Day Six in Lucas

Ben's I Love You Bear hanging up.
Ben, Santa bear and I Love You bear.
Ben and Santa Bear
This is I Love You bear.
Just my Ben

We are here at Valerie's. I played with Ben so much this afternoon that he fell asleep in the middle of his bedtime story. We played in the RV with him wanting to know all about everything. Then we played upstairs with trains, cars, a Scooby puzzle and a ball. We talked and talked about how much we would play together when he moves and lives near me.

Day Five into Texas

Spending the night in Midessa Oil Patch RV Park and I have nothing I want to say about Texas.

Day four of the journey

Scrubby desert landscape with red dry mountains at the edges of the flat. Luckily no dust storms again. We were going to stay at Rockhounds State Park outside of Deming, but it was full. It is a small park that caters to a certain interest group, those who like to pick up rocks, geodes, etc., since you are allowed to gather.
So we drove on to Los Cruces and just found an RV park. Very windy. Must be near Texas.

Nice big road runner very visible from the freeway as you enter Los Cruces.
Freezing in the wind with a blah sunset.

Day three on into Arizona Wednesday 2/23/2011

So we are looking for downtown Needles for a store and I see 8 foot clearance ahead and it all comes back. A few years ago we came through Needles and we were looking for a picnic spot near the river and came right up against this railroad underpass from the other direction. We came pretty close that time and had to turn around right in front of it. We are 9 ½ feet tall. This time we knew it was serious and we detoured at the next corner. Turned out there was no grocery store until you are out of downtown. We found the Bashas and I found my Bashas card. I'm pretty good with grocery cards for the Southwest. The Southeast will be something else. If we see a Piggly Wiggly, we'll have to stop and shop just so I can get a card as a souvenir.
Heading through beautiful downtown Phoenix, reminiscing about the horrible dust storm we encountered our last time through. That was bad. Now just a lot of traffic even though it is only around 2PM. Not as bad as the other side, they are totally stopped due to a crash.
Finally we are at Picacho Peak State Park. Pretty nice park and there was a historic civil war battle fought here. The South was trying to expand to have more slave owning territories and to keep the blockade that the North had imposed from being effective. Confederate troops came out from Texas and took control of the southern part of Arizona, which was still a territory. Union troops came from Yuma and the battle was fought at Picacho Pass. It was basically an ambush and the South won this battle. Thank you Google on the Droid for the information. The park gave us no information, although they do have a reenactment March 12-13. We are only staying here one night.

Out the front door, sunset light on the peak
Sunset at Picacho Peak

Day Two on to Needles

The sky was clear and crisp as we pulled out from Lone Pine. We soon came upon Owens Lake with water in it. There must have been quite a bit of rainfall. Los Angeles Water District has been under court order for years to work on getting enough water in the lake to prevent toxic salt from blowing around. Such a sad story. The Owens river valley used to be full of orchards and farms. Then through hook and crook LA gained the water rights and shipped all the water to LA until the lake dried up. You would never believe there had once been farms and orchards here.
This was a very large solar farm. Too bad there are not many more of these. One other thing that I noticed as we drove along was no independent trucks. Remember the truck doors decorated with the drivers name. I saw none. All company trucks. Have independent truckers gone away in the recession?Here we are in Needles next to the Colorado River. We got here early enough to sit out in the sun.

Day One the Flight From the Snow

We made the break after the storm and the road was dry over Donner. Highway 20 was wet, but it is shaded by all those trees. William is washing off the RV now as it got very dirty from road mist. We made it all the way to Boulder Creek RV Resort outside of Lone Pine. A good days travel for us. Highway 395 is our favorite way to drive South, because of the view of the back side of the Sierras. Millions of years ago a crack formed in Nevada and the California side rose up. Over the millennia it has eroded to sharp peaks on the Nevada side and softer slopes down on the California side. But everybody knows this. We saw a few fumerals, quite a few hot springs on the Nevada side. Approaching the Five Mile House.Driving past the five Mile House
More Snow Still Covers the Trees
If you look closely, you can see the ice dripping from the leaky flume.
Thinking of FrankWe rolled right past the Basque Restaurant in Gardnerville. If you eat lunch there, you'll get so sleepy you'll be lucky if you make it to Topaz Lake to camp. But the driver is blowing right past Topaz.Beautiful mountains near Mammoth.Finally near Bishop the snow is only on the mountains and not on the ground.

