Moved Blog to new location

Saying goodbye to this blog..

Location of new blog, hope it all works out..

http://myrvandme.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/living-on-the-road-as-a-workamper/

What The 4th of July is to me

Do not get me wrong I love the USA, problem is I keep seeing our "leaders" taken more and more freedoms away from the average American. The new health care system is one example of what I mean. Why is it that our "leaders" who have passed the law are exempt to it. Why do I have to pay for health care I can not currently afford, and then get taxed for it??? How is this freedom????  I am 58 years old and could cry over things we have lost over the years.  Seems everything is to help the big corporations and or chain stores.

   Our "national forest and parks "  when I was in my teens up to my early 30's I used to drive into any park FREE find a place to camp and not worry about someone coming along and telling me I had to move. Now I have to find the office for that park, get a map that shows me the "allowed" areas I can go to and then only camp in a place that has already been used before.

    I served during the Nam conflict and when I was off base I was told not to be in uniform because the citizens of this country showed hate to anyone wearing the  uniform of this countries military. Today all military people are called heros. I find this nuts... Then yesterday I read an article thanking everyone who has served in the military in the last "ten" 10 years..  WTF about the men and women that served before that?? We still have living "HEROS" from WWII, Korea, NAM, and other conflicts. How about  those that served during peace time? Should we not also thank ALL the service folks that served starting from the birth of this country?


  As my friends know I have chosen to live the life of a road gypsy. What may not be known is my reason for this. To say it simply I am nervous   about the future of this country.  I fear my government
 in so many ways it is sad. We are told what we can say and what we can not say. It has become so bad that the web has created a sight that " claims" you are free to say what you want without censor. I do not trust that either... Everything you or I put on the web ( including this ) can be seen and used against the person posting. Even when doing a "personnel" blog such as this one must be careful of what is said.

  Things I miss.
1.- Small Mom and Pop stores that you get to know the people.
2.- Gas Stations that gave service instead of self serve.
       A. clean windshield, check oil and water, check tire pressure.
       B. Fill tank so you can stay dry when it is raining or just do not want too.
       C. To know you can get help fixing a flat or minor problem with you car.
3.- Not being worried about keeping your job.
       A. Was a time when a person felt safe and not concerned about being laid off.
4.- Being able to fill a gas tank and go on a road trip without spending 50% or more of your pay check
       A. Was a time when min wage was $2.25 an hour you could fill a tank for $5.00
       B.  Today min wage $7.50 cost $60.00 to fill same tank.

I guess that about sums up what I feel is the down side of this country. What are the up sides??? That I will sum up by saying... I love that I can still travel across the country seeing beautiful sights and meeting wonderful people. Over the last year and a half I have made friends and enjoyed things and places that in other countries someone of my class could never do.


   I love this country and the people in it, yes I am sad to see some things change but that is part of life. Every generation has found memories of how things where when young.

 At this point I hope with all my heart that something can be done to turn around the current direction of things so future generations do not have to worry about things..

 and we never have to fly the flag as shown below..

Road Trip (in a way )

  Today is (was ) my day off, so took a road trip. First I need to thank Herb & Laura for letting me tag along yet again. Started at 0800 this morning and drove into Buffalo Wy ( about 20 miles ) to do laundry. ( Herb went to see his Doctor ) .. Then at 10:00 we left Buffalo for Sheridan Wy. ( 30 miles from Buffalo ) and went to the bank ( closest Wells Fargo for me and Credit Union for them ) . Next stop lunch at a Perkins Restaurant, had breakfast for lunch with coffee. First coffee in several days not to mention over a week since eegs.

  Now that we all have full tummies ( oh yah I got to pay, but only because I got the invoice first ) we headed to the local Wally World and stocked up on food supplies. I was shocked to walk out with only a $58.87 bill and enough food to last at least two maybe three week. I know I can not fit anything else in my freezer or  refrigerator. 


  Laura likes the back roads so we took dirt roads back, once again hoping to spot some animals. By this time it was late afternoon 14:30 and I think every thing was hiding from the heat ( 96 F ). But did get two shots of old homes that I found interesting. 

Now back in camp for the night, back to work in the morning. Next day off is Sunday, maybe I can get some things done around the rv????

