Flexible Snow

On Monday, February 16, we received over nine inches of snow.  I stepped outside and snapped a few pictures.  I took one showing the whole nine inches on the roof of our new woodshed.

Over the next few days the temperatures remained below freezing, part of the time even below zero.  Consequently there was no melting of the snow, just a bit of settling.  Friday night and most of the day Saturday we received rain.  This caused a bit of melting and more settling.  And, this all led to some unusual happenings.  With the snow becoming saturated with water that on the roof of the woodshed began to slowly slide.  I captured a photo of this on Sunday morning. 

 

With the whole roof full of snow sliding the expectation would be that the amount being pushed down would just fall from the lower edge of the roof.  Yeah, that was what I expected to happen anyway.  But, that wasn’t what occurred.  Here are a couple of photos, also taken on Sunday morning, of what did take place.




 

As the title indicates, the snow was very flexible, not breaking off and falling as expected. 

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What Happened to 2014?

 

 

 

 

 

I know that there are some of you that check back from time to time, thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’ll put up a new post.  It has been a long wait.  All of 2014 got by without a new post.  So, what happened to 2014, or maybe the question should be, what happened in 2014.  Well, here in a “Reader’s Digest” or condensed version is the answer to that question.

In January we slaughtered and processed a cow for meat.  She was one that Darryl had for a milk cow for several years but due to some problems she was unable to conceive again and after over 2 years she had just quit producing milk.  She was a very healthy cow and Darryl did not want to ship her off to market knowing the way animals are often treated.  He made the decision that as she had been supplying milk for the family she would now supply meat. 

In February we had some work done on the car we had purchased in December of 2013.  We knew that the right turn signal was not working but figured that was just a flasher unit.  Wrong!  As it turned out it was in the switch, which one would think wouldn’t be too bad.  BUT, it was in the combination switch in the steering column that has all kinds of things in it, such as cruise control, windshield wipers and washer, turn signals, ignition, and on and on.  The dealer diagnosed the problem, for a price, and quoted switch and labor at about $725.00!  I told them I’d just have to roll the window down and use hand signals.  However, my regular mechanic was able to get an aftermarket switch and installed it for less than half that amount.

The last of March and the first part of April Connie and I made another trip to Texas.  As I have discussed here previously we are doing prison ministry, primarily within the state of Texas.  We spent three weekends, as one can only visit inmates on the weekends.  We had the opportunity to visit 9 individuals in 5 different units.  We were also privileged to be approved as special volunteers and able to go into 4 different units with the approved volunteers for services with the inmates in each of those units.  We were blessed to meet and address and visit briefly with about 70 men in those 4 units.  We were also able to visit 2 individuals that are now out of prison plus I visited once again with the 93 year old father of one of the fellows I write to and that we were able to visit.



                                   Garry, Frank and Connie

Late in April we made a trip to Indiana to visit our daughter and son-in-law.  We also were able to include a short visit to Connie’s sister, who lives about 70 miles from our daughter, in Greenville, Ohio.  We discovered that another of Connie’s sisters was also visiting from southern Indiana and it was a chance for the 3 girls to spend a little time together.

A memorable event occurred late in May.  I had been out for a walk and when I returned Connie informed me that there was a snake in the house.  She had discovered it in the window sill in the little alcove I wrote about in the post about the wall coming down.  However, when she left the room the snake left the window sill and she had no idea where it was.  We moved furniture and couldn’t find it.  We figured it would show up but knowing that and not knowing where or when made us both a little apprehensive.  Later in the afternoon one of the grandsons, Ramiah, came and helped Connie look.  He suggested that it might be under the china cabinet.  They pulled the cabinet out a ways and sure enough, there was the snake.  They called me in to catch it and carry it out of the house.  How did it get into the house?  There is a bit of a space under the screen door to the porch which he had to have come through and the door from the porch to the main part of the house was open. 

Since January we, Darryl, Ramiah and I, had been preparing for a 40 mile long backpacking trip in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  We were to be joined by Darryl’s brother-in-law, Steve, and his son, Joshua.  On June 22nd we drove to Cosby, Tennessee where we met Steve and Josh (they live in North Carolina). 

