Day 1 - This is going to be a personal record of my weight loss journey. I am committed to losing weight as of this day forward. I refuse to do a drastic diet or give up some of the foods I love forever.
I have had a few things happen just this week that have been firsts for me because of my weight. I am at the highest point I have EVER been at and I refuse to let this go on.
I absolutely hate my body right now and I love myself more than ever so I am going to make this happen!
Today is the first day of the rest of my life and I am going to make this life one I want to be living. I have a goal of being down to a decent weight by my 50th birthday in 2021!!
I am not publishing this out but it is here as something I am doing. I am going to be recording my journey of life here so if someone wants to keep up with how things are going for me, they can check here.
Now, for some rambling thought:
I am getting fed up with Facebook and don't like the time I waste on there with little to no satisfaction anymore because I see the same peoples posts and usually those are a day or a week old. Facebook is just not what it used to be and that was fun .. so, it's time to cut that part of my life down and spend more time on me! So, if you are a Facebook friend and I am not there as much, don't think anything of it.
Living Off the Grid is another subject I will be writing about now and then. In April 2018 we were forced out of our house we had lived in for 29 years. It's a long story and if you want more info, please feel free to contact me at dimon.cathy@gmail.com with a subject of "Living Off the Grid". Anyway, we moved from a 1500 sq ft house to one that is just under 1000 sq ft. My awesome hubby did some GREAT work to it before we actually moved in and we love our little house! We are completely on solar or generator power so we have no house payment and no electric bill!! That has helped so much in our overall security in this life we live. We have a 2000 gallon water tank that supplies our water. We have a propane hot water heater, propane cook stove and a propane heater so we are pretty well set up. We also have a composting toilet so we have no sewer system to worry about in our cold winter temps! Living off the Grid has been a great experience and we love it!
Sled dogs! We still have some ... 18 to be exact. However, all of them except 2 are over 9 years old and either completely retired or semi retired. I will write more about them in future posts as there are so many fun stories to share that I don't have time to write now.
And lastly, I can't forget to mention that today is the "Gotcha Day" for our littlest member of the family, Millie came to us this day in 2014 and has lived a grand life since then. She is a 15 pound dog that rules the roost and has us both wrapped right around her paw!
Okay, if you want to follow this journey, I welcome you. If you have any questions about this journey or our life off grid with sled dogs, please ask!! It might give me a subject of my next post!!
Happy Trails~
Cathy
Friday, October 19, 2018
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
It warmed up ...
It is warmer today .... barley, but it is above zero today. Every day that is not 40 below is a good winter day in my book!! We are only 19 days away from the shortest day of the year where we will only have about 4 hours of daylight. But, the good news is that we start gaining daylight again!!
It was another crazy busy day at work but busy is good. We got home and after dinner we went out to clean pens. After the second set of dogs were let out and we had cleaned their pens, I bent over to pick up a pile o' poo and my back screamed in pain. I screamed in pain too! Ouch! It was like someone stuck a knife in the middle of my back and the pain radiated out to the side. Damn. That hurt! It happened again when we were feeding dogs. I am now safely tucked into the couch with a dog beside me and I am waiting for the pain pills to kick in. This couldn't have worse timing as I am going to be alone to do doggy chores tomorrow since Tom will be out of town for work. Ugh. Oh well. Just gotta get 'er done.
Have a great day!
Cathy and Tom and the Gang
It was another crazy busy day at work but busy is good. We got home and after dinner we went out to clean pens. After the second set of dogs were let out and we had cleaned their pens, I bent over to pick up a pile o' poo and my back screamed in pain. I screamed in pain too! Ouch! It was like someone stuck a knife in the middle of my back and the pain radiated out to the side. Damn. That hurt! It happened again when we were feeding dogs. I am now safely tucked into the couch with a dog beside me and I am waiting for the pain pills to kick in. This couldn't have worse timing as I am going to be alone to do doggy chores tomorrow since Tom will be out of town for work. Ugh. Oh well. Just gotta get 'er done.
Have a great day!
