Here We Sit On Halloween................

day about ten in the morning with no plans. A geocache popped up a few miles north of us rated at a three for terrain. Normally, I would say to heck with it as it usually entails a climb out in the mountains or desert. Thought again and figured we should go and try to beat "JJ" to it. First we ran into a humongous train with about 376 cars in it...........JJ would take the route on the other side of the tracks and wouldn't have a delay. We finally find a rough road leading toward the cache but could only drive to within .32 miles. We can across a large ditch that the little Suzuki was scared to jump.........so we walked, up a hill, down a hill, up another hill and down the other side. The .32 miles turned into a lot more distance than I wanted to walk (GSPr measures in a straight line and doesn't account for the terrain). We beat the bushes and I got bloodied up in the process..........eventually we found the cache located about 18 feet up the side of of a rock. I managed to climb up there and back down but at least we were rewarded with another FTF.

We were hot, dusty and sweaty so headed home for a shower and later drove down to the swap meet..........it hasn't really started yet and many of the booths were still closed. Then we headed to the Greek Restaurant for Friday's clam chowder. It wasn't too bad.

Back home for the night. I couldn't believe it...........this is an area with just old folks; but, we actually had one Trick or Treater. We scrambled around and dug up a handful of candy for the kid. End of day...........neither witches or goblins got us. Big events tomorrow. W&B

Been Taking It Easy............

the couple of days. Here's a few pictures of our activities. At our favorite breakfast hole we found this neat old car..........never figured out just exactly what it was although it had a Pontiac hood ornament (??) The local cacher, "JJ", placed a big electrical box on a fence so we had to visit. I made up a Travel Bug with one of the USS COLUMBIA (SSN-771) coins we received when we visited the submarine in Hawaii. Seemed like a good place to start his travels. Cache owner ses leave travel bugs or "anything" here. I posted a photograph of myself with instructions to leave a pre-addressed, stamped envelope with $2.00 in it and I would send a glossy autographed photo. "JJ" accused me of starting a business in his cache and wanted rent money. We spent one evening emailing back and forth arguing about a rental fee.

Yesterday we drove around to check on the Event caches that we helped place last February. Of the 16 placed I had to archive 7 of them. Roads had been built where they once were placed, put some of them in the desert in old car bodies and found the car bodies gone, etc. etc. Got an email from "JJ" and he said the car bodies were most likely hauled off to Mexico as they could get about $160.00 for the scrap metal. Things were getting really bad in a little town of Sommerton next to the border.........it turns out they were stealing manhole covers for sale in Mexico. Scrap iron business in Mexico must be good. You find strange things in the desert (besides Becky).......here's a basketball goal we found out in the desert. Becky actually made a basket with her rock.

Some more friends made it in the last two days and we stopped at their RV park to say "hello" to them. They are caching nuts also so looks like things will pick up considerably in the near future. Gotta get ready for my Flash Mob Cache to be held on Saturday. More people are signing up so it should be interesting.

Still warm but not as HOT as it was. Things looking good for the winter. W&B

Wednesday....................

and we're waiting for Dish Network installer. Changed account so we can get the local channels down here, get new equipment and installation for "free"..........at least it's supposed to be free.

We finally broke the cherry last night as six new geocaches were published about 1800. They were in our area so pulled on our shoes and socks and out the door we went. Got to the first one and it was still "fresh" and unfound. It was still before the "witching hour", 2000 is when the local Guru's truck turns into a pumpkin and heads for home, so thought we might have a chance for some more FTFs. Got lucky as we managed to grab them all "first". I think the Guru found three of them before heading for the barn. Things are going to be a little tougher in the future as more cachers are arriving almost daily.

Monday we went to the casino for our Old Folks Fix and managed to reclaim a few of our dollars. Yesterday was domestic chores day and after laundry was done we drove downtown and took in a movie, Appaloosa. It wasn't too bad...............much better than Becky's last selection. Today is Old Folks day at the other casino so we'll probably head that way after the dish is installed.

Weather is staying in the low 90s so it isn't too bad with cooling in the evening.

All for now. W&B

Put In Some Geocaching Time These...........

last two days. Four new caches came out last night and Becky and I decided to try and find them. It was too late to even think about getting that elusive First To Find; but, we managed to get them all. After we got home we found out that another cache had been published that we drove right by without knowing it was published. The local Caching Guru only works a few miles from the new caches so he was the first to find on all of them. This guy has been going nutso the last two days. The geocaching almost comes to a halt during the summer so guess you gotta make hay when the sun shines.



