Paul's life on the road

Wow - What a year! September 2011

2011-09-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

It has been 9 months since my last post and 10 months since my friend Gayla had her stroke.- Wow - What a year! I came back from Texas to help my friend, and slowly became her guardian, conservator, trustee, and 24/7 caregiver.Her recovery has included a lot of ups and downs with my attitude to match. This has been the hardest chapter of my life, but also the most gratifying in so many ways. I have learned alot about myself and others as well as much about the medical and legal systems. My hat is off to U of M Hospital in Ann Arbor, a wonderful place indeed. The best news is that Gayla continues to improve and I believe that the goal of her living independently on her own one day will be reached!

The Starship RV is in storage at my lake lot, 25 feet from the water's edge. She sits there empty, patiently awaiting a future time of travels. Soon she will move to other storage as she is only allowed to be there from May 1st to September 30th.of each year. The African Queen boat is in the water there and has had very limited use this year, mainly when Gayla wanted to sit out on the water in the sun.

The Amphicar also stayed dry most of this year. The limited times Amphi did get wet all seem very memorable. They include a parade of 5 Amphi's down the chain of lakes, the Le Concours de Livingston show, and some very special outings with friends and family.

Spanky the wiener dog has mostly recovered from last years problems. Although he still has health issues, he still is aging well and has proven to be quite the therapy dog for all. He is well known at many local medical institutions. His 12th birthday is coming up in November.

Thats my news, I wish you much happiness and love.

.

Life comes at ya fast

2010-12-13T17:35:00.000-08:00

I left Michigan on Oct 28th and spend three great weeks in Texas, mostly in a funky eclectic RV park in downtown south Austin, which was Pecan Grove RV Park. Also got to go to one of my favorite state parks, Inks Lake (pictured) and took Amphi in the water during a rather nice day.

My good friend Gayla from Michigan had a stroke and so I came back to see if I could be of some help. Together, me and some Angels are working to help my friend recover. Gayla is one of the nicest, most generous people you could have the pleasure to know. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

Yesterday we got the first major blizzard of the year here in Michigan. I took a few shots including the night time pic on the rear deck with my new buddy, Keesha. Also, sadly the Starship is cold and frozen, waiting for the next time we can roll down the highway together.

Spanky has suffered a back injury and is confined to quarters (fisher price baby model) and is on steriods and muscle relaxers. He needs your thoughts and prayers too!

Please take care of those you care about and I will do the same!

Doxie Halloween Party & Michigan Football

2010-10-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a great day - except for that embarrassing loss to Michigan State. Gotta be fair, you guys did play a better game! Thanks to Portage Lake Yacht Club and staff for providing such a great waterfront spot to watch the game!

Spanky went to Gina's annual halloween party for doxies and it was amazing to see how well all these little guys got along together! Gina raises these little sweethearts and if you ever want to buy one of these great dogs, I recommend Gina. You can find her at http://www.gmdoxies.com/

Wonderful weather this weekend, a true gift! Amphi enjoyed some water time on the chain, and with 84 degrees expected today on 10-10-10, gonna have to do it again!

September - Where did the summer go?

2010-09-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

Fall in Michigan - When you live where there are defined seasons, it is amazing all the changes that occur when one season ends and another begins. Summer is over, no matter how much you wish otherwise!

School is back in session, folks are pulling boats and chopping firewood, the sun is lower in the sky, trees are changing and temps are dropping, you still get warm days but the water is cold, football is big news and college teams Michigan and Michigan State are having a awesome run so far!

Michigan is still in deep trouble. The report this week is that in this (Livingston) county alone, there now are over 3,000 abandoned or foreclosed properties. But still, life goes on, and the rythmm of fall activities continue as they always have.

It was a fantastic summer here this year for me. I was able to spend a lot of time with friends and family who matter. A lot of time also spent on the water which will always be my favorite. My little buddy Spanky continues to do well and to touch people wherever we go.

I did have some difficulties but the outpouring of support that I did not know I had make me believe that all will be well in the end.

Soon it will be time for loading up and hitting the road. Escaping the winter snow and ice is a wonderful blessing for me, but as soon as the trees start to bud in the spring, I will be back, Michigan is always home!

Amphicar Rides - Rent a Amphibious Amphicar

2010-07-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

Those who know me, know how much Spanky and I enjoy giving rides in our Amphicar!

To share this experience, we have created several programs to offer this as a service for your next private party or company outing! We are also looking for a great corporate sponsor. We will travel anywhere and look forward to some awesome adventures and big smiles!!!

For full details, please go to our website - http://www.amazingone.com/

Invasive Species - Purple Loosestrife & Asian Carp

2010-07-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

Summer is speeding right along! Lots of really HOT days and fun on the water, with memorable sights like this balloon visit. My son Mark has been in Austin, TX for two weeks, and John will be leaving for there shortly. It has been great to spend so much time with my boys this summer, and look forward to seeing them in Texas this winter.

I am so fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time at my wetlands property here at the lake. The wetlands are so beautiful to enjoy and study as they change during the warm season. That cool white sphere is the bloom on my button bushes here!

One problem here is an invasive species known as Purple Loosestrife. PL takes over wetlands, choking out the native plants, and ultimately changing the habitat so it is much less desirable to all the birds, fish, insects and other creatures who live here.

PL is also known as the beautiful killer. Many people who thought it is so beautiful planted it in areas adding to its rapid spread. It is now illegal to plant or possess this invasive species.

The answer now comes from Michigan State University who after many years of study found the safe solution. A small beetle known as Galerucella has been introduced and slowly is saving our wetlands from this major problem. The beetles are host specific meaning all they will eat is PL, they are now spreading across the state and huge progress is being noted. I have a strong interest in this program and will be attending a MSU workshop this month.

Another huge problem concerning invasive species is the asian carp. The picture above shows just how bad it can get. They have no natural predators and grow to 4 foot long weighing up to a 100 pounds! If they get in the Great lakes, they will displace all our perch, walleye, and trout, by eating all the food supply. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of foot dragging by officials about implenting the permanent solution - cutting off the Mississippi from the Great Lakes.

Our new world is a mixing bowl of all species and the system of checks and balances is being severely tested!

Interesting problems and challenges that we face!

Summer, Swans, and Day 44 Macondo

2010-06-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, another month has gone bye! The weather is being very nice in Michigan and the Amphicar is being used a lot! Pictured above are my sons and Mark's new girlfriend, Angie on the chain of lakes.

On my lake, the swans are raising their young teaching them all they need to know. The male swan is extremely protective and can have quite a bad attitude as this male goose found out. Normally a male goose is pretty tough himself, but he didn't stand a chance against this new Dad.

My post last month was dire concerning the gulf coast oil disaster and time proves it more so! Today is day 44 of the well Macondo's failure and it has become the greatest ecological disaster in our history. Pensacola reports oil on the beaches today and it will continue to dump millions more gallons and spread to more states, killing their marshes, wetlands, and beaches. Some scientists say there is enough oil under pressure in the deepwater horizon block to gush for 7 years at this rate!

Hurricane season started yesterday and is predicted to be above normal activity. A large hurricane will churn the oil that is hanging out there submerged to the surface and the storm surge will push it all inland covering everything with oil. It won't be pretty and it will change the way we live.

What's the bottom line? If you don't have the technology to control a well at this depth, you had no business drilling it in the first place!!!!!!

Don't think we won't all pay for this in so many ways. They lowered the gas price a bit to make you feel better and take the pressure off, but this disaster will lead to 5 dollar gas next year and the beginning of serious change to our fossil fuel dependence.

A sorry state indeed. I leave you with a sunset pic from my beach!

May in Michigan and Gulf Coast Disaster

2010-05-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

It is so good to be in Michigan and catch up with all my family and friends!

Spanky also is catching up on lots of affection from his best friends.

I am shocked at the magnitude of what is happening with the oil disaster in the gulf coast. Having just spent a month along the gulf, I can truly imagine the effect this will have on the entire region. This is not a leaking ship that will eventually empty, this is a gusher that will continue beyond what your mind can even grasp right now.

We are all to blame! To believe we will pay 3 bucks a gallon to continue our fossil fuel dependent life style has allowed this to happen. Do you know there are over 30,000 off shore wells in the gulf and at night the lights out there on the rigs make it look like a large city. This is not over and will happen again and again, it is just a matter of time. I sure share the guilt, when the Starship is moving, it sucks its unfair share of this liquid gold!

My African Queen boat was leaking a very small amount of oil last year so I have a major project going to rebuild my drive line and outdrive. This job makes me feel I am at least doing something, however small it may be!

Here in Michigan, it is springtime! Farmers are planting the fields and nature is unfolding its special magic! And at my beach, I am glad to report that the purple martins have returned!

Back in Michigan

2010-04-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it! This trip was 160 days and 6,574 miles and now am back in Michigan!

It is so great to spend some time with my sons, and the family and friends that I have been able to track down so far. Spanky seems to remember his favorite people and takes running back into them as a normal thing. Everyone has lots of stories to tell and it seems all have a good attitude with the great spring weather. Today was 70, tomorrow is to be 80, and this great weather improves everyone's attitude coming off a long northern winter!

It is definitely serious springtime here, very green with lots of trees in full bud. My spot at the lake fared well and am glad to report the corkscrew willow and red maple planted last year are doing great as well!

Please accept my thanks to everyone who helped make this last trip so good for me. All the fine people I met on the road, as well as those friends and family (you know who you are!) who kept in contact with me during my trip thereby helping me keep my sanity!

I am very appreciative of all the wonderful people in my life, and my wandering means I am always away from someone I care about a lot. The good news is, I will be back!!!!!!

Springtime in Tennessee

2010-04-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

They call them the Smoky Mountains and driving through Georgia into Tennessee in the rain, thats just what they looked like yesterday!

I am in Athens, Tennessee and the signs of springtime are everywhere! Lots of trees are flowering, and green is everywhere! And yes, some people have already cut their grass.

Today I looked up a old time Mopar dealer on my list, and spent the day looking through his old inventory for gems. I just love going through NOS (new old stock) parts. They were built in the USA back in the day when our manufacturing and quality really meant something. Plus they have a certain good smell, must be the old cardboard boxes!

Of course, I wasn't the first one to look this warehouse over, we say there are no 45 year old virgins left! But I was able to find and buy quite a few old special Mopar muscle car parts!

