Tuesdays in Ruston, Louisiana

Boy! Tuesdays are really busy in Ruston. Not as busy as the Tuesdays of Katie, Janelle, Joy, or Annie. First I have to show up the morning meeting of the Jefferson Corner Liars Club. I have to roll out at 4 to get there by 5.

Then at 6:30 I have to go over to the VFW Building for breakfast. You can see the group already sitting on the porch.

Everyone enjoys the breakfast prepared by JD (Just Dandy) Harper. What a great bunch of people! I enjoy their company every Tuesday morning.

Then at 11 I show up for lunch at the Senior Center.

Rachel leads the group in exercises. She does a grand job.

The folks at the Senior Center Lunch are very nice. It is a pleasure to spend time with them.



The lady in the background is playing the piano. The piano music creates a homey atmosphere. It is nice,

You can appreciate what a tough schedule I have on Tuesdays. I barely was able to work in time for a nap between the VFW and the Senior Lunch, but I did it.

Jefferson Corner Liars Club 8/30/10.

The Jefferson Corner Liars Club's clubhouse looked so good! It was a sight for sore eyes. So good to get back. I was 75 days away. My trip was 8,400 miles.

At the table in their seats of power are Tommy and Roebuck. President and vice President respectively.

In the yellow shirt is the Club  Secretary, Lizard. He takes care of all the paper work and horse racing forms. He loves paperwork!

That is me holding the Club Treasurer, Rhonda. She makes sure that the Club funds are properly deposited in the cash register. I love the Club Treasurer!

This is the Club Insurance Agent, Skip Russell. I hope  that knee was insured! We all wish Skip a complete and rapid recovery.

Grandpa John with Christian Newberry.

I think that this is a nice picture of a great grandpa and son in law. Christian is a sweet guy too!

David Newberry 39th Birthday Party.

John and Kerry Adams called a meeting at the Olive Garden in Monroe. The meeting was a 39th Birthday Party for David Newberry. We all wish the very best to David and pray that he will have many more Happy Birthdays.

In the group, shot clockwise from the left, is Joy and David Newberry, John and Kerry Adams, Ross, Ethan, and Christian Newberry. They enjoyed the party. I sure did. A very nice first day home from my trip. It is nice to think that my next long drive is months in the future.

2010 West Coast Trip Data.

It is good to be home again in Ruston, Louisiana. My home is in the best RV park. I really appreciate living there. It is behind my daughter Kerry's garage. My son in law John loves me so much that he has given me his parking place in the garage. Is there any greater love than that? I go out the back door of the garage and there is my fifth wheel home.

Here are some statistics from the trip. I visited 37 plus family members and as many good friends. I was gone from June 21 to August 28. That is 75 days, or 10 weeks, or 2 1/2 months. I drove 8,400 miles. I purchased 286.5 gallons of gasoline at a cost of $847.45. The average cost per gallon was $2.96. The average miles per gallon was 29.3.

I paid for lodging for 39 nights at a cost of $1807. That is an average cost per night of $46.33. This low cost is due to the fact that I stayed at the Evergreen Coho Resort for 21 days at an average cost per night of $31.30. The 18 nights that I stayed at motels had an average cost per night of $62.22.

This trip was a circle of the Western United States. In the order of travel I drove in the following states. Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and back across Texas to Louisiana. I drove through several national parks. One park bordered on Canada and one bordered on Mexico. Respectively, they are Glacier National Park in Montana and Big Bend National Park in Texas.

I visited the National Museum of the War in the Pacific in Fredericksburg, Texas and the George Bush Presidential Museum and Library in College Station, Texas.

It was a fun and interesting trip and I enjoyed it. It feels good that it is over and I am back home. I really did miss my Louisiana family and friends. I hope they remember me!

Dead Battery in Ozona

After a nap in Ozona, Texas my battery could not start my car. After a jump start I drove to Junction, Texas and had a 75 month NAPA battery installed. The original 36 month battery had lasted 46 months.

I only have a 300 mile trip tomorrow home to Ruston, Louisiana. Piece of cake compared to the 8100 miles I have driven since I left home on June 21. I should be home early Saturday afternoon.

John Wells

John is building an oasis in West Texas about an hour south of Alpine, Texas. He calls his project "Southwest Texas Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living Field Laboratory". He writes a daily blog about his work and life. I read it  and enjoy it. All kinds of technical projects and great photographs. You can reach his blog at The Field Lab.

John can also call wild long horn cows out of the wild and have them eat out of his hand!

Here comes one.

Getting closer.

John has a way with cows!

Watch out when she swings those sharp horns! OK, I will confess. The cow is Benita, an old friend of John's.

