ON THE ROAD AGAIN
After celebrating grandson Sean’s 16th birthday and spending a very pleasant afternoon with family and friends of the Gary Burns family, Monday April 18, was our getaway date. Organized, packed and ready at 10am we were on the road and passing through Pasadena via the 210 freeway. A quick stopover at Camping World for replacement windshield wipers (in case we hit rain along the way) and a lunch stop at the White Water rest area cleared the way for a windy passage through the desert . Once beyond Indio, we made good time with a clear road before us and a good wind at our back. We arrived in Ehrenberg shortly after 3 for our first night on the road.
Tuesday morning we dallied a bit with only a short trek from Ehrenberg into Casa Grande on the schedule. We arrived at the Casa Grande RV resort at 2PM and enjoyed a warm afternoon of “laid back” relaxation. Life is tough.
Wednesday we overnighted at RV Docks Resort in Las Cruces. Before we left our friend Bruce told Ken that by reducing his mileage down to 55, he was able to improve his mpg performance. Ken acted on this information and by doing so, added an extra mpg in fuel performance. Kudos to Bruce for his recommendation.
Thursday we traveled from Las Cruces to Tye Texas. In spite of my ultimatum that we would not travel more than 300 miles in any one day and preferably, no more than 250 miles, we did over 400 miles. By the time we settled in at a RV park the interior of the RV was decidedly “coolish” with the navigator and pilot barely speaking. The icing on the cake however, came as we were having a late dinner. A jet from the nearby air base took off and it sounded as if it was going to land in our coach for dinner with us. With that , Ken was reminded of the proprietor’s comment when he registered, as follows. “Oh that is what the guy meant when he said you should have a good night though there may be an occasional plane from the base nearby. I don’t know if they have any training exercises scheduled tonight or not”. Grrrr. Three such take offs before 9 PM put me in a more than “nervous” state but alas, that was the last of the take offs for the night. However, starting at 2AM, all of the “birds” came home to roost with at least 10 landing between 2 and 4 AM. Fortunately, their landings were gentler than their take offs and I never felt threatened that they might be joining us for breakfast. Those little incidents along with the horn blowing trains that went by on an hourly basis, capped off our fourth day on the road.
Friday we arrived in Dallas and luckily, the Elks Club, just five miles from SMU, where Lauren attends school had room for us. Another “peak” at our mileage chart shows that our mpg at the reduced speed has improved our mileage and fuel usage. We may not be the fastest RV on the road, but we are trying to be fuel conscious. It is interesting that so few people are concerned enough about their gas mileage or the cost of gas as to reduce their speed. Ahem. Perhaps it is easier to complain about the cost than it is to exercise some independent jurisdiction over that which we can ourselves, impact.
Saturday, we were joined for lunch by our granddaughter, Lauren, which capped off our week with a joyous visit with our favorite granddaughter in spite of her bad cold.
It has been a good week from the road.
Until next time, stay well and our best to all.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Super Bowl Sunday February 6, 2005
Once again we are back “en residence” at the adobe in Glendale. It is good to be home where there is ample space in which to roam and where we are near our family, small though it may be. Our granddaughter, Lauren, has been updating the family on her activities while she is away at school. With her permission, I am adding under her byline what we (absolutely unprejudiced grandparents) believe are delightful reports of her activities at school as a regular feature entitled LETTER FROM LAUREN. Hopefully, you will find her “chatter” a nice diversion to our sometimes boring chatter.
Our trip below the border was restful, relaxing and if you want to know the truth, somewhat boring. How much R and R do retired people need? Unlike most of our excursions, there was no place to explore absent a “quad” or ATV. Our close friend, Phil, believes that people who have ATV’s are “barbarians”. Believe me, when we next go to Mexico, we will do as the barbarians do!
LETTER FROM LAUREN
To the group of angels that raised a somewhat devilish child,
School is, well school. It's not good, but it's not bad. The workload never dies down and my percentage of sleep never really seems to go up. It's a vicious cycle. My classes aren't horrible. A couple are terribly boring, but not everything can be fun and games now can it?! I did take my first french test in which I received a well cherished 93 percent. I think that's the highest grade I've ever received in any sort of french affiliated test of knowledge. Dad said I could do better, and in spite of him I'm going to get an A in french (overall) - we'll see what he thinks about that .. pff a 93 not good? What world is he living in?
The week of the 14th (Hallmarks Valentines day) is going to be rough. I don't think I've ever seen so much stuff jam packed into a total of 3 days. When the going gets tough .. the tough get going!
In other news, hall council is going to get a move on this semester. We've already got several events planned which I'm ecstatic about! My favorite includes "senior prom" .. where we're going to set up a ballroom, get an oldies band and have the nursing homes from around SMU come and enjoy a "senior prom" .. Feel like doing something good for the community!
One of the girls on RHA (the secretary) she's kind of nasty .. I mean nasty attitude of course, but she insists that I may have to step down from my position of Shuttles President, because .. I have to leave a few minutes early from the RHA general assembly meetings because I have class! I tried to get into another one (it's my MSA class) but it's impossible. And it's necessary for my major. The President of RHA said it was fine, but we'll see how that goes.
