind of put an end to my enjoyable afternoon.  We went home.  I surfed a little and kind of just moped.  I wasn't very hungry and had half a sandwich for dinner.

I'm really tired of the broadcast TV and all the commercials.  So I put on a movie.  It was really entertaining and helped me take my mind off Mom.  After that it was bed time.  We have to get up kind of early tomorrow.

Day 1783

 I'm not sure when we woke up, but we didn't get out of bed until after 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  We didn't have anything specific to do today except pick up a prescription.  I called the pharmacy and they said it wouldn't be ready until 2.  So we surfed until about noon.  I did sign up for a UTV tour.  Two hours his time.  Unfortunately it's Wednesday afternoon.  Add shooting and draining tanks and Wednesday will be a long day.

We went to ST. George for the prescription.  We also stopped at a gun and fishing store to look for fishing stuff.  They didn't have much.  We ended up buying a case of shells though.

By then it was time for lunch.  We stopped at In-n-Out.  I only ate a few french fries.  I was disappointed to learn that they no longer have location specific t-shirts.  The one they had was the same design as the Oregon one.

We stopped at the ACE in Hurricane on the way home just to look around.  We actually bought a couple of metal design models there.

We fed the pets when we got home.  Ellen fixed steak for dinner.  I took the dog for a walk through the construction site.  It was interesting to see the equipment and the progress.  They are laying the water and sewer right now - lots of trenches.  After that it was TV and surfing.

Day 1782

 We got up at 7 today.  Even though we'd stayed hooked up, it still took us until 8 to leave.  Last night it blew and rained heavily.  Of course the stuff in the bed got wet.  I'm afraid to look inside the cases.

We made good time, averaging 60 MPH for the whole 360 miles.  We made one fuel stop.  For the first 160 miles we did 10.7 MPG.  For the remaining 200 miles we did 12.2.  That's pretty good.

We got to the RV park about 2.  It was really crowded.  We parked and set up.  Then we rested and surfed for a while.  Once we'd rested a while we went into town.  We bought ammo and DEF at Wally World.  Then we bought milk and orange juice at the grocery store.  We also got some more bread, cheese, and meat for sandwiches.

When we got home it was dinner followed by surfing.  Ellen watched TV.

Day 1781

 We got up at 7.  Breakfast and packing up took an hour.  We were on the road by 8.

The trip was long and boring.  We averaged about 60 mph and 10.7 mpg.  We didn't even have traffic trouble through Boise.  The only pains were trucks and single lane highway due to construction.  Boring is good when you're traveling through desolate territory.  

We got to the RV Park in Tremonton about 4:30 (3:30 Pacific time).  We didn't unhook.  Instead we ordered pizza from a local place.  It was pretty good.  We ordered too much though, so we'll be eating it tomorrow.  We walked around the park while we were waiting and looked at the rigs.  There were several Grand Design.

We didn't unhook, so that should get us out a little faster tomorrow.  Also, we'll need to buy some DEF in St. George.  We had to put our spare one in the truck today.

Tomorrow is another long day, 362 miles.  At least we'll be going through Ogden through Provo on a Sunday.  If we're lucky we might make it on one tank of fuel.

Day 1780

 We got up at 7:30.  After playing games for a while we got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then it was surfing.  About 11 we went over to Dan and Patsy's.  Dan was with his sister, so we talked with Patsy.  When Dan came back we talked with him while he worked on a fishing pole.  We found one he liked on the web, so we bought it for him.

About 1 the four of us went to the Cafe for lunch.  Dan and Patsy took their lunch and some takeout to Dan's sister's place.  We went there when we finished our lunch.

Everyone was unloading Dan's sister's U-Haul.  I helped Dan and Tim.  Ellen mainly bull shitted with Pam and Patsy.  We were finished unloading about 4.  Ellen and I went home to get ready for tomorrow.  We put away the Bronco.  Then I drained the tanks and put away the sewer hose.  

We went back to Dan and Patsy's a little after 5.  We walked for awhile and then went to dinner at the Shorthorn.  Pam and Tim joined us.  We had a good dinner and talk.  After dinner everyone was tired and went their separate ways.

We went home and did a little surfing before going to bed early.  Tomorrow is get up at 7 and drive 470 miles.

Day 1779

 We woke up at 7:30.  There was nothing on the schedule, so we played games for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then it was surfing.

