19 Blog housekeeping

A little Blog housekeeping!

       It seems that many of you are as new to reading a blog as I'm to writing one so we will learn together.
Via my email contacts I have had inquiries on how they can Comment and to be informed when I publish a new post.

Comments,  . 

     If you are reading in a multiple page format, between the posts you will see a page break and either  no comments or  the # of comments, if you click on comment you will be given a blank Post a comment page that you can type in.   Just below that you must select a profile from the drop down menu. Many of you have been able to comment and probably weren’t aware of it.  If you have a gmail account which is google you can click on that and publish it.  Or it is very easy to set up a gmail account.  You then can click on the profile, next  hit publish.   I have added an anonymous profile to allow everyone to comment.  I ask you to remember you are in our house and our children/grandchildren are at the table.  In here we have respect for all persons in words and deeds.  I know kind of prudish or old fashioned ,  we were raised that way and feel more comfortable.  If swearing is your style, do it in your house and don’t be surprised when your  grandchildren utter the exact words. Little tape recorders they are, “now where did they ever hear that” ? 

     Keeping updated on new posts?   Due to the fact that we are posting during our current trip,  time and internet availability dictate our posting dates.  Subscribing will keep you informed when we publish a new post.  

Following a Blog Subscribe:  On the left side under our profile picture I have added two widgets. ( yup, another new blog word.) 
Follow by Email:  The easiest one first, simply type in your email address type in the security check letters as prompted and you will be notified when a new post appears.

Subscribe to posts and comments thru a Feed Reader:  It is a useful tool to keep you updated, especially if you read several blogs.  Do a search, there are several, google reader is one.  Some of the browsers have a small orange icon to make it easy to subscribe.
 

( that seemed easy however you non-computer readers will understand why I spent a day and 1/2 researching and adding it to my blog.   This should get you started.   As I gain more knowledge I will update the home based static page. )  Now back to the important stuff, riding and posting.
Thanks for your input. 

18 The Horseshoe

     Dec 15th

     To coordinate our arrival at a motorcycle host's home for their return we decided to do a little more wandering.  It was 68 degrees around eleven departing Texarcana we headed South East on Arkansas 82.   Most of the area's we have been in have experienced a lack of moisture and their water tables are far below normal.  We passed a man made lake named Columbia and stopped to take a couple of pictures.  It makes you wonder what might be beneath  your boat when you are on a lake.  The stumps in the picture are normally covered during a normal year.  At Magnolia we headed South on 79 and soon bayou’s and parish’s replaced creeks and counties we were in Louisiana.  We picked up 2 heading South East again. The weather was pleasant,  the temperature had reached 73 and we were enjoying the ride.  It was one of the first days we had been

comfortable riding without gloves.  On that note I should offer a few safety tips.  When you pull up to a stop sign please keep your foot hard on the brake, don't creep, don't inch forward just be patient because we are watching your front wheel and if we see it move we don't know what to expect.  It is only 2 seconds in your life but it may mean every thing to us.  2. your cargo you are responsible for it, tie it, strap it, check it and re-tighten it.  That lawn chair, board, floatation device can be deadly to a motorcycle.   3.  We have purchased sunflower seeds, so don't follow to close.  more later... 

    Everytime I see and old abandoned building I start to wonder what happened.  Did they move, pass away, did the economy make it hard to stay here?  At one time it was new and filled with hopes and dreams of what was to come.  How would the builder feel looking at it today?  Was there still family that looked in on it?  Was there once happy children playing in this yard, a swing, Christmas lights in the window?  Will someone restore it and make it usable.  I think I'm going to go with they moved to a better opportunity some where else!    

     At Farmerville we turned back to the West,  there was rain in the forecast and no sense pushing our luck.  We arrived in Minden LA and found a ( almost said suitable) place to stay.  We had issues here, the bathroom light was so dim we didn't think it had came on, we thought maybe it was one of those energy efficient bulbs that take a while to warm up.  No such luck.  It rained quite hard that night,  feeling grateful for the moisture to help the area.  The next morning for breakfast was no better, I gave Ruthie the complimentary breakfast. ( we were allowed one.)  I ordered oatmeal.  Fifteen minutes later I recieved it, I asked for brown sugar, the waitress reminded me I was down south,  I didn't ask again.  We moved on.