Wolverine

In early August of 2008 we went camping at Gold Lake. As we were getting ready to leave I saw a mid sized chocolate furry animal run across the open area in front of me to the edge of the lake and then run back. At the time I thought it might have been a Pacific Fisher, but now I am sure I saw the male wolverine that has been tracked on the Tahoe National Forest since 2008. My sighting would have put the animal rather further north of the range noted in the Sac Bee article today. I am adding myself to the list of the few people who have seen Buddy.
At the time I contacted the local Forest Service and they convinced me that I must have seen a Pacific Fisher, although I had picked the wolverine out of images and thought the size of the animal I saw fit a wolverine better than a fisher. I think it was not widely known in August of 2008 that a lone male wolverine had been found on the forest.

Pasta Puttanesca with greens

Pasta Puttanesca is a traditional Southern Italian recipe, "Streetwalkers Pasta." This version is from Four Frogs Farm. I used red chard for the bright color and spaghetti as I was out of angel hair.
Kale or Chard Puttanesca
1/2 16-oz package angel hair pasta
2 T olive oil
1/2 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t red pepper flakes
1 T drained capers
1 2-oz can anchovy fillets, drained and quartered
1 c canned diced tomatoes, undrained
2 c coarsely chopped kale or chard leaves
4 oz sliced kalamata olives
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add
pasta and cook until al dente; drain. Meanwhile, heat
olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add
onions, garlic,
and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until the onion has
softened and begun to turn
golden brown. Stir in capers, anchovy fillets, and diced
tomatoes, and bring to a
simmer. Stir in kale(chard), and simmer over mediumlow
heat until wilted and tender.
Once the pasta has cooked and been drained, stir into the
puttanesca along with the black
olives. Toss and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese
before serving.
Serves 4.

Apple Pie

Still trying to use up items that won't go on the trip. I have the remains of a couple of bags of apples. I get asked to buy apples, then people don't eat them, so I wind up making pies or something. Valerie says when they are living here and she hears I have made a pie she will be "get on your shoes, we're going to Grandma's." I said that's OK, but she can stop for the ice cream, because I never have any. I don't make the most lovely pies, but they are pretty tasty. This one has extra spice because I like it that way. Once I put black pepper in with the cinnamon and nutmeg. That was good, too. This time I looked at the pepper, but just put in extra cinnamon and nutmeg.

Social Network

So we go to Nevada City Video on our way back from seeing the Tibetan monks working on the mandala. we decided to get The Social Network since Bill had not seen it. I also got the first Harry Potter movie. Because when we are in Florida, we are going to go to the Harry Potter theme park. Since Bill has seen none of the movies, I decided he needed a crash course in Harry Potter.
After dinner we tried to get the DVD player in the media room to work. No Luck. So I decided that we should test out the new DVD player in the RV. So we went out there and watched it. Not used to such a small screen. It is no bigger than this laptop. But the sound was fine and the heater warmed up the RV.
Maybe we will go out in the daytime tomorrow and watch the Sorcerer's Stone.

Working on the pumpkin

This pumpkin was a Halloween pumpkin that I brought in before it got too cold. Since we are hitting the road in a couple of weeks I needed to work on cooking it up.

Today I made pumpkin bread and another pumpkin pie.




The best is dinner. Ginger Tomato Pumpkin soup with fresh baked corn bread. Supremely delicious.

Biblical Law sounds like Shiria Law

A group that is gaining power among the Christian Right believes that "since we are a Christian Nation we should be governed by Biblical Law." If you have read Leviticus this means extending capital punishment to many others.