About 11 we went over to the cafe or coffee.  Then it was on to Dan and Patsy's.  We talked with Dan for hours.  Eventually his sister and her husband came to town.  We drove over to their new house, which is at the Y at the south end of town.

There house is pretty nice.  It's kind of a small vacation home that they plan on expanding.  It's been vacant for 2 years and full of bugs.  They spent the afternoon bug bombing the place.  Ellen and I went back to the cafe for a late lunch.  Then we went to Dan and Patsy's.  Ellen talked to Patsy while I surfed and had a nap.

Dan and his sister came back later in the afternoon.  Patsy made a nice dinner - pulled pork, corn bread, and rice.  After that we all sat in the living room and talked.  Lot's of it was about politics.

Everyone decided to go home about 8:30.  We did some surfing and then went to bed.

Day 1778

 We got up about 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then it was a little surfing.  After that we went to the cafe for coffee and then over to Dan and Patsy's.  Dan was fishing.  We talked with Patsy for the rest of the morning.

About noon we went to Halfway.  We were going to eat at the restaurant, but the line was out the door.  So we bought bacon and snacks at the grocery store.  I didn't want to go back home.  I also wanted to drive the Bronco.  So we went to Oxbow.  It was a fun little drive.  We looked at the turn off to Joseph, but there were no warning signs.  I'd planned on going there today, but the Oregon highway website doesn't even show the road any more.

We stopped at the park in Oxbow.  It's by the river and really nice.  We took Lucy to the river and she waded in a little way.  I think she was hot.  She stumbled and sat down in the water.  I think she liked it.

After that we drove back to Richland.  We had a really late lunch - sandwiches.  After some surfing and a nap we went back to Dan and Patsy's.  They were just starting to watch the vice presidential debate.  They listened and we surfed.  Occasionally we comment on something they said.  Afterwards we had a great time commentating on the commentators.  Eventually that got old and we talked about other things.

We didn't leave until late - almost 10.  When we got home it was off to bed.

Day 1777

 We woke up about 7:30, played games for awhile and then did pet stuff.  We also started up the wash.  I got the Bronco out, it started up like a champ.  

We decided to have breakfast at the new cafe in town.  It's really the old cafe, new owners.  The service was slow, but the food was pretty good.  They bake bread for sale two days a week, so we ordered a loaf for tomorrow.

We went back to the trailer after that to finish up the wash.  I took the Bronco and filled it up with gas.  I used ethanol free premium.  $24 dollars for 7 gallons.  The Bronco runs really well on it.  Then I stopped by Dan's to see if he had heard from Gerry.  He said Gerry had just called and would be in Baker in an hour and a half.  I went back to the trailer, helped Ellen finish the wash, and we left for Baker.

It was fun driving the Bronco to Baker.  It may not have much power, and the steering is vague, but I like it.  We made pretty good time.  We made a short stop at Bi-Mart for a replacement TV cable and then met everyone at the Chinese restaurant.

Gerry had his wife and daughter with him.  Everyone gave him a lot of shit about how badly he'd shot in Vegas.  I kind of felt sorry for him.  The food was much better than the last time we were there.  They must have changed cooks.  Ellen and I sat in the sun.  It was hot.

We spent several hours having lunch, riding Gerry, and talking.  Then everyone went their separate ways.  We went to the kitchen shop and bought a replacement knife for one that had gotten bent.  It's really nice.

We made a short stop at Safeway for drinks.  The checkout lines were filled with people with problems.  So we went to Maverick for drinks and then back to Richland.

We had leftover Chinese for dinner and then surfed for the rest of the evening.

Day 1776

 We woke up at 7, had breakfast, hooked up, and were on the road by 8.  Things were going good until I had the irresistible urge to shit.  That was even though I'd taken one before we left. We got about 10 miles down the road and I had to stop at a gas station.  We took off again and I got about 15 more miles before it was a crisis.  I had to pull over and shit in the trailer.  Thankfully there were no problems after that.

The trip was all on secondary roads.  It varied from flat farmland to mountain passes.  We went over three passes, the highest was 5700 feet.  The flat parts were fine - cruise at 65.  The winding sections were roughly equivalent to the first 20 miles out of Richland.  The towhaul/exhaust brake on the truck made going downhill a breeze.  We made good time and averaged 9.4 mpg.