     It was still misting but we really didn't want to spend another night here.  We checked the GPS for lodging in the direction we were heading.  We made a few phone calls and headed for Bossier City LA it turned out the Horseshoe had excellent rooms for less than we had spent at the "Where's the bathroom motel"  It was directly the Red river from Shreveport.   They gave us an amazing room they must have thought we were high rollers?   Evidently they didn't see us pull into the garage with our home following behind us.  

      I guess everyone had a nice room, we heard someone say they were the best rooms in the area.

     Day or night we enjoyed the view from our room.

     We spent two nights here!          

 Just looking!  Porter house steak $120.00 we passed up on the steak house.                                                                                                                                        

     I think he made Ruthie's day!

     "All right young lady I seen you try and sneak in past the 35 and under gate.  "

     "lets take a look at that ID"


     The staff was amazing, if every business treated their customers like they did.  There would not be a customer retention problem.

     I wasn't sure if the tree was holding up the chandelier or the chandelier was holding up the tree.
     One of the benefits of riding this time of year, listening to Christmas carols as you ride.  I know she is enjoying the ride when I hear her singing along with the songs. 

                                                           

  













    Loaded up and ready to head out,  One more shot of the fountain.   We are going to take a little detour and head up to Plain Dealing LA. before heading to Marshall Texas.   We had heard about a Christmas light display there. 

                                                             

17 James

I bet he has never ate hotel yogurt on his trips!

     It was a short ride to Texarkana AR to see James, our cycle friend. ( have to be careful when you say that.)   This is a picture of him from a recent return trip from California.  It is only fitting that James has his own page, now before the stay here, a little background.  A few years ago we decided to ride a trike to the March Daytona bike rally.  When we started out it was 10 degrees. ( see the madness didn't just start.)  We ran into snow in Chicago but that's another story, we said we were going to shorten it.

James's friend with her new blinged Bandana

    We didn't spend very long at the rally, we have found out we aren't to excited about the big bike rally's.  It is fun to go there and see the large group of motorcycles and admire the tricked out ones.  But the danger and traffic congestion plus inexperienced riders puts us on the road pretty quickly.  We would rather ride with a couple of bikes and see the country.  Besides the cold weather had followed us south, snow in Jacksonville FL that year.  We went down to Key West to find some warmer weather and then started for home.  We were following  a camper pulling what we assumed was a trailer with a motorcycle in it.  A school bus we were meeting put out the stop sign for oncoming traffic at the last minute and the camper had to really get on it's brakes to get it stopped in time.  We could see that the bus driver realized what she had done and mouthed a "sorry" to the camper.  Up the road a bit we all pulled into a gas station.  Of course Ruthie went up and started talking to the people in the camper.  By the time I had finished filling with gas there was a plan in place.

