Edgar's Adventures

It has been a long time coming and hopefully we will not be gone for so long this time.

In the Summer of 2024 we went to Eastern Canada for almost 60 days and it was fantastic! If you ever get to Newfoundland, you have to go! Edgar had some grand adventures that just added to oh so many memories that Judy and I have, I wish I could have got a picture of him the instant he first saw the water all around the ferry boat we took to Newfoundland.

Edgar’s demise happened somewhat quickly, and I guess it was good for us and him that it didn’t drag on. Edgar had a cancerous growth on his spleen which caused severe internal bleeding. The vet removed the spleen which stopped the bleeding in October of 2024 and without any assurance that he was out of the woods we left Delaware for Florida in November. I believe that we got almost two more months with that big lump of fur before the cancer took over. Edgar’s birthday was December 3 based on the day he showed up and BARCS in Baltimore. Although we wanted to celebrate another year God had other plans and on December 3 of 2024 Edgar crossed the Rainbow bridge.

It is February 2026 and we are in Florida without a dog, but God knows that I would really like to have one. However, Judy keeps telling me that we have too much planned for the next 18 months. We do have two trips out west and we will see what happens. We do have a rather consistent internet connection and I will try not to be so detail oriented. Hopefully that will allow me to make more posts. Feel free to share with friends and family.

Until the next instalment let me know what you like.

baltimore

This was supposed to be just one more entry in our trip out west but life got in the way and here we are several years later. Medical problems and whatever else could possibly go wrong did. Well I am going to try this for one more year. If we don’t get more followers I will let it go peacefully.

We left Las Vegas headed to Phoenix so Judy can fly home for a baby shower. Since I am so far behind with this blog I can say that on January 13, 2023 Judy’s first grandchild was born. Anyway Judy flew home while Edgar and I got to visit new friends in Phoenix. We did some repairs to the RV, washed the car and spent a lot of time just doing nothing. Before we will know it Judy will be back and we will be on the road again.

I hope that I never have to navigate an airport that is more difficult to get around than the airport in Phoenix! It appears that every directional sign that applied to where I wanted to go was place directly behind an overpass. When I dropped Judy off it took me three loops to finally find the way out of the drop off pattern. Getting back to pick Judy up wasn’t much better! However, Judy’s plane landed safely, and we arrived back to the RV and in a few more days we will be heading west.

We will be spending Christmas in San Diego Bay but we have a few days to between leaving Phoenix and checking in in California, so we are going to Boondock a few nights. Somewhere close to Winterhaven, California there are thousands of acres that is free to camp on and play on with an ATV. We hope to stay near American Girl Mine Road. When we got there, we missed the turn onto that road we took the next road and just ended up parked out in the middle of nowhere.

While boondocking we found out that there were 5 mountain ridges waiting to be crossed before getting to the coast. I often think that a trip that only took us a few hours to cross took weeks of not months for those early settlers to cross. Both ways the destination was worth the taking.

We arrive to the Sun Outdoors RV Resort and trust me this is one time that the word Resort fit! Each site was paved with a patio and offered a gas fire pit and four chairs around a table. While staying here we will do some exploring. Our first adventure will take us to the Deering Banjo Company. About four years ago I replaced my beginner banjo with a Deering banjo and since we were in the neighborhood I wanted to stop. It was a great place to visit and I was impressed with how they received us and showed is around. Although I was tempted, I fought the urge to upgrade. After leaving the showroom we met up with a classmate of mine and we spent several hours reminiscing.

Our next stop was the San Diego Zoo and it was even more impressive than I was told it would be. There is no way that I could ever narrate what we saw and photos won’t do much better but I will post s few.

What is listed below was started in October of last year and still never got published. The recovery from my back surgery took longer than expected and life got in the way more than once! We have finally got a Wi-Fi connection that is reliable, and the back is cooperating so hopefully we can make progress from here on out. Currently I am over 14 months behind but as we winter here in Florida, I will work on getting caught up. So, enjoy what is here and look forward to the next installment.

Wow! It feels like a lifetime since I have been here and to be honest it has been tough getting here! With the limited internet access we had while travelling I swore I would get caught up once we got back to Delaware! Boy was I wrong.

Let me start by saying that getting older is not for the meek and mild and the last 10 months have been to say the least unexpected. Way back in 2022 while in Great Falls I fell and landed on my right side and evidently, knocked something loose in my elbow. The unexpected pain was terrible but if I was careful, I could live with it. Once we got home in March I got the elbow examined and by mid April I was scheduled for surgery and the results were great.

