Robert's Dream Come True

Robert is our son who lives in North Carolina. In 2003, I spent some time alone with him while Terry was helping Raymond and Teresita move to Alaska. Robert told me that his dream was to have a family to fill a nice house and do well in his own construction business. Robert’s dream has come true. The next year, he married a beautiful, intelligent woman named Natalia and now has three daughters. Eighteen people stayed overnight in his beautiful home in northwest Raleigh, N. C. before the baptism of little Sara. Robert not only had a new swimming pool to entertain his guests but also cooked for them. His manicotti was delicious.

A Disastrous Week

This is a picture of Attica, Iowa where a tornado occurred a little after 5AM last Friday, May 30,2008. My daughter, Karol, took this picture of the little town, which is close to where they live. She and her family are okay but her close friend and co-worker at the bank woke up in the pond. Audrey’s three children also landed in the pond. Her house is gone. (Her husband was working the night shift and was at work.) Audrey’s seven-year-old son received a broken collarbone but otherwise the injuries were cuts and bruises. I know the town well since we also lived near it when we lived in Iowa. We attended church in Attica for six years.

This was the completion of a very stressful week for me. My Uncle Bud (Henry Visser) died last week in Montana. We saw him a year and a half ago. Since then he and his wife, Bernice, had two sons die. I feel so much sympathy for Aunt Bernice. Before he was buried, my Aunt Ella in Michigan died. Dad is still recovering from his surgery and was told not to drive to Michigan to the funeral of his sister. He asked my brother, Clare, age 53, to take him but Clare was recovering from pericarditis. The next day Clare was rushed by ambulance to Iowa City, which is over a 100 miles from home, to see a specialist in cardiac care.

What do you do when disaster happens to those people close to you or to you? I pray. I talk to close friends who listen to me and say they are sorry. I get hugs. I telephoned my extended family. I went to lunch with a friend. Yesterday a friend came to our RV and gave me a dozen yellow tulips!

I know it will be healing to me to fly to Raleigh, N.C. to hold our month old granddaughter!

Our Trip to Alaska and Animals in the Wild

Animals in the Wild

I heard that one lady didn’t like Alaska because “it is just scenery and wild animals.” Terry and I love to travel to Alaska to see animals in the wild.

We don’t always like the road conditions. As we traveled north to Alaska, we noted that there was much more snow on the sides of the road and many lakes were frozen that were clear last year. The dates we traveled were 4 or 5 days later then last year but spring has not arrived in many areas. The only snowstorm that we encountered was around Haines Junction. We drove for about an hour through flurries but the snow did not stick to the highway so Terry kept driving.

This was a hard winter on the roads. Frost heaves are everywhere. An area of the highway that was replaced south of Tok in the summer of 2006 now has frost heaves. Construction workers are continuing the movement of a mountain at milepost 97 to 92 on the Glenn Highway. The Milepost Book says, “A 3-year road construction project to realign and widen this section of highway was begun in 2007 and will continue in summer 2008. In the process, road crews will move over 2.4 million cubic yards of materials and blast through a solid rock hill.” I say they are trying to move a mountain.

The birds we saw were eagles, snow geese, Canadian geese, a red tailed hawk, many robins, flocks of swan, and several ptarmigan. One little fellow did a dance on the road for us as he puffed out his neck feathers.

Deer were plentiful in lower British Columbia. We saw more than 30 bears on the trip from Kitwanga, British Columbia to Eagle River, Alaska. One mama bear scratched her back on a pole while her black bear cub copied her. The brown twin thought it was safer to climb the pole. We even saw a mother bear with triplets but it was hard to get them all in focus at the same time. One moose changed its mind about crossing the road as we came around a bend. We were glad that we did not hit her. Another moose was only about 25 feet from the RV, which made great pictures as she continued to eat the buds off the tree. Caribou crossed the road in front of us. We saw a beaver den with two small beavers and their parents. The adult beaver slapped its tail on the water as a signal for the young to return to the den. We saw herds of mountain sheep on the hillside by Klune Lake and about ten mountain goats far up the mountainside by Little Atlin Lake. Only once before have I have seen a porcupine waddle across the road. Rabbits were getting their spring coats that meant that they had white feet, white bellies and white on the tips of their ears but brown backs. We are not sure if this animal is a small coyote or large fox. What do you think?

Animals in the Wild

Family Events we Missed

We want to make all the major events in our large family but that is hard to do. We missed the marriage of Matthew Klein, our grandson, to McKayla Muniz on April 26 in Pleasantville, Iowa. This is a picture of the bride and groom.

We missed the graduation celebration for daughter, Joy Miller, who received her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, Summa Cum Laude, on May 10. Joy lives in Sea Brook, Texas. Joy will go to law school in August.