    We were going to follow James and his friends, stop somewhere and pick up groceries,  go to a campground and cook out.  They left the gas station before us ( maybe trying to out run these disturbed people from Minnesota. they had probably been warned to watch out for people on trikes by their parents.)  Fortunately Ruthie knew the plan and the route so when we were finished at the station we took off determined to catch them.  It is amazing the lead a vehicle traveling free way speeds can get on a stationary vehicle.  For a while we traveled five to ten miles over the limit then we kicked it up to 90 mph,  a little nervous about my speed it seemed like a long time before we pulled up beside them.  Ruthie had told me that they had been at the rally and the second day there his Harley had been stolen, ( 50=Harley's stolen 0= gold-wings, I guess the public has voted.)  they were from Texarcana  AR and one of the friends had a booth selling pony tails.  She actually knew a lot more but you get the idea, it doesn't take Ruthie long to find out your story.  We stopped at a grocery store and split the cost of steaks and the fixin's.  We then proceeded to follow them to a campground, seemed to take hours we were getting very hungry and the smell of baking sweet potatoes with marshmallows coming out of the camper was making us hungrier.  I apologize this is getting to be a Ruthie story and I promised to shorten it!  But now I either have to delete it or finish.  After what seemed hours we stopped at a campground and James cooked some great steaks, we sat around the campfire and he told stories of some of his rides.  He is a hard core rider.  A bare bones Harley and sleeping where ever he can, one of the stories that made me laugh and it is probably the way he tells it.  He was riding to Sturgis SD for the rally speeding along in the middle of the night he said he was almost knocked off his cycle when he got hit in the middle of his fore head by a hard backed bug.  Maybe it was the long ride across Florida, sleep deprivation, sitting around the campfire, I don't know but when ever I think of James all I can see is him getting knocked of his cycle by a "hard backed bug".   A few years ago we rode down to the South Padre Islands and of course stopped and seen James,  he cooked up some steaks and told more stories but my favorite is still the "hard backed bug" story.  When you are going to see some one after a long absence you wonder, will I recognize them?  Have they changed much?  I half expected to see a mark on his forehead from getting hit by the hard backed bug.   No, he was the same old James he took us to the store to get some steaks, they are his specialty. what a gentleman he put a cooler down so Ruthie had a step to get into his truck he says he has to do the same thing for his mother.   I think I pulled a muscle pulling myself up into it.  He is the only one I know who has a 3 gallon bucket of a special steak seasoning so he won't run out.  It was another great experience with James, Be safe my friend.

 

16 Diamonds?

     We arrived at Murfreesboro early enough to drive through the town and check out the crater of diamonds state park.   Checked out the gift shop and I purchased a hooded sweatshirt.  On the way back to town we checked out a campground.  It seemed that Ruthie was developing a cold so we decided to stay at a motel.  We went to the local grocery store to get some tv dinners and treats.   We stayed at the Queen of Diamonds as they had good internet service and who knows maybe it will bring us luck.
     The internet service turned out to be a problem,  I couldn't connect to their WiFi.  They reset the router and took out all the phones, they did it again.  Then they decided they had this problem before and to try in front of the laundry room to make sure it wasn't my computer.  It wasn't!  Ended up moving to a newer wing of the motel where they had WiFi and hard wired service.  A little problem with the wired one.  They thought it was on a lamp, but that turned out to be a phone plug in that didn't go any where.  We found the internet plug on the opposite wall from the table,  after doing some furniture moving I was all set. 

      Dec 11th   It dropped down to 17 degrees last night, so with Ruthie's cold the hotel was  a good idea.  We thought we would delay our fortune hunting while Ruthie recovered, we would wait and check on the mail,  and work on the blog.  At friend Louise's suggestion Ruthie started drinking some emergen-C to fight her cold.  What's good for the goose is good for the gander so she insisted I start taking some also.   She mixed me up a dose and  she reminded me to shake my bottom as I was drinking it!   Made it real difficult to drink, sometimes I just don’t know what she's thinking.

   So what do we have here?  
     Well we learned this and many other interesting things from Steve our room 50 neighbor.  I came  back from a errand and Ruthie and Steve were sitting in rocking chairs enjoying the sun.  These are the seeds of the Sweet-gum tree and they came be painted and used for crafts, christmas tree decorations and sold to tourists as porcupine eggs.  The town he is from planted a lot of them because the leaves are beautiful.  However a few years later they ended up having them removed because of this nasty little seed.  ( reminds me of Stewartville MN and their street lights.  Sometimes it is hard to foresee the consequences of our decisions. ) Try stepping on them once.  They are about the size of ping pong ball.  A good neighbor he helped me repair our camper light, he worked for the state of Arkansas inspecting school buses.  He also pointed out mistletoe hanging in a nearby tree. 

      Dec 12 Wednesday  4:48 am 18 degrees, significant because that is what it was when we left MN to get away from the cold, at least we don’t have to shovel our way to the trike.   Ruthie was feeling a little better so we went for a walk of the downtown area, lots of interesting shops.  Walked the downtown area.  One of the shops was the Moonshine trading post. 