We began our trip the following morning on the Baxter Creek Trail, a 6.2 mile hike with a climb of 4200 feet up to a campground at the top of Mt. Sterling.  The next day was an 11 mile hike, which turned out to be our hardest day.  Climbing had been hard but nothing like much of that 11 miles that was downhill.  We were all suffering in one way or another.  The 3rd day was about 8 miles, approximately half uphill and half downhill.  I was experiencing joint pain in my right knee.  Steve was having some issues with energy levels, etc.  We decided to cut our hike short and come on out on the 4th day, only a 5 mile gentle downhill trek.  So, we ended up with a shorter hike, only 30 miles instead of 40.  But, all in all, we were pretty happy with our accomplishment.  Some of the others had done some backpacking but this was a first for me.  I’m ready to go again.


                                   Darryl, Ramiah, Joshua, Steve and me


                                               on the trail

After returning home on Friday, the 27th, Connie and I drove to Sullivan, Illinois on Sunday the 29th for the Pifer Cousin Reunion.  We returned home the next day

.

July 19th was our 50th anniversary.  Our daughter and son-in-law from Indiana, our son and his daughter from Illinois, and our granddaughter and her son from Wisconsin were all able to be here for that weekend.  We received quite a few nice cards and we are into the next 50 years now.


                                

In mid-August we went to the fair.  Not just any fair, but according to Connie, the best fair.  That fair was the Darke County Fair in Greenville, Ohio.  Connie has often commented when we attended other fairs, including the state fairs of Illinois and Kentucky, they were not as good as the Darke County Fair she attended a number of times in her teenage years. Connie’s sister and her husband, who live at Greenville, attend each year and we began planning after our visit to their home in 2013 to go up for the 2014 fair. 

We drove up to their home on the 17th and went to the fair on the 18th.  We selected that day partly because it was “Senior Citizen’s Day” and admission was free.  And, the fair did seem to live up to Connie’s expectations.

On our return home we stopped by and spent a night and most of a day with friends we have known for over 50 years.  They live at Lancaster, Kentucky, about 100 miles from us.  We had a very good visit.

Early in September I built a new woodshed.  The current woodshed will hold only enough wood for one season and I really wanted one a bit larger.  But, the biggest reason for building one was to have my wood storage closer to the house and in a location that would ease putting wood into it.  The current shed is down a bit of an incline in the backyard.  I am unable to drive down to it so all of the wood has to be unloaded from the truck and carried down to the woodshed to be stacked.  Even with a hand truck or wheelbarrow this creates added work.  And, then when we begin using the wood in the heating season it all has to be carried up the incline to the house.

Connie wasn’t totally pleased with my choice of location for the new woodshed but it answers all of the problems with the old one.  It was placed at the front of our parking area in front of the house.  It is close to the house, I can back right up to it to unload and stack wood and it is large enough to hold 3 years or more worth of wood if it is ever filled.

Later in the month of September we receive word of two deaths in the families.  Connie’s uncle, who lived at Arcanum, Ohio, and one of my cousins living in Sullivan, Illinois, died the same day.  Her uncle’s funeral was held on September 22nd, so we drove up on the 21st and spent a couple of nights at her sister’s home.  On the 23rd we drove over to Anderson, Indiana and spent that night with our daughter and son-in-law.  We drove on over to Sullivan on the 24th, went to my cousin’s visitation that evening and the funeral the next morning, the 25th.  Following the service we drove on back home.

In mid-October some friends from Arizona were spending some time near the Kentucky Dam on Kentucky Lake.  We drove over and spent a couple of days with them and had a good visit.

On October 18th we discovered that our 20 year old freezer had quit working.  The food was beginning to thaw some, especially near the top and around the sides.  I drove over to Glasgow, Kentucky to the Lowe’s store that evening and purchase a new freezer.  Thankfully no food was lost.

Thanksgiving weekend we drove up to our daughter’s home once again.  Her two grown children from Wisconsin were there, along with our granddaughter’s little son and her boy friend.  Our oldest son and his daughter came from Illinois.  We took the two oldest grandchildren from here on the farm with us.  A very good time was had by all.

And, that, as I said, is the condensed version of what happened with us in 2014.

