Travel Updates

Wow! I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in months.
This past summer I spent some time in Colorado with family and friends, went to Minnesota to see family, to Wisconsin to see more friends and then to Minot, ND, for the FMCA Rally.
I had a great time and the weather was generally pretty good.
While in Colorado, cousin Mark did some remodeling on the motorhome. It sure made a big difference and gave us more storage area.
After coming back to Colorado Springs in September, we went to Albuquerque for the International Balloon Fiesta. We parked with the Monaco International group on the grounds and had a great time.
From Albuquerque we traveled to Tucson for the Rocky Mountain Area Rally, then on to Cottonwood, AZ, to make plans for a rally next March.
We are now in Bullhead City, AZ, and will soon head to the Parker Strip and then on to Palm Springs.
One major thing that happened in Colorado Springs in September is that I adopted a new cousin--a Black Lab who goes by the name GUS!! Needless to say, this has caused some confusion, but so far he has now gotten me into any trouble.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I will try to get some pictures posted from the Balloon Fiesta.

Warmest regards, Gus

Salina, Utah

Today, Betty and I visited the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and POW Camp museum in Salina, Utah. The CCC camp provided many jobs during the 1930s and up until WWII. During WWII, the sugar beet farmers needed labor for the fields since most of the local young men had gone off to war. The U.S. Army agreed to bring 250 German prisoners of war to Salina from the Odgen camp to work in the fields. The prisoners were treated well by the locals and were paid $0.10/day plus meals to work on the farms. In July 1945, one of the Army guards mounted the guard tower and started firing 250 rounds from a .30 caliber machine gun at the prisoners who were sleeping in tents. Nine prisoners were killed and 17 were injured.
While the incident made national news at the time, it was soon overshadowed one month later by the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
If you are ever traveling on I-70 in Utah, it is worth your time to stop and tour the museum.

Happy Halloween

Betty and I are ready to go Trick or Treating tonight at Emerald Cove RV Park, in Earp, CA. We are just across the Colorado River from Parker, AZ.
Cousin Jim has included some pictures of my new friend, Nala. Cousins Jim and Pat adopted Nala from the Lake Havasu City Shelter on Monday. She is part Collie, but we are not sure what else. Any guesses?
Hope all is well with you.
Your friend, Gus.

Tri-Chapter Rally

Tri-Chapter Rally

Here are some pictures from the Tri-Chapter Rally in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Life on the Mississippi

On our return trip to Colorado after attending the FMCA Convention in Perry, GA, I am sitting with Betty and Billy on the bank of the Mississippi River watching the tug boats push barges up and down the river.
The weather is cool and windy, but it always is fun to marvel at the power of the tugs.

Prior to the rally in Perry, I spent some time in Unadilla, GA, at the Tri-Chapter Rally and then some time in Cordele, GA, at the 3Ts Rally after Perry.

My plan is to spend some time in Colorado and then go to Rapid City, SD, and then much of the summer in Wyoming at three or four rallies. It is so much fun at the rallies to see people I have met at previous rallies. Many of them remember my name (I do wear a name tag) and often ask about my travels. Since I help with security at the rallies, I do get to meet most of the attendees. We had over 5,000 in Perry. I even got to see some of my friends from the Alaska trip I made in 2014.

Warmest regards, Gus

August 2017-February 2018

I can't believe it has so long since I last posted on the blog. Since I was in Indiana last summer, I went to Colorado Springs to see family and relax after the rallies.  There was a quick trip to Oklahoma City for Jim's brother's 80th birthday party and lots of good times with family and friends.

From Colorado Springs, I went to Farmington, NM, for a Rocky Mt. Region Rally, Camp Verde, AZ, for a Rocky Mt. Monaco Rally, and then spent some time in Cottonwood, AZ.

Then I went to Quartzsite, AZ, to see a friend, Diesel Dave, then up to the Parker/Earp area before going to Menifee, CA. In Menifee I saw good friends Bob & Freda Cerney at Wilderness Lake Park. Then I went to Palm Springs for several weeks before attending the Western Region Rally in Indio.

From there I went to Yuma and Tucson and attened the International Area Rally at the Pima County Fairgrounds. The picture above was taken at Saguaro National Park near Tucson.

Then it was to Sierra Vista where I met my good friend Stumpy. Stumpy lives with friends Bob & Betty and Carter.

It was here in Sierra Vista that Betty and I had our picture taken at Fort Huachuca. We stayed at the Elks Lodge in Sierra Vista and met some really nice people.

Tonight I am in Deming, NM. I will be leaving in the morning as we all are heading to San Antonio for a few days before moving on to Perry, GA.

Everyone in the family is doing well and we are still having a great time on the road.

Indiana

I spent most of June and July in Indiana. I first went to the Batesville area and then to Indianapolis for the FMCA Convention. I was busy there helping cousins Jim & Pat with security.
After the convention, we went to Richmond, IN, for another rally. From Richmond, we drove to Dayton, Ohio, to visit the USAF Museum. I had been there years ago, but there is a new wing with Presidential planes which I had never seen.While in Richmond, I also went to a Model-T museum. I got to sit on this 1925 fire truck.
From Indiana, we drove back to Colorado Springs before going to Oklahoma City. We had to do some back-tracking as cousin Jim had to have cataract surgery in Colorado Springs. He claims to can see better now, so I guess I will have to watch myself.
Warmest regards, Gus