Before the surgery on my elbow I mentioned to my primary physician that my back had been causing me great pain at times. Much to my surprise I was scheduled for four weeks of PT without any type of examination such as a, Xray, CT Scan or MRI! He explained that regardless of the results of testing the first step was PT so off I go to PT. The treatments mostly stretches and such with little effect. At least until the fourth wee and the new exercise sent me over the top! The pain was unbearable, my legs decided to quit working correctly and my life took a turn for the worse.

Back to the PCP and finally I get scheduled for a MRI and the results were “Severe Spinal Stenosis” and with that I am off to see a specialist. Of course getting in is not easy and to make a long story short, I lived in pain and uncertainty until August 10. The four tier spinal fusion was extremely successful, but the pain was great and the recovery is taking a long time. Fortunately, I am mostly free of pain and relatively sure that my lower extremities are going to work properly. So I am going to try to get caught up and at the same time start writing about our adventures for this year.

When I last wrote we were in Death Valley and headed to Las Vegas. We arrived at an RV Park in South Las Vegas and started the explorations. One of our first stops was a Las Vegas show and we opted for the Blue Man Revue! We had no idea what to expect but we went anyway. If you have not seen this group you have to see them at least once. The lights, sounds and their antics were amazing.

Most people try to visit the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam while in Vegas but we only made it to Hoover Dam cause winter was coming to the Canyon region and we wanted to avoid winter. It was a pretty drive down to the dam and once we got there the tour was fantastic. Lake Meade was way so low and it was not expected to get any better soon. Since we now know that the west had one of the wettest winters in a long time Lake Meade has made a great recovery.

On the outskirts of Vegas is a park called Red Rock Canyon and to show photos here of how grand it was is rather futile. How does one photograph thousands of acres of fantastic scenery? The photos below show the diversity and some of the climbers that use this area for rock climbing training. I believe that this one park offers some of the best climbing and bouldering in the west.

We will be spending two weeks in Death Valley at Stove Pipe Wells. We are using one of 12 full hookup RV sites. The great part is, thanks to my “America The Beautiful” park pass, we are paying only $20 per day! We picked this place because it is listed as one of the top three night sky viewing spots in the country! However, we didn’t check the moon phase so most of the time we are here we will be dealing with the rising and falling of a full moon:) No we didn’t get to see the great night sky but it was still fantastic. The three photos below were taken with my S-20 phone.

There is so much to see and do in Death Valley but unfortunately getting to a lot of them is impossible. I early August of 2022 almost one inch of rain caused monumental road closings. In fact for a short while the entire park was closed. It is early November, and the list of road closings is extremely long. The park posts updates almost daily about the status of the major roads and before we will leave the park three more roads will open. Unfortunately, the road to Scotty’s Castle and the area known as Racetrack is not on the list, but the main westerly route out of the park is open and we did get to see some interesting sites. I will bet that we were not the only ones that didn’t know that there is a waterfall in Death Vally. Darwin Falls is a spring fed tributary that cascades year-round. Since this is a consistent source of water the small town of Panamint Springs, CA gets its entire water supply piped to storage tanks from the waterfalls. I have to admit that it was a little weird seeing a PVC pipe just running through the valley.

Another place we visited on the western side of the park was called Father Crawley Overlook. This was a unique area with a lot of interesting things to see. Of course the geology of the area was impressive as well as what it was used for. Since that early eras of aviation this area has been used to teach pilots how to negotiate the nooks and crannies of the terrain. Although the signs said that pilots training took place at just about any time we were not lucky enough to see any.

We arrived in Stove Pipe Wells RV Park and instantly start enjoying the desolation. In rather close proximity to the camp site is a camp store with gas station allows us a good view of the people travelling in the park. On one morning I heard some motorcycles and I realized they were all over 60 years old! The riders were participating in an antique bike rally, unfortunately it was the last day they would be there.

Death Valley is so diverse in terrain, ranging from valley floor over 260 below sea level to mountains several thousands of feet above and we got to see both. In a higher part of the valley, we went to see the Charcoal Kilns about 6000 feet up and in about two inches of snow. The kilns were built to supply fuel to the smelters that were used to refine the silver that was being mined in the area. Although the supply of trees was abundant the kilns only operated for two years. Due to the arid climate and the difficulty of getting to them the kilns are in remarkable condidtion considering their age.

On another trip we ended up in a place called Badwater Basin! This is the lowest point of land in the valley at 282 feet below sea level and one of the best places to walk out onto the arid terrain. As we were driving to the basin we passed another attraction called the Devil’s Golf Course and was an example of the diverse terrain.