Road trips on days off

Have had two days off since last update to this blog ( not back to back ).  My neighbors invited me along to see the Bighorn country on Saturday. It was real nice seeing I did not have to drive and it only cost me the price of my meal that afternoon. We had hoped to see elk and Moose if nothing else, however as luck had it we did not see any wildlife that day. Still we did see some nice country and found places to camp if we ever want to stay overnight in the area.

Shell Falls in the Bighorn

Scenic view along the road in the Bighorn

View

Outcropping along the road to the Bighorn

View

Today ( June 19th ) we took a road trip to Devils Tower in SD... Once again hoping to see wildlife we mostly saw nothing but nice country and had a good meal at the base of the Tower.

The view of the Tower I like the best

Three baby antelope 

Red squeal ...  

Prairie Dog

My First day off

Just a cute shot

    After working seven days in a row I have a day off.. Seeing I have not shopped or done laundry in over two weeks guess what I did with my day. Drove 35 miles to Walmart/Safeway ( Sheridan ) to stock up on things for at least two more weeks. Went to Safeway for my Veggie cheese only to find out that the type I like was sold out, no cheese for at least next two weeks.

  Then drove to Buffalo to do my Laundry, the one in Sheridan does not have a big enough parking lot for me.. ( tiny ) As I waited for cloths to wash I took a walk and shot, next time I park in the Dollar Store lot and use the Laundromat at that location. This one has an Expresso cafe next door to it, so can clean and fill up on caffeine at the same time.

  All things needed doing done at 2pm, only six hours after leaving camp. Now to refuel and head back to camp. Fueled at a small store that had some cool treats for dogs so got Spencer a few Pig ears and some other treats. Made it back to camp at 3:30pm...  But on about 100 miles doing this, so do not plan on doing it anymore then I have to. Guess that ends my first day off, it is too late in the day to head any place else, and I have to be at work for 8am tomorrow. Maybe I will think of something fun for Saturday, but only one day off at a time sort of shots down any good adventures..

A look at Ucross Ranch

This is Eric one of the general managers.  He takes care of the outside of the place.

Ranch House and part of the grounds. Yes this was the family home, not bad.

Small Chapel that was/is used by the community. 

Family still has sheep on the back section that most guest do not see.

Morning after a storm. Notice steam coming off the water, temp. dropped a good 40 degrees overnight.

One of the rooms I get to clean, after it was cleaned..

Section of the bathroom.

First day working at Ucross Ranch

Day started at 0600 with waking up and getting dressed. Walked Spencer, had a light breakfast and headed in at 0800. That is I started riding my bike at 0800, it is a five mile ride and I was due to start work at 0900. Arrived at the Ranch at 08:35 checked in with my new boss, was given T-shits with Ranch logo to wear at work, shown how to clock in.

  For the first half of the day I followed one of the more experienced workers to see how things need to be done. Second half of the day I was cut loose and took care of my own rooms. When then beds are striped and made by the young girl that only does beds, the cleaning is fast and fairly easy. When you have to do the beds it takes a lot longer and just seems more difficult.

So the day ends with all of six hours or paid time behind me, go back at 8am tomorrow and do it again. Hmm will be interesting to see it I make it the full four months ( last day OCT. 1 ) Total hours from time I left the rig to the time I made it back, just under 8 hours..

Off to a less then stellar start

 Walked Spencer this morning and noticed he was not his normal self. After the walk I took my bike to the Ranch to see how long it would take each way. ( 35min to the ranch 40 min coming back ) Took the photos posted during the bike ride. 

  When I got back Spencer would cry if I tried to touch him or even stepped close.... Time to unhook and find the local vet.. Stopped at the ranch to find out what vet was close and if they use it. Given the name and address so off I go looking for this place. Drove past it twice before seeing it...

  Once I explained things to them, Spencer was taken in and I was requested to leave and come back in three hours or so.. It has now been 90 min and I have driven to Walmart 30 miles away and finished all the shopping I plan to do... Now killing time until I can return and find out what is going on...