After a successful day, it is time to put a few miles on, heading north.......

Leaving the gulf coast of Florida

2010-04-06T07:21:00.001-07:00

I have spent a few more days here back on the gulf coast in little fishing villiages. It is a interesting place and I have met many of the local people here. They are all pretty much laid back without a lot a fire burning.

These folks, and I will respectively call them rednecks are ekking out a living fishing, crabbing, and oyster shucking. Many are living in sad little campers, shacks, or houseboats. I met some who harvest worms to make ends meet. They go out in the swamps, and put a wood stick in the ground. Then they "play" a metal bar across the wood which causes vibrations to bring the worms out of the ground.

If you ever wanted to build the ultimate cooking smoker, pictured is a design that works really well! The flavored smoke goes through the outside tubes. The tubes inside are higher than the bottom so you can pour in a few inches of water in the bottom. This evaporates during cooking keeping your meat very moist. Pictured was my neighbor Steve, who fed me the best ribs I think I have ever had!

One thing that bugs me here - and I mean that literally - are these sand gnats! This time of year they are terrible, they are so small they come right through your screens. Guess I am a wuss, but I left a beautiful spot on the water as they were eating me up!

I sure am missing my sons, family, and friends! So, I have decided to start back early, and am going to start a slow trek north bound today. I leave you with another great Florida sunset!!

South Florida

2010-04-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

I just spent 5 great days in south Florida near Port Charlotte.

The first photo is of my good friend Captain Dick from Howell at the wheel of his Bennington. This is a cool pontoon boat with a 150 horse motor that runs a amazing 45 miles an hour!

The second photo is his lovely wife, Barb (and Spanky) when we were coming back from an enjoyable long cruise. These fine folks have a beautiful house right on the canal. Most of the nice homes here, like theirs, have a lanai screened room with pool and a boat lift a few feet away so they can really enjoy the Florida weather! It is a great location, as they can travel by boat up the river, into the intercoastal, then out in the gulf to all points beyond. Their good friends Tom and Shirley (also from Michigan) were very gracious hosts to me, allowing me to park the Starship at their home during my visit!

The third picture is just to show you, wherever Spanky goes, he is always adding new members to his fan club!

If you know me, you know my love of Amphicars, and my continued quest to find the remaining ones. The last two photo's are of one I found in south Florida. A perfect example of why you should never drive your car into salt water! Sadly, this one will never swim again.

What a wonderful week, but time to hit the road again. On the way north, slowly............

Boats, Planes, and Amphicars

2010-03-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

I have been here in Tavares, Florida for one week and just finished the Sunnyland Antique boat festival. Many beautiful wooden boats were here as well as seaplanes and Amphicars. That 007 boat pictured is from Russia and has a huge radial airplane engine. The city is just finishing a massive waterfront renovation with all new docks making this a perfect spot for the event.

Yesterday we did a Amphicar parade and then a group spash-in for the huge crowds. They lined the docks and cheered us on, Spanky riding on the back was as always a huge hit! During the week, I was able to explore the area and take long Amphicar rides on Harris Lake and Lake Dora. All the lakes are connected by canals and you can go for miles. Very pretty scenery, just watch out for the alligators.

This show was a great place to see old friends and meet new ones. Now I am packing back up to get on the road. Tomorrow I am headed south to visit goods friends in Port Charlotte.

Manatee Springs State Park

2010-03-20T05:57:00.001-07:00

I have been to many fine state parks across this great country of ours, but this one is definitely high on my short list! You need to add visiting here to your bucket list!

To me, this park is what a great park should be - a beautiful natural setting that teems with wildlife. All the critters seem happy here - when is the last time you saw a squirrel wave at you? LOL

The emerald color in that top pic is the mouth of the springs. This is a first magnitude spring over the aquifer that has a amazing output of 150 million gallons a day! You can swim in the springs when no manatee are present, the clear water is a constant 72 degrees year round. Scuba divers come from afar to dive here. They can dive in the springs, go thru the underground limestone caves, and surface in another spot. Divers have explored over 5 miles of caves at a typical depth of 90 feet.

I have so many great pictures, I will need to make a album just from this park. The last shot is looking down the Suwannee river from the inlet to the springs. Be well!

Florida gulf coast

2010-03-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

To start with, here is a great Florida sunset shot I took at Panacea.

The next pic is my new friend Tina who adopted me for 3 days and showed me the sights. Tina is a native gulf coast lady whose family has been in the seafood business for many generations. She is just a lil thing, but can pull in a crab trap or net with the best of them!

Sadly this whole industry is doing poorly here, thanks to IQF which means imported quality frozen. Another case of cheap chinese products flooding a market, wiping out a American traditional business. What a shame!

Now i have moved on and am at Manatee Springs state park which is absolutely awesome! The springs are filled with manatee that are marvelous creatures. The springs are on a inlet off the Suwannee River and they have built a wood walkway that allows you to walk out to the river. The inlet is also filled with mullet fish (pictured) that jump out of the water about 4 foot high. They make quite a sight as well as lots of gar and the huge gulf sturgeon that are here. I have a nice site here for $20 bucks a night, fantastic, may have to be here a few days..........

On the gulf coast

2010-03-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

First stop after leaving Dallas was Lake Claiborne State Park NE of Shreveport. This is a wonderful Louisiana park that I would highly recommend. The park hosts were Michigan folks who had been wintering their for many years. But as they said, you gotta leave before it gets too hot, thats when the ticks & snakes come out! Ahhh, the south!

One of the most interesting views I have seen is crossing the mighty Mississippi at Vicksburg. Being a water guy anyway, I am amazed at the rivers power to move these huge loads of cargo, aided only by the steering skill of the tugs river pilot. Double click on those top two photos to enlarge them and appreciate the scale. Also amazing are the giant cranes that unload the container ships at Mobile, Alabama.

I took a totally new route for me this trip along the gulf coast. Starting at Gulf Shores, Alabama, I headed east along the coast on 98 going thru all the coastal towns in Alabama and Florida. They range from spots like Orange Beach where every inch of space is loaded with buildings and humanity including spring breakers, to miles of isolated gulf frontage. The 60 foot Starship rig has been severely challenged at times, but is doing fine so far.

This is a great route if you have the time, usually the water is visible and there is nothing like Florida's white sand beaches. One sign of the times is literally thousands and thousands of beach front homes for sale all along the gulf coast.

Today i am chillin at a nice waterfront RV park in Carrabelle, Florida. I hope all is well with you!!

Time to hit the road again - off to Florida

2010-03-08T16:11:00.001-08:00

This winter sure has went by fast - here it is March already!

The Amphicar is now completely refurbished and drives & swims like a dream! D and I got a chance to swim in Lake Lavon with some young passengers who thought the experience was pretty cool!

I needed a better way to haul the Honda Hobbitt moped, so I spent a day with master metal worker, Buck. We designed and built this custom rack to bolt to the front of the Starship. It was a fine project and allows the vintage scooter to load or unload in about a minute.

The Amphicar garage (trailer) has been in off site storage here in Texas and just brought back for the loadup. So now it is load up everything and hit the road again. The plan is a slow meander towards Florida to finish the winter before heading north to Michigan. Spanky sends his best!

The human trait of prejudice - in birds?

2010-02-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

Here in Texas, I am extremely lucky to have the Starship parked right next to a huge Texas cedar. They really are a juniper (Ashe), but have always been known as a Texas or mountain cedar. It is a female and laden with many thousands of purple bitter sweet berries.

The immediate area has been claimed by a mockingbird who mercilessly attacks every robin that invades the restricted territory which he has staked out as his own individual domain. Mockingbirds are the state bird of Texas and thier belligerency is well known, including attacks on rattlesnakes!

Hundreds of robins are trying to feed on the juniper berries, and the mockingbird relentlessly chases them all away. I find the behavior unusual as there are more berries than any one bird can eat. Also strange is that the mockingbird will allow some other birds to have a free meal at his cedar diner, but no robins allowed!

Is this prejudice or profiling showing its ugly head in the avairy world? I don't think so. The more I watch them, it appears allowed birds are smaller, maybe the threat assessment is less compared to the thick bellied robins who are more his size. What do you think?

Pictured are juniper berries, mockingbird, robin, cedar waxwing, and a cute yellow rumped warbler.

Snow is gone! - German Friends - Costa Rica

2010-02-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

2/15/10 The snow is all melted, and today thousands of female robins are migrating thru north Texas. (15 days after the males passed by)

Here is a email from my friends Bernd & Margitta. Bernd is an excellent photographer and these are his pictures from Costa Rica. The bridge to Panama looks pretty scary to me! Don't feel too sad for the broken truck, it is now all repaired and running fine. (see earlier posts)

Hi Paul,

super, that you had such a good week with your son John. We wish you also much fun with the amphicar and all the time with Gayla – our greetings are for Gayla too.

Sorry that I answer so late. We were a long time on “primitive Campgrounds” without electricity and Internet.

After Key West we spend some days again in the Everglades Nationalpark. Then we drove to the Lake Okeechobe for some days.

The next destination was near Sebastian on the East-Coast. That was a very nice place (also for you, for boats, fishing, Spanky), it was called Long Point Campground North of the State Park Sebastian Inlet (that was full – here are so many snowbirds, all places on Stateparks must be reserved 11 month in advance told me the ranger).

On Long Point we spent a nice week with sunshine and a very friendly american neighbour “Scott” with 2 beautiful dogs.

After that time we went to Cape Canaveral. Bernd wanted to see the Kennedy Space Center. And we were very lucky there, because we have seen the start of a Space Shuttle. The first morning it has been cancelled (the weather was to cloudy), but on Monday morning at 4.15 we have seen it (we were the night on the side of the A1A at Banana River. Really a good spot to see the Start.) We also visited Disney World in Orlando and now we are on Flagler Beach north of Daytona.

Our ship started probably the 25th of March in Baltimore and then it’s time to say “Goodbye America”. We will take a flight this time, because this ship doesn’t allow passengers on board. So we went now every day a little bit more NORTH, even if the weather is not so funny there.

The new pictures are not ready for E-Mail. So I send you some of Costa Rica again.

You can see one of a boat-trip in the Mangrove-Forest, one of the beach of Samara with wild horses. The next is the bridge between Costa Rica and Panama. This bridge is the border. It is very narrow but not one way. You must take care, that no other truck or car is coming. To go backwards is really dangerous.