Route 66 Museum

I spent the weekend in Oklahoma City with family and friends celebrating my cousin Tom's 80th birthday. We had a great time catching up on things, eating, and on Saturday evening we all went to the Rodeo Opry.
Today, cousins Jim & Pat took me to the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, OK. In the top picture, I was helping the mechanic fix the old truck which was on display, and in the picture to the right, I checked out the old VW Hippie Van. In the other picture, I am wearing my new Route 66 t-shirt.
I will be heading back to Colorado Springs for a couple of weeks before going to Farmington, NM, for a rally.
Since the last post, I have been to Indianapolis, IN, for the FMCA Convention. I will try to write something about that trip soon.
Warmest regards, Gus

Meteor Crater, Arizona

Today I visited the Meteor Crater in Northern Arizona, just East of Flagstaff. This is the site where a meteor struck earth at about 26,000 miles per hour. Since this happened about 50,000 years ago, no people were yet living in the area. The meteor left a crater about 700 feet deep and over 4,000 feet across. It has only been recently that scientists could verify that the crater was caused by a meteor and not a volcanic eruption.
In the top photo, I am sitting next to the largest fragment of the meteor recovered at the site. In the bottom photo, I am at the bottom of the crater near the location U.S. astronauts trained before landing on the moon.

HITS Horse Facility

Yesterday I went to HITS, the Hunter/Jumper horse facility in Thermal, CA. (Thermal is near Indio, Palm Springs, etc.)

There were many participants from across the U.S. as well as a few from other nations. It was fun watching the various competitions.

I also got to meet many nice people, but the most interesting was a family from the Kansas City area. During the conversation, cousin Jim mentioned having been a teacher in Los Alamos, NM, and the people said they knew someone living in Witchita, KS, whose father was an educator in Los Alamoss. They called her and we found out the lady is the daughter of Ed Spence, the man who was responsible for hiring Jim in 1971. It truly is a small world.

I plan to be in the area for another week and then will head to Camp Verde, AZ. After about 10 days there, I will go to Chandler for the FMCA Internatinal Convention and back north to Cottonwood for three weeks. I plan to be in Colorado around the middle of April.

Warmest regards, Gus

Florissant Fossil Beds

Last week I visited the Florissant Fossil Beds, near Florissant, Colorado. In this picture I am looking at an old Redwood tree stump, The National Monument does a great job of documenting the 34 million years of geologic history of the area. It wasn't until 1969 that the government stepped in to preserve the area after about 100 years' loss of artifacts and fossils.

Warmest regards, Gus

Gus and Betty in the Corn Field

Betty and I found a different Field of Dreams. Instead of the baseball diamond in Dyersville, IA, we had fun in a corn field in Kellogg, Iowa this morning. After leaving Northeast Ohio on Monday, we are in Council Bluffs, IA and heading to Colorado Springs.
So far we have had some rain, but avoided the bad weather in some areas.
Warmest regards, Gus

Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY

Today I visited the George Eastman Home and Museum in Rochester, NY. George's mother lived with him in the house until she died in 1907. George Eastman died in 1932 of a self-inflicted gunshot to the heart. The musem has many photos and currrently has an exhibit featuring the 100th anniversary of the National Park System. 

Warmest regards, Gus

Hudson Cruise

Here is the boat I "drove" on the Hudson River today.

Gus

Hudson cruises

Today I was on a cruise boat on the Hudson River. We left from Hudson, New York, and had a great trip on the river for several hours. I think I did a good job while "driving" the boat.
If you are in the area, check out

Many of the passengers on the boat are attending the Tri-Chapter Rally at Brook n Wood Resort in Elizabille, NY.

Best wishes,
Gus

Andersonville National Historic Site , SC

Several weeks ago I was able to visit the Andersonville National Historic Site in South Carolina. This was the site of the Confederate Prison during the Civil War and became a National Cemetery on July 26, 1865. The first interments were soldiers who died in the prison. In addition to the National Cemetery, there is a National Prisoner of War Museum to tell the stories of priisoners of war from all wars.
Warmest regards, Gus

Biloxi, MSs

Betty and I have been in the Biloxi, MS, area for the past 10+ days. The weather has been nice, but a little cool some days. Aftter attending several Mardi Gras parades, we also checked out the drive along the coast on highway 90. The last time we were here was just a few months after Hurrican Katrina (2005) had hit the area. There has been a great deal of construction since then, especially the casinos and the repairs to the highways. However, there are still many empty lots along the coast waiting for someone to build a home or for another hotel to be sited.
Many of the locals seem to be pleased with the way the tourist economy has rebounded, but overall there are still problems.
Hope all is well with you.
Warmest regards, Gus

To the left is the Biloxi lighthouse which has been repaired since Katrina.

Pintail Wildlife Drive

On the Pintail Wildlife Drive of the Cameron Wildlife Refuge, I saw many alligators along with many birds. This "gator" seemed a little curious, but I did not get out of the car to see how friendly he really was!! The air temperature was aabout 70 degrees, so some of the "gators" were on the banks sunning themselves.

Today we left the Lake Charles area and drove to Hammond, LA. In a few days we will be in Biloxi, MS.

Warmest regards, Gus

Louisiana's Outback

Yesterday I took a day-trip to see Louisiana's Outback. I traveled from the Visitors' Center in Sulpher (where I am pictiured ready to go fishing), down to Holly Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, across the shipping canal at Cameron and then on to the National Wildlife Refuge. This area along the Gulf is still trying to recover from the damage of Hurricane Rita -- it was not hit as hard by Katrina in 2005. A few people are starting to re-build at Holly Beach, but there are many more empty cement slabs in the area than there are homes. All of the new construction is about 20 feet above ground. Only sheds and rvs are located at ground level.

Warmest regards, Gus