Cathy and Tom and the Gang
Sunday, December 01, 2013
Another day of -25F
Started the day by sleeping in a bit!! Whoo hoo .... that hardly ever happens because one of the old dogs that sleep inside usually has to go out to pee way before 8:00 am!! Felt good to sleep a few hours longer except my body was so stiff and sore when I went to move that I wasn't sure I was going to be getting up today!! I made it and we are now finished with breakfast and enjoying a 1st of many cups of coffee this morning!!
Dogs got breakfast and then we covered the 4-wheeler and sno-go with a tarp to then put the heater under there to warm them up. It was 25 below when we got up and hasn't warmed up much at all today. After lunch, we got the 4-wheeler started and took off to get a sled load of wood!! Mind you, we have about 5 cord of wood all split and stacked and ready to burn, but Tom wants to get more so that is saved for another year and then next year we can get that much more ahead again! We spent about 2 hours getting a load of wood. It would have been less time if we had remembered to pick up the chain saw wrench before we left ... I had to run back to get it after Tom sat there waiting for me to get back from packing trails! But, we got a load of wood and got it home and in the house! Yay for big stacks of wood in the house for temps in the -20's and -30's!!
It's now 3:13 pm and our temp has made it up to -21F which will likely be the high for the day. I have again discovered my love hate relationship with carhartt bibs!! They are so much warmer on days like this than most anything else I have, but it's a bitch when I gotta pee out there!! So many layers to get through and then the whole top layer is gone so I can undo the bibs!! Urg!! Be warm or be able to pee?? That is the question of the day.
I hope this finds all of you staying warm and enjoying the Sunday in your very own way!
Happy Trails.
C and T and the Gang
Wow ... what an evening ... I started the rearranging/swapping of the tool room and the pantry ... I will officially have a walk in pantry when I am done with this project tonight. I am so excited but the work of getting it done tonight has been exhausting!!
Dogs got breakfast and then we covered the 4-wheeler and sno-go with a tarp to then put the heater under there to warm them up. It was 25 below when we got up and hasn't warmed up much at all today. After lunch, we got the 4-wheeler started and took off to get a sled load of wood!! Mind you, we have about 5 cord of wood all split and stacked and ready to burn, but Tom wants to get more so that is saved for another year and then next year we can get that much more ahead again! We spent about 2 hours getting a load of wood. It would have been less time if we had remembered to pick up the chain saw wrench before we left ... I had to run back to get it after Tom sat there waiting for me to get back from packing trails! But, we got a load of wood and got it home and in the house! Yay for big stacks of wood in the house for temps in the -20's and -30's!!
It's now 3:13 pm and our temp has made it up to -21F which will likely be the high for the day. I have again discovered my love hate relationship with carhartt bibs!! They are so much warmer on days like this than most anything else I have, but it's a bitch when I gotta pee out there!! So many layers to get through and then the whole top layer is gone so I can undo the bibs!! Urg!! Be warm or be able to pee?? That is the question of the day.
I hope this finds all of you staying warm and enjoying the Sunday in your very own way!
Happy Trails.
C and T and the Gang
Wow ... what an evening ... I started the rearranging/swapping of the tool room and the pantry ... I will officially have a walk in pantry when I am done with this project tonight. I am so excited but the work of getting it done tonight has been exhausting!!
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Busy Saturday even at -25F
We woke up to -16F. After breakfast, I took Shammu to the vet for a urinalysis to make sure there isn't an underlying infection as the reason for her leaking pee when she is laying down. No infection but the tumor is still in the bladder. Shammu is on meds that should help. While I was gone, Tom fed the other dogs their breakfast.
The afternoon schedule had us going out to get some wood. The sno-go didn't want to stay running so we decided to walk out to the woodlot and pull a small load of wood home with human power. Sure, we could use the dogs, but we didn't do that today. We got a couple of trees down and a load hauled back to the house.
Next, it was time to clean the pens. Even at -25F the dogs were running around playing and having fun! Now that we have snow, I have been keeping a few trails through the open area of the dog yard shoveled out for easier walking for the humans! What's really funny is to watch the dogs run around and they prefer the trail too! Go figure!! :) But, the other thing we figured out is that it is about 330 feet around the outside trail. So, we would have to make 16 trips around the trail to make an extra mile of walking while we are out there. Tonight, I challenged myself to do 4 laps while each set of dogs was out of their pens. I get exercise and the dogs get extra time out of their pens!! They followed me!! It was so funny. I might have to have Tom record it one night!!