The last picture is our poor truck after the engine breakdown in Costa Rica. You see, even the monkeys look very sad, when they see this trouble.

Many greeting for you and Gayla and a little Hug for Spanky.

Blizzards of 2010 - Dallas Snowstorm

2010-02-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

It is official - 12.5 inches of snow at DFW airport, the greatest single event snow ever!

( in 111 years of record keeping). Texas weathermen completely missed this one, all the fancy computer models did not see this event happening.

Amazingly, it did not shut down the highway system. Minor accidents of course, but helped by many people staying home, and all school systems are closed. There are about 175,000 folks out of power.

It is a very heavy snow so there are problems with roofs collapsing and fires from sparking downed power lines. I watched the other blizzards across the country this year, but thought I would dodge the bullet here in Texas. Ha!

The great news is this is Texas, this will all be just a memory in a few days. I hope the thousands of migrating Robins that passed through last week found a good place to hide out!

Birds in Texas - February Robins

2010-02-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

When I was a young boy growing up in Michigan, all my family members competed to be the one to see the first Robin arrive! Dad was usually the winner and he with excitement would share that first sighting with us! We all knew spring was just around the corner, and after a typical long northern winter, we were all ready for it!

Here in Texas, everything of course is done on a grand scale. Today there are literally thousands of Robins just arrived here in north Texas. Every tree is packed with them and their combined voices are extremely vocal.

This is the beginning of their migration from south Texas back to their summer homes farther north. These are the males, spotted by thier bright orange breasts and dark feathers, who move in advance of the females.

So, If you are stuck in the north and truly tired of winter by now, take hope, the robins are on the way! They fly about 30 miles per hour when migrating and move depending on temperature and food supply. My guess for a Michigan first sighting this year is March 13th. Let me know how close my guess was when you see one!

Texas is such a great place for birding, the last three photos are of other attractive birds I have seen here this year.

There will never be another dog like Sam!

2010-01-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful week I just had with my son John visiting! He has turned out to be a fine young man! In addition to seeing some of the sights of Texas and see whats happening around Dallas, he got to visit with my friends, CJ, Denise, Barb, Mark, and Buck. All these fine folks were glad to welcome him and share their insights and show him their worlds! We did lots of things and had great fun in just one week. Spanky and I sure do miss him already.

Last week, John, Spanky, and I were walking in a park when a man stepped out of his truck and headed our way. I knew the deal from the look on his face that I had seen before on others. He wasn't coming over to see us, he was drawn to Spanky.

After he warmly greeted Spanky, he shared his story with us. A show dog breeder had given him a dachshund puppy which the breeder felt had too short a nose to become a prize show dog. The breeder gave him the dog as it had no value to him (shame on him). Anyway this guy took the pup home, named him Sam and he lived to be the family's best buddy for 21 years.

When I asked the man how long ago Sam died, he said 3 years, which prompted me to reply that maybe it was time for him to get another. With no hesitation, and a sad look in his eye he said; "There will never be another dog like Sam".

Only one who has owned or loved a wiener dog can fully appreciate his feelings. I know what he means, I feel the same way about Spanky!!!

And thats today's make you feel warm & fuzzy dog story!! Be well!

My sons John & Mark

2010-01-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

John has arrived in Texas for a one week visit and we got to do a one hour Lalewicz men video chat today with my other son Mark. Thanks to skype technology we got to see Mark and vice versa as he told us stories about his ongoing adventures in Canoa, Ecuador! He is definitely having a great time there and while I wish he was here with us, I am happy that he is getting this adventure on his own!

Texas is proving to be a good host for John's visit, this week temps will be in the 70's and sunny, much better than was here two weeks ago. We plan to do lots of fun stuff!

In addition to using skype technology today, I also joined the space age by putting a gps in the Starship ! I can't believe I have waited this long to finally use this cool way to find your way around this planet!

John and I just came back from the movies with Denise. We saw Avatar in 3d, Wow, that is a hot movie! Go see it if you haven't yet had the chance. Take Care!

Costa Rica

2010-01-16T08:15:00.000-08:00

I recieved this email and pictures from my friends Margitta & Bernd and wanted to share it with you! I have told Margitta that her english is very fine and I have told Bernd that his photography is also very fine! And after being advised of the "dangers", I still want to go there! LOL

Hello Paul,

auweia – all my bad English on your website – I am ashamed.

Now I send you some pictures of animals in Costa Rica – Bernd loves to make pictures from animals and Costa Rica was a paradise for this

We had nice monkeys and a lot of other animals. On the beautiful beach of Manuel Antonio NP – the pictures of my last e-mail – we had each day for breakfast the visit of a little IGUANA and – sorry – we called him PAUL (that is even a very popular name in Germany). He was our pet and we loved to see him each morning.

We had also a lot of crocodiles there – and in Germany we don’t’ have crocodiles in the nature – so it was very exiting for us to see them so near.

If you want to go to Costa Rica – be carefully. Costa Rica is a very dangerous place for American man – all the girls of Costa Rica want to have an American boyfriend. In Costa Rica they have a lot of girls more than boys or man. So all girls dreamed from an American boyfriend, because their life is often very poor and they begin to have baby’s very often at the age of 14 or 15 !!!! In Germany (and I think in the USA also) that is not normal. This young mothers are not married and the fathers of the kids doesn’t pay nothing for their children. So it is a very hard live for the girls and they always want to have an American or European boyfriend, to pay for their live and the children.

We have met a lot of such people, a man of more than 60 years with a Costa Rica girlfriend of 18 years. The first time, it was funny for him to have such a young girl-friend. But after some time, it was very expansive – because it was not only the girl-friend and their children from others mans – it was the whole family, who lives from his money. That makes Costa Rica for a dangerous place for American and European Man – like Thailland in Asia.

But – I must say it – the girls of Costa Rica are very often very beautiful. I had to take care of my Bernd – he was on a leash all the time in Costa Rica!!! I send you one photo of such a girl – only to show you the “danger”.

We are now in Florida, our place is Chokoloskee Island near Everglades City and her we have nice wether and can spend the day outside of our Motorhome in the sun.

I hope, you will have a very good time travelling with your son and a lot of big fishes, if you are fishing.

Many greetings for you and a hug for Spanky.
Margitta and Bernd

A great American story from UP Michigan!

2010-01-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my sis Carol, for sending this inspiring message. I wanted to save it here for me and also share it with you!

Emergency Weather Bulletin

This text is from a county emergency manager out in the western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan after a severe snow storm ...

The Mining Journal, Marquette, MI WEATHER BULLETIN

Up here in the Northern part of Michigan we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI: Obama did not come. FEMA did nothing. No one howled for the government. No one blamed the government. No one even uttered an expletive on TV.. Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit. Our Mayor's did not blame Obama or anyone else. Our Governor did not blame Obama or anyone else either. CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC did not visit - or even report on this category 5 snow storm.

Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards. No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House. No one looted. Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something. Nobody expected the government to do anything either. No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera. No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Brad Pitt, No Hollywood types to be found.

Nope, we just melted the snow for water.Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars. The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny. Local restaurants made food, and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snow bound families.. Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.

We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns. We put on an extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die". We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.

Even though a Category 5 blizzard of this scale is not usual, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

I hope this gets passed on. Maybe ..... SOME people will get the message ...... The world does Not owe you a living.

My new friends from Germany

2010-01-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

We met these nice folks from Germany on the adventure of a life time. I just had to send you their email and pictures. I wanna go to Costa Rica!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Paul,

that was nice to hear from you so soon.

We traveled from Goose Island first to Galveston Island. But that was not my favorite place. Goose Island was nicer for us.

Than after some other places to New Orleans. There it was 4 days (new year) very funny for us. Wether was good - nice sunshine. We hat a jazz-brunch in the court of two sisters, more jazz in the preservation Hall and at last always jazz and music in the streets. We loved it. New year we made a tour with the Natchez on the Mississippi with a good meal (Cajun-food) and also jazz-music. That time was a sugar bowl football play in New Orleans - the campground was full.

After New Orleans we traveld to Mississippi and Alabama. The wether was not very warm, but sunshine, no rain. We had nice places in the stateparks.

On the coast of Florida we found 2 very beautiful Stateparks with a lot of sunshine. Henderson Statepark near Destin. The second was my favorite on this trip - St. Joseph Peninsula Statepark. Such a beautiful place - a long and clean white sand beach, a nice forest and nice ways for bycicles on the lagoon side. And sunshine the day over. We can sit outside in the sun. For fishing - I don's know, if it is a good place, but for relaxing that is sure.

Now we were in Manatee Springs Statepark and were very happy to see the manatees there in the spring. Today we are near Tampa - but it is cold hera also. We have frozen windows during the night and our little chinese heater works the whole night in our sleeping-room. All snowbirds herewere very disappointed by the bad whether and the Florida-people tell us, it was never such a long period so cold than this year!!!!

Monday it will be better and warmer they tell us. I hope so!!!!

That are the news from our part. We hope, you have found a nice place to spend the next weeks or month. Give a little hello to Spanky - he is really a sweet little dog. And if you mail with Gayle, say also hello from our part.

And please - sorry for all my mistakes in your language!!!!!!

I send you some pictures of our trip. I hope, you will enjoy them. And think about a little trip to G E R M A N Y the next years! We will be back in May or June - and then you are welcome the next years!!!

Have a nive time and save travel.
Many greetings from Margitta and Bernd

You find 2 pictures from our truck in Columbien at the crane, the others were from beaches in Costa Rica.

A bit of a cold snap in Texas !

2010-01-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

I love Texas, but what a bunch of wimps! A couple of cold days make a huge deal, they don't seem to know other parts of the country would hope for a daytime high right now as good as these lows!

But, I will admit it is cold. Starship has slides in, drapes down, cabinets open, and burnin a lot of propane! But, we didn't freeze and this is Texas, will be back in the 50's by Tuesday! Plus, my son John arrives next weekend, sure want a warm up here to give him a break from the icebox called Michigan he is currently living in!

Guess the only good spot in the country right now is southern California. Temps in the 80's. Of course, if your 19.8 billion in debt and 2.5 million unemployed, you should have good weather!!
( If Leno borrows that line, I wanna 500 bucks!) ( Jay, times are tough, I will negotiate!)