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And, the wall came down!

 

 

 

 

 

Connie and I moved here to Kentucky in the Spring of 2004.  Our first priority was to complete the house that had been started by the previous owner before Darryl bought the farm.  Darryl had told us that the house was for us, all we had to do was finish it.

The intent of the one who started the house was for the kitchen, dining area and living room to all be one long open room.  Because at the time it appeared that our oldest son and his young daughter would be living with us we put a wall across one end of this long room to provide a small bedroom for the granddaughter.  As it turned out our son and his daughter did not stay here with us, but moved back to Illinois.  The small room was turned into a computer room for several years. 

 The picture above shows the wall being put in back in 2004.  The original window in the end of the room is shown.

This photo was taken a few years ago, showing the wall in place and with a partial view of the little room being used as our computer room.

Upon remodeling the spare room last year we moved our computers into that room and the little room had some bookcases and a futon in it, but was used very little.

 

  

Prior to a visit last Spring by some friends from Texas Connie told me that I needed to remove the wall that we had put in back in 2004.  I wasn’t open to that idea at all.  I knew that would create several difficulties.  The walls were paneled with different paneling, the ceilings were different and the floors had the hardwood put down differently.  Plus, there would be the repairs needed to walls, ceiling and floor where the wall had been. 

But, over several weeks or months I began to visualize how this could be done. 

By leaving a short “stub” wall on either end and letting the wall extend down form the ceiling to the height of the doorway the area could be opened up.  There would still be two rooms but with a large  “cased opening” it would seem almost like one large room. 

So, the wall came down!  The floor was joined by filling in the void with some leftover scraps of flooring and a threshold put over that.  The walls and ceiling area were finished out and trimmed.  While at the project the old window, which was becoming difficult to open and close, was removed and replaced with a new one, which was not as tall. 

All of this was a little late for the visit of our friends from Texas but for the times when we have quite a number here to fellowship it really seems to extend our space.  Plus, we are ready for the next visit from our Texas friends.


This picture and the ones to follow show what the little room now looks like with the wall taken out.







The last photo, above, was taken from in front of the kitchen sink showing the entire room, approximately 30 feet long.

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It Is Chigger Season Again!

I love Summer, for the most part.  I deal with the heat better than with cold BUT with Summer comes the pesky bugs, especially the chiggers.  They seem to like the taste of me for some reason.  I’ve been using powdered sulfur as a natural repellant, and I know it helps BUT I’m still getting more chigger bites than I care to count.

 

 

I found a poem that tells it like it is. I was given permission by the author, Jerry Schieicher, to share it. You can find this and other poems written by Jerry on his page of the cowboy poetry web site.

The Chigger Blues

I ain't a'feered of snakes ner spiders, and ticks don't make me twitch.
I kin roll around nekked in a poison ivy patch and never even itch.
I ain't skeered much of lions ner tigers, or other carnivores much bigger.
The only critter that gives me the chills ... is the cold-hearted chigger.
They ain't no bigger than a dot. Most folks have never seen one.
You don't even know they bit ya', till they've already et' and gone.
And drilled yer skin with a bitin' end that's part needle and part digger.
Pound fer pound, the baddest bug around ... has got to be the chigger.
They crawl inside yer pants and socks, and creep into yer underdrawers.
And commence to have a feast, while yer doin' yer gardenin' chores.
It seems their spit dissolves yer hide, which they then consume with vigor.
Fer an arachnid version of the vampire ... I nominate the chigger.
I still got scars up 'n down my carcass that I reckon I'll bear fer years.
From clawin' at the welts they've left, from my toes up past my rear.
The itch they leave behind lasts much longer than you'd figger.
If you want to drive a man insane ... jist feed him to a chigger.
I've tried that nail polish myth, and doused myself with lotion.
But nuthin' seem to keep 'em off. There ain't no magic potion.
And steppin' out into my own back yard only seems to trigger
A fresh attack by my worst nightmare ... the man-eatin' chigger.
Most folks love the summer season, and fer most it's all good news.
Of flower gardens, fresh-mowed lawns, and backyard bar-be-cues.
But if you invite me to yer outdoor games, I'll respectfully refuse.
Cause you don't want to hear me wailin', as I sing the chigger blues.
© 2005, Jerry Schleicher
This poem may not be reprinted or reposted without the author's written permission.