     We liked it enough to rent a shelf to display Michelle's bandana's  They are right above the good fresh egg sign and two below the sweet tea.
     Mail continued:  Checked with the local post office still no package for us.  Now it has been seven days for a two day package.  Called Norman, the lady we talked to now was the one that had been on a cruise and she didn't know anything about it because the other lady only works on Saturday and evidently they never talk.  This is getting to be trying.  to be continued.



 

  Dec 13,   This was to be our day for fortune.  We headed to the Crater of Diamonds state park  It is the only diamond mine in the world where the public can hunt for diamonds.    We rented the basic diamond mining set.  A shovel, two screens and a pail.  We started where the 40.23-carat Uncle Sam diamond, the largest diamond ever unearthed in the U.S  was found.     A ranger came by and teased us with some diamonds and gave us a little history.  The crater came from a volcanic eruption over eighty million years ago, that brought the diamonds to the surface.   A local farmer found some diamonds and sold the land it was mined commercially for a few years and then the state turned it into a state park.   Now it looks like a very rocky and barren 37 acre plowed field.  We tried the dry screen sifting method with no luck,  Then we tried the pan washing method until my hands got cold washing the dirt.  I never thought I would be doing this,  rockiest field I have ever seen  I stopped to warm my hands and wander around the field.  We spent four hours there. 

   Usually we share a meal , however Ruthie made a declaration that she was going to have her own meal tonight, looks like working in the field has worked up an appetite.   We ate at Rattlers a local cafe  named after the football team.  If you want to have some fun stop and get the owner talking lumber, electric power or politics.    We stopped at candle shop on the way home, had to have something to show for our days work.

Crater Map

 
Dec 14   It is time to move on, no mail arrived, sure glad we didn't wait in Norman for it.  We didn't have far to go to our next stop in Texarcana and the temperature at risen to 68 it got to 73 that day and we only seen one motorcycle it still surprises us we arent seeing more cycles.  

15 Mena

    Dec 9th
 Jim and Lynae had told us about a very scenic ride from Mena AR,  There was a very light drizzle falling as we started to load up,   Jim's neighbor hollered over to ask if they were kicking us out in the rain.  A fun group of people here.  You might want to remember this picture.  It is important not only to show you how quickly your friends will desert you for the safety of their garage when a few sprinkles hit.  But in a few days I will be showing you some pictures that will show you how fortunate our timing is on this trip.
     From Hot Springs we headed West on 270 and then using 71 dropped down into Mena AR.  We had got a good start this morning so we arrived at the start of our run early after noon.
     We started out on the Talimena Scenic Drive as it stretches across the very top of the Ouachita Mountains in Eastern Oklahoma and Western Arkansas.  One of the points that interested Ruthie was Queen Wilhelmina State Park and Lake as this was her grand mothers middle name, without the queen of course.  The drive had many well marked look out points that we were unaccustomed to.  Usually they come up at the last minute and you have to swing out if no one is coming. 

     The road to the top was tree lined and then it opened to a view of the valley.  When you have to slow for a sharp curve and then the hill is in front of you is when you realize you are pulling a heavy trailer.   You think you are to the top and then in the distance you see the road you are on going further up the mountain. 
     There is a spot on the mountain where the Arkansas and Oklahoma boundary marker is.  It says their are still lawsuits ongoing because of the disputed marker.

We stopped at several of the over looks to see the view.  Kind of makes you feel humble.

     When we were in Mena the sun was warm and it had reached 72 degrees.  By the time we had reached the top of the mountain the temperature was falling pretty fast.  It dropped to 50 and we were having patches of fog.  We thought when we dropped off the mountain down in to Oklahoma it would warm up.  Wrong again.  We drove quickly around Talihina OK and we didn’t see many oppertunites to stay so we decided to take the valley road back to Mena AR.   We pushed it a little harder on the way back as we were both chilled and wanted to find some place warm.  We found an economical hotel, got settled and stopped at a new BBQ place that had been recommended to us.
     The temperature continued to drop thru the night and when we woke up there was a light dusting of snow on the camper.   We let it warm up a little before we get on the road.  Our goal today is to pickup our mail in Norman AR and go on to Murfeesboro so we can look for diamonds at the crater of diamonds.   Great plan.  Dec 5th our grandson-S had taken our mail to the post office to have the post master place in a priority envelope and address from a printed address he carried, simple enough.

