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Published: June 13th 2017
The opening and closing segments of the 2016 Chapter of
The Great Adventure went pretty much according to plan, but Uncle Larry relearned the value of flexibility during the middle portion of the trip. I usually limit my plans to only a couple of time-dependent events, and 2016 was no different. First, I wanted to spend Mother’s Day with my 94-year-old Aunt Lena in Florida. During my week in Sanford, we enjoyed portions of several days together. Second, I wanted to attend White Mills Days in White Mills KY, birthplace of my mother and home to my only other surviving aunt. I had been promising 88-year-old Aunt Louise that I would attend White Mills Days “one of these years.” Stop procrastinating, Uncle Larry! Neither of you are getting any younger. She is still very active physically and mentally and participates in numerous community events and committees in addition to White Mills Days. The event was actually a lot of blue collar, down home, Americana fun. I was reintroduced to several second, third and fourth cousins I haven’t seen for years and bumped into a few first cousins I see regularly when I visit the area. Two time-dependent goals accomplished!
While
One Of Several Sculptures Found On The Museum Grounds
Heard Museum World Championship Hoop Dance - Phoenix AZI was in Kentucky, I learned of the gravity of my sister’s battle with terminal cancer. I aborted my plans to visit West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana before visiting her in Illinois and proceeded directly from the White Mills area to northern Illinois. I was fortunate to be able to assist Helen with her home care and was honored to be able to support her and her children as her time on planet Earth drew to a close. It was a sad time, but now there is no more pain. I hung out in Illinois for a couple of weeks after my sister’s services to visit family and friends, but shortly after leaving Illinois I learned that a close cousin had died. I had mention him in previous blogs during my visits to Chicago. He had Alzheimer’s disease so, again, sad but no more torment. Jumping ahead, I made a one-day stop in Oklahoma to visit a childhood friend afflicted with cancer. He subsequently died in February 2017. Jumping back, I had stopped in Louisiana to visit Rudy’s family on my way to Florida. In November, during my 2016-17 winter hiatus in Arizona, I learned that Rudy’s sister, Rozelia
(Miss Rose), died quite unexpectedly. I probably had a deeper connection with Rose and her husband, Julius, than any other members of Rudy’s family. I hope the coming months have fewer visits by the Grim Reaper.
I made stops in Tennessee and Missouri to visit retired firefighter friends and hooked up with a first cousin on my mother's side in Missouri. Those who follow my blog might remember that in 2010 I had hooked up with a paternal second cousin, Bud, in Gowrie IA, my father’s birthplace, . His grandfather was a brother to my grandfather. For some unexplained reason, my visits to the Rockford IL area haven’t taken me southwesterly from Rockford. This time, I spent two weeks in the Quad Cities IL/IA area (where Bud’s brother lives), and we finally got connected. I spent portions of several days with Wayne, his wife and their children and grandchildren. Jumping ahead, I hooked up with Bud and Wayne’s sister, Marilyn, who lives in Mesa AZ but spends the heat of the summer elsewhere. She and I have hit it off nicely and are kicking around the notion of some joint travel excursions. There is one more sibling I have
yet to meet, Larry, who lives in Oklahoma City. I hope to meet him in the next couple of years. Since I have lost my sister and brother in Illinois and my “sister” in Louisiana over the last two years, I am grateful that my newly discovered cousins have helped fill that void.
While in Rockford, I was reacquainted with several of my sister’s nieces and nephews on her ex-husband’s side of the family who had come to visit her as her health declined. We played together as kids when we happened to visit my sister and family at the same time or to attended the same birthday party. Also, my niece suggested I look up her father’s brother while I was in Arkansas. I did, and we made a connection I’ll cultivate in the future.