The Graduation Open House for our niece, Melinda Block Guerra, was May 17 in Des Moines, Iowa. Mindy graduated with a degree of Doctor of Pharmacy. We did go to her wedding last November.

My sister, Angie Rheuport, had a knee replacement surgery on May 12 in Des Moines, Iowa.

My father, Rev. Clarence Hoven, had major abdominal surgery on May 15 in Ottumwa, Iowa.

We even missed the birth of Sara Mercedes Miller on April 30 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The good news is that we will fly to Robert and Nathalia Miller’s home in Raleigh, N. C. on June 12 for the baptism of Sara. We will also see Joy Miller and have a graduation party too. Our plans are to fly back to Anchorage on June 17.

California to Alaska Trip – People

On our trip to Alaska, Terry and I met and had a nice visit and dinner with Joanne Alexakis and her husband, Nick. She is the coordinator for Penwheels and was the editor of that publication. She wrote reviews for the covers of both of my books. I wondered if I would recognize her since I only met her in person one time and that was five years ago. I knew her right away.

We also visited with Adrienne Kristine each of the three days we were at Fairfield, CA. She not only edited my new book, “More RV Chuckles and Chuckholes- More Confessions of Happy Campers,” but also wrote three articles that are published in it.

During book signings, I also met a chap from New Zeeland who wanted me to autograph my book to “me Mate.” He said that he is RVing through the south of the United States and returning home. I told him that I was pleased that my book is going to New Zealand.

I was invited to Elizabeth’s RV to see her ten cockatoos. She is home-schooling her grandson as she travels. Kay Kennedy, who is another Penwheeler, (Penwheels is a club of writers who are also Escapees) visited with me.

J.A. Valle traded me her well-written novel called “An Arrangement” for my book “RV Chuckles”.

A few people told me that Darlene Miller is an RV friend from Montana. When she approached me saying, “My name is Darlene Miller,” I surprised her by saying, “You must be from Montana.”

After wintering in the deserts of Arizona and California, the lush green of the mountains and fields of Oregon was appreciated. We had an adventure on our way to visit my niece Heidi and her family in Willamina. We followed the directions of our GPS zig- zagging across the countryside when the voice on the GPS said, “in two tenths of a mile keep left and board the ferry.” We watched the swift current of the Willamette River as we floated on the ferry. We also saw something growing that we had never seen before which we learned were hops vines growing up poles that were 10 to 12 feet tall. The green flowers are harvested for the production of beer.

Heidi and Mark welcomed us to their home and fed us dinner. Alax made me a card in which she wrote, “I Love you grat ant.” Alax also loved the Barbie doll clothes that I made for her. The children are pictured L to R Chris, age 11, Jonathon, age 9, Alax age 7 and Justyn age 4 and ½.

When we arrived in Eagle River, Alaska on May 15, we were greeted with hugs from our son Raymond and his wife Teresita.

Joshua Tree National Park

March winds and February and March showers bring many flowers in the desert. (These cacti and desert flowers don’t bloom unless they have enough water.) My friend, Marcy, said that the Yucca and Joshua Trees were in bloom so Terry and I took a trip to Joshua Tree National Park to see for ourselves. Even though there was snow on the mountains, it was peak season for flowers! The weird, giant rocks, shown with a yucca plant, invited young climbers.

Another reason to be thankful that we are of retirement age is that we didn’t have to pay the $15 per vehicle to enter the park. It was free with the Golden Age Pass.

The Yucca plants are beautiful to me. The yucca plants in the Mojave Desert have a tree trunk unlike the decorative plants we see with the leaves coming out of the ground. On a trip to Mesa Verde several years ago, a ranger told us that the natives used the Yucca leaves and roots for medicine and food. Terry asked, “What do they taste like?” I replied, “I don’t know but it probably is yucky.”

Route 66 Arizona

We returned to our RV by taking historic Route 66 much of the way. The loop in the Williams historical area was especially fun. No, we did not eat at the Road Kill Café.

We were at the train station when the old Grand Canyon train departed and watched three cowboys follow it. Were they planning a hold-up?

We enjoyed the Burma Shave signs and nostalgic old buildings. We thought that we might see deer or elk since the road signs said to watch for them. What we didn’t expect to see were these antelope.

Jerome, AZ

We took the car on this trip because Route 89 A to Jerome and Flagstaff has too many hairpin curves for our RV. Jerome is the largest ghost town that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The large white building in the picture was built in 1916 as the home of the Douglas family and is now a museum. We went to it and saw a ghost tell the story of the mining town and how over a billion dollars in copper, gold and silver were mined from here. Before the mines closed in 1953, the population was over 15,000. The large mercantile store was the T.F. Miller Company. (Unfortunately we are not related.)