I am using this arctic blast to work on Amphi. Spanky and I are in a wonderful hot barn reassembling all new suspension and drive line parts. We got seven great years out of the old stuff, not bad for all the fun on the road & water that was had! I hope all is well with you, I miss you!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting Motor Homes on the road

2010-01-05T18:16:00.000-08:00

My current RV, the Starship, came to me as a trade for real estate. I had given up on having a Prevost after the financial disaster of 04, (my divorce), but I had been looking for a diesel pusher bus. Now after it has been my home for over a year and many miles traveled, I must admit that the gas fired Starship is fine. Slide outs, washer & dryer, and ability to tow your garage with car, makes up for a lot. I always keep looking at other choices I see on the road, and here are a few:

Red Dodge Motorhome - Since the Dodge brothers began building trucks in the 20's, Dodge built some really cool motor homes. Many of these from the 60's and 70's used 440 big block engines with a rv grind cam for greater torque. I have been a Mopar fan for a long time and really like look of these vintage traveling homes.

Military Dry Camper - I spotted this rig out on the sand on Padre Island, a perfect vehicle to go on the barrier islands with miles and miles of sand and surf. These surplus multi fuel military

rigs in either 4 or 6 wheel drive will get out of anywhere! In this application, tarps help provide some protection from the wind blown sand that gets in every crevice that you or your stuff may have.

Alemania - (which means Germany in Spanish). This 64 Mercedes truck is like a Unimog but is a rare model from Germany. Custom fitted by its owner, this rig has been around the world, including travel on a banana freighter between foreign ports. Other than is propensity to occasionally throw up its 6 cylinder diesel engine, what a wonderful 46 year old traveling machine!

In review, guess I will stay with the Starship for a while yet, just wanted to share these other interesting places to live with you! Stay Warm!!!!!

2010 Back in Dallas

2010-01-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a wonderful two week trip we had traveling about south Texas! We loved Goose Island a lot, got a chance to catch a black drum fish, and only left when rain was headed our way. We took two laners back going through the hill country, passing thru Wimberly, and spending a night at Inks lake to check out the Devils Waterhole. I now know Texas well enough to be a pretty good tour guide!

I am glad to report the eagle is still on its nest on the road to Llano, and the barbecue at Cooper's in Llano is still world class! Spanky and I will sure miss Gayla, we all had a super time! My next visitor is my son John, who I am really looking forward to seeing. My son Mark will not be joining us this trip as he is on his own adventure in Ecuador.

There is no sign of global warming here in Texas this winter. Dallas had a record snow on Christmas while were in the islands and a arctic blast is again headed this way this week. But elsewhere in the world, the fabled Northeast Passage in now ice free providing a shortcut from the Atlantic to the Pacific along Russia's arctic coast - Bad News Indeed! Hope you are all well!

Fishing on Goose Island

2009-12-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

We mostly enjoyed South Padre Island (other than the sand burrs & Hispanic trash throwing habits). We left yesterday, driving north to Corpus Christi, then going back out to Padre Island and then north along Mustang Island to Aransas Pass where we took the ferry back to the mainland.

We settled at Goose Island State Park on a spit of sand right next to the water. How lucky we were to have a beautiful day with sunshine and temps in the 60's. That's not bad considering how the winter storms have nailed most of our country. I caught a nice redfish that we grilled for dinner and watched a great sunset. Life is Good!

Our neighbors for this night, Bernd and Margitta from Germany are traveling the world in their 1964 Mercedes Truck (same year as my Amphicar!) that Bernd outfitted as a traveling home. They have been traveling now for 3 years and have been everywhere! They had great stories to tell! They call their truck Jumbo, that's why it has the elephant on the top! Hope all is well with you!!!!

Merry Christmas from South Padre Island

2009-12-24T17:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been forever since i posted to this blog! I have spent a month rebuilding Amphicar parts and now it is ready for re-assembly! I needed a break and that was provided by my great friend Gayla who came to travel with me for two weeks.

There was weather brewing so we just immediately drove south 600 miles to South Padre Island. That turned out to be a great move as it is snowing in Dallas and just cold and windy thru out much of Texas.

Here the wind is blowing real heavy, but is was sunny and 71 today so all is well. We plan to spend a few days here then head back towards Austin and the hill country.

I hope all reading this have a most Merry Christmas! Spanky and I miss ya all and want to leave you with Christmas from the puppies! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtPKbMwnRo&feature=player_embedded

353 FAVORITE PICTURES OF YEAR ONE!

2009-11-21T10:07:00.000-08:00

Wow did it rain here in Dallas! So, I stayed in the Starship and devoted myself to a project that was long overdue. I sorted through the thousands of pictures that I took on my first year on the road, and reduced them to 353 favorite pictures!

I have put them on this slideshow at the top of this blog. You can click on it once and it will go to a larger size and allow you to flip through them. I also picked my five favorite nature picture which I show above.

For a guy who is definitely not a techie, I am real proud of this effort!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON THE ROAD

2009-11-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

65 and sunny today in Dallas as I contemplate one full year living on the road in the Starship!!!

What a year this has been, lots of traveled miles, new places, people and experiences, and the joy of following good weather! I like it well enough that I think I shall try another year! To keep me sane, I am lucky enough to have a small group of family and friends that keep in touch. Your calls, texts, and emails mean more to me than you know! I miss you!

I see I have posted 53 times to this journal so far this year. I use this as a personal place to organize my thoughts and experiences as well as to post pictures of people I meet and places I go. It is a good trip down memory lane for me to look over older posts. If you look back, remember that you can double click on any picture to make it larger.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my Amphicar! After all the driving (and swimming) I have done over the years, the car has need of some serious maintainance and refurbishing. Fortunately here in Texas, my great buddy CJ offered his shop for the project.

This is serious work of suspension parts like axles, bushings, bearings, king pins, ball joints, etc.

The bad news is the price of parts is astronomical! The good news is they are still available! So, I think one must bite the bullet, and go for it. The plus of having this facility to work in and the ability to do the work myself is a great thing!

So the plan is a month here to get this all done, then off for new adventure! Today I saw this redtail hawk in the wide blue sky while Spanky and I were taking a long walk! I hope all is well with you!

AHHH, BACK IN TEXAS

2009-11-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

After seeing some new country going through Oklahoma, the Statship crossed the border into Texas! It continues to amaze me the difference in econonic activity here in the lone star state. There are major building projects happening and projects that were just being started last year, are almost wrapped up.

Arriving in Lucas at the Roy's was sweet, the hospitality mat was out! The Starship has a great spot by the barn under a fine tree, with a private lawn, and a 50 amp plug! Doesn't get much better than that! My hosts CJ, and Denise have been jet setters since I arrived, they were in San Francisco for the weekend, came back, and left for Pittsburg this morning. I have seen them just about long enough for them to give me keys and tell me to make myself at home!

First thing I did was go on a diet. Unload Amphicar, Hobbit moped, spare transmission, floor jack and jack stands, tools, etc., and unhook trailer. Wow, much lighter now!

Spanky got to see all his old friends, Buddy, Tink, Raz, 3 leg, and pictured above, Lilly!

Everything is bigger here in Texas, so had to give you a shot of this spider! They have nests around the yard between the trees, don't think I really want to walk through one! Take care!

EXPLOSION, KUM & GO, OKIE NOODLING

2009-11-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

Imagine 20,000 pounds of Starship steel hurtling down a steep Missouri hillside, when all of a sudden, a huge explosion comes from the back of the Starship! What the %#&^ happened you ask? Well, thats the sound of picking up a piece of space junk and puncturing a rear tire!

To the rescue comes Donnie from Smitty's who for a mere 100 bucks removes the limp donut and puts on the spare. Damn lucky actually, the same event on a front steer tire would prolly have had a much different ending!

Fuel continues to drop, here is 2.39 at the Kum & Go (picture included to show you I did not make that up!) Later I saw a lower price of 2.30. Please explain how it can be .49 a gallon difference between Michigan and Oklahoma? Thats way more than transport cost and is $34 bucks difference on a fillup in the Starship.

Speaking of strange names and customs, here in Oklahoma they fish differently, specifically it is called hand fishing and involves sticking your hand in a hole in the riverbank and having a huge catfish bite you at which time you drag him to the surface.

Here is a You tube video showing chicks do it with gloves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UIpOUgQt-g&feature=PlayList&p=EDED0A089AB7819D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=18

Thats hollywood, in reality for generations, Okie Noodling has been done by crazed Okies without gloves using hands and feet to catch them!!!! This is what it looks like when the locals do it! Amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LksuKTD8y0o&feature=related

I took a different path this time and am at Arrowhead state park in Oklahoma. It is on a huge lake named Eufaula and a nice spot indeed. Tomorrow I go to Texas to the Roy Ranch to visit my Texas buddies! Take care!

TEMPS UP - GAS DOWN - LIFE IS GOOD!

2009-11-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog Char! I am west of St. Louis in a RV park enjoying some down time! That wetness I reported continued to be evident from Chicago to here, causing serious troubles. They had 12" of rain here in October , even two state parks I stopped at were closed - you could not get to the campgrounds!

Glad to report liquid gold (fuel) prices coming down! Last fillup in Livingston County was 2.79 a gallon, yesterday paid 2.63 and saw 2.51 when I stopped here. Lets keep this trend going, Starship is really heavily loaded and best is 7.3 miles to the gallon and that is on flat land!

Temps are in the 60's and sunny and due to hit 70 here by Saturday. I hope this also moves North for all you Michiganders and through out the midwest for all you farmers!

Yesterday's interesting character award is split between Mary and Pam. Spanky introduced me to Mary at a travel break. She is from Iowa on a 5 week vacation headed to Ida, Arkansas. Her quest is to find a phanton crystal which is white quartz with a dark inclusion said to have very special powers! She was an interesting lady before she told me her ride at home is a 1969 sassy green Plymouth road runner! Not only interesting, but a Mopar gal as well! Best luck to you Mary on your quest.

Pam, another free spirit was my neighbor last night at this RV park. Pam is traveling with her cat, Killer in a 5th wheeler pulled by a hot lookin black Ford diesel pickup. She has been on the road for 24 months, crisscrossing the country, and had many intereresting stories to tell! Pam is off to Florida and more adventure.

I have enjoyed staying here, and took a huge hike yesterday. I can't believe how good life is for me right now. Here I am after a great shower and breakfast, doing laundry, watching TV, and being online, all in the comfort of the Starship in a nice setting ! Stay tuned...........