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/09/29/alan-graysons-fl-republican-opponent-tied-to-biblical-stoning-movement-aka-christian-reconstructionism/

Christian Reconstructionism promotes an interpretation of Biblical Law that includes

instituting stoning as a form of capital punishment for rape, kidnapping, murder, heresy, blasphemy, witchcraft, astrology, adultery, “sodomy or homosexuality,” incest, striking a parent, extreme juvenile delinquency, and “unchastity before marriage.”

Remember the recent link between American Evangelical Christians and the proposed death penalty for homosexuals in Uganda.

The American Taliban is closer than many would like to think.

We came home on the 10th of May

Quite a bit of snow out there

Snow is sticking to the windshield and our one bent wiper isn't helping

Monday the 10th of May we woke up to sunshine at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden NV. Since we were out of good breakfast food, we went over to the casino cafe for breakfast. The decision of the day was when to try to go home.
It looked like the storm hanging over the peaks would last too long into Tuesday, so we decided to try to beat the storm home. We encountered a fair amount of wind going up 395, but only traces of snowflakes before we turned up 80 and headed for home.
We had to beat the chain control as our small RV has neither 4 wheel drive or snow tires and we were carrying no chains.
It was snowing quite a bit but not sticking to the road as we came through the Agricultural check point and Wm asked about chain control. No, not yet we were told. So on we went as the snow was sticking more to the road side and trees.
Then the traffic slowed to a crawl and what's that--Chain Monkeys. And the sign vehicles must have chains or 4 wheel drive and snow tires. We keep on going. All there is on the road is a bit of slush.
Finally we get to the guy who can wave us on or send us off. He says 4 wheel drive right? Wm slightly nods and we are waved on. Well we are a heavy looking vehicle and our tires are large and heavy looking. So on we go. Wm is an experienced snow driver and there is still only a bit of slush on the road. Wm says we would slide if we don't go slow or brake suddenly. So we keep it under 40. Unlike some maniacs who blow past us. We see one later with a crushed front end.
It's a slow trip over the mountain and we keep on going past the highway 20 exit. Too much snow for that winding road. We take 174 where the road is only damp.
Later on we hear that the summit got 5-10 inches. We never saw more than 3. We could not have faked our way through 5-10 inches. So we got home by 2PM yesterday.
Wm said he felt a bit anxious about the whole adventure, but he looked cool to me.

Heading Home from the Gila

William catches me at Catalina

Catalina Sunset

Tecopa Sunset

After our extra day of rest at Silver City we headed off to Arizona to see friends in Tucson. Catalina State Park was one of the ones not originally scheduled to be closed. Nice park with quite a few people camped right at the edge of Tuscon.
Chuck and Kathe came out to pick us up and we went out for a very nice lunch at a restaurant which did not mind that we stayed there all afternoon and refilled our glasses numerous times. We had a great time catching up and they promise to come up to Nevada City in October.
On Thursday we headed out to another favorite haunt, Tecopa Hot Springs. William thought that a gray, other road, on the map would be a good shortcut from highway 15 to Tecopa.
So at Valley Wells we took what is labeled as Kingston Rd on the map. Although the road started out as a paved 2 lane road there was no road sign on the road when we started out. Some 20 miles along the road split and we took Excelsior Mine Road. The road was now one lane semi paved with large non paved areas. But we were committed and continued on. In another 20 miles the road was not paved and the only thing that saved us was the fact that the RV has a high clearance. This was almost a 4 wheel drive road and for us was a 5 mph road at times as we went up and down past old mines. I was semi cheered by the recent tracks on the road, but was sure that they were all pickups. If we were not passing old abandoned mines, we were stared at by long horn cows and their calves. After we got over Tecopa Pass after the Smith Talc Road and onto Furnace Creek Road and the road had improved to regular dirt not a mess of lumpy, bumpy 2 ruts that seemed to be a road, we passed a small school bus that had recently broken down. The road was paved as we passed the road to China Ranch Date Farm and headed on to the hot springs. I had entertained Wm on the way with my idea for importing some Afghanistan refugees and setting them up in this forsaken area. Nuevo Afghanistan could be a great tourist stop. I had lots of ideas about how this could work.
But we arrived at Tecopa and it was time to soak. As this is a no clothing hot springs, the men and women are separate. On Thursday there was no one but me in the women's side, but on Friday, I had a fair amount of company. One older woman from Trona shared a lot about Susie's Whorehouse in Pahrump. She said it is a great place to eat and the tours are very informative. The girls give the tours, show you the special rooms and you learn about the girls and even about the rates. Wm says Pahrump is on his list to visit someday. With me.
After a drive through Death Valley we are here at Boulder Creek RV Resort just outside of Lone Pine.

