Paws and Friends

Currently in North Little Rock, on the Arkansas River (No lights on our bridge last night! Drat! Let's hope we have them tonight!) After a very warm day (for us!) at 88 yesterday, with high humidity, and low of 60... Today we had a high of 73, with a low of 53     Currently, at 4:30 CDT, 68. Cloudy, 61% humidity People talk a lot about passion, but what is it really? Is it a belief, a very strong belief? Is it a mind set? If you really enjoy your job, it can be said that you are passionate. We appreciate careful attention to detail by those providing us with customer service. Are they passionate about their job? Aurora University (Lindy's alma mater) came out with the statement: Discover what matters. Then build your life around it. Doesn't that describe what we do with/in our lives? But, how far would you be willing to go....? Today the Riders visited the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site , and the "Testament" -- the Civil Rights Mem...

Currently in North Little Rock, Arkansas  -- Downtown Riverside RV Park 59 degrees, light rain     "low" tonight  - 63  (yep! warmer than now) Thunderstorms--some may contain locally heavy rain, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low 63. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch.   Fortunately, the rain held off some when the tire guys came! Here is what we found: You get the picture! The "nail" in the front passenger side tire was a 3/4 inch finishing screw, and when the tech pulled it out, nothing happened! David, from Ozarko Tire Centers, Inc., said that it may have been embedded in the rubber, but had not punctured the tire because of the construction of the tire....  And we shall leave it at that!  As we said in our earlier post, we have not lost any air pressure, thankfully, and our tires are in good shape still! We are good to go! We certainly have learned a lot regarding our tires, o...

Twin Fountains RV, Oklahoma City In Oklahoma City, OK (Actually Lake Aluma--according to Weather Channel) 65 degrees now, Low tonight 53 Cloudy with occasional rain showers.... We were only staying one night, traveling yesterday from Canyon, TX. But heavy rain and thunderstorms, and a nail in a tire, caused us to rethink. We only had the heavy rain, (isn't it great to say "only"?! and not severe thunderstorms with hail and/or tornado alerts?) and we needed to hook up the toad to be on the road no later than 9 AM this morning to make it to Little Rock today. And then the nail...we just noticed when we parked here yesterday afternoon. No telling how long it has been in the tire. The tire pressure monitor shows that the tire is holding pressure. So with that extra bit of information we decided to stay another day here, making the 338 mile trek tomorrow to North Little Rock "slow and easy" watching the TPM (Tire Pressure Monitor) along the way. And then...

Canyon, TX -- wind  N 30 MPH      High 61  Low  38   Currently 56.... Wind map   (Thanks, Bonnie!) Yes, it is very windy! Fortunately, we are parked perfectly for the wind as it is out of the north (as those readers looking at the wind map can tell). A good day for staying close to home, doing laundry, and catching up on the blog. While in Alamogordo we did visit the New Mexico Museum of Space History which also houses the International Space Hall of Fame. It was fun to look around, do some geocaches, and side-step 4th graders from Dexter, NM, on a field trip to same! How rich it would have been to take a field trip here....! But alias, too far from Gallup! Mike did chat with some, for she "just knew" they were 4th graders, having taught that age for 17 years! We'll post pictures, letting them tell the story. What a cool tool for collecting rocks!  View to the west from the top floor of the museum. Can you see White Sands...

Currently in Canyon, TX      68 degrees   High   72   Low 41 The trip Thursday from Alamogordo to Clovis , 222.2 miles, was uneventful. Forecast was for winds gusting to 35. Usually wind increases in the afternoon, so we departed around 7:30 am, arriving in Clovis right at noon. We fueled up just outside Roswell, NM, so not only had we arrived ahead of the winds, but had the afternoon to look at weather maps to judge future conditions and to relax. Good thing, too, for after we walked about half a mile to a cache, and returned, wind picked up and a rain squall moved through. This happened about 4 times late afternoon yesterday. As we watched the radar map we saw storm "tracks" moving west over Cannon Air Force Base or east of us -- fortunately missing us! Strong wind gusts occurred a couple of times, but buildings to the west of us along with a fence did offer some protection from the winds. We hope to continue being "lucky" (if that is what it is call...