THE GREAT MIDWEST, CORN, WINDMILLS, & MENDOTA

2009-11-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a wonderful start to this new adventure! I drove straight west until I was close to my first stop - about 100 miles west of Chicago in Mendota, Illinios. Right in the heart of the midwest, corn and soybeans as far as you can see! Unfortunately they have had so much rain, most of the crop has yet to be taken off the wet fields.

I saw a huge farm and stopped and asked the owner if I might spend the night. He directed me to a spot of gravel drive and told me to make myself at home! Just how folks are here, everybody waves, and you get the feel you are in the real America. Not a lot of honda's and toyota's about, mainly pickup trucks - Fords, Chevvies, & Dodges.

These guys farm about 6,000 acres, everything is John Deere, except the stuff they fab on site them selves which is bigger than Deere will make for them! They were still workin at midnight and started again about 6 this morning. They are racing now, the soybeans will rot and even though it will cost a lot to run the corn through dryers, they want to get it picked before the snow hits. I sure hope these guys get lucky and make a buck this year.

At 8 this morning i pulled in to Midwest Amphicar to see Dave Derrer, better known in the hobby as " Dave the Wave". I brought my original spare Amphicar transmission and in a short time it was reduced to a pile of gears, shafts, springs, and many small parts. Dave worked all day and I left tonight with my trans all assembled with the new parts that it needed. I would highly recommend Dave to you. Not only is he a hellofa nice guy, he is honest and extremely knowledgable and talented with Amphicars!

Dave has a nice shop at his home surrounded by miles of corn. There are 100's of windmills to generate power placed in the corn through out the area. They have a real strange feel to me and when you are near them you notice the sound of the blades moving thru the air. They are so huge, that white dot at the bottom of the picture above is a pickup truck!

Looks like between using the wind for power and making soy bio-diesel, the midwest is doing its part for our future! Well, its been a great time here, but time to head south. Stay tuned!

NOVEMBER 1ST - TIME TO HIT THE ROAD AGAIN!

2009-10-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight is Halloween and at first light tomorrow, the Starship will blast off on a new adventure! It has been a great summer here, but now it is time to leave. We have had the most beautiful colors, but the wind last night turned many of them into a colorful carpet which will soon be buried in snow.

My sons and I went to Kensington Park for a color hike last week. We took Spanky even though the Keep Out sign curiously resembles him. We assumed they couldn't mean the Spankster so he joined us for a 3 mile hike. This was his first big outing since his surgery and proof he is quite recovered!

My summer spot at the wetlands is closed up for the winter. It was a great place to be at this summer and I sure look forward to being back here May 1st.

I have been visiting many friends and saying goodbyes including a visit to the cemetary where my parents are. I sure do miss them, but are glad they have a nice spot in a small cemetery filled with maple trees.

First stop tomorrow is Mendota, Illinois. Mendota is the birth place of the famous Mandy Fox and also the current home of Dave the Wave and Midwest Amphicar. Dave is the Amphi trans guru and will help me make a parts list for my back up transmission.

Then - South to warm weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIRST FREEZE & POOR SPANKY OCTOBER 2009

2009-10-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

Poor Spanky! He just got back from Michigan State University Veterinary Hospital where he underwent surgery again to remove bladder stones! He is a little stone factory and here he is 15 months after his last surgery doing it again! He makes calcium stones and even though he is on a prescription diet, there seems to be no known way to prevent them forming again.

He absolutely hates the whole deal and when picked up after two days at MSU was just shakin and moanin like it was the end of the world! The best cure and way to put the whole deal behind him is loving and he has sure been getting a bunch of it. Here is a few pics of him getting some attention from son John and friend Gayla.

Also in that picture you can see our new maple tree out the RV window. I wanted a shade tree here in the wetlands and the tree has to grow at the waters edge in this mucky soil. My son Mark helped me plant this Autumn Blaze maple and we hope it will be happy here! It is a hybrid, a cross between a silver and a red maple that seems to be the best choice for these conditions.

Woke up this morning to a chilly 29 degrees, the first freeze of the year. Could be worse as there is a raging snow storm a few hundred miles west of here! Blast off from Michigan for the winter is down to about 3 weeks and the optimist that i am is still hoping to see some indian summer before i go! You would not believe the beautiful tangerine color that is starting to show on the sugar maples. Take good care of yourself !!!!

SEPTEMBER 2009

2009-09-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

It is the last week of September, and this morning is cold, wet, and windy. Quite a change from a month ago, now instead of froliking on the water, you are more likely to see a boat coming out of the water for the winter. My African Queen should come out this week as well!

I got a chance to go flying with my buddy, John. He has this 63 Cessna as well as a 47 Beech V tail. We went to two small grass strips as well as a fly over of the wetlands. You can sure see the colors turning in the photo! Also a sunset photo for you from the wetlands. You can always click on these photos to see them larger if you wish.

Spanky and I have found that our lake is inhabited with huge carp! This is George who is 19 pounds and put up a great fight to get him to the dock. He was rewarded with his freedom for his efforts!

My plan is to leave Michigan at the end of October. So, one month to go to get everything sorted and loaded for the next adventure! I hope all is well with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

END OF MICHIGAN SUMMER 2009

2009-08-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it is the last day of August and all over signs can be seen, of change in the air. It seems so early for some of these changes like the new colors of reds and yellows, and walnuts falling from the trees. The temp went down to 43 degrees last night, back up to a pleasant 70 degrees today.

I believe there still will be plenty of warm weather, but once the cool nights take the heat out of the lakes, it feels like the summer is past.

The first photo is a local dragon fly who lives here in my wetlands. For me, he symbolizes my summer spot on the waters edge. You would not believe how peaceful this natural setting is.

One of the things I always like to do in the summer is to take a trip in the Amphicar down the chain of lakes here in Pinckney. There are 7 lakes from Portage lake to Zukey Lake and is a fun way to spend the day. Last week we had a rare 86 degree day and so I did the trip with my friend Bill "Doc" McIntrye and of course Spanky. You can see the vivid dark greens on the trees are gone in the picture.

This cool old boat was found on the chain many years ago by my friend, John Gregor in very rough condition. It was a steel hull life boat from a large ship and it seems he told me it was from the 1920's. After a lot of time and effort, John sold the boat to a new owner who lives on the same chain. It is nice to see it in its new glory on the water.

The last two photos are further evidence of Spanky expanding his fan club base whenever possible! Actually these are further proof of the end of summer as these girls were celebrating a final hot day on the water before reporting to college this week.

I have been blessed to be able to spend lots of good times with my family and friends as the summer has raced by. Soon it will be time to hit the road again!

AUGUST 2009

2009-08-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hey - hope all is great with you! It is great to be in Michigan in the summertime. While the rest of the country is baking their brains out, here it is green, and a pleasant 70-80 degrees most days. It is absolutely wonderful to wake up on the water in the wetlands! Hopefully my lawyer can get the township off my back about my recreational activities here!

We had excellent fireworks this year on Crooked Lake. It is always a joy to float around in the Amphicar for hours at night watching this display. It is on the list as a yearly must do.

Here are some pictures to share with you. A water shot in the Amphi with John, Diane, Spanky and Gayla as well as a favorite fireworks pic. The first sunset is at the wetlands and the final one last is from last night here in the Ohio valley where I am this week for the Mopar Nats!

Have a great August and keep on touch!

MICHIGAN SUMMER REPORT

2009-06-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, time flies by and has been so long since I have made a post! I have grown very attached to my summer spot in the wetlands by the lake. There are now three sets of nesting birds in the purple martin house and the sounds of baby birds fill the air.

To enjoy the lake, we have a boat named the African Queen. She is a 1968 Hydrodyne deck boat with a Mercruiser drive. Excellent for swimming from and a great spot to sit out on the lake. At night, it is dark enough here that the sky looks like a bushel of diamonds scattered on a dark cloth.

Spanky is doing great, he has his own swimming ramp (Thanks Steve) that fits the boat. He continues to look more distinquished with his new silver white hair. Yesterday we went to the balloon festival where he let all the kids pet him and he snuck kisses from the pretty girls. You can see four new members of his fan club in the picture.

Weather is great here and very enjoyable to be outside. Stop by for a swim sometime!

BLUE WATER MICHIGAN

2009-05-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

One thing you sure notice in Michigan is how blue the water is. I am not dishing Texas, I love the place, but when it comes to water quality, there is a huge difference. The Starship is parked at the water's edge in a super beautiful peaceful setting.

I want to share some pictures of the cool birds that live on this lake with you. We just put up a purple martin house and it is being looked over very carefully by two martin families. Hopefully they will live here just outside the Starship's window.

For the most part all is well here. The huge concern of course is the economic future of this whole area. The massive auto dealerships closing announcement this week seems to be another nail in the coffin lid of the auto industry. Grim news for Michigan indeed!

BACK IN MICHIGAN

2009-05-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

Well, back in Michigan 7,688 miles and 156 days later! I have to tell you it does feel kind of strange and i suspect it is that things are never the same when you go back thing. It was fantantic to see my sons John and Mark after so long, as well as seeing the friends I have run into so far!

It is full blown spring time here which is a great time of year in Michigan. I did get to spend a day hunting Morel mushrooms with my brother Steve, friend Gayla, and Spanky. We got lots and they are sooo good to eat! It is a banner year for them with all the rain and early warm temps.

I have the Starship set up at the lake lot and it is very nice to be on the water again. It is a peaceful quiet spot and with the power tap here I have all systems up and running. Fishing is good and Spanky loves fish. He jumped in after this one so I thought he deserved it and off he went with it! Enjoy your summer and stop by Gale lake and say HELLO!

INTERESTING FIND ON TWO LANERS

2009-04-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

As I travel north, I had to leave the interstate to travel some two laners to connect with the area I was passing through. Sure glad I did as it gave me a chance to meet this character I will call Richard. He has been collecting forever and he is a most interesting individual.

Around his property is a shoe tree, a credit card tree, a jetski way up in a tree, as well as a variety of catch your eye things such as this airplane and the front of a car mounted up on his barn and at night its headlights turn on - I told you he was an interesting character!

I am only showing a few pics. but by way of description, The Airsteam is a 1967 17 foot Clipper with the original awning and interior. Very nice shape, these little guys are very collectible today.