Four Presidents made Uncle Larry’s itinerary in 2016 – the
George W. Bush Childhood Home in Midland TX, the John F. Kennedy Memorial and the
Sixth-Floor Museum (from which Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated the President) in Dallas TX, the
Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains GA and the
Ulysses S. Grant Home State Historic Site in Galena IL. A few attractions, including the
Fort Worth (TX) Stockyards National Historic District and the
National Naval Aviation Museum, demanded a return visit during my stopover. The home
From A Dozen Or So Hoops On The Ground …
Heard Museum World Championship Hoop Dance - Phoenix AZ of
Tabasco hot sauce on Avery Island LA was unique and interesting as was the
International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame & Museum in Chattanooga TN. A visit to northern Alabama must include a stop at the
U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville and an eastern Tennessee visit wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the
American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge – one of the facilities that developed the first atomic bombs, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. Of course, I would consider a summer incomplete without a NASCAR race – 2016 found me at
Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
Other 2016 highlights include visits to the birthplaces or homes of several famous Americans, including
John Deere (as well as a couple of other corporate Deere facilities),
Walt Disney,
Mark Twain,
General John J. Pershing and
Buffalo Bill Cody. A few state capitols as well as numerous county courthouses, Vietnam War memorials and covered bridges got my attention, but lighthouses were in short supply! I learned about civil rights in Alabama and Mississippi, the Civil War in Georgia and Tennessee, bourbon in Kentucky and beer in Wisconsin. After a visit to the
Rhea County Courthouse & Museum in Dayton TN (site of the Scopes Monkey Trial), I stopped at
Monkey Town Brewing for lunch and had an informative
… To A Sphere Of Sorts – Very interesting
Heard Museum World Championship Hoop Dance - Phoenix AZ conversation with the brew master about the hurdles encountered in the first year of business. In spite of the itinerary modification and the several inevitable “rites of human passage,” the travel season was interesting and adventuresome.
I have learned that viewing the fall foliage has one rule – arrive earlier than advertised and stay until the leaves have fallen. My plans for viewing the 2016 fall foliage was a 6-week trip through the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas preceding a one week stop to “leaf peep” in eastern Oklahoma. Then I would make a short stop to visit my childhood friend in El Reno OK before returning to Phoenix metro. During my second week in Arkansas, I had a slide-out malfunction during “slide-in” (retraction in prep for departure). As I pondered my options during the drive to my third Arkansas destination, I decided to abort that week as well as the week I had planned for eastern Oklahoma and proceed directly to my friend’s home – IF his health allowed. I called, and he gave me the okay. I stayed in his spare bedroom for two nights. That gave us a full day to reminisce and BS about everything
from soup to nuts. Fortunately, his health still allowed me to take him out for a nice steak dinner – something his medication-strapped budget did not allow. RIP Darrell.
By the time I arrived at my winter home in Apache Junction AZ, I had decided it was time to replace my 2003 Dodge Ram with a different tow vehicle and my ailing 2005 Pilgrim travel trailer with a different abode. While the Pilgrim was in the repair shop, I stayed with my friend Gary, found a 2015 Dodge Ram 6.7 Liter turbo diesel that is loaded for bear and bought it. The amenities include keyless entry, power retractable towing mirrors, heated seats and steering wheel, power rear window, back-up camera, etc., etc., etc. The downside is that I now have about 1.5 million things that can, and eventually will, go wrong and ABSOLUTELY NECESSITATE repair! The Holidays came and went, and I began my search for a new home. I found a 2013 Heartland Bighorn fifth-wheel and bought it. It too is loaded to the hilt – on board 5500-watt Cummings propane generator, an automatic leveling system, washer/dryer combo, central vacuum, power awning, power roof exhaust vent (with a
rain sensor that closes the cover automatically), etc., etc., etc. After dealer prep and delivery came the work!
The folks at the RV park allowed me to use an empty site for a couple of days while I transferred my world from the Pilgrim to the Bighorn. Surprisingly, the Pilgrim had more storage capacity than the Bighorn so several boxes found a temporary home at Gary’s while I unpacked the necessities, prioritized my retention list and transported numerous containers of unused merchandise to Goodwill. I had to keep repeating my mantra, “If you haven’t used it since 2010, get rid of it.” That’s somewhat of an exaggeration, but there was a lot of stuff I needed to donate or discard. Even with both slide-outs deployed, the floor space in my living area is about 6’ x 6’. That’s not a lot of room for boxes and containers so the sorting process was slow – fetch 3-4 boxes, sort, stow, discard and repeat ad infinitum. I finally got settled in my new digs. As is usually the case, there are things I would have done differently if I were the engineer or other floor plans I might have preferred if
I were buying new; however, in the used market…. Everything said, I think I did myself proud!