The canyons along the way to Flagstaff are as scenic to us as the Grand Canyon. We spent the night in a motel in Flagstaff, which is over 7000 ft. in elevation, and woke up to temperatures in the 20’s. We did not have snow on Route 89A itself but did see it along the sides of the road. We also saw wreckage from the 20 to 30-vehicle accident from the day before.

Millers in Prescott Arizona

The day was cool with temperatures in the 60’s when we left the Colorado River area (Arizona and California border) on a two-day trip northeast in Arizona. We stopped to take pictures of tiny wild flowers and prickly pear cacti that were taller than me. Although the cacti are in bloom at our low campground elevation, it was too cold for blooms further north.

Terry’s parents were buried at the VA National Cemetery in Prescott. We had visions of dead dry grass covering the flat headstone like the last time we found it so Terry bought a garden trowel to clean the gravesite of his parents. We didn’t need it. All the sites were as clean as you see here.

The picture of Terry’s parents was taken about 1957; his dad’s was taken about 1967, which was a year before he died while his mother’s picture is from 1976.

Victory Garden Friendship Tea

The Church of the Cove had the above theme for this year’s annual tea at the clubhouse. Jo Ann, Marla and I received favors and posters for the ten tables from the recruiting station in Lake Havasu. (No, we were not recruited. They thought we were too old.)

Each table was for a different branch of the service. My table was the Navy table. I wanted to get pictures of Terry in his Navy uniform but the only family member with a good picture was Terry’s brother, Bill. Terry’s brother, Dennis, and my son-in-law, Mike Rhoads were also in the Navy. I did find an award given to my father-in-law, William Charles Miller, which I put in the Lasting Impressions wave shaped photo holder along with a picture we took of the twin towers at sunset in 1986 and a picture we took of the Vietnam Memorial.

The award reads, “During the years 1941-1945, the United States being in a state of war,
W.C.Miller, served with the submarine forces of the United States Navy. Those submarine forces wrought severe destruction upon the enemy. They sank many million tons of his merchant and naval shipping, they interrupted and severed his trade and communication arteries, they aided every amphibious assault, supplied constant military intelligence of the enemy, and performed numerous acts of rescue. They participated in many phases of antisubmarine development and hastened domination of Pacific waters by navies of the Allied powers. In these ways the submarine forces of the U.S. Navy, and all who served with them, contributed heavily to the successful and complete prosecution of the War. This statement is in evidence of the United states Navy’s pride and gratitude for duties well done.”

Each of the 90 women gave $5 or more for the Quilts of Valor foundation. To quote the program guide, “ A quilt symbolizes comfort and warmth. It can signify home, family, and love. And it can mean a whole lot more to a wounded soldier, returning home from the war in Iraq. The quilts of Valor Foundation’s goal is to provide a homemade quilt to every soldier wounded in service, to show them gratitude and welcome them home.” For more information you can go to http://www.govf.org/.

Wild Burros and Cibola National Wild Life Refuge

We took two trips last week. The first was to the Parker Dam and the Black Meadow Campground. On the trip we saw the wild burros silhouetted on a hilltop. These are descendants of mules that were used many years ago when mining was common in the area.

The dam on the Colorado River is one of the deepest in the country because they had keep going down to get to bedrock.

No, the birds aren't from the wild life refuge but from a pond in the town of Cibola. We were disappointed in the area. Scarred trees show there was a fire in the area. Even though they have developed the road system with tons and tons of gravel, and wild life have plenty of water from the Colorado River, we only saw about four flying birds in an hour.

We also planned to see the museum of Red Schneider but everything was locked up.
Next year we hope to see more and visit with RV friends who plan to volunteer in the wild life area.

Barbie and Ken Doll Clothes

Around Christmas I made Barbie doll clothes for Laura, Angelina and Mercedes but not Emily. I thought she had outgrown playing with them.

In February, I received a phone message and heard a youthful voice say, "This is Emily.I have an urgent message. I need Barbie and Ken doll clothes. I know you make good ones." Since this is the first "urgent message" that I have received from a grandchild, what could I do but get my dolls out and sew?

I made her doll clothes when Emily was five years old. She kept commenting, "there is one button on the shirt." After the second time, I got the hint and asked, "How many buttons should it have?" Emily said "five". I took the shirt with me, bought teeny tiny buttons and put them on the shirt and mailed it to her. Later, when I phoned my son Mark, she asked, "which grandma is it? Is it five button Barbie grandma?"

Here are the doll clothes. Ken's jacket is reversible. Barbie is holding her detachable train. No, I do not want to go into business making them. They take too many hours to sew by hand but are appreciated by my grandchildren and even their parents. Laura's father said, "They are priceless."

Boondocking on BLM land

My daughter was surprised that we can just go to the BLM (U.S. Bureau of Land Management) and park our RV for two weeks. We use fresh water from our fresh water tank and our dirty water goes into the gray and black tanks. The refrigerator, hot water heater and furnace work on propane. Solar power furnishes the power for the batteries. We use an inverter to supply limited power for TV, computer, satellite receiver and freezer. If we haven't enough sunlight for the power we want, we can turn on the generator and use the converter to charge the batteries and run the equipment.