We stopped at Baker and got some groceries.  We stopped at our usual place in Richland.  I hooked the charger to the Bronco.  Ellen tried to set up the DirecTV, but couldn't get it to work.  I'm wondering if the antenna is damaged.

We went ot see Dan and Patsy about 5:30.  We sat and talked with them until a little after 8.  When we got home it was a late dinner and surfing.

Day 1775

 We woke up at 7, but there was no reason to get up that early.  So we played games for awhile.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I put the stuff in the truck (including the shooting bags).  We went down 97 this time.  It was a much nicer drive and we got there just after they opened at 10.

Ellen lost the card.  She said she "threw it at me" last night when I asked for my sweatshirt (it was setting on top of the sweatshirt on the back seat).  She must have thrown it completely through the truck without my seeing it.  I'd told her to leave it in the truck.  Oh well, we got another.

We had a good time shooting.  There was a lot less breakage today.  I'm still missing targets that I shouldn't, but things are getting better.

When we were finished we stopped at DQ again for lunch.  Then we stopped at a True Value.  I wanted some Flitz.  They didn't have any, but they did have some nylon hardware I needed to fix the barrel holders on the cart.  We got fuel and stopped at a Petco to get a diffuser for the cat calming scent.  The last one broke when it fell on the floor.

When we got home we got into a conversation with the people next door.  It lasted hours.  It was fun.  When we were finished I went inside.  That's when I fucked up.  I forgot to close the slide in the screen door.  I didn't notice for at least 15 minutes.  By then Cooper was long gone.

The people next door asked some other campers.  They said they saw a brown and white cat under the next door trailer.  Of course Cooper wasn't there.  I started walking all around the sage brush area surrounding where the trailer was parked.  I spent about half an hour walking and calling.  I finally found Cooper about 50 yards into the sage brush.  He was freaked, with his tail huge.

Cooper started running when I tried to get him.  He ran through a barb wire fence.  Luckily it was broken, so I got through easily.  I chased him around for about 30 yards or so.  Eventually he let me catch him - sort of like he always does.  I took him back to the trailer.

Devon kept sniffing Cooper.  I'm not sure Devon recognized him.  We had pizza for dinner.  I wanted to get the sewer done but the people outside were eating dinner.  Their table was down wind of the pipe.  They'd been so nice that I waited until they were done.  I ended up doing the job after it was dark.  There was a lot more stuff coming out of the black tank than was justified for two days of use.  I think it never gets clean when we're pumping it.  The kitchen tank also had chunks of stuff coming out of it.  I think that's because I drain it with a small house.  Next year I'll use a big one.

The rest of the evening was surfing.  We went to bed a little early again.

Day 1774

 We woke up about 7:30.  There was no reason to get up that early, so we played games for awhile.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  I got out the guns and put them in the truck.  We left for the club about 9:30.

We took the "back way".  It was a mistake.  There were a lot of narrow twisty roads with low speed limits and slow cars.  We still managed to make it to the club about 10 minutes after they opened.  That's when I realized I hadn't put the shooting bags in the truck.  We got foam plugs and glasses for Ellen at the check in.  I used my sunglasses.

Redmond is a pretty nice place.  It's incredible considering it's all volunteer.  The terrain is nice and the targets were good.  The only down side is that they use Atlas machines.  The Atlas machines break a lot of targets.  We had 24 broken targets out of 250 we pulled.  All in all we had a good time and plan to go back tomorrow.

We took 97 home.  We stopped at BiMart and I bought a case of Fiocchi shells for $70.  We also stopped at Dairy Queen.  While we were eating a Trump caravan went by.  It kept coming.  There were well over 100 cars.  We ended up joining part of it after we left the Dairy Queen.  It was cool.

On the way home we saw a sign for "Steelhead Falls".  So we turned off.  After a bit of a fiasco finding the place we parked and took the "1/2 mile trail".  It was 1/2 mile linearly and 1/2 mile vertically.  There was no way Lucy was going to make it and we were tired, too.  So we stopped at a view point and turned back.

When we got home I took out the camera and we went over to the viewpoint over the gorge that I saw yesterday.  Lucy just wanted to go inside.  I got some great pictures.  Then we went  back to the trailer.