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Trees in Bloom

I’ve been impressed by all of the trees that bloom in the Spring here on the ridge and in the area.  Cousin Mike from Canada suggested I post some pictures, so here goes.

The redbud trees are the first trees to bloom out.  This particular tree is located near Darryl’s pond. 










Before the redbud trees finish blooming the dogwood trees burst into full bloom.  This tree is near our mailbox.










Here is a close-up view of a redbud tree.












And, here is a close-up of a dogwood in bloom.











Before the dogwood trees are finished blooming one can begin to see blooms way up high in the tulip poplar trees.  This photo is zoomed in quite a bit and you have to look close to see the yellow blooms.











In this photo I have zoomed in a bit more.










And here is an even closer look at the bloom of a tulip poplar tree.











Another tree that blooms at about the same time is the royal empress tree, also known as the royal princess and royal Paulownia.  This tree is on a neighboring property.








The numerous locust trees are also in bloom at the same time.  As you can see the trees are loaded with blooms.









In this final close-up photo you can see the beautiful locust blooms.

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Do You Use PayPal?

 

A number of years ago when I first started buying a few item off of Ebay I opened a PayPal account.  I’ve never had any problems, that is until recently.  Maybe you are a lot like me, I have assumed that a seller or vendor is on the up and up if they have established an account with PayPal that allows me to pay for my purchase that way rather than giving out my credit card number.  But, that is not always the case.  Let me tell you my little story.

I discovered that the chainsaw bar on my chainsaw was needing to be replaced.  As I often do, I shopped around online to find the best price.  The company had a nice website and offered to let me pay for the bar with my PayPal account.  I immediately received a receipt from PayPal that the money had been sent to the vendor.  I thought it a bit unusual but I did not receive a confirmation from the vendor.  I kept expecting my new bar to arrive.

After two weeks had gone by and I still hadn’t heard anything I sent an email to the vendor, which was not answered.  I attempted to call but got a recorded message that the number was disconnected or no longer in service.   I logged onto my PayPal account and went to the “resolution center” and gave them this information.  They encourage the buyer and seller to work things out.  They were to send a message to the seller.  Several days went by.

I did further checking online to see if I could find out anything else.  What I found was very interesting.  I located a second phone number, which when called resulted in the same message,  number disconnected or no longer in service.  I came across a website that told me that this company was closed.  I went to the BBB’s website and found that they had rated this particular company, on a rating of A+ to F, an F.  This they said was primarily due to unresolved complaints.

I updated the message board at the PayPal resolution center and then filed a claim.  The automated email indicated that they would investigate, possibly ask more questions and would make a determination within 10 days.

The amazing thing to me was that in only about an hour I received an email from PayPal stating they had investigated my claim and that they had issued a full refund to my credit card.

I’m impressed with their quick resolution and with the refund.  But, the need is there to check out who you are buying from.  Don’t assume that just because they accept PayPal they are someone you want to attempt to do business with.

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A Story of a Coffee Grinder

Some of you reading this may remember when nearly every grocery store had a commercial coffee grinder, usually located within the coffee aisle.  A lot of the coffee sold was whole bean and you were able to open the package, pour the coffee beans into the grinder, select the grind you wanted, and grind the beans right there in the store.  There are some few stores that may still have such units but not many.


In the late 1960’s a family friend living in the Champaign, Illinois area located quite a number of these coffee grinders sitting in a warehouse, having been removed from grocery stores.  He made a deal with the owner and bought all they had for almost nothing, I believe about $5.00 each.  He cleaned them up and serviced them and resold them to friends to use to grind wheat for cereal and corn for corn meal for $10.00 each.  My parents bought one and when I saw it on one of our trips to Illinois from California where we were then living I asked them to purchase one for us, which they did.  In the summer of 1970 we packed the machine into our station wagon and hauled it back to California.  It has gone with us on every move we have made since.