We drove 11 miles to the BLM site you see in the picture. There are so many patches of beautiful wild flowers here. Spring has come.

On Sunday, we woke up to wind, which Terry says was about 60 to 65 miles per hour. We closed the awnings and put the slide/out in and went to church. (Later Terry took the solar panels down but it was too windy to get on the roof in the A.M. He is now designing a control so he can switch the angles and height of the solar units inside the RV.)

After we arrived at the church services, the electricity went out. We had church anyway but pastor Mike missed his mike. Kathy played the piano. I sang with the choir. They didn't get electricity in the campground until 11 A.M. on Monday. How's the weather where you are? What do you do when the electricity goes out?

President’s Day Fireworks

In Lake Havasu Sara Park, the pyrotechnic dealers put on a superb fireworks show every President’s Day weekend. Terry did photograph some good videos but it is difficult to photograph these fountains, flowers, and shooting stars of fire with still photography. A young girl danced with fire batons but caught the seat of her pants on fire. Someone sprayed her with an extinguisher while she kept on performing. One point five million firecrackers made a continuous noise. It was a night to remember. The only fireworks that we have seen to top this was when we saw the continuous one hundred and eighty degree display around Battery Island in New York City in 1986 at the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.

Carnival Cruise to Cabon San Luis

My daughter, Karol Rhoads, and I had a wonderful time on a cruise to the tip of Baja in Mexico from February 4 to 8. (I had never been on an overnight cruise before.) The service on the Carnival Elation ship was great, the gourmet food was superb, and the company was delightful. Pictured are Laura and Gordon Bornkamp and their niece Mirah, who were our dinner companions.

When we reached Cabon San Luis, we decided to take a rubber boat to go whale watching. We not only saw whales but also had one breach in front of us! We got good pictures of seals but when the captain saw a whale, he speeded up and we were holding on the side of the boat with both hands for dear life. It was exciting but next time I will be on a catamaran or larger boat.

Karol said that the trip was “awesome” but she had to make her own bed and coffee and the temperature was below freezing when she returned home to Iowa.

Boomers

While in Quartzsite, we met with the Boomers. (For more information on Boomers, see the chapter on Boomers in my new book, More RV Chuckles and Chuckholes- More Confessions of Happy Campers.) Terry went to several seminars and was co-host to a seminar on solar power. Richard made this oven from clay and sand that he found around our campsite and demonstrated baking bread. Terry went to the chili lunch but I missed several things because I was selling my books. I did attend the great potluck dinner and we went to dinner with Lynn and Jim, and again with Marshall and Ulle for salmon. Carroll and George went to dinner with us at Sweet Darlene’s restaurant.

After Boomerville, Terry took the RV to Yuma. I picked up Karol from the Phoenix airport. We drove to San Diego where we joined the Boomers for a cruise to Carbon San
Luis. Here is a group picture of us on board the Carnival Elation ship. The woman in the pink sash that reads “Birthday Girl” is Laura Bornkamp. She and her handsome husband Gordon, were our dinner companions aboard ship. Not only was the gourmet food wonderful but we had so much fun with Gordon and Laura.

Quartzsite, Arizona

The pictures show me selling my books in the Quartzsite library and at the Reader’s Oasis Bookstore.

Quartzsite, Arizona is where about 700,000 RVers come to see friends, shop at the RV vendor’s booths and camp free in the desert BLM land. When we came to Quartzsite in 2000, we saw a town of adobe buildings and dusty tents. Uncle Don, dressed in his black Stetson hat, dark long sleeved shirt and what he called his $2 pants with a $500 belt buckle, walked along the dusty path to the grocery store to buy his morning newspaper. He would pause and turn around and look at the large tents of Mc Clouds that sold precious and semiprecious stones and tell his dogs to go home. Mom and dad would drive from Mesa to see him and eat at the Stagecoach restaurant. Quartzsite had an elementary school and churches but no bank or dollar store. If you changed the RVs in your mind’s eye to horses and stagecoaches and wagons, you would picture a mining town of the Old West.

Today the streets are wider and are lined with new concrete sidewalks. Uncle Don lives in Oregon. In place of the tents of Mc Clouds, you see rows and rows of shiny new RV dealers. Aluminum buildings house the gems and rocks and other vendors. Most of the little specialty mom and pop vendors are replaced by huge establishments in aluminum buildings. The Stagecoach restaurant is closed. Quartzsite now has a bank and dollar store but you can’t buy a daily newspaper. While progress has changed Quartzsite to better serve the needs of residents and visitors, it seems that it lost some of its charming ambiance.