Currently near Alamogordo (La Luz), NM   71 degrees    high  75/low 49    windy! It was a tad windy coming from Las Cruces Monday...some of those cross winds were interesting! But, it is spring, in New Mexico, and one expects wind. When we settled in our spot at Boot Hill RV Resort, we could see the white "dust" of White Sands! The wind had settled down significantly on our visit to the National Monument yesterday, thankfully! We did encounter a road grader, plowing the road as if the sand were snow! Happily, we played tourist as we drove south to the visitor's center, about 15 miles south of RV park. White Sands National Monument was established January 18, 1933, under the Hoover administration. It is the largest gypsum dune field in the world, at 275 square miles. Interestingly, it is "in the middle" of the White Sands Missile Range, and roads there, as well as US 70 south to Las Cruces are subject to closures during launches. We experienced no delays...

Currently in Deming, NM  High 66/Low 49  Current temp:  65 Hasn't it been said something that "things" happen in three's...? On Friday that saying "worked" for us! leak someplace under kitchen sink.... water dripping steadily by external fill of the fresh water tank...and fresh water tank FULL! power out entire park, and all of Benson--early Saturday morning:  2 - 5 am Problem #1:  Mike made some calls Friday afternoon, and finally connected with a fellow recommended by two others she called who were unable to come. Wayne arrived about 3:30, and quickly diagnosed the problem--perhaps many of you readers already made the same diagnoses--cramped quarters in that slide out and every time it goes in and out, drain hose rubs on other "stuff", is crimped by the other "stuff" and eventually develops cracks. Plus, he indicated if only they had made the hose a little longer, it would not be "pulled" as much, causing it to be cr...

Benson, AZ  Currently  80   High 81/Low 46 We tied up at one of our favorite RV Parks, Butterfield RV Resort and Observatory --yes, an Observatory! It is a small one, with a Meade LX-200 GPS 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. They give free shows each night, weather permitting, to their guests. Seating is limited--about 12, and all one needs to do is sign up in the office! Hopefully, one can get a spot! It is special for each participant gets a turn to look through the telescope after discussion on what will be seen, with ample time for questions! Butterfield is a Good Sam Park, with a 10/10/9.5 rating, as well as the Arizona RV Park of the Year, and it is a Passport America Park--which means 1/2 discount--with certain exclusions. Check their Passport America website for more specific information. Ummmm--we felt the water drip....but from where? Our work on this blog was interrupted---water dripping outside from a slide... Further exploration has revealed a ...

Gila Bend, AZ  High 82/ low 52  Currently 77 We were up and at it early this morning--riding our bikes around North Ranch for one "turn"--total 3.09 miles. We considered that good enough for our exercise today! The rest of the morning we spent on getting ready to depart: disconnecting all hook ups, pulling in slides, raising jacks, and pulling out the motor home-- Wrapping up the Blue Buggy--how do you think we will find it in October?  parking it on the street backing in the Blue Buggy, putting on the cover and "wrapping" it to keep the wind from tearing the cover off....How do you think we did?  hooking up the utility trailer to the jeep and backing that in putting away the hitch for the trailer and "installing" the bicycle rack hitch loading the bikes Utility Trailer in, tires covered--Ready to Go! moving the jeep out of the lot locking the gate pulling motor home to designated "spot" for hook up driving jeep to hook up sp...

North Ranch:  High  77/Low   51     Currently 75       We are in the desert, correct? There is little water, washes are usually dry as are the river beds.....well, not quite! In February we took a buggy ride to Box Canyon which is just Rupert goes for a ride at Box Canyon Box Canyon The Very DRY Hassayampa!  November 21, 2014 off the Hassayampa River, which flows mostly underground. The part above ground is usually another dry bed like the washes around which provide major ATV/UTV highways for us...!  The pictures above were taken on a ride November 21, 2014. A side note: Rupert had to be carried because he works SO hard at ensuring that everyone is accounted for...but once he leaves one group, the other group moves off--he has a terrible time herding everyone on these rides!! In these pictures above notice how very dry everything is. From our buggy...look how easy it is! February 24, five of us gals decided on a...