We have used it to grind wheat for cereal, corn for corn meal and for baby chick feed.  However, I got into trouble some time ago when I was grinding roasted chick peas, also known as garbanzo beans.  I was roasting them and using them as a coffee substitute.    ( http://gdpifer1.blogspot.com/2008/12/brew.html )

Well, to make a long story short, the beans were quite hard and something broke.  I suspected that there was some kind of shear pin since the motor was continuing to run without a problem but the grinder wasn’t grinding.  I attempted a “hurry up” repair but couldn’t get to the area I needed without tearing things down a bit more.  Consequently the old grinder sat in the corner for the next several months.

Last month, one of the grandsons was helping me do some clean up and we moved the grinder into the workshop.  A day or two later we decided to take the time to tear the machine down enough to get to the grinder.  Once we got the end plate off we could see the shaft that the motor turned and it was moving freely.  And, we could see that there had been some type of “shear pin” in the end of the shaft.  All we could see was that it was a rusty, coppery color.  The grandson made the remark that when we got the old piece out we could probably replace it with a penny.  We had a good laugh.

However, when we did get it out what did we discover?  It actually was a penny!  And, not only did we find the two pieces of the penny, there was a small piece of another penny that had apparently sheared earlier and had never been removed.  I’m thinking the family friend replaced the first sheared penny when he was cleaning and repairing the units back in the late 1960’s as the penny we removed was a 1964 penny.

We have laughingly remarked that there wasn’t a shear pin but a shear penny!  The grandson donated a penny he had in his pocket and the old coffee grinder is working great.  We had to grind some wheat and had wheat cereal for breakfast the next day.

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It Seems To Be Addictive

After not making any candleholders for some time I can’t seem to quit making them now.  Since my last post I have turned a few more on my Craftsman Router Crafter.

The hollow spiral on the left was made from a piece of oak firewood.  It stands 16 inches tall and allows for a large pillar candle to be placed on top.  Here is a close-up photo.

The second from the left, pictured above, is made from Eastern Red Cedar and oak.  This was the first time I tried laminating two species together and then turning them.  Here is another photo of this 13 inch candleholder.

The third candleholder from the left is made from a piece of dogwood.  The piece had an unusual light portion running down the center of the limb.  This piece is about 9-1/2 inches tall.  Here is a picture of it by itself.


The final set on the right are turned from the Mimosa (Silk Tree) that grows about everywhere here in Kentucky.  These are small, only about 5-1/2 inches tall.



Maybe I’ll find something else to do for awhile.

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More Candleholders

Busy with everything else it seems, I had not ventured into the shop to turn any candleholders for quite some time.  Below are pictured ones that I made on my Craftsman Router Crafter.


The above photo is rather dark, so below are individual pictures.

This set is made from carob wood brought from California.  It has a beautiful red color.

These are also made from wood brought from California, olive wood.  This wood is very hard and heavy.  I believe the grain is quite beautiful.

This is another black walnut candleholder made from the old sill log I got from under the old house I tore down a couple of years ago.  It is drilled for a tea light candle.

And, finally, another Eastern Red Cedar candleholder.

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Our 48th Wedding Anniversary

On July 19, 2012 Connie and I celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary.  We got away for a couple of days.  On the 18th we drove over to Cumberland Falls State Park for a return visit to the falls.  We had been there about 5 years ago and although we enjoyed it very much, the water in the river was quite low and there was not enough water going over the falls to fully cover all of the rocks.  We had kept promising ourselves we would go back.  So, finally we made it.  Although the summer has been quite dry there had been some rain in the local area that had the river running at normal levels.

The falls is 125 feet wide and 68 feet tall at normal pool.  If you look closely you can see several people on the left of the falls.  This will give you a bit of an idea of the size.  The falls is referred to as the “Niagara of the South,” as it is the largest waterfall south of Niagara and east of the Mississippi river.

There is one thing that occurs here and in no other place in the entire western hemisphere.  Only at night during a full moon  one can see a “moon bow.”  This is much the same as a rainbow that is seen on most days but is an arc of white light.  We have never seen this but maybe sometime!

Leaving the falls we drove to near Knoxville, TN and spent the night.  We had made reservations at a unique “bed and breakfast.”  Here is a picture of the sign in front of the place.