The lil station wagon under the tarp is a 1948 Crosley, made in Ohio. Cuter than a bug, it has a 44cc motor kicking out a whopping 26 horsepower. As a side note, Jay Leno has one of these but it is 450 HP, if this kind of excess appeals to you, you can see it at;

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/your_garage/cars/1266.shtml

The final picture is a 1970 Suburu pickup which is got to be the smallest truck ever made. Look at the tires leaning against it for size comparison. It is a ramp side, and I believe kinda rare. All this is for sale, but Richard wasn't born yesterday. I may go buy one of these from him sometime, but more important was the chance to spend a few hours with him today on his birthday! Happy Birthday Richard and thanks for the interesting travel break!

BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN - NORTH

2009-04-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

The Starship is fully loaded and is off this morning towards Michigan. It has been a fantastic winter here in Texas and I have enjoyed watching springtime come into bloom! I have been blessed to spend good times with old friends and to make new ones. Today shows what comes next here and that is HOT. Today will be 96 or so and by early July temps will top that every day.

The great news is this warm air is headed straight north at 40 mph over the next fews days to help push the Starship along and let me take credit for bringing the hot weather with me!

It should be a great run north. How lucky i am to see spring twice this year!!!!

BLUEBONNET TIME IN TEXAS

2009-04-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

It is a Texas thing! In the springtime these wild flowers known as Bluebonnets can be seen along highways and fields in central Texas. They are native to this state and are not found in the wild anywhere else. Texans are understandably proud of this unique flower and have named them the state flower.

The temperature and amount of rain affects the spring display and this year is a little light, but I did find this nice patch near Ennis. They smell fantastic and as you can see, Spanky was taken with them as well!

HAPPY EASTER & OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

2009-04-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to you! I have been taking a final trip through some of my favorite Texas spots before beginning the trip north. I spent several days in Austin, visited with a friend loading antique airplane parts in Georgetown, and pulled into Fairfield Lake State Park last night.

My hope was to be fishing this morning. but it was not to be. A intense spring rain/thunderstorm begin early this morning and is transforming the park into a giant wet mud pit. I am not too disappointed, being in the warm dry Starship with all the comforts of home, while others woke inside tents and are frantically loading all their wet muddy possesions into their cars.

By the numbers, today is day 145 of this journey (day 90 of being a non-smoker!). There is a small group out there who keeps track of me (you know who you are), and I love you! Having chose this nomadic migratory life style, it is important for me to know you are there.

The last picture is not from this morning but I had to include it. For having started this trip not liking water, the little guy sure has come a long way! I hope you all have a great Easter and God bless you.

I SURE DO LOVE THE BIRDS OF TEXAS

2009-03-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

I have found a lot to love about Texas and one of them is the birds. Texas has birds that live here full time, summer only residents, winter only residents, and birds that just migrate through twice a year. Many of the birds of Texas are larger birds that are truly awesome.

It is great to see special birds but here you will sometimes see huge flocks of them. There are Cranes, Herons, Egrets, Ospreys, Storks, Gulls, not to mention Road Runners and Eagles and over 500 total species of birds!

Why are all these birds here! First because Texas is on the central flyway, one of the major migration routes. Also, the great variety of climates available all drawing different species. There is the Gulf Coast, Piney Woods, Cedar Brakes, Eastern Hardwoods, Prarie, Thorn Forest, and Subtropical to name a few. Toss in a bunch of water both saltwater and freshwater and the birds will love it!

I am jealous, I wish I could fly about this world at will. Maybe I can't do that, but I can live in a migratory fashion! A great friend in Michigan tells me the Sandhill Cranes arrived back there this morning. Those birds have long been a favorite of mine. It is almost time for the Starship to join the migratory flights back to the north country!

SPRINGTIME RAIN & FAIRFIELD LAKE

2009-03-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Texas is getting some badly needed spring rain. Already the grass is green everywhere and the blue bonnets are in bloom along the highways. Gentle rain would be better than these heavy thunder storms, but you gotta take what life throws at ya! This rain will help fill up the resorvoirs and make the coming hot summer more bearable for Texans. Did you know all lakes in Texas except one are man made by creating a dam on a river to hold water? This rain drove me out of a state park on a man made lake known as Fairfield Lake. When the rain is coming down this hard for days, being in a forest near the lake is generally not a good idea. And when the Texas red earth turns to mud, you and your vehicle don't want to be there!

Fairfield Lake is special. It is not big by Texas standards, but has more big fish and birds than you would believe. The secret is that power plant you can see across the water in picture 3. It doesn't look that big from a distance but look at the water tower to the right of the plant in picture 4. That will give you some reference as to the size of the plant. It is an old plant, fired by coal and uses the lake water for cooling. The water gets so hot, that redfish can live here as a freshwater fish and grow to enormous size. If you want to read more about this, here is an excellent article:

http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2006/aug/ed_3/

This may not always be a fisherman's paradise. It seems environmentalists are pushing to shut down the polluting old power plant which would mean the end of the redfish in the lake. So, after this rains stops I plan to go back here for more fishing before that happens!

GDAY MATE HAPPY B DAY TO ME!

2009-03-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who called , txt'd, or emailed a birthday greeting to me today!It is so nice to first have another birthday, and second, to actually show up on multiple people's calenders!

I decided to go fishing on my birthday, so went online and found a state park, Fairfield Lake, that I had never been to before. Six hours of Starship travel on two laners put me there into a super spot on the water on a special lake that has fresh water redfish. These are the fish with a black spot on the tail, and usually you find them as a saltwater fish. Great eating and fun to catch, they hit like a freight train and fight well.

This lake has them as a freshwater fish and the current redfish record here is 36 pounds! Also huge crappie and bass in this lake. You can fish from shore at your campsite with live shad (minnows). If you ever come here take spot 109, second choice take spot 67, both are waterfront sites and fantastic, we are in 109. All state parks have a best spot, come on a sunday afternoon when everybody is leaving and you can have the best spot. Always drive through a park before registering to find the sweet untaken spot.

Texas does a great job with their state parks, here is a link to their site to give you an idea of this park as well as others in the state::

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/fairfield_lake/

Look at this great tree in the park, talk about losing your roots! Just shows a flash flood in Texas can be serious business.

Spanky says walking on the sand inspecting the catch is good back therapy! We may just have to stay here a couple of days!

SPANKY SEEMS BETTER

2009-03-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, lot of calls, emails, & txt from the fan club wondering how Spanky is!

Well he is better so far as in being easier for him to get around and being in less pain, but he still does seem to have a drunken sailor walk on his back legs. This week should show if he is getting better on his own or will need surgery.

I know in my last post when i told you about Spanky needing to be "caged" to prevent jumping, you immediately thought of big iron bars as are used to cage other fierce animals similar to Spanky, like mountain lions's for example!

Not liking all the cages available, we hit a garage sale for this fine pictured model. I don't suspect it was what Fisher Price had in mind, but it works well to keep him from jumping when i am not with him. And let me tell ya, telling a wiener dog not to jump is like telling a fish not to swim!

We are going fishing in the state parks this week and just r e l a x!

SPANKY IN DISTRESS

2009-03-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

I am back in Texas and somehow my little buddy Spanky has hurt his back. This can be a very bad thing for a Doxie, as they do have a well known genetic defect in this regard. It seems a high percentage of this breed can have this condition known as IVDD and can result in them being paralyzed.

Spank was in a lot of pain so i found a local vet. I wasn't real happy with him or his advise so did some on line searching. I found that one of the premier surgical facilites for this condition happens to be right here in Dallas. You can find our more about them at http://www.dfwvetsurgeons.com/

We had a exam this morning and will have to see how he does over the next few days of recovery to see if he needs surgery or not. He is on steroids (prednizone) and must be caged to keep him from doing any jumping. A sudden movement during recovery could paralyze him if a disc ruptures. He is not at all happy with this whole deal as you might suspect. Please keep him in your thoughts.

BOON DOCKIN PADRE & MY MOM

2009-03-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

Just got the word that my mom has passed away. I was ready for the news and then found out i really wasn't ready at all. The easiest part, is knowing she had a good life, truly loved & missed her mate, and was ready. The hard part, well thats all the rest of it. My mom was the best!

I am boon docking on the beach of the barrier island, South Padre. That is Texas, as far south as you can go on the gulf of mexico. You can park overnight right on the beach, just above high tide line. There is over 100 miles to pick from but a lot of it is 4 wheel drive only. Close to town you see a lot of spring breaker's, but as you go north you can find all the seclusion you want.

I am leaving this morning to drive the 600 miles back to Dallas. Will leave the Starship at CJ's, and Spanky and I have a flight back to Michigan on Monday. Here are a few pictures from this area!

MUSTANG ISLAND

2009-03-03T17:51:00.000-08:00

I am spending a few days at Mustang Island state park. This is a beautiful spot on the gulf of Mexico, outside Corpus Christi . To get here, the Starship came across the Aransas pass on a ferry. We were rewarded to have two dolphins playing in the water and guiding the ferry across.

There is good fishing here, large jetty's have been constructed of lots of huge granite slabs placed out into the water. A wide variety of salt water fish can be caught here, today my catch was a mess of whiting which made an excellent meal on the grill.

If you look closely at the 3rd picture, you will see some small dots at the horizon. These dots unfortunately zoom up to picture 4. I can count 25 of these off shore rigs from where I am standing, which i just think is too bad! I didn't see these my last trip through here and i wasn't paying $2 a gallon either. I know it is only a matter a time till a broken pipe, accident, or hurricane causes a major disaster to this natural area.

SPANKY'S FAN CLUB

2009-03-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

I want to go on record here that being president of Spanky's fan club is a lot of work! I mean not only scheduling appearances and dealing with fans, but there is fan mail, calls, etc. He doesn't care a whit about money, and it is expensive carting him around the country for his performances.

He is a ham! And he loves a pretty girl. I mean look thru these posts, this 10 pound casanova gets into a girls arms faster than you can say cute wiener. Any of you guys think your fast with the ladies, ha you should watch the Spank at work!

For the most part he isn't so bad. We don't argue much, although we are at the moment. I want to go back to the Ozarks in April trout fishing on the way back up north. He wants to go to the weiner dog races in Buda, tx - same weekend. I keep telling him, dude your 9 years old, you can't win against them young bucks! But there's no telling him anything, when he gets a thought in that little wiener brain of his, nothing else matters.