Some have requested photos of my new digs, but my work cannot hold a candle to the manufacturer’s web site –
Heartland Bighorn 3010 RE. Be sure to scroll down to the pictures, double click on one to enlarge and then use the keyboard arrows to advance/retreat through the gallery.
Interspersed in the planning for Chapter 2017 and the shopping, buying and moving exercises for the truck and fifth-wheel, there was time for a smidgen of fun. I attended the
World Championship Hoop Dance Contest in Phoenix, the
Roots N' Boots Queen Creek festival and rodeo in Queen Creek AZ, the
Annual Desert Dog K9 Trials in Mesa AZ and the Memorial Day Program at Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park in Mesa. The Hoop Dance Contest is held at the
Heard Museum which is a repository for Native American art and acts as an advocate for Native American artists. Admission to the dance competition included admission to the museum so, why not? Outside, the museum hosts the
American Indians Veterans National Memorial as well as several statues. The art inside the museum ranges widely among the various genres of the visual arts. It’s well worth the time for those so inclined.
I had never even heard of K-9 Trials, but that day turned out to be quite interesting. Besides that, I had an opportunity to see Sloan Park, the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs. Almost 100 dogs represented Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico. The first leg of the course consisted of A) the K-9 officer engaging Bad Guy #1, B) Bad Guy #2 (who emerged from a squad car, go figure) attacking the dog’s human partner and C) the K-9 officer abandoning Bad Guy #1 to save his/her human partner from Bad Guy #2. Another leg of the course found the K-9 racing toward a suspect at full speed only to be commanded to abandon that target and to return to its human partner. Other elements included the K-9 officer’s ability to perform during gunfire, to leap into the bed of a pickup truck to subdue an offender and to breech a 3-4-foot wall to engage a suspect. Not all dogs performed flawlessly, but those that did really impressed Gary and me. In addition to the activities open to the public, the dogs also tackled off-site narcotics and explosives courses.
Gary and I took his pontoon boat to
Lake Mead National Recreation Area at Willow Beach AZ and spent a couple of days fishing and exchanging “friends for almost 70 years” guy talk. The area north of the marina is quite picturesque, and we were treated to sightings of several Bighorn sheep. South of the marina is less visually pleasing, and the fishing in either direction sucked. On one of my trips “up the hill” to Chino Valley AZ, my nephew and I visited the
Phippen Western Art Museum in Prescott AZ. The museum also houses numerous interesting western artifacts in addition to the art. Included are mementos from an actor who died a long, long time ago boys and girls – before I was born! Between 1909 and 1935, Thomas Edwin Mix appeared in 291 Western movies, all but nine of which were silent films. He was killed in a car crash in 1940 near Florence AZ between Apache Junction and Tucson AZ. A memorial and rest area I utilized in 2014 are located at the crash site. The museum is well done and should be on the list for all locals or visitor to Prescott.
Actually, I made 4-5 trips “up the hill” to visit my great niece’s family during my 2016-17
Here Comes The Commemorative Air Force (CAF)
Memorial Day Program, Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park – Mesa AZ travelling hiatus. The first was for Thanksgiving and the last was to celebrate the high school graduation of Dave and Dawn’s oldest son, Jake, my great, great nephew – man am I getting old! Marginal weather (getting picky?), my unwillingness to navigate immense crowds (mostly the accompanying traffic and parking issues) and/or my lack of motivation (getting lazy?) caused me to forgo the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four festivities (the hoopla lasted the better part of a week), the Arizona Renaissance Festival, the NASCAR race at Phoenix International Raceway and the Ostrich Festival.