We found the name of the place to be quite interesting since we live here “on Cedar Ridge.”  The cabin was moved to this location from about 3 or 4 miles away and was modernized.  It has central heat and air, a full bathroom and modern kitchen.  We opted out of the breakfast and took food and fixed our own—steak and eggs!


This picture is of the exterior of the cabin.  All of the logs in the walls are original.  The setting is very nice, quite a ways off of the main street and was very quiet and peaceful.  Below are a couple of photos of the inside of the cabin.





A very large and working fireplace is the central point in the  cabin.  Unseen in this photo is a nice sofa in front of the fireplace.  The white cabinet to the left in the photo is an entertainment center with TV and VCR.




This picture was taken from in front of the fireplace, looking up into the loft where the king-size bed was located.  After a good breakfast the next morning, the 19th, we spent several hours at the Museum of Appalachia, which was virtually next door to the cabin.


The museum was founded by John Rice Irwin in 1969 with one log cabin.  It is now a non-profit organization and includes dozens of historic log structures and exhibit halls with thousands of authentic artifacts from the Appalachia area.  Mr. Irwin traveled the many back roads collecting these items, items used by and often made by the mountain folk of the Southern Appalachia area.

The view above is of part of the 60 acre museum grounds. 

The tiny building in the photo to the left is the smallest dwelling  in the museum.  It was moved to the museum in 2007 from nearby Beard Valley, in Union County, TN.  This was the home of an old bachelor by the name of Tom Cassidy.  He is reported as saying,  “I’ve got that little cot in there, a chair, a stove for heat and cooking, a frying pan, a bean pot, on old dresser, my fiddle and my pistol;  what more does a man need?


This cabin is known as the “Mark Twain Family Cabin.”  It was moved to the museum from Possum Trot, TN and once was the home of Mark Twain’s parents and some of their children.  Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons) was born 5 months after the family moved from Tennessee in 1835.


As I said, we spent several hours there but one could spend even more time looking at all of the interesting exhibits and reading the information that has been written about them.  We returned home that afternoon, having had an enjoyable break and a good anniversary.

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Our 33 Day, 6731 Mile Road Trip–part 13 Recap

As the title says, Connie and I were gone from home for 33 days (and 32 nights).  We drove nearly 7000 miles, by actual odometer readings it was 6731 miles.  We crossed or drove through a portion of 17 states.  Including Kentucky, where we started and ended up, we drove through Kentucky, a corner of Indiana, across Illinois, Missouri, a small corner of Iowa, across Nebraska, Wyoming, part of Utah, across Idaho, through much of Oregon, into and back out of Washington, down through California, across Arizona,  New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and half way across Tennessee before getting back to Kentucky. 

Of the 32 nights we were gone from home we spent 10 nights at our son’s home, 8 nights with friends, 1 night in a motel and 13 nights we slept in our van.  9 of those nights were spent in the auto parking lot at “truck stops” or as they are called most often now, Travel Plazas.  1 night was spent in a Wal-Mart parking lot and 3 nights in campgrounds.

If we use the amount spent for a motel for the one night as an average figure the 13 nights spent in the the van saved us almost $1000.00.  I mentioned in part 1 that we tried to figure all the ways we could cut expenses.  One way we did that, in addition to sleeping in the van, was to invest in an America the Beautiful Senior Interagency Pass available for those over 62 years of age (and it is good for a lifetime).  The pass is $10.00 plus a fee of $10.00 when ordered by mail, as I did.  With the pass we were able to visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and the 3 national parks for free.  Two of the campgrounds we stayed in were in national forests and we got 50% off of the normal fee.  By my calculations we saved about $85.00 after deducting the cost of the pass.

I had mentioned that gasoline would be our big expense.  The lowest price we paid was $3. 299 a gallon.  Most was in the $3.50 to $3.65 range.  It was much more expensive in California and parts of Oregon and Arizona.  The most we paid was at a station just outside of Yosemite National Park, and I only bought $20.00 worth.  Regular gasoline there was $5.099 a gallon.  When I figured everything up on our return I found that we paid an average of $3.82 a gallon.  Our van performed well and we averaged 24 miles per gallon for the trip.  I felt this was quite good considering we were driving 70 miles per hour on most of the interstates and we were driving in the mountains for many of the miles.