      It got up into the sixty's that day.  It was a very pleasant ride with the sun coming thru the trees as we rode.  The pictures just don't do it justice.  The sun keeps flickering between the trees as you ride like an old time film strip.  Maybe I will try a video next time.

    We found Norman OK,  it was small enough it wasn't hard to find the Post office.  We had called before we had them sent just to make sure it was a manned office.  Unfortunately the person we had talked to was on a ten day cruise.  Still shouldn't be a problem.  After explaining that we were there to pick up a general delivery package sent from Minnesota.  It took a little longer after we explained we were on a motorcycle "Oh my God"  we here that a lot, a very religious area I believe.  She checked all over and no package was found.  She and the post office from the sending area. ( don't want to embarrass anyone.) agreed because of Christmas and especially going South it could be longer.  It was already 6 days for a two day delivery.  Ruthie made a great decision that day.  We would ride on to Murfreesboro rather than wait in Norman.  The post master said it would only take a day as long as we stayed in the same zip code.  Mail; to be continued. ....
This is a link to map of this leg of the journey.   Map
Then click on Hot Springs Village-Talimena Scenic Drive -Murfeesboro

14 Hot Springs Village

Dec  5 Wednesday   
     We were back on #7 heading for Hot springs village,  our next host had asked us to call when we were about a half hour away and he would meet us at the gate.  Unfortunately because of the valleys and poor reception we couldn't get a signal until we hit Jessieville the GPS said we were still quite a ways from their home so we thought we would be OK.  When I reached Jim he said we were about 5 miles from the gate.  I was confused, was the GPS wrong?  We stopped at the gate to receive a pass and wait for Jim,  the guard lady was very serious about her job, I don't think we would be going any further.  When Jim arrived we started following him to their house.  We kept watching the GPS and were amazed at the miles yet to travel, where was he taking us?  Later we found out we were inside America's largest gated community, with nine golf courses and 500 miles of paved roads.  A neighbor of Jim and Lynae's that does the newcomer briefing said it had the land mass of San Francisco 26,000 acres with less than 14,000 residents.
      Just a few days ago we had been on the purple heart trail and now we were at one, Jim was a former Marine and tennis pro.   We seemed to fit right in, great people.  At supper that night Jim had mentioned that his gold wing  had an issue, some dirty rat ( literally)  had chewed thru some of the wiring and one of the results was no gas gauge.  The local Honda dealer said it would cost $2,700 to replace the wire harness and he charged them $250 for that piece of information.   I could see Ruthie's mind working, when we were re-manufacturing our home her favorite expression was "Vernon can do that"  at least this time she said it with a question, Vern, you could fix that couldn't you?  I said probably but I would have to look at it first.  We had originally planned on staying the one evening and heading out.  However this provided an opportunity to do what we had planned, exchange repair work or horse training for room and board.  The next morning we offered to work on the bike and if repaired our stay would be at no cost,  if I couldn't fix it we would pay them $20.00 per day.  They wanted to make sure this was not affecting our trip plans?  ( well you already know the answer, we have no plans.) 
   I tore the bike apart on the 6th to diagnose the problem, grey with stipe and rings was severed as well as one of the green ones,  I counted over 8 green wires in this bundle of 80 plus wires.  The problem was they disappeared behind the frame.
Dec 7th Jim took us golfing,  I know we haven't golfed in over 5 years, Ruthie used Lynae's clubs and I used Jim's friends "Big Jim"  kind of nervous here,  our Jim was 6'3" I didn't want to scratch Big Jim's clubs and  they kept talking about a bigger Jim. 