We had plans to run at least one of the three teams tonight but with the temps continuing to fall, we decided the humans didn't really want to go out!! The dogs would have been okay and would have enjoyed it but it would have been hard for me to stay warm while riding in the sled!! So, no running tonight!
Since we didn't run, we decided it would be a good time to go get some fuel oil so we don't run out. That meant that I would need to go to the dump to empty the back of the truck to get the fuel containers in there too! So, off I went at 10 pm!! All is finally done and we are inside for the night with the four inside dogs relaxing here with us until we head to bed!!
Happy Trails!
C & T
The afternoon schedule had us going out to get some wood. The sno-go didn't want to stay running so we decided to walk out to the woodlot and pull a small load of wood home with human power. Sure, we could use the dogs, but we didn't do that today. We got a couple of trees down and a load hauled back to the house.
Next, it was time to clean the pens. Even at -25F the dogs were running around playing and having fun! Now that we have snow, I have been keeping a few trails through the open area of the dog yard shoveled out for easier walking for the humans! What's really funny is to watch the dogs run around and they prefer the trail too! Go figure!! :) But, the other thing we figured out is that it is about 330 feet around the outside trail. So, we would have to make 16 trips around the trail to make an extra mile of walking while we are out there. Tonight, I challenged myself to do 4 laps while each set of dogs was out of their pens. I get exercise and the dogs get extra time out of their pens!! They followed me!! It was so funny. I might have to have Tom record it one night!!
We had plans to run at least one of the three teams tonight but with the temps continuing to fall, we decided the humans didn't really want to go out!! The dogs would have been okay and would have enjoyed it but it would have been hard for me to stay warm while riding in the sled!! So, no running tonight!
Since we didn't run, we decided it would be a good time to go get some fuel oil so we don't run out. That meant that I would need to go to the dump to empty the back of the truck to get the fuel containers in there too! So, off I went at 10 pm!! All is finally done and we are inside for the night with the four inside dogs relaxing here with us until we head to bed!!
Happy Trails!
C & T
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Running the teams ...
We FINALLY found time to run the teams today!!
Team 1
Baleen & Sherman - Lead
Dude & Kivek - Swing
Tanner & Rufus - Team
Kako - Team
Zena & Marco - Wheel
Tom had planned to run the team with the 4-wheeler for the added safety of having a 700 pound machine at the back end of a team that hasn't been run at all this year!! But, neither of the wheelers would start. Plan B ... use the dog sled!! The trails were awesome and the sled was the right way to go!! Tom drove the sled while I rode in the sled. This team did a GREAT job. We only took them about 3 miles for this first run but they looked great. The weak link we have right now is weak leaders but these two actually did a great job. Kept the line out tight and followed most directions!! They did the 3 miles in 20 minutes!
Team 2
Shasta & Jasper - Lead
Bolio & Stubby - Swing
Rallie - Team
Gus - Team
Yeti & Shelby - Wheel
Got the change out accomplished pretty quickly and we were on the trail with this team in no time. We took off from the house with Tom driving again and me riding. Got about a half mile into the run and as we came around the corner there was something in the trail. My heartbeat took off because at first I thought it was a moose in the trail. Turns out it was just our neighbor, Oliver, coming home with his team hauling a load of fire wood. We stopped our team and I went up to the spot between the leaders and the swing dogs. Tom got in the middle of the wheel and team dogs. Tom also turned the sled on it's side to help slow it down if things got out of hand. Oliver was running a very inexperienced team to so we held our team off to the side while he led his team past ours. Yup, we all need to work on the passing thing! Oliver got past and took off toward home while we went on our way to the turn around. This was a good experience for all dogs involved!! After that, we made it around the trail without any trouble at all.
Team 3
Muktuk (11) & Kia (13.5) - Lead
Patton (9) & Panzer (9) - Swing
Hannah (7) - Team
Sioux (13.5) - Team
Shammu (11) - Wheel
This is the "old dog" team (ages beside their names). They did the 3 miles loop without any hesitation, though, much slower than the other teams!! :)
All in all, it was a good day of running the teams. Now that we have the first run of the season out of the way, I will try to remember to take a camera next time and get some pictures or video.