I did a little surfing and had a Mike's.  It didn't make me sick, which is nice.  Then I took a nap.

Ellen fixed pork chops for dinner. After dinner was surfing.  There's no cable of on air.

Day 1773

 We got up at 7:30.  We had breakfast, but no pet stuff - it's a travel day.  There was a lot to do and we were in no hurry.  I checked and inflated all of the truck and trailer tires.  I drained the shower tank and put away the king pin support.  Hooking up the hitch went really smoothly.  The final tasks were putting away the water hoses and the power cord.  We were on the road about 9:30.

Leaving was a little less problem free.  There was a thick fog - thicker than yesterday.  Ellen had forgotten to turn off the refrigerator and water heater.  I had to stop in Woodburn to do it.  I also stopped at Wally World to take a very necessary shit.

The trip on I5 and 205 was pretty normal.  Traffic was a little slow on 205, but we weren't in a hurry.  Once we got off 205 things got worse.  There were miles of 4 lane arterial, 45 mph, and lots of stop lights.  Of course most of them were red.  Things didn't get much better until we were past Sandy.  Small sections of rural 55 interspersed with podunk towns with 25 mph speed limits.  Sandy still sucks.  A narrow highway with a 25 mph speed limit.

Once we got past Sandy it was a little better.  Traffic was moving at the speed limit most of the time.  The road is a typical mountain pass, up to 4,000 feet.  This is the first time I could see the EGT's.  They run higher.  1200 degrees happened several times.  I was OK with that, since 1500 is the limit on the new trucks.  It takes some getting used to though.

Madras is a much bigger town than it was 25 years ago when we last were on this road.  It's another 25 mph bottle neck.  Unfortunately it's a long one.  Out side of town everyone was going 65 to 70.  That allowed us to make up some time.  Over all MPG was 9.6.  Not bad for the pass plus up and down the river gorge.

The campground is outside of Redmond.  It's OK, but a little weird.  They told Ellen not to dump a full tank and to leave the black water valve open.  BULLSHIT.  Our tank was almost full.  I dumped it and gave it 2 15 gallon flushes.  The sewer didn't back up, so it's OK by me.  The guage now read empty like it ought to.

By the time I was finished I was VERY tired.  I sat in the recliner and slept for at least two hours.  When I woke up I still felt like shit.

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner it was a little surfing - no TV here but the internet isn't bad.  I took the dog for a short walk just before 8.  I felt better after that.

Bedtime was early.

Day 1772

 We got up at 7 after the pet stuff we left for St. Vincent.  There was a heavy fog, maybe 150 ft visibility at the club.  The fog varied all the way up, from thick to almost non.  Traffic wasn't too heavy and was moving pretty well.  At times we hit 80, but most of the time it was between 70 and 75.  We got to the hospital with 15 minutes to spare.  The truck even fit in the parking garage.

Ellen went up to the doctor.  I went to the cafeteria and had a muffin and hot chocolate for breakfast.  Then I sat in the area by the snack bar for the next 2 hours.  I sat there because youiu could sit there and not wear a mask.  I wore one anyway, but I pulled it below my nose to keep the glasses from fogging.

Hooch texted me to tell me I hadn't picked up a package I had sent there.  So we stopped by to pick it up on the way back.  Then we went to the vet to pick up some pills for Lucy.  We stopped at the bagel place across the street for lunch.  We also stopped for fuel in Wilsonville.  The truck did 22 mpg from Wilsonville back to the club.

When we got home I backed the truck up so it would be easy to hook up.  Then I started doing the last few things.  I drained the shower tank so it wouldn't take as much time when I drained it tomorrow morning.  I took the clothes and hangers to the trailer.  I put the folding table and chairs in the shed.  I also walked over to talk to Dave.  He was out working.  I ended up walking the course to find him.  I said goodbye and made sure he knew where the Ranger and its key were.

We gave the trailer a good cleaning.  Ellen cleaned the range and vacuumed.  I cleaned the shower.  It took three rounds of spray cleaner and scrubbing to get it clean.

Dave told me there was no way I wanted to go to Redmond using the south road.  It's way too twisty, narrow, and has steep grades.  So I spent time planning a route over Hood.  We may take back roads or the freeway.  I'll decide tomorrow.

After that the rest of the evening was surfing and TV.  We packed up a few other things and then went to bed a little early.