I think around this time Jim must have been reconsidering the deal.  Let's see $2,700 or Vern staying who knows how long.  I think it was then they he said maybe we should set a time limit and then just fix the fuel gauge and not worry about the other wire.  Or maybe it was when he heard me on the phone with the freight company getting quotes on moving our belongings to Hot Springs Village.  Either way on the 8th I had both wires repaired and was putting it back together.

 Just teasing!  This wasn't Jims bike, thought I better clarify it before I have three Jim's after me.  This was our trike the week before we left.  Notice no front end, we installed a steering rake for easier steering.

      This is Jim and Layne's, thanks for sending the pictures.     We got it back together and checked out and they had a nice surprise for us.
     They took us on a tour of Hot Springs, there was a sign that said Bill Clinton was born there, however we cannot confirm or deny that.

 One of our goals when we left Minnesota was to follow Randy and Jan's advice and check out Bubba's seafood in Hot springs,  another check mark on the old bucket list. 

.


 One of the signs I seen as we walked the streets was a Strip Karaoke place, still wonder about that.

 The history of the springs was very interesting, they say that the water that is coming out today entered the earth 4000 years ago and comes out at 143 degrees, you can see Ruthie's surprise.  The others are residents that are getting their drinking water.  We went to a film about the history of it and bless Jim's heart, I know he had seen it before and his head kept bouncing off his shoulder.  What great hosts they are.
    We had a great time and hated to leave.  I learned at least three things here Arlington is where Robert E Lees home was, Blue bell is the best ice cream ( according to Jim, he hides his stash.) and it is OK to move the golf ball out of the rough when you are playing for fun ( and the clubs belong to BIG JIM)
     We will remember this stay always. 

13 Russelville

Dec 4 th Wednesday 12:24 am, slipped down to the breakfast area to write so as not to disturb Ruthie, was it the caffeine or mind full of ideas, don’t know but I am determined to get a handle on this blog and our travel notes. .  Computer, internet problems, and time seemed to be putting me further behind.
     We met  a man at the courtesy breakfast that was on his way to the local Honda dealer to pick up  his new Gold wing,  They were going to have it ready for him to ride to Texas.  We suggested that he have them put on some highway pegs,  Gold wings aren’t made for tall people and he definitely was.  Ruthie say's he was 6'5" , she gets the details.    It would give him a way to stretch out his legs.  Before we left we drove by the dealer to check it out, biggest supply of bikes and trikes we had seen.  
     While in Russelville we received a call in reply to an email from our motorcycle contact offering to put us up for an evening at Hot springs village.
     The next morning we completely unloaded our trailer to lighten the load.  We ended up sending back over forty pounds in four boxes back home.  This will help with loading and unloading.
While in Russelville we went thru all of our gear and arranged to send  40 lbs of gear back home.
      There all packed away, this is the storage area we can get to even when the tent is set up.  We try to keep the day to day things in the trike for easy access.   By the end of this trip we should have it down to a science.  
     We avoided a couple of major rain storms during our reorganization time spent in Russelville.   As we were leaving we stopped at "The Waffle House"  note it is not to be confused with "a waffle house"  one of our cycle friends Morgan back home in Minnesota likes them as well as we do.  So tradition has it that we call him when we are at one..  Since they don't seem to be available North of Arkansas this only happens every few years.  We might have to curtail the calling practice on this trip.  We told him we were at Waffle house # 867 and of course he replied oh that one is my favorite.   What a guy.
   The unfortunate part of this visit, as soon as we entered we heard conspiracy theory guy back in the corner bending someones ear.  ( didn't look at all like Mel Gibson)  Using horse training skills, turn your shoulder toward them and avoid eye contact.  ( it draws horses to you and discourages conspiracy theory guy's contact.)  And why is it always a guy?? Why not conspiracy theory gal?   One lady escaped, she said she had to use the restroom,  he went right to another person.  There voice is always a couple of decibels to loud so it is hard to ignore them.  Well great breakfast and we were on our way to Hot Springs village,  what kind of reception would we find there?