We thoroughly enjoyed our road trip but perhaps the most beautiful thing we saw was this.

Yes, home sweet home.  (This photo was taken last Fall so we didn’t have the color change of the leaves greeting us on our return.)

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Our 33 Day, 6731 Mile Road Trip–part 12

I mentioned at the end of part 11 that we drove to Hondo, TX on day 27 of our road trip.  For the only night of our trip we had reserved a room at a motel.  As far as I could determine there was no truck stop in or near Hondo and since the temperature was quite warm we desired to have a good nights sleep and a shower before we began our busy day, May 19th.

We arose early and ate a bit of breakfast, then drove the 3 or 4 miles out of town to the Ruben Torres Unit.  We arrived a little before 8:00 A.M. and found that there were 15 or 20 vehicles already there waiting.  And, we all waited until 8:00 A.M. when the guards manning the guard shack began their shift.  Each vehicle went through the security check and was allowed to proceed to the parking area.  From there we were processed through the security entrance and moved on to the visitor area.  Finally, a little before 9:00 A.M. our actual visit with Juan began.

We had called earlier in the week and requested a 4 hour visit, the normal visit being just 2 hours.  That request was granted and the guard on duty in the visitor room situated us to the far corner, away from much of the noise of the contact visits.  Ours was a non-contact visit since we were not family.  We were not prepared for the visit to be by telephone, only being able to see Juan through the glass.  We had experienced that at the McConnell Unit last October but it was a maximum security unit.  However, we managed fine, except for the time a couple with small children or babies were seated just down the way from us.  The little ones made quite a bit of noise and even Juan could hear some of it through the phone.

Due to  the timing of an inmate count and the guard just not being strict with the time our 4 hour visit became 4 hours and 25 minutes.  And yet, it seemed to fly by.  The visit was about a 20 on a scale of 1 to 10.  All three of us enjoyed it greatly.

The man we visited at the McConnell Unit last Fall has been paroled and is living in the Austin, TX area.  We had contacted him and told him we planned to stop for a few minutes and see him.  We called him from the parking lot at the Torres Unit and let him know we were on the way.  About 2 and 1/2 hours later we were visiting with Robert at his niece’s home.  Our visit was short, only an hour or less, as we still had several miles to drive.

By about 7:15 P.M. we arrived in Bryan, TX at the home of Thomas and Raquel, the founders or Broken Vessels Prison Ministry.  They set some food before us and we enjoyed some good conversation before it was time for bed.

The next day, May 20th, the 29th day of our road trip, we were up and away early, driving to Navasota, TX to the Pack Unit where we spent most of the day.  We first visited Troy, who we had visited last Fall, for a bit over 4 hours.  We exited the unit, ate a sandwich in the parking lot, and reentered to visit with Wesley B.  Due to the timing we knew we wouldn’t be able to get in a full 4 hours with him, but due to his leg bothering him and needing to get back to his dorm we cut the visit short after about 2 and 1/2 hours or so.  Both visits were very good.

After returning to Bryan we accompanied Thomas and Raquel to the home of Rebecca, whom we had met last October.  What we didn’t know until we arrived in Bryan was that Rebecca had married Wayne a bit earlier in a civil ceremony and they were planning a “religious” ceremony while we were there.  As it turned out I got to walk the bride down the “aisle.”  I put that in quotes as the ceremony took place at the picnic area at Lake Bryan.  But, I’m getting ahead of the story.

Wesley T., that we had met last Fall, lives in the trailer park that Rebecca manages so we were able to see him and visit a bit that evening.  Of course we got to meet Wayne and we all enjoyed a bit of food together.

The next day was a bit of a relaxing day.  Connie and I spent a couple of hours with Wesley T. in the morning before he had to go to work and then just rested most of the rest of the day.

May 22nd, our 31st day, was busier.  We all had to drive out to the lake and help get things prepare for the wedding service.  Everything went well and following the ceremony we all enjoyed a good meal that had been prepared by some of the wedding parties relatives.  A little later Thomas, Raquel, Connie and I had the privilege of baptizing Wesley T. in the lake.