Gila is over

Jon riding in the crit

Greg happy with his second in the crit and thinking of a podium in the overall

Jon Baker and Zach Davies after the crit in front of Lance's hide out RV.

The blowing dust and heavy wind got to my sinuses and I barely made it around for the crit yesterday. Our cat 2, Greg Krause, got 2nd in the crit and was looking for an overall podium after the Gila Monster stage. Jon rolled along in the back for most of the race to save energy then moved up at the end to finish midpack.
William wanted to leave me behind today. But I knew 2 stooges are better than one. On the way out I yelled javelina. We stopped and 7 javelina's, big to small, trotted across the road in the Mimbres Valley.
We just got out to the first feed zone on the continental divide and Wm had to answer a call of nature. Then I heard that the Pro 1 Men were coming early, 10 minutes early. I called but he was too far away. The break passed and I called again. This time he heard me and started to run back. The other feed zone people just cracked up. We made it for the pass to Jon. Zach and Chuck were midpack and got neutral feeds. We waited a while for Joe. But he was a no show.
So off to the second feed zone. Up at the top I saw a rider stopped at the side and yelled Chuck. We stopped and gave him a water bottle. He was dropping out and would head to Pinos Altos. At the second feed zone we fed Jon and Zach, then headed back to Silver City to check if anyone had driven the little red car up to Pinos Altos. It was gone, so up to Pinos Altos and a fierce traffic jam. We parked at the end of a dirt road in a pile of dog poo and William got out to walk into town and look for the boys. Jon and Chuck showed up wrapped in blankets. Chuck said he would sell his on Ebay as a blanket that Lance Armstrong might have used at the Tour of the Gila. Jon had finished only a bit more than 1/2 a minute behind Armstrong and Landis.
But then the best news of the day. Greg Krause won the cat 2 stage and when they counted up the minutes the whole race for the cat 2's. He was really the hero of the day with a really substantial cash prize. Chuck said maybe he would be so excited that he would just drive straight through to Boulder.
So goodbye to the boys until the Tour de Nez and the Nevada City Classic.

Another day at the Gila

Zack just finished with bike check

Jon ready to race

More Jon

Joan lined up

Off she goes

Out to Tyrone to watch the time trials. Very extensive bike check this year including measuring the bike, measuring the bike with the rider on it, and weighing the bike. The time to do this caused something of a clog and made some almost late to the start. A few were sent back to fix their bikes. One guy had to just go get his road bike when his TT bike did not pass.
Jon had been having trouble with his TT bike and it gave him some trouble on the course as he finished much slower than he should have. The rest of the team did about as they expected.
Greg Krause came in second in the cat 2 group and was notified today that he just has to fill out an on line form to get his cat 1. Congratulations to Greg.
Joan did her first ever time trial as a cat 4 with the cat 3/4s and did great. She came in 15th. Congratulations Joan.
The boys wanted an early dinner, so we hit Jalisco's at 5. The waitress took Jon's order wrong so his meal was comped along with 4 orders of sopapillas. Wm enjoyed chatting with their host, Rich, who provided their housing.
5 was a good time to go out as many other teams came later and had to wait a long time. I think Axel Merkx, such a tall guy, and his entire Trek-Livestrong team, including Taylor Phinney had to wait at least 1/2 hour. That team included today's stage winner Jesse Sergent. They were still waiting when we left, but I got the impression that they cleared our table of 8 in about 1/2 a minute and then seated them.