Happy Trails!
Team 1
Baleen & Sherman - Lead
Dude & Kivek - Swing
Tanner & Rufus - Team
Kako - Team
Zena & Marco - Wheel
Tom had planned to run the team with the 4-wheeler for the added safety of having a 700 pound machine at the back end of a team that hasn't been run at all this year!! But, neither of the wheelers would start. Plan B ... use the dog sled!! The trails were awesome and the sled was the right way to go!! Tom drove the sled while I rode in the sled. This team did a GREAT job. We only took them about 3 miles for this first run but they looked great. The weak link we have right now is weak leaders but these two actually did a great job. Kept the line out tight and followed most directions!! They did the 3 miles in 20 minutes!
Team 2
Shasta & Jasper - Lead
Bolio & Stubby - Swing
Rallie - Team
Gus - Team
Yeti & Shelby - Wheel
Got the change out accomplished pretty quickly and we were on the trail with this team in no time. We took off from the house with Tom driving again and me riding. Got about a half mile into the run and as we came around the corner there was something in the trail. My heartbeat took off because at first I thought it was a moose in the trail. Turns out it was just our neighbor, Oliver, coming home with his team hauling a load of fire wood. We stopped our team and I went up to the spot between the leaders and the swing dogs. Tom got in the middle of the wheel and team dogs. Tom also turned the sled on it's side to help slow it down if things got out of hand. Oliver was running a very inexperienced team to so we held our team off to the side while he led his team past ours. Yup, we all need to work on the passing thing! Oliver got past and took off toward home while we went on our way to the turn around. This was a good experience for all dogs involved!! After that, we made it around the trail without any trouble at all.
Team 3
Muktuk (11) & Kia (13.5) - Lead
Patton (9) & Panzer (9) - Swing
Hannah (7) - Team
Sioux (13.5) - Team
Shammu (11) - Wheel
This is the "old dog" team (ages beside their names). They did the 3 miles loop without any hesitation, though, much slower than the other teams!! :)
All in all, it was a good day of running the teams. Now that we have the first run of the season out of the way, I will try to remember to take a camera next time and get some pictures or video.
Happy Trails!
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Snow!! We have snow!!!
We finally have some significant snow on the ground!! After a warmer than normal October and what looked like it was going to be a strange November we actually had a significant snowfall this weekend!! I think the official amount for North Pole is 5.9" ... I was saying 6" so I think I was close!!
With the warmer than normal weather we have had we have been able to get some things done that we thought were going to be hold-over projects for next summer. We also started the process of getting some wood from the back "40". We are trying to get a couple of loads to get us through the week so we do not have to take any off the stacks that we have put up. The stuff that is stacked up is dry and ready to go, we just like seeing it stacked there since we have plenty of wood to get out back.
The area that we have fallen behind is in training the dogs. We haven't taken a team out at all this year. I really can't tell you why. We are tired, it's more than we want to do in an evening, too many projects and not enough time. We just need to get out there and get the going. We have pretty much everything ready and we will have no excuse next week.
Hopefully, this snow will be the kick in the pants that we need to get the dogs out!!
Happy Trails.
With the warmer than normal weather we have had we have been able to get some things done that we thought were going to be hold-over projects for next summer. We also started the process of getting some wood from the back "40". We are trying to get a couple of loads to get us through the week so we do not have to take any off the stacks that we have put up. The stuff that is stacked up is dry and ready to go, we just like seeing it stacked there since we have plenty of wood to get out back.
The area that we have fallen behind is in training the dogs. We haven't taken a team out at all this year. I really can't tell you why. We are tired, it's more than we want to do in an evening, too many projects and not enough time. We just need to get out there and get the going. We have pretty much everything ready and we will have no excuse next week.
Hopefully, this snow will be the kick in the pants that we need to get the dogs out!!