We have been home since the end of March and still my blog is in Californina. I have finally conceded defeat to Death Valley and now realize writing about it is futile! In order to move on I will simply state that if you ever have a chance to visit Death Valley by all means do. I am going to post a lot of photos and try to caption them and share them with those of you who are following. Hopefully I will be able to move on with my posts.

Hopefully this will give you a slight glimpse of all we did while visiting Death Valley. This may not have been the best place we went to but it is by far the most diverse and unusual. From here we are heading to Las Vegas stay tuned there is more to come.

From San Francisco we are heading south with our first stop being at Moro Bay. Although we have been running down the interstate highway Judy decided that we needed to get off and drive down the scenic Pacific Coast Highway also known as the PCH. I figured that we can give it a try and get back on the interstate if it is too bad. Unfortunately access to the PCH is extremely limited and we are driving down one of the crookedest roads I have ever been on for the next 65 miles! I am now comfortable operating a 41 feet long RV while towing a full sized SUV on just about anything. Well, maybe not some of the streets in San Francisco.

We are stopping Moro Bay for a few days and this is known for a huge rock called Moro Rock. Evidently it is a well known landmark. I have to admit it was pretty impressive and except for a few shops and eateries it and the beech the rock was the best attraction.

We close up the camper and move inland a little way to the town of Paso Roble and it turns out that this little town has a lot of things to do! On day one we discover a museum that has military airplanes, antique cars and some other interesting things. But the biggest surprise was a sign hanging over the counter in the gift shop that said there was only two seats left in “Beatty’s Biscuit Bomber for the following Saturday! Almost instantly Judy and I agree that we have to sign up for this! The ride will be in a 1944 C-47 twin engine troop transport airplane. I guess I will continue to write about the ride and then come back to the rest of the museum. We arrive in plenty of time, watch the volunteers go through preparing the plane for flight, meet the other passengers, go through the obligatory safety talk and finally we get to board the plane. This plane is a bare bone, tail dragging military transport and I never thought about how much the floor tilted when the plan was not flying and for me it was not comfortable! Once we are airborne it is a different story and all in all it was a rather smooth and quiet flight. The initial plan was to fly west from Paso Roble past Moro Rock out over the Pacific Ocean and finally swing back east to return to the airport. Unfortunately just as we neared the coastline that ever present Pacific fog managed to show up again. I barely got to see the coast as we turned to go inland to a clearer view. As the land disappeared into the fog and the water, I was carried back to 1944 or possibly 1945 when the plane was carrying troops from Britan to the mainland of Europe. I wonder what thoughts a soldier may have had as he watched the plane fly out over water knowing that when it was over land again there would be enemy soldiers and planes shooting at him.

Now back to the museum, they had military airplanes, antique cars and other military artifacts. I don’t think I can describe it so I will just show photos.

This area of California is a very big wine making region and we were lucky enough to go to a winery which is owned by former Penn State football player Gary Eberle. Gary played at Penn State when Joe Paterno was an assistant coach, but I believe he told me that he finished with Joe as head coach. We were too busy enjoying ourselves, so we didn’t get any photos but if you want more info go to their web page at www.eberlewinery.com.

Because we are entering the Christmas season there are displays everywhere but right down the road from Eberly Winery there is a display like nothing I have ever seen. I don’t believe that it is Christmas specific, but it was so beautiful it helped to put us in the spirit of Christmas. The display is called Sensorio and their website is Sensorio Paso Robles | Bruce Munro: Light at Sensorio. I will post one of my photos but to see how large it is go to their website. I believe we were told that at this year’s light display at Longwood Gardens has a similar display.

From Paso Roble we are heading inland again to Porterville, California to spend some time in and around Sequoia National Park. By the time we get done this trip we will have been exposed to so many huge trees! In fact this is the location of General Sherman the largest tree by volume in the world. There may be taller trees but none containing more wood in its trunk.

Not everything in the park is trees there are some really tall rock formation. The biggest one is called Moro Rock. Yes, I know we just left Moro Bay and there was a Moro Rock there but I guess that they had their reasons for the same name.

From here we are heading inland toward Barstow and working our way eventually to Los Vegas. We stop at Desert Springs RV Park for a few days to see what is in the area. There is a 50’s theme eatery nearby, a recreation of a ghost town and of course Barstow, CA. Barstow was just one more small town and the most interesting part I saw was the photo below. Yes, I know that there are a lot of activities in the area, but nothing was going on the time we were there!

Although it is a restored area, and it has several vendors the ghost town was actually the results to save an actual ghost town! The little town sprang up when silver was discovered and died down almost as quickly when the lode dried up. Touring the town was interesting and well worth the time it took to get there!

When we leave this area we have one more stop before we arrive in Vegas, but it is for two weeks in Death Valley which should make a post on its own!