If you enjoyed this post, or have more fan mail, send a note to paul@amazingone.com

SPRINGTIME & WINDY IN TEXAS

2009-02-28T14:09:00.002-08:00

After a regroup in Lucas, I jetted back off this morning on a new adventure! Woke up to a 30mph north wind with gusts to 40, so headed south for a free push. It takes a good blow to tweak a flag like this! Just south of Waco on I35S, the road curves a little allowing that wind to hit the Starship from the side. Real hard to steer and i looked in the mirror just in time to to see the side awning coming down! Deploying canvas at 70 mph with a strong quartering wind is not highly recommended! Got real lucky, came off warp speed, shut down, and saved the whole deal. Only damage is probably the guy who was along side me at the time, I suspect he will need to clean his front seat real well.

How cool it is to see springtime in the air here! Grass is green, trees are in bloom, CJ's nieghbor was cutting his grass yesterday! Sorry that girl got in the way in the picture, was trying to show you the pretty trees! LOL. If you are in Michigan, have faith, I am going to send some of this weather your way!

A sure sign of spring is critters playing together. Spanky says Come on Down and Play!!!!~!

2009-02-28T14:09:00.001-08:00

SWIMMING IN FEBRUARY

2009-02-22T08:51:00.000-08:00

I just had to post a few more pictures of this great area in Austin. This is the famed Barton Springs at Zilker Park. If you look below the diving board you can see the limestone where the 68 degree spring water comes from. 26 million gallons a day, the biggest spring is near the diving board and known as Parthenia.

Zilker park is 485 acres and what a great place to be outside in a natural setting and yet downtown in a large city. Here early on a sunny Sunday morning, lots of folks are already out enjoying the day.

BARTON SPRINGS AUSTIN

2009-02-21T17:43:00.000-08:00

The Colorado river flows through Austin and the downtown area is known as Town lake. There is a natural pool over 1000 feet long where 68 degree water flows from the earth, this area is known as Barton Springs. It is a excellent area and those who live in Austin treasure this resource. There are over 10 miles of trails near the water for walking, jogging, and biking. Swimming and canoeing are favorites things to do here. The area has a lot of interesting history and you can check that out at: http://www.texasescapes.com/SplashAcrossTexas/BartonSpringsTexas/BartonSpringsAustinTexas.htm

Everybody in Austin has a dog. Or so it seems. Hundreds of people and their dogs were out today around the water enjoying the beautiful Texas sunshine. It is hard to believe that while the Great Lakes are getting hammered with another 5-7 inches of snow on this Saturday in February , it can be so nice here. The water is very clear, the turtle above is under water, shot at full zoom off an elevated bridge. I really do like this city!

MORE AIRSTREAMS IN AUSTIN

2009-02-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

It seemed where ever i went today, I kept running into more Airstreams, being used for all sort of purposes! What majestic shapes they have, they certainly beat the typical box construction of most of the mobile home industry. This design was to reduce drag while being towed and its aircraft like riveted construction is extremely strong.

Thats actually how you can tell a true vintage Airstream, look at the small one pictured above with all the pieces riveted together on the roof. Newer ones use a three piece roof design. Another piece of interesting Airstream trivia concerns the secret brotherhood among owners. It used to be that if you were an owner and traveling, you could call any other owner and be guaranteed a free night in their driveway. I don't know if this hospitality still exists. What a wonderful day it was in Texas, be well!!!

AIRSTREAMS IN AUSTIN

2009-02-20T07:19:00.000-08:00

It has been a great week on the road traveling Texas two laners and visiting small towns and out of the way places. Now i am back in Austin and staying at my favorite downtown RV park, Pecan Grove. This park contains a most interesting collection of vintage airsteam trailers and i have pictured a few for your viewing pleasure! One is owned by Lance Armstrong who visits several times a year. The last photo is a newer model, personally i love the flavor of the older units. If you have interest in vintage airstreams, you can find a lot of info at http://www.vintageairstream.com/index.html

The waiting list to stay in this park full time is measured in years and many of these airsteams have called this home for a long time. This park is about the only positive thing i can think of about the economic mess this country is in. Even though there is a lot of construction going on in Texas, it was all on the books, there is no new stuff coming out of the ground. So, even though this property is so valuable, it may be left un touched for a while yet. Look at the pic of the cranes in the background, this massive project is right next door!

I will spend this weekend in Austin, and then move on. I am very sad to hear the recent news of the passing of my friend Kymberly. You certainly will be missed, may you rest in peace.

30 DAYS SMOKE FREE & AMPHI WORK

2009-02-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

Today is my anniversery - 30 days free from nicotine! Wow - what an addiction I had (have), and so what a lot of constant attention it took me to get this far. I will be honest, my mind still at times tells me I want a cigarette. But it is slowly getting to be less often and I CAN DO THIS!

I quit cold turkey which I believe is the best way to go, if you or someone you know is ready to quit, I found some help at http://www.whyquit.com/

One thing about quitting is you have more time on your hands! Instead of taking a "break" to have a smoke, you end up with extra time to do stuff! During my critical first 30 days I focused on doing all the maintainance on my RV, Trailer, and Amphicar. There is no free lunch and all those great water trips over the last years have been taking thier toll on the mechanics of Amphi. Look at photo two and see if you can find my little helper. If not, pics 3 and 4 help with the zoom. I did not put him there, he always just finds his own cozy spot!

Well, I am glad to be a non-smoker! And with all the maintainance now about wrapped up, it will soon be time to leave my great friends here and get back on the road again!

NEW FRIENDS BARB AND LADY GODIVA

2009-02-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

It is always great to meet new cool people (and their pets!). This is Barb Ross who is a real estate broker in Highland Village, a great lil town in North Texas. What is amazing is that Barb originally hails from Woodland lake in Brighton but has been here in Texas for 20 years. I had never met her until a friend in Michigan asked me to call her and say hi! (Thanks, John)

The barbecue joint shown is known for its famous pig cooker which was smokin pork while we were there. Note the wheels on the pig, ready to wheel up to your next home barbecue party!

Barb's dog Lady Godiva is what happens when you cross a Labrador with a standard poodle! You end up with a Labradoodle, a very smart, loyal dog that does not shed! This mixed breed is being used a lot for guide dogs, companion dogs, or a great family pet. She is a neat dog and Spanky likes her a lot!

Closing with a pic from Barb's salt water fish tank. The long legs under the rock are hooked to a serpent star with an appetite (a fish is missing). That beautiful blue fish coming through the rock is a clownfish known as a Regal Tang. This was the fish in "Meeting Nemo". Your trivia quiz question is : What was her name? Post a comment with your guess and I will know somebody is reading this. ha

NEED A DOG?, CONSIDER A WHIPPET!

2009-02-03T15:58:00.001-08:00

This is Lilly, what a beautiful dog she is! Whippets come in a wide variety of colors and markings and I sure like the ones Lilly got! These dogs can be wonderful pets once you get past the puppy stage where they are known for destructive behavior. They are also known as the poor man's race horse and their larger cousin is the greyhound. One look at that body and you can tell she is fast, whippets can reach 35 mph.

Spanky makes instant first impressions of other dogs (and people). Some he likes, some he just puts up with, and some he does not like at all! Lilly fits in that last group and I do not know the reason. Maybe its her wild carefree attitude or maybe it had something to do with her bounding into the Starship as if she owned it. I don't know but i will bet they will never be best friends!

Whippets are sighthounds-they specialize in pursuing prey, keeping it in sight, and overpowering it with speed. They have keen vision, a flexible back and long legs, and a deep chest to support a large heart. Spanky has none of that, but resembles a sighthound in his high prey (squirrells & cats) drive where he will suddenly chase a moving object or small animal forgetting all training.

If you want to try a whippet as a pet, expect to pay $500 to $1,000. Whippets are very playful and excel in racing, obedience, and tracking.

I LOVE TECHNOLOGY

2009-01-31T06:00:00.000-08:00

I guess i have always loved technology and have paid my dues. My first cell phone was a Panasonic bag phone that weighed 12 pounds and cost me $2500 bucks. First computer was a ibm xt that cost over 10 thousand! In the 80's, i started one of the first companies in Michigan (Starwalker Satellite) to sell c band TV programming via the dish. ( we used 11 foot diameter mesh dishes at the time!)

As a guy over 50 I have tried to keep up. I have a laptop, a website, a blog. I text and own a ipod. But my Starship was still using rabbit ears that were very much like we had in the 50's!

Being on the road, I missed my comcast cable(but not the bill!) So for a guy who was "connected" (thanks to my verizon air card), my TV sucked! 6 channels full of sparklies!

NOT ANY MORE! Just installed a digital TV converter (cost me $10 bucks with my $40 coupon) and i am truly amazed!~ Starship now has 28 crystal clear channels with menu and whats on next screen! Best of all is the NOAA weather channel, I love it! I feel like i just got free cable! Ha

NIGHT LIFE IN AUSTIN

2009-01-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

We are back in Dallas, the boys leave in the morning, but last night we were in downtown Austin. What a cool city! There is a great live music scene downtown in the area around 6th street and Red River. Many bars have live bands and there is a lot of street music as well. Lots of people on the street, a mix of locals, students, tourists, homeless, old hippies, and a strong peppering of beautiful Texas girls. Austin is a strong college town being home to University of Texas and has a great spirit. You can easily get around. A 24 hour bus fare on the metro is a buck and a half and gives you unlimited bus service. The ecomony seems good, lots of building projects still going strong. This city feels very good to me, i wonder if i could live here? Well, sure will miss the boys, we had a blast this week!!!!!

A message from John

2009-01-24T20:36:00.000-08:00

Hey this is John just finishing up a great week with my dad doing all kind of fun and interesting stuff throughout Texas. We started off by hanging out on the Colorado River and ended the trip at our friend's,CJ & Denise's, house, stopping by Inks Lake, Austin, and some really amazing food places along the way. Every day has been packed with fun from start to finish and it was really great to see my dad for the first time in a couple months. We had so much fun it's hard to say what the best part of it was, but if you asked me I would say I enjoyed the Devil's Waterhole at Inks Lake, swimming, fishing, and getting some sun, more than anything. I definitely look forward to my next visit down here and this trip made me wonder- what the hell am i doing in Michigan?