Yesterday we started out with an easy find in town and after that things got a little more difficult. See the second picture, there's a cache in there someplace, another friend Third Times the Charm came back to look for it again and with five of us looking he finally found it. This was just a preview of things to come. I had to make a lifeline call to the cache owner for the next find.........it was just a little bitty bush and after assurance that it was there, Becky poked it with her walking stick. We had to stop and photograph some wild burros.......they blend in too and if 3rdxC hadn't stopped we would have zoomed right on by them. Don's had a friend visiting from Finland and he was getting hooked on caching. He found several of the caches today. This the "JJ" the local cacher picking a huge piece of concrete off a cache. The devious cache owner said it "was not under a rock". The next one almost stopped us and required another life line call, someone disturbed a bunch of bees so we were glad to get out of there. Another rock pile..........this hide absolutely stumped us. This was JJ's first second trip out there and he said he stopped again today and the cache still remains unfound.

Hope no caches are published tonight........going out for breakfast at Ligurta and then maybe take it easy the rest of the day.

Later, W&B

Slow Day Today..............

now that I think back about it...........I can't remember doing anything today!! Maybe I should write more things down during the day......maybe someone will send me a PDA so I won't have to write things down........maybe someone will send me a small recorder..........with flash drives you can put tons of info on one of them.

I think I went to the post office and then came home. I do remember putting a geocache together and placing it at the end of our lot. I think I submitted it for review. Long after the sun went down three more geocaches came out about 18 miles away. Not gonna look for them in the dark no more. Talked to the guy who put them out yesterday and he said he had about 25 to get published so maybe the others will be closer.

Gotta get a fresh and early start tomorrow.............maybe something interesting will happen. The swap meet will be open........maybe they got new stuff this year!

Wayne

Wednesday And Old Folks Day..............

so we headed to the casino. I lost and "B" won..........how much I don't know 'cause she ain't telling. We stopped at Wally World and finally got home about 1430, turned on the 'puter and found that 10 new caches had been placed. Well, we haven't searched for any yet, we had daylight, it wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze blowing so we decided to go look for them.

At the first cache we met the cache owner and he said that "JJ" had already found that one and he already left for the desert. Well, there goes our chance for a FTF. I need a new GPSr for Christmas as mine seemed to be really "off" today. I'm trying to scramble up a gully and I hear Becky yelling "I got it!". She found it at the bottom of the gully. Away we went and found a few more until we got to a big rock pile. You know it's not going to be under the rock pile; however, you have no choice except to move every rock and then put them back. After moving a few hundred more rocks I finally made a Life-Line call and Becky found it soon after we had a sense of where it was. I hate rocks!

I think we found 8 or 9 today, at least there were enough to push me past the 1400 mark as I now have 1402 finds.

We talked to the two guys who placed these caches today and they said they have another 25 coming out in the next day or so. Good start for this year's Caching Season.

All for now.................I gotta go ice down my poor knee. W&B

Monday Evening.............

at least it was cooler today and it looks like it'll drop a few degrees each day for the next several days. We made a Mexico run today............or should I say a "drug run".......anyway picked up a few goodies and then stopped at the Cocopah for a little while. We were sharing a 2 cent slot machine and I accidently hit a wrong button (increased our bet)......turned out to be a good move as the machine spit out $96.00. We left after that. Picked up our range passes so we can legally drive on the Bombing Range and since it was Monday we had to visit the Paradise casino and collect our "free" $10.00 each for old folks day. We ended up winning there also so stopped for a late lunch and still had a few bucks left over.

A new geocache came out about 2000 tonight and is only about 2 miles away.........so far no one has gone after it; but, this year I'm not going to go charging into the desert with a flashlight so it can wait until morning before we look for it. If we get there first that would be OK but this year I can't get enthused about trying to be FTF. Must be getting OLDER.

That's about it for today. Later. W&B

Sunday Evening And It's Still HOT....................

in old Yuma town. We made our casino run to the Paradise casino yesterday and managed to leave with some of their money..................not much; but, some. Today we decided to drive around and find out what new roads have been built since our last visit. We're always looking for shortcuts to take when those damn winter visitors arrive in droves. We had hoped that one street had been extended a few more miles to the west of the Foothills so we explored it today. Road turned out to be a drive in the desert and I thought we were going to get lucky when I could see cars zipping past on a paved road...........no such luck, we reached the end of the road about 50 feet from the pavement and a big long fence stretched along side the paved road as far as we could see in both directions. Retraced our route a ways and found that we could still avoid a lot of the winter traffic when we need to.