Happy Trails.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Bucket List Trip Fall 2013
On Friday, September 27, 2013, my parents picked me up from a conference in Baltimore, Maryland to start a 10 day cross country trip in their RV!! I took a taxi to the airport which we thought would be the best meeting place so they were not taking a 27' RV into downtown Baltimore. We got out of the airport and headed west on route 70/40. We drove an hour or so and when we couldn't find a campground, we stopped at a gas station to see what they could give us for information on a campground. We ended up buying gas and parking in their lot for the night. It was getting dark and late enough that we were ready to sleep anyway. We parked and had dinner and then slept the night away!!
Saturday, September 28 ... We traveled from the gas station outside of Baltimore to Louisville, Kentucky (~548 miles). This was my first day of being behind the wheel of the RV! Wow! It wasn't nearly as bad as I was envisioning before this trip. I only drove for around 50 or so miles to get my "wheels" under me. Traveling the interstates was helping us eat up the miles pretty quickly!! We stopped at a really nice campground tonight to get a shower, dinner and a good night of sleep!
Sunday, September 29 ... Today was our first 600+ mile day!! We left Louisville KY around 8 am and traveled to Alma, Arkansas (~657 miles). I got to put many, many more miles under my driving belt today. We got into a routine. Dad started the day with the first shift. Mom would take second shift and I would take the third morning shift. Then, Dad started us our after lunch and I would take the next shift with Mom bringing us in for the night! We were traveling with two dogs, Pahoo and Macy! What wonderful little travelers they were. They would get in the lap of whoever was riding shotgun and snooze!!! Another night in a campground!!
Monday, September 30 ... Another long 600+ mile day!! We went from Alma, AR to Moriarty, New Mexico (~660 miles) where we just parked the parking lot at a truck stop. We went over 170 miles on the interstate in Oklahoma with NO rest areas!!! We just wanted to get some sleep and get moving again the next morning! This meant we didn't have power to run the air conditioner and it was sweltering hot until we figured out if we moved to the other end of the parking lot and opened the windows we would get some nice cool air moving through!
Tuesday, October 1 ... GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN!!! Our first stop was going to be the Petrified Forest but since that is a National Park, it was "closed due to lack of budget". That was a huge disappointment!! But, we were not to be deterred!! We drove on to get to the Hoover Dam!! As we got closer and closer to the Hoover Dam ... what a drive that was from Kingman, Arizona to the dam ... we did not see a single campground!! Yikes! We found the entrance to the dam and decided to take a look. We drove back in (across the dam) and parked. We took the dogs with us and walked back to the dam. There were alot of signs that said, DO NOT LEAVE DOGS IN VEHICLES and then the next sign said DO NOT TAKE DOGS OUT ON THE DAM ... nothing like making it easy to see this damn dam!! So, Mom stayed at one side of the dam with the dogs while Dad and I went out onto the dam. Honestly, it wasn't nearly as big or I should say as wide, as I thought it would be. It was impressive, but not exactly what I had in my minds eye. We were too late for the tour down in the heart of the dam, so maybe that would have made it feel more sizable. Oh well. It was starting to get dark so we took off toward Las Vegas and programmed the GPS for the Oasis Campground. The freaking GPS took us all over the residential areas of Vegas before dumping us out on the south end of the strip. I could have thrown that freaking thing out the window!! After arriving at the campground and getting set up, we had dinner, showered and called a cab to go down to the Bellagio!! If this was going to be their only trip to Vegas, they had to see at least one hotel and part of the strip!! We had fun!! Saw the fountains go off. Went inside and saw the conservatory all decorated for fall and even did a little bit of gambling to support the local economy!!
Wednesday, October 2 ... The government was still shutdown so after talking with Tom about our options (thank God for cell phones and internet access) we decided to go to the Grand Canyon West that is run by the Hualapi Indians. We did not travel this far to not see this great sight!! After a morning of travel, we arrived at the reservation right around lunch time. The guy at the parking area told us that it is illegal to leave dogs in any vehicle for any amount of time. We we had to decide to either break up to go see the Grand Canyon or we could go down to the "ranch" they had kennels for dogs to stay in. We decided to stay together and kennel the dogs for the few hours we would be sightseeing! The dogs were not very happy with us but they survived!! We had a great time and the canyon was beautiful. Federal Government be damned!! We saw almost all of what we came to see!! We traveled back to Kingman, Arizona and found a Safeway grocery store to get restocked. We found a really nice campground once again and got showers and sleep!!
