I was sitting on the front porch looking out to our flower beds and noticed something odd in one of our pine trees. It turned out to be a large hornets nest with some very large hornets flying in and out. I subsequently bought some wasp and hornet spray and killed the hornets. I left the nest hanging in the tree for now. I will take it down later and save it on the porch.

Fall Creek Falls

I had the great good luck to go to two great swimming holes this summer. I went in Arizona with Phoebe and Lila and I got to go with Kendall and Ryley in Tennessee. We went to Fall Creek Falls, a place where Char and I used to take Tavia and Bry. Chris, Bry, the kids and I hiked several miles through the woods and then came back to the small falls and swimming hole. As you can see from the pictures, R and K had a good time. I have some more pictures on my camera, but have not uploaded them yet. These came from my phone.

Hike with family to Wet Beaver Creek, Az

One of the other things I wanted to do while in Phoenix was to go hiking with my family. I was able to do this on the weekend before I headedback. Char and I joined Tavia, Jason and the girls on a hike to Wet Beaver Creek. I had hiked to this creek years before with Mike. I had been laughed at ever since because I carried a gallon of water in my backpack. They (the laughers) conveniently forgot that none of them ever told me that it really was a creek with water. (In Arizona, just because it's called "wet" doesn't mean it is.) The hike was wonderful, with some great scenery. Mike, Revelle, Chris and Annette had gone in earlier. The water was cold, refreshing and clean. There's not much more to say here, the pictures pretty much tell the story.

4 Wheeler ride from Bloody Basin to Crown King

I wanted to do two things while I was in Phoenix. One of them was to ride a very long ways on a four wheeler. I had in mind before I left Alabama that Mike and I could ride from I-17 at north of Phoenix up to Crown King, an old mining town in the mountains. Ross and I had taken 4 wheelers up there years ago and had ridden for several days, but we did not ride from the bottom up the mountain. I rented a trailer and brought my 4 wheeler with me to Arizona. I was in hopes of getting some preliminary rides in, but only managed one. This was due only in part to my lack of time. A great deal of it had to do with the new laws that Arizona passed. To ride a 4 wheeler off road, you had to have registration and a "sticker". I tried in vain to find out how to get one for an out of town visitor, but only once was I able to talk with a live person and she gave me bad information. In the end, I decided to plead ignorance if stopped. Mike, Chris, Annette and I went one Sunday afternoon to an area in Scottsdale that Mike had ridden before. We had a great time, but toward the end of the day, we did get stopped by the Scottsdale police. They were nice and only gave us a verbal warning, but informed us that there probably would be no more riding in Maricopa county at all. The city(s) had taken over most of the county and there were dust and pollution regulations everywhere. We still had a good day. At the end of my stay, Mike and I loaded up the 4 wheelers and rode towards Crown King. We parked a few miles from I-17 and rode to Crown King without incident. It was a good ride, about 25 miles. Once there, we started seeing the ravages of the fire from the year before. From what we could see, the fire came very close to destroying Crown King itself. Thankfully, the firefighters prevented that tragedy. We ate lunch at a restaurant owned by a couple of Mike's friends. It was a good lunch and a very interesting place. Afterwards, we rode over to a campground and past one of Mike's, Tavia's and my favorite places. It is an overlook that gives a great view looking West. The fire had just about destroyed the area. The picture with Mike sitting on the stump is at the lookout. This tree used to have a sway limb that you could sit in almost like a swing. It was very sad, but we still had a wonderful day. On the way back down the mountain, Mike stopped off to say goodbye to his friends and I went on ahead. I was going slow and there was some traffic on the gravel road. I waved them by me and then heard a "beep" from a siren. A Yavapai county sheriff's deputy stopped me. This time, it was not for an offroad "sticker", but because I didn't have a tag, signals and brake lights for riding on a county maintained road. I almost laughed at him, but kept my cool. I told him I was just an ignorant Alabama man who had ridden here years before and thought I still could. He also gave me a verbal warning and told me I should head straight for my car and trailer. I assured him I would. If I ever ride in Arizona again, I will leave my four wheeler at home and rent one there. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all.

While in Phoenix, I did get to know Phoebe and Lila a lot better. They are delightful children, even if I am prejudiced. Phoebe confided that she had a "special" talent, that of climbing. I agree. Unfortunately, when Lila tried to follow her one day, she got her arm hung in a crook of a tree and had to have many stitches put in her litle arm. She is tough though and on a recent trip to Alabama, proudly showed off her scar. The girls also took care of Lacy, my dog. She is enjoying the slip and slide along with the girls. This was one of my favorite days with them. Mom Tavia is taking a short, but well deserved break from her work.