Naturally, our travels took us to the other casino, Cocopah, so we gambled for a little while and we managed to leave there with some of their money too. It'll probably be the last time we win anything at either casino.

When the sun goes down it cools off nicely so things are going to get better. Broke out the old BarBQue tonight and burned some pork chops and stuff. We should be settled in after a few more days. Gotta get out and do some of the easier geocaches this coming week.

More later. W&B

Got The A/C Running This....................

afternoon and while trying to escape the heat thought I'd post some pictures I took on the way to Yuma. This collage shows where we parked at Mesquite Spring campground which is only about 5 miles from Scotty's Castle. These are pictures I took while waiting for our tour guide to show up for our tour. We talked to the guide the previous day and she said to sign of for the 10 o'clock tour and she would be the guide. (Maybe she gets paid by the head..........whatever, we arrived early and waited for the 10 o'clock tour). As we approached the castle I asked Becky if the castle was surrounded by a moat...........dumb question as she has never been here either. As we browsed around we figured it must be one hellava large swimming pool. It turns out that we were correct.........the swimming pool was started but never finished.



Our tour guide was dressed in very unusual garb and as we got started she asked if anyone knew why the guides were dressed as they were. I quiped "Halloween coming!"; but, she never missed a beat as she explained that the workers were dressed in the fashion that the residents wore when the castle was in its heyday back in the 30's. The 1933 Packard belonged to the castle owners, Albert and Bessie Johnson. It seems the Johnson's were very private individuals, millionaires and shunned all publicity. Most people would have named the ranch "Johnson Ranch"; but, they chose to name it Death Valley Ranch. Scotty's Castle was the name that it finally came to be known as..........it was named after Walter Scott, a scoundral, con-man and huckster extraordinaire. He conned many individuals into investing in his "gold mine" and one of the investers turned out to be the millionaire Albert Johnson. As the story goes, Albert decided to visit the gold mine and Old Scotty was caught up in one of his many lies and tall tales. That probably would have been the end for Scotty; but, Albert and Bessie fell in love with Death Valley and opted to build their ranch here. Scotty and Albert developed a friendship instead and Scotty stayed on to become the unofficial Host for "Scotty's Castle".

Take a peek at picture #6, and you'll see a piece of steel firmly attached to the wall. This device was located outside Scotty's bedroom and from the inside you can see a hole approximately an inch or so in diameter with the steel plate visible from the inside. It seems that the Johnson's provided a bedroom for Scotty; but, he actually lived a considerable distance from the ranch house where he tended to the horses and livestock. Anyway, getting back to the device, our guide said it was placed there because Scotty would spin tall tales about keeping gold hidden under his bed. It was theorized that thieves would come in pairs to try and rob Scotty, one would stand near the window (where I was standing when I took the picture) and his cohort would try to gain entrance at the door, where the guide is standing. Well Old Scotty figured that he would get a TwoFer by shooting a shotgun from inside the room into the steel device. The shot would be spread toward the door and the window and Scotty's would be thieves would meet their maker. Our guide said that this was a story that you could believe or not believe. It certainly looked like a device that would work! (???)

Everything in the castle is original..........the actual furniture used by the Johnsons, their clothing still hanging in the closets..........everything was left just as the Johnsons left it. Estimates to build the castle were in the 1.5 to 2 million dollar range....................wonder what it would cost today?



After our tour we drove to Ubehebe Crater which turned out to be a big hole in the ground about 500 feet deep. All that remains of an eruption many years ago.



A few miles outside of Beatty, NV we took a turn off to Rhyolite Ghost Town. A now defunct mining town. The first thing I saw were a group of ghosts and when we got closer we found that it to be the artists conception of the Last Supper.............ghost style. A car drove up and two really old folks set up their camera and were taking pictures of themselves seated on a couch. I walked over and chatted with them, they had a picture they took of themselves seated on the couch about two years ago. They used the picture to announce their wedding plans. Now two years later, they were recreating the scene.

There used to be a Rhyolite Casino and the remains of an old caboose. I guess this is truly a ghost town as I don't know what what happened to the last two pictures I took...........they turned out black and white! Becky took a few pictures at Scotty's Castle that displayed "strange" lights that showed up in her photos.............none of the ones I took at the castle had any such lights.

Go figure.

W&B

Made It To Yuma..............

this afternoon. Got internet hooked up, made grocery run, my MTV going so we're settled in for the night. It was HOT when we got here.

Will post some pics of our trip down here later.