Thursday, October 3 ... on our way to Albuquerque, New Mexico to see Uncle David and Tracy!! But, we didn't make it!! We all ran out of steam about a hundred miles out. We found a campground that had a casino right next door!! Whoot whoot!! We got all settled in and Mom and I left Dad with the dogs and took off for the casino!! We didn't make any money but we sure had fun leaving them an additional $40!
Friday, October 4 ... We were able to take a morning off from driving!! We didn't leave the campground until around noon!! We made it to Albuquerque with time to spare so we found a truck/RV wash and got the RV all spiffy!! Then, we needed to get an oil change! We spend over an hour trying to find a place that could do an oil change on an RV. Jiffy Lube wouldn't touch it so we ended up at a local shop to get it done. Awesome! All set for more miles!! We were then ready to meet up with Uncle Dave and Tracy for dinner and an evening of visiting!! We even got a chance to hear Uncle Dave play on the piano!!
Saturday, October 5 ... got up and had a great homemade breakfast thanks to Tracy!! We had a great time visiting and they even escorted us to the right highway!! We were on our way toward Denver!! While stopped for lunch at a rest area, Mom found a brochure for Pikes Peak Cog Railway!! Yeah, one more thing to mark off the bucket list!! We drove into Colorado Springs and stayed at a nice little campground there and we were only a few miles from the depot!!
Sunday, October 6 ... up early to get to the depot for our ride up the mountain!! We were on the first train and had a beautiful day for going up. It was clear and cold but we had great views from the top!! Didn't get many pictures because the altitude rise in such a short time really made all of us dizzy. After we were back down, we had lunch and then took off for Denver. The campgrounds that Tom found online were nasty in reality so we went to the Cherry Creek State Park and had a lovely evening. Even met a new friend while doing laundry! :-)
Monday, October 7 ... sad day ... it was finally time for my adventures with Mom & Pop to come to an end. We were up early to get to the airport for my flight back to Alaska and they took off for Uncle Paul's and then will end up back home this weekend. I made it back home and have been trying to get back into the swing of things again.
What a GREAT vacation! Looking forward to the next trip!!
Saturday, September 28 ... We traveled from the gas station outside of Baltimore to Louisville, Kentucky (~548 miles). This was my first day of being behind the wheel of the RV! Wow! It wasn't nearly as bad as I was envisioning before this trip. I only drove for around 50 or so miles to get my "wheels" under me. Traveling the interstates was helping us eat up the miles pretty quickly!! We stopped at a really nice campground tonight to get a shower, dinner and a good night of sleep!
Sunday, September 29 ... Today was our first 600+ mile day!! We left Louisville KY around 8 am and traveled to Alma, Arkansas (~657 miles). I got to put many, many more miles under my driving belt today. We got into a routine. Dad started the day with the first shift. Mom would take second shift and I would take the third morning shift. Then, Dad started us our after lunch and I would take the next shift with Mom bringing us in for the night! We were traveling with two dogs, Pahoo and Macy! What wonderful little travelers they were. They would get in the lap of whoever was riding shotgun and snooze!!! Another night in a campground!!
Monday, September 30 ... Another long 600+ mile day!! We went from Alma, AR to Moriarty, New Mexico (~660 miles) where we just parked the parking lot at a truck stop. We went over 170 miles on the interstate in Oklahoma with NO rest areas!!! We just wanted to get some sleep and get moving again the next morning! This meant we didn't have power to run the air conditioner and it was sweltering hot until we figured out if we moved to the other end of the parking lot and opened the windows we would get some nice cool air moving through!