Hard Day at the Gila

We were packed up and waiting at the street for our lift to Fort Bayard at 815. Our ride came up at 835. Not much gas. Should we get gas now or hurry on to the Fort. Greg Kraus sat in the back and changed and used some of my sun screen.
By the time we found the boys at the Fort and loaded up their bags and chairs, it was 5 minutes to the start of the Pro 1 race.
Rush off back toward town and there is a Walmart gas station. We'll do this like a Nascar fill up. I was running the card, but Wm forgot where the gas cap button was. So I reached back in and got that. I got the nozzle and pushed mid grade. Wm got the inner cap and started pumping gas. We agreed on about $30 worth. I said don't bother about a receipt and went to get back in the car. BUT THE DOOR IS LOCKED!
WTF!!! In trying to find the gas cap release, Wm had hit the door lock and the keys are in the car. I ran over to the pay window and yelled that we are locked out and need help to unlock the car. The attendant had a slimjim and a skinhead dressed in camo came up and I asked him to help. He said he had gotten into cars before.
But a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid is a little hard and it took him about 15 minutes. I went to the other side of the car and cried, knowing we were missing the first feed zone.
We tried a short cut, but we were behind the peloton. We had to go to Pinos Altos anyway to get Joan's car, cat 3 girlfriend of Zack Davies, to bring it to Fort Bayard. No problem for me to drive her little Honda Civic stick with 218,000 miles on it. Parked near the finish line at Fort Bayard and then headed out to Feed Zone 2. Jon did miss us at Feed Zone 1 and had to go back and get some water for them from another team car as there was no neutral feed at 1.
Passed 2 bottle musettes to each of our 4 cat 1 riders at Feed Zone 2. Jon and Zack were in the front group and Chuck Coyle and Joe Lewis were in a following gruppetto. We took off and took a short cut to get in front of the peloton back to Fort Bayard.
I yelled when I saw Jon coming in with the front group. But then Zack came in at the end of that group that had strung out and where was Jon? Then finally he walks over to the car with bandages on. He was on fifth wheel with a good chance at third when he got edged into the dirt and took a tumble. He jumped back up and was passing people and was still in that front group and in front of Lance, but not where he could have been.
Back in the car and waiting out of the horrid wind, 40 mph and gusting to 60mph, when Chuck says he thinks Greg Kraus our cat 2 rider will win his race. And then Greg comes in, the solo winner. Happy Day!

Pfizer on the loose

From Sally Kohn
In 2009, the pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer was ordered to pay the largest criminal fine in U.S. history — $1.19 billion — for illegally marketing the painkiller Bextra, a drug the FDA approved only in low-doses for the relief of arthritis and menstrual discomfort. Pfizer nonetheless pushed Bextra as an all-purpose pain killer in high doses for acute, post-surgical pain — despite the FDA’s finding that in such uses, Bextra would significantly increase risks of heart attack and stroke.

The criminal conviction for illegal marketing of Bextra would have barred Pfizer from participating in federal Medicare and Medicaid drug programs. So, with the consent of federal prosecutors, Pfizer created a “shell company” — Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. — to take the fall. According to a CNN Special Investigation:

“…the subsidiary is nothing more than a shell company whose only function is to plead guilty. According to court documents, Pfizer Inc. owns (a) Pharmacia Corp., which owns (b) Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, which owns (c) Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. LLC, which in turn owns (d) Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc. It is the great-great-grandson of the parent company.”

Parmacia & Upjohn Co. is barred from doing business with federally-funded health programs, while Pfizer continues to reap profits from our tax payer dollars. This isn’t the only trouble Pfizer has caused in the last few weeks but while as a country we keep pushing for tougher law-and-order treatment of individual crimes, massive and monstrous corporate crimes are routinely overlooked by our political system (which is now officially a wholly-owned subsidiary of corporate America).

All the rage

All the rage

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SEC to do something?

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