My departure from Phoenix metro for the 2017 installment of
The Great Adventure was delayed by glitches that have arisen as the two vehicles I purchased in Arizona have gone through a long, arduous, convoluted process to get registered in Illinois and financed in Utah. Arizona requires initial registration in that state (taking “up to” 60 days) before the out-of-state registration process can be started (another “up to” 60 days). Of course, after Illinois had the paperwork for about 60 days, my niece got a letter asking for the weight of the fifth-wheel. After my paperwork had been resubmitted and after what seemed like forever, I
assumed that my amended paperwork had found its way to the end of the queue vs. placed on the top of the stack. Early June heralded success!
I now have a revised and shortened 2017 itinerary that will take me north to visit friends in Las Vegas NV and Idaho before travelling west to the Pacific Coast and south on the Pacific Coast Highway. Travelling east and then south, I plan to make stops at Reno NV and Yosemite and Death Valley National Parks in California before heading back to Apache Junction. Some of the attractions that were dropped from the original itinerary so I could be back in Phoenix metro before Thanksgiving, like Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks in Utah, will be easily reincorporated into future travels while others, like the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, will require a “ya gotta wanna” trip in the future. Most days over the last three to four weeks have found the temperatures in triple digits, and to say that I am getting “happy feet” is a genuine understatement. BUT IT’S A DRY HEAT!!!
2017 02 12 Heard Museum World Championship Hoop Dance - Phoenix AZ
VIDEO 111655
100215
Placards Describe Native American Warfare From The 17
th Century Forward
101702 One Of Several Sculptures Found On The Museum Grounds
102459 One Of The Young Competitors Getting Some Last-Minute Practice
103924 An Opportunity To Mingle And Chat As Well As To Admire The Beauty Of the Native Attire
110016 From A Dozen Or So Hoops On The Ground …
110356 … To A Sphere Of Sorts – Very interesting
2017 05 07 Annual Desert Dog K9 Trials - Mesa AZ
VIDEO 171143
170950 This Relic Caused Me A Double-Take – Where’s Barney?
171024 The K-9 Officer Is Called Off And Commanded To Return To Its Human Partner
171025 The Fearless Catapulted Themselves Over The Barrier, The Wiser (Or Lazier) Circled In Search Of An Entry Before Vaulting Into The Danger
171028 Demos And Vendors Were Located Near The Concession Stands
171140 Abandoning Bad Guy #1 To Save His/Her Human Partner From Bad Guy #2
2017 05 29 Memorial Day Program, Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park – Mesa AZ
113208 Here Comes The Commemorative Air Force (CAF)
2017 04 11-13 Fishing Trip - Lake Mead National Recreation
Area, Willow Beach AZ
173657 This Bighorn Sheep Ewe Blends in To The Background Quite Well – Survival Of The Fittest AND The Best Concealed
181726 Before 911, U.S. 93 Crossed The Colorado River Atop Hoover Dam – The Bridge Today
182754 We Happened Upon Numerous Interesting Rock Formations North Of Willow Beach
100344 Serene Is An Understatement
113402 “Aye, Aye, Captain!”
125432 We Got To See This “In Living Color”
133802 The Hazards In The Inlets Are Easy To Identify
184844 Notice The Passage Just Left Of Center
2016 12 23 Phippen Western Art Museum - Prescott AZ
130833 This Museum Includes Art That Is Outside The Traditional Box
130903 Many Artifacts Have Their Local Origins Documented
132405 “In Memory of ‘Old Blue,’ the best horse I ever rode. Born July 1
st, 1897; Killed Jan. 29 – 1919. We grew old together.” – Tom Mix
132948 Western Art Includes Native American Art…
135949 “One Horse Sleigh” By George Pippin
140119 …As Well As Sculptures
140426 One Exhibit Explains The Sculptor’s “Lost Wax Process” To My Nephew
140854 “The Only Good Indian Is…”
Serene Is An Understatement
Fishing Trip - Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Willow Beach AZ By Maher Naguib Morcos – Perspective Is Everything
141120 Replica Of Artist George Pippin’s Studio
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Susan sayers
non-member comment
thanks
Larry, I've really enjoyed following your adventures in 2016.. Ho9ping that 2017 is as interesting.