The social scene - doesn't seem to be my cup of tea. I'm struggling to find some sort of compromise between going to bars and staying in my room and doing homework or watching a movie by myself. The other night we were sitting outside after coming back from the local hangout "JAcK's" and this one girl started just bawling because her friend and her got in a fight. And she was saying "I don't want to be in highschool, I just wanna be in college" .. I had to reassure her that she was and that just because you're in college doesn't mean every single aspect of drama leaves your life. It was draining. But I think about a lot of the things that a lot of the people I know here revolve their lives around .. it really got me thinking, and I came to the conclusion that a lot of it is extremely petty. But I'm still looking for that compromise .. I'm thinking lazer tag?!
I've been going with a couple friends to ab class every Monday and Wednesday and trying to make it to the gym a couple other days. So I'm keeping that new years resolution. The job is going well. I have work possibly Thursday and for sure on Saturday. It feels good to get away from my room for a little bit and earn some extra cash, because when your friends weekly activities include going to the mall .. it gets difficult to resist the pressure of buying that cute
new top or those sooo adorable shoes.
Morgan is going to New York on Wednesday night. She's really excited and I'm left alone in my room again. I'm missing home terribly. I miss my friends even more! I don't know what it is, I’m just really homesick right now. I talk to Megan every day, and try and talk to Amy as much as possible but she's always super busy. Amy plans on staying up in SLO over the summer, and I’'m really sad about that but I'll visit her often. She loves it up there. Megan is planning on transferring from Santa Cruz .. I don't know when but she's going to make her move soon. By the way she says hi!
Anyways, I have to head off to my french class. Then hopefully off for a bite to eat. Hope all is well at home! Miss you guys tons!! Love you!!
Once again we are back “en residence” at the adobe in Glendale. It is good to be home where there is ample space in which to roam and where we are near our family, small though it may be. Our granddaughter, Lauren, has been updating the family on her activities while she is away at school. With her permission, I am adding under her byline what we (absolutely unprejudiced grandparents) believe are delightful reports of her activities at school as a regular feature entitled LETTER FROM LAUREN. Hopefully, you will find her “chatter” a nice diversion to our sometimes boring chatter.
Our trip below the border was restful, relaxing and if you want to know the truth, somewhat boring. How much R and R do retired people need? Unlike most of our excursions, there was no place to explore absent a “quad” or ATV. Our close friend, Phil, believes that people who have ATV’s are “barbarians”. Believe me, when we next go to Mexico, we will do as the barbarians do!
LETTER FROM LAUREN
To the group of angels that raised a somewhat devilish child,
School is, well school. It's not good, but it's not bad. The workload never dies down and my percentage of sleep never really seems to go up. It's a vicious cycle. My classes aren't horrible. A couple are terribly boring, but not everything can be fun and games now can it?! I did take my first french test in which I received a well cherished 93 percent. I think that's the highest grade I've ever received in any sort of french affiliated test of knowledge. Dad said I could do better, and in spite of him I'm going to get an A in french (overall) - we'll see what he thinks about that .. pff a 93 not good? What world is he living in?
The week of the 14th (Hallmarks Valentines day) is going to be rough. I don't think I've ever seen so much stuff jam packed into a total of 3 days. When the going gets tough .. the tough get going!
In other news, hall council is going to get a move on this semester. We've already got several events planned which I'm ecstatic about! My favorite includes "senior prom" .. where we're going to set up a ballroom, get an oldies band and have the nursing homes from around SMU come and enjoy a "senior prom" .. Feel like doing something good for the community!
One of the girls on RHA (the secretary) she's kind of nasty .. I mean nasty attitude of course, but she insists that I may have to step down from my position of Shuttles President, because .. I have to leave a few minutes early from the RHA general assembly meetings because I have class! I tried to get into another one (it's my MSA class) but it's impossible. And it's necessary for my major. The President of RHA said it was fine, but we'll see how that goes.
The social scene - doesn't seem to be my cup of tea. I'm struggling to find some sort of compromise between going to bars and staying in my room and doing homework or watching a movie by myself. The other night we were sitting outside after coming back from the local hangout "JAcK's" and this one girl started just bawling because her friend and her got in a fight. And she was saying "I don't want to be in highschool, I just wanna be in college" .. I had to reassure her that she was and that just because you're in college doesn't mean every single aspect of drama leaves your life. It was draining. But I think about a lot of the things that a lot of the people I know here revolve their lives around .. it really got me thinking, and I came to the conclusion that a lot of it is extremely petty. But I'm still looking for that compromise .. I'm thinking lazer tag?!
I've been going with a couple friends to ab class every Monday and Wednesday and trying to make it to the gym a couple other days. So I'm keeping that new years resolution. The job is going well. I have work possibly Thursday and for sure on Saturday. It feels good to get away from my room for a little bit and earn some extra cash, because when your friends weekly activities include going to the mall .. it gets difficult to resist the pressure of buying that cute
new top or those sooo adorable shoes.
Morgan is going to New York on Wednesday night. She's really excited and I'm left alone in my room again. I'm missing home terribly. I miss my friends even more! I don't know what it is, I’m just really homesick right now. I talk to Megan every day, and try and talk to Amy as much as possible but she's always super busy. Amy plans on staying up in SLO over the summer, and I’'m really sad about that but I'll visit her often. She loves it up there. Megan is planning on transferring from Santa Cruz .. I don't know when but she's going to make her move soon. By the way she says hi!
Anyways, I have to head off to my french class. Then hopefully off for a bite to eat. Hope all is well at home! Miss you guys tons!! Love you!!