Tuesday, October 1 ... GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN!!! Our first stop was going to be the Petrified Forest but since that is a National Park, it was "closed due to lack of budget". That was a huge disappointment!! But, we were not to be deterred!! We drove on to get to the Hoover Dam!! As we got closer and closer to the Hoover Dam ... what a drive that was from Kingman, Arizona to the dam ... we did not see a single campground!! Yikes! We found the entrance to the dam and decided to take a look. We drove back in (across the dam) and parked. We took the dogs with us and walked back to the dam. There were alot of signs that said, DO NOT LEAVE DOGS IN VEHICLES and then the next sign said DO NOT TAKE DOGS OUT ON THE DAM ... nothing like making it easy to see this damn dam!! So, Mom stayed at one side of the dam with the dogs while Dad and I went out onto the dam. Honestly, it wasn't nearly as big or I should say as wide, as I thought it would be. It was impressive, but not exactly what I had in my minds eye. We were too late for the tour down in the heart of the dam, so maybe that would have made it feel more sizable. Oh well. It was starting to get dark so we took off toward Las Vegas and programmed the GPS for the Oasis Campground. The freaking GPS took us all over the residential areas of Vegas before dumping us out on the south end of the strip. I could have thrown that freaking thing out the window!! After arriving at the campground and getting set up, we had dinner, showered and called a cab to go down to the Bellagio!! If this was going to be their only trip to Vegas, they had to see at least one hotel and part of the strip!! We had fun!! Saw the fountains go off. Went inside and saw the conservatory all decorated for fall and even did a little bit of gambling to support the local economy!!
Wednesday, October 2 ... The government was still shutdown so after talking with Tom about our options (thank God for cell phones and internet access) we decided to go to the Grand Canyon West that is run by the Hualapi Indians. We did not travel this far to not see this great sight!! After a morning of travel, we arrived at the reservation right around lunch time. The guy at the parking area told us that it is illegal to leave dogs in any vehicle for any amount of time. We we had to decide to either break up to go see the Grand Canyon or we could go down to the "ranch" they had kennels for dogs to stay in. We decided to stay together and kennel the dogs for the few hours we would be sightseeing! The dogs were not very happy with us but they survived!! We had a great time and the canyon was beautiful. Federal Government be damned!! We saw almost all of what we came to see!! We traveled back to Kingman, Arizona and found a Safeway grocery store to get restocked. We found a really nice campground once again and got showers and sleep!!
Thursday, October 3 ... on our way to Albuquerque, New Mexico to see Uncle David and Tracy!! But, we didn't make it!! We all ran out of steam about a hundred miles out. We found a campground that had a casino right next door!! Whoot whoot!! We got all settled in and Mom and I left Dad with the dogs and took off for the casino!! We didn't make any money but we sure had fun leaving them an additional $40!
Friday, October 4 ... We were able to take a morning off from driving!! We didn't leave the campground until around noon!! We made it to Albuquerque with time to spare so we found a truck/RV wash and got the RV all spiffy!! Then, we needed to get an oil change! We spend over an hour trying to find a place that could do an oil change on an RV. Jiffy Lube wouldn't touch it so we ended up at a local shop to get it done. Awesome! All set for more miles!! We were then ready to meet up with Uncle Dave and Tracy for dinner and an evening of visiting!! We even got a chance to hear Uncle Dave play on the piano!!
Saturday, October 5 ... got up and had a great homemade breakfast thanks to Tracy!! We had a great time visiting and they even escorted us to the right highway!! We were on our way toward Denver!! While stopped for lunch at a rest area, Mom found a brochure for Pikes Peak Cog Railway!! Yeah, one more thing to mark off the bucket list!! We drove into Colorado Springs and stayed at a nice little campground there and we were only a few miles from the depot!!
Sunday, October 6 ... up early to get to the depot for our ride up the mountain!! We were on the first train and had a beautiful day for going up. It was clear and cold but we had great views from the top!! Didn't get many pictures because the altitude rise in such a short time really made all of us dizzy. After we were back down, we had lunch and then took off for Denver. The campgrounds that Tom found online were nasty in reality so we went to the Cherry Creek State Park and had a lovely evening. Even met a new friend while doing laundry! :-)
Monday, October 7 ... sad day ... it was finally time for my adventures with Mom & Pop to come to an end. We were up early to get to the airport for my flight back to Alaska and they took off for Uncle Paul's and then will end up back home this weekend. I made it back home and have been trying to get back into the swing of things again.
What a GREAT vacation! Looking forward to the next trip!!
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