May 23rd Connie and I headed on toward Kentucky.  We had a good day, driving about 560 miles.  We spent the night at the Flying J Travel Plaza in West Memphis, AR.  The following day, May 24th, our 33rd on the road we drove the rest of the way home.  We arrived home by about 2:00 P.M.  It was good to be greeted by 4 enthusiastic grandchildren and their parents.  We felt like maybe we had been missed a little bit while we were gone.

I’ll bring this whole story to an end in the next part as I try to recap and summarize a bit.

This picture was taken at the Flying J in West Memphis, AR

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Our 33 Day, 6731 Mile Road Trip–part 11

Following our visit with friends in Cottonwood, AZ we were back on the road on May 16th, day 25 of our road trip.  We had no further plans to visit national parks or scenic areas but were headed to Texas.  As I posted last November Connie and I had become a part of Broken Vessels, a prison ministry.  Our intent was to visit some of the fellows we had been writing to behind the razor wire as well as spend some time with Thomas and Raquel, the founders of the ministry.

Before we left our friend’s home they tried to show us on the map and tell us of possible routes we could take to avoid Phoenix.  However, I felt that based on the time we were getting onto the road and the distance we had to travel that we would arrive in the Phoenix area in late morning, well past the morning rush hour.  And, that proved out to be true.  Even though there are 6 lanes of traffic each direction in parts of the city we did not experience any major difficulties.

We had checked the Pilot Travel Centers/Flying J directory found in the back of each months issue of Challenge Magazine (which can be picked up free at any Pilot or Flying J location) and had made Lordsburg, New Mexico our goal for the night.  There was a quite nice Flying J there.    The picture below was taken the following morning before leaving.

Day 26 of our trip, May 17th, we travelled on toward Texas and actually got into the big state about mid-day.  We drove about 400 miles that day, stopping for the night in Fort Stockton, TX  There was no Pilot or Flying J close but the Kwik KIng, Oasis Travel Center in Fort Stockton was quite nice.  Shortly after arriving we got to see something of interest.

A truck pulling a low-boy carrying a wide–load pulled into the truck lot, and I mean a wide, wide load.  It was of interest because of what that load was.  On that low-boy was the bed of one of the large mine trucks like we had seen at the Borax mine in California.  I was able to walk over and take a couple of pictures.  You can see the huge size much better than trying to picture in your mind what a truck bed 25 feet wide and 45 feet long looks like.  One of the escort vehicle drivers told me they were headed to a testing facility in Arizona.

The following day, day 27 of our trip, May 18th, we drove the remaining 300 miles or so to Hondo, TX, our goal for the day.  In part 12 I’ll tell you of our visits in Texas.

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Our 33 Day, 6731 Mile Road Trip–part 10

After spending a couple of nights and a day with a friend, as mentioned in part 9, we got back on the road May 13th, the 22nd day of our road trip.  The goal for the day was to reach a campground near Grand Canyon National Park.  One thing that we anticipated when leaving California was that we would be leaving Pacific Daylight Savings Time and would be entering Mountain Time zone.  We were changing our watches, etc. but discovered a bit later that the state of Arizona does not change to Daylight Savings Time, consequently the time on the clock was the same as what we had been on in the Pacific Daylight Savings Time.

We arrived at the Ten-X campground just a few miles from the park entrance about 4:30 P.M.  We found the campground to be very nice.  There are 70 camping spots and they are spread out so that one does not have extremely close neighbors.  Here are a couple of photos of our camp spot.

In the photo of our van you can see that the windshield and side windows are covered, but since there was nobody camped behind us we did not cover the back window.  We were able to look right up at the stars, and there were lots of them.

After our breakfast the next morning, May 14th, our 23rd day of our trip, we were off to the canyon.  We have visited the canyon at least three previous times, the last time being in October of 1988.  Even though one may visit numerous times it is still awe inspiring.  Connie and I both took a lot of photos, it was hard to know when to quit.  All of them are impressive in their own way and it is hard to choose only 2 or 3 to post here, but here are some.

Once we completed the drive along the south rim of the canyon we headed on back south. 

We have friends living in Cottonwood, AZ and had made arrangements to spend a couple of nights and a day with them.  We had a very good visit with them.  In the next post we will continue the story of our 33 day road trip.

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