John's oasis is going to be centered in the structure he is building with storage crates at each corner. He is building that roof all by himself. It is going to be a greenhouse. Part of the roof will be translucent. He is  setting up a large water storage system.

Kelly & Sandy

This is a nice picture of these nice people. They took me on a great tour of the Needles area. We went to Oatman, Needles, Bullhead City, and Laughlin.

We enjoyed steaks at the Riverside Casino. I walked the floors of that casino many times with Jackie. Being there again brought back many memories. I do not believe that I will ever play a slot machine again.

Except for Oatman, Jackie and I stayed at RV parks in all those places.

It was so much fun remembering so many things from the past with Sandy. We went over many old pictures together. I do not believe we finished before it was time to go. We will have to do it again! I hope that they will come through Louisiana someday.

Sunset-Pie Town-New Mexico

I am in Socorro. Need some sleep. Hope to blog tomorrow.

Oatman, Arizona

Isn't he a pretty burro? He lives in downtown Oatman, Arizona.

He lives there with some buddies. I bet that there are more burros in downtown Oatman than most cities.

Pretty country around Oatman. Had a nice trip to Oatman today. Tomorrow I am driving to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

108 at 11 am.

Fort Mojave

This is the home of Kelly and Sandy Klipstein in Fort Mojave, Arizona. Sandy is the youngest child of my oldest brother, Keith. Sandy used to play with my two oldest children, Nancy and Chris. Chris said his memories of Sandy are all pleasant. Sandy was a pretty girl and was nice to him. He said that did not happen very often to him.

This is Sandy holding Willie who is 18 years old! She saved him from the pound when he was a kitten.

This is Sandy holding Kashew who is only 9 years old.

This is the neighborhood road runner.

This is tonight's sunset over the back fence. The view from the backyard is great! The Klipsteins are kind enough to put me up. Tomorrow the ghost town Oatman and the casinos of Laughlin.

Cowhide Thrower.

This is a statue of a man throwing a cowhide over a cliff. It is at Dana Point where Richard Henry Dana threw cowhides over the cliff in 1835. Dana told of his adventures in the book "Two years before the mast".

The hides were called California greenbacks because they were worth about a dollar. The hide was worth more than the meat.

My Dana Point Host and Hostess.

These folks are also my daughter Nancy Ann and my son in law Bob Wright. They are a lot of fun to be with. They seem to always be smiling. I sure do thank them for putting up with me for ten days. They were so kind and thoughtful.

My schedule has changed and I now believe that I will be home a week from Sat or Sun, the 28th or 29th of August. On Monday August 30th I shall return to the Jefferson Corner Liars Club at 5 am. Rhonda, please don't be late!

I am eating good!

I know that some of you are worried that I get enough to eat while on my trip. You need not worry. They feed  good in Dana Point.

The pic above is of recent dinner consisting of oso bucco with risotto milanese. Some of us would call it veal shank with italian rice. It was delicious and was prepared by my daughter Nancy. She is such a sweet hostess and cooks real good! There is even some grated orange peel on top of the veal.

July 2010 visit to Evergreen Coho Resort

Jackie and I lived at the Evergreen Coho Resort from 1989 to 2006. That is the longest we lived in a place. 17 years. They were mostly good years until Jackie had medical problems. We helped build the clubhouse and 175 sheds. We loved the Resort and still do. This July was my third trip back to the Resort. I spent 3 weeks there and really enjoyed it. Lots of visiting with good friends. I am proud of the Resort and want to complement the present members who are doing such a good job maintaining the place. It really looks sharp!

Here are some pics from my last visit.

During the last year or so the coop built this fountain at the entrance. They did a great job.

This is the coop office and registration building. In the early days Jackie and I pulled shifts in the building.

That is Bill Friel of the Las Cruces Friels standing by a litter sign. He went down the banks after trash and I threw him a rope to pull him back up. The next pic is of the clubhouse. We are proud of that home made totem pole. The carvings tell the story of the coop.

Two of the lots. The near one is a conventional fifth wheel. The far one is a little bit more ornate RV. Almost looks like a house, huh?

Above is lot 649 where Jackie spent the longest time of our lives together. Doesn't the gravel look homey? 20 yards of gravel to get above the water level.  Notice the high rear hip on the shed. I did that to get more storage space in the loft. The next pic is of the backyard. I planted the Rhodies. The trees were seedlings when we moved on the lot in 1990.

A rest garden.

I helped build the gazebo. Cut a lot of shingles.

A lovely herb garden

The RV of the Turners. Sure looks nice.

Another view of the clubhouse.

Bingo!