While I was working out of Heartland Express's terminal in Phoenix, I was able to run throughout much of the Southwest. I was primarily in Arizona, Nevada, California and New Mexico. Most of the places I had been before with my old company, Storey trucking, but I got to see a few new ones. These three pictures are from one of those. I had to deliver in Taos, New Mexico, home of the crystal gazers, new age aficianados and a past history of Western gunfighters. It is a beautiful town, sitting on a large plain below some very tall mountains. I had been in Taos before, but did not realize that the Rio Grande River Gorge was so close to the city. I took these pictures several miles from Taos at a pullover. This was Springtime, I think in March and the river was running pretty good. There were some 3 to 5 foot standing waves. I saw people in kayaks, canoes and rafts. I wanted to park my truck and join them but I contented myself with taking the pictures. The Rio Grande is never a big river and it takes a backseat to it's more dramatic neighbor, the Colorado River, but nonetheless it does have beauty and if it were not for the Colorado, we would probably be going to visit the Rio Grande River Gorge.

Mother's Day in Phoenix, Az. outside Nelda's apartment. We had a great dinner with Tavia and Jason and Phoebe and Lila. Nelda didn't feel well enough to go.

I wish I were sitting on this, my front porch.

August 15, 2009 I am sitting in Katy, Tx, on the west side of Houston. It is miserably hot and humid here. Everything is nice and green though. I wonder if there is a full moon tonight. I don't think so, but from some of the people I have run across the last few days, it makes me wonder. This morning, while eating breakfast, a man sat down at the other end of the counter. He looked presentable. He was clean, had money and politely asked the waitress for coffee. Then he started talking. At first, I thought he was talking to me or the waitress, but I soon realized he was just "talking". His words got faster and faster and he was telling these tales about his youth, about our country, etc., etc. He was talking about 90 words per second and didn't care whether anyone was listening or not. I finished breakfast and got out of there. He must have been on some kind of speed. I got online a little later and pulled up foxbusiness news. The first thing I saw was that an Alabama bank had failed and been taken over by the FDIC. Colonial bank is no more.

Written on the bathroom wall: "With God, all thing are passable" Someone had written above: "Good, maybe he can teach you how to spell and use proper grammar!"

So much I should have posted before now, but if I wait to get it in chronological order, I will never put anything on this blog. I have been listening to a book written in 1935 by Sinclair Lewis called "It can't happen here". It is about the U.S. becoming a totalitarian state. It was written, I think, with the intention of making people aware of what was happening in Europe and especially in Germany. It is amazingly prescient of what did happen in German only a few short years later. What struck me however, is how close the circumstances, both real and in the novel, resemble what is going on in the U.S. right now. Big business was being put down, government was touted as the wonderful solution, dissidents were ridiculed and laughed at, secret deals were made and their was a very charismatic leader. Does that sound somewhat familiar. I would encourage anyone interested in what is happening to our country to read this book and maybe reread Orwell's 1984.

Chiriaco summit (see pictures above) has always been a favorite stopping place for me. It lies almost midway between Phoenix and Los Angeles. It is east of Palm Springs and in the middle of nowhere. There are no subdivisions, no ranch houses, no other stores, restaurants or stops within miles of place. It is a little Oasis with a C store, a restaurant with good food and the Patton museum It is still run by the Chiriaco family. Joe Chiriaco, the founder came west in 1927 to see Alabama play Stanford in the Rose bowl. He never returned to Alabama, but found employment with the LA Bureau of Water and Power as a surveyor. He made his first trek into the desert when his work brought him into a desert area known as Shaver Summit. After several years he gave up his job with the Bureau and settled down at the Shaver Summit site, which he later purchased from J.E. Cram of Mentone, California.
In the early 1900's there was a gravel road out of Box Canyon that passed by Shaver Summit, running east toward Blythe. With rumors of a new paved road between Indio and Phoenix, Joe began constructing a building, and on August 15, 1933, Joe Chiriaco opened his gas station and general store. He had one dollar in his cigar box till, and that dollar remains at the Summit. That same day, the new two-lane blacktop to U.S. 60 also opened, passing in front of Shaver Summit. The gas station thrived and Joe married a beautiful blonde Norwegian nurse from Minnesota named Ruth Bergseid, who worked at the Coachella Valley Hospital in Indio. They married June 25, j1934. Those first days were primitive, gas lights, generators for power, a limited supply of water and long 18 hour days. And no air conditioning. The generators were used until June 21, 2000 when commercial power finally reached the Summit.
In the Spring of 1942, General George S. Patton established the Desert Training Center with its headquarters at Camp Young adjacent to Shaver Summit. Joe's store was the only oasis for the soldiers and drew the men like bees to blossoms. In 1945, Joe and Ruth established a rugged memorial to General Patton and the Desert Training Center. Today there is a modern, marvelous musuem which honors the Great American Hero. In 1958, with the establishment of a rural branch of the U.S. Post Office, Shaver's Summit was changed to Chiriaco Summit. Joe and Ruth are gone, passing away within months of each other in 1996. The family continues to carry on, serving the traveling public on wheels. On any day, but especially weekends and holidays, you will find the place packed with both cars and 18 wheelers. If you go from Phoenix to LA on I - 10, stop in. You won't regret it.

Chiriaco Summit, Ca

April 7, 2009 This is my first time to write on a blog. I'm still having trouble even getting to it after I created it. I hope to be able to use it to write some short stories for my Grandchildren. It would be nice to be able to keep a diary of my traveling, especially while I'm out West. This posting will be a test.