Three hours after dropping Spencer at the vets I get the news....  He has a strand neck, how did this happen you may ask...  Well in a way it was my fault...  Last Friday night on our normal walk a car was speeding and I did not see it fast enough to call Spencer out of the way so I had to pull him off the road ( I went off the road too ) car was going about 40-45 mph on a back dirt road. So at least now I have some pills to help him and will be looking a lot closer at things even when I think things are safe.. Yes I fell guilty, but also glad that is all that is wrong, he had a full work up and got him up to date on his shots as long as he was there.. He is home and seems to be doing better, pills at 6...


Now another matter... EXPLAIN!!!!! why I had to set up my AC... It is like 90 degrees outside today. When I was checking the weather the last few weeks it NEVER went over 79...  Why now!!! It could have waited a few weeks or at least a few days....   LOL...

Arrived Ucross Wy

Home for the next four months???

It was a long drive to get here from Livingston Texas, over 1400 miles. Have checked in at the office and filled out some paperwork so that all the normal checks can be made before I start working. Not sure but it looks like I do not start until wednesday morning. Problem for me will be to find things to do on my days off, camp is five miles from the resort and 25 miles to the closest town. No television, but my internet does work so that is something.. Tomorrow morning I will ride my bike to the resort just to see how long it takes. It is a good road from the camp to the resort without much traffic so I guess I will find out what type of shape I am in..  Waiting around to get started is going to be very hard...

Memorial Day at CARE

Today is my last day here at CARE, I pull out tomorrow morning at 8am..  The day begins at 0500, getting dressed and ready to first walk Spencer then at 0600 go in and see if the volunteer cooks have shown up to get the lamb and turkey ready and into the ovens.  Today I will help if needed but otherwise just take photos of what is going on..

Trying to light pilot on oven, never got it on. Had to use the small oven for the Lamb

George getting the Lamb and turkey ready to go into ovens.

Our Turkeys

George again working on something.

First thing in the morning we arrived and had problems with one of the two main ovens so had to change game plan and use the small oven to cook the Lamb. Both the Turkey and Lamb made it into the oven at 06:30.

Opened the doors at 07:20 like any other day

My man Todd ( AKA Banana Man ) also a card shark..  LOL..

Breakfast was done as always from 7:20 to 9:30 am. Only difference was a whole lot more volunteers were around. Prep work continued as the residence ate.

Lake And Laddie doing prep work

Barbara doing more prep work

Carol 

Carol again

Volunteers put in a lot of time and effort to insure all went as well as it could. This was something we could do only as a group, and I have to say here and now I would be proud to work with any of them again.

   As soon as breakfast was over at 09:30 we started to change things around to reflect the theme for the day.  It is Memorial day and we wanted to show that we still honer our vets. The following photos try to show as close as I could a step by step change of what was done. I think the red tables show off everything the best.. When the residents started to arrive each table had napkins, utensils, bread, fruit, along with the US flag and a flag of one of the services or POW/MIA flag. Also changed out the every day table cloths for sometime more in line with the day.

L really liked the way things looked at this point.

YES!!!! I was also working in between taken photos..

So now that everything is ready to go in the oven, or on the stove we had time for a short break to shoot the bull...  AND boy can some shoot it good!!!!  LOL....


Now time to check to see how things look... Almost time for people to start showing up...

Lamb ready

Turkey Ready

Mashed Potato ready

Gravy almost ready

Last min. items set to go in oven or on stove.

Time to start carving Lamb

Carving Turkey

Shortly after taken the Lamb and Turkey out of the ovens people started to arrive.

First to arrive was one of my favorite Clyde the seeing eye dog

Sitting down waiting for service, today was not buffet style, We served everyone at the tables..

Each "resident was greeted at the door with a red rose.

Once the first one showed up it was like a dam broke, people came in from three different ways.

This is Pat, she loves me....  LOL... 

Crowed being seated before service can begin

Folks had a good time talking and enjoying themselves 

Only dog allowed into the CARE Cafe...

Not sure what to say about Hal, Gerry, and Sonny

  Now time to serve the food and see if it is as good as it smells.

Three of the men did all the serving to the tables.

Kitchen volunteers plating the food as orders came in.

This was a volunteers plate, he really likes mashed potatoes.

After everyone ate I went around taken photos of some of the residents, a lot more smiles then I have seen in weeks...

Photo following is of the people that take the time and volunteered here at CARE and put on this Lunch.

I do believe a good time was had by all....