W&B

We're In Laughlin, NV For.........

a couple of days.......got here yesterday evening, had a nice dinner, gambled a bit and then crashed and burned. We're staying at the Colorado Belle since it's only $17.00 a night during the week days and we have unlimited hot water.

We managed to spend a couple of nights in Death Valley, toured Scotty's Castle, visited a crater (can't remember the name of it), saw the lowest spot in the U.S. and took a bunch of pictures. Stopped at a Ghost Town near Beatty, NV and since it was still fairly early we decided to drive on to Laughlin. Zipped right on through Las Vegas!!

Been trying to upload a few pictures and Blogger isn't cooperating.........so will try the......oops..... the pictures finally uploaded! It's time for breakfast so will head that way and maybe post some more pictures later. W&B

We Gotta "Get Out of Dodge" Date.................

this coming Sunday. If all goes as planned we'll leave early Sunday morning and take the back woods road to Reno, this saves us about 51 miles, instead of taking the interstate. The road from Sacramento to Reno really sucks so the back route can't be any worse and we have more time then money so it'll work out OK. We're going to drive on through Reno to the Naval Air Station at Fallon, NV and spend the night at the military RV park. Monday we head down to the road to Death Valley and spend the night at a campground a few miles south of Scotty's Castle. Do the tourist thing on Tuesday and then probably drive down to another campground at Furnace Creek. We should be there a few days (if it isn't too COLD at night........been looking at the weather reports and it drops down into the upper 30s at night!!!) and will use it as a base camp to explore the surrounding area. When we leave, hopefully, we'll be able to exercise some self-control and drive on through Las Vegas to Laughlin. We'll probably check into a hotel for a couple of days..........at $16.95 a night we can't go too far wrong.........enjoy the unlimited hot water, get in a little geocaching and then amble on down to Yuma later in the week.

That's our plan; but, we probably won't stick to it.

W&B

Another Football Game Down................

with another one in the win column. This was homecoming for the Wolves and the Big Bad Wolf joined the cheerleaders. Old number 57 scored a tackle in the backfield for a loss and the Wolves won the game handily. They even had a float for homecoming. The visiting team were overmatched and after a quarter of play the score was 35 to 0 so the game was called and the remaining time was devoted to scrimmage with no further scores being recorded. Kinda felt sorry for the visitors.

Rhonda and Becky and kids headed to the high school where a Walk for Cancer was being held and they circled the track numerous times. I headed for home and watched some college games on the tube.

This evening we headed for the Pizza joint and about 20 kids helped Jace celebrate his 11th birthday. He seems to have pulled in lottsa loot and the kids had a good time. Too much for my poor, tired old ears. I think about 3 birthday parties were going on at the same time this evening.

Breakfast tomorrow at my favorite diner and I suppose we'll be heading back up the road around noon. W&B

Friday Evening................

and we arrived in Woodland mid afternoon. Tried to set up my MTV but couldn't get a signal through a large tree in front of Steve and Rhonda's house. Finally gave up on it and Becky and I went out to the casino to "collect" our "free $10.00". Bummer..........every month the casino has been crediting our playing cards with ten bucks each month..............this month they haven't; or, at least it hasn't been done yet. We gambled a little while and came back to Woodland. The rest of the troops have gone shopping for Jace's BD and I stayed home to play with the satellite dish. Finally have it up and running so I'm happy.

We've been waiting for results of the CT scan that Becky had on Wednesday and today her Doctor called with the great news..............

"Everything stable and no problems"

was the report. We'll head for home on Sunday and make preparations for getting underway for Yuma the latter part of next week!

More shrimp football tomorrow morning, BD party in the evening and just kick back on Sunday.

Later. B&W

We Made A Mad Dash.................

to the casino this morning for Old Folks Half Price breakfast...........the breakfast was good; but, the bottom line cost wasn't anything to brag about. Left the casino walking on air because my wallet was so depleated that it wasn't heavy enough to keep me earthbound. Easy come easy go.



We're getting the M/H ready to make a speed run to Woodland again tomorrow and will probably come back on Sunday. Bryce has a football game on Saturday and then we'll all help Jace celebrate his birthday Saturday evening. Think it's going to be at the Pizza Shack. Becky will probably go "shopping" with her "baby" as we won't be around for the coming months. Hopefully, we'll be heading slowly to Yuma the latter part of next week.



I had seriously considered washing the M/H...............for about 21 seconds.............now I'm going to take it down to the truck wash and run it through for a $28.00 bill. Will load up a few more things this afternoon and we should be good to go tomorrow morning sometime.

More later if anything happens. W&B