A message from mark

2009-01-24T20:25:00.000-08:00

Its satruday night here in dallas and we are resting at the roy's home, buenajentes. means "good people" in spanish, doesnt really translate to a tee but it applies anyway. So we have been to inks lake, Colorado river state park, various mountains and canyons, and enough bar b que joints to keep me set for a looong time. Its been fun, great to spend time with my pops, and the weather just happens to be a tad (wink) nicer than home. thats what i hear anyway. Im headed home tommorrow morn and i would rate the overall trip as a sucess.

WILD AND NATURAL IN SOUTH TX

2009-01-23T05:36:00.000-08:00

Spending a lot of time in towns or cities makes you forget how wild and natural this world of ours is. These pics from yesterday show just a little of what we found around us. We had a great day hiking, kayaking, and spending time together. The boys did decide to dive in the frigid winter water here. It helped that the outside temp was 80, but they sure didn't stay in long!

Today we head for the city! We are off to Austin to spend some time there. Ausin is known as the music capital of Texas, so tonight we will check out the music scene. There is a RV park downtown called Pecan Grove (soon to be closed and turned into condo's) where we have a reservation for the Starship.

DEVIL'S WATERHOLE

2009-01-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

This spot is in the back of the Ink's Lake state park where the colorado river enters Ink's lake. It is the oldest rock formations maybe anywhere in the country. Millions of years old. It has very beautiful rocks mixed together, viens run thru them for great lengths. Last trip, the boys jumped from those rocks which is a tremendous distance down. Today cooler heads (and water) kept us hiking rather than swimming. The hole itself is very deep and when the water is clear you can see giant fish way way down. Today water from the river is down to a trickle, making the water less clear. I highly recommend this spot to anyone travelin through south Texas.

MY BOYS JOIN ME IN TEXAS!

2009-01-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

Life is good! John and Mark flew into Dallas for a vist. We loaded the Starship and left those 6.5 million folks around Dallas and headed south towards the hill country. First we went to Colorado bend state park which is by Lampassas. It is very isolated, primitive camping, and just an awesome spot on the Colorado River. This area is unspoiled and about 10 miles above the man made highland lakes that were all created with dams.

Today we drove to Llano and stopped at world famous Cooper's barbecue to buy some brisket for our evening meal. Then on to our favorite spot, Inks Lake and the devil's waterhole. We have been here many times, and just are always drawn back to this cool spot. Check out the picture of the bald eagle we saw on the nest with young. How cool is that! A special day today with my boys -weather is in the 70's with sun~! Life is good!

SPANKY IN TEXAS - REAL TIME

2009-01-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

Greetings all!, This is my first post in real time, all the others were catch up, i wrote them after the fact, as the blog was started after the trip began! I am celebrating getting to this point by sending you some pictures of Spanky. As you can see, it gets cold and windy here in Texas!

BECOMING SELF SUFFICIENT

2009-01-13T15:34:00.000-08:00

My starship is real cool and had everything i needed - except a washer & dryer! I am not much of a laundromat kind of guy and wanted to feel competely self sufficient -so i took on installing a unit in my RV. There is a combo unit made by Splendide that seemed to be everybodies favorite as long as you got the vented model.

Installation was kind of a major production what with making space, installing a drain pan, adding a new electric circuit, creating a drain to gray water tank, and running hot and cold water lines! Oh and don't forget about cutting the hole in the side of the RV for the vent! I did learn about a new plumbing method called PEX that use lock rings that i think is pretty cool and will use again. Anyway, fourth picture is first load, with no leaks! Glad that is done!

FRIENDS IN TEXAS

2009-01-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

Don't want ya all to think i am leading too much of a solitary life here in Texas. The group shot is CJ, Denise (on right), and assorted neighbors gathered together. The fine woman with Spanky and the horse is my great friend, Gayla, who came to visit for a few days. I think she likes Spanky more than me, but she puts up with me. Oh and kind of like a last will thing here: My meager estate i will leave is too be split between my two boys John and Mark, but Spanky goes to Gayla. Those two got something going on. As you can see, CJ also has a pool table! We are kinda like keeping score on what's known as the wall of shame. but CJ would have to tell you about that!

WELCOME TO TEXAS

2009-01-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

It is always good to roll into Texas! There is a feeling you get from Texans and it is refreshing. They love their state, take responsibility for themselves, and generally feel they can handle there own affairs ( without a lot of help from Washington, thank you very much!) I like a lot about Texans, they are a proud people and generally quite friendly.

My destination is Lucas, just a little north of the huge Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. My great buddy CJ and his wife Denise have invited me to make myself at home at their place. How cool! They have a wonderful home and a super barn where i can do all the maintainance and upgrades needed on my rig! That is CJ with Spanky who is trying out a new outfit sent to him by his great friend Gayla! Amphi has his own spot in the barn next to the Hemi Dart. I have a great parking spot in the driveway and a place to hook up my life support (electric cord that is)!

BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN

2009-01-12T18:26:00.000-08:00

Catching up on our trip so far, here in NW Arkansas, it is getting colder and snow here is in the forecast. Did you know that when you see water freeze, God is telling you to go south? Most birds know that, why don't most people? Time to get back on the road, heading south through Arkansas, very hilly country, but very depressing, most folks who live here are very poor, and just making it by. The picture above is of rail road cars made into apartments. I am telling ya, that is tough living.

Being back on the road is great, it is so amazing to wake up somewhere new every day. Gone are the normal routines, replaced by basic daily needs and a quest for adventure. But, it is time to go to Dallas and see my great friend CJ and his wife Denise. There i can chill and catch up on all the

Starship maintainance that wasn't done in Michigan.

MONTE NE - BEAVER LAKE

2009-01-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a story about a most interesting place i found in the Ozark mountains in NE Arkansas. The town is called Monte Ne ( prounounced Montenay) and is located on Beaver Lake not to far from Bentonville, home of Wal-mart. A very wild character named William "Coin" Harvey created this town starting in 1901. It featured two grand hotels, a bank, golf course, a roman amphitheather, and gondolas. Here is a picture of the original hotel, note the multi storey structure on the left of the photo. Another picture shows the original Amphitheather

When Beaver Lake was formed with the creation of the Beaver Dam, the entire town was submerged below the lake. Now the area is quite run down, lots of old shabby mobile home trailers, and no sign of its former grandeur. In the summer, when the water drops, you can walk in part of the amphitheather and enter the slave quarters below the hotel. The third picture above shows what is left of the hotel.

Inside, local artists have made their mark, it kind of has a Jimi Hendriks kind of feel, but you can still feel the luxury of the old place with fireplaces in every room, see the inside picture. I don't know what drew me to this place, but it was a powerful feeling to be there and look at the history. In any event it was very interesting to me and hopefully its story will be to you as well. Hope all is well in your life, Spanky and I say "life is good" Take care. Paul

GOING TO TOWN

2009-01-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

After the solitude of the Ozark mountains, it was time to go down to town. My friends work and live in Springdale which is close to Bentonville, home of wal-mart. The area is growing rapidly and includes the towns of Rogers and Fayetteville. This is a picture of my friend Libby with Spanky. Libby has a wiener dog herself and was a very gracious hostess to me while I was in town. My other friend David now owns this 60 foot paddleboat and it is being restored for a spring launch in Beaver lake. It was a eBay find and the transformation is coming along nicely!

My friends invited me to a large thanksgiving dinner complete with all the trimmings, and lots of interesting people including many youngsters. It was a great time and I hope to come visit these wonderful folks in the spring time

STATE PARKS RULE

2009-01-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

I am just such a huge fan of state parks across this country. These great assets belong to the people, yet so few get any enjoyment out of them. If you have a self contained RV you can travel among them and experience a great freedom and nature experience. Here in the south, being off season you can choose the ideal spot and be one of a handful in the park.

My home only wants a spot to plug in. I want a great view, places to explore, some privacy, and warm temps. Spanky wants a squirrel, but till he catches one, he is also happy with the warmer temps.

Being deer season, the deer realize there is no hunting in state parks, and so are quite frequent visitors! This time of year you sure may have some cold nights, but normally stays above freezing. The great thing is the clear sky and sunshine, and some days will get quite warm.

FIRST STOP OZARK MOUNTAINS, ARKANSAS

2009-01-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

It was getting very cold, and freezing at night so i felt it was time to leave! There was still a lot to do on the rig, but enough was done to be ready to roll. The best course was to head south until the weather improved. The rig, now named the Starship is a handfull with a fair share of gremlins (mostly electrical). I landed in the Ozarks in northern Arkansas where i knew some fine people and the weather was a bit more moderate.

I felt it was important to "plant" myself somewhere for a few days and decided to go up in the Ozark mountains and trout fish. This was a great choice, it is off season there and lots of beautiful country around Beaver Lake that you pretty much have to yourself. I spent most of that first week there, catching fine rainbow trout and unwinding from the months of planning the escape. Spankly loved it as much as me, we gots lots of great exercise walking in the mountains and he helped me fish!

Pulling that 23,000 pound Starship up those mountains was a chore. On the worst ones you end up at the top in first gear @ 3000 rpm at about 30 miles an hour. Definitely need some retro rockets or anti-gravity device installed!

I was staying in the state parks, which by the way I think is one of the few things government has ever done well! Most are awesome, on water with lots of wildlife and scenery for about $12 a night with hookups. Life is good!

FIRST POST TO MY NEW BLOG!

2009-01-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

Hey, i decided to create this blog to help organize the road trip that I am on. Here i will keep track of people I meet, photos I take, places I go, and thoughts that I have. This blog will be a personal place for me, but anyone can visit and post a comment if you care.

In early 2008, I decided to sell my home, have an auction to dispose of my stuff , liquidate my business interests, buy a motorhome and live in it full time. The primary motivation was my firm decision to never ever spend another winter in Michigan. Sorry, call me a wuss or whatever, but i just can't and won 't do that anymore!!!

So, it took all summer, the house was painfully sold, and stuff and more stuff was sold, given away, or stored. My new home was found, a 2000 Sea View (National) 35' class A rig with 21,000 miles and a ford triton V10 motor. It has two slide outs and all the ameninties.

My primary traveling companion is Spanky, a 10 pound 9 year old wiener dog. He is an amazing dog and you will see him mentioned too much here! lol Behind the house, I am pulling a garage (trailer) that houses the Amphicar. Amphi drives on water and land and has proven to be the most fun car imaginable.

So, on November 18th, at 58 feet and 23,000 pounds, we hit the road! We have been on the road for almost 2 months and currently are in Texas. My next few posts will detail some of our adventures so far!