Here I am with three of the Sierra Madre Princesses who will be riding on the float on January 1st. They will be among the "California Girls" sailing and windsurfing. Watch for this float in the parade, as I got to help prepare some of the roses which will decorate the float.
Yesterday I got to help decorate the City of Sierra Madre float for the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1st. In addition to glueing seeds onto the float, I helped trim roses in preparation to placing them on the float during the hours leading up to the parade. The theme of the parade is "2010: A Cut Above the Rest." The City of Sierra Madre's entry is called "California Girls" and will be entry number 64 in the parade.
Jim & Pat took me wine tasting today in Temecula, CA. We found some very nice wines and met some really nice people. The Temecula area has developed into quite the wine producing area. There are several dozen wineries and most of the grapes are grown locally. They do import some grapes from other vineyards in CA and some from other states. Many of the wineries are less than five years old.
Hope you had a nice Christmas.
Yesterday I took my friend Betty (left in the top picture) to Carsbad, CA, to visit my special friend Christine Nieto and her daughter Claire.
Warmest regards, Gus
Betty, Billy and I (Gus) want to wish you a Merry Christmas! We had another great year traveling with Jim and Pat. We started the year near San Diego, CA, and spent most of January in Southern CA. Then we spent about six weeks along the lower Colorado River before going to Nevada with a side trip to Death Valley.
Last Saturday night I attended the parade of lights at the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City. I helped to push off the Dixie Belle, which led the parade. The second photo shows the Dixie Belle about to go under the London Bridge. (The bridge did not fall down!!)
rrived in Menifee, CA (near Sun City and Hemet). It rained all day yesterdy but the weather is nice today.
Dr. Fiberglass had to come and fix my "ride" after the manager of a campground backed Cousin Jim into a tree branch. Fortunately there was very little damage. I like the old ambulance that the "Doctor" uses for his moblile service unit.
After the painting is finished, we'll have to put a new ladder on the coach, too. At least the "Doctor" only had to work with one color of the five colors on the coach.
I recently attended the Lake Havasu City Seaplane Classics show, featuring lots of model seaplanes. The one pictured here is a 1/3 model Cessna. The pilot, standing in lower right corner of the picture, sure did a great job of flying. Last week there were Hobie Cat (catarmaran) races here, too. However, there wasn't much wind, so they had trouble racing.
Where has the time gone. Since my last posting, I left Montana, spent some time in north/central Idaho, and then traveled to Las Vegas, NV, via Wells, Ely and Caliente.
This young eagle was taking flying lessons recently on the Madison River in Yellowstone NP. The mother was sitting on top of a tree watching the young eagle as he made a short flight and a less than graceful landing. He rested quite a while before attempting another flight.
Recently, I visited Yellowstone National Park. I did not see any Grizzly Bears in the park, but I did meet this one at the Grizzly Discovery Center, and some real Grizzlies in the Center. I did see several eagles and lots of bison and elk in Yellowstone. Even for September there were lots of visitors to the park.
Yesterday, I felt like it was May 10, 1869. I had the opportunity to visit the site where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads met to complete the transcontinental railroad. The replicas of the two locomotives were operating
and the area doesn't seem to have changed in 140 years. (However, rockets used for space travel are tested less than 10 miles from here.) The first photo shows Engine #119 of the Union Pacific.
, the Engine representing the Central Pacific Railroad.
This is where I have been living the last week. The campground is located 12 miles west of Gunnison, CO, near Blue Mesa Reservoir.
I had a great time the other day driving around Blue Mesa Reservoir and along the rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. This is a beautiful stretch of the Gunnison River before it flows toward Grand Junction and into the Colorado River.
While driving past the airport in Gunnison, CO, recently, I noticed an Osprey flying over the runway. This Osprey had two engines and wings that rotated!
The large "W" on the mountain in the background is purported to be the largest college insignia in the world. It represents Western State College of Gunnison. Western State has a very nice campus with lots of new construction and remodeling.
We were recently in Cheyenne, WY, visiting friends Dennis and Judy, and Sami made a new friend: Maggie. They had a great time playing and begging for treats.
Last week I took cousins Chris and Dani on the cog train to Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs, CO. Here we are at the summit. It was about 44 degrees at the peak and about 85 when we got back down to Manitou Springs.
Here I am with Vic, our engineer.
Vic let me drive the train back down the mountain!
Ari was our conductor. She did a great job providing interesting information with lots of humor. 
Betty and I are checking out Jim & Pat's new car. In May, we had an accident in Colorado Springs which did enough damage to the 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee that Jim and Pat bought a newer vehicle. The new car is a 2006 Jeep Commander. We were fortunate that no one was injured in the accident. The other driver was at fault, but it still took a lot of time to